The first time David Haye agreed to fight one of the Klitschko brothers, he came up lame the way a horse would — he pulled out of the June date with Wladimir citing an injury. The second time Haye agreed to fight one of the Klitschko brothers and pulled out, he came up lame like […]

In 2005, Tomasz Adamek was in one of the best fights of the year. Same in 2006. And in 2008. He’s not just an action hero — he’s good, too. He’s one of the 20 best fighters in the world and he’s the cruiserweight champion. And he has a real fan base, selling out fights […]

The always reliable Steve Kim sheds new light today on the mysterious, vague news that boxing promoters were going to form a trade association, about which my initial reaction was to feel creeped out like when things suddenly got quiet in the movie The Birds. As it turns out, maybe it’s not so foreboding a […]

It’s weekend reviewin’ time. Lots happened between Friday and Monday, with the biggest news — about the official nature of Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto — coming Monday (the subject of a separate post). So we’ll throw “Monday” into the liberal definition of the word “weekend” here. For starters, the knockout above is as meaningless as knockouts […]

(Miguel Cotto, left, Manny Pacquiao, right; photoshop via www.boxingrepublic.com) The headline says it all. It’s official, according to a news release from Top Rank Promotions: On Nov. 14, pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao will fight Miguel Cotto, one of the other 10 best fighters around in all of boxing, in what could be the year’s biggest […]

In a brilliant display of speed, stamina, defense, controlled boxing and movement, England’s Amir Khan Saturday totally outclassed a very good and difficult junior welterweight titlist, Andreas Kotelnik, fully rebounding from a devastating knockout loss last year to score the best win of his young career. Will the harshest Khan critics shut up now? They […]

It’s slow-going this weekend for boxing on the teevee, kids, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot going on for a Quick Jabs column. For starters, get a load of bantamweight Hozumi Hasegawa this week scoring yet another 1st round knockout over yet another quality contender, just above. Hasegawa figures into another spot […]

When Amir Khan-Andreas Kotelnik was made, plenty of people, myself included, thought it another case of clever matchmaking for the rebounding, superstar-in-the-making Khan. Kotelnik was, by universal consensus, the weakest of the junior welterweight titleholders, nor was he much of a puncher, the latter being a vital aspect of the choice given Khan’s disastrous one-round […]

It’s ironic that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. may be the most recognizable name among boxers today to people who don’t follow the sport closely — he’s the kind of boxer whose name is likely to draw a casual fan to my apartment for a boxing night party — and he’s the epitome of all the reasons […]

(From left to right: Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Jermain Taylor; Not pictured, Andre Ward. Tom Casino/Showtime) On a day when I ought to be mighty happy that Showtime is putting together a boxing event of such audaciousness it’s hard to believe we ever got to the news conference announcing it, all I can […]

You know what probably wouldn’t feel very good? Seventeen unanswered punches from cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek. I’m just guessing, though. Bobby Gunn apparently wanted a few more laser-guided bricks to the face, so maybe I’m wrong. He may have been overmatched, but you can’t say he wasn’t a hard-ass. The fight was stopped, wisely, against […]

Joseph Agbeko came out on the winning end of a wild, dirty brawl, spoiling Vic Darchinyan’s move up to bantamweight on Showtime Saturday night. Darchinyan fought the totally wrong fight for the first six rounds, swinging wildly rather than being precise, i.e., reverting to the “old” version of himself, and after, he acknowledged his “bad […]

The circumstances are mysterious, but numerous news outlets have now reported the sad, sad news that Arturo Gatti, one of the most exciting fighters of all time, is dead at 37. His body was found in Brazil. Gatti, who fought from featherweight to welterweight between 1991 and 2007, wasn’t an all-time great like Alexis Arguello, […]

As it turns out, I was right when I said the light heavyweight Friday Night Fights undercard bout between Chris Henry and Shaun George would steal the show from the main event. But I didn’t realize it would be because Henry-George would be so goddam weird, and because the main event, between cruiserweights Matt Godfrey […]

As good as this weekend looks, it is the unlikely, daring, exciting super middleweight tournament that now looks for real that has me daydreaming about what’ll happen between now and 2011. That, of course, is the major subject of this week’s news roundup, but we’ve got a good deal more on the plate than some […]