Fight Of The Century

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Defeats Manny Pacquiao in Boxing’s Big Matchup

For nearly 20 years, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.has frustrated opponents in the ring with his cool calculation.

He has been criticized out of the ring for his lavish lifestyle and outbursts of domestic violence.

And he has navigated it all by winning habitually and becoming unapologetically rich.

Manny Pacquiao, the mop-haired scrapper from the Philippines, presented a peculiar test.

Pacquiao is a left-hander with fearless guile, the next-best fighter of the generation.

He was an opponent who had waited years for a match.

And he was so widely popular that

Mayweather, a former Olympic medalist fighting in his longtime hometown against a foreigner, was widely booed upon arrival in the ring on Saturday night and again upon departure.

But he left a winner. And he got much, much richer along the way.

In what was considered the highest-grossing bout in boxing history, Mayweather, the 38-year-old with the baby face and the unblemished professional boxing record, beat Pacquiao for the welterweight world championship with a unanimous decision.

Both men were runaway winners financially.

 The purse, the majority of it from pay-per-view revenue from several million American households paying about $90 each to watch, was estimated at roughly $300 million.

The contract called for Mayweather to receive 60 percent, win or lose.

Mayweather was asked to confirm that he received a $100 million check after the fight, and soon pulled it from a pocket.

“The check got 9 figures on it, baby,” said Mayweather, whose payday could double as the revenues get tallied.

Inside the arena, show-business celebrities and famous athletes were sprinkled throughout the crowd.

The few tickets made available to the public were priced from $1,500 for seats in the top rows to $7,500 for a seat on the floor. Tickets were sold on the secondary market for $40,000 or more.

The bulk of the 16,507 fans at the MGM Grand Garden booed the decision by the three judges, who gave Mayweather a wide margin in the 12-round fight — 116-112 on two cards, 118-110 on the other. The judges agreed on 10 of the 12 rounds.

He stretched his record to 48-0 while quieting critics who thought he had spent years avoiding the showdown with Pacquiao.

“Manny Pacquiao is still a champion,” Mayweather said. “He still has a lot left. I was the better man tonight — more calculated fighter, took my time, had patience.”

While Pacquiao carried momentum through the early rounds with his robust, forward-moving attack, sometimes smiling at Mayweather as the bell sounded, judges ruled that Mayweather actually had led handily throughout.

“I know the judges weren’t going by the crowd screaming,” Mayweather said. “The judges were going by shots landed.”

Mayweather is under contract with Showtime to fight once more, in September, against an opponent to be determined. He sounded like a man ready to step away.

“It’s time for me to hang it up,” he said.

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/fight-of-century.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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Buffett Says Minimum Wage Increase Isn’t Answer To Income Gulf

Billionaire Warren Buffett said the level of income inequality in the U.S. is “extraordinary” but that raising the minimum wage isn’t the best solution.

“I don’t have anything against raising the minimum wage but I don’t think you can do it in a significant enough way without creating a lot of distortions,” Buffett, 84, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s chief executive officer, said Saturday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Those distortions “would cost a whole lot of jobs,” Buffett said.

Answering questions alongside Buffett, Charles Munger, 91, Berkshire’s vice chairman, said raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour since July 2009, “would hurt the poor.”

Some large companies have recently announced plans to raise wages for their lowest-paid workers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest private employer, announced a plan in February to begin paying all of its U.S. hourly workers at least $9 an hour in April and $10 an hour by next February.

The move will result in raises for about 500,000 workers in the first half of the current fiscal year and cost about $1 billion, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said in February.

Berkshire held 67.7 million Wal-Mart shares as of Dec. 31, a stake with a value of about $5.3 billion based at Friday’s closing price.

Senate Republicans last year blocked legislation that would have raised the minimum wage nationally to $10.10 an hour from $7.25.

Job Killer

President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats say that lifting the minimum would benefit the economy and reduce income inequality.

Many Republicans and business groups say the plan would cost jobs.

Buffett, the second-richest person in the U.S., said raising the minimum wage was “a form of price fixing” and instead favored reforming the earned income tax credit, a refund paid to low and moderate income individuals and couples.

The nation’s jobless rate has dropped 1.2 percentage points from the end of 2013 to 5.5 percent in March, close to the level that Federal Reserve policy makers consider full employment.

But lower unemployment has not translated into wage gains for many Americans.

“Everyone who is willing to work should have a reasonably decent livelihood in a country like the United States. How that is best achieved, I’m actually going to write something on that soon,” Buffett said.

Tax Credits

Buffett has said repeatedly that tax refunds are better for the economy and workers than forcing companies to increase wages.

“The earned income tax credit is much clearer,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC last year. “That puts more money in the pockets of people who are working for low wages.”.

Almost 28 million U.S. taxpayers received the EITC in the 2013 tax year, according to IRS data in December.

The payments totaled more than $66 billion and the average amount nationwide was about $2,407.

Berkshire employed 340,499 workers, as of Dec. 31, according to Buffett’s annual report to shareholders.

Last year the billionaire investor told CNBC that “very, very few” of them make minimum wage.

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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Ekiti Crisis: APC Lawmakers Give Terms For Truce

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Thursday shunned the peace meeting convened by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to reconcile them with Governor Ayodele Fayose.

The lawmakers in a statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, explained that while they appreciated the peace moves initiated by the eminent lawyer, surrounding circumstances gave away the governor as not prepared for any resolution of the crisis.

Specifically, the lawmakers said the security measures put in place for the peace parley revealed that the governor had a plan to attack and arrest some of them.

The lawmakers, therefore, proposed that the meeting be moved to Ibadan office of the Senior Advocate while members of the committee must be non-partisan elders.

But Babalola at the meeting on Thursday asked the Commissioner of Police, Ebojune Ibine, and the State Director of Department of State Service, Mr. Duke Fubara, to explain if they planned to arrest the lawmakers.

Both of them said that they had no instruction from anywhere to arrest anyone.

To ensure attendance of all parties, the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, said he gave an undertaking to personally lead the APC lawmakers out of the town after the meeting.

He said over 200 policemen had also been stationed at the entry point at Imesi to ensure their safety in and out of the town.

Reacting to Babalola’s claim that he had made security arrangement for 200 policemen to protect them into and out of Ado-Ekiti, the APC lawmakers said this alone had given away the motive of the peace meeting.

They wondered why the peace would include provision of security to escort them out of the state instead of escorting them to the House of Assembly to continue their legislative duties.

“We cannot hold any meeting on the basis of monetary settlement in isolation of the consideration of the constitutional breaches by the governor. It is amazing that the truce terms will not include resumption of our duties, but just to settle us monetarily and escorting us out of Ekiti State,” the statement explained.

Picking holes in the arrangement for the meeting, the lawmakers wondered why the governor was announcing the peace meeting intermittently on the state media while secretly mobilising the PDP members from the 16 local governments to storm the venue of the meeting.

“What is this all about if not coded incitement for mob attacks?” the lawmakers queried.

They also insisted that the security agents told them in clear terms that they could not guarantee their security and warned them against passing through the streets of Ado-Ekiti to the venue of the meeting.

They added that their discovery of a plot to arrest them confirmed their fears that even though Babalola might not know Fayose’s mindset, the revelation and what their government’s sources told them were enough to call off the meeting for a safer venue outside the state capital.

Listing their truce terms, they demanded immediate removal of all illegal structures that aid the activities of thugs and miscreants in and around the Ekiti State House of Assembly premises; restoration of the constitutionally recognized Speaker (Omirin), and other principal

officers illegally impeached back to their lawful positions; and the G19 should be allowed unfettered access to and from the Ekiti State House of Assembly to perform their legislative duties until the expiration of their tenure on June 6, 2015.

Others include stoppage of political arrests and vendetta against the APC members adding that the governor should facilitate these demands between now and May 4, 2015.

They expressed sincere appreciation to the elders who facilitated the meeting and urged them to consider holding the meeting at a neutral and safer venue.

But Fayose at the meeting promised to shift ground on contentious issues if that would return peace to the state.

The governor, who said his gesture should not be taken for cowardice, also debunked allegations by the lawmakers that he had connived with security agencies to arrest them if they appeared for the meeting.

“Within the ambit of the laws, I will respect the views of all of them. If there is anybody who should be evasive, it should be me because their time has almost expired. The guilty are afraid. 

“They said I sent police to arrest them, where will I keep them after arresting them? We should stop playing to the gallery in a matter like this. I’m ready to shift ground. I’m ready to ensure they depart and finish their tenure successfully and whatever is due to them, I’m ready to pay. That is not an act of cowardice.

“I’m prepared to make peace and work in the overall interest of the state. I’m ready to submit myself to this meeting as many times as possible.”

Others at the meeting include the Chairman, Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State, Chief Deji Fasuan, a former Minister of National Planning, Chief Ayo Ogunlade, a delegate to the National Conference 2014, Dr. Kunle Olajide and the factional Speaker, Dele Olugbemi.

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/ekiti-crisis-apc-lawmakers-give-terms.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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Buhari, Change Is Actually An Active Verb......Simon Kolawole

Months have slimmed down to weeks, and soon we will be counting days and hours to the historic change of baton between President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Soon and very soon, Buhari will start dominating the headlines: Buhari did this, Buhari did that.

Jonathan will take the back seat, except he wants to be like that megalomaniac interloper in Abeokuta.

The front-page pictures of the newspapers will be all Buhari.

The subject of discourse by columnists and TV analysts will be

Buhari. If the weather is too hot, it will be Buhari's failing. 

If a policeman collects N20 bribe somewhere in Ode Omu, it will be Buhari's fault. 

That's the way we are.

God save Buhari if the PDP propaganda machinery is half as effective as that of the APC: he would be in hot soup from the word go.

But the PDP, as things stand, is crushed and in disarray, and it may take the party years to get its bearing. 

So Buhari should at least have some breathing space in the meantime. Given the global goodwill he enjoys — backed by his reputation as an honest and modest man — Buhari will likely be given a chance.

Typically, electoral success produces the initial euphoria, followed by the honeymoon after inauguration.

Next, the people begin to size up the new leader and, finally, the hard reality sets in.

That's the way life goes.

Buhari won the presidential election promising "change".

Now that APC has captured power, "change" must move from slogan to action.

During the campaign, "change" was a noun, an idea, a jingle. "Change" must now function as a verb, an active verb at that.

Verb, we were told in primary school, is a "doing" word.

Active verb "does"; passive verb is "done".

So Buhari must change Nigeria else Nigeria will change him.

He must be the subject, not the object. If he does not "do", he will be "done" for.

If he does not "change" Nigeria very soon, trust Nigerians to become nostalgic and romantic about the past. You'll start hearing: "Even Jonathan was not this bad!"

In Nigeria, we always think a former president is better than the current one. After all, it was suggested at some stage that Gen. Sani Abacha was better than President Olusegun Obasanjo.

I heard arguments about how Abacha kept the exchange rate at N80 to $1 and how it had fallen to N120 under Obasanjo.

While I would agree that Abacha and Obasanjo were alike on many counts, I wouldn't suggest Abacha, who spent five years torturing and murdering Nigerians, was better.

However, if people could say late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua — who did virtually nothing — was better than Jonathan, then I have seen it all.

Three things will define the Buhari administration in its infancy: one, his first cabinet; two, his first decisions; and three, his first budget.

Will his first cabinet be dominated by jobbers, losers and other hopeless nominees intended to settle political IOUs like Obasanjo's team in 1999?

Will Buhari spend his first days in office reversing policies, instituting politically motivated probes and cancelling contracts like Yar'Adua did in 2007?

Will Buhari's first budget be overloaded with overheads and subsidy payments like Jonathan's in 2011?

These could end up shaping the direction of any administration.

The morning foretells the day in many instances.

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/buhari-change-is-actually-active.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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NLC Celebrates Jonathan

Jonathan's Labour Sector Feat Un-equalled, Says NLC......This Day Live

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba in his Workers Day address in Abuja yesterday said there had been relatively few strikes during President Jonathan's tenure, because he had been found to keep his word.

"Mr. President's other strong point is his willingness to reverse himself if he found himself in error. Similarly, his interventions, especially in sectoral disputes were transparent and decisive. We take liberty to cite his interventions in the ASUU strike and the threatened national sympathy strike in support of the National Union of Pensioners," Wabba added.

The NLC President also cited the review of the National Minimum wage from N5500 to N18000 by President Jonathan.

The congress however appealed for a waiver in respect of an FGN loan to the NLC and TUC to run their mass transit programmes, as had been done by previous administrations.

"We wish him well as he steps down from office with honour. History shall ever remember him as a President with a human heart, and a President who helped deepen our democracy. These are badges he can wear with pride anywhere," Wabba said.

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/nlc-celebrates-jonathan.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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NLC Asks Incoming APC Government To Keep To Its Promise Of Creating 3 Million Jobs Every Year

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, on Friday in Abuja vowed to hold the incoming Muhammadu Buhari-led government accountable in respect of his party’s promises to Nigerians and workers in particular.

Mr. Buhari was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The unions made the vow at the 2015 May Day celebration with the theme: “The Working Class, Democratic Consolidation and Economic Revival: Charting the Way to National Rebirth’’.

The NLC President,Ayuba Wabba, urged the incoming administration to revive the Ajaokuta Steel complex, saying the plant was conceived to be the cornerstone of Nigeria’s industrialization programme.

“Unfortunately, our political class has refused to accept the simple truth that no country can truly industrialize without iron and steel industry.

“The fate of Aladja, Osogbo, Jos and Katsina steel rolling mills post-

privatization is too grim to recall here,” Mr. Wabba said.

Mr. Wabba advised the government which is to be inaugurated on May

29, to view development from the prism of tapping into the abundant economic potential offered by the entrepreneurial drive of Nigerians.

He said that resources were locked up in the soil and that any country

“subserviently” reliant on importation, was only exporting jobs.

While urging the president-elect to pay attention to agriculture as it has the capacity to employ millions of Nigerians, Mr. Wabba said the

government must also lead the way by making farming attractive to

young people through the provision of agricultural inputs, equipment

and other relevant infrastructure.

“There is also the need to establish a strong linkage between different

sectors of our economy, especially with regard to promoting industrialisation and manufacturing.

“This will focus on turning our agricultural products and other

natural resources into quality semi-processed and fully processed

goods.’’

On the issue of unemployment, he noted that the incoming administration had promised to create three million jobs yearly.

“Our leadership will take up all levels of government on their

commitment to job creation and will not relent till we see tangible

results on these scores,” he said.

He noted that the prevailing economic crunch and the devaluation of the naira has eroded the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker.

“The National Minimum Wage of N18, 000 that was negotiated in

2010 is clearly no longer of any meaningful economic value to

workers.

“The five-year circle for periodic review of the National Minimum

Wage is at hand.

“We wish to use this May Day celebration to give formal notice

that we shall table a request for a new minimum wage for

consideration soon after the new administration is sworn in,” he

said.

The NLC president advised state governments and other employers

of labour yet to discharge their obligations under the current

national minimum wage regime to do so immediately as they were

breaking the law by not complying with the provisions of the 2011

National Minimum Wage Act.

On his part, Bobboi Kaigama, the President of TUC, called the

attention of the incoming government in the areas of economy, national security, anti-corruption war, national unity and cohesion, among others.

Mr. Kaigama said if the president-elect must succeed, his

administration must be quick to reverse the present ratio between

capital and recurrent expenditure.

“This should be done in such a way that 60 per cent of our total annual

revenue projections would be dedicated to the enhancement of social infrastructure and human capital development.’’

He said the incoming government must fashion out effective ways of

checking the wastage of the resources, curtailing theft in the oil sector, money laundering, over-invoicing and double-invoicing of contracts, dumping of foreign goods and excessive borrowing among others.

“We charge the incoming government to chart long-term goals but focus on the implementation of short-term and medium-term goals.’’

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/nlc-asks-incoming-apc-government-to.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

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Welcome To The Month Of May

It is the 1st of May 2015, the beginning of a brand new month, the fifth month in this dispensation. 

It is another God given opportunity for us to make a go at life and living; to erase the bad memories of the past month and concentrate on moving forward. 

Interesting things would happen in this month but the most interesting is that you shall witness it all and be alive to tell the tale.

In this month, God shall re-write your history, and you shall have every reason to rejoice.

In the place of stones in the mouth, He would give you meat 

In the place of rock, He would give you bread 

In the place of bitterness, He would give you honey 

In the place of barrenness, He would give you children

In the place of mourning, He would give you joy

In the place of lack, He would supply all your NEEDS 

In the place of joblessness, He would lift your head up 

When your detractors confound you, He would raise a Banner of protection 

When they come against you in seven ways, He shall scatter them in a hundred ways 

He would provide the Strong Tower into which you shall run in and Almightily protected 

He shall not let you be put to shame

He would uphold you by the Power of His Mighty Right Hand 

And any tongue that shall rise up in judgement against you, He shall deal with 

He is God, 

He is your Father, 

He loves you so much, 

He would bear you in His Palms and nobody can prize you away from Him. 

That is my prayer for you this 1st day of this new month of May 2015, 

by 31st of May, we shall take stock. 

It is also my prayer for myself 

Happy new month 

Do have a great month 

 Today Bless and be Blessed 

 #DrJTF

Source:     http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com/2015/05/welcome-to-month-of-may.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

You can follow him on http://twitter.com/hoijerrydfirst and like his page on http://facebook.com/drsirjtf

Royal Baby Watch: Kensington Palace Sends Birthday Cake To Super Fan

 

As the great wait for the birth of the second royal baby continues, Duchess Kate and Prince William are again turning their attention to the group of dedicated fans who have been camped outside St. Mary’s Hospital for weeks.

One of the fans, Terry Hutt, received an 80th birthday cake and a card today from Kensington Palace.

The thoughtful gift came on the heels of the sweet treats William, 32, and Kate, 33, sent to fans outside the hospital on Tuesday, two boxes of pastries and croissants to be exact.

Those treats were tied with a pink ribbon, leading royal watchers to speculate Kate could be due with a girl.

Royal sources insist the couple does not know the gender of their unborn baby so this time around the cake to Hutt was tied with both blue and pink ribbons.

The fans -- decked out head to toe in Union Jack gear -- have been camped outside St. Mary’s Hospital in London since mid-April, the beginning window for Kate's due date.

Though she said her due date range was from mid-April to the end of the month, Kate has still not entered the hospital as of today, the last day of April.

Kate and William are waiting out her pregnancy with their older son, George, at their home in Kensington Palace.

Kate was spotted behind the wheel of a Range Rover on Tuesday – reportedly driving George toBuckingham Palace’s swimming pool – and yesterday both she and William brought George to Buckingham Palace to spend some private time as a family and celebrate the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary.

http://shreddeddnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/royal-baby-watch-kensington-palace.html

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Jerry - the First is a Diversified Physician, Health Consultant, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Life Coach, Plan B Income Promoter and Blogger

He operates http://topitupads.com and Blogs at http://drjerrythefirst.blogspot.com

You can follow him on http://twitter.com/hoijerrydfirst and like his page on http://facebook.com/drsirjtf