BATTLES

Published

10 years ago

June 26, 2015

I think part of the reason I love fighters is because they’re warriors, modern-day gladiators who do things most of us can’t or won’t. Boxers fight battles. And while winning battles is very important, life teaches us battles are usually remembered less by being won and more by how they were fought. That’s probably the reason more of us gravitate toward brawlers like Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward than sweet scientists like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara. That isn’t to say the latter two gentlemen haven’t been in battles. They have. Rigondeaux’s Round 11 TKO over Hisashi Amagasa and Lara’s Round 10 TKO over Alfredo Angulo were riveting slugfests with knockdowns galore. But the styles of Rigondeaux and Lara are geared more toward winning battles than fighting the good fight. Gatti and Ward didn’t just want to win their battles. They wanted to fight.

One of the most popular battles in the celebrated history of Texas was the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. It was a pivotal event in Texas’ revolution from Mexico. After holding off a reported 2,500 soldiers in the mission-turned-fortress for 13 days, the Texans fell. The Mexican troops, under the direction of President General Antonio López de Santa Anna, launched a final assault on the Alamo’s 182 defenders. They left no survivors. Santa Anna’s cruelty, along with his exponential number of troops, led to the massacre of an entire Texas garrison. It was a slaughter. Almost everyone there died that day in battle or were killed after their surrender, but many in Texas still claim the soul-crushing loss, one where Texas soldiers killed as many as 600 of the Mexican troops as well, as a great and important historical moral victory over the tyranny and cruelty of the time period.

The other night I was thinking about all of this, and I just finally told my wife.

“I’m sick of life,” I said.

“I know,” she replied. “But you should think of life as a battle. That’s what life is really. It’s a battle.”

There is no doubt Rachel was referring to some king of biblical philosophy in her answer. One of my wife’s greatest interests in life is theology, and most of her thoughts and actions are steeped the teachings and traditions of the Church.

But I wasn’t feeling particularly moved by it at the time.

“I’m sick of the battle though,” I admitted after a long pause.

“You’re supposed to be. Battles are not good.”

While our society props them up as glorious pursuits, the truth of things like wars and battles is surprisingly horrid. My father was drafted into the military when he was just 18 years old. He was flown to Vietnam on Christmas Eve so that he could kill people. Since his return, he wakes up in the middle of the night smelling Napalm. He has flashbacks to when he learned how to kill other human beings with knives so they couldn’t make a sound while they died and also wouldn’t spurt blood all over him. I’ve seen my father shoot a wild turkey with a pistol running full speed in a crosswind from 30 yards away. If you ask him what he did during the war, he’ll simply tell you he was debriefed. That’s his way of saying he can’t tell you. But if you ask him when he’s drunk, which is often, he’ll tell you he did all the bad things everyone says happens during wars but nobody ever admits to doing. That or he’ll just stare out into the abyss of the night sky and not talk back to you at all.

Boxing probably isn’t a good thing. There are many horrid things that have happened in our sport. I’m sure we don’t even know a pittance of them. The media can’t really tell you what they don’t know, and most of us aren’t really asking that many important questions. Even when we try, we probably ask the wrong people the wrong things, and even when we get it right and ask the right people the right things it doesn’t mean they have to answer. Moreover, the sport just seems to attract the most dysfunctional group of human beings possible. I’m not talking about the fighters. I’m talking about everyone else: the promoters, the managers, the television producers, the writers, the fans—everyone.

We are all horrible. But that’s probably why we love boxing.

***

I see him in the middle of the street as I’m walking. It’s another gray bird . He’s upside down and fluttering his one good wing. I walk up to him slowly, wondering if today I’ll see another miracle. I pick the bird up carefully off the hard pavement because I know he’s in pain. I find a nice, soft place to lay him nearby in the grass. The sun is out but it’s overcast so he will be comfortable. There’s a nice little place in the lawn that looks like it was made just for him, just for this very moment. The blades of grass are mashed down in one little spot like it’s a little bed for him, and the luscious green stalks around it act as little arms to hold him close.

I don’t really know what to say or do, so I say some prayers. Last time I said prayers in front of a sick looking bird, he got up and flew off. But this one just watches me with one eye as I pray. He’s breathing at a measured pace. I don’t know what to do. He looks so very tired.

I tell him that I love him. I think if I were lying there all alone, I’d want someone to tell me they love me, even if I had never seen them before. I think I would find some comfort in that. So I tell him I love him. He just stares at me and breathes at a measured pace. I know he can’t understand me, but I pretend like he can.

I tell him I love him and I tell him that it’s okay. It’s okay, I say. Everything has to die. He stares at me and breathes at a measured pace.

I’m crying now. But he stares and I pray and I tell him I love him and that it’s okay because everything has to die. Everything. His breaths draw shorter and shorter. He looks peaceful but also terrified. He tries one more time to rise. He rolls over to his side and flutters his one good wing with all his remaining might.

But nothing happens. He flutters and flutters and flutters and then stops. His breaths grow shorter and more labored. He stares at me. I tell him I love him and he stares at me. He stares at me and dies.

We romanticize boxing as if it isn’t what it is. I know I do. I look at boxing as a kind of art. To me, it is not just two men punching each other until someone either falls down on the ground or three people sitting around the ring confer and tell us which one punched the other man the best. To me, boxing is something more. It’s poetry. It’s science. It’s religion. It’s everything interesting in the world all wrapped up in one conveniently priced package, a brutally honest one full of people who habitually tell each other lies but everyone is okay with it.

Here’s the worst part. I know all of this in my head, but I still love boxing in my heart, and all the people involved in it, even the ones I hate. And I still love the fighters for silly and naïve and idyllic reasons. I love them because they fight battles. I love them because they’re warriors, modern-day gladiators who do what most of us can’t or won’t. Boxers fight battles. They might be needless battles. They might be horrid battles. But at least they’re fighting.

Maybe Rachel is right. Maybe we do all fight battles. But if it’s true, most of us pretend we don’t. And if we do, we don’t all get to see each other fight them on the grand stage of the blue boxing mat. Some of us struggle with addiction. Others with suicidal thoughts. Some of us are lonely. Some of us are mean. Some of us are trapped in failed marriages with kids they never wanted. Some of us would do anything to hear someone say “I love you” or call them “Mommy” just one time. Some have committed heinous crimes. Others have always been the victims.

All of our lives are horrible.

But everyone is battling. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we are all that little bird struggling down there in the grass. We are all born to be fighters, but only some of us choose to fight. I love fighters because they choose to fight. I’m not certain their reasons are just and valid. I’m not sure if boxing is good or bad or if it should exist or even be eradicated. I don’t really care so much about any of it either. I just know it’s nice sometimes to see someone battle, to see some broken-winged creature fluttering around there on the ground doing its best to fly right up until its final breath—to see someone winning the moment, even when they end up losing the next.

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Kelsey McCarson

Jorge Garcia is the TSS Fighter of the Month for April

Published

12 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Jorge-Garcia-is-the-TSS-Fighter-of-the-Month-for-April

Jorge Garcia has a lot in common with Mexican countrymen Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza. In common with those two, both reigning world title-holders, Garcia is big for his weight class and bubbled out of obscurity with a triumph forged as a heavy underdog in a match contested on American soil.

Garcia had his “coming of age party” on April 19 in the first boxing event at the new Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California (roughly 35 miles north of San Diego), a 7,500-seat facility whose primary tenant is an indoor soccer team. It was a Golden Boy Promotions event and in the opposite corner was a Golden Boy fighter, Charles Conwell.

A former U.S. Olympian, Conwell was undefeated (21-0, 16 KOs) and had won three straight inside the distance since hooking up with Golden Boy whose PR department ballyhooed him as the most avoided fighter in the super welterweight division. At prominent betting sites, Conwell was as high as a 12/1 favorite.

The lanky Garcia was 32-4 (26 KOs) heading in, but it was easy to underestimate him as he had fought extensively in Tijuana where the boxing commission is notoriously docile and in his home state of Sinaloa. This would be only his second fight in the U.S. However, it was noteworthy in hindsight that three of his four losses were by split decision.

Garcia vs. Conwell was a robust affair. He and Conwell were credited with throwing 1451 punches combined. In terms of punches landed, there was little to choose between them but the CompuBox operator saw Garcia landing more power punches in eight of the 12 rounds. At the end, the verdict was split but there was no controversy.

An interested observer was Sebastian Fundora who was there to see his sister Gabriela defend her world flyweight titles. Sebastian owns two pieces of the 154-pound world title where the #1 contender per the WBO is Xander Zayas who keeps winning, but not with the verve of his earlier triumphs.

With his upset of Charles Conwell, Jorge Garcia has been bumped into the WBO’s #2 slot. Regardless of who he fights next, Garcia will earn the biggest payday of his career.

Honorable mention: Aaron McKenna

McKenna was favored to beat veteran campaigner Liam Smith in the co-feature to the Eubank-Benn battle this past Saturday in London, but he was stepping up in class against a former world title-holder who had competed against some of the top dogs in the middleweight division and who had famously stopped Chris Eubank Jr in the first of their two encounters. Moreover, the venue, Tottenham Hotspur, the third-largest soccer stadium in England, favored the 36-year-old Liverpudlian who was accustomed to a big fight atmosphere having fought Canelo Alvarez before 50,000-plus at Arlington Stadium in Texas.

McKenna, from the small town of Monaghan, Ireland, wasn’t overwhelmed by the occasion. With his dad Feargal in his corner and his fighting brother Stephen McKenna cheering him on from ringside, Aaron won a wide decision in his first 12-round fight, punctuating his victory by knocking Smith to his knees with a body punch in the 12^th round. In fact, if he hadn’t had a point deducted for using his elbow, the Irishman would have pitched a shutout on one of the scorecards.

“There might not be a more impressive example of a fighter moving up in class,” wrote Tris Dixon of the 25-year-old “Silencer” who improved his ledger to 20-0 (10).

Photo credits: Garcia/Conwell photo compliments of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; McKenna-Smith provided by Mark Robinson/Matchroom

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Chris Eubank Jr Outlasts Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Published

2 days ago

April 27, 2025

David A. Avila

Chris-Eubank-Jr-Outlasts-Conor-Benn-at-Tottenham-Hotsour-Stadium

Feudal bragging rights belong to Chris Eubank Jr. who out-lasted Conor Benn to
emerge victorious by unanimous decision in a non-title middleweight match held in
London on Saturday.

Fighting for their family heritage Eubank (35-3, 26 KOs) and Benn (23-1, 14 KOs)
continued the battle between families started 35 years ago by their fathers at Tottenham
Hotspur Stadium.

More than 65,000 fans attended.

Though Eubank Jr. had a weight and height advantage and a record of smashing his
way to victory via knockout, he had problems hurting the quicker and more agile Benn.
And though Benn had the advantage of moving up two weight divisions and forcing
Eubank to fight under a catch weight, the move did not weaken him much.

Instead, British fans and boxing fans across the world saw the two family rivals pummel
each other for all 12 rounds. Neither was able to gain separation.

Eubank looked physically bigger and used a ramming left jab to connect early in the
fight. Benn immediately showed off his speed advantage and surprised many with his
ability to absorb a big blow.Chris Eubank Jr Outlasts Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Benn scrambled around with his quickness and agility and scored often with bigcounters.

It took him a few rounds to stop overextending himself while delivering power shots.

In the third round Benn staggered Eubank with a left hook but was unable to follow up
against the dangerous middleweight who roared back with flurries of blows.

Eubank was methodic in his approach always moving forward, always using his weight
advantage via the shoulder to force Benn backward. The smaller Benn rocketed
overhand rights and was partly successful but not enough to force Eubank to retreat.
In the seventh round a right uppercut snapped Benn’s head violently but he was
undeterred from firing back. Benn’s chin stood firm despite Eubank’s vaunted power and
size advantage.

“I didn’t know he had that in him,” Eubank said.

Benn opened strong in the eighth round with furious blows. And though he connected
he was unable to seriously hurt Eubank. And despite being drained by the weight loss,
the middleweight fighter remained strong all 12 rounds.

There were surprises from both fighters.

Benn was effective targeting the body. Perhaps if he had worked the body earlier he
would have found a better result.

With only two rounds remaining Eubank snapped off a right uppercut again and followed
up with body shots. In the final stanza Eubank pressed forward and exchanged with the
smaller Benn until the final bell. He simply out-landed the fighter and impressed all three
judges who scored it 116-112 for Eubank.

Eubank admitted he expected a knockout win but was satisfied with the victory.
“I under-estimated him,” Eubank said.

Benn was upset by the loss but recognized the reasons.

“He worked harder toward the end,” said Benn.

McKenna Wins

In his first test in the elite level Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) showed his ability to fight
inside or out in soundly defeating former world champion Liam Smith (33-5-1, 20 KOs)
by unanimous decision to win a regional WBA middleweight title.

Smith has made a career out of upsetting young upstarts but discovered the Irish fighter
more than capable of mixing it up with the veteran. It was a rough fight throughout the
12 rounds but McKenna showed off his abilities to fight as a southpaw or right-hander
with nary a hiccup.

McKenna had trained in Southern California early in his career and since that time he’s
accrued a variety of ways to fight. He was smooth and relentless in using his longer
arms and agility against Smith on the outside or in close.

In the 12 th round, McKenna landed a perfectly timed left hook to the ribs and down went
Smith. The former champion got up and attempted to knock out the tall
Irish fighter but could not.

All three judges scored in favor of McKenna 119-108, 117-109, 118-108.

Other Bouts
Anthony Yarde (27-3) defeated Lyndon Arthur (24-3) by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. in a light heavyweight match. It was the third time they met. Yarde won the last two fights.

Chris Billam-Smith (21-2) defeated Brandon Glanton (20-3) by decision. It was his first
fight since losing the WBO cruiserweight world title to Gilberto Ramirez last November.

Viddal Riley (13-0) out-worked Cheavon Clarke (10-2) in a 12-round back-and-forth-contest to win a unanimous decision.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 323: Benn vs Eubank Family Feud and More

Published

4 days ago

April 24, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective,-Chap.-323:-Benn-vs-Eubank-Family-Feud-and-More.jpg

Next generation rivals Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. carry on the family legacy of feudal warring in the prize ring on Saturday.

This is huge in British boxing.

Eubank (34-3, 25 KOs) holds the fringe IBO middleweight title but won’t be defending it against the smaller welterweight Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday, April 26, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.

This is about family pride.

The parents of Eubank and Benn actually began the feud in the 1990s.

Papa Nigel Benn fought Papa Chris Eubank twice. Losing as a middleweight in November 1990 at Birmingham, England, then fighting to a draw as a super middleweight in October 1993 in Manchester. Both were world title fights.

Eubank was undefeated and won the WBO middleweight world title in 1990 against Nigel Benn by knockout. He defended it three times before moving up and winning the vacant WBO super middleweight title in September 1991. He defended the super middleweight title 14 times before suffering his first pro defeat in March 1995 against Steve Collins.

Benn won the WBO middleweight title in April 1990 against Doug DeWitt and defended it once before losing to Eubank in November 1990. He moved up in weight and took the WBC super middleweight title from Mauro Galvano in Italy by technical knockout in October 1992. He defended the title nine times until losing in March 1996. His last fight was in November 1996, a loss to Steve Collins.

Animosity between the two families continues this weekend in the boxing ring.

Conor Benn, the son of Nigel, has fought mostly as a welterweight but lately has participated in the super welterweight division. He is several inches shorter in height than Eubank but has power and speed. Kind of a British version of Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

“It’s always personal, every opponent I fight is personal. People want to say it’s strictly business, but it’s never business. If someone is trying to put their hands on me, trying to render me unconscious, it’s never business,” said Benn.

This fight was scheduled twice before and cut short twice due to failed PED tests by Benn. The weight limit agreed upon is 160 pounds.

Eubank, a natural middleweight, has exchanged taunts with Benn for years. He recently avenged a loss to Liam Smith with a knockout victory in September 2023.

“This fight isn’t about size or weight. It’s about skill. It’s about dedication. It’s about expertise and all those areas in which I excel in,” said Eubank. “I have many, many more years of experience over Conor Benn, and that will be the deciding factor of the night.”

Because this fight was postponed twice, the animosity between the two feuding fighters has increased the attention of their fans. Both fighters are anxious to flatten each other.

“He’s another opponent in my way trying to crush my dreams. trying to take food off my plate and trying to render me unconscious. That’s how I look at him,” said Benn.

Eubank smiles.

“Whether it’s boxing, whether it’s a gun fight. Defense, offense, foot movement, speed, power. I am the superior boxer in each of those departments and so many more – which is why I’m so confident,” he said.

Supporting Bout

Former world champion Liam Smith (33-4-1, 20 KOs) tangles with Ireland’s Aaron McKenna (19-0, 10 KOs) in a middleweight fight set for 12 rounds on the Benn-Eubank undercard in London.

“Beefy” Smith has long been known as one of the fighting Smith brothers and recently lost to Eubank a year and a half ago. It was only the second time in 38 bouts he had been stopped. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez did it several years ago.

McKenna is a familiar name in Southern California. The Irish fighter fought numerous times on Golden Boy Promotion cards between 2017 and 2019 before returning to the United Kingdom and his assault on continuing the middleweight division. This is a big step for the tall Irish fighter.

It’s youth versus experience.

“I’ve been calling for big fights like this for the last two or three years, and it’s a fight I’m really excited for. I plan to make the most of it and make a statement win on Saturday night,” said McKenna, one of two fighting brothers.

Monster in L.A.

Japan’s super star Naoya “Monster” Inoue arrived in Los Angeles for last day workouts before his Las Vegas showdown against Ramon Cardenas on Sunday May 4, at T-Mobile Arena. ESPN will televise and stream the Top Rank card.

It’s been four years since the super bantamweight world champion performed in the US and during that time Naoya (29-0, 26 KOs) gathered world titles in different weight divisions. The Japanese slugger has also gained fame as perhaps the best fighter on the planet. Cardenas is 26-1 with 14 KOs.

Pomona Fights

Super featherweights Mathias Radcliffe (9-0-1) and Ezequiel Flores (6-4) lead a boxing card called “DMG Night of Champions” on Saturday April 26, at the historic Fox Theater in downtown Pomona, Calif.

Michaela Bracamontes (11-2-1) and Jesus Torres Beltran (8-4-1) will be fighting for a regional WBC super featherweight title. More than eight bouts are scheduled.

Doors open at 6 p.m. For ticket information go to: www.tix.com/dmgnightofchampions

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 9 a.m. Conor Benn (23-0) vs Chris Eubank Jr. (34-3); Liam Smith (33-4-1) vs Aaron McKenna (19-0).

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