128 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Michael Rosenthal byline.
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Roy Jones Jr.: Roy Jones hasn’t been Roy Jones for more than a decade. The real Roy Jones was something to behold. The four-division titleholder, now 49, outpointed someone named Scott Sigmon on Thursday in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, which Jones says was his final fight after almost 30 years – yes, 30 – as a professional boxer.
Murat Gassiev: Gassiev couldn’t have looked much better in the biggest fight of his career. Now comes his biggest challenge. Gassiev was expected to face stiff resistance from Yunier Dorticos in the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series on Saturday in Russia, Gassiev’s home country. After all, the well-schooled, strapping Cuban had stopped all but one of his opponents.
Usyk’s handlers probably didn’t expect him to encounter such heavy resistance but they did expect him to end up where he is: in the final of the World Boxing Super Series. Usyk cruised in the opening round of the cruiserweight tournament, outclassing a past-his-prime Marco Huck in September. His semifinal fight against Mairis Briedis was a completely different story.
Errol Spence: Who’s the No. 1 fighter pound for pound? Depends when you ask. After Vasyl Lomachenko fights, everyone seems to agree “it doesn’t get better than that.” After Terence Crawford fights, you shake your head and say “Damn. Maybe this guy is the best.” And after Mikey Garcia fights, I personally think “this guy could end up at the top one day soon.”
Claressa Shields: I have to be honest: I was more excited to see the Shohjahon Ergashev fight than the Shields-Tori Nelson matchup Saturday on Showtime. That’s not a knock on Shields. It’s just difficult to get excited when a two-time Olympic champion as talented as she is faces an obscure 41-year-old who had fought only once in more than a year, even though Nelson is one of the better fighters in a shallow pool of bigger women.
By Michael Rosenthal - It’s a true story of tragedy and perseverance, of love and devotion. And it could be in a theater near you soon. The battered body of Howie Steindler, a well-known boxing manager who owned the old Main Street Gym in downtown Los Angeles, was found on the backseat floor of his Cadillac on the ev...
Many big-name fighters found success in 2017, from both boxing and business standpoints. Others weren’t as fortunate. In this special Weekend Review, we give you some of the biggest winners and losers of the past calendar year.
Billy Joe Saunders: Saunders did exactly what he needed to do on Saturday night. Now comes the hard part. The WBO middleweight titleholder, fighting outside the U.K. for the first time, embarrassed an overmatched David Lemieux en route to an uncompetitive unanimous decision in Lemieux’s hometown in Canada.
Vasyl Lomachenko: I don’t care that Lomachenko was bigger than Guillermo Rigondeaux on Saturday night in New York. I don’t care that Rigondeaux is 37. And I certainly don’t care whether Rigondeaux injured his left hand, his stated reason for quitting. The fact that Lomachenko did THAT to a fighter of Rigondeaux’s unquestioned ability was amazing.
Miguel Cotto: Excellent boxer. Even better attraction. Cotto’s unanimous-decision loss to Sadam Ali on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden – in effect, his home arena – will become a footnote in due course. The Puerto Rican star’s legacy had already been etched in stone.