Boxing News

	The Big If THESE days Johnny Owen would never have been allowed in a ring. He had a thin skull, which would have been picked up by his MRI scan. It is his legacy to boxing that his death in Los Angeles in 1980 helped to introduce the more stringent rules that exist for the protection of boxers today. Johnny was known as “The Matchstick Man” and his freakishly thin frame and skeletal appearance are constantly referred to in Rick Broadbent’s fine book The Big If – The Life And Death Of Johnny Owen.
	Champagne Charlie DESPITE spending the first 18 months of his life in Tunisia, Charlie Magri is as East-End as jellied eels and Bow bells. The former WBC flyweight champion writes exactly as he talks and, for the most part, that is a good thing. While Magri does have a habit of reiterating his points, the unpolished tone lends the book an air of authenticity that only adds to the reader’s engagement. This could certainly have done with a more stringent edit, but the subject is humble, funny and relentlessly likeable.
	Braddock - The Rise of the Cinderella Man JAMES WALTER BRADDOCK (the middle “J” was invented by his manager Joe Gould, after former world heavyweight king James J. Corbett), was one of boxing’s unlikeliest world champs. He started well, got as far as a challenge to world light-heavyweight kingpin Tommy Loughran, then seemed to go into decline, a troublesome right hand being just one of many problems.
	Being Sugar Ray THE books on Sugar Ray Robinson, generally viewed as the greatest fighter of all time, are coming thick and fast some 18 years after his death. Kenneth Shropshire’s latest effort, Being Sugar Ray, is not a true biography of the fighter; it is more a series of intellectual essays on sport, politics, and life in general.
	Sugar Ray Robinson: The Inside Story - Thomas Myler Considering he is most experts’ choice as the greatest fighter who ever lived, Sugar Ray Robinson has been the subject of surprisingly few worthwhile biographies. But now Irish journalist Thomas Myler, a Boxing News contributor, has come up with an excellent attempt at recounting the story of the “Sugar man” in Sugar Ray Robinson: The Inside Story (It is published by Relym publications and available by mail order from the author at Shangri La, 16 Ailesbury Grove, Dundrum Heights, Dublin 16, Ireland).
	McIlvanney on Boxing - Hugh McIlvaney Journey from Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson and most points in between – that is the incredible journey undertaken and chronicled in breathtaking depth by Hugh McIlvaney. Perhaps only two other domestic boxing writers – not boxing reporters – capable of producing such a definitive document which demands reading, are former Boxing News Editor Harry Mullan and Fleet Street’s Ken Jones.
	The Tao of Muhammad Ali - Davis Miller Davis Miller was 12 when he first saw Muhammad Ali, and his 30-year relationship with the former world heavyweight king inspired him to take up boxing and martial arts. The Tao of Muhammad Ali published by Vintage, is about Ali’s influence on his life.
	Muhammad Ali: In perspective - Thomas Hauser Muhammad Ali, the most charismatic fighter in history, was probably the most photographed also. Coupled with words from celebrated author Thomas Hauser, comes Muhammad Ali: In perspective, a fabulous pictorial view of the life of the former three-time World heavyweight champion.
	Ken Gorman - My greatest fight While the title is slightly misleading in that it is generally the author who describes the blow-by-blow action of a bout, the commentary provided by the protagonists Is usually more that illuminating enough to compensate.
	Donald McRae - Dark Trade Those who enjoyed Donald McRae’s colourful features in Boxing News on Roy Jones and James Toney will revel in Dark Trade, his fascinatingly-intimate look at the fight game, published by Mainstream (360 pages). Those interviews form only part of his second book.
	Alex Skutt and James B. Roberts - Boxing Register The uncle and nephew team of Alex Skutt and James B. Roberts have co-produced what is certain to become a standard reference source: the Boxing register. It is the official record book of the now well-established International Boxing Hall of Fame, and contains complete career records, photos and pen-pictures of everyone honoured by the Hall Of Fame.
	Gavin Evans - Prince of the Ring It is always a problem to know when best to write a boxer’s biography. If you do it while he is still a champion, the danger is that the book’s shelf life will only be as long as his reign: as soon as he loses the title, the book will be headed straight for the remainders pile. If you delay it until after his retirement, the chances are that the sheen will have gone from his name and the book’s marketability diminished. Gavin Evans, an occasional contributor to Boxing News, opted for the first choice and wrote Prince of the Ring (Robson books) before its subject had celebrated his 22nd Birthday. That may seem an absurdly early point at which to write a biography, but even at this springtime stage of his career, Naseem Hamed’s story is worth telling and Evans does the job well.
	Paddy Monoghan - The sunshine in my life Perhaps the only comforting aspect of the illness which has so ravaged Muhammad Ali’s middle years is that it has enabled him to learn who his true friends are. The free-loaders who fed off him in the good years are long gone, and only the loyal hardcore who loved the man for himself, rather than his cash or the glory he reflected, remain.
	Lennox Lewis - Lennox Lewis with Joe Steepless Why are there so very few worthwhile boxing books? You would think that a sport brimming over with colourful characters would produce its share of entertaining volumes, but it rarely gets the chroniclers it deserves. The overwhelming majority of boxing books tend to be ghosted ‘autobiographies’, which trundle down the cradle-to-the-championship road in predictable and often error-littered fashion, and which the supposed author has probably never even read, let alone written.
	Colin Bateman - Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men From fact to fiction: I greatly enjoyed Colin Bateman’s intriguingly-titled Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men (Harper Collins), an account of the shenanigans surrounding a heavyweight title fight in Madison Square Garden...
	John Davison - Little man, big heart FOR someone who likes to project an image of the 'common man', John Davison sure does seem to think a lot of himself. At first, his inordinately high self-esteem in his autobiography (Little Man, Big Heart) is rather amusing but soon becomes tiresome and irritating. This, and the fact that Davison rarely allows you a glimpse into his life away from the ring, limits the book's appeal to hardcore "Dava" fans only. For those of you unfamiliar with Davison, he is, perhaps unfortunately, best known as the loser when "Cinderella Champion", Welshman Steve Robinson, stepped in at short notice to beat him for the vacant WBO featherweight title in 1993. Davison contends he had no sharpness by this point, a result of his scheduled challenge to champion Ruben Palacio being postponed three times and then cancelled.
	Harry Holland HARRY HOLLAND has certainly led a colourful life and his autobiography charts it with disarming honesty. In many ways he had a typical boxing start. Born in war-torn London in poor circumstances, Harry barely knew his father and was battered by his mother. He was bullied at school and sexually abused by an 'uncle', aptly named Dirty Dick.
	Without Apology IN Without Apology, Leah Hager Cohen addresses the subject of female aggression. "Any girl who boxes challenges the idea of what it means to be a girl in our culture. Through the prism of what she does with her fists, she sheds a fiercely contrarian light on our most fundamental notions about femininity and power and appetite and shame and desire."
	Occupation Prizefighter FREDDIE WELSH, world lightweight champion from 1914 to 1917, is largely forgotten - only genuine boxing buffs are likely to have heard of him, and so will be sufficiently interested to investigate Andrew Gallimore's excellent Occupation: Prizefighter (The Freddie Welsh Story) (352 pp., published by Seren at £14.99).
	No Ordinary Joe JOE CALZAGHE'S career has been defined by his outstanding performance against Jeff Lacy. His autobiography, ghost-written by Brian Doogan, fully appreciates this. The opening chapter cuts straight to a moment three weeks before their March 2006 showdown. Calzaghe had damaged his left wrist in training. Damage sustained to the same hand that had already caused the bout to be postponed once before and had Calzaghe determined to pull out of the second date.
	Amir Khan: A Boy from Bolton IN the run-up to Amir Khan's first title bout against Willie Limond last month, it seemed high time to settle down to a belated review of the Lancashire lad's autobiography. Bloomsbury put up the best fight in the publishers' battle for Khan, and although it did not make the fee public, rumours flew that Khan scooped £500,000 for A Boy From Bolton: My Story.
	Scottish Professional Boxing in the Fifties and Sixties THAT this large format 241-page book - Scottish Professional Boxing in the Fifties and Sixties - was self-published by Kent-based author Brian Doyle suggests he himself recognised it would be of limited appeal. That said, Doyle proves he is an accomplished researcher. For he has clearly invested a great deal of time and effort unearthing obscure facts about promotions, promoters and boxers who operated during a time he freely concedes was a period of rapid contraction and decline in Scottish professional boxing.
	Atlas: From the streets to the ring: a son¹s struggle to become a man TEDDY ATLAS is one of the straightest talkers in boxing so it comes as no surprise that his autobiography - Atlas: From the streets to the ring: a son's struggle to become a man - pulls few punches. He leaves little to the imagination when discussing his complex relationship with his doctor father, his childhood and his life in boxing as well as relationships with former charges Mike Tyson, Michael Moorer and Shannon Briggs.
	The Rough Guide to Muhammad Ali RENOWNED first and foremost for producing travel books, the highly respected "Rough Guide" series have expanded into new areas since their inception back in the early 1980s. There's music, history and more recently, under their reference section, The Rough Guide to Muhammad Ali.
	Fighting Back FRANK BRUNO held the WBC heavyweight title for a time; the highpoint of a career that, in the popular imagination, has been characterised by his two defeats by Mike Tyson. This is a reflection of the image in which he has been cast by the media: a loveable loser, a gentle giant.
	Hard Road to Glory JOHNNY NELSON comes across as smart and articulate with a dry sense of humour as a Sky TV pundit. All of that and lots more translates to the page in his autobiography, Johnny Nelson: Hard Road To Glory, How I became champion of the world. Whether it's discussing his bust-up with best buddies Naseem Hamed and Herol "Bomber" Graham, winning and defending the WBO crown or discussing his humble and tricky beginnings in Sheffield, Nelson doesn't shy away.
	Unforgiveable Blackness GEOFFREY C. Ward's extensively researched book on Jack Johnson, Unforgiving Blackness, recently won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2006. He consorted with prostitutes and spent his fortune recklessly.