Dear HBO, You are fucked. Last Saturday night, your subscribers were treated to a Boxing After Dark telecast consisting of a battle between two second tier junior welters and, in the main event, a light heavyweight prelude to nothing as Sergey Kovalev fought 30-1 underdog Cedric Agnew for the right to dip his big toe into The Void. It was the perfect way to cap off the … [Read more...]
Hunting Haymon (Giving You The Business, Part 2); Magno’s Monday Rant
I've long asserted that any real businessman, if he chose to get his hands dirty in the world of boxing, would easily own the sport in a relatively short period of time. The boxing business is a creature of habit-- a short-sighted, spiteful, unnecessarily sleazy habit. Like a two-bit thug who makes a hundred bucks a week via grift when he could make two hundred flipping … [Read more...]
Giving You The Business (Part 1); Magno’s Monday Rant
Boxing fans would have a greater tolerance for poor decisions and controversial KOs if they didn't always seem to happen in favor of the house (or money) fighter. Contrarians in the reading audience will point to Pacquiao-Bradley I as a high-profile example of the money fighter not getting the painfully obvious poor decision. But, as most of us should know by now, … [Read more...]
Man Bites Dog (The Canelo-Angulo Postmortem); Magno’s Monday Rant
Boxing is a weird sport when stacked up against all others. Hardcore boxing fans often seem to be interested in things well beyond the actual match. Frequently, it seems as though the nuts and bolts mechanics of the sport are secondary to image and whatever self-identity is wrapped around the fighters fans embrace. The hardcore, blue collar fight fan embraces the image of … [Read more...]
Saul Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo: The Boxing Tribune Preview
In their efforts to build Saul "Canelo" Alvarez into a true crossover superstar, Golden Boy Promotions has inadvertently done just about everything possible to destroy the young fighter's appeal within his own community. From matching him against a long line of undersized and/or faded opposition to somehow getting him a junior middleweight world title bout against a … [Read more...]