22
Philippine Showbiz Today
October 22
November
22 - - November
December 7,
7, 2017
2018
Pacquiao-Broner
NY Presser
Gotham Hall in New York City
- Photos by Wendell Alinea/MP Promotions
Mayweather vs. Nasukawa fight to
push through on New Year’s Eve
Former five division cham-
pion and pound-for-pound king
Floyd Mayweather and Japanese
kickboxing stalwart Tenshin Na-
sukawa will be back fighting for
New Year’s Eve. They are aiming
at knocking each other out next
month, even if the match-up is
just an exhibition, the fight’s pro-
moter Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Saka-
kibara said.
The fight between Maywea-
ther and Nasukawa, which was
advertised earlier this month, was
abruptly cancelled due to a mi-
sunderstanding as alleged by Ma-
yweather.
“It will be a non-official bout.
It won’t be on record. So it’s an
exhibition match,” Sakakibara
told reporters when interviewed at
the Haneda airport in Tokyo du-
ring his return from Los Angeles
after a meeting with Mayweather.
The promoter said that
though it is an exhibition, both
fighters will be fighting to knock
each other. “But at worst it’s not
going to be a sparring session...
they will fight aiming to get a
knock out. We don’t want people
to think this is some half-hearted
playing around. [Mayweather] will
stand before Tenshin [on] Decem-
ber 31. It’s up to Tenshin whether
he can create a miracle,” added
Sakakibara as quoted by Boxing
Scene.
“We’re going to make it ha-
ppen. It’s a no-brainer,” Maywea-
ther told TMZ Sports. “It’s going
to be a little boxing exhibition.”
Sakakibara revealed that the
fight would involve an orthodox
boxing style without the use of
kicking, to the disadvantage for
Nasukawa. The promoter said
further details of the rules such
as including a decision will be
deliberated to be announced la-
ter. He also said the contract
for the bout remained unchan-
ged and will be the highest paid
contract for an exhibition, but
he did not mention any amount.
***
Manny Pacquiao’s chief trai-
ner Buboy Fernandez is arranging
everything for the senator for the
start of their training camp for the
title defense against Adrien Bro-
ner. “I don’t see any problem sin-
ce he’s fresh from a bout, which
lasted for seven rounds. He’d re-
main in good condition for seve-
ral months so it would be easy to
bring back his fighting stamina,”
Fernandez was quoted by The
Manila Times.
Fernandez said he can’t make
any forecast of the outcome of the
fight. He added that they are ca-
refully studying Broner’s moves.
“This is a good fight. Both of them
have a good chance provided
they’re not too confident. We can’t
do anything on Broner expressing
his opinions [on the outcome] but
as for me, it is best to finish the
fight first. That’s the only way to
find out who’s the better boxer.”
***
Two undefeated heavyweig-
hts faced each other, and Jarrell
Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) started ra-
ther slowly in the early rounds, but
had a fast finish when he knocked
out Bogdan Dinu (18-1, 14 KOs)
in the fourth round. Last October,
Miller destroyed Tomasz Adamek,
already showing signs of wear and
tear, in just two rounds.
Dinu has stopped his last
eight opponents before the fight
with Miller, but these opponents
were no big names in pro boxing.
Dinu was dropped by Miller to the
canvas by a solid flurry of pun-
ches in the fourth. He was able
to get up, but Miller landed ano-
ther combination that sent Dinu
again to the floor and was never
able to stand after the full count.
***
LeBron James scored a sea-
son-high 51 points, hitting 19-of-
31 from the field, when the Los
Angeles Lakers defeated the Mia-
mi Heat, 113-97, at the American
Airlines Arena, the biggest points
Pacquiao &
Broner
exchange
words
Manny Pacquaio and
Adrien Broner faced off for
the cameras for the first time
on Monday the 19th of Nov-
ember. The two will compete
in a welterweight champio-
nship bout on January 19th.
The press conference
began with statements from
various representatives of
MP Promotions, Premiere
Boxing Champions, Showti-
me, About Billions Promo-
tions, and Mayweather Pro-
motions. After words from
the likes of Leonard Ellerbe
and Stephen Espinoza, Pac-
quiao and Broner took their
turns to speak.
“Come and see the best
Manny Pacquiao again.” said
the Senator from the Philip-
pines. Pacquiao had scored
his first knockout in 9 years
recently with a stoppage over
Lucas Matthysse this year.
When asked about the
reported Mayweather bout,
Pacquiao discussed his con-
versation with Floyd in Japan
stating, “He said he wanted
to come out of retirement to
fight me, to challenge me.”
Pacquiao also mentioned his
distaste for trash talk.
On his part, Adrien Bro-
ner came out of the gates
ready to toss verbal jabs at
the almost forty year old Pa-
cquiao. “He’s a future hall
of famer. He do some great
things, his top three [skills] is
singing, promoting Hennes-
sy, and planking.”
The “planking” Broner
is referring to is the posi-
tion of Pacquiao faced down
unconscious after he was
knocked out by Juan Manuel
Marquez. “I’m about to beat
his m*****f****** ass, on
God…” continued Broner.
Broner went on to also ques-
tion Pacquiao’s chin repea-
ting that he had been knoc-
ked out in three bouts during
his career. The two face off
in another press conference,
Tuesday in Los Angeles.●
- Julian Ray Fortaleza
ever scored by a Lakers player
against the Heat. James star-
ted scoring immediately with 19
points in the first quarter. It was
his 12th 50-point game of his
career. James so far became the
first Lakers player to score 40 or
more points more than once sin-
ce Kobe Bryant retired in 2016.
He also went into the record bo-
oks as the fifth player in NBA his-
tory to score a 50-point game for
three different teams.●
- M. Samaco, philboxing