Boxing Analysis

There are the lights to contend with, their heat and burst, their merciless illumination. The pressure of the moment, too, pregnant with disaster, ready to rewrite, to unmake. And the dialogue, unpredictable, violent, violently unpredictable. […]

What is a winning strategy in boxing? One that maximizes a fighter’s chances of victory; a calculation incorporating strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, proclivities, even considerations of popularity, geography. And risk. Because such strategies do not exist […]

What did Mark Breland think? The towel that saved Deontay Wilder from Tyson Fury in their rematch. Breland threw it; it cost him his job. Would he have thrown it in the eighth round Saturday? […]

“No punches yet—use your feet, change direction. Hands up, but no punches yet.” Can you see the trainer, scrutinizing from beyond the ropes the boxer moving about the ring? “Okay, now add the jab, but […]

Perhaps politics is all that remains for the Senator. A different public service, one less exacting, less dangerous. The crowds, they will always be there—ever devoted, ever grateful, many of them looking to him for […]

Gervonta Davis doesn’t need you to lie for him. If you tweet about the Baltimore fighter like you are paid by the compliment, you’re probably lying. If you suggest everyone should look at him impartially […]

He doesn’t need any of them. “The Tartan Tornado” picked up every meaningful junior welterweight title, and so he no longer has use for them. They bring financial value, of course, and carry a price. […]

The eyes fix first on the man in the foreground, Mexican super-middleweight, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Proportion explains that, yes, but also the pose. An iconic pose meant to intimidate. It isn’t the nervous inflation of […]

1 Great fighters are rare, and victories over them rarer still. That has always been true; it is more so now as few fighters aspire to greatness with more than bandwidth. And how misguided are […]

The bell was supposed to signal the end of the round. But there would be no more rounds. Instead, its plangent couplet barged into the silence that bore witness to Miguel Berchelt’s collapse. It was […]