In his 2001 essay “A rough trade,” British novelist Martin Amis writes ferociously, and with ironic humanity, about the increasing violence one finds in the pornographic-movie industry, probably America’s last bastion of pure capitalism. He employs an invocative clause – “jack-knifed over his flying fist” – before sorting out what is what in an industry that generated $8 billion annually, 10 years ago, and today generates much more than that. Then Amis sets out, in resume-builder fashion, the requirements of a porn actor.

In the middle, Amis lists “suffer(ing) from nostalgie de la boue” – a French term which denotes “yearning for the mud” while connoting “attraction to what is unworthy, crude, or degrading.”

What follows, too, will suffer nostalgie de la boue. It will plunder the trashcans of boxing gyms, Petri dishes of human waste kept at a humid temperature that would make a jungle envious.

Boxing gyms test their participants’ immune systems much as their chins and balls. If the American hospital has become world heavyweight champion of places to acquire a staph infection, boxing gyms nonetheless fight nobly on as sturdy, stubborn contenders. The fluids that flow in them are, in the frequency of their secretions: perspiration, saliva, blood, urine, semen and excrement.

A true boxing gym, as opposed to a fitness club, submits to the presence of sweat. Trapped in a 19th century ethic, boxing gyms, even in the world’s most humid spots, employ heaters. They keep themselves well above 90 festering, oppressive degrees, as if to answer the late Joe Souza’s rhetorical inquiry: “How else will our fighters make weight?” Boxing gyms are like lungs.

But they smell worse. Their scent is a fetid mix of human exertion and whatever industrial cleaners film these exertions’ leather surfaces. Handwraps, worked hard and put away wet, emit a stench curiously resembling corn chips. These are twisted round fists then pushed in the nylon interiors of gloves dutifully sprayed with an agent that is like PAM.

Fighters rub their bodies with Albolene, a makeup remover that induces perspiration, then climb in a shared contraption called a “sauna suit,” a plastic garbage bag with elastic seals for the neck, wrist and ankles. A sauna suit is not wrung-out afterwards but emptied like a wineskin. Then it dangles off a bench to drip dry – a state it never reaches, passing directly from wilted to crunchy.

A cotton t-shirt worn in a boxing gym is soiled irreparably. It will come out the dryer smelling like any other piece of laundry, yes, but add even a drop of perspiration, and its funk revives as a menace worse and more elusive than cat piss.

Bernard Hopkins says a proper boxing gym is one in which you can spit on the floor without drawing notice. If there is a human fluid ubiquitous as sweat in a boxing gym, it is saliva. In the documentary “Rumble in the Jungle,” Ferdie Pacheco refers to what comes off a fighter’s mouthpiece as “slobber” – the same white froth that accompanies a tennis ball wrestled from a dog’s mouth. The dainty latex gloves doctors wear on television are not worn in boxing gyms, places those ringside physicians would condemn on first visit.

Fighters plagued by chest colds, too, hawk phlegm from their throats then cast furtive glances at dark corners and concrete walls before looking for more polite receptacles.

Blood stains much fabric in gyms, and diversely enough that no forensics team could finger its source. Headgear precludes flesh-cutting better than brain-concussing, and so most blood comes from noses. Once a boxer’s nose begins to bleed in sparring, it is wiped by a trainer with some towel, any towel, between rounds. This, like most preventative acts taken during sparring, is to preclude humiliation. Careless official judges, they say, “score the blood” – but not nearly as much as fellow boxers leaning on a ring apron do.

A lonely urinal generally sits beside the shower in a boxing gym’s bathroom. The best way to tell the difference of the two spots is the height of their drains. The shower smells like the urinal. Its washing water is the same, of course, and whatever cleansing effect that may take, a mildewed towel is often passed over its bather’s body, just after the towel is pulled from a sweating locker, or communally employed.

There’s an old trainer’s tale that abstinence is a prerequisite for a prizefight; sex, the saying goes, weakens the legs. Perhaps. But more than one trainer, when frustrated by a charge’s tension, has counseled masturbation. A former Texas Golden Gloves champion imparted this anecdote:

I was a smooth boxer, so I needed to be relaxed. My coach told me to go in the men’s room before a bout and jerk-off before gloving up. I did it the first time, and it worked; I moved that day like syrup. Before my next match, I decided more would be better, and did it twice (ah, youth!), and I tell you it took my legs away. No more of that, Coach said.

Then there’s excrement. It happens round heavyweights, men whose diets are untroubled by making weight. They take lots of proteins in the ring with them because they have that luxury. A cruiserweight contender once fresh from a heavyweight’s training camp described what happened when a third-round body blow shocked the man’s large intestine into vacation.

“We took a break. He excused himself and went to the bathroom. Nobody mentioned it. Then we went back to work.”

All of this foulness, and the often-public way one is subjected to it, though, serves a purpose of its own: It tests a man’s desire to make combat, asking what he will endure to come out of a fight whole. It also creates a bond among its participants. It is, like much in boxing, cruel and essential.

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

CAPAY, CALIFORNIA – 2004 U.S. Olympian Vicente Escobedo is back in his hometown as he headlines tonight’s edition of Telefutura Solo Boxeo against Lonnie Smith at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California. For Escobedo the fight presents a risky proposition, as he is a name fighter in a division lacking such a commodity, but instead of a walkover opponent he meets the capable, upset-minded Smith. Fighters weighed in Friday night at the Road Trip Bar & Grill in nearby Capay.

Escobedo (24-3, 14 KOs) is back on Telefutura for the third straight time after his wide points loss to Robert Guerrero in late 2010. Last time out, Escobedo moved past faded and undersized former title challenger Rocky Juarez via ten-round unanimous decision last November. Though Escobedo has fought in nearby Sacramento eight times in his professional career, tonight marks his Woodland debut.

Smith (14-2-2, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada has reeled off nine straight victories since he last suffered a defeat back in 2007. The one time previously that Smith stepped up in class, he controlled former fringe contender David Rodela over six rounds last April. Tonight’s bout marks a major step up, both in class and distance, as Smith, who will be fighting on his 25th birthday, has never had a fight scheduled for more than six rounds. Smith is scheduled to go ten tonight, as he and Escobedo vie for the vacant WBO NABO Super Featherweight title.

The word at the weigh-in Friday was that should Escobedo, currently the WBO #10 ranked lightweight and IBF #10 ranked 130-pounder, move past Smith tonight, he could find himself in against reigning WBO 130-pound champion Adrien Broner next time out. However, looking past Smith, a fighter with nothing to lose and everything to gain, would be a horrible misstep for the former Olympian. Escobedo weighed in at 129-pounds, while Smith scaled 130.

In the televised co-feature, Golden Boy Promotions’ super bantamweight prospect Manuel Avila (6-0, 2 KOs) of Fairfield, California moves up to the six-round distance for the first time as he takes on David Reyes (2-1) of Montebello, California in a rematch. Back in October on the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson undercard, Avila floored Reyes in the third round, but had to settle for a split decision win. Fighting not to far from his Fairfield home, Avila aims to prove his superiority over Reyes once and for all. Avila weighed in at a career-low 118-pounds, while Reyes scaled 120.

An intriguing match on the undercard almost came apart at the weigh-in Friday, as Paul Mendez (7-2, 2 KOs) of Delano, California failed to make the contracted weight for his six-round bout against unbeaten former amateur standout Dmitry Chudinov (6-0, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way Serpukhov, Moscow Oblast, Russia. Chudinov weighed in at 159 ½-pounds. Mendez came in at 166-pounds.

Initially Chudinov threw his hands up and said there would not be a fight. But after some deliberation, Chudinov decided to go through with the fight and Mendez did not even have to sweat off any weight. When Chudinov appeared on the December card in Woodland, he took on a 180-pound version of Tony Hirsch, who had accepted the fight just before the official weigh-in.

Coming in off of his an impressive performance in Woodland last December, Jonathan Chicas (4-0, 3 KOs) of San Francisco, California takes on blown-up super bantamweight Ephraim Martinez (4-1, 1 KO) of Buttonwillow, California in a four-round light welterweight fight. Chicas, who scaled 140-pounds Friday, quickly dismantled former amateur star Paul Cano in under two rounds in December.

Martinez has fought as low as 118-pounds, and never heavier than 124 ¾ in his pro career. Martinez has been out of the ring since September 2010, when super bantamweight prospect Efrain Esquivas stopped him in five. Given the natural size disadvantage, it is hard to envision Martinez going the full four with the power-punching Chicas tonight.

In an all-Sacramento battle, former amateur standout Payton Boyea makes his professional debut against Harry Gopaul (0-2) in a four-round light heavyweight bout. Boyea, who is training under former world champion and legendary Sacramento boxing figure Tony “The Tiger” Lopez, weighed in at 172-pounds. Gopaul, who also has competed in mixed martial arts, weighed in at 174 ½-pounds.

Any remaining tickets for the event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, will be made available at the door.

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

Charismatic super featherweight Lonnie Smith is set to take a big step up in class as he goes to the hometown of world ranked contender Vicente Escobedo for a ten-round regional title bout at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California on Saturday night. For Smith and his team, the fight represents a calculated gamble, but also rare opportunity to enter the mix at 130-pounds in a big way.

Smith (14-2, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada has been out of the ring since scoring a third-round stoppage of Eduardo Arcos in late July. However, Smith had been in the gym since the Monday after his last fight, refining his arsenal while his team tried to line up the right fight for him. “We’ve been working on a lot of stuff,” explains Smith, who has had considerable ring time with the likes of Joel Casamayor and prospects Darley Perez and Sharif Bogere among others. “I think we’ve worked on a lot of the downfalls in my game. I’ve seen some people that I like and how they fight, and I imitated them and now I mixed it in with my boxing and now I got a new me.”

In the months since his July win, several fights had fallen out and others were passed on by Smith. When his promoters Terry and Tommy Lane got the call from Don Chargin about the possibility of an Escobedo fight they brought the offer to Smith thinking he was likely going to pass, but were met with a very different response.

“When the fight was offered to my promoters, they called me,” recounts Smith. “I don’t know if they knew I was going to take the fight. They offered me other fights that I turned down. But when I heard the name Escobedo and the date March 3rd, I was like yeah, let’s do it.”

The fact that the offer came in about a month before the fight would take place was part of the reason why Smith surprised his promoters with his quick acceptance of the fight. “There were times I took a fight on two weeks’ notice,” says Smith. “If you never had a promoter before, you do have to be ready at all times. That’s the reason behind me always being in the gym.” Another reason Smith jumped at the opportunity was Escobedo was someone that was on his radar already anyway. “Escobedo was a guy on my list,” says Smith. “Actually, I even had Daniel Jimenez on my list, and Jimenez beat him. So I was like well, let’s do it.”

Though Smith has never been in with anyone of Escobedo’s caliber before, his confidence level going into this fight gave his promoter assurance this was the right time to take a chance. “Lonnie is really confident,” says Terry Lane, CEO of Let’s Get It On Promotions. “To him, the fight is just a formality. He is so confident this is going to be a step on the ladder to bigger and better things. He believes he is going to beat this guy that is way more experienced than him and has fought much better fighters than he has on Saturday. He believes he is going to beat him pretty easily.”

The last time the Lanes gave Smith a tough assignment, in the form of former fringe contender David Rodela last April, he displayed a similar level of belief in himself and went on to score a wide unanimous decision. “When we made that fight, he was extremely confident about taking the fight,” recalls Terry Lane. “Obviously, Rodela was a test and a step up, but Lonnie is diligent about taking the fights he thinks he can win. He researches everything he possibly can about fighters before taking a fight. He doesn’t take things just to take them. So when he wanted to take that so quickly, at some point as the promoter I have to have a little faith and trust about what my fighter feels about himself. If he feels he can take it and his trainer Skip Kelp feels he can take it and the rest of his team feels he can take it and win, then we will take the fight. He has the same sort of confidence going into this, which makes me feel this is a fight we should take.”

One of the fights Smith had passed on in the past was to go to the adopted hometown of ranked contender Eloy Perez and fight him for a regional title. On Saturday Smith will be heading into Woodland, the town in which Escobedo grew up and became one of the country’s top amateurs. However, Smith sees it differently. “Eloy never fought outside of California and Eloy wanted the fight in Salinas, California, and I didn’t want to go to Salinas to fight him,” explains Smith. “I wasn’t going to go there and fight him, so that was the choice. But I am going to knock [Escobedo] out. I am going to take the decision in my own hands. I’m not relying on anybody else to get me the fight.”

Saturday’s fight, which will be the televised main event of Telefutura Solo Boxeo, is for the WBO NABO Super Featherweight title, which essentially guarantees the winner a world ranking. While Escobedo is already ranked by the WBO and IBF and has fought for more significant titles in the past, this will be the first time Smith has had a crack at any belt as a professional.

“Every fight is just as important as the next fight, but this fight is important because this title puts me in the mix,” explains Smith, who has been known for his offensive-minded style. “I want this belt to have at the house. I want this belt to hold at night. It is going to be recognition for the time I have put in over these five years of being a pro, with all the mishaps that happen along the way, with fights falling out, bad managers or not having a promoter. Everything is going to work out after I knock this guy out.”

Should Smith claim the title on Saturday, he figures to be ranked highest by the WBO, whose current world champion is Adrien Broner. Though Smith cites Broner, a rising star in the sport, as a friend, it is a fight Smith would take under the right circumstances. However, Smith has always had his eyes on another title.

“I mean I would fight my sister if she got in the ring,” says Smith, who goes by the ring name of “El Negro Mexicano.” “This is a sport, but he is one of my friends. It’s not like I am gunning for Broner, just because Eloy decided to take a shot at him and got his ass cracked. I’m looking at the WBC champion [Takahiro Aoh.] Ever since I was a little kid, I have dreamed of having the green belt around my waist. To have another belt I am still in second place, that is how I feel. I want to fight Aoh out in Japan. He is a little maniac. He’s a beast. I respect him, but it doesn’t matter who has that green belt, I just want that belt.”

Obviously Escobedo comes first, but Smith plans to show the world his work in the gym has paid off and he is ready for the challenge. “The guy that fought Rodela was a crazy mad man,” Smith says of himself. “I was fixated on doing the best I could and I thought the best I could was to never stop punching. Now I am a little calmer. I have patience. That’s how we are going to come out here. Aggressive pressure, but I’ve found out the point of boxing is to not get hit. Hopefully everyone has seen me fight once or twice and they will have the chance to see that I have matured.”

Notes:

-Smith, ever the self-promoter, would like for his fans reach out to him on Twitter @130lbBEAST and on Facebook at Facebook.com/elnegromexicano.

-Escobedo, a 2004 U.S. Olympian, last fought in his home area in 2009, when he dispatched a faded Kevin Kelley in under two rounds at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

– Tickets for Saturday’s event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, are available online at PacoPresentsBoxing.com or by calling Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

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

Heavyweights, a division in exile if not endangered, are making a lot of Euros, but American ambivalence at what was a piece of Americana frustrates Wladimir Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward in a way he could have never imagined when he was an amateur growing up in Detroit, Joe Louis’ hometown.

Frustration said it all in a conference call.

Steward said it once, again and often — first at the criticism he hears about Klitschko’s opponent, former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck, Saturday in Dusseldorf in the third round of an Epix-televised trilogy (4:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. PST) and again when asked whether there are any worthy challengers at all in a division that draws crowds in Germany and yawns in the United States.

“It’s so frustrating, these comments we’re reading,’’ said Steward, who says Klitschko (56-3, 49 KOs) will be confronted by a style he has yet to see in a smaller body that could make the 39-year-old Mormeck (36-4, 22 KOs) an awkward target.

Steward expects Klitschko to solve the problem with the calculating skill of a chess player. But check-mate isn’t what fans expect. Only an early knockout will do.

“According to all the experts, if the fight goes over three or four rounds, it’s a terrible performance,’’ Steward said. “If Wladimir knocks him out in a minute, it’s what he was supposed to do. We’re going into a definitely no-win situation.’’

No-win is a byproduct of the dominance Wladimir and his older brother, Vitali, have exerted over the heavyweights in the longest family reign since the Hapsburgs ruled Austria. The Klitschkos have won it all. Between them, they possess every acronym attached to a championship belt, including Vitali’s victory in a WBC-title defense three weeks ago over Dereck Chisora in Munich.

Chisora slapped Vitali at the weigh-in, spit in Wladimir’s face before opening bell and brawled with David Haye after the bout. Chisora got a split decision, losing the fight and winning the outrage, within a couple of circus-like days that brought a lot of attention to the heavyweights, but not because of the Klitschkos. They were there, doing what they always do: Winning. Steward is right. They only become news if they lose, or at least face what is perceived to be a real threat.

It’s within that context that Steward’s frustration is understandable. It’s hard to know where the Klitschkos belong. How would they have done in the Muhammad Ali era of the late 1960s and ‘70s? There’s only an argument and perhaps one day a video game.

“Unfortunately, this is probably – maybe – the worst heavyweight time in history,’’ he said. “It’s frustrating for us sometimes, too.’’

That frustration isn’t new. Larry Holmes suffered through it, post-Ali. Steward recalled a time when Joe Louis dominated the division so thoroughly that he turned it into his bum-of-the-month club. Each barren stretch, however, was followed by a rebirth.

“I think that those heavyweights are coming up,’’ said Wladimir, who at 35 is confident history will repeat itself in time for a true measure of where he belongs. “Think about Mike Tyson. He was 20-years-old. Nobody would ever think that a 20-year-old – boy or man – would become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

“It always has been like that in the past. And it’s going to be like that in the future.’’

Amid renewed signs of life in the dormant division, Steward and Wladimir talk as if that future will have to happen in the U.S. against an emerging American contender. But who, please, who? Wladimir mentioned Chris Arreola. But Arreola is already a Klitschko victim. He was overwhelmed by Vitali in a 2009 mismatch at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. A better possibility might be Seth Mitchell, a promising apprentice and a former Michigan State linebacker who has talked about fighting a Klitschko, perhaps in early 2013. Wladimir has talked about Mitchell a couple of times during the last few months. It’s as if he sees him as a ticket back to the American stage.

Steward is hopeful, yet cautious.

“He looks good,’’ he said of Mitchell. “He’s a fundamentally good fighter. He comes in and he throws punches. He doesn’t wait. He’d be a good challenger.’’

But here’s the caveat and perhaps the frustration:

“Too bad we don’t have a bunch of them,’’ Steward said.

With Wladimir and Vitali, there are only two, too few.

AZ might be Margarito’s next stop

Tucson and Phoenix are possibilities for Antonio Margarito’s first fight since his December loss to Miguel Cotto, who won a 10th-round stoppage in New York when the ringside physician ended the rematch because of blood and swelling around Margarito’s problematic right eye.

Margarito wants a tune-up in May that will put him in line for a shot at Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Tijuana, his home, has been mentioned. But Top Rank and his company, Showdown, already are doing a co-promotion of a ShoBox-televised card on March 23 at Casino del Sol in Tucson. Margarito’s brother-in-law, super-flyweight Hanzel Martinez, is scheduled for the undercard against fellow-Mexican Alex Rangel.

Margarito accompanied Martinez to a news conference at Casino del Sol a couple of weeks ago. Despite all the controversy that surrounds him, he is comfortable in Arizona, where he fought three times early in his career.

When there were questions about whether New York would license him for the Cotto rematch because of his surgically-repaired eye, US Airways Center in Phoenix became an alternate site. The Arizona State Boxing & MMA Commission said it would have licensed Margarito. Sergio Diaz, Margarito’s manager, said he believes the fight would have gone to Phoenix if New York had said no to the license and Cotto had agreed to the move.

Emerging super bantamweight Manuel Avila enters a rematch with David Reyes on Saturday night aiming to show his superiority and in a way prove a unanimous verdict should have been rendered instead of the split decision that was announced after their initial October meeting. The bout takes place at the Woodland Community & Senior Center in Woodland, California – a short drive from Avila’s Fairfield home and will air on Telefutura Solo Boxeo, giving the young fighter a chance to further endear himself to both local and national fight fans.

The fact that Avila (6-0, 2 KOs) found boxing as a youth was really a fluke matter of circumstances. “My parents wanted to keep me off the street with sports like baseball and soccer, but they have off seasons,” recalls Avila. “Then when I was nine my dad asked me if I wanted to box and I said yes. So he told me that when I turned ten we’d go.” The elder Avila did not have any aspirations for his son to pursue boxing as a profession, it just happened to be a sport that would keep him busy year round.

Just days before his tenth birthday, Avila’s dad did take him to the local boxing gym, but his son was not eager to begin at first. “I saw some kids sparring and I got scared and didn’t want to do it anymore. I was told that I’ll work my way up, so I decided to do it, starting a day before my birthday.”

The gym his father took him to that day would be the same gym Avila would train out of his entire career, the Georgie Duke Sports Center in Vacaville, where he has trained under Al LaGardo. Shortly after hooking up with the young Avila, LaGardo would give his young pug a nickname that would stick. “My coach Al used to have this pro fighter named Tino Huggins,” explains Avila. “He said I looked just like him, so he told me from now on my name is Tino and it just stuck. Now everyone calls me Tino.”

Tino would get over his reluctance to spar and ten months after arriving at the gym, he would begin competing. Avila developed into one of the top amateurs in California, claiming a Silver Gloves title and placing third in the country at the 2008 Junior Olympic National Championships.

In 2009, Avila traveled to Denver, Colorado to compete at the USA Boxing National Championships. Unfortunately for Avila, his hopes for a national title would be dashed after a controversial disqualification in a preliminary round bout against Luis Rosa of East Haven, Connecticut. “They disqualified me for bowing, but I never did,” explains Avila. “The guy would grab my head and push me down but they called me for it.”

After the fight with Rosa, a few people, including an amateur boxing official not working that day, explained to a dejected Avila that there may have been an explanation for the disqualification. “I was told they weren’t going to let me win the fight because my whole uniform was the Mexican Flag and it wouldn’t look right when I’m representing the USA Team.”

In the immediate aftermath of his exit from nationals, Avila decided he wanted to turn professional. Unexpectedly for Avila, things started falling into place quite rapidly, as prominent manager Cameron Dunkin courted him before he was even old enough to fight in the United States. “It was amazing because I wanted to become a pro as soon as I turned 18 and when I was 17 I got a call from Cameron saying he wants to sign me,” remembers Avila. “I didn’t think people like me get discovered like that or sign by anyone at 18 coming from where I’m from.”

Eventually Dunkin signed Avila up with Golden Boy Promotions, who scheduled his debut for November 18, 2010 on the regionally televised Fight Night Club program emanating from the Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. “I was excited to finally fight as a pro, but to me it was just another fight,” says Avila, who dominated Alexis Hernandez en route to a four-round unanimous decision that night.

In January of the next year, promoters Don Chargin and Paco Damian, who partner with Golden Boy on several of their Solo Boxeo dates, decided to bring boxing to Fairfield for the first time in many years and Tino Avila was a big reason why that decision was made. Unfortunately for Avila and his strong local fan base, his fight fell out at the weigh-in, as his late replacement opponent did not come close to the contracted weight. However, thanks in part to tickets Avila sold, the January event was such a financial success, Solo Boxeo came back to Fairfield the very next month. This time, Tino Avila fans would go home happy.

On that February night, Avila stopped Jose Garcia in the fourth round before a national television audience and of course his large local following. “It felt great being able to fight on TV and in front of my friends and family,” says Avila. “I felt like everyone has a lot of hopes for me. I wasn’t really expecting a KO because I didn’t know anything about this guy. I didn’t even find out he was southpaw until the fight started, but it was a real good feeling.

With the February event again doing well at the box office, Solo Boxeo came back to Fairfield for the third straight month that March and again Avila was on the bill scoring an impressive stoppage. This time it was limited journeyman Frank Gutierrez that would taste the canvas three times and fail to make it out of the second round against Avila.

Two months later Avila returned to Solo Boxeo as he traveled down Costa Mesa, California and scored a four-round unanimous decision over Jesse Padilla. One month later on June 24th, Avila came back to Fairfield for a non-televised decision over Salvador Cifuentes.

After keeping an incredibly busy pace for the first eight months of his career, Avila ran into some bad luck as a series of bouts would fall out on sometimes short notice. One such bout scheduled for September in Reno, Nevada would have to be cancelled as Avila attempted to get the additional necessary medicals required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but could not complete them all in time.

On October 15th, Avila returned to the ring on the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. As Avila stepped into the ring to fight unbeaten local David Reyes on the undercard of a pay-per-view for the first time, the Fairfield native claims the larger stage had no effect on him. “No, not at all,” says Avila. “I just felt like I was getting up there to the big times.”

According to most ringside accounts, Avila won the fight fairly clearly, as he even scored a knockdown in the third of the four-round bout. However, one judge had the fight scored for Reyes, 38-37. The other two had it for Avila, 39-35 and 39-36, giving Tino his sixth professional victory. After hearing the one card for Reyes, Avila feared for a moment he would be the victim of some home cooking. “I thought they were going to give the fight to him just because he was from there in L.A.,” said Avila. “I felt like I won every round.”

That brings us to this coming Saturday. Avila, fighting close to home for the first time in many months, feels he has a little something to prove in the rematch with Reyes. “This time there is doubt that I’m going to win every single round convincingly to show everyone that is watching,” says Avila.

With another win on Saturday, Avila will move one step further away from the kid that came to the gym to stay busy and one step closer to prominence as a professional boxer. As Avila continues to move forward in the sport, chances are some kids in the Vacaville area will walk through the doors of the Georgie Duke Sports Center hoping to be Coach LaGardo’s next “Tino.”

Tickets for Saturday’s event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Paco Presents and Jorge Marron Productions, are available online at PacoPresentsBoxing.com or by calling Paco’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Woodland at 530-669-7946.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

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

We begin in a discomfiting place – Catholicism’s examination of conscience – and hope to move to an optimistic one. This column should be a secular spot, one where believers and nonbelievers frolic playfully as one, but as a column priding itself on finding instructions wherever they occur, it goes like this: If there is one Catholic tradition that will survive what its priests did to children for decades, it may be the examination of conscience.

According to this tradition, a believer creates an inventory of sins committed since his last confession. He reviews what thoughts and deeds composed his behavior, privately and best he is able, and takes the list to a confessional, in the hopes of absolution and a not-too-long penance to say. This inventory is by its nature useless if incomplete. Who would the believer fool by being dishonest?

The examination of conscience, as it happens, may also be a way for an aficionado to review his scorecard before he confesses it. (These are metaphors, of course; the stakes are comparatively low even for the most committed of Sweet Science’s flock.)

Nothing but coincidence attends this discussion and Devon Alexander’s Saturday victory over Marcos Maidana. Alexander, who may not actually be very good – or who, conversely, may be the man to prove first Timothy Bradley’s greatness – unmanned Maidana, who, it can be conceded, was never good as Victor Ortiz and Amir Khan made him look. Alexander-Maidana happened to be the televised fight that happened after Tavoris Cloud’s controversial decision victory over Gabriel Campillo in Corpus Christi, Texas, and all the questions about scorekeeping it necessarily raised.

An examination of conscience was in order before the next scorecard got confessed, then. So many well-intentioned folks took such exception with that Cloud-Campillo ringside scorecard that it was right for the scorer to look at himself. Coincidence again interfered, though, and confessing a one-sided scorecard with which all three official judges concurred is not so courageous. Alas.

An honest scorecard admits, after the fact, its biases of vantage point, ethnicity, style and personality. It is self-conscious in the best sense of that term; it qualifies its certainty by considering its limitations and imperfections. To wit:

For seeing Alexander’s jab is wrongly thrown, early in his career, I confirm this each time he fights. I believe Ortiz and Khan are media creations partially exposed by Maidana, and so I’ve not been fully convinced of Maidana’s ferocity or persistence. I believe I favor Latino fighters over African-American fighters – because I lived in Mexico, speak Spanish, and like volume punchers more than boxers – and so I try to offset this perceived bias when scoring (which may have influenced a Cloud-Campillo card that I marked 114-113 for Cloud). I know very little of Maidana’s biography but have felt a fraternal sort of pride about what boxing helped Alexander escape in his native St. Louis. I believed, going in, Alexander’s chin was as underestimated as Maidana’s power was overestimated. I believed that since Alexander-Maidana was only 10 rounds, Steve Smoger was a perfect choice of referee because he would allow Maidana to rough Alexander up, if it came to that. I believe Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, is overrated. And finally, Timothy Bradley is one of my favorite fighters, and any victory for Alexander, whom Bradley beat, feels like a win-by-proxy for Bradley.

There. What is above is written in good faith and seems to predict I would score close rounds for Alexander, which I did, marking both rounds 1 and 3 for him and scoring round 2 even, while watching on HBO.

Is a fight better scored from ringside? Yes, otherwise judges would score fights from high-definition monitors in quiet backstage rooms. A ringside scorecard is also, for the most part, free of others’ opinions; nobody lasts long on press row if he talks through each round. Television commentary, on the other hand, is about exactly this. It is very difficult to ignore, because television is about keeping your attention, and why you tune in is fractionally important as keeping you tuned-in is.

Contrary to what sports-talk radio might say, what is important for an aficionado scoring a fight is not that his scorecard be right but that it be honest, which is why no examination of conscience is complete without ethnic considerations. Anyone who says fighters’ ethnicities do not color his scorecard stands somewhere between naïve and cynical.

All of this hopes to improve the ongoing argument that consensus is overrated. Did your friends agree with your scorecard? did your editor? did the guys at the gym? These questions are important to one who doesn’t know his own mind – or conscience, as the case may be. Your biases are secrets held only between you and yourself, though; everyone else sees them pretty clearly. Discovering them openly compromises your infallibility only with people silly enough to believe in infallibility.

Boxing gyms are invaluable in this sense; everyone expects everyone else to favor others who look like he does, and everyone laughs at himself when he finds out it’s true. This makes boxing gyms wonderful spots for examinations of conscience because they are some of the very few places in America where race is discussed openly and properly, and in good humor.

We go back to the scorecards.

Years from now you’ll probably not remember how you scored Cloud-Campillo or whatever next month’s hellish travesty is. But a postfight examination of conscience might lead to a cathartic moment of discovery. And if you can concede such cathartic things happen suddenly and at the oddest moments, why not posit they can happen while scoring a fight, and then pursue them?

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

CHESTER, PA (February 24, 2012)—The two main event fighters weighed in for Tonight’s six bout card at Harrahs in Chester

CLICK TO ORDER THE FIGHT
Tony Ferrante (176 lbs) & Omar Sheika (174.5) weighed for their 10 round BAM Light Heavyweight title match.

The five remaining fights will weigh in this morning at 10 am

The card is promoted by Joey Eye Boxing

Former world Heavyweight champion Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe will be in attendance to take pictures and sign autographs.

For the congregation that still prays for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr., pray a little harder that the born-again Pacquiao isn’t struck by a head butt from Tim Bradley that ruptures old wounds above a right eye with scars that might as well look like a target.

A perfect storm of circumstances are aligned for just such a collision in the Bradley-Pacquiao fight on June 9 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Head butts are already more likely in a bout between a southpaw and an orthodox fighter. Between the left-handed Pacquiao and the orthodox Bradley, one and more are an even better bet than a Pacquiao victory.

Start with each fighter’s past. Start with Bradley’s head. It has become a weapon, notorious and dangerous. Accidental butts led to cuts that resulted in his last victory, a 10th-round technical decision, over a bloodied Devon Alexander last winter in Detroit.

Pacquiao has suffered cuts above the right eye repeatedly, once in a decision last year over orthodox Shane Mosley in May and again in November with a gash deep enough to expose bone in the 10th round of his controversial decision over orthodox Juan Manuel Marquez. It was caused by – you guessed it – a head butt. Twenty-eight stitches were needed to close that one.

The lengthy healing process was mentioned as a reason Pacquiao couldn’t fight Mayweather on May 5. The real truth might be more about money than stitches. The danger now, however, is that there won’t be any argument left about Pacquiao-Mayweather next November if Bradley’s head lands all over again.

Remember this: A cut over that same eye appeared to the biggest factor in Pacquiao’s last loss by unanimous decision to orthodox Erik Morales in 2005. The cut was sustained in the fifth round from a clash of heads. Then, it was called accidental. If it happens again, it won’t be called coincidental. It will be remembered as an avoidable obstacle standing in the way of the one fight the world has wanted to see.

Gonzales wants to fight on
Jesus Gonzales of Phoenix plans to continue fighting despite a loss that, at first glance, appeared to be a career-ender Saturday when Adonis Stevenson dropped him with left hands 99 seconds after the opening bell in Montreal.

The 27-year-old Gonzales (27-2, 14 KOs) wants to move back down in weight, from super-middle (168 pounds) to middle (160), according to his promoter, Canadian Darin Schmick of FanBase.

Stevenson (17-1, 14 KOs) overwhelmed Gonzales, perhaps because he was the bigger, stronger fighter, although Gonzales never even attempted to circle away from the known power in Stevenson’s left . He simply walked right into it, almost as if he were walking into an oncoming locomotive.

Gonzales also has talked about finding a new trainer. He has mentioned Robert Garcia, who is already busy with Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire and Antonio Margarito. A revolving corner has been a problem for Gonzales, who took the Stevenson fight on late notice.

In Montreal, Gonzales father, Ernie, was back in his corner. His dad, his trainer for the first part of his pro career and throughout his brilliant days as an amateur, had decided to step away. But he worked with him for nearly four weeks of training in Calgary.

Gonzales’ plans, however, hinge on an MRI to determine if he suffered head trauma, Schmick said. Gonzales, who lost by TKO in 2005 to Jose Luis Zertuche in his only other loss, was knocked out for the first time in his career by Stevenson. The KO means he’ll need a clean MRI to get licensed, said Schmick, who was trying to put Gonzales in position for a shot at Andre Ward. Ward’s last loss was to Gonzales when both were amateurs.

NOTES, COUNTERS
Alexander tries to put his career back on track against dangerous Marcos Maidana Saturday in St. Louis, Alexander’s hometown. He said he’d like another shot at Bradley, although he also said something in a conference call that might serve as a warning to Pacquiao. “You can’t train for head butts,’’ Alexander said. “You can’t train to get head-butted and to get your eye all messed up.’’

And there’s no truth to the rumor that the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation – the Lone Star State’s boxing commission — conducted the drug testing for Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun, whose 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday. Apparently, protocol wasn’t followed. In San Antonio, the Texas commissioners forgot to test Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after he beat Marco Antonio Rubio on Feb. 4. Details, those pesky details.

At the time of my interview with Jermaine White (17-4 9ko’s) being scheduled he was slated to face Vivian Harris in what would have been an opportunity to take a significant step forward, and kick off the second act of his career. White, the Chicago based welterweight, considers it the second act because he is returning from a hiatus with renewed passion, and a revamped team surrounding him. By the time the interview date had rolled around, however, the fight card was scrapped, and for the second time in mere months “The Hawk” had watched a fight with Harris fall through.

Frustration is a common trend amongst fighters. White’s attitude, however, is not.

Watching White in the gym it becomes clear that he is a fighter with a world of talent, who has been done no favors by the business end of boxing. Talking with White you’ll find that he is something of a boxing historian, and a student of the game. What makes him so easy to root for is the way he takes each setback and converts it into confidence. After suffering four losses to top notch company, including Anthony Peterson, and Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. White has hit the gym with a chip on his shoulder, and a genuine belief that he is better than almost anyone you put in front of him.

Jermaine White is now in Las Vegas, under the tutelage of Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, and aims to open up the second act of his boxing career this Spring, I caught up with him for a conversation on where he’s been, where he is, and where he plans to go.

On his next fight, and plans for the near future:
I’m hoping to get in on March 31 in Seattle, Washington. They want me to come to 136 but I think we’re going to try a catchweight, maybe 140 or something. I feel good at 147, I feel strong. I’m used to guys that are fast and throw a lot of punches. Coming up in weight guys are a little slower, and a little easier to me.

On his previously scheduled fight with Vivian Harris falling through:
It fell through, I don’t know what the issue was, some kind of promotional issue. The first time we were scheduled to fight we had blood work that was done wrong on my behalf, we both signed waivers but the commission didn’t let us fight. Vivian Harris was supposed to be the fight that catapulted me to the next level. It’s very frustrating. My whole career has been frustrating but I take it in stride. It builds character when everything doesn’t come on a silver platter. I didn’t have the perfect matchmaker coming up. I just have to get on the right course.

On his 4 career losses:
If it wasn’t for those losses I wouldn’t have gotten better, I wouldn’t have learned. In reality you have to be prepared. Taking fights on short notice you’re bound to lose. My losses weren’t really decisive losses, I lost to Peterson with 3 pinched nerves in my back, I did manage to swell his eye with my left hook. I fought Chavez at 147, In El Paso, across the street was Mexico, literally, across the street . I signed for a fight at 144 lbs. they said we had to be at 147 when I got there. So I was a blown up lightweight fighting what was pretty much a junior middleweight. It was a promotional game that they got me with.

On the second chapter of his career and training in Vegas:
People looking at my record see 17-4 but fighting in places like Indiana you have to kill their guys to get a decision. People out here in Vegas have told me that I have the best slip game in the business. I think I could beat a lot of these people out here. I had to get rid of some people and gain people on my team that I need to go forward. I’m with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad my main trainer now, Kevin Henry working drills. I get some good help at home in Chicago.

On who he would compare himself to:
I would say the Black murderer’s row. For people who don’t know who they are, they were Great fighters in the 1940’s who just didn’t get the right opportunities. Charlie Burley, one of the great fighters of all time, just didn’t have the management to get a world title shot. Sugar Ray Robinson said “he’s too good for his own good” I feel like one of those kind of guys. I’m a slip master, I frustrate a lot of guys. Real old school style. I can dance, I can square up, and I can bang. Mike Tyson was in here and said “that little man can punch” that meant a lot to me. I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people. A lot of fighters are real basic now days and I think I’m a style that’s hard to deal with.

On his career up to now:

My career and life have been tough. I’ve done well, I won a lot in the amateurs, Nationals, Silver Gloves, all that. But it’s been hard and that taught me a lot about life. There’s been a lot of character building along the way. I see a lot of guys making more money than me but they also have a lot more problems that go along with it. I think I’m in a better situation because of the people around me. I’d much rather have less and be surrounded by people who I know genuinely care about me.

On the next 12 months:
This year I will get some kind of belt, might be regional, anything like that. I will get a belt. Hopefully I can get the Vivian Harris fight again. I think that’s something I’d really like to finally get done, but either way I think it’s going to be a big year and I will have a belt of some kind very soon.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – If you were here in the beautiful coastal climes of the Gulf, 65 degrees with a cool saltwater wind, you felt differently about “Triple Threat” than if you were not. The ringside experience, with its emptied press-row tables, unfamiliar faces and well-lubricated fans just beyond, had none of the rabid emotion – investigate this! protest that! suspend the other guy! – sincerely expressed by those who were not at American Bank Center Arena.

Make of that what you wish, after you consider that television’s primary role is entertainment. Television succeeds when it provokes strong emotion. To assign it greater merit than entertainment is to overestimate the medium.

Saturday on the Bay brought a swirl of emotions and impressions and other happenings. They ranged from a feeling of disappointment to a narrative of injustice to an inference of unapproachable rage and ultimately ended, as these swirls inevitably do, with exhaustion and boredom. If that is unfair to a semi-rehabilitated fighter or a wronged one, or his outraged manager set to file protest Monday, it is nevertheless honest – though oblivious of what narratives shape it.

There is likely no lead here, just an unkempt swirl of hastily chosen words. But that might be the best way to express a rage that was directly proportionate to one’s distance from its catalyst.

Art Museum of South Texas, which shares a lovely spot and parking lot with Saturday’s fight venue – which had half its 10,000 seats curtained off and its upper bowl closed – is running a three-month exhibit called “Art of the Dive: Portraits of the Deep,” an appropriate subject for a collection that overlooks the Bay. The exhibit is a mild disappointment, with a few pleasant surprises that use impasto.

It has some good works of photo realism, a movement that is better than photography when done right because it accesses thrice the color palette of a lens and film. But it is a movement still subverted by a thought: Did the artist paint this or trace it?

It must not be a simple task to present subaqueous themes; what we know of them is already passed through multiple filters – diving mask, bubbles, refracted light – and anticipated for most of us by television cameras.

Do not discount the importance of anticipation; it colors what follows. If, to use a timely example, you anticipated a tightly wound knockout artist would fade against a loose-handed, stiff-legged, southpaw cutie whose mastery is regularly missed by fair judges – none of whom ply their trade in the crooked Lone Star Republic – you might see something different from a person, say, who showed up to watch the main event and didn’t think many thoughts during the co-main aside from: Yes, enjoyable!

But O, to borrow Shakespeare, for in every honest hand a whip / To lash the rascals naked through the world / Even from Houston to th’ El Paso.

Very well. But do not consider a team of broadcasters much more than a single voice. And do not cite the disapproval of a Spanish-speaking crowd deep in its cups and stirred by a black promoter’s earlier employment of an ethnic slur. Few of the thousands in attendance would recognize Tavoris Cloud in a diner tomorrow morning, but they began without hesitation a chorus of “Don King sucks!” after a Spanish-speaking challenger lost to King’s fighter.

That was in Saturday’s best match, a scrap for the IBF light heavyweight belt. Florida’s Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud defeated Spanish southpaw Gabriel “Chico Guapo” Campillo by scores (116-110, 111-115 and 114-112) that were outrageous on Twitter and TV and almost right at ringside, where an inexperienced local press corps – guys who later argued the WBC International Silver belt denoted a championship at stake – barely shrugged.

Reasonable men at ringside, too, had Cloud narrowly winning. We’ll take our lashings. But when a fighter who lost a round 10-7, never hurt his opponent, and cruised and clowned during the championship rounds, then loses a split decision, do not yell “robbery!” if you wish to be considered reasonable.

Campillo won on many viewers’ cards because he did what they thought he would do, which is to imply their scorecards were not blank when the opening bell rang. Alas, no one’s scorecard ever is.

Chris Arreola, the ticket-seller in South Texas, took umbrage with Don King’s use of the word “wetback” and then took it out on Texas heavyweight Eric Molina, making a wondrous 150 seconds of violence, punctuated by a decisive overhand right. Arreola’s gatekeeper disgust with King’s saying “wetback” at a Thursday press conference was not forced, but neither was it devoid of theatrics. Nothing Arreola does in public is.

“I’m a commodity,” Arreola said Saturday. “A big Mexican commodity.”

Arreola is a fine showman who is quieter and more approachable in reality than on television. King, a fine showman of his own who clearly did not intend offense and rebutted “We all wetbacks, baby,” chose his words poorly and got roundly booed by American Bank Center, which was justice enough – no need for a coerced apology or further gnashing of teeth.

Paul Williams, ostensibly “Triple Threat’s” main-event draw, won a decision over Nobuhiro Ishida, a sturdy Japanese super welterweight, in a fight that put the arena to sleep, regardless of its participants’ activity. Hundreds of punches were thrown and landed in 36 minutes – question never Williams’ activity or desire – and yet writers played on their cell phones and fans discussed ring-card girls’ asses, while Williams outclassed Ishida.

Why a Williams fight is boring is hard to say. That it is boring, though, is not. It is difficult to read Williams’ biography or watch him politely interact with people at a weigh-in and cheer against him. It is just as difficult, unfortunately, to look forward to his next fight.

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

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. – The banner behind the scale on the hastily erected stage read “Three of boxing’s biggest threats, seeking world supremacy.” Far as promotional taglines go, it wasn’t a most-ridiculous claim, though of course it was exaggerated. California heavyweight Chris Arreola then took the stage, and the force of his mass, or personality, made the centerpiece banner fall.

“It’s the spirits!” cackled promoter Don King.

“Motherf-ckin’ Zapata!” said Arreola, identifying exactly whose spirit he believed had dropped the embellished banner. Arreola’s guess was good as any.

So ended the prefight buildup of a week that saw a few open workouts and a Thursday press conference that featured a meandering history of Texas provided by none other than King, who referred to Mexicans as “wetbacks” in a sort of slave-ship-to-White-House way King intended to be evidence of empowerment but to which others later lent their own bad faith. Arreola seemed to respond, in small part, to King and his mini-controversy, Friday, when he shouted Emiliano Zapata’s name in a tribute to a Mexican revolutionary hero whose umbrage was nevertheless reserved for Mexican hacienda owners, not Texans.

The entire spectacle was a bit confusing. Originally scheduled to happen on the outdoor patio of a nearby restaurant, Friday’s “Triple Threat” weigh-in was moved, unbeknownst to any but friends and familiars, to a spot off the staircase of American Bank Center, the host venue for Saturday’s fight. There, the fighters mingled with the crowd, sitting in chairs and posing for pictures anxiously while awaiting a chance to make weight.

First on the scale was main-event opponent Nobuhiro Ishida of Japan, who weighed 155 pounds for his super welterweight match with Paul “The Punisher” Williams, who weighed 153 1/2. The fighters’ registering two different weight classes raised some quiet confusion about where on the scale the fight would happen. Super welterweight, apparently. Though, as Williams and Ishida will not be fighting for a title, Ishida did not have to make 154.

Following them were IBF light heavyweight titlist Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud – who made 175 pounds – and Gabriel “Chico Guapo (Handsome Boy)” Campillo, who weighed 173 1/2. Cloud, who is not a prohibitive favorite in their Saturday match by any means, was all dignity and composure before and during the weigh-in, belying the storm he brings with him in the ring. “Chico Guapo,” meanwhile, took the post-scale stare down as a good chance to look over the hundred or so gathered, with his dreamy eyes.

The card’s biggest draw, the aforementioned Arreola, was sixth on the scale, weighing 245 pounds. He was preceded by Texas heavyweight Eric Molina, who made 228. Immediately after Arreola cited Zapata and appeared trimmer than the man who was once a premium-cable headliner, he got in a stare-down shouting match with Molina that was 99 percent shtick and perhaps one percent genuine animosity. Arreola, for his Mexican roots, is expected to attract whatever crowd attends Saturday’s card.

Doors open at 5:30 PM local time, with first bell scheduled to ring at 6:30. 15rounds.com will have full ringside coverage.

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA – Puerto Rican welterweight rising star Thomas Dulorme continues to impress ringside observers as he quickly disposed of Aris Ambriz inside of one round in the Showtime-televised main event at the Chumash Casino Resort on Friday night.

Dulorme (14-0, 11 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico dropped Ambriz (16-3-1, 8 KOs) of Azusa, California hard with a sweeping left early in the first round. Ambriz, 144, rose from the mat, but was quickly backed against the ropes. Dulorme, 143, dropped Ambriz with the ensuing combination. Referee David Mendoza stopped the bout without a count at 2:12 of the opening round.

With the victory, Dulorme, the WBA #3/WBC #9/WBO #15 ranked welterweight, claimed the vacant NABF Welterweight title and appears ready for a step-up in the level of his competition.

In the televised co-feature, world ranked contender Jonathan Gonzalez (15-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico scored a ten-round unanimous decision over pugnacious Billy Lyell (24-11, 5 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio.

Gonzalez, the WBO #8/WBA #9/WBC #13 ranked light middleweight, looked to be a full weight class bigger than Lyell in the ring – an advantage that largely told the story of the fight. Gonzalez, 156, was able to walk through the offense of Lyell, 153, and even when out landed, it was the Puerto Rican’s power shots that did most damage.

Through the first half of the fight, Gonzalez pressed Lyell back, eventually bloodying the Youngstown native’s mouth in the third. Even when in retreat, Lyell traded with Gonzalez punch-for-punch, but the young prospect would usually smirk in response.

Late in the fight, Gonzalez, who had hit the scales five times in order to make the contracted weight limit, went into a shell and allowed Lyell to have some moments.
Lyell controlled the ninth, even playing to the crowd, as Gonzalez mostly followed him around the ring.

Gonzalez snarled at Lyell’s opening volley to start the tenth and turned up his output level from the three previous rounds. In the end, all three official judges scored the late Lyell rally, but still had Gonzalez the winner by the wide margin of 98-92 and 97-93 twice.

Roman Morales (9-0, 6 KOs) of San Ardo, California scored five knockdowns en route to an impressive fourth-round stoppage of late replacement Ernie Marquez (9-10-2, 3 KOs) of Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Marquez, 120, took the fight on Wednesday and by the second round it was clear he was in over his head. After the fifth knockdown, referee David Mendoza waved off the fight at 2:23 of the fourth round. Morales, 120 ½, appears ready to tackle the next level.

Former amateur standout Roy Tapia (3-0, 2 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California made short work of Brice Yeniki (0-6) of North Las Vegas, Nevada with a devastating first-round knockout. Tapia, 123, pressured Yeniki, 120 ½, to the ropes, where he eventually uncorked a hellacious left hook. Yeniki was clearly out, and referee Marcos Rosales stopped the bout without a count at 2:34 of the first round.

Rufino Serrano (12-3) of Santa Maria, California by way of Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico boxed his way to his second career victory over longtime journeyman Rodrigo Aranda (8-17-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Tabasco, Zacatecas, Mexico.

Serrano, 126, fought at close quarters in the first few rounds, which Aranda, 128, welcomed. However, Serrano’s edge in hand speed won out over Aranda’s determined attack. By mid fight Serrano settled into the jab-and-move style his following has been accustomed seeing over the years at the Chumash Casino Resort.

After a point deduction in the sixth for a low blow on Aranda’s hip, Serrano was awarded the unanimous six-round decision by scores of 57-56 and 59-54 twice. In December of 2010, Serrano dropped Aranda in the first round en route to another six-round decision.

In his second attempt at gaining a victory on U.S. soil, Azat Hovhannesyan (2-1, 1 KO) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia punished William Fisher (0-5) of Victorville, California before scoring the stoppage in the fourth round.

Hovhannesyan, 126, opened up in the second round with right hand leads against the southpaw Fisher, 128, to great effect. Hovhannesyan routinely rushed inside without caution, while Fisher pushed most of his punches. Hovhannesyan pummeled Fisher throughout the third as referee Marcos Rosales looked poised to stop it. Finally in the fourth, Hovhannesyan dropped Fisher near the ropes with a two-handed attack. When Fisher gamely rose, he was soon met with a right uppercut that snapped back his head and pressed Rosales to leap in and call a halt to the contest at 2:43 of the fourth.

Two amateur exhibitions opened the card, as Daniel Flores of the Paso Boxing Gym in Paso Robles, California took on Manuel Romero, also of the Paso Boxing Gym and Oscar Mendoza of the Santa Maria Boxing Club in Santa Maria, California met Manny Flores, also of Santa Maria Boxing Club.

Two additional amateur exhibitions took place later in the evening, as Evander Augustine of the Paso Boxing Gym took on Brandon Gutierrez of the Central Coast Boxing Club in Santa Maria and Rocky Natartez of the Santa Maria Boxing Club met Freddy Perez of Ray Baca’s Boxing Academy in Lompoc, California.

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

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

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA — Touted rising welterweight Thomas Dulorme aims to impress in his West Coast debut as he takes on Aris Ambriz in the ten-round Showtime-televised main event emanating from the Chumash Casino Resort Friday night. Fighters weighed in Thursday evening for the six-bout card.

After turning professional in Florida in 2008, Dulorme (13-0, 10 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico returned to the States for three fights in 2011, highlighted by a comprehensive decision over former titleholder DeMarcus Corley in June. Dulorme, the WBA #3/WBC #9/WBO #15 ranked welterweight, capped his year with a nine-round unanimous decision over former title challenger Charlie Jose Navarro in Panama in October.

“I feel I got tested and taken into deep, deep water in my last fight against Navarro, but I learned to swim that night,” Dulorme told Showtime on Friday. Dulorme, who scaled 143-pounds Thursday, had been scheduled to begin his 2012 campaign against Jose Reynoso, but a training injury forced a change in opponents just ten days ago.

In stepped Aris Ambriz (16-2-1, 8 KOs) of Azusa, California (who had gone 0-1-1 against Reynoso) for Friday’s vacant NABF Welterweight title bout. Ambriz, who has rarely fought above 140-pounds, rebounded from a loss to well regarded Pier Oliver Cote with a six-round decision over Juan Santiago last June. Ambriz weighed in at 144-pounds at Thursday’s weigh-in.

In the televised co-feature, 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian Jonathan Gonzalez (14-0, 13 KOs) of San Juan looks to add former title challenger Billy Lyell to his list of credentials in a ten-round light middleweight bout.

Lyell (24-10, 5 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio has become a favorite opponent of matchmakers since his shocking 2009 upset of John Duddy. The win over the previously unbeaten Irishman eventually landed Lyell cracks at the IBF and WBC Silver Middleweight titles, which the Ohio native lost fairly one-sidedly in distance bouts to Sebastian Sylvester and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Gonzalez, the WBO #8/WBA #9/WBC #13 ranked light middleweight, impressed as he stepped up in class last time out with a one-sided ten-round unanimous decision over former contender Richard Gutierrez in June. Gonzalez had been scheduled to fight in November, but an illness forced his lengthy hiatus. “I got very sick and was in bed for two days,” said Gonzalez. “I probably still could have fought in November and I wanted to fight, but my team said ‘no’.” Gonzalez weighed in at 156 after several attempts, while Lyell scaled 153-pounds on his first try.

Super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (8-0, 5 KOs) of San Ardo, California will make his fifth appearance at the Chumash Casino Resort against late replacement Ernie Marquez (9-9-2, 3 KOs) of Fort Morgan, Colorado in a bout slated for either eight or six rounds, depending on how long previous bouts last.

After a decorated amateur career, Morales had a stellar rookie year in 2011, posting eight mostly dominate victories. Despite his professional inexperience, Morales has shown the poise of a veteran throughout his early career. Marquez, who scored an upset of previously unbeaten former Olympian Yan Barthelemy back in 2008, took the fight on Wednesday. Morales’ original opponent Jonathan Alcantara had withdrawn with a wrist injury. Morales weighed-in at 120 ½-pounds, while Marquez scaled 120.

Local favorite Rufino Serrano (11-3) of Santa Maria, California by way of Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico will take on journeyman Rodrigo Aranda (8-16-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Tabasco, Zacatecas, Mexico in a six-round featherweight contest. Serrano, appearing in a Chumash ring for the tenth time, scaled 126-pounds. Aranda, a loser of nine straight, weighed-in at 128-pounds. In December of 2010, Serrano dropped Aranda in the first round en route to a six-round decision.

Roy Tapia (2-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California will meet Brice Yeniki (0-5) of North Las Vegas, Nevada in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Fighting at the Chumash Casino for the third straight time, Tapia, the 2007 National PAL Champion at 125-pounds, appears to be easing into his pro career. If there is something to shoot for in tonight’s bout for Tapia, perhaps becoming the first to stop Yeniki would be the goal. Yeniki has gone the distance in all five of his defeats, including one against a then 3-0 Christopher Martin back in 2006.

Hoping his second appearance in the States goes better than his first, Azat Hovhannesyan (1-1, 1 KO) of Glendale, California by way of Yerevan, Armenia will take on winless William Fisher (0-4) of Victorville, California in a four-round featherweight bout. Hovannesyan retuned to Armenia to stop a no-hoper last September, having had lost a unanimous decision in his debut on U.S. soil in April. Hovhannesyan weighed-in at 126-pounds, while Fisher came in at 128.

Tickets for tonight’s event, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at StarTickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

NABF Welterweight Championship, 10 Rounds
Dulorme 143
Ambriz 144

Light Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Gonzalez 156
Lyell 153

Super Bantamweights, 6 or 8 Rounds
Morales 120 ½
Marquez 120

Featherweights, 6 Rounds
Serrano 126
Aranda 128

Super Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Tapia 123
Yeniki 120 ½

Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Hovhannesyan 126
Fisher 128

Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime

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

History will have the last say on where Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko rank among great brothers. Their unprecedented reign is either a reflection of a fading heavyweight division full of more clowns than Ringling Brothers or an enduring statement about their power, skill and smarts. If they were American instead of Ukrainian, they might be more appreciated. Then again, they might have been NFL defensive ends instead of fighters.

The good news – good sense, too – is that neither Klitschko is in a race with time or Floyd Mayweather Jr. to define their place. Can’t win that one. But they can beat the next guy in front of them, Dereck Chisora for Vitali on Saturday in Munich and Jean Marc Mormeck for Wladimir on March 3 in Dusseldorf in an EpixHD.com trilogy that includes lots of autobahn miles and Alexander Povetkin-versus-Marco Huck on Feb. 25 in Stuttgart.

“My career is not over,’’ Vitali said in a conference call.

At 40, it is a lot closer to the end than it is the beginning. Even with a political career in his future, however, there was no spin about when he might quit or how he hopes to be remembered.

“It’s always very difficult to talk about myself,’’ he said. “It’s you, as boxing experts, who know about that better. You can be objective, much more objective.’’

Okay, maybe some spin. With his own political party, The Punch, and talk about a third run for mayor of Kiev, his political footwork is as artful as any he employs in the ring. A little flattery for the media is a beautiful feint. Nevertheless, there was a tone that says he knows he will encounter an emerging, perhaps surprising, new face in what looks to be a division that is dormant, if not near extinction.

“Lennox Lewis was a big star, a big star,’’ said Vitali, who nearly upset Lewis in 2003 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. “Right now, all the big stars have retired. Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson are not there. Lennox Lewis is not there.

“No big names, and that’s why everyone from the new generation who challenges the Klitschkos gets stopped. Any moment, there can be a new guy. He can be tough. He can give us a tough challenge. One of them is Dereck Chisora.’’

But Chisora’s experience doesn’t add up to much of a chance. With only 17 pro bouts including two losses and nine knockouts, Chisora is an apprentice on a master’s canvas that includes the World Boxing Council’s title, 43 victories, 40 knockouts and two defeats. There nothing new about that, at least not during a Klitschko reign that some say has been suffocating.

“For a real challenge, it would have to be somebody who can beat a Klitschko,’’ Vitali said. “But we don’t give anyone a chance inside the ring. We leave no room for doubt that we are stronger than our opponents. That’s why everybody is talking about a crisis in boxing because nobody can beat us.

“No, it is not a crisis, although somebody told us the name of the crisis is the Klitschko brothers, because nobody can beat the Klitschko brothers.’’

Barring an upset Saturday or on March 3, only they can. But that’s a fight that will happen only as a computer game. Vitali said they promised their mom that they would never fight each other. Besides, it would be biblical-like spectacle offensive by even boxing’s elusive standards. That’s not to say there isn’t a sibling rivalry. It happens on the ping-pong table. It’s there again in the swimming pool when Vitali makes it sound as if he is trying to beat Michael Phelps.

“Other than a hairy chest, he’s much better than me,’’ Vitali says of heats in a 50-meter pool. “Sometimes in ping-pong, but it is more difficult.’’

Wladimir, 35, is the athlete in the family, Vitali says.

“My brother has a big talent in boxing and in sport,’’ he says.

Only at the chess board and as a dad does Vitali say he has an advantage. Vitali has three kids. Wladimir has none.

“I dominate him, three-to-zero,’’ he said.

Dominant is the only way to describe the both of them.

Gonzales puts a grudge into his Montreal date with Stevenson
Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales’ challenging trip to Montreal for a bout Saturday against Adonis Stevenson exploded Wednesday into a nasty grudge match.

At a Montreal news conference, Gonzales (27-1, 14 KOs) talked about Stevenson’s criminal past, which includes an 18-month jail sentence for assault and his role in a Quebec gang that forced young girls into prostitution. Gonzales’ public comments enraged Stevenson (16-1, 13 KOs), who used a series of expletives in a promise to knock him out.

Stevenson, who was charged with the crimes 14 years ago, also went to his Facebook page and alleged that Gonzales used a racial slur, the N-word. Gonzales denied it. It’s not clear why the Haitian-born Stevenson waited to write the allegation in a Facebook missive. A racial slur usually sparks an immediate, face-to-face response.

Gonzales is a Mexican-American who has heard many slurs. In my years around him, however, I’ve never heard him make one. But it’s evident he has angered Stevenson, who might be further angered at the sight of a logo – APECA — that Gonzales plans to wear on his trunks. It stands for the “Protection of Exploited Children and Adults.” Gonzales, who took the fight on short notice, says he will wear it in support of Natalie’s House, a women’s shelter near Phoenix.

The bout for the No. 2 spot in the International Boxing Federation’s 168-pound ratings is scheduled to be telecast by Fight Now TV, which can be accessed by cable and satellite distributors.

AZ NOTES
Arizona’s first card in 2012 is scheduled for Friday night at Celebrity Theatre. At least eight bouts are planned, including two amateur, on Iron Boy Promotion’s first event in the state. Roger Mayweather is scheduled to work a couple of corners for young fighters from the Mayweather gym in Las Vegas. First bell is scheduled for 7 p.m. (MST).

The prizefighter formerly known as “Boxing’s Most Feared” has a problem with misfortune. Paul Williams, in his mind and his handlers’, has been a victim of bad luck. Williams’ trainer, George Peterson, sees no reason to make changes, Williams seems unsure if he’s ever technically lost, and Dan Goosen, who receives a promoter’s fee from Williams, says Miguel Cotto is a redemptive tale for Williams because Cotto just signed a big contract for a fight he will almost certainly lose.

With friends like these, Williams returns to battle, Saturday, against Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Tex. Williams will be joined by IBF light heavyweight titlist Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud, in a match with Spain’s Gabriel “Chico Guapo” Campillo, and California heavyweight Chris (Chico Menos Guapo) Arreola. Showtime “Championship Boxing,” a program whose name deserves quotation marks round it this time, will broadcast the action on a couple of its channels and in Spanish, too.

The card is called “Triple Threat,” which is fitting; it is exactly what Williams’ career now faces. Having lost by 2010 Knockout of the Year to Sergio Martinez, and having won by 2011 Robbery of the Year against Erislandy Lara, Williams is in danger of making the sort of triple performance that would take him off premium cable in the future.

Is this just? Technically. Were he not going to make a rubber match with Martinez, one might argue, and many did, Williams did not deserve a rehabilitation match on HBO in July. HBO’s commentators caught this drift and effectively retired Williams in the final third of his match with Lara. That the judges’ decision went to Williams mattered little to anyone. Other events were unfolding.

Back to those in a bit. First, there is Williams’ ongoing implication that he is a victim of misfortune. This sets up a tricky conundrum for Williams. If luck was all it took for the southpaw Martinez to land an overhand left on Williams, one that cut Williams’ lights long before he landed facefirst on an Atlantic City canvas, luck is probably what got Williams his breakout decision over Antonio Margarito in 2007, his blowout rematch victory with Carlos Quintana in 2008, and his bizarre victory over Kermit Cintron in . . . OK, let’s not get carried away; luck may have had nothing to do with Cintron tossing himself out that California ring in 2010.

Luck is a poor choice of culprit for a prizefighter. It exists, sure, but it behooves no one to enter his training camp citing it. And not even luck can explain Williams’ collecting so many left hands from the southpaw Lara that observers had genuine concerns for his health in the championship rounds. Williams has no defense for fellow southpaws’ left hands, we now know – even if no one in Williams’ camp does.

But about those other unfolding events. Williams has lost favor in a way disproportionate to his performances. Never particularly popular – as a polite black man from Georgia, apparently, he offended multiple ethnic sensibilities – Williams nevertheless took a righteous path to his welterweight title by outworking Margarito and being ballsier than him in their 12th round. He then avenged a decision loss to Quintana, beat down Verno Phillips, decisioned Winky Wright and made a wonderful first match with Martinez.

But a curious thing went against Williams, very much the way it went against Juan Diaz three months or so before. Diaz, you’ll remember, made a close 2009 match with Paulie Malignaggi in Diaz’s native Houston. The decision could have gone either way, but Texas judge Gale Van Hoy gave the match to the hometown kid by a ridiculous margin, 118-110. So folks turned on Diaz.

Williams-Martinez I could have gone either way, too. But New Jersey judge Pierre Benoist favored Williams by an inexplicable 119-110 margin. And folks began to turn on Williams. Five months later, Martinez won the lineal middleweight title from Kelly Pavlik. A month after that, Williams watched in disbelief as Cintron dove through the ropes and exited their match on a stretcher, punching an ambulance door. When Williams and Martinez made their rematch in November 2010, Martinez was the prizefighter folks wanted to cheer, and Martinez gave them every reason to.

Another curious thing worked against Williams. Al Haymon, boxing’s quietest mastermind and Williams’ advisor, became a target of aficionados’ ire. Haymon, the narrative went, was chief among the reasons HBO Sports lost its way. Some of this was rival Bob Arum’s lusty spinning, and some of it was true.

Everyone h’d had enough of the Haymon-influenced regime at HBO Sports by the time Williams made his 2011 fight with Lara. When Williams spent most of the second half of that fight being abused by Lara, only to see his hand raised by majority-decision scores, Williams won the very ire aficionados had been saving for his advisor, ire that only grew when the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board – the very same group that took no umbrage with Pierre Benoist – suspended the three Williams-Lara judges.

Maybe there is something to be said for Williams’ finding a culprit in bad luck.

Ultimately, though, Williams has never stopped being in the ring what he always was: a freakishly large, volume-punching southpaw who makes entertaining matches against even difficult opponents. Outside the ring, his demeanor has turned a bit surly, but that surliness is honestly acquired. He likely feels wronged but has no idea by whom.

I’ll be in Corpus Christi, Saturday, for a couple reasons. First, Texas is my beat, and Art Museum of South Texas shares a parking lot with American Bank Center. Second, and more importantly, I do not want to think of myself as someone who wrongs Paul Williams. Boxing would be a better place if it were populated by more guys like Williams, and it will be an honor to cover him.

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

TUCSON — The long hair and large dark glasses were there. They identify Antonio Margarito wherever he goes these days. On Wednesday, he was in Tucson at a Casino Del Sol news conference for a March 23 ShoBox card promoted by his company, Showdown, and Top Rank.

That hair and those glasses almost have become a costume in Margarito’s role as one of boxing’s bad guys. I’m not sure it’s a part in the bloody theater that he ever wanted, or expected. But it’s there because of controversies as hard to heal as the battered skin around his right eye. He’s a target for well-aimed punches and pointed questions. Yet, he accepts it all with stubborn consistency and moves forward as he always has, in the ring and outside of it.

The bad-boy portrayal was belied for a few hours in Tucson by a patient, approachable personality who is as comfortable as ever in his own skin, despite the scars. He sat with fans, writers, security guards, waiters and anybody else seeking an autograph or an answer. The bad guy was just a regular guy, which I think has always been his real role since long-ago days when he entered the ring at an open-air mercado in Phoenix with an old-shower-curtain for a robe. He is as unassuming now as he was then. But that might not be enough in a dangerous business that often demands a star become his own boss by assuming control of what he sees and what surrounds him.

Believe what you want about the right eye damaged by Manny Pacquiao and bloodied by Miguel Cotto. Believe what you want about whether Margarito knew his gloves were loaded in the handwrap controversy that started before his loss to Shane Mosley. I’m not sure I do. The eye is hidden behind those glasses. Handwrap-gate is hidden in a cloud of allegation. But know this: Margarito has never changed his own story about any of it. Despite my skepticism, I admire him for that.

He arrived in Tucson with the same mindset he had when he left New York in November after his dramatic rematch to Cotto was stopped in the 10th by the ringside physician. Margarito continues to say that the doctor acted prematurely, because of the pre-fight controversy about whether New York would even license him. He doesn’t have any immediate plans to quit, despite mounting talk in Mexico and the U.S. that it’s time. Vision in the surgically-repaired right eye is good, he says, although weakened tissue around the eye is vulnerable to further cuts. He wants to fight fellow-Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., despite questions about whether the Mexico City-based World Boxing Council would sanction the bout. His future, he says, would be determined by the Chavez bout.

“People are opinionated and, sure, they are welcome to those opinions,’’ Margarito said in Spanish translated by Gerry Truax, Showdown’s Arizona promoter for a card featuring unbeaten super-featherweight Diego Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas in defense of his North American Boxing Federation title against Miguel Beltran Jr. (26-1, 17 KOs) of Mexico. “I still feel strong. I’d be a good fight for an up-and-coming contender such as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Chavez hasn’t fought anybody at my level. I think that’s a good fight for me.

“If he winds up beating me, then it’s time to retire.’’

No matter what the WBC decides or whether Sergio Martinez emerges as a more viable challenge for the young Chavez, Top Rank and Sergio Diaz of Showdown first want Margarito to fight a tune-up.

“Get a win,’’ Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said.

A tune-up might restore some confidence and, more important, test the problematic eye. In a post-fight examination after the junior-middleweight loss to Cotto, Diaz said physicians determined that the vision is good. But the skin around it is not. Diaz said doctors recommend that Margarito ice it down before opening bell. He also said Margarito might have to adjust his ring style. Instead of the forward-moving machine with the indestructible chin, Margarito might have to become more defensive. He has to protect the eye from punches that will cut and unleash the carnage that will force another stoppage.

But that begs a question: Can Margarito change that style? I’m not sure he can any more than he can change what he has said about all of the many controversies that, fair or not, have become part of his portrayal. He is proud of his career and how he foresees his place in history.

“I am indebted for life to my fans,’’ he said when asked how he wants to be remembered. “I’m loved wherever I go. People remind me that I’m a three-time world champion. That’s how I expect to be remembered. For that and that I always gave everything for my fans. I never left anything in doubt.’’

Questions are still there. Always will be. But about Margarito’s consistency, there’s no doubt. No doubt, either, about a regular guy’s loyalty for regular fans.

AZ NOTES
During the Tucson news conference, Magdaleno, who will fight for the only the second time outside of Nevada in 22 bouts, calls Beltran “a brawler with a raging-bull mentality’’ Magdaleno hopes for a shot at a major title some time in 2012.

Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales heads to Montreal on Feb. 13 for a tough bout on Feb. 18 against Adonis Stevenson at the Bell Centre. In the corner opposite of Gonzales, there will be Stevenson trainer Emanuel Steward, who once called Gonzales the potential star of the 2004 Olympic team. At the time, Steward was projected to be the U.S. coach. Before the Athens Games, however, Gonzales went pro and Steward withdrew as the American coach.

Yesterday it was announced that 140-pound prospect Jose Reynoso was forced to pull out of his scheduled ten-round bout against unbeaten Thomas Dulorme, which was to have taken place next Friday at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, due to a hip injury suffered in training. Reynoso, extremely disappointed to withdraw from the Showtime-televised bout, explained the cause of the injury to 15rounds.com today.

“I was hitting the double end bag and I slipped and fell on my hip,” explained Reynoso (15-3-1, 2 KOs) of Riverside, California. “I couldn’t get up and had to be carried to the car, where I was taken to the emergency room.”

In a Gary Shaw Productions press release, it was noted that Reynoso’s hip was popped back into place at the hospital, where a doctor informed him that he had suffered a hip contusion.

“I am sorry to disappoint everyone,” added Reynoso, who has impressively gone 5-0-1 since his last defeat, including wins over previously unbeaten Aris Ambriz and Hector Serrano. The fight with Dulorme would have far and away been Reynoso’s highest profile fight as well as his toughest test to date.

Dulorme (13-0, 10 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico remains without an opponent as of now, though he will remain in the main event against a replacement. “My team is diligently looking for an opponent to step in,” said Shaw in yesterday’s press release. “Right now we have a few names that we’re looking at. An announcement will be made shortly.”

Photo by Carlos Baeza/Thompson Boxing Promotions

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

LAS VEGAS (February 5, 2012)–World Boxing Organization (WBO) number three ranked Cruiserweight B.J. Flores is looking for a world title shot and may have just received it….with a catch.

Flores (27-1-1, 17 KO’s) was extended an offer by K2 Promotions to face number-ranked Ola Afolabi (18-2-3, 8 KO’s) on March 3rd (25 DAYS AWAY) in Germany on the Wladimir Klitschko – Jean Marc Mormeck world Heavyweight title card.

Flores is ready and able to take on Afolabi but the timing seems to be a bit dubious.

“I want this fight badly and this is a GREAT opportunity for me to fight a big fight against a very good opponent. I look forward to facing you for the WBO interim world title!”

Flores is coming off his 3rd fight in the last 6 months, a very active schedule nowadays and wants at least 45 days, as the WBO rules state before this important fight is to take place.

“I want this fight!!!! I have been very active lately and ready for this type of challenge. But on twenty-six days notice? And having to go to GERMANY? This is a very serious fight for a very serious title and I demand my full 45 days of preparation, especially considering I just fought last Saturday. It’s only fair”

“I have worked very hard for this opportunity and combine that with a very very low 25,000 offer, it doesn’t seem like they really want this fight. This is a great chance for the Cruiserweight division to put on a great fight and they want to stick it on an undercard where no one will see it, for very low money with only 26 days notice and I would have to travel to Germany”, continued Flores

“I have just had three successful shows in Springfield, Missouri and with the cash streams we can generate, we could do the fight there and bring in a network TV station and both of us can not only make more money but it could re-energize the Cruiserweight division in the States. This fight deserves to be on TV and I deserve the regulated 45 day preparation time as I am the highest rated contender. Ola, I will pay you more money than you have offered me and we can definitely get American TV to cover this event. I demand the proper amount of time and I want everyone in America to see this fight as it is good for the division. Fighting on the undercard in Germany is with 25 days notice is not the right way to win a WORLD title”

“Have your promoter get in touch with Don King and we can set this up EASY!! I want this fight!”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, pound for pound king Manny Pacquaio has agreed to defend the WBO Welterweight title against Timothy Bradley on June 9th in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao is just waiting on Bradley to make a deal with promoter Top Rank which is expected shortly.

“From our end, the fight is done,” said Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz. “I just got off the phone with (Top Rank’s) Bob Arum and Manny, so we’re done. I don’t assume there will be a problem from the Bradley side. We came to terms with Top Rank on the fight and Manny has approved everything. This morning I had a number of conversations with Bob negotiating the June 9 fight and I relayed everything to Manny.”

“We are going to be having further conversations with Bradley and his management early this week and hopefully finalize the deal,” said Top Rank President Todd duBoef. “But the truth is my (promotional) agreement with Bradley lays out certain parameters for a Pacquiao fight, so there is a framework already.

“We’ve been talking about this for over a month and we always had a Plan B in case Mayweather didn’t happen,” Koncz said. “Last time I went to the Philippines, I took Manny tapes of all of the opponents we were talking about and he watched them with his wife, Jinkee. Bradley was one of them, as everybody knows

“Bradley is a young, undefeated fighter who deserves a chance,” Koncz said. “Manny is excited. Until we name an opponent, boxing is out of Manny’s mind. He’s busy working in (the Filipino) congress. But he gets interested in boxing again when he has an opponent and a fight. Now we know we have a date (and) an opponent and he’s excited.”

Phpto by Chris Farina / Top Rank

SAN ANTONIO – Tuesday, three or so hours after Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. skipped an open workout at Jesse James Leija’s gym, a workout that might have given local insiders a more favorable view of him, a remarkable new exhibition opened at The McNay – the crown jewel of South Texas art museums. “Andy Warhol: Fame and Misfortune,” a collection that includes 150 of Warhol’s works, examines the fascination we have with celebrities, especially when tragedies befall them.

Several days later, more than a few of the more than 14,000 South Texans who gathered in Alamodome to see Chavez fight fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio no doubt looked forward to a tragedy befalling a celebrity in the main event.

Alas, they were disappointed once more. Chavez, confronting for the first time since 2007 another Mexican national, went chest-to-chest, head-to-head and elbow-to-shoulder with Rubio for at least 30 of their 36 minutes together and beat the smaller man convincingly, or at least unanimously.

Ringside judges had the match for Chavez by scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110. Scoring from ringside, my card, too, went for Chavez, 116-114. That’s not a typo. I scored the first two rounds even, 10-10, before scoring rounds 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11 for Chavez, and the rest for Rubio. I scored the first two rounds even because it seems a scorer’s job is not to strain to divine a winner in each round but rather allow the combatants to strain for his favor.

Why juxtapose Culiacan’s Chavez and Pittsburgh’s Warhol, when aside from a temporary accident of geography, the two men have nothing in common? Because fame, a thing that happened naturally for the less talented – though not that much less talented – Chavez was a point of endless pursuit and fascination for the late Warhol who is, and will remain, more influential in the world than Chavez or the father whose name he won at birth.

A note about that name. At the kick-off press conference in January, Chavez was more animated than usual. Rubio and Sergio Martinez had been calling for fights with him, using, of course, the none too subtle implication Chavez was as protected in his prizefighting career as in his early life. The WBC’s Jose Sulaiman had recently risen from his wheelchair to wrest the belt from Martinez’s person and give it to Chavez – giving the Argentine middleweight champion a fair claim on some future match with Chavez.

“They want to make money with my name and my fame,” Chavez responded in Spanish, without even a theatrical touch of irony. “Of course I am frustrated.”

Wait, whose name and fame?

That question is a poser for Warhol’s philosophy, as it turns out. Warhol saw fame and achievement and commercial success, all, as one in the same thing. He raised cupidity to an art form, mass producing screen prints in a workshop and publicly measuring their value by the strictest monetary means. He reduced aesthetics to economics, and in so doing showed Americans, those curious children of the world’s most ambitious salesmen, a pastel-coated reflection of themselves. And instead of being revolted, we very much liked it.

Warhol endures today in large part because he was a first mover – to employ a marketism that should revolt any art critic. Warhol anticipated everything from the logo on the t-shirt you wore this weekend, to HBO’s “24/7” program and the celebrity it has made of Money May, a character who, in his desperation and grasping, likely would have enchanted Warhol. But Warhol also had an Eastern Orthodox sense of justice (incidentally, he was quite religious).

He wanted fame to be earned in some way. Which is where the Chavez case makes things interesting. Famous in his country from about the time he began grade school, Chavez never wanted for notice or celebrity. When he made his pro debut, without so much as an amateur tune-up, it was nationally televised in Mexico – the sort of acclaim Americans no longer accord even Olympic gold medalists, if ever we have another of those.

Chavez was famous solely for another man’s toils, and one might infer such an outcome would not have enchanted Warhol.

But what about today’s Chavez, the man who shoved and whacked Marco Antonio Rubio round the ring, Saturday? That’s a more interesting question. This Chavez, still resentful of underclass usurpers, still prone to the majestic rights of doing whatever the hell he pleases – showing up 30 pounds overweight for training camp and then adhering to the spartan ritual of driving the streets of Los Angeles allegedly drunk at 4:30 on a Sunday morning – this Chavez, as a self-inventing celebrity of his own, is another thing entirely.

He has something for each observer to loathe and admire at once; anyone who still thinks Chavez is all good or all bad is employing a filter too many.

Chavez can fight a little bit, can’t he? Rubio was probably just past his expiration date, as predicted, but power is the last thing to go, as the old timers say, and Chavez absorbed plenty Rubio right hands. Lefts, too. What did Chavez do? He moved closer to his aggressor, wading into the beating rain of Rubio’s fists till he found a quieter, softer place. Exactly as you’re supposed to do. Who would have thought that five fights into a collaborative experiment with trainer Freddie Roach – and weightloss guru Alex Ariza – Chavez Jr. would be fighting so much more like Chavez Sr.?

Misfortune will befall Chavez eventually; it befalls everyone who makes his living in this brutal, gorgeous game. Chavez will be stretched prone across the canvas by someone in the next 10 years, finally making of himself an apt subject for a Warhol canvas.

Chavez, as a subject, grows more interesting with each fight.

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

He was a trainer by trade. He was called an ambassador by everybody who knows that boxing desperately needs one. Angelo Dundee was all of that and yet so much more.

“That one minute with Angelo between rounds was like coming home to your mother and father,’’ said Bill Caplan, who worked in 1974 for George Foreman when he lost in Zaire with Dundee in Muhammad Ali’s corner and again when Dundee was there two decades later for a 45-year-old Foreman in his 1994 knockout of Michael Moorer for his second heavyweight title.

Mom-and-dad’s wisdom passed Wednesday night with Dundee’s death at his home near Tampa, Fla. Foreman mourns. Caplan mourns. Boxing mourns. Ali got the news while at home in Phoenix, less than a month since a reunion with Dundee at Ali’s birthday party in Louisville, said Jimmy Walker, the founder of Celebrity Fight Night, Ali’s annual fund raiser in the battle against Parkinson’s Disease.

The 90-year-old Dundee was there, confined to a wheelchair after undergoing hip-replacement surgery. Ali, confined by Parkinson’s terrible symptoms, sat next to him. Time marches on and often over. But Ali and Dundee remain inseparable. They have a corner on history.

“You could see, really feel, this chemistry between them,’’ said Walker, a Phoenix businessman who joined Ali in Louisville, his hometown, for his 70th birthday.

Other than Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, it’s the kind of chemistry you don’t see much of anymore, perhaps because Dundee was always more loyal to people than money. Sounds quaint today. Then again, boxing was at its best when Dundee was in a corner. He was with Sugar Ray Leonard after Ali and Carmen Basilio before him. But it was his time, a lifetime, with Ali that defined his generosity and gentleness in a sport not known for either.

Ernest Hemingway once said that courage is grace under pressure. Few have been able to put that one into action like Dundee. Hemingway’s definition defines Dundee. He was there to guide a fighter through the rigors of training and the subsequent adversity of a fight, yet he never interfered with their lives outside of the ropes.

He knew all the tricks. One of them saved Ali from a loss to Henry Cooper in 196 at London’s Wembley Stadium. Ali was on the mat and in trouble in the fourth round. Dundee bought some time by alerting the referee to a tear in Ali’s gloves. Officials searched for a new pair and never found them, allowing Ali to regain composure and confidence. Years later, Dundee acknowledged he saw the tear before opening bell. It was there to use, just in case. That’s part of the game. Interference in Ali’s decision to become a Black Muslim and change his name from Cassius Clay, his opposition to the Vietnam War and his public bravado during the polarized ‘60s was not.

In a sport and time loaded with controversy, Dundee was never a controversial man. In boxing, only the back-stabbers outnumber the low blows. If anybody has ever had a bad word to say about Dundee, I’ve never met him. Caplan remembers a man who just liked people.

“He genuinely cared about everybody he met,’’ Caplan said. “In the days before e-mail and cell phones, Angelo would send post cards to the boxing writers of the day from where ever he was in the world at the time. He was just that kind of guy.’’

He’s gone. But his example lives on. Like Ali, I live in Arizona where we talked about civility after the shooting of Tucson Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, but practice it rarely in our politics, or on our streets. I cover boxing, a business in which trash-talk passes for civil discourse. Listen to the never-ending talks for a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight. Then, listen to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich debate in the Republican race for the presidential nomination. Different games, same insults.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Pacquiao, Mayweather, Romney, Gingrich and the rest of us could spend that minute in Dundee’s corner? Mom and pop always knew what to do, how to do it.

AZ NOTES
The 2012 Celebrity Fight Night is scheduled for March 24 at the Marriott Desert Ridge and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. Last year’s event raised $6.6 million in Ali’s annual fight against Parkinson’s.

Las Vegas super-featherweight Diego Magdaleno replaces Dallas super-bantamweight Roberto Marroquin on the Mach 23 ShoBox-televised card at Tucson’s Casino del Sol. Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs) is scheduled for the main event against Miguel Beltran Jr. (26-1, 17 KOs) in the main event for a North American Boxing Federation title. The fighters are scheduled to be at a news conference Wednesday (2 p.m. MST) at Casino del Sol.

SAN ANTONIO – “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire is already celebrated among boxing insiders for his hand speed, footwork, power and charisma. Now insiders have one more gift of Donaire’s to celebrate: an eye for talent.

Wednesday at ChampionFit Gym, Donaire conducted an open workout for fans and media, as part of promotional festivities for his Saturday super bantamweight title fight with Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at Alamodome. After light stretching, Donaire invited two local boys to join him in the ring. The first one demurred, but the second bound through the ropes.

Seeing the boy was a southpaw, Donaire held his right hand aloft and ordered jab, double-jab, and jab-cross combinations. After four combos, Donaire had seen enough, looked at the ringside crowd, and said, “He’s going to be good!”

Turned out, he already is. Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez was the youngster Donaire thrilled and complimented Wednesday, not knowing that in offering his bare hand to the diminutive Rodriguez, Donaire was absorbing blows from a 2012 National Silver Gloves finalist. Rodriguez was in the gym with his dad to see Donaire – Rodriguez’s favorite fighter – before leaving later in the day for Missouri, where he will compete for a national title.

Also present to supervise Donaire’s open workout was former world champion Jesse James Leija, owner of ChampionFit Gym. Leija watched Donaire work with trainer Robert Garcia and spoke about his own experience of a handpad workout with Donaire earlier in the week.

“He kicks like a mule,” Leija said. “He has power and speed, and what I really like is that he says, ‘I love trying new things.’”

Asked if he thought Donaire had a high ring IQ, Leija was emphatic.

“Very!” he said. “You can’t do the things he does without knowing.”

For his part, Donaire was confident but humble, answering questions for local media before climbing in the ring and entertaining gathered fans. Unsurprisingly, based on his roots and promoter, Donaire was asked several times to compare himself to Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao.

“If you ask me (who’s better), I am going to tell myself that I am,” Donaire said, before clarifying that such self-belief is essential to any successful prizefighter.

Asked about trash-talking and being disrespectful of opponents, Donaire was animated.

“I respect my guys,” he said. “I respect everyone. I don’t do that sh-t.”

Donaire and Vazquez Jr. will join headliners Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Marco Antonio Rubio for a Friday weigh-in, before Saturday’s event. Friday’s trip to the scales will be held in front of the Alamo at 2:00 PM CT. It is open to the public.

CLICK TO ORDER THIS CANT MISS FIGHT CARD
NEW YORK (January 30, 2012)—This Past Saturday night at The beautiful Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Tony “TNT” Grano (19-2-1, 15 KO’s) threw his name in the Heavyweight title mix with a thrilling third round stoppage over Brian Minto (35-5) in an NABF Elimination bout.

The bout headlined a card that was seen all over the world LIVE on www.gfl.tv

Boxing fans who missed the card can now watch the entire show for just $9.99 by clicking:
http://www.gfl.tv/Events/Fight/Boxing/Pro_Boxing_Fight_Night__Grano_vs_Minto/1313

It was Minto who controlled the action over the first two rounds and he even landed a right over the top that sent Grano to the canvas but that punch was ruled a slip.

In rounds three, Grano landed a chopping right hand that sent Minto to the canvas. When Minto got to his feet he was clearly shaken up but he was clearly on rubbery legs. Minto showed tremendous heart as instead of holding he stood and fought Grano toe to toe. That proved to be his undoing as Grano landed another hard right that deposited Minto on the floor and the fight was stopped immediately.

With the win, Grano puts himself in position to take on winner of the Jonathon Banks – Nikolai Firtha bout for the NABF title and a high ranking by the WBC.

In the co-feature, once beaten cruiserweight contender Eric Fields (20-1) put on an impressive boxing display with an eight round unanimous decision over Derrick Brown (13-7-3)

Fields worked behind a good jab and mixed in lead right hands to to keep Brown off balance and cruised to his ninth consecutive victory since his only professional defeat.

With one shocking right hand, Ela Nunez (11-11-1, 3 KO’s) scored a knockout victory over Jackie Trivilino (8-4-2)in round two of their scheduled six round Woman’s bout.

Ryan McKenzie (10-0, 9 KO’s) kept his perfect streak alive as he went to 9-0 with an impressive American debut and a second round stoppage over Richard Starnino (9-7-2) in a Light Heavyweight bout.

Local favorites Brian Clookey (4-0-1) and Derrick Evans (3-0) remained undefeated with victories over Ariel Espina(8-20-3)l and Bakari (0-3) respectively.

In the Evans – Bakari bout, it was controversy from the beginning as the two fighters jawed, held and even got in some illegal punches before Bakari was disqualified in the third round.

Impressive prospect Travis Peterkin made it 4-0 with his first distance victory over the rough Steven Tyner (2-3-1) in a four round Light Heavyweight bout.

Marc Abrams, Stephanie Kula and Joe Antonacci called the action LIVE on gfl.tv

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SAN ANTONIO – I can see Alamodome from my window. It’s a mile southeast of where I sit, and its southwestern spire is visible between Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and Tower of the Americas. Alamodome’s history is interesting in a way that enkindles barbershop dialogues. Indulge me a bit.

Before he became the 10th secretary of Housing and Urban Development – and inadvertently fired the starter’s pistol on policies that brought economic ruin 15 years later – Henry Cisneros was a mayor enchanted by the idea of professional football in Alamo City. Build a stadium, his thinking went, and the NFL will come.

The city built Alamodome, but professional football never came (unless one counts the Saints’ 2005 refugee appearance after Hurricane Katrina). The local branch of University of Texas began its inaugural football season last fall, and Alamodome will have an Arena Football League team later this year. But you get the picture.

Saturday, happily enough, Alamodome will return to doing what it does well as any stadium in the country: host prizefighting. Two upcoming stars – one by inheritance, the other ingenuity – will headline the card. Nonito Donaire, the ingenious one, will make his super bantamweight debut against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. And Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will defend a middleweight title against Marco Antonio Rubio, using the patronym that set an attendance record at Alamodome five months after it opened in 1993.

Or perhaps Chavez-Rubio will be 2012’s best fight. Nobody knows how these things go. This city certainly does not and even if it did would be reticent to say so. That’s part of San Antonio’s special character. Its downtown area is an intriguing, maddening, wonderful snarl of Mexican culture and German industriousness – the sort of place that can provoke a comfortable type of marvel.

If you’re in town for fightweek, spend some time off the well-worn track. You’ll get a chance to see the Alamo, fear not; the weigh-in will happen in front of the place once known as Misión San Antonio de Valero, Friday. But there are four other founding Spanish missions within five miles of the Alamo, and each is a picturesque history unto itself.

If you travel with any sort of frequency, you’ve no doubt before made this proclamation: “I want to go someplace tourists never go!” Here’s a suggestion, then. Once you finish dutifully marching the commercial loop of River Walk, head west to the part of San Antonio River that locals use. Make a right and go north. You’ll find yourself beneath the country’s seventh-most populous city, surprised by its tranquility. Under each bridge you’ll see a unique installation by a local artist. Eventually you’ll come to historic Pearl Brewery where you can catch a ride home on a river taxi.

You’ll be back in your hotel with time for a nap before Saturday’s card. Get to Alamodome before 6:00 PM, though. Adam Lopez, our city’s best amateur, will make his professional debut on the undercard, beginning an adventure that will try to fill the prizefighting void Jesse James Leija left when he stopped fighting and started training. There’s another good place to visit, actually: Leija’s Championfit Gym is five miles up San Pedro Avenue and worth the drive.

The portion of the card televised by HBO – the first major event of the year – should be a pleasant departure from what the words “HBO Boxing” have come to connote with aficionados recently.

Nonito Donaire is what baseball scouts call a five-tool player. He is very large for a 122-pound fighter. He has speed, technique, and power in both hands. He must have a chin, too, though he rarely needs it.

That might change Saturday. Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. comes to fight. He is not large, quick or confident as Donaire, but he is the son of a Puerto Rican super bantamweight who made some history of his own in this city when, in 1995, he upset WBA world champion Orlando Canizales. Vazquez Sr. will be in his son’s corner, exactly where he was when Vazquez Jr. made one of 2011’s best fights against Jorge Arce. Expect Donaire to win, but expect him, also, to know he was in a fight.

Whither the main event? It will be entertaining because Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. makes entertaining matches. He is not a natural like his father, but he is better than you think. He is technically adequate and improving under trainer Freddie Roach. He understands how combat works from having watched his father do it during the 10 years of Chavez Sr.’s prime. And best of all, Chavez Jr. gets pissed off when he’s hit.

Marco Antonio Rubio should test Chavez early the way John Duddy did in Alamodome 17 months ago. Round the gyms down here, folks give Rubio a chance. That’s good; it’s what they’re supposed to do. We all did it with Duddy, Sebastian Zbik and Peter Manfredo. These were serious men, remember, more serious than Chavez anyway, we assumed, and they’d test his whiskers and balls. And they did, too.

And Chavez passed, too. Rubio’s talent is likely a day beyond its expiration date. His reflexes, canniness and desire to win probably went sour in 2011, but we don’t know it yet and won’t till Chavez opens the carton and takes a sniff. Chavez doesn’t know it either, and at the kick-off press conference he seemed unusually peevish about Rubio’s calling him out. Rubio is a fellow Mexican fighting before a partisan-Mexican crowd, too, so you never do know. But it says here Top Rank’s master matchmaker would never have Chavez postpone a reckoning with world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez to lose a fight with Marco Rubio.

Let’s end here: If you’re staying downtown this week and wish to visit a legendary local spot, come by San Fernando Gym any weeknight and honor the memory of the late Joe Souza.

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

CLICK TO ORDER THE FIGHT LIVE
Chris Algeiri 143lb – Chris Smith 141lb
Cletus Seldin 144 1/2 lb – Tyler Pogline 144 lb
Rich Neves 147 1/4lb – Anthony Birmingham 148lb
Adam Willett 208 lb – Aaron Kinch 260 lb
Raul Nuncio 159 lb – Anthony Jones 158 lb
Issouf Kinda 141lb – Angel Rios 144 lb
William Shammar Whitt 140 lb – Jayson Sia 138 1/2lb

During a quiet Thursday afternoon workout inside of Las Vegas’ H.I.T. Factory an upbeat young fighter wears an infectious smile as he carries out the final part of his training session. He is rising prospect J’leon Love, a 10-0 middleweight who hails from Dearborn Heights, Michigan and walks with a demeanor that makes it clear, he’s excited to be here, and after spending ten minutes with him you’ll find yourself excited about him.

In a sport that serves as something of a way out for troubled youth, or an outlet of pent up aggression, Love’s mindset seems to be in a different place from other young fighter’s in his situation, he’s having fun. Dubbing himself the gym’s resident prankster, Love carries out his training routines with all the pride and craft of a world class athlete, but what makes him endearing, and dangerous, is that he has not forgotten to enjoy the sport.

Fans will have an opportunity to watch J’leon in action on the Berto-Ortiz undercard February 11th, where his bout will be broadcasted along with the rest of the undercard on Showtime Extreme, but before he steps into the ring Love offers up a chance for fans to get to know him a little better.

On what he hopes to accomplish on February 11th “Whatever comes, a knockout would be great. I’d love to get some rounds and look good. Whatever comes really.”

On his favorite weapon in the ring “Body shots man. I love to go to the body, and jab. I think those are important tools in the professional game, and you don’t see a lot of young fighters working enough on those things. One of my advantages is the sparring I get around the country, and advice from these top notch trainers, and that’s what sets me apart.”

On his favorite boxing memories “I don’t really have one that stands out. I’m blessed to have so many experiences, but I think coming up in Detroit is where a lot of my memories are. Detroit is home for me and that’s where I learned it all. I’m blessed and have a great family.”

On living and training in Las Vegas “I love it, I love the lights. I’ll be running in the desert and you can see the lights from a distance, there’s nothing like it. I don’t gamble, I like to keep my money. I don’t drink, but I love to get out and have a good time. I’ll go out and get a water and that’ll be my champagne, and I’ll have just as much fun as everyone else.”

On his future in the middleweight division “I’ll fight anyone, and I know a lot of times that isn’t the smartest thing a fighter can do, but I’m all about the fans. In the amateurs me and Dennis Douglin had our rivalry, Shawn Porter gave me a good fight, I’d love to see those guys again in the future. Ideally in the next few years I’d like to fight Jermain Taylor, who wouldn’t want an opportunity like that? Chavez would be great, I just want to end up fighting the best.”

On the next 12 months “Just continuing to come up and get better. I want to be a world champion eventually, and I see that happening in the near future. I just want to continue to take better fights and keep coming up.”

On dreams outside of boxing “Boxing is number one, that’s what I do, but I think people should use every attribute they have. I’ve modeled and it was a blast(Love has modeled with the likes of Kate Moss). I’d love to model again, I’d love to find myself in front of a camera, on a movie screen. You never know, boxing is number one, but I don’t rule out anything.”

On what fans should know about him “I’m a prankster man, I love to have fun. If you ever see me out come holler at me, because I love to talk. I love to meet boxing fans, and to be in a situation where people would want to take a picture with me, or get an autograph, I’m truly blessed. “

During a quiet Thursday afternoon workout inside of Las Vegas’ H.I.T. Factory an upbeat young fighter wears an infectious smile as he carries out the final part of his training session. He is rising prospect J’leon Love, a 10-0 middleweight who hails from Dearborn Heights, Michigan and walks with a demeanor that makes it clear, he’s excited to be here, and after spending ten minutes with him you’ll find yourself excited about him.

In a sport that serves as something of a way out for troubled youth, or an outlet of pent up aggression, Love’s mindset seems to be in a different place from other young fighter’s in his situation, he’s having fun. Dubbing himself the gym’s resident prankster, Love carries out his training routines with all the pride and craft of a world class athlete, but what makes him endearing, and dangerous, is that he has not forgotten to enjoy the sport.

Fans will have an opportunity to watch J’leon in action on the Berto-Ortiz undercard February 11th, where his bout will be broadcasted along with the rest of the undercard on Showtime Extreme, but before he steps into the ring Love offers up a chance for fans to get to know him a little better.

On what he hopes to accomplish on February 11th “Whatever comes, a knockout would be great. I’d love to get some rounds and look good. Whatever comes really.”

On his favorite weapon in the ring “Body shots man. I love to go to the body, and jab. I think those are important tools in the professional game, and you don’t see a lot of young fighters working enough on those things. One of my advantages is the sparring I get around the country, and advice from these top notch trainers, and that’s what sets me apart.”

On his favorite boxing memories “I don’t really have one that stands out. I’m blessed to have so many experiences, but I think coming up in Detroit is where a lot of my memories are. Detroit is home for me and that’s where I learned it all. I’m blessed and have a great family.”

On living and training in Las Vegas “I love it, I love the lights. I’ll be running in the desert and you can see the lights from a distance, there’s nothing like it. I don’t gamble, I like to keep my money. I don’t drink, but I love to get out and have a good time. I’ll go out and get a water and that’ll be my champagne, and I’ll have just as much fun as everyone else.”

On his future in the middleweight division “I’ll fight anyone, and I know a lot of times that isn’t the smartest thing a fighter can do, but I’m all about the fans. In the amateurs me and Dennis Douglin had our rivalry, Shawn Porter gave me a good fight, I’d love to see those guys again in the future. Ideally in the next few years I’d like to fight Jermain Taylor, who wouldn’t want an opportunity like that? Chavez would be great, I just want to end up fighting the best.”

On the next 12 months “Just continuing to come up and get better. I want to be a world champion eventually, and I see that happening in the near future. I just want to continue to take better fights and keep coming up.”

On dreams outside of boxing “Boxing is number one, that’s what I do, but I think people should use every attribute they have. I’ve modeled and it was a blast(Love has modeled with the likes of Kate Moss). I’d love to model again, I’d love to find myself in front of a camera, on a movie screen. You never know, boxing is number one, but I don’t rule out anything.”

On what fans should know about him “I’m a prankster man, I love to have fun. If you ever see me out come holler at me, because I love to talk. I love to meet boxing fans, and to be in a situation where people would want to take a picture with me, or get an autograph, I’m truly blessed. “

Just a year ago, Victor Ortiz was accused of having no heart. Turns out, everybody was wrong. Just the opposite has been revealed in two very different ways about a personable fighter impossible to predict. The only thing we know for sure about Ortiz is that he has too much heart.

Within nine months, it propelled Ortiz to a dramatic triumph which was followed by a bizarre series of events in a bout as controversial as any.

So who is he?

The Ortiz who gained sudden popularity and a healthy measure of personal vindication in beating Andre Berto last April? Or the Ortiz who butted, hugged and kissed Floyd Mayweather Jr., then dropped his hands and took his eyes off the world’s most calculating fighter before he was knocked out in September by a combination he never saw?

I have no idea.

Ortiz is that restless kid in the back of the class. He’s likable, funny, precocious, and thoroughly exasperating. The teacher has to constantly remind him to concentrate on the task at hand. That kid was there in a conference call Wednesday in the build-up to his rematch with Berto in a welterweight bout on Feb. 11 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

“I am me,’’ Ortiz said. “If you don’t like it, change the channel.’’

Ortiz made the remark while addressing a question about his appearance a couple of weeks ago before the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which had ordered him to explain comments that, yeah-oh-yeah, he was trying to break Mayweather’s nose with that infamous head-butt.

Nevada heard him, granted him a conditional license and Ortiz has moved on. Changed the channel, if you will. Now, I’m beginning to wonder whether Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) can stay focused long enough to channel his abundant energy and emotion with the maturity he needs to master a brutal craft. In large part, that will be the story of Ortiz’ Showtime-televised encore with Berto (28-1, 22 KOs) in the first major bout of 2012.

Ortiz’ heart-on-the-sleeve demeanor is as genuine and spontaneous as it is good box-office. Without discipline to keep it in check, however, it is a combustible source of potential trouble. Ortiz’ record includes a habit of saying and acting before thinking.

His comment about trying to break Mayweather’s nose is as hard to understand as dropping those hands while standing in front of a fighter who never misses an opportunity. In the noisy aftermath of his September loss, Ortiz, promoter Oscar De La Hoya and manager Rolando Arellano condemned Mayweather’s fight-ending combo.

They had support from that side of the media that called the shots legal, yet devoid of sportsmanship. Then, Ortiz undercuts his own argument by saying he wanted to break Mayweather’s nose???? Okay, then Mayweather had good reason to throw that combo while Ortiz was looking at referee Joe Cortez. Those two punches were a pre-emptive strike. Mayweather prefers a nose that remains intact. Hard to blame him.

The guess here is that Ortiz simply did what he has always done: He said what his heart told him to. He didn’t stop and think about consequences. On Tuesday, he turns 25. Time to grow up and become the consummate pro he’ll have to be against Berto.

AZ NOTES
Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales (27-1, 14 KOs) finally signed a contract Wednesday for a fight on Feb 18 against Canadian Adonis Stevenson (16-1, 13 KOs) at Montreal’s Bell Centre. The bout, an eliminator for a possible shot at the International Boxing Federation’s title, had been rumored for a couple of weeks. Gonzales and his Calgary-based promotional team, Fan Base, had second thoughts. Stevenson has a criminal past. In 1998, he was arrested. He was linked to a Quebec gang that forced girls into prostitution. Gonzales and his promoter were uncomfortable at a business deal with a fighter who has a notorious past. On Gonzales’ trunks, there will be a sign he is fighting for abused women. He plans to wear a logo for Natalie’s House, a Goodyear, AZ, organization that helps youth exploited in the sex trade.

News that Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr. underwent surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles for a troublesome injury to his right wrist means he probably won’t fight on March 23 at Tucson’s Casino del Sol. “The doctor said we could get back in the gym, maybe as early as next week to work on the left and other things,’’ said Benavidez’ dad and trainer, Jose Sr., who said Thursday that his son’s right hand is in a cast. Initial projections indicate that the 19-year-old Benavidez won’t be able to fight for two months. “At his age, it’s important and a good time for us to get it fixed now,’’ his dad said. The ShoBox-televised card in Tucson, a Top Rank and Showdown promotion, will go on as planned with super-bantamweight prospect Roberto Marroquin in the main event, said Gerry Truax, Showdown’s promoter in Phoenix. Undercard plans include Cuban welterweight Yordenis Ugas (11-0, 5 KOs).

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, World Light Heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins will take on Chad Dawson in a rematch of their aborted October 15th bout. The rematch will take place on April 28th in a more appropriate venue at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The first bout ended in a controversial no contest which was originally ruled a stoppage victory for Dawson when he threw Hopkins down to the ground in the second round of their fight and Hopkins could not continue with a damaged shoulder.

“I have a chance to settle the bull—- from the first fight and straighten that all out,” Hopkins said. “A real athlete don’t want to win something on a disqualification or a no-decision or get something handed to them without doing the work. I’m ready to go.

“Dawson has a chance to prove to the world what he thinks he can do to me and I have a chance to prove that he’s not going to do what he thinks he’s going to do.”

“Richard (Schaefer) and I have made a deal and we have presented the fight to HBO,” said Dawson’s promoter Gary Shaw. “We’re working on the numbers but I congratulate Hopkins on his willingness to take a fight that a lot of people said he would not take again. As for Chad, he can’t wait for the rematch. He believed he was going to beat him in the first fight and he believes he will stop him in this fight.”

“We haven’t agreed on the number yet, but HBO is would like to do this fight and they told us they are OK with April 28,” Schaefer said

“The shoulder is good,” Hopkins said. “I wouldn’t be going in this early to start getting ready if it wasn’t.”

“I think it’s a perfect place for the rematch,” Schaefer said.

“Since 2001, when I was 35 and I beat (Felix) ‘Tito’ Trinidad (to become undisputed middleweight champion in 2001), I’ve been hearing I was too old,” Hopkins said. “Now it’s 12 years later and I’m older, heavier and feel little things I didn’t feel 10 years ago, natural things that are supposed to happen to you. But I’m ahead of the game against any 47-year-old who took a punch or never took a punch. I’m in great shape and ready to do this again.

“It’s time to correct the first fight and let people get what they paid for, this time not on pay-per-view. They paid for a fight. They didn’t come to see a round-and-a-half and then have that ending. It happened. You move on and you go ahead and give the people what they want and I’m pretty sure Dawson thinks the same thing and that he will be overconfident and think I will be easy to beat.”

“Since 2001, when I was 35 and I beat (Felix) ‘Tito’ Trinidad (to become undisputed middleweight champion in 2001), I’ve been hearing I was too old,” Hopkins said. “Now it’s 12 years later and I’m older, heavier and feel little things I didn’t feel 10 years ago, natural things that are supposed to happen to you. But I’m ahead of the game against any 47-year-old who took a punch or never took a punch. I’m in great shape and ready to do this again.

“It’s time to correct the first fight and let people get what they paid for, this time not on pay-per-view. They paid for a fight. They didn’t come to see a round-and-a-half and then have that ending. It happened. You move on and you go ahead and give the people what they want and I’m pretty sure Dawson thinks the same thing and that he will be overconfident and think I will be easy to beat.”

Pontiac’s Business district wasn’t. Early on a Saturday afternoon nothing was open. I parked the Kia well off the curb of a sidestreet, confident there would be no traffic to impede, and ambled up and down Saginaw and Pike Streets. There were what appeared to be panhandlers, but as they shuffled along, in lieu of risking their bare hands in the cold, they shrugged and frowned. Why the hell bother? A few of the buildings in the Business District had silhouettes of their last occupants’ names on them, but most had been bare long enough to be unhaunted.

There was no place to eat, and after the previous evening’s Coney dog it felt unsporting to sit in the Marriott bar with the boxing folks, discussing yet again who would win this mythical matchup or that. A mile of driving brought me to Chili Bowl. The establishment sat 12 within the concrete blocks of its yellow façade. Chili Bowl was in its 59th year of business. Its interior featured pictures and newspaper writeups. Its put-a-good-face-on-itness brought the queasy sort of sympathy one feels for a person oblivious of his plight – though its grillman was in no way oblivious.

I sat at the counter, read “Theatre of Fish” – a travelogue cum history of Newfoundland – and wondered at John Gimlette’s talent. The book was accessible for another writer, it wasn’t untouchable as “At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig” had been, but it was remarkable enough in its styling to send an aspirant to places both cold and forgotten, in search of adventures to recount.

In the Courtyard elevator, I chanced on Timothy Bradley’s Mexican father-in-law. Bradley’s suegro was delightful. Somewhere between the lobby and floor 3, though, Spanish failed us; a language born in the Mediterranean lacked sufficient words for “snow” and “frigid” and “hopelessly blanketed” to imply what we both wished to say about Pontiac. So we gave each other the “alli se va” smile, a Mexican salute these days, and offered wishes of good fortune.

The next elevator was not so amiable. Tucked off a corner of a hidden staircase at Silverdome preceded by a tiny sign reading Credential Pickup, the service elevator that brought a few of us and a security-guard escort to the back entrance of the kitchen was a reminder how little preparation had been done after the kick-off press conference. Nobody knew where anything was. The security guide said as much; his first time in the building was yesterday.

I strode round the mezzanine, hoping to find a souvenir t-shirt that would someday prove I’d attended the last prizefight ever held in Pontiac. There were more makeshift barriers along the unlighted hallway than vendors and fight fans. Nary a poster or commemorative plastic cup could be found. There would be no evidence of “The Super Fight.” But that was no harbinger; it was not so mysteriously worded. It was boxing speaking in a short, declarative sentence: Nobody gave a fuck.

There was a single staircase open from the mezzanine to the floor of a venue that once accommodated 93,000 wrestling fans. On the other side of the curtain were parked eight trailers and a medium-sized yellow crane, with room enough for 10 other such combos. Inside the curtain were plenty of available seats.

The temperature along press row never rose above 55 degrees. Silverdome, despite its long-lost pretensions, was not outfitted with a heating system that could warm so many empty acres, and there weren’t live bodies enough to lend a hand. Writers paused before the laptops that illuminated their red cheeks to dab at runny noses. Many filed copy that night in winter coats.

None of our winter coats, though, rivaled Cornelius “K9” Bundrage’s. The IBF light middleweight champion in exile patrolled the aisles in a black getup with copious amounts of fur. If you’d never before met Bundrage – and thanks to his promoter, few of us had – he was a great surprise. Bundrage handed out media kits about himself that should have said: “I’m from Detroit, my promoter is Don King, we are 30 miles from Detroit, at a Don King show, and I am not on this card, FYI.”

I sat beside a handsome, friendly guy from HBO. Through the night, he received a number of other handsome, friendly visitors from HBO. The network covered itself doggedly; it surrounded the story of HBO and reported the hell out of it.

The main event ended with a cut caused by an accidental headbutt. Devon Alexander, by all accounts a role model and good guy, had not fought well, and the word “quitter” got whispered along press row. The words “dirty fighter,” too, plagued the main event’s victor, Timothy Bradley.

I don’t know what Bradley or Alexander said at the postfight press conference, because propelled by an unexpected burst of disgust, I quit my search for the service elevator after 10 minutes, marched up a blocked staircase and began throwing my shoulder against doors till one opened. I was five steps in the snow before I realized I was perhaps a half mile from where I’d parked the Kia. And the door clicked behind me a moment before I learned an eight-foot chainlink fence stood between me and the parking lot. With the help of a snow bank, I scaled the fence, hurled my laptop case at a 12-inch cushion of white and stomped a lap round Silverdome in a tanglefooted dance called Good Riddance.

Five hours later, I walked the Southwest Airlines terminal of Detroit’s Metro Airport. Not far behind me was Timothy Bradley, fully anonymous. His face was a swollen mess because the headbutts had gone both ways. It was not yet dawn, and the new unified champion of the 140-pound division was flying home to California on a discount carrier. Were you surprised when Bradley later forwent a fight with Amir Khan – a match he would have won – to escape his promoter?

I wrote my Monday column in an empty kiosk of Southwest’s Nashville terminal because there were no direct flights from Detroit to San Antonio. I wrote with abandon, pissed off, letting the words fly. Sometimes that works. Other times it’s dreadful. This time it worked.

Editor’s note: For Part 1, please click here

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