Recommend me a book on boxing?

[xenon]

Trying to think of Christmas presents, hopefully visiting relatives. My uncle reads a fair bit, mainly history but I know he likes boxing too. Watched the last Tyson Fury fight with him.

So any decent books, boxing history, stories of classic bouts, fighters etc? I'll have to check with my cousin he hasn't got them already probably but yeah.

 

[souljacker]

Norman Mailer, The Fight, is excellent.

 

[Steel Icarus]

 

[The39thStep]

When We Were Kings doc on the Ali Frazier fight is magnificent watch

The Black Lights - Hauser is a good read on profession boxing

 

[hitmouse]

Turns out Joyce Carol Oates is a massive boxing fan, and has a book about it which is meant to be good (not read it myself but had it recommended by someone who cares about boxing more than I do):

ON BOXING PB (P.S.): Amazon.co.uk: Oates, Joyce Carol: 9780060874506: Books

Buy ON BOXING PB (P.S.) Reprint by Oates, Joyce Carol (ISBN: 9780060874506) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

Also, for the boxing/history crossover, maybe he'll have tons of books about Ali already, but Redemption Song by Mike Marqusee is included in the Verso sale:

Redemption Song

When Muhammad Ali died, many mourned the life of the greatest sportsman the world had ever seen. In Redemption Song, Mike Marqusee argues that Ali was not just a boxer but a remarkable political figure in a decade of tumultuous change. Playful, popular, always confrontational, Ali refashioned...

www.versobooks.com

 

[Numbers]

View attachment 300235

x 2 - great book.

 

[Numbers]

3 I'd personally recommend are:

A.J. Liebling - The Sweet Science
Liebling is probably the greatest writer of the Sweet Science. This book was even voted as one of the greatest sports books of all time.

Kevin Mitchell - Jacobs Beach, The Mob, The Garden & The Golden Age of Boxing
Stunning book, Mike Jacobs was the boss of boxing at The Garden around the time of the Mob and Rat Pack era.
You won't put it down.

Budd Schulberg - Ringside, A Treasury of Boxing Reportage
A bountiful collection of the most memorable boxing stories by this legend in sports writing, from bare knuckle to Mike Jacobs, Louis and Ali in the social context of their times, then more modern eras (Tyson, Holyfield, De La Hoya etc.)