“There will not be a fourth fight. Indeed there was barely a third. Saul Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin renewed frustrations at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Saturday, where Alvarez won a unanimous decision in a fight that above all else revealed the decline of both fighters. A supposed grudge match (because calling it a comeback fight would have been too callous) devolved quickly into a transaction between a fighter drained by his trips around the sun and a fighter unable to capitalize on what those revolutions proffered to him.”

Read Cold War: Saul Alvarez Decisions Gennadiy Golovkin to End Trilogy on Hannibal Boxing.

“Because of his popularity, because of investments financial, emotional, and patriotic in nature, Joshua will be psychoanalyzed and unpacked again in the aftermath of his second loss to Usyk. This scrutiny is performed with an eye to refurbishing, remaking a finished product that is not allowed to be a fighter who figures only in his era. An answer for why Joshua again fell short will be sought mistakenly in the Watford, UK, fighter, in his constitution, his fragility, his development. But the best explanation was in the ring with him that night. Joshua is a very good heavyweight; Usyk is a better one. He is the reason Joshua is no longer a champion and Joshua disclosed as much in a postfight rant that revealed just how physically and psychically taxing his efforts to unseat the Ukrainian had been.”

Read Full Clip: Oleksandr Usyk Outboxes Anthony Joshua Again on Hannibal Boxing.

This rancor of the lower divisions, a concussionista whose intentions reflect his disdain for the jab—what did he tell himself in those minute reprieves from a protracted beating? Could Sor Rungvisai identify flashes of success, punches that didn’t just land but altered the behavior, the resolve, and bearing of his opponent? Because such signs were almost imperceptible at a vantage point beyond the ropes. Rodriguez did what no one has done to Sor Rungivsai: he made him look small, even weak. A win over Sor Rungvisai, who had shown increasing wear of late? That was certainly possible, especially for Rodriguez, a Texan fighting in his hometown. But a one-sided drubbing? Who envisioned that?

Read Exterminated: Jesse Rodriguez Romps Over the Rat King on Hannibal Boxing.