The single best boxing book I have EVER read came out earlier this year. THE ARC OF BOXING, THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE SWEET SCIENCE by MIKE SILVER. Its a bit pricey but anyone who even so much as purports to be a boxing fan has to read this book. Stunning. This content is protected
I have it. It's an interesting read but so biased beyond belief. Fighters like Duran are actually played down to the extenet that he couldn't have coped with the fighters from 20's and 30's. After reading the take on Hopkins in the book, he'd just be a club level fighter in the 40's and 50's. Skillwise, so many better fighters going around. Hundreds of Bernard's were going around back then.
Well you'll be dissapointed by Nelson's book then, interesting story but the quality of the storytelling comes into play and ruins it for me. I have some really good ones of them 100 greatest fighter types though, i certainly have some not so good ones, but like i said, some very well researched ones also.
Afew people have said its a funny good story but i can believe his story telling isnt great hes abit wooden on TV i dont think he has much emotion. Its just more the genric 100 greatest ones i got from my school library when i first got into boxing i memorised there names and looked them up on Youtube it was invaluable for me getting to know the common fighters you couldnt recommend afew Top 100s and Enclyopedia things for me could you
Well there's this one i got years ago called 'The World Encyclopedia of Boxing-The Definitive Illustrated Guide', it's more one of them that you mentioned that gets you into the sport though. My one goes up until 1999, but i saw a friend's version lately that was recent, so it apparently gets updated all the time. Really these type of books aren't going to be of too much worth to you now though, as you seem to be past that point in terms of knowledge on the game and its history. One of the first one's i got is called 'A Century of Boxing Greats, Inside the Ring with the Hundred Best Boxers', when i first read that i thought i knew it all, then i got this one called 'Lords of the Ring, the Greatest Fighters Since 1950', and that was the first place i read that Ezzard Charles was actually a great 175 pound fighter. That one goes more in depth in terms of pure boxing terms but on lesser subjects. This is all years ago and since then i've simply read everything in my path on reading wrecking mission. Like i said though, you're past this that level now me thinks. By the way, get the Burley book that I reccomended you, not the other one!!!!!
Forgot to mention the Nigel Benn autobiography, absolute dog****! Loved him as a fighter and I met him in in '90 and '92 and he was a lovely guy. But in the book he came across as a right wannabe gangster. Very badly wrote considering the career of Benn and the material they had to work with.
cheers for that i just like reading top 100 lists and that you never know you mgith find some decent fighter you havent seen alot of i will get that Burley book after i get peps book it was shite all he thinks about is shagging. im sure
its pretty rubbish all about the amazing girls he pulled while being a tough guy from the street in the army and how naturally gifted boxer he was
yeh i think to some 16 year old the best bit was when he spoke about the German girls lets just say im planning a holiday to Germany
its a colloquial word actually. :rofl:rofl this is not good. One must say i would like it if you stopped.