IBR on The Cruelest Sport

Falling somewhere between the bearded lady and the lion tamer in its curiosity and danger, the fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Saul Alvarez—who face each other at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night—is without question the biggest event in boxing. Having learned a few months ago that the success of a Mayweather event is not exclusive of his opposition, Golden Boy Promotions is using the semi as a gruesome audition for Mayweather’s next opponent. Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse will try to unmake each other over a superfluously scheduled 12 rounds. At stake: the junior welterweight crown and a likely crack at Mayweather.

Read Stiff As A Life Sentence: Danny Garcia- Lucas Matthysse Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

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.