IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Once the regal darling of HBO, Klitschko was essentially sent packing for his almost pathological devotion to caution, a devotion that reached its zenith in his 2011 fight with pretender to the throne, David Haye. Haye spent far too much of his desultory fight with Klitschko playing the maimed beggar; and Klitschko, despite advantages in every category except gall, did nothing to spare himself or the audience Haye’s performance. Klitschko-Haye was supposed to be the heavyweight fight to set the world ablaze; instead, it burned audiences out.”

Read Roadkill: Wladimir Klitschko KO5 Kubrat Pulev on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“There is a natural inclination to frame any fight involving Bernard Hopkins strictly within his narrative. Since he stopped Felix Trinidad thirteen years ago, Hopkins has used his skills for fighting and filibustering to control the lenses through which the audience interprets a fight. But that changed last night. Last night, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Sergey Kovalev became the story. Kovalev dominated Hopkins over twelve shockingly uncompetitive rounds, and in winning a unanimous decision handed Hopkins the worst defeat of his incredible career.”

Read Passive Resistance: Sergey Kovalev W12 Bernard Hopkins on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“For years, Hopkins was boxing’s most self-righteous anti-establishmentarian, a mad rebel fit for the pages of Dostoevsky. He wore that distinction with the same defiant pride with which he sported his prison stint, jumbled teeth, and bedlamite ring attire. But Hopkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, embraced his role as indignant pariah for only as long as such dissentience served him. Once welcomed by the establishment, Hopkins stuffed his megaphone in his soapbox and buried both in his multi-car garage. This is what survivors do, and Hopkins, at 49 years-old, is boxing’s survivor par excellence.”

Read Old Age is a Massacre: Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev Preview on The Cruelest Sport. .