Tag: boxing books
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#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…
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#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…
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#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…
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#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,…
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#79: ‘Somebody Ring the Bell!’ by Willie Toweel and Peter McInnes
‘Somebody Ring the Bell!’ is the autobiography of South African professional boxer Willie Toweel, co-authored by Peter McInnes. Willie Toweel, who boxed between 1953 and 1960, is a member (product?) of one of the 20th Century’s most famous boxing families. Willie and several of his brothers were born in South Africa to Lebanese parents, and…
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#78: ‘Brutal Artistry’ by Thomas Hauser
‘Brutal Artistry – Great Fighters and Great Fights’ is a collection of articles written by boxing-writing stalwart, Thomas Hauser. The book is set out in the following four sections: For those who are familiar with this blog, you may have noticed a lack of books specifically written about Muhammad Ali; of course, the many anthologies…
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#77: ‘Sweet Fighting Man – Volume 2’ by Melanie Lloyd
‘Sweet Fighting Man – Volume 2’ is the second instalment of Melanie Lloyd’s ‘Sweet Fighting Man’ series of interview-format books, in which she assembles self-recorded conversations with a selection of British professional boxers. Volume 2 features the following boxers:
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#76: ‘This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own’ by Jonathan Rendall
‘This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own – A Journey to the End of Boxing’ is Jonathan Rendall’s retelling of his own, slightly odd, fortuitous and short-lived, ramble through boxing. Books and stories like this are always going to appeal to me as I recognise myself in any author that has no ‘real’…
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#75: ‘Henry Armstrong – Boxing’s Super Champ’ by John Jarrett
‘Henry Armstrong – Boxing’s Super Champ’ is John Jarrett’s retelling of the career of genuine boxing legend Henry Armstrong, the only boxer to ever simultaneously hold world titles at three different weights. The book is published by Pitch Publishing. Along with Barbara Buttrick, Benny Leonard and Kid Chocolate, Henry Armstrong is one of the names…
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#74: ‘On The Ropes’ by Vernon Vanriel and Dougie Blaxland
‘On The Ropes’ is the story of former British professional boxer Vernon ‘The Entertainer’ Vanriel, co-written by Dougie Blaxland and directed by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour for its debut at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, north London. I haven’t posted for a while as I’ve been busy with work, and I’ve got a writing project of…
Writers on Boxing 