Boxing: CineMcCollough

Patrick "Butch" Brennan & "Lord" Rob McCollough

Rob and Butch are lifelong boxing fans who started a podcast in 2020 with lots of ideas, one of which was to pick historic boxing matches, watch them, score them individually, and then discuss the fight and compare their round-by-round scores on a podcast! We started out with major fights from our favorite eras - 1980s and 1990s - and of our favorite fighters: Butch's all-time favorite is George Foreman, and Rob's is Evander Holyfield. At first we mostly stayed in and around the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, with some dabbling in welterweight and middleweight bouts from the 1980s. Then we decided to watch, and rank, every Ring Magazine Fight of the Year from 1970 to 2021, a total of 52 fights. We chose each fight at random, using gaming dice to decide which was next, and after we watched, scored, and discussed each fight in a separate episode, and did a forced ranking of all 52 fights of the year 1970-2021 as we went. Following THAT project, we decided to tackle Ring Magazine ROUNDS of the year, and we also decided to go back to the very beginning in 1945 all the way to modern day in 2024, a total of 80 different rounds of the year. Once again, we select one year at random we watch that year's round of the year, score it, discuss it, and then rank them as we go. Of course, we also do our best to keep track of modern boxing as well, particularly the big title fights, and we sprinkle in those matches as well as 'bonus episodes' --- and occasionally include our ruminations on the state of boxing in general as we go. We call our podcast the Rounds of CineMcCollough. By the time we make it through all 80 Ring Magazine Rounds of the Year, we will have acquired one or two more and will review those as well. From there on, the sky's the limit. You know you've been wanting a boxing podcast to listen to - give us a try, pick an episode, watch the fight and score it, then listen and compare your results to ours!

Episodes

  1. 20h ago

    S1-E10 - Trinidad-Vargas (2000)

    We decided to spend a little more time in the lighter weights with this famous light-middleweight (or is it super-welterweight?) bout from 2000 to try to unify the belts - between Felix "Tito" Trinidad and Fernando "Ferocious" Vargas. Both came into the fight with one of the belts (WBA and IBF, respectively) and undefeated records (38-0 and 20-0, respectively), and both were ranked top 10 pound-for-pound world fighters (#3 and #9, respectively). So this was bound to be one of the most anticipated fights in years when it finally happened... but who would end up on top? Listen in as Rob and Butch bring it all into focus round by round for your listening pleasure.

  2. 20h ago

    S1-E9: Duran-Moore (1983) AND Duran-Barkley (1989)

    Today we bring you a two-fer episode of fights that helped define the late-career legend of Roberto Duran. The famous "Hands of Stone" had dominated the lightweight division in the late 1970s, but by the 1980s he made the decision to move up to welterweight, which inevitably led him to clashes with Sugar Ray Leonard, in which he won and then lost the welterweight title. The next move was to Super Welterweight, where he lost his first title fight against Wilfred Benitez before winning it in the first bout we cover here against Davey Moore. From that time there was nowhere to go but up in weight to middleweight, where he lost his first attempt once again to Marvin Hagler before getting a second shot against Iran Barkley, who had just taken it in a spectacular knockout upset against Thomas Hearns. In winning both these fights, Duran cemented his legacy as part of the Four Kings of the 1980s. Come on in and listen along as Butch and Rob score and analyze these two great fights!

  3. 1d ago

    S1-E8: Holyfield-Bowe III (1995)

    Given that their first two matchups were fantastic title bouts that were closely contested and undecided right up to the bell, it was all but inevitable that Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe would eventually meet one more time to settle the rubber match. And the result was the culmination of one of the greatest trilogies in heavyweight history, if not all of boxing history. Though the championship belts had moved on to other fighters by the time the two met one last time in 1995, two years after their second fight and three after their first, the two proud fighters were both determined to prove which had gotten the better of the other after the first two fights had ended in close decision victories, each winning once. And the ending would be all the more provocative, as one would suffer their first loss by knockout of their professional career. Come along with Butch and Rob as they finish of this fine trilogy with a round-by-round review of Holyfield-Bowe III!

  4. 1d ago

    S1-E7: Mercer-Morrison (1991) AND Holyfield-Mercer (1995)

    Today's episode brings you one of the most brutal knockouts in the history of the heavyweight division. In 1991, two undefeated and highly talented boxers clashed in hopes of earning a title shot: "Merciless" Ray Mercer, a 1988 gold medalist Olympian, and Tommy "The Duke" Morrison, who'd gained notoriety by starring in Rocky V. Both had unblemished records, but only one would leave the ring with a zero next to their name. Indeed, one of the fighters would experience a dramatic and rapid turn of momentum, going from the attack to knocked into oblivion in just a few short seconds. Though both fighters would eventually hold the WBO belt, the belt would not change hands this night. PLUS we made this a two-fer, since the first fight isn't particularly long, and give you Mercer's battle with Evander Holyfield, who was attempting a comeback following shoulder and heart troubles. Both come in with two losses, and Mercer is two years older despite being a 1988 Olympian, while Holyfield was a 1984 Olympian. A very close fight that demonstrated that both were in the upper echelon of 1990s heavyweights. Join the fun and listen in as Rob and Butch relive an electric night of heavyweight contenders clashing!

  5. 1d ago

    S1-E6: Moorer-Foreman (1994)

    Just seven months following his dramatic upset win over Evander Holyfield, Michael Moorer is set to defend his WBA and IBF belts against a foe already vanquished by Holyfield - Big George Foreman, whose only loss in his late-in-life comeback was to the Real Deal in Evander's first title defense. Now Michael Moorer will test himself against the near-invulnerable, irresistible force of George Foreman. The stage is set for what could become a sensation in the boxing world if Foreman can pull off the improbable. Butch and Rob take to through the fight and provide scoring and analysis.

  6. 1d ago

    S1-E5: Holyfield-Moorer I (1994)

    Having just regained the heavyweight championship in his rematch with Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield's next defense is against another fighter who cleaned out the cruiserweight division before moving up to heavyweight - Michael Moorer. Though the eye test says that Holyfield fits more naturally in the heavyweight division, both have exemplary records and a surprising knockout percentage... AND Moorer is a southpaw, which is always troublesome. How will Holyfield respond to a fighter who is trying to do to him what he himself had been doing to the heavyweight division? Join Rob and Butch for their review and round-by-round scoring and analysis of the great 1994 clash of cruiserweights-turned-heavyweights.

  7. 3d ago

    S1-E4: Bowe-Holyfield II (1993)

    Just about a year after their first meeting, Evander Holyfield would get a chance to win back some of his heavyweight championship belts in a rematch with Riddick Bowe. After the upset win the year before, Bowe and his manager Rock Newman had famously dumped the WBC belt into a trash can at a press event, rather than agree to fight the mandatory challengner Lennox Lewis. Instead, Bowe would fight twice in the intervening months, demolishing Michael Dokes in one round and Jesse Ferguson in two, while awaiting the rematch with Holyfield which was all but inevitable, given how well-received the first fight had been. Holyfield, meanwhile, had fought just once, a grueling 12-round decision against Alex Stewart. The oddsmakers were at a loss as to how to predict the fight, and when it occurred, the ending was somewhat controversial, with ringside broadcaster scoring it a draw, the Associated Press calling it for Bowe, and the New York Times calling it for Holyfield. That plus a spectacular stunt gone wrong that interrupted the fight in the middle rounds, made a rubber match in the future all but inevitable. Joint Butch and Rob as they regale with the story of Bowe-Holyfield II!

  8. 3d ago

    S1-E3: Holyfield-Bowe I (1992)

    When Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe met in November 1992 it was a battle of two young, hungry, undefeated Olympian heavyweights. Holyfield was the champ and more experienced, while Bowe was younger and bigger and stronger. What happened next was legendary, and ended up being the first leg of a trilogy that is one of the greatest in heavyweight boxing history. It was a fight that elevated the status of BOTH fighters, in a way - as even the losing fighter found praise heaped upon him for the amount of heart he showed in weathering a devastating late-round attack and turning the tables back on his opponent just when it looked like the fight could be stopped at any time. Both Rob and Butch hold this boxing match in highest esteem. Give us a listen and see if you agree!

  9. 4d ago

    S1-E2: Holyfield-Cooper (1991)

    Evander Holyfield was hoping for a matchup against Mike Tyson, but that was notably derailed by Tyson's legal troubles, so he sought instead a matchup against former WBO heavyweight champion Francesco Damiani. When THAT fight fell through, Holyfield was really struggling to find an opponent for his next title defense, so in stepped "Smokin" Bert Cooper to fit the bill. What happened next almost - almost - changed the course of boxing, as Holyfield found himself in quite a bit hotter water than he'd expected, and was dropped for the first time in his professional career before making one of his famous, patented comebacks for a spectacular finish. But boy, was it touch and go there for a while. Listen in as Butch and Rob give all the deets on this fascinating heavyweight clash!

  10. 4d ago

    S1-E1: Hagler-Hearns (1985)

    I still remember the first time I read about this fight - alas I did not see it when it was broadcast live - it was the cover of Sports Illustrated the next week in a cover story called "Eight Minutes of Hell." And brother, does this fight live up to that title! Tthomas "Hitman" Hearns had moved up to middleweight and was coming off a stunning 2nd round knockout win over the usually impervious Roberto Duran; meanwhile, longtime defending champion "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler had recently defended his belt against Duran in a fairly close decision. When two of the most dangerous men who ever laced up a pair of gloves step in with each other, what would happen? The answer, of course, is legend... a nonstop barrage of thunder and lightning that would become Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year the first round of which would be rightly dubbed Round of the Year. Listen in as Rob and Butch compare notes and thoughts on one of the most brutal fights of our lifetimes - Hagler-Hearns (1985)!

  11. Trailer

    Introduction to Boxing: CineMcCollough - "The Rounds of CineMcCollough"

    Welcome to the Rounds of CineMcCollough - our boxing podcast! Join us, your hosts, "Lord" Rob McCollough and Patrick "Butch" Brennan as we pick out some classic fights, review them, and give round-by-round summaries and score the rounds as though we were judges sitting ringside. We first started with some of our favorite fights by some of our favorite fighters from the 1980s and 1990s, the era when we were cutting our boxing fan teeth, so Season 1 will be fairly well-represented by some of our favorite fighters, the heavyweights of the 1990s and the Four Kings of the middleweight division of the 1980s... with a bunch more squeezed in. When we get to Season 2, we will begin our first major project undertaking, which is reviewing the Ring Magazine Fights of the Year, 1970-2021 - each episode we pick one FOTY at random (with a proprietary method of rolling dice), we watch them, score them, discuss them, and then do a forced ranking of the 52 fights to determine what we think were the best, and the worst, fights of the year from the last half-century. Then, for Season 3 we take on an even bigger task - ranking Ring Magazine's Rounds of the year, from the very beginning in 1945 to the year we started, 2024. In doing so, we try to decipher what makes for a great round of boxing in OUR minds, and, more importantly, and sometimes more inexplicably, in the minds of the Ring Magazine writers. Once again, our goal is to determine what the greatest round of boxing all time was - at least during the period 1945-2024. We are also fans of current boxing, and so we will be sprinkling in bonus episodes that cover major fights as they happen as well. So if you've been looking for a fix for your boxing habit, pick one of our episodes, go to YouTube and watch the fight, then give us a listen and see how our view compares to yours!

Trailer

About

Rob and Butch are lifelong boxing fans who started a podcast in 2020 with lots of ideas, one of which was to pick historic boxing matches, watch them, score them individually, and then discuss the fight and compare their round-by-round scores on a podcast! We started out with major fights from our favorite eras - 1980s and 1990s - and of our favorite fighters: Butch's all-time favorite is George Foreman, and Rob's is Evander Holyfield. At first we mostly stayed in and around the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, with some dabbling in welterweight and middleweight bouts from the 1980s. Then we decided to watch, and rank, every Ring Magazine Fight of the Year from 1970 to 2021, a total of 52 fights. We chose each fight at random, using gaming dice to decide which was next, and after we watched, scored, and discussed each fight in a separate episode, and did a forced ranking of all 52 fights of the year 1970-2021 as we went. Following THAT project, we decided to tackle Ring Magazine ROUNDS of the year, and we also decided to go back to the very beginning in 1945 all the way to modern day in 2024, a total of 80 different rounds of the year. Once again, we select one year at random we watch that year's round of the year, score it, discuss it, and then rank them as we go. Of course, we also do our best to keep track of modern boxing as well, particularly the big title fights, and we sprinkle in those matches as well as 'bonus episodes' --- and occasionally include our ruminations on the state of boxing in general as we go. We call our podcast the Rounds of CineMcCollough. By the time we make it through all 80 Ring Magazine Rounds of the Year, we will have acquired one or two more and will review those as well. From there on, the sky's the limit. You know you've been wanting a boxing podcast to listen to - give us a try, pick an episode, watch the fight and score it, then listen and compare your results to ours!

Information

  • Creator
    Patrick "Butch" Brennan & "Lord" Rob McCollough
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Patrick "Butch" Brennan & "Lord" Rob McCollough
  • Show Website
    Boxing: CineMcCollough