Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Pacquiao/De La Hoya 24/7 Episode # 1
Pacquiao/De La Hoya 24/7 Episode # 1
Source: http://www.nowboxing.com/?p=803//url
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De La Hoya-Pacquiao is a weighty issue
The promotional spots for the Dec. 6 mega fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao proclaim, "Pacquiao is younger and faster. De La Hoya is stronger and more experienced."
There's no mention of the adjective that most likely will determine the outcome of the fight. De La Hoya is bigger. Much bigger.
Pacquiao began his professional career as a junior flyweight (106 pounds). He has been knocked out twice by men weighing 112 pounds -- in 1996 and 1999. Obviously, he has gotten better since then. But until 2008, he'd never competed above the junior lightweight level.
De La Hoya has fought at weights as high as 160 pounds. Generally on fight night, he refuses to get on the "unofficial HBO scale." But Freddie Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his fight against Floyd Mayweather and has been training Pacquiao, says that De La Hoya gained 10 pounds after weighing in at 154 to face Mayweather. Roach expects a similar gain on Dec. 6; maybe more because Oscar will be drying out more to make the contract weight of 147 pounds.
The disparity in weight between De La Hoya and Pacquiao has led to complaints that boxing's Golden Boy is buying a gold-plated mismatch. Oscar is in danger of being seen as a school-yard bully who, after having lost to fighters his own size, is now picking on tough little guys.
Roach says that Pacquiao will win with speed and that the weight differential (an expected 15 pounds on fight night) "won't be that important."
But Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer concedes that weight is an issue. "You have two camps," he said on Aug. 5. "The camp which is against the fight seems to be bigger than the one for it."
That balance can be expected to change as a consequence of the high-powered marketing campaign that has been put in place for the fight. But at the moment, critics abound.
The two best welterweights in the world at present are Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito. Each man has expressed an interest in fighting De La Hoya, but it would appear that Oscar has no intention of fighting either one of them.
"Oscar will stop Manny within three rounds," said Williams. "I don't want to take anything away from Pacquiao, but his punches won't hurt De La Hoya. Manny is just too small, and Oscar is just too big. That's why we have the different weight classes. The size and weight difference makes it a bad fight."
Margarito is more scornful.
"Now Oscar is getting brave with a 135-pound fighter and is trying to convince everyone that it's a tough fight," Margarito said. "He's getting brave with a great fighter, but a fighter who fights at 135 pounds. He wants to show the world that he can pull the trigger against a 135-pounder. What a man! What a hero!"
WBC president Jose Sulaiman also has gotten into the act.
"What are they going to do?" Sulaiman has asked. "Stuff Manny with tamales and beans, and reduce Oscar in the steam bath to bring them together? It's ridiculous. It's absurd. It's a fraud to the public. The only reason why the fight was made was money."
One presumes that the WBC will not be receiving a sanctioning fee for De La Hoya-Pacquiao.
How relevant is the weight differential?
One of the reasons why De La Hoya ended negotiations with Felix Trinidad for a rematch this year was Trinidad's refusal to come down to 160 pounds (Oscar's previous high). The discrepancy in size between De La Hoya and Pacquiao is significantly greater than the difference between De La Hoya and Trinidad, who fought Roy Jones at 170 pounds in January.
De La Hoya is the size of an average man. Pacquiao started his career 21 pounds below weight for a jockey in the Kentucky Derby. The chart to the right demonstrates their true difference. It lists the average comparative weight each man has fought at since 1995 (the year Pacquiao turned pro) and the differential between them on an annual basis. There is no 2005 entry for Oscar because he was inactive that year.
De La Hoya was, is, and always will be a much larger man than Pacquiao. Would anyone match Pacquiao against Paul Williams or Antonio Margarito?
Ultimately, curiosity and marketing will sell De La Hoya-Pacquiao. Manny's skill and determination will salvage it as entertainment. But the matchup will be competitive only if Oscar has nothing left as a fighter. Boxing's Golden Boy might not be able to pull the trigger like he used to. But he isn't so far gone that he can't beat an opponent whose natural weight is 20 to 30 pounds less than his own.
De la Hoya versus Pacquiao isn't what boxing needs to become a great and popular sport again.
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3634701
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There's no mention of the adjective that most likely will determine the outcome of the fight. De La Hoya is bigger. Much bigger.
Pacquiao began his professional career as a junior flyweight (106 pounds). He has been knocked out twice by men weighing 112 pounds -- in 1996 and 1999. Obviously, he has gotten better since then. But until 2008, he'd never competed above the junior lightweight level.
De La Hoya has fought at weights as high as 160 pounds. Generally on fight night, he refuses to get on the "unofficial HBO scale." But Freddie Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his fight against Floyd Mayweather and has been training Pacquiao, says that De La Hoya gained 10 pounds after weighing in at 154 to face Mayweather. Roach expects a similar gain on Dec. 6; maybe more because Oscar will be drying out more to make the contract weight of 147 pounds.
The disparity in weight between De La Hoya and Pacquiao has led to complaints that boxing's Golden Boy is buying a gold-plated mismatch. Oscar is in danger of being seen as a school-yard bully who, after having lost to fighters his own size, is now picking on tough little guys.
Roach says that Pacquiao will win with speed and that the weight differential (an expected 15 pounds on fight night) "won't be that important."
But Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer concedes that weight is an issue. "You have two camps," he said on Aug. 5. "The camp which is against the fight seems to be bigger than the one for it."
That balance can be expected to change as a consequence of the high-powered marketing campaign that has been put in place for the fight. But at the moment, critics abound.
The two best welterweights in the world at present are Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito. Each man has expressed an interest in fighting De La Hoya, but it would appear that Oscar has no intention of fighting either one of them.
"Oscar will stop Manny within three rounds," said Williams. "I don't want to take anything away from Pacquiao, but his punches won't hurt De La Hoya. Manny is just too small, and Oscar is just too big. That's why we have the different weight classes. The size and weight difference makes it a bad fight."
Margarito is more scornful.
"Now Oscar is getting brave with a 135-pound fighter and is trying to convince everyone that it's a tough fight," Margarito said. "He's getting brave with a great fighter, but a fighter who fights at 135 pounds. He wants to show the world that he can pull the trigger against a 135-pounder. What a man! What a hero!"
WBC president Jose Sulaiman also has gotten into the act.
"What are they going to do?" Sulaiman has asked. "Stuff Manny with tamales and beans, and reduce Oscar in the steam bath to bring them together? It's ridiculous. It's absurd. It's a fraud to the public. The only reason why the fight was made was money."
One presumes that the WBC will not be receiving a sanctioning fee for De La Hoya-Pacquiao.
How relevant is the weight differential?
One of the reasons why De La Hoya ended negotiations with Felix Trinidad for a rematch this year was Trinidad's refusal to come down to 160 pounds (Oscar's previous high). The discrepancy in size between De La Hoya and Pacquiao is significantly greater than the difference between De La Hoya and Trinidad, who fought Roy Jones at 170 pounds in January.
De La Hoya is the size of an average man. Pacquiao started his career 21 pounds below weight for a jockey in the Kentucky Derby. The chart to the right demonstrates their true difference. It lists the average comparative weight each man has fought at since 1995 (the year Pacquiao turned pro) and the differential between them on an annual basis. There is no 2005 entry for Oscar because he was inactive that year.
De La Hoya was, is, and always will be a much larger man than Pacquiao. Would anyone match Pacquiao against Paul Williams or Antonio Margarito?
Ultimately, curiosity and marketing will sell De La Hoya-Pacquiao. Manny's skill and determination will salvage it as entertainment. But the matchup will be competitive only if Oscar has nothing left as a fighter. Boxing's Golden Boy might not be able to pull the trigger like he used to. But he isn't so far gone that he can't beat an opponent whose natural weight is 20 to 30 pounds less than his own.
De la Hoya versus Pacquiao isn't what boxing needs to become a great and popular sport again.
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3634701
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De La Hoya-Pacquiao might be a hard sell after all
The return of some random thoughts...
- With the economy in the toilet, it's pretty easy for fight fans to save their money and forgo an expensive pay-per-view card. It's a lot easier to stick to other sports and television programming that is free for your Saturday night entertainment.
That's what promoters Golden Boy and Top Rank face as they try to sell the Dec. 6 fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao on HBO PPV at a time when most folks are more concerned with buying basic necessities than a boxing match.
When the fight was first made, I figured it was a lock for 1.5 million buys. Now, with the economy in such bad shape, it has many in the industry wondering if it will come close to that kind of number -- a number that would make it the second-biggest selling nonheavyweight PPV behind only Floyd Mayweather vs. De La Hoya.
Besides a sour economy, it doesn't help that the fight has a stiff $54.95 price tag, which is, frankly, too much. There are also countless people willing to either steal the fight off one of the numerous streams that are available on the Internet or simply wait a week to watch HBO's replay.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and says he's on the hook for about $11 million in guaranteed money to him, is one of those who is a bit worried.
"I'm sitting here biting my nails on a fight that I thought was a slam dunk," Arum told me the other day. "I won't get crushed, but all I want to do is pull this fight out."
One of the ways I believe the promoters could gain some goodwill and help their cause is to cut the price of the pay-per-view. Instead of $54.95 -- the price for only the most expensive pay-per-views -- how about knocking a few bucks off? Like De La Hoya, Pacquiao and the promoters won't be able to survive with a few less dollars?
Imagine the positive publicity they could gain if they came out with this sort of statement: "We understand times are tough. They are tough for a lot of us. So we're going to do our small part to make things more affordable. We're cutting the price of this great fight to $44.95 because you deserve a break. We want to thank you for all of your years of loyal support for our companies and fighters. We hope you appreciate it, and we hope you enjoy the fight."
I can dream can't I?
- I enjoyed HBO's "Calzaghe/Jones 24/7" quite a bit during the buildup to Joe Calzaghe's dominant victory last week over Roy Jones Jr. How cool was it that Jones' hotel suite had the perfect view of Times Square in New York and that HBO's producers were able to capture the historic moment of celebration when Barack Obama won the presidential election? They were in the right place at the right time and that moment added historic perspective to a tremendous final episode.
- Speaking of "24/7," I am looking forward to Sunday's debut (HBO, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT) of the four-part "De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7." It will undoubtedly be another terrific series. I only lament that there won't be any involvement from Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Roger Mayweather, both of whom were so much fun to watch in previous installments.
- I have to say that the undercard for Calzaghe-Jones was appalling. Frankly, I think it was the worst HBO PPV undercard ever, and I have watched a lot of bad undercards. None of the fights were compelling on paper and none of them were compelling once the bell rang. If you're going to charge consumers $49.95, I do not think it is unreasonable to expect value for your money, especially in this economic climate. I do not think it is unreasonable that at least one of the fights on the telecast ought to be worthy of being the co-feature to the main event if it was a regular HBO fight. In the case of Calzaghe-Jones, HBO would never have put any of the three undercard bouts on the network in a million years. That's how weak they were. Zab Judah versus Ernest Johnson would have been acceptable as the opener of the pay-per-view, but not as the co-feature. The other two bouts, Frankie Figueroa versus Emanuel Augustus and Dmitriy Salita versus Derrick Campos, were glorified club fights.
- On the Calzaghe-Jones undercard, but not on the broadcast, super middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs smashed Jimmy Campbell over three lopsided rounds. Campbell is never going to win a world title or be anything more in boxing than an opponent, but he's a good guy. Campbell went into Jacob's dressing room at Madison Square Garden to congratulate him after the fight and noticed that Jacobs was wearing white gym socks with his dark suit. Turns out that Jacobs had forgotten to bring a pair of dress socks. So Campbell ran back to his dressing room and returned with an extra pair of dark socks and gave them to Jacobs. That's class.
- Arthur Abraham is darn good. His latest victory, an expected beat down of Raul Marquez, came as no surprise. Abraham is so strong and determined and he takes such a good shot that he looks unstoppable at times. I really want to see him and Kelly Pavlik fight next year.
- I've had a chance to view the complete fight between Joel "Love Child" Julio and junior middleweight titlist Sergei Dzindziruk from Germany. It was a good fight and Julio had his chances, especially early, but Dzindziruk deserved the victory, although I thought it should have been a little closer than the official scores. Hate to say to I told you so, but Julio never should have taken the fight, the reasons for which were outlined in detail in a prior blog. Hopefully, Julio learned something from the fight and can make another run. He's only 23.
- Here's a classic example of why the sanctioning organizations are a pathetic joke and why fight fans, TV networks and many of my less educated fellow media members should try to ignore them as much as possible. Dzindziruk is the WBO's junior middleweight titleholder. He is healthy and just made a mandatory defense against Julio on Nov. 1. Yet, for no apparent reason, the WBO has sanctioned a Nov. 29 bout for an interim title between Paul Williams and Verno Phillips. There is no good reason why Williams-Phillips should be deciding an interim title. The WBO, of course, probably doesn't see it that way. All it sees is the chance to make a few extra bucks on the sanctioning fees.
- You want more alphabet nonsense? At the WBC's recently completed annual convention in Chengdu, China, Jose Sulaiman was re-elected to another four-year term as the alphabet organization's president. Sulaiman, who has been in office for more than 30 years, was elected unanimously. There's a shocker. Doesn't it sound like one of those phony elections in a country where a dictator wins a supposed open election with 100 percent of the vote?
- Andrew Golota quit after the first round of his fight last week against Ray Austin. Rarely do I ever question the heart of a fighter because it's tough just to get in the ring in the first place, but Golota has the heart the size of a pea. He's made a career of quitting. Hopefully, this is the end for him now at age 40.
- If you're a serious fight fan (and if you read my blog you probably are) then you really need to make sure you watch next Friday's junior featherweight unification bout between Steve Molitor and Celestino Caballero on Showtime's "ShoBox." I've said it before and I will say it again, I love when Showtime picks up these sort of important fights that don't necessarily involve big names. These are the kind of fights that can help the winner become a bigger name.
- In the spring of 2007, one of the hottest fights to be made was between Vic Darchinyan and Jorge Arce, two fighters with all-action styles and big mouths. But the never-ending feud between their promoters, Gary Shaw and Top Rank's Arum, made the fight almost impossible to make. Then both fighters got beat. Darchinyan was brutally knocked out by Nonito Donaire and Cristian Mijares outboxed Arce with ease. But since then, Darchinyan has re-established himself with a big knockout of Mijares to become the junior bantamweight champion while Arce has won five in a row and claimed an interim belt to become one of Darchinyan's mandatory challengers. Now is the time for the promoters to bury the hatchet and revive the fight before one of them gets bumped off again.
- Which is tougher, boxing or politics? I bet heavyweight Joe Mesi would say politics. As a fighter, Mesi is 36-0. In political races, the Democrat is 0-1 after losing his race to win a seat in the New York state senate.
- DVD pick of the week: It wasn't a memorable fight but it was important to me and my career, so I unearthed it after it dawned on me recently that it had been 10 years since the fight. On Halloween night -- Oct. 31, 1998 -- Naseem Hamed methodically outpointed Wayne McCullough to retain the featherweight championship at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. What's the big deal, you ask, about this forgettable match? Forgettable to most, perhaps, but to me it was huge and I will never forget it. I had covered some smaller fight cards in my early newspaper jobs, but Hamed-McCullough was the first HBO card I ever covered and the first one I ever covered for USA TODAY, huge milestones in my life. Since then, I've covered well more than 100 HBO cards and moved on to the greener pastures of ESPN, but Hamed-McCullough will always be special to me.
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3700426&name=rafael_dan
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- With the economy in the toilet, it's pretty easy for fight fans to save their money and forgo an expensive pay-per-view card. It's a lot easier to stick to other sports and television programming that is free for your Saturday night entertainment.
That's what promoters Golden Boy and Top Rank face as they try to sell the Dec. 6 fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao on HBO PPV at a time when most folks are more concerned with buying basic necessities than a boxing match.
When the fight was first made, I figured it was a lock for 1.5 million buys. Now, with the economy in such bad shape, it has many in the industry wondering if it will come close to that kind of number -- a number that would make it the second-biggest selling nonheavyweight PPV behind only Floyd Mayweather vs. De La Hoya.
Besides a sour economy, it doesn't help that the fight has a stiff $54.95 price tag, which is, frankly, too much. There are also countless people willing to either steal the fight off one of the numerous streams that are available on the Internet or simply wait a week to watch HBO's replay.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and says he's on the hook for about $11 million in guaranteed money to him, is one of those who is a bit worried.
"I'm sitting here biting my nails on a fight that I thought was a slam dunk," Arum told me the other day. "I won't get crushed, but all I want to do is pull this fight out."
One of the ways I believe the promoters could gain some goodwill and help their cause is to cut the price of the pay-per-view. Instead of $54.95 -- the price for only the most expensive pay-per-views -- how about knocking a few bucks off? Like De La Hoya, Pacquiao and the promoters won't be able to survive with a few less dollars?
Imagine the positive publicity they could gain if they came out with this sort of statement: "We understand times are tough. They are tough for a lot of us. So we're going to do our small part to make things more affordable. We're cutting the price of this great fight to $44.95 because you deserve a break. We want to thank you for all of your years of loyal support for our companies and fighters. We hope you appreciate it, and we hope you enjoy the fight."
I can dream can't I?
- I enjoyed HBO's "Calzaghe/Jones 24/7" quite a bit during the buildup to Joe Calzaghe's dominant victory last week over Roy Jones Jr. How cool was it that Jones' hotel suite had the perfect view of Times Square in New York and that HBO's producers were able to capture the historic moment of celebration when Barack Obama won the presidential election? They were in the right place at the right time and that moment added historic perspective to a tremendous final episode.
- Speaking of "24/7," I am looking forward to Sunday's debut (HBO, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT) of the four-part "De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7." It will undoubtedly be another terrific series. I only lament that there won't be any involvement from Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Roger Mayweather, both of whom were so much fun to watch in previous installments.
- I have to say that the undercard for Calzaghe-Jones was appalling. Frankly, I think it was the worst HBO PPV undercard ever, and I have watched a lot of bad undercards. None of the fights were compelling on paper and none of them were compelling once the bell rang. If you're going to charge consumers $49.95, I do not think it is unreasonable to expect value for your money, especially in this economic climate. I do not think it is unreasonable that at least one of the fights on the telecast ought to be worthy of being the co-feature to the main event if it was a regular HBO fight. In the case of Calzaghe-Jones, HBO would never have put any of the three undercard bouts on the network in a million years. That's how weak they were. Zab Judah versus Ernest Johnson would have been acceptable as the opener of the pay-per-view, but not as the co-feature. The other two bouts, Frankie Figueroa versus Emanuel Augustus and Dmitriy Salita versus Derrick Campos, were glorified club fights.
- On the Calzaghe-Jones undercard, but not on the broadcast, super middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs smashed Jimmy Campbell over three lopsided rounds. Campbell is never going to win a world title or be anything more in boxing than an opponent, but he's a good guy. Campbell went into Jacob's dressing room at Madison Square Garden to congratulate him after the fight and noticed that Jacobs was wearing white gym socks with his dark suit. Turns out that Jacobs had forgotten to bring a pair of dress socks. So Campbell ran back to his dressing room and returned with an extra pair of dark socks and gave them to Jacobs. That's class.
- Arthur Abraham is darn good. His latest victory, an expected beat down of Raul Marquez, came as no surprise. Abraham is so strong and determined and he takes such a good shot that he looks unstoppable at times. I really want to see him and Kelly Pavlik fight next year.
- I've had a chance to view the complete fight between Joel "Love Child" Julio and junior middleweight titlist Sergei Dzindziruk from Germany. It was a good fight and Julio had his chances, especially early, but Dzindziruk deserved the victory, although I thought it should have been a little closer than the official scores. Hate to say to I told you so, but Julio never should have taken the fight, the reasons for which were outlined in detail in a prior blog. Hopefully, Julio learned something from the fight and can make another run. He's only 23.
- Here's a classic example of why the sanctioning organizations are a pathetic joke and why fight fans, TV networks and many of my less educated fellow media members should try to ignore them as much as possible. Dzindziruk is the WBO's junior middleweight titleholder. He is healthy and just made a mandatory defense against Julio on Nov. 1. Yet, for no apparent reason, the WBO has sanctioned a Nov. 29 bout for an interim title between Paul Williams and Verno Phillips. There is no good reason why Williams-Phillips should be deciding an interim title. The WBO, of course, probably doesn't see it that way. All it sees is the chance to make a few extra bucks on the sanctioning fees.
- You want more alphabet nonsense? At the WBC's recently completed annual convention in Chengdu, China, Jose Sulaiman was re-elected to another four-year term as the alphabet organization's president. Sulaiman, who has been in office for more than 30 years, was elected unanimously. There's a shocker. Doesn't it sound like one of those phony elections in a country where a dictator wins a supposed open election with 100 percent of the vote?
- Andrew Golota quit after the first round of his fight last week against Ray Austin. Rarely do I ever question the heart of a fighter because it's tough just to get in the ring in the first place, but Golota has the heart the size of a pea. He's made a career of quitting. Hopefully, this is the end for him now at age 40.
- If you're a serious fight fan (and if you read my blog you probably are) then you really need to make sure you watch next Friday's junior featherweight unification bout between Steve Molitor and Celestino Caballero on Showtime's "ShoBox." I've said it before and I will say it again, I love when Showtime picks up these sort of important fights that don't necessarily involve big names. These are the kind of fights that can help the winner become a bigger name.
- In the spring of 2007, one of the hottest fights to be made was between Vic Darchinyan and Jorge Arce, two fighters with all-action styles and big mouths. But the never-ending feud between their promoters, Gary Shaw and Top Rank's Arum, made the fight almost impossible to make. Then both fighters got beat. Darchinyan was brutally knocked out by Nonito Donaire and Cristian Mijares outboxed Arce with ease. But since then, Darchinyan has re-established himself with a big knockout of Mijares to become the junior bantamweight champion while Arce has won five in a row and claimed an interim belt to become one of Darchinyan's mandatory challengers. Now is the time for the promoters to bury the hatchet and revive the fight before one of them gets bumped off again.
- Which is tougher, boxing or politics? I bet heavyweight Joe Mesi would say politics. As a fighter, Mesi is 36-0. In political races, the Democrat is 0-1 after losing his race to win a seat in the New York state senate.
- DVD pick of the week: It wasn't a memorable fight but it was important to me and my career, so I unearthed it after it dawned on me recently that it had been 10 years since the fight. On Halloween night -- Oct. 31, 1998 -- Naseem Hamed methodically outpointed Wayne McCullough to retain the featherweight championship at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. What's the big deal, you ask, about this forgettable match? Forgettable to most, perhaps, but to me it was huge and I will never forget it. I had covered some smaller fight cards in my early newspaper jobs, but Hamed-McCullough was the first HBO card I ever covered and the first one I ever covered for USA TODAY, huge milestones in my life. Since then, I've covered well more than 100 HBO cards and moved on to the greener pastures of ESPN, but Hamed-McCullough will always be special to me.
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3700426&name=rafael_dan
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24/7 CONTINUES WITH DE LA HOYA-PACQUAIO, Nov. 16 on HBO!
HBO Sports will provide exclusive behind-the-scenes access, along with in-depth interviews, as two surefire Hall of Famers prepare for one of boxing’s most intriguing bouts. The 35-year-old De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) turned professional after winning the gold at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. A native of East Los Angeles, he has routinely set box-office records during his stellar career, ranging from the junior lightweight division to the middleweight ranks. A national hero in his native Philippines, the 29-year-old Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs) is recognized by most boxing observers as the sport’s unofficial pound-for-pound king. Demonstrating knockout power in four weight classes, he will now jump from the 135-pound lightweight division to the 147-pound welterweight ranks to battle De La Hoya.
HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg says, “We look forward to presenting the compelling storylines and characters that will make this edition of ‘24/7′ provocative and engaging television. This fight has the entire boxing community talking about what will happen, and our mission is to get the casual sports fan emotionally involved with the principals.”
Source: http://fightfan.com/?p=2010
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De La Hoya vs Pacquiao Fight | Dec 6, 2008
Best of De La Hoya and Pacquiao
De La Hoya vs Pacquiao - Who You Picking?
Oscar De La Hoya has nearly wrapped up a deal to finish his boxing career Dec. 6 against Filipino star Manny Pacquiao, two people with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because any deal won't be announced until Thursday, said De La Hoya's long-stalled talks with Pacquiao recently revived when the sides found an acceptable way to split the possible $100 million in revenue from what's certain to be boxing's most lucrative fight since De La Hoya's split-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.
Barring any last-minute changes of heart in a sometimes contentious negotiation, the fight will bring together boxing's most bankable star and arguably its most talented fighter at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It hasn't been an easy match to make. Both boxers must make physical sacrifices for the 147-pound bout, with De La Hoya dropping down to welterweight for the first time in nearly eight years while Pacquiao bulks up to the heaviest weight of his career by far.
The fighters' camps also argued over the split of the purse, with De La Hoya angling for 70 percent while Pacquiao pursued a 40 percent cut. The resolution to this impasse wasn't immediately clear, but should be announced Thursday.
De La Hoya (39-5-0, 30 KOs), the six-division champion and Olympic gold medalist, repeatedly has said he won't fight again after this year. After a proposed rematch with Mayweather in September was scuttled by Mayweather's retirement, De La Hoya has struggled to find a suitable opponent for his final bout before turning his full attention to his burgeoning promotions company and other business interests.
De La Hoya now thinks he has his man in Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs), the five-division champion widely considered the world's best pound-for-pound fighter. Pacquiao hasn't fought since stopping David Diaz in late June to claim the WBC lightweight title in his first fight at 135 pounds.
Pacquiao will have to move up to welterweight to fight the 5-foot-10 De La Hoya, a surprising weight surge for a 5-foot-6 fighter who began his career at 106 pounds.
Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's longtime trainer, has said his fighter won't have trouble maintaining his peerless hand speed at that weight, since Pacquiao routinely puts on 10 pounds or more in the 24 hours between weighing in for his bouts and actually stepping in the ring.
De La Hoya beat Steve Forbes by unanimous decision in his most recent fight, but has won just three of his six bouts over the past five years. He considered Miguel Cotto and Sergio Mora for his farewell fight, but realized the most lucrative challenge would be Pacquiao, the relentless Filipino hero who has won eight straight fights since early 2005.
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DEVELOPING: FINAL ASSAULT ON IN MUMBAI SIEGE
Mumbai: Army, Marine Commandos (MARCOS) and National Security Guard (NSG) commandos are involved in a fierce encounter with a group of terrorists inside the Taj and Oberoi hotels.
NSG Director General Jyoti Krishan Dutt said that the first, second and third floors of Oberoi Hotel have been sanitised while the operation is in the finals stages at the Taj.
MARCOS, the first team to enter the hotels, encountered stiff resistance from the terrorists who were heavily armed and well entrenched inside.
One commando was killed two others injured in the operation at Taj in which one rucksack full of plastic explosives, eight–nine loaded AK–47 magazines, large amounts of ammunition, hand grenades, detonators, batteries, wrist watches for IEDs, foreign currencies, fake credit cards, dry fruits and cash carried by the terrorists were recovered.
Major General RK Hooda General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, who is supervising the operations at the Taj Hotel, said, "NSG is here. They are carrying out a very deliberative operation. They are trained for it and are the best in the country. I have faith in them."
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/developing-final-assault-on-in-mumbai-siege/79178-3.html
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NSG Director General Jyoti Krishan Dutt said that the first, second and third floors of Oberoi Hotel have been sanitised while the operation is in the finals stages at the Taj.
MARCOS, the first team to enter the hotels, encountered stiff resistance from the terrorists who were heavily armed and well entrenched inside.
One commando was killed two others injured in the operation at Taj in which one rucksack full of plastic explosives, eight–nine loaded AK–47 magazines, large amounts of ammunition, hand grenades, detonators, batteries, wrist watches for IEDs, foreign currencies, fake credit cards, dry fruits and cash carried by the terrorists were recovered.
Major General RK Hooda General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, who is supervising the operations at the Taj Hotel, said, "NSG is here. They are carrying out a very deliberative operation. They are trained for it and are the best in the country. I have faith in them."
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/developing-final-assault-on-in-mumbai-siege/79178-3.html
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Mumbai Under Terror Attack - Breaking News
Mumbai is under a terror attack right now. The attacks started at around 10 pm at south Mumbai according to the news reports that started coming in on TV. The Oberoi Hotel in Nariman Point was under heavy firing from inside and two blasts were heard.
Fresh Update: This is the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, a prominent landmark in South Mumbai just opposite the Gateway Of India, is the place where some terrorists at present are still holed up with hostages and the top story of the Hotel is on fire which is being doused out by the firefighters. The fire has been raging inside the hotel since last night when some blasts had occurred near the dome of the hotel.
There were reports of firing with AK-47 rifles at random by some unidentified people in the Leopold Cafe in South Mumbai in Colaba, Mumbai. This was the first place from where we heard about the firing occuring. Slowly, news reports also came in from firing also happening in the CST station, Churchgate station, Worli, Napean sea road and also a blast in Vile Parle. There are also reports of Hand grenades being fired at the police vans from Colaba Causeway.
Few people have been injured and taken to hospitals nearby, Mainly Kama hospital in Mumbai, Colaba is also been targeted.
The fresh news reports are coming in even now.
Mainly, Oberoi Hotel in Nariman point and the Taj hotel in Colaba seem to be the central point of the encounter that is happening. I myself heard two blasts that had occurred a little while ago, reportedly from the Oberoi hotel area. The police still seem to have no clue as to what is happening and who is behind all this chaos that's going on and why.
Apparently 3 poeple have been killed (died) in Taj Hotel. Police have surrounded all the areas in Colaba and local trains from CST have been stopped. Two grenades have been fired at the police in the Taj area.
The latest news is that the terrorists have planted some bombs in the Taj Hotel and the police are now trying to get the bomb squad to try and locate the bombs and diffuse them, if possible.
The terrorists are apparently in the Old Taj building and have grenades that they are throwing at the police.
Whole Mumbai is now under Red alert as more and more news of such attacks from other areas are coming in.
More and more people are getting injured as the situation is progressing. The injured are being taken to GT Hospital in Colaba.
Video reports from Oberoi Hotel shows people at their room windows, trying to escape. Some are standing on the ledge of the windows. Police are confused as to who they are. Police is trying to identify them by a flash light, but can't see clearly if they are residents of the Hotel?
News reports from CST just in that the firing still going on there too. The terrorists have taken over a bogie of a train and are firing from there. About 10 people have been reported as dead in CST.
Update: A petrol pump has been blown up in Colaba near market area. And reports are that these people who are firing are not running away but are holding their posts and continuing to fire away.
Mumbai is definitely under siege and looks like they have an agenda. Now what exactly is that nobody knows.
Two loud explosions have been heard from the CST station recently.
Fresh reports from Oberoi Hotel says that the lobby of the hotel was on fire and two explosions from hand grenades were heard. According to the news reports on TV the terrorists have now got 15 British residents as their hostage and Commando operation is now under way at the Oberoi Hotel.
Let's see how the situation develops further.
Source: http://www.xomba.com/mumbai_under_terror_attack_breaking_news
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Mumbai under siege: Some hostages freed as gunmen battle army
MUMBAI - Indian commandos freed hostages from Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel on Thursday but battled on with gun-toting Islamist militants who launched an audacious attack across India's financial capital, killing more than 100 people.
The gunmen arrived by boats in Mumbai on Wednesday, before fanning out and attacking luxury hotels, a landmark cafe, hospitals and a railway station, firing indiscriminately.
Some 17 hours after the late-evening assault, soldiers and militants were still exchanging intermittent fire and more than 100 people were trapped inside rooms of the Taj Mahal hotel, a 105-year-old city landmark.
"People who were held up there, they have all been rescued," Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy told the NDTV news channel. "But there are guests in the rooms, we don't know how many."
Roy said some people were still apparently being held hostage at the nearby Trident/Oberoi Hotel. "That is why the operation is being conducted more sensitively to ensure there are no casualties of innocent people."
Police said at least six foreigners were killed and another 287 people were wounded in the attacks, which were claimed by the little-known Deccan Mujahideen group.
"Release all the mujahideens, and Muslims living in India should not be troubled," said a militant inside the Oberoi, speaking to Indian television by telephone.
The man, who identified himself only as Sahadullah, said he was one of seven attackers inside the hotel, and wanted Islamist militants to be freed from Indian jails.
Later, an explosion was heard at the hotel, a Reuters witness said.
At least two guests, trapped in their rooms in the Taj, also phoned TV stations. One said the firedoors were locked, and another said he had seen two dead bodies by the swimming pool.
"Two of my colleagues are still in there and the last we heard from them was three hours ago and then the phone battery died," said a German national who escaped the Taj.
The attacks were bound to spook investors in one of Asia's largest and fastest-growing economies.
Mumbai has seen several major bomb attacks in the past, but never anything so obviously targeted at foreigners.
Authorities closed stock, bond and foreign exchange markets, and the central bank said it would continue auctions to keep cash flowing through interbank lending markets, which seized up after the global financial crisis.
Young men shooting indiscriminately
The militants struck at the heart of Mumbai's financial and tourist center on Wednesday, with one of the first targets the Cafe Leopold, a famous hangout popular with foreign tourists.
They fired automatic weapons indiscriminately and threw grenades before settling in for a long siege at the Taj and the Trident/Oberoi.
"There could be 100-200 people inside the (Trident/Oberoi) hotel, but we cannot give you the exact figure as many people have locked themselves inside their rooms," Maharashtra state deputy chief minister R.R. Patil told reporters.
"There could be 10-12 terrorists inside the hotel," he said. "There are no negotiations with the terrorists."
The attackers appeared to target British and Americans as they sought hostages. Israelis were also among the hostages, a television channel reported, while police said an Israeli rabbi was also being held by gunmen in a Mumbai apartment.
Witnesses said the attackers were young South Asian men in their early 20s, most likely Indians, speaking Hindi or Urdu.
Television footage showed gunmen in a pick-up truck spraying people with rifle fire as the vehicle drove down a Mumbai street.
Hotel staff evacuated wounded on luggage trolleys, with passers-by covered in blood after they rushed to help. Some clambered down ladders to safety.
Blow for ruling party, investments
The attacks could be another blow for the Congress party-led government ahead of a general election due by early 2009, with the party already under fire for failing to prevent a string of bomb attacks on Indian cities.
Strategic expert Uday Bhaskar said the attacks could inflame tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
"The fact that they were trying to segregate British and American passport holders definitely suggests Islamist fervor," Bhaskar said.
Police said they had shot dead four gunmen and arrested nine suspects. They said 12 policemen were killed, including Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai.
Schools were closed and a curfew was imposed around the Gateway of India, a colonial-era monument. But train services were running as normal taking people to work in the stunned city.
Rakesh Patel, a British witness who was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on business, said the attackers were looking for British and U.S. passport holders.
"They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs. They had bombs. Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns," he told the NDTV channel, smoke stains covering his face.
Japan's foreign ministry said at least one Japanese national had been killed and one injured in the attacks, while South Korea said 26 of its nationals had escaped unharmed.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed one Australian had been killed by the attacks in Mumbai, but it was possible the number of Australians killed could rise. Two other Australians were also injured in the attacks.
In Washington, the White House and President-elect Barack Obama condemned the attacks, as did France, current president of the European Union, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Source: http://abs-cbnnews.com/world/11/27/08/mumbai-under-siege-some-hostages-freed-gunmen-battle-army
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