EDWIN VALERO "HE CAN MATCH UP WITH MANNY "PACMAN" PACQUIAO(profile from wikipedia.com)

EDWIN VALERO

Edwin Valero (born December 3, 1981 in Bolero Alto, Mérida, Venezuela) is an undefeated southpaw boxer who fights in the super featherweight (130 lb) division. His professional boxing record is 20-0 (20 KOs). Valero is the current WBA super featherweight champion.

Valero is best known for setting a world record by winning the first 18 fights of his career by first-round knockout. The previous record for consecutive first-round knockouts was 15 by Young Otto (record), who accomplished the feat in 1905. In Valero's nineteenth fight (March 25, 2006), Genaro Trazancos ended the first-round KO streak by surviving until the second round.
Valero defeated Vicente Mosquera by tenth-round TKO on August 5, 2006. With this win, Valero won the WBA super featherweight title. He also kept his any-round knockout streak intact, with 20 consecutive knockouts. The world record for consecutive knockouts is 44 by American Lamar Clark (record).


Career Roadblocks
On Feb 5, 2001, Valero was involved in a severe motorcycle accident in which he wasn't wearing a helmet. He fractured his skull and had surgery to remove a blood clot. This injury was sustained prior to him launching his pro career, and it has created roadblocks to major bodies sanctioning his fights. Valero claims that his Venezuelan doctor cleared him to fight on Jan 17, 2002 and he turned pro that July with a first-round KO.
Valero appeared to hit the jackpot when he was signed after his 12th pro fight by Golden Boy Promotions. Valero was scheduled to appear on HBO's Boxing After Dark, but in January 2004, he failed an MRI in New York and thus was not allowed to fight in the United States. As a result, the fight did not take place. Although he continues to fight outside the United States, he will not be allowed to fight in the US until he clears his medical tests with a state athletic commision.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2006

THANKSGIVING HISTORY

The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious prosecution in their native England. In 1609 a group of Pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered. After a few years their children were speaking Dutch and had become attached to the Dutch way of life. This worried the Pilgrims. They considered the Dutch frivolous and their ideas a threat to their children's education and morality.
So they decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World. Their trip was financed by a group of English investors, the Merchant Adventurers. It was agreed that the Pilgrims would be given passage and supplies in exchange for their working for their backers for 7 years.
On Sept. 6, 1620 the Pilgrims set sail for the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. They sailed from Plymouth, England and aboard were 44 Pilgrims, who called themselves the "Saints", and 66 others ,whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers."
The long trip was cold and damp and took 65 days. Since there was the danger of fire on the wooden ship, the food had to be eaten cold. Many passengers became sick and one person died by the time land was sighted on November 10th.
The long trip led to many disagreements between the "Saints" and the "Strangers". After land was sighted a meeting was held and an agreement was worked out, called the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed equality and unified the two groups. They joined together and named themselves the "Pilgrims."
Although they had first sighted land off Cape Cod they did not settle until they arrived at Plymouth, which had been named by Captain John Smith in 1614. It was there that the Pilgrims decide to settle. Plymouth offered an excellent harbor. A large brook offered a resource for fish. The Pilgrims biggest concern was attack by the local Native American Indians. But the Patuxets were a peaceful group and did not prove to be a threat.
The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. The cold, snow and sleet was exceptionally heavy, interfering with the workers as they tried to construct their settlement. March brought warmer weather and the health of the Pilgrims improved, but many had died during the long winter. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew who left England, less that 50 survived the first winter.
On March 16, 1621 , what was to become an important event took place, an Indian brave walked into the Plymouth settlement. The Pilgrims were frightened until the Indian called out "Welcome" (in English!).
His name was Samoset and he was an Abnaki Indian. He had learned English from the captains of fishing boats that had sailed off the coast. After staying the night Samoset left the next day. He soon returned with another Indian named Squanto who spoke better English than Samoset. Squanto told the Pilgrims of his voyages across the ocean and his visits to England and Spain. It was in England where he had learned English.
Squanto's importance to the Pilgrims was enormous and it can be said that they would not have survived without his help. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap. He taught them which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. He taught them how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.
The harvest in October was very successful and the Pilgrims found themselves with enough food to put away for the winter. There was corn, fruits and vegetables, fish to be packed in salt, and meat to be cured over smoky fires.
The Pilgrims had much to celebrate, they had built homes in the wilderness, they had raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, they were at peace with their Indian neighbors. They had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate.
The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be shared by all the colonists and the neighboring Native Americans. They invited Squanto and the other Indians to join them in their celebration. Their chief, Massasoit, and 90 braves came to the celebration which lasted for 3 days. They played games, ran races, marched and played drums. The Indians demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims demonstrated their musket skills. Exactly when the festival took place is uncertain, but it is believed the celebration took place in mid-October.
The following year the Pilgrims harvest was not as bountiful, as they were still unused to growing the corn. During the year they had also shared their stored food with newcomers and the Pilgrims ran short of food.
The 3rd year brought a spring and summer that was hot and dry with the crops dying in the fields. Governor Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and it was soon thereafter that the rain came. To celebrate - November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the real true beginning of the present day Thanksgiving Day.
The custom of an annually celebrated thanksgiving, held after the harvest, continued through the years. During the American Revolution (late 1770's) a day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.
In 1817 New York State had adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.

Relentless Pacquiao Sends Warrior Morales on the Road to Retirement

Erik Morales still had his warrior’s heart, almost to the very end.
It kept beating inside him, driving him on, forcing him to battle in the trenches even as he had to fight to prevent the swarming foe in front of him from just running him over.
And then, finally, even this great fighter, who through 52 fights would seemingly have died rather than surrendered, whose very countenance suggested a man who was born to fight and who would indeed died fighting, finally realized that the game was up, that even a 30 year old can be an old man when he has been boxing professionally since he was 15.
And so, after the third knockdown of the fight, and only the fifth legitimate knockdown of his career—all of them in his last two bouts, all of them at the fists of Manny Pacquiao—looked to his corner, shook his head, and acquiesced to reality. Referee Vic Drakulich counted to ten, but it was already over. And not just for the night.
“He was too fast, too strong,” said Morales afterward. “I did everything necessary to win this fight. I didn’t win it, it wasn’t my night … For the first time in my career, I felt the power of my opponent. Maybe it’s getting to be that time.”
At the post-fight press conference, Morales left the door ajar sufficiently to allow himself a farewell bout in front of his hometown fans before deservedly riding off into the sunset.
“If I fight again,” he said, “it will be in Tijuana.”
And with that, he left the dais, for an obligatory visit to hospital, leaving the stage to Pacquiao.
Which was how it should be, for although much thought and good feeling was expended on the Mexican warrior, it was Pacquiao’s fight, and Pacquiao’s night.
In front of a frenzied crowd of 18,276—the second highest in the history of the Thomas & Mack Arena, second only to a 1992 meeting between Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector Camacho, and 1,200 more than saw Lennox Lewis finally get a decision over Evander Holyfield in 1999—Pacquiao tore into Morales in the first round, after the two men spent the opening 90 seconds circling each other warily.
First Pacquiao would crack Morales, then Morales would respond and seemingly gain the initiative, and then Pacquiao would return fire once more.
The opening round was close, and the crowd was roaring with deafening approval, but Pacquiao seemed just that bit faster, that bit fresher, that bit … younger, frankly.
The big question entering the night was whether Morales would have anything left. Three defeats in his previous four bouts, including a stoppage loss to Pacquiao last time out, had left many observers feeling his well had run dry. But the Mexican had excuses for all those losses: weight issues, conditioning problems, training camp changes. He had worked with southern California fitness company Velocity Training since August, and as a result he looked a lean, strong, fit 129 pounds, not the gaunt, dehydrated appearance so typical of Morales at weigh-in time.
But weight and fitness are not enough in boxing, not after a lifetime of swapping hard punches, not if, after all those battles, the reflexes have begun their slow descent. And that, as it turned out, was indeed the case with Morales.
“At his age, he just can’t cope with someone that fast,” said promoter Bob Arum afterward. “He’s only 30, but he started so young.”
It all finally caught up with him in the second, the damage beginning when Morales missed with a left hook that left his chin exposed. Pacquiao rattled it with a right hook of his own, and then a left, spurring Morales into the kind of furious offense that has long been his favored defense.
That drove Pacquiao to the ropes, but as Morales unloaded, Pacquiao stepped neatly to his right and landed a left hand that sent Morales down and on to his knee and his haunches along the ropes.
Still, however, Morales would not be denied, and the two swapped more fierce exchanges at the bell.
Morales opened the third with a hard right hand to the body, but Pacquiao responded with a right hook to the head, then a left, then another right. Morales was hurt, and Pacquiao drove him across the ring with a two-fisted attack that put Morales down again. He hauled himself up, and, desperate to find one last surge, cracked Pacquiao hard on the chin as the Filipino rushed in to finish his man. But it wasn’t enough to keep the swarming man from Manila away from him. If Morales has long been an immovable object, Pacquiao is an irresistible force
And when that force rushed forward once more, throwing a blur of hard punches to Morales’ head, the resistance finally crumbled. Morales went down again, and finally, for the first time in his life, decided to stay there.
Of Pacquiao, what can be said? Already an adored hero in his native Philippines, he is well on his way to becoming the most popular fighter in the world today, if he is not already. His smiling, fan-friendly demeanor, and his fast-paced, opponent-unfriendly style, make him an ideal man to carry the banner for the sport, for as long as he can keep his sometimes notorious lack of focus from sabotaging his future.
At least for the next four years, it appears that future will be under the promotional banner of Top Rank. Arum announced that he had signed an agreement with Pacquiao—which, he claimed, superseded the much ballyhooed contract with Golden Boy Promotions. Pacquiao’s existing contract with Arum for this fight, said the promoter, rendered that Golden Boy contract illegal, and he said that the Filipino had returned the $500,000 that GBP had paid him, although there is some question about whether Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaeffer had agreed to accept it or not, perhaps setting up further legal challenges.
Pacquiao, although asked, didn’t want to talk about any of that. He just wanted, he said, to relax with his family and return to Manila to celebrate his victory with his fellow Filipinos.
Many millions will be waiting there for him, doubtless acclaiming him the greatest fighter in the world, pound for pound. After last Saturday, not too many journalists would be in a hurry to disagree with them.

WORLD'S BEST BOXING TRILOGY? PACMAN WINS

Manny Pacquiao easily destroyed Erik Morales in their highly anticipated rubber match this past Saturday night. It was a tremendous win for Pacquiao. That anyone could be capable of clobbering a fighter of Morales’s caliber with such ease is absolutely amazing. After all, Morales has been one of boxing’s elite for the better part of the last ten years, and against Pacquiao, he was reduced to nothing more than a helpless victim. Indeed, from the opening bell, it became apparent that he didn’t stand a chance against the hungry young fighter from the Philippines. Boxing can be a strange sport sometimes. In the case of Pacquiao and Morales, we have two fighters who have squared off three times in the past twenty months. The outcomes of these three encounters were all vastly different, but now that this trilogy has concluded an obvious picture has been drawn. We’ve just witnessed the decline of one great warrior and the emergence of another. In fact, this trilogy perfectly illustrates a figurative passing of the torch.In their first encounter, Morales was able to box his way to victory. His superior skills and experience enabled him overcome Pacquiao’s swarming style. For his part, Pacquiao certainly had his moments, but in the end, he fought a bit too one-dimensionally to overcome what Morales brought to the table. In a sense, Morales may have taught Pacquiao a valuable lesson that night, and Pacquiao has improved tremendously in the months since. Pacquiao is no longer the fierce puncher who relies exclusively on his left cross and relentless stamina. As if he wasn’t already dangerous enough, it’s now apparent that his right hand has become a key part of his arsenal. Pacquiao now carries amazing power in both hands, helping to amplify an already stellar swarming style. Thusly, his combination punching has improved, he’s become even more aggressive, and is now a more confident fighter. In light of that, it’s apparent that Pacquiao’s trilogy with Morales has proven invaluable; he’s come out of it even more dangerous than he’d already been. Morales is no longer the elite fighter he once was. In fact, everything about him seemed off on Saturday night. While there’s no doubt that had something to do with Pacquiao, the things that once made Morales great seemed to be grossly lacking. He appeared considerably slower, had no bounce in his step, and had absolutely no fluidity about him. Even worse, he had no pop in his punches. All of the epic wars Morales has had over the years have taken their toll. All that remained was his heart and his courage, but this time, that just wasn’t enough. With victory, Pacquiao has firmly established himself as one of the greatest talents in the sport. In fact, a strong argument can be made that Pacquiao is the best fighter pound-for-pound in all of boxing. Perhaps more importantly, Pacquiao seems to still be improving—a frightening prospect for any potential opponent. With his unique combination of freakish power, relentless stamina, and unrivaled determination, Pacquiao will pose major problems for any potential foe. So what’s next for these two great warriors? For Pacquiao, it seems the logical next step would be the long-awaited rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera. Since losing to Pacquiao three years ago, Barrera has re-established himself as a premiere fighter, proving critics wrong who had written him off after that bout. A rematch between the two is seemingly inevitable so long as Barrera wants the fight. After Pacquiao’s utter destruction of Morales, it would be understandable if Barrera had reservations, especially considering the result of his first bout with the beast known as Pacquiao. Barrera is a very smart fighter who undoubtedly realizes that he cannot stand toe-to-toe with a ferocious warrior like Pacquiao. To beat Pacquiao, Barrera needs to devise a plan that relies on boxing and, more importantly, defense. With Pacquiao’s aggressive style and high work rate, this will prove to be a most difficult task. The fact is now Pacquiao is better than when these two first met. Is this a fight that Barrera wants to take at this stage in his career? I certainly have my doubts. Although I’d never count Barrera out of any fight, I’m hard-pressed to see how he’d keep Pacquiao away for a full twelve rounds—a most daunting task if ever there was one. If the Barrera fight doesn’t come to fruition, a possible showdown with undefeated WBO champion Joan Guzman might be a good route for Pacquiao. For Morales, I think it’s the end of the line. He’s had a tremendous career that provided fans with many entertaining fights. He was a true warrior who represented everything that was good in a sport that’s often plagued by corruption. It is my sincere hope that he will retire and enjoy life. He has nothing else to prove.