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The latest boxing top stories and breaking news

Evander Holyfield retires at age 51 – “The Real Deal” goes down in history as a true great

Evander Holyfield retires at age 51 - “The Real Deal” goes down in history as a true great

Living legend and huge overachiever Evander Holyfield has officially retired from boxing at the age of 51. “The Real Deal” said that he has been unable to get fights and that he “don’t want to get hit.” The announcement will no doubt come as a relief to Holyfield’s fans and friends, as it looked until quite recently that the former four-time heavyweight ruler would stick around for what he hoped would be one last big fight.

Now that he has realised he has done more than enough in boxing, Evander can sit back and let the historians decide where they will rank him amongst the other boxing greats that lit up the sport. It’s almost a gimme that Holyfield – who retires with an overall record of 44-10-2 – 1 no-contest (29 KO’s) but a spotless 18-0 (14) as a cruiserweight – will go down as THE greatest cruiserweight of all-time. As to where he will be placed amongst the heavyweight immortals, the 1984 Olympic bronze medallist will probably be placed somewhere in the top-10, or at the very least just below the top-10.

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Errol Spence – Something better than Gold

Errol Spence - Something better than Gold

photo by Esther Lin / SHOWTIME – Errol Spence Jr has been seen as the cream of the crop of the 2012 United States Olympic Boxing Team by the boxing world. That much is certain. However, what’s uncertain is how he will fair against higher level competition. This is a test that all prospects must face at some point in their career, yet Errol is electing to take on the scrappy veteran Ronald Cruz in a ten round bout at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas this Friday, June 27th.

The welterweight division in boxing may be the hottest most competitive divisions in boxing in a few years from now, and several names are eyeing a position to explode as the figurehead of the division. Errol Spence is a recipient of good timing as he has the skill-set and upward ceiling to improve to incredible heights in a post Mayweather period.The attributes continue to build, as he possesses the power, speed, ring IQ to defeat his opponents. Not to mention he is a southpaw.

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Yuriorkis Gamboa: time to deliver

Yuriorkis Gamboa: time to deliver

Go back a few years, to 2008 or 2009, and an unbeaten Cuban talent by the name of Yuriorkis Gamboa was on the lips of many a fight expert as a can’t-miss prospect of the hottest variety. The Olympic gold medallist and sensational all-round amateur standout who had defected from his homeland and set up base in Miami appeared to have it all: speed, power, balance, elegance and a killer instinct to match a peak Mike Tyson.

Back then, the only negative aimed at Gamboa was his somewhat leaky defence and his tendency to go down as a result. This only made the featherweight all the more exciting, however, and Gamboa always got back up and upon doing so took care of business. World titles and superstardom looked inevitable but – though the man dubbed “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” picked up a not so shabby three “world” titles at different weights (the WBA and IBF belts at feather, the interim WBA strap at super-feather-weight and interim WBA belt at lightweight) – somewhere along the way Gamboa all but fell off the radar.

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Rankings, Belts, Weight Classes and Mandatory Challengers: A Guide for the Casual Boxing Fan

WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF leave casual fight fans referring to the sweet science as “Alphabet Soup.” Add to these the dozens more obscure sanctioning bodies and multiply that by the number of weight classes – 17 total – and the number of belts, champions and challengers can be dizzying. Fans are left confused as to who is really the champion, why so often the two best fighters are never mandatory challengers for one another, and how all the various weight classes come into play.

A basic understanding boxing’s framework with regards to champions, weight classes, and mandatory challengers will assure any fight fan a more fulfilling (and less frustrating) experience following the sport.

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Mike Tyson vs. The Early Heavyweight Legends

Mike Tyson vs. The Early Heavyweight Legends

When many consider a fighter like Mike Tyson against the early heavyweight greats they either dismiss the ability of the old-timers and consider them “too small” or go the other way and canonize them above modern fighters. The critic will weigh the likes of Jim Jeffries, Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey in their day versus Tyson under modern rules. The first misconception that the old timers couldn’t fight is simply not true and while size does matter it can be trumped by ability. The latter point of comparing fighters under different rules is just not a level playing field. Let us consider then that we had a time machine and propelled Mike Tyson back in time to fight these men during their heyday. There are two important considerations besides the ability of the fighters themselves and those are: 1) the rules of the period and how the referees handled the fights and b) the gear that the fighters used.

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Cory Spinks Finds New Career in Retirement

Cory Spinks Finds New Career in Retirement

Sitting ringside at Strike Gym’s “Boxing at the Creek” amateur fights, Cory Spinks reflects on his illustrious boxing career and discusses his new career training amateur boxers.

As an amateur boxer, Cory Spinks won championships in both the Police Athletic League and Golden Gloves. After making the leap into professional fighting, he became a World Champion at both Welterweight and Junior Middleweight.

With a fight resume that includes battles against Ricardo Mayorga, Zab Judah and Jermaine Taylor, Spinks has an ocean of work to reflect on.

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Showtime Tripleheader Recap & Video Highlights

Showtime Tripleheader Recap & Video Highlights

The StubHub Center in Carson, California has become one of the favorite venues for west coast fight fans. Tonight thousands came out for another stacked card from Golden Boy Promotions, with the three signature bouts featured on a Showtime Championship Boxing triple header. Let’s get into the fights.

Devon Alexander UD Jesus Soto Karass

Both of these welterweights entered the ring coming off loses and in desperate need of a win. Saint Louis native Alexander lost his IBF title via decision last December to Shawn Porter, while Soto Karass was stopped by power punching Keith Thurman later that same month.

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Vasyl Lomachenko is back on track with a championship performance against Gary Russel Jr.

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Vasyl Lomachenko delivered handsomely on Saturday night as he dismantled a capable and game but hopelessly over-matched Gary Russell Jr. The fight lived up to the expectations to some extent as boxing logic triumphed but Russell was swamped by a superior force from the start and could not bring drama and glamor to the encounter. Vasyl Lomachenko is the new WBO featherweight champion and he is only the second boxer to win a title in his third prize fight.

Loma is making some progress with the judges’ attitude, they grudgingly gave him the nod (116:112, 116:112, 114:114-?!?). The even score produced by one of them would have been hilarious rather than mysterious….if it hadn’t been grotesque. The punch stats indicate Lomachenko out landed his opponent 183:83 overall. He also landed the harder shots and held the initiative although Garry Russell Jr. threw more and missed much more. Missing so much is the definition of punching yourself out – it tires you more than landing.

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Showtime Tripleheader Weigh In Coverage

Carson, California, USA – Showtime boxing presents another great tripleheader Saturday June 21st from the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California, which has become one of the premiere west coast boxing venues. The fights start live at 10pm eastern and 7pm pacific. Below are the weigh in results and a quick breakdown of the fights (including notable untelevised bouts) for tomorrow’s stacked card.

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Siberian Rocky Gets Judges’ Cold Shoulder

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Ruslan “Siberian Rocky” Provodnikov displayed his ferocious side early on at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. by swiping a rock hard left paw to the right eye of Chris Algieri. Chris not only went down, he went over, doing a backward somersault.

When he stopped rolling, referee Harvey Dock started the count. Swelling started immediately, both below and above the eye socket, causing fears that this fight was going to end early. Those fears were fed when seconds later, Chris went down again. This time it was much less violently as he took a knee. It seemed Chris needed to do so to get a moment to gather his senses. He squinted a little too in an attempt to work the eye lids, making sure they were still there.

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