Bart Barry
Pontiac & Prizefighting: Listlessly seeking rebirth
DETROIT – At 7:00 AM on Sunday, Timothy Bradley walked gingerly through the Southwest terminal of Metro Airport. He was anonymous. I...
Bradley strikes out Alexander to become unified champion
PONTIAC, Mich. – There’s a reason it’s hard to get in the major leagues with a hitch in your swing. St. Louis’ Devon...
Bradley-Alexander is built, but will they come?
PONTIAC, Mich. – Junior welterweight champions Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander shared a lot of similarities Friday at Silverdome. Both were dark, muscular...
A tough gig: Don Escobar plays “Ratsville”
TEMPLE, Tex. – Sometime after this town was created in 1881 by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company, folks riding the trains...
Pontiac in January
Much has been made about poor ticket sales for Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley versus Devon Alexander “The Great.” The venue, Silverdome – originally...
Integrity’s integral part in prizefighting
“I cannot find language of sufficient energy to convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity. . . . With so much awe,...
A mosaicked revisit to last year’s most interesting fight – Parts...
Authors Note – In previous years, I’ve broken these treatments into two parts because we needed original content. Kyle Kinder and Anson Wainwright...
The Spaniard after whom our gym is named
“In order to allow our employees to spend time with their families, we will be closed on Christmas Day.” Is any sign so...
An unironical look at what happened in Pascal-Hopkins I
There’s irony in every Bernard Hopkins controversy. No one, that is, means exactly what he says. Hopkins talks and talks and sees...
Another night of undercuts and uppercuts
Let us not dwell on a way to fix this broken sport we love. But let us not be remiss, either, in mentioning...
Saul Alvarez vs. Javier Bardem
The other night Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez made his ringwalk to a song from the American movie “Rocky IV.” If you were thinking...
A Cobra, a Son of God, and some Dynamite
As Nottinghamshire’s Carl “The Cobra” Froch made his ringwalk, Saturday, Showtime commentator Steve Farhood recounted Froch’s run of super middleweight opponents since 2008 –...
Simplemente maravilloso
The most memorable knockout punches resemble nothing so much as upper-deck homeruns. Arizona Diamondbacks commentator Mark Grace is fond of pausing over the...
Good riddance to Margarito, so long to Pacquiao
ARLINGTON, Tex. – There was a time when Antonio Margarito was my favorite story in boxing. He was humble, friendly, kind to fans...
Mexicans’ support of Margarito never quit either
ARLINGTON, Tex. – In January of 2009, Mexican Antonio Margarito was caught with a plaster-like substance smeared on the knuckle pads of his hand...
Margarito makes weight; Pacquiao makes less
ARLINGTON, Tex. – Boxing history is littered with great fighters going one weight class too high. The oddsmakers still say Filipino Manny Pacquiao...
Apologies everywhere at Pacquiao-Margarito undercard press conference
GRAPEVINE, Tex. – Antonio Margarito is sorry. Brandon Rios is sorry. Robert Garcia is sorry. And all three would now like...
Pacquiao and Margarito take the stage; Sulaiman steals the show
ARLINGTON, Tex. – Unless the weekend’s combatants come to blows on the dais itself, Wednesday press conferences usually are dull affairs. Television executives,...
Celebrating Rafa; reconsidering Juanma
Juan Manuel “Juanma” Marquez is a very strong featherweight. In the ring, the Puerto Rican has the power of two men. How...
Poised for a Juanma knockout
We begin with a Juanma Lopez story. It was January of 2007, and a few of us gathered in a Phoenix Days Inn...
Watching “24/7” while thinking about Mexican television
Boxing doesn’t have seasons, or much boxing either, anymore, but it does have pay-per-view events that mark artificial seasons. These happen late in...
Arlington in November
Cowboys Stadium is not in Dallas or anywhere near Grapevine, Tex., home of the Gaylord Texan – official hotel of the Dallas Cowboys. ...
PALing around, looking for a fight
SAN ANTONIO – If you walked along the remnants of Chalk It Up on Houston Street, Saturday, hundreds of drawings in dusty pastel colors...
In celebration of Oscar’s candor
Heretofore, sincerity has not been a hallmark of the Golden Boy brand. Both as a fighter and promoter, Oscar De La Hoya has...
Hauser’s writing is . . .
Eight years ago Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post’s longtime book critic, mentioned his policy about reviewing friends’ works. He doesn’t do it. ...
What I did with $8 on Saturday instead of paying $44.95...
SAN ANTONIO – There was an excellent festival here called “Jazz'Salive,” downtown, Saturday. Some rain and lots of clouds, too. The rain...
Laborious dudgeon everywhere
Another bad month in a dreadful year. Dudgeon is high, patience low. Civil disagreements between smart folks deteriorate into fights. Even...
Into a laboratory of fear
“Everyone always asks us who is going to be the next great heavyweight. Well, on Sept. 11, we feel it will be Sam...
Trancazos, Arizona and beer
There was “Trancazos” on Friday night. He waved to an Arizona crowd that didn’t much respond to his post-fight salute. He applauded...
Some easygoing messiness from the streets of South Texas
LAREDO, Tex. – A great Texas writer named John Graves once wrote a great Texas book named “Goodbye to a River” in which he...
