»» Dana White video blog with Mike Tyson leading up to UFC 118 this Saturday night.

» COTTO: ROAD TO THE BRONX, THE ARENA (EP.5)
HEAVY.com  follows along as Miguel Ángel Cotto prepares for his battle against undefeated Israeli boxer Yuri Foreman for the WBA light middleweight title on June 5, 2010 at Yankee Stadium. In this episode Cotto meets the Yankees and explores the arena for his upcoming fight.

» COTTO: ROAD TO THE BRONX, RECHARGED (EP.4)
» COTTO: ROAD TO THE BRONX,  CAMP (EP.3)
» COTTO: ROAD TO THE BRONX, JUNITO (EP.2)
» COTTO: ROAD TO THE BRONX, REDEMPTION (EP.1)

And Now, The Biggest Entertainer In Entertainment Floyd Mayweather Jr., the welterweight widely regarded as pound for pound the best boxer in the world, is about as rich and famous as a 147-pound fighter can get these days. People who don’t know anything about boxing beyond Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali recognize him on the street (Who’s that little guy with all the bodyguards?), although sometimes it takes an extra second or two. (It’s that boxer who was on “Dancing with the Stars.”) Mayweather, who used to be known as “Pretty Boy” and now answers to “Money,” is famous, but he’s not famous famous. He won’t settle for that. He wants to be bigger than boxing today can make him… —By CARLO ROTELLA, www.nytimes.com

Lockett Has Puncher’s Chance Of World Titles In a week when David Haye brought a new dimension to self-promotion while Ricky Hatton plumbed new depths of self-delusion, the Hayemaker and the Hitman highlighted the vicissitudes of big-time boxing. • Haye, who aspires to be heavyweight champion of the world, confirmed that he is to act as his own impresario, whereas Hatton, whose winning performance against the valiant Juan Lazcano left him looking more like Rocky than Ricky, confirmed that he may be his own worst enemy. • Haye and Hatton are two of boxing’s most engaging characters, able to articulate with more than just their fists. Gary Lockett is another of that breed. In Atlantic City next Saturday, Lockett will attempt to replenish the fast-diminishing stock of British world champions. To do so he will need Haye’s punch and Hatton’s gumption… —By Alan Hubbard, www.independent.co.uk

Pacquiao, Diaz Delight Boxing Fans With Free Workout Although David Diaz knows he’ll be an underdog in his fight with Manny Pacquiao in four weeks, he already pulled one remarkable surprise in a storefront martial-arts gym Saturday. • By following up some sharp shadowboxing with a well-timed joke or two, Diaz charmed a bit of grudging admiration out of the hundreds of Filipino boxing fans from the Bay Area who crowded into every cranny of the West Wind Gym for a free workout by the two fighters who will meet in Las Vegas for the WBC lightweight title in four weeks… — The Associated Press, www.iht.com

(Mayweather Photos By Finlay MacKay) 

Miranda Offers Career Advice To Abraham Calling in from his training camp in Puerto Rico, super middleweight contender Edison ‘Pantera’ Miranda chuckled when he was read the latest statements from his June 21st opponent, Arthur Abraham, who stated that in their highly controversial first bout in 2006, if he failed to beat a man who had his jaw broken, he would have taken a job as a night watchman. • “I agree with you Arthur, if it was a one-on-one fight,” said Miranda of the first bout, one marred by questionable officiating.  “Unfortunately for me, I was fighting you and the referee, and most people who saw the fight still believe I won…” —Source: www.boxeomundial.net

Magic Man Ready For Hatton IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi should be fit for a potential autumn showdown with Ricky Hatton despite fracturing his hand on Saturday. • Malingnaggi sustained the injury during his split-decision win over Lovemore N’Dou at the City of Manchester Stadium on the undercard to Hatton’s title defence against Juan Lazcano… —Source, www.skysports.com

Mancini Says Pavlik Will Knock Out Lockett It was a case of one favorite son to another. • Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini showed up at Youngstown’s Southside Boxing Club to take in a workout by world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik last week. The lightweight champion from 1982 to 1984 was also back home on business from Los Angeles as he worked on a documentary about his old stomping grounds. • Mancini, 47, said Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) should be able to take care of business when he defends his WBC-WBO titles against Gary Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) in Atlantic City, N.J., on June 7. But there are intangibles… —Source: www.cleveland.com

Excerpt: Ebony, January 1975

MUHAMMAD ALI CHALLENGES BLACK MEN

‘Respect your women; love and protect your children; stand up for what you believe’

By Charles L. Sanders.

¶ 4           

Ali paused at the top of the plane’s steps long enough to savor the cheers of the crowd—paused just long enough. His timing is phenomenal and he is as much a master of showmanship as is Cab Calloway. He stood up there like a Black Prince. His well-fitting brown suit picked up, in the sunlight, the copper in his skin and he sort of, with his smile and all, sparkled like a penny polished with Bon Ami. His face was unscarred and, as men faces can be was something approaching beautiful. He bounded down the steps and plunged into the sea of people surging toward the plane and he headed toward Mrs. Odessa Clay, his mother, who stood a bit apart from the crowd wearing the white mink stole Ali gave her not long ago. The Champ, who cuts and batters men in the ring and sends them, as he sent Joe Frazier, on trips of suffering and pain, greeted his mother with a tender embrace.

¶ 19

“You mentioned something about me always standing up when my mother comes in a room,” [Ali] he said “One of the reasons I do it is because she’s my mother and she’s the one who gave me life.  But another reason is that all Muslims give great honor to womanhood, the black woman mainly, because the Hon. Elijah Muhammad teaches us that she is the Queen of the Planet and the Mother of Civilization. If a man doesn’t respect his woman then he doesn’t respect himself, for woman is man’s field which produces his greatest crop, his children, and if man doesn’t protect his field then bad children are produced.”

¶ 31

“I challenge all black men to not just play with their children and think about how cute they are and buy them all kinds of pretty things. I challenge them to help their children find their purpose in life and then see that the purpose is fulfilled.” —Muhammad Ali

Ali brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports. Thank you.

(B/W photo by Howard Bingham)