(Ismayl Sillakh in happier times, left, Sergey Kovalev right; photo credit: Ed Mulholland, HBO) Light heavyweight king Adonis Stevenson finished up a stellar 2013 campaign with another smashing knockout Saturday on HBO, the kind he has made routine along the way to building his case for Fighter of the Year. But a contender for his […]

With the vast number of most meaningful fights in 2013's rear view mirror, HBO on Saturday is delivering a doubleheader that is more about 2014: light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson vs. Tony Bellew, paired with Sergey Kovalev vs. Ismayl Sillakh, bouts meant to whet the appetite for Stevenson-Kovalev, not that appetites could be much whetter […]

(Zack Padilla before being inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011; photo credit: San Gabriel Valley Examiner) Zack Padilla was already a local celebrity in his hometown of Azusa, Calif. By June 9, 1993. Having retired after a TKO loss to a journeyman named Dwayne Prim, Padilla was in the midst of […]

There are worse ways I can imagine to spend a weekday night than to watch Fox Sports 1's Golden Boy Live program: getting all of the skin on my forehead shaved off by a hyperactive drug addict wielding a big chunk of glass, say, or listening to Aerosmith's "Love In An Elevator" for two hours […]

Has the sport of boxing shrunk? It always seem like it the week after a big pay-per-view. You don’t have to go cold turkey, though, because there’s at least a bit of quality headpunching on. Macau makes way for Montreal on HBO, with a light heavyweight-centric card headlined by that division’s champion, Adonis Stevenson. As […]

Everywhere you turned this past weekend, some fight was ending too early or too late, as the New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh touched upon here in examining the struggle pitting quality boxing against boxer health, a subject the sport can't get away from post-Frankie Leal and post-Magomed Abdusalamov. The balance isn't easy. But let's go case […]

(Above, a “pre-enactment” of what Manny Pacquiao did to Brandon Rios in Macau; via) Sometimes a fight fan invests in watching a fight card that, on paper, seems as though it should be high quality, and it falls short of expectations when all is said and punched. When that happens, nothing can be done. But […]

(via) Referee Howard Foster curtailed a national drama in Manchester Saturday night with a call that was every bit as anti-climactic as a power cut during soap hour. George Groves, 19-1, 15 KOs, a King Rat figure heading into his super middleweight grudge match with Carl Froch, had been a revelation – dropping his iron-clad […]

(Manny Pacquiao connects on Brandon Rios; credit: Chris Farina, Top Rank) Manny Pacquiao buried Brandon Rios in an avalanche of punches Saturday on HBO pay-per-view, in the process shoveling dirt on memories of his astounding knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last year. Rios was, as expected in one of the two most likely scenarios […]

(Zou Shiming, via Top Rank) MACAU — These are the results for the four main undercard fights to support the main event of Manny Pacquiao Vs. Brandon Rios: In the final supporting bout, featherweight Billy Dib just couldn’t turn around the dynamic that saw him lose his belt to Evgeny Gradovich in March, and lost […]

(Manny Pacquiao makes weight; photo courtesy Top Rank) MACAU — Today’s early morning weigh-in at The Venetian went by largely without a hitch, with Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios both in fighting shape and under the welterweight limit. Pacquaio came in at a muscular 145 lbs, while Rios was a slightly softer 146.5 lbs. The […]

Don't follow boxing very often, but want to know the gist of Saturday's mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios? Follow boxing all the time, and want one place that rounds up all the links about the welterweight showdown you could ever want? This Ultimate Guide to the Nov. 23 pay-per-view event known as "The Clash […]

(Brandon Rios, left, and Manny Pacquiao, right, visit Tiananmen Square) So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2013, Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios on HBO pay-per-view on Nov. 23. Previously: a special edition of TQBR Radio; what's at stake; the undercard, previewed; the camp fight, broken down; notes from Macau, part I and II; keys to the fight; staff […]

(*Garcia chuckle*) MACAU — Greetings again from paradise the novelty size chandelier capital of the world. I heard you like notes, so I put some more notes in your notes. The main action today was a pair of roundtables with trainers Freddie Roach and Robert Garcia. Roach is a media tart (and I mean that […]