It was the argument for and against boxing in your 40s. Hopkins, at 44 years old, lacked any speed or power but still had that world-class boxing mind to counter the gritty Ornelas. This was in sharp contrast to the 40 year old Jones Jr who looked hopeless. This is down to style in my mind. Hopkins has never heavily relied on his physical attributes in the ring, he has used his ability to read a boxer and changed his style brilliantly during fights.

Roy Jones Jr, however, has always relied on his ridiculous speed and short hand power. As the years have gone on, his glass jaw has been exposed more and more as his physical attributes have dwindled. There isn’t a boxing fan out there who will forget what Jones Jr did in the 1990s and to see a much loved great go out like this is sad.

Will the rematch between Hopkins and Jones Jr go ahead? If it does it will be a one-way contest and merely a step up to the heavyweights for Hopkins, as I am certain that if it does happen the fight will take place at a catch weight or even at heavyweight. Hopkins will not get much credit for the victory and worse still he might hurt Jones Jr.

The alternative switch to the heavyweight division for Hopkins is perhaps his only choice, with fighters in his current division not willing to take a risk on an old man. The fight I want to see is Hopkins vs Dawson. Hopkins can take on a more youthful contender as he did with Pavlik and prove his skills in the ring at the highest level. For Dawson it appears that it might just be the only fight the public want to see at the moment. The other outside option is a fight with Antonio Tarver, in what will surely be labelled “Rocky VII”.

Hopkins has set his stall out by saying that he is still chasing that rematch with Jones Jr, perhaps because it is his most saddened defeat in his career. He then intends to step up to the heavyweights and take on Britain’s own David Haye. All these plans look set to see an even older Hopkins take on the heaviest hitters in boxing and there has to be moral implications to this, but if Hopkins can stay as fit then why not? It happened in Rocky VI.

Cotto was trying to avoid the knockout and started to fight behind the jab again avoiding exchanges with Pacquiao, he was a lot less active and ironically unveiled the strategy for fighting Pacquiao. For all his flair, speed and power, Pacman was exposed at times and was hit cleanly through rounds 9-11 as he tried to finish Cotto off. The fight was eventually stopped in the 12th round and the humble Filipino made history by winning a world title in a fifth weight division.

There is now the prospect of settling the only argument left to be had, who is the greatest of this generation, Mayweather or Pacquiao? The fight will be called for by the boxing world and expect both fighters to oblige. The weight at which this fight takes place will have something to say on the matter, Pacquiao has already come out and said that he wouldn’t move up another weight class, so it looks like 147 pounds would be the weight.

The problem for Pacquiao is that with Diaz, De La Hoya, Hatton and Cotto he hasn’t fought anyone with a similar style to Mayweather at the higher weights. Pacquiao cannot help himself, he is an aggressive fighter and he will go for it but in a composed sensible manner as he has in his recent fights. He has always left himself slightly open but has managed to push his opponents into his game by exchanging with them and always coming out on top. So what will happen when Mayweather spends 12 rounds like Cotto did in rounds 9-11? Cotto managed to get through when he let Pacquiao come on to him and he escaped from corners effectively.

I see the fight as follows, Mayweather dips, ducks and rolls that shoulder as Pacquiao tries and tries to impose himself on Floyd. Speed is equalled if not beaten by Mayweather and he picks off Pacquiao slowly but surely. The only way out for Pacquiao is to do what nobody has ever been able to do, hit the defensive master clean and often and put him down for the first time in his career.

I can’t imagine too much being decided until the boxing calendar rests a little, but expect the fight to happen and fully expect Floyd Mayweather to win.

England’s triumphant summer of Test cricket, firstly with the demolition of the West Indies and then the Ashes victory has lifted the England team and the expectations. There was a lull with the one day and Twenty20 performances with a slight recovery in the Champions Trophy. This may play a part in the success they have in South Africa.

The tour began with two 50-over warm-ups and one 20-over warm up. It is difficult to read too much into these matches as they are just warm-ups but the spread of wickets around all the bowlers and the great form of Strauss are very encouraging. The tour really gets going with the two Twenty20 matches against South Africa, but again these games fail to hold much significance in my mind. South Africa ought to win both games, they have many players who have recently been playing the game in the Champion’s League and they have some real fire power there. The fact is that England could still win these games because of the tiny margins involved, and it really is a win-win situation for them as long as they don’t get embarrassed.

The 5 one-days follow with three day-nighters in the mix, so the toss will be important. England will need to be competitive in these games even if they don’t win them because they could get themselves into a rut with this format and it being a lengthy tour, morale will be very important. It will help that many of the players have family and friends in the country and that the country is preparing for the Football World Cup so the running of the tour ought to go smoothly.

The one-day games will be fun and entertaining and there ought to be some fireworks when KP enters the stadium, but it is all a prelude to the test matches where England will want to and be expected to compete with the number one test team. There will be four test matches and with decent rest in between. Can England get that same fire going against someone other than the Australians?

England did of course win the series in South Africa last time out, thanks to some heroics from Andrew Strauss and some solid bowling from Flintoff, Hoggard and Jones (all three now out of the test team). This was countered by South Africa’s win in England in 2008. It is interesting to note that since England’s Ashes win in 2005, they have won just 3 out of 24 away tests. This includes 2 test wins against New Zealand in their only away series win. They have lost 12 of these games with 9 draws. This amounts to 7 away series, one win, one draw, and 5 defeats.

Each game is played over 4 twelve minute quarters, in the event of a tie there are further 5 minute over-time periods until there is a winner. Each team will play 82 matches up until the 14th April, where the teams who have qualified for the playoffs will continue where as the rest must go home. Thirty teams and 82 matches do not quite match up, so how is the schedule made?

Each team must play their other 4 division rivals four times (two home games and two away games), so that is 16 games. They must also play four games against 6 of the remaining 10 conference teams, and three against the remaining 4 conference teams (2 from each division). The decision on who gets the extra home game in the 3 games and the 4 teams you play these games against is down to a 5 year rotation system. This comes to another 36 games making 52 in total. The remaining 30 games come from home and away games against the 15 teams in the other conference.

How does a team qualify for the playoffs? There are 16 teams of the 30 that will qualify, 8 from each conference. The three division champions in the conference plus the next 5 teams with the best record over the 82 matches will qualify. There are no ties in the NBA so it is a simple percentage point system e.g. 41 wins from 82 will give you a 0.500 score. This is also how the seeding works with the team’s being ranked by their regular season records, the division champions are given priority to some extent (The lowest seed that they can receive is 4th). In the case of a tied record, there is a set tie-breaking method.

Once the seeds are established there will be 8 series to be played, four in each conference. The 1st seed vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th. The winners will go through to the conference semi-finals, where the winner of the series between 1st and 8th will play the winner of the series between 4th and 5th, and the other game being between the winners of the remaining two series. The winners of these series will progress to the conference finals, and the winner of that series progresses to the NBA Finals against the other conference champions.

Series are a best of 7 games affair, the team with best regular season record seals 4 home games (home-court advantage). This doesn’t always adhere to the seeding due to priority given to divisional champions. The format is 2-2-1-1-1, so the home team will host games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The series can of course finish early once a team has reached 4 wins. This changes in the NBA Finals, where the format is 2-3-2, so the home team will host games 1, 2, 6 and 7.

So that’s the format of the NBA, it is as intriguing as it is complicated. I am happy to answer any other questions on the rules or format of the league and the sport in general.

From there, Tom Brady was to miss 2008 through injury and the Patriots would struggle, despite Cassel’s efforts. It was to be noted that Cassel did not struggle as this was a major discussion point in determining Brady’s class. Was it Brady or was it Brady’s protection that led him to three superbowls? I’m not sure we can answer that question but it did come up again at the start of 2009.

Brady was back from injury, and he started out well enough against the Bills without causing huge waves. 39 from 53 for 378 yards, 2 TDs and one interception. It seemed the Patriots were happy to have him back, but too happy. The Patriots, for all their flaws in 2008, had become more versatile. It showed too with great statistics but a single point win against the Bills was hardly spectacular.

Two road defeats and two more home wins later, and Brady’s Patriots were 3-2. The road form is already a worry. Two games and two defeats, with Brady’s combined statistics as 42 from 80 for 421 yards, 2 TDs and one interception. This almost matches his single game statistics for game one. It wasn’t great reading for Moss either, 5 receptions for 60 yards and nothing to show for it. This is surpassed by his 10 receptions for 141 yards in game one, but still no TD. Let’s hope that New England find some road form at Wembley Stadium before the season really gets going.

Randy Moss has been an enigma this season, it is almost as if Welker has stolen the limelight and he has lost that slight edge. After 5 games Moss had only one TD to his name.

It was confusing to some, as the team hadn’t changed all that much from the perfect Patriots of 2007 and with a home game coming up against the Titans it was the perfect stage to put things right.

The wind was up and there was snow in Foxborough, so conditions weren’t perfect for a big passing night. It didn’t matter however, for the man who once claimed (in jest) that he was better than Jesus was in fine form. 29 from 34 for 380 yards, 6 TDs, and no interceptions, including 5 TDs in the second quarter. It would have been perfect if Moss could get in on the act, and he did just that with 3 TDs from 8 receptions and 129 yards. Moss’ swagger appeared to be back and there was a great moment where Moss and Brady sat next to each other on the bench like two kings on their thrones. Brady may not have walked on water this week, but he did a good job walking on snow.

With the New England Patriots up against Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in front of an excited 80,000 fans, there couldn’t be a better time for these two greats to find their form.

The first reason was that there was no Derrick Rose, which was nobody’s fault really.

The second reason was that the game had a pre-season feel to it, trying to do the right things instead of entertaining the crowd. Which in a showcase of your sport, you should try to do.

I read that some of the players went to watch Arsenal’s 6-2 victory over Blackburn, I’m sure they are taking back great reviews of the English Game. On the other hand they did also watch Chelsea vs Liverpool, which wasn’t so great.

This does lead me to the third reason, over the teams selected to play. I understood Chicago, two Brits (when chosen, Gordon has now left), rookie of the year Rose, and the lasting effect of Michael Jordon on Chicago Bulls’ popularity.

But the Utah Jazz? No real fan base in the UK, no outstanding talent. The only objective for the NBA in Europe should be to sell the game. Maybe a game like Cavs vs Magic would have been better with LeBron and Carter on show. You’d be slightly embarrassed if the Premiership took Bolton and Blackburn over to America to showcase football.

The game was closely fought but lacked flair and failed to capture the imagination. The buzzer-beating winner (I’m not sure he actually beat the buzzer) masked an all together average game. The sad fact was that many in the crowd showed signs of boredom.

In sharp contrast to the NFL games at Wembley, the crowd was on edge for the majority of the game and there was general interest throughout. This might be a credit to Wembley Stadium, but I think the main reason came behind the fact that it was a regular season game and everybody felt like they were watching something real.

It was funny watching the highlights back, as it was quite telling that every time there was a block or a shot made the crowd would applaud, the severity of which would determine how impressed they were. Compare that to the American crowds jumping out of their seats when something impressive happens.

I like the idea of Team USA having a warm up game here next year, but even then the mood will be quite serious and without the intensity.

My suggestion would be to have the All-Star Weekend in the UK. It is a fun filled, entertaining product, which doesn’t have an effect on the regular season, yet it still matters. Most importantly, it gets the very best of the NBA under one roof.

Although Hashim Amla has worked his way into the forefront of cricket he is still relatively inexperienced at the one day level with just 16 games. He doesn’t always appear in the line up despite his solid mentality and surprisingly good strike rate. So I am backing Amla to seal his place in the team and show himself to be one of the players of the tournament.

If we are looking towards a younger contender, then look no further than Wayne Parnell. The 20 year old introduced himself against Australia and again performed well at the T20 World Cup, it is an exciting time for South African cricket and players like Parnell will be critical if they want a prolonged spell at the top. There are other players in contention by none are likely to break into the side with much success.

We know about the spin sensations Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, but there are other players in this team which make them a potent force. Lasith Malinga often gets the praise in this bowling attack, but Nuwan Kulasekara has been just as effective. With exactly the same number of games played as Malinga, Kulasekara boasts a better bowling average and a significantly better batting average. In fact the only area in which Malinga trumps Kulasekara is the wickets column and for this Malinga will always be considered the man for the job when in need.

There is also a young all-rounder looking to fill a slight void in the side, and he is 22 year old Angelo Mathews. With a name to match that of a Pop Singer, Angelo Mathews is a popular, youthful, enthusiastic cricketer not too dissimilar to Dwayne Bravo for the West Indies. Expect him to make big strides and with the space open for an all-rounder he could hold the key. Others to watch (if selected) are Tharanga, Thushara and Kandamby.

Moving on to the “dark horses” of world cricket, New Zealand. I do not wish to speak for New Zealanders but it strikes me as an insult to some of the talented cricketers that they have for New Zealand to continually be discounted. Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Shane Bond are all world-beaters.

I’d like to take a minute to talk about Shane Bond and his return to the international scene. He is a fantastic cricketer who has been ruined by injuries, he won’t get many more chances to show his talent on a World stage so I wish him the very best as he deserves to be seen on parallel with Donald, McGrath, Pollock and Co.

The player who I am most looking forward to seeing this tournament is Ross Taylor. In full flow, he is an absolute dream to watch with every shot hit with authority and swagger. He is 25 years old and he now needs to push on to the next level, he’ll have at least three shots in this tournament to show his immense talent and I back him to do it. Others to watch (if selected) are Broom, Butler, Guptill and Ryder.

So that leaves us with England who, after an embarrassment against Australia, have been given no chance. The England side does, however, have plenty of young names in the squad. We know all about Stuart Broad, and the under-pressure Ravi Bopara, but the player who I would like to see play is Graham Onions. The most in-form bowler in English cricket deserves to play and if he does he will instantly add an element of control to the bowling attack. He has done nothing wrong with the chances he’s been given so far at international level.

Others to watch (if selected) are Denly, Morgan and Rashid. I would also like to give a special mention to Swann. He has had a great year in Test cricket and has the tools to succeed in the one day format. He is far too good a batsman to have not made a fifty in ODIs, this will need to change if he wants to elevate himself to someone England can depend on time after time.

White is an aggressive batsman who provides something with the ball too, now that Andrew Symonds is out of the picture there is space for a player of this mould and White provides a similar quality. In truth, Andrew Symonds would replace him instantly but that does not mean White cannot take his chance. Others to watch (if selected) are Ferguson and Siddle.

On to India and there is a huge number of young cricketers in the squad. Under 25 year olds include Raina, Ishant Sharma and RP Singh. These are young players who are already on the radar so I will take a look at two players who will be looking to make an impression.

Firstly we have 26 year old Amit Mishra, who has 3 ODIs under his belt and is starting to make a name for himself as a leg spinner. The fact that he is a leg spinner has obvious importance since the departure of Anil Kumble and Mishra has impressed with his similar control. It will be a tough task to break into that Indian ODI team as a spinner with Harbhajan Singh and others such as Yusuf Pathan, Tendulkar, Raina, Yuvraj Singh who can all provide a spin option. If the opportunity should arise, watch out for Mishra’s accuracy which will make him hard to get away in those middle overs.

The second player to look out for is 22 year old Praveen Kumar. He has the ability to do what Bracken does for the Australians with his strangely difficult bowling. He throws it down at a moderate pace and uses the pitch. Simple cricket and he does it well. He is also an underrated batsman who can provide important late runs. Others to watch (if selected) are Abhishek Nayar and Ashish Nehra, the latter is back in the fold after a 4 year absence.

We move on to Pakistan, and perhaps the most exciting prospect appears in this side. The Pakistanis are an unappreciated outfit as they were before their T20 World Cup victory. They are getting the names back together such as Yousuf and Asif but there are also a few new names to get everyone excited.

The most exciting of which is 17 year old Mohammad Aamer. He is a left-arm fast bowler who can swing the ball with ease and control. At his age he has plenty to learn but at the moment he is playing on talent and when he learns how to play cricket from the likes of Younis and Akram then Pakistan will have a world-beating cricketer. The bowling attack of Pakistan is starting to look very good with Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif and now Aamer. Others to watch (if selected) are Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam and Saeed Ajmal.

The fourth team in Group A is the West Indies. The West Indies squad does not boast the big names, such as Chanderpaul, Gayle, Sarwan and Bravo, and the squad is similar to the team that was shown up by Bangladesh. There are no real prospects that shine out as consistency with this team will be a huge problem. Nevertheless it is a chance for the fringe players and younger players.

Ones to watch (if selected) are Kemar Roach, Andre Fletcher, Kevin McClean, Nikita Miller, Kieran Powell, Royston Crandon, Travis Dowlin, Darren Sammy and a special mention for 37 year old captain Floyd Reifer (who has just 5 ODIs).

For the best part of this decade the welterweights and middleweights have taken charge. Oscar De La Hoya, Mayweather and Hatton are perhaps the best known names in the business. They are common names with most sports fans, but do they resonate to the non-sport loving public?

It is perhaps no longer possible for a boxer to have global appeal like an Ali did. You could argue that Hatton is known in the public domain in the UK but not globally. There has most definitely been a lull in the global appeal of boxing but this is down to the lack of creativity on the promotional side, not a lack of talent. The problems in the Heavyweight division are down to a lack of depth in world-class boxers.

So who is the World Heavyweight Champion? Well, that in itself is not a straight forward question, are you talking about the WBA World Heavyweight Champion, the WBC Champion, WBO? IBO? IBF?

The original Heavyweight Title, was the WBA Title. This was the historic title held by Louis, Liston, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Tyson and Lewis. Who holds this title at the moment? Nikolai Valuev. Now if you want to start thinking about the problems with the Heavyweight division then Nikolai Valuev is a good place to start.

Over 7 foot tall, well over 300 pounds but to call him a boxer is a shame to the sport. Case in point, his fight with Evander Holyfield. Evander Holyfield, at the age of 46, was a slow, powerless man and yet he ran circles around Valuev.

Valuev stood there like a punching bag, on occasion pulling out a jab or two. Holyfield won the fight with ease in the eyes of the Swiss crowd and in the eyes of anyone bored enough to watch the fight. The judges, somehow, called the fight in favour of Valuev. It was, for me, the night Heavyweight boxing died. It put forward an interesting question, who would you rather have hold that title? A slow, talentless, 36 year old giant or a clumsy, once great, 46 year old?

It must be said that Valuev is by no means the best heavyweight currently out there. There are two very good fighters in the Klitschko brothers. It could be said that in a different era they would have challenged for titles still and be given the respect they deserve. It is also interesting to note that since Lennox Lewis, British boxing has not produced a Heavyweight of note. Could it be that without a serious British or American contender that we are living in a bubble? Perhaps the world outside America and Britain does still care about Heavyweight boxing.

But all that is about to change with Britain’s David Haye. The undisputed Cruiserweight Champion has taken on the challenge to resurrect the Heavyweight division. A proposed fight with one of the Klitschko brothers fell through with an injury to Haye, but this actually opened up a more prominent fight with Valuev. David Haye now has the opportunity of 12 rounds with a punching bag, it is a guaranteed world title and it will finally dispel the Valuev myth.

He has declared war on the Klitschko brothers with a refreshing confidence and when, not if, he beats Valuev he will set up the biggest Heavyweight contest since Lewis-Holyfield. So take note of the date, 7th November 2009. It will be the date Heavyweight boxing was brought back from the dead.

The boxing world attacked the credits of Pacman’s victory over De La Hoya, and it was nothing against Pacquiao. They felt that De La Hoya was a spent force and this is undeniably true but his brave performance against Mayweather just 19 months before showed that he wasn’t a bum. This was further shown by the fact that he was able to go 8 rounds with Manny.

It wasn’t just the victory over Hatton that led to Floyd retiring. The next best welterweight, Miguel Angel Cotto was defeated by Margarito and hence dispelled any chance of setting up a fight with Mayweather. The future findings over Margarito, and his loaded gloves, have cast doubts over this defeat, and for me Cotto is still a threat. This is what makes the whole situation so intriguing.

It is set, Mayweather beats Marquez and Pacquiao beats Cotto and the dream fight is created, Money May vs Pacman. But can Pacquiao beat Cotto? It is by no means certain. Cotto has chased a fight with Mayweather for half his career, he is relatively unknown outside of Boxing circles and looking to make a global impact, and let’s not forget that he is the World Welterweight Champion.

One thing that needs to be realised is that attacking Mayweather’s ego was not enough to get him back in the ring. He wants money and he doesn’t hide this fact. The largely confident displays of Mayweather in the past few weeks are nothing new, the appearance on WWE was a highlight. The interesting thing for me was that he was largely the same, which adds weight to my feeling that he portrays this character purely for commercial reasons. He is a product and boxing welcomes this product back with open arms.

When it comes down to the fight, Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez are very similar in style. An on the toes, defensive approach based on speed and footwork, and in my books Floyd is the quicker man. The fight between Cotto and Pacman, however, is an instant classic and adds to an exciting and important end of the year for boxing.

For many the dream fight is Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao, but for me I’d like to see Miguel Angel Cotto get the credit he deserves and put his name up there with Boxing’s greatest.