Freddie Roach calls Floyd Mayweather a PUSSY!!!!

(AP)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has taken his quest for a fight with Manny Pacquiao to Twitter.

The unbeaten Mayweather publicly challenged and taunted the Filipino superstar on Tuesday, daring Pacquiao to meet him May 5 in Las Vegas.

“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” Mayweather tweeted.

Moments later, Mayweather tweeted: “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.”

Mayweather is available for a fight in May at the MGM Grand Garden after a judge agreed last week to postpone his jail sentence in a domestic violence case until June. Mayweather was sentenced to 87 days in jail, but likely will serve less time.

Mayweather and Pacquiao are boxing’s top two stars, and they have circled each other warily for more than two years. Both have said they’re eager to fight, yet still haven’t reached a deal for what’s likely to be the most lucrative bout in boxing history.

While Pacquiao appeared to be more eager for the fight when the two first began verbally sparring in 2009, Mayweather has taken the lead in recent months, stepping up his campaign since Pacquiao’s narrow win over Juan Manuel Marquez last November.

Mayweather’s tweets appear to put the megafight’s future in Pacquiao’s hands — and a decision likely will be made soon.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum traveled to the Philippines this week to meet with Pacquiao, planning to choose the eight-division champion’s next opponent. Arum, who has repeatedly said Mayweather won’t actually agree to fight Pacquiao because he fears losing, has a list of candidates including Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson and Timothy Bradley Jr. for Pacquiao’s next bout.

Arum also has suggested Pacquiao might not be ready to prepare for a fight in May because of a facial cut from his win over Marquez. Mayweather’s camp has dismissed that notion as subterfuge, saying cuts rarely require several months to heal.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, whose company has promoted Mayweather’s last five fights, has suggested Mayweather’s Cinco de Mayo fight could be against popular 154-pound Mexican champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or lightweight champion Robert Guerrero, a Mexican-American from the Bay Area, if he can’t make a deal with Pacquiao.

But if Mayweather and Pacquiao intend to make their long-awaited fight, both sides know they must do it quickly, since a promotion of that size would require several months of preparation.

Mayweather controls his own Twitter feed, which is often filled with pictures of his fiancDee and braggadocio about his gambling exploits. On Monday night, he tweeted a photo of a betting slip, claiming he won $400,000 on the BCS title game.

Margarito v Cotto I

Below is an article from Las Vegas Sun shortly after the fight.

As the sea of people clad in green, red and white flooded the MGM Grand casino Saturday night – waving flags from their homeland and filling the already electric air with chants of ME-XI-C-O — one thing was crystal clear: There’s a new champ in town.

Antonio Margarito handed Miguel Cotto the first loss of his career by stopping the World Boxing Association’s welterweight champ in 11 rounds behind a flurry of punches in a battle that lived up to its promotion as the “fight of the year.”

“I told my corner I would wear him down and then knock him out,” said Margarito, the Mexican star who dropped Cotto twice in the 11th round before Cotto’s corner threw in the towel in front of a frenzied crowd of 10,477.

“The game plan was to come out strong and to wear him down and knock him out. I got him with body shots, and then I hit him in the head, and then knocked him out,” said Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs), who claimed his third welterweight championship.

Cotto (32-1) — who did not talk at the post-fight media session, but instead headed to the hospital to get several stitches — praised Margarito immediately after the fight.

“This night was Margarito’s night,” said Cotto, who failed for the first time in five title defenses. “He did his job better than I did.

“Life continues. It’s not over for me. I am very proud and very happy I was able to give the fans a great fight.”

So too was promoter Bob Arum, whose company, Top Rank, represents both fighters.

“Finally, we had a fight that lived up to the billing … it doesn’t get better than that,” he said.

“I just thought he (Margarito) became like an express train that couldn’t be stopped,” Arum said. “Cotto was hitting him with tremendous punches and they were having no effect at all. Finally, the express train ran him over.”

But that wasn’t the case in the early rounds. To the dismay of the partisan crowd, Cotto won four of the first five rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards, thanks to the Puerto Rican’s precision timing and confident punch combinations.

The storyline that everyone hoped would continue in the long line of epic Mexican-Puerto Rican battles exploded in the second round to the delight of fans on each side, as both fighters landed several big blows.

Cotto took control of the middle rounds, jabbing through Margarito’s defense and often repositioning himself.

Margarito said he saw the fight changing in the sixth round -– but the momentum really twisted in the seventh when the taller Margarito landed a series of combinations that bloodied Cotto’s lip and sent him against the ropes.

“At about the sixth round I felt my pressure and punches were doing some injury to Cotto,” Margarito said. “I always said that Cotto was tough and he did hit hard, but he never hurt me.”

Cotto won the eighth round on judge Dave Moretti’s card, but the adrenaline of a crowd that began a Spanish cheer of “Yes you can!” started to carry Margarito.

His constant charges caught Cotto off guard several times over the next three rounds.

Margarito, who threw 987 punches to Cotto’s 655, dropped Cotto to the canvas 80 seconds into the 11th round, and actually caught him with a violent punch when he was down. A wobbly Cotto got back to his feet, but Margarito chased him down and unloaded another shower of punches that ended the prizefighter’s perfect record.

“Slowly, the tornado rumbled and I told my corner that the knockout would come, and the knockout came,” said Margarito, nicknamed the “Tijuana Tornado.”

Arum said there were plenty of possible future matchups for his two top-notched welterweights –- including a possible rematch.

But Margarito, who has longed been ducked by same of the big-name welterweights, said he has his eyes on another Mexican fighter in particular — Oscar De La Hoya.

“Oscar De La Hoya is one of the best,” Margarito said. “If he comes through with his promise, we can give Mexicans a true battle.”

But on this night, Margarito showed his country that he was the man of the hour.

“I did say I would take this back to Mexico,” said a smiling Margarito, peeking out to the media behind his dark, post-fight shades.

I can’t wait to see this fight! These guys are gonna try to kill each other.

Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Pretty Boy Floyd Ducking Fight That Would Cement Legacy

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is ducking the one fight that would cement his legacy as the greatest pound-for-pound champion of his generation.

According to an ESPN report from boxing expert Dan Rafael, the proposed mega-fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao next May is off.

Rafael reports that Mayweather’s advisers were notified by Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum that the side was not interested in any super-fight discussions, but it’s hard to buy that as the truth.

Mayweather has been ducking this fight for the longest time, attempting to implement wacky drug test strategies and other cowardly maneuvers to deter Pacquiao from fighting him.

Sadly the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is the one fight that both boxers need to validate their superb careers.

Mayweather has never been defeated in 42 bouts, and a win over Pacquiao to remain undefeated is the only route he could have taken to become the greatest boxer of this generation.

Pacquiao could have cemented the exact same legacy with a win over Mayweather. But unfortunately for boxing fans, we may never know just how good these two fighters were.

This quote from Rafael’s article suggests Pacquiao’s side is the only roadblock in the way of the fight:

“I am sick and tired of Bob Arum twisting the truth. It’s another case of ‘yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth,’ the truth of the matter is that we received this afternoon an email from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who has informed us that Top Rank is pursuing a rematch with Marquez and, therefore, is not interested in immediate talks for a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. This is obviously as clear as it can be that they have no intentions of making a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Therefore, Floyd Mayweather will have no other choice than to move on and identify and lock in another opponent for his ring return on May 5.” - Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer

This may in fact be an accurate account of the situation by Schaefer, but the bottom line is that Mayweather’s camp has been running from Pacquiao for so long that it was front page news just a few weeks ago when they announced they had a time and place for the fight.

The opportunity has come and gone for Mayweather to prove himself as one of the greatest boxing champions.

Mayweather was first afraid of the more powerful, younger Pacquiao, and now that he looks beatable after his controversial bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, the roles have been reversed.

All of a sudden Mayweather wants a piece of Pacquiao, and Pacquiao’s camp wants to protect their rattled fighter from a fight he may not be ready for.

Regardless of who’s to blame for this disgrace, Mayweather has dropped the ball and proved that he is merely the result of weak opposition and cowardly tactics.

WHY MARQUEZ LOST AGAIN

Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Marquez 3 ended with controversy to many who watched as witnessed by the fans who attended the fight. The fans dissatisfaction was very prominent when the outcome of the fight was announced which handed Pacquiao a majority decision.

Having reviewed the third fight over and over again, I needed to convince myself why Manny Pacquiao won and why Juan Marquez was denied of a fair victory. These two boxers who are national pride to their countries had everything at stake for this fight. Manny Pacquiao needed to convince the he won the 2 previous fights hands down and Juan Marquez was looking for redemption by winning the third fight because he also feels that he won the first 2 fights after waiting for so long. Styles make fights and Pacquiao and Marquez was built to punch and counter each other. Both fighters are able to hit one another effectively and keep the fight close down the middle.

Judging this fight is not an easy task, let alone the opinion of many fans, boxing scribes and analyst have differences of opinion with the outcome of the fight. Where did it go wrong for Juan Marquez and how did this fight slip away from him? Punch statistics show that Pacquiao has 17 more power punches with the score of 117 to 110. Some of the power punches landed by Pacquiao was while he was in motion compared to Marquez’s slower but clearer execution of punches which was clearly visible. A marginal difference of 17 power punches going to Pacquiao. Pacquiao threw a lot more jabs totaling 304 with 59 connected while Marquez threw 182 jabs with 38 connected. A marginal difference of 21 jabs going to Pacquiao. Pacquiao threw 578 punches and connected with 178 with a 30% connect rate. Marquez threw 436 punches and connected with 138 with a 32% connect rate.

The difference is Pacquiao threw 142 more punches and connected with 40 more punches overall which is enough to give Pacquiao the edge. When fighting as a challenger in a title fight, leaving the fight to the scorecards can be a fatal mistake especially when you are not pressing the action. In Juan Marquez’s case, as a natural counter puncher, he was reluctant to press the action on Pacquiao which does not score points if the Judges favor the fighter who presses the action. Although Marquez showed the ability to counter Pacquiao effectively, Marquez needed to convince the judges that he can impose his will and press the offense on Pacquiao. Marquez did not demonstrate that enough. What sticks out like a sore thumb is Manny Pacquiao’s ring generalship. His footwork is one of, if not the best in the business. When he wants to let his legs go, Pacquiao is all over the ring and comes at his opponent like the cartoon character the Tasmanian Devil, Pacquiao can come at his opponent straight and be from one side to another even before your eyes blink and launch an attack . His legs are turbocharged and furthermore Pacquiao telegraphs his power punches while he is on the hop. Pacquiao masterfully demonstrated his footwork and used it to press the action on Marquez which was another major difference in the fight. Pacquiao landed some punches that was hard to see because he was floating in transition, those were very difficult punches to execute and land and they did land on Marquez.

Juan Marquez’s footwork is inferior to the way Manny Pacquiao can cover the ring at his will. Manny Pacquiao has evolved from a brawler who gets entangled into slugfest with his heavy and lightning quick hands into boxer that can slip, counter, show patience and follow fight plans. Pacquiao is able to chip away at his opponent round by round especially into the closing championship rounds where it counts most. He has done that to Joshua Clottey Miguel Cotto, Oscar De la Hoya, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Juan Marquez as of late. This is where Juan Marquez failed to capitalize and this is what makes Pacquiao hard to beat if the fight is left to the scorecards. Even though Juan Marquez gave one of his best performance of his career but chalked up another loss to Manny Pacquaio, where does Juan Marquez stand and what is next for him? Another high profile fight will be profitable and Bob Arum and Top Rank they know that there will be a demand for a Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4 for it’s entertainment value especially to Mexicans and Filipinos boxing fans even after 36 rounds. But how will Juan Marquez ever win against Manny Pacquiao in another fight if he doesn’t evolve into a boxer that can press action, throw more punches and execute fancy footwork and at 38 years old how likely could that be?

Interviews of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez after Press Conference.

gotemcoach:

KOBE BRYANT VISITS MANNY PACQUIAO

Kobe’s got some free time on his hands, so he dropped in at the Wild Card Gym to visit Mr. Pacquiao. I’d call it a NIKE connection, except Kobe’s been on Team Pacquiao for years.