Good boxing book read

I recently read a book entitled Four Kings, written by former Boston sportswriter George Kimball.

It's an historical look into one of the great times boxing history from 1980-89.

The book revolves around four of the sport's best, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns and Marvin Hagler.

Each of the four fighters battled each other, some more than once as in the case of Duran-Leonard and Hears-Leonard.

The book gives an intriguing look into the preparation of each fighter going into the big fights and gives an unique look into what the boxers often thought of their opponent.

The fact that each of these four men were willing to fight each other is a testament to their talents, more importantly to their competitive spirit. Duran, Leonard, Hagler and Hearns are four of the greatest fighters of all time.

Most of the fights were great. Hagler/Hears might have been the greatest eight minutes of boxing of all time. Lenoard/Duran I was a superb fight of talent and determination and Leonard/Hearns I was simply an all-out entertaining fight.

As a boxing fan, I was fortunate enough to see most of these fights and it was nice to see fighters fighting real fighters and not making excuses not to fight the other.

If you get a chance to read this book it's a great read, even if you don't really follow the sport. It's a book about great athletes and the spirit of competition and wanting to be the very best at what you do.

Plus, the historical significance of those four fighters and those fights is still being talked about today by many in the business.

- Felix