Thu 13 Aug 2009
Ramsey said Thursday that the basketball coach is “our guy” and that he believes the school will become stronger following Pitino’s expression of remorse on Wednesday.
Source: Associated Press
No one knows you better than your friends Ricky boy.
Mon 27 Jul 2009
But Al Mitchell, his long-time friend, trainer and confidante, said no one can imagine how much charitable work Forrest actually did.
“He came from the ‘hood and even though he became a world champion and a big success and had a lot of money, he never forgot where he came from,” Mitchell said. “He was a guy who always was looking for something to do for someone else. It was like the money was burning a hole in his pocket. He wanted to give it to the gyms or some charity or just someone he saw who needed it.
“He wasn’t looking for credit or tax breaks or anything else. He was a good guy who loved people and wanted to help any way he could.”
Forrest, 38, was shot and killed Saturday during a robbery, Atlanta police said. One of his trainers and closest friends, Charles Watson, told an Atlanta television station that Forrest stopped at a Mechanicsville, Ga., gas station to fix a problem with a tire when the incident occurred. He offered money to a man who helped him and was soon surrounded by several men, who somehow took his wallet, Watson told WXIA-TV. Watson told the station that Forrest scuffled with the men briefly in an apparent attempt to regain his wallet. One of the men jumped out of the car and shot him in the back of the head and then shot him six more times while he was on the ground.
It was a tragic end to a life filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows.
Vernon Forrest was a champion boxer who spent his life away from boxing helping others. The plan of Vernon Forrest’s heart was to help the needy and make a positive difference in the world.
God’s plan for Forrest was to be killed like a rabid dog, executed in cold blood lying dead on a filthy city street.
The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
Nice plan God.
Wed 1 Jul 2009
Presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo confirmed Arguello’s death and an autopsy was pending. The La Prensa newspaper reported Arguello — elected mayor of Managua last year — was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The 57-year-old Arguello retired in 1995 with a record of 82-8 with 65 knockouts and was a champion in three weight divisions. He was perhaps best known for two thrilling battles with Aaron Pryor and fights with Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and Ruben Olivares.
“I’m kind of in a daze right now,” Pryor told The Associated Press. “Those were great fights we had. This was a great champion.”
Nicknamed “The Explosive Thin Man,” Arguello was inducted in 1992 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where flags were flying at half-staff in his honor Wednesday.
Source: ESPN News
If you weren’t old enough to remember Arguello chances are you young enough to hate boxing. When Arguello roamed the rings back in the 80’s boxing was in its glory. Boxers like Hagler, Hearns, Arguello, Pryor, Mancini and Duran legitimized boxing, it was electrifying and unlike any other sporting event on television when these met fought.
Arguello was tall, long arms, lightning fast, tough as nails and boxed when men went 15 rounds. Unfortunately for boxing there are very few Alexis Arguello’s in the ranks and even fewer fights like Arguello/Pryor, so pay your respects by watching some highlights of his illustrious career.
Tue 21 Oct 2008
I grew up watching boxing at the start of the eighties and have been a fan ever since. There is electricity which is palpable when watching a boxing match between two evenly matched opponents that is unrivaled in all of sports. Two men, modern day combatants, wage war in a ring for the right to be called the victor. Boxing is a mental sport in as much as it is physical and often it is subtle tactical maneuvers during a match which precede victory more so than one blow to the head. Boxing is the sweet science and unfortunately the younger, more desensitized generation of today isn’t interested in science, but rather with brutality which is why MMA is the combat sport of choice for them.
Somewhere along the way Boxing lost its Ali’s, Foreman’s, Frazier’s, Louis’, Hagler’s, Leonard’s Duran’s and Holmes’ and found itself in the grasp of greedy promoters like Don King who made the sport more about the fifty dollar pay-per-view than about the story behind the fight. Lost was the personality that made boxing great, instead replaced with a hype machine which all too often didn’t match the price tag associated and viewers turned off in droves.
Today boxing is faced with a younger generation who no longer buy the hype, only to be provided with twelve rounds of tie-ups and little action. The younger generation of today has grown up with movies, music and video games which provide them with enthralling depictions of war, crime, sex and violence, and now they are getting a dose of this realism via MMA. The microwave generation of people wants instant action which MMA provides in a short 3 round burst and boxing all too often takes to long to develop through twelve possible rounds.
In order for boxing to survive the onslaught of MMA and capture the attention of the younger crowd, boxing officials need to update the sport, perhaps 6 round fights not 12, smaller gloves, smaller ring, steep penalties for tie-ups and quite possibly the elimination of the judges score card determining victory. Will professional Boxing ‘go out of business’ because of the popularity of MMA? I think the sport of boxing will continue on indefinitely and MMA isn’t immune to its own problems as reported by UFCBlogger. I love boxing and always will, but the sport needs re-tooling, so generations to come will look back and remember fights like I remembered growing up.
