By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – There’s fusion in cooking, music and sometimes fighters. The best of them are often a product of attaining that perfect mix. It’s deliberate, yet looks natural when complete. It’s a process that is beginning to look a lot like Oscar Valdez Jr.

Valdez already has a major title. But his WBO featherweight belt is just the beginning, one ingredient in the evolving face of a new champion who intends to be around a lot longer than an interim title.

“The thing is not to became a world champion, but to stick around as one,’’ Valdez said Thursday at The Wynn during at a news conference for his first title defense on the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas pay-per-view card at Thomas & Mack on Saturday (6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET).

Valdez is facing an unknown Japanese featherweight, Hiroshige Osawa, who is a WBO-ranked contender fighting in the United States for the first time. Osawa doesn’t appear to be much of a risk to take the title Valdez won in a powerful second-round stoppage of Argentina’s Matias Rueda in July.

But don’t say that to Valdez, who grew up in Tucson and in Nogales on the Mexican side of the border with Arizona. Valdez learned two languages, a couple of cultures and respect for both of them. He looks at Osawa and sees an equal.

“The more I see of him and the way he keeps coming at you, the more I realize he’s a tough opponent,’’ Valdez said.

It would be no surprise if Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs) sees Osawa (30-3-4, 19 KOs) flat on his back sometime early in a scheduled 12 rounder. But it would have been a huge surprise if Valdez had been anything but respectful in interviews before opening bell. He’s as disciplined with his manners as he is with his punches.

“A dedicated, serious young man,’’ his promoter, Bob Arum, said.

A powerful one, too.

His power has quickly caught the attention of the best at 126 pounds. It’s even surprised him.

“To be honest, it has,’’ said Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian. “I knew I had some power, but not this kind.’’

The power is reflected in stoppages in all but three of his 21 bouts. Valdez says his father, Oscar Sr., told him that the power is the result of his speed. That speed comes from an unlikely place. His dad told him that it comes from the water.

“We’re swimmers,’’ Valdez said. “When I was a kid, I swam competitively for a few years before I began to spend more time boxing in the gym. I was never big enough to be a competitive swimmer anyway.’’

Yet, he and his father believe his speed is a byproduct of his days in the pool.
Fast hands and fast feet complement each other in a increasingly fluid style that over the last few last bouts appears to flow from round to round and over one opponent after another.

Who’s next? Maybe Nonito Donaire. Donaire is on the undercard Saturday against Jessie Magdaleno, who is managed by Valdez manager Frank Espinoza. If Donaire beats Magdaleno at 122 pounds, he has talked about moving back up to 126, possibly in a bid for Valdez’ title.

“I’m looking for Jessie to win,’’ Espinoza said. “I’ll have a better plan after Saturday night.’’

An alternate plan might be as intriguing as any. Arum is talking to Al Haymon, which means the PBC’s stable of great featherweights – Carl Frampton, Leo Santa Cruz, Lee Selby, Abner Mares and Jesus Cuellar – might be on Valdez’ horizon. Mares faces Cuellar on Dec. 10 in Los Angeles.

“I’d love that fight (Mares),’’ said Espinoza, who managed Mares before he jumped to Haymon. “It would be a great LA fight. But for now, I want to keep Oscar as busy as possible. He really loves to fight. We hope to have him back fighting in March.’’

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – Two-hundred-and-fifty million dollars mean all kinds of things. A quick check with Google will deliver a list of hedge finds, tax evasion, lawsuits, Donald Trump, luxury condos, good bets, lousy bets and maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. posing next to an open suitcase full of cash.

It’s all there, except for Manny Pacquiao’s generosity. It’s mostly been a story about anecdotes. He builds homes for Filipinos. He buys a fleet of new boats for a coastal town’s fishermen. His promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, has called him the Pacific nation’s one-man social welfare system.

For the first time, however, maybe a number can be attached next to an inexhaustible generosity from a guy who never seems to stop fighting or giving. Best estimate: $250 million.

“Every income I receive in boxing, almost half of it goes to the less fortunate,’’ Pacquiao said Wednesday before a formal news conference at The Wynn for his pay-per-view bout against WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas at Thomas & Mack Saturday night (6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET).

Pacquiao’s career income for purses and endorsements is at $500 million after his April victory over Timothy Bradley, according to Forbes. Half of that adds up to a lot homes, fishing boats and meals for Filipinos who need them. It also amounts to some – make that a lot – of political clout for the fighter who was elected to the Filipino Senate in May.

As a Senator, Pacquiao’s duties include membership on 15 committees, two of which he chairs, according to Arum. His life as a full-time Senator resumes on Tuesday, just a few days after at least one more fight as a full-time boxer. The question of whether he continues with full-time roles in both the political and boxing rings looms over his bout with Vargas.

“I’m sure he’s going to be known as a great Senator,’’ Vargas said during the news conference in a comment that said he intended to end the Filipino’s greatness in boxing.

Without boxing, it’s unlikely that Pacquiao could continue to give away the kind of money that is funding the current construction of 1,000 houses in Sarangani Province. All of the money for the land, homes and labor is coming out of Pacquiao’s pocket. That’s just the latest example of Pacquiao, a people’s champ in more than just one way.

“I don’t like politics,’’ he said. “I hate politics. After each fight, half of my income goes to the poor.

“But I don’t like to announce it.’’

He doesn’t like to brag, either. Not when he can give.

By Norm Frauenheim-
They call him Senator these days. The hope is that they can call him Senator Champ in about 10 days. Manny Pacquiao is seeking what is believed to be an unprecedented combo.

Senators get called a lot of things and as — Donald Trump keeps proving at an ad nauseam pace – most are a lot more insulting than honorable. But even a Filipino version Trump might have to use the double honorific when addressing Pacquiao if he beats Jessie Vargas on Nov. 5 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack for the WBO’s welterweight title.

Titles of every kind are nothing new to Pacquiao, who has already been a Filipino Congressman. He also jumped from Command Sergeant Major to Lieutenant Colonel in his nation’s military reserve.

The leap in rank from enlisted to officer had to have been something of a battlefield promotion. Pacquiao’s battlefield has always been the ring. Eight world titles on that front have been the storyline and the propellant in his phenomenal rise from impoverished street kid to high political office.

It’s hard to even hazard a guess as to where it will all lead. There have been times when even the Filipino presidency has been mentioned as a Pacquiao possibility. For now, it’s just safe say it depends on how the 37-year-old Pacquiao fares against an improving Vargas, who is a decade younger and appears to be more dangerous than the 9-to-1 odds against him suggest.

Throughout the buildup for a pay-per-view fight that Top Rank will telecast, much of the talk has been about Pacquiao’s job as one of 24 Filipino Senators. The questions are there, of course, because there is nobody in any Senate like Pacquiao.

“Manny has always been a busy person but because of the Senate he seems to be a lot more serious than anything else he has done,’’ Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said during a conference call this week when asked about how training went while their camp was still in the Philippines. “He is in Senate sessions on some nights until 7:30 or 8:00 at night and, when he is done, we go right to the gym.’’

There was no distraction, Pacquiao said when repeatedly asked the inevitable question. There was only time management and the discipline to sustain it.

“The most difficult part of training in the past has always been when I do a bad job of managing my time,’’ Pacquiao said. “This time I managed my time and disciplined myself from going to my work to my training and that’s what I did in the Philippines. I don’t have any time to spend with my friends – just time for hard work.’’

The real answer, of course, won’t be there until opening bell. That’s when we’ll know if a full-time Senator can still be a full-time fighter.

To be sure, Pacquiao has been busy with a legislative agenda and issues that have confronted his country.

“Right now I am pushing for the establishment of a boxing commission in the Philippines,’’ he said.

He added that he is “also sponsoring the restoration of the death penalty.”

Then, there is the Philippines new president, Rodrigo Duterte, who has begun to generate some Trump-like controversy. Duterte told U.S. President Barack Obama that he “could go to hell” after Obama’s criticism of his push for draconian penalties for drug pushers.

Duterte also went to China and Japan, saying he wants to split with the U.S., a longtime ally. Then, Pacquiao landed in Los Angeles for the final stretch of training. Yeah, that question was inevitable, too.

“He has clarified everything about the relationship between the United States and the Philippines and it is a healthy relationship,’’ Pacquiao said when asked about Duterte early in the conference call. “We all respect his statement and he clarified it already.

“The bond between the United States and the Philippines is one of longstanding and there is a great kinship between the people of our two countries.’’

Pacquiao’s career has always been about multi-tasking. But tasks outside of the ring have gotten a lot bigger since the days when basketball and karaoke were the potential distractions.

He’s older now, which means wisdom and more discipline, yet also potential erosion in the physical qualities that have made the legend. We know about the power outage. He hasn’t scored a stoppage since 2009. That might be because he’s at 147 pounds instead of a more natural 140. But time is an inescapable factor.

He is a young Senator. But is he an old fighter? Against Vargas, we’ll find out.

By Norm Fraueneheim-

The third Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton debate, the only fight worth watching throughout a barren October full of cancelled and postponed bouts, was anther example of how closely politics and boxing are linked by language, tone and turmoil.

History, too.

The more I watched Trump, the more I thought of a Great White Hope. He’s just another one and – if the polls are accurate – he’ll go the way of James J. Jeffries and Jerry Quarry.

Jeffries, the original White Hope, quit in the 15th-round against Jack Johnson on July 4, 1910, in Reno, Nev. Then, there was Jeffries’ successor, Jerry Quarry, who was saddled with an unwanted title in losing to Muhammad Ali in Ali’s 1970 comeback from a suspension for refusing to be drafted during the Viet Nam War.

Over more than a century, The Great White Hope has become a piece of Americana, memorialized in a Broadway play, later a film and then part of a Ken Burns documentary, Unforgivable Blackness, for PBS.

It’s an old story. A current one, too.

It was all there, all over again, Wednesday in the face of Trump, who had tried to cast doubt about Barack Obama’s right to be president by questioning his birthplace and now confronts Hillary Clinton for the political arena’s heavyweight title.

Trump turned each of the debates into a boxing new conference. It’s as if he learned the art of insult, confrontation and chaos during his days as an Atlantic City casino owner in business with Don King and Bob Arum.

Arum, by the way, had tickets to the debate at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center, according to ringtv.com. Hope he got good seats. Arum, a Clinton supporter, says Trump still owes him $2.5 million for Evander Holyfield’s 1991 decision over George Foreman.

The fact that Trump and Hillary came to Vegas for the last faceoff in their trilogy couldn’t have been more appropriate.

It’s where Mike Tyson took a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear. It’s where a parachutist named Fan Man dropped into an outdoor ring like the 82nd Airborne midway through a Holyfield-Riddick Bowe bout. It is a where rigged – one of Trump’s favorite words – is another way of saying buyer beware to every customer entering one of The Strip’s casinos.

It’s where boxing and politics met all over again, with pundits using words created by boxing writers.

The media, pre and post-debate, were full of head fakes and body blows and KOs. Pre-debate, I listened to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who sounded more like Michael Buffer than sober pundit. Matthews pounded the hype drum, saying everything but “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble.’’

After the debate, the various networks included moderators and guests who had to shout above crowds that shouted and chanted like rival fans at post-fight news conferences.

I heard Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who sounded a lot like Trump’s Towel Boy. Hannity’s analysis favoring Trump reminded me of former ringside judge C.J. Ross, infamous for one card that favored Timothy Bradley in a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao in their first fight and another that scored Floyd Mayweather’s one-sided victory over Canelo Alvarez as a draw.

I’m not sure what Matthews was hyping. I’m not sure what in the hell Hannity heard or saw. But I am certain that I had witnessed another Great White Hope still on the wrong side of history.

By Norm Frauenheim-

The World Boxing Council’s rankings, once considered a joke, emerged this week with potential to be a serious weapon in the long and often futile fight against performance-enhancing drugs.

Twenty-five fighters ranked among the 15 in each of the WBC’s 17 weight classes were dropped for not enrolling in the Clean Boxing Program, which was introduced in early May.

It’s a little early for sweeping judgments, but the first real step in implementation of the VADA-administered program says the announcement at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand before Canelo Alvarez’ stoppage of Amir Khan on May 7 was more than just another empty news conference.

From top to bottom, the list of fighters dropped from the October rankings included well known and unknown.

There was Khan and ex-heavyweight champ David Haye and former light-heavy beltholder Jean Pascal.

There were also junior-flyweight Angel Acosta and strawweight Janiel Rivera. Never heard of them? Neither have I.

Point is, the list went beyond the names sure to generate a few headlines. It appeared to be comprehensive, an important symbol in what WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman and VADA President Dr. Margaret Goodman have said they hope to do. To wit: They intend to rid the sport of PEDS as best they can.

Initially, I was as skeptical of their plan as I have been of any acronym’s ratings. Nothing has been as troublesome as PEDs. It’s a swamp, infested with lies that have been repeated for at least four decades. Enter at your own risk.

From the old East Germans to Ben Johnson, Lance Armstrong, A-Rod and now the Russians, it has evolved into what looks like a mess without a solution. I had begun to think like so many others: Go ahead and make it legal. Use at your own risk.

That’s cynical, but a lot of pragmatic thinking is. I’m still uncertain about whether Sulaiman and Dr. Goodman can succeed. History is as irreversible as that proverbial ship. After moving in only one way for so long, it’s hard to turn around.

But I admire their beginning. It looks to be deliberate and disciplined. And cautious. Nobody is running to the media, shouting insults and allegations while pointing to all the telltale signs about who’s using and who isn’t. It as if everybody at ringside thinks a press credential is a medical degree.

Most of the time, I’d be annoyed about prepared statements and little else. Too often, that’s just a sign of somebody with something to hide. But the history of PEDs and chaotic tenor of the debate has left only a trail of suspicions, contempt and not much else

The assumption is that nothing works. I suspect that many of those dropped from the WBC’s rankings for not enrolling in the start-up of a program subjecting them to year-round testing was rooted in exactly that kind of thinking. They ignored it as if it were just another telemarketer. But this week they got an early warning. Maybe serious, too.

By Norm Frauenheim–

One obscene gesture continues to sum up the state of Olympic boxing.

No matter what the amateur acronym does in the wake of another scandal-plagued Games and still another investigation, Michael Conlan’s one-finger salute will define it for as long as it is allowed to rule an Olympic sport as ancient as it is legendary.

AIBA announced Thursday that the 36 referees and judges, who worked the Rio Games, are under suspension pending an investigation, according to Reuters.

No applause necessary. A Conlan encore is the appropriate response.

I’m not sure how many times Olympic boxing has investigated itself since Roy Jones Jr. got jobbed in the Seoul Hold-Up in 1988. Let’s just say that the fox has been running this hen house for so long that nobody seems to care anymore. There have always been rumblings that the Acronym-In-Chief, the IOC, might just ban boxing altogether.

But has anybody heard from the IOC about this latest boxing controversy? Didn’t think so.

The IOC silence speaks volumes. For the boxing abolitionists in the IOC’s comfortable suites, the sport has already been doing a pretty good job at eliminating itself. Conlan’s damning gesture after the Belfast bantamweight’s controversial loss in the quarterfinals last August might also be another way of saying goodbye. NBC did exactly that several years ago.

According to a statement published by Reuters, AIBA determined that “a small number of decisions under debate indicated that further reforms in the AIBA R&J (referee and judging) procedures were necessary.’’

The statement added that “the results of the investigation, currently underway, will allow AIBA to fully assess what action needs to be taken.’’

I guess the statement means we should all be relieved that a remedial process is underway. Yet, somehow, this sounds a little bit like Donald Trump promising he’ll release his tax documents after an audit is complete. Yeah, and that check is in the mail, too.

We already know where the boxing process has been. After the 2000 Sydney Games, amateur boxing announced that referee Stanislav Kirasnov had been suspended for four years for his questionable work in a controversial decision that cost American Rocky Juarez the gold medal.

Yet, Kirasnov was back, working international tournaments, long before the scheduled end of the announced suspension. Not much ever seems to change, other than the fighters themselves. Conlan has moved on. But that doesn’t mean his condemnation of AIBA has gone away.

As it turns out, his gesture might have been worth as much as a gold medal. He signed with Top Rank in a deal that resulted in a lot of publicity for him and promoter Bob Arum.

Both appeared in photos, each flashing that upraised finger, a gesture appropriate for what happened all over again in Rio and for the investigation that was announced Thursday.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Boxing enters the year’s fourth quarter looking to make the kind of defining comeback that happens when it is at its dramatic best.

Just when the sport is down and written off in obits that have been written before, it gets up and recovers just in time for another Rocky sequel.

I’m not sure that another resurrection will be so easy or predictable this time around. But it’s always a mistake to underestimate the battered game’s resilience. It’s been inexhaustible. Other than broken jaws and slurred words, it also has been the only reliable commodity in a feast-and-famine cycle.

The famine is here, marked by a barren October full of only cancellations, including Tyson Fury’s sudden withdrawal from an Oct. 29 rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, reportedly for mental-health reasons. Fury’s rise to the top of the heavyweight heap was marked by erratic behavior.

It was also behavior often encouraged by media and fans. We were entertained. If stories about Fury’s mental health are accurate, we also might have been complicit.

We might have pushed him there, looking for a few more laughs. That’s a different story, perhaps.

But it’s also part of the context that has always drawn fighters and fans to a precipice as crazy as it is dangerous.

Fury is named Tyson because his father admired Mike Tyson. Fury shares a name and perhaps a fate with a heavyweight, who in 1998 had to undergo a mental evaluation before he could get a license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Every painful detail about that evaluation made it into the media. We knew when he was on Zoloft. We knew when he was on lithium.

It was unseemly. Yet, it was irresistible, mostly because editors demanded the dirty details that readers and fans wanted. Somehow, Mike survived, much to the media’s surprise and even his own. He’s a happy, doting dad today. I also suspect he recognizes where Fury is right now.

Fury’s uncle and trainer, Peter, told UK media that he would be back, sometime next year.

But Mike Tyson’s example is powerful enough to say he should just walk away. Walk, Tyson Fury, walk away for everybody’s sake, mostly your own. With today’s social media, he’ll be under intense scrutiny no matter what he does. A return to the ring would only further inflame the Twitter universe.

Imagine if Twitter had been around during Mike Tyson’s career. Multiply crazy by 140 and more, a lot more.

The business is already preparing to move on, no matter what happens to Fury. There’s already talk about the UK’s young sensation, Anthony Joshua, against Klitschko, who has been training and doesn’t want to let all of his work go to waste.

The guess is that Joshua-Klitschko would happen sometime later this year, which – with apologies to Tyson – will end in a fury.

After an empty October, November is loaded, first on Nov. 5 with Manny Pacquiao featured against Jessie Vargas in a Top Rank pay-per-view production in Las Vegas that is mostly interesting for the undercard. Oscar Valdez Jr.’s coming-out party continues against Hiroshige Osawa in his first title defense in a bout that should propel the emerging featherweight into a main-event attraction in 2017.

Then, there’s the biggie, Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward in a light-heavyweight showdown on Nov. 19 in a PPV bout, also in Las Vegas. Main Events, Kovalev’s promoter, has tempered PPV expectations. In a declining market, 300,000 would be a success. However, a great, competitive fight could set up a money-making rivalry and a PPV blockbuster in a rematch.

Then on Nov. 26, Vasyl Lomachenko faces Nicholas Walters for a 130-pound title. On paper, it looks like a great fight. The guess here, however, is that Lomachenko’s clever execution of his versatile skillset will be too much for Walters. It’ll be anoter reason to think that Lomachenko will be boxing’s next great, multi-weight champ with eventual titles at 135, 140 and 147.

Then, there’s December. There’s talk of Gennady Golovkin in a middleweight bout against likable Danny Jacobs, who has whipped cancer and everybody else since a loss in 2010. It’s not GGG-Canelo Alvarez. But it’s a projected fight with elements that might help a frustrated fan base forget about those futile GGG-Canelo discussions.

It’s a busy, intriguing run of fights, each with enough potential to restore a declining game in 2017. But will they? Will 2016’s fourth quarter plant the seeds for another comeback? Who knows? But I’m here, back at the precipice anyway, wondering whether those stories about Tyson Fury’s condition are accurate and wondering why I’m here all over again.

By Norm Frauenheim

So who is the A-side now?

In a not-so-surprising report, Canelo Alvarez’ crown as the reigning pay-per-view king got knocked sideways, if not completely off his redhead, with news that the PPV audience for his victory over Liam Smith last Saturday is not expected to be bigger than 300,000.

The Los Angeles Times reported the news, citing sources who blamed the disappointing number on mounting frustration at Canelo, who has yet to agree to a fight with Gennady Golovkin.

Meanwhile, Golovkin’s victory on Sept. 10 over Kell Brook, a British welterweight fighting at middleweight, was a PPV success in the UK with a reported audience of 500,000.

The Canelo-Smith fight was promoted as a way to showcase Canelo at AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys home field, during a celebration of Mexican Independence. The live gate was considered a success.

In terms of leverage in potential negotiations for Canelo-Golovkin, however, the key is in the PPV numbers. Golovkin appeared to gain a significant edge at London’s sold-out O2 Arena against a fighter, Brook, better-known in the hot UK market than Smith.

Meanwhile, chances of Golovkin-Canelo appear to be as uncertain as ever. Canelo suffered a fractured thumb during his business-like stoppage of Smith in a junior-middleweight bout. That means he won’t fight in December, as has been planned.

His next appearance could be in early May as part of the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, but it’s safe to say it won’t be against Golovkin. Even before the thumb injury, talk was that September, 2017 was the chance for Golovkin-Canelo.

Now, who knows? Meanwhile, there are reported talks for an intriguing fight between Golovkin and Danny Jacobs, possibly on Dec. 10 in a middleweight unification bout in New York.

It could be another opportunity for Golovkin to add further evidence that he is boxing’s A-side. Or is that the GGG-side?

The championship belt is probably not going anywhere, but Oscar Valdez Jr., figures to retain it in Las Vegas instead of Tucson.

Valdez’ first defense of the WBO’s featherweight title against Japanese contender Hiroshige Osawa was officially added this week to the pay-per-view card featuring Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas on Nov. 5 at Thomas & Mack Center.

Top Rank’s initial plan was for Valdez to make his first defense in Tucson, where he grew up, on a later date in November.

Valdez was in Tucson at Casino del Sol for a Univision-televised card featuring Juan Diaz on August 6, two weeks after he won the WBO’s 126-pound belt in a second-round stoppage of Argentina’s Matias Rueda.

Valdez signed autographs and his management team talked about whether to stage his first title defense at an outside pavilion or in one of the Tucson casino’s ballrooms.

But plans changed when HBO said no to the PPV possibility, forcing Top Rank to stage the Nov. 5 card at its own expense. It needs a fighter who can attract a PPV audience and Valdez (20-0, 18 KOs) qualifies. The two-time Mexican Olympian has emerged as one of Top Rank’s bright young talents.

In Osawa (30-3-4, 19 KOs), Valdez faces a fighter who has won eight straight bouts, yet has fought outside Japan only twice – once in Korea and then in General Santos City, Pacquiao’s hometown, in his last one.

Valdez-Osawa is one of three title fights on a card that also includes two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming (8-1, 2 KOs) and Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym (39-1-2, 24 KOs) of Thailand in a rematch.

The third title fight features Nonito Doniare in a defense of the WBO’s 122-pound title against Jessie Magdaleno of Las Vegas.

At some point, Donaire said he would like to go back up to featherweight in a bid to regain a major 126-pound title. Victories by Donaire and Valdez could set up an intriguing featherweight bout in 2017.

By Norm Frauenheim-

In the political season, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez are acting a lot like candidates.

Maybe, that’s because they have been campaigning longer than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for a fight presumably sometime after somebody finally moves into the White House next January.

The Golovkin campaign stopped in London last Saturday with a predictable stoppage over welterweight-turned-middleweight Kell Brook in a bout surprising only because of marks left on GGG’s usually unmarked face.

A week later, this Saturday, Canelo takes his turn in the bully pulpit against unbeaten, yet little-known UK junior-middleweight Liam Smith in a ring on top of the Dallas Cowboys home field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex., in a pay-per-view bout (HBO 9 pm ET/6 pm PT).

For those reading the tea leaves – and that’s just about everybody, the bruises represent early signs of vulnerability in GGG. Then again, they also might only mean the feared middleweight champion can take a punch.

Safe to say, the 26-year-old Canelo and his partisans connected the abrasions and welts like dots in a progression that perhaps confirms what they’ve been doing all along. Time has begun to do what no punch ever could to a younger GGG. It’s inevitable. It’s also business.

Next year –say in May during the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, Golovkin will be 35, late enough in his prime to attack early signs that had not been evident until Brook’s punches landed. Of course, a potential symptom might also be nothing more than a pimple.

Nevertheless, there’s good news in talk from Dallas that Canelo and his corner are finally beginning to see a chance at beating GGG.

It’s never been about the weight, although Canelo’s corner continues to insist he’s really a 154-pound fighter, still growing into a true middleweight.

Yet, he declined to step on a scale for HBO in his dressing room just before his crushing stoppage of ex-junior-welterweight Amir Khan last May for the WBC’s 160-pound title, which he subsequently relinquished amid mounting criticism from frustrated fans who only want to see him against GGG.

The guess here is that Canelo didn’t want any of those fans to know that he is in fact a true middleweight already and perhaps a division or two heavier.

Time is the only scale that really matters here. As long as Canelo stays at 154, Golovkin gets a little older and maybe a lot more vulnerable to big punches from a fighter entering his prime just as GGG is exiting his own.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Roman Gonzalez came to honor Alexis Arguello. He also came to get what eluded his late mentor.

Mission accomplished.

Gonzalez further cemented his place atop the pound-for-pound debate and gained an enduring spot in Nicaraguan history by wining a fourth title in a fourth weight class — the WBC 115-pound championship — with a unanimous decision over Carlos Cuadros Saturday night at The Forum.

Arguello won three. A fourth, Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs) said, would be his way of saying thanks to the Nicaraguan legend who had introduced him to the sport when he was a kid in Managua. Gonzalez’ thank-you proved to be a brilliant display of tactical mastery and durability.

When the 117-11, 116-112, 115-113 scores were announced, Gonzalez looked to The Forum’s ceiling, tears streaming from his bruised eyes. It was a moment he had envisioned. It was also a moment over which he probably agonized during the weeks and months before opening bell.

“This was always for Alexis Arguello,’’ Gonzalez said as a crowd of 6,714 roared in cheers of approval. “I wouldn’t be here without him.’’

In the beginning, Gonzalez’ energy was evident. He bounced on his agile feet as though there were springs in his shoes. Through the first six rounds, his versatile punches landed with intent and precision. At times, his balance and poise made Cuadras (35-1-1, 27 KOs) look awkward. At times, Cuadras, looked frustrated. In the fifth round, Cuadras smiled, did a quick shuffle and smiled at Gonzalez as if to say he would still have fun even if he lost.

In the later rounds, however, Cuadras displayed some surprising resiliency. Not enough perhaps to win the fight, but enough to raise some questions about how Gonzalez might do against Japanese prodigy Naoya Inoue, who was at ringside.

In the last two rounds, Cuadras, of Mexico City, was the stronger fighter. In his first bout at 115 pounds, Gonzales appeared to fade in the late moments.

“It was a close fight, but I felt I won,’’ said Cuadras, who was unhappy at having to surrender the belt in the fight’s immediate aftermath.  “You can see he has never been hit as hard as he was tonight.’’

In a punishing rematch of a draw before the Gonzalez-Cuadras bout, junior-middleweights Yoshiro Kamegai of Japan and Jesus Soto Karass picked up where they left off in April. This time, however, Kamegai (27-3-2, 24 KOs) prevailed, wearing down Soto Karass (28-11-4, 18 KOs) with blunt blows that had the Mexican falling forward in near exhaustion in the seventh round and then down on hands and knees in the eighth. Before the ninth, it was over when Soto Karass’ corner asked referee Jack Reiss for a timely halt.

Ring announcer makes a Steve Harvey-like mistake

Scorecards always get booed. But don’t blame the judges this time. Blame the guy who announced their scores.

Mark Kriski announced the wrong winner after he read the scores for an eight-round flyweight bout between Seniesa Estrada and Nancy Franco Saturday night on the non-televised portion of a card featuring Roman Gonzalez against Carlo Cuadras at The Forum.

For a fleeting few seconds, Nancy Franco got to celebrate. But the party came to an abrupt end, going flat faster than cheap champagne. Kriski took a second look after hearing an angry crowd boo the shutout – 80-72 on all three cards.

Oops, it turns out that Estrada won, which was pretty clear from even the cheap seats. Within the time it takes to throw a three-punch combination, Franco (14-10-2, 4 KOs), of Mexico, went from claiming an upset victory to being an upset loser. Meanwhile, Estrada (8-0, 1 KO), of Los Angeles, tried to celebrate after suddenly learning she had in fact won. By then, however, it looked as if she was just angry, first at hearing she had lost and then at hearing Kriski’s mistake.

Kriski has a day job as a weatherman at KTLA.  We’re not sure if he says the sun is shining when it’s really raining. But he might be pretty god as Steve Harvey’s successor as host of the next Miss Universe contest. He’s as good at picking the winner as Harvey ever was.

Rest of the undercard

Cleveland lightweight Ryan Martin (16-0, 9 KOs) had more power, more speed, more of everything in scoring a unanimous decision over Colombian Cesar Villarraga (9-2, 4 KOs), who was troubled by loose tape on one shoe throughout the eights round and was floored in the fourth by a right.

Aloha means hello and goodbye. Brahmabigi Montgomery, (2-1-1, 1 KO) a lightweight from Apple Valley, Calif., said both to Chazz Moleta, who made the trip from his home in Hawaii only to have his debut cut short by a succession of punches in a TKO loss at 2:44 of the fourth round.

By Norm Frauenheim

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Scorecards always get booed. But don’t blame the judges this time. Blame the guy who announced their scores.

Mark Kriski announced the wrong winner after he read the scores for an eight-round flyweight bout between Seniesa Estrada and Nancy Franco Saturday night on the non-televised portion of a card featuring Roman Gonzalez against Carlo Cuadras at The Forum.

For a fleeting few seconds, Nancy Franco got to celebrate. But the party came to an abrupt end, going flat faster than cheap champagne. Kriski took a second look after hearing an angry crowd boo the shutout – 80-72 on all three cards.

Oops, it turns out that Estrada won, which was pretty clear from even the cheap seats. Within the time it takes to throw a three-punch combination, Franco (14-10-2, 4 KOs), of Mexico, went from claiming an upset victory to being an upset loser. Meanwhile, Estrada (8-0, 1 KO), of Los Angeles, tried to celebrate after suddenly learning she had in fact won. By then, however, it looked as if she was just angry, first at hearing she had lost and then at hearing Kriski’s mistake.

Kriski has a day job as a weatherman at KTLA.  We’re not sure if he says the sun is shining when it’s really raining. But he might be pretty god as Steve Harvey’s successor as host of the next Miss Universe contest. He’s as good at picking the winner as Harvey ever was.

Rest of the undercard

Cleveland lightweight Ryan Martin (16-0, 9 KOs) had more power, more speed, more of everything in scoring a unanimous decision over Colombian Cesar Villarraga (9-2, 4 KOs), who was troubled by loose tape on one shoe throughout the eights round and was floored in the fourth by a right.

Aloha means hello and goodbye. Brahmabigi Montgomery, (2-1-1, 1 KO) a lightweight from Apple Valley, Calif., said both to Chazz Moleta, who made the trip from his home in Hawaii only to have his debut cut short by a succession of punches in a TKO loss at 2:44 of the fourth round.

By Norm Frauenheim-

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – He wrapped himself in the blue-and-white Nicaraguan flag before and after stepping on the scale. Roman Gonzalez, a man of his people, has also become his country’s lone symbol of sporting success.

Nicaragua didn’t win a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics last month. Saturday at the Forum, however, Gonzalez enters the ring on boxing’s top pedestal. He’s alone, the consensus No. 1 in the pound for-pound debate. It’s a lonely place to be. Surprising and precarious, too.

Gonzalez, who goes after another title at another weight against WBC 115-pound champion Carlos Cuadras, is the lightest fighter to ever be at the top of The Ring and ESPN ratings. He’s been there ever since Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced his retirement more than a year ago. In other words, for a long time.

But this is boxing, which means that there is always an argument and a burden of proof. The prevailing theory is that Gonzalez is keeping the top spot warm for middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin, who faces Kell Brook Saturday in London in the first part of an HBO telecast (2:30 p.m. PST/5:30 p.m. EST).

Then, there’s the November clash between light-heavyweight Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. It fair to assume that the winner of that one will have claim of his own. The assumption is that the bigger fighters, heavier hands will eventually sweep aside Gonzalez drop him to those rungs of that rating that once belonged to Ricardo Lopez, Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez.

But it could be a tough argument to make if Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs) continues to display his technical brilliance at more than one, two or even three weights.

Against Cuadras (35-0-1, 27 KOs), the former 105, 108 and current 112-pound champion goes after a fourth belt, also on HBO (7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST) on a portion of the card that includes a junior-middleweight rematch between Jesus Soto Karass (28-10-4, 18 KOs) and Yoshihiro Kamegai (26-3-2, 23 KOs).

A fourth major title at a fourth weight would add up to a first for Gonzalez, Nicaragua and Central America. It would surpass the three-title achievement of Gonzalez mentor and Nicaraguan hero, the late Alexis Argyle.

“I dedicate this fight to Alexis,’’ Gonzalez said to Spanish media that gathered in The Forum’s parking lot for an outdoor weigh-in beneath the roaring path of commercial jets preparing to land at nearby LAX. “I feel very comfortable knowing that Alexis had success here.”

Arguello was 4-0 at The Forum, winning titles at featherweight and super-feather. In his fourth fight at the rebuilt arena, he beat Bobby Chacon in November 1979. Chacon, 64, died Wednesday.

In two bids for a fourth title, Arguello, who died in 2009, fell short, losing by stoppage to Aaron Pryor in 1982 and again in 1983.

“I know how badly he wanted a fourth divisional championship,’’ said Gonzalez, who Friday was 114.6 pounds, two-tenths of a pound lighter than Cuadras. “I want to do this for him.’’

And for his people.

By Norm Frauenheim–

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Roman Gonzalez is rapidly moving up the scale in weight, skipping seamlessly from belt to belt like a flat stone on a championship pond.

His ascendancy is what makes him the lightest fighter to ever gain pound-for-pound recognition on an unbeaten path that figures continue Saturday night at The Forum in his bid for a title in a fourth weight class against WBC 115-pound champion Carl Cuadras on HBO (10 p.m. ET/PT).

Gonzalez is considered the biggest little man ever in terms of skill and stature. But not in dollars. Nothing has changed at the top of the pay scale for the lightest weights in nearly a quarter of a century. Michael Carbajal and Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez are still there.

In a significant test of his marketability, Roman Gonzalez is the headliner on a card in the same arena where Carbajal became the first fighter lighter than 128 pounds to collect the $1 million milestone in a February, 1994 rematch that Chiquita Gonzalez won in a split decision more than 22 years ago.

It was supposed to be the fight that opened the door, or at least the vault, for fighters who had traditionally paid a bloody price for a chance at boxing’s version of the minimum wage.

A sign that a new, enhanced payday had finally arrived was in The Forum crowd. It was announced at 15,102. Magic Johnson was there. It was good day to be a Lord of the Flies. Nine months later, in November 1994, Chiquita got his seven figures, collecting $1 million for another close decision in front of an estimated crowd of 30,000 at a Mexico City bullring.

But in the years since the Lakers packed up Showtime and moved from The Forum to Staples, those paychecks have never be equalled. Not even close.

Make no mistake, Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs), who is favored to become the first Nicaraguan to win a fourth title against Cuadras (35-0-1, 27 KOs), has begun to make a very good living.

Over his last two fights, his cumulative income is a reported $550,000, $250,000 for a stoppage of Brian Viloria last October and a career-high $300,000 for an April stoppage of McWilliams Arroyo.

It’s comfortable, but still nearly half of what Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez collected in single fights against each other a lot of inflation ago. It’s also a wage not associated with the acknowledged leader in the pound-for-pound debate.

There’s been some serious deflation in money and expectations since casual fans headed for the exits in the wake of the disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout in May 2015. But not even the Mayweather-Pacquiao dud explains it. Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, second or third to Roman Gonzalez in pound-for-pound ratings, is reportedly getting $5 million against Kell Brook Saturday in London in an HBO-televised bout that will precede Roman Gonzalez-Cuadras.

Roman Gonzalez purse has yet to be disclosed, but it’s safe to say it’ll be a fraction of Golovkin’s purse and probably won’t equal the bar set by Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez in history’s richest 108-pound trilogy.

Both history and money lead to the same place. Roman Gonzalez still needs a rival, a business partner. Without one, he is Ricardo Lopez, perhaps history’s greatest little fighter, yet without ever getting a check that approached the kind of money collected by Carbajal and Gonzalez.

Maybe, Japanese prodigy Naoya Inoue is the other half of a partnership that can unlock all of financial potential evident in the pound-for-pound skill, poise and power that Roman Gonzalez has consistently exhibited in his ongoing introduction to the American market.

There were reports that Inoue planed to be at ringside at The Forum Saturday, a week after his 10th-round stoppage of Petchbarnghborn Kotietgym in Japan for a 115-pound title. However, there were also reports of injuries to Inoue, who appeared to hurt his right hand in his latest victory. Roman Gonzalez can only hope Inoue is healthy. For now, a healthy Inoue might be the only way he can also move up that pay scale.

By Norm Frauenheim-

He appears to be a mere prop in Canelo Alvarez’ long-term design on creating a legend that still awaits a defining moment, perhaps against Gennady Golovkin. He’s another Smith.

He’s the brother of Paul and Stephen, who are about as forgettable as any other Smith who has fought in the United States.

Betting odds, which opened at 11-1 and are about 10-1 in the UK, suggest that this Smith Brother, Liam, won’t last longer than a cough drop on Sept. 17 against the heavily-favored Canelo on Sept. 17 in a ring on top of the Dallas Cowboys home field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

Liam Smith and his management have other ideas. No surprise there. It would be a bigger upset than a Liam Smith victory over Canelo if they didn’t, of course. But they, like Canelo, also have plans on making history, both for the Smith family and the UK.

Unlike Canelo, however, their plans are more immediate. The unknown Liam Smith and his well-known promoter, Frank Warren, are talking about an upset that would be one for the books.

Warren put it this way during a conference call Thursday when asked if Liam Smith would fight in November after a predicted loss to Canelo:

“No, that’s not possible, because he’s going to win.’’

The one-sided odds say otherwise. So, too, does the Texas location and the September date that coincides with the celebration of Mexican Independence.

Canelo, who has taken back the Mexican holidays in May and September since Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s retirement, is hugely popular in Texas. He has fought in front of big crowds in Houston and San Antonio.

Now, he fights for the first time in Dallas, where he intends to further cement his claim on being the face of boxing while also gaining leverage in negotiations for a GGG showdown in 2017.

Translation: All of the pressure is on Canelo to deliver a dominant performance in a fight that will happen one week after GGG faces Kell Brook in London on Sept. 10. If all goes as predicted, the two performances will be a reference point in analyzing who would win and how in a GGG-Canelo bout.

An intriguing footnote is that Canelo is a bigger favorite over Smith at 154 pounds than middleweight champion Golovkin is against Brook, a welterweight champion who is jumping from 147 to 160. GGG is a 7-to-1 favorite.

Liam Smith, the WBO’s 154-pound belt-holder, feels he has as good a shot as Brook has.

“Yes, I like my chances,’’ said Liam, whose brothers were beaten in their last trips to the U.S.

Paul Smith, a super-middleweight, lost to Andre Ward last year in Oakland, Calif. Stephan Smith, a super-featherweight, lost to Jose Pedraza last April in Mashantucket, Conn.

Warren suggested Thursday that Liam is the best of the Smiths, one whom he says will record an upset as big as any in UK boxing history.

“So often, people go over to the States to fight, thinking that they have nothing to lose,’’ said Warren, who said a Liam Smith victory would place him alongside Joe Calzaghe’s upsets of Jeff Lacy, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. “But Liam has something to lose: His pride.’’

So, too, does Canelo, whose own brand of fierce pride is just one of many things at stake.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Phoenix featherweight Carlos Castro fights to stay unbeaten Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre against Jorge Diaz Jr. of New Brunswick, N.J.

Castro (15-0, 8 KOs) won a decision in is last outing, also at Celebrity Theatre on Iron Boy Promotions card. Diaz (18-4-1, 10 KOs) is 1-1-1 over his last three bouts.

Castro-Diaz is the featured fight on an Iron Boy card scheduled for 10 bouts. First bell is scheduled for 6 p.m. (PST).

By Norm Frauenheim–

PHOENIX – Former junior-welterweight champion Jose Benavidez Jr. is recovering from injuries suffered when he was shot in west Phoenix.

The injuries are not believed to be serious. TMZ reported Thursday morning that Benavidez had been shot in the leg, although it was not clear which leg. He was scheduled to leave a Phoenix-area hospital late Thursday.

There was confusion about when the shooting happened. According to one report, it happened Tuesday when he reportedly encountered an armed, unknown man while walking his dog. According to another report, it happened Thursday morning. No arrests have been made, s spokesman for the Phoenix police said.

Benavidez, 24, was not available for comment late Thursday.

Benavidez (25-0, 16 KOs) is coming off a solid performance in his welterweight debut — a unanimous decision over journeyman Francisco Santana on July 23 on the undercard of Terence Crawford’s victory over Viktor Postol at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Benavidez, who held a WBA interim title at 140 pounds, had been expected to fight again at 147 sometime in November.

He was a possibility for the Nov. 5 card featuring Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center. Benavidez called out Vargas in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Santana.

There also had been talk that he would fight in Tucson on a Top Rank card featuring featherweight champion Oscar Valdez Jr. in his first title defense later in November

By Norm Frauenheim-

Roy Jones Jr.’s nightmare continues. He and boxing are subjected to it every four years for the last 28 years. It never changes. Head gear on, head gear off, there’s just no disguise for a mess that began before the Berlin Wall fell.

Jones ranks as the greatest pro of his generation, yet he is remembered more for the 1988 controversy that has defined Olympic boxing ever since the Seoul Games.

The fix that robbed Jones of the gold medal is the reference point for every controversy that happens, ad nauseam and always with no end in sight. It’s beginning to look as if there’s no way back to the day when a Sugar Ray Leonard-led US team in 1976 was an Olympic centerpiece.

Boxing has pushed itself so far to the Olympic fringe that I’m not sure anybody cares anymore. Has anybody heard NBC utter a single mention of anything that has transpired at the Rio de Janeiro boxing venue? Didn’t think so.

In the U.S., Spanish-speaking networks carry the bouts. But the only NBC story about anything resembling a fight involves “whatever’’ happened at a Rio gas station’s bathroom involving security guards and U.S. swimmers, including Ryan Lochte. Gary Hall Jr., a three-time Olympian and 10-time swimming medalist from Phoenix, once said that it’s hard to develop a personality when you spend so much time with your head underwater. He could have been talking about Lochte, the 32-year-old Peter Pan of world-class waters.

I mention Lochte, because swimming’s tsunami of unwanted attention happens as history repeats itself in Olympic boxing. There are the usual judging controversies – this time scored under the pro-style, 10-pound must system. Yet its been mostly ignored by mainstream media, despite a photo of an obscene gesture – an upraised middle finger on each hand– from Irish bantamweight Michael Conlan after losing a quarterfinal decision —29-28 on all three cards – to Russian Vladimir Nikitin.

In perhaps a telling coincidence, Nikitin withdrew from a Thursday bout with emerging American Shakur Stevenson, reportedly because of injuries sustained against Conlan. Predictably, amateur boxing’s ruling acronym, AIBA, announced the familiar shuffles, suspending anonymous judges, unknown referees and faceless bureaucrats.

AIBA said Thursday that executive director Karim Bouzidi of Algeria has been “re-assigned.’’ But to do what from where? It all reminds me of what happened in the aftermath of American Rocky Juarez’ loss to Bekzat Sattarkhanov of Kazakhstan at the 2000 Sydney Games in the featherweight gold-medal match.

Amateur boxing announced that referee Stanislav Kirsanov would be suspended for four years for allowing Sattarkhanov to hold and clinch in the second and third rounds. That prevented Juarez from scoring on the inside, where he was always at his best.

But it looks as if that suspension didn’t last long, if at all. Ringside colleague Bill Dwyre, the former Los Angeles Times sports editor, called Kirsanov while he was still supposed to be under suspension. No, Kirsanov told Dwyre, he was scheduled to work an upcoming international bout and that he had been working for a while.

From Jones to Juarez, from Seoul to Sydney to Rio, nothing really changes. Hate to say it, but Conlan’s gesture says it best.

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s hard to know what to make of Manny Pacquiao’s decision to fight Jessie Vargas on November 5, other than to say he never retired.

Please, don’t call it a comeback. Pacquiao never went away. He ran for office. He won, changing his Filipino title from Congressman to Senator. He wrote some legislation and apparently a lot of checks.

He said this week he would continue to fight, in part because his Senate salary just wasn’t enough, despite the $100-plus million he reportedly collected for his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. just 15 months ago.

“Boxing is my main source of income,’’ Pacquiao said Wednesday in announcing he would fight Vargas at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Arena. “I can’t rely on my salary as a public official. I’m helping the family of my wife and my own family, as well.

“Many people also come to me to ask for help and I just couldn’t ignore them.”

If it’s possible, Pacquiao gives away money faster than Mayweather spends it. At this rate, there’s a better chance Pacquiao will still be in the ring than there is Michael Phelps will be in the Olympic pool at the 2020 Tokyo Games. If nine figures can’t cover what Pacquiao spends over less than a year-and-a-half, what can?

It’s not clear how much he’ll earn against Vargas, the WBO’s welterweight champion. But it’s safe to say it won’t be the $20-to-25 million minimum Pacquiao collected over the last few years, including his last fight – a decision in April over Timothy Bradley in a second rematch.

That kind of money isn’t there any more, mostly because of a steep decline in pay-per-view numbers in the wake of the disappointing Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.

Before junior-welterweight Terence Crawford’s one-sided decision over Viktor Postol on July 23, Pacquaio promoter Bob Arum said that the Filipino understood that the business had changed. He said he could make a deal with the Senator.

“We’re not talking about those kind of crazy numbers,” Arum told the Los Angeles Times this week.

But those numbers are still a guessing game until Arum announces how and who will telecast the pay-per-view. It looks as if it won’t be HBO, the premium network that carried Pacquiao’s top-earning bouts. ESPN has been rumored. But at what price?

The decision to fight Vargas instead of the emerging Crawford appears to be a bet on a rematch with Mayweather, perhaps next May. Signs that Pacquiao would sidestep Crawford were apparent in the wake of Crawford’s blowout of Postol.

Crawford’s agile footwork and versatility surprised Postol trainer Freddie Roach, also Pacquiao’s trainer. It was evident that Crawford’s overall speed would be very hard to overcome, even at 140-pounds, perhaps Pacquiao’s ideal weight. Roach said as much.

A loss to Crawford would likely mean irrelevancy, if not a real retirement, for Pacquaio. Surely, it would badly damage any chance at a Mayweather rematch. Hence, Vargas, the safer choice, at 147 instead of 140.

But even that’s a risk. Mayweather has been mostly silent since he spent all that time talking about a big-money deal in a bout with the UFC’s Conor McGregor. There’ no indication that he is any more interested in a comeback than he was at the moment he formally announced his retirement after beating Andre Berto in September 2015.

Mayweather has said he might be interested if the money – his nickname and motivation – is right. He reportedly collected $240 million for Pacquiao. He had a $32-million guarantee for each of his bouts in a six-fight deal with Showtime.

Like Arum said, crazy numbers. But it’s also crazy to think Mayweather would ask for anything less than $32 million, even if he were interested. The guess – and that’s all it is – is that he will be. He’s still young enough. He’ll be 40 on Feb. 24. He retired at 49-0. Fifty-and-0 has to be a temptation.

The bigger question is whether there’s even an audience for an encore. The bout in May 2015 set a record for PPV buys at 4.4 million. The theory is that a rematch could do at least 1 million, meaning it would make money. But the ongoing decline only raises questions about whether anyone wants a sequel that would only remind everyone of the original.

TUCSON – Juan Diaz remembers when he was younger. When he was busy. Real busy.

He was known as much for a whirlwind pace as he was for his nickname, Baby Bull. He threw punches at the rate of a propeller at take off. They were hard to see and often erratic.

It was fun. But not always effective. About a decade later, Diaz looks back and smiles at what has to look like a hyper-active, four-time champion.

“I don’t know if I could have beaten the Baby Bull who started winning titles,’’ he said. “But I could beat the Baby Bull who was fighting just before he retired.’’

An older, wiser, more patient and a lot more deliberate Diaz (42-4, 21 KOs) has emerged in his comeback. It continued Saturday night with a stoppage of Cesar Vazquez (27-4, 16 KOs, whose corner called it quits at 2:09 of the eighth round of a UniMas televised bout.

“I’m more precise than I was when I was younger,’’ said Diaz, who is 7-0 in his comeback. “I see things now that I didn’t before. I can see punches coming at me, almost like they’re in slow motion. I’m thinking, adjusting.’’

At 32, Diaz hopes his comeback has put in line for a shot at another lightweight title, perhaps against WBA champion Anthony Crolla or WBO champ Terry Flanagan. Both are from the title-rich UK.

“Let’s go to England,’’ said Diaz, who owns a a transportation company, JD Trucking, in his hometown, Houston. “I’ll fight them there. I’ll fight them anywhere.’’

On the Undercard
The Best: Alexander Besputin , a Russian super-welterweight trained by Robert Garcia, didn’t need much time to get the show started. Two minutes and eight seconds after first bell, Besputin (4-0, 4 KOs) landed a left hand for a first-round knockout of Kevin Womack (7-12-3, 2 KOs) of Baltimore.
The quick stoppage left Besputin manager Egis Klimas lots of time to watch Andre Ward against Alexander Brand in a tune-up for the Ward-Sergey Kovalev clash in November. Klimas also manages Kovalev.

Surprise, Surprise: On the first full day of the Rio Olympics, 2012 gold medalist Egor Mekhontsev was lucky to get a majority draw versus Alexander Johnson of Oxon Hill, Md. Mekhonstsev (11-0-1, 7 KOs) was staggered by a right in the third.

The Russian light-heavyweight survived the next five, but his unbeaten record sustained a blemish. He won on one card, 78-74. It was 76-76 on the other two. If Johnson (16-4-1, 7 KOs) had been his opponent in Olympic prelims four years ago in London, Mekhontsev might never have reached the medal stand.

The rest: Phoenix light-heavyweight Trevor McCumby (23-0, 18 KOs) stayed unbeaten, scoring a TKO of Dion Savage (12-10, 6 KOs), a Flint, Mich. fighter whose corner called it quits after the fourth.

Tucson super-lightweight Alfonso Olvera (8-2, 3 KOs) had one key advantage: He was bigger. His size added up to points in a unanimous decision—60-54 on all three cards over a shorter Jose Maruffo (8-5-2) of Phoenix.

Tucson super-featherweight Jesus Arevalo (2-0) won a majority decision over Manuel Lopez (1-2-1) of Phoenix.
Attachments area

By Norm Frauenheim-

TUCSON — One journey has ended and another has just begun for Oscar Valdez Jr., who returns Saturday to his boyhood roots with a world-title belt that fulfilled a school kid’s dreams and now represents options for an emerging champion in what has become boxing’s most competitive division.

Valdez, the WBO’s new featherweight champ, is back in Tucson to appear at a Top Rank-promoted card featuring former champion Juan Diaz (41-4, 20 KOs) on the comeback trail against junior-lightweight Cesar Vazquez (27-3, 16 KOs) in a UniMas-televised bout at Casino Del Sol.

Valdez’ appearance is no coincidence. Plans are for him to make his first title defense in the southern Arizona city where he first began to box. The timing also coincides with heightened drama and anticipation about the featherweights.

Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian whose mom still lives in Tucson, won the WBO’s 126-pound title two weeks ago in a definitive second-round stoppage of Argentina’s Matias Rueda at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. A lot has happened since then.

One week after Valdez’ eye-catching triumph, there was upheaval at the top of the division in Irishman Carl Frampton’s 126-pound debut, a majority decision over favored Leo Santa Cruz at Barclays Center in New York.

What’s next? Who’s next?

Hard to say, but Valdez manager Frank Espinoza says his unbeaten featherweight is prepared for whatever happens.

“Yes, Oscar is ready, ready to fight anyone,’’ Espinoza said when asked about Frampton or Santa Cruz.

There’s some confusion about whether there is a contract clause that could force an immediate Santa Cruz-Frampton rematch. The Santa Cruz management says yes. Meanwhile, Frampton’s Belfast management talks about Lee Selby in what could be a rich UK showdown.

No matter what happens, Frampton, Santa Cruz and Selby figure to be on Valdez’ horizon for awhile. So, too, do Gary Russell Jr. and Abner Mares. Valdez has even mentioned by Nonito Donaire, back at 122 pounds, yet still interested in regaining a 126-pound crown.

Mares, a former Espinoza-managed featherweight, looms as an intriguing possibility. But his future is unclear. A June fight against Jesus Cuellar in Brooklyn was canceled when Mares failed the New York eye exam.

Mares, who underwent surgery for a detached retina in 2008, told the Los Angeles Times that he is healthy and determined to continue his career, perhaps against Cuellar on Oct. 15 at Staples Center. If Mares gets his career back on track and beats Cuellar, the three-time champ will be looking for a shot at a fourth title. He probably won’t have to look for long

Valdez’ looked like he was just at the start of a longtime reign in his victory over Rueda, which followed a powerful performance against ex-champ Evgeny Gradovich. It’s still not clear whom Valdez might face in his first defense, perhaps on Nov. 26 at either Casino Del Sol or the Tucson Community Center. One possibility is the winner of Guy Robb-Miguel Marriaga in a WBO eliminator on Aug. 27 at Fallon, Nev., also on UniMas’ SoloBoxeo series.

Tonight’s telecast (11 pm ET/PT) is the featured bout on a card including Phoenix light-heavyweight Trevor McCumby (22-0, 17 KOs) against Dion Savage (12-9, 6 KOs) of Flint, Mich. First bell is scheduled for 6 p.m. (PT).

By Norm Frauenheim-

They are brothers who have sparred former champs, current champs, emerging champs and sometimes each other.

For David Benavidez and Jose Benavidez Jr., long rounds in gyms from Phoenix to Southern California have been about learning the craft and building the family business.

Business is good these days and it could get a little better Friday night when David Benavidez tries to improve on the family’s unbeaten record against veteran Denis Douglin in an ESPN-televised super-middleweight bout (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

A David Benavidez victory would put the family mark at 41-0. Going into a bout scheduled for 10 rounds against Douglin (20-4, 14 KOs), the 19-year-old has won all 15 of his bouts, 14 by stoppage.

His older brother, 22-year-old Jose Jr, went to 25-0, 16 by knockout, with a unanimous decision over Francisco Santana in a welterweight debut on the July 23 undercard of Terence Crawford’s one-sided decision over Viktor Postol.

Eight years ago, David was the other Benavidez while his older brother, a 16-year-old National Golden Gloves champion in 2009, began to get a lot of internet attention for holding his own in sparring against Amir Khan.

Since then, David Benavidez has emerged — steadily and stubbornly –in his own right, becoming his brother’s equal, at least in terms of media attention. If there’s a sibling rivalry, however, it’s not readily evident. In fact and in spirit, they’ve each been in the other’s corner. David was there for Jose Jr.’s decision over Santana.

In style and approach, however, they’re different. Jose Jr. is more athletic than David, who has gained muscle and shed upper-body baby fat over the last 18 months. David is more instinctive. He moves forward and toward the fight, unlike Jose, who has unmatched hand speed, yet often exasperates fans and father-trainer Jose Sr. by fighting off the ropes in what looks like a tactical, calculated move.

If you could fuse the best of the brothers into one Benavidez, you might have a pound-for-pound contender. Just imagine Jose Jr.’s precise jab and David’s instinctive aggressiveness, all in one feared fighter. Fantasy? Maybe.

Over time, however, the family business might wind up with two fighters who learn from each other. Remember, both are still young. Jose Jr. is probably five years from his prime. David’s prime is about a decade away. By then, he might be a heavyweight. David’s recent growth has taken him out of the sparring he used to do with his brother.

Over the last year, David sparred with Gilberto Ramirez before he won the WBO’s 168-pound belt against Arthur Abraham on April 9. He got ready for Douglin by sparring with Alexander Brand.

Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) faces Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) Saturday night in Oakland, Calif., in an HBO-televised bout that is considered a tune-up for Ward’s planned light-heavyweight showdown with Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 19.

Already, there’s talk from promoter Sampson Lewkowicz about David becoming the youngest champion in super-middleweight history. First, of course, he has to beat Douglin, a New Jersey fighter with world-class experience in losses to George Groves and Jermell Charlo.

This time, it is Jose Jr.’s turn to be in the corner. After all, David’s victory would also be his own in what could become business as usual for the Benavidez brothers.

By Norm Frauenheim-

A compelling clash between Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton Saturday in Brooklyn one week after Oscar Valdez Jr.’s ongoing emergence is a sure sign that the featherweights are a loaded division rich with reasons for optimism in a business otherwise clouded by doom and gloom.

In boxing’s boom-and-bust history, the featherweights have become a reliable way to predict better days.

To wit: Manny Pacquiao. His ascent from unknown Filipino kid to worldwide celebrity started with his 2003 upset of Marco Antonio Barrera for a featherweight title in his first bout at 126 pounds.

He caught the attention of hard-core fans with sensational victories at 122 pounds, called either super-bantam or junior-feather, depending on the acronym. It was at 126, however, that casual fans got familiar with his name and copy editors learned how to spell it.

There are some familiar circumstances unfolding in the division now. It begins – and perhaps ends — with Vasyl Lomachenko. He began his pro career already known. He’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist from the Ukraine. In just seven pro bouts, he’s already won two titles and is No. 7 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound ratings.

His promoter, Bob Arum predicts a Muhammad Ali-like impact from Lomachenko, who has already moved up the scale, beating Roman Martinez in a dramatic stoppage for his first title in his first fight at 130 pounds, called either super-lightweight or junior feather. Whatever it’s called, it’s also where Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. began their Hall of Fame careers.

Will Valdez, Santa Cruz, Frampton, Gary Russell Jr. and Lee Selby follow Lomachenko up the scale – in weight and pay – the way Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales followed Pacquiao?

Valdez’ convincing stoppage of Argentina’s Matias Rueda at Las Vegas MGM Grand for his first major title at 126 – the WBO version that Lomachenko held – was evidence that history is repeating itself. The guess here is that Santa Cruz and Frampton will provide further evidence Saturday at Barclays Center Showtime-televised bout (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian, figures to make his first title defense in Tucson, where he went to school and first began to box, maybe on Nov. 26.

It promises to be a bout that will further solidify his championship credentials and his place alongside the better-known Santa Cruz or Frampton. It’s also a bout that would allow Top Rank to continue marketing its new featherweight champion in a way that could lead to a major 126-pound bout against one of Al Haymon’s featherweights –Santa Cruz, Frampton, Russell, Selby, Jesus Cuellar and Abner Mares.

Mares had a fight scheduled for June 25 in Brooklyn against Cuellar canceled because he reportedly failed the New York eye exam. It’s not clear what’s next for the popular Mares, also a former Mexican Olympian. If California licenses him, however, a bout with Valdez is an intriguing option

It’s also possible. Arum settled his $100-million suit against Haymon a couple of months ago. By all accounts, they’re talking. Part of the discussion must include the featherweights. They’ve always been a good reason to get out of the courtroom and back to business.

LAS VEGAS – The gloves were gold. Maybe, Terence Crawford’s future is, too.

Crawford at least put himself in position to collect some with a one-sided decision over Viktor Postol Saturday night in a pay-per-view junior-welterweight fight at the MGM Grand.

By the sixth round, there was little doubt about the fight or Postol’s chances and, instead, plenty of talk about how Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) might do against Manny Pacquiao.

“Of course,’’ Crawford said when asked if would fight the Filipino Senator. “I’ll fight anybody, anywhere.’’

Crawford-versus-Pacquiao on Nov. 5 at Thomas & Mack Center, also in Las Vegas, appeared to be promoter Bob Arum’s plan all along during a week when he complained about criticism of his decision to offer the Postol bout on PPV television.

Crawford’s 118-107, 117-108, 118-107 wipeout of Postol (28-1, 12 KOs) might come to look like an investment in the future, if and when there’s an agreement with Pacquiao. The fight itself was forgettable.

Crawford’s advantage in speed baffled Postol, whose power was never a factor. In fact, Crawford’s speed appeared to the biggest reason for two knockdowns in the fifth. Postol stumbled to one knee in the opening seconds of the round. Still off-balance, he stumbled backwards later in the round, touching the canvas with a glove.

Increasingly, Postol looked baffled. Then, frustrated. In the end, Crawford mocked him. In the 12^th, Postol began swinging for the fences in the desperate attempt for a knockout.

All the while, Crawford ducked, weaved, stepped to one side then the other. He was having fun, so much so that he stuck his tongue out at Postol. He also smiled at him and talked at him before claiming ownership of three pieces – The Ring, WBO and WBC – pieces of the 140-pound title.

Postol trainer Freddie Roach, who bet $1,000 to win $9,000 on the Ukrainian to win by KO, said he was surprised by Crawford speed. In the immediate aftermath, Roach, who also trains Pacquiao, didn’t want to speculate on what might happen against the Filipino.

“We’ll see what happens,’’ said Roach, who got a good look at gloves that said Crawford is more of the real kind than the fool’s variety.

Oscar Valdez Jr. joked that promoter Bob Arum was exaggerating when he called him the featherweight division’s next legend.

Maybe. But there was no exaggerating what Valdez did within two rounds in claiming his first major title Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Valdez blew away Matias Rueda of Argentina scoring a second-round stoppage for WBO title vacated by Vasyl Lomachenko. Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs) finished Rueda (26-1, 23 KOs) with a left to the body for a TKO at 2:18 of the second round.

“A dream come true,’’ said Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs), a two time Mexican Olympian who went to school in Tucson.  “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was six years old.’’

Valdez celebrated by dancing across the canvas. He talked about family and the future. He dedicated the victory to a cousin who died on a motorcycle. He talked about waiting to fight the great champions.

Next stop: Tucson.

Arum plans for Valdez to make his first title defense in the southern Arizona city where he first began to box. Possible sites are the Tucson Community Center and Casino Del Sol, maybe on Nov. 26.

His potential opponent is the winner of Miguel Marriaga-versus-Guy Robb on Aug. 27 in Fallon, Nev.  The Marriaga-Robb fight is a WBO eliminator. The winner earns a mandatory shot at Valdez, a first-time champion and – if Arum is right – maybe a many-time champ.

Jose Benavidez Jr. was hoping for something spectacular. Maybe next time.

But the unbeaten Phoenix fighter (25-0, 16 KOs) got what he had to have, a victory in his welterweight debut with a unanimous decision over tough Francisco Santana (24-5-1, 12 KOs) Saturday on a pay-per-view card featuring Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol at the MGM Grand.

“There is only one guy I want and it’s Jessie Vargas,’’ Benavidez (25-0, 16 KOs) said. “He wants Manny Pacquiao. But he has to deal with me next.’’

Vargas was sitting at ringside, working as a television analyst. When asked about Benavidez calling him out, he said:

“Fine, come and get it,’’ Vargas said. “Let’s get it set up.’’

There were some boos when one-side scores were announced. Adelaide Byrd scored it a shutout, 100-90. Judge Kermit Bayless had it 98-92. On Glenn Feldman’s card , it was a reasonable 96-94.

“I landed the cleaner shots,’’ said Benavidez, who landed quick combinations in the ninth and 10th rounds, yet appeared to tire in the middle rounds when he leaned on the ropes, an old habit.

With the victory, Benavidez next bout appears to be on in Tucson on card that expected to feature Oscar Valdez Jr. in the first defense of his WBO featherweight title.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk was down. But not done.

Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs), the latest in a string of East European imports, hit the canvas in the first round, stunned by a Tommy Karpency right that he never saw in the first fight on the pay-per-view card featuring Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol at the MGM Grand Saturday night.

Five rounds later, Gvozdyk , a Ukrainian light-heavyweight, was looking down at Karpency (26-6-1, 15 KOs), on his knees and finished.

Karpency, bleeding badly from a cut on the bridge of his nose, went down from a body shot, a right hand to the chest. He also complained about getting thumbed in the eye.

It was clear, however, that he wasn’t getting up. He stayed on one knee until the referee counted 10 for a Gvozdyk victory, a KO at 2:21 of the sixth.

The curtain went down on the non pay-per-view part of the Postol-Crawford card quickly. Definitively, too.

Japanese middleweight Ryota Murata dropped (11-0, 8 KOs) dropped George Tahdooahnippah (34-3-3, 24 KOs), Oklahoma’s Comanche Boy, with a body shot. Then, he rocked him with a succession of rights, forcing the referee to stop it at 1:52 of the first round.

Lenny Zappavigna traveled from Australia. Lianhui Yang came from China. They met at an international crossroads. No interpretation necessary. In the ring, everybody speaks the same language.

Zappavigna (35-2, 25 KOs) spoke it with more power, stopping Yang (18-2, 13 KOs) in the sixth round of a junior-welterweight fight Saturday on the Crawford-Postol card..

Zappavigna nailed Yang with two right hands, then rocked him with successive shots when the refreee stopped at 43 seconds of the round.

Edward Williams’ fraternity brothers barked. He provided the bite.

Williams (12-1-1, 3 KOs), a Detroit welterweight, had just enough of it Saturday against Houston’s Christon Edwards (6-2, 3 KOs) for a six-round unanimous decision that sparked a small frat party after the third bout on the Postol-Crawford card at the MGM Grand.

Stanyilav Skorokhod scored two knockdowns in the opening round and gestured at a fallen Hakim Bryant after the first, waving at him to get up.

Bryant obliged the Ukrainian middleweight, scrambling to his feet and giving him more work than he might have expected in the early moments Saturday. Bryant (6-1, 4 KOs), of Asbury Park, N.J., stayed on his feet for the next five rounds, stubbornly moving forward and into shots thrown by Skorokhod (11-1, 8 KOs).

But Bryant’s evident toughness wasn’t enough against Skorokhod’s 70-inch reach. The Ukrainian appeared to tire, but he had enough to win a lopsided decision in the second fight on the Crawford-Postol card.

It began with a TKO. But there was nothing technical about it.

Omaha light-heavyweight Steve Nelson (3-0, KOs) left Tim Meek (5-3-1, 2 KOs) of Canutillo, Tex., bloodied, bruised and overwhelmed with a fourth-round stoppage in the first fight on a card featuring fellow Omaha fighter Terence Crawford against Viktor Postol in a junior-welterweight bout Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Nelson warmed up the ring for his fellow Nebraskan with a counter shot that dropped Meek with a thud that echoed throughout an empty building in a non-televised bout before the pay-per-view portion of the card. Nelson then bloodied Meek’s nose and opened up a nasty gash above one eye in the third.

Meek was tougher than his name suggests. But his corner had seen enough. Thirty-two seconds into the fourth, it threw in the towel.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – It’s a unification fight in a contentious game as divided as ever.

Terence Crawford or Viktor Postol will walk out of the MGM Grand’s ring Saturday night with three pieces of a 140-pound title and into a fractured business hit by declining revenues and unsure about how to proceed.

It’s a rare bout, matching The Ring’s No. 1 and No. 2–rated junior-welterweights and both unbeaten. It’s the kind of fight that media and fans always demand to see, yet rarely do. If interest is measured in dollars and praise, however, it’s not there.

Amid criticism, promoter Bob Arum is offering the fight on pay-per-view for $59.95. HBO is carrying it. Yet, Arum is on the hook for the purses, $1.3 million for Crawford (28-0 20 KOs) and $675,000 for Postol (28-0, 12 KOs). The money for the fighters isn’t in the HBO budget. The premium network reportedly cut its boxing budget for 2016.

Arum decided to go forward with the bout on PPV anyway, in part because he wants to keep Crawford busy. With a victory, Crawford, nearly a 7-1 favorite late Friday, could win a shot at Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 5 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center. If Crawford gets past the dangerous Postol and upsets Pacquiao, he could solidify his credentials as boxing’s next superstar.

But would the money be there for him? Given today’s economics, could Pacquiao, a new Filipino Senator, expect his usual $20-million guarantee? Arum says Pacquiao understands that the business is in decline since the Filipino collected a reported $180 million for a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, a colossal dud, is seen as the beginning of the ongoing crash.

In some ways, Crawford-Postol represents the start of a different era with smaller expectations, at least in terms of purses. Getting used to it, however, might take some time. Arum is not happy about it. He’s expressed frustration at the criticism he’s getting for putting Crawford-Postol on PPV.

“I want to thank the press for telling the fans not to buy the fight,’’ Arum said to a few reporters as he left the media room after the weigh-in Friday. “I’ll remember.’’

Arum needs 80,000 pay-per-view customers to break even, according to several sources. It was hard to predict whether he’ll even get that number. An estimated crowd of fewer than 1,000 was at the weigh-in Friday. Crawford, of Omaha, tipped the scales at 140 pounds. Postol, of the Ukraine, was 139.5.

Despite the one-sided odds and media complaints about pay-per-view, the fight itself looks intriguing. Postol has developed a nasty, powerful uppercut since Freddie Roach became his trainer. Roach, also Pacquaio’s trainer, will be in Postol’s corner for the fourth time. He’s so confident that he came into the media room after the weigh-in Friday, showing off a betting slip. He wagered $1,000 on the chance to collect $9,000, picking Postol to win by knockout.

“In any round.’’ Roach said.

That might turn out to be better bet that big a pay-per-view audience.

By Norm Frauenheim-
LAS VEGAS – From Salvador Sanchez to Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, the history of Mexican featherweights reads like royalty. Is Oscar Valdez Jr. next in line? Bob Arum thinks so.

Arum anointed Valdez as a heir apparent Thursday during a news conference for the 25-year-old’s bid for his first major title against Argentina’s Matias Rueda on the undercard of the pay-per-view bout featuring junior-welterweights Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

“The great Mexican featherweights include Morales and Barrera,’’ said Arum. “Juan Manuel Marquez campaigned at featherweight for a while. We believe Oscar Valdez can surpass those legends.’’

Valdez smiled. Might have gulped a little bit, too. It’s great to be mentioned alongside all-time greats. But predicted potential can also be thorns on a burdensome crown.

“I think he exaggerated,’’ said Valdez, whose easy-going streak of humility includes a healthy sense of humor.

Valdez (20-0, 17 KOs) grew up in Tucson and Nogales on the Mexican side of the Arizona border as a kid who idolized Morales. The two-time Mexican Olympian has met Morales. He’s always wanted to be like him. But Valdez has taken his dad’s advice. Oscar Valdez Sr. said he told his son to forget about the comparisons.

“I don’t like to think that way, about Oscar becoming a Mexican idol like Barrera and Morales,’’ said Oscar Valdez Sr., who introduced his son to boxing in Tucson and then moved back to Nogales where he lives and works in real estate today. “I’d like him to go just step-by step.

“I don’t like to think that he’s a big star now, because he’s not. So, I tell him he needs to go, little-by-little. I told my son not to think he’s the big super-star, because he’s not.’’

Father knows best. Valdez has no illusions about the here-and-now, which is the immediate task of facing an unknown, unbeaten Argentine with 23 knockouts in 26 victories for a WBO title vacated by new junior-lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.

“To be compared to Erik Morales means a lot to me, but I ‘ve got a long way to get to what he and Marco Antonio Barrera did,’’ Valdez said. “A long, long way.’’

Valdez said he was surprised to hear Arum say he would surpass his heroes.

“Yeah, it did surprise me,’’ he said. “Of course, it did.’’

Arum’s projection creates bigger expectations for the promising Valdez. But, as Charles Barkley once said, pressure is for tires. Valdez doesn’t seem to feel much, if any. Above all, he appears to enjoy the bigger stakes and heightened attention.

“It puts me on the spot, ‘’ said Valdez, the potential star on an Arizona-accented undercard that includes former junior-welterweight Jose Benavidez Jr. of Phoenix at welterweight against Francisco Santana (24-4-1, 12 KOs) “But it’s good. I never get pressured. I’m very focused on what I do in training. I’m aware of what I’m capable of.’’

Against Rueda, he plans to display some more of those emerging capabilities. Rueda is fighting for only the second time in the United States. He won a bout in Tampa in October, 2015. He’s unknown. Then again, so was fellow Argentine Marcos Maidana before he stunned Victor Ortiz in 2009.

“I’ve seen tapes of him,’’ Valdez said. “Sometimes, he barely hits guys and they fall. So you can tell he has a hard-hitting punch. But I’m ready for him. I’m ready.’’

Ready for Rueda and everything else that might be next, too.
Attachments area

By Norm Frauenheim-

Adam Lopez, a former Phoenix super-bantamweight now of San Antonio, hopes to celebrate 15 years of ShoBox with a victory of his own.

The unbeaten Lopez (15-0, 7 KOs) is in the main event for the 15th anniversary of “ShoBox: The New Generation” Friday night (Showtime 10 ET/PT) against Roman Ruben Reynoso (18-1-1, 7 KOs) of Argentina at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn.

Lopez hopes his career unfolds the way other careers have during the long run of the Showtime series. Deontay Wilder and Andre Ward, to name just two, fought on ShoBox early in their careers.

Lopez is coming off a decision over Mario Munoz for a minor title on Feb. 19 in Atlantic City. Reynoso has won 10 straight.

By Norm Frauenheim

A Viktor Postol victory over Terence Crawford could lead to a Postol-Manny Pacquiao fight and force trainer Freddie Roach to choose between Postol and Pacquiao.

It sounds awkward. But Roach, trainer for both Postol and Pacquiao, says it wouldn’t be.

“It wouldn’t be the worst position in the world,’’ Roach said Thursday during a conference call nine days before the Postol-Crawford junior-welterweight bout July 23 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “I feel like Viktor has done everything to get ready for this fight, to win this fight.’’

“If that does happen, I’ll have to deal with it.’’

The possibility emerged this week amid reports that Pacquiao would fight later this year in his first bout since he was elected to the Filipino Senate a few weeks after his rematch decision over Timothy Bradley in a welterweight bout in April.

Danny Garcia appears to be the leading possibility when — and perhaps if — Pacquiao decides to resume his career. Longtime Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who also promotes Crawford and Postol, also said the July 23rd winner could land a shot at the Senator with a spectacular performance.

Postol and Crawford will fight at 140 pounds, which many believe is Pacquiao’s ideal weight.

“If that fight will happen, we’ll then sit down with each team to see how it goes,’’ Top Rank vice-president Carl Moretti said.

Then, Moretti couldn’t resist the chance to deliver a good punch line.

“As far as Freddie goes, it would be great to see him run back-and forth, from corner-to-corner,’’ Moretti joked.

That wouldn’t happen, of course. Roach’s longtime role as Pacquiao’s friend, confidante and corner man dictates that he would be in the Filpino’s corner.

“Me and Manny have been together for 15 years,’’ Roach. “It would be very difficult to go against him, of course. But, you know, I know Viktor is a very good fighter also.’’

If the Postol-Pacquiao happens, Marvin Somodio, Roach’s longtime aide, would probably train Postol.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Sergey Kovalev returns to Russia on July 11 for his first fight in nearly five years with titles and an emerging celebrity he never had or perhaps could have ever envisioned.

Kovalev won his first championship, the WBO ‘s light- heavyweight version, in Wales with a 2013 stoppage of Nathan Cleverly. He defended it for the first time in the French-Canadian town of Quebec City with a knockout of Ismayl Sillah , also in 2013.

The Russian, a first-time champ in Wales with an initial title defense in Canada, gained his first chance at American-style stardom a 2014 upset of an enduring American legend, Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City.

Therae was a Robin Williams’ line in Moscow on The Hudson, a 1984 film about the defection of a musician in the old Soviet circus during a tour stop in New York.

“Yesterday, I bought my first pair of American shoes,’’ the Williams character wrote in a letter home. “They were made in Italy.’’

In true American fashion, Kovalev is made of a lot of things, many of which are still being discovered in an ongoing story that is moving toward what could be a defining chapter against Andre Ward on Nov. 19 in Las Vegas.

First, however, a few things have to happen and not happen. Kovalev (29-0-1, 19 KOs) has to beat Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) in Ekaterinburg, 137 miles from Kovalev’s hometown, Kopeysk, in a bout that HBO will televise, tape-delay (10:15 p.m., ET/PT).

“I must get my victory for my next possible fight,” Kovalev said. “You lose once, everything goes broke.’’

Broke comes with a double meaning. The much-anticipated Ward-Kovalev bout sets up the winner as one of the game’s potential big earners. In a poll featuring boxing’s top earners in 2016, for Fortune magazine this week, Ward is ranked No. 5 and Kovalev No. 6.

Given the decision by Canelo Alvarez–Fortune’s No. 1–to bypass No. 3 Gennady Golovkin until at least next year, Kovalev-Ward looms as the biggie in 2016.

Ward has to uphold his part in the deal on Aug. 6 against Alexander Brand in Oakland. The guess here is that neither Kovalev nor Ward is in much risk of a loss. The bigger threat is an injury that could delay the fight, using it into 2017.

Kovalev, often as bold before a fight as he is dangerous during one, is already promising to do what no one else has.

Chilemba, awkward and mostly unknown, has never been stopped.

“Nobody has ever knocked Chilemba out,’’ Kovalev said. “I want to be the first.’’

Fighting at home for the first time since 2011 might come with some unfamiliar pressure on Kovalev. A hometown crowd might want something spectacular from a newborn star, who has been deadly on the road. Who knows how he’ll react at home?

There’s another element in all the plot lines surrounding the geography. Kovalev will be back in the same arena where his opponent, Roman Sinkov, died after he won by a stoppage.

Since then, Kovalev has said little about the tragedy. The people around him talk about it more than he does. For Kovalev, the job is more about the here –now, the immediate task in front of him.

Nevertheless, the Sinkov death is an unmistakable part of the Kovalev story in each day and every step he takes toward opening bell on Monday. If he wins as expected, he ‘ll have a definitive answer.

Maybe that’s just one reason he has gone home. Unresolved questions are a little bit like unfinished fights. They have to be confronted and Kovalev has yet to back away from one in a lifetime full of traveling from one confrontation to the next.

By Norm Frauenheim

The birthday was a long shot. Few guessed it would ever happen. Mike Tyson is 50. Buster Douglas probably faced smaller odds when, as a 42-to-1 underdog, he beat Tyson more than a quarter of a century ago.

Tyson’s milestone, instead of an early headstone, came and went Thursday amid some headlines, but none of the deafening craziness that defined him for so long.

That’s an upset. Tyson’s biggest victory, too.

In doing a cover story on Tyson for The Ring in 2014, he told me: “Let’s be men about this. Be honest. You didn’t think we’d be talking to each other like we are right now. Did you? Come on now, be real. You thought I’d be dead, right? Hey, I thought I’d be dead.’’

Tyson survived — survived prison, drugs, booze, outrage from the infamous bite he took out of Evander Holyfield’s ear and all the rest – because he learned how to deal with the personal demons, who once outnumbered the crowd in his entourage. How did he do it? He grew up.

It sounds simple enough. But it wasn’t, especially for a kid from the streets of Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood who won the world heavyweight title faster than anyone in the fabled division’s history. He was 20, which is another way of saying he just wasn’t ready for worldwide attention and unprecedented money.

“There ain’t no future in my past,’’ he told me in 2014.
He began to figure to figure that out after the past landed him at rock bottom. He was virtually finished as a fighter when he arrived in Phoenix in the fall of 1998, searching for a way to resurrect his career after the infamous Bite Fight disqualification at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand in 1997. He was in Arizona for counseling and to train at an old gym that the city was about to demolish.

Central Boxing was scheduled for the wrecking ball when Tyson decided he wanted to train there in beat-up building without air-conditioning. There’s AC there, now. But Tyson liked it for the hot box it was. Within its old walls, temps could hit 130 degrees during summer days in the Arizona desert.

Tyson saved the gym. It’s still there, near the state capitol and with AC. But nothing could save his career, which Holyfield effectively ended by stripping him of the intimidation that defeated so many frightened opponents before opening bell. After moving to Phoenix, he fought 10 times, winning five, losing three and getting no-contest in two. But he scared no one any more, other than himself.

It was that period in Tyson’s life when he used talk, often ad nauseam, about what a waste it had been. Again and again, he said he was sick and tired of boxing. He knew he didn’t want to be in the ring anymore, but he was because of a tax bill and other financial responsibilities.

When I first met him as a reporter for The Arizona Republic newspaper, I was cautious, fearful perhaps that he’d go off on a rant and take a piece of my ear. I’d stop at Central and he’d look through me as if he had never seen me. Then, there were times he welcomed me like an old boyhood friend. He just wanted to talk and he would, almost non-stop.

After one workout, I told him I had to leave. He followed me out into the mid-summer heat and to my truck. I opened the door and Tyson dropped his heavy right hand on my left elbow. I felt a hint of the power that frightened the heavyweight division for so long.

With one quick yank, he could have pulled my arm right out of its shoulder socket. I froze. Tyson talked. I listened.

It was then I realized Tyson was mostly afraid of himself, especially when he knew he was finished as a fighter. What was next for somebody who knew nothing else? He talked then, and continued to talk for another couple of years, as though he was trying to exorcise the demons. I was skeptical that he ever could. But he did, confronting tragedy when a 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, died in an accident on treadmill in Phoenix in 2009.

The tragedy helped forge the man. He would be back in Phoenix to visit ailing Muhammad Ali before Ali’s death on June 3. A week later, Tyson was a pallbearer for Ali’s funeral in Louisville.

Tyson was there to honor Ali. It was a sad moment, a reason to grieve, yet also fitting in terms of a heavyweight history full of champions, each different and yet each linked by what they did and how they did it.

Happy Birthday, champ.

By Norm Frauenheim-

The news hasn’t been good. More like lousy.

On the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin front, nothing is happening. On Wednesday, there was news – more like non-news — that they have agreed not to agree, meaning the fight will probably happen in the fall of 2017. That’s when public demand is supposed to peak. At least, that’s the bet.

If television ratings in free fall are a trend, however, the source of that demand might not be there. PBC’s last primetime telecast, featured by Joe Smith Jr.’s quick stoppage of light-heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara last Saturday on NBC, approached the infinitesimal, dipping into the fractions at .8, barely a heart beat.

So, why am I feeling optimistic? Not sure, other than to say that the boxing is back at the perilous place where it always seems to be at its best. Beneath all the scars, there’s defiance.

It explains the resiliency, which within the ropes is personified by the fighter who gets up from a devastating knockdown to win. It explains how the business has survived the obits, of which there are many right now. Yet, that stubborn defiance, double-edged and chaotic, always pushes the game to the brink, too. Nothing is safe, not even – or perhaps especially — prosperity.

It’s back at that brink, all over again, for well-documented reasons, starting with the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao dud in May, 2015. The litany of bad news — an eroding fan base and falling revenue, sets the stage for another comeback.

One might already be underway with super-featherweight Orlando Salido’s dramatic draw on June 4 with Francisco Vargas at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

The next chapter might be played out Saturday night in the welterweight clash between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on CBS (9 pm ET/6 pm PT). Potentially, it’s a classic match of power (Thurman’s) against speed (Porter’s) between fighters just entering their primes.

Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) is 27; Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) is 28. There might be better welterweights. There’s the UK’s Kell Brook, who scored a majority decision over Porter at StubHub in 2014. There’s emerging Errol Spence, who a couple of years from now might be the best in the division.

In the here-and-now, however, there is Thurman-Porter on a big stage in a bout with enough elements for enough drama that for one night can make everybody forget about whether Canelo-GGG will ever happen.

“You got two young fighters in their prime, fighting on primetime,’’ said Thurman, who calls himself One Time. “I mean, this is the time. This is the primetime. Mayweather is gone. Pacquiao is gone. There is no better time than this time, you know, for this fight to go down and for each one of us to showcase our skills and our talent to the world and take it to that next level.

“So nothing – there should be not one ounce of hesitation from either fighter. It should be a great night of boxing. I’m definitely looking forward to it.’’

Stephen Espinoza, of CBS subsidiary Showtime, is hoping for what Thurman has promised.

“Boxing takes criticism for not making the right fights at the right time,’’ Espinoza said Thursday at a news conference. “One of the bad habits we have is that we spend time thinking about fights that might get made. But now we have the right fight, at the right time and at the right venue. It’s a disservice to not recognize that what is going on Saturday is very special.’’

Very necessary, too.