3,425 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Cliff Rold byline.
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By Cliff Rold - It would be fair to ask if maybe, just maybe, it was him all along. There will never be, can’t be, an answer. Whether Eleider Alvarez (24-0, 12 KO) goes on to reign as a light heavyweight titlist for the next decade, or loses the WBO belt back immediately to Sergey Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KO) this Saturday night (E...
Pick It: TBRB #5 Jaime Munguia vs. #Takeshi Inoue (Saturday, DAZN, 7 PM EST). Generally speaking, every fighter with a belt can get on television somewhere. Not everyone with a belt is a genuine TV fighter. 22-year old WBO 154 lb. titlist Jaime Munguia (31-0, 26 KO) is must-see TV.
By Cliff Rold - Just shy of twenty-two months ago, it could be argued a leader of the post-Floyd Mayweather years at welterweight was emerging. Compelling, consecutive wins over a once-beaten Shawn Porter and then-undefeated Danny Garcia, saw WBA titlist Keith Thurman add the WBC belt to his mantle and push himself into some of the pound-for-pound conversations the...
This wasn’t the one. The night will come where Manny Pacquiao doesn’t have enough left in the tank for a guy like Adrien Broner. We aren’t there yet. It says a lot about the professionalism and desire of Pacquiao that he has managed to stay in the kind of shape he needs to keep going at this level. He’s not remotely what he was a decade ago and yet what remains is still too much for guys just outside the elite level of the sport.
As he enters his 70th professional fight, a little more than a month past turning 40, there is much to be said about Manny Pacquiao being on the back nine of his career. He needs a victory Saturday night (Showtime PPV, 9 PM EST) to stay in the mix for big fights at welterweight. It’s not the whole story of the fight.
Pay-per-view hasn’t become cheaper over the years so a way to gauge the worth of a show is its overall card. Pacquiao-Broner pits two high-profile welterweights in a competitive match and that’s just the selling point. What makes this card worth the investment beyond main event curiosity is an undercard that is genuinely compelling. Marcus Browne-Badou Jack at light heavyweight, and Nordine Oubaali-Raushee Warren resuming their 2012 Olympic rivalry at bantamweight, are both excellent support bouts. In a world of streams and options, pay-per-view boxing should have to fight for your dollar. This card is attempting to do so.
By Cliff Rold - Not many fighters are still considered viable contenders in any weight class twenty years after they win their first title. Even in this era, when it feels like big names are able to stretch their time near the top farther than was once the norm, twenty years is a long time. Heading into t...
Sometimes the story does matter. It doesn’t, or shouldn’t, matter in the realm of judging the rounds of a fight. The two men with gloves on their fists and what they do with them are all that matters three minutes at a time. Where the stories matter is in how the audience invests in a fight.
by Cliff Rold - If boxing were a movie, the hard luck underdog would win the title and ride off into the sunset in the final frame. Everyone goes home happy. Boxing isn’t a movie. What really happens is the underdog immediately becomes the hunted. With a belt in tow, they defend it as long as they can, collec...
By Cliff Rold - Whether you’re covering up from the cold on the top of the planet, or heading to the beach to the south, for every fight fan there is only one new season the New Year truly brings. The first of every year is the first day of the new boxing season. Fight fans already know a little bit about what to expect from 2019. We are a bit more than a week away from Manny Pacquiao-Adrien...