Wimbledon 2010: Serena Williams defeats Vera Zvonareva to win women's final

Not long after the BBC’s live broadcast of the women’s final, they replayed some of the match, and watching the second showing felt very much like sitting through it the first time: you knew who the champion was.

This was the most predictable of Wimbledon finals. The best period of the match for Vera Zvonareva was in the warm-up, as it was only then, during the exchange of three-quarter-strength forehands, that she was able to stay with Serena Williams on Centre Court. Once the umpire had called “play”, and Williams was clouting the ball through the grass, this was not a real contest, the Californian winning 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Sports digest: Brock Lesnar stops Shane Carwin at UFC 116

Brock Lesnar rallied from a horrific first-round beating to stop Shane Carwin with a choke in the second round, defending his heavyweight title at UFC 116 in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Lesnar won his first fight in nearly a year despite taking a pounding in the opening minutes from Carwin, the previously undefeated interim champion.

Lesnar took down Carwin in the second round and got him in an arm triangle choke, forcing Carwin to tap out.

UFC social media scores first-round knockout in UFC’s heavyweight championship

VANCOUVER — Even before heavyweight champions Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar square off in the ring Saturday, the UFC has scored its own first-round knockout with a social media campaign that has fans marketing the match to their Twitter and Facebook friends.

A first for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, 116.UFC.com is an interactive site where fans can create their own virtual fighters, stacking up against heavyweights Carwin and Lesnar and making predictions for the fight’s outcome. So far, more than 17,000 people have stepped into the virtual ring to create avatars based on their own size and weight, predicting results of the event.

Zvonareva Faces Big Odds Against Serena Williams

Vera Zvonareva has never played in a Grand Slam final before. At No. 21, the Russian is the second-lowest ranked player ever to reach the Wimbledon women's final. Her opponent is the world's top-ranked player and a three-time Wimbledon winner.

Nothing to worry about then.

"I don't care what everyone says," the 25-year-old Zvonareva said. "I know if I can play my best tennis I can beat anyone on the other side of the net. That's what I'm going to try to do on Saturday. I never look at any odds or comparisons. It's not important to me."

Standing on the other side of the net will be none other than defending champion and 12-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.

"I'm hoping to still peak in the final," said Williams, a scary thought from someone who hasn't dropped a set in six matches and has served a Wimbledon record 80 aces.

Williams will be playing in her sixth Wimbledon final and 13th Grand Slam title match, and knows Centre Court at the All England Club as well as anyone in the game.

"On paper it looks like I should win," Williams said. "But Vera, she's beaten some good people. Her last two matches she's been down a set, so she's obviously a fighter. She never gives up. The biggest thing for me is to stay positive and not put too much pressure on myself."

World Cup 2010: Old masters Brazil and Holland now more steel than silk

Except the 2010 versions of Brazil and Holland are very different from previous incarnations as both coaches admitted on Thursday evening.

Football, they said, had moved on from 1974 and 1978 (the high spots for the Dutch) and 1982 (for Brazil); that great team that promised so much but failed to win in the final. And winning is all that matters to Carlos Dunga and Bert van Marwijk.

Pragmatism first; everything else a distant second. Both are achieving that aim.

“Total Football was 1974,” Van Marwijk stated on Thursday night. “That’s a long time ago and I know there was the 'samba football’ of Brazil. But football changes.

"Everyone is getting fitter and better organised. So when you play now it is more difficult to win the World Cup.

“I can understand why the Brazilians have changed also. But they can win the World Cup and so can we. In the past we’ve won a couple of matches and thought we’d made it and then were sent home.”

Arum: It's all up to Mayweather

MANILA,PHILIPPINES - Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a couple of weeks to decide whether or not he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao.

Otherwise, Top Rank president Bob Arum said Pacquiao, the best boxer in the planet today, will start looking elsewhere, and move on to his scheduled return to the ring on Nov. 13.

In an article posted by BoxingScene.com yesterday, Arum hinted that everything’s been agreed upon between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Mayweather in the talks that have gone on and off for a few months now.

“There’s no actual date of a deadline, but it’s sometime in the middle of July,” Arum told Rick Reeno of the boxing website.

“If we haven’t gotten this thing locked up and done then we’re going ahead and taking another opponent. We’re not just going to sit there and blow our chances for a fight in November,” Arum was quoted as saying.

Tiger Woods to shell out $750 mn in club-class divorce

LONDON: Mind-numbing figures are par for the course for Tiger Woods. But this is surely one he'd have preferred to avoid. The disgraced golfer has agreed to give his ex-wife almost $750 million (about Rs 3,500 crore) as part of a divorce settlement which also bars him from letting any of his girlfriends near his children, daughter Sam (3) and son Charlie (1).

The settlement is probably the third-largest ever, behind only Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's $1.7-billion payout to his ex-wife Anne and Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn's split with his former wife Elaine, which was estimated to have cost him almos

t $955 million.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

The Twilight films may be as ruthlessly exploitative a franchise as Harry Potter; they may be devoted to a creepy ideological agenda to promote pre-marital chastity; and they may be simply retreading much of the high-school vampire shtick that made Buffy a TV hit more than a decade ago. But in a universe where almost all CGI-laden, blood-spilling tentpole movies are aimed at ensnaring the teenage male, there's something to be said for a series of films aimed squarely – and successfully – at teenage girls.

PACQUIAO, CLOTTEY FINAL PRESSER

PACQUIAO, CLOTTEY FINAL PRESSER

News PACQUIAO, CLOTTEY FINAL PRESSERPhilBoxing.comThu, 11 Mar
20103/10/10, Arlington,Texas -- Surrounded by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders,
seven-time world champion and "Fighter of the Decade" Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao
(L) and challenger Joshua Clottey(R) pose during the final press conference
Wednesday for their upcoming World Welterweight championship on Saturday, March
13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on HBO Pay-Per-View. -- Photo Credit:
Chris Farina - Top Rank.

Boxing in 2010: A Promising Year with Manny Pacquiao Vs Joshua Clottey Coming Up First

Boxing in 2010: A PromiWe are already nearly three months into 2010 and the boxing future looks bright.

We have some tentative agreements between good fighters to meet inside the ring
in the near future, some signed super fights, some overhyped novelty fights, and
some overlooked gems all scheduled for this year.
RSR examines.
the year 2010 to come and we see if the showdowns are worth your time. sing
Year with Manny Pacquiao Vs Joshua Clottey Coming Up First.

Pacquiao remains cool, composed as fight nears

Pacquiao remains cool, composed as fight nears

Manny Pacquiao was in his favorite gangster get-up on a drizzling day that he
spent whiling away time with his friends, looking and behaving very much like
the sinister crime chief that has been immortalized in print and in
film.
Pacquiao, who stakes his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight
crown against Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas this Saturday night,
was on hand to personally award the participants of a four-week weight reduction
program and for a few moments, his mind was not on the task at hand but on
giving his friends something to remember for a long time.
It was only during
a brief instance inside his room at the Palazzo where Pacquiao was forced to
talk about his upcoming fight, sounding very calm and composed even though it
happens in less than a week before a crowd that is expected to number
45,000.
“We‘re ready,” said Pacquiao in between composing text messages in
his Blackberry. “There’s nothing more that we can do except maintain my current
condition.”

Is Joshua Clottey a Worthy Opponent for Manny Pacquiao?

Is Joshua Clottey a Worthy Opponent for Manny Pacquiao?

We've come to expect a lot from Manny Pacquiao as he has surged to the top
of the sport over the past several years. There have been marquee fights one
after the other, from his highly anticipated rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez,
to his retirement party for Oscar De La Hoya, near decapitation of Ricky Hatton
and his thorough dismantling of Miguel Cotto.That means that even in the
aftermath of a failed Pacquiao vs. Mayweather extravaganza, Joshua Clottey is
more than a suitable opponent. He's not a big name, and nobody should have any
illusions that this is a big event. But he's a solid fighter and there simply
were not many other suitable replacements. It's a much better fight than
Pacquiao moving up to 154 lbs to challenge titleholder Yuri Foreman.

Manny Pacquiao Vs. Joshua Clottey: How Good Is Clottey, Anyway?

Manny Pacquiao Vs. Joshua Clottey: How Good Is Clottey, Anyway?

Everyone knows Manny Pacquiao. Not everyone knows Joshua Clottey, the man
Pacquiao is fighting Saturday.
Clottey (above left against Miguel Cotto,
photo by Howard Schatz) has a very good reputation, for the most part. Some
boxing writers consider him one of the 20 best boxers of today, and he's one of
the top men in the welterweight division, clearly. He caught some flack for his
showing at the end of the fight against Cotto, but there are a lot of people who
thought he got robbed in that bout. And it wasn't that long ago that there was a
highly viable theory that Clottey was underrated, the best fighter in the
division not to be recognized as one of the best.
Yet the more I look at
Clottey, the less convinced I am. I'd had that thought prior to Pacquiao trainer
Freddie Roach saying the same thing in the "Road to Dallas" documentary that
aired Saturday (I swear! Ask the people I hung out with Saturday night, away
from the television, when the documentary was airing). But that Roach said it
made me feel confident about it, too. I think Clottey has become
overrated.
This requires a bit of a preface, a disclaimer. I think Clottey's
a really good boxer. I think he's a dangerous fighter for Pacquiao to take on,
by virtue of his size and style. But when I look at his record and his
review the video, I see a fighter who's a full notch below the best of the
best.

Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach prepare for Joshua Clottey fight, and eye bout with Floyd Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao and trainer FreddieRoach prepare for Joshua Clottey fight, and eye bout with Floyd Mayweather

If you're an aging professional athlete, there are plenty of sports where you
can hang around without endangering yourself. It's just that this isn't one of
them. You hang on too long here, you leave damaged. The man with the tremors in
his left hand knows it. When especially tired or under stress, his entire body
quivers like a tuning fork. He has Parkinson's disease. A few people pleaded
with him to stop fighting, but he didn't listen. "Fighters don't want to quit,"
he says.
Nowadays a trainer, 50-year-old Freddie Roach keeps a careful eye
on Manny Pacquiao, the best of his fighters, perhaps the best fighter on the
planet, a dazzling pugilist he cares about like a son. He loves him, love being
the word he never uses -- too soft for the maniacal world of a boxing gym. But
it is the right word; it accounts for his ferocity when it comes to all things
Pacquiao. At 5-6 1/2 , with his toothy grin, close-set eyes and dark-framed
glasses, Roach looks like a pint-sized Buddy Holly.

Pacman in 6 or 7 – Roach

Pacman in 6 or 7 – Roach

HOLLYWOOD – Manny Pacquiao turned on the heat inside the gym Saturday as
the temperature dropped outside.He sparred for six rounds against Abdulla Amidu
and Dave Rodela. He worked so hard. He moved so well. He looked sharp.

Manny Pacquiao assault turns Joshua Clottey into ground chuck

Manny Pacquiao assault turns Joshua Clottey into ground chuck

DALLAS–Tiger Woods occasionally shanks a golf shot. He’s hit a few deep into the
woods or buried a “fried egg” into an impossible bunker.The smooth Frank
Sinatra’s vocal inflections were usually superlatively consistent but, once
in a
while, even Mr. S, hit a clunker, a false musical note

pacquiao vs clottey

At Age 50, Freddie Roach Reflects on His Life, Past, Future

Four-time Trainer Of The Year, Freddie Roach, turned 50 on Friday, and
celebrated his birthday, in part, as a guest at The Santa Anita Race Track on
Sunday.There, Roach took part in the Winner’s Circle ceremony of The Joe
Hernandez Stakes, presenting the trophy for the afternoon’s featured race.

'Tracing the roots of Pacquiao's success': Intangibles - Pac's uncanny ability to focus and deliver

Among the many traits Manny Pacquiao is credited for on his road to
becoming the best fighter in the world -- his speed, power, work ethic, faith,
pride etc. -- the one that people tend to forget is his extraordinary ability to
block off any form of distraction (and he has a lot) and perform at the highest
level come fight night.
Pacquiao seems oblivious to the term 'butterflies in
your stomach' and appears to have ice water running through his veins as he
smiles at the hint of pressure no matter how big the stage is.
Remember
back 2001 in his first big break stepping in as a substitute fighter against
Lehlo Ledwaba in Las Vegas, the young boy basked in the bright Vegas lights
instead of being intimidated by it. Several fighters adjust through the years
but every time you see Pacquiao in the ring, it's almost as if he was about to
open a present on Christmas morning.
I have never seen a boxer who
exudes the kind of joyfulness Pacquiao has on his face every time he fights. In
the words of HBO boxing commentator Emmanuel Steward, "Pacquiao was born to be a
prizefighter".