(Wladimir Klitschko, left; Alexander Povetkin, right) There have been back alley assaults outside West Virginia taverns cleaner than what Wladimir Klitschko did to Alexander Povetkin Saturday in Russia on HBO en route to a 119-104 unanimous decision across the board. There have been more credible performances by WWE referees, too, than the officiating Luis Pabon […]

We're in something akin to a fall sweeps period for HBO boxing, with this weekend and last spotlighting various titans of TV ratings in the sport. Up last Saturday was Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., and he reportedly delivered the biggest cable boxing ratings of the year so far. Up this coming Saturday are Miguel Cotto […]

(Dennis Andries, left, slams a jab toward Jeff Harding in their first bout; via) At the time this fight was made, nobody really knew that putting WBC light heavyweight titlist Dennis Andries in with Jeff Harding would be like aiming two high-powered jackhammers at each other. But the punches rarely stopped, and they carried punishment […]

All the scuttlebutt in recent days points at pound-for-pound and pay-per-view boxing king Floyd Mayweather's next fight coming in May against Amir Khan, the leopard-quick Pakistani Brit with a China chin, a penchant for in-ring dramatics and a knack for outside-the-ring celebreality posturing (along with the kind of "love to hate" relationship with the public […]

I know everyone’s really sick of Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., but would you look at that photo? He wasn’t always such a big fat piece of shit — though he did always look creepy. In any case, cast Junior from your mind and let’s concentrate on what’s quite a good week of boxing, with a […]

(TQBR Radio: So good, it even makes Miguel Cotto smile; photo credit: Action Images) Queensberry Rules Radio is back. Really back. Really, really back, even. And the kind of stuff the last part of the year is bringing may just be enough to choke the Strait of Gibraltar with fistic goodness. Never mind that whole […]

Carla Caiz, no, look at Brian Vera throwing a punch, not at whatever the hell is over there! (

(Chavez Jr., left, after weighing in for his fight against Brian Vera; photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank) Sometimes the more compelling match ups in boxing are accompanied by back stories, grudge matches and pre-fight shenanigans. It seems to be better for the long term (and even short term) health of the sport when the antics […]

Societies can be uneasy with boxing’s brutality. We watch two men coming as close to killing each other as the law allows. Some die, tragically, but not unexpectedly. In the aftermath of 2.2 million pay-per-view purchases for Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez this month, it bears thinking about why spilled blood on canvas is such a […]

Boxing prospect Mike "Yes Indeed" Reed serves as a living variant of the old Monty Python sketch where an accountant goes into a job counselor and is told that aptitude tests show the best job for him is to be an accountant. The accountant is displeased. "I've been a chartered accountant for the last twenty […]

Thanks to the antics this week in advance of his HBO return Saturday, we have a new variant on the old riddle about the 800 pound gorilla: What weight does Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. fight at? A: Whatever weight he wants to. For a sport that has been around under the Queensberry rules for more […]

Wow, time flies when you’re getting punched in the face. Has it really been three years since we last handed out the Raymond Joval Award for the worst haircut in boxing? What a three years it’s been. In 2010, if somebody told you that Paulie Malignaggi would one day sport a relatively sensible haircut and […]

Derry Mathews brought a pair of knives to a gunfight Saturday night at Liverpool’s Olympia, halting rough and ready Curtis Woodhouse in the 4th round of their Commonwealth lightweight clash with a machete chop of a right hand. Rarely could Liverpool action man Mathews be associated with the term “buzzkill;” however, in scything down Woodhouse […]