YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Kevin Iole

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    Award-winning veteran sportswriter Kevin Iole is the national boxing and mixed martial arts reporter for Yahoo! Sports. Kevin previously covered boxing for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and other publications, writing on some of the biggest names and bouts in the sport.

    • Role of a lifetime

      Lou Savarese's odds of winning an Academy Award are about the same as they are of winning the heavyweight championship, which is to say, not good.

      But he's going to have plenty of people who root for him to do both.

      He's the rare athlete who doesn't take himself too seriously, and clearly isn't impressed by his own celebrity.

      Whatever his limitations as a boxer and an actor may be, Savarese throws himself into both. He's 41 years old and hasn't beaten a serious contender in years, but not only is he talking of defeating former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in their bout on Saturday in El Paso, Texas, but he's also talking about winning the belt himself.

      He speaks of how the division is watered down and how there is no dominant heavyweight and, after a while, you start to believe him despite the feeble effort he gave in a first-round knockout loss to Mike Tyson in 2000 and despite the loss to 48-year-old George Foreman in 1997.

      Crazier things have happened, haven't they? The

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    • Science to art

      Former bantamweight boxing champion Wayne McCullough said he retains a love affair with his sport despite its down times and said, "Boxing is my life."

      That, though, didn't stop McCullough, who insists that at nearly 37 he's still an active boxer, from taking a job in mixed martial arts with the UFC.

      McCullough, who lives in Las Vegas where the UFC is based, said he will be an ambassador for the company and the sport in Europe. McCullough is from Northern Ireland and won a silver medal for the country in the 1992 Olympics.

      He said a long-time friendship with UFC president Dana White led to the deal. And though McCullough is aware of the increasingly volatile rhetoric between White and top boxing promoters, he insists there is room for both sports.

      "Everyone wants to compare them for some reason, but they're completely different sports," McCullough said. "I don't buy the idea that you're either a boxing fan or (an MMA) fan. I think you can be both."

      McCullough, who hasn't fought since

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    • Leaving Las Vegas

      Erik Morales has been something of a franchise in Las Vegas over the past five years. The once-great featherweight has fought 10 of his past 16 bouts in what has been known as the Boxing Capital of the World.

      Manny Pacquiao has become a headliner on the Strip, as well, and has fought every other bout in Las Vegas since his enthralling draw with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2004.

      Unbeaten welterweight champion Miguel Cotto has fought eight of his 30 fights in Las Vegas, which is more than anywhere he's fought except for the nine times he's been in his native Puerto Rico.

      Things, though, are making a distinct shift out of Las Vegas.

      Morales will seek to make history Aug. 4 by becoming the first Mexican-born fighter to capture titles in four weight classes. He will try to do so not in what has become his boxing home, but rather in Chicago, when he challenges local hero David Diaz for the WBC lightweight title.

      Pacquiao, the super featherweight who is regarded as one of the two best fighters in

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    • Mr. Lean

      LAS VEGAS – For a guy who is reputed to be one of the most talented mixed martial artists ever, it was a long time between wins for B.J. Penn.

      But the affable Hawaiian, who submitted arch rival Jens Pulver Saturday to a second-round rear naked choke, is a lot different man at 28 than he was at 26.

      Penn had lost his last two bouts – albeit to two of the greatest fighters in the game, Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre – and had dropped three of his last four entering Saturday's bout with Pulver.

      What Penn proved in dismantling Pulver, who clearly had little chance to win, was that UFC president Dana White isn't far off when he speaks of Penn's potential.

      Penn had lost to Pulver in a 2002 lightweight title fight he was widely expected to win and then developed a bitterness toward Pulver when he felt Pulver was reluctant to give him a rematch. He hired a nutritionist and had vowed to shed the fat boy image he had cultivated as his body fat soared to over 23 percent.

      White, who has had his

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    • Notes: Maynard beats himself

      LAS VEGAS – Gray Maynard did a swell impersonation of former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, perhaps the strongest man pound-for-pound in mixed martial arts, in his bout Saturday with Rob Emerson at the Palms Hotel & Casino.

      After using his strength and wrestling to pummel Emerson in the first round, Maynard lifted Emerson in a power move that came straight from Hughes’ book.

      When he slammed Emerson violently to the mat, the fight was instantly over, though there was plenty of confusion over who won.

      Referee Steve Mazzagatti seemed ready to indicate that Maynard won, but then reversed himself and the bout was called a no contest when he ruled that neither man could continue.

      As he was slamming Emerson, Maynard drove his own head into the mat. UFC president Dana White, sitting alongside the cage, said he felt Maynard was knocked out, as did Tony Alamo, the chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission.

      But Emerson appeared to tap and Mazzagatti didn’t seem to be looking at Maynard

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    • Pulverized

      LAS VEGAS – B.J. Penn spent the last 5 ½ years facing some of the world's finest fighters, in weight classes ranging from lightweight to light heavyweight.

      It was all, though, for one reason, he said.

      "It was to get me back to Jens Pulver," said Penn, who unexpectedly lost a bid for the lightweight title to Pulver in a 2002 fight and has chased a rematch ever since.

      He got it on Saturday at the Palms Hotel in the finale of the UFC's reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. Penn and Pulver served as coaches on the show and agreed to fight on Spike TV in the live finale.

      Penn dominated the fight from the beginning, punishing Pulver mercilessly, before submitting him on a rear naked choke at 3:12 of the second round.

      It was a one-sided beatdown as Penn showed the varied skills that have led UFC president Dana White to call him the most talented mixed martial artist in history.

      He excelled in the standup, took Pulver down repeatedly and had a series of submission attempts before finally

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    • Quick picks

      LAS VEGAS – Picks to win Saturday at Ultimate Fight Night at the Palms Hotel & Casino:

      Jens Pulver vs. B.J. Penn, three rounds, lightweights:
      Penn wants it badly, uses his superb ground game to win by submission.

      Manny Gamburyan vs. Nathan Diaz, three rounds, lightweights:
      Diaz by submission, say by triangle choke, in the fight of the night.

      Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evans, three rounds, lightweights:
      Huerta by TKO in the second round.

      Floyd Swoard vs. Thales Leites, three rounds, middleweights:
      Leites by submission.

      Brandon Melendez vs. Joe Lauzon, three rounds, lightweights:
      Lauzon by TKO in the third round.

      Andy Wang vs. Cole Miller, three rounds, lightweights:
      Miller by decision in a close match.

      Rob Emerson vs. Grey Maynard, three rounds, lightweights:
      Maynard by referee stoppage in third round.

      Allen Berube vs. Leonard Garcia, three rounds, lightweights:
      Not at all impressed by Berube, so Garcia by TKO in the third.

      Brian Geraghty vs. Matt Wiman, three rounds, lightweights:
      Wiman by

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    • Penn vs. Pulver: Keys to victory

      LAS VEGAS – B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver don't like each other one bit. They'll meet in a rematch of a 2002 fight that was won by Pulver. Here is what each man must do to win:





      Penn's keys
      Pulver's keys
      1. Take fight to the ground. Penn is one of the game's most versatile fighters, but he's a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with lethal submissions. 1. Go toe-to-toe. Pulver's power gives him the edge if it's a boxing match.

      2. Avoid exchanging punches. Penn must approach the standup game tactically. Pulver's best shot is to catch Penn with a left hook, so Penn has to neutralize that. 2. Be active. Pulver is noted for his cardiovascular conditioning; Penn is not.

      3. Slow the pace. A fast pace can't help Penn, who faded in the second half of their first fight. 3. Avoid Penn's guard. Pulver doesn't want to fall into Penn's trap and allow him a chance at a fight-ending submission.

      4. Punish Pulver on the ground. If Penn gets in Pulver's guard, he should dish out as much
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    • Hatton vs. Castillo: Keys to victory

      LAS VEGAS – Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo have promised to put on an explosive fight. Here is what each man must do to win in their fight Saturday for the IBO super lightweight title at the Thomas & Mack Center:





      Hatton's keys
      Castillo's keys
      1. Keep a quick pace. One of the questions about Castillo is whether he's over the hill. By fighting at a quick pace, Hatton can make it more difficult on the 33-year-old veteran. 1. Use the uppercut. Even though Hatton likes to fight inside, he throws wide punches. Castillo can take advantage by going up the middle with an uppercut.

      2. Jab to the body, then the head. Hatton will need his jab, but he can't get lazy with it. He must move it up and down to make Castillo think. 2. Punch on the clinch. Hatton is likely to grab Castillo to clinch if they're inside, so Castillo should take advantage to impress the judges and throw.

      3. Counter the body work. When Castillo throws his left hook to the body, Hatton needs to throw
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    • Dream fight

      LAS VEGAS – Ricky Hatton, the United Kingdom's most popular fighter, likes to refer to himself as an honorary Mexican and, indeed, will be escorted to the ring for his super lightweight fight against Jose Luis Castillo on Saturday by Marco Antonio Barrera, one of Mexico's greatest boxing heroes.

      Castillo concedes that his sons, Jose Luis Jr. and Christian, will be more eager to be in Hatton's corner than his, because they are fans of Manchester United soccer star Wayne Rooney, who plans to join Barrera in the walk with Hatton to the ring.

      And both men concede that their dream fight is against each other.

      It's a Fight of the Year in the making and, after a frustrating year for both men, they're anxious to have someone in front of them to pound on.

      "We don't need to be eyeballing each other or bad mouthing each other or staring each other down," Hatton said. "We do it the way professionals should do it. We both know we're going to knock the living daylights out of each other once the

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