YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Boxing

    • NFL great Jim Brown quickly gave up idea of fight with Muhammad Ali

      By Kevin Iole | Boxing – Thu, Dec 6, 2012 2:02 AM EST

      Jim Brown (L) and Muhammad Ali talk on a movie set (AP file photo)Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix wrote a wonderful profile of Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who will turn 81 on Saturday. That's the same day that Arum promotes the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, one that is expected to generate at least 1 million pay-per-view sales.

      Mannix's rollicking piece is filled with anecdotes from Arum's 46 years as one of boxing's leading promoters.

      Jimmy Brown retired as the NFL's all-time leading rusher (AP file photo)The best, though, details the time that NFL great Jim Brown decided he wanted to fight then-heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.

      Brown is one of the greatest players in NFL history and is regarded by many as the finest athlete of the 20th century. In addition to being a dominant NFL player, Brown is also arguably the best lacrosse player who ever lived.

      He also had a legendary reputation for his toughness. Given that Brown had introduced Arum to Ali, it was hard for Arum to say no without at least checking. Brown figured it was a slam dunk massive payday.

      Brown had retired from the

      Read More »

    • Manny Pacquiao greets actor Mark Wahlberg (Chris Farina/Top Rank)LAS VEGAS -- Manny Pacquiao will make in excess of $25 million for fighting Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden and could reach $30 million if the fight does a brisk business, Top Rank president Todd duBoef said.

      Pacquiao's guarantee on the Nevada Athletic Commission contract is $8.595 million, executive director Keith Kizer said Wednesday. Marquez will earn a guarantee of $3 million. But pay-per-view boxers like Pacquiao and Marquez earn much more than their guarantees.

      Manny Pacquiao will make about $25 million for fighting Juan Manuel Marquez (Chris Farina/Top Rank)Pacquiao will get a large chunk from his upside on HBO Pay-Per-View sales, which are expected to exceed 1 million and could equal the 1.3 million sales he reached for his Nov. 12, 2011, bout with Marquez.

      Adding in foreign television money, that will easily put Pacquiao over $25 million, duBoef said.

      DuBoef said closed circuit locations that show the bout are up from the 2011 fight between them, continuing what he said was a trend in Pacquiao fights. He said that despite the controversial result in

      Read More »

    • Manny Pacquiao waves to fans after his arrival at the MGM Grand on Tuesday (Chris Farina/Top Rank)

      LAS VEGAS -- Miguel Cotto delivered record ratings for Showtime on Dec. 1 in his unanimous decision loss at Madison Square Garden to WBA super welterweight champion Austin Trout.

      Showtime announced Tuesday that its average viewership of 1.047 million viewers and its peak viewership of just under 1.4 million during the Cotto-Trout fight were both network records. The 1.047 million average was Showtime's highest since Nielsen Media Research began measuring premium multiplex channels in 2004. Its 1.4 million peak was the highest since Nielsen began tracking those numbers in 2009.

      Miguel Cotto was beaten up by Austin Trout (AP)One of Showtime's viewers was Manny Pacquiao, the third-ranked fighter in the Yahoo! Sports ratings and a former Cotto opponent. Pacquiao stopped Cotto in the 12th round of a 2009 pay-per-view bout that sold 1.25 million units.

      Pacquiao, who fights Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, had picked Cotto to win the fight. On Tuesday, he said he felt Trout was deserving of the victory. Judges had

      Read More »

    • Manny Pacquiao (L) show Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller (R) how to throw a jab (Chris Farina/Top Rank)One thing is certain when Manny Pacquiao is training for a fight: He'll never be lonely.

      Pacquiao, who is preparing to face Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for a fourth time, always seems to host a flood of celebrities. He recently gave Basketball Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller a taste of what it is like to train for a fight.

      Barkley and Miller chronicled their experience working out with Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif., for a half-hour special that will air Thursday on TNT following the network's NBA coverage.

      Miller ran with Pacquiao through Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Both men got in the ring with Pacquiao at the Wild Card, while Barkley spent time with trainer Freddie Roach.

      I haven't had a chance to get a sneak peak of the footage, but Pacquiao was chuckling as he was watching Miller throw -- or, to be more accurate, try to throw -- a jab.

      "As a boxing fan, it was one of the coolest things I've ever done,"

      Read More »

    • Trainer Angel Garcia (brown shirt, L) shouts at Zab Judah (far right) (Esther Lin/Showtime)Zab Judah should know better than this. Judah has been a professional boxer since 1996 and has been involved in countless major fights. He's met the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto and Kostya Tszyu, among others.

      He's been among the most talented fighters in the game for nearly all of that time, but he's never been the strongest fighter mentally.

      That problem showed itself again on Saturday when Judah couldn't keep his composure at a news conference in New York  to announce his Feb. 9 fight on Showtime with WBA/WBC super welterweight champion Danny "Swift" Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

      Angel Garcia (L) and Zab Judah (Esther Lin/Showtime)Garcia's father, Angel, is one of boxing's most notorious trash talkers in the sport. When Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer introduced Angel Garcia, he bemusedly said, "You never know what he's going to say."

      Well, yes you do, Richard. You know he's going to question his opponent's toughness, his skills, his desire and pretty much everything there is to question.

      Angel Garcia proceeded to do what he always does when he got to the podium. He began trashing Judah, who was seated immediately to his left. None of it seemed too serious until all of a sudden, Judah decided he'd had enough.

      Read More »

    Pagination

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
    5. 5
    6. 6
    7. 7
    8. 8
    9. 9
    10. 10
    (247 Stories)

    Yahoo! Sports Blogs