“At the Saturday press conference to announce his July fight with Isaac Chilemba, light heavyweight reaper Sergey Kovalev described his profession as follows: “Boxing, for me, is a street fight with rules.” That qualifier “for me” is no trifle: Between the ropes, IBF/WBA/WBO titlist Kovalev conducts himself with the malice of a man fighting beyond them, one only restrained by the conventions of sportsmanship for the purpose of victory and compensation. For Kovalev, it seems boxing is a sport, second, and something more primal, first.”

Read: Aftermath: On Golovkin-Wade, Gonzalez-Arroyo, and Sergey Kovalev on UCN Live.

“Errol Spence, Jr capitalized on an opportunity to announce his presence by crushing usually sturdy Chris Algieri in five rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday night. It was an impressive showing for Spence if for no other reason than the PBC has provided several of its flagship fighters similar opportunities, only to see them falter (running out the clock against Robert Guerrero, for example, being nearly steamrolled by Lamont Peterson, or making punishment sponge John Molina, Jr. boring). To his credit, Spence was his most impressive when the stakes were highest.”

Read A Welcome Spectacle: Errol Spence Jr. TKO5 Chris Algieri on The Cruelest Sport.

“In the best and final fight of their trilogy, Manny Pacquiao decisioned Tim Bradley on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Bradley gave everything of himself in a performance complimented best by contemplating how effectively that same effort might have served him against the rest of the field; Pacquiao, a fighter who for the better part of ten years determined who the rest of the field was, was simply better.”

Read: The Rest of the Field: On Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley on The Cruelest Sport.