Pacquiao: I don’t need Mayweather

By Dennis Principe


In what is so far his strongest message against bitter rival Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao said he considers his legacy in boxing as already cemented that he sees no need to fight the undefeated American boxer. Pacquiao made this declaration in a mini-press conference held during his courtesy call to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Malacanang Palace moments after the pound-for-pound king arrived in the country Monday morning. “Our records will show I have beaten far better fighters compared to Mayweather. I’ve stated before that I am willing to fight him if that’s what the fans want to see. But if the fight doesn’t happen, I’m fine with it,” said Pacquiao.


Late last year talks about a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout went full steam until a stringent demand by the undefeated American that they both undergo Olympic-style blood testing messed up what would have been one of the sport’s most anticipated match-ups.


Mayweather has made countless allegations that Pacquiao used Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PED) to increase the chances of the seven-time world champion against bigger foes in moving up in weight from a skinny light flyweight all the way up to the welterweight division.


“He needs me more than I need him. If he wants the fight then let’s do it. I’m clean because I get my strength through hardwork and my faith in God,” said Pacquiao.


Mayweather is out to prove his point both in boxing skills and his aim of establishing new standard in drug testing when he battles fellow American Shane Mosley on May 1 in Las Vegas.


For their 12-round battle, Mayweather and Mosley have agreed to a no-advance-notice urine and blood testing to be conducted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).


“I pick Mosley to win that fight because he can throw a lot of punches compared to Mayweather who’s a very defensive boxer. Defense can’t win fights especially against a fighter like Mosley who relies on speed,” said Pacquiao.

Pacquiao meanwhile has indicated his willingness to hang-up his gloves especially now that his already illustrious mother Dionisia is more vocal than ever in earnestly seeing his son retire for good.


“That’s something that I am seriously considering because I’m sure you do not want to see me end up being a beaten man, right? I know I can still compete but it’s better to retire while I’m still healthy and enjoy my success with our countrymen,” said Pacquiao.


Pacquiao, a congressional candidate in the coming May elections, recently defended World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown via a 12-round decision winover Ghanaian Joshua Clottey in front of 51,000 paying fans last March 14 at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Clottey defeats Pacquiao: With heavy odds against, is reality in favor?

By: Vivek Wallace


On the morning of March 14th when headlines print across the world of boxing and beyond, what will they read?

Listening to most boxing circles, it appears to be a foregone conclusion that the phenomenal Manny Pacquiao will find yet another way to steal the show, but in a sport where anything is possible on any given night, will it really be that simple?

One of the major topics surrounding Manny Pacquiao to date is the issue of performance enhancing substances, yet it's a subplot found within that topic that probably deserves far more attention. For those of us that have followed the sport closely, it's common knowledge that Pacquiao has been a very gifted and talented fighter since well back in his early days, so there's very little reason to question him - as it relates to natural athleticism. But, beyond that, as we peak in that same rear view mirror and analyze a history containing countless wars and bloody battles, a body on the brink of a breakdown can shed light on yet another potential reason as to why this conversation is key..

When you look at the landscape of fighters currently in the sport that have amassed better than 50 fights by the age of 30, suddenly, the portrait becomes very intriguing. Barrera, Morales, and Marquez are three names in particular that fall within this echelon, and without question, we've all seen a great change in their ability to perform at peak levels, as the body became far more paramount than the head which was cruel enough to actually lead them to believe such a feat was possible. In Pacquiao, despite the many wars and the aging body, we continue to see him champion on, seeking new challenges as if his internal clock is permanently broken. For the third fight camp in a row, news has surfaced about injury which reminds us that no matter how super-human he appears, beneath the miraculous exterior, there's a heart that beats like every other man who walks the planet.

Clottey recently reminded us that "Pacquiao is no different than any other man", but for those that chose not to listen, the physical impairments which have suddenly become a mainstay in Pacquiao's pre-fight camps have a voice that can't go unheard.

An arm injury.....a leg injury....now another leg injury....with a ton of questions to follow. And when you follow that trail, the final destination takes an athlete to a place that most would rather not be. Former Major League Baseball slugger Mark McGwire recently went on record to state that his use of performance enhancing substances wasn't to help him hit the ball or perform better, but rather to aid him in recovery from a growing list of injuries. In the case of Pacquiao, there's no such smoking gun and considering that he's innocent until proven guilty, a greater logic says there never will be, but the mere questions surrounding him, paralleled with the frequent injuries truly bring to life a reality that tells us the end is very near.

Exactly how that final script in the career of Manny Pacquiao will be written is beyond any of us, but my money says it won't be from political pressure back at home or a failed drug test abroad. Many seem to lean in the direction of those two theories, but when you look at the physical wear and tear he carries after countless battles and consider the fact that - by his admission - he isn't using those same quick recovery substances that McGwire spoke of, the reality of this matter is truly in favor of his career ending at the hand of a totally unexpected defeat. One which will undoubtedly contain a source with the ability to initiate, explore, and further exploit the same wear and tear we now speak of.

Enter Joshua Clottey. The first bona fide welterweight to face Pacquiao who not only will tip the scales at 147lbs, but subsequently weigh-in unofficially on the night of the fight somewhere in the neighborhood of 170lbs. As if that isn't enough to tip the scales, (no pun intended), Clottey comes equipped with a granite chin and a defense known to pick off more enemy fire than a stealth bomber. The finishing touch in this long list of obstacles for Pacquiao to overcome is the quiet confidence of Clottey. One that speaks loudly, even when his words choose not to.

May not seem like enough attributes to slow the legendary Manny Pacquiao, but as another legendary figure once stated, (famed NBA head coach Pat Riley), "time waits for no man"!

Despite the heavy odds against Clottey, the physical wear and tear along with a unique challenge may very well place reality in his favor. According to trainer Freddie Roach, "this may be the last fight" we see the tandem take part in. As of right now, that sentence contains a particular meaning. Come the night of March 13th, the end analysis could send us all in search of understanding for what could be an unexpected revision, as few other options would exist after a brutal battle, particularly one that ends with a loss for the talented-but-quickly-tiring Filipino.

Clottey defeats Pacquiao........heavy odds remain against it.....but a look at the big picture places this potential reality greatly in favor.

Assessing Steve Forbes as Pacquiao's sparring partner

by: Chris Robinson


In a BoxingScene article by Ronnie Nathanielsz it was noted that one of Manny Pacquiao’s chief sparring partners is former Jr. Lightweight champion Steve Forbes. Forbes is helping Pacquiao prepare for his upcoming March 13th bout with Joshua Clottey at the Dallas Cowboys stadium and is somewhat surprising of a choice because his style doesn’t completely reflect the Accra, Ghana fighter. While Clottey is a physically imposing bruiser, Forbes is much more of a slick boxer.

What’s slightly ironic is that of all the fighters today who Forbes’ style resembles, it would be that of Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Pacquiao was in discussion to fight originally on the 13th. It’s interesting to wonder how the sparring sessions are unfolding, as Pacquiao’s precise combinations from his unorthodox attack are surely tested against Forbes, who is a pro’s pro.

Trying to get some more insight into Forbes I broke him down as a fighter from a few different perspectives below…

A quick look at Forbes

Forbes is just a few days away from his 33rd birthday and he has compiled a respectable 34-7 record with 10 knockouts during his thirteen plus year career. He fought nine of his first twelve fights in Nevada while going undefeated as Jr. Lightweight and Lightweight contender. Forbes’ first loss was a March 2000 majority decision to former featherweight champion Alejandro Gonzales.

Forbes would bounce back in 2000 with victories over solid fighters in Ernesto Zepeda and David Santos before landing a shot at the vacant IBF title against rugged John Brown in December of 2000. While in reality it seemed as though Brown was starting to come on in the fight, the contest would be stopped when it was revealed that the stout fighter had a ruptured eardrum, as the blood began to pour following a Forbes connection. Despite trailing on two cards, Forbes was awarded the TKO victory after Brown was seen unfit to continue. In the immediate rematch Forbes would leave little doubt, taking a clear decision over Brown.

Forbes suffered an October 2003 loss to Carlos Hernandez and seemed to dip under the radar a bit. A few years would go by without as much noise but Forbes would end up making his presence known on an even grander scale by being a key participant on the second season of The Contender. Along the way Forbes would defeat the likes of Freddy Curiel, Nick Acevado, and Cornelius Bundrage before losing in the finals to Grady Brewer. Forbes’ appearance on the show also showcased his abilities in a new weight class, as his days at 130 pounds were a thing of the past.

In 2007 the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas was the host of Forbes’ only two fights that year, as he lost a slightly controversial split decision to Demetrius Hopkins in March before turning the tables to win a split nod against Francisco Bojado seven months later. Forbes was in the public’s eye again in 2008 as he performed respectably but still lost decisions to both Oscar De La Hoya and Andre Berto.

Forbes is currently slated to face Harrison Cuello this March 6th at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. It’s unknown whether or not Forbes can still comfortably make 140 pounds, but either way he will surely have his eyes on the evening’s main event as Jr. Welterweight champions Devon Alexander and Juan Urango clash.

While Forbes may never have crossed the line towards being a star in the sport he has always been a capable fighter with great ring instincts, boxing ability, and a reliable defense. During his run on The Contender Forbes’ personality was also on display for the world to see and he has always come across completely down to earth and modest in his approach.

Mayweather’s view

One man who knows Forbes all too well is Las Vegas based trainer Jeff Mayweather, who trained the Oregon native on and off during key moments in his career. When Jeff was told the news that Forbes has been serving as Pacquiao’s sparring partner he was at first slightly surprised.

“I think Steve is an ideal sparring partner to help Manny get ready for Floyd,” Jeff states. "I really don’t know about Clottey though. It doesn’t seem that his style is at all similar to Clottey’s. Not sure how much he could help. I’m sure he is handling himself well. He may even be holding his own with him. Steve is a professional through and through.”

Mayweather also added that Forbes is a very solid fighter whose only glaring weakness has been a lack of power over the years. When looking back on Forbes’ 2008 campaign, Mayweather feels that his losses to De La Hoy and Berto weren’t about skill as much as they were about size.

“I thought he gave a very good account of himself against Oscar,” Mayweather claims. “He came out with a good game plan but I just think that Oscar was the bigger fighter. I also think that was the case with [Andre] Berto, Steve fought well but he was just the smaller guy in both of those fights.”

In giving his closing comments on his former charge, Mayweather seems to find it ironic that Forbes’ time as a champion was more overlooked than his recent years as a contender. While Forbes often came up short in some of his biggest contests Mayweather takes satisfaction in knowing that he was able to reap some financial rewards in recent times.

“I remember when he was a world champion at one time but he never was able to capitalize on it. That’s the whole point of being a world champion, you want to make some money after that. Luckily Steve was able to land those bigger fights later in his career. I’m very happy for Steve. He’s a good guy and we still keep in touch.”

And what if Pacquiao is `CLEAN`?

By Dezzie Lightbulb


Boxing has always been plagued with `what ifs`. What if Ali and Tyson had met in the ring, each in his prime? What if Cotto`s team had properly checked Margarito`s gloves before their fight? What if such and such a judge had bought himself a new pair of spectacles the day of yet another crazy decision? What if, what if, what if! These questions can never be fully answered. They can haunt us, and remain as cruelly tantalizing after twenty years as they were the first day. The latest `what if` that has stormed the boxing world is `what if Pacquiao has been using PEDs or steroids?` Even longtime, faithful Pacquiao fans must have asked themselves, although probably in the privacy of their most inner selves, what if it`s

true. What if Pacquiao has always been a cheat, his whole boxing career nothing more than a second-rate, shabby sham?


All boxing fans, must have given at least some thought to this question. The press has written what must amount to the equivalent of 100 War and Peaces exploring the possibility of Pacquiao juicing. In this article I wish to explore another, different `what if`. Because we must all by now have some level of doubt as to Pacquiao`s fair play, I think that it is in the interest of a balanced and open-minded view that we have a closer look at the alterative scenario. What if Pacquiao is clean?

Pacquiao in his early days was a very different fighter to the one we see before us today. He was a light, slight southpaw, had a truckload of confidence and self-belief, and a devastating straight left that put an early end to many a boxers` ambitions. Yet his confidence cost him dearly. His two early defeats can be put down to overconfidence. He lost to less talented fighters who caught him unawares as he played `cock of the ring`. While he definitely had talent, his losses underlined his need for more boxing skills, and more importantly, the need for a really good trainer. Both came to him later when he teamed up with Freddie Roach.

Roach took the raw diamond that was Pacquiao, and with all the skills and attention to detail of a master jeweler, shaped him to become the brilliant jewel of a boxer we see today. Pacquiao`s boxing arsenal has been transformed from a `one-shot-wonder` to that of an all-round, great boxer. Today it seems he can do just about anything in the ring. As far as I know there is no drug that can give you skills you don`t have, that is the work of a trainer.

There is a very good reason why Pacquiao and Roach get along so well. At some stage in his career Pacquiao must have admitted to himself that he was simply not a good enough boxer to become a legend. While most boxers would rather die than to have to admit to a shortcoming, Pacquiao obviously did. He knows he needs Roach, and he respects him enough to listen to every word he says. How many times, while watching a fight, have you heard a trainer telling his fighter in the corner between rounds to double up his jab or keep his hands up or some such, only to find that in the following round the obviously good advice has fallen on deaf ears, and the boxer goes right on doing what he should not be doing? More than once or twice I have been pleasantly surprised to hear Roach telling Pacquiao to do something different in the next round, and lo and behold, Pacquiao does exactly what he has been told. The best trainer in the world will achieve nothing with a boxer who won`t listen to him. Roach is as a brilliant trainer as Pacquiao is a trainee.

So, back to the `what ifs`; what if` the reason Pacquiao defeated Hatton had nothing to do with drugs, but was because he learned to use both left and right hooks, neither of which he used in his early years? And `what if` the only PED that Pacquiao has ever used is Mr. Freddie Roach, one of the best Performance Enhancing Dudes in the business? `

Michael Moorer gives us valuable insight into boxing, and particularly into training; “I see these guys that half-ass fight, and some of them down here in training, they half-ass train, and that`s not how I was brought up.” For Moorer training is obviously the key to success in boxing. He goes on to tell us how unbelievably hard Pacquiao trains. “I witnessed him go 26 rounds, nonstop hitting the mitts. That`s phenomenal. He just strives to be the best.” He also tells us of Pacquiao`s work ethic and his will to win, all in the most flattering of terms. Moorer was a world champion and is now a trainer, so his thoughts on the subject definitely carry weight. He has proved himself to be an honest, straight-talking guy with loads of integrity. That`s good enough for me.

So `what if` Moorer is right, and Pacquiao`s success comes from such a high level of hard work, discipline, and dedication, that steroids are simply unnecessary?

In many ways Pacquiao`s hunger for success in not as surprising as it may seem. In Pacquiao we have all the elements of the ultimate fairytale, `rags to riches` story. The lowly street urchin who makes it big in a world he may never even have dreamed of as a child. It is a well known fact that a disproportionate number of self-made success stories find their roots in deprived backgrounds. Could it be that the sting of near starvation once felt will forever haunt and drive a man, and may even drive him to exceptional greatness? Perhaps being born into abject poverty gives the lucky ones who manage to escape a sense of steely, stubborn self-determination that makes them fight every second of their existence to never have to return. Can we conceive that Pacquiao feels that he has a sacred `duty` to pay back for his good fortune by becoming the greatest boxer he can, and then to use his fame and fortune to help his fellow countrymen get a fairer deal than he got as a child? Could that be what has driven him to the top? Why not?

`What if` Pacquiao`s success is a result of an exceptional drive inherited from his background, and not some `two-day-washout` designer drug?

So why did Pacquiao refuse to take the damned tests? Pacquiao knows, the rest of us can only speculate. I feel that it is a combination of things. First and foremost he refused point-blank to get pushed around by Mayweather. Understandable! Secondly he did not want his all important training schedule interrupted by unannounced, invasive blood takes which could have weakened him at a time he needed all his strength. Thirdly he may believe that Mayweather needs this fight more than he does. Mayweather is reportedly close to broke. Even if Pacquiao only makes 10 million dollars from his fight with Clottey, 10 million dollars in Pacquiao`s hands in the Philippians is probably the equivalent of 100 million dollars in Mayweather`s hands in the US. Pacquiao took the best welterweight challenge available for March 13, leaving Mayweather with very little choice of landing himself a convincing match. This could all be part of a plan so that team Pacquiao can dictate terms if, and when negotiations are reopened between the two teams.

To those who claim that Pacquiao`s refusal to take the random blood tests is conclusive proof of his guilt, I ask you, `what if` one or all of the above are the real reasons why Pacquiao refused the tests, not because he is dirty?

It is very easy to understand why so many people have jumped on this `Manny`s a juicer` bandwagon. Our world has evolved into a dark, cynical place. In recent years we have been repeatedly betrayed by our elected leaders who have been serving their own nasty little agendas rather than serving the common good. Some of the Churches we worshiped in have fallen into damnable disgrace. Huge pharmaceutical companies have been caught doing far more harm to people`s heath than good. Soulless corporations bloody-mindedly and shamelessly rape our world. These days nothing more is sacred. Nothing is as it seems. Honesty has become rarer than the finest of gold.

And yet, `what if`, `WHAT IF` for once something was as it should be? `WHAT IF` Manny Pacquiao is simply the best boxer of his generation, no drugs required? Is that really so hard to believe? I hope not, and, call me a helpless romantic if you will, but I actually find it easy to believe the beautiful, magical, amazing story of the skinny little slum-kid who conquered the world.

Blame Enough For Everyone In The Foolish Failure To Deliver Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao

Written by Tim Starks


If you were holding on to the dream that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would fight in March, it's time to let it go. Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey is set for Dallas, and Mayweather's team, after insisting a deal could still be made, is now plotting Mayweather's next move. It’s actually moving from “unmitigated disaster” to “c.f.,” as right now, both fighters are planning to keep the March 13 date, which means dueling pay-per-views.

Everyone has their favorite culprit in the blame game for how each side walked away from an estimated total of $200 million and gave the sport of boxing and its fans the Abner Louima treatment. But I'm of the view that there's plenty of blame to go around. Everyone involved -- Top Rank, Golden Boy, Mayweather and Pacquiao -- is tarnished by this, and deserves deep, lasting scorn for it.


Top Rank

In an angry moment last year, promoter Dan Goossen said the practices of Top Rank boss Bob Arum were partly to blame for the long tailspin boxing had endured. Arum does a lot of things well, but it’s easy to see what Goossen means.

Toward the end, Arum always seemed more interested in prosecuting his personal grudge against Mayweather and Mayweather’s manager, Al Haymon, than anything else. What’s more, I never thought Arum was all that interested in having Pacquiao fight Mayweather. He has a tendency to milk his hottest commodities for years – see Juan Manuel Lopez – by avoiding putting them in risky fights that fans want to see, and I think he wondered whether Mayweather was worth the risk. Those two factors combined to make it so that when the fight hit the rocks over random blood testing, Arum appeared as if he’d rather rant and rave than work out any kinks.

His behavior was, for lack of a better word, hysterical. He kept making strange excuses, like saying Pacquiao was scared of needles, when Pacquiao’s body is covered in tattoos. (I am scared of needles. I have no tattoos.) He seriously misrepresented the other side’s positions on issues, fueling an unproductive war of words in the media and degenerating to name-calling, like saying Mayweather was a “coward.” He blamed the fight’s cancellation on insinuations from Mayweather’s side that Pacquiao was on steroids then turned his attention to making a fight with… Paulie Malignaggi, who’d insinuated that Pacquiao was on steroids. He kept acting like blood testing to detect performance enhancing drugs was a scientific hoax, when the consensus was that urine testing in conjunction with blood testing would catch more things than mere urine testing. And if the message he wanted to send was that cheating is beneath his side, it’s hard to fathom how he reportedly wanted to put Antonio Margarito (license revoked for loaded gloves) and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (likely to be suspended for testing positive for a banned substance) on the Pacquiao-Clottey undercard. For someone with a reputation for a fearsome intellect, none of this was the work of a smart businessman who cares about his customers.

Arum was doing some heroic work earlier this year when he castigated the media, in particular The New York Times, for ignoring boxing. But if the Times called, how would he defend his sport when he had a hand in killing the fight everyone in the world wanted to see more than any other? The Deadspin headline on this picture featuring Jerry Jones with George W. Bush read, “Just Two Horsemen Short Of An Apocalypse,” but in another picture, John Madden was hanging out with the Jones team, and you know who else was there? Arum.

Golden Boy

When Golden Boy started out, they talked a lot about doing things differently than other promoters, but everyone knows by now they’ve taken opportunities to do things the usual way. Their performance at one point during the negotiation in particular bordered on the thuggish.

Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya used his blog on Ring magazine’s website to strongly suggest that Pacquiao was on steroids. Pacquiao’s punches, he said, felt like Shane Mosley’s and Fernando Vargas’, two boxers who without a doubt used actual PEDs against him in fights. Never mind how two-faced this was – early in 2009, De La Hoya insisted Pacquiao’s punches never hurt him, and I didn’t believe it when he said it – but consider how disgusting it is to make a claim like that out of nowhere. Compounding the horribleness is that he added another layer of tarnish to the publication he now owns – the self-described Bible of Boxing, and a publication with airs of integrity – by doing it. Doug Fischer recently defended De La Hoya’s blog to friend of the site Alex, saying that of course De La Hoya is advancing his interests as a promoter on his website, so what’s the big deal (he actually invoked the idea of Dana White writing a column on UFC.com or Oprah Winfrey writing a column in O magazine – I guess Ring doesn’t aspire to anything more than “house organ” any longer, if those publications are his point of comparison)? And, he said, Arum could have a blog on the website if he wanted, too. Except: 1. Arum doesn’t. And if one promoter is frequently offered prominent placement on Ring’s website to attack other promoters’ fighters, how fair is that? and 2. If any mainstream newspaper owner in the United States had a regular and prominent forum for advancing his own private business interests in the pages of his publication, he’d be ruthlessly criticized, and he’d deserve it.

It’s interesting in yet other ways that in that blog entry, De La Hoya invoked Mosley. Mosley is one of his business partners, and I wonder how thrilled he was about being used as a pawn in this debate. More importantly, Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer in 2008 explicitly rejected a proposal that Mosley endure blood testing, arguing that Mosley was clean and state commission regulations would suffice. Why Mosley, a confirmed cheater, shouldn’t have to undergo tests that Pacquiao, for whom there is zero evidence of cheating, would, is hard to fathom. Mosley isn’t the only fighter Golden Boy promotes that the company has thrown under the bus – Golden Boy owns a small promotional interest in Pacquiao, too, and by undermining him and insisting no Golden Boy fighter would deal with Pacquiao without a drug test (I wonder what they’d do for Pacquiao-Mosley?), they’re hurting their bottom line. And for whom? Mayweather? Why? Mayweather has openly stated his desire to crush Golden Boy when he gets his own promotional company up and running, and he’s unreliable in other ways – they went to bat for him, and they came up empty-handed. Schaefer himself comes off as a pretty smart man, unencumbered by the extreme swings of emotion that rule the temperamental Arum, but this all was pretty stupid.

Pacquiao

Because Pacquiao usually is such a “good guy,” many are inclined to wash his hands for him of any guilt in the fight falling through. But Pacquiao is no innocent in this.

I don’t remember the last time Pacquiao didn’t turn into a complete prima donna during fight negotiations. He’s always making demands – catchweights! better purse splits! – and turning into a baby when he doesn’t get his way. This time, when someone made a demand of him – Mayweather wanting random blood testing – his refusal to accept it was the moment the fight became in jeopardy. It must be noted that Pacquiao’s team at first accepted random blood-testing, since trainer Freddie Roach said there would be no problem with Olympic-style drug testing, which by its nature involves random blood withdrawals. The official reason for rejecting the blood tests, so far as I can tell, is that he was “superstitious,” owing to him feeling drained after giving blood two days before a showdown with Erik Morales. OK. But the last offer on the table from the Mayweather side was 14 days, and we know for a fact that Pacquiao had blood withdrawn 24 days before the Hatton fight, and he wasn’t drained then; would 10 days have made that much of a difference? Then, Pacquiao made the fight yet more unlikely when he filed what looks to me like a frivolous defamation lawsuit that I expect to be thrown out in short order, complaining about things like Mayweather saying they have good PEDs in Pacquiao’s home country of the Philippines. So what. Man up. Life’s hard. Sometimes people are going to insult you. They may even insult your country. Get over it and do your job, which is to fight.

There’s been a lot of talk about how non-Filipinos don’t understand this “uniquely Filipino pride” that was at play, and I don’t doubt it was a factor. But while Pacquiao talks about fighting for the people of the Philippines, the fact remains that he allowed his wounded pride at being accused of cheating to take precedence over the $40 million or more he would have gotten from this fight, which would have bought a lot of flood relief for “the people.” And he definitely misjudged the culture of America, where many more people than before look upon him with suspicion because so many excellent U.S. athletes have later been busted for using PEDs. I want to be clear that I have no reason to believe Pacquiao is on any PEDs, nor do I think it’s a good thing for a society to assume someone is guilty for not agreeing to invasive tests. But if Pacquiao was concerned about his reputation, the fact of the matter is that he’s done some harm to himself by not agreeing to blood tests that might have vindicated him. And if it turns out that Pacquiao avoided this fight because he did have something to hide, he ends up the biggest villain of them all.

Mayweather

If I blame anyone above all others, it’s Mayweather. If he hadn’t introduced this blood-testing regime proposal, the fight happens. It was a wholly unreasonable request. Mayweather should know better than anyone that a 16-year-old fighter can rise from 106 pounds to 147 pounds by the time he gets into his 30s and still be great, because like Pacquiao, he did it, too. The only evidence Mayweather had was the suspicion of his shady dad, which isn’t worth a damn. Even if Mayweather truly thinks Pacquiao is on steroids – and Mayweather seems to think lots of people are on steroids now, like Mosley, for whom there also is zero evidence of ongoing PED abuse – I’m not sure what he’s so worried about. He’s said many times he can beat Pacquiao with ease, because Pacquiao sucks, basically. If you can make $40 million easily beating someone, steroids or no, why not just do it?

Ascertaining the true motives of Mayweather in any affair is nigh-impossible. But here’s what I think most likely happened: Mayweather wasn’t all that interested in fighting Pacquiao (I’ll get to why in a second); he posited the drug-testing idea as a win/win for himself; if Pacquiao walked away, he could say once again that he wasn’t the hold-up in making a fight happen – it was the other guy; if Paquiao accepted the fight, he’d come in angry and reckless, and Mayweather will have scored one in the head games department; and if Pacquiao won, even if he tested negative for steroids, there’d be enough of a cloud hanging over Pacquiao that Mayweather would have an excuse for losing; but when it came time to negotiate and either set aside the blood testing and fight or hold firm on his demand, egomania won the day, since Mayweather thinks he’s so very, very important and everyone should bow down to his whims. How cynical a ploy is it to mount a campaign that hinted Pacquiao was a big cheater for any one of those reasons, let alone all of them? Very.

If Mayweather wanted to avoid Pacquiao, it would very much be in character. He clutches at and cradles his undefeated record like Gollum and his ring, thinking, falsely, that his “0” makes him superior to all other fighters. Of course, it’s easier to have a “0” when you avoid challenges. Since 2003, Mayweather hasn’t fought one person who could be considered the best opponent in his division. He inhabited the junior welterweight and welterweight ranks when numerous pound-for-pound top-10 fighters have crossed through them over that time – Kostya Tszyu and Ricky Hatton at 140, Miguel Cotto, Mosley, Margarito and Paul Williams at 147 – and one way or the other, whatever the motives, he found a way not to fight them when they had no trouble whatsoever fighting one another. Now we can add Pacquiao to that list. I’ve called Mayweather a “joke” as a fighter, and I don’t mean his skill level – I mean this kind of repeated refusal to confront the top challenges or some facsimile thereof, as the trial balloons from his team of fighting Saul Alvarez or pug Matthew Hatton next (and, only marginally more defensibly among recent options, Nate Campbell and Paulie Malignaggi) point toward. When Mayweather returned to the sport in 2009 after a brief retirement, I said it was both a blessing and a curse. Right now, it’s looking all curse.

Others

HBO was supposed to put all its might and muscle into forcing Mayweather-Pacquiao, but if it’s had any impact at all, I’ve missed it. I’m guessing the reason why is that Mayweather and Pacquiao never worried that they’d be welcomed openly back into the bosom of the industry giant. It’ll be interesting to see how they come down in the March 13 duel over that date from both sides.

If Arum wanted to prosecute his grudge against Haymon, there have been reports as well that Haymon wanted to needle Arum in all of this. Despite defending Mayweather’s health and safety from marauding steroid addict Pacquiao, he has shown no such sympathy for another of his clients, Andre Berto, in advance of Berto’s May 30 fight against Mosley.

Boxing’s passionate fans make the sport fun, but if the blindest Mayweather fans and blindest Pacquiao fans hadn’t taken the side of their fighter so unconditionally, and instead had put pressure on the pair to fight, maybe both sides wouldn’t have gotten so entrenched. I wish boxing fans counted fewer zealots amongst their ranks. They may have gotten screwed by all this, but they sure helped themselves get screwed.

Pacquiao vs Clottey in Dallas

by: ARLINGTON

The stars will fight, big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas! Jerry Jones and Bob Arum, owner of the Dallas Cowboys and chairman of Top Rank, respectively, announced today that Cowboys Stadium would be the site of the MANNY PACQUIAO vs. JOSHUA CLOTTEY World Welterweight Championship fight taking place on Saturday, March 13 and broadcast Live on Pay-Per-View. Formal news conferences at Cowboys Stadium and in New York next week will provide details on tickets and the pay-per-view broadcast. Pacquiao vs. Clottey will be promoted by Top Rank, in association with the Dallas Cowboys and MP Promotions. Pacquiao and Clottey boast a combine record of 85-6-2 (59 KOs) -- a winning percentage of 91% and a victory by knockout ratio of nearly 70%.

“I have wanted to bring a major boxing event to North Texas for many years, so why not bring in the biggest and the best?” asked Jones. “Manny Pacquiao is boxing’s No. 1 pound for pound attraction and the world champion. Manny defending his title against Joshua Clottey is not just a great fight, it’s a great event, and one we can showcase to the fullest in Cowboys Stadium. We’re going to promote this like it was the Super Bowl..”

Cowboys Stadium will be configured for 40,000 fans for the event.

“Jerry Jones knows exactly how big and important this event is which is why it was so easy to put this deal together,” said Arum. “As a lifelong Giants fan I had to receive special dispensation from Steve Tisch, the Giants’ Chairman and Executive Vice President, to bring this event to Cowboys Stadium and he blessed the deal. If Jerry could sell me on Cowboys Stadium and the North Texas market, you know he is going to have no problems selling out Cowboys Stadium on March 13. We are ready to roll up our sleeves and promote Manny’s debut as World Welterweight Champion. Manny Pacquiao is the lone star of boxing. There isn’t a more appropriate place in the world for him to fight!”

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), of General Santos City, Philippines, will be defending the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title he earned in his last fight, produced by a 12th round knockout of three-time world champion Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao’s victory made him the first man to win seven titles in as many different weight divisions, with his last three world championships coming by way of knockout. The consensus Fighter of the Year for the third time in the past four years, Pacquiao’s resume features victories over future Hall of Famers, including Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Lopez and Cotto. His knockout victories over Cotto and Hatton made him the 2009 pay-per-view king, exceeding two million buys combined.

Clottey (35-3, 21 KOs), a native of Accra, Ghana, now fighting out of Bronx, NY, captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title in 2008 by trouncing three-time world champion Zab Judah. His career has been a highlight reel of thrills featuring victories over two-division world champion Diego Corrales and undfeated contender Richard Gutierrez and a close decision losse to world champion Antonio Margarito. In his last fight Clottey lost a controversial split decision to defending WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden. Clottey is currently world-rated No. 1 by the WBO and No. 4 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).

After the Dust Has Settled – Pacquiao Still in Control

By T.K. Stewart

Right now, boxing fans are feeling like a victim of Ashton Kutcher’s old television show Punk’d.

Since Nov. 14, better known as the night that Manny Pacquiao scored an electrifying 12th- round TKO win over Miguel Cotto, anybody that follows the sport has had their appetite whetted by the mouth watering prospect of seeing a showdown between the world’s two top pound-for-pound boxers – Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

But with the negotiations for that fight now having imploded like the demolition of The Sands Casino in Las Vegas, boxing fans are left with nothing more than a cloud of dust as they try to make sense of what it all means and what will be next for both Pacquiao and Mayweather.

By any measure one wishes to use, there is no doubt that Pacquiao and Mayweather are ranked #1 and #2 – in that order.

Pacquiao is the best boxer on the planet and Mayweather is further down behind him – lower on the list in second place.

Never mind that Pacquiao is ranked #1 in the ratings by every reputable boxing publication or Internet boxing Web site in existence and that he has been honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America as the fighter of the year for the past two years in a row.

What is probably more important is that Manny is also #1 at the box office. And in the sport of boxing, better known as the business of boxing, that is his most significant achievement.

It is Pacquiao that draws fans in droves to his live events. For comparison purposes, Pacquiao’s recent bout against Miguel Cotto attracted a standing room only crowd of over 16,000 to the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Less than two months earlier, Mayweather met Juan Manuel Marquez at the same venue and they failed to draw a paid attendance of 13,000 to a relatively subdued affair.

Ticket brokers and scalpers were able to charge upwards of ten thousand dollars for one Pacquiao vs. Cotto ringside ticket. The Mayweather-Marquez fight was lucky to get half that amount for the same seat. The MGM Grand was forced to offer special packages to attract customers to the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight – everything from discounted fight tickets, free meals and free limousine rides to and from McCarran International Airport. On the other hand, Pacquiao vs. Cotto was sold out weeks in advance and the night of the fight brought the city of Las Vegas to a virtual standstill.

Mayweather calls himself "Money" – but it is Pacquiao that attracted more fans this year to Las Vegas. It is also Pacquiao that caused more fans to push the pay-per-view buy buttons on their television remote control. His fight against Cotto earned nearly $14 million more in pay-per-view revenue than Mayweather’s fight against Marquez.

So, since boxing fans will not have the matter settled as to who the best boxer on the planet is with a match-up of skills between Pacquiao and Mayweather – the only other measurable manner available to them is the rankings of the various organizations that keep track of such things - and the latest box office receipts.

Using both of those measuring sticks, it is Pacquiao that easily comes out on top.

Mayweather and his supporters will point to his 2007 fights against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton as evidence of his supremacy on the pay-per-view front. However, the De La Hoya fight was nearly three years ago. The world was a different place then; money and credit were easy come and easy go. People thought nothing of making a weekend trip to Vegas or dropping a Grant on the pay-per-view. In the world economy of 2009, where funds were sparse, and folks searched for value in their entertainment dollar, they spent more in person and via their TV screens to see Manny Pacquiao.

Promoters spent an astonishing $20 million on marketing costs for the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight. The fight was also broadcast in 170 movie theaters around the country – yet Pacquiao still attracted more fans.

In the day and age of the Internet, any Web-site publisher will tell you that when a Manny Pacquiao news item or feature appears on their site, it is a good day for them in terms of the all important page views. Ask a boxing magazine publisher who sells more copies when Pacquiao or Mayweather appear on their cover and they will tell you that the Pinoy idol is "bank".

Mayweather and his backers will counter with the argument that both of his fights against De La Hoya and Hatton drew more than Pacquiao’s did – but again – we’re talking about numbers going on nearly three years ago.

Boxing would probably best be known as a sport of "What have you done for me lately?"

Using that simple question, it is Pacquiao that is clearly the more personable fighter/celebrity. Devoted fans flock to him, they smile, they pose, they rush to get an autograph or a picture.

Mayweather’s highly publicized open workout at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood in the days before his bout against Marquez barely drew a crowd of 200 people. On the other hand, in the same town, just around the corner and down the street, Pacquiao attracts that many people every single day to watch him simply walk in and out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym.

Whether one wishes to blame the non-happening of the Pac-May fight on Pacquiao’s refusal to submit to Mayweather’s demand for the unheard of Olympic style drug testing is their prerogative. However, they should remember that based on the most recent accomplishments it is Manny that is universally regarded as the best boxer on the planet, Manny that is the more popular person with the public and Manny that is the recent box-office champion.

Based on all of that – it is Pacquiao that was clearly in the drivers’ seat of the failed negotiations. It is also Pacquiao that clearly sits atop the boxing world as 2010 gets underway. For Mayweather to lay claim to anything he will have to get in the ring, fight and beat a contender of consequence and perhaps win a title. It will be the only way to turn the tide in his favor.

In the Corners

The latest news is that Pacquiao will likely face the always tough, durable and rugged Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas. The Ghanaian is perhaps the toughest and one of the most avoided welterweights in the world. I will say that unless Pacquiao is totally focused he will not beat Clottey, who is a larger man who can take a great punch. Clottey will likely be a middleweight by the time he steps into the ring on fight night and he has a tight defense...Meanwhile, rumors persist that Mayweather will meet the smaller and light punching Paulie Malignaggi - or even worse – Matthew Hatton, the limited younger brother of Ricky. My view is that since Mayweather needs to make a statement of supremacy and gain more leverage in any potential future negotiations for a Pacquiao fight, that he should face the winner of the Jan. 30 Shane Mosley vs. Andre Berto title fight…Nice to see the return of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights as well as the upcoming new series on FOX Sports. Who says boxing is dead?

Mayweather blames bout collapse on Pacquiao

By GREG BEACHAM


Floyd Mayweather Jr. blamed Manny Pacquiao for the collapse of their prospective bout Thursday, claiming the Filipino boxer refuses to accept a reasonable compromise on drug testing concerns.

Mayweather also says he's still ready to sign a deal for the fight, which was slated for March 13 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas before Pacquiao promoter Top Rank declared it dead Wednesday night.

Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) made his first public comments about the negotiations in a written statement that began with Mayweather saying he's "thoroughly disgusted" by Pacquiao's representatives' attempts to blame him for the collapse of what's likely to be the richest bout in boxing history.

"In my opinion it is Manny Pacquiao and his team who are denying the people a chance to see the biggest fight ever," Mayweather said. "I know the people will see through their smokes screens and lies. I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses, step up and fight."

The sides went to mediation on Tuesday in Santa Monica in an attempt to resolve the drug testing issues that are the only remaining conflicts in the negotiation. Mayweather's demands for frequent blood testing beyond the Nevada Athletic Commission's requirements — and Pacquiao's reluctance to agree to those requests — have derailed the bout.

Mayweather initially demanded repeated blood testing right up to the day of the fight, while Pacquiao asked for a 30-day cutoff before the bout. Mayweather now claims he agreed to a 14-day cutoff compromise before the mediation session began, but Pacquiao still wouldn't accept those terms.

"The truth is he just doesn't want to take the tests," Mayweather said.

Pacquiao has filed a lawsuit alleging Mayweather and most of his representatives, including Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, defamed him by falsely accusing him of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Top Rank boss Bob Arum was brutally frank about his former fighter on Wednesday night, telling The Associated Press that Mayweather is "a psychological coward who doesn't want to fight anybody who has a chance of beating him."

After generating stellar pay-per-view revenue from their previous fights, both Pacquiao and Mayweather likely stood to make much more than $25 million apiece from their welterweight bout. Mayweather returned to the ring after a 21-month absence in September with a victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, while Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) pounded Miguel Cotto in November for his 13th straight victory since 2005.

Pacquiao is widely considered boxing's pound-for-pound champion, an unofficial title held by Mayweather before his aborted retirement. Their proposed fight was seen as the biggest moment in boxing since Mayweather's split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007.

Daniel Weinstein, the retired federal judge who oversaw the mediation, also issued a statement Thursday saying little about the actual discussions.

"In the end, the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all," Weinstein's statement read.

Pacquiao to Sue Mayweathers and Golden Boy Promotions

SARANGANI, PHILIPPINES (Dec. 25)—Saying that his character and person has been questioned, maligned, damaged and tarnished by baseless and false accusations, pound-for-pound boxing king Manny Pacquiao and promoter Top Rank Inc. announced today the filing of a lawsuit within the next few days against the Mayweathers, Floyd Sr. and Jr., et al, and Golden Boy Promotions.

“Enough is enough. These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr., and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I have tried to just brush it off as a mere pre-fight ploy but I think they have gone overboard,” said Pacquiao in Tagalog while celebrating Christmas with his family here..

“I have instructed my promoter, Bob Arum, head of Top Rank Inc., to help me out in the filing of the case as soon as possible because I have had people coming over to me now asking if I really take performance-enhancing drugs and I have cheated my way into becoming the No. 1 boxer in the world,” said Pacquiao.

Libel, slander and defamation suits are being readied against the accused to once and for all clear out Pacquiao’s good name and character.

This week, Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions came out with a press release threatening to put a stop to the projected biggest fight in boxing history between the two top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, by asking too many unrealistic and unprecedented items on the bargaining table, including that of an Olympic-style drug testing.

“I maintain and assure everyone that I have not used any form or kind of steroids and that my way to the top is a result of hard work, hard work, hard work and a lot of blood spilled from my past battles in the ring, not outside of it,” added the Filipino champion who just turned 31 a week ago. “I have no idea what steroids look like and my fear in God has kept me safe and victorious through all these years.”

“Now, I say to Floyd Mayweather Jr., don’t be a coward and face me in the ring, mano-a-mano and shut your big, pretty mouth, so we can show the world who is the true king of the ring,” said Pacquiao, who has been contemplating on filing a case against Mayweather Sr. even before the start of his Nov. 14 fight with Miguel Angel Cotto. “I did not sue because I did not want to get distracted during that time because I was preparing for one of the toughest fights in my career.”

“Pretty Boy Floyd, face me instead on March 13 in Las Vegas and not in some talk show forum or in press releases written for you by people who don’t even know me. Face me in a fight where I get to punch back. You and your cohorts have accused me of using performance-enhancing drugs. Now, I say, the burden of proof should now come from you, not me,” said Pacquiao, the only seven-time, seven-weight division champion in the history of the sport.

Pacquiao said he is not against any form of drug testing mandated by any state athletic sports commission whenever, wherever he fights. He just finds it funny and stupid to change a system that has been set for decades now. Pacquiao undergoes drug testing and other medical examinations before and after every fight over the past 15 years and has never failed any of these tests.

“These people think they are doing the sport a great service. They are not,” added Pacquiao. “To Floyd, despite all these accusations, may your Christmas be merry and I will see you in court, soon, too.”

'Left-Hook Lounge': Vivek Wallace's Mailbag - Feat. Pavlik, Mayweather/Pacquiao, Khan, Judah, Campbell, and more!

by: eastsideboxing

Marc B. (Dallas, TX): What are your thoughts on the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight being hosted in Las Vegas as opposed to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium?

Vivek W. (ESB): I've gone back and forth about the location of this fight for quite some time, now. Las Vegas is to fights what the New York Yankees are to baseball. Without one, the other just isn't quite the same. That being said, this particular generation of boxing is totally deprived in the sense that many fight fans today have never witnessed the euphoria behind a stadium fight. It's a totally different arena (pun intended). I can remember as a child some of the fights that took place at the Orange Bowl, in my hometown of Miami, Florida, and those were amazing. Today, you have a 'new millennium' location like the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and in a way, I'd love for the sport of boxing to announce to the world that "hey, we're baaaack"!, by doing a venue like this. It's tough to say. I'm a Vegas dweller to heart, but Jerry Jones made a point of contention that solidified my option - as it relates to the location of this fight. He said "for those that don't think they'll have a good seat to see the action, the fighters will be 72ft. tall, in high definition....You'll be able to see the sweat beads fly off of 'em from anywhere in the house"! OK, some of the old-schoolers have seen stadium fights, but NONE OF US HAVE SEEN IT WITH THIS MODERN TWIST! 3-D is the only thing that could ever compare. It truly is an amazing spectacle. Not only that, but at 100,000 plus in capacity, I think it's safe to say the asking price for the seats would have been far less, allowing a contingent that's typically priced out to take in on the festivities. Now that Vegas has been decided, a good amount of people will be forced to watch at home because at an estimated $25M plus/per fighter, there's no way in hell that ANY SEAT in the house will go for less than probably $2G's, or more. I could be wrong, but clearly, the hardcore fans will be priced out, while the 'Hollywood' crowd will be ushered in. So, long story short, Vegas gets the dollars, but Dallas clearly makes (the most) sense..

Alex O. (London): Is there any truth to the rumors of Amir Khan facing Nate Campbell?

Vivek W. (ESB): No, to my knowledge, that's the remnants of a probably not-so-well-thought-out statement made by boxing personality Steve Bunce. Recently, Bunce was quoted as saying that he thinks Khan should face someone "stepping up with a faded name, like Marquez or Campbell". A very intriguing statement, because despite being older, I think both men could present a very dangerous challenge for the evolving, but yet to arrive Amir Khan. Few sang the praises of Amir Khan like have lately, and when I had a chance to pull him aside at the Mosley/Berto press conference November, I told him precisely how great I think he looks. That being said, neither Marquez or Campbell are Salita, or a washed up Barrera. Neither man will go away so easily, and when you have a fighter who is still being put together (for lack of better terms), clearly, the last thing you want to do is test him against someone like these guys. Many have found a reason to look down on Campbell based on the results of the Bradley fight, but I would respond two ways to that perspective. First.....RARELY do we ever see decisions over-turned in the sport, yet this one was, which speaks of how obvious it truly was. Secondly, at the point of the stoppage, yes, Campbell may have been down in the fight, but if you review the Funeka and Diaz fights, you'll know that's fairly normal. Campbell is a grind 'em out type fighter who wears an opponent down over the longhaul and it takes a saavy veteran to handle one like this. I'm just not so sure that Khan is there yet. Roach is doing a helluva job, but I just don't see Khan there yet. Time will tell.

Jerry L. (Atlanta, GA): I ready your article about Kelly Pavlik last Friday, and I'd like to know how would you rate his performance, (if you were able to actually see the fight), and what do you see for him next?

Vivek W. (ESB): I did see the fight, and what I saw left me somewhere at the warm center. I didn't think the performance was too hot, but in stopping his opponent in the mid-rounds, I guess I can't be too cold, either. I don't know if Pavlik was just anxious to show the crowd that he can mix it up or what, but I thought he made the fight far more difficult than it should have been by fighting the other mans fight, (inside), rather than imposing his own strength, (outside), and subsequently took entirely too many punches as a result. Unfortunately, I don't think he has a "next gear" to switch too. Pavlik is one of those "rock 'em - sock 'em robots" that lives by the mantra "take a lickin' and keep tickin". I hate to sound cliche-ish, but truthfully, there are no special effects there. He comes forward, he punches and he gets punched. Some view that as a slight, but I can assure there's no condescending tone, there. The reality is that we can identify fighters like Mayweather, or Hopkins, who use a certain level of defensive skill to mount their offense. With Pavlik, his offense is his defense. He literally relies on being able to stop the guy before the guy can stop him. Good thing he has a chin, or he would have never gotten up against Taylor to subsequently stop him in that first fight.

The trouble with a guy like Pavlik is that when he can't hit his man as much as his man can get to him, it can present MAJOR issues. That's precisely why an older Hopkins was able to get a lop-sided victory. There's no way that a fighter with a low punch output like Hopkins should be able to outpoint a guy with a high punch output like Pavlik. The only way that happens is because Pavlik is far too easy to hit. His eye was busted within the first 2 rounds or so Saturday. Imagine if the guy could punch. Bottom line, his handlers need to implement defense soon, or the 'Ghost' could find himself fading away even quicker. As far as where he goes from here? I'm not so sure Williams is the right destination. Some saw Williams struggle against a slippery Martinez, but Martinez contained two things that Pavlik never will.....he's very good on defense, and he's a southpaw. Two things that will give any fighter troubles. Pavlik is orthodox and non-defensive. Against a guy like Williams, he'll be a sitting duck, and if Williams can withstand his power, (which he does have a solid chin and the heart to get up when it abandons him), Williams wins this fight on points, I'm inclined to say maybe even EASILY.

Cedrick S. (Houston, TX): Zab Judah recently said that he would like to face Juan Urango. Who would you like if that fight were to happen?

Vivek W. (ESB): As odd as it may sound, I think that fight would be a great one to see, and it would test certain elements of both men. Judah has shown a certain weakness to the body during a grueling fight, and Urango is as committed to the body as anyone aside from the pre-Margarito Miguel Cotto. The thing with Judah is that he truly is a supremely talented fighter, despite the critical view of him out there. I have said in the past and I maintain that the only thing to separate Judah and Mayweather is discipline and defense. If Judah had those two things, he would be the Floyd Mayweather jr. we see today. He's an incredible talent. I haven't seen him at the 140lb level, but similarly to Floyd as well, I really think he could make it home, as neither man is known to walk around too far from this weight. I think Judah's southpaw stance and speed would present problems for Urango, but it would all come down to how well Judah slips those body punches. Urango has a beard, so he probably won't be hurt or KO'd in the fight. If Judah holds up, he can win on points; if the fight is stopped early, I have a pocket full of change that says Urango wins. (And I'm not even a betting man).

Leonard W. (Pompano, FL): What do you think of the possible Bernard Hopkin/Danny Green matchup?

Vivek W. (ESB): I think this is a huge miscalculation for Bernard Hopkins. Not to say that he'll lose, but there's literally very little upside in this fight, yet there's a ton to lose. Yes, Green just KO'd Roy, but I'm not so sure that says a lot now days. I don't think he'll KO Hopkins, but a not-so-good performance for Hopkins could signal the end at age 44 (soon to be 45). Green has power in both hands, and he comes to bring pressure with a pretty active workrate. The one thing that does look positive for him in this fight is that the few men Green hasn't KO'd were the ones he had a hard time hitting, and two of them etched out victories over him as a result. Hopkins is as hard as it gets to hit, but we haven't seen him at the cruiserweight level either. I just think that there's far too little upside in this fight to gamble on for a man 45. 35, even 38, I could see. 45....man, that's one and done territory. And that one and done scenario doesn't have to be a loss. If he bores the crowd to death being defensive like he can be, he'll never land on a PPV card as a headliner again. If I were his advisor, I'd lock my sights on Haye and/or Dawson. Those are the ONLY two fights out there that could add to his legacy. Both young stallions....One (Dawson) that has P4P implications, and the other (Haye) that treads uncharted territory, allowing Hopkins to do what Jones did, by moving up to the heavyweight division and winning a strap. That would be a nice cherry to place on top a masterful career.

Watch The Gods Of War: Series

By Springs Toledo

Manny Pacquiao is knocking on the door of all-time distinction and the sages of the Sweet Science are like ushers running into each other. Their problem is simple. Before they can open the golden door they have to prepare a place for him at the fistic table of the great and terrible. Before they can prepare a place for him, they have to decide where his seat is.

The spirits of legendary fighters, living and dead, are watching. Pacquiao is on schedule to bring about a tectonic shift among them. He will have his seat.

In the aftermath of his stoppage of Miguel Cotto, old boxing debates have been reignited in a new media where millions have an instant platform to weigh-in. Pacquiao’s exposure is unprecedented. His greatness is not. History has much to teach us.

THE FIRST BELL
The modern era of professional boxing can be traced back to 1920. James J. Walker, majority leader of the New York Senate, piloted legislation that legalized the daddy of all sports in Gotham State in the spring of that year. The Walker Law established standard weight divisions and abolished “no-decision” bouts where unofficial winners were declared by newspapermen. Decisions would thereafter be rendered by a referee and judges. It also designated the “neutral corner” rule, capped off the rounds at fifteen, required all participants to be licensed, placed a physician at ringside, attached penalties for intentional fouls, and established the New York State Athletic Commission. Promoter Tex Rickard wasted no time. He financed structural improvements to the old Madison Square Garden and staged six world title bouts in the first year after the law was enacted. New York became the Mecca of manly mayhem. In 1921 the National Boxing Association was formed and Rickard’s Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpentier promotion took in the first million-dollar gate.

Boxing emerged from back alleys and went big-time.

It was the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, the Age of Wonderful Nonsense, the Age of Intolerance. Booze was outlawed the same year that prizefighting went on the level but it didn’t matter, the bluenoses were besieged in an era of shifting values. Post-war prosperity and consumerism made the United States the richest country in the world; and when there is less to worry about, there is less to worry about –jazz clubs sprang up and the Harlem Renaissance blossomed while flappers tossed aside corsets, bobbed their hair, and danced the Charleston. Backfiring automobiles roared across the landscape as production at the Ford Motor Company became so efficient that prices plummeted. Everything happened fast. Fast and loose.

The once sure line between the hill and the tenements, between black and white, between conventionality and criminality got hazy.

In all this ballyhoo, the shady world of prize fighting was brought above-board. Sort of. Perhaps appropriately, the man most responsible for legalizing it had both legs in the shade himself. James J. Walker, a dandy first and a politician only when he felt like it, became mayor of New York City in 1926, but after serious corruption charges forced his resignation, he fled to Europe.

More than any other sport, boxing is a study of contrasts. Every serious fight fan has seen a fair share of both nobility and horror, of glorious triumph and withering defeat. The event is richly symbolic. A man climbs four stairs, solemnly ascending to the lights of truth. He disrobes in an act of athletic purity like an ancient Greek. He faces a nemesis –alone. To say that “one man wins” and “one man loses” reduces the event to something far less intense, far less meaningful. This isn’t tennis or bridge. It is life and death.

Outside the ropes, it’s a grimy sport, but those scoundrels responsible for its reputation –the corrupting influences, the blind or bought judges, safety-first managers, and pimp promoters all shrink back to the cheap seats once a great fight unfolds under garish lights. “Boxing” may have earned Jimmy Cannon’s epithet as the red light district of sports, but the “boxer,” particularly the great ones, are often diamonds in that district. The brilliance of the great fighter is unreflected in the grime. He shines in and of himself.

SPLIT DECISIONS
The debates about the competing brilliance of those diamonds can be exhilarating. Even the most sedated couch potato who loves the Sweet Science will shake off the doldrums if someone questions the greatness of the hero of his misspent youth.

Today Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has become a lightning rod. Yesterday it was Mike Tyson. In the 1970s Muhammad Ali was compared to his peers from eras gone by. A hundred years ago the debates swirling around Jack Johnson’s brilliance were downright wicked.

History’s curtain descends on former greats only to rise again when new ones climb the vaunted stairs. Fascinating questions emerge with each successor to the thrones. Yellowing sports magazines are full of them: Is Rocky Marciano greater than Joe Louis? Than Jack Dempsey? Is Bernard Hopkins greater than Marvin Hagler? Than Carlos Monzon?

Echoing across a century is another question –the definitive question: Who are the greatest fighters, pound-for-pound, who ever slipped through the ropes into a boxing ring?

The debates rage on. Everyone who is anyone has composed a pound-for-pound list of their own at one time or another. All lists are subject to criticism because in the end they are all subjective. There is no clearly superior list because there are no clear facts. There is, however, the weight of argument, and that’s the problem with most lists; there is rarely weighty argument, only mere opinion.

To arrive at his conclusions in his book Boxing’s Greatest Fighters, Bert Sugar reduces each fighter in his mind’s eye to the same height, weight, and ring conditions, effectively making heavyweights Shrinky Dinks and adding water to lightweights as if they’re children’s toys that grow. The problem here is obvious –fighters’ styles are often based on their physical dimensions. Julio Cesar Chavez had a strong inside game. He was short. Wlad Klitschko works outside behind a long jab. He is tall. Criticism of his method is one thing, but Bert Sugar has been immersed up to his crumpled fedora in boxing for decades. He knows whereof he speaks.

Bill Gray’s Boxing’s Top 100: The Greatest Champions of All Time stomped on the stogie of folk wisdom and threw a sponge at anything so unreliable and invalid as one man’s opinion. He applied scientific rigor in his effort to create an objective list, scoring 700 champions active between 1882 and 2001. Each champion is scored relative to his peers. Specific categories include the age of the fighter when he fought his last championship fight, the length of his career, the number of title bouts, and career wins by knockout.

It is a sophisticated presentation, but it is weighted heavily towards those fighters with long careers and long title reigns and doesn’t account for important factors like the quality of opposition, nor does it count uncrowned greats who were routinely ducked or out of luck –master-boxer Holman Williams for example, or Billy Graham, who was billed as “The Uncrowned Champion.” After Gray’s mathematics placed Joe Gans, an all-time great lightweight from the turn of the 20th century ten spots behind Virgil Hill, a great muffled guffaw was heard from Nat Fleischer’s quiet grave. Benny Leonard, another all-time great lightweight who often finds his way in the top ten, placed at #139.

Empiricists, those who work with facts and figures, usually aren’t insiders. Most studious types have never been inside an honest-to-goodness fight gym. Their understanding of boxing is limited to cold, hard data. Insiders who have been around for decades can’t necessarily be counted on either. They often show bias in favor of those fighters closest to them. In his all-time top ten list, trainer Angelo Dundee included not one but four fighters that he trained –Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, Luis Rodriguez, and George Foreman. We are all prone to wax nostalgic about things that we know, and we are sometimes guilty of overlooking that which is great about today or yesterday, depending on our age. It’s human nature.

The best lists come out of both “books” and “gyms,” so to speak.

“The Gods of War” series treads new ground. Its top ten list was arrived at with data in one hand and a worn-glove on the other. Expect the unexpected. Make no assumptions. No boxer, regardless of how sacred his name, was given a free pass. Keep in mind that the list of boxing’s great fighters is far larger than ten, so if your favorite fighter didn’t make the cut, it doesn’t mean that he isn’t great …it simply suggests that there are others still greater.

Keep in mind also that there are great fighting men, great eras where many of them converged and fought each other, and great trainers behind those great fighting men. Count on this: the list will reflect a convergence of all three. There are perfect storms in this great sport.

The results will surely invite criticism and perhaps even outrage. We would do well to remember the timeless words of John Milton. “Where there is much desire to learn,” he said in 1644, “there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.”

There are two parameters: First, only those fighters who are retired were considered. Hindsight is indeed 20/20. Second, those fighters bridging the era before and after “The Walker Law” were considered if and only if they had reached their peak after 1920. This excludes Sam Langford, Joe Gans, and Bob Fitzsimmons. Those undeniably great fighters are representatives of a different era when boxing was essentially a different sport.

THE CRITERIA 1. Experience/Level of Competition: Fighters with less than 50 professional bouts are unlikely to score high in this category. It is also difficult for fighters who never fought 15 rounds to score high in this category. More important than the number of bouts or rounds, however, is how many objectively serious opponents were faced. For example, if a fighter is 60-0 and yet faces 50 opponents who were made of glass, the score would be considerably lower than if a fighter’s finished record is 132-16-2, but there are several world-beaters on that record. Baltasar Gracian said “many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies” and he is right –greatness untested is mere assumption. This category is the most important measure of a great fighter; therefore the maximum achievable score is 25 points.
2. Ring Generalship: This considers how “effective” a boxer was in controlling a fight. Control is established through adaptability/tactical ability, strategic capability, athleticism, and technical skill.
3. Longevity: Years active isn’t enough to score high here although it helps. The real questions ask how long or how often that fighter performed at a world-class level and whether there is a significant win over a world-class challenger that occurred when the fighter in question was past his best.
4. Dominance: Win/loss ratios, length of championship reigns or “reigns of terror” for those fighters routinely avoided are considered here.
Categories 2-4 have a maximum achievable score of 15 points because they are critical measures of greatness. Those below are worth 10 points.
5. Durability: The greatest fighters were rarely stopped during their prime. Due credit is applied in this category although “Experience” and “Ring Generalship” are mitigating factors. The former because if the fighter faced few punchers, then their durability will be less impressive. The latter because if a fighter’s style is magnificently defensive, then that fighter should not be credited twice.
6. Performance Against Larger Opponents (“P/LO”): The natural disadvantage of facing a larger opponent forces the smaller fighter to dig deeper than he otherwise would have to and rely on skill and cunning. A win over a larger opponent can be compelling evidence of just how good that boxer is.
7. Intangibles: In the end, boxing is a character sport. Most great fighters will score fairly high in this category. Unusual risks taken, adversity overcome, and resilience are a few of the qualities considered here.

Categories such as “Mainstream Appeal” or “Contributions to the Sport of Boxing” have no bearing here despite their unfortunately common usage in many popular rankings. They are based on charisma and political forces and have nothing to do with how great a boxer was as a boxer.

“Head-to-Head” determinations are not included either because they are too speculative; the idea of shrinking or inflating fighters into the same weight division flirts with absurdity. The ten fighters identified here have earned their place based solely on what they were and what they accomplished during their careers.

The Sweet Science as we know it has the seasoning of ninety years behind it. There are gods in its dusty volumes, gods who are reanimated and examined by those of us who won’t let them rest. Consider this your official program. The countdown will begin soon with “The Tenth God of War” and every few days another will be summoned from a literary dressing room to take a bow and then take a throne. The series will conclude after the smoke has cleared and the preeminent boxer of the modern era, the great and terrible “god of war” emerges into view.

Now the spotlight falls center-ring. A silver-coiffed announcer stands there as a microphone drops down from the ceiling.

Roach okays random tests on both camps

By Abac Cordero


MANILA
, Philippines - Freddie Roach doesn’t mind putting his fighter under random drug testing as long as the other camp goes through exactly the same procedure.

The three-time Trainer of the Year yesterday reacted to calls made by the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to have Manny Pacquiao
, the hottest fighter out there, to random tests in the weeks leading to their March 13 encounter.

Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., has raised concerns that the Filipino pound-for-pound champion, whose amazing run of victories as he moved up in weight has baffled his critics, is into some sort of performance-enhancing drugs
.

Roach told The STAR that Pacquiao is a clean fighter, if not the cleanest.

“Yeah, we’ll do it but they have to do it as well. Manny fights clean. If they’ll do it, then we’ll do it,” said Roach as he expressed his willingness to have Pacquiao go through the random tests.

“I don’t have any problem with that. But no blood tests close to the fight. They can take urine tests,” said Roach, adding that it’s how they do it in the Olympics.

The Mayweather people said they want tests like the way it’s being done in the Olympics.

“I had a girlfriend who was in the Olympics in triple jump and that’s how it’s done. They get urine tests. They can come to her in the middle of the night and take urine tests but not blood tests,” Roach added.

He was asked where the heat is coming from and said it all started when Floyd Jr. started raising the issue.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re just looking for an excuse,” said Roach.

Exclusive Interview with Jeff Mayweather: Floyd is Gonna whip Pacquiao

by: DB News Room
Albert Alvarez

Exclusive Interview with Jeff Mayweather

Jeff, what’s good? What can you tell us about the Godzilla of all fights being inked?

JM- Well you know Albert, it’s on the table and being reviewed so you and I both know that it needs to happen.

What can you tell us about the split in this enormous pot?

JM- I believe that it has to be 50/50 right down the middle. Someone will always have something to say, like Floyd can say that he is undefeated and he just had a real easy time with Marquez, where with Pacquiao, Pacquiao struggled hard as heck against Marquez. Pacquiao can come back and say well I beat Oscar and Hatton much easier than you did. So that is why I am saying that the way to be fair in all this is to split it right down the middle.

Now obviously this clash is a real Super Bowl type of event here, so one should pretty much treat it as such. In saying that, don’t you feel that this fight should end up in a huge stadium like they used to do in the old days?

JM- You make a great point by saying that we should treat this fight as a Super Bowl event. I agree with you on that, but I still feel that this fight belongs in Vegas. I mean come on now Albert, Vegas is where the top money is made and above all, Vegas is the Boxing Capital of the world.

On our weekly spotlight column, I recently just yesterday wrote on how I compare this fight to Oscar vs. Tito. Oscar brought the beauty of boxing as well as his good looks just as Floyd brings now, and Tito brought the beast of boxing in the sense that he was knocking guys out with either hand just as Pacquiao does now. I got to tell you though, that for this fight I have no idea who will win, I even ask our readers for help in helping me decide on a winner.

JM- That is a great comparison. Oscar versus Trinidad is very much like what Floyd and Pacquiao bring to the table. Like you said Oscar was a boxer and Trinidad was the banger. Who did you think would win that fight, between Oscar and Trinidad?

Well I was a huge Trinidad fan because of the vicious pictures he painted, but I always knew that Oscar would win because Oscar was the more versatile of the two.

JM- Well there you go. You have the same thing happening here. You can’t tell me that Pacquiao is more versatile than Floyd. Floyd is by far the most versatile fighter out there.

I agree with you that Floyd is very versatile and can adapt quick to anything thrown his way, but PacMan brings that blinding speed out of the southpaw stance with either hand, I mean I can honestly see Floyd being hit flush with a shot he doesn’t see coming.

JM- Well you are right. Pacquiao is fast and he can catch Floyd with something, but the question is how often that can happen through the course of the fight. You can’t hurt what you can’t hit. Floyd is gonna whip him.

So if Floyd is going to whip Pacquiao, then out of all the welterweights out there today, who has the best chance on coming close to Floyd?

JM- I would have to say Pacquiao.

So you think that Pacquiao can beat Mosley?

JM- Yes, but only if he does it at a catchweight. At 147 I’m not so sure. Mosley is very durable and is a heck of a fighter but he is also easy to hit with the right hand. In fact, if Berto can land that right often then he can beat Shane, but Shane is tough and has that great chin. Shane has a better chin than Berto does, so we’ll have to see.

Alright Jeff, well thank you so much for your time and keep me posted on anything new.

JM- Yes, Albert for sure. Next time you come back out here hit me up so we can talk. Thanks for the call, take care.

Malignaggi's steroids theory proves why Pacquiao is great and he isn't

by: Dennis "dSource" Guillermo

There is a saying that opinions are like anuses, everybody got one and they all stink. Well, Paulie Malignaggi definitely has an opinion about everything under the sun, and you got to give the guy some credit for not holding back regardless if you might think his anus, I mean, his opinion, stinks.

Malignaggi is a friend of this column and I have interviewed him in the past. I for one was part of the contingent that called for a rematch between him and Juan Diaz which will be taking place this Saturday at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. With that said, you already know I don't pull any punches and with his recent statements saying he believes Pacquiao is on some form of performance enhancing drugs, one has to wonder his motives. While a guest at The Boxing Truth Radio show, Malignaggi said, (click here to listen)

"First and foremost, you talk to body builders they'll tell you themselves, it's very hard to put on 15-17 pounds of body muscle in a year and a half. Let's remember Manny Pacquiao fought at 130 pounds against Juan Manuel Marquez in 08. He fought In November of 09 against Miguel Cotto 15 to 17 pounds heavier. He looked exactly the same out of "rippedness" and "shreddedness", his body did, at 130 pounds. So you're telling me, this guy 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5, body builder telling me that it's impossible to put on that kind of muscle mass in a year and a half naturally,"

"You're telling me this little midget, 5'5 or 5'4, 5'6 the most, put on 15 to 17 in natural weight and his team is going to try and explain it saying he eats 7,000 calories a day and he just burns it. If you eat 7,000 calories a day and you're 5'5, 5'6 my man you are not going to looked ripped, you're gonna look a little bloated."

"Let's look at Manny Pacquiao when he started moving up from 130. He was a very good fighter at 130 and below.When he got hit you can feel it. He was like life and death with Juan Manuel Marquez and he was wobbly a couple of times when Marquez hit him..."

"Ever since that David Diaz fight, I mean is it just me or does this guy seem like he's King Kong since he went up from 130 pounds. And there's no way he was struggling to make 130 because he weighed-in 122 just a few years before that. Let's face it, once you get past 28 years old you're not going anywhere. Let's be realistic here."

"I'm taking facts and I'm putting them together and they don't just make sense to me. I don't have all the facts obviously he's passing the tests (mandatory drug tests before every fight) Let's keep in mind there plenty of things you can do to beat drug tests and there's plenty of drugs and steroids that are not detectable. This guy is hurting guys every time he touches them and HE WASN'T DOING THAT AT THE LIGHTER WEIGHTS."

"At the smaller weights he was very good but he was beatable but now he has gone up in weight and he's not just beating guys and he's crushing world class killers. He's absolutely crushing them!" "He's obviously become a Superman and people say but steroids won't make your chin feel better, yeah, but there's things that can make you feel like you're on speed or something. There's things out there that make you feel like that."

Paulie, Paulie, Paulie... I respect the hell out of you as a boxer but how can you be so ignorantly stupid? I can't help but wonder if it's your bias against Pacquiao due to the fact that he knocked out two of your "daddys" in Cotto and Hatton that's gotten you swirling like a top with your bombastic blabber against him or you are simply trying to gain publicity because anything with Pacquiao attached to it, as we all media types know, will generate a lot of attention.

First and foremost, the facts that Paulie were pointing out are actually hacked. More like selective facts. I mean, before I continue on, I got to wonder, was Paulie simply being sarcastic? Because he did say a lot of flattering things about Pacquiao if you read it that way. And one more thing, why the heck do those who love to hate on Pacquiao have to be the hardest people to understand like Floyd Mayweather Sr? I swear, listening and trying to transcribe Mayweather Sr. is like trying to hear the words from a record playing backwards while Malignaggi talks like he was translating English at the speed of Chinese.

Anyway, going back to the topic at hand, Malignaggi said Pacquiao was not knocking people out at the lower weights. I think someone forgot to mention to Paulie that Ledwaba is still lying on the same canvas from 2001. Here's real facts for you. Since 2001, Pacquiao has either knocked down or knocked out every single opponent he has faced except for Agapito Sanchez (if you saw that fight, you would know why. Sanchez tagged Pacquiao with low blows, head butts and should have been disqualified). Give me a name that Pacquiao fought whom he did not introduce to the mat? Oscar Dela Hoya might be one, but he quit, which to me really is a lot more devastating. I wonder how those facts escaped Paulie.

Second, Pacquiao's two losses in his career were due to being weight-drained. His first loss actually was a low blow, but that's not the point. When someone talks about facts, he must seek them out first. And fact is, Pacquiao himself was saying before the Marquez fight that it would be his last campaign at 130. Pacquiao was naturally getting bigger as he aged. The thing is with Pacquiao however, ever since he stepped foot in US soil, one thing was said about him by people who witnessed him train. From sparring partners, to fans, to writers, all the way to Freddie Roach and Bob Arum themselves. Pacquiao trains like nobody else they've seen their entire lives. Pacquiao is a hard worker.

So onto Paulie's theory that it's impossible for a "midget" like Manny to gain 15 pounds of muscle mass in a year and a half. Okay, first of all, as I stated, Pacquiao was struggling to make 130 and was dehydrated at the weigh-ins against Marquez in March of 08. There were reports at the weigh-ins that Pacquiao was very cranky and that Roach said Manny was having a hard time making that weight and they would move up in weight after that fight.

Enter Alex Ariza. Roach hired Ariza together with nutritionist Teri Tom to help Pacquiao eat better, and to serve as his strength and conditioning coach. Pacquiao never really had scientific guidance in his regimen in the past, thus the addition of the new scientific training and diet really opened up new doors for Manny. Just ask any NBA player like LeBron or Kobe, these new advancements do give you an edge but it comes with hard work, discipline and dedication, not cheating.

Here's what Ariza and Teri said in an article published by Philstar.com in response to accusatins of steroid use and their top client,

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer except to say that some guys are more genetically gifted than others,” said Tom who was recruited by Pacquiao’s conditioning coach Alex Ariza to join the training team. “I’ve seen over 900 clients in my nutrition practice – that’s a lot of bodies. I know that guys who’ve thought their whole lives that they’re hard gainers often find out that if we pinpoint exactly how much protein and calories they need, and if we monitor and adapt over time, their genetic potential far exceeds their expectations. Obviously, Manny has incredible genetic gifts. Our job is to bring the most out of those gifts.”

Regarding Mayweather Sr., Ariza said he could only expect crazy comments from someone who didn’t even finish high school.

“We use supplements, not steroids,” said Ariza. “Someone who never finished high school, like Mayweather, wouldn’t understand the difference and that’s why they make dumb comments.”

Asked how much longer Pacquiao could fight at a high level given his age, Tom said “while he just keeps getting stronger and faster, a couple of more fights and he’ll probably move on to politics.”

Tom called Pacquiao’s rise from flyweight to possibly the welterweight champion “an incredible run.”

I can go on forever with this, but since I've already said much about this baseless accusation, one has to realize this. After losing to Erik Morales, Pacquiao and Roach worked tirelessly to improve. Pacquiao had his excuses, as most people do, but at the end of the day, he said what he had to say once and went on and did work. Any competitor hates losing. Real winners however, do what it takes to prevent it from happening again. And talking, just as Malignaggi has done throughout his career, blaming anybody from his trainer, promoter to politics as the reason for him being a second-class fighter, well that's a loser's commodity.

Perhaps Paulie said it best when he said in his closing statement about Pacquiao,

"At the end of the day there's just little bit too much out there and I have a hard time digesting it."