can anyone recommend any good autobiographies from a boxer or trainer?,i like to do my reading from the 1st person perspecive?
"The Impossible Dream " by Larry Gains is good."My Life" by Joe Louis and Art Rust,"Dempsey" by Jack and Barbara Dempsey ." I only talk Winning by Angelo Dundee,is worth a read.
cheers,i didnt know joe louis had one, ive read 'view from this corner' by angie dundee,that was good. i just ordered raging bull(lamotta) and mi vida loca(johnny tapia)
"Against The Odds" by Larry Holmes "Welcome to the Big Time" by Earnie Shavers "My View From The Corner" by Angelo Dundee They were all very good and interesting reads.
Ken Norton's autobiography, Going the Distance (I think that's what it is called) is pretty good and honest, especially about his losses to Cooney, Shavers, and Foreman.
Smokin Joe is a classic. The two that all other should be judged by are Raging Bull (LaMotta) and Somebody up there Likes Me (Graziano). One my all time favorites is Victory Over Myself by Floyd Patterson, a truly great boxing book, and Sugar Ray (Sugar Ray Robinson). I read Sugar Ray and Raging Bull back to back which is really cool since both guys were contemporaries, fought each other six times, and many of the same people, and both had difficulty getting title shots on the way up.
Not a boxer but "Atlas" (Teddy Atlas) autobiography was intricate, riveting, and engaging. You can feel the intensity with which the man lives through the way he writes and the experiences he had. If this were the General I'd predict some criticizing/hateful remarks on Atlas as a commentator/trainer, but I expect better from the Classic. Don't prove me wrong!
Jack Johnson's autobiography, while factually inconsistent, gives you a great flavor of this most important man.
Might chase up a copy myself - by the way, what did Norton offer about the losses (briefly at least). http://www.mahalo.com/Ken_Norton is a good stop for Ken Norton info including on the autobiography.