Frankie - Lines & Leather

Beyond the Belts: Why Fights Like Fisher vs. Allen Matter to British Boxing On a Saturday night thick with the roar of borrowed hope, Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen will step into a ring not consecrated by world titles or golden legacies, but by something older and arguably …

My writing has had sombre/serious tones to it of late, so I wrote this in defence of Johnny Fisher, Dave Allen, and the fights that aren't always box office glitz: linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/b...

Ryan Garcia, Canelo Alvarez and Devin Haney Fail to Deliver in Boxing’s Latest Disappointment A world away from the fireworks of the week prior. As long as boxing has been gilded with illusion, it has lived with bitter truths. There is no newer tale in the sport than the grand card, spectac…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/05/05/r...

Heroes and Villains? Chris Eubank and Conor Benn! Like many who had long harboured a quiet bemusement at the scale of Conor Benn’s following—and the way this contest had swelled into something close to a national event—I might easily have passed o…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/o...

Heroes and Villains? Chris Eubank and Conor Benn! Like many who had long harboured a quiet bemusement at the scale of Conor Benn’s following—and the way this contest had swelled into something close to a national event—I might easily have passed o…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/o...

#3: Conscience on Loan They said,”You’re durable, lad. Not quite good. Not quite bad.Just the type promoters loveTo fold beneath a rising glove.” The changing room’s a tomb of tape and piss,The glamour ends w…

Poem 3. All shares and feedback welcomed. linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/21/3...

From Roars to Ringtones: The Decline of True Boxing Atmospheres A second think-piece ahead of Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn this coming Saturday 26th April. Read the first via the homepage. By any measure worthy of the fight game’s heritage, the 18th of …

The roar of Benn vs Eubank I wasn’t just noise — it was identity, defiance, and bloodlust.
I’ve written about how modern boxing crowds have lost that raw power, and what it says about the sport today.

📖 Read here: linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/f...
#Boxing #BennEubank #BritishBoxing

From Roars to Ringtones: The Decline of True Boxing Atmospheres A second think-piece ahead of Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn this coming Saturday 26th April. Read the first via the homepage. By any measure worthy of the fight game’s heritage, the 18th of …

The roar of Benn vs Eubank I wasn’t just noise — it was identity, defiance, and bloodlust.
I’ve written about how modern boxing crowds have lost that raw power, and what it says about the sport today.

📖 Read here: linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/f...
#Boxing #BennEubank #BritishBoxing

#3: Conscience on Loan They said,”You’re durable, lad. Not quite good. Not quite bad.Just the type promoters loveTo fold beneath a rising glove.” The changing room’s a tomb of tape and piss,The glamour ends w…

Poem 3. All shares and feedback welcomed. linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/21/3...

#2: The Towel You threw it in—a damp white flag, mid-round, mid-dream,as I stood blind with pride,bloody, bowed, but with a beam. I saw your face,that furrowed guilt, that pleading stare—you snatched my chancean…

Poem 2

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/2...

In Defence of the Pantomime Villain: Ben Whittaker In a sport often cast in the shadows of sacrifice and stoicism, there remains a curious space – not carved, but swaggered into – by the brash, the cocky, and the downright detestable. These are box…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/16/i...

In Defence of the Pantomime Villain: Ben Whittaker In a sport often cast in the shadows of sacrifice and stoicism, there remains a curious space – not carved, but swaggered into – by the brash, the cocky, and the downright detestable. These are box…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/16/i...

#2: The Towel You threw it in—a damp white flag, mid-round, mid-dream,as I stood blind with pride,bloody, bowed, but with a beam. I saw your face,that furrowed guilt, that pleading stare—you snatched my chancean…

Poem 2

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/2...

#1 Tender Is the TKO I laced my heart into leather hands,In some sad gym off the A12 strand.The spit-bucket shimmered like morning rain,And I prayed for love,But I settled for pain. He danced like youth I couldn’t recl…

In practice for something else I’m doing, I published my first boxing poem. You can read that here: linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/08/1...

Joe Joyce and A Cruel Night In Manchester “Why is everyone talking about me walking away?” Joe Joyce asked, his voice level but edged with something unmistakably stern, in the aftermath of another punishing evening under the lights. The qu…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/08/j...

Joe Joyce and A Cruel Night In Manchester “Why is everyone talking about me walking away?” Joe Joyce asked, his voice level but edged with something unmistakably stern, in the aftermath of another punishing evening under the lights. The qu…

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/08/j...

Going to get around to ordering that this month!

Feedback, good and bad, greatly appreciated.

#1 Tender Is the TKO I laced my heart into leather hands,In some sad gym off the A12 strand.The spit-bucket shimmered like morning rain,And I prayed for love,But I settled for pain. He danced like youth I couldn’t recl…

In practice for something else I’m doing, I published my first boxing poem. You can read that here: linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/08/1...

A life lived in arcs rather than lines: George Foreman There was a time—indeed, there were many times—when George Foreman would say the words “Heavyweight Champion of the World” as if reciting the most wonderful lie he’d ever managed to get away with. …

linesandleather.wordpress.com/2025/04/07/a...

Knockouts, Controversy & Comebacks: The Full Review of Boxing’s Saudi Supercard Whether Saturday’s event truly lived up to its billing as the “greatest card of all time” remains a matter for debate. That notion wobbled perilously in fight week when Floyd Schofield’…

mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/02/24/k...

Riyadh Boxing Extravaganza: Full Preview & Predictions for Beterbiev vs Bivol 2, Dubois vs Parker, and More February 2025 promises a carnival of boxing, a swirling tapestry of hopes and fears, destinies and downfalls. The stage is vast, the stakes immense. For one glorious night, a once unlikely corner o…

"Boxing can make a complete idiot of anyone who's brave enough to make a prediction" mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/02/18/r...

Benavidez vs. Morrell Fight Preview: A Battle of Power vs. Precision On February 1st, David Benavidez and David Morrell will step into a ring that will become their proving ground. This isn’t just another fight. It is a reckoning. Two unbeaten warriors, standing on …

🔥 Benavidez vs. Morrell – A battle of power vs. precision! ⚡ The relentless Mexican Monster faces the slick Cuban technician in a fight that will shake the division. Who wins? Find out Feb 1 at the T-Mobile Arena! 🥊🔥 #BenavidezMorrell #Boxing #FightNight

bit.ly/40VgOhr

Unstoppable: Naoya Inoue Continues His Reign at Super-Bantamweight This Friday evening in Tokyo belonged to Naoya Inoue, whose dominance in the ring once again seemed less like sport and more like a sombre inevitability. The Japanese star, unbeaten in 29 fights wi…

mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/24/u...

Ryan Garcia’s Comeback, Haney vs Ramirez, and Bakole-Ajagba The tangled narrative of boxing continues to unfold with all the drama, contradiction, and controversy that has long defined the sport. Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, names now etched into the consci…

May 2025’s boxing card delivers big names and bigger controversies:

Ryan Garcia’s return after a PED scandal.
Devin Haney takes on Jose Ramirez.
Heavyweights Bakole and Ajagba.
Read the full breakdown: bit.ly/4arVG5u

#Boxing #RyanGarcia #DevinHaney

Riyadh Boxing Extravaganza: Full Preview & Predictions for Beterbiev vs Bivol 2, Dubois vs Parker, and More February 2025 promises a carnival of boxing, a swirling tapestry of hopes and fears, destinies and downfalls. The stage is vast, the stakes immense. For one glorious night, a once unlikely corner o…

mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/08/r...

Beyond the Glitz of Riyadh: The Fight to Save Boxing’s Legacy Boxing has always danced between splendour and ruin, like a prizefighter on the edge of glory, only ever a misstep away from disaster. It is a sport that inspires undying devotion and bitter cynici…

mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/15/b...

Tyson Fury’s Last Curtain: A Requiem for Chaos To give Tyson Fury his due, when he spins this brand of yarn, he does so with the bare-faced swagger of a seasoned raconteur who knows full well that truth will never outrun a good story. The Gypsy…

When Tyson Fury talks, boxing listens. But is this another bluff or the final farewell? 🎭 Let’s dive into the latest twist in this heavyweight saga. mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/t...

Tyson Fury’s Last Curtain: A Requiem for Chaos To give Tyson Fury his due, when he spins this brand of yarn, he does so with the bare-faced swagger of a seasoned raconteur who knows full well that truth will never outrun a good story. The Gypsy…

When Tyson Fury talks, boxing listens. But is this another bluff or the final farewell? 🎭 Let’s dive into the latest twist in this heavyweight saga. mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/t...

Jai Opetaia vs David Nyika Fight Recap: The Champion’s Crushing Victory There are nights in boxing when the visceral truth of the sport unfurls in all its unsettling beauty—when the artistry of anticipation gives way to a savagery as breathtaking as it is inevitable. S…

🥊 Opetaia’s fourth-round KO of Nyika was boxing at its brutal best. A clinical finish on the Gold Coast and a warning shot to every cruiserweight contender. The unification path begins now. Full details here: mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/j...

Jai Opetaia vs David Nyika Fight Recap: The Champion’s Crushing Victory There are nights in boxing when the visceral truth of the sport unfurls in all its unsettling beauty—when the artistry of anticipation gives way to a savagery as breathtaking as it is inevitable. S…

🥊 Opetaia’s fourth-round KO of Nyika was boxing at its brutal best. A clinical finish on the Gold Coast and a warning shot to every cruiserweight contender. The unification path begins now. Full details here: mineswrites.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/j...