Miguel Cotto

December 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Miguel Cotto

Miguel Cotto is a well-recognized professional Puerto Rican boxer. He was born on October 29th of 1980 and is the younger brother of another professional boxer Jose Miguel Cotto. Miguel Cotto is a renowned four-time world boxing champion of 3 weight divisions which are the Light Welterweight, Welterweight, and Light Middleweight divisions.

He started his professional boxing career on September of 2004 where he faced a Brazilian boxer Kelson Pinto for the WBO Light Welterweight title who was at that time vacant. Cotto dominated the fight by knocking down his opponent for three times thus having him won the fight by knock out.

On December of the same year, he had a boxing fight with Randall Bailey and defended his boxing title by knocking down Bailey at the 6th round. After his victorious fight with Bailey, Cotto’s boxing performance was described by most boxing enthusiasts as accurate and fast. Eleven days after Cotto’s match with Bailey, he was awarded as the “Puerto Rico’s Fighter of the Year for 2004” by the Puerto Rican Boxing Commission. The following year, Miguel Cotto had another title defense match which was held on February 26th in his home town Puerto Rico.

In June of 2005, Miguel Cotto had a bout with Mohamed Abdulaev – a former Uzbekistan Olympic Gold Medalist. Their fight during June 2005 was not however their first fight. They had a bout at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where Abdulaev eliminated Cotto at the fight round. Hence, during their meet as a professional boxer, Cotto proved that he had improved over the years and had thus defeated Abdulaev. He retained his Welterweight Championship title.


 
On September 24th of 2005, Cotto defended his boxing title for the 3rd time. His opponent for that match was the Columbian Boxing champ Ricardo Torres. At the end of the fight, Cotto garnered a 7th round knockout win.
 
In late 2006, Cotto decided to move up to welterweight. His first opponent was Carlos Quintana which was a out for the WBA Championship title. The bout for the vacant WBA welterweight title was held on December 2nd from which Cotto won via TKO at the 5th round. The following year, he had a victorious title defense fights with TKO wins against boxers Oktay Urkal and Zab Judah.
 
In 2007, one of the biggest boxing events that took place was during the Cotto – Mosley boxing fight. It took place on late November at Madison Square Garden. Cotto dominated the fight with a unanimous decision.
 
Miguel Cottto suffered his first professional defeat in July of 2006 with Antonio Margarito. After Cotto-Margarito fight, Miguel Cotto had a series of other fights with other great boxers.
 
He later on had a fight with Filipino Boxing Champion Manny Pacquiao with the catch weight of 145pounds and having the world welterweight title up on hand. The most anticipated boxing match happened in November of 2009 where Pacquiao defeated Cotto via TKO at the 12th round and thus dethroning the Puerto Rican Boxing Champ from his WBO Welterweight Championship.
 
After Cotto’s fight with Pacquiao, he decided to move into light middleweight and on June of 2010, he defeated Yuri Foreman thus garnering the WBA Light Middleweight Championship title.
 
In March of 2011 Cotto defended his WBA light middleweight title from Ricardo Mayorga via TKO. And on December of the same year, he had a rematch with Antonio Margarito from which he won the fight via TKO at the 10th round.

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Manny Pacquiao

November 23, 2011 By 1 Comment
Manny Pacquiao

Emmanuel “Manny” D. Pacquiao is the very first Octuple Champion boxing star throughout the boxing history. He was able to attain eight titles for the different weight classes or divisions all over the world. He was also able to win lineal championships in four different weight divisions. Manny Pacquiao was known as Pac-Man, The Destroyer, Fighting Pride of the Philippines, The People’s Champ, and the Mexicutioner, where he fought and won against many great Mexican boxing stars. Pacquiao was the “Fighter of the Year” in 2006, 2008 and year 2009. In the current year, he is the WBO Welterweight World Champion. He is always on the top of the list in boxing or sporting news and websites.

This boxing star was raised in Bukidnon, Philippines and was born on the 17th of December, year 1978. He is the son of Rosalio Pacquiao and Dionesia D. Pacquiao, along with three brothers and two sisters, namely Rogelio, Alberto, also known as Bobby, Isidra, Domingo and Liza. Known as a religious Catholic, he is always seen making the sign of the cross before and after a boxing match. Pacquiao also attends a thanksgiving mass in the Quiapo Church every after a successful competition.

Manny Pacquiao’s amateur boxing career started when he was 14 years old with the Philippine National Amateur Boxing Team. He had a record of 64 fights.

It was for the death of Eugene Barutag, a close friend, which Pacquiao decided to pursue boxing as a professional boxer. The boxing star was 16 years old when he had his first fight and won under his professional boxing career against Edmund Ignacio. The two boxers fought under the light flyweight division. His first years in professional boxing did not go too well because he was not able to attain the required weight, though he trained hard and disciplined himself to improve it. He lost against Rustico Torrecampo by knockout in the third round.

He made his way undefeated in the flyweight division, and fought against more experience boxers, including Chokchai Chockvivat in which he attained the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Flyweight title. It was Pacquiao’s chance to finally fight for a world boxing title. His first world title was the World Boxing Council (WBC) Flyweight world title, along with the Lineal title against Chatchai Sasakul. He lost the Lineal title against Medgoen “3K Battery” Singsurat.

After his fight against Singsurat, Pacquiao aimed for the WBC Super Bantamweight International Title, and was able to defend it five times in a row. His second world title is the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Junior Featherweight World Title. Freddie Roach became his trainer this time.


 
Manny Pacquiao became the first Asian to acquire titles for three different weight divisions in the world after winning the Ring Featherweight World Title against Marco Antonio Barrera in the year 2003.
 
Pacquiao’s match against Juan Manuel Marquez after Barrera for the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation Featherweight World Titles was known to result with a very controversial decision, where one of the judges admitted he made a mistake with the scores.
 
The boxing star lost a match against Erik Morales for the super featherweight title in the year 2005. On the following month, Pacquiao fought again next to Hector Velazquez where he got the WBC Super Featherweight International Title. Pacquiao and Morales had a rematch the following year, where Pacquiao won by knockout. Their third fight was made on November 18 of the same year, where Pacquiao won again by another knockout.
 
Two years after, year 2008, Manny Pacquiao won against David Diaz and got the WBC Lightweight World Title, which became his fifth world title. In the same year, he fought against Oscar De La Hoya for the welterweight division. Manny Pacquiao won by technical knockout.
 
His sixth world title was against Ricky Hatton. This time, Pacquiao was the second boxer to acquire six division titles. He attained the International Boxing Organization Junior Welterweight and Ring Junior Welterweight World Title.
 
His eight world boxing title was taken from Antonio Margarito in the year 2010, for the WBC Super Welterweight World Title. He won against Margarito by unanimous decision. He was able to defend his title under the welterweight division against Shane Mosley on their fight on May 7, 2011.

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Oscar De La Hoya

November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya is an American boxer who is known by his nickname “The Golden Boy“. He was nicknamed “The Golden Boy” because shortly after graduating from high School, De La Hoya won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Winning a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympic Games was also said to be De La Hoya’s mother dying wish.

He was born on February 4th of 1973 in California, United States but he is of Mexican decent. He also came from a family of boxers. His grandfather, father, and as well as his brother were all playing in the same sport – boxing.

Oscar De La Hoya was considered as the “Fighter of the Year” in year 1995 by The Ring Magazine. In 1997 and 1998, De La Hoya was named as the Top Rated Pound-for-Pound Boxer by The Ring Magazine.

He had defeated 17 World Champions in Boxing and has won 10 World titles in 6 various weight divisions. These weight divisions include Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, and Middleweight.

He was said to be the only boxer to have generated more money than other boxers in the history of boxing. An estimated pay-per-view income of $696 million was earned by Oscar De La Hoya during his reign.

He also founded the Golden Boy Promotions which is a promotional combat sport firm. He was also the first American that is of Mexican decent to own a promotional boxing firm in United States.

It is without a doubt that De La Hoya was considered as one of the modern super stars in boxing. De La Hoya has the appeal, the looks, and most of all the skills to stay as the front liner in boxing.


 
The Golden Boy’s Boxing career was undeniably considered as one of the finest one in the history of boxing. He beat boxing legends such as Pernell Whitaker, Héctor Camacho, and Julio César Chávez. He likewise faced the undefeated International Boxing Federation Champ Felix Trinidad. De La Hoya showed an excellent performance however the judges in the fight still regarded Trinidad as the winner of the match. Boxing fans were disappointed with the decision of the judges and demanded a rematch. However, the rematch never happened.
 
Following his match with Trinidad from which he was robbed; De La Hoya fought and won from Fernando Vargas and Arturo Gatti – who were later on had positive results for steroids.
 
In the Middleweight division, De La Hoya went was defeated by Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, and Bernard Hopkins. His final fight was with Manny Pacquiao, from which he lost again. He had an embarrassing loss to Pacquaio from which most boxing critics assumed that he should have beat up Pacquiao instead because Pacquiao was smaller than him. But De la Hoya lost to Pacquiao’s speed and tough punches. And after his embarrassing lost to his last bout, De La Hoya confirmed to the public that he is retiring from the sport.
 
Nonetheless, even if Oscar De La Hoya retired from his Boxing Career, he has still become a larger part of the Boxing industry through his promotional company.

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Mike Tyson

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard Tyson is a great American boxing star of his time. Before his boxing career started, Mike Tyson had to live a tough life within harsh and tough streets where crimes are rampant. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Jimmy Kirkpatrick and Lorna Smith. He has two siblings, Rodney and Denise. Their father abandoned the family when Mike Tyson was still 2 years old. His mother died when he was 16 years old. Mike Tyson did petty crimes when he was still a child. He was taken to Tyron School for Boys in New York. It was there that former boxer Bobby Stewart discovered Tyson’s boxing skills. Bobby Stewart introduced Mike Tyson to Cus D’Amato.

The boxing star was then left under the care of Cus D’Amato, a boxing trainer and manager of several famous boxers like Floyd Patterson, Vinnie Ferguson, Teddy Atlas and Joe Fariello. Cus D’Amato trained Tyson to become a skillful boxer, using the peek-a-boo style. His boxing skills developed when Kevin Rooney took over his training. It was Rooney who took Tyson to participate in heavyweight championship competitions after the death of Cus D’Amato. D’Amato died just before Tyson attained the heavyweight title at the young age of 20.

Cus D’Amato was considered by Tyson as the one who loved him as a son. It was D’Amato who introduced him to the boxing world that changed his life forever.


 
Mike Tyson started his amateur boxing career in the year 1981. He attained gold medals against Joe Cortez and Kelton Brown. He also fought against Henry Tillman in an amateur boxing match. In the Junior Olympic Games, Tyson won each of his matches by knockouts.
 
When he was 18, he entered the professional boxing career. His first contender was Hector Mercedes, in which he won by knockout in the first round. The young boxer fought matches frequently. He was able to challenge many great boxers gradually, such as Mitch Green, David Jaco and Marvis Frazier. It was this time when Mike Tyson became famous as a boxing star, and was branded as the next probable heavyweight champion of the world. Mike Tyson fought with Jesse Ferguson in the year 1986 and won by technical knockout. For his first WBC (World Boxing Council) heavyweight championship match, his opponent was Trevor Berbick. That was when Tyson attained the title as the youngest heavyweight champion.
 
The boxing star became an undisputed champion throughout his boxing career, but was also subjected to upsets and controversies. His famous fights after the controversies were against Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and his last, against Kevin McBride.
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Muhammad Ali

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Muhammad Ali

One of the greatest boxing stars of all time is Muhammad Ali. Born on January 17, 1942, his true name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., and Odessa O’Grady Clay was his mother. He had an older brother named Rudolph Clay, whose name was changed later to Rahman Ali. The Clays had a simple life at Kentucky, where his father had a job of making and painting signs and billboards. Moreover, his mother was a plain housewife. The clay brothers were brought up as Baptists by their mother, even though their father was a Methodist. They are majorly descendants of African-American.

It was Joe E. Martin who motivated Muhammad Ali into his boxing career. Martin was a boxing coach and a police officer. Later, when Muhammad Ali started his way as a boxing star competing through amateur boxing competitions, his trainer was Chuck Bodak, the famous American boxing cutman. With amateur boxing, Ali achieved several titles, including the Amateur Athletic Union National Title, Kentucky and national Golden Gloves titles as well as a gold medal for the Light Heavyweight title. He won the Light Heavyweight title in the Summer Olympics held in Rome in the year 1960. During his amateur boxing career, Muhammad Ali won 100 times and lost 5 times.


 
Ali started his professional boxing career after winning golden medals in the Olympic Games. The boxing star achieved his first win in professional boxing competition on the 29th of October in the year 1960 against Tunney Hunsaker. Ali was known for his unusual boxing style. He was quick and fast on the boxing ring. Ali was able to attain 15 knockouts and 19 wins without losses within three consecutive years, since he started his professional boxing career. He was able to defeat great boxers like Donnie Fleeman, Doug Jones, Alonzo Johnson and Lamar Clark.
 
Muhammad Ali would tend to predict how many rounds will the match end, and “trash-talk” before the actual competition. He was inspired by George Wagner, a wrestling champion, who had the same reputation.
 
In the year 1963, Ali did a match against Doug Jones and won with a 10-round decision. The match was known as the “Fight of the Year“. Ali was also the top challenger for the title that Sonny Liston held. The fight against Sonny Liston was spectacular and controversial.
 
He had succeeding matches against many great boxers until his retirement in 1981. Muhammad Ali was a true boxing star during the golden age of the heavyweight boxing. His legacy will definitely remain for the years to come, and he will still be remembered as a Heavyweight champion.

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