Good news Kelly Pavlik fans!  Arthur Abraham and his group are coming to the states to meet with Top Rank and Kelly Pavlik’s management group to negotiate a potential fall bout between the two.  Details are still a bit sketchy, but both will have a must win tune-up fight before their potential meeting in The Big Apple. 

Kelly Pavlik wants to unify the middleweight championship belts and Abraham holds one of the two remaining pieces.  Abraham is recognized by the IBF as it’s middleweight champion.  The last remaining title belongs to Felix Sturm, who is the WBA champion.  Pavlik has said many times that it is his goal before moving up in weight to unify all of the belts and to be recognized as the best middleweight by all of the major boxing organizations.

Bob Arum, the voice of Top Rank Promotions, is quick to point out that nothing is set in stone yet but if both sides can agree that the fight will probably take place in New York City in either October or November.  Arum also said that the fight would be broadcast by HBO or Showtime.

Pavlik is expected to fight Sergio Mora, a former WBA champion, this summer in Atlantic City.  Abraham is also going to line up a summer fight with an opponent, possibly with Vernon Forrest.  Abraham defeated Lajuan Simon in a 12 round decision on March 14.

The two fighters share a common opponent, Edison Miranda.  Abraham fought Miranda last summer in Florida and won in the fourth round.  Pavlik stopped Miranda in 2007 on his way to Jermaine Taylor.  The Miranda fight was the only time Abraham has fought in The United States.  Conversely, going overseas has pretty much been ruled out by Team Pavlik.   Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer was quoted as saying, “the only way to win a fight over there is to have your opponent carried out on a stretcher“.  Loew has seen and heard too many times of controversial decisions favoring the foreign champions.  Location was the sticking point all along, but hopefully, New York will end up being the site for the potential matchup.

Abraham is 29-0 with 23 KO’s.  He is a respectable boxer and Pavlik acknowledges the dangers of facing him.  I don’t think there are too many marquee names on Abraham’s resume.  If I had a crystal ball and the ability to draw up a scenario, I would want Abraham to fight Felix Sturm first to eliminate the extra hurdle for Pavlik.  However, by fighting Abraham, a demand will be created to fight Sturm, if Pavlik is indeed victorious, to set up complete title unification.

I will be interviewing Jack Loew, Kelly Pavlik’s trainer in the next couple of weeks and there will be video footage of that interview right here on Paneech.com.

All I kept hearing this week was that Memphis was the hottest team going into the tournament.  This half court shot by Marcus Denmon was kind of the exclamation point in Missouri’s 102-91 win over Memphis in their Sweet Sixteen matchup.  The reason I say kind of is because Memphis never quit and made quite a comeback, ultimately falling short in their frantic effort.    J. T. Tiller was the man for Missouri all night.  Tiller pumped in 23 points and always seemed to be the guy to flatten the momentum of Memphis throughout the game.  One more win for Missouri and they will be making their very first Final Four appearance.

With Wrestlemania XXV just a week away, I am going to attempt to predict the results of the big card.  It gets tricky trying to follow the storyline and thought patterns of Vince McMahon.  Wrestlemania is in Houston, Texas this year.  Keep in mind, I stand by my predictions if there are no huge swerves in stoylines leading up to Wrestlemania on next weeks Monday Night Raw or Smackdown shows.

Chris Jericho vs WWE Legends : The WWE legends are Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.  Jericho should destroy the three legends as he has been for the past several weeks on Raw.  I see Stone Cold Steve Austin getting involved somehow, perhaps as “guest enforcer”.  I also see Ric Flair attacking Jericho after the match.  My prediction for the match is that Jericho will be rolling along, the ref gets squished in the corner “accidentally” as Jericho continues to control things.  When he feels he is ready to win officially, he starts screaming for a ref to come out and count, look for this to be Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The legends will get the tainted upset victory after Chris Jericho gets punked.  Look for Mickey Rourke to be at ringside or in the legends corner.

25 Diva Battle Royal:  I didn’t know there were 25 divas in the WWE.  I can only come up with about 18, so it will be interesting to see someone like Mae Young get tossed over the top rope.  The only other possibilities I can see are Gail Kim making a WWE debut, Lillian Garcia competing, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley competing, and possibly bringing back Wendy Richter for nostalgic purposes.  Santino Marella is supposedly trying to get into this match as a diva participant.  Look for the entertaining Santino to get his wish but cost his girlfriend the Glamazon her chance at winning.  I see that relationship ending in this match.  My prediction is that Gail Kim will show up and be the last eliminated by winner and suprise entrant Trish Stratus.

Money In The Bank Ladder Match: First of all, I don’t think Mark Henry can climb a ladder without breaking it, so we will eliminate him now and focus on the other seven combatants.  Kane, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, Finley, Shelton Benjaman, Christian Cage, and MVP will be participating in this years ladder match.  These have been the most exciting matches for me over the past few WM’s.  I do not think that Kane or Finley will win.  Kane is no good in a high risk match like this one and Finley will employ his dwarf son Hornswaggle at some capacity.  Usually the WWE will make the winner of this match someone who is ready for a big push to main event status.  Last year CM Punk won, so I don’t think he will repeat.  It comes down to two guys in my opinion – Christian Cage and MVP.  My official prediction is that MVP will win as the WWE is really trying to push him as a babyface. 

Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker:  This should be interesting.  16-0 is the Undertakers unblemished Wrestlemania record and Shawn Michaels has had the nickname Mr. Wrestlemania for years.  Something has to give here.  I am going to say that Undertaker wins and keeps his perfect record at Wrestlemania in a long and tough match.  I would guess this match will go over a half hour which is epic, especially from two 40+ year old veterans.  The Undertaker will use questionable tactics to win.

Primo and Carlito vs Miz and Morrison:  The big tag team unification match.  I am kind of sick of this angle and am hoping for Carlito and Primo to win to end the Miz and Morrison run.  I think John Morrison is the WWE star in waiting as a singles wrestler.  Unfortunately, I feel that Miz and Morrison will win this match.  The newly divided Bella Twins will start on opposite ends of the ring but end up walking out with unified champions Morrison and The Miz at the end of the match.

JBL vs Rey Mysterio:  This match has received the least amount of promotion on WWE programming.  It is another weird matchup as big, bulky, and powerful faces off against, fast, risky, and high-flying.  I hope WWE lets JBL keep the belt because he is such a great heel.  However, the WWE loves to give Mysterio gold he should not have.  I predict that Rey Mysterio wins the Intercontinental Title.

Edge vs Cena vs Big Show:  I’m sure if everyone voted on this that Cena would have about 90% of the votes to win the match.  I don’t see it that way.  I am sticking by my gut instinct here and saying that Christian will be out to give Edge the assist.  Look for the Big Show to land outside somehow and lay there for most of the match.  Cena will have the match pretty well in control and just when it looks like he is going to win, I am calling for Christian Cage to come out and help his lifelong pal, Edge, retain the title.  When Big Show comes to his senses, he will swear off Vicki Guerrerro, as will Edge, leaving her broken hearted in this contest to win not only the belt, but Vicki’s love.  Edge retains the belt here!

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy :  This is the hardest matchup to predict.  Either Jeff is going to dominate and win or Matt will do something underhanded to win.  Saying that Jeff will win is just too easy, so I am going to call for Matt Hardy to win this match.  Something really goofy is going to shock Jeff before he gets pinned.  Momma Hardy yelling for her boys to stop fighting each other, drug relapse, car wreck footage, firework mishap, or the reappearance of the dog Jeff thought died in the fire.  Somehow, Matt is gonna win.

Triple H vs Randy Orton:  This is the match getting the most WM 25 hype.  Pretty good storyline that Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase have been a part of from the word go.  I am sure they will appear at some point in the match.  Someone will come to the aid of Triple H, and I am guessing it will be Vince and Shane McMahon.  Look for the McMahons to prevent Rhodes and DiBiase to interfere allowing Triple H to get the win here.     

Some stories from other great sites! Enjoy!

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Enjoy The Good Reading And Be Sure To Click On The NFL Bracket To Vote!

Don Cherry is a legendary announcer in Canada.  After the comments he made about the Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin, I’m not sure many people in the Steel City will be seeking his autograph.  After watching this clip at least ten times and once in slow motion, I still can’t seem to understand why the brash Cherry is calling either of the two a cheapshot.  Cherry even takes a swipe at the Pittsburgh announcers calling them “idiots” for awarding Malkin with the “Sandwich of The Game“, an award used to describe a good shot into the boards.

Lebron James with a nice move and very strong acceleration to the hoop in this dunk versus New Jersey.  These were Lebrons first two points of the night, not a bad start!

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Check these fine stories out!

I will start by saying Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in the world.  I have spent many warm Sunday evenings watching this guy walk down the final few fairways with the lead in any given tournament.  I sit with my mouth open and wonder how he does it, in a game of consistency and precision, be that consistent and precise.  Whether it is knocking down the long putt, wedging one in from the trap, or just killing the ball on a clutch tee shot.  No one is better, no one was better, he is rewriting the record books.

What confuses me though is how Tiger can remain the number one ranked golfer through such a long period of inactivity.  Has the PGA opinionized their rankings to try to keep ratings?  Love him or hate him, Phil Mickelson has played in almost every tournament Tiger has missed and even won a couple.  He has finished in the money and has had a decent start to this season.  I am no Mickelson mark, although I have watched him choke up leads in the past, but wonder how he hasn’t overtaken the name Tiger Woods atop the rankings.   Because if you think about it, Tiger’s name holds the spot, for now.  Tiger, the golfer hasn’t done anything to distance himself from the field lately.

I’m sure Woods will play well at Augusta in a couple of weeks, he will probably even be favored to win.  Not many bookmakers will have him as the underdog, ever.  Jack Nicklaus still plays once in the while, maybe the PGA can make him number two in the rankings.  He accomplished plenty in the past.

My point is simply that inactivity creates demise.  I am not sure what criteria makes one the best, but I am sure that not competeing is not weighed in.  Maybe golf is going to use a BCS formula, quality points + endorsements divided by green jackets.

I am a  Tiger Woods fan and hope that he earns that spot over the next couple of months.  Until then, his name is the best golfer in the world.

Danny Bonaduce just can’t keep himself out of the ring.  After a successful stint on Hulk Hogan’s Championship Wrestling, Bonaduce is in the ring, yet again.  Earlier this year, he boxed against Jose Canseco resulting in a draw.  He has also been involved with Celebrity Boxing and several random altercations. 

Anyone who watched Danny Bonaduce’s reality show on VH1 a couple of years back knows what a trainwreck this guy has become.  Disturbing footage showed Bonaduce chugging a fifth of Vodka mixed with a quart of Gatorade, shooting himself up with HGH, and basically being the loosest cannon possible.  Bonaduce is not boring, people love watching the race when the cars wreck, so why not watch Bonaduce wreck too.

Eric Young, a member of the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) professional wrestling promotion, was an in-studio guest of Bonaduce to promote the upcoming TNA pay-per-view Lockdown, Six Sides of Steel.  While interviewing Young, Bonaduce claimed he had never heard of him and that he must not be much of a wrestler.  This prompted Young to stand up and slap Bonaduce pretty hard (as seen in the video), and chaos ensued as it usually will when Bonaduce feels threatened.  Anyway, TNA has signed Bonaduce to wrestle aginst Eric Young on the Lockdown card.

The card will also feature retired Mick Foley to wrestle 55-year old Sting in the main event.  I’m sure the buy rate on this event will soar now that Danny Bonaduce will be wrestling.  Maybe Don Nelson lookalike Ruben Kincade will interfere in the match.

In my ongoing argument to give Lebron James the 2008-09 NBA MVP award, enjoy the video as proof of what Kobe does not bring to the table.  There are some magnificent blocks on this video and nobody closes faster than Lebron on the break.