Many good 32-year-old boxers have had the experience of fighting in Las Vegas. But Sean Monaghan got a late start as a professional, and the light heavyweight from Long Beach, N.Y., finally is getting his chance to show his goods in the fight capital of the world.
He is now so much a part of the nation’s social fabric that it’s hard to comprehend a time when Muhammad Ali was more reviled than revered.
Jessie Vargas isn’t as busy as he used to be. But the closer you inch toward a world title shot, the more choosy you become as to who you fight.
The moment he heard ring announcer Michael Buffer say he had lost a 12-round split decision to WBO super featherweight champion Rocky Martinez, Diego Magdaleno realized he’d have to chart a new course in his quest to win a world title.
Magnificent men on stages equally as magnificent, they were part of the golden age of heavyweight boxing. With Muhammad Ali as the common thread, they fought in faraway places like Zaire and the Philippines, in Yankee Stadium and in the parking lot of a faux Roman palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
There’s a reason Las Vegas’ Ishe Smith appeared distracted in losing a 12-round split decision to Carlos Molina on Sept. 14 and why he didn’t do interviews in the aftermath of relinquishing his IBF junior middleweight title to Molina at the MGM Grand Garden.
When most people think of the boxer Ken Norton, who lived out his final years in Henderson and died there last week, they probably think of his cross-armed, crab-like style of coming forward that gave some of the greatest heavyweights of his generation — of all time, really — major fits. Or they think of him breaking Muhammad Ali’s jaw at decrepit San Diego Sports Arena in the first installment of their indelible trilogy.
Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight at the MGM Grand Garden did record numbers, taking in $20 million at the gate and $150 million in gross revenue.
Ken Norton, a former heavyweight champion of the world who is best remembered for his trilogy of fights against Muhammad Ali — one in which he broke Ali’s jaw — died Wednesday in a veterans care facility in Henderson from congestive heart failure.
Veteran Las Vegas boxing judge C.J. Ross probably has worked her final fight.
The Nevada Athletic Commission had a chance to avoid embarrassment Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden but chose to back the decision of executive director Keith Kizer to use veteran judge C.J. Ross in Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s world junior middleweight title fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
It has come to this when Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights: The only things missing are Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and a groundhog. It’s the same thing, over and over. The same hype, the same buildup, the same outclassed opponents.
Danny Garcia gets to keep his world titles, and his father, Angel Garcia, gets to keep his hair.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., whose nickname is “Money” and who made a lot of it Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, made Saul “Canelo” Alvarez his latest victim while adding to his legacy in one of the most anticipated fights in years.
Ishe Smith’s reign as a world champion lasted less than seven months.
