Ross Greenburg has been fired as HBO Sports President.

(Losing Pacquaio To Showtime Cost Longtime HBO Sports President His Job)

Greenburg’s termination will be announced by HBO as soon as this week. A severance package between the two parties was agreed upon last week.

To cushion the blow of Greenburg’s forced ouster, HBO will not announce his departure as an outright firing - instead noting that Greenburg will contribute to the company in the future as an independent producer.

An email and message left on the cell phone of HBO Vice President of Public Relations Ray Stallone was not immediately returned.

So why was Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and Inside The NFL creator Greenburg, who during his 32-year run with the company also negotiated countless major boxing broadcast rights agreements, ejected by HBO execs as their sports division president?

Some of the reasons: Read more…

David Mayo of the GRAND RAPIDS PRESS reported last night:

The proposed Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight is off because Mayweather’s camp refused to relent on drug tests via blood rather than urine sampling, promoter Bob Arum said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with The Press.

(Okay, I’ll indulge old man Arum one last time. Let him have his moment)

Arum said Pacquiao agreed to blood testing before the pre-fight press conference — typically conducted months before a major fight — and after the proposed March 13 bout, as well as random urine sampling at any time. But when Mayweather’s camp insisted on random, Olympic-style blood samples, Pacquiao abandoned plans for the richest fight in history, Arum said.

Anyone who has followed boxing and Arum for more than five minutes knows this fight will come off somehow some way, but let’s play pretend with Arum. This is probably the last, big moment for the venerable promoter, so I’ll indulge him.

Read more…

Edwin Fernandez of the Filipino website INQUIRER MINDANAO reports on a secret Manny Pacquiao shared to a convention center crowd gathered last Thursday for his birthday celebration in General Santos City:

“In my 31 years here on earth, God appeared to me once and told me to have unconditional faith in Him. … That is true. I was not yet very popular and world champion when our God appeared to me and assured me of strength and power.”

“This is the first time I reveal this … although I was asked many times what are the secrets that made me very popular and world champion.”

Fernandez also noted, “every time Pacquiao said that he drew his strength from God, the audience responded by saying, ‘Amen.’” Read more…

YouBeenBlinded.com takes us today to perhaps the only land not enraptured by the infidelity of Tiger Woods: The Philippines. Why? Well, because Filipinos are following media coverage detailing the repeated alleged infidelity of national boxing hero Manny Pacquiao.

(More pics, video @ YBB, your one-stop shop for Filipino boxing gossip)

The Filipino media has been hounding the married Pacquiao, who has previously admitted to an affair, over alleged trysts with actress Krista Ranillo.

(Wait, there’s a Zales in Manila?)

They’ve even got video of Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee crying at a Thanksgiving religious service supposedly over rumors the boxer was shacking up with Ranillo in Vegas before Pacquiao’s recent match with Miguel Cotto. Read more…

In case you missed it, Manny Pacquiao absolutely obliterated Miguel Cotto this Saturday. It really wasn’t much of a contest, even as it went 12 rounds before the referee put an end to the senseless beating Pacquiao was putting on Cotto. So until Pacqiuao and Floyd Mayweather fight (seriously, guys, just do it already), Pac-Man’s going to have to settle for the next best thing: giant crabs and super-sound-boobs.

(Whoa whoa whoa - boxers aren’t allowed to kick their opponents, pal!)

Why, there’s one of those giant crabs now, acting aggressively toward Pacquiao for an as yet undetermined reason. As our readers undoubtedly know, crabs are one of the most gentle creatures on the planet, and are often referred to as “doves of the deep.” Okay, I made all that up. Anyway, it’s a still from Pacquiao’s latest project: a Filipino movie called Wapakman. And here’s the thing about that movie, if you haven’t already ascertained: it’s f–king insane.

Because we know you want it, trailer’s after the break.

Read more…

Lance Pugmire of the L.A. TIMES reports this afternoon that representatives for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will talk today to begin negotiating the terms of a future fight.

(HBO Sports Prez Ross Greenburg, “Floyd’s calling the shots.” ORLY?)

The blog Fighthype.com earlier today also reported that Mayweather has told his promoter, Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Productions, to begin talks with Pacquiao’s camp.

The posturing for a bigger slice of the purse has already started from Mayweather’s rep Schaefer, who made clear to Pugmire that he thinks his client is a bigger draw than Paqiuoa. HBO Sports President and boxing power broker Ross Greenburg also sides with Schaefer.

“How did Pacquiao-Marquez do versus Mayweather-Marquez? How did Pacquiao-Oscar do versus Floyd-Oscar?” Schaefer asked, well aware of the disparity.

Greenburg made it clear: “Floyd’s calling the shots for this fight to happen.”

After last night’s spectacle though against Cotto, not everyone agrees with Schaefer and Greenburg. Read more…

Manny Pacquiao, not content to inflict undue harm merely on opponents, went with the power ballad last night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.

No word if Pacquiao’s opponent in five night’s time, Miguel Cotto, decided to forgo sparring this week after watching his opponent perform Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill.

If you view the video after the jump with the sound on, I strongly recommend headgear.
Read more…

• It’s not often your wife poses with four muscular naked black men - but such as it is in the madcap marriage of Tom Brady & Gisele Bundchen.

• Ricky Hatton, thanks to Jennifer Dooley, may have survived okay from Manny Pacquiao’s pummeling - but three Filipino fans didn’t.

• Tennessee b-ball coach Bruce Pearl is Volunteering for married life again, as he announces his engagement to blonde beauty Brandy Miller.

• Jessica Simpson admits that whenever Tony Romo takes the field, she texts everyone she knows to pray for him.

• Carrie Prejean, Miss California 2009 & recent pal of Michael Phelps, gets her panties in a bunch over a revealing pic revealed from her younger days.

Read more…

We now know how Ricky Hatton spent the day after getting his face turned into hamburger meat by Manny Pacquiao: drinking beers at the pool with his statuesque fiance. But what about the guy who was the meat tenderizer last Saturday night? What did he do to celebrate the victory that cemented his place as the current top pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Well, he sang, of course.

The LOS ANGELES TIMES says that Pacquiao took to the stage at the Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles on Monday night and gave an enthusiastic crowd a performance, this time belting out songs instead of blows. You see, Pacquiao is already an established singer in his native Philippines, and perhaps has eyes on reaching the English-speaking world as well. After what he’s already accomplished this year, are you going to doubt him?

Video evidence after the jump:

Read more…

Ricky Hatton seems to have survived Saturday night’s knockout at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, thanks to some rehab with his long-legged fiance Jennifer Dooley and a couple of pints of Guinness. Unfortunately, some of the Filipino fighter’s fans didn’t.

Pacquiao’s 2nd-round jab to the English fighter’s jaw was a devastating one - so devastating, in fact, that three people in the Philippines died while watching it.

Read more…