Reddit mentions: The best boxing books

Here is most of my library, broken down, with links and some thoughts on each.

Karate Specific

• The Bubishi by Patrick McCarty (Amazon) - I think this book needs to be in every library.
  
• Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate by Patrick McCarthy (Amazon) - One of the first books I purchased by McCarthy. Details older version of classic kata found in a lot of traditional styles.
  
• Karatedo by My Way of Life - Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Great read! I really nice view at the life of Funakoshi.
  
• The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Another great read. While I'm no longer a practitioner of Shotokan, I believe the teachings of Funakoshi should be tought to every karateka.
  
• Okinawan Karate : Teachers, styles and secret techniques by Mark Bishop (Amazon) - Great amount of historical content, and helped link a few things together for me.
  
• The Study of China Hand Techniques by Morinobu Itoman (Lulu.com) - The only known publication by Itoman, this book detains original Okinawan Te, how it was taught, practiced, and some history. This was one of my best finds.
  
• The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do by Shoshin Nagamine (Amazon) - Great details on Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu kata, and some nice historical content.
  
• The Way of Kata by Lawrence Kane & Kris Wilder (Amazon) - Fantastic book on diving deeper into kata to find the application of the techniques.
  
• Classic Kata of Shorinji Ryu: Okinawan Karate Forms of Richard 'Biggie' Kim by Leroy Rodrigues (Amazon) - Not quite accurate as to the title, this book details the versions of shorinji-ryu kata as if they were taught by a Japanese school. Still able to use, as long as you understand what stances and techniques have changed between Okinawa and Japan.
  
• Black Belt Karate by Jordan Roth (Amazon) - This was a gift from a friend. I have a First Edition hard cover. Shotokan specific, and has some nice details on the kata.
  
• Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text by Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Love this book, especially for the historical content.
  
• Kempo Karate-do by Tsuyoshi Chitose (Shindokanbooks.com) - The only known book from Chitose, highlights his history, his thoughts and ideas for practicing karate-do as a way of life, and contains steps for practicing Henshu-Ho. Chitose is the creator of the style I study. I have this book for obvious reasons. Your mileage may vary.
  
  Kobujutsu Specific
  
  
• Okinawan Weaponry: Hidden methods, ancient myths of Kobudo & Te by Mark Bishop (Amazon) - Really great detail into the history of some of the weapons and the people who taught them from Okinawa.
  
• Okinawan Kobudo Vol 1 & 2 (Lulu.com) - Fantastic books detailing the kihon and kata of Okinawan Kobudo. Anyone who takes Ryukyu Kobujutsu, and doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on the original texts by Motokatsu Inoue, this is the next best thing.
  
• Bo: Karate Weapon of Self-Defense by Fumio Demura (Amazon) - Purchased it for the historical content. Doesn't actually apply to anything in Ryukyu Kobujutsu, but still a decent read. I also have his Nunchaku and Tonfa books.
  
  Other Martial Arts
  
  
• Applied Tai Chi Chuan by Nigel Sutton (Amazon) - A great introduction to Cheng Style Tai Chi, detailing some of the fundamentals and philosophy behind the teachings.
  
• Tai Chi Handbook by Herman Kauz (Amazon) - More Cheng Style Tai Chi, but this one has more emphasis on teaching the shortened form (37 steps).
  
• Tai Chi Chuan: Classical Yang Style: The Complete Long Form and Qigong by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming (Amazon) - Just received this for Chirstmas, and looking forward to diving in. Includes some history of Tai Chi Chuan, Yang style Tai Chi, philosophy, and has instruction on the complete long form (108 steps)
  
• The Text-book of Ju-Jutsu as Practiced in Japan by Sadakazu Uyenishi (Amazon) - I have a very old version of this book (1930ish). Picked it up for the historical content, but still a great read.
  
• Tao of Jeet Kun Do by Bruce Lee (Amazon) - Notes on technique, form, and philosophy from Bruce Lee. Another must read for every martial artist, regardless of discipline.
  
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: The Ultimate Guide to Dominating Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts Combat by Alexandrew Paiva (Amazon) - Excellent step by step illustrations on performing the basic techniques in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Easy to understand and follow. Contains several tips on what to watch out for with each technique as well.
  
  Health and Anatomy
  
  
• The Anatomy of Martial Arts by Dr. Norman Link and Lily Chou (Amazon) - Decent book on the muscle groups used to perform specific techniques in martial arts. On it's own, not totally useful (but not useless), but with the next book, becomes gold!
  
• Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy by Bret Contraris (Amazon) - Brilliant book that details what muscles are use for what type of action, and gives examples on body weight exercises that pin-point those specific muscle groups. My best purchase of 2014, especially when paired with the previous book.
  
• Martial Mechanics by Phillip Starr (Amazon) - Slightly Chinese Martial Arts specific, but contains great material on how to strengthen stances and fine-tune technique for striking arts.
  
  EDIT: I can't believe I forgot this one...
  
  
• The Little Black Book of Violence by Lawrence Kane & Kris Wilder (Amazon) - Fantastic book about situational awareness, what happens during fights, and the aftermath. LOVED this book.
  

I've got a number of books I can suggest.

This one's a great history of the sport in the bare-knuckle era, 19th century sporting culture, and the transition to modern boxing.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Manly-Art-Bare-Knuckle-Fighting/dp/0801476089

Probably the best boxing novel ever written. I can't believe this isn't a movie.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Professional-W-c-Heinz/dp/0306810581

The book that got me into the sport when I sat down to read it at a Borders Books when I was 16. An awesome overview of the history of each weight class with over 400 photos and illustrations.
http://www.amazon.com/AN-Illustrated-History-Of-Boxing/dp/0806522011

An excellent anthology of fiction and newspaper articles.
http://www.amazon.com/At-Fights-American-Writers-Boxing/dp/1598532057

The guy spends a little too much time bashing other martial arts, but it's an excellent read about how boxing is useful in a street fight and old school bare knuckle techniques.
http://www.amazon.com/Championship-Streetfighting-Boxing-Martial-Art/dp/0873649346

A superb series of observations from a woman who has spent her life watching boxing. One of the more literary attempts at explaining the primal appeal of a boxing match.
http://www.amazon.com/On-Boxing-Joyce-Carol-Oates/dp/0060874503

I'm not home and don't have access to my library right now, but let me know if you want a few more. I'd say that any one of those is a great gift for a boxing enthusiast. /u/Choccybizzle is right, Four Kings is awesome, and /u/zombiezs suggestion for The Sweet Science is a good one as well. There's a lot of boxing books out there, but you know your friend so you'll know which of those will appeal to him the most.

Buy this book and study it: http://www.amazon.com/Judo-Formal-Techniques-Complete-Kodokan/dp/080481676X

I only had time for a quick view but first and foremost --- you guys just need more time to learn to work together better. 2 weeks is unreasonable expectation because part of the kata is learning how to move with your partner in everything and getting the mutual timing together. Kata is a fluid stylistic presentation not just a patchwork of techniques with some shuffling into position between the throws. Practice will get you there.

For example, one issue is one of you takes a very long time to straighten their gi after the first set...way too long so the first guy turns first. Not good (one trick people do is to snap their belt twice to tighten the knot and indicate they're ready...1, 2, turn-- cheesy but acceptable often). Also in general, many of your movements need fluidity. That is something you will get by practicing more.

The mat presence is sloppy (ex's- you make big clumsy steps not fluid smooth gliding steps, you are getting up with your left leg first and pushing off your knee, Uke is not giving enough for some techniques and giving too much for others - minor but makes it sloppy over all). Your bowing needs work. If you are the bearded guy, you barely bow to the judges. They may not seem like a big deal but could be off putting to some (your end bow was better). Match it all with Uke.

More specifics: the uki otoshi definitely needs some work so does the Harai (no kuzushi?!). The kata guruma can be cleaned up a bit. Uke needs to work on falling in the proper locations. Sorry to say but the Uchi mata was not good. I don't believe you should be lifting but pulling them around in tighter and tighter circles and flow into the throw.

Please check out the book I linked. Its very specific and will help out a ton. And I hope you have someone kata certified guiding you? Keep practicing --- you made a lot of progress in 2 weeks so imagine how nice it can be in 6 months. But take everything very seriously (from bowing, to the tiny kuzushi specific to each throw, to the specific way you both arise from the ground). Good luck!

Edit: typos and thank you for my first gold, kind Judoka.

I’ve read almost every Muay Thai book there is and here are the books that I recommend for its history

I think this is the best one

It’s a beautiful Muay Thai book that not only shows techniques but it has an in depth section of its history with beautiful pictures. Highly recommend

When I lived in Thailand, this book was in almost every English language bookstore

It’s much cheaper in Thailand than online. It has Muay Boran techniques but it also has a history section which is pretty good. I liked the old school pictures on there

But if I had to choose, Muay Thai, a living legacy gets my pick

Yeah, man. The G-Man was always a special fighter to me. Everyone loves a puncher, and he had punching ability like no other. I would imagine that most people here wouldn't like him because of his dog fighting days and the one time he took enjoyment from running over flamingos with his car in florida. He definitely had some serious issues.

Read this book if you want more insight into McClellan. It is an amazing read. It gives great detail on how McClellan should have been the one to go to the Olympics.

Ninja edit: I'm about 120 wins and 65 losses in fight night champion. I use Vitali Klitschko as my guy because I have a fairly good system against Tyson. Damn....about 90% of the people I face use tyson. It's infuriating.

For books, this is THE book for nage-no-kata. I recommend using this for specific techniques that you are having trouble with, as it is extremely extensive.

I recommend watching the world champions in nage-no-kata, and try to emulate them to the best of your ability. Most commissions that judge you, use the IJF NNK guideline to assess your kata, but that depends on the federation.

Before you start adding mistakes into your kata and waste time, start by emulating the best in the world (above video). Sure it won't look that nice in the end, but it's important to have a vision to go after. Another tool is to videotape yourself practicing, this serves two purposes; 1) it allows you to watch in slow-motion all of the stuff that goes wrong 2) you can go back and watch previous videos to see how much it is improving, this is a morale boost.

For specific techniques it's best to either upload a video of one of the demonstrations or ask specific questions. Nage-no-kata as a whole is a big topic, and difficult to cover in its entirety. I'll gladly help you on your way.

This was an amazing fight. I was pretty young as well, but at the time I was a huge Leonard fan, just a young kid and victim to the hype. Its funny I watched this with my dad and his buddies I remember almost being moved to tears when Ray won, my mom was. Meanwhile you have these hard working fishing boat guys from my dad's work just livid when Hagler won. Now 25 years removed, older and grittier myself, I re-watch this fight and I'm cheering for Hagler even though I know he loses. Strange how emotional and polarizing this fight was.

Four Kings is supposed to be an amazing book about the era: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Kings-Leonard-Hagler-Hearns/dp/1590131622

It mentioned below, having a great instructor/school is a great resource.

As always, you can read Bruce himself. I'd suggest you pick up Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way, where he explains the core techniques and ideas - both the execution and the concepts behind them.

I'd also suggest picking up both of Teri Tom's books Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression and The Straight Lead. Both are very clear and to the point, and cover the mechanics and basic techniques of JKD.
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If you're just into video demonstrations - well, still get those books. They'll help a ton.

A lot of the old guard and classicists of JKD don't like the idea of instructional videos, for fear of diluting the quality of teaching overall. But some have done instructional series.

The Chinatown/Wednesday Night JKD group comes immediately to mind; they have a fairly in-depth set of video lessons that covers all of the foundational stuff of the Chinatown JKD era. It is a set of courses to buy, but they have quite a few sample lessons that you can download (requires your email address, but they don't send spam). Also, their website and various Youtube channels - Chinatown, WNG, Primal Academy - have great video resources on refining particular techniques.

Hope it helps!

Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere
http://www.amazon.com/Aikido-Dynamic-Sphere-Illustrated-Introduction/dp/0804832846

Probably the best single book that explores both the history and philosophy as well as techniques. The authors did an excellent job couching the peculiarities of aikido within a martial context with elements of budo. The illustrations are unique with vectors tracing the subtle directions of force. If you have martial arts experience, you might be able to understand them better than someone with no experience, and help you understand what's going on in videos.

But really all of this is just supplement to real training. No one can truly start with books or videos.

I love Aikido, I'd choose it for sure. A good book on Aikido for you to read is "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere"

But if Judo was available I'd definitely look into that as well

Some of the names and movements differ from organization to organization.

However, the book "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" does a pretty good job, in my opinion. It's been a great reference and people from many styles have recommended it to me in the past, so that says something, I think.

Just pay attention to whatever your style says is the "correct" way to do something, because that varies. :P

Hey man, I'd recommend picking up Boxing's Ten Commandments: Essential Training for the Sweet Science

Jack Slack had it as a recommended book on his personal website back in the day. I picked it up and it's worth the $9 price on amazon. Especially if you're strapped for cash and need some direction.

Also: if you find a technique video you like, drill it yourself and record it, then compare that video of yourself to the technique demonstration, and work really hard on bringing your skill to that level. Notice what you're doing incorrectly in reference to the demonstration

The best source on the nage no kata is this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Judo-Formal-Techniques-Complete-Kodokan/dp/080481676X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418230202&sr=8-1&keywords=otaki+draeger&pebp=1418230207714

For instructional videos you may want to look into Kodokan teaching videos like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S8I76aPW7s

or footage from kodokan kata seminars like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMPcL_LKo88

Not instructional, but this video is regarded one of the better demonstrations of the kata on the Internet (at least by the german judoforum):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hDH_KHf9o

And here is a clip featureing 10th dan Yoshitsugo Yamashita doing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmOX5p5zmc0

Yes you can make a sociological project out of martial arts. Loïc Wacquant's ethnography of boxing in Chicago's South Side comes to mind as an example of such a project.

Here is a literature review on the sociology of combat sports that may be a good starting point for your project. The authors of this review have a whole section on "body pedagogies" which seems very relevant to your interest in the intersection between education and martial arts.

You may also be interested in this collection of ethnographic research on martial arts.

I currently train MMA along with BJJ, and while I may be a grappling novice, I did used to box for a few years previously, which has helped me enormously. Two key things I would say are try to stay relaxed (easier said than done when someone is trying to punch you in the face, I know), particularly round your shoulders, and always keep your guard up. Keep doing those two things, and everything else will come with practice.

Also, I highly recommend this book to help with striking technique.

I would give this a read. Came across a copy in my university library a few years back. The phrasing and writing style is a bit esoteric for my tastes, but if you're looking to get into Aikido for the long haul, soaking in the philosophy and lifestyle as well as the techniques, then I think it's worth having a look at.

To what I understand, Aikido will serve you quite well as you age and become less able to perform in more striking-centric disciplines.

This book has pretty good reviews. Might be worth looking into if you're the book learner type.

Also, for a more scientific approach of the same concepts, him and Akins are basically just talking about the dynamics of jiu jitsu. This is a fantastic book that delves into the physics of Judo. It is surprisingly consistent with a lot of the things Rickson tries to teach at his seminars.

I own these three

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boxing-Mastery-Advanced-Technique-Strategies-ebook/dp/B003XVYYS2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boxers-Book-Conditioning-Drilling-Hatmaker-ebook/dp/B005Z4AP6K

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boxing-Like-Champs-Greatest-Fighters-ebook/dp/B01J4KUMZO

Absolutely crammed full of info and really easy to get into. I've had the first one for years and yet still find some wisdom in it i hadn't noticed before

Championship Streetfighting: Boxing As A Martial Art https://www.amazon.com/dp/0873649346/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_f-GVDbBBGYEXP

I like this one and have a copy myself.

Loic Wacquant, Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer. Such a great example of deploying Pierre Bourdieu in ethnographic fieldwork book!

Dirty boxing is more akin to the stuff Harry Greb was doing at the turn of the 20th century. i'm pretty sure Duran was actually trained by some super old guys whose roots were in those days.

Matt Linland actually wrote a book about how wrestlers can use dirty boxing in MMA if you're interested. Given that he's a Greco Roman wrestler, you can draw that dirty boxing revolves around less-than-legal tactics of clinching and holding inside.

damn I though it would be like 25 tops. https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Boxing-Mixed-Martial-Arts/dp/0981504442

Here is the mobile version of your link

https://www.amazon.com/Aikido-Dynamic-Sphere-Illustrated-Introduction/dp/0804832846

It's a step-by-step guide to nage no kata for both tori and uke. Very informative.

Edit: Book link
https://www.amazon.com/Judo-Formal-Techniques-Complete-Kodokan/dp/080481676X