I've been alerted this morning, by a reader, by e-mail, that this isn't the first time they've pulled this "engineering a feud with a celebrity" trick.
It seems it's not even the first time this month.
According to my source, Brad Cooney posted a rather questionable article about Floyd Mayweather senior a few weeks, making several allegations, that some considered disingenuous.
My source then claims Floyd Mayweather senior was tipped off by an "anonymous" reader, about the articles existence. In which his response was reportedly along the lines of "who the fuck is Brad Cooney. I've never even heard of him".
My source informs me that partner in crime Dennis Guillermo, then wrote a follow up article, trying to publicize the claims further, for his friend.
Floyd Mayweather, then, reportedly, brought up Brad Cooney, in a legitimate interview with professional site FightHype.com later in the day. Basically just commenting on the number of "cowboys" there are on the internet.
My source then tells me, that Brad Cooney then wrote a second article, claiming he was in a feud with not only Floyd Mayweather senior, but also Fight Hype. While at the same time, of course, plugging the Dennis Guillermo article.
All of this, from Floyd Mayweather senior saying "who the fuck is Brad Cooney".
Monday, 4 April 2011
D'Source vs. Professional Legitimate Boxing Writer
Dennis Guillermo, who makes 50 pennies a pop, massaging the egos of Pacquiao fans, on fan contribution site "Examiner.com", has been busy trying to boost his profile, by claiming he's involved in a legitimate dispute with professional boxing journalist (someone who's paid for it) Kevin Iole.
What's the actual story?
Kevin Iole, wrote a pretty fair piece, on Yahoo sports, calling the Pacquiao vs. Mosely bout a pile of garbage. Something most fans agree with wholeheartedly.
Dennis, being a lunatic Pacquiao fan writer, wrote his usual "it aint so" defense of the bout. You know, black is white. Up is actually down. The Cleveland Browns are about to win the Superbowl.
Fiction. Pacquiao porn.
A fan of D'Source (probably D' Source himself) put a link to this fan article on Kevin's Twitter Account. And Kevin replied to it along the lines of "The guy's not a journalist. He's an amateur. Who cares what fan-boys think of me".
This upset the amateur "D'Source" greatly. How dare you refer to me as an amateur! Well, it didn't really upset him. My sources tell me he that he just wanted to make the most of the publicity Kevin inadvertently gave him.
"D'Source" hit back with an attack article on Kevin Iole. Having only 20 readers, it went unnoticed....................I don't think even Dennis Guillermo's mother knows it actually exists.
Undettered, my source tells me that D'Source then went to his friends at amateur site "8 Count News" in which he is a regular contributor, and asked small town hick Brad Cooney to back him up in this argument, and give it a bit of exposure.
A Brad Cooney article, on the "dispute" soon followed, which was..............errrr ignored as well.
Boxing fans need to understand one thing. It's not hard to design a web site. It's not hard to find people to write. Launching a boxing site, or writing a boxing column, is open to absolutely anyone.
Quality boxing writing, and legitimacy, is not defined by having a column, or a site. It's the content, and respect you earn from it.
D'Source is a nobody in boxing. Other than a few devoted followers, on his fan site, nobody even knows he exists. What's more, the people who do know he exists, think he's a lightweight.
Kevin Iole is the real deal. A professional boxing writer, who's got to where he is, by writing consistent, impeccably sourced quality.
Don't be fooled by these phony wars. Fan writers calling out professional journalists, trying to get legitimacy, by riding guy's like Iole, and their names.
I have very deep links in regards toMMA MMA MMA
My friend to this day, who I launched with back in 1999, still edits one of MMAs most important professional titles. And is known as "MMA
Heck, I know a lot of these guys on first name terms.
Guess what.
I've never heard of Brad Cooney, or Dennis Guillermo until today.
My friends never heard of Brad Cooney, or Dennis Guillermo.
I contacted, via e-mail, a currentUFC UFC
The more amateurish the set-up, the bigger the mouth, basically.
You'll find Chihuahuas
What's the actual story?
Kevin Iole, wrote a pretty fair piece, on Yahoo sports, calling the Pacquiao vs. Mosely bout a pile of garbage. Something most fans agree with wholeheartedly.
Dennis, being a lunatic Pacquiao fan writer, wrote his usual "it aint so" defense of the bout. You know, black is white. Up is actually down. The Cleveland Browns are about to win the Superbowl.
Fiction. Pacquiao porn.
A fan of D'Source (probably D' Source himself) put a link to this fan article on Kevin's Twitter Account. And Kevin replied to it along the lines of "The guy's not a journalist. He's an amateur. Who cares what fan-boys think of me".
This upset the amateur "D'Source" greatly. How dare you refer to me as an amateur! Well, it didn't really upset him. My sources tell me he that he just wanted to make the most of the publicity Kevin inadvertently gave him.
"D'Source" hit back with an attack article on Kevin Iole. Having only 20 readers, it went unnoticed....................I don't think even Dennis Guillermo's mother knows it actually exists.
Undettered, my source tells me that D'Source then went to his friends at amateur site "8 Count News" in which he is a regular contributor, and asked small town hick Brad Cooney to back him up in this argument, and give it a bit of exposure.
A Brad Cooney article, on the "dispute" soon followed, which was..............errrr ignored as well.
Boxing fans need to understand one thing. It's not hard to design a web site. It's not hard to find people to write. Launching a boxing site, or writing a boxing column, is open to absolutely anyone.
Quality boxing writing, and legitimacy, is not defined by having a column, or a site. It's the content, and respect you earn from it.
D'Source is a nobody in boxing. Other than a few devoted followers, on his fan site, nobody even knows he exists. What's more, the people who do know he exists, think he's a lightweight.
Kevin Iole is the real deal. A professional boxing writer, who's got to where he is, by writing consistent, impeccably sourced quality.
Don't be fooled by these phony wars. Fan writers calling out professional journalists, trying to get legitimacy, by riding guy's like Iole, and their names.
I have very deep links in regards to
My friend to this day, who I launched with back in 1999, still edits one of MMAs most important professional titles. And is known as "
Heck, I know a lot of these guys on first name terms.
Guess what.
I've never heard of Brad Cooney, or Dennis Guillermo until today.
My friends never heard of Brad Cooney, or Dennis Guillermo.
I contacted, via e-mail, a current
The more amateurish the set-up, the bigger the mouth, basically.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
The Ble-Asia Report
The times they are-a-changing. Once upon a time, the fan site "Bleacher Report" was an innocent little site. Launched by a friend of mine, I can offer some unique insight to it's early aims and objectives.
The idea was for it to be a forum, for aspiring writers, who struggled to break into the mainstream, to show their talent, and to form business partnerships with the mainstream media, to provide these writers with mainstream exposure.
That nobel mission statement exists to this day on most sport pages on the site. But it's a distant memory in regards to boxing.
Asia now loves boxing. Asia = money.
I've received several messages, over the last year, from contacts from inside the site. Updating me on recent moves. It seems that the rules have not so much "changed" in regards to the boxing page, but they basically don't apply any more.
I've been told that the "front page" Editor (who decides what they publish) of the Bleacher Boxing page, who was appointed about a year ago, is such a notorious troll, alledgedly, that, according to my sources, he actually continued flooding it with anti-Mayweather rhetoric ,under a psuedonym, for months after he was appointed. And only stopped doing so, after being challenged by angry users, for his complete disregard for editorial bias.
The "community leader" who basically keeps an eye on the page for the Editor, is I'm told, according to the messages I have received, an Asian-American Pacquiao fan, based in LA.
The page's copy, looking at it briefly myself, appears to be completely dominated by a Filipino Pacquiao fan called "Leo Reyes", who hasn't posted an article, that hasn't been about either Manny Pacquiao or Nonito Donaire, in over 7 months.
Worringly, I've been told that the site alledgedly protects Mr Reyes heavily. Not allowing any open comment on his articles. No matter how polite. I've been told that anyone who criticises Leo Reyes articles, on his page, and question the repetition, get banned.
My source claims, the community leader "King J", alledgedly, does this personally. Without consulting the management, or the sites own rule book. What's more, my source claims that King J doesn't actually ban people officially - as he doesn't want it to be official. He just makes sure their accounts can't post comments any more, alledgedly.
What this means is, according to my sources version of events, the pro-Pacquiao editorial team of the site, are alledgedly blocking users from posting, even though they haven't broken any of the rules that they signed up to when joining the site. Purely on the grounds of their sporting loyalties.
Commercial censorship basically.
It will be interesting to see if I hear anything else from users of the site, and their experiences with it
The idea was for it to be a forum, for aspiring writers, who struggled to break into the mainstream, to show their talent, and to form business partnerships with the mainstream media, to provide these writers with mainstream exposure.
That nobel mission statement exists to this day on most sport pages on the site. But it's a distant memory in regards to boxing.
Asia now loves boxing. Asia = money.
I've received several messages, over the last year, from contacts from inside the site. Updating me on recent moves. It seems that the rules have not so much "changed" in regards to the boxing page, but they basically don't apply any more.
I've been told that the "front page" Editor (who decides what they publish) of the Bleacher Boxing page, who was appointed about a year ago, is such a notorious troll, alledgedly, that, according to my sources, he actually continued flooding it with anti-Mayweather rhetoric ,under a psuedonym, for months after he was appointed. And only stopped doing so, after being challenged by angry users, for his complete disregard for editorial bias.
The "community leader" who basically keeps an eye on the page for the Editor, is I'm told, according to the messages I have received, an Asian-American Pacquiao fan, based in LA.
The page's copy, looking at it briefly myself, appears to be completely dominated by a Filipino Pacquiao fan called "Leo Reyes", who hasn't posted an article, that hasn't been about either Manny Pacquiao or Nonito Donaire, in over 7 months.
Worringly, I've been told that the site alledgedly protects Mr Reyes heavily. Not allowing any open comment on his articles. No matter how polite. I've been told that anyone who criticises Leo Reyes articles, on his page, and question the repetition, get banned.
My source claims, the community leader "King J", alledgedly, does this personally. Without consulting the management, or the sites own rule book. What's more, my source claims that King J doesn't actually ban people officially - as he doesn't want it to be official. He just makes sure their accounts can't post comments any more, alledgedly.
What this means is, according to my sources version of events, the pro-Pacquiao editorial team of the site, are alledgedly blocking users from posting, even though they haven't broken any of the rules that they signed up to when joining the site. Purely on the grounds of their sporting loyalties.
Commercial censorship basically.
It will be interesting to see if I hear anything else from users of the site, and their experiences with it
The big fight we've all been waiting for is on!
Yes, at last, I can confirm, that the matchup you have all been waiting for is on......................Scoop Malinowski vs. Someone possibly linked to Al Haymon.
Yes, sorry, probably not the news you've been waiting for, but interesting none-the-less. I was e-mailed last night by my contact at BoxingInsider.com, who told me that professional Mayweather lunatic Scoop, has got himself into a little war of words with an annonymous critic, some suspect to be a disgruntled Golden Boy goon.
I've seen quotes of the disagreement, and I can inform you that it ended with Scoop being told to "watch his back", and Scoop replying with a rather chilling "I have to warn you - I'm always ready........"
Anyone who witnessed wimpy Scoop, almost peeing his own pants, after letting his mouth write cheques his butt couldn't cash, with a member of Mike Tyson's entourage, will know that the smart money has to be with whoever Scoop is fighting.
Even if it's just a 9 year old school girl playing a prank..................
Yes, sorry, probably not the news you've been waiting for, but interesting none-the-less. I was e-mailed last night by my contact at BoxingInsider.com, who told me that professional Mayweather lunatic Scoop, has got himself into a little war of words with an annonymous critic, some suspect to be a disgruntled Golden Boy goon.
I've seen quotes of the disagreement, and I can inform you that it ended with Scoop being told to "watch his back", and Scoop replying with a rather chilling "I have to warn you - I'm always ready........"
Anyone who witnessed wimpy Scoop, almost peeing his own pants, after letting his mouth write cheques his butt couldn't cash, with a member of Mike Tyson's entourage, will know that the smart money has to be with whoever Scoop is fighting.
Even if it's just a 9 year old school girl playing a prank..................
Saturday, 2 April 2011
What's really going on in the Pacquiao camp - the reality
Every source I've spoken to on this, has told me the same thing.
Team Pacquuiao would be very happy, if they could negotiate Pacquiao's retirement, without answering the Mayweather question. In truth, they're more confident they can win the media war, than actually beat Mayweather in a boxing ring.
As I said, look at the series of events.
Mayweather and Pacquiao negotiate. Pacquiao makes several, rather strange demands, which many people I've spoken to in the fight game think were actually designed to scare Mayweather off.
The $10 million a pound weight penalty.
The demand that light gloves be used (knowing Mayweather can only box with heavy gloves because of his injuries)
The demand that a small ring be used (knowing Mayweather usually demands a big ring)
Floyd, surprisingly, according to the scribes I spoke to accepted this. As well as a 50/50 split. However, when he came back with his list of demands, there was seemingly something on there that Team Pacquiao didn't like.
Full Random drug testing.
The media response from Arum and Pacquiao was farcical.. And in truth, according to the guys I've spoken to, only worked out because of a lot of favours behind the scenes to help him out of a tricky spot.
First Top Ranks media people put out that Pacquiao was "scared of needles". Until eagle eye fans commented that he actually had a lot of tattoos.
Top Ranks media team then briefed the media, that Pacquiao was "supersiticious about blood" and stated that he didn't like doing blood tests. Again, this didn't really resonate with fans.
Then Top Ranks media team came back with "Pacquiao is physically weakened by blood loss". This is 3 changes of position, in about 20 hours.
Top Rank then flip flopped on other things. Changing their position on dates of testing from "24 days" to "no random testing" to "3 pre planned testing periods" and then back to "no random testing.
Mayweathers people then came back with a new offer. Taking into account the various Top Rank claims about Pacquiao's health. No tests within 14 days of the fight. Top Rank refused this out of hand, again, stating no random testing at all will happen.
Pacquiao then walked. And signed to face Josh Clottey instead. And hasn't fought anyone not affiliated to Top Rank since.
Speaking to my contacts in boxing publishing, we've all come to a similar conclusion.
Was Bob Arum expecting Mayweather to accept his LOUSY original offer? and was it a case that once he (surprisingly) did, did Arum then engineer Pacquiao out of the deal.
Look what's happened since then if you will.
A 2nd half hearted negotiation, in which, according to most sources I have, Bob Arum never even got to a point where he spoke to anyone from Golden Boy. In fact, both Jeff Mayweather, and Michael Koncz quite openly have stated the talks were little more than "provisional".
Then Top Rank and Pacquiao starting long, drawn out legal proceedings, against both the person they supposedly want to fight, and the promoters they supposedly want to pay them. I've spoken to a contact on this, and he tells me this won't be in court until late 2011 minimum. He states, "probably closer to Spring 2012". And that the court case "could go into 2013".
This legal move means, a bout may well be impossibly until late 2013.
Again, the purpose of debate is tocome to your own conclusions, but the sources I've spoken to have said that they think Team Pacquiao have put quite a few barriers of their own in place, to make sure we don't see this fight in the medium term.
You may find this is about nobody wants. Neither boxer. Neither promoter
Team Pacquuiao would be very happy, if they could negotiate Pacquiao's retirement, without answering the Mayweather question. In truth, they're more confident they can win the media war, than actually beat Mayweather in a boxing ring.
As I said, look at the series of events.
Mayweather and Pacquiao negotiate. Pacquiao makes several, rather strange demands, which many people I've spoken to in the fight game think were actually designed to scare Mayweather off.
The $10 million a pound weight penalty.
The demand that light gloves be used (knowing Mayweather can only box with heavy gloves because of his injuries)
The demand that a small ring be used (knowing Mayweather usually demands a big ring)
Floyd, surprisingly, according to the scribes I spoke to accepted this. As well as a 50/50 split. However, when he came back with his list of demands, there was seemingly something on there that Team Pacquiao didn't like.
Full Random drug testing.
The media response from Arum and Pacquiao was farcical.. And in truth, according to the guys I've spoken to, only worked out because of a lot of favours behind the scenes to help him out of a tricky spot.
First Top Ranks media people put out that Pacquiao was "scared of needles". Until eagle eye fans commented that he actually had a lot of tattoos.
Top Ranks media team then briefed the media, that Pacquiao was "supersiticious about blood" and stated that he didn't like doing blood tests. Again, this didn't really resonate with fans.
Then Top Ranks media team came back with "Pacquiao is physically weakened by blood loss". This is 3 changes of position, in about 20 hours.
Top Rank then flip flopped on other things. Changing their position on dates of testing from "24 days" to "no random testing" to "3 pre planned testing periods" and then back to "no random testing.
Mayweathers people then came back with a new offer. Taking into account the various Top Rank claims about Pacquiao's health. No tests within 14 days of the fight. Top Rank refused this out of hand, again, stating no random testing at all will happen.
Pacquiao then walked. And signed to face Josh Clottey instead. And hasn't fought anyone not affiliated to Top Rank since.
Speaking to my contacts in boxing publishing, we've all come to a similar conclusion.
Was Bob Arum expecting Mayweather to accept his LOUSY original offer? and was it a case that once he (surprisingly) did, did Arum then engineer Pacquiao out of the deal.
Look what's happened since then if you will.
A 2nd half hearted negotiation, in which, according to most sources I have, Bob Arum never even got to a point where he spoke to anyone from Golden Boy. In fact, both Jeff Mayweather, and Michael Koncz quite openly have stated the talks were little more than "provisional".
Then Top Rank and Pacquiao starting long, drawn out legal proceedings, against both the person they supposedly want to fight, and the promoters they supposedly want to pay them. I've spoken to a contact on this, and he tells me this won't be in court until late 2011 minimum. He states, "probably closer to Spring 2012". And that the court case "could go into 2013".
This legal move means, a bout may well be impossibly until late 2013.
Again, the purpose of debate is tocome to your own conclusions, but the sources I've spoken to have said that they think Team Pacquiao have put quite a few barriers of their own in place, to make sure we don't see this fight in the medium term.
You may find this is about nobody wants. Neither boxer. Neither promoter
What's really going on in the Pacquiao camp -intro
The sources I get on this are quite a lot different than the final media product. But that's because there's an entire network of media filters in place to protect promoters interests.
Mayweather doesn't give a crap about his public image. As, in truth, he's a freaking simpleton, who doesn't really think at a much greater level of "what's on tv" or "what's for dinner tonight". Floyd's a complicated guy, and you have to speak to him to get this.
It's hard to believe that he truly doesn't care what people think of him, but I assure you, he truly doesn't caren what people think of him. In fact, I was in his company once, where he was asked what he thought of a boxing writer (Kevin Iole), and not only did he have no idea who Kevin was, but he had no idea what "Yahoo" was. In fact, he had to ask a work out buddy of his, to login in to the site for him, as he didn't even own a laptop.
Basically, don't be fooled that Floyd trawls the net, 24/7 because he uses Twitter. I assure you, all his tweets will be little more than him be passing hand written notes to a more tech-savvy member of his entourage. Floyd's a hick basically.
Floyd's media budget in 2011 will be $2. Pacquiao's will be $15 million.
It's all one way traffic basically. Which means th3e facts are carefully hidden behind walls of crap. But it is there. And you''ll find it above
Mayweather doesn't give a crap about his public image. As, in truth, he's a freaking simpleton, who doesn't really think at a much greater level of "what's on tv" or "what's for dinner tonight". Floyd's a complicated guy, and you have to speak to him to get this.
It's hard to believe that he truly doesn't care what people think of him, but I assure you, he truly doesn't caren what people think of him. In fact, I was in his company once, where he was asked what he thought of a boxing writer (Kevin Iole), and not only did he have no idea who Kevin was, but he had no idea what "Yahoo" was. In fact, he had to ask a work out buddy of his, to login in to the site for him, as he didn't even own a laptop.
Basically, don't be fooled that Floyd trawls the net, 24/7 because he uses Twitter. I assure you, all his tweets will be little more than him be passing hand written notes to a more tech-savvy member of his entourage. Floyd's a hick basically.
Floyd's media budget in 2011 will be $2. Pacquiao's will be $15 million.
It's all one way traffic basically. Which means th3e facts are carefully hidden behind walls of crap. But it is there. And you''ll find it above
The retarded grape vine
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/651658-floyd-mayweather-sr-backpedals-on-manny-pacquiaos-steroids-and-peds-charges
What do you do if you have no credibility. Just get togethor in little co-ops, and quote eachother in your articles, to promote each others work.
Nothing screams "legitimacy" than being cited. So when I was sent this link, by a reader, I had to chuckle.
The actual Mayweather story is boring. I've read it. He did little more than accuse Pacquiao again, of using steroids, as well as accuse the Wild Card gym of juicing other guys.
So what's this story. Well, it's Examiner.com's Dennis Guillermos analysis, which was wrong, and heavily biased, posted as the actual news. The author didn't consider it neccesary to quote Mayweather, as in all honesty, it actually asks a lot of questions about Pacquiao, that I suspect the author didn't want to bring up.
So this is how it works.
A hugely biased, amateur Filipino writer, takes a story, and twists it, in an attempt to fit his own agenda, and mislead readers. Another Pacquiao writer, then re-prints the analysis, as the actual news, on the basis that he agrees with it, and wants to push the false rumour further, to more people.
The end result. You've got a lot of readers, who have been denied the right to read the actual story, and who have only got the heavily biased pro-pacquiao analysis.
Keep it coming folks. These e-mails are interesting
What do you do if you have no credibility. Just get togethor in little co-ops, and quote eachother in your articles, to promote each others work.
Nothing screams "legitimacy" than being cited. So when I was sent this link, by a reader, I had to chuckle.
The actual Mayweather story is boring. I've read it. He did little more than accuse Pacquiao again, of using steroids, as well as accuse the Wild Card gym of juicing other guys.
So what's this story. Well, it's Examiner.com's Dennis Guillermos analysis, which was wrong, and heavily biased, posted as the actual news. The author didn't consider it neccesary to quote Mayweather, as in all honesty, it actually asks a lot of questions about Pacquiao, that I suspect the author didn't want to bring up.
So this is how it works.
A hugely biased, amateur Filipino writer, takes a story, and twists it, in an attempt to fit his own agenda, and mislead readers. Another Pacquiao writer, then re-prints the analysis, as the actual news, on the basis that he agrees with it, and wants to push the false rumour further, to more people.
The end result. You've got a lot of readers, who have been denied the right to read the actual story, and who have only got the heavily biased pro-pacquiao analysis.
Keep it coming folks. These e-mails are interesting
A new leak - Paul Spadafora
I've had contact with a source of mine, telling me that Scoop Malinowski, and the guys from Examiner.com, are about to run a series of false rumours, and claims that Floyd Mayweather will be boxing retired, junky, Paul Spadafora in July.
My source has been in contact with a mole in one of the sites, who's told me that the amateurs have been in open discussion on how to forumlate the story.
This isn't a new tactic. When you're getting flack for promoting a lousy bout, the fans don't want to see, the best way to sell it is by claiming your rival is about to fight someone considerably worse.
You know, in the world of the blind the one eyed man is king.
A similar tactic was used, when Pacquiao signed to face Joshua Clottey. Malinowski and Examiner, tried to push a lot of fake rumours that Mayweather would be fighting "Mathew Hatton" at Wembley Stadium in London.
He ended up facing the toughest guy available, in the biggest money fight available - one Shane Mosely.
The truth is, Floyd doesn't fight anyone unless they're paying him borderline record money. He hasn't fought anyone but a marquee name, since Carlos Baldomir - and he stillgot big money for that bout.
The theory that a guy, who only boxes once a year, is going to make that one fight Paul Spadafora, is a ridiculous one, that should just be ignored.
As hinted above, my sources are telling me that this is another "Mathew Hatton". Lunatic amateur writers, trying to start false rumours, to divert the heat Pacquiao is getting, towards his great nemesis.
My source has been in contact with a mole in one of the sites, who's told me that the amateurs have been in open discussion on how to forumlate the story.
This isn't a new tactic. When you're getting flack for promoting a lousy bout, the fans don't want to see, the best way to sell it is by claiming your rival is about to fight someone considerably worse.
You know, in the world of the blind the one eyed man is king.
A similar tactic was used, when Pacquiao signed to face Joshua Clottey. Malinowski and Examiner, tried to push a lot of fake rumours that Mayweather would be fighting "Mathew Hatton" at Wembley Stadium in London.
He ended up facing the toughest guy available, in the biggest money fight available - one Shane Mosely.
The truth is, Floyd doesn't fight anyone unless they're paying him borderline record money. He hasn't fought anyone but a marquee name, since Carlos Baldomir - and he stillgot big money for that bout.
The theory that a guy, who only boxes once a year, is going to make that one fight Paul Spadafora, is a ridiculous one, that should just be ignored.
As hinted above, my sources are telling me that this is another "Mathew Hatton". Lunatic amateur writers, trying to start false rumours, to divert the heat Pacquiao is getting, towards his great nemesis.
Money where the mouth is time
Ok, so I've boasted about having Dana on speed dial, but I've only done it to try and describe where I'm coming from on alot of this. Boxings not a glamour sport (any more). I have friends who are much greater connections than me, who drive second hand Hondas, and date second rate women.
What I'm saying is, look at who actually writes boxing. Amateurs. Hence, the bar isn't actually set too high, if you want to spend a few weeks in an entourage! You know, most people could get to know a lot of guys in the industry, just by turning up regularly at events.
But, I think it's time for less bark, and more bite.
You will probably recall the "Mayweather $100 million" media story going about last week. This was a Top Rank media campaign, to coincide with the debut of the Pacquiao vs. Mosely documentary series.
You'll notice that a lot of the trusted sites just ignored this. There's a good reason. It's false. However, as stated, Bob has his fingers in a lot of media pies, so some sites found it impossible to ignore. He's owed a lot of favours.
How did the media campaign work?
Bob Arum gave a interview to Pacquiao.com. with, pretty much, a scripted sound bite, stating that there had been "secret negotiations" with the Mayweathers, and that Floyd had demanded $100 million.
My sources tell me that he then released this, to his video stooge Elie Seckbach, who tends to assist with a lot of Top Rank campaigns. Elie then released it again, claiming it was in response to his own exclusive interview, and was in fact "off the hoof". It wasn't. The original interview, was created by Top Rank themselves, and handed to Seckbach.
My sources tell me that Seckbach then released another media interview 24 hours after, with Roger Mayweather. The interview was around 7 seconds long, and was basically Roger saying "Floyd is getting $100 million" for the fight.
There is a reason the interview was only 7 seconds long. That's all that was left after Seckbach, according to my sources, edited 90% of it out.
There's a reason he had to edit 90% of it out. As the interview actually happened in August 2010, and was in reference to another media story at the time, which was about an offer Don King made to Floyd Mayweather, for exclusive promotional rights for the Pacquiao event, which was for, yes, you guessed it, $100 million.
My sources tell me, he cut out all references to Don King, to make it appear like it was a response to Bob Arum's recent interview. It wasn't.
What was the true story.
Don King offered Floyd Mayweather $100 million, in August 2010, for exclusive rights to promote the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao bout, under Don King promotions.
What was Bob Arum's version.
Mayweather demanded a $100 million purse, for the Pacquiao fight.
Most fans picked up on this quite quickly. But to give it more credibility, my sources tell me Arum then threw the story at Dan Raphael, and the stooges at Examiner.com, requesting they go with it. ESPN, reportedly, needed some persuasion, as it's essentially false, but Dan Raphael being Dan Raphael, they eventually went with it. Even though they basically wrote it with the "this is probably false" disclaimer running through the article.
Examiner.com writers, being amateurs, and in essence, extremist Pacquiao fans, needed no persuasion, and have been happily running "Mayweather wants $100 million" stories ever since.
One persons missing though. Michael Marley. You'd have thought he'd have jumped at the chance to help his buddy Arum out, as he usually does. However, there was a problem. Marley actually reported the orginal "Don King $100 million story" in it's entirity, at the time, in 2010, so in order to report Arums new version, he'd have had to essentially admit his original article was dog-crap. And Mike's ego is bigger than the sun, so that was never happening.
That's an essential run down of how a lot of this crap works.
The protagonists in this false rumour basically being:
Bob Arum
Elie Seckbach
Examiner.com writers
A formidable threesome, that will come up again and again from hereon
What I'm saying is, look at who actually writes boxing. Amateurs. Hence, the bar isn't actually set too high, if you want to spend a few weeks in an entourage! You know, most people could get to know a lot of guys in the industry, just by turning up regularly at events.
But, I think it's time for less bark, and more bite.
You will probably recall the "Mayweather $100 million" media story going about last week. This was a Top Rank media campaign, to coincide with the debut of the Pacquiao vs. Mosely documentary series.
You'll notice that a lot of the trusted sites just ignored this. There's a good reason. It's false. However, as stated, Bob has his fingers in a lot of media pies, so some sites found it impossible to ignore. He's owed a lot of favours.
How did the media campaign work?
Bob Arum gave a interview to Pacquiao.com. with, pretty much, a scripted sound bite, stating that there had been "secret negotiations" with the Mayweathers, and that Floyd had demanded $100 million.
My sources tell me that he then released this, to his video stooge Elie Seckbach, who tends to assist with a lot of Top Rank campaigns. Elie then released it again, claiming it was in response to his own exclusive interview, and was in fact "off the hoof". It wasn't. The original interview, was created by Top Rank themselves, and handed to Seckbach.
My sources tell me that Seckbach then released another media interview 24 hours after, with Roger Mayweather. The interview was around 7 seconds long, and was basically Roger saying "Floyd is getting $100 million" for the fight.
There is a reason the interview was only 7 seconds long. That's all that was left after Seckbach, according to my sources, edited 90% of it out.
There's a reason he had to edit 90% of it out. As the interview actually happened in August 2010, and was in reference to another media story at the time, which was about an offer Don King made to Floyd Mayweather, for exclusive promotional rights for the Pacquiao event, which was for, yes, you guessed it, $100 million.
My sources tell me, he cut out all references to Don King, to make it appear like it was a response to Bob Arum's recent interview. It wasn't.
What was the true story.
Don King offered Floyd Mayweather $100 million, in August 2010, for exclusive rights to promote the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao bout, under Don King promotions.
What was Bob Arum's version.
Mayweather demanded a $100 million purse, for the Pacquiao fight.
Most fans picked up on this quite quickly. But to give it more credibility, my sources tell me Arum then threw the story at Dan Raphael, and the stooges at Examiner.com, requesting they go with it. ESPN, reportedly, needed some persuasion, as it's essentially false, but Dan Raphael being Dan Raphael, they eventually went with it. Even though they basically wrote it with the "this is probably false" disclaimer running through the article.
Examiner.com writers, being amateurs, and in essence, extremist Pacquiao fans, needed no persuasion, and have been happily running "Mayweather wants $100 million" stories ever since.
One persons missing though. Michael Marley. You'd have thought he'd have jumped at the chance to help his buddy Arum out, as he usually does. However, there was a problem. Marley actually reported the orginal "Don King $100 million story" in it's entirity, at the time, in 2010, so in order to report Arums new version, he'd have had to essentially admit his original article was dog-crap. And Mike's ego is bigger than the sun, so that was never happening.
That's an essential run down of how a lot of this crap works.
The protagonists in this false rumour basically being:
Bob Arum
Elie Seckbach
Examiner.com writers
A formidable threesome, that will come up again and again from hereon
How does the boxing media work.
The boxing media is organic. Constantly changing. Growing, shrinking, fattening up, slimming down. It's a fragile eco-system, that adapts to it's surroundings. Boxing is not a largely watched sport, so in truth, scrambles around for the scraps from the top tables of major league baseball, the NBA, and the NFL.
If you want to know how organic boxing is, look at it's media numbers. It was dominated by American fans up until a few years ago, and in truth, probably still is. But there's a lot more money coming from the UK, South East Asia, and Germany now.
And the boxing media goes, wherever the money is.
The name "Manny Pacquiao" was largely irrelevant until recently. His PPV numbers were low, and web traffic even lower. If you study the very handy "google trends" you'll see that there was only ever any media money in Pacquiao after the De la Hoya fight.
Boxing's organic. It adapts. It jumps on the bandwagon.
You need to understand, that, there is no money whatsoever in publishing. None. Most web sites, in truth, actually lose money, and are reliant on benefactors. And I'm not just talking small fan sites. Big, national, well known sites, will be losing money daily, while I type this.
They have no choice but to chase web traffic. And what's more, to cover their monthly losses, they're reliant on industry benefactors. Bob Arum being the biggest.
What does this create? An environment where neutrality is impossible. And boxing sites, and journalists are little more than an extension of the promotion company.
Not all sites are the same, and can be defined thus.
The mainstream sites
These are sites, that in truth, don't have much interest in boxing, but at the same time, have a duty to report it. They often take stories from agencies like AP (associated press) or Reuters, which are designed to appeal to the mainstream majority. They tend to be neutral, as they have a reputation of reporting fact, but at the same time, their articles are designed to appeal to the mainstream, casual fan, so tend to drip of populism.
Examples - Fox News, CBS
The vested interest sites
Some networks have vested interests in boxing. Usually broadcasting bouts. So tend to have relationships with promoters, and people in the fight game. ESPN is a good example.
This, again, makes neutraility impossible. And ESPN is often just an extension of a fight promotion. Lots of their articles, are attempts to give credibility, to rumours started by the promotion companies. They're, in truth, willing participants in boxing promotions.
ESPN, has been heavily biased towards Pacquiao, for the last couple of years. Mostly because of the lead writer, Dan Raphael's bad relationship with Golden Boy Promotions, and long term friendship with Bob Arum. What I'm saying is, Golden Boy have cut him off, and he's reliant on Bob Arum for any influence or credibility in the sport.
Which means, his articles, a lot of the time, are little more than trying to re-inforce Top Rank media campaigns.
The Pay-per-clickers
Asia has a lot of people in in. A lot of people who are very new to boxing, and hence, quite naieve. Quite a few sites have sprung up, the last few years, that are run completely by amateurs. And when I say amateurs, I mean amateurs. A lot of these guys can barely put a sentence togethor.
But boxing is a cynical sport. And unfortunately, writing something along the lines of "Floyd Mayweather is gay" or "Manny Pacquiao is great" guarantees sites around 50'000 web hits, in less than 24 hours. Which is a viable business
These sites, tend to recruit childish, vindictive, aggressive, dishonest writers, who are more than happy to give up their own journalistic credibility, in order to drive web traffic to the site. In truth, it's a mutually beneficial deal, as the people in question, quite often want a platform to bully, intimidate, and abuse athletes, and fans they don't like.
The prime example is probably Examiner.com. Which has amazingly, managed to create a writing staff, in which every single person, is a passionate Manny Pacquiao fan, with a visible hatred of his biggest rival, Floyd Mayweather. What a coincidence, for a pay-per-click site!
Quality of writing ranges from the bizarre, to the ludicrous. The most legitimate scribe being disgraced, one time Don King hanger on, Michael Marley, who, because of his suspicious support for anything Bob Arum says, or does, has been unable to find work in the mainstream media, for decades.
Mike's a talented scribe, but highly cynical to read. He really stopped being interested, in being respected, or telling people the truth, along time ago, and it seems, prefers just being Asia's favourite son.
At the bottom you'll find pond life like Dennis Guillermo, who is little more than a quite obsessed fan, who thinks supporting an athlete, involves trying to personally bring down their rivals, in any way they can. Luckily, this usually amounts to little more than continuous hate articles, and rather bad rumour-mongering.
The sites struggling to survive
As stated, earlier, most sites run at a loss, and will do pretty much anything to get traffic. The sites that are lucky enough to be supported by neutral benefactors, tend to be more neutral - Boxing Scene, East Side, Fight Hype.
The sites who can't get money from the TV companies, tend to go to the promoters with a begging bowl, while running several highly inflammatory, mentally unstable, man-child writers, to try and draw attention.
Boxing Insider is a a good example. A source of mine tells me that they're heavily dependent on a promoter, financially, and to be fair, 90% of it, is professional. But they can't resist, and in truth, can't exist, without the regular ramblings of the ludicrous "Scoop Malinowski", who has spent the last 9 years, writing hate, and trying to start false rumours about Floyd Mayweather.
I do believe the list of fighters Pretty Boy Floyd has been "ducking, because he knows he will be brutally knocked out by them" is, so far:
Coralles
Castillo
De la Hoya
Hatton
Margarito
Mosely
Cotto
Pacquiao
One of my sources, actually mailed me an e-mail conversation he'd had with the owner of the site, where he was asked why he puts up with the guy. As I recall, his justifcation for running Scoop Malinowski articles, was something like:
"Yeah, I know he's ridiculous, and quite possibly mentally unstable, but he really believes all this, and hes got a lot of regular readers who like this crap".
To cut a long story short, money talks
If you want to know how organic boxing is, look at it's media numbers. It was dominated by American fans up until a few years ago, and in truth, probably still is. But there's a lot more money coming from the UK, South East Asia, and Germany now.
And the boxing media goes, wherever the money is.
The name "Manny Pacquiao" was largely irrelevant until recently. His PPV numbers were low, and web traffic even lower. If you study the very handy "google trends" you'll see that there was only ever any media money in Pacquiao after the De la Hoya fight.
Boxing's organic. It adapts. It jumps on the bandwagon.
You need to understand, that, there is no money whatsoever in publishing. None. Most web sites, in truth, actually lose money, and are reliant on benefactors. And I'm not just talking small fan sites. Big, national, well known sites, will be losing money daily, while I type this.
They have no choice but to chase web traffic. And what's more, to cover their monthly losses, they're reliant on industry benefactors. Bob Arum being the biggest.
What does this create? An environment where neutrality is impossible. And boxing sites, and journalists are little more than an extension of the promotion company.
Not all sites are the same, and can be defined thus.
The mainstream sites
These are sites, that in truth, don't have much interest in boxing, but at the same time, have a duty to report it. They often take stories from agencies like AP (associated press) or Reuters, which are designed to appeal to the mainstream majority. They tend to be neutral, as they have a reputation of reporting fact, but at the same time, their articles are designed to appeal to the mainstream, casual fan, so tend to drip of populism.
Examples - Fox News, CBS
The vested interest sites
Some networks have vested interests in boxing. Usually broadcasting bouts. So tend to have relationships with promoters, and people in the fight game. ESPN is a good example.
This, again, makes neutraility impossible. And ESPN is often just an extension of a fight promotion. Lots of their articles, are attempts to give credibility, to rumours started by the promotion companies. They're, in truth, willing participants in boxing promotions.
ESPN, has been heavily biased towards Pacquiao, for the last couple of years. Mostly because of the lead writer, Dan Raphael's bad relationship with Golden Boy Promotions, and long term friendship with Bob Arum. What I'm saying is, Golden Boy have cut him off, and he's reliant on Bob Arum for any influence or credibility in the sport.
Which means, his articles, a lot of the time, are little more than trying to re-inforce Top Rank media campaigns.
The Pay-per-clickers
Asia has a lot of people in in. A lot of people who are very new to boxing, and hence, quite naieve. Quite a few sites have sprung up, the last few years, that are run completely by amateurs. And when I say amateurs, I mean amateurs. A lot of these guys can barely put a sentence togethor.
But boxing is a cynical sport. And unfortunately, writing something along the lines of "Floyd Mayweather is gay" or "Manny Pacquiao is great" guarantees sites around 50'000 web hits, in less than 24 hours. Which is a viable business
These sites, tend to recruit childish, vindictive, aggressive, dishonest writers, who are more than happy to give up their own journalistic credibility, in order to drive web traffic to the site. In truth, it's a mutually beneficial deal, as the people in question, quite often want a platform to bully, intimidate, and abuse athletes, and fans they don't like.
The prime example is probably Examiner.com. Which has amazingly, managed to create a writing staff, in which every single person, is a passionate Manny Pacquiao fan, with a visible hatred of his biggest rival, Floyd Mayweather. What a coincidence, for a pay-per-click site!
Quality of writing ranges from the bizarre, to the ludicrous. The most legitimate scribe being disgraced, one time Don King hanger on, Michael Marley, who, because of his suspicious support for anything Bob Arum says, or does, has been unable to find work in the mainstream media, for decades.
Mike's a talented scribe, but highly cynical to read. He really stopped being interested, in being respected, or telling people the truth, along time ago, and it seems, prefers just being Asia's favourite son.
At the bottom you'll find pond life like Dennis Guillermo, who is little more than a quite obsessed fan, who thinks supporting an athlete, involves trying to personally bring down their rivals, in any way they can. Luckily, this usually amounts to little more than continuous hate articles, and rather bad rumour-mongering.
The sites struggling to survive
As stated, earlier, most sites run at a loss, and will do pretty much anything to get traffic. The sites that are lucky enough to be supported by neutral benefactors, tend to be more neutral - Boxing Scene, East Side, Fight Hype.
The sites who can't get money from the TV companies, tend to go to the promoters with a begging bowl, while running several highly inflammatory, mentally unstable, man-child writers, to try and draw attention.
Boxing Insider is a a good example. A source of mine tells me that they're heavily dependent on a promoter, financially, and to be fair, 90% of it, is professional. But they can't resist, and in truth, can't exist, without the regular ramblings of the ludicrous "Scoop Malinowski", who has spent the last 9 years, writing hate, and trying to start false rumours about Floyd Mayweather.
I do believe the list of fighters Pretty Boy Floyd has been "ducking, because he knows he will be brutally knocked out by them" is, so far:
Coralles
Castillo
De la Hoya
Hatton
Margarito
Mosely
Cotto
Pacquiao
One of my sources, actually mailed me an e-mail conversation he'd had with the owner of the site, where he was asked why he puts up with the guy. As I recall, his justifcation for running Scoop Malinowski articles, was something like:
"Yeah, I know he's ridiculous, and quite possibly mentally unstable, but he really believes all this, and hes got a lot of regular readers who like this crap".
To cut a long story short, money talks
Welcome to Boxi-Leaks
What is Boxi-leaks? It's the truth.From the people in the sport, who don't get a voice. From the guys who get blocked out by millions of dollars of PR, media strategies, and schmooze.
Much of what you read about boxing, on tradition sites, is, to put it bluntly, false. Boxing is a game. The only thing that's real, is what happens in the ring. Everything else, is little more than a WWE skit. A story line. A soap opera.
The money in boxing, is with the promoters. And they keep a tight reign on all boxing media. Not only do guys like Bob Arum, and Oscar De la Hoya personally own numerous boxing titles, and web sites, but if you did deep enough, you'll find that they're also the major sponsor to numerous others.
Boxing writing, in regards to web coverage, isn't neutral. It's part of the promotion. Usually, bad writers, with zero talent, and no chance whatsoever of ever making it as a journalist, being fed false dreams of stardom, by promoters, in exchange for them pushing whatever media strategy the promoter wants in the media that week.
The truth is, good writers, with a real chance of making it in the media, won't do it. They won't post something they know not to be true. They won't post something in which they don't trust the sources. Sadly, for every good writer, there's bad writers - who are usually distinguishable by their bad grammar, and low IQs - who are happy to post whatever crap they get.
This blog is your escape from this world. Where, through my unique access, and contacts, I'll post what's really going on, without the PR filter.
Who am I? That can never be known. All e-mail addresses, and login information is psuedonym, to protect my sources, who are good guys, just trying to make their way in a bad sport.
All I will say, when I'm backstage at an event, I'm usually with the promoter, not the press.
Much of what you read about boxing, on tradition sites, is, to put it bluntly, false. Boxing is a game. The only thing that's real, is what happens in the ring. Everything else, is little more than a WWE skit. A story line. A soap opera.
The money in boxing, is with the promoters. And they keep a tight reign on all boxing media. Not only do guys like Bob Arum, and Oscar De la Hoya personally own numerous boxing titles, and web sites, but if you did deep enough, you'll find that they're also the major sponsor to numerous others.
Boxing writing, in regards to web coverage, isn't neutral. It's part of the promotion. Usually, bad writers, with zero talent, and no chance whatsoever of ever making it as a journalist, being fed false dreams of stardom, by promoters, in exchange for them pushing whatever media strategy the promoter wants in the media that week.
The truth is, good writers, with a real chance of making it in the media, won't do it. They won't post something they know not to be true. They won't post something in which they don't trust the sources. Sadly, for every good writer, there's bad writers - who are usually distinguishable by their bad grammar, and low IQs - who are happy to post whatever crap they get.
This blog is your escape from this world. Where, through my unique access, and contacts, I'll post what's really going on, without the PR filter.
Who am I? That can never be known. All e-mail addresses, and login information is psuedonym, to protect my sources, who are good guys, just trying to make their way in a bad sport.
All I will say, when I'm backstage at an event, I'm usually with the promoter, not the press.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)