“There is symmetry between the musculature in Alvarez’s back and the infinity symbol on his trunks. The augmented strength of intertwining fibers and no end in sight. Consider who might conceivably beat this version of Alvarez, the version who crushed a Krusher, who is proving the super-middleweight division undeserving of the adjective. Alvarez is walking down larger men, cowing them with his elusiveness, with every counter, with every perfectly-placed shank to the liver. Does the man you would wager your neck on toppling Alvarez weigh less than two hundred pounds?”

Read Worth a Thousand Words: Saul Alvarez Shatters Billy Joe Saunders on Hannibal Boxing.

“That transformation must have appealed to Corley, a man obsessed with discipline and control, specifically self-control, with what he can demand of himself. It isn’t maniacal, and there is nothing about Corley’s preternatural capacity for discipline that stands to harm other people. Sturdy but subtle, it’s woven quietly into his behavior such that it is discerned most clearly in contrasting his indulgences with those other forty-six-year-old men might permit themselves. It’s hard to believe Corley struggled much in a pandemic year, treating its unhinging restrictions as one more demand on his willpower, one more opportunity to embrace discipline.”

Read Command and Control: The Right Life for DeMarcus Corley on Hannibal Boxing.

“5. Gonzalez welcomes a rubber match with Estrada, the third fight with Sor Rungvisai too. Perhaps this is what faith does? When all is God’s will even disaster is divine. And yet, while Gonzalez spoke to Nicaragua, his hands lifted in worship, voice cracking, did he betray a moment of genuine disappointment? It is easy to imagine him allowing himself a slackening in his sanguinity, hiding it safely in that devotional. There are no riddles to Gonzalez between the ropes. But if there are none beyond them, he is inscrutable.”

Read Estrada-Gonzalez ll: Proving the Reality of the Past on Hannibal Boxing.