LAS VEGAS – The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Arts, a short cab ride from the week’s poorly cooled and hastily erected media tent outside MGM Grand Garden Arena, currently features an exhibition called “Claude Monet: Impressions of Light.” It has its charms, featuring much of Monet’s early work – dash of orange here, square of blue there – but is for the most part unremarkable, save one quote from the Impressionist master: “I allow plenty of faults to show in order to fix my sensations.” Let that guide what follows.

Saturday at MGM Grand, Timothy Bradley decisioned Manny Pacquiao by split scores – 115-113, 115-113 and 113-115 – that infuriated most observers. Bradley, later wheeled into the media center with a foot he may have broken in round 2 and fought on anyway for a half hour, was gracious in victory, promising his vanquished foe an immediate rematch. Pacquiao, face unmarked, was gracious in defeat, reminding those gathered how many blessings boxing bestowed on him. Bradley’s and Pacquiao’s, though, were examples of graciousness ignored by most everyone else.

In a nod to what Monet was after above, there were faults aplenty in the impressions caused by the lights of our beloved sport, Saturday. The judges, unique among those at ringside for being paid to be competent at scoring, determined, collectively, the fight’s result was extraordinarily difficult to discern. Only five of the match’s 12 rounds were seen unanimously for one fighter or the other. If that formed a conspiracy, it was at least a conspiracy degrees more sophisticated than boxing’s usual antics.

My ringside scorecard had Bradley by a point, 116-115. I gave the new champion rounds 2, 6, 7, 11 and 12. I gave Pacquiao rounds 3, 4, 9 and 10. I scored rounds 1, 5 and 8 even. Am I entirely confident of my card’s accuracy? Actually, no. I marked with an asterisk five rounds as either/or affairs, and I scored another three even. But I am certain of my card’s truthfulness – another thing Monet was after. Despite sitting ringside for no fewer than 400 prizefights during my time as a boxing writer, I was not at all sure of what I was seeing Saturday night. Which raises a genuine suspicion for me about the origin of others’ loud certainty.

Three professional judges disagreed seven of 12 times. Reasonable writers at MGM Grand, intelligent men with proven cognitive aptitudes, colored a wide array with their opinions. The only ones sure of their infallibility were a few usual suspects at ringside, compensated for what they know more than what they discover, and the entire HBO pay-per-view audience.

Let that be a commentary on the viewing experience, not the reality, and know better than to demand of ringsiders a review of Saturday’s telecast to find the wrong of their ways. We were there, friends; we know what we saw, and what we saw was the real thing, unfiltered, thanks.

Timothy Bradley did not fight well as even his supporters believed he would need to fight to beat Pacquiao. Hobbled and often unexpectedly reluctant, Bradley followed a questionable counterpunching strategy designed in his camp to preclude him from being the Ricky Hatton-redux Pacquiao prepared for. And Pacquiao, to his credit, fought considerably better than most anticipated he would.

There was a tone of disbelief in the media center at the postfight press conference. Part resulted from having not seen Pacquiao lose in 15 highly visible fights. There was confusion, a product of the result’s unusualness. Pacquiao lost to Marquez by a much wider margin than this in November, the thinking went, and he got that decision. This, therefore, is an outrage.

To score a fight impartially, one must look at the neutral plane between the fighters and follow any punch that enters that plane to its destination. Does anyone do this? No. Scorers select a narrative, often not consciously – “Pacquiao will catch Bradley coming in with those wide punches and beat him down,” say – and look to see it disproved, if they’re scientific, or proved (if they’re human). With few exceptions, Saturday’s fight showed an observer whatever he was looking for. If a scorer believed that Pacquiao, returned to his wildman and free-hurling ways, could hurt Bradley with most any punch he landed, he saw that every time Bradley swung his upper body like a windshield wiper. If a scorer believed that Bradley, quicker of reflex and less relenting than Pacquiao’s recent opponents, could grind the underconditioned Congressman to exhaustion in the championship rounds, he saw that instead.

More observers looked for Pacquiao to win. More observers saw Pacquiao win.

Pacquiao did catch Bradley with left uppercuts, though not nearly as many as he should have with a guy who put his chin on a tee every time he ducked rightwards. And the only time Pacquiao had Bradley in distress was when he flurried crazily with 10 obtusely angled punches, and four or five landed.

Bradley kept his right hand high – no Hatton redux, he – fought Pacquiao off him, held when he had to, and closed stronger than Pacquiao, confirming many prefight worries about the Filipino’s once-vaunted conditioning. Bradley also landed several punches, like a right cross in the fight’s opening 90 seconds, the partisan-Pacquiao crowd took no account of.

Promoter Bob Arum donned his performance garb in the media center afterwards, took an oath – a few oaths really – to ensure a rematch on November 10, and protested mightily the fight’s official outcome. Were this Shakespeare, in fact, Hamlet’s mother would have said Arum protested a bit too much.

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

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley says he has worked hard to eliminate the head-butt from his attack Saturday night in bid to upset Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand.

Not to worry, says Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach.

Roach said it won’t happen if Pacquiao remembers to do what he has practiced throughout endless hours of training for the welterweight bout.

“Lateral movement,’’ Roach said.

There’s a scenario that the fight will end in controversy if a Bradley head butt bloodies Pacquiao enough to force a stoppage. A scar is evident above Pacquiao’s right eye from a cut suffered in his last fight, a controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November. Pacquiao got 28 stitches for that one.

Bradley, who often leads with his head, vows to upset Pacquiao, about a 4-to-1 favorite. But he said he doesn’t want controversy to tarnish the victory. That’s why he says he has worked to eliminate the head butt, however unintentional.

Notes, Quotes, Anecdotes
· Bradley’s dad, Ray, recalls when he knew son was a fighter. It was 1998 in Los Angeles. His son was a 12-year-old amateur, fighting one of the best amateurs of that timer, Jesus Gonzales of Phoenix. Ray Bradley said his son bloodied the nose of Gonzales, who then as an amateur beat Andre Ward. Ward hasn’t lost since. Bradley saw the blood and continued to batter Gonzales nose, his dad said.

· Yuriorkis Gamboa is expected to be at the fight Saturday night, a Top Rank promotion. Gamboa is being sued by Top Rank for breach of contract. There were reports he would jump to Floyd Mayweather’s promotional company after his failure to appear at news conferences led to the cancellation of an April fight with Brandon Rios. It’s not clear whether Gamboa’s appearance at Pacquiao-Bradley means he’s back on good terms with Top Rank.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Born-again Manny Pacquiao has been more of a diplomat than a preacher for the last few days. He played the peacemaker Wednesday in an attempt to ensure a unified front instead of civil strife in his corner Saturday night against Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand.

After a formal news conference, Pacquiao planned to talk with trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza about their differences and how to get beyond them, at least for one night. It appeared that Ariza had been banished by Roach, who said Saturday on HBO’s 24/7 that he wouldn’t be in the corner. A few days after Roach’s comments signaled a significant shuffle and perhaps turmoil, Ariza was back.

“Manny’s call,’’ Roach said.

Pacquiao, who confirmed that it was his decision, made it clear that there won’t be any confusion. If you want democracy, go to a voting booth. In this corner, Pacquiao will listen to only one voice.

“Freddy’s,’’ he said.

Roach repeated his criticism of Ariza, who was seated on the stage for Wednesday’s news conference. The outspoken Ariza left Pacquiao’s training camp in the Philippines a few weeks ago to work with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who is in training for Andy Lee in El Paso, Tex.

“I thought it was a bad choice,’’ Roach said.

Another trainer was hired, Filipino Marvin Somodio, who was introduced Wednesday as Ariza’s assistant.

Pacquiao’s corner includes another subplot, also involving Ariza. Miguel Diaz will work as the cut man. Diaz and Ariza exchanged insults during a post-fight news conference following Amir Khan’s victory over Marcos Maidana in December, 2010. Diaz was Maidana’s trainer. Ariza, then Khan’s conditioning coach, called Diaz a “fraud.” Ariza repeatedly mocked Diaz, a former maître ’d at a Las Vegas restaurant, by yelling “table for four.’’

For Bradley, reports of potential discord in the corner represent just another distraction for Pacquiao.

“I knew, sooner or later, it would catch up to him’’ said Bradley, who was confident and relaxed despite being a 4-to-1 underdog just days before the biggest fight in his career.

Notes, Quotes, Anecdotes
· Bradley again said he has been working hard to eliminate the head-butt from his arsenal. “I definitely want to keep my head out of the mix,’’ said Bradley, who promises to win, yet doesn’t want a victory to be tarnished by controversy.

· Top Rank promoter Bob Arum introduced Bradley manager Cameron Dunkin as “Cameron Diaz” during the news conference. “I wish he looked like Cameron Diaz,’’ Arum in a quick comeback from his own misstep.

· Bradley is a practicing vegetarian, which he says gives him strength and endurance. He said he heard about the diet from a physician. “This doctor tells me, “You know, those 300-pound gorillas don’t eat meat,’ ‘’ he said. “That’s when I decided I’m going to go vegan. I’m going to eat grass, trees, bark, whatever.’’

· Roach is scheduled for induction to the International Boxing of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. Sunday, the day after Pacquiao-Bradley. “I rented a plane,’’ said Roach, whose overnight jet to nearby Syracuse will cost him $26,000. “I’m not happy about that.’’ Roach should be able to afford it after he collects his share of Pacquiao’s guarantee, $6 million, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Bradley is guaranteed $5 million.

· And Pacquiao has shed at least one diversion. Basketball isn’t exactly a distraction. But Roach said he has quit playing pick-up games after training. “I asked him why he gave up basketball,’’ Roach said. “He told me, ‘After training all morning, maybe I shouldn’t play basketball.’’ Maybe without the basketball, Pacquiao won’t suffer from further cramps in his calves. The cramping bothered him in his last two fights – a controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez and a one-sided decision over Shane Mosley. After hearing Pacquiao’s answer, Roach said “Thanks, Manny, that’s the best answer you ever gave me.’

Photo by Chris Farina / Top rank

Manny Pacquiao can be beaten, but this is not news because any man who ties gloves on his fists and makes combat with large and good enough men will be beaten eventually. Manny Pacquiao can be beaten by the man he faces Saturday, and this is news. It is not an outcome aficionados have allowed-for in a Pacquiao fight since at least Miguel Cotto but probably Oscar De La Hoya – and nobody knew what the hell was going to happen in that fight.

Pacquiao was unofficially beaten by Juan Manuel Marquez in November, yes, but you couldn’t find three people to predict it aloud in the MGM Grand Media Center during fightweek. It will be different this week. Pacquiao has not looked sensational against another prime fighter since his second tilt with Marquez in 2008 – another fight he may have lost with every scorecard in an honest hand. None of his recent opponents, not even Marquez seven months ago, prepared him for what he’ll see Saturday, when he faces Timothy Bradley at MGM Grand for the WBO welterweight title.

Bradley, 7-0 in world title fights, is an undefeated 28-year-old volume puncher who leads with his head. That sentence comprises everything needed to beat a subprime Pacquiao.

It has been more than five years since Pacquiao faced someone who had no idea how to lose, and that was the overmatched Jorge Solis at Alamodome in a fight with more anxious moments than one infers today from its boxscore. Those moments came behind a collision of heads that caused a cut to drop blood in Pacquiao’s eye, much as had happened two years before in the last prizefight Pacquiao lost – when Erik Morales took notice of the queasy look Pacquiao showed him after a visit to the ringside doctor. The Solis cut, too, brought a queasy look, one followed immediately by Pacquiao thrice making the Sign of the Cross – forehead to breastbone, left shoulder to right – in rapid succession, before tearing into Solis with a savageness unpredicted by any previous act in the fight.

The Sign of the Cross is a thing young Catholics learn to make in anxious situations, an emergency petition of sorts: I could be in over my head, here, so please watch over me. Pacquiao learned to do it as a child, like millions of others, and has continued to do it through a career that, as discovered in this match’s promotion, saw him occasionally eschew the teachings of Rome. Pacquiao’s rededication to his Catholic faith is sincere, but like other sincere initiatives Pacquiao has launched – like eradicating world poverty with yellow gloves – this one looks flighty.

It should be a private matter, either way, Pacquiao’s born-again Catholicism during a prizefight promotion, but as a matter that exploits Americans’ dual fascinations with evangelism and salesmanship, it was too rich for HBO not to shine its documentary light on – as part of a “24/7” programming concept, once innovative in 2007, that now covers mostly itself and predicts storylines it once discovered.

Pacquiao’s unconventional conversion is a bit relevant, too, because a fighter is not supposed to “feel empty inside” during training camp. If he is not too physically exhausted and mentally obsessed with another man’s injury to partake of such flummery, he’s likely not throwing hard enough at the heavybag. Or is that too ungentle for this era? Well. Can you imagine Marvelous Marvin Hagler, cloistered at the Provincetown Inn – the better to marinate in hatred and rage – having a telegenic advisor to ensure his spirit felt fulfilled? Heavens.

Just another part of the Pacquiao mystique, we are told. The soap-operatic entourage, the constituents in Sarangani Province, record deals, lawsuits and countersuits, the feuding corner, training breaks for Bible study; none of these is a distraction because Pacquiao has preternatural focus in the prizefighting ring. Or he’s been well-matched.

Inherent in most aficionados’ Pacquiao fight predictions has been a wager like this: Too much money to be made in a Floyd Mayweather fight for promoter Top Rank to risk it with a miscue. This has been a well-placed bet on the legendary marriage of matchmaker Bruce Trampler’s prowess and promoter Bob Arum’s business acumen, and their continued assumption a superfight with Mayweather is still doable.

Timothy Bradley’s one other showing at welterweight, an unimpressive 2010 outing with Luis Carlos Abregu, also indicates a prime Pacquiao will have his hand raised Saturday. Bradley is special in his way, special in both style and character, but he is not quite special as a guy who went 4-1-1 (3 KOs) against the primest versions of his era’s three best Mexican champions, as Pacquiao did. When was that prime-Pacquiao last seen, though? Pacquiao is the variable, Saturday, not Bradley; if the Pacquiao who has been showing up since he decked Ricky Hatton makes a pre-concert appearance at MGM Grand later this week, he will get conclusively outworked.

We already know what a volume puncher like Bradley brings: a glorious sort of shamelessness. Bradley doesn’t care much where he hits you and cares even less if you stretch him; so long as he surrenders himself fully to his intensity and does what his corner tells him, he is contented. Bradley doesn’t have to worry about losing because he has never done so as a professional, and because a volume puncher knows quickly when someone is decisively better than he is, as Pacquiao will be, and finds euphoria in breaking that man’s spirit with a want of polish, an enchanting rudeness.

I’ll take Bradley, SD-12, then – with a dissenting 112-116 scorecard filled-out the day before.

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

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Saturday night the Home Depot Center in nearby Carson hosts the highly anticipated four-fight Showtime-televised card headlined by the cruiserweight clash between Antonio Tarver and undefeated Lateef Kayode. Fighters for the mega event, which includes two world title bouts and the return of former champion Winky Wright, weighed-in Friday mostly at Nokia Plaza at L.A. Live.

In his last fight (a ninth-round stoppage over Danny Green in Australia last July) former world light heavyweight champion Tarver (29-6, 20 KOs) of Tampa, Florida reignited belief in his career. However, since that time Tarver has seemingly concentrated less on becoming the world’s top cruiserweight and more on his Showtime broadcast duties. It was during that role that the somewhat trumped up storyline for tomorrow’s fight was created. Broadcasting several of Kayode’s recent outings, Tarver has been less than complimentary of the Nigerian’s performances. Despite his many available options, Tarver, the WBO #6/IBF #10/WBC #12 ranked cruiserweight, opted to put his money where his mouth was and take on Kayode rather than pursue one of the numerous belt holders in the division.

Kayode (18-0. 14 KOs) of Hollywood, California by way of Lagos, Nigeria burst on the public scene with a string of knockouts against modest opposition in 2010, before promoter Gary Shaw upped his class of opponent last year. The result was three straight decision wins, including a horribly scored bout with unheralded Nicholas Iannuzzi that could have gone either way. The WBA #2/WBO #8/IBF #9 ranked Kayode aims to add the most significant name by far to his win column Saturday as he takes on the former world light heavyweight champion.

Tarver, who risks his IBO Cruiserweight title in the twelve-rounder, scaled 198-pounds. Kayode, who forwent a mandatory bid against WBA titleholder Guillermo Jones in order to make Saturday’s bout, scaled 199-pounds Friday.

In the intriguing co-feature, former unified light middleweight champion Winky Wright finally ends his three-year hibernation against up-and-coming middleweight contender Peter Quillin in a ten-round middleweight bout.

Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) of Saint Petersburg, Florida was last seen back in April of 2009, as he lost a clear-cut decision to Paul Williams. In the years since, Wright has turned down or backed out of several proposed bouts seemingly due to their low profile. However, recent quotes indicate that Wright senses his time is limited, and thus he agreed to fight Quillin.

For his part, Quillin (26-0, 20 KOs) of Hollywood, California capped a busy 2011 with one of his better victories – a sixth-round stoppage over prospect Craig McEwan last November. Quillin, often mentioned as a possible opponent for recognized middleweight kingpin Sergio Martinez, aims to stamp his ticket to a big money fight at the expense Wright on Saturday. Depending on how much the layoff hinders Wright, Quillin, the WBA #5/WBO #7 ranked middleweight, appears to be up against his toughest challenge to date.

After weighing less than one pound over the contracted 160-pound limit during his first and second attempts at Nokia Plaza, Quillin weighed-in officially at 159.6 during his third attempt, which took place at the Torrance Marriott South Bay in nearby Torrance, California. Wright weighed-in at 159-pounds.

In yet another intriguing bout, WBA Light Middleweight Champion Austin Trout (24-0, 14 KOs) of Las Cruces, New Mexico finally gets a chance at impress on a big stage as he aims to make the third defense of his title against the determined WBA #3 ranked Delvin Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs) of Danbury, Connecticut by way of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

Trout claimed his belt with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Rigoberto Alvarez back in February of last year. Now with title defenses over dangerous David Lopez and an overmatched Frank LoPorto under his belt, Trout hopes to solidify his claim to the throne with an impressive premium cable victory Saturday. Standing in Trout’s way is Rodriguez, fresh off of his impressive schooling of Pawel Wolak in their rematch last November. Rodriguez, who came up just short in a welterweight title bid three years ago, scaled 151-pounds. Trout originally came in at 154.8-pounds, but reweighed-in at the Torrance Marriott at 152.8.

In the Showtime opener, Leo Santa Cruz (19-0-1, 11 KOs) of Lincoln Heights, California by way of Huetamo, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico vies for the vacant IBF Bantamweight title against Vusi Malinga (20-3-1, 12 KOs) of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

The IBF #1 ranked Malinga, who like Santa Cruz comes from a fighting family, is the fighter that helped provoke Abner Mares’ move up to 122-pounds. Malinga was Mares’ mandatory challenger, but the rising star opted to vacate the belt rather than take on the little known South African. Santa Cruz, the IBF #4/WBO #14 ranked bantamweight, weighed in at 117-pounds, as did Malinga.

In a bout to be televised by sister network Showtime Extreme before “Showtime Championship Boxing” goes on the air, super middleweight contenders Sakio Bika and Dyah Davis will battle it out in a scheduled ten-round with two minor titles on the line.

Bika (29-5-2, 20 KOs) of Los Angeles by way of Douala, Cameroon is still looking to rebound from his one-sided defeat in a failed title bid against Andre Ward back in November of 2010. In his lone fight since, Bika moved past sub .500 Alfredo Contreras via cut-induced third-round stoppage last December.

Davis (21-2-1, 9 KOs) of Coconut Creek, Florida has worked his way to a three-fight win steak, which should really be a four-fight win streak, since his loss to Aaron Pryor Jr. in 2010. Should he move past Bika, the WBC #4/WBA #10/IBF #11 ranked Davis could be knocking at the door of a major title opportunity. Davis weighed 167.6-pounds, while Bika scaled 166.6, for their NABF and WBO Intercontinental Super Middleweight title bout.

Another face familiar to Showtime viewers, Sharif Bogere (22-0, 14 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada will take on journeyman Manuel Leyva (21-6, 12 KOs) of Downey, California by way of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico in a ten-round light welterweight bout. Bogere, a lightweight by trade, scaled 137.2-pounds, while Leyva came in at 137.4.

Another lightweight prospect Omar Figueroa (16-0-1, 13 KOs) of Weslaco, Texas was not forced to sweat down to his fighting weight as he stays busy against journeyman Tyler Ziolkowski (14-15, 8 KOs) of Saint Joseph, Missouri in a six-round light welterweight bout. Figueroa, who is already scheduled to fight another journeyman on June 23rd at the Staples Center across the street, weighed-in at 138.4-pounds. Ziolkowski, who has the distinction of suffering second-round kayos at the hands of both Omar and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., came in at 137.6-pounds.

In the opener, debuting Juan Reynoso of Tampa, Florida will meet Beau Hamilton (0-1) of Montague, California in a four-round light middleweight bout. Reynoso, a part of the Antonio Tarver camp, weighed-in at a chiseled 152.2-pounds. Hamilton came in at 154-pounds, seven pounds north of where he was for his debut two months ago.

Tickets for the event, promoted Golden Boy Promotions, A.T. Entertainment and Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at AXS.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

IBO Cruiserweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Tarver 198
Kayode 199

Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Wright 159
Quillin 159.6

WBA Light Middleweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Trout 152.8
Rodriguez 151

IBF Bantamweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Santa Cruz 117
Malinga 117

NABF Super Middleweight Championship
WBO Intercontinental Super Middleweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Bika 166.6
Davis 167.6

Light Welterweights, 10 Rounds
Bogere 137.2
Leyva 137.4

Light Welterweights, 6 Rounds
Figueroa 138.4
Ziolkowski 137.6

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Reynoso 153.2
Hamilton 154

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

If defiance is an art form, Winky Wright is an artist. He might not practice it in quite the style of a Bernard Hopkins, who has applied it in broad strokes for an identity all his own. But Wright uses it in a careful, almost subdued tone that has made fools of many who didn’t see it or doubted it was even there.

Whether it can still help him is either a question of time — he’s 40 – or Peter Quillin (26-0, 20 KOs), who Saturday night on a Showtime-televised card in Carson, Calif. will attempt to do what Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley couldn’t.

Wright’s initial challenge rests in whether he can overcome a problematic combination. There’s his age, although Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) won’t even be the oldest on a card labeled “Four Warned.’’ The senior citizen on this one is Antonio Tarver (29-6, 20 KOs), who at 43 faces Lateef Kayode (18-0, 14 KOs) in a cruiserweight fight. Wright’s biggest problem might be a long layoff. He’s had only one fight in the last five years and only two in the last six-and-a-half. His last victory was over Ike Quartey in 2006.

But, Wright said in a conference call, he never retired. OK, maybe he was on an extended vacation or gone on a long recess. Whatever it was, Wright says he never planned to quit. That, he says, is why he’s coming back.

But, he said, “If I’m going to do it, I’ve got to do it now.’’

If not retirement, inactivity often erodes reflexes and dulls muscle memory. Wright played a lot of golf. But a tee time isn’t opening bell. In perhaps a concession to that possibility, Wright trained in Phoenix at the Athletes Performance institute where the best from all sports often go to rehab from injuries or to resurrect old skills.

Wright, who is back with trainer Dan Birmingham, conceded that it took him a while to re-adapt to the Spartan-like regimen that dictates a fighter’s lifestyle in the weeks before a bout.

“I’m not going to say I stayed in boxing shape,’’ said Wright, who got up to 185 pounds and will fight Quillin at 160. “I wasn’t fat. But I wasn’t in boxing shape.’’

The layoff, he said, was a result of not getting the kind of fights he wanted.

“No one significant wanted to fight me,’’ he said.

Significant fights eluded him for years. In large part, that was his story before he emerged as the first undisputed junior-middleweight champion in nearly three decades. Wright fought in Europe, winning yet ignored in the United States during the late 1990s. In the U.S., Wright, the American expatriate, got little respect for a record perceived to be built on opponents who – the joke went – could only get licensed to drive a cab in Las Vegas.

Wright filed it away, used it as motivational chip and as a weapon for those who laughed at the jokes, yet looked like the punch line once they got into the ring against the lefthander with a precise jab and defensive knowhow. In 2004, he beat Shane Mosley twice, the first time after Mosley was coming off his second victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Yet, Wright was still the underdog in 2005 when he met Felix Trinidad at middleweight. Trinidad had no chance in losing a one-sided decision in what was Wright’s finest performance.

But victory didn’t temper the defiance, which was sometimes reflected in failed negotiations. In 2006, Wright and Jermain Taylor fought to controversial draw. Taylor has the middleweight title, but balked at giving Wright financial parity, a 50-50 split, because Wright didn’t have a title. The rematch never happened.

Wright is often asked about the fights he turned down, including one with Oscar De La Hoya proposed in 2003. He was asked about it again in the conference call that included Quillin.

“All these idiots always talk about what I turned down,’’ Wright said in a flash of anger that said time hasn’t tempered that defiance either.

It’s a sign that Wright has a chance on a night when few give him any at all against the 28-year-old Quillin. From the beginning, it’s why he’s always had a chance.

Notes, Quotes
· The sad death Sunday of Johnny Tapia marks the passing of a star-crossed personality and a character as colorful as any in a sport full of them. He was as ferocious a fighter as there ever was. In the end, he will be remembered more for his story outside of the ropes – Mi Vida Loca – than for what he did within them.

· Say a few prayers for Paul Williams. His fight is just beginning after a motorcycle accident Sunday in Atlanta that will likely leave him paralyzed from waist down. He was scheduled to undergo surgery Friday.

· Wright’s last opponent was Williams, who beat him by unanimous decision in April 2009 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

AZ Notes
Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. is thinking about a different model of Everlast gloves after extending his unbeaten record to 15-0 last Saturday in Tucson in his first bout since surgery on his right wrist in January. He emerged from the six-rounder over Josh Sosa without pain in the wrist. But there was a swollen knot on the middle knuckle of the left hand. It’s a problem he’s had over the last three-to-four fights. Benavidez’ bone structure might not be able to withstand power from his own punches. One solution might be an Everlast model with more padding above the knuckles.

NEWARK , NJ (May 31, 2012)–—On Wednesday night June 13th, The Robert Treat Hotel in Newark will play host to a night of championship boxing which will feature Richard Pierson boxing Gary “Fast Hands “Jones for the WBC Fecarbox Super Middleweight Title

That fight will be the main event of a boxing night of boxing promoted by Gabe LaConte’s First Round Promotions and Greg Cohen Promotions.

An outstanding undercard has been assembled that will feature some of the best talent in The New York/New Jersey area.

Taking part in a six round Bantamweight bout will be Qa’id “Kid Dynamite” Muhammad.

Muhammad of Atlantic City has a perfect mark of 7-0 with six knockouts and is coming off a third round stoppage over Steven Johnson on April 18th at The Robert Treat Hotel. Muhammad’s opponent will be named shortly.

In a six round Jr. Middleweight bout, Tommy Rainone (17-4, 4 KO’s) of New York takes on Keenan Collins (14-7-3, 9 KO’s) of York, PA

John Lennox (10-1, 5 KO’s) of Carteret, NJ will take on Rodricka Ray (3-5-1, 1 KO) of Jackson, TN in a six round Heavyweight bout

Anthony “Juice” Young (4-0, 2 KO) of Atlantic City battles Christian Steele (2-3, 1 KO) of Staunton, VA in a four round Welterweight bout.

Aaron Kinch (3-0-1, 1 KO) of Newark, NJ will get it on with Khuzaymah Al Nubu (0-2) Fostoria, OH in a four round Heavyweight bout

Thomas Baldwin (2-0-2, 1 KO) of Newark will fight Fotzgerald Johnson (2-6,1 KO) Asheboro, NC in a four round Jr. Middleweight bout

Heavyweight Dan Mayfield of Dover, NJ will make his pro debut against an opponent to be named.

Tickets for this outstanding night of boxing are $1500 for Tables; $100 (Front Row); $75 VIP
and $50 for General Admission and can be purchased at:

Boardwalk Saloon
206 Bloomfield Ave
Newark, NJ
973-483-8766

Elite Heat Gym
130 Mt. Pleasant Ave
Newark, NJ
862-772-2532

Final Round Boxing
156 Algonquin PKWY
Whippany, NJ
973-515-0704

Greg Cohen Promotions
(212) 851-6425

NEW YORK (May 29, 2012) – A light heavyweight world championship showdown—potentially the division’s best matchup in years between two young fighters in their prime—has been confirmed for Saturday, Aug. 11, at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, when undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19 KOs), of Tallahassee, Fla., defends his title against popular hometown favorite and former World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight titleholder Jean Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs) on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING live on SHOWTIME®.

The co-feature will match budding Canadian knockout artist Adonis “Superman” Stevenson, (18-1, 15 KOs) of Montreal (Canada), against an opponent to be announced in a super middleweight bout.

Cloud is known as a no-nonsense power puncher, who comes right at his opponents with few frills. Pascal may not equal Cloud in work rate, but his footwork and explosive combinations make for a compelling matchup between ferocious punchers. Both men will be coming in to not only win, but to make a statement as the best puncher in one of boxing’s glamor divisions.

The 5-foot-10, 30-year-old Cloud will be making the fifth defense of the then-vacant 175-pound title he won via 12-round unanimous decision over Clinton Woods on Aug. 28, 2009. The hard-hitting, 29-year-old successfully defended against Glen Johnson (unanimous decision, June 7, 2010), Fulgencio Zuniga (unanimous decision, Dec. 17, 2010) and Yusaf Mack (TKO 8, June 28, 2011) before winning a controversial split decision over Gabriel Campillo in February.

“This fight with Jean Pascal is a bout I’m looking forward to,” said Cloud. “It’s going to be what I call a ‘Release the Kraken’ match. Everybody knows I come to fight. What I like about Pascal is that he doesn’t fool around either. When I look for him, he will be there, and the same goes for me.

“Fans like to see leather thrown with bad intentions, and that’s what they are going to get in Montreal on August 11.”

The 5-foot-10 ½-inch, 29-year-old Pascal is currently ranked No. 2 by” The Ring” and in the top 10 in three of the four major organizations. Since his first world title fight in 2009, Pascal has defeated Chad Dawson (via 11th-round technical decision in 2010), Adrian Diaconu twice and fought the legendary Bernard Hopkins to a thrilling draw in December 2010. In the second of back-to-back meetings with Hopkins last May, Pascal lost his title by a very close decision.

“First, I want to thank Tavoris Cloud for giving me the opportunity to fight for his IBF light heavyweight belt and to prove who I really am in the ring,” said Pascal. “He has shown true class seeking out the best challenger in the division and for this he has my full respect. Our styles make for the best, most explosive and spectacular fight possible in boxing. Having been away from the ring for more than a year, I am hungrier and more determined than ever to get back on top. Don’t miss it August 11 in Montreal. I am going to get back on the throne for good.”

Throughout a career that began in August 2004, Cloud has been a road warrior. He’s fought only three times in his native Florida. Pascal, conversely, has had all but two of his fights in Canada.

Stevenson has notched 15 knockouts in 19 professional fights in his climb up the rankings. The Canadian southpaw super middleweight is currently No. 2 in IBF, No. 3 in WBC and No. 7 in the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).

“I am so proud to be making my SHOWTIME debut fighting in this major event in Montreal,” said Stevenson. “I am on a mission to destroy anybody that has the courage to get in the ring with me. I am not looking for any favors or compassion. My goal is to show the world that I truly deserve to be on a major network fighting Carl Froch for his IBF belt. Watch me make a major statement August 11 on SHOWTIME.”

Trained by the renowned Emmanuel Steward, Stevenson got a late start in the professional ranks with a 2006 debut at the age of 29. Now a six year pro, Stevenson has maintained his penchant for knockouts as he’s stepped up the class of competition. In his last five starts, against opponents with a combined record of 107-8, he has overwhelmed them all, winning four of five inside three rounds. The lone exception is a ninth-round KO of Aaron Pryor Jr.

In all, 12 of his 15 knockouts have come inside three rounds.

The 5-foot-11, 34-year-old Stevenson won a WBC Silver belt with a second-round TKO over Noe Gonzalez (27-1 going in) in his most recent outing last April 20 at Bell Centre.

For information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, visit the website at http://sports.SHO.com.

About Showtime Networks Inc.:

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

“I’m very tough, you know,” Carl Froch said Saturday, after he ruined Lucian Bute. “I’m a bit of an animal.”

It was the sort of self-assessment that, when unleavened by criticism, comes off as boorish and predictable sales-speak intended to preclude fisticuffs more than promote them. But from Froch’s mouth, which bears a frank tongue that quickly, and consistently, conceded the man who decisioned him in December, Andre Ward, was, is, the better man, the statement had exactly the right panache. In Froch’s Nottinghamshire, that is, in a place Ward has not been and will not be seen, Froch is the world’s most ferocious 168-pound man.

He proved that by tearing through IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, Saturday, in England’s Capital FM Arena, and stopping the undefeated Romanian-born Canadian southpaw at 1:05 of the fifth round, when American referee Earl Brown, shaken by the sight of Bute’s head nearly touching his shoulder blades, waved-off the fight, restarted the fight, and had his authority usurped entirely (and appropriately).

There is plenty to be said for making fights to please fans, to fill arenas, to ensure future generations’ writers shake their heads at modifiers’ inadequacies as they happen off the fingers. But there’s one other thing to be said for making fights, and it is a thing that is occasionally lost for good reason. Because prizefights weaken their participants – alter their motor skills, shorten their lives, reduce their abilities to associate thoughts that aren’t immediate familiars – it is intuitively advisable to have an athlete make few of them as possible en route to comfortable a retirement as possible, with comfort defined in realms both physical and financial. This is truer the older a fighter gets; who would begrudge Evander Holyfield or Roy Jones Jr. a retirement party now?

But when an athlete is still prime, there’s a different strategy to consider: Fight more because you will fight better. Most arguments for increased volume are made by aficionados for self-interested reasons. We wish to see better spectacles more often while enjoying an ancillary chance at converting laymen to devotees. Nothing wrong with a little self-interest, of course, but in Carl Froch’s case, it misses the point – as Froch reminded us while uttering this clause at the end of a postfight answer, Saturday: “Most importantly, that’s what I want.”

What Froch wants is to be a great prizefighter, an international item, an immortal – a thing over which he has almost no control. Barring that, he wants to be an improving prizefighter, and in a twist that is proper, not ironical, Froch’s activity has brought that very effect. He has matched himself as a prime fighter against other prime fighters, and he is a better fighter right now, this very moment, than he was before he did. All clichés about styles aside, there is a very good chance the Carl Froch who engaged in that aesthetic disaster of a Super Six opener with Andre Dirrell 31 months ago would not have done to Lucian Bute what Froch just did.

The lesson of that fight with Dirrell, that some men who place a premium on trap-setting and reflexes are athletes not fighters and need to be gone-through not abided, changed the way Froch approached his opening minutes with Bute – a man superior in both reflex and athleticism. And the fight that came after Froch-Dirrell, the close decision loss to Mikkel Kessler that put a first blemish on Froch’s record and saw Froch, in its fifth round, land a buckling right hand then do a moment’s showboating with his right glove, taught Froch a hurt man is more interested in his continued consciousness than you are, and must be treated accordingly.

At a fundamental level that stylists often shun, a choice must be made in a prizefight that is otherwise even. It is a calculation of what a man will sacrifice – what percentage of his dignity and health – to undo an opponent. From the opening round, when Froch swam at Bute, throwing the right hook then crossing his feet over and crunching misplaced limbs one against the other, Froch proclaimed: All of it; I will sacrifice all of it in my hometown, right now, in the next instant even.

It has been written of Froch that he badly wants to fight even if sometimes he does not appear to know how. There were moments of that, too, in Saturday’s match. But the hardiness of his offense and the thrill Froch evinced in round 1 when Bute caught him with what Froch might call “something sweet” and both men paused to mark how comparatively little it affected the Brit, those were things for which Bute, whatever his class, was unprepared. Or so he looked – unprepared, uncomfortable, overwhelmed.

We must honor Froch as a bulwark against the rising and increasingly persuasive tide of the hypothetical. Had Froch not swapped blows unsuccessfully with Andre Ward six months ago, right now, on the virtue of what Froch did to Bute – widely considered no worse than the world’s second-best super middleweight – we’d be making a hypothetical Froch-Ward match in which even Ward’s supporters would concede that, if in the unlikely event their man could steal a decision from Froch, Ward would be hurt worse by Froch than any opponent before or after.

Instead we know exactly where we stand. Froch, to his resounding credit, fought both Ward and Bute and stated rather plainly before and after both occasions he was at his very best. Ward is definitively better than Froch, and he will be tomorrow. Froch is definitively better than Bute, and he will be until the men retire.

We do not believe that, or present persuasive arguments about its likelihood – silly rhetorical exercises that disintegrate into ad-hominem suspicions if not attacks – rather, we know it. Bless Carl Froch for providing that knowledge.

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

Jose Benavidez Jr.’s apprenticeship will move on to another stage, from patient prospect to potential contender, if he can get through a test Saturday at Tucson’s Casino del Sol that is critical and perhaps necessary in the development of the 20-year-old junior-welterweight.

Benavidez (14-0, 12 KOs) is coming off surgery for a troublesome right wrist that forced him out of a couple of fights and gave him a hint at what he can expect. The Phoenix fighter has yet to encounter much adversity from the opposite corner, although that surely awaits him if he fulfills all that has been forecast. But surgery creates its own adversity. It leaves a scar and sometimes questions.

Questions might be there are at opening bell at Casino del Sol’s outdoor area on TV Azteca against Joshua Sosa (10-2, 5 KOs) of Leavenworth, Kan., on an eight-fight card (6 p.m. first bell) featuring junior-middleweight Jesus Soto Karass (24-7, 16 KOs) of Mexico against Said El Harrack (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Henderson, Nev. Benavidez father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., is confident his son will answer in a fashion that will leave only the scar.

The wrist, he says, has withstood long hours of pounding mitts, speed bags, heavy bags and sparring partners at trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif., and Central Boxing in Phoenix.

There were some predictably tentative moments in the early going. The senior Benavidez could see it. His son would wince.

But five days before Benavidez’s first fight since a victory in November on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez, that wince was gone, replaced by confidence.

“We were working the mitts,’’ Jose Sr. “The first time he hits the mitts with the right hand, I looked up into his face. There was no expression. He just kept on working. Then, he sparred eight, nine rounds. He’s ready to go. Everything is good.’’

Jose Benavidez Sr. works to balance the various, sometimes conflicting tasks that go into being a dad and his son’s trainer. It’s not easy. Many fail to separate emotions from business. But there have been dads and sons who have managed, including retired welterweight and middleweight champion Felix Trinidad and his father, Felix Trinidad Sr. The senior Benavidez has tried to learn by quietly watching others.

His son turned 20 on May 15. That’s the good news. Somebody who was 19 just a month ago has a short memory for surgery that happened in January. Concern is for old guys. That’s his dad, CEO of the family business.

Jose Benavidez Sr. looks at the rest of 2012 and sees a year in which his son is going to have to further prove himself to Top Rank, which signed him as a 17-year-old.

“I’m sure there are some doubts in a lot people’s minds,’’ said Jose Sr., who hopes a first or second-round stoppage without further trouble to the right wrist will put his son into a bout on the June 9 undercard of Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “That’s just the way the business is. Over the next year, the level of competition will be stepped up. He’s ready for that. But we have to show improvement.

“Right now, it’s about how you win.’’

Bute might have to steal one in Nottingham
Lucian Bute might have to be a modern-day Robin Hood to steal a victory Saturday in Nottingham, England, from Carl Froch in an EPIX-televised super-middleweight bout.

Bute has the title — the International Boxing Federation’s version, but few advantages in going to Froch’s hometown. Bute, a Romanian living in Canada, tried to duplicate the expected atmosphere by even training while listening to a tape of crowd noise that included the voice of Froch’s wife.

Meanwhile Froch, who lost to Andre Ward in his last bout, has been predictably forthright and confident. Bute, he says, is out of his league.

“We’re going to find out if he’s good enough to fight at the next level,’’ Froch (28-2, 20 KOs) said in a shot at Bute’s unbeaten record (30-0, 24 KOs) during an international conference call. “Lucian Bute, on paper, is overrated.’’

Notes, Quotes
· During a conference call with Pacquiao, Top Rank’s Bob Arum said he doesn’t believe that Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto are drug cheats. Both have tested positive. Arum asked for further research before a rush to judgment. “Unless everybody sits down and works through this, we’ll have chaos,’’ he said.

· And Antonio Tarver started slowly and picked up steam in an angry rant directed at Lateef Kayode during a conference call for their Showtime-televised cruiserweight bout on June 2 in Carson, Calif. Apparently, Kayode is upset that Tarver criticized him while working as a TV analyst. “”He told me what’s he’s going to do me when he sees me in the street,’’ said Tarver, who promises to break down Kayode. “This man has threatened me.’’

Josesito Lopez will step in to face Victor Ortiz on June 23rd in Los Angeles after Andre Berto tested positive for a banned substance according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“(Golden Boy) offered the fight to us on Friday afternoon. I got a call from (Goossen Tutor Promotions matchmaker) Tom Brown saying we got the offer and I said, ‘We’ll take it,'” Lopez’ trainer/manager Henry Ramirez said. “We’re excited. We’re ecstatic. Our job is to get the biggest fight out there for Josesito that we can for the best money we can get, and this is that fight.”

“We’ve explored a variety of potential opponents, and so far Lopez seems to be the best available opponent that will take the fight on short notice,” Showtime Sports general manager Stephen Espinoza told ESPN.com. “He is a strong, tough and experienced fighter, and he’s looked particularly good in his last few fights. I like this matchup, and I hope a deal can be worked out.”

Junior welterweight Humberto Soto (58-7-2, 34 KOs) and Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KOs) will still meet in the Showtime co-featured bout, but Riverside, Calif., heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola (35-2, 30 KOs), who is also trained by Ramirez, will be added to the card to make it into a televised tripleheader. The fight figures to be Arreola’s final bout before an anticipated heavyweight championship shot against Wladimir Klitschko in November.

“Pending approval of the opponent, the Arreola bout would be added to undercard on the Showtime broadcast,” Espinoza said

“My guy has been in the gym, so all we have to do is just change the date of the fight by one day and change our sparring partners,” said Ramirez, noting that Lopez was preparing for the right-handed Holt and now will be facing a left-hander in Ortiz.

“Holt pulls out on us and then this drops in our lap, so we’re excited,” Ramirez said. “The kid (Lopez) will make probably four or five times his biggest purse (which was $35,000) for this fight with Ortiz and a lot more than he would have gotten to fight Holt. So we are in a no-lose situation here because it’s a great opportunity, it’s a good payday and it’s a fight we believe that we can win.

“Lopez puts pressure on his opponents and we know Ortiz doesn’t like pressure and we also know he doesn’t have the biggest heart in the world. We’ve seen him quit before” in a sixth-round knockout loss to Marcos Maidana in a 2009 interim junior welterweight title bout.

Atlantic City, NJ—Two middleweight warriors with similar aggressive styles collide when Partick Majewski, of Atlantic City, NJ, and Chris Fitzpatrick, of Cleveland, OH, meet in a scheduled 10-round contest for the vacant North American Boxing Federation (NABF) middleweight championship on Saturday evening, July 7, at Bally’s Atlantic City.

The Majewski-Fitzpatrick contest tops a seven-bout card which begins at 7.30 pm. The show will be televised live by www.gofightlive.tv.

Majewski (right), 32, comes into the fight off a third-round knockout April 7 in Southaven, MS, over former world-title challenger Antwun Echols, of Davenport, IA.

The win over Echols was Majewski’s first fight back after losing for the only time in his career when Jose Miguel Torres, of Magangue, Colombia, stopped him in six rounds last Sept. 30 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT.

A pro since 2006, Majewski is 18-1, 12 K0s. He has beaten Jimmy Lubash, of Pittsburgh, PA; Latif Mundy, of Philadelphia, PA; Joseph Gomez, of Bloomfield, NM; Marcus Upshaw, of Jacksonville, FL.

Majewski, nicknamed The Machine, originally is from Radom, Poland.

Fitzpatrick, 24, is known as The Irish Ghost.

A pro since 2008, Fitzpatrick (left) is 15-1-1, 6 K0s, losing only via 10-round decision to Jose Stinger Medina, of Tilton, NH, last Oct. 10 in Albany, NY. He rebounded with a sixth-round knockout over Ken Dunham, of Charlotte, NC, on Feb. 4 in Chapin, SC.

Fitzpatrick’s biggest win came last summer when he earned a 10-round decision over Scott Sigman, of Lynchburg, VA, in Greensboro, NC.

He also has beaten Bruce Rumbolz, of Sterling, IL.

Lightweight Osnel Charles, of Atantic City, a stable-mate of Majewski’s, will try to rebound from his April 14 loss to Derrick Finley, of Detroit, MI, when he returns in a six-round contest to top the six-fight preliminary card.

ABOUT JULY 7

The Majewski-Fitzpatrick fights tops top a seven-bout card at Bally’s Atlantic City. First fight is 7.30 pm. Tickets are priced at $50 and $75 and they are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing (215-765-0922) and all Ticketmaster outlets (800-745-3000). Tickets also are on sale at www.peltzboxing.com and www.ticketmaster.com. Gofightlive.tv will televise the card on the internet. The card is being promoted by Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc., in association with Bally’s Atlantic City.

Inside the double blue doors, old wood with matte aluminum handles, the heater is off because with all the bodies inside and the humidity outside even the innocently sadistic traditions of the sport, ways for fighters to make weight by stretching them on a rack of dehydration, cannot find purchase in raising the temperature.

The stairs that descend from the entrance are rows of concrete, thick and soft with layered gray paint. Folding aluminum chairs, their legs scuffed by cheap polish off cheap brown and black shoes, line the stairs’ levels – a few dutiful mothers lying across them, bored by spectacle and tired from downtown-hotel housekeeping jobs, their phones in their right hands for emergencies or texting. A fibrous-patterned slip rope that sees little action in a gym with little head movement stretches wall to wall as a border to complement its handwritten sign: “Only registered fighters past this point.”

The walls sparkle with gold and black paint, oil on cinderblock, in a lost tribute to a crew of handymen boxers lost to a reduced schedule. Spongy black mats at the base of the sparkly walls float on stacked plywood that floats over the once-gleaming hardwood lanes of a collegiate bowling alley from the 1950s. Every so many meters, sporadically placed, stand borrowed trash receptacles, some tin and others blue plastic, one bearing partially a white recycling cartoon of circled arrows. The ring is elevated, four steps above the floor, its bungee-tightened canvas blue, its ropes taped red and white, and its new spit funnel crowned by a metal tray slick with petroleum jelly.

Two boys, grammar-school kids whose small heads take on alien, lopsided shapes under their red headgear, push 10-ounce gloves harmlessly at one another. Both have begun young enough to take punches on the nose impersonally. Ricky, the shorter, slower of the two, carries his lead hand low, mostly because he is tired but partly because his dad took him to see the Mayweather fight on a movie screen a few weeks back, and Mayweather made the low lead hand look more promising than Ricky’s trainers say it is. The boy will be fat someday – a fortune told in his chin and cheeks – but Dad will force the day out far as possible with strenuous hobbies like boxing, which despite their strenuousness are almost helpless to the boy’s fantastic aptitude for detecting, in every venture, the road most traveled.

Skipping rope before a wall-sized shadowboxing mirror is Temo, a youth champion, one of the gym’s best and necessarily cockiest kids, marking time till the yellow metal timer above the mirror makes its electronic enh-enh-enh sound. He floats a centimeter above the spot his leather rope slaps and may never be big enough to make a living at prizefighting, whatever others’ outsized and not-selfless hopes. Temo’s beauty and charisma will take him to an affluent place in 20 years, though his slight frame will doubtfully bear others’ piling on it.

Squared to the softest of the new 75-pound leather bags the gym got for Christmas is Clarence (everyone calls him “C”) tapping with hybrid left and right hooks the low part of the sack where red leather was stitched to black reinforcement and its inner sand is compacted tightest. C repeatedly puts his middle knuckles on the exact places where he can apply greatest force but make the bag swing least. His shirtless back, wet with exertion, is hard and dark and shiny like the wood of an oboe. The Christmas bag’s tight, noisy chain extends 10 feet in the air where it wraps round an exposed metal beam. Upstairs on the basketball courts, pickup games happen on one side and a women’s roller-derby practice on the other, and their exertions come through the gym’s ceiling like base thumps and zipping marbles.

Behind the double-end and heavy bags hangs an ovoid chunk of puke-yellow foam and crusted silver duct tape, its leather entirely shed. It glares resentfully across the floor at a new Everlast – heavier and harder, shapelier – into which boxers now drive their uppercuts and not this old bag, merely the X on a map where instead of buried treasure lies a broken board of floating floor that’d been twisting careless kids’ ankles.

On the second wooden bench, soft with layered gray paint in front of strewn dumbbells with rusted-over poundages and a heavy creaking Universal machine, copper with age and abuse, sits a pudgy kid named Victor. He’s in his twenties and 300s. Promised sparring, he’s been gloved-up and waiting, the toe of his right Ringside boot planted while its misshapen heel vibrates in the air just off the mat, hours now. His supposed partner, a thirtyish guy with a beard who wears a fat-burner belt under dark t-shirts and says he fought in a faraway place years ago and recently declared too loudly that he wanted sparring because he needed to say it to believe it, won’t be in. Tomorrow, there’ll be tendonitis or car problems or food poisoning to blame, and the day after that too.

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

Boxing and politics are impossible to separate. Proof rests in Muhammad Ali’s opposition to the Viet Nam war. But the ring and political office are an impossible mix. The furor surrounding Manny Pacquiao’s opposition to same-sex marriage in a misleading, examiner.com story is just another example of why the Filipino Congressman would have been better off if he had postponed his political career.

From this corner, it’s a mystery as to why Pacquiao would even comment about the issue. I’m a lot more interested in how he plans to deal with Tim Bradley’s head-butts on June 9. I also suspect the controversy will quickly subside, a forgotten tempest. An athlete’s opinion about anything outside of the arena is a little bit like going to the window at a Vegas book in March with wagers based on President Barack Obama’s NCAA bracket.

It’s foolish.

Pacquiao’s seat in Congress has always seemed to be something of a sideshow. It’s an intriguing element, just one among many in the make-up of a compelling story. Put it this way: Pacquiao is not going to be judged on what legislation he proposes, but only for whom he beats and how he beats them. If he loses to Bradley, he loses more votes than he would with an opinion about gay marriage.

The trouble with his political office is that he has become fair game, an easy target, for unseen shots he can’t counter when all of his time and energy are needed in the challenge posed by the dangerous Bradley. Politicians without enemies are ex-politicians.

From an issue with Filipino authorities to a controversy with customs about goods imported by his charitable foundation, Pacquiao’s office and his aspirations beyond Congress have created a complicated landscape full of fronts that will confront him all at once at a time when only one fight really matters.

From the Twitter front
Is anybody taking Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s latest tweet seriously? Mayweather tells his 2.8 million followers: “I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage. I’m an American citizen & I believe people should live their life the way they want.’’

I guess that means few remember Mayweather’s internet video about Pacquiao a couple of years ago. Mayweather repeatedly used a homophobic slur to describe Pacquiao.

Dates, Quotes, Anecdotes
· Happy Birthday, Sugar Ray Leonard. He turned 56 Thursday.

· With a Chad Dawson-Andre Ward fight possible in September, Lucian Bute was asked for his pick Thursday in a conference call that included Carl Froch in the build-up for their EPIX-televised fight on May 26 in Nottingham, England. “A very good fight,’’ said Bute, who agreed to face Froch when Ward said no. “Probably 50-50. I would give a little edge to Dawson right now.’’ Leonard will work as an EPIX analyst for Bute-Froch.

· And Froch, on Bute’s contention that a succession of punches can crack his durable chin. “The best chin in the business is the one that doesn’t get hit.’’

AZ Notes
· Happy Birthday, Jose Benavidez, Jr. The Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect turned 20 Tuesday while training for May 26 at Tucson’s Casino del Sol in his first bout since surgery on his right wrist for an injury suffered in a November victory on the Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez undercard. “He looks good, looks strong,’’ said his dad and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., who said his son knocked out a sparring partner last week with a left hook.

· Tijuana super-flyweight Hanzel Martinez, Antonio Margarito’s brother-in-law, will get a shot at a minor title, the North American Boxing Federation’s version, on the May 26 card. Margarito had been scheduled for the main event, but his first fight since a December loss was postponed until July because of foot injury suffered a few days after it was formally announced.

Lawton, OK (May 17, 2012) – WBC Continental Americas Middleweight champion George “Comanche Boy” Tahdooahnippah is becoming increasingly impatient for a date with one of the world’s top 160 pound fighters.

The hard-hitting Tahdooahnippah, a huge draw in his native Oklahoma, has an outstanding professional record of 30-0-1 with 22 wins by knockout. All but two of his fights took place in the Sooner State, which kept him under the radar. Even though he’s yet to taste defeat and owns impressive knockouts against seasoned pros such as world title challenger Jonathan Corn, Jimmy Holmes and Tyrel Brown, the Lawton resident is yet to receive a career-defining opportunity.

“It’s time for me to face some big name fighters and show the world who I am,” said Tahdooahnippah, a member of the Comanche Nation. “When I fought Jimmy Holmes for the WBC belt, I had a torn bicep and still stopped him in the opening round. Whoever has been in my way thus far, I’ve got them out of there and I don’t plan on changing that, regardless of who is standing across the ring!”

Atop his wish list is former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor. Once a fixture on the pound-for-pound list, Taylor, 30-4-1 (18 KO’s), is 2-0 since returning from a two-year layoff. In his most recent bout, the Little Rock, AR native survived a scary ninth round knockdown against Caleb Truax en-route to claiming a unanimous decision victory.

Tahdooahnippah, whose opposition is comparable to Truax’, called his fight with Taylor a major eye-opener.

“I’ve been watching Caleb Truax his whole career and we were promoted similarly. The only difference is he got the opportunity that I’ve been looking for. Jermain Taylor also isn’t the same fighter he once was and recent upset wins by fellow Oklahomans Carson Jones and Grady Brewer truly inspired me.”

“Caleb wasn’t able to close the show and I know that I have more power than him. I’m a different fighter than Caleb. I’m hungrier and have a more fan-friendly style. If he can go ten rounds with Jermain and put him on his back and I know that I can get Jermain out of there!”

Tahdooahnippah’s manager Bobby Dobbs also feels the fighter he helped build from the ground up is ready to face a top-notch foe.

“George is 30-0 and had a few big fights fall through,” said Dobbs. Fernando Guerrero backed out on us a few years ago and it’s been frustrating to get him a fight. We’ve been ready to take the next step and Jermain Taylor is the guy we want. He’s on the comeback trail and is looking for another opportunity. Comanche Boy has no problem taking him out of the equation!”

Fans can interact with George by going to facebook.com/comancheboygeorge.tahdooahnippah or HDboxing.net.

LAS VEGAS, NEV. (May 15, 2012) – Top Rank announced today the signing of amateur sensation TOKA KAHN-CLARY, from Providence, Rhode Island. Kahn-Clary, 20, who boasts speed, power and a “pro style of fighting” is trained by Peter Manfredo Sr. and managed by Mike Criscio, who discovered and managed light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Kahn-Cary will make his pro debut, as a junior lightweight, on Friday, June 8, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, on a card headlined by the Kelly Pavlik vs. Scott Sigmon super middleweight bout.

“Everyone at Top Rank is excited and what a great way for Toka to start, fighting on the Kelly Pavlik card at the Hard Rock,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.

“Toka is a top prospect who is the real deal. He throws a lot of punches and hits hard,” said Bruce Trampler, Top Rank’s Hall of Fame matchmaker.

Manfredo added, “Toka is the best I’ve seen at our gym in 35 years – and I’ve seen a lot of fighters. He has speed, skill, tremendous combinations and a big heart.”

A native of Liberia, Kahn-Cary moved to Philadelphia when he was six, where he was soon orphaned, losing his father in a shooting that same year. He made his way to Pawtucket, RI, where life was not any easier, but eventually he was taken under the wings of Andrea Watson, her husband Ron Clary and Manfredo. Those three and boxing proved to be Kahn-Clary’s salvation. As an amateur, Toka was a Gold medalist at the National Golden Gloves (2010), a Silver medalist at the U.S. Championships (2011), and a Bronze medalist at the U.S. National Championships (2012, 2010.)

We must learn to see in boxing’s story the energy and cruelty our rapturous drive demands, like the drum and swish and smack and scuff and grunt of a boxing gym. The faintest frown of fortune sends some boys back to well-paid labor, but those of us enraptured by the dulcet art, we who are beastly creatures in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, must overcome what dilettantism is rife in boxing, because an ox without a rope can lick himself just fine.

What’s above is a paragraph I wrote in November. It was part of a column that elevated me from a workaday boxing writer to a champion sportswriter. Before I attended any awards dinners to see the work honored, though, I voluntarily submitted my work to a readability test because I want to see the craft of sportswriting cleaned up. Last week, my column came under scrutiny after a writing laboratory at UCLA found the following:

WRITER: BART BARRY
RESULTS: PLAGIARISM; CONSISTENT WITH THE USE OF OTHERS’ WORDS.

The lab results, which I do not dispute, found in that paragraph elements of Philip Roth, Hugh McIlvanney, A. J. Liebling, Somerset Maugham and Miguel de Cervantes, a compound known in writing laboratories as “RMLMC-Identical Letters.”

I want to state unequivocally that I did not plagiarize. I look forward to the day when my side of the story, and its requisite obfuscation, overwhelms what information currently circulates about me. To that end, I am assembling a team of lawyers and publicists to ensure the actions I took are forever misunderstood. In the interim, though, I’d like to provide a self-serving and confidentiality-protected version of events:

After failing to meet my potential in a number of important columns over the years, I noticed, last November, while readying for the most important column of my career, that I was unable to form sentences with the speed or élan employed by a great writer. This concerned me deeply because I am unable to make money doing anything but writing. I spoke to my editor, and he recommended a writing workshop in Las Vegas called Desert Mirage. I submitted numerous samples of my work, and Desert Mirage returned with a diagnosis of Low Vocabulary, commonly known as “Low V,” and prescribed the RMLMC-Identical Letters treatment mentioned above.

(I would encourage you to visit the Desert Mirage website and read about this for yourself, but the page that describes the revolutionary treatment is coincidentally now under construction.)

My workshop leader, a “conventionally trained” linguist “who also has extensive knowledge and experience with less traditional yet highly effective approaches,” assured me he had worked with a vast number of student essays and ghostwritten white papers in the past. After reading a blog about the treatment, I was satisfied that RMLMC-Identical Letters is completely different from the “representing of another author’s work as one’s own” that readability tests were created to detect. Just to be on the safe side, though, my workshop leader injected others’ words in my column at a ratio about six percent below the threshold used in Nevada plagiarism tests.

I wish to reiterate that no part of this treatment made me a better writer. Instead, this was a treatment necessary to my regular employment in any professional field, not just writing. In fact, when my workshop leader reviewed the samples I submitted to Desert Mirage, he was “literally shocked” – not figuratively, mind you; a charge of electricity shot through his body – that my vocabulary was so low. In routinely treating both illiterates and folks who’ve not read a full-length book in 50 years, he had never seen a vocabulary low as mine.

This was not a case of writer’s block brought on by deadlines, as happens naturally to both writers and non-writers alike. This was an incidence of Low V and part of a trend my workshop leader has seen accelerate in the last few years, one he successfully cures with his literary-based treatment. Again, these words were taken from actual literary works. They were not words created by lexicographers manipulating letters into artificial patterns. Using others’ naturally occurring words to help reestablish my vocabulary at normal levels didn’t make me Shakespeare by any means; it merely allowed me to use my innate ability to write a championship column.

I applaud readability tests and all they are doing. I am, of course, sorry they so misunderstood what I was doing. I’m confident that once my side of this story is parsed, processed and repackaged by my legal and publicity team, there will be reasonable doubt enough in your mind about my culpability in this matter that further analysis of my previous work will represent for you such a needless loss of time that you will forget this happened and consider paying to read me in the future.

(To underscore the seriousness of my commitment to using my own words, I admit my legal team helped with that last sentence.)

*

That is satire, yes, but barely more absurd than the explanations athletes’ spokespersons now regularly feed us. Lamont Peterson’s case, of which we began to learn Tuesday, is but another lamentable example. How cognizant Peterson was about the legality of what “Bio-Identical Hormone” treatment he underwent in November is debatable.

This is not: Testosterone is a hormone that causes the development of male sex characteristics such as facial hair and musculature and when taken in excess leads to increased aggressiveness.

A person who suffers from low testosterone may be capable of many things, but professional fighting is not one of them. If today Lamont Peterson – fully bearded and rather muscular – does not have even normal levels of naturally occurring testosterone, that is life speaking to him in one word: Retire.

A prizefighter without testosterone, after all, makes no more sense than a writer without a vocabulary.

Author’s note: Special thanks to Lem Satterfield’s extensive reporting on the matter, and a special recommendation of Gabriel Montoya’s exhaustive “Floyd Mayweather and the new wave of drug testing in boxing.”

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

Lamont Peterson’s camp must not have been reading websites, Twitter or Facebook when ESPN reported just two days after Peterson’s upset on Dec. 10 of Amir Khan that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun had tested positive.

Either that or Peterson’s management was partying on a planet where there is no social media. Braun’s positive test was for elevated levels of testosterone. A second test showed that the testosterone was synthetic, meaning that Braun, the National League’s 2011 MVP, had either injected it or ingested it.

Braun’s positive test was a cautionary tale in what not to do. Peterson went ahead and did it anyway, setting off a fast-moving chain of events that led to the cancellation Wednesday of a May 19 rematch with Khan at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay. Peterson’s test samples also revealed a testosterone that had been injected as pellets into the junior-welterweight’s hip.

Expect lots of legalese in the argument about whether the testosterone in the Peterson sample was synthetic. His Las Vegas physician, Dr. John Thompson, said it was soy-based, calling it “bioidentical testosterone’’ administered after Peterson complained about fatigue brought on by what Thompson said were low levels of the natural stuff.

Even if those pellets were veggie burgers, they had to be injected in a procedure not reported to VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, which conducted the tests in an agreement with both camps. If there was in fact a legitimate medical reason for the testosterone treatment, VADA should have known about it. That it didn’t before a positive test on March 19 raises a red flag.

Peterson, a nice guy with a compelling story, said he was told that soy-based testosterone was not on the banned list. He said he researched on-line and decided it was natural. He said there no reason to worry. If not, why not report it on a VADA form that asked each fighter to disclose medications? Sorry, but to call its absence on the document an inadvertent slip just doesn’t explain it. Even his own camp says the treatment started about a month before his controversial decision over Khan in Washington D.C.

Questions raised by Braun’s positive test should have alerted Peterson to the peril of continuing it without disclosing it. Unlike Braun, the unfortunate Peterson doesn’t have a Player’s Union or an appeal process that can protect him and his livelihood. Braun’s 50-game suspension was overturned in February on an appeal that disputed only the process in which the sample was delivered and not the result itself.

Braun got off on a technicality.

Peterson didn’t.

He already has lost a payday in a cancellation also costly to Khan and Golden Boy Promotions. He’ll lose a few more if he can’t explain to various state commissions why he wasn’t more transparent about his use of a substance long controversial in other sports but just becoming an issue addressed by boxing.

In some ways, Peterson has become the personification what boxing must do: Pay attention, or else there will be cancellations in a business that can’t afford them.

AZ Notes
Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. (14-0, 12 KOs) is expected to test his surgically-repaired right wrist on May 26 at Casino Del Sol in Tucson against Josh Sosa (10-2, 5 KOs), a Leavenworth, Kan., fighter who has lost has last two. The fight will be Benavidez’s first since injuring the wrist during a victory in November on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.

Benavidez is scheduled for an undercard that will feature Mexican welterweight Jesus Soto Karass (24-7-3, 16 KOs) against Said El Harrack (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Henderson, Nev. Karass-El Harrack replaces the Antonio Margarito-Abel Perry bout, which was moved to July 7, also at Casino Del Sol, because of an Achilles tendon injury suffered by Margarito last week while training in Tijuana for his first bout since a loss in December to Miguel Cotto.

SAN ANTONIO – Suspended above a bullring on a wire-mesh floor below a cinema-size screen, one story and 50 yards from where Cowboys Dancehall’s dancers danced, 75 or so aficionados gathered to look up to a gigantic image of Floyd Mayweather looping right crosses off Miguel Cotto’s left temple. They had arrived round 6:00 PM and sat through seven local-talent fights co-promoted by Jesse James Leija, and a pay-per-view co-main as well.

Although their view was front row of a movie theater that made customers stand, these aficionados enjoyed certain uncommon benefits: they were in a lively if respectful group comprising more serious observers than the folks downstairs keeping one eye on the Spurs game, there was instead of HBO’s audio feed the odd musical assortment that explodes from cowboy-bar speakers – Sir Mix-A-Lot opening for Garth Brooks – and there was the unexpectedly good event that went off above them.

Floyd Mayweather decisioned Miguel Cotto by unanimous scores, Saturday, in MGM Grand. The scorecards, while wide, were about what prognosticators expected, when in a reflection of bookmakers’ opinions, they favored Mayweather nine or so to one – with the one in that ratio usually having an ethnic or financial stake in picking the loser. Writers at ringside had the fight closer than the official judges, and ringside writers and official judges composed the matter’s sole authorities.

Nobody sincerely believed Cotto would win Saturday’s fight, and he did not. But Cotto made a fight more satisfying for spectators than any he had made since Manny Pacquiao stopped him 30 months ago. And make no mistake, it was Cotto who made Saturday’s fight. In round 2, he put Mayweather on the ropes – and Referee Tony Weeks left him there – and it led to a heap more abuse than Mayweather expected, all postfight protestations to the contrary.

In implying afterwards that his initial trip to the ropes was voluntary, that allowing Cotto to whale on his arms and sternum was plan A, Mayweather struck a curiously familiar note; those were Roy Jones’ words immediately after he sneaked past Antonio Tarver in 2003: I went to the ropes to entertain my fans. But in actuality, as the world soon learned, Jones went to the ropes because his diminishing reflexes and footwork allowed Tarver to put him there.

A similar hollowness accompanied Mayweather’s words because his fans, like Jones’ before them, generally want no part in a competitive spectacle. They do not watch a Mayweather fight to see their guy endangered or struck on the face a hundred times. They watch for a transcendent display, for proof that super heroes happen off the pages of their comic books.

What little vocal reaction happened above the bullring at Cowboys Dancehall, Saturday, came just as the bell rang to end round 8, Cotto’s best.

“He ain’t doing nothing!” somebody barked.

“He ain’t nothing!” agreed a second voice, its volume proportionate to its nervousness.

Then Mayweather gave them a rebuttal that was articulate (since that word has come out of hiding): I am a fighter, not an entertainer. It was what Mayweather said in the third round of his match with Shane Mosley, when he put his hands in a classic, high position and attacked the older man. It was a phrase he spoke in his fourth round with Victor Ortiz when he exploited the younger man’s weakness to cut his consciousness. And it was what he said for 30 of Saturday’s 36 minutes with Miguel Cotto. I am this, primarily this, and not what most of you think I am.

Something often missed by Mayweather’s detractors and ever missed by his devotees: Before he was “Money May,” master of the era’s race-baiting nuances, before he made pundits who should know better assign unprecedented import to his undefeated record, he was a fighter – a man who collected blows for a living.

There was a touch of requited love in the way Mayweather handled Cotto’s head on a break in round 4, something almost tender about it. Another man was speaking to him fluently in their first language – not hip hop’s Ali-copycat speak, not the cloyed and serenaded words the mercenaries sing to Money, not those adverbial clauses everyone spits at video cameras – but the language of professional combat in a proper tongue. It betrayed for a moment what most observers do not realize: Other fighters genuinely adore Floyd Mayweather because he is, at root, exactly as they are.

But other fighters also know what historians will uncover: There is a reason you must fight the fights. Mayweather beat Cotto, yes, but does any knowledgeable observer think he is, today, a stronger man for doing it? He is not. Mayweather was brutalized, softened, his health compromised, his life likely shortened some, in those 12 rounds with another professional puncher. It was what both men signed up for, of course, and if Mayweather was not enthusiastic about paying the tariff, he was still, and absolutely, good for it.

Historians, those plodding, careful men who assess records not hand speed, will note Mayweather never fought or beat, in his prime, a man who was favored over him. It’s too late to change that, and subsequently Mayweather’s legacy is for the most part settled. But then, respectfully, so is this: Floyd Mayweather was and is more of a fighter than he was or ever will be anything else.

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

Demetrius Andrade scored a highlight reel first round knockout over Rudy Cisneros in a scheduled ten round Jr.Middleweight bout at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Just before the bell rang to signal the end of round one, Andrade landed a flush left followed by a sharp right to the chin that put Cisneros down and out and the fight was over.

Cisneros left the ring on a stretcher

Andrade, 157 3/4 lbs of Providence, Rhode Island is now 17-0 with twelve knockouts. Cisneros, 158 lbs of Chicago is now 12-4.

Joseph Perez scored a six round unanimous decision over Juan Jaramillo in a Jr, Lightweight bout.

Scores were 59-55 on all cards for Perez, 131 lbs of Hartford, CT and is now 8-1. Jaramillo, 129 1/2 lbs of Salam, OR and is now 8-10-2.

LAS VEGAS (May 4, 2012) – World Boxing Association (“WBA”) Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov returns on June 2 to make his fourth title defense against former super middleweight world title challenger Enrique Ornelas at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. in a fight that will be televised live on FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes.

Shumenov vs. Ornelas is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and KZ Event Productions and sponsored by Corona. The FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes bilingual simulcast will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $125, may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

The fight will mark Shumenov’s return to same venue in which he first captured the WBA title in his 10th professional bout on January 29, 2010 with a 12-round unanimous decision over Gabriel Campillo, establishing the record for a fighter winning a major world light heavyweight championship in the fewest professional fights. The 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian has successfully defended against Vyacheslav Uzelkov (DEC 12), William Joppy (KO 6) and most recently against Danny Santiago (TKO 9) this past July. In only 13 professional fights, the 28-year-old Shumenov has defeated four world champions – Campillo, Byron Mitchell, Joppy and Montell Griffin – as well as former world title challengers Epifanio Mendoza, Uzelkov and Santiago.

An all-action warrior who always gives fans their money’s worth in the ring, La Habra, California’s Enrique Ornelas (33-7, 21 KO’s) has been showing off the best form of his career since a permanent move to the light heavyweight division in 2011. He is riding a three-fight winning streak which includes a first round body shot knockout over Heriberto Gutierrez last December. Just hitting his prime at 31, Ornelas came to the 175-pound weight class after an impressive run at 168 pounds, where he owned the NABF title and gave a stellar effort in a challenge for Robert Stieglitz’ WBO title in 2010.

For more information on Golden Boy Promotions, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.

For more information on KZ Event Productions and Shumenov, visitwww.kzeventproductions.com or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KZEventProductions.

About Golden Boy Promotions

Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions was established in 2002 by Oscar de la Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. In 2007, in its fifth year of promoting, Golden Boy Promotions set a record by selling over 2.5 million in pay-per-view homes in a single night. Also in 2007, Golden Boy Promotions established the record for highest grossing pay-per-view homes in a single year with more than 4 million total. Golden Boy Promotions is one of boxing’s most active and respected promoters, presenting shows in packed venues around the United States on networks such as HBO, SHOWTIME, TeleFutura, FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes.

Golden Boy Promotions currently has over 70 fighters under contract, from future Hall of Famers Bernard Hopkins and Erik Morales to current world champions and superstars Devon Alexander, Canelo Alvarez, Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Robert Guerrero, Chris John, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, Abner Mares, Anselmo Moreno, Victor Ortiz and Humberto Soto. Also included on the company’s roster are top contenders Librado Andrade, Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, Daniel Ponce De Leon, James Kirkland, Paulie Malignaggi, Seth Mitchell and Peter Quillin as well as highly regarded prospects Randy Caballero, Eddie Gomez, Frankie Gomez, Antonio Orozco and Deontay Wilder.

About KZ Event Productions, Inc.

KZ Event Productions is a full service, international boxing promotional company in Las Vegas, Nevada. Owned and operated by Beibut and Chingis Shumenov, its growing stable of champions include WBA/IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov, WBA FEDALATIN welterweight champion Ravshan Hudaynazarov, WBA International light heavyweight champion Gayrat Ahmedov and WBA International light welterweight champion Alexandr Zhuravskiy.

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. generated cheers, boos and even a reaction from the stoic Miguel Cotto after a stare down Friday that lasted longer than anybody can remember in a ritual that has followed weigh-ins for as long as there has been an opening bell. For 70 seconds, they looked into each other’s eyes, maybe looking for a weakness or maybe looking for another clue to the outcome of Saturday night’s junior-middleweight fight at the MGM Grand.

Those dangerous eyes stayed locked, without a single blink, like lasers onto a target in a break from expectation and perhaps a sign that the Mayweather-Cotto fight will end in a surprise.

The biggest, of course, would be a Cotto victory. That’s the most unlikely outcome. Mayweather leaves very little to chance. Proof of that is in his unbeaten record (42-0, 26 KOs). He picks his opponents these days. In fact, he hires them, which helps explain why he will collect a $32 million before anybody even begins to count his cut of the pay-per-view revenue, concessions and ticket sales. According to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) will get $8 million. Not bad, but it’s a fraction, a quarter, of the record guarantee that further confirms Mayweather’s nickname, Money.

Maybe, that’s why Mayweather has been acting as cool and calm as any CEO with Wall Street-like wages already in his wallet. For him, there have been no worries. He weighed in at 151 pounds, his heaviest ever and one more than his official weight before his victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

“I feel comfortable at any weight,’’ Mayweather said.

Cotto was three pounds heavier at 154, the junior-middleweight mandatory.

No matter what the scale, the hired help is never supposed to have an advantage, no matter how minimal. From Mayweather’s perspective, Cotto looked as if he had struggled to make weight.

“He looked kind of dry, kind of drawn to me,’’ he said.

If anything, Cotto looked out of character after stepping off the scale and onto a side of the stage for a stare down that almost lasted past sundown. He started talking at Mayweather. From a man whose meals outnumber his words over any given day, it was unusual.

“I told him, he has never faced anybody like Miguel Cotto,’’ the Puerto Rican said. “That’s the reason he’s undefeated and that’s the reason I will win on Saturday night.’’

The unusual stare down was punctuated by a backstage controversy that erupted behind curtains that hid the scale from the weigh-in crowd of about 6,000. Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who faces Shane Mosley on the undercard, will have to get new gloves for Saturday night’s fight. The gloves they had planned to wear included thumbs made in plastic. Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson said that plastic cuts more easily than leather. Richardson spotted plaster-like inserts in the gloves Antonio Margarito tried to wear before he lost to Mosley in 2009. When Richardson complains about gloves, regulators listen. The Nevada Commission ordered that Mayweather and Alvarez get gloves with thumbs made in leather. New Grant-made gloves are expected to arrive in Las Vegas from New York some time before Saturday night’s card.

What else can happen? Anything.

Everything, said Cotto, who was asked whether his best chance at upset rested with his proven arsenal of body punches.

“I can’t just go to the body,’’ he said. “I have to be on top of everything.

“If he wants to fight, I’m ready. If he wants to run, I’m ready for that. I’m ready for everything.’’

Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) wasn’t ready for the scale. At least, not the official one. He was a half-pound heavier than the mandatory 154 for his shot at the World Boxing Council junior-middleweight title held by Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs). After a run, he returned to the scale an hour later and made weight.

“I was on weight, but on a different scale,’’ Mosley said. “I ran, sweated it off. No problem.’’

The 21-year-old Alvarez, who is 19-years younger than Mosley, had no problem in his first trip to the scale. He was 154 pounds.

In a welterweight bout on the HBO telecast, Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas weighed 146 pounds. Steve Forbes (35-10, 11 KOs), also of Las Vegas, was 146.5. In the first bout on the pay-per-view telecast, junior-middleweight DeAndre Latimore was 154.5 pounds and Carlos Quintana (28-3, 22 KOs) was at 154.

LAS VEGAS – It sometimes sounds as if Mexico looks at Saul Alvarez’ red hair and sees a halo. Jose Suliaman, president of the Mexico City-based World Boxing Council, called the young fighter his Godson Thursday during a news-conference filibuster about a search for heroes in a nation known for drug violence. Suliaman sees the halo and thinks he has found one. A Mexican idol, the Godfather said. But halos can be targets, too. They get knocked off all the time.

Whether that halo is a real crown or just an illusion is the question at the center of a career crossroads for Alvarez Saturday night against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Miguel Cotto pay-per-view card. Consider just two circumstances: There’s the date, May 5, Cinco de Mayo, a major Mexican holiday that celebrates the nation’s victory over the French in a battle, a fight. Then, there’s Mosley’s unbeaten record against fighters of Mexican descent.

There’s enough pressure there to turn an ordinary redhead gray. But Alvarez addresses it in a style straight out of Charles Barkley’s guide on how to make it work for you. Pressure, Barkley said, is for tires. Use it the right way, and you’ll reach your destination a lot faster.

“It’s a motivation,’’ said the 21-year-old Alvarez, whose confidence includes hopes of a bout against the Mayweather-Cotto winner some time next year. “On May 5, the only thing I want to end is that Mosley streak.’’

The guess is that Alvarez will do exactly that. A www.RingTV.com panel of writers, fighters and broadcasters pick Alvarez, 19-to-1. But there are a couple of assumptions baked into that one-sided cake. There’s Mosley age. He’s 40. Then, there are his last two fights, a dull draw with Sergio Mora and a loss by unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao on a night when Mosley survived 12 rounds, yet did nothing dispel talk that he was shot.

There’s speculation that Mosley is fighting only for the money, because of an expensive divorce a couple of years ago. His purse is $650,000 before taxes and expenses. After the IRS and everybody else get their cut, there might not be much left. But there is his reputation, which was run through the media shredder after the Pacquiao loss.

“There’s motivation in showing the way Sugar Shane really fights,’’ said Mosley, whose son, Shane Jr., is the same age as Alvarez.

Mosley has no illusions about what he has to do. Alvarez’ popularity is evident in Suliaman’s remarks and even on the Ring Kings’ fight poster. There’s no mention of Alvarez. Just Canelo. That’s his nickname, which is Spanish for Cinnamon and universal for the halo that many of his countrymen see in his distinctive hair. Against the Word Boxing Council’s 154-pound champion, Mosley can’t risk a fight that goes to the scorecards. With widespread talk of Mosley being shot, he also says he can’t let Alvarez’ heavy hands get him into trouble with a knockdown or cut that might lead to a TKO loss.

“I’m not even thinking about a decision,’’ said Mosley, who has promised a stoppage.

Mosley’s quiet confidence suggests that he will re-enter the ring more Sugar than shot. He says there were injuries before his loss to Mayweather and distractions before Pacquiao. Against Mayweather, he said he suffered from blisters on his feet that were sustained while snowboarding. He didn’t elaborate about distractions before Pacquiao. Instead, he referred to a comment made by Steve Forbes, who faces Jessie Vargas in a welterweight bout on Saturday night’s undercard. Forbes has struggled. He’s 2-4 since losing a decision to Oscar De La Hoya in May, 2008.

“Glad to be back on the biggest stage,’’ Forbes said at Thursday’s news conference. “Had a lot of problems, but, thank God, she packed up and moved out.’’

Enough said.

LAS VEGAS – It was a different day and a very different Floyd Mayweather Jr.

About twenty-four hours after Mayweather played the bad cop in an impassioned rant at Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum, drug cheats and unfair media, the good cop showed up Wednesday at a news conference armed with only polite respect for Miguel Cotto and not a single word of profanity for anyone.

It was a surprise for just about everybody other than perhaps Cotto at the MGM Grand.

“He has been a gentleman with me all the way,’’ said the granite-faced Cotto, whose body language is impossible to interpret because there is so little of it. “I have been a gentleman to him all the way. That’s the way it has to be.’’

But it’s a way not expected from Mayweather. Ask his dad, Floyd Sr., how often he sees the gentleman in his son. Ask Larry Merchant, who should have received a Boxing Writers award for Comeback of the Year in the aftermath of the crazy climax to Mayweather’s victory over Victor Ortiz in September when the HBO broadcaster told him he would have kicked his butt if he had been 50 years younger.

But the unexpected is also part of the Mayweather attraction, which some predict will break the pay-per-view boxing record with more than 2.4 million customers Saturday night for his junior-middleweight fight with Cotto. There is no drama without surprise. Mayweather seems to understand he can’t be ho-hum predictable. He’s not selling appliances. If you’re shopping for reliability, buy a warranty. Mayweather is selling himself, selling show biz, which means he has to play a different role for different crowds.

“When it’s all said and done, I’m making smart business decisions,’’ Mayweather said during a conference call 10 days ago. “I understand when I’m on 24/7 it’s about the viewers; it’s about ‘You Must Watch TV’.

“When I’m on TV I want to keep people glued to the television, because that’s what it’s about. So even people that aren’t boxing fans are going to say, ‘You know what, we got to tune in and watch this guy. He’s very, very interesting. He has a great story.’ ‘’.

Mayweather doesn’t care if the audience likes the story, or hates it. Silence is worse than boos. Mayweather wants to hear them as much as the cheers, just so long as he hears them as loudly and as often as possible.

“I don’t ever go out there and talk about how many things I have done for the people less fortunate, those things me and my team have done,’’ Mayweather said. “But that’s not important. I do it for myself. I do it because I feel it’s the right thing to give back to certain public schools, give back to children less fortunate, Habitat for Humanity, Three Square Meals. It’s very, very important.

“But on 24/7 we don’t always talk about those things or on TV we don’t always talk about those things, because a lot of time the feedback we get is that that’s not entertaining, that’s boring. We want to see the Floyd Mayweather with the flashy money; we want to see Floyd Mayweather with the diamond necklace; we want to see Floyd Mayweather with the nice cars. And the response we get from that it is that they love it, they love it. We get more viewers. But then on the flipside, they say, ‘All the guy does is show off.’

“So it’s a Catch 22. It’s like damn if I do, damn if I don’t.’’

It also means being a villain one day and a gentleman the next.

After his official arrival to the MGM Grand Tuesday, Mayweather met with a handful of reporters and unloaded familiar vitriol, mostly at Arum and Pacquiao. He called Arum “a professional liar.’’ He said again that Pacquiao isn’t a clean fighter and he challenged anybody in the media who thought otherwise.

Wednesday in a room appropriately named the Hollywood Theatre, he played the good guy. There was only one testy exchange. But it didn’t involve Mayweather. Instead, it was initiated by his advisor, Leonard Ellerbe who chided Cotto trainer Pedro Diaz. First, Diaz said that talking doesn’t win fights. Then, he predicted a Cotto victory.

“You’re right,’’ Ellerbe said as he looked at Diaz. “Talk doesn’t win fights. Fighters do. Last I checked, Miguel Cotto is fighting Floyd Mayweather Saturday night, so keep your opinion to yourself.’’

It was a moment to turn up the volume, fill the speakers with trash talk that has long defined boxing news conferences. But Mayweather didn’t.

Cotto “has done something to get this far” the understated Mayweather said as he and Cotto sat in red-and-gold thrones that looked as if they were discarded stage pieces from the set of Excalibur, a 1981 film.

In a session with reporters after the news conference, Mayweather remained low key. He was asked about jail. On June 1, he is scheduled to report for a 90-day sentence at Las Vegas’ Clark County jail for domestic abuse. No worries, at least not for Mayweather.

“I’m here to fight,’’ he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Me going to jail is just another day, another day.’’

So is Thursday, another day for still another Mayweather.

Somewhere in the 11th round of Saturday’s HBO main event one man’s lovely face expressed wholly what viewers wished to see. It was Oscar De La Hoya’s. Once a great fighter, now a promoter of sorts, De La Hoya, sandwiched between the man who runs his company and his evening’s co-promoter, gazed at the ring, and therefore the camera, with a look that said: “Will they forgive us for this?”

To De La Hoya’s right his co-promoter, Gary Shaw, a more complete manifestation of the American entrepreneurial spirit – If it makes me money, it is good! – showed no remorse for what happened before him. Shaw’s guy was stumbling, holding and fading his way towards another big payday because somewhere it is written in HBO’s charter the winner of Saturday’s eyesore will be paid again and again according to a compensation scale made of durable pixie dust.

But De La Hoya, for all his recent fruitiness, remains a former fighter and a fan. As his autobiography implies, he is the product of two cultures, and one of those cultures watches a confrontation between two men with expectations greater than an accountant’s. And so the best description of what De La Hoya’s handsome countenance showed Saturday was sheepishness.

There was a feeling of quiet embarrassment to the entire main event that was Chad Dawson decisioning Bernard Hopkins for light heavyweight titles at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., in a rematch to an October fight considered an embarrassment by both casual fans and aficionados.

Pay-per-view receipts, or at least rumors about them, implied there was no appetite for Dawson-Hopkins II. However unfinished the business from their first meeting, a disqualification that ended in a tangle of limbs, winces and recriminations, Dawson and Hopkins’ business together was clearly and shamefacedly finished. The rematch happened anyway.

Chad Dawson fought as a young man embarrassed that his path to celebrity required him to beat on a 47-year-old. Mauling someone born in 1965 seemed to offend Dawson’s sense of decorum, and so he chose not to. In defiance of everything Joe Calzaghe showed the world four years ago, Dawson waited for perfect opportunities – which even at 70 Hopkins would never afford him – and when they didn’t come, Dawson chose not to risk the embarrassment of swinging at and missing a man so much older. Which led Dawson to suffer a greater fear indeed: What if my conditioning fades, and after doing nothing I actually find myself physically incapable in front of this guy? What will people say about me then?

A question of others’ opinions hung limply over the ring from the opening bell. For all Hopkins’ bluster, he is fantastically preoccupied with others’ opinions of him – a preoccupation sometimes dandied up with words like “legacy.” Dawson lies awake at night with the same preoccupation, though without the same chamomile of achievement to soothe him. Dawson fights like a man very much afraid of humiliation.

How delicious might it have been had referee Eddie Cotton played on these men’s capacities for shame? Any round of the middle eight or so, Cotton might have seen them come together in an embrace and shuffled himself to a neutral corner and stood there, shoulders shrugged. After what duration of clinching and playacting at violence – 90 seconds? 110 seconds? – would either Hopkins or Dawson have become ashamed enough to detach himself and throw a punch? Perhaps the embarrassing job would have devolved entirely to the timekeeper’s bell.

There was a moment in the final minute of round 9, though, a three-second intermission from a 30-minute hug, when each man threw more than a single punch at the other. An exchange ensued. Each man took the other’s punches personally and cared more about avenging them than avoiding the embarrassment of missing or being hit. And within that moment came a reminder for posterity: Were this an actual fight rather than a spectacle, were this a private affair not to be stopped until either Hopkins or Dawson had what honorable men once called “satisfaction,” Hopkins, even at age 47, would have prevailed.

Lowering his chin and head and tearing forward to catch his opponent with an accidental right cross or an intentional headbutt, Hopkins was, during most of Saturday’s 12 rounds, still more interested in confrontation than “Bad” Chad Dawson. Hopkins’ performance was unbefitting a man who calls himself “The Executioner” – hell, it was unbefitting an executive order – but it was often as not a representation of the best Hopkins could do. There was not one round about which the same could be said of Dawson’s effort.

After the judges’ tallies were read, after a first card of 114-114 tantalizingly predicted he might have gotten away with something, Hopkins flashed a perfunctory look of disbelief about his loss. It was not shock but obligation. His theatricality retired, or just tired, Hopkins made a tiny down payment of insincerity on the possibility of grifting HBO one more time. Why couldn’t an “On Graterford” special set the table for a retirement match, complete with another contract extension in the event of a win or honorable loss?

Dawson showed less shame still. He summarized Saturday’s incident thusly: “(Hopkins) came back, he fought his heart out, and it was a great fight.” No, Chad, it was a breathing antonym for “great fight.”

Whatever promoters and publicists next try to do with the spectacle of Dawson-Hopkins II, however much obfuscation gets heaped on this thing, there will happily remain the image of Oscar De La Hoya’s beautiful face to tell Saturday’s story all too eloquently.

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

Francisco Gonzalez Cigarroa’s official title is Chancellor of the Texas University System, but he acted like an emperor in canceling the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Andy Lee fight at Texas-El Paso’s Sun Bowl in the dumbest decree since World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman announced that his acronym would prohibit Mexicans from fighting in Arizona because of SB 1070, the state’s controversial immigration law.

Epithets have been flying since Tuesday when Cigarroa turned thumbs down on the June 16 fight, citing a heightened, yet undisclosed, security risk, just a few days after no arrests were reported during Abner Mares’ victory over Eric Morel at UTEP’s Don Haskins Center. Bob Arum screamed “racist” in comments to Tim Smith of the New York Daily News. Diplomacy has never been an Arum specialty. Still, it also would be naive to say that race isn’t there, somewhere, in any immigration controversy. At demonstrations for and against SB 1070 in front of Arizona’s capitol in Phoenix, it’s there almost every day, in word and deed.

At best, however, Cigarroa’s decision without a vote from the Texas Board of Regents appears to be misinformed. At worst, it’s an insult to El Paso and the border city’s well-practiced ability at crowd control. News reports suggest the Chancellor feared a big boxing crowd in an outdoor stadium would import the random violence associated to the drug wars in Juarez. But is there any history of Mexican drug gangs disrupting fight cards in their own country? Don’t think so.

In 2009, Arum promoted a card in an arena north of Tijuana. Then, there was concern that rival cartels would move the front lines to ringside. But there were no reported incidents. The only violence was within the ring, any irony perhaps, but also a sign that Mexico’s reverence for the violent sport actually serves as a refuge from the tragedy that runs through its streets. It’s similar to the Philippines, where rebels and government troops reportedly declare a truce to watch Manny Pacquaio. They resume their fight after Pacquiao finishes his.

Cigarroa’s action also smacks of arrogance, not unlike newspaper editors who have quit covering the sport and abandoned potential readers in the process simply because they don’t like boxing. What does that say about their business sense? Take a look at circulation numbers. There’s not much of either.

If not arrogance, Cigarroa was grandstanding in the style of Sulaiman, a president who often acts as though he wants to be a Chancellor. On May 1, 2010, the WBC said it would not “authorize” Mexicans to fight in Arizona. Who knew? Just when you thought the WBC only collects sanctioning fees, you discover it also issues passports. Just kidding, I think.

What wasn’t a joke, however, was the impact it had on the Arizona market, one of the nation’s liveliest for many years. Golden Boy Promotions left Desert Diamond Casino south of Tucson. Top Rank prospect Jose Benavidez Jr.’s pro debut in hometown Phoenix was delayed in 2010 because broadcaster TV Azteca and advertiser Tecate didn’t want to be tied to Arizona at the height of the controversy. Only the grandstanders profited.

In August of 2010, three Mexican fighters crossed the border and fought at Casino del Sol on tribal land near Tucson, despite Suliaman’s proclamation. Two, lightweight Genaro Trazancos of Mexico City and featherweight Adolfo Landeros of Hidalgo, were warned by the WBC before opening bell that they faced suspension for defying Sulaiman.

“That’s it, I guess,’’ Trazancos said after a loss to Filipino Mercito Gesta at Casino Del Sol in a TeleFutura-televised bout. “I guess, I’m suspended. Believe me, I strongly support Mexican migrants. They have to work for a living. So do I.’’

Trazancos has fought four times since then, once in Mexico last May in Mexicali. Sulaiman’s threatened suspension? If there was one, it lasted about as long as anybody took it seriously. Meanwhile, Antonio Margarito is scheduled to fight at Casino del Sol on May 26. It’s safe to say that Sulaiman hasn’t threatened to suspend him, not with the chance at collecting another sanctioning fee if Margarito gets a shot at Chavez’ WBC middleweight belt instead of Sergio Martinez.

Chancellor Cigarroa’s cancellation is more damaging because it subtracts a paycheck from working folks at the concession stands. It robs El Paso’s hotels and restaurants of revenue. The city loses tax money. I applaud Arum for fighting to keep the bout in Texas, Houston or San Antonio. It belongs there — now more than ever — in a stand against the stupidity of people who act as if their titles aren’t interim.
AZ Notes

· Margarito’s bout, his first since losing to Miguel Cotto, at Casino del Sol’s outdoor arena against Abel Perry (18-5, 9 KOs) of Colorado Springs will be officially announced Monday at the Tucson casino. The 33-year-old Perry, an orthodox right-hander, has won his last five fights, four by stoppage. It’s also been announced that Benavidez will fight on the card in what would be his first bout since undergoing surgery on his right wrist in January. A Benavidez opponent has yet to be determined. The unbeaten junior-welterweight has been testing the surgically-repaired wrist in workouts at Central Boxing in downtown Phoenix

· Phoenix super-bantamweight Emiliano Garcia (5-0-1, 1 KO) has added an experienced, insightful eye to his corner in trainer Chuck McGregor. McGregor, also of Phoenix, was in Garcia’s corner last Saturday for a unanimous decision over Jesse Ruiz (0-2) in front of a wild crowd at Celebrity Theatre. McGregor, Shannon Briggs’ trainer when he took the World Boxing Organization’s heavyweight title in 2006 from Sergei Liakhovich, occupies an interesting footnote in boxing history. He worked a corner in boxing’s last 15-round fight – Calvin Grove’s 1988 loss by majority decision to Jorge Paez for the International Boxing Federation’s featherweight title in Mexicali.

New York – April 23, 2012 – FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG), the umbrella entity representing News Corporation’s wide array of multi-platform U.S.-based sports assets,announced today that it has reached a multi-year, multi-media agreement with Golden Boy Promotions to provide live boxing content in the United States and internationally. Golden Boy Promotions, owned by renowned former Ten-Time World Champion Oscar de la Hoya, is the first Hispanic-owned boxing promotional company in America doing business domestically and internationally.

Domestically, Golden Boy fights will be carried on FOX Deportes, the leader in U.S. Latino sports media, on FOX Sports regional networks, the nation’s leading provider of local sports and FUEL TV, FSMG’s dynamic sports network for males and television’s fastest-growing cable network. One originally produced boxing event per month from the United States airs live on FOX Deportes, FUEL TV and FOX Sports regional networks. Additionally, live boxing events from cities throughout Mexico will be carried on FOX Deportes. The first U.S. event is scheduled for Friday, May 4 (11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT), live from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and features an all-Mexican battle between former World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon of Cuauhtemoc and Juarez’s Eduardo “El Chucky” Lazcano in a 12-round main event for the vacant WBC USNBC Super Featherweight title and, in the co-feature, perennial contender and Las Vegas favorite Ishe “Sugar Shay” Smith facing Derrick Ennis in a 10-round junior middleweight bout.

During the first year of the partnership, FOX Deportes is scheduled to air a total of 44 live events originating in both the United States and Mexico; for every year thereafter, the network airs 36 live events. In addition, FSMG networks gain access to classic fights from the Golden Boy fight library which features fights of past and current world champions such as Oscar de la Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

“Led by the incomparable Oscar de la Hoya, Golden Boy Promotions has developed a great reputation over the last few years for putting together very exciting cards,” said Bill Wanger, Executive Vice president, Programming & Research, FOX Sports Media Group. “It’s great that we’ve been able to establish what we hope will be a fruitful relationship that benefits multiple networks within the FOX Sports Media Group for years to come.”

“We are excited about our new partnership with FOX Sports Media Group,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “This is another step in ensuring that fight fans around the world don’t miss out on any of the great boxing action we present, both in the United States and Mexico. It’s a very important move towards increasing viewership and knowledge of our great sport. We are thrilled about this new partnership.”

Internationally, FOX’s networks have exclusive rights to FOX’s U.S.-produced fights throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe and to fight cards originating in Mexico throughout most of South America, the Caribbean and Europe.

Additionally, FOX’s networks have exclusive rights to Golden Boy’s Solo Boxeo series in Mexico and Central America, while FOX Sports Brazil has rights to select Golden Boy Promotions premier events.

For the first time, something has been able to slow down energetic boxing hype man Repo Ric. The Fresno, California-based manager and matchmaker goes under the knife today to correct an enlarged prostate. 15rounds.com extends well wishes to Repo as he recovers from surgery. Surely it will not be long before Repo Ric is back dancing on the apron, pumping up fight crowds, while maneuvering the careers of his impressive stable of prospects.

“Makes fun of the Easter Bunny / Reunites with dad / Goes to pololoco for chick . . . plays basketball; crosstraining? Hungry again, narrator says: more fried chicken”

Those are the writer’s notes on Saturday night. It’s preliminary sketching for a piece he has to write for one of the wire services, about the marketing of boxing pay-per-view attractions. They were supposed to be out of this business of network advertising after the last one went so terribly, but then a reader used the word “hater” in an email to the editor, and now the writer has to redeem the service. Coincidences abound, thinks the writer, as he edits what he will record about what he is watching because his editor is a goaltender who doesn’t take to combat sports and holds it against every article that treats them, and so he’s going to have to shoot for the corners if any of this story will make it to print.

The writer sits on the opposite side of a couch from his girlfriend’s son, who is 15 and typical. He says he is a fan and an athlete; he attends the boxing gym – when his dad takes him – but mostly goes upstairs and plays basketball, as that is where the girls, and so the better athletes, congregate. His mom says he is a JV player on Mayweather’s “Money Team,” forgetting the captain for about half of each year.

“Floyd’s right, you know?” the kid says to the room. “The Easter Bunny laying eggs is dumb.”

The writer makes a note about Floyd’s grasp on the obvious, wondering if the obvious vulgarly expressed was as alluring when he was 15. He decides it was. Floyd’s primary appeal may lie in his saying things others won’t. It resonates with a teenager who sees conformists getting invited to parties that snub nonconformists.

“‘Floyd and I’s bond is unbreakable’?” the writer notes, transcribing what Mayweather’s fiancée says on the first of two HBO programs about Mayweather. “Loyalty?”

“Even women want to stay on the Money Team,” the kid says to the room. “Ms. Jackson knows she’s got it better with Floyd.”

“‘Ride-or-die’?” the writer notes with an asterisk, to remind himself to see what that means later, or maybe think of a gentle way to ask his girlfriend’s son.

“I’m still going strong!” Mayweather shouts at the camera. “I still look good and young. Feel strong. Still got big muscles. Still flamboyant. Still shit-talking. Fly whips, big mansions!”

The kid smiles at the television and thinks Floyd had to say that, cued by the producer. Like a switch. For the haters. It makes white people, the Republicans, buy fights to see Floyd get beat up. But Floyd never loses. He’s too smart.

“There’s 50!” the kid says to the room. “He’s a genius.”

The writer changes his posture, instantly defensive. This derelict “a genius”? Isn’t he the guy who got rich singing it was somebody’s birthday? “WTF?” the writer scribbles in large letters.

“That’s crazy,” the kid says. “I thought 50 was out, like, every night.”

The writer’s previous posture returns. “Curtis Jackson as an introvert and artist . . .” he writes. Actually hadn’t crossed his mind.

“Floyd’s got’em again,” the kid says. “How you gonna call yourself ‘loyal’ and fire your own uncle, Cotto? Floyd’s real. He can only act like he doesn’t care a little. Then he brings the truth.”

He’s not a good actor either, the writer thinks. A pro shouldn’t get tired while on set. “Half-assed villain,” the writer notes.

“Hey, it’s the nerdy dude from the Tupac movies!” the kid says. “I didn’t know they were doing two ‘24/7s’.”

“‘On Floyd Mayweather’,” the writer puts at the top of a new page in his notebook, and underlines it.

The kid watches Floyd yell at his father and throw his ass out of the gym. That’s what you get. You show up, now, when your boy is famous, and you try to take over his gym for the cameras, and you dis your own brother by saying you did everything? Throw his ass out.

“Mayweather’s dad / cussing him out / says he’s nothing / former drug dealer / comes back for control,” the writer notes, wondering how much of Floyd’s point, here, would be lost in exposition.

The kid checks his cell. He’s bored. The nerdy dude is making Floyd look weak.

“King and Malcolm X!” the writer says to the room. “You’re no civil rights hero for going to jail, Floyd!”

“Malcolm wasn’t what y’all would call a ‘civil rights hero’ when he went to jail, either,” the kid says. “Was he?”

“No one would never understand me,” Mayweather says to Michael Eric Dyson.

“I understand you,” the kid says. “Because nobody understands me.”

No 15 year-old thinks anyone understands him, the writer thinks. He gives others what Oscar Wilde called the benefit of his own inexperience. “‘Nobody understands me’ / same thing Tyson said,” the writer notes; “they capture the disconnectedness of the American teenager”

“Floyd’s making the professor the student,” the kid says. “The nerdy dude just said Floyd was intelligent and well-spoken. Put him on the Money Team, Floyd.”

“‘School will always be there’?” the writer notes. How can he say that to a college professor? how can he be so dismissive? how can the professor just sit there and take it, smiling? “wtf?” the writer scribbles again.

“That’s what a man does, dude,” the kid says. “Floyd had a family to take care of. He made the man’s choice.”

Mayweather leans over and shakes Dyson’s fingers, and the camera swoops upwards.

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

The argument is that only a great American heavyweight can resurrect boxing in the United States. Good luck on that search. At the opposite end of the scale, however, there’s no debate. There’s reality. Given the Mexican and Mexican-American demographic at the heart of the game’s audience, the little guy is imperative. Abner Mares might be that guy, the latest in a line of little big men from 105 to 126 pounds who have helped sustain the business since Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez transformed it.

Mares carries a sense of poise, smarts and skill with him when he steps through the ropes. There’s also accountability. There was never any hesitation in his decision to fight a rematch with Joseph Agbeko after a controversial victory marred by low blows. The pragmatist might have moved on. But that would have left a mess. Mares cleaned up the questions with a victory, a unanimous decision, in a December rematch that allowed him to take the next step, from bantamweight to super-bantam, against Eric Morel Saturday night in El Paso, Tex.

Mares is trying on a heavier weight with the hope of generating momentum for a date with Nonito Donaire. In a conference call, Mares talked about five super-bantamweights he’d like to fight.

“Victor Terrazas, Fernando Montiel, Rafael Marquez, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jorge Arce, and the big name that is up there is, no doubt, Nonito Donaire,’’ Mares said.

Much depends on how Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs) looks against an experienced, yet aging Morel (46-2, 23 KOs), who is 11-0 since two years in prison for sexual assault. The jury is still out on Donaire since he made the jump from 118 to 122 for a split decision over Vazquez in February. Donaire, who in October won a dull and dominant decision over Omar Narvaez in his last fight at 118, hasn’t followed up on his spectacular knockout of Fernando Montiel in 2011. Then, his second-round stoppage put him into the pound-for-pound debate. But his show-stopping power hasn’t been there since his left hook struck down Montiel like a lightning bolt.

“Definitely a great fighter,’’ said Mares, who knows about Donaire’s knockout ratio, 18 in 28 bouts. “But I don’t think he’s knocked out anybody at 122 yet.’’

He’s fought only one, so we’ll wait-and-see.

Mares has been there before. He’s going back to where he began. In his first 10 bouts as a pro, he was between 120 and 122 pounds for nine of them, winning six by stoppage and three by unanimous decision. He should be comfortable at 120, the catch-weight for Morel. If Donaire makes the adjustment, Mares-Donaire emerges as a possibility that could be among the biggest in the lightest divisions since Carbajal and Gonzales met at 108 in a 1993 Fight of the Year that awakened promoters to a market for smaller fighters at a time when heavyweights were vanishing, or at least going Euro.

Top Rank-versus-Golden Boy stands in the way, if the promotional feud continues and, yawn, everything seems to say that it will, ad nauseam. Donaire is a Top Rank fighter; Mares is Golden Boy. Then there’s history. Even at the lightest weights, some fights never happen. Carbajal never fought Ricardo Lopez; Lopez never fought Gonzalez. But Mares is smart to foresee the rich possibility. Smart to talk about it, too. He’s taking care of business. Too many would kick a potential biggie down the road by saying they’d leave that job up to their promoters. But they forget that the promoters work for them, not the other way around.

Mares seems to know what he wants and, thus far, he has shown that he’ll do what he has to. The promotional fracas, a cold war without apparent end, is suffocating possibilities. Maybe, it’s too much to ask Mares for help. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time a little guy has helped boxing recreate itself. They know how to fight their way out of tight places.

PROSPECT JR.
Jose Benavidez Jr.’s 15-year-old brother, David, will appear in an amateur bout on an Iron Boy Promotions card at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix Saturday night. A sign of Arizona’s interest in anything Benavidez was evident Tuesday at an open workout at Central Boxing in downtown Phoenix. The place was jammed for a glimpse at a fighter who might be the state’s next prospect.

At 190 pounds, David is bigger than his celebrated brother, an unbeaten junior-welterweight who is back in the gym and working to rehab his right wrist since undergoing surgery.

“He’s more of inside fighter than I am,’’ said Jose Jr., who says his wrist is about 45 percent healthy. “Basically, he has been boxing since he’s been about 3-years old. He’s always followed it. He watches it at home on television more than I do.’’

Yes, the brothers have sparred. But it hasn’t just been a sibling rivalry played out in the backyard or at the dinner table.

“No, we’ve sparred in the gym,’’ said the 19-year-old Jose, whose brother has sparred with Kelly Pavlik. “I wouldn’t go all out because he’s my little brother. But he tried to kill me. He was hitting me hard, hitting me low. I just had to grab him and talk some trash at him.’’

So what did he say?

“You know, just some brotherly love,’’ Jose Jr. said.

First bell is scheduled for 7 p.m. for a 10-fight card featuring Phoenix super-bantamweight Emilio Garcia (4-0-1) against Jesse Ruiz (0-1), also of Phoenix.

AZ NOTES
· Carbajal, of Phoenix, is scheduled to be a ringside Saturday night at Celebrity. Iron Boy Promotions plan to honor him for his Hall of Fame career.

· Former junior-middleweight champ Winky Wright (51-5-1, 20 KOs) began training in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago for his comeback attempt on June 2 against Peter Quillin (26-0. 20 KOs) in Oakland, Calif. Wright, 40, hasn’t fought since losing a decision to Paul Williams in March, 2009. He began his workouts at Athletes Performance, where well-known pros in all sports go for conditioning.