Manny Pacquiao Singing Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao sings with his band Wednesday night after the press conference today for his upcoming mega fight against three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on Saturday, November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Pacquiao and Margarito take the stage; Sulaiman steals the show

ARLINGTON, Tex. – Unless the weekend’s combatants come to blows on the dais itself, Wednesday press conferences usually are dull affairs. Television executives, beer sponsors, secondary and tertiary promoters, personal trainers, all, read rehearsed remarks to writers who patiently await lunch. Business as usual.

The president of a sanctioning body, though, can be a refreshingly different story – as the media learned at Cowboys Stadium.

Wednesday afternoon in the final pre-fight press conference Filipino Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Antonio Margarito will have to attend before their Friday weigh-in, the president of the World Boxing Council, Jose Sulaiman, made his way to the podium and stole the show. More about Mr. Sulaiman in a bit.

Pacquiao and Margarito and their entourages gathered in the “House that Jerry Built” – though the builder, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, was not present – to say one last time that they were ready for one another.

Pacquiao, introduced by promoter Bob Arum as “the greatest credit, in our era, to the history of boxing,” presented his customarily likable self, filled with a gracious smile, words of thanks for everyone gathered, and a becoming humility that has not changed one bit throughout his rise to international prominence.

His opponent in Saturday’s superfight, Antonio Margarito, cut a grimmer figure. Exonerated fully by his promoter, if no one else, for the illegal inserts found in his hand wraps before a 2009 fight with Shane Mosley, Margarito and his team have recently acted several times in questionable taste. There was the footage of Margarito wrapping a piece of concrete over his knuckles during the second episode of HBO’s “24/7” series. And now footage of several people, from Margarito’s camp, imitating the effects of Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s disease has surfaced on YouTube.

Margarito trainer Robert Garcia spoke at the podium about this, Wednesday, saying that he had admonished his fighters about inappropriate behavior like that in his gym. He further explained that one of his fighters claimed not to know even that Roach has Parkinson’s disease. Garcia did not, however, simply turn a few degrees to his right and offer an apology to Roach.

Freddie Roach, for his part, did not address the Margarito camp at all, preferring to focus on Congressman Pacquiao’s initial distractions.

“Little bit of a different training camp this time,” Roach said from the podium. “Just a little bit mental at first. (Pacquiao) wasn’t 100 percent there.”

But things did apparently improve when the camp relocated from the Philippines to California, and Roach saw no reason for concern.

All of those statements, though, were preceded by Jose Sulaiman, president of the WBC. Dressed in a silver suit with a white shirt and blue tie, Sulaiman ambled to the podium, apologized for his English and then offered Wednesday’s most entertaining spectacle.

He asked who could have imagined, way back in a time of short pants, that his friend Bob Arum would grow to become boxing’s “greatest promoter.” When that title was inadequate, Sulaiman then announced the WBC’s annual convention had just voted, unanimously, to declare that “in the 300-year history of the WBC,” Arum was one of boxing’s “two greatest promoters.” And then Sulaiman presented to Arum a curious piece of hardware that appeared to be a gray figurine balanced on green felt.

Finding his stride, Sulaiman next explained the colors of his suit. In a nod to Cowboys Stadium, Sulaiman declared not just himself but also his family “Cowboys.” He raised his blue tie and waved it at the media for dramatic effect before proclaiming the depth of his clan’s loyalty to Dallas’ professional football team:

“We cry when they lose, and we get drunk when they win!”

Friday’s Pacquiao-Margarito weigh-in will take place at Cowboys Stadium at 5:00 PM local time and will be open to the public.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Pacquiao – Margarito press conference Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao and three-time world champion Antonio Margarito are surrounded by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders during the final press conference Wednesday for their upcoming mega fight on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Manny Pacquiao media day Photo Gallery

A standing-room-only crowd of media and fans showed up to see superstar Manny Pacquiao during media day Tuesday. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium

Antonio Margarito Media Day Photo Gallery

A standing-room-only crowd of media and fans showed up to see three-time world champion Antonio Margarito during media day Tuesday. Margarito takes on superstar Manny Pacquio on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

Manny Pacquiao running Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao runs early in the morning Tuesday after arriving in Dallas late last night. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Manny Pacquiao Boarding plane Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao and wife Jinkee(R) get ready to board his chartered “Air Pacquiao” American Airlines 757 enroute to Dallas Monday night. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Manny Pacquiao workout Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao hits the double end bag at the Wildcard Boxing Club Monday. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

VIDEO: MIKE JONES WORK OUT

Undefeated Welterweight Mike Jones works out for his showdown with Jesus Soto Karass on the Manny Pacquiao – Antonio Margarito card

Watch Mike Jones Workout in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

VIDEO: MIKE JONES INTERVIEW

Undefeated Mike Jones talks about his showdown with Jesus Soto Karass on the Manny Pacquiao – Antonio Margarito card

Watch Mike Jones Interview in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Antonio Margarito Dallas Rally / Photo Gallery

“MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR MARGARITO” — Thousands of fans turn out to meet three-time world champion Antonio Margarito in Dallas,Texas today at the Tamale Festival. Margarito takes on Superstar Manny Pacquiao on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium.

MANNY PACQUIAO BUS PHOTOS

“Team Pacquiao bus ready to roll” — Superstar Manny Pacquiao’s custom Team Pacquiao bus rolls into Las Vegas Wednesday for its first preview before heading to Texas. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Photos bu Chris Farina / Top Rank

Antonio Margarito Workout Photo Gallery

Three-time world champion Antonio Margarito(R) and trainer Robert Garcia(L) hit the mitts in preparation for Margarito’s upcoming mega fight against superstar Manny Pacquiao on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Manny Pacquiao Workout / Jimmy Kimmel photo Gallery

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

(The new) Kindle eReader

The Irish Times August 14, 2010 | TOM KELLY Go Gadgets: Ah, the smell of competition! The launch of Apple’s iPad, with its powerful ebooks app, has prompted a swift reaction from Amazon, with the imminent release of a new Kindle, its own popular electronic book reader.

In case you missed the arrival of the Kindle’s predecessors and its e-cousins, this is a hand-held device that lets you read digital versions of books downloaded from Amazon. It’s one of several similar non-paper readers which, while not delivering the tactile pleasure of turning the printed page, do allow you tote around a virtual bookshelf with hundreds of publications as easily as you would a well-thumbed paperback.

In the case of this new, third generation Kindle, that’s a veritable Dr Johnson-esque library of 3,500 books, double its previous page count. Moreover, it bookends these into a smaller, lighter body reflecting that hoary old cheese puff about the electronics business that was so successful, they’d had to move to smaller premises.

The body has had a once-over too, with a new buffed, graphite finish and a claimed longer battery life. This Kindle still mimics the printed word with its black and white e-ink rather than iPad’s full colour offering. This certainly gives the Kindle the edge when holiday reading in sweltering sunlight, but that may not be enough to make it an iPad ekiller. bobblewaterbottlenow.com bobble water bottle

Of course, they do get another bite of the ebook cherry as their own app for the iPad lets punters eread Amazon downloads there too. And they are obviously not ones to worry about killing off their babies, with this simply being called a Kindle, with no sequel- suggestive numerals or a Ludlum-esque Kindle Librarium, for example. here bobble water bottle

As admirable as all their technical nips and tucks are, it’s at the pricing end where Amazon has sharpened up, with the WiFi-only Kindle just $139 (Irish customers are still being sent to the US site to buy).

Cost WiFi model $139 ([euro]106), WiFi 3G $189 ([euro]144), amazon.com Pod a Porter Neckband Perhaps the only inelegant note struck by this otherwise beautifully executed piece of product design is the pretension of its rather puntastic name. Almost as pompous as that opening line. Anyway, this is a very cool accessory, even jewellery, for an iPod Shuffle – the stamp-sized MP3 player from Apple. It’s an ultralight neckband to hold your Shuffle and neatly channel the headphones around so they don’t get twisted and tangled up in your clothes. These are crucial, because the player’s extreme buttonism means the headphone cables have the Shuffle’s controls built-in to them. Bust them and it’s not so much Shuffle as muffle.

At the same time, the PaP holds the Shuffle itself of course, for when you’re togged down to your exquisite basics for the beach or poolside. You can hardly tuck it in your thong after all: two wrongs won’t make a right.

Designer Michiel Cornelissen has one more twist: each Pod a Porter is individually produced by a 3D printer in polyamide when you order online. In black, white and a range of iPodista colours.

Cost [euro]25, shapeways.com Water Bobble Not a typo, but a smart, eco-positive solution to getting filtered water on the move. So the travelling middle classes everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. See, the good-looking Bobble Water Bottle has an active carbon filter that’s good for 300 dechlorinated, decontaminated fill-ups. So it helps neutralise the environmental WMD that is bottled water. Plus, the Bobble itself is BPA-free, 100 per cent recycled and recyclable, for an all-round feelgood factor. Of course, there is the small matter of shipping it over here.

Cost $10 ([euro]7.50), filters $7 ([euro]5.50), waterbobble.com.betweenideas@gmail.com and betweenideas.blogspot.com TOM KELLY

Pavlik injured; off Pacquiao – Margarito card

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former Middleweight champion has pulled out of his November 13th fight with Brian Vera that was supposed to highlight the undercard of the the Manny Pacquiao – Antonio Margarito Super Welterweight title clash with a rib injury.

Pavlik’s manager Cameron Dunkin said the reason was a rib injury. When asked if it had anything to do with Pavlik’s ongoing alcohol problem, he declined to answer.

Trainer Jack Loew also addressed the issue with ESPN.com, saying, “Since we’ve been back [in Pavlik’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, from training camp in Pennsylvania], I have not seen Kelly do anything wrong … In camp, I was with him 24 hours a day. Now that we are back, I’m not.”

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was told by Jack Loew that he had a rib injury a few days ago and might not be able to fight, and then he confirmed it to me [Monday] morning,” Dunkin said. “I’m heartbroken, I’m devastated, I’m sick to my stomach.

“This was such a great opportunity for Kelly, to be at Cowboys Stadium in front of who knows how many fans in a fun fight on a great show, a great event. I could go on and on.”

“It’s a day-by-day thing,” Dunkin said. “I spoke to Kelly. He said he’s hurt. We’re all sick about it.”

When asked if had anything to do with alcohol issues, Dunkin said, “I can’t say. I’m not there.”

Loew said Pavlik hurt the right side of his ribcage hitting the pads two weeks ago.

“He threw a punch and hurt it when we were doing pads,” Loew said. “We didn’t say anything. He still sparred (Oct. 23), but we just didn’t go to the body. Monday [Oct. 25] we went to New York for the [Tuesday] media lunch and when we came home he said it was too sore.

“He had a cortisone shot put in and it was still no better,” Loew said. “Thursday he came into the gym and he was still sore and we decided that was it. I won’t put him in there when he’s injured. He said he’s injured and the doctor said it’s very tender and that it was probably the cartilage. I gotta believe the doctor. I do have to believe Kelly’s ribs are extremely sore.”

“We’ve heard the report about the rib injury and we’re getting it confirmed,” promoter Bob Arum said. “If that’s the case, we’ll move Brandon onto Nov. 13. If Kelly can’t fight, he can’t fight, whatever the reason is.”

“Kelly realized this was a big fight for him,” Loew said, “but he didn’t want to go into a fight with a kid like Brian Vera, who will swing for the home run every time, if he wasn’t 100 percent. I don’t think we wanted to take a shot against anybody and take a chance of losing because of the rib injury and blow anything bigger or better out there. Nobody else is as disappointed as me.”

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

Wonder years: strong, creative management has helped John Laing Homes post great gains and sets the company up to succeed in new and changing markets.(JOHN LAING HOMES, NEWPORT BEACH, CA 2,045 UNITS)(Company Profile)

Builder January 1, 2006 | Mariani, Michele FIND YOUR CAUSE. FIND YOURself. These phrases greet those who enter John Laing Homes’ corporate headquarters office in Newport Beach, Calif. They’re the company’s call to service, encouraging employees to get involved in their communities. On this day in mid-October, they’re on a poster advertising an upcoming episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, in which Laing’s Sacramento division and dozens of other company employees built a new home for a woman and her seven disabled children.

An ethos of service courses through John Laing Homes. The company is generous with its financial donations–it poured at least $i million into the Extreme Makeover project–but those dollars are matched by employees’ time and energy, whether on a project of size and scope large enough for national television or involving small, local charities.

It’s a good thing the company is so well grounded, because it has been flying high with the boost from California’s tremendous boom market. (Nine of the company’s n divisions are based in the Golden State; the other two are in Colorado.) In 2004, the company booked more than $1 billion in revenue, up from $600 million just two years earlier.

On the cusp of 2006,John Laing Homes is in transition. Some of its markets are showing signs of cooling. At the same time, the company is positioning itself to take advantage of some of the biggest trends in home building, including urban projects. Executives say they’ll manage the changing dynamics by remaining true to the strong traits that made the company one of America’s Best Builders this year: smart deals, careful management of people and resources, and attention to customers’ needs.

8:30 A.M.: S0UTH COAST DIVISION MEETING “We want to be the best home building company in America,” declares Larry Webb, John Laing Homes’ CEO. Despite winning this award, he doesn’t think the company’s there yet. “Every division has things to improve. You can always do better,” he asserts.

And so sets the table for the II meetings Webb will conduct over several weeks in October to discuss each division’s business plan for the next three years. Each division presents its plan over several hours while being peppered with questions from Webb, CFO Wayne Stelmar, and Bill Probert, vice president of sales and marketing. go to web site newport beach ca

“We challenge people, and we argue,” Webb admits. “I try to put people on the spot. We ask questions. But we leave better for it.” Top managers from the company’s South Coast division sit at the conference table today. It’s one of Laing’s largest divisions and builds throughout Orange Country, where prices have risen dramatically in recent years. The South Coast division’s attached homes start in the $500,000s; detached prices climb into the low million-dollar range.

Webb spent time over the weekend reviewing the division’s 4-inch-thick business plan binder, and he starts the meeting with his big-picture take on the plan, which he says fits with much of the company. “Your division exemplifies this more than others,” he says. “A very strong 2005, a solid 2006–everyone’s being conservative, rightfully so–and a drop-off in 2007, with good expectations for 2008.” The division’s plan also fits into a growing trend for the company toward higher-density, more complicated projects, he adds.

But first, they must look back. Steve Kable, the division president, describes 2005 as “one of the easier years.” The division surpassed its goal of 397 closings for the year; it will finish 480 homes, for $340 million in revenue.

That tally puts the South Coast on top of the other 10 in terms of revenue. The Sacramento division built more homes, but at lower prices. The competition between divisions is real, Webb says later. But, he adds, “It’s less who makes the most money and more about who earns the highest customer service scores and how well they operate their divisions. They share, but they also want to win.” A walk around the corporate suite proves how often they win: Awards line bookshelves throughout the office. The newest set of trophies came from Eliant, an independent market research firm that crowns customer satisfaction winners among home builders. Six of John Laing’s divisions placed in Eliant’s top 10 in 2005. What’s more, in J.D. Power’s widely publicized study, the South Coast division tied for the highest customer satisfaction scores in Orange Count, and the Denver, Colorado Springs, and Los Angeles divisions all placed within the top three in their markets.

9:55 A.M.: SALES AND MARKETING OUTLOOK Linda Mamet, the South Coast’s vice president of sales and marketing, looks ahead to 2006 with “cautious optimism,” she says. The division is nervous about the effect rising interest rates may have on already dismal affordability ratios, but the broader outlook remains positive thanks to strong job growth and housing demand.

Those same concerns cut across most of the company’s divisions. As markets change, CFO Stelmar reminds employees that they’ll need to emphasize the Advantage program, which includes processes and measurement metrics for five key areas: leadership, land, sales, people, and customer care.

The Sales Advantage program sets out the builder-buyer relationship. Its in-house materials talk of “dating,” “popping the question,” and “planning the wedding”–all nicknames for the company’s marketing strategies designed to court and land buyers. In the process, sales team members follow two tracks, concentrating the most effort on top prospects while continuing contact with lesser prospects to generate a backlog of possible buyers.

10:30 A.M.: BUDGET LINE ITEMS Webb quizzes managers about their anticipated general and administrative costs. “I just want to make sure you are worrying about it, that you’re not taking it for granted,” Webb says. “You could bury anything with the last few years,” he adds, alluding to the financial cushion the flush times have provided.

It’s a theme that runs throughout discussions with Webb and many of his employees: Change is coming. That’s why Stelmar earlier stressed the need to rely on the Advantage program, and why he tells the group now, “I would rather see dollars invested in the front end of the business than at the back to fix things that didn’t go right the first time.” Webb is confident that the systems in place and the strength of his division executives–there’s been no turnover at the president level for four years–will help carry the company through potentially tougher times. He’s also hedging through geographic and product diversification. Laing has added divisions in San Diego and San Francisco, and others designed to target urban and upscale building. The product mix within existing divisions is shifting too. “Two years ago, Orange County (South Coast) did suburban tract building. Now, it’s more infill,” Webb says. “We’re adapting to changing market conditions.” 11:45 A.M.: LAING LUXURY KICKOFF” MEETING Laing Luxury was born in 2002 as part of that diversification plan. The division builds houses priced at $1 million and up (that “up” will soon reach $6 million) between Los Angeles and San Diego. While many of the company’s competitors also build high-end homes, Laing believes it has a one-of-a-kind division devoted to delivering luxury product.

Laing Luxury is the sole division to share office space with the corporate staff. Today, while the South Coast division wraps up its meeting a floor below, Laing Luxury managers, market research and design consultants, and an architect have gathered to talk about a potential project of 84 homes in La Quinta, south of Palm Desert.

The land hasn’t been bought yet. This session is designed to brainstorm what might be possible with it. That the group knows its buyers well shines through: They debate whether tennis courts will be needed in the community when so many buyers would already belong to private tennis clubs and agree that private dipping pools would likely hold more appeal than a larger, communal pool.

The company builds in a cushion for start-up divisions. It gave Laing Luxury about three years to get to full speed building between 100 and 150 homes a year, a metric the division will just about hit in 2005 (in mid-October, it estimated 97 closings for the year).

1 P.M.: TUSTIN FIELD VISIT With the South Coast planning meeting concluded, Kable and Mamet drive to check on the final sales phase in their Tustin Field II community in Orange County.

The 30-acre sites this project and its sister, Tustin Field I, sit on were carved from a decommissioned military base. From the site of barracks rose 178 single-family homes priced close to, and in some cases, more than, $1 million. Tustin Field I–which required only ridding the grounds of a radar station before construction–includes four types of high-density product.

That the division offered some affordable units in Tustin Field I is a point of pride for employees. The lowest-priced affordable units, which are fully integrated into the neighborhoods, sold for $79,000, compared with the market rate of more than $400,000.

3:30 P.M.: VISIT WITH LARRY Ideas for the future are never far from Webb’s mind. Though he says the company is feeling out how large it should grow, he expects that by 2012, John Laing Homes will have 20 divisions in the western United States and produce between 7,000 and 9,000 homes and earn $4 billion or $5 billion a year.

“That doesn’t mean it will be a straight line,” Webb cautions. “I do believe that housing is cyclical. There will be good times, and there will be bad times. I would like to see us continue to be leaders in the marketplace, for employees to stay motivated, and to adhere to our vision about caring about customers.” TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AMERICA’S BEST BUILDERS 2006, VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW .BUILDERONLINE.COM, CLICK ON “THE MAGAZINE” TAB, AND THEN CLICK ON “BUILDER ARTICLE LINKS.” JOHN LAING HOMES CEO: Larry Webb Company focus: Eleven divisions in California and Colorado build a full range of attached and detached homes, priced as high as $6 million. this web site newport beach ca

Employees: 1,000 Year founded: 1984 Web site: www.johnlainghomes.com; www.laingluxury.com Notable: Launched John Laing urban and Bay area divisions; won several high-profile customer satisfaction awards; crossed $1 billion revenue threshold for first time.

AMERICA’S BEST JUDGES The 2006 America’s Best Builder entries were evaluated by a panel of builders, home building consultants, and past winners during the NAHB’s fall meeting in Reno, Nev. They included:

Barbara Anderson-Domingues, vice president of sales and marketing-Arizona division, Vantage/Raylee Homes, Mesa, Ariz.

Mike Benshoof, vice president, SMA Consulting, Colton, Calif.

Steve Friedman, Americas Leader, Homebuilding, Ernst and Young, McLean, Va.

Steve Hays, partner, Home Builder Services Group, RubinBrown, St. Louis Carl Riden, president, Carl Riden Properties, Buford, Ga.

Tom Sattler, president, Sattler Homes, Greenwood Village, Cole.

Cheryl Schuette, president, Village Homes, Englewood, Colo.

Chuck Shinn, president, Lee Evans Group and Shinn Consulting, Denver Emma Shinn, vice president, Lee Evans Group and Shinn Consulting, Denver BALANCING ACT: Larry Webb (far left), CEO of John Laing Homes, has a lot to keep track of these days. His company recently added Bay area and urban divisions, bringing its total up to II, spread between California and Colorado. In addition to holding frequent meetings to plan new projects, each division meets during the second half of the year to craft ambitious business plans that map out the next three years. During the fall, they present their plans to Webb and other senior managers, who then develop a single three-year business plan for the company.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] INFILL OPPORTUNITIES: John Laing Homes has focused more on infill and urban developments, such as this one on a vacant military base in Tustin, Calif., as land in the state grows scarce.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WESTERN WINNER: Though CEO Larry Webb cautions that growth won’t always come in a straight line, it’s worked that way during the past few years, as the company has benefited from its strong positions throughout California.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mariani, Michele

Pacquiao – Reid rally photo gallery

Superstar boxer and Filipino congressman Manny Pacquiao(R) attends a rally for US Senator Harry Reid,D-Nevada(L) at Orr Middle School in Las Vegas Friday. Reid is running for re-election against Republican challenger Sharron Angle. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Glovegate gone as all of the talk moves into an orbit around Pacquiao’s stardom

The irresistible story about whether Manny Pacquiao is out-of-shape, or out-of-focus, or more politician than pugilist is either setting the stage for a monumental upset in a loss to Antonio Margarito or masterful spin in the promotional wizardry exercised by Bob Arum.

The guess is all of the above and maybe more. There’s nothing new about Pacquiao and distractions. If anything, they’ve become inseparable. Pacquiao almost seems to be energized by familiar chaos that surrounds him like a human typhoon.

It’s fair to wonder whether the storm will reach a tipping point and overwhelm the Filipino Congressman on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium against a bigger man who used to be called The Tornado and is anxious to prove he doesn’t need illegal hand wraps to be one all over again.

The hand-wrap controversy, which has haunted Margarito since a loss to Shane Mosley 22 months ago, has been shoved into the background. Glovegate is an afterthought and Arum made sure of it with his trip a couple of weeks ago to the Philippines for a look at Pacquiao’s training camp. The story’s emphasis shifted subtly, yet unmistakably onto the star, Pacquiao, and away from the controversy, Margarito, when Arum warned the Filipino that he was in danger of losing if he didn’t work harder. The next day, Arum said all was well. Pacquiao looked good.

With his early warning, Arum accomplished a couple of tasks. He motivated Pacquiao and he ensured that the attention moves toward and stays on the biggest attraction. That’s where it belongs. Pacquiao makes the money. Talk about a marquee fighter in a battle with distractions is as old as Muhammad Ali. It’s compelling enough to invest in pay-per-view. But controversy over what, when and if Margarito knew about altered wraps and whether he should be allowed to fight in Texas after a denial in California is just buzz-kill.

Intrigue about Pacquiao’s readiness gained momentum at the very moment he set foot at LAX Sunday. That’s when trainer Freddie Roach told the media that the Filipino part of the training camp was the worst he had ever endured.

Trainers, of course, are paid to worry. Roach sounded as if he were relieved to be away from Pacquiao’s many commitments and desire to stay close to his newfound position in the Filipino Congress. He blew off for a day to visit Filipino President Benigno Aquino. Roach also told reporters that Pacquiao told him that he missed his job. Pacquiao’s comment to Roach is curious, to be sure. If he had not been so good for so long at his job in the ring, he wouldn’t have one in politics. In the political ring, misplaced priorities are an argument. Against Margarito, they’re a loss.

If priorities are in fact misplaced, there are questions — further intrigue — about whether Pacquiao has enough to time to put them back in order. In comments during media day Wednesday at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, Roach sounded as if two-to-three weeks were enough. Yet within a week after leaving the Philippines, Pacquiao planned to be back on the campaign trail for a quick trip Friday to Las Vegas where he is scheduled to appear with Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat and majority leader, who is a tough run against Tea Party darling Sharron Angle.

Just a couple days after Roach told the media that there were no politicians around to take Pacquiao away from the Wild Card Gym, the trainer has another reason to worry. But Arum, Senator Reid’s friend and loyal supporter, can’t be worried at all. Otherwise, Pacquiao wouldn’t be taking this trip in support of a fellow politician who might be in bigger trouble than he will be against Margarito.

All options still on the mat

Henry Cejudo, a freestyle-wrestling gold medalist at the 2008 Olympics and one of the best stories at the Beijing Games, is 2-0 as an amateur boxer. Cejudo, who began training alongside Top Rank prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr., at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix not long after Beijing’s closing ceremonies, won his second amateur bout in a surprise appearance a week ago at a tournament during the Arizona State Fair.

Cejudo, who won his boxing debut during a smoker at Central, has told the wrestling media that he probably will return for another shot at Olympic gold at the 2012 Games in London. But boxing, which will perfect his punching know how, might also be one way of jumping into mixed-martial arts. That opportunity looms, especially since Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White announced Thursday that the UFC will merge with World Extreme Cagefighting.

The merger will include the addition of two weight classes, 135 pounds and 145. There also are plans for a 125-pound division. Cejudo, who grew up as a boxing fan, won Olympic gold at 55 kilograms, 121.25 pounds.

Notes, quotes
· Kelly Pavlik trainer Jack Loew is relieved that weight won’t be the biggest opponent when the former middleweight champion tries to resurrect his career against journeyman Brian Vera on the Pacquiao-Margarito undercard at catch weight, 164 pounds. “We were burning this kid out,’’ Loew said Tuesday of training before Pavlik loss to Sergio Martinez. “We were training four or five times a day and it was because of the weight. We trained more for the weight than we did for Martinez.’’
· Most of the talk is about Pacquiao-Margarito, but the Fight of the Year might happen on the Saturday before Nov. 13 when featherweights Rafael Marquez and Juan Manuel Lopez tangle on Nov. 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Arum, Lopez’ promoter, called it a Fight of the Year candidate. There was no argument Monday from Lopez. “My expectation is the same, that it will be a Fight-of-the-Year-type candidate,’’ said Lopez, who also expects the bout to end in a later-round knockout.

Photo Chris Farina / Top Rank

Antonio Margarito Los Angeles Media Day Photo Gallery

Three-time world champion Antonio Margarito talks with reporters during a packed media day at the Fortune Gym in Hollywood Thursday. Margarito takes on superstar Manny Pacquiao on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm?

Isthmus September 26, 2008 | Madayag, Katrin Blain’s Farm & Fleet 600 Hometown Circle, Verona; 608-848-4968; www.farmandfleet.com; 8:30 am-9 pm Mon.-Fri., 8:30 am-8 pm Sat., 9 am-6 pm Sun.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the new Blain’s Farm & Fleet in Verona, not only did the LED welcome sign give me pause, so did the sprawling 114,500-square-foot building. Looks like the Midwestern farm store chain (it has 30-plus stores in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa) has evolved. go to site beard trimmer

Environmentally, it has. According to company representative Renee Tarnutzer, the Verona location is a green-concept store with daylight-harvesting skylights and 16foot ceiling fans that control temperatures year-round.

Farm & Fleet has spruced up the roughhewn appearance typical of its other stores to compete with the big boxes, yet its durable brands of clothes, outdoor maintenance equipment and agricultural necessities remain.

The large store’s layout sells itself Gone are the cramped aisles that made it easy to overlook products. Instead, wider aisles and open space encourage browsing. Sweatshirts can be faced out, and shoe aisles accommodate both carts and shoppers.

I took my time, poking my head in all the departments, from automotive to sporting goods to agricultural hardware. With bright lights and roomy shelves, I found Farm Innovators Pond De-icer ($39), the Waring Pro Wine Chiller ($100) and the camouflage Wahl Outdoor Rechargeable Beard Trimmer ($20) for hunters. I especially liked the brown John Deere “Makin’ big ol’ trucks since 1877” hoodie ($30). And this is still the place to go for Dickeys, Carhartt and CAT – work clothes that make the leap to hip. in our site beard trimmer

Farm & Fleet Verona is both for business and pleasure. While there, I saw families and couples stroll the store together, which exemplifies the Farm & Fleet local community spirit. Despite its gleam, you actually will still find the same good ol’ farm store.

Although the store opened to the public Aug. 14, the official grand opening Sept 25-27 will be an extravaganza with gift card giveaways and appearances by local celebrities like UW athletic director Barry Alvarez and former Packers president Bob Harlan.

Madayag, Katrin

Manny Pacquiao LA Media day Photo Gallery

Superstar Manny Pacquiao shadow boxes during a packed media day at the Wildcard Boxing Club in Los Angeles Wednesday. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View

Photos by Chris Farina . Top Rank

Sports Hotline.(Sport)

Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) September 28, 2005 Byline: COLIN DUNCAN takes your calls IT’S a sad day when Rangers fans are hoping their own team lose but that’s how badly some sections of the Ibrox support want rid of under-fire boss Alex McLeish. Some reckon a heavy Champions League defeat to Inter Milan tonight would speed up Eck’s exit.

Peter Menzies, Helensburgh, said: “There’s no chance of Rangers beating Inter Milan so I’m hoping we get hammered by six or seven goals. That’s probably the only way we will get rid of our pathetic excuse for a manager. in our site ingrown toenail treatment

“If McLeish flukes another lucky result it will only delay the inevitable. He’s caused the fans enough suffering this season Duncan Montgomerie, Glasgow, said: “I was at Tynecastle on Saturday and left in a state of shock after witnessing yet another shambolic Rangers performance.

“Hearts were not even that good. They were well organised and disciplined – that’s all it takes to beat Rangers these days Norman Graham, Nottingham, said: “The majority of the Rangers squad are not bad players. It’s the manager who makes them look bad due to his lack of tactics and his tinkering with team selection Alan McGaw, Grangemouth, said: “I don’t know which is more painful – having an ingrown toenail removed or watching Rangers at the moment.

“McLeish must stop changing systems every five minutes and find a settled side before he gets the boot. If he keeps playing guys like Julien Rodriguez and Hamed Namouchi, he will be quickly out of a job Craig McMurdo, Ayr, said: “You wouldn’t send McLeish to the shops for a loaf and a pint of milk. The man is incompetent and there’s no way he should be trusted any longer as Rangers boss.

“Tactically naive, indecisive, a terrible judge of a player and with an excuse to cover every eventuality … need I go on?” However, Big Eck does have his backers. Gordon Berry, Greenock, said: “It’s time for the Rangers fans to get behind McLeish. “I’m convinced he will turn things around and I’m sure by the end of the season he will lead Rangers to at least two trophies. We are only eight games into the season and to call for his head just now is ludicrous.” Celtic boss Gordon Strachan is also getting some advice on team selection Hoops fan Jimmy Glancy, Dumfries, said: “It’s time Strachan played Chris Sutton up front and not in the middle of the park. He should also drop John Hartson because the big man just hasn’t been producing the goods this season.” Dundee United boss Gordon Chisholm also came under fire Bob Gowans, Newport on Tay, said: “Chisholm should do the fans a favour and follow Ian McCall out of the door. There’s only one way this club is going at the moment and that’s down. After watching them at East End Park on Saturday I’ve reached the end of my tether.’ Finally, Bill Whitehead, East Calder, said: “If the Celtic v Hearts clash is not going to be screened live on television, why don’t Hearts apply to the SFA for permission to beam the game back to Tynecastle There’s only one quote of the week ‘I don’t know what’s more painful – having an ingrown toenail removed or watching Rangers If it’s yours, you’ll win a bottle of Scottish Leader see here ingrown toenail treatment

Watching “24/7” while thinking about Mexican television

Boxing doesn’t have seasons, or much boxing either, anymore, but it does have pay-per-view events that mark artificial seasons. These happen late in winter, spring, summer and fall. This year’s late-winter and late-summer offerings were weak and dreadful, respectively. This year’s late-fall season kicked-off Saturday with the first episode of “24/7 Pacquiao/Margarito.”

If you’re not thinking that it would be better to read a column about boxing than one about television about boxing, you should be. To such a concern I offer the merest anecdote:

One summer, after suffering through a semester of Eng102 at Arizona State University I happened on its professor in the ASU Rec Center and told him what I thought of his class. And he replied, “Boring to you? I had to teach the damned thing.”

We make a mistake if we discount the need for boxing on television, though, and that is why we take a look at HBO’s “24/7” program and its effect. Much as we make of competitive undercard matches and b-side fighters in main events, network researchers snicker at our concerns because they know what we do not believe: Once the a-side fighter is in place, the success of a pay-per-view is determined by “24/7.”

Mayweather-Mosley in May was a more compelling spectacle than Pacquiao-Clottey in March, as we all knew it would be, but not twice as compelling. The difference in pay-per-view sales these shows garnered, if those numbers are to be believed, was roughly 100 percent. That is, Mayweather-Mosley sold about twice as many pay-per-view buys as Pacquiao-Clottey. One had “24/7.” One did not.

Look, “24/7” is not for you, the serious fan. It is for the wife or father of a casual fan. It is about helping a casual fan attain $50 of permission from his spouse or guardian by offering variable plotlines. That’s how Pacquiao’s puppy featured prominently in “24/7” before the fight with Miguel Cotto; that’s why we now know Margarito’s wife hates her husband’s flatulence.

Super fights need that sort of promotion today because there are no longer a million serious boxing fans in the United States. Boxing lost most of its fans when it left network television, though it still pretends otherwise. It lost more fans when it put an additional purchase price on meaningful fights. And it lost another healthy chunk this year when it promised something real, failed, then delivered, instead, something broken.

Which gets me thinking about Mexico. Today, having backed away from the failed American model, Mexico has great fights on basic cable. It’s a new thing. Mexicans are embracing it enthusiastically. When I talk to folks in Tamaulipas or Jalisco, now, I hear about fights in Germany and Poland I did not know about and could not have seen if I had. Beyond that enthusiasm, though, is a coming sadness.

Boxing did not suffer too much when American kids could no longer watch it on public airwaves. That is, American boxing suffered, suffered terribly, but the sport wasn’t ruined. Because of prosperity, Americans were destined to supply boxing’s audience, not its participants, soon, anyway. Not so with Mexico.

Boxing was not on Mexico’s public airwaves for most of the last decade because of the same shortsighted greed that afflicted, and afflicts, things here in the U.S. Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera, in fact, cites the renewed availability of boxing in Mexican homes as a reason for his comeback: None of his countrymen saw his glory days. Unless you were a Mexican with a satellite dish or access to a sports bar that had one, then, you probably gave up on boxing sometime after 2001.

Ten years is a long time. Imagine a Mexican who turns 20 this year; he’s spent half his life without boxing. Now imagine that Mexican was to be the next Barrera. Whatever else he may be, he’s not the next Barrera anymore.

Today, we are told Saul Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. are among Mexico’s greatest young fighters. The troublesome thing is that it might be so. Expect just as many Mexican “greats” to be fed to us by promoters in the next decade as we had in the last, but don’t expect many actual great fighters out of Mexico for 10 years to come.

Oh, enough of the dreary prognostications already! Very well. Back to pay-per-view season.

The first episode of “24/7” was better than it could have been. There were the same old overwrought and overproduced elements, sure. Freddie Roach’s pursuit of anonymity in a mall – while accoutered in bright Team Pacquiao garb and followed by a camera crew – was the best example. But anyway.

The first episode dealt fairly with the issue of Margarito’s hand wraps. It reported the facts of the case; the discovery of the pads, the result of the California State Athletic Commission’s investigation, the revocation of Margarito’s license, and the restoration of Margarito’s license in Texas. Then it gave Margarito his chance to convince potential buyers “he didn’t know” – that he still “doesn’t know!” (not in subtitled translation) – anything was wrong with his wraps the night he faced Shane Mosley.

And then “24/7” went to Roach casually saying Margarito is lying before showing Pacquiao, in an uncommon bit of satire, pantomiming Margarito’s path to obliviousness – complete with covering his eyes with one hand while extending the other to an imaginary trainer. Yes, Margarito’s explanation remains, in the strictest sense of the word, unbelievable.

But he still won’t make much of a villain. He has a sleepy-eyed humility that makes him pretty hard to hate. He is not going to cut it as a Mexican hero, either, though; wherever they found those extras for the car-wash plot, Margarito now cuts things a little too fine, in both beard and palliation, to be a working-class hero.

But this is good as it gets right now. Take it or leave it.

Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com. Additionally, his book, “The Legend of Muhammad Ali,” co-written with Thomas Hauser, can be purchased here.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Manny Pacquiao Los Angeles Arrival Photo Gallery

“MANNY HITS LA” — Superstar Manny Pacquiaoarrives in Los Angeles Saturday night to continue training for his upcoming mega fight against Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao takes on three-time world champion Antonio Margarito on November 13, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas. Pacquiao vs Margarito is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions and Cowboys Stadium. The Pacquiao vs Margarito telecast will be available live on HBO Pay Per View.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS FARINA / TOP RANK

Arlington in November

Cowboys Stadium is not in Dallas or anywhere near Grapevine, Tex., home of the Gaylord Texan – official hotel of the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium is in Arlington, a half hour west of Dallas and a half hour south of Grapevine and one parking lot from Rangers Ballpark. Let’s pause for a moment to celebrate stadiums named after teams that play in them and not corporations that don’t.

There. That’s the end of homage to the House that Jerry Built. Manny Pacquiao’s last prizefight was about seeing him in Cowboys Stadium. That trick won’t work twice.

Pacquiao hasn’t changed. He’s perhaps more of an icon in the Philippines for having won a congressional election since his March fight with Joshua Clottey, but saying Pacquiao is more of an icon in the Philippines is like calling him “perfecter.” Which means that for Pacquiao’s fight on Nov. 13 to succeed, Tijuana’s Antonio Margarito is going to have to draw better than Ghana’s Clottey did. Piece of cake – preferably tres leches – right?

Not so fast. If Spanish-language emails coming to bbarry@15rounds.com can be believed, not all of Mexico is buying the Margarito line. They have not forgiven or forgotten. And they are right not to.

If you are reading this, you have considered and reconsidered the Margarito case. I don’t plan to persuade you of his innocence or guilt; I’m too conflicted about it, myself, to do a creditable job. But I will be in Cowboys Stadium next month and wonder if watching someone wrestle with his own ambivalence mightn’t prove cathartic to you.

I worry about the precedent Margarito will set in November: Break the rules (wittingly or otherwise), receive banishment, go into exile, miss a fight, take a tune-up match, shop for a sympathetic commission, enjoy your richest payday. It’s obviously unfair, but adults don’t whine about unfairness.

It is troublesome too, though, because this precedent begs for a copycat effort. Why shouldn’t some other fighter, or his trainer, try it?

Still, Margarito will not fight in November with any foreign substances smeared across his hand wraps because Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach will be an incredible pain in the ass during the hand-wrapping that HBO’s cameras will cover like it’s part of the undercard. But here’s something to consider.

If we take Margarito at his word – that he was oblivious of his trainer’s transgressions – we’re left to determine when Margarito’s trainer began tampering with wraps. Margarito cannot help us answer that question because he recused himself from the case by expressing complete ignorance of his trainer’s comportment, numerous times before the California State Athletic Commission.

In other words, was Margarito ever honestly better than the 10-3 journeyman he began his career as?

Well, if the answer is no, we’re in for a bloodletting to make Pacquiao’s unraveling of Ricky Hatton look civilized.

Boxing is a theater that requires suspension of disbelief much as any other. Let us suspend our disbelief, then, and imagine Margarito’s hands were coddled in the softest of gauze and tape the evening he beat Miguel Cotto in 2008 and th’t that same Margarito will be in Arlington four Saturdays from now.

Manny Pacquiao is far too quick for Margarito to find early. Margarito will lope forward, hands low and wide, smiling as Pacquiao hits him 50 times every round. Pacquiao will have spent weeks sparring before Freddie Roach, who probably will have stopped the action each time Pacquiao’s back touches the ropes. Pacquiao, in other words, should come off those ropes like they were an electric fence. And Margarito is none too effective in the center of the ring.

Why not? Because Margarito has a signature crossover move that requires space and time. It goes like this. He puts his jab out to start the combo in motion. He brings his right foot forward with his right cross, which is a loopy, corralling punch thrown to trigger the left uppercut/hook hybrid. Then from a southpaw stance, he pulls on his right shoulder and launches his left fist upwards, with all his being behind it.

But Pacquiao is three things that foil this crossover: Small, quick and southpaw. He will be able to parry the looping cross and move away from it by pivoting quickly on his lead right foot in a tight circle that makes Margarito’s hybrid punch wider than usual. Margarito will hit mostly air, turn leftwards and taste a left cross or four. And he’ll be down 60-54 on all three judges’ cards when the seventh round commences.

But he will not be discouraged.

He will be the largest man Pacquiao has faced. He will be a man who fights with a special kind of resentment. He will be outclassed but not outwilled. And he will weigh more than Joshua Clottey did in March – when the Ghanaian proved that if a welterweight is hell-bent on not getting hurt by Pacquiao he needn’t be.

Margarito has a chance because of physics. Pacquiao’s power above 147 pounds is unproved. Boxing history is rife with great fighters who went one weight class too high. Margarito’s relentlessness would not be enough if he were Pacquiao’s size. But he is not. He is much bigger.

One of two things is likely to happen in November. Margarito never finds Pacquiao, chasing him in hopeless circles round the center of the ring and collecting the 36-minute beating so many Americans, and Mexicans too, believe he deserves. Or Margarito finds Pacquiao late in the fight and makes it a dramatic spectacle indeed.

So I ask myself, would I go to this match if it were in Las Vegas and not my home state of Texas? I think so, but I’m not sure. Would I buy it on pay-per-view, otherwise? Yes. Should you come see this match in Texas? Yes. Should you buy it on pay-per-view, otherwise? I think so, but I’m not sure.

Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com

INÉS SAINZ TO HOST DAILY BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURES DURING PACQUIAO vs. MARGARITO FIGHT WEEK

LAS VEGAS, NEV (October 14, 2010) – Top Rank announced today that international television sports reporter INÉS SAINZ has been signed to provide daily fight week reports and features and be part of the international broadcast team for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito World Super Welterweight Championship. Pacquiao vs. Margarito will take place, Saturday, November 13 at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX and will be broadcast live on pay-per-view in the U.S.

Sainz, a sports reporter for TV Azteca in México and Azteca America in the U.S., will utilize her vast experience interviewing sports personalities from around the globe in producing fresh and insightful reports from the fighters’ camps throughout fight week, as well as live reports from the official press conferences, media workouts, the official weigh-in, all of which will be available to online portals as well as television stations and networks via satellite feeds. Sainz will also be reporting on the pre-fight festivities during fight night at Cowboys Stadium as well as part of the fight’s international broadcasting team .

“Inés will be a valuable addition in providing sports fans unique stories on the fighters and the event during fight week and the fight broadcast itself that we have never had before,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, which is promoting Pacquiao vs. Margarito, in association with MP Promotions, Cowboys Stadium and Tecate. “Inasmuch as she is bilingual and has the experience of covering major sporting events worldwide and has interviewed the top athletes in those events, she will help enhance our coverage of Pacquiao vs. Margarito and attract a wider audience to the sport of boxing. Top Rank feels very fortunate to have her for this event.”

Sainz, who holds graduate degrees in tax law and sports business administration, and is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, has covered major sports events that span the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the past six Super Bowls and the ATP’s World Tour Masters. She was also an integral part of TV Azteca’s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa. Sainz also hosts TV Azteca’s popular interview program Dxtips.

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Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Margarito are priced at $700, $500, $300, $200, $100, and $50, and can be purchased in-person at the Cowboys Stadium ticket office in Arlington, or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.

For Pacquiao vs. Margarito fight week updates, log on to www.toprank.com .

VIDEO: MIKE JONES

Undefeated Welterweight Mike Jones talks about his November 13th fight with Jesus Soto Karass on the Manny Pacquiao – Antonio Margarito Undercard

Watch Mike Jones in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

PACQUIAO – MARGARITO DALLAS PHOTO GALLERY

Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito two day Dallas excursion is captured by Top Rank’s Chris Farina starting with a visit to a Dallas Cowboys pre season game that was followed up by the press conference to announced their November 13 fight

Margarito, Capetillo and the Not So Long Arm of the Law

With all due apologies to T.S. Eliot and Carlos Acevedo, boxing is the cruelest art. But it is also, strictly speaking, a series of assaults and batteries— with the law suspended for the moment between two consenting adults who wish to prove a point.

As Antonio Margarito, suspended from boxing by the California State Athletic Commission, prepares now to face Manny Pacquiao in Texas, it seems worthwhile to spend a minute or two considering the law as it relates to boxing, and how it didn’t relate to Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo. I say this because I’m still not entirely sure why at least Capetillo has not faced criminal charges. More specifically, assault with a deadly weapon.

Before his fight with “Sugar” Shane Mosley for the Welterweight Championship in California, Mosley’s trainer discovered what was later found by the California State Athletic Commission to be a “plaster-like substance” on the knuckle pads of both of Margarito’s hand wraps. The knuckle pads were seized by the Commission and Margarito’s hands were re-wrapped in time for him to be beaten to a pulp by Shane Mosley. No harm, no foul? Not at criminal law. If you shoot at someone and miss, the law doesn’t reward you with a free ride for bad aim. Attempt is a crime.

As a disclaimer, although I’ve passed the New York Bar I have not taken the California Bar and have no intention of doing so. But much of law reduces to Common Law, and despite some terminology differences and statute interpretation particular to each state, a general analysis is possible. So here we go.

The Law

Assault and battery are both tortious offenses (i.e., you can be sued for doing it if the other party experiences damages) and criminal offenses (i.e., the state can press charges against you for doing it). In some instances it can be both.

Within the consent of the boxers to not file suit, and the consent of the state to not press charges, are the agreed upon rules. Between the boxers this is contract, between the state and the boxers this is law. Which is to say, all that stands between boxers and lawsuits and jail time and fines are their contracts with each other and the rules of boxing. One contracts to fight another man under certain conditions (e.g., at a certain weight, in a certain size ring, wearing certain size gloves and under a certain set of rules). To go outside the contract in a big way (“a material breach”), is to lose the protection of the contract and, perhaps, the protection (or the suspension of the suspension) of the law.

Notable examples of boxers who have gone outside the rules and have been criminally punished are Luis Resto and his trainer, Panama Lewis, who both saw the inside of a prison for taking the stuffing out of Resto’s gloves in a bout with the once promising, but that night beaten and virtually blinded Billy Collins, Jr. ; and James “The Harlem Hammer” Butler, who, after losing a decision in 2001 punched his then celebrating opponent with a taped but gloveless fist. Occurring after the final bell, Butler was led out of the arena in handcuffs and charged in New York with felony assault to the second degree.

In both of these instances, the parties went outside both the contract and the rules in a manner sufficient to trigger both the ability of the injured party to sue and the state to press charges. Collins had agreed to fight Resto with certain ounce gloves. In ripping the stuffing out of the gloves, Lewis and Resto voided the contract and, in violating the rules in so egregious a way, lost the protection of the law and committed assault and battery, which in New York was charged as a type of “Assault” as well as possession of a deadly weapon—the gloves. “The Harlem Hammer” punched without gloves and outside the allotted time of the bout, no longer protected by contract or rules.

Both offenders in these cases caused damage to their opponents; generally, one must have damages capable of redress to sue. Because no one was struck or threatened with the “plaster-like” hardened fists and Mosley ultimately won the bout, there are no damages (except perhaps to Margarito’s reputation and a generalized damage to the sport of boxing) —thus no lawsuit.

But some further explanation of just what assault and battery means in a criminal context might be in order. Different states use the words differently, but California essentially follows the old Common Law form. Without getting into degrees and “aggravated” status, according to the California Penal Code Sect. 240. “An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.” (emphasis added).

According to CPC Sect. 242. “A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.”

The classic definition of battery is “the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact.”

Which is to say, generally, that assault is the attempt and battery is the actual contact. Or, germane to this discussion: you can assault someone without actually hitting him. And unlike in the lawsuit context, you need not have inflicted damage on another.

The last weapon in our legal arsenal for the moment regards just that, weapons and/or dangerous instrumentalities:

CPC 245. (a) (1) Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a deadly weapon or instrument other than a firearm or by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

Arguably, outside of the protection of the law in the ring, a boxer’s fists alone might qualify under this statute for the increased penalty. But certainly, a set of brass knuckles would qualify under the statute as either/or. Having said that, I do not see much legal distinction as to impact between brass knuckles and plaster of paris knuckle pads in a boxing match. And remember, you don’t actually have to hit someone to have “assaulted” him.

And there it is—call it what you will, attempted battery or “assault with a deadly weapon.” Loading boxing gloves with “a plaster-like substance” in anticipation of their use in a boxing match would seem to qualify. The only thing that seemingly stood in the way of a criminal beating that night was Sugar Shane Mosley’s observant trainer and the time it would have taken to walk into the ring.

Proof

But of course, in the criminal context one must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Not any doubt, but a reasonable doubt. The Commission revocation hearing used the “clear and convincing evidence to a reasonable certainty” standard— which is more than preponderance of the evidence (i.e., 51%), and less than beyond a reasonable doubt (i.e., beyond the reasonable doubt of a reasonable man).

In addition, however, in the criminal context, generally, one must show intent (sometimes “recklessness” or “negligence” will do, but in “attempt crimes” intent is generally the touchstone). Intent in this matter would essentially mean that Margarito and/or his trainer knew that the hand wraps had been exposed to a hardening agent, or as the CSAS found, “a plaster-like substance,” and proceeded to go forward to fight.

The Defense

Not knowing is a defense. But just saying you “didn’t know” is not enough to dispense with intent—it is a question for the jury (or judge, if there is no jury) to decide. It is what is called “a question of fact.” The answer or decision is based upon the credibility of the accused and the surrounding evidence. In the case of Panama Lewis and Luis Resto the court found that despite their assertions—they had to have known. And again, they both went to prison in addition to being banned from boxing.

Hardened knuckle pads, however, are not the same as gloves with the stuffing ripped out. And more than a few reputable boxing trainers, including Freddie Roach, Emanuel Steward, and Nazeem Richardson—the trainer who actually discovered the hardened knuckle pads—have publicly stated that it would be possible for a trainer to place hardened pads within a boxer’s hand wraps without the boxer knowing it. It is also possible, because the knuckle pads aren’t necessarily prepared in front of the boxer (according to the CSAS Capetillo told conflicting stories about where he prepared the knuckle pads) that any treatment of the pads could not seen by the boxer.

That sound you just heard was reasonable doubt creeping in as to Margarito.

But having said that, the CSAS found Margarito to not be a credible witness. According to the Commission :
“…the Commission found Mr. Margarito’s claims that he was unaware of the foreign and illegal substance found in his fist wraps and that it was entirely the fault of his trainer, to not be credible. In short, by assuming no responsibility or knowledge of wrongdoing, Petitioner’s testimony at the hearing was evasive, inherently improbable, in most respects, and, in certain specific instances, disingenuous in the extreme.”
They may also have mocked his shoes.

But part of the Commission’s finding was based on their belief that an experienced professional boxer could not have not known that his hand wraps contained knuckle pads with a plaster-like substance on them. At least that part of the finding would seemingly become suspect when subjected to the expert trainer’s views.
Capetillo is, perhaps, another story. The Commission characterized his testimony as follows:

“Respondent testified that he was nervous and that he used the wrong knuckle pads in both of Margarito’s hand wraps. Respondent testified that the adulterated gauze pads must have been thrown into his trainer’s bag by another boxer during a training session at Respondent’s gym.”

“Respondent testified inconsistently as to when he prepared the knuckle pads used in wrapping Margarito’s hands stating both that the pads had been prepared in advance and also that they were prepared at Staples Center.”

The Commission then stated:
“Respondent testified that he made an innocent mistake and did not cheat but instead twice reached into his trainer’s bag and twice grabbed the wrong knuckle pad. Although the Commission does not find Respondent’s testimony on this issue to be credible even if Respondent’s acts were the result of a mistake such a mistake would still violate Commission Rule 323 and would still bring discredit to boxing pursuant to Rule 390.

Because of the serious physical consequences which could have resulted to the other boxer from the use of boxing gloves loaded with illegal knuckle pads, the appropriate penalty is revocation.”

The Commission is not alone in finding Capetillo less than credible. Manuel Steward stated:

“When I get in the dressing room before a fight, one of the first things I do is make two knuckle pads and put them on the table. I don’t put them in my bag. I leave them out on the table, and so does every other trainer I know of.

So, I have a hard time believing that Capetillo took the wrong knuckle pads out of his bag by mistake.”
The Evidence

And what did the California Commission find as to the knuckle pads? Upon physical examination:

“The thin gauze pads were determined, after examination by the Commission, to have been adulterated with a white plaster-like substance.”

And by laboratory analysis? The Commission states:

“One adulterated pad was sent to the California Department of Justice Forensic Laboratory in Sacramento where it was examined and would be processed for testing. The pad was photographed under 6x magnification. The photographs show a white flaky substance on the pad and within the interstices of the gauze itself.” (See photo above and think about what gauze looks like—white squares with nothing in them).

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE BUREAU OF FORENSIC SERVICES
SACRAMENTO CRIMINALISTICS LABORATORY
4949 Broadway, Room F-201 Sacramento, CA 95820
Phone No. (916) 227-3777 FAX No.• (916) 227-3776

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE EXAMINATION REPORT
Suspect: Margarita, Antonio; Capetillo, Javier Offense: None
Victim: State of California Offense Date: January 24, 2009

March 19,2009

SUMMARY
Calcium and sulfur, two elements found in plaster of Paris, were found on the submitted gauze pad
EVIDENCE
The following evidence was submitted to this laboratory by Athletic Inspector Che Guevara of the
California Department of Consumer Affairs on January 17,2009:
Item # 1 Description
gauze pad
EXAMINATION
The submitted gauze pad was examined using a stereomioroscope. A white solid material was seen
adhering to and between the gauze fibers. Calcium and sulfur were detected in samples of the white solid using an X-ray fluorescence [XRF] spectrometer. The elements calcium, sulfur and oxygen are found in plaster of Paris [calcium sulfate -CaS04J. These three elements are also found in substances’ other than plaster. Oxygen is not detectable by XRF. (CSAS, P.27-28, PDF)
Conclusion
So why again is at least Capetillo not being charged?
The California State Athletic Commission report, findings and briefs can be found here.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/csac/about_us/meetings/20100818_agenda.pdf

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