0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/18/2010
The decline of Kassim “The Dream” Ouma’s career has been frustrating to watch. I saw Ouma’s last major win live at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in August 2006, a decision over then-undefeated Brooklyn prospect Sechew “The Iron Horse” Powell on the undercard of the controversial Vernon Forrest-Ike Quartey bout. Frankly, I had thought […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/17/2010
When Jake “the Snake” Roberts held a cobra to a helplessly ensnared Randy “Macho Man” Savage and the cobra sunk his fangs into the Macho Man’s shoulder, I was enthralled. When the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase broke out his inimitable cackle or The Undertaker slammed an opponent into a casket or the “Nature Boy” […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
If anything could go ugly in boxing lately, it’s gone ugly. It’s like everyone involved in the sport is conspiring to kill it. I don’t mean literally. I doubt that’s the idea. But all its warts are flaring up, and it’s really gross to look at right now. On a Top Rank-produced card on Fox […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/15/2010
The above ad may or may not be running in Boxing Digest and other places. PETA was kinda weird about answering my questions about it, saying it was a PSA that would run wherever publications had space for it, since PETA is a non-profit and was hoping pubs would run it for free, although I […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
We’re not supposed to be saying the zed-word, I know. We did the autopsy of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao and we’d begun moving on. But a development like this — it doesn’t just get buried, never to surface again. This is the kind of thing that hangs around for a while, and we’re going to have […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/14/2010
This is the time of year when boxing writers begin to forecast who’s “next” in the sport. Ring’s Doug Fischer has already done a great job of running down the list of up-and-coming prospects. Maxboxing’s Gabriel Montoya has compiled a nice list of boxers a notch above that: prospects who could be graduating to contenders. […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/12/2010
The garden is looking rosy for British boxing right now, with a handful of leading lights in full bloom and a host of promising young bulbs beginning to pop their heads out of the soil and up into the sunshine. In a bid to set up what may be in store for 2010, let’s take […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
(Joshua Clottey, photographed by Howard Schatz) Now that we’re done with the autopsy of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, it’s worth glancing forward to the separate ways each of them are going. These are, after all, the two top fighters in the world, and while I’m still scrunching up my nose in revulsion at both welterweights for […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
(An illegal Antonio Margarito hand wrap. Photo: California Attorney General’s office) Boxing fans and followers are still shaken by the failure to make the proposed Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight. Many blame Mayweather, some blame Manny, and others (like Tim and myself) blame everyone involved. Yet as the shock subsides and the sport trudges along […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
Anthony “The Man” Mundine might be slowing down, if his average performace against the average “Deadly” Rob Medley is anything to go by. While he easily beat the smaller, less experienced Medley, he never looked as dominant as he should have. Mundine hasn’t fought a world class opponent since Mikkel Kessler in 2005. While Danny […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/11/2010
If you were holding on to the dream that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would fight in March, it’s time to let it go. Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey is set for Dallas, and Mayweather’s team, after insisting a deal could still be made, is now plotting Mayweather’s next move. It’s actually moving from “unmitigated disaster” to “c.f.,” […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/9/2010
For much of the debut main event in the ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” season, rickety 37-year-old middleweight Roman Karmazin was not looking his best, getting wobbled as he did by Dionisio Miranda in the 3rd round and largely surviving with ring savvy against a low-skilled, one-handed but powerful fighter in his physical prime. Then in […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
Oh, you kids out there in Never Never Land. Your optimism about the possibility that Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao may still happen — it helps open the door in my brain just enough that when I see items like this one, about the remotest possibility of the fight being revived, that it gives me a glimmer […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/8/2010
When critics used to trot out the reasons for boxing’s decline, the word “greed” inevitably made the list. They were wrong. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist in boxing. But boxing is the only sport I know of where irrational emotion and excessive pride regularly trump greed. That’s what seems to have happened when Floyd […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/7/2010
With boxing taking a holiday break, the Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fiasco has dominated the headlines and depressed the naïve and clearly delusional boxing fans (including myself, admittedly) who thought the sport could maintain positive momentum without pulling an Andrew Golota somewhere along the line. Now that the New Year is upon us, the action […]
