Ricky Hatton: “There’s Only One and We Love Him For It”

By Marc Livitz: No one knows what it’s like to be the fat man, or was it the bad man? Throughout the past few years, Ricky Hatton has managed to be a bit of both.

The true and fire tested man of the people became the exact opposite of that as he retreated into the heart of darkness. He used cocaine and was even filmed doing so. He also contemplated and attempted suicide. The fact that much of the sports media took this information and displayed it with such repulsive self delight and gratification didn’t help matters very much.

It goes without saying that oftentimes the happiest of the bunch is also the one who is doing his best to shove the closet full of skeletons shut and keep us in the dark about the sad facts. The money, fame and admiration for which so many athletes strive for came naturally to the “Hitman”.

In a way, the hard work and sacrifice that he put forth in the gym, and subsequently in the ring, allowed him to worry less about the bills and gave him the chance to stay grounded in his community…and at times, face down in the local pub. His legions of fans related to the working man persona which Hatton displayed. The Manchester legend played darts and was known to drink a pint or ten with just about anyone. Some would give just about anything to meet their sporting hero. All it took to do so in Ricky’s case was just to extend your hand.

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Guerrero has bulked up for Berto fight: Will it help him?

By Brian Wade: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) has bulked up since his last bout last July and he’s considerably bigger as he goes into his fight with Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, California, USA.

Guerrero now looks like a legitimate welterweight, and judging by how much size he’s put on recently he could probably easily make 154 if he wanted to. However, just because Guerrero was able to bulk up by doing a lot of pushups doesn’t mean he’s going to be bigger puncher and he’s going to have to be for him to compete with Berto.

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Arum: There’s a possibility of a 5th Pacquiao-Marquez fight

By Rob Smith: When asked if we could be seeing a future fifth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum couldn’t rule it out, saying this during Tuesday’s telephone conference call: “There is a possibility. [Sugar Ray] Robinson and [Jake] Lamotta fought six time.”

Watching Pacquiao and Marquez fight for a fifth time is kind of scary because it seems like the fight has been played out too many times and is little more than just a money grab at this point. Both guys are showing signs of fading and it’s not nearly as interesting now to see them still fighting each other. It’s as if Arum has fought something that works and he doesn’t want to look to fight other bouts for his fighter Pacquiao.

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Is Bob Arum cashing out on Kelly Pavlik?

Is Bob Arum cashing out on Kelly Pavlik? Robert Jackson – It was recently announced that Kelly Pavlik will be facing Andre Ward on January 26, 2013. Good fight for the fans, not so good a fight for Pavlik in this writer’s opinion. Pavlik from Youngstown Ohio – now fighting out of Robert Garcia’s fight academy in Oxnard California, best wins were against stationary, come forwards type fighters, who were there to be hit by Pavlik’s power shots.

Pavlik’s losses came against ring technicians who employed angles and movement to avoid being hit by Pavlik and then countered well. Losing to Bernard Hopkins who mugged, and outhustled Pavlik could be the fight that his January 26th fight may end up looking like tactically and outcome wise. Ward does everything Hopkins does better and with youthful vigor. In Ward’s last fight he even showed power by putting Chad Dawson down 3 times during that fight, even though Dawson’s weight loss played a part.

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Mike Tyson Vs. Sonny Liston!

by James Slater – Though the late, great Charles “Sonny” Liston is arguably best remembered (certainly by younger fans) for his two fights with the one man he could never intimidate, in Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, it is beyond debate that the former heavyweight king was one of the most adept boxers in heavyweight history when it comes to frightening an opponent.

Is Liston in fact, THE single most successful heavyweight in all of boxing when it comes to being able to win fights through little other than scaring his man stiff – therefore making his adversary an easy, ready-for-the-taking, deer caught in the headlights, “victim?” Of course, Liston had other ring skills, a punishing jab and awesome punching power, to name just two. But without his ability at terrifying an opponent even before the first bell, Sonny was certainly a lot less effective a fighter. This was also very much the case with another legendary heavyweight – the former champ who lists Liston as one of his ring idols.

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Broner vs DeMarco Overview

by Dwight Harrison: Before the fight this was looked at as the toughest fight in Broner’s career or at least the toughest since the Ponce De Leon match, a fight that many myself excluded say Broner should off lost. Antonio “ Tony ” DeMarco (28-3-1 21 KO) was widely considered the best lightweight in the world by many and was coming off in off the back off a impressive 1st round knockout off John Molina. Adrien “The Problem ”Broner (25-0-0 21KO) on the other hand even though he was also coming off an impressive win over Vicente Escobedo he has also took some stick, because he failed to make weight and lost the title on the scales and failed to make weight at the second time off trying. The fight was going to be Broner’s last fight in the super featherweight division we were told this meaning making the weight was probably becoming a struggle he is a 24 year old growing man. I do feel that Broner played up to the villain role by tweeting pictures of twinkles as a 24 year old man also i can at test that you still are growing an he was always gonna out grow that weight class and he knew it.

With a record of (25-0-0 21KO) the skies the limit for Broner he’s long been touted as a future ppv star, And its easy to see why he has good defense,technically gifted and has very good power as 21 of his opponents have found out. Brash,Flashy and Confident he adds a colorful character to boxing something that we need more off if i’m honest especially with Floyd Mayweather Jr at the tail end of his career.

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Notes on Two Excellent Boxing Books by Arne K. Lang

By James Stillerman – Arne K. Lang published his second boxing book this year entitled, ‘The Nelson-Wolgast Fight and the San Francisco Boxing Scene, 1900-1914.’ This book does an outstanding job at discussing boxing`s introduction into the San Francisco`s scene, important figures and fights from this area as well as an in-depth look into the eponymous lightweight title bout between Champion, “Battling” Nelson and Ad Wolgast which took place on February 22, 1910 in Point Richmond, California.

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Joey Hernandez beats Winchester and demands to fight Canelo, Molina

By Prince Dornu-Leiku – Joey Hernandez claimed a unanimous victory over Jamie Winchester last Friday and immediately declared the big ambition of stepping up for a match-up against WBC 154-pound champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Southpaw Hernandez, claimed a 97-91, 97-91, 96-92 verdict on the judges’ scorecards to improve his record to 23-1-1 (13 KOs) but the man nicknamed Twinkle Fingers, is calling for bigger names and bigger fights on bigger promotions to showcase his world title credentials.

“I felt I won 9 rounds strong and decisive, and landed a lot of power shots. After reviewing the tapes, I feel I could have thrown the jab a little more and couple more combinations but I showed the type of fighter that I am,” Hernandez told East Side Boxing post fight.

He continued: “I’m happy I got the rounds, I felt great in condition and it really paid to have an 8 week camp with Evangelista Cotto. I landed 176 power shots to the head and body, I take my hat off to him (Winchester) in the balls department. I plan not to balloon up and get back quickly. I know my name is in the mix for top fights, I’m just too charismatic and too exciting to stay off national television.”

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Pacquiao thinks Hatton is making a mistake in coming back

By Michael Collins: 34-year-old Ricky Hatton will be coming back this Saturday night to face Vyacheslav Senchenko in a scheduled 12 round bout in Manchester, England. Hatton’s former conqueror Manny Pacquiao doesn’t understand why Hatton is coming back after being out of the ring for 3 1/2 years.

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Pacquiao picks Cotto to beat Trout

By Rob Smith: For what it’s worth, Manny Pacquiao sees Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) as coming out on top against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) on December 1st at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Pacquiao knows Cotto pretty well from having trounced him in a 12th round knockout back in 2009.

However, Pacquiao probably doesn’t have clue one about how good Trout is and at this point in Pacquiao’s career he would likely struggle badly and lose to a boxer/slugger like Trout. That would be a very tough fight for Pacquiao at any point in his career, especially now when he seems to have lost his ability to move and fight hard for three minutes of every round.

When asked who he thought would win the Cotto-Trout fight during Tuesday’s telephone conference with the press, Pacquiao said “I think Cotto will win the fight. Not sure by decision or knockout. Better chance for a knockout but not sure.”

It would be definitely good for Pacquiao if Cotto wins because Bob Arum has run out of big names to match him up against and he’s resorting to putting him in rematches. If Cotto loses this fight to Trout then that presumably takes away one of the biggest money fights that Pacquiao can get off the table.

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