We then get into some wrestling talk as it’s week two of the new Monday Night (not so) Wars. TNA is in some deep trouble tonight.

Listen below.

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But the weirdest thing about last night’s broadcast was Jim Lampley. He argued back and forth with Max Kellerman and Emmanuel Steward about Clottey’s lack of punches and it seemed as if they got upset at each other. And then, he tried to make the fight exciting by screaming, “Bang!” when Pacquiao started to land some punches. It was jarring to listen to this fine broadcaster go off the deep end just a little bit. Maybe he was just trying to make up for a lackluster fight.

Watch below:

Welcome to our live play by play of the Joshua Clottey vs. Manny Pacquiao Boxing Battle live from the beautiful Dallas Cowboys Stadium as these two warriors step into the ring in front of 40,000 fans. I’ve been watching a little bit of the undercard, switching back and forth between that and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (great movie). Keep clicking refresh or pressing F5 on your keyboard for updates throughout the fight.

I’m amped and ready to go!

Arena looks beautiful. If pro wrestling was as popular as it was in 1999 and 2000, we’d have the biggest show ever there. Maybe if Brock vs. somebody can get enough interest, UFC can run there one day. It’s amazing.

Alright main event time. Clottey vs. Pac!

So we begin with the Ghana and Filipino National Anthems are our fighters prepare for war. They got three Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders doing the American National Anthem and let me just say… I would not mind sticking my rocket in their red glare. :blues:. Sorry, I had to. They look cute.

They played an AWESOME boxing video package with some of the sports best, including footage of Hagler/Hearns and other big moments.

Here comes Joshua Clottey. How many entrance songs does this guy have? Yeeesh. It’s like Triple H. He’s dancing to his song. This is too much like R-Truth for my tastes. Pac is coming out now – smiling – looking as confident as ever. I’d hate to say it, but it looks like Pac might run through this man like a stampede of rhinos. He comes out to ACDC’s Thunderstruck, then Eye of the Tiger – WHY? Is this a new thing now? Changing songs.

Michael Buffer begins with his introductions… big pop for Pac

Round 1

Both guys start very cautious. Pac going to the body early. Nailed a big right hand that looked painful. Clottey has no answer for this thusfar. Pac wins that round hands down.

Round 2

Complete domination from Pac. Clottey is defending his face but Pac’s work to the midsection will eventually force him to put his hands down. Pac tried to sucker Clottey once or twice, but it didn’t work. As usual, Pac’s hand speed is blazing.

Round 3

Clottey through a nice right hand and Pac def felt it. Most of the round was Pac going to the body and just hurting the African hard. Clottey isnt in TROUBLE, but this can wear him down for certain.

Round 4

More punches in bunches by Pac. I’m not sure how damaging they are but they look good on the scorecard. There was a moment when Pac did an earclap!!! Is that even LEGAL!?!? Pac wins again!

Round 5

Clottey started to throw more punches this round than normal, but I’m not sure he really did anything effective other than one combo. Pac kept his lead and tried to set some traps.

Round 6

Clottey went for some more combinations here but there was nothing to it. Pac started to use his jab more effectively here, trying to set up Clot for a punch in bunch situation. Nobody in any danger just yet.

Round 7

Interesting. Clottey actually started a LOT more aggressive here and started to throw a lot more punches than before. Pac would come back with a flurry and back him, but Clottey actually looked good. Pac looked a bit well.. lethargic. I’d give this round to Clottey… but Pac is still up 6-1.

Round 8

There were a couple of low blows thrown here – one counted and one didn’t. Pac started to throw more punches here and looked back in form. Clottey had three or four nice exchanges, but played turtle for the majority of the fight. Crowd booed the end of this round very much so.

Round 9 & 10

I’m very sorry but due to the stupid thunderstorm here in Tampa, I had a power surge and missed this and almost all of the 10th Round. From what other people said online – it was more of the same.

Round 11

Clottey began this round very confident and very straight forward, throwing punches in bunches. Unlike a lot of other fighters, he realizes that his time is limited and well – desperate times call for desperation. Now they’re blasting each other fast and hard! Combination after Combination! THIS is a fight! Crowd goes nuts! Two big uppercuts by Clot! Best Round so far!

Round 12

They hug to start the round. Clottey wants to win this thing but it may be too little too late. Pac wants the stoppage here like he did with Cotto. We have an accidental headbutt early on. Pac throwing more. Pac ends the round in the flurry.

Pacquiao is going to win, but he was unable to finish Clottey. Clottey never tried to really pierce Pac’s defense, but was able to do so once or twice with a very nice right hand and left uppercut. Still, Pac continues his dominance over yet another young fighter.

Now the official decision. Scorecards: 120-108, 119-109, 119-109 for Manny Pacquiao.

Liverpool (Sky Sports)
Paul Smith (29-1) UD-12 over Tony Dodson (24-6)
Smith was badly cut from the opening round, but survived to see out the decision in a rough main event.

Kell Brook (21-0) TKO 6 of Krzysztof Bienias (39-4)
Brook is probably the best up and coming fighter in Britain. He was way too much for Bienias; who has had success at a certain level, but fares poorly when stepped up in class. In the post fight interview, Promoter Frank Warren called out Amir Khan on Brook’s behalf. Khan had previously been Warren’s top star, but Khan abandoned him in favour of a deal with Goldenboy.

Tony Bellew (13-0) TKO 1 over Atoli Moore(4-1)
The hard punching Bellew wasted little time finishing off his outmatched opponent.

Enzo Maccarinelli (31-4) TKO 1 of Zoltan Czekus (8-3)
The former WBO Cruiserweight champion continues to rebuild his career with an easy win over a complete unknown.

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Texas (FSN)
Richie Mepranum (17-2-1) UD-10 over Hernan Marquez (27-1)
A fair amount of work had gone into building Marquez, so this has to go down as a rather sizable upset. He had amassed a nice undefeated streak and KO percentage against pretty soft competition, but he was somewhat exposed here. He is exiting to watch, and he’s only 21, so there’s still plenty of time to rebuild him. It will remain to be seen how far Mepranum can go. He’s only 22 himself, and has been matched quite hard throughout his career. The win should ensure some decent paydays for him atleast.

Samuel Peter (34-3) TKO 2 Nagy Aguilera (15-3)
This was an eliminator for the IBF title held by Wladimir Klitschko. Peter won in convincing fashion as was to be expected. He looked in fantastic shape for this fight. Hopefully this is a sign that he has rededicated himself to his boxing career.

Omar Henry (8-0) TKO 1 of Francisco Javier Reza (6-1)
This was an absolute destruction. Henry is one to watch out for. I will try post footage from this in the next couple of days.

Jose Benavidez (3-0) TKO 3 over Bobby Hill (1-3)
Benavidez is a 17 year old prospect being trained by Freddie Roach. Top Rank are already tipping him as one of the next big star in boxing. He turned pro after losing to Frankie Gomez in the American national championships last year. It’s still early days, but there’s loads of potential to work with. The knockout shot was near perfect.

Anthony Peterson (30-0) KO 3 of Juan Ramon Cruz (16-8)
Non televised.
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Saturday
Berlin (ARD)

Marco Huck (28-1) TKO 3 over Adam Richards (23-3)
Käpt’n Hook successfully defended his WBO cruiserweight title with a third round stoppage of Adam Richards. Hook took a couple of rounds to figure Richards out, but once he did the gulf in class became quickly evident. Hook hurt him with everything he threw, and it was only ever a matter of time.

Alexander Povetkin (19-0) TKO 5 of Javier Mora (22-6)
In the main support bout Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin notched up another KO victory advancing to 19-0.

It comes in two videos. Check it out and tell us what you think about the episode in the comments column.

I’ve never thought about this before, but this fight has a man from the Philippines fighting a man from Ghana, neither of who speak English very well, fighting in a stadium for America’s Team. Boxing is truly a melting pot sport.

The show immediately goes into the Pacquaio/Mayweather fight that never happened. Freddie Roach immediately went into denial about the issue instead of tackling the issue, which is what he’s done. Pac’s strength and conditioning coach said Pacquiao thinks giving blood is a bad thing and blames his loss on giving blood. Basically, the same BS we’ve been hearing since late last year.

Clottey says that he couldn’t sleep after hearing that he was fighting Manny Pacquiao. Clottey runs the streets of NY before the city starts. But I thought the city never sleeps? He says he should be right at the top of the welterweight class.

His fight against Antonio Margarito put him on the map and then he beat Zab Judah to win the championship.

They show the fight with Cotto and Jim Lampley says that Clottey had a dead man in front of him and let him throw enough punches to take the last two rounds and win the fight.

Clottey’s cut man Lenny De Jesus has to act as his cut man and trainer because his trainer can’t get a visa to get to the states. He was also Pacquiao’s cut man from 2003 to 2005. He thinks this is the reason why he has the inside edge on how to beat Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has to eat a ton just to keep his weight up while Clottey will outweigh him by 15 pounds probably in the ring.

Roach says he’s waiting for the day as to when Pacquiao doesn’t have his immense work ethic and that day hasn’t happened yet.

This countdown wasn’t anything special, but it did give fans a great look at Joshua Clottey. It’s going to take a money making performance by Clottey to win this fight.

I don’t think the boxing world expects much other than another Pacquiao victory and while we don’t either here at FGB, we may differ on how hard this fight could be for Pacquiao.

Duan, Robert and I give our predictions for the fight.

Duan: Pacquiao by decision (8 rounds to 4)

This is by no means going to be a Pacquiao walkover. Joshua Clottey is the type of guy who will give just about anybody a tough fight. Josh Clottey will not be fazed by Pacquiao in the slightest. He will look to make this a war. The wilder this fight gets the more it swings in his favour. If Pacquiao gets drawn into that type of rough house fight, he could very realistically come out on the losing end.

However, I see the same old problem coming back to haunt Clottey. His stamina will suffer in the second half of the fight, his output will decline, and he will let the rounds just slip away from him. We are going to see a hell of a battle for eight rounds with Pacquiao just about pulling away at the finish. I expect it to be grueling though.

Robert: Pacquiao by decision (117-111)

Joshua Clottey has the fighting heart of Azumah Nelson and the fistic acuity of Joe Bugner. Against Miguel Cotto, he proved himself to be a world class pro; tough, cagey, able to take the best shot from one of the hardest punchers in the business. Yet his stiff, leaden foot style allowed the all-but-KO’d Puerto Rican champion to outbox him in the final rounds. Pacquiao, for all of his issues, is a whirling dervish who wont stand in front of him, and has enough power to make Clottey second guess about engaging in a slugfest with him. Manny won’t knock him out, but will have an easier time with him than some suggest.

GG: Pacquiao by decision

I wonder if Clottey can make Manny fight his fight. I don’t think he’s athletic enough to do so. I think he’ll be able to play rough with Manny a bit, but eventually, Pacquiao’s athleticism, speed, and punching speed will prevail. I think Manny could put him away in the 11th or 12th round just based on overwhelming him, but I do think it goes the distance. Like Duan said, Clottey seems to break down late in fights and I think that will be his undoing again.

We’re going to try to have live play by play of the fight on Saturday night. I will be out and unable to do so, but Big D will try to step up and catalog the rounds for everyone.

The first time they did the show was last year and it also starred Georges St. Pierre. He was fighting BJ Penn and if you remember, Penn was pretty upset at the production of the show. We’ll see if Dan Hardy gets upset. I have a feeling he won’t. I think he simply wants to be the bad guy.

Georges is doing an Olympic weight lifting routine to gain ten pounds and increase his strength and athleticism. He did a crazy jumping squat with about 150 pounds on his shoulders. He says that he’s the most confident he’s ever been.

Hardy says that on the Sunday after the fight, all the GSP “nut huggers” will be in mourning. He doesn’t know how GSP can put his pants on with all the nut huggers on him.

Camp Hardy says that GSP can’t take a shot and that’s what they’re going to do. They’re just going to hit him and hurt him. Hardy says he gets more enjoyment out of really beating people up than GSP does. He says that GSP probably thinks he’s the alpha male, but after the fight, he’ll have to change his mind.

Lots of Under Armor shots in this show so far, even when he’s up in the club. GSP says it’s hard to become champion, but it’s harder to stay champion. He says he needs to stay hungry.

He went to New York to train with Renzo Gracie and Renzo said he’s now at expert level.

Hardy says he found someone to give him some inside information on GSP, but he didn’t say who. I wonder if he’s talking about Matt Serra. Hahahahaha! It is Matt Serra. He’s training at Serra’s jiu-jitsu gym.

The first episode wasn’t great. Hardy comes off as someone confident, but GSP looks so amazing that you’re still wondering how Hardy stands a chance. But the last bit where he goes to Serra’s gym and the show ends was brilliant. If Matt Serra is a part of this show, it’s only going to be better.

World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Edge
I had an idea of what they could’ve done that would’ve been better than what they’ve done so far. Instead of Bret Hart hurting his ankle, why didn’t they do the injury angle with Edge? It would’ve kept him out of the ring, making his in ring comeback at WrestleMania rather than on regular old Smackdown. They could’ve even built all of his promos around coming back from injury early. It would’ve kept Jericho strong rather than how weak he’s been portrayed since winning the belt, and we wouldn’t have to see that ridiculous “Spear! Spear! Spear!” gimmick.

WWE Champion Batista vs. John Cena
I thought they’d run out of ways to keep Cena as the underdog, but they didn’t. I’m not sure that having Mr. McMahon pin Cena was the right thing to do, but it did put heat on him and Batista. Not like Batista needed it though. This is the only match that could main event Mania if they choose not to main event with Taker/HBK.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
I liked their promo on Raw, but it was a tad bit on the boring end considering all the great stuff HBK has been doing of late. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. But it always weirds me out to see The Undertaker do serious promos about matches when usually his promos are about wacky and meaningless stuff that his character usually says.

Triple H vs. Sheamus
I actually like the build of this, HHH’s promo about WrestleMania and how you can fall into obscurity if you lose matches withstanding. There’s something about the way they’ve built Sheamus that I enjoy. I know that he hasn’t always won matches by pin fall, but there’s a certain stature that he already has that some guys who are pushed like him don’t embrace. He stands taller and has a certain confidence about it. I think HHH will really do his best to make him at Mania. I think Sheamus has a great look and will be something in WWE.

Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon
They’ve definitely done their best to mess with the easiest angle since WCW vs. WWE. But I still believe. I guess it has something to do with Bret’s character. I just know that he wouldn’t agree to crap. So I expect this to end strong. Next week, I hope he signs the contract with Vince and shows everyone that his ankle isn’t really hurt. Adding Stone Cold Steve Austin to that angle next week should be pretty cool. No one knows Vince like Stone Cold.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
The competitors are Kane, Evan Bourne, MVP, Christian, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, Jack Swagger, and Matt Hardy. It’s not nearly the strongest group they’ve ever had and I was really hoping the Miz would be in this match and win it. But there are some really good ladder match wrestlers. Of course, Shelton and Christian are two of the best and if Matt Hardy’s gut doesn’t get in the way, he can be really good in this as well. You can imagine that Bourne is going to fly and do his best to stand out. But I think it’s an opportunity for Swagger to really show his athletic ability. I think he wins the match too.

Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show & The Miz vs. John Morrison & R-Truth
This isn’t the strongest tag title match, considering how over those belts have been recently, but it’s a good mid-card match. This could even open the show. The Miz and Show are over as a team and it’s about time John Morrison puts it all together. Truth is over because of his entrance. It won’t be a great match and it won’t steal the show, but it’d either be a good buffer, or it’d be a good opener. I expect the Miz to look strong here.

Though it hasn’t been announced yet, Randy Orton and the Legacy crew will have to do something. And let’s not forget CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.

What other matches will take place? They already have seven (and it will be nine) matches so maybe that’s it considering at least two of those need to go twenty minutes. Where’s Drew McIntyre? Where’s Kofi? Maybe they have the dark match? What about the divas? What about Tyson and DH Smith? What about Goldust? Ok, maybe I’m the only one who wants to see Goldust.

We have it for you below.