The last month has been our most successful yet at our humble boxing blog, in terms of traffic. I won’t share the number of visits — it might look like I was bragging, and besides, in some corners of the blogging universe, they would be considered laughably small — but I can tell you this: […]

We still have a bit of 2008 housekeeping to attend to, and one of the final tasks is a final pound-for-pound list of the best fighters in the world regardless of weight. As usual, my criteria includes, in approximate order of importance: recent activity, career achievement and overall ability.

I didn’t fork over the $24.95 required to watch the heavyweight alphabet title fight featuring Evander Holyfield and Nicolay Valuev because I didn’t want to participate in the sorry spectacle — voting with my pocketbook and all — but after catching the bout on YouTube, I can tell you that it exceeded my imagination in […]

Sean hit you with his delicious 2008 Pu Pu Platter science here, following up on our Round of the Year, Knockout of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year awards entries. I agree with a great deal of his picks, but we conclude our awards week today with my own, second […]

Welcome to boxing’s weekend of disgrace! You’ve got the “Will this be the day Evander Holyfield’s gets really bad brain damage?” bout with heavyweight titlist Nicolay Valuev. You’ve got Joan “I can’t make weight for a fight and don’t even want to but didn’t tell anyone until the last minute and now my scheduled opponent […]

While we here at the Queensberry Rules have already shared with you, our values readers, a host of year end awards, Tim and I have also decided to award some deserving nominees in some other pertinent categories.  I will share my “pu pu platter” of awards first and Tim will drop some knowledge on your […]

When your year roughly mirrors one of the finest achievements in boxing history — Henry Armstrong’s simultaneous three-division reign — then it’s going to be hard for anyone to top you in the Fighter of the Year category. And that’s what Manny Pacquiao did in 2008. Just a few weeks ago, Pacquiao toppled Oscar De […]

In the book “Boxing Scene” by Thomas Hauser, Lou Duva, a former trainer of Evander Holyfield, said, circa early 2007: “If he stops fighting now, he could be our greatest ambassador. But when he keeps fighting, it downgrades the sport. And God forbid something really bad should happen to him.” In a Dec. 4 article, […]

With the boxing year effectively completed, every day this week at The Queensberry Rules we’ll be presenting nominees for 2008 year-end awards, followed the next day by our actual award recipients. The categories are: Round of the Year; Knockout of the Year; Fight of theYear; and Fighter of the Year. Sean and I will provide […]

When Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez first agreed to terms to fight each other back in March 2007, you knew it would result in something special. But in no way could even the most ardent fan have predicted an all-time classic trilogy would have sprouted from the encounter. With both fighters each taking one victory […]

2008 barely began before Edison Miranda gave us its Knockout of the Year. Among all the best KOs, there were body shots that ended things abruptly and even knockouts that were punctuated with jabs; there were victims who were just cold unconscious and those who mustered some stumbling around on their knees as they tried […]

So it sounds like a go: Vitali Klitschko vs. David Haye in June, which instantly becomes one of the most significant, and most promising, heavyweight fights in years. When I say promising, I of course mean only that it offers promise. At the same time, it holds tremendous potential to be a letdown. With the […]

With the boxing year effectively completed, every day this week at The Queensberry Rules we’ll be presenting nominees for 2008 year-end awards, followed the next day by our actual award recipients. The categories are: Round of the Year; Knockout of the Year; Fight of theYear; and Fighter of the Year. Sean and I will provide […]

“Pulsating.” Yes, that’s it. That’s the best single word I’ve read to describe our 2008 Round of the Year, the 1st round of the rematch between junior welterweights (140 lbs.) Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres in July. Using more words, a commentator for the international broadcast said: “That was one of the most unbelievable things […]

I’ll have a lot more to say about this story — where David Haye claims Vitali Klitschko has agreed to a deal for a heavyweight fight in London in June — when and if Klitschko’s people confirm anything. Right now, it’s more than a little strange that Haye’s the only one talking. Per ESPN: “However, […]