ARUM SWEETENED THE DEAL FOR COTTO TO FACE MARGARITO

ARUM SWEETENED THE DEAL FOR COTTO TO FACE MARGARITO Calling his opponent "a criminal," Cotto is sure that Margarito was dirty when they fought, and believes Margarito knew about the hand wraps applied to his fists by former trainer Javier Capetillo. Margarito has denied knowledge, and Arum believes him. "Margarito believes, as I do, that he is innocent of everything," said Arum. "I really believe that and I have believed it from the beginning." Asked if his support of Margarito upset Cotto, Arum said, "of course it has, and it's affected a lot of things that the press and the media writes about me." "But I'm a man. F__k it, I'm going to stand up for what I believe is right," said Arum, who turns 80 on Dec. 8. "Maybe if I was 30 years younger, maybe I wouldn't do that. But at my age, I'm going to stand up for what I believe is right." COTTO TAKES THE FIGHT AS MONEY TALKS So disgusted with Margarito was Cotto that he nearly did not take the fight, having vowed, after their initial bout, not to allow Margrito to profit from his name. But Arum sweetened the deal. "It took me quite an effort to convince Cotto and his people to do the fight. He has this hate for Margarito, and he didn't want Margarito to make a penny in the ring with him," said Arum. "That's what he said. I convinced them. I gave them a great deal. And he's going to make a lot of money. Ultimately, money talks. I couldn't have made this fight on normal terms. Just money. That's enough." ARUM GETS A KNICKS' JERSEY Arum, whose 80th birthday is on Dec. 8, was given a New York Knicks' jersey with that number on it by Midison Square Garden's Executive Vice President Joel Fisher during the press conference. WHAT'S NEXT FOR JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR.? Arum said Saturday night's Cotto-Margarito II winner could be in line to face WBC middleweight beltholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KOs), who will be at ringside for the fight. "Chavez will be here. Cotto and Margarito have both expressed the desire to fight Chavez," said Arum. "Chavez wants to fight the winner of the fight. So maybe that's the fight that I make." Citing potential issues over a catchweight, Arum all-but ruled out an all-Mexican matchup between Chavez Jr. and WBC 154-pound titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs). "I'm not optimistic that I can make the Alvarez fight with Chavez because of the weight issue. You know, Chavez is a big kid, and I can't tell him to go down to 156. That's bad for his health. That doesn't make any sense. Maybe 158, but that's even tough," said Arum. "But if he fights a Miguel or a Margarito, it would be at 160 or something. I don't think that Margarito would have a problem with 160, but Miguel might ask for 158. I don't know. But 158, [Chavez's] strength trainer, [Alex] Ariza tells me is doable." Another potential opponent for Chavez could be come-backing promotional stablemate and former undisputed middleweight titleholder Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs), who has moved up to super middleweight. Wait one Fucking minute! The stuff that great promoters are made of is to put a boxer, who has no business being in the sport anymore, who has suffered 2 crushing defeats since he was caught being a cheater, in a huge multi million dollar payday fight? Marketing the fact that he's a criminal to make more money. And also that he knows how to squeeze more money from a venue makes him a great promoter? That is insanity! The best promoters are the ones that make the best fights out there! Bob has always avoided that, to keep his fights In House so he makes all the money off it. And Goldenboy is at the very least, equal to top rank. Plus they have a better stable of fighters. And they are willing to do cross promotions. He promoted Floyd and Oscar for a while before they jumped ship. He promoted Ali, Hagler (my favorite boxer), Hearns, and Chavez Sr. There's no denying his ability to sign top talents and promote them. However, you are correct... he is a greedy pig. I believe Floyd and Oscar left because they thought he was screwing them out of money, which is probably true for Manny and Donaire now. He's a scumbag. Margarito never deserved to fight Manny, or Cotto... but people keep paying for the fights and Arum continues to fly high. It won't stop until fans stop paying for his events.dunk sb

about Mistral Raymond

 Mistral Raymond (born September 7, 1987) is an American football safety for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Vikings with the 170th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. In a computer class, Mistral learns to make spreadsheets and he creates one listing every FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college team, scouring the Internet for phone numbers and emails until he has the contact information for every head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Nobody tells him to do this but he senses that if he doesn¡¯t, he is done as a football player. He sends emails to every coach, attaching a link to a highlight tape a friend has made for him. He prays that at least one of these coaches will see his letter, be curious enough to watch his video and then call back. But none do. So now he is asking a friend to borrow her car. He tells her he wants to use it that night to go to the nightclubs and will return it in the morning. In reality, he has plans to leave immediately for Detroit with a handful of teammates to attend a junior college combine. Maybe there someone will notice. And it turns out somebody does. The coach from Temple takes his information and promises to stay in touch. But nothing ever happens and he wonders if his chance will ever come. As a student at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa, Mistral Raymond met with then-Senator Barack Obama. (Courtesy of Mistral Raymond) He is standing now, early in 2008, in an Iowa Falls house about to shake hands with a man who will soon be famous. This was his mother¡¯s idea. ¡°Always keep your dreams.¡± How many times had Valencia Raymond said those words? Her husband, also named Mistral, had stayed around long enough to have four children with her, then left, abandoning three girls and a boy with his first name. Lymphedema and diabetes made her sick, swelling one leg to 100 pounds, eventually keeping her from work. For a few years the family lived in a public housing complex. And yet in the bleakness of the apartment building, her unit sparkled. The furniture might have come from Goodwill but it was clean and all the pieces, put together, looked like they belonged in a design magazine. Valencia was forever telling stories about great men, people Mistral should study. Martin Luther King. Muhammad Ali. Follow their paths, see what they did, she¡¯d say. Lately, she has become infatuated with a man she keeps seeing on her television. She loves the way he talks, the things he says. And she tells Mistral he needs to listen, too. ¡°Don¡¯t you see what¡¯s happening?¡± she says to her son. ¡°He¡¯s going to make it and so can you.¡± Before meeting the future President, Mistral Raymond met soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama. (Courtesy of Mistral Raymond) The previous night she called, her voice excited. ¡°I heard on the news that the man I¡¯ve been telling you about is going to be in your town today,¡± he remembers her saying. ¡°You should go see him.¡± And so Mistral got up the next morning and walked the four or so blocks to the house where this man named Barack Obama is holding a fundraiser before the Iowa Caucus. Mistral stepped in the door and started a conversation with the candidate¡¯s wife, Michelle, who he¡¯s now been talking to for several minutes. He thinks her perfume has the sweetest scent he has ever smelled. Her pearls glow. And when her husband comes down the stairs after speaking to the crowd in the house, she waves him over, introducing him to this football player she just met. Obama smiles. ¡°What¡¯s a guy from Florida doing all the way up in Iowa?¡± he asks. It is not long after Mistral met Obama and he is holding his cell phone, listening in disbelief. Just a couple of hours ago he fell asleep to the Halle Berry movie ¡°Things We Lost In The Fire¡± and here Valencia is telling him her house had been firebombed. Everything is gone. The best he can understand is someone was seeking revenge on a cousin who lived next door and threw jars of fire into the wrong house, waiting with guns to shoot those who came running out. The gunmen hit his sister Nanise seven times with bullets, injuring her. It will take more than a year for her to learn to walk again but she survives. Nanise eventually escaped the house through another entrance, along with her children, Valencia and another sister. Mistral Raymond, pictured with, from left, mother Valencia and sisters Nanise, Ronique and Misha. (Courtesy of Mistral Raymond) Valencia¡¯s voice sounds hopeful on the phone. It seems incongruous to Mistral given the disaster that¡¯s just happened. But this is her way, never wanting to disrupt the football dream she¡¯s always encouraged Mistral to pursue. She says she is fine but it will soon become clear she is not. She has inhaled a great deal of smoke and her breathing ¨C which had not been good before the fire ¨C gets worse. There will be trips to the hospital, the search for a new house and the horror of that night will scar his sisters in ways none of them could have imagined. Valencia makes Mistral promise he will stay at Ellsworth where he finally got to play the previous fall after redshirting for a season. But he will not remain long. Within three weeks it is clear he is going to have to return home. His grandmother, Jean Moreland, worries about him. She is concerned that as the lone male in the family he will want to find out who did this and the cycle of insanity will continue. She tells him everyone needs to stay within boundaries and that the worst thing that can happen is revenge. ¡°Believe in the Lord and the law,¡± she says. And in the end she is sure he listened. ¡°He didn¡¯t want to know [the identity of the attackers] because he didn¡¯t know how he would feel,¡± she later says. But now Ellsworth is gone. He is not in college. He has no next school, no plan, nothing but the belief that some football program is going to be interested in him. The University of South Florida has just finished a spring football practice and Mistral Raymond is standing on the other side of the fence, looking through the chain links, waving. This is probably his last chance at football and so he has come to the FBS school closest to Palmetto to plead for an opportunity, begging to be a walk-on even though he isn¡¯t even a student at the school. He¡¯s scoured the spreadsheet, memorizing the names he needs to know. He clutches a DVD of the highlight tape his friend made and he¡¯s certain he sees USF¡¯s coach, Jim Leavitt. ¡°Hey, Coach!¡± he screams, ¡°Coach!¡± Leavitt stops and walks over. Only it¡¯s not Leavitt, it¡¯s the offensive line coach Mike Simmonds, who has nothing to do with safeties. But there is something about the desperation in Mistral¡¯s longing for a chance that touches Simmonds. Later he will realize he coached against Mistral in a high school playoff game, but for now he is taken by Mistral¡¯s desire. He tells Mistral to wait outside the football offices and he will try to have the defensive backs coach come talk to him. The taste of a bowl victory is sweet for Mistral Raymond and USF. The Bulls defeated Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl last year. (US Presswire) For two hours Mistral lingers outside the building, the DVD in his hand. Finally he is summoned inside. Probably for the first time college coaches will examine the highlight tape he has sent everywhere and they will be impressed with his ferocity, the way he dives into ball-carriers. ¡°You could tell he was a good player,¡± Simmonds will later say. ¡°There were highlights.¡± Mistral will come to stand in front of the building several more times that spring, waving to the coaches, calling Simmonds, begging for a chance. Several years later, Simmonds will explain that it is almost impossible for a player to talk his way onto a team at the level of South Florida. Coaches never have time to read the emails. They rarely watch the tapes. Unless you find a way to get yourself in front of the coaches, they will never consider a blind request for a chance. ¡°The only thing that works is persistence,¡± Simmonds tells Mistral. Mistral figures he can do that.dunk sb

Mayhem¡¯ gets his moment in the sun Jason

¡®Mayhem¡¯ gets his moment in the sun Jason ¡°Mayhem¡± Miller was surprised by the reaction he received when he walked into the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Nov. 12 during a prelim fight ahead of the UFC¡¯s Fox debut. ¡°I got a roaring ovation, which really shocked me,¡± said Miller, who coached the recently concluded season of ¡°The Ultimate Fighter¡± reality show. ¡°So I have to thank ¡®The Ultimate Fighter¡¯ show for putting me on that platform as far as UFC fans knowing who I am.¡± A little later in the night, during a hot fight between Dustin Poirier and Pablo Garza, loud boos cascaded through the building. More From Dave Meltzer Bellator won't bend on Chandler-Alvarez rematch Nov 30, 2011 UFC launches most ambitious travel plans yet Nov 23, 2011 If the reaction in Anaheim was any indication, there should be strong interest when Miller (24-7) faces Bisping (24-3) in a battle of ¡°The Ultimate Fighter¡± coaches on Saturday night¡¯s finale from The Pearl at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. After a nearly seven-year run that put the UFC on the map, the organization¡¯s final full fight card on Spike TV will feature the five-round bout as the main event. Miller has generated a variety of reactions from others in his colorful career. Because of his outrageous personality, which landed him the hosting role on MTV¡¯s ¡°Bully Beatdown¡± for three seasons and led to the ¡°TUF¡± coaching gig, some fans like him and some don¡¯t. But Saturday night, in his first UFC fight since spring 2005, Miller has the chance to make himself an instant favorite if he can wipe the often-cocky smile off Bisping¡¯s face. ¡°You always need a good guy/bad guy dynamic, but this time, I get to be the good guy,¡± Miller said. ¡°So in that one way, I appreciate him being a loudmouth [expletive].¡± Miller said he¡¯s watched Bisping for years, because they were in the same weight class, and fighting him was always in the back of his mind. ¡°I had no personal feelings for him at the start of the show, but I had personal feelings about him as a fighter,¡± Miller said. ¡°I knew from watching his fights than I could beat him. I¡¯ve watched his fights for a long time. He¡¯s gotten a lot of recognition for doing a job that I can do better. But in the show, he earned his way into the [expletive] Hall of Fame. ¡°The first week or two, he showed little hints of his arrogance and his selfishness, but as the weeks rolled on, he showed how immature and selfish he was. He¡¯s not a good person. All that backlash of hate against him is well deserved.¡± Bisping was constantly needling Miller throughout the taping, even when Miller¡¯s fighters got on an early winning streak. There were constant pranks, both good- and bad-natured. ¡° ¡®Bully Beatdown¡¯ taught me one lesson about reality television ¨C if you give it to them, they can use it,¡± Miller said. ¡°Bisping¡¯s been complaining about the editing of the show making him look like a jerk. No, you were a jerk and they showed it. You did it. They put it on TV. It¡¯s easier when you¡¯re not a complete tool to not mess up on TV.¡± As of now, Rebney hopes for a Prindle vs. Santos rematch on next season¡¯s first show, and then to have heavyweight champion Cole Konrad defend against that bout¡¯s winner toward the end of the season. Next season¡¯s dates and locations are TBD, as Rebney is currently in New York in meetings with Viacom, the promotion¡¯s majority owner. He hopes to have spring and even summer dates announced within the next few weeks. There were some bright spots in the fall, most notably the Alvarez vs. Chandler fight which did 269,000 pay-per-view buys even though the main event went head-to-head with UFC 139 prelims on Spike and the show was moved two hours early to avoid going against the UFC. But overall, ratings for the current season, not including the season finale on Nov. 26, were down 13 percent from the spring, from an average 204,000 viewers to 178,000. The ratings decline is due, as much as anything, to the plethora of UFC programming on Saturday nights the past three months. Bellator often either ran head-to-head with the UFC or to avoid direct competition moved two hours earlier. But those shows in the new time slot often fared poorly in the ratings. ¡°Honestly, you can¡¯t be moving your time slot and maximize your viewership,¡± Rebney said. ¡°There are too many entertainment options. It¡¯s not like growing up when you had only a few TV channels. You have 500 options if you have digital cable or satellite. If you move from one time slot to another, you hurt the consumers¡¯ ability to find your programming. When you¡¯ve got some NFL games, college football games or UFC, that competition will draw viewers away. We all draw from similar demos on a Saturday night.¡± Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:dunk sb

Cat Ear woman

Attach two small, pointed feline ears to the top of anything and the transformation is instant. Ever wondered why? Cat’s prowl. They stalk. They can purr with a quiet, knowing satisfaction or with a low rumble of just-try-me. Unlike human follies, feline error always lands on its feet. These things are all the strengths of association. They’re why we see cat-like details as powerfully seductive and dangerous, yet maddeningly sweet. You don’t have to be a cat-lover to make those mental associations. And so we get to this shoot from Glamour Spain. Model Luize Salmgrieze is cat woman, cat burglar, sex kitten. Unlike the bunny ears that were such a trend a few years ago, the cat ears lick clean the whimsical quirk and replace it with an injection of vintage cool. Mapi Vidal’s styling could’t hit the nail more precisely on the head: it’s swinging ’60s meets decidedly modern and it’s the kind of subtle thematic styling that you don’t have to save for halloween. Regular ear care is one of the most overlooked areas of cat health. Many people are actually afraid to clean their cat's ears because they are afraid of "hurting" their cat in the process. The result is that many cats come into our clinic with severe infections or mite infestations that could have been treated quickly and easily if caught earlier. Good routine ear care is very safe and consists of a weekly inspection and, if necessary, a cleaning. Some of the more common problems infecting cat ears include:http://www.27my.comdunk sb

Bollywood remembers Michael

Bollywood remembers Michael Jackson Reagan Gavin Rasquinha, TNN Jun 27, 2009, 12.00am IST (Micheal Jackson More Pics) Michael Jackson's blazing rise to stardom ¡ª and later fall from grace ¡ª is among the most startling of showbusiness tales. To call him an 'icon' would only give us a glimpse of a fraction of what he was. Jackson was a historic figure that the world over let into their lives, their language, their parties and their dance moves.The tragedy of Jackson's death at 50, reportedly from cardiac arrest, caps a career full of larger-than-life incidents. He was Wacko Jacko, the Moonwalker, the Man in the Mirror. He was Bad but not Dangerous. Off The Wall and yet the guy who most of us tried to emulate on the dancefloor when we were small. In the end, wipe away the three decades of plastic surgeries that deformed him, erratic behavior that made his name synonymous with the warping powers of fame and the child abuse trial, and what you have left is a child who never really grew up. The Peter Pan of Pop. Here's singers and musicians alike, many who wept when they heard of his sudden passing, mourn the loss of Michael Jackson. Ehsaan Noorani Michael Jackson, please say hello from all of us to Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, John Coltrane, Jaco Pastorius, Miles Davis, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Rick Wright and to all those brilliant musicians like yourself who are attending that biggest jam session in the sky! Rock on! Louis Banks The greatest pop icon of this century, Michael Jackson, lives on in everyone's hearts, through his music. His songs and his great performances will be remembered for ever and ever. Sonu Nigam Michael Jackson has become one with the Universe. Now the world will give him his due.http://www.27my.comdunk sb

Akon, Teddy Riley Could Release Additional Michael Jackson Songs

Akon, Teddy Riley Could Release Additional Michael Jackson Songs Akon ¡ª who collaborated with Jackson on the album's first single "Hold My Hand" ¡ª said that none of the material in his possession is in as finished a state as that track. "There were a lot of songs we actually got to start up," Akon told Billboard, "but the problem is we never really got a chance to finish them." However, he said, "I think whatever he left behind, there's ways we can make them sound really presentable to people and give them something to hold onto." Riley recently told Reuters about the amount of work that was required to make Jackson's vocals releasable. "I had to do more processing to the voice, which is why people were asking about the authenticity of his voice. What we did was utilize the Melodyne [technology] to get him in key ... which is the reason why some of the vibrato sounds a little off or processed, over-processed," Riley said. He added that the perfectionist Jackson "would never consider it being a final vocal." Indeed, Akon said he was "shocked and surprised" by the Michael album because Jackson "wouldn't want any of his songs to be released if they weren't completely done." That is the argument Jackson collaborator Will.i.am has cited when insisting that he will never release the unfinished MJ songs he worked on, adding that the Michael album "disgusts" him. Akon, however, feels differently. "The world knows that these songs are not completely finished," he said. "It's more of a situation where we can just take it and say, OK, this is something he left behind for us to enjoy. Even though it's not completely done, it's a great opportunity to hold on to something that could have been amazing." Back when Lady GaGa partied with the disco balls and poker chips, she had some creative guidance from Akon. The two worked together diligently to make sure everything GaGaloo put out was fantastical. But now, since she's grown into Mother Monster, Akon completely trusts her to be at the helm of her own creativity. http://www.27my.comdunk sb