Save your money on these biographies

The thing is it isnt a competition. Which Manuel seems to think it is. Having known better I spent my money on his book. I found it to be a waste of money (something I RARELY find in boxing books) and posted my complaints to forewarn others. I stand by what I said and have yet to be disputed by anyone who has read, or written the book. As a consumer I have a right to voice my opinions on the book to fellow boxing enthusiasts.

The author says he has a greater knowledge of Ketchel and as such my criticisms should be ignored as inaccurate. Does this mean that Ketchel was indeed going to defend a 158 pound title against a guy who could weigh 210 pounds? Does this mean absolutely nothing interesting or formative happened in Ketchels life between 1904 and 1907 so that we, like the author, should ignore that period? Does this mean that Ketchel's upbringing (which eventually caused him to take on a life of hardship on the rails as a tramp) was so uninteresting as to warrant only a few pages of review? Is his knowledge so great on the subject that I should just accept that hes omnipotent and knows exactly what was said during conversations between Ketchel and other hobos along the rails when they were alone and those conversations went unrecord? Should I not question why so many details negative to Ketchel (that I do know of as fact) were left out? Should I not question in such instances where for example Ketchel fought Frank Klaus (future MW) champ in Pittsburgh the author neglected to cite a single Pittsburgh first hand account BUT chose to quote a Grand Rapids account which was neither first hand nor contemporary? When he gets the facts and context wrong when quoting a telegram of Ketchel should I not assume he has never seen the actual telegram or should I just assume he has an alternate version with different wording? Its kind of hard since NOTHING was cited. I guess a guy with such self proclaimed knowledge feels he is so learned that despite his youth and the fact that hes never been published we should just accept everything he has printed as fact. But somehow these complaints are being twisted by the author as me being an ******* and a liar... If so, answer the complaints with something other than childish taunts. Stand behind your work, not in front of it.

 

Wait, so the author acknowledges the errors I stated yet Im wrong (and a liar) for telling people not to waste their money on a book full of errors? Ive already said if what you want is a rushed, inaccurate, one sided biography of ketchel then by all means purchase this book. However, if that doesnt appeal to you then save your money.

If you are so starved for information on Ketchel that you will literally read anything. Then yes, buy this book. In fact buy three copies and read them all. However, if you want something that is a quality piece of work (and I dont consider a newly released book in which the author already admits to the errors Ive stated... not that he could deny them, a quality piece of work) then save your money. If the author revises this book and does a better job all the way around, better research, citations, more sources, more comprehensive coverage of Ketchel's life prior to his fights with Joe Thomas, more even handed accounts and less suppression of negative criticism of ketchel during his life, then yes I'd be all for it and say so gladly. I didnt PURCHASE the book hoping it would be a piece of ****. I purchased hoping the author would prove me wrong from what I had already heard and seen of him. He didnt.

 

See this is what gets me. You admit its faults but say that I dont like it not because of its faults but because I just dont like it. Then you admit your research was limited primarily to the Grand Rapids library, a town Ketchel fought in exactly ZERO times and a town he did not live in after the three or four pages you dedicate to that period of his life. Then when sources you quote are inaccurate you blame THEM rather than yourself for not following up and state that I should prove them or you wrong... Shouldnt you have been the one to follow up on YOUR research. Why publish something that was pieced together, then wait for criticisms to point out your failings so you could go back and THEN revise it... Your example is the McVey fight. Fine lets take that for example. There are articles mentioning a ridiculous pie in the sky offer for Ketchel to fight McVea. However if you had done your homework you would know that no promoter in France at that time could have possibly paid Ketchel $30,000. Period end of story. Furthermore you would know that these "offers" pop up constantly in the old reports and more often than not mean nothing and come from nowhere. Just like the reports you see every few months nowadays of some top shelf fighter fighting in Dubai. You can pretty much discredit those off the bat. Furthermore, while you may have one newswire report that Ketchel was planning to fight Sam McVea in France you also have a lot more information from both Ketchel and other contemporary sources that he was done with fighting, his body was a wreck, he hadnt been particularly impressive since stopping Jack O'brien the previous year (and that includes his fourth fight against Papke which was disputed among some of the press). Yet you seize upon this spurious story about a fight with Mcvea as somehow proof that Ketchel was about to launch this campaign to fight Johnson for the HW title. And it was you who said that it was supposed to be a MW defense against McVea and you admitted that. So dont shoot the messenger and then agree with the message he delivered.

I still find it odd that you admit your mistakes and yet still expect me to tell people to purchase. If the book needs revision its obviously not a finished product, why should people be expected to pay for an unfinished product.