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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Being too young to enjoy the four kings in their pomp, this book offered me the insight into their greatness that I missed out on myself. This is true from the days of Rocky Marciano to Jack Dempsey to Joe Frazier to Muhammad Ali and finally the era of boxing discussed in Four Kings. Outside of his footwork and feinting which the other three were also skilled in, Leonard adjusted well to his opponents’ style as a fight progressed. Ray Charles, after who Leonard was named, sang "America the Beautiful" before the second Leonard-Duran fight, at the Superdome, in New Orleans.

This attitude is a theory of what spurred Duran on to utter the words ‘No Mas’ as ‘Sugar’ would taunt even the most respectable of opponents. While Kimball occasionally interjects personal recollections that may slow down the narrative, his sharp attention to detail and analysis of how the fighters influenced each other make for an engrossing read.Also, at certain points he would run a paragraph reciting results of the fighters with one or two lines on the fights. Christopher Livingston Eubank, a name that echoes through the annals of the sport, isn’t just about winning in the ring; it’s about being a true King, both inside and outside of the squared circle. They are timeless fighters who had timeless fights with one another, through all the action and drama and controversy. I'd been looking for a good book about boxing for awhile now, and the consensus seemed to be that this was one of the best out there.

He is ranked first in Bleacher Report’s ’15 fastest boxers of all-time list’ and it is hard to argue with it when watching his performances.Great times indeed, and those who were lucky enough to have lived through this special era can forever count themselves as extremely fortunate.

Hagler’s granite chin is renowned and historic, evident in his career-defining fight with the ‘Motor City Cobra’ where he ate right hands as if they were sweet treats. As the recession of the late 70s gave way to the capitalism of the 80s, the underrepresented yearned for someone to fight for them.

But in other chapters you'll learn the outcome of the fight in the first couple of lines, which is a bit bizarre.

Moreso his inability to accept the judges' decision in his last fight against Leonard - until the end of his life. The rest of the group cement a 9, Duran beat a prime Leonard and boasted a 71-1 record before that fight, Hagler cleaned out the Middleweight division and fought the Philadelphians when they were at their most dangerous and Leonard fought extremely tough talents outside of this group with the most signature wins inside a short number of fights.

If you cared about sports at all, you knew Roberto Duran and Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard.