Season 2 on the Atlantic City boardwalk has started at a hectic pace following what some viewed as a slow beginning to the acclaimed show last year.

A furious start to the new season on the boardwalk following the life of Atlantic City treasurer Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) as he tackles new problems in is life as the man effectively in charge of running the city. As season 1 wrapped, some of Nucky’s closest allies were turning against him. The Commadore, played by Dabney Coleman had turned Nuckys brother Eli’s head against him, along with his nephew Jimmy played by the brilliant Michael Pitt.

The Commadore believes he can wrestle control of the city from Nucky with the help of his former allies  Sheriff Eli, and Jimmy, who he recently revealed was his son. Admitting he was too selfish at the time to raise him. The Commadore’s plan is to get Nucky jailed over election fraud, and regain control over the distribution of alcohol through his own vast array of contacts from his previous reign in charge and Jimmy’s chicago contacts, Al Capone and Johnny Torio.

It works well as Nucky is detained and thrown into a cell with Chalky White (Michael K Williams) the leader of the black community who is being protected from the KKK after shooting a clan leader. Nucky has time to reflect during this period and begins to realise he is being stabbed in the back by the people closest to him. After he is bailed out he gets in contact with Eli and Jimmy and gives them one last chance to stop what they are doing, to come back to him and all will be forgotten, neither do.

Eli seems to be savoring seeing his brother alone with all his allies deserting him, where as Jimmys is battling his conscience as he seems quite unsure if the decision he has made is the correct one. Nucky has always had time for Jimmy, acting as a stand-in father and mother to Jimmy while the Commadore was un-interested and Jimmys mother was absent.

For now though, the Commadore and his gang are firmly on top. He has swayed a vast majority of Nuckys political contacts and even brought a lot of the old guard back into power, (Sopranos fans, see if you can spot uncle Junior). Nucky is  finding out who his real friends are, unfortunately he quickly realises they are few and far between. He can’t distribute alcohol, he has no financial clout and has an election fraud indictment hanging over his head. Worse still, the man who is trying to ruin him is the Commadore, the man who imparted all his wisdom upon him as he grew into his role as treasurer of Atlantic City, and who knows Nucky better than Nucky knows himself.

An explosive start to the series suggests the producers know exactly the direction they are going in and are wasting no time in getting going. Episodes 1 and 2 are they best in the whole show so far in my opinion and things will only get better.

Will the Commedore prevail, or will Nucky claw his way back into power? Only time will tell.

As far as an hour and a half feature about a font goes, I must admit, I was expecting a lot worse. Helvetica released in 2007 and directed by Gary Hustwit. Hustwit manages to conjure up a film which is informative and mildly entertaining, purely because these graphic designers interviewed feel so passionately about their craft.

Realistically though it could have been at least 45 minutes shorter, as each interview went by I learned less and less. Different designers telling me the same thing again and again about helvetica in a roundabout way got very old, very quickly. Image after image of examples of helvetica used in everyday life got very tiresome, if you were being picky you could have condensed the whole helvetica package into a 15 minute short film and still you would know as much about the font as I do.

Still there were moments that brought a smile to my face, Erik Spiekermann who feels so passionately about certain type says he is a “typomaniac,” he believes he has a fetish for type the same way men would have a fetish for girls bottoms.

Michael Beirut was so excited about the font, so passionate, he compared looking at a brochure from the 50′s against one using helvetica, to being stranded in desert gasping for a drink of water and finally getting it. They eccentricities of these designers are far and wide, the affection they have towards certain letters and words is very bizarre and to be honest quite entertaining.

I enjoyed certain parts of it and it was informative if your interested in font, but after twenty minutes I had enough. Over and over again the same points were made, each time I was less and less interested. For a group of graphic designers it’s a wonderful feature, everybody else, not so much.

By Jack Herbert

The findings of a survey conducted by the Simon communities on the homeless in Ireland was released this week, a sharp increase of 26% on last years records was the most revealing figure.

According to Alice Leahy the director and co-founder of Trust, there is far too much bureaucracy, too much box-ticking, and not enough focus on the real needs of homeless people.

Christopher O’ Reilly who was on the housing list for years before eventually being granted an apartment in Phibsboro said the current situation is looking very bleak for those looking to get off the streets,  “luckily enough I rarely had to sleep rough,  people have a narrow mind when it comes to the homeless, they picture the old bearded man drinking whatever he can get his hands on. That is not the reality, the number of women and young people out there is frightening”.

The survey also revealed that 48% of all homeless people on the street are suffering with mental issues, and over 50% are suffering with physical ailments.  Of the 1200 housing units promised to the homeless only 24% of them have been delivered upon with no set date on when they will arrive. Sadly the Simon community can’t even cope with the demand for sleeping bags. Over 1000 rely on shelters each night and an average of 50 men and women are sleeping rough, many of whom couldn’t bear to stay alongside strangers, worried any belongings they owned would be rifled as they slept.

To get involved in Simon week visit Simon.ie for more details.

Events for Simon week run until this Sunday.

After nearly a year and a half of hype, hope and frustration I have finally grown tired of the shameful circus that has become Mayweather – Pacquiao.  Looking in from the outside I can honestly say I’m not quite sure where the blame lies. I know it’s not totally Pacquiao’s fault, although he does not do himself any favours when he refuses to take the Olympic style drug testing, and continually fights for world titles at “catch-weights”.

Demanding Miguel Cotto boil down to 145 pounds for their welterweight title fight even though Cotto was the champion, and now fighting the disgraced, former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito for the vacant 154 pound WBC junior – middleweight strap at yet another catch-weight of 150.

The common theme here for those of you who don’t know is Pacquiao, Cotto, Margarito and even Pacquiao’s previous opponent Joshua Clottey are all fighting under the banner of Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions. Now with Pacquiao being the current cash cow for Arum, he is the golden boy. He wants Cotto to boil down two pounds, even though he is the champion? Arum gets it done. He wants Margarito to fight at 4 pounds below the 154 limit? Arum gets it done.

For me, and I’m sure it’s the same for most boxing fans around the world,  it’s not hard to see whats going on here. Why risk putting your prized possession, your cash cow, your golden nugget in a bout with Floyd Mayweather where he is in danger of losing, when you can match him against all your own fighters first, and give him all the key concessions at the negotiating table.

I hate to say it because from a fans stand point it’s terrible. But Bob Arum is doing whats best for Bob Arum and Top Rank. Maybe there were tentative negotiations, maybe not, but the key point from the last negotiation, and this one is, the drug testing issue.  Obviously Pacquiao hadn’t fully agreed to the Olympic style testing without any cut-off date as we found out when Bob Arum not so artfully, dodged the question when put to him by a reporter in the press conference after the sickening “Mayweather’s Decision” clock wound down.

Now with Mayweather taking another “rest” from the sport, it’s not looking good for the fans who want to see the two best fighters in the world go at it. Margarito is an average choice of opponent at best, just two fights ago he was savagely knocked out by Shane Mosley who in turn was dismantled by Mayweather in his next fight for those of you who missed it!

At the moment the only shining light for boxing is the Super six tournament, when you look elsewhere there really isn’t that much happening. Ok, Juan Manuel Lopez and Gamboa are both making big waves and a fight between them right now would be great, but Arum is keeping them both apart for the time being.

David Haye! If anyone has seen him around I’d love to know! Wladimir Klitsckho publicly came out and called him a pussy numerous times and still, no reply from the “Hayemaker”. For him to pull out of  fight’s with both Klitsckho’s after all his shameless publicity stunts! I don’t know how much of a reputation the Bermondsey bomber has remaining.

The stacked light welterweight division is full of top young talent and there is a rumour flying around that we could have a tournament similar to the one at super-middleweight. There is such an abundance of talent in the division, the likes of Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Victor Ortiz, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marcos Maidana all biting at each others heels, and you could throw Michael Katsidis in there as well. Everyone of those fights is intriguing, that’s what we need in boxing. Not Pacquiao – Clottey, and not Pacquiao – Margarito.

I would love to see Mayweather fight Paul Williams, or Sergio Martinez for the middleweight crown. Now that would be interesting, and it’s pretty feasible to think he would start that fight as the favourite and probably win!

Wishful thinking on my part? Probably, but there is always hope!

Manny Pacquiao says he will fight one more time in his career, and hopes that it will be against Floyd Mayweather, after winning his latest battle to be elected to the Philippine Congress.

Pacquiao has not had his election results officially confirmed yet, but he is heading for a landslide victory in the southern Sarangani province of the Philippines.

As he waited for the official result, Pacquiao said that he would be making just one more appearance in the ring before calling it a day, and hoped it would be an epic showdown with Mayweather.

“Many fans really want me to fight Floyd Mayweather so I asked my Mama if we can give them one more fight, she said okay,” Pacquiao told ABS-CBN.

Bob Arum, has said Manny will definitely fight in November in Dallas or Las Vegas and against either Floyd Mayweather or Antonio Margarito.

“The cable television companies and satellite providers have put the date aside for us, so the table is set,” said the Top Rank boss.

Michael Konzc came out and confirmed Arum’s statement saying,

“There is no named opponent yet, but that is certainly when we will fight,”

Also letting everybody know Pacquiao wouldn’t be agreeing to any of Mayweather’s demands concerning drug testing,

“If Mayweather wants to fight Manny, then no problem, provided he doesn’t try to bully us into terms and conditions.”

Well at least we now have the ball rolling with the negotiations for this guaranteed fight of the decade. I personally did not like one bit the name Antonio Margarito being thrown around by Arum, if Pacquaio chooses to skip Mayweather and fight Margarito will it put a major dent in his legacy?

What is interesting to me is, soon after Floyd fought Mosley, Pacquiao came straight out on his website saying for the sake of boxing and for all the fans i will compromise on the blood testing with Mayweather. Bob Arum, then quickly quashed that statement as a lie, even though it was on Manny Pacquiao’s official website.

Now today after winning his election by a landslide, Manny again comes out saying “I WANT MAYWEATHER”, yet again Arum and Konzc with nothing but vague statement’s, yeah he will fight in November but we don’t know who against, could be Margarito could be Floyd, could be Vegas, could be Dallas.

To the hardcore boxing Manny’s reputation has taken a severe beating in the last five months or so, and it’s mainly everyone around him causing the problems.

Freddie Roach with statement after the statement that just doesn’t add up, Bob Arum making stupid fights and keeping all the money in-house, Manny obviously being mis-informed, he doesn’t read eastsideboxing or fanhouse he has no idea what the true fans are saying about him.

Manny says he wants the fight, so does Floyd. Lets cut all the crap from Arum and Konzc and just make it happen.

It all started on December 6th in the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas Nevada. On this particular night, Manny Pacquiao was moving up in weight. Moving from the 135 pound lightweight limit, to the 147 pound welterweight mark to fight American ring legend Oscar De La Hoya, who was making his first appearance at welterweight for five years.

Manny completely obliterated Oscar, beating him so badly he retired on his stool at the end of the 8th round, silencing any doubter’s who said he was in way over his head and cementing his status as the pound for pound #1 fighter in the world in the absence of the “Retired” Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Next lamb to the slaughter was Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, a guy who was also previously defeated by Mayweather. “Pacman” overwhelmed him with his speed, power and intensity. With the 2nd round coming to a close Pacquiao scored one of the most violent knockouts you will ever see. Laying out Hatton with a monstrous left hand which reverberated around the world. Instantly people were calling for a Mayweather – Pacquiao showdown.

The night before the Hatton fight, a certain Floyd Mayweather announced his return to the sport of boxing. It was confirmed he would take on the Mexican warrior Juan Manuel Marquez. “El Dinamita” was the #3 pound for pound fighter in the world, and had previously fought Pacquiao twice. One ending in a draw the other, a disputed split decision loss.

Mayweather humiliated the proud Mexican, knocking him down in the second, and going on to win every round after. It was a boxing clinic. He didn’t get the credit he deserved for beating one of the top fighters in the world with ease, critics saying that Marquez was far too small to be in the ring with Mayweather, even though he is the same size as Manny Pacquiao.The difference being Pacquiao seems to be holding onto that lethal punching power as he moves up in weight.

The fight that brought Pacquiao out of Floyd’s shadow was the Miguel Cotto fight. This was the acid test, a big strong brawler who was proven at the weight. Cotto was the WBO welterweight champion, and there were plenty of people saying Mayweather was ducking him.
In the first two rounds Cotto was excellent, backing the Filipino up against the ropes and landing big bombs. Freddie Roach was worried shouting, “Son! Son! Son! Dont play with him! Stop it!

He knocked him down in the third and fourth and brutalised him for the rest of the fight before the referee said enough was enough, and called it off in the twelfth. It was a shockingly brilliant performance from the Pacman. The fact he took huge shots off a big hitting welterweight and came back twice as hard was unbelievable.

An explanation as to why he sat on the ropes and took punishment from Cotto came from the Pacman after the fight,

“I wanted to feel his power,” said Manny “I just needed to know. For myself.”

Post fight, Bob Arum, Manny’s promoter stated he was expecting a call from Richard Schaefer, head of Golden Boy promotions to begin negotiation’s for the fight of the decade.

With Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s reputation as a notoriously difficult negotiator coupled with Pacquiao’s emergence as the #1 fighter in the world, the only stumbling block in the negotiations it seemed would be how the money was going to be split, Floyd continuing to ignore Pacquiao’s recent achievements, many expected him to demand a 60-40 split of the money in the most lucrative fight in the history of boxing, numbers flying around in the region of 50-60 million dollars each.

When the news came out that both parties had agreed on a 50-50 split, fight fans all around the world were licking their lips, the major obstacle in the negotiations was dealt with. Manny did have a couple more demand’s though. He wanted to use 8oz gloves, Floyd normally uses heavier one’s with more padding for his hands. He also demanded that Floyd pay him $10 million for every pound over the 147 pound welterweight limit he weighed in at after he came in two pounds over the weight against Marquez. Mayweather agreed to everything.

Mayweather’s only demand was that both himself and Manny Pacquiao submit themselves to Olympic style drug testing. From the start of training camp, up until 24 hours before the fight. His father Floyd Mayweather Sr. advising him to do so.

After witnessing Pacquiao’s dismantling of Miguel Cotto from ringside Floyd Sr had this to say,

“I can’t understand a man of his size knocking these guys out, I know Oscar De La Hoya was dehydrated, but he hurt him pretty bad. He hit Ricky Hatton with one shot and knocked him out. Now he’s dropped big Cotto, who is much stronger physically than him. When Cotto hit him with his big shot’s square on the jaw he wasn’t even dazed, not even dizzy. His head crystal clear, Now why do you think that is?”

Just as we thought the fight was in the bag and all the minor detail’s ironed out, the news filtered through that Manny Pacquiao would not agree to randomized drug testing. Instead offering to take unlimited urine testing, one blood test before the press conference, one 30 days before the fight and one in the changing room right after the bout. Obviously Floyd rejected that idea.

What is the point of a drug test if you know when it is coming? There is so many masking agent’s out there which can hide the use of PED’s.

Travis Tygart the CEO of the US anti doping agency said,

“There is a number of potent performance-enhancing drugs you can only find in blood including Human Growth Hormone and EPO.”He insist’s giving black-out dates where there is no testing is pointless,” There is plenty of things you can do to cheat and get away with it, that’s why it is not allowed.”

Sugar Shane Mosley, Mayweather’s most recent foe, was caught using the designer steroids, the cream and the clear. Shane protest’s his innocence claiming he unknowingly took it before his 2003 bout with Oscar De La Hoya.
The point here is Shane Mosley wasn’t caught before the fight in 2003. He was caught in 2007 after the whole BALCO drugs scandal. He never tested positive in any test, even though he has admitted to having the steroids in his system. He fought in Las Vegas on numerous occasions and took urine test’s, each of which he passed.

With the fight negotiations stalled, people were starting to question Manny’s refusal to take the Randomized drug testing. If your clean, take the test, whats the problem?

Alex Ariza, Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach came out with this statement that stoked the flames even more,

“Manny doesn’t know what is in his body, I give him everything.”

After that badly timed comment from Ariza, Freddie Roach Pacquiao’s legendary trainer came out with this statement on December 11th,

“They can do whatever testing they want, I have no problems with testing whatsoever. There scared of Manny and his power, he’ll pass any test in the world.”

Which cleared everything up somewhat. Then on December 17th Roach came out with this,

“The issue I have is this, I will not let anybody take blood out of Manny Pacquiao six weeks before a fight, because it will affect him mentally.”

Six days earlier Pacquiao was taking any test in the world.

Finally on December 22nd Freddie said,

“Dont blame Pacquiao, blame me, he will not be taking any blood tests during the training camp, period.

When a Fighter’s trainer is constantly changing what he is saying, especially with steroid use being such a sensitive issue, something is arye.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, then said “We will not do any testing, let the Nevada State athletic commission decide. Floyd doesn’t make the rules.”

Well we saw how effective the commission were in detecting Shane Mosley’s use of performing enhancing drugs, the testing process hasn’t got more stringent since then, so who’s to say Manny Pacquiao isn’t on something? The fact is you don’t know unless he takes the test. For $60 million would you take a few blood tests?

Well apparently Manny Pacquiao doesn’t like having his blood taken before a fight as he feels it weakens him.

Before the last fight he lost against Erik Morales in 2005, he gave blood two days before the weigh-in, and as he was a big 130 pounder he couldn’t replenish his body with fluid’s and a solid meal otherwise he would have been over the super-featherweight limit of 130 lbs. But this fight was taking place at the welterweight limit of 147 lbs, a weight he is so comfortable at he can eat when he feels like it according to Roach,

“Manny eat’s twice the night before the weigh in, and also on the morning of the weigh in. He is happy and that’s when he performs best.”

Yet still no budging on the random drug testing, so they brought in a retired judge to mediate between the two camps.

Mayweather compromised, shifting from his initial demand of random testing up to 24 hours before the fight to 48 hours, then to a week and finally a two-week period before the fight in which Manny would be guaranteed no testing.
Still no fight, instead Pacquiao filed a lawsuit against Richard Schaefer, CEO of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy promotions, Oscar himself, Mayweather’s trainer Roger Mayweather and Floyd’s father Floyd Sr.

Instead of getting paid to fight Mayweather in the ring, he chose to pay to fight him in court.

Judd Burstein who represented Pacquiao in his case to be released from the contract he was under with former promoter Murad Muhammad five years ago said,

“The case Pacquiao filed against Golden Boy Promotions and the Mayweather’s is shockingly stupid, Pacquiao has been very poorly advised and is going to wind up getting the raw end of the deal.”

It seem’s to me that Manny Pacquiao has been poorly advised throughout the whole negotiation process for this fight, now the doubt is still there in people’s minds. He chose not to submit himself to randomized drug testing, instead taking the easy route, fighting Ghanain stablemate Joshua Clottey. Ultimately, he chose to not be dictated to by Floyd Mayweather, which was stubborn, but not smart. He wasn’t subjected to anything Floyd wasn’t, they were both doing the exact same test’s.

A month has passed since Mayweather’s drubbing of fellow American Shane Mosley and still, no fight scheduled as of yet. Although there have been signs that we could be a lot closer to the deal than many people think. Pacquiao just recently was elected to congress in the Phillipines, and with that distraction grabbing most of his attention in recent months out of the way maybe he will have time to trash out a deal. At the end of the day though, its going to come down to Pacquiao’s willingness to bow to Mayweather’s demand of Randomized Olympic style drug testing. Funnily enough, in a sport with so much emphasis on the money, boxing most lucrative fight ever is breaking down over ego’s, not who walks away with the bigger paycheck.

Whatever about Mayweather being cocky, brash and sometimes over the top with his remarks, random drug testing is a good thing. Why at the elite level in this demanding sport is there no real drug testing? A boxer if he is clever enough can use masking agent’s to hide whatever he is taking before a urine test. Train like an animal for 8 weeks, lace them up on fight night and blow away whatever opponent standing in front of them. Collect their cheque and their championship belt and get ready for the next payday.

It is a situation that need’s to be properly addressed, not just in super-fights, but at the lower level’s also. People can get seriously hurt in a boxing ring without performance enhancing drugs, when you have guys walking in there “Juiced” it’s dangerous. This isn’t tennis or cycling, this is boxing, one guy punching another guy until the other guy can’t punch any longer.

The sport has already been dealt numerous black eyes with Mike Tyson biting ear’s and doing jail time for rape. Mosley’s steroid use, Edwin Valero murdering his wife, then committing suicide. It doesn’t need it’s #1 Fighter giving it another one in his refusal to clear his name.

Yet more tragedy for boxing…

Last night in Valencia, Venezuelan fighter Edwin Valero murdered his wife Jennifer in the hotel room they were staying in. After stabbing her three times he walked downstairs into the lobby and admitted the crime to security guards. Then comes more shocking news, whilst being held in his jail cell Valero hung himself, tying his clothes round the bars of the cell.

The news is already starting to reverberate around the world, with many in shock. Valero has had a history of violence, threatening doctors who tried to quiz his wife after she was admitted to hospital with four broken ribs and a punctured lung from an apparent “fall”. He had a restraining order against him, barring him from going anywhere near his wife, which he frequently ignored.

In 2001, Edwin was in a serious motorcycle accident in which he was’nt wearing a helmet. He needed brain surgery and a blood clot removed. After that he was denied a licence to box in the U.S.A as there were irregularities with his brain scan. Such injuries have been known to cause dramatic personality changes along with mental instability if medication is not properly taken. In 2008 he was granted a Licence to box in Texas, winning the WBC Lightweight Championship With a second round stoppage of Antonia Pitulua. Valero had notched up 27 ko’s in his 27 professional bouts, he was destined for bigger and better things, signed up with golden boy promotions the biggest promotional company in the world he had the perfect backers to keep on track for what was looking like a showdown with Manny Pacquaio in the near future.

Boxing pundits wondered who was going to stop this machine of a fighter dubbed “el terminator” who smashed through opponent’s one after the other in dominating fashion, but in the end it wasn’t a big right hand that stopped Edwin in his tracks, It was himself, his mental state proving a far more formidable opponent than any he faced in the ring. This was all his own doing, and the things he did are unforgivable, but the man must have been in a seriously bad place to do these things. To murder your wife in cold blood, then walk down to reception to admit it is messed up, the guy’s personality must have being all over the place, bordering on schizophrenia.

Another passing of a boxing great to follow Arturo Gatti, who hanged himself in his hotel room in Brazil. Alexis Arguello who was found dead in his home, and Vernon Forrest the first man to defeat Shane Mosley, was shot and killed in Atlanta in a robbery.

I wonder why it is that many boxers lives seem to unravel outside the ring. Is it there up bringing?, many boxers come from under privileged areas and as soon as they make their money they spend it, they all seem to have huge groups of leeches who are constantly feeding off them (Manny Pacquaio is a prime example having a posse of 25 or more who rub his feet, cook his food and basically leech off the champ). Then when they hit 35 and their reflexes start to go, and the money stops flooding in they have nowhere to go. The group of leeches are gone, the government are hunting them down for taxes, the walls cave in on top of them.

The great Mike Tyson who made staggering amounts of money, blew his whole fortune, and is resigned to doing appearance’s on the Italian version of strictly come dancing, and stupid roles in movies (The Hangover) to keep his bank acount ticking over. It’s a sad state of affair’s for one of greatest heavyweight’s to ever put on the gloves to be in.

But it is the reality for many fighters out there, when they can’t make money with their fists any longer the only road most can see is alcohol and drugs, which often leads to violence, and in the case of Edwin Valero and Arturo Gatti brings on tragic circumstances for themselves and those around them.

R.I.P  Edwin Valero

27-0 27ko’s

After a slow start to the year for Boxing, the breakdown of Mayweather – Pacquiao coupled with numerous other fight’s being on, then off, now on again and aside from the one-sided snooze-fest that was Pacquiao – Clottey. Boxing in 2010 is only getting going now.

Last Saturday in the ground-breaking Super – Six tournament, the first of its kind in which the top Six Super-Middleweight boxers in the world all square off against each other. Last Saturday in the Joe Louis arena in Detroit, tournament leader Arthur Abraham and heavy favourite to win the competition out-right was completely out-boxed and outwitted by young American Andre Dirrell.

Abraham so frustrated at his inability to land one of his big shots on Dirrell was disqualified in the 11th round, illegally knocking the young Olympic Bronze medalist out after he had slipped to the ground on water in Abraham’s corner. Dirrell so far ahead on points at that stage it is a shame the Armenian had to resort to such dirty tactics.

The DQ put quite a dampener on what was otherwise a fantastic clinic of slick boxing, footwork and determination from Andre Dirrell who was out cold for several minutes after the illegal blow.

On the bright side it’s 2 points for Dirrell which gives him a great chance of progressing to the semi-final’s. Let’s hope he recovers fully and fulfills the massive potential he has.

Looking ahead to this week we have two huge fight’s on either side of the Atlantic. First up knockout artist David Haye continues on his quest to unify the Heavyweight division in a tough encounter with John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz. The Puerto Rican Heavyweight has fought everybody, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr and recently lost to the 7″2 inch giant Valuev in a highly controversial decision in which even Valuev’s hometown fan’s booed!

Many Pundits are backing the Hayemaker to blow away Ruiz in the first few rounds which in my opinion is way wide of the mark. The thing is, John Ruiz is a seasoned veteran, hasn’t been knocked out in 15 years, been in ten world title fights in the last eleven years and nine of those fights have gone the full twelve rounds.

What is amazing is the only fighter’s that haven’t fought him are both the Klitschko Brother’s. They have gone out of their way to avoid the seasoned Puerto Rican. Instead fighting unknown Americans, one after another. The only reason Haye is fighting Ruiz is because it was part of the deal which allowed him to fight Valuev, With the Quiet Man being the number #1 contender for Valuev’s WBA title, he accepted step aside money allowing Haye to fight the gargantuan Russian, with Ruiz being the winners first mandatory challenger.

David doesn’t exactly want this fight, although he know’s it’s one he has had to take if he want’s to move onto Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. Granted David might clip him early then dive all over him, if he does it’ll be a magnificent win, but my gut feeling is the rugged Puerto Rican slugger who possesses a very good chin will give David more trouble than people think.

Later that night in the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr get back in the ring for their rematch the world has been waiting on for almost 18 years! Granted both of them have seen better days (Hopkins 45, Jones 40) with the latter’s ability noticeably on the slide.Hopkins or “Popkins” as some call him these days, has turned back the clock recently beating Middleweight champion ”The great white American hope” Kelly Pavlik.

Hopkins was an 1/10 underdog going into that fight against the unbeaten Pavlik. He taught the Youngstown, Ohio native a lesson winning nearly every round, shocking the American media and the boxing world. Roy Jones Jr on the other hand, has fallen from grace. Getting knocked out in the first round 4 months ago against un-heard of Australian Cruiserweight Danny Green.

He is a far cry from the dazzling Roy Jones who cleaned up the middleweight, super middleweight, light-heavyweight and even moved up to heavyweight winning title belts. The first man for 100 years to accomplish the feat. Even so, the fight is going to be a huge event, with Hopkins looking to avenge his loss to Jones 17 years ago.

Hopkins looks at it like this.

” If Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson had a game of one-on-one would you pay to see it?”

Hopkins (no.4 Pound4Pound in the world) is already looking past Roy Jones, when asked who he plans to fight after Jones, he remarkably stated he wishes to move to heavyweight to fight the winner of David Haye/John Ruiz! At the minute Hopkins is fighting at 175 pounds, whether or not he can win a title at heavyweight, some 50 pounds heavier would be an amazing achievement. I can tell you one thing though, there would be millions of people who would be very interested in watching that one.

First things first, Can Roy Jones dig deep into his soul and find one last great performance?, or will Bernard churn out another win and avenge his loss? Whatever the outcome, we have waited 17 years to see this rematch between two hall-of-famers. We should all sit back and enjoy it.

MY PREDICTIONS:

: David Haye – John Ruiz : Haye Wins by KO Round 11 or 12

: Roy Jones Jr – Bernard Hopkins : Hopkins Wins KO round 1-6

Can your hear that? …..

Thats the sound of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United Express train kicking into 5th gear, the sound has become more and more familiar again in recent years as Ferguson’s reassembled squad matured following the departure of Roy Keane, Ruud Van Nistlerooy and David Beckham making room for young prospects such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher to flourish.

Following the sale of superstar Ronaldo to Real Madrid after an amazing five years, for an astounding 80 Million pounds and allowing Carlos “I can’t speak a word of english even though I’ve been living in England Nearly four years” Tevez join rivals City, Many pundits very much doubted if we would be hearing that sound again this year.

One thing to remember is Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Eric Cantona et al… didn’t make Manchester United the team they are today. Sir Alex Ferguson did, moulding raw potential into world beaters. So while your Dunphy’s and Hansen’s of this world were quick to write him off at the start of the season after the loss of his two major goalscorer’s, in favour of  Chelsea’s team of seasoned international’s, they can now also as Johnny Cash once said, ” hear that train a comin” and have quickly changed their tune.

With Chelsea’s slump in form coinciding with the loss of box-to-box midfielder Michael Essien, “Terry-Gate” and the apparent loss of team spirit, Carlo Ancelotti’s team haven’t shown the determination or willingness to bust – a – gut in order to win a game in the last-minute.

It is that same gritty, gutsy determination that Alex Ferguson was rared on, he instills into his players. Every one of them know they either give 100% or they are shown the door. Darren Fletcher’s never lie down attitude shown in every game he plays in set’s down a marker as to what is expected at the club.This is what wins you League title’s and Champions League’s.

April is upon us and if Chelsea don’t get the job done at Fratton Park tonight that could spell the end for them this term. Arsenal are making noises but they have yet to show if they have the mettle to go the distance, especially with two tough encounters with Lionel Messi’s Barcelona wedged in between their remaining Premier League fixtures.

The Red Devils with one trophy already in the cabinet are looking very strong, a favourable route to the final in the Champions League, coupled with home advantage against Chelsea in the Premiership suggests Alex Ferguson’s men will be hard to look past on all fronts this year.

The major advantage Manchester United have is their commander-in-chief, the purple nosed Scot, born and bred in the coal mines in Govan, Glasgow has been through it all before countless times. An avid horseracing fan it’s almost as if he position’s his Manchester United thoroughbred just behind the leader before galloping clear in the final furlongs. With the defensive unit of Van Der Sar, Ferdinand and Vidic back together along with the likes of Fletcher, Park, Valencia and Berbatov helping out Mr. Rooney at the other end things are looking good if you are a Manchester United fan.

As the build up continues for the Mayweather/Mosley and Pacquiao/Clottey fights one can’t help but wonder what might have been. The biggest showdown in twenty years between the #1 and #2 pound for pound fighter’s in the world isn’t going to happen on March 13, the reason?.. Manny Pacquiao won’t agree to random blood and urine testing leading up to the fight claiming he is afraid of needles.

Manny feels if blood is drawn close to the fight it weakens him considerably. For those of you who have never seen Manny fight, he has seven or eight tattoo’s on his body, also the fact he is the best in the world in a sport where participants get cut, and lose blood on a regular basis, it really leaves you wondering why he wouldn’t take a few of simple blood test’s not only to clear his name, but to fight Floyd Mayweather, the one man the whole world wants to see him fight. A fight that would be the biggest of all time, one that would net him his biggest paycheck of his career.

Report’s in the region of 40 -50 million dollars for one fight. Anyway for the moment we move on, there is so many contradicting stories coming from the Pacquiao camp that I don’t have time to talk about it all today.

Manny Pacquiao is fighting on March 13 albeit not against Floyd Mayweather. Manny is Fighting Joshua Clottey a big, strong Ghanaian with plenty of pedigree. He regularly come’s to the ring on fight night weighing in excess of 170 pounds, so he will hold a big weight advantage over the pacman.

For his size he isn’t very aggressive, using a very defensive peek-a-boo style guard. If anything he has the potential to force mistakes from Manny, whether he has the ability to take advantage of those mistakes I very much doubt.

As for now with Floyd, what we do have is  Mayweather and Shane Mosley squaring off in a bout that probably should have happened ten years ago. Today in Washington D.C on the second leg of the press tour Floyd Mayweather put on a show in front of the cameras.

Floyd accompanied by his Uncle , former two-time World champion Roger “Black Mamba” Mayweather on the pads showcased a hypnotizing display of hand speed. As brash and as cocky as ever Mayweather is completely at home in the limelight, almost obsessive over his undefeated professional record. Proclaiming “forty have tried forty have failed” and “there ain’t no blueprint to beat Floyd Mayweather”.

In Shane Mosley you have a 38-year-old hall of famer, somebody who has won world titles at lightweight, welterweight even going up as high as middleweight to win championships. “Sugar” is coming off a huge win against Antonio Margorito, the most feared welterweight in the world. The man who brutalized Miguel Cotto so badly he quit in the middle of the 11th round.

Shane turned the clock back that night, can he do it again on May 1st? Can he land that big shot against arguably the greatest defensive fighter ever? Personally I don’t think so.

Brother Nazim Richardson is Mosley’s trainer, and he admits it’ll be tough trying to get to Floyd.

” I’ve told Shane he’s gonna have trouble hitting this guy in the ass with a handful of rice nevermind a straight right hand!”

Hopefully come the night of May 1st after both fighters have come through they’re tough fights unscathed, call’s for them to put they’re ego’s aside and make the fight every boxing supporter want’s to see will be deafening.

I certainly hope so.

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