Pacquiao-Cotto pay-per-view buys to reach 2 million? - Yahoo! Philippines News

Pacquiao-Cotto pay-per-view buys to reach 2 million?

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MANILA, Philippines - The recent welterweight megafight between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Puerto Rican WBO champion Miguel Cotto is expected to generate close to 2 million pay-per-view buys.

“They’re very good,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in an interview with Boxingtalk.com., referring to the PPV figures. “Yeah, it’s well over one million but I really don’t know. It will be somewhere north of one million.”

Rey Colón of the “El Vocero” of Puerto Rico reported that the fight, which Pacquiao won via a convincing 12th round TKO, made approximately two million pay-per-view buys generating at least $120 million in revenues.

No word on what Pacquiao´s cut will be but Cotto was mentioned to be making at least $10 million. (Related story on Page 21)

Pacquiao had a guaranteed purse of $13 million in the Cotto fight.

Arum has earlier indicated that he had “pretty much the final numbers” for Puerto Rico alone which he said “set a record” by surpassing the previous record of 80,000 for the Felix “Tito” Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya fight.

He also guessed that the Pacquiao-Cotto duel, billed as Firepower and which drew 16,200 fans at the MGM Grand Arena, did a little bit more than 110,000, adding that the fight would do around 1.3 million although he said there were no numbers from New York, Pennsylvania and California, which are big points.

In an interview with Boxingscene.com, Arum, however, said that he had the figures for San Diego and Hawaii “which were good numbers.”

Arum recalled that the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight last year did 1.25 million buys and in the East “so far we are doing 40 percent better and in the West we are doing about 10 percent less.”

Arum also said that “we are happy because we did well over a million homes and I think it will be closer to 1.5 million.”

There were keen interests on the number of PPV buys for the Pacquiao-Cotto fight since this will weigh heavily on the negotiations for the potential blockbuster fight between Pacquiao against the unbeaten Mayweather.

For one, Arum said he would wait for the final result of the PPV before making a move to negotiate with the Golden Boy Promotions, which handles Mayweather.

Even Mayweather Jr., who the world wants to be Pacquiao’s next opponent, has admitted that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight should do more buys than his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez which posted 1.1 million.

“I’ve done over a million homes by myself. Now we got Pacquiao and Cotto, two guys who have a pretty cool fan base, so if they do more homes than Mayweather, more power to them, but they supposed to. I don’t have no dance partner,” said Mayweather Jr. in an interview with Sky Sports. – Dante Navarro - (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

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Mayweather throws down gauntlet to Manny Pacquiao

LOS ANGELES -- Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would begin negotiations on a mega blockbuster fight within the next 24 hours, USA Today newspaper reported on Monday.

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MANNY PACQUIAO celebrates after beating Miguel Cotto Reuters

Mayweather told the paper that he wants to fight Pacquiao and it disturbs him that the Filipino won’t admit he wants the fight as well.

"Manny Pacquiao is the fighter and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he’s going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is," USA Today quoted Mayweather saying on Monday.

"I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘yes I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it.

"Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win."

Mayweather’s challenge comes just days after Pacquiao’s stunning systematic demolition of Puerto Rican champ Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

After a close first couple of rounds Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) switched to his uptempo style and pummeled Cotto for several rounds before the referee stepped in and stopped the one-sided slaughter.

The victory validated newly crowned World Boxing Organization welterweight champ Pacquiao as the greatest Asian fighter in history. It also helped raise his status, along with Mayweather, as two of the best current pound-for-pound fighters in boxing.

It was also the seventh world title in as many weight classes for Pacquiao, something even the American Mayweather cannot claim.

"Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer (Freddie Roach), talk for him," said Mayweather. "I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself."

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said he wants to make a deal but hopes egos don’t get in the way.

"All you have to know is that my fighter and his trainer Freddie Roach have gone on record saying they’re happy to fight Mayweather," said Arum who used to promote Mayweather.

"Hopefully we’ll be able to put this together. From our side, we’re willing."

In his last fight Mayweather decisioned Juan Manuel Marquez in September. Before that, he took a two-year hiatus from boxing. He has a reputation of being someone that is difficult to deal with.

"Maybe I prefer not to deal with him. But if your fighter wants a fight, you deal. Mayweather is not one of my favorite people and I’m sure I’m not one of his. What difference does that make?" Arum said.

Pacquiao said he is comfortable fighting at the welterweight (147-pound) division and would like to do it again. -- AFP

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African champ tests show she has male organs

PRETORIA, South Africa – Caster Semenya had heard the taunts and whispers – that she was different from other girls. Now the most intimate details of her anatomy are headline news, and there is worry about how the 18-year-old runner from a poor South African village will handle it all.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that gender tests show the world champion athlete has both male and female characteristics, but no ovaries or uterus, and has internal testes that produce large amounts of testosterone.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, which ordered the gender tests, refused to confirm or deny the reports. In a statement, the IAAF said it was reviewing the test results and will issue a decision in November.

South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile expressed horror at the handling of the affair and insisted Caster was female.

“We think her human rights have been violated and her privacy invaded,� Stofile said, adding that Semenya should be given legal advice and counseling.

Semenya dropped out of sight Friday. The South African Press Association quoted her coach, Michael Seme, as saying she would not take part in a 4,000-meter race at the South African Cross Country Championships in Pretoria because she was “not feeling well.�

Semenya won the 800-meter race at the world championships in Berlin on Aug. 19 by 2.45 seconds in a world-record 1 minute, 55.45 seconds. Even before that, though, her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build, and deep voice had prompted speculation about her gender.

The international federation had asked South African track and field authorities to conduct the gender verification test after she posted a world-leading time of 1:56.72 at the African junior championships in July.

Semenya’s father, Jacob, expressed anger when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday, saying people who insinuate his daughter is not a woman “are sick.� AP


African champ tests show she has male organs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

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LA Dodgers, Phillies win home openers

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers and defending champion Philadelphia started off on the right foot as the home teams prevailed in the opening day of the National League play-offs yesterday.

Matt Kemp got the Dodgers humming early with a first-inning homer en route to a 5-3 win over St. Louis and the Phillies rode pitcher Cliff Lee to a 5-1 rout of Colorado in game one of their NL division series. The Dodgers wasted no time getting to Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter and then got help from the bullpen to seal the victory.

"I was trying to be aggressive," Kemp said. "I put a pretty good swing on it and drove it to right field.

"Our bullpen is great. They got the job done."

The clubs established a Major League Baseball play-off record for a nine-inning game by stranding a combined 30 men on base.

Rafael Furcal earned three hits, including a triple, and knocked in a run for the Dodgers, who captured their second consecutive NL West title. Casey Blake finished two-for-four with a run batted in.

It took just three pitches for Los Angeles to score off Cy Young candidate Carpenter. He surrendered four runs on nine hits and walking four in five innings.

The Dodgers got a stellar performance from their pitchers. Randy Wolf gave up two runs on six hits and walked five in 3 2/3 innings. Jeff Weaver posted the final out in the fourth and looked just in solid in the fifth to record the victory.

Ronald Belisario tossed a perfect inning for Los Angeles and Kuo Hong-chih struck out pinch-hitter Troy Glaus to strand a two runners in the seventh.

George Sherrill and closer Jonathan Broxton finished it off.

Mark DeRosa went three-for-five with an RBI for the Cardinals.

St. Louis has dropped nine of their last 11 games dating back to the regular season.

Philadelphia’s Lee, making his postseason debut on the mound, scattered six hits, allowing a run only when the Rockies were down to their last out.

Philadelphia’s Raul Ibanez had two hits and drove in a pair of runs while Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth plated runners with extra-base hits off Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez.

Lee struck out five and baffled Colorado batters most of the day, retiring 16 in a row in one stretch. — AFP

BusinessWorld Online: LA Dodgers, Phillies win home openers

Japan wins Asia volley crown

JAPAN NEUTRALIZED Iran's power game and got a huge lift from its fringe players in scoring a come-from-behind 19-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 victory in the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball crown at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Japanese, losing finalists two years ago in Jakarta, silenced the predominantly Iranian crowd with their resolute floor defense and attacking depth to pull off a seven-game sweep of the 18-nation tournament held for the first time in the country.

Tatsuya Fukuzawa and Kunihiro Shimizu took turns in delivering the telling blows while seldom-used Yuta Yoneyama and Takaaki Tomimatsu came up with crucial hits as Japan repeated its title feat in 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2005.

Earlier, South Korea bucked a sluggish third set to dump China, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, and secure third place.

Kang Dong-jin, stepping up for the struggling star spiker Kim Yo-han, fired 19 hits to pace the Koreans, who were stung by a five-set defeat to finalist Iran in the semifinals Monday.

The Philippines wound up 15th in the 18-team field with its only win providing little satisfaction as its foe, Sri Lanka, flew home Monday and lost by forfeit.

Before the walkover win, the Filipinos, playing in their first international campaign in two years, took six losses, three coming at the hands of Southeast Asian rivals Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

The Filipinos, who won just three sets in their six losses, also bowed to Kazakhstan and Chinese-Taipei.

Kazakhstan finished fifth with a 25-18, 22-25, 25-10, 25-17 win over reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Indonesia, while 2007 champion Australia salvaged seventh after a 25-15, 25-21, 25-14 thumping of Chinese-Taipei.

India crushed Myanmar, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 for ninth, while Lebanon overpowered Vietnam, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22, for 11th place and Thailand took 13th spot with 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 walloping of Qatar.
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Japan wins Asia volley crown - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

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Hot Al-Hussaini lifts Eagles - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Hot Al-Hussaini lifts Eagles - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
GAME SUNDAY (Araneta Coliseum)
3 p.m.—Individual awards
3:30 p.m.—Ateneo vs Univ. of East
(Game 2 of best-of-three Finals)

MANILA, Philippines - Rabeh Al-Hussaini turned in a virtuoso performance in the final two minutes and lifted the Ateneo Blue Eagles within a win of claiming their second straight UAAP men’s basketball championship.

Al-Hussaini humbled the University of the East Warriors with a series of clutch shots to power the Blue Eagles to a 78-71 triumph in Game 1 of the UAAP Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
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BusinessWorld Online: Floyd Mayweather turns on critics after pounding popular Juan Manuel Marquez

LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather, Jr. rounded on his detractors after beating Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez with a unanimous points decision on his return to boxing yesterday.

"I’m never going to win," Mayweather, 32, told a post-fight news conference after dominating his first bout since coming out of a 21-month retirement.

"When am I going to get my just due and people just acknowledge that Floyd Mayweather is a great fighter?"

The American has been criticized in the past for avoiding some dangerous opponents and he was loudly booed by a majority of the 13,000-strong crowd as he made his way to the ring in the wake of the hugely popular Marquez.

Although Marquez was a world champion at three different weights, there was criticism of Mayweather’s selection of a former featherweight champion, who had most recently fought at lightweight, as his opponent for a welterweight bout.

That criticism intensified when Mayweather failed to make the contracted weight of 144 pounds on Friday, instead tipping the scales at 146 pounds, four pounds heavier than Marquez.

"To be the best, you got to beat the best in your era," said Mayweather, who was back in the ring for the first time since his 10th-round stoppage of Britain’s Ricky Hatton in December 2007.

"It’s not about weight classes. I came from a small weight class, too."

Mayweather won his first world title in 1998 at junior lightweight, 17 pounds lighter than the welterweight division in which he now competes.

The smaller and lighter Marquez, 50-5-1 (37 KOs) said: "I tried my best but the weight was a big problem.

Weight advantage

"I think there was a 20-pound difference in weight," he added, referring to the fighter’s respective weights on [Sunday]. "The weight was an advantage but Floyd’s a great fighter.

"He’s very fast and a very good counter puncher. I came to fight 12 hard rounds and a lot of people thought I was going to get knocked out. But I wasn’t and I hope I made Mexico proud."

Mayweather, who improved his career record to 40-0 with 25 knockouts, paid tribute to the gutsy display by the Mexican.

"Marquez is tough as hell," he said. "I hit him with a couple of shots and I thought: ’I know he’s going to go from this one,’ but he kept coming."

Immediately after the fight ended, Mayweather was challenged by fellow American and WBC welterweight champion Shane Mosley.

"I’m hoping that the best will fight the best," said Mosley. "That’s what the sport of boxing needs.

"I’m the number one welterweight champion out there right now and I’m the type that’s willing to fight anybody. I want to clean up the division so everyone will know I’m the best fighter."

Mayweather refused to be drawn into any speculation about his next opponent.

"Tonight’s not Shane Mosley’s night," he said. "No disrespect to Mosley, but he’s supposed to be in training camp, not worrying about me. All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather. Everybody wants to fight me. I can’t fight everybody."

BusinessWorld Online: Floyd Mayweather turns on critics after pounding popular Juan Manuel Marquez

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