owclaw’s blog

News & Views: Mayweather in WWE, Taylor-Jones, Pavlik-Trinidad, Hatton, more(News thanks to Boxing Scene) News: Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr., participated in World Wrestling Entertainment’s No Way Out pay-per-view last night, interfering against returning star The Big Show. The Mayweather spot is setting up a tag team match at WrestleMania XXIV, pitting Mayweather and 5′3″ star Rey Mysterio against the 7-foot Big Show and Shane McMahon.Views: I am what I consider to be a rehabbed pro wrestling fan. I was, in fact, a wrestling nerd for much of my life. I was hoping to never have to talk about pro wrestling again, but Mayweather’s involvement forces me to.One thing this does is prove Mayweather’s star quality. WWE may be banking on the Mayweather match to help carry the buyrate for WrestleMania. In the late 1990s, celebrity athletes participating in pro wrestling was a minor fad. Mike Tyson was famously the referee for the WrestleMania XIV main event between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and his participation helped the mainstream appeal tremendously. World Championship Wrestling used Dennis Rodman on several occasions, once putting him into a tag match with Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and basketball rival Karl Malone. Jay Leno also did one match for WCW, though he is no athlete. Football stars Kevin Greene, Reggie White and Steve McMichael all had short (or fairly long) stints with WCW, as well.Make no mistake about it — pro wrestling is not easy to do right. Mayweather has about as much chance being a good pro wrestler over a month of learning the ropes as he does being a good MMA fighter. But he’s only improving his marketability, and by competing as a babyface (good guy), his image may change to a lot of people.Mysterio, a native of Mexico, is a big boxing fan. He once had former lightweight contender Jorge Paez as a second for a pay-per-view match, and has been part of Erik Morales’ entourage on fight night. He is said to be very excited, since it will be the biggest match of his career, by far, in terms of mainstream interest.The whole thing is fine by me. No matter how low the ratings sink for pro wrestling, it is still a force on cable television and a highly-watched brand of entertainment. Mayweather potentially hooking in some younger fans who may have never really watched boxing is not a bad thing at all. Unless Mayweather gets injured (unlikely, since Big Show is a real professional and Mysterio will be doing most of the work, anyway), nothing bad can really come of this. He won’t be expected to do much more than dance around Big Show and land some punches, and he’ll probably get a KO spot on McMahon after the match.Wrestling Observer author and Yahoo! sports MMA columnist Dave Meltzer says, though, that Mayweather didn’t pull his punches very well on Sunday night, and ended up breaking Big Show’s nose. I’m sure Show was perfectly prepared for that. It probably at least looked good. News: According to The Daily Mail, Ricky Hatton is planning to start his own promotional company, inspired by Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Golden Boy worked heavily with Hatton for his fight with Mayweather in December. In addition, it appears that Juan Lazcano is the frontrunner to fight Hatton on May 24 in England.Views: Hatton starting his own promotional company is a result of the fact that he’s now a big enough star to do so, has the money to do so, and, in his own words, hasn’t had the best of luck with promoters in his career.As for a fight with Lazcano, that’s a riskier proposition than some may credit it. Lazcano is a very intelligent fighter. He got Vivian Harris to fight his fight last year, but hasn’t fought since then. “The Hispanic Causing Panic” is a perfectly good comeback opponent for Hatton. News: Lou DiBella says that talks are ongoing for Jermain Taylor to fight Roy Jones, Jr., most likely at a 170-pound catchweight.Views: Fairly interesting idea, but I don’t like that the talks are probably going to end up being for pay-per-view. Mostly because I think Taylor would demolish Jones, whose chin is supect. Taylor is a bigger guy than Tito Trinidad.But it would be a good idea for both sides. Roy Jones has to be fighters currently in their prime if he’s going to become Roy Jones again. Taylor needs a win over a name to get back into the starship. Most likely, I think Taylor knocks Jones out. Jones’ cockiness could ma …Usefull links: Leadville, Obama madison, Jeff novitzky, Kate voegele no good, Nascar daytona