X...check this out !!!

[HL]

Updated Feb 3, 2010 7:19 PM ET
LAS VEGAS (AP)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. finalized a deal Wednesday to fight Sugar Shane Mosley on May 1 in a welterweight bout at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) agreed to the 12-round bout last week, but hadn't formally signed the contract for the former pound-for-pound champion's second fight back from a brief retirement.

"This one is definitely for the fans, as I wasn't going to waste anyone's time with a meaningless tuneup bout and asked to fight Shane immediately," Mayweather said. "I have said ever since I came back to the sport that I only wanted to fight the best. I think Shane is one of the best, but come May 1, he still won't be great enough to beat me."

Although the fight is an intriguing matchup between two veteran welterweights who have been circling each other for a decade, the dangerous Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) still isn't Mayweather's first choice.

Mayweather agreed to the bout only after several weeks of negotiations with Manny Pacquiao failed to produce an agreement on what's likely to be the richest fight in boxing history, if it ever occurs. Pacquiao balked at Mayweather's stringent drug-testing demands, and instead will fight welterweight Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium.

Mayweather and Mosley agreed to participate in Olympic-style drug testing for their fight, saying they hope to set a new standard for safety in boxing. Mosley has acknowledged using steroids before a victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2003, but claims he did so inadvertently under the direction of the BALCO lab.

[Sir X]

O.kaaay so the implication is ? Pac man deh pan steriods...a convienient way to duck !

[HL]

Something must be going on with Pac Man and his camp..

I see no reason why Pac Man could not simply comply wid Pretty Boys' management request on TIME OF TESTING testing.

Anyway, the Sugar Shane fight should be very good!!

[Gamma]

if it is outside of the scope what the regulatory body requires then i think it is frivolous and maybe some oneupmanship involved. mosely has tested positive before so he has more to prove it would seem.

i too think that mayweather is ducking pacman.

[T.K.]

X, Gamma and HL I have nuff respect for all three of you but in all seriousness you guys must be the only people on the planet who still watch boxing. Come on gents get with the time and join the rest of civilization in MMA. Is UFC we a deal wid now. Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Lyoto Machida......You know in the UFC you actually get the best fighters......*gasp*....actually fighting each other! What a novel concept. - T.K.

[Gamma]

those names sound like pornstars in the lowest of the low in adult entertainment!!

[T.K.]

those names sound like pornstars in the lowest of the low in adult entertainment!!

Is whe' de blouse and skirts!

Just wrong Gamma...just wrong.

In all seriousness I have really taken a liking to MMA. It is as close to real fighting as one can get. I used to be a big fan of boxing but just too much corruption in the sport, the top guys don't want to fight each other, and when they finally do they are more interested in not getting hit than they are in putting on a good show. It really is complete bs now. It is a dying sport for a good reason. - T.K.

[HL]

TK...boxing is still the "sweet science".

The heavy weight division is not very attractive right now....

The entertainment is in the lower divisions.

[Sir X]

America honours Pacquiao to leave Mayweather staring at his date with destiny
By JEFF POWELL BOXING COLUMN
Last updated at 1:25 AM on 09th February 2010
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The Holy Grail of boxing is to be found deep inside the minds of the blood brotherhood and within that labyrinth the Pacman is defeating the Money Man without them throwing so much as a single punch at each other.

On top of the world: Manny Pacquiao swings at Miguel Cotto


Michael Watson
When Michael Watson crossed the finishing line in the 2003 London Marathon he achieved something far greater than the world title of which he had been robbed in the cruellest and most wounding manner imaginable.
For almost 12 long and agonising years before he embarked on that poignant journey through the streets of his home city, Watson had been struggling to recover from the brain damage sustained when he was on the brink of winning his world championship. Of Britain's three exceptional super-middleweights of the late 80s early 90s, Watson was the most wonderfully gifted and was about to prove it when tragedy struck.
Having already defeated Nigel Benn to win the British title, Watson had lost his first world title fight against Chris Eubank on a controversial split decision. In the re-match - at White Hart Lane ground in 1991 - Watson was well ahead on all the cards going into the 11th round. He then floored Eubank, who got up to launch an uppercut of his own.

Watson, who hit his head on the bottom rope as he went down, beat the count before returning to his corner. He answered the bell for the 12th and final round but collapsed, a blood clot forming in his brain. It was eight minutes before Watson received medical attention and, with no paramedic or ambulance in attendance, a further 20 until he received oxygen in a hospital emergency unit.
After 40 days in a coma, six life-saving brain operations, more than a year in intensive care and rehab and six more years in a wheelchair, he recovered the ability to read and write and enough physical movement to begin contemplating entering the marathon to raise funds for the Brain and Spine Foundation. To complete that epic, he slept overnight in a caravan while walking for two hours each morning and afternoon for six days. Eubank was at his side throughout.
Watson sued the British Boxing Board of Control for failing to provide proper medical facilities that fateful night at White Hart Lane and they sold their London headquarters to raise £400,000 of the £1 million he was awarded by the courts.
The benefits to all boxers thereafter came with strict adherence to modern care regulations and the on-the-spot emergency treatment which has saved the lives or health of many of them. Watson was a legend with the gloves on and remains an even greater hero to his game, receiving standing ovations whenever he appears at ringside.
From the rooftops of the Las Vegas casinos in which he treats dollar bills like confetti, Floyd Mayweather Jr screams denial of Manny Pacquiao's claim to be the supreme pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. But in the esteem of the congoscenti he is just whistling into the desert wind.
America's boxing writers have spoken, voting Pacquiao as not only their fighter of the year but their boxer of the decade just ended.
Not only that, but 2009 represents the third time in four years that they have bestowed their Sugar Ray Robinson Trophy upon the Filipino phenomenon who has now won world titles in an unprecedented seven weight divisions.
In direct comparison, Pacquiao obliterated and concussed our own Ricky Hatton while Mayweather took longer to inflict an orthodox stoppage. But clearly the Pacman's willingness to meet the toughest rivals virtually regardless of differential in poundage weighed most heavily on the ballot.
Pacquiao receives his latest awards at a New York dinner in June. By then, on March 13, he will have fought - and by most predictions defeated - Ghana's dangerous world welterweight champion Joshua Clottey in the first boxing event to be staged in the Dallas Cowboys stadium.
Such is Pacquiao's popularity that the venue will be configured for a 50,000 seat sell out. This, in the wake of his stunning 12th round KO of two time world champion Miguel Cotto last autumn which drew such huge crowds to the Strip that it is credited for kick-starting a post-recession recovery of the Las Vegas economy. Then, in May, Pacquiao is expected to win another election, this time for a seat in the Philippine congress.
Mayweather, meanwhile, will confine himself to his hometown Vegas and a May 1 encounter with the veteran Shane Mosley, which would have been one helluva fight had it taken place when the now 38-year-old Sugar Shane was five years younger.
While there is no doubting Mayweather's mastery of the noble arts, this is in keeping with his apparent preference for taking on opponents who are either past their prime or smaller than himself.
Of course, the Pacman and the Money Man should be making an even more massive fortune by fighting each other. That match was made for next month and, naturally, each is blaming the other for its cancellation.
Mayweather called for constant dope testing. Pacquiao, who has no history in that regard, resented the insinuation that he was guilty of malpractice.
The terms of this dispute have been documented exhaustively and will be delved into yet deeper if and when Pacquiao's libel action goes to court.
Only Mayweather can tells us whether it is really the undiminished punching power which the smaller Pacquiao, quite exceptionally, has carried up with him through the weight classes which is preying on his mind.
It does not convince us to the contrary when he keeps carping on about how his next fight will be subject to an Olympic-standard drugs regime. Not when Mosley has tested positive in the past.
But if Mayweather wants to challenge the Boxer of the Decade for the mytholgocial pound-for-pound title, there is only one place he can do so. He will have to meet Pacquiao face-to-face in the ring...and sooner rather than later.
That is the best news from our boxing writing colleagues in the US. By honouring the Pacman they apply moral pressure on the Money Man to meet that date with destiny, perhaps as early as September in what would be the first candidate for Fight of the new Decade.



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