When Greg Haugen fought Julio Cesar Chavez in 1993 he said Chavez fought mainly on taxi drivers but after he was TKOed in the fifth round Haugen said “They must have been tough taxi drivers”…
Julio Cesar Chavez had an unbelievable record of 108 wins with only 6 losses and 2 draws. Chavez made a legacy in boxing he is considered one of the greatest fighter in boxing history. His son Jr. was his supposed predecessor but with his recent outing against Matt Vanda it was a clear indication that he is far from his famed father.
Jr. was pampered so much pitting him against unknown fighters from the start of his career. People and promoters wanted him so much to be like his Dad that they were over protective of him. He was like a rich kid that never was exposed to the realms of the real world. Matt Vanda a decent average fighter made an interesting fight against the young Chavez that giving him a split decision win brought a lot of doubts among fans if he was destined to be the fighter he was envisioned to be.
At age 22 with an immaculate record of 37-0-1 Jr. has still a bright future ahead of him. But he has to take a different route if he wants to get away from his father’s shadow.
He could fight Sergio Mora, Vernon Forrest, WBA Daniel Santos, IBF Verno Phillips or avenge his Dad’s tormentor the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya. There are countless fighters with impressive resume willing to bang it out with Jr. Records don’t make a legacy it’s the quality of fights and opposition you bring on the table.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will once again fight Matt Vanda to settle the controversial decision win against him. People are not interested to watch him fight and get battered again with the same boxer who out fought him before. If Jr. wins again there isn’t much to talk about anyways. It’s just a day in the office for him.
I think he is ready to fight the big names of boxing in his division. It’s high time to test him with real fights with real fighters. Boxing is a tough sport and it’s a dog eats dog world if you want to be no.1 you have to fight the best.
Maybe Jr. will soon get tired of fighting taxi drivers and when he encounters a tough one it might be an end to his pampered career.

I remember the old fable about a bird trying to fill a jar of water with stones many thought it was impossible but the bird already knew what he was doing all along. The stones filled up the jar and the bird enjoyed drinking the water overflowing from the mouth of the jar.
Cristian Mijares has come along long way from what he is now. People never knew who Mijares was until winning a lopsided unanimous decision to Jorge Arce the Mexican fighter people love. Cristian gave Arce a neat boxing lesson a gesture not common for a Mexican fighter. After the fight Arce was a bloody mess and Mijares now becomes the new kid on the block.
Piling up wins after wins capturing the WBA belt from Alexander Munoz with his counter punching and sleek defense Mijares is now the unified champion in the super flyweight division. Cristian had to travel to places. He went to Japan to capture the WBC interim belt and had been an active fighter ever since. 36 wins with only 3 losses at age 27 is quite a feat.
With days left before his clash against Armenian Vic Darchinyan, Mijares is up and ready for the trash talking raging bull. Vic is a be-medaled amateur and turns his boxing days in favor for an early knockout. Mijares will have his hands full against Vic’s onslaught but Cristian knows what he is up to and he knows slugging out with the dangerous Darchinyan is not the way to do it.
Nonito Donaire was successful in dethroning Darchinyan because he made the perfect diagram for Darchinyan’s unorthodox style. Though Vic has started to get back to being a boxer in his last fight with Kirilov but Kirilov fought Darchinyan with an intimidated mindset.
Like the fable Cristian Mijares already knew what he was doing all along and Darchinyan should be ready about it because those stones will be flying right into his direction.

NBA season is just around the corner and the Boston Celtics coming from a Cinderella season will try to defend their title. Will we see a repeat? Who will be the league’s MVP? Will Kobe be content to be a passer with Andrew Bynum back in their lineup? Who will be the rookie of the year? Last year’s first round draft pick in Greg Oden or the new talented rookies of 2008? Let’s look up some possibilities and opinions coming to the 2008-2009 season.
NBA champ- Runners up would be Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers. Boston with its lineup fully intact minus defensive dynamo in James Posey have acquired a good number of role players in Patrick O’Bryant, rookies Bill Walker, Semih Erden and J.R. Giddens their formidable starting five are gelling quite well with KG running the team I can’t see any reason why they cant duplicate their last year feat. Last year’s runner up the LA Lakers will have a reason to smile with Andrew Bynum back making a twin tower with Pau Gasol. Kobe will always be a focal point in their offense but this time there won’t be any pressure to score. Losing Ronny Turiaf to Golden State the Lakers added 6-7 chinese point guard Sun Yue and FC Josh Powell. The Lakers will go all the way if they all stay healthy. San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland will always be the teams to look forward to with San Antonio’s solid line up and Cleveland’s new high octane offense with Mo Williams injected in the line up and the durable King James will make an exciting playoff matchup to any teams in the east.

MVP- There will be only two choices, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James.
Kobe went on to win his first MVP award because of hard work and unselfishness. He had improved his game from an offensive player to a well rounded versatile player. He carried his team all the way to the finals and that is a mark of an MVP player.
Lebron James almost made it last year but fell short because there wasn’t anyone who could back him up. Statistically Lebron will surpass Kobe this time with Bynum, Gasol and Odom lifting the team’s offensive stance Kobe doesn’t need to score a lot. Lebron has been solid all his career. It’s still anyone’s ball game Kobe a repeat? Or is it Lebron’s time?

Rookie- Greg Oden is out to prove anyone that he is not the next Sam Bowie. He is improving more on his offense and defense and has gained my admiration as he continuously gave a double double performance in the preseason games. Kevin Durant won the award last year because there wasn’t any competition with other rookies. He dominated the game more than anyone from his batch but this time Greg Oden will have to battle it out with Derrik Rose, Michael Beasley and Kevin Love but with Greg on a winning team and expected to gain more minutes he could very well grab the rookie of the year award.

Those are just speculations and unprecedented forecast with Pre season game as its basis.
The ball is round and the unexpected always happen. With all said and done 2009 season is almost coming and the ice cold beers and chips are now ready for munching. Let the games begin! Gulp gulp…

At age 36 Gerry Penalosa is nearing his retirement. He would have wanted to land a fight this year with someone matching his caliber. There were talks about Jorge Arce, Steven Luevano, former tormentor Daniel Ponce De Leon and Juan Manuel Lopez but all went down the drain. Gerry is picky on opponents nowadays and made only one defense for his WBO super bantamweight title via eight round knockout against Ratanachai Sor Vorapin.
So how much does Gerry worth to see him fight? The price tag is $250,000 the price he asked for a Ponce De Leon matchup the price he solicited for a clash against Juan Manuel Lopez. His promoters thought Gerry overpriced himself and I personally think Gerry was just all business he just wants to make the best of his career before hanging up.
Gerry was placed in an unfortunate time when he was forced to carry Philippine boxing in his own hands. There were no Manny Pacquiao and Ala boys at that time it was just Gerry and Luisito Espinosa they were forced to travel to Japan, Korea and Thailand seeking greener pastures and looking for meaningful fights. The result was Gerry had to undergo the pain of defending his title in a foreign land losing by a hometown decision. The process was strenuous and made Gerry semi retired and had to look for other venture to support his growing family.
Manny Pacquiao brought the life back in Gerry’s career and a string of victories followed through.
Gerry is one of the greatest technician in boxing today he has confidence on his defense and power and that makes him fearless. He called out Juan Manuel Lopez to stop hiding and face him on the ring. Juanma is ready for the challenge and will fight as the main appetizer for the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight but they couldn’t afford Gerry’s price.
The $250,000 is just too much for an undercard fight but those are just numbers Gerry knows his worth the investment.
I know Gerry could take Juanma by heart but it’s a fight he should re evaluate himself also. Given Fearless Gerry has been 110 percent fit to fight, fighting a hard hitting puncher like Juanma needs a lot of training and preparation.
At age 36 Father Time is slowly catching up on Gerry he has one or two more fights left in his career. Juan Manuel Lopez if successful in his Dec.6 fight with Sergio Medina has promised Gerry a fight in the early quarter of next year. Gerry knows there are a lot at stake. His life and his career if anyone asks me is Gerry worth the $250k? hell yeah…
He came a long way to be what he is now and Gerry clearly deserves it.

Lupin is a name you’re not happy to be associated with but on the hard court it reflects the defensive tenacity you have. Kobe Bryant grew up idolizing lupin in the Italian league and wears the jersey no.8 Lupin’s own jersey no. People calls him Lupin for his stealing ability but nowadays he is more called coach as he leads the struggling New York Knicks to a promising season this year.
Mike D’ Antoni’s run and gun offense will now be tested on the Knicks underrated roster. This time there won’t be any MVP performance of a Steve Nash or the versatility of a Shawn Marion or the dunking prowess of Amare Stoudamire, Mike will have to deal with Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford and Eddie Curry superstars who seems to be on a different page. The Knicks is considered the Mecca of the NBA and the critics would not be forgiving when it comes to the team’s continuing abysmal season and Mike D’ Antoni is not spared for that. Many questioned his decision in drafting a fellow Italian player whose father is his teammate Danillo Gallinari they could have secured a solid center in Brooke Lopez or Jason Thompson a position which the Knicks clearly lacks.
Long before Mike was the head coach of the Knicks he was also criticized for lack of defense and for consecutive playoff exits. But Mike D’ Antoni stood his ground and continued his belief on his system of basketball.
Knicks have won 3 games against 2 losses in their pre season opening and all games were scored above the 100 mark. This goes to show that the Knicks are more involved in their offense but also they allowed an average of 107 points to their 5 pre season games. The Phoenix Suns have the same problem and maybe there seems to be a major glitch on D’Antoni’s system.
The major question would be will the Knicks be successful on D’Antoni’s run and gun?
I really do think so. The Knicks aside from Eddie Curry who is currently overweight have no other legitimate center they will have to make good on David Lee, Malik Rose and Zach Randolph. They will mainly struggle on 7 footers like Yao Ming but they can outrun any big men in the court. Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon and Stephon Marbury are good half court passers, Wilson Chandler, Jamal Crawford and Patrick Ewing Jr. are also good finisher on the break. They also have good shooters in Mardy Collins, Quentin Richardson and the come backing Allan Houston. The Knicks seems to have all the ingredients Mike D’ Antoni needs in his system the only difference would be on the defensive side.
Mike D’ Antoni is known for his defense and his tenacity and hard work has paid off throughout his basketball career. Defense is the key for winning and not the other way around. Maybe Mike should let the Knicks organization call him Lupin again to remind him of the once person he was known before.

When you are a 43 year old fighter who is a 4-1 underdog fighting a heavy handed bomber who is 17 years old younger you are expected to loose. But Bernard Hopkins once again cheated destiny and carve a different story to his already legendary career and taught a young champion a neat lesson in boxing.
Kelly Pavlik was on top of the food chain, championship belt and pound per pound status he is the man to beat in his division there was no need to fight an aging veteran in Hopkins win or loose Pavlik has nothing to prove against anyone. A fight with Bernard is not only risky but it’s also a downright stupid. Kelly was to choose his direction to fight for a worthy challenger or money. Boxing is business even though fighters constantly deny the dollar factor but the truth of the matter is money spells everything. Kelly could earn more fighting Hopkins although there is no prestige in beating a 43 year old fighter.

The Executioner Hopkins started the fight blazing with handspeed and powershots Kelly was overwhelmed with the veteran’s speed and precision. The slow footed Pavlik couldn’t execute his gameplan as the heavy bombs of Hopkins started to find its mark.
Joe Calzaghe was successful in neutralizing Hopkins offense because he outbox him but in the Pavlik fight Bernard outbox the young champion with 172 punches against 108.
I personally scored the bout 118-111 I gave rounds 5 and 9 to Pavlik since in round 5 his punches started to connect but was cut short with Hopkins precise counterpunching. Round 9 was the time Hopkins was deducted for allegedly holding Pavlik and the rest of the rounds the executioner owns it.

Pavlik after the bout was bloodied and down. His perfect record is closely coming into a halt. His reputation stained the executioner once again executed the perfect game plan.
Bernard Hopkins defied time and silences all his critics. I personally wanted Pavlik to win not because I don’t like Hopkins but because I wanted him to retire while he is still at one piece. I was wrong if Hopkins can handle a strong and talented 26 year old champion then he can still clearly fight a year more. The winner against Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr. could set up a mega bout against Bhop that would be a fitting finale to one of the world’s greatest executioner.

To watch the fight just click the image below for the download link:

Oscar De La Hoya is a battle tested veteran with 44 fights losing only 5, twice to Shane Mosley, one to Trinidad, Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins. Throughout his career Oscar had only been knockout once through the hands of Bernard Hopkins. Oscar has proven that he has a granite chin many attempted to target their attack on Oscar’s head but Hopkins concentrated more on his body and the once durable and indestructible Golden Boy crumbles to the ground grimacing in pain.
In a structure there is a need to have a good solid foundation so no matter how shaky or how unstable the earth surface is the structure remains firm and tall like how the Japanese make an earthquake proof building. Oscar is an earthquake proof structure in order to bring down Oscar his foundation or his body should be taken off.
This coming Dec.6 Oscar De La Hoya will slug it out with pound per pound king Manny Pacquiao. Manny is 4 inches shorter and has a clear target where his vaunted power sets in Oscar’s strong foundation his body.
Take off the body and the head will fall is what Manny’s outcry in his training right now.
It doesn’t imply that Manny has no other choice since he is shorter than Oscar but Manny needs to go to the body because it’s the only thing that could give him a chance in winning.
Body shots are not a walk to the park thing there would be instance that you will also get tagged while moving forward to set up your power shots and Manny is not immune for Oscar’s middleweight power. Boxing is a sport of strategy and the fighter who has a perfect game plan always comes out the victor.
Manny will have to execute a perfect game plan in order to win against Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar knows Manny’s target and for sure they are making a formula for that problem.
Two questions would be answered this coming Dec.6 will Manny setup those body shots? Or will Oscar’s reliable jab find its way? Whose foundation will crumble? The drama continues….

The Golden State Warriors have to be very lucky landing a quality draft pick after the second round for the 40th overall in the 2005-06 NBA season. Monta Ellis plays the shooting guard and the point guard position. After Jason Richardson was traded to the Bobcats and Baron Davis signed with the Clippers the Golden State Warriors without hesitation signed the young talented guard into a multi million dollar deal.
Ellis can score and is a good defender the Warriors needed to build their franchise in a quality player like Monta.
Before signing the contract Ellis had a torn ligament in is left ankle which he underwent surgery. He told the Warrior’s executives that he was injured in a pick-up game in his hometown in Jackson, Mississippi. After the deal was done Ellis admitted that he was injured not by playing basketball but in a minor freak accident in his hometown.
The Warriors organization decided to suspend him for 30 games without pay although Ellis still has to recuperate his ailing ankle for approximately 30 days but the fact that Ellis has to pay 3 Million dollars spells a lot of difference to the young guard. The penalty may have been justified but it’s a bit harsh for a prize player who could score 30 or more points.
At age 22 Monta needs to have a lot of room for maturity he needs guidance more than anything else.
Yes Monta Ellis had lied to the Warriors organization but considering he has his whole career on the line he was forced to make his reasons reasonable in that matter.
The Golden State Warriors is sending a strong signal to everybody in their organization. They are not passing in anybody’s misdemeanor everyone has to pay the price.
Monta Ellis is the new face of the Golden State Franchise he is the long term investment. But being the best player doesn’t give you a liberty in doing things which you are not supposed to do.
Ellis lied and he paid the price. 3Million is too much although im not saying he is exempted for any punishment but its just way beyond his retribution. Accidents happened to everybody no matter how careful or how safe we are and nobody is spared from those things. It’s just unfortunate for Monta to be in an organization that has a very strong conviction.
Ellis lied that’s his fault… he paid the price… a hard lesson for the future franchise player. We all have to lie especially when our life or our career is on the line. Monta has to do it and he paid the price…

His arms all raised and the cocky Vic Darchinyan was once again victorious as he made true to his promised that he will knock Dimitri Kirilov the IBF Junior Bantamweight Champion out.
Vic Darchinyan 30-1-1 with 24 KO’s had been the most dominating power puncher in the lower weights his unorthodox style and height made him more like a bully rather than a raging bull as he pounce his hapless opponents to the ground. His cockiness is his trademark.
This Nov. 1 Vic will have his mouth full when he faces the pound per pound top ten Cristian Mijares for a unification bout. He then promised a knockout win and was quoted saying he always delivers his promised. But last year he also promised a knockout win against Nonito Donaire but instead was floored with a perfectly timed left.
He also promised to knock Z Gorres out but failed to deliver his promised again though it was a controversial split decision fight but nonetheless there was no knockdown win for Vic.
He is the typical bully who intimidates his opponents although Vic have been winning his battles after his devastating loss against Donaire but Vic’s armored of invincibility has been exposed to the public. He always has a habit of moving forward to set up his left exposing his head for a clear target. Nonito studied Darchinyan’s move and Vic was tagged by a crackling left to the jaw. Gorres studied Nonito’s fight and has floored Darchinyan on their IBF eliminator fight on the second round but didn’t have the arsenal to finish Vic as Darchinyan floored Gorres also 3 times in their split decision match in Cebu.
In the long run Cristian Mijares would be wise enough to watch Nonito and Gorres fight to see that Vic is very beatable. Vic with all due respect is a good fighter but he should keep his mouth shut. He can talk whatever he wants but come fight night let the punches do the talking. The cocky Darchinyan could change his patented move but we can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Maybe he will KTFO Cristian Mijares but as far as I know it will take a lot of intimidating to do that. A rematch would be appropriate for Vic and Nonito and I hope this time this would silence Raging Vic’s mouth.

Greg Oden was having a field day scoring 13 points peppered with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in their preseason game against Sacramento.
Greg looks good and has been dominating every big body Sacramento puts him in.
He has good reflexes and there was no trace of his previous injury which derailed his pro season debut last year.
Greg Oden was the top no.1 pick in the draft last year but his ailing right knee hindered him from playing after a microfracture surgery was done. Portland would have chosen a talented forward in Kevin Durant but they wanted a safe choice in Oden. His big body and defense was the key. Portland needed a guy like Oden who has an NBA body who could man the center and could give them a shot blocking presence aside from rising star Lamarcus Aldridge.
Portland knew what their getting into. Although unfortunate events happened but if you are in a rebuilding team that almost made it to the playoffs those incidents are seemingly ok.
Portland now had every bit of reason to smile the emergence of young Rudy Fernandez, rookie sensation Jerryd Bayless and a cast of talented and athletic crew with Brandon Roy leading the pack.
Greg Oden at times slow on his feet has an awkward shot. But he gives a solid double double performance in his game. He has good grip on the ball and his wide body could create mismatches. Oden was all smiles after grabbing an offensive rebound and dunk the ball with his two hands against the lowly kings. After all the things that happened to him he has a reason to smile anyways.