The large, gloomy shadow cast over North Kensington serves as a painful reminder of the trauma that blazed above its less affluent, yet highly-populated streets over two years ago. The derelict remains of Grenfell Tower are a symbol, as much as an eyesore. Amongst those lost during the severe fire in West London were children, […]
It was just over four years ago, in the Baden-Arena, Offenburg, when Italian super-middleweight Giovanni De Carolis slipped out of the side door with a briefcase he’d collected at the venue. The decision was disputed by the German fans in attendance – unsurprisingly – while crestfallen, deposed champion Vincent Feigenbutz pondered his future. He’d been […]
“We will persist until we succeed. There’s no other option. There’s no second ending or Plan B, is there? We’re gonna get back in the ring or die trying, am I right, partner? You can quote us on that.” Boxing is an often painfully lonely sport, sinking heavy shots of sacrifice into the liver and […]
As the rain tiptoes down the windows of a traditional Welsh pub, two men are discussing boxing greats of years gone by. It’s not intrusive, that spattering; standard for early Spring. As it marks time – warning those tucked safely inside with their ales or gins of the elements that await them – one fellow challenges […]
The walls are ironically plastered with colour. Blue, white and red, predominantly, with flashes of military green. The stories told on crumbling concrete and painted murals of a time best left forgotten were the backdrop to the darkest times here on the Shankhill Road, Belfast. Now visited year-round by tourists keen to breathe in Northern […]
“You accomplish, you become successful and now your life’s gotta change. Ninety percent of boxers, if not more, have come from poverty. Nobody helps them out with anything. When we’re taking the punches, nobody takes them with us, nobody is running, nobody is starving to make weight with us.” Since 1960, Youngstown, Ohio’s population had […]
The hunger for muscle-upon-muscle seems to have left deposed, heavyweight King, Anthony Joshua, as he edges towards his shot at redemption. Previously draped in definition, those monstrous deltoids have shrunk, as he prepares for the most important fight of his career in a purpose-built stadium, carved carefully into the Arabian desert. The Watford man has […]
“I made a lot of mistakes, but I was working on these things as well. I was staying in close. Obviously I’m a tall boxer for my weight category, but I was working in close a little too much. “I had a lot to learn in that fight, more than the previous eight. I need […]
Boxing has a funny way of playing with our emotions. The weeping of open wounds or wives watching on, aghast, is splashed across our screens. Fighters pour parts of themselves into a sport which exclusively takes, takes and takes some more. It’s an escape for struggling adolescents, stumbling into local gyms to escape the trappings […]
Carved in his father’s image, the young boy strapped into the back seat of the car stared aimlessly at familiar scenery. He’d made the same trip before, many times. Houses, parks and people, basking in the Glendale summer, skipped across his eye line. From age four, Adam Lopez had been visiting his father in prison. […]
Travelling 238 miles in the wee hours of the morning, crammed between two other men in the back of a small, icy vehicle, the winner of that evening’s bout didn’t celebrate in traditional fashion. It didn’t matter to him – the alcohol, the parties or the money spent wasting time with people who’d disappeared when […]
As Nonito Donaire wipes the last tears from his sons’ eyes and as Josh Taylor manages to peer through his own, now significantly deflated, boxing is faced with a genuine conundrum. We have lauded contests in recent weeks between hardened warriors, yet find ourselves smothered by coverage from a bout that holds no meaning. This […]