0 comments by Jamie Rebner on 9/13/2021
Winning an Olympic gold medal is the ultimate prize for amateur athletes. It represents the zenith of achievement because of how many athletes are chasing the same prize. Winning gold is even more challenging in a sport like boxing because of its single-elimination format. There is no room for error because losing once means losing […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/12/2021
There is nothing awful that happened this past boxing weekend that wasn’t already easily reprimanded in advance, and reprimanded well. Sometimes, it’s best to let the best word on it all stand, swiftly sweep up the remainders and move on. In the bout of any meaning — a bout deprived to some degree of its […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/9/2021
One of the most jarring realizations of adulthood is that even the people in charge don’t really know what they’re doing and that life is nothing but chaos with a veneer of order. Some people relish the nihilistic glee of it because it gives them cover for never taking responsibility for anything they do. Some […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 8/17/2021
Boxing has a grand tradition of its athletes protesting, both within and outside the sport. Muhammad Ali, most obviously, protested the Vietnam War and more. Last month, a French Olympian protested his disqualification with a sit-in afterward — the Olympics being a pretty serial site of ring injustice. Never before has the sport witnessed, until […]
*** FREE FOR EDITORIAL USE ***
XU Can vs Leigh Wood, WBA Featherweight World Title Fight.
31 July 2021
Picture By Ian Walton Matchroom Boxing.
Leigh Wood celebrates his win.
0 comments by Jason Langendorf on 8/1/2021
Eight years ago, Zou Shiming turned pro and immediately began stoking visions of a Chinese crossover star who could pack arenas and casinos in Macau while earning respect, attention and profits — never forget the profits — by handling his business on boxing’s competitive world stage. Zou was sent to work at Freddie Roach’s Wild […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 7/18/2021
We’ve all been there. Something truly exciting is about to happen. It starts to happen and it feels really good. Then it just… it just stops, unsatisfactorily. It’s called ruined orga— Sorry, that is, Jermell Charlo vs Brian Castano Saturday night on Showtime. This was to be the fight that would crown a legitimate junior […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 7/15/2021
Normally, we only do these roundtables as a way to collectively discuss the biggest fights, but given all the givens of the last 18 months, we decided to sit down and hash it out last summer, so we’re going to do it again. Quite a few things have changed in that time. Hedtke hatched an […]
0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 7/7/2021
First off, since we’re all thinking it, I’ll just go ahead and say it; I deserve a ton of credit for not making the headline of this piece “Tim Tszyu Sparks Stevie Spark” or some assbrained variation thereof. That’s big-time, dumbguy normie shit and we simply don’t do that around here. That said, holy shit […]
0 comments by Jamie Rebner on 6/30/2021
Few countries boast as proud an amateur boxing tradition as Cuba. The island nation has won 73 Olympic medals in its history, including 37 gold, despite having boycotted the Games in 1984 and 1988. Many of Cuba’s most successful amateur boxers chose to remain in their country, where professional boxing has been banned since 1961, […]
0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 6/28/2021
I used to have this boss that would turn his phone completely off when he went to bed at night. I know this because about the time his head was hitting the pillow at night mine was typically just beginning. Self-funded research on the limits of human alcohol consumption at one, or all, of Northeast […]
0 comments by Jason Langendorf on 6/21/2021
So much of what we think we know about sports legend is bullshit. Babe Ruth’s called shot? Just as likely a mosquito swat. Larry Bird’s predicted 43-point night? John Stockton loves to tell the story, but it changes with every telling. Brett Favre’s unsolicited dick pic text? OK, that probably happened. But the truth is, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 5/31/2021
By age 38 — more like age 50 at 118 pounds, where fighters get older faster — Nonito Donaire should be well into the part of his career where he gets by on veteran savvy, if he gets by at all. Coming off a two-year rest, after the most grueling fight of his life, no […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/26/2021
Imagine you’ve had a goal since childhood. It doesn’t matter what it is, but it becomes the critical motivator in your personal and professional life. Now, imagine you acheived it. And imagine if you failed. Beyond the elation and heartache in the immediate aftermath is a central question that no one can answer but you: […]
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 21: Jose Ramirez(L) and Josh Taylor(R) pose during the weigh-in for the Undisputed junior welterweight championship at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on May 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Im
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/21/2021
The entire point of competition is to determine who is the best. Singular. However, over the last several decades, the word champion has become almost meaningless in boxing through the proliferation of alphabet participation trophies. In this era it’s always refreshing when the two best fighters in a division not only want to render those […]
May 8, 2021; Arlington, TX; Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defeats Billy Joe Saunders and becomes the Unified WBC, WBA and WBO Super Middleweight Champion at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mandatory Credit: Michelle Farsi/Matchroom.
0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 5/9/2021
Let’s talk about quitting for a moment, shall we? Boxing fans, writ large, are all but genetically incapable of nuance. When it comes to the dreaded Q word, however, a bit of it is desperately required. Quitting, or the perception thereof, is tantamount to surrender in boxing, and for an industry built almost entirely on […]
