0 comments by Matthew Swain on 1/17/2015
http://gty.im/461654144 Any match between a fighter on the way up and one on the way down is a crossroads bout. Sometimes you get a collision and sometimes they seem to pass each other by because the fighter on his way down really is on his way out. It’s hard to know which it will be until after […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/27/2014
“The most damaging punch is the one you don’t see coming.” Ask any veteran boxing observer how a fighter got detached from his senses from a punch, and they will likely tell you that. It’s as true in life as it is in the ring. Typically, we are most affected by events that come from […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/14/2014
(Esther Lin, Showtime) In a match-up of welterweight contenders from the charming hamlet of Las Vegas, Nevada, Amir Khan put on his best performance in years. Khan (30-3, 19 KO) used his superior reach and hand speed to dominate Devon Alexander from beginning to end, earning the unanimous decision by scores of 119-109, 118-110, and […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/7/2014
Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, middleweight David Lemieux took another step toward career redemption by stopping Gabe Rosado in the 10th round of a thrilling war of attrition. The bout lived up to its billing as an even match-up of fighters at a crossroads who were guaranteed to bring the drama. […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 11/20/2014
If you had told me a year ago that I would be writing a preview for Manny Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri, I’d have had one simple question: Who the fuck is Chris Algieri? In September 2013, Algieri won his 18th bout after his opponent Wilfredo Acuna (14-12, and winless in his previous five) retired on […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 11/7/2014
Big fights are a special time here at The Queensberry Rules. They are an occasion for our team (a group spanning 15 time zones, four countries, three continents, and one tenuously shared language) to gather and slam our heads together until something useful oozes out. With that noble purpose in mind, we offer you our […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/10/2014
Before Marcos Maidana’s majority decision loss to pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May, very few people gave him a chance to win. In fact, your fearless team here at TQBR discussed whether Maidana would even win a round during our preview round table discussion. I was generous (read: slightly less wrong but […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 6/25/2014
It seems an eternity since the heavyweight division was relevant. As a teenager in the 1990s, I watched awestruck as Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis and a couple of others temporarily loaned each other the title. Back then being the heavyweight champion of the world made you famous, and it was big business. There […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 6/15/2014
Every once in a while, an idiotic idea takes hold of me and I decide that it is worth pursuing despite the sheer lunacy of what I am going to attempt. It happened again yesterday when I read Alex McClintock’s inspired drinking game designed around HBO’s coverage of Ruslan Provodnikov-Chris Algieri. Despite the mounting evidence […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 6/7/2014
(photo by Andy Newman, via Iron Mike Promotions) Cuba’s Yudel Jhonson (he’s not Jhonny Gonzalez’s son — apparently that naming thing only exists in Scandanavia) dropped Norberto Gonzalez twice en route to a dominant victory from the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y. Jhonson (16-1, 9 KO) was sharper throughout the 10 round junior middleweight […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/10/2014
The old adage is “as go the heavyweights, so goes boxing.” Well, if more heavyweight fights were as entertaining as Bermane Stiverne’s 6th round stoppage of Chris Arreola on ESPN, boxing might be more popular. Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO) was way behind on my card at the time of the stoppage. He was being outworked […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/1/2014
Roberto Garcia has not had an easy road as a professional boxer. In his 13-year career he has frequently fought out of his normal weight class and on short notice. He did both of those things in February when he took a fight with Norberto Gonzalez on short notice and gutted out an entertaining decision. […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/24/2014
Protect yourself at all times. Halfway through the 5th round of a scheduled 10 round junior welterweight fight from the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Friday, Aron Martinez turned his back on his opponent Josesito Lopez, and referee Jack Reiss waved the bout off, saying (and then repeating ad nauseum) that Martinez […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/19/2014
What a difference six weeks makes. Six weeks ago, Willie Monroe Jr. squeaked by Donatas Bondas in the 1st round of ESPN’s middleweight Boxcino tournament. He looked tentative and unsure of himself. On the same card, Ukrainian Vitaliy Kopylenko established himself as the favorite to win the tournament by blitzing Ceresso Fort in just two […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/12/2014
A gaudy record filled with knockouts is not necessarily an indicator of championship level talent. Twenty-two-year-old Mexican super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez entered his fight with Giovanni Lorenzo on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with a sterling record built against guys I’ve never heard of. He appears to be the […]
