By Norm Frauenheim–

Lawsuits against Al Haymon aren’t surprising. More like inevitable. Haymon had to know they were coming. They’re just part of doing business. The last two suits, however, are different and perhaps more dangerous to Haymon’s PBC plans because of who and what they target.

The Oscar De La Hoya anti-trust suit filed in May and Bob Arum’s follow-up this week put Haymon’s financial backing, the Waddell & Reed investment firm, in the legal crosshairs.

Haymon, an economics major at Harvard, must know that controversy makes investors nervous. Two anti-trust suits that name Waddell & Reed of Overland, Kan., as a co-defendant has to make Haymon just as nervous.

Here’s why: On June 10, the Wall Street Journal reported that investors were bailing out of Waddell & Reed mutual funds. They’re called “go anywhere” funds, according to the newspaper, which reported that they act a lot like hedge funds. Instead of insurance and other places thought to be safe, dollars go into stocks, precious metals and other volatile instruments. Over the last 12 months, many of those investors withdrew $12.5 billion from Waddell & Reed, according to the Journal.

Reports are that Haymon got $425 million from Waddell & Reed for his PBC venture, which includes buying television slots for cards on NBC, CBS, Spike, ESPN and Fox. In a Los Angeles filing for Arum’s Top Rank, Daniel Petrocelli called it a scheme.

”Al Haymon and Waddell & Reed are engaged in a sophisticated scheme to gain control of the boxing industry,” said Petrocelli, a high-profile attorney who won a wrongful death suit against O.J. Simpson in 1997. ”As the lawsuit explains in detail, they are violating federal law, defying state regulators and absorbing significant short-term losses to drive legitimate operators out of the business.”

Haymon is as publicity shy as a hedge-fund operator. He doesn’t speak to the media. Nevertheless, there was a response from his attorneys. It was prompt, a signal that the lawsuits are serious.

Kramer, Levin, Naftalis and Frankel, a New York firm, countered Top Rank’s lawsuit Wednesday with a statement:

“The lawsuit filed today (Wednesday) by Bob Arum and Top Rank is entirely without merit and is a cynical attempt by boxing’s old guard to use the courts to undermine the accessibility, credibility and exposure of boxing that the sport so desperately needs.

“The Premier Boxing Champions series makes boxing free again, by bringing championship boxing to free TV, with a fighter-first promise and a commitment to the fans to restore boxing to the luster of its heyday. The continued success of this effort will far outlast this baseless lawsuit.”

There’s plenty of hypocrisy on all sides in the looming court battle. That might just be another way of saying it’s boxing all over again. In both suits, violations of the Muhammad Ali Act are alleged. The biggest involves a prohibition of a law prohibiting managers from acting as promoters. The allegation is that Haymon, often called an advisor, has been both manager and promoter for his roster of about 200 fighters.

Let the court decide whether there is, in fact, anything to the allegation. But a jury, politicians and law enforcement might be confused as to why there’s never been a conviction – bupkus, nada – in the history of the Ali Act. Promoters, managers and sanctioning bodies have ignored it since Arizona Senator John McCain managed to get it passed in 2000.

For 15 years, it hasn’t been enforced. It’s been virtually forgotten. Mention the Ali Act in a Las Vegas media work room before a big fight these days and you’re bound to hear someone say: “Oh yeah, who’s playing The Champ?’’

When it was passed, major promoters basically told the feds to butt out. Then, they went back to business as usual. Now, they’ve dusted off the dormant legislation in an attempt to bring down a new and dangerous rival. Maybe, De La Hoya and Arum will succeed.

If they do, however, they might want to be careful about what they wish for. In their respective suits, they accuse Haymon of trying to interfere with their right to conduct business.

They allege that Lucas Matthysse’s decision over Ruslan Provodnikov on April 18 in a potential Fight of the Year was moved out of Los Angeles to Verona, N.Y., casino because PBC reserved the bigger LA venues for the same date. After PBC forced the move, it canceled the bookings.

It’s an allegation that says Haymon is capable of retaliation. If the lawsuits scare off even more Waddell & Reed investors, it might be all he has at the end of a dangerous game with few winners and a steep price to be paid by everyone.

CARSON, Calif. – Nothing is ever easy for Timothy Bradley.

Or predictable

In a career full of controversial decisions and crazy finishes, there was another wild ride for Bradley.

Bradley wound up winning a unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas Saturday. But it was in a 12-round fight that referee Pat Russell stopped about seven seconds before it was supposed to end and about five seconds after Bradley was rocked by a huge right hand.

Confusion reigned for a couple of minutes, Vargas thought Russell stopped it because Bradley was hurt and couldn’t continue. Vargas celebrated, thinking he had scored a huge upset. His corner men and friends jumped into the ring to celebrate with him. Meanwhile, Bradley appeared confused. He shook his head in disbelief at what looked to be a loss.

“I knew where I was at all times,’’ said Bradley, who stumbled backwards from an overhand right by Vargas. “I knew where I was at all times. All of sudden, the referee was waving his hands. I didn’t know what was going on.’’

Nobody did.

Turns out, Russell stopped the fight because he thought it was over.

“I thought I heard the bell,’’ Russell told HBO’s Max Kellerman in a chaotic scene at the center of the ring.
Maybe, Russell heard the 10-second warning and mistook it for the final bell. Or maybe he heard an inadvertent bell from somewhere in the StubHub crowd. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It’s only certain that he didn’t stop the fight because of what he saw in Bradley.

“I made the call based on what I heard,’’ Russell said.

That meant the fight went to the scorecards. All three favored Bradley. Judge Max DeLuca had it 116-112. Rocky Young scored it 117-111. On Kermit Bayless’ card, it was 115-112.

Finally, Bradley (32-1-1,12 KOs) could celebrate. In the sudden turn of events, however, there was only frustration for Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs).

“Those seven seconds cost me the fight,’’ he said.
He complained that he wasn’t allowed to finish Bradley. He was denied a triumphant finish, he said.

“Let me finish what I started,’’ he said to Bradley while asking for a rematch.
Okay, Bradley said.
No telling how crazy an encore might be.

Except for seven seconds, Bradley appeared to control the bout

Doubt appeared to creep into Vargas’ eyes as early as the second round. Bradley was applying pressure with muscle and authority. As the round ended, Vargas smiled at him. There was a question, perhaps a prayer, in that smile. It was as if Vargas couldn’t believe that Bradley could sustain the pace.

But he did at a punishing rate. Bradley repeatedly stepped inside Vargas’ four-inch advantage in reach, delivering blows to body and head with the thudding impact of that old jackhammer he swung around during an old-school training camp.

At the end of the fifth, Vargas found himself with his back on the ropes. He would be there again and again in a futile attempt to elude Bradley’s tireless pursuit. There was just nowhere else to go for Vargas in his first bout against a welterweight who is among the division elite.

Bradley was stronger and he knew it. By the seventh, there was a look of resignation instead of doubt on Vargas’ face. By the ninth, there was almost a look of dread. By the tenth, there was inevitability.

But, in the end, there was only chaos. Nothing for new for Bradley

Oscar Valdez down early, wins easily

If the prospect stage is about lessons, super-featherweight Oscar Valdez got one. Passed it, too. But it wasn’t the A-plus kind of grade that put Valdez at the top of the honor roll through his first 16 fights. More like a B-minus.

Ruben Tamayo, a fellow Mexican with a journeyman’s record (23-6-4, 15 KOs) surprised Valdez (17-0, 14 KOs) early with some thing of a pop quiz. Valdez, a two-time Olympian, was on the canvas in the first round.

It wasn’t exactly clear how he got there. Valdez appeared to get his feet tangled up after Tamayo knocked him off balance with a left. Maybe, he tripped. Maybe, Tamayo’s power put him there. Maybe, both.

Whatever it was, it was a momentary stunner.

Valdez looks surprised, even embarrassed. The good news is that he quickly recovered with a poised attack that included stinging jabs to the head and combos to the body. The bad news was that he couldn’t finish Tamayo, who was penalized a point in the seventh for a low blow. Still, it was enough for a 98-90, 99-90, 98-90 win on the scorecards.

Next lesson, please

On The Undercard
The Best: Providence featherweight Toka Khan Clary (16-0-0-1, 10 KOs) landed a huge hook at the end of the sixth round, dropping Colombian Jonathan Perez (33-12, 27 KOs) just as the bell sounded. It looked as if Perez never heard the bell. It also looked as if he had no clue at what hit him or even where he was. He was unconscious before he ever hit the canvas, knocked out at 2:59 of the sixth.

The Rest: Chicago welterweight Ed Brown (6-0, 6 KOs) scored a second-round knockout of Jose Maruffo (7-3-2,) of Phoenix. It was dull, but it was decisive as junior-welterweight Abraham Lopez (1-1) of Rowland Heights scored a unanimous decision over Mexican Joann Valenzuela (1-4-1, 1 KO). And Los Angeles featherweight Leonardo Chavez (4-1, 3 KOs) scored a second-round knockdown and was never threatened in winning a unanimous decision over Mexican Jair Quintero (4-5-2).

By Norm Frauenheim-

CARSON, Calif. – Light-heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev said he didn’t watch Andre Ward’s comeback victory over Paul Smith and instead concentrated on his July 25 title defense against Nadjib Mohammedi.

“Empty talk right now,’’ Kovalev said Saturday during an hour-long session with reporters before a card featuring Timothy Bradley-Jessie Vargas at StubHub Center.

The internet is on fire with speculation about a Ward-Kovalev fight in the wake of Ward’s ninth-round stoppage of Smith on June 20 in Oakland, Calif.

The unbeaten Ward, a ringside analyst for HBO Saturday night, is still deliberating about whether he’ll move to light-heavy or stay at super-middleweight. He fought Smith at a catch-weight, 172 pounds. The guessing game is that Ward is moving toward a big-money showdown against either Kovalev or middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

Kovalev manager Egis Klimas said he did watch Ward’s comeback, his first bout in about 19 months.

“He’s interesting,’’ Klimas said. “He’s a different kind of fighter. A very good fighter.’’

Klimas also foresees a Ward-Kovalev showdown, which he says would be “the biggest fight for Sergey.’’

Meanwhile, Kovalev, who faces Mohammedi in a mandatory defense at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay, had plenty to say about Adonis Stevenson, who holds the WBC’s version of the light-heavyweight title.

Kovalev, who is training in nearby Big Bear, continued to call Stevenson a piece of excrement.

“Because he’s running from me,’’ Kovalev said.

By Norm Frauenheim-

CARSON, Calif. – Timothy Bradley returns to a place that gave him headache. A career-defining victory, too.

This time, he plans to leave without the headache and only a victory over Jessie Vargas Saturday night (6:45 pm PST/9:45 pm EST on HBO) in a welterweight bout he hopes will hit the-re-set button for bigger things in his resilient career.

Still, Bradley can’t help but look around at the SubHub Center and wince at what he remembers of March 16, 2013 against Ruslan Provodnikov.

“Horrific,’’ Bradley said.

That was the night Bradley suffered a concussion, yet somehow survived to win a decision over Provodnikov in the 2013 Fight of the Year.

Ever since, Bradley has called the outdoor ring at StubHub “the War-Grounds.’’ Calling it a Center just doesn’t do justice to the battle that transpired more than two years ago.

Bradley isn’t seeking an encore. Who would? A solid decision over Vargas, a newcomer to the welterweight division’s elite ranks, would be enough and perhaps lead to bigger fights for bigger money at even a bigger weight. Bradley has even talked about middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

“I was small 140-pounder,’’ said Bradley, who was 146.4 pounds Friday at the weigh-in for the 147-pound bout. “I’m a small 147-pounder. I’d be a small 154-pounder. But, like I’ve been saying all along, I’ll fight anybody.’’

For now, that somebody is Vargas, who is finally getting the big fight he’s been seeking. Vargas, who has a four-inch advantage in reach, also was 146.4 pounds Friday.

The card, HBO’s Boxing 1000th telecast, will also feature super-featherweight prospect Oscar Valdez in his first appearance on the premium network. Valdez (15-0, 14 KOs), a two-time Mexican Olympian who went to school in Tucson, was 127.4 pounds Friday. He faces fellow Mexican Ruben Tamayo (25-5-4, 17 KOs). In his first trip to the scale Tamayo was 129, a pound over the contracted weight, 128. An hour later, Tamayo weighed 128.

By Norm Frauenheim

Timothy Bradley doesn’t stay angry for too long. Maybe that’s because he’s a nice guy. Or maybe he just doesn’t have time for it. But he doesn’t let it metastasize into a career-killing grudge. That’s for a long line of angry young men in a business full of more grudges than catch-weight clauses.

So it wasn’t exactly a surprise Thursday when Bradley let his rant Tuesday at Jesse Vargas and trainer Erik Morales pass like a summer storm. The good guy in Bradley is impossible to suppress and it was there at a news conference for his Saturday bout with Vargas at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif.

“I have nothing against this team,’’ Bradley (29-1-1, 11 KOs) said as he looked at Vargas and Morales a couple days before HBO Boxing reaches a milestone with its 1000th telecast. “What happened two days ago on that rant – I was just getting out of my car.

“I’m hungry. I’m tired. I gotta take a piss, and I hear someone is saying some negative things about my name. When I went on that rant, I was angry at the time.

“But there’s no disrespect. There’s no bad blood. I respect everybody on the dais – Jessie Vargas and Erik Morales, the great Hall of Fame fighter, Erik Morales.’’

Those are the kind of comments that have come to define Bradley, a promising ringside analyst. He’s a people person with common problems, including a bad day. He’s different only because he fights for a living.

Yet, he’s still approachable in a way that allows they pubic to identify with him. You almost feel as if you could knock on his door to ask if you could borrow his lawn mower. Try that with Floyd Mayweather Jr, who probably doesn’t have a mower, at least not one made by Ferrari.

Bradley went into his rant when he arrived at the fight’s hotel. It quickly exploded on the net, mostly because it was so out of character. It was also hard to figure. What precipitated it?

After promising to whip Vargas’ bleeping posterior, he threatened to do the same to Morales, the former featherweight great and Vargas new trainer. Morales, a former champion at four different weights, replaced Roy Jones Jr.

“I’ll come back and beat his behind if he comes out of retirement,’’ said Bradley, a favorite in his first bout since sustaining a debatable draw in December against Diego Chaves. “Whatever weight. We could fight at a catch-weight. It don’t matter. You want to fight at 200? It doesn’t matter. I’m going to whip your ass next. If you want to talk, you can say whatever you want to say.’’

Huh?

It was never clear what, if anything, Morales said. There was some suspicion that maybe it was just a ploy to sell a fight between two good guys. And, sure enough, Top Rank don’t waste any time sending out video of the rant, far and wide. The other suspicion was that Bradley was grasping for motivation against Vargas (26-0, (KOs), who is unbeaten yet a newcomer to the welterweight division’s elite.

Nope, nope and nope.

Turns out, Bradley only had to go to the men’s room.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Andre Ward’s return from a 19-month layoff Saturday night comes at a time when he has to come back. Everybody’s prime comes with an expiration date. It’s hard to know how close Ward is to the end of what he has done so well, perhaps better than anyone among the leaders in today’s pound-for-pound generation.

At 32, however, it’s time to find out. His comeback bout against journeyman contender Paul Smith at Oakland’s Oracle Arena in a BET-televised bout provides a look at what he still has and at what he might still accomplish.

“The game plan is to razzle, dazzle, be explosive and do it all,’’ Ward said after a workout Tuesday.

Yet, it’s clear that the bout against Smith, defeated by Arthur Abraham in his last two outings, is a test drive. It’s happening at a catch-weight, 172 pounds, four more than the super-middleweight division Ward dominated before contract problems and a shoulder injury. It’s three pounds less than light-heavyweight.

Against Smith, Ward will get an idea where his career goes next. Gennady Golovkin at 168 pounds? Or Sergey Kovalev at 175? For now, Kovalev looks more likely. Golovkin appears more interested in the winner of a projected bout between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez for a piece of the middleweight title.

There was also an internet dust-up. On a Russian website, the usually polite Golovkin ripped Ward for suggesting that he was lying when he said he’d fight Ward at 168 pounds.

“You haven’t been interesting for a long time,” Golovkin was quoted as saying in response to Ward. “Everyone already knows what you are, and, because of this, they do not go to your fights. As a man, you are dead to me.”

If the quotes are accurate – and GGG has yet to deny them, it sounds as if chances at Ward-Golovkin are dead, too. But if the Floyd-Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight proved any thing, it showed that no deal is ever dead if money and interest are there.

That brings us back to Saturday night. It all depends on how Ward looks against Smith, a UK super-middleweight known for toughness and little else.

Ward might be at an age when he can no longer make 168, which would probably end the Golovkin possibility. GGG is already a small middleweight. It would be a stretch for his to fight at 168. Anything more than 170 looks unlikely. That would mean Kovalev, a Fight of the Year in any year.

Ward (27-0, 14 KOS) has been reluctant to talk about anything beyond Smith (35-5, 20 KOs), his first bout since his career was shelved in a contract dispute with late promoter Dan Goossen. He has no idea how he’ll react to his first opening bell in nearly two years.

“We’ll make adjustments along the way, but there isn’t a specific game plan for Paul Smith,’’ Ward said. “I think you are going to see everything come Saturday night. I’m not going to force it. I’m just going to let it flow.”

Mostly, Ward sounds as if he’s relieved to move beyond a stage in his career – his life – that left him unsure about what was next. He said he even thought about retiring. Twice, he said during a conference call, he planned to announce his retirement.

But now he’s anxious and energized for a second chance to fulfill the potential that has been oh-so evident since his 2004 gold medal, the last Olympic god won by an American boxer.

In retrospect, it might have been more lesson than layoff.

“Was it uncomfortable? Yes,’’ Ward said. “Did I hate every moment of it? Yes. But did it force me? Did it teach me? Absolutely. So, no, I wouldn’t have changed anything.

“And we’ll see Saturday night about the layoff.’’

And the future.

By Norm Frauenheim-

There’s a lot of talk about TBE this spring. It started with Floyd Mayweather Jr. It continues with LeBron James. But there’s a difference, one that becomes increasingly evident as the drama unfolds in the ongoing NBA Finals.

For Mayweather, TBE is a fashion statement, an acronym he wears on caps, T-shirts and anything else for sale. For James, it’s a personal statement, a challenge he took on in his return to Cleveland.

TBE stands for The Best Ever, of course. But that can mean just about anything. It’s an acronym, after all. Define it with your own values and these days that’s money. Money, money, money. Welcome to the wealth gap. There’s the one percent and the 99 percent who wish we were.

That’s Mayweather’s world and it is re-confirmed every time he looks at Forbes. He’s the magazine’s No. 1-earning athlete all over again, the best ever, better even than Tiger Woods.

Mayweather’s $300 million in Forbes latest edition of its annual list of jockdom’s filthy rich breaks Woods record of $115 million for the 12-month period between 2007 and 2008. Woods, by the way, is still ranked No. 9 by Forbes. But that’s about the only leaderboard he makes any more. Woods is shooting in the 80s and forever shooting himself out of golf’s TBE debate.

Point is, it’s easy and misleading to equate TBE with Forbes. But, I suspect, Mayweather does. If there’s a moment when Mayweather isn’t talking about money or flaunting all it buys, I’ve missed it. He loves to show it off. I’d prefer to see him show off a knockout punch once in a while. But, as a member of the 99 percent, what do I know?

Then, there’s James, who has his own definition of TBE in the month after Mayweather and Pacquiao generated $600 million in an event that was a Gross Domestic Product in more ways than one.

James doesn’t talk about TBE. He’s never been quoted as saying he’s better than Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, unlike Mayweather, who has said he’s better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. Yet, the NBA debate is more lively and forceful than ever with James’ powerful show of talent and will in leading the injury-ridden Cavaliers in a bid to upset the Golden State Warriors.

Increasingly, James’ performance is generating a fan-based debate about why he might be better. With Mayweather, it has been more about him saying he is and the public saying he’s not. Real proof is hard to find in Mayweather’s claim, despite a 48-0 record that is one victory short of Rocky Marciano’s mark.

But it’s there with James, whose return to Cleveland from Miami was a a huge gamble. Yet, he embraced the risk, encountered the adversity and has followed up with one great performance after another in a body of work that says legacy is more than an acronym.

Or an income.

By Norm Frauenheim-

A shuffle the top of the marquee begins to unfold, almost like a political campaign, in an inevitable transition put into motion by Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao. Despite record-setting revenue, the fight was an artistic flop, yet a sign that the business is moving on in search of new stars.

They’re there, on a list topped by Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford and Roman Gonzalez. A preliminary, yet intriguing move takes place Saturday in the Miguel Cotto-Daniel Geale fight at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The HBO-televised bout sets the table.

If Cotto – a prominent face in the Mayweather-Pacquiao generation — wins, it looks as if he’ll face Alvarez for perhaps his last big payday in another chapter in the rich Puerto Rican–Mexican tradition. If Cotto loses, then maybe Golovkin bypasses Carl Froch and goes straight to an anticipated date with Canelo in a bout sure to include Fight-of-the-Year hype.

It’s no coincidence, perhaps, that Golovkin plans to be at ringside for Cotto-Geale. He knocked out Geale. He wants Cotto’s version of the middleweight belt. Of all the potential contenders for the pound-for-pound office about to be vacated by Mayweather, Golovkin looks like the front-runner, both in ring skill and popular appeal.

If there were an election among Mexican fans in Los Angeles, Golovkin, a Kazak, would get a lot of votes. In his last two bouts in LA, the crowd has been filled with people wearing T-shirts and campaign-style button that said: Mexicans for GGG.

There’s A-side leverage in that kind of popularity. At some point, it’s bound to bring GGG out the most-feared category and into a powerful bargaining position. Ducking GGG will soon become a bad business move, especially with the Mayweather-Pacquiao generation at the brink of retirement.

Andre Ward looms as another potential candidate in the race to succeed Mayweather. He’s not as likable as Golovkin. But he might be skilled enough to beat him. We’ll begin to see soon enough. In his first fight since November 16, 2013, Ward faces Paul Smith on June 20 in hometown Oakland.

Meanwhile, don’t be surprised if this race gets as crowded as the one with Republicans running for president. There’s talk that master-tactician Mikey Garcia, an unbeaten super-featherweight at 34-0, is preparing to come back. He hasn’t fought since January 25, 2014.

There’s also Deontay Wilder, the first American with a heavyweight belt since Shannon Briggs, who knocked out Sergei Liakhovich for the WBO title in 2006 and stalking Wladimir Klitschko ever since.

Wilder, likable and probably a couple fights away from seriously challenging Klitschko, has boldly declared his candidacy. Wilder likes to talk and he said a lot in a conference call Wednesday for his first title defense June 13 against unknown Eric Molina in Birmingham, Ala. Wilder said he can be a bigger star than Mayweather.

“Most definitely, and I say that with high confidence because the heavyweight division is the cream of the crop in the first place,’’ said Wilder, the WBC champion. “The things that I bring, the charisma, the excitement, the personality that I have, everything about me is all me. It’s totally me.

“Some guys, when they have cameras in their face, they presume to be a certain type of person or the persona about them changes. When the camera is off, they’re a totally different person. I don’t have split personalities. I’m not a fake person. Everything about me is real. Everything you see on (Showtime) All-Access is me. Nothing is scripted, nothing is planned up, nothing.’’

Nothing, other than being next.

By Norm Frauenheim

Amid the clutter of 17 weight classes and more acronyms than letters in the alphabet, there’s something else to hang in that chaotic closest full of belts not worth a decent sanctioning fee at the corner pawnshop.

Catch-weights are just another part of the mess. Like a lot of junk, the catch-weight clause is many things. Sometimes a loophole and always an annoyance, it it’s also part gamesmanship. It’s an opportunity for the guy with A-side power to dictate.

In the end, however, it just represents further confusion in a business screaming for a little clarity, if not order.

It further buries all titles beneath insignificance so deep that few care anymore. Another shovel full of it is about to be dumped on the middleweight title, or whatever piece of it is at stake in the Miguel Cotto-Daniel Geale fight at Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre on June 6 in a HBO-televised bout.

They have agreed not to exceed 157 pounds for a 160-pound title. Does that make any sense? No, says Geale.

“”If it’s not a title fight, then a catch-weight is not a problem,’’ the Australian said Thursday during a conference call for Jay Z’s Roc Nation-promoted bout. “But if you’re fighting for a middleweight title, the weight limit is 160. I find it funny. It should be at 160, but I’m not going to complain.’’

He can’t complain. He agreed to the catch-weight, after all, simply because it was the only way he could secure a chance to challenge Cotto on HBO. Cotto, the A-side on a New York weekend that celebrates his Puerto Rican heritage, has all the leverage in a bout seen as a steppingstone to big money with Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez later this year.

That Cotto would demand it at all, however, might be a sign of some concern about Geale, who is taller and has about a five-inch advantage in reach. Austin Trout had about a four-inch edge in reach in his 2012 upset of Cotto. What’s more, Geale, knocked out in July within three rounds by Gennady Golovkin, is a natural middleweight. Cotto, Puerto Rico’s first champion at four weights, is not. He said so Thursday.

“Everybody knows I’m not a 160-pound fighter,’’ said Cotto, who will be fighting in the division for only the second time since he beat a hobbled Sergio Martinez a year ago.

Against Martinez, Cotto was able to leverage his proven drawing power into negotiating a 159-pound catch-weight. At opening bell, Cotto was at 155. Against an even lesser known Geale, Cotto was able to demand and get a couple of more pounds of flesh. It’s gamesmanship. It’s the way business is done these days, says Coto trainer Freddie Roach. To wit: Force the other guy to sweat. But that’s more of gotcha clause than catch-weight.

“They’re trying to weaken me by making me go down a few more pounds,’’ said Geale, who was born on the island of Tasmania, south of the Aussie continent.

They are, yet in the process they further weaken a title in a division with a fabled history. Mavin Hagler fought for the middleweight championship. Cotto and Geale are fighting for the 157-pound title, what ever that is.

Geale promoter Gary Shaw has an interesting idea. Any title fight at a catch-weight should come with an asterisk. But where would you put it? Between the bauble and the bangle on the belt’s brass plate? Between the interim and the emeritus in the record book? These days, it’d just be more meaningless clutter.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Nearly three weeks have passed since Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s decision over Manny Pacquiao in the Letdown of the Century and there’s been no backlash.

Canelo Alvarez’ knockout of James Kirkland on May 9 drew HBO’s biggest audience for non-pay-per-view bout since 2006. A week later, there was a capacity crowd at the rebuilt Forum for Gennady Golovkin’s stoppage of Willie Monroe Jr. and Roman Gonzalez’ celebrated return to the U.S. market.

Perhaps, damage from Mayweather-Pacquiao was contained. Maybe, that’s because it was a fight that boxing’s traditional demographic couldn’t afford. It was an event for the one percent, which yawned throughout 12 rounds and then piled into Bugattis, Ferraris and private jets for a holiday aboard Mediterranean yachts.

Truth is, the one percent was probably never coming back anyway. Meanwhile, the game’s loyal customers had already moved on to the leading names in an emerging generation that has supplanted Mayweather and Pacquiao, who were old news before opening bell. Just plain old, too.

Controversy will linger over the Pacquiao-Mayweather money grab, and that’s all it ever was. Conspiracy theories about the severity of Pacquiao’s shoulder injury will circulate and re-circulate.

Mayweather will continue to blame the Filipino for the lousy fight, yet there was never one second when Mayweather ever showed any inclination at taking matters into his own hands. Pacquiao wasn’t throwing punches at his usual rate. There were moments when he appeared to be wide-open for a fight-ending uppercut. But it was never attempted. Mayweather was content to remain in a defensive posture, even backing away on his heels in later rounds when it was clear Pacquiao had no chance. In a Showtime replay, his father and trainer, Floyd Sr., exhorts his son to get more aggressive.

“You fighting like you scared, man,’’ Floyd Sr. said.

In the post-fight news conference, Mayweather repeatedly demanded an apology from pundits who had said the fight didn’t happen five years ago because he was scared of Pacquao.

Did his father apologize for saying it during the fight? Just wondering.

But there’s been no immediate backlash evident at the box office or in the television ratings. Traditional fans had a pretty good idea about what would happen anyway. Mayweather fought as he always has. He took no chances, fighting for another day – or more to the point—another paycheck.

The guess in this corner is that we have seen the last of Pacquaio, at least in the U.S. He was in decline before he underwent surgery for a reported tear in his right shoulder four days after the fight. It’s expected to heal in six to nine months. Maybe he could fight in 2016. But will he be any better then than he has been the last three-to four years? Doubtful.

Then, issues at how and when he disclosed the injury linger. Why at the post-fight news conference and not in documentation before the weigh-in? The Nevada State Athletic Commission has talked about an investigation, saying Pacquiao could be fined or suspended. Meanwhile, more than 30 civil lawsuits have been filed, many listing him as a defendant. The suits appear to be frivolous. If deflated fans can sue Pacquiao, can New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady be next?

But they’re there and they’re a headache. If Pacquiao fights again, maybe it will be in a farewell bout at home in the Philippines or in tax-friendly China. Another fight in the U.S. would probably mean lawyers and legal fees.

Then, there’s Mayweather. If there’s a backlash, he might feel it. Mayweather says he intends to fight in September in what would be the final bout in his six-fight deal with Showtime. It figures to be another PPV telecast, perhaps against Amir Khan. But anecdotal evidence indicates there won’t be many return customers. At least 4.4 million bought the Pacquiao-Mayweather telecast at about $100 for high-def. Those lawsuits, no matter how frivolous, represent a groundswell of anger directed at both Pacquiao and Mayweather.

If there’s a September bout, history will be a big part of the sales pitch. It represents a chance for Mayweather to equal Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record. With a victory, Mayweather could further his claim on the TBE brand, The Best Ever. But even that is problematic. The devil is in the numbers. Mayweather’s caution, never more evident than it was against a vulnerable Pacquiao, has stopped 54.11 percent of his 48 opponents. Marciano scored KOs in 87.76 percent of his bouts. Advantage: Marciano.

Mayweather says he’ll retire after his next fight. But he also says he changes his mind. His pursuit of an unbeaten legacy is reason to think he’ll try to go 50-0 with the 50th bout as the inaugural event at a Las Vegas arena currently under construction.

Mayweather, then a free agent and ever the businessman, could sell No. 50 to the network that offers the most money. But how much would it really be worth? Sift through the remains of Mayweather-Pacquiao, and there’s evidence that it’ll only be a tiny fraction of what looks like a last chance to cash in.

PHOENIX – Iron Boy Promotions will stage a second card within eight days Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre.

Iron Boy, which helped Top Rank promote Jose Benavidez Jr.’s stoppage of Jorge Paez Jr. in a WBA 140-pound title defense on May 15 at US Airways Center, goes back to work with a card that features Phoenix welterweight Jose Marruffo (5-2-2) against Tucson rival Rashawn McCain (2-3).

Popular Phoenix super-bantamweight Emilio Garcia (9-1-1, 2 KOs) is also scheduled to appear on the card.

First bell is scheduled for 5 p.m. (PST).

By Norm Frauenheim (ringside)
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jose Benavidez Jr. celebrated a birthday and a homecoming.

It was all part of the guarantee.

In a bold promise at a news conference, Benavidez Jr. promised that his WBA interim 140-pound title would not leave his hometown.

It didn’t.

It is still interim, whatever that means. But the guarantee proved to be as good as his word.

Benavidez kept it in his first defense Friday night with a 12th-round stoppage of Jorge Paez Jr. in a truTV bout at US Airways Center.

It was a solid win for the unbeaten Benavidez on his birthday. He went 23-0 on the day he turned 23.

He did so with his 16th stoppage, a short left hand that lifted Paez up and then onto the canvas. Paez scrambled to his feet. But he was as unsteady as a kid trying to walk on a trampoline. When he stumbled into the ropes, referee Raul Caiz Jr. ended at 21 seconds of the final round.

“I knew I would beat him,’’ said Benavidez (23-0, 16 KOs), who also floored Paez (38-6-2-1, 23 KOs) with right uppercut to the body in the third round. “I mean, there was no way I was going to lose my title in my hometown. No way, no way at all.

“But I have to say that Paez was really, really tough. Man, he can take a punch. I didn’t think there was any way he’d get up after that knockdown in the third. But there he was, up on his feet and coming back at me.’’

Paez, whose dad was a flamboyant featherweight champion and a clown in the Mexican circus, never saw the final punch coming. It landed, he said, when he turned his head after sustaining an inadvertent thumb to an eye.

Benavidez often fought off the ropes, which was a tactic he used in controversial decision over Mauricio Herrera for the title last December in Las Vegas.

“I wanted to tire him out,’’ Benavidez said. “I figured that if I could do that, I’d knock him out in a later
round.’’

The 6-foot Benavidez didn’t know how much longer he would stay at 140 pounds.

“I’m kind of big to be at 140,’’ he said. “But we’ll see. I’m willing to fight anybody at 140 or 147.’’

He has talked about Jessie Vargas, who fights Timothy Bradley on June 27. Bradley had a ringside seat as as a truTV analyst.

“Jose looked great,’’ Bradley said. “Yeah, he fights off the ropes. But he’s good at it. He’s very precise at what he does, especially with his punches’’

In the first bout on a truTV doubleheader , Antonio Orozco, a junior welterweight from San Diego, lived up to the nickname written in gold across his dark trucks throughout a unanimous decision over Emmanuel Taylor. Relentless summed up the pace and style of a stubborn, often deliberate attack sustained by Orozco (22-0, 15 KOs), who won a 96-94, 98-92, 96-94 on the scorecards.

Taylor (18-4, 12 KOs), of Baltimore, was at his best when he worked his stinging jab. But he didn’t work it enough.

Blood above Orozco’s swollen right eye appeared after the eighth round. By then, however, it was too late for Taylor to overcome the well-conditioned Orozco, who stayed on his toes and protected his advantage on the cards with a fundamental execution of body blows.

On the Undercard
The Best: It was delivered by Trevor McCumby, an unbeaten light-heavyweight who lives in Phoenix. McCumby (19-0, 150 KOs) threw a knockout left at 42 seconds of the second round with deadly accuracy and impact. Fabiano Pena (11-2-1, 8 KOs), of Brazil, was out before he landed flat on his back in a concussive crash that echoed like a backboard-shattering slam-dunk throughout the NBA arena.
The Rest: Phoenix light-heavyweight David Benavidez (9-0, 8 KOs), Jose Benavidez’ 18-year-old brother, scored a first-round knock down and finished the job in the second with a left that stopped Mexican Ricardo Campillo (9-8-1-1, 7 KOs) at 1:21 of the round; Arizona City super-lightweight Abel Ramos (12-0-2, 7 KOs) got the show started with a bang, landing a crushing left for a third-round KO of Angel Martinez (12-6-1, 8 KOs) of Mexico; Phoenix super-bantamweight Carlos Castro (8-0, 3 KOs) fought at a whirlwind pace, scoring often for a unanimous decision over a busy Victor Serrano (4-9-1, 1 KO) of Mexico.

By Norm Frauenheim-

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jose Benavidez Jr. and Jorge Paez Jr. made weight Thursday for a truTV super-lightweight title fight Friday night in a bout that is critical to Benavidez’ future and represents a step in a larger battle to resurrect boxing in Arizona.

Benavidez, (22-0, 15 KOs), Arizona’s first champion with a major championship since Hall of Fame junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal, was at 139 pounds, one under the mandatory for his first defense of the WBA’s interim version of the super-lightweight crown.

Paez (38-5-2-1, 23 KOs) was at 140, although he looked drawn and weary after what appeared to be a struggle to shed pounds.

In another intriguing bout scheduled for 10 rounds, Antonio Orozco (21-0, 15 KOs) of San Diego faces Baltimore’s Emmanuel Taylor (18-3, 12 KOs), who is coming off a loss to Adrien Broner. Both tipped the scale at 141 pounds

Benavidez, who is five inches taller and has at least an inch advantage in reach, appears to be the favorite on his birthday. He turns 23 Friday. The Phoenix native also will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd at US Airways Center. The truTV telecast of the Top Rank promotion is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST). The non-televised portion of the card, which was put together by Iron Boy Promotions of Phoenix, is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST).

There hasn’t been a major fight in the arena, home for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, since Julio Cesar Chavez’ singular career ended there on Sept. 17, 2005 in a loss to Grover Wiley, a car salesman from Omaha.

Carbajal sold out the arena twice, once in a 1992 TKO of Robinson Cuesta and again in 1993 with stoppage of Domingo Sosa. Then, the place was new, Carbajal was in his prime and the Suns were in the playoffs. Now, there’s talk of building a new arena, Carbajal is 47 and the Suns haven’t been in the playoffs for five successive years. In other words, it’s been a while.

A chance at restoring some of the boxing heritage rests in Benavidez’ accurate hands, which were precise enough to score a controversial decision over Mauricio Herrera for his first title last December in Las Vegas.

Paez, who is known for his toughness, is the son of a legendary Mexican featherweight who also has place in Arizona boxing history. Jorge Paez Sr., also a clown in the Mexican circus, fought six times in Arizona, winning five and battling to a draw with Louie Espinoza in a memorable bout for the IBF’s featherweight title at the old Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 1989. Espinoza, who held the WBA’s super-bantamweight title for about two years, lost a split decision to Paez in a 1990 rematch in Las Vegas.

Today, Espinoza is a carpenter in Chandler, Ariz. Paez Sr, is living in Vegas, according to his son. Meanwhile, Arizona boxing went dormant, in large part because of immigration legislation, SB 1070, so controversial that the late Jose Sulaiman of the World Boxing Council told Mexican boxers to boycott the state.

Some did. Some didn’t. But the real impact came with Mexican-based advertisers, which decided to withdraw sponsorship of bouts scheduled in the state. One was in Phoenix, featuring Benavidez. It got canceled.

The furor over 1070 has subsided. It’s a chance for boxing to recover. But can it? For now, that’s up to Benavidez.

By Norm Frauenheim

PHOENIX, Ariz. – He turns 23 on Friday. Jose Benavidez Jr. approaches his birthday unbeaten, yet not unchallenged. His record is the product of a jab, an exclamation point that is at the cutting edge of his natural talent. He was born with it. Lots of it.

The challenges are a little different. Some are self-imposed. Some unwanted. All are collected over time. With every birthday, there always seem to be a few more. How to celebrate a birthday, perhaps, rests in how they are encountered. How they’re conquered.

Coincidental or not, Benavidez plans to celebrate with a 23rd victory to match his 23 years against Jorge Paez Jr. in the first defense of a major title, the World Boxing Association’s interim 140-pound championship, in a truTV bout at US Airways Center.

The interim suggests that some titles are forever. Nothing could be more misleading. Or foolish. Benavidez, a junior no more and probably a full-fledged welterweight before long, seems to understand as much.

The kid, a professional fighter at 17, is gone. There’s a chiseled face and intense eyes as dark as coal. If you’re looking for the wide-eyed teenager, you’ll have to find his photo in a high-school yearbook. The maturing Benavidez (22-0, 15 KOs) talks with newfound self-assurance. The title might be interim. The fighter who has it, however, doesn’t sound like a disposable champion. He said at a news conference Wednesday that the belt would not leave Phoenix, his hometown.

“I guarantee that,’’ he said.

It was a bold comment, especially against a Paez who grew up in boxing. The soft-spoken Paez (38-5-2, 23 KOs) doesn’t appear to have any of the big-top flamboyance his dad had as a clown in the Mexican circus. Yet, the 27-year-old son has shown some of the toughness that Jorge Sr. possessed as a featherweight champion.

Benavidez is fighting more than just Paez Jr. Skepticism lingers. His unanimous decision for the WBA belt over Mauricio Herrera last December in Las Vegas was controversial. HBO’s commentators and most of the writers thought he got a gift from the judges. Against Paez Jr., they’ll be watching to see if they were right. Benavidez’ challenge is to prove them wrong.

“We have to score a stoppage, win convincingly, for my son to take a significant step in his career,’’ his father and trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. said Wednesday during a news conference for a card that includes Antonio Orozco-versus-Emmanuel Taylor and is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. (PST).

Benavidez, Jr. and Sr., hoped for a rematch with Herrera. Only a convincing victory in a second fight could knock out every doubt. Even if he beats Paez Jr, there will still be controversy about the scorecards against Herrera, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter

“I told him I’d fight him,’’ Benavidez said. “I said so right after the fight and ever since. But he wants bigger names, I guess.’’

Benavidez is probably five years away from his prime. He figures to get better as he matures. It doesn’t always work that way, of course. But an older Benavidez sounds as if he is determined to prove that all of the promise surrounding him as a hyped prospect five years ago was more than just baby fat. He says he is willing to fight anyone.

His Top Rank promoters have confirmed he was a possibility for Terence Crawford last April in the former lightweight champion’s first bout at 140 pounds. Instead, Crawford, the Boxing Writers’ 2014 Fighter of the Year, fought and stopped Puerto Rican Thomas Dulorme on April 18 for a WBO title that was vacant and not tagged with the interim garbage.

Crawford, ticketed for stardom, would have been interpreted as step too far for Benavidez. But he and his father were prepared for it.

“We signed off on it,’’ the senior Benavidez said. “Then, Top Rank got back to us and told us they had decided to go with Dulorme. Hey, Crawford would have been very tough, no doubt. But no matter what happened, my son would have learned a lot.’’

The son says he would have done more than that.

“I’d have beat him,’’ Benavidez Jr. said. “I’m bigger than he is. But that’s OK. It’ll happen someday. There’s still plenty of time.’’
Still plenty of birthdays.

By Norm Frauenheim-

There are more tired excuses than reasonable explanations for what happened May 2 in the colossal failure to fulfill even a fraction of the expectations for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight.

Still, everybody attached to the pay-per-view affair will try. They have to. Believe it or not, there’s even more money to be made. There are still contracts to fulfill.

Hence, we’ll hear form Mayweather all over again Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/PT) in a Showtime exclusive with Jim Gray in a production titled “Inside MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO Epilogue.”

After all the outrage throughout the week following the welterweight bout, it sounds more like autopsy than epilogue. Still, it should be interesting to hear Mayweather address a laundry list of issues and allegations that has emerged since his unanimous decision over Pacquiao at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

According to a Showtime release, Mayweather talks about mid-week news that he’d be willing to do a rematch. He confirms he sent a text to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, saying he would be interested in a second fight. In what sounds like good news, however, he’s changed his mind.

“Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I change my mind,” Mayweather says. “At this particular time, no, because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward… If you lost, accept the loss and say, ‘Mayweather, you were the better fighter.’ ”

After all the ridicule and criticism of the first fight, wouldn’t a rematch be a working definition of insanity? You know the one about doing the same dumb thing over and over again. Of course, Mayweather might change his mind again. Besides, this is boxing. Oh boy, a trilogy.

According to the release, Mayweather also addresses the post-fight disclosure from Pacquaio that he fought with an injury to his right shoulder. He underwent surgery for a tear on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” says Mayweather, who is 48-0 with one fight left on his Showtime contract. “I’m not going to buy into the bull—… and I don’t want the public to buy into the bull—-. He lost. He knows he lost. I lost a lot of respect for him after all of this.”

According to the release, Mayweather also says he did not know of Pacquiao’s injury, which is believed to have happened in early April while sparring at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif.

In an interview with Filipino media on the Sunday after the fight, Pacquiao alleged sabotage. He said that
Mayweather knew about the shoulder. He alleged that somebody, perhaps a Mayweather plant at the Wild Card, leaked the news.

Pacquiao said Mayweather repeatedly pulled on his right arm in an attempt to aggravate the injury. Pacquiao said he re-injured the shoulder in the fourth, ironically his best round in the 12-round bout.

“Absolutely not,” Mayweather says when asked if he was aware of the injury. “He was fast. His left hand was fast. His right hand was fast and he was throwing them both fast and strong.’’

LAS VEGAS — It was supposed to be one for the books. It wasn’t. More like one for the banks.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao got a lot richer Saturday night while fans got poorer in a bout that was sold, sold and sold as the greatest in history. It wasn’t even the greatest one in the last month. Give that prize to Lucas Matthysse’s victory over Ruslan Provodnikov a couple of weeks ago.

There was no knockout. There were no knockdowns. There was only a decision, as dull as it was one-sided.

Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) claimed it, putting another notch in his unbeaten quest, yet doing nothing for his claim on being The Best Ever. TBE still belongs to Sugar Ray Robinson, or Muhammad Ali, or Sugar Ray Leonard, or Roberto Duran.

“When the history book is written, it was worth the weight,’’ Mayweather said.

Worth the money, yeah. Mayweather could have earned as much as $180 million, depending on the per-per-view television revenue. For Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) the payday could be as big as $100 million.

But money gets spent. The real history lives on if the action within the ropes is memorable. It wasn’t.

Yeah, Mayweather defeated Pacquiao. On the historical scorecards, however, he did nothing to improve his chances at becoming the equal of Ali or whole host of other legends.

“I was smart.’’ said Mayweather, who won 118-110 on one card and 116-112 on two. “I out-boxed him.’’

Mayweather, who booed loudly repeatedly by the capacity crowd, did exactly that with his careful, predictable precision. But he didn’t exactly out-work Pacquiao.

“He didn’t do noting,’’ said the Filipino Congressman, who was cheered by his many fans. “I thought I won the fight.’’

Mayweather’s strategy was evident, almost immediately. Pacquiao has always been vulnerable to a lead right. In the first round, Mayweather threw four of them. Landed four, too, none with any great impact. But they were accurate and they would often be for the next 11 rounds.

“My dad wanted me to do more,’’ Mayweather said his trainer, Floyd Sr., who had talked about is son wining by KO. “ But I had to take my time. Manny Pacquiao is a great competitor and very dangerous.

Pacquiao was more aggressive in the second. He moved forward, yet without any of the side-to-side movement that had made him so hard to predict earlier in his career. Instead, he lunged , landing a good body shot , but little else.

In the third, Pacquiao appeared to gain some momentum with body shots that slowed down Mayweather. It also could have allowed Pacquiao to measure the unbeaten American.

In the fourth, Mayweather, suddenly flat-footed, was there for a left hand, always the most potent weapon in Pacquiao’s arsenal. It landed, dazing Mayweather and pushing him into a hasty retreat on to the ropes.

By then, the fight had taken on a certain rhythm. It was almost routine. Pacquiao would attack and Mayweather would go into his sniper mode with sporadic, yet accurate shots, both left and right.

After it was over, Mayweather was asked about his plans. He has one more fight on his Showtime contract.

“My last fight is in September,’’ he said.

For the first time, some in the crowd actually cheered him

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – It was a carnival and a concert. It was chaotic. Demonstrators protesting domestic violence stood on one street corner. A preacher stood on another. Seek God, he told a passing crowd full of people seeking a ticket that not even God could afford. They spoke Tagalog, English, Spanish, Russian, politics and Hip-Hop. They waved flags of every stripe.

It was a weigh-in. But the scales were incidental.

Crowds, chaos and cops gathered in and around the MGM Grand Arena for an event Friday that was scripted in every way, yet off the scale for the kind of attention it has generated. Ordinary weigh-ins are about as exciting as watching somebody brush their teeth. But nothing about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been ordinary.

Only extraordinary.

Many among the 11,500 in the Grand Garden Arena for the weigh-in formality paid from $170 to $500 for tickets initially priced at $10 apiece just for the chance to see a couple of welterweights step on and off a digital scale. For the record, Mayweather was 146 pounds; Pacquiao 145.

Most of those same fans and virtually everyone out on those sidewalks won’t be there Saturday night for an opening bell to an exclusive event. Boxing is a sport defined by The People’s Champ. But most of the people can’t get into this one. It’s for the one percent, even at prices that have begun to decline during the last 48 hours. There’s plenty of argument about who wins, Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) or Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs). But there’s no debate about the scalpers. Everybody hopes they take a beating.

Yet even inflated prices have not extinguished the enthusiasm for a bout that has been in the public imagination for at least five years. Mayweather, 38, and Pacquiao, 36, are closer to the end than they are their primes. Even they concede as much. Both talked about retirement throughout the buildup for the bout, a joint pay-per-view telecast by HBO and Showtime (6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST).

A reason, perhaps, rests in the respective personalities. Mayweather is easy to dislike. Pacquiao is thoroughly likable. That difference was evident before and after the weigh-in. On the applause meter, it was no contest. It was unanimous for Pacquiao, the Filipino Congressman who smiled and raised his hands above his head like a triumphant American politician at his party’s national convention.

For Mayweather, there were mostly boos. For the last couple of weeks, national pundits have ripped him. His record of domestic abuse was the target of those protesters Friday. Mike Tyson, who was at the weigh-in, joined the critical chorus, calling him “a scared little man.” Laila Ali said he pitied him, calling him “a little boy.’’

Mayweather, subdued and polite throughout the hypoed-filled build-up, has repeatedly said the bout is not good-versus-evil. But try telling that to the crowd that gathered in and around the weigh-in.

Their roles have been cast.

Go ahead and argue about whether that’s fair. But there’s no debate about whether it’s profitable. Record revenue is expected. According to some projections, Mayweather could earn as much as $180 million. Pacquiao purse could hit the $100 million mark. There’s talk that the pay-per-view numbers will reach 4 million, almost twice the record.

The soaring expectations will be hard to fulfill, if not impossible. Mayweather goes into the bout favored by about 2-to-1 odds. He’s the bigger man and might be much bigger after a couple of meals before Saturday night’s opening bell. He’s also a calculating fighter, who at some point might capitalize on mistake the most expected from the more instinctive Pacquiao.

Yet Pacquiao’s calm and energy have been evident throughout one interview after another during the last couple of weeks. He’s been the happy warrior. To wit: When he stepped off the scale Friday, he ate a cookie. Then, he thanked Mayweather after the, posed for the cameras in the stare-down ritual.

“I said thanks, yes,’’ Pacquiao said. “Thank you for making the fight happen.’’

Mayweather said he never heard him. But he did glance over his shoulder at the Filipino after they broke the pose. There was a foreboding look in his eyes. Maybe there was anger. Maybe, fear. Maybe both. Maybe, he knows something nobody else does.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – There’s not a day, or even a few hours, when there isn’t a volley of insults between Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Freddie Roach. They sound like natural antagonists, separated by a lifetime of irreparable slights. You could assume that they share only mutual contempt. But you’d be wrong.

Roach and the senior Mayweather are an odd couple, alike in the biggest fight of all, bigger than even Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

It’s an alliance they didn’t choose and didn’t want. But life is like that. Cheap shots happen. For Roach, it’s been Parkinson’s, which attacks the central nervous system. For Mayweather Sr, it’s sarcoidosis, a lung disease.

Their response has been almost identical. The fight game is in their DNA. In their blood. It’s what they’ve always done. There was always another dangerous opponent to fight when they were younger. On Saturday night, they’re in opposite corners, Roach for Pacquiao and Mayweather Sr. for his son at the MGM Grand in the biggest fight in decades.

No matter who wins, however, their own personal fights will still be there, a daily battle and similar in a way that transforms lifelong enemies into comrades no matter what they continue to say to and about each other.

Both have gone about the battle the same way everyday.

“I work my ass off,’’ Roach said Thursday.

Mayweather Sr., 62 and a former welterweight, said he has whipped his disease.

“I don’t have sarcoidosis any more,’’ he said

A furious work rate, he said, whipped sarcoidosis, which can affect organs throughout the body. He works at it, sunrise to sunset, in old gyms surrounded by weathered bags, discarded hand wraps and fighters.

For Roach, the fight continues. It always will. Parkinson’s is a progressive disorder. But Roach is stubborn. He battles in a daily fight to keep the symptoms at a standstill.

Daily workouts with fighters at his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif., have slowed the symptoms.

“Haven’t shaken in 10 months,’’ said Roach, 54, a featherweight and lightweight from 1978 through 1986 who believes he got Parkinson’s because he fought too long.

Roach takes 15 pills a day to relieve rigidity and control the shaking. He also undergoes epidural injections to alleviate pain from a couple of bulging discs.

“Rigidity is the key,’’ said Roach, a seven-time Trainer of the Year. “People slow down and let it take over. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and don’t feel so good. But once I get to the gym, everything is okay.’’

It’s within the gym that Roach and Mayweather Sr. feel like they can beat just about anybody. And anything.

On Saturday, each vowed that he would beat the other.

“This fight has already been won,’’ said Mayweather’s dad, who continued to call his rival Coach Roach. “We can beat Manny any day, any time, any year, any moment. “…Manny’s best performance was when he got stretched by Juan Manuel Marquez.’’

He even had one of his poems.

“I must confess, I am the best,’’ said Mayweather Sr., still fighting in a way that has kept him and his rival alive.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao is back at the bully pulpit like a saint among sinners. Boxing has never been much of a congregation, at least not in traditional terms. Pass the plate here, and you’re liable to lose it and its proceeds.

But Pacquiao is here, talking about his faith and looking as if he knows something no one else does. His convictions are religious in an arena where that usually means a felony.

Pacquiao believes. So does Floyd Mayweather Jr. But the only belief they have in common is that each is convinced he’ll beat the other Saturday night at the MGM Grand. What they hope to accomplish, however, tells just you how different they really are.

Pacquiao wants converts.

Mayweather wants cash.

No wonder Mayweather is favored. Records amount of cash are expected to come out of a pay-per-view fight that could turn a hedge fund into a religious order.

The task is a little tougher for Pacquiao. But don’t disbelieve him. His faith is no feint. He has repeatedly said he hopes world-wide attention on the fight will be a vehicle for his born-again message. His missionary zeal even includes Mayweather.

“I want him to know God,’’ Pacquiao told a roomful of reporters Wednesday before the two welterweights took to the stage for a formal news conference at the ornate KA Theatre.

Mayweather doesn’t talk about his faith as much as Pacquiao. But it’s no secret that Mayweather, who again wore The Money Team acronym on his cap and shirt Wednesday, is well-acquainted with the God whose name is on the dollar bill. In that God, he trusts.

Since the fight was announced on Feb. 20, Mayweather has been strictly business.

“This fight is not good-versus-evil,’’ Mayweather said to reporters after Wednesday’s news conference. “This is about one fighter at the top against another fighter at the top.’’

According to the market place of odds, Mayweather is the best of the two. He’s narrowly favored to beat
Pacquiao. His understated manner and tone throughout the weeks of hype preceding opening bell have been the subject of speculation and interpretation. Is it a sign of confidence? Or uncertainty?

At the first news conference in Los Angeles, Roach noticed what everybody else has seen ever since. Roach sees Mayweather’s subdued manner it as a sign of somebody who really didn’t want the fight in the first place It makes him wonder what kind of Mayweather will be there.

“I wonder if he’s going to show up,’’ said Roach, who says speed will win the fight. “I really do.’’

In the opposite corner, there is no doubt. For a couple of years, there have been questions about whether Pacquiao’s born-again faith softened his aggressiveness, knocked out a so-called killer instinct.

For Roach, that question is gone. He says he has the bruises to show for it from holding the mitts while Pacquiao pounded away at them and often through them, with a powerful impact throughout training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif.

For Pacquiao, it is back, perhaps like a faith he says he abandoned for a few years.

“The killer instinct, it’s back,’’ said the Filipino, who hasn’t scored a stoppage since Miguel Cotto in 2009. “It’s a good feeling.’’

Maybe an old-time feeling.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Look into the 0 and you’re supposed to get a look into Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s soul.

But the zero on the right side of his unbeaten record, Mayweather says, is the wrong place to search for hints at what motivates him.

Only one symbol really matters. It’s in his wallet.

“Absolutely, because at the end of the day my daughter can’t eat the zero,’’ Mayweather told reporters Tuesday after his formal arrival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena where he faces Manny Pacquiao Saturday night in one of the biggest fights in years.’’

There always been a debate about whether legacy or money is the reason Mayweather fights. On Tuesday, at least, money ruled. He wore his TMT logo in black on white. At his own arrival at the Mandalay Bay earlier in the day, Pacquiao said that the acronym stood for The Manny Team.

It was a good quip. But money, piled higher than it ever has, was the only sure bet five days before opening bell. First, foremost and forever, this one is about finances and Mayweather wanted to remind everyone that there wouldn’t be record revenues if it weren’t for his keen business sense.

“If all my kids get, say, $50 million apiece, I can say I did my job,’’ he said.

Four kids equal $200 million, which would surpass even the most optimistic projections for the pay-per-view bout. Depending on the source, the number has jumped around, all the way from $80 million at the low end to $180 million at the high end.

“A lot of people criticize me for being a defensive fighter,’’ said Mayweather, who again called Pacquiao reckless, saying it was a gift and a curse. “Last night, I was sitting at home with my mother and daughter. I thought to myself:

‘You know what, I’m proud of myself that I can be in a sport for 19 years and that I’m able to get out of that sport and still be sharp. Be sharp and have all my faculties. That’s remarkable

“The money is about my children and their children.’’

Yeah, it’s also about a so-called Big Boy mansion in Vegas, homes in South Beach and Miami, a private jet and a garage that would make the Ferrari family jealous.

On Tuesday, at least, it sounded as if Mayweather wanted to make sure that he would to be remembered for all of his wealth. He repeatedly said one fight would not define him. Presumably, that meant Saturday night’s fight.

If he prevails over Pacquiao, the guessing game is that the 0 in Mayweather’s resume would drive him to fight at least two more times, once in September in the final fight of a six-bout deal with Showtime and then a 50th fight in a bid to surpass Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record.

Surely, he wants to go 50-0. Right?

“No,’’ he said.

Instead, he talked about retirement. His dad and trainer, Floyd Sr., has hinted that it’s time to quit or risk permanent injury.

“My father was right,’’ he said. “It’s about time for me to walk away.’’

But the pursuit of money could always draw him back through the ropes. He said Tuesday he had earned an $11 million dollars over the last 48 hours from an investment. He wouldn’t describe the investment, other than to again say “remarkable.’’ At 38, that’s a word he uses as much as he once used profanities.

Yes, he contradicts himself as much as anybody.

“I try to be perfect, but I might have said me and Manny Pacquiao would never fight,’’’ he said. “Now, we fight.

“I’m not perfect.’’

Only the 0 is.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – David Benavidez is not a young man in a hurry.

It just looks like it.

The 18-year-old Benavidez, the younger brother of WBA interim junior-welterweight champion Jose Benavidez Jr., wasted little time in a stunning light-heavyweight victory over Rollin Williams Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre in front of a near-capacity crowd that included Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal and retired multi-division champion Erik Morales.

Benavidez has been laboring in his brother’s shadow. He’s been the understudy, the other Benavidez, happy to learn and patient until he graduates to center stage.

That moment might be near.

David Benavidez’ fast hands made short work of Williams, who at 49 is more than three decades older than another potential star in the Benavidez family.

Benavidez (8-0, 7 KOs) stunned Williams (23-21-2, 8 KOs) with a blinding three-punch combo about 90 seconds after opening bell. He ended the round with another uninterrupted succession of blows. Williams hung on the ropes as if he were unconscious. Turns out, he was.

Seconds after the round ended, a Williams’ corner man rushed down the ring’s apron to rescue him. But Williams
had already begun to fall, taking the corner man with, over the top rope, head over heels and onto the canvas.

Officially, it was a stoppage at 2:59 of the first round. But it was over a lot earlier than that, thanks to a Benavidez who might be as hard to stop as the other one.
On the Undercard

The Best: Hometown decision? Maybe. But hometown approval? It wasn’t there for Phoenix bantamweight Alexis Zazueta (5-0, 4 KOs) in his split decision over Saul Hernandez (6-7, 4 KOs) of Tijuana.

A crowd of about 2,000 booed at the 38-37 scorecards, two for Zazueta and one for Hernandez after a back-and-forth bout that appeared to be a draw. It cheered when Hernandez was lifted onto the shoulders of a corner man. It booed when Zazueta raised his hands in triumph.

There was disagreement on the cards, but none in the crowd.

The Rest: Phoenix middleweight Joey Ruelas (9-1-1, 4 KOs) had the hometown love that Zazueta did not in overwhelming Raheem Gordon (4-5, 2 KOs) of Kileen Tex., for a first-round stoppage that filled the building with a roar of approval; Phoenix junior-lightweight Jesus Zuniga (2-3) was stubborn, tough and a surprise in a unanimous decision over Yovani Rodarte (0-1) of Downey, Calif.; California heavyweight Bernardo Marquez moved tirelessly behind a good jab for a unanimous decision over Anetelea Opetaia (0-1) of Phoenix; welterweight Saul Bustos (3-0, 2 KOs) threw a crushing right that sent Jesus Lopez (0-2) crashing off the canvas in a scary first-round knockout; junior-lightweight Julian Rodarte (1-0) of Downey, Calif., won his debut when Jorge Fontes Michel (0-1) quit after two rounds; Phoenix junior-welterweight Danny Montoya (1-0) walked forward and over John Gonzalez (0-2) for a unanimous decision in his debut; Washington DC bantamweight Daron Williams (1-0, 1 KO) did a short dance during the bout and longer one after a first-round stoppage of Christian Juneau (1-1) of Texas; Phoenix featherweight Carlos Castro (8-0, 3 KO) won a decision, unanimous on the cards and unanimously dull, over Raymond Chacon (5-16) of Los Angeles.

By Norm Frauenheim

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been more CEO than TBE from the moment he took the initiative and approached Manny Pacquiao at a Miami Heat game in the move that led to the deal for their May 2 fight at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

He’s effective in the CEO role. Likable, too. His exchanges with the media are crisp, forthright and polite. The understated manner is a hint at the calculated, precise tactician he will be at opening bell for what is sure to be the richest fight ever.

He has repeatedly referred to the long-awaited showdown with Pacquiao as just another fight. A job, he calls it.

“I know it’s the biggest fight in boxing history, but I can’t approach it like that,” Mayweather said Wednesday during a conference call. “I’m never going to put any unnecessary pressure on myself.’’

Cool, that makes sense.

Simplicity is an art necessary to any successful battle plan. But here’s the question: Why TBE? Why now?

Mayweather has called himself The Best Ever for a long time, but the claim has been restricted to the TBE acronym seen so often on caps and T-shirts. But now he has decided to re-exert his claim on being history’s best, first in an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A Smith and again Wednesday in a call with reporters from across world.

His comments Wednesday weren’t quite as strong as they were to ESPN. He told Smith he was better than Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, who is No. 1 in most all-time pound-for-pound ratings. On Wednesday he was asked only about Ali and he talked only about Ali.

“He called himself The Greatest and I call myself TBE,” Mayweather said. “I’m pretty sure I’ll get criticized for what I said, but I could care less. I could care less about the backlash.”

The mystery is why Mayweather would invite the inevitable backlash within a couple of weeks of a fight that, more than any other, will define his place alongside Ali, Robinson and those he didn’t mention. With apologies to all of the legends not mentioned, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Joe Louis and Julio Cesar Chavez belong in the argument, too.

History didn’t have to be part of the job description, at least not in the way the CEO in Mayweather defined it. But the TBE in him put it there without apology. It also put him at risk of the unnecessary pressure he seeks to avoid.

Perhaps, Mayweather will prove he is as good at making history as he is at making money. Maybe, he knocks out Pacquiao. Maybe, he gets up from a knockdown to score a dramatic victory. Maybe, maybe. But maybe it goes the other way. Maybe, TBE will come to mean Pacquiao.

Most of the pressure is already on Mayweather. He’ll get 60 percent of record-setting revenue, which for him figures to be anywhere from $80 million to a $180 million. He’s also undefeated, which over the years has generated a lot of amateur psychoanalysis. The 0 in that 47-0 record has become a symbol of what motivates Mayweather. The theory is that he protects it at all costs. It’s become his identity.

A loss, former heavyweight champ George Foreman said Thursday in a conference call, “could devastate him as a boxer — not as a man, but as a boxer. He might have to go out in the country somewhere if he lost.’’

Foreman suffered his first loss to Ali in Zaire. He was 40-0 before Ali beat him in The Rumble In The Jungle in 1974. It was a loss that altered the way Foreman looked at himself. It was 15 months before he could step through the ropes again.

“I’m the one guy who knows what it’s like to be undefeated going into a fight like that and to be knocked off that pedestal,” said Foreman, who will appear Saturday night in HBO’s “Mayweather/Pacquiao: The Legends Speak.’’

Ali had already endured defeat. He understood it. Learned from it. Came back from it. In a sport defined by adversity, defeat can forge newfound strength. At 57-5, Pacquiao has experienced it. Mayweather has not.

“Pacquiao has it a little better,’’ said Foreman, who picks the Filipino to win a narrow decision. “He is already picked as the underdog. There’s not a whole lot of pressure on him.

“But when you have never lost before in a fight of this magnitude, there’s so much pressure on you, more pressure than you have ever had before, more pressure than on any other athlete right now.’’

Too much pressure? The CEO says no. But TBE? Proof of Mayweather’s bold claim is still waiting To Be Evaluated on May 2.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – David Benavidez, the younger brother of WBA interim junior-welterweight champion Jose Benavidez Jr., is scheduled for a main event Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre.

The 18-year-old David Benavidez, 7-0 with 6 knockouts as a super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, faces experienced Rollin Williams (23-20-2, 8 KOs) in a 175-pound bout on a card staged by Iron Boy Promotions.

David often trains with his brother, 22-year-old Jose (22-0, 15 KOs), who defends his title for the first time on May 15 against Jorge Paez Jr. (38-5-2, 23 KOs) on May 15 at US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. Jose won the 140-pound belt with a controversial decision over Mauricio Herrera last December in Las Vegas.

Saturday’s first bell is scheduled for 5 p.m. (PST)

By Norm Frauenheim–

The curtain has come down on media day, a big-fight ritual that like so much in boxing is an interpretative art.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and the people surrounding them said a whole lot at their respective camps in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

But it was what they didn’t say that mattered.

To wit: Mayweather continued to call Pacquiao reckless. Mayweather, of course, is not, which he says is the biggest reason for his longevity as the world’s highest-earning athlete.

What Mayweather didn’t say Tuesday in Las Vegas is that Pacquiao’s recklessness represents the biggest threat to his unbeaten legacy on May 2 at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao has been at his best when reckless. He was a reckless whirlwind in rematches against Erik Morales and again against Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Antonio Margarito.

He could pull it off then, simply because he had the energy and power to sustain a blinding rate of punches from countless angles created by feet that moved tirelessly and in concert with what his hands were doing.

But is that energy and power still there? The right hand that Juan Manuel Marquez timed so perfectly on Dec. 8, 2012 in a crushing stoppage of the Filipino is a sure sign that they are diminished, or at least not in the abundance that one made him so dangerous.

Recklessness is a powerful weapon with the right complements. Without them, it’s just a weakness bound to appear as it did in a fight Pacquiao was winning until the sixth round when the recklessness was suddenly there.

Unlike his memorable victories over De La Hoya, Pacquiao was left standing, almost flat-footed, with his hands down and chin exposed. Marquez capitalized with a perfectly placed right.

At Pacquiao’s media day in Los Angeles Wednesday, there was talk that he had learned from that one moment. The repeated promise: It would not happen again.

“He’ll attack, but not be careless,’’ Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz said during live-stream coverage from trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.

Here’s what Koncz didn’t say: Can Pacquiao really attack without being careless?

The guess here is no, he can’t. The younger Pacquiao was inexhaustible and able to turn his streak of recklessness into an unstoppable force. There was simply no counter.

Mayweather never said that much during his session with media in a tent in a strip-mall parking lot outside of his gym. He would only call Pacquiao a future Hall of Famer.

But, he said, “I don’t know if he can make adjustments like I can.’’

Here’s what he didn’t say: At some point, he expects the Pacquiao attack to subside. Relentless will give way to only the reckless.

Maybe, Mayweather will drain some of Pacquiao’s energy with straight right hands. Or, maybe, the bigger Mayweather will lean on him, tie him up, tire him out.

But Mayweather’s quiet confidence throughout the build-up for the much-hyped fight seems to say he expects the moment to be there. That’s when he’ll adjust and perhaps land a perfectly- timed right that will say it all.

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS — On a day when powerful winds kicked up clouds of dust that obscured The Strip’s skyline like a dirty fog, only one thing was predictable:

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was late.

Everything else, especially Mayweather, was unexpectedly low-key Tuesday. Maybe, that shouldn’t qualify as a surprise. What else can possibly be said about his long-awaited fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand.

A crowd that stood in a parking lot outside of his gym in a strip mall summed it up. David Hasselhoff posed for photos. Every high-end car or stretch limo had people standing on chairs, garbage cans and scrambling up light poles for a better view of a fighter who was scheduled to appear at his media day.

There was one false alarm after another. Finally, there he was, about 90 minutes late. It didn’t matter. This crowd would have waited through the night and perhaps through a cyclone. Truth is, it has been waiting for him to fight Pacquiao for about five years now. What’s a little bit of lost sleep and dust in the wind?

“Everything in life is about timing,’’ Mayweather said in a tent that rattled around in a storm that blew across the Nevada desert. “I don’t regret anything. The timing is right. Before I wasn’t as big. But I’ve been getting bigger and bigger and not just inside the sport of boxing.’’

The potential adds up to something bigger than ever. Mayweather’s minimum is $100 million. Pacquiao is guaranteed $60 million. Since the welterweight bout was announced on Feb. 20, projections have multiplied at an astonishing rate. Now, there’s a chance that Mayweather could collect $180 million and Pacquiao $100 million.

Let the numbers do the bragging. Mayweather doesn’t have to.

He teased Pacquiao, but never said anything remotely offensive or even outrageous. When asked if he was surprised at how much bigger he was than Pacquiao when he stood next to the 5-foot-6 ½ Filipino at a news conference in Los Angeles, the 5-8 Mayweather smiled and said:

Nah,’’ he said. “He wears a lift in his shoes, so he looks a little taller than he really is.’’

He also said that this one fight would not define him or his legacy, which he believes will improve to 48-0.

“It’s just one fight for me,’’ Mayweather said. “If just this one fight defines my legacy, I wouldn’t have had to fight all of those other fights.’’

Mayweather also said he did not believe that the Pacquiao fight will be remembered mostly for his masterful defensive skill.

“When it is said and done, when the book is written, they won’t say Floyd Mayweather was a defensive wizard,’’ he said. “They’ll say he was a winner.’’

Still a winner at 38 years old, he said, because the natural counter-puncher fights with a different style than the aggressive Pacquiao.

“He’s a very, very reckless fighter,’’ Mayweather said. “I can’t say for sure, but I probably wouldn’t have lasted this long if I had been as reckless as him.’’

NOTES: There still was no official word Tuesday on how much tickets will cost before most of them wind up on the secondary market at an inflated price. But Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe promised that the news is forthcoming. “This week, this week,’’ Ellerbe said. …The Nevada State Athletic Commission is expected to announce the referee and judges at a scheduled meeting next Tuesday. …Junior-featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz worked out for the media at Mayweather’s gym Tuesday. Santa Cruz is on the PPV portion of the undercard. But his opponent has yet to be determined. Whoever it is, Santa Cruz promised to be ready for what he hopes is a steppingstone for a showdown with Abner Mares.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson are quick to say they aren’t fighting for redemption Saturday night at Barclays in Brooklyn.

Fair enough. It’s called prize fighting. Going into the ring for redemption is little bit like going to the bank to pray. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll leave broke.

“I don’t see this as redemption,’’ Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) said of the first bout after a forgettable year for both fighters. “This is a great match-up.’’

Potentially, it is in a 143-pound fight that will also provide an early, yet significant, look at whether Al Haymon’s PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) can sustain its initial success in its second appearance on NBC (8:30 pm ET/ 5:30 pm PST).

“For me, there’s no redemption, either,’’ Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs) said. “No redemption for me. What’s in the past is in the past.’’

But the problem is what lurks in that immediate past. In 2014, both fought. Both won. But the buzz was gone.

Garcia, an emerging star in 2013, escaped with a split decision over Mauricio Herrera and a stopped an over-matched Rod Salka. Peterson, coming off a scary knockout loss to Lucas Matthysse in 2013, beat Dierry Jean and Edgar Santana.

Go ahead and trash the redemption angle, but the task Saturday night is to re-awaken interest in each and perhaps re-introduce them as potential players for whatever happens post-Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao on May 2.

Neither would – or even could – talk much about whether they might be fighting for a chance at the winner.

“I’m not worried about fighting Floyd Mayweather at all,’’ said Peterson, who has a full beard and some wisdom to go with it. “That’s a long shot from here. He maybe has one more fight after this. So, I won’t hold my breath on that. Not worried about it.’’

For the most part, Garcia said the same thing, although he it was clear that the Mayweather-Pacquiao possibility interested him a lot more than redemption.

“At the end of the day, it’s always a fighter’s dream to fight Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather,’’ Garcia said. “Everybody wants to fight the best fight. So maybe in the future, of course.’’

The 143-pound catch weight is a clear sign that they’re positioning themselves for a shot at the 147-pound winner between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

But catch-weights are boxing’s version of a catch-22. It’s a dilemma without an escape clause. It was done at the urging of Garcia, who at 27 is having a tougher time getting to the junior-welterweight limit of 140.

The catch-weight means neither Garcia nor Peterson will risk their titles. Garcia has the WBC and WBA belts. Peterson has the IBF version. It also means they won’t have to pay a sanctioning fee to any of the acronyms, which show up with a Mardi Gras-like belt in one hand and bill in the other.

But it also means criticism. Ruslan Provodnikov promoter Artie Pelullo took a shot at the catch-weight. In another fight with Mayweather-Pacquiao implications, Provodnikov meets Lucas Matthysse on April 18 in Verona, N.Y., on HBO in a junior-welterweight bout with no title at stake and no catch-weight in the contract.

“They don’t want to have anything at risk,’’ Pelullo said of Garcia-Peterson. “It’s a dangerous fight for both guys, but not like Provodnikov and Matthysse.

“They’re putting it all on the line, because they’re still fighting 12 rounds. It’s 140 pounds. There is no title, because we don’t have one. I’m telling you both kids would put there title out (there) if they had (to).’’

But Garcia and Peterson don’t have to. Their task is to re-build their public profile. If nobody knows them, those titles are beyond redemption anyway.

By Norm Frauenheim

It’s a fight that really doesn’t need much in the way of explanation or analysis. Strip away all of the subtlety and finesse, and you’re left with Ruslan Provodnikov-Lucas Matthysse, a collision waiting to happen. Maybe an accident, too.

But that’s the attraction. Power, the ability to deliver it and a willingness to risk it, exerts it own kind of drama.

It’s why we watch. An irresistible mix of fear, brinkmanship, inexhaustible persistence and even some foolish courage are among the intoxicating possibilities that will be there when the junior-welterweights clash on April 18 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, N.Y., in an HBO-televised bout.

“I believe it’s going to be Corrales-Castillo I,’’ said Provodnikov promoter Artie Pelullo, who during a conference call Monday foresaw potential for a fight the equal of Diego Corrales’ wild 10th-round TKO of Jose Luis Castillo in 2005.

From this corner, Castillo-Corrales I still ranks as the best fight in this century and one of the best in any. But a price was paid.

Castillo was never quite the same, although his career continued with a loss to Ricky Hatton 2007 and even a TKO loss Provodnikov last November.

Corrales fought three more times, losing all three, including a fourth-round KO in a rematch with Castillo. Corrales died on a motorcycle on May 7, 2007, exactly two years to the day after that first Castillo fight nearly a decade ago.

I’m not convinced that either Provodnikov or Matthysse has the varied skill set that made Corrales and Castillo such dangerous lightweights.

They might surprise me. They might change my mind. If they do, however, Provodnikov-Matthysse won’t fulfill explosive expectations. The buzz isn’t there because they’re known for a defensive feint or the shoulder roll. It’s all about the power. Who has more of it? Who can land it? Who can withstand it?

Castillo was 0-2 against Floyd Mayweather, Jr., but Castillo challenged the pound-for-pound king as much as anybody, especially in the first fight, a 2002 decision.

Castillo and Corrales could do many things. In the end, however, they did what Provodnikov and Matthysse are expected to. They tested each other’s will with unadulterated power that made their confrontation more about surviving than winning.

There will be some new opportunities for the Provodnikov-Matthysse winner. Don’t be surprised if there’s talk about a fight with the Manny Pacquiao-Mayweather winner on May 2. Amend that: Be very surprised if there isn’t talk about that possibility.

But this one isn’t about talk. It isn’t even about victory. Not really. It’s about survival. It’s why we’ll watch.

By Norm Frauenheim–

It’s the question Adonis Stevenson can’t shake. It’s there when he wakes up and sits down for breakfast. It’s there when he goes to the corner store. When he looks in the rear view mirror, there it is:

What about Sergey Kovalev?

It was asked again, again and ad nauseam Wednesday during a conference call that included Sakio Bika. At least, I think it included Bika.

Stevenson fights Bika in Quebec City on April 4 in Al Haymon’s first PBC card on CBS, yet Bika was little more than a mere prop during the telephone Q-and-A.

In fact, the Kovalev question ended the call. An exasperated Kevin Cunningham, Bika’s trainer, had heard enough.

“You guys have done it for me,’’ Cunningham said. “This is getting my fighter fired up. This call has been about Stevenson fighting Kovalev. I don’t even know if Sakio is on the call.

“Everyone keeps asking about Kovalev-Stevenson.

“What the bleep are we even doing here? Why are we here? This call is over for us.’’

Bika (32-6-3, 21 KOs) figures to be a lot tougher then a dial tone. Stevenson’s maturity will be tested in part by his ability to ignore the Kovalev buzz and focus on the challenge in front of him.

He promised to do exactly that. But, remember, this was a conference call.

“There’s so much talk about that,’’ Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) said. “But I’m very focused on Bika. He’s the one in my face now.’’

A grown-up evaluation of the Bika fight and its potential significance for Stevenson came from his trainer, Javan Hill, a student of the late Emanuel Steward.

“For the growth of Adonis, this very important,’’ Hill said. “It’s an opportunity for Adonis to go maybe 12 rounds or into the later rounds. This is a test, a chance for him to grow and become a superstar.’’

Hill’s comment is little bit surprising because of Stevenson’s age. He’s 37. But he’s late to the game because of a troubled youth. The light-heavyweight spent four years in prison. He didn’t make his pro debut until 2006. He might lack some of the instinct acquired by fighters who grow up within the ropes. Nevertheless, his power is almost scary. It’s what Steward noticed right away.

“Emanuel always used to say: ‘Knockouts sell, knockouts sell,’ ‘’ he said of Steward, who began to turn Stevenson into a star before he died in 2012. “I always go into the ring thinking knockout first.’’

That aggressiveness, a natural byproduct of his power, leads straight back to the question that – with apologies to Cunningham – has been around ever since it looked as if Kovalev and Stevenson would fight on HBO late last year.

Didn’t happen, of course. Stevenson jumped to Haymon and Showtime. But Kovalev continued on his relentless path, beating Bernard Hopkins in a victory that earned him pound-for pound-credentials.

All the while, Stevenson languished, scoring forgettable victories over Dmitry Sukhotsky and Andrzej Fonfara. But he and Kovalev remained on their collision course, mostly because Kovalev looks unstoppable and Stevenson has Haymon’s influence.

But is Stevenson a mature enough fighter to handle Kovalev, who is as poised as he is dangerous. Kovalev thinks through adversity, which was evident in his eighth-round TKO of Jean Pascal on March 14.

There are questions about what, if anything, Stevenson will do if somebody takes away his power. He’s gone 12 rounds twice and 10 rounds once, but not against anybody with Kovalev’s smarts.

In the tough, forward-charging Bika, Hill hopes to see some of those smarts in Stevenson. If he doesn’t, don’t be surprised if there’s another conference call a lot like the last one.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Boxing was never meant to be the family business. Fathers fight so their sons don’t have to. That sounds like a sensible plan, or at least a good way to avoid scars, concussions and everything else that comes from a livelihood in the ring.

But it’s never been one that could be applied to Julio Cesar Chavez and the son known simply as Junior.

It seems as if Junior just can’t escape his given name or the legend it means to Mexico. There have been times when it looked as if he might just walk away from his role as the heir-apparent.

But he hasn’t, not even amid boos for his two performances against Bryan Vera, or his country-club training camp for Sergio Martinez, or his late-night meals, or fondness for the substance that leads to the munchies.

Through it all, he always seems to follow that path up the steps, through the ropes and onto the unforgiving canvas that defined his dad. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will be back there again on April 18 at the StubHub Center in Carson Calif., at a 172-pound catch-weight against a top 10 light-heavyweight, Andzrej Fonfara.

“It feels great to get back,’’ Junior said during a conference call Wednesday.

Great, yet never more problematic than now.

There’s the dangerous Fonfara, who has enough skill and power to make him regret his return. It’s his first fight in 13 months. Since losing a piece of the middleweight title to Martrinez in a bout one-sided for 11 rounds and wild in the 12th, Junior has fought only twice, both against Vera, in 2013 and 2014. He has changed management, signing with advisor Al Haymon. Promoter Bob Arum is suing, alleging that he still owes him fight.

He’s also got a new trainer in Joe Goossen and will make his debut on Showtime after years on HBO. Changes abound. Question is: Has he?

His comeback against Fonfara is intriguing because it’s a chance to see if boxing’s Peter Pan has finally grown up. Throughout his career, enablers have surrounded him. Then, there were the fans, always there with an excuse for every misstep.

If he couldn’t make weight, a new one was negotiated. If he decided he wanted to train at his Las Vegas condo at 2 a.m. and do his road work around the couch instead of on the street, his former trainer, Freddie Roach, would be there.

But Arum and Roach are gone. So, too, are many of the Mexican fans. They have either given up on him in exasperation or moved on and into the Canelo Alvarez’ camp.

Against Fonfara, there will be none of the usual excuses or loopholes that have always been there like a silver spoon. Junior will have to behave and perhaps fight like Senior more then he ever has.

As always, dad will be there. He was even on the conference call.

“I did not want this fight for my son,’’ Julio Cesar Chavez said. “Fonfara is very strong. But Julio wants to show how good he is.”

How mature he is too.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao stood side-by-side in what was the third time they have ever been seen within a few feet of each other. They looked uncomfortable, almost awkward.

Mayweather raised his right hand and pointed his index finger toward the ceiling as if to remind anyone in the theatre and the heavens that he – and only he – is No. 1.

Pacquiao raised a left hand that was clenched into a fist that seemed to say he intends to pound some humility into Mayweather and his lofty claim.

Their fight on May 2 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand is about a lot of things, of course. There’s legacy and celebrity, business and bragging rights. All of it is attached to an unprecedented bottom line.

But there’s something else. In watching the HBO/Showtime live feed Wednesday of a news conference- turned-show biz, two very different personalities stood on that stage at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. It set ups an intriguing collision, one that promises personal drama in a fight past its physical prime.

It’s a modern version of The Prince-versus-The Pauper. They have been rehearsing their respective roles for as long as they have been answering an opening bell. For each, it’s as much of an identity as a role.

There’s The Prince, the ostentatious Mayweather, who likes to flash his money and brag about his A-side power.

“When you get to this level, making nine figures for 36 minutes of work, you have to be a winner,” Mayweather told reporters in a Q-and-A session before he lived onto the Nokia’s stage.

Then, there’s The Pauper, the born-again Pacquiao, who is known to give away his money to fellow Filipinos still trapped in the third-world squalor that was once his home.

“God,’’ Pacquiao said in an interview with HBO. “I want people to know that he can raise someone from nothing to something. That’s me.’’

Those are comments that say Mayweather and Pacquiao believe in different things.

Maybe, that difference will mean nothing in the welterweight fight.

Maybe, it’s just as simple as Mayweather’s five-inch advantage in reach, which was so apparent Wednesday when they stood warily next to each other at center stage and in front of the world’s cameras.

Still, it’s part of the pre-fight psychology. Pacquiao says he’s very comfortable as the underdog. He’s at the sort end of 2-to-1 betting odds. The underdog has been is best role since he arrived at the Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym from the Philippines. It was a key to his motivation beating Erik Morales after losing to him in their first fight.

He understands loss and how to deal with it, although Mayweather suggested Wednesday that defeat will be a weakness for Pacquaio.

“One thing I do know about in any sport is that if you lose, it’s in your mind,’’ Mayweather told Showtime. “If you lose twice, it’s in your mind. All my life, I’ve fought be winner.’’

It’s no coincidence that Mayweather is unbeaten at 47-0. Staying that way has been a key motivation and defines one of his nicknames, TBE, The Best Ever. There’s even a theory that a loss would destroy his confidence. A masterful defensive tactician, he fights not to lose.

Flip the coin and you’ve got Pacquaio, whose 64-fight record includes five defeats — two over his last five. He understands defeat, which can be a component in knowing how to win.

It depends on the personality, which in the end might be remembered long after all that money gets spent.