Four Kings: The intoxicating and captivating tale of four men who changed the face of boxing from award-winning sports writer George Kimball

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Some deem this to be the Wilmington native’s best attribute but also believe it to be ‘Marvelous’ Marvin’s worst. I skipped over the behind the scenes details and mainly read about the fights and the personalities of the fighters.

The author has written in detail, all the fights (and the events leading up to them) of the Four Kings. But what truly sets me apart is my unwavering dedication to protecting and serving as a Reserve Deputy Marshal during my retirement. There was nothing here as enduring as Duran’s stunning performance in the first fight or as epoch-definingas ‘No Mas’.She has been reporting on celebrity and entertainment news since 2008 and is a former Senior Editor at entertainment site Zap2It. Also, he builds suspense in some chapters by not telling you who's won the fight until you've read a blow-by-blow account. But in other chapters you'll learn the outcome of the fight in the first couple of lines, which is a bit bizarre. One thing you will get out of this book is that Ray Leonard was a master manipulator who did everything he could to get things in his favor - larger rings so he could get away from the power punchers, more padding in the gloves so he wouldn't get knocked out, etc. I kind of mentioned this when talking about the first round of Hagler-Hearns, but I’m not personally a big “everything was better back when I was younger and more relevant” sort of person.

Amidst this backdrop, Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard became the people’s champions and revitalized the sport of boxing. Apart from Hagler, who retired at 33, sadly the others carried on far past their best and got themselves beaten up by inferior opponents.

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The series showcases the dominance of Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard and their battles in and out of the ring. Few fight endings are as infamous as this, as Duran said ‘No Mas’ at the end of an eight-round humbling. Having written the biography of boxer Errol Christie - who is mentioned in this book - I had to read this hugely well-informed odyssey through the glory years of the sport. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t pick Jackson Marinez over Richard Commey so frankly I have bigger issues.

The last factor is one most use to separate the four, however, it deserves more detail than looking at the records and realising Leonard beat everyone. I must assume they mean odds on even though its written as odds against, otherwise in a two-man contest you just simply back both fighters and cannot fail to win. Some were better at it than others though, The Panamanian legend’s infighting style required tremendous stamina which he had in abundance, starting and finishing 15 rounds at a literal breath-taking pace.The Kings” spotlights boxing’s evolution from the end of Muhammad Ali’s era to the era of the Four Kings, set against the seismic political and socio-economic shifts taking place in the United States. The controversial outcome of another - the 1987 Leonard-Hagler fight - remains the subject of heated debates amongst fans to this day .

From 1980 – beginning with Roberto Duran’s sensational points win over “Sugar” Ray Leonard and, perhaps fittingly, ending with Leonard’s rubber-match of a points win over “Hands of Stone” in 1989 – to the very end of the decade, four men fought from welterweight up to super-middleweight, giving their all and giving the entire world a thrill. His fan-friendly style that the casual watcher would perceive as brawling gained him lots of followers. Prime Video has announced a new all-access documentary telling the story of four British boxing legends.

Speaking of the 72kg King, he scores the lowest as this is the only weight he comfortably competed at. The usually-high-scoring Leonard ranks lower with this skill as it was one of the few things he didn’t excel in. He (Duran) followed Toti to a boxing gym at the age of eight, and had his first amateur bout a year later. In the meantime, Prime subscribers can alternatively watch ‘ The Brain Of A Boxer,’‘ Occupation: Fighter,’ and ‘ The 5th King- Iran “The Blade” Barkley Story.