Please lock.

As we already knew.... those Money May/Pac Man fight rumors arent true.

the man himself has spoken.  http://www.fighthype.com/news/article15884.html
 
"All the stories you hear about Pacquiao is a lie," stated pound-for-pound king Floyd "Money" Mayweather, who set the record straight regarding any and all rumors linking him to a potential 2014 showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Last month, reports first surfaced about a proposed meeting that Pacquiao was hoping to have with the undefeated welterweight and jr. middleweight champion. It didn't take long for that rumor to transform into the latest misleading story, where a "source" allegedly claimed that a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao showdown was a "done deal" for this September.

Nevermind the fact that this latest "news" originated from a homemade video posted on YouTube; evidently, that was enough to get some seemingly credible media outlets to report on the nearly three-week old video. In fact, The International Business Times ran with the headline "Boxing News: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao Agree to Mega-Fight in 2014, Source Says". When I was first made aware of the story, I simply chuckled and thought nothing of it. I speak to Floyd Mayweather at least 3 or 4 times a week, so I'd be extremely surprised if a move like that could be pulled off without me knowing a little something about it. That being said, when I started to receive phone calls from presumably "more reputable" journalists, all asking me if there was any truth to the story, I thought it would be best to go directly to the source to clear up any confusion.

If there's one thing FightHype readers know, it's that when it comes to Floyd Mayweather, or any fighter for that matter, you're going to get the truth and the proof straight from the source. That being said, we reached out to Floyd Mayweather to speak to him about the latest unfounded rumor. As expected, Mayweather told me what I already knew. "It's a lie. It's not true. If it didn't come from Leonard's mouth, my mouth, or Al's mouth, it's not true," Mayweather stated, quickly killing the rumor before instructing me to let fans know that when it comes to his next fight, everyone can just keep it locked to FightHype.com for any future announcement. As we discussed various other topics, Mayweather revealed that individuals were still trying to contact him with "cutthroat business deals" regarding Manny Pacquiao.

Loyal readers might remember a story on FightHype from a little over a year ago where we revealed a letter that Mayweather had received during his incarceration. That letter was written by former associate Tommy Summers, A.K.A. Tommy Smalls, A.K.A. Tom Harlem, and it appeared to be an attempt to convince Mayweather to part ways with long-time advisor Al Haymon in hopes of gaining control of his career, both in and out of the ring. Anyone that knows Mayweather knows that he's extremely loyal to his team, so naturally, that plan backfired on Summers. Apparently, that wasn't enough to stop Summers from trying, however. Despite Mayweather making it crystal clear that he won't do business behind the backs of those that helped build his brand, namely Al Haymon and Leonard Ellerbe, Summers continues to contact him with alleged guarantees that he can't deliver on. Check out his latest attempt to score a backdoor business deal in this series of text messages:
 
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Now, before any of you misconstrue the message from Tommy and start thinking there's any truth to it, please understand that Manny Pacquiao is currently under contract with Bob Arum's Top Rank Boxing, and if memory serves me correctly, that contract isn't up for renewal until the end of this year in December, 2014. That said, there is no way whatsoever that Tommy can "sit down quietly" with Mayweather, Pacquiao and his lawyer to work out some kind of deal without Bob Arum. Incidentally, is Tommy referring to Pacquiao's Filipino lawyer, Franklin Gacal, or his American lawyers that also work for Top Rank? It's unclear if Summers is acting alone or if he was instructed to contact Mayweather by a third party. The point is, like Mayweather said, everyone is lying. There are absolutely no secret discussions going on and there's no chance of a fight with Manny Pacquiao taking place in 2014.

As long as Pacquiao is still under contract with Top Rank, which he will be until the end of this year, there will be no mega-fight since Mayweather has made it clear that he will never do business with Bob Arum again. So before other writers start a new year of conspiracy theories and false hope that a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao will take place, remember that if it didn't come from his mouth, Leonard Ellerbe's mouth, or Al Haymon's mouth, then it's not true. The one thing that has become obvious to me from my many conversations with Mayweather is that, with so many other options available to him, he is not thinking about that fight at all. Like Mayweather himself has repeatedly stated, his career won't be defined by this one fight. If it were, then he could essentially throw out all of his accomplishments over the past 17 years, win one fight with Pacquiao, and go down as the best fighter ever in boxing. That's simply not how this sport works; it never has and it never will, so until Pacquiao is free and clear from his contractual obligations with Bob Arum, fans can ignore any and all rumors linking the two fighters together. And if there's ever any doubt when it comes to news regarding Floyd Mayweather, if it's not on FightHype, it's NOT true!
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Fight of year: Bradley-Provodnikov.

After Timothy Bradley Jr. was given a tremendously controversial split decision victory against Manny Pacquiao to claim a welterweight world title in June 2012, he was widely ridiculed for the undeserved win and even received death threats, even though he had nothing to do with the scoring.

A proud man, Bradley was deeply stung by the criticism of the victory as well as his somewhat boring style. So when Bradley came into his first title defense against Russia's Ruslan Provodnikov on March 16 at the Home Depot Center (now StubHub Center) in Carson, Calif., he did so with a huge chip on his shoulder. Bradley was determined to change what people thought about him and put the Pacquiao fiasco behind him. He wanted to prove two points: that he could excite fans and that he was worthy of his title belt.

Provodnikov, who was stepping up to face a world-class opponent on HBO after years of fighting barnburners against lesser opponents on ESPN2, was the perfect opponent. If Bradley wanted a war, Provodnikov, the epitome of a straight-ahead brawler, was all too happy to give him one.

[+] EnlargeTimothy Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Despite being knocked down several times in a brutal bout, Timothy Bradley Jr. won a narrow unanimous decision against Ruslan Provodnikov in March.
The result was an absolutely epic battle as Bradley changed his style and engaged Provodnikov in a thrilling toe-to-toe slugfest filled with drama, clean punching and ebb and flow.

In a year overloaded with tremendous fights, Bradley's close unanimous decision win stood above them all and is the 2013 ESPN.com fight of the year. That is saying an awful lot when you look at the caliber of the four fabulous runner-up fights below, not to mention these other sensational slugfests: Guillermo Jones-Denis Lebedev, Darren Barker-Daniel Geale, Marcos Maidana-Josesito Lopez, Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler II, James Kirkland-Glen Tapia and Sakio Bika-Marco Antonio Periban.

The fight started fast and rarely let up as Provodnikov caught Bradley with a right hand in the first round and Bradley went down, even though referee Pat Russell blew the call and ruled it a slip, a decision that ultimately cost Provodnikov a draw on the scorecards. Provodnikov continued to hurt Bradley after the "slip" and had him in huge trouble. He nearly ended the fight again in the second round with another onslaught, but Bradley somehow survived.

More ESPN Fights of the Year
2013: Timothy Bradley Jr. W12 Ruslan Provodnikov
2012: Juan Manuel Marquez KO6 Manny Pacquiao (IV)
2011: Akira Yaegashi TKO10 Pornsawan Porpramook
2010: Humberto Soto W12 Urbano Antillon
2009: Juan Manuel Marquez KO9 Juan Diaz (I)
2008: Israel Vazquez W12 Rafael Marquez (III)

From the third round on, with Provodnikov having punched himself out a bit, Bradley was able to collect himself, get back into the fight and begin winning rounds. There was a ton of back-and-forth action, especially late in the sixth round, which was absolutely sensational as they simply pounded each other nonstop. "They're putting on an amazing show," HBO's Jim Lampley exclaimed after they closed the sixth round in an extended toe-to-toe exchange.

Provodnikov suffered a bad cut on his left eyelid in the ninth round and both fighters had taken so much punishment that at various times their trainers, Freddie Roach (Provodnikov) and Joel Diaz (Bradley), threatened to stop the fight while Russell was busy checking both corners between rounds.

With Provodnikov seemingly needing a knockout to win in the 12th round, he staggered Bradley with a left hand, hurt him again with a right and sent him to the canvas with a flurry of shots with 15 seconds left in the fight. A dazed Bradley (who said afterward that he had suffered a concussion early on) beat Russell's count and the fight ended before another punch could be thrown.

Talk about drama.

"What a spectacular fight, what an amazing performance," Lampley said. "What a war!"

Other unforgettables
2. Mike Alvarado W12 Brandon Rios II (March 30 at Las Vegas):

[+] EnlargeAlvarado-Rios
Josh Hedges/Getty Images
The rematch between Mike Alvarado, right, and Brandon Rios was as exciting as the first time they met.
In October 2012, Rios stopped Alvarado on his feet in the seventh round of a rock 'em, sock 'em battle that was the fight of the year runner-up. They did it again five months later in an even better fight in which Alvarado turned the tables by tight unanimous decision (115-113, 115-113, 114-113) and won a vacant interim junior welterweight title. This easily could have been selected as the fight of the year and had all the action a fight fan could ask for. It was even better than the first fight. It was intense brawl featuring nonstop clean punching and ebb and flow throughout. How this went the distance will forever remain a mystery because they were crushing each other. Alvarado was nearly knocked down and was badly hurt by a left jab in a ferocious second round that was so good that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who promoted the all-time classic Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns middleweight championship fight, said that Round 2 was the best he had seen since Round 1 in Hagler-Hearns. Even Mike Tyson, who was ringside, was on his feet cheering during the round and the fight. Alvarado buzzed Rios in the third round with a brutal right and they traded shots on and on and on, round after round. Alvarado fought most of the fight with a bad cut over his left eye, but although he looked worse when it was over than Rios, he was the heavier puncher and earned the victory, a fight so exciting that there is likely to be a rubber match.
3. Marcos Maidana W12 Adrien Broner (Dec. 14 at San Antonio):

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Marcos Maidana, left, scored a big upset by manhandling Adrien Broner in December.
Maidana, no stranger to action fights, not only won a welterweight world title in a thoroughly exciting and dramatic fight, he also pulled the upset and knocked the brash Broner from the undefeated ranks in the final major fight of 2013. While it was a tremendous brawl, Maidana largely kicked Broner's rear end. For all of the nuttiness that surrounds Broner outside of the ring, he showed himself to be a pure fighter inside it, doing everything he could to hang in there against a fearless opponent who would not be denied. Maidana attacked Broner from the opening bell and simply would not let up. His constant pressure and power punching was something to behold. He cashed in during the second round, dropping Broner with a clean left hook. Maidana scored another knockdown in the eighth round, nailing Broner with another left hook. But Maidana also turned dirty in the round, purposely head-butting Broner in the chin and losing a point to add to the drama. Maidana rocked Broner all over the ring in the ninth round, but Broner dug down and hurt Maidana in the 11th round and finished strong in a memorable fight.
4. Omar Figueroa W12 Nihito Arakawa (July 27 at San Antonio):

[+] EnlargeOmar Figueroa Jr and Nihito Arakawa
Ronald Martinez/Golden Boy/ Getty Images
Omar Figueroa's win over Japan's Nihito Arakawa, right, was one of the most violent fights in 2013.
This interim lightweight title bout was the most unexpected of gems. Figueroa's reputation is that of an all-action slugger but Japan's Arakawa was totally unknown in the U.S., at least before he showed incredible heart in this stunningly violent fight. It was an absolutely enthralling battle. While Figueroa was the clear winner on the wide scores of 119-107, 118-108 (twice), those scores do not do this fight justice. Every single round was exciting, especially the awesome third that was three minutes of nonstop action. Figueroa did a lot of damage with his right hand, including using it to score knockdowns in the second and sixth rounds. But Arakawa, whose left eye was badly swollen, never stopped coming forward and neither did Figueroa, who suffered a bloody cut on his nose from an accidental head-butt and it bled for the rest of the fight. The brutality that they inflicted on each other was amazing. They combined to throw 2,112 punches but Figueroa did much more damage, landing 51 percent of his shots, including an absurd 57 percent of his power shots. The fight was so brutal neither man fought the rest of the year.
5. Giovani Segura KO12 Hernan "Tyson" Marquez (Nov. 2 at Hermosillo, Mexico):

ESPN 2013 boxing awards on Twitter
Agree with our selections? Disagree? Just want to join the conversation? Sound off and we might feature your tweet below. #ESPN13awards »

Even before these Mexican punchers squared off, the expectation was for an exciting slugfest. Both are risk-takers and they predicted a brawl, and that is exactly what they delivered in this flyweight title eliminator to determine a mandatory challenger for Juan Francisco Estrada. Former junior flyweight champ Segura and Marquez, a former flyweight titlist, personify the term "warrior" and let it all hang out in this in this classic back-and-forth battle fought at an exhausting pace. Jabs were only a rumor as they battered each other with power shots. In the fourth round, Marquez took a big right hand and went down to a knee. Marquez stormed back to stagger Segura in the fifth and seventh rounds. They were inflicting heavy damage on each other in an extremely close fight. In the 11th round, Segura dropped Marquez again, but Marquez rallied to wobble Segura. It was an insane barnburner from start to finish, which came in the 12th round when Segura finally knocked out Marquez with a left hook to the jaw.
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ChampCruThik said:
Name your breakout, emerging fighters for 2014.
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Oscar Valdez he's currently at featherweight.

Heard that Fernando Vargas is getting a reality TV show it premieres January 26th 9pm mun2 Spanish channel.

I'll probably go see Cotto vs Martinez if it gets made. Shame that Sergio has the knee injury I always thought he could have beat Cotto a few years ago thought Cotto was ducking.
 
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mfreshm said:
Oscar Valdez he's currently at featherweight.

Heard that Fernando Vargas is getting a reality TV show premieres January 28th 9pm mun2 Spanish channel.

I'll probably go see Cotto vs Martinez if it gets made. Shame that Sergio has the knee injury I always thought he could have beat Cotto a few years ago thought Cotto was ducking.
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Good looks. Will be tuning in for El Feroz. Shame the direction his career turned. One of my favorite fighters growing up along with Sugar Shane.
 
Yeah I liked Vargas' fights & I liked his tribal band tattoo back then I thought it was cool when I was a teenager :lol:

I corrected the date it premieres January 26th Sunday.
 
cotto - martinez is really intriguing to see hopefully that fight gets done
 
I don't think PAC wants any parts of Provodinkov right now. I remember hearing he used to give PAC hell when he was his sparring partner.
 
mfreshm said:
Yeah I liked Vargas' fights & I liked his tribal band tattoo back then I thought it was cool when I was a teenager :lol:

I corrected the date it premieres January 26th Sunday.
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A part of me died when Vargas was KO'ed late against Tito and DLH.

Francisco Bojado is another fighter that was truly disappointing to me.
 
bradley is a better boxer now then he was a couple years ago, but aint no one paying to see him...manny still deserves the biggers split between them.

if martinez knees are healthy, he aint losing to mac.
 
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