Kovalev v Stevenson – Will Failure to Negotiate Fight Tarnish Krusher’s Legacy?

Kovalev v Stevenson – Will Failure to Negotiate Fight Tarnish Krusher’s Legacy?

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev is rapidly becoming the most dominating force the 175 lb division has witnessed since Roy Jones Junior began hoovering up his collection of world title belts at the tail end of the 20th century.

Super middleweight king Andre Ward is being considered as a potential opponent for Krusher. Victory over Ward would be a significant scalp but it would not complete his supremacy at light heavyweight. If Ward were to lose he would presumably return to his natural weight division at 168 lb, explaining that the difference in size was too great, and some of the sheen would be wiped from Kovalev’s triumph.

read more

Floyd Mayweather: Nineteen Years, One Excuse

Floyd Mayweather: Nineteen Years, One Excuse

Manny Pacquiao, outpointed by Mayweather on May 2nd, recently underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, the shoulder injury which he blamed for his defeat, infuriating Mayweather to say, “I’ve lost all respect for him”, and brand him a “coward”. “I’m not going to buy into the bulls***, and I don’t want the public to buy into the bulls***”.

“Nineteen years in the fight game and I’ve had one excuse: don’t have an excuse. Winners win and losers have excuses”, Mayweather recently stated on Instagram.

read more

Blinded by Money: The Mayweather-Pacquiao Illusion

Blinded by Money: The Mayweather-Pacquiao Illusion

The bookmakers predicted the fight would go the distance and that Floyd Mayweather would be the victor. Floyd was a 1/2 odds on favourite and he didn’t disappoint, frustrating and befuddling his Filipino foe to win a unanimous points decision. One of the three judges had it 118/110, the other two had it 116/112. Case closed, the defensive magician had done it again. At least that’s how the story goes.

Amidst the feverish emotions that intoxicate the minds fight fans prior to the ringing of the first bell, it is almost impossible to detach yourself from the combatants involved, in order to assess the bout objectively, accurately, and free of bias.

read more

The Greatest Super Middleweight Boxers of All-Time

The Greatest Super Middleweight Boxers of All-Time

On the 28th of March, 1984, Murray Sutherland, with a modest record of forty-one wins, eleven losses and one draw, defeated Ernie Singletary for the vacant International Boxing Federation title, becoming the first internationally accepted world champion in the one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, super middleweight division.

A little over thirty years have passed since Scotland’s Sutherland was crowned champion, and in that time dozens of talented pugilists have graced the division. Initially boxing’s elite seemed to merely use it as a pit-stop, on the way to light heavyweight, or as simply an opportunity to capture a title in a different weight class. Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and James Toney didn’t stay long, but by the end of the 1990’s the reigns of Jones, Benn and Eubank had helped it evolve into a respected weight class in its own right.

read more

Manny Pacquiao: The Final Chapter

Manny Pacquiao: The Final Chapter

A flicking right jab immediately followed by a thunderous, booming left cross, detonated on the chin of Chris Algieri, sending him crashing to the canvas midway through round nine. Rising unsteadily at the count of nine, or possibly ten seconds, Algieri turned away from the referee in a desperate attempt to conceal his scrambled senses. During the first fifteen seconds after the New Yorker hit the floor it can be argued that he was in no position to continue. Nevertheless, all questions about the Filipino superstar’s dwindling punch power had been silenced. It appeared Manny Pacquiao was back to his best.

read more

Dr. Steel Hammer: The Baddest Man on the Planet

Dr. Steel Hammer: The Baddest Man on the Planet

Wladimir Klitschko, by common consensus has been the Lineal Heavyweight Champion since 2009, but for the first time during his reign he has finally defeated his number one contender.

The Ring Magazine recognised Dr. Steel Hammer as the Lineal Champion the night he handed Ruslan Chagaev, the world’s number three heavyweight, the first blemish on his record. Although this was a dominating performance against a highly ranked opponent, most boxing journalists and fight folk agreed that Wladimir’s elder sibling Vitali was still in fact the “baddest man on the planet”. So Wladimir, although the Ring Champion was not actually the best boxer in his family, let alone the ruler of the entire heavyweight division. When The Greatest danced around the ring, mesmerizing Cleveland Williams with Ali Shuffles and pummeling him with incessant combinations, he owned the division. When Iron Mike steam rolled Michael Spinks in ninety-one beautifully brutal seconds, we all knew who The Heavyweight Champion was, it was beyond doubt.

read more