The folks in Canastota are putting together a great lineup of returning hall of famers again this year. I heard two more names last night that should be released soon. It's going to be an exciting year.

Over the last few days, it has been insinuated that Chavez took PEDs or diuretics, that Rubio tanked it, that Chavez "ducked" a post-fight drug test, and that there is a vast conspiracy involving the WBC and the Texas athletic commission to make sure that Chavez got away with using banned substances. Anybody who knows anything about boxing knows that commissions are usually staffed by political hacks and that these commissions are object lessons in cronyism, dishonesty, conflict of interest, ineffectuality, and corruption. However, more than anything, these state agencies are often comprised of bumbling fools. Ditto sanctioning bodies, where deceitfulness is often merely idiocy dressed up in villainous sackcloth. Only in boxing can such limited imaginations make millions, and this is proven by the fact that sanctioning bodies are actually bankrolled by their victims. From The Cruelest Sport

Beyond the ring, Chavez, 44-0-1-1 (31), may be a dilettante or a bourgeois slumming it out in the beak-busting business, but between the ropes, he works as hard as anybody, and, in fact, harder than many who have mastered the strange knack of generating fanfare without fans. If Chavez brings his silver spoon to the Alamodome, Rubio will try his best to knock it out of his mouth and into the third row. From The Cruelest Sport

The Cruelest Sport "Real Steel" Giveaway begins now! The two contestants with the highest score total (based on a 10-question quiz) will each win a copy of the "Real Steel" Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with never-before-seen bonus material to be released on January 24th by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. OMG! OMG!

You can take the quiz a maximum of three times as long as you answer all the questions with each separate entry. Leave your answers in the comments section. The Contest closes on January 24th, and the winners will be announced whenever I get around to it. From The Cruelest Sport

"Who is this man? Britain's Khan casts further doubt on result of his controversial contest with Peterson"

Khan is still claiming there was a conspiracy...

According to the El Paso Times, David Rodriguez survived multiple stab wounds after being jumped by six men outside a Scottsdale restaurant on New Years' Eve. Rodriguez has run up a 34-0 record as a regional attraction in the El Paso area. Hopefully he can make a full recovery.

As for this bout somehow leading to a possible showdown with Manny Pacquiao, the odds seem just as long as ever against the "Stuporfight" happening. Both men are conductors on money trains operating on parallel tracks, but the real reason Pacquiao and Mayweather may never meet is hatred. Golden Boy Promotions may have apologized for hinting that Manny Pacquiao is using performance enhancing drugs, and Oscar De La Hoya may have sent a slew of remorseful Tweets from some unnamed but apparently permissible detox center, but the fact remains that the odium among all involved in both camps suggests a gothic family tree, each bracket leading, almost inevitably, to insanity, disease, and incest. From The Cruelest Sport