For The Love Of God, Do Not Pay For The Mayweather-McGregor Fight
There’s a fascinating boxing match on TV tonight between a faded, formerly great champion and a younger brawler with limited skills, but enough about the Cotto-Kamegai match on HBO. Instead of watching a real fight, millions will tune in for a glorified staring match between a middle-aged, retired, ...
Donald Trump Is A Frightened Coward And I Bet $100,000 He Won't Fight Me<em></em>
Last month, I made a public challenge to Donald Trump, which I will repeat here: If he or either of his sons will box me for one round, I will make the maximum legal contribution to his campaign and donate $100,000 to the charity of his choice....
Pay-Per-View Is Ruining Boxing, But Tonight's Crawford-Postol Fight Is Still Worth Your Money
Tonight, the undefeated Terence “Bud” Crawford defends his 140-pound belt against fellow undefeated titleholder Viktor “Iceman” Postol on HBO Pay-Per-View. This is the rare boxing pay-per-view that is actually worth the money. Crawford is, at minimum, one of the most exciting boxing prospects in yea...
Keith Thurman, Boxing's Next Big Thing, Isn't Boxing's Next Big Thing
Welterweight Keith Thurman defeated Shawn Porter in a close decision on CBS on Saturday, drawing the highest ratings of any boxing match this year and garnering Fight of the Year talk. In the process, Thurman grew his perfect record to 27-0, with 22 KOs. At age 27, Thurman is in his physical prime, ...
What We've Lost With Muhammad Ali
Yesterday, we lost Muhammad Ali, the Greatest of All Time. Note the absence of a noun in that title. He was not the Greatest Boxer of All Time; he was not the Greatest Athlete of All Time; he was not the Greatest Showman of All Time. No, Greatest stood alone, floating, butterfly-like, unencumbered b...
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. And Conor McGregor Will Never Fight And Thank God
There has been a lot of talk lately about Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fighting Conor McGregor. The reasons why are obvious: It would be the Freddy vs. Jason of combat sports, the bad boy box office king of one premier combat sport against the bad boy box office king of the other. Unfortunately, the much-b...
Will Manny Pacquiao's Final Opponent Be Revealed Tonight?
The week in boxing news was dominated by a fighter who isn’t even currently in training: Manny Pacquiao. Even after an uninspired and perhaps compromised performance against Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao remains the biggest, most marketable name in the sport. And the race to be Pacquiao’s next foe—in w...
Bud Crawford Is An Anomaly
The race to identify boxing’s next pay-per-view superstar started up just last week, when middleweight Gennady Golovkin and flyweight Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez both delivered brutal knockouts at Madison Square Garden. While both men were hefty favorites, they won like good favorites should, solid...
Is It Finally Time For The Scariest Man Alive?
Tonight, on HBO pay-per-view, the next great arms race in boxing formally gets underway. Just over five months removed from the biggest financial success in its history, boxing finds itself in a not uncommon but certainly uncomfortable position: without a signature star. ...
Is Manny Pacquiao's Promoter Sabotaging The Floyd Mayweather Fight?
For years, the biggest obstacle to a Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao superfight has been the fighters' management—Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, in particular....
Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao Is (Maybe) Happening, Five Years Too Late
Manny Pacquiao has reportedly agreed to two of the key obstacles holding up his long-awaited showdown with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. First, a 60/40 split of the revenue, with Pacquiao's side taking the short end; second, a fight date on May 2, Cinco De Mayo weekend, a popular date for pay per view cards...
Jameis Winston Is Not A Victim
By now, you've read or heard about Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston's explicit, detailed statement denying that he is guilty of rape, in which he (or someone writing on his behalf) makes the remarkable assertion that "[t]he only thing as vicious as rape is falsely accusing someone of rape." ...
You <em>Could</em> Watch Floyd Mayweather's Shitty, Overpriced PPV. But Why?
Since our article on Floyd Mayweather ran in July, I've received notes from countless fans and even a number of professional boxing writers who've said that they cannot continue to support a man with his history of battering women and utter lack of remorse. Even ESPN got in on the act—well, ESPNw d...
The Trouble With Floyd Mayweather
Last week, Floyd Mayweather announced that he will fight a rematch with Marcos Maidana on Sept. 13. Their first fight, two months ago, was Mayweather’s closest challenge in years, with many in the boxing media believing that Maidana had earned the decision. And while that bout may have failed to mee...
How To Drink Champagne Without Becoming Even More Broke Than Usual
Let me begin with an uninformed and yet almost certainly accurate assumption: you drink champagne at most twice a year, one of which is the perfunctory glass on New Year's Eve that you end up blaming for your hangover the next morning instead of the 14 Red Bull vodkas you blasted between 1 and 3 a.m...