IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“Middleweights Daniel Geale and Darren Barker knuckle up under the lights of the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night. While a bit of a sore thumb—a bout featuring two commonwealth fighters with one prior HBO appearance between them—Geale-Barker will produce the kind of legitimate opponent Gennady Golovkin has pursued for a year. Having hitched its wagon to Golovkin, it makes sense for HBO to televise Geale-Barker with the express purpose of delivering the winner to him. Of course, Zeno’s paradox of motion makes sense, too, but neither it nor the above scenario has anything to do with reality.”

Read Off the Radar: Daniel Geale-Darren Barker Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“After weeks of haggling over contractual details, the fight was finally sealed two weeks ago. Hopefully Garcia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, squeezed every dime he could out of the lengthy negotiations. Garcia-Matthysse is a fight that should end spectacularly; when the collective jaws drop, Garcia’s jaw stands to be the most radically unhinged. A frightening mashup of carnage and tranquility, Matthysse gives every indication of being the superior fighter. His skeptics, now largely regarded with the same distaste grubby placard-wavers on Speakers’ Corner are, were silenced when Matthysse destroyed normally durable Lamont Peterson in May.”

Read One Is The Loneliest Number: On Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysse and Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Saul Alvarez on The Cruelest Sport

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“A longtime passenger on the HBO entitlement train, Berto, Winter Haven, Florida, cashed several hefty checks for facing a murderer’s row that included Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Freddy Hernandez. With his advisor, Al Haymon, turning the thumbscrews on HBO executives, Berto was the poster child for a business beholden not to consumers but to network programmers and their bedfellows.”

Read Long Nights Waiting: Jesus Soto Karass TKO12 Andre Berto on The Cruelest Sport.