It's the year 2010 and there is no time to waste! Who do we need to see in the ring duking it over the next year?

I know we are focused on two people that refuse to get along, but I think there are a few fights that could happen in 2010 to take our mind off of the pound for pound knuckleheads.

Check out my list of 20 fights that I would like to see in 2010.....

Pacquiao - Mayweather off?

Last night Golden Boy Promotions sent out a press release stating that the Manny Pacquiao - Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight was in jeopardy due to the fact that Pacquiao was not willing to comply with certain areas of the Olympic style drug testing. According to the statement, Pacquiao doesn't want to have his blood taken too close to the fight (30 days) due to superstitions. The release made it seem as if this is a big sticking point and the fight could be ruined because of it.

In the release Mayweather added ""I understand Pacquiao not liking having his blood taken, because frankly I don't know anyone who really does," said Mayweather. "But in a fight of this magnitude, I think it is our responsibility to subject ourselves to sportsmanship at the highest level. I have already agreed to the testing and it is a shame that he is not willing to do the same. It leaves me with great doubt as to the level of fairness I would be facing in the ring that night. I hope that this is either some miscommunication or that Manny will change his mind and step up and allow these tests, which were good enough for all these other great athletes, to be performed by USADA."

Not one to be pushed around, Bob Arum has fired back, going as far as saying the fight is off and that "the plug is pulled."

"Mayweather proves that he’s a coward and he’s looking for a way out of the fight," Arum said. "The Nevada commission has been doing drug testing for the last 40 years. To appease Mayweather, we agreed they could do urine analysis any time they wanted. But Manny doesn’t want them to draw his blood when he’s in training because it weakens him."

Arum turned the blame completely around, saying the testing was only a way for Mayweather to find a way out of the fight.

"All they’re doing is harassing Pacquiao," Arum said. "I’m not going to allow it to happen. We’re willing to do urine analysis at random, even though we don’t have to do it under Nevada rules.

"I know deep down Mayweather doesn’t want the fight. He can take a walk."

To read my views and opinions please go to the main article........

Boxing's Naughty List of 2009

After going through some magazines and websites it seems like this is time of the year writers and fans give out their personal awards, make best of lists, and overall just recap anther year that just passed us by. I don't have any awards to give out and I feel like ten of something tends to be a bit too much, but five on the other hand is just right. So in celebration of Christmas I am going to make up a "Naughty and Nice" list of the sweet science in the year 2009. Usually when someone asks you what you want first, "Good news or the bads", I always start with the bad. Now as a boxing fan I usually don't like to get negative about the sport of boxing, but let's be honest... it is boxing. I promise though, I won't call dead or talk about how corrupt it is, there are plenty of other writers to bash the sport like that, I'm just going to cover the things that dissapointed me most this year.

The Naughty five of '09:

Honorable Mention:

Wasted Talent: As Robert DeNiro's character Lorenzo in A Bronx Tale said "the saddest thing in life is wasted talent". This year one of, if not the most exciting fighter to come up through the ranks over the past few year, James Kirkland was arrested on gun charges. In July Kirkland pleaded guilty to gun charges and was sentenced to federal prison for two years. I won't make a judgement on Kirkland because I know that we live in very different worlds, but that doesn't mean it isn't sad to see him sitting out his prime in a jail cell. Lorenzo was right, it truly is sad to see his talent wasted.

To see #'s 5 - 1 please check out the full article on nesn.com.........

DALLAS vs. VEGAS

So it has come down to Vegas or Dallas for the Manny Pacquiao - Floyd Mayweather showdown on March 13th. I am here to tell you that for the good of boxing this fight needs to be in Dallas. I completely understand that Texas has been known to have some bad decisions in the sport, but Vegas has had bad decisions too. What state hasn't?

As much as I loved watching the Miguel Cotto - Manny Pacquiao fight it wasn't as electric as a Ricky Hatton fight when he fought at the M.E.N Arena, or Lucian Bute when he fights in Montreal, and they don't even have to be taking on stellar competition. That because they have a decent following and have their fights in venues that actual fight fans can get tickets for. If you are putting on the biggest fight in the sport in years rational thought would be that you would want to put it in the biggest venue, right?

What does a boxing fan have to do to get in on a big time fight? Why do hardcore fans, the ones that pay the money and support the sport for years get punished when a big event comes around? True boxing fans deserve the chance to see this fight, and if it happens in Vegas you can forget about it. Cowboy Stadium is the only hope for Pac-maniacs and Floydians to see this fight in person.



Check out my full article on the subject.......

PACQUIAO IS WAPAKMAN!

As I've stated in previous blogs, I will never again go doubt Manny Pacquiao's boxing ability. On November 14th he showed the world what an incredible talent he is by dismantling a legitimate Welterweight champion in Miguel Cotto. Manny Pacquiao has to now be considered one of the best fighters of our generation, and he now lands himself in conversation about where on the list he is All-time.

I repeat, I will never doubt Manny Pacquiao in the ring ever again......... I will however laugh at his acting abilities all day long! Pacquiao's movie Wapakman is due to come out in the Philippines around Christmas, but I tend to believe he won't be getting very many offers from Hollywood after this. He looks like a cross between Great American Hero, and a little kid on Halloween, you know the kid that comes to the door and you feel bad for.

I guess it is a Sci-Fi comedy about an average man who develops super-powers. After watching the trailer I have to wonder if the comedy is intentional!

Check out the Wapakman trailer, let me know what you think.

Hype Hangover

IT'S UNFAIR TO TWO WORTHY FIGHTERS

As a die hard boxing fan it's not hard to get sucked up into the hype of a big time fight, especially one as solid as Pacquiao vs. Cotto. The difficult thing is dealing with the hangover. No not your typical booze induced headache of a hangover, more of a hype hangover.

If you are a boxing fanatic like me you spent the weeks leading up to fight just pouring yourself over every article, video, chat room, and friendly conversation that had anything to do with that fight. You watched every installment of HBO's 24/7, maybe even watched them twice. You wore out the Pacquiao - Cotto discussions with your girlfriend(probably didn't take long), you even bought bobble-heads of the fighters(I did, can't help it, I love both guys). The problem is that after the big night your brain is mush.

You have have done one of two things since Saturday: Gotten so obsessed with the fight that now all you care to read is recaps, and talk of a Pacquiao -Mayweather showdown, or you are just plain tired of reading about boxing. I understand how you feel, the hype to a big fight can wear any man down, but I am here to tell you it is unacceptable. Go splash some water on your face, take a nap, do some deep knee bends, whatever it is that you need to do to shake that hangover(perhaps eating something greasy can help in this instance too).

We have two fighters that need our support and attention now. Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler will square off in Oakland California Saturday night for the WBA Super-middleweight title. Almost any other month, or even week this would be a huge deal, but after the amazing performance that Manny Pacquiao put on in what was easily the most anticipated fight in years, this fight seems to have taken second fiddle. I have been referring to this fight as the "Christmas Baby Fight". I was born three days after Christmas, and because of that I have always been shorted on gifts, parties, and anticipation for my birthday. I feel for Ward and Kessler, I know what it's like to be the after thought to a bigger event(I like to think it has nothing to do with me as a person).

That should not be the case with this one. These are two of the best Super-middleweights in the world and they should not be ignored. This is the final fight of group stage one in Showtime's Super Six tournement, and these could be arguably the two best in the tourney.

Mikkel Kessler(42-1,32ko)

Monaco, Denmark

Kessler's rap sheet is much more impressive than that of Oakland's Ward. His only loss came at the hands of Joe Calzaghe two years ago(which is no shame, 46 others fell to Calzaghe too).Kessler has wins over Librado Andrade, Marcus Beyer, Eric Lucas, and Anthony Mundine. He has solid boxing ability, a granite chin, and what could be the best 1-2 in the biz.

Andre Ward(20-0,13ko)

Oakland, CA USA

Ward was the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, and started off his career at middleweight. He has yet to lose in his professional career, but the quality of names on his resume doesn't even close to the ones on Kessler's. Ward has wins against Rubin Williams, Jerson Ravelo, and his biggest win to date came against the brawling Edison Miranda. Ward is a smart fighter with fast hands, and outstanding athletic ability.

When Joe Calzaghe retired most thought Mikkel Kessler would be the heir apparent, but do to some promotional issues he ended up sitting out of the sport for most of 2009. He had one tune up fight back in September in Denmark before getting into the tournament. Ward on the other hand stepped up in 2009, taking on Edison Miranda; by far the toughest test of his career(he won by TKO in the 8th). Ward was pegged as a superstar after getting the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, but got wobbled a few times in early fights, took the slow road, and was beginning to test the patience of his fans. These days when it seems like too many fighters are in a hurry to fight for a title, Ward took his career slowly and carefully, now five years since he won his gold medal win Ward gets his first title fight.

THE FIGHT

The fight takes place in Ward's hometown of Oakland California, not a bad place to have your first title fight, just ask Carl Froch if being the hometown fighter has it's advantages(Froch beat Andre Dirrell in a close fight earlier this year in his hometown of Nottingham England). This is a tough fight to call, Kessler has the power to KO Ward, but Ward has the ring intelligence to move and box from the outside.

The questions: Can Kessler cut the ring down enough to corner Ward? Ward has the far superior hand-speed, but is that enough to keep Kessler off of him? Can Kessler win a decision in Oakland? Does Ward have the power to KO Kessler?

In the end I'm going to go with Ward to take a tight decision in what should be a great fight. I feel he will potshot the Dane from the outside and not let himself get caught against the ropes. I will say that if Kessler can force the fight and make Ward trade shots with him he could get the KO. Ward has shown a shaky chin at times and "The Viking Warrior" can drop that 1-2 combination like a hammer(just ask Marcus Beyer). That being said I don't think Ward will let Kessler set his feet and throw with as much pepper on his shots as he would like. Ward will use his superior hand-speed and outbox Kessler. Remember they are fighting in Oakland, so if it's close the fight is going to Ward. I also have to say I think this will be a much more entertaining fight than the Dirrel-Froch match-up. Dirrell at times fights as if he is afraid of fighting, while Ward doesn't mind mixing it up. I really think this could fight could go so many ways, but Ward is just so fast, and in his home town, that is a lot to overcome for the Dane. Either way I feel the winner Saturday could take the whole Super Six Tournament, and may very well be the best Super-middleweight in the world. If that isn't enough to shake your "Hype Hangover" I don't know what will, except maybe a Bloody Mary.

Two questions to close it out:

1. Who do you pick this weekend?

2. Who do you think will win the whole tourney?

Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr?

How did we get here?

I originally wrote this post back in May when Floyd came out of retirement, but I thought with a little updating it was perfect to repost.

Not too long ago it seemed like after every fight I watched the winning fighter would call out Floyd Mayweather Jr., while Experts and fans alike had differing opinions on who should get a crack at the reigning pound-for-pound champ. All signs now point to a show-down with the "little man that could" Manny Pacquiao. Did "Pretty Boy" actually help himself out by disappearing for a little while?


The names of Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Manny Pacquiao were all being thrown out there. Not to mention some thought Hatton deserved a second shot at the undefeated fighter. If Floyd hadn't retired would we have gotten to this point?

Here are some big fights that have lead to a Mayweather Jr. - Pacquiao showdown:


December 12th 2008: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton
Mayweather Jr. lands a perfect left hook on Ricky Hatton's jaw to knock him out in the 10th.

February 9th 2008: Carlos Quintana vs. Paul Williams
Quintana upsets Williams by unanimous decision, and takes his WBO title. We start to wonder if Williams was just a bit overrated.

March 15th 2008: Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez II
In a spectacular fight Pacquiao walks away with a Split Decision win (many experts and fans thought it could have gone the other way, I had Pacquiao winning). It gives Pacquiao an edge against his arch nemesis with the win, either way I think most look forward to a third encounter.

April 24th 2008: Antonio Margarito vs. Kermit Cintron II
Margarito once again owns Kermit Cintron and KO's him 6 rounds. Cintron has lost a chance at Floyd with this outing. Margarito has the masses talking again.

June 6th 2008: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Retirement
The retirement would cancel the upcoming Delohaya-Mayweather II bout scheduled for September. Oscar is left without an obvious Mega-fight and has to look outside the welterweights.

June 7th 2008: Paul Williams vs. Carlos Quintana II
Williams erases the only defeat from his record with the one round destruction of Carlos Quintana, Williams is back in our good graces.

June 28th 2008: Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz
Pacquiao successfully moves up in weight and has arguably the best showing of his career by thoroughly dismantling 135lb champ David Diaz inside of 9 rounds. Word on the street is Paquiao is the new pound-for-pound champ.(Does that sound hip?)

July 26th 2008: Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto
Margarito stops Miguel Cotto in the 11th round of a spectacular fight. Cotto suffers his first loss, and is no longer seen as the unstoppable machine he had looked like in his past few bouts.

September 13th 2008: Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Joel Casamayor
Marquez takes on cagey southpaw veteran Joel Casamayor in his first fight at Lightweight, and takes him out in the 11th of a solid fight. Marquez continues his climb up the pound-for-pound ranks, and stalks a third fight with Pacquiao.

September 27th 2008: Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga
Shane Mosley KO's Ricardo Mayorga in the last seconds of surprisingly entertaining twelve round fight. The scorecards were pretty close, and it seemed as if Mosely was finally starting to show some signs of aging.

December 6th 2008: Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar Delahoya
Pacquiao man-handles the much bigger Oscar Delahoya, and gets the TKO in the 8th round. Pacquiao sends Delahoya into retirement, and is now widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. (Many considered him before, but after this fight there was no question).

January 24th 2009: Shane Mosley vs. Antonio Margarito
Shane Mosley puts on one of the best performances of his career and goes almost untouched while delivering an embarrassing beating to Antonio Margarito, stopping him in the 9th. Previous to the fight Margarito was found to have padding in his hand-wraps, it was later revealed those pads were indeed Plaster-of-Paris. This puts into puts into question all of his previous wins.

February 28th 2009: Juan Manual Marquez vs. Juan Diaz
Marquez would put on a stellar performance in what would be a front runner for fight of the year, stopping Diaz in the 9th. Marquez continues his rightful quest to take on Pacquiao for a third time.

April 11th 2009: Paul Williams vs. Winky Wright
Williams completely out hustles and out classes the usually hard to handle Winky Wright, taking home a one-sided unanimous Decision. This was just the 3rd time Williams has fought over the Welterweight limit and his 2nd fight at Middleweight. Williams has been so good at Middleweight, do we really want him to move down again?

May 2nd 2009: Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton
Pacquiao shows the world why he is now called the best fighter in the world. He may have sent his second superstar into retirement, this time with a flush left hook to the jaw in the 2nd round. Ricky Hatton can kiss his rematch with Floyd Jr. goodbye.

July 18th 2009: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez
Mayweather steps out of retirement and steps back in the ring to take on another pound for pound ranked fighter in Juan Manuel Marquez. Floyd was the much bigger fighter, but Marquez was still a tough test considering Floyd had been off for two years. Mayweather puts on an amazing display off boxing skill for twelve rounds. He completely out boxes another master technician and announces to the boxing world he is back and ready to reclaim his thrown as pound for pound king.

November 14 2009: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto
In a bold move Pacquiao stays at the around the Welterweight division and challenges for his record seventh world title against what is by most to be considered his toughest test.(I thought he would simply wait for Mayweather to beat Marquez). Pacquiao dominates and punishes the bigger fighter in Cotto, and proves to boxing fans that he is not just a great fighter, but an all-time great fighter. Pacquiao continues a streak unlike anything I've ever seen, stopping his fourth world class fighter in a row.


TBA: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that this one will get done. This is the fight that fans, fighters, and even my mom wants to see. There is too much money to be made for both fighters and evreyone involved in the event for this not to happen.

So there you have it, some of the big things that have happened in boxing between "Pretty Boy's" destruction of Hatton and Pacquiao's instant classic against Cotto. If I had said a few years ago that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. should fight people would have laughed at me, but now it's the only fight fans want to see.

Long story short, The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is the only fight in boxing that MUST happen. All it took was a two year hiatus, a violent spree of KO's from Pacquiao, some crappy undercards, and few PPV's!

FINAL THOUGHTS ON PACQUIAO - COTTO

I fully apologize to the Pacmaniacs out there for underestimating their man; he put on quite a show and proved that he is truly an all-time great fighter. I have always had only one rule in boxing; never bet against Bernard Hopkins, well I think my second rule in boxing may have to be never bet against Manny Pacquiao. That may not be quite as big an honor as your seventh title in as many weight classes, but it’s the best I can do. So again, I’m sorry; I fully see the errors of my way.

I thought that Miguel Cotto’s corner completely let him down Saturday night. At several points in the fight I felt bad for Cotto starting around the 3rd round when all he was being told was “come on, box, come on”, I may be wrong but I would think you should have more to say to him than that. He needed some advice on what to do, and what to stay away from at that point. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome, but I’m sure it could not have hurt anything. I also thought letting the fight go past the ninth round was somewhat inhuman, Cotto was in full retreat mode, and it was obvious he was just trying to survive. He had taken quite a beating up to that point, as his corner it’s your job to protect the fighter, and take the decision out of his hands. Cotto is a proud fighter and he didn’t want to quit, it was Santiago’s job to say enough is enough.

I was actually entertained through out the Yuri Foreman – Daniel Santos fight. I was happy for Foreman and I’m glad he took the title, he deserved with his performance. Santos deserved to loose it just for coming in the way he did. I was sure that would be the worst fight of the night, instead Julio Cesar Chavez Jr gets that honor. I have always cut Chavez Jr. some slack for fighting less than stellar competition because he didn’t have much of an amateur background, but now it’s a little ridiculous. I wonder if a talked about fight between John Duddy and Chavez Jr will actually happen now.

I thought the scrap between Alfonso Gomez and Jose Soto-Karass was decent. It seemed like it was just starting to heat up when Gomez got the cut. I know that Gomez will never be a star fighter, but I would watch him on any undercard.