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Archive for December, 2009

At the age of 31, Pacman or the Fighting Pride of the Phillipines, as he is known to his fans, Manny Pacquiao has won 50 of his 55 fights and lost only three. Thirty eight of his 50 win have been knock-outs. He has seven world titles in seven different weight divisions. Voted by Time magazine as one of the World’s most influential person in 2009, Manny Pacquiao is the modern day Muhammad Ali, well at least metaphorically.

Pacquiao was born on December 17, 1978 in Mindanao, Phillipines and started his professional boxing career at the age of 16. In November 2003, he won against Marco Antonio Barerra, in what was his first fight in featherweight division. There was no looking back after that victory. Six month later he fought a highly controversial draw against another Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez. He fought Mexican legend Erik Morales thrice in years to come, beating his twice and winning by knockout in the second contest. It was the first time Morales was knocked out in his career.

In late 2008, he beat Oscar de la Hoya, in what is believed as the highest grossing boxing fight in recent times. It was also tagged “The Dream Match” and made Pacquiao richer by 15 to 30 million dollars. In 2009, he took on British boxer Ricky Hatton in what was billed “The East vs West Contest”. Hatton was knocked out in the second round by the Mexicutioner and suffered an embarrassing defeat.

In November 2009, he defeated Miguel Cotto, thereby winning the WBO World Welterweight title. Manny has reportedly agreed to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr in March 2010 for a kitty of 50 million dollars. But the bout looks to be in jeopardy due to dispute over drug testing methods.

Be sure to follow Manny Pacquiao who is rapidly becoming the most recognisable boxing icon of recent times.

Paolo Maldini is a former Italian footballer and widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders in the history of the game. He played left back for both Milan and Italy during a career spanning 3 decades.

Maldini is distinguished as being one of the few top class footballers to spend his entire career with one club. Brought up through the Milan youth ranks he made his professional debut in 1985 in a league match against Udinese at the age of just 16 and continued playing until 2009 – a career spanning 24 glorious years at the end of which Milan retired his no. 3 shirt as a sign of respect. In fact many of the players on the pitch during his final professional match in 2009 weren’t even born when Maldini made his debut in 1985! He also made a record 126 appearances for Italy, scoring 7 goals, though sadly he never won a major honour at international level. A narrow defeat against France in the 2000 European Championships where Italy had the better of the game was the closest he came.

During his career he played in an amazing 9 champions cup finals, and during one scored the fastest goal in the competition’s history in just 51 seconds against Liverpool in 2005, and he won 5 trophies. The last of these came in 2007 when he captained Milan to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool. He also won European Cups in 1989, 1990, 1994 and 2003. Probably the most impressive of these was in 1994 when Milan destroyed a much-fancied Barcelona in 45 minutes winning the game 4-0. The side of that season also set a Serie A record of just 15 goals conceded, a record unlikely ever to be broken, Maldini being part of a back four also comprising Baresi, Tassotti and Costacurta and which is regarded by many as the strongest defence in club football history. As Milan went into decline in the late 90s, overshadowed by Juventus and a brief spell in the limelight for Lazio and Roma, many thought Maldini had probably won his last European Champions League medal, however he defied the odds and went on to win a further 2 in 2003 and 2007.

Before retiring there were calls from sections of the Italian media for Maldini to receive a final call up to the national team to honour his achievements. Marcello Lippi agreed to this and the Italian Football Federation offered him a place in the side to face Northern Ireland in a friendly. Maldini, showing the humility that made him much loved throughout Italian football, declined the offer. His final appearance for the Rossoneri came in a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina in 2009. He ended his career with 5 European Cups, 7 Serie A titles, 5 World Club Championships, 4 European Super Cups, 1 Coppa Italia and 5 Italian super cups. No other player in the modern era has won a comparable amount of silverware on both the domestic and European fronts.

Maldini will be remembered not just as a great footballer but also as an ambassador of the game who conducted himself in a dignified and responsible manner both on and off the field. There has been talk of him moving into coaching, however he has also expressed a desire in past to get involved in the running of the game with UEFA or FIFA. None of these possibilities has yet materialised, but it is unlikely football has seen the last of this legendary left back.

No matter who you ask, there is no doubt that the greatest boxer to ever grace a boxing ring is the incomparable Muhammad Ali. Born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942, Ali had a glittering amateur career before he became the best known sportsman in the world. Under the guidance of Fred Stoner, he won 100 fights with only five losses. Ali also won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in Rome at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

His first professional fight was on October 29, 1960 when he outpointed police chief Tunney Hunsaker over six rounds. Over the next three years, Ali won another 18 fights with 15 of them ending in a knockout. He became known for his poetic prediction of the round in which the fight would finish and this combined with his boasting when he beat opponents, resulted in his nickname of the “Louisville Lip”.

Amongst his next fights was a bout against the UK’s Henry Cooper, a bout that resulted in Cooper clubbing Ali to the ground in the fourth round before Cooper suffered deep cuts over in his eyes in the fifth and the referee stopped the fight.

By February 1964 Ali had earned a crack at the World title held by Sonny Liston. Starting as the massive underdog, Ali taunted Liston from the start and the young pretender gave the old master a lesson in the noble art before Liston failed to rise from his stool for the start of the seventh round. Ali was champion and he wasted no time in telling the world!

The rematch in May 1965 was even more decisive and Ali knocked out Liston in the first round. Over the next couple of years, Ali defended the title successfully against a range of contenders including Floyd Patterson, Henry Cooper, Ernie Terrell and Zara Folley, before his refusal to be drafted into the army led to him having his professional boxing license suspended.