Best boxing books you've read?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Blacc Jesus, Sep 3, 2007.

  1. zivic1941

    zivic1941 Member Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2004
    Messages:
    178
    Likes Received:
    4
    I never read Otty's book. I heard it was a limited release book.

    Rosenfeld's book is so amazingly dense in information and so well put together, I still scratch my head as to how he did it. Amazing stuff....he covered that era so well it's astonishing. Zivic, Holman Williams, the young Ezzard Charles....incredible stuff.
     
  2. Bill1234

    Bill1234 Boxing Junkie Full Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2007
    Messages:
    8,314
    Likes Received:
    505

    Well, he didn't have much of a choice considering if he turned around he was gonna get blown away. A cop almost blew him away with a riot too. Some riot started in a resturant in Easton, and Larr7 was driving home and he saw his brother, he got out to get him, turned a corner, and a cop shoved a shot gun into his gut. Larry put his hands up right away, and the cop threatend/warned him that if he made any sort of move, to get away, he would blow his guts out. Larry went to jail for a month or two before his family got the bail money.
     
  3. Robbi

    Robbi Marvelous Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2004
    Messages:
    15,315
    Likes Received:
    299
    Jack Johnson - Unforgiveable blackness, meant to be a great read.

    Lightning Strikes. Each chapter dedicated to all the lightweight greats over the years, from Leonard to Whitaker. If memory serves me correctly, it might even start with Gans.
     
  4. mightyd40

    mightyd40 Spartan Full Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Messages:
    2,264
    Likes Received:
    13
    mi vida loca is good about johnny tapia
    teddy atlas' book is good
    its semi fictional but i love bummy davis vs. murder inc
    i am reading hands of stone now and its pretty good
     
  5. Nemesis

    Nemesis Well-Known Member Full Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2005
    Messages:
    1,650
    Likes Received:
    15
    **** read IMO, bored me stiff and didnt provide any new info, focused more the socio-economics of the era rather than fighters involved.
     
  6. Jack Dempsey

    Jack Dempsey Legend Full Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2005
    Messages:
    7,210
    Likes Received:
    42
    I didn't:-(

    As a conventional biography (which I thought it was) it will leave none the wiser about Burley the man, as a collection of fight reports from the era about Burley and his contemporaries it is very good, I was just expecting something different.

    I've got the Black Murderers Row one to read, hope its better
     
  7. Nemesis

    Nemesis Well-Known Member Full Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2005
    Messages:
    1,650
    Likes Received:
    15
    No books to speak of, but a couple of cracking documentaries on him :good
     
  8. Nemesis

    Nemesis Well-Known Member Full Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2005
    Messages:
    1,650
    Likes Received:
    15
    Ring of Fire is excellent, which focuses on the sentimental side of Griffith and the circumstances of that fight with Paret. (as far as documentaries go) and there is another one which was made by ESPN which focuses on his fights and basically has him in the studio showing clips and then asking him questions. If your interested let me know and i will upload it, so you can download it
     
  9. mightyd40

    mightyd40 Spartan Full Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Messages:
    2,264
    Likes Received:
    13
    this is a good one too.....i wanted to read the rocky graziano one but everywhere i look its like hundreds of dollars
     
  10. Jack Dempsey

    Jack Dempsey Legend Full Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2005
    Messages:
    7,210
    Likes Received:
    42
    I got a copy of 'somebody up there likes me' & 'somebody down here likes me too' fairly inexpensively from E-bay

    This place has it for £35, bit steep if you ask me

    https://secure.contactdesigns.net/cgi-bin/boxingstuff.com/boxingstuff.cgi/search.html?mv_searchspec=graziano&mv_coordinate=1&mv_searchtype=db&mv_matchlimit=10&mv_sort_field=category&mv_search_field=*&mv_substring_match=1&mv_column_op=ne&mv_column_op=rm&mv_searchspec=1
     
  11. mightyd40

    mightyd40 Spartan Full Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Messages:
    2,264
    Likes Received:
    13
    basilio was actually having a thing today near where i live (syracuse ny) talking about his fight with ray robinson. i wanted to go but didnt have anyone to go with me :twisted:
     
  12. Robbi

    Robbi Marvelous Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2004
    Messages:
    15,315
    Likes Received:
    299
    Anyone read the Primo Carnera book "The story of the man mountain"
     
  13. Blacc Jesus

    Blacc Jesus . Full Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2007
    Messages:
    1,504
    Likes Received:
    32
    I just bought Ghosts of Manila. Hopefully its good.
     
  14. Strangely Brown

    Strangely Brown Member Full Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2006
    Messages:
    120
    Likes Received:
    0
    McIlvanney on Boxing is a great read - a collection of his writings over the year taken from his columns in the newspapers, so it's not done wiht hindsight. There is a fair section on Ali, then the rest a mix of British and American fighters.

    I re-read it often, his pieces on the Rumble in the Jungle and on Johnny Owen are priceless.
     
  15. Holmes' Jab

    Holmes' Jab Master Jabber Full Member

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2006
    Messages:
    5,112
    Likes Received:
    75