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

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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They were all special fighters and athletes. They had distinct personalities, and they were real personalities. And most striking compared to the modern boxing world, these guys all fought each other.

Four Kings: The intoxicating and captivating tale of four men Four Kings: The intoxicating and captivating tale of four men

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. Indeed he did thus earns 3/5 points and not top marks due to his first fight against one ‘fab four’ member resulting in a loss at the hands of Duran as well as an unconvincing win against Hagler that people still dispute the result of to this day. Thanks to being a game champion and carving out one of the closest fights in boxing, Hagler scores 2 points here as the fight, and win against Hearns is the best out of the nine fights the group had and arguably the best in boxing. The other two greats dismally score 1 point apiece as they only had 1 yet emphatic win during this competitive time. Pete Hamill, American journalist and novelist, writes in his Foreword to George Kimball's book "This book is about the last Golden Age of boxing. That is, it is about a time when the matches themselves transcended the squalor of the business side of the sport, and focused only on the men who fought." Four Kingswill examine the notorious rivalry between British boxing legends Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno. 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.The first 10/10 attribute in this rank goes to Bleacher Report’s fifth-best defensive fighter in the sport’s history. Leonard had everything in this department, foot feints, timing, punch awareness. Some deem this to be the Wilmington native’s best attribute but also believe it to be ‘Marvelous’ Marvin’s worst. Those people include me. Although he could get off short hooks on the inside or ranged jabs on the outside, Hagler never had the speed to go with these punches. Hearns did though as did Duran which made them a couple of the best offensive fighters in the sport’s history. Lennox Lewis added: “It is pretty special to have been on this journey through the 80s and 90s, and a privilege to share the story with Frank, Nigel & Chris on screen. Whilst we had our own lanes, our own processes and experiences, we had the combined desire to get to the top and we achieved that, in the process we made history as the first ones to do it for Britain and the rest have followed. Everybody knows what happened in the fights, but they didn’t see what led up to the fight, the rivalries were real, we all wanted to outdo each other, I’m excited that this series will give the public a chance to see behind the curtain.” Last night on BBC Radio 5, a fine 90-minute show was aired, during which host Mark Chapman and his three experts guests – Steve Bunce, Mike Costello and Damian Hughes (co-author of “The Hitman – The Thomas Hearns Story”) – paid tribute to these four fighting legends and their fascinating fights.

Who was the best of the four kings? : r/Boxing - Reddit Who was the best of the four kings? : r/Boxing - Reddit

Fight Hagler vs Duran: "The rows of scar tissue Hagler wore like combat ribbons around his eyebrows could provide an inviting target, even for a boxer more observant of the Marquis of Queensberry rules than Roberto Duran." The Four Kings time is a great era in boxing in the sense that it provided the link between the Ali-Foreman era and the Tyson-Lewis late eighties and nineties run. I loved the well-drawn pen portraits of each fighter which were anything but hagiographies - none of them came out of the book looking like angels though each had plenty of divine moments. The points are out of 10, if maximum points were awarded to one of the ‘fab four’ members, it would not mean they were merely the best in their group with that respective attribute, but the best in the world. Following a brief fallow period in the wake of Ali’s retirement, boxing was revitalized when Leonard became a world champion in 1979 and waged his first battle with Durán in 1980. From that point, the Four Kings engaged in a decade-long run of riveting fights that far outperformed any other sport in attention and revenue. They were the most popular stars of sports and American culture. Kimball also devotes attention to Roberto Duran's career, shedding light on his rise and providing engaging anecdotes and inside details. However, the reader may feel that more insights directly from Duran himself could have added further depth to the narrative.An underrated battle that has long lived in the shadow of their stunning first encounter. Both men were older and wiser, but when the fists flew you were reminded of their youth. An unsatisfying ending hasn’t helped this fight’s standing, with a split draw being declared. There would be no third fight to settle the score. In a way it is a neat thing that this book was written now. I read it close to my computer and watched some of the fights again on Youtube.

Watch The Kings Showtime Documentary Online Free How to Watch The Kings Showtime Documentary Online Free

Outstanding' - ***** Reader review *****************************************************************************Many believe Hearns to have a glass chin which is a common misconception. The reality is the fighters he fought who handed him losses via KO/TKO were downright ferocious, powerful punchers. 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. Roberto Duran is the toughest of the Four Kings, and arguably the fighter with the most heart. He was as macho as they come and could hit like an ox. He was called the Hands of Stone – and rightfully so. There was a stretch in boxing from the late ‘70s to the mid-80s where men didn’t hesitate to fight the greatest fighters in the world. During this era, four boxers stood out. They were known as the Four Kings, and each of them fought the other at least once. That time was considered as boxing’s greatest era. Let’s take a moment to remember these four gentlemen. Image source: rossboxing.com Another maximum amount of points awarded to Leonard for his attributes. Many believe him to be the most skilful of the four and reviewing his points with these attributes that viewpoint might just ring true. 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. The 1986 recipient of the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism, George Kimball spent a quarter-century as a sports columnist for the Boston Herald before retiring in 2005. A veteran of nearly title bouts, Kimball has covered boxing all over the world since the eras of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and was the only journalist to cover every fight of Marvelous Marvin Hagler's middleweight reign from start to finish. For the past decade he has written a weekly 'America at Large' column for The Irish Times. Kimball has received numerous awards for his Boxing, Golf, Baseball, and Olympic coverage, and in retirement, in addition to his Irish Times column, he keeps his hand in the game as a featured columnist for ESPN.com and for the monthly publication Boxing Digest.



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