Tag Archives: Sports

Firepower: Pacquiao v. Cotto Prediction (results)

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Update : Pacquiao wins in the 12th round. Ref Stoppage. It wasnt even close. Too damn fast! Pacquiao destroyed Cotto for 11 rounds. Bring on Pretty Boy Floyd!

On November 14th, two of the greatest boxers will square off under the bright lights of Las Vegas, Nevada to determine who the will be the WBO Welterweight Champion of the world.  The challenger: Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, aiming to make history by winning a 7th title in as many weight divisions and further cementing his legacy as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer today.  The champion: Miguel “I’m No Angel” Cotto, looking to silence the critics who believe he’s a “shot” fighter and restoring his name as the best welterweight fighter in the world.  Billed as firepower, this will be the most anticipated fight of the year and probably the last decade.  Pacquiao is no stranger to the world, as he built is legacy as one of the fastest fighters today stopping Mexican legends Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, David Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez and the Golden Boy Oscar Dela Hoya.  Cotto solidified his reputation as a strong fighter with a vicious left hook stopping fighters like Zab Judah and Carlos Quintana while outpointing Joshua Clottey and Sugar Shane Mosley.  Let’s break down the fight:

Speed

Anyone that’s seen Pacquiao fight knows he’s fast.  Not just in his hands, but his footwork is phenomenal.  Pacquiao, once known as a brawler who relied heavily on his speed alone to win has improved with each fight leading to the November 14th showdown.  Cotto on the other hand, looks like a turtle when compared to Pacquiao.  He may not have the blistering hand speed and footwork of Pacquiao but he certainly makes up for it in different departments.  Advantage: Pacquiao

Power

It’s no question that on paper, Cotto holds the distinct advantage in terms of physical power.  Being a natural welterweight, Cotto has dealt with fighters his size that are equally as strong if not stronger for most of his career.  His opponent on the other hand, is coming up in weight having fought as low as 106 pounds.  That’s a 40-pound difference!  But, Pacquiao has shown he can carry power while moving up in weight as evident by his 37 KO’s.  The biggest question in this department is how will Pacquiao deal with Cotto’s power as he’s never faced a prime welterweight. Advantage: Cotto by a slim margin

Team & Cornermen

If you’ve heard of Pacquiao, you’ve certainly heard of his coach Freddie Roach.  Roach is a three time trainer of the year having coached the who’s who of combat sports and celebrities like Mike Tyson, Dela Hoya, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, Mickey Rourke and several MMA fighters.  Cotto, on the other hand, has a new coach in Joe Santiago who has never fought as an amateur or pro and is only 33 years old.  Santiago was promoted from nutritionist to head trainer after Cotto had a fallout and fistight with then-trainer and uncle Evangelista.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know who has the advantage here, a former boxer and veteran trainer versus a nutritionist?  Advantage: Pacquiao by a huge margin

While there are certainly more technical aspects of boxing that should be covered, I won’t go there because I’m not an expert and simply judging the fight based on my fan knowledge.  This is certainly a fight to look out for as it has the makings of a classic.  Speed v. power just like Ali v. Frazier.  Cotto, despite being the champion is the underdog while Manny is a 3-1 favorite in Vegas.  How will the fight play out?  It’s hard to say.  When the fight was officially announced, I’ll be honest I was scared for Pacquiao.  Being a Filipino myself, I was enjoying Pacquiao’s string of victories and immense rise in popularity but I knew Cotto is no joke and certainly not a pushover like Pacquiao’s two previous opponents, (Old) Dela Hoya and Ricky Hatton.  But as time went by, and the more and more I watched Cotto’s past fights (especially against Judah and Mosley) I started to realize that Pacquiao can win this fight in devastating fashion.  While most critics and members from Cotto’s team nullify the idea that Cotto can’t handle speed, I concur only to a certain extent.  Cotto can handle hand speed, but he’s never faced someone who has foot speed like Pacquiao.  In my honest opinion, Cotto is practically tailor made for Pacquiao and won’t last long in this bout if he allows Pacquiao to dictate the pace of the fight.  While I may sound biased, the following are the keys to victory for both fighters.

Pacquiao:

Stay in the middle of the ring and avoid the ropes and corners at all costs.  Set the pace of the fight and don’t allow Cotto to breathe.  Attack relentlessly but cautiously.  Be the bully and show that size does not matter.  Do not get into a brawl.

Cotto:

Be the bully and do not become a counter-puncher.  Throw punches in higher volume.  Tighten your defense, that triangle guard will not hold up against Pacquiao who sets up his combinations with his straight left which you are very susceptible to.  Pray.

Prediction: Manny Pacquiao by KO in round 6

Polls are now open! Lock in your votes!

Firepower: Pacquiao vs. Cotto Predictions

  • Pacquiao wins by KO (86%, 49 Votes)
  • Pacquiao wins by Decision (11%, 6 Votes)
  • Cotto wins by KO (5%, 3 Votes)
  • Cotto wins by Decision (0%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 57

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Entertainment Wrap #21

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This week comes in with a pretty solid group of offerrings entertainment wise. While not too much going on, there is definitely more quality over quantity. Let’s check it out.

THEATERS

New out this week are: Surrogates, Fame, and Pandorum. Pandorum is a thriller / horror flick set aboard an abandoned space station. Two crew members wake up after being in cryo sleep only to find that they are the only ones left alive on their ship. To make matters worse, neither one has any knowledge of who they are or what their mission is. Then to make things even worse, the ship seems to be inhabited by some type of hostile alien space mutants (are there any other kind?). The movie looks pretty eerie and for those of you who have played the game ‘Dead Space’, this movie will remind you of that a great deal, which isn’t bad at all.

Fame is a remake of the classic musical turned movie turned t.v. show which follow the lives of a mix of students at a performing arts school in New York. This seems to be yet another attempt to cash in on a remake.  Fans of the original show may want to check this movie out, as well as teenage girls looking to ogle some new eye candy.  I haven’t seen too much else from the trailers.

Finally, Bruce Willis’ much anticipated ‘Surrogates’ makes its way onto the big screen this week.  Surrogates, based on the comic of the same title, is set in a future where humans are sheltered and interact with eachother only through thei surrogates, or robots under their control.  This way, people are free to say and do what they please without consequence, as whatever happens to the surrogate should have no affect on the person controlling it. When a serial killer begins killing off surrogates, mysteriously resulting in the deaths of the people controlling them,  Willis reenters the world of robots as a human in an attempt to find the killer before it is too late.   I haven’t read the comic but all of the trailers I’ve seen for this movie look intense.   This looks to be a new take on a somewhat familiar premise and Bruce Willis usually delivers on big movies like this.

DVD

On DVD this week are: Observe and Report and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Both movies are very funny and worth checking out. For more details, there are reviews up for each of these.

GAMING

Earlier this week, Microsoft released its hotly anticipated Halo 3: ODST for the Xbox 360. The game takes place in the Halo universe between the events of the 2nd and 3rd games.  MasterChief, who was the main character of the first 3 games, is noticeably absent. This time around you assume control of various members of the ODST squad.  Trench and I have already put in some time with this one, and trust me when I say that it is a game that every Halo fan must have. The gameplay definitely requries a bit more strategy and teamwork than before, as the ODST squad is way more vulnerable to damage than the Masterchief. The increased challenge also adds to the fun and intensity levels of the game. Expect a full review of this one as soon as I get some more time with it.

SPORTS

No big MMA events scheduled for this weekend, but there was one fairly big announcement. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has announced that he will be retiring from MMA to pursue his acting career full time. Rampage will be appearing as BA Barracus (the role made famous by Mr. T) in the upcoming A-Team movie.  This announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter pits Rampage against Rashad Evans as coaches who were also set to fight at the conclusion of the season. Unfortunately, his untimely reitrement puts that fight in limbo, which is a shame. Although we’re only one episode deep so far, the banter and trash talk between the two of them has most fans just dying to see them throwdown. Sadly, it looks like we might not get that chance.

We are also coming in to week 3 of the NFL season. Some of the better matchups this week are: Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots,  Miami at San Diego, Indianapolis at Arizona, and of course my boys the Baltimore Ravens at home against the Cleveland Browns. For the MNF game we have Carolina at Dallas.  Overall some solid games going on this week.

Thats the week in entertainment and thats a wrap.

Entertainment Wrap #19

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With the curtain closing on the summer movie season, we usually start seeing movies that weren’t quite good enough for blockbuster status. Luckily, this summer seems to have saved the best for last, with the incredible District 9 last week and this week with the highly anticipated latest from director Quentin Tarantino.  While there isn’t a ton of things going on, it is still a pretty exciting week.

THEATERS

Opening this week are: Post Grad, Ingolrious Basterds, and My One and Only. My One and Only is the story of a housewife in the 50s, played by Renee Zellwegger, who discovers that her husband is cheating so she leaves him and takes her two sons on a road trip across the country to find another husband to provide for her. I don’t really care for Zellwegger too much and the plot sounds even less enticing so this one is definitely low priority for me.

Post Grad stars Alexis Bleidel 9Gilmore Girls) as…wait for it….a post graduate who has recently entered the job market. The movie follows her quest to make it in the real world and find love at the same time. Bleidel is a pretty decent actress and is usually quite witty in most of her roles. Regardless, you probably won’t catch me at this film during opening weekend…or closing weekend for that matter, but it could have video rental potential.

This brings us to perhaps one of my most anticipated movies of the summer, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. I love Tarantino’s work. Like pizza, even when it sucks, its still pretty good. Early buzz is that this is his best film to date, which is impressive when you take into account his already solid resume. The film is about a group of WWII soldiers, the Basterds, who have taken it upon themselves to hunt down and terrorize Nazis in the most brutal fashion imaginable. There are quite a few more elements to this film, but to be honest I was hooked at “hunt Nazis.”

DVD

New this week on DVD are : Hannah Montana the Movie and The Last House on the Left.  I watched the Hannah Montana movie as I have been on edge since the first trailer- will she continue to be Hannah or will she just choose to be Miley?? Rest assured after watching the movie I can finally sleep in peace knowing her decision. I won’t spoil the cliffhanger for you as it is something everyone should experience for themselves, but trust me when I say that the payoff is well worth it. (Insert sarcasm alert here). Seriously, the  movie is a great kids movie as it is good clean fun that doesn’t resort to toilet jokes in order to get laughs. It also doesn’t feature any pole dancing like in her live performances so it is pretty safe for all ages.

Last House on the Left is a remake of Wes Craven’s original film of the same title. A couple’s teenage daughter is brutally assaulted and raped by a group of fugitives. When the unknowing fugitives seek shelter at the couple’s house during a storm, the couple goes about exacting their revenge once they discover who the fugitives are.  This movie is actually pretty good and it maintains a high level of tension throughout. I will probably get a review of it up sometime soon, as the actual flick was much better than I expected.

GAMING

A fairly slow week in gaming. Most people are still enjoying the Madden goodness from the previous week. New releases this week are: Wolfenstein and Shadow complex.  Wolfenstein is the latest incarnation of the Castle Wolfenstein franchise, which is an FPS where you take on the Nazis in WWII. I know WWII shooters are everywhere nowadays, but what sets Wolfenstein apart is that the Nazis have found a way to tap into another dimension and use occult powers to enhance their weaponry. Of course, you can also use the same powers to your advantage, making this more of a sci fi WWII shooter.  The premise is still the same as it was in the original games and anyone familiar with the franchise will know what to expect.

Probaly the coolest release to come out in a while is Shadow Complex, available via download on Xbox live. Shadow Complex is an original game created by Epic (the makers of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War) which brings full retail production value to a downloadable arcade title. I have not yet tried it out as it just released today, but I will definitely download this one and give you my impressions. The game is a side scrolling action shooter and it has already been generating huge buzz as an example of the high level of quality that downloadable games can be capable of.   the gameplay is supposed to be fast and highly addicting and I can’t wait to give it a shot.

SPORTS

With the NFL preseason underway, there have been two huge developments that pigskin fans have been talking about this week. These are the acquisitions of quarterbacks Brett Farve and Michael Vick.  The indecisively retired Farve has been picked up by the Minnesota Vikings.  This is just wierd that he wound up on the Vikings of all teams and his former Green Bay teammates have voiced their excitement at finally getting a crack at Farve…literally. Even more interesting is what this means for the Vikes, as it gives their offense instant credibility as they are no longer overly reliant on the running game of Adrian Peterson and can now add a legitimate passing attack in there as well. This instantly catapults the Vikings towards the top of the NFC North as the front runners to take their division.

Other NFC news has the Philadelphia Eagles acquiring the troubled Michael Vick. With McNabb seemingly on his last legs as the leader of Philly’s offense, a healthy Vick appears to be an excellent choice a his successor.  Vick has experience with the West coast offense and like McNabb, he is a highly mobile QB that can scramble when needed (and even when NOT needed).  This mobility is definitely welcome, as the Eagle’s already have some injuries to key players on the O-line.   It will be interesting to see just how fast Vick gets back into football shape, both physically and mentally.  Regardless of his extra curricular activities, he was undeniably one of the most exciting players on the field when he was active and healthy and coming in to a strong established organization like Philly can only benefit both Vick and the rest of the team.  As long as McNabb’s choking flu isn’t contagious, expect big things from this years Eagles provided Vick remains healthy.

That’s the week in entertainment and that’s a wrap.