In the Red Corner: a Journey into Cuban Boxing by John Duncan (Yellow Jersey Press, £12 in UK)

John Duncan was getting bored with his job as a sports journalist in the Guardian, so he went to the boxing promoter Frank Warren and suggested that he should be sent to Havana in the hope of promoting a heavyweight title fight between Mike Tyson and the Cuban champion, Felix Savon. Savon is/was an amateur and had already said no to Don King, so it seemed a forlorn hope - particularly since the Castro regime had banned professional boxing. And so it turned out to be, but Duncan nevertheless got the material for a very readable book about Cuban boxing in general, from the days of the great Kid Chocolate down to its present amateur superpower status. Inevitably, there is a good deal about the superb (and long-retired) Teofilo Stevenson, the amateur heavy nobody could beat; Duncan also lifts the lid off international amateur boxing and its rather smelly politics. For those with sporting interests - and even for those without - an excellent read.