By CagePotato Boxing Correspondent Steve Silverman

Angelo Dundee understood the game of boxing perhaps more than any trainer the sport has ever known.

He trained Muhammad Ali and “Sugar” Ray Leonard, and his influence on their careers was significant. Dundee died Thursday night after complications from blood clots at the age of 90.

There is no doubt that Ali was among the most talented fighters in the history of boxing. But Ali was different than most great heavyweights. He had lightning speed and quickness and he used his ability to motor around the ring as if he were a lightweight or a welterweight.

Dundee began training Ali, who was then still known as Cassius Clay, shortly after he won the Olympic gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. A trainer who did not have Angelo’s foresight would have immediately tried to change Ali’s style and take the movement out of the equation. Instead, Dundee embraced Ali’s athleticism and his ability to move around the ring.

“Why would I have ever changed that,” Dundee asked during a 1989 interview. “There were a lot of old timers who would say that’s not how a heavyweight is supposed to fight and that he only moved around so much because he wasn’t a real puncher. They didn’t have a clue about my guy. He was great from the time he started and all they wanted to do was criticize him.”

Dundee almost always referred to Ali as ‘my guy.’”

The sentiment was mutual.

(Photo courtesy of the outstanding “Happy Birthday, Muhammad Ali” gallery on Time.com. Seriously, go there right now.)

By Steve Silverman

Muhammad Ali was the most influential sports figure of the 20th century. Among athletes, Ali was without peer when it came to social influence, and had as much to do with the advancement of civil rights and the end of the Vietnam War as any other individual. As an iconic self-promoter, his golden tongue had no equals — and still doesn’t, no matter what Dana White says about Chael Sonnen.

However, as great a boxer as he was during his prime, he simply was not “The Greatest.” We can name one heavyweight and four other boxers who were better at their craft than Ali. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, we mean no disrespect. We just want to set the record straight.

Let’s start off by analyzing Ali’s fighting style. He was a heavyweight who moved like no one in his weight class before or since. His left jab was almost perfect because he kept opponents off-balance with it and he could also stun an opponent enough to deliver a power shot. He also had a strong right hand that he could use to knock out an opponent once he had hurt him with a flurry of punches.

During his prime, Ali was a very strong defensive fighter, using his speed to avoid getting hit and his long arms to parry hard punches. Obviously, he lost that ability in his later years as he was hit hard by Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. His ability to take hard punches and keep on fighting made him a great champion, but it cost him dearly outside the ring as he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease shortly after his career ended in 1981. Ali recorded a 56-5 record during his professional career.

Here are five boxers who rank higher than Ali…

(Props: Olieng)

By Jack Slack

The upcoming welterweight tilt between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit at UFC 143 (February 4th, Las Vegas) is an exciting prospect for casual viewers and passionate fans alike. The match-up will answer no questions about Diaz or Condit’s ability to deal with the great wrestlers of the division — Diaz in fact hasn’t fought a real takedown artist in half a decade — but it promises to be a damn good tear-up. With Georges St. Pierre out of the fight game for a while and an interim title on the line it also provides just what UFC brass has likely been seeking: We will finally see an exciting striker at the top of the welterweight division.

The match is expected to stay on the feet and it is hoped the two men will “bang it out” until one is left standing. Assuming that neither fighter will come out with the plan of exposing the other’s takedown defense, this article examines the assets and deficits in each man’s bag of tricks from the standing position.

Nick Diaz’s Boxing

Much has been made of Nick Diaz’s pugilistic talent, and rightly so. His excellence while boxing against pure strikers over recent years almost excuses the lack of skilled wrestlers on his record in that time. Nick has taken on the likes of Paul Daley, Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos, KJ Noons, BJ Penn, and Marius Zaromskis in striking contests and got the better of all of them through his ferocity, grit and unique style.

Diaz is a prolific volume puncher, having been known to crash the Compustrike computer by throwing over a hundred punches a round. His form is not attractive in that it rarely provides one-punch knockouts, but his straights are uncompromisingly straight, his hooks loop in behind his opponents guard and when he sets his feet he rips terrific punches to his opponents’ torso; unquestionably he is the poster boy for body-punching in the sport.

Nick often attacks almost side-on in an old fashioned boxing stance with his lead foot turned in, allowing him to turn his lead shoulder further towards his opponent and gain a couple more inches on his already considerable reach (a stylistic feature he shares with his younger brother Nate). Often taking a few substantial punches in the opening exchanges, the Diaz brothers seem near impossible to knock unconscious, yet every opponent they face seems to labor under the illusion that they will be the first to do so.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. must be realizing that the number of fights left for him that people actually want to see at this point in his career are few and far between. Today the soon-to-be-incarcerated WBC, WBA, IBF and The Ring welterweight champion has agreed in principle to face Manny Pacquiao May 5 in Las Vegas.

“Money” took to his Twitter and Facebook accounts this afternoon to call out the WBO and WBC welterweight champ. Pacman’s camp has yet to respond to the challenge, but his promoter Bob Arum is said to be in the Philippines negotiating Manny’s next fight.

“Back up, homie: What the hell is ‘Face Book’?”

As MMA fans, we’ve seen our fair share of “WTF” moments. From freak show fights to flashy knockouts to Jon Fitch partying like a rockstar to freaking Jose Canseco, you would think that we’ve seen it all and nothing could surprise us. Yet sometimes a story comes along that is so bizarre that even we are unable to make sense of it.

Houston Alexander returned to the spotlight this weekend. When we last checked in on the former UFC light heavyweight, he was getting his lights turned out by ex-hockey enforcer Steve Bosse. If you thought that was as low as things could get for Alexander, then prepare to flabbergasted.

Here is the latest update on Alexander, courtesy of KMTV News Omaha, via MiddleEasy:

Kimbo, looking like Rick Ross with slightly better cardio

You know, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen this happen before.

While you were busy watching UFC 141, Kimbo Slice looked to improve his professional boxing record to 3-0 at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. So far in his boxing career, the Shaws have been feeding Kimbo cans with losing records, and Kimbo has been capitalizing in devastating fashion. Friday night, however, Kimbo Slice was given his toughest test in his young boxing career in Charles Hackmann, a fitness instructor making his professional boxing debut after taking the bout on just one day’s notice.

It’s almost like the guy was brought in to lose *snickers*, yet he held his own against the former UFC fighter (sigh), almost pulling off the upset in the second round. The action wasn’t as fast-paced as Cruz vs. Johnson, yet you wouldn’t know it by how badly both fighters gassed in the third and fourth rounds. When it was all said and done, Kimbo improved to 3-0, yet had major holes in his game exposed.

Video, courtesy of Iron forges Iron, after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/JustDaveMusic)

When you’re humming this later, don’t blame us.

Who knew that some of Mike Tyson’s greatest lines would fit so seamlessly with basic chords on an acoustic guitar?

I’m as big of a Mike Tyson fan as anybody, but he is narrowly behind Tito Ortiz as the most phonetically challenged fighter in combat sport history and this song proves it.

(Props: tadasjonkus via LiverKick)

Admit it — you like to see fighters get gruesomely hung out to dry once in a while. Our knockout of the day comes to us from a kickboxing show in Trieste, Italy, over the weekend, in which Tadas Jonkus knocks out Giuseppe Patane so thoroughly that Patane sloooowly tumbles out of the ring, head-first. The sight would almost be comical, if not for the fact that his landing surely added even more brain-damage to the concussion he already suffered from that blitz of punches. Arrivederci, my dude.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world in Albuquerque, boxing champion/MMA fighter Holly Holm suffered the first knockout loss of her career, eating it in the seventh round against Anne Sophie Mathis. The good news is, she didn’t fall on her head afterwards. The bad news is, she was basically K.O.’d through the ropes twice, due to a dangerously inept referee. Take a look…

Juan Manuel Márquez punches the face of boxing, figuratively and literally. Props: Fox News Latino

With all of the hype surrounding last night’s UFC on Fox, a quick finish in Velasquez vs. Dos Santos was far from ideal. As we’ve mentioned, it left fans, many of whom first time viewers, with an anticlimactic feeling. Immediately following the UFC’s debut on Fox was the main event of that other combat sport’s event from last night: A welterweight title fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

Even though Manny Pacquiao is arguably the best boxer alive, many people felt that the 10-1 underdog Juan Manuel Marquez won their first two meetings. An exciting fight between Marquez and Pacquiao could have given boxing some much needed publicity after Dos Santos quickly knocked out Velasquez, and possibly have kept casual fans from jumping over to mixed martial arts. Frankly, the only truly damning result for the sport would be for the fight to end in a controversial decision that gets the crowd thinking that the fight was fixed.

If you’ve followed boxing at all over the past few decades, you already know where this is going.

(Frazier poses with his arch-rival Muhammad Ali and that reptilian motherfucker Don King. Props: Sports Illustrated)

Boxing legend Joe Frazier — whose aggressive style and notorious left hook earned him an Olympic gold medal in 1964 and an undisputed heavyweight title reign from 1970-1972 — died yesterday evening after a brief battle with liver cancer.

“The world has lost a great champion,” said Muhammad Ali, who fought Frazier three times in the ’70s, including their “Fight of the Century” first meeting (which Frazier won by unanimous decision) and their “Thrilla in Manila” rubber match (which Ali won by corner stoppage). “I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones,” Ali added.

From 1965-1981, Smokin’ Joe racked up a professional record of 32-4-1, with 27 wins by knockout; his only losses came against Ali and George Foreman. In recent years, Frazier spent his time running a boxing gym in Philadelphia, and trained his children Marvis and Jackie, who also competed professionally in boxing.

After the jump: Ten of the best Joe Frazier videos on the Internet.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ESPN)

If you haven’t been following the amazing story of Dewey Bozella, take 12 minutes and get caught up on backstory above and come back and we’ll discuss it.

Okay, now that we’re all up to speed, if you missed it, on October 15 Bozella, who amazingly says he holds no grudge for being incarcerated for nearly 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit even though the police in the case actually buried evidence, made his professional boxing debut on the Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson undercard.

(The knockout comes so quickly, they’ve replayed it for you a dozen times at the end. Video: YouTube/TheHypoparody)

Former UFC fighter (sigh) Kimbo Slice threw his second punch as a professional boxer last night, and with it he secured his second victory. I’ll say this for the bearded one: he’s efficient. For those thinking that Slice has the “sweet science” figured out, I would contend that his management and promoters are the ones wearing the lab coats. Their formula? Take one-part YouTube legend, mix with one part Glass Joe, agitate for 20 seconds, and call it a night.

Kimbo’s first opponent, James Wade, was an impressive 0-1 when he fell to a single bread-bomb in just 17 seconds. Last night, Slice was paired against the more formidable Tay Bledsoe, who stepped into the ring two wins under his belt. Sure, he’d also been knocked out thrice, in the three bouts leading up to the Kimbo fight, with two of those losses coming in under two minutes, but who’s counting? Slice dropped Bledsoe cold with an overhand right just 1:52 into the bout.

The hand speed, the footwork, are we looking at Sugar Ray Slice?

(Props to MMAWeekly.) 

You can say what you want about Dana White when it comes to title fights, but the man never beats around the bush when it comes to his fighters. In a recent interview, “The Baldfather” spoke in typically frank fashion when asked about former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims to pursue boxing at the end of his UFC contract on the heels of his fourth round submission loss to current champ Jon Jones at UFC 135. A few highlights from the interview:

On boxing promoter Bob Arum’s claims that the UFC underpays their fighters: “You hear [boxing promoter] Bob [Arum] out there: ‘Yeah, they don’t pay their guys anything.’ Rampage got paid for his last fight, trust me. A lot of money. Bob Arum pays guys $600 on his cards. We’ve never paid a guy that, ever. We’ve only been around ten years, Bob’s been promoting fights for 120 years”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

FightHub TV caught up with former IBO and The Ring Magazine light welterweight boxing champ Ricky Hatton recently in the UK to get his take on MMA and according to “The Hitman” he’s come around in his opinion of the sport.

“At first mixed martial arts wasn’t seen as too popular, but more and more it’s getting bigger and bigger all the time. And the more and more yo look into it…at first I thought it was just people rollin’ about on the floor huggin’ each other, but that’s far from it. As it’s getting more popular, when you actually look into it scientifically there’s a lot more to it. It’s not just about standin’ there and usin’ your feet and usin’ your fists,” he explained. “It’s about gettin’ your opponent on the floor, puttin’ him in a certain move, which is a work of art in its own right. The more and more popular it’s gettin’ it’s not become just a part-time thing now. It’s a professional sport and I’m sure I speak for the mixed martial arts people as well as the boxing people in saying that these people — the nutritional people — are the best probably even more so than in boxing because it’s a lot more physical than boxing, isn’t it? I can say slowly but surely, the more I’ve watched it I’ve become a bit of a fan.”

(At least Page won’t have to worry about this sort of thing anymore. Props to MMAFighting.com) 

I can already smell the rumors of a possible match with Kimbo. During a recent podcast with ESPN UK, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson stated that he plans to move to boxing at the end of his UFC contract, primarily to fight people that “aren’t scared.” On the heels of his 4th round submission loss to Jon Jones at UFC 134, many have speculated that this was just a case of Page watching The Secret a few too many times, but Jackson seems about as serious as he can be about it:

(You know who’s lucky I don’t have a time machine? Those damn kids with their skateboards on my sidewalks!) 

When he’s not harassing fighters inside the ring or making up false claims about MMA promotions paying him 5 million dollars to attend an event, I’d like to imagine that Larry Merchant is playing Parcheesi in Boca Vista somewhere, just enjoying the fact that time travel doesn’t exist so he wouldn’t have to follow through on some of his outrageous claims. Well, I would be wrong in that assessment, because it turns out Merchant is far too busy talking out his ass at every possible opportunity to even have time for table based games of mental aptitude. In a recent interview with Boxing Scene, Merchant responded to Dana White’s claims that he was “senile” and “an embarrassment to HBO” with the following statement, which I can only assume took a fortnight to spit out:

(LOL @ Toney trying to form a sentence at the 0:41 mark. I mean, dementia pugilistica is a tragedy and all, but come on, that’s hilarious. Props: ESNEWS)

I guess it was too good to be true. According to a recent press release from the James Toney camp, the highly(-ish?) anticipated MMA superfight between Toney and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock has been delayed until early next year, which is probably just a nice way of telling us that it’s been canceled altogether. Instead, Lights Out will be focusing his efforts on boxing cruiserweight contender Denis Ledbedev, November 5th in Russia. If that fight comes together, it’ll be the first time since 2003 that Toney will compete at 200 pounds. Believe it, son.

BoxingInsider claims the Toney vs. Shamrock MMA match has “fallen apart over money issues.” Wait a minute, does that mean Chael Sonnen was right the whole time? As he so eloquently put it last month…

(Props: UnivisionNews1)

Usually we only bring up boxing when it involves Floyd Mayweather Jr. getting arrested or sued or talking shit about MMA. But we wanted to pass along Oscar De La Hoya‘s bombshell new interview with Univision, in which the boxing legend discusses the personal demons that have haunted him over the past few years. After entering treatment at the Betty Ford Center in May, De La Hoya is now three months’ sober, and in the process of rebuilding his life. Some highlights from the interview:

On his lowest point: ”Rock bottom was recently, within a couple of years. Just thinking, ‘Is my life was even worth it?’ I don’t have the strength, I don’t have the courage to take my own life, but I was thinking about it.”

On substance abuse: ”There were drugs. My drug of choice was cocaine and alcohol. Cocaine was recent, in the last two years, last two-and-a-half years. And I depended more on the alcohol than the cocaine. It took me to a place where I felt safe. It took me to a place where I felt like if nobody can say anything to me. It took me to a place where I can reach out and just grab my mom, who passed away when I was younger. I was dependent on those drugs.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/sugarrayhatton)

If you saw the movie “The Fighter” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, you know who “Irish” Mickey Ward is. To the rest of us, he’s a former boxer who put in perhaps the best single round in boxing history against the late Arturro Gatti.

In an interview he recently did with East Side Boxing, Ward spoke about the influx of boxers crossing over to fight in MMA.

“I don’t really think that boxing needs saving, but [Mayweather fighting Pacquiao] would bring back a lot of people to the sport. I think it would bring a lot of interest back to boxing. I don’t think that boxing will ever go anywhere, because it’s the oldest sport there is. But there are a lot of people going to the MMA side,” Ward says. “You know what we need? We need the best fighters to fight the best fighters, and that way boxing would go back to where it was in the 70’s. Look at Bernard Hopkins; he will fight anyone in the world. He is the exception to the age rule. He is incredible.”

Vitali Klitschko is Ukrainian for “Kimbo Slice“, right? Video Props: Liverkick.com

Liverkick recently posted an interview that Alistair Overeem cut with a Polish reporter. The interview starts off slow, with Overeem forgetting the names of the cities he visited, giving the mandatory compliments to Polish fans and just generally playing it safe with his analyses of upcoming Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fights. At the 4 minute mark, things really get interesting. Alistair is asked about what he will do if he wins the Grand Prix, thus cleaning out Strikeforce’s heavyweight division. Aside from fighting in the UFC, Overeem expresses interest in pursuing a boxing match against current IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight champion (as well as WBA super heavyweight champion) Vitali Klitschko.

Wait…what?

Sure, Alistair is more than capable of winning in K-1. But there’s a reason Jerome Le Banner has fought no one you’ve heard of in his boxing career: Good kickboxers aren’t always good boxers. Plus, after watching the 42-2 champion dismantle Shannon Briggs and Odlanier Solis, there is no way that this wouldn’t end badly for someone who recently was exhausted from watching Fabricio Werdum flop for three rounds.

(“Your OTHER left jab…”)

Well, we can all stop holding our breath wondering when Kimbo Slice will get back to crushing cans.

Slice, AKA Kevin Ferguson is finally making his boxing debut and, under the watchful eye of former EliteXC vice president Jared Shaw, he will likely have a decent run of beating up overmatched opponents while restocking his breadbox with boxing dollars.

Here’s the lead-in from the hyped-up press release Shaw sent out today:

“Forget the kicking and wrestling, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson will soon be where he should have been all along… busting heads in a boxing ring.

On Saturday, August 13, legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut in the four-round main event of a Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions boxing extravaganza at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.

Slice became the Internet’s first street-certified action hero by smashing down a series of opponents in brutal backyard fist fights. The announcement is good news for fight fans, as he will surely administer a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the American heavyweight scene.”

(If triathlons allowed you to punch other racers, and the participants got paid millions of dollars to do it, well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Props: CombatLifestyle.com)

Despite that totally official press release claiming that Jeff Lacy had already signed for the fight, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz will not be facing Lacy in a boxing match. In fact, Diaz will be sticking to the sport that he seemingly can’t stand — and it’s becoming very obvious what’s convincing him to stay.

According to a new press release, Diaz will continue pursuing his MMA career instead of professional boxing, “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession…an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.”

(Yes, at this point they are in fact just fucking with us.)

Man, it’s like the Shaw family doesn’t even check with each other anymore before they go to the media and just start saying stuff. Remember it was less than two weeks ago that Gary Shaw told us that his longtime crush object Kimbo Slice would probably not be entering the world of boxing after finding out “how hard it is to be a boxer.” Well, on Tuesday, not 15 days later, Jared Shaw – Shaw Trek the Next Generation, if you will – made an appearance on MMA Weekly radio and immediately started issuing “open challenges” on behalf of one Kevin Ferguson, professional boxer.

Specifically, Shaw invited NFL player Ray Edwards to meet Slice in a boxing match. Edwards, a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, will make his own professional boxing debut this Friday at a casino in the Gopher State, against an as-yet unnamed opponent. So that sounds just super. Shaw’s comments and some of Edwards’ own ridiculousness are after the jump …

If you missed Manny Pacquiao‘s latest performance on Saturday night, well, you didn’t miss much. The boxing megastar defended his WBO welterweight title by unanimous decision against “Sugar” Shane Mosley, in a bout that was marked by a disappointing lack of action. It’s not suprising that this CBS Sports highlight reel starts at the end of the 10th round. The only notable moments before that were a knockdown that Pacquiao scored in the 3rd frame — which seemed to convince Mosley to quit engaging altogether — and a trip/shove by Mosley earlier in the tenth that the referee decided to rule a knockdown, just to keep things interesting. Nevertheless, two of the judges ignored the ref’s bad call and gave every round to Pacquiao.

As we told y’all on Friday, the Pacquaio/Mosley match was Gus Johnson’s final play-by-play gig for Showtime, and he made sure to trot out his diverse range of knowledge. At the 0:52 mark: “He kinda throws, in the MMA world, it’s a version of the ‘Superman’ punch.” GuJo‘s just keeping the chops sharp until the UFC comes calling, I guess.

After every mechanical victory by Pacquiao over an outmatched opponent, our thoughts always turn to Floyd Mayweather Jr., and what he might be up to right now. Well, get a load of this…

(“Must…not…show…joy.” Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas.)

Nick Diaz came one step closer to his grumpy transition toward a boxing career today, as a press release was distributed claiming that Jeff Lacy has officially signed to box Diaz this fall. A former IBF super-middleweight champion, Lacy was one of the guys who Gary Shaw dismissed as an irrelevant opponent for Diaz, but when you have a 1-0 record in boxing (as Diaz does), beggars can’t be choosers. In fact, Diaz is just as irrelevant an opponent for Lacy when you think about it, but whatever.

No date or venue has been named yet, although the event will be titled “Breaking History.” (Good. As long as we have the important stuff locked down, everything else should fall into place on its own.) Said promoter Don Chargin in the press release: “This is a very dangerous fight for both men. Not only is this fight dangerous but stylistically it is very intriguing. I expected more resistance from fight fans and media in regards to this match-up but it’s amazing as to the hundreds of calls and e-mails I’ve received from fans on both sides wanting to see this match-up take place. I’ve received more than a few inquiries from some other very high-profile boxers that want to step up and fight Nick. Its been a real whirlwind…

(“What, that bright light? It shines down on us from heaven. Come see how it feels, Scott. Nice, right?”)

Despite everybody’s continued claims that things have never been better inside Strikeforce, we know the UFC has already taken over the company’s relations with the media and begun poaching its biggest stars. Now, it seems UFC executives are also neck deep in Strikeforce’s business, reportedly working (at least for the time being) to make sure the smaller fight promotion’s top remaining draws are happy. That’s the word out of Toronto on Thursday, where multiple reports say Dana White will meet with Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz after UFC 129 and that co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta is already seeing to the task of making the proposed superfight between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson become a reality.

First and foremost, White seems understandably concerned with Diaz’s apparent designs on bolting MMA for boxing. As quickly as plans to have the Stockton bad boy fight Fernando Vargas fell apart a couple weeks back, new reports surfaced saying former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy might be interested. Perhaps most interestingly, White said this week Diaz’s contract actually does allow for such foolishness – which is another good example of why UFC people need to be up in SF’s business – but he’s obviously not crazy about the idea.

(Man, I can’t wait until Diaz lays into Larry Merchant for being an instigating little bitch.)

Nick Diaz‘s quest to leave MMA for boxing because his life is a living hell has already hit a minor speed-bump. Though Diaz’s trainer/manager Cesar Gracie revealed that they’d already “signed on the dotted line” for a match against veteran pugilist Fernando Vargas, Gracie updated his story yesterday evening, telling MMAJunkie that Vargas is a no-go:

“We were talking about Vargas, but the thing is, I just came under some information that Vargas apparently has some kind of medical issue where he’s not able to pass the test any more, and he could be retiring. Vargas was very interested, but unfortunately, if he can’t pass the test, he can’t pass the test.”

The Gracie camp is now trying to set up a match with Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy, a 33-year-old former IBF super middleweight champion who has lost three out of his last four outings. Meanwhile, boxing promoter Lou DiBella is jockeying for a match between Diaz and Sergio Martinez, the Ring World Middleweight Champion who’s considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Like Diaz, Martinez has more talent than credible opponents at the moment — but it’s hard to imagine that fight being sanctioned anywhere outside of Poland.

(Video courtesy of Sportsnet)

Heading into Ontario’s inaugural MMA show at Casino Rama in Orillia this weekend, the event’s head official “Big” John McCarthy, who will also work UFC 129 later next month in Toronto, made a few media appearances in the Canadian province to help educate fans and the general public about the rules and regulations of the sport.

McCarthy made a stop at Sportsnet for a taping of Primetime Sports where he spoke at length about the differences between refereeing boxing and MMA.

“I also referee boxing. [In both sports] you’re in there for the safety of the fighters and you’re in there to enforce the rules. The safety of the fighters is number one. Your whole job is to try to make sure that both fighters come in and are able to perform at an even platform as far as there’s no advantage to one fighter over the other and get them both out of that ring or that cage in a safe way so they can go back and do it again if they want. That’s what you’re looking for,” McCarthy explained. In MMA you’re making split-second decisions much more than you are in boxing. Boxing gives the referee time, based upon the rules, to make decisions and come up with, ‘This is what I’m going to do in this scenario.’”

Last night in Albuquerque, Keith Jardine picked up a TKO victory over Austin native Aron Lofton at Double Impact. Jardine dominated Lofton throughout the fight before slamming him and punching him out three and a half minutes into the fight. The fight marks Jardine’s second straight victory since being bounced from the UFC back in June. Granted, a victory over an 8-4 prospect who hasn’t fought anyone we’ve heard of doesn’t exactly prove much. But at least he’ll probably get paid for this, which is an improvement from his last fight.

Also victorious last night was professional boxer turned mixed martial artist Holly Holm, who made her MMA debut against Christina Domke. Domke managed to take down and mount Holm early, but once Holm got back on her feet this one wasn’t close. As expected, the decorated boxer outstruck Domke, punctuating her combinations with hard leg kicks. Holm knocked down Domke with a leg kick at almost four minutes into the second, giving her the stoppage. Apparently, Holm turned around after flooring Domke expecting a mandatory eight count. Isn’t that adorable?

Highlights of Holm’s victory from the local news after the jump:

Interview starts @ 8:30, but why hurry past Arianny’s cleavage?

With Anderson’s Seagal-inspired KO of Vitor Belfort last week, we are officially halfway toward the long awaited GSP-Silva super fight. Only Jake Shields stands in the way of this epic battle, and since we don’t even want to think about him fucking this up for us, let’s get ahead of ourselves and listen in on renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach as he chats with Joe Rogan about GSP’s progression in boxing and his take on the potential match-up between GSP and Silva.