Seeing that I’m a glass is half full kind of guy we’ll start with the GOOD:

When it comes to shirts,  Nike seems to consistently drop the dope isht. The red one is a must have, available at Undefeated in LA and Las Vegas.

The BAD

These aren’t really bad looking, I just needed something to fit in the section. These make sense if your Filipino but even then, everything doesn’t always have to be in the national colors.

The best part of these shoes is the PAC MAN on the back

Now we get to the UGLY:

If you are planning on trying out for the new MTV Philippines show,  Manila Shore, then these are the shirts for you. Then again, if you honestly rock this style go ahead and hit the back button… we don’t need you reading this blog. Silver Star Clothing makes these fine pieces of wearable toilet paper.

WTF, guns?!?! Really?

They made Manny look like a caveman from the Geico commercials.

The new dress code for 2010

I guess I’ll just have to blame the uber-geniuses at Top Rank for putting this seemingly stupid match-up together and not making Mayweather-Pacquiao happen. The bright side in all of this is that all is not lost because, if the boxing gods are forgiving, they’d have Manny annihilate Clottey and have Mayweather beat-down the senior citizen in Shane Mosley, which all gives the pressure to both fighters to finally meet in the ring.

Our friend Gary Andrew Poole recently wrote a fresh take on the prospect of Manny vs. Floyd, posted today at Time.com:

To fill the vacuum and assuage dissatisfaction, each boxer decided to take on formidable interim opponents. Pacquiao will fight Clottey, and Mayweather will battle “Sugar” Shane Mosley on May 1. The hope is that if Pacquiao and Mayweather both win their respective fights, they will work out their differences and fight in the fall.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1970479,00.html#ixzz0hjCKMzGM

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The Pavlik vs. Espino world title tilt will takes place next Saturday, December 19, in the Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University. It headlines a two-country world championship doubleheader, produced and distributed live on pay-per-view by Top Rank.

FIGHT WEEK SCHEDULE

Tuesday, December 15 - Media Workouts – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

• Jack Loew’s South Side Boxing Club (1714 Market Street, Youngstown, Ohio)
• 11:30 AM – Vanes Martirosyan & Freddie Roach
• NOON – Miguel Espino & John Bray
• 1:00 PM – Kelly Pavlik & Jack Loew

Wednesday, December 16 – Final News Conference

• Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University
• Noon – News Conference Begins

Friday, December 18 – Official Weigh-In: OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

• Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University
• 1:00 PM – Pavlik & Espino on Scale First

***************************************************

RemainingTickets, priced at $208, $158, $108 and $58, including $8 processing fee, can be purchased online at www.Tickets.com. They can also be purchased at the Youngstown State University Athletic Ticket Office.  For ticket information call (330) 941-1978.

The four-bout pay-per-view broadcast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, will open from the Arena Itson in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico with WBC super featherweight champion HUMBERTO SOTO (49-7-2, 32 KOs), of Los Mochis, Mexico taking on two-time world champion JESUS CHAVEZ (44-6, 30 KOs), of Austin, Tex., in a 10-round lightweight bout, followed by a rumble between WBA interim bantamweight champion NEOMAR CERMEÑO (18-0, 10 KOs), of Anzoategui, Venezuela, defending his title against ALEJANDRO VALDEZ (22-3-2, 16 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. The pay-per-view action will shift to Youngstown where undefeated Top-10 super welterweight contender VANES MARTIROSYAN (25-0, 16 KOs), of Glendale, Calif., and trained by three-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, will challenge NABF super welterweight champion WILLIE LEE (17-5, 10 KOs), of New Orleans, in a 12-round bout, followed by the main event, Pavlik vs. Espino.

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• Amir “Yes, We” Khan

In the Paul Malignaggi vs. Juan Diaz bout, they had just come off a controversial fight in August that took place in Diaz’s hometown of Houston when a local judge gave Diaz a lopsided score of 118-110. While many thought it was a close fight that could have gone either way this suspect scoring led the way to this Saturdays rematch. After 12 rounds Malignaggi was vindicated with a unanimous decision victory over Diaz. While his career has seemed to take a wrong turn after notable fights with Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto (losing both matches) this victory may put him back in the limelight. Worst case, if he goes back to his old hair style he can probably make it onto MTV’s Jersey Shore.

Paulie playing the roll of Little Mac in Ninentdo’s re-release of Punch Out

Malignaggi’s prediction of the Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight

Via Yahoo Sports

Penn watched the Nov. 14 boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto while he was in his training camp and decided to try to emulate Pacquiao’s style on Saturday.

“I just like watching Pacquiao and how he throws punches in bunches,” Penn said. “He’s so fast. You might get away from the first two or three, but the two or three that come behind that are going to hit you. I kind of figured that out.”

Check out some highlights of the fight:

This is an international event and it should be treated as such so it’s vital to get a proper location for the fight. The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Staples Center are all possible venues.

Staples Center just offered $20 million for the mega-fight and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium is reportedly out of the running. But who knows? With an event like this, the one who really has the final say is the one who holds the biggest bank account.

I personally think Los Angeles is the better fit. For starters, it’s the entertainment capital of the world. The celebs are already here and L.A has the best tacos north of Tijuana — plus you don’t feel as dirty and skanky as you would if it was held in Vegas. Also, L.A. has the most Filipinos per capita, and Staples Center is really the prettiest stadium out of all the available. Dallas is too smelly, New York is too far (for me), and Las Vegas is so 2009.

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You could see Khan getting excited and wanting to seal the deal, but he intelligently settled himself down and threw hard, clean punches while moving forward and trapping Salita in the corner, where he suffered his second knockdown. Tasting victory, Khan went for the kill after Salita dragged himself to his feet and in a flurry of punches, Salita went down for the third and final time. Puerto Rican ref, Luis Pabon wisely called the fight off while Salita lay helpless on the ropes.

Salita was heard complaining after the fight, stating that the ref called the fight too soon and that he could have continued. Most of those who watched the fight would wholeheartedly disagree, but he may have had a point, considering that in the past, he came back to win (UD) against Robert Frankel after getting knocked down in the first round as well as fighting back to a draw against Ramon Montano after being knocked down twice in the first round.

Although Amir Khan was a heavy favorite to win against the WBA #1 contender, few could have predicted such a quick victory. It indeed took him longer to leave the ring with all of the congratulations than it took him to defend his world title.

Much credit is attributed to Freddie Roach, who has trained Khan for his last four fights and has seemingly transformed Khan from a great up-and-comer to a veritable tour-de-force in the world of Boxing.

With plans to conquer America next, Khan looks to 2010 as an exciting year for him and for boxing, as he will once again join Pound for Pound king, Manny Pacquiao’s training camp as a key sparring partner for Pacquiao’s almost-finalized fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Roach emphatically stated that Khan was ready to take on the world and to expect great things from him.

As he stated in an interview after the fight, this victory was an early birthday present for the (almost) 23-year old sensation, Amir Khan. Happy Birthday, Amir and Congratulations. You were brilliant tonight.

In other boxing news, interim cruiserweight champion, Ola Afolabi lost in his title match against Marco Huck in Huck’s home country of Germany. Afolabi, known for his showboating, entertained the crowd for 12 rounds, losing in a unanimous decision.

Chris Arreola won in his first fight back since suffering a brutal TKO loss to Vitali Klitschko at the end of September earlier this year. Arreola (6′4 – 2,630,000 lbs) dwarfed Brian Minto (5′10 – 218 lbs) and knocked him out in the fourth round. What was surprising about this fight certainly wasn’t the outcome, as most boxing experts would have predicted an early round KO victory for Arreola. The surprise was the incredible show of heart and determination by Brian Minto. After getting rocked by a straight right hand, Minto hit the ground, but came back up fighting. While he could barely stand, he was still throwing punches, still trying to win, until his body finally wouldn’t let him continue and he hit the canvas yet again. Though he wobbled to his feet again, referee Eddie Cotton would not allow the fight to continue.

Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez BATTLED. This was certainly one of the hardest bouts to score ever as they traded punches furiously and were toe to toe for the majority of the fight. Martinez, recently robbed of victory in his fight against Kermit Cintron, seemingly got robbed once more, at least by judge Pierre Benoist, who scored the fight 119-110 in Williams’ advantage. Perhaps the only judge to truly get it right was Julie Lederman (Howard Lederman’s daughter) who saw the fight 114-114, a draw.

For more, please visit www.BroadcastBoxing.com

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Every generation or so, an event like this is bound to happen. In the ’30s, Joe Louis fought Max Schmeling with an underlying message that the fight represented a clash between the United States and Nazi Germany. In the ’60s, a young Cassius Clay hooked up against Sonny Liston and essentially “shook up the world.” Eventually, these events tapered down and led to the clusterfuck known as the boxing world.

But the time has come, friends. The date is set for March 13, 2010. When asked about the proposed date of the fight, Manny being Manny said: “March 13 is OK.” Let’s get ready to rumble!

Here’s the Tale of the Tape:

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According to ESPN and Yahoo’s sources, Mayweather’s camp has agreed to the terms of a March 13th fight with Manny Pacquiao. After talks with Mayweather’s representatives, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum flew to the Philippines on Wednesday to present the contract to his fighter–a good sign that Pacquiao’s camp will also agree.

The news follows what’s already been a newsworthy week for Pacquiao. On Tuesday, he officially announced his candidacy for the 2010 congressional elections in the Philippines–a decision that pushed the proposed fight date from May 1st up to March 13th. Also on Tuesday, Pacquiao’s steroid test results from his Nov. 14th bout with Miguel Cotto came back negative (surely much to the chagrin of Mayweather’s camp). Rumors also circulated of Pacquiao moving up yet another weight class to fight middleweight title-holder Yuri Foreman.

That’s all well and good, but Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is the fight fans want to see. Interest in the match-up has grown with the individual success of each fighter. Online, fans have created videos promoting what some have called “The ‘Real’ Dream Match” (a play off of the promo line from the Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya fight). Watch the videos below, for example, and get excited. It’s gonna happen.

Thankfully, the people at Cuts & Glory is making it easier for you so you don’t have to get run over by the fat people at Wal-Mart. We have a limited-time sale on two shirts.

One is “The Corner” shirt. The other shirt is “The Ring” shirt, which was made for The National Fist site. Get it now!

Get both shirts for $26.00! This weekend only!

• Large
• Medium
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In other Black Friday news:

This Friday at  Intro in Santa Ana, CA they’ll be having a black Friday sale on the Cuts & Glory Knockout Artist and Ring of Glory shirts.  In addidtion Intro is also giving up to 40% off their inventory of In4mation, Caked Out, IM King and Sick Delicious.

Intro
1529 S. Grand Ave.
Santa, Ana, CA
www.introholics.com

“I will take a vacation and rest. Just to be with my family is a big thing. And I will relax and let my swollen ear heal,” Manny said to the crowd before getting on a motorcade around Manila.

But before he left Los Angeles, he spoke with Filipina cougar from KTLA news, Cher Calvin, at his apartment which was lined up with fans hoping for an autograph, a picture, or even a lock of hair from his glorious mustache. Here’s the video from KTLA news:

In other news, the Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto fight generated a whopping 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, making it the most lucrative one-night event in the U.S. this year. Suck on that, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

And in even more important news, reported to us by extremely devoted ‘The National Fist‘ reader Jonathan W., Filipino driver Donny Baknot and his fresh Jeepney still holds 16 passengers and still holding his route on Uni Market 5. Watch Donny here in what is the best YouTube video ever made:

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In an interview with Ringtalk Radio last week, Kermit Cintron basically accused Manny Pacquiao of using steroids. Antonio Margarito did mentally damage a fighter but maybe it wasn’t Miguel Cotto. If Kermit wants publicity since his career has taken a downturn since his losses to Margarito, what he needs to do is beat the elite of his division instead of getting a gift victory over Sergio Martinez.

First off for another professional boxer to accuse someone of using steroids without any evidence is foul. Before he mouthed off he should have researched Pacquiao’s career and how it is in living in the Philippines. Pacquiao started his boxing career at a tender age of 16. How many people are only a few pounds from how much they weighed at 16?

Also, unlike in the U.S. where people in poverty have access to a number of government assistance, there is almost none of that in the Philippines as Freddie Roach mentioned in one of the 24/7 of Hatton vs. Pacquiao. As a result, many people in the Philippines are often malnourished. Pacquiao didn’t earn much in the beginning of his career and certainly not enough to completely support his family. Ask some immigrants from any poor countries how much weight they have gained since coming to the US and you will be surprised by their answers.

Furthermore, Pacquiao has been able to go up in weight classes because he trains like no other and now is receiving proper nutrition. With his success, he is not only able to buy almost anything he wants, but also get the best trainer and conditioning coach. Maybe Kermit needs to spend a day with Pacquiao to see how the best trains. Kermit is not exactly known for his conditioning as he often falters in the later rounds in his fights. The difference between Pacquiaos, Mayweathers, Mosleys and other fighters are their work ethic. Just ask those who trained with Jordan, Jerry Rice and Kobe Bryant. They often explain how they thought their work ethic was great until they worked out with them.

This issue has also been overblown. Pacquiao only walks around 150-155 lbs when he is not training for a fight. He hasn’t even made weight in any of his fights above the Junior Lightweight division. In his fight against Oscar at Welterweight, he only weighed in at 142. In the fight against Hatton, he only weighed 138 for a Junior Welterweight fight. Even in the fight against David Diaz, he weighed at only 135 ½ lbs.

Also like many superstars in other sports, Pacquiao is blessed with great genetics. Only one needs to see his family to notice this. His legs are also like tree trunks. Some of the pounds he has added are probably caused by working out his legs alone. His legs are also an important factor in his success to higher weight classes as it has helped him maintain his explosiveness and power.

As far as his punching power, I think people have put too much attention to his knockout of Hatton. Hatton was knocked out because he did not see the punch. What makes Pacquiao dangerous is because his punches come from odd angles. The most dangerous punch in boxing is the ones you don’t see as they cause the most damage. Just ask Miguel Cotto.

The fact is Pacquiao has often been tested for drugs and other substances and so far he has passed them all. Until he fails a test, all the talks of him using steroids are nonsense and just another excuse in a long list of excuses to downgrade Pacquiao’s accomplishments.

Editor’s Note: A recent interview with Paulie Malignaggi reveals that he also thinks Manny uses steroids. HATERS!

In case you’ve already forgotten, let’s take a look back at Manny’s beat down of Cotto SANS steroids:

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