Checking my own favorites list on Internet Explorer, I found over 40 listings for boxing sites.  Since I can't possibly check them all with any regularity, I usually just keep up with a handful.  I thought it would be interesting to list about a half dozen and evaluate the pluses and minuses of each one...

ESPN.com/boxing: This site has improved tremendously since they hired Dan Rafael away from USA Today.  It includes an informative weekly note section, Rafael's monthly ratings, and lengthy weekly chats with Dan for those who pay extra for ESPN Insider.  I will mention all the sites that have fees for "extras", but it is worth noting here that this extra is useful throughout ESPN's vast website.  The minuses would be that the updates on this site are a bit sparse, and not usually breaking news.

Fightnews.com: The best site for fast breaking news and results.  More often than not they'll be first with a fight result whether it's from Las Vegas, Japan, or Germany.  It is updated more than any other boxing site and worth checking regularly several times a day.  The minuses would be that they sometimes print unaccredited press releases that they pass for news.  Any minor league promoter can get a spiffy headline saying "Vitali Klitschko offered 30 million to fight Joe Blow!"  Of course there is no 30 million, but the guy still gets the free publicity.  Another annoying habit of fightnews is to finish every headline with an exclamation mark!  Not every bit of boxing news bit is that exciting.

Maxboxing.com: One of my personal favorites, I've been a member here since its inception.  The two main writers are Steve Kim and Doug Fischer, both of whom do excellent hard hitting work IMO.  Doug and Steve also host a weekly half hour video show (for members) that discusses everything in boxing.  They have had some outstanding writers come and go, and currently have the excellent Bernard Fernandez.  Maxboxing has also had round by round reports for us cheapskates who won't put out for PPV.  It has been absent lately but I was told it will be returning.  Plus the best boxing schedule list around from Marty Mullcahey. Lots of video with fight clips, workouts, and interviews.  The minuses would be that there are some who claim this site has a strong West coast bias (it is based there and to be candid so am I), and they are a bit slow with fight reports.  Also some of their lesser writers are rather ordinary.

Boxingtalk.com: This may be the most controversial of all the sites.  Lots of breaking news, lots of interviews, and plenty of opinions.  The site owner Greg Leon loves to break stories and isn't modest about taking credit for them.  The site has some of the top (if not most likeable) writers like Michael Katz and George Kimball.  As aggravating as he can be, I would never miss a Katz article.  The pay part of this site is mostly for exclusive interviews on video and in print.  You can always count on a lengthy list of predictions from its staff before big fights.  The minuses would include what seems to be an East coast bias, and a more obvious bias to those who give Leon exclusive interviews and wear the site's t-shirt.  Some of the minor writers here are very weak.  Many of the published letters on this site are written by people who should still be in 8th grade, or at least aspiring to get there.

Ringtalk.com: I shouldn't have said "most controversial" until I got to this one.  This site is run by the mercurial Pedro Fernandez, who was doing boxing talk radio long before the internet.  Pedro has strong opinions on everything from boxing to politics.  He may enrage you with one article and have you nodding your head in agreement with the next one.  If you like opinions and controversy, you need to check here daily.  They also allow readers to comment directly below the article and if it isn't vulgar it will usually be allowed to stay even if it rips the column's author.  You also get fight previews and reviews in a reasonably timely matter.  Pedro also charges no money for the content.  On the minus side, the columnists aren't the best and took a big hit when Cliff Rold recently left.  Some of the articles seem to be written mostly for the purpose of getting attention and responses.  Pedro has taken on some big fish and come up with stories that were either false or never materialized, like the Top Rank investigation by the Feds that was constantly alluded to for months and never amounted to anything.  More than once he has had to retract statements.  But if you're looking for a different outlook on boxing you'll definitely want to visit here.

 Boxrec.com: Much different than the others listed because it offers no opinons (except for links to other boxing sites) but a wealth of facts.  You can look up almost any fighter ever and come up with a boxing record with results of previous fights and links to the opponents names.  For finding fast facts on the web this site is a Godsend.  They are also very fast with fight results.  On the minus side, the records of many boxers (especially past or foreign) are incomplete.  You can't believe it when you read that a top fighter from Mexico like Julio Cesar Chavez really fought guys with records of 0-0.  What that means is that those fighters (many of them main eventers) don't have confirmed fights that they can rely on.  It doesn't mean they really didn't happen.  Also the ratings here are a little whacky and the fight schedule is pretty much fictitious.

Some other interesting sites are Doghouseboxing.com, Boxingscene.com, and Eastsideboxing.com.  The first two have some excellent writers, but you have to go through pop up hell to read them.  Don't even try it if you don't have an effective pop up blocker.  Eastside has some interesting stuff, but it is badly in need of an editor.