Cliff Rold
427 articles · Hard Core Boxing
-
Joshua Arrives and More: BoxingScene Ratings Update
By Cliff Rold
Heavyweight: Anthony Joshua went from untested to battle hardened in a single night, surviving a trip to the brink against Wladimir Klitschko to stop the longtime face of the class. He ascends…
-
Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. Post-Fight Report Card: A Commercial, Rerun
By Cliff Rold
Even the people who knew didn?t really know until they saw it. There was always a healthy skepticism about the Saul Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight. There was a strong (proven accurate)…
-
Vasyl Lomachenko-Jason Sosa: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
The rapid ascent of Vasyl Lomachenko is boxing?s professional ranks takes another step. Most assume he?ll win. That assumption would be there against anyone currently rated at Jr. lightweight. It might not…
-
Marco Huck-Mairis Briedis: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
Thanks to Tony Bellew?s heavyweight upset of David Haye at heavyweight, cruiserweight has an opening among its alphabet title ranks. That opening, the WBC?s, will be filled Saturday. One man either adds…
-
Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
There may be a semantic argument for a certain prominent red headed battler as history?s middleweight champion, but for most of the sport?s followers the man at middleweight will be decided Saturday…
-
Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman: Should We Get the Ball Rolling?
By Cliff Rold
Sports should be simple: win, progress, and ultimately end up with the other winners. There doesn?t need to be that much thought to it. In boxing, a sport lacking the structure and…
-
Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia: Post-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
Hardcore boxing followers may have been intrigued. Having seen far worse fights, they?ll easily convince themselves that ?it wasn?t that bad.? It would miss the point. In the most anticipated fight so…
-
Bernard Hopkins Exits the Only Way
By Cliff Rold
Entering the ring to a personalized version of the Old Blue Eyes standard ?My Way,? the great Bernard Hopkins exited it at the end of a powerful combination of punches from a…
-
Measured Against All Time: Bernard Hopkins ? Extended Cut
By Cliff Rold
Author?s Note: In September 2010, it was announced that Bernard Hopkins would challenge Jean Pascal for the lineal light heavyweight title in what would be the first of two fights between the…
-
Boxing and The Public Trust
By Cliff Rold
According to the reports originating with Yahoo?s Kevin Iole and verified by others, the best made fight of 2016 was far from its biggest. If Bob Arum is telling the truth about…
-
Vasyl Lomachenko-Nicholas Walters: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
The timing of things can be funny. Had this fight happened even six months ago, the buzz among hardcore fight fans would likely be off the charts. It?s still good. It feels…
-
Vasyl Lomachenko – The No Padding Model
By Cliff Rold
There is an audacity to the career of WBO 130 lb. titlist Vasyl Lomachenko. Two Olympic Gold medals, and two world amateur championships, said a lot about how good he was before…
-
Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev: Post-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
Sometimes a fight can be closely contested, closely decided, and still be decidedly wrong. That?s what happened on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev dominated most of the…
-
Kovalev-Ward: A Superb, If Not Capital “S” Super, Fight
By Cliff Rold
If you?re a boxing fan, this Saturday is a date that has been circled on the calendar for months. Two of the three best light heavyweights in the world will lock horns.…
-
May-Pac Headed to the Rematch?: BoxingScene Ratings Update
By Cliff Rold
Welterweight: Few seem to want it but there is enough smoke to wonder if there might be fire to the idea of a Manny Pacquiao rematch with Floyd Mayweather. Time will tell.…
-
Donnie Nietes: Late To The Dance
By Cliff Rold
This Saturday, 34-year old former 105 and 108 lb. titlist Donnie Nietes (38-1-4, 22 KO) makes his long discussed debut in the flyweight division. He?ll face former 108 lb. titlist and one-time…
-
Golovkin-Brook, Gonzalez-Cuadras: Post-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
The pairing, indirect this time, of middleweight Gennady Golovkin and now Jr. bantamweight Roman Gonzalez delivered again on Saturday. As has been the case for most of this pairing, Golovkin delivers more…
-
Viktor Postol-Terence Crawford: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
There is an easy way to do things in boxing. Get a belt, defend it against foes that can?t really beat you, and stack checks: that?s the easy way. It?s not the…
-
Cesar Juarez Blasts Out Albert Pagara in Eight Rounds
By Cliff Rold
After a memorable war with Nonito Donaire last year was followed with a loss, it was wondered if Mexico?s Cesar Juarez might already have had his best day. Saturday night at the…
-
Ganigan Lopez-Jonathan Taconing: Pre-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
As signs point to Donnie Nietes moving towards a rise in weight, the 108 lb. class could be losing the man most see as its top battler. Even if he doesn?t ultimately…