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Mike Tyson has enough self-inflicted damage to last him three lifetimes, but somehow that just isn’t enough for some people. Between the rape charge, ear biting incident, and cocaine bust, you would think that the media doesn’t need any extra reasons to pile on…. but they do.

I witnessed two cases of unwarranted Tyson bashing tonight that irked me… just a little.

Over at Yahoo! Sports boxing blog, theres an entry titled “Taebo, a huge diamond & death threats … must be a Tyson story”.

The story centers around a man who once bought a mansion from Mike Tyson 9 years ago, and is now being investigated by the feds. The new mansion owner tried to re-sell the mansion (and a huge diamond) to undercover federal agents who let him know they were using drug money. The problem with this story is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Mike Tyson, yet it’s being ran in the “Sports” section and bears his name in the title.

Do you think you’ll ever see Yahoo! running an article that says “Man who once shook hands with Rocky Marciano murders child”?? Probably not.

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The second instance was during tonights telecast of Margarito vs. Cotto, Mike Tyson was sitting in the crowd with two of his kids enjoying the fight. Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant gave Tyson a shout out as he appeared on the big screen, and the crowd gave Tyson an applause when they seen his image on the jumbotron. Lampley went on about how it was good to see a dad and his kids watching boxing, and that Mike was a brilliant student of the game.

Being the cynic that I am, I KNEW somebody was going to say something to completely ruin the warm and fuzzy moment. My fears were confirmed when Max Kellerman blurted out something to the effect of “considering some of Tyson’s rocky past, seeing him in this capacity is good to say the least”. Kellerman didn’t exactly say anything over the line, but it’s wack that Mike can’t even enjoy an honest night with his kids without someone making reference to his past. That tiny comment is almost saying “hey hey wait a minute, don’t forget he’s a bad guy…”.

Even the good deeds will be followed with a sly comment for all eternity.

“WOW, Mike Tyson saved that poor kids life! It’s a good thing he didn’t rape him and bite his ear… you know, because he DID do that in the past”.

Theres nothing better than seeing two fighters you don’t like square off against each other. No matter how things turn out you’re going to go to bed happier than you did the night before.

Now that Floyd Mayweather is retired (for the moment), these two gentlemen are the top ranked welterweights on the planet. Each fighter is known for wanting to mix it up and exchange punches, Cotto will gladly take a few shots to the jaw in order to land his own and the same can be said for Margarito. Due to this fact, many in the boxing community are predicting this to be the fight of the year.

With the amount of firepower these guys have, I just can’t see the fight going past 7 rounds. I regard Margarito to be the stronger of the two, and for that reason alone I’m picking him to walk away the winner. Cotto has been wobbled by lesser fighters in the past, and I just can’t overlook that. However, if the fight goes past round 7, the edge goes to Cotto due to his punishing body attacks (but I really don’t think it’ll go that far).

Below is a little “pre-fight hype” promo, and below the video are a few thoughts I have regarding these fighters and Floyd Mayweather..

Bob Arum, the promoter for this pay-per-view bout, insists that both Mr. Cotto and Mr. Margarito would have beaten Mr. Mayweather: “Floyd did not want any part of either of them. But if he hadn’t retired, this fight would have been shrugged off by the public as a mere elimination contest for a chance to meet Mayweather.”

Comments like that KILL me. One of the statements that are thrown around so much lately is “Floyd Mayweather turned down EIGHT MILLION dollars to fight Antonio Margarito!! He must be scared!!”

Hardly.

Floyd Mayweather didn’t fight Antonio Margarito because he had nothing to gain by doing so. In the latter part of his career, Floyd was all about making an impact and doing big name fights, the average person has absolutely no idea who Margarito is. Also.. lets not forget Floyd turned down TWENTY MILLION to rematch with De La Hoya, a man who he has already beaten.

I know it hurts your brain when you do this, but try to use a little logic, turning down 8 miillion doesn’t mean you’re scared of someone if you’ve turned down 20 million for a fight you know you can win. It clearly wasn’t about the money in this case.

Floyd will be back next year, and he’ll mop the floor with one of these guys, mark my words.

You’d think with the horrible reputation China has around the world concerning human rights violations and the situation with Tibet, they’d be on their best behavior during the Olympics.

Well…. not quite.

Bar owners in the epicenter of the Olympic nightlife have been asked to sign pledges vowing not to serve Black or Mongolian patrons, by uniformed police.

Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.

“Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians,” said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.

I just hope there aren’t any acts of violence once black visitors are rejected when they just want to have a good time. I’m having visions of the opening scene in “Menace II Society” (clip is not work safe).

HURRY UP AND BUY!

For all the visitors and readers of Sportaphile who use Sony Playstation’s online service, if you’re ever interested in playing sports games head-to-head online… hit me up…. Add me to your friends list, etc.

PSN ID: sportaphile

The sports games I have so far are:

Fight Night Round 3
Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds
NBA 2k8
Madden ‘09 (starting August 12th)

With half of the year over and done with, let’s take a look at the best and worst stories in the world of sports from January through June.

10. Mario Chalmers’ miracle 3-pointer - Kansas was shooting horribly from the arc all night and found themselves down with only 10 seconds left in the game. Chalmers’ big shot sent the game into over time, where his team won of course.

9. D-Wade buys his mom a church - We all love to chat endlessly about sports drama and shine too much light on negativity, but this story with Dwayne Wade was the exact opposite. He bought his mom Jolinda her own church to celebrate her seventh year of sobriety and a remarkable turnaround of her life. Check out the story here

8. The rise of Kimbo Slice - Kimbo Slice went from a YouTube barbarian to a bonafied superstar headlining the first ever MMA event on broadcast television. This knockout of Tank Abbott is the shining moment in his short career so far…

7. Gerald Green’s birthday cake dunk - Gerald didn’t win this year’s Read the rest of this entry »