Kieran Mulvaney

So here's a story. As a young thing, I was a huge Bangles fan. In fact, I was for a while dating a woman whose previous boyfriend had produced their most recent album, so the way I saw it, we were practically related.

But the Bangles broke up, and life went on, and I became a boxing writer, as you do.
Then one day, I'm guessing about 10 years ago but maybe a little less, I was in Las Vegas to cover some fight or another at the Mandalay Bay, and as I'm walking around the casino, I see a poster that reveals that a) The Bangles have reformed (yay), and b) are performing at The Beach at Mandalay Bay that week (OMG!) but that c) the show is on Saturday night, when I'm going to be ringside (booo!).

Over coffee one morning, I express my sadness to my friends Gordon and Scott at Mandalay (as then they were, as I believe this was before The Corporate Unification), and they say, "No problem. We can get you a ticket, and the fight will be over before the concert starts." And the fight card begins, and people are getting knocked out left and right, and I'm all excited. But the TV fights all go the distance, and by the time the broadcast ends, I know I've missed my chance.

I slouch sadly down the hallway that leads from the bowels of the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in time to hear the final chords of 'Eternal Flame' and Susanna Hoffs saying, "You've been a wonderful audience. Good night."

And I was sad.

And that's the end of my story.

But this video features both some very young Bangles AND Leonard Nimoy, which makes it inherently cool and also makes me happy.

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For five long years, the question with which I - and indeed anyone else associated with boxing - has long been bombarded is: "Will Mayweather and Pacquiao ever fight?" Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are unquestionably the two best fighters of their generation; they seemed on the verge of meeting in the ring in early 2010, but the fight fell apart as a result of contractual disagreements. Since then, there have been one or two occasions on which hope has been rekindled only to be once more dashed. Now, however, it is on; the two men will clash on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It promises to be the most lucrative fight in boxing history, with the smart money on it selling somewhere between 3 and 4 million pay-per-views - or even more - in the US alone. I wrote about the fight's significance here ; on March 11, the principals gathered for the one and only pre-fight press conference, and I was honored to co-host the live broadcast of the event with Brian Custer.



The entire show lasts approximately 75 minutes; for those of you with less time to spare, here's a 150 second edit of my conversation with Manny Pacquiao to close out the program:

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Hectic week coming up: Bristol to Montreal; Montreal to Los Angeles (which is going to have to be the subject of a separate blog post); Los Angeles back to Montreal. La Metropole du Quebec is hosting a light-heavyweight clash, between Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal; I'll be there for HBO, and here's a 13 minute preview of the contest, featuring yours truly.



It will be my second trip with Montreal with HBO, and an evocative one, in many ways. My last visit there, in January of last year, was my very first time reporting on camera for HBO Boxing News. I had no idea then what I was doing, or for how long I would be doing it; 14 moths later, it's a part of my life and career to an extent I could never have imagined. I've rarely if ever been happier with, or more grateful for, a gig in my life. Read More 

Just to prove that I was actually working while in the Principality ...








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I'm sitting in a hotel room, porch doors open, caressed by a gentle breeze, listening to the sound of waves washing upon shore. Yes, I actually get paid for this.

I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm now living in a Christmas card.

Finally, the sleep was deep. For the previous several days, after a few hours, the eyes would spring involuntarily open at 2, 3 or, on the good days, 4AM, the body so tired but the mind racing with knowledge of and stress over the many things that still needed to be done:  Read More 

View of a barn from a bedroom window. Bristol, Vermont, December 20, 2014.

It feels like it was only two years ago that I was posting about having to buy a new notebook. It was only two years ago. True to form, the hard drive on my laptop died after two years of use; for whatever reason, this appears to be the average lifespan for my notebooks. Just to turn things up a notch, this time the hard drive died while I was in China. All is not lost (although all of the data I've saved over the past two years is). I really didn't need to be spending money on a new computer on top of all my house-moving expenses, but such is life. OK, Samsug, you're up to bat. Last until 2017 and you'll have broken the record.  Read More 

My body is in Macau, China, covering a fight for HBO.

My mind is in Bristol, Vermont, thinking of the 150-year-old farmhouse I am on the cusp of owning, and wishing I were moved in already. Only a month or so to go, before my world turns upside down ...