Championship Rounds

With this, his fifth anthology on the sport he loves, Bernard Fernandez proves he is a champion writer. Working from one century into the next, the champ is everywhere all at once. He puts us with Muhammad Ali. There is a Russian, the ""Siberian Rocky."" Call the roll: Frazier, Foreman, Liston, the furious Tyson and a Tyson Fury. Then put an ear to any page. I swear, you will hear Roy Jones Jr., boxing's jazzman, making music with left hooks.*Dave Kindred, a paragon of American sports journalism, was acclaimed for his work with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the National Sports Daily. He is the recipient of the Red Smith Award for outstanding contributions to sports journalism and the Dick Schaap Award for outstanding journalism, and is an inductee into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame Many great fighters earn their reputation by throwing punches from different angles. In his fifth boxing anthology, International Boxing Hall of Fame writer Bernard Fernandez does the same, covering every angle of the sport through interviews with fighters, promoters, trainers, referees and others. Fernandez not only brings readers inside the ropes, but inside the entire byzantine world of the ring.*Gordon Marino is the Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at St. Olaf College in Minnesota and a former coach for USA Boxing who wrote about the fight game for the Wall Street Journal.Indisputably, Bernard Fernandez is among the very best boxing writers of his time. There's a lot to be said for old-school journalism. Reading Bernie's stories in his latest anthology served to remind me why I love boxing, and why I love good writing.*Steve Farhood, longtime commentator for Showtime's ShoBox: The New Generation and former editor of The Ring Informative, colorful, well-crafted and always entertaining - these are some of the words that best describe the fifth boxing anthology by the gifted Bernard Fernandez.*John Whisler, semi-retired sports writer for the San Antonio Express-News widely recognized as the foremost media authority on boxing in the state of Texas In a sport where trust is often in short supply, Bernard Fernandez has covered boxing with honesty, clarity and, most of all, understanding and compassion for his subjects over 35-plus years. This fifth anthology of his best work is must reading for all who follow boxing, and appreciate good writing.*Ted Lewis, retired sports writer for The Advocate/Times-Picayune Bernard Fernandez, a five-term president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, acquired knowledge of all phases of the sport during four decades on the beat. For this, his fifth boxing anthology, that wealth of knowledge combined with his writing talent make for an enthralling trip down memory lane covering many of the fight game's highlights and lowlights.*Bill Caplan, veteran boxing publicist for a Who's Who list of promoters over 60-plus years, is a 2022 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.