Manny Pacquiao defeated Juan Manuel Marquez in a split decision last night in Las Vegas that is already controversial. It was an action-packed fight, but given the potential payday for a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., it’s not surprising that the decision will be questioned by many.

The reaction from Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports will likely be typical from the boxing world:

When the final bell rang, 12 rounds of furious fighting complete, Juan Manuel Marquez lifted his right fist high into the air, turned to the ringside crowd and offered a knowing wink through an eye nearly swollen shut.

Standing in front of him at that very moment, his opponent, Manny Pacquiao, let his head sag as he turned to walk to his corner. Seconds later Marquez was carried around the ring on the shoulders of two of his corner men. Pacquiao was on his knees in prayer.

What Pacquiao lost was clearer – his cloak of invincibility, his reputation for destruction, even, in some ways, a measure of his credibility.

Marquez is 38 years old and was dominated in his fight with Mayweather.

Attention will now turn to that potential blockbuster fight, and this close call probably won’t dampen excitement for that fight too much.

One of the true boxing legends passed away yesterday. Joe Frazier was a great fighter and a class act.

- Every boxing fans should watch the documentary Thrilla in Manilla. You’ll see Frazier’s class along with how despicable Ali was in his racist taunts against Frazier. It’s no wonder Frazier hated Ali’s guts until he recently said he forgave him.

- Bill Simmons addresses the Thrilla in Manilla.

- Ray Ratto discusses Ali and Frazier.

- Bullz-Eye.com interviewed Joe Frazier two years ago and he discussed Muhammad Ali, George Forman and Mike Tyson.

- Dan Rafael looks back on Frazier’s career.

- Frazier was a true winner.

In his new autobiography due out next month, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard says that he was sexually abused by a coach as a young boxer in the early 1970s. The New York Times has the details.

Leonard writes that when the coach accompanied him as a 15-year-old and another young fighter to a boxing event in Utica, N.Y., in 1971, he had the teenagers take a bath in a tub of hot water and Epsom salts while he sat on the other side of the bathroom. They suspected “something a bit inappropriate” was occurring but did not want to question a strong male authority figure.

Several years later, Leonard describes sitting in a car in a deserted parking lot across from a recreation center, listening intently as the same coach, said to be in his late 40s, explained how much a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics would mean to his future.

Leonard was flattered, filled with hope, as any young athlete would be. But he writes: “Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life. I didn’t scream. I didn’t look at him. I just opened the door and ran.”

He adds that when he first decided to discuss the incident in the book, which is written with Michael Arkush, he offered a version in which the abuser stopped before there was actual contact.

“That was painful enough,” Leonard writes. “But last year, after watching the actor Todd Bridges bare his soul on Oprah’s show about how he was sexually abused as a kid, I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt.”

I couldn’t imagine being haunted by something like that and I think it’s admirable that Leonard was able to discuss something that he kept so secretive in a book that will be read by millions. Maybe sharing the traumatic experience will help him cope with what happened and help others who have gone through something similar. Never underestimate the power other people can have on someone’s life.

It’s sickening that adults would take advantage of their influence over young people so that they may satisfy their desires. These people should be locked up.

One would think that boxer Bernard Hopkins would have bigger things on his mind these days then whether or not Donovan McNabb was black enough. But one would be wrong.

From the Philadelphia Daily News:

According to Hopkins, McNabb had a privileged childhood in suburban Chicago and, as a result, is not black enough or tough enough, at least compared with, say, himself, Michael Vick and Terrell Owens.

“Forget this,” Hopkins said, pointing to his own dark skin. “He’s got a suntan. That’s all.”

Hopkins also implied that, while Vick and Owens remained true to their roots, McNabb did not, and that McNabb was rudely awakened when the Eagles traded him to the Redskins last year.

“Why do you think McNabb felt he was betrayed? Because McNabb is the guy in the house, while everybody else is on the field. He’s the one who got the extra coat. The extra servings. ‘You’re our boy,’ ” Hopkins said, patting a reporter on the back in illustration. “He thought he was one of them.”

Replace “guy in the house” with “slave in the house,” then replace “on the field” with “in the field,” and Hopkins’ message is Uncle Tom-clear.

According to Hopkins’ Wikipedia page, by the age of thirteen he was “mugging people and had been stabbed three times.” At seventeen, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after committing nine felonies.

Is that what being black is to Hopkins? Because if it is, then McNabb probably isn’t too worried about Hopkins’ definition of being black. Maybe if McNabb did some jail time after being a detriment to society, then Hopkins would consider him “black enough.”

I would love to know what McNabb did in a previous lifetime to get so much criticism and verbal abuse in this one.

Manny Pacquiao coasted to his 14th straight victory by unanimous decision on Saturday night, dropping rival Shane Mosley in twelve rounds.

FOX Sports has a round-by-round scorecard:

Round 3
Pacquiao starting to push the pace in an attempt to use his speed to take the fight away from Mosley. Pacquiao getting more punches in. Pacquiao floors Mosley with a big right hand after a straight jab and Mosley is on glass legs. Pacquiao has a minute to get what could be the telling blow. Pacquiao pushing for the finish but Mosley doing well to avoid taking a clean shot. A big round for Pacquiao.

Round 6
Pacquiao turns up the pace midway through the round and Mosley is clearly struggling to match fire with fire. But Pacquiao clearly can’t sustain the pace for anything more than the occassional burst. And it’s when he slows down that Mosley is able to re-establish himself and claw his way back into the fight. Mosley is doing a good job of avoiding taking too much damage and is clearly trying to fight off the back foot and counterpunch Pacquiao.

Round 10
More action in the the 10th than the previous than in the past few combined. Pacquiao tries to push the action by once again increasing the speed and his punching volume. A Pacquiao flurry is cut shut by Mosley complaining of a clash of heads. Pacquiao resumes the flurry but isn’t quite landing the telling blow. Mosley pushes him down to the canvass with his right and incredibly the referee gives it as a knockdown. A furious Pacquiao comes forward and clips Mosley with a strong left that hurts the challenger. Best action of the fight but terrible officiating.

10-9 to Mosley based on the fact that Pacquiao took almost all the round save the “knockdown.”

98-91 Pacquiao

Round 12
Pacquiao starts fastly but Mosley is the one who needs to attack in this final round. Mosley forces Pacquiao up against the ropes but the punches he gets off don’t seem to hurt the champion. Pacquiao guilty of holding and punching, goes hunting for the knockout. Setting a furious pace in the final minute with a right hook and a left hook hurting Mosley. But he can’t finish a fight that was expected to end early.
118-109 on my scorecard.

Pacquiao of course wins on all three judges scorecards in lopsided fashion, with of them going as far as to ignore the knockdown that the referee incorrectly called. The scores are 119-108, 120-108, 120-107. Despite those scores it was a disappointing performance from the pound-for-pound king.

Manny Pacquiao defeats Shane Mosley via unanimous decision to retain the WBO welterweight title

Following the loss, the talk around the web is whether or not Mosley should hang ‘em up. He talked a good game coming into the fight, but resembled a boxer who was fighting more for a $6 million paycheck than to defeat a more skilled opponent.

It was clear that Pacquiao was too fast and strong for the 39-year-old Mosley.

Usman ‘Uzzy’ Ahmed spends too much time dancing and not enough time sparring, by the looks of things. He gets his bell rung pretty hard by Ashley Sexton once the fight finally begins.

Things continue to get worse for boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

From ESPN.com:

Clark County District Attorney David Roger significantly raised the ante in the case alleging that Mayweather hit and threatened the life of his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, and threatened to beat two of their children during a pre-dawn argument at the woman’s home a week ago.

Authorities alleged he took cell phones belonging to Harris and two of their children following the altercation. That felony charge carries a possible sentence of five years.

The new criminal complaint filed Thursday added two felony coercion and one felony robbery charge along with one misdemeanor domestic battery and three misdemeanor harassment charges.

Convictions on all eight charges would increase the possible penalty Mayweather could face if convicted of all charges to 34 years.

Police initially labeled the scuffle with Harris a domestic battery case after she told police Mayweather was angry about her relationship with another man when he confronted her at the Las Vegas home where Harris and the children live.

Mayweather wanted to evict her from the house, which he owns, Harris said.

The new charges name the couple’s 10-year-old and 9-year-old sons as victims of coercion, for alleged threats to beat them if they called 911 or left the apartment during the scuffle.

Under Nevada law, coercion is when a person compels or forces someone to do something they have a legal right to do.

I obviously wasn’t there, but it sounds like Mayweather said something to the kids in the heat of battle that he didn’t mean. Such as, “If you guys don’t keep quiet I’m going to pull this car off the side of the road and leave all of you on the highway. Then your mother and I will go to Disney World alone.”

Still though, threatening to actually beat the kids is wrong in any context – especially when daddy is a boxer.

Forget Manny Pacquiao – Floyd will be lucky to fight a street hobo in the future.

Boxing fans want to see it.

Manny Pacquiao wants to see it.

Promoter Bob Arum definitely wants to see it.

So what’s stopping Floyd Mayweather Jr. from putting his John Hancock down on a contract in order to sign off on the superfight between him and Pacquiao later this year?

Over the weekend, Mayweather let Arum’s deadline to sign a contract that would ensure a fight with Pacquiao pass without saying a word. One day later, Mayweather said he was in no rush to sign off on a deal.

“I’m not really thinking about boxing right now,” Mayweather said. “I’m just relaxing. I fought about 60 days ago, so I’m just enjoying myself, enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my vacation.”

One would think that someone with the nickname “Money Mayweather” would sign a contract that guaranteed him over $50 million to fight. And seeing as how his current record is a perfect 41-0, I highly doubt Mayweather is scared to get in the ring against anyone.

So then what’s the snag?

Read the rest of this entry »

The superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has hit another snag. According to SI.com, the deadline set by promoter Bob Arum passed on Saturday without Mayweather agreeing to a deal to fight Pacquiao.

In the latest improbable twist in the torturous negotiations for the most tantalizing prospective fight in boxing, Arum said Mayweather’s camp simply hasn’t responded to a contract proposal with no obvious points of contention.

Pacquiao already has agreed to extensive drug testing and an equitable split of the earnings from what’s likely to be the richest fight in boxing history.

“Floyd, for whatever reason – and I’m sure he has some valid reason – didn’t want to commit,” Arum said.
Although Arum was careful not to criticize Mayweather, saying the fighter who calls himself Money could take the incredibly lucrative offer at any point in the next week or so, Arum plans to open discussions with Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto for a fight with Pacquiao in November.

It’s interesting to read above that Pacquiao “already has agreed to extensive drug testing” seeing as how that was a sticking point earlier in the negotiation process. Mayweather’s camp wanted blood tests conducted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which does random tests, while Pacquiao’s people were only willing to allow blood to be taken if the tests were scheduled.

If Pacquiao’s camp willing to do random tests now? And if so, what’s the holdup from Mayweather? The two fighters already agreed to a fight and for a $50 million split up front, so I wonder why Mayweather’s camp has been silent as the deadline passed.

Whatever the reason, this is a prime example of what has killed boxing over the years, and why MMA has taken over as the king of fighting. Dana White can actually get his fighters in a ring (or cage, that is), while professional boxing can’t.

If that title doesn’t have you laughing your ass off, then you need to check your pulse.

From Yahoo! Sports:

It was another embarrassing fighting exhibition for Jose Canseco. Or was it? Canseco agreed to travel to Arkansas to take on 60-year-old Gary Hogan in a boxing match. The former major league slugger plodded his way through four rounds and lost a 39-37 decision to Hogan, an associate athletic director at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. “Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Rumble by the River” went down at Dickey-Stephens Park before the Arkansas Travelers-Midland Rockhounds Triple-A baseball game.

It looks like the snitch that sports fans love to hate showed a little heart. Frankly, it didn’t look like Canseco, 46, was really trying. Although in the prefight and postfight, Hogan broke down the fight like it was real.

“He did [throw his heavy artillery at me],” said Hogan. “I took some shots but the bottom line is, I’m used to taking shots. I felt good in there. I wasn’t tired, my conditioning was unbelievable. I thought he got tired there in the third and fourth rounds.”
Hogan came in at 191 pounds while Canseco was 240. The fight was put together to benefit Ray Rodgers’ boxing gym and GED program in Little Rock.

“It’s an exhibition. I had a great time. I’ve gotta a lot of respect for Gary. Just coming out here and fighting a guy 15 years his junior, he’s got some [guts].”

Canseco was paid for the fight.

As the article points out and as you can see in the video below, Canseco barely broke a sweat. But he still lost…to a 60-year-old.

Kudos to Hogan for having the stones to get in the ring with Canseco, even though the former baseball slugger fights like Peter McNeely.