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It may seem old to you, but to me it feels new

- “Heartbeat” Louise Veronica Ciccone

Its fight night, a time for reflection and anticipation. The hopes of entire nations march to the ring with tonights combatants. Truthfully, no one knows what will happen. These delicious moments, the beloved countdown to sports greatest spectacle, the HUGE fight, are precious and lined with anxiety and excitement. Will it be a bombs away slugfest like Hagler-Hearns, a late round drama like Leonard-Hearns, or, god forbid, an exercise in futility like Holmes-Ali. The answers to all those questions await. Yes, my friends, it is FIGHT NIGHT!…Oscar De La Hoya’s last great performance was Sept 13^th, 2003 against Shane Mosley. Though the decision went to Sugar, Oscar clearly won the fight, winning with grit, moxy and sublime determination. We now know, conclusively, that Mosley had taken EPO and a cocktail of steroids as he prepared for the important fight. De La Hoya’s camp will apparently move to have the decision changed in the coming weeks… De La Hoya has had three fights in the past four years, winning two, against Ricardo Mayorga and Stevie Forbes, and losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr…Manny Pacquaio has ten fights during the same time frame, winning nine. He avenged the loss, to all time great Erik Morales, twice. He has improved dramatically under the tutelage of Freddie Roach and may have been at his absolute best in his last fight, June 28^th 2008, stomping David Diaz….Emmanuel Steward has publicly berated himself for allowing Tommy Hearn’s to weigh in at 145.5 before his epic showdown with Sugar Ray Leonard in 1981. Steward believes coming in at even one and a half lbs under the weight was a factor in the Hitmans rubber legged late round performance. The veteran Golden Boy has weighed in at 145. The concept is, ideally, to demonstrate to your opponent that rumours of weight issues are nonsense. But it backfired for wobbly Tommy Hearns, all those years ago…Freddie Roach has been singing like a bird about his time in the De La Hoya camp. He is a serious detractor of the Golden Boy stating that he has never seen an experienced fighter get “so tight” before a big fight as De La Hoya did before facing Mayweather. He also said Oscar would have fared better, and possibly won, if he had stuck to Roach’s game plan. Self serving, yes, but very interesting and, just possibly, Roach might have gotten under the skin of tonights betting favourite…word on the street: another singing bird is sparring partner Edwin Valero. The power punching, albeit brain damaged, contender whispered he was surprised at how little Oscar trains anymore, common for older fighters, and also claims he was booted out of camp after a mere eight rounds of sparring for blackening Oscar’s eye and punching him around the ring. The De La Hoya camp dismissed the claims…THE PICK Pacquaio is the better fighter at the moment. He faces a formidable task in fighting a bigger man but I believe Oscar miscalculated and mismanaged his weight, apparently walking around at 145 for the past two weeks. Listen, at least that porky Pacquaio has not been starving! Manny can hang in their early, and Lordy he is going to have to eat some splendiferous hooks as Oscar attempts an early stoppage, but the late rounds will be owned by the surging Filipino. Because of the weight issues I’m hitting Manny by decision but have also placed coin on stoppages in the last three rounds. Its fight night, baby, yes it is. So be good to yourself, get plenty oiled up, and let’s enjoy a spectacular night of fisticuffs… cannot stop laughing after reading this morning’s Los Angeles Times article on that purported financial juggernaut, the UFC. I’ve always denigrated the followers of MMA as basically the same misfits devoted to wrestling - the “nurse one beer all night” crowd. In the Times article it is gently pointed out that establishments are coming around to the RacingMeridian way of thinking. In Las Vegas, a UFC event is found to have minimal impact on the local economy. A big boxing match powers up the local markets, be it bars, restaurants or, most importantly, the tables, by over 50%. The Sweet Science is not quite dead yet…the Detroit Red Wings, a fair judge of players, rid themselves of Sean Avery in 2003. In April 2006 the Los Angeles Kings simply sent Avery home, fed up of dealing with the players antics. Among some of Avery’s finer moments are the comments he made on ice about Jason Blake’s cancer, racial taunts at George Laraque and, of course, his unconscionable lack of sportsmanship facing Martin Brodeur in a first round playoff series in April of this year. Avery is not a pest, he is a delinquent, and a real nasty one…Allan Muir’s mock 2009 draft has the Leafs picking eighth over all and taking Brayden Schenn, younger brother of current Bud defenseman Luke. Muir has moved Jonathan Tavares out of the top spot, giving that honour to Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman…and whatever happened to Alexander Semin? Did he retire? Or did the loudmouth rediscover his timid ways and, again, manifest his inordinate susceptibility to fatigue and minor injuries…Troy Aikman has proclaimed the current Pittsburgh Steeler defense the equal of the stud 2001 Baltimore Raven defenders. The Steelers are currently ranked number one in the league against the pass and the run, an amazing feat…the Cincinnati Bengal’s will have only one full time starter available in the secondary for their game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts tomorrow…DT’s Pat and Kevin Williams of the Minnesota Vikings will play Sunday against the Detroit Lions after getting a court injunction against the application of their four game suspensions…guess what? It’s week 14 and the St Louis Rams will finally have a healthy Steven Jackson. The Rams average 129 yards on the ground when Jackson plays and an anemic 70 without him. How stupid would I have to be to take the 14 against the Arizona Cardinals Sunday? Yeah, I can be pretty damn stupid…Matt Hasselback is doubtful for Sundays match of his Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots. The Pats look awfully cheap with this development, only laying 4.5…Sporting News reports the Atlanta Braves have offered A J Burnett 60 million over four years. The pitcher and surely ex Jay, is gunning for a five year contract…anytime a team plays as poorly for a brand new coach as the Toronto Raptors did last night, losing to Utah 114-87, there is allot more to the tale than what we are perusing in our daily tabloid. Traditionally teams put there best foot forward for the new man in charge…same goes for the Carolina Hurricanes indifferent effort for returning Paul Maurice.