Brawling Hurts the Sweet Science

“Gentlemen, come out fighting at the bell.” For years we’ve heard that or similar invitations made to two boxers, not two brawlers. When it’s the latter, the public is turned off and turns away from the sport. Ideally, brawling has no place in the sport; although, it’s always been there. In fact, some of boxing’s most popular and colorful boxers weren’t above fracturing a rule or ten. Guys like Harry Greb, Fritzie Zivic, Sandy Saddler, and Two Ton Tony Galento. The modern day list holds more than just a few. We won’t offend individuals by naming them. The truth is some of the best of our current crop of greats, such as Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Bernard Hopkins, and Andre Ward aren’t above cleverly using elbows, forearms, a glove behind the head pulling a man off balance, and the good old noggin. The difference is the men have many other skills to bring about a victory.

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Is Top Rank moving Mikey Garcia too quick for a fight with Manny Pacquiao?

Is Top Rank moving Mikey Garcia too quick for a fight with Manny Pacquiao?

Much has been said of late about the plans laid out by Top Rank C.E.O. Bob Arum for Mikey Garcia’s in 2014. All signs point to Yuriorkis Gamboa as the next opponent for Mikey on May 17 according to widely reported stories from Bob Arum and just today 50 cent was on twitter saying it’s basically a done deal.

With Gamboa’s recognizable name in and around the featherweight and lightweight divisions it makes a lot sense.

It doesn’t hurt that the two fighters have been going toe to toe for a while now on twitter which will only help the hype in the lead up for this much talked about matchup.

Another interesting element is that Gamboa can match Garcia in skill and will certainly have the speed advantage come fight night.

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Paquiao vs Bradley II – Who Learned More from the 1st Bout?

Paquiao vs Bradley II - Who Learned More from the 1st Bout?

Rematches can be momentous or insignificant. The Zale vs Graziano II, Raging Bull vs Sugar Ray (all), or on the other hand the Brown Bomber vs. Conn II, or Marciano vs Jersey Joe II. You just never know. When it comes to Pacquiao vs Bradley II, it would seem fans will be treated to an exciting bout. Bradley is young, and Pacquiao recently demonstrated he can still box pretty well, and both have desire and determination to reach new heights, so it should be a good one.

Andre Ward, who is friends with Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley offered his opinion that Bradley will win because he wants it more. The only thing wrong with that is Andre doesn’t know how badly Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao wants it.

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Official: Pacquao vs. Bradley 2 – April 12 – MGM Grand – Live on Pay-Per-View

Official: Pacquao vs. Bradley 2 - April 12 - MGM Grand - Live on Pay-Per-View

Bob Arum and Todd duBoef, CEO and President of Top Rank, respectively, and Michael Koncz of MP Promotions are pleased to announce that an agreement was reached today for undefeated two-division world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY to defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title against Fighter of the Decade Congressman MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO. Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions and Tecate, Pacquiao-Bradley 2 will take place, Saturday, April 12, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View.

Both fighters and their teams will embark on a U.S. media tour the week of February 3, including press conferences in Los Angeles and New York on Tuesday, February 4 and Thursday, February 6, respectively. Ticket information and other details on the promotion and the media tour will be released shortly.

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Pacquiao-Bradley II fight signed and done for April 12th in Las Vegas!

Pacquiao-Bradley II fight signed and done for April 12th in Las Vegas!

Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) have signed for their rematch on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. After weeks of negotiations, Bradley and Pacquiao have signed their contracts for what their promoter Bob Arum hopes will be a successful pay-per-view card on HBO. It’s a risky rematch, because the first fight didn’t do well on PPV, but Arum doesn’t have much else to offer other than Bradley or a fight against Ruslan Provodnikov.

Pacquiao will receive $20 million for the fight, which is around the same amount he received for their previous fight in June of 2012. As for Bradley, he’ll be getting a slight bump up in pay to $6 million for the fight plus the upside from PPV. Bradley will likely make as much as $10 million if the fight does well on PPV on HBO.

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Pacquiao’s charity fight offer to Floyd Jr. just another way to beg, says Jeff Mayweather

Pacquiao's charity fight offer to Floyd Jr. just another way to beg, says Jeff Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao’s offer of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. with the purses from the fight going to charity was originally met with a lot of positive praise from boxing fans around the world. They saw Pacquiao’s offer as a sign that he’s truly a good person that doesn’t care at all about money, and is only interested in helping out the sport of boxing by facing Mayweather for the fans. However, Floyd’s uncle Jeff Mayweather sees through the intentions of Pacquiao and feels that his offer for a charity fight is just another sign of Pacquiao begging for the fight with Floyd Jr.

“How can anything go to charity when you [Pacquiao] owe the tax man $68 million?” Jeff said to Mmaartmartial. “All that was is a new of begging for the fight. That’s all that was. Nobodies fighting for free…Now he’s [Pacquiao] in a situation where he needs Floyd. Floyd doesn’t need you. What does Floyd need your for? Nobody fights for free. That’s just another way of begging.”

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Rush to fight Pacquiao, Floyd!

Rush to fight Pacquiao, Floyd!

Boxing cannot afford to miss the mark at this critical moment. The call is to side with truth and stand in the gap. It’s time for every sports lover to take steps unhesitatingly for the good of all and the Sweet Science.

Reason is deaf to “reasoning” that insults intelligence. Halt dim “defenses” being proffered in media these days to conceal the light by hacks or by knocks. Debunk pretenses, for who can defend the defenseless? No moron, not even Gandhi or Hitler.

But why rush to officially announce the “Pacquiao-Bradley” rematch as reported? Are wily Bob and devious Koncz afraid that they would not earn the usual bucks from their cash cow in the proposed “Charity Fight”? They say the offer is serious but their actions tell it’s not. Why panic?

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Arum wants Mikey Garcia in position to fight Pacquiao by end of 2014

Arum wants Mikey Garcia in position to fight Pacquiao by end of 2014

Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) may have run out of viable opposition in the 140-147 lb. class in his promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable, but the 82-year-old promoter is in the process of digging up a new opponent that he’s pooling from the super featherweight division in Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s), the WBO 130 lb. champion.

Arum wants to have the painfully thin Mikey move up in weight and get to the position where he can be a contender for Pacquiao by the end of 2014. In this way, Arum could scare up a new opponent for Pacquiao to fight.

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Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao II Ready To go on April 12th

Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao II Ready To go on April 12th

According to the Manila Bulletin, Manny Pacquiao will soon cross the ropes to face Timothy Bradley in a rematch that many Pacquiao fans have been clamoring for. The fight is set to take place in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 12, 2014.

This fight undoubtedly gives both fighters a shot at sweet redemption.

By beating Pacquiao again, Bradley can finally get rid of and step out of the shadow that their last fight cast on him. Not only was it a lackluster fight for the fans, but Bradley’s victory was ridiculed and unaccepted by the majority of the boxing fans as well as the media. The victory gave him nothing but a sour feeling, filled with an enormous amount of confidence shredding press.

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Why doesn’t Pacquiao offer to fight his April 12th opponent for free?

Why doesn't Pacquiao offer to fight his April 12th opponent for free?

Manny Pacquiao got a lot of attention last week with his offer to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. for free in a fight where they would both give their entire fight pay to charity. This was Pacquiao’s way of showing Mayweather that he’s not desperate for the fight. My thoughts are this sounds good from Pacquiao, but why focus just on Mayweather for this charity offer?

If Pacquiao is willing to give his entire purse to charity, then he should be willing to give his money away for his next fight against Tim Bradley or Ruslan Provodnikov. If the idea is for Pacquiao to give to charity, why should there be a difference in which opponent he’s fighting for him to do this? Does it absolutely have to be Mayweather that Pacquaio is fighting for him to give money away?

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