IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“His brains still scrambled, Abner Mares stood before Showtime cameras and was asked to comment on the first defeat of his professional career, a stunning first-round TKO loss to 11-1 underdog Jhonny Gonzalez. What he offered, beyond congratulations to his friend and former sparring partner, the same man who had minutes earlier dumped him on the canvas at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, was a maxim that could have been taken out of Letters from a Stoic: “As you learn how to win you have to learn how to lose, too.” This is not entirely true: matchmaking can insulate a fighter—Gary Russell, Jr., for example—from ever having to learn the ins and outs of coming up short. But a fighter like Mares, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, had to know this moment was coming, if not against Gonzalez then against another opponent with aspirations rivalling Mares’ own. Facing the caliber of opponent Mares has since fighting Yohnny Perez to a draw in May, 2010, means inevitably taking a loss: at some point, the other guy will be the better man.”

Read CUTTING STRINGS: Jhonny Gonzalez TKO1 Abner Mares on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Punching power is spellbinding. You need only to consider the adjectives that accompany it for proof. Words like ‘frightening’ or ‘chilling’ indicate a visceral response to blows that turn a man’s lights out and freeze a crowd. Power produces outcomes people least want to suffer and therefore most want to see. Heavy-handed fighters fascinate because they deal in the same currency as their colleagues while producing more change. Plenty of fighters score knockouts, but power that breaks wills, that leaves men slumped, snoring, or stiff is qualitatively different. There is an element of mystery to this kind of power that is proportionate to its results. The more destructive the result, the less satisfying the explanation. ‘He is a born puncher,’ they say. And there the explanation stops.”

Read RAW POWER: Sergey Kovalev TKO4 Nathan Cleverly on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Middleweights Daniel Geale and Darren Barker knuckle up under the lights of the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night. While a bit of a sore thumb—a bout featuring two commonwealth fighters with one prior HBO appearance between them—Geale-Barker will produce the kind of legitimate opponent Gennady Golovkin has pursued for a year. Having hitched its wagon to Golovkin, it makes sense for HBO to televise Geale-Barker with the express purpose of delivering the winner to him. Of course, Zeno’s paradox of motion makes sense, too, but neither it nor the above scenario has anything to do with reality.”

Read Off the Radar: Daniel Geale-Darren Barker Preview on The Cruelest Sport.