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Posted on 06/20/2017

Heather Hardy Interview: “I still haven’t gotten the mainstream media attention that I’d like”
By: Matthew N. Becher

​Heather “The Heat” Hardy is one of the top ranked female fighters in the world today. With a record of 20 wins 0 losses, she is a staple in the New York boxing scene, remaining a fan favorite at her home away from home, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

​Hardy is currently training for her mixed martial arts debut, June 24th on the Bellator 180 undercard at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Hardy was kind enough to take a few moments to speak with us about her upcoming fight and the switch from Boxing to MMA.

Boxing Insider: What made you decide to switch to Mixed Martial Arts?

Heather Hardy: It’s not actually a switch, I’m just going to do both. The boxing was just taking a really long time to turn around. I still haven’t made a really nice paycheck out of it. I still haven’t gotten the mainstream media attention that I’d like. So I’m hoping that the MMA will bring back some attention to boxing and vice versa. This is just like another job.

Boxing Insider: For the most part, boxers do not typically adapt well to MMA. Does that concern you?

Heather Hardy: Every fighter is different. All boxers are not the same. Maybe a fighter that wasn’t as good as me didn’t adapt well. But I’ve been doing a lot of sparring with elite level fighters and I’m feeling pretty good.

Boxing Insider: How do you feel about finally fighting at Madison Square Garden? This will be your first time right?

Heather Hardy: It will be my first time as a professional. I won my Golden Gloves title there. I’m super excited to be fighting there as a professional and adding it to my resume.

Boxing Insider: You are 35 years old and highly ranked in the featherweight division, as a boxer. Do you think a title fight is going to be coming up soon?

Heather Hardy: Could be, I mean, I’m hoping for it. Right now all the girls that are holding titles are out of the country and they don’t want to come to America. Because in America they don’t pay female boxers. So I’m really hoping that we can change that and we can get one of those girls over here so I can take their title.

Boxing Insider: Could you go over there?

Heather Hardy: It’s hard because I’m signed to a promotional deal with Lou Dibella and I’m contracted under him. His fights are only here in New York, so it would require a lot of negotiations for me to fight somewhere else.

Boxing Insider: How much fighting do you think you have left in you?

Heather Hardy: It’s really hard to say. Your body is a machine. If you take care of it you have extended use for it. If you abuse your body you won’t have a long time. I take care of myself. As long as I feel good, I’ll keep going.

Posted on 06/07/2017

Why Jeffries Came Back for Johnson & Marciano Didn’t for Johansson!
By: Ken Hissner

James J “The Boilermaker” Jeffries was considered one of the all-time great heavyweight champions when he retired after defeating Jack Munroe in 2 rounds in August of 1904. His record was 19-0-2 (16).

When Jack “The Galvestan Giant” Johnson became the first black champion defeating Tommy Burns in December of 1908 the white race seemed to be quite upset especially due to the arrogance of Johnson. Johnson had four defenses with the first a draw with light heavyweight champion Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, NWS decisions with Tony Ross 11-6-2, NWS with Al Kauffman 18-1 and came off the canvas to KO12 middleweight champion Stanley Ketchell.

Johnson as you can see was running out of opponents though also drawing “the color line” not defending against any of the black opponents since becoming champion. On the other hand even Jeffries Pastor in front of his congregation was embarrassing him saying “we have a coward amongst us” in trying to bring him back to take back the title from the black champion.

Jeffries had gained over 100 pounds and hadn’t fought in 6 years minus a month. He unwisely came back at 227 to Johnson’s 208. Jeffries was 224 in his last fight some 6 years before. Jeffries was stopped in the 15th of a scheduled 45 round scheduled battle. In those days if you took a knee the round was over. Johnson was 38-5-7 going into this fight outdoors in Reno, NV.

In Marciano’s decision not to return after retiring coming off the canvas to knockout light heavyweight champion Archie Moore in his last bout in September of 1959 he had no plans to return to the ring. Floyd Patterson would defeat Moore for the vacant title. There was talk of a Marciano Patterson fight but Marciano who would take months prior to a fight away from his family wanted to spend time lost with his wife and children. At retirement he was 49-0 (43) with 6 title defenses the first was a KO1 over “Jersey” Joe Walcott whom he won the title over with a KO13 while behind in the scoring 4-7, 5-7 and 4-8 needing a knockout to win.

Marciano went onto KO11 Roland LaStarza in 1953 who he had won a split decision over in 1950 before becoming champion. He then defeated the former champion Ezzard Charles twice. The first was a decision 8-5, 9-5 and 8-6 and in the rematch Charles split Marciano’s nose so bad a only a knockout would save his title from the referee or ring physician possibly stopping the fight though ahead 5-1 and 6-1 twice. Then after 8 months he knocked out the British Empire champion Don Cockell 66-11-1 in 9 rounds with the Moore fight to follow.

Patterson after defeating Moore for the vacant defended his title 6 times all by knockout until he was knocked out by Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson. This is when Marciano felt he would come back to bring the title back to America. He spent time alone nearby his home trying to get back in shape. He said the desire wasn’t there anymore. Patterson would come back to win the title from Johansson bringing back the title to America.

Posted on 05/12/2017

Who Was the Best P4P “Sugar” Ray Leonard, Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker or Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr?
By: Ken Hissner

This writer has met “Sugar” Ray Leonard several times, Aaron “The Hawk” once and Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker once. I never met Floyd “Money” Mayweather. All are IBHOF inductees except Mayweather who has to wait five years after retiring before induction. He hasn’t fought since 2015.

As far as an amateur Leonard would be in a class of his own compared to the other three though Whitaker also won an Olympic Gold Medal but against lesser opposition.Leonard was from Palmer Park, MD.

Let’s take a look at Leonard first with an amateur record of 145-5 (75) winning the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal before turning professional on possibly the greatest Olympic team in the history of the Games. He won the 1975 Pan American Games the previous year defeating Cubans for both Gold Medals. He was inducted into the Olympic HOF in 1985 and the IBHOF in 1997 fighting from 1977 thru 1997 with a 36-3-1 (25) record.

In talking with Manny Steward who helped this writer judge 1976 vs 1984 Olympic teams we both agreed Leonard was a better amateur than a professional. Steward told me due to hand injuries as a professional. His manager was Mike Trainer and his trainers were Dave Jacobs, Janks Morton, Adrian Davis, Angelo Dundee and Pepe Correa.

Leonard won the WBC & WBA welterweight titles, WBA Junior middleweight, WBC’s middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight titles. Highlights winning world titles by stopping Wildfredo Benitez, winning two of three from Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran, stopping and drawing with Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns, stopping AyubKalule, defeating “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and stopping Donny Lalondetwice.
Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor, 39-1 (36), was from Cincinnati, OH. He was 204-16 in the amateurs winning AAU and Golden Gloves titles while being a Silver Medalist in the 1975 Pan Am Games and a 1976 Olympic alternate losing to future Gold Medalist and Van Barker winner Howard Davis. In talking to Davis over the phone I told him I thought he lost against Pryor in the Olympic Trials. He didn’t agree. Pryor won the 1976 Golden Gloves defeating Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns.

At the Pan Am Games in 1975 Olympic members Chuck “White Chocolate” Walker and Davey Armstrong agreed Leonard just got the best of Pryor in sparring in unforgettable performances by both.

Pryor was the IBF and WBA light welterweight champion. He was 35-0 and was inactive for 2½ years coming back and tasting his only career defeat to Bobby Joe Young then winning his last three fights. He fought from 1976 thru 1990. His most notable wins were over Antonio “Kid Pambele” Cervantes, Dujuan Johnson and over Alexis Arguello twice.His manager was Buddy LaRosa and trained by Panama Lewis.

Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker as a professional was 40-4-1 (17), and as anamateur 201-14.In 1982 he was the Silver Medalist in the World Amateur championships reversing the loss by defeating the same Cuban for the Pan Am Games 1983 Gold Medal. The Russians and Cubans didn’t compete in the 1984 Olympics where Whitaker won the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal in the lightweight division.

Whitaker held the WBA, WBC and IBF titles as a lightweight and a light welterweight. His first attempt for the WBC lightweight title was his first career loss to Jose Luis Ramirez but defeated Ramirez the following year for his first world title. He defeated Azuma Nelson, Jorge Paez, BuddyMcGirt twice and drew with Julio Cesar Chavez. He lost to Oscar “Golden Boy” De la Hoya and Felix “Tito” Trinidad. He fought from 1984 thru 2001.

Whitaker was managed by Shelly Finkel while trained by George Benton and Lou Duva as a professional. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2007. He would become a trainer after retiring.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr.,was 49-0 (26), as a professional winning the WBC super featherweight, lightweight and light welterweight titles. He won the IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO titles as a welterweight and the WBA & WBC light middleweight titles.

He was managed by Floyd Mayweather, Sr., James Prince and Al Haymon. He was trained by Roger Mayweather, and Mayweather, Sr. He was promoted by Top Rank, Goossen Tutor Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions.

Mayweather was 84-8 as an amateur winning the 1996 Golden Gloves and the Bronze Medal in the 1996 Olympic Games. As a professional he fought from 1996 thru 2015.

In this writers opinion “Sugar” Ray Leonard was the better P4P boxer than the other three. What do you think?

Posted on 03/17/2017

Already A Legend, Roman Gonzalez Still Wants To Challenge Himself
By: Sean Crose

“I have already accomplished a lot,” undefeated multi-division champion Roman Gonzalez said on a recent conference call. Without doubt, the Nicaraguan slugger known as Chocolatito has earned some well deserved accolades. Last November the man won a world title in his fourth weight class by grinding out a grueling win against Carlos Cuadras for the WBC world super flyweight title. His legacy assured, Gonzalez is turning his attention towards other matters. “Now,” he claimed on the call, “my goal is to hold onto my fourth world title in order to gain higher purses and more money.” Fighting at 115 pounds isn’t exactly easy for Gonzalez, however.

“Never did I think it was going to be easy campaigning in this division at 115,” Gonzalez said. “It takes time to get used to and I think that’s what is happening at the moment but I think I will be fine.” His battle against Cuadras certainly was no walk in the park. Defending champ Cuadras wasn’t in it to lose. Indeed, the undefeated Mexican made it clear that he saw Gonzalez was his ticket to the big time. And even though Cuadras lost the fight, he gained an enormous amount of respect from the fight world.

And now people, including, it seems, Gonzalez, are looking forward to a rematch. “As I look at a fight coming up against Carlos Cuadras again,” Gonzalez claimed, “I realize I have to train harder. Every opponent presents different challenges. I do believe that the second fight, the rematch, will be better.” First, however, Gonzalez has business to attend to in Madison Square Garden this Saturday. For, Gonzalez will be featured in the co main event of the Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs card. His opponent? The hard hitting former champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, the man who Cuadras won the super flyweight title from.

In other words, it’s not necessarily easy going for Chocolatito this weekend. Sor Rungvisai may not have faced a murderer’s row throughout his career, but he goes to the body like it’s no one’s business. What’s more, Sun Rungvisai, like Cuadras, undoubtedly sees a great future ahead of him should he beat the Nicaraguan legend. Then there’s the matter that Gonzalez’ last fight was an absolutely brutal affair. Such things can have an impact. Add all this to the fact that the man has already reached Olympian heights and it’s worth wondering if an upset might be in the air.

Still, this is Gonzalez fighting here, the fighter widely regarded as the best pound for pound boxer on earth. Whether that’s really true or not, Gonzalez is a force to be reckoned with. What’s more, he knows what it’s like to be on a big stage. “On any other show,” promoter Tom Loeffler said of Gonzalez-Sor Rungvisai, “it would clearly be the main event.”

Posted on 02/11/2017

ShoBox Results: Baranchyk and Ramos Deliver a Ten Round Thriller, Fernandez and Williams Victorious
By: William Holmes

The Buffalo Run Casino and Resort in Miami, Oklahoma was the host site for tonight’s ShoBox card live on Showtime and featured a main event between Ivan Baranchyk and Abel Ramos.

Jon Fernandez (10-0) and Ernesto Garza (7-1) opened up the telecast with a bout in the super featherweight division.

Fernandez and Garza are both young professionals with a good amateur background that fought like they knew this fight was a good opportunity for exposure for them.

Garza was a southpaw, but was a good head shorter than Fernandez. Fernandez landed his overhand rights early on, and had Garza stunned with a hard right uppercut. He connected with another combination that dropped Garza. Garza was able to beat the count and put up a good fight for the remainder of the round and landed some heavy body blows, but Fernandez was more accurate puncher.

Garza opened up the second round aggressively and attacked to the body, but Fernandez remained calm and connected with clean shots of his own to the head of Garza. Garza appeared to tire as the round progressed and Fernandez was more easily avoiding the rushes of Garza.

Fernandez turned up the pressure in the third round and hammered Garza by the ropes and landed several hard unanswered shots. Garza looked dazed and confused while hanging on the ropes and the referee stopped the fight.

Jon Fernandez wins by TKO at 1:39 of the third round.

The next bout of the night was between Lenin Castillo (15-0-1) and Joe Williams (10-0) in the light heavyweight division.

Castillo was the more decorated amateur boxer as he competed for Puerto Rico in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Castillo was the taller boxer and his jab was causing Williams problems in the first round. Williams was a little wild early and had to deal with Castillo holding on when he got in close.

Castillo’s jab was on point in the second round and was able to block most of Williams’ punches. Castillo’s range was firmly established by the third round and was landing the cleaner, sharper combinations, though Williams was not making it easy for Castillo.

The action remained consistent in the fourth and fifth rounds, with Castillo being the more effective fighter on the outside and Williams doing some damage on the inside, but Castillo was landing the more noticeable punches.

Castillo was the more active boxer in the sixth round but never had Williams in any real trouble. Williams pressed the action in the seventh round and may have won it due to Castillo constantly tying up and not throwing enough punches.

The fight could have been scored for either boxer going into the final round, and even though Castillo started the fight off strong, Williams ended the fight the busier boxer and who was pressing the pace.

The judges scored the bout 76-76, 78-74, 77-75 for Joseph Mack Williams Jr. by majority decision.

The main event of the night was between Ivan Baranchyk (13-0) and Abel Ramos (17-1-2) in the Super Lightweight Division.

Baranchyk entered with a very elaborate entrance, especially by ShoBox standards.

Baranchyk was aggressive early and throwing wild left hooks and very wide punches. Ramos was connecting with his jab and took a hard right uppercut by Baranchyk well, but it was a close round and could have been scored either way.

Baranchyk was able to briefly trap Ramos by the corner early in the second round and land some hard body shots, but was missing when he threw his wild shots to the head. Ramos’ jabs were landing at a high rate in the second round.

Ramos has control early in the third round and was controlling the action until Baranchyk landed a thudding right hand that sent Ramos down. Ramos was able to beat the count and get back to his feet and score a stunning knockdown with a counter left hand.

Ramos went back to his jab in the fourth round and was connecting with good straight right hands. He had Baranchyk hurt in the fourth, but Baranchyk landed another hard left hook that sent Ramos down to the mat. Ramos got back to his feet and looked fully recovered by the end of the fight.

Ramos had a very strong fifth round and was landing hard shots at will from the outside. It was an action packed round, but a clear round for Ramos.

The sixth round was an incredible round that featured both boxers throwing and landing the hardest punches that they could throw, and somehow, amazingly, neither boxer scored a knockdown.

Ramos, inexplicably, decided to stay in fierce exchanges with Baranchyk in the seventh round even though he did better when boxing from the outside and boxing smartly. Baranchyk’s punches were doing more head snapping damage than the shots of Ramos.

Amazingly, both boxers were still standing and throwing a high volume of power shots in the eighth round. Ramos, however, had some bad swelling around both of his eyes and looked like he was wearing down and slowing down. Ramos took some very heavy shots at the end of the round and his face was badly swollen.

Ramos’ faced looked badly disfigured at the start of the ninth round but he was still throwing a large number of punches and fighting back in extended spurts, but Baranchyk was landing the far more brutal punches.

Baranchyk and Ramos both looked exhausted in the final round and spent most of the final round doing something we didn’t see most of the fight, exchange mainly jabs. Baranchyk was able to buckle the knees of Ramos in the final seconds of the final round, but Ramos was able to survive the fight.

This was an incredibly exciting fight.

The judges scored the bout 97-92, 99-91, and 97-93 for Ivan Baranchyk.

Posted on 01/02/2017

2016 Fighter of the Year Anyone But Andre Ward!
By: Ken Hissner

In looking over the new and defending world champions WBC/WBO super lightweight champion Terence Crawford, 30-0 (21), out of Omaha, NEB, was 3-0 with a pair of ko’s in 2016.

The only other “champion” with 3 fights was Andre Ward who won a disputed decision over Sergey Kovalev who also had 3 fights. A fair decision and Kovalev would be a shoo-in for Fighter of the Year. This should never get “Fight of the Year” for Kovalev got hugged more (46x) by Ward then he does by his wife.

IBF super welterweight champion Jermall Charlo, 25-0 (19), out of Houston was 2-0 winning a close decision over former champion Austin Trout and stopping previously unbeaten Julian “J-Roc” Williams.

New WBC Super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez, 46-0 (38), of NIC, had his toughest fight of his career stepping up a division winning a hard fought decision. He was 2-0.

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, 36-0 (33), holding the WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles stopped a pair of unbeaten boxers with records of 36-0 and 18-0 to expend his knockout streak to 23.

In the cruiserweight division there were 3 new champions. Tony “Bomber” Bellew, 28-2-1 (18), won the vacant WBC title and was 2-0.

Murat “Iron” Gassiev, 24-0 (17), of Russia, won the IBF title over Denis Lebedev who didn’t have his WBA title on the line.

Oleksandr Usyk, 11-0 (10), of UKR, won the WBO title and went 2-0.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 48-1-1 (34), the WBC/WBO Super welterweight champion went 2-0 but pushed back his bout with GGG a year.

So who do you think should be awarded “Fighter of the Year?”

Posted on 12/29/2016

Why Carl Frampton Is Not My Fighter Of The Year
By: Sean Crose

Okay, first things first – there’s something a bit misleading about the title of this article. The truth is that I don’t have a FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, per se. Indeed, you won’t find me listing the greatest fights, fighters, knockouts, and whatever else here at Boxing Insider. Not that I mind writers bestowing such honors. To the contrary, I often find the whole exercise fascinating. Again, though, you won’t see me engaging in it here – at least not this year. Still, I don’t feel Carl Frampton is worthy of the honor anywhere – even though I like the guy.

There’s no doubt the Irishman has had a hell of a year for himself. First, he defeated Scott Quigg for various superbantmweight titles last winter. Then , in a terrific display, the 22-0 slugger went on to defeat fellow undefeated pugilist – and WBA super world featherweight champion – Leo Santa Cruz under the bright lights of Brooklyn. Furthermore, Frampton is now set to face off against Santa Cruz again, this time in Vegas, next month. And, as a cherry to place atop the sundae, Frampton also comes across as a polite and likeable guy. To be sure, there isn’t much not to like.

Still, I can’t think of Frampton without the name of one Guillermo Rigondeaux popping into my head. To be sure, Frampton and superbantamweight Rigondeaux now operate at different weight classes. That wasn’t always the case, though. Indeed, there has been interest in having the two men meet over the years. Sadly, however, team Frampton clearly wants nothing to do with the Cuban stylist. Indeed, Sky Sports quoted Frampton’s manager, Barry McGuigan, last March referring to Guillermo as “negative.” Uh-huh. “What do we gain by fighting him?” McGuigan asked.

Perhaps not much more than a loss, Barry. Rigondeaux is exceedingly skilled, after all. Still, ducking one of the world’s top talents shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yes, Rigondeaux can be boring and no he hasn’t endeared himself to a strong fan base. What’s more, Rigondeaux may cause Frampton to lose out on future pay days, should he make Frampton look bad. Make no mistake about it, avoiding Rigondeaux is understandable, especially when one is repeatedly willing to face the likes of Santa Cruz, as Frampton is. Yet there are consequences for such actions, as well. At least there should be.

There’s no doubt that Frampton is an impressive talent. It should not be forgotten, however, that he has avoided a perhaps even greater talent on his way to earning accolades.

Posted on 12/23/2016

Pacquiao Remains Dominant In 2016
By: Sean Crose

An interesting article appeared in this publication the other day wherein Matthew N. Becher ran through a list of top candidates for 2016s Fighter of the Year. All candidates were worthy, but I won’t focus here on which one I felt was the years’ very best. I simply want to focus on one of the fighters mentioned – Manny Pacquiao. For, believe it or not, Pacquiao remained dominant in 2016. Just how dominant? Well, he bested potential Hall of Famer Tim Bradley – for the second or third time in a row, depending on how you look at things – then made easy work of rising star Jessie Vargas later in the year.

This, frankly, requires a degree of reflection. For, let’s face it, many if not most fight fans want the Mayweather-Pacquiao era to be over. Sure, they’d pay a ton to see Manny and Floyd go at it again, or even Floyd and white mainstream media fave, Conor McGregor of the UFC (I disdain political correctness, but let’s face it, if McGregor weren’t Caucasian there would be collective head shaking at his behavior rather than winks and smiles). Still and all, people are tired of Floyd and Manny being the faces of the sport.

Here’s the thing, though – Manny doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Here’s something else – the man is still dominant. I can’t say with any certainty that there’s a welterweight or junior welterweight out there who can beat the guy. His pay per view numbers may be down, he may not be what he was, but man, Pacquiao is still something else. To be sure, he still seems to puzzle his opposition, just has he has for ages now. This ability to confuse has been evident with every major opponent he’s faced in the past eight years or so with the exception of Floyd. Furthermore, the Filipino icon remains in great shape, even for his advancing age.

Make no mistake about it, boxing is in a transition period. Old names like Bernard Hopkins are leaving and new names like Vasyl Lomachenko and Bud Crawford are stepping up to the plate. A fighter who is still in top competitive form, however, can’t simply be rushed off the stage. Up and comers like Crawford and perhaps Errol Spence Jr may indeed be able to best Pacquiao, but that’s no guarantee – not even at this late stage of Pacquiao’s career. Like many others, I want to move on from the Manny-Floyd era. If this year convinced me of anything, though, it’s that Pacquiao is going to stick around for a bit longer.

And at the moment at least, there’s no guarantee anyone can do anything about it.

Posted on 12/21/2016

2016’s Fighter of the Year is?
By: Matthew N. Becher

​Another boxing calendar is coming to an end and that means year end award conversations are taking place. In a year that has seen a lot of craziness, from PED use at an all-time high, to the Heavyweight champion being stripped of his belts, a year with 0 Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights and sharp decline in the Pay per view format, 2016 did still have a number of great boxers deserving of the title “Fighter of the year”. Here are a few who may have had what it took.

​Manny Pacquiao: Pacquiao started the year off in April by taking on pound for pound lister and all around top welterweight challenger Timothy Bradley Jr. in what would be their rubber match. Pacquiao announced it would be his final fight in his hall of fame caliber career and that he would retire after the fight, win or lose. Pacquiao entered the fight as an underdog, since he would be coming off nearly a year layoff after his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a shoulder surgery that followed. Pacquiao not only beat father time in this fight, but he beat Timothy Bradley as sure handedly as he ever has. He was able to knock Bradley down twice in the fight, and won by Unanimous Decision. After deciding rather quickly that he couldn’t stay away from the sport he loved for very long, Pacquiao then targeted the WBO Welterweight champion Jessie Vargas. Vargas who only has one loss in his career to Tim Bradley Jr. had the age advantage but nothing else. Again Pacquiao became a world champion and with 59 wins in his career, it seems that he is ready to attempt to get number 60 early next year against, hopefully a high quality opponent.

​Andrew Ward: Ward is on the list mainly because of the win against Sergey Kovalev last month. He fought 3 times in 2016, which is the most active he has been since 2009. The opponents he defeated, Sullivan Barrera, Alexander Brand and Sergey Kovalev rank from unknown to contender to one of the very best fighters in the sport. Ward is on the list, again, solely for the fact that he had a win over Sergey Kovalev and became the Unified Light Heavyweight champion. Regardless of controversy on the scorecards, he beat an undefeated, top 5 pound for pound champion. He will receive votes, but may be a longshot to actually win the award.

​Joe Smith Jr.: Smith is a late addition after last weekend’s win over Bernard Hopkins. Sure, he beat a 51 year old Hopkins, but he is still the first person to ever knock Hopkins out and the way he did so was impressive to say the least. This was Smith’s third win of the year, with an April TKO of Fabiano Pena and a follow up first round KO over Andrzej Fonfara, which is a very heavy favorite for upset of the year. Smith fought two marquee fights in which he was the underdog and winning both of them by show stopping Knock outs.

​Terrence Crawford: Crawford will try to follow up his 2014 FOTY award with another ceremony this year. Crawford fought three times in 2016. He knocked out Hank Lundy at the Theater in Madison Square Garden and then unified the division against the top Jr. Welterweight, Viktor Postol. Though the fight did not do great pay per view wise, and was deemed a boring fight, Crawford displayed talent that showed why he is one of the best fighters in the world, completely unarming the very tough and until then, undefeated, Postol. Crawford ended the year back home in Omaha, against a C-level opposition in John Molina Jr., who did not put up much of a fight and Crawford outmatched in every single category. Terrence Crawford will be a Fighter of the Year finalist for many years to come.

​Carl Frampton: Carl Frampton is a very big favorite to win the BWAA Fighter of the year award for 2016. Frampton fought twice, both against undefeated fighters, Scott Quigg in Manchester and Leo Santa Cruz in Brooklyn. Frampton beat Quigg by Split Decision to unify the Jr. Featherweight division and ended up breaking Quigg’s jaw in the process. Five months later, Frampton decided to move up in weight to take on the WBA Featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz, and in what many may say was a “Fight of the Year” candidate, was able to defeat the hard nose Santa Cruz. Frampton became a two division champ in 2016, already has scheduled a rematch with Santa Cruz for January 28th in Las Vegas and looks like a man who is ready to take on the toughest guys he can.

​Vasyl Lomachenko: Lomo fought twice this year, the 7th and 8th fights of his career. The first fight was against the very tough Rocky Martinez at the Theatre in Madison Square Garden. Lomachenko made easy work of Martinez with a “Knockout of the Year” candidate performance. Martinez had only been knocked out 1 time in his career and that was to a young, prime Mikey Garcia, some good company for Vasyl to be a part of. This win would make Lomachenko a 2 division world champion in only 7 professional fights, which is extremely impressive. He followed that win up with the highly anticipated showdown against undefeated former champion Nicholas Walters. Not only did Lomachenko put on a display of overall boxing brilliance, he made Nicholas Walters, one of the top fighters, if not the top in the division say “No Mas”. Going into the ring and completely beating a man is one thing, but to make a top level fighter quit is something else. Lomachenko is taking the boxing world by storm, and who knows what is next for the 2x Olympic Gold Champion.

Posted on 10/30/2016

When Ali Fought Foreman
By: Jordan Seward

42 years ago to the day Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in the rumble in the jungle in what turned out to be one of the most significant boxing events in history, arguably, turned out to be the most significant victory of Muhammad ‘The Greatest’ Ali’s glittering career.

On October 30 1974, Muhammad Ali produced an 8th round knockout of the favoured George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in what is now regarded as one of the greatest sporting events of the 20th century.

With the odds stacked against him, with a fearsome opponent in front of him, and, with plenty of miles on the clock – Ali didn’t just win the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles that night, he cemented his place among the greats. And it easily could have been oh so different.

Born as Cassisus Marcellus Clay, Jr, in Louisville, Kentucky on January 14, 1942, he went on to achieve gold at the Olympic games in Rome 1960. At the age of 22 after beating Sonny Liston and claiming the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles for the first time he converted to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he regarded as his ‘slave name’ to Muhammad Ali.

With the United States at war with Vietnam, Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army on April 28, 1967, famously saying “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong”. He was convicted of draft evasion, fined $10,000 as well as being stripped of his belts and received a three-and-a-half-year suspension from boxing and a five-year prison sentence, though the latter was appealed and overturned.

He regained his boxing licence in 1970 and began his reinvention and climb back to the top with comeback fights against Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. But while Ali was out of contention Joe ‘Smokin’ Frazier, an emerging talent took full advantage and claimed the world titles against Jimmy Ellis in February 1970. Ali didn’t have to wait long for his shot to claim those prized belts back though, but it was Frazier, who came out on top, dishing out Ali’s first defeat with a unanimous decision victory in 1971 to retain the belts.

Frazier would have a taste of his own medicine two years later when gold medallist from the 1968 Olympics George Foreman, knocked him down six times on route to a second round TKO. When Foreman took on Ken Norton on 26 March 1974, Norton and Frazier, bearing in mind the latter who had just been demolished by Foreman, were the only men to have defeated Ali. Norton received the same treatment as Frazier and was stopped inside two rounds.

At the age of just 25 the freakish power and sheer size of Foreman was why he was deemed as an overwhelming favourite when he and the then 32-year-old Muhammad Ali shared a ring. He was 40-0 with 37 KO’s and Ali had just avenged his two defeats by beating Norton and then Frazier in Madison Square Garden. It was all set for the rumble in the jungle.

Funny enough it was one of Don King’s first ventures as a boxing promoter and he was joined by music businessman Jerry Masucci to arrange the fight. A three-night-long music festival dedicated to the fight took place as scheduled on September 22–24 1974. It included performances from James Brown, Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars, B.B. King, Miriam Makeba, The Spinners, Bill Withers, The Crusaders, and Manu Dibango.

With 60,000 fans packed inside of the 20th May Stadium, surprisingly, Ali started the fight in aggressive fashion – something that seemed to favour Foreman’s style. In the build up to the fight Ali wasn’t shy of admitting he had a secret plan for Foreman and in the second round he administered it. He began to frequently lean on the ropes and cover up as his opponent began to unload, the majority of the punches landing on the arms and body. Foreman was throwing regularly but his punches were not scoring and all the while he was exerting valuable energy.

Ali later dubbed this tactic as the ‘rope-a-dope’. Ali ensured he wasn’t wasteful and every opportunity he got he landed shots to the head as ‘Big George’ Foreman’s face visibly began to puff. He began to taunt his opponent as he out-wrestled and maneuvered him in clinches. Foreman’s frustration was an agent of his own demise as he began to throw more
powerful punches but to little effect.

Fast hard jabs and crosses from Ali began to pay dividends as he wobbled his opponent in the fourth. Foreman remained on the front foot and kept coming forward but started to look weary after the end of the fifth round. As the fight progressed it was the former world champion and underdog who was in control and in the eight he landed a solid 5-punch combination sent Foreman crashing to the canvas. He got up at the nine count but referee Zach Clayton waved it off and at 32-years-old Muhammad Ali had regained the world heavyweight titles.

The fight was awarded the 1974 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. The against all the odds story of Ali conquering a young and stronger champion, the diverse cultural influence and the major hype of this fight are some of the reasons why this fight will always be remembered. Both Foreman and Ali achieved so much in their careers but this victory in this fight meant ‘The Greatest’ could shout out to the world with full conviction he is the greatest and that’s what he’s remembered as.

Posted on 08/24/2016

Errol Spence Jr. – The Six Million Viewer Man
By: Sean Crose

Not only did undefeated welterweight Errol Spence Jr impress in Sunday’s televised battle against Leonard Bundu, he gave boxing a much needed bolt of adrenaline. For this weekend’s bout, which was aired live from Coney Island in Brooklyn, brought in an estimated six million NBC viewers. Needless to say, that’s a whole lot of eyeballs tuning into a boxing match. Sure enough, the Premiere Boxing Champions broadcast broke PBC records and proved that, when situated properly, the sweet science can bring in an impressive viewership – even late on a Sunday afternoon in the doldrums of August.

Photo Credit: Premier Boxing Champions

If this is all very good news for boxing – and it is – it’s exceptional news for PBC powerhouse Al Haymon, who arranged to have a star up and comer in Spence Jr appear right after an Olympic broadcast. That sort of lead in can prove to be invaluable, as it may have proved to be on Sunday. Maybe even more telling, however, is word that roughly three quarters of Olympic television viewers stuck around to see Spence take Bundu out in ruthless fashion in the sixth round. Had Spence bored his audience, well, that audience clearly would have changed the channel.

Something here obviously worked. The question now is whether or not it can work again. The truth is that it certainly can, but strategic thinking will have to be in place. Those of a certain age will remember first learning of fighters like Marvin Hagler and Mike Tyson by watching weekend afternoon television. They may not have turned on the t.v. looking for those fights, but once they saw them, those viewers stopped changing the channel. Having good fights/fighters on an afternoon broadcast can be a terrific thing. All of the elements, however, have to come together.

And the entertaining Spence Jr coming on after the US Olympic basketball team got its gold medals proved to be dynamite. Indeed, it may well be Spence who is happiest of all in all of this. For while he’s still considered an up and comer, the talented Texan has arguably now been seen by more people than peers Keith Thurman, Kell Brook and Danny Garcia. That’s saying something. It also means that it will be harder for the division’s top players to simply write the former Olympian off. Whether the biggest names like it or not, Spence has arrived – and it appears he doesn’t aim on going anywhere.

Except, of course, up.