The Cruelest Sport » Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com A Professional Boxing blog Mon, 20 May 2013 16:35:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 The Ugly American: Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and the Absence of Presence http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/13/the-ugly-american-floyd-mayweather-jr-and-the-absence-of-presence/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/13/the-ugly-american-floyd-mayweather-jr-and-the-absence-of-presence/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 19:29:19 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5549 **** Most companies are image-conscious and would never associate so closely with a character as unsavory as Mayweather. Infidelity was enough for Tiger Woods to lose multiple sponsors, and marijuana (now legal in some states) jettisoned Olympian Mark Michael Phelps from cereal boxes. Even a rapper—Lil Wayne—recently lost an endorsement deal with Mountain Dew for [...]

The Ugly American: Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and the Absence of Presence - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/13/the-ugly-american-floyd-mayweather-jr-and-the-absence-of-presence/feed/ 0 HARD TIMES: The Mystery of the Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard Fight http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/07/hard-times-the-mystery-of-the-jack-dempsey-jess-willard-fight/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/07/hard-times-the-mystery-of-the-jack-dempsey-jess-willard-fight/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 23:29:20 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5543 **** It is, for boxing, as enduring a mystery as the Bermuda Triangle or the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask. On July 4, 1919, in Toledo, Ohio, Jack Dempsey ushered in the Golden Age of Sports with a splatter by massacring defending champion Jess Willard in three of the most bloodcurdling—and one-sided—rounds [...]

HARD TIMES: The Mystery of the Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard Fight - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/05/07/hard-times-the-mystery-of-the-jack-dempsey-jess-willard-fight/feed/ 0 RED ARROW: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/23/red-arrow-the-mysterious-death-of-sonny-liston/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/23/red-arrow-the-mysterious-death-of-sonny-liston/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:40:09 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5520 **** “You should remember that you were born to die.” Blind Willie McTell **** Las Vegas, Nevada, 1970. His life was a firetrap; his days were dry tinder. A small spark here or there—some ash from a cigarette, perhaps—and the whole ramshackle hovel would go up in roaring flames. You could shovel all the sand [...]

RED ARROW: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/23/red-arrow-the-mysterious-death-of-sonny-liston/feed/ 0 The Ugly American: A Darkness Made to Order http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/16/the-ugly-american-a-darkness-made-to-order/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/16/the-ugly-american-a-darkness-made-to-order/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:24:40 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5515 **** You can see them in the dim corners of dingy gyms from one end of the country to the other. They play dominoes at rickety card tables. They wander back and forth, unsteadily, across the room, the heat—almost never offset by whirring ceiling fans—and the permanent stench of sweat, grit, and cracked or creaking [...]

The Ugly American: A Darkness Made to Order - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/16/the-ugly-american-a-darkness-made-to-order/feed/ 0 Yes, We Have No Bananas: Nonito Donaire-Guillermo Rigondeaux Preview http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/12/yes-we-have-no-bananas-nonito-donaire-guillermo-rigondeaux-preview/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/12/yes-we-have-no-bananas-nonito-donaire-guillermo-rigondeaux-preview/#comments Sat, 13 Apr 2013 01:01:13 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5511 **** The last–and only—prizefight extravaganza held at Radio City Music Hall, topped by Roy Jones, Jr., in 2000, was notable chiefly for its many oddities, including a parallel universe undercard. Derrick Jefferson wore himself out belaboring David Izon, and, thus, fell victim to the dreaded TKO VIA EXHAUSTION; Brian “The Bull” Barbosa bowled over a [...]

Yes, We Have No Bananas: Nonito Donaire-Guillermo Rigondeaux Preview - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/04/12/yes-we-have-no-bananas-nonito-donaire-guillermo-rigondeaux-preview/feed/ 0 With Mercy For The Dreaming: Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado II Preview http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/29/with-mercy-for-the-dreaming-brandon-rios-mike-alvarado-ii-preview/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/29/with-mercy-for-the-dreaming-brandon-rios-mike-alvarado-ii-preview/#comments Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:32:40 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5503 **** Some fighters never stop paying dues, even after they reach the grueling heights of a profession as pitiless and as nebulous as any in North America. For Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado—who brought a prizefight apocalypse into living rooms across the country last October when they assaulted each other over seven delirious rounds in [...]

With Mercy For The Dreaming: Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado II Preview - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/29/with-mercy-for-the-dreaming-brandon-rios-mike-alvarado-ii-preview/feed/ 0 DEMPSEY SPEAKS! http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/12/dempsey-speaks-5/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/12/dempsey-speaks-5/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:06:25 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5473 **** “And I always felt wonderful fighting: I don’t think it was the thrill of competition. Hell, I had all the ‘competition’ I ever needed in the job of existing, eating, from day to day. And I didn’t enjoy fighting because I did it particularly well. In time, apparently, I did somewhat better than fair. [...]

DEMPSEY SPEAKS! - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/12/dempsey-speaks-5/feed/ 0 DARK SUN: Remembering Joe Frazier http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/08/dark-sun-remembering-joe-frazier/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/08/dark-sun-remembering-joe-frazier/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:56:11 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5456 **** Joe Frazier, whose first fight with Muhammad Ali—an event that attracted worldwide attention–sealed his legacy as one of the defining American sports figures of the last 50 years, died of liver cancer on November 7th, 2011. He was 67 years old. Although Frazier was heavyweight champion from 1968 to 1973, he will certainly be [...]

DARK SUN: Remembering Joe Frazier - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/08/dark-sun-remembering-joe-frazier/feed/ 0 The Ugly American: One Shot at Glory for Florentino Fernández http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/04/the-ugly-american-one-shot-at-glory-for-florentino-fernandez/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/04/the-ugly-american-one-shot-at-glory-for-florentino-fernandez/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:19:50 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5438 **** Among the most feared KO punchers of the 1960s, Fernández, billed as The Ox because of his physical strength and KO power, could turn cinderblocks into dust with his left hook, and a kill-or-be-killed attack that saw 53 out of his 67 professional fights end via stoppage ensured that he was a coast-to-coast regular [...]

The Ugly American: One Shot at Glory for Florentino Fernández - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

]]> http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/03/04/the-ugly-american-one-shot-at-glory-for-florentino-fernandez/feed/ 0 Suffering Hour: On Adrien Broner, Gavin Rees, & HBO http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/02/15/suffering-hour-on-adrien-broner-gavin-rees-hbo/ http://thecruelestsport.com/2013/02/15/suffering-hour-on-adrien-broner-gavin-rees-hbo/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:51:57 +0000 Carlos Acevedo http://thecruelestsport.com/?p=5431 **** In a main event that might qualify as a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Adrien Broner returns to HBO against British and European lightweight champion Gavin Rees at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Oddsmakers are befuddled by this apparent farce, laying out lines that range from anywhere between 30-1 to 80-1. [...]

Suffering Hour: On Adrien Broner, Gavin Rees, & HBO - The Cruelest Sport - The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

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