Busting Myths: The Best Books on Boxing
Boxing is considered a combat sport and a martial art, and is one of the most popular disciplines in the world. In it, two opponents fight using only their fists protected by special gloves. The boxers, who fight inside a ring designed for these fights, can only hit their opponent from the waist up, and only during a few sequences called "rounds."
The boxing As a sport it was added to the Olympic Games in the ancient 7th century, which outlined the primary rules that were revised, updated, and re-submitted in 1889 by the Marquess of Queensberry, who, among other details, introduced the use of gloves. To learn all about it, check out our list of the best books on boxing.
Best books on boxing
Of boxing (2015), by Joyce Carol
It's often been said that boxing isn't for women. But what happens when it's a woman, of all people, who writes an essay that studies and analyzes the history of boxing and the attitudes a boxer must have to achieve victory? This is what Joyce Carol does. The author It tells the story of how poor, stubborn kids become survivors in a world that demands toughness.
But here, resistance goes beyond withstanding blows: uppercuts, right or right hooks, or jumps. Life within the sport It is not for people of fragile character, And Joyce Carol, like Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain in their time, wrote an essay that proves it. This is a book about the origins of boxing, its greatest exponents, and the struggles, both external and internal.
In Search of Muhammad Ali: The Story of a Friendship (2016), by Davis Miller
This isn't exactly an autobiography or a book about boxing, but rather the secret story of a legend told through the eyes of one of the most astute sports commentators of all time. Almost everything has been written about Muhammad Ali, but always from the perspective of the public figure, and almost never from that of the man behind it, with his successes and contradictions.
This is how Davis Miller's book becomes an entry into the legendary boxer's lifestyle. According to him, many years ago, Alli saved his life. Later, the writer, who is also an amateur boxer, went to visit him and found him ill and living in a caravan next to his mother's small house. From then on, they formed a strange, lasting, and loyal friendship.
The Golden Age of Boxing: 15 Legendary Rounds (2014), by Manuel Alcántara, Teodoro León Gross and Agustín Rivera
This book presents itself as a curious tome amidst a sea of volumes on boxing. Its style is reminiscent of the literary, as are its influences in form and content. It is said in the world of sports that boxing has a historical debt to literary art., and perhaps this series of chronicles written by Alcántara and coordinated by Gross and Rivera could vindicate sports journalists.
Their original author, Manuel Alcántara, collected them between 1967 and 1978 in the newspaper Marca, and, despite the fact that many of them were dictated by telephone, The author never misused any word to fill spaces. Faced with this attitude, he used to say: "I believe, like Saint Paul, who is not one of my favorite writers, that every idle word will be taken into account."
Urtain: Portrait of an Era (2024), by Felipe de Luis Manero
Books about boxing legends—and sports in general—tend to also focus on the historical context of that person, and how it shaped them into who they became. This was the case with José Manuel Urtain, one of the great heavyweights of the late Franco era. Through the pages of this book, His life, his rise, his defeats and how a people placed their hope in him are exposed.
Sometimes, during crises, governments provide bread and circuses to appease the masses. But, every now and then, the latter is more than a circus: it's a well of longings, dreams, and a desire to win something and get ahead, a reflection of a broken society that resents its state and yearns to shine again. Beyond Urtain's story, this is a historical portrait of post-Franco Spain.
Low hits (2017), by David Gistau
This is a novel starring Alfredo, the owner of a modest gym where he trains a promising new boxer. However, his life changes when he meets Piñata, the head of a criminal organization with whom he has a chance encounter. Later, This convinces the protagonist to work on a sentimental montage with Magda López.
She's a down-and-out TV host who wants to get her career back on track and basically sold her soul to Piñata. Along with her, Afreto will visit all the halls of Spanish high society, rock stars, high-ranking officials, and members of the aristocracy. In turn, he will discover that each and every one of them owes something to Piñata, and can be destroyed by him at any moment.
Best quotes about boxing
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"In the ring, there's a referee who stops the fight if a fighter risks getting too hurt. Boxing has nothing to do with war and its machine guns, bazookas, grenades, and bombers": Mohammed Ali;
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"I'm a dreamer. I gotta dream and reach for the stars, and if I miss a star, I grab a handful of clouds": Myke Tyson;
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"Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it": George Foreman;
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"A true champion can adapt to anything": Floyd Mayweather Jr;
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"Boxing isn't about your feelings. It's about performance": Manny Pacquiao;
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"To be a champion you have to believe in yourself when no one else will": Sugar Ray Robinson;
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"There's always a way to improve. There's always something new to learn": Terence Crawford.