0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/20/2017
Each fight tells you something about the fighters. Saturday night, at Madison Square Garden on HBO, Terence “Bud” Crawford confirmed what we knew about him. Crawford’s talent is sublime. It’s unquestioned. It remains untested. Felix Diaz (19-2, 9 KO) is a good fighter. He won a gold medal at the Olympics. He can punch with […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/18/2017
On April 4, Andre Ward posted this to Instagram, with the caption, “I’m going to keep it short and sweet, you got what you asked for, now you have to see me JUNE 17TH. This time leave the excuses at home.” We, the adoring public have been blessed to buy a pay-per-view rematch of a good […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/26/2017
Something I have always avoided doing that many people seem to enjoy, or at least pretend to enjoy on Facebook, is looking back and taking stock. I don’t want to think about where I’ve been, what I’ve accomplished, and where I’ve failed. I tell myself that it’s because I am too focused on the present […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/9/2017
The MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland is supposed to be a place of chance, across the river from a town in which all the endings are predictable. The House always wins. Last night was no different, but a thrill emerged. Vasyl Lomachenko (8-0-1. 6 KO) beat up Jason Sosa (20-2-4, 15 KO, just […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 3/16/2017
Last Saturday night, from Verona, New York, HBO gave the world a physics lesson, just as their “friends” at Premier Boxing Champions had done the previous week. What we saw was the difference between Kinetic energy and Potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy in action. It’s the energy generated in motion. Potential energy is the […]
BIRMINGHAM, AL – FEBRUARY 25: Izu Ugonoh (L) and Dominic Breazeale (R) fight in a heavyweight bout at Legacy Arena. (Photo by David A. Smith/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 2/26/2017
I started this write-up by looking for a synonym for “clumsy.” I didn’t find one that fit, unfortunately. Tonight at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox, Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KO) notched another victory to the thrill of his local crowd (everything is local in Alabama, trust me). Wilder scored […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 2/9/2017
There’s an apocryphal story about the first meeting when Bernie Ecclestone took over Formula 1. As it goes, Enzo Ferrari dragged the dwarvish Brit into his office to let him know what was what. Enzo slammed his hand on the desk and said, “THIS is the sport!” then tapped his finger under the desk and […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 1/29/2017
Action heroes are special. There are precious few of them in any generation. We like to pretend that every fight was an event, but mostly they are like any other fighter except for a few great nights. Mickey Ward was in his share of dreck fights. So was Arturo Gatti. We aren’t supposed to say […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 1/18/2017
Embarrassingly, I spent last Friday night watching Yuri Foreman get knocked out by Erislandy Lara. The fight was terrible, and the knockout punch was sneaky good, but nothing like the destructive mesmerization I seek. Normally I’d forget that I’d been foolish enough to watch it and move on with my life, but over the weekend, […]
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 30: Leo Santa Cruz of Mexico (gold trunks) fights Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland (blue trunks) during their 12 round WBA Super featherweight championship bout at Barclays Center on July 30, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Photo by Anthony Geathers/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/30/2016
A Jackal is a wild dog. They look a little differently, and they sound a little differently than the dogs we know, but that’s what they are. They’re opportunists who kill when they must and steal when they can. They work as a team. They are the the kind of creature that we hate to […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/11/2016
Terence Crawford is good at boxing. Saturday, in Omaha, Neb., he reminded us how good he is. Crawford’s junior welterweight bout with John Molina, Jr. on HBO was always destined to be a mismatch. Molina gave Lucas Matthysse a few rough moments while absorbing a frightening beating a few years back. He came back from […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/2/2016
Last week, still grouchy from the awful scorecards in Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward, I pondered if Nicholas Walters might give Vasyl Lomachenko a real test, and in doing so elevate both fighters. We got about half of that. Lomachenko was elevated in some minds because he was brilliant. That Walters decided after seven rounds […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 11/26/2016
No matter how gifted you are, ultimately you will be judged by your opposition. In fact, the more talent you have, the more people will want you to be tested. There’s a reason that average kids who get B’s are lauded and intelligent kids who do the same are disappointments. People might give you the […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 11/18/2016
We live in the supposed information age. Everything that everyone does is compiled, quantified, and analyzed to deliver a more specialized experience whether you’re shopping or watching TV. Sports have also followed this trend, and in many ways led the charge. The experience of fandom is lost to some degree because you’re constantly being updated […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain
Whilst I admit we aren’t exactly the crew at My-T-Sharp, the staff here at TQBR is always up to gather round our smart phones and email each other at all hours of the night as we try to hash out our varying opinions of the sport’s biggest fights. Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward may not […]
