(Chavez Jr., left, after weighing in for his fight against Brian Vera; photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank) Sometimes the more compelling match ups in boxing are accompanied by back stories, grudge matches and pre-fight shenanigans. It seems to be better for the long term (and even short term) health of the sport when the antics […]

Societies can be uneasy with boxing’s brutality. We watch two men coming as close to killing each other as the law allows. Some die, tragically, but not unexpectedly. In the aftermath of 2.2 million pay-per-view purchases for Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez this month, it bears thinking about why spilled blood on canvas is such a […]

Boxing prospect Mike "Yes Indeed" Reed serves as a living variant of the old Monty Python sketch where an accountant goes into a job counselor and is told that aptitude tests show the best job for him is to be an accountant. The accountant is displeased. "I've been a chartered accountant for the last twenty […]

Thanks to the antics this week in advance of his HBO return Saturday, we have a new variant on the old riddle about the 800 pound gorilla: What weight does Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. fight at? A: Whatever weight he wants to. For a sport that has been around under the Queensberry rules for more […]

Wow, time flies when you’re getting punched in the face. Has it really been three years since we last handed out the Raymond Joval Award for the worst haircut in boxing? What a three years it’s been. In 2010, if somebody told you that Paulie Malignaggi would one day sport a relatively sensible haircut and […]

Derry Mathews brought a pair of knives to a gunfight Saturday night at Liverpool’s Olympia, halting rough and ready Curtis Woodhouse in the 4th round of their Commonwealth lightweight clash with a machete chop of a right hand. Rarely could Liverpool action man Mathews be associated with the term “buzzkill;” however, in scything down Woodhouse […]

(Bernard Hopkins, standing, walks by Floyd Mayweather, sitting at right) In the wake of Floyd Mayweather’s routing of young Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this past weekend (which the Queensberry Rules team predicted with Nostradamus-like sagacity), attentions have once again shifted to the future. With the so-called biggest challenge out there proving to be anything but, […]

If the figures released Thursday are to be believed — always a dicey proposition — then Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez on Showtime pay-per-view last weekend exceeded all reasonable expectations with at least 2.2 million U.S. buys, good for #2 all-time for a boxing PPV buy rate, and could challenge for #1 by the time […]

I was raised on “Kickboxer” and “Terminator” and “Robocop.” I eat rabbit and venison and veal. I think hunting is fine as long as you eat the animal afterwards and I do not necessarily equate sex with love. My brother and I affectionately beat the bejesus out of each other growing up; I should be […]

(The wake of a ship’s stern; photo credit: here) Since you’re here on TQBR, reading and whatnot, there’s a good chance you caught the pre-