Boxing News

Rubin "Mr. Hollywood" Williams fights Aaron Norwood on Friday January 28th at the Decarlo Convention Centre, Warren, Michigan. The bout is a defense of Williams IBU inter continental super-middleweight crown. But as I discovered after speaking to the fighter and his manager John Carlisle, this could be the start of a very big year for the Detroit fighter. I spoke to the pair via telephone. With Rubin's reputation for outspokenness and his "Mr. Hollywood" moniker, I was not sure what to expect. What I found was a relaxed, amiable man, confident in his own abilities. Both fighter and manager see the light at the end of the tunnel and think that Rubin is the next in a long line of Detroit fighters to become world champions.

Patrick Gibbons - Has your preparation gone well for Friday night's fight against Aaron Norwood?

Rubin Williams - Yeah, everything's fine, the weight is fine. I'm ready. Everything has gone fine. I've done the work. If you put the work in it's like money in the bank come fight time. You can't cheat in this game. More...

Sometimes, when boxing is suffering from the effects of another self-inflicted bloody nose or black eye, I am filled with doubt about my continuing affection for the sport. The cause of my disappointment may be another outrageous Vegas decision, where a house fighter only has to remain vertical to get a decision. Alternatively, the source of my chagrin may be one of the alphabet soup organizations; maybe they have sanctioned a world title challenge for a fighter who has mysteriously appeared in the top ten a matter of weeks before the bout was signed. Installing a challenger under such circumstances can amount to criminal negligence. All these things and many more scenarios cause me to question my love for such a cruel mistress. Then, just as I think a parting of the ways is all but inevitable, something happens that reminds me why I fell in love in the first place. The latest event to repair my breaking heart was the signing of the fight between Ricky Hatton and Kostya Tszyu for the Australian based Russian's IBF world light welterweight title. For Hatton to get a long overdue title fight against the universally recognized best fighter in the division, proves that the good guys can still succeed in this business. More...

Riddick Bowe could soon become the poster boy for the American Medical Association (AMA), the British Medical Association (BMA) and any other organization with an anti-boxing agenda. If Bowe or any of his handlers truly believe his

comeback will result in anything other than tragedy or embarrassment they, are as deluded as any of the Tyson die-hards who believe he is still capable of recapturing former glories. When charged with being a danger to himself as well as to the sport of Boxing, Bowe has even less of a defense than he had in his two fights with Andrew Golota. In the two fights with the unstable Pole, Bowe's face, body and crotch provided an ever-available home for any punch Golota decided to throw. The fact that Bowe escaped with his life was much more pertinent than escaping with two victories via Golota's disqualification for low blows. When looking for a definition of the term "hollow victory," there should be a reference to the two Bowe-Golota fights. The most damaging evidence against him comes from his own camp, when he was declared brain damaged at a court appearance relating to the abduction of his ex-wife and children. For the boxing industry to accept him back in such circumstances adds weight to the abolitionist’s argument and severely weakens the case for the sport's defense. More...

Prizefighters, like soldiers go to war so we do not have to. We can live vicariously through their efforts. All of the excitement with none of the consequences. As we watch our servicemen liberate people in foreign lands, we may cheer patriotically from the "front line" of our local bar. We watch our fighters perform in the most brutal and dangerous sporting arenas of all from the safety of our fireside or ringside seats. As in ancient Rome, the only honest participants in the whole spectacle are the gladiators. When reviewing any fight involving those two most noble of modern day gladiators, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, we constantly harp back to their epic first encounter in 2000. On that night at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, they gave so much more than we were ever entitled to ask of them. These two Mexican warriors went to places that we would never consider visiting. What we witnessed that night was a fight that would have been a contender for fight of the year in any year. To quote the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, referring to the onset of an Irish independence movement: "A terrible beauty was born." For all the enjoyment we gained from watching the war unfold, there was something both compelling and uncomfortable in equal parts. More...

In the aftermath of Glencoffe Johnson's coronation as the king of the light heavyweights, the chairmen of the IBF and WBC will not be joining in the celebrations. The success of the promotion and the universal recognition of the bout as "the people’s championship" will not sit well with any of the four major governing bodies. The events of

Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles should sound out a warning to all the alphabet soup organizations. If the public wants to see certain match ups badly enough and both camps are in agreement, having a recognizable title at stake is preferable but by no means essential. The sanctioning bodies have always followed the credo that if you can manage to fool enough of the people enough of the time, you can still turn a profit. But with this fight a dangerous precedent may have been set. No sanctioning fees were paid, no title was at stake, yet the participants were still universally recognized as the two best fighters in the division. More...

Whilst pondering over the potential outcome of Saturday’s match up between the world’s two best light heavyweights, I was again reminded that in boxing, more than in any other sport, the least likely of dreams come true. No matter what century, country or weight division, boxing finds a way to defy all usually reliable logic. For Antonio Tarver, great things were always expected, even if he did take a little longer to get there than he might have hoped. For an explanation of his opponent’s rise to the top, I had to dig through pugilistic history to come up with a precedent. The career of Glencoffe Johnson brings to mind a fighter who trod a similar path to the world title more than seventy years ago. After defeating the odds on favorite, Max Baer for the heavyweight championship of the world, James. J. Braddock became known as the "Cinderella Man." More...

Click for larger image © Mike Cleary

After watching Miguel Cotto systematically picking apart the former WBO light welterweight champion, Randall Bailey, Ricky Hatton could be forgiven for thinking of what might have been. The Manchester fighter must have been thinking, "That should have been me." I feel sure Ricky would have disposed of Bailey, but not necessarily without some scary

moments along the way. If he had done so in the first defense of a world title after just twenty-one paid bouts and with the boxing media singing his praises and comparing him to great fighters of the recent past, this would have made any pain endured in the process feel well worth the effort. The message that has come through loud and clear from the "hit man" over the past twelve months is that prestige and glory is far higher up his list of priorities than financial gain. Despite the plaudits he received for his impressive tenth round TKO of usually durable veteran Ray Oliveira at London's ExCel Arena only hours before, Cotto is achieving everything the Manchester man craves. More...

Saturday night sees Vitali Klitschko defend his WBC world heavyweight title for the first time, against Britain's Danny Williams. Both men have reached a point in their careers where this fight will serve as an indicator to how they will be perceived in years to come. A defeat for the Ukrainian will call into question how good he ever really was and a loss for the Londoner will make the Tyson heroics look like a blip in an otherwise mediocre career. Williams was catapulted into the title picture after his demolition of the fighter formerly known as “Iron Mike." Prior to this act of legend slaying, Williams was a household name only in his own household. But in boxing and especially heavyweight boxing, you are only one left hook away from redemption or one right cross away from oblivion. Now, having redeemed himself against Tyson, can Danny reach the promised land by becoming the heavyweight champion of the world? More...