Can’t you just imagine the immortal heavyweight champions of yore, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano and the rest of the bunch all convened up there in boxing heaven, looking down on us and shaking their heads sadly? Samuel Peter, a worthy challenger from Nigeria, was awarded the WBC interim heavyweight world title distinction by the sanctioning body after their champion, 38 year old Russian Oleg Maskaev, apparently suffered a multiple disc herniation injury during training which could keep Maskaev inactive for up to four months.

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I’ve received more negative feedback sent to my email address of mswann4@aol.com in the past few days than with all of my previous columns combined. Last week I wrote a column that was largely devoted to the exploitation of ticket sales to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight. Using information obtained from Skysports.com that read, “Applications must state maximum amount you are willing to pay per ticket,” I charged that Ricky Hatton was as guilty of profiteering as are so many others who seek to take advantage of the general public in general and those great British fans in particular.

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It came as no surprise that the tickets for the December 8 Floyd Mayweather Jr. -Ricky Hatton fight sold out within minutes of being placed on sale. (Actually I was a tad surprised when a British reader sent me an email saying that he had purchased tickets. I’m a cynical sort at times and I had doubts that tickets would be offered to anyone other than the promoters, casinos, and the Mayweather-Hatton allocations.)

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Sports and Entertainment Publications, LLC, a subsidiary of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions announced last week that it had acquired The Ring Magazine, KO Magazine, World Boxing Magazine, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated from the Kappa Publishing Group. In short, De La Hoya is now the official chief of the 85 year old “Bible of Boxing.”

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Good grief! We haven’t had any premier boxing on Showtime or HBO in over a month and now with the postponements and cancellations it appears that our next shot is going to be the Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik confrontation on September 29. I’ve looked at all of my options for a suitable substitute and I’ve come to the conclusion that aside from boxing, I don’t have a life. At this point I don’t know how I’m going to continue to make excuses as to why I’m negligent in my household duties.

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When Kendall Holt and his manager/assistant trainer Henry Cortes arrived in Miami on Sunday, September 2, on the first leg of their trip back to Paterson, New Jersey, they called, just as they had promised during our recent interview. Cortes spoke in a tone that could be described as repressed rage, Holt in tones of youthful disbelief of the chaos of the previous night.

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The series of emails between the IBF and the ABC might well be the smoking gun that Armando Garcia possibly broke Federal law, Article 6308 of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 which covers conflicts of interest. In addition, the fact that his payment came through Duane Ford indicates a desire to avoid a paper trail, at least in that particular case.

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Chapter 89 of the Professional boxing Safety Act of 1996, Article 6308, entitled Conflicts of Interest, clearly states, “No member or employee of a boxing commission, no person who administers or enforces state boxing laws, and no member of the Association of Boxing Commissions may belong to, contract with, or receive any compensation from, any person who sanctions, arranges, or promotes boxing matches…”

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