By Fox Doucette Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you're no doubt aware that Muhammad Ali celebrated his 70th birthday this past Tuesday. Your columnist is a little too young (34) to have remembered any of Ali's actual fights, but my parents' generation spoke in reverential tones about the heavyweight division “before you were born” when I was a kid … [Read more...]
The Boxing Tribune Year-End Awards: 2011
2011 was a mixed bag for fight fans. Marred by poor officiating, awful judging, and stifling promotional politics, boxing could easily have drifted into a dark era of malaise. Instead, the sport proved, once again, that there's nothing wrong with boxing that can't be fixed by what's right with boxing. The rise of quality stars in their twenties is slowly, but surely forcing … [Read more...]
Botha These Guys Oughta Be Ashamed: The Southpaw
By Fox Doucette There have been some great fighters who have been champions after their fortieth birthday. George Foreman, Bernard Hopkins, and Vitali Klitschko come immediately to mind. All of the fighters mentioned won a recognized belt---WBA/IBF for Foreman, WBC/Ring Magazine for Hopkins, WBC for Klitschko. Turning 40 does not necessarily disqualify a great fighter from … [Read more...]
Then & Now: Heavyweights of 2001 vs. Heavyweights of 2011
In the first of a series, the sport's top stars are compared to their peers from just ten years earlier in a division by division showdown. As a basis of comparison and to determine the match-ups, the Ring Magazine annual rankings from 2001 were compared with their current top 10 fighters. Lennox Lewis (2001) vs. Wladimir Klitschko (2011) In 2001, Lewis was at the top of … [Read more...]
Holyfield wants one more shot at gold, faces Nielsen Saturday
This Saturday, 48-year old, four-time world heavyweight champ, Evander Holyfield (43-10-2) is set to face Denmark's former fringe contender, Brian Nielsen (64-2, 43 KOs), but his eyes are on a bigger prize than a win over the 46-year old Dane. Holyfield, who is just two fights removed from a near win over 7 ft tall WBA heavyweight champ, Nikolai Valuev, has stated that he'd … [Read more...]