“I saw Gary as clear as day. I know it sounds like a movie script, but I saw my brother. He told me to get up.” Everything struggles to live, yet it is in surviving our own individual struggles that true strength is forged. Barnet middleweight Darren Barker had known the worst of times; after […]

(Timothy Bradley, left, Ruslan Provodnikov, right) The defining trait of Timothy Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov, both before and during, was how little sense it made.  Choosing an opponent from the ranks of ESPN's Friday Night Fights for Bradley's comeback on HBO after a long layoff? Nonsense. Expecting a competitive fight out of it that fans […]

Taking the inimitable pay-per-view record-breaker Floyd Mayweather out of the equation, 2013 was arguably nothing to write home about when measured in terms of outright star power. The cash cows were, on the whole, either absent or slaughtered. Manny Pacquiao barely featured, Canelo Alvarez and Adrien Broner both lost their shine, even the original Golden […]

(Chad Dawson attempts to rise from being flattened by Adonis Stevenson; photo credit: Graham Hughes/AP) Chad Dawson’s technical decision loss to Jean Pascal in 2010 signaled the end of his tenure as an undefeated fighter. It wasn’t a big deal, though; losses do and should happen in boxing, even if the sport has evolved to […]

(Via Facebook user Dobie Gillis) It was not a dream. Marcos Maidana really did slap the waves off of Adrien Broner’s head. And those were indeed the droids you were looking for. On Sunday morning, the world woke up to a reality in which Marcos Maidana, just the night before, had probably done enough to […]

(Keith Thurman punches Jesus Soto Karass; photo credit: Tom Casino, Showtime) The best thing about this past weekend for many was simply that Adrien Broner got beat up. But the best thing that could happen as a result of it going forward is a meeting between Broner's conqueror, Marcos Maidana, and the man above, Keith […]

(Marcos Maidana, post-fight; photo credit: Esther Lin, Showtime) Adrien Broner was the future of American boxing until Saturday night on Showtime, when he ran into hard-ass Argentinian Marcos Maidana, who somehow overcame the pervasive influence of Golden Boy, adviser Al Haymon and the network that broadcast the fight to win a unanimous decision. And you […]

With the boxing year coming to a close, Father Christmas (AKA Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza) has one last present for boxing fans before they wake up on Dec. 25 to find their stockings filled with coal. Originally slated for pay-per-view but mercifully bumped down to regular premium cable, welterweights Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana are set […]

(A triumphant Kelly Pavlik after stopping Taylor; photo credit: Ed Mulholland) It all made sense. Bernard Hopkins more or less created a new line in middleweight title management by defeating Keith Holmes and unifying two belts, but he waited to order his official “Middleweight Champion” stationary after he’d made Felix Trinidad contemplate his pugilistic existence. […]

(Guillermo Rigondeaux punches Joseph Agbeko, not that anyone saw it; credit: Chris Farina, Top Rank) Nobody expected Guillermo Rigondeaux to do great numbers as a headliner on HBO going head to head with a card over at Showtime featuring bigger names, but then, nobody probably expected this weekend's bout to set an all-time low for […]