By Stoker MacIntosh… When I hear boxing scribes make the statement: There are some men who are born to be fighters, there is only one name that immediately comes to mind, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Boxing’s “Pretty Boy” was born into a lineage of truly talented fighters. He is grown from a fertile genetic seed which produces the finite skills needed to become the elite among the elite.

Consequently, from this DNA makeup, we came to believe that Mayweather is a highly superior, defensively skilled fighter who performs with the elusiveness and speed of an athletic housefly, but has the power and strength of a thoroughbred.

Trained by his father—Floyd Sr—and his uncle Roger, the Mayweather team effort has awarded the family a five-division world champion.

Less than two short years ago, at the time of his retirement, Mayweather Jr, by most accounts was—pound for pound, the best fighter in boxing.

The passing up of $8 million to fight the now-tainted Antonio Margarito, in favor of a more lucrative deal involving Oscar De La Hoya—a fighter who he seemed to have been chasing his entire career—in hindsight now seems to be a stroke of genius.

Although, after winning a close decision over De La Hoya, talk of a rematch started circulating though the boxing world, however, the elite fighter nick-named Pretty Boy decided against it, and stated that it was time for a well deserved rest.

Mayweather announced his retirement shortly thereafter.

Since then times have changes, there’s a new kid in town, and he has risen to a level of success and popularity that Mayweather can only dream of.

During his respite, Mayweather has witnessed his informal standing as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter handed over to Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines.

Pacquiao is small for a welterweight, but the size deficit compared to some of his recent opponents seems to make little difference; which is one possible reason he is being compared to the great Henry Armstrong.

Even by today’s standards the 5′5″ 133 lb Armstrong—who was known as “Homicide Hank”—was also very small for a welterweight; and not unlike Pacquiao, he also took on all comers regardless of size shape color or creed, winning titles from lightweight to middle weight in violent knockout fashion.

The only man to thoroughly out-box and befuddle Armstrong was the great Sugar Ray Robinson.

In 1943, the 22 year old Robinson who is now considered by many to be the greatest fighter to ever lace up boxing gloves, handed Armstrong who at that time was past his prime at 30 a thorough beating.

Unless you have been living in a cave, you have no doubt heard that Mayweather has announced his return to the ring this past Saturday at a highly publicized news conference at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas.

Suspiciously, timed to air before  Pacquiao’s recent spectacular prizefight—in which he scored a thrilling second-round knockout over 140-pound champion Ricky Hatton, Mayweather announced he will fight Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18, in a welterweight bout expected to be set at a catch-weight limit of 144 pounds.

“How am I not the king when nobody’s taken my throne?” said Mayweather, who wore black clothing, including a stocking cap and large boots to the news conference.

Pretty boy says he’s prepared to fight all of boxing’s top challengers near his weight level, including Pacquiao, Pomona’s Shane Mosley and even a possible De La Hoya return fight.

Now far be it from me to tarnish the name of the great Sugar Ray Robinson, but if Mayweather succeeds in cleaning up the loose ends he left behind in 2007—by defeating Marquez, Pacquiao, Mosley—and if he can somehow convince De La Hoya to return to the ring and face him in a rematch, will anyone, anywhere once again ever doubt his greatness?

I think not.

“One day, someone will shut my mouth,”Right now, I’m the top dog.“– Floyd Mayweather Jr

By Martin Avery… It’s Ali-Frazier, Bird-Magic, Borg-McEnroe, it’s Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby facing off against each other as the Washington Capitals meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Quarter Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the second game of the second round of the playoffs, the two superstars scored hat-tricks. That’s theatre! The Great 8 and Sid the Kid put on a great show.

The debate about Ovechkin versus Crosby appears to be over. Now the debate is about Ovechkin being like Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan.

Ovechkin and Crosby both had their first career playoff hat tricks last night. They’ve both got four goals in a series in which they’ve both been routinely spectacular.

Crosby has scored seven goals in his last five games; Ovechkin has seven in his last six. Ovechkin has victories in his last five, including the last two at home in Washington, where the Capitals fans went wild, throwing hats on the ice for his hat-trick.

Ovechkin scored twice in the third period for his hat-trick. Crosby completed his hat trick with a power-play goal with 30.4 seconds left with Evgeni Malkin standing right beside him in front of the Capitals net.

The Penguins looked like they would be the winners for most of the game, and split the first two games of the quarterfinals in Washington, until Ovechkin’s heroics in the third period.

They were making a statement about what would be waiting for Washington when they went on the road to play the next two games against the Penguins. Malkin has not yet shown what he can do in this series.

The third star of the game, after Ovechkin and Crosby, was the Caps’ goalie, Simeon Varlamov, who had his best game yet.

The Caps won 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the second-round NHL playoff series thanks to three goals from Ovechkin. The Eastern Conference semi-final now moves to Pittsburgh for Games 3 and 4.

By Brian Oswald… Unless you have been living under a proverbial rock, then you are familiar with Anderson Silva’s next opponent. It is none other then former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.

In a recent interview, Forrest was asked if he took the fight with Silva as a shortcut toward getting back into a title fight.

His response, “I just want to show up prepared and actually fight the guy. I just don’t think anyone has actually tried to fight him up to their ability.”

His response is exactly what the UFC brass had in mind when picking Forrest as Silva’s next opponent.

They wanted a fighter who would actually fight Silva; an opponent who would give the fans what they want, the chance to see Silva fight the best the UFC has to offer.

Whether you think Forrest is the best or not is immaterial. The fact is, Silva will be fighting a former UFC light heavyweight champion in what will be his first real test at 205. No offense to James Irvin.

Since fans of any sport love to think about the consequences of an event, before it has even happened, it’s worth exploring what the fallout from an Anderson Silva win would be like.

Back to the aforementioned notion that a Forrest Griffin win would expedite him back into the 205-pound title picture. That same notion would certainly hold true for Anderson Silva.

Bear in mind, the UFC will is now hard pressed to keep Silva’s eye on the prize, which is displaying his striking show inside the octagon.

If Silva wins, he is likely one win away from a light heavyweight title shot. But before you get to keen on the concept, consider there are a few roadblocks lying across Silva’s road to the light heavyweight title.

The first roadblock would be Silva’s next opponent. Timing will be the key in determining who that would be. Keep in mind Silva is fighting Forrest at UFC 101 on Aug. 8. His next fight would be likely on UFC 104 or 105. The UFC will want to be very calculated in their choice.
Having the winner of the Rich Franklin-Wanderlei Silva fight, at UFC 99, would be an intriguing option. A scrap with Franklin would complete their trilogy.Silva shell-shocked Franklin, not once but twice, in their previous middleweight title fights so would a third fight at light heavyweight be both spirited and relevant to the division?

A war of words between the two Silva’s has broken out as of late. Wanderlei has said he would love to get into the octagon with Anderson because he feels “The Spider” has been disrespectful with his recent performances. If anyone would force Anderson to be exciting, and fight for his life, it would be Wanderlei.

Other worthy opponents could be hard-hitting Luis Cane or a reinvented Shogun Rua, both coming off UFC 97 wins. Their have been some words exchanged between Rua and Silva so perhaps the UFC should make that fight happen and give the winner to Silva, if he beats Griffin.

Again, timing is a key in determining who Silva would fight next. One man who is unlikely as an option is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who will be waiting in the wings to take on the winner of Machida vs. Evans, likely to happen sometime after UFC 102.

The second roadblock is Lyoto Machida, set to take on current title holder Rashad Evans at UFC 98. If Machida is the more elusive fighter, and takes the belt, he would seemingly derail Silva’s train to title town.

That’s because Silva has stated he would never fight his friend and former training partner inside the octagon. While Dana White is influential; good night, and good luck.

A best case scenario of the UFC might be for Machida to lose, then set up a Rashad Evans vs. Jackson title fight, and finally have Silva fight the winner of that fight, given he wins his fight before that potential title fight.

A third roadblock would be the fact that Anderson Silva still holds the UFC’s middleweight belt. At some point, the competition will rise and won’t want to wait too long for title shot.

For an example, see Kenny Florian in the lightweight division. Florian will have gone nearly nine months between his last fight and the now-confirmed title fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 101.

If Silva beats Griffin, on that UFC 101 fight card, should the UFC have him relinquish the middleweight belt so that division can move on? A lot will be determined by the outcome of Machida-Evans and who is holding the belt after UFC 98.

If Silva were to vacate the belt, and remain in the light heavyweight division, the best scenario would be for the winner of the Dan Henderson-Michael Bisping fight, at UFC 100, to take on the winner of Demian Maia-Nate Marquardt fight, at UFC 102.

No one would hesitate to call the man who emerges from that mini-tournament the best middleweight not named Anderson Silva. That winner should and will walk away with either a title shot or the title itself, if vacated by Silva. Stay tuned to see how it all plays out.

One scenario not yet mentioned is: what if Silva loses? Recall, Forrest Griffin is a former light heavyweight champion.

So if Forrest wins, Anderson is humbled and goes back to a middleweight fight with whichever aforementioned fighter is waiting for a title shot.

Or he can stay at light heavyweight and tough it out. And there is always that “superfight” with George St. Pierre that a fan or two might want to see.

The future for Anderson Silva looks more competitive and complicated than ever.

By Adam Greuel… It was a crazy game today that ended in disappointment for the Toronto Blue Jays, as they lost 9-7 in 12 innings because an overworked bullpen forced them to use Brandon League in a save situation and Shawn Camp in extra innings.

The Jays usual setup man and closer, Jesse Carlson and Scott Downs, were not available due to pitching with high regularity in the past series and Jason Frasor was used for just two outs in the tenth inning.

Toronto got off to a quick 2-0 lead by scoring a single run in both the second and third innings. Things started to slow down after, but it looked like that would be all they needed for the win.

The reason for this is Brian Tallet.

After getting roughed up in his last start against the Kansas City Royals, Tallet had a no hitter through six and one third of an inning today against the Cleveland Indians.

Unfortunately, it would all come crashing down soon after.

His bid for a no hitter would end when Ryan Garko singled up the middle. Rookie Matt LaPorta followed that up with his first ever big league hit—a two run homer, knotting the game at two.

The Indians would score one more run to take the lead for the first time all game, and Brian Tallet was done after seven innings. He gave up on just three runs on four hits and three walks.

Cleveland Indians starter Fausto Carmona didn’t fare as well as Tallet, lasting six and two third innings, and giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk.

With the Jays up 4-3 in the ninth, Scott Downs was nowhere to be seen as he had pitched in the last three games for the Jays.

Cito Gaston had no choice but to stick with Brandon League, and it backfired as the Indians scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead.

The never say die Jays kept on hitting though, as Jose Bautista hit a two run single in the bottom half of the ninth to send the game into extras.

With a rest-depleted bullpen, Shawn Camp was Gaston’s second to last option to pitch when the 11th inning hit.

After getting through a shaky inning, Camp was sent back out in the 12th inning and the result was not great.

All in all, Camp gave up three runs in the 12th and the game was officially over when Aaron Hill was struck out with the score 9-7 and runners on the corners

Up Next: Young left-hander Brett Cecil (0-0) makes his major league debut against Anthony Reyes (1-0)