827 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Lyle Fitzsimmons byline.
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Believe it or not, we writers are an objective bunch. Though conspiracy theorists insist otherwise, we gather at ringside or in front of our televisions with unbiased eyes and assemble our stories based on the facts as we see them.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Sometimes the nickname just fits. And such is certainly the case with John Ramirez. The briefest encounter with the cocksure super flyweight – who’d already lived in two countries, mastered two languages, and excelled in two sports before he’d ever laced on gloves – leaves a person forcibly struck by a straightforward manner and an unshakeable self-belief.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Maybe he’s patient. Maybe he’s not. Either way, Jermaine Franklin certainly has been waiting a while. The Saginaw, Mich. native has been a pro for nearly eight full years and has fought 111 rounds across 22 fights, but he’s long been biding his time waiting for a significant opportunity. He spent his first seven years and 20 fights working the sport’s less-heralded back rooms in cities like Youngstown,
Artur Beterbiev is a sure thing. Sort of. The Russian-born, Canadian-based light heavyweight registering both his 19th win and KO with an eighth-round stoppage of Anthony Yarde in London last weekend, but it wasn’t the sort of performance that’ll make anyone forget Archie Moore anytime soon.
Francis Ngannou will not be a heavyweight boxing champion. I guarantee it. Nevertheless, the 6-foot-4, 258-pounder became the next big thing in the ring – at least for novelty purposes – when his chief MMA nemesis, Dana White, went public with the story that he’d been relieved of his UFC championship and released from any contractual ties to the conglomerate.
I hear it’s NFL playoff season. But being a diehard New York Jets fan in January is typically about as worthwhile as scouting out ocean-front property in North Dakota. Which means, in lieu of spending my time this past weekend hanging on six games’ worth of punts, passes, and kicks, I flitted through the channels and filled up my notebook.
Ryan Garcia. Gervonta Davis. In a ring. Together. With gloves and trunks. No… really. Though there’s been far more talk recently about fights that don’t get made than ones that do, it appears – gasp! – as if this one’s actually got a chance to get past the SOUCRES SAY stage.
If you’ve gotten to this point and aren’t happy, that’s too bad. You should have seen it coming. In keeping with tradition in this Tuesday morning space, we greet the New Year with a preview of stories other boxing scribes will be reacting to about 12 months from now.
There are a couple things I’ve always promised myself. I rarely play golf. But if I was ever lucky enough to score a hole in one, I’ve vowed to pluck the ball out of the cup, slide the club into the bag and head straight to my car – because it’d never get any better.
He had a ring career better than 99.9 percent of his colleagues. And these days, Dmitriy Salita is aiming to replicate that success beyond the ropes. The Brooklyn-based Ukrainian earned a second-tier belt by beating Derrick Campos on the Calzaghe-Jones show at Madison Square Garden in 2008 and translated it to a challenge of recognized 140-pound champ Amir Khan 13 months later on the WBA claimant’s home turf in the United Kingdom.