Pacquiao, Marquez rumbles tonight

LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will try to put to rest Saturday evening lingering doubt about who is the superior man in the ring.

The welterweights collide for a fourth time in a scheduled 12-round non-title fight at the MGM Grand Arena (HBO pay-per-view, 9 p.m. ET). The card is promoted by Top Rank's Bob Arum.

A sellout crowd of more than 16,000 is expected to watch the fight mainly supporters from the Philippines and Mexico.

Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) has never lost to the Mexican counterpuncher. A draw and two slim decisions led to a fourth bout with Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs), considered the greatest fighter to emerge from his country since Julio Cesar Chavez.

Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round of their initial battle in 2004.

The Nevada Athletic Commission also concedes to appoint two of the three judges from outside its jurisdiction to score the main event, because of Pacquiao's questionable lost to Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas last June.

Promoters 50 Cent and Snooki (Nicole Polizzi) will also be at the fight.

50 Cent, the renowned hip-hop star, represents Yuriorkis Gamboa, the undefeated featherweight (21-0, 16 KOs) from Miami. Gamboa will fight Michael Farenas (33-3-4, 25 KOs) of the Philippines.

Polizzi and her father, Andy Polizzi, operate Team Snooki Boxing. Their fighter, Irish featherweight Patrick Hyland (27-0, 12 KOs), will challenge unbeaten Javier Fortuna (20-0, 15 KOs) of the Dominican Republic.

USA today

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Pacquiao-Bradley Fight

The Yahoo! Sports No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao, takes on young up-and-comer Timothy Bradley Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. This will be exciting but not as awesome as Mayweather vs Pacquiao, I really hope that will go through soon.

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NBA All-Stars Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose made $400,000 apiece for an exhibition game in the Philippines over the weekend. The players agreed to play an exhibition against a collection of stars of the Philippines Basketball Association. The group also included Chris Paul, James Harden, second overall pick Derrick Williams, JaVale McGee, and Tyreke Evans

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Ricky Hatton retired from boxing

Well, it should happened a long time ago. Ricky Hatton finally announced in London overnight that he had decided to hang up his gloves after two years out of the sport.

Hatton said: 'I am very upset. It's a very sad day for me.

"I know it is the right decision though. I've known it was the right thing to do for 18 months to be honest.

'It's a bit of a relief to finally do it. It's been hovering over my head for such a long time. These last two years have been really frustrating. I hit rock bottom and it almost drove me insane.

'There's nothing more I love than training for a fight but I have no dreams left now.'

Hatton's  retirement signals the end of a dramatic career that has seen him achieve success at welterweight and light-welterweight level.

Hatton beat Jon Thaxton to become the British light-welterweight champion in 2000 and went on to dominate the division, with his most notable victory at that weight coming in 2005 against IBF champion Tszyu.

Hatton then beat Carlos Maussa before moving up to welterweight where he defeated Luis Collazo to claim the WBA world title.

Rapidly earning a reputation as one of Britain's most popular sportsmen, Hatton went on to challenge Mayweather in Las Vegas.

Billed as the defining fight of his career, watched by millions around the world, Hatton failed to take the American's WBC welterweight title after being knocked out in the 10th round.

Undeterred by his first loss in boxing, Hatton returned to winning ways with victories over Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi before calling out pound-for-pound champion Pacquiao.

The two met at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in May 2009, when Hatton was knocked out cold in the second round to leave him with a 45-2 career record.

source 

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