A boxing promoter is offering Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith a million each to face off in the ring together for a celebrity boxing match.
Damon Feldman, the head of the Hollywood Boxing Federation, made the proposal to the stars, both of whom have starred in boxing movies, according to Radaronline.
Wahlberg’s film “The Fighter” opened on Friday and Smith starred as Muhammed Ali in the 2001 movie.
Unlike many of the fighters the Hollywood Boxing Federation has showcased, both Smith and Wahlberg have been trained by professionals.
To prepare for his role as a boxing champ in “The Fighter” Walhlberg said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he flew his two trainers, gloves and speed-bag to the sets of other movies and would get up as early as 4 a.m. to work on his fighting form. While on set, he reportedly would spar with the other three fighters in the film for hours.
“I spent more money paying my trainers and having them travel with me than I got paid, by a good half a million dollars,” he told the magazine.
Under Feldman’s proposal, Wahlberg and Smith would fight three one-minute rounds. Regulation amateur boxing rounds are normally three minutes long.
Even though he was locked up on Rikers Island, rapper Lil’ Wayne was able to help out a total stranger who felt like a prisoner in her own home.
The jailed rapper bought an $11,000 motorized wheelchair for a disabled New Jersey woman after receiving heart-wrenching letters from her daughter, according to the New York Daily News.
“I pray for him every night thanking him for this chair,” Evelyn Austin, 64, of Williamstown, N.J. “I love every bit of it. It changed my life.”
Austin, who was homebound, can now take spins around the block, manuever around the house. Her husband, Ronald, took her to Atlantic City to cruise the Boardwalk.
The selfless gift came after Evelyn Austin’s daughter, Ronda, sent Wayne dozens of letters while he was behind bars.
Wayne was served an eight-month sentence on a gun-possession charge. He was released on Nov. 4.
Evelyn Austin, had been confined to a wheelchair for nearly 15 years after her knees began to fail. Things got worse for the former nurse when she tumbled off a ramp while leaving church.
Her wheelchair, already indequate, was further damaged. Without a wheelchair, the elder Austin didn’t get out of bed, or her house, for almost two years.
When the “Lollipop” rapper surprised his fan with a phone call, he asked Ronda Austin if her mother had been able to get a new wheelchair. After finding out she was still struggling, Wayne said, “Don’t worry about it. I got you.”
“It was something that he was compelled to do,” said Nina Packer, who heads Lil’ Wayne’s charitable foundation. “He wanted to buy Mrs. Austin the Maybach of wheelchairs.”
More than 22 months after beating up then-girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown has completed his domestic-violence program.
The rapper-actor tweeted a picture of his certificate with the simple words “im done with class.”
The class is the second part of his sentence that the singer finished after pleading guilty to felony assault in 2009. Now he just has to deal with being on probation until 2014.
While this is the first time in a few months that Brown has mentioned the incident, he’s been by all accounts a model at following court orders.
According to People, in a progress review in February, L.A. Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Schnegg said, “Looks like you’re doing really, really well. That’s always good to see.”
His public career took a little longer to get rave reviews again, but seemingly has bounced back.
“In the immediate aftermath of the incident, there was all of this ‘dead’ talk – nobody will work with him, he’ll never be able to sell another record – and that’s turned out to not be true,” Rollingstone deputy editor Caryn Ganz told CNN in February.
It’s been a memorable year for Bret Michaels: he survived a near-fatal brain hemorrhage; he won NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice; and now, he’s engaged.
On Monday night’s finale of his VH1 reality show, Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It, the Poison frontman popped the question to his longtime girlfriend of 16-years, Kristi Gibson — and she said yes.
In traditional form, the rocker, 47, got down on bended knee and professed his love for Gibson, 39, saying: “I want you to be my wife. Please say yes, or the rejection will kill me right now.”
Despite Kristi earlier in the show saying: “I don’t need the piece of paper.. I don’t need the ring”, she responded to Bret’s proposal by saying “of course I will… I love you… I’m speechless… I thought this day would never come.”
The happy couple immediately shared the good news with their daughters, Raine, 10, and Jorja, 5.
— lsmith@denverpost.com
