The Boxing Truth®

The latest installment of Lou DiBella’s popular Broadway Boxing series provided a little of everything for Boxing fans on Thursday night at the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York City, NY.   The ten bout card was headlined by rising Jr. Featherweight prospect Rafael Vazquez who scored a fourth round stoppage of a “Game”, but over matched Joseph Rios.    After a relatively uneventful opening round, Vazquez dropped Rios with a left hook in round two. Rios showed his mettle by getting up though he appeared hurt. Vazquez scored a second knockdown of Rios before the end of the round with another left hook.   Rios survived the round, but was unable to keep Vazquez off of him as Vazquez continued to dish out punishment in round three and seemed to hurt Rios with every punch he was able to land.   Vazquez dropped Rios for a third time in round four with a right hand. Although Rios was able to get up and survived the round, the fight was stopped at th...

One of the most interesting topics in the sport of Boxing is whenever a discussion takes place concerning some of the greatest series of fights that have taken place in the sport. What sometimes is not talked about often is the physical toll that a series of fights can have on fighters. A question that I had prior to the much-anticipated third meeting between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado was how much did either fighter have left? After all, both Rios and Alvarado have crowd pleasing styles and have always given their best whenever they enter the ring. Two fighters who are more than willing to go toe to toe. The first two encounters between Rios and Alvarado provided much action and left both Boxing fans and experts alike wanting more. Rios scoring a come from behind stoppage of Alvarado in their first meeting in 2012, which some feel was a controversial stoppage. Alvarado would get the nod in the second battle in 2013 winning a close twelve round unanimous decision ...

On January 17th the Boxing world centered on the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for the first World Heavyweight championship fight of 2015 as WBC champion Bermane Stiverne defended his title against undefeated number one contender and knockout artist Deontay Wilder. Prior to this fight, I discussed some of the similarities between this fight and Mike Tyson’s historic world championship victory over then WBC champion Trevor Berbick in November 1986. On paper the fight between Stiverne and Wilder did seem to present a similar scenario as when Tyson dethroned Berbick. An undefeated challenger who was considered the favorite going into the fight to win the title based in large part on his ability to score quick knockouts going against a champion who was making the first defense of his world title, who was considered an underdog to retain his crown. This similarity between the Stiverne-Wilder fight and the Berbick-Tyson fight is where any similarity   between th...

As 2014 drew to a close, one of the interesting storylines that some feel could play out in 2015 is the potential unification of the Heavyweight division. Before any talk of a unification bout to determine an undisputed Heavyweight champion of the world can take place however, a fight that has become one of the more anticipated fights in the division in recent times will take place this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Current WBC Heavyweight world champion Bermane Stiverne will make the first defense of his world title against undefeated current WBC number one contender Deontay Wilder at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Stiverne, the first Haitian to become a World Heavyweight champion, won the vacant WBC world title in May of last year when he scored a sixth round stoppage in his rematch with top contender Chris Arreola. In scoring his second victory over Arreola, Stiverne not only made Boxing history, but also became one of two world champions in the Heavyweight division joining u...