IBR on The Cruelest Sport

Some time after Gennady Golovkin scored a third-round knockout of Matthew Macklin, giving those in attendance at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, the awful conclusion they paid for, Macklin remained in Child’s Pose on the canvas. Gasping, his face contorted in agony, Macklin went through a ritual of pain. It is a strange thing, pain; stranger still is the body’s responses. The reflexive writhing and clawing for distraction in movement—like a prisoner throwing himself against the bars of his cell—all that squirming in a futile bid to escape.

Read ANIMALIZED: Gennady Golovkin KO3 Matthew Macklin on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

However destructive middleweight Gennady Golovkin’s career has been to this point, it has largely been the product of the how—not the whom. This is not to belittle the accomplishments of a fighter who has compiled a record of 26-0 with 23 knockouts: in boxing, the best platform for raising your profile remains the scaffold, and it is unlikely that either HBO or the public they occasionally represent becomes as enamored with Golovkin without the carnage he produces. But skepticism persists, primarily because ruining the likes of Nobuhiro Ishida does little more than emphatically restate the obvious. What Golovkin has long needed—and has struggled mightily to secure—is an opponent whose undoing would silence the critics. This Saturday, from the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, he faces just such a man.

Read The Monster Under The Bed: Gennady Golovkin-Matthew Macklin Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

To the relief of many, a tasteless and offensive promotion came to an end last night when Paulie Malignaggi and Adrien Broner met at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Broner, having rifled through the skeletons of Malignaggi’s closet, found a bag of bones willing to humiliate herself for fifteen seconds of fame and two minutes of hate, and tried to drum up interest by emasculating Malignaggi via unfavorable sexual reviews of “The Magic Man.” Malignaggi, ever the sanctimonious windbag, played right along, of course, helping turn last night’s “grudge match” into the final act in a vicariously embarrassing drama. Broner won a split decision over Malignaggi in a fight that—rather fittingly—offered little by way of entertainment, but managed to pose a few questions about how Broner might fair against the best fighters at 140 and 147 pounds.

Read The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be: Adrien Broner W12 Paulie Malignaggi on The Cruelest Sport.