IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“The ring is my job.” – Gennady Golovkin

It is as refreshing as it is rare to hear a fighter speak so plainly about his bloody business, and rarer still to hear these words from a fighter who has captured the imagination of even the most skeptical observers. Fans of the “manly art” are as quick to embrace fighters whose language reflects boxing’s high stakes as they are to smell weakness in perspective. Yet, without platitudes middleweight headsman Gennady Golovkin continues to spellbind with little more than his professionalism and the violence it begets.

Read Working Stiff: Gennady Golovkin TKO7 Osumanu Adama on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Yoked with consecutive defeats, Ortiz, 29-4-2 (22), exhibited little of the behavior we expect of serious men in a serious profession. He did not hole up like Goodhue Coldfield and he did not repeat the usual boxing platitudes. Instead, Ortiz spent his hiatus—one necessitated by the severity of his fractured jaw—like a resurrected child star. He cut rugs on Dancing with the Stars, launched a line of skincare products enticingly titled “VO by Facelube,” shot a commercial that belongs in a time capsule, released VO cologne, and filmed scenes for the upcoming action flick, The Expendables 3. In short, Ortiz, the loser, the quitter, the laughing stock, managed to parlay his cultural currency into a level of crossover success most boxers rarely achieve.”

Read Action or Antics: Victor Ortiz-Luis Collazo Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“It is easy to understand why Top Rank has hitched its wagon to the smooth operating Garcia. Once the third member of a Top Rank triumvirate featuring Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez, Garcia has long given the impression of being not only the best fighter among the three, but the one whose career is most carefully and concertedly orchestrated. Lopez, whom Garcia splayed in four pathetic rounds last June, fell victim to irreconcilable differences between his competitive fury and the technique and toughness needed to gratify it. And Gamboa, who unlike Lopez has plenty of fight left, becomes less and less compelling with every forgettable performance. He is best remembered for bailing on a fight with Brandon Rios before jumping ship to a fledgling promotional company that places part of its future in the hands of Andre Dirrell.”

Read With Only A Hint: Mikey Garcia W12 Juan Carlos Burgos on The Cruelest Sport.