Twice in the last month, a boxer has pulled out of a fight with a health issue, and a substitute has been offered so the show can go on. Twice, the healthy fighter has rejected the substitute, claiming he wasn’t prepared for the substitute’s stance. His stance. Heavyweight Nicolay Valuev had been preparing for a […]

I would say at least once a week — usually when I mention one of the Klitschko brothers or Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, Jr. — someone takes a critical remark I’ve made, or that someone else has made in this space, and responds thusly: “You just hate boxer A because you’re racist/hate country A.” […]

There’s junior flyweight Edgar Sosa knocking out an overmatched opponent this weekend in front of about 12,000 people in Mexico City. He’s popular there. Sure would be nice to see him in against a Giovanni Segura or somebody like that. Not a whole lotta weekend afterthoughts, but some things worth discussing.

Can’t make my mind up about this. You may have seen recently that Freddie Roach said the following about lining up his prized possession, pound-for-pound king and junior welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, with welterweight Miguel Cotto: “I spoke with Bob and I told him I want it at 143 pounds,” he said, referring to Pacquiao […]

Saturday on ESPN Classic, Wladimir Klitschko became the Ring magazine heavyweight champion of the world — the most legitimate of the many belts that litter boxing — by stopping his best opponent, Ruslan Chagaev, in what was his best performance to date. Love or hate Klitschko and his methodical, clinical but dominant style, he’s apparently […]

This Jean Pascal fellow, he’s more good-natured pandemonium than he needs to be, as physically gifted a boxer as he is. Most any time he chose to circle and box the slower Adrian Diaconu, he had his way Friday night on Versus. But he can’t help himself when he gets hit; he can’t resist answering […]

Welcome to the weekly Quick Jabs column. Besides the topics in the headline, we’ve got some “tsk tsking” for scurrilous reports about Kelly Pavlik, among other remarks I’d file under “belt/ranking/media commentary;” a closer look at Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s double-talk; boxing on the Internets; and more. (Thanks to everyone for their best wishes today, by […]

If the Versus channel hadn’t come to our rescue and brought us the all-Quebec light heavyweight fight between Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu Friday night, I might be saying “zut alors!” Instead, we get to watch a tres bien match-up that’s on track to sell 22,000 tickets north of the border, where boxing is hot […]

Saturday is the moment we’ve been waiting for. It’s when Wladimir Klitschko — spurred by the most meaningful fight of his life, where he can undisputedly proclaim himself the division’s true champion if he wins — finally dispenses with the bumper bowling, finally ditches the water wings, finally jumps without a net and behaves like […]

(Above: Would Lucian Bute [right] Librado Andrade [left] II resemble the original?) Sequels are on the mind lately, and not because “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and its 44 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes is still one of the top movies in the land. There were two fights over the weekend […]

‘Twas an eventful weekend, between a fantastic Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey fight and word that Manny Pacquiao now wants a piece of Cotto; news about Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez being postponed and the subsequent theories as to why; and a pair of other fights of note, Robert Guerrero-Efren Hinojosa and Ivan Calderon-Rodel Mayol, not to mention […]

You’ll discover today wildly different impressions around the Internets of last night’s very good and dramatic, if not great, welterweight fight between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. You’ll find some calling the decision win for Cotto a “gift.” You’ll find some who agreed with the wide 116-111 scorecard of one of the judges who awarded […]

So many Jabs to Quicken, so little time. Other subjects, besides those in the headline: the failure of Miguel Cotto’s team to check Antonio Margarito’s wraps; Guillermo Rigondeaux gets scarier with the ultimate trainer; NFL star Brandon Jacobs aspires to boxing glory; what’s up with bouts like Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson II and Tomasz Adamek-Steve Cunningham […]

Not a bad night of boxing in the debut of Golden Boy Promotions’ “Fight Night Club” on Versus and RingTV.com. Commentary on the fights, and some of the unique elements of the show:

Suppose a famed arena right in your hometown was hosting a sellout crowd for one of the year’s most anticipated, sure-to-be-action-packed events in any given sport. You’d think the paper of record in your town might cover the thing, right? Not so much for Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey this Saturday in Madison Square Garden. The New […]