by Kevin Iole
Timothy Bradley won a split decision over Manny Pacquiao on June 9 (AP)Almost every move Timothy Bradley has made in the aftermath of his hotly disputed split decision win over Manny Pacquiaoon June 9 in Las Vegas has been the wrong one.
His decision to call out Pacquiao on Wednesday, with Pacquiao only days away from choosing his next opponent, only adds to the list of his strategic errors since the bout.
In a decision that outraged millions around the world and prompted the Nevada attorney general to conduct a review of the bout, Bradley won a split decision over Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on June 9 to claim the World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
Perhaps never in boxing history has a win hurt a man more. Even Bob Arum, Bradley’s promoter, was outraged at the call. Upon the bout’s completion, he raced over to reporters at ringside and railed at the call.
Can you believe that? I had it 10-2! After I got into the ring after the fight, I went over to Bradley and said ‘You did very well.’ He said, ‘I tried hard, but I couldn’t beat the guy.’ This is crazy. You talk about killing boxing? All three scorecards you throw out.
Arum demanded Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto conduct an investigation, particularly since most people believed Pacquiao had won going away.
The WBO, which sanctioned the fight, ordered a review and determined that Pacquiao deserved to win. Masto, in a letter to Arum, said she was unable to discover any evidence of malfeasance.
Displeasure with the subjective decisions of sporting officials is not a sufficient basis for this office to initiate a criminal investigation. Unless evidence beyond mere displeasure is forthcoming, this matter will be considered closed. While there may be strong disagreement with the decision, the exercise of professional judgment by individuals officiating at a sporting event is not by itself a criminal violation.
Timothy Bradley called Manny Pacquiao (R) “scared” on Wednesday (AP)In the days after the fight, Bradley was largely silent, refusing nearly all interviews. At a time when it would have been important for him to get his side of the story out, Bradley chose, repeatedly, not to talk.
But with Pacquiao closing in on a decision, Bradley for some reason changed course.
On Wednesday, only days after Arum returned from a visit with Pacquiao in the Philippines, Bradley called out Pacquiao and suggested to reporter Leighton Ginn of the Desert Sun, his hometown newspaper, that “a lot of people on that side are scared.”
Pacquiao is essentially choosing between Juan Manuel Marquez, with whom he has fought three extraordinarily close fights, and Bradley. Arum said that Pacquiao will make up his mind later this week or over the weekend and that he would likely make an announcement next week.
Bradley tried to nudge Pacquiao in his direction with an ill-advised shot at the Filipino superstar. The last thing Pacquiao is — the last thing any professional boxer is — is afraid. Yet, that was the way Bradley tried to make his case for a rematch.
To be honest with you, I think a lot of people on that side are scared. He couldn’t knock me out with two peg legs. Me healthy, I’m going to beat him worse.
Bradley injured both of his feet in the fight, including a break of the left foot, and attended the post-fight news conference in a wheelchair.
Pacquiao will fight again on Nov. 10 in Las Vegas at the MGM, Arum said. Pacquiao is balancing how badly he wants to avenge the defeat against how much more money he’d make by fighting Marquez a fourth time. Pacquiao’s third fight with Marquez in November 2011 sold about 1.3 million pay-per-view units. The Pacquiao-Bradley fight did slightly more than 900,000.
Bradley’s bon mot in Pacquiao’s direction is unlikely to sway Pacquiao’s decision in a positive manner. However, it could have the effect of Pacquiao determining he doesn’t want to give Bradley another payday.
Large segments of the fan base have said they’ll never buy another fight again. Fans often make that emotional kind of comment in the aftermath of a decision they disagree with, but if Bradley lands the rematch, it is likely that sentiment would bubble up again.
Despite the win, Bradley isn’t dealing from a position of strength. His belt is essentially meaningless, given that the majority of the world believes Pacquiao won.
Calling Pacquiao “scared” did nothing to enhance his odds of landing the fight. At this stage, if something won’t improve your odds, don’t do it.
If I had to guess, I’d guess Pacquiao is leaning toward Bradley, despite the fact that the revenues from the two fights would suggest Pacquiao would make far more money in a rematch with Marquez.
Regardless of who he fights, though, Arum said Pacquiao has committed to conducting his entire training camp in Los Angeles. In recent fights, he’s done half in Baguio in the Philippines and the other half in Los Angeles
by MMA Weekly
Wanderlei Silva’s days in the Octagon are not done yet.
The former Pride champion and MMA legend has had his share of ups and downs over the last few years, but his career will continue in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
UFC president Dana White has been in talks with the Brazilian lately as they start to hammer out the details of his next bout inside the Octagon.
“Yeah, he’s going to fight again,” White said about Silva following the UFC 150 post fight press conference.
No details were revealed regarding any possible opponents or a timeline for his return, but Silva is definitely coming back for another fight.
Over the last few years, since moving to the UFC, Silva has gone 3-5 while putting on several Fight of the Night worthy performances.
Obviously, Silva has been through the wars in his career as a fighter, but he’s still got a few battles left and they will be in the UFC.
by Dan Rafael
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is headed to the Philippines on Monday so he can sit down with Manny Pacquiao to discuss the fighter’s options for a planned Nov. 10 return to the ring.
Arum, who will be in Pacquiao’s homeland for a week, told ESPN.com there are three candidates to face Pacquiao next — and none of them is Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was released Friday after a two-month stint in jail for domestic abuse and whom the world wants to see fight Pacquiao.
Arum, often accused of being an impediment to a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, said that after the November fight, “I just hope we will be able to get the Mayweather fight done. I don’t think we can do it in November with Mayweather just being released from jail and so forth.
“
I have had no signal from anybody on his side that he would be back so quick for a fight Nov. 10. I would think if we can make a deal it would be in the spring, in April, after March Madness.
”– Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, on a potential bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I have had no signal from anybody on his side that he would be back so quick for a fight Nov. 10. I would think if we can make a deal it would be in the spring, in April, after March Madness.”
The candidates to face Pacquiao next come as no surprise. Arum listed them as:
• Welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. in a rematch of the tremendously controversial fight they had on June 9, in which Bradley was awarded a shocking split decision.
• Junior welterweight titleholder Juan Manuel Marquez, who has already faced Pacquiao three times in exciting fights that all ended in disputed decisions — with Pacquiao winning twice and their first bout resulting in a draw.
• Former three-division titlist Miguel Cotto, whom Pacquiao knocked out in the 12th round of an all-action welterweight title bout in November 2009.
“I gotta tell Manny what I can afford for each fight and we need to talk about each fight, but he makes his own decision,” Arum said. “I’ve talked to him once earlier in the summer and he’s been thinking about what he wants to do. He’s going to fight on Nov. 10, but we’ll spend some time talking through everything and getting everything ironed out, and then I talk to the opponents and try to make a deal.”
Arum said Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz will be involved in the meetings and, if she wanted to be, so would Pacquiao’s wife, Jinkee.
Arum has been busy crunching the numbers. He said the Pacquiao-Marquez III pay-per-view in November 2011 generated 1.3 million buys — about 400,000 more than the June fight Pacquiao had against Bradley. Pacquiao-Cotto generated about 1.25 million buys.
“Cotto brings with him a huge fan base from Puerto Rico and Marquez also has a big fan base with the Hispanics fans,” Arum said. “Marquez did 400,000 buys more than Bradley. That fight did a little better than 900,000, so I have to consider that. And Marquez is very anxious for the fight, too. With Bradley, the general sports fan, at least anecdotally, wants them to have a rematch. People I go out to dinner with or people I visit with, they all talk about the rematch with Bradley, not a fourth fight with Marquez — but they aren’t Hispanics. The Hispanic fans are the ones who want the fourth fight with Marquez.”
Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) has the right to exercise his contractual option for an immediate rematch with Bradley, whom Arum also promotes, so that is an easy fight to make. Marquez is promoted by Fernando Beltran’s Zanfer Promotions, but Beltran is very close with Top Rank, with whom he partners on many events.
Cotto is a free agent, although Arum promoted him for his entire career except for his May 5 decision loss to Mayweather, which took place after Cotto’s contract with Top Rank had expired. Arum said he has been talking to Cotto attorney Gaby Peñagaricano.
Before Pacquiao’s June fight with Bradley was finalized, Cotto had been the leading candidate, but they could not agree on the weight. Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division world champion, wanted the bigger Cotto to return to welterweight while Arum said Cotto wanted the fight in the low 150 pounds.
“We could do a Cotto rematch, assuming we can come to an understanding on the weight,” Arum said. “Cotto is talking about going to 160 to fight somebody, but we’ve been talking to Gaby and we’ll sort it out. I think Manny would be willing to do it at 150.”
Cotto, however, might not be interested. He could instead fight in New York in December against an opponent to be determined.
Whomever Pacquiao faces, Arum said time was of the essence to get an opponent locked in so he could plan a media tour next month.
“Time flies and we’re going to have to the announcement and the media tour the week of Labor Day because the week after that is our other big fight,” Arum said of the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight championship fight Sept. 15 on HBO PPV. “So we have a very small window.”
Arum said that assuming Pacquiao gets by the November bout he is shooting for an April fight after that rather than the popular first weekend in May because Pacquiao, a congressman in his native Philippines, is running for re-election. He said Pacquiao would need May and June to campaign.
“He’s definitely running again,” Arum said. “(Politics) is his future.”
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by Kevin Iole
LOS ANGELES – After every weigh-in, UFC president Dana White gathers his fighters and delivers a short motivational speech.
On Friday, he delivered a very succinct message to those who would be fighting the next night on the UFC on Fox 4 card at Staples Center.
“If people are channel surfing, give them a reason to stay on Fox,” White told them.
Almost to a man, the fighters delivered. It was one of the finest top-to-bottom fight cards the UFC has put on in quite a while, filled with great action, dramatic finishes, devastating knockouts and expert submissions.
Lyoto Machida celebrates after knocking out Ryan Bader on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Tracy Lee)
At the end of the day, though, it was one of the UFC’s nearly forgotten former champs who was the star of the day.
Lyoto Machida knocked out Ryan Bader with a short and devastating right hand at 1:32 of the second, earning himself a shot at the belt he once owned. He’ll face the winner of the title match between champion Jon Jones and Dan Henderson that headlines UFC 151 on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas.
Bader didn’t lay a glove on Machida, who fought like the man who dazzled everyone as he rolled toward the title in 2008 and 2009. The victory left the normally low-key Brazilian brimming with confidence. He was dominated by Jones at UFC 140 last year, but if Jones beats Henderson, Machida said he’d feel good about his chances in the rematch.
“I have to have belief in myself,” Machida said. “For sure, I can beat him.”
The title shot was up for grabs Saturday, with White having said the fighter who looked the best among Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Brandon Vera, Machida and Bader would get it.
Rua knocked out Vera in the fourth round of a rousing battle in the main event, but White was more impressed by Machida’s near-flawless effort.
“Everything I’ve seen from Lyoto Machida looks like he wants this [title shot] worse than Shogun does,” White said. “Shogun hasn’t shown me anything that he’s demanding to fight Jon Jones again. Machida has, and more than just the knockout.
“You have this situation where, everybody’s an expert. Everybody’s a genius. Everybody’s got an opinion. But you can’t put a number or a ranking or a rating on someone’s heart and determination.”
There was plenty of heart shown on Saturday’s card, and not just in the final two fights. It was shown by Mike Swick, who hadn’t fought in 910 days because of a series of injuries and illness. At one point, he was told his career might be over because of esophageal spasm.
But Swick was determined to get back and was welcomed by the crowd of 16,080 with a standing ovation when he walked to the cage for his match with DaMarques Johnson.
Mike Swick puts the finishing touches on his win over DeMarques Johnson. (Courtesy Tracy Lee)
He then delivered an amazingly brutal knockout in the second round that had the place roaring. He caught a Johnson kick and quickly upended him. In nearly the same motion, Swick went after Johnson with a punch and landed a crunching right to the chin of a prone Johnson.
That first punch put Johnson out, but Swick landed two equally punishing shots, raising the ire of some who saw it. Paramedics brought in a stretcher to aid Johnson, but he ultimately walked out of the cage of his own accord.
That bit of minor controversy was the only bad part of what was a great night for Swick, who was highly apologetic at the post-fight news conference. In a similar situation in April, middleweight Brian Stann was in top position on Alessio Sakara and knocked him out. Though the referee didn’t notice, Stann did and didn’t fire another punch.
Swick’s situation was a bit different, as it happened more quickly.
“At the time, I was just in the mode and I definitely didn’t notice [he was out],” Swick said. “I’ve seen fighters where guys have done that and I was like, ‘Aw man, that’s excessive.’ But you know, I hit him with some very hard shots in the first and it didn’t put him down.
“He was still coming after me. When I had the opportunity, I was unloading everything I had trying to get the fight over with.”
Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner also put on an exceptional show and anyone who had the remote in their hand and stopped on Fox during that fight surely would have stayed.
There was rarely a break in the match as the two fought a pitched battle that earned them a $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night. Lauzon, who has a knack for earning fight night bonuses, added another $50,000 when he got the Submission of the Night, as well.
Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner won Fight of the Night honors for their three-round thriller. (Courtesy Tracy Lee)
His triangle choke forced Varner to tap in the third, ending a fierce and high-paced battle that will have plenty of clips on the UFC’s next highlight reel.
Lauzon said his biggest concern was getting tagged by the heavy-handed Varner. However, Lauzon said Varner injured himself in the second round and that opened things for him.
“Boxing-wise, the only thing we were worried about was his overhand right,” Lauzon said. “In the second round, he broke his hand and I knew he hurt his hand. I had zero fear, zero worry about anything. It ended up being a little more boxing, but I always want to fight on the ground.
“I’m a jiu-jitsu guy first and I love to ground and pound and set up submissions. But, for me to go out there and shoot for the takedown right off the bat, he’s going to see it coming and I’m going to have to pay for it. I have to use my head to set up my takedowns.”
Rua managed a number of takedowns on Vera, but that was only because Vera was stinging him with punches, kicks and knees. Rua had Vera in trouble early, but Vera lived up to his pre-fight promise to put on a main event-worthy performance.
Fans howled on Monday when White said on a conference call that the Rua-Vera winner would land a title shot. Vera entered the bout with a 1-2 mark with one no contest in his last four.
He took the criticism personally and fought like it on Saturday.
“There was a lot of trash coming out of people’s mouths,” Vera said. “Like Dana said, people forget real quick. Tonight, I wanted to put on the performance of my life. I got to fight one of my heroes and fight someone I looked up to since before I got into the game.
“The outcome wasn’t what I wanted, man, but I think you guys enjoyed the fight, man.”
It was that way round after round and fight after fight.
And when it was over, White struggled to put into words what it meant to him. The show went head-to-head with the Olympics on NBC, which are drawing massive television ratings.
The hard reality when the numbers finally come out will probably show that the best card competition-wise of the four that have been on Fox will have by far delivered the poorest numbers. White generally is ready to brawl with anyone who disses the UFC on Fox ratings, but he was philosophical after the great show on Saturday.
“I’m not even thinking about [the ratings],” White said. “We put on a great performance here in Los Angeles. The place was packed. Ticket sales were awesome. We did a $1.1 million gate for a fight card that was available to everyone on free television.
“These guys went out and put on an amazing show, [filled with] incredible performances. Whatever the number is, it is.”
After that kind of a show, it was hard not to be positive.
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by Kevin Iole
The calendar tells one story, but only a part of it. It notes, correctly, that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is a young man, at 30 one who is in the midst of his athletic prime.
Rua, though, is a mixed martial arts fighter, and the age of a fighter is measured not only by a calendar but also by the type of abuse one has taken.
Though Rua insists he’s the same guy who is one of the sport’s icons, his recent history would suggest his decline could come very quickly.
Mauricio Rua is already bruised and bloody in the first round of his fight against Dan Henderson. (AP)
Rua fights Brandon Vera on Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles in the main event of UFC on Fox 4, with a shot at the light heavyweight title hanging in the balance.
UFC president Dana White said the man who looks the best in Saturday’s final two bouts, between Rua and Vera and another between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida, will fight the Jon Jones-Dan Henderson winner for the title.
By resume, Rua would be an easy choice. But Rua’s 2011 was a very difficult one, and few fighters come back strong after the kind of punishment he took in losses to Jones and Henderson.
Rua insists he’s physically fine and will be the same as he’s always been.
“I had a good break between fights and I am [not limited in any way],” Rua said. “The good thing is, I had no broken bones or other damage like that, so the recovery was simpler.”
Take that, however, with an extremely large grain of salt. The last thing a fighter wants to do before a bout is let an opponent know he’s vulnerable.
No fighter goes into a bout 100 percent. There are always bumps and bruises that are more annoying than anything else.
Rua, though, was battered and beaten so badly by Jones and Henderson that the question of whether he’ll ever be the same is a valid one.
The body can only take so much abuse. It’s why, for example, the average career of an NFL running back is so short. They are pounded repeatedly by extremely large, extremely fit men . It’s no different than running a car into the wall 10 times in a row. Sooner or later, the car will start to break down.
Rua’s bout with Henderson at UFC 139 last November is, arguably, the greatest match in MMA history. The fury with which they went at each other and the punishment each absorbed was jaw-dropping.
“[Rua's] last fight with Dan Henderson was one of the sickest fights I’ve ever seen in my life,” White said.
For Rua, that fight was only eight months after another bout in which he was beaten very severely. He lost his title to Jones at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011, in a frightful beating. His face wouldn’t have looked much, if any, worse than it did after the Jones fight had someone taken his head and slammed it into concrete eight or nine times.
Rua points to the fact that he beat Forrest Griffin after his loss to Jones as a sign that his body is fine. He took abuse from Jones, he said, but recovered to score a first-round stoppage of Griffin just five months later.
“When you are in this business, you are going to get injuries and you’re going to take blows,” Rua said. “But I made sure I took enough time to [recover]. I will be the same.”
But the adage that a fighter can get old overnight has some merit. And that is especially true for a fighter who has been in some of the kinds of high-pace, heavy contact type of battles Rua has been involved in.
If he’s the old Rua, history would suggest he should roll over Vera. Rua has nine wins over men who have held either a UFC, PRIDE or Strikeforce title and has been one of the elite men in his division for years.
He’s also motivated because he wants another shot at Jones. The one-sided loss he suffered doesn’t sit well with him. He’s got the pride that all elite athletes possess and wants another opportunity to prove himself.
His experience, though, has come in handy because he won’t make the mistake that Vera concedes he made when he fought Jones.
“The very first time I fought Jon Jones, I just thought he was some young punk and I didn’t respect him at all,” Vera said. “I didn’t even train hard and I didn’t even pay him a mind, and the outcome showed itself. I got what I deserved for thinking the way I did, so if and when I do get a chance to fight Mr. Jones again, I promise he will have my full and undivided attention.”
Rua isn’t one to make such a mistake. There has been a big outcry that Vera A) got a main event slot and B) could get a title shot with a win. Mostly, that’s because of his middling recent record, in which he’s 1-2 with a no-contest (which was a loss before it was changed after Thiago Silva failed a drug test) and his lack of a marquee win in the division.
Those same arguments can’t be made about Rua. And, to use Vera’s terminology, Vera has Rua’s full and undivided attention.
“He’s a very tough guy as he has proven many times in the past and he’s got a lot of [varied] skills,” Rua said. “I have complete respect for his ability and for what he’s done.”
That leaves one question unanswered: Will it be the Rua of old who shows up on Saturday? Or will it be an old Rua?
Until the bell rings, no one knows for sure, not even Rua himself.
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by SecondsOut.com
Pound for pound No.1 boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr was released from a Las Vegas prison on Friday after serving a a three month sentence for a misdemeanour domestic battery offence.
The unbeaten 35 year-old walked free early for good behaviour from the Clark County Detention Center after serving two months. He will now be free to resume his boxing career assuming he is successful in reapplying for his boxing licence.
Early in his sentence Mayweather Jr’s lawyers and personal physician complained that his boxing career could suffer because of the lack of exercise space and low quality of food available in jail.
However, the world’s No.1 boxer is back on the outside and ready to resume his career. It is of course too early to predict when he will fight again.
Mayweather, who was met outside the prison by 20 members of his family including his manager Leonard Ellerbe and rapper 50 Cent, did not say anything to the vast amount of reporters and cameramen waiting patiently outside the prison gates.
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by Brent Brookhouse
The Bloody Elbow
Floyd Mayweather’s time in jail for a domestic violence charge will come to an end on Friday as he’ll be released early. As pointed out by Bad Left Hook’s Scott Christ, Floyd getting out of jail early isn’t really a huge story. He’s serving time for a misdemeanor charge and will have served almost two-thirds of his sentence. So it’s not like there’s a horrendous failure of the justice system because Floyd is a celebrity or anything.
The timing of his release also happens to line-up well with Mayweather running buddy, 50 Cent’s assault on the boxing world with the establishment of TMT Promotions.
50 has signed some very big names, turning an upstart boxing promotion into a legitimate player in only two weeks time, inking deals with Andre Berto, Zab Judah, Celestino Caballero, Andre Dirrell, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Billy Dib. That’s a lot of “name” fighters that have major network interest. Given boxing’s place as a TV package sport, that’s a very good start.
Given Mayweather’s relationship with 50 and the name of the promotion (TMT = The Money Team), it isn’t much of a stretch to assume that Floyd will be the crown jewel of TMT Promotions. Mayweather Promotions was never an actual promoter and Floyd never really had a long-term deal with Golden Boy so there’s nothing really stopping him from getting out of the De La Hoya business.
50 has been outspoken about his plans to be a real player in boxing and he’s looking at the UFC as a blueprint for some of their promotional efforts (via Herald Sun):
“We’re going to change the demographic also, appeal to the younger demographic.
“You look at UFC and MMA, when their festivities start the place is full, whereas the tradition in boxing is you wait until the main event starts.
“We want to put on cards where there are five main event fights, where there is entertainment from start to finish, cards that command attention all over the world.”
There have been some decent efforts to improve the overall card quality of boxing shows, Showtime has been great about putting on 4-5 fight cards with Golden Boy and there has been some good quality action coming out of that focus on treating the undercard as valuable. We saw Shane Mosley versus Canelo Alvarez on the undercard of Mayweather’s bout with Miguel Cotto. We also saw a great PPV action card for Cotto versus Antonio Margarito. But, overall, boxing undercards are far from a focal point in the game.
Regardless of if 50 is able to really change the overall dynamic of the boxing game or not, it’s ignorant at this point to suggest that TMT Promotions isn’t shaping up to be a real force, as pointed out by Scott Christ:
If Mayweather does wind up going with TMT, likely as a partner of some sort and the star attraction for the new company, it will be a big shift in the major boxing landscape in the United States. Currently, Top Rank and Golden Boy pretty much own the market, but Mayweather would instantly legitimize the upstart, just as De La Hoya did when he started GBP over a decade ago.
…
We know now that that model can work and make big money. Mayweather could be the next fighter to do it. Like Oscar was at the time, Floyd is the biggest star in the sport right now in many ways, and he also has a young generation of fighters that hold him up on a major pedestal and look up to him. That’s what I’m looking forward to finding out now that Floyd will be available to comment: Is TMT going to be an instant major league player? If Floyd’s in, then the answer is yes.
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Timothy Bradley called Manny Pacquiao (R) “scared” on Wednesday (AP)In the days after the fight, Bradley was largely silent, refusing nearly all interviews. At a time when it would have been important for him to get his side of the story out, Bradley chose, repeatedly, not to talk.