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    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.

    • Claressa Shields is just your average, everyday 17-year-old Olympic boxing gold medalist

      The first thing you notice about Claressa Shields is that she laughs.

      A lot.

      A trip to the mall, a favorite day out for plenty of 17-year-old girls, is not always so simple for Shields.

      Claressa Shields doesn't mind the perks that come with being a local celebrity. (AP Photo)"I never thought there would be days I didn't want to go outside, or go to the mall, because I didn't have privacy," she said. "It's not horrible, but I don't have much privacy. It's like I'm a celebrity."

      The thought that she's a celebrity causes her to break out in giggles. It's hard for anyone who had fame suddenly thrust upon them, but it is particularly difficult for a 17-year-old high school senior.

      In particular, it's tough for a 17-year-old high school senior who lives in a city with one of the most depressed economies in the country. Shields is a bona fide celebrity in her native Flint, Mich., and hardly a day goes by when she doesn't pose for a photo or sign an autograph.

      Even adults more than twice or three times her age want to stand next to her, to pat her on the

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    • An unfair fight: Factors outside the Octagon keeping Johny Hendricks from a shot at GSP

      MONTREAL – For all the talk of Georges St-Pierre's dark place prior to UFC 158, imagine how Johny Hendricks must feel.

      Over the last two years, Hendricks learned that simply winning isn't enough.

      Johny Hendricks is once again hoping a win leads to a title shot. (MMA Weekly)Nor, he learned to his dismay, is winning in spectacular fashion enough to get a shot at St-Pierre's UFC welterweight title.

      Hendricks will face Carlos Condit on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 158 at the Bell Centre when he believes with all his heart that he should be facing St-Pierre for the belt in the main event.

      That honor, though, will go to Nick Diaz, who was handpicked specifically by St-Pierre.

      In defending the decision to fight Diaz instead of Hendricks, St-Pierre said he felt Diaz should have gotten the decision over Carlos Condit in their match at UFC 143. St-Pierre also said he felt Hendricks got a gift win over Josh Koscheck at UFC on Fox 3 last May.

      [Also: Condit still composed after difficult loss to St-Pierre ]

      St-Pierre is a lot of things for the

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    • Measure of a man: Carlos Condit still composed after difficult loss to Georges St-Pierre

      Carlos Condit trudged out of the Bell Centre in Montreal last November without the UFC welterweight belt in tow. He'd come oh-so-close to a dramatic knockout victory against the seemingly unbeatable Georges St-Pierre only to lose by unanimous decision. 

      Carlos Condit is 5-2 since joining the UFC in April 2009. (MMAWeekly)He left without the belt, but rest assured that Condit did not leave a loser. Few fighters have ever gained more from a defeat than Condit did after losing to St-Pierre at UFC 154.

      On Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 158 in the very same venue, Condit will return for a fight against Johny Hendricks that could have been, under slightly different circumstances, the first defense of his welterweight title.

      Condit kicked St-Pierre in the head in the third round and seemed on the verge of a dramatic win. He went for the finish with the ferocity of a man who knew how close he was to fulfilling a long-time dream and capturing the UFC title.

      [Also: Junior dos Santos thinks Alistair Overeem is a joke]

      St-Pierre, though, showed

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    • Georges St-Pierre's legendary cool fracturing under weight of Nick Diaz's words

      For five years, Georges St-Pierre has been more than just one of the great champions in mixed martial arts history. He's been the face of a promotion – one of the cornerstones in a jaw-dropping business turnaround from epic failure to sensational success.

      Georges St-Pierre will defend his welterweight title against Nick Diaz this Saturday. (Getty)He exuded class, portraying himself and, by extension, his fellow MMA fighters as thoughtful, polite and dedicated athletes who wanted nothing more than to compete against the best.

      For all the problems he has been forced to deal with on a daily basis, from failed drug tests to drunken binges to homophobic slurs and thoughtless tweets, UFC president Dana White never once had to worry that he'd be awakened from his sleep because St-Pierre had gotten into trouble.

      St-Pierre brought hordes of positive media attention, attracted fans by the droves and generally set a standard for what a professional fighter should be. He's always been in magnificent condition and pushed the sport to new levels. He still executes moves in the cage

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    • No media darling: Nick Diaz hopes to use rough edges to grind up champion Georges St-Pierre

      Most fighters find out far too late that the real money in fighting comes not from their paychecks but from what they can earn from endorsement contracts.

      Georges St-Pierre, the UFC's well-heeled welterweight champion, probably made more money in 2012 from endorsements alone than 98 percent of mixed martial arts fighters made in purse money. St-Pierre is sponsored by mainstream blue-chip companies such as Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Under Armour and Bacardi, sponsors that essentially are out of reach for the majority of his peers.

      For better or worse, Nick Diaz speaks honestly and from his heart. (AP)It's great work, if you can get it.

      To this point, Nick Diaz hasn't been able to get it. Diaz, who will challenge St-Pierre for the belt in the main event of UFC 158 on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, has sweat and bled for every cent he's earned. Diaz has become the sport's anti-hero, even if it's a role he'd rather not have.

      Much to his chagrin, he's been cast as the guy who soccer moms curse out at traffic lights.

      Diaz's life is a polar

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    • Timothy Bradley trying to move past Pacman saga and death threats that accompanied it

      Timothy Bradley probably learned more about life in the three weeks following his June 9 victory over Manny Pacquiao than he had in the previous 28 years combined.

      Every day, it seemed, something new, something bizarre occurred. It culminated, sadly, with a series of death threats, via the mail and the telephone. Tim Bradley trains before a fight. (Getty)

      That series of events turned what should have been an epic win and a celebratory summer into a nine-month nightmare.

      The Bradley prior to June 9 was the epitome of what a father would want his daughter marrying: bright, loyal, patient, friendly, understanding and successful.

      "I am the nicest guy you will ever meet on the street, ever," said Bradley, who ran a youth football league in his hometown.

      Bradley did everything correctly in the days and weeks leading up to the heavily hyped bout with Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

      Pacquiao was the star going into that fight and, despite the outcome, he was the star when it ended.

      Now, nine

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    • It's safe to say old man Bernard Hopkins has a particular plan for young knockout artist

      Bernard Hopkins is one of the great strategists in boxing history. Every action the 48-year-old former middleweight and light heavyweight champion does comes following a great deal of thought and calculation.

      Little is left to chance, particularly when he has a fight lined up.

      Bernard Hopkins chats with the media during a February workout. (AP Photo)Hopkins will meet unbeaten knockout artist Tavoris Cloud on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for Cloud's IBF light heavyweight title in the main event of an HBO-televised card.

      Hopkins came to the news conference wearing a dark hooded coat, a dark ski mask and a pair of dark sunglasses. But Hopkins, one of the great talkers in the history of the sport, bolted the gathering at the Barclays Center with nary a word.

      He was trying to get some sort of message across, but we're left to guess what it might be.

      As Hopkins sat stoically on the dais, trainer Naazim Richardson took the microphone and said, with Hopkins just a few feet to his left, "Bernard Hopkins has already left the

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    • WWE’s resident mortician ‘Paul Bearer’ dead at 58

      (AP)(AP)

      William Moody, the real-life undertaker who became famous by portraying Paul Bearer, a mortician who managed some of pro wrestling's biggest stars, died Tuesday at 58 in a Mobile, Ala., hospital.

      The hospital did not release a cause of death. TMZ.com reported that Moody told friends in the days before his death he was suffering from a blood clot.

      Moody hit the peak of his career when he joined the WWE in 1991, took the name Paul Bearer and became The Undertaker's manager. Bearer's face was painted a pasty white and he would carry an urn with him to ringside.

      He was known for a demonic laugh and the catch phrase, "Oh, yes!" He hosted a show on WWE broadcasts known as "The Funeral Parlor."

      Moody got into the wrestling business in the late 1970s, first competing on smaller shows around the country while serving in the Air Force.

      His first major success, though, came when he was joined Florida Championship Wrestling in 1984 under the name Percival "Percy" Pringle III. He had worked under

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    • With his career winding down, Bernard Hopkins is wise to choose opponents more carefully

      Bernard Hopkins is 48, older than five sitting governors, four current U.S. senators and is only three years and five months younger than President Obama. He doesn't move as nimbly as he once did, and isn't the complete fighter he was in his heyday.

      Disaster lurks around the corner for every fighter – that's the risk any boxer, whether 18, 28, 38 or 48, takes when climbing between the ropes – but it looms much larger for a guy who has been fighting professionally longer than burgeoning star Adrien Broner has been alive.

      The old adage in boxing that a fighter can age overnight has repeatedly proven true.

      But Hopkins has been doing things others have told him he couldn't do for about a quarter century now, and he'll probably continue that trend Saturday by mesmerizing Tavoris Cloud in their IBF light heavyweight title in the main event of an HBO-televised card in Brooklyn, N.Y. Nazim Richardson talks as Bernard Hopkins looks on during a press conference. (Reuters)

      The Hopkins of 28 would have toyed with Cloud. The Hopkins of 38 would have beaten a

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    • Hoping to challenge ESPN, Fox betting big on UFC

      Fox Sports wants to compete directly with ESPN, and one of the staples of its plan will be its UFC programming. 

      Cain Velasquez, Bruce Buffer and Anderson Silva pose for a photo Tuesday. (Getty)Tuesday's announcement of the creation and Aug. 17 launch of Fox Sports 1, which will feature Major League Baseball, soccer, college football and basketball and NASCAR in addition to the UFC, is the culmination of Dana White's dreams. 

      For more than two years since announcing his company's broadcast partnership with Fox Sports, the UFC president has alluded to a game-changing moment coming down the road.

      On Tuesday, when that game-changer became a reality, White was literally giddy.

      "This is such a great day for us, I can't even begin to tell you," White said over and over during a telephone interview with Yahoo! Sports. "This is a massive step. I said a year-and-a-half ago when we did this deal that our next two years of work would be more important than the first 13. And now, it's always clicking and all becoming a reality."

      [Also: Next wave of female UFC

      Read More »from Hoping to challenge ESPN, Fox betting big on UFC

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