When an athlete or any celebrity writes a book, an all important element is the title. And over the years, many projects have had titles that did not make the final cut.
I had a book project that had an original title that I thought was inspired--“My Life As Boxing’s Sex Symbol.” For some unfathomable reason, an editor ruled it out. Go figure.
Here are some other book titles that you will never see on the front of a book jacket.
Creative Baby Names
By George Foreman
Father Knows Best
By Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Weight Loss Guaranteed
By James Toney
Defend Yourself At All Times
By Arturo Gatti-- with a foreword by Mickey Ward More...
IBF super feather champion Malcolm Klassen will defend his crown against former IBF featherweight titlist Robert Guerrero on August 1 at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas.
Klassen, 24-4-2 (15), is a two time beltholder of the IBF strap, most recently winning the honor by putting the first stoppage on domestic South African rival Cassius Baloyi's resume in April.
The Toekomsrus, Gauteng native has only lost once over the last seven years, an IBF title defense against Mzonke Fana two years ago.
Southpaw Guerrero, 24-1-1 (17), of California has eight wins and two no contests in his last ten bouts, four of which were victories with the IBF feather trophy at stake, since losing to Gamaliel Diaz three years ago.
Here we look at potential opponents for WBC Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch, assessing the box office potential and career enhancements that 'The Cobra' could gain from certain adversaries.
Bernard Hopkins: Light Heavyweight (49-5-1-1)
Possibly the biggest draw box office wise, also seems to be hardest to negotiate with money-wise for Froch so far, with Hopkins supposedly playing hard ball over the purse split.
This clash would also mean a step up in weight to 175lbs, but rumours in the press suggest 'The Executioner' is set to retire after not finding a suitable opponent since schooling Kelly Pavlik last October.
Chad Dawson: Light Heavyweight (28-0)
A real long shot again at light heavy, could attract some US television coverage after 'Bad' Chad's two victories over Antonio Tarver. Possibly not the fighter to capture the imagination of British audiences because of his technical style either.
An unlikely match-up, with Froch looking to unify the super middleweight division before looking at moving up in weight. More...
While we all wait for the apparently inevitable announcement that Manny Pacquiao will fight Miguel Cotto, I think it’s wise to really sit back and try and put the Pacquiao story in perspective. Our goal here is to come up with some historical perspective that is reasoned.
In doing that you would think that the exploits of Pacquiao would take on less superhuman traits and be viewed through a prism less filled with hyperbole and more geared to hard scrutiny. That’s what you would think.
But, in reality, the process of taking a step back and really dissecting what Pacquiao has done in his career makes me more impressed and more willing to talk in terms of “greatest” and “historically important.”
I said a few weeks ago that if Manny Pacquiao beats Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley or Floyd Mayweather Jr., he will have stamped himself as the greatest EVER at lighter weights, 135 or below. That’s a bold statement, but I believe I can back it up with a strong case.
The quartet of Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez produced the greatest series of fights seen at any time in boxing. They occurred during a decade’s span in a few weight divisions. This series of fights exceeded even the Hagler, Leonard, Hearns and Duran combinations of matches. More...
In the early hours of Sunday morning, media gathered in the press room allocated at the Veltins Arena, Germany for the post-fight press conference of Wladimir Klitschko and defeated Ruslan Chagaev.
Chagaev looked completely dejected as he sat on the top table. Wearing a peaked cap - he quietly sat alongside his trainer, diverting his eyes from the gaze of the watchful press in attendance.
Obviously, most of the talk was in German, however, there were some questions in English.
Question: Who will you fight next?
Wladimir Klitschko: "There is still the American, Chris Arreola, who is unbeaten and there is Alexander Povetkin, also still unbeaten and also David Haye. More...
So, Wladimir Klitschko is still WBO and IBF World Heavyweight Champion, after a 10th round TKO victory over previously unbeaten Ruslan Chagaev.
But what did this fight tell us that we didn't already know regarding the stagnating heavyweight division? The answer is very little.
Chagaev, a late replacement for British contender David Haye, was coming into the fight having trained in previous months for a much bigger opponent, in 7 footer Nikolai Valuev. More...
Boxing's NABF female featherweight champion, Jennifer "The Razor" Barber, is as passionate about the sport as passion gets.
She sees the setbacks of being a female in the boxing world and dare she allow it to hinder any of her spirits. When this lovely 26 year old fought in France, it forced her to see how proud Europe is of both male and female boxers.
"America dwells on the stereotypes of people, there is way more respect for the individual boxer in Europe," Barber said.
Barber also feels that adding women's boxing in the Olympics will catapult female boxing to another level, reaching more people. "The Olympics are the mecca of sports, and we need to see more females fighting on T.V.".
She also brought up a stunning point, saying, "Would males want their daughters, or even sons, to be treated that way?"
Only turning professional two years ago, Barber has learned to stay disciplined from this sport. "When you are down and out, get up and keep going." She keeps positive people around her, which is why she has been very successful, yet continuously fervent about her goal to be a world champion. More...
Standing at 5 foot 11, a hairline away from 6 feet, Yakub Shidaev is a 20 year old junior welterweight who's amateur career was split between two countries.
Shidaev's nationality is Chechen but he was born and grew up in Kyrgyzstan. Chechens were considered terrorists in the USSR because they tried to break away from Russia. It was a very uneasy place to be as war broke out in 1993.
Shidaev and his family moved to America in 2000 and when he was 12 years old, he started to box. "I had a fight in sixth grade," Shidaev says. The other kid was bothering him and so they began wrestling, "I held him, I didn't hit him. I had to learn to protect myself."
He met with trainer Coach Stan Ward in 2001. Frequently returning to Kyrgyzstan, Shidaev fought in the nationals, both America and his native country, becoming a two time national champion in Kyrgyzstan. He made his pro-debut on Febrary 14, 2009, knocking out his opponent in just the first round.
Prior to lacing up his gloves, this energetic pugilist used to get into physical fights. "Since I started boxing, I have never got into a fight." Boxing is not just an interest for Shidaev, it's a way of life and has taught him self discipline and self control. More...
Imagine, if you will, this scene. In a slightly run down urban neighborhood, a huge truck with an ESPN logo on it is parked behind a concert venue.
Several police cars surround the truck and officers exit their vehicles and approach the truck very carefully. They have already called for back up because they believe a robbery might be in progress.
The officers have no idea what the label “ESPN” means, and so they figure it’s some kind of cover to look like a real business. They deduce that equipment or furniture is being taken from the concert venue and put into the truck by the thieves.
They carefully enter the vehicle only to discover it is a television production truck with a now startled crew working inside it. A nervous producer tries to convince the skeptical police that this is all part of an all-sports network and they are there to televise a sports event that evening. The police finally accept this is “some kind” of television event, even if they still don’t know what ESPN means.
This sound like a twilight zone episode set in some alternative universe to ours. But, as delightful as it might be to think there is a parallel universe that has not yet been sullied by Stephen A. Smith’s commentaries or the Around The Horn show, that’s not where this all took place.
All of this really happened right here in 1980, in our universe, on planet earth, in a little place called Chicago, Illinois.
The television truck was there to do one of the early shows in the Top Rank Boxing Series on ESPN, when police did, in fact, assume something criminal was going on and acted as described above.
These police officers could be excused if they didn’t know what ESPN stood for, since none of the city of Chicago was yet wired for cable, and ESPN was only in a small fraction of the homes nationally. More...
Today, at No.5, Cavendish Square, London, Media gathered to hear of David Haye’s disappointment that he has had to pull out of the 20th June fight against Wladimir Klitschko due to injury.
Sat alongside trainer/manager Adam Booth, Haye confirmed that he sustained a back injury after shadow-boxing. Suffering spasms in the lower back region, Haye regretfully had to withdraw from the heavyweight title bout.
He will be starting a course of aggressive physiotherapy tomorrow followed by rehabilitation and expects to be fit by the middle of July. He is intending to fight again in September. More...
The disarray caused by David Haye dropping out for his June 20 challenge of world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has been put to rest with the announcement that WBA "champion in recess" Ruslan Chagaev will step into the breach for the bout, scheduled for Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Chagaev himself was scratched from a proposed rematch with Nicolai Valuev this past weekend when he allegedly failed a mandatory pre-fight Finnish medical board examination.
No official explanation as to why Chagaev allegedly failed the examination has been released and therefore it's unknown whether or not the 30 year old Uzbek southpaw will have similar problems leading up to the Klitschko bout.
On the line June 20 will be the IBF,WBO, IBO and WBA titles.
I’m not a fan of the TV show "Big Brother", but I do like to watch the launch night to see what sort of a ‘mottley crew’ are going in. So imagine my shock last night when I saw female boxer Angel 'The Artist' McKenzie going into the famous house!
I was ringside when Russian-born McKenzie fought Sara Davies at Derby in November on a Clifton Mitchell Promotion. Davies won the fight - while McKenzie provided the entertainment, dancing her way in to the ring and singing loudly to ‘I Kissed a Girl‘, doing her best to whip up the crowds.
Then, after fighting finished, she took the mike to address the crowd, thanking them for attending and mumbling that 'life’s too short' and 'boxing is the best thing'. More...
As we bask in the glory of great fights already held this year and look ahead to bouts like Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Juan Manuel Marquez in July and Manny Pacquiao vs. Somebody in October, let's not forget a fight that is just upon us; the battle between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey on June 13th in Madison Square Garden, which could get lost in the shuffle. That would be a shame.
The match is certainly not “lost” to the many East Coast fans who are planning to attend. Many tickets have been sold and a full house is expected. On a global scale, however, this match may not be totally understood. Make no mistake, this is potentially a great fight and is anything but the “transition” fight for Miguel Cotto that some believe it to be. This is a shootout in the making.
Miguel Cotto is a superb fighter. He has lost only once, and frankly, that loss is called into question because of the Margarito glove tampering in his fight with Shane Mosley. But, Cotto is only 11 months removed from that beating at the hands of Margarito, and only a win over C-level Michael Jennings has come since.
Cotto has always been an exciting, but slightly vulnerable champ. He can be damaged, but before Margarito, never broken. Did the Jennings win and the healing of time make him whole again? Trust me, we will find out on June 13th.
Joshua Clottey is champion but not an A-list fighter. He has had to claw for every opportunity and crumb of recognition he could get in his 13 year career. But, through it all, Clottey has remained focused and he has improved.
But for two hand injuries in the fight, he would likely have beaten Margarito when he fought him. Clottey was winning handily over the first four rounds, when the injuries struck. Even then he lost a decision and was never in trouble against Margarito.
Certain football and basketball games and soccer matches are referred to as “trap” games—a tough contest that comes at just the wrong time for a team. This is a trap fight for Cotto. With a tough loss behind him and a possible mega-fight with Pacquiao in front of him, he is faced with Clottey. He is faced with a fighter who is better than almost anyone gives him credit for being, and a fighter who is hungry for stardom. More...
It was May, 1989 and "The Clones Cyclone", Barry McGuigan, was approaching the fourth fight on a comeback trail that had begun just over a year earlier.
After a year long run as World Featherweight Champion the Irishman lost his title in the horrible heat of Las Vegas, Nevada in June, 1986 against late replacement Stevie Cruz.
Contractual difficulties would follow and many doubted that McGuigan would fight again after such a devastating defeat. However, under new promoter Frank Warren, McGuigan would resurface at the higher super featherweight limit.
In April, 1988, the McGuigan comeback was underway as he battered Nicky Perez to submission in four rounds in London. Two more comeback wins would follow before big money was on the table for him to fight the less publicised Londoner Jim McDonnell.
McDonnell, like McGuigan, campaigned as a featherweight early in his career winning the European title in 1985. A unsuccessful world title attempt at super featherweight would follow in 1988, losing on points to the classy South African Brian Mitchell.
Like McGuigan, McDonnell would comeback from this defeat under a new promoter, Barry Hearn.
The titlists at super featherweight in 1989 were Tony Lopez, Brian Mitchell and Azumah Nelson. Many were tipping McGuigan at this time to challenge one of these champions. More...
On Monday, May 25, 2009, while the rest of the country celebrated Memorial Day, Mike Tyson was struck yet with another tragedy in his life.
Mike's four year old daughter Exodus Tyson was playing on a treadmill in the family workout room and somehow accidentally caught her neck in one of the straps that hang down off the console.
Unable to call for help, she had lost consciousness and was found by her 7 year old brother, who then ran to get their mother for help.
When responding emergency personnel arrived, they attempted to revive Exodus and rushed her to a local hospital where she was listed in "extremely critical condition" and put on life support. More...
SaddoBoxing has the honor of introducing Al Bernstein and his new exclusive column, "Al Bernstein On Boxing"!
Al is unquestionably the top television analyst in the sport today, appearing on Showtime since 2003 along with stints at ESPN and NBC and currently hosts the Internet's premier boxing channel on iBN Sports.
A winner of the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcast journalism, Al is also a recording artist and has appeared on the stages of major casinos and resorts across the U.S.
In addition, Al authored the book "Boxing For Beginners", has written for The Ring and Boxing Illustrated and held the position of Managing Editor for Lerner Newspapers in Chicago.
We now live in a world where perception is much more powerful than reality. We see it in the political arena where spin doctoring by those in office and bias driven reporting by the media often colors public opinion more than actual facts…if we can still ascertain actual facts in that arena.
In America, many years ago there was a television police drama called Dragnet. In just about every episode the chief investigator Sgt. Joe Friday would interrupt a meandering witness by saying to them, “Just the facts.” Anyone who is truly involved with the sport of boxing, as a fan, a person who covers it, or someone working in the industry, would probably like to scream that Sgt. Friday phrase at the top of their lungs, to try and make some people actually care about the facts. More...
With head in clouds and feet firmly planted in the ring, heavyweight boxer-slash-mythical giant Nikolay Valuev manages to do two things: Stomp on his opponents from great heights, and scare children.
To be fair to Mr. Valuev here, he really didn’t have time to put on any makeup. Those damn paparazzi catch you off guard every time! But look at this guy. At 7-feet-even, not only is he the tallest boxer in the world today; he’s also the most unsightly mo-fo low down ‘round this town. Sho nuff! More...
Yesterday at the Landmark Hotel in London, media gathered to hear the official announcement of the 18th July Las Vegas mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Arriving in a red London double-decker bus, Mayweather and Marquez looked relaxed as they posed for photographs.
Mayweather - a six time world champion over five weight divisions - was tempted out of retirement to face Marquez - with an equally impressive record of five world titles in three weight divisions. More...
In watching boxing, I have had very weird conversations with my friends. They quip, "No one watches boxing and why would I care?". I simply say that it is the greatest sport in the world.
It is much like golf. Who can you blame except yourself or the judges? No one. I have seen many great fighters in my 26 years of watching boxing. Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, "Terrible" Terry Norris, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson....the list goes on.
But what makes me cringe is the fact that I have to shell out 50 or 60 dollars to watch a "garbage" 12-round fight. Where do we go from here? It is up to us as viewers and fistic historians to delve in to this.
Let's start with the 1980's. This was a period of outstanding fights and wars, the pinnacle of Mike Tyson's reign and the beginning of Pernell Whitaker's historic run through divisions. Is there any fighter today that can come close to that? Maybe in Manny Pacquiao and maybe Juan Manuel Marquez.
Mayweather, Jr. is talented enough but doesn't fight "the best". Do we still have to shell out 59 dollars to see him beat up on Arturo Gatti? No. It shouldn't be that way. We as fight fans don't want the UFC to take boxing over, but they are simply beating us to the punch. More...
Number 6: Marco Antonio Barerra puts on a clinic against undefeated Naseem Hamed in 2001. Result: 115-112, 116-111 and 115-112, all for Barerra.
Barerra came in to this fight as a "washed-up" 27-year-old who was recently beated badly by Junior Jones twice via a fifth round retirement and decisive UD 12 loss. He shot back up on the boxing scene after giving the undefeated Erik Morales all he could handle in 2000, even knocking the champion down in the 12th and final round in which Barerra would lose a close split-decision.
Hamed was an exciting brawler and laughably was seen as the most powerful puncher in boxing, despite weighing only 126 pounds. Hamed was a showman, never lost a fight and put on a long ring entrance that angered Barerra, as well as the fans.
What ensued when Hamed stepped in to the ring was utter choas to this writer. Marco didn't have a chance, did he?
Barerra proceeded to defy the critics, and stuck to boxing circles around Hamed. Hamed did virtually nothing the first seven rounds, and was down big before he landed a couple straight right hands to Barerra's nose.
Barerra landed many shots that whipped Hamed's head back, bent him at the waist and nearly floored Hamed a few times.
To solidify and puncuate his upset of Hamed, Barrera even slammed the Englishman's head in to the turnbuckle in the 12th round. What a fight! No controversy, just an utter upset! More...
When an athlete or any celebrity writes a book, an all important element is the title. And over the years, many projects have had titles that did not make the final cut. 
With head in clouds and feet firmly planted in the ring, heavyweight boxer-slash-mythical giant Nikolay Valuev manages to do two things: Stomp on his opponents from great heights, and scare children. 
