Championship Rounds

You could search far and wide to find incisive boxing commentary through the widest variety of lenses - flexibility coaches, President Truman, four-round fights, gay boxers, Ali's training compound, the implosion of Trump Plaza, extra-heavy combatants, HIV, basketball legends, punching power related to body types, military training, car crashes and Runyonesque characters. Or you could just buy and devour Bernard Fernandez's `Championship Rounds, Round 3' and find impressive breadth, detail and storytelling all in one place.*Greg Bishop, senior writer for Sports Illustrated This is championship writing. If you are a casual boxing fan who wants to learn more about the sport, this is the ticket. If you are a dedicated nuts-and-bolts boxing fan you will relive great moments you know about but with information and insights you probably didn't have. This is simply as entertaining a boxing book as you will find anywhere.*Al Bernstein, longtime boxing commentator for Showtime Championship Boxing and 2012 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame Utilizing precise diction and sharp allusions while evoking a diversity of emotions on both heartbreaking and uplifting subjects, Bernard Fernandez reminds readers that whether champ or chump, heroic or forgotten, lovable or loathsome, all fight people are worthy of being remembered in some way or another. Deep down that implicit understanding is what makes his writing special.*Christian Giudice, author of boxing biographies of Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez and Hector Camacho Bernard Fernandez is a rose in the red-light district of sports. How a writer, and more importantly a man like him, got here is one thing. But how he's bloomed so brilliantly and for so long would send Jimmy Cannon himself looking for a broom and a squeegee. Boxing is cleaner and better with Fernandez around.*Springs Toledo, author of The Gods of War, In the Cheap Seats, Murderers' Row and Smokestack Lightning: Harry Greb Few people know more about boxing and sports writing than Bernard Fernandez. His latest anthology of columns, features and essays reads like a delightful stroll through some of the most memorable events in boxing and sports history. You'll learn a few things along the way.*George Willis, sports journalist and author of The Bite Fight: Tyson, Holyfield and the Night That Changed Boxing Forever In his latest anthology, Bernard Fernandez offers readers an eclectic selection of stories in his understated and lively style. These essays by one of the most important boxing writers of the last 40 years range from celebrations to epitaphs, from historical retrospectives to contemporary reporting, from club fighters to champions.*Carlos Acevedo, editor of Hannibal Boxing and author of Sporting Blood