IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Porter-Brook matches two men with unanswered questions and complimentary styles. The fight’s intrigue is further enhanced by what each participant might reveal of himself against his sternest test. Whether there is anything particularly special about either Porter or Brook (beyond his moniker) remains unclear, but there is a chance we will find out on Saturday, and this rare injection of mystery distinguishes this matchup in a woefully predictable year.”

Read Roughing It: Shawn Porter-Kell Brook Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Movement, confident or desperate, is a natural consequence of sharing a ring with Rios, yet only Pacquiao has eluded him for twelve rounds. As if made of a denser matter, Rios, 147, imposes a gravitational pull on his opponents. Despite his leaden feet, despite often closing without punching, opponents inevitably find Rios tucked under their chins, working his fists into exposed tissue with uncanny accuracy. It is in these moments that a fighter must show his nerve, and it is in these moments that Chaves unraveled.”

Read An Ugly Affair: Brandon Rios DQ9 Diego Chaves on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“This complexity can only help Golovkin, born in Kazakhstan but now living in Stuttgart, Germany. It keeps him on the public’s tongues and thumbs, spawning arguments on social media that rage far longer than the ten or so minutes it took for him to dispatch Geale. Golovkin is quickly becoming the type of sports figure who validates worldviews, whose victories and defeats will be presented as evidence that a particular perspective on him, and any other attendant opinion tenuously attached to that perspective, is correct—and that those who disagree have faulty cognitive wiring.”

Read Mexican Style: Gennady Golovkin TKO3 Daniel Geale on The Cruelest Sport.