MONEY MAYWEATHER DOMINATES MOSLEY

Floyd Mayweather Jr. W 12 Shane Mosley SCORES: 119-109, 119-109, 118-110

Many people thought this would be a stiff test for Money Mayweather, and yet again it was easy money. Most of the boxing world has called for Floyd to fight bigger opponents, and the best com petition available. If he would have picked an easy opponent he would have been just like another Roy Jones Jr. Not fighting the best, fighters can ruin a legacy, and anger boxing fans. What are they going to say about Floyd now? Not only did he fight the best welterweight that was available, he fought a pound for pound guy. Many people wanted to see how he would face adversity, and he passed with flying colors. He was rocked, and significantly stunned in the second round. He rebounded by winning rounds 3 through 12. I thought that Shane would have given him a tough test, but I was wrong. I wish Shane would have listened to Brother Nazim, and followed a game plan but he did not. He was gracious in defeat and that is the sign of a true champion. No excuses, or ill words for a man who talked much trash about him. I don't see Paquiao, being able to solve the Mayweather riddle. I think he will fight hard but he throws to many punches, and will get countered all night. Either way the fight must be made, and if it isn't then shame on both of them. Manny should either take the tests, to make this fight happen. If Floyd can not get a fight with Manny he should fight Paul Williams. Paul throws a ton of punches and is very tall. The size could give Mayweather some problems, but it probably wont. I think Floyd should, fight Manny, Paul, Andre Berto, maybe the winner of the Devon Alexander vs. Tim Bradley fight, and then retire.

BROTHER NAZIM RICHARDSON: A TRUE MASTERMIND

Most people are saying Shane Mosley's best tools he has to defeat Floyd Mayweather are his size, speed, and power. I'm saying it is a great game plane from the brilliant fight architect Nazim Richardson. We have seen what he has done with Shane for his last fight against Antonio Margarito. Nazim gets results, and his work with Bernard Hopkins speaks for itself. He is truly an old-school boxing guy, who eats, sleeps, and breathes the sweet science. He watches countless hours of tape of his fighters opponents. He finds their weakness and designs a game plan to exploit it. He not only prepares his fighter for fight night by breaking down there opponent. He more importantly refines there game and focuses in on there abilities, and strengths. He tunes up his fighters like a muscle car and makes them run to their full potential. If you would have asked me who would win a match up between Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. before Shane employed the corner legend, I would have said hands down Floyd. I'm still picking Floyd but now its not as easy to pick a winner, because of the Nazim factor. He wants his guys "to swim without getting wet". Boxing isn't just throwing punches, or knocking guys out, it is hitting with out getting hit. 40 people have tried and failed against Floyd Mayweather Jr., there hasn't been a game plan that has worked thus far. If anyone in the sport of boxing can do it Nazim is surly a man who is capable of it. Think about what this man has done, lets forget about boxing for a minute. He is a man who speak the truth, he not only teaches boxing lessons, also life lessons. He has dedicated himself to Islam when he was a young man, and it has served him well. It has transformed him into a humble teacher, who knows it can all be taken away in a split second. He suffered a major stroke a few years ago that would have ended many peoples life. He fought back, and made a full recovery. The doctors said that he wouldn't be able to talk, walk, and for sure not train again. His submission to God has propelled him to make a total recovery. I have worked in nursing homes for many years and know that it is very hard to recover from such a setback. You can't even tell that he had a stroke, it is completely amazing. His determination, and hard work recovering has transitioned from him to his fighters. When a man believes in himself, and your ability it can have a real effect, just ask Antonio Margarito, and Kelly Pavlik.

PACQUIAO BREAKS THROUGH WITH PPV BUYS

Manny proves he is a crossover star by selling 700,000 pay-per-views, with relative unknown for an opponent. Only boxing fans know who Joshua Clottey is, but everyone knows who Manny Pacquiao is. The 700,000 PPV buys that Manny sold equals a total revenue of $35.3 million dollars. That total will be added on to the 51,000 people who walked through the gate in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium. He is a huge star and can generate a ton of people any time he steps in the ring. Just imagine how much money a Paquiao vs. Mayweather fight would have done, or will do. With break-through numbers like this he truly is the people's champ. If I got was that popular and could draw crowds like that I would probably want to run for office too. I just hope he doesn't win until he is done boxing.

WEC Ratings Dip Could Signal Trouble For First PPV

A night filled with action packed fights on the Versus network this past weekend was highlighted by dominant performances by Joseph Benavidez and newly minted Champion Dominick Cruz as well as the emotional retirement announcement from Jens Pulver. Unfortunately for these warriors the ratings for the show dipped to 42% lower than that of the last WEC show on Versus making it the second smallest viewership in the last two years of programming according to MMAjunkie.com. The card was not short on star power as it showcased the return of Miguel Torres and Jens Pulver as well as a title fight in the bantamweight division. That apparently wasn't enough and that does not bode well for the company looking to air it's first ever pay-per-view card in April at WEC 48. Now a significant number of viewers who subscribe to DirectTV still do not have access to the station thanks to a contractual beef between the network and the satellite carrier. That amounts to around 18 million subscribers that could not tune in if they wanted to.
The company's golden boy Urijah Faber is set to headline the pay-per-view broadcast challenging Jose Aldo for the title, so there may be light at the end of the tunnel. However, with the price tag of $44.95 attached to it, lots of fans are opting out of purchasing the fight. This is unfortunate for the fighters who get a cut of the PPV buys and probably look to make a significant amount more money than the Versus aired telecasts. For a card put on by The WEC to carry that high of a price tag right from the start may be too much to ask of fans for a live event that can regularly be seen on cable television. Not to mention the fact that most MMA fans are trying to keep up with the plethora of UFC events that are broadcast nearly every month with that same price tag. In my opinion what needs to happen now is the WEC PPV price needs to be lowered until they can get people used to the idea of paying for the shows as well as having The UFC put on more free shows rather than PPV to let the little guys in the WEC shine.
The WEC is consistently putting on amazing shows packed full of the best talent south of 155lbs and if anyone deserves the extra cheese its them. As of right now the PPV market seems to saturated with MMA programming to sustain another show regularly, but we wont know for sure until the numbers come back from WEC 48.

The UFC's Oversaturation of the PPV Market

 (This Tito-Forrest Fight Will Be Tits...Trust Me!) 

Dave Meltzer is reporting that UFC 104, which had two top draws in Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz, pulled relatively poor PPV numbers in the range of 360,000-375,000.  One reason that could be is the fact that Tito Ortiz hasn't won a fight since who knows when and Forrest is coming off of such a bad loss that fans probably weren't all that thrilled to see him again. A lot of people are going to get all doom and gloom about the situation and the haters will say that the UFC is losing momentum and MMA is falling off.  I don't subscribe to that theory myself.  The problem with the promotion right now is that they are throwing together PPV cards with sub-par main events and expecting the public to drop $50.00 to see it live. Due to injuries plaguing some of the promotions top stars Dana and company had to hastily pull together cards to fill the void and keep their pay-per-view schedule on track. What they should have done is combine some of these cards to make a truly stellar card that would have been an event worth the price of admission. The fighters that are headlining said sup-par cards should be aired for free on either the UFC's cable home, Spike TV, or the promotion needs to finally broker a deal with a major network. In addition to those options, HBO is the premier location for Boxing on premium subscriber channels and it should be the same for the premier league of MMA. Because of the incessant demands of the UFC to control all aspects of the show deals are not getting done and the fans are the ones who lose out.  Instead of taking the same roads that the WWE or whatever wrestling promotions are around these days, the UFC needs to buck up and give the fans of this great sport the respect and treatment we deserve after we've layed down serious money and made them even richer than station casinos. The rise of the UFC and MMA has forced Boxing to step it's game up and make the matches the people want to see and, at least some of the time, bypass a bit of the bullshit politics that have had such a negative influence in the past.  I am a die-hard MMA fan and will always support Mixed Martial Arts, but the UFC needs to stop trying to sell turds and telling people they're gold nuggets if they want this trend of dwindling PPV numbers to stop in its tracks.