Floyd Mayweather Jr. must be realizing that the number of fights left for him that people actually want to see at this point in his career are few and far between. Today the soon-to-be-incarcerated WBC, WBA, IBF and The Ring welterweight champion has agreed in principle to face Manny Pacquiao May 5 in Las Vegas.
“Money” took to his Twitter and Facebook accounts this afternoon to call out the WBO and WBC welterweight champ. Pacman’s camp has yet to respond to the challenge, but his promoter Bob Arum is said to be in the Philippines negotiating Manny’s next fight.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. must be realizing that the number of fights left for him that people actually want to see at this point in his career are few and far between. Today the soon-to-be-incarcerated WBC, WBA, IBF and The Ring welterweight champion has agreed in principle to face Manny Pacquiao May 5 in Las Vegas.
“Money” took to his Twitter and Facebook accounts this afternoon to call out the WBO and WBC welterweight champ. Pacman’s camp has yet to respond to the challenge, but his promoter Bob Arum is said to be in the Philippines negotiating Manny’s next fight.
There has been some talk from Arum recently that the cut Pacquiao sustained in his November bout with Juan Manuel Marquez may prevent him from competing until June. Analysts have hypothesized that this is either merely a negotiating ploy by Arum, who used to promote Mayweather, or his way of protecting his biggest asset from a possible defeat, which woul diminish future returns on his investment.
If Pacquiao doesn’t accept the bout, the two other candidates to face Mayweather are junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and lightweight champ Robert Guerrero.
Mayweather was scheduled to begin his 87-day jail term at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas last Friday after being found guilty of battery domestic violence and harassment, but his attorney was able to convince the judge to delay his term until June 1 so he could fulfill a contractual obligation for the May 5 fight.
Houston Alexander returned to the spotlight this weekend. When we last checked in on the former UFC light heavyweight, he was getting his lights turned out by ex-hockey enforcer Steve Bosse. If you thought that was as low as things could get for Alexander, then prepare to flabbergasted.
Here is the latest update on Alexander, courtesy of KMTV News Omaha, via MiddleEasy:
Here is the latest update on Alexander, courtesy of KMTV News Omaha, via MiddleEasy:
Police ticketed popular MMA fighter Houston Alexander for child abuse after the 39-year-old became upset with his 16-year-old and made him box with him.
Police reports say officers were called to a home near 44th and Maple for a domestic disturbance. The older Alexander told them he was having trouble with his teen son, who was “having explicit sexual contact on Facebook with some unknown females.” The 16-year-old reportedly lied and “made him very upset.”
According to police reports, “Alexander then retrieved boxing gloves and told his son, ‘If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box.’” The two reportedly boxed in the basement. Officers describe the teen as having a “slight bloody nose and pain to his right side.”
Alexander was cited for misdemeanor [sic] child abuse.
In other words, “The Assassin” caught his son talking dirty to some lady friends on Facebook. When his son lied about it, Houston Alexander challenged him to fight on the spot. After the impromptu boxing match, police arrested Houston for child abuse.
We may be hack journalists, but even we have our limits. If there’s two things we don’t joke about at Cage Potato, it’s child abuse and surprise vans– so we’ll decline to comment on this any further. You guys in the comments section, on the other hand….
Kimbo, looking like Rick Ross with slightly better cardio
You know, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen this happen before.
While you were busy watching UFC 141, Kimbo Slice looked to improve his professional boxing record to 3-0 at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. So far in his boxing career, the Shaws have been feeding Kimbo cans with losing records, and Kimbo has been capitalizing in devastatingfashion. Friday night, however, Kimbo Slice was given his toughest test in his young boxing career in Charles Hackmann, a fitness instructor making his professional boxing debut after taking the bout on just one day’s notice.
It’s almost like the guy was brought in to lose *snickers*, yet he held his own against the former UFC fighter (sigh), almost pulling off the upset in the second round. The action wasn’t as fast-paced as Cruz vs. Johnson, yet you wouldn’t know it by how badly both fighters gassed in the third and fourth rounds. When it was all said and done, Kimbo improved to 3-0, yet had major holes in his game exposed.
Kimbo, looking like Rick Ross with slightly better cardio
You know, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen this happen before.
While you were busy watching UFC 141, Kimbo Slice looked to improve his professional boxing record to 3-0 at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. So far in his boxing career, the Shaws have been feeding Kimbo cans with losing records, and Kimbo has been capitalizing in devastatingfashion. Friday night, however, Kimbo Slice was given his toughest test in his young boxing career in Charles Hackmann, a fitness instructor making his professional boxing debut after taking the bout on just one day’s notice.
It’s almost like the guy was brought in to lose (snickers), yet he held his own against the former UFC fighter (sigh), almost pulling off the upset in the second round. The action wasn’t as fast-paced as Cruz vs. Johnson, yet you wouldn’t know it by how badly both fighters gassed in the third and fourth rounds. When it was all said and done, Kimbo improved to 3-0, yet had major holes in his game exposed.
So what say you, Potato Nation? Does Kimbo rebound in his next fight and silence his critics? Does Kimbo get knocked out by a metrosexual journeyman? Let us know in the comments section.
On 17 Oct., 2009, the first matches took place for the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super-middleweight tournament organized by Showtime to determine the WBC, WBA and Rings Super-Middleweight Champion. The original competitors to enter the tourname…
On 17 Oct., 2009, the first matches took place for the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super-middleweight tournament organized by Showtime to determine the WBC, WBA and Rings Super-Middleweight Champion. The original competitors to enter the tournament were then-WBA Super-Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler, then-WBC Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre […]
On 17 Oct., 2009, the first matches took place for the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super-middleweight tournament organized by Showtime to determine the WBC, WBA and Rings Super-Middleweight Champion.The original competitors to enter the tournamen…
On 17 Oct., 2009, the first matches took place for the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super-middleweight tournament organized by Showtime to determine the WBC, WBA and Rings Super-Middleweight Champion.
The original competitors to enter the tournament were then-WBA Super-Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler, then-WBC Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward, former middleweight champions Jermain Taylor and Arthur Abraham and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Andre Dirrell.
Later tonight Andre Ward and Carl Froch will face off in Atlantic City, NJ in a fight which required 10 events, eight fighters and over two years to make happen.
A round-robin style tournament over three group stages would decide the top-four fighters who would then face off in semifinal matches to determine the finals. By the end, eight boxers would have competed in the classic.
In Group Stage 1, Arthur Abraham defeated Jermain Taylor, Carl Froch defeated Andre Dirrell to retain the WBC Super-Middlweight Championship and Andrew Ward defeated Mikkel Kessler to take the WBA Super-Middleweight Championship.
Jermain Taylor withdrew after his loss to Arthur Abraham.
In Group Stage 2, Andre Dirrell defeated Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler defeated Carl Froch to take the WBC Super-Middleweight Championship and Andre Ward would the WBA Super Middleweight Championship after defeating Allan Green, who replaced Jermain Taylor.
Mikkel Kessler withdrew after defeating Carl Froch and vacated his WBA title by doing so. Andre Dirrell withdrew after defeating Arthur Abraham.
By the time Group Stage 3 came around a year after the tournament began, only three of the original six competitors would still be involved, with a number of controversies ranging from injuries to who should fight for the vacant WBC, and the risk of Ward losing the WBA title in a non-tournament fight.
Only two fights would officially take place as part of Group Stage 3. Part of the deal with Showtime was that each fighter could take a non-tournament fight if scheduling permitted.
After Andre Ward won his non-tournament bout against Sakio Bika to retain the WBA title, and Carl Froch defeated the only other fighter to have competed in all three round-robin fights, the semifinals were locked in.
The undefeated Ward would face off against Abraham, who went 1-2 during the round-robin but took a tune-up bout beforehand. Froch faced off against Glen Johnson, who had only competed in one tournament fight and was was 4-2 in his last six fights.
Ward defeated Abraham to retain his WBA title, and Froch defeated Johnson to retain his WBC title, and everyone at Showtime had a big sigh of relief.
The whole ordeal required six different promoters, risked the loss of one title and required another to relinquish his. This is where boxing shows its true colors.
While things appear to have worked out with the No. 1 and No. 2 Rings-rated boxers facing each other, there were numerous points of potential failure, which should been expected given how many hands were in the cookie jar.
The UFC has always been under constant attack by some of the top promoters in boxing. Arguments against the UFC have ranged from its illegitimacy as a sport to the way all the best fighters are kept under the same umbrella with exclusive contracts.
The most important fact to point out is that when almost all the best MMA fighters fall under the same roof, their promoter, in this case Dana White and the UFC, can make the fights fans want to see happen.
The other nice thing about having such a large stockpile of world class fighters is that it would never take two years to fill a vacant championship, in this case the Rings title. It also takes away any confusion about who the champion is.
This tournament alone had two champions enter it, and each of those belts were put on the line outside of it. Thus is the problem you run into when you don’t put fighters under exclusive contracts.
But it’s not all Showtime’s fault since they were dealing with Lou DiBella, Dan Goossen, Mick Hennessy, Matchroom Sport, Kalle Sauerland and Gary Shaw, of course.
Let’s not also forget the fact that it would never take the UFC 10 events and eight fighters to determine a champion in the event of a vacancy. Even the newly announced flyweight division will only required four fighters and two events to crown a champion, and you don’t hear anyone complaining.
The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a great idea in theory, and fortunately for Showtime, Andre Ward and Carl Froch, things were able to workout well, but there were too many chances for the whole thing to fall apart. Regardless of the outcome tonight, boxing once again showed their true colors when it comes to making great fights happen.
The UFC is far from perfect, but their areas of vulnerability are increasingly shrinking and they are constantly improving in depth of talent, number of fights, growth and exposure to a wider audience.
I doubt boxing will ever be able to say the same. Once Mayweather and Pacquiao retire, you can bet the PPV model will be all but dead for boxing. Who do you think will be standing by to charge $44.99 to see the best fighters in the world take on the best challengers?
If you guessed the UFC, then you’re one step ahead of the top boxing promoters. And that’s the bottom line.
Follow Justin Fuller on Twitter @JustinFullerMMA or like him on Facebook for the latest and greatest in…well…whatever, that’s what. Just do it, he’s hilarious.
Who knew that some of Mike Tyson’s greatest lines would fit so seamlessly with basic chords on an acoustic guitar?
I’m as big of a Mike Tyson fan as anybody, but he is narrowly behind Tito Ortiz as the most phonetically challenged fighter in combat sport history and this song proves it.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/JustDaveMusic)
When you’re humming this later, don’t blame us.
Who knew that some of Mike Tyson’s greatest lines would fit so seamlessly with basic chords on an acoustic guitar?
I’m as big of a Mike Tyson fan as anybody, but he is narrowly behind Tito Ortiz as the most phonetically challenged fighter in combat sport history and this song proves it.
On 17 Oct., 2009, the first matches took place for the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super-middleweight tournament organized by Showtime to determine the WBC, WBA and Rings Super-Middleweight Champion.