THREE FIGHTS FOR PACMAN

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It seems that, lately, Manny Pacquiao (51-3, 38 KOs) can't lose. It doesn't matter if he's fighting for a belt at 140 pounds, 147 pounds or a seat on the Philippines Congress. Even acid reflux is no match for this guy.

Now as happy as I am that Pacman has dreams outside the ring and is accomplishing them by getting involved in the Philippines political scene, I am also very saddened that the end of his boxing career is in sight. As the world watched to see if Pacquiao would get elected, Bob Arum was telling media outlets that he thought Pacquiao still had three fights left in him.

So that leaves us to make some decisions -- maybe not congressional decisions, but almost as important. What three fighters does Manny Pacquiao have to take on to close out his career?

Here are my choices.

1. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (41-0, 25 KOs)
OK, this is obvious. Bob Arum has said Pacquiao is fighting in November. A date of Nov. 13 has been pegged as a possible date for the superfight, and the world is collectively sending out good karma in hopes that it gets done. It's not often that the two all-around best boxers in the game are fighting around the same weight class. If this fight fails, it would not only be a huge money-making opportunity lost, but it would also open the floodgates for people to say, "It's another black eye on the sport of boxing."

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is coming off the best win of his career against Shane Mosley. Not only did Mayweather overcome a few rough moments in the third round after being wobbled by Mosley, but he also beat Mosley to the punch, walked the offensive fighter down and was somewhat entertaining. "Money May" looked so good against his 38-year-old opponent that the message boards, Twitter accounts and Facebook status updates were filled with boxing fans proclaiming what would happen to Pacman if a fight did indeed take place. To that, I reply with another boxing cliche: "That's why they fight the fight".

This fight needs to happen. It would be good for the sport, good for both fighters' legacies and, most of all, good for the fans who have stood by patiently while the two sides bickered like an old married couple.

2. Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs)
No matter the outcome of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight -- meaning win, lose, draw or doesn't happen -- I would like to see this matchup. Timothy Bradley is a no-nonsense, come-forward boxing machine. He first opened eyes when he took a split-decision victory over the awkward Junior Witter in enemy territory (England). He walked away with WBC light welterweight title and boatloads of respect from hardcore boxing fans.

Bradley has followed up that fight with nothing but impressive victory after impressive victory. He has beaten Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell and Lamont Peterson in the past two years. I would be willing to bet that there aren't many boxers who have faced that caliber of opposition lately, much less beaten them all. Bradley has also just joined the HBO ranks, which means he will start to get some recognition.

Bear with me as I toss out another one: "Pressure busts pipes." In the case of a Pacquiao-Bradley fight, I think "Pressure makes a diamond." Pacquiao doesn't back down, and neither does Bradley. Bradley seems to be built like the Energizer Bunny, never slowing down, never stopping and constantly banging away. You could name the fight after one of my favorite Tom Petty songs: "I Won't Back Down."

TO SEE THE REST OF MY LIST PLEASE GO TO NESN.COM/BRYAN-BRENNAN

PREDICTION IN THE FORM OF POETRY

Twas' three days to go for the fight,

and there are 30,000 Brits stirring all through the Vegas night.

The gloves are hung in the locker rooms with care,

just waiting for fists to fly through the air.

Boxing fans are not sleeping too well,

they're waiting anxiously for the ring of the opening bell.

My mom's not a boxing fan but even she has asked,

what is my prediction in who will be standing last.

24/7 has made my mouth water for weeks,

I just wish I had never seen Ricky Hatton's cheeks.

Even though it came and went in a flash,

I will repeat, I really didn't need to see his pale white ash.

Before you know it, they'll juke and they'll jive,

I don't think there's any way it ends inside of five.

Hatton will go to the body Mayweather to the head,

I'm so excited after the fight I could probably drop dead.

Mayweather is slick, Hatton is tough,

Ricky's best chance is to make this one rough.

Mayweather will use all his speed and skill,

to stay on the outside and try to break Ricky's will.

I don't think this will go the distance at all,

I just want it to end in a brawl.

I don't see Hatton's hand being raised,

What I do see is poor Ricky going down in a blaze.

Mayweather doesn't take fights he thinks he could lose,

he picked the hitman, someone he thinks he can abuse.

Hatton will fall around eight or even nine,

he is not suited for the 140 to 147lb. incline.

The loser should not be ashamed of the outcome,

just risking their records is more than most have done.

All in all I just want to see a good fight,

holy good gosh, I wish they could square off tonight!

A LETTER TO BOXING

With most things jobs, sports, families, there is someone in charge, someone you can bring your problems to. If you have a problem with the NFL, you can write a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell. If you have a problem with the rules at your house, you can bring it up to Mom or Dad(if your living at home, your landlord if your not). If you have a problem with boxing, you have to just bitch and moan about it, like the no good whinny cry-baby you are. Well, I have many problems with boxing, and thanks to my friend Coach, I have decided to write a letter.


Dear Boxing,

I am writing you because I feel as if I am in a one way relationship. I am not completely unhappy, I just feel that I give so much more to you, than you give back to me. There are times I feel as if I am being stood up on a date. Remember the time you had the pound for pound champ take on the most popular fighter in the game, tota l let down. Maybe you remember the time you had two of the games pound for pound best tacticians square off in a boxing chess match of sorts, then charged me 50 bucks to see it. How about when you dare ask me to give 50 dollars for match-ups that are even less interesting? You have been trying lately, but it seems as if these things you've done for me this fall will be taken away by spring time. Taylor-Pavlick II will be on PPV, Joe Calzaghe's next fight will probably land there as well. That's just more money down the drain.

I have a few suggestions for you that would change our relationship. I know that I can't ask you to be a different sport, it's too late for that. You'll never be the NFL, or MLB, or even the National Beer pong League for that matter. I'm asking for little things, just enough change to make me feel as if you care. To start, you need to fix the heavyweight division. It's the one division that no n-boxing fans pay attention to. This is easier than you think, are ready for the simple fix.......change the heavies to the Super Heavyweight division. You can then change the name of Cruiserweight to Heavyweight. Think about it, it's just a name, all people will know is that these are big athletic guys who put on good fights and can knock fellas out with one punch. The Supers will be fat and out of shape, like they have been for years. You could even extend the limit to 205 or maybe 210 if you needed to.

Idea number two, stop charging me for good fights. It's been nice this fall with the Pavlick-Tayor and Kessler-Calzaghe fights, but with that you throw at me Pay-Per-Views like Cotto-Mosley, and Mayweather-Hatton. I'm not saying thaose are bad fights, I'm just asking why can't you find advertisement money instead of taking my hard earned cash? Those are good fights, but along with those you try and get me to buy Shannon Briggs vs. Sultan Ibragimov and Fernando Vargas vs. Ricardo Mayorga. I understand that the sport is always going to have PPV's, but if you keep having these lame ones you're not promoting yourself. How do you expect to get new fans involved in the sport? No one is going to fork over 50 bucks for something they don't know anything about. That goes for cheap tickets to the events themselves too. Recently I went to the Contender Finale at The Banknorth Garden, the cheapest tickets were 45 bucks! The Garden is huge, you're telling me that selling 10 or even 20 dollar tickets would have broken the bank? On top of that you didn't even advertise it very well, I talked to at least ten people(most of whom work in the sports industry) and they had no idea there was a big fight happening in Boston. If you sold cheap tickets you would have packed the place and maybe walked away with a few extra boxing fans.

I would l ike to have more good fights televised. I don't think this is too much to ask. Why is it that Spike TV shows every UFC worth watching. ESPN Classic picked up Holyfield vs. Ibragimov, who the heck wants to see that fight? Yet I have to find David Haye vs. Jean Marc Mormeck, and Lucian Bute vs. Alejandro Berrio on youtube after the fact. Or the time you made me watch Wlad Klitschko destroy Ray Austin within seconds. Just air good fights, people will begin to watch if you do that. Along that same line, is it too much to ask to have a PPV event be shown at a bar? The way you charge a bar for PPV's is by their max capacity number. That's forcing bars to not order the fights, that means regular sports loving people are being turned away from the sport. I don't know about anybody else but if it's a sport and it's at the bar, I'll watch it. Once again, your just sucking old fans dry, and not introducing yourself to new ones. Why not just charge a flat rate to the bar, something affordable, you'll benefit in the end, I promise.

One last thing, just make some effort. You have made some real progress this fall. You put together some great fights, now don't turn back. Get the winner of Mayweather-Hatton to fight Miguel Cotto. Heck you could even have the loser fight Mosley. I will also say for the first time in a while I am happy with a PPV undercard(Mayweather-Hatton). You usually stiff on the entertainment for the prefights, but this time you're doing it right, good for you. I know you're not perfect, I don't expect you to be, just give me some effort. I'm gonna love you no matter what, I just don't want other people to say I'm in an abusive relationship, that's all. So work on a few of these things and I think we'll be alright.

Love,
The Bryguy

TESSITORE AGREES

I will come right out and say it I'm happy that Ricky Hatton is fighting Floyd Mayweather on December 8th. I will also say that I would have preferred to see him take on Brooklyn born Paulie Malignaggi first. Malignaggi is a hand full for anybody at 140lbs to handle. I think it would have been nice to see Hatton test the waters with Malignaggi and then move on to the "Pretty Boy". I used to think Mayweather would be too much for Miguel Cotto to handle until I witnessed him slow down the much quicker Malignaggi, now I would love to see this match up. Well, I don't want to brag, but the voice of Friday "Night Fights" Joe Tessitore agrees with "The Byrguy". Check it out. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=tessitore_joe&id=2956984

THE BIG FINISH!


If you're reading this blog you're:

A: someone I work with
B: my mom
C: a boxing fan

For those of you in the C group I'm sure you've already heard about a few of the bouts close to being signed to finish out the year. For those of you in the A and B groups I will let know what's going on(mom you don't have to pretend you know who these people are). It looks as if Chad Dawson could be taking on Antonio Tarver on September 23rd, Shane Mosley might tangle with Miguel Cotto on November 10th, and on December 8th Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton will square off. For me this makes for a great end to a pretty decent boxing year. Aside from the heavyweight division and the Jermain Taylor Corey Spinks fight, we've had a pretty good year.(I actually enjoyed my recent root canal more than those two bouts). Even if you were let down by the "Golden Boy" vs. "Pretty Boy" matchup you've got to admit it was kinda fun having boxing in the spotlight again. The first big fight being lined up is Tarver - Dawson for late September. I'm impressed that Tarver took this fight. Dawson looks to be one of the most dangerous guys in all of boxing, and I thought Tarver would duck the young lion. I'm glad it's being made, Dawson can now begin to clean up the division starting with it's most popular man, and then move on to the rest of the nursing home known as the Light Heavyweight division. Very soon after that fight ends HBO-PPV will air Shane Mosley vs. Miguel Cotto. This very well could be the best fight of the year. Mosley has looked great in last couple of performances against Louis Collazo and both fights with Fernando Vargas. Miguel Cotto has been steam rolling opponents for thirty straight bouts. This fight could very well be the one to seal Mosley's legacy or vault Cotto into superstardom. To cap off the boxing year we are going to see two unbeatens face off on December 8th in Las Vegas, when Ricky Hatton gets in the ring with the pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. This fight could be a slight let down just like the Oscar Delahoya fight, but again it will have a bunch of hype leading up to the fight so perhaps for the second time this year the general public will pay attention to the world of boxing. One thing is for sure the crowd on hand will be extremely entertaining. Those are three fights I'm looking forward to seeing along with a few others(Pavlick-Taylor, Kessler-Calzaghe, and Pacquiao-Barrera). So it looks like the Fall of '07 is trying to resuscitate the so called "dead" sport of boxing. I better get started on my predictions. Let me know what fight you're most looking forward to seeing.

GO HOME HATTON!


I mean that in the nicest possible way. I like Ricky Hatton, as you can see by my picture located on the left.(Excuse my double chin, it sneaks up on me sometimes.) I mean seriously, how can you not like a guy who wears a shirt that says Ricky Fatton?(That's what people call him when he puts on weight between fights.) Anyway, this past Saturday I cut the drinking a little short and ventured to the lounge to enjoy the Ricky Hatton- Jose Louis Castillo fight, which I had DVR'd. Leading up to the fight all people were talking about was their displeasure in Ricky's two past performances. Some blamed Ricky's level of opposition, others said Ricky was overrated. I say Ricky's always been Ricky! The difference is when he's fighting in the states the crowd is not behind him. When he fought Kotya Tszyu he packed an arena full of rabid fans wanting nothing more than to see their man Ricky maul whoever Else was in the ring. This past weekend in Vegas Jim Lampley kept talking about the atmosphere, and how passionate the Hatton fan base was. There were an estimated 13,000 fans attendance. While they were loud and entertaining, I would much prefer to have that be 30,000 loud entertaining fans! Watching Ricky Hatton fight in Vegas is like watching the Red Sox play in Toronto. I'll watch the games, but complain that nobody appreciates what they're seeing. I am begging the promoters, if Mayweather and Hatton fight, PLEASE make the fight in England. Mayweather doesn't have any fans anyway! So for the sake of boxing, Ricky please go home!
Just as a side note: you could rewrite this article and put Joe Calzaghe's name in the place of Ricky Hatton.

FIGHT WEEK HYPE

So once again I state that I'm very excited about this fight. Not just for the fact that I think it should be a good scrap, but also because everyone else is excited about this fight. Not just freaks like The Bryguy, who write blogs about their favorite sport. It's the people who wouldn't normally care about a fight that are getting me amped up. Today I read two articles in ESPN the magazine, and one in SI about the fight. Both magazines had the fight featured on the front cover, which is unheard of these days. After all that i didn't think I could be more into this fight, but wait there's more! I worked an early day and went home for some delicious home cooking, and some overdue vegetables. On my way home I decided last minute to stop and do some food shopping. Probably not the best idea when you're not sure exactly what you need. I found myself wondering the supermarket aimlessly. Suddenly I was in the magazine section and looking at me square in the face was the new Ring Magazine. In bold letters across the front it said "25 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION GOLDEN BOY VS. PRETTY BOY THE WORLD AWAITS". My first thought was I wish I had renewed my subscription to The Ring. My second thought was I don't have the money for this and yet I'll buy it anyway. As I stood in line I realized I didn't need most of what I had put in my basket. Then the cashier asked "who you taking". It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about, when I noticed the magazine was on top of my groceries. So, of course I replied "Mayweather". The cashier then came with "ya, I think Delahoya's been out too long". That was pretty much the extent of the conversation, but it was a first for me and a much better chit chat than, "nice day out huh". So, my friend the cashier said he is going to have to work during the fight, which I honestly felt bad about for some reason. I will not be working and I will enjoy sharing in the excitement with all the people who will probably never get excited about boxing again after May 5th. Of course that's not me, I get excited about every fight.

DELAHOYA vs. MAYWEATHER

I sometimes forget to post my predictions, so I decided to get this one in early. I actually may be a little sad when this fight is over. It's the first time in a while that the general public has been interested in a fight. I will miss the hype has been revolving around this fight. I will go back to being the only guy excited about a match up. I will go back to getting blank stares when I tell people about a big fight coming up. With one week left I will enjoy the hype, conversations, and all the predictions that come along the last mega fight for years to come.

Now comes the time where I pick apart this fight as if I know what I'm talking about. This is not an easy fight to predict. Floyd is the pound for pound champ without a doubt, but everyone must lose at some point. Oscar is the biggest and most talented guy Floyd has ever faced. The more I read about this fight the more it seems Oscar has become the popular choice to win. It's almost as if Floyd has somehow become the underdog. Lately Floyd has been fighting what seems to be hand picked opponents in Carlos Baldomir and Arturo Gatti. He looked like a mortal early on in the fight with Zab Judah. People are making a big deal about Oscar being the bigger man, yet Oscar and Floyd both started fighting at 130pounds. I think this fight will go somewhat similar to the Zab fight. Floyd will lose a few of the early rounds and look vulnerable. Oscar has a habit of fading down the stretch, this will be a big factor. Floyd will figure out Oscar in the second half and start to pick him off. I think the second half of this fight will prove to everyone just how special an athlete Floyd Mayweather Jr. really is.
PREDICTION: Mayweather UD