Mayweather-Pacquiao settle defamation lawsuit out of court

Mayweather-Pacquiao settle defamation lawsuit out of court By Rob Smith: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have reach an undisclosed out of court settlement to resolve Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit against Mayweather. The terms are confidential, according to AP. Each party will pay for their own attorney fees for the case.

The lawsuit came about from alleged comments made by Mayweather and his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. that Pacquiao had used banned substances to accomplish his feats. Last week, Mayweather was ordered to pay $114,000 after failing to show up for the Pacquiao case.

With this case behind them this could be the last impediment to putting together a Mayweather-Pacquiao blockbuster pay per view bout in early 2013. Mayweather wants the fight, Pacquiao wants the fight, and the boxing public badly wants to see them fight. Although it might be a little late in the game for the fight to be put together, it’s better late than never.

Pacquiao can’t afford to wait because he’s clearly lost a step and isn’t the same fighter he was three years ago. He lost his last fight to Tim Bradley, and he perhaps should have lost his fight before that against Juan Manuel Marquez.

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The Hatton debate rages on

By Frank Walsh: Every man is born with a burning desire to go beyond our limits. Circumstance dictates how far we are willing to travel to find it. A man that never faces adversity will never know his true potential.

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Ricky Hatton to make an announcement about his next opponent on Friday, Katsidis not likely to be the one

Ricky Hatton to make an announcement about his next opponent on Friday, Katsidis not likely to be the one By Rob Smith: Ricky Hatton reportedly will be revealing who his next opponent during a press conference this Friday to discuss his upcoming comeback fight on November 24th in Manchester, England. It was thought that Australian Michael Katsidis would be Hatton’s next opponent, but those rumors were quashed earlier today when Katsidis’s agent Matthew Tripp told Sky Sports News “At this stage there has been no discussions. But it is something that we would consider depending on the purse and depending on the weight.”

So there it is. If Katsidis was going to be the next guy to fight Hatton, he would have been contacted by now, but that’s obviously not the case. It’s probably helped Hatton by boxing fans thinking he’s fighting Katsidis because it gave the impression that Hatton would be fighting someone decent. It might be a huge letdown on Friday if Hatton reveals that he’s fighting someone lesser than Katsidis. For Hatton and the sake of boxing fans, hopefully Hatton is going to be fighting someone at least on par with Katsidis.

All this attention for Hatton’s comeback fight only to see him fight some guy that has no chance of winning. You can make a strong argument that Katsidis would have had no chance of winning either given that he’s a small lightweight and would likely be asked to move up two divisions to fight a heavy-bodied Hatton at welterweight.

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Haye: I’m not fighting Vitali in Ukraine; it’s too dangerous for me

Haye: I'm not fighting Vitali in Ukraine; it's too dangerous for me By Michael Collins: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye desperately wants to get a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko before the 41-year-old longtime World Boxing Council champion retires from the sport. However, there are limits to what Haye is willing to put up with in order to get the fight. Haye doesn’t want to fight Vitali in his native Ukraine because he feels it could be dangerous for him to travel there due his fears of being attacked by racist people.

Haye said to the Guardian.co.uk “I’ve never been to Ukraine but I have heard it’s very dangerous for a black man. There are crazy racists who have already sent me death threats. So Germany would be the best and safest place for me to beat Vitali and get out of the stadium alive.”

Haye isn’t exactly in the position to be calling the shots given that he’s just a mere challenger now and no longer a title holder. If Vitali decides he wants the fight to take place in Ukraine, then Haye will have to decide whether he really wants to fight Vitali or not, because the offer will likely be final.

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Sergio Martinez: A 7 Year Old, a World Champion and the Observer

Sergio Martinez: A 7 Year Old, a World Champion and the Observer By Padraig Ivory: When the hand was dealt for the young Sergio Martinez it was immediately evident that no picture cards had come to the table. From the outset a tough and challenging life lay ahead for the Argentinean native. Now 37 years removed from those humble beginnings that same boy has not only established himself as a picture card of the boxing deck, but rather emphatically as the undisputed poster boy of the middleweight division.

Imagine a scene 30 years ago in the city of Quilmes, Buenos Aires in which a successful, cigar wielding businessman, smartly clad in an expensive fitted suit is chauffeured through the working class city streets. Passing through a back laneway, safe in the comfort of his leather upholstered world, the small figure of a 7 year old Sergio Martinez momentarily reflects across the irises of his daydreaming gaze. Through the tinted glass the struggling city outside appears back and white, the colorless surroundings concealing the raw talent while simultaneously harvesting a determination deep within the undiscovered superstar.

Today the acclaimed ‘Maravilla’ is the gospel of them very streets that threatened to ignore him. The balance of the hard work expended and the fame that followed has combined to distance Sergio from the province of Buenos Aires.

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Q&A Session with Raul ‘El Tigre’ Casarez

Q&A Session with Raul 'El Tigre' Casarez (Photo credit Adrian Hernandez) By Robert Jackson: In the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, middleweight/Jr middleweight pro Raul ‘El Tigre’ Casarez is a local legend. His amateur exploits that began at age 12 are well known to locals from Rio Grande City to Brownsville and throughout South Texas. El Tigre who sports a 19-2, 9 KO’s professional record has been tabbed to face Alfredo ‘El Perro’ Angulo for his comeback fight scheduled for November 10, 2012 in California. In Marines gym on the eastside of Edinburg, Texas this writer got a chance to observe Casarez’ training for his BIG fight and was granted a rare interview afterwards.

RJ: Hello El Tigre, How’s it going? You’re coming off of your biggest win over JC Candelo, what did winning that fight do for your career?

ET: Having fun, that fight was just another day at the office, something I love to do, having fun doing it.

RJ: Tell me about the name “El Tigre”, where it came from.

ET: I was 12 years old at the time I fought at Brownsville Texas regional golden gloves, at that time Octavio Saenz who worked for Univison was there and there was a world champion Nestor “El Tigre” Garza who fought out of Reynosa, Mexico and they (Saenz) said I fought like him and reminded them of him and they started calling me tigre and tigre grew up now I’m El Tigre.

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Tim Bradley – Robert Guerrero possible for December 15th

Tim Bradley - Robert Guerrero possible for December 15th By Rob Smith: A fight between interim WBC welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) is being negotiated between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank for December 15th in a venue still to be determined. If this fight can be put together it’ll be one of the rare recent occasions where the two rival promotional companies can work together.

Guerrero, who is very eager to get a big money fight, said on his twitter page on Monday “I want Tim Bradley, period! Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya make it happen! Fans want it, HBO Boxing wants it! No reason for it not to happen.”

It’s sad this may be the closest thing that Guerrero has gotten during his career to a big fight, and you can’t really call this a big fight, at least not compared to the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

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Amir Khan could face Diego Chaves next

Amir Khan could face Diego Chaves next By Marcus Richardson: Amir Khan could fight undefeated WBA interim welterweight champion Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) next on December 15th. In an interview at Ole.com, Chaves said that he’d been contacted by Khan’s people about a fight with him. Chaves doesn’t know how much he’d be getting and when the fight would take place if he agreed to take the fight. He’s just thinking it over to decide whether he wants to take the fight.

Chaves would undoubtedly be asked to move down to 140 to take the fight with Khan, because Khan has made it clear that he doesn’t plan on moving up in weight right now and who can blame him. Khan has lost his last two fights and his career is on the brink of being finished. Chaves is a risky fight for Khan, because this guy can punch and is in the same class as former Khan conquerors Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia in terms of power.

The fact that Chaves is being asked to take the fight seems to suggest that Khan’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions need to find a guy with a good record and some ability before HBO will agree to take him for Khan’s next fight in December.

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Robert Garcia: “Nonito Donaire is a real Champion who doesn’t duck anyone”

Robert Garcia: “Nonito Donaire is a real Champion who doesn’t duck anyone” By Joseph Herron: With the big Super Bantamweight showdown between IBF and WBO Champion Nonito Donaire (29-1, 18 KOs) and WBC Champion Emeritus Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs) less than three weeks away, suspense is building among fight fans around the world for this terrific match-up.

The highly anticipated 12 round fight will not only determine the number one fighter in the packed 122 pound weight division, but will also crown a new WBC Diamond Champion.

Elite level trainer Robert Garcia expects to see the best version of “The Filipino Flash” at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13th.

“Nonito is a professional and always performs at the highest level when faced with a tough fighter like Nishioka,” insists the Ring magazine’s “2011 Trainer of the Year” award recipient. “This is a challenging fight, but that’s what Nonito wants. He wants to fight the best fighters in boxing and I think that’s what everyone expects from him.”

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Buddy McGirt: “The fight with Sergio Martinez took Matthew Macklin to another level”

Buddy McGirt: “The fight with Sergio Martinez took Matthew Macklin to another level” By Joseph Herron: After his one round blow out of former Junior Middleweight title holder Joachim Alcine on September 15th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Matthew Macklin is considered once again to be among the best of the Middleweight division.

Despite losing his second world title opportunity to universally recognized Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez earlier this year, the Irish puncher wasn’t discouraged as a result of the knock-out loss.

Renowned trainer Buddy McGirt is convinced that Matthew was actually encouraged by his gritty performance against the best fighter at 160 pounds.

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