0 comments by Tim Starks on 3/16/2019
Bravery and stupidity often go hand in hand. When the bravery pays off in victory, you look the hero. When the bravery punishes you with pain, you look like you made a foolish choice. Mikey Garcia isn’t stupid in the ring, but Saturday night on Fox Pay-Per-View, his decision to move up to welterweight against […]
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 Matthew Swain on 10/14/2018
Almost every Terence Crawford fight progresses in the same manner. They can seem scripted, borderline predestined in that way. Crawford starts in an orthodox stance before switching southpaw and slowly begins chipping away at his opponent. Against top contenders, he might even lose a couple of rounds early. Invariably, he slowly exerts more and more […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/8/2018
In a battle for control of style Saturday night on Showtime — Danny Garcia the technician, Shawn Porter the frantic Cookie Monster — it took a few rounds for Porter to abandon his ill-conceived plan to try to imitate Garcia. But once he started mauling and slinging junk in equal proportion to quality blows, Porter […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 6/13/2018
Boxing is full of mind games. Many times they are positive and necessary. Think of a trainer subtley tweaking a fighter’s insecurities to motivate them. Many times they are just necessary, as when fighters fuck with each other before a bout. Most of the time, though, they are tedious and obvious, and we as the […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 1/21/2018
There are a few moments that stand out from Saturday night’s Showtime main event between Errol Spence and Lamont Peterson. 1. In the 3rd round, Peterson finally got into the fight a little bit. Spence, who had been in full control to that point, amped up his activity and seemed to hit him even harder. […]
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 10/15/2017
Showtime on Saturday evening hosted three major junior middleweight match-ups, and the results were largely satisfactory. Jermell Charlo scored a stunning 1st round knockout of Erickson Lubin. Jarrett Hurd stopped Austin Trout in a bout that was competitive through most of the fight. Erislandy Lara used the main event to Lara-fy the boxing ring, stinking […]
LAS VEGAS, NV – SEPTEMBER 16: Canelo Alvarez (L) and Gennady Golovkin battle in the second round of their WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena on September 16, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The boxers fought to a draw and Golovkin retained his titles. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/18/2017
Stop me if you’ve heard this one in 2017: Boxing has a big event with high expectations, it delivers at least in part, then it’s marred by something or the other. (Tip: You should stop me right at the end of that period.) Saturday night on HBO Pay-Per-View, we finally got a long-desired battle between […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 8/19/2017
It’s becoming almost routine, watching Terence Crawford dominate the top challengers in his division. Saturday night on ESPN, he did it in the most thrilling fashion of his career, ending Julius Indongo on a body shot that nearly made Indongo vanish in a twinkle into his own bellybutton like in some psychedelic cartoon. This was […]
BROOKLYN, NY – JULY 29: Mikey Garcia and Adrien Broner exchange punches during their Junior Welterwight bout on July 29, 2017 at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
0 comments by Tim Starks on 7/30/2017
Yes, yes. I’m aware. Showtime, HBO, never the twain shall meet. But better to live in a wonderful fantasy world than a hopeless dystopia, right? Backing up: Mikey Garcia beat Adrien Broner Saturday night on Showtime in the junior welterweight division HBO-affiliated Terence Crawford currently rules. Broner isn’t an amazing fighter anymore, if he ever was. […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/20/2017
Each fight tells you something about the fighters. Saturday night, at Madison Square Garden on HBO, Terence “Bud” Crawford confirmed what we knew about him. Crawford’s talent is sublime. It’s unquestioned. It remains untested. Felix Diaz (19-2, 9 KO) is a good fighter. He won a gold medal at the Olympics. He can punch with […]
0 comments by Matthew Swain on 5/18/2017
On April 4, Andre Ward posted this to Instagram, with the caption, “I’m going to keep it short and sweet, you got what you asked for, now you have to see me JUNE 17TH. This time leave the excuses at home.” We, the adoring public have been blessed to buy a pay-per-view rematch of a good […]
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 12/29/2016
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 […]
