Boxing Books

Reuters, whose origins date back to the 1850s, is best known as a news service that provides reports to newspapers and broadcasters around the world. It established the Reuters News Pictures Service in 1985, and the group has become one of the world's leading providers of photos. It employs over 120 full-time photographers and the images they capture are used by roughly 1500 newspapers and magazines worldwide.

This is a beautiful book, with a wide variety of sports included : soccer, American Football, tennis, gymnastics, baseball, skiing, ice-hockey, boxing and cycling all feature. Each photo is accompanied by a short passage explaining the background to the shot. However, the pictures aren't always of the rich and famous : while the likes of Diego Maradona, Ernie Els, Michael Johnson, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Schumacher and even Ben Johnson appear, some of the better photos feature the amateurs and spectators. There's a streaker at golf's British open, herders in Tibet playing outdoor billiards and Jamaica's very eye-catching support from the 2002 World Cup Finals. There's even one from the Sumo ring that's bound to raise a smile. For me, though, the most spectacular shot was taken during Pamplona's famous bull-run. I suspect I'm not alone : one newspaper in Germany apparently ran it under the headline "How well is the photographer ?". The only photos that may put some off come from the world of bloodsports. For example, there's one from the Waterloo Cup (hare thankfully intact) and another from the bullring (featuring a very bloodied bull that doesn't have too long left). However, even allowing for that, this is still a book I would highly recommend.

This modest work is well-organized, precise, and concise, with plenty of photos, to preserve the technics of an interesting Western martial art. It presents an older style of Savate Chasse' Croise', that preceded later Savate Sportive and modern kickboxing. The author, Bruce Tegner, learned this Art during World War Two from a rare Mentor of Savate Classique; Jean-Claude Gautier in Quebec, Canada.

One can see in it a combination of fencing, kicking, and boxing -- using bare fists and feet in shoes. The fencing aspects appear in the on-guard stance, [T-position of feet], some of the footwork, [skips, lunges, and advances], and the checking parries and returns. The fluid kicks cover many angles, ranges, and levels. The boxing moves include older bare-knuckle punches. This bare-knuckle boxing also appears in some of the footwork, [shuffles], as well as in the on-guard stance, [in-line upper-lead and lower-rear fists].

The later editions of this work seem to go toward more modern kickboxing without actually getting there. The older styles of Savate seem closer to their non-sports realism. All-in-all this first 1960 edition by Bruce Tegner shows a necessary and sufficient array of graceful and practical kickboxing-based self-defenses -- especially when furthered via associated "scissoring" grappling +++

Baltimore and Maryland have a rich history of amateur and professional boxing and its recorded in pictures with comments in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of Sports:Baltimore's Boxing Legacy 1893-2003" by Thomas Scharf. This is a great book and would make an excellent gift to any of your friends who like boxing.

Baltimore has had seven world champions starting with Joe Gans, the first Baltimorean and African American to win a world championship.

On page 109 there is a picture showing lightheavyweight champion Bobby Foster signing for a June 27, 1970 title defense at the Baltimore Civic Center against Mark Tessman, in the picture is the greatest chairman the Maryland State Athletic Commission has ever had the late D. Chester O'Sullivan.

Sugar Ray Leonard is shown before his first pro fight that was held at the Baltimore Civic Center on February 5, 1977. He earned a six round win over Luis Vega. Leonard went on to win World Championships and was named the "Fighter of the Decade for the 1980's."

There are so many great pictures and comments I could go on forever.

Mack Lewis the great trainer and manager is covered in this book. Other boxers pictures appear in the book, fighters like Leo "Kid" Saenz, Vince Pettway (a great fighter and champion), Buddy Boggs, Al Flora, Archie Moore, Holly Mims, Henry Jeffra, Earl Bayne, Jack Portney (considered Baltimore's best Southpaw fighter) and the fighting Dundees.

There is a great picture on page 44 showing Jack Dempsey on March 3, 1926 as he boxed at Baltimore's Fifth Regiment Armory.

Fights were held at Carlins Park, Memorial Stadium, the Gayety Theater (Terry Maher, John Pavlides, Don Saccardi and I went there but not to see boxing), Lyric Theater, the Coliesum, Eureka Athletic Club, Steelworkers Hall, Oriole Park as well as the Fifth Regiment Armory and the Civic Center. I love this book and strongly recommend it to you!

This new expanded edition of the already marvelous book includes interesting articles on Mike Tyson's road to recovery. It includes photos of greats like: Ali, Frazier, Holmes, Duran, Hagler, Leonard, Pryor and Arguello. It chronicles some of the best fights in boxing history like Hagler-Leonard, Ali-Frazier I-III, Duran-Leonard, Hagler-Hearns and Leonard-Hearns I-II. This edition includes reviews articles reprinted from the classic issues of the Ring. This is one bible any sports fan should not be without.

Boxing aficionados should devour this book. Others will get to
meet a beautiful person. On occasion I felt the author wandered
off the main road, thankfully he always returned to Johnny. This
book was well overdue. I found it hard to put it down. If your
tear ducts need a little lubrication this might do the trick. I
think Johnny was loved by all those who came in contact with him, I believe it was rightfully so.

Ed Gorman's Blood Game is a thrilling Old West audiobook novel featuring Leo Guild, a bounty hunter/hired gun who takes a job from a disreputable character and becomes involved in crisscross weave of events. Dramatically narrated by veteran actor Alan Zimmerman, Blood Game delivers pure Wild West excitement and adventure from beginning to end! 3 cassettes, 270 minutes.

Forget the fact that Dr. Ferdie Pacheco is one of the most knowledgeable people in the sport of boxing; we already knew that. What many haven't known is that he's also one of the finest writers in America. Ferdie manages to catch human nature spot on with this revealing autobiography. Reading Blood in My Coffee is like taking a seminar on life.

The New York Times had some of the best boxing coverage in the world during the 20th century, and we can see why in this tremendous collection. It covers the years 1892-1979, beginning with James Corbett's heavyweight title winning effort against John L. Sullivan to Larry Holmes' 1978 split decision win over Ken Norton to win the WBC Heavyweight crown.

But not only is this volume special because of the boxing history that it covers, it's special because of the first rate writers that the Times employed through the years. James P. Dawson is simply the most awesome boxing writer ever, and his articles covering the Dempsey-Tunney fights make you feel like you are actually there watching the matches live. I also enjoyed his coverage of some of Joe Louis' fights. I should also add how impressed I was with his coverage of the second Willie Pep-Sandy Saddler fight from 1949 when he had already been with the Times nearly 30 years.

Joseph Nichols is almost as good; his articles covering fights from the 1940s and especially Sugar Ray Robinson in the 1950s were awe inspiring. Robert Lipsyte covers the prime years of Cassius Clay-Muhammad Ali, while Dave Anderson ably covers boxing in the 1970s.

I highly recommend obtaining this book, even if you have to buy it second hand from a private seller. It is definitely worth owning, especially if you love boxing.

Rev. Marc Axelrod

This is a must for any serious Boxing Fan. AMAZING Photos! Well written text. Super Index

This is one of the most informative, entertaining and disturbing boxing exposes ever written. Brady knows all about the backroom deals, fixed fights, corruption, extortion, payoffs for ratings, and outright criminality of the major promoters, sanctioning bodies, and the TV executive suits who not only turn a blind eye to the chicanery but are willing cohorts in this sordid business of exploitation and greed. Professional boxing, from small club fights to the mega million dollar Las Vegas promotions, is one putrid mess of a sport. In chapters like "The Best Sanctioning Body Money Could Buy", "The Talmudic Scholar", "The Humble Servant of Boxing", and "The Don" Brady flays open the belly of the out of control circus that professional boxing has been allowed to become over the past 25 years. He exposes, in glaring detail, the business side of the sport and the foul deeds of the few major power brokers, most of whom are human vermin without conscience who live off of the blood and brain tissue of-with a few rare exceptions- these exploited professional athletes. Boxers, unlike other sports, have no union or decent representation, and are at the mercy of a few blood sucking predators and thieves who have all but destroyed any credibility this sport may have had.
Brady tells the stories of a litany of ex-champs and contenders who have been robbed of their money dreams and dignity, and who are then discarded like so much garbage after their usefulness has ended.
Brady, a fine writer and investigative journalist, takes no prisoners as he names the heroes, villians, bums and thieves.
Whether you are familiar with boxing or not you will shake your head in disbelief and disgust at what is described in these pages. This is so much more than a boxing book. It is also a sociological study and idictment of a segment of our society. This is a very American story and a very important book.