The Ultimate Book of Boxing Lists

Library Journal, March 17, 2011 It’s hard to imagine a team better equipped to compile this work than Sugar, boxing writer nonpareil, and Atlas, boxing analyst and trainer of champions. Throw in a few lists by guests like Muhammad Ali, and you have a book that will appeal greatly to boxing enthusiasts. Among the 88 lists are the expected (greatest fighters); the arcane (best body punchers); the amusing (best boxing nicknames); and the puzzling (heavyweight Ernie Terrell’s favorite singers and musical groups). The book falls short of Sugar’s stated intent to, through a collection of orderly miscellanea, create a kind of shorthand history of the sport, but to do so would be difficult. A winner by a majority decision, though an index sure would have been handy.

Bert Sugar has been called “the greatest boxing writer of the 20th century” by the International Veterans Boxing Association. A sports-media icon with his trademark cigar and fedora, Sugar appears regularly on ESPN, HBO, and Showtime as a commentator on boxing and baseball. In addition to being the one-time owner and editor of Boxing Illustrated magazine, and editor and publisher of The Ring, Sugar has written over 80 books on boxing. He lives in Chappaqua, New York.

Teddy Atlas has been a well-respected boxing trainer since 1976, including six years at the legendary Catskill Boxing Club of Cus D’Amato and serving as Mike Tyson’s trainer for the first four years of his career. Atlas joined ESPN in September 1998 to serve as ringside analyst for ESPN2’s weekly series Friday Night Fights, and has also served as a ringside analyst for Showtime, ABC Wide World of Sports, and HBO radio broadcasts. He lives in upstate New York.

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