Manny Pacquiao was awesome last night in his first fight at 135lbs. The Pac-Man knocked out David Diaz in the ninth round and now owns a belt in the lightweight division. The talk is that he'll defend his new belt once before moving up to 140lbs to challenge Ricky Hatton, assuming Hatton gets by Paulie Malignaggi. That would be a huge fight.

Yeah Manny annihilated Diaz. I only saw the summary of the fight, But from what I saw, he was beating the shit outta Diaz pretty easily.

Diaz is a Chicago guy! I've been a fan of his for a while and even though he's just 32 years old, I think his best days in the ring are behind him. He's smart, funny, articulate, and leading up to this fight, he was writing articles for the Chicago Sun Times as a chronicle of his preparation for the fight. I'd like to think he has a few bucks saved and he can move-on to something else while he still has his wits about him...especially since he sounds like he was born with a few more wits than a lot of boxers...

tony b.

Manny the Pacman is the biggest thing in boxing right now!

He is blisteringly awesome!

I actually watched the fight and was impressed by PacMan. I'd gladly watch another of his fights.

Ring Magazine's rankings are a great way to see who the top guys of each division are without dealing with the BS of the "alphabet organizations". They have Pacquiao #1 on the pound-for-pound list.

Ring Magazine Rankings

Thanks for posting the link to the rankings, Freddie.

Two things:

What's up with all the Russians on the heavyweight lists??

What's up with all the added weight divisions (junior this and that)??

I'm familiar with only a handful of names.

What about the greatest round ever?!?!...:

Hagler vs Hearns (Round 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s--I8BsgDU

Hard to argue against that one, Ice.

I saw the fight live (on tv) and was almost disappointed in only went three rounds. Both Hagler and Hearns were awesome fighters.

Except for Calzaghe, there isn't one decent "champion" in any of the weight classes above middleweight.

I would love to see some of their old rankings (going back some years). Anyone know if they're available anywhere online?

My brother taped that fight, and he and I watched it every day that summer. I was a fan of both fighters, but I was rooting for Hearns.

SC,the heavyweight ranks are dominated by the Russians these days. Decent American big fellas are thin on the ground now.

Times change eh?

Saw the Pac-Man/Diaz bout last night via DVR. Geez, the Pac-Man was dynamite! Diaz was incredibly game, but it was Manny from the opening bell--the guy's like a buzzsaw--Wayne McCullogh with muscle. No doubt about it: best pound-for-pounder.

Here are my top 10 fighters to keep an eye on in the future.

1. David Haye UK. Has won belts at cruiserwieght but is now moving up to heavy. He is a dynamite puncher and a colourful character,but he can also be hurt. He is the one to challenge the Russian heavywieght dominance.

2. Carl Froch UK. Super-middle who has been in Joe Calzaghe's shadow the last few years. Another awesome puncher who will win a world title very soon.

3. Kelly Pavlik US. Strong,future Hall of Famer,and my current favourite fighter. Has it all,seems very normal,just loves to fight and does it very well.

4. Miguel Cotto Puerto Rico. Unbeaten,aggressive puncher who just breaks down whoever is in front of him. He was the one man i would have liked to see fighting Mayweather,because i think he would have beaten him.

5. Ricky Hatton UK. British favourite. Awesome support. good,exciting fighter and a top chap. He is on the slide a bit now i think but still has big bouts ahead of him.

6.Joan Guzman Dom. Rep. Talented,lightning quick lightweight who can punch anybody out. Not well known,but great talent.

7. Manny Pacquiao Phillipines. The human whirlwind. Biggest boxer in the world right now and fabulous to watch. Rising up the weights,beating all and sundry. Sheer brilliance.

8. Edwin Valero Venezuala. An unbeaten junior featherweight who has done most of his boxing in Japan but is now coming to the US. This guy is a wrecking machine of the highest order.

9. Israel Vasquez Mex. One of those legendary Mexicans who are only 20-odd years old,but look about 60 and have been pro fighting since they were 3 A real teak tough brawling warrior. Typical Mexican.

10. Steve Molitor Canada. A super smooth,classy boxer as opposed to brawler. Beautiful jab,great on the inside,super stamina. Most of his fights go the distance and he never loses a round.


A few big names names not there but these are just my current favourites and tips for top success!

Tomorrow Wladimir Klitschko defends his two heavyweight belts against Tony Thompson. It's on HBO live at 4:30 with a replay at 10:00 US eastern time. Thompson is considered the best American heavyweight, so I am interested to see how he holds up against the best in the world.

I predict a Klitschko win on points!

Vai Sikehema TKO of Jose Canesco, Round 1, at Bernie Robbins Stadium in Atlantic City. Jose is 7 inches taller and 30 lbs. heavier.....the harder they fall. Vai donated $5,000 to the family of a Philadelphia policeman who was killed in the line of duty.

What a lame fight! Thompson barely bothered to throw punches, and when he did, they were pitty-pats. Klitschko was totally unimpressive. He KO'd Thompson in the 11th, when it was clear that Thompson gave up. Knocked him down, and Thompson just laid his head on his gloves.

If Thompson is the best heavyweight in the US then things are worse than i thought

One young American heavy i like who could gp onto something is a guy called Chris Arreola from California. At least he can knock guys out and looks like he wants to fight!

Alas, things are worse than you thought.


I agree. I saw two of Areola's fights recently, and I was impressed for the same reason: he wants to fight. Not much finesse, though.

I agree TB with his lack of finesse but compared to the likes of Chazz Witherspoon(who Arreola has just beaten),Fast Eddie Chambers,Calvin Brock,Tye Fields & Travis Walker he looks like Mohammed Ali

A big fight was announced yesterday. Kelly Pavlik will fight Bernard Hopkins at a catch weight of 170lbs on October 18th in Atlantic City. I am really excited about this fight and will most likely make the trip to AC to watch it. Being the most prominent Philly fighter right now, Hopkins is my favorite and I think its great that he is still getting big fights at age 43. I actually thought that he beat Joe Calzaghe in April. He scored the only knockdown and Calzaghe's face was clearly in worse shape at the end of the fight. Calzaghe just threw more punches which is the only way to explain his split decision victory.

Pavlik will beat Hopkins but it will be a good fight!

Yes he will. Pavlik is really, truly hot now. Hopkins is a marvel of the ages. As Freddie said, he was very impressive against Calzaghe. But, as Freddie also said, Calzaghie threw more punches. That can be a decisive factor if Hopkins' age forces him to a defensive posture.

Although Calzaghe is from the UK i have never really warmed to him. It is only the last 3 or 4 fights that he has come into the big time. The years leading up to those were full of disappointments,poor displays and excuses.

However you can never take anything away from an unbeaten fighter, especially one of Joe's calibre!

There is talk of him facing Pavlik if they beat Jones and Hopkins. If Joe wants to keep his unbeaten record he wants to stay away from Pavlik.

Missed it last night because i was at work but Miguel Cotto lost his unbeaten record to the tough Mexican Antonio Margarito aka "The Tijuana Tornado".

Apparently it was a classic so i will have to keep an eye peeled for a re-run.


One of the older guys at work last night told me a funny story. He is in his early 60's now and due to retire shortly but in the early 1960's when he was a young man his first job was in a hotel as a lift operator.

Now back then somebody bought fearsome heavy champ Sonny Liston to the UK for a promo tour. He rode a white horse through Newcastle city centre apparently.

Well he was staying at my work pals hotel by the train station and later got into the lift with him accompanied by his 2 bodyguards,who were even bigger than Sonny

One of the bodyguards leaned over to my pal and said "Hey pal,if Mr. Liston stands on your foot in this lift make sure you say sorry cos you don't want to make him angry".

My pal says he was terrified (he was only 17 an 4 stone wet through)
He looks at Sonny in abject terror and Sonny just winked at him and then gave him a £5 note when he got out. We had a good chuckle when he told us this last night

You're right Yogi, Cotto-Margarito was a classic and it definitely lived up to the hype. Cotto was the better "boxer" and hit Margarito with clean shots throughout the fight, but Margarito was able to withstand those blows and just kept coming forward and threw flurries of punches. Cotto won many of the early rounds while Margarito turned it on late. After 10 rounds, I had it scored 95-95. The left hook Margarito landed in the 11th for the first knockdown was right on the mark. Cotto's face after he got up was all anyone needed to see that the fight was almost over.


I am curious to see where these two go from here. A rematch right away is unlikely because there was no rematch clause in the contract (although I would love to see it). Margarito wants to fight Oscar De La Hoya in December for De La Hoya's final fight. While that would be an interesting fight, I think that De La Hoya would have little chance to win and therefore would be better off making the rumored fight with Manny Pacquiao. I would like to see Margarito in a rematch with Paul Williams, who he lost to via a close decision last year. Both hold welterweight belts and it would be the best match that can be made in the division right now. As for Cotto, he is a great fighter and there are still big fights in his future.

Pacquiao would be the easier opponent?

Good point DS!

I have heard the rumours off his fight with Oscar but surely the weight difference is to much.......even for boxing