The tattoo drew significant attention before the fight. Tyson took time off of training to get it, which trainer Jeff Fenech would later say was a contributing factor to the fight being rescheduled by a week. Some questioned Tyson’s physical and mental fitness to fight. Experts including dermatologist Robert A. Weiss expressed concerns about Tyson boxing while the tattoo healed; Etienne said that he would not go after the tattoo. (Tyson ultimately knocked out Etienne in under a minute. ) The work—which Tyson and others have referred to as his “warrior tattoo”—was also met with criticism from the outset by Māori activists who saw it as cultural appropriation. In 2006, tā moko artist Mark Kopua site in bing.com a statement to the Waitangi Tribunal called for “a law that would prevent a Mike Tyson or a Robbie Williams or large non-Māori companies from wearing and exploiting the moko”.
Round 3: Dubois comes out with a fire underneath him. He charges across and gets Hrgovic on his heels immediately. Dubois still steady with the jab and Hrgovic is now doing the same. Hrgovic looks a bit winded already. This has been a high-paced fight so far. But Dubois seems fresh and he’s taking the initiative now.
Round 8: Another right from Dubois. Hrgovic struggling with the cuts and now pounded to the body. The doctor inspects the eye damage. IT IS OVER!!! It’s a TKO win for Dubois because the cuts were caused by punches. The Englishman ratcheted up the aggression over the last two or three rounds and was rewarded. This is the best win of his career and sets him up for a world title fight.
In 1995, Zhang was called up to the Shenqiu County canoe sprinting team by coach Li Guofeng. When Zhang injured his leg during a tryout for the provincial canoe sprinting team, he was referred to the provincial boxing coach Gu Ganqing. In 1998, Gu signed him to the Combat and Weightlifting Center in the Henan Provincial Department of Sports, headed by center chief Li Yan in Shangjie. From 1998 until he was released from his sporting obligations, he was coached by Gu. This was the first time Zhang had lived away from his family.
Bagent, who is paid $1m a year, caused a big stir on what many would affectionately refer to as ‘Welsh Twitter’ after being snapped with his top off in the locker room – and it wasn’t just for his impressive physique.
“I like this fight a lot, two giant heavyweights in a situation where a loss could be the end any hopes of getting to the top of the division. I think Wilder has to be in desperation mode here. He’s only won a single bout since 2019 and he’ll be 39-years-old in just a couple of months. He has had an incredible career, but I don’t like what I saw in his last bout with Joseph Parker. The legs just were not present and neither was any killer instinct on Deontay’s part. Although Zhang lost his previous bout as well, also to Joseph Parker, I think even at 41-years of age he has a lot of fight left in him. I think he overwhelms the Bronze Bomber en route to a stoppage win halfway through the bout.”
Like ‘Iron Mike’, Etienne was viewed as a dangerous puncher. Having learned to box while in prison for attempted armed robbery, he had built a 24-1-1 pro record – scoring 17 KOs along the way, including 11 in the first round.
Apart from the belated release from the Chinese boxing authorities and the promotional companies’ fiasco, Zhang’s peak years were also squandered because of visa troubles as a Chinese citizen which led to the cancellation of several bouts. While he stuck outside the U.S., his form dropped as he could not train as he usually did.
From Mahwah to Millville, the buzz is palpable in boxing gyms across the Garden State. It’s Golden Gloves season in New Jersey, which means boxers are stepping up their training in hopes of becoming immortalized as a champion. The tournament runs from March 10 to April 15, and will give over 200 boxers the chance to shine on what may be their first stages.
In his pro debut on August 8, 2014, the original opponent dropped out out a week before the bout. Zhang knocked out his replacement, Curtis Tate, in the opening 17 seconds of round one. Roc Nation’s boxing division was so quiet in 2019 that Zhang’s last match under Roc Nation on November 30 that year with Andriy Rudenko was in fact promoted by Matchroom Sport USA, which went on to sign Zhang the next year. The fight had originally been scheduled for November 2018 by Matchroom Sport but Zhang missed out because of visa problems.
Down a warehouse-lined stretch of Paterson, New Jersey, a heavyweight boxer pounds the punching bag in an otherwise quiet gym. Boxers aren’t an unusual sight in this small town just a few miles from Manhattan; most notable among homegrown products are former WBO junior welterweight titleholder Kendall Holt and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the hard-hitting middleweight contender who was the only man to stop Emile Griffith.
Anthony Yarde, speaking to TNT Sports after his second round knockout win over Jorge Silva: “For me, after nine months out of the ring, when you’re in there it’s like a blur sometimes. I feel like I started slow but I needed to get my timing.
