Last week, I put out the word that I was in the market for a good boxing book – despite the fact that my reading list is constantly beating me into submission. Great comments and emails followed from some of the most respected boxing voices online (Bill Dwyre (LA Times), Bryan Brennan (Bry Guy Boxing), Ryan from Fightlinker, and the guys from the fantastic No Mas). In the interest of not just moving on to the next one, I decided to post a follow-up and crowdsource the ultimate purchase decision.

I included all the suggestions that were put forth, plus W.C. Heinz’s The Professional because from what I hear it at least deserves to be in the final conversation. Hit the poll, and I will quite simply buy and read one of these tales from the ring.

The Great Prize Fight, by Alan Lloyd

Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring, by Teddy Atlas

Ghosts of Manila, by Mark Kram

The Harder They Fall, by Budd Schulberg

Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading a lot of deranged fiction lately (Bret Easton Ellis), and need to get the aggression out, or maybe it’s because I just really like boxing. Either way, I haven’t read a good sports book in awhile (about two months; read When March Went Mad during March Madness), and I’m interested in reading a great book about boxing. Looking for suggestions.

Here are eight I pulled off Amazon. Leave insights in the comments, fellow fans of pugilist lit.

The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales from the Ring, edited by Jeff Silverman

The Sweet Science, by A.J. Liebling

My View from the Corner: A Life in Boxing, by Angelo Dundee

Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, by Wil Haygood

The Professional, by W.C. Heinz

The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science, by Mike Silver

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship, by Dave Kindred

Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing, by George Kimball

Been a little while since the last IYHM. Figured it was time to bring it back, what with the news that Obama Inauguration tickets are going for five figures, and considering that the Federal Reserve plans to give out $2 trillion dollars to somebody, but would rather not tell us who the recipients are.

Money is depressing. Anyway…

For all you museum curator-types out there, check out this life casting of Cassius Clay.

Get this. They’re claiming that the sculpture contains DNA-loaded hair from Ali (3 chests hair and about 30 armpit hairs to be precise). Also, they claim to have destroyed the original mold, so only the one impression could be made.

And They’re claiming it all to the tune of $7,000,000! ($400,000 down payment required via Pay Pal).

Wow. Like I said, museums, institutes, Hall-of-Fames – you may apply. People who pull heists for a living, you’ve been informed as well. Regular schmoes like me, will have to throw in the towel on this one.