Peering in at boxing’s heavyweight division from a safe (and social) distance, it appears that most of its significant fights have taken place via email, telephone call or discarded, disingenuous contract. Champions and recently defeated ...

The locker room is suffocated by the disappointment of an unexpected defeat. It’s not unexpected due to the calibre of opponent, as such, but because of the steely self-belief that has carried the fallen prospect this far and is crushed, ...

It’s been over seven years since that long trip home from the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg. The flight seemed to drag for Matthew Hatton (43-7-2, 17 KOs) and his team after suffering one, final defeat at the hand...

Between short, bridging spells of nervous laughter, the softly spoken Emilio Sanchez (18-1, 11 KOs) seems surprised. He’s surprised that he’s come this far as a boxer after previously pursuing a mixture of American Football and tra...

Listening to the deep, Southern drawl, you would be forgiven for thinking that former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder had picked up the phone. Instead, fellow Tuscaloosa native Deon ‘The Equalizer’ Nicholson (13-0, 12 KOs) spoke...

The evening’s main event wasn’t supposed to be this good. Sure, both men were battling for a belt they’d treat as their own world title, but York Hall shook unexpectedly. The balcony boomed as it gazed down upon a former Premier Leagu...

The crowd holds their breath in silence as another burst of fast-twitch muscle fibre results in a thumping connection. This is what they’ve come to see: the veins of their chosen athletes’ calves pulsing, shorts creased as they co...

The phone rings out, unanswered for a second time. Nothing. Fighters aren’t known for their timekeeping or their reliability, but when packing up, resigned to try my luck another day, an incoming call then flashes across the screen. The ...

Everything was still. Everything except the panicked, adrenalin-charged chest of the young criminal, struggling to reduce its trembling, staring up at the foundation of a stranger’s home. The teenager had covered himself in dirt, des...

Situated just over ten miles from Glasgow’s city centre on the North Bank of the River Clyde, Dumbarton has kept a low profile in recent years, smothered in the shadow of its own famous rock. Boxing hasn’t brought the town the s...

“What am I going to fight for? Unless someone comes over and says, ‘Andy we’re giving you four million dollars.’ Or stupid money that you could say, ‘Well, look it’s worth it.’ But otherwise youR...

Behind the scenes at a packed, vibrant York Hall, fighters are milling about, smashing pads or lightly jogging on the spot. Weeks, and often months of preparation have led to this moment, fighting at one of the sport’s historic venues...

The eye-catching sparkle, thrown up from yet another diamond-encrusted Audemars Piguet or a jewelled, limited edition Rolex screams ‘success’ at the top of its lungs. It’s been a status-symbol for decades, the ridiculous ...

The sun shining over both Chelmsley Wood’s rough council estate in Birmingham, England and the glossy city of Calabasas, Los Angeles is shared. It’s intensity varies, burning brighter on American soil as it bounces off the windo...

“I didn’t really pay attention to anyone, to be fair,” opened unbeaten super-middleweight, Zach Parker (18-0, 12KOs), when asked about the fallout from his controversial British title triumph, sixteen months ago. “E...

Cycling through all four of Hartlepool’s seasons in one day, the young daughter of a foster carer and a roofer found familiarity in Hartlepool’s fully-funded Headland boxing gym. Occupying her evenings after school and filling t...

This weekend, a British-Yemeni champion faces his toughest test in the form of a Nicaraguan cult, boxing icon. It’s a fight that’s long-overdue, between men that have often been linked. Kal Yafai (26-0, 15KOs) has yet to make th...

The shoulder-shimmying and the kiss blown across the ring may have seemed arrogant to some, but for Deontay Wilder, those gestures allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. He trotted backwards, eyes as wide as my own scorecard tallied again...

“If I lose, what am I going to do next? I don’t know nothing else,” Super middleweight prospect John Docherty (7-0, 5KOs) told Boxing Social, as he prepared for his first outing of an important new year. “I don’t have anyt...

Beyond the dark, solid door of another unnamed facility, basking in the unbending Las Vegas heat, finely tuned athletes were somersaulting and dragging their bodies through the mill. A warehouse in Sin City is so much more than just a wareh...

There were more bodies than beds, cramped into the one-bedroom apartment in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Bent like a little contortionist, the youngest of the struggling Mendez family wrestled with the searing heat during his attempts to sle...