The Draft and The Shaft

Welcome to the first ever edition of beatdowns, boxing and basketball. I will be offering my latest thoughts on the wide world of mixed-martial arts, boxing and basketball for all you sport nuts out there.

Some big things happened last week so I figured I would catch you all up on the two biggest events.

Ok, so good news or bad news first?

I agree...The good news is the Milwaukee Bucks (my absolute favorite team of all-time) had a solid draft. Trading Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons for Richard Jefferson was a brilliant move by new G.M. John Hammond (mastermind behind the Pistons).

I am sad to see Jianlian go as I think he will be a great player and he is a great ambassador of the sport, but the Bucks had salary cap trouble and big defensive problems that should be remedied with Jefferson and....

Joe Alexander and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. Both players are great defenders, especially Mbah A Moute who has been compared to Bruce Bowen and Ron Artest (without the headache...and jumpshot).

Alexander, who a tremendous writer once called "Vanilla Sky," is just that...a white guy with sick hops. He should bring plenty of athleticism, energy and defense to an improved team with hard-nosed Scott Skiles at the helm. Here we come Eastern Conference playoffs!

Now the Bad News
I had been looking forward to Saturday night for a longtime. David Diaz, Chicago's only world champion boxer, had a chance to defend against the pound-for-pound king, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao.

Diaz was a 4-1 underdog, but with Pacman moving up in weight, I had my boy Diaz by KO in the late rounds. Turns out Pacman can keep his lightening speed while putting on muscle. The "Mexicutioner" put down another great Mexican boxer after nine rounds of lightning fast combos that ended with a devestating left hook to turn out Diaz's lights.

Chicago is without a world champion for now, but congrats to Pacman who became the first Asian boxer (he is from the Philippines) to win four world championships in four separate weight classes.

On a side note, the undercard of Diaz vs Pacquiao had a whole lot of controversy. World champion Humberto Soto destroyed Francisco Lorenzo with a fourth round KO due to violent lefts. Referee Joe Cortez saw a phantom punch to the back of the head while Lorenzo was falling to his knees....the result....Lorenzo wins by DQ.

Cortez, you need to get the Chris Henry'd out of boxing for that call.

Thanks for reading everyone, come back next time when I talk about the latest MMA news.*

*All subject matter subject to change