“Perhaps it was the aura of his opponent, a fighter with a preternatural—grotesque even—capacity for violence. Or maybe it was the troubles both professional and personal dogging him. He was the opponent that night, too; that designation—loudly confirmed by a crowd eager to see him scalped—felt especially ominous. And who could ignore the commentators’ narrative? They had their ideas about who was the future, who the past, and were hedging accordingly. Under these influences one couldn’t see him standing at the mouth of the tunnel, wrapped in funereal black, and not wonder: will tonight set this once-rare fighter on the path to a common end?”

Read A Backward Step is Treason: The Night Shane Mosley Shattered Antonio Margarito on Hannibal Boxing.

“He makes a decent gatekeeper, though, doesn’t he? Broner is talented enough to trouble all but the elite, can chin check any welterweight on the planet, takes a good punch himself, and yet isn’t committed to winning enough to force his opponent anywhere uncomfortable for long. He also has yet to be stopped, and the first man to do so will proudly—too proudly, no?—claim to have done what Marcos Maidana, Mikey Garcia, Manny Pacquiao could not. And while people may bemoan Broner’s antics outside the ring, his apathy within it, the Cincinnati fighter remains an attraction. A gatekeeper who still manages to bring an audience—is there any better kind? “The Problem,” then, should expect further outcomes as degrading as his effort. Funny how a fighter who has treated people he deems beneath him so poorly now mans the elevator to an elite club that long ago laughed off his application.”

Read Gatekeeping: Manny Pacquiao Dominates Adrien Broner on Hannibal Boxing.

“When James Toney got off his stool before the twelfth round of his cruiserweight title fight with Vassiliy Jirov, did he believe, as trainer Freddie Roach told him, that he needed a knockdown to win? Who knows? If the effort he put forth in those remaining three minutes is any indication, however, he took Roach’s words to heart. Did Jirov step from his corner believing, as trainer Tommy Brooks proclaimed, that the next round would define him? Another mystery. But Jirov fought that round as though it were his last.”

Read This is the Future: James Toney Batters Vassiliy Jirov for His Third World Title on Hannibal Boxing.