By Michael Byrne: We worried about the gloves. We worried about the canvas. We worried about the wrapping of the hands. But our worries were seemingly just a by-product of the mind-games between the Klitschko and Fury camps – after a ring-walk accompanied by a fantastic lighting show and a fully-furnished orchestra to play the Ukrainian national anthem, Michael Buffer made the announcements, and referee Tony Weeks gave his instructions, and the first bell sounded.
We were treated to the most entertaining heavyweight title fight in a very long time. Entertaining not due to its action, but due to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitscko’s inability to deal with Tyson Fury in their fight at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. He couldn’t beat him to the jab, he couldn’t get past his feints, he couldn’t bully him in the clinch, and he couldn’t land his power punches. Fury did a masterful job of taking Wlad’s best assets – his jab and his clinch-warfare – away from him. Fury’s feet were fantastic, and his head and hip movement resembled that of a much smaller man.
By Michael Byrne: Last Saturday night, Miguel Cotto was beaten by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Whilst the judging was frustratingly, and perhaps suspiciously wide, the decision was definitely correct. Already in the twilight of his career, fighting only for money and with no clear weight class, what does the drawing board have to offer Miguel Cotto?
By Michael Byrne: The judges gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. the fight last night in his fight against Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. You probably gave it to Pacquiao, like all of the other overnight armchair heavily opinionated fans. 
By Michael Byrne: Amir Khan is once more running his mouth, chasing a shot at Mayweather. However, it has long been determined that Mayweather’s next fight will be in September, and Khan has admitted he can’t make this date as he wants three months to prepare for the fight, and Ramadan would get in the way of this. Khan is trying to pressure Mayweather to push the date back to November, but whilst Khan’s pressure in the ring is world-class, his influence over Mayweather outside the ring is non-existent: Mayweather fights who he wants, when he wants.
By Michael Byrne: As everyone is now aware, Saturday night’s ‘History at the Capitol’ show was stolen by IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) as he destroyed Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KO’s) in four rounds at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. Malignaggi is probably finished as far as world-title boxing goes, and so we should take a brief moment to congratulate the man on a fantastic career: from his all-out war with Miguel Cotto in 2006, to beating Lovemore N’Dou in his second shot at a title, two great displays of boxing against Juan Diaz (in which he deserved two victories), coming back from the loss to Amir Khan and moving up to 147 to beat Vyacheslav Senchenko to become a two-weight world champion. 
By Michael Byrne: Shawn Porter has arranged a voluntary defence of his new IBF 147lb title with the biggest available name, Paulie Malignaggi, but the IBF have stated that the winner must fight mandatory challenger Kell Brook within 90 days. This is great news all round. Porter gets to fight another big name after springing onto the big stage with his upset victory over Devon Alexander. 
By Michael Byrne: David Price is continuing his offshore comeback with an 8-round contest against Ondrej Pala in the Velodrom, Berlin on March 29th. This is a big gamble. Pala was stopped in three rounds by Derek Chisora last time out, but that doesn’t tell the tale of the fight. The stoppage was a strange one, as Pala stumbled face-first into the corner with his arms over the ropes, leaving Chisora free to tee-off against the back of the head of a fighter unable to protect himself.
By Michael Byrne: So the Carl Froch – George Groves rematch has been announced for 31st May, and it’s time to start wondering what will be different a second time round. Groves surprised everyone last time out. It doesn’t matter if you’re George Groves’s biggest fan, it doesn’t even matter if you’re Geroge Groves himself; you WERE surprised when Froch hit the canvas in the first round.