0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 5/26/2016
“Before the main event Saturday Night, Morales shadowboxed in his dressing room. He was bone dry. His arms were no more impressive than an accountant’s and his torso had the consistency of a week-old party balloon.” The great beauty of Springs Toledo’s latest collection of essays, entitled “In the Cheap Seats,” is moments like the […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 2/16/2016
Boxing reached a new low this week, and for once it wasn’t Roy Jones, Jr. or Floyd Mayweather leading the charge. It may seem incredible, but in a week which saw Jones offer to fight a fan for a $100,000 prize, Mayweather tour the U.K. and charge £70 for a photo and Manny Pacquiao compare […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 11/19/2015
Next to presidents and dressmakers on Oscar night, professional athletes form arguably the most scrutinised group on the planet. Boxing, as a niche sport with a passionate and partisan fanbase, is a magnet for aggressive hyperbole. Yet within such caustic surroundings, the extent to which professional fighters can manipulate our perceptions is often quite remarkable. […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 11/13/2015
“Talk to me son,” bellowed referee Russell Mora after Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios had received a third low blow In the space of two minutes. “Let’s go baby!” came the defiant response from a man who seemed almost to be drawing energy from his opponent’s attempts to foul. Although his body would sag with each […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 9/6/2015
In an extremely close — and somewhat controversial — bantamweight contest, Jamie McDonnell retained his 122 pound trinket via unanimous decision over Japan’s Tomoki Kameda. Scores of 115-112, 116-111, and 117-109 tell a relatively dominant tale, but in truth this was an extremely tactical contest, fought on close to even terms for the most part. […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 5/28/2015
Martin Murray sat beside compatriot Darren Barker in the Sky Sports Studio as a smile grew across his face. A sturdy, thick-necked middleweight with a history of violent crime, he listened incredulously as Birmingham-born Matthew Macklin boasted proudly of his exploits, both domestically and abroad. Calling in from his gym on the south coast of […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 4/29/2015
A common aphorism around professional prizefighting states it is nothing more than a means to an end. Boxing as a career, rather than mere spectacle, is a route out of poverty and societal neglect open to those willing to offer up a grizzled part of themselves. In times of great hardship, so the greatest fighters […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 3/13/2015
Photo: Josesito Lopez (L) throws a punch against Andre Berto during their welterweight bout. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) In a battle for gatekeeper bragging rights, perennial Al Haymon favourite Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KO) took on the jawbreaker himself, Josesito Lopez (33-7, 19 KO), in the main event of the inaugural PBC Spike TV card. Berto, who […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard
Photo: Erick Bone (L) lands a punch against Shawn Porter. Porter won by knockout in the fifth round. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) After the last minute pull-out of billed opponent Roberto Garcia, which almost did the unthinkable and left Miguel Vazquez to kick off Al Haymon’s nascent PBC venture, the confirmation of unheralded stand-in Erick […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 1/14/2015
destiny noun – the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future. There is no question of their suitability for one another, of their dual commitment to a fighting ethos that has fallen out of fashion with large sections of modern fans: A shared rejection of tomorrow, a stand against due care that […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 12/14/2014
(Timothy Bradley, left, Diego Chaves, right; via @HBOBoxing) Timothy Bradley (31-1) vs. Diego Chaves (23-2) Timothy Bradley entered the ring on a mission to reestablish himself amongst the sport’s elite, and largely cruised against the tough Diego Chaves in a fight that at times threatened to turn into something special, before ultimately throwing up another […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 11/19/2014
(Promoter Bob Arum, Pacquiao, Zhou and Algieri arrive in Macau; photo via) “You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone… Alone in the most beautiful place in the world.”- Jean Rhys Despite his unabashed confidence, which can at times border on a smugly dismissive sense […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 9/9/2014
“His very existence was improbable, inexplicable, and altogether bewildering… It was inconceivable how he had existed, how he had succeeded in getting so far, how he had managed to remain — why he did not instantly disappear.” – Joseph Conrad. If the trappings of fame and a now-global renown have changed Marcos Maidana at all, […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 7/27/2014
Returning home at around midnight last night, I switched on the earlier BoxNation card and gamely attempted to stave off sleep. It didn’t work. No sooner had I watched Chris Eubank, Jr. destroy another journeyman when I promptly dozed off. I awoke some two hours later, in the midst of Mike Perez’s entrance for his […]
0 comments by Sam Sheppard on 6/28/2014
Omaha, Neb. hadn’t seen a world title fight since Joe Frazier’s 1972 annihilation of Ron Stander, so it was safe to say this bout was overdue. The 11,000 who packed the CenturyLink Center certainly seemed to think so, and they were not to be disappointed as Terence Crawford defended the lightweight belt he won from […]
