On this day in 1957, Pipino Cuevas was born in Santo Tomas de Los Platanos, Mexico.

Most of us thought Manny Pacquiao would hook up again with WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera, but Golden Boy Promotions is saying that Barrera will fight WBO champion Juan Manuel Marquez on March 17, 2007.

On this day in 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African-American heavyweight champion in history with a 14th-round stoppage of Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

James Brown, aka the Godfather of Soul, a longtime friend of Don King who performed at the Ali-Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire, passed away on Monday, Christmas Day, at the Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. He was 73.

Happy Holidays! On this day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as executive president of the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. dissolved shortly thereafter and was replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States.

On this day in 1960, two future flyweight champions met early in their careers, as Masahiko “Fighting� Harada improved his record to 13-0 with a six-round decision over Hiroyuki Ebihara in Tokyo.

Despite printed and posted remarks alleging that Don King was pursuing Manny Pacquiao and throwing gobs of money at the Filipino boxing sensation, the promoter denies all the charges and says he didn’t do it.

On this day in 1909, Beryl David Rosofsky was born in New York City. The boxing community would come to know him as Barney Ross.

Uncrowned middleweight king Edison “Pantera� Miranda (27-1, 24 KOs) isn’t the strong, silent type. He’s definitely strong—his sensational first round KO over Willie Gibbs on HBO’s BAD clarified that—but judging from the statements he has made since that stunning win, silence isn’t his strong suit.

On this day in 1937, former bareknuckle fighter and boxing pioneer Jake Kilrain died in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is best known for fighting the last bareknuckle heavyweight title fight ever held.