- by Norm Frauenheim on 26 August 2010
Toney-Couture should be among The Expendables
A couple of pretty good actors are scheduled for a fight that will match them Saturday night in Boston in a mixed mess of boxing, wrestling, checkers, chess, apples and oranges. I’m not exactly sure what all Randy Couture and James Toney will be doing. I just wish they weren’t doing it.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 21 August 2010
Gesta puts in some overtime for 7th-round stoppage
TUCSON – No Mercy is the nickname, the message and the plan. But it would have to wait. Time was more important than a swift stoppage for Filipino prospect Mercito Gesta Friday night at Casino Del Sol.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 19 August 2010
California denial is first step in Margarito’s Texas two-step
It was a show trial. Antonio Margarito had to show up in a procedural step that fulfilled, if not satisfied, bureaucratic protocol. The result was almost an after-thought. Margarito had no chance in California Wednesday. It’s a good thing he wasn’t applying for a driver’s license.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 12 August 2010
King is back, but hurdles, like the hair, are still there
He’s back, the good, the bad and the hair-do.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 5 August 2010
Alexander is a good story trying to be great
Devon Alexander is the irresistible story that explains the battered game’s inexhaustible resiliency.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 31 July 2010
Marquez-Diaz deliver some reality and a crowd instead of talk, just talk
LAS VEGAS – In the beginning, the arena looked like a vacant warehouse. The Mandalay Bay Events Center felt empty. It didn’t stay that way.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 31 July 2010
Mendy’s only victory was a trip to the hospital
LAS VEGAS – A trip to the hospital is no victory.
But that’s about all Jean Paul Mendy won in a scary moment Saturday night against Sakio Bika before the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch at Mandalay Bay.
- by Norm Frauenheim on 30 July 2010
Mosley having fun and back at work
LAS VEGAS – Shane Mosley likes to play basketball when he isn’t pounding a heavy bag. He did a little bit of both a few weeks ago.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 29 July 2010
Jacobs is fighting for his late grandmother
LAS VEGAS – Long before management and marketing promoted him as The Golden Child, his grandmother called him Baby Maniac.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 28 July 2010
De La Hoya sees “racism” in Arizona law
LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya said Wednesday that the Arizona immigration law is racist if it is allowed to stand as it was written.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 22 July 2010
The Rematch is real relief from talk and only talk
The Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz sequel to the 2009 Fight of the Year on July 31 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay has a simple marketing label: The Rematch. Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer also could have called it The Relief.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 17 July 2010
Deadline passes with no word from Mayweather
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said early Saturday that he had not heard from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., by a midnight deadline about whether he would fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13, but Arum said the fight could still happen on the proposed date.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 15 July 2010
Tick-talk-tick-talk, Mayweather on his own clock
There is Greenwich Mean Time and Daylight Savings and maybe even “Money” Time, but there is nothing standard about the digital countdown Top Rank added to its website in an attempt to get a decision, yea or nay, from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., about a proposed fight with Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 8 July 2010
Margarito’s fate is in his hands
By now, Antonio Margarito knows the questions like he knows an old sparring partner. He has heard them from the California State Athletic Commission. They have been thrown at him from all angles in the court of public opinion. He has heard them in whispers, shouts and legalese.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 1 July 2010
Mayweather-Pacquiao: Talks are back at a familiar crossroads
A reported agreement on terms for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. should be reason for optimism. Maybe, the biggest fight in years will finally happen. But skepticism is the only reasonable reaction. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We’re back at the scene of an old accident, waiting on Mayweather all over again. I’d prefer to [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 24 June 2010
Chavez Jr. is fighting for a grown-up identity against Duddy
No telling who was first to say that fathers fight so their sons don’t have to. But I’m guessing it was a mom, who from a ringside seat sat like a horrified witness on that inevitable night when dad got bloodied, bruised and stitched up.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 17 June 2010
Doubters arm Ward with critical punch
It was 2004 in Athens. The city’s ancient temples and columns seemed to be a symbol of what had happened to American boxing at the Olympics. It was in ruins. But there was Andre Ward, who a few hours before closing ceremonies won a gold medal. He’d didn’t figure to win then. But he [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 10 June 2010
Nevada, USADA meeting is first step in a renewal of talks for Pacquiao-Mayweather
The silence isn’t exactly deafening. But it is encouraging. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer isn’t saying anything at all. Bob Arum is commenting only on location- location- location, which was one piece of real estate agreeable to all before negotiations for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. got messy enough to demand that everybody go [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 3 June 2010
Steward is back in a corner that fits him better than a tux
Emanuel Steward in a corner is a little bit like seeing an old soldier back in uniform. It fits. Amid the clutter and craziness along the ropes of boxing’s front lines, Steward belongs there a lot more than he belongs in a tux at ringside for Home Box Office. Make no mistake, Steward is a [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 27 May 2010
Immigration flap forces Top Rank to move Benavidez’ homecoming out of Arizona
Concern from a sponsor and Mexican television network about controversy over Arizona’s immigration law is forcing Top Rank to move a July 17 card featuring the return of Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. out of the state, promoter Bob Arum said.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 23 May 2010
Marquez ends the fourth within three
LOS ANGELES – In the end, a fourth time meant most of the punches and all of the momentum were there for Rafael Marquez.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 20 May 2010
For Vazquez-Marquez, history is about what they do instead of say
He sat at a table a year ago in a New York restaurant, dressed in a conservative suit and unknown to most in a crowd that was there to honor him. Israel Vazquez didn’t care. It also didn’t bother him that the plaque, the symbol of his honor, was not there either. It, like him, [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 13 May 2010
Pacquiao wins the election, but he still has to get Mayweather’s vote
Campaign promises in politics are like noses in boxing. They are there to be broken. But Filipino Congressman-elect Manny Pacquiao has one promise he can’t break:
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 6 May 2010
From Malignaggi to Arizona, the immigration fight is everywhere
Paulie Malignaggi is not from Arizona. I am, which must mean there is reasonable cause to suspect my sanity.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 1 May 2010
Mayweather backs up the talk with one sided win
LAS VEGAS – Who R U Picking?
Dumb question.
Turns out, Shane Mosley picked the wrong guy. He picked Floyd Mayweather Jr. as an opponent. But it’s hard to beat a legend, which is what Mayweather became Saturday night at the MGM Grand with a unanimous decision that backed up years of bragging about how he deserves [...]
- by Norm Frauenheim on 30 April 2010
Mayweather not good enough for Leonard, Hearns era
LAS VEGAS – Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns were two of the defining faces of the 1980s. Floyd Mayweather Jr. calls himself the face of boxing, better than Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali and presumably better than either Leonard or Hearns.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 30 April 2010
Mayweather or Mosley? It might be a role for a legend
LAS VEGAS – There wasn’t much to say about the weigh-in. In fact, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said nothing at all to Sugar Shane Mosley after the two posed, face-to-face, like a couple of predators waiting for the other one to blink. Mosley said something. But Mayweather, never known for a loss of words, had no [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 29 April 2010
Mosley’s camp thinks it saw a second of doubt in Mayweather
LAS VEGAS – Interpreting body language is an inexact science at best, but Shane Mosley’s camp thinks it might have detected doubt – perhaps fear — in Floyd Mayweather Jr. at a formal news conference Wednesday before their welterweight confrontation Saturday night at the MGM Grand.
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 29 April 2010
Benavidez to fight in Arizona despite WBC condemnation of immigration law
LAS VEGAS – Junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. of Phoenix will return to his hometown on July 17 for his first bout since the 17-year-old turned pro on a card Top Rank has scheduled amid controversy over Arizona’s new immigration law, including a World Boxing Council declaration Thursday urging Mexican boxers not to fight [...]
Read more- by Norm Frauenheim on 28 April 2010
It’s all sugar from Mayweather in a news-conference upset
LAS VEGAS – Only news conferences are supposed to be predictable. But one Wednesday for Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley wasn’t. It was tame, almost as peaceful as a church picnic.
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