Featured Articles
It Would Be Good For the Sport if Arum, Golden Boy Made Up

It's been awhile since Oscar (here in 2003) and Arum were even cordial. It would be good for the sport if they could bury the bad blood and co-exist, so some fights we all want to see get made. Our collective fingers are crossed. (Hohan Photos)
I dare say there are no more frustrated sports fans than boxing fans. The single fight that 99% of them want, Mayweather-Pacquiao, doesn't get made, for reasons that nobody can fathom, and the heavyweight division, the It division, is stuck in a Bronze Age, and a fairly reasonable desire that the rooters would like to see the game's dealmakers adhere to, “get the best to fight the best,” does not come to fruition near often enough.
The frustration bubbled to the surface when it became apparent that indeed, as rumored, there would be two big cards taking place on the same night, Sept. 15. Sergio Martinez would try to show young buck Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. that he was a pretender to the throne, that he didn't deserve to so much as borrow the WBC 160 pound crown, on HBO pay-per-view, while over on Showtime, Canelo Alvarez would take the next step in his trek to become one the replacements for the Big Two, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, when they exit the fistic scene.
There they go again, some groused. Two big cards, same night, the giants paying more attention to their battle of attrition than the needs and desires of the fans, the customers, the grumbling went.
The grousing was minimized somewhat, I will say, when folks realized that the Canelo fight, originally pegged as a pay-per-view, with the Mexican battling Victor Ortiz, was graded down to “regular” cable, to Showtime, because Canelo's foe was shifted to Josesito Lopez, who upset Ortiz a few weeks ago, and thus, stole his thunder and the slot. But yes, many fans did react with disgust, wondering why too the power brokers once again were engaging in zero sum warfare, again engaging in brinksmanship, and a “mine's bigger than yours, no mines bigger” beef…when all the fans wanted was the suits to get along, or at least, get along enough so that the fights that most make sense to be made, get made. If Top Rank, with the most formidable stable, and Golden Boy, with the next most formidable stable, aren't on speaking terms, and cannot sit down at the same table to negotiate, let alone sit down and hash out deals so inter-promotional bouts get booked, fans groused, then the sport will suffer for it. Sounds fairly logical to me; hey, I'm a Libra, I am inclined to be of the Rodney King “can't we all just get along” mindset who figures that people should set aside personality conflicts, and feuds, and ancient history, and keep things on a pure business level, and get deals done. They should serve the fans, the people who open their wallets up and fuel the sport. I delved into this topic with promoter Bob Arum, who was in town Thursday, presiding over a press conference to hype the Sept. 15 middleweight showdown. We chatted at the Edison Ballroom in midtown Manhattan.
So, Bob, is the fight press making too big a deal of the fact that there are two big fights on Sept. 15?
“There aren't two big boxing cards on the same day,” he reasoned to me. “You're referring to Alvarez and Lopez as a big boxing card, it's a 20-to-1 fight. You guys make too big a deal (of dates falling on the same night). What is pathetic is Showtime wasting money putting on an event to go against the biggest fight of the year so far. There's no question it's the biggest fight of the year. It's not a good business plan for Showtime.”
Hmm, doesn't look like Top Rank and Showtime are going to be doing deals anytime soon, judging by that level of rancor, right? Well, strange bedfellows are thrown together all the time in boxing. I mean, I heard Arum refer to Lou DiBella as “my friend” at the presser and it wasn't that long ago that I heard DiBella label Arum as an expletive deleted, a hardcore negative affecting the sport. So, enemies can quickly become frenemies if the deal is good enough. It's not like Top Rank and Golden Boy haven't found enough common ground to work together before. But the last time came back in 2009, when Manny Pacquiao met Ricky Hatton, and it looks like a deep freeze was cemented when Golden Boy sued Top Rank to force a look into Top Rank's accounting practices with Pacquiao. Golden Boy argued they were due monies from Pacquiao's fights with David Diaz, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, because after Pacquiao signed deals with both companies in 2006, a mediation was reached which allowed for Golden Boy to receive a percentage of revenue from Pacman fights. No, I am not exceedingly optimistic that these two super powers make like Reagan and Gorbachev, and hug it out; that's too bad, because we all know in just about every weight division, that lessens the number of compelling fights that could be made. (Do you think if we had a central oversight body, and a commissioner of boxing, he or she wouldn't force these two entities to kiss and make up and do what is best for the sport as a whole? Rhetorical question…)
Now, to the point that having two big cards–and I do think the Canelo-Lopez fight is a “big” card, even if not in the same league as this long-awaited middleweight tussle–is deleterious to the sport, and a slap in the face to fans…I chatted with a heavy-duty power broker recently, and put the question to him. He said no, it's not a big deal. First and foremost, the toughest job for a promoter or a network is to get sports fans to stay home on Saturday night, and choose boxing over the bar, or the movies, or whatever. That task is basically accomplished with the Martinez-Chavez Jr. fight. Real fight fans are going to see that as appointment viewing. And in this day and age, the percentage of fight fans who own DVRs is huge; Showtime can rest pretty easy knowing that boxing fans aren't going to blow off the Canelo fight because of the Martinez-Chavez Jr. bout. They might watch it after, but they will watch it. Now, would it be a problem, would there be an issue of cannibalism if both cards were pay-per-view cards? Yes, our expert conceded, that'd be a different deal. But it looks like, to an extent, sanity prevailed when it was decided that the Canelo bout would run on Showtime, not on pay-per-view. All in all, to me, it just means I am staying up a little later on the morning of September 16.
Readers, what say you? Weigh in with your thoughts on the promotional Cold War. Feel free to offer encouragement to Arum and Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya to make amends to each other, to get on the same page, so the best bouts can be made. Let us encourage sanity, and if not across-the-board peace and love, then enough of those to get Top Rank and Golden Boy to the same table, so many of the fights we want, get made. Isn't life too short for grudges, and to let bad blood fester for so long?
Featured Articles
TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.
He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.
Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.
“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.
“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)
Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.
During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”
He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.
He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.
On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.
Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.
If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.
No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.
“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.
Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.
Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.
In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.
That was a bad sign for Stanionis.
Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.
In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.
It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.
Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.
After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.
Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.
“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.
Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.
Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.
“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.
“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”
Other Bouts
Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.
The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.
“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.
Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.
Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.
Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.
In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.
“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”
In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.
“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”
After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.
Photo credit: Matchroom
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Bernard Fernandez Reflects on His Special Bond with George Foreman
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
A Paean to George Foreman (1949-2025), Architect of an Amazing Second Act
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Spared Prison by a Lenient Judge, Chordale Booker Pursues a World Boxing Title
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Sebastian Fundora TKOs Chordale Booker in Las Vegas
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Boxing Odds and Ends: The Wacky and Sad World of Livingstone Bramble and More
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective, Chap. 319: Rematches in Las Vegas, Cancun and More
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Avila Perspective, Chap. 318: Aussie Action, Vegas and More
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan