Not a Super Bowl, but Pacquiao an event

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The czar of boxing was so devastated the fight didn't happen, it took him weeks to get over it.

The (not Don) King of promoters was so mad he could barely utter Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s name.

And the emperor of Dallas felt like he had just lost the Super Bowl.

"I wanted that fight here with those two fighters worse than my next breath," Jerry Jones said.

The fight, of course, was Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao, and it fell apart despite the frenzied efforts of some of the biggest names in boxing and one of the biggest egos in Texas. If not for a nasty dispute over blood testing, it might have filled Cowboy Stadium and given Jones the kind of megafight he believes his new $1.2 billion edifice rightfully deserves.

Instead, he had to settle for the hottest fighter in the game. He got Pacquiao, but even a salesman like Jones can't fool anyone into believing Joshua Clottey is Mayweather.

So he's selling Pacman. He's selling the event which, appropriately enough, is titled "The Event."

Mostly, he's selling his stadium.

"This is going to be big time," Jones said. "I'm going to over-deliver."

That should make the 45,000 fans expected to show up Saturday night happy, and it will certainly please de facto boxing boss Ross Greenburg and promoter Bob Arum. They couldn't put together the fight that everyone wanted, but, between the show in Dallas and the May 1 show featuring Mayweather against Shane Mosley in Las Vegas, they've rebounded to produce a decent substitute.

They've also gotten a new ally for the sport in Jones, who is already better at selling fights than he is at picking wide receivers.

"The thing that's blown me away is what an unbelievable promoter this guy is," Arum said. "He never gets tired. We took a two-day trip to Mexico and he was able to drink everybody under the table and kept going. He gave dozens and dozens of interviews to Mexican media outlets. It's really something to see."

Read more: foxnews.com

Manny Pacquiao 'will knock out Joshua Clottey'

Manny Pacquiao has insisted he will become the first man to knock out the formidably physical Ghanaian Joshua Clottey when the two welterweights collide at the newly-built Dallas Cowboys Stadium, in Texas on Saturday night.

By Gareth A Davies, Boxing Correspondent, in Dallas

Freddie Roach, who has a penchant for proving pinpoint accurate in his predictions, said Pacquiao’s victory will come by knockout in his defence of the World Boxing Organisation 147lb belt.

Eerily accurate with his visions of how Pacquiao’s last three fights – against Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto – would unfold, Roach originally predicted a ninth-round knockout of Clottey, but is that confident that “perfect preparation” could result in a sixth- or seventh-round knockout.

That goes against conventional wisdom. Clottey, with 35 wins from 39 contests, has never been knocked out in his three defeats (one draw) to date with two of those on points, and one by disqualification.

Pacquiao, 50-3-2, with 38 knockouts, remains the only boxer ever to notch up world titles in seven weight divisions. “Manny is in the best shape of his life, and looked very, very sharp in our final sessions. I’ve never seen him sharper,” said Roach, trainer of the year in the United States for the last three years, who turned 50 this week.

Read More: www.telegraph.co.uk

Pound-for-Pound King Manny Pacquiao Amped Up For Cowboy Stadium Showdown

by Associated Press

Manny Pacquiao ran roughshod through four different sparring partners earlier this week, and boxing's pound-for-pound king churned through just as many on Saturday.

He's been peppering the speed bag, pounding the heavy bag and doing enough running to make Usain Bolt fall over in a heap. Under the watchful eye of trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao is putting himself in position to knock out Joshua Clottey when they fight March 13 in Dallas.

"Manny is getting better all the time," Roach marveled after a training session Friday at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. "I know Clottey is a big, strong guy. I respect him, he's a great fighter. But Manny I feel is going to overwhelm him with his speed and combinations, and I do believe we will be the first one to stop him in 12 rounds."

If it sounds simple, that's because Pacquiao has little trouble when fights are decided in the ring. Things aren't so easy when the fight is contested with words.

That continues to be the case with Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., after their proposed blockbuster fell through because of drug testing protocol. Mayweather and his relatives have accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, either directly or by innuendo, while the Filipino champion has balked at taking a blood test within 14 days of a fight.

Pacquiao will instead fight Clottey at Cowboys Stadium, while Mayweather is headed for a showdown May 1 against welterweight champion Shane Mosley. Along with the verbal jabs, Pacquiao and Mayweather can also fight over who generates bigger pay-per-view numbers.

"We're not happy with his remarks and Manny really wants to fight him in the future because of the remarks he made," Roach said. "Manny, sometimes when he's shadowboxing, he shows me how Mayweather fights and how he'll take care of the problem, and I've never seen that before.

"He's trying to ruin our reputations and so forth," Roach added, "but we want to fight him and we'll knock him out."

Promoter Bob Arum still believes that Mayweather never wanted to fight Pacquiao, and his strict adherence to blood testing - which is far more extensive than urine analysis required by the Nevada Athletic Commission -- was his way of getting out of it.

"We don't have to be geniuses to know what they were trying to do. They were trying to get into Manny's head so he'd be discombobulated," Arum said. "Mayweather against Manny is a no-contest, no contest. Manny would wipe the ring with Floyd Mayweather."

If that's ever to happen, he'll first have to wipe the ring with Clottey.

The fight appears to be a mismatch on paper, especially considering the rugged fighter from Ghana lost to Miguel Cotto -- the same guy Pacquiao dominated last fall. But just like fights aren't decided with words, they aren't decided on paper, either.

"Joshua Clottey I know is taller and bigger than me, and you cannot underestimate him," Pacquiao said, "because he's a former world champion also."

Clottey has been training in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for the first seven-figure payday of his career. It would go a long way toward helping his family back home in the dusty city of Accra, where Clottey acknowledges that poverty is a way of life.

"I'm coming to do my best," he said by phone earlier this week. "He is a good fighter. He is the best now. This is the test and I am going for the WBO title. I'm going all out. I have my game plan and I always come to fight."

It's a difficult fight to market because it's not the fight demanded by the public, but that doesn't mean there isn't significant interest. Pacquiao is making an encore appearance on Jimmy Kimmel next week and will soon have a profile in Time Magazine, while Clottey was the subject of a lengthy expose in ESPN The Magazine.

And of course, Pacquiao is running for Congress in the Philippines.

More than 30,000 tickets have already been sold for the fight, and Arum expects the $1.2 billion football stadium just outside Dallas to be filled with about 45,000 fans on March 13.

It may not be Mayweather, but it's something to tide fans over.

"People were looking forward to a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, that's clear. But Manny has a huge, huge fan base," Arum said. "Every sports fan knows Manny Pacquiao. Our job is to present Joshua Clottey as he is, a bigger guy, a stronger guy probably, a guy who has never been off his feet -- a real test for Manny Pacquiao. That's what will sell this fight.

"I think the public gets it, and I think the pay-per-view is going to do extremely well."

source: nesn.com

The Final Score: Pacquiao is NBA All-Stars’ Choice by Miko Halili

DALLAS, Texas - The stars came out for the Lone Star State for the 59th NBA All Star Game last Sunday (Monday morning in Manila). Celtics legend Bill Russell, hip-hop mogul P. Diddy, comedian Chris Tucker, rapper Drake, Knicks die-hard Spike Lee and actress Gabrielle Union dotted the glitzy landscape. During the game, another star quietly entered Cowboys Stadium. He strolled with his entourage and looked for his VIP seat.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. made a nondescript entry into the scene. Cowboys Stadium was set aside for Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather said, “No thanks." Then, those who wanted to watch Floyd and Pacman in the ring, including many of the 2010 NBA All-Stars, retorted, “No way."

“Oh, I was very, very disappointed that the fight didn’t push through," West All-Star Chauncey Billups, a fan of Pacquiao, admitted. “I love Manny Pacquiao. He’s one of the greats. I love his heart. I love his passion out there and he fights to the end."

Many of the 2010 NBA All-Stars believe Pacquiao knocks out opponents the way LeBron James slams the ball. Successful athletes, after all, recognize skill and resolve the way Simon Cowell identifies talent. They also recognize a missed opportunity for Mayweather to test his greatness against Pacquiao.

“Pacquiao’s just tenacious," West All-Star Brandon Roy said. “I mean he goes in there and not only gives a great show but a great fight, that’s why you really want to see him in boxing. He’s just a great athlete, a great competitor and he fights at a high level every night."

“I’m very impressed with Manny Pacquiao," 1st time All-Star Deron Williams added. "He’s arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter and the way he has been beating people has been ridiculous."

Billups, Roy and Williams refused to predict a winner in a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout. They all agreed, though, that a showdown would feature two great fighters.

“I don’t know who’ll win that fight," 5-time All-Star Chris Bosh said. “That’s why it’s going to be a great fight. No one knows what’s going to happen."

Mayweather still has loyal fans. 1st time All-Star Derrick Rose is one of them. Still, if Mayweather slid into Sunday’s game with little fanfare, Pacquiao blasted the boxing scene like a Dwight Howard two-handed slam. Pacquiao, who’ll face Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium on March 13, didn’t quietly enter the consciousness of the NBA’s boxing fans, he rocked their world.

“I’m just a big fan of boxing so I would love to see both those guys get in the ring together but just because it didn’t push through now doesn’t mean it won’t push through," an optimistic Roy said. “I still have high hopes that it will push through eventually."

“I love Manny Pacquiao," West All-Star starter Amare Stoudamire asserted. “He’s a great boxer. He was totally ready to fight Mayweather. I was waiting to see that fight but it didn’t happen."

When asked who would win the bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao, Stoudamire had one, clear choice. "Pacquiao".

source:gma.tv