Queen marks 90th birthday, as popular as ever

Alice Ritchie

April 19, 2016

Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her 90th birthday on April 21, 2016, with a family gathering and a cake baked by a reality television star, as a new poll finds Britain's longest serving monarch is as popular as ever

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 90th birthday on Thursday with a family gathering and a cake baked by a reality television star, as a new poll finds Britain's longest serving monarch is as popular as ever.

The queen has reigned for more than 63 years and shows no sign of retiring, even if she has in recent years passed on some of her duties to the younger royals.

A new poll suggests the British public want it to stay that way, with 70 percent saying she should reign for as long as possible, the highest proportion since 1981.

Support for the monarchy remains high at 76 percent, according to the Ipsos-Mori poll for King's College London.

"The queen is hugely popular, she is liked personally and is felt to have done an excellent job," Roger Mortimore, a professor at the Institute of Contemporary British History at King's College London, told AFP.

Thursday's celebrations will be low-key, with the main public events, including a military parade and lunch for 10,000 guests on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, taking place as part of her official birthday celebrations in June.

With her husband Prince Philip, she will meet members of the public near Windsor Castle, her weekend residence, before lighting the first of a chain of beacons stretching across Britain and its overseas territories.

At an event in Windsor's town hall, the queen will be presented with a cake baked by Nadiya Jamir Hussain, the winner of the "Great British Bake Off", a hugely popular television cooking competition.

The Muslim mother-of-three will present the orange drizzle cake, with orange curd and orange butter cream, to the queen personally -- a prospect she said has left her "so nervous I can't even look at the oven".

The queen will also attend a family birthday dinner organised by her heir Prince Charles, emphasising her role as the head of four generations of the House of Windsor.

Charles and his son William are increasingly taking over the queen's duties, although she still carried out 393 engagements last year, including state visits to Malta and Germany.

William, who with his wife Kate and two young children has brought fresh energy to the royals, paid tribute to the matriarch he and his brother Harry describe as "the boss".

"I am incredibly lucky to have my grandmother in my life. As she turns 90, she is a remarkably energetic and dedicated guiding force for her family," William said.

- Lunch with Obama -

The queen has seen 12 prime ministers pass through Downing Street since she ascended to the throne in 1952, meeting them once a week at the palace and still receiving daily updates of the workings of parliament.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron will pay tribute to the monarch in parliament on Thursday, while US President Barack Obama will also pay his respects when he joins the queen for lunch at Windsor on Friday.

The queen is widely viewed as a constant and stabilising presence in a turbulent world, a status she has cultivated by refusing to make public her personal views.

Her determination to remain above politics has come under pressure ahead of Britain's EU referendum on June 23, after a newspaper reported that she favoured a vote for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc.

The claim in The Sun, under the headline "Queen backs Brexit", prompted a rare and strongly worded denial from Buckingham Palace, emphasising that she has and will always be politically neutral.

In September last year, the queen broke Queen Victoria's record to become Britain's longest reigning monarch, but played down the achievement, saying it was "not one to which I have ever aspired".

"Inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones. My own is no exception," she said.

Pacquiao's final fight shows evolution of a legendary fighter

by: JM SIASAT

Photo by: Askmen.com

Manny Pacquiao once again dazzled the boxing world in his farewell performance against former two-division world champion Timothy Bradley, Saturday night (Sunday morning PHL time) at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao, 37, proved that he's still capable of beating young elite fighters despite his age. The fight did not end with a knockout, but the Filipino ring icon managed to showcase in this fight how he evolved as a fighter throughout the years.

The Pacquiao that fans came to love was the young, fast and strong pugilist who spit fire and shot from all cylinders right from the opening round. After 66 fights in the professional boxing arena, it would it be horribly unfair to ask and expect the same from Pacquiao, who is now in his late 30s.

Pacquiao is past his prime, and after suffering a knockout loss against his Mexican archrival Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, he knew that he had to retool and use a more calculated approach moving forward. While his trademark speed seemed to have diminished throughout the years — an observation shared by his trainer Freddie Roach — Pacquiao still managed to mix and utilize his speed, unorthodox combination punching and lateral movements when inside the ring.

Pacquiao was patient in his third fight with Bradley. He could've gone ahead and attacked without remorse from the opening round given that Bradley isn't much of a power puncher, but Pacquiao instead took his time, set up his punches, and waited for the right opening before unleashing his combinations.

Throughout his career, Pacquiao always had trouble dealing against a right-straight on top.

Opponents who land a big punch against the younger Pacquiao would usually have to brace for an all-out attack from the Filipino — which wasn't always a good thing for Manny.

In his three fights against Bradley, however, Pacquiao refused to be taken over by his emotions when he got hit. He stuck to the game plan even after taking a few hard ones from his opponent.

He did not waste energy, and knowing that he's ahead on the scorecards, Pacquiao seemingly took some minutes off to preserve his stamina.

It's rare for an offensive boxer to figure out other ways to fight toward the end of his career, but Pacquiao managed to do just that before calling it a day. After spending yet another twelve rounds inside the ring against Bradley, Pacquiao rightfully emerged victorious winning by a unanimous decisions with all three judges scoring it 116-110.

Pacquiao's legacy was set in stone even before this fight. With or without a third bout with Bradley, the Filipino boxing icon is a surefire future entrant to the boxing Hall of Fame. The first fighter in history to win titles in eight different divisions, Pacquiao would also join the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Willie Pep, Sam Langford and many more in boxing's immortal all-time greats list.

Boxing history has always been kinds to its fighters; it doesn't penalize Roberto Duran's career for quitting in his second fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, nor does it penalize Leonard's career for getting stopped by Hector Camacho in his last bout.

At the end of the day, history highlights a fighter's in-ring exploits instead of their business outside the ring. Pacquiao has had his fair share of controversies outside the boxing arena, but suffice to say, history books would be more than kind to him when his full story is finally written.

Manny Pacquiao promises action as finale nears

by AFP

April 9, 2016

Manny Pacquiao (L) and Timothy Bradley Jr. (R) pose during their final news conference at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino Wednesday April 6, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AFP PHOTO / John GURZINSKI)

The 37-year-old Filipino boxing superstar takes on long-time rival Tim Bradley in Las Vegas on Saturday (Sunday, Philippine time) in what he says will be his final fight before retiring.

Pacquiao and Bradley squared up to each other before a raucous crowd of a few thousand fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday for the weigh-in, with both men well within the 147-pound limit.

Pacquiao tipped the scales at 145.5 pounds, half a pound heavier than his weight for his last outing 11 months ago, his money-spinning mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather.

Bradley, 33-1-1, was a pound heavier at 146.5.

Pacquiao, 57-6-2, has made no secret of his desire to crown his career with an explosive display against Bradley, who has taken him the distance twice before.

“Expect more action that the last fights we had,” said Pacquiao, who plans to concentrate on a political career in the Philippines when he retires.

Bradley meanwhile, who beat Pacquiao via a deeply controversial split decision in 2012 before losing the rematch, looked in formidable shape as he stripped down for the cameras.

The 32-year-old from California shrugged off catcalls from the largely pro-Pacquiao crowd, telling the audience: “I think there’s going to be a lot of disappointed fans tomorrow night.”

Pacquiao, who earned a staggering $150 million from his defeat to Mayweather last year, will bank another $20 million purse for Saturday’s bout.

Although he has stated it is last fight, he has pointedly declined to definitively rule-out a return to the ring.

- National hero -

“I cannot say that I’m not going to come back,” Pacquiao said this week, explaining that his mindset may change once he faces up to life without the sport that has made him fabulously rich and a national hero.

“I don’t know how I’ll feel when I hang up my gloves,” he added.

Those closest to Pacquiao, including his long-time trainer Freddie Roach and the veteran promoter Bob Arum, believe he may yet return.

Arum said Pacquiao could be persuaded to prolong his career if he scores a spectacular victory over Bradley.

“I think if he wins this fight well, he’s going to find a way to continue,” Arum said.

Roach has been in Pacquiao’s corner ever since the Filipino arrived at his Hollywood gym in 2001 looking for a trainer.

- ’15 years of greatness’ -

“It’s been 15 years of greatness,” said Roach, who hopes Pacquiao will fight on.

Pre-fight preparations were overshadowed by controversy in February when the devoutly religious Pacquiao described homosexuals as “worse than animals”, remarks that prompted several sponsors to sever agreements with him while also drawing widespread outrage from gay and lesbian activists.

Pacquiao is adamant that the saga did not disrupt his training. “There were no distractions,” said Pacquiao, who has expressed a desire to sign off in style.

“It’s really important for me to win this fight, to win convincingly,” Pacquiao said. “It’s part of my legacy.”

Bradley said he is preparing for an onslaught from Pacquiao.

“He’s going to come out like a bat out of hell and try to take my head off,” Bradley said.

Bradley teamed up with veteran trainer Teddy Atlas for his most recent bout in November, which ended in a ninth round technical knockout of Brandon Rios.

Atlas and Bradley have been poring over tapes of Pacquiao’s defeat to Mayweather last year, and his crushing knockout by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 as they attempt to concoct a gameplan to beat the Filipino.

But Atlas is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge represented by Pacquiao.

“When you’re competing against someone as good as Manny — he wins a fight because of pure talent,” Atlas said.

“The combination of speed and power that he has is uncommon. He’s a freak.”

Pacquiao vs Bradley 3 Livestream

Pacquiao vs Bradley 3

On April 9th, 2016, Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley will face each other again for the 3rd time. The first fight that they had was on 2012 and Bradley won from a controversial decision which was the reason for their rematch last 2014. The second encounter was full of action and Pacquiao won that fight without controversy. For some reason and because of the new trainer that Tim Bradley is having nowadays, they come to an agreement that they will fight each other again for the 3rd time which is set to be held at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. You might be saying that there is no reason to watch this fight anymore as Manny Pacquiao has nothing to prove BUT because of the well known trainer, Atlas, then this will be a very exciting fight that you should never be missed to watch. Rumors say that this will be Manny Pacquiao’s last fight and before he will retire from boxing, he aims for a knockout. The last fight that he won via knockout was against Algieri few years ago.

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