(Tavoris Cloud [tiger trunks] and Bernard Hopkins [purple/silver trunks] trade punches during their light heavyweight bout at the Barclay’s Center. Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports) NEW YORK CITY – – Boos greeted Tavoris Cloud as he began his ringwalk into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. East Coast legend Bernard Hopkins enjoyed a much warmer welcome […]

There is history to be made, and there are echoes of the past. Tavoris Cloud is the tenth man in history — the tenth to share a commonality with the other nine men that spans 23 years: Men like Joe Calzaghe, Joe Lipsey, Jermain Taylor, Glen Johnson, Kelly Pavlik, Roy Jones Jr., and Felix Trinidad. […]

As the diminutive idol plummets face first into the mat, a country of 95,000,000 people watch in stunned silence… their breath stolen away by a Mexican fighting god. Manny Pacquiao lay motionless, unconscious, for almost exactly a minute. In that blackness he is oblivious to hundreds of millions of eyes on him.  Ten seconds vanish […]

Andre Berto never was or will be what HBO tried to make him out to be…. Though the carefully maneuvered prizefighter has been a mainstay on the airwaves of the premium pay network for around six years, there is a truth about him that has taken that length of that time to emerge. His gaudy […]

As 11,112 souls filled the newly christened Barclays Center in Brooklyn for what would be its inaugural fight card, Erik Morales walked toward the ring, calm, serene, relaxed. Bigger bouts and louder crowds, dozens of title fights, paydays, spectacles, brawls and buckets of blood lay splayed behind him along the winding path of a career […]

(Danny Garcia drops Erik Morales; photo credit: Tom Casino, Showtime) BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Danny Garcia (24-0) came out a little tight, a little wild as he and Erik Morales (52-8) kicked off their do-over Saturday on Showtime at the Barclays Center. Legendary Mexican Brawler Morales looked to be in good form early, pressing the action […]

(Sergo Mora, right, battles two-time rival Brian Vera) Perception is reality. Whether something is actually happening or not, if people think it’s happening, then that becomes the reality. Few fighters have dealt with this notion as much as, or been more maligned in the last several years than, Sergio Mora. “It’s affecting me in a […]

How often do you get to stand with a sheaf of paper in your hand that you know will ignite a firestorm? Michael Buffer certainly must have had a moments pause when he was handed the judges scores and prepared to read them to the more than 14,000 unsuspecting fans crowded into the MGM Grand […]

The man was known as the most feared prize fighter in the sport for a time. The 6’1” southpaw, sporting the wingspan of a small passenger jet, was the kind of imposing figure that few were willing touch with a 10 foot pole. In fact, such was his size that you might figure on having […]

(Chad Dawson, left; Bernard Hopkins, right) Every weekend throngs of fortune seekers flock to Atlantic City, wondering if lady luck will be their companion. She’s seductive. She’s alluring. If you can corral her for even a fleeting moment, you will have won. The buzz might stay with you for days. Gambling, carousing… it’s a city […]

(Erik Morales, right, catches Danny Garcia) What distinguishes the great Erik Morales from his contemporaries, the men he is most often compared — Marco Antonio Barrera, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez — is that Morales never changed. While his chief rival, Barrera, reinvented himself from brawler to boxer/puncher mid-career in order to stay relevant, […]

Boxing careers die. As Steve Jobs, the late Apple inventor who could appreciate the seduction of a hot new product that usurps the technology of present day, once said of death… “No one wants to die… No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the […]

As the waning moments of 2011 slip away, the new year beckons forth a fresh horizon of matchmaking to tantalize and tease the boxing enthusiasts’ fanciful minds. Looking forward to the staredowns and faceoffs that may grace the sport in the coming year, there is only one surefire hookup signed at this moment, the welterweight […]