By Lyle Fitzsimmons - There are stats. And then there are stats that make you say, “Wow, really?” O’Shaquie Foster’s KO of Rocky Hernandez last fall is surely the latter. It seems impossible to fathom, but did you know that Foster’s dramatic stoppage...
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There are a few things that people of all persuasions can agree on. Even boxing fans. Among them, there’s a universal acknowledgement that Carl Weathers was the man. Particularly these days, in the wake of his death at age 76. His personification of...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Another weekend in Las Vegas. Another shot at redemption for Conor Benn. The unbeaten second-generation welterweight was navigating unscathed down the prospect-turned-contender path midway through 2022 – beating the requisite an...
It’s become the currency of pound-for-pound status. Oh sure, it’s good to be a great fighter. But unless you’ve supplemented the status by capturing title belts across multiple weight classes, you’re doomed to a seat at the P4P kids' table.
It’s good to be a light heavyweight champion these days. OK, let’s face it. It’s probably never a bad time to rule the 175-pound weight class. But it seems to mean a little more here in the first month of 2024, where the two lead dogs in the division...
Five years ago, it’d be a no brainer. The unbeaten version of Anthony Joshua was coming off KOs of Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin, among others. He was big and strong and aggressive and confident and appeared to be the British export who'd...
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I tell you every year... but if you’ve gotten to this point and aren’t happy, too bad. You should have seen it coming. In keeping with tradition in this space, we greet the New Year with a preview of stories other boxing scribes will be reacting to a...
Promises are made to be broken. Or in some cases never tested. For example, I rarely play golf. But if I was ever lucky enough to score a hole in one, I’ve vowed to pluck the ball out of the cup, slide the club into the bag and head straight to my ca...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It’s toughest for the stubborn types. So set in their ways – or, in this case, so fiercely loyal to those that came before – that it’s impossible to concede anyone new could even approach their levels. It’s been the case with fi...
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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - That Was Then. This Is Now. It was published 52 years ago as part of a series of coming-age novels by S.E. Hinton and later adapted into a movie starring Emilio Estevez in 1985. But for these purposes, its title illustrates a pi...
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With each round that passed, the star shined brighter. Its name? Subriel Matías. Though Showtime’s pay-per-view finale was built to promote the brands of David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo, there was no more compelling luminary in the Las Vegas sky b...
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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Welcome to the good old days. Sort of. As they prep for this weekend’s Showtime PPV finale headlined by hopeful Canelo dance partners David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade, fans of a certain vintage will recall the loaded Don Ki...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Before you say it, don’t. We’re well aware that Jose Valenzuela is not Shakur Stevenson. He’s won eight fewer fights. He’s been beaten twice. And chances are he’ll never be a champion. But it wasn’t that long ago that people wer...
Yeah, we know. Jake Paul. So there’s a segment of people already holding their nose. In fact, it’s probably a big segment of people holding their nose. But there’s also a pretty big segment of people – whether they’re traditional boxing fans or not –...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Buckle up, folks. It’s time for a post-weekend game of two truths and a lie. 1) Francis Ngannou was better in the ring than we thought he’d be. 2) Francis Ngannou will get a big audience for his next boxing match. 3) Francis...
