Best Boxing Books You've Read

[MEGAhorse]

Charley Burley and the Black Murderers' Row - Harry Otty - great book on a rare subject, but very biased. A whole entire chapter dedicated just to Sugar Ray Robinson titled 'Robinson ducks.'

Charley Burley, The Life & Hard Times of an Uncrowned Champion - Allen Rosenfeld - more neutral, covers his freak show fight in depth with J.D. Turner - which is played up a lot more than it should have been.

Boxing - Edwin Haislett - Bible of boxing, perfect companion guide while working with a coach, some is slightly outdated.

Tao of Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lee - took everything from Boxing by Haislett and applied it to a free rule fighting system. Incredibly well researched. One of the few books including a southpaw's perspective!!

 

[sohocanaan22]

Anything by A.J. Liebling.

- The Sweet Science
- A Neutral Corner
- Just Enough Liebling (but that has articles on other stuff too...)

This^!!!! One of the all-time greatest American writers. Doesn't matter if you're the slightest bit interested in his subject matter, he turns everything into solid gold: Boxing (see above), Parisian gourmet restaurants (Between Meals), southern politics (The Earl of Louisiana), NYC grifters and con-artists (Telephone Booth Indians).

 

[treelo]

how did they live after boxing? good/ bad? I'd assume, like fighters anywhere it would be the latter.

get the book and read it

they are given special privileges when they are fighting and are treated a lot better than the majority of the populous

they live a celebrity like status once retired(as much as being a celebrity as you can get in Cuba anyway)

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

Earnie Shavers: Welcome To The Big Time. It's amazing how far a guy can go in the HW division if he just hits really hard. The guy definitely comes across as a hustlin' type of guy but there are some funny fucking stories in there.

 

[mozfonky]

Earnie Shavers: Welcome To The Big Time. It's amazing how far a guy can go in the HW division if he just hits really hard. The guy definitely comes across as a hustlin' type of guy but there are some funny fucking stories in there.

ya, i read the intro where he tricked Jeff Merris (?) into getting knocked out, i always meant to read it after that. Earnie is a super sweet guy. After Ali had his renaissance at the olympics, there came out a spate of books by his rivals from the era, they all illustrated what intelligent men fighters can be.

 

[mozfonky]

get the book and read it

they are given special privileges when they are fighting and are treated a lot better than the majority of the populous

they live a celebrity like status once retired(as much as being a celebrity as you can get in Cuba anyway)

I'm surprised they get treated well, Castro isn't known for a lot of kindness. My first boxing gym had one of the cuban exiles training there, he was kind of a loose cannon from what I remember and supposedly a murderer I think. He fought Pat Jefferson and was mouthing off about wanting to fight Arguello (who Jefferson had just lost to). I thought he was delusional at the time, but I guess he did fight Jefferson and must have been somewhat good. I read that he died after getting hit by a car and that he'd become a well liked, homeless guy in the town he went to. Sad, just all of it, I remember the last time I saw him, some police were trying to goad him into a fight.

 

[mozfonky]

Earnie Shavers: Welcome To The Big Time. It's amazing how far a guy can go in the HW division if he just hits really hard. The guy definitely comes across as a hustlin' type of guy but there are some funny fucking stories in there.

Also, I'm alway surprised how skilled earnie was when i look back at the tapes. In that era even a guy who "just had a punch" had real skills.

 

[clashnat]

Also, I'm alway surprised how skilled earnie was when i look back at the tapes. In that era even a guy who "just had a punch" had real skills.

I'm not sure if I buy that. Sounds like another romanticizing look "the old era was so great, even journeymen were twice as good as as legit title contenders in later eras"

 

[mozfonky]

I'm not sure if I buy that. Sounds like another romanticizing look "the old era was so great, even journeymen were twice as good as as legit title contenders in later eras"

I'm just telling you what I saw and what I expected to see and there was a disparity. I expected a guy who only had a big right hand, what I saw was a professional who had good inside skills, good combination punches and good composure, he did however have bad stamina which dogged him throughout his career.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I'm not sure if I buy that. Sounds like another romanticizing look "the old era was so great, even journeymen were twice as good as as legit title contenders in later eras"

I think most would admit the HW division in Shaver's era was among the best eras of that division in history.

 

[Seano]

I think most would admit the HW division in Shaver's era was among the best eras of that division in history.

Sure, but that doesn't mean that era didn't have its share of mediocre guys. Shavers wasn't really a standout of that era other than his huge power. He had a few OK wins and was in some fun fights but the same could be said of say, Ruslan Provodnikov today. Alot of fighters from that era weren't really techinically all that good if you think on it. Jerry Quarry for example. George Chuvalo.

 

[mozfonky]

chuvalo and quarry get a bad rap because they happened to be in the era of the white fighter as a punching bag. On one hand, people wanted a great white hope and when they failed they just became "the great white hopeless" a "bum" a "punching bag with eyes". Interesting how the opponents felt different. Ali went on the record saying Chuvalo gave him his toughest fight during his first tenure as champion.