0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/12/2019
Few things in boxing inspire as much bile by their mere existence — or each list’s ability to inspire derision because of how obviously stupid its author is — as the mythical pound-for-pound list. That’s part of what makes them so delicious. The lists do possess a certain value, though, even the most obviously awful […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 4/21/2019
In the spirit of family, togetherness, and however many holidays are being celebrated this weekend, the TQBR team has come together again. Typically we do these puppies before a big fight, but last night wasn’t really all that important, and our business is diagnosis, not prognosis. So, Brent and I have crawled out from under […]
0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 4/6/2019
Let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat: It’s OK to cry. It’s good to cry. I’m crying right now, mostly about Verne Troyer’s death and how I never got to prove my theory that with enough duct tape and personal lubricant you could fit him inside a Pringles can. But […]
0 comments by Marc DiPaolo on 3/28/2019
With news breaking last week that Deontay Wilder and Dominic Breazeale will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing card on May 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the heavyweight division seems to have gotten even more strained, just for the moment. Before I ruin your day and ask you how you even still put […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/6/2019
It’s sad, really, the way America — and much of the rest of the globe, actually — gives no fucks about the cruiserweight division, the stubbier sibling of the kaiju heavyweight class. So many of history’s best heavyweights, from Joe Louis to Rocky Marciano to Muhammad Ali, hovered around the cruiserweight 200-pound limit for large […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/4/2019
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, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. For each category, we give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. On the second day after a category […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/1/2019
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, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. For each category, we give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. On the second day after a category […]
0 comments by Jason Langendorf on 11/11/2018
Like brain surgeons and the bomb squad, boxers don’t get to have bad days. But on Saturday in Chicago, in his semifinal matchup of the current cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series, there stood former world titlist Mairis Briedis, quite obviously getting his wires crossed and freezing up while the patient bled out on the table. […]
0 comments by Brent Hedtke on 6/4/2018
If sports were restaurants, boxing would be the rustic, old steakhouse that hasn’t changed so much as a side dish since prohibition. The kind that bills its own reluctance to adapt to modern ideas as “classic.” Sure, the filet mignon is boiled and there’s rats in the bathroom the size of campground raccoons but hey, […]
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 Matthew Swain on 4/9/2017
The MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland is supposed to be a place of chance, across the river from a town in which all the endings are predictable. The House always wins. Last night was no different, but a thrill emerged. Vasyl Lomachenko (8-0-1. 6 KO) beat up Jason Sosa (20-2-4, 15 KO, just […]
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 12/14/2016
A 51-year-old man headlines the boxing schedule this weekend. Do a search for “51-year-old man” on Google Images and you’ll turn up something like the picture above, although you’ll also get — really? — Keanu Reeves. Anyway. Bernard Hopkins’ fight is noteworthy mainly because Bernard Hopkins is in it, but there are some interesting fights […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 9/23/2016
Boxing is a worldwide sport. It always has been. One of the things that makes it special is that fighting is a universal experience for human beings. There are certainly cultures that place more value on it, but by and large, everyone gets it. Christopher Hitchens summed it perfectly when he lamented that our prefrontal […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/16/2016
There’s a bigger name fighting this weekend, but despite his Mexican redhead status, Canelo Alvarez’s hair has nothing on Oleksandr Usyk’s. And Usyk’s fight is better, too! We did miss some meaningful action by virtue of your TQBR proprietor being on vacation this week; you can catch up on Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, Shinsuke Yamanaka and Hozumi […]
