Sports Unlimited

Pacquaio vs Mosley bout results

2011-05-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley was a welterweight fight for the WBO Welterweight championship..The bout was held on May 7, 2011, at MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao defeated Mosley by unanimous decision and retained his WBO Welterweight Championship via unanimous decision (119-108, 120-108, 120-107).

Manny Pacquiao Shane Mosley

Sarangani, Philippine From Pomona California


52-3-2 (38 KO)	Pre-fight record	46-6-1 (39 KO)
5 feet, 6.5 inches	Height	5 feet, 9 inches
145 lb	Weight	147 lb

8-division World Champion / Current WBO Welterweight Champion	Recognition	3-division World Champion

Result	Pacquiao via unanimous decision

Photo courtesy of Tom Casino

Pacquaio vs Mosley

2011-05-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley is an upcoming Welterweight superfight for the WBO Welterweight championship. The bout will be held on May 7, 2011, at MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bob Arum is promoting the fight, which will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. A Showtime series, Fight Camp 360°, is documenting Pacquiao's and Mosley's training preparations in the lead up to their bout. Shane Mosley has stated that if he loses badly to Pacquiao he may retire. Pacquiao is heavily favored to win, as many fans and critics believe the 39 year old Mosley is past his prime^. If Pacquiao loses, it could jeopardize the chances of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum has stated that should Pacquiao win, it could setup a third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

^{reference: wikipedia}

The Azkals' 2-0 win

2011-02-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Football Renaissance: Over 25,000 flag-waving fans jam the Panaad Stadium stand to cheer the Phillippine Azkals in their match with the Mongolia’s Blue Wolves in the AFC Challenge Cup series. Photo by Jun Mendoza

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The Azkals’ mauled the visiting Blue Wolves of Mongolia at the packed Panaad pitch last night, scoring two goals before over 25,000 fans and millions more at home to underscore the rebirth of Philippine football.

Playing aggressive ball before an overwhelming home field support, the Philippine side dominated Mongolia from start to finish and gained the headstart in their AFC Challenge Cup 2012 qualifiers duel here.

Emilio Caligdong, a veteran forward from nearby Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, and midfielder Phil Younghusband, football’s poster boy from Britain, knocked in the goals for the fancied Azkals, typifying the squad’s potent mix of homegrown talents and Fil-foreign aces.

The Azkals will go for the Blue Wolves’ jugular for the second leg on March 15 in chilly Ulan Bator. The Mongolians need to beat Phl booters by 3-0 to salvage the tie and qualify to the group stages beginning March 26 in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

The final score did not actually reflect the one-sided nature of the match, with the Filipinos enjoying long periods of possession and the Mongolians content on being a defensive side in the match witnessed by more than 25,000 people in white shirts.

“We expected a difficult match, the team and myself prepared for a match like this. We showed patience and great determination. Even though we didn’t convert many of our scoring opportunities, we managed a 2-0 in the end,” said Phl coach Hans Michael Weiss.

As promised by Weiss when he took over as Azkals mentor last month, the Filipinos got busier on the offensive end, attacking the Mongolian keeper Ganbayar Tseveensuren with impunity right from the get-go.
They failed to find the mark in their first six goal attempts before Caligdong finally struck at the 42nd minute, sneaking the leather in between the legs of Tseveensuren to put the hosts in the scoreboard.

The icebreaker gave the Azkals the confidence to crank up dangerous incursions into the Mongolians’ territory in the second half, playing a Mongolian side that was three-man short owing to two yellow cards slapped on Pagamsuren Altantulga (a foul and delay of game infraction in the 25th minute) and injuries to Garidmagnai Bayasgalan (75th minute) and Ochbayar Olzvoi (89th minute).

“I couldn’t understand why my player was given a second yellow card. That (ejection) made it a lot difficult for us,” said Mongolia coach Erdenebat Sanadagdorj through an interpreter.

“The series is not yet over though. We’ll go back to Mongolia, prepare and hope to win by three goals,” he added.

Notes: Throngs of fans queued up at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Brgy. Mansilingan as early as 6 a.m. hoping to get free tickets to the highly-anticipated match. They were disappointed to learn that contrary to an announcement on a TV station, organizers were no longer giving away free tickets on the day of the match... It may not be the Fifa World Cup, not in prestige or magnitude, but certainly there was World Cup electricity yesterday, with Azkals fans coming in white shirts and waving white hankies as show of support to the home team...Sounds of vuvuzuela and drums fill the packed stadium encircled by eucalyptus trees.

Article by Olmin Leyba , The Philippine Star

Philippines National Football Team

2011-02-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

The Philippine National Football Team (Azkals) is the national football team of the Philippines and represents the country in international football. The team is controlled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the Philippines.

Despite being the oldest national team in Asia, the Philippines has never had any significant success on the international stage and has never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup or the FIFA World Cup. However, they enjoyed some success in its early years between 1913 and 1934 in the Far Eastern Championship Games, the culmination of which when they defeated Vietnam on a 2-0 score in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup which awaken the national counsciousness of Filipinos in the field of football.

Under the official FIFA Trigramme the team's name is abbreviated as PHI; this acronym is used by FIFA, the AFC and the AFF to identify the team in official competitions. The team is also identified under the International Organization for Standardization country code for the Philippines as PHL.

However the team is more commonly known as the RP, the acronym for the country's official name, Republika ng Pilipinas, which local media uses when they mainly refer to the team as the "RP Booters" or the "RP XI". The local press has also referred to the team as the "Azkals". The name, derived from askal, a Filipino term for "street dog," became a trending topic on Twitter during the semifinals of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.

The Azkals has become the new hope of the Philippines to bring about the resurgence of a stronger and more dynamic system in terms of football development. Most of the players of the football team tour the country to bring much-needed awareness to the public that the Filipinos can have a very bright future with football, and they can compete at par with other countries in international tournaments.

Gold for Rey, silver for Annie in boxing

2010-11-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

GUANGZHOU—Rey Saludar took control of the fight in the second round and held off a frenetic, last-gasp effort by hometown bet Chang Yong to win the gold medal Thursday with a 13-11 decision in the men’s under-52 kg finals of the 16th Asian Games boxing competition at the Foshan Gymnasium.

Annie Albania wasn’t as lucky, however, taking a hard-fought 5-7 loss to reigning world champion Ren Cancan of China in the finals of the women’s under-51 kg class to settle for the silver medal.

“I’m proud of our fighters,” said boxing association executive director Ed Picson. “They really fought hard for the country.”

The win boosted the Philippine medal haul to three golds, with Albania adding a third silver on top of nine bronzes.

Only with a victory in chess, where the men’s team will be fighting for the gold against China Friday, can the country match its golden output in the Doha Asian Games in 2006.

With veterans Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio Jr. securing wins, the Filipinos repeated over favored India, 2.5-1.5, to secure at least a silver at the Guangzhou Chess Institute.

The 48-year-old Antonio, a 12-time national champion, trounced fellow Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran in board two, while Asia’s first GM Torre, still razor-sharp at 59, bested GM GN Gopal in board four.

The Chinese, fifth placers in the 2010 Chess Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, also asserted their superiority over the Iranians, 2.5-1.5, in the other semifinal encounter.

PH trails Southeast Asian neighbors
The Philippines continued to lag behind its Southeast Asian neighbors with Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore grabbing more medals with two days of competition remaining.

“These medals are still a blessing,” said chief of mission Joey Romasanta. “Our athletes fought against high-quality opponents and we should be proud of them.

The two medals mean a financial windfall for Saludar and Albania.

Under the handsome incentives for the boxing team courtesy of business tycoon and national boxing chair Manny V. Pangilinan, Saludar’s gold is worth P3 million while Albania’s silver comes with a P1 million tag price.

The rewards are outside of the regular PSC incentives of P1 million for a gold and P500,000 for a silver.

Saludar was certainly worth his weight in gold—and his amount in pesos—as he peppered his Chinese foe with his favored left in the second period to take a 10-3 lead.

That should have been enough to cushion against the hometown edge that was expected to come into play.

Curiously, though, Saludar made Chang gobble up four straight left leads toward the end of the second round that didn’t register in the scoring, allowing the Chinese one last crowd-egged charge in the third.

But Saludar also made his right hand a factor, landing two straights in the middle of the Chang rally to cement the gold.

Albania thrifty with her punches

Albania may have paid for being thrifty with her punches early on. She set up a right straight with a jab but kept pawing around for openings that Ren refused to show.

The Chinese took charge late in the second period, catching Albania coming in twice for a 5-2 edge.

Albania started volume punching late in the third round and came within a point, 6-5, of Ren, who is a police officer outside the ring. But Ren again caught Albania off a counter for the final count.

In karate, Marna Pabillore, a long shot for the gold despite winning the silver four years ago in Doha, Qatar, crashed out of the podium after losing to Iranian Fatemeh Chalaki, 1-0, in the women’s under-55 kg repechage.

Pabillore started out strongly, winning her first two matches, including a 4-0 trashing of Kyrgyzstan’s Ramilia Eshmambetova. But she was drawn against Japanese Miki Kobayashi, who ended the Cagayan de Oro lass’ bid, 1-0.

Karate doesn’t automatically hand bronze medals to losing semifinalists, but instead makes them go through a repechage round.

Smart Gilas Pilipinas, meanwhile, began the process of salvaging whatever it could from its failed medal campaign by trashing North Korea, 99-69.

The national five thus booked a ticket to the battle for fifth place against Jordan Friday, in the process avoiding the ignominy of faring worse than the infamous record of sixth place by the PH five in the 1966 Bangkok Asiad.

In sepak takraw, South Korea crushed the Philippines, 21-14, 21-17 in a men’s preliminary match, while in wrestling, Cambodia’s Sotheara Chov outclassed Maribel Jambora, 3-0, who injured a finger during the fight.

Romasanta refuses to label the country’s stint in this quadrennial event as a failure, saying there’s a lot of lessons to be picked up from the PH participation.

“The first thing that stands out when we did a simple assessment was that we originally intended to send only 126 athletes to here,” said Romasanta. “All our medalists this year came from that list of 126 athletes.”

Francis T.J. Ochoa

First Posted 02:08:38 26/11/2010

Source:
Gold for Rey, silver for Annie in boxing - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

2010 Asian Games

2010-11-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Asian Games, also known as the XVI Asiad, is a multi-sport event in Guangzhou, China that began on 12 November and finishes on 27 November 2010. Guangzhou is the second Chinese city to host the Games, after Beijing in 1990. A total of 476 events in 42 sports will be contested by athletes, making it the largest event in the history of the Games. It will also be the last iteration of the Games to have featured such big events, as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have enforced new hosting rules for future games, beginning with the 2014 Games.
Guangzhou was awarded the right to host the Games on July 1, 2004, as the sole bidding city. This came after the withdrawal of several cities, Amman, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. The games will also be co-hosted by Dongguan, Foshan and Shanwei, the three neighbouring cities.

Source: Wikipedia

Pacquiao proves he's a great

2010-11-13T23:04:00.000-08:00

(Nick Laham/Getty Images)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Is there anything Manny Pacquiao can't do?

Filipino congressman by day, legendary prize fighter by night, Pacquiao climbed another yet mountain and did it easily.

When you watch Pacquiao ply his trade, you are not only watching the best fighter in the world -- and there is no question about it at this point -- you are watching one of the greatest fighters of all time.

And Pacquiao showed it again as he destroyed former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito to win a vacant junior middleweight title before an electric crowd of 41,734 on Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium.

In doing so, the Pacman carved out another chunk of history in his legendary career. Sure, we are in an era of a ridiculous amount of titles, but Pacquiao has done something nobody has ever done -- or even come close to doing or attempting to do.

He broke his own record by winning a title in an eighth weight division. Keep in mind, he started his career at 106 pounds and won his first title in the 112-pound flyweight division.

And then, he skipped over two divisions and has won titles at 122, 126, 130, 135, 140, 147 and now in the 154-pound junior middleweight division.

"He's the best fighter in the world," said Robert Garcia, Margarito's trainer. "He's just too fast. We couldn't get him into the ropes to hit him with clean shots."

Although the fight was contracted at 150 pounds -- a point of contention for some -- Pacquiao wasn't even a close to the weight. He weighed 144.6 at the official weigh-in on Friday and entered the ring at 148.

Margarito was massive compared to him, making Pacquiao's performance that much more impressive. Margarito was 150 pounds officially, but rehydrated to a 165 on fight night. And besides outweighing the little guy by 17 pounds, Margarito also held a 6-inch reach advantage and 4½-inch height advantage.

So what did Pacquiao do?

He chopped on that tree all night long. He gave Margarito the beating of a lifetime, one many believed he deserved in a fight he didn't deserve.

Margarito, who made at least $3 million (a figure likely to more than double after the pay-per-view total comes in), came into the fight as the clear villain. He had been given a license in Texas for the fight following more than a year on ice after he was caught trying to enter the ring for his January 2009 fight in California with Shane Mosley, which Margarito lost.

So watching him take a beating must have been satisfying for those disgusted that the fight was even made in the first place.

"It was a hard fight," Pacquiao said. "I did my best to win this fight. I can't believe I beat someone this big and this strong."

Believe it.

It was not even close as Pacquiao moved to 2-0 at Cowboys Stadium this year -- two more wins in the $1.2 billion palace than the hometown Cowboys have this NFL season.

Pacquiao's voluminous punch output and otherworldly speed advantage was clear immediately, and in the end, the judges had it 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110. ESPN.com also had it 120-108 as Pacquiao ravaged him with hard, fast, flush blows with both hands.

The statistics were overwhelming in Pacquiao's favor, although that's the way it has been for his past several fights as his opponents, each one bigger and bigger, were outclassed.

"I don't think Manny lost a single round," trainer Freddie Roach said. "I wish we had knocked him out. He's a very tough guy. I was surprised how tough he was. He has the worst corner. They probably ruined his career by not stopping the fight."

Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) landed 474 of 1,069 punches for a ridiculous 44-percent connect percentage. Of those blows, he landed 411 of 713 power shots (58 percent).

He simply strafed Margarito with punch after punch. In the fourth round, all those punches left Margarito with nasty swelling under his right eye as the crowd began chanting, "Manny! Manny! Manny!"

Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) got to Pacquiao here and there in the middle rounds, but he could never sustain any offense because Pacquiao was so fast he was able to escape.

"I got hurt," Pacquiao admitted. "He hurt me in the belly and in the face."

Margarito's swelling would only get worse and by the 11th round both of his eyes were swollen so much that referee Laurence Cole called timeout to cover Margarito's eye and make him guess how many fingers he was holding up.

Pacquiao even looked to Cole during an onslaught and asked him to stop the fight in a humane move.

"My opponent looked bad," said Pacquiao, who earned $15 million plus pay-per-view profits that should take him well over $20 million. "I wanted the referee to stop it. In the 12th round I was just looking to get thru the fight. I eased up on him. I told the referee, 'Look at his eyes.' I didn't want to damage him permanently.

That's not what boxing is about."

Said Cole: "In the 10th round the eye was starting to swell really bad. I was looking for a chance to stop the fight but Margarito kept fighting back."

Margarito took his beating like man.

"He's very fast. It's hard to land a punch on that guy, but there's no way I was going to quit in the fight,"

Margarito said. "I am a Mexican and we fight to the end."

Said Garcia, "Toward the end the of the fight the punches were coming clean and Pacquiao was looking to the referee to stop the fight, but we have a warrior here and he would never let me stop the fight."

Having rolled through Margarito, as well as Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey at welterweight, there is but one fight left for Pacquiao.

That would be against Floyd Mayweather Jr., the only fighter in the world close to him in terms of pound-for-pound recognition.

We all know the story about talks have fallen apart twice. Mayweather should have been the one in the ring with Pacquiao on Saturday, but he declined the fight, which looms as the richest in boxing history.

We don't know if Mayweather will ever take it, but Pacquiao remains up for it.

"I will fight anybody," he said. "I'll fight anyone, any where. If the fight happens, it happens. If not, I'm satisfied with my career already, but this fight with Mayweather would be great for boxing."

But before any of that, Pacquiao, the singing congressman, has other plans.

"I have a concert in Lake Tahoe next week," Pacquiao said.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @danrafaelespn.

Manny Pacquiao unanimous winner

2010-11-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Manny Pacquiao dominated Antonio Margarito in their WBC super welterweight title bout at Cowboys Stadium Saturday night (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Manny Pacquiao more than made up with speed what he lacked in size.
Giving away both pounds and inches, boxing's little superstar turned Antonio Margarito into a bloody and nearly blind fighter with a dizzying array of punches Saturday night in a lopsided decision victory that wasn't close from the opening rounds on.

In a spectacular performance before a delighted crowd of 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao cemented his claim to being the best fighter in the world by dominating the bigger but slower Margarito almost from the opening bell. Pacquiao won round after round, opening a cut on Margarito's cheek, closing his right eye, and turning his face into a bloody mess.

The punches came quickly, and they came often. Margarito was plenty game as he tried to stalk Pacquiao around the ring, but every time he got close Pacquiao would land a four- or five-punch combination that snapped his head back and stopped him in his tracks.

The beating was so thorough that the congressman from the Philippines turned to referee Laurence Cole several times in the 11th round, imploring him to stop the fight. It went on, though, even though Margarito had no chance to win.

"I can't believe that I beat someone this big and this strong," Pacquiao said. "It's hard. I really do my best to win the fight."

Pacquiao moved up in weight yet again to take on Margarito, a natural welterweight with a reputation for ruggedness in the ring. And rugged he was, though he took a beating all night long at the hands of a faster and seemingly more powerful opponent.

"There was no way I was gong to quit. I'm a Mexican, we fight until the end," Margarito said.
Pacquiao won every round on one scorecard, 120-108, and was ahead 119-109 and 118-110 on the other two. The Associated Press had it a 120-108 shutout.

"We didn't lose a round," said Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach. "I wish they would have stopped the fight."
That almost happened, but Cole allowed it to go on even as Margarito kept taking such a beating that he went directly to a hospital afterward for treatment of his cuts. There wasn't any way Margarito was going to win the fight, but he could still see out of one eye and wanted to continue.

"I told the referee, `Look at his eyes, look at his cuts," Pacquiao said. "I did not want to damage him permanently. That's not what boxing is about."

Ringside punch stats reflected Pacquiao's dominance, showing him landing 474 punches to 229 for Margarito. But it wasn't just the sheer volume of punches, but the power in which they came at almost every angle.

Roach predicted before the fight that Pacquiao would carve Margarito apart because he was simply much too quick for his opponent. He did just that, starting from the first round when he landed an early flurry up the middle that seemed to set the tone for the fight.

It wasn't entirely easy, though. Pacquiao said Margarito hurt him in the middle rounds with shots to the head and the body, though he was unable to land more than one of two punches at a time. When he did manage to land, more often than not Pacquiao was there to fire right back with volleys of his own that found their mark almost every time.

"Manny is the best fighter in the world," said Margarito's trainer, Robert Garcia. "He is just too fast -- very, very quick."

While there was no controversy in the ring, there was a dispute in the dressing room before the fight when a member of Pacquiao's camp saw a weight-loss supplement in Margarito's gear and demanded his blood be tested immediately for possible banned substances. Texas boxing officials ruled that would not be necessary, and the fight went on.

Roach also made sure he was in the dressing room to watch the hands of Margarito, who is still banned in California for a hand wrapping scandal, get wrapped. But it was Margarito's corner who demanded Roach also rewrap his fighter's hands in a display of gamemanship.

Once the fight started it didn't matter. Pacquiao landed some big left hands early, cutting Margarito beneath the right eye and causing it to swell. By the middle of the fight he couldn't see out of that eye and his left eye began closing, too.

The fight was for the WBC 154-pound title even though the contract weight was 150 pounds. Margarito weighed 150 at Friday's weigh-in, but was 165 on the unofficial HBO scale before the fight while Pacquiao, who had been 144.6, was 148 pounds.

Pacquiao also gave away 4½ inches in height and was at a six-inch reach disadvantage, but that didn't matter either.

Pacquiao earned a guaranteed $15 million, though he is likely to make millions more on his cut of the television revenues. He planned to give a concert at Lake Tahoe on Tuesday and then return to his political duties in the Philippines.

"I have another job after this," Pacquiao said. "I'm going back to the Philippines to do my other job and be a public servant."

by The Associated Press

Boxing-Pacquiao eyes further glory, Margarito redemption

2010-11-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

Manny Pacquiao aims to enhance his place among boxing's elite while Antonio Margarito has a chance of redemption when they clash in Saturday's hotly anticipated WBC super welterweight bout.

Filipino southpaw Pacquiao, 51-3-2 (38 knockouts), has already established himself as one of the best offensive fighters of all time and is widely expected to beat his Mexican opponent at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Although Margarito enjoys a significant height, weight and reach advantage over Pacquiao, the Asian is much faster and has his sights fixed on an eighth world title in an unprecedented eighth weight class.

"I don't need to prove any more in boxing," Pacquiao told Reuters during the build-up to a bout scheduled for 12 rounds. "I have already achieved what I wanted in boxing.

"What I want right now is to maintain my greatness in boxing and to entertain people who can be satisfied by my performance."

Pacquiao, who won a seat in his country's national congress after beating Ghanaian Joshua Clottey in his most recent fight in March, likes the look of his match-up with Margarito.

"This is the fight I have been waiting for," the 31-year-old said. "I believe we can give a good fight on Saturday. Margarito is a very aggressive fighter and throws a lot of punches."

Initially known for his lightning hand speed and lethal left hook, 'Pacman' Pacquiao has become a genuine two-fisted fighter and his trainer Freddie Roach has predicted a knockout by the Filipino within three rounds.

"And don't be surprised if we get him in the first (round)," Roach told Reuters on Thursday. "Margarito's a slow starter and we're going to take advantage of that."

Three-times world champion Margarito is delighted to be back in the ring for the first time since he lost to American Shane Mosley in a WBC welterweight title bout in January 2009.

The disgraced Mexican and his trainer Javier Capetillo were banned for a year after plaster-like bandage wraps were found in the fighter's gloves before the Mosley fight.

SUPPORTIVE FANS
"My fans have always stood by me through the tough times," Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) told Reuters, speaking through an interpreter. "They have been right with me.

"I hope they all show up for this big fight and it's going to be something amazing to walk into the ring and see all those people. I think it will be the greatest moment of my career."

Margarito, who was denied a license to fight in California by the state's athletic commission earlier this year before being reprieved by the Texas commission, said he had never been in better shape.

"This is my best camp ever," added the 32-year-old who is dubbed the 'Tijuana Tornado'. "I want to show everyone that I am back and what I can do on Saturday night."

This week's build-up was tarnished by an unsavoury internet video in which Margarito, fellow fighter Brandon Rios and trainer Robert Garcia appeared to mock the Parkinson's disease suffered by Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach.

All three have since apologised to Roach, who accepted the apology so the focus could switch back to Saturday's bout.

However, Roach requested that one of his representatives monitor Margarito when he gets his hands wrapped for the fight and said the Mexican's camp can monitor Pacquiao if they want.

"I don't trust those guys. He (Margarito) will do anything to win," said Roach. "He's done it before. He's a cheater and once a cheater, a leopard doesn't change his spots."

Saturday's fight is expected to attract around 60,000 fans at the Cowboys Stadium with a pay-per-view audience of at least one million.

Reuters

Manny Pacquiao stretched to limit by distractions before tonight's fight

2010-11-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Manny Pacquiao, left, says he's focused on tonight's fight against Antonio Margarito.

Courtesy of Richard W. Rodriguez, Star-Telegram

If no man can serve two masters, what about the master? Can he carry 200 members of an entourage, a congressional seat and the expectations of all 7,100 islands of the Philippines?

Manny Pacquiao, the little boxer turned politician, turned national treasure, turned pop-culture icon, turned author (new book) will return to the ring tonight at Cowboys Stadium.

But will it be the best Manny Pacquiao that faces Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC world super welterweight title?

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza have at times during training camp lamented the fact that the Filipino congressman has stretched himself too thin between boxing and a political career.

In fact, Ariza compared it to the movie Rocky III, where the "Italian Stallion" Rocky Balboa becomes a soft media star and is destroyed by the villainous Mr. T.

The comparisons are spot on, and it's probably a good thing that The Muppet Show isn't still on the air or Pacquiao, like Rocky, might have appeared with Kermit the Frog.

Wait, he did cut out from training camp to sing Imagine alongside Will Ferrell on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He bolted training camp on Election Day weekend to stump for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

"I don't want to get a big head. I am so proud and thank God for everything he gave me," Pacquiao said. "I am really happy for what I've done in boxing, and I don't want to get too overwhelmed right now because you have to balance responsibility."

The fact that he has to balance responsibility between a political career and the ring is the concern among boxing observers.

Eventually, politics will become the focus for Pacquiao, 31, who said his political aspirations don't stop as a one-time congressman.

"That's why I enter, because I want to help people," he said. "In government, there is money for people, and we need a leader with a heart to help them. I feel what they're feeling because I've been there.

"Before I stepped in the ring, I slept in the streets; I ate once a day, that was my life before. It's so hard, so I feel what they're feeling.... I always understand the needs of those people who need help."

It's that heart for helping people that could be a concern.

Pacquiao's 200-member entourage has over-run the Gaylord Texan Resort this week, after flying in on a chartered jumbo jet.

Despite his millions earned from prize fighting, entertainment history is littered with bankrupt celebrities who couldn't say no to hangers-on.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said he's not concerned about Pacquiao's generous spending. He's seen it before with Muhammad Ali.

Arum said if Ali walked down the block with $10,000 he'd give it away before he reached the next streetlight. Arum said Ali was taken care of by "God" in the form of a licensing agreement that gave him $60 million up front and then 20 percent of any revenue generated from his image.

"So God does provide. That's what this kid believes, that he is chosen by God to be where he is, and that even if he has no money God will take care of him and provide," Arum said. "That's why when he walks into a fight and he's smiling and so forth; because in his mind, whether he wins or loses is all predetermined by God. So why should he worry?"

Arum said he expects Pacquiao to earn the presidency of the Philippines one day and added, "I just hope I can live that long."

As for tonight, both Pacquiao and Roach said "PacMan" made up the time lost for public appearances and political demands.

In fact, Roach predicted a knockout and said his fighter is fully prepared.

"It was just a mental issue. It was just focus, it was never a physical issue," Roach said. "Mentally it took him awhile to get him there because when he was in the Philippines; Congress was on his mind.

"But we had three weeks in America, talked on the plane; he promised me he'd get back to get what he does best. Congress hasn't come up since we've been in America. We have no excuses."

By Tobias Xavier Lopez

tlopez@star-telegram.com

Manny Pacquiao: World's Best Boxer to Fight Antonio Margarito on Saturday

2010-11-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

Manny Pacquiao is set to fight Antonio Margarito this Saturday night in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The bout is one of the biggest in recent boxing history, but has been criticized ever since it was set because Margarito is a known cheater and also has an incredible size advantage over Pacquiao.

But this week, the buildup to the Margarito-Pacquiao bout took another interesting turn.

Pacquiao's world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach told FanHouse that he received some very disturbing calls on Tuesday, the day before the press conference for the epic fight.

"I got a lot of calls, and there were a lot of people that said that there was a video out there making fun of me," said Roach, who has Parkinson's disease as a result of his boxing past. "Well, I don't have a computer with me, so my assistant brought it over to me."

Fast forward to the 2:05 mark in the video of above.

You can see Margarito, his trainer Robert Garcia and Margarito's stableweight Brandon Rios apparently mocking Roach and mimmicking the effects of Parkinson's disease.

Roach was so angered by the video that he wanted to get back in the ring for a little payback.

It'll be interesting to see if Roach's anger spills over to Pacquiao in Saturday's mega-fight.

Blake Oestriecher