The Kings

This very good series deserves about 7.5 stars. The boxing coverage and the biographical intertwining of the four men's lives is mostly excellent, and the show is a must watch for boxing fans.

That said, the politics are heavily skewed towards the far left, (and I've never voted Republican in the five elections I've voted in; I'm moderately left in general), and the series' perspective on American politics in the 80s and specifically Reagan are biased to the point of eye-rolling. Unfortunately, Bonnie Greer is given far too much voice over time; she contradicts herself about morality and gives superficial, mostly incorrect commentary on Reagan-era politics throughout. Still, the series is worth watching, especially for boxing fans.

Excellent four-part documentary on four great boxers (which were also quite interesting characters) whose careers crossed and clashed to each others throw the 80, with a seriously explored social and political background which they are also products and representatives. While all four fighters have been poor and became victorious and skilled sportsmen, half of them were media superstars, while the other half were black heavy punchers who attracted attention only after beating one of the other two. "Sugar" Ray Leonard was the smiling golden boy on TV (a rare black man in that position in those years) who was the perfect neo-liberal propaganda self-made man of Reagan (but was also the addicted unfaithful frenzied husband seriously eroded by low self-esteem). Opposed to the United States imperialism was Roberto Durán, the former street boy who fought as if his family would have no food if he lost, who represented the proud of Panama with his "Manos de Piedra" blowing down rich gringoes, befriended nationalist dictator Omar Torrijos and was also the macho womanizer with no discipline that was guided by his desires (a lusty drunk glutton). Inside USA, Thomas Hearns, "The Hitman", was the son of impoverished Detroit city where the black poor guys - just like he used to be - suffered deeply from reactionary anti-welfare and law-and-order repressive policies by Reagan. The last but not least, Marvin Hagler bypassed politics (as happens with most of sportsmen), was a compromised father and husband and a hard-training focused boxer who did everything alright, but was considerably ignored by the media and was obsessed by being called by the nickname he have himself, "Marvelous". The stories of these punching "kings" present great magic or tragic moments of boxing. As usual in perhaps the most "political" among all sports (it is a "sport of poor boys", as documentary correctly states), boxing brings here a fascinating portrait of a social and political background, which specific changes impact the world until nowadays. (Unfortunately I could not watched the first segment; I have also no watched the last one yet, but I will edit it here after watching).

The history of the Four Kings is told well, by many great minds in the history of boxing. I don't understand why they decided to make it so heavy on Ronald Reagan cameos though.

It feels like Showtime had 40 minutes of footage for a scrapped Reagan documentary, and instead of binning it they decided to add it to a boxing documentary. The political stuff doesn't tie in much with the fighters' careers at all, so it is a puzzling inclusion for sure.

Despite these complaints, the boxing history and production quality make this series worth a watch for any boxing fan.

Great story and interviews with the boxers. For the documentary on boxing it's worth a much higher rating.

But unknown voices( none of the fighters) weight in on the politics of the time. None of the fighters themselves speak of this.

As usual the political views are heavily bias.

The political perspective abruptly interrupted the boxing history and was a bizarre choice.