Sports Journalist · 23 articles
Hoodwinked into fighting. It’s not a claim you hear every day, especially not from an elite boxer such as Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov. Yet that’s exactly how the undefeated heavyweight prospect and Olympic gold medallist describes his introduction to the noble art, his father duping him into killing time in the gym while he awaited a […]
Seize your moment. That’s what the greats of this sport do. So when a hot prospect obliterated a former world champion on the Errol Spence Jnr vs Yordenis Ugás undercard the boxing world couldn’t help but take notice. This is exactly what José “El Rayo” Valenzuela did to Francisco Vargas, launching a huge left hand […]
Seize your moment. That’s what the greats of this sport do. So when a hot prospect obliterated a former world champion on the Errol Spence Jnr vs Yordenis Ugás undercard the boxing world couldn’t help but take notice. This is exactly what José “El Rayo” Valenzuela did to Francisco Vargas, launching a huge left hand […]
Channelling pain into resilience has built many a champion. It’s a process unique to each fighter, their own personal set of challenges acting as a catalyst for their sporting dreams. For Bilal Fawaz, making his professional debut on February 11th at York Hall represents a critical moment in his life, for few people in the […]
The ever-shifting landscape of boxing has seen plenty of changes in 2021. Kings have gathered new crowns, underdogs have deposed presiding rulers, and rising stars have duked it out to have their name lauded as future royalty. One such prodigy is Top Rank’s Xander Zayas, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican whose emergence this year has led […]
There’s a look of boyish glee on the face of Jayson Mama as he contemplates his fight with IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards this weekend. “I’m so happy,” he beams. “It’s been my dream to fight for a world championship. I can’t believe it. It’s the biggest fight of my whole career. I dream to […]
Is there a genetic code within fighters that’s passed down to aspiring offspring? Queensbury Promotions’ latest heavyweight signing, George Fox, spent much of his childhood sat on a North London ring apron eagerly absorbing the work of his father, the much respected boxer and trainer, Don Charles. Looking back, he ponders, was it just always […]
There are very few trailblazers who set out to change the game. Breaking new ground is a consequence, not a goal, and for those who only see the world through their own unique lens sitting back and conforming to expectation and stereotype simply isn’t in their DNA. Rachel Donaire, head trainer and wife to the […]
Breathing new life into any career is never easy. It isn’t just about the hard graft; it’s the brutal honesty, the tough questions you ask of yourself and the difficult answers you have to swallow and respond to. So when Kenneth Sims had his hand raised on Saturday night against one of boxing’s most revered prospects in […]
The date had already been set but on Saturday night WBO super-bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton discovered which man would be trying to take his world title. Brandon Figueroa’s perfectly placed left hand to the solar plexus of Luis Nery sent the Mexican crashing to the canvas in agony and set up an intriguing unification fight […]
Shakur Stevenson surveys his rivals with an air of icy derision. The 23-year-old New Jersey native has watched on this year as other fighters have unified titles and scored spectacular knockouts, yet nothing has dissuaded him from his own assessment of the competition. “If you’re asking me to be honest, I’m the best one there,” […]
Nothing has been left to chance. Deep in the sun-kissed Coachella Valley of California, a master craftsman has spent the past 15 years meticulously carving away at what he hopes will be his masterpiece. Every scratch must be polished until it sparkles, each dent pinpointed until the imperfection shines. Yet this is no lifeless sculpture; his […]