To the editors:

M. Kiefer’s critique of J.C. Oates’ superb essay On Boxing [April 24] was tedious. I did not find Ms. Oates’ book “academic” — as Kiefer asserts. I got a visceral rush from Oates’s opus. Allen Barra’s Village Voice critique of On Boxing was better and briefer than Kiefer’s piece.

Steve Mitchell

De Kalb