Carl Frampton (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/28/2015
Carl Frampton dispensed with Chris Avalos Saturday with relative ease, as we knew he probably would, even if we also knew Avalos was going to bring the reckless attacking, which he tried to do. The fight itself matters less than this: Frampton is right in the thick of a glut of fighters who can make […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/25/2015
Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way. Certain things are going to be said over and over and over again about Mayweather Pacquiao, by a mainstream media that doesn’t, frankly, know jackshit about this sport, and that would rather fall into easy, historically false cliches and stereotypes about boxing. Example: When […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/20/2015
Last year’s Boxcino tournaments on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights did all right, and the reviews for the first of two 2015 editions weren’t so bad, either. The heavyweights were up this weekend in the second 2015 installment, and… no. It’s not that they didn’t deliver some good things. The first two fights were close, requiring […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
The myopic bubble in which boxing fans sometimes live is the hard-earned kind. On Friday, one of the biggest and most important fights in boxing history was announced — Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao, May 2 — and the reaction from the hardcores was, almost unanimously, “Finally.” For those of us who have been listening […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
The Gennady Golovkin Show is one of boxing’s best shows to watch, one of its worst to co-star in with the man they call GGG. And he just keeps finding better co-stars, this Saturday being Martin Murray, the highest-ranked middleweight he will have faced yet. He’s never aiming anywhere but the top of the division, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/17/2015
(Golovkin poses for a photo ahead of the Dec. 4 press conference in London for the Murray fight [Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images]) The last month has been a dry time for boxing fans. We’ve had nothing to slake our thirst. The gods demand a sacrificial offering, so we must provide one. England’s Martin Murray is the […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
(Al Haymon, via) NBC. NBC Sports. Showtime. Spike. ESPN, probably. And as of today, CBS, too. Al Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” has spread its tendrils into every major U.S. network — save one — that has broadcast boxing in the last several years, plus some new channels, too. We’re talking an almost full-scale revolution in […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/9/2015
The talk of the boxing world, and the talk of boxing in the non-boxing world, is whether we might finally get Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. The interest is understandable (if not comical, based on the various inaccurate reports about whether the fight is finalized). For a subset of boxing fans, the subject of Mayweather Pacquiao […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/7/2015
Sergio Mora evaded defeat narrowly on ESPN2 Friday at the hands of Abie Han in a close split decision that was something of a trap fight. Mora has expected to challenge Jermain Taylor for a middleweight strap on Friday Night Fights, and a combination of that let down and a tricky, aggressive opponent — along with […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 2/1/2015
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there really isn’t much boxing on this week. In fact, there’s not a proper “big fight” until February 21. On Friday middleweight Sergio Mora is fighting someone who is not Jermain Taylor on ESPN2, which can only be counted as a small victory, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/30/2015
Main Events thought they had gotten Karl Dargan to the precipice of an HBO date. Friday night on ESPN2, Tony Luis killed that notion. Dargan, a lightweight with some serious speed, was coming off a sensational knockout as the last “project” of Main Events on NBC Sports. Luis was a potentially tough test and proved […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/24/2015
(Al Bello/Getty Images) Let’s just get it out of the way right off the bat: Whatever negotiations for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao are happening — and, for once, it does seem like the negotiations have actually been happening, rather than both sides simply talking about each other — the proper posture to take about the fight […]
0 comments by Andy Ryan
There’s a difference between an underdog and a human sacrifice. Underdogs go up against the odds but with enough of a shot to get the bookies nervous and the fans talking of “what ifs?” It’s not the same as when a fighter who everyone knows is hopelessly mismatched takes a hammering. Ask Rod Salka. Too […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/21/2015
There are plenty of fights where it makes sense to strip away their components, one by one, and then reconstitute them, like a chemistry student studying an upcoming (sweet) science project. Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado III, this Saturday on HBO, isn’t one of them. Everything has chemistry at its core, even a couple of bricks. But […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/18/2015
Deontay Wilder defeated Bermane Stiverne Saturday on Showtime by decision; what was surprising about that was not that Wilder won, but that anyone won “by decision,” given the power both men brought to bear. Wilder is a physically talented heavyweight, one who had questions about whether he could take a shot or deal with anyone […]
