Author: Paul Magno

With uncharacteristic optimism in this holiday season, here’s this writer’s personal 2023 Wish list for the lightweight/junior welterweight divisions. Haney vs. Lomachenko, Please Devin Haney is the 4-belt unified, undisputed lightweight champion of the world. You, literally, can’t achieve more than that in a division. So, why does the 24-year-old Las Vegas resident seem not to be getting the acclaim that he deserves? Honestly, it’s probably because his body of work is not all that deep, over all, at least not at the true elite level. His two decisive wins over George Kambosos Jr. earned him unified champ status and…

With uncharacteristic optimism in this holiday season, here’s this writer’s personal 2023 wish list for the welterweight division. Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford Duh. Obviously. Spence-Crawford is THE fight, the one that HAS to be made. Aside from being a four-belt title unification clash, it’s a battle between the undisputed top two welterweights in the post-Mayweather and Pacquiao era. Realistically, at (three months shy of) 33 and 35, respectively, Spence and Crawford are on the down side of their primes. But, still, these are the present tense top dogs of 147. Having a fully-unified welterweight champ would be of benefit…

Boxing fans and media are more than capable of separating a fighter’s ring work from their personal life– until they choose not to. On Wednesday, when word came out of Gervonta Davis’ domestic violence arrest, you could cut the hypocrisy on social media with a knife. Self-awareness and a sense of irony are apparently not strong points in some of Davis’ harshest critics, who routinely post weepy-eyed social media tributes to guys like Diego Corrales and Arturo Gatti while insisting that Davis’ ring existence be tainted forever for both real and alleged transgressions. The late Corrales, hailed for his ring…

With uncharacteristic optimism in this holiday season, here’s this writer’s personal 2023 Wish list for the middleweight/super middleweight divisions. The Return of King Canelo Love him or hate him, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is the top box office drawn in the sport. He’s one of the few boxers with the ability to be the rising tide that lifts all boats. 2022 was an “off” year for the Mexican superstar and unified 4-belt super middleweight champ. A rumored May bout with the tough, but modestly-talented John Ryder won’t do much to reverse the slide brought on by a decisive loss to light…

With uncharacteristic optimism in this holiday season, here’s this writer’s personal 2023 Wish list for the heavyweight division. Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk Put this one on the short list of fights boxing absolutely needs in 2023. There hasn’t been a fully-unified world heavyweight champion in this four-belt era and the sport could definitely use one right now. One belt-per-division is a way overblown boxing nerd’s lament, but the heavyweight glamour division is one weight class where a single champ would be an actual asset to the sport. There’s talk that this bout between WBC champ Fury and IBF/WBA/WBO champ…

Gervonta “Tank” Davis doesn’t talk a whole lot, but when he does, he’s sure easy to goad into delivering headline-friendly quotes. At the 27-year-old multi-division world champ’s recent media day at the 5th street gym in Miami, “Tank” delivered a verbal barrage aimed at rival Ryan Garcia. Davis and Garcia are tied to a big-ticket pay-per-view bout in April, but Davis will first be meeting Hector Luis Garcia on January 7. “I think Ryan Garcia’s being lazy not taking a fight before our fight,” Davis told the assembled media, regarding Garcia’s decision to skip a planned interim fight before the…

Five-division former world champ and Hall of Famer, Floyd “Money” Mayweather recently sat down with the folks at the Earn Your Leisure YouTube channel in a symposium of sorts to discuss his life and business success. The all-time boxing cash cow, whose boxing earnings are said to have topped $1 billion, was, of course, not shy about speaking of his success, both inside and outside the ring. He was also not shy about taking a quick swipe at longtime archrival Manny Pacquiao. “I’m a kid that comes from poverty, that comes from nothing,” Mayweather said. “Seven of us in a…

When the statue honoring Saul Alvarez was unveiled in his native Juanacatlán, Jalisco, it was the perfect ending to a decidedly off year for the Mexican star. Looking down on Canelo was a bigger-than-life version of himself, featuring a distinctly derpy, extra chromosome-looking expression on its bronze face. ¡Ay Caramba! Entering 2022, Alvarez was coming off a mega-impressive 11-month run where he went 4-0, decisively beat three of the top 5 super middleweights in the world, and unified all four 168 lb. titles. He was not only on top of pound-for-pound rankings, he was on top of the world. There…

If one were to take Manny Pacquiao’s words for gospel, there’d be reason to speculate about a possible comeback to “for real” boxing. “Of course. I can fight Terence Crawford or Spence,” Manny told Lance Pugmire of FightHype.com in a recent interview, responding to the possibility of a real boxing comeback against the elite of the welterweight class. “I’m eager to fight with them, to test them, [to see] if they are really a champion, because I’ve been fighting with a lot of fighters at 147, 140, 135…I’ve been fighting with the best fighters in the world. So, I want…

Ryan Garcia won’t be fighting Mercito Gesta on January 21 as a prelude to his major clash with Gervonta Davis in April. He, actually, won’t be fighting anybody. The 24-year-old rising star, who alternates between being known for his flashy ring performances and his disappointing fight pull-outs, says that he doesn’t want a tune-up fight, doesn’t need a tune-up fight, and, as a matter of fact, is making that decision out of respect for the fans. “I refuse to do another tune up,” Garcia said via social media. “I’m ready for this moment. In my heart I didn’t want to…