England’s super sub praises England boss Sarina Wiegman for giving her hope ‘when she didn’t have any’

THE importance of momentum in an athlete or sportsperson’s career can’t be overstated. The sense of forward motion while training for an event, competition or tournament is intrinsic to their sense of purpose and identity, living as they do in a state of permanent striving for excellence from one day to the next.
For a fighter, momentum takes on even greater importance, in that the mindset required to step into a boxing ring to trade blows in sparring on a regular basis can only be sustained by the act of doing, reinforcing the mental fortitude required to do so with an upcoming fight consuming every waking thought.
But now all that has been shattered with the onset of a global pandemic, turning the world upside down and inside out. Boxers have in consequence been cut adrift from the gym and the daily grind and structure that normally dominates their existence, pitched now into a void with as yet no end in sight.

Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT

The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT

When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT

In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work