Monday, March 29, 2010

MOSLEY TAKES ON MASTER MAYWEATHER


SHANE MOSLEY must feel he is living in a vacuum. It is over a month (May 1) before he and Floyd Mayweather Jnr lock horns in the Nevada desert, yet the only fight on people’s minds does not involve Sugar Shane. Boxing fans are currently salivating at the prospect of a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao autumn showdown following yet another dazzling display from the Filipino maestro in Dallas last weekend.

However, before we allow our minds to meander into the realms of boxing fantasy, “Money” must first deal with a rejuvenated 38-year old Californian determined not to ride off into the sunset just yet. Let us not forget that the WBA Super champion is Mosley, not Mayweather.

That this match is taking place at all is to Mosley’s eternal credit. Having suffered a fifth career defeat at the hands of Miguel Cotto in November 2007 it seemed like old Father Time had finally extracted the sweetness out of “Sugar” Shane. This should have been Mosley’s cue to drift off into the Californian night. However, having defeated Ricardo Mayorga in 2008, Mosley accepted a January clash with the man who battered Cotto to a bloody pulp, Antonio Margarito. Mosley’s subsequent display of speed and power was staggering, as he stopped the Mexican in nine one-sided rounds.

In Mayweather, though, he is meeting someone extraordinary, a masterful boxer who has captured world titles at five different weights in winning 40 consecutive bouts (25 KOs). It was he who started the seemingly irretrievable decline of our “Hitman”, Ricky Hatton. It was a defensive, counter-attacking masterclass, making Hatton look like a novice at times.

Having taken a 21-month break, which Mayweather labelled “retirement”, he came back to spin a web around Mexico’s great lightweight, Juan Manuel Marquez last September. It is a credit to his impeccable conditioning as well as his imperious boxing ability that such a sublime performance was possible after a near-two-year sabbatical.

One of Mayweather’s most impressive attributes is his adaptability. He seems able to cope with an array of styles whilst instinctively raising the level of his performance on the rare occasions he encounters difficulty. Never has he come seriously close to the perils of defeat. Not even in his first fight with Jose Luis Castillo, when many had the Mexican narrowly behind in the scoring or actually winning. Mayweather rightly secured a unanimous decision on the scorecards.

Although he won a split decision over Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007, one felt the verdict flattered the “Golden Boy”, as a late flurry of punches, with few landing cleanly, seemed to blur the vision of the ringside judges. The result was not in serious doubt despite Mayweather stepping up to De La Hoya’s more natural light-middleweight limit.

Mayweather’s personality might not be to everyone’s liking, but one must give him credit for fighting the best opponents in five weight divisions – including Diego Corrales, Castillo, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir and De La Hoya.

If Mayweather has a flaw, it is that incessant pressure seems to bother him and herein lies Mosley’s chance, for he has never fought another genuine ‘speedster’ like “Sugar” Shane.

Although both men started out at lower weights, Mayweather at super-feather and Mosley at lightweight, neither has lost speed whilst moving through the divisions. (This is something that Pacquiao seems to have mastered courtesy of his specific plyometrics training with strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza). Whilst both have undeniably fast hands, Mayweather should still have the edge, being six years Mosley’s junior and having taken relatively little punishment for a 40-fight veteran. Mosley on the other hand has had twelve more fights (46-5-1) and has been a pro since 1993. These factors could prove pivotal as Mosley may fall victim to Mayweather’s potent left jab whilst attempting to apply the tourniquet on the inside.

Unsurprisingly, the talking has already started. “The reason I fought Margarito is because I wanted to become the best welterweight out there, and I did that. May 1 is going to symbolise Mayweather’s first loss,” said Mosley. Mayweather predictably snapped back, “He’s a fighter, he’s supposed to say that, but guess what – there is no blueprint on how to beat me.”

Source: boxingnewsonline.net

NO TRADE-OFF ON PACQUIAO LAWSUIT

Pound –for-pound king Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz has made it clear that any talk of a possible trade-off with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s camp in order to arrange a multi-million dollar super-fight is “totally absurd.”


Koncz said that Pacquiao’s reputation and his good name have been maligned by the Mayweathers and Golden Boy Promotions and that the lawsuit filed against them by top-notch attorney Daniel Petrocelli “will proceed without let-up.”

Koncz said “they have, by their unfounded allegations, caused damage to Manny and they must answer for that.”

He said “a trade-off is out of the question” and nobody either in Team Pacquiao or outside have been authorized to make such proposals.

Floyd Mayweather Jr and his handlers had demanded random Olympic-style blood tests until 14 days before their originally scheduled fight on May 1 but Pacquiao offered a 24 day cutoff period even as he made it clear he was not averse to taking a blood test up to that point in time, before a fight.

Pacquiao had earlier made it clear to us that he would not give in to Mayweather’s demands and indicated the right thing to do would be to abide by any decision of the Nevada State Athletic Commission which had jurisdiction over the planned fight since it was to be held in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao said he doesn’t need a Mayweather fight to cement his place in boxing history and that he doesn’t even wish to talk about a fight against him right now since he is busy with his bid for a congressional seat in the May 10 elections.

The Mayweathers as well as Golden Boy Promotions CEO had accused Pacquiao of being on performance enhancing drugs without presenting a shred of evidence to support their allegations..

Pacquiao has repeatedly stated he doesn’t even know anything about performance enhancing drugs or steroids and insisted that his success has been achieved through relentless work during training, the proper diet and the right vitamin supplements.

Author: Ronnie Nathanielsz

The Sweet Science 03.29.10: Klitschko, Mayweather-Mosley




Photo by Jan Sanders / Goossen Tutor

Vincent Van Gogh, a painter whose influence on modern art world is hard to measure, died largely unknown at the age of thirty seven on July 27, 1890; his brilliance acknowledged and appreciated years after passing.

Sometimes the world does not recognize genius until it is too late.

With his situation not as dire as the one of a Dutch painter in the 19th century, the top heavyweight on the planet Wladimir Klitschko is not a household name among American boxing fans. In fact, his heavyweight title defense against number one American contender Fast Eddie Chambers that took place at a sold out ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany was not even televised in United Sates. One of the HBO executives cited the reason for not televising the event was that since the older brother Vitali came out of retirement, the American public could not differentiate between the two. After talking with a fair share of boxing fans I have to admit; it is a fair assessment. But wouldn't that be the exact reason to televise the event?

Viewing live action via internet, I was able to observe shaped like an Adonis, supremely confident champion, Wladimir Klitschko systematically dismantle his opponent Fast Eddie Chambers over twelve one sided rounds and finally knock him out with seconds left in the fight. Fast Eddie had absolutely no answer against a weapon of choice of his adversary, a steel hammer like jab that was coming his way and penetrating the guard on regular basis. A giant of a man at six foot seven inches Klitschko moved around the ring with a grace of a welterweight, consistently throwing hard left jab befuddling Eddie with it; Wladimir could have won the fight with just a jab, because not much was coming back in return, but he was mixing it up with right hands, one of which staggered Chambers badly in the second stanza. To his credit Eddie did try a few things; he lifted the champion after clinch and slammed him to the ground in the second round to show the world that he would not be intimidated and he did try to get inside from time to time and land some body shots, but those attempts were too few to matter. Mostly Eddie was on the defense covering up, eerily reminding Joshua Clottey taking a beating a week ago from Manny Pacquiao. For all practical purposes, the fight was over after the seventh round as Eddie had no chance of hurting the champion and was just getting beat up round after round. I thought the fight could have been stopped after nine to allow Chambers to fight another day, but his team kept sending him out and urging him to fight without actually giving him any practical advice.

What really disturbed me was that team Chambers allowed Eddie to come out for the final round, thus putting him in harm's way for no reason at all; Chambers was pretty bruised up by then and lost all eleven rounds and possessing no power to speak of , he had no chance of winning the fight. The only person really animated was Emanuel Stewart, Wladimir's chief
trainer who kept asking Klitschko to finish the job and to not let this fight go to another crappy decision. Even though it is very hard to stop a boxer who doesn't want to be knocked out and just covers up, Klitschko did listen to his trainer and desperately wanting to make fifty one thousand in attendance happy, he came out for the final round with a pernicious look in his eyes. Wladimir intensified his attack and kept driving depleted Chambers back with crisp combinations. Finally with an American fighter against the ropes and only few seconds left in the contest, Klitschko landed a short left hook that Eddie did not see because he was covering up. The punch that hurts the most is the one you do not see. And that is exactly what happened to Chambers who went down through the ropes face first at which point every one observing instantly knew that he was not getting up any time soon. After spending a few anxious minutes on the canvas Eddie did get up, but he could not remember the knock down.

Always a consummate sportsman Klitschko had high praise for his opponent: "Chambers is an extraordinary boxer. He is very, very quick and preemptive. In the last rounds I gave everything and I am very happy about the result. To me Chambers gave up mentally after round six. It's hard to hit somebody who is very passive and tries not to be knocked out."

Despite a brilliant performance and a dramatic stoppage Wladimir did not get a lot of love from American media. Most called the fight boring until the final round.

Klitschko's complete dominance over his opponents has become his curse. All fights involving Wladimir lately are predictable one sided beatings that lack drama or excitement. The only opponent for Klitschko at this point in time that would interest the American TV networks and fans would be David Hay. However , should Wladimir destroy him in a similar fashion to the way he did all of his previous opponents, he will get no credit at all as Hay is an over blown cruiserweight.

May be just like Van Gogh, the only way Klitschko will get recognized as a greatest heavyweight of our era, will be postmortem. Or may be an opponent will appear that would be able to bring out the best out of the current champion and cause the heavyweight division to return to its days of glory.

Is Floyd Trying To Clean Up The Sport Of Boxing?

Ever since earlier this year when the mega fight between two best boxers on the planet, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. fell apart, questions and debates about the cause of the melt down rage on.

Just when it looked like that the only question about the most anticipated match up in years would be where to have it, Las Vegas or Dallas, Floyd Mayweather Jr. requested to implement an Olympic style drug testing prior to the fight. Pacquiao camp balked. Highly superstitious Pacquiao feels that drawing blood too close the fight time will take away from his strength. Mayweather Sr. publicly accused Pacquiao of being on the juice. Pacman and his people filed a defamation of character law suit. A Los Angeles judge was called in to mediate the negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather and to try to save the fight which would guarantee each boxer $25 million dollars, but it was too late; by this point in time only God could save the event and he decided not to meddle.

Pacquiao went on to destroy a very strong welterweight Joshua Clottey last Saturday in Dallas in front of record crowd of 51 thousand fans, in what turned out to be a one sided beating. As soon as the beating was over, everyone wanted to talk about Mayweather." Let commissions do their job," exclaimed Pacquiao's coach, Freddie Roach:" Just get in the ring and fight!"

Mayweather is going to face a welterweight champion Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas on May first in a huge event. But what everybody is talking about is not the event itself, but the fact that Floyd forced Mosley to agree to Olympic style drug testing. Desperately needing a big money fight at the twilight of his career, Mosley would probably agree to tie one of his hands behind his back to fight Mayweather, but that is the subject for another story.

"Floyd Mayweather is trying to clean up the sport of boxing," said Leonard Ellerbe, Floyd's chief advisor, last Thursday during a first of its kind media telephone conference that discussed anti- doping drug testing program for Mayweather vs. Mosley:"Everybody who steps in the ring with him is going to be subjected to this."

Even though Mayweather Mosley is a thrilling match up with a final outcome far from being certain, all casual fans want to talk about is the possibility of Pacquiao Mayweather happening later on this year. Just yesterday my banker pulled me aside and said: Say, Igor, why doesn't Manny just take the darn drug test and fight Mayweather already?"

On the other hand, a famous boxing personality and one of the best cut men in the business, Tony Rivera had this to say about the subject: "Floyd never wanted to fight Pacquiao and he found a reason to get out of it."
To simplify, here is the issue at hand. Does Pacquiao really have something to hide? Is Mayweather really trying to clean up the sport or is he simply trying to gain an advantage with psychological warfare?

I first called Keith Keizer of Nevada State Athletic Commission who informed me that urine anti doping tests are administered before and after the fight. No blood tests are in protocol. Similar procedures are employed in California and New York. The only blood test required in California is when a boxer is applying for a license, but that test is mostly concerned with aids and hepatitis and does not check for steroids.

Last Thursday, during a media telephone conference, Travis Tygart, CEO of United States Anti Doping Agency explained the protocol of Olympic Style drug testing that was adopted for Mayweather Mosley Fight.

According to Mr. Tygart, after the orientation, beginning from March 22nd, both athletes will be subjected to random unannounced blood and urine tests leading all the way up to and after the fight. The number of tests will not be disclosed till after the event to insure maximum credibility. Any positive result will be published following legal procedures. So why is urine test not enough? Why not do a DNA test that will only involve a hair sample?

"The chemicals that cannot be detected in urine samples are HGH (human growth hormone), HBT, HBOC, and PATH" said Tygart.

According to Wikipedia HGH stimulates growth and cell reproduction and regeneration in humans and other animals. And HBT does not mean holistic body training.

"We cannot afford not to do it," said Tygart when asked about financial feasibility of the program:" Today, this is about clean athletes and their right to compete on a level playing field. If you are clean, you have no reason not to be a part of this program. In fact, you demand it."


Author: Igor Frank

Source: 411mania.com

Mayweather And Mosley: The Same But Different


Floyd Mayweather & Shane Mosley are the same but yet so different. They are the same because they are both one punch fighters. Mosley lost to Miguel Cotto because for every hard right hand or left hook he would throw Cotto would answer back with 2 and 3 punch combinations.

When Mayweather fought Marquez he threw one punch at time. Rarely does either fighter throw combinations. When Mosley throws combinations it’s usually in the midst of a storm. When Mayweather throws combinations it’s usually when it’s safe for him to do so.


They are both defensive. A lot of times Floyd will use his legs to step out of range, and he will roll his shoulders to do so. Mosley will sometimes back out of his opponents punching range to avoid punches. For the most part he will parry punches, and use his elbows to block body punching.

They both have fast hands, and they both have leaping left hooks. They differ because one fighter is a pure boxer while the other is a 2 handed boxer puncher. Mosley has an aggressive style. He can also switch hit, in that he can fight southpaw, and orthodox and do it with power. I really believe that this fight will be better than what people think.

Mayweather is safety 1st, he relies on his brilliant defense and stamina. Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ricky Hatton all faded in the 2nd half of their fights with Mayweather. Marquez to hiscredit didn’t fade in his fight with Mayweather. But he was too small. Marquez weighed in at 142lbs at the fight, barely making welterweight by 2lbs. Mayweather weighed in at 146lbs, one lb under the welterweight limit. Mayweather had a natural 11lb weight difference over Marquez.

Marquez due to the 7lbs he gained in a 5 month period was slow of hand and foot. Much like the way Margarito was way to slow when he fought Shane Mosley. Like Margarito, Marquez had no defense for Mayweather’s offense. Mayweather’s last 4 opponents were flat footed fighters, much like Mayorga, and Margarito.

Shane relies on true grit which is something he has relied on during the course of his career. I mean let’s face it sugar has always been a fighter. A power boxer as Jack Mosley would put it. Shane has always been a very good body puncher. Jesse James Leigha told De La Hoya that Mosley punches to the body were a lot harder than his head punches.

Mayweather has had the better trainer throughout his career, in Roger Mayweather. He was a former champion fighting people like Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Harold Brazier, Livingstone Bramble, amongst others. He's been there so he has been able to give his nephew expert advice in the corners and in training because he was a former champ. Mosley has relied on physical instead of technical. The advice his dad has given him throughout his career has been questionable.

They are both consistent in their fighting styles. Mayweather consistently boxed Juan Manuel Marquez despite enjoying an 11lb weight advantage. He dropped Marquez with a left hook in the 2nd round of their fight. He never opened up on Juan to try to finish him. Defense, defense, defense that’s who Mayweather is.

Mosley is consistently aggressive. He consistently attacks the body, and he never hesitates to go for the KO. He will gamble and take risks. In round 11 & 12 of his fight with Cotto, It was Shane who was the aggressor, landing hard body punches. This fight should be billed Brains vs Brawn I can’t wait to see it.


Author: Ray Williams

Opinion: Pacquiao should face winner of Mosley-Mayweather fight

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao may be considering three more fights before actually hanging his gloves for good. But he will have to kneel before his mother to get her blessings as he will have to renege on his earlier promise for one last fight.
Despite his announcement of possible retirement from professional boxing in deference to his mother's wishes for him to retire now for good, many of his local boxing fans believe that the pound-for-pound king will remain active for at least one more year.
The popular Filipino boxer is expected to make a deal with his mother for one last fight before retiring. It may be recalled that Pacquiao promised his mother after his bout with Miguel Cotto that he will do one last fight before hanging up his gloves. That one last bout was his recent encounter with Joshua Clottey of Ghana at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
One of the compelling reasons for Pacquiao to remain active for another year is probably the thought of beating Floyd Mayweather, Jr who remains undefeated in his entire professional boxing career. Mayweather and his camp have thrown too much 'trash' on the Filipino boxer. Pacquiao's local boxing fans say that the Filipino boxer should settle the long-drawn word war between him and Mayweather inside the ring.
The proposed Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was originally scheduled for Marcgh 13 but did not happen due to Mayweather's demand for an Olympic-style blood testing which Pacquiao declined saying that he had passed all drug tests conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Mayweather accused Pacquiao of taking steroids or performance enhancing drugs during his last fights to gain added advantage over his opponents. Pacquiao denied such accusations and sued Mayweather and some members of his team in court for defamation.
The other compelling reason is the huge prize money that Pacquiao-Mayweather fight will generate for both boxers. Boxing analysts say that that each of them will earn at least $50 million excluding revenues from PPV and gate receipts.
The Filipino boxer may have thought that one year will be a safe period for him to make one last commitment to his mother on her call for early retirement.
In a year Pacquiao can make three more fights as trainer Freddie Roach projects. Roach said the Pacquiao-Mayweather match can still happen if they both bury the hatchet and let their punches do the talking.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a tradeoff between Manny dropping the lawsuit and him (Mayweather) dropping the drug test,” boxing’s hottest trainer told fighthype.com.
But what if Mayweather is defeated by Mosley when they collide on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas? Surely Pacquiao will have to choose Mosley for his next mega fight as he (Mosley) will become the hottest boxing sensation by then. A Pacquiao-Mosley fight will also bring in huge revenues for both of them. If this happens, it would be Pacquiao's first match within the one year self-imposed fight calendar.
But then again, win or lose with Mosley, Pacquiao will have to face Mayweather to settle the issues and bad blood between the two most popular boxers. This will be Pacquiao's second in his calendar and if he wins he may just opt to retire for good unless an automatic rematch is provided for in their fight contract. If that happens, a third and last fight for the Filipino boxer is inevitable.

Author: Leo Reyes

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