by Johnny Walker One thing boxing fans love to do when they feel an opponent is overmatched is to call him out as a glorified caddie, cabbie, laundromat worker, jailbird or bartender: the proverbial "tomato can." Such names are already being bandied about to chartacterize World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko's opponent, Alex Leapai of Australia. And this … [Read more...]
Heat Treatment: Heavyweight Division Sizzles With Title Eliminators and Other Treats for 2014
by Johnny Walker If boxing's heavyweight division was, as this writer has contended, underrated in the value it provided in 2011 and 2012, there's no getting around the fact that in 2013 it did kind of suck. When even Klitschko fans can't really defend an aesthetic disaster like the world champion Wladimir 's Povetkin fight, you know times are tough. Actually, even the … [Read more...]
The Bronze Bomber Movin’ On Up: Deontay Wilder To Fight Malik Scott
by Johnny Walker He's got a bronze medal from the Olympics, and he's got 30 knockouts in his 30 professional boxing matches to date. What he doesn't have a lot of, so far, is respect. "Caddies, cabbies, ex-basketball players and bartenders" are often some of the terms used to describe the quality of rising, 6' 7" American heavyweight Deontay Wilder's opposition (and … [Read more...]
Tyson Fury: Intentional Villain or Just A Bit Thick?
by Johnny Walker There's always been a part of me that likes rising Anglo-Irish heavyweight Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KOs). I interviewed him via telephone once from his home in the UK and found him to be knowledgeable about boxing and a generally fun guy to talk to. He didn't seem to take himself too seriously even when he was bragging up a storm. He seemed to … [Read more...]
Pinned: Bryant Jennings Hands Poland’s Artur Szplika His First Loss
by Johnny Walker If there were any doubts among fans of American heavyweight boxing as to who might next step up to the world class level, Bryant "Bye-Bye" Jennings put himself squarely in the running Saturday night at the theatre in Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, by handing another rising heavyweight, Poland's Artur "The Pin" Szpilka, his first defeat. Neither man … [Read more...]