(Part 2) Best boxing books according to redditors
We found 68 Reddit comments discussing the best boxing books. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Most people underestimate how good low level pros are. Y’all need to read Cut Time.
Edit: y’all meaning people who haven’t worked with pros, not OP. It’s a good book regardless.
Yes.
YouTube has several good channels for fight analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/user/LeeWylie1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5v5S5DxGx6ozyOL6aNK7IQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1MHbPo9A_TcNH0fZ7ezARw
And there are plenty of good books out there to study:
https://www.amazon.com/Championship-Fighting-Explosive-Punching-Aggressive/dp/1501111485
https://www.amazon.com/Cus-DAmato-Mind-Secrets-Greatness/dp/1549840371
https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Louis-How-Box/dp/1581607156
I’ve read almost every Muay Thai book there is and here are the books that I recommend for its history
I think this is the best one
It’s a beautiful Muay Thai book that not only shows techniques but it has an in depth section of its history with beautiful pictures. Highly recommend
When I lived in Thailand, this book was in almost every English language bookstore
It’s much cheaper in Thailand than online. It has Muay Boran techniques but it also has a history section which is pretty good. I liked the old school pictures on there
But if I had to choose, Muay Thai, a living legacy gets my pick
Here is most of my library, broken down, with links and some thoughts on each.
Karate Specific
Kobujutsu Specific
Other Martial Arts
Health and Anatomy
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot this one...
Disclaimer: have only read a few and I might be a little biased towards that era - but my favourite boxing book is : 4 kings
This was an excellent read. I'm always looking for new boxing writers to follow. I just ordered a copy of The Gods of War by Springs Toledo, and I'll be sure to check out Rotella's book of essays that you mentioned.
EDIT: As a nursing student and boxing fan, the bit about Hopkins assessing and sizing people up through physical touch--"palpation" in my world--during regular social interaction really resonated with me. Then he blows my mind by saying, "Sometimes you can see and look, but you gotta feel to really check." You're speaking my language, B-Hop! Shit!
This was an amazing fight. I was pretty young as well, but at the time I was a huge Leonard fan, just a young kid and victim to the hype. Its funny I watched this with my dad and his buddies I remember almost being moved to tears when Ray won, my mom was. Meanwhile you have these hard working fishing boat guys from my dad's work just livid when Hagler won. Now 25 years removed, older and grittier myself, I re-watch this fight and I'm cheering for Hagler even though I know he loses. Strange how emotional and polarizing this fight was.
Four Kings is supposed to be an amazing book about the era: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Kings-Leonard-Hagler-Hearns/dp/1590131622
This One
I've got a number of books I can suggest.
This one's a great history of the sport in the bare-knuckle era, 19th century sporting culture, and the transition to modern boxing.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Manly-Art-Bare-Knuckle-Fighting/dp/0801476089
Probably the best boxing novel ever written. I can't believe this isn't a movie.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Professional-W-c-Heinz/dp/0306810581
The book that got me into the sport when I sat down to read it at a Borders Books when I was 16. An awesome overview of the history of each weight class with over 400 photos and illustrations.
http://www.amazon.com/AN-Illustrated-History-Of-Boxing/dp/0806522011
An excellent anthology of fiction and newspaper articles.
http://www.amazon.com/At-Fights-American-Writers-Boxing/dp/1598532057
The guy spends a little too much time bashing other martial arts, but it's an excellent read about how boxing is useful in a street fight and old school bare knuckle techniques.
http://www.amazon.com/Championship-Streetfighting-Boxing-Martial-Art/dp/0873649346
A superb series of observations from a woman who has spent her life watching boxing. One of the more literary attempts at explaining the primal appeal of a boxing match.
http://www.amazon.com/On-Boxing-Joyce-Carol-Oates/dp/0060874503
I'm not home and don't have access to my library right now, but let me know if you want a few more. I'd say that any one of those is a great gift for a boxing enthusiast. /u/Choccybizzle is right, Four Kings is awesome, and /u/zombiezs suggestion for The Sweet Science is a good one as well. There's a lot of boxing books out there, but you know your friend so you'll know which of those will appeal to him the most.
I've been reading L. A. Jennings's She's A Knockout!: A History of
Dubious PunctuationWomen in Fighting Sports. Jennings's background is in MMA, and she seems somewhat ambivalent about pro wrestling, but I've found some interesting tidbits.It seems that in 1888, two women were arrested for prize fighting, along with their seconds. The defense argued that the whole thing had been a "sham"--a work. A species of Entertainment, as one may term it, in the nature of an affaire du sport. If it was a work, the women had evidently stiffed the hell out of each other; according to the news story, their faces were badly bruised. In any event, the State of New York sentenced Hattie Leslie and Alice Leary to six months a piece, and their (male) seconds were each fined $500, or about $12,200 in 2016 dollars.
Roughly a year later, Leslie had a pair of wrestling matches with one Ethel Marks. The first was apparently a shoot, judging by both fighters' lack of technical savvy, but the second was widely decried as a "fake"--the moves appeared to have been planned in advance, and some spectators claimed they could hear Leslie and Marks whispering instructions to each other. Their male seconds, scandalized and offended both, fought each other in a catch-as-catch-can bout soon afterward. Cynical minds suspected a connection.
I'd recommend the book. Jennings is a former fighter who now co-owns an MMA gym, in addition to holding a Ph.D in literature. It's a unique perspective and I hope this isn't her last (non-academic) publication.
Hey man, I'd recommend picking up Boxing's Ten Commandments: Essential Training for the Sweet Science
Jack Slack had it as a recommended book on his personal website back in the day. I picked it up and it's worth the $9 price on amazon. Especially if you're strapped for cash and need some direction.
Also: if you find a technique video you like, drill it yourself and record it, then compare that video of yourself to the technique demonstration, and work really hard on bringing your skill to that level. Notice what you're doing incorrectly in reference to the demonstration
It's $3 on Amazon
It mentioned below, having a great instructor/school is a great resource.
As always, you can read Bruce himself. I'd suggest you pick up Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way, where he explains the core techniques and ideas - both the execution and the concepts behind them.
I'd also suggest picking up both of Teri Tom's books Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression and The Straight Lead. Both are very clear and to the point, and cover the mechanics and basic techniques of JKD.
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If you're just into video demonstrations - well, still get those books. They'll help a ton.
A lot of the old guard and classicists of JKD don't like the idea of instructional videos, for fear of diluting the quality of teaching overall. But some have done instructional series.
The Chinatown/Wednesday Night JKD group comes immediately to mind; they have a fairly in-depth set of video lessons that covers all of the foundational stuff of the Chinatown JKD era. It is a set of courses to buy, but they have quite a few sample lessons that you can download (requires your email address, but they don't send spam). Also, their website and various Youtube channels - Chinatown, WNG, Primal Academy - have great video resources on refining particular techniques.
Hope it helps!
Speaking of illegal moves, there's not a lot of applicable info in this book, but it's a fun read.
https://www.amazon.com/Boxings-Tricks-Outlaw-Killer-Punches/dp/1559501472
This book has pretty good reviews. Might be worth looking into if you're the book learner type.
no, not that I'm aware of anyway.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Trade-Boxing-Donald-McRae/dp/1840189568
it's been a long time since I've read that though, still 90% confident there's some detailing regarding Toney only having an ear for his mother.
Hello and sorry for my pretty late reply, it’s been a busy day! I've not really celebrated yet, I might do something once its past the first draft. I did read through your feedback and found it all very helpful and will be incorporating it into my second draft. Below are the answers to some of the questions you asked:
P1: Yes, the crescendo just means it gets louder and louder, climaxing with Malcolm getting took out.
P2: Valid point here and along with you other points of needing more backstory I am going to change this slightly. In regards to knowing Malcolm’s name the prison have it on a list but obviously, a prison officer isn’t going to know Adam from Steve with a bunch of new inmates.
P4: Yes, the pace is quick, I’m going to add a little more backstory in the opening pages but getting bogged down in prison is not my aim. Malcolm is purposely a mysterious person, hard to read, an enigma basically. What you need to bear in mind is that he is a beast of a young man, his physical appearance is more of a characteristic than anything else. In regards to your suggestions I think I’m going to pick the first one and show a glimpse of his life before prison.
P7: The guard is just racist and ignorant; a common theme of historical racism is black people are uneducated and lesser people.
I’m not too fussed about historical inaccuracies such as high fives and the body language line because they are fairly minor, the 80 percent line isn’t a scientific fact it’s just his own views. Jimmy’s bookshelf shows the type of man he is and the understanding he has of human psychology. My story isn’t based on real events but it was inspired by reading [a biography of Floyd Patterson] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Floyd-Patterson-Fighting-Invisible-Champion/dp/1845963326) who was trained by Cus D’Mato, the man who also trained Mike Tyson. Both of these fighters became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, Floyd in the 1950s and Mike in the 1980s. New York is a conscious choice, it was the centre of the boxing universe before Vegas took the crown so no it wasn’t a random choice in any way.
P31: Malcolm’s main fear is abandonment and getting close to people which (hopefully) becomes apparent as the story progresses. He’s just an angry young man due to being brought up in hard times. I’ll flesh him out a bit more to make this apparent. Boxing is his only option to change his life from poverty to wealth.
P37: Teddy turning racist is a surprising turn inspired by a similar scene in Remember the Titans. It shows the when push comes to shove most people will show their true colours.
Again thanks for reading you have helped me a great deal here.
You probably should have put that in the post. As I said, what i said only holds if you are reasonably new. A lot of people look for advice here, and then often they just started at a gym, and as you just said you train at a gym, I thought that would be true.
As for an answer, I don't know any. I went through a few of the old books mentioned, and I kind of had a hard time getting into them.
'Championship Fighting' you should know all of, I think the one by Haislet was good, though it has a pretty squared stance which is not my natural stance, so I kind of never really got into it.
I bought this book a while back, but I remember it didn't really have much either.
I haven't found videos that go above the basics really.
Often, people call it 'advanced' when they talk about slapping down a jab, so you really need to look around, or, as you probably wanted, ask people that did that before.