IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“After weeks of haggling over contractual details, the fight was finally sealed two weeks ago. Hopefully Garcia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, squeezed every dime he could out of the lengthy negotiations. Garcia-Matthysse is a fight that should end spectacularly; when the collective jaws drop, Garcia’s jaw stands to be the most radically unhinged. A frightening mashup of carnage and tranquility, Matthysse gives every indication of being the superior fighter. His skeptics, now largely regarded with the same distaste grubby placard-wavers on Speakers’ Corner are, were silenced when Matthysse destroyed normally durable Lamont Peterson in May.”

Read One Is The Loneliest Number: On Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysse and Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Saul Alvarez on The Cruelest Sport

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“A longtime passenger on the HBO entitlement train, Berto, Winter Haven, Florida, cashed several hefty checks for facing a murderer’s row that included Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Freddy Hernandez. With his advisor, Al Haymon, turning the thumbscrews on HBO executives, Berto was the poster child for a business beholden not to consumers but to network programmers and their bedfellows.”

Read Long Nights Waiting: Jesus Soto Karass TKO12 Andre Berto on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

Some time after Gennady Golovkin scored a third-round knockout of Matthew Macklin, giving those in attendance at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, the awful conclusion they paid for, Macklin remained in Child’s Pose on the canvas. Gasping, his face contorted in agony, Macklin went through a ritual of pain. It is a strange thing, pain; stranger still is the body’s responses. The reflexive writhing and clawing for distraction in movement—like a prisoner throwing himself against the bars of his cell—all that squirming in a futile bid to escape.

Read ANIMALIZED: Gennady Golovkin KO3 Matthew Macklin on The Cruelest Sport.