Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #85: ‘The Final Round’ by Jane Couch and Abi Smith

    #85: ‘The Final Round’ by Jane Couch and Abi Smith

    ‘The Final Round’ is the autobiography of Jane Couch, co-written by Abi Smith and published by Pitch Publishing. It feels like perfect timing that I am writing this blog post about the autobiography of one of the most influential women boxers in recent history, while my wife and I are at one of the world’s Read more

  • #84: ‘Bella of Blackfriars’ by Leslie Bell

    #84: ‘Bella of Blackfriars’ by Leslie Bell

    ‘Bella of Blackfriars’ is Leslie Bell’s biography of the first woman to work as a boxing promoter in Britain. Bella Burge was born (Leah Belle Orchard) to British parents in New York in 1877 before moving, with her mother, to Whitechapel, London when she was four years old. By the age of 11 Bella was Read more

  • #83: ‘Slaughter in the Streets – When Boston Became Boxing’s Murder Capital’ by Don Stradley

    #83: ‘Slaughter in the Streets – When Boston Became Boxing’s Murder Capital’ by Don Stradley

    ‘Slaughter in the Streets’ is Don Stradley’s whistlestop tour of 20th-Century Boston’s murky links to organised crime, and its often fatal links to boxing. It is published by Hamilcar Noir which is fast becoming one of my favourite publishers. To paraphrase my old nan: This book is just one bloody thing after another! Beginning with Read more

  • #82: ‘Ring Battles of the Century’ by Gilbert E. Odd

    #82: ‘Ring Battles of the Century’ by Gilbert E. Odd

    ‘Ring Battles of the Century’ by Gilbert E. Odd is a collection of fight reports, embellished by further musings meant to contextualise these reports. The overarching theme of the book is that Odd has selected the most outstanding and colourful contests in ring history for the past thirty years [the early 20th Century]. I don’t Read more

  • #81: ‘Dog Rounds – Death and Life in the Boxing Ring’ by Elliot Worsell

    #81: ‘Dog Rounds – Death and Life in the Boxing Ring’ by Elliot Worsell

    ‘Dog Rounds – Death and Life in the Boxing Ring’ is Elliot Worsell’s commendable, yet perhaps uncomfortable, exploration of the darkest side of the sport of boxing: when tragedy strikes and a boxer is profoundly injured or killed. The book is framed by the ill-fated bout between Chris Eubank Jr and Nick Blackwell, March 2016, Read more

  • #80: ‘Pugilism in Petticoats: Women and Prize-Fighting in Victorian Britain’ by Grace Di Méo

    #80: ‘Pugilism in Petticoats: Women and Prize-Fighting in Victorian Britain’ by Grace Di Méo

    ‘Pugilism in Petticoats: Women and Prizefighting in Victorian Britain’ by Grace Di Méo originally appeared in Volume 27, Issue 4 of the Journal of Victorian Culture, October 2022. This article attempts to add to the growing body of research into the role played by women in the early development of boxing, during the late-Georgian period Read more