Boxing Books

For your boxing library: As a boxing fan and an avid reader the boxing books listed below are my top 100 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 Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting
    by Sam Sheridan
  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. Bert Sugar's Boxing Encyclopedia: Everything You Want to Know, and More
    by Bert Randolph Sugar
  13. Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink
    by David Margolick
  14. Blood Game
    by Ed Gorman
  15. Blood in My Coffee: The Life of the Fight Doctor
    by Ferdie Pacheco
  16. Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer
    by Loic Wacquant
  17. Boxer's Start-Up: A Beginner's Guide to Boxing
    by Doug Werner
  18. 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
  19. Boxing
    by Bertram Job
  20. Boxing and Society: An International Analysis
    by John Sugden
  21. Boxing Babylon
    by Nigel Collins
  22. Boxing's Best Short Stories
    by Paul D. Staudohar
  23. Boxing Confidential: Power, Corruption and the Richest Prize in Sport
    by Jim Brady
  24. Boxing's Dirty Tricks and Outlaw Killer Punches
    by Champ Thomas
  25. Boxing's Greatest Fighters
    by Bert Randolph Sugar
  26. Boxing: Heroes & Champions
    by Bob Mee
  27. Boxing Interviews of a Lifetime
    by "Bad" Brad Berkwitt
  28. Boxing Mastery: Advanced Technique, Tactics, and Strategies from the Sweet Science
    by Mark Hatmaker, Doug Werner
  29. Boxing: Photographs by Larry Fink
    by Burt Randolph Sugar
  30. Boxing Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard)
    by Robert E. Howard
  31. Bummy Davis vs. Murder, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Mafia and an Ill-Fated Prizefighter
    by Ron Ross
  32. Championship Streetfighting: Boxing As A Martial Art
    by Ned Beaumont
  33. Cinderella Man
    by Michael DeLisa
  34. Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History
    by Jeremy Schaap
  35. Corner Men: Great Boxing Trainers
    by Ronald K. Fried
  36. Cut Time: An Education at the Fights
    by Carlo Rotella
  37. Facing Ali: 15 Fighters / 15 Stories
    by Stephen Brunt
  38. Fat City
    by Leonard Gardner
  39. Fighting Fit
    by Doug Werner and Alan Lachica
  40. Fight Town: Las Vegas - the Boxing Capital of the World
    by Tim Dahlberg
  41. Fighting Ruben Wolfe
    by Markus Zusak
  42. Hands of Stone: The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran
    by Christian Giudice
  43. How to Be an Ass-Whipping Boxer
    by Champ Thomas
  44. Inside the Ropes
    by Arthur Mercante and Phil Guarnieri
  45. In the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk About Their Art
    by Dave Anderson
  46. In This Corner...!: Forty-Two World Champions Tell Their Stories
    by Peter Heller
  47. Iron Mike: A Mike Tyson Reader
    by Daniel O'Connor
  48. Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler
    by Randy Roberts
  49. Joe Louis: The Great Black Hope
    by Richard Bak
  50. John L. Sullivan and His America
    by Michael T. Isenberg
  51. King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero
    by David Remnick
  52. Lennox
    by Lennox Lewis
  53. Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge
    by Mills Lane
  54. Mike Tyson: Money, Myth and Betrayal
    by Montieth M. Illingworth
  55. Million Dollar Baby: Stories from the Corner (aka Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner)
    by F. X. Toole
  56. Mi Vida Loca: The Crazy Life of Johnny Tapia
    by Johnny Tapia and Bettina Gilois
  57. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times
    by Thomas Hauser
  58. Murder on the Ropes: Original Boxing Mysteries
    by Otto Penzler
  59. On Boxing
    by Joyce Carol Oates
  60. Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King
    by Jack Newfield
  61. Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson
    by Herb Boyd, Ray Robinson
  62. Pound for Pound: A Novel
    by F. X. Toole
  63. Raging Bull: My Story
    by Jake La Motta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage
  64. Reading the Fights: The Best Writing About the Most Controversial of Sports
    by Joyce Carol Oates and Daniel Halpern
  65. Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Times
    by Russell Sullivan
  66. Serenity: A Boxing Memoir
    by Ralph Wiley
  67. Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms
    by Jim Lommasson, Joe Frazier, Bert Sugar, John Gattuso
  68. Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
    by Dave Kindred
  69. Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus "El Matador" Chavez, Who Became Lightweight Champion Of The World
    by Adam Pitluk
  70. Sugar Ray: The Sugar Ray Robinson Story
    by Sugar Ray Robinson and Dave Anderson
  71. Tent Boxing
    by Wayne McLennan
  72. The Ageless Warrior: The Life of Boxing Legend Archie Moore
    by Jake Lamotta and Mike Fitzgerald
  73. The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing
    by Thomas Hauser
  74. The Book of Boxing
    by W. C. Heinz, Nathan Ward
  75. The Boxer's Heart: How I Fell in Love with the Ring
    by Kate Sekules
  76. The Boxer's Workout
    by Peter Depasquale
  77. The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book
    by James Roberts and Alexander Skutt
  78. The Fight
    by Norman Mailer
  79. The Gloves: A Boxing Chronicle
    by Robert Anasi
  80. The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales from the Ring
    by Jeff Silverman
  81. The Guv'nor
    by Lenny McLean
  82. The Harder They Fall
    by Budd Schulberg
  83. The Hardest Game: McIlvanney on Boxing
    by Hugh McIlvanney
  84. The Holyfield Way: What I Learned about Courage, Perseverance, and the Bizarre World of Boxing
    by James J Thomas
  85. The Killings of Stanley Ketchel
    by James Carlos Blake
  86. The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America
    by Elliott J. Gorn
  87. The Prince and the Prophet: The Rise of Naseem Hamed
    by Nick Pitt
  88. The Professional
    by W. C. Heinz
  89. The Science of Boxing: Rules and Articles on Training: Generalship in the Ring and Kindred Subjects
    by Mike Donovan
  90. The Speed Bag Bible
    by Alan H. Kahn
  91. The Sweet Science
    by Robert Anasi and A.J. Liebling
  92. The Tomato Can
    by Ron Ross
  93. The View From Ringside: Inside the Tumultuous World of Boxing
    by Thomas Hauser
  94. This Bloody Mary Is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing
    by Jonathan Rendall
  95. Tunney: Boxing's Brainiest Champ and His Upset of the Great Jack Dempsey
    by Jack Cavanaugh
  96. Undefeated: Rocky Marciano -- the Fighter who Refused to Lose
    by Everett M. Skehan, Peter Louis, Mary Anne Marciano and Stanley Bauman
  97. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
    by Geoffrey C. Ward
  98. Unlicensed: Random Notes from Boxing's Underbelly
    by Jon Hotten
  99. Victory Over Myself
    by Floyd Patterson and Milton Gross
  100. White Collar Boxing: One Man's Journey from the Office to the Ring
    by John E. Oden
  101. 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.