Kings of the Ring: The History of Heavyweight Boxing

by Gavin Evans

This fascinating illustrated retrospective explores the gritty inside stories of the boxers and brawlers who earned the title of Heavyweight Boxing World Champion. In perhaps the most beautiful book ever produced on the sport, more than 200 color and black-and-white photographs reveal the stunning brutality and unexpected grace of heavyweight boxing. The sport’s evolution is traced from 1866 through today, including such legendary warriors as Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, and Lennox Lewis, as well as lesser known champions like Bob Fitzsimmons, Tommy Burns, and Jack Sharkey. Detailed biographies and complete career statistics are provided for each champion, along with an amazing look at what it’s like to be inside the eye of the storm at a world championship fight.

Genres: Sports, History

227 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2005

Reviews

[Glen]

A history of all the Heavyweight champions from the 19 century on, with plenty of pictures. A very good book, even if mobody seems to watch boxing anymore.

[Craig Schlossin]

Some good, some prejudice.

[Steve]

Obviously the labor of love of a boxing fan, I looked forward to the read as another fan, but the book is lacking in a number of areas. First, rather than a narrative history, this is more of an encyclopedic look at heavyweight champs through the centuries, with a page + for each of the top fighters. A major requirement for any work of exhaustively researched non-fiction is citations. Here, there aren't any, which is a major problem. Further, the writing is amateurish in places, and his awarding of extra pages to certain fighters, including Hasim Rahman and Vitali Klitschko, seems misplaced.