Boxing Books

For your boxing library: As a boxing fan and an avid reader the boxing books listed below are my top 100 plus favorites (in alphabetical order). They include biographies, fiction, non-fiction, instructional, newly published and old boxing books that I have read and enjoyed. Keep in mind that I am not a book critic. I just love boxing and reading books on boxing.

  1. A Beautiful Sickness: Reflections on the Sweet Science
    by Thomas Hauser
  2. A Clenched Fist
    by Peter Wood
  3. A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
    by Roger Kahn
  4. A Neutral Corner: Boxing Essays
    by A. J. Liebling, Fred Warner, James Barbour
  5. A Savage Business: The Comeback and Comedown of Mike Tyson
    by Richard Hoffer
  6. A Year at the Fights
    by Thomas Hauser
  7. An Illustrated History of Boxing
    by Nat Fleischer, Sam Andre, Nigel Collins, Dan Rafael
  8. Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man
    by Teddy Atlas, Peter Alson
  9. Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story
    by Peter Niels Heller
  10. Bare Fists: The History of Bare Knuckle Prize Fighting
    by Bob Mee
  11. Barney Ross
    by Douglas Century
  12. Battling Siki: A Tale of Ring Fixes, Race, and Murder in the 1920s
    by Peter Benson
  13. Bert Sugar's Boxing Encyclopedia: Everything You Want to Know, and More
    by Bert Randolph Sugar
  14. Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink
    by David Margolick
  15. Blood Game
    by Ed Gorman
  16. Blood in My Coffee: The Life of the Fight Doctor
    by Ferdie Pacheco
  17. Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer
    by Loic Wacquant
  18. Boxer's Start-Up: A Beginner's Guide to Boxing
    by Doug Werner
  19. Boxiana; or, Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, from the Days of the Renowned Broughton and Slack, to the Championship of Cribb: Volume 1
    by Pierce Egan
  20. Boxing
    by Bertram Job
  21. Boxing: A Cultural History
    by Kasia Boddy
  22. Boxing and Society: An International Analysis
    by John Sugden
  23. Boxing Babylon
    by Nigel Collins
  24. Boxing's Best Short Stories
    by Paul D. Staudohar
  25. Boxing Confidential: Power, Corruption and the Richest Prize in Sport
    by Jim Brady
  26. Boxing's Dirty Tricks and Outlaw Killer Punches
    by Champ Thomas
  27. Boxing's Greatest Fighters
    by Bert Randolph Sugar
  28. Boxing: Heroes & Champions
    by Bob Mee
  29. Boxing Interviews of a Lifetime
    by "Bad" Brad Berkwitt
  30. Boxing Is My Sanctuary
    by Ted Sares
  31. Boxing Mastery: Advanced Technique, Tactics, and Strategies from the Sweet Science
    by Mark Hatmaker, Doug Werner
  32. Boxing: Photographs by Larry Fink
    by Burt Randolph Sugar
  33. Boxing Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
    by Robert E. Howard
  34. Brad Cooney's Let's Talk Boxing
    by Brad Cooney
  35. Bummy Davis vs. Murder, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Mafia and an Ill-Fated Prizefighter
    by Ron Ross
  36. Championship Streetfighting: Boxing As A Martial Art
    by Ned Beaumont
  37. Chaos, Corruption, Courage and Glory
    by Thomas Hauser
  38. Cinderella Man
    by Michael DeLisa
  39. Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History
    by Jeremy Schaap
  40. Confessions of a Fighter
    by Peter Wood
  41. Corner Men: Great Boxing Trainers
    by Ronald K. Fried
  42. Cut Time: An Education at the Fights
    by Carlo Rotella
  43. Facing Ali: 15 Fighters / 15 Stories
    by Stephen Brunt
  44. Fat City
    by Leonard Gardner
  45. Fight Town: Las Vegas - the Boxing Capital of the World
    by Tim Dahlberg
  46. Fighting Ruben Wolfe
    by Markus Zusak
  47. Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing
    by George Kimball
  48. Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
    by Mark Kram
  49. Hands of Stone: The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran
    by Christian Giudice
  50. How to Be an Ass-Whipping Boxer
    by Champ Thomas
  51. Inside the Ropes
    by Arthur Mercante and Phil Guarnieri
  52. In the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk About Their Art
    by Dave Anderson
  53. In This Corner...!: Forty-Two World Champions Tell Their Stories
    by Peter Heller
  54. Iron Mike: A Mike Tyson Reader
    by Daniel O'Connor
  55. Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler
    by Randy Roberts
  56. Joe Louis: The Great Black Hope
    by Richard Bak
  57. John L. Sullivan and His America
    by Michael T. Isenberg
  58. King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero
    by David Remnick
  59. Lennox
    by Lennox Lewis
  60. Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge
    by Mills Lane
  61. Mike Tyson: Money, Myth and Betrayal
    by Montieth M. Illingworth
  62. Million Dollar Baby: Stories from the Corner (aka Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner)
    by F. X. Toole
  63. Mi Vida Loca: The Crazy Life of Johnny Tapia
    by Johnny Tapia and Bettina Gilois
  64. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times
    by Thomas Hauser
  65. Murder on the Ropes: Original Boxing Mysteries
    by Otto Penzler
  66. My View from the Corner
    by Angelo Dundee and Bert Randolph Sugar
  67. Nine...Ten...And Out!: The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith
    by Ron Ross
  68. On Boxing
    by Joyce Carol Oates
  69. Only the Ring Was Square
    by Teddy Brenner
  70. Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson
    by Herb Boyd, Ray Robinson
  71. Pound for Pound: A Novel
    by F. X. Toole
  72. Raging Bull: My Story
    by Jake La Motta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage
  73. Reading the Fights: The Best Writing About the Most Controversial of Sports
    by Joyce Carol Oates and Daniel Halpern
  74. Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage
    by Budd Schulberg
  75. Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Times
    by Russell Sullivan
  76. Savage Science Of Streetfighting: Applying The Lessons Of Championship Boxing To Serious Street Survival
    by Ned Beaumont
  77. Serenity: A Boxing Memoir
    by Ralph Wiley
  78. Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms
    by Jim Lommasson, Joe Frazier, Bert Sugar, John Gattuso
  79. Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
    by Dave Kindred
  80. Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus "El Matador" Chavez, Who Became Lightweight Champion Of The World
    by Adam Pitluk
  81. Sugar Ray: The Sugar Ray Robinson Story
    by Sugar Ray Robinson and Dave Anderson
  82. Tent Boxing
    by Wayne McLennan
  83. The Ageless Warrior: The Life of Boxing Legend Archie Moore
    by Jake Lamotta and Mike Fitzgerald
  84. The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing
    by Thomas Hauser
  85. The Book of Boxing
    by W. C. Heinz, Nathan Ward
  86. The Boxer's Workout
    by Peter Depasquale
  87. The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book
    by James Roberts and Alexander Skutt
  88. The Devil and Sonny Liston
    by Nick Tosches
  89. The Fight
    by Norman Mailer
  90. The Gloves: A Boxing Chronicle
    by Robert Anasi
  91. The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales from the Ring
    by Jeff Silverman
  92. The Harder They Fall
    by Budd Schulberg
  93. The Hardest Game: McIlvanney on Boxing
    by Hugh McIlvanney
  94. The Holyfield Way: What I Learned about Courage, Perseverance, and the Bizarre World of Boxing
    by James J Thomas
  95. The Killings of Stanley Ketchel
    by James Carlos Blake
  96. The Life and Crimes of Don King: The Shame of Boxing in America
    by Jack Newfield
  97. The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America
    by Elliott J. Gorn
  98. The Onion Picker: Carmen Basilio and Boxing in the 1950s
    by Gary B. Youmans
  99. The Prince and the Prophet: The Rise of Naseem Hamed
    by Nick Pitt
  100. The Professional
    by W. C. Heinz
  101. The Science of Boxing
    by Mike Donovan
  102. The Speed Bag Bible
    by Alan H. Kahn
  103. The Sweet Science
    by Robert Anasi and A.J. Liebling
  104. The Tomato Can
    by Ron Ross
  105. The View From Ringside: Inside the Tumultuous World of Boxing
    by Thomas Hauser
  106. This Bloody Mary Is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing
    by Jonathan Rendall
  107. Tunney: Boxing's Brainiest Champ and His Upset of the Great Jack Dempsey
    by Jack Cavanaugh
  108. Undefeated: Rocky Marciano -- the Fighter who Refused to Lose
    by Everett M. Skehan, Peter Louis, Mary Anne Marciano and Stanley Bauman
  109. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
    by Geoffrey C. Ward
  110. Unlicensed: Random Notes from Boxing's Underbelly
    by Jon Hotten
  111. Victory Over Myself
    by Floyd Patterson and Milton Gross
  112. White Collar Boxing: One Man's Journey from the Office to the Ring
    by John E. Oden
  113. Workouts from Boxing's Greatest Champs: Get in Shape with Muhammad Ali, Fernando Vargas, Roy Jones Jr., and Other Legends
    by Gary Todd

Also see boxing movies for recommendations.