Manly Art: Dispatches from Ringside

by George Kimball

From the legendary Irish Times columnist and award-winning veteran American sports journalist George Kimball, author of the bestselling Four Kings , comes this compilation of boxing-related commentary, criticism, reportage and analysis, representing the best of his work over the last decade. This is a hard-hitting look at the current state of boxing, drawing on columns and articles from a wide variety of sources including the Irish Times , TheSweetScience.com and BoxingTalk.com. Kimball pulls no punches as he dissects the triumphs, defeats and mistakes of the major figures in boxing from yesterday and today including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya and dozens more.

Sadly, George Kimball passed away in July 2011. This hugely entertaining and informative collection is a fitting tribute to his long association with the sport of boxing and displays just why Kimball is so warmly regarded. This is boxing writing at its best from a master of the craft.

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

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.

“FOUR KINGS: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing” was published, to widespread acclaim, by Mainstrean Press in the United Kingdom and by McBooks Press in the United States, and immediately became the best-selling boxing book in both countries.

He is also the author of “American at Large,” a collection of his Irish Times columns, and the co-author, with Eamonn Coghlan, of “Chairman of the Boards,” both published by Dublin’s Red Rock Press, and has traveled frequently to Ireland for the past four decades.

He has two children, Darcy (1984) and Teddy (1988). When he and his wife, Dr. Marge Marash Kimball, were married in 2004, the ceremony was performed by the Reverend George Foreman. The couple lives on the Upper West Side.

Reviews

[Mario]

This is a collection of print and online articles by the boxing writer George Kimball. There are 64 in total and they cover different topics. There are biographies, reviews of boxing art (movies/books), ringside reports, obituaries and a chapter titled The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly which are articles about a whole host of different subjects within the boxing world and those who inhabit it.

Some articles are more interesting than others which is obviously to be expected in a book like this. One for boxing fans only, really.

[Philip Girvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of top notch fight coverage as well as tributes and profiles of the great (Arturo Gatti, Jose Torres, Leonard Gardner), and the less-than-great (Howard Cosell).

Features Kimball at the top of his game. Great read for fight fans. Likely still enjoyable for non-fight fans. Visit the link above for a taste.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books i have read on the sweet science