“To the gay community, I apologize,”

“What I said is a reporter asked me about gay marriage …. I am against gay marriage, but I’m not condemning gays,”

“I have family — a cousin — who’s gay, and friends too. I’m just against gay marriage. I don’t even want to talk about the issue, but I was asked about it, so I gave my opinion.” Continue reading “Official Statement By Manny Pacquiao – “To the gay community, I apologize,”” »

Greg Cohen of Greg Cohen Promotions is proud to announce the signing of one of Canada’s top rated prospects, Tony “Lightning” Luis (14-0, 6 KOs) to a promotional agreement.

24-year-old Luis is a native of Cornwall, Ontario, who first caught the eye of many boxing observers with an impressive TKO 5 over Adrian Valdez on ESPN Friday Night Fights in June of 2010.

Gifted with blazing hand speed and a vicious left hook to the body, Luis has already won the WBC Continental Americas Junior Welterweight Championship via KO1 over former NABA Champion Alejandro Barrera in October 2011 and was named a Goodwill Ambassador by the WBC.

As an amateur, Luis was a seven-time Ontario Champion, a 2006 Eastern NY Golden Gloves Champion, won three National silver medals and defeated 10 Canadian National Champions.

During the day, he works as a counselor on an Indian reserve near his Cornwall, Ontario home. He is trained by his father Jorge.

“Tony Luis makes an excellent addition to our stable and we’re very proud to be working with him,” said Greg Cohen. “He has made the jump from excellent amateur to outstanding professional and we predict big things will happen in his future.”

Keith Terceira

Former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis has officially come out in support of the British Boxing Board of Control and their attempts to end the bout between Haye and Chisora in Luxembourg.

BBBC has threatened to de-license any fighter, manager, etc that takes part in the card.

“We are going through a disciplinary process right now and the British Boxing Board of Control is handling that. Should they be allowed to fight? Sure – but only when the time is right, when the disciplinary process has run its course. Chisora did a couple of bad things which, in football terms, brought the game into disrepute, and although he has apologized, that is not enough. Maybe he needs anger management therapy, some outside help, to draw a line under what happened in Germany,” Lewis told The Mirror.

“I don’t think there can ever be justification for going behind the British board’s back. We all know the board is there for a reason, and they made a decision to suspend Chisora’s license in good faith, so to go around their jurisdiction is pretty poor, it’s in poor taste. And for two boxers from England to go abroad and behave in that manner was damaging for the country’s image. Slapping your opponent at the weigh-in, spitting in another champion’s face in the ring, throwing a punch while holding a bottle and threatening to shoot a fellow boxer was all way over the top.”

Undefeated junior welterweights Ray “Tito” Serrano and Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield wasted no time at today’s press conference in Albany, New York getting in each other’s face just two days ahead of their “ESPN Friday Night Fights” showdown at the Times Union Center set for this Friday, May 18, 2012.

Ranked # 9 by the WBA with an undefeated record of 18-0-0 with eight stoppages, Philadelphia’s Serrano challenges San Francisco’s Mayfield, 15-0-1 (9KO’s), in a ten round fight for Mayfield’s NABO Title.

In the eight round co-main event, middleweight prospects will clash as heavy-handed knockout artist Jason Escalera of Union City, New Jersey battles Geneva, New York’s Nick Brinson.

Also featured is an eight round light heavyweight bout between Albany, New York based contender Vincent Miranda and former world title challenger David Telesco of Portchester, New York.

The undercard of “ESPN FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS” includes the Capital Region’s favorite son Kevin “KID” Rooney Jr., along with Schenectady junior welterweight Bryan Abraham.

Tickets, priced at $30, $40, $50 and $75, are available through Ticketmaster, (www.Ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000) or at the Times Union Center Box Office, (www.timesunioncenter-albany.com), and at select local Wal-Mart Music Centers. Tickets are also available by calling Star Boxing at 718-823-2000 or on their website www.starboxing.com.
Follow us at www.facebook/starboxing. www.twitter/starboxing ;

Top Rank announced today the signing of amateur sensation Toka Kahn-Clary, from Providence, Rhode Island. Kahn-Clary, 20, who boasts speed, power and a “pro style of fighting” is trained by Peter Manfredo Sr. and managed by Mike Criscio, who discovered and managed light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Kahn-Cary will make his pro debut, as a junior lightweight, on Friday, June 8, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, on a card headlined by the Kelly Pavlik vs. Scott Sigmon super middleweight bout.

“Everyone at Top Rank is excited and what a great way for Toka to start, fighting on the Kelly Pavlik card at the Hard Rock,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.

“Toka is a top prospect who is the real deal. He throws a lot of punches and hits hard,” said Bruce Trampler, Top Rank’s Hall of Fame matchmaker.

Manfredo added, “Toka is the best I’ve seen at our gym in 35 years – and I’ve seen a lot of fighters. He has speed, skill, tremendous combinations and a big heart.”

A native of Liberia, Kahn-Cary moved to Philadelphia when he was six, where he was soon orphaned, losing his father in a shooting that same year. He made his way to Pawtucket, RI, where life was not any easier, but eventually he was taken under the wings of Andrea Watson, her husband Ron Clary and Manfredo. Those three and boxing proved to be Kahn-Clary’s salvation. As an amateur, Toka was a Gold medalist at the National Golden Gloves (2010), a Silver medalist at the U.S. Championships (2011), and a Bronze medalist at the U.S. National Championships (2012, 2010.)

Keith Terceira

During a recent interview with Alex Ariza , strength and conditioning coach for Manny Pacquiao, Alex stated that he and Freddie only share one fighter now.

With Ariza , gone from Amir Khan’s camp and still in the corner of both Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.  and Manny Pacquiao , that suggests that Roach is gone from Chavez Jr.

Julio this week , flew into Las Vegas , and is training at Top Rank Gym , but missing it seems is both Freddie and Alex Ariza.

It is a tough time to be replacing trainers just prior to a title defense against Emanuel Steward’s,  Andy Lee, less than a month away.

Ariza stated in this week’s interview that Arum has been attempting to replace both Freddie and Alex, in Julio’s camp , which was the cause of Ariza flying from Baguio, and leaving with Pacquiao’s blessing to prevent his replacement with Chavez by Arum.

Calls have been placed and MP8.ph will bring you the scoop as it develops.

HBO SPORTS DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL 24/7: ROAD TO PACQUIAO/BRADLEY, DEBUTING SATURDAY, MAY 19, SETS THE STAGE FOR THEIR JUNE PAY-PER-VIEW SHOWDOWN

HBO Sports, known for its innovative, award-winning productions, sets the stage for the June pay-per-view showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley when the documentary special 24/7: ROAD TO PACQUIAO/BRADLEY debuts SATURDAY, MAY 19 (10:15-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Other HBO playdates: May 19 (2:00 a.m.), 20 (10:30 a.m.), 21 (7:30 p.m., 1:35 a.m.), 22 (9:30 p.m.), 23 (10:30 a.m.), 24 (7:00 p.m., 2:35 a.m.), 25 (12:30 a.m.) and 26 (10:15 a.m.), and June 8 (6:30 p.m.) and 9 (9:30 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates: May 20 (11:50 p.m.) and 23 (10:30 p.m.), and June 8 (12:05 a.m.), 9 (5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT) and 10 (9:20 a.m.)

HBO On Demand® availability begins: May 23

The special will also be available on HBO GO®.

24/7: ROAD TO PACQUIAO/BRADLEY introduces fans to the career and back story of undefeated Palm Springs, Cal. native Timothy Bradley Jr. (28-0, 12 KOs), who is challenging welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) of the Philippines in Las Vegas June 9. The documentary also offers a glimpse of international boxing icon Pacquiao outside the ring prior to the start of training camp, revealing a side of his life that is rarely captured by TV cameras.

A week after the debut of 24/7: ROAD TO PACQUIAO/BRADLEY, the latest installment of HBO Sports’ Emmy®-winning “24/7” reality franchise kicks off when “24/7 Pacquiao/Bradley” debuts Saturday, May 26 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT).

“Pacquiao vs. Bradley” takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 9 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT, and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®.

The executive producer of 24/7: ROAD TO PACQUIAO/BRADLEY is Rick Bernstein; senior producer, Dave Harmon; coordinating producer, Bentley Weiner; producers, George Jakovic and Harley Glantz; writer, Aaron Cohen. Liev Schreiber narrates.

Less than three weeks before Antonio Tarver steps into the ring to continue his campaign at cruiserweight by taking on the unbeaten power puncher Lateef Kayode, the “Magic Man” held an open workout on Tuesday before a packed house of his hometown media at Calta’s 24/7 Fitness. “This guy is predicting he’ll knock me out in the fifth round. If Kayode comes in with that type of recklessness, he can be out before that because he has never been hit by someone who can punch as hard as me,” said Tarver.

“And not just punching hard, I’m a sharpshooter. I punch organs. I target organs: liver, kidney, heart. I don’t just punch mass, I punch organs and I punch that chin. Remember that the chin is not a muscle so you can have all the muscles surrounding your neck and body, chest and abs, because if I touch that chin the right way, it’s lights out, baby. There are no more guys like myself. Shane Mosley lost. Bernard Hopkins lost. I’m the last Mohican. I’m the last guy who is 40-plus.”

“We have a storyline here: A young guy who took offense to what I was saying as a commentator. I was just doing my job. I think the youth, the inexperience got the best of him. He’s got his handlers saying that he’s ready to roll the dice. But you’ve got to respect his position. He’s a young fighter coming up that has nothing to lose. So Kayode is in a beautiful position and if he loses to me, what has it done? It’s going to set him back a little bit but he can regroup. I can’t regroup if I lose to Lateef Kayode. There would be an asterisk and a question mark by my name and we can’t have that.

“He’s only got two hands and he can’t throw them but one at a time. We’re going to simplify it. I’ve fought a lot of strong guys that didn’t get lucky, that couldn’t hit me, couldn’t find me. So he’s coming in here trying to get lucky. I’m coming in here to rely on my skills, my experience and my conditioning to win this fight. I’ll take Kayode places he’s never been. And that’s in deep waters. He’s never been in there with a fighter like me and I’m going to show him what it’s all about.

“This is what sparring is all about. I’ve got young guys in here. I don’t have any old punching bags in here. Because if I can’t get it done in the gym, I can’t get it done June 2.

“We’re putting everyone on notice. Expect the unexpected. Kayode said the fight is going to end, that he’s going to knock me out in the fifth round. He might have a good prediction in the fifth round but I think he’s got the storyline a little twisted.

“We’re in a phone booth in camp. That’s definitely what we think the fight will represent, a phone booth. We like it in close quarters. I’m too old to run.

“I had a chance to commentate a few of his fights and he didn’t like the things I was saying. But as a young fighter, you can’t always feed them cake and ice cream. Sometimes you’ve got to put something in the back of his head so he could say, ‘You know what? Maybe there is something I can go back and work on.

“It’s about skill and I got it. We’re not going to wait for anyone to tell us how great we are because if you wait for someone to give you a compliment, you’ll be waiting forever and a day. We know who we are and we are going to continue to display it. We’re going to kill our critics with success. We got the skill, us throwback fighters. And I’m a throwback fighter because I’m older now, I’m sitting down [on my punches] more and I’m a fan friendly fighter.

“What keeps the fire burning? Critics, naysayers and my own personal achievement. People can laugh now when I tell them I’m going to become heavyweight champion. They don’t want to buy into it but they will because at 210 pounds, I’m elusive. I’m powerful. I’m strong and they can’t hit what they can’t see. I’m not a big, robotic fighter that can’t move. So those are they’re advantages. The only hope they got is to hit me on the chin and knock me out. And that’s never been done before. .

“I’m going to get that heavyweight title. Wladimir Klitschko, here I come. I’m going to get that heavyweight title. That’s coming back to America, baby. Trust it. Stamp it. Write it down.”

Joining Tarver at the workout on Tuesday was his good friend Ronald “Winky” Wright, who will fight in the co-main event, making his return to the ring against rising star “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin. “Young guys, young guys,” said Winky. “Inexperience and all of that. The nervousness is getting to them and they want to prove this and prove that. The only time you’ve got to prove something is in the ring. Fans cans expect a great fight. They can come to see Winky Wright knock Kid Chocolate’s head off – not knock him out – knock his head off. He thinks I’m going to run? We’ll see. I’m going to show him a fight.”

Antonio Tarver (29-6, 20 KOs) vs. Lateef Kayode (18-0, 14 KOs) will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing telecast on June 2 from The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

President’s Report – May, 2012.
by Joe Dwyer

In addition to April showers, we also had some fine NABF Title bouts.

In a shocker on April 27 in Austin, Texas, WBC # 2 ranked Ismayl Sillakh was coasting to what appeared to be an easy victory when he was caught with a solid right hand by challenger Denis Grachev, which resulted in Sillakh’s first loss and Grachev’s winning the NABF light heavyweight title by TKO at 2:18 of the eighth round.

On April 14 in Atlantic City, N.J., Garrett Wilson scored a solid KO victory over Andres Taylor in an all-action bout for the vacant NABF cruiserweight title.

Upcoming Fights:

Johnathon Banks will defend the heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Tony Grano; negotiations are in progress at this time.

19 May – Montreal, Canada: Dierry Jean vs Cosme Rivera for the vacant super lightweight title.

26 May – Tucson, AZ: Hanzel Martinez vs Jose German Cruz for the vacant NABF super flyweight title.

7 July – Atlantic City, NJ: Patrick Majewski vs Chris Fitzpatrick for the vacant NABF middleweight title.

WBC/NABF CONVENTION 2012
Tentative dates are December 3 through 8 at the Gran Oasis, Cancun. We are working with Convention Chairman Chuck Williams in preparing our NABF program at this time. A joint convention will best serve the needs of our members, as it means saving them the expense of attending an additional convention while enjoying the occasion of observing the WBC 50th Anniversary celebration.

2013 NABF CONVENTION
It’s time to start planning for next year. Some thoughts include, Florida, Mississippi, Boston, Chicago. Let us know your thoughts!!!

We will have had 37 NABF title bouts in the year since our last convention, a record for NABF title bouts.

Our NABF title is clearly the way to a WBC world title, thanks to the watchful eyes of WBC President Jose Sulaiman, Claude Jackson, Ed Pearson, and the WBC Ratings Committee.

Current WBC Rating of our Champions:
Heavyweight – Johnathon Banks – WBC # 5
Cruiserweight – Garrett Wilson – WBC # 14
Light Heavyweight – Denis Grachev – WBC # 5
Super Middle – Dyah Davis – WBC # 4
Welterweight – Thomas Dulorme – WBC # 3
Lightweight – Hank Lundy – WBC # 2
Super Feather – Diego Magdaleno – WBC # 1
Featherweight – Mikey Garcia – WBC # 2
Super Bantam – Efrain Esquivias – WBC # 18
Bantamweight – Christian Esquivel – WBC # 5
Light Flyweight – Pedro Guevara – WBC # 9
Strawweight – Mario Rodriguez – WBC # 7

Manny Pacquiao has never stated that anyone in the Gay Community deserved death.

His statements were taken out of context, and were not his opinion.

Pacquiao is simply against the marriage of anyone that is not Man and Woman as he believes is stated in theBible.

“I didn’t say that, that’s a lie… I didn’t know that quote from Leviticus because I haven’t read the Book of Leviticus yet,” he said.

Pacquiao does not now and has never believed that people deserve death because of their sexual orientation.

Keith Terceira

Manny Pacquiao has cleared the air regarding the recent interview and article by Granville Ampong .

“I didn’t say that, that’s a lie… I didn’t know that quote from Leviticus because I haven’t read the Book of Leviticus yet,” he said.

Pacquiao explained his true feelings towards the gay community.

Pacquiao said: “I’m not against gay people… I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical off are actions that violate the word of God. I only gave out my opinion that same sex marriage is against the law of God,”

As explained in previous pieces this is more in line with the Manny Pacquiao ,we have come to know, and work with over the years.

Keith Terceira

Below is the section of Granville Ampong’s interview with Manny Pacquiao as he discusses the Bible Study he shared with Manny and link to interview below.

“God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man,” says Pacquiao, addressing Obama’s pronoucement on legalizing same-sex marriage during an exclusive interview Friday night with the National Conservative Examiner in his residence at the Palazzo Complex  in Los Angeles here in California.

Engaging a radical shift as manifested by his insights shared during Bible studies which lasted more than one hour, around 10:00 p.m., with a song and his substantive prayer, Pacquiao counsels people to “just believe” what the Scripture says.

Pacquiao’s directive for Obama calls societies to fear God and not to promote sin, inclusive of same-sex marriage and cohabitation, notwithstanding what Leviticus 20:13 has been pointing all along: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/pacquiao-rejects-counsels-obama-god-s-words-first

You can decide whether this was taken from the Bible Study with Manny or added in by Granville. It appears that Manny is quoted by Granville but according to Granville, he placed the quote in his article stirring the entire debate and has recently took responsibility in a confusing attempt to cast blame elsewhere yet apologize.

Not only does Ampong cast the blame for his error , if it is proven an error , on other writers misrepresenting his piece but he further confuses the issue by ending his apology with this Manny quote.

Pacquiao only says: “God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.”

Does that include Leviticus or not, Granville?

Also in the article, Granville makes it very clear that Pacquiao considers same sex marriage an “Abomination” which supports that Manny invoked the Leviticus quote during Bible study.

What I know of Manny this was a shocking interview , that is out of character with the Manny Pacquiao, I have come to know, and understand after covering him since 2003.

As a practicing Catholic, the undertone of Manny’s interview was once again out of character with the fun loving, quiet persona that until this year Manny has displayed to the public.

My question is just who is counselling Manny Pacquiao, in the spirituality department these days, these comments are more in line with fanatical extreme right Christianity , and not in the vein of what I am exposed to in my Catholic belief, where all mankind is created by God and loved of him.

For there is no man without sin, and God will judge the extent of each of our sins, and weigh them against our deeds and good works when he comes again!

I will remind readers of the words of Christ , who was the only son of God , who was sent to earth to die for all mans sins.

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

There is no commandment greater than these!!!!!!!

Keith Terceira

Manny Pacquiao was recently quoted in the USAToday as invoking the old testament and recited Leviticus 20:13, saying: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

In the same conversation Manny explained his feelings in regards to same sex marriage which were printed in an earlier article today by Granville Ampong.

“God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they are in love with each other.

“It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old.”
In what appears to be Manny Pacquiao’s official feelings on the subject, let us just say that Pacquiao’s beliefs are not the beliefs,
of this writer or the staff of MP8.ph.

Rather as a Christian, and believing in the words of Jesus, I personally subscribe to Matthew 7 and forward.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Manny Pacquiao may be quoting verse but it is evident that more study on the words and teachings of Christ are required.

Ciao!

Keith Terceira

Recently Manny Pacquiao voiced his opinion on the subject of same sex marriage in opposition and criticism  of  U.S. President Barack Obama.

“My Justice Department has said to the courts, we don’t think the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional,” the president said. “This is something that historically had been determined at the state level and part of my believing ultimately that civil unions weren’t sufficient.”

Obama recently stated ;

“This is something that historically had been determined at the state level and part of my believing ultimately that civil unions weren’t sufficient, and I’ve been a longtime supporter of civil unions for same-sex couples, was partly because of the issue of Social Security benefits and other laws,”

Manny responded;

“God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other,” he said.

“It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of old,” he added, citing the Bible.”

In his recent interview Manny observed that  Obama’s view was nothing more than a direct attack on the morals of society and the will of God.

Last year Manny sided with the Catholic Church in regards to use of condoms and abortion during his country’s controversial family planning bill.

Fr Mariani, a PIME missionary in the Philippines commented last year;

“Pacquiao is very Catholic,” Fr Mariani said. “He comes from a poor Mindanao family and has said many times that he wants to use his money to fight poverty. On 8 May, the country came to a halt to follow his match, including criminals, soldiers and police.”

MP8 is interested on how it’s readers feels on Pacquiao’s stance on same sex marriage, abortion , and prevention of pregnancy.

Pacquiao’s opinion states

“America should be the model of morality for other countries to emulate and must have the responsibility to uphold the Scripture to the highest order of God’s command”

What’s your opinion? Please leave your comments directly to Manny Pacquiao here- nothing will be edited

Keith Terceira

Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza is back with Pacquiao and training is progressing at a tremendous rate. Pacquiao appears slick and in fight ready condition at the Wild Card, so much so that three and a half weeks out from the bout , the team has called in a fourth sparring partner to give the three in attendance a bit of a break.

Ariza, who is no longer training with Amir Khan informed me that , he really wasn’t officially working with Khan as no contract had been offered or signed, when we discussed the cancellation of fight between Khan and Peterson.

Alex is everything good with Manny and yourself?

“I never had a problem with Manny, the press likes to pump it up like there was but there wasn’t”

Both Freddie Roach and Bob Arum criticized Ariza leaving Baguio to train Julio , Alex though insists that his agreement was with Manny and even Michael Koncz did not come out publicly against the move.

“In regards to Freddie, it’s not my fault that Manny didn’t feel that he was important enough to let in on the secret. The funny thing is it’s because of Arum, that I had to leave. I told Manny that Arum was trying to get me out of Julio’s camp so bad that he was trying to pull all these maneuvers and things like that, so I asked Manny if I could go. I remember they were telling Julio that I wasn’t gonna be able to be with him and this and this, we got to find a new trainer. So Manny says “I know , I know” he knows what Arum is doing. So he said “go, Julio needs your help with the weight” and he told me it’s only a couple weeks anyway it’s not a big deal. Believe me if it was a problem Michael Koncz would have been the first one to say something. Instead Michael told everyone to shut up.”

Michael Koncz , Pacquiao’s business adviser was quiet on the subject, while both Freddie and Arum were on similar pages and Ariza informed that all is not well between Arum and Freddie when it comes to Julio Chavez Jr.

“Arum wants Freddie out of Julio’s corner and maybe Freddie feels that I should have stayed with him and  had loyalty to him instead of going to Julio, I don’t know, it’s not how I saw it.”

With all the things that have been alleged against the fighters you work with regarding PED’s ,and then Lamont Peterson winds up the one that fails a drug test for synthetic testosterone, what are your feelings on that, are you fist pumping in private?

“Not really, it’s one of those things, reporters are only asking the easy questions nobody is really asking the hard questions. Like the time I left from Manny, these guys are crying over two weeks and Manny told me that Freddie left him for a whole camp once, when he went to train Oscar De La Hoya , I said I didn’t know that. Reporters obviously aren’t asking Freddie the hard questions but they want to ask me them. With the whole Peterson thing , you have to take alot of testosterone to make a difference in a fight. I mean alot of testosterone. I don’t know what medical or clinical reason for taking the pellets or whatever, but I don’t imagine that those pellets can be more than 25-50 milligrams. So how much did it really change the fight, I don’t know.You have to watch what you say in the press like Peterson saying before the first fight “I know their are people using it” of course you do because you are the one using it.”

We spoke with Alex regarding the ABC President , informing us about disclose and certain forms required to be filled out before testing in some states, and Ariza informed us of what he remembered the night of the first Khan Peterson fight.

“When we did our medicals with Amir, it’s kind of ironic , they didn’t ask us anything in regards to medicines , they just did a quick physical, filled out the forms and boom we were out of there in less than 5 minutes. Usually the forms have something on there but honestly I can’t remember if they did or didn’t.”

Though Khan and Ariza have gone separate ways Ariza wishes him the best!

“THere is no hard feelings , good luck to them, they have to go do their thing, I know what Arum did, and I know what Freddie did, I’m not going to comment on why they did what they did, or said what they said. It takes to much energy for me to be bitter with these guys. It’s like Manny told me when it was really really bad  for a while there , like for the first couple of weeks and I text Manny and told them that man they are killing me , and he said ” listen bro, I know , you know, and God knows and that’s all that matters. You know that I gave you permission, and that’s all that matters.” So if you notice I didn’t respond much or answer any questions, try to clear the air, Manny wanted me to leave it alone and that is really important for him right now, that we don’t have so much turmoil in camp. Most people would have said how come Michael Koncz isn’t saying anything, because Michael Koncz knew.”

“I work for Manny , if Manny wants me , he’ll keep me. If Manny doesn’t he will get rid of me. When it comes to the Peterson thing, I was a little upset with him , they seem genuinely nice and good people, but when you say “I want the test because I know everyone is using PED’s”. You know,  how do you know, I mean that is a strong statement, to say that.”

Keith Terceira

Timothy Bradley may be an undefeated boxer and his upcoming bout with legendary champion Manny Pacquiao may just be rattling the 28-0 fighter more than he admits.

While discussing Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao’s training for their upcoming event in June, Bradley showed anything but the face of a champion while speaking in regards to methods being used to prepare for him.

On WLIE radio in New York , Bradley used a long outdated, socially unacceptable, and crude term in reference to Freddie Roach who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
“I hear Freddie Roach is comparing me to Ricky Hatton and I’m like ‘dude, you guys are retarded if you think I fight like Ricky Hatton.’ Honestly, but no offense, what you guys looking at? And then they bring in this Russian guy [Ruslan Provodnikov] who comes forward and is a banger, and I’m like ‘wow, these guys really don’t know what I can do.’ It’s funny, they think I’m just this face-first brawler and I’m like ‘you guys are going to be in for a rude awakening.’ I can fight, I can box and I can brawl,” Bradley said.

Being mentally challenged is not a joke or a negative to be used as an insult to people, it is a serious illness that effects millions of children and adults worldwide.

Tim, it’s 2012 and not 1960

Bradley, may not feel that Manny is prepared for him come June 9th, but one thing is for certain Pacquiao, Freddie, and the Pacman team could teach Bradley a bit about style, class, and grace.

One needs to remember that when you are attempting to be the face of boxing, a champion, or a mega star, your words are magnified a thousands times to the young or impressionable.The use of outdated terms and insults, that can be carried to schools today and used to hurt some child that does suffer from mental challenges, is insensitive and unacceptable.

If no offense is intended then don’t use the term in that fashion.

Carl Froch believes his loyal fans with be the twelfth man when he takes on IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham on May 26. The Cobra fights in his hometown for the first time since beating Andre Dirrell in a WBC world title defense in October 2009. Froch has been on the road since that night in some gruelling battles, and the 34 year old says he will take the IBF belt from the unbeaten champ to reward his followers for coming out in force – with the final batch of 400 tickets for the fight now released.

“I have to beat Lucian on May 26 – losing in front of my own fans is just something I cannot contemplate,” said Froch. “They have travelled thousands of miles to watch me during the Super Six, and now they have a massive world title fight on their doorstep as a thank you – but it has to be a party and the only way it will be is if I keep the title here.”

“There’s nothing like the Capital FM Arena when it is full,” Froch added. “I was there on Monday night when it was empty and cold, and I just thought that in two weeks time this will be packed and the roof is going to come off. I know Lucian gets great support in Montreal but I don’t think it compares to mine. They are quiet and study the fight as it goes along, politely clapping when he wins. My lot put all their energy behind every punch I throw and chant Forest songs all the way. Really, they support me how I know I have to box him – non-stop for as long as it takes until the title is mine.”

On July 20, 2011, the WBC ordered a final elimination bout between the #1 and #2 rated boxers, Alfredo Angulo and Vanes Martirosyan. The WBC intended to determine the mandatory contender of the division. Vanes Martirosyan declined to participate in the ordered final elimination fight.

The WBC then sanctioned a semifinal elimination bout between Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland with the condition that the winner would have to fight Vanes Martirosyan for the official challenger position. Kirkland defeated Angulo and on March 30, 2012, the WBC ordered a final elimination bout between Kirkland and Martirosyan.

When James Kirkland suffered an injury and reported to the WBC that he could not fight Martirosyan, the WBC accepted Erislandy Lara to fight Martirosyan in a final elimination bout. The winner of that fight would become the official challenger to champion Saúl Alvarez.

Carl Moretti of Top Rank Promotions officially communicated to the WBC that Martirosyan declined to fight Lara for the position of mandatory challenger.

The WBC has consistently supported Martirosyan and wishes him the best of luck. The doors of the WBC remain open to Martirosyan for whenever he is ready to continue his career. The WBC pronouncement above is consistent with the WBC Rules, as set forth below.

Rules 3.7 Designation of Mandatory Challengers. The WBC shall always have the discretion to designate a mandatory challenger by:
a) Ordering a final elimination bout of two qualified contenders; or
b) Designating as official mandatory challenger a Qualified Challenger.

For the avoidance of doubt, the highest rated (or the highest rated available) boxer in the WBC rankings is never, solely by virtue of such position, the official mandatory challenger. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, including any communications attributed to the WBC, no boxer shall be considered as or claim any privileges associated with being a mandatory challenger unless
(i) the boxer has been officially designated as such by the WBC Presidency, and
(ii) the WBC Board of Governors has voted to appoint or ratify the designation of such boxer as mandatory challenger.

WBO #1 super featherweight Vicente “Chente” Escobedo (26-3, 15 KOs) swept a ten round unanimous decision over Juan Ruiz (23-10, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the Woodland Community Center in Woodland, California.  Ruiz who crowded Escobedo and made him fight every minute of every round for the first half of the fight. Escobedo rocked Ruiz with some big shots in round six and was increasingly dominant after that. Scores were 100-90, 100-90, 99-91.

Escobedo’s NABO belt was not at stake as the 2004 United States Olympian extended his current winning streak to four and kept his title hopes alive for a summer clash against WBO junior lightweight world champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner.

Middleweight Oscar Gudoy (5-2, 2 KOs) was victorious when his bout with Jaime Del Cid (8-7, 3 KOs) was waved off at the end of round two.

Other results:
Luis Villagomez (128) TKO-3 over Denis Madriz (125)
Ulises Soriano (134) draw-4 Gabriel Pineda (136)
Moris Rodriguez (143) KO-2 over Brett De La Torre (141)

Keith Terceira

Undefeated Irish super featherweight Patrick “The Punisher” Hyland moves to  26-0 by registering his 12th knockout over veteran Frankie Archuleta (27-10-1, 14 KOs) during “Irish Invasion,” at Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.

“Irish Invasion” was presented by Final Round Promotions, in association with Team Snooki Boxing and Bob Duffy’s Ring Promotions, and sponsored in part by Title Boxing.

“It was a good fight but I could have done a little better,” Hyland said after the fight. “He’s a tough guy who hit me with a couple of good shots. I got him with some good shots in the fourth when it was stopped. I’m a contender, 26-0, and fighting here in the United States. I’m ready for anybody at 126 pounds.”

Arkansas invader Josh Williams (6-4, 4 KOs) upset previously unbeaten Bryant “The Spartan” Pappas (13-1-1, 13 KOs), winning a six-round decision in an exciting match.

Poughkeepsie super featherweight Chazz McDowell (6-1, 1 KOs) won a six-round majority decision from Cuban-born Yuniel Ramos. Canadian light welterweight Natasha “The Nightmare” Spencer (4-0-1, 2 KOs) tangles with Racquel Bailey (1-2-1) in a six-round female match. New York City light middleweight Valdrin Muriqi (3-1) won a unanimous four-round decision over a game Philip Burnette (2-4, 1 KOs),

Keith Terceira

Brain “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria successfully retained his WBO world flyweight title for the second time  at the Ynares Sports Center, in the Philippines. In a battle that was never in doubt from the first round bell Viloria sought and received redemption for his previous loss to Omar Romero, several years ago with a TKO in the ninth round.

Romero looked the aged fighter as Brian steadily pummeled the Mexican warrior round after round with Omar feeling the effects beginning in the third .

In the ninth Romero was wobbled with a straight right and then pinned in the corner receiving punishment that forced notice of his corner who was preparing to throw in the towel when the referee stopped the bout.

In other action Rodel Mayol defeated Julio Cesar Miranda by scores of  100-87, 99-88 and 97-91. Mayol three times sent Miranda to the canvas in this fight but Miranda displayed his usual toughness by hanging in this fight until the final bell.

The victory by Mayol, once again opens up discussion for a title fight with WBA Champion  Tyson Marquez, which according to Michael Koncz of MP Promotions may be some time at the end of the year.

Tom Donelson

Can Tim Bradley defeat Manny Pacquaio?

Bradley is a rough and tough fighter who can turn this fight into a brawl. There are two things that his record shows, an undefeated record against quality fighters but a fighter who is most likely going the distance against quality fighters.

He defeated Devon Alexander in a rough fight that saw an accidental head butt prematurely ending the fight. Bradley imposed his will on a slick boxer and he won a decision against a knock out power puncher in Luis Abregu. The only knockout victory over the past five years was against an aging Joel Casamayor for the WBO light welterweight title in his last fight.

Against Manny Pacquaio, he will be facing a fighter with fast hands and knockout power and the PACMAN is one of the greatest pound for pound fighter of his generation. There is one factor in Bradley’s favor rarely discussed and that is the age factor. Bradley is coming into his prime at 28 and Pacquaio is now 33, so we can assume that Pacquaio is traveling on the down side of his career.

No one can out run father’s time and we don’t know when a fighter looks old in the ring, in particular a fighter who has his share of tough fights against quality opponent like Pacquaio.

For the PACMAN, his advantage lies in two areas that often prove decisive in a fight of this nature, power and speed. Pacquaio has become a more flexible fighter over the years as he learned to box when he needs to and he has become a two handed fighter.

Earlier in his career, he was a one punch fighter, going for broke with his powerful left hand but now, he throws combinations so he have flexibility when dealing with Bradley.

Unlike Marquez, Bradley doesn’t exhibit a lot of movement so Pacquaio will not be chasing Bradley but on some occasion being the matador to Bradley bull like rushes. Against Alexander, Bradley made the Saint Louis boxer uncomfortable but can he repeat this with Pacquaio, by sticking close to Pacquaio and making him uncomfortable with his inside tactics?

I don’t see Pacquaio losing this fight for the simple reason, Bradley style may be perfect for Pacquaio since the PACMAN will be able to hit Bradley at will but then Bradley will be able to strike back since Pacquaio does not have the same defensive skills as Mayweather and his offense often prove to be his defense as Pacquaio launches punches in bunches.

Pacquaio can play offense against Bradley and his hand speed will allow him to prevail in the most exchanges. Bradley is a tough fighter and this could go the decision with Pacquaio winning a unanimous decision. If there is a stoppage, it will be the PACMAN doing the stoppage.

Keith Terceira

Third time may just be the charm when Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria (30-3-, 17ko) meets former two time champion  Omar Nino Romero (31-4-2,13ko) tonight in the Philippines. On the line is not only Viloria’s WBO 112 pound title but also a bit of redemption for either fighter.

In 2006 when these boxers last meet a fight ruled a draw was turned to a NC , due to Romero failing a drug test, and in the first meeting Romero defeated Brian easily on the scorecards to take the WBC light flyweight title from Viloria.

The tail of the tape suggests that the older Romero may not have the same stamina that he has long displayed in the ring and in the last two years Nino has only fought once since losing to Baas by Majority decision, that win was against (7-11-1) Javier Romano in Mexico in three rounds. Since 2010 , Nino has been in ring action for three incomplete rounds.

Viloria on the flip side, has had his best two year stint, with wins over Omar Soto, Veerapol, Julio Miranda, and Giovanni Segura.

Youth, power and speed will all be in favor of Viloria when the bell rings but experience and perhaps a slight edge on defense goes in favor of Omar. Unfortuately, Omar is four years older than the 31 year old Hawaii born Champion and a champion that is on a two year high to get the recognition he feels and tells his fans frankly that he deserves.

If this fight goes the distance then we see Viloria raking up the points for and easier than expected victory over an aging fighter who has displayed power when fighting lower level opponents.

Look for the fight to be action packed over the first several rounds with Viloria taking a commanding lead from the seventh on and a possible stoppage of Nino from the ninth on.

This is a grudge match for Viloria fought in the backyard of his fan base, and Omar has little going in his favor to pull off the W, fighting age, inactivity, a surging champion in that champions venue of choice, with power and speed deficiencies.

My prediction is Viloria by TKO in eighth!

Ciao

Keith Terceira

Willie “The Great” Nelson (18-1-1, 11 KOs) shocked  previously unbeaten Yudel Jhonson (12-1, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the Texas Station Gambling Hall in Las Vegas. Nelson dropped Jhonson with a big  right hand in round two. Jhonson floored Nelson hard in the fourth with a left. Nelson in turn staggered Jhonson in round five and took control of the fight from that point. Scores were 95-94, 97-92, 97-92.

Nelson, who is trained by Jack Loew, took the fight on less than two weeks notice after original foe Freddy Hernandez withdrew with an injury.

In a clash of unbeaten super middleweights, WBC #9 Badou Jack “The Ripper” (11-0, 8 KOs) sqeeked out a controversial eight round split decision over Alexander Brand (17-1, 15 KOs). The windmilling attacks of Brand frustrated Jack , but Badou won on two cards 77-75, 77-75. Brand was up 77-75 on the third card.

In other results: Cuban super featherweight Rances Barthelemy (16-0, 11 KOs) remained undefeated with an eight-round unanimous decision over Las Vegas’ Robert Osiobe (11-5-4, 6 KOs). Scores were 79-72 and 78-73 twice. Las Vegas super feather Jesus Gutierrez (4-0, 2 KOs) brought the crowd to watch him batter crosstown debuter Jimmy Jones (0-1) around, knocking him down twice en route to a TKO win at 2:34 of round three.

Cuban light-heavy Yunieski Gonzalez (8-0, 5 KOs) took out Phoenix’ Carlos Reyes (5-4-1, 3 KOs) at 1:39 of the first; Michigan cruiser William Mitch Williams (4-2-1, 4 KOs) stopped Carlos Gaytan (3-1-1, 3 KOs), of Reno, at 1:20 of the first; and Puerto Rican super middleweight Roberto Acevedo (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO’d Milwaukee’s Martinez Porter (1-2) at 2:19 of round two. Stay tuned for a full report and gallery tomorrow.

Keith Terceira

Let’s play devils advocate here and give Lamont Peterson the benefit of a doubt!

Low testosterone is a serious condition that can result in low sex drive, fatigue , bone loss and brittleness, all the way to full blown depression.

It is normal after the age of 30 for men to begin to see a reduction in the production of testosterone a chemical that assists in the production of, keeps muscles strong , and helps keep bones strong. It can also be found in all ages do to genetics and in some cases for unknown reasons.

Peterson could have raised the profile for this, just as Michael J Fox, Freddie Roach, and Ali have raised the awareness for Parkinson’s.

Honestly,  the issue is not whether Peterson deserved to have the medical help that he received, but did so in a way that created the appearance of doing something wrong or illegal. Low testosterone is a serious illness that could be a symptom of other more dangerous diseases that need to be ruled out before a treatment of synthetic testosterone is given.

Injury to the testicles
Testicular cancer or treatment for testicular cancer
Hormonal disorders
Infection
HIV/AIDS
Chronic liver or kidney disease
Type 2 diabetes
Obesity

Low testosterone  often lead to drops in bone density, meaning that bones become more fragile and increasingly prone to breakage, which for Peterson’s career could have been extremely hazardous.

Where Peterson failed his fans is not being open and honest about his treatment from the start, and disclosing his illness and treatment on several levels, and at several distinct times.

His secrecy created the appearance of illegality and only he is responsible for that having occurred. A whole different result may have  happened had he manned up and notified the world of his treatment and condition. Hiding the truth is just a lie on hold.

The doctor that treated Peterson does not change the banned substance list, and Peterson should have notified all parties the minute he diagnosed so that everyone could make appropriate decisions.

The opportunity existed to create a sense of awareness in the average boxing fan that some of the things they may personally be suffering as men could be from a low testosterone level and having one of their hero’s come out publicly with his experiences could have turned this whole situation around.

By not disclosing his treatment to Boxing officials, VADA, or fans prior to failing his blood test what Peterson did was send a message that this illness is to be denied  and treated in secrecy.

Even giving Lamont the benefit of the doubt, his choice to hide his illness and treatment sends the wrong message to not only the boxing community but all of mankind. This is a serious condition for men that deserves the same respect and public knowledge as breast cancer, low estrogen, and osteoporosis. Peterson’s actions set back it’s understanding and prevention, and will now cause athletes, some in the over thirty range not to seek treatment that may save them extreme discomfort and ill health in later years, or identify an even more serious underlying condition.

If as an athlete, you suffer from fatigue, depression, or one of several symptoms of low testosterone levels get tested, seek treatment , and make a public statement, it may be the best thing you ever do as an athlete for your fans.

If what I haven’t already written doesn’t get some men’s attention, low testosterone can also lead to erectile dysfunction!

Get Real, Get tested, and Get Healthy!

Ciao!

Keith Terceira

According to Amir Khan’s twitter account the rematch between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson has been call off.

The tweet sent out states

“The fight is off! sorry everyone the only person to blame is (Peterson) I’ll be looking for a opponent to fight June 30th”

Dan Rafael of ESPN is also tweeting that the fight will officially be called off later this evening.

Golden Boy has stated that if the fight is off then the whole card is to be cancelled.

Golden Boy is also tweeting that the fight has been canceled!

Peterson has admitted that he was prescribed testosterone pellets prior to the first fight, and in March tested positive for synthetic testosterone.     A test done after the March exam was ruled negative but that also is raising red flags throughout boxing as people wonder if a masking agent was used prior to the second test.

Boxing has another dark day, shortly after the great display of action between Mayweather and Cotto.

Once again it’s one step forward and two steps back for our beloved sport.

Amir Khan, The official facebook page posted this update;

“THE FIGHT IS OFF!! Peterson is massive cheater! June 30th next possible fight date, opponent to be confirmed…”

Pressrelease

A failed pre-fight drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), coupled with the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s (NSAC) legal inability to hold a formal hearing on the matter of licensing Lamont Peterson for his Saturday, May 19 rematch against Amir Khan until Tuesday, May 15, has forced the cancellation of the event.

Ticket refunds for “Peterson vs. Khan II” will be available at your point of purchase. Ticketmaster may be reached at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com. Event ticket refunds for fans traveling from the United Kingdom are available at www.sportscorporation.comor by calling +44 (0)845 163 0845.

After making his hometown debut in March with a blistering first round knockout win over Lonnie Smith, top junior lightweight contender Vicente Escobedo will look to keep that momentum going in the same venue on Saturday, May 12 as he takes on Santa Clarita’s Juan Ruiz in the 10 round “Sólo Boxeo Tecate” main event at the Woodland Community Center in Woodland, California.

Escobedo vs. Ruiz headlines a night of world-class professional boxing presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Don Chargin Productions in association with Paco Presents and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., the first bell rings at 7:00 p.m. and the TeleFutura broadcast begins at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

Advanced purchase tickets are priced at $80 (VIP), $60 (Floor) and $45 (Bleachers). If purchased at the door, ticket prices increase to $90 (VIP), $70 (Floor) and $55 (Bleachers). Tickets are available for purchase at Paco’s Restaurant (530) 669-7946, F&F Multiprint (530) 666-3102, USA Tires (530) 662-4145 and online at www.pacopresentsboxing.com.

2004 United States Olympian Vicente Escobedo (25-3, 15 KO’s) has been in with some of boxing’s toughest fighters including former World Champions Robert Guerrero, Michael Katsidis, Kevin Kelley and Carlos Hernandez, . Currently ranked number one in the world by the WBO, the 30-year-old Escobedo knows that he needs to beat Ruiz and extend his current winning streak to four to keep his title hopes and a discussed summer clash against WBO Junior Lightweight World Champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner alive.

Upset-minded Juan Ruiz (23-9, 7 KO’s) is at his best when he’s tested against tough competition. The 33-year-old from Santa Clarita proved this with a shoscking technical knockout victory over former World Champion Wayne McCullough in 2008. A former NABF featherweight champion, the granite chinned Ruiz will look to spoil Escobedo’s homecoming on May 12.

Keith Terceira

It now appears that Lamont Peterson had a doctor prescribe and implant “testosterone pellets” to Peterson prior to the first fight with Amir Khan for a low testosterone condition and Peterson just forgot to mention it during negotiations, training camp, pre-fight weigh in etc.

One quick question, during the pre-fight doctor’s visit isn’t there questions on prescribed medications and treatments?

My question to the commissions involved is when was treatment started , when did condition become apparent to Peterson, and who is the doctor that prescribed the treatment?

Was the treatment started just prior to training camp for Khan?

Was the diagnosis for low testosterone just prior to the fight being sceduled was it a long term well established illness that has been treated in the past?

It is a well documented fact in America that you can find a doctor for just about anything and any time, if you don’t think so just ask any ambulance chasing attorney in the United States that sues insurance companies on behalf of accident victims.

Did Peterson just fail to mention it or was his camp afraid that if Khan’s people got wind that Lamont was suddenly under treatment with testosterone pellets that the first fight would have been called off and Peterson would have lost his chance at the title.

I can tell you as a former boxing manager I would have pulled the plug on the fight immediately had I found out that something like this was going on.

I can also tell you that I would be calling my attorney right now and listing all the people including the Washington DC commission, that I would be looking to file suit on if I was Khan.

Prescribed or not  I would want to know several factors before I would have allowed my fighter to face  Peterson.

1.) What level does the doctor consider normal and at what level did Peterson fight his other opponents?

2.) What is his exact level of testosterone the day of the fight, is it even one percent higher than it normally should be?

3.) What is the effects of the treatment on Peterson during the treatment and exactly what medication was prescribed?

4.) Was his treatment disclosed to the sanctioning body and approved?

With the explanation in hand it doesn’t clear up this matter but only confuses it.

Amir Khan had a right to know if his opponent was under treatment that could change his previous boxing stamina and was a substance that could alter the ability shown in previous fights prescribed or not!

I my honest opinion having been prescribed a PED for a medical condition is no different as me having a cast prescribed for a broken hand and still being allowed to put a glove over it.

Amir Khan, the sanctioning body, and the DC commission had a right to know of this treatment prior to last year’s fight and a choice whether or not to sign off on the fight.

Unless someone can show exactly what the testosterone levels were the night of the fight , then a question is still unanswered whether his level was elevated due to the treatment.

According to the rules and regulations in Washington DC

2005.3 An applicant under this section shall include information requested by the application concerning the applicant’s
health history.
2005.4 The Commission may require additional information or tests, or compliance with specified procedures, to establish
the identity of the applicant or to determine the applicant’s physical fitness.
2005.5 The Commission may require an applicant under this section to provide a record of all past matches

Under section 2005.3 did Peterson disclose his treatment with synthetic  testosterone to the DC Commission?

I do know in some states the doctors ask you during the pre-fight physicals if you are taking any prescribed medications and you are required to answer truthfully.

Mp8.ph  is investigating whether or not Peterson at any point was required to report his medical treatment and it’s prescribed medication prior to the first Amir Khan event.

According to ABC President Tim Lueckenhoff, whom  replied to the questions

1.) Is a boxer required to report any prescribed medications for a medical condition to officials and/or commission.

We will also attempt to track down the procedure required by ring doctor prior to fight and if at that time whether Peterson was required to disclose his medications and treatments!

By Tom Donelson

Ted Atlas made an interesting point, the only obstacle between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather may be Bob Arum, a point that Mayweather discussed in the post-fight interviews. Atlas theory is that Arum is afraid that if the PACMAN loses to Mayweather, he loses his golden goose. Right now, Pacquaio can make 20 million dollar per fight, regardless of who he fights.
As for Mayweather, he promotes himself and has no need for a major promoter to tell him who to fight and who not to fight and put his own destiny in his hand. At 35, he is ready for that one big payday with a fighter whose style he feels comfortable in beating. Pacquaio is not his own man when it comes to negotiating fights unlike Mayweather. Which brings us to the issue itself, is Arum really the main obstacle?
The problem with the Arum strategy is that both fighters are slow slipping past their prime and the longer you wait, the more chances you have either fighter losing. Just as importantly, you have two fighters who may find themselves on the downside of their career before the fight actually happens. Mayweather understands and hopefully Pacquaio does as well, this fight will produce the biggest purse in boxing history. There is enough money for both fighters to simply say, “Good bye and I will enjoy the rest of my life.” For Pacquaio, that means being a politician in his native Phillipines and for Mayweather, it could mean being the next Don King or Bob Arum when it comes to being a boxing promoter.

There is no reason why this fight needs to be delayed after the PACMAN beats Tim Bradley and Mayweather finishes his short stint in the lock up.
Shane Mosley has been one of the boxing good guy over the years and have enough big win to earn Hall of Fame recognition but since his victory over Margarita, Mosley has been but a shadow of himself. In his recent fight with Alvarez, he showed that he can’t outrun Father Time and there is no reverting back to being an elite fighter. He is simply an old fighter who is hanging on and now he has become that final step for young fighters to add to their resumes before moving to the next step. When a fighter starts the long slide to being an opponent, it is time to say goodbye.

Mosley has given boxing fans thrill over the years but now he is risking permanent damage long term the longer he stays active. He has nothing left to prove and much to lose health wise; good byes are hard for athletes to do, but the time has come for Mosley to realize that he lost to a fighter that four or five years ago he would have given a boxing lesson to.
Miguel Cotto showed that he is very good fighter but this was a fight between a very good fighter up against a Hall of Fame fighter. Cotto fought well and had a good fight plan. He made the fight competitive but Mayweather, even on a bad day, showed why he might be the best pound for pound fighter.

Keith Terceira

Something smelled like a rat in last year, and the stink may just have gotten stronger if testing proves correct!

Lamont Peterson, the IBF/WBA junior welterweight champion that shocked the world by defeating Amir Khan in Washington DC  last December, has reportedly tested positive for Synthetic Testosterone, a performance enhancing drug. Fighters supplied samples to be tested by the VADA , both Khan and Peterson agreed to Olympic style drug testing for their rematch May 19th.

An investigation is currently underway by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The specimen that tested positve was collected last month and both the “A” and “B” samples were found to be positive.

The first fight between Peterson and Khan was protested by Khan camp on several levels, but one needs now wonder if illegal drug usage may have played a part in that outcome as well. Just as the discovery of  a foreign object in Antonio Margarito’s hand wraps tainted all his previous victories, this discovery has, and should cast a taint on the victory Peterson was awarded in winning the title from Khan, if proved true.

What shocks this writer is that the clean-cut, All-American, persona that Peterson has been lavishing in may be false, and Team Khan, who took some damage when it protested the referee, the Mystery man, and suspicious behavior ringside in the first fight may not be all that crazy as first thought. Khan’s cry of foul may now be considered by some to be more viable, though not for the correct initial charges.

No matter what the outcome of this investigation Team Peterson is in damage control mode.

The irony of all this is that Amir Khan’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has been under the microscope, and accused by some including Floyd Mayweather Jr. and family of  being involved with PED’s.  Manny Pacquiao , Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. among other fighters train with Ariza.

Pacquiao is currently in a lawsuit with Floyd Mayweather Jr. because of the PED accusations.

At this time the state of the Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson rematch is unknown and everyone that has ever worked with Peterson is coming out of the woodwork in his defense including trainers that have not worked with Lamont in several years, which is quite ridiculous considering it has no relevance in this incident, unless they are attempting to steer publicity and taint away from themselves.

Boxers are responsible for putting things in their system that are illegal in our sport, and the standard excuses that get thrown around when someone is caught using PED’s, that boxers are ignorant trusting soles, that they are suddenly deserved of guardianship instead of intelligent athletes who can run businesses and live in mansions. It boggles the mind, to see on one hand people marketing boxers as athletes and not pugs, then changing lanes, the minute hands are suspected of being dirty in the opposite direction.

Boxing fans will now be able to see whether commissions, sanctioning bodies, and the boxing community in general are against performance enhancing drugs, by the way this is now handled , or if it’s just so much lip service with  money prevailing over justice and fairness.

A positive test for  PED usage in preparation for a title defense, with all the controversy that surrounded the initial win, must be treated harshly and not glossed over, and if proven correct a full investigation into both the first fight and Peterson’s training camp needs to be done by the Federal government and not by the Washington DC commission.

Either Boxing is against PED use, or it isn’t. Time now for authorities, if this test result is proven  correct, to step to the plate,  lead this sport in the right direction!

By Dave Wilcox

Miguel Cotto came into the ring Saturday night as defending 154 pound champion, but he left as yet another notch in the win column for Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

Cotto beat the odds by being very competitive with Mayweather, but he just couldn’t beat the new champion.

Don’t let the judge’s scorecards of 117-111 (twice) and 118-110 fool you, this fight was in question throughout the 12 rounds of action. Although “Money” won on all three cards, he was put to task by the Puerto Rican legend. Cotto pushed Mayweather from the start and showed tremendous heart and courage throughout as he tried to bully Mayweather and keep the fight in close quarters.

It was apparent that as long as Mayweather stayed outside, he had the advantage, but Cotto wouldn’t let that happen on a consistent basis and “Money” had to fight to win this one.

It was quite refreshing to see Floyd pushed and made to fight. He actually had a bloody nose and appeared gassed in the later rounds, which is not the norm for Mayweather. He seems to coast through fights and put us all to sleep in the process, but on this night, that was not the case.

I’ve heard people already saying they are seeing signs of Mayweather slipping after watching this bout. I could not disagree more. Mayweather didn’t look bad, Cotto looked damn good. Let’s give credit to Miguel Cotto for doing something that nobody has been able to do in quite some time. He made Floyd Mayweather work and earn his victory.

I had the fight scored for Mayweather, 116-112, but Miguel Cotto made this a fight and for that, he can hold his head high.

There is no controversy on who won this fight. I must admit however as I waited for the scorecards to be announced, I pondered to myself, “how would the judges screw this one up?”

I guess that’s the nature of the game these days. To me it doesn’t seem that difficult to score a fight and even less difficult to police bad judging, but I guess that’s a conversation for another day.

That and what hell was Justin Bieber doing walking Floyd Mayweather to ring?

Keep punching

Keith Terceira

There are times, fans must remember, when Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are about to fight, that they may not be the champion in the ring that evening.

Last Saturday, that was the case with Cotto being the one wearing the title, and Mayweather Jr. the challenger.

If we look at the fight from the perspective that “you have to beat the champ to be the champ”, one can easily see Miguel’s point of view that the judges ruled unfairly in their decision.

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have built the persona that whenever or whomever they get in the ring with, then they are the title holder, or the legend that has to be beaten. Frankly that is unfair to Miguel Cotto who earned the belt and should have been given the closer rounds based on the fact that he was bringing the fight to Mayweather more often than the reverse.

When the champion is making the fight and creating the action he deserved the respect of the judges and his ring generalship should have counted for a portion of the credit that round.

Mayweather was throwing shots but after a closer inspection of the fight a great majority of his punches were blocked by Cotto or partially blocked and Cotto was surely hitting Floyd with the harder blows the majority of the bout.

Using Las Vegas based judges for this fight was a mistake for the NSAC, it shows a complete disregard for the appearance of propriety, and gives Cotto’s camp ammunition to say that the hometown guy was given a hometown decision.

As with Manny Pacquiao , the old adage beating the guy to be the guy applies to Mayweather Jr. as well, whenever either of these fighters enters the ring , no matter who is holding the sanctioning body title, one of these two guys will always be considered the champion and that is not just for the true title holder.

My personal observation is that Mayweather Jr. did not do enough to take Cotto’s title, though he may have outscored the champion at points in the fight several rounds were close enough to be given to the guy creating the action rather than the guy landing one or two more pity pat punches.

If you fight Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas , two things must be taken into consideration, Las Vegas is a gambling mecca, and the odd makers are not going to go against either of those two, and most likely neither will the judges, who are an extension of the governor’s office , who is answerable to the guys that throw around election money.

The second thing that you must consider is that both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are fighters that have developed a legacy that is beyond the sanctioning body’s belts, beyond the normal unwritten rules of boxing, and frankly both fighters are writing their own rules in boxing.

Because both fighters are writing their own rules like forcing drug tests that are not required by the state they fight in, having a say in whom judges or referee’s a fight, as well as whom they will box and the sanctioning bodies fall over each other to make it happen, then no matter what you are before you enter the ring with either legend, you will be the underdog and the challenger.

Judges scoring may be subjective but judges are entirely human and are subject to the impressions that fans have in regards to their favorites.

One mistake that judges have made throughout the career of Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not crediting his opponents with a scoring blow when he rolls his shoulder as a defensive weapon.

These are the rules from the Association of Boxing Commissions and are to be applied in every state including Nevada. This explanation can be found on the ABC website under their certification for judges.

“The method for establishing the scoring zone starts at the top center of the head, with an imaginary line continuing down the sides of the head through the ears, down to and including the shoulders to the naval and hipbones.  Caution should be taken in using the beltline, due to boxers keeping the trunks high above the navel.  Any punch delivered outside of the scoring zone should not be considered when scoring the bout.

The test to measure the awarding of points for “offensive boxing” should be the number of direct, clean punches delivered with the knuckle part of the closed glove on any part of the scoring zone of the opponent’s body above the belt line.  The judges should also consider the effect of blows received versus the number of punches delivered.  Punches that are blocked or deflected should not be considered in tabulating your score.  Blocked or deflected punches that land foul are not to be considered fouls in the awarding of points at the end of the round.

In most cases the arms are considered defensive weapons.  However, judges must take into consideration the shoulders of a boxer as being in the scoring zone.”

You can block a punch with your shoulder but by the rules that is to be considered a scoring blow or an offensive clean shot. Whereas blocking a punch with the forearm or gloves is considered a defensive maneuver, blocking the punch with your shoulder is to be considered the same as blocking the punch with your face, though less effective, it is no different than landing to the body.

The rules have never been applied to Mayweather properly because everyone is under the impression that his shoulder roll is an allowed defensive tactic that is only correct if the shot lands on the back of the shoulder at which time the referee should stop the action and warn of blow to the back.

Mayweather has been allowed to create his own set of rules based on his persona rather than be forced by judges to fight within the rules.

The judges failed to consider Saturday the amount of punches that landed on Cotto with that overhand right that were deflected first by the gloves of Cotto, which by their own rules they are not allowed to count as clean landed punches.

Remember Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are allowed to create their own rules because of the “Money” they bring to the table and that may be good for Nevada, it may be great for the promoters , and the fighters, but it bad for boxing. It’s bad for that young boxer that mimics Floyd and then runs into a judge that knows his business.

This is one reason that I have never been a huge Mayweather fan, because if Floyd is judged properly in his close fights him would not be undefeated and in my opinion is not undefeated.

If Floyd Mayweather Jr. can create his own scoring zone, and the judges abide by it, then I’m allowed to create my own record for “Money”.

Take a closer inspection of the fight, with the real rules and scoring zone in place for judging, you tell us who won the fight?

Remember by the rules of boxing in America every punch landed on Mayweather’s shoulder is a clean landed blow, every punch deflected or partially blocked or deflected by Cotto is not a counted punch. See what you come up with. Watch the fight as a judge should and for the hell of it score the fight and pass it on to the forum in the Cotto-Mayweather thread.

For the record I had Mayweather winning by 2 rounds not 6 or 8…

2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade continued his march towards a world title shot, knocking out Rudy Cisneros at the end of the first round in tonight’s “ESPN Boxing: FNF Special Edition,” presented by Corona Extra, at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Andrade (17-0, 11 KOs), a fast-rising junior middleweight from Providence, is rated No. 6 in the World Boxing Organization (“WBO”) and No. 7 in the International Boxing Federation (“IBF”). The gifted, young southpaw established his lightning-quick jab early, followed with some solid body punching, and closed the show with a perfect right, left combination that dropped Cisneros (12-4, 11 KOs) with three seconds left in the opening round. Chisneros, a Contender, Season Two participant, was taken out of the ring on a stretcher because he was dizzy. He reportedly was healthy in the locker room and taken to Backus Hospital for precautionary reasons only.

Andrade, who is co-promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Banner Promotions, explained that he simply followed the game plan. “The game plan was to use my jab to set-up opportunities,” he said. “I kept throwing punches early and saw that he dropped his right….and there it goes! I knew he’d walk into it.

“I work hard to make my fights easier. Tonight I threw combinations and established my jab. I’m sitting down on my punches and that comes from ring generalship. I’m putting it together – a little of this, a little of that. If the knockout comes, it comes, but when the shot is there, I take it. I’m not hitting him with a pillow; I’m hitting him with a brick.

DeGuardia predicted super star status for his ace. “We’ll keep him busy, like we said,” DeGuardia commented after the fight. “He fought here February 10th and his next fight is June 29. We’ll make an announcement next week about who he’ll be fighting. It’ll be on a national network. We’re looking at top opponents to fight him but it isn’t easy.

“I think Demetrius can be my best fighter ever. He can eclipse what Antonio Tarver did. He’s ready right now for a world title fight. These two fights tonight (PPV) – Canelo and Mosley and Mayweather and Cotto — I’m confident about Demetrius fighting anyone of them, or anybody in the world. I tried to get him (Andrade) for Canelo’s fight tonight and he (Alvarez) turned him down. Mayweather is the superstar today. I’m confident that this (Andrade) is the next superstar, as long as all of the stars stay align

In the co-feature, Hartford favorite Addy Irizarrry (8-5, 2 KOs) returned to ring for the first time in 1 ½ years, since she suffered a severely fractured ankle, against light welterweight Victoria Cisneros. The fight ended after two rounds in a no contest due to a cut over Cisneros right eye from an accidental head-butt.

Hartford super featherweight Joseph “Chip” Perez (8-1, 2 KOs) and Juan “El Patron” Jaramillo (8-10-2, 3 KOs) had a give-and-take battle with Perez winning a unanimous six-round fight.

Vermont light middleweight Chris Gilbert (4-0, 3 KOs) kept his perfect record intact, stopping Keuntray Henson (4-5, 1 KO) in the third round. Springfield light heavyweight Reinaldo Graceski (1-0) dominated a game Borngod Washington en route to a four-round decision.

The opening bout was entertaining until Hartford light heavyweight Tylon Burris (2-0, 2 KOs) caught pro-debuting Robert Jackson with a couple of right-handed bombs in the second round. Jackson survived being decked the first time but referee Danny Schiavone halted the action at 1:53 of the second round when Burris dropped Jackson again.

Complete Results

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS
Reinaldo Graceski (2-0, 0 KOs), Springfield, MA WDEC4 (40-35 X2, 39-36) Borngod Washington (3-11, 1 KO), Queens, NY

Tylon Burris (2-0, 2 KOs), Hartford, CT KO2 (1:53) Robert Jackson (0-1), Hampton, VA

LIGHT MIDDLEWEIGHTS
Demetrius Andrade (17-0, 12 KOs), Providence, RI WKO1 (3:00)
Rudy Cisneros (12-4, 11 KOs), Chicago, IL

Chris Gilbert (4-0, 2 KOs), Windsor, VT WKO3 (1:16) Keuntray Henson (4-6, 1 KO), Memphis, TN

FEMALE LIGHT WELTERWEIGHTS
Addy Irizarry (8-5, 2 KOs), Hartford, CT No Contest (2) Victoria Cisneros (5-13-2, 1 KO), Albuquerque, NM

SUPER FEATHERWEIGHTS
Joseph Perez (8-1, 2 KOs), E. Hartford, CT WDEC6 (55-55 X 3) Juan Jaramillo (8-10-2, 3 KOs), Kizer, OR

Keith Terceira

Shortly after the Saturday night event ended, my old trainer’s mindset took over, as pieces of the fight began to materialize and Miguel Cotto’s game plan was super imposed over a Manny Pacquiao skillset and style, I realized why this fight has not yet been made.

Cotto, who gave Mayweather all he could handle and who was on the way to the gate holding the keys to victory before Floyd’s conditioning trumped a fading Cotto after round nine, showed to the world that Mayweather can be beat and if he is, finally defeated, it will be by a southpaw.

The infamous Mayweather shoulder roll, worked very well with the right hands that Miguel tried to connect with, but often it was the left hooks that caught the “Money Man”  on the button of his nose, along with the jab that Cotto threw while boxing and creating angles,  unless Mayweather turns southpaw that shoulder roll will only be effective against Pacquiao’s jab or straight rights during a combination.

Arum and Top Rank will prove pivotal by the way they handle working with whichever commission that the eventual mega fight takes place under because Mayweather will need to return to his clinching style versus Pacquiao as the shoulder roll is less effective.

If Arum can force the commission to use a referee that is less likely to allow clinching without a point deduction then the fight swings in favor of Manny by a wider margin.

One combination that will work well against Floyd will be a lead right hand followed by a left hook as Mayweather tucks his chin into his shoulder after rolling his shoulder in defense of the right. After a few attempts at this combination Floyd will begin to use his right hand to protect his face from the follow up left hook and that’s when his body well be exposed to the hook downstairs.  The double left hook up and downstairs will prove an effective weapon, especially when it’s reversed downstairs upstairs later in the fight

Taking Mayweather’s range away and keeping close as did Cotto will be important, should the two fighters meet but unlike Cotto Pacquiao can create angles and step around Floyd which Miguel did not do often –or at least often enough.

Cotto definitely gave Freddie Roach a blueprint, a basic game plan to defeat Mayweather but that of course will depend on the fight ever happening.

One reason Mayweather may never meet Pacquiao isn’t fear, it’s intelligence.

Mayweather is intelligent enough to realize that styles make the fight, just as Pacquiao knows that a counter punching Marquez will always have a hard time defeating the aggressor in  Pacquiao, Floyd must know that Manny has the style, being an energetic, combination throwing , southpaw that would not mesh with the style that Mayweather displayed on Saturday evening.

Cotto who caught Floyd often, while bigger than Pacquiao, is a shade slower and less accurate. One confusing aspect of the fight was that when Cotto boxed and created angles to hit Mayweather he was much more effective with the jab, as well as with the left hook but only really went that direction sparingly, rather when action got heavy stood directly in front of Floyd and fought more like a straight at him mauler most of the fight.

That is not a mistake I feel Roach will allow for Pacquiao.

The blueprint is there, now all that is needed, is a contract, and a fight night, to see if I’m correct.

Ciao!

Keith Terceira

The suicide of Hall of Fame NFL player Junior Seau, as well as the review of other NFL greats like Mike Weaver and Dave Duerson, are causing a troubling conversation in the world of professional football that is nothing new to Boxing fans.

What is interesting is that NFL fans are finally getting the point from doctors that having your bell rung is not just a right of passage on the football field to be laughed off and “walked off” as coaches for decades have done at all levels.

An interesting comment made by NFL player Gary Plummer stating in his career he must have had 1500 concussions is being laughed off and ridiculed by NFL fanatics as over done, and every guy that ever donned a helmet suddenly knows that Plummer is lying. What those armchair ball players don’t tell you is that their position was left end of the bench next to the water cooler, passing towels to the starters.  What these same fans don’t understand is NFL players have been forced to sit through seminars that tell them that there are stages and levels of concussions beginning with “bell ringing ” or “seeing stars”, being the lowest level of injury, but have no doubt , it’s brain trauma.

Any high school player that has run the gauntlet  on the training field can tell you about having his bell rung and any boxer from age eight and up can describe the same the same feeling from sparring even with head gear.

If having your bell rung is the symptom of a light concussion to the head then I can confess to having hundreds if not over a thousand concussions in my lifetime of sparring up until a couple of decades ago. In three- four rounds of sparring there were times that I spent the entire round with Notre Dame cathedral ringing in my ears and seeing more stars than the Hubbel telescope.

What is even more interesting is that NFL players are tweeting that they would never wish for their children to be involved in the sport of football, unlike myself who encourages his children to train and learn the basics of boxing and feel the effects of having to defend themselves in the face of pain and adversity. That is what they will need in real life,.

The difference is that I don’t desire my children to compete because of the business of boxing and the way amateur boxing is run at a national level. Education is more important because that is a talent that gives for a lifetime instead of a sport that churns and burns you until your body gives out, like football, and you have to spend whatever money you do make if you are fortunate on doctors to extend your life, or the sacrifice of your body so your quarterback can advance to the next level and you can go work in the factory telling your buddies at the bar how great you were in high school.

Playing football has no value in this day and age and teaches no skill that will remain with you in your adult life. The day and age of football teaching team effort and all that garbage was from a day and age that businesses acted like teams and supported a team effort. The average time on a job nowadays is what 5 years, wheres that team spirit when your company moves that job to India or Thailand and you get the pink slip.

In this era of revolving door human resources divisions and companies who care more about investors than employees only an idiot goes into the business world as a zombie believing that a company will care for them and taking one for the team until they retire.

Boxing teaches you, your individual limits, self awareness, self confidence, and self discipline. Football teaches you what, take one for the team, do your job and your mate will do his to create a team effort. THat does not transfer to the real world where, your mate at the next cubicle is gonna sacrifice your ass if he can get that promotion because frankly you don’t pay his bills but the boss does and baby needs a new pair of shoes.

Kurt Warner may not want his children playing football and I agree with him, but my children including my girls learn to defend themselves against an attack by a nut, and they learn that they have the strength within themselves to push past adversity, to push past exhaustion and find the strength inside that God gave them, to be more than just a team player taking it up the wazoo for the owners, they learn to be a strong individual prepared for the trials of life and to be the owner of their own destiny, because when you are in the trenches of life very few people are better at having your back then you are.

At one point in my life I believed that the military taught the right principals for young people, then the truth about how our veterans are treated by citizens and our government was brought to light after Vietnam, vets take better care of each other than do the people that are paid to.

I feel football players at all levels should finally turn to boxing because frankly if I’m gonna take a risk getting my bell rung , I might as well do it to make myself rich and not some corporate fat-cat watching from the box-seats.  I would rather compete in a sport where people get to know me and I can sell myself versus one that attempts to create a wall where fans never see my face and won’t recognize my name after ten brutal years if I last that long.

The truth about football will someday come out, where coaches play favorites and sacrifice your kids, so that the QB can get a scholarship or that great running back can get your coach promoted up a level. At least in the boxing gym you know in a short period of time that your kids may not have a future in sports but can at least learn to defend against the bullies in their school. Anyone throwing a nice straight combination usually forces a bully to seek easier prey.

Knowing, how to spot a  4-3 defense or a quarterback sneak doesn’t.

By Tom Donelson

On Cinco de Mayo, Mexican upcoming star Saul Canelo Alvarez faced Shane Mosley, the old veteran. The first round was a feeling around round as Mosley managed to get off punches a little quicker while Alvarez waited nearly half of the round to throw his first punch. In the second round, Alvarez went to the body against the older Mosley to set the pace and look to wear the older veteran out. A big right by Alvarez in the third round sent a buzz through the crowd and while he won the round, Alvarez suffered a cut from an accidental head butt.
Over the next three rounds, Alvarez continued to jab to set up his power shots as he forced Mosley to retreat. At the end of the seventh round, Mosley faced started to swell as the younger Alvarez appeared too young and too strong for the 40 year old Mosley. In the eighth round, Mosley unleashed some nasty jabs after grappling Alvarez in an effort to slow the younger fighter aggressive style. While Mosley managed to get Alvarez to the rope, Alvarez fires back with some rights but Mosley took the shots.
In the ninth round, both men fought on the inside with the best punch being an Alvarez left hook to the body that temporary stunned Mosley and Mosley came out in the tenth round knowing that he needed a knockout. He went after Alvarez but there was nothing left on his punches and any punches that came back in his direction, came back harder. This continued into the eleventh round as Mosley was determined to win the fight but an Alvarez right hand nearly sent Mosley through the rope.
Both fighters came out exhausted in the last round and Mosley went for a knockout since he needed a knockout to win but Alvarez threw his own haymakers because he wanted to stop Mosley. Both fighters gave all they had in the last minute of the round but it was too little and too late for Mosley who at 40 showed that his best days have long past him by. Mosley still has the heart and guts of a warrior but the skills that made him one of the best are gone. As for Alvarez, he won an easy decision but he couldn’t stop a 40 year old fighter long past his prime but then no one has stopped Mosley before the end of a fight. Alvarez may become a great fighter but he is not yet an elite fighter.
The main event began with Cotto being aggressive but Mayweather throwing more combinations and the crowd shouted “Cotto, Cotto, Cotto” showing where the crowd loyalty lies. In the third round, Cotto started jabbing but he gets countered by Mayweather’s right hand. Mayweather usec his shoulder roll to deflect much of Cotto’s power but by the fourth round, Cotto jab started to have its effect as Mayweather’s nose started to bleed.
In the fifth and sixth round, Cotto managed to connect on jabs and managed to push Mayweather to the rope, even though Mayweather defensive skills was still deflecting much of Cotto power. In the eighth round, Cotto trapped Mayweather and rips body shots and uppercuts and for the first time, Mayweather worried that maybe Cotto was not easy touch he expected. As Mayweather went back to his corner, his nose was bleeding effusively.
By the tenth round, Cotto started to look tired as his punches lost steam and the power that he showed in the sixth through eighth round started to dissipate. He did end the round by throwing a combination while he got nailed throughout the round by Mayweather jabs. Cotto was making this unexpectedly close fight and while Mayweather was throwing the more accurate punches, Cotto pushed the pace throughout the fight. Mayweather managed to fight off the rope with sterling combinations but Cotto showed what Castillo showed a decade ago; the key to any hope of beating Mayweather is to make him uncomfortable by constant action.. Cotto corner told their fighter before the last round that this could be it but he is met by a Mayweather combination in the center of the round. A Mayweather right hand followed by an upper cut hurt Cotto but Cotto recovered quickly but not before Mayweather moved away from any last Cotto’s rally.
Mayweather win the fight by 117-111, 117-111, 118-110, which matched HBO scorecards. Mayweather won the fight but he did find himself in a struggle, something that he had not been in years. His nose was bloodied but he still showed that he may be the best pound for pound fighter.
While much of the world was focused in Las Vegas, prospect Demetrius Andrade fought the veteran Rudy Cisneros in Connecticut. Andrade began the first round jabbing and following up with power shots to the body. Cisneros moved away from Andrade power as felt Andrade power and Andrade kept pursuing; giving Cisneros no rest. With seconds left, Andrade nailed Cisneros with a solid right hand followed by a left that floored Cisneros and it was referee counting to ten and evening over for Cisneros. Andrade showed that he has the skills to be a major factor in the light middleweight division but so far, he has yet to be tested.

Keith Terceira

Round by round coverage of Cotto -Mayweather begins in a few minutes …Refresh often

Fighters are walking to the ring with the national anthems now completed. Justin Beeber is carrying the belts for Mayweather .

Third defense of Cotto’s 154 title and he is now entering the ring.

Round One:

At the bell Cotto takes the lead , Mayweather popping the jab. Cotto lands a couple of left hooks. Miguel has no p[problem working inside on Floyd and Floyd is working jab when fight goes back to distance. Trading of body shots, Cotto cuts off ring of a dancing Mayweather and lands a couple of punches Mayweather lands his own and Cotto lands to body at the end of the round.

Round two;

Mayweather lands over the top of Cotto with right and Cotto lifts Mayweather to top of ropes. Referee Weeks breaks and issues warning , Mayweather lands two rights that are partially blocked. Cotto has Floyd in the corner and is landing body shots, Mayweather fights out of corner, Cotto forces Floyd back to ropes and lands and good left hook. Nice exchange with Cotto getting good shots in and Mayweather responding well. Mayweather is fighting and not clinching up. Round ends

Round three;

Cotto lands a couple of jabs , Mayweather is slick and rolling shoulder as cotto comes in , Mayweather lands straight right hand. Cotto has Floyd back to ropes and Mayweather fights himself off, Cotto lands a right to body then goes upstairs. Cotto landing jabs and Floyd responds. Cotto landing good jabs. Good fight and Mayweather may be landing a few more punches but Cotto is busier and the punch difference is only 3-4 punches per round .

Round Four;

Mayweather landing quick right hands but Cotto keeps coming, landing a couple of body shots. Mayweather landing rights around the defense of Miguel. Cotto lands a few good shots pinning Mayweather in the corner and action moves across ring . Mayweather has a trickle of blood from nose as round ends.

Round Five;

Cotto lands combination but Mayweather is slick tonight as always. Wish the announcers would shut up as they are ignoring Cotto and praising Floyd even when Cotto is forcing fight and landing. Fighters are tied up in centere of ring. Exchange of combinations but Cotto is forcing Mayweather to ropes and seems to be getting some shots through the defense of Floyd. Trading punches and Floyd still bleeding from the nose. Good round for Cotto

Round Six;

Mayweather’s shoulder roll defense is partially blocking many of Cotto’s punches. Miguel is landing his jab well and Mayweather is bleeding again. Cotto lands a good left hook. Mayweather grins. Mayweather stalking Cotto now and lands a right off a missed jab. Cotto bouncing and dancing, Floyd is chasing for a change in the fight.  No further exchanges though Floyd tries to land a right at the bell. Round Cotto

Round seven;

Cotto has won the last couple of rounds and is boxing more landing his jab well. Floyd is fighting and landing  rights to Cotto’s gloves then Cotto lands an uppercut. Cotto again lands two good body shots right and left. Mayweather lands a flurry, trying to get around Cotto’s guard. Cotto lands a quick left hook as Mayweather starts a combination and the round ends ..Round Cotto

Round eight;

Mayweather lands good combination and Cotto comes forward and lands a good right. Cotto landing body shots with Floyd pinned in the corner. Miguel is banging the body , and Mayweather lands uppercut twice. Cotto returns fire and lands his jab then a left and bangs the body again. Cotto outlanding Floyd this round with hard punches. Mayweather losing this round badly. Fight is about even at this point as bell rings. Floyd in corner with nose bleeding pretty well and he looks tired for first fight in long time.

Round nine;

Mayweather lands again with right around Cotto’s guard and Cotto continues to stalk him …Mayweather landing uppercut and right hand, Cotto defending well but not throwing this round. Left hook and jab lands for Miguel. Cotto is giving Mayweather a great fight.  Mayweather landing the uppercut but missing at end of round with several rights, Cotto good defensive round but Mayweather is busier this round.

Round ten;

Cotto still landing as is Mayweather . Mayweather on his bike looking top create openings in Cotto’s defense , Cotto lands the left and Floyd comes back with his own after having two rights blocked. Miguel lands a sneeky left at the bell . Alot of action with little landing clean by either fighter. both fighters showing good defense . We will see if Cotto fades.

Round eleven;

Mayweather lands big right hand but Cotto keeps coming, landing his own , and then a left by Cotto finds Floyd. Cotto pins Floyd in the corner and goes to work Floyd lays on the ropes baiting Miguel but Cotto dances back and seems to be slowing at end of round. Not as many punches thrown this round and Floyd lands a left at end of round .. Final round coming with Floyd ahead by two on my scorecard.

Round twelve;

Cotto looks a bit tired and Floyd dancing. Mayweather back to ropes, Cotto landing on Floyd, Floyd working body but cotto responds well and keeps coming. Two body shots land on Mayweather and then Mayweather shots a left and Cotto responds with two big body shots Mayweather lands uppercut that staggers Cotto and Cotto keeps charging Floyd lands it again.Cotto moving forward and trying to regain momentum as round ends. Mayweather may have pulled off round with two big uppercuts. We will return Judges with ruling.

117-111, 117-111, 118-110  are the judges ruling in a WTF were they watching fight but I did have mayweather winning by three rounds , not eight

Keith Terceira

Round by Round coverage coming in a few minutes of Canelo Alvarez and Sugar Shane Mosley …

Mosley enters the ring smiling and showing a ripped body which he will need against Canelo’s body attack. Alvarez ready to walk to ring and he is focused. Mosley is 164 pounds and Alvarez weighing 167 at fight time.

Tail of tape shows Mosley with a one inch advantage in height but seeing fighters in ring appears that Canelo is taller. Trowbridge and Ross are two of the judges from the Abril – Rios fight and Reyes the other judge is from Texas.

Round one; Canelo and Shane exchanged jabs and body shots during the round with Canelo making the most damage with a left hook but mostly a feeling out round. Alvarez is definately the taller and bigger fighter. Round is fairly even. mosley gets edge.

Round two; Canelo letting hands go a bit more but Mosley is the busier fighter ,, Alvarez is beginning to move forward instead of reacting to Mosley’s jabs , Canelo beginning to open up landing big body shot and nice left hook. Mosley feeling those punches. Body of Mosley taking some huge shots. Better round for Canelo and we give him that round.

Round Three; Alvarez landing the stiffer shots , even his jab showing good pop, Alvarez landing a big right hand to the face of Mosley. Canelo digs to the body with a right and Shane backs away. Big right lands by Canelo. Cut opens up on Canelo’s left eye from a headbutt , bleeding is bad. Canelo picking up the pace and Mosley is trying to hit the eye with a jab but round ends and the cut was from a headbutt for sure.

Round four:

Cut is not bleeding at moment corner has done good job, Canelo0 takes last round, and Mosley appears to know it and comes out landing jabs and forcing the fight putting on the pressure. Mosley lands a right and alvarez returns fire with more pop. Alvarez taking control with the harder shots but not as busy as Shane. Nice left -right combo lands for Canelo. Mosley working jab but Alvarez is landing as well. Canelo seems to be looking for the bigger punches and Mosley is scoring on lighter more volume of punches. We give round to Mosley on activity but could go either way.

Round five;

Mosley is still trying to control flow of fight Alvarez is taking control back so the flow is back and forth.  Alvarez is landing the harder shots but Mosley is sneaking in good right hands as well. Left hook by Canelo wobbles Shane for a second but Shane right back at Canelo. Both fighter landing well that round with Canelo doing more damage with his punches . Canelo more effective with his economy of his punches, not wasting his energy.

Round six;

Mosley chasing Canelo and Alvarez stops and catches Mosley coming in often. Mosley is a smart fighter but Alvarez is slowly catching Mosley with big shots. Left -right lands for Canelo and another.  Canelo is teeing off with his punches and while Mosley continue s to throw you can see the punches taking effect with Mosley breathing through his mouth and end of round.

Round seven; Again Mosley comes out the aggressor and Canelo allows it because he has Mosley walking into his punches as he counters. Alvarez still landing bombs and Shane is standing right in front and taking the punishment. Shane’s face is showing the swelling from the big shots , Shane landing lighter quicker shots then getting hit with big stuff. Round ends with Mosley having the edge but I see the fight five rounds to two Alvarez.

Round eight;

Mosley coming forward landing well throwing and landing a few but taking one big one . Alvarez lands right  to body then right over top. Alvarez lands again with big shot then Mosley lands with his own right. Good action and both fighters giving and taking shots , Alvarez landing a couple of upper cuts then a left hook when time expires. Round to Alvarez

Round nine;Mosley’s eyes are swelling from power shots. Both fighters land inside with upper cuts now exchange rights and are broken at the ropes. more leaning and exchanging of jabs now. Alvarez lands short right inside jabbing again. Alvarez is landing to the body and good straight right hands. Mosley appears to be slowing from the body work of Canelo. Alvarez taking good right hands from Mosley but shows no respect going right back at Shane walking through Mosley’s best power shots ..round ends

Round ten; Alvarez is landing fifty percent of his punches and they are hard clean shots. Mosley is taking very hard punishment but is game and returns fire but slowing. lands a low shot and Canelo doesn’t blink. Mosley throwing jab and Canelo is not slowed , hard right knocks Mosley back and Alvarez throws a four punch combo and Mosley is taking punishment from a sharpshooting Caneloas round ends. Mosley only lands 5 power shots that round.

Round eleven;

Mosley comes out strong but alvarez stands him up with a jab. Canelo lands four -five shots and Mosley keeps coming forward. Mosley landing but alvarez awakes and lands a few heavy hands. Big right lands by Canelo , eye is bleeding again from jab by Mosley. Mosley backs Alvarez to corner and Canelo lands flush with right. Back and forth but Alvarez landing bigger again. round ends, Mosley fighting like a champ but appears to be way behind.

Twelfth and final round;

Mosley attacking well, but getting caught coming in , Alvarez lands big right and Mosley keeps coming. Three punch combo by Canelo and Mosley comes forward working the body. Big left lands from Canelo, Fighters are exchanging well and crowd is cheering them both. Mosley letting it all hang out …This was a great fight for both fighters. Mosley trying to win the fight, he is an amazing warrior. Canelo is the real deal and we have seen a warrior going out and a warrior being born. Alvarez has won this fight big but Mosley was game as always and Canelo had to earn this win.

Scores in a moment

Judges scores 119- 109, 118- 110, 119- 109 for Alvarez

Canelo wins by UD!

Keith Terceira

We will be giving you round by round on Vargas versus Stevie Forbes in a few minutes.

Steve Forbes comes out in round one working behind his jab and Jesse Vargas is tentitive, feeling out Forbes. Both fighters are using this round to get the measure of their opponent and few punches are cleanly landing Vargas sneaks in a right over the top but more of a clubbing blow right at the end of the round. Alot of respect being shown by both fighters.

Round Two opens with both fighters attempting to be more aggressive but little is landing clean Vargas has a stiff jab and lands it on Forbes forehead. Vargas’ reach is to difficult for Forbes to get a good shot off, Forbes needs to shorten the range by jumping in and Vargas has a solid defense when he does. Round ends without any real shots being landed most are picked off or short of range.

Forbes landed 2 jabs the previous round out of 30 and as the third starts Jesse’s reach is the difference and he is cool under fire, countering off of Forbes attack nicely , Forbes does land a good lead left hook , and Vargas backs off. Again this round neither fighter has effect range to land any shots but Vargas is hitting Forbes more often. Vargas is winning the fight on Jabs alone which land while Forbes’ jabs are short..Boring

Round Four; Both fighters in the center of the ring attempting to work and it’s more of a chess game than a boxing match. Forbes does sneak a right over Vargas’ guard. Vargas is much bigger than Forbes but not really using that size advantage Forbes catches Vargas with a couple of good jabs  and then wshoe shines the body. With ten second left Forbes has his best round with Vargas taking a break.

Round Five: Vargas is picking up the pace and more clinching taking place with Vargas tying up instead of letting Forbes work inside. Vargas lands a good left hook to the body but doesn’t follow up. Again the round is of little action and alot of distance between fighters. Vargas is slowly letting Forbes get closer, round ends.

At the half way point Vargas is winning on his jabs by a four to one margin .

Round Six:

Forbes closing the distance and working the body but more pitter patter punches , then Vargas throw to Forbes body and his punches sound hard. Vargas is not using his range advantage or his height effectively.

Vargas has outlanded Forbes 99 to 33 .. and round ends again with Vargas out landing on Jabs and on body shots. No real damaging punches by either fighter.

Round Seven begins with Forbes closing the distance again landing better and more often. Vargas seems to be looking for the big punch and not throwing his hands , but working well defensively. Forbes works the body then backs off., Vargas back to the body with a couple of lead rights to the belly. Fighters have switched position with Forbes in the center chasing Vargas as he circles. Vargas catching Forbes with nice right at end of the round.

Round eight of ten has Vargas ahead by several rounds.

Vargas comes out sticking the left jab and Forbes returns the favor. Forbes can’t close the distance that Vargas’ jab creates, with a several inch reach advantage. Vargas letting his hands go more then dancing aware and resetting himself. When Forbes does get in Vargas has no problem tying him up ..Vargas lands a few good body shots and even against the ropes Vargas is outlanding Forbes. Round ends on a lead left hook by Vargas.

Round nine;

Forbes lands a looping overhand right and shoe shines the body of Vargas, Jesse ties him up and fighters back off, again circling with Jesse working his long jab and Forbes reaching in attempting t=o land. Forbes rushes Jesse to the ropes and bangs the body. Forbes working body well and Vargas is not throwing as many jabs so Steve is getting inside more often. Vargas is not making Forbes pay on the inside and Steve may have pulled off that round.

Last round about to begin…

Tenth and final round…

Forbes comes out the aggressor and Vargas tries to create distance with his jab. Forbes landing well with his own jab. Neithe fighter landing good power shots to the head. Both fighter still not letting their hands go within range. Vargas lands nice right over the top of Forbes guard. Jesse has used jab to create distance again and Forbes is waiting with ten seconds left. Fight is over and Vargas looks way ahead in rounds .This bout was more a well paid sparring session with little real power shots landing , it started a chess match and ended that way.

Official decision Judges score 100- 90, 97-93, 98-92 all for Vargas

Keith Terceira

In the first round Latimore has staked out the center of the ring and is working his jab , bit of a feeling out

round for the fighter.

Carlos Quintana has a good four punch combination land, but with 17 seconds left Latimore lands a couple of good body shots pinning Quintana in the corner , round ends even or slight edge to Latimore.

In the second Quintana puts on the pressure and a cut develops over the left eye of Latimore, Quintana gets caught with a low blow and time is called but short break and Carlos goes back to work.

Quintana is the more active fighter by punch stats and between rounds the referee does not singnal a headbutt so cut is from punch.

Round Three; Quintana still the busier fighter and Carlos is catching Latimore with punches right down the middle, splitting the guard easily and putting his punches right between Latimore’s gloves.

Round Four: Latimore is off his fight plan and tries to use his jab but Quintana stays agressive which forces Latimore to fight Carlos’ fight , Latimore is swinging wide and begins to appear desperate to get something going , not working smart but missing wide. If Quintana can keep up this pace with the age difference then he stands a chance to score the upset.

Round Five; Quintana appeared to be breathing a little heavy between rounds. As the round starts Latimore seems shaken and backs into the corner with Carlos chasing and working the body. Back to the middle and Quintana still is controlling the action. Left hook catches Latimore and he is shaken goes to ropes and referee breaks action. Last minute is spent with Carlos dancing and working in and out and Latimore trying to land big shots after getting hit ,missing often.

Round Six :starts again with Latimore working the center of the ring and Quintana circling and fending off attacks by Deandre , then stepping into the mix and working his jab setting up left hooks to head or body of Latimore.. Latimore doesn’t have Carlos’ rangw and suddenly he catches Latimore with big combination and Deandre is down and counted out..Referee stopped the bout and this is huge upset.Big body shot then three left hands put the fight in the books.

Quintana takes the title by landing 108 of 328 punches.

Manny Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach and the rest of Team Pacquiao are scheduled to land tonight at LAX International on Philippine Airlines Flight 102 at 8:05PM PT. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs), boxing’s only eight-division world champion and the lone congressional representative from the Sarangani province in the Philippines, will begin his four-week U.S. training camp, on Monday, May 7, at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. Pacman will be defending his WBO welterweight championship crown against undefeated WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs).

It remains to be seen whether Alex Ariza will be welcomed to the Wild Card with open arms when Pacquiao begins training on Monday or whether there will be residual effects from Ariza’s departure from Baguio.

The Pacquiao vs. Bradley welterweight championship collision will take place Saturday, June 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nev., and will be produced and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

World Boxing Association (“WBA”) Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov returns on June 2 to make his fourth title defense against former super middleweight world title challenger Enrique Ornelas at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. in a fight that will be televised live on FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes.

Shumenov vs. Ornelas is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and KZ Event Productions and sponsored by Corona. The FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes bilingual simulcast will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $125, may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

The fight will mark Shumenov’s return to same venue in which he first captured the WBA title in his 10th professional bout on January 29, 2010 with a 12-round unanimous decision over Gabriel Campillo, establishing the record for a fighter winning a major world light heavyweight championship in the fewest professional fights. The 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian has successfully defended against Vyacheslav Uzelkov (DEC 12), William Joppy (KO 6) and most recently against Danny Santiago (TKO 9) this past July. In only 13 professional fights, the 28-year-old Shumenov has defeated four world champions – Campillo, Byron Mitchell, Joppy and Montell Griffin – as well as former world title challengers Epifanio Mendoza, Uzelkov and Santiago.

An all-action warrior who always gives fans their money’s worth in the ring, La Habra, California’s Enrique Ornelas (33-7, 21 KO’s) has been showing off the best form of his career since a permanent move to the light heavyweight division in 2011. He is riding a three-fight winning streak which includes a first round body shot knockout over Heriberto Gutierrez last December. Just hitting his prime at 31, Ornelas came to the 175-pound weight class after an impressive run at 168 pounds, where he owned the NABF title and gave a stellar effort in a challenge for Robert Stieglitz’ WBO title in 2010.

Weights are in from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas , Nevada and both our contestants have come in at the required weight for this WBA Super Welterweight Championship. Mosley weighed in at a half pound over the limit.

Floyd Mayweather Jr 151 vs. Miguel Cotto 154

Saul Alvarez 154 vs. Shane Mosley 154.5
(WBC super welterweight championship)

Jessie Vargas 146 vs. Steve Forbes 146.5
Deandre Latimore 154.5 vs. Carlos Quintana 154

UNBEATENS OMAR FIGUEROA AND KEITH THURMAN
TO BE FEATURED IN SEPARATE FREEVIEW BOUTS

LOS ANGELES, May 4 – Unbeaten power punchers Omar Figueroa, Keith Thurman and Antonio Orozco will head up the hard-hitting non-pay-per-view undercard for “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto” taking place May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The line-up guarantees that fans in attendance in Las Vegas will see the best of the next generation of boxing stars, while fans at home will be able to see Figueroa and Thurman in action in separate bouts which will be shown live on select internet outlets as well as by satellite and cable providers prior to the pay-per-view telecast. Those outlets include Ustream.tv, Yahoo! Sports, FoxSports.com, SI.com, CraveOnline.com and HBO.com/InsideBoxing.com.

Weslaco’s Omar “Panterita” Figueroa (15-0-1, 12 KO’s) has long been a Texas favorite because of his knockout power and aggressive style, but the rest of the country took notice of “Panterita” in 2012, as a result of his nationally televised knockouts of unbeaten Michael Perez and Ramon Ayala. He is now on the short list of fighters to watch in the stacked 135-pound weight class. On May 5, he’ll look to add another impressive win to his ledger when he battles Pevely, Missouri’s Robbie Cannon (12-6-2, 6 KO’s) in an eight-round bout.

Welterweight prospect Keith “One Time” Thurman (16-0, 15 KO’s) is rapidly becoming one of the most feared young fighters in the sport today, and at just 23, he’s only going to get better. The owner of a 94 percent knockout ratio, the Clearwater, Florida native returned from a 15-month layoff in February in impressive style when he stopped Christopher Fernandez in a single round. Hannibal, Missouri’s undefeated Brandon Hoskins (16-0-1, 8 KO’s) will aim to stop the meteoric rise of Thurman this Saturday night in an eight-round welterweight bout.

Also in undercard action will be twenty-four year old Mexico native Antonio Orozco (13-0, 9 KO’s), who is the latest promising talent to emerge from that fighting rich nation as “The Simple Man” continues to progress and impress in his impressive undefeated career. Most recently, he has stepped up with his best performances to date including a fourth round knockout triumph over Rodolfo Armenta at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in February and a shutout win over Fernando Rodriguez at STAPLES Center last October. Now, he is back in the fight capital of the world for an eight-round welterweight bout against Fort Myers, Florida’s Dillet Frederick (8-5-3, 5 KO’s).

Also featured will be with a four/six-round featherweight bout between Carolina, Puerto Rico’s undefeated Braulio Santos (5-0, 5 KO’s) and San Bernardino, California’s Juan Sandoval (5-8-1, 3 KO’s).

By Dave Wilcox

For the past two or three years, I have been on a self-imposed pay-per -view ban. After years of getting $300.00 cable bills, I decided enough was enough. I no longer wanted to pay money to watch my beloved sport. The great Tom Petty once wrote a song called “The Last D.J. “and quipped ,“the man upstairs want to see, how much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free.” In my case, I decided the answer to that question, was that I didn’t want to pay a dime.

As is the case with most of my vises, I occasionally will not stay true to my diet, or in this case, my ban. The last time I pressed “order” on the old Direct TV box was back when Floyd Mayweather took on “Sugar” Shane Mosley in May of 2010. The fight itself was uninspiring except for that moment in the second round when Mosley hit pay dirt with a right hand that stunned Mayweather. Floyd composed himself quickly and Mosley could never muster up the energy to follow up with anything significant and thus we were treated to yet another Floyd Mayweather cruise control victory.

Since that fight, I have in fact not ordered another pay –per- view telecast. Why should I? I watch every last one of the “big” fights a week later on replay and it makes me feel good knowing I didn’t give in to “the man”.

Just as my super human anti-establishment mentality was at its peak, Boxing threw me a curve ball, low and away and I all of a sudden looked like Albert Puljos in April trying to get a base hit.

I am not only a Boxing fanatic, but I share that same passion for the movies. I am a movie historian, and there is nothing I enjoy more than a good movie on the big screen with a big tub of popcorn and a Diet Coke by my side. People make fun of me because I will go to the movies at least once a week by myself. There is something magical about a good movie.

In September of last year, Mayweather was set to fight Victor Ortiz and on paper, I thought it would be entertaining at the very least. With my stubbornness in full force, I couldn’t possibly pay for it, could I? As I was trolling through my newspaper one morning, (yes, they still make newspapers) I saw an advertisement for the Mayweather-Ortiz fight and how it would play in selected movie theaters throughout the nation. The cost to watch the entire card in a theater varied from $12.00 to $18.00, depending on where you lived. In my area it was slated for $12.00.

There was the loophole in my ban that I was looking for. I immediately justified in my pea brain that I wasn’t giving into the man and in fact I was helping boxing by going to the movies to watch a fight. Stupid I know, but us Boxing fans have never been mistaken for brain surgeons.

I went to the movies and watched the Mayweather-Ortiz bout and it was the most fun I’ve had watching fights since the old days of closed circuit fights with my dad.

Floyd Mayweather will step into the ring again tomorrow night as he challenges 154 pound king, Miguel Cotto in a highly anticipated bout between two future Hall of Famers. This fight will also be available in movie theaters and you can bet the farm that ol’ Dave will be there with the aforementioned popcorn and Diet Coke by my side. This time I’m bringing my son with me. I’ll drag him away from the X-Box and we will have some quality father and son fight time, just as my dad and I did over thirty years ago.

As for the fight itself, I don’t see Miguel Cotto having much of a chance against Mayweather. Floyd is much too elusive and smart in the ring. I think Cotto will chase all night without much luck, Floyd will pot shot as he usually does in route to a comfortable unanimous decision. I feel Cotto’s only chance would be to come out in the first round and attack Mayweather.  Constant pressure and getting Mayweather out of his comfort zone will be Cotto’s only chance to win.  As Apollo Creed once said, “you fight great, but I’m a great fighter” and I think that applies here with Mayweather and Cotto.

Both of these tremendous champions deserve and have earned respect, but on May 5^th, the “great fighter”, Floyd Mayweather will come away with the decision win.

In the co-feature, up and coming media darling, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, was able to get senior citizen, “Sugar” Shane Mosley a day pass so he can give Mosley the beating that he does not deserve, nor does any of us want to see. Shane Mosley was once a great fighter, in fact he was one of the most talented fighters I’ve ever seen when he was in his prime. Hell, even past his prime he thrilled us all by beating the living hell out of that cheater, Antonio Margarito.  Everyone, except Jin loves Shane Mosley and I’m disappointed that Golden Boy promotions is propping him up as a stepping stool for De La Hoya Jr. (Alvarez)

“Canelo” is a great, if not unproven talent, but with his youth , skill and speed, it will be an easy night for the red headed youngster. I just hope we have a quality referee in there to prevent Shane from taking an ugly and unnecessary beating. There is nothing worse than watching a once great champion take that unnecessary beating. I still have nightmares of that horrific beating my Southern California brother, Oscar De La Hoya took at the hands of Manny Pacquiao.

If you have nothing better to do on Cinco De Tomorrow and want to save a buck on the fights, I strongly encourage giving the movie theater a try for this card. It is just an incredible way to enjoy the Sweet Science.

To find out where the fight is showing in your area, go to the website and just type in your zip code.

http://www.fathomevents.com/sports/event/mayweathercotto.aspx?d=5/5/2012

See you at the movies!

Keep punching

By Lou Eisen

The question is can “Sugar” Shane Mosley, three years removed from his last ring win, defeat Mexican juggernaut Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on the undercard of the Cotto-Mayweather battle?  The consensus among boxing experts is no. Every advantage imaginable favors Alvarez.

Alvarez is younger, tougher, stronger and quicker than Mosley. He has knocked out his last three opponents. Conversely, Mosley scored his last KO three years ago against Antonio Margarito. Alvarez has deceptively fast hands and a savage body attack, punctuated by his classic “Mexican” left hook to the liver.

Canelo also has a great chin and a thick neck, which helps him absorb his opponent’s punches superbly. Mosley no longer has enough power to earn Alvarez’s respect, nor the hand speed to deliver his payload first. Only a young fighter with much superior strength, power and speed can topple Alvarez. Mosley, at 41 years of age is not that man.

Mosley’s only asset now is his ring experience, gained in a 20-year boxing career. He will utilize all of the tricks of the trade in an effort to derail the train known as “Canelo” Alvarez. Mosley’s faded glory will not be enough to upset Alvarez. This will surely be Mosley last fight against an elite fighter. Mosley’s deteriorating skill set will prevent him from playing matador to the younger bull. Ultimately, it is Alvarez the bull, who will circle the ring in victory, waiting for another matador to foolishly step into the ring and make the same mistakes as Mosley.

By Edgar Solorzano

We are just one day away from the Pay-Per-View mega-fight the world has been talking about. Yes, the Mayweather-Cotto battle that will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Both fighters have something to prove this Saturday night, but only one corner will end up victorious.

The majority of the boxing experts are picking Floyd Mayweather to dominate Miguel Cotto tomorrow night. As much as I want to disagree, I have to say that I completely agree with the majority of the boxing experts. Miguel Cotto is a smart-talented warrior, but he does not have the right tools to dominate a defensive genius like Floyd Mayweather.

I would have given Cotto a good chance if he had great speed, however; Cotto is quite slow in the ring, and being slow is never an advantage. If you do not want to agree, go watch the Ali-Foreman battle, were Ali’s speed ended up dominating the powerful George Foreman by a fascinating 8^th round Knockout.  Foreman couldn’t match Ali’s speed and it showed on the day of the fight.

I believe the same thing may happen to Cotto if he is planning to slowly break down Mayweather with his strong body punches. One weapon Cotto has that may help him make the fight interesting is his strong jab. Cotto has a great jab. He uses it to create distance or cut off his opponents in the ring.  If Cotto can create a good distance to avoid Mayweather’s counter-punches, he could end up making history. Since nothing is impossible in the sport of boxing.

Saturday night should be a great night of boxing for the fight- fans. Floyd Mayweather’s speed, sharp jab, and stamina will help him stop Miguel Cotto in the later rounds, perhaps round 11 or 12. Even though the fight will take place at 154-pounds, people should be aware that extra weight does not win fights; talent does. Therefore Floyd should not have a problem dominating the Puerto Rican super-star on Cinco De Mayo at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev.

2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade has graduated from promising prospect to legitimate contender, climbing the world rating’s ladder in the junior middleweight division to No. 6 in the World Boxing Organization (“WBO”) and No. 7 in the International Boxing Federation (“IBF”).

Andrade (16-0, 11 KOs) returns to the ring this Saturday night (May 5), headlining (starting at 10:00 PM / ET) an “ESPN Boxing: FNF Special Edition,” presented by Corona Extra, on ESPN2. The gifted southpaw faces Contender, Season Two participant Rudy Cisneros (12-3, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event on a card promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Attending fans at Mohegan Sun Arena will be able to remain in their seats after the live action concludes to watch a closed circuit showing of the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto fight on the spacious venue’s jumbo screen.

The 24-year-old Andrade, fighting out of nearby Providence, is also rated No. 15 in the World Boxing Council (“WBC”) and World Boxing Association (“WBA”). Rankings, however, don’t mean a lot, at least right now, to the 2007 World amateur champion who is co-promoted by Star Boxing and Banner Promotions.

“High ratings show the public where I am but, for me, I’m just 16-0 – soon to be 17-0 – and still climbing the ladder,” Andrade explained his present outlook on his rising status. “I rate myself by the opponents I’ve fought. When I beat top 10 guys, I’ll feel like I’m really at the top of the ratings.”

Andrade’s last two fights, against former world title challengers, have lasted a grand total of five rounds. Last February 10 at Mohegan Sun, Andrade destroyed Angel Hernandez (30-10) in two rounds, which followed a third-round demolition of Saul Duran last September in Manchester, NH.

“I took this fight on three week’s notice because I want to fight as often as possible,” Demetrius said. “I’m not making Mayweather money and need to fight to earn a living. I’ve stopped opponents early in my last two fights, so I’m physically ready to come right back. I’ll be prepared and sharp.”

Fighting on this “ESPN Boxing FNF Special Edition” is an added bonus, exposure-wise, for Andrade in his eighth ESPN appearance. “I was surprised and happy to learn that I’d be fighting on ESPN on May 5th,” Andrade added. “I’ve grown as a fighter on ESPN. Fans have watched me improve each fight and ESPN people know I’m a good, entertaining fighter.”

If Andrade stops Cisneros early, he’ll be able to watch the fighter many have compared him to, Mayweather, against Cotto right after the live action concludes at Mohegan Sun.

“I’ll catch the fight if there’s enough time after my interviews and shower,” the rising star concluded. “If not, I’m having it taped, and will watch it later. I like Mayweather in that fight. He’s faster and not concerned with weight. Cotto’s going to try and box but he’s one-dimensional.”

Supporting fights on the Andrade-Cisneros card offers a Nutmeg state flavor, starting with the co-feature, which marks the return of Hartford favorite Addy Irizarry (8-5, 2 KOs). The popular corrections officer at a Conn. prison suffered a fractured ankle in her last fight (November 20, 2010). She battles veteran welterweight Victoria Cisneros in an eight-round bout.

East Hartford super featherweight Joseph “Chip” Perez (7-1, 2 KOs) always brings a large, passionate crowd to his fights in New England. He faces super featherweight Juan Jaramillo (8-9-2, 3 KOs) in a six-round match. Hartford light heavyweight Tylon “Shadow Boi” Burris (1-0, 1 KO) faces pro-debuting Robert Jackson in a four-round bout.

Also fighting on the undercard in four-round matches are Springfield (MA) light heavyweight Reinaldo Graceski (1-0) vs. Borngood Washington, and Windsor (VT) light middleweight Chris Gilbert (3-0, 2 KOs) vs. Keuntray Henson (4-4, 1 KO).

By Lou Eisen

Is Miguel Cotto the right man to upset Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Most boxing experts believe the answer to that question is no. They may be right. They also may be jaded by Mayweather’s  42-0 unbeaten streak.

If Puerto Rican native Cotto is to succeed, he must remember to follow Oscar De La Hoya’s example and jab his way inside Mayweather’s superior defense. Once there, Cotto must aggressively attack Mayweather’s midsection with unbridled fury, concentrating on the left hook to the liver, in order to slow the Money Man down.

Mayweather is the best defensive fighter in boxing today. Cotto will have a difficult time touching Mayweather.  Cotto possesses knockout power and better than average hand speed. Although Cotto excels at cutting the ring off, he must avoid going head hunting against his quicker foe.

Floyd’s mastery of the shoulder roll, along with his tremendous head movement and sizzling hand and foot speed, make it nearly impossible to drop him with one good head shot. Cotto’s defense is better than it’s often given credit for.  Yes Cotto can be hit but he also takes a good rap on the chin.

This fight comes down to the success or failure of Cotto’s body attack. It is his best chance for victory. In fact, it may be his only chance for success. The fight will be broadcast on HBO which means, if Cotto does indeed lose, then Larry Merchant will finally get his chance to hand Mayweather his first defeat.

by Keith Terceira

Richard Abril received his belt as well as the recognition for his well fought bout again Brandon Rios , who not only came in heavy once again but was handed a gift by the judges. MP8 spoke with Abril manager Alex Medina today, shortly after the news broke.

Due to his weight irregularities Rios was not able to win the title in the event he prevailed but the split decision win was also contested and both  the championships committee and the  International officials committee voted  unanimously that Abril would retain  the interim title.

Though the WBA has no official capacity to change the ruling of the judges of commission in Nevada, this stand by the sanctioning body applies pressure to the NSAC to review and adjust their error.

“Personally, I didn’t see anything wrong with the judging. I think a lot of the rounds were ‘carbon copies’ of one another so if you didn’t appreciate the style of Abril, you were probably going to score the fight somewhat wide for Brandon Rios. If you did think Abril was doing enough, then you probably saw…saw it for Abril by a big margin” Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer stated after the fight!

At some point the Governor of Nevada will need to do something about the management of their Athletic Commission’s vision plan and/or the head of Boxing , these mis-judged fights and controversial outcomes are beginning to become the rule instead of the exception, and what happens in Las Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas, it dribbles out to the boxing world as just so much hogwash and favoritism as both  Jerry Roth, and Glenn Trowbridge have been rewarded for their stellar judging for Rios and Abril with the Alvarez -Mosley honors.

Abril’s advisor Ricardo Rizzo confirmed this meeting and it’s result. T he fight was reviewed by eleven experienced officials, taking into account the report of the supervisor, and all gave the bout to Abril as the winner, confirming that the judging in the bout was suspect.

Two committees and 12 sanctioning officials all agreed that this fight was won by Richard but the three judges couldn’t agree, and just conveniently awarded the fight to the promoters guy and not the one that took the fight at the last minute. Red corner always wins in some states!

It appeared that Rios was given a gift that evening by being declared the victory but Abril was given the title based on his domination of Rios for the 12 rounds.

Alex Medina manager for Richard Abril has stuck by his guy from one robbery to another Lundy,  Prescott, and then Rios. Medina who manages one of the largest Mercedes Benz dealerships in Florida took a minute to explain Abrils feeling with MP8.

Alex, doesn’t it give you a good feeling that Richard has been somewhat vindicated at least by the WBA?

“We would have rather had the win, and the worst part is that the some of the judges have been appointed to the Mosley -Alvarez fight almost as a reward. Richard is coming along and all this did was give him alot of confidence. When we got to Vegas three days before the weighin Richard was 135 so , from here we work on redistributing some of his weight and building more power.”

Will we see Richard at 140 lbs Alex?

“No we have room to add mass to his shoulders and  muscle , just thicken him without going up in weight, we can work on power but not slow him down”

Medina reported to us that for the first time WBA made an interim belt for Richard Abril and he received it today.

“Obviously the fight gave him confidence and he is now ready to take on whomever comes, I don’t know which one is better lsing the fight and getting this much publicity and press , people now knowing who he is ! If he had won the fight I don’t know if it would have gotten that much notice. The thing is when people are angry  they support you more and the people are angry!”

MP8 will keep you updated on developments regarding Richard Abril and his next opponent.

Star Boxing’s popular heavyweight contender Vinny Maddalone of Flushing, Queens, returned to the ring on Wednesday night, May 2nd, in a memorable battle against Chris Koval in the headliner of the Sold Out VIP BOXING III event at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach, New York.

Trading bombs from the opening bell, Maddalone drilled the Youngstown, Ohio native Koval to the canvas with a massive right hand midway into the opening round. After rising from the canvas Koval fought his way back into the fight stunning Maddalone with a thunderous left hook. However at the ten-second signal, Maddalone landed another hard right hand bringing the packed house to their feet.

The fast and furious pace continued over the next two rounds with each fighters throwing caution to the wind as power shots were vigorously traded.

In the fourth, Maddalone again delivered a crushing right hand that sent Koval to the mat, causing referee Randy Neumann to call a halt to the contest at the 2:34 mark.

With the win Maddalone improved to 35-7-0 (26KO’s), while Koval moved to 25-9-0 (18KO’s).

On the undercard, come backing contender “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis improved to 24-7-0 (10KO’s) with a stoppage of game Albany, New York’s Broderick Antoine, 11-13-1 (5KO’s).

The former world title challenger, winner of his second in a row, dictated the pace in a very competitive bout, however the commission doctor stopped the contest after the seventh round as it was deemed that Antoine could not continue.

Also, highly regarded and undefeated Star Boxing junior welterweight prospect, Issouf Kinda, improved to 13-0-0 (5KO’s) with a dominating but hard fought victory over the willing Luis Rodriguez, 6-5-1 (1KO), of Newburg, NY. Scores were 80-70 twice and 80-71. The win earned Kinda the vacant New York State Junior Welterweight Title.

In the opening heavyweight bout former National amateur champion Nate James of Boston, MA, improved to 6-1-0 (2KO’s) taking a majority decision in a highly spirited bout against Kevin Howard, 2-7-1, of Montgomery, Alabama. Scores were 38-38, 39-37 and 40-36.

Among the many luminaries in the sold out crowd at the unique event were the recently minted WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Paulie Malignaggi and Star Boxing’s outstanding junior welterweight prospect Chris Algieri.

Keith Terceira

Ice-man John Scully, trainer for newly crowned light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson(31-1-0,17KO) is still having a bit of a surreal feeling regarding the ride he and Dawson are on after defeating Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32KO).

Scully himself is no stranger to title fights , the former New England middleweight champion and IBF title challenger at light heavyweight, the Hartford Connecticut native accumulated a professional record of 38-11, 21KO’s before concentrating his efforts to the corner.

John, took no time from training, after the win, and returned to work with his amateur fighters Monday, he admitted though that he has been getting calls from solid boxers who were impressed with his work with Dawson and are interested in his skills as a trainer.

“I’ve had a few emails and calls to work with some new guys , so things may start to pick up a little around here” Scully told MP8.ph today with a bit of cheer in his voice.

Hartford is not exactly the boxing capital of the world but like we both agreed

“You never know, that would be something”

Walking us through the process in preparing for the second Hopkins fight, Scully compared Dawson to Roy Jones Jr. , in his ability to force fighters to conform to his style during a fight instead of Roy and Chad’s need to adapt to their opponents style.

“When people fought Roy they had to adjust to him, much more than the opposite, he just had the kind of style and aura about him. Chad is the same especially with his height and his athleticism. I felt before the fight that they had to deal with him more than he with them, so I wanted to bring that out and magnify that in camp and Chad’s style. For the most part it was the same kinda game plan we went with for the first fight, boxing was the first thing. We are always gonna try and win by boxing first.”

Scully noticed several things during the fight and shared how Dawson executed changes during the fight which help lead them to the win.

“After the first couple of rounds Chad was trying to force the fight but we noticed in the third that Hopkins had gotten through with a couple shots . He kinda picked his shots and got through. I just felt at that point that we had to change our game plan and be a little bit more aggressive and not give Hopkins as much time to think. Obviously Chad is the type of fighter that can change the game plan on the fly and that is what he did.”

Hopkins, who used his experience and craftiness to set up those right hands that slipped through the guard of Dawson, responded differently to the pressure when Dawson began to place more emphasis on combinations and according to his trainer that was the turning point.

“Whenever Chad let his hands go with more than four punches at a time Hopkins was almost in full retreat , so I urged Chad to keep putting his punches together, keep being first with those combinations so he’d force Hopkins to retreat, keeping him going back on his heels, that way he won’t be able to lead or pick his shots. Hopkins didn’t want to be in a fire fight so we tried to pick up the pace and work in short heavy bursts.”

“Chad is a good combination puncher and when he puts them together they are all hard, he may not have a lot of knockouts compared to other guys and I think it’s because he is such a good boxer. Also because when people feel his power they don’t want to mix it up in exchanges, so I felt when Hopkins felt two or three in a row with juice behind them he didn’t necessarily want to get caught with the third or fourth shot”

With Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal facing off in the future, talks of Andre Ward being the next opponent for Dawson. Nothing regarding that fight being done has been told to Scully, but John as both the trainer and a past fighter was looking forward to Pascal being the next opponent.

“Chad has reached that new level, that these are the type of fights that are coming and that we will need to prepare for. I want to see Chad keep busy, my feeling s just as a fighter I would have wanted Pascal for the simple reason that the guy beat him. As a fighter you want to get that payback.”

John making the change from the ring to the corner do you find yourself may excited on fight night than the average trainer might?

“I do for two reasons, one because I was a fighter, when I get in the ring with my fighters I feel like I’m fighting. People have noticed that when I get in the ring I start moving my arms a bit and my neck gets stiff so I have to move my head and loosen it up, I almost start shadow boxing. When I get in the ring , I get that feeling all over again , which is why I still spar at 44 on a regular basis. I do the sparring because I want to keep my finger on the pulse of a fighter and I want to experience the nerves , the pain, every aspect of being a fighter. That way I can still maintain my experience and a fighter can never say to me that I don’t know what he is going through. I doubt that any of the guys that I train will still be sparring when they are forty. I like to keep that contact with the sport so I know what my guys are going through so that may be one of my advantages.”

“The longer you are away from the actual combat, even with old-time fighters, you kind of forget what it is to tire, what it is to really tire, what it feels like to get hurt. That’s why you will never see me yelling at my guys, when you see a fighter not doing what he trained 6 weeks to do. When you see a trainer gets mad at that and screaming at him, you will never hear me do that because I know what it is to work so hard and then not be able to do your game plan in the ring. Walk in the ring after training on body shots for six weeks or boxing and it just isn’t there, I‘ve been there. It’s a mystery as to why!”

Keith Terceira

Timothy Bradley has made the statement, that after he defeats the eight time champion Manny Pacquiao, he feels that Mayweather as well is beatable, and he will set his sights on Floyd.

With the headlines and media swirling around this weekend’s bout between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, it stands to reason that both Bradley and Pacquiao will issue statements about fighting Mayweather. Realistically, seems like everyone is coming out of the woodwork to issue challenges to Mayweather for his next fight including Canelo Alvarez.

Not one statement has come out in regards to a bout against Cotto or Mosely, for either champion, they’re immediately overlooked and practically guaranteed a loss this weekend.

It is just this sort of hype that gives boxing a tone of disgrace and shadiness, with the majority of writers and fighters assuming that they already know the outcome of these boxing events, then when it comes true, the casual fan, can’t help but think that the fix was in.

Let’s start with Canelo Alvarez (39-0-1, 29KO) looking past Sugar Shane Mosely (46-7-1, 39KO);

This is a do or die fight for Mosley, who is one of the top champions of the past 15 years, he has power, speed, and while slowed by age and possible injury in his last couple of big events, he is not someone the 21 year old Alvarez can dismiss as a walkover opponent and start contemplating Mayweather.

Alvarez may have a firm belief in himself, and the confidence needed to win this bout, the experience is on the side of the veteran, who has already faced both Pacquiao and Mayweather, with neither being able to finish Mosley inside the 12 rounds.

Mosley may be on the tail end of his career but this is still a step up for Canelo, and being on the undercard of Mayweather – Cotto may be the prep for Mayweather’s next bout.

Two of the world’s greatest boxers in the prime of their careers, out boxed Sugar Shane but what they didn’t do is stop the aged Hall of Famer and they definitely didn’t overlook his skills, Alvarez to even consider anyone after Mosley could be a serious distraction from the job that lies ahead.

Canelo Alvarez will not out box Mosley if Sugar can get his 40 year old body returned to form, and unless Alvarez can loosen up a bit and not just count on his amazing power, he may just walk away this weekend with nothing more than a boxing lesson.

In fairness to Saul, his power may be his answer to Mosley’s craftiness and experience, you can’t make them all miss and if Shane lets the wrong punch slip through then out of all the young welterweights Alvarez is the one that could end this fight early.

Timothy Bradley (28-0-0, 12KO) versus Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38KO) ;

For Bradley to be looking past Pacman to Floyd kind of like the guy who gets his first job and starts talking about how after he makes his first million, he is going to be a billionaire, not quite so easy as talking about it. Timothy Bradley has been skillfully moved along in his career fighting some of the best fighters a couple of rungs on the ladder below Pacquiao.

His toughest opponent Devon Alexander his defeated on a clash of heads in the tenth round and the fight was close enough to be in doubt prior to the stoppage. Devon Alexander is a solid fighter who will, if allowed, be a solid champion one day, but only after the likes of Manny and Floyd finished their careers.

Bradley had a very difficult time getting past Junior Witter, let alone having the likes of Cotto , Margarito, Juan Manual Marquez, Mosely, and Ricky Hatton on his recent resume.

Twelve knockouts in his career against lesser quality fighters doesn’t encourage many to believe that he will suddenly develop the tremendous power needed to stop the Filipino star. Frankly I can’t imagine Bob Arum putting his cash cow in the ring with a fighter that could prevent the future payday that Manny brings to Top Rank.

Looking past Manny Pacquiao a month before the fight is not only comical to fight fans but could very well be an unhealthy proposition for Bradley. Saying things in the press, that may solidify Manny’s determination in training, give him ammunition to further motivate him to be in deadly shape, is the sign of Bradley’s inexperience at this level.

Freddie Roach is a master at finding the holes in a fighter’s defense and creating the combinations and arsenal needed to capitalize on the gaps he locates. Quiet confidence combined with a great performance the night of the event will better serve Bradley in the long run, instead of promises of great performances after this opportunity. Seeing weaknesses in a fighters style is easy at times , it’s the getting in the ring and creating the offense needed to take advantage of those weaknesses that is the part that opponents of both Pacquiao and Mayweather have found difficult.

I agree that Bradley could be dangerous for Manny, as does Emanuel Steward but could be, is not will be.

At the end of the night, Manny Pacquiao will add the WBO title to his trophy cabinet, and all the talk will be back on to Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, as soon as Floyd exchanges his orange jump suit for his boxing trunks again.

Frankly when comparing all the upcoming bouts , it appears to me that if Mayweather – Pacquiao doesn’t occur Pacquiao stands a better chance of either facing Sergio Martinez or Canelo Alvarvez in the future than does Mayweather, who seems to avoid difficult challenges until the odds are swung in his favor. Mayweather may decide though that getting Alvarez in the ring before he has a chance to develop further will be his best move.

It’s all in the numbers fight fans and those numbers begin with dollar signs.

Floyd Mayweather, Seven-Time and Five-Division World Champion
“Miguel is a true warrior, a tough champion and to go into the Hall Of Fame you have to face the best opponents.

“This fight had to happen and I am glad that happened when Miguel was on his own, could call the shots and dictate what he wants.

“Come May 5, I will be at my best. I have been here so many times that I know what it takes.

“I don’t have to brag. I don’t have to boast. Cotto is not a talker. I am outgoing and outspoken. I have a lot of personality. That’s just me.

“If I only would have been a defensive fighter, I would of not have lasted this long in this sport.

“I don’t have to be moving and running. I just have to box. I just have to take my time and whatever happens happens, and whatever plays out, plays out.

“I’m not more relaxed than usual. It’s just I’ve been here. I embrace pressure. I look at it as just another day, another fight.”

Miguel Cotto, Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion

“I’m a quiet guy and I prefer to talk in the ring.

“I had a tremendous camp in Orlando. I put my trust in Pedro [Diaz], in every member of my team and, most importantly, myself.

“All of the work that we put in in Orlando and all the work that we put in here [in Las Vegas], will bring me the victory Saturday night. I am prepared and happy to be here.

“No matter what, I am going to use what I have to fight Floyd. I’m prepared for his style.

“I am going to be the first guy to beat Mayweather.

“Everyone will see my strategy on May 5.”

Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“Miguel Cotto is a very classy champion and he has been for a number of years, but to Cotto’s trainer, talk doesn’t win fights, fighters do.

“This has been our best training camp in the last 15 to 16 years. I can truly say that from a preparation standpoint, we brought in the best possible guys that Floyd could work with to be able to push him to the limit and that is what it takes to be at this level. He [Mayweather] took it upon himself to bring in young hungry lions to push him through training camp.

“With his ability to come back like in his last performance in the Ortiz fight, I think the fans are going to see a much, much sharper Floyd Mayweather. Floyd is going to be prepared for whatever Miguel Cotto brings that night. Floyd will come out and dictate the pace.

“I think the fans are going to see a great, great fight.

“Come Saturday night, Floyd will be the new WBA Champion. He will be an eight-time world champion in five different weight classes.”

Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions

“Pedro Diaz worked with Miguel Cotto in his last fight and he did a tremendous job. He was the head of the Cuban national team for many years and he knows how to get fighters into shape. As we all know, Cuban fighters are always in tip top form and he is a great trainer.

“Cotto should be undefeated.

“He is a great fighter hailing out of Puerto Rico. He has fought many great champions. He is the current WBA super welterweight champion of the world.

“He has held a world title every year since 2004 while winning 16 of his 18 world championship fights. He had a tremendous victory against Antonio Margarito. He showed his abilities in that fight and what he has learned with his new trainer. Therefore, he will come into the ring as a new man on May 5.”

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions

“For five years, we have been working with Floyd Mayweather and it has been great.

“Floyd Mayweather is the biggest pay-per-view star. He keeps bringing new innovations to the sport and takes the sport to a new level.

“Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez and Sugar Shane Mosley are four modern day gladiators. This pay-per-view is really two pay-per-views wrapped into one.

“The early indication results are clear that this will be the biggest pay-per-view in the history of Puerto Rico.

“24/7 was on TNT last night and I got some reports that it was a huge success. It was right after the NBA playoff game. The strong support is absolutely spectacular.

“We will have fans watching [the fight] in bars and restaurants and in the movie theaters, but our biggest audience is the fans that will be at home watching it on pay-per-view.

“This is a boxing card presented by the boxers to the fight fans and that is a great thing.

“The ratings numbers are the biggest HBO has ever had for 24/7.

Pedro Diaz, Cotto’s Head Trainer

“May 5 will be an unforgettable night for boxing.

“A victory in boxing doesn’t come from talking. In boxing, your fists, the preparation and the execution gets you the victory.

“May 5, you will see a victorious Miguel Cotto. A new Miguel Cotto.”

Keith Terceira

As Mayweather entered the room during the Grand arrival to the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, once again announcing Pacquiao was next, his next fight, though he has yet to get past a determined Miguel Cotto, whose trainer Pedro Diaz was not impressed with Mayweather’s statements today.

Diaz informed us that though Mayweather is a good fighter , he couldn’t win with words in the ring, promising that team Cotto has found some weaknesses  in Mayweather and that fans will see on May 5th.

“If it really was all about Pacquiao then I didn’t have to fight all 42 opponents,” said Mayweather when asked about the chances of the fight coming off, ”if all I had to do was come to the sport of boxing and fight one guy then I would have gone down as the best, just one guy. So I guess the 42 guys that I’ve faced didn’t count.

“I want to stay active, I want to fight again in 2012 before the year is up. I want to constantly go out there and test my skills and I want to continue to push myself to the limit. I still plan to retire at 37 – but I want to fight plenty of times before then.”

Mayweather shouldn’t look past Miguel Cotto who according to Emanuel Steward has better than a punchers chance of defeating the welterweight lineal champion.

By Keith Terceira
During a short exclusive conversation with MP8.ph , Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward discussed the upcoming fights this weekend and beyond.
“Pacquiao has a tough fight ahead with a sharpshooter, skill wise it is an even money fight, this is a good fight for Manny, I don’t like it myself, if I was protecting Manny but who knows”
This coming weekend Steward will be working the Pay Per View for Mayweather-Cotto bout and expressed his opinion on Cotto’s chances.
“Cotto is a good boxer, and he can win this fight” according to Steward “Better than a punchers chance he is a good fighter”
While discussing the tendency of Miguel Cotto fading in the later rounds ,Steward, was sure that it was something that has been worked on in training.
“He did have that problem in the past but we shall see”
MP8.ph will bring you exclusive news and interviews this week with both Steward and Champion Andy Lee, who will face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ,on June 16th in El Paso Texas, and the venue at the moment remains the Sun Bowl.

I read a poll report a few days ago in which boxing had taken over second place in Mexico in television ratings of sports. Boxing started in Mexico about the first years of the 20th Century. My first contact with the sport was when I was a child and lived in a small town in Tamaulipas of about 800 inhabitants, and my father was listening on a shortwave radio to a fight of Hitler’s hero, Max Schmeling, against Joe Louis. I still remember the noise of the radio transmission that made it difficult to understand the Spanish of a famous Cuban announcer of the times. Joe Louis won.

During those days, newspapers came out once a week, except in few big cities in which they were daily, and in Jaumave, my home town, communications were only by telegraph. Radio dominated the world of communications for sports and entertainment, but only in big cities, while others could only be heard in big cities until the time of shortwave radio arrived.

One day, television appeared, but to be seen only in the very big cities. On Saturday evenings, the furniture companies used to leave the television on in their windows, while hundreds of people would come and surround the store to see the boxing matches. A fight was announced between Nate Brooks, the North American champion, against the greatest Mexican hero of all time, Raul “Ratón” Macías. I had two shoe factories in the province where I lived, and decided to travel to Mexico City to be able to see the fight, which broke all attendance records at the Plaza Mexico with over 55,000 people, a record that still stands. It was raining, without any concern from the fans, as they did not care so that they could see their hero. Macías came into the ring with a Charro sombrero, a Saltillo Zarape, some plastic covering over his boxing shoes, and a “fighting cock” which he left free to the public once in the ring.

Macias won a great fight, even when he could not even touch Brooks once in the first three rounds, to become a warrior in all of the rest of the fight, mainly with his hook to the liver, which made the multitude rise in emotion – and from which I took the name of my columns.

The time came when we had to see the fights by closed circuit in the movies, to start appearing rapidly in the homes by free TV, which in Mexico was started by Guillermo Azcárraga Vidaurreta, followed by his son Guillermo Azcárraga Milmo, and today by his son, Guillermo Azcárraga Jean, who were originally supported by a great president of Mexico, Miguel Alemán Valdés, who afterwards would become a great supporter of the WBC. The Azcárraga family TV corporations, now called Televisa, implemented a world record of 47 years of consecutive uninterrupted television of boxing every Saturday.

Pay per View arrived, and so did Julio César Chávez, to have 15 years of consecutive successful times. In the USA, the past were the years of ABC, CBS and NBC, that had their times of open TV of tremendous success until the time when HBO, Showtime, and ESPN came to take it over and so was the picture all over the world.

Mexico is living its golden era of boxing fans, when TV Azteca brought back the open TV. It made Televisa come back strong, and also joined by Channel 3, which totals more than 20 points of TV every Saturday. Children and young people came back to boxing when the time came when they did not have to pay to see it on TV, as boxing in Mexico belongs to the people in general, to the citizens of the country, that I believe that it is the same every where.

Boxing, however, is having difficult times because of the power of the money being the main interest of the big TV Corporations. They sign boxers to own their careers for years or a number of fights. One example is the time when Sergio Martinez had to comply with his mandatory defense, after two years of not having one, when Martínez was practically forced not to comply with the WBC rules, but instead accept the challenger that his TV imposed on him, even when he was a little known boxer from Europe.

This is the 21st Century and all matters are different, but how would many wish that boxing would be left free for boxers to comply with the institutions that opened their doors to them and through which they rose to glory and to become the top of the cream, for whom the big boys of TV are struggling, without any consideration to the organizations who work for years to bring boxers to fame.

The WBC will continue struggling for dignity, respect, safety in boxing, and opportunities for all boxers regardless of race, nationality or religion.

Many thanks to all my friends and fans for reading my thoughts.

By Keith Terceira

Newly crowned WBA Welterweight Champion Paul Malignaggi, displayed the stuff dreams are made of in boxing this past weekend, when he boarded a plane and flew into enemy territory to fight a war, that was statistically against him from the onset.

The odds of going into a foreign land , the motherland of your opponent and coming out the victor are great in this sport and always have been, fact is the norm in boxing from the late 1800’s until about the 1950’s were;

“You never beat the hometown favorite in his hometown” it was a taboo in boxing and often fighters exchanged wins tit for tat in hometowns during their careers.

Malignaggi and his camp had to have known that if this fight went to the scorecards it would have been difficult to walk away with the decision.

Leaving nothing to chance Paulie worked a perfect game plan in his destruction of previously undefeated,   Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21KOs) and left no opportunity for controversy. It also left little doubt in the minds of boxing fans that even if Paulie can’t match up well with Pacquiao or Mayweather at this time he is one of the top five in the division, if not number three.

The Brooklyn born native has often been a road warrior traveling anywhere needed to remain in the top ratings of sanctioning bodies and often discounted when fans talk about the division.

Reading today, one writer suggests that Malignaggi , may be best served fighting Zab Judah at Madison Square Gardens , and I disagree completely as that fight will only best serve promoters involved and Zab Judah, not so much Paulie.

Judah , who is campaigning at 140 needs to stay there and not come up in weight to be exposed again by a bigger, better,  fighter. Frankly after the last mega bout with Judah against Amir Khan I’m inclined not to allow Zab into my mindset until he stops with the tricks and hype and just fights as he is capable.

I get totally confused by writers who out of one side of the pen say Judah was exposed by a better Khan then out of the other side say Khan was exposed as a fraud against Peterson.

These are just losses nothing to expose, simple day when one fighter was better than another, one set of judges saw things different than another set would have, one camp failed in their preparation, where another succeeded. Fighters with the stats and credentials of a Judah or a Khan don’t get exposed they just reach a point where we can see the ultimate level they will reach without changes.

In the case of Zab it may be his changes need to be done in the lifestyle department and outside of ring area, and make them stick for good and not just fight to fight. Don’t talk about changes, just make them ,and show the results in the ring.  Let the fans and scribes figure out what changes were made.

There are much better opponents for Paulie in Devon Alexander, Mike Jones , and Kell Brook that would entertain New Yorkers as much and not have as many distractions for fans. Frankly, I don’t want the hype to exceed the fight which is often the case with Judah.

Working as number three just behind Pacquiao and Mayweather isn’t the worst thing that could happen here as it would place him in a position to be the gate keeper to the two top guys and even earn him a shot at a huge gate.

By fighting guys like Brooks and Alexander and winning, Paulie places himself as a roadblock on a journey to a title fight against Manny and Floyd. Of course that’s in a perfect world, where their is one sanctioning body or one top ten listing. Fun about writing is often you can mix fantasy with reality.

Becoming the number three guy in the division this year and going into next should set-up Malignaggi for one final big payday at the end of an entertaining career with Mayweather or Pacquiao

Younger  than both these Hall of Famers, one can’t help but think, that in 18 months or so,  what the outcome could be for the talented New Yorker. Though the odds would be once again against him, Malignaggi is getting used to preforming well and prevailing against the tide.

Ciao!

Though they left Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Saturday night with different results, both future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins and heavyweight contender Seth Mitchell made statements that their careers are going strong and continuing after delivering compelling performances to a packed house in New Jersey and to homes across the country on HBO World Championship Boxing®.

In the main event, “The Executioner” may have come up on the short end of a 12-round majority decision to Chad Dawson, but without question, Hopkins’ performance in the closely-contested bout showed that even at 47, there is plenty of fight left in the fighting pride of Philadelphia.

Dawson praised Hopkins at the post-fight press conference for his skill and guile in the ring and exclaimed, “He can still beat anyone else in our division.”

While the longtime middleweight king made history for becoming the oldest man to ever a win a major boxing title when he defeated Jean Pascal in 2011, now Hopkins has his sights on besting his own record by winning yet another title later in 2012.

“I fought hard Saturday night and feel the fight was closer than two of the scores reflected,” said Hopkins. “Regardless of the result, I will continue my career and challenge any champion in my division. I might be older, but I don’t feel a decline in my skills or abilities in the ring. I love to fight and am still competing at a level where boxing cannot deny me the opportunity to succeed.”

Kicking off the HBO World Championship Boxing telecast in style was unbeaten Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell, who may have singlehandedly renewed boxing fans’ faith in the heavyweight division with his thrilling third round technical knockout win over of Chazz Witherspoon.

Showing off a warrior’s heart and huge chin in the first round when he survived Witherspoon’s initial attack despite being momentarily dazed, the 29-year old Mitchell kept his composure and rallied in the second round with a punishing body attack. That tactic eventually opened Witherspoon up for a massive left hook to the jaw in the third round that sent him to the canvas. Mitchell then finished the job with a series of powerful shots that forced referee Randy Neumann to stop the bout at the 2:31 mark, giving Mitchell the official title of NABO heavyweight champion and the unofficial crown of America’s next great heavyweight. Expect the soft-spoken but heavy-handed Mitchell to wear both titles proudly on his quest to win the heavyweight world championship.

“Every experience I have in the ring allows me to improve my learning curve in the sport as I continue to climb the heavyweight division,” said Mitchell. “I know I have the heart, which the fans saw Saturday night. I am very proud of my victory over Chazz and look forward to my next challenge. There is only one dream for me and that is to be the bona fide heavyweight champion of the world.”

Keith Terceira

Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7KOs) became a two division world champion , stopping previously undefeated  Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21KOs) in the ninth round to capture the WBA’s welterweight championship.

Malignaggi  used sharp punches to continuously  damage  Senchenko’s face. By the ninth round, the champion could barely see out of his left eye and was taking a lot of punishment. Referee Steve Smoger had seen enough and stopped the fight.

WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title fight, Iago Kiladze (19-0, 13 KOs) scored a second round knockout over Julien Perriaux (15-9, 8 KOs). Kiladze rocked Perriaux in the first round and sent him down with a huge right in the second. Perriaux made it  to his feet, but appeared to be unsteady and the fight was stopped.

In a bout for the WBA Inter-Continental featherweight championship, Oleg Yefimovych (22-2, 11 KOs) used his boxing skill to win a dominating twelve round unanimous decision over Sergio Santillan (29-12-3, 14 KOs).

Keith Terceira

WBA junior flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (32-0, 26KOs) made his second ring appearance in the United States and stopped former champion Ramon Garcia- (16-4-1, 9KOs) in the fourth round. Gonzalez controlled the contest and put Garcia down twice in the fourth before the fight was stopped.

Welterweight contender Anthony Lenk (14-1, 7KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision by outboxing Alberto Herrera (8-6-1, 5KOs). The scores were 78-74, 78-74, and 77-75.

In the co-feature, welterweight prospect Wale “Lucky Boy” Omotoso (22-0, 19KOs) stopped Larry Smith (10-10, 7KOs) in the eighth and final round.

Smith was dropped in the seventh and again in the eight before the fight was stopped.

Omotoso will now return on June 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as part of the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley undercard.

Super Bantamweight Jesse Magdelano (9-0, 6ko) remains undefeated , stopping Nick Fast (7-2-2, 6ko) in the first round. Jesse returns to the ring June 8th at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas against Carlos Valcarcel (12-4-4, 5ko).