0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 2/21/2022
There’s comfort in predictability. Human beings are disgusting, pattern-seeking animals attempting to find order in an increasingly chaotic world. Having our expectations met and our biases confirmed helps us feel, if momentarily, that something somewhere is in control. This is, of course, pure fantasy and we are all going to die alone, most likely in […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 12/15/2021
When I was in college, I was very briefly in a band. The sum total of our accomplishments was playing three open mics and recording a cover of Cake’s cover of “I Will Survive,” because that was the only song I could hit the notes for (that means I can’t sing for shit, if you […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 11/19/2021
Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, welterweights Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KO) and Shawn Porter (31-3, 17 KO) will meet in a 12 round bout televised on ESPN+ pay-per-view. In preparation, the intrepid TQBR crew crawled out from under their hangovers, diaper bags, and work obligations to discuss how they see […]
0 comments by Jason Langendorf on 11/15/2020
Calculating precisely where Terence Crawford fits along the spectrum of boxing’s superstars is something of a fool’s errand and, if we’re being honest with ourselves, entirely beside the point. No sport is more tribal, more random in the focus of its fan adoration, nor more fickle in ascribing value to fundamentally flawed human beings — […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 1/18/2020
“My business is not prognosis, but diagnosis. I am not engaged in therapeutics, but in pathology.” H.L. Mencken wrote that in his 1926 book, “Notes on Democracy.” Here we are nearly 100 years later and it’s still true. One of the weird things about boxing, and life for that matter, is that if you spend […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 12/24/2017
It’s been a long time since we’ve done this, so, wow, have things changed a bunch. Beyond just a thinking and debating exercise, pound-for-pound lists have some value for a number of reasons. For one, a lot of fighters aspire to the greatness a consensus pound-for-pound king-dom symbolizes. For another, it’s a good snapshot at […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 5/27/2017
This was the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Prodigious young Errol Spence took on an elite opponent Saturday, Kell Brook, and beat him, establishing himself as an elite fighter himself, the kid who could one day rule the sport. It was not an easy outing on Showtime for the once up-and-coming, now fully realized, […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 2/9/2017
There’s an apocryphal story about the first meeting when Bernie Ecclestone took over Formula 1. As it goes, Enzo Ferrari dragged the dwarvish Brit into his office to let him know what was what. Enzo slammed his hand on the desk and said, “THIS is the sport!” then tapped his finger under the desk and […]
LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 05: Manny Pacquiao stands in the croner during his WBO welterweight championship fight against Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center on November 5, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/1/2017
Yeah, yeah, it’s “technically” not 2016 anymore, but this serves as the year-end list, mofos. We’ve got a lot of changes since the last update a couple months back, given some un-retirements and big fights that closed out the year. As always, the main standard is quality wins, especially of recent vintage. The eyeball test […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 12/28/2016
Welcome to The Queensberry Rules’ annual year-end boxing awards, continuing throughout this week. Here’s how we do it around these parts: The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg, which will finish after, is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 12/27/2016
Welcome to The Queensberry Rules’ annual year-end boxing awards, continuing throughout this week. Here’s how we do it around these parts: The major categories are Knockout of the Year, Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final leg, which will finish after, is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging […]
LAS VEGAS, NV – JULY 23: WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (L) lands a body shot on WBC champion Viktor Postol of Ukraine during their unification fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Crawford won by unanimous decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 10/30/2016
It’s the kind of pastime you either hate, love to hate, or just find mildly interesting to debate: pound-for-pound updates of the best fighters in the world, regardless of weight. And boy howdy, do we ever have some movement since last time we did one one of these. We have a new man cracking the […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/16/2016
What does a fighter struggling, even in a win, say about his career? Answer: Not a fucking thing. Sometime in the last decade or two, the TV talking heads and social media have convinced us that every tiny aspect of every performance can be used to indict an athlete or that they prove greatness. It’s […]
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Gennady Golovkin (blue trunks) and Kell Brook (red trunks) in action during their World Middleweight Title contest at The O2 Arena on September 10, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/10/2016
Gennady Golovkin looked a little less monstrous than usual Saturday on HBO, aided by Kell Brook’s swift hands and sharp technique, and Golovkin’s own overeagerness. But it ended the way the 22 in a row before did: a knockout. There was plenty of criticism of Brook’s corner for stopping the fight in the 5th round, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/9/2016
Carlos Cuadras’ epic bacne, coming at ya. Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook, Saturday, HBO, London. Still not a fan. Brook is a terrific welterweight, and his bravery for taking this bout is commendable. Golovkin is the best middleweight alive, and fighting someone so much smaller is a bad look, even if it brings some filthy […]
