Manny's new Man

Mayweather may need to find a new contender as Manny Pacquiao has a new man in mind for his MArch fight. Joshua Clottey from Ghana is all set to take on Pacquiao, although a venue is yet to be organised.





"He's a real strong, aggressive and hard punching African and he poses a real test for Manny," says Pacquiao's promotor Bob Arum.

"I wanted Manny in an action fight, and that’s what we got with Clottey," said Roach (Pacquiao's trainer)




Arum insisted that Clottey, who beat Zab Judah for the IBF welterweight title in August 2008, will be a tough opponent for Philippines star Pacquiao.

Clottey is a seasoned pro with a professional record of 35-3, but that tells only part of the story. He's fought the likes of Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, Diego Corrales, Carlos Baldomir, and Antonio Margarito. And he dominated in those fights, as far as I know he even beat Cotto. Wow. This guy is no small fish in the pond. He ducks nobody and has taken on and beaten some of the best fighters in the world. Clottey is a big, physical fighter who can swat and can take a punch and by all acocunts he's gonna wanna fight for his life. At 32 he has some years left and is looking for some serious pay days ahead.

If Mayweather wants to show Pacquiao he needs to stop throwing random names out there and literally man up to fight. He needs a name to beat Pacquaio v Clottey, now where would he find someone like that? Arum says there's still a chance that Pacquaio could fight Mayweather-
"There's always later in the year and next year, it's up to Mayweather," said the Top Rank impresario. But if he starts this nonsense again with testing or anything then let him take a walk."
Arum insists that urine and blood testing is a job for the commisioners who regulate the sport and by no means is it Mayweathers job to do. Mayweathers job is to fight and fight well not regulate drug control.

Can Manny Man up?

Mayweather is reportedly furious that Pacquiao is blaming his side and team for the so called fight of the decade falling apart. Mayweather wanted urine drug tests to be done on a regular basis leading up to the fight. Pacquiao had other ideas. He wanted none of it. Mayweather oringally wanted these tests to take place up to and including the day of the fight. Pacquiao didn't want them at all. So Mayweather in a very fair move offered a comprimise of a 14 day cut off point leading up to the fight. Still Manny couldn't man up to it and insited on a 30 day cut off.

"I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses, step up and fight."

"First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip him.

A mediator was called in to try and find a solution. Judge Daniel Weinstein was brought in again, having had victory as mediator bewteen the two previously there were high hopes. But Even Weinstein couldn't help this time. A statement from Weinstein confirmed "in the end, the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all."

Top Rank promoters can't see this fight happening in March, dispite many commentators being convinced that somehow a New Years miracle will happen. But Weinstein and Arum are seeing eye to eye on this one and have deemed the fight in March to be highly unlikely. But Top Rank have gone a step even further and drastically added this to the fore:

"There is no chance ever of salvaging it for March. There's no chance for it ever to happen."

It's not looking good for fans who are ultimately losing out on what would and should have been one of those unforgettable fights and nights.

Dispute cancelled the Fight

Pacquiao and Mayweather would have been the fight to beat all fights this coming March. I, myself, had already marked it on the calendar and was counting the days down to the 21st day of the third month. A little premature I realise but I was a tad excited you see. The 31 year old Pacquiao became a five weight world champ last nov when in the WBO welterweight win over Miguel Cotto. While the unbeaten Mayweather came out of his 21 month long retirment last sep to beat Mexican born Juan Manuel Marquez.




Why was it cancelled? Pacquiao pulled out after Mayweather demanded random drug testing. Is it just me or does this seem like a very sensible demand in this day and age? Both fighters were more than happy to take unlimited urine tests but Manny Pacquiao refused point blank to submit blood tests unless they are on specific dates. Sounds a tad dodgy if you ask me. Perhaps Mayweather is right to demand such a thing? Especially as Pacquiao responded to claims that he used and uses substances to enhance his performance within the ring by taking a lawsuite against Mayweather....the actions of an innocent man? I'm no expert but to me this looks a lil bit fishy.





This was to be the fight to end all fights, they are considered to be the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. And this fight would have had £25 million purse ffor each of the two fighters. Big loses there boys. As for me? This is a fight I would have paid to see, even being a sporting and boxing novice I knew this fight was gonnna be (as we say here in Cork) only massive. I guess we'll never know now.

Mayweather's Claims Not On The Money

Money, they say, can't buy you happiness and in the case of Floyd Mayweather, it can't buy you class either.

Pretty Boy Floyd ends his 21-month hiatus from the sport tonight, as he takes on Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but in terms of contrversy and, well, arrogance, it's been a typical Floyd week.

You'll remember that in the lead-up to his last fight, against Ricky Hatton in December 2007, Mayweather was brash and plain rude and despite a long absence from the sport, he's not changed his ways.

See what you make of these comments that he made this week:

"If you're rich, you're a rich n-----. If you're poor, you're a poor n-----. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n-----."


"But I wouldn't change my life for nothing in the world. There's nothing like being young, black and rich. But there are certain things you think about. If Floyd Mayweather was white, I'd be the biggest athlete in America. The biggest, the biggest. I know that for a fact."

A fact?  Ha.

The truth is that Mayweather isn't even the biggest star in his own sport, nor does he deserve to be.  Sure, he fought in the biggest grossing fight in history against Oscar De La Hoya but it was the Golden Boy that really attracted the cash for that fight.  And while the hype surrounding Mayweather's clash with Hatton was unequalled (in my opinion) in this part of the world, the truth is that we were sucked in by the genial Mancunian and not Money Mayweather.

While race may be an issue for some people, it never has been for me and I don't believe that it is for most boxing fans.  We've loved fighters like Muhammad Ali, Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard.  We gravitate towards great personalities, fighters who give us brilliant fights and fighters who go up against the best in the world.  Floyd does none of this.  As I've said already he's rude and any drama in his fights have been provided by the opponents, such as Hatton or Zab Judah.

The real issue for me however, for the self-proclaimed 'would-be-greatest-athlete-in-the-world', is that he doesn't fight the best.  Ever.  Hatton - a B-Level fighter with an A+ fanbase.  Judah - average.  De La Hoya, Gatti, Sharmba Mitchell - washed up, one and all.  For someone who has reigned in the 130lb - 145lb region for the past decade, the names of people like Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley (arguably) and Manny Pacquiao are all notbale absentees from his CV.  Indeed, Pacquaio is a the antithesis to Mayweather.  Where Money's avoided fighters, Manny has taken on all-comers...except Floyd.  He's also a modest and charitable man, while he's also given us plenty of action in the squared-circle.  They are direct opposites and the comparison is not good for Money.  The mere claim that he could in any way be a bigger athlete than the likes of Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or any one of about fifty athletes in various sports is laughable.

Money is an ironic nickname for Floyd.  As outlined by Kevin Mitchell, he's facing a stack of unpaid bills and pretty poor ticket sales for tonight's clash.  Mayweather's 2007 may have been the most profitable year for any boxer in the sport's history, but it looks like all that money burned a really large hole in his pocket.  Another bill's been added to the list after Floyd weighed in over the limit for the fight yesterday, a mistake that will cost him $600,000.  To pay these bills, he needs the fans on boards, but I'm willing to bet his pay-per-view sales tonight won't be overly impressive because, as I've said, he just doesn't attract fans of the sport.  I'll tune in, but I'm not expecting a classic.

It's just another Floyd fight against a weak opponent (Marquez is a blown up featherweight fighting, essentially, in the welterweight division) and despite Mayweather's claims, it's not half as good as he'd want us to believe.  Consider me one fan who sees through the hype.

Golden Goodbye For Oscar?

So Oscar De La Hoya has said that he's not going to retire after he fights Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday, preferring instead to fight Ricky Hatton in Wembley next year.

Christ. Another clown and another travelling circus. Just what boxing needs.

I really couldn't use any other picture....

Oscar burst onto the scene at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 as a blubbering young man not long off burying his mother. His sad story captured America's heart (oh what we'd give for another boxer to do the same now... a Heavyweight per chance... Too bad Dick Ebersol doesn't think boxing deserves a spot on NBC any more...) and within two years he hadbecome a Champion. Since then, the Golden Boy has won titles at five weights and has undoubtedly become the sport's biggest pay-per-view star.


Saturday's fight was to be his goodbye, in a town where he is loved, against a 'name' fighter that he should soundly beat because of their difference in size. Sure, Manny will have the speed, but as we saw in Hatton's recent demolition of Paulie Malignaggi, power is king.


Oscar will win on Saturday. The fight will do reasonable business - lower than expected on account of the downturn but probably somewhere near 1,000,000 buys at $54.95, pleasing bosses of HBO. And then... Oscar won't go. In a comeback as unwelcome as Hendrix's vomit, he'll be back next year, for another 'one last fight.'



I love boxing. It is art. I mean that. Nothing beats the purity of the sport and nothing matches the excitement of two gladitorial copmetitors giving their all. Yet as a business, it has many failings, among them the reluctance of a former star refusing to go away.


Oscar - go away.


You've got money, you've got a family and most importantly you have your health. You've given the sport some and taken away a lot more. Fight Saturday, win Saturday and then (and I mean this with all the love and goodwill in the world), fuck off.