Sean Crose

By: Sean Crose Years ago I was on a conference call in a dark room inside a nearly empty building. I was just getting off of work but before going home I

It’s been said a million times – you don’t play boxing. Jake Paul may have learned that lesson the hard way after getting his jaw broken by former world heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua last year. In fairness, social media star turned professional boxer Paul had supposed to have fought lightweight Gervonta Davis. That fight fell through, however, and so Joshua, a towering, statuesque fighter if ever there was one, stepped in to fill the far smaller Davis’ shoes. Suffice to say, things ended pretty much as expected, if not worse. In a word, Joshua beat the brash American from pillar to post.

We were told he might well be the greatest fighter ever, that he possessed such talent, that he engaged in such cutting-edge training, that he had such an extraordinary amateur pedigree that resistance was essentially futile. Make no mistake about it, Vasyl Lomachenko was sold as a star before he even stepped foot in a professional prize ring. And while it’s true the man quickly became a star, the assertion that he could indeed be the greatest ever seems more than a bit hyperbolic these days. The man’s about to come back, however, possibly against Gervonta Davis (we’ll have to see whether or not that comes to fruition) so maybe at the age of 38 the one-time wunderkind will live up to those sky-high expectations after all. One never really knows.

By: Sean Crose At 14-0, there was no doubt that former WBO lightweight world titlist Keyshawn Davis was a fighter worth keeping an eye on. Davis, however,

By: Sean Crose When I was a young man growing up in Waterbury, Connecticut back in the '70s and '80s, sports was King. It seemed like every neighborhood

It’s been going on for years now – the phenomena of novelty boxing matches, where well known fighters square off against fighters generally looking for either a pay day or some last moment of glory. MMM legends versus world class boxers, MMA legends versus social media influencers, great boxers of yore fighting well beyond their sell by dates, it’s a circus that sometimes borders on the tragic – if so much money wasn’t involved. Yup – these novelty matchups can bring in a lot of eyeballs. Sure enough they are often in line to be the most watched combat sporting events of the years in which they take place.

Perhaps none of us should be surprised by what happened in Egypt tonight. Oleksandr Usyk, the unquestioned King of the heavyweight division, got the fight of his life against Dutch kickboxer and virtual boxing novice Rico Verhoeven against the backdrop of that country’s Great pyramids. It was supposed to be a novelty fight, but Verhoeven took all the novelty out of it and turned it into a real throwdown. Much credit goes to the Dutchman who thoroughly rose to the occasion, despite the fact that he ended up losing by a controversial 11th round stoppage.

By: Sean Crose Give Jake Paul this: He's a determined man. Around 6 months after getting his jaw destroyed by none other than Anthony Joshua the media

Gervonta Davis’ last fight was in March of 2025. His previous fight was in June of 2024. His previous fight before that was in April of 2023. Even by contemporary boxing standards, Davis doesn’t fight much. At the moment, Davis is not scheduled to fight anyone. He’s in the news, however, because there’s a warrant for his arrest in Delaware due to a reported parole violation. Unfortunately, fairly or unfairly, Davis is now known as a man who is perpetually in trouble with the law as much as he is a world class, highly decorated fighter (which Davis has repeatedly proven himself to be).

By: Sean Crose O'Shaquie Foster had a title to defend on Saturday night in Houston, the WBC junior lightweight title. Foster may not have been looked at