IBR on The Cruelest Sport

Only seven months removed from a slugfest with Ruslan Provodnikov that left him slurring his speech for months, Tim Bradley entered the ring against Juan Manuel Marquez as something of a mystery. At his best, Bradley had the intelligence and athleticism to diffuse Marquez, but there was a chance that the actual Bradley, the one poised to face Marquez in Las Vegas last night, was only a shadow of himself. Would last night’s Bradley be able to dart safely in and out of range, or slip and roll with the punches of boxing’s foremost marksman? If not, how would this Bradley respond to the blows Marquez crashed into his skull? Bradley answered these questions and more in winning a split decision at the Thomas and Mack Center.

Read A Jury Disguised As An Audience: Timothy Bradley W12 Juan Manuel Marquez 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.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

There is a military rigidity of thought to welterweight Marcos Maidana, a charming lust for destruction that permits no deviation. This is not to mistake him for being particularly skilled—he is certainly not one of the sport’s more refined practitioners, or even one of its best—but there is something undeniably endearing about his stubborn pursuit of the knockout, and his acceptance of the inevitable abuse endured to secure it. Josesito Lopez has shown a similar commitment to machismo, and expectations for havoc were high when the two met at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, Saturday night. After six grueling rounds, Lopez succumbed to Maidana’s superior firepower, but not before emptying his own clip.

Read FIREPOWER: Marcos Maidana TKO6 Josesito Lopez on The Cruelest Sport.