Tyson Fury TKO7 Deontay Wilder: 2020 Performance of the Year
An edited version of this article was originally published on TheFightCity.com on 8th January, 2021: https://www.thefightcity.com/2020-performance-of-the-year-tyson-fury-boxing/
After a nail-biting finish to their first encounter in December 2018, which saw Tyson Fury largely outbox Deontay Wilder before having to twice peel himself off the canvas only to earn a draw, the stage was set for another finely balanced contest in their February rematch. Logic seemed to indicate one of two likely outcomes: either Fury would outbox his undefeated rival again, only this time avoid getting clipped like in the first fight and so take a clear decision, or else Wilder’s wrecking ball right hand would find Fury’s chin again, only this time he wouldn’t get off the deck. Read more
The New Sugar Man Arrives: Shane Mosley W12 Oscar De La Hoya
An edited version of this article was originally published on TheFightCity.com on June 17th, 2020: https://www.thefightcity.com/june-17-de-la-hoya-vs-mosley-los-angeles-boxing/
It was the summer of 2000. Still drunk on the optimism of the New Millennium, the world was a happier, less volatile place. The social media giants that dominate our lives today did not even exist. The tragedy of 9/11 and the “War on Terror” that lay in its wake had yet to unfold. Bill Clinton was presiding over his eighth and final year in the White House, while a Donald Trump presidency was still just a joke in The Simpsons. Read more
Fights that Never Were
An edited version of this article was originally published on TheFightCity.com on May 28th, 2019: https://www.thefightcity.com/boxing-heartache-fans/
Surveying the 2019 boxing landscape, there are some brilliant fights to be made: Spence vs. Crawford at welterweight; Lomachenko vs. Garcia at lightweight; a round robin between Wilder, Fury and Joshua at heavyweight; and a much-needed Canelo vs. Golovkin trilogy fight at middleweight, to name a few. Whether or not we will actually get to see any of these is another question entirely, of course. Unfortunately, one of the downsides to being a boxing fan is that we don’t always get to see the best fights get made.
With that being said, here’s five of the best fights that we didn’t get to see over the last 30 years, according to three categories: Fights that should have happened; rematches that should have happened; and fights that did happen, but at the wrong time. Read more
Time for a Welterweight Renaissance
An edited version of this article was originally published on TheFightCity.com on April 29th, 2019: https://www.thefightcity.com/boxing-welterweights-division-crawford-spence/
We all have a favourite set of boxers. The ones that helped forge our love for the sport way back when; the ones we still keep on old, worn-out VHS tapes and faded, nostalgic magazines, stuffed away in the loft somewhere. Wind the clock back a couple of decades to the mid-to-late 90s, and you’ll find my own favourite era. It’s fair to say the 90s are not generally considered an historical golden age for boxing, at least not in comparison to when the Four Kings were doing battle the previous decade, or when the mesmerizing career of Muhammad Ali was unfolding in the 60s and 70s. And yet, with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight, it looks pretty damn good from where I’m standing today. Read more
Floyd Mayweather TKO10 Ricky Hatton, December 8th 2007
An edited version of this article was published on TheFightCity.com website on December 8th, 2017: https://www.thefightcity.com/dec-8-2007-mayweather-vs-hatton-boxing/
“My heart will explode before I leave him alone for one second,” Ricky Hatton had promised prior to his December 2007 showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. In the event, far less was required to inflict a first defeat on the determined challenger, though no one could ever accuse the Englishman of not giving everything he had that night in Las Vegas.
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Matt O'Brien
Boxing Philosophy 