128 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Michael Rosenthal byline.
Every story follows our editorial policy. To report a mistake, use our corrections form; for anything else, contact us.
By Michael Rosenthal - The death of any fighter in the ring is always heartbreaking. When that fighter is 49, it’s particularly disturbing. Christian Daghio of Italy died this past Friday, a week after he suffered brain damage in a brutal knockout loss to Don Parueang and was placed in a medically induced coma in T...
By Michael Rosenthal - Oleksandr Usyk could be fighting for more than his unified cruiserweight championship when he faces challenger Tony Bellew on November 10 in Manchester, England. He could be battling to become 2018 Fighter of the Year. Usyk already has outpointed Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev in...
The out-of-control proliferation of “champions” continues unabated. Promoters, writers and other boxing people recognize to various degrees the champions of five “major” sanctioning bodies – the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO – as legitimate world titleholders, which is ridiculous if you look at the numbers.
By Michael Rosenthal - Pay-per-view is the perfect business model for those involved but bad for boxing in general. It allows the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez to earn in one fight what the vast majority of us make in multiple lifetimes but, because of the exorbitant cost, the audience for their fights is limited...
By Michael Rosenthal - The 2019 class of International Boxing Hall of Fame candidates is not inspiring. None of the 32 “modern” fighters on the ballot recently sent to voters is a slam dunk, at least not on the scale of Erik Morales last year and Evander Holyfield and Marco Antonio Barrera the year before that. Ther...
by Michael Rosenthal - LOS ANGELES – Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are enormous men with perfect records and personalities that match their size, which is helping to sell their December 1 fight. The more they talk, the more money they will make. And they’re talking a lot. The fighters completed their three-city media...
The first thought I had when I heard that HBO was out of boxing were the voices that would go silent. I occasionally stumble upon old sports clips on YouTube and hear the voice of a broadcaster from my youth. In boxing, it might be Howard Cosell. NFL, Pat Summerall or Lindsey Nelson. NBA, Chick Hearn. And baseball, Vin Scully. Nostalgia and some sadness invariably set in when I hear these men.
By Michael Rosenthal - All the talk about a superfight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder before and after Joshua’s knockout of Alexander Povetkin last Saturday is understandable. It probably is the biggest possible matchup in the sport today. We’re jumping the gun, though. Wilder has a significant challen...
By Michael Rosenthal - Two important things happened in boxing on Saturday. One was slimy, one was wonderful. Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s announcement that he would fight Manny Pacquiao a second time was slimy, not because of the matchup but because of the timing. Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovki...
By Michael Rosenthal - Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez fight for a second time on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Here are some questions I have going into the fight. Alvarez has been through a lot since he fought Golovkin last September. The decision that gave him a draw was ridiculed by many of those who though...