Have you seen The Boxer (1997) starring Daniel Day-Lewis? If you have, what did you think of DDL’s boxing in the movie? In my opinion it’s the most convincing anyone with no background in the sport (though knowing the man he probably trained for months like a maniac to get in the role) ever did on screen.

Many years ago, yeah. I remember liking the movie a lot and being impressed with Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance, which, you know — par for the course with him, but in particular the boxing as a specific thing that wasn’t just him being one of the great actors to ever live. Good movie!

From Southpaw Double Jab:

How would Canelo do in a rematch with Crawford, if it happened within a year? He certainly look sharper, although his foe was about as straightforward as they get, albeit strong (but only determined in spots, it seemed). Painful reminders in the 12th that Canelo carries his power late into a fight, and into his career…pity his feet are often so slow in cutting off the ring.

I think it could be interesting, but a big part of that is that Crawford would come in rusty now. And while he looks good on camera and stuff, you don’t know what kind of “fighting shape” he’s kept himself in in the year-plus he’s already been away from the ring. But if all things are equal, both guys as good as they can be on the night, I just think Bud beats him until proven otherwise. Can’t pick against it.

Middleweight has been a barren landscape for some time now, but help appears to be on the way! We’ve got promising prospects (A. Jones, C. Peters), the solid middle class (J. Ramos, Mielnicki, Katzourakis, J. Tucker, Liddard), promising belt holders (A. McKenna, Y. Hernandez shortly) , reliable vets (Lara, Adames), nepo babies (Eubank Jr., Tszyu), and the much-needed names moving up from 154 (Ortiz Jr., Zayas, and maybe Boots or Fundora?). At the end of 2027, who will be the top guy at 160?

I’m praying the coming year really is the one where we start to see real life again at 160. We’ve thought help was coming repeatedly, and then it fizzled. But you’re sort of getting to the real key, too: It’s not about some young gun taking over, or at least it doesn’t have to be. That middle class, get these guys fighting each other and you have a better, at least more active and enjoyable division pretty much immediately.

If I had to make a guess on the top dog at 160 at the end of 2027, I’m going to say Xander Zayas, unless Boots winds up there, which is very possible. So Boots, I guess, but if not him then Zayas will make Boots’ win over him look even better going forward. I really think he’ll rebound well from the loss, I think he’s a very good fighter with a great mindset.

November 21st has become a weird hole in the boxing calendar. Any idea why? We have Teremoana on Wednesday, Amari Jones on Friday, but then Saturday is a big blank hole. No major promoters having a show. Then on the 28th is Kabayel vs. Hysa on Saturday, but still nothing in the American time slot. 2 weeks in a row with nothing for the American audience. I assume it’s football season? Nothing comparable happened last year.

I think there was real hope that Shakur vs Haney would come on November 28. Other than that, you’ve got football, then Thanksgiving in the States on the 26th, and sometimes this stuff just happens. Late year boxing schedules often get janky. Some guys just don’t want to train around the holidays, too.

The Ring came out with their first pound for pound list in 1989, since then it has been topped by 17 different fighters, 9 Americans, 2 Mexicans, 2 Ukrainians, and Nicaragua, Japan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines have all had one respectively. As a boxing fan the country whose absence on that list looms the largest to me is Great Britain, why has the UK never had a number one P4P boxer? Is it just dumb luck, lack of top tier training infrastructure, lack of talent, an insidious anti-British plot, or something else?

Who got closest? Calzaghe? Hamed? Hatton?

I think it’s just one of those things. Lots of top British fighters in that time frame, just haven’t had one of those, like, sport-leading, dominant guys in the weights that generally get the P4P love. Lots of big stars, though.

Thoughts on Erislandy Lara’s career now that we’re headed towards its twilight? I’ve always had a substantial soft spot for the elegant Cuban even if his opposition these last couple years has been less than stellar. Do you think he has any considerable future at 160 as a kind of B-Hop lite or do you think he keeps taking cheques against easy touches until the wheels come off while holding his belt hostage?

Really good fighter, borderline great at his very best. I don’t expect him to do anything terribly interesting, though it’s worth noting he signed up to fight Janibek, and that fell apart because of Janibek.

I’ve said this before, but I sincerely admire the decade he’s had in the 2020s, and going back to August 2019 when he trounced Canelo’s Brother, Ramon. Look at that schedule: Greg Vendetti, Cornflake LaManna, Spike O’Sullivan, Michael Zerafa, a blown-up/half-retired Danny Garcia, Johan Gonzalez. Not a sincere contender among them, no matter what BoxRec’s computers think of Zerafa, something I have never understood. And every one of those fights for a world title. And all that time, you can’t even say Lara’s a draw and go, “Well, he brings in money!”

It’s really something remarkable. And I just can’t be mad at the guy. He took advantage of something that is allowed. And plus, in the two fights before the Ramon-to-present run, he gave us absolute wars against Jarrett Hurd and Brian Castano. I started doing BLH in 2006, Lara came on the scene in 2008, there aren’t that many fighters we actively talked about on this site in 2008 and 2026.

He was also arguably robbed of two wins that would have been trajectory-changing, first against Paul Williams in 2011, and then against Canelo in 2014. Lara’s 43 now, he does have the feeling of a guy who could do this until he’s 50 if he’s smart and careful about it. I think he’ll beat Tszyu in a month, but I’m also not 100% on that, 43 is years past when it could be any old fight where you go old. But we’ll see. I like Lara.

Why don’t we ever hear about heavy weight catch weights? We have some giants fighting recently and the “smaller” 200+ guys seem to not do so well, except Usyk. Do you consider the unpopular Bridgerweight division as a type of heavy catch weight? Why do you think the fans have not adopted it as such?

Because boxing doesn’t need a 900th division. Bridgerweight will never connect. Cruiserweight has never really connected outside of Europe. And that’s had decades to get there. People don’t want more divisions or weight classes. They just don’t. We have too many as it is.

Usyk vs Benavidez at cruiserweight – who you got? And would a defeat hurt Usyk’s legacy or further enhance it simply because he took such a dangerous fight? Lastly, do you want Usyk to take that fight?

Usyk’s legacy is set in stone. If anyone thinks losing to Benavidez hurts Usyk’s legacy, I think they just lack perspective, that’s a consequence of our “reaction”-driven sports culture.

If Ryan vs Floyd actually happens, and Floyd loses… does his ATG stock take a hit? Ryan has said it has to be sanctioned. Does it depend on it being an actual officially sanctioned bout vs exhibition?

No, Floyd’s legacy doesn’t take a hit. I think it’s kind of embarrassing that Ryan Garcia wants to fight a 50-year-old Floyd Mayweather, but that’s the Ryan Garcia Story. One step forward for your own legitimacy, two steps back.

If Mayweather were to take a sanctioned fight with Garcia or basically anyone at this point, I have a hard time looking at that as something legitimate worth taking seriously. He would only do it because of truly dire finances, and what are we talking about then? We’re not talking about a prime athlete. We’re not talking about someone who even wants to be there. We’re talking about an old guy who needs money and is desperate enough to do something he does not want to do and never did. That’s not interesting to me, and it’s not something I’d take seriously on his record. It’s just sad.

If the proposed Muhammad Ali Reform Act does not pass the senate, would you expect Zuffa to shutter its business? No UBO, bad business with sanctioning bodies and rival promoters, no standout name to promote…I can’t help but think this is Dana White’s XFL.

Very possible. I guess you could give Zuffa Boxing to someone other than Dana under the TKO banner, but what’s the point then? They’re not going to invest in it at that stage.

Loma just re-signed with top rank so the comeback is OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!!! My question is, when Loma moved up to 135 lbs back in 2018, would you consider that decision one of the worst boxing “career” decisions a top fighter liked Loma could’ve made?

Nope. He did well. Had big fights, made good money, went 8-2 at the weight and his losses were narrow decisions against Teofimo and Haney, and a lot of people thought he deserved the duke against Devin, and it was certainly debatable. He had a bad half a fight against Teofimo in a weird environment in 2020. But he lost to a pair of younger, talented guys who were natural at 135 and are both now three-division world champions, same as Vasiliy.

If the best fights for him to take in this comeback were at 135, he’d fight at 135 again. But there are fights he can make at 130 and that’s the better weight for him. If he could still make 126 I’m sure he’d prefer that. Every time he moved up it was to get good fights. And he took them when they were on the table.