“Because, for all his limitations, Stevenson is dynamic in his ability to bury home the only fist opponents need fear. Against Williams, he started by using his jab to hide the cross Williams expected but could never see coming. When Williams employed a high guard to catch the crosses he couldn’t see, Stevenson responded by digging lefts into Williams’ body. This adjustment forced Williams to open his guard just enough for Stevenson to find his chin with left uppercuts. Unable to stem Stevenson’s assault, Williams’ redoubled his commitment to a kill-or-be-killed strategy, which, for the inferior fighter, does not offer the 50/50 proposition such an either/or relationship implies.”

Read Aftermath: On Adonis Stevenson-Thomas Williams Jr. on UCN Live.

“There are a few rounds in every fight in which opponents must feel like they are going to make the breach. One of the criticisms of Crawford is that he starts slowly and there were likely a few pompous 140-character remarks about Crawford’s impending comeuppance when Postol started well on Saturday. But Crawford does not lose the opening rounds, at least not in the sense that he is powerless to prevent how they unfold. Rather, he concedes these rounds, accepting that opponents will often have success while betraying the means to their undoing. It would be interesting to hear what his opponents thought of their auspicious early moments. Did they ever think about the price that might be extracted for their good fortune? Or wonder what they were unintentionally revealing while laying the foundation for a victory that would never come?”

Read Aftermath: On Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol on UCN Live

“Perhaps the most interesting glimpse into the psyche of unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev is this: Kovalev once asked his trainer whether he punched hard enough to pursue a career as a professional fighter. That he posed this question at the dawn of his career is telling. Is it not possible this question hints at a fissure in the armor of boxing’s resident bully? In wondering if he has power enough to succeed – despite power hardly being a necessary or sufficient condition of success in the ring – Kovalev might well be revealing what fighting anxieties plague him in his most private moments.”

Read Aftermath: On Kovalev-Chilemba and Golovkin-Brook on UCN Live.