No One’s Huckster, Marco’s Goods are Genuine
Marty Mulcahey: A defection by The Ring magazine World Cruiserweight Champion Tomasz Adamek to the heavyweight division has left a void at the top of that undervalued weight class, one which German brawler Marco "Käpt’n" Huck is making strides to fill. Another step in that process arrives today, when Huck faces American challenger Matt Godfrey in the fourth defense of one of the four major alphabet titles not worth mentioning

The Saturday Night TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey (Photo © Bob Barton): Over the last decade, Don King has been on a slow march towards irrelevance which has negatively affected his stable of boxers because of a lack of TV dates. Yes, Don King is fading in significance but I have to give the wily old businessman credit for going all out when he stages an event. As the saying goes, “If you want something to sell, make it look important.” That is what King has done to his HBO televised card tonight...

The Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: Elton John famously sang that Saturday night’s alright for fighting; with no televised boxing events on Saturday, only Friday night delivers action for boxing fans. It’s an even sparser landscape for English-speaking boxing fans with ESPN2 providing the only American language broadcast. Telefutura and Telemundo pitch-in the other two cards and, frankly, I kind of enjoy listening to Spanish broadcast knockout

The Weekend TV Cheat Sheet: Part One
By Marty Mulcahey (Photo © Tom Casino / SHOWTIME): I’ve gotten a lot of feedback questioning my correlation between soccer’s World Cup tourney and the lack of boxing on TV in recent “TV Cheat Sheet” intros. The last 30 days have been some of the most uneventful in recent memory for boxing but finally, last week, there was some movement with Juan Manuel Lopez and Nonito Donaire fighting a day before the World Cup final. My theory is bolstered by the fact that this week, there are so

The Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: Weekends in which one PPV is the dominant feature can be tricky for boxing fans. It can be great when it is an attractive pairing that draws attention because it pits two great fighters in their primes against one another. Or, as is the case this weekend, it can be disappointing when our sport’s main event features two men known more for their personal lives than ring achievements. Both Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and John Duddy are capable boxers who have made for entertaining

An Interview with Author Lee Groves
Marty Mulcahey: Every year, a substantial amount of books are devoted to boxing; unique books with an intelligent point of view that offer new insight are another matter. Too often, writers are satisfied retelling old stories with an overreliance

Two More Forces of Nature Ready to Explode
By Marty Mulcahey (Photo © Tom Casino / SHOWTIME): A volcanic eruption threatened to set the Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler fight back a couple of weeks; with that obstacle removed, fans now hope the European rivals will cause a similar eruption inside the ring. Given the duo’s respective temperaments and styles, that is a real possibility. Hometown favorite Kessler is in desperate need

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: The weekend preceding a big PPV often delivers good fights to whet the appetite for what is to come, and that is certainly the case on Saturday. HBO, again, feels the need to counterprogram Showtime’s “Super-Six” tourney, delivering an intriguing main event of Chris Arreola and Tomasz Adamek, as well as a match-up of power punchers Alfredo Angulo and Joel Julio

Stepping up to opportunities
By Marty Mulcahey (Photo © Chris Farina / Top Rank): Sergio Martinez is the reigning WBC junior middleweight champion, but has not defended that title in over a year, finding it easier to entice opponents at 160 pounds. The Argentine repeatedly stated his desire to unify the junior middleweight titles, so it’s ironic that he is backing up those words by fighting the two best middleweights in the world. Many thought Martinez defeated Paul Williams four months ago, in a mesmerizing 12-round

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: Yes, the boxing world seems sedentary in anticipation of the big Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight, but another solid weekend of boxing awaits fans, with ESPN2, Showtime, and HBO delivering a good mix of champions, contenders, and prospects. The intriguing showdown between Kelly Pavlik and Sergio Martinez is the clash I am most interested in. If ever the term “puncher’s chance” applied to a fighter, this time it’s stuck to Edison Miranda, who tries to unseat the world’s

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: It is a strangely formatted weekend for boxing fans. There are no events on Friday night, and the number of choices for Saturday make it a challenge to view all in their entirety. ESPN2 presents a special Saturday night telecast, instead of the usual Friday night, so adjust your DVR or TiVo accordingly. There are four shows in all; sadly one of them is the Holyfield – Botha PPV, but aside from the Celestino Caballero-Daud Yordan fight, they lack intrigue. Thankfully, HBO is

Friday TV Cheat Sheet: Part One
By Marty Mulcahey: I am looking forward to a second straight week of four televised boxing programs, with three good cards complimenting a PPV event few can find complimentary words for. In today’s portion of the TV Cheat Sheet (the second time in a row I have had to split the feature to accommodate the schedule) Friday’s ESPN2 and Showtime fight cards are covered. For good measure, I preview the untelevised heavyweight title fight between WBA titlist David Haye and John Ruiz. This weekend does

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet - Part One
By Marty Mulcahey: It will be a great weekend for boxing fans, with no less than six alphabet titles up for grabs on Saturday. That does not even take into account a canceled IBF cruiserweight title bout, between Steve Cunningham and Matt Godfrey, nor the Yuriorkis Gamboa and Marcos Maidana fights which are contested for bogus “non-super” and “interim” titles, respectively. Perhaps the best fight of the weekend, between Arthur Abraham and Andre Dirrell, does not even involve a world title belt.

“La Bomba” Set to Detonate on ESPN2
By Marty Mulcahey: When a boxer is the first to do something since the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler, I sit up and take notice. There is more to Edwin Rodriguez then a tenuous link to Hagler; foremost are multifaceted boxing skills and his amateur pedigree. “La Bomba” is charismatic, in and out of the ring, and one of the few up-and-coming American prospects building a sizable local following. The 24-ye

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: A weekend of international flare is in store for boxing fans, with boxers from Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, America, England, and Colombia squaring off on U.S. television. The most intriguing bout- and hard to pick fight- features hot Filipino prospect Marvin Sonsona traveling to Puerto Rico to fight hometown favorite Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. It’s not often that two young prospects and their handlers are willing to take a fight like this, and both sides should be

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: A second consecutive jam-packed lineup of televised boxing events, six last week and four this week, to warm up sports fans before the kick-off of the Super Bowl. The weekend is headlined by a Showtime Championship Boxing main event that, on paper, looks like an early entrant for Fight of the Year. The Edwin Valero – Antonio DeMarco match-up promises excitement and almost no one believes the combatants will hear the final bell. ESPN and FOX Sports also enter the fray, and ESPN

Weekend TV Cheat Sheet
By Marty Mulcahey: The first month of the new decade ends with a bang, and boxing fans need to break out a TV Guide and warm up the DVR to watch every card this weekend. Tonight, there are five televised events, but without the aid of West Coast replays, there is no way to catch every show in its entirety. Fans get a reprieve on Saturday (only one show. The FOX Sports card from Mexico featuring Jorge Arce), and can catch up on family time Sunday. So chill the beer, order pizza and get

Boxing from an Odd Angle
Martin Mulcahey: Hey, boxing fans, it looks like, 17 years after their first boring bout, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. will circle each other again in April. No, not on April 1st (which would be the most appropriate date), but on April 17th in Las Vegas; and as a PPV event, no less. I’m thinking the fight is being staged in Vegas so Jones and Hopkins can take advantage of senior discounts for food and hotel rooms. I can assure you, people who pay to see the event will not be given those

I Said That? My 2009 Preview Review
By Marty Mulcahey: Readers that visit multiple boxing websites are sure to notice how easy it is for journalists to make predictions; certain in the knowledge that few will remember what they wrote in a year’s time. But here at Maxboxing, we have high standards and are held accountable for what we write. With those thoughts in mind, every year I venture back in time and review my predictions for the previous year. Take a look around the ‘Net. I don’t think you will find another boxing website

Another Bute-ful night for boxing fans?
By Marty Mulcahey: Mikkel Kessler’s loss to Andre Ward has, for all intent and purposes, elevated Lucian Bute to the status of the world’s best super middleweight. A valid perception that Bute can reinforce by defeating Librado Andrade, The Ring magazine’s number five rated super middleweight, Saturday night on HBO. Sure, there can be some argument that Ward should replace Kessler at the top of the ratings, but only if the pair’s overall level of competition, experience, consistency, and title