In a year with all eyes focused on the Los Angeles Dodgers possibly winning the 2024 World Series championship, they did exactly as many predicted.
This year 2025 the Dodgers could be even better.
With the World Champion Dodgers adding a young Japanese phenom plus a proven left-handed ace to this Los Angeles squad, it could be the greatest team ever assembled.
A close inspection of this team that includes Shohei Ohtani, perhaps the greatest baseball player ever seen, along with future Hall of Fame candidates Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and maybe Brett Snell, this 2025 Dodgers version could be chasing other powerhouse teams like the 1998 New York Yankees, the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, and the 1927 Yankees as the greatest team ever.
Or, they could just be a paper tiger.
Fernando Valenzuela R.I.P.
Fernando Valenzuela never sought fame or glory, but once you handed him a baseball he turned into some mythic Aztec warrior with a stoicism uncommon for a teen.
Valenzuela passed away on Tuesday Oct. 22. He was 63.
It was 1980 when the kid from Navojoa, Mexico first pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers who were in the middle of a divisional race with the Houston Astros. Nobody knew a thing about him, but he performed well for a total of 17 innings that September.
The next year he would stun the world.
The youngest undisputed champion in boxing, Gabriela “Sweet Poison” Fundora, is set to deliver another explosive performance when she headlines in her hometown of Coachella Valley on September 20 at Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino.
Fundora (16-0, 8 Kos) defends the WBO, IBF, WBA and WBC flyweight titles against Ayelen Granadino (12-2-4, 1 KO) of Argentina at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio.
At just 23 years old, the flyweight champion Fundora has made a rapid rise to the top of the sport, following in the footsteps of her brother, fellow champion Sebastian Fundora. A sharp southpaw, Gabriela has turned dreams into reality in under five years.
.- House of Pain So Cal Boxing, along with BXNGTV and Top Rank, took over the event center at the Soboba Casino event center Saturday night. The nearly sold-out event included seven action-packed fights.
The main event of the night was a 10-round bout between Albert Gonzalez (14-0, 7 ko’s) and Angel Antonio Contreras (16-9-2, 10 ko’s). The two featherweights sped into the first round with Contreras throwing more combinations than his heavy-hitting opponent. By the second round, Gonzalez pounded Contreras, leaving the Mexican fighter unable to respond.
Despite the heavy thuds to the body and head, Contreras continued to move forward, ducking when he could and letting go of a quick left-right to his opponent's face. In the fifth round, Gonzalez began dribbling Contreras’ face before following up with power shots to the body.
Terence Crawford continues to reign as the top fighter pound for pound in the world. Though his win over Israil Madrimov was a closely fought contest, the Nebraska fighter out-maneuvered the super welterweight champion for the win in Los Angeles.
Others on the lost are Japan’s Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, plus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez remains a steadfast member of the club.
American fighters such as Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and David Benavidez are new editions along with Russian light heavyweights such as Dmitrii Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
Here is this year’s list:
Like him or dislike him Jake Paul puts people in the seats.
In front of a near sold out crowd that broke the box office record for an event Paul (12-1, 7 Kos) defeated former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (54-7-1, 34 Kos) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Fighting at cruiserweight Paul jumped out first with a dominating performance for the first five rounds. Using lateral movement and quick-hitting combinations the still learning Paul kept Chavez on the receiving end of his punches. Rarely did Chavez respond with anything dangerous or effective.
It was a one-sided fight during the first half of their fight that filled more than 11,000 people in the stands. A majority of the fans were rabidly in favor of Chavez including the father Mexico’s legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.