If someone wants to cover boxing for Pencilstorm, please contact us at pencilstormstory@gmail.com. I’m a big fight fan but we haven’t had any luck filling the position so I am going to knock something out. I’m as ready as I’ll never be. Please forgive the typos I’m doing this in between customers at Colin’s Coffee.

Let me start by saying that SI Boxing with Chris Mannix is essential listening every Friday. This podcast is my go-to on trying to keep up with the different fights, different platforms and upcoming fighters. Actually I am listening to an interview with Shawn Porter  as I write this. I didn’t know he is originally from Northeast Ohio and he was Manny Pacquiao’s sparring partner in his prime. Porter takes on the great Errol Spence in a PPV in October. Guess what, now I am really excited for this fight. It goes to show that to truly enjoy boxing, you have to actively follow the sport. Also, on Twitter I follow Chris Mannix, Dan Rafeal, and Max Kellerman. 

Upcoming fights of note:

Sergey Kovalev  vs Anthony Yarde for Light Heavyweight Title. Saturday August 24th 4pm ESPN +

Kovalev literally killed a man in the ring. Then won the title. Then lost two fights to the great Andre Ward before hiring a new trainer and regaining the belt following Ward’s retirement. Experts seem to think Yarde will be a pushover but he is undefeated and looks like a handful to me. 

If Kovalev wins he could be in line for a megafight against Canelo Alverez. This would be a very interesting fight as Canelo would have to  jump two weight classes to try and get the belt in that weight class.

In fact, Canelo was hoping to have Kovalev on Mexican Independence day, September 14th, but his drunken (allegedly) manager Oscar DeLa Hoya botched the deal and now their our serious legal troubles brewing between the two parties. 

You can’t talk about Canelo without GGG. DAZN has signed both fighters to big $ contracts in hopes of promoting their 3rd fight on the new streaming service. I subscribe to DAZN and I love it. The model is that for a monthly subscription of $10 a month you get numerous pay-per-view quality fights without the expense of plopping down $80 a fight

Gennady Golovkin fights Derevyanchenko (I literally cut and pasted that name in) on DAZN on Oct 5th at MSG for some sort of title belt.

The best thing that has happened to DAZN is the Mexican Homer Simpson, Andy Ruiz, knocking out the pride of Britain, Anthony Joshua for the heavyweight championship of the world. I watched this live on DAZN and was jaw agape watching Ruiz get off the mat to pummel the undefeated champ into submission. The rematch is essential viewing on Dec 7th from… Saudia Arabia? 

Who is the best P4P fighter in the world? Many would say it’s Vasyl Lomachenko and he is fighting Luke Campbell on August 31st on ESPN +. 

Ok, that’s it for now. Back to coffee customers. Thanks for reading the world’s worst boxing blog. - Colin G.