When promoting a fighter, it isn’t out of the ordinary to leave things out for the greater good. A promoter may want to present them one way, a network needs to market a likeable star and fans need somebody that they can rally behind all for the purpose of making a star. Some things fall by the wayside, some good and others not, but thankfully I have a lot of time on my hands … [Read more...]
The Before and After of Kertson Manswell
“The most amazing aspect of boxing – is the ability of a human being to get up when he’s hurt.” —Steve Smoger The Before Manswell, known as the “Warrior,” fights out of Trinidad and Tobago but is a road warrior fighting wherever he can earn his living. On January 29, 2011, he went up against Bermane Stiverne (19-1-1) at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. At stake … [Read more...]
How Boxing Predicts Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl: The Southpaw
by Fox Doucette Welcome to another edition of The Southpaw, where if it's good enough for Teddy Atlas, it's good enough for me: Repeat after me: “Styles Make Fights.” That three-word maxim is the single biggest predictive catchphrase in the Sweet Science when it comes to trying to get a call right in advance of a big fight. Last week, we saw an unexpected application of that … [Read more...]
Wilder-Stiverne Delivers Heavyweight TV Ratings for Showtime
Saturday's heavyweight title clash between Deontay Wilder and defending WBC heavyweight titlist Bermane Stiverne set the bar high for what could be a shaky 2015 for Showtime Boxing. Drawing in an average of 1.24 million viewers and 3.2 share, Wilder-Stiverne became the highest rated boxing show for the network since Miguel Cotto-Austin Trout in 2012 and pushed it into a … [Read more...]
2015 and Boxing’s Road to Redemption; Magno’s Monday Rant
I take a lot of swipes at the bad guys of the sport in the Monday Rant and, really, that's pretty much the reason the Rant exists at all. Consider it a change of pace from some of the usual opinion columns out there where grown men who know better pretend to be covering a sport like any other, where X's and O's always determine the winner and an entire subculture of hustlers … [Read more...]