Chris Arreola is my favorite active Heavyweight fighter because of his knockout ability and vulnerable style which makes for exciting fights. That “vulnerable style” is mostly due to the fact that he gets so fat and out of shape between fights, he is usually gassed beyond belief well before his matches are over. Chris is facing Vitali Klitschko this September and has the potential to go from an up-and-coming attraction to a full fledged star.

The problem?

The fight is less than 2 months away and Chris was recently spotted in public looking fatter than he’s ever been. The rumors say he’s 300lbs (which is about 60 pounds heavier than he needs to be)… and this greatly increases the chances that he’s going to get his ass kicked come September.

Photo Credit – “William Trillo – Pound4Pound.com“

As was the case earlier this month with Steve McNair, I’m not going to spend time pouring over the details surrounding the death of Vernon Forrest. Instead of I’m to talk about one of the moments he gave us in the ring that I’ll never forget. No, it wasn’t the night he surprised everyone and whipped Shane Mosley from pillar to post and captured the titles. Instead it was the moment where a virtually unheard of Nicaraguan named Ricardo Mayorga stunned Forrest and became a star. After this fight I called/emailed/IM’ed every boxing fan I knew like “DID YOU SEE THAT???”

Forrest had just signed a lucrative six-fight deal with HBO as a new champion, and Mayorga was more or less an appetizer before the good stuff began. The mood before the fight started was the typical “this-scrub-I-never-heard-of-is-about-to-get-murdered” thing. Larry Merchant was talking about how he wondered if Mayorga could even last long enough to be competitive. The first two minutes of the fight were what everyone expected, Forrest stayed outside and boxed and he found his target easily. Two minutes into the fight Larry Merchant mentioned Vernon Forrest was a 10-1 favorite at one point and almost instantly things changed. The Mayorga we have all come to know emerged, and started swinging for the fences. Forrest was sent to the mat, but not particularly hurt… and this proved to be the turning point in the match.

Instead of sticking to his guns and boxing Mayorga, Forrest got a little macho after being knocked down and entered a slugfest …. and that was all she wrote. When it became obvious to everyone that we were NOT going to see Vernon simply run over his opponent, George Foreman gave the quotable of the evening:

“Boy, when you sign these big contracts the last thing you think about is that you’re gonna have to fight for the money”

90 seconds later… it was over.

(the build up)

(the end of the fight)

In retrospect, we’ve learned that you don’t beat Mayorga unless you stay composed and pick your shots. He leaves himself open enough in his flurries that you’ll eventually break him down and knock him out. In a way, Forrest had to lose this fight so everyone else could know what tactic to stay away from.

I hesitated a little before making this post because I wasn’t sure I wanted to post about a fight in which Forrest got his ass beat, but at the end of the day he had nothing to be ashamed of. When it’s all said and done he gave us a night in the ring that you’ll never forget. If you’re a hardcore boxing fan like I am you certainly remember where you were the first time you saw this unfold. It wasn’t exactly on par with Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson, but it’s definitely in my top 5 favorite boxing moments.

Oh boy…

I’m probably the biggest Mayweather fan out there, but I can’t co-sign any of what you’re about to read for reasons I will explain at the bottom of the post. But during a press conference promoting his upcoming fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, he offered these statements about MMA and Manny Pacquiao.

“You can’t take my shoes off, and take my shirt off and throw me in a cage. You do that with animals, you don’t do that with humans,” said a bold Mayweather. “It takes true skills to be in the sport of boxing.”

While Mayweather probably should have stopped his brash statements there — he didn’t, saying MMA was created by white fighters who couldn’t cut it in the ring.

“In boxing, we know who’s dominating. Black fighters and Hispanic fighters is dominating in this sport,” Mayweather continued. “And this is not a racial statement but there’s no white fighters in boxing that’s dominating, so they had to go to something else and start something new.”

Mayweather was then asked about a potential fight with Manny Pacquiao and offered these words:

“Everybody wants to see the Pacquiao fight, but it doesn’t work like that. Pacquiao isn’t his own boss and he’s giving up 27 percent of his money to Bob Arum,” Mayweather said. “Once he becomes his own boss, then we can talk. If he’s not his own boss I ain’t got nothing to say to him.”

But just in case he does, Mayweather says you know where to find him.

“It’s not hard to find me. Everybody know I’m in Las Vegas,” he said. “Just look for the biggest mansion and the prettiest Rolls-Royce — that’s me.” < ---- LOL

Here’s what I think about the entire situation……. Read the rest of this entry »

ESPN re-aired a piece originally shown in April on athletes and the super-televangelists who exploit them on Outside The Lines today …. and I really have no words for what I witnessed.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple years, surely you have noticed the various stories about Evander Holyfield having 374 kids and how he owes tons of child support money to pay for them all. You also may have heard about his massive home that was foreclosed on, which contributes to the fact that he’s STILL boxing well past his prime and is risking long-term brain damage (see: Muhammad Ali) because there are bills to pay.

What I *DIDN’T* know is that he’s donated over $20 million dollars to the church over the last 15 years or so. In the video below you’ll see Evander explain his tithing and proudly declare that if he had to choose between paying a house note, and donating to the church…..the house would have to wait:

I realize he’s a religious man and he says the bible requires 10% of his earnings…. but there are various monumental mistakes in judgment going on here. First of all, if you want to give that much cash…. fine… but scale back your living arrangements accordingly. There’s no need to buy a mansion with 100 rooms in it if you plan on giving the church so much of your extra money. Secondly, when you listen to Evander talk, it seems like he’s giving so much money because he thinks god is going to give it back to him for being so generous as opposed to giving it and expecting nothing in return. There’s a little bit of flawed logic there in my opinion.

Great news for all the boxing heads out there.

It appears that a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto is in the preliminary stages and could very well happen in November. I don’t think you could make a more exciting fight than this unless Mayweather decides to fight Pacquiao, so fans are definitely getting what they want to see this year. Check the details:

“Manny told me what to do,” Bob Arum said. “Manny told me, ‘Go ahead, make that fight.’ So it will go Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand here in Vegas.”

What with Cotto’s badly cut left eyebrow area, I asked if that might cause a date delay.

“No because it’s not that bad. Miguel is delighted to get a fight against Manny, trust me. Miguel very much wants this fight. It will be a sensational fight the way they attack.”

As far as the explosive, arena-shaking ovation more than 17,000 fans gave Pacquiao when Michael Buffer introduced him, Arum said the fighter was thrilled.

“Manny really enjoyed and liked that,” Arum said. “He was impressed by Cotto’s fan support and told me it reminded him of how the British fans stand with Ricky Hatton.

This fight is gonna be one of the most exciting things we see all year because their styles are very suited for each other. Manny is a fast offensive fighter, Miguel is all-heart and never clenches his opponent. Team Pacquiao made a VERY smart move by targeting Cotto because:

1. His defense is mediocre. Cotto has been put on his ass and rocked PLENTY of times, this plays into Manny’s hands.
2. Cotto is relatively slow, he doesn’t wow anyone with handspeed.

These two things are the exact reason Manny Pacquiao didn’t fight Shane Mosley (who has excellent handspeed and excellent defense). Shane approached Team Pacquiao immediately following his destruction of Ricky Hatton, and was basically told to kick rocks. It wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about weight, it was about the fact that Mosley is very dangerous and the risk outweighed the reward.

I highly doubt Manny would kick Cotto’s ass the way he kicked Hatton’s ass, because Cotto is a tough cookie, but Manny will win nonetheless.

[shouts to bad left hook for the scoop]