Category: Uncategorized
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#105: ‘The Promise of Women’s Boxing: A Momentous New Era for the Sweet Science’ by Malissa Smith
In The Promise of Women’s Boxing, the follow up to her book A History of Women’s Boxing, author Malissa Smith covers the international developments in women’s boxing between 2012 and 2014. The book is published by Rowman and Littlefield. (This will likely be my last book post for a while as I’m due to start…
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#104: ‘Fights’ by Steven J. Fowler
This 2nd edition of Steven J. Fowler‘s Fights was published in 2015 by Veer Books, and from what I understand is a more slimmed down, and considered, version of the 2011 1st edition (also Veer Books). I know Steven from when my life existed almost entirely beneath the shadow of poetry. This all seems so…
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#103: ‘Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye: 50 years in boxing’ by J. Russell Peltz
Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye is J. Russell Peltz’s look back at his 50-year career as a boxing promoter and matchmaker. Peltz took his first steps as a promoter in 1969, at the now legendary Blue Horizon in north Philadelphia. At the age of 22 this was, and still would be, a very bold…
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#102: ‘The Grass Arena’ by John Healy
The Grass Arena is the, at times, harrowing autobiography of John Healy, recounting his years living homeless with a severe alcohol addiction. I have been wanting to read this book for a few years now, after watching the documentary about Healy’s life, Barbaric Genius. I had intended it to be a break from reading solely…
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#101: ‘Boxer Handsome’ by Anna Whitwham
Boxer Handsome is Anna Whitwham’s debut novel and was published by Vintage in 2014. Whitwham’s grandfather was an amateur featherweight at the Crown and Manor Boy’s Club in Hoxton, east London, and his involvement with the sport was, no doubt, the seed of her own interest in boxing. The novel revolves around two protagonists: Bobby,…
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#100: ‘The 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing: The untold stories’ by Ferdie Pacheco
‘The 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing’ is Ferdie Pacheco’s attempt to list just that, 12 single rounds of boxing which he believes meet the following criteria: 1) Rounds that had a significant, lasting effect on the rules of boxing2) Rounds that affected a fighter’s career3) Rounds of international importance beyond their boxing significance4) Rounds in…
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#99: ‘Kill The Body, The Head Will Fall’ by Rene Denfeld
‘Kill The Body, The Head Will Fall: A closer look at women, violence, and aggression’ was written by Rene Denfeld, and published by Vintage in 1997. What a pleasant surprise this book turned out to be! I completely expected it to be a personal story about the author’s experiences as an amateur boxer (which I…
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#98: ‘Fighting Men of London: Voices From Inside The Ropes’ by Alex Daley
‘Fighting Men of London’ is the result of a project by Alex Daley, who realised that time was running out if anyone was going to record the career experiences and life stories of boxers from London whose professional careers spanned the 1940s and 50s. The book was published in 2014 by Pitch Publishing and contains…
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#97: ‘A History of Women’s Boxing’ by Malissa Smith
‘A History of Women’s Boxing’ by Malissa Smith is the defining publication of women’s participation in boxing, published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2014. Extraordinarily well researched, this book brings the reader details and stories of women prizefighters from as early as 1722, when Hannah Hyfield challenged Elizabeth Wilkinson Stokes to meet her at the…
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#96: ‘All The Battles’ by Mann Abu Taleb
‘All The Battles’ is a boxing-themed novel written by Maan Abu Taleb, published by Hoopoe Fiction in 2017 and translated into English by Robin Moger. The book follows advertising employee Saed Habjouqa as he develops an internet-based obsession with boxing, which eventually leads him to seek out a famed gym to train for himself. Not…
Writers on Boxing 