Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #27: ‘In Black and White’ by Donald McRae

    #27: ‘In Black and White’ by Donald McRae

    ‘In Black and White – The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens’ by Donald McRae is a brilliantly deep and thorough exploration of the tandem sporting careers and eventual friendship of sporting legends, boxer Joe Louis, and athletics all-rounder Jesse Owens. If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know just how highly I Read more

  • #26: ‘Jacobs Beach’ by Kevin Mitchell

    #26: ‘Jacobs Beach’ by Kevin Mitchell

    ‘Jacobs Beach – The Mob, the Garden & the Golden Age of Boxing’ by Kevin Mitchell focuses on the period during which Mike Jacobs was the talent booker for Madison Square Garden, at the time the only place to make a career as a top tier boxer. If you were a boxer in New York, Read more

  • #25: ‘The Road to Nowhere’ by Tris Dixon

    #25: ‘The Road to Nowhere’ by Tris Dixon

    ‘The Road to Nowhere – A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands’ by Tris Dixon is a record of Dixon’s travel across numerous U.S. states, attempting to speak to forgotten boxers. I have a special fondness for any book in which the author goes off on a quest to talk to a group of people before it’s Read more

  • #24: ‘The Whitechapel Whirlwind’ by John Harding

    #24: ‘The Whitechapel Whirlwind’ by John Harding

    ‘The Whitechapel Whirlwind’ by John Harding is the story of British-Jewish boxer Jack ‘Kid’ Berg. As with my previous post about Teddy Baldock, this book is a fantastic account of British boxing at a time where boxing gyms were found in numbers throughout the working-class areas of London, and other British cities, and boxing cards Read more

  • #23: ‘Teddy Baldock – The Pride of Poplar’ by Brian Belton

    #23: ‘Teddy Baldock – The Pride of Poplar’ by Brian Belton

    ‘Teddy Baldock – The Pride of Poplar’ by Brian Belton is the story of Britain’s youngest ever boxing world champion. Born at Poplar in east London in 1908, and coming from a family of fighters, Teddy Baldock went on to beat American Archie Bell at the Royal Albert Hall and take the world bantamweight title. Read more

  • #22: ‘In Sunshine or in Shadow’ by Donald McRae

    #22: ‘In Sunshine or in Shadow’ by Donald McRae

    ‘In Sunshine or in Shadow’ by Donald McRae is a book looking at the history of amateur boxing on both sides of the Troubles in Belfast and Northern Ireland, and the effect which the amateur eventually had on the pro game. Over the past two years Donald McRae has become one of my favourite authors Read more