Boxing Books - What's the Best ?

I will want an autographed copy mate. Will Kagsy get a mention in acknowledgements?

 

He may, but since I'm writing it, it will mostly be about me. I may even include an excerot over the weekend.

 

start by working harder on your facking spelling! It's excerpt!

 

haha

 

I meant exocet, I'll be firing a missile at your place this weekend Phil.

 

I'd prefer you fired a scud at me - Iraq proved those ****s just don't work!

 

If Leon needs a consultant when writing this book...he is more than welcome to ask.:yep

 

Boom! Boom!

 

2 books that haven't been mentioned on this thread that are worth a read are, Boxing's Hall of shame by Thomas Myler and Facing Tyson which is the author, whose name escapes me at the minute talking to a few of Tyson's opponents about their respective fights with Iron Mike.

Got a mate to get Calzaghe's book for me when he was in England recently and thought it was ****.

Ward's, Chavez's and Briggsy's books are good and i've also got that Bud Schulberg one too but haven't started it yet.

 

I have managed to buy some great books off eBay this year.Only problem is postage rates from USA and UK are usually equal to or more expensive than the cost of the item.I would
recommend "Night Train" the Sonny Liston story and Robert Drane's book "Fighters by
Trade".Some old magazines sell cheaply also.ABC shops are also a good source.They
currently have the documentary "Lionel" in stock,a DVD which also features Lionel Rose fighting against Harada,Sakurai and Garcia.The Harada fight is featured in colour.Better print than one I purchased earlier which is B&W.Very good documentary though.

 

I picked up a Rocky Marciano biography today. I just started reading The Ballad of Les Darcy which I picked up a while back but never got around to reading, so far so good.

 

Just finished 'Four Kings' by George Kimball, I'll join the chorus in recommending it.

Currently reading 'The Last Great Fight' by Joe Layden about Tyson-Douglas. Only 20 pages in so far but enjoying it.

Theres also one out about Hagler-Leonard whose name escapes me at the moment but sounds ok from the reviews I've read.

 

I'd have thought that the Bowe v Holyfield series and Holyfield v Tyson would be more recent "great fights". Interesting title.

 

A Fighter’s Heart by Sam Sheridan is book with a difference that I'll just finishing off.

This is NOT purely a boxing book. But it's a very good read - particulary the early chapters.

Here's some snippets from an on-line review for anybody interested by Larry Smith:

Violence is the world’s oldest profession. And if our war-mongering culture is any indication, business is booming. The real question is why? Why do we fight? What drives men to become warriors?

Sam Sheridan, a former Merchant Marine and boxing enthusiast, decided he needed to satisfy a deep-seated adventure jones. In the summer of 1998, he started doing what any adrenaline-junkie might do: he crewed yachts from the Bahamas to Australia, worked in Antarctica, and fought fires in New Mexico.

He also traveled to Thailand, where he trained with Apidej Sit-Hirun (the “Muhammad Ali of Thai kickboxing”) at Bangkok’s legendary Fairtex gym. Within months he got his first Muay Thai fight—and won.

That fight only fueled a bloodlust he’d been carrying around with him since childhood. So Sheridan travelled to Iowa, where a posse of UFC champions introduced him to “car-wreck-itis”; and Rio where he hit the mats with the jiu-jitsu masters of Brazilian Top Team; he even got in the ring with Olympic boxer Andre Ward at his Oakland gym.

The result is A Fighter’s Heart, Sheridan’s fast-paced, in-the-ring, scholar-turned-gladiator’s view of violence—from the streets of Tokyo to the film lots of Hollywood—and the men who are made (and broken) by pursuing it as a career.