For more than 30 years, Kevin Mitchell covered boxing for The Guardian and The Observer.

The award-winning author and journalist was ringside at the biggest fights and interviewed the biggest names and was unafraid of crossing swords with some of the most famous and litigious figures in the sport.

Kevin also helped a young and naïve Tris Dixon take his first few steps in the world of boxing journalism.

More importantly, he wrote the excellent books War, Baby: The Glamour of Violence about the tragic Nigel Benn-Gerald McClellan fight and Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Fights, the Fifties, about organised crime’s involvement in the sport through the 1950s. Mitchell also penned Frank Bruno’s autobiography with him and is one of the most decorated writers of his generation.

Now retired, Mitchell still follows the sport, unable to get it out of his system despite its flaws, the tragedies and the politics but he can also look back fondly on his meetings with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Don King and many more.