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 - Most of the all action guys burn a little faster than their other boxing brethren. The physical toll of their style, their fighting mentality, is exacting. The price is their bodies failing them sooner. Mexico’s 33-year old Francisco Vargas knows about that first hand. The former WBC 130 lb. titlist crossed paths wit...
Another Saturday, another unification clash. This one won’t have the atmosphere the stadium setting had last weekend at heavyweight. It wouldn’t have to clear a big bar to deliver a more thrilling affair. It might just do a hell of a lot more than that. They say styles make fights. This fight (Showtime, 10 PM EST/7 PM PST) appears to have the right blend. Cuba’s Erislandy Lara isn’t always entertaining but when he’s put into a ring with someone who brings the fight to him all night long, good things can happen.
By Cliff Rold - The sport and business of boxing needs a showdown between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder as soon as possible. That’s become very true in the last couple days and didn’t appear to be quite as urgent before then. Everything was going pretty well. After a bounce back year for the sport in 2017, 20...
They can’t all be classics. They were never all going to be knockouts. For now, through 21 fights and the collection of three major alphabet titles, they have all been wins for the UK’s Anthony Joshua who added the WBO belt to the WBA and IBF straps. Joseph Parker didn’t make it easy last weekend.
On Saturday, we get one step closer to one. In an ideal world, each of boxing’s seventeen weight divisions would have only one world champion. Too often, most weight classes have so many making the claim that they ultimately have none. There is only one world after all. How do we know if the WBC titlist at 105 lbs. right now, Wanheng Menayothin, could beat WBA titlist Knockout CP Freshmart if they haven’t fought? We don’t and likely won’t find out.
There has never been a heavyweight to unify four major sanctioning body titles. After this weekend, one big step in that direction should be made. The WBA/IBF/IBO titlist Joshua (20-0, 20 KO) is already the most consistent ticket seller in the sport and he’s really just getting started. Is he the next dynasty at the top of the scale or do we look back one day and see one of the best promoted flashes in the pan ever?
By Cliff Rold - For all the talk of a world that moves faster than ever, much of the good stuff still takes time. A proper marinated steak has to sit for hours and then be cooked at the right heat. It still takes four hours to watch Lawrence of Arabia. Reading War and Peace goes at the pace of the reader and no faster. The big fights are often the same way. They almost never happen the mome...
Dillian Whyte-Lucas Brown was a late addition to the HBO boxing schedule (Saturday, 6 PM EST) and one that had some folks scratching their head. It shouldn’t have. Heavyweight business is always big business. It’s bigger business right now. For the moment, Showtime is in the driver’s seat on the US airwaves. HBO has bid on Anthony Joshua business before.
By Cliff Rold - What started for many as a joke ended up in a windfall. While lingering hostility in some fan quarters remains, there is no denying the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor boxing match last year was a hit. A long build through social media, a will they or won’t they exchange of trash talk, culminated in an...
California’s San Joaquin Valley already had the makings of a franchise. After Saturday, the whole of the boxing world might have a star on their hands. Jose Ramirez won his first major title with a rousing decision over Amir Imam that ticked a lot of boxes. He took some big shots. He showed the aptitude for technical judgments.