Gus Johnson is leaving CBS Sports. Much to Brent Brookhouse’s chagrin, Gus is still scheduled to call Saturday night’s fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley for Showtime. Once upon a time, I ranked our purple-lipsticked friend high on a list of play-by-play men in MMA. After a respectable debut on CBS for EliteXC’s first network show, I figured a professional such as Johnson would improve his game as he became more familiar with the sport. Instead, he made one of the most histrionic calls in recent memory. Still, I’ll miss the Gus Effect on my NFL and NCAA tournament games. Rise and fire! [Update – Clown face may not be done at CBS after all.]
- If it was up to me, anyone who complains about Bloody Elbow covering Manny Pacquiao (and Floyd Mayweather, if he ever decides to fight again) deserves a one-way ticket to Philistine Island. Kid Nate doesn’t want to lose the page views though. Fraser Coffeen refreshed us on Pacquiao’s fight with Ricky Hatton from just over two years ago, a fight that sent Hatton running to all the major coke dealers in West London. Word trickled out about the paydays for the major participants on Saturday night’s show. Manny is guaranteed $20 million and the state of Delaware. Finally, Brookhouse rounded out our daily Pacquiao quota with a piece about boxing co-existing with MMA. Just imagine the thought! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!
- Someone check to see if Hell has frozen over because Gray Maynard’s personality has been discovered.
- Trainer Andre Pederneiras confirmed Jose Aldo’s use of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory to deal with a bacterial infection in his toe.
- I think Georges St. Pierre should move up to middleweight. Plenty of you disagreed with me. In related news, I’m right.
- SB Nation MMA guest blogger Anthony Ferguson discussed his knockout victory from last night’s episode of the Ultimate Fighter. I’d add more, but I won’t watch the show until I’m scrambling to put together the live discussion post next week.
- Rashad Evans believes Michael Bisping would be competitive against Anderson Silva. Rashad Evans also spends hours talking to Gray Maynard’s mom about horses. Just sayin’.
- Diego Sanchez donated his Grapplers’ Quest purse to an autism charity. Even I’m not cynical enough to add snark after this, so here’s Ricky Gervais at an autism benefit.
- Boring UFC welterweight is going to recover from injury. I love you, Jon Fitch.