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Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas stumble, miss U.S. Open cut tiger,woods,justin,thomas,stumble,miss,u,s,open,cut,sbnation,com,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news,liv-golf

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas are just two of the big names to miss the cut at the 124th U.S. Open.

Woods, a 3-time U.S. Open champion, carded a 3-over 73 on Friday to miss the weekend by two shots. Thomas, meanwhile, looked lost all week at Pinehurst No. 2, finishing at 11-over through 36 holes. The two-time PGA champion has missed the cut in five of his last seven majors, an alarming trend for the Louisville, Kentucky native.

But plenty of others will head home early, too.

Viktor Hovland opened the 2024 U.S. Open with an eye-opening 8-over 78. He fought hard to make the weekend on Friday, battling back after making a double-bogey at the par-4 8th with four birdies, but he fell short in the end. Two bogies over his final three holes cost the Norwegian dearly, as he missed the cut by a stroke at 6-over par.

Also finishing at 6-over was Robert MacIntyre, who recently won the RBC Canadian with his father on the bag. Unfortunately for the Scotsman, he will have no reason to celebrate this time around.

Max Homa, Eric Cole, and PGA Tour rookie Nick Dunlap also finished at 6-over, with Homa being the biggest surprise of this trio. Yet, Homa has missed the cut at the U.S. Open in four of his five starts, with the outlier being a tie for 47th at the Country Club at Brookline in 2022.

Canadians Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor will also head home early, finishing at 7-over and 8-over, respectively. Australian Jason Day also totaled an 8-over score, a surprise given that this course suits his game nicely.

Others who finished at 8-over include Will Zalatoris, Webb Simpson, Will Zalatoris, Rickie Fowler, and one of SB Nation’s Dark Horses, Alex Noren of Sweden.

Dustin Johnson ended his second round at 9-over, as he has looked completely lost in major championships this season. So, too, has Phil Mickelson, who finished at 15-over after shooting a 79 on Thursday and a 76 on Friday.

Plenty of big names faltered at Pinehurst No. 2, but the big name favorite—Scottie Scheffler—made the cut on the number.

In all, 74 players earned third-round tee times, and play will commence first thing on Saturday, which promises to be another thrilling day in the North Carolina sandhills.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

U.S. Open: Francesco Molinari makes inconceivable ace, makes cut u,s,open,francesco,molinari,makes,inconceivable,ace,makes,cut,sbnation,com,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

Francesco Molinari stood on the par-4 9th hole—his 18th of the day—at 7-over par. With the cut-line sitting at 5-over, he needed a hole-in-one to make the cut on the number.

The request was impossible, and yet Molinari delivered the improbable. He made an ace with a 7-iron, thus earning a third-round tee time at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2021.

“I think from where we were standing, it looked like it just carried the bunker, plus the greens are getting firm, so it was the ideal shot,” Molinari explained after.

“Then it started tracking, was going to break left to right at the hole, and we were joking with Sergio Garcia about how it looked and on a great line the whole way, but what are the chances really. I don’t even know what to say. Just incredible.”

Molinari struggled to process what had transpired after his 2-over 72.

“I just bogeyed 8. I was hoping I could par the 8th and then have to make two at 9,” Molinari said.

“With that flag, if you hit a good shot, you can get it within birdie range, but when I dropped a shot at 8, and then yes, standing on the 9th tee, it was just put a good swing on it and see what happens. But the chances are incredibly small, so I don’t know what to say.”

Molinari has had his fair share of incredible hole-in-ones.

He aced the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale one year. He also made a hole-in-one at Bay Hill, when he won there in 2019, per golf statistician Justin Ray.

But on Friday, he made the greatest ace of his life—when he needed it most.

“It was the last chance to have a chance to play the weekend,” Molinari added.

“That’s golf in a nutshell.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal already has eyes on the AL Cy Young award tigers,ace,tarik,skubal,already,has,eyes,on,the,al,cy,young,award,sbnation,com,front-page,mlb,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

The past 10 seasons for the Detroit Tigers has been a bit of a journey in the wilderness. The 2014 season ended up being the end of an era for the Tigers, as their four-year run of playoff appearances from 2011 through 2014 ended with two ALCS appearances and an American League Pennant victory in 2012. Once that window closed for Detroit, it slammed shut and outside of one winning season in 2016 that saw the Tigers come up three games short of earning a Wild Card spot, there hasn’t been much to get excited about for fans of the hometown team in the Motor City.

As of right now, the Tigers have a tough road ahead of them if they’re planning on returning to October baseball. They’re a distant fourth in the AL Central with their divisional rivals Kansas City and Minnesota currently occupying two of the three Wild Card spots in the AL. They are 33-35 and 3.5 games behind in the race for the final and are currently lumped in with the Astros, Rangers and Blue Jays when it comes to owning similar winning percentages. This is a long season with plenty of peaks and valleys but Detroit still a bit of an outside contender at this point – FanGraphs’ playoff odds is giving the Tigers a 12 percent shot at making the Postseason as a Wild Card with their overall odds of making the playoffs in general at 15 percent.

Needless to say, the Tigers aren’t exactly the favorites to upset the apple cart in baseball this season. With that being said, there’s one very good reason to pay attention to what Detroit has going on this season and that’s the mound exploits of Tarik Skubal. Skubal is coming off of a 2022 season that saw him establish himself as a bonafide major league starter with an ERA- of 90 and a FIP- of 75 over 117.2 innings. He followed that up by emerging as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball despite missing the first three months of the 2023 season due to a flexor tendon injury that ended his 2022 campaign. Once Skubal did finally return to the mound on July 4, 2023, he hit the ground running and wasted no time in establishing himself as a true ace. When I say that he was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season, I mean it – Skubal led all pitchers in fWAR with 3.3 after he returned to the mound, with Spencer Strider in second place after he produced 2.8 fWAR over that same span.

With all this in mind, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tarik Skubal has emerged as a Cy Young candidate now that he’s been fully healthy here in 2024. As good as Skubal was to finish the 2023 season, he’s been even better this season. Skubal finished 2023 with an ERA- of 65 and a FIP- of 47 and both of those numbers are well above average when it comes to starting pitchers. He’s on track to leave those numbers in the dust here in 2024, as he’ll be heading into his start tonight against the Astros with an ERA- of 49 and a FIP- of 54. He’ll also be heading into Houston coming off of his most recent start where he made it through 6.2 innings with five hits and two walks for a grand total of just one run allowed and 10 strikeouts to boot. It was also the 11th time in 13 starts this season where the 27-year-old lefty gave up two runs or less. Needless to say, this man has been absolutely dealing all season.

What makes Tarik Skubal so incredibly tough to deal with is the fact that he’s got five pitches in his bag of tricks and batters have zero idea as to how to actually consistently hit his stuff. His best pitch has been his four-seam fastball and it’s a pitch that has slowly-but-surely been ramping up in velocity over the course of his career. He may have finally peaked in velocity in his most recent start, where he hit 101.7 mph on the radar gun. As this article from Jason Beck of MLB.com mentioned, it was one of the fastest pitches thrown by a starter this season and it was part of a deliberate effort on his part to ramp up his velocity on his heater. With that being said, it’s not just his fastball that hitters have to worry about. His sinker has been sitting at 96 mph – the same speed as his average fastball. Hitters have been bewitched by both pitches, as evidenced by the opposition batting average of .205 against his sinker and .169 against his fastball.

Opposing hitters haven’t fared well against his other three pitches, either. His changeup is his second-most used pitch behind his fastball and hitters are only hitting .223 against it. He also has a slider that he’s commonly used and it only has a .194 batting average against it. Finally, he’s thrown 57 knuckle curveballs this season and you are not going to find a video of anybody getting a hit against it so far in 2024. That’s right: The opposing batting average against his knuckle curve is .000. Granted, it does have an Expecting Batting Average of .243 but the good news for Skubal is that that xBA is by far the highest of any of his four pitches – his fastball has an xBA of .205, his changeup’s xBA is at .219, the sinker is at .191 and the slider’s xBA is microscopic at .161. Simply put, it hasn’t really mattered what Tarik Skubal has been throwing out there – opposing hitters have had an absolute devil of a time trying to deal with any one of them.

If Skubal needs to miss a bat, his changeup (45 percent whiff rate) and slider (35 percent whiff rate) have been his go-to in that regard. If he needs an out, any one of his four main pitches will do as his highest Put Away percentage lies at 31 percent with his changeup while the lowest of those four pitches is 21 percent with his four-seamer. He’s got nasty stuff in his arsenal and he’s throwing all of his pitches with a ton of confidence at the moment. Taking all of this into account, it’s easy to understand why he’s starting to get attention and even early talks of Cy Young Award contention here in June.

There are also surely some rumors floating around that Tarik Skubal could be traded at the deadline but those rumors appear to simply be rumors. Either way, Skubal isn’t the type of pitcher that should be traded if you’re a team that still harbors any type of playoff hopes. Jim Bowden of The Athletic stated that while the Tigers may listen to offers on the likes of Jack Flaherty, Skubal’s going nowhere.

Again, while the Tigers aren’t exactly near the top of the standings, they still figure to be right in the middle of the pack when it comes to the Wild Card chase and as long as that’s the case, Skubal should remain in a Tigers uniform. If the Tigers are going to return to Postseason relevancy in the near future, then that likely requires having Skubal still in a Tigers uniform while they make their return to October. Detroit has a gem at the top of their rotation and this could very well be the season where the entire baseball world becomes extremely aware of Tarik Skubal and what he can do on the mound.

Golf Talk Today: U.S. Open Rd. 2 Tee Times, Pinehurst causes carnage golf,talk,today,u,s,open,rd,tee,times,pinehurst,causes,carnage,sbnation,com,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

Welcome to Playing Through’s new morning ritual — Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, where the crew will discuss various elements throughout the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.

It’s Friday at the 124th U.S. Open. The round 2 tee times are below, but let’s also discuss how much damage Pinehurst No. 2 did on Thursday.

So brew a pot of coffee, grab some breakfast, and settle in as we get you ready for the second round of the U.S. Open.

Pinehurst No. 2 put a beating on the U.S. Open field

Among the 156 players who teed off on Thursday, 15 are in red figures, and a total of 33 golfers are at even par or better. Pinehurst No. 2 brought the heat, and some of the biggest names in golf fell victim to the carnage.

Big numbers posted by prominent players:

Phil Mickelson: 9-over, 79
Viktor Hovland: 8-over 78
Sahith Theegala: 7-over 77
Justin Thomas: 7-over 77
Harry Higgs: 6-over 76
Will Zalatoris: 5-over 75
Tiger Woods: 4-over 74
Shane Lowry: 4-over 74
Dustin Johnson: 4-over 74

Best quotes from Thursday at The U.S. Open

“It’s really diabolical out there. It was a testament to the patience I had,” Bryson DeChambeau said about the difficulty of Pinehurst No. 2.

“It sort of brings me back to links golf when I was a kid a little bit. The greens are a bit more sort of slopey and there’s a bit more movement on them. But there are options. You can chip it. You can putt it. I’d love if we played more golf courses like this,” Rory McIlroy said on why he loves Pinehurst.

“He’s a strike show. That’s the first time I ever played with him actually… He’s far from a rookie. He’s not even your average first guy playing in a major championship. He’s been on some of the biggest stages already and has shown he’s going to be a world-class player. It was a joy to watch,” Tony Finau said about playing with Ludvig Åberg.

U.S. Open Round 2 Tee Times (ET):

* — Denotes 10th hole start

6:45 a.m. – Greyson Sigg, Grant Forrest, (a) Wells Williams

*6:45 a.m. – Jason Scrivener, Brandon Robinson Thompson, (a) Brendan Valdes

6:56 a.m. – Chesson Hadley, Mark Hubbard, Adam Svensson

*6:56 a.m. – (a) Santiago de la Fuente, Sam Bairstow, Eugenio Chacarra

7:07 a.m. – Beau Hossler, Victor Perez, Adam Schenk

*7:07 a.m. – Kurt Kitayama, Taylor Moore, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

7:18 a.m. – Robert MacIntyre, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes

*7:18 a.m. – Jason Day, Harris English, Tom Kim

7:29 a.m. – Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Hoge

*7:29 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler

7:40 a.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland, Max Homa

*7:40 a.m. — Brian Harman, Nick Dunlap, Wyndham Clark

7:51 a.m. – Sepp Straka, Peter Malnati, J.T. Poston

*7:51 a.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth

8:02 a.m. – (a) Gordon Sargent, Jake Knapp, Cameron Young

*8:02 a.m. – Shane Lowry, Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer

8:13 a.m. – Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Adam Scott

*8:13 a.m. – Akshay Bhatia, Eric Cole, Erik van Rooyen

8:24 a.m. – Ben Kohles, Denny McCarthy, (a) Ben James

*8:24 a.m. – Brendon Todd, Taylor Pendrith, Alex Noren

8:35 a.m. – Frankie Capan III, Andy Svoboda, (a) Luke Clanton

*8:35 a.m. – Thomas Detry, Brian Campbell, (a) Jackson Buchanan

8:46 a.m. – Harry Higgs, (a) Hiroshi Tai, Brandon Wu

*8:46 a.m. – Taisei Shimizu, (a) Gunnar Broin, Maxwell Moldovan

8:57 a.m. – Joey Vrzich, Chris Naegel, Otto Black

*8:57 a.m. – Sung Kang, Riki Kawamoto, John Chin

12:30 p.m. – Rico Hoey, Tom McKibbin, Matteo Manassero

*12:30 p.m. – Michael McGowan, Carter Jenkins, Logan McAllister

12:41 p.m. – Dean Burmester, Rikuya Hoshino, Seamus Power

*12:41 p.m. – Frederik Kjettrup, Christopher Petefish, (a) Parker Bell

12:52 p.m. – S.H. Kim, Justin Lower, Tim Widing

*12:52 p.m. – (a) Omar Morales, Max Greyserman, Casey Jarvis

1:03 p.m. – Lucas Glover, Sam Burns, Cameron Smith

*1:03 p.m. – Corey Conners, Stephan Jaeger, Emiliano Grillo

1:14 p.m. – Will Zalatoris, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tiger Woods

*1:14 p.m. – Ryo Ishikawa, Francesco Molinari, Sergio Garcia

1:25 p.m. – Patrick Cantlay, Matt Kuchar, Russell Henley

*1:25 p.m. – Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka

1:36 p.m. – Tony Finau, Ludvig Åberg, Dustin Johnson

*1:36 p.m. – Rickie Fowler, Adam Hadwin, Phil Mickelson

1:47 p.m. – Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson

*1:47 p.m. – Min Woo Lee, Sahith Theegala, Nicolai Højgaard

1:58 p.m. – Daniel Berger, Ryan Fox, David Puig

*1:58 p.m. – Si Woo Kim, Matthieu Pavon, Sungjae Im

2:09 p.m. – Byeong Hun An, Sam Bennett, Edoardo Molinari

*2:09 p.m. – Nico Echavarria, Robert Rock, (a) Neal Shipley

2:20 p.m. – Austin Eckroat, Adrian Meronk, Cam Davis

*2:20 p.m. – Takumi Kanaya, (a) Stewart Hagestad, Mac Meissner

2:31 p.m. – Aaron Rai, Davis Thompson, Ga.; Zac Blair

*2:31 p.m. – Isaiah Salinda, (a) Bryan Kim, Jim Herman

2:42 p.m. – Willie Mack III, Richard Mansell, (a) Ashton McCulloch

*2:42 p.m. – Carson Schaake, Charles Reiter, (a) Colin Prater

ICYMI: Top stories from the 1st Round of the U.S. Open

Check out these stories:

U.S. Open Day 1 Winners, Losers: Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay lead; Phil Mickelson falters

An authentic Bryson DeChambeau details “diabolical,” mentally exhausting day at U.S. Open

Rory McIlroy posts strong, disciplined U.S. Open start; has history on his side

Jon Rahm’s U.S. Open replacement taking full advantage of opportunity at Pinehurst

LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka hilariously entertains fans by reading mean tweets directed at him

Patrick Cantlay relies on short-game wizardry to grab early control of U.S. Open

Tiger Woods teases fans, then falters to begin U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Ludvig Åberg makes promising U.S. Open start with excellent veteran-like score

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy has history on his side after solid start u,s,open,rory,mcilroy,has,history,on,his,side,after,solid,start,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

Rory McIlroy matched Patrick Cantlay’s first-round score at the 124th U.S. Open as he fired off a bogey-free 5-under 65. They both sit atop the leaderboard after the first 18 holes at Pinehurst No. 2.

The last time McIlroy shot a bogey-free opening round at a U.S. Open was in 2011 at Congressional Country Club. He also did not make bogies during his opening rounds at the 2012 PGA Championship and the 2014 Open Championship, all three tournaments he went on to win.

But at Congressional, where went on to win his first major championship of his career, he also started with a bogey-free 65.

“I felt like I controlled most aspects of my game well. Controlled myself, controlled my mind—was disciplined when I needed to be,” McIlroy said on air with NBC Sports’ Damon Hack.

“Relentlessly trying to hit fairways, hit greens—there was a stretch at the start of the back nine where I kept hitting it to 20 feet and missing putts. I could have gotten frustrated, but I felt my patience was rewarded with the birdies on two of the last three holes.”

McIlroy hit 11-of-14 fairways and 14-of-17 greens in regulation. He recorded five birdies on the day, including two in his last three holes.

The four-time major winner ranked fifth in strokes gained around the greens, picking up 2.51 strokes on the field. He also gained 1.4 off the tee and 2.17 with his iron play.

“Super conservative with my strategy and my game,” he said.

“I think with my demeanor, trying to be super stoic, trying to be as even-keeled as I possibly can be. I feel like that’s the thing that has served me well in these U.S. Opens over the past few years. Just trying to be 100 percent committed to the shots.”

McIlroy knows how important a good start is in a major championship, but when it comes to the U.S. Open, it’s crucial to start well if a player wants to win the event. He has gotten off to a good start the last couple of years at this event, which has led to him finishing runner-up in 2023 and tying for fifth in 2022, seventh in 2021, and eighth in 2020.

Before that, he missed three straight cuts at the U.S. Open, as he opened with rounds of 80, 78 and 77.

“I think more so in this championship than the others—getting off to a good start is important to try and keep yourself up there,” McIlroy said.

“You need to give yourself as much of a cushion as possible, knowing what’s lurking around these corners. Certainly, the major championships that I’ve won or the ones that I’ve played well at, I’ve always seemed to get off to a good start, and it’s nice to get off to another one.”

It also helps that McIlroy loves Pinehurst No. 2 and how it plays. In 2014, he tied for 23rd here and started with a 1-over 71 that week. But the 35-year-old is already off to a better start and has his eyes on ending that decade-long major championship drought.

McIlroy will not have a long break before his second round begins as he, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele will tee off on the 10th hole at 7:29 a.m. ET.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin is easy to overlook, but Tank’s return is big for boxing gervonta,davis,vs,frank,martin,is,easy,to,overlook,but,tank,s,return,is,big,for,boxing,sbnation,com,front-page,boxing,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 13, 2024 By: admin

Gervonta “Tank” Davis will be back in the ring on Saturday night, marking the return of one of boxing’s most talked-about stars and reliable draws as he puts his WBA lightweight title on the line against undefeated Frank Martin.

Davis (29-0, 27 KO) hasn’t been seen in action since his win over Ryan Garcia 14 months ago, in what was probably the biggest fight of 2023. The 29-year-old “Tank” will not have that level of spotlight against Martin (18-0, 12 KO), who just isn’t near Garcia’s level in notoriety and fame, but any time Davis fights, it’s a big deal for the boxing world.

As is usually the case, however, a lot of the talk days ahead of the fight is about what everyone would like to see Gervonta do next, once he’s done with this fight that pretty much everybody assumes he will win without much trouble.

Martin, also 29, is a good fighter. “The Ghost” has spent the last couple of years earnestly battling his way up the 135-pound ranks with wins over Romero Duno, Jackson Marinez, Michel Rivera, and Artem Harutyunyan, his most recent opponent, and a fight where we saw him struggle a good deal more than he had against the prior trio of opponents.

That struggle leads most to believe that Martin just won’t be good enough to pull the upset on Davis, and it’s a reasonable position. It is worth keeping in mind boxing’s “styles make fights” rule, because Davis fights nothing like Harutyunyan.

Unfortunately for Martin, the things he’s best at are things Davis excels in, too, and “Tank” also packs the power that Martin doesn’t. Davis is not an aggressive fighter by nature, taking his time to figure opponents out, but once he does, he lets the power go, and there’s a reason his knockout percentage is so high.

In a way, Saturday’s Gervonta return feels a little ho-hum, a little pedestrian, because the intrigue just isn’t there. It’s hard to even expect that he will come in unprepared and overlooking his opponent, because he never does that no matter how heavily he’s favored or how easy a fight is supposed to be.

It’s easy to want to look ahead, then, so are we any closer to Gervonta giving the public the fights they want to see instead of just lining up the next available PBC-affiliated name?

Boxing matchmaking is often overwhelmed by the political issues between various promoters and stables, and then further complicated by the broadcast deals tied to those promoters and stables.

Actual star fighters, though, ultimately have the most say, at least when they want to use their leverage. That’s how we got Tank vs Ryan Garcia last year; the fighters made that deal happen, Garcia in particular. Anything really can be done, and with the Saudi government showing wider-ranging interest in the sport, that’s more true than ever. Money will always talk in boxing, and they have a lot more of it than anyone else.

The key fights at 135 for Davis would be a long-awaited showdown with Vasiliy Lomachenko, who holds the WBO title, or a meeting with Shakur Stevenson, the WBC titleholder. Both of those fighters are currently with Top Rank and ESPN. Davis vs Lomachenko might come too late for Loma; as good as the Ukrainian still is, he’s past his best days. But Davis vs Shakur would be a meeting of two of boxing’s smartest in-ring tacticians, and they’ve floated a good bit of animosity into the world. Whether it’s real or not doesn’t even matter — it’s just about getting enough people to believe it’s real.

Maybe one of those guys will be across the ring from Davis next time we see him, whenever that comes, or maybe Davis will entertain a move up to 140, where he’s fought once and wasn’t quite himself, to take on someone like Devin Haney or Teofimo Lopez. There are always curveballs, too. It might sound crazy right now, but Davis may look at a currently soft welterweight division and a chance to become a four-division world champion with a favorable vacant title fight, now that Terence Crawford is moving up in weight.

Whatever it is, the real hope is that we see Davis in against someone you can reasonably see as a serious threat to him. Boxing is at its best when there is an actual split in opinion on who can win a fight and not just building, bit by bit, the marketability of a single fighter with carefully-chosen matchups, which unfortunately has been the bulk of Davis’ career, and seems most likely to be what we get this weekend.