827 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Lyle Fitzsimmons byline.
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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - I’m in a heavyweight state of mind. And given the recent deluge of big men carrying gaudy belts, it’s no coincidence. WBC kingpin Deontay Wilder vaporizes Luis Ortiz with a single right-hand shot one weekend, then Anthony Joshua regains his position as “governor” of the division – according to Eddie Hearn, at least – with a...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Go ahead… ask yourself. When was the last time a fighter who won as a prohibitive underdog suddenly transformed into a smart-money pick – if not exactly a consensus betting favorite – when the time came for a rematch? Call it the Andy Ruiz Jr. story. Circa 2019. For those somehow unaware, the amiable Californian – looking more...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It’s a tradition my wife and I started when our son, Ryan, now 11, was far younger. Each night as we put him to bed, we’d have him list whatever good things had happened to him that day – whether at school, home or anywhere in between – as well as a few things for which he was thankful. And though the answers to the latter...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Luis Ortiz thinks quite highly of Deontay Wilder. In fact, during a recent interview with Boxing Scene, he interchangeably labeled the WBC champion as both the best heavyweight in the world and the best heavyweight of the era. Nevertheless, he expects that impression to change this weekend. The 40-year-old Cuban will get...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - I’ve never been a Nonito Donaire cheerleader. But that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize his talents. He’s clearly a world-class operator, obviously has world-class punching power and certainly has shared the ring with some world-class competition. It’s just that I’ve never been quite as high on him as a lot of my colleagues. A few years...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It’s been exactly 775 days… but who’s counting. Following a pristine run in which he fought 32 times against 31 men and never left a ring without a raised hand, Andre Ward walked off into the sunset as the world’s best fighter. Until the weekend, it was probably a pretty uncomplicated retirement, too. The light heavyweight division...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Given all he’s accomplished, it’s easy to forget Canelo Alvarez is just 29. He turned pro as a 139-pound teenager, won his first regional title before he could buy a drink to celebrate and was a world champion for the first time at age 20. It’s a level of prodigy that neither Floyd Mayweather Jr. nor Manny Pacquiao can match...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Devin Haney has got rules on his side. After all, the 20-year-old lightweight – born in California and residing these days in Las Vegas – became the mandatory challenger to WBC champ Vasyl Lomachenko with a dominating defeat of Zaur Abdullaev last month in midtown Manhattan. But even if the fight doesn’t materialize right...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Dat Nguyen has an old-school vehicle and an ambitious roadmap. All he needs now is the right mix of stops to get him where he’s going. The Vietnam-born super featherweight, last seen TKO’ing imminent title challenger Miguel Flores in Houston, will return to competition this weekend for the first time in better than two years...
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - And all of a sudden, it’s a challenge once again. After many years in which a few names separated themselves from the pack of “modern” fighters angling for International Boxing Hall of Fame induction, we’ve got ourselves a horse race. Thanks in part to some rules changes implemented by the Central New York brain trust...