Golden Boy Promotions' and Top Rank's settlement over Manny Pacquiao

Finally the war is over. I first thought that this was going to be bad for Pacquiao, but now, it only made a lot of fights possible for him. On October 6 Manny Pacquiao fights and he fights Marco Antonio Barrera! Although he already beat him during their first fight via an 11th round TKO, Pacquiao says Barrera is still going to be dangerous. Fans are still going to want to see this fight though and that includes me. Although I believe most will favor the PacMan, Barrera will come out strong seeking for revenge. The fight venue will be at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez is also now a possibility and I would like to see the new and improved PacMan get another fight with the guy that he knocked out 3 times and then had a draw with.

Besides all these, imagine all the possible fights with both Top Rank's and Golden Boy Promotion's talent-rich roster of fighters and you'll know what I mean! It might just be a good year for boxing after all, with UFC also buying out Pride and making superfights, boxng fans also have their own version. Hopefully it will all come out good. To see more of this news and some possible match-ups visit this site.

Evander Holyfield wins against Lou Savarese!

Old-timer, 44 year old Evander Holyfield still has it in him as he won via unanimous decision over opponent Lou Savarese! He knocked him out two times! I think this guy really is serious on going for the championship again. Although he wasn't what he used to be, I think he might still have one last fight in him, just like Rocky VI. More info here.

UFC 75: Jackson vs. Henderson!

Yup, that's right. UFC 75 is going to be a mega fight between two reigning champs in two different MMA organizations (although UFC acquired Pride). Quinton Jackson is the current UFC light heavyweight champ and Dan Henderson is the current Pride 83 kg and 93 kg champ (you do the conversion, I suck at math). This is going to be a greatly anticipated fight and I am willing to put this here before UFC 74's Couture vs. Gonzaga. The event is going to be in London on Sept. 8 at the O2. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic from Pride will also be fighting against Cheick Kongo. For more info, go here.

UFC 73 really is stacked!

I just went to Sacramento this summer to visit my uncle who is an avid UFC fan. We had to leave early because we still had to visit my cousin in Long Beach, now that I'm here in Las Vegas, I find out that UFC 73 was going to be in Sacramento. What the f%$k!? If I knew that when I was there then I would've stayed! Now my uncle gets to watch it all by himself!

Anyway, since I can't go there due to appointment restraints, I'm just going to have to talk about it. UFC 73: Stacked really is stacked as the name suggests. Although the fight I'm most looking forward to is between former Pride fighters Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Heath Herring, Anderson Silva vs. Nathan Marquadt will be a good one. Both guys have a lot of experience and fought against good oppositions. Current UFC and Cage Rage middleweight champ Silva defeated Rich Franklin, Carlos Newton, Hayato Sakurai, and Jeremy Horn while Nathan is a seven-time world champion for King of Pancrase middleweight division. Although both have tons of fights under their belt, I'm leaning towards a win for Silva.

Another fight is between Sean Sherk who defeated Kenny Florian to win the UFC lightweight title and Hermes Franca former WEC and AFC Lightweight champion. Both fighters have fought fairly good opponents and also have many years of experience. Although I would say that Sherk has the most experience and is older than Franca by a year, but I doubt that would make a difference. Sherk has fought and won against Nick Diaz, but lost against Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. Franca has fought and won against Nathan Diaz (brother of Nick Diaz) and Ryan Schultz. I think Sherk will come out as the victor in this one as he is the more experienced guy who fought higher quality opponents.

Tito Ortiz will be fighting again versus Rashad Evans, TUF 2 heavyweight winner. I think Tito is starting to go down on his career already having a dissappointing performance against Chuck Liddell. The way he fights just doesn't excite me. He relies too much on striking and is not even good at it looking at the way Chuck Liddell beat him. Rashad Evans seems an "OK" fighter, but that's all I see in him. He's just an average fighter, but with a good determination rose up the ranks. I think Tito will take this fight because he has way more fight experiences with quality opponents while Evans only has Sean Salmon.

As for the Nogueira vs. Heath Herring? I'm definitely going for Nogueira. I've seen him fight strong opposition in Pride and the guy is a genius when it comes to jiu-jitsu and already has a win against Heath Herring. Herring has lost to him twice and also have losses against Fedor Emelianenko, Vitor Belfort, and Mirko Filipovic. I just want to see how Nogueira performs in the UFC for this fight seeing as he's new to the organizaton.

Overall, this event is filled with exciting match-ups and will be worth your money. We're starting to see Pride fighters in the UFC and I'll be looking forward to the Chuck Liddell-Wanderlei Silva if it ever happens and Fedor Emelianenko, too. For more info, go here.

Boxing provides a second chance for pugilists to become scholars

I recently heard from the Philippine news that Manny Pacquiao was going back to college. Wow, I said to myself, he's finally putting his hard-earned cash to good use instead of wasting it all on politics or gambling. That got me thinking, boxers get into the sport because of poverty early on in their life and instead of going to school, they train. They become successful, earn a lot of money (more than enough to pay for education), spend it all on some blings, girls, alcohol, or any other vices and then go broke.

Some people are born smart, but most of us need to go to school to be smart. The world is harsh and it doesn't take pity on anybody. A boxer might take a lot of punch, but out in the world, things are not just like boxing. If you don't know how to carry yourself in the real world then people are going to take advantage of you.

I've heard about how MMA guys have college degrees and good jobs before going into the sport and that's what I like about that sport. They are already well-off and not living off on MMA alone. Boxer's, on the other hand, do it backwards. Since they start off from poverty and can't go to school early in their life, they start off with boxing first. However, when they become successful, I believe they should go back to school: the thing that they were denied when they were young.

I know this doesn't apply to all boxers out there (Juan Diaz, for example, who goes to college), but that is what boxing is famous for: an escape from poverty. Lots of young minds are attracted to the sport because of its promise to take you out of the slums when you get good enough even without education. Most boxing stars come from poor countries (Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales, for example) But you can't go long without education. (I, myself, don't like school, but it is necessary.)

Your boxing career won't last forever and you must capitalize on it while you can. It is a dangerous sport where one can get a lot of damage, short and long term. It's gonna be hard on your body and if one can't go on anymore, education can open new doors.

Ricky Hatton knocks Jose Luis Castillo out in the 4th round!

I was expecting too much from Castillo as he got knocked out by the visibly faster and younger Ricky Hatton during the 4th round. The punch that knocked him out was a left hook body punch by Ricky Hatton. Both fighters made a good performance, but Hatton was the better man when he stepped on the ring. Castillo could have done more, in my opinion, but I think he just gave up. Ricky Hatton, on the other hand, really did his homework and overcame Castillo. More info at Fightnews.com. More photos here.

Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo this Saturday!

On the aftermath of UFC 72 comes HBO Boxing's pay-per-view event slated for June 23, 2007 between undefeated Ricky Hatton and hard-punching, iron-chinned, Jose Luis Castillo. Unlike Pretty Boy Floyd, Ricky Hatton has expressed his desire to fight the current top boxers in his division and plans on establishing a legacy. The current guy on his list is Jose Luis Castillo who, in my opinion, has an outstanding chin and will be very hard to knock out. Although his last fights were against questionable opposition, Juan Urango included, this will be the hardest fight for him since Kostya Tszyu.
Jose Luis Castillo, on the other hand, has had a lot of tough fights. His first war with Diego Corrales was Fight of the Year for 2005 with Pacquiao versus Morales close behind. I thought he would've won his fight with Diego if he hadn't ran out of gas on the last minute. Although he lost by TKO, Diego wasn't able to put him on the canvas. Castillo on the other hand did it twice. This square-jawed fighter will be very hard for Hatton because he is a pressure fighter and is not afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone.
My predictions? Jose Luis Castillo is an old fighter while Ricky Hatton is a younger one. I don't see any reason Hatton can knock this guy out, but Castillo might knock Hatton out. Either way, it's going to be a hard fight and I see Jose Luis Castillo coming out by a late round knockout or a decision if he plays his cards right (body punches and make weight!). Otherwise, the younger Hatton might overcome him. More info here.

Rich Franklin decisions Yushin Okami at UFC 72!

Yushin Okami lost via unanimous decision to his opponent Rich Franklin on UFC 72's main event. Rich kept attacking Okami during the first two rounds and during the third he was caught in an armlock by Okami. He escaped the armlock and fought Okami to a unanimous decision. Although Rich won, I would have preferred a knockout win, but his performance was good. I, myself, am Asian and would have been happy if Okami won, but you can't deny the fact that Franklin had better opponents than him. On the co-main event, Forrest Griffin wins by unanimous decision over his opponent Hector Ramirez. Tyson Griffin wins by split decision over Clay Guida, Stevie Lynch and Colin Robinson both lost via knockouts. More info here.

UFC 72 coming up this Saturday

So UFC 72, the third UFC event to happen in England, takes place tomorrow. The main card is Rich Franklin versus Yushin Okami. I never really paid much attention to these fighters, but according to what I read from Wikipedia.org, he has a win against Ken Shamrock and he won his last fight against Jason MacDonald. Yushin Okami, on the other hand, is a newcomer to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is currently undefeated in the organization. Seeing as I don't know much about these fighters, my prediction might be off. But I'm leaning towards Rich Franklin in this fight because he has more experience and had tougher opponents. For more info about the fight and the undercards, visit this site.

Boxing's woes, MMA's gains (Part Two)

It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks and maybe that is true for boxing. But old things also have a lot of rich history that new things can learn from.

MMA maybe gaining in popularity, but it's a fairly new sport while boxing was there even before my great grandfather was born. It has also made its contribution in history with popular historic figures like Muhammad Ali. We have come to know some historic bouts from the sport like the Ali-Frazier, Gatti-Ward, Hagler-Hearns, and other famous trilogies. We have also come to know the bad boys in boxing like Oscar De La Hoya and Mike Tyson who is now a house hold name despite his infamous acts outside the ring. MMA still doesn't have those. On the other side, mixed martial arts is more on the modern side and is now attracting modern fans while boxing is stuck in its past. Boxing fans compare modern fighters to past fighters while UFC and other organizations are making their own history with their current line-up of modern fighters that their fans can't compare to anybody in the past.

One thing that boxing also lacks is media distribution. While UFC, Pride, and King of the Cage have fight DVD's that fans can own and watch when they want, boxing only has pay-per-views and your good ol' VCR to record those. Alas, VHS tapes can be bulky and some of us are too lazy to record it. There are some websites that do sell boxing fight DVD's, but they are limited and it would be better if there was an official boxing DVD seller like maybe HBO or something? Or each promoter could sell the fights they have promoted on DVD's.

Bottomline: it would greatly help if boxing, like MMA, catered to the younger generation and stopped looking at what has already passed. Take advantage of what is popular to the fans and what the fans like and maybe it'll gain more. Follow mixed martial arts' example of promotion. This is my take on this matter. Please feel free to post opinions.

Miguel Cotto TKO's Zab Judah!

As expected, Miguel Cotto dominated Zab Judah in the later rounds with the referee eventually stopping the fight at the eleventh round. Zab Judah came out strong during the early rounds and Cotto was penalized for low blows, but he eventually took control on the late rounds slowly breaking Zab's body down. Zab was good, only Cotto was better. This fight opens up an opportunity for Miguel Cotto to fight whoever wins the Antonio Margarito versus Paul Williams WBO Championship bout. My prediction for the Margarito bout would be a win by Margarito over the undefeated Paul Williams maybe via decision. That would make a great match-up possible between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. More info at : http://www.boxingscene.com/index.php?m=show&id=9008.

Manny's brother KO'd by Humberto Soto on the seventh!

Lot's of exciting fights this week including the just finished Cotto-Judah fight with Miguel Cotto coming out the victor. While some of you were watching this fight, Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao's brother, Bobby Pacquiao, fought against a prospective opponent for Manny in the form of Humberto Soto. Bobby fought valiantly, but he couldn't win against Soto who knocked him out in the seventh. In my opinion, there is no doubt now that Humberto Soto is Manny's next opponent with their promoter, Top Rank, setting up a "brother's revenge" kind of event and I'm sure people are going to want to watch this well-staged event by Bob Arum, Top Rank's top guy. More on this story at: http://philboxing.com/news/story-11143.html.

Boxing World Cup in Sacramento, California instead of the Philippines?

First of all, let me just say that I might be a bit biased since I am Filipino. However, it is a shame that the Philippines couldn't host the Boxing World Cup between them and Mexico. That would have been a great way to promote boxing to my country and maybe the rest of Asia, but due to a lot of financial problems we have not been able to host quite a significant event for boxing and a foreign country is instead hosting it. My wish now is that for my country to win most of the 7 bouts of the event in order to win the World Cup--sorry, Mexico. Although, I would be contented if Ray "Boom Boom" Bautista and Gerry Penalosa win their respective world title bouts against Daniel Ponce de Leon and Jhonny Gonzalez. That would mean great renewed interest in Philippine boxing besides Manny Pacquiao. The other bouts will be Filipino Bert Batawang against Mexican Francisco Rosas,Z Gorrez against a soon to be announced Mexican opponent, AJ Banal against another unknown Mexican opponent, and Philippine Bantam Weight Champ Michael Domingo against Miguel Roman. I wish the best for both countries and I hope nothing controversial will happen on this event. More news here: http://philboxing.com/news/story-11112.html.

The most exciting boxer is...Manny Pacquiao!

If pound for pound rankings were based on determination and fight quality this guy would be on the very top. I'm still going to place him on top of my P4P list since I don't judge by skill but by how a boxer performs in the ring. Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao's fights are worth every penny and everytime he fights, I buy. I would reccommend any casual fans to buy his fights. This guy has an enormous heart which is matched only by his monstrous stamina and explosive punching power. This guy ducks nobody and is relentless during his fights. His most defining fight is the trilogy with Erik "El Terrible" Morales an equally excellent boxer. Although he lost to him in their first fight via decision, he knocked the guy out in the next two. The only problem about his style is his defense. He has too much offense but his defense lacks a lot. Though his offense makes up for it, if he learns how to defend and box, he'd be almost unstoppable. Almost everybody know this fighter, but if you want to know more you can check this website out and its forums: http://www.mannypacquiao.ph. I have my eye on him and I will be posting some news about him from time to time. More recently, he just ran for congressman in his country and lost but, I'm not worried about that since boxing is his expertise---not politics. He is currently considering possible opponents to fight some of whom are: Joan Guzman, undefeated Edwin Valero, and WBC Superfeatherweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez. I don't consider Marco Antonio Barrera a good opponent since he already beat him via technical knockout. Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank are also having a fight for promotional rights to him. He has a hectic life outside the ring, but hopefully it will all clear up before his next fight.

Boxing's woes, MMA's gains (Part One)

I have been following MMA for a while now along with boxing and I have noticed a few differences between the two. While UFC is enjoying a lot of success, boxing has been declining lately. I think one of the many reasons for the decline is the numerous number of alphabet organizations that plague the sport. WBC, IBF, IBO, WBA, etc. Imagine having 3 or more world champs in one weight class all claiming to be the best. That's bogus, unless all the belts are unified! And it's hard to get those good match-ups nowadays because of the promoters' and organizations' conflicts.
Meanwhile, UFC is buying out the other MMA organizations like PrideFC and unifying them under its banner. Thus, creating dream match-ups like Liddell vs. Jackson or now that that's done with, Liddell vs. Silva that otherwise wouldn't be possible. And did I mention that they only have one champ in each division? Also, boxing isn't so nice to its fighters with all the fees they have them pay to them while MMA fighters have college degrees and such so they don't depend on the sport too much unlike boxers.
While all these things bring down the sweet science, there are also good things to it that MMA doesn't or not yet has. Watch out for Part 2 of this post.