In this review of The Ring: The Man Who Beat The Man #1, we follow boxer Marcus King through his ups and downs in his quest for the Ring Belt.
The Ring: The Man Who Beat The Man #1
Writer: Gail Siimone
Artist: Elis Romboli
Main Cover: Oliver Barrett
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: June 3, 2026
This review contains spoilers
The story opens 5000 years ago in what will become Ethiopia. Two fighters square off in a bare-knuckled brawl for golden stones. After a brief but brutal battle, the story cuts to three years ago in Las Vegas where two boxers are duking it out in the ring.
Marcus “The Titan” King is getting his shot at the current champ who holds the Ring Belt. He gets beaten soundly, but not without putting up a fight.
We fast forward three months. Marcus, struggling with the loss, has turned to drinking. He’s lost his family and his way. Wei Zhang, another boxer, gets a fight lined up for Marcus as repayment for Marcus’s past kindness to him.
Marcus goes to go see his wife, Wendy, and apologizes. With a renewed spirit, he’s able to train hard. He wins multiple fights and his family back in the process.
This brings the story to the present day where we’re introduced to sports writer Cameron Duggan. His boss partners him with a young, popular social media influencer, Lisa Wolfe. She doesn’t know anything about boxing, but she’s got millions of followers, so Duggan has to teach her the ropes.
They head to Los Angeles to meet with Ivan “The Bear” Valkov, one of the top contenders for the Ring Belt. Lisa questions Valkov about his contested loss to Marcus King, as well as his ties to the Russian mob. This gets the two kicked out of the Bear’s house, but Lisa got the video clip she needs to generate massive hits on her socials.
Lisa questions Duggan about what really happened with Marcus’s loss to the champ and she wants to find out more, but before that happens, it’s time for Valkov’s fight with a kid named Manuel Mariposa. The Bear obliterates the kid and, not liking the attention Lisa drew to him about Marcus, screams at the cameras to challenge Marcus, who’s sitting at home watching.
Analysis
I’m not the biggest fan of boxing, so my initial interest was very low for this title. After reading it, my interest level is only slightly higher. Writer Gail Simone gives us a story of fighters and reporters in a savage boxing environment. I’m not super familiar with either the world of boxing or the actual workings of sports reporting, but this story seems to be a bit over the top. It is produced in conjunction with the editorial leadership of the historic boxing magazine, The Ring, so there must be at least a bit of truth in the tale.
The story so far revolves around Marcus King. There are major details to his life that we haven’t gotten yet. It looks like we’ll get those as Lisa does her investigative, influencing work. The other characters seem to be fairly cookie-cutter from what has been presented so far.
The Bear is a crazy Russian boxer. Think Ivan Drago from the Rocky movies. He can’t handle certain topics without aggression and has devastating power.
Duggan is a grizzled old reporter who has no interest in a partner or social media. He just wants to cover the sport he loves.
Lisa is every bit the young influencer who is just in search of controversy to generate hits.
Thankfully, it seems that Marcus’s backstory has a little more to it, but we’ll have to wait for that in future issues (this is an eight-issue series).
I did enjoy the art by Elisa Romboli and the colors by Iolanda Zanfardino. The art used for the fights could be described as controlled chaos. The fights are drawn to convey crazy amounts of power and speed. Each character is distinctly drawn and, even in these energetic fight sequences, is easy to identify. Romboli uses many different angles and perspectives in her illustrations, keeping the energy high. Zanfardino’s color work holds your eye through the action of each panel. I’m a fan of the overall look of this issue.
Final Thoughts
The Ring: The Man Who Beat The Man #1 is primarily aimed at boxing fans, but other readers may enjoy the action of the fights, as well as the story of Marcus King. If you’re looking for something besides superheroes and mutants, check this one out. Have fun, comic lovers!
