15 Minutes of Fame -- Firepower Edition

Posted by Ryan Bates on 11.13.2009

From Manny and Miguel to double standards to boxers who sing, this is what Rhino has to say about boxing in the short time span of fifteen minutes.

My 15 minutes of fame are being taken inside the MGM Grand Media Room in preparation for Firepower and the crowd is nuts already!! It's 11:36am, and my 15 minutes of fame begins...

...NOW!



-- I LOVE FIGHT WEEK! The buzz, the energy... everyone around is ready for the fight and everyone around has an opinion. Right now the Manny fans are overpowering the Cotto fans, but you never know how that buzz will turn out.

-- Just said What's up to Nonito Donaire. He's going to have a fight out here at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13. Welcome back to boxing, Hilton. It's going to be another "Pinoy Power." Hopefully I can get him to do his Filipino superhero impression again.

-- Then again, "Wapakman" might have something to say about that.

-- Undercard fight of the night will be Gomez/Soto-Karass. Mark my words. Both men are hungry to go to the next level, and as Bob Arum said yesterday, neither man has been in a boring fight lately.

-- More cheers for Manny outside the media room. Weigh in is still hours away! They were lining up at 5:30am!

-- Switching gears to this whole Pavlik debacle, did I not say way back in August that something like this would happen? I was even starting to give Pavlik the benefit of the doubt when there were reports that his staph infection medicine caused a severe allergic reaction. But to turn around and schedule a bout only two weeks later? Against a scrub like Miguel Espino? In Youngstown? I want to find the person who can defend that. I dare you. It's a total duck of Paul Williams. If you combined Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, and the AFLAC Duck, it would still not be as big of a duck as this move was.

-- Diaz/Malignaggi II is finally official, and it will be in Chicago. As far as I know, only their local politicians are corrupt, right? RIGHT?

-- Mosley/Berto sounds like it will be official as of tomorrow. Kudos to Berto for FINALLY stepping his game up. I mean, he is WBC welterweight champion, after all. Too bad I have a feeling he'll be beat pillar to post.

-- I'm going to be on SIRIUS radio at some point this coming week... pay attention to my Twitter (@BoxerRhino) for more information.

-- Souvenir of the fight weekend? The Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto bobbleheads. Aren't they adorable? Now you can sit in the stands, and any time one of their heads snaps back, you too can recreate it, RIGHT AT YOUR SEATS!

-- Did Chad Dawson dominate Glen Johnson or what? The major complaints from that fight, from what I've heard, is that A.) the 115-113 cards were bull-spanky, and B.) that Chad Dawson didn't step on the gas enough toward the end to finish Johnson. While I agree... isn't there some guy from Grand Rapids, Michigan who also doesn't tend to step on the gas when he's dominating? Roll call: Double standard? Here!

-- Those who are upset with Yuri Foreman's overly-technical style... isn't there some guy from Grand Rapids, Michigan who's also overly-technical? Double standard? Present!

-- Dear Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, and Floyd Mayweather Jr: I thought you guys would have been nice enough to warn Manny Pacquiao what a bad idea it is for boxers to release music. For shame.

STOP THE CLOCK! It's 11:52, and those were my 15 minutes of fame. I'm waiting for Ramon now... I'm going to ride on his shoulders around the arena so I don't get mobbed!