Tag: british boxing
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#60: ‘The Boxer’s Heart’ by Kate Sekules
‘The Boxer’s Heart – A Woman Fighting’ is Kate Sekules’ first-hand account of boxing as a woman in London and New York in the very early days of women’s professional boxing, and at a time when women’s boxing was yet to be admitted to the Olympics. Sekules began boxing (perhaps just boxercise-style classes) at All…
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#54: ‘Unlicensed’ by Jon Hotten
‘Unlicensed – Random Notes from Boxing’s Underbelly’ by Jon Hotten. It’s funny how your brain does or, in fact, doesn’t work, but I have next to no recollection of reading this book! Though, please don’t take that as a judgement of its quality; I often binge when I’m interested in a subject, so it’s very…
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Latest eBay delivery – June
Looking forward to reading and blogging about these fantastic looking books form my latest eBay shopping spree. In the post were: * ‘Boxing – a Cultural History’ by Kasia Boddy* ‘Sweet Fighting Man – Volumes 1 & 2’ by Melanie Lloyd* ‘Saga of Sock’ by John V Grombach* ‘Brutal Artistry – Great Fighters and Great…
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#51: ‘The Tragedy of Randolph Turpin’ by Jack Birtley
‘The Tragedy of Randolph Turpin’ by Jack Birtley tells the story of British Middleweight Randolph Turpin’s rapid rise as a professional boxer, and the ultimately tragic end to his life. In 1951, Turpin shocked the boxing world by beating the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson to win the world middleweight title. This, unfortunately, was a high…
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#49: ‘Chatteris Thunderbolt’ by Bob Lonkhurst
‘Chatteris Thunderbolt – The Eric Boon Story’ is a biography of Eric Boon, written by Bob Lonkhurst. Despite going to secondary school in Chatteris and walking past a portrait of Dave ‘Boy’ Green everyday, and being very aware of his boxing legacy, I had never heard of Eric Boon – the original boxing Fen Tiger…
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#46: ‘Cashel Byron’s Profession’ by Bernard Shaw
‘Cashel Byron’s Profession’ is Bernard Shaw’s fictional life story of English champion bare knuckle fighter Cashel Byron. There are some interesting aspects to this story, namely the aspects around how bouts were arranged and held while under the scrutiny of the local authorities. Because of Bernard Shaw’s firm interest in boxing and its history, it…
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#45: ‘It’s your (basic) footwork’ by You Don’t Know
‘It’s your (basic) footwork’ is a short piece of writing and audio from writing collective You Don’t Know. I have been going back and forth with this post as it feels a little self-indulgent – it includes some writing by me and my wife Lizzy. In June 2022 we were invited to submit to KINETIC,…
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#44: ‘Sparring for Luck’ by Stephen ‘Johnny’ Hicks
‘Sparring for Luck’ by Stephen ‘Johnny’ Hicks is the confluence of what might be the three main areas of my cultural life over the past ten years: Socialism, poetry and boxing. This book tells the life story of Stepney-born Stephen Hicks, fortuitously found and published by The Tower Hamlets Arts Project. This is a story…
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#41: ‘Boxing Nostalgia’ by Alex Daley
‘Boxing Nostalgia – The Good, The Bad and The Weird’ is a collection of articles by Alex Daley, originally published in Boxing News. Between October 2015 and October 2018 Alex Daley authored a regular column for Boxing News, in which he compiled notes and stories about British boxing’s colourful past. This book is full of…
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#38: ‘King of the Gypsies’ – Bartley Gorman (with Peter Walsh)
‘King of the Gypsies’ is an attempt to document what is, frankly, the wild life story of bare knuckle fighter Bartley Gorman. I’ve said previously that I don’t seek out books about ‘hard men’ as they don’t appeal to me at all, but I’d heard enough about the character and personality of Gorman to pick…
Writers on Boxing 