(Marcos Maidana, post-fight; photo credit: Esther Lin, Showtime) Adrien Broner was the future of American boxing until Saturday night on Showtime, when he ran into hard-ass Argentinian Marcos Maidana, who somehow overcame the pervasive influence of Golden Boy, adviser Al Haymon and the network that broadcast the fight to win a unanimous decision. And you […]

With the boxing year coming to a close, Father Christmas (AKA Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza) has one last present for boxing fans before they wake up on Dec. 25 to find their stockings filled with coal. Originally slated for pay-per-view but mercifully bumped down to regular premium cable, welterweights Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana are set […]

(Guillermo Rigondeaux punches Joseph Agbeko, not that anyone saw it; credit: Chris Farina, Top Rank) Nobody expected Guillermo Rigondeaux to do great numbers as a headliner on HBO going head to head with a card over at Showtime featuring bigger names, but then, nobody probably expected this weekend's bout to set an all-time low for […]

Some boxers have a funny way of falling down or getting rocked, like Zab Judah, say. Another is a second boxer from this past weekend, the breakdancing Austin Trout. He should swerve into it: Drop the "No Doubt" nickname that people were making fun of Saturday as the Erislandy Lara bout slipped out of control […]

(Paulie Malignaggi, left, lands a right hand on Zab Judah; photo credit: Showtime/Golden Boy Promotions) Paulie Malignaggi was excellent Saturday night on Showtime and Zab Judah was shit. In the battle of Brooklyn, Malignaggi made Judah resemble the Nets. It was a card where the opening bout, the draw between Sakio Bika and Anthony Dirrell, […]

(J'Leon Love uppercuts Lajuan Simon; credit: Stephanie Trapp, Showtime) Floyd Mayweather-promoted fighters got showcases Friday on ShoBox, a Showtime show once meant to show how ready prospects were for the bigtime. This is the price a network pays for tying their fortunes too directly to one boxer's earning appeal and Q Score. Each "TMT" (ugh) […]

(left to right: Giacobbe Fragomeni, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Andrzej Fonfara, Samuel Miller; courtesy 8 Count Productions/Warriors Boxing) Cruiserweight Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara did Warsaw proud Saturday in showcase fights in the unofficial Polish capital of the United States, Chicago. Both scored knockouts in bouts that streamed on ESPN3, although it must be noted […]

RIP, Nelson Mandela, world leader and pugilist/boxing aficionado. (per Deadspin). In a long overdue combined edition of Quick Jabs/Round And Round, we contemplate the Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios pay-per-view numbers, a provocative interview or two, what's next for Carl Froch and some other news items/fights in the works. Quick Jabs There are any number […]

(Ismayl Sillakh in happier times, left, Sergey Kovalev right; photo credit: Ed Mulholland, HBO) Light heavyweight king Adonis Stevenson finished up a stellar 2013 campaign with another smashing knockout Saturday on HBO, the kind he has made routine along the way to building his case for Fighter of the Year. But a contender for his […]

With the vast number of most meaningful fights in 2013's rear view mirror, HBO on Saturday is delivering a doubleheader that is more about 2014: light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson vs. Tony Bellew, paired with Sergey Kovalev vs. Ismayl Sillakh, bouts meant to whet the appetite for Stevenson-Kovalev, not that appetites could be much whetter […]

There are worse ways I can imagine to spend a weekday night than to watch Fox Sports 1's Golden Boy Live program: getting all of the skin on my forehead shaved off by a hyperactive drug addict wielding a big chunk of glass, say, or listening to Aerosmith's "Love In An Elevator" for two hours […]

Everywhere you turned this past weekend, some fight was ending too early or too late, as the New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh touched upon here in examining the struggle pitting quality boxing against boxer health, a subject the sport can't get away from post-Frankie Leal and post-Magomed Abdusalamov. The balance isn't easy. But let's go case […]

(Manny Pacquiao connects on Brandon Rios; credit: Chris Farina, Top Rank) Manny Pacquiao buried Brandon Rios in an avalanche of punches Saturday on HBO pay-per-view, in the process shoveling dirt on memories of his astounding knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last year. Rios was, as expected in one of the two most likely scenarios […]

Don't follow boxing very often, but want to know the gist of Saturday's mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios? Follow boxing all the time, and want one place that rounds up all the links about the welterweight showdown you could ever want? This Ultimate Guide to the Nov. 23 pay-per-view event known as "The Clash […]