Boxing is pain. Chicago middleweight boxer Trinidad Garcia (5-3-3) knew that when he came out of retirement last August. But nothing compared to the pain he felt when his young son Jesiah was diagnosed with autism.

“A year before my son was diagnosed, he was able to talk to me. Can you imagine your son talking to you and then one day at two years old, he just leaves? I haven’t heard my son’s voice since and that was two years ago. When he was diagnosed, it was so hard because, as a father, to not be able to do anything to protect your kid, was the hardest part. I asked myself ‘what did I do? Did I do something wrong?’ That’s how it felt.”

Despite being out of the ring for more than six years, Garcia decided to fight back.

“I went to my son’s old school one day and I noticed they have computers. I said ‘Great you guys have computers. Technology is amazing for kids with Autism.’ I was told they don’t work, unfortunately. The reason I ended up fighting is that I don’t make enough money to buy the school new computers, but I could always box. I knew I could use boxing to raise some money and be able to buy the school some new technology. I came out of retirement last August and ended up buying ten iPads for the school and raising almost $6000.”

Garcia’s first fight back in August resulted in a draw with South Bend, Indiana’s Ramiro Bueno Jr. (2-3-1 1 KO). He will fight a five-round rematch with Bueno on Friday, December 6 at the UIC Pavilion on the undercard of the “World Championship Boxing: Wlodarczyk vs. Fragomeni 3” event, featuring WBC Cruiserweight Champion Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk (48-2-1, 34 KOs) of Warsaw, Poland, making the sixth defense of his title against Milan, Italy’s former WBC Cruiserweight Champion Giacobbe “Gabibbo” Fragomeni (31-3-2, 12 KOs) and the return of Chicago’s Polish Prince, Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 14 KOs) to face Colombian KO artist Samuel Miller (26-7, 23 KOs).

Tickets for “World Championship Boxing: Wlodarczyk vs. Fragomeni 3” are priced at VIP $201, VIP Ringside $151, Ringside $101, Box Mezzanine $76, Reserved Mezzanine $51, and General Admission $31 and can be purchased from Trinidad Garcia, 20% of the value of each ticket sold through Garcia will go to his special cause. Please call 773.946.3315 to purchase.

For this fight, Garcia has a new mission.

“My son was transferred to a special-needs school, Beard Elementary in Chicago, for mostly kids with Autism. When my son started going, I said what can I do? The principal, Manda Lukic, said we want to build a “Sensory” room. Sometimes children with autism freak out. They have meltdowns to the point where they can’t handle it. When you take them to this room, it’s padded and soothes them and brings them down to calmness. So I was like ok, how much? She told me and it’s a significant amount of money. Let me talk to Dominic Pesoli and see what I can do. All my ticket sales and sponsorships will go toward the construction of this room.”

Garcia says he’s getting back in with Bueno because, much like autism, he needs the victory before he can move on.

“I wanted to fight Bueno again because, to me and my camp, we know that we can win the fight. I was off for six years and I also hurt my right elbow in the first round of the fight, so this time with two good arms, I feel I will win easy.”

The 26-year-old also says he’s eternally grateful to his promoter, Dominic Pesoli of 8 Count Productions, for all the support he’s received.

“Dominic is a huge help to me. A year after my son was diagnosed, I lost my job, just like most people in this economy. I saw Dominic was opening up a gym, so I asked him if I could have a job being a trainer. I let him know that with all my son’s therapies, it was going to be hard to get a regular 9 to 5 job. He completely understood and gave me a job and I’m forever grateful for him for that. After about a year of working for him, I talked to him and asked him if I could fight on one of his shows. He hesitated at first, but he understood why I was fighting again, so he gave me an opportunity to be able to raise money for the school. That is just the kind of heart that he has.”

“World Championship Boxing: Wlodarczyk vs. Fragomeni 3” is being presented by Andrew Wasilewski and Piotr Werner of Ulrich Knockout Promotions, Leon Margules of Warriors Boxing and Dominic Pesoli of 8 Count Promotions.

For more information on Beard Elementary School, please visit: www.Beard.cps.k12.il.us.

ABOUT 8 COUNT PRODUCTIONS

8 Count Productions, Home Of The Best In Chicago Boxing, was started by Dominic Pesoli in 1998 and has consistently presented the highest quality professional boxing events in Chicagoland.

Fighters currently under the 8 Count Productions banner include; IBO Light Heavyweight World Champion Andrzej Fonfara, middleweight contender Donovan George, world-class junior welterweight prospect Adrian Granados, super middleweight prospect Paul Littleton, middleweight prospect Viktor Polyakov and welterweight prospect Jaime Herrera.

For more information on 8 Count Productions/Round 3 Productions please visit their new website, www.8countproductions.com.

ABOUT WARRIORS BOXING

Launched in 2003, Warriors Boxing operates under a simple philosophy-bring the best boxers in the world to fight fans, match them in competitive bouts, and in doing so help re-establish the sport of boxing for a new generation.

With a series of successful Pay-Per-View shows and packed houses to it’s credit, the Warriors business model is working wonders in a sport that was sorely in need of the innovation and energy that the company brings to the table.

When it comes down to it though, a promotional company is only as good as the fighters and fights it promotes. Warriors Boxing has delivered on all fronts, with outstanding bouts such as Lara-Molina, Cayo-Peterson, Abraham-Miranda I and II, Miranda-Pavlik, Miranda-Green, Ibragimov-Briggs, Ibragimov-Klitschko, Urango-Hatton, Urango-Bailey, Cayo-Maidana and Ibragimov-Holyfield.

For more information on Warriors Boxing, visit their website at www.WarriorsBoxing.com.

American super middleweight Andre Ward is the sole prizefighter I routinely review in slow motion, the only active world champion whose subtleties bring a continuing euphoria of discovery to me. Ward is, in his way, our sport’s most unpredictable fighter, and most complicated fighter – or did you think he cleaned out the once-competitive 168-pound division some other way?

Saturday found Ward at Citizens Business Bank Arena somewhere in California, unfastening Edwin Rodriguez, a man who, between the ordeal of his prematurely born children and voluntary participation in antidoping tests (whatever his surplus of bacne should otherwise indicate), has enjoyed years on our sport’s good-guy circuit, while fighting nobody. Saturday Rodriguez fought somebody, and even after missing weight by two pounds Friday, Rodriguez lost about 35/36 of the fight, or at best 11/12.

Andre Ward continues to improve, and that brings from the front of one’s mind a retrospective request that sends it on a skittering search for the last time a fighter fractionally as accomplished as Ward improved regularly as Ward does. One wishes to say Manny Pacquiao, from the introduction of “Manila Ice,” the righthand activated for his 2005 match with Erik Morales, an improvement and nickname that introduced many to trainer Freddie Roach’s fresh wit – when he found Shakespeare and lost an entire audience at a prefight press conference, warning Morales: “Beware the ‘Ice’ of March” – but one just as quickly thinks of the Pacquiao who fought his third match with Juan Manuel Marquez six years later, got summarily undressed in rounds 7 through 11, and tactically looked little better than his 2005 self.

Fighters improve in obscurity, like craftsmen of every kind, and obscurity is hard to encounter or embrace once a fighter begins to earn million-dollar purses. What improvements happen, generally, are feats of conditioning that enjoy characteristically dubious origins. Every other time a fighter’s new trainer says adjustments galore have been made, adjustments galore have not been made, even if words galore have been spoken to the fighter and media about adjustments galore, and reversions to form are inevitable.

Ward prides himself on being formless, in a nod to combat-fighting legend Bruce Lee, and one would quickly call that Ward’s greatest strength, if Ward didn’t have so many strengths. Ward does not do any one thing much better than any other thing, but whereas the cliché usually follows that he’s not great at one thing but good at everything, Ward is great at everything. He is Floyd Mayweather if Mayweather had spent the last decade matching himself with men who believed they might beat him. Every Ward opponent believes he can beat Ward, somehow, and that is extraordinary when one watches Saturday’s fight in slow motion – as Edwin Rodriguez is an order of magnitude below Ward’s station and could not have won a clean round against Ward had he missed weight by 20 pounds instead of two.

In a prizefighting ring, even at 168 pounds Andre Ward would beat most American heavyweights quite easily. Are those men physically stronger? Most, yes, but not by nearly so much as we tell ourselves, and Ward’s balance and understanding of his own body and other men’s bodies would quickly offset the physical advantages even much larger men might enjoy when the opening bell rang. What is lost quite often by television but incredibly apparent at ringside is Ward’s superior footwork, especially in clinches; it appeared in this column 14 months ago but warrants repetition: Ward frees his hands with his feet. He churns his feet, which churns his hips, which moves his shoulders and brings his hands out of other men’s grasps, often no matter how tightly they hold.

In this way, Ward is already superior to Mayweather, who utilizes clinches strategically, too, but does not fight out of them – breaks, occasionally, yes, but not clinches – so much as use them to sap an opponent of his poise till a referee’s intervention. When Mayweather is on, every defensive maneuver is a prolonged offensive one, but once Mayweather’s right knuckles start to throb under the leather and foam of his glove, his defensive moves become exactly and strictly that. Ward never finds himself in this position and certainly never gets put there by others. Though Mayweather is many times the fighter – read: the willing participant in a savage spectacle that requires being struck repeatedly to the head as a tariff for striking others more repeatedly – than his newly arrived fans and critics understand, it has been many years since he thrilled in the physical-confrontation element of prizefighting the way Ward does, many years since Mayweather so easily avoided the urge to take another man’s punches personally.

Edwin Rodriguez, introspective enough to realize a lottery ticket was needed to have a chance against Ward, sprinted from his corner at the opening bell Saturday and tried nearly to tackle Ward who dissuaded him both with parrying and with punching. Once the clinches began, Rodriguez struck Ward repeatedly behind the head, and Ward just as repeatedly retaliated and appeared happy to continue retaliating, howsoever worked best, until referee Jack Reiss interfered; it was a treatment of ref-as-annoyance that we rarely see anymore from favorites in prizefights. Much later in the match, after both men received warnings for infractions and lost two penalty points each, Rodriguez caught Ward again on the brainstem, and when Ward withdrew to reset and attack anew, Jack Reiss asked if he was OK, and Ward answered “Yeah” in a way that sounded surprised and annoyed by Reiss’ implication.

If middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin is fractionally good as his advocates increasingly believe, a day will come when a Ward-Golovkin match will be anticipated by aficionados, if not gangsta rappers, more than Mayweather-Pacquiao was, and Ward and Golovkin will fight, and quite possibly more than once. Ward will win, and when he emerges victorious, he will attain, and eventually be recognized as having attained, a level of greatness for which Floyd Mayweather was ever temperamentally unprepared.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Ronald Cruz 150 Hector Munoz 150.4
Jason Sosa 133.3 Bryne Green 136.3
Darnell Jiles 139.8 Jerome Rodriguez 139.1
Todd Unthank-May 182.8 Kentrell Claiborne 184.9
Terrell James 145.4 Carlo Moore 148
Pablo Sanchez 147.1 Arturo Trujillo 148.3
Nathaniel Rivas 143.6 Johnathan Williams 141.8
Jean Carlos Hernandez 142 Ismael Serrano 141.8

Venue: Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem
Promoter: Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc., & BAM Boxing
First Bout: 7pm
Tickets: $50 and $75 available at the door

It’s your turn, Andre Ward.

Ward’s comeback Saturday night in Ontario, Calif., against Edwin Rodriquez (HBO 10 p.m. ET/PT) is just the latest in a succession of Saturdays that sets the table for 2014 and perhaps beyond.

It started with Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight stoppage of Curtis Stevens on Nov. 2 in New York, continued with Mikey Garcia’s junior-lightweight knockout of Ramon Martinez on Nov. 9 in Corpus Christi, Tex., continues with Ward-Rodriguez at super-middleweight and reaches a peak on Nov. 23 with Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios at welterweight in Macao.

It’s an uninterrupted series at different weights, yet with a common story line that determines who belongs, who doesn’t, who’s hot, who’s shot and maybe somebody who can challenge Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s pound-for-pound supremacy.

Golovkin and Garcia did what they were supposed to. They are newcomers no more. With a mix of tactical skill, power and poise possessed by each, Golovkin and Garcia fought and won like the major players they figure to be in any of next year’s projected bouts.

Now, it’s up to Ward and then Pacquiao. Same goal, yet the roles differ from Golovkin and Garcia. Both Ward and Pacquiao aren’t emerging stars. Instead, they are fighting to prove that they still are one.

Ward, often listed second to Mayweather in the pound-for-pound debate, has enjoyed critical acclaim from the media throughout his unbeaten career, yet the customers aren’t listening. He’s not a draw, perhaps because he’s been sidelined by injuries, or poorly promoted by Dan Goossen, or unappreciated by modern fans who want more blood and bruises than defensive skill.

Ward, who will turn 30 on Feb. 23, faces an unbeaten Rodriguez in his first fight since undergoing surgery on his right shoulder 14 months ago. He tried to end his deal with Goossen, but lost in arbitration. Goossen is still with him. The guess in this corner is that his skill set is too.

But the burden of proof rests with his ability to win and win big against an unbeaten Rodriguez, who has enough power to make it dangerous in the early going. More than a year of inactivity might make Ward a little tentative in the opening rounds.

For Ward, the task is to get back into the conversation and perhaps generate some speculation about a fight with Golovkin. If not Golovkin, there is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A fight with Chavez Jr. might awaken Mexico’s loyal fans to Ward’s ability, often subtle, yet a lot easier to appreciate than anything seen lately in the erratic son of the Mexican legend.

Ward needs to create an audience. Pacquiao already has one.

Yet even it is nervous about who will show up on Nov. 23 in a bout that also represents the biggest step in promoter Bob Arum’s attempt to create a Chinese market. The last time we saw Pacquiao, he was face-down and unconscious from a crushing knockout by a right from Juan Manuel Marquez in December.

Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach and Arum are saying all of the right things. Knockouts happen. Pacqiao has looked as “brave” as ever in sparring, Roach said in a conference call from General Santos City, Pacquiao’s Filipino hometown, which was not affected by the devastating typhoon that hit other parts of the island nation.

Roach said he expects Pacquiao to knock out Rios within six rounds. But even he conceded he couldn’t be certain how Pacquiao will react until opening bell. Roach has only his own experience as a featherweight and lightweight. But it’s a reason for caution.

“To be honest with you, when I was knocked out for the first time, it changed my whole career, because I was never as brave as Manny,’’ Roach said. “I lost my self-confidence. But Manny is not like me. Manny is a realist and he accepts it. I know everybody doesn’t think the same way. But since he accepts it, it doesn’t bother him.”

If Roach’s confidence isn’t misplaced and the fearless, relentless Pacquiao is back, Roach would like to see a rematch in a fifth fight with Marquez.

“We wanted to fight Marquez but Marquez refused to fight us,’’ Roach said “We want Marquez one more time, yes. That’s the fight we want. Mayweather too, of course.’’

Of course, Mayweather hasn’t said anything about that renewed possibility. There are still a couple of Saturdays to go before he can really address that one.

AZ Notes
· Speaking of comebacks, remember Jose Benavidez Jr.? The unbeaten junior-welterweight (17-0, 13 KOs) from Phoenix is scheduled for his first fight in more than a year Saturday at the AVI Resort & Casino in Laughlin, Nev., on a televised card (Solo Boxeo on UniMas, 11 pm. ET/PT) featured by 140-pound contender Jose Felix (25-0-1, 20 KOs) against Santos Benavides (23-4-1, 17 KOs). Benavidez, who has undergone a couple of surgical procedures on a troublesome right hand, hasn’t fought since October, 2012 when he was rocked late in an 8-round victory by unanimous decision over Pavel Miranda. He’s scheduled for a six-rounder against Mexican Abraham Alvarez (16-4-1, 7 KOs) First bell is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

· Another Saturday night card (first bell 6 p.m.) is scheduled in Phoenix at Celebrity Theatre. Iron Boy Promotions has eight bouts planned. Phoenix junior-welterweight Juan Garcia (18-3, 7 KOs) is in the main against Rashad Ganaway (14-3-1, 9 KOs).

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – There is a gorgeousness to the seashore that is difficult to debase, and yet this town nearly does it, lining its bay and neighboring stretches with gray oil rigs, not what cute rockinghorses play acupuncture on the state’s bare terrain, but edifice-like seascrapers that block the horizon in a way sometimes impenetrable. You see them on I-37 South, after two hours’ driving from San Antonio, and you go quickly from wondering when the hell you’re going to get there to worrying you are there. And you are there.

If this steamy spot, humid enough to make you sweat on its seawall even at midnight on November’s second Saturday, is not nearly the tourist-friendly locale its lodging prices anticipate, it is not a bad place at all for a prizefight, and even an apropos venue for the wonderful violence “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire and Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan visited on one another, Saturday, in a 10-round titleless scrap Donaire won by brutal stoppage in the ninth.

Donaire showed us he is a fighter – that was the thought that came to mind at the end of his rematch with Darchinyan, one that was significantly more competitive than hoped. Donaire was a skittish, super-talented but still skittish, young man when he iced Darchinyan more than six years ago and genuinely shocked the tiny world of aficionados in 2007 by running the so-called Raging Bull into a fit of his own menace, and a gorgeous left hook, that uncovered an unknown vulnerability in Darchinyan.

Donaire was in only his 19th professional match, and Darchinyan (28-0, 21 KOs) was about to make the seventh defense of his IBF flyweight title, four months after mercilessly beating little Victor Burgos to a coma, nine months to the day after blitzing and breaking Donaire’s older brother Glenn in six rounds. Donaire successfully endured 13 1/2 minutes of Darchinyan rage, a surprise to most, then put a counter left hook on Darchinyan, a southpaw in full self-hurl, left hand and body cocked in a defensively indefensible way. When Donaire put that left hand on him with precision and grace he sent the bully of all boxing bullies stumbling drunkenly about, down then up then down then legless then down again, smiting the mean little bastard Darchinyan was, a man whose spirit manifested itself perfectly in the sharp-featured scowl and hatred-contorted grimace he made whenever he punched the hell out of men best as he could.

Darchinyan, then, was a man whose promoter at the time, Gary Shaw, had to remind him to show an iota of decorum while paramedics tried to save Burgos’ life a few feet away, salvage what vital signs remained after Darchinyan finished savaging for 34 1/2 minutes an opponent who looked three weightclasses mismatched for a live-television tragedy that remains, today, an enduring companion for the word “preordained.” When Donaire iced that man, he did boxing, and humanity too, it seemed, a plethora of favors. Darchinyan, a bully to the last, accused officials of conspiring against him with an early stoppage – rather than thank what two sets of ropes twice kept him from careering into snack bars a hundred feet away.

Donaire became instantly an aficionado’s fighter, left his promoter soon thereafter and with Top Rank’s help squandered heaps of goodwill by appearing on “Pinoy Power” pay-per-view telecasts, occupying for a dwindling number of fans the ethnic on-deck circle while Manny Pacquiao was at bat. Donaire came out of hiding in 2011 in a most spectacular way, dropping with gorgeous precision, on HBO, Mexican Fernando Montiel, a prodigy of matchmaking who dropped a lackluster decision to Jhonny Gonzalez in 2006 but reemerged 57 months later as one of the sport’s most-feared men, somehow, just in time to get chloroformed by Donaire in five minutes. And HBO commentators stamped the moment with a hysterical overreaction that is become their trademark, declaring Donaire a prodigy of the first order.

Donaire squandered that goodwill, too, and quickly, with an attempt to leave promoter Top Rank just as its investment in him was about to go in the black. That got Donaire matched on HBO against Omar Narvaez, a Patagonian with no plans to get Montieled and all the wherewithal and toughness to ensure the increasingly prettified Filipino could make nothing of their 36 minutes together, turning in an aesthetic spectacle atrocious enough for a B-Hop execution. Donaire spent 2012 garnering incredible praise for voluntarily submitting to anti-doping tests and blasting through decreasing competition before being conclusively outclassed by Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux in April – a promotional nightmare from which HBO and Top Rank still stubbornly refuse to awake.

All of which led to Saturday’s spectacle against Vic Darchninyan, Donaire’s second opponent of the year who hadn’t plans to lose to him and may have held him in contempt, too – or in Darchinyan’s case, loudly and plainly held Donaire in contempt in the pit of the Armenian’s charred soul. Along the way, too, too, Darchinyan remembered he once outboxed Mexican Cristian Mijares, then one of our sport’s craftiest wizards, and struck an oddly prudent posture in the opening minutes. But Darchinyan was outfighting and outboxing Donaire through eight rounds, Saturday – at ringside, I had Darchinyan up by three points, and two judges had a wider margin still – when Donaire golfed him with a counter hook he’d set the entirety of his fortune on. After that, he fixed a Darchinyan-like scowl on his mug and pounded the Raging Bull like he’d paid for it.

It was Donaire as fighter, a version we’d not before seen and might not see again, but a sight that wholly justified a five-hour roundtrip from San Antonio to this scruffy seaport.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Photo By Chris Farina / Top Rank

Affirmation and reclamation are on a loaded card Saturday night that is intriguing on several levels. There’s much to prove for Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan and even trainer Robert Garcia in Corpus Christi, Tex.

For Mikey Garcia, there’s the chance to affirm his ascendancy at a new weight against a tough Puerto Rican, junior-lightweight champion Ramon Martinez.

For Nonito Donaire, there’s the chance to reclaim his pound-for-pound credentials against old rival Vic Darchinyan, who for his own part is fighting to regain the aura that made him such a feared fighter.

For the busy Robert Garcia, there are a couple of chances to silence a few critics.

If that’s not enough, there’s a sense that the Top Rank card (HBO 9:30 p.m., ET/PT) is a chessboard full of potential moves that could determine who will be in position to claim Manny Pacquiao’s spot at the top of the marquee if he falls against Brandon Rios in a couple of weeks at Macao.

Start with Mikey Garcia. He’s in the main event, because of a promotional blueprint that has him ticketed for big things. Among them, there’s Fighter of the Year, a possibility that was addressed during a conference call Wednesday.

“I don’t look for that,’’ said Garcia, who possesses a tactical mastery and poise rivaled by perhaps only Gennady Golovkin. “That is something every writer and critic will have to decide on their own. I just try to win every fight and it has been a good year for me so far. I want to finish strong and maybe next year will be an even better year for me.’’

If all goes as well as expected against Martinez, indications are that it won’t be long before Garcia jumps to lightweight. He failed to make the featherweight mandatory, 126 pounds, in his last outing. Martinez gives him a chance to claim another acronym-sanctioned title in another weight against a fighter who never been knocked off his feet. His brother and trainer, Robert Garcia, hinted that a move from 130 to 135 is near.

“Moving up in weight – we should not have a problem but it is still not easy, said Robert Garcia, who will also train Donaire before he packs his bags and heads to Macao next week to work Rios’ corner. “It was hard to get down to 128, which was the weight he fought at last time. That was 128, so it wasn’t even the featherweight division and everybody had seen what Mikey went through to make that weight. One-thirty, hopefully he can make that weight but it won’t be that easy.’’

For Donaire, the trip to Corpus Christi comes on the heels of a rapid rise and quicker fall. A year ago, he was just a few months from being voted 2012’s Fight of the Year. Then, he lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps 2013’s Upset of the Year. He arrives in south Texas as a new dad and reunited with his father, who will assist Robert Garcia. Donaire’s dad was there, Nonito said, when he was at his fundamental best — a 2007 stoppage of Darchinyan.

Nonito looked at his young son and thought of his dad. If he was starting over, it only made sense to reunite with the father who was there for the beginning.

Darchinyan has his own ideas. He always does. Since his move into the bantamweight ranks, he’s not been the intimidating force he was as a flyweight. But the edge on his confidence is as sharp as ever.

“I think (Nonito) was exposed in his loss to Rigondeaux,’’ Darchinyan said. “He had a good year and was voted Fighter of the Year, but inside me I know – personally he is a good guy — but about skills and power, he should not be pound-for-pound.’’

Never at a loss for words, Darchinyan had more to say.

“I will stalk him,’’ he said. “It is not about him. It is about me. I have more skills and I have more power. If I am motivated against someone – all of my title fights – I am getting prepared for me. I am not getting prepared for my opponent. I am getting prepared for myself. I have prepared mentally. I know everything that he is going to do and I know everything that I am going to do. I just want to come and demolish him, that’s what I want.’’

There wasn’t much response from the soft-spoken Donaire about all that Darchinyan said. He might still be talking.
Donaire has things to do other than just listen to Darchinyan. Things like sleeping and eating. Still, it sets the stage for a fight with plenty at stake for each.

There’s that, too, for Robert Garcia. Garcia, also Marcos Maidana’s trainer for a Dec. 14 clash with Adrien Broner in San Antonio, was asked about Rios’ loss to Mike Alvarado in a March rematch and Donaire’s defeat to Rigondeaux in April.

“Everybody mentions those two losses that we had with Brandon Rios and Nonito Donaire,’’ he said “But nobody mentions that Mikey beat Orlando Salido, the best featherweight in the division at that time and beat him so easy. Nobody mentions Evgeny Gradovich who beat Billy Dib when he was the underdog and we had an upset. And Jesus Cuellar, who became a featherweight champion also. People just don’t want to remember that. Now we have very important fights coming up with Donaire, with Mikey, with Brandon, with Marcos Maidana – those fights are very dangerous.

“We are training to win the fights, not to please the media or the people that like to criticize our team. We are doing it to win, not to be mentioned among the best trainers in the world.

“We do it because we want to win.’’

On a rare night full of multiple opportunities to do just that, it’ll be interesting to see who walks away with the most say-so.

Ulli Wegner’s eagerness to succeed has not waned just yet. The 71-year-old signed a contract extension with Team Sauerland on Tuesday, which binds him until early 2016. Wegner lead fighters like Sven Ottke, Markus Beyer, Arthur Abraham, Marco Huck, Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Cecilia Braekhus to world title honors after joining the professional ranks in 1996.

“I want to provide clarity, especially to my prodigies,” said the man who was named German “Trainer of the Year” annually for the last decade. “I want to point the way that I am far from done working as a corner man – I have still a lot to give and will lead them to success.”

“Ulli Wegner not only is a corner stone of our promotion, but a shining light of the whole German boxing scene. I cannot imagine our team without him. We are all happy that he extended his contract,” said Kalle Sauerland.

Wegner currently stays at the German Olympic Center in Kienbaum to prepare IBF Champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez for his mandatory title defense against Alexander Alekseev as well as light heavyweight contender Eduard Gutknecht, who has an IBF Semi-Eliminator lined up against Dmitry Sukhotsky. Both fights will headline a big night of boxing at the brose Arena in Bamberg, Germany on November 23. Tickets can be purchased at www.eventim.de and www.boxen.com.

Saturday on the small stage at Madison Square Garden, before a crowd of 5,000 – in a city of 8.3 million – a throng one euphoric commentator described as both “electric” and “jumping,” Kazakhstani middleweight titlist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin scored a corner stoppage over Brooklyn’s Curtis “Showtime” Stevens at the end of round 8, after dropping Stevens in round 2, and battering him for what 18 minutes followed. It was another fearsome beating administered another barely ranked opponent, by Golovkin, a beating to inspire still more fearless commentary.

One must wonder if Gennady Golovkin’s interpreter tells him what expectations now rest their weight on the boyish Kazakhstani’s juicy deltoids, the hope a television network now kindles that he will be an all-time great, whatever defensive limitations he might have, however late their campaign for his greatness started. If Golovkin is going only on his perception of what is said to him by HBO talent in fighter meetings, in English, a language he does not yet speak coherently – “OK, man, I respect box, I respect everybody,” he said after Saturday’s fight, “I respect everybody athletes, I respect everybody sports, you know, this is a sport for me, first, hey man, going to home just tell your parents just, ‘Hi, I come back, thank you’” – he may not grasp yet the gravity of others’ expectations, of the investment, financial and reputational, boxing’s most powerful network now makes in him. Golovkin likely does not, or he would fight with greater urgency than he showed Saturday against Curtis Stevens, a chinny man he struck nearly 300 times en route to a corner stoppage quite similar to the one he scored on Gabriel Rosado in January.

Golovkin (28-0, 25 KOs) just required 96 seconds longer to bring Stevens to justice than did Marcos Primera (20-28, 13 KOs), a man who has not won a single contest since stopping Stevens more than seven years ago, evidence of nifty matchmaking at least. That Golovkin’s official promoter, K2, has as its figurehead Wladimir Klitschko implies a cautious approach to matching a man whose unofficial promotional company, HBO, finds an extraordinary number of openings every telecast and ring announcement to mention Golovkin’s record-breaking knockout percentage as champion, which would be more meaningful, if not quite meaningful, if Golovkin actually were the middleweight champion, or at least if there were not already a lineal middleweight champion who was not Golovkin and whose reign as champion did not precede Golovkin’s by four months. Or does it violate decorum to mention such a thing in the throes of this, our fourth orGGGy of 2013?

Asked to call-out a postfight opponent, Golovkin wisely chose a limited fellow titlist already promised to another network and a champion already promised to Miguel Cotto. Good boy: when spring of 2014 finds Marco Rubio or Max Bursak on the bill, it will demonstrate only that Golovkin is so feared neither Peter Quillin nor Sergio Martinez had the courage to ply limited wares before Golovkin’s marketplace of pain – an absurdity in the case of Martinez, a man who fought but once at 160 pounds before decisioning the lineal middleweight champion of the world, before spearchiselling a guy, Paul Williams, who held boxing’s Most Avoided title after decisioning that moment’s Most Feared titlist, Antonio Margarito. Much as it may warm this instant to project fear on Martinez’s inactive fighting spirit, it’s not likely a guy who needed 500 punches to stop Rosado and Stevens on their feet makes “Maravilla” sleep fitfully on his leopard-skin satins.

So here’s a callout worth making: Andre Ward. Before we say once more about a guy who this year laid waste to two career 154 pounders, at middleweight, before April Fools’ Day, he will “fight anyone from 154 pounds to 168,” we might at least give him a tryout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., whom, it says here, Saturday night’s Golovkin would need 1,200 punches to stop, or else put him directly in the ring with Ward, a prizefighter who, we might remember for the sake of comparison, is 22 months younger than Golovkin.

The year Golovkin captured a silver medal in the Olympics, Ward won gold. And in the 25 months Ward beat Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, winning the Super Six tournament, Golovkin beat Mikhail Makarov (10-0), Milton Nunez (21-1-1), Nilson Julio Tapia (14-2-1), Kassim Ouma (27-7-1) and Lajuan Simon (23-3-2). For all Golovkin’s prowess in sparring sessions, it is instructive to recall in the moment Golovkin was racing through Simon, Ward was preparing to beat Froch – as proper a juxtaposition of the words “untested” and “tested” as exists in prizefighting from 154 pounds to 168.

Golovkin is entirely effective at beating up men who retreat and nearly as effective at causing their flight. But even Curtis Stevens, whose eyes rolled grotesquely sideways when a Golovkin left hook bounced his head off the blue mat in round 2, was able to neutralize at least temporarily Golovkin’s attack, and place a few decent shots of his own, by muscling forward to a range at which Golovkin does not seem nearly comfortable as he is at middle distance.

Andre Ward is the current best in our sport at getting to an opponent’s chest, discomfiting him, and removing all traces of menace; in a match with Golovkin, Ward would clinch, headbutt, shoulder and infight, and he would snatch the spirit from Golovkin the very way Bernard Hopkins did to Felix Trinidad, at the very moment Trinidad was both more dominating and more tested than Golovkin is now. Or perhaps he would not; perhaps Ward, too, would succumb to Golovkin’s relentless fiststorm, justifying fully half the credit Golovkin enjoys for what fantastical beasts his partisans currently see him hypothetically slaying.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Manny Pacquiao’s larger-than-life persona is intact despite last year’s long fall to the canvas in a stunning reminder that nothing lasts forever. That much was evident a few days ago in a conference call with Brandon Rios.

One of the questions assumed that Pacquiao was bigger than Rios.

No, not now. Not ever.

“If you say that, your eyes are deceiving you,’’ Rios said.

Rios is right, of course. Look at the photos of the two, standing face to face, in news conferences announcing their fight on Nov. 23 in Macao. Rios, listed at 5 feet 8, looks down at Pacquiao, 5-6 ½, in every one of them. Yet in the public imagination, Pacquiao is the bigger guy. It’s a perception created by a celebrity that grew like a monument with dramatic victories that transformed the Filipino into an icon.

Over the last decade, maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been the better fighter, the pound-for-pound choice. But as a people’s champ, it’s Pacquiao. They look up to him, even when he was face-down from a crushing right delivered by Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

For Rios, Pacquiao’s enduring popularity is just one of many challenges, especially if the fight goes to the scorecards. It’s no secret that Pacquiao is the point man in promoter Bob Arum’s attempt to turn China into a boxing market. Pacquiao will be fighting in his home hemisphere. Calculate those odds and you get a pretty good idea why Timothy Bradley wouldn’t go to China for a rematch of his controversial decision over Pacquiao. If Bradley had a chance, he figured it wasn’t in the cards.

The assumption is that Rios-Pacquiao won’t be decided by judges, whose scoring has already made 2013 a controversial year. Rios is there because he’s supposed to make Pacquiao look good. Rios moves forward in the relentless style perfect for a dramatic Pacquiao stoppage. It’s what a comeback needs. It’s what a new market demands.

But there’s a caveat attached to that plot. Yeah, the Pacquiao we remember – the guy who beat Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto – makes short work of Rios. But the post-Marquez Pacquiao? It’s a question that has to make Arum very nervous.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether Marquez’ knockout punch will have lingering effects. It’s impossible to know until opening bell. In part, that’s why Pacquiao-Rios is the most intriguing fight of the year. But Marquez’ punch was just one among many over the last three years in Pacquiao’s career. Both Pacquiao and Rios say that anybody can get knocked out by a single blow.

The bigger question is whether there has been a cumulative effect from all of the punches Pacquiao endured in fights against bigger guys. The biggest came in one of Pacquiao’s signature victories, a unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito in November, 2010 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. All of the attention was in the way Pacquiao left Margarito’s right eye so horribly disfigured in what was supposed to be a junior-middleweight fight. But in beating Margarito, Pacquiao also took one in body blows from a fighter who outweighed him by nearly 20 pounds at opening bell.

In Pacquiao’s subsequent fights against Shane Mosley, Marquez in a second rematch and Bradley, there were signs of decline. His hands didn’t move quite as fast. Gone was the instinct to finish a hurt foe. Maybe, Marquez’ right hand in their fourth fight just confirmed what many had begun to see. Maybe, it was the final punctuation point to an ongoing narrative.

A lot has been made of Rios’ friendship with Margarito. Rios says he’s different than Margarito. Fair enough, but they are both brawlers and, in the end, that might serve Rios well. Rios is nothing if not tough. In the classic Mexican style, he takes punches to throw them. It would be no surprise if Pacquiao scores an early knockdown. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if Rios gets up, smiles through bloody teeth and begins to turn the bout into a brawl.

How does Pacquiao react then? Does he want another victory at the price of more punishment?

It’s then – and only then — when we’ll know whether Pacquiao is back or in fact finished by punches that preceded the single shot that took down a monument.

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA – Long touted super bantamweight prospect Manuel “Tino” Avila quickly pounded fill-in opponent Jose Angel Cota into submission after two rounds and once-beaten middleweight Louis Rose had a clear cut victory scored a draw against Paul Mendez on Monday night at SportsHouse Indoor Sports & Café. The main bouts aired on Fox Sports 1 Golden Boy Live!

Avila (13-0, 5 KOs) of Fairfield, California opened the bout methodically, taking his time to study his journeyman opponent Cota (15-10-1, 11 KOs) of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. By the end of the opening round, it was clear that Cota was not near in the same league in any category to his younger adversary.

Avila, 122, let his hands go in the second round, eventually busting Cota, 122.5, open on the bridge of his nose. The blood gruesomely spurted out like something out of the Walking Dead and it was only a matter of time before the bout was stopped on either the cut or lack of competitiveness. Smelling a rare stoppage win, Avila flurried Cota to the ropes and refused to stop throwing while the Mexican covered up and offered nothing back. After a long series of unanswered, but not all landing punches, referee Edward Collantes called a halt to the bout at 32 seconds of the second round.

Clear winner Louis Rose (8-1-1, 2 KOs) of Lynwood, California was forced to settle for a ten-round split decision draw against fringe contender Paul Mendez (14-2-2, 6 KOs) of Delano, California.

The fight began with a lot of posturing and not much action from either Mendez, 162, or Rose, 163, in round one. With the round up for grabs, Rose snatched the round on two of the three judges’ cards with a solid combination as the round came to an end.

Both fighters had their moments in the opening moments of round two, but as the round progressed Mendez was hesitant to let his hands go and was overly cautious the rest of the way. Two of the three judges gave round two to Mendez, based perhaps on him getting the best of the early exchange, even though Rose was the only one throwing most of the stanza.

Mendez began the third round well, landing an eye-catching solid right over top well. However, again it was Mendez packing away his offense the second half of the round, which seemed to make it Rose’s. Rose punctuated the round with a great body shot. Two of the three judges gave the round to Rose.

The fourth and fifth rounds seemed to clearly favor the more aggressive Rose, especially with the fight being fought mostly at close quarters. Rose landed the cleaner and more accurate shots throughout the fourth. In the fifth, Rose cut Mendez and was again the busier fighter, landing well as the kept in close. Two of the three judges gave Rose the fourth and only one judge gave Rose the fifth.

Mendez opened the sixth fighting out at range, where members of his corner wanted him to be much earlier in the fight. Both fighters looked gassed as the round went on and with Mendez throwing more, there was especially nothing on his punches. Mendez and Rose virtually entered into a silent contract that they would allow each other a rest in the sixth. It ended up being a costly move on Rose’s part, as two of the three judges gave Mendez the round, one which could have been won with a single flurry.

Mendez came on briefly in the seventh, with Rose actually looking more exhausted than the Delano native all of a sudden. It would be Mendez’ last clear round in the fight, which all three judges scored for him. Rounds eight, nine and ten all seemed to go to the rejuvenated and aggressive Rose fairly clearly. Only one judge gave any of those three rounds to Mendez, but the judge that did gave both the eighth and tenth to him, which would end up forcing the draw.

In the end, Judge Steve Morrow had it the most right at 97-93 for Rose. Judge Susan Thomas-Gitlin had the even card, 95-95 and Judge Michael Tate had it 96-94 Mendez. This writer could not find one ringside observer or knowledgeable fan via social media that had Mendez leading after ten. Mendez has been in a lot of close fights in his 18-fight career, going 3-2-2 in bouts that end in either split or majority decision.

Once-beaten light welterweight Jonathan Chicas (11-1, 4 KOs) of San Francisco, California scored one of his better wins with a fairly comprehensive six-round unanimous decision over upset-minded gatekeeper Joaquin Chavez (6-10-2, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, California.

Chicas, 142, had a clear edge in the power department and it was clear from the early going that Chavez, 141, did not have the type of sting on his punches that could keep his opponent from coming in and landing. Chavez, who has upset a few unbeaten guys in recent months, just could not pin down Chicas for any stretch long enough any bit of momentum in the bout. Chicas did not rely on his power, but moved and slipped well while still landing his hard shots when the openings were there. Chavez, who can easily make 135, did not have the power to rescue a victory once he got behind in the cards, but even still he kept pressing and trying. All three judges had the fight for Chicas by scores of 60-54 and 59-55 twice.

Former amateur standout Andy Vences (5-0, 2 KOs) of San Jose, California boxed his way to a four-round unanimous decision over a game natural featherweight in Jose Garcia (3-7-1, 2 KOs) of Bakersfield, California.

Vences, 133.5, used his superior boxing skills and edge in power to outfight a determined, but undersized slugger Garcia, 134. The Bakersfield did manage to catch Vences with regularity throughout the bout, but at times it looked as though Vences was working on different things he has been trying in the gym. Vences had no respect at all for Garcia’s punch. In the end, all three scorers had the bout 39-37 for Vences.

In an all-out war even better than it was imagined on paper, Benjamin Briceno (2-1) of San Leandro, California edged former amateur standout Mario Ayala (2-1) of Sacramento, California with a four-round majority decision that thrilled from bell to bell.

Briceno, 122.5, landed with all his power behind every punch as the fight began. It was really all Briceno for the opening minute of the fight. Just when it looked like Ayala, 120.5, may be completely overtaken, the Sacramento resident fought back, landing hard shots to Briceno’s head. With Ayala springing to life, Briceno’s pace began to slow after his hyper start.

The next three rounds were fought on even terms, with both fighters taking their licks and giving them too. When one fighter would let off the gas pedal, his opponent would pick up his attack to take advantage of their foe’s fatigue. Each round was hard to score, but two judges gave the edge to Briceno, 39-37. The lone dissenter had it 38-38, even. It was really a fight that fighters this good, this early in their careers do not need to take. However, every paying customer would likely love to see a rematch.

In a really solid scrap, Jesus Sandoval(3-1-3) of Redwood City could not shake his troubles fighting at home, fighting to a four-round majority draw with tough as nails Sammy Perez (1-2-3) of Tigard, Oregon.

Two-way action was steadfast throughout the bout. Neither fighter paid much attention to defense, not counting their all-out offense. After a fairly even action-packed first round, Sandoval, 131, began the second in more of a boxer’s mindset. Perez, 130, eventually forced the brawl back on midway through the round. It was a style that would carry through the last two rounds as well.

The most clearly decided round was the fourth, which was almost all Sammy Perez. After a nice straight right from Sandoval, Perez came on like gangbusters and pressed the hometown favorite around the ring. Eventually Sandoval’s right eye opened up as he took punches in a neutral corner. The sight of blood only egged on the onrushing Perez. After a brief respite, Perez came on again in the final seconds, landing just before, during and after the final bell. To the disappointment of the crowd, one judge had the fight a shutout for Perez, 40-36, but was overruled by two even 38-38 cards. For the second time in three fights at home, Sandoval left with a hard-fought draw.

Darwin Price (3-0, 1 KO) of Saint Louis, Missouri scored his first professional stoppage with a one-sided beating of over less than two rounds over Northwest journeyman Omar Avelar (2-10, 1 KO) of Lummi Reservation, Washington.

Price, 141, showed an aggressive side that had been lacking in his first two pro outings. Of course the fact that Avelar, 148, was little more than a human punching bag may have had something to do with Price’s mean streak. Price dropped Avelar with a left to the body late in the first, before the bell rescued the Washington native from further punishment. Price got right back on his slow-recovering foe, eventually landing a flurry culminating with a left to the body that dropped Avelar yet again. Referee Brent Venegas opted to let the fight continue, but after Price uncorked an assortment of unanswered punches, Avelar’s corner decided to throw in the towel. Time of the stoppage was 1:58 of round two.

In a total mismatch, Mayweather Promotions’ cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti (2-0, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada made very short work of soft-bellied Eric Slocum (0-2) of Columbus, Ohio.

Tabiti, 193, officially scored two knockdowns because a third occurred simultaneously with the Slocum’s towel being thrown in the by the corner. Slocum, 195, went down from a straight right in the opening minute. Tabiti followed with some light body work to induce the second knockdown. Slocum got up at eight, but was on his way down from a right as the towel came in at 1:27 of the first round.

Photos by Erik Killin

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280.

Saturday on Madison Square Garden’s small stage Kazakhstani middleweight titlist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will fight American Curtis “Showtime” Stevens, on HBO, in a match of the two middleweights most likely to rend with thoughtless ferocity any overmatched unfortunate set across from them. That is, somebody stopped by, say, Vanes Martirosyan at 154 pounds, as Stevens’ last opponent was, ought tremble at rumors of GGG’s approach. And any man knocked-out by Sergio Martinez last year, as Golovkin’s last opponent was, would do well not to be on Showtime’s side of town when night falls.

OK, the leavening of this match with a pinch of facetiousness was overdue, and so there it is, with a concession directly afterwards: Saturday’s fight will be quite entertaining as it happens, in a manner more suspenseful than dramatic, and should end with one man, more likely Stevens, unconscious before its 36th minute completes. Our sport needs more of that, much more, not less, and who cares, then, if Saturday’s champ is unproved and his challenger more so?

That Gennady Golovkin is untested is not a valid reason to dislike him or distrust his abilities. He appears to have a plethora of them and appears, too, to have come along at a fine time, one in which the depth of the middleweight division is hopelessly shallow. Golovkin has risen in all minds to no worse than second best in one of our sport’s storied divisions by beating up Matthew Macklin (1-2 in three fights before Golovkin), Nobuhiro Ishida (1-2 in three fights before Golovkin) and Gabriel Rosado (in his middleweight debut).

There is even talk among serious individuals of calling Golovkin’s rampage through Macklin and Ishida and Rosado – three guys Marvelous Marvin Hagler probably could have beaten in a handicap match, one on three, and Bernard Hopkins would have unmanned in one night, stopping Ishida on the undercard, decisioning Rosado in the co-main and inviting a red towel from Macklin’s corner in the main, all while donning a differently ridiculous mask for each – three quarters of enough to be considered 2013’s fighter of the year, if he is able to beat Stevens on Saturday. Golovkin is nearer his 32nd birthday than his 31st, and that may explain this urgency to place his name among boxing’s best, because it certainly has nothing to do with the strength of his opposition or even, to pause for honesty, his supposedly withering power.

Golovkin is technically sound and accurate, his footwork fine but not otherworldly, his defense average, but he is a friendly gent with a telegenic smile and a chance of graduating from the Manny Pacquiao School of English Conversation, with honors, before 2015. For goodness’ sake, though, here for comparison, is whom (Olympic gold medalist) Oscar De La Hoya had fought by the time he was the same age (Olympic silver medalist) Gennady Golovkin is: Genaro Hernandez, James Leija, Julio Cesar Chavez (twice), Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Arturo Gatti, Fernando Vargas and Yory Boy Campas. That is another way of imparting De La Hoya was already a Grammy-nominated, first-ballot hall-of-famer about to begin the silly season of his career at the age Golovkin is yet to fight an opponent who ranks with one of the names above.

Beating Curtis Stevens, which Golovkin is expected to do even in Stevens’ New York City, the collection of boroughs in which the Brooklynite once terrorized a few no-hopers of his own, will do little to elevate future historians’ estimation of GGG, though losing to Stevens, or even getting his chin checked by a guy once chin-checked by Marcos Primera, will cause no small discomfort for a gathering army of Golovkin partisans who describe the savagery of the Kazakhstani’s attack in terms frightful enough to remind readers of Lucas Matthysse – before September.

There is a standard enjoyed by Golovkin that is a wee bit inexplicable, too, in an era that sees every elite athlete tacitly suspected of PED use, as search engines looking to sate inquiries that marry Golovkin’s name with acronyms like VADA or WADA or USADA return nothing substantive. If our concern is with the perilous effects of pharmaceutically enhanced fists slamming against standard-issue craniums, should we not begin with a man widely considered the boogeyman’s boogeyman – or did athletic programs in the former Soviet Union, of which Kazakhstan was a part, eschew performance-enhancing drugs so spectacularly?

Aficionados desperately wish to discover an unknown entity, and be the ones to say they did, a sparring-session ghoul in need of only one chance at yesterday’s paper champion, just one, to set right the injustices that burn aficionados’ stomachs when they lie down at night, and such a beast’s necessary quotient of mysteriousness is aided, not obstructed, by taciturnity or simple incomprehension of what is asked him. Golovkin has all such ingredients in a batch of accomplishments that do not yet merit his name in a sentence with Sergio Martinez’s unless and until Martinez himself puts it there. Or have we learned nothing from the RJJ and Money eras, and what ultimate dissatisfaction comes of awarding hypothetical victories?

One cannot say yet what happens when Golovkin is hurt in a prizefight, though perhaps Saturday will reward our forbearance with a stiff left-hook counter or accidental headbutt, but if Golovkin’s next four opponents come no closer to revealing it than his last four, let us still our tongues about Floyd Mayweather’s handicapping before the muse again makes us sing Gennady Golovkin’s praises.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA – Promising super bantamweight Manuel Avila aims to impress in his first English-language broadcasted appearance as he takes on a late replacement opponent in journeyman Jose Angel Cota in the ten-round main event televised by Fox Sports 1 and emanating from the SportsHouse tonight. Fighters for the eight-bout card weighed-in Sunday afternoon at a conference room adjacent to the fight venue.

Avila (12-0, 4 KOs) of Fairfield, California has quietly been positioning himself as one of the top young fighters based in the northern part of the state. Avila’s most impressive win came two fights back against the once highly-touted Ricky Lopez last December. Avila impressively dispatched Lopez in the eighth and final round before his raucous following in Vacaville. Unfortunately for the young pro, tonight’s contest marks only his second appearance of 2013 and anything less than a spectacular performance by Avila would be seen as a disappointment given the quality of his opponent and the fact that he’s fighting in front of a national television audience. Avila made the 122-pound super bantamweight limit on the scales Sunday.

Cota (15-9-1, 11 KOs) of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico came in on short notice, replacing the originally scheduled Jose Silveira last than one week ago. Most of Cota’s victories have come against modest opposition in Mexico, many of which taking place on cards that were so underreported that they never made their way on to the record-keeping site BoxRec.com. When fighting in the United States, Cota has mixed it up with some quality fighters, including Leo Santa Cruz, Jonathan Arrellano and Daulis Prescott. Against that trio, Cota did not last the distance in any of the three bouts. Cota came in at 122.5-pounds Sunday.

In the ten-round co-main event, fringe middleweight contender Paul Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) of Delano, California takes on tough once-beaten Louis Rose (8-1, 2 KOs) of Lynwood, California. Mendez, coming off of an easy sparring session type win over hapless Rahman Yusubov last month, had the option of defending his IBA Middleweight title against Rose tomorrow. However, Mendez decided he did not want to make the 160-pound limit for his fight with Rose, who did want the chance at the belt. Rose’s claim to fame is an eight-round unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten, ten-win middleweight Delen Parsley this past May in New York. Mendez made 162-pounds at the weigh-in, while Rose scaled 163.

In an intriguing six-round light welterweight bout, Jonathan Chicas (10-1, 4 KOs) of San Francisco, California looks to put his lone pro loss three fights back further in the rearview as he takes on tough gatekeeper Joaquin Chavez (6-9-2, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, California. Since getting stopped by Moris Rodriguez last December, Chicas scored decision wins over sub .500 journeymen Arthur Brambila and Adolfo Landeros. Chavez has knocked off two previously undefeated and one once-beaten fighter just in 2013 alone. Chavez, who could campaign at lightweight if he desired, scaled 141-pounds, while the sturdy Chicas came in at 142.

Former amateur standout Andy Vences (4-0, 2 KOs) of San Jose, California returns to the ring one month after passing the first minor test of his career to take on a natural featherweight in Jose Garcia (3-6-1, 2 KOs) of Bakersfield, California in a four-round lightweight bout. Vences, coming off of a hard-fought four-round decision over Matthew Flores in September, scaled 133.5-pounds Sunday. Garcia, who has fought as low as 117-pounds in his pro career, came in at 134-pounds.

In what could be a show stealer, once-beaten bantamweights Mario Ayala and Benajmin Briceno will likely wage war in a four-round bout fought just above the 122-pound super bantamweight limit. Ayala (2-1) of Sacramento, California is looking for a quick rebound from his first professional loss just a couple weeks back, a four-round majority decision verdict in his hometown. Briceno (2-1) of San Leandro, California did rebound from his first loss in his debut with two back-to-back impressive four-round decisions this year. Ayala weighed on at 120.5, while Briceno scaled 122.5-pounds Sunday.

Fighting before his hometown crowd, Jesus Partida (3-1-2) of Redwood City takes on Sammy Perez (1-2-2) of Tigard, Oregon in a four-round super featherweight bout. Partida has fought with mixed results in his two previous hometown appearances. Two fights back, Partida eked out a four-round majority draw against Sacramento’s Alberto Torres in a fight many ringside could have been scored for his opponent. This past June, fighting at the Fox Theatre, Redwood City for the second straight time, Partida escaped a four-rounder with Christian Silva with a split decision and a cut right eye. Hoping to make his third homecoming Partida’s worse will be Perez, who is coming off of a draw with undefeated Andre Ramos in June. Partida made 131, while Perez scaled 130-pounds.

Light welterweight and former collegiate track star Darwin Price (2-0) of Saint Louis, Missouri will look to continue his romp through the dregs of his division as he takes on a heftier than expected Omar Avelar (2-9, 1 KO) of Lummi Reservation, Washington in a four-round bout. Price, fresh off of a controlled boxing exhibition over journeyman Johnny Frazier (2-19-4) last month, scaled 141-pounds. Riding a six-fight losing streak, Avelar, who splits time between boxing and mixed martial arts, scaled 148-pounds. Despite spending some time in the restroom jumping and shadowboxing, Avelar could not shed any of the extra weight, but the fight will go on regardless.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. underling Andrew Tabiti (1-0, 1 KO) of Las Vegas, Nevada returns to the ring for the first time in over three months to take on Eric Slocum (0-1) of Columbus, Ohio in a four-round cruiserweight bout. Tabiti, who had been scheduled to fight on the Mayweather-Saul Alvarez bill before his opponent fell out, weighed-in at 193-pounds. Slocum, who turned pro in July against a 2-0 fighter and losing a four-round decision, scaled 195-pounds Sunday.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Golden Boy Promotions, are available online at PacoPresentsBoxing.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Super Bantamweights, 10 Rounds
Avila 122
Cota 122.5

Super Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Mendez 162
Rose 163

Light Welterweights, 6 Rounds
Chicas 142
Chavez 141

Lightweights, 4 Rounds
Vences 133.5
Garcia 134

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Ayala 120.5
Briceno 122.5

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Partida 131
Perez 130

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Price 141
Avelar 148

Cruiserweights, 4 Rounds
Tabiti 193
Slocum 195

Photo courtesy Golden Boy Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or on Twitter @MarioG280

Google doesn’t know who the Italian was. It doesn’t say how old the proverb is. But I could only think that its wisdom is as current as ever in a battered business that these days could use a grandmother’s counsel, cooking and tough love. Call Kathy Garcia.

She’s 57, half Filipino, half Japanese, 100 percent American and thoroughly devoted to the boxers she manages. Boxing is still a mom-and-pop store at the Garcia home in Salinas, Calif., where Kathy manages income property from an office across the street from author John Steinbeck’s old house when she’s not managing fighters and playing with two grandkids, aged one and two.

These days, two of the fighters, middleweight Paul Mendez and junior-welterweight Darwin Price, share a room in her house, which includes a gym where husband Max and son Sam train them. Don’t be late for meals, turn off the cell phones at the dinner table and make sure you live within your weekly allowance. It’s hard to say no to Granma.

“If you can’t abide by the rules, you’re not for us and we’re not for you,’’ Kathy Garcia said of a family business that goes to work Monday night at the Sports House in Redwood City, Calif., on a Fox 1 televised card (10 p.m. ET/7p.m. PT) with Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) scheduled to fight Louis Rose (8-1, 2 KOs) of Lynwood, Calif., and Price (2-0, 2 KOs) against Omar Avelar (2-9, 1 KO) of Washington State.

Garcia’s rules-and-regs are part-and-parcel of any well-run household. But many fighters, often from broken homes, miss that part of the growing up process. Some seek it. Some don’t. Some rebel.

“Fighters come from tough backgrounds,’’ she said. “I’m not afraid of that. Truth is, what they really need is some love.’’

They get it, although sometimes their response can be a real heart-breaker. Garcia got involved boxing because of her husband’s interest in training.

“I only got involved in 1997,’’ said Garcia, whose father spent the World War II years in an American re-location camp because of his Japanese ancestry.

She watched the kids train and saw that many needed help in managing their affairs. Over the last 15 years, her role evolved into the manager of record for 10 fighters, including Jose Celaya, a junior-middleweight contender who nearly made the U.S. Olympic team for the 2000 Sydney Games. She also managed Eloy Perez, who was knocked last year by Adrien Broner

Celaya spent too much money, Garcia said. Perez tested positive for cocaine. Both broke her heart. But the toughest was Preston Freeman. Freeman had as much raw talent as any young fighter the Garcias had seen.

“He was a young Floyd Mayweather Jr., that kind of talent,’’ Kathy said.

But after going 3-0 as a junior welterweight under the Garcia guidance, the 20-year-old Freeman got homesick for St. Louis, which he left in an attempt to escape the mean streets of his old neighborhood. A younger brother had been filled there. So, too, had a friend.

“His mom told me, ‘Don’t let him come back. He’ll get killed,’ ‘’ Kathy said. “But I couldn’t change his mind. I tried, but he was going home no matter what. I couldn’t keep him here. I got him a ticket. Thirty-six hours after he left, he was gone.’’

Shot and killed in front of a night club at midnight on March 7, 2012.

“Devastating,’’ she said. “Three boxers have broken my heart, but Preston is the one I’ll never really get over.’’

Yet, Freeman’s memory lives on for a grandmother who sees boxing as an opportunity for other kids from tough places.

Mendez fights on. He and Freeman lived and trained at the Garcia house, ate at Kathy’s table. Price, Freeman’s cousin and a former track star at Grambling, arrived after the tragedy and moved into the room that Mendez had shared with Freeman. Families get rocked, but never knocked out.

“For me and Max, this is not about money,’’ she said. “We have other jobs. I mean, if our kids get $1,000 a fight, it’s a good night. We’re doing this to put these kids in a position for bigger fights and a chance to improve their lives.’’

Throughout her decade in boxing, she has witnessed an increasingly divisive business. It’s one that could learn a lot from her. Boxing’s promotional feud is no secret. It’s nowhere near an end either. The Golden Boy-Top Rank stand-off is this century’s version of the Cold War and at – at this rate – it’ll last just about as long.

“It’s in very difficult place right now,’’ she said. “The public doesn’t get the fights it wants to see because of this feud. Fans quit watching and that’s not good for anybody. The public knows Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But who else? I knew who Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and Muhammad Ali were in a time when I wasn’t involved in boxing at all. I just think if that if this feud could get settled, everybody would better off. It would create a better future for these young kids.’’

Maybe, it’s time for a Grandma Summit at Kathy Garcia’s dinner table. She might have a hard time telling Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum to turn off their cell phones. But they’d have a harder time saying no to her.

DENVER – Afterwards, when “Mile High” Mike Alvarado, still adorned in throwback-Broncos orange and blue, an egg-shaped contusion over his right eye, claimed he considered his own health before round 11, before somehow indicating to referee Tony Weeks he could not continue, from his stool, he was being honest but not telling the truth about how his match with Russian challenger Ruslan Provodnikov ended in KO-10. What Alvarado hoped to do with such a claim, instead, was regain a dash of control from a moment of combat that snatched it from him verily and placed his vanquisher, an amiable, off-kilter Siberian, near the very top of boxing’s tacitly kept Most Feared list.

At the conclusion of round 10, after a closing 10 seconds in which every punch Provodnikov struck him with, wherever he struck him, visibly pained Alvarado, making him wretched and fragile, Alvarado stumbled to the nearest corner, the wrong one, draped himself over the turnbuckle and began a search for handlers. Shann Vilhauer, Alvarado’s chief second and a man who used the moments after his charge was stopped either to fire a parting shot in claiming Alvarado devised a strategy for himself Vilhauer did not approve, or try to keep himself in the inevitable makeover-training sweepstakes – “back to basics!”, “remind Mike how he got here!” – had to throw a net of words and arms over Alvarado to haul him across the ring to where a man of any lucidity whatever should have gone unassisted.

Vilhauer was trapped in a moment, a combination of thinking his man was unstoppable by others (Brandon Rios, remember, never felled Alvarado) and worrying his future income stream would be stopped by stopping a match that stopped needing to continue at least 70 seconds before, and so he went about his between-rounds chores like nothing much had happened. Tony Weeks brought adult supervision to the moment, forcing his way deeper and deeper in Alvarado’s corner, forcing Alvarado’s attention for the prizefighting equivalent of “blink once for no and twice for no.”

The end brought Provodnikov unfiltered glee and most of the other 7,000 or so folks gathered at 1stBank Center a thing that tilted reliefways in a disappointment-to-relief balance. Though 1stBank Center is not in this city proper, it is in a suburb of this rough, weird, enjoyable metropolis, a place whose young residents seem not potheads so much as shroomers, residents of a place that set for itself this goal while extending Denver Art Museum: Erect the first great building of the 21st century. And with architect Daniel Libeskind’s awkward genius, city planners’ audacity, and nearly as many obtuse angles as titanium panels, DAM met its mark with the Frederic C. Hamilton Building.

Provodnikov beat to spiritually unrecognizable this city’s native son, a Denver cowboy, a fearless hombre from the 303, tatted and rapsheeted, one who wore open, bottle-shard facial wounds while he unmanned Brandon Rios in March – the sort of person who needlessly carries within himself a very dark place and visits regularly with those who know its coordinates. Provodnikov found the dot of fragility within such a man’s soul, the camouflaged doorway that hides a cavern filled to bursting with betrayal and violation and vilest injustices, and then smashed that dot till it became a hole gaping enough to put an eight-ounce glove through.

The fight’s fortune was told in its first minute, Saturday, when Alvarado’s demeanor was far too stiff for a titlist in his 36th prizefight, and Provodnikov’s demeanor was not nearly stiff enough for a man gone to another’s hometown in pursuit of a first meaningful title. Provodnikov’s first right cross made Alvarado wince in a way that made Alvarado’s intelligent face – and it is that, however he’s learned to mask it – impart a thought like: Yup, this is going to be bad as feared. That Alvarado’s back was to his corner when that wince came is all that might explain Shann Vilhauer’s later contention Alvarado, buried in an avalanche of his own press clippings (and cheers to that quaint analogy), was wrong to devise a defensive strategy in training camp.

Alvarado knew instantly he would not be able to win any fair exchange with Provodnikov, a man whose vicious assault of Mile High Mike bore no sign of animosity whatever, a man who probably would have gone so far as to stop punching Alvarado had the champ told him he needed a few seconds pause to weigh options, a man Pacquiao-esque in his enchantment with knuckles sunken in flesh. An instant after Alvarado’s instant calculation was complete Provodnikov got word, an instant message of sorts, Alvarado was removing from consideration fully half the offensive tactics for which Provodnikov prepared, and by round 2 the Russian was marching straight at Alvarado, feet squared in the international symbol for “I’m willing to be hit!”

Alvarado, a famous athlete in these parts, tried to switch identities on the fly, becoming a southpaw, hopping forwards with lead uppercuts, belligerently dropping his left hand in homage to the righthand-feasting way that got him stopped by Brandon Rios a year ago. It confused Provodnikov, some, enough anyway to let Alvarado get a few licks in, with this caveat: Provodnikov knew if he could merely touch Alvarado 10 or so times every three minutes, he would break Alvarado before 36 of them were up.

A right cross to Alvarado’s body in round 8 pained him too deeply to smile or shrug at; had someone stopped the match at that instant, before the two knockdowns, before the six minutes of assault that succeeded them, it would have served a buffet of vicarious rage to boxing’s legion of malcontents but not altered the outcome. Alvarado was, after that punch, indulging a profoundly masochistic impulse, not fighting. Bless Tony Weeks for temporarily sparing the man from his troubled self.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Carl Frampton comes alive on BoxNation this Saturday night as he faces experienced Frenchman Jeremy Parodi in an IBF World Super-Bantamweight title eliminator.

Hometown hero Frampton will be roared on by a sold out Odyssey Arena crowd in Belfast as he looks to line up a hotly anticipated rematch with his February 2012 victim and reigning IBF World champion Kiko Martinez.

A star-studded undercard features Irish prospects Ryan Burnett and Daniel McShane, Marco McCullough v Willie Casey in an Irish Featherweight title bout and Eamonn O’Kane fights Kerry Hope in a Vacant IBF Intercontinental Middleweight title fight.

Tune in to BoxNation from 7pm for an action-packed show LIVE from Belfast. Click here now to see the full running order.

BOXNATION TO SHOW GOLDEN BOY ON FOX

Hit US series to air every Wednesday night at 7pm

BoxNation is the home of weeknight boxing!

BoxNation is bringing fantastic value once again as earlier this week we announced a long term deal to bring you the hit US series Golden Boy on Fox. The series, brainchild of Golden Boy Promotions’ six weight world champion Oscar De La Hoya and future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins, sees up and coming US prospects do battle and provide us with fantastic weeknight entertainment exclusively in the UK on BoxNation!

It’s your channel. Be a part of it. Are you in?

It’s probably just a scheduling coincidence, but the suggestion is there Saturday night in HBO’s decision to air its beautifully-done Legendary Nights: The Tale Of Gatti-Ward after the Mike Alvarado-Ruslan Provodnikov fight in Denver.

Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward stands alone. Their three-fight rivalry is called a classic because it can’t be duplicated. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) is smart enough not to promise one in junior-welterweight bout he knows will be challenging enough against Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs), who is already on the ballot for a Fight of the Year contender with his dramatic loss to Timothy Bradley in March. Classics are good for history. But they aren’t easy on careers.

“When I sit here and think about it, it’s kind of scary,’’ Alvarado said when asked about the Gatti-Ward parallel during a conference call. “Those dudes about killed each other. That’s a big step. Those are some big names to categorize ourselves with. It’s an honor to be in that kind of fight. We’ll see what happens. I am ready to perform and show greatness.’’

HBO’s documentary of Gatti and Ward, also junior-welterweights, is a poignant portrayal of two fighters who will be forever tied together by the violence they shared. They were Blood Brothers in the truest sense of the term.

“We could see in front of our eyes this bond starting to form,’’ ringside analyst and philosopher Larry Merchant says during the film. “It was a bond of pain and respect, and it couldn’t be written in a script. It had to be seen live; seen happening in front of our eyes.’’

Alvarado-Provonikov is scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m., ET/PT. The Ward-Gatti documentary will follow the bout, scheduled for 12 rounds. Other HBO dates for Ward-Gatti film are Oct. 21, Oct. 24, Oct. 26. Oct. 30 and Nov. 3.

NOTES
· One of the best lines in Ward-Gatti came from Kathy Duva, who promoted the late Gatti. “At one point, somebody said he was sort of boxing’s answer to The Grateful Dead,’’ she said. “You had this same group of people that kept coming over and over and over.’’

· Here’s a new guide for the pound-for-pound ratings: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t fight them, they should be ranked. That means Manny Pacquiao stays in this corner’s top five. Also, it probably means Bradley belongs there. After his victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, Bradley said he should be No. 3. He also said he wanted Mayweather. Don’t see that happening. Bradley’s tactical mastery makes him a problematic opponent, even for Mayweather, who probably wouldn’t fight a Top Rank boxer anyway.

· Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain’s sour grapes about Bradley’s split-decision at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center were insulting and more. They didn’t ring true. When Marquez agreed to the fight, Beristain told Mexican media that he didn’t like the bout. He said Bradley had the kind of style that always gave Marquez trouble. Beristain was right. Yet, he whined anyway. Give me a break.

· During an informal session with media members before Bradley-Marquez on Oct. 14, Gennady Golovkin said he would still like to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., despite Chavez’ messy performance and inability to make the contracted weight, 168 pounds, in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. The weight question is ballooning into issue that could knock Chavez off Golovkin’s list of possibilities. Golovkin says he’ll fight anybody between junior-middleweight (154) and super-middle (168). But he doesn’t want to fight a cruiserweight (200).

· And Top Rank has scheduled onetime Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr.,17-0 as a junior-welterweight, for a comeback on Nov. 16 in Laughlin, Nev. An opponent has yet to be determined. Benavidez hasn’t fought since he was rocked in a victory by unanimous decision over Pavel Miranda a year ago in Carson, Calif. It’ll be his first fight since undergoing further surgery on a troublesome right hand.

LAS VEGAS – “He seemed to be selling something, as if by not getting knocked-out, he was winning. Odd ending for Bradley. Hard to see him winning this, but who knows?” Those were the final words in my ringside notes from Saturday’s main event, notes oblivious of whatever whacky scorecard happened on the pay-per-view telecast, and if I may be allowed to italicize something retroactively, I’d like to put the emphasis here: “but who knows?”

At Thomas & Mack Center, in the winner’s bracket for promoter Top Rank’s unannounced and asymmetrical welterweight tournament – we’ll get something akin to a middle bracket in Denver on Saturday and the loser’s bracket in China next month – American Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley decisioned Mexican Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez by split scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 116-112, scores whose reading put the majority-Mexican crowd in a lather.

I scored the fight for Marquez, 116-114. Rounds 1, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 11 went to the Mexican. Rounds 2, 6, 10 and 12 went to the American. Rounds 5 and 7 were even. And rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 were all marked with an asterisk to remind me I was not certain who won them. If you’re looking for a blowhard expert, rarely right but never uncertain, an ally in your endless battle against any who would dissent, in other words, look elsewhere.

And let the well-deserved reevaluation of Timothy Bradley continue apace, as it did Saturday, as one expected it eventually would, with many folks milling round ringside citing as a reason for scorecards that went narrowly, and in some cases widely, for Bradley: Marquez missed an awful lot. That’s exactly right, he did, confirming Bradley’s awkward elusiveness, and raising hope many of these insiders will take their fresh consensus – consensus being something some crave like diabetics do insulin – along with Manny Pacquiao’s subsequent vulnerability, and someday review Bradley-Pacquiao with a touch more scrutiny, noticing, at last, Manny Pacquiao missed an awful lot too.

The inertia 16 months ago was with Pacquiao, though, and confirmations abounded, from the promoter to the HBO commentating crew to the drunken masses on social media. The inertia that informs such confirmatory musings is now shifted Bradley’s way, and good for him. Bradley was disciplined enough to engage Marquez only rarely, and solely when something invisible between the men made an audible click in Bradley’s mind that assured him the arrangement was changed and he would get the better of what came next, an audible click whose false positives Marquez’s career was built creating. But when Bradley leaped at Marquez, cranking his right hand as Bradley is wont to do, never a straight cross but more a bent, arcing, descending motion dependent on pulling violently backwards on the lead shoulder, he somehow knew Marquez’s only meaningful counter would come via a left hook, and so, whatever else Bradley did, he returned his right glove to temple, quickly, and kept it there on the way out.

But where was The Marquez, the fabled left-uppercut-lead, right-cross combination with which the Mexican outboxed Pacquiao for the final 18 minutes of their third encounter? The answer to that question is perhaps a doorway in the room of why the Bradley consensus now shifts: The few times Marquez threw it, necessarily using a leftwards tilt for its trigger, Bradley clubbed him with a short left of his own that disrupted the trajectory of Marquez’s punch enough to have it miss and make Marquez, a master boxer who delights little in being struck unnecessarily, holster his trademark combination. In this subtle way, too, Marquez was able to holster Bradley’s otherwise effective jab by flashing a signal of some kind, a thing only the fighters sensed, something imperceptible to others as the consent given by mating birds of paradise, that told Bradley to alter immediately his rhythm because Marquez had the pattern marked, the code deciphered, and Bradley’s next repetition might be his last repetition.

Marquez was embittered afterwards, in part because he is a Nacho Beristain fighter, and that requires absorbing elements of the master’s dour disposition, a stream of resentment that runs deep and cold and fresh, going unnoticed like an abandoned well never filled-in, only covered, until one hits the wrong spot and suddenly plumbs its depths. Where Marquez’s embitterment about the third Pacquiao fight was well placed – he had beaten Pacquiao for 16 1/2 of their match’s final 18 minutes and seen a scorecard by Glenn Trowbridge capture its image like a photographic negative, exactly transposed, perfectly backwards – his embitterment about Saturday’s decision seemed overly theatrical, almost Hopkinsesque, but that’s Marquez, and that’s coming from someone who scored the match for Marquez.

There was a moment of unexpected angst for me in round 10, Saturday, when I wondered if I should even continue scoring the match, so little sense I was able to make of it. To my eyes, neither guy was hitting the other more than a couple meaningful times every three minutes, and while Marquez was not moving much (his personal trainer gave him power to extend and extend again a career that looked done with in 2009, but not even Memo’s prodigious potions returned Dinamita’s once balletic legwork), Bradley was exulting way too much in not being hit. Bradley’s plan appeared to be about not getting hit, finishing on his feet conscious enough to enjoy the view, and everything else was muddling through, a mess of athleticism and fitness and the disproportionately large head with which he struck Marquez in round 1, and selling ring generalship to the judges, and bless him, it worked!

This was not Bradley’s best fight, just as Pacquiao was not Bradley’s best fight, and if Bradley is still undefeated in five years, imagine for a moment what it will say of his legacy that he beat Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on nights his advocates do not believe were his best.

Welcome to your fine young consensus, then, Tim, and enjoy it. Heaven knows you earned it.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley promised to be like the government. He wasn’t, thank goodness. There was no shutdown. There was only more of the same for Bradley, who can only get a unanimous decision for being a nice guy. His victories are always disputed.

Against Juan Manuel Marquez, the unbeaten Bradley got another one Saturday night at Thomas & Mack Center.

Another split decision. Another debate

What it all means for him and Marquez is hard to say. Let’s just say that, for now and perhaps for quite a while, their respective futures are as uncertain as, well, a split decision.

For Bradley, the narrow victory puts him first in line for a second shot at Manny Pacquiao, who lost to him on split scorecards in June 2012 in decision as contentious as any.

For Marquez, it means a lot of agonizing about judging and what to do next. During an interview in the middle of the ring moments after the scores were announced, Marquez said he was robbed. At 40, the great Mexican faces some serious contemplation about retirement.

Then again, grounds for a rematch were also there in the disagreement on the cards. Bradley was a 116-112 winner on Patricia Morse Jarman’s card. Robert Hoyle had it closer, 115-113, but still for Bradley. It was judge Glenn Feldman’s score, 115-113, for Marquez that will keep the pot stirring about who is next. What’s next.

Pacquiao will have a lot to say about that. More to the point, the real say rests with Brandon Rios on Nov. 23 in Macao, the Chinese re-creation of the Vegas Strip. A Rios’ upset of Pacquiao probably would mean a full-time job in politics for the Filipino Congressman and perhaps work as a ringside commentator for Marquez.

Only Bradley’s ring career is sure to continue. He has said he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. But Bradley’s promotional rights belong to Top Rank and Mayweather is represented by Golden Boy. In other words, there’s a better chance that Republicans will join Democrats for a few verses of Kumbaya than there is of a Top Rank-Golden Boy agreement on Mayweather-Bradley.

Then, there’s the whole issue of Bradley traveling to Macao, Pacquiao’s new home, for a rematch. Rios is fighting Pacquiao in Macao instead of him, because he said wouldn’t go to China.

With anger still lingering among Pacquiao’s Filipino fans about Bradley’s victory in that split decision more than a year ago, what are the chances of Bradley winning a rematch in Asia?

At least, there’s no debate about that one.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Rising light middleweight prospect Aaron Coley may need to consider a rise up in weight class after battling the scales on Friday in advance of his six-round main event showdown with Michael Alexander taking place at the Placer County Fair & Events Center in nearby Roseville Saturday night. The promising undefeated prospect headlines a six-bout professional card, which also boasts a full slate of amateur bouts and a performance by popular Bay Area-based songstress Davina Joy. Fighters for the professional portion of the bill weighed-in at the Hooters of Sacramento, a short drive from where the fights will take place.

Coley (7-0, 4 KOs) of Hayward, California will make the move up to the six-round distance for the first time in his career against the veteran gatekeeper Alexander (2-8-3) of Antioch, California. Coley was last in the ring back on July 20th in Roseville where he took a shutout four-round decision over a game Saul Benitez. The tough luck Alexander has an appeal pending regarding his seventh pro loss, which took place on June 1st. In that fight, against unbeaten Ricardo Pinell, Alexander was clearly hit by a shot after the bell which resulted in the stoppage.

Coley, who looked a bit gaunt in the face, made three trips to the scales overall. On his first try, Coley was two pounds over at 156. On his second, and official, attempt, Coley weighed 155-pounds. A final third try ended up with a 155 ½-pound read on the scales. In a mild defense of Coley’s troubles, two other fighters weighed in over on Friday, perhaps leading to a question of the accuracy of the old-fashioned scale which was used over the more commonly utilized digital scales. Alexander had an easier time, weighing-in at 152-pounds.

Aldwayne Simpson (4-0, 2 KOs) of Richmond, California by way of Kingston, Jamaica takes to the ring for the first time in 2013 against long tenured journeyman Luis Alfredo Lugo (13-19-1, 6 KOs) of Richmond by way of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico in a four-round light welterweight contest.

Simpson is a frequent sparring partner for Amir Khan when the former champion moves his camp to Hayward. Lugo has fought virtual who’s who of world champions and contenders. Upon moving to the United States, Lugo took on nine consecutive undefeated fighters from May 2008 to September 2009. In that stretch Lugo went the distance with eventual world champions Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner. Simpson weighed-in at 142-pounds. Lugo failed to make the contracted 143, scaling 144 ½-pounds. Lugo’s team had no interest in attempting to lose the weight either, deciding to forgo 20 percent of their purse for the extra poundage.

Local fan favorite John Abella (4-0-1, 2 KOs) of Sacramento returns to the ring against Christian Cartier (0-2) of Yuma, Arizona by way of Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico in a four-round featherweight bout.

In his last outing, Abella erased a headbutt-induced technical draw with a one-sided six-round decision in a rematch with Salvador Cifuentez this past April. Cartier has not shied away from tough competition, taking on unbeaten prospects in all of his pro bouts. Abella weighed-in at 127 ½-pounds, while Cartier made 128.

Making his return to the ring after a two-year absence, Miguel Lopez (2-1, 1 KO) of San Francisco, California will take on debuting Luis Cruz of Sacramento in a four-round light middleweight bout.

Lopez, who in his time away opened up the gym Boxing For Health across the Bay in Oakland, suffered his only pro loss in his last contest, but to a fighter in Brandon Adams that now has an 11-0 career mark. Cruz, who had very limited, if any, amateur experience, is a pupil of Horacio Barrera at Broadway Boxing in Sacramento. Cruz weighed-in at 149 ½-pounds. Lopez came in half a pound over at 152 ½-pounds, but was not given the opportunity to shed the extra weight due to his late arrival at yesterday’s weigh-in.

LaRon Mitchell, one of the top amateur heavyweights of the U.S. boxing system over the last couple of years, makes the second start of his pro career as he takes on tough journeyman Blue DeLong (0-4) of Glendale, Arizona in a four-round heavyweight bout.

Mitchell (1-0, 1 KO) was the runner-up at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and silver medalist at the 2012 USA Boxing National Championships when a shoulder injury prevented him from competing in the finals. DeLong is coming off of a tough assignment against still unbeaten Gerald Washington. Mitchell weighed 242 ½-pounds, while DeLong came in at 247.

Another local favorite making his return to Roseville will be Sacramento’s undefeated Alberto Torres, who will be taking on debuting Percy Peterson of Stockton, California in a four-round super featherweight bout.

Torres (3-0-1) dropped San Francisco, California’s Denis Madriz en route to a four-round unanimous decision victory in July. Peterson is a frequent sparring partner of up-and-coming pro Don Jose. Torres, more naturally a featherweight, came in at 131-pounds, while Peterson made 130 ½.

Former international amateur standout Adam Fiel (1-0, 1 KO) of Vacaville, California was slated to take on Christian Silva (2-3, 1 KO) of Sun Valley, California in a four-round super featherweight contest. Unfortunately, inflammation in one of his elbows forced Fiel out of the bout earlier in the week.

The card will open up with a slate of USA Boxing-sanctioned amateur contests featuring fighters some several of the top local gyms. Fighters for the amateur portion of the card will weigh-in the day of the fight at LA Boxing in Sacramento.

During intermission from the boxing action, between the third and fourth professional bouts, the ring will host a live musical performance by Northern California’s own Davina Joy.

Tickets for the event, promoted by O.P.P., will be available at the door.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280

LAS VEGAS – The Juan Manuel Marquez-Timothy Bradley fight Saturday night is hard to predict. The weigh-in wasn’t.

Marquez and Bradley did the expected, both stepping onto the scale lighter than the welterweight’s mandatory limit, 147, pounds, Friday in an uneventful formality.

Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), the challenger and a slight favorite late Friday, was first to the scale. Amid chants from his Mexican fans at the Encore Theater at the Wynn hotel and casino, Marquez was 144.5 pounds, including a bright silver chain. If he had taken off that chain, he might have been a pound lighter.

Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), who holds the World Boxing Organization’s version of the welterweight title, didn’t have the chanting fans. But he brought a pound-and-half more to the scale than Marquez did. He weighed 146 pounds.

A lot has been said about Bradley possessing an advantage in size over Marquez, who is attempting to become the first Mexican to win titles at five different weights. On Friday, however, the difference appeared negligible. Both looked sculpted and without a hint of any struggle to make weight.

There had been some question about Bradley, who said the 147-pound weight was a difficult challenge before his bruising decision in March over Ruslan Provodnikov. But Bradley was at 148 pounds Thursday, according to his trainer, Joel Diaz.

The weight was no problem. That’s good thing, because Marquez will be in what figures to be one of Bradley’s toughest fights against one of boxing best tacticians. Bradley has sent out mixed signals as to what his strategy might be. Box or brawl? Marquez, a classic counter-puncher, says he’s prepared to do either. Conventional wisdom has Bradley scoring from the outside and never allowing Marquez to unleash the big punch that put Manny Pacquiao face down on the canvas in December.

Until opening bell in the HBO pay-per-view bout, Bradley’s plans are a guessing game. At least, the weigh-in wasn’t.

The pay-per-view portion of the card is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Nevada (9 p.m. in the East). The undercard features Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs), one of Mexico’s archetypical tough guys, against Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs), whose gay lifestyle has been the subject of more media attention than either Bradley or Marquez. Salido weighed 126 pounds, the featherweight limit. Cruz, who stepped onto the scale wearing rainbow-colored shorts, was a pound lighter at 125.

The televised undercard also includes amateur star Vasyl Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine. Lomachenko is making his pro debut in featherweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds against Jose Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) of Mexico. Lomachenko weighed in at 125 pounds. Ramirez was at 126.5

Timothy Bradley’s story, called a journey by some, can be summed up best by a poignant sight amid the outrage in the wake of his split-decision over Manny Pacquiao. He was in a wheel chair. History is littered with controversial decisions. But the winner confined to a wheelchair at the post-fight news conference? That had to be a first.

It’s an image of a fighter that the world tried to dislike, but just couldn’t. He wouldn’t let that happen. He’s stubborn and vulnerable, all at once. In, the end, he’ll be there, even if he can’t walk to get there. In that wheelchair with badly-injured feet and in front of a restless throng angry at his scorecard victory, Bradley was a defining example of author Ernest Hemingway’s description of courage:

Grace under pressure.

It’s a trait that figures to re-surface sometime Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center in a welterweight clash with Juan Manuel Marquez, a fight fan’s fight, which probably means the cross-over crowd fascinated with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s obsession with money won’t be watching HBO’s pay-per-view telecast. Too bad. On several levels, Bradley-Marquez ranks as the most compelling bout of the year.

Above all, they are just different personalities. An irony is that they share one thing in common: A victory over Pacquiao. It’s what ties them together. It’s the biggest reason they’re fighting each other. It’s also a reason to watch. Yet, their respective victories over the Filipino Congressman – Bradley by controversial scoring and Marquez by definitive knockout — are as different as they seem to be in so many other ways.

Marquez comes across as shrewd and calculating. There’s almost a manipulative manner to the patient counter-puncher, who waits on the other guy to make a critical mistake. In a game built in part on a good feint, it’s what makes him a great fighter and the favorite to beat Bradley.

Marquez’ agenda for the Bradley bout includes a title in a fifth weight class and a claim on No. 2 in Mexican history, second only to the revered Julio Cesar Chavez. That’s believable enough, especially in the wake of Canelo Alvarez’s one-sided loss to Mayweather and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s continuing exhibition of immaturity in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. Near the top of their favorite game, there’s a vacancy in Mexican hearts. A victory over Bradley would add to a Marquez resume that Mexicans would have to acknowledge and respect.

Harder to believe are Marquez’ comments that he’s done with Pacquiao. At 40, Marquez says he foresees a few more fights in his career. Wouldn’t one with Pacquiao have to be among them? A victory over Bradley would strengthen his leverage in negotiations for a fourth rematch with the Filipino, who faces a problematic challenge of his own on Nov. 23 against Brandon Rios in Macao, the Chinese re-creation of Vegas.

There were reports that Marquez asked for as much $20 million in initial talks for a fifth with Pacquiao. If Marquez finally wins over Mexico as its most popular fighter since Chavez Sr., Mexican demands for another Pacquiao fight will be there. Marquez can then say he’s doing only what his country wants and he’ll do it for $20-million-plus. It’s appears to be a calculated move that might prove brilliant. Like his opponent, Marquez will let the other guy, the Mexican fan, decide his next move.

Contrast that with Bradley. He doesn’t know how to sustain a fake. Can you imagine Marquez showing up anywhere in a wheel chair? Didn’t think so. But Bradley, perhaps honest to a fault, did so in the engaging style that was subsequently played out in his dramatic and dangerous victory over Ruslan Provodnikov in March. In a conference call, Bradley was forthright in discussing the concussion he suffered. He said he saw physicians in New York, Las Vegas and New York. It’s a possible vulnerability. It’s one that Marquez will surely target. It’s also one that makes Bradley engaging and so likable. He’s fearless about who he is. Perhaps even foolish. We’ll see.

But his comments about fighting Marquez more for pride than money ring true. Bradley’s guarantee for Marquez is $4.1 million, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. His guarantee for Pacquiao was $5 million. More was there in the potential purse for a Pacquiao rematch, promoter Bob Arum said. But Bradley said no, in part, because he didn’t want to fight Pacquiao in China.

It was an honest assessment of his chances in Asia, Pacquiao’s home hemisphere, where anger at the Las Vegas decision in June 2012 lingers.

Honesty doesn’t always win. It’s not the way to bet either. But it’s worth a few cheers. The guess here is that they will be there Saturday night. Bradley has fought for them. Earned them too.

HBO’s vastly improved “Face Off With Max Kellerman” franchise, the penultimate episode of which found California’s Timothy Bradley seated at its brushed-steel tabletop with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, showed Bradley vulnerable and honest in his native language and Marquez happy to say nothing in his second language, English, one whose learning was fully inspired by and limited to marketing considerations. It was an advantage Marquez did not seek but certainly enjoyed, being able to study serenely from a meter’s distance an opponent earnestly examining health concerns and working through existential crises.

Until that faceoff between the men who will contest Bradley’s welterweight championship Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV, it was proper to fear their match heading towards the cruelest paradox boxing affords its pay-per-viewers: The hostility two men show one another before a fight is inversely proportionate to the hostility they’ll show one another during a fight. Bradley’s allusion in a promotional video to Marquez’s historic growth prompted such fears but also, and unexpectedly, prompted Marquez to extend a considerable invitation.

What makes Marquez’s invitation considerable – that, to dispel rumors of advantages through PED use, Marquez and Bradley share the same strength and conditioning camp, complete, one assumes, with Marquez’s coach and whatever supplemental cocktail he gives Marquez – is that it inadvertently handles the PED question much as the NFL does it: Our evenly matched athletes are the largest, strongest creatures to roam the earth, and you love it, don’t you? (It is worth reiterating that America’s adulation for a league whose players are enhanced by any measure sets the hands on the proverbial clock of whether American sportsfans care about PED use.) We may care about fairness, some, or at least its gerrymandered appearance, but we will forgive winning in nearly any form we find it.

Manny Pacquiao, the prizefighter who moved up a weightclass and leveled lightweight titlist David Diaz, moved up another weightclass and knocked champion Ricky Hatton rigid, moved up another weightclass and beat Miguel Cotto till Cotto’s wife fled the arena, then beat him some more, and a year later crushed Antonio Margarito’s orbital bone, well, he might have escaped public suspicion had Floyd Mayweather, prizefighting’s greatest handicapper, not made PED testing a prerequisite for the Fight to Save Boxing.

While that saggy saga flubbed along, little Juan Manuel Marquez, who fought Pacquiao evenly when no one else could then survived 12 rounds with Mayweather when Mayweather had the back of a middleweight and Marquez the legs of a super bantamweight, declared, in his countrymen’s tradition, “¡Ya Basta (Enough)!” and became big Juan Manuel Marquez, photography’s most evidently enhanced athlete since Barry Bonds. His personal trainer smiled warmly and cited “science” whenever asked, and really, it wasn’t Memo’s fault if our sport assumed he meant physics, not chemistry.

It is worth reiterating, too, none of us is innocent as all of us when it comes to PEDs: To imagine anyone in boxing did not think PEDs were in use at every level until Marquez dropped Pacquiao in a lump last December is to credit us without 30-percent our intellects. What happened in MGM Grand was this: One athlete with a famous personal trainer and extraordinary quadriceps and calf muscles leaped on the right fist of another athlete with a famous personal trainer and extraordinary deltoids, and their collision produced one of the more violently wondrous moments in our sport’s storied story.

Timothy Bradley would do well to remember two men for each of the 2,160 seconds, or fewer, he is in Saturday’s prizefighting ring with Marquez: Manny Pacquiao, of course, and Juan Diaz. Bradley must neither leap fullboard Marquez’s way, à la Pacquiao, a mistake Bradley is unlikely to make, or get his head extended over his front knee, à la Diaz, a mistake Bradley made numerous times against Pacquiao, one Pacquiao never exploited with an uppercut because, for all the happy talk of Pacquiao’s evolution as a prizefighter, the Filipino has always been more athleticism than technique – something no one ever opines of Marquez.

There is not a more predatory man in prizefighting than Juan Manuel Marquez; as Bradley undoubtedly has been reminded every hour in training camp, if he pulls the macho stunt with Marquez he pulled with Ruslan Provodnikov in March, Bradley’ll need Big Ray to carry him to his dressing room afterwards. No one in prizefighting finishes with Marquez’s precision and indifference for other men’s health: Marquez will not bull an unconscious Bradley to the ropes for a frantic last stand, gifting Bradley’s indomitable spirit with legs and leverage; Marquez will lure Bradley’s pride to the center of the canvas, let his force and desire push his shoulders forward, drop his head necessarily, and meet Bradley’s downrushing chin with an uprushing right fist – and when it’s done Bradley will hear the 10-count no better than Pacquiao did.

Or perhaps not. Perhaps Bradley will move in and out, never overcommitting to a punch, swim without getting wet, as Naazim Richardson puts it, and frustrate Marquez by not fighting him. Perhaps Bradley will make Marquez wonder what in the hell his wonderful strength and conditioning is for if neither finds a man who will test it, disgusting Marquez with the possibility 36 minutes with Timothy’s feathery fists are less taxing than 10 minutes with Memo’s medicine ball, using Marquez’s machismo against him the way Sugar Ray Leonard did it to Roberto Duran in New Orleans.

Events would suggest, via Bradley’s decisioning Pacquiao and Marquez’s being decisioned by Mayweather, Marquez doesn’t mind losing a glorified sparring session any more than Bradley enjoys winning a glorified fitness contest – and pity the pay-per-viewer who expects March’s Bradley versus December’s Marquez and gets, instead, the Bradley who fought Pacquiao against the Marquez who fought Mayweather. That happening is not impossible, but as we board our flights for Las Vegas, friends, what do you say we pretend it is?

Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez are my two most favorite prizefighters, so I’ll take Bradley, SD-12, or Marquez, KO-9, and be happy for the winner regardless.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Official weights from Thursday’s weigh-in at the Comanche Nation Gaming casino for tonight’s fights.

George Tahdooahnippah 159 3/4
Thomas Brown 157 3/4
IBA Americas Middleweight title

Sheena Caney 117
Tiffany Alexander 119

Jose Guadarrama 143
Edwin Williams 144

Maurenzo Smith 242
Ty Cobb 262 1/2

Tahdooahnippah will battle Brown in a ten round main event for the IBA Continental Americas Middleweight Title, during “Punch Out,” an evening of boxing promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing at the Comanche Nation Casino.

Tickets are still available and priced at $20 for General Admission ($25 at the door) can be purchased through Ticket-E-Split www.ticket-e-split.com or through the Comanche Nation Casino, phone (580) 354-2000.
VIP tables are available for purchase at $2500 per table. Each table includes ten seats with free food, beer, soda, water, $100 free play, and a gift bag per seat.

The Comanche Nation Casino is located at 402 SE Interstate Drive in Lawton, Oklahoma; 73501.Doors on the evening of the event will open at 6:00p.m. with the first bell at 7:00 p.m. Guests must be 18 years or older to attend.

For more information on the Comanche Nation Casino, please visit their website at www.comanchenationcasinos.com

ABOUT STAR BOXING:

Star Boxing, Inc. has been in operation since1992. Star Boxing has worked to produce some of the most exciting and memorable boxing events in recent history. Star has continued to work with and develop a number of very exciting world champions, world rated contenders and young prospects. Star has consistently brought credibility, integrity, and exciting fights to the boxing industry. For more information on Star Boxing, visit their official website at www.StarBoxing.com and follow them on twitter.com/starboxing and Facebook.com/starboxing

COMANCHE NATION CASINO:
Comanche Nation Casino is open 24 hours!
402 SE Interstate Drive * Lawton, OK 73501
Exit 37 Off I-44
www.ComancheNationCasinos.com
(580) 354-2000

Boxing aficionados from Vacaville to Bangkok know the name Adam Fiel, despite the fact that the promising young super featherweight has about one minute of professional experience under his belt. Fiel, the only fighter to spend time competing for both the United States and Filipino National teams as an amateur, was something of an amateur superstar given the length and level of success he achieved in the unpaid ranks. Given his credentials, many boxing fans probably wondered why we had not seen Fiel in the pros sooner. The story behind that decision is one that sheds some light on the type of individual Adam Fiel is as a man and only creates more expectations on the type of boxer he could potentially become.

Fiel (1-0, 1 KO) of Vacaville, California was originally slated to turn professional in the middle of last year, but did not make his long-awaited debut until this past July 20th with a 58-second destruction of Francisco Solis in Roseville, California. When you hear of out-of-the-ring distractions and fighters, you tend to automatically think about the tabloid-type pitfalls fighters often face in the public eye. What kept Fiel out of the ring until recently could not be more different, though tragic in a different way.

“My grandmother has multiple sclerosis,” Fiel tells 15rounds.com. “I stay with my grandma and grandpa, so that prevented me from turning pro sooner. Since she was diagnosed she has been slowly deteriorating, especially her motor functions. My grandfather is a little older than my grandmother, and she has trouble walking and sitting up, basically just functioning on a daily basis, so I took off work for a while and everything to take care of her and give them a hand for about three months. I have been living with them now for about nine months, but I am back to work and back to boxing. Everything is kind of in order.”

Fiel’s grandmother Freda Fiel is the pillar of the Fiel family as the mature beyond his years Adam describes. “She is kind of what drives the family and a huge motivation for me,” says Adam. “I am very close to my grandmother and I see her every day.” Adam’s grandfather Carlito met Freda after coming to the United States from Manila in his early 20’s. Carlito soon found work picking grapes in a field that was overseen by Freda’s father.

Carlito Fiel grew up in the Philippines and took to the sport of boxing like many of his countrymen. “His boxing was they would wrap up their hands in cloth, get out on the street and fight everyone in the neighborhood,” says Carlito’s son Chris, Adam’s father. “Then go to every other barrio and do the same thing.”

As a young boy, Adam would hear about his grandfather’s time fighting in the streets of the Philippines. “I know he was boxing for at least three or four years, but I don’t think he got any pro fights or even amateurs,” says Adam. “I think the fights back then weren’t exactly sanctioned fights, but he was telling me they had referees, but he didn’t have a book and they didn’t keep track of their fights or anything like that.”

When Carlito noticed his grandson Adam was being picked on by his older brothers one day, he decided it was time to impart some of his boxing knowledge on his 10-year-old grandson so he could defend himself against his siblings. “I am the youngest,” Adam recalls. “Both my brothers are older. They used to really pick on me when I was younger. They would beat me up, accidentally threw me down the stairs, which I ended up having a scar from. My grandpa would say, ‘You can’t let these guys pick on you. Stand up for yourself,’ type of thing. Then he showed me how to box and later took us three all to the boxing gym. I started to get better and really started to like it. They eventually began to not pick on me and I got to spar with them and get my revenge.”

Adam began to develop his skills and by 15-years-old was making a name for himself on the national level in amateur boxing. “When I was fifteen and went to Nationals, I took third place,” recalls Adam. “I think I only had like 14 or 15 fights. My grandpa and grandma came to that one and it was kind of a big deal for them to see that. It started locally. You have to win the local regionals, then the state and they were really surprised to see what I could do at that age and I was too. The people had a lot more experience. At that age, that is what you compare yourself to. If they have more experience you think they might win. But I did really well and from then on I kind of took it more serious.”

All along the way, Carlito would keep his keen boxing eye on his young grandson. Even as Adam began to rack up the amateur accolades, eventually making the U.S. National Team and later the Philippine National Team, his grandfather was not sold on his grandson becoming a professional.

“He’s more critical of Adam, and especially about turning pro,” says Chris. “He wanted to see knockout power, a knockout punch, and that’s what he always talked about. He would talk to Adam about the difference between a finesse fighter and a knockout artist and about how you need to have both. He was basically telling Adam that if he didn’t have knockout power, than he should probably just finish up school. But after that first fight, seeing what he did, he is now on the fence. My dad is just a real pessimist.”

Both Carlito and the ailing Freda made it out to see Adam’s pro debut and will be in attendance when their grandson goes for win number two against Bell, California’s Carlos Iguera Gonzalez next Saturday, October 12th back at the Placer County Fair & Events Center in Roseville, California. In many ways Adam’s debut was a bittersweet moment for the family.

“There was always a lot of debate within our family about this all happening because Adam had a lot of potential for a lot of other things,” reveals Chris. “My brother-in-law is a physician in New Orleans and Adam was pretty much offered the keys to whatever he needed. If he wanted an education, he could have had that paid for…all doors opened. For him to choose boxing over education was really rough within the family, because education is 100 percent guaranteed. With as much time and effort that has been poured into this, he could have graduated already. These are the things that are being said to me. So it was very difficult. But of course, I gave him the support when he decided this is what he wanted to do. And in the end, we all got behind him.”

Every time Adam Fiel enters a ring, whether it is for an official fight or just a sparring session intended to improve or hone his skills for an eventual battle, the young fighter carries his grandparents into the squared circle with him. It is a driving factor that undeniably helps shape the fighter Fiel has become and is still becoming. “I want my grandmother to see me succeed before anything happens because this is a disease that will take away her train of thought and her memory, so it is hard,” says Adam. “But it is something that pushes me.”

Whether she is aware of it or not, Freda is still teaching her grandson life lessons every day. “She has taught me to appreciate my body because I can walk and I can move and I can get stronger and she’s not being able to,” says Fiel. “Seeing the contrast between that and getting older makes me want to do the most I can with my talent and my ability. It makes me want to train harder and be the best that I can with boxing. It makes me really want to strive for my dreams because I never know what’s going to happen.”

Life, and healthy life, is always shorter than what we think. This is something Adam Fiel has been able to grasp at a very young age due to his grandmother’s ailment. It is a lesson that fails to sink in with more than a few young fighters, but it is one that has help create one of the most driven young boxers the local scene will have seen in a long time.

“She wasn’t expecting to get hit with that disease and she has a lot more that she wanted to do,” says Fiel of his grandmother. “We’ve had very frank discussions and she wants me to do everything I can. She told me as well, she appreciates me wanting to help her, but she doesn’t want me to get stuck. She says, ‘I am not going to get better, you can do something still. You are still young. Don’t waste your time here.’ She sort of said that to me and it is hard because I see her every day and she’s not getting any better, but there is nothing I can do right now. But it does really push me.”

On October 12th, both Carlito and Freda will be in the front row. In her wheelchair will be Freda, Adam’s inspiration and in his ringside seat will be Carlito, Adam’s harshest critic. Both are pushing their grandson to success.

Tickets for the October 12th event, promoted by O.P.P., are available online thru this coming Sunday at www.15rounds.com/showdown or by calling 925-208-1086.

Photo by Erik Killin

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.

Nobody pays to see judges at ringside with scorecard in one hand and pencil in the other. But it’s the judges, not the fighters, who are dominating talk in a way that can’t be good for business.

Debatable scorecards are part of the game. And, sometimes, the subsequent controversy is even good for it. If the public is arguing, it’s interested. But a succession of lousy decisions and inexplicable scoring is an ominous trend.

In the messy wake of judge C.J. Ross’ 114-114 score for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s brilliance in overwhelming Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas and Brian Vera’s unanimously controversial loss on the cards to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., in Carson, Calif., there is angst about what might happen Saturday in the Miguel Cotto-Delvin Rodriquez fight in Orlando, Fla., and the Wladimir Kitschko-Alexander Povetkin bout in Moscow.

Attention on whether Freddie Roach can revive Cotto’s career and Klitschko’s chase of Joe Louis’ record of 25 successive title defenses has been obscured by questions that shouldn’t matter. But they do, now more than ever. It was even there Tuesday during a conference call with Timothy Bradley for what should be the best in boxing’s Octoberfest against Juan Manuel Marquez on Oct. 12 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

Worried about the judges?

“There is always a concern,’’ Bradley trainer Joel Diaz said. “This is boxing, and at the end of the day, what’s going to happen is going to happen. Tim is a very elusive fighter and has great speed and great footwork. If it’s up to the judges, we hope they do their job.’’

Good luck on that.

Too many scores just don’t add up any more. The fighters, themselves, can settle it before the decision falls into the judges’ unreliable hands. The knockout is what separates boxing from figure skating or American Idol.

Amid warnings about long-term damage from concussions, however, fewer fights figure to end in a definitive stoppage. Mayweather’s defensive mastery has allowed him to elude punishment and fight on in career that has turned him into the world’s highest-earning athlete.

Mayweather, the self-proclaimed face of the battered game, has more decisions than scars. For Mayweather, there’s been unprecedented wealth in the cards. Young fighters are bound to follow his example.

Even for Mayweather, there was a scare when Ross’ bizarre score was the first of three announced in his majority decision over Canelo. It also was a sure sign that scorecard arithmetic can make just about anybody feel as if they just had their pocket picked. Ask Vera.

Controversy over Chavez Jr.-Vera might lead to a rematch. Vera promoter Artie Pelullo said preliminary talks are
underway, possibly for Dec. 7 or Dec. 14 in Texas, Vera’s home state.

There’s been no word from Chavez Jr. on whether he’d agree to one. However, Pelullo said Wednesday that Chavez Jr. is under pressure from Mexican fans to fight Vera a second time. Chavez Jr.’s popularity in Mexico is at stake, Pelullo said during a conference call.

Pelullo suggested that there will be a rematch because Mexico is holding Chavez Jr. accountable.

Holding judges accountable, however, is a different issue. After reported complaints from Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Ross took a leave of absence. If there were any consequences for the Chavez-Vera scores in California, they have yet to be disclosed.

Without accountability, the controversies will continue in Nevada or California or Texas or Florida or Moscow, Pelullo said.

An enforcement of standards and discipline, however, isn’t free. Despite all the screaming about what state commissions and regulatory agencies should do, few real solutions have been offered.

Here’s one suggestion:

Boxing is trying to get drug use under control. After some early controversy, Dr. Margaret Goodman’s VADA, an outside testing agency, has become part of a process accepted by the fighters. It’s not perfect. But it’s a beginning.

Can’t a similar agency under the control of retired judges be created? Give it the authority to review a commission’s assignment of referees. Let it put together a policy of standards and ethics. It would cost money, which means a percentage of the total purse split by fighters and promoters. It’s a fee, another one that would anger Top Rank and Golden Boy and anybody else with an investment in the game.

Without one, however, there might not be a much of purse left for anyone to split.

LOS ANGELES, October 3 – Unbeaten in 12 of his last 13 bouts, Ricardo “Dinamita” Alvarez will represent his fighting family once again this Saturday, October 5, when he defends his WBA Continental Americas Super Lightweight Title against Colombia’s Humberto “Metralleta” Martinez in the 12-round main event of a Televisa and FOX Deportes-televised tripleheader entitled “DINAMITA PURA EN EL RING.”

In the co-featured bouts of the evening at Centro De Usos Múltiples Del Malecón in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico, La Paz southpaw Ramon “Principe” Garcia takes on Venezuela’s Juan “Pequita” Lopez in a 10-round junior flyweight bout and undefeated Guadalajara prospect Jorge “Pilon” Lara meets Distrito Federal’s Oscar “Ceviche” Ibarra in a 10-round super bantamweight matchup.

This event is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions and sponsored by Corona. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. CT and the first fight begins at 6:00 p.m. CT. The FOX Deportes broadcast will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT and the Televisa broadcast will air on Canal 5 beginning at 10:30 p.m. CT.

The brother of former world champions Canelo and Rigoberto Alvarez, 31-year-old Ricardo “Dinamita” Alvarez (21-2-3, 13 KO’s) is making his own way to the top, hoping to soon add another world title belt to the family trophy case. Winner of three straight, Alvarez most recently defended his WBC Continental Americas title in July with a 12-round decision win over Reyes Sanchez, and he will look to extend that string of excellence when he battles Martinez.

Monteria’s Humberto “Metralleta” Martinez (27-7-1, 21 KO’s) is a hard-hitting competitor who emerged from the ultra-tough Colombian fight circuit as one of the most dangerous 140-pound fighters in the world. Winner of seven of his last eight, Martinez has won 12 overall fights in three rounds or less, so you can expect him to be bringing the dynamite to “Dinamita” Alvarez this Saturday.

Former WBO Junior Flyweight World Champion Ramon “Principe” Garcia (18-4-1, 11 KO’s) has won two straight over Jose Martinez and Juan Hernandez since his loss to Roman Gonzalez in their 2012 title fight, making it clear that he’s in the midst of yet another run at the championship. But to get back into the title picture, the 31-year-old southpaw from La Paz must first turn back the challenge of Valle de Pascua, Venezuela’s Juan “Pequita” Lopez (10-2, 8 KO’s) a knockout puncher looking to add a big name to his promising resume.

Unbeaten in 24 professional fights, Guadalajara’s Jorge “Pilon” Lara (23-0-1, 16 KO’s) is the latest Mexican standout to hit the 122-pound weight class, and with four consecutive knockouts to his name, he’s attempting to make a statement with each victory. His opponent on Saturday, 27-year-old Oscar “Ceviche” Ibarra (27-9, 18 KO’s), has won several regional titles over the years, most recently a WBC Silver Championship that he successfully defended three times. Now he begins the road back to the top against Lara.

For more information visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.FOXDeportes.com
and www.televisadeportes.com, follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/CaneloPromotion, www.twitter.com/DinamitaAB, www.twitter.com/TD_Deportes and www.twitter.com/FOXDeportes and visit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/FOXDeportes.

TOTOWA, NJ – Main Events announced today that they have signed an exclusive promotional contract with South African light heavyweight Isaac Chilemba, 20-2-2, 9 KOs. The 26 year old Chilemba was born in Malawi and has fought the majority of his bouts in South Africa.

Nicknamed “Golden Boy”, Chilemba turned professional in 2005, and won several African titles during his eight years in the ring as a 168 and 175 pounder. Chilemba’s collection of championships include the African Boxing Union super middleweight title, the WBO Africa light heavyweight title, African Boxing Union light heavyweight title, WBC International light heavyweight title, the IBO super middleweight title, and the WBC International light heavyweight title.

Chilemba holds victories over perennial contender Edison Miranda (W10), then-undefeated Maxim Vlassov (W10), and dangerous trial horse Rayco Saunders (W8), all in the United States. In his last two bouts, Chilemba went 24 rounds in the UK with Liverpool Bomber Tony Bellew (D12, L12), in bouts for the WBC Silver light heavyweight title.

With his excellent international experience and solid record, Chilemba is likely to quickly break into the talented top-tier of the current light heavyweight scene.

Chilemba said, “I am pleased to be with Main Events and I look forward to getting back in the ring. Everything happens for a reason.”

“Isaac gave Maxim Vlasov, Thomas Oosthuizen and Doudou Ngumbu their first loss. All three are world rated fighters today. Also, arguably, he should hold one win over Tony Bellew, as they fought to a draw in Liverpool earlier this year . Isaac’s most impressive fights occurred during times when he was very active. We believe that the combination of activity and the exposure he will receive fighting on the NBC Sports Network will create the right environment to bring out his full potential,” said promoter Kathy Duva. “We are excited to work with Isaac, his manager, our long time friend, Damian Ramirez, and his co-manager, Jodi Soloman.”

Chilemba is expected to make his first start under the Main Events banner before the end of the year.

After nearly 3 months out with a hand injury, Dundee’s Ronnie Clark (8-0-2) returned to the ring on Tuesday 24th September with a convincing fifth round knock down of Poland’s Krzysztof Rogowski.

Looking to keep the momentum going, his promoter and manager Tommy Gilmour has added the former World Champion Kick boxer to Prospect Boxing’s October 11th Card, which is headlined by Iain Butcher who will be challenging for the vacant WBO European Title against Hungarian Gabor Molnar.
After his period out, the Super Featherweight was glad to be back in action, after his time “The hand was a bit of a problem for a while and I was seeing a hand specialist while I was out and he worked hard on getting it mended and was given the all clear. I was a bit worried about it going into the fight natural, but it felt great during and has continued too since”
Looking ahead to the October 11th card, Promoter Paul Graham is looking forward to seeing Ronnie in action “I was at the St Andrew Sporting Club for Ronnies last two fights and I have enjoyed seeing him in action, and I can see him develop into a good fighter. I think he will bring a bit of excitement to the card as its clear to see from his fights he loves to entertain the crown.
Prospect Boxing presents an Evening of Championship Boxing at the Ravenscraig Sports Centre, Motherwell on Friday October 11th. The Main event sees Iain Butcher take on Hungarian Gabor Molnar for the vacant WBO European Flyweight Title.
The undercard sees the return of Mike Towel and also features, Rhys Pagan, Billy Campbell, Ronnie Clark. Also in action is former commonwealth title challenger Mitch Prince and the professional debut of JP McGuinness.
Tickets are priced at £30 and £40 and available from the fighters or by calling 07598 818150 .For more information on Prospect Boxing don’t forget to follow us on Twitter on @ProspectBoxing and on facebook on www.facebook.com/ProspectBoxing

Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. – the man whom middleweight champion Sergio Martinez alternately calls “a lie” and “the lie” – likely lost the chavezweight championship of the world to Bryan Vera, Saturday, were we able to get scorecards in what Shakespeare called honest hands (“And put in every honest hand a whip / To lash the rascals naked through the world”), but that is irrelevant to both Chavez’s legacy and his promoter’s immediate plans. And probably Chavez didn’t lose boldly as television said he did.

Live from the inanely named StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., came Chavez’s 173-pound fight with Texas middleweight Bryan Vera, a man long on chin as he’s short on defensive wherewithal, in a match that presented what scoring difficulties come whenever one man hits another disproportionately harder and less often than he gets hit. Official scores all went for Chavez: 96-94, 97-93, 98-92. My scorecard did not concur, finding for Vera, but as my vantage came via television’s profoundly distorting lens, I’ll defer to personal experience and flee our sport’s social predators as they perpetually pack in pursuit of dissenting judges.

Regardless of record or baubles, it is enough to see Son of the Legend struck repeatedly, is it not? So goes the strategy for promoting Chavez henceforth, in a subtle way fans recognize even when they do not grasp it: the more outraged a man was with Saturday’s decision, the more hardily he hoped for a larger and better opponent to do Chavez wrong and thorough-like, for attendance figures show very, very few disinterested folks feel strongly enough about Bryan Vera or his career to demand a rematch, and if the remainder of strong feelings about Saturday reasonably then can be summarized as “I’d like to see Chavez’s bitch ass beat unconscious,” will anyone be sated by a rematch with little Bryan Vera so much as a run-in with super middleweight champion Andre Ward, or something vengefully served by light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson?

How rich it was to see Junior deftly maneuver the compulsories of Saturday’s prefight-promo video (not “Punching in the Rain” but the other one), citing his professionalism and habit of making weight, every time, in a manner nimbly unconscious of his same body having missed weight at least three times, four if one counts the postponement, and having missed it in a way to make his fight-contract a fight-expand, a miss so gloriously wide countrymen Erik Morales and Jose Luis Castillo now appear pikers beside him. It was an out-of-body trick Chavez pulled, talking about himself like a talent scout proud of this Chavez kid, disciplined as he is, before he treated the inexpressible joy of pending fatherhood – and show us a professional fighter not prone to sympathetic pregnancy symptoms! – in what might have been a piece of only slightly embarrassing symmetry, had the Legend in the moniker “Son of the Legend” spoken of his ineffable pride at siring a lad like Junior, had the HBO production crew not already spent its budget making it rain elsewhere.

Bryan Vera outworked Chavez, while neither out-defending nor out-slugging him, making furious an HBO broadcaster otherwise reliably derisive of judges who score activity alone, but so what? Cheering for Chavez to get beaten is a thing that transcends what petty barriers otherwise divide us; who but Son of the Legend – his country casting about for a new hero, anything to look away from Cinnamon Alvarez for a spell – agrees to fight at a rust-removing 162 pounds then takes the scale 2 1/2 from the light heavyweight limit, smiles jubilantly, raises his hands triumphantly, and hits a most-muscular pose in peach micro briefs?

And that was not the best of Chavez’s stylishness – as he would go on to tire expectedly in the second half of Saturday’s fight and ape his vanquisher, the aforementioned Sergio Martinez, dropping his hands, hanging his arms loosely, and hopping at Vera with lead power shots. Fortunately nothing tragic happened at StubHub Center, and let us not conflate tragedy with travesty, because Chavez was not conditioned well enough to do his signature left-shoulder corral and whale Vera for more than five-second increments.

Had Chavez a whit of conditioning, he might have beaten Vera severely, as the Texan’s defensive tactics approached self-sabotage in their carelessness; Vera dropped his right hand as an offensive prerequisite – he did not attack, even with his left, until his right was secured on the metallic-rust waistband of his trunks, allowing himself to be hit flush with left-hook leads, the successful landing of which surprised Chavez enough to embolden him. It is not a just world that sees someone like Chavez so much better outfitted for combat than someone serious as Bryan Vera, but there was nothing just about the entirety of last week’s spectacle, and but for the 34-minute denuding Martinez performed on him in 2012, the concluding 90 seconds of which saw Chavez nearly return himself to regally adorned splendor, what about Chavez’s career has even feinted justice’s way?

A thought that came to mind between rounds Saturday, as Chavez Sr. called for a right cross to the body that would be the most debilitating blow his son landed in 30 minutes: Does the Legend ever imagine what it would be like to fight Son of the Legend, does he ever shunt fatherly considerations and empathize with those men who have none of the benefits given his son, benefits he did not have? Does Julio Cesar Chavez, in other words, ever suspend disbelief and catch himself accidentally cheering a Bryan Vera to whup his son, the way his longtime fans now do?

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

BROOKS, CALIFORNIA – Rising middleweight Paul Mendez boxed his way through five rounds en route to a corner retirement of journeyman Rahman Yusubov at the Cache Creek Casino Resort on Saturday night to successfully preserve an already scheduled October 28th Fox Sports 1-televised date and claim the vacant IBA Middleweight title.

Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) of Delano, California began the fight in his usual measured posture, despite rocking Yusubov, 159.5, with an overhand right and nearly scoring a knockdown with a straighter punch with the same hand early in the first round. Yusubov (9-12, 7 KOs) of Dallas, Texas by way of Tashkent, Uzbekistan reeled towards the ropes on his heels after the straight right, but Mendez refused to follow his off balance adversary for an attempt at ensuring a knockdown. Patience of course is a virtue preached by Mendez’ trainer Max Garcia, but the Delano native seemed to take it to an extreme at times in the first two rounds.

After taking a solid left at close quarters early in the second round, Mendez, 159.5, boxed his way accurately and efficiently through the rest of the stanza. Mendez relied on his jab throughout the third, easily moving the roughly six-inch shorter Yusubov around the ring with his left. Yusubov, who entered the bout having lost nine of his ten bouts within the United States, never managed to really solve Mendez’ jab, even though his favored opponent was stingy with his right in the early going.

The best two-way action in the contest took place in the fourth. Mendez allowed himself to engage Yusubov a bit more recklessly in the round, outright neglecting his defense for a short stretch of flurrying. It was apparent from that solid left in the second that Yusubov was not going to hurt his naturally larger opponent, which perhaps gave Mendez the confidence to throw without worrying too much about what would come in return. A briefly unanswered flurry from Mendez was enough to force a protesting Yusubov to a knee late in the round, which was correctly ruled a knockdown.

Though his trainer never encourages his fighters to go for a knockout, it appeared as though a fire was lit under Mendez as he entered for the fifth. Mendez came out aggressively to begin the round and immediately began to snap Yusubov’s head back violently with both jabs and rights. Some intermittent attention to Yusubov’s body may have help lead to the journeyman’s eventual withdrawal from the bout before the start of the sixth. Referee Mike Margado visited Yusubov’s corner after seconds were ordered out, and it was quickly apparent the Uzbekistan native was not going to be answering the bell.

With the win Mendez claimed the vacant IBA Middleweight title. That the International Boxing Association decided to put their title on the line despite the fact that Mendez’ opponent had a sub .500 record and had lost two straight bouts says all that needs to be said where the IBA stands among recognized sanctioning bodies. Mendez had previously held the IBA Continental Middleweight title.

More importantly than the shiny trinket Mendez claimed, the one-sided win paves the way for an already scheduled Fox Sports 1-televised bout which will take place on Monday, October 28th at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, California. Promoter Paco Damian of Paco Presents told 15rounds.com that Mendez would be in against a high caliber opponent in a ten-round bout on that date. Locally popular prospect Manuel “Tino” Avila will be in the televised co-feature, also in a ten-round contest.

What was the best fight on paper turned out to be the best fight on the casino’s Club 88 stage on Saturday, as was expected. Bruno Escalante Jr. (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Redwood City by way of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines controlled five eighths and survived three eighths of an intriguing eight-round bout with tough journeyman Joseph Rios (13-9-2, 4 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas en route to a majority decision.

After a somewhat tentative start by both, Escalante, 113.5, used his superior technique, conditioning and athletic ability to clearly take rounds two through four. Rios, 113.5, had his first solid round in the fifth. Escalante, who had boxed beautifully on the outside for most of the first four rounds, found himself in an inside fight in the fifth. Two clean short rights gave the impression Rios was coming on and perhaps in the process of turning the fight around. Escalante battled back in the final seconds, slightly staggering Rios in the final ticks. Though it may have been the best shot of the fight to that point, it was really Escalante’s only moment in the round, which this writer scored as the first round for Rios.

Though the quick turn of events at the end of the fifth was not enough to give Escalante that round it sure set up the sixth nicely for the Filipino. Escalante landed a solid right on the inside early in the round before reverting to his effective earlier form – boxing and moving at range. Rios, though game and determined, had all sorts of trouble cutting off the ring and getting into position to unload when Escalante boxed in this manner.

The fight turned again in the seventh. Rios managed to turn Escalante and back him into a neutral corner before uncorking a clean right hand that landed flush in the middle of “The Aloha Kid’s” face. For several moments Escalante was in survival mode, holding and turning Rios every time the Texan got into punching range. Late in the round Escalante battled back at the urging of his corner who continuously yelled, “Get it back Bruno,” despite what looked like a comfortable lead on the cards.

Despite all the vehement encouragement from his corner, Escalante was forced into full-on survival mode in the eighth and final round. Another short right hand at close quarters wobbled Escalante for a bit. The normally offensive whirlwind that is Bruno Escalante was now a fighter looking to buy time by holding, pushing and spinning his way through the round. Rios never could get close enough for the succession of punches he needed to pull out the miracle. Judge Bruce Rasmussen had the fight even, 76-76, while Judges Susan Gitlin and Marshall Walker had it 78-74 and 78-75 respectively, giving Escalante the majority nod.

Every card needs something unexpected to happen. On Saturday night’s bill that instance was the shocking second-round stoppage of former amateur star Ricardo Pinell (5-1-1, 4 KOs) of San Francisco, California by inactive three-year pro Eric Mendez (3-1, 2 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, California. Pinell, 153.5, carried the action in the first round with his better all-around boxing skills. Though it was not dominating, the only action of note in the first stanza was the right jabs and few lefts thrown by the southpaw Pinell.

Mendez, 154, came out more offensive-minded in the second, quickly engaging Pinell in an exchange. Mendez’ right hand landed first in one such exchange and wobbled Pinell across the ring to a neutral corner. Mendez followed and flurried his favored opponent to the mat for a knockdown. Pinell beat the count on unsteady legs and retreated back to the neutral corner where Mendez again followed with an unanswered flurry that forced the hand of referee Mike Margado. Time of the unlikely stoppage was 1:53 of the second round.

In a pretty solid fight, Andy Vences (4-0, 2 KOs) of San Jose, California turned back the game challenge of Matthew Flores (0-3) of Twin Falls, Idaho via four-round unanimous decision. Flores, 134, was solid from the outset, clearly taking the first round in this writer’s eyes on the strength of several solid hooks. Vences, a former amateur standout, shrugged off the shots but did little in return through the first three minutes of the fight.

Flores rocked Vences, 134, in the first few seconds of the second round with a right hand. Flores, seeing he had his man in trouble, threw punches without really directing them to a specific target. It proved to be a costly miscalculation as the well-schooled Vences dodged and moved while regaining his footing. Vences, now apparently fully recovered, rallied back late in the round with a concentrated body assault. Though Flores had moments in the final seconds, Vences rally may have snatched a round that looked like Idahoan’s in the early going.

Solid exchanges marked the third and fourth rounds. Though Flores got in his licks, Vences’ offense was more sustained and eye-catching. In the end, Flores went home one of the better 0-3 fighters in the sport by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice.

Darwin Price (2-0, 1 KO) of Saint Louis, Missouri outworked and outfought his naturally smaller short-notice opponent Johnny Frazier (2-20-4, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada en route to a four-round unanimous decision in the evening’s opening contest. Frazier, who took the fight on less than one week’s notice, just could not keep up with the fresher and more athletically-gifted Price.

Price, a former collegiate track star, was effective behind his jab all fight. Especially in the early going, Frazier, 139, just could not find his way around Price’s stick. For one instance in the first, Price, 139.5, let Frazier into range and the Nevadan landed a solid overhand right. Just that quickly, Price got back out at range and behind his jab.

In the second the third rounds, Price began to let his right hand go behind his jab, giving Frazier and even tougher time finding his way into punching range. Though it would not have much affected the final scoring of the fight, referee Mike Margado did miss what looked like a clear knockdown call in the final seconds of the fight. Frazier landed a right hand while Price was clearly off balance, which sent the Missouri native to the mat. Margado ruled the fall a slip, even though a clean punch had landed. Though it would not change the outcome of the fight, which was scored 40-36 across the board for Price, it would have given the now 20-loss veteran Frazier something to hang his hat on in the aftermath.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280.