Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito are set to square off today at Cowboys Stadium for what appears is going to be an exciting WBC Super Welterweight title fight.

Margarito (38-6-0-1, 27 KOs) is coming into the fight expecting to be very active in the ring. In other words, this bout is expected to be quite different from the Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight at Cowboys Stadium that took place last March.

Fans will remember seeing Clottey taking an uncomfortably passive stance in the fight, one that he took much criticism for afterwards with many pundits citing a “huge payday” that was in the cards for Clottey, win or lose.

This time, fans in Dallas, Texas expect to see a show. Margarito is both bigger and taller than Congressman Pacquiao, and has told the media he’s more prepared than ever for this type of a stage.

“I’m the best I’ve ever trained and I’m the best I’ve ever been for a fight,” Margarito asserted.

Pacquiao believes he can end the fight in eight rounds. How does Manny plan on countering Margarito’s size advantage on Saturday night?

“Speed.”

Jim McMahon, an ex-NFL quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears, recently told the Chicago Tribune that he has been suffering from memory loss as a result of the heavy contact sport that is Football. In his words, his memory is “pretty much gone.”

“There are a lot of times when I walk into a room and forget why I walked in there,” said McMahon. “I’m going through some studies right now and I am going to do a brain scan.”

McMahon’s comments come at a time when the NFL is largely cracking down on hits that lead to head injuries. No doubt the league will be interested in hearing about the results of McMahon’s brain scan.

“It’s unfortunate what the game does to you,” remarked McMahon. Though, he continued by saying he doesn’t believe the NFL should make any drastic changes.

“It’s a contact sport and these guys are getting fined for legal hits and I think it’s ridiculous. This is the nature of the game,” McMahon asserted. “Now with the rule changes, I think it’s ruining the game.”

In recent weeks, a number of injuries have led to the NFL’s increased awareness of injuries to the head. The most recent example came in week 9, when Austin Collie of the Indianapolis Colts suffered a concussion after taking a jarring helmet-to-helmet hit from Eagles defensive back Ken Coleman.

Austin Collie has been ruled out of Week 10 action against the Cincinnati Bengals by Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell. A head injury took Collie out of a game between the Colts and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

Collie was the victim of a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit delivered by Kurt Coleman, a defensive back on the Eagles. After the game, Caldwell said Collie was lucky to come out of this hit with only a concussion.

The Colts wide-out would later leave the game on a stretcher. Collie’s status for games past Week 10 is still up in the air, and will likely remain that way until late next week.

League officials are still debating whether or not the helmet-to-helmet hit warrants a serious fine as the contact appeared to be made after Collie had already taken two steps with the ball in possession.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Galens

For some homeowners, the decreasing values of their properties could mean that they will end up with more mortgage debt than their home is really worth. This situation, referred to as an underwater mortgage, can be very difficult to deal with.

Some lenders have provided these homeowners with a reduction of their loan amount. Both Citigroup and Bank of America have offered the reductions, although it has not been widely available.

Still, most other lenders have hesitated in offering these mortgage principal reductions. And as more and more homeowners find themselves in an underwater mortgage situation, lenders are receiving more requests than ever to help those who need principal reductions.

Reductions of mortgage principal have also been offered through a principal forgiveness plan. Under this program, those who make regular payments on their mortgage were offered a reduction, though this has not been widely used either. Still, there are other ways to receive help with an underwater mortgage, such as refinancing offers from the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

Nonetheless, analysts suspect that additional solutions should be available for homeowners with underwater mortgages. Many feel that market prices have undergone inflation, and that underwater mortgages are simply too severe for many homeowners considering this.

Some analysts also think that forgiving or lowering mortgage principals for those with an underwater mortgage could be essential in returning home prices to their proper values.

Photo courtesy: Brock Builders / Flickr

Home Mortgage Servicing Company

The American Home Mortgage Servicing company based in Texas has been accused of violating the Texas Debt Collection and Deceptive Trade Practices Acts. Allegations from the state, including Attorney General Greg Abbot, say that AMHS used unlawful tactics to coerce payments from homeowners.

The methods used by AMHS violated many Texas and Federal laws regarding fair mortgage practices. The company took advantage of homeowners who weren’t able to pay their mortgages off.

They made false claims regarding the late and missed payments of homeowners and used those claims to charge excessive late fees or extort payments out of the homeowners. AHMS also failed to provide homeowners their due credits for making payments on time.

AHMS actually worsened the situation for many homeowners, especially those who were facing foreclosure. The AHMS company claimed to offer services to homeowners in financial trouble, but they did little to deliver on their promises.

Many of the services that they claimed to do to help homeowners actually made things more difficult for them. The loan modifications that AHMS coordinated often caused the homeowners to owe more money in each monthly payment, making it even harder to meet the monthly mortgage payments.

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks / Flickr

Clearwire

The wireless internet service provider Clearwire announced their new 4G network on Monday. Called Rover, the service will run on a pay-as-you-go payment model.

The network is available now in all of Clearwire’s markets. Sprint Nextel owns 51% of Clearwire, and they currently use the company to power Sprint’s 4G-WiMax network.

Clearwire has proven to be an unprofitable venture in the past. They have been unable to make any money on their 4G network, and have lost nearly $1 billion this year alone. With Rover, it seems that Clearwire is trying to obtain more customers for its mobile broadband service.

There are two devices that will allow consumers to connect to Rover. One is a USB modem called the “Stick” that will retail for $100, and the other is the “Puck” which allows consumers to hook up the 4G broadband to as many as eight devices for $150. Prices for using the network itself will vary, with usage for a day, a week, and a month costing $5, $20, and $50 respectively.

Although Clearwire is the only service provider to offer a 4G network, other companies will soon be entering the market, with Verizon and AT&T both planning to offer their own network over the next year.

Still, Clearwire says that they will have an edge on the competition by attracting younger internet users with its pay-as-you-go model.