Welcome to the fourth episode of Tourist Information: Insiders looking out and outsiders looking in from the world of boxing, a podcast hosted by noted writer Brin-Jonathan Butler. (You can listen to the third episode with award-winning author DBC Pierre here.)

Brin’s third guest is noted author Mark Kriegel.

Kriegel is an author, journalist, and ESPN boxing commentator. Kriegel is the author of critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Namath: A Biography, about Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, Pistol: the Life of Pete Maravich, and The Good Son: The Life of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini.

Kriegel has always been one of my favorite sports writers who invariably gains tremendous access into the lives of complex characters, often from troubled backgrounds. Dysfunctional families have always seemed to be the subject matter that most fascinates Kriegel and boxing has supplied him with some of the most intriguing characters to illuminate that dynamic, specifically the fertile and tumultuous relationship between fathers and sons. In this interview Kriegel pulled back the curtain on his own fascinating family life and early motivations that eventually collided with his unique illumination of humanistic stories through his insightful profiles.