"Survival Skills: Sugar Ray Leonard" by Sean Woods - MensJournal.com

I guess this Survival Skills series is kind of like Esquire "What I've Learned", except with the question posted along with the answer. Here Sugar Ray weighs in on what it takes to be a man, what makes him happy, and what means the most in life.

http://www.mensjournal.com/survival-skills-sugar-ray-leonard

"What I've Learned: Joe Frazier" by Cal Fussman - Esquire.com

The "What I've Learned" series of interviews for Esquire are seminal in my mind. Long interviews with famous people boiled down into nuggets of wisdom. This one from recently deceased boxing great Joe Frazier is a favorite of mine and I thought it was a fitting remembrance for a guy that literally fought his way out of the Jim Crow south to become champion of the world. Sample quote:

I wasn't a big guy. People thought the big guys would eat me up. But it was the other way around. I loved to fight bigger guys. Only one big guy I didn't like to fight. That was George. Fightin' George Foreman is like being in the street with an eighteen-wheeler comin' at you.

RIP, Joe Frazier.

"The Real Rocky" by Michael Weinreb - Grantland.com

Rocky was a real person and his name is Chuck Wepner. A big tough white dude who went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali. Oh shocker he's from Jersey. All the best* ones are.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7144768/the-real-rocky

*Dumb, ugly, tough, disproportionately charming ones, I mean.

"Real Stories: Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko" by Davy Rotbart - Grantland.com

I'm a very casual fan of boxing. I'll watch Pacquiao and Mayweather fights and that's about it. And I have no idea what to make of eastern European boxers. Like, yes, you are technically proficient and you grew up behind the iron curtain being trained on the use of hand grenades and Kabar knives. So you are tough, and probably a very good boxer.

But you are also white. And if there's one thing I know from being a casual boxing observer, it's this: Always bet on the black guy. I just can't wrap my nuts around a legitimate white heavyweight champion. I'm sorry, I can't. No offense to Vitali and Wladimir, but LaTavian from Philly and Leon from Oakland will fuck your shit up in a heartbeat, and no one with a brain thinks any different.

Weird, wweeeiirrdd interview with these two though:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7128487/vitali-wladimir-klitschko

"The Odd Death of Arturo Gatti" by Chris Jones - Grantland.com

First off, that little bitch earthquake can lick the balls. Didn't even feel it.

Secondly, I got a bunch of emails from Poop Readers saying they were dumping out at the exact moment the earthquake struck. Lots of jokes about their poops being the root cause. Shit kills me. Something about a dude being stuck on the toilet during a disaster-type situation just tickles me pink. A. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. To Hades if you're leaving that toilet come hell or high water with doo doo squishing around in your butt cheeks. Just gotta sit there, hold on tight, and hope for the best. That's it. and B. That's the part they never show in action movies. How come Bruce Willis was never sitting on the can when it was time to move? Sly Stallone getting rid of ma's lasagna when the shit hits the fan? That never happens. It should. I would like a movie called "Earthquake" starting with Vin Diesel reading some awful car magazine on the shitter at some boring white collar job he hates. Then he saves the day while also trying to convince people he likes girls. Tell me that's not cinema verite like a motherfucker.

The fact that all these dudes crawled out of the bathroom after an earthquake hit New York City while they were shitting and thought of the same joke to email me about kills me too. Dudes are so gross. So predictable. So great.

Anyway, Chris Jones on Arturo Gatti's death here. Cool fighter, cool story, cool writer. Oh and Chris Jones has boxed some so you know he speaks from the heart. Enjoy.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6884938/the-odd-death-arturo-gatti

"The Art of the Body Shot" by Chris Jones - Grantland.com

This article is so good. It's about boxers who knock out dudes not with headshots but with bodyshots. Chris Jones absolutely rips it to shreds. He dabbles in boxing himself. Not even gonna mess around with a funny type blog about this one. Just read the damn thing and thank me later.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6801388/the-art-body-shot

"The Fighter and the Damage Done" by Kevin Gray - MensJournal.com

Great story on Dicky Ecklund, the crackhead brother of MickFace McMarkyMark or whatever that dude's name was in the fighter.* Guy's a mess. No matter how hungover your 30 year old carcass is on Monday morning, trust this: You feel better than this guy.

http://www.mensjournal.com/the-fighter-and-the-damage-done

*I know who Micky Ward is, don't get your labias in a twist.

"Bernard Hopkins Finally Explains His Loathing For Donovan McNabb And How He Can 'Look Through A Man’s Soul'" by Luke O'Brien - Deadspin.com

Tell you what, Bernard Hopkins is a crazy like a fox. Yeah he might have spent a good chunk of his prime sitting in a prison cell, not lifting weights. And yeah he might be a little racist against other black people. And sure he's got a face that says "I'd slit your wife's nostrils open and then go home and make myself an ice cream sandwich." But I'll be goddamed if he doesn't make a lot of sense in this quick-hitter article. Real reckanize real.

http://deadspin.com/5805438/bernard-hopkins-finally-explains-his-loathing-for-donovan-mcnabb-and-how-he-can-look-through-a-mans-soul