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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A well-researched book on the top boxers of the century, March 21, 1999
It is hard to dispute Muhammad Ali's claim to be 'the Greatest', but he is just edged off the top spot by Sugar Ray Robinson in the opinion of Patrick Myler, author of A Century of Boxing Greats. Myler states: 'Some say there is no such thing as the perfect fighter, but Robinson came as close to it as makes no difference. The author admits that his choice of the 100 best fighters of the century will provoke arguments, just as the '100 best anything' is ultimately down to personal opinion. They appear to be there all: Bob Fitzsimmons, the first triple titleholder in history, is there and so are present greats, like Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones and other top talents of today. As well as providing potted histories of his top 100, including details of titles won, nick names, career records, Myler gived interesting background information on their lives outside the ring. In my view A Century of Boxing Greats is a great read and a most valuable reference book. Niels Thorsen, Boxing Research Corner
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Is it Just Me, or is the research Just a bit Barren in this Book?, November 15, 2005
And the British flavor is a bit too heavy for my likes.
Naseem Hamed, John Conteh, Nigel Benn Randy Turpin and Len Harvey are top 100 material but Tony Zale, Luis Rodriquez and Antoinio Cervantes are Not? YIKES!How does Ken Buchanan merit 6 pages for his biography and Carlos Monzon merit 2?
Larry Holmes's title reign (7 years, 20 defenses) is summed up in a paragraph and only ONE title challenger is mentioned: Gerry Cooney.In essence, Larry's career is described as such:
"Holmes beat Earnie Shavers in a title elimination bout and then had to face Ken Norton with a bum arm. After defeating Norton, Larry defended against Gerry Cooney and then in a dispute with Don King he dropped his WBC belt, but carried reconition under the IBf flag. After two losses to Spinks, and disparaging remarks to Marciano, Holmes retire only to return to be ko's by Mike Tyson."
At one point in time in Holmes career, he was 48-0, 32 by Ko with 20 title defenses. And essentially ONE title defense is discussed? Sheesh.
However if you want to read some details on Naseem Hamed's 12th professional fight with Vincenzo Belcastro, you can.
Vanilla writing, No new stones unturned and a poor/biased selection of fighters make this book rather forgetable.
A Bert Randolph Sugar, Mr. Myler is NOT.
Hawk
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One Great Century, May 16, 2004
This review is from: A Century of Boxing Greats: Inside the Ring with the Hundred Best Boxers (Paperback)
One Great Century This is a perfect book for the boxing enthusiast. It's Patrick Myler's pick for the top 100 best boxers of this last century. This is one of those books where even the introduction is worthy of note. He gives a few pages of info for each fighter - starting with interesting statistics - nicknames, titles won, birthplace and date - and won loss record. He also briefly describes each fighter's career and life. As he himself says any list of a specific number of greatest is bound to leave out some and at least stir up some controversy. This book comes pretty close though, but you'll need to decide. At the end - he gives his top 10 list - THAT'S tricky business. It's a great book to read from cover to cover or just skim to find out info on your favorites or a fighter you're not familiar with. Luckily each "chapter" is in alphabetical order and is listed as such on the contents - so it's easy to find a fighter. The one thing that everyone can agree upon is that it's been one great century!
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