LOS ANGELES (AP & Staff) — Manny Pacquiao is taking a beating in the center of this ring. He barely knows a word of this Bee Gees song, which is a bit too high and complicated for his singing skills, and he’s struggling to read the lyrics off the cue cards — probably because he’s wearing sunglasses in a dark studio. Nobody at Thursday’s rehearsal for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is even slightly worried. The pure absurdity of boxing’s pound-for-pound champion earnestly singing “How Deep Is Your Love” is great television, which is what the ABC talk show gets every time Pacquiao visits. “Each time you’ve been here, you’ve won the fight,” Kimmel says during their interview two hours later. “I feel like we’re a team, really.” Pacquiao has made five appearances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” promoting his pay-per-view bouts and winning over the Hollywood crowds with the same quiet charisma that helped put him in Congress in his native Philippines. After Kimmel prods and teases him through an interview, Pacquiao punctuates each appearance with a song — his duet with Will Ferrell got 1.5 million hits on YouTube the last time out. Pacquiao has a singing career back home, and his duet on “Sometimes When We Touch” with songwriter Dan Hill made an improbable impact on the adult-contemporary charts earlier this year. The welterweight superstar has more enthusiasm than vocal talent, but that’s not the point for the adoring fans who pack Kimmel’s audience whenever the Pac-Man makes the short drive from his Wild Card Gym. Pacquiao’s small caravan of SUVs shows up at Kimmel’s theater about two hours before taping. Pacquiao isn’t driving his brand-new Ferrari because it wouldn’t start this morning, and he spent part of the day hanging out with Kobe Bryant, who dropped in on the Wild Card on short notice to meet Pacquiao, his fellow Nike endorser. Pacquiao is immediately ushered to rehearsal on Kimmel’s tiny stage — all late-night talk shows are filmed in shockingly small areas. The producers want Pacquiao and Kimmel — bandleader Cleto Escobedo III is filling in — to stand back-to-back surrounded by ’70s-style colored lights. Never mind that Pacquiao had never heard “How Deep Is Your Love” before last night, when he got a copy after Bible study at his apartment. The show’s staff had several other ideas for a song, including a version of “That’s What Friends Are [...]
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MOSCOW (AP & Staff) — James Toney, a former champion fighting at 43, lost a unanimous decision Friday to Denis Lebedev of Russia for the interim WBA cruiserweight title. Cheered by the home crowd at Khodynka Ice Palace, Lebedev started tentatively but would up battering a fading Toney toward the end and won all 12 rounds. The three judges all scored the bout 120-108. Toney dropped to 73-7-3, with 44 knockouts, and was limping after the fight. At 197½ pounds, he was at his lightest weight in eight years. This was his second straight defeat. “I had a bad night, but I’ll come back,” he said. “I’m definitely not retiring.” Lebedev, 11 years younger than his opponent, began landing his powerful jab in the second round, forcing Toney to the ropes. Toney said he hurt his left knee in the second round and never recovered. The American, a former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion, tried to impose his will in the third round. He threw several hooks but they were clumsy and seemed only to spur the Russian to attack. In the ninth round, Lebedev landed several heavy shots that sent Toney reeling and left him in retreat for the last three rounds. Lebedev, who beat Roy Jones Jr. in May in Moscow, improved his record to 23-1 (17 KOs). The crowd wanted a decisive finish after Lebedev managed to knock out Jones with just seconds remaining in the bout. But Toney, who has never been beaten by a knockout, held on. Lebedev’s coach, former champion Kostya Tszyu, said his fighter wanted a more colorful victory. But Tszyu warned him against touching a “wounded beast.” “I saw in Toney’s eyes that he can strike back any time,” Lebedev. said. “He was dangerous until the end.”
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LAS VEGAS (AP & Staff) — Floyd Mayweather Jr. was acquitted Wednesday of misdemeanor harassment charges alleging he threatened the lives of two homeowner association security guards in an argument about parking tickets outside the boxer’s Las Vegas home. The 34-year-old prizefighter didn’t testify during the Las Vegas Justice Court trial. His attorney called the encounter between Mayweather and the guards a “trivial matter,” and said the case hinged on the boxer’s celebrity. Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan said she wasn’t convinced that the guards feared any threat would be carried out. Even the guards testified under questioning by Wright they would have preferred not to take the case to trial. “If this wasn’t Floyd Mayweather, we wouldn’t have been in court,” attorney Richard Wright said outside the downtown Clark County Regional Justice Center. “Any other case would have resolved with an offer of an apology and a handshake.” The not guilty finding was a victory for the undefeated prizefighter, whose legal problems have mounted in the past year. The most serious charges — stemming from a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend and two of their children in October 2010 — could put him in prison for 34 years if he’s convicted. The case heard Wednesday was over an Oct. 4, 2010 encounter between Mayweather and two security guards at the Southern Highlands community where he lives in a 12,000-square-foot, $9.5 million home. Parking for Mayweather’s 29 cars has been a frequent source of friction in the gated and patrolled community is about 10 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip. Mayweather found tickets on his cars, berated the guards for touching the vehicles, removed a ticket from one vehicle and stuck it on the windshield of their security patrol vehicle, the guards, 23-year-old Miguel Burgos and 24-year-old Aaron Ryan, told police. Burgos said Mayweather told them, “my homies have guns, if you want me to call them they’d come over here and take care of you.” The two guards feared for their safety, prosecutor Lisa Luzaich said. The guard were armed with handguns, Wright countered. They never left their patrol pickup truck during Mayweather’s display, and could have driven away. The judge agreed. “I do not see evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that they were in fear for their safety,” she said. Wright tried to show the guards decided to press charges under pressure from their [...]
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LOS ANGELES (AP & Staff) — Chad Dawson spent most of the past half-decade angling for a fight with Bernard Hopkins, believing he could define his boxing career by knocking out an ageless champion who had never been stopped. Dawson got his TKO on Saturday night. But his dream looked nothing like this debacle. Hopkins was stopped for the first time in his career in bizarre fashion when Dawson lifted him and tossed him to the canvas late in the second round, leaving the 46-year-old champion with a dislocated joint in his shoulder. Dawson (31-1, 18 KOs) claimed the WBC light heavyweight title from Hopkins (52-6-2), but both fighters were left furious and screaming when referee Pat Russell ruled Dawson hadn’t fouled Hopkins, whose promoter immediately said he’ll protest the result. “They want me out of boxing, and this is one way to do it,” said Hopkins, whose spokesman said he dislocated the joint connecting his collarbone and shoulder blade. “Chad Dawson came in the ring tonight, and he just wanted to rough me up with dirty tactics. He wanted to get me out of there, and that was the only way he could.” After five unmemorable minutes, everything happened in an instant: Hopkins leaned over the crouching Dawson after throwing an overhand right, and Dawson lifted Hopkins off his feet by standing up, shrugging him onto the canvas. Hopkins landed roughly on his back and left shoulder, his head poking underneath the bottom rope, and might have glanced off the ringside table. Hopkins immediately clutched his shoulder and grimaced in pain, apparently unable to continue. “He jumped on me and was pulling me down, so I pushed him off with the shoulder,” Dawson said. “B-Hop disappointed a lot of fans. I was looking forward to a good fight. I trained eight weeks for this. … Yes, he was faking. This is a fight I wanted for three years, and Bernard obviously didn’t want the fight.” Hopkins said he told Russell he would continue fighting “with one arm,” but Russell waved off the fight and declared a TKO. Just like that, a long-awaited showdown between the ageless light heavyweight champion and his top young rival was over, enraging the lively Staples Center crowd. “It was not a foul,” Russell said. “It’s a TKO. He could not continue because of an injury. No foul.” After waiting several years and training relentlessly [...]
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