ESPN.com has a story on its main page that the Blazers will select OSU center Greg Oden with the first overall pick in tonight’s NBA Draft. Oden’s agent, Mike Conley Sr., is saying different, however.
“We haven’t been told that,” Mike Conley, Sr. said late Wednesday night. “(ESPN) can have their opinion, but the Blazers haven’t told us anything.”
This is crazy talk, because ESPN would never jump the gun on a report right?
The Daily Forecast just did an interesting debate on who would win a battle between a boxer and a MMA (or UFC) fighter. Paul Costanzo defended boxers while Drew Ellis made a case for UFC fighters. To read both arguments in their entirety, click the above links, but for the highlights, see below.
Costanzo’s main point was about boxers’ feet and their ability to potentially strike a MMA fighter when they’re loading up to attack. A boxer could keep everything in front of him while in an upright stance and exploit holes that a MMA fighter would leave while trying to use his assortment of moves.
Ellis objected to Constanzo assuming the MMA fighter wouldn’t be prepared for a boxer trying to exploit their weaknesses. His main point was once the MMA fighter gets a boxer to the ground, he could consistently strike from a position the boxer wouldn’t normally be in, and of course defeat him.
Of course this debate is all hypothetical, but it’s rather interesting. Personally, I think boxers are at a distinct disadvantage considering the amount of styles an MMA fighter uses. It would be like a construction worker showing to build a house with only a hammer and nails. However, give an experienced, prepared boxer like Floyd Mayweather Jr. time to train and it would be an interesting battle. And like Costanzo was arguing, a top boxer is going to find holes in an MMA’s style just based on the possibility a fighter like that may try to do too much in order to counter a boxers’ more conventional style.
After his recent one punch knockout of Jose Luis Castillo crowned him the world junior welterweight champion, British boxer Ricky Hatton’s ego apparently surpassed his brain size because now he wants a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr. Highly regarded as the best pound for pound boxer in the world, Mayweather said Tuesday that he’d, “sign to fight Hatton right now.”
This is clearly – and Mayweather’s manager Leonard Ellerbe alluded to it – a publicity scheme by Hatton. He can use Mayweather’s name to promote his own career, which helps even if he loses. And he knows the only way he’d coax Mayweather out of retirement is if he runs his mouth like this:
“There was more action in the four rounds of this fight (Hatton’s fight with Castillo) than Floyd showed in his entire career.”
Normally I would say Mayweather would pummel a boxer like Hatton, but have you ever watched British fighters? They flail around the ring in herky-jerky movements, throwing only when they see an opening and then backing out quickly in order to not take punches themselves. More conventional boxers like Mayweather usually get frustrated when fighting this kind of style and try to change their approach. That in turn only benefits guys like Hatton, but we’re talking about Floyd Mayweather here, a boxer who will likely keep his composure and wait until Hatton tires himself out. That is, if this fight ever happens in the first place.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the lawsuit defensive tackle Grady Jackson filed against the Falcons in March has been resolved. Atlanta restructured his contract, adding a year onto the three-year deal he got from the team last offseason, as well as roster bonuses for 2008 and 2009.
Jackson had filed the suit in late March of this year for invasion of privacy and defamation over the alleged release of his medical records pertaining to last offseason. Jackson claimed Atlanta leaked information that he had a bad heart, which supposedly scared off other teams from getting into a bidding war with the Falcons over his services.
Either way, this is just a little ray of sunshine in a massive cloudy offseason for the Falcons. Remember, Rod Coleman may miss the first four to six games of the season, so if this issue with Jackson wasn’t resolved, there would have been two gaping holes in Atlanta’s defensive line. And I mean, gaping holes.
The Buffalo Bills hosted free agent safety Donovin Darius on Tuesday according to the teams’ official website.
Not that this is a done deal yet, but why did the Bills cut Lawyer Milloy last season and draft three safeties in the past two years if another aging veteran was just going to peek their interest this offseason? Darius is two years younger than Milloy, but he’s also coming off a torn ACL and a broken leg in back to back seasons, not to mention is virtually the same run-stuffing safety with tremendous leadership ability Milloy is. I thought Buffalo was going to develop second year safeties Donte Whitner, Ko Simpson and rookie John Wendling? Whitner was outstanding last year as a rookie.
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