Boxing Book Reviews

First topic message reminder :

Mentioned this on a thread the other day that it would be nice if posters who enjoyed reading about the sport could post reviews of books they have read be they positive or negative and hopefully we will be able to build up a decent library of reviews we can use to inform future purchases. As someone who buys a lot of books I will offer a couple to get the ball rolling and hopefully a few others can follow suit, here’s hoping it catches on.

Sam Langford – Boxing’s greatest uncrowned champion – Clay Moyle

Before reading Moyle’s book I’ll be honest my knowledge of Langford was limited. Often saw his name and achievements spoken of with hushed reverence on various websites but probably always harboured the suspicion he was one of those names people throw out to look cool and knowledgeable, like Harry Greb who we now all know did not actually exist. However on the back of reading this outstanding book about Sam I am absolutely convinced he deserves every bit of the esteem he is often afforded. For those unfamiliar with Sam’s story although he stood little more than 5ft 7 he fought anyone and everyone between the lightweight and heavy and his record reads as a who’s who of the era containing as it does names like Gans, Walcott, Ketchel and Johnson as long as multiple battles at heavy with guys like Jeannette, Wills and McVea, despite the fact all of these last few guys held significant size and weight advantages over him.

Moyle has done a truly outstanding job in telling Sam’s story. In my experience of reading a lot about the old timers one of the common pitfalls authors fall into is, through the sheer volume of fights these guys had is writing books that read as little more than lists. The great strength of this book is Moyle avoids the text becoming too dry by offering a flavour of Sam’s personality outside the ring and serving up some genuinely amusing anecdotes which serve to portray Sam as a genuinely likeable guy, which only serves to make his failure to secure the title shots his talent surely deserved all the more heartbreaking.

Moyle covers all the major fights and rivalries in Sam’s life such as Gans, Walcott and Ketchel in admirable detail and provides valuable background to these fights which gives the fights a context otherwise lacking from the raw results. Moyle also gives detailed coverage and analysis of Sam’s long running but ultimately futile attempts to secure a title shot with heavyweight champion Jack Johnson which, for me certainly provided me with a fresh perspective on why this fight failed to come off.

I really cannot recommend Clay’s book highly enough; it is superbly written, well illustrated and exhaustively researched. For anyone with an interest in old time fighters or just wanting to know more about one of the most remarkable fighters to ever step through the ropes Moyle’s book is nigh on essential.

The Life and Crimes of Don King – Jack Newfield

As one of the most colourful and larger than life characters to ever (dis)grace the sport of boxing it is almost impossible to not have an opinion on Don King. He has led a life that truly deserves the tagline that you could not make it up. Don started out as a numbers czar in his native Cleveland before killing a man who owed him money, a crime he was jailed for. On his release Don, through his friendship with musician Lloyd Price, gained an introduction to Muhammad Ali and within a matter of years he had risen from freshly released convict to the premier boxing promoter in the world.

Whilst Don’s rise to prominence was truly remarkable, some of the measures he took to achieve this rise were equally as remarkable and in telling the story of that rise Newfield does not shy away from showing Don’s not inconsiderable dark side it all its questionable glory. It is all here, his ripping off of Holmes, his rigged ABC tournament, his under the table deals with Apartheid era South Africa, his exploitation of Mike Tyson and his part in putting together some of the biggest matches in boxing history.

Despite all the gory details of Don’s less than ethical business practices Newfield balances this with being willing to give credit where it is due. He acknowledges that few, if any can out negotiate or out work Don and when one considers Don listened to the first Ali Frazier fight in prison and co-promoted the third you cannot help but agree that whatever his myriad faults Don is obviously a truly remarkable promoter, and it would be naive and not more than a little inaccurate to suggest that prior to King’s emergence boxing was free from corruption as quite clearly it wasn’t.

Overall for anyone with a history in the heavyweight division of the last 40 years or who has asked themselves the question “why do so many great fighters end up skint?” Newfield’s book should serve to offer up some answers. Don, perhaps inevitably does not come out of it smelling of roses but is still a fascinating portrait of a fascinating character.

Good to see you back, Andy.

I was given McGuigan's book as a Christmas present and largely agree with you - a decent read, very easy to get in to and whip through in no time at all, but afterwards you don't really feel as if you've learned anything new about him, his life or his career that you didn't already know. All of those aspects have been covered in such depth by other people in the media that you're just waiting for McGuigan to show you that little bit extra, but he never does.

Very sincere and frank, as you'd expect from him, and worth a look if you're a big McGuigan fan, but lacking that bit extra to really make it stand out and not a book many would be in a rush to have a second look at, I reckon.

Got to agree re Barry Mc. Think when you are expecting people to shell out to buy as book to skim over the Eastwood affair with little more than "enough has been said about that elsewhere so I'll not add to it" is not really good enough.

Did enjoy the No Ordinary Joe reference though. Love how it has become the benchmark by which all bad boxing books are judged.

Sadly, I believe that "It's all about me - The Tyson Fury Story" will eclipse "No Ordinary Joe"

Rowley wrote:Did enjoy the No Ordinary Joe reference though. Love how it has become the benchmark by which all bad boxing books are judged.

Remember, 46-0 (the amount of pages you have to get in to the book before you come across a half-interesting comment).

Might start referencing DLH’s book in its place for a while. A bit of variety never goes a miss. Benn’s biography is pretty poor as well to be fair.

Still working my way through Hauser, it is currently extolling the virtues of Islam. Very hard work.

Next up for me will be "My Greatest Fight" by Ken Gorman, I managed to get a hardback copy off Amazon for £2.80

It is a collection of 40 stories about famous fights, including the obvious such as Ali v Foreman, Hagler v Hearns, Moore v Durelle, and some left field selections such as Hamed v Robinson, McCrory v Lumumba and Hide v Bentt. Written with the assistance of the fighters themselves, it should be a cracking read.

Anyone read it?

I haven't read it Union. May have to though as I take it as a personal affront when someone has read something on here I haven't.

Tend to agree re the islam stuff in Hauser. Read it the first time as the NOI theories are so ridiculous I found them amusing but have to admit I skipped that section the second time I read the book.

You do love a boxing bargain book don't you. Think the best ones I got were in Oxfam in York. Got a Georges Carpentier and Archie Moore biography from the 50s for £3 each.

I got a John L Sullivan book from an antique shop in a place called Saffron Walden. £1.75.

Good work Tina. Which one is it. Need another Sullivan book. Have only got Adam Pollack's, which whilst outstanding tends, as do all his books, to stick pretty exclusively to their in ring activity and Sully is an interesting enough character outside the ring to warrant reading about.

Rowley wrote:Good work Tina. Which one is it. Need another Sullivan book. Have only got Adam Pollack's, which whilst outstanding tends, as do all his books, to stick pretty exclusively to their in ring activity and Sully is an interesting enough character outside the ring to warrant reading about.

Someone wrote a great review of it a while ago.  Save you looking, here you go;

Tina wrote:John L Sullivan and his America.

Just finished a book on John L Sullivan by a guy called Micheal Isenburg. If any of you have an interest in John L then I can recommend this one. It is look at his early life, his tough Irish-American immigrant upbringing in Boston, and moves on to his bare knuckle career and centres around the marathon scrap with Jake Killrain in Mississippi. It paints a great picture of the America that he was growing up in and the transition of prizefighting from an "underground" scene to a more mainstream activity.

I would describe large sections of the book as a sociological look at America and the changes going on at the time, but uses John L as a vehicle to move through the scene. There are some great accounts of his prizefighting, and some fabulous anecdotes from a truly diverse cast. The book shows just how famous John L was in his day, rising from an immigrant underclass to friendship with Theodore Roosevelt, but does not gloss over the deep character flaws that plagued Sullivan, and the drunkenness, wife beating etc etc that come as baggage attached to John L is not dismissed.

It paints John L as the national hero that he was and really gives a good insight into the times that he grew up in. Although the narrative is a touch "academic" at times, the book really is entertaining and brings the era, the man and all his myths to life.

Good read.

Why are you wasting your time reading books? Most of the best fights are on telly these days (copyright Lumbering Jack).

Probably should not be the case but for some reason that comment annoyed me to a ridiculous amount this morning. Is such a specious, moronic statement to make.

I know there are a couple of fans of Adam Pollack’s series of books on the early heavyweight champions on here, myself included so for those that have followed the series, after what has been an all too long a wait the first of his books on Jack Johnson has finally been released. Based on the size of the previous books Johnson’s was always likely to be a chunky old affair and that certainly appears to be the case. The book weighs in at 720 pages, and apparently this is only the first volume, with another to follow.

I have not read the book yet, but will do in due course and will review it when I have done. However as anyone who ever reads my reviews or this section will know I am a huge fan of this series and am in no doubt the Johnson volume will live up to the high standards set thus far.

Joe Jennette - Boxing's Ironman - Joe Botti

One of the great, but slightly depressing things about reading a book like this is the stark realization of how little you actually know about the subject matter. Having read a decent chunk about Jack Johnson and Sam Langford I thought I had a decent grip on the career and abilities of Joe Jennette. On the back of reading Joe Botti’s excellent biography on the man I have to admit I was wrong. Jennette emerges as a much better fighter than I ever imagined and a truly immense figure outside of the ring.

Botti makes the unusual decision to write the book from Joe’s perspective and as if Joe is writing the book, which for a non ghost written book of a long dead fighter does take some getting used to. Early in the piece I frequently found myself asking how the author could have known what Jennette was thinking in a given situation. However you quick come to realise the sheer wealth of research Botti has done and that based on countless interviews with Joe’s surviving relatives it is not that great a leap to assume to know Joe’s opinions on his career.

As most of us will know, if Joe is known at all now it is as one of the triumvirate of fighters, along with McVea and Langford who Jack Johnson refused to fight as champion. What comes through is how the sense of optimism they all felt when Johnson won the title soon turned into frustration when it became apparent Johnson had no intention of giving them the opportunity Burns had given him. Before reading the book I had always assumed if anyone was likely to get a shot or topple Johnson it would be Langford, whilst this may still be true it is probably also true of Jennette whose form and true ability I was perhaps guilty of underestimating, even as a novice he had always pushed Johnson close and even held a win over him in his pre title days, with more experience and size on his shoulders who knows how a title shot may have gone.

Whilst Jennette may not have had Johnson’s brash arrogance or Langford’s ready way with a quip outside the ring is life is no less interesting. Joe was married for 50 years to a white woman, marrying in an era where not only was this frowned upon but was illegal in many states. When one considers the opportunities denied him in the ring and the prejudice Jennette endured outside the ring one could forgive him for being bitter or lashing out, Joe did nothing of the sort. The dignity he appears to have retained throughout his career speaks volumes of the man.

One frequent criticism I have of boxing books is how quickly they skip through a fighters post boxing career and life. Botti is not guilty of this, Jennette went on to be a successful coach and businessman post boxing and Botti covers this in detail, whilst Joe may have never been afforded the opportunities his career in his life, his work with Georges Carpentier and Jimmy Braddock as a trainer will hopefully have provided him some satisfaction in his later life.

Overall I enjoyed this book enormously, as anyone who has read Unforgivable Blackness or the excellent Sam Langford biography this book is an essential and welcome companion piece. It contains a mass of rarely seen photos and a full ring record as should all boxing biographies. If someone could kindly complete the set and do a biography on Sam McVea now I would be most grateful.

Nice review, Jeff, and a bit scary to think that even you were made to feel a little bit red-faced at how the book made you realise how much you still had to learn about Jeannette given your knowledge of the Heavies. Suffice to say I'll be made to feel even more of a novice if / when I read this one.

Having read 'Unforgivable Blackness' though I guess the Jeannette book would be a decent next step, as you say. Just finished Randy Roberts' book on Joe Louis.....Is there a review for that one yet?

No mate, I have read it but have not reviewed it. Roberts is a decent writer. Have got his book on Dempsey which is worth a read. Have got Adam Pollack's book on Johnson arriving at the end of the month. A bit scared by the 700 page length, particularly as it is only volume 1.

Hello Chaps!!

Just thought I would drop by quick and mention that we are going to be putting a 'Book Of The Month' into our soon to launch magazine. It will start in Feb's edition and basically it will just be a case of me lifting a review from on here and placing it into the magazine.

Also given how it seems to mostly be your knowledgeable folk who are in here; I am also looking to put in a 'Fighting Great' section. This will be a page dedicated to a past (can be present) fighter who is perceived to be an 'all time great'/ or had a profound impact on the sport. If anyone is interested in contributing to this section please let me know on here or drop me a PM.

Thanks alot lads!

In the Ring With Jack Johnson - Part 1 The Rise - Adam J Pollack

I have never made any secret of my admiration for this series on the early heavyweight champions. Each one is absolutely exhaustive and paints about as complete a picture about the fighters covered as you could ever hope to read. As anyone who has read any of the books will know Pollack makes a conscious decision not to feature greatly about their personal lives, focusing almost exclusively on their training and actual fights.

Whilst this stylistic choice was never going to be a huge issue when writing about Marvin Hart or Bob Fitzsimmons I did worry that if such an approach was utilized in regard to Johnson there was going to be gaps in the telling of his story, because as the first black heavyweight champion Johnson has simply too much historical and social significance for his impact outside the ring to be ignored.

I am pleased to say these fears were largely unfounded. Pollack has to my mind got the balance just right, he avoids the stories of his bedroom affairs that have often blighted previous works on Johnson but has done a stellar job in both highlighting the obstacles Johnson had to overcome to secure his shot at the title (a good five years after he deserved it) and in evoking the racism that was pretty much endemic in society at the time. Reading some of the newspaper reports that would criticize Johnson for his defensive approach to the game, only to then applaud other fighters for adopting such an approach is comical in its bias. Pollack’s day job is as an attorney and this clearly comes through in the book, he has an excellent grasp on the legal developments of the nascent civil rights movement and the transition out of slavery towards emancipation and does excellently well in contextualizing Johnson’s place in this era.

This book is the first part of a two part series and covers Johnson’s career up to and including his win over Burns for the title. The second book in the series will cover Johnson’s time as champion. As some will be aware I have been fairly vocal in my criticisms of Jack’s choices as champion, as such I look forward to part two to see if I can be convinced to soften my stance on Johnson. Part one has certainly done a cracking job of convincing me just how good Johnson was, and had to be, in his pre title days so I am curious to see if similar can be done for his championship days. As always, this book is highly recommended.

I think i'll buy a couple of them - any preference?

Get them in order would be my recommendation Shah, they overlap so read better if done in order.

Cheers mate

'The Good Son - The life of Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini' by Mark Kriegel

When Ray Leonard announced the first of his retirements in 1982, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini was thrust in to the spotlight as boxing's new cash cow and main young attraction, and Mark Kriegel does a pretty admirable job in telling how Mancini got to that position, and also how he fell away from it much, much sooner than was expected.

'The Good Son' is written in a very straight forward, matter of fact style. Kriegel isn't a particularly flamboyant wordsmith, but has the knack of getting key parts of the story across to the reader in a quick, direct manner. Given that the first few chapters of the book centre around Lenny Mancini Sr - Ray's father who had been a Lightweight contender in the early forties before being drafted, badly injured while serving in France in WWII and missing out on the title shot which had appeared forthcoming as a result - in a fair bit of detail, it is a little surprising that none of Ray's fights have particularly long stanzas dedicated to them. In terms of what happened inside the ring in Mancini's career, 'The Good Son' really just gives you a decent once-over.

Instead, it's the mindset, youthful exuberance and pressure carried by Ray on his shoulders which takes up most of the pages. His burning desire for his father to see him one day life the world Lightweight title so that he could experience being a champion vicariously, his initial naivety towards the shady side of the business (which understandably erodes as the story wears on) and the expectation heaped upon him by the people of his home city of Youngstown, Ohio who'd had little to cheer about in the wake of organised crime and chronic unemployment casting a shadow over the city in previous years.

Kriegel seems to be making a point of never getting too bogged down on any one particular subject in Mancini's career or life for too long, even the shocking death of his older brother Lenny Jr or his tragic 14th-round TKO win over Duk Koo Kim, which saw the Korean lose his life shortly after. Instead, Krigel keeps the landscape of the book changing, and one thing he does well is intertwine Ray's own tale with those of the men and women around him. For everyone central to Ray's story - his trainer, his manager, his cut man, his promoters, his family members etc - there's a series of other mini-stories about them, spread randomly throughout the book.

Personally, while Krigel's style might be a bit simplistic and profane for some (every now and then you'll find the odd swear word thrown in there for no apparent reason, for instance), I thought it allowed the book to flow nicely, with the odd quirky use of profanity here and there giving me the odd little wake up call so to speak and reminding me that in a book like this, there's always something coming up which will surprise you.

Kriegel lets his guard down a little as the book nears its end, and predictably the closing stages feature on Mancini, many years later, being introduced with Duk Koo Kim's son, Jiwan, who was still a few months shy of being born when tragedy struck. It doesn't quite escalate to gushy or particularly moving, but there is a nice sense of redemption and forgiveness about it.

I guess one of the main objectives of any books has to be to teach whoever's reading it a few new things about its protagonist and their environment, and 'The Good Son' doesn't disappoint in that respect, not least with some of the little details it gives out on the back room running of the sport in Mancini's time; manipulated ratings between sanctioning bodies, who was really making the decisions about who fought who and exactly what those TV executives are / were looking for in their next sporting star.

Not a particularly long or complex book, 'The Good Son' might be deemed a little bit simplistic (or maybe even lowbrow) by some, but personally I think as far as relatively light literary entertainment goes, it's an impressive enough piece of work. While it might be a little low on pugilistic action, it's an excellent character portrait of a man who found fame and additional pressures at a very tender age and I'd recommend it to anyone whose interest in the sport covers the era that Mancini boxed in.

Cheers Chris, should perhaps get round to reading it at some point.

No worries Jeff, although to be honest I just kind of assumed you'd already done that bit and were just being nice letting me go first as I haven't put a review up for a while!

No mate, was on the schedule and then Adam Pollack bought out the 700 page Johnson epic so it had to move down the list. Was also leaving Tyson to one side as I was going to see him, but since he can't get a visa thought I may as well get the book out of the way.

Anyone read The Gods of War by Springs Toledo? Quality writer who writes well researched articles, thinking of getting it.

Haven't Scott but saw it on the IBRO website and am considering it, because whilst I don't tend to like these collected works or essays books Toledo is a brilliant writer so probably justifies the risk.

I've just realised that I actually read this, and wrote an article on it here.

The Professor: The Life Story of Azumah Nelson, by Ashley Morrison.

There are quite a few fighters of whom a proper biography is badly overdue, and the lack of one a bit of a mystery. I think you could definitely have included Azumah Nelson, consistently rated as one of the first fighters in the sport pound for pound for a whole decade or so from the mid eighties to mid nineties, in that list until Ashley Morrison decided to write 'The Professor.' It could be argued that Nelson was never given sufficient limelight during his career, or in his retirement, so this was one boxing book I was particularly looking forward to.

Unfortunately, while I wouldn't go so far as to say the book is a failure, I don't think Morrison has quite done justice to probably Africa's greatest ever fighter.

'The Professor' is written in a pretty simple style and is accessible enough, which I tend to appreciate it. It doesn't bog you down in over-the-top, microscopic detail or fancy dan prose, and if you put it down for a few days there'll be no struggling to get back in to the flow of it when you resume. I suppose you could say that it's written in the style that Azumah used to fight in - cerebral enough (deceptively so, at times) but with no real frills.

But I guess one problem I had with the book was that it contained quite a bit of filler, particularly when quoting Nelson directly. I appreciate that Nelson is the star of the show, and naturally what he has directly said to Morrison in his studies for writing the book has to take top priority. However, when you're reading about how many people doubted Azumah because of his small frame and shy demeanour when he first stepped in to Albert Clottey's amateur boxing gym in Accra, there's only so many times you can go over the story of a bystander saying, "Azumah, you are too small to fight. The other boy will beat you," with Nelson replying, "No, I can fight. Let me show you. Don't worry," to which the other person replies, "I don't think you can be a fighter. You are small and young".....Before inevitably Azumah says, "I am a fighter. Let me show you, I can fight," and so on and so on.

I'm sure there are ways that Morrison could have got the general jist of these conversations across, cutting out some of the repeated lines, without disrespecting Nelson or giving the impression that what he told him wasn't important. Who knows, maybe that was Morrison's prime fear? But it doesn't always make for great reading, and there are also many, many paragraphs almost identical to each other in which Morrison quotes Nelson talking about his Christian faith - granted, it is interesting just how unmoved Nelson remains in troubling times and how he's able to effectively shrug things off as just being a part of "God's plan," but these kind of passeges in the book could have been a lot more concise without losing the overall point.

There are also a few basic mistakes dotted around here and there - factually incorrect fight details, wrong ages and titles for certain fighters etc - but I'm willing to accept that this might just be me being hypercritical and a bit OCD about things. Just a minor quibble but one that, for some reason, I couldn't quite shake off when I was reading the book.

The book does have redeeming features, mind you. It does have some interesting stories from behind the scenes, particularly from Nelson's amateur career as a part of the 'Black Bombers.' There are also some nice little odds and ends thrown in about some of Nelson's contemporary greats, such as Julio Cesar Chavez, explaining the surprising reason why he started the now traditional wearing of the red band around the head on his way to the ring, something which has become almost a neccessity for the Mexican champions who have followed him (it wasn't just for fashion!).

The biggest revelation for me (and maybe it's just me who wasn't aware of this) was the death of Azumah's young wife, aged just twenty-nine, in 1990. Having battled cancer for a couple of years before eventually passing, the book does become a little touching at times when Beatrice's illness and death is discussed, and there are some emotive recollections from the Ghanaian about that tragic time. It must have had a huge impact on Nelson and this three children, yet the time spent covering the issue in the book is relatively brief - but that time is well-written and moving. It should also be noted that Morrison does give detailed accounts of Nelson's biggest fights, and is balanced enough to acknowledge when he was bested and when he wsa given trouble by opponents who perhaps should have been defeated easier.

The problem is, if you're a big enough fan of Nelson to buy this book, chances are you'll have seen those fights anyway and would probably be looking for more detail in other areas. Nelson was a bit of a mysterious character, a man of few words but very careful and often intriguing and forboding with the words he did speak. The time Morrison spends repeating the same lines verbatim and detailing the fights could have been spent trying to give a deeper, more personal insight in to what Nelson was really like under that cold, calculating surface - but aside from the odd case here and there, Morrison doesn't really manage to do that, for me. The structure of the book is very lineal and matter of fact, which is fair enough, but for whatever reason I just don't think it does enough to broaden the overall knowledge of its subject.

I think the best way to qualify what I'm saying is that, if you were a big Nelson fan, the book is probably worth a read (though not a second one). If you were more just an admirer, or just a fan of boxing in general of that era, there's probably no need to shell out for it. Not a 'bad' book by any means, but one that could have been a fair bit better, in my opinion.

Cheers Chris. Think this is on my Christmas list, but on the back of your review am kind of hoping it misses the cut!

There is an Ezzard Charles book finally out in March, not before time is all I can say to that.

The Toy Bulldog – John Jarrett.

As Christmas always brings a glut of boxing books seems as good a time as any to restart some reviews. Have been looking forward to a book about Mickey Walker for some time, he is universally rated as one of the top fighters of all time and well ranked at both welter and middleweight, two of the sports classic eight divisions. As such a biography is well overdue and on the whole this book is a worthy tribute to a great fighter.

Walker’s is pretty extraordinary story, as well as being a two weight world champion he also challenged for the light heavyweight championship, pushing all time great Tommy Loughran close in his title shot, where a win would have made him only the second fighter to win titles at three weights, after Fitzsimmons and significantly, before Henry Armstrong managed the feat. As well as this Walker was good enough to compete on even terms with some pretty decent heavyweights such as Uzcudan and Sharkey amongst others, no mean feat for a guy who stood only five foot seven and rarely tipped the scales about what would not qualify him as a supermiddle weight. That he was never stopped until late in his career and way past his best is testament to Walker’s heart and abilities.

Almost inevitably when discussing a fighter who fought nearly 200 times some of Walker’s less significant fights are skimmed over in fairly brief order, but this should not be perceived as a criticism, his more significant battles, such as those against Greb, Britton and Sharkey are given the analysis and detail they deserve. I have previously been critical of biographies of fighters that skim over their life outside the ring, or equally as critical of those that focus too greatly on this side of their life. Getting the balance right is extremely tricky, but Jarrett gets this about right in my opinion and he handles Walker’s troubles with dementia late in his life with sensitivity. As an aside on this the book tells a fascinating story that apparently when Walker suffered from dementia late in life former opponent Max Schmeling contributed $500 a month towards Mike’s care throughout the period of his care, a remarkable story which underlines both how well respected Mike was and how nice a guy Schmeling truly was.

Overall, like nearly every book I have read published by Mcfarland this book is highly recommended. If I had one criticism it would be the absence of a ring record. I am of the view no boxing book should ever be published without a ring record and less so one with a reasonably heft price tag that is pitched at the pugilist specialist end of the market, this aside though, this is definitely worth getting hold of.

Tony Zale – The Man of Steel - Clay Moyle and Thad Zale

As most of you will know I am a big fan of Clay Moyle’s previous boxing biographies, his books on Sam Langford and Billy Miske rank as some of my favourites. His latest book on Tony Zale is a slight departure for Clay as it is not written exclusively by him but in corroboration with Tony’s nephew Thad Zale. Reading the introduction it appears the book has had a difficult journey to make it to print. Thad was asked to write his uncle’s life story a number of years ago by Tony and undertook a number of interviews with family, friends and inevitably Tony but the book appears to have languished unwritten for a number of years. Eventually Thad were put in touch with Clay and the book finally saw the light of day.

There is always a balance to be struck with boxing books as to how much they focus on a fighters private life and how much they focus on their career. Perhaps inevitably, as one of the co-authors was a family member this book has more of an emphasis on Zale’s private life and post fight career. To say Tony had it tough outside the ring barely covers it. Between a divorce which pretty much denied him access to his children and poor investments that nigh on stripped him of his ring earnings Tony’s post ring career was as tough and as bruising as his famous trilogy with Rocky Graziano.

There were points in Tony’s post ring career where he had things ridiculously tough, ending up as nigh on homeless at some points and there are times towards the end of the book where it feels like some scores are being settled by the family, however as an insight into how tough many fighters have when they hang the gloves up these sections of the book are excellent. Where the book really scores is in the amount of photos included, as the book was written by a family member their access to photos of Zale is unrivalled, think I would not be exaggerating to say I cannot think of another book with quite so many photos of their subject.

Overall this is well worth a read, the writing style makes it an easy and accessible read and for £20 it is well presented and decent value. As an aside this book is published by Win By KO publishing, owned by Adam Pollack, as well as his own books on the early heavyweight champions Adam is now publishing works by other authors. Thus far I have read 10 of the 13 they have published and each and everyone has much to commend it. Whilst their subjects tend to pitch them at the hardcore boxing reader (Billy Miske, Joe Choynski, Joe Jeanette) every book is beautifully presented and tends to be extremely detailed, so for those that enjoy reading something other than the seemingly countless books published on a daily basis about Ali they could do worse than invest in some of the titles Win By KO have published.

Muscle and Mayhem – The Saginaw Kid and the Fistic World of the 1890s – Lauren Chouinard

One of my favourite sub genres of the boxing literature world is books written by family members or descendants of former fighters to keep their relative’s name and achievements alive. This is not necessarily because they are particularly good, in all honesty of the ones I have read they can be a proper mixed bag, they are frequently poorly written, horrifically remiss in terms of proof reading and factually extremely shaky. Despite all that I like them, there is something endearing about the idea which more often than not will allow me to overlook their myriad failings.

With all this in mind it was a strange mixture of anticipation and trepidation with which I started Muscle and Mayhem – The Saginaw Kid and the Fistic World of the 1890s (catchy title) by Lauren Chouinard. My expectations were for the usual passionately conceived but poorly executed paean to a long lost family member. It is a huge relief to realise these fears were beyond unfounded, the book is an absolute triumph. Chouinard has done a job that any boxing historian would be only too proud to put their name to. Firstly the book does not suffer from the typos and glaring errors common in books written by non-boxing experts, all the names are spelled correctly, great fighters are not summarily dismissed as journeymen and to a large extent the abilities of the subject and family member are not grossly overstated. Pretty much all of the pitfalls common to these books are conspicuous by their absence, which is obviously a hugely welcome surprise.

If one was to be critical of the book it would be from the perspective that there is almost too much research or background. The first few chapters which outline the history of the region Lavigne grew up in read like a socio-economic history of late 19th century America, interesting enough in its own right but I did find myself getting a bit restless waiting for the boxing to actually start. Despite that, if the only criticism that can be levelled at a boxing book or a book written by a relative is it is too thoroughly researched or there is too much background detail then the author probably does not have too much to worry about.

This is a fascinating book, about a fighter I knew virtually nothing about and is very highly recommended. The only pity is that unless Chouinard discovers another long lost relative who used to lace them up this may well be his only contribution to the world of boxing literature which is and would be a genuine pity as he is an excellent writer and researcher.

Unlicensed: Random Notes From Boxing's Underbelly by John Hotten)
This is a book of interlocking true stories , are a dozen or so portraits of eager-to-make-it boxers,whom you just know (well, you haven't heard of them  since),will not be realising their dream.
One great chapter tells of a fighter who goes to a sort of open-spot. They pay a few grand cash in hand, natch, to the victor.Fighters do not know who they will fight against often until the last minute. Oneboxer passing up the opportunity to fight a faded  British champion, at heavyweight. The man's not named, but I guessed it could have been Scott Welch.With despair he witnesses th e ex-champ falling over straight away as he was totally shot.
Style-wise,The author  pours rather a lot of surface detail into the story, and although at points I wished that they could have been over a little quicker( description of a promoter entering a building to get paid, for example, whilst well-written, didn't add much to the already powerful mini-story).Hotten does over-egg,however this is a minor gripe.

There are five stories from the boxing underworld, mostly spit and sawdust gyms ,pointless feuds, baying crowds and out of the ring ,near-murderous common gbh. Eccentrically, in my opinion, the author describes a jolly to  to Vegas for the second Tyson /Holyfield fight,and implies a  similiarity  of  Tyson's descent into amorality and loss of control  with the many  unknown fighters doing it for comparative  peanuts,every day, with similarly vicious intent that would appal the casual fan.   The author alleges that at the very end of the press conference aftermath in which Tyson attempted to explain his behaviour, he  quite by chance walks in tandem with him afterwards to the carpark (although he doesn't attempt to interview him)
Reading this book of mostly no-hopers and repellent scenarios  ,it was reinforced to me that  so many fights  are sold to us as right out of the top drawer and  are often duds.It is hard to imagine this scenario however in this  world of unlicensed boxing; a good old -fashioned pasting is what people come to see, and it's what they get. One ex- bareknuckle champion constantly berates the "bad slags" hero Lenny MacLean, whom he accuses of being a liar as regards to his record.He turned out to have a career in property development and is a wise  old head who escaped with his brains, (and bravery!) in tact.
Whilst I believe that I  like boxing for the "sweet science", reading this  I had  respect for those men who have no intention of showboating or taking a backwards step, sometimes only an urge to genuinely annihilate an opponent , or  else  go out on their sword- as the  fascinating story of Billy's fight, described here, illustrates. Billy is a sweet and guileless character whom it is easy to root for.Perhaps ,just perhaps,boxing fans  need to  acknowledge the validity  of this unlicensed underworld- descriptions of   the crowd braying for a knockout  is still pretty much  the appeal for a lot of ,say, Tyson Fury, "big weekend" fights  which  so enrich our,er,weekends.  These guys just get on with doing the businessThis is a very impartial  peek,into a world which clearly scared the author,and for good reason.It's  not  far from something  that Louis Theroux used to produce on TV. Hotten  has  empathy with the characters who inhabit this world(not just the boxers)and does not skimp from the fact that one individual was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. However it confirmed to me  that many people who try and earn a living from boxing can also be gentle, and live their lives very ethically .Ultimately This book succeeds in showing what a lot of boxing is like , in tht space that is neither Bethnall Green or the expensive arena.

It's a fine book. Also available for a pittance on Amazon.