Book Review: The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book
Book Review: The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book
By Antonio Santiago, Doghouse Boxing (March 25, 2013) Doghouse Boxing
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The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book
Hey everyone! I am back, and I am hoping that you guys did not miss me too much, although I know it's hard not to miss the Muhammad Ali of boxing writers. I am the greatest indeed......ok, maybe not, but it helps to believe in one after all the daily grinds. I was away for a bit because I had to deal with medical issues, both physical and mental depression ones.
 
Today, I come at you with a gem of a book, titled "The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book" (McBooks Press, www.mcbooks.com, ISBN-10: 1590134990, ISBN-13: 978-1590134993, 2011, all rights reserved). It is a quite enjoyable book, with the records of every boxer inducted into the Hall of Fame until that time. I liked it so much, my copy ended up split into pieces! I have opened it up so many times over and over just to find and re-find information on all the fighters included, that it broke into about 4 or 5 different stacks of pages.
 
The book has detailed information on the fighters' careers and on the fights they engaged in. It also has great photography accompanying the text (Wilfredo Gomez blasting a right to Derrick Holmes' chin a perfect example of this) and it also has deep information regarding others who have been inducted into the Hall, such as Don King, Angelo Dundee, Tito Lectoure, etc. In fact, when I was a teenager and living in Cayey, Puerto Rico, I remember knowing about Lectoure being a promoter in Miami because Ring En Espanol (Ring Magazine's licensee and Spanish edition) kept mentioning his undercards all the time. With time, I had forgotten all about him until I got this book. So it goes without saying that this book is a deep well of information for boxing fans and for people who just enjoy reading too.
 
The book's cover is a clear blue, which reminds me of the color of a ring canvas, splashed with yellow and red lettering, and a photo of two of the nicest Hall of Famers you could ever meet in person, Roberto Duran and Carlos Palomino, doing battle during their historic, 1979 Madison Square Garden 10 round fight won by Duran on points.
 
Two negative points are some basic errors committed on the fighter's record logs, such as saying that Gomez took eight rounds to dispose of Jose Gonzalez on January 10, 1982, when it only took him 2 rounds to win, showing that Jose Napoles avenged his loss to Billy Backus by finishing him in four rounds in their rematch, when that fight actually did go eight before Napoles won, and some other minor stuff. That and, it has also garnered some criticism for being a bit lackadaisical in showing the fight by fight records of the old-time greats, although I have to admit that it is really hard to find out who fought who in the 1600's and all the way to the early 1930's, when records were sporadically kept and boxers could easily assume names 10 minutes before bout time, without the regulations of a computer-helped boxing commission around and without the modern technics and tools that are used for record-keeping nowadays.
 
Overall, for a suggested price of $18.95, it is an intelligent buy and I guess you could either buy the 2012 edition as well, or await for the 2013 edition to come out, but if you have 20 bucks on your pocket and love great boxing photos and writing, why wait?


Please send all Questions and comments to Antonio at TJ69662094@aol.com.

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