Floyd Mayweather Jr. Defeats Miguel Cotto By Unanimous Decision

LAS VEGAS -- When people look back at the Hall of Fame-worthy careers of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto, the boxers' fight on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be the one they probably remember.

It was a barnburner, one of the most exciting fights of Mayweather's career; Cotto, of course, is typically in exciting fights. But as usual, it was Mayweather who put his punches together and evaded enough to win, taking a unanimous decision and a junior middleweight title for the second time in his career.

"You're a helluva champion," Mayweather said to Cotto in the ring after the fight. "You're the toughest guy I ever fought."

Now Mayweather -- headed to jail on June 1 for an 87-day sentence at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas for a domestic battery conviction -- can offer a new mantra: 43 have tried and now 43 have failed.

"Look, when fights are on pay-per-view, you want to give the fans what they pay for, and that's excitement," said Mayweather, who elected to do an in-ring interview with HBO's Larry Merchant after threatening not to following their blow-up during a postfight interview after Mayweather's September victory against Victor Ortiz.

Cotto didn't go down without a fight. He pressed and pushed and cracked Mayweather with many hard punches, probably as many punishing shots as Mayweather has ever been hit with.

Mayweather is 35 now, and maybe the pound-for-pound king has lost just a step, so he is a little easier to hit. But he still got the job done and, for a change, in very exciting fashion.

In picking up his eighth world title belt in five weight classes, Mayweather looked good in victory. But Cotto, 31, a three-division champion in his own right, also looked good. In fact, Cotto gave Mayweather a tougher fight than he gave Manny Pacquiao in their 2009 welterweight title bout, a 12th-round knockout for Pacquiao.

"The judges said I lost the fight. I can't do anything else. I have to take my defeat," Cotto said. "I brought my best and I did my best every morning in training camp and I did my best tonight."

Mentally reborn following his emotional victory against Antonio Margarito in their December rematch, Cotto fought as well as he has in years.

"I'm happy with my fight and with my performance," he said. "So is my family. I can't ask for anything else."

With most of the crowd of 16,047 cheering for Puerto Rico's Cotto, he was able to bull Mayweather into the corner and make him fight back round after round. And Mayweather was happy to oblige.

Most of the rounds appeared competitive, but Mayweather pulled away to win 118-110 on judge Robert Hoyle's scorecard, while Dave Moretti and Patricia Morse Jarman each scored it 117-111. ESPN.com had it 116-112 for Mayweather.

Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) sat down on his punches and rocked Cotto in the fourth round, turning over his right hand to land several of them flush.

Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs), who made $8 million plus a percentage of the pay-per-view profits, got Mayweather's respect in the sixth round when he landed a pinpoint jab to his nose, drawing blood. After the punch, Mayweather nodded his head to Cotto out of respect.

"When you come to fight and are in the heat of the battle, those things happen," Mayweather said.

Every time Cotto trapped Mayweather on the ropes -- which he did often and had some success with it -- the crowd would go wild. But Mayweather would eventually escape the trouble.

Mayweather closed strong with a huge 12th round, hurting Cotto with a nasty uppercut and right hands.

The fans had gotten their monies worth, and Mayweather had a satisfying victory. HBO will replay the memorable fight, along with the Saul "Canelo" Alvarez-Shane Mosleyundercard fight, on May 12 (10:15 p.m. ET/PT).

"He's a tough competitor," Mayweather said. "I knew I was going to have to come in the ring to fight hard and execute the game plan. Cotto is a future Hall of Famer and he is no pushover. We fought at his weight class. He came to fight. He didn't come to survive, he came to fight. So I dug down and fought him back."

Mayweather, who earned a boxing-record guarantee of $32 million (plus a hefty percentage of the pay-per-view profit), was focused on the fight throughout the promotion, never seeming to let the looming jail sentence unnerve him. He kept up the brave front after the fight, as well.

"You're dealt obstacles in your life," Mayweather said. "You have to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad. When June 1 comes, the only thing I can do is accept it."

Mayweather said he plans to fight again this year after his release from jail. The fight the world wants is to see him face Manny Pacquiao.

Once again, like a broken record, Mayweather made it sound like that won't happen, despite protests to the contrary.

"Bob Arum is in the way," Mayweather said of the Top Rank promoter who represents Pacquiao (and once promoted Mayweather). "He's stopping the fans from getting what they want. Let's give the fans what they want."

Mayweather, however, has demanded more than 50 percent of the money in the fight, which has been a nonstarter. He didn't acknowledge that fact after the Cotto fight. "I've been trying to make the Pacquiao fight," Mayweather said.

Then he turned to his demands for blood and urine drug testing for the fight. Pacquiao has repeatedly agreed, which Mayweather won't acknowledge.

"Cotto didn't have the problem taking therandom blood and urine tests," he said. "Why shouldn't Pacquiao? If he's the best, take the test."

That is the same old argument -- but for another day. On this night, Mayweather took the test from Cotto inside the ring.

Lamar Odom Responds to Upset Twitter Followers

NBA veteran Lamar Odom has had a rough past few months, as his stint with the Dallas Mavericks didn't quite work out.

He recently took to Twitter to let his over 3 million followers know that he was attempting to get his life back on track.

"being the best basketball player i can possibly be will allow 2 become the next P.Diddy i know whats fly! Dis the Year . ThecomeBackKid!", Odom tweeted.

But one fan in particular didn't feel like Lamar would ever be the athlete he used to be as he tweeted to the 7'1" basketball player.

"@RealLamarOdom Maybe you shouldve thought about "being the best" when you were collecting a check from the mavs instead of sulking like a b!", as tweeted by @tjat10.

Lamar thusly proceeded to reply, but on a much more concerning note. He mentioned that the shooting death of his cousin and being present in a car accident in which another individual lost his life was a tough pill to swallow.

"@tjat10 it was hard 2 get the picture of my cuz who was 24 was shot in the head out of my mind ! thanks 4 support".

Then he gave some friendly advice to the fan.

"use your platform 2 speak wisely and be an honorable fan not a fan-atic. there is a difference . just look u follow me. luckyU!LuvYa".

Lamar may be looking to get things back on the right track as he and his wife, Khloe Kardashian, recently cancelled their reality television show.

Phil Mushnick, NY Post writer: Brooklyn Nets should be called 'New York Ni**ers' because of Jay-Z ownership

New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick provoked outrage this week as he used a racial slur in an insensitive rant against the Brooklyn Nets and their co-owner rapper Jay-Z. Opining that the team should consider changing their name to the 'New York Ni**ers' in what one can only assume is meant to be a dig at Jay-Z's use of the n-word in his lyrics, Mushnick argues that since the team has a new "urban" locale it should get the full "Jay-Z treatment.":
As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots -- what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new "urban" home -- why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?
Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N------s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B----hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!
Mushnick's comments have already fueled a firestorm on Twitter, with numerous commentators in the sports world calling for him to be fired by the Post immediately.
The sports blog Bob's Blitz has posted a response from Mushnick to the backlash. He wrote:
Bob - Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don't call black men the N-word; I don't regard young women as bitches and whores; I don't glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand.....Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N--ers?"
Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I'M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.

Ex-NBA All-Star accused of sex trafficking

 SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Former NBA All-Star Alvin Robertson has been charged with sexual assault of a child, trafficking an underage child for purposes of sex and forcing a sexual performance by a child.
The charges were contained in an arrest warrant Friday. Robertson has not been apprehended.
Authorities claim the 47-year-old former Spurs star was part of a ring that kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from San Antonio, forced her to have sex with clients and to dance at a Corpus Christi strip club last year.
The girl escaped her alleged captors, prompting an investigation. Seven people have been charged, including Robertson's girlfriend, and he's the only one who has not been arrested.

The seventh overall pick in the 1984 draft, Robertson averaged 14 points over 10 seasons and was voted to four All-Star games.

The Sandman Goes Down!!! Mariano Comes Up Limp Catching Fly Balls!!!

The beauty of the man has not always just been the right arm and the grace and the fastball and the ninth innings, has not just been a career that saw him become the Babe Ruth of Yankee pitchers, the beauty of Mariano Rivera was the boy in him. Even as he got older, even as he continued to close games into his 40s, he stayed young. It is why he kept chasing fly balls in the outfield in the afternoon before Yankee games. The baseball boy in him.
I would stand with him in front of his locker and say, “Who’s the best outfielder on this team, really?”
This year or any year.
Mo Rivera would smile and say, “You know the answer.”
And I’d tell him I wanted to hear him say it. So he would.
“I am,” Mo would say.
So that is where he was on Thursday in Kansas City, far from the pitcher’s mound and far from Yankee Stadium, chasing down another batting practice fly ball when his right knee gave out and he went down out there, with what is now reported to be a torn ACL.
It is one thing, even if it is a terrible thing, to watch a basketball kid like Iman Shumpert of the Knicks blow out a knee in a playoff game against the Miami Heat. It is another thing to watch it happen to the great Rivera at the age of 42, watch him get carted off the field in the first week of May in what many thought was going to be his last season in baseball.
“It’s bad,” Derek Jeter said. “Mo shagged every day. Been doing it as long as I’ve known him.”
“Mo’s a vital part of this team, on the field, off the field,” Jeter said. “He’s going to be missed.”
“Mo is Mo,” the captain of the Yankees said finally. “There’s no one like him, there’s never going to be anyone like him.”
No one is writing off the greatest Yankee pitcher of them all, the greatest baseball closer of them all, the greatest money pitcher there has ever been and will ever be in baseball. But he is 42 and is gone for the season now because his knee explodes on an evening in Kansas City.
And when he is finally knocked out of things, it doesn’t happen because somebody knocks him out of a ninth inning, it doesn’t happen with him trying to close one more game for the Yankees.
It happens before the game even starts.
When it happens to Rivera, it isn’t his right arm that gives out on him, it is his right knee. So much drama as to what happened in Kansas City, and so much irony, too. One of the biggest Yankees of them all gets carried out of the season, not in a way that anyone ever could have imagined.
He will be checked out again in New York, but doctors everywhere are hardly ever wrong about a torn ACL. Maybe the first one to know how bad it was was Mariano Rivera himself.
Even in the time of Jeter, another of this time who is on his way to the Hall of Fame and Monument Park, Rivera was always the best of all of them, closing all those games, breaking the record, being the last out again and again when the Yankees were winning all those World Series.
Obviously, this is a terrible blow to their chances this season, but it is as much a loss to baseball, because Rivera’s life and career have been a monument to the possibilities of the game, the possibilities that sports can still provide to a skinny kid from Panama.
And somehow, because of his grace and enduring excellence after he came through the outfield walls at the Stadium, the old Stadium and the new one, it always seemed fitting that he would be the last player in his game to wear Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 before that number is retired from good.
These past few years, we kept waiting for him to slip, to lose something off that cut fastball. But it never happened. The slip finally came in the outfield in Kansas City in the afternoon.
There was the day last season when I was sitting with him in front of his locker, because there has never been a better place to be and talk baseball with a Yankee, and I asked him how he would know when it was time to retire.
“No one will ever have to tell me,” he said. “No one will ever accuse me of hanging on. When it is my time to go, I will be the first to know.”
And then he would go out and get three more outs in the ninth inning, and look the same as he did in all the other years. He started to make you think he would stay young forever. It was why he was in the outfield again yesterday, a knee giving out before his right arm ever did.

Company puts lien on Michael Jordan's new home

One can only assume this was due to an accounting error.A report says that a Texas company put a lien on a $20 million house that Hall of Famer and Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is building in Jupiter, Fla. The house is atThe Bear's Club, a Jack Nicklaus golf community.


Writes Jose Lambiet of gossipextra.com:


The Dallas-based Southwest Progressive Enterprise, which specializes in fancy stone-wall finishes, claims the six-time world champion has yet to come up with $81,000 to settle the $202,600-contract. ...


The lien filed with the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts shows the debt has been owed since January, which is about the time he sold his mansion in Chicago for $29 million.

Amare' Punches Miami's Ticket To The Next Round

MIAMI — It wasn’t just the Heat, it was the stupidity.

Amar’e Stoudemire may have literally punched the Miami Heat’s ticket to the second round after the Knicks’ power forward, in a show of frustration and selfishness, suffered a lacerated left hand during a postgame tirade immediately following the Heat’s 104-94 Game 2 victory Monday night.

A Knicks official confirmed that Stoudemire had cut his non-shooting hand when he punched a small glass door that protects a fire extinguisher just outside the Knicks’ locker room. Stoudemire’s hand shattered the pane and he needed an undetermined number of stitches to close the wound.
Stoudemire later offered an apology via Twitter, apparently in a one-handed tweet:

@Amareisreal "I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start."

He did not comment as he exited the arena with his girlfriend and one of his children.

Tyson Chandler said that Stoudemire was “out” for Game 3, and it is unlikely he  will play for the rest of the series. Stoudemire’s hand was heavily bandaged and his arm was placed in a sling.

The Knicks will host the Heat in Game 3 Thursday at the Garden.

“It’s far from over,” Carmelo Anthony said after the Knicks matched an NBA record with their 12th straight playoff loss. “We believe that and I believe that.”

Anthony, standing on the blood- stained carpet inside the Knicks’ locker room, pleaded ignorance when asked about the Stoudemire incident. It’s unclear if Stoudemire was upset over the Knicks being in a 0-2 hole to the Heat or the fact that he took nine shots in 41 minutes, making six, while Anthony took 26 shots in 45 minutes, making 12.

“I don’t know what happened, to be honest with you,” Anthony said. “I haven’t seen him.”

The scene outside the Knicks locker room and near the team bus was chaotic, beginning with paramedics being called to treat Stoudemire. Most of the players exited through a back door while the injured forward snaked his way out of a side exit and underneath the seats and toward the bus.

When members of the media tried to intercept Stoudemire, arena security and some team officials began screaming for unauthorized personnel to leave the area.

Mike Woodson, who had announced before the game that the team would practice on Tuesday, canceled the workout.

Woodson and the Knicks are facing an almost impossible task with Stoudemire likely finished for the series. The Knicks are already without rookie guard Iman Shumpert, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Game 1 and will be sidelined for the next six to eight months, and Jeremy Lin, who is coming off knee surgery.

With Shumpert, one of the league’s top perimeter defenders, unavailable, Dwyane Wade scored 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Chris Bosh added 21 while LeBron James finished with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Miami’s much-maligned supporting cast also played well, with Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller and Shane Battier combining for 35 points. For the second straight game, the Heat never trailed in the second half.

Meanwhile, Anthony scored 30 points,  including 15 in the first quarter. He spent most of the final three quarters missing shots and looking frustrated with Miami’s aggressive defense.

Anthony and Stoudemire lost their sixth straight playoff game with the Knicks and the notion that they cannot succeed together is gaining momentum. The Knicks have had a losing record with both players in the lineup since the day Anthony was acquired from Denver last season.

Coincidentally, the Knicks have been better with Anthony playing power forward, which is where he would now play assuming that Stoudemire is unavailable.

“Amar’e is a huge piece to this team,” Chandler said. “Without him, it’ll make it more difficult. We already lost one player in the starting lineup. That’s two players out of the starting lineup. It makes it tougher.”

Stoudemire finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, including 12 points in the second half. He took six shots over the final two quarters compared to eight for Anthony.

If Stoudemire is frustrated, that is understandable. He’s been injured for much of the season and recently returned from a back injury that the Knicks originally feared would cost him the season.

And yet, for him to lose control of his emotions at such a critical point of the season will not go over well with the fans or Garden chairman James Dolan, who has not seen the Knicks win a playoff game since April 29, 2001. The club’s 12-game postseason losing streak matches the NBA record set by the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Your emotions run high,” said Chandler, trying to sound diplomatic. “In a split second, a decision can alter things. You can’t fault anybody. We’ve got to deal with the repercussions."

Brooklyn Nets Release Their New Logo And Uniform Colors

NEW YORK -- New name. New borough. New arena. New logos, too.

The Brooklyn Nets unveiled their brand-new logos on Monday morning.

The Nets will have a black and white color scheme, which pays homage to the old New York subway signage system.
The Nets will have a pair of primary logos. The first features a shield and the name "NETS" accompanied by the letter "B" inside a basketball and "BROOKLYN" underneath. The second features the letter "B" inside a basketball wrapped around "BROOKLYN NEW YORK."

"Hello Brooklyn! I've been waiting a long time to say that," center Brook Lopez said at the team's formal logo unveiling at the Modell's Sporting Goods store across the street from the team's new home, the Barclays Center. The Nets will move into the $1 billion arena at the start of the 2012-13 season.

"We've been waiting a long time for this," CEO Brett Yormark said. "The Brooklyn Nets are finally part of the conversation."
Yormark said that the Nets' circular logo will be at center court at the Barclays Center. Yormark referred to the shield as "the shield of Brooklyn," and it will appear on the team's shorts.
Team part owner Jay-Z played an instrumental role in the design of the logos.
"The Brooklyn Nets logos are another step we've made to usher the organization into a new era," Jay-Z said in a statement. "The boldness of the designs demonstrate the confidence we have in our new direction. Along with our move to Brooklyn and a state-of-the-art arena, the new colors and logos are examples of our commitment to update and refine all aspects of the team."
The hip-hop mogul and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the majority owner of the Nets, were not in attendance.
A spokeswoman for Prokhorov said he "loves" the new logos. According to the spokeswoman, the logos began being designed a year ago, and discussions were still taking place as of a few weeks ago.
Brooklyn has not had a major league sports franchise since the Dodgers left in 1957. Developer Bruce Ratner, who pushed for the move to Brooklyn beginning a decade ago, said the curse of former Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, who moved the team to Los Angeles, is dead as of "(Monday)."
The Nets will unveil their new uniforms sometime in the fall. They are the only team in the league to have a black and white color scheme.

NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver isn't going to root for the Nets, per se but believes it's important for the team to get off to a good start as it begins to cultivate an identity in Brooklyn.
"They'll get it done. They were unlucky last season, and it didn't help that they were playing in a temporary arena and about to make a move," Silver said. "Cementing their identity in Brooklyn, I believe, will help in player recruitment as well."
General manager Billy King wants the team to be competitive immediately.
"We're not gonna build slowly," King said.
Coach Avery Johnson said that hopefully, "at his time next year you guys will be in my press conference for the 2013 playoffs."
King has a lot of work to do. The Nets wrapped up their 35th and final year in New Jersey with a 22-44 record. They have not made the playoffs since 2006-07.

Superstar point guard Deron Williams has reiterated his intentions to opt out and become a free agent. Williams said he'd like to come back and be part of the first team in Brooklyn Nets' franchise history, but he's expected to be heavily courted by a number of suitors, most notably his hometown Dallas Mavericks.

Lopez, a restricted free agent, wants to stay with the organization that drafted him. Small forward Gerald Wallace has said he'd like to return but plans to opt out because he wants a multiyear deal. Power forward Kris Humphries is an unrestricted free agent.

MarShon Brooks, Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro and Jordan Williams are the only Nets who have guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season.

Merchandise featuring the Brooklyn Nets' new identity is available at Brooklynnets.com and the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue.