Cooney's Thoughts

Cooney's Thoughts: 

It's been a very sad few weeks in the sport of boxing.  Let's take a look at the Canadian warrior Arturo Gatti for a minute.  The police in Brazil have ruled his death a suicide?  Really?  Well I am not in Brazil, so I can't say one way or the other how Gatti died, but I know this much, all of the people that I know who knew him on a personal level aren't buying it.  Hopefully there will be a second autopsy and a new investigation into his death in the near future.

Vernon Forrest has left us as well.  Apparently while putting air into his tires in Atlanta, two worthless morons with no life decided that they wanted to take a car that they were too lazy to work for themselves, and ended up taking a life in the process.  Vernon will be dearly missed by all of those who loved him, his family, and his fans for certain will miss him.

A third boxer has passed away as well.  This young man was a friend of mine, his name was Francisco "Pancho" Moncivais.  His passing didn't get the national attention that Gatti and Forrest got, but let me be clear, his passing has devastated a family, a community, and thousands of people in Mississippi.  Pancho was fighting his 2nd professional fight when in the 4th round he went down and never recovered.  Pancho died from a traumatic brain injury sustained during the fight on Saturday, July 25th, 2009.  It was a freak accident with nobody to blame.  The Mississippi Athletic Commission did everything right, it was just a freak accident that I pray never happens again to another fighter.  Rest in peace my friend.

PACQUIAO - 8CN readers shouldn't be surprised if Manny Pacquiao ends up training in the Bahamas for 5 of the 8 weeks of his training camp vs Cotto.  Seems that there are some tax issues that could prevent the pound for pound king from entering America for a little while.  Look for Pacquiao to return to the US in October sometime for the last 3 weeks of his camp.