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

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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.

BROOKS, CALIFORNIA – Slowly making his way into fringe contention, veteran middleweight Paul Mendez looks to add another ‘W’ to his increasing win column and the IBA Middleweight title to his trophy case as he takes on journeyman Rahman Yusubov at the Cache Creek Casino Resort on Saturday night. Mendez hopes to come out unscathed to keep an October 28th Fox Sports 1-televised date intact. Fighters for the five-bout card weighed-in Friday evening on a stage set in the middle of the casino floor.

Mendez (13-2-1, 5 KOs) of Delano, California has reeled off eight consecutive wins and six since joining up with locally well-known, Salinas-based managerial and training outfit Garcia Boxing last July. Mendez should hope to improve upon his deceivingly-scored unanimous decision victory over trial horse Dashon Johnson just this past July. Though the fight was scored widely for a bruised and cut Mendez, nearly every round was fought tough. Mendez, who holds the minor IBA Continental Middleweight title, scaled 159.5-pounds on Friday.

Yusubov (9-11, 7 KOs) of Dallas, Texas by way of Tashkent, Uzbekistan figures to be the perfect opponent for Team Mendez, given the circumstances both leading into Saturday’s bout and the ramifications of what could come out of the night’s performance. Yusubov has just one win since moving to the United States in early 2011. Yusubov will have the dubious distinction of placing the final loss on the career of former title holder James Page. Yusubov took on the shaky-legged, comebacking 41-year-old last November. In that bout, Yusubov survived the initial rush from Page and eventually ended the noted bank robber’s career with an unanswered flurry in the second round. Losses to Elco Garcia and David Estrada followed in Yusubov’s two fights of 2013. Standing at 5’7” tall, Yusubov figures to have a literal hill to climb against the 6’1” Mendez. Yusubov scaled 159.5 pounds on Friday.

The fight of the night figures to be the co-feature. Bruno Escalante Jr. (9-1-1, 5 KOs) of Redwood City, California by way of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines heads into his first step back-up fight since dropping an eight-round unanimous decision to still unbeaten Matt Villanueva in June of last year. Escalante will be taking on venerable journeyman Joseph Rios (13-8-2, 4 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas in an eight-round super flyweight bout.

Rios has gone 3-2 in his last five bouts, which came against opponents with a combined 35-0-1 record, meaning the Texan gave three unbeaten fighters their first loss. Rios has also gone 0-1-1 against former U.S. Olympian Luis Yanez, giving the young prospect two of his toughest fights. Escalante and Rios both weighed-in at 113.5-pounds.

Unbeaten Ricardo Pinell (5-0-1, 4 KOs) of San Francisco, California will take on Eric Mendez (2-1, 1 KO) of Hawaiian Gardens, California in a six-round light middleweight bout. The inactive Mendez, who turned professional all the way back in 2010 and still just has three fights, figures to be in shape considering he last fought in May. The four months off is by far the shortest stretch of inactivity for the three-fight pro, who scaled 154-pounds. Pinell, who came in at 153.5-pounds, was a top amateur and will be entering the ring for his sixth bout of 2013.

Another top former amateur Andy Vences (3-0, 2 KOs) of San Jose, California will take on Matthew Flores (0-2) of Twin Falls, Idaho in a four-round lightweight bout. Vences was one of the most sought-after locally based fighters coming out of the amateurs before eventually signing with manager Herb Stone, who also represents Escalante and Pinell on the card. Vences, who scaled 134, has battled injuries since turning pro in October. Flores, who also scaled 134-pounds, has lost both of his fights by majority decision to larger and fairly decent opposition.

The fifth bout of the card, a four-round light welterweight contest, almost never came together as promoter Paco Damian and several matchmakers struggled to find a replacement opponent for Garcia Boxing’s Darwin Price (1-0, 1 KO) of Saint Louis, Missouri. Originally scheduled Vicente Guzman had to pull out after a recent hard-fought draw made him medically ineligible. Eventually early this week veteran Johnny Frazier (2-19-4, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada stepped up to the plate and took yet another short notice fight to go with the countless others of his career.

Price, a former Grambling State University track star, stopped winless Luis Sanchez in his pro debut in Redwood City on July 26th. Price traveled to Big Bear with Paul Mendez and Garcia Boxing to prepare for Saturday’s bout, logging over a dozen rounds with Shane Mosley, who is preparing to fight Anthony Mundine. Frazier is coming off of a closely-contested six-round decision loss to undefeated Simeon Dunwell on August 24th. Frazier may be remembered by local fight fans as the fighter that put a second draw on the record of Maximilliano Becerra before giving well regarded Stan Martyniouk a tough fight in two Sacramento fights last year.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Don Chargin Productions and Paco Presents, are available online at CacheCreek.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

IBA Middleweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Mendez 159.5
Yusubov 159.5

Super Flyweights, 8 Rounds
Escalante Jr. 113.5
Rios 113.5

Light Middleweights, 6 Rounds
Pinell 153.5
Mendez 154

Lightweights, 4 Rounds
Vences 134
Flores 134

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Price 139.5
Frazier 139

Photo by Stephanie Trapp

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

Glen Tapia 155.5 – Elco Garcia 155.5
Jesse Hart 169 – Terrance Wilson 167.5
Toka Khan Clary 130.5 –

Put a pair of boxing gloves on Peter Pan and you’ve got Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A man-child, emphasis on the child.

The real fight for Chavez Jr. is whether he ever grows up. It’s a question that has begun to take on urgency as he enters his late 20s after a series of exasperating, often embarrassing missteps that leave doubt about whether he cares about his craft or his dad’s legacy.

Anybody who has met Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KOs) knows him to be likable. There’s an adolescent charm about him. He’ll make you laugh, unlike his feared dad, the proto-typical hard man whose meltdown stare could make you look over your shoulder in search for a quick exit to safety. Like him or not, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was a serious guy. Through 48 fights, his son isn’t.

That might begin to change Saturday night against Bryan Vera (23-6, 14 KOs) at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., in an HBO-televised bout. But it’ll take more than just one fight for Chavez Jr. to get beyond a reputation that only got worse last September in his loss to Sergio Martinez.

There was his bizarre training camp, conducted mostly at a Las Vegas home in early-morning workouts. Then, there were 11 one-sided rounds, all in favor of Martinez, before a wild 12th that saw Chavez Jr. suddenly wake up with a ferocious knockdown of Martinez. Chavez Jr. nearly stole the fight with a knockout. It made you wonder what he might have accomplished with some real roadwork instead of a few laps around the couch in the living room of that comfortable Vegas’ rental. Then, there was the subsequent news that Chavez Jr. had tested positive for marijuana. Ah-ha, everyone joked. No wonder he didn’t start working out until about 1 a.m., what with the midnight munchies and all.

For his promoter Bob Arum and loyal cadre of Mexican fans, that dramatic 12th is the flash of brilliance that illuminated his potential. It represented what he could be. But maturity is about staying power. And that’s what has yet to be seen from a very nice kid, yet one seemingly without the requisite accountability that comes with being a grown-up pro.

He says the right things. In a conference call Tuesday, Chavez Jr. said he accepted responsibility for his failed drug test, which initially led to a controversial $900,000 fine levied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. After Arum took the bully pulpit and condemned the size of the fine, it was reduced to $100,000. Even that seems a little high by today’s standards, laws and PEDs. Voters in Colorado and Washington made pot legal in their respective states. It’s not as if Chavez Jr. tested positive for HGH, EPO or some other chemical acronym. A positive test for marijuana doesn’t put him in Lance Armstrong’s league. Pot is about as much a performance-enhancer as a bacon cheeseburger. Still, it was also a sure sign that his mind wasn’t on the fury he was about to encounter against the disciplined Martinez.

With the inevitable question Tuesday about Chavez Jr.’s positive drug-test, Arum was back on the bully pulpit.

“I want to go on record as saying that there is nothing wrong with smoking pot,’’ Arum said. “There is nothing wrong with marijuana.’’

Colorado and Washington voters agree with Arum, always candid and quick to confront an issue. In some ways, perhaps, Arum is expressing how public opinion on pot has changed over the last 10 to 15 years. Bill Clinton didn’t inhale; Barack Obama did. But Arum might regret the timing of this one. He’s got a fighter who needs to grow up.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t need another excuse to train the way he wants, eat what he wants, or smoke a joint whenever he gets the urge. Excuses are enablers, which have proven to be Chavez Jr.’s toughest opponents.

Even for Vera, there are troubling signs of some of the same. Vera is tough, but lacks the talent so often evident in Chavez Jr. Chavez’ struggle to make weight has led to a reported agreement, –173 pounds instead of the junior-middleweight’s 168 — and 10 rounds instead of 12. It looms as another excuse, a way for Chavez to slip through another loophole that has allowed him to avoid accountability and prevented him for reaching his potential.

In the art of match-making, Top Rank has been brilliant with Chavez Jr., who didn’t start with the bedrock of fundamental skill learned over an amateur career. It has moved him carefully and against opponents who have allowed to him to display power and instinct.

Yet, there’s still an unresolved challenge: Himself, his own immaturity.

If he can’t win that one, does Top Rank or anybody else think he has a chance against Gennady Golovkin, or Andre Ward, or even Canelo Alvarez?

Didn’t think so.

Alberto Morales 148 vs. Ronald Cruz 148.1
Jason Sosa 129.2 vs. Tyrone Luckey 130.2
Joey Dawejko 238.5 vs. Kevin Franklin 248
Juan Serrano 138.6 vs. Jerome Rodriguez 141
Billy Marks 297 vs. Dan Pasciolla 234
Arturo Trujillo 145.3 vs. Terrell James143.9
Johnny Portillo 122.1 vs. Chris Diaz 122.4

Venue: Sands Event Center Bethlehem (PA)
Promoter: Peltz Boxing Promotions, Bam Boxing Promotions & Legends of Boxing
First Bout: 8:00 pm

SAN ANTONIO – There’s a fine barber shop in the basement of the historic Gunter Hotel in the center of this city’s downtown, it’s called Barber Shop and has three barbers and a shoeshiner and a barber’s pole and Playboy magazines, and if its banter isn’t quite of an Ice Cube flick, it’s just as manly and fun. Since every barber shop could use a boxing writer, and since a boxing writer encounters few venues so appreciative of his gifts, I spend a half hour every month giving an editorial review of prizefighting’s calendar, 1974-present.

Austin is 70 miles up I-35 from here, and Austin middleweight Brian Vera, who fights Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., Saturday, apparently has an interested relative who frequents the same barber shop. And so, every month for what feels like seven, I’ve been asked when Vera is going to get to fight Chavez, a request for information to which I confess honest ignorance, citing Chavez’s unpredictability and eliciting, without fail, a question like: What the hell is wrong with that kid?

And as I climb in the chair, I tend to say, “Where does one begin?”

Lost in the justifiable concern about Sergio Martinez’s knee after the extraordinary conclusion of his otherwise unmemorable match with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 53 weeks ago, the last time Chavez fought, were the lasting effects of the beating Chavez sustained, a beating that included 300 flush shots to the Mexican’s head by a man who knew how to do it with gusto. Chavez has an uncanny flair for midwifing others’ resentment. Even the men whom Chavez defeats, in an original twist, rarely have good things to say about him, a surprising departure from the tradition of saying the guy who beat me is a great champion because, well, I wouldn’t lose to a nobody.

Speaking to Sergio Martinez four months after he and Chavez made one of the more rapturous 90 seconds prizefighting has accomplished, a half of the 12th round nearly unbearable in its suspense and just as nearly the opposite of what Día de Independencia Mexicana ’13 yielded, the Argentine had little good to say about Chavez, a rarity for Martinez, rarely dismissive of his ambassadorial duties.

Martinez implied several times and with uncharacteristic urgency marijuana – the drug for which Chavez tested positive and received an absurdly harsh fine and suspension – was the least of Chavez’s banned-substance affairs, wondering how a man with so little use for weight control or proper camp comportment was so strong after 34 1/2 minutes of collecting five or so concussing shots every minute. That Martinez saw the final 90 seconds of his September match with Chavez as a sum of his own poor choices, misjudgments of time and space and improvisation manifesting themselves as carelessness, was an unsurprising turn for a world champion jealously guarding life’s controllable moments. That Martinez would not cop to a tittle of admiration for a former opponent, too, was unsurprising when that former opponent remained a future opponent. That Martinez would take a lobbed question about a challenger winning a bit of his respect, though, and use it as the doorway into a room of specific accusations and untrammeled resentment was a surprise and a half.

It was a peek at the peaks of what Chavez piques so uniquely among prizefighters that no one empathized even slightly with the abuse he suffered from Martinez’s left hand, which hand rendered Paul Williams instantly unconscious two years before, or wondered where it might leave Chavez’s career. Such is the sentiment Chavez inspires that even today, as a fight that was considered for June and has been moved all round the calendar and western states finally draws near, no one attributes any of Chavez’s camp injuries to anything but sloth. But slothful as Chavez was, imagine such indolence now confronted by a mind that may not be more than 2/3 right, a trainer and dad whose mind cannot possibly be rated that well, and an opponent who rightfully regards this match as a career opportunity, which it might be.

Brian Vera is good enough, as he showed against Andy Lee and Sergio Mora and Serhiy Dzinziruk, to surprise opponents who do not take seriously his limited pressuring style, and he’s also the sort of grinder boxing likes to see matched against those it resents. Vera is the constant, of course, and Chavez is the variable; in the very unlikely case that Saturday’s opening bell finds the same Chavez it found for round 1 in Thomas & Mack Center a year ago, Chavez will handle Vera the way he handled Peter Manfredo and luckless Andy Lee, wearing them down by channeling others’ hatred for him – yes, and again, Chavez knows exactly where he stands with you – and beating on them for royalty’s sake.

This time Chavez will have his dad in his corner, too, where Junior will be able to ignore him more easily than when dad was credentialed by TV Azteca to be ringside and bark maniacal instructions at a son physically incapable of executing more than half them and mentally equipped for perhaps their first tenth, barking directly over former chief second Freddie Roach’s strong preference for a quiet, respectful corner.

What Vera stands to gain by beating Chavez is at least an argument for a larger future payday on HBO, banishing for a moment a thought he could be Rigondeauxn, while Chavez might with a win return to the superfight-cashout sweepstakes, nominating himself for a supporting-actor role in Andre Ward’s 2014 pay-per-view debut, and a chance to don once more his pink briefs and show those tired “24/7” episodes the aplomb with which he carries the Chavez name.

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

LAS VEGAS — C.J. Ross finally got one right. She quit.

News on Wednesday that Ross would not be back, at least for awhile, in a judge’s seat was a surprise only because it wasn’t expected. It should have been. But this is boxing, where there is always an explanation for the inexplicable.

Just the fact that she resigned, probably under pressure from Nevada authorities and politicians, offers a partial explanation for how egregious her 114-114 score was for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s overwhelming victory over Canelo Alvarez Saturday.

It doesn’t explain everything, of course. And that’s the problem. Suspicions linger because of unusual movement in the betting on a draw. The odds dropped precipitously during the week before opening bell. Two days before the fight, I called a friend and told him odds on a draw at the MGM Grand’s sports book were at 10-to-1.

“Huh,” he said, “I can get it online at 28-to-1.”

By Saturday noon — about eight hours before the fight, odds on a draw had fallen to 8-to-1. Weeks before opening bell, there had been suggestions that a draw was a good bet because it would ensure a rematch. Amid evidence that the fight would set revenue records, there were millions of reasons to do it again. Mayweather’s thorough brilliance against an overmatched Canelo all but ensured that it won’t.

But questions about the Ross card leave suspicions. You could hear it among fans at Las Vegas bars late Saturday. You can read it on twitter and web sites today. For the promoters, the talk is reason to worry. It’s bad for business. Some of the crowd that bought pay-per-view or spent $110 on closed-circuits seats at one of the Las Vegas casinos won’t be back. At least not at those prices..

I’m not saying that Ross got paid-off. I’m not saying she is corrupt. I have no evidence of that. If anything, I just happen to think that Ross is incompetent. Her scorecard in favor of Tim Bradley over Manny Pacquiao is evidence of that. But I am saying suspicions are running rampant. They were more than enough to force her out.

In her statement, Ross made it sound as if she were taking a leave of absence. At 64, however, don’t expect to see her with another official scorecard in hand. In comments to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Nevada State Athletic Commission Chairman Bill Brady said he apologized to Nevada Governor Rick Sandoval for any embarrassment to the state.

Ross had to go, no doubt.

But those suspicions? They’re not going anywhere for a while.

Apropos of something entirely unrelated to “The One,” I spoke with Don Turner last week, a delightful man of gradual delivery and enviable authority, whose words set me to remembering, Saturday, others of his words spoken in 1996 before his charge, Evander Holyfield, undid Mike Tyson: Tyson can punch, but he can’t fight.

While it is wrong to write Argentine Lucas Matthysse can only punch, and a character-measuring abomination to compare Danny Garcia’s father to Turner, it is not improper to guess Angel Garcia’s wager in preparing his son for Saturday’s co-main event victory over Matthysse was not unlike Turner’s wager 17 years ago: Just as soon as he punches you, son, you punch him right back, and see if he freezes.

There are very few hard punchers of any kind, and particularly those who can bring unconsciousness with a single blow, that respond effectively to someone hitting them back; it’s a skill many never cultivate while racing through the professional ranks because each heavy punch of theirs that does land changes the man across from them completely enough to make for power punchers a habit of relaxing and stepping forward to drop a period at the end of their sentence or, just as likely, reread the sentence and enjoy their prose. Manny Pacquiao is an exception to this, and for that he was exceptional: He was a puncher who, if you punched him back as he attacked you, he punched you again, and so it went till he dropped you – as experienced by Juan Manuel Marquez in his second fight with Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto in his only fight with Pacquiao.

Far more common is the reaction Lucas Matthysse showed Danny Garcia, which was an inactivity not entirely dissimilar from what Tyson showed Holyfield whenever they engaged. The secret to stop a force like Matthysse or Tyson (or Gennady Golovkin) is to promise yourself the harder he hits you the faster you will leap at him. It is what Garcia did in Saturday’s meaningful fight – “The One,” as it were – each time Matthysse landed clean, whether with a right cross or left hook; Garcia followed his plan, resolute in a belief that if Matthysse was striking him hard, Matthysse was overcommitted and therefore open to be struck hard.

Each time Garcia did this, Matthysse bore a greater resemblance to Vic Darchinyan, taking a step back and adjusting his trunks and touching his gloves and readying for a next lunging collision, than what great fighters he’d enjoyed a plethora of comparisons to recently – despite completing 9 1/2 years of prizefighting without a world championship (Garcia won a world title in his fifth year, and Floyd Mayweather in his second). The fighting impulse Matthysse forced Garcia to show, yet again, was probably the evening’s most impressive sight, whenever Garcia found terms of engagement equally favorable and engaged Matthysse directly, though just barely.

The evening’s second most impressive sight was Floyd Mayweather, simply put. On the occasions Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez struck Mayweather with a clean punch, and they were infrequent enough to be named and numbered, Mayweather did exactly as he’d done when Mosley buckled him in a rare moment of carelessness and Cotto brought the pugilist out of him in 2012: Mayweather took a traditional fighting stance, hands up, legs bent, and punched the hell out of the Mexican. That Mayweather rarely gets hit anymore makes a generation of casual fans think he cannot withstand contact when he is struck, and that is ridiculous in the strictest sense of the word – worthy of ridicule.

Alvarez’s greatest asset Saturday was not his red hair, though that was how he got the fight years and accomplishments prematurely, but the brittleness of Mayweather’s right hand. Had Mayweather a right fist structurally reliable as Alvarez’s, Mayweather would have stopped Canelo, and Canelo’s promoter six years ago. Which is not to discount wholly Canelo’s performance Saturday, for he did land that crisp lowblow in round 4 and a well-placed shoulder in round 6, but to compliment the inconsolable bent Alvarez showed in Saturday’s postfight press conference. It was the humble posture his performance demanded; no accusing Mayweather of running, no flashing that gorgeous smile and proclaiming a hunger to get back in the gym Monday, no appealing to ethnic loyalty – “nosotros, los mexicanos, sabemos quien realmente ganó” – but a headbent befuddlement fitted to the occasion of his undressing by a man who, despite having only one more prizefight on his resume, was approximately five times the sweet scientist Canelo is.

Here’s an appropriate place, too, for recognizing Paulie Malignaggi’s insightfulness during Saturday’s Showtime broadcast. Malignaggi has become that rarest of professional athletes: a man capable of saying something intelligent about a subject other than himself. Malignaggi caught every nuance of Saturday’s main event confrontation, sometimes speaking over what cloying salesmanship cluttered the evening – like a just purchased car barking at its new owner “how about that handling? you see how bright those headlights are? This is probably the greatest automobile purchase anyone ever made!” – to share, in an instant, what Mayweather did to provoke Alvarez’s lowblow in the fourth and thraw his attack during the other 35:55 of Saturday’s fight, minutes nevertheless more suspenseful than most Mayweather affords, because the man across from Mayweather was very much larger.

A larger opponent is the only way this “Money May” deal remains compelling, and so let us have no more talk of a fight with little Danny Garcia in May. Even casual fans now know no one can outbox Mayweather, no style makes him fight, and in order to get their $74 again Mayweather will have to find himself a middleweight.

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

New York, NY (9/15/13) – All of the fighters for tomorrow night’s SMS Promotions and DiBella Entertainment card at Resorts World Casino in Queens weighed-in earlier today. Below are the official weights for tomorrow night’s card.

10 ROUNDS – JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHTS
Mark Davis vs. Carlos Vinan
Cleveland, OH Newark, NJ
17-0, 5 KO’s 10-10-5, 2 KO’s
131 lbs. 130 lbs.

4 ROUNDS -SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS
Chris Galeano vs. David Rohn
Bronx, NY Villa Park, IL
Pro Debut 1-0
160 lbs. 163 lbs.

4 ROUNDS -JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHTS
Shemuel Pagan vs. Calvin Smith
Brooklyn, NY Prichard, AL
2-0, 1KO 2-4
137 lbs. 135 lbs.

8 ROUNDS – SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS
Lamar Russ vs. Latif Mundy
Fayetteville, NC Philadelphia, PA
13-0, 7 KO 10-7, 4 KO’s
162 lbs. 163.4 lbs.

6 ROUNDS – LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS
Travis Peterkin vs. Michael Wilmer
Brooklyn, NY Huntington, WV
8-0, 4 KO’s 4-6, 3 KO’s
176 lbs. 175 lbs.

4 ROUNDS -LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS
Joseph Williams vs. Joe Powers
Far Rockaway, NY Groton, CT
Pro Debut 1-1
176 lbs. 178.4 lbs.

4 ROUNDS -JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHTS
Ryan Martin vs. Darus Somieri
Chattanooga, TN Roanoke, VA
Pro Debut 0-1
136 lbs. 136 lbs.

Both the Luis Del Valle and Heather Hardy bouts were scratched due to complications with their opponents

DBE

Tickets are currently on sale and are priced at $125, $85, $65 and $45. Tickets are available for purchase by calling Resorts World Casino NYC at (718) 215-2828 or by visiting: http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/venueSearch.jsp?venue_id=9244. Tickets will also be available for purchase tomorrow night at the door.