Who is the greatest living boxing historian?

newrap
(those who know )

 

Teddy Atlas, came up around Cus, and for that matter Tyson is probably on the higher end of boxing knowledge as well

 

Mike is much more qualified Atlas lacks even basic knowledge.

 

Geez guys who knows more than Boxed Ears let's be honest.

 

Miles Templeton of Boxing News

 

some 'historians' are merely collectors with a general knowledge no better than many of some of our very well boxing educated Posters... who in fact are much better.

Collectors with the resources to dig a bit deeper when & if an interest comes up about Fighters and/or periods and/or divisional history and the like are not necessarily historians..

too me that is not a Boxing Historian in the true sense of the expected understanding, guys like Nat Fleischer, Tracey Callas or Gilbert Odd, they were Historians.

Material & Resources can also be cited, made public or withheld, as even on this site we have seen. Which of course isn't historical fact or truth, but personal bias & desired outcomes.

which is naturally a shame for the History of Boxing, fighters and the eras.

 

Yes Noel, for British Boxing especially he's peerless.

 

Such a shame this is ceasing to be a weekly publication very shortly

 

Afternoon Noel.
Don't know much about Templeton have to say, but if say so, good enough for me, when I first started getting into boxing, so late 60s the Boxing News had the venerable Gilbert Odd, think he was editor for some time before, by that stage he was mainly writing articles about British fighters that had long retired, he occasionally did a piece on current boxers, but in the main it was older retired fighters, and most weeks he centred on two fighters, there upbringing, careers, achievements and such, made for very interesting reading, as a young fan it was nice to be made aware of the likes of, Harvey, McVoy, Roderick, Tarleton, and far too many for me to recall here, so he was what I would call a historian, I packed up BN after Harry Mullan, I sometimes read it online, but only if the article is about yesteryear, I have not been to a fight for over 40 years maybe, that said I went to York Hall a couple of years ago, one of my sons bought me a ticket as a birthday present, what with the journey getting there, the heat, the noise ( autism ) a fight broke out, train home cancelled, that was my final hoorah.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

Thanks, man. The number of mini-biographies I've written for thread starters here really deserves some kind of recognition of my expertise. There are facts in those bios that you simply can't find anywhere else.

 

Self appointed 'h' istorians, rather than real Historians...

i.e, there was a Poster who was very knowledgeable in the general sense, which is 100% perfectly fine, however he was a great Marciano & LaMotta fan, again not a problem, but he would 'reject' contrary information about either one of them, again not necessarily a bad thing in & of itself, the problem was even when actual documentation was cited & linked, it had little impact on him, in other words he disregarded it... That is Not History!

some self appointed 'h'istorians are just that, the very same.

I prefer the voice of Noted Researchers who have access to the Documentation and who are equally grateful to the Documentation they don't have.

if you have a wide collection excellent, if you don't and you have access to someone's great, but even with such material a good researcher will also subscribe to Newspaper Archives for as many Reports as possible for a more complete analysis & thorough conclusions...

there have been more than enough instances 'recorded' here & elsewhere on Boxing Sites where good research has been squashed or ignored by some of the 'appointers'.

in todays world Research is not only Key, but also more available & accessible to everyone who wants it... Hell, I sold most of my Collection to the Hatton's for a Library and major asset to their Hyde Gym for all of their Fighters & Boxing Personnel to study if interested keeping the 'fire' alive, but also for Researchers to access upon approved onsite study...

I even provided them with Print Out pictures of how I had the material laid out displaying material filed & displayed by Year and/or Publication.

You know I think it is still in their Loft, which is sad, Sad SAD,

people from all over the UK could book time to access such material. That is what was spoken about & understood in the purchasing of it 'a great asset to the Hatton Gym.

 

Since absolutely no one outside of myself endeavored to explain boxing in every period and ruleset it has existed I have a hard time highlighting a single historian as the best.

Also, I may misspell these names. My bad.

Ancients: For a Historian, as in not an ancient jabroni just talking about his day, I think Norman E Gardiner.

Medieval: The Anon known only as "The Chronicler of The Pugni"

English: The three super well known source, Egan, Miles, that other jabroni and son duo behind bells

American: Yourself, you might think researching 1888 is hard, it isn't. Get online, find a paper archive, search keywords. It's super easy, and no dude, I don't give a **** what anyone says; I should not be the man breaking the news Greb drew the colorline when so many have books about or dealing with him. Kevin Smith and Matt Dunnellon wrote killer books, my only criticism for them is their scope. Hard to be the man of an era when you cover a some segment. I'm saying their work is worth your time but you can't rely on them for a full picture of American era boxing.

The honest truth is I think Adam Pollack's work is lazy. I have a sneaking suspicion there are quite a few members here mentioned in his book. The support here and dogmatic following is just a microcosm of circlejerking. Adam would do well to do his own research rather than relying on forum members.

I can't know if I'm even close there, but it is my honest take to reading. Research itself has a style to it. I often cause a ruckus with presentation alone. Mister Pollack it seems to me your style is committee over honesty.

World: Honestly, youtubes, just pick whoever you like really. I'm not saying they all do a great job, but they're only just now being bought by the industry and becoming mouthpieces for money men. You have better chances of honest reactions, research, whatnot.

 

Atlas is horrible. My youngest son has gleaned more knowledge from my drunken ramblings than Atlas has ever demonstrated on the subject of boxing history.

 

Rich the Fight Historian on YouTube, of course. It says it all in the name.