Up for the count.

July 7, 2008 3:05 AM

Awesome books about boxers, and the age they lived in?

I just polished off Tunney. The book won points with me because it strayed from its subject, the somewhat prosaic, braniac Gene Tunney, into riffs on the colorful Jack Dempsey, and extended passages on American history of the 1910s and 20s.

I'm looking for additional great books on boxers that also include an overview of the historical milieu.

What boxing books have floated your boat?

posted by Gordion Knott to sports, hobbies, & recreation (17 comments total)

Black Ajax by George MacDonald Fraser.
posted by crocomancer at 3:20 AM on July 7

"Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times" by Thomas Hauser. Or "King of the World" by David Remnick, also on Ali's life and times. Both superbly written.
posted by Holly at 3:32 AM on July 7

It's not a book, but rather a collection of essays by perhaps the greatest boxing writer of all time: The Sweet Science by AJ Liebling. Liebling wrote primarily for the New Yorker, and his essays on mid-century boxing are absolutely wonderful.

I also enjoyed David Remnick's (also of the New Yorker) biography of Muhammad Ali.

I did not really care for Nick Tosches' biography of Sonny Liston. I believe that boxing is a sport that lends itself to exceptional writing, more so perhaps than any sport other than baseball (maybe more than baseball), and I simply don't think Tosches has the writing chops necessary to stand up to Liebling, Talese, Mailer, et al.

Speaking of which, you should check out Norman Mailer's The Fight on the Rumble in the Jungle.

I'm moreover absolutely certain I've read other wonderful essays on boxing by Mailer and Gay Talese, and perhaps Tom Wolfe as well, but I can't find those right now. There is this one, I am pretty sure it was Talese, about Floyd Patterson, the guy Liston beat to become Heavyweight Champion, that is amazing. It should be at least in one of the collections of Talese's writing, which are worth reading anyways. If you aren't familiar with his work, you must read "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" from the April 1966 issue of Esquire.
posted by ecab at 3:34 AM on July 7

There's a short story by Jack London called, "a piece of steak" which seems to be online here. The collection of short stories its in really capture the hard age they're about, although this is the only one about boxing. its a great story anyway.
posted by galactain at 3:38 AM on July 7

The Talese essay I mentioned is called "The Loser" and is from Esquire in 1960, but I still can't find it online.

I also recommend the essay by George Plimpton called "Three With Moore" but I can't find it online either. It's about Archie Moore, another great old heavyweight.
posted by ecab at 3:46 AM on July 7

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward.

(film version)
posted by jammy at 4:26 AM on July 7

also, the Muhammad Ali Handbook by Dave Zirin.
posted by jammy at 4:45 AM on July 7

The Sixteenth Round is an excellent autobiography by Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter. He wrote it from prison, where he was wrongfully incarcerated for almost twenty years. It offers first person historical insight into being an African American youth in the 1940s as well as the political and social climate of the 1960s that sent an obviously innocent black man to jail.
posted by farishta at 5:37 AM on July 7

You might want to read the play "Golden Boy" by Clifford Odets. There may be a film as well.
posted by amtho at 5:38 AM on July 7

Seconding 'The Fight' by Norman Mailer. It's more than just a book about boxing.
posted by MrMustard at 6:50 AM on July 7

It's a bit more about the man than the fight, but Douglas Century's biography of Barney Ross -- who went from errand boy to Al Capone, to boxing champion, to war hero, to drug addict -- is a page turner. Ross himself also penned (with some help) No Man Stands Alone, which is more romanticized, but still an interesting read.
posted by j-dawg at 7:28 AM on July 7

Not a book, but here's a classic piece of pugilistic reading you may well enjoy - the great essayist William Hazlitt's account his journey to and enjoyment of the 1821 prizefight between William Neate and Thomas Hickman, "The Gasman."
posted by Abiezer at 8:48 AM on July 7

Seconding 'Unforgivable Blackness'--it's great. And I just read 'The Rough Guide to Muhammad Ali,' which, while short, and not a conventional narrative, might be related to what you have in mind. 'Ali Rap' might be worth glancing through as well.

And Joyce Carol Oates' 'On Boxing,' although it's not precisely what you're looking for, is worth looking at, especially if you like Oates.

To piggyback on your question a little: what's the best book about Mike Tyson?
posted by box at 10:39 AM on July 7

Give this 1894 title a look, (cool photographs too):

Portrait gallery of pugilists of America and their contemporaries from James J. Corbett to Tom Hyer with Biographical Sketches.
posted by mfoight at 11:53 AM on July 7

A couple of other goodies:

- Floyd Paterson wrote an autobiography. He's obsessive and crazy and interesting.

- Avoid Bert Sugar like the plague - dull, dull, dull.

- Looking for a fight is about a woman who trained to box in the 90s, and is a great overview of what modern boxing is like: http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Fight-Lynn-Snowden-Picket/dp/0385315848

= Joe Lansdale published the Big Blow, about Jack Johnson and the Galveston hurrican. It is deeply weird and deeply cool http://www.amazon.com/Big-Blow-Joe-R-Lansdale/dp/1892284987
posted by beezy at 12:01 PM on July 7

Also, this book about bare knuckle fighting in Britian in the late 19th century. Can be a little dry, but fascinating as a comparison of the US vs. the UK.

http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Fists-History-Knuckle-Fighting/dp/158567141X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215457344&sr=1-1
posted by beezy at 12:03 PM on July 7

@ box: it's not a book, but Pimping Mike Tyson by Dave Zirin is a short but thought-provoking essay.
posted by jammy at 1:00 PM on July 7