Tag: books
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#73: ‘Boxer: An anthology of Writings on Boxing and Visual Culture’
Edited by David Chandler, John Gill, Tania Guha and Gilane Tawadros, ‘Boxer’ was published to accompany an exhibition of the same name at Walsall Museum and Art Gallery (29 July – 10 September 1995). This anthology of essays stands out within my collection as it’s the first boxing-related book I’ve read which can be described…
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#72: ‘Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers’ by Stephen McGrath
‘Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers’ is the story of Sharman’s legendary Australian travelling boxing troupe, written by Stephen McGrath and published 1 September by Big Sky Publishing. This book is the culmination of many years’ worth of research by McGrath, and it portrays the lives of many historical characters, while employing some fictional figures, in order to…
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#71: ‘Corey Fah Does Social Mobility’ by Isabel Waidner
‘Corey Fah Does Social Mobility’ is Isabel Waidner’s fourth novel, and is published by Hamilton Hamish. It’s a bank holiday weekend here in the UK and as a work-free-three-day-treat I thought I’d put down the boxing books (for the first time in two years) and indulge in my previous obsession: Experimental fiction. I’ve been following…
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#70: ‘No Middle Ground’ by Sanjeev Shetty
‘No Middle Ground – Eubank, Benn, Watson and the Last Golden Era of British Boxing’ is Sanjeev Shetty’s attempt to document the influential period of British boxing from the late 1980s through to the 1990s, which was dominated by a number of talented middleweights. I don’t put too much thought into the order in which…
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#69: ‘Rope Burns – One Man’s Reluctant Obsession with Boxing’ by Ian Probert
‘Rope Burns’ is Ian Probert’s story of a life stalked, shadowed and punctuated by professional boxing. Probert describes himself as a reluctant boxing fan and this book is an attempt to avoid writing about boxing; so much so that if it weren’t for the ‘Rules of Boxing’ which end each chapter, you might wonder during…
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#68: ‘Boxing – A Cultural History’ by Kasia Boddy
‘Boxing – A Cultural History’ is Kasia Boddy’s comprehensive attempt to document boxing’s influence over, and its own responses to, the many cultures it has existed in. It is published by Reaktion Books. First off, I have to say that this blog isn’t really an adequate space in which to attempt any form of response…
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#67: ‘Born To Box – The Extraordinary Story of Nipper Pat Daly’ by Alex Daley
‘Born To Box’ is Alex Daley’s affectionate portrait of his grandfather, ‘Nipper’ Pat Daly, published by Pitch Publishing. If you were to come across the life and career of ‘Nipper’ Pat Daly on the TV or in the cinema, you’d dismiss it as ludicrous and beyond farcical. Nipper made his pro boxing debut in 1923…
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#66: ‘Knock Out! – The True Story of Emile Griffith’ by Reinhard Kleist
‘Knock Out!’ is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Reinhard Kleist. Kleist also authored ‘The Boxer’, which I have covered previously, in post #11. Emile Griffith is the boxer I have covered most in this blog and probably the one sports person I’ll never get bored reading, thinking and writing about. I’m sure there…
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#65: ‘The Fight’ by William Hazlitt
‘The Fight’ by William Hazlitt is, alongside the writing of Egan Pierce, one of the most quoted and cited boxing essays, informing boxing writers for over two hundred years. This essay is, as a young lad working on the building site I’m currently on says, a stone cold classic! I don’t know how many times…
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#64: ‘Sweet Fighting Man’ by Melanie Lloyd
‘Sweet Fighting Man – Inside Stories from British Boxers’ is a collection of 14 interviews with former British boxers, compiled by Melanie Lloyd. Book the first in what is now a series of three books. I ordered the second volume at the same time as the first so that will feature on the blog sometime…
Writers on Boxing 