Posts by Eric Raskin
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![Brandon Rios]()
Rios-Alvarado II and a Deep Division, Divided
Let’s play the bonus round on Pyramid: “I’m in the best shape of my life” … “This has been the best training camp of my career” … “I’m not looking for a knockout, I’m just looking to win” … “He’s never fought anybody like me before” … “I have to fight three minutes of every […]
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![Floyd Mayweather Jr.]()
Money Walks: On Mayweather’s Selection of Guerrero … and Showtime
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Floyd Mayweather’s ascent to his position as king of the boxing box office is that he’s done it without being an exciting fighter. Rather, he convinces fans to pay for his fights by distracting them from what will actually happen in the ring. He’s a master manipulator, the likes […]
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Victor Ortiz to Have the Smoothest Face on Dancing With the Stars
According to the New York Daily News, “sources” say boxer Victor Ortiz will be among the contestants on the next season of Dancing With The Stars. Does this sound like reputable information that Grantland should be repeating without further confirmation? Not at all. But if it gives us an excuse to discuss the man who […]
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![Orlando Salido]()
Rejection of Perfection? Salido, Rosado Fight for the Right to Bear Ugly Records
Numbers never lie, right? Well, in boxing, at the very least, they fib. Numbers can misrepresent and misdirect. And that’s dangerous because, in boxing, until you’ve won enough big fights to become a name, all you really are is a number — or, more accurately, a series of three numbers: wins, losses, and knockouts. All […]
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![Miguel Cotto]()
Miguel Cotto: The Anti-Camacho
It’s been a rough couple of years for athletes nicknamed “Macho.” In May 2011, pro wrestling legend Randy “Macho Man” Savage suffered a heart attack while driving, crashed his Jeep Wrangler, and died at age 58. Last week, 50-year-old ex-boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho was shot while sitting in a parked car, declared brain dead, and […]
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Nature, Nurture, and Knockouts: The Continued Rise of Adrien Broner and the Sooner-Than-Expected Fall of Seth Mitchell
Seth Mitchell was yesterday’s news. It was about five minutes after midnight, meaning it was now the day after Mitchell got knocked out in two rounds by 5-1 underdog Johnathon Banks. Mitchell, the man projected just a couple of hours earlier as the brightest hope for American heavyweight boxing, was invisible to the reporters trickling […]
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![Seth Mitchell]()
Heavyweight Boxing and the Need to Rope a Hope
Our century-long search for the Great White Hope is over. We found him. Two of him, in fact. And we can’t wait to be rid of him. The pronouns in play here could probably use some clarification. The “our” of the first sentence refers to a racially charged segment of America. The “we” of the […]
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Does Arturo Gatti Belong in the Boxing Hall of Fame?
It doesn’t matter if you follow boxing. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen an Arturo Gatti fight. (Although your life has kind of been wasted if that’s the case. Here, enjoy the first four and a half minutes of this creepy tribute video set to that Goo Goo Dolls song you never want to […]
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Six Reasons Why Boxing Doesn’t Suck Right Now
To the sport I’ve been watching and writing about the last three Saturday nights, I ask this question: Who are you, and what have you done with boxing? You superficially resemble boxing, with the four-sided rings and the dudes wearing gloves all punching each other and spitting into buckets and whatnot. But where are the […]
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Chavez Jr., 24/7, and the Heel-ing Process
Much of boxing’s appeal comes from its simplicity. Never mind the handful of rules that aren’t inherently obvious to the first-time observer, the scoring system that is so open to interpretation as to be closed to explanation, and the myriad strategic complexities. At its core, boxing is two guys punching each other. It is the […]
