Boxing autobiographies

Recently I remembered just how much I like to read boxing autobiographies. I read them from other eras of life too, but I think I like boxing the most. The ones that I have read in the last three months are

Herbie Hide
Riddick Bowe
Teddy Atlas
Jack Johnson

These were such good stuff that I purchased a couple of more today, including John L. Sullivan and Roberto Duran. While I wait for them, I am starting Howard Cosell's memoir (not exactly boxing but close to it)

has anyone of you read any of these and/or are there some else that you would recommend?

 

I'm skeptical about reading an autobiography by any boxer. Just have a feeling it's another outlet to provide excuses for losses.

 

whiskey is correct. I read Will McIntyre's autobiography "Kid Fyre: Pugilistic Arsonist" and riveting though it was, he did harp a bit too much on the mafia influence which prohibited him from showing his true form against chumps he would have easily manhandled like Calzaghe and Rosenblatt.

 

not an autobiography but savage business is a good book

 

Larry Holmes - "Against The Odds"

James Corbett - "The Roar Of The Crowd"

Rocky Graziano - "Somebody Up There Likes Me"


Are all excellent autobiographies.

 

Calzaghes was good, I've read bits and pieces of Herbies and it was pretty interesting too as you say. Hattons was shit, half the time it was him finishing with "I'm just a normal bloke really" or "my fans like me because I'm one of them".

 

It is often true. By autobiographies I also meant books that are actually written by someone else (I don't know if English has a different word for them). Hide for example made several excuses in his book, but it was interesting read anyway since apart from them he seemed pretty honest and it became clear that he is really stupid. What I liked was that Hide seems to know it but doesn't let it bother him.

Atlas didn't make that many excuses, it was just that his book was mostly his own silly psychological theories and hero stories about street fighting (according to the book the only time he has lost to anyone seems to be one when he got hit with a tire iron).

The book about Jack Johnson was excellent. The writer had clearly put up some effort to search the matter and took Johnson's own stories with huge grain of salt

 

Is Holmes' book mostly about his fights, or does he also give opinions about the sport and/or society? Also, when has the Corbett one been written, is it his own words or has someone dug up information about him too? Thanks for the tips

 

Just biography, if it's written by somebody else. I haven't read many boxing books but I really enjoyed 'McIvanney on boxing'. Just a collection of Hugh McIvanney's newspaper articles from the late 50s through to 90s - very well written.

 

::

 

Didn't mean it condescendingly, was just letting him know. Generally, Ugo's English is better than mine.ld:

 

Yep, and even in a lot of autobiographies there is what's called a "ghost writer". Basically a professional who meets with the subject and then writes the book for them as most people don't have the abilities to put their thoughts on paper effectively.

 

Thanks. In Finnish there is only one word for such books. I think the best and worst books are the ones written by others: if the person doesn't know what the hell he is writing about, doesn't know any people near the subject etc. then naturally the book will suck too (I have read several such books unfortunately). However if the writer is a skilled historian, the book will be far more reliable than a one written by the subject himself

 

Jim Corbett's grandson, Bill lives in the Port Saint Lucie area here in Florida. Almost every guy I've trained has used his boxing show, which is always the first Saturday in June, as their first match (Amateur). I have another guy, who I'm training and the goal is to get into that show, too. June 2nd. Bill does an excellent job every year.

 

Yeah, I dug that book too

His take on the Hagler/Leonard fight mirrored my own

 

In general, I find the recollections of boxers frustrating and non-illuminating

I don't think there's ever been a fighter who legitimately lost a fight.

 

Yeah that was good. Read The Sweet Science By Leibling if you haven't already. You'd love it.

 

Liebling was the best boxing writer by far, no one else even comes close to him.

I loved "The Greatest" by Muhammad Ali, and "Victory Over Myself" by Floyd Patterson.

 

Agreed.Although Ernie Shaver's had some funny stories. Like on the undercard of Ali's last fight vs. Trevor Berbeck, he convinced this kid he was fighting that he was old and wanted the payday. He said let's take it easy and you can outwork me for a ud. Shavers proceeds to knock the kid the fuck out and after said "Welcome to the BIGTIME." OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

 

HAHA

I remember that, he was pretty like-able in his book, so was Larry Holmes in his

 

Holmes seemed to sort of fall into boxing. Amazing how many of them hate boxing Holmes, Norton, Roy Jones all have said they hate it the act of hitting people. Holmes said he found it distasteful to beat people up and never wanted to hurt anyone anymore than necessary. Most books from fighters are disingenuous slop. Plus you have to sift through all their religious crap like Nigel Benn, an insufferable bore. Oscar's book left a few things out, obviously::::

 

I'd like to read Reggie Strickland's autobiography.

 

Yeah, those were all in the boxers words, sometimes with an accompanying writer that I mentioned.

Holmes has opinions on just about everything. It was a really good read.

The Corbett book was done by him in the 20's. I was surprised by how good it was. Corbett was a real character and a smart guy. He did carry his own prejudices of the time. He hated Jack Johnson but was also very complimentary of other black boxers like Peter Jackson and Sam Langford.

Don't let the "Gentleman" nickname fool you. He was one of the earliest trashtalkers in the sport. He was quite the prick when he wanted to be. There is footage of him and Jack Johnson jawing at each other during the Johnson/Jeffries bout.

I'm guessing you read the Jack Johnson biography by Randy Roberts. The one supposedly written by Johnson was trash.

 

The Johnson biography was the more recent one by Geoffrey Ward: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. 450 pages of small print, but IMO very well written and with plenty of details about other fighters, promoters etc. His exchanges with Corbett are also well-described.

 

Why not Carlos Maussa's?

 

:laughing:

 

Reggie recently retained my artistic services for the cover-work.


Whatcha reckon??

 

I read the auto-bio of Bartley Gorman, who was the erstwhile King of the Gypsies at the time he died, its full of.............. "I was going to fight this guy but he didn't show up.....then I was going to fight this guy and it was a draw but everyone knows I won, and then I was going to fight for a Million Quid on a boat but we couldn't find a good-enough boat, and then I was going to challenge Ali but he ran down to Africa to fight Foreman and then he retired to avoid me"................


This kind of shit.

 

:: precisely

 

Ok, that would have been the other one. It's the companion piece to the Ken Burns documentary on Johnson.

I've actually got some credits in there for helping out on that one. As much as I like it, I believe he pretty much took the template of the earlier Randy Roberts book and expanded on it a bit.

I'd have to say the Roberts version is probably the better written of the two. At least it's a better read, and Roberts was the first to really delve into the various myths about Johnson.