There is some great books out there, Four Kings is ok but by no means brilliant in my humble opinion, due to the writers style more than than the subject .. Heres my 3 favourite boxing books that should be read by any fan of the sport .. 1, 'Ringside - A Treasury of Boxing Reportage', by Budd Schulberg. An absolutely brilliant read by the numero uno of Boxing observers .. This book is a must .. 2. 'The Big If', by Rick Broadbent. Charts the lives of 2 fighters, Johnny Owens and Lupe Pintor, whose lives would brutally and fatally meet in the ring in 1980 .. 3. 'McCilvanney on Boxing' by Hugh McCilvanney. Set out like the Schulberg book but with a unique McCilvanney writing style which is sensational to read .. I've read lots of boxing books, including 'Tunney', 'Dark Trade', 'Four Kings', 'Hands of Stone', 'Sorcery at Caesars', 'In This Corner' and 'Journeyman'. But the 3 ive highlighted are by far the best in my subjective, humble opinion .... But reading, like anything else is a personal thing .. I could list my top ten movies of all time and people would totally disagree. Its what you as an individual takes from the book that counts ..
I want the book, 'Charley Burley and the Black Murderers Row' .. But whenever i see it, its way over £100 ($125 ??) .... If anybody knows were i can get this book for a reasonable price, please let me know ..
If you want to get a little more intellectual and philosophical, "On Boxing" by Joyce Carol Oates is one of my favorite books, period.
really? I thought it was very dull. I guess I'm not intellectual or philosophical enough (although I do enjoy Kafka, Hesse, Sartre!) I, Conteh is a forgotten bio which I really enjoyed, andy Teddy Atlas' chronicle of training/baby sitting Michael Moorer for this title fights is fascinating. Black Lights is supposed to be a classic boxing book which I've always planned to read, but somehow haven't got it done yet.
Joyce Carol Oates can make any subject dull. That said, I haven't read her boxing book, and we should at least give her credit for loving the sport. Mailer wrote some interesting pieces on boxing. Many are available on the 'net.
I didn't mean to demean anybody's intelligence or anything. It's not an exciting book per se, it doesn't really go into describing the action of the fights if that's what you're looking for. The whole work is more of an extended metaphor for boxing as part of writing and the human condition, not a recounting of the history of the sport.
"The Fight" by Norman Mailer "The Devil and Sonny Liston" by Nick Tosches "Ghosts of Manila" by Mark Kram "Redemption Song" by Mike Marqusee is another good one, although it's a bit more of a cultural history than anything else. Try to go for biography rather than auobiography where possible - autobiographies tend to be a little bland, in my experience. The exception is "Jack Johnson: In the Ring and Out", which is brilliantly and hilariously arrogant.
**** Joyce Carol Oates. "The Fight" is mad underated. That was the first boxing book I ever read, recently re-read, and it was just as good as when I was a kid, which is saying something. "Right Hand Leads" is as exciting as anything i've ever read in any genre, ever.