I remember reading The Greatest as a young kid and feeling so close to Ali only to learn years later that not only did he not write it , he never even read it .. that "autobiography" was pretty much ghost written by Howard Bingham as his fantasy of being Ali rather than at his side for fifty years ... I just read Joe Louis , My Life w Art Rust and I"m curious if Louis had an active involvement as well .. Dempsey had half a dozen biographies that he was part of in one form or another from the early forties till the 1977 one w his step daughter and it was fascinating how his first person narrative evolved over the years .. What if any autobiographies by fighters were supposedly actually written mostly by the fighter if any ?
First sports book as i read as a kid from the library was Henry Coopers' autobiography. Great read, seemed to be full of his own work. He put his money into a fruit and veg shop , which his wife ran ! Foreman's book seemed a good read. Plenty of stuff in it that seemed BS, but it seemed to be his words. Also thought Nortons' was a good read. Most Ali books , were written by other people. Lennox' book is a great read its called 'Mamma's boy' , takes you through his career fight by fight. A great insight into the man and boxing politics.
Didn't Dempsey's narrative evolve due to having books ghostwritten? I thought I read that somewhere... Roger Kahn maybe.
I have three different Jack Dempsey autobiographies and biographies of Dempsey by Randy Roberts and Roger Kahn. While all of the mentioned books are interesting because Dempsey had such a compelling life and career, they can't be relied on if you want factual information. Moreover, Roberts and especially Kahn really didn't do enough research. Of the five books, I would recommend the biography by Roberts because at least he did some research. - Chuck Johnston
While aware of the gaps in hard boxing research, I do appreciate the Kahn book for the great sense of time, humor and historical context.
It seemed to me as though Herbie Hide's autobiography was written by himself. A pretty good read actually, you should check it out. Herbie Hide: Nothing But Trouble: My Story.
