Daring to be Great

IN AGREEING TO FACE EACH OTHER, MIKEY GARCIA AND ERROL SPENCE JR. HAVE PUT THEIR PERFECT RECORDS, REPUTATIONS AND PRIDE...

Evander Holyfield: The Real Deals

THE CELEBRATED FORMER CHAMPION REVISITS SIX OF THE FIGHTS THAT SHAPED HIS LEGACY When using the word “warrior” in boxing parlance,...

Ali’s Bane

Nesciunt repellendus ultricies incididunt accusantium harum lacinia orci rutrum ullamco, nisi platea ridiculus felis! Iusto auctor vehicula porttitor hic fusce...

For Love of Mexico

They share a language, culture and country. It was inevitable, perhaps, that Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. also...

Boiling Point

WITH GENUINE ANIMOSITY FLARING BETWEEN THE TWO CAMPS, CANELO-GOLOVKIN 2 HAS BECOME MORE ‘FIGHT’ THAN BOXING MATCH In the build-up to...

Sugar Ray vs. Money May

GRAB A RINGSIDE SEAT AT ONE OF THE MOST TANTALIZING MYTHICAL MATCHUPS OF ALL TIME Just imagine the atmosphere. The legendary Sugar...

Aligning the Stars

IT TOOK A LOT OF TEAMWORK, BUT EVENTUALLY LINARES-LOMACHENKO FELL INTO PLACE In the lead-up to and the immediate aftermath of...

Digging for Heavyweight Gold

WITH FOUR UNBEATEN, CHARISMATIC CLAIMANTS TO THE THRONE POISED TO CLASH, CAN THE GLAMOUR DIVISION’S LUSTER FINALLY RETURN?

The golden era at heavyweight.

If you’re a post-1970s fight fan, you dream about it. When your parents or grandparents recall those times, you’re immediately jealous. An older generation takes joy in reminding you that you’ll never see heavyweights that good again. The “Rumble in the Jungle” and the “Thrilla in Manila” are classics of the genre – either one a boxing purist’s Sistine Chapel in terms of pugilistic perfection.

The closest you’ll ever get is fight films, documentaries and books. You can visualize what it must have been like. You can absorb the sights and sounds from TV or learn the color commentary by heart. But you weren’t there.

To have watched Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton throw down for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world live would have been beyond special. There were no Las Vegas casinos bankrolling those events. In the early 1970s, the greatest prize in sports was contested in Jamaica, Venezuela, Zaire and the Philippines. Matchups involving these heavyweight legends set the benchmark for everything that followed, and the exotic locales only added to the splendor of the occasion. A boxing ring, two willing warriors, and the entire world came to a standstill.

Fast-forward more than 40 years and times are vastly different. There are now four undefeated fighters who call themselves the heavyweight champion of the world. Tyson Fury retains lineal status, Anthony Joshua has unified the IBF and WBA belts, Deontay Wilder is the WBC titleholder and Joseph Parker, who faces Joshua on March 31, holds the WBO crown.

The RING 100: Introduction

OUR ANNUAL RANKING OF THE BEST FIGHTERS IN THE WORLD Compiled by David Greisman, Martin Mulcahey and Anson Wainwright Written by...

Off the Charts

THE RING WENT TO NINE EXPERTS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT MAKES VASYL LOMACHENKO SUCH A SPECIAL FIGHTER.