Another boxing books thread?

My "need to buy" includes "My Life" by Joe Louis, "The Ageless Warrior" by Mike Fitzgerald, "The Will to Conquer" by Mickey Walker, "Benny Yanger, the Tipton Slasher" (author unknown), and "The Art of Infighting" by the ever underrated Frank Klaus

I generally think getting info from the horses mouth is the best way of learning so I always try to find autobiographies. Sometimes I read bios though, such as "Unbeaten" by Mike Stanton and "Ali, A Life" by Jonathan Eig (underrated bio btw, best Ali one imo).

Anything written by Bert Sugar is always entertaining

Ive said it a million times, but "Championship Fighting" is not just a must read for boxers but fans as well. Amazing info in it, most of it relevant to today's game too. Dempsey was a genius. If somebody said "pick one boxing book for me to read" I'd give them Championship Fighting

 

Inside the ropes by Arthur Mercante

Gypsy Joe Harris: Son of Philadelphia by Anthony Molock

 

Hey @PhillyPhan69 got the book "We Walk Together Forever: The 74-75 Philadelphia Flyers Then and Now" as a gift! Awesome man.

 

'Iron Ambition: lessons from the man that made me champ' by Mike Tyson. Goes very in depth on Cus D'Amato mindset and methods.

'Born to Box' about Nipper Pat Daly, Boxing's youngest prodigy, who went pro at 10 years old and was world level by 15, and retired at 18. Awesome read.

'The killings of Stanley Ketchel' by James Carlos Blake. This is more on the historical fiction side, a real figure and events with more extrapolated, but well written and enjoyable, a bit like Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa (not on that level though).

I haven't read it yet, but I have heard some good things about 'Philladelphia's Boxing Heritage 1876 - 1976' by Tracy Callis and Chuck Hasson.
Same with 'Nonpareil Jack Denpsey' by Joseph S Page.

There are also lots of free boxing manuals and autobiographies you can get for free on the Internet due to their age or whatever. For example, you can find Daniel Mendoza's autobiography and boxing manual!

Currently I have been reading through the manual 'Counter back on a counter' by O S Westerman, 1916, as a pdf. It's is extremely well written and has some of the best written advice on shifting you can get as well.

You should also look at anything done by W C Heinz, especially his famous book 'The Professional'.

 

Autobiographies I really enjoyed are as follows:

Joe Frazier
Larry Holmes
Sugar Ray Robinson
Max Schmeling
Jake LaMotta
Rocky Graziano
Ken Buchanan

Biographies:

Freddie Welsh by Andrew Gallimore
Sam Langford by Clay Moyle
Harry Greb by Steve Compton
Charley Burley by Allen Rosenfeld
Charley Burley by Harry Otty
Archie Moore by Mike Fitzgerald
Billy Conn by Andrew O’Toole

I recently read Mark Kram JR’s Joe Frazier book and enjoyed it thoroughly too.

Other books and probably my favorites:

All of Springs Toledo’s works (my absolute favorites being Murderers Row & Gods of war)
Sweet Science by Liebling
Neutral corner by Liebling
Corner men by Ronald Fried
In the corner by Dave Anderson
In this corner by Peter Heller
McIllvaney on Boxing
Dark trade by Donald McRae
Four Kings by George Kimball
Ghosts of Manila by Mark Kram

 

Below is my boxing book list, as a boxing nut, I have to say I enjoyed them all, some more than others.....

Boxing Books:

Read:
The Heavyweight Champions – John Durant (just obtained, first boxing book read as a 9-10 year old kid)
Gods of War – Springs Toledo
In the Cheap Seats - Springs Toledo
Murderers Row - Springs Toledo
The Sweet Science – AJ Liebling
The Fight of the Century - Michael Arkush
Once There Were Giants - Jerry Izenberg
Four Kings – George Kimball
Ghosts of Manila – Mark Kram
A Flame of Pure Fire – Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ‘20s – Roger Kahn
The Good Son – Mark Kriegel
Atlas – Teddy Atlas/Peter Alson
Chuvalo – George Chuvalo/Murray Greig
Facing Ali – Stephen Brunt
Irish Thunder – Bob Halloran
Hands of Stone – Christian Giudice
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth – Mike Tyson/Larry Sloman
Heavyweight Boxing in the 1970s – Joe Ryan
Sonny Liston - Paul R Gallender
Boxing’s Greatest Fighters – Bert Sugar
Muhammad Ali – Thomas Hauser
Hard Luck: The Triumph and Tragedy of "Irish" Jerry Quarry – Steve Springer
King of the World - David Remnick
The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Rule the Ring – Paul Beston
In this Corner…! – Peter Heller
Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World, Smokin' Joe Frazier – Joe Frazier/ Phil Berger (Electronic version)
Ali: A Life - Jonathan Eig
Facing Mike Tyson – Ted Kluck
Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano's Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World – Mike Stanton
The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing's Wastelands – Tris Dixon
Glove Affair: My Lifelong Journey in the World of Professional Boxing – Randy Gordon
Smokin' Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier – Mark Kram Jr
My View from the Corner: A Life in Boxing – Angelo Dundee/Bert Sugar


To Read:
Tunney – Jack Cavanaugh
Unforgivable Blackness - Geoffrey C. Ward
Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson - Herb Boyd/Ray Robinson
Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Time – Russell Sullivan
Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L Sullivan, America’s First Sports Hero – Christopher Klein
Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales From The Ring – Jeff Silver
Lanky Bob - The Life, Times and Contemporaries of Bob Fitzsimmons - K. R. Robinson
Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler – Randy Roberts
The Heavyweight Champions – Stanley Weston

Boxing Books (Coffee Table):
The Best of the Ring: Stanley Weston
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing: Harry Mullan/Bob Mee
A Pictorial History of Boxing - Sam Andre/Nat Fleischer
The Ring – Boxing: The 20th Century - Stanley Weston/Steven Farhood
Muhammad Ali: The Unseen Archives - William Strathmore
The Greatest of All Time: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali - TASCHEN Publishing
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Muhammad Ali 1942-2016: The Tribute - The Editors Of Sports Illustrated

On my Radar:
Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion - Clay Moyle
The Fearless Harry Greb: Biography of a Tragic Hero of Boxing - Bill Paxton
Charley Burley and the Black Murderers' Row -Harry Otty

 

I just bought the Mancini book. Very much looking forward to reading it.

 

Very good book as is McGuigan's recent autobiography

 

I received a copy of 'When Pittsburgh was a fight town" for Christmas. Looking forward to reading it.

 

My good wife has just given me Murderers Row by Springs Toledo as a Christmas Present.
Really looking forward to reading it.
A group of fighters I need to brush up upon.

 

Just picked up a second, maybe fifth hand copy of The 16th Round. I know a fair bit about Carter but looking forward to get the full back story of "Hurricane".

 

Nice job !

 

I highly recommend Money Myth & Betrayal by Montieth Illingworth, it's THE definitive biography on Mike Tyson, & I've read most of them. Also Dark Trade was a great read.

 

Love the avatar lol.