A get 2 know interview with the Cleveland Indians slugger...

The Biofiles: Travis Hafner

By Scoop Malinowski mrbiofile@aol.com



Status: Cleveland Indians first baseman/designated hitter

Height: 6-3 Weight: 240

DOB: June 3, 1977 In: Sykeston, N.D.



Hobbies/Interests: "Play a lot of video games, play pool, watch TV, movies." (Getty Images)

Baseball Inspirations: "I was really into the Orioles, I liked Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray."

Nicknames: "Dakota, Hugh, Haf, Pronk (combination of two 2003 spring training nicknames -- Project and Donkey)."

Hobbies/Interests: "Play a lot of video games, play pool, watch TV, movies."

Early Baseball Memory: "Just remember playing this Little League tournament at this place, if you hit a home run you got like this big, inflatable baseball bat. I thought that was pretty cool (age 8)."

Favorite Movies: "Old School and Anchor Man."

Favorite TV Shows: "Seinfeld and wrestling."

Musical Tastes: "Linkin Park, Rammstein, Metallica."

First Job: "I never really had a job, just worked on the family farm (in North Dakota)."

First Car: "Chevy Celebrity. (Color?) Gray."

Favorite Meal: "Probably steak."

Favorite Breakfast Cereal: "Lucky Charms."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Chocolate chip cookie dough."

Pregame Feeling: "Just make sure that I'm prepared. Know what the pitcher features for pitches and how he'll probably try to get me out. And just make sure I'm prepared to go play."

Greatest Sports Moment: "My career? (Yes.) [Pause] ... I don't know. I guess winning the college championship."

Most Painful Moment: "Probably any time at the end of the season where you're not in -- or if you are in the playoffs, losing out. It's usually like the last game of the season, if you don't win."

Favorite Uniforms: "[Pause] ... Growing up and being an Orioles fan, I like the Orioles uniforms. And I think ours are pretty good too."

Favorite Ballpark(s): "Seattle and Baltimore."

Closest Baseball Friends: "I don't know, there's quite a few."

Funniest Players Encountered: "Same thing, there's a lot of those. A lot of funny people out there and a lot of funny people you like to hang out with."

Toughest Competitors: "I don't know on that one."

Embarrassing Baseball Memory: "I think there was one time against Toronto a few years ago where there was a play at the plate and I went to hit the catcher and he just moved out of the way and I just missed him and fell down and missed home plate. Got (me) out."

Favorite Athletes To Watch: "Probably Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James. Two of my favorite basketball players. (Baseball?) There's a lot of baseball players that I enjoy watching. Manny Ramirez. Jim Thome. Albert Pujols. Barry Bonds. Todd Helton. There's quite a few of them I enjoy to watch. (NFL?) I usually watch players that I have on my Fantasy team. (Who?) Edgerrin James, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss. Barry Sanders was fun to watch. Peyton Manning is fun to watch quarterback. (Tennis?) I enjoy watching Roddick play. The Federer guy, he's pretty good, too. (Boxing?) I always enjoyed watching Tyson, especially back in his heyday. (Golf?) I usually just watch golf on the final day of the tournament, it's usually pretty fun to watch. (Wrestling?) Probably Stone Cold, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar were always my favorites. Also Triple H and Ric Flair [smiles]."

Favorite Vacation Spot: "Hawaii."

Interesting Fact: Travis tied Don Mattingly's major league record last year by hitting six grand slams.

People Qualities Most Admired: "That they treat people good and they have a sense of humor."

Biofiles Coming Soon: Oscar De La Hoya, Bob Baffert, Elliott Sadler, Gail Devers.

Check out my interview with the electrifying MMA dynamo Urijah Faber which is in the current issue of Full Contact Fighter...

The Biofile Urijah Faber

By Scoop Malinowski

STATUS: WEC Lightweight champion.

HT: 5-6 WT: 156

DOB: May 14, 1979 IN: Santa Barbara, CA

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: "I have a lot of stuff to do with fighting - watching other fighters, learning. Outside of fighting, I like to go to the beach, anywhere sunny near the ocean is awesome. I like to eat good food obviously. Hang out with my friends."

NICKNAMES: "Bambi was from Pop Warner football. My coach was making fun of me because all the little cheerleaders liked me I guess because of my big brown eyes. So he called me Bambi. Thimby from my little sister and stepdad."

FAVORITE MOVIES: "I like all sorts of older ones, like Cool Hand Luke, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, probably Gladiator. Blood Sport."

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: "I would have to say...growing up it was Cheers. I don't really have one now. Anything fighting."

MUSICAL TASTES: "I like a ton of different stuff, anything from rap to rock to country. Depends on the mood. If I'm relaxing on the beach - something like Jack Johnson or Johnny Cash."

LAST BOOK READ: " Chuck Liddell's book. I read it this weekend."

FIRST JOB: "I used to do acting when I was little. I was in commercials and plays. And got paid for it."

FIRST CAR: "Datsun B310 '85 (white)."

CURRENT CAR: "Is a Toyota Sequoia (champagne color)."

FIRST FIGHTING MEMORY: "I remember sparring in karate as like a second-grader, like every Friday. Every Friday was sparring. I never tried any kicks, just haymakers. They moved me up to my brother's class, my brother (Ryan) is two-and-a-half years older than me. Then the older kids started kicking me and it was harder to throw haymakers."

FAVORITE MEAL: "Anything my mom makes, Italian, salad and chicken or barbecue chicken."

FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: "Honey Bunches of Oats."

CHILDHOOD DREAM: "You know, as a little kid I didn't have something I wanted to be. I'm not a huge planner. I wanted to be Spiderman a long time ago, that's the last one I have. Just kinda went with the flow after that."

FAVORITE WEBSITES: "Sherdog.com. And MMAWeekly."

PRE-FIGHT FEELING: "I try to relax - till an hour before the fight. Then I start to think about my offense, what I'm gonna do to the other guy. Impose my will."

GREATEST CAREER MOMENT: "Yet to come."

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: "It was being drunk after the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships, wrestling in the hallway at like 4 am (in 2005). I had a severely sprained ankle, thought I broke it. Was out for three months. That was right before my fight with Tyson Griffin."

WORST INJURIES: "I haven't really had any injuries, knock on wood. Cut my head open once. Seven staples in my head. Busted my head open with Tyson Griffin. Eight seconds into the fight I did a head dive, hit an inside ankle trip. And came directly down on part of the cage."

WHICH FIGHT WAS YOUR FINEST/BEST PERFORMANCE: "Not sure, man. To be honest, my best performance...my game is always changing so much. I'm gonna say I haven't had my best performance yet."

FUNNY FIGHTING MEMORY: "Let me see...go back to some of my early fights. It's not too funny but it's all I can think of now. In my second fight against George Atkins, I remember kind of feeling sorry for him. During little breaks asking him, like I knocked his mouthpiece out and let him put it back in. Asking him, Do you still want to keep going? Because it was a non-stop, just a total beatdown. It was pretty brutal."

EMBARRASSING FIGHTING MEMORY: "Not really."

FAVORITE FIGHTER(S) TO WATCH: "Yeah, I like watching Sakuraba in Japan. He's always entertaining, he does some inventful stuff. He's original. It looks like he's having fun in there. I like his attitude. Like one fight with Royce Gracie and he was taking off Royce Gracie's Gi. You could see Helio trying not to laugh. Sakuraba was taking his pants and Gi off while they're in the standing position."

INSPIRATIONS: "Other fighters. I get inspiration from all sorts of different fighters. Not one in particular. I get motivated by great fights. I remember watching a Strike Force fight. All the fights were lame. And then Gilbert Melendez and Clayton Guida came on and gave an awesome fight, a back and forth battle. I needed that. I had a fight coming up and just wasn't feeling the regular amp. That fight kicked me right back into the mode."

LAST VACATION: "It wasn't related to fighting or work...Bali, Indonesia a couple of years back. Pretty awesome, man. Really nice. Right after my fight with Charlie Valencia."

LAST HALLOWEEN COSTUME: "I can't remember the last time I dressed up...probably a pimp."

PEOPLE QUALITIES MOST ADMIRED: "I like to see people that are positive. I feel like the most successful people in the world are people who are able to stay positive. My dad's one person like that. He's just a happy dude."

www.thebiofile.com

Glen Johnson Remembers The Night He KOed Roy Jones

By Scoop Malinowski, photo by Tom Casino/SHOWTIME - Glen Johnson became a legend of the ring the night he KO'ed Roy Jones in September 2004. Nobody ever expected to see Jones so completely obliterated as he was at the hands of Johnson that night, a historic performance which helped Gentleman Glen to earn the 2005 Ring Magazine and USA Today Fight of the Year honors. I spoke recently with The Road Warrior about the unforgettable evening he conquered Roy Jones Jr. in round 9. As well as why he believes he will take the WBC Light Heavyweight title from Chad Dawson this weekend in Tampa. Antonio Tarver also weighs in on the deceptive effectiveness of Glen Johnson (47-11-3, 32 KO's)...

Scoop: I guess it's safe to assume the finest performance of your career in the ring was against Roy Jones?

Glen Johnson: "I would say the best performance of my career was the Roy Jones fight. I was on target, everything was on that night. The whole training camp, everything was on. I was taking out sparring partners. I was just feeling good. I was excited. I was paying attention to the negative things they was saying about me and it fueled me, it gave me the extra energy that I needed."

Scoop: Could you reflect on what the critics were saying that motivated you?

Glen Johnson: "They were saying that there shouldn't be a Glen Johnson-Roy Jones fight. There should be a rematch betwen Tarver and Jones instead of the Glen Johnson-Roy Jones fight. They were saying Roy Jones was going to wipe the ground with me. Knock me out. I felt it was a disrespect and I used that in a positive way."

Scoop: Was there a time in that fight where you saw an expression on Roy's face where he was beginning to realize he was going to lose to you?

Glen Johnson: "Well there was no time in that fight that Roy Jones thought he was going to lose. I believe in the fifth round I believe he really tried to stand his ground and be like he was gonna make a statement and win. That didn't work. I think in the fifth round is when he had his best round. And when that didn't work I could see him thinking, This is not working out the way I expect. But I believe he still think that he would be able to find a way to pull it out."

Scoop: What's it going to take to beat Chad Dawson?

Glen Johnson: "What's it going to take to defeat Chad Dawson is Glen Johnson. And I will show the people exactly what it takes on April 12. I'm not really gonna talk too much about it. I'm not gonna give Chad reasons to make adjustments. I'm not gonna give him what any of my fighting plans are or anything like that. They're gonna expect the same things that they saw on tape. And they're gonna get a little bit of that plus some other things. And it's gonna be an exciting fight. I will be champion that night, wearing the WBC title. I'm looking forward to the winner of the Tarver-Clinton Woods."

Antonio Tarver was on hand and explained why the 39-year-old Johnson is so effective and why he believes Johnson could upset Dawson.

"Glen Johnson just applies an enormous amount of pressure. You have to be in tremendous shape in order to do the things that your talents will allow you to do, in order to prevent Glen Johnson from just mowing you over. You gotta keep something in his face. You gotta be ready for a long, long fight. I give him a good chance against Chad. Because I don't think Chad knows that. He's going to have to experience that to know what it's really like."

You can read more of Scoop at Boxinginsider.com which has re-launched.

Miguel Cotto is the man that Floyd Mayweather is AVOIDING. Only the minority knows it now but eventually all will know. Emanuel Steward has called Cotto "The most amazing and respected fighter in boxing today." Cotto is a wrecking machine in the ring but outside of it he is a humble gentleman who refuses to say anything bad about anyone, even the man dodging him - Mayweather. You will enjoy this Biofile with Miguel Cotto who unbeknownst to many, actually speaks excellent English...



The Biofile Miguel Angel Cotto

By Scoop Malinowski



Status: WBA Welterweight champion.

Ht: 5-8 Wt: 147

DOB: October 29, 1980 In: Caguas, Puerto Rico



Childhood Heroes: "It's hard to believe but I never really followed boxing when I was a kid. I didn't know who the fighters were at the time. Every time I turn on boxing I like boxing and I enjoy boxing and, to me, it's just a fun sport."



Age Started Boxing: "I started boxing at 11."



Hobbies/Interests: "I'm a homebody. I stay along with my family a lot. I spend a lot of time with my family. Maybe reading. Taking it easy. I don't really do much."



Favorite Movie: "Men of Honor."



Musical Tastes: "I like everything."



Early Boxing Memory: "You know, when I took this up, I took it up to lose weight. I got into boxing just to lose weight [smiles]. I ended up making it my career. When I think back about it, I think about how going to lose some weight turned into a career for me."



Pre-Fight Feeling: "I think about what I have to do to win the fight. I think about my family that depends on me so much for me to win the fight. And all the work everyone around me has done. I have all the responsibility and I want to do well for them."



Pre-Fight Meal: "Pasta, some pasta."



Favorite Meal: "Anything my mom makes."



Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Vanilla."



First Job: "I never worked. Thanks to my family who's always been into boxing, that's all I've ever done."



First Car: "Ford Escort (black)."



Current Car: "I have a Mercedes (black)."



Greatest Sports Moment: "Without a doubt, September 11, 2004 - when my dream came true of winning the world championship (TKO 6 Kelson Pinto in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico)."



Most Painful Moment: "I had an automobile accident. And it looked like my career was over at that point. And I look back at that as one of my most painful moments because I thought that I was done. Before I even started."



Embarrassing Boxing Moment: "No. I wouldn't say I had any embarrassing or anything like that in boxing. I think you have some bad moments in boxing but I don't think I had a very embarrassing moment."



Funny Boxing Memory: "You know what? I always took it so seriously. I was being serious about my work and I don't find anything in the ring or outside the ring when I'm working I think that's funny. It's just work."



Childhood Dream(s): "That's hard to tell. Like I told you, I didn't really think about going into boxing as a career as being a dream. I didn't really think about anything. I didn't know what I was gonna be. I didn't know what I was gonna do. But right now - once I got into boxing - that was my dream."



Favorite Boxers To Watch: "I never actually saw him live or anything, but they were showing me tapes of Wilfredo Gomez and that guy was really good. And I enjoy watching those old videos of him."



Favorite Fights: "Fights like the Wilfredo Gomez-Carlos Zarate fight. Barrera-Morales fight. De La Hoya-Quartey. Trinidad-Vargas. Those are the fights that I remember, fights that are good."



Toughest Man You Faced: "Ricardo Torres. I didn't expect it to be so tough and to go back and forth like it did. I'm glad people saw that I can take a punch and fight back. All the time I was thinking, I had to win the fight, no matter how. I didn't care how I won, I had to win. This is the first time I've been knocked down. We lived all the things a boxer can live. Now I've been through all a great fighter must go through. All the adversity inside the ring and I still won the fight."



Last Holiday: "Two weeks after my fight with Urkal. I stay in Puerto Rico, but a few places in Puerto Rico."



People Qualities Most Admired: "I think if you're humble, as long as you understand to be humble. I think that's all I ask for in a person."