Saturday night, New York City’s Madison Square Garden hosts an HBO Championship Boxing show headlined by WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, who takes on former title holder Daniel Geale. The nights co-feature pits undefeated American heavyweight Bryant Jennings against undefeated Cuban Mike Perez. Also on the card is former cruiserweight contender Ola Afolabi, … [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...]
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...]
Szpilka vs Jennings: Will “The Pin” Burst The Balloon of American Heavyweight Fans’ Dreams?
by Johnny Walker It's hardly a secret that many American fight fans--and maybe American boxing networks as well--can hardly wait to see the reign of the men who have ruled the heavyweight division of boxing (until the arrival of Lennox Lewis, mostly American-ruled territory) come to an end. It's been endlessly debated in this country as to "what is wrong" with the … [Read more...]
Polish Heavyweight Artur Szpilka Turned Back At Border; Fight With Jennings in Jeopardy
by Johnny Walker Rising Polish heavyweight Artur "The Pin" Szpilka (16-0, 12 KOs), who has been known to make ring entrances in an orange prison jumpsuit (a reference to his soccer hooligan past), was turned away by the Department of Homeland Security in the USA as he attempted to enter the country to prepare for a HBO televised bout with American heavyweight hopeful Bryant … [Read more...]