0 comments by Tim Starks on 6/26/2014
Sometimes a fight can be totally worthy on a whole host of levels yet still figure to go all one way. Terence Crawford and Yuriorkis Gamboa, facing one another Saturday on HBO, are both top 10 lightweights. Crawford is one of the most promising talents in the sport, a designation from which Gamboa is only […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 6/25/2014
It seems an eternity since the heavyweight division was relevant. As a teenager in the 1990s, I watched awestruck as Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis and a couple of others temporarily loaned each other the title. Back then being the heavyweight champion of the world made you famous, and it was big business. There […]
0 comments by Alex McClintock on 6/24/2014
“Showtime continues to deliver the deepest fight cards in boxing.” Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza is a funny man on Twitter, but he really outdid himself in Tuesday’s press release announcing the worst premium cable card in recent memory. The Aug. 9 Showtime/Golden Boy Barclay’s Center tripleheader will feature top junior welterweights Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, […]
0 comments by Alex McClintock
Boxing is back in the Midwest in a big way this weekend, with two televised shows coming from the Great Plains. In case you were wondering about the history of boxing in that part of the US, there’s plenty — the image above is of Joe Louis sparring with Private First Class Booker T. Laster […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 6/23/2014
One of the best match-ups in boxing is now booked, so if you’re a snob about the smaller weight classes, time to get over it. Lineal flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi and pound-for-pound talent Roman Gonzalez are going to fight in September (a notion that has been in the works for a while). That’s plenty good, […]
0 comments by Patrick Connor
Robert Guerrero’s eye in the above picture (via) reminds us boxing fans that, for the second week in a row, we’ve seen a fighter win a main event bout and finish with his eye looking like something that resembles a sexual organ. And yes, that kind of humor is just what you’ll find here in […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 6/22/2014
Saturday’s Showtime main event between Robert Guerrero and Yoshihiro Kamegai was overshadowed in the pre-fight hype by Vasyl Lomachenko-Gary Russell, Jr. As an action bout, it was much, much better, one of the best of 2014, and Guerrero came out with the bloody unanimous decision. It was a Fight of the Year candidate, a kind […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 6/21/2014
As of Saturday afternoon, Vasyl Lomachenko was 1-1 since leaving the amateur ranks. Gary Russell, Jr. was 24-0. But all of Russell’s pro fights against hopeless opponents weren’t enough to prepare him for how good Lomachenko was on Showtime Saturday night, as Lomachenko — who was fearless in taking on Orlando Salido then Russell — […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
(
0 comments by Tim Starks
(Chad Dawson connects on George Blades;
0 comments by Tim Starks
(Rich Graessle/Main Events) Two awkward, ungainly boxers from far off lands wearing comedy clothing met on NBC Sports Saturday for the right to fight for the belt owned by Bernard Hopkins, and it was Nadjib Mohammedi’s awkwardness that ruled the day against Anatoliy Dudchenko. He won by 7th round stoppage. Mohommedi’s comedy clothing of choice […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
After Saturday, it’s fair to go ahead and assume indefinitely that middleweight Martin Murray will never impress overwhelmingly, but he’ll be good enough to win against 160-pounders of most kinds, which is what he did against Max Bursak by unanimous decision. Murray made his name in a disputed loss against then-champion Sergio Martinez and a […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
Strawweight Hekkie Budler got something of a challenge from Pigmy Kokietgym, Saturday, but suppressed Kokietgym’s charge every time it threatened to amount to something, then took him out in the 8th. Budler controlled the rounds he won with superior volume and accuracy, while Kokietgym got within range of winning a couple with some accurate, hard […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 6/19/2014
Gary Russell, Jr. vs. Vasyl Lomachenko airing Saturday on Showtime is a fight that shouldn’t be happening for so many reasons, and now that it is, it’s nearly impossible to make any sense of it. It is the most mystifying fight of 2014, and therefore one of its most alluring, outshining the main event by […]
0 comments by Patrick Connor
Sports records are coveted accomplishments. Special victories, impressive feats and important “firsts” were all held sacred even in the ancient Olympic games. The first winner of the first Olympics in 776 B.C.E., Koroibos of Elis, was remembered, as have been many since. Records are no less intriguing or essential to boxing. Archie Moore’s 131 (or […]
