Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #99: ‘Kill The Body, The Head Will Fall’ by Rene Denfeld

    #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… Read more

  • #98: ‘Fighting Men of London: Voices From Inside The Ropes’ by Alex Daley

    #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… Read more

  • #97: ‘A History of Women’s Boxing’ by Malissa Smith

    #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… Read more

  • #96: ‘All The Battles’ by Mann Abu Taleb

    #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… Read more

  • #95: ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ by Stewart Home

    #95: ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ by Stewart Home

    ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ is Stewart Home’s attempt at piecing together the mysterious life of infamous cat burglar Raymond Jones. The book was originally published as a limited edition run of 500 copies by Test Centre, now known as Prototype Publishing. The book is now available from Cripplegate Books. (I used… Read more

  • #94: ‘Not Just A Game – Sporting Poetry’ edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke

    #94: ‘Not Just A Game – Sporting Poetry’ edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke

    ‘Not Just A Game’ is an anthology of sporting poems, collected and edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke, and published by Five Leaves press in 2006. I was questioning whether to post about this book as there are only three boxing-related poems, by two authors, in a collection with 200+ pages. However, I do… Read more