10 Best Boxing Books (2023 update)
Whether you’re looking for boxing autobiography books or classic boxing novels, the list below may have something that interests you. We compiled a list of titles that have received widespread praise from both professional and amateur fighters.
List of Best Boxing Books
Fighting techniques and strategies from World Champion and Hall of Fame Boxer, Jack Dempsey.
Jack Dempsey, one of the greatest and most popular boxers of all time, reveals the techniques behind his unparalleled success in the ring. Straightforward and with detailed illustrations, Championship Fighting instructs the reader in the theory, training, and application of powerful punching, aggressive defense, proper stance, feinting, and footwork. The boxing methods Dempsey reveals will prove useful to both amateurs and professionals or anyone interested in teaching themselves how to box or practice martial arts.
Brutal, honest, raw, and often hilarious, Undisputed Truth is the singular journey of an inspiring American original.
Philosopher, Broadway headliner, fighter, felon—Mike Tyson has defied stereotypes, expectations, and a lot of conventional wisdom during his three decades in the public eye.
Bullied as a boy in the toughest, poorest neighborhood in Brooklyn, Tyson grew up to become one of the most ferocious boxers of all time—and the youngest heavyweight champion ever. But his brilliance in the ring was often compromised by reckless behavior. Yet—even after hitting rock bottom—the man who once admitted being addicted “to everything” fought his way back, achieving triumphant success as an actor and newfound happiness and stability as a father and husband.
Former boxing legend Muhammad Ali, one of the best-known and best-loved celebrities and an international good-will ambassador, offers inspiration and hope as he describes the spiritual philosophy that sustains him.
Ali's reflections on topics ranging from moral courage to belief in God to respect for those who differ from us will inspire and enlighten all who read them. Written with the assistance of his daughter Hana, The Soul of a Butterfly is a compassionate and heartfelt book that will provide comfort for our troubled times.
A.J. Liebling's classic New Yorker pieces on the "sweet science of bruising" bring vividly to life the boxing world as it once was. It depicts the great events of boxing's American heyday: Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano's rise to prominence, Joe Louis's unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring--a combination that prompted Sports Illustrated to name The Sweet Science the best American sports book of all time.
From Daniel Mendoza to Mike Tyson, boxers have embodied and enacted our anxieties about race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. In her encyclopedic investigation of the shifting social, political, and cultural resonances of this most visceral of sports, Kasia Boddy throws new light on an elemental struggle for dominance whose weapons are nothing more than fists.
Looking afresh at everything from neoclassical sculpture to hip-hop lyrics, Boddy explores the ways in which the history of boxing has intersected with the history of mass media. Boddy pulls no punches, looking to the works of diverse figures such as Henry Fielding and Spike Lee, Charlie Chaplin and Philip Roth, James Joyce and Mae West in an all-encompassing study that tells us just how and why boxing has mattered so much to so many.
In THE GREATEST BOXING STORIES EVER TOLD, editor Jeff Silverman delivers a knockout collection of not only the best writing ever penned on the subject of "the sweet science," but also stories that relate to the larger human issues the brutal sport has come to embody. Whether the story is about the triumph of a heroic champion, a tragic death in the ring, the shady tactics of fight promoters, or victories against seemingly impossible odds, each story in this varied collection connects powerfully with the reader. The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told is the perfect gift for fight fans and non-fight fans alike, and with its all-star lineup of "contenders" throwing "haymakers" and "uppercuts" in every round, it stands as the definitive volume of short stories about this enduring pugilistic pastime.
The Art of the Sweet Science is a boxing book that dives in-depth into the mental and physical aspects of boxing training. The author takes you through the book in 3 sections, which include tips on boxing training, strategy, and mindset, and helps you get one step closer to boxing mastery.
This book includes tips on boxing training, strength and conditioning for fighters, how to increase power punching ability, how to throw faster punches, how to fight different kinds of opponents (taller, shorter, pressure fighters, etc.), boxing strategy, boxing mindset, fighter’s lifestyle tips and much more!
Lost in the annals of boxing is the sport's true Cinderella story. James J. Braddock was a once promising light heavyweight for whom a string of losses in the ring and a broken right hand happened to coincide with the Great Crash of 1929.
A riveting tale of perseverance in the face of hardship, Cinderella Man is the chronicle of the boxer James J. Braddock, whose exceptional story of achievement against all odds was the subject of a major motion picture. In the span of twelve months from the relief rolls to a face-off against the heavyweight champion, Max Baer, Braddock, dubbed the Cinderella Man, staged the greatest comeback in fighting history, rising twelve months from the relief rolls to the greatest comeback in fighting history.
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing is the world's most comprehensive single-volume illustrated work of boxing reference, covering all aspects of the sport since its rise from the days of illegal big-money challenge matches to the multi-million-dollar televised extravaganza it is today.
It traces the advancement of the world title from champion to champion in all weight classes, outlines the status of boxing around the world, considers prominent figures behind the scenes such as promoters, trainers, and managers, recalls some of the great stadiums where boxing history was made, and details the administrative bodies, the rules, and the cues. There are new biographies and sections on the recent important developments in the sport, which have been fully edited and updated to include all world championship fights up to March 2020.
In this vivid biography, Geoffrey C. Ward brings back to life the most celebrated—and most reviled—African American of his age.
Jack Johnson battled his way out of obscurity and poverty in the Jim Crow South to win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. At a time when white people ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled simply to exist, he reveled in his riches and his fame, sleeping with whomever he pleased, to the consternation and anger of much of white America.
This definitive biography portrays Jack Johnson as he really was—a battler against the bigotry of his era and the embodiment of American individualism.
Alternatives to Boxing Books
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