0 comments by Tim Starks on 11/4/2016
If you’re a dude whose name is “Jessie” this weekend — spelled just like that — you’ve got about a 50 percent chance of being in a potentially winnable fistfight that you probably won’t win. Presumably the Disney show starlet, as a lady-person, is at no such risk. Manny Pacquiao vs Jessie Vargas, Saturday, Top […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain
All fighters, and all people, eventually get old. Time robs us of of our physical and mental faculties with complete indifference. The reason so many of us live in the past is because that’s when we had not only the skill, but the energy to accomplish our goals. A fortunate few have their primes ripped […]
LAS VEGAS, NV – JULY 23: WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (L) lands a body shot on WBC champion Viktor Postol of Ukraine during their unification fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Crawford won by unanimous decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 10/30/2016
It’s the kind of pastime you either hate, love to hate, or just find mildly interesting to debate: pound-for-pound updates of the best fighters in the world, regardless of weight. And boy howdy, do we ever have some movement since last time we did one one of these. We have a new man cracking the […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 10/25/2016
I’m relatively certain that I’ve never written anything complimentary about Vanes Martirosyan. In fact, I’ve probably never given any in or out of the ring action of his more than a perfunctory eye roll. But it’s been a slow couple of weeks and fuck it, here we are. Yesterday, Martirosyan went on a miniature Twitter […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 10/13/2016
There are a variety of boxing phrases that have entered the lexicon of the general public. Probably the most well known is “roll with the punches.” It describes a specific skill within our sport, but almost everyone understands what it means on an intellectual and emotional level. The exact boxing technique is something I learned […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 10/7/2016
For all but the most devoted fans (i.e. people who need a life like me), only the top matters. If a fight isn’t for a belt or between contenders, they largely can’t be bothered to watch it. In some ways, this explains the proliferation of various nonsense alphabet straps over the last three decades. Convince […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 10/4/2016
We’ve had several mild-mannered weeks of boxing in a row, but there’s no good excuse for not giving you the schedule anyway! So here it is. Juan Francisco Estrada vs Raymond Tabugon, Saturday, beIN Sports Espanol, Mexico. No, Estrada is not facing Dr. Mantis Toboggan, although he might as well be. Tabugon is a junior bantamweight […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/29/2016
It’s easy to love what we perceive to be perfect. It’s a childish impulse, but one to which all of us have fallen prey. Everyone has had a relationship that seemed destined for greatness fall apart when the vulnerabilities of one or both parties came to light. We either recoil in horror because we are […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/23/2016
Boxing is a worldwide sport. It always has been. One of the things that makes it special is that fighting is a universal experience for human beings. There are certainly cultures that place more value on it, but by and large, everyone gets it. Christopher Hitchens summed it perfectly when he lamented that our prefrontal […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/16/2016
There’s a bigger name fighting this weekend, but despite his Mexican redhead status, Canelo Alvarez’s hair has nothing on Oleksandr Usyk’s. And Usyk’s fight is better, too! We did miss some meaningful action by virtue of your TQBR proprietor being on vacation this week; you can catch up on Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, Shinsuke Yamanaka and Hozumi […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain
What does a fighter struggling, even in a win, say about his career? Answer: Not a fucking thing. Sometime in the last decade or two, the TV talking heads and social media have convinced us that every tiny aspect of every performance can be used to indict an athlete or that they prove greatness. It’s […]
INGLEWOOD, CA – SEPTEMBER 10: Carlos Cuadras of Mexico and Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua in action during their WBC super flyweight title fight at The Forum on September 10, 2016 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/11/2016
In some ways, every time you hear, “first X to do Y in Z divisions,” you’re reminded that boxing has too many weight divisions. In other ways, the results in the ring often demonstrate why that many weight classes are a good idea. Saturday night on HBO, when pound-for-pound king and flyweight champ Roman Gonzalez […]
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Gennady Golovkin (blue trunks) and Kell Brook (red trunks) in action during their World Middleweight Title contest at The O2 Arena on September 10, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/10/2016
Gennady Golovkin looked a little less monstrous than usual Saturday on HBO, aided by Kell Brook’s swift hands and sharp technique, and Golovkin’s own overeagerness. But it ended the way the 22 in a row before did: a knockout. There was plenty of criticism of Brook’s corner for stopping the fight in the 5th round, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/9/2016
Carlos Cuadras’ epic bacne, coming at ya. Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook, Saturday, HBO, London. Still not a fan. Brook is a terrific welterweight, and his bravery for taking this bout is commendable. Golovkin is the best middleweight alive, and fighting someone so much smaller is a bad look, even if it brings some filthy […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/2/2016
I’m normally not the guy to tell another adult what to do with their professional life, but every once in a while, you just watch something and cringe. Last weekend, on the undercard of Robert Guerrero’s loss to actual fucking cab driver David Peralta, we were treated to Alfredo Angulo wandering aimlessly after Freddy Hernandez […]
