Anthony Joshua will put his career on the line this year in a mega fight with the most famous and dangerous of all elderly Soviet gentlemen to have ever laced up the gloves. Critical B&F can reveal that the British two-time unified WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion of the world will face theContinue reading ..read more

A pestilence has descended upon us, and its myriad consequences include the closure of the gyms and the isolation of boxers in their homes. This has apparently thrown many people’s training regimes into disarray and confusion. The internet abounds with anecdotal evidence of ordinary boxers struggling to come to terms with the new pestilential order.Continue reading ..read more

Boxing is a meaningful activity for the boxer. The ideal of boxing – what we call “the sweet science” – is a unity of science and art in which the efficient and effective fistic striking of another person gives expression to the strange beauty of human combat. This makes it one among many modes ofContinue reading ..read more

Me. But probably not the majority of mainstream commentators – and certainly not the bookies, who had Anthony Joshua the odds-on favourite at 4/9 (-225) to defeat Andy Ruiz Jnr in the lead up to their rematch on 7 December last year in Saudi Arabia. The predictions this time around were hardly uniform. There’d beenContinue reading ..read more

Although I believe that Everlast makes some truly bad gear, I’m not an inveterate Everlast hater. I like the Everlast logo. I like the faux old-school aesthetics of its marketing campaigns. I like the look or style of many of its gloves and other items of equipment and apparel, not least the awesome white trunksContinue reading ..read more

Are you a beginner wondering what gear you should buy? Or has a beginner ever asked you what gear he or she should buy? If so, you’re probably familiar with the idea that there’s a special kind of gear for beginners: gear of significantly lower quality and cost than that used by more experienced orContinue reading ..read more

My review of the Lace N Loop straps strongly recommended them for users of lace-up gloves. They’re great products. If you train in lace-up gloves, then whether you train solo or in a gym, you’ll get a lot of utility out of them. I should know. I own six pairs of the things. And asContinue reading ..read more

The YouTube ecosystem is crawling with so-called “influencers”. This cultural honorific is bestowed upon popular YouTubers who post videos of themselves expressing opinions on products, services, and/or trends, thereby influencing the consumption choices of the thousands or even millions of people subscribed to their YouTube channels. Nowadays there seem to be YouTube influencers for everythingContinue reading ..read more

My struggle with knuckle pain began shortly after my first ever training session on the heavy bag. I’d trained with the frenzy typical of beginner boxers, utterly absorbed by the sensation of my own power, and utterly ignorant of technique. It was haymaker after haymaker for a full thirty minutes, all delivered in my A$20Continue reading ..read more

This is the sparbar I made myself as explained in my post on How to make your own sparbar. It’s the ScepticalBoxer DIY sparbar MkII with a tennis ball attached to the end of the bar for additional head protection. This was necessitated after ScepticalBoxer DIY sparbar MkI opened up a small cut over myContinue reading ..read more