3,425 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Cliff Rold byline.
Every story follows our editorial policy. To report a mistake, use our corrections form; for anything else, contact us.
By Cliff Rold - Pretend to forget everything you know. It’s 1983. Marvin Hagler is stepping into the ring with Roberto Duran. He’s already defended the undisputed middleweight crown seven times. Boxing people hold him in the highest regard. Ray Leonard might have avoided him. The Tommy Hearns fight fell apart on an injury. Obviously, he’s really good. But is he more than that? Duran is old...
By Cliff Rold - StubHub Center, Carson, California - To most US fans, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez was a new face that burst on the scene in 2015. To followers of the lightest weight classes, he’s been the elite face of that domain most of the time since his 2008 105 lb. title win over Yutaka Niida. For the US marke...
StubHub Center, Carson, California - Naoya "The Monster" Inoue (14-0, 12 KOs) made his American debut with a sixth round stoppage of Antonio Nieves (17-2-2, 9 KOs) to retain the WBO super flyweight title.
StubHub Center, Carson, California - In a WBC super flyweight eliminator between two former world champions from Mexico, Juan Francisco Estrada (36-2, 25 KOs) won a close, twelve round unanimous decision over Carlos Cuadras (36-2-1, 27 KOs). All three judges had it the same, 114-113.
The untelevised portion of the card began in the welterweight division. 23-year old Nick Frese (6-0, 5 KO), 145 ½, of Bangkok, Thailand, went the distance for the first time in his career but had his way in defeating Nam Phan (3-3-1, 2 KO), 146 ½, of Fountain Valley, California. Final scores tallied at a shutout 40-36 on two cards with another judge giving Phan a single round at 39-37. The referee was Raul Caiz Sr.
In 2016, Ring’s Magazine’s State of the Game issue issued what has become an annual compilation of the best divisions in boxing. Cruiserweight topped the list. That was before the conception of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) commencing later today with its first of four quarterfinal bouts. On the 2017 list, cruiserweight (or the 200 lb. division) slipped to fourth. Right in front of it was the Jr. bantamweight division hosting tonight’s anticipated “SuperFly” card. Jr. bantamweight’s elevation comes with the arrival in the last year of multiple faces that made flyweight the 2014 ‘best division’ selection.
One of the things that sometimes defines a great career is the performance of a fighter in rematches. If they lost the first time around, can they find a way to reverse the result? If they were pushed to the limit in victory, do they dispatch their rival sooner the second time around? Most press observers felt Roman Gonzalez did enough to win in his first fight with Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. All three official judges disagreed, two scoring for Sor Rungvisai with the third calling it even.
By Cliff Rold - Competition can be contagious. It takes the right circumstances. A truly loaded division is often the right circumstance. When a division has only one or two avenues to a payday, or holding a single belt is the only way to get paid, matters slow to a crawl. Supporting casts can get risk averse waiting for a chance to cash in or playing for a sole mandatory. That can be boxin...
It couldn’t have been looking much better. Juan Francisco Estrada (35-2, 25 KO) went from unheralded challenger to unified and defending titlist in just eight months between November 2012 and July 2013. The style with which he did it got a lot of attention from both hardcore fans and knowledgeable observers. The great Nacho Beristain, trainer of Ricardo Lopez and Juan Manuel Marquez, has been quoted more than once as believing Estrada is the best of Mexico’s current crop.
By Cliff Rold - In a little more than a week, a monster is coming. To be more accurate, “The Monster” arrives in the US for the first time. A favorite of hardcore fight fans in the west since early in his career, no one has to wonder how and when they’ll see his latest. 24-year old WBO 115 lb. titlist Naoya Inoue (13-0, 11 KO) will be live on HBO on September 09. It might be, on paper, the least of the three HBO Jr. bantamweight fights...