Ahead on the scorecards one famous night in 1941 against the great Joe Louis, Billy Conn went for the knockout, and because of it, got knocked out himself. A reporter asked Conn, “Why?” He replied: “What’s the point of being Irish if you can’t be thick?” Wednesday night on ESPN2, unbeaten Irish junior middleweight (154 […]

All it takes is one fight. One fight can change a boxer’s reputation like that. It doesn’t make it fair or right. It’s just the way it is. The line on Carlos Quintana’s career, over three consecutive fights, swung from “underrated upset artist” to “overrated roadkill for the stars” to “underrated upset artist” again. Paul […]

So by now you have probably heard the cries of outrage from Europe regarding the Danny Williams-Konstantin Airich heavyweight bout this past weekend in Spain.¬† At the center of the controversy is the ineptitude of referee Alfredo Garcia Perez.¬† After witnessing the fight I don’t think that Garcia was trying to favor Airich it just […]

What decision should a man make when the choice boils down to money vs. legacy? Tomorrow, Joel Casamayor, the Ring magazine lightweight (135 lbs.) champ, must pick whether to battle Nate Campbell, who holds a few title belts himself and is considered by many the best fighter in the division, or Juan Diaz, the man […]

Thomas Hauser has a must-read story at SecondsOut.com about HBO’s boxing operation. Despite some good progress over the last year or so, it shows just how much further boxing has to go to build itself back up, when the most powerful entity in the sport has the problems HBO does. But, for as long as […]

Absent a big fight this weekend, is boxing going stir-crazy? Take a look at some of the ridiculous goings-on out there. Heavyweight titlist Vladimir Klitschko pulled a fast one on Borat himself, aka Sasha Baron Cohen, implying that he would like to “break his neck” for what he said about Kazakstan. Fortunately for fans of […]

There is a rumor running wild about the possibilities of a potential match (boxing or MMA)¬†between MMA media sensation and YouTube street-fighting legend Kimbo Slice and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.¬† For all intents and purposes such disturbing news remains a rumor and nothing more as the thought of a fight as horrific as this […]

ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting¬†that Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions (GBP)¬†has just inked a promotional deal with British cruiserweight champion David Haye.¬† GBP will promote Haye’s fights here in America and co-promote, in conjunction with Haye’s Hayemaker Productions, his fights in the U.K.¬† Personally I think this is a genius move for Haye […]

Before an estimated U.K. crowd of 55,000, Manchester hero Ricky Hatton got wobbled twice by Juan Lazcano. He got hit cleanly to an alarming degree for a top-level boxer. But he recovered from his rough moments, and was in control the rest of the time, enough to pull out a dominant win on the scorecards […]

Let this be a lesson to all you aspiring fighters out there, keep your damn hands up!¬† To those who just got finished watching Friday Night Fights and witnessed cruiserweight prospect Aaron Williams get his bell rung by the unheralded Jose Luis Herrera let that be the example.¬† I really like Williams.¬† Think he has […]

Some quick thoughts below, mentioning the following fighters: Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Winky Wright, Cristian Mijares, Joel Casamayor, Nate Campbell, Joan Guzman, Antonio Margarito, Paulie Malignaggi and others. It’s like a salad bar, but with fists.

Getting knocked out, even when one is an elite, beloved, undefeated fighter who merely ran into the best fighter alive, is no fun. We know this all the more intimately today thanks to the post-KO emotional trauma of Ricky Hatton, who is colorful, charming and confessional in addition to his having been a consensus top-10 […]

Stupid declaration #1: “Floyd [Mayweather] has fought the best, and he has beaten them all. He fought Oscar (De La Hoya), when everybody thought that Oscar would murder him‚Ķand he beat him.” — Jose Sulaiman, WBC president Um, no. Nobody thought Oscar would murder Floyd. Floyd was the heavy betting favorite. We’ve all come to […]

It was quite a busy weekend in terms of meaningful boxing matches on almost every network.¬† I will confess to skipping both PPV offerings from Mexico as I just didn’t see the necessity given HBO’s excellent card on the same night.¬† For detailed accounts of the past weekend fights I implore you to check out […]

Yup, Yuriorkis Gamboa finally got tested. My favorite prospect completely dominated Darling Jimenez at junior lightweight (130 lbs.), flashing all his uncanny natural ability and skill in a unanimous decision win, but got legitimately knocked down for the first time in his career and showed holes in his defense that now are definitively cause for […]