Tszyu fought the third round like he was behind on the cards, trying to secure an outcome more satisfying than one a ringside physician—with his considerations of a future beyond the next round—might. Fundora, both nostrils gushing blood, was there to meet him. As the blood flowed into Tszyu’s eye like a river freed by spring’s thaw, there were Fundora’s uppercuts, with their longitudinal arch and surprising effect, that twice found Tszyu’s sturdy chin; the jabs that for two rounds did little but assist Tszyu’s malicious calculations, now served their own evil, setting up the left hands Fundora landed behind them. Prudence dictated Tszyu’s corner intervene (perhaps wisdom too), that with the no-contest in play, they make a subtle but compelling case for it. But with the end of the fourth round, that opportunity was gone.

Read Addition by Subtraction: Late Replacement Sebastian Fundora Shocks Tim Tszyu on Hannibal Boxing.

“There is a right way for titles to change hands, a right way to consolidate them: in a manner expeditious as it is violent, captivating as it is definitive. This is the only way Naoya Inoue accepts, and it would be uniquely his were it not for the apex predator from Omaha. Inoue is now the undisputed super bantamweight champion of the world, a distinction he secured, fittingly, on Boxing Day, stopping Marlon Tapales in ten rounds at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Japan. After two fights, the division is Inoue’s; consecutive concussive performances reminding us that if “all the belts” is your ambition—and your talent is equal to it—the excuses for falling short of your goal might reside in you.”

Read Atomic Blonde: Naoya Inoue is Undisputed (Again) on Hannibal Boxing.

“On Saturday, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defended his undisputed super middleweight crown against Jermell Charlo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Charlo, who rules the junior-middleweight division regardless of the hardware he lost to a broken hand, moved up two divisions and fourteen pounds to face a fighter he has long believed he could beat. A prizefight quickly devolved into a transaction with a result rightly decided by a series of scorecards as passionless and academic as the inaction that wrought them. All three judges scored the bout widely for Alvarez, who did very little and yet so much more than his opponent.”

Read All Hat, No Cattle: Jermell Charlo Capitulates to Canelo Alvarez on Hannibal Boxing.