Browsing Category Columns

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  An Open Letter To Keith Thurman

  Hi Keith. Ralph Semien here, long time fight fan and a sincere admirer of your skills and accomplishments, both in and out of the ring. In particular, Keith, ...

  On July 5, 2018 / By Ralph M. Semien
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  Saucedo vs Zappavigna: Fight Of The Year?

  First things first: even as it goes through a current resurgence in popularity, boxing still doesn’t often find itself atop Twitter’s trending list very often. But that’s where ...

  On July 2, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Ralph’s Take

  Leo Santa Cruz (34-1-1), Jermell Charlo (30-0) and Terence Crawford (32-0), are all favored to win their fights this Saturday night, but this is boxing, so, as fight ...

  On June 8, 2018 / By Ralph M. Semien
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  Explosive Potential: 147 Should Be Boxing’s Hottest Division

  It was, until recently, the premier division in boxing, the weight class with the most elite-level talents and the most tantalizing match-ups to be made. Over the decades, ...

  On June 1, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Confidence Game: Can Linares Shock “Hi-Tech”?

  And so Vasyl Lomachenko will once again fight a top-tier opponent when he faces Jorge Linares on Saturday for lightweight supremacy. Linares undoubtedly deserves that status, having scraped ...

  On May 10, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  The Fight Game Has Changed

  Since inception, the relationship between television and boxing has been bittersweet. Back in the 1950s A. J. Liebling, journalistic star for The New Yorker and boxing writer extraordinaire, ...

  On May 3, 2018 / By Rafael García
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  Cancelled Fights Are Not Tragic

  Late in March, as it became clear that Canelo Alvarez’s positive test for clenbuterol was going to derail his highly anticipated rematch with Gennady Golovkin, boxing fans on ...

  On April 8, 2018 / By James Kinneen
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  Truly Notorious: Conor Out Of Control

  The ridiculous antics that were once so amusing have finally spiraled completely out of control. Conor McGregor has been busy keeping his name in people’s minds and on ...

  On April 7, 2018 / By Kieron Yates
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  Hagler: On His Own Terms

  It remains to this day one of the more controversial fights in boxing history. No, there was no long count. Nor was there the sudden appearance of a ...

  On April 6, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Cinco De Mamadas

  “I have not let you down. I respect the sport and I will always be a clean fighter.”    By uttering these words—with a straight, if contrite, face—Saul ...

  On April 5, 2018 / By Rafael García
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  Canelo vs Golovkin II: Stuck In Limbo

  No one saw this coming. Seriously, who really expected to the Nevada State Athletic Commission to temporarily suspend Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, a man widely regarded as the favored ...

  On March 28, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Let’s Stop Pretending

  Sports is about passion. It’s what fills the stands and sells the tickets. I’m from West Virginia, and the University Mountaineers football and basketball games can reduce people ...

  On March 22, 2018 / By Jeffrey Fuss
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  Special K Ready To Rebound

  A major theme of recent years in boxing is fan frustration with too many elite fighters taking too few risks. Whether it’s Floyd Mayweather side-stepping a match with ...

  On March 9, 2018 / By Neil Crane
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  Dangerous Enough: Canelo Must Pay The Price

  I’ll never forget watching the Ray Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim match on live television as a child. Mancini was a favorite boxer of mine and on that ...

  On March 7, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Wilder vs Ortiz: Not A Moment Too Soon

  Saturday night will see two of the top four heavyweights in the world, Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz, do battle for the WBC’s green and gold belt. No ...

  On March 2, 2018 / By Matt O'Brien
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  Yes, Roy Really Was That Good

  By the mid-90’s, the question was being asked: was he the best ever? Certainly there had been no one quite like him in recent memory, no one who ...

  On February 17, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Groves vs Eubank: Showdown In Manchester

  There was a time when few people took Chris Eubank Jr seriously, but it’s fair to say that time has passed. You only have to watch the sinewy ...

  On February 13, 2018 / By Ronnie McCluskey
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  New Breeds: Boxing’s Weirdest Fans

  Some call them “fanagers.” Others just call them annoying. I’ve always referred to them as boxing’s “new breed of fan.” No matter, it all means the same thing. ...

  On January 23, 2018 / By Sean Crose
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  Don’t Count Him Out

  This Saturday night, Lamont Peterson of Washington, D.C. will be in Brooklyn, New York to face Errol Spence Jr. for the IBF world welterweight title. While the welterweight ...

  On January 18, 2018 / By Jeffrey Fuss
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  Fury vs Joshua: It Has To Happen

  As of last week, lineal heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson Fury, has been cleared by UK Anti-Doping to fight again. News on the Furious One has been ...

  On December 18, 2017 / By Sherif Dhaimish
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  On Not Getting Your Money’s Worth

  After an impotent end to a one-sided fight, it was an exasperated bunch that filed out of Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The main event, which concluded ...

  On December 12, 2017 / By Eliott McCormick
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  Confessions Of A Rigondeaux Fan

  Yup, I’m one of them, a Guillermo Rigondeaux fan. A Guillermo Rigondeaux defender. A Guillermo Rigondeaux supporter. Not that long ago, when I was just starting off in ...

  On December 10, 2017 / By Sean Crose
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  Why Rigondeaux Will Win

  Back in 2011 this writer travelled to Dublin, Ireland to support Willie “Big Bang” Casey’s unexpected and premature world title tilt. The venue was the City West Hotel and ...

  On December 6, 2017 / By Gary Elbert
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  Winning Isn’t Everything: Cotto Exits With Class

  On Saturday night in Madison Square Garden, Miguel Cotto proved the truth of the old cliché, winning isn’t everything. After being soundly beaten by the younger, faster Sadam ...

  On December 5, 2017 / By Sean Crose
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  Sergey Kovalev, Act II

  Sergey Kovalev says he’s a new man. In a fascinating Sports Illustrated article, Kovalev makes it clear that he had a religious experience after the disastrous rematch with Andre ...

  On November 23, 2017 / By Sean Crose
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  Can Dana White Shake Up Boxing?

  So, guess what: Dana White is making the move to boxing. The UFC head honcho has made it known he’s going for his boxing promoter’s license, a fact ...

  On November 9, 2017 / By Sean Crose
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  Anthony Joshua: Far From Invincible

  First, make no mistake: heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is one hell of a fighter. The guy’s not only defeated every one of his opponents inside the distance, he ...

  On October 31, 2017 / By Sean Crose
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  The End Of Middleweight Madness?

  The 160 pound class has long been considered one of boxing’s so-called “glamour divisions,” the locale of numerous great champions and great fights, but in recent years it’s ...

  On October 19, 2017 / By Neil Crane
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  When The Best Fight The Best

  It seems that for many boxing fans it’s fashionable to hate on Guillermo Rigndeaux, but I don’t understand why that is. Seriously, what is there to dislike about ...

  On October 13, 2017 / By Robert Portis
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  Time To Make A Statement

  There is something about Erislandy Lara that causes one to think, even after all this time, that he is still on the cusp of a career-defining moment. With ...

  On October 12, 2017 / By Sheila Oviedo