Four Kings: The intoxicating and captivating tale of four men who changed the face of boxing from award-winning sports writer George Kimball

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Lennox Lewis added: “It is pretty special to have been on this journey through the 80s and 90s, and a privilege to share the story with Frank, Nigel & Chris on screen. Whilst we had our own lanes, our own processes and experiences, we had the combined desire to get to the top and we achieved that, in the process we made history as the first ones to do it for Britain and the rest have followed. Everybody knows what happened in the fights, but they didn’t see what led up to the fight, the rivalries were real, we all wanted to outdo each other, I’m excited that this series will give the public a chance to see behind the curtain.” British director Mat Whitecross was commissioned by American network Showtime to make a documentary of those epics. Despite knowing it will not settle the debate, I don’t think it ever could be, BoxingGuru has decided to put together a scoring system that ranks Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Ray Leonard, and against attributes any boxer needs to become as legendary as them. You can stream ‘The Kings’ on Spectrum and DirecTV. The sports docuseries is also available on Showtime. Popular video-on-demand platforms such as FandangoNow, Vudu, Google Play, Microsoft Store, and iTunes are expected to add the series to their platforms in the near future. How to Stream The Kings for Free?

The legendary quartet are interviewed in great depth before and after the fights and each one gives a fascinating insight into their complex characters and personalities. Roberto Duran is the toughest of the Four Kings, and arguably the fighter with the most heart. He was as macho as they come and could hit like an ox. He was called the Hands of Stone – and rightfully so. Some deem this to be the Wilmington native’s best attribute but also believe it to be ‘Marvelous’ Marvin’s worst. Those people include me. Although he could get off short hooks on the inside or ranged jabs on the outside, Hagler never had the speed to go with these punches. Hearns did though as did Duran which made them a couple of the best offensive fighters in the sport’s history. Last night on BBC Radio 5, a fine 90-minute show was aired, during which host Mark Chapman and his three experts guests – Steve Bunce, Mike Costello and Damian Hughes (co-author of “The Hitman – The Thomas Hearns Story”) – paid tribute to these four fighting legends and their fascinating fights. If you are ever looking for a gift for an important man in your life age 55+, who lived through the Golden Era, I recommend to buy this book. The chances to go wrong with "Four Kings" are remote.

years after the group who captivated the sporting world laced up their gloves, the debate still goes on about who the best out of the fabulous four.

It is worth noting the pair who scored 8 were so defensively sound that it was a rarity they were caught flush with a shot thus had their chin tested. Duran’s chin does not get downgraded with his KO loss to Hearns as that was the hardest right hand which would even threaten the consciousness of the most durable of pugilists. Another maximum amount of points awarded to Leonard for his attributes. Many believe him to be the most skilful of the four and reviewing his points with these attributes that viewpoint might just ring true. He is ranked first in Bleacher Report’s ’15 fastest boxers of all-time list’ and it is hard to argue with it when watching his performances.

Factor in Duran’s achievements at his natural poundage of 135, and the fact that he later managed to win a major belt at middleweight, and Roberto deserves to be placed in the ALL-TIME Top-10 – as he is in fact placed my many historians. Do Leonard, Hagler or Hearns deserve to be placed so high in terms of all-time? Maybe Leonard. The first 10/10 attribute in this rank goes to Bleacher Report’s fifth-best defensive fighter in the sport’s history. Leonard had everything in this department, foot feints, timing, punch awareness. The book can be difficult to read at points, as Kimball tries to shoehorn in loads of information that doesn't always seem particularly relevant. He regularly has sentences that span five or six lines and have more commas than vowels. Also, he builds suspense in some chapters by not telling you who's won the fight until you've read a blow-by-blow account. But in other chapters you'll learn the outcome of the fight in the first couple of lines, which is a bit bizarre.