Natasha Jonas v Lauren Price: women’s welterweight title unification – live buildup

Jonas and Price meet to unify WBC, IBF, WBA 147lb titlesCaroline Dubois defends her WBC 135lb title in co-featureMain event expected to start around 10pm GMT/5pm ETBluesky Bryan at @BryanAGraham or email himTonight marks the first night of boxing in four years at the Royal Albert Hall and only the fifth since 1999. But BoxRec’s exhaustive annals show the 154-year-old concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington has a surprisingly rich fistic history, with at least 470 cards staged here down the years going back to 1918 – exactly one month after the end of the first world war.Speaking of the great man, McRae wrote a piece for Sunday’s Observer on his latest book, The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing, out next week and published by Simon and Schuster.When I was a boy, living in South Africa, I fell for Muhammad Ali. As graceful as he was provocative, Ali amazed me with his uncanny ability, despite apartheid, to entrance black and white South Africans. He made us laugh and dazzled us with his outrageous skill and courage. I have followed boxing ever since, often obsessively, for more than 50 years.In 1996, after I spent five years tracking Mike Tyson, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Chris Eubank Sr and Naseem Hamed, my book Dark Trade allowed me to become a full-time writer. I owe this gift to boxing but our relationship is not easy. Boxing is as crooked and destructive as it is magnificent and transformative. Continue reading...

Natasha Jonas v Lauren Price: women’s welterweight title unification – live buildup
  • Jonas and Price meet to unify WBC, IBF, WBA 147lb titles
  • Caroline Dubois defends her WBC 135lb title in co-feature
  • Main event expected to start around 10pm GMT/5pm ET
  • Bluesky Bryan at @BryanAGraham or email him

Tonight marks the first night of boxing in four years at the Royal Albert Hall and only the fifth since 1999. But BoxRec’s exhaustive annals show the 154-year-old concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington has a surprisingly rich fistic history, with at least 470 cards staged here down the years going back to 1918 – exactly one month after the end of the first world war.

Speaking of the great man, McRae wrote a piece for Sunday’s Observer on his latest book, The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing, out next week and published by Simon and Schuster.

When I was a boy, living in South Africa, I fell for Muhammad Ali. As graceful as he was provocative, Ali amazed me with his uncanny ability, despite apartheid, to entrance black and white South Africans. He made us laugh and dazzled us with his outrageous skill and courage. I have followed boxing ever since, often obsessively, for more than 50 years.

In 1996, after I spent five years tracking Mike Tyson, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Chris Eubank Sr and Naseem Hamed, my book Dark Trade allowed me to become a full-time writer. I owe this gift to boxing but our relationship is not easy. Boxing is as crooked and destructive as it is magnificent and transformative.

Continue reading...