Sports Journalist · 257 articles
As heavyweight boxing looks set to announce a top-tier fight between a Frenchman and a Croatian, one of Sweden’s best exports still lingers in the shadows, disappointed that his year closed out to muted fanfare. Speaking to Boxing Social, Otto Wallin (22-1, 14KOs) was in fine form, yet couldn’t quite avoid the topic of his abandoned bout […]
Amir Khan hasn’t been recognised. In this part of the world, Omaha, Nebraska, it isn’t entirely unusual for the former world champion and Olympic silver medallist to escape days unnoticed – a far cry from his life at home in the United Kingdom. Just a couple of months ago, he was plastered all over Instagram, […]
For Glasgow’s Kash Farooq (16-1, 6KOs), his dreams are twisted up in car wrecks, as his career at the top level of his chosen sport appears finished, despite a life of sacrifice and irreplaceable discipline. And it reminds us of what boxing never does, and probably never will do: a proper background check. It means that […]
The ‘Willie bag,’ stained by the dark leather of thousands of gloves and strangled by duct tape haphazardly wrapped around a thick, vertical, blue metal structure, remains one of Cus D’Amato’s training staples. The numbers are still there, just visible: 1. Left hook, 2. Right hook, 3. Left uppercut, and so on. D’Amato’s gym in the Catskills, New York, isn’t quite […]
ON October 15th, San Diego’s Pechanga Arena unanimously rose to its feet, with cheers ringing out, beers spilling, as one of the city’s own returned to the ring. For undefeated welterweight campaigner Giovani Santillan (28-0, 15KOs), it was special. Fighting in familiar territory and supported by friends and family that have watched his nine-year professional career unfold […]
IT would be inaccurate to say the dust has settled since two-time world champion Hannah Rankin (11-5, 2KOs) defeated Sweden’s Maria Lindberg; the dust hasn’t ever been allowed to gather. Rankin, from the remote village of Luss on the west bank of Loch Lomond, Scotland, had already been crowned a world champion when thrusting the IBO title in the […]
As always, Boxing Social Managing Director Rob Tebbutt is on the move. This time it’s from the podcast studio to another interview, as he ramps up content building ahead of Wasserman Boxing’s Development Series, streamed exclusively on Boxing Social’s YouTube channel in the UK & Ireland. That may sound like an advert, and I guess it probably is, but it’s […]
“That’s always been my goal and my dream. They are very big boots to fill, but I just honestly feel like I could be the man to do that. Every few years, someone comes around in Manchester that people really get behind, and I feel like there are some great fighters coming out of Manchester […]
“It belongs to the Ghana Prison Service and it’s their canteen area hence why it’s called Prison’s Canteen,” opens former IBF world lightweight champion, Richard Commey, discussing the venue for his first three professional fights. “It’s your typical Ghana venue: no roof, just a ring in the middle of a courtyard.” In just a month’s […]
BOXING, for all its wonderful intricacies and inclusive nature, leaves its door agape, permitting pretenders an entrance to fighters, finance, and overblown fandom. Yet for every ‘advisor’ or ‘manager’ sprouting from our dry, starved soil without the required experience (or license), the sport does occasionally benefit from the wisdom of welcomed outsiders. Swindon rapper Grim Sickers, […]
Akeem Ennis-Brown stands at attention, accepting his fate, despite almost everybody in attendance and those watching from home bemused at both of his hands remaining firmly at his sides. Defeat. The first as a professional. Ennis-Brown (14-1, 1 KO) was fighting Sam Maxwell, confusing the Liverpudlian and using his long, jagged arms like spears, picking shots, and […]
From the outside looking in, Priestfield Boxing gym in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, doesn’t seem like much. It isn’t your easy on the eye, state-of-the-art facility. It’s discoloured, worn exterior is typical of a spit-and-sawdust boxing breeding ground, often cleverly disguising the tales of hope and optimism that keep it insulated. The Priestfield gym, home to […]