As I staggered sheepishly through the tiny door at the Hayemaker gym, I was asked to take a seat on the edge of the ring apron. It was my first visit to the facility, almost camouflaged along the Thames. We squeezed past David’s cars, exchanging grunts with a newly-signed Joe Joyce. The gentleman looking after […]
Whilst gazing upon the heavyweight landscape it appears littered with contenders, challengers and champions. Each striving to eclipse one another, displaying a variance of strength, speed and steel. Opportunities are sparce when world titles are held hostage or unified, yet the division’s most intriguing elder-statesman remains determined to grasp a second chance. I caught up with […]
Trees surround the ring, as onlookers peer through the branches, hoping to catch sight of the action… In December, the average temperature is an uncomfortably humid 26°c. There’s no such thing as winter, in Cavite. If there were windows in ‘Survival Camp’, they would be steamy all year round, as the air thickens in the […]
The resplendent coastline of Quintana Roo fights its own battles, going toe-to-toe with nature in the muggy, Mexican Autumn. Battered by sporadic hurricanes, its tumultuous tussle with the elements has been personified by its latest sporting icon. A young man raised by a single mother in Cancun, current WBC super-featherweight champion Miguel ‘El Alacrán’ Berchelt (33-1, 29 KO’s) […]
The flickering of the Chinese Kongming (天灯) lantern in the wind is symbolic. Freedom, wealth and best wishes for the future all drift upwards, distancing themselves from the harsh realities of life at surface level. The burning light, itself, jostles for position amongst the traffic of the busiest nights’ sky. It hasn’t been easy for the […]