George Kimball, at 67; covered glory days of boxing

The result was a definitive work on boxing’s last glory days of the 1980s. His book “Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing,’’ with an introduction by Pete Hamill, sold more than 45,000 copies worldwide, according to his agent.

“I’d love to see ‘Four Kings’ take its place in the pantheon of sports literature, but as a sports editor once said to [award-winning boxing writer Bob Waters], ‘Well, that certainly makes you a tall midget,’ ’’ Kimball told the Independent in the United Kingdom in 2008.

He wrote eight books. His last was “Manly Art: They Can Run - But They Can’t Hide,’’ a compilation of boxing commentary and reporting published this April. He also worked on “At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing’’ earlier this year and “The Fighter Still Remains: A Celebration of Boxing in Poetry and Song from Ali to Zevon.’’

“The people he adored were those [boxing] beat writers who got their stories, who made their deadlines and made art,’’ said his agent, Farley Chase of Waxman Literary Agency in New York. Chase called Mr. Kimball a brilliant writer whose e-mails could be literary works of their own. “Just the experience of reading his e-mails, you had to put on your seat belt, turn off the phone, and focus.’’

Born George Edward Kimball III in Grass Valley, Calif., Mr. Kimball was the oldest son of an Army colonel.

He lived an Army brat’s life, growing up around the world, including stays in Taiwan and Germany. He went to high school in Texas and had an ROTC scholarship to Kansas University. In college, he became engulfed in the antiwar movement. He told his family he was arrested several times.

He lost his eye in a fight, according to his third wife, Sarah, of Hull. They had a daughter and a son and divorced after 20 years together.