For a while, in a strange way I was glad I couldn’t make it to Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Casino last Friday. I had to work my 9-5. Or on that particular day, my 2-10. The hours in the news media industry keep me off balance and last week, they prevented me from making the two hour drive to the Constitution State.

If I was there, though, I would have seen 6’7″ Mariusz Wach knock Mike Tyson-conqueror, Kevin McBride, unconscious with one jaw-crushing right hand.

—-

I had been ringside for both heavyweight’s previous fights. Wach’s was a third round knockout over North Carolina’s Jonathan Haggler, while McBride’s was a unanimous decision loss to Wach’s fellow countryman, Tomasz Adamek.

In the lead-up to his fight with Adamek, I got the chance to sit down with McBride at the Brick City Bar & Grill. Alongside a few other reporters, I sat next to him, in a seat that was only stone’s throw away from the bar — the bar that’s home to the liquid that sent not only McBride’s career, but his life, spiraling downward a few years back.

But the Irishman wasn’t there to throw back Jameson or guzzle down Guinness. Accompanied by his longtime friend and manager, Jerry Quinn, as well as an Irish-Catholic priest from Boston, McBride was there to talk about his upcoming fight. He seemed focused and determined.

He didn’t answer any questions in great detail, nor did he provide a quote that was worthy of the front page. What he did provide was a refreshing dose of honesty.

He knew there was only one way to win that night in Newark, Adamek’s adopted hometown. He was going to have rock Adamek’s world. He was going to have to hit “Goral” so hard “it’ll feel like the all of Ireland hit him.”

But that never happened. In fact, McBride hardly land as much as a jab. It’s quite possible McBride’s mighty right hand never even grazed Adamek’s flesh. At 285 lbs., McBride was too big, too slow.

After the fight, a battered McBride whose face was almost unrecognizable talked about the possibility of retirement.

“I’ll have to talk to my family and my wife,” McBride said. “There’s a good chance I will. I am a fighter and I am a warrior. I probably will step down. I tried, but I didn’t succeed, but that’s life. If you try, you’re still a winner though. You know, boxing’s a beautiful sport and I love the sport, but I’m not getting any younger. I’m 38 next month.”

He didn’t. So I met with him again before his fight with Wach at a press conference at Global Boxing Gym in North Bergen, New Jersey. I asked him about the remarks he made after the fight with Adamek.

“Definitely, there is always that thought [of retiring],” the Irishman said. “After the Adamek fight, I felt like I should have retired. I have two beautiful kids and a lovely wife. But people said, you know, look at George Foreman…the last thing that leaves you is the punching power. Whenever there’s an opportunity, there’s a chance…I can be world champion.”

But what good is punching power if you can’t find the person you’re supposed to punch?

In reality, McBride was never a skilled boxer. And at 295 lbs. last Friday, he had zero chance of beating the undefeated giant who is Mariusz Wach. His weight, lack of speed, and age, transformed him into a walking heavy bag.

Wach beat McBride to the punch each time the two engaged over the first nine minutes. McBride looked out of place.

Then in the fourth round, Wach decided to up-the-ante. Just like trainer Juan de Leon had wanted, Wach came out aggressive, constantly coming forward, touching up McBride.

After walking McBride down so that his back were against the ropes, Wach unleashed a one-two. McBride nonchalantly threw his left hand out in front of body trying to flick away Wach’s jab. But what immediately followed that jab was an ill-intentioned right hand that McBride never saw. It landed flush on the Irishman’s jaw and knocked him unconscious before he even hit the canvas.

The big man crashed to the mat immediately, his arms and legs spread every which way so that when he finally did lay motionless on the mat, his body resembled that of a chalk outline. Doctors and medical personnel were rushed into the ring. He would leave in a stretcher.

I was watching from the comfort of my own home — on Youtube. I was sipping on a glass of Maker’s Mark, debating if I should switch to Justerini & Brooks.

I knew the punch was coming, I was waiting for it. When it landed, my insides got twisted. For a moment, I was glad I wasn’t there to see it in person.

But then I thought, if boxing were a bunch of robots, nobody would be interested. As much as it is the appeal and beauty of organized violence, it’s the human element that attracts us to this sport. People identify with fighter’s all the time because they can relate to them — whether it is by hometown, race, or religion.

So I suppose I am sorry I was unable to attend. It’s those gut-wrenching, lump-in-your-throat, stomach-in-your-mouth, type-moments that get your heart racing and the blood flowing. The undefeated heavyweight — Mariusz Wach’s right hand and the subsequent collapse of McBride — brought forth all of those feelings.

While boxing is definitely eye-pleasing, it’s more poetic than beautiful. And there are plenty of tragedies. McBride’s career, I suppose, is one of those.

On the flip side, I’m happy for Wach. He’s also good guy, who’ve I’ve spoken to on a few occasions. He was elated after he dropped McBride, his joy was written all over his face. From when I first saw him work out almost a year ago, Wach has certainly improved. He’s trained with former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer, and this go around with Baby Joe Mesi’s old trainer, Juan de Leon. His improvements are showing, as is evident by the punishing KO he delivered to McBride.

And on that note — to McBride; I hope it’s as clear to you as it is to everyone else: please get out now. For yourself, for your wife, and for your children, Caoimhin and for Grainne.

Let’s hope this was it for the big Irishman. If he exits like he should, it would mean he will never become the first Irish-born man to win the heavyweight crown. But hell, at this point, with all the alphabet soup titles floating around, beating Iron Mike in many ways is a greater achievement than claiming some portion of heavyweight glory.

To the career of Kevin McBride, I’ll toast this Jameson.

Kyle Kinder can be reached via Twitter at Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Fast-rising super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales makes a quick return to the ring Friday night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Morales, who fought just two weeks ago, will take on Rodrigo Aranda in a bout that will air on the nationally broadcast ESPN2 Friday Night Fights.

Morales (5-0, 4 KOs) of San Ardo, California is coming in off of a devastating first-round knockout of normally durable Juan Tepoz (4-6-1) on July 22nd. Morales, a highly touted amateur before turning pro this past February, ran through Tepoz, scoring two knockdowns in the opening round. Morales had got off to a slow start in his bout prior, something his team had worked to improve upon.

“I told him to start fast, and to start fast we have warm up more in the dressing room,” says his trainer Rodolfo Tapia. “Work a little more, like we do in the gym. Then when the bell rings, show the people what you have. That was the plan, and it worked real good.”

Morales’ manager Repo Ric had some advice for his young upstart going into the bout as well. “I saw Roman eat before the last fight, and he had a turkey sandwich and some french fries,” recalls Repo. “I told him, ‘I want those fries slid off your plate and I want them slid off your plate now. For one thing, people are watching you and another it is three hours before the fight and you have french fries in your stomach with grease and everything.’ So he threw the french fries out right away. The other was that he wasn’t warming up enough, so I told his trainer to warm him up a little more. So I don’t know which one it was, but he did start off a lot faster than he had normally, so hopefully this next fight he will start off fast.”

With really only one full week to train and prepare for his next assignment, Morales quickly got back into the gym, getting sparring with both world ranked Eloy Perez and solid pro Rufino Serrano, who also fights this Friday. Some may be hesitant to schedule two fights so close together for their fighter, but Morales wiped a lot of any worries there could have been away by ending his last fight so quickly.

“He had a sparring partner for one round,” says Repo of the Tepoz victory. “He went home and got right back in that gym, since he just went down the street to do a sparring session, and he got some more sparring that week and is ready to fight again. If he had a hard fight with some bumps bruises then that would be different. But other than that no, keep him moving. If every fight was like the last fight, we would like to go two weeks after this fight.”

Shortly after the victory over Tepoz, Morales’ and his trainer learned that their fight this Friday would make television, and received some other encouraging words from their promoter. “After the fight, Gary Shaw called us over to ringside and was very happy,” recalls Tapia. “He told Roman to keep doing what he is doing, and he promised him a title shot next year. He told Roman that he has been doing good things and to listen to his coach, stay busy and stay focused. That made Roman very happy, and that is a big thing for the main guy to say that.”

Shaw’s words not only encouraged Morales, but also pleased his manager. “My dream was to get with Gary Shaw,” says Repo. “I like the man and I like his company. For me to get with him and with everything progressing the way it is, and for Gary Shaw to say what he’s saying, and for me to be able to do what I do, I love it. I really feel good that Gary talked to them and said he may have a title belt for them next year.”

Five fights in, Team Morales seems to be clicking on cylinders. “People have said some bad things about Repo, but now I tell them that they have to realize Repo is doing a pretty good job,” says Tapia, who is also Morales’ uncle. “I know a lot of people are jealous of Repo in Fresno and always talk bad things about him, but he has been really good for us. He’s been keeping Roman busy and taking him on his way to the top.”

It has been so far so good, but Repo Ric knows there is still plenty of work ahead. “I have been around plenty of promoters, and I have worked for plenty of promoters, and I have learned,” says Repo. “I get in there and learn, and the way I have been moving Roman Morales is showing me that I have learned. From some of the things I have picked up, and I am able to achieve on my own. All I do is boxing. My whole life is boxing, boxing, boxing. I think I am a skillful manager and I learned from the best and I am going to keep learning. I am never going to get too old to learn, and I am never going to learn everything, but I am going to keep learning.”

Next up is an opponent that could provide a stern test, despite his less than threatening record. Rodrigo Aranda (8-14-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada is a veteran that has been in with a who’s who of prospects. “This kid we are going to fight is really durable,” says Repo of Aranda, who has only been stopped once in his career. “The purpose is to get some experience because it is hard to find him fights, everyone keeps pulling out. If everyone is going to keep pulling out, then we are going to have to go the distance with some of these fighters. That way he will have some ring experience. If he takes him out, he takes him out, but he doesn’t have to. Break him down and he’ll be 6-0, with four knockouts.”

Knockout or not, Team Morales plans to leave Santa Ynez with the victory and get right back to work on Monday.

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

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Colorado’s Mike Alvarado successfully continued his comeback Saturday. Ohio’s Kelly Pavlik will successfully continue his comeback Saturday. Top Rank continues to promote both. And American boxing aficionados who are not within driving distance of Southern California’s thriving gym scene continue to be nostalgic about better times.

Saturday’s Fox Sports Español telecast was a reminder of this. There was Alvarado, fighting in Denver at a venue called Softball Country Arena – which appeared to be a field with a set of tracks behind it where trains moseyed past. Rumor is, ticket sales went well. But Alvarado is in a much different place from where he once was.

Today he is 31-years old. He is fighting Off-Off-Broadway, to be charitable. Since his quick rise on the professional scene, one aided by Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo” (its invaluable predecessor, not the current imposter), he has fought in cities like Cicero, Ill., Gary, Ind., and Commerce City, Colo. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Sixty-two months ago, Alvarado fought in the co-main event of a Top Rank card in Tucson, Ariz., in a venue called Club Envy. The club itself was small, as I recall it. The parking lot was converted to a fighting venue. There were folding chairs and a chainlink fence and metal tubs of beers on the perimeter. The turnout was mediocre, as Arizona boxing was by then nine months into a cruel freeze – one our own Norm Frauenheim reports may just now be thawing.

Some of the usual characters were at Club Envy, though not as many. Phil Soto, Top Rank’s Arizona publicist, placed seat assignments on ringside tables and put me beside TheSweetScience.com’s Phil Woolever – arguably boxing writing’s most poetic soul. Woolever spoke his observations into a handheld voice recorder, and we shared a few jokes about the hot pink trunks one of the undercard combatants wore in the ring that night.

Alvarado was sharp, threw tight combinations, impressed observers with his right uppercut, and got hit plenty with right crosses. His opponent that night, Maximino “Holy Hands” Cuevas, boasted an 8-3-1 record that was headed for 10-11-1. He was there to lose and found his way out of the match with a left-eye injury after round 5.

Alvarado was disappointed the fight didn’t go longer, implying he would have been hit with fewer punches as it went on. Saturday’s junior welterweight fight against Gabriel Martinez showed that either Alvarado’s five-year-old claim was never particularly true, or he’s lost some of the fast-twitch from his reflexes. He still gets hit hard with right hands.

But he also shows the same impressive chin he showed in his youth, back when Top Rank very nearly called him a top prospect in its stable – before the arrests and private disappointments. Last June, as Top Rank spent a week in San Antonio to promote Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s match with John Duddy, Alvarado’s career had collided with another obstacle, and Top Rank personnel were not timid about expressing their displeasure with Alvarado.

Yet, there was Alvarado on a Top Rank broadcast Saturday – a marker we’ll return to.

Kelly Pavlik, too, has performed a sabotage of sorts on his prizefighting career, a career Top Rank’s Bob Arum once promised would eclipse in riches and acclaim Oscar De La Hoya’s. Pavlik was his hometown’s professional-sports franchise. Youngstown, Ohio, perhaps the closest thing boxing has to a sister city, rallied round its one excuse for optimism. Pavlik let the city down.

Talk to folks above the legal drinking age in Youngstown, and you’ll find most have a story or two about the hell-raising Pavlik brothers. A few weeks ago that hell-raising won national attention, as Kelly and his brother staged a sparring match to whose credentials list local police were belatedly added. Pavlik doesn’t want to talk about it. Boxing media, excepting only Michael Woods, were happy to comply with the fighter’s wishes during last week’s conference call.

You know who’s happy to talk about it, though? Guys in boxing gyms. In South Texas at least, where most heavybag habitués’ names end in an s or z, there’s a long-held suspicion Pavlik was the beneficiary of what President George W. Bush once called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” Pavlik’s white skin lowered expectations, Pavlik sprang over the shortened hurdles, and Pavlik became far more famous than a Mexican or Puerto Rican might have for knocking-out middleweight champion Jermain Taylor.

Is this accurate? Not really. Boxing gyms are often racially fixated and cruel places, and Pavlik deserves better than the “white hope” and “middleweight drunk” titles his name now triggers.

Just the same, by now, Pavlik was supposed to be a pay-per-view mainstay, selling-out edifices like Ohio State’s Horseshoe or Cleveland Browns Stadium. Instead, Pavlik now hopes for a “walk-up” crowd in Youngstown’s Covelli Center on Friday. He’ll be fighting someone named Darryl Cunningham on Showtime’s “ShoBox” program, one whose subtitle is “The New Generation.”

Top Rank will promote that show, too. Just like Alvarado’s show Saturday. Why is this worth mentioning? Because it tells you something about the fabric of Bob Arum’s company.

Contrary to general impressions, Arum engenders loyalty by showing loyalty. He may bark at his fighters. Hell, he may even crow about them in the press. But Top Rank always answers the phone when one of its stable calls. It finds a place for tough action fighters, regardless of their private mistakes. People, it seems, like Arum more the better they know him.

If Oscar De La Hoya is the future of boxing promotion, this is a trait he should learn from his former promoter. De La Hoya has an opposite track record: He is most beloved by those who are farthest from him.

Meanwhile boxing’s own comeback remains in neutral, exactly between first gear and reverse.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Distractions are an ally or an annoyance or a dirty word. Manny Pacquiao can’t get enough of them. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. sneers at them, then moves on to the next one. Kelly Pavlik doesn’t know what to do with them. Not yet, anyway

For Pavlik, learning how to manage them, or at least live with them, might be his greatest challenge, bigger even than an Aug. 6 tune-up against left-handed Darryl Cunningham in a super-middleweight battle to reassert himself at his profession’s highest level in a projected fight with Canadian Lucian Bute, also a left-hander.

News about Pavlik for the last year has mostly been about a lifestyle gone awry and a stretch in rehab. A difficult personal trial is hard enough without media attention. With it, the challenge threatens to become a succession of exaggerated cheap shots that can knock out a career, or at least leave a promising one short of fulfillment.

Pavlik’s fight against Cunningham in front of neighbors and the nosy in hometown Youngstown, Ohio, will happen on Showtime’s ShoBox within a few weeks of news about a reported altercation with his brother. According to various reports, they had been drinking. Even if drinking had not been mentioned, the public would have assumed it anyway.

“There’s nothing you can do about that stuff,’’ Pavlik said at the end of a national conference call Wednesday. “Ninety percent of Americans get into fights with siblings. I can’t get into a shoving match with mine. It is what it is.’’

In what is perhaps a good sign in the process of learning how to manage the inevitable, Pavlik sounded philosophical. There were times before his last fight and first one after release from rehab in May when he got exasperated, then annoyed, at repeated questions about the experience.

“Got a new thing I throw out there now: ‘Who cares?’ ‘’ he said when confronted by the question Wednesday. “I just can’t worry about pressure from the public or what people are going to say.

“…I’m going to be Kelly Pavlik.’’

That might be easier to say than do. I get the sense that Pavlik is still stunned to discover how fickle success and celebrity can be. In his early rise to the top of the middleweight ranks, he came across as a nice guy with a blue-collar approach and personality. He was gritty and genuine. Still is. That’s why I’ll be cheering for him, although I wonder if everybody in the Youngstown crowd at Covelli Center will be.

“You know what, I’m not sure,’’ Pavlik said when asked whether he expected a lot of support from a big crowd of hometown fans. “I’m hoping they are. Word is, it’s going pretty good right now. There’s a lot of people still saying they’re going to get their tickets. Mainly, you expect a walk-up crowd in Youngstown. That’s one of the big things, too.

“I’m going to do my thing. I’m going to put on a great show. I’m going to fight as hard as I can. Whatever happens — my true fans, and I’m sure there’s a lot — they’ll be in for a real treat.”

They will be and many also will be back, but only if Pavlik begins to beat back distractions in a compelling comeback that could be as gritty as it is genuine.

Quotes, anecdotes
· A noted publicist, on Zab Judah saying he thought he was getting “a standing eight-count’’ while on all fours after Amir Khan dropped him with a borderline shot on the trunk’s belt: “He must have been talking about a crawling count.’’

· Memo to Tim Bradley: Find the trash can into which Riddick Bowe dumped the World Boxing Council’s heavyweight title belt in 1992. That’s where the 140-pound belt stripped from you this week by WBC President Jose Sulaiman belongs.

AZ notes
· Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) said he is fighting Cunningham (23-2, 10 KOs) because is a left-hander, who will help him get ready for Bute. Pavlik didn’t mention Jesus Gonzales (27-1, 14 KOs), also left-handed and his sparring partner before a loss to Sergio Martinez. Gonzales, who is fighting to get in to the 168-pound title mix after a two-year hiatus, plans to continue his Phoenix comeback this fall.

· Thunderstorms tore off the roof of a popular gym, KO Boxing, in south Phoenix a few days ago. Phoenix promoter Michelle Rosado and Phoenix bantamweight Emilio Garcia are seeking donations to rebuild the gym, which is located on some of the city’s meanest streets. An ongoing rebirth of the Arizona market continues in September, first on Sept. 2 with an Alma Carrasco Canez-promoted card at El Zaribah Shriners in Phoenix and then on Sept. 17 with card in Parker at BlueWater Resort & Casino with unbeaten Top Rank prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr., an unbeaten junior-welterweight, in a featured fight. Benavidez, a Phoenix native, is back in trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif.

Fallon, NV — The City of Fallon, NV and Let’s Get It On Promotions are pleased to announce the fourth annual “Rural Rumble” Fallon Fights 2011, Saturday August 27th at the Churchill County Fairgrounds. “Rural Rumble 2011” will feature world class professional boxing.

“We are thrilled to be presenting the fourth annual “Rural Rumble” once again in Fallon.” Says Fallon, NV Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. “Boxing has played an important role in this area for over a century, and we are proud to continue the tradition.”

Headlining the card is Northern Nevada favorite Derek Hinkey (8-2, 7 KOs) of McDermitt, NV. Hinkey will be making his highly anticipated return to the ring on August 27th after a prolonged layoff due to a hand injury from his fight against Ariel Espinal in 2009.

“It just never really healed correctly and caused me discomfort in my past two fights.” Says Hinkey. “But I’m 100% now and chomping at the bit to get back in there.”

Hinkey, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, stayed in shape and in the gym while allowing his hand to heal. He has trained with several high-profile boxers and MMA fighters in the recent past which kept his game sharp. He will need his best as he takes on the experienced and tough Anthony “Powerhouse” Bartinelli (20-14-2,13 KOs) of Phoenix, AZ in a six round middleweight bout. Bartinelli is no stranger to fighting top names in the middleweight division, and will prove to be a test for Hinkey.

In a light-heavyweight match-up, Reno’s Carlos Gaytan (2-0-1, 2 KOs) will be facing San Jose’s Anthony Johnson (4-0, 1 KO). Both fighters come into this fight undefeated.

Returning to the ring on August 27th is jr. middleweight Jose “Chuy” Elizondo (1-0) of Carson City, NV. Elizondo, who was a stand out amateur, scored a spectacular shut-out decision over Rodrigo Espinoza on April 29th.

In a separate bout, highly regarded amateur Carlos Vasquez of Reno, NV will be making his pro debut against Vincente Medellin (1-0) of Los Angeles. Vasquez, who’s brother is highly ranked amateur Santos Vasquez, decided that his aggressive boxing style was better suited for the professional side of boxing. Vasquez vs. Medellin will take place at 112 lbs.

In a local boxing match-up, cruiserweights Bubba Dupree (0-1) of Reno, NV will be facing Jack “The Motor” Montgomery (0-1) of Winnemucca, NV.

More details will be released soon.

Tickets are available by calling 775 423 4556. Advance tickets are $10 children (ages 6-17) $12 adults; at gate $12 children $15 adults; $50 ringside, $500 for VIP tables. All bouts subject to change.

LAS VEGAS — Super-featherweight “El Negro Mexicano”, “Lightning” Lonnie Smith (13-2-2, 9 KOs) is back in action Friday, July 29th at the South Point Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.

Coming off an impressive unanimous decision win over Oxnard’s “Dangerous” David Rodella in April, Smith looks to advance his career by facing California’s Robert Vargas (5-1). This will be “Lightning” Lonnie’s second televised fight in a row.

“The ultimate goal is to be champion,” says Smith. “And I train like one, so that is the next step.”

After appearing on several of their shows, Let’s Get It On Promotions inked a long-term promotional agreement with Smith this year.

“The win over Rodella on television was huge,” says Let’s Get It On Promotions’ Tommy Lane. “It gave fight fans the opportunity to see what we’ve seen all along. The response we received after that fight about Lonnie was incredible.”

Smith vs. Vargas is scheduled for 6-rounds and will be televised on Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo” series. Check local listings. Tickets are available by calling 702-797-8055.

Photo by Stephanie Trapp

Englishman Amir Khan will never fail to look unbeatable against an opponent who considers contact optional. If you are a prizefighter who relies on once-youthful reflexes to get the better of every exchange, there’s a good chance you have no chance against Khan. He is too fast and confident. He is going to hit you, and if being hit ruins your prefight strategy, ruined you will be.

Brooklyn’s Zab Judah, older and slower and newly devoted to the Prince of Peace, was just such a man – one who wanted no part of being hit.

And so, Saturday at Mandalay Bay, Amir Khan stopped Judah at 2:47 of round 5 with a punch that hit Judah on the belly button, making Khan a unified titlist at 140 pounds. And Judah – who try, try, tried again to get the fight stopped – was left with little more than another professional paragraph that ends “, if only.”

After the fight, Khan said he believed Judah a better boxer than Timothy Bradley, the recognized champion at 140 pounds. Khan is right. If you understand the word “boxer” in the headgear-and-big-gloves, hit-and-don’t-get-hit, make’em-say-“ooh! ahh!” sense of the term, Judah is a better boxer than Bradley. But Bradley is twice the fighter Judah is.

Don’t for a second think Khan’s ability to dominate a formerly flashy prizefighter with diminished reflexes is indicative of how Khan would fare against a prime volume puncher. Khan looked unstoppable against Paulie Malignaggi. And it told you nothing about how he’d look when Marcos Maidana laid hands on him. Maybe Malignaggi was no Zab Judah, but neither was Maidana any sort of Timothy Bradley.

Frankly, it’s hard to concentrate on another disappointing match in a papered (but still sparsely occupied) arena in a depressed American city when there is a looming debt crisis.

Let’s spend some time thinking about this looming crisis, then. No, not the politics of it. That part is beneath us. Rather, let’s look at the consequences of our Treasury bonds losing their AAA rating.

Since July of 1944, America has effectively owned the world’s printing press. When the Allies met in Bretton Woods, N.H., and agreed to make the dollar the world’s reserve currency, our country was given an extraordinary economic advantage. We have not used this advantage predatorily as European history tells us we could have, no, but we’ve still taken some liberties with it. In 1971, President Nixon “temporarily” suspended the redemptions we’d promised the Allies – dollars to gold – and floated the world’s reserve currency, and every other currency along with it. In the 1980s, President Reagan used the printing press to lose a race to bankruptcy with the Soviet Union.

Today we are told to fear a takeover of the world’s economy by China – as if the yuan were poised to replace the dollar. That is unlikely. After all, it took 65 million deaths in World War II for the world to agree on a common currency.

But what if our Treasury bonds were to lose their AAA rating?

It is instructive to look at the case of American International Group (AIG) in 2008 to start answering that question. AIG, believe it or not, never exactly defaulted on its debt. Instead, it issued an incredible number of bonds to borrow money to leverage its positions. And AIG’s bondholders bought those bonds based on their AAA rating – with an agreement that if AIG were to lose its high rating, it would provide additional collateral.

When AIG’s debt was downgraded by rating agencies, it suddenly had to produce tens of billions of dollars in additional collateral to meet its obligations. Its ability to raise additional capital reflexively cancelled, AIG faced default, and our federal government – owner of the world’s printing press – intervened, covered AIG’s debt, and prevented default.

Now, imagine AIG were a country whose debt the entire world owned and who suddenly lost its AAA rating. Then imagine there was no federal government to step in and prevent default.

Welcome to the United States of America in 2011.

What happens if U.S. Treasury bonds lose their AAA rating? Nobody knows. The quality of American debt is the one constant in every economic model designed and used for the last 67 years. America is uniquely empowered by the rest of the world to print money in a crisis. It has never struck anyone that a country with this advantage would consider not using it.

Every fixed-income model used by every country relies on the U.S. Treasury bond to be a standard. If this were to change, one assumes, the algorithms on which the world’s financial models are built would trigger immediate downgrades of every entity that owns U.S. Treasury bonds.

And you thought AIG was interconnected?

If American debt loses its AAA rating, it will be ruinous to our way of life, and more ruinous to everyone else’s. Quickly enough – deprived of its standard – the credit-rating system, itself, will disappear. And without a way to know who will pay and who will default, the entirety of the global economy will congeal.

Take solace in this, though: Unlike the case of 2008, when a tiny and private band of men conspired to end the world’s economy, this time it will be elected officials of the United States that publicly raze it. A democratic solution for ending the world as we know it – which does seem fairer.

Oh, about Amir Khan? It’s hard to say. He seems to be positioning himself for a run at the winner of Mayweather-Ortiz (Mayweather) at welterweight. Timothy Bradley seems to be positioning himself for a run at Manny Pacquiao. That is, both Khan and Bradley are mapping their careers on the assumption that Pacquiao-Mayweather never happens. Hard to argue with them.

Chances are, we’ll be deprived of both Bradley-Khan and Pacquiao-Mayweather, then. Let’s hope that’s the extent of our deprivations.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS – Bernard Hopkins tried to stir up some interest Saturday in a rematch with Joe Calzaghe by mentioning the possibility and then telling UK reporters to speak to Calzaghe about it.

Hopkins suggested a rematch was in order when UK reporters told him that Calzaghe was in Las Vegas to watch fellow Brit Amir Khan fight Zab Judah.

“You’ll have something to write about on Sunday,’’ he cracked at the UK reporters who were at Mandalay Bay for a breakfast roundtable.

Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs) has always believed he was robbed of a victory in a 2008 split decision that went to Calzaghe, now 39 and retired. Controversy preceded the fight when Hopkins told Calzaghe that he’d never let “white boy” beat him.

“I won that fight,’’ said the 46-year-old Hopkins, who faces Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) on Oct. 15 in defense of the light-heavyweight title he won against Jean Pascal in a victory that made him the oldest ever to claim a major title. “I think I lost that fight when I called light-skinned. I think that changed the way people looked at that fight.’’

It was not known early Saturday if Calzaghe was interested. He has never indicated one way or another whether he has even considered a comeback.

“He retired because he knew the world wanted to see a Hopkins-Calzaghe rematch,’’ Hopkins said. “Joe knew the pressure would be too much.’’

Hopkins, who always has a lot to say, also offered to fight UK heavyweight David Haye, who balmed his embarrassing loss Wladimir Klitschko on a broken toe

“Hey, I’ll fight David Haye tomorrow,’’ Hopkins said. “I’ll spot him 20 pounds.’’

Hopkins thought Haye had blamed the loss on a busted big toe. When told it was a small toe, Hopkins said:

“OK, I’ll spot him 50.’’

Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO) lost his light heavyweight belt to Calzaghe in April 2008 by split decision in a bowling shoe ugly fight that was debated by many but is regarded fondly by few. After that win, Calzaghe (who was already the super middleweight champion) fought just once more, beating the shell of Roy Jones Jr in November 2008 in a pay-per-view bomb in Madison Square Garden.

Calzaghe then retired with a record of 46-0 (32 KO), but it’s a record many still don’t consider truly great, despite the Welshman having never lost a fight. Now 39 years old, Calzaghe has made no serious indication that he’s looking to return to the ring, but there has been mild speculation since he retired. The biggest headlines he’s made in his time out of the ring came, unfortunately, when he admitted to cocaine usage. He also appeared on the reality show contest “Strictly Come Dancing.”

CABAZON, CALIFORNIA – World ranked super middleweight Anthony Dirrell is still looking to earn the lofty status he has with some of the sport’s sanctioning bodies after Kevin Engel provided little resistance through less than two rounds of action in the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa on Friday night.

Dirrell (23-0, 20 KOs) of Flint, Michigan could not miss Engel (18-5, 15 KOs) of Saint Louis, Missouri with his right hand throughout the fight. Before the end of the first, Dirrell’s right had already drawn blood from the Missouri native’s right eye.

Things did not get much better for Engel, 174, in the second as a Dirrell one-two downed the late notice replacement for Alejandro Berrio. Dirrell, 169 ½, met Engel with a right soon after he regained an upright position. The blow forced Engel’s mouthpiece out of the ring and drew blood from his mouth. Moments later, with Engel’s back to referee Lou Moret, Dirrell landed below the belt. Engel went down to a knee and remained there as Moret counted him out for the knockout.

Despite Engel’s protests, the fight was over at the official time of 1:44 of the second round. Dirrell, the WBC #4/WBA #9 ranked super middleweight, fought just twenty days ago, scoring a fifth-round stoppage of Dante Craig in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

“It was short, but it was beautiful,” said Dirrell’s assistant trainer Leon Lawson Jr. after the bout. “He worked on his precision punches, made everything land and got him out of there.”

Engel’s team was upset the fight ended on a low blow, but Lawson felt the result was inevitable. “He did get hit low, I will admit, but he was looking for a way out of there anyway,” said Lawson. “You can tell when a fighter is looking for a way out. It is what it is, but Anthony was going to beat his ass anyway.”

Originally scheduled opponent Alejandro Berrio would have represented a move up in class of opposition for Anthony, the brother of former title challenger Andre Dirrell, had he stuck with the fight. “We are looking to step-up, but the guys keep dropping out,” said Lawson. “We are ready to fight anytime, against anybody they put in front of us.”

Lawson revealed tentative plans for Anthony to return to the ring sometime in September back in Michigan. The possibility exists that Andre would make his return to the ring on the same bill, against Sebastien Demers.

After having only accepted the fight on Monday, Aaron Martinez (15-1-1, 3 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California upset previously unbeaten prospect Joseph Elegele (12-1, 10 KOs) of Winter Haven, Florida via eighth-round technical decision.

If Martinez, 146, is a welterweight, Elegele, 145, looked like a middleweight in the ring. Somewhat surprisingly Martinez rocked Elegele late in the first round as he took advantage of his shorter arms in a clinch along the ropes. Martinez, by no means a puncher, came over the top with a right hand that stunned Elegele. Martinez’ follow-up attack downed the tall southpaw. Martinez looked primed for unexpected stoppage when the bell rang to end the first.

Martinez went for broke early in the second, but appeared to punch himself out by midway through the round. Elegele regained his footing around the same time a headbutt drew blood from Martinez’ left eye later in the round.

Elegele came out more aggressively to start the third, while the Martinez work rate dipped significantly from the two previous rounds. Both started swinging to start fourth, which got the crowd excited. Despite his size disadvantage, it was Martinez setting the distance and the pace throughout the fourth.

Just when Elegele looked to have the fifth in the bag, Martinez sprang to life again and pressed Elegele in a corner. The round consisted mostly of Elegele jabs, so perhaps that flurry could have stole the round for the East L.A. native. Having taken the fight on just a few days notice, Martinez appeared to be looking to take a breather in the sixth. Fortunately for Martinez, Elegele remained in stalker mode and did not really force the action when there appeared to be an opening. Martinez closed out the round well, another that Elegele appeared to have early.

Elegele narrowly escaped the seventh, as Martinez had him in trouble before the bell intervened again. Martinez ran out and rocked Elegele against the ropes in the eighth. The underdog Martinez seemed let Elegele off the hook as he moved to the outside. Just as the fight appeared to be headed to a dramatic ending, a terrible head clash busted open both men. Martinez’ gash was by far the worse of the two, as the cut went down to his skull.

Stopping the fight at that moment was the only call, sending things to the hands of the judges. Scoring the biggest win of his career, Martinez took all three cards by score of 76-75 and 77-74 twice.

In a offense-first, defense never type fight, Kurtiss Colvin (6-0, 5 KOs) of Austin, Texas scored one spectacular knockdown en route to a third-round stoppage of previously once-beaten Cleven Ishe (3-2, 1 KO) of Long Beach, California

Ishe, 159, threw from his hips, but did find Colvin, 159, at times in the fight. Colvin had a clear technical advantage, but chose to swing for the fences the entire way. Some clowning around led Colvin into a solid left hand to end the second round.

Ishe came out swinging to start the third, but Colvin quickly turned the fight around with a wide right hand that knocked the Long Beach resident into a cartwheel. When Ishe returned to his feet, Colvin quickly pounced before referee Lou Moret stopped the action at 1:24 of the third.

Looking to rebound from a draw in his last outing in May, Julian Williams (7-0-1, 4 KOs) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pounded out a workmanlike unanimous decision over Raul Rodriguez (2-6-1, 1 KO) of Bakersfield, California.

Williams, 154, controlled most of the action, but did not dominate Rodriguez, 154, the way one may have expected based on their records. The sixth especially brought some competitive exchanges, as Rodriguez decided to stand his ground and trade with Williams. The Philly fighter was the better and more accurate puncher, but Rodriguez did catch him at times with some pretty clean shots. In the end, two judges had Williams the shutout winner, 60-54, with one judge giving Rodriguez a round for a 59-55 final tally.

Rising super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (5-0, 4 KOs) of San Ardo, California tore through normally durable Juan Tepoz (4-6-1) of Santa Rosa, California in a one-sided first-round stoppage victory.

Morales dropped Tepoz with a quick combination along the ropes early in the first. Pegged as a normally slow starter, Morales continued to disprove that label as he punished a wincing Tepoz when action resumed. Unable to combat Morales’ fast hands, Tepoz headed down to a knee while the San Ardo native sped up the process with a right hand. Referee Lou Moret decided to stop the contest without a count at 2:30 of the first. Morales returns to the ring August 5th at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

In the night’s opener, DonYil Livingston (5-0, 3 KOs) of Palmdale, California easily moved past journeyman Cameron Allen (3-8, 1 KO) of Battle Creek, Michigan by pounding his way to a fourth-round stoppage.

Livingston took the fight to Allen early, stuffing right hands at short range behind his jab. By the second, Allen already seemed winded and was eventually rocked by a quick one-two at close range. Livingston had the Michigan resident in trouble late in the round and opened the third in much the same fashion. Though fading, Allen continued to wing shots from the ropes with little success.

Allen immediately went into retreat at the start of the fourth as Livingston pressured the journeyman. A Livingston left to body finally dropped Allen midway through the round. With his mouthpiece on the mat, Allen got a short reprieve from the onslaught before Livingston went right back downstairs. With Allen hunched over, Livingston landed a couple blows to his cranium which had him headed back to the mat. Referee Tony Crebs jumped in to stop the contest at 2:03 of the fourth-round.

In the walkout bout, Dushane Crooks (1-0) of Brooklyn, New York by way of Clarendon, Jamaica dropped Greg Baca (0-1) of San Bernardino, California in the second-round en route to a four-round unanimous decision. Baca, 157, had some success early, as he rocked Cooks, 156 ½, forcing the Brooklyn resident to hold on for a moment.

Crooks turned the fight in his favor with a left hook that dropped Baca. When Baca quickly popped back up, Crooks landed a couple more shots before referee Tony Crebs could jump in for the eight-count.

From the second on, the fight was completely in Crooks’ control. The Jamaican-born slugger rocked Baca with another wild left and followed up with a combination that shot his mouthpiece out of the ring. After another decisive round, all three judges handed in scorecards of 39-35 or Crooks.

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

Classy super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales returns to the ring tonight in a six-round attraction against pugnacious swinger Juan Tepoz on the undercard of the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights-televised main event of Anthony Dirrell-Kevin Engel at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California.

Morales (4-0, 3 KOs) of San Ardo, California is coming in off of a fourth-round knockout of veteran Jaime Villa in June. Morales, a highly touted amateur before turning pro this past February, has two more fights scheduled over the next 49 days, but first must make it past an aggressive and determined Tepoz tonight. Morales weighed in at 120 ¼-pounds Thursday.

Tepoz (4-5-1) of Santa Rosa, California is riding a three-fight skid, but those two fights came against prospects Richard Contreras and Michael Ruiz Jr. Though he has yet to score a knockout, Tepoz has shown flashes of power as he did manage to score an official knockdown of Ruiz in their first meeting. Tepoz scaled 120 ¼-pounds Friday.

Morales should be at the peak of his powers as a cut in the Villa fight gave him a short reprieve from the ring, not that the eager prospect asked for a break. In addition, Morales got some quality ring time with world ranked super featherweight Eloy Perez in preparation of tonight’s bout.

Perez and Morales have become fairly regular sparring partners in recent months, something that will surely benefit the San Ardo native as he progresses in his young career. Perez, perhaps only a fight or two away from challenging for a world title, has been impressed with the young upstart.

“He’s always in shape,” says Perez. “When I’ve sparred him, he’s always ready. He’s always quick and able to go the rounds. He’s real fast, real slick and he can switch. He fights with both hands. His footwork is real nice. He has skills and it seems like he is learning and working on things he needs to pick up on. He’s a good kid. He has a good amateur background. He’s good. I think he’s a young prospect coming up, he just needs to stay busy.”

Morales, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and managed by Repo Ric, plans to stay busy should everything go as planned tonight in Cabazon. Morales will get a quick turnaround and fight Isaac Hidalgo (8-7-2, 1 KO) of Tucson, Arizona on August 5th in Santa Ynez, California and then fight on the undercard of Eloy Perez-Daniel Jimenez in Salinas on September 2nd.

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

Zab Judah speaks like a preacher these days. He has to believe, even if few in the gambling congregation do anymore. The proverbial last stand sometimes brings out the prophet in a man. Against Amir Khan Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, that’s where Judah finds himself.

“Zab Judah will be the winner; Zab Judah will be the winner,’’ he said in a conference-call refrain. “I promise you.’’

Promise has always been the issue with Judah. It’s been unfulfilled throughout a series of misadventures ever since his unmistakable talent launched him so rapidly that stardom must have seemed like an entitlement. It never is, of course. Losses to Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Carlos Baldomir and Cory Spinks are lessons that fast hands and agile feet won’t win if not accompanied by maturity.

Maturity is about the only thing slow to develop in Judah (41-6, 28 KOs), now 33 and a Christian living in Sin City. Doubt lingers about whether enough of it is there even now. That accounts for the 5-to-1 odds favoring Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) in the junior-welterweight bout for two pieces of the 140-pound title.

Other than a gritty and poised performance in 2007 against a Cotto then at his best, Judah has never shown anything that says he can contain his emotions — maintain his composure — at the moment of inevitable adversity in a big fight.

That label was affixed to his reputation in 2001 against Tszyu, who looked as if he were about to be overwhelmed by the swift Judah in the first round. In the second, Judah’s confidence got the best of him. He mocked Tszyu by shaking his hips. Judah dropped his hands. Then, Tszyu dropped him with a right. Judah stumbled around, picked up and threw his stool like an angry bar patron at last call and futilely went after referee Jay Nady. Ten-year-old images are unfair perhaps. But in the age of YouTube, they endure. Judah has been stumbling through his career ever since.

A mini-riot erupted during the 2006 bout against Mayweather, who looked across the ring and apparently didn’t see a security guard. Mayweather was the only one to display any poise, which in hindsight looks like a huge upset after his reported and repeated altercations with rent-a-cops. Mayweather moved into a neutral corner and calmly waited out the storm. For Judah, there was a six-month suspension and a $75,000 fine.
Days of suspension, fines and rage are behind him, he swears.

“I’m more focused on my career and my family,’’ Judah said. “I’m at a great place in life right now.’’
Changes in lifestyle, he says, are complemented by a more purposeful approach to business. A boyhood hero, retired defensive wizard Pernell Whitaker, is his trainer instead of his dad, Yoel. Fathers as trainers have always been problematic. Emotions get confused and in the way. With Whitaker, that dangerous potential is gone. Whitaker says Judah has become a more scientific boxer, which means more deliberate skill and less of the undisciplined emotion.

There’s also Victor Conte, whose infamous past includes Balco, Barry Bonds and performance enhancers. Conte has moved into boxing in an attempt to rebuild his reputation as a nutritionist and conditioning coach. Neither the family physician nor my auto mechanic has any idea what hypoxic training is. If Conte’s new-world methods had anything to do with Nonito Donaire’s stunning, second-round stoppage of Fernando Montiel last February, however, Khan has reason to worry.

Judah believes that Khan, the World Boxing Association’s champion, will enter the ring Saturday with a strategy based on what he saw in his many meltdowns.

“The old Judah,’’ said the International Boxing Federation’s champ, who figures to test Khan’s questionable chin early and often with an uppercut. “But after the first round, I think we’ll come back to the corner and say: ‘Guys, I don’t think this is the Zab Judah we prepared for.’ ‘’

But it isn’t the first round. It never has been for Judah. It’s what happens later. I can’t help but wonder how Judah would have reacted last December if it had been him instead of Khan in a wicked 10th round. The poised Khan held on instead of panicking or overreacting in the face of a withering assault from Marcos Maidana. Maidana’s repeated punches left Khan looking as if he were precariously balanced on a tight rope. But he stayed upright and held on to win by decision.

I’m not sure Judah would have kept his wits about him. He never has.

Yet, he has a chance against Khan. Judah is called a live dog. That means he’s a cornered one. There are no more chances if he loses in one more an attempt to prove he has grown beyond his reputation and grown up into the fighter everybody thought he would be.

AZ market on the mend
The Arizona market, dormant for the last two years, is staging one of boxing’s biggest comebacks these days.

There are two cards in the state Friday — one (first bell/7:30 p.m.) staged by longtime and legendary promoter Don Chargin at Tucson’s Casino del Sol and the other (first bell/7:30 p.m.) by Michelle Rosado of Face II Face Events in Phoenix at Madison Events Center.

The Arizona State Boxing Commission, strapped by budget cuts and suddenly busier than ever, will only regulate the Phoenix card, which will feature young Phoenix fighters, including bantamweight Emilio Garcia (2-0-1).

Chargin’s card will be regulated by the Pascua Yaqui, which owns and operates Casino del Sol. Without the tribe’s regulation, the two probably would have been scheduled on different dates. The Commission doesn’t have the personnel to work two on the same night.

There are several reasons for the boxing resurrection in Arizona, which has been home to six cards during the last four months. Controversy over the state’s tough immigration bill, SB 1070, has lessened since last year.

The biggest factor, however, is simply in the documents needed by Mexican fighters. For a couple of years, Mexican nationals were forced to get work visas instead of a tourist visa. Work visas are harder and more expensive to acquire

About a year ago, the state determined that Mexicans could again fight in Arizona with a tourist visa. That re-opened the market in a border-state with a rich boxing tradition.

Chargin has always been fond of Arizona. Over the years, the Hall of Fame promoter has staged several cards at Casino del Sol’s spacious outdoor arena.

“My wife and I used to say that Casino del Sol was our favorite place,’’ said Chargin, who lost his beloved wife, Lorraine, in April 2010.

Chargin, who will feature unbeaten super-bantamweight Christopher Martin (22-0, 6 KOs) of San Diego against Mexican Jose Silveria (12-3, 4 KOs), isn’t surprised by the state’s comeback. There are too many boxing gyms throughout Phoenix and Tucson to keep it down for long. A lively gym culture ensures that a boxing market will always be there.

“They’ve tried and tried and tried to kill it, but they can’t,’’ Chargin said.

AZ NOTES, QUOTES
• There are initial talks for Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales’ third fight in his hometown, probably in the fall. Gonzales’ promotional company, Fanbase, approached Fernando Vargas about fighting Gonzales. Vargas has talked about a comeback, but his initial price was too high. Darin Schmick of Fanbase said Vargas asked for $2.5 million and a percentage of the gate. Big money might have been Vargas’ way of saying he’s not serious about a comeback. Schmick said he is still willing to talk to Vargas about the proposed fight. But a deal probably means Vargas would have to subtract a few figures from the seven he wants

• Junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. is scheduled for his next bout in Parker, Ariz., at BlueWater Resort & Casino on a Sept. 17 card that will also feature Filipino Mercito Gesta. The date conflicts with Mayweather’s comeback against Victor Ortiz at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on Sept. 17. Promoters for the Parker card, Top Rank and Showdown, talked about moving the date. October 1 was a possibility. But the promoters stayed with Sept. 17, in part because of contractual obligations.

CLICK TO ORDER THE FIGHT
NEW YORK (July 20, 2011) – USBA heavyweight champion Maurice “Sugar Moe” Harris’ often tumultuous boxing career is back in a good place, after he redeemed himself last Saturday in Atlantic City, when he stopped Derric “The Shaolin Fist” Rossy in the 12thround at Resorts Casino Hotel.

Harris (25-15-2, 11 KOs) was coming off of a disappointing loss by third round to Tony “The Tiger” Thompson (36-2, 24 KOs) in May, shown live on ESPN Friday Night Fights in their IBF Box-Off.

Rossy (25-5, 14 KOs), rated No. 15 by the IBF, served as a litmus test for Harris, a 35-year-old whose major claim to fame is winning the 2002 Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament, defeating Thompson in the $100,000 finale, as well as defeating world champion Sergei Liakhovich. The New Jersey fighter found himself at the crossroads once again, facing possible retirement if he lost to Rossy, the former Boston College football standout who had previously defeated WBO champion and 1988 Olympic gold-medal winner Ray Mercer (DEC12) and world title challenger Carl David Drummond (DEC10).

“I never looked at the fight like that,” Harris said, “only as another challenge, another fight. I don’t focus on something like that (in a career-ending fight) because I always need to focus on my opponent and our fight. I did show resiliency when I needed to win. It was a good win, one of my top five, but I was only about 70-percent of what I can really be. I hadn’t been 12 rounds since last August. I was still a little rusty. You can do that (12 rounds) in the gym but it’s not the same as in a fight. I did feel good going into the fight and afterwards.”

Harris dropped Rossy in the sixth, led by two rounds going into the 12th, and finished the show in impressive style. The veteran had worn-down Rossy and eventually trapped his tiring opponent on the ropes in the 12th, decking him again with a three-punch combination, an overhand right to the chin serving as an exclamation point. Rossy got to his feet but Harris moved in to finish him, backing Derec onto the ropes again, and unloading a four-punch combination against his defenseless opponent. Referee Earl Morton halted the action at 1:35 of the final round.

“This fight proved that Maurice’s last one was a fluke.” Harris’ promoter Mario Yagobi (Boxing 360) commented. “He couldn’t respond right after getting hit with so many illegal hits behind the head. I said that before this fight and still believed in Maurice. He was the stronger, bigger guy who showed a lot more skills than his opponent. Rossy came to win. He was in great shape, at 225 pounds, and had a six-pack stomach. Maurice showed his experience, dropping him the sixth, and finishing with a 12th round knockout. Rossy was banged up; his face had a lot of bruises and welts. From the eighth or ninth round, he looked like a beaten fighter.”

“The last two rounds were my strongest,” Harris noted. “I caught my second wind. I knew one good assault would close the deal. I hadn’t had a knockout in a long time (2002 vs. Liahkovich). I thought I had him out in the sixth, but he stayed right in there until the last round. I hit him with some good combinations. He fell and got up, but I knew he was finished.

“The Thompson fight is still in the back of my head. We’ve both won once and I’d like a third fight to settle things. I won’t get over it until we do. I wish him luck in his fights but, even if it’s sparring, I want to fight him again. He didn’t fight the best Maurice Harris but, then again, neither did Rossy.”

Because Harris, rated No. 9 by the IBF, fought an optional defense against Rossy, Maurice has a mandatory coming up against a challenger to be determined. Chazz Witherspoon is the No. 1 rated IBF challenger, followed in order by Steve Collins, Cedric Boswell, Antonio Tarver and Michael Grant.

Other members of Boxing 360’s stable include WBC #5 super bantamweight Leon “Hurry Up” Moore, former IBF super middleweight champion Alejandro “Naco” Berrio, unbeaten welterweight prospect Vitaliy “Demyan”Demyanenko WBC Caribbean & NY State super middleweight champion Lennox “2 Sharpe” Allen, Dominican lightweight champion Eudy “AK47” Bernardo, KO king Tyrone Brunson, heavyweight Mike Mollo, unbeaten NABF featherweight champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano, Nick “Hands of Gold” Casal, middleweight prospect DonYil Livingston, Joel Diaz Jr., and “King”David Estrada.

Go to www.Boxing360.comfor more information about Harris, Boxing 360 or any of its other fighters.

Since discovering His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ just a few years ago, Zab Judah has undergone some monumental changes both in and outside the ring.

Since finding Christ, it’s almost as if Judah’s had a another man in the ring fighting alongside him, or a fourth man in his corner — perhaps he was an ex-carpenter.

Things have seemed to have gone just right for Judah since the beginning of his resurrection.

In a way, Zab Judah is the R. A. Dickey of boxing. That is to say, like an old MLB pitcher who lost his stuff, Judah, like Dickey, has had to reinvent himself in order to resurrect his careers. Judah’s by looking in the mirror and becoming a more mature human being (as well as a re-dedicating himself to his craft); and Dickey by learning how to throw a nasty knuckleball.

Both are great stories. Both are above average talent. But both aren’t going to make the All-Star Team.

There are many people, including many members of the media, who love Judah in this fight. Don’t count me amongst them.

Sure it’s a great story — the man who hit rock bottom with a loss to Carlos Baldomir reinvents his entire career to reign supreme in one of boxing’s deepest divisions. It would be remarkable. I just don’t see it happening.

Here’s why.

I sat ringside for Judah’s fight against Lucas Matthysse. I had Matthysse winning the fight by one point. The judge’s disagreed, Judah walked away with the win. No arguments from me, it was a close fight.

In his next fight against Kaizer Mabuza, Judah unleashed all hell on his South African counterpart in round seven and scored a TKO victory. That seventh round came after some really shaky early rounds. Heading into the seventh round, I had Judah losing that fight as well.

Had him losing against Matthyse, losing against Mabuza before he righted the ship in the seventh.

On Saturday night, Amir Khan certainly won’t start as late as Matthysse (just remember that crippling body shot he delivered to Chino Maidana in the first stanza of their twelve round brawl). Khan will use his blazing hand speed to overwhelm Judah, much like he did Paulie Malignaggi. I guess what remains to be seen is if Khan fade late again like he did against the aforementioned Maidana.

If so, maybe Judah catches Khan being sloppy, but I doubt it. Under the guidance of Coach Roach, I don’t think Khan makes the same mistake twice. Once he establishes an early lead on the scorecards, my guess is Khan rides his bike to the win. He doesn’t want a Maidana round 10 all over again.

While I expect Khan to win big, I’m am hoping Judah lands that signature left uppercut square on Khan’s jaw. Let see if it really is made of glass.

—-

Just for fun, Las Vegas thinks Tomasz Adamek has a better shot at beating Vitali Klitschko than Zab Judah does of defeating Amir Khan on Saturday. Tomasz Adamek is +300 against Dr. Iron First, while Judah is an even bigger underdog against Khan at +350.

Like Austin Powers, I also like to live dangerously, so I’m going to stay on “5” — I’ll take the favorite, I’m going chalk…I’m laying the points.

Kyle Kinder can be reached via Twitter @KyleKinder.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. – Contrary to stereotypes about South Texas, held by the rest of the country, yes, but also other Texans, this city plays home to a superb contemporary-paint collection by local artists. Art Museum of South Texas is a jewel of sweeping modern canvases and craftily presented views of the bay on which it stands.

It is also home to work by Dorothy Hood, creator of large-scale and abstract works that challenge as much as they delight. A woman doing abstract paintings in 1960s Texas and finding enduring appreciation 150 miles from the border with Mexico: not exactly the impression of Lone Star State one gets from reading The New York Times.

A pox on the stereotypes, then!

Sing it out for South Texas, and sing it out for junior welterweights Amir Khan and Zab Judah.

Khan, a 24-year-old Englishman of Arab descent, currently holds the WBA’s version of a 140-pound title but is not his division’s king. Judah, a 33-year-old New Yorker of Brooklyn descent, has held a number of titles and routinely stretched his fans to the end of their emotional tether. The two will meet Saturday at Mandalay Bay in a match HBO will televise.

Their fight will be filled with the absence of Timothy Bradley, the junior welterweight champion last seen manhandling Devon Alexander in a deserted Pontiac Silverdome about six months ago. Bradley will still be the best 140 pounder after Khan and Judah finish a battle for mandatory-challenger status.

Bradley, it seems, has run into promotional difficulties. One didn’t have to be a cynic to suspect this the morning after his last fight. Then, Bradley strode through Southwest’s terminal at Detroit Metro Airport round 7:00 a.m. The best prizefighter in one of boxing’s best divisions not only didn’t have a first-class ticket but had to hustle to get a decent seat on a flight that rose with the sun.

Rumor is, Bradley may head to promoter Top Rank, after forgoing a chance to extend his professional relationship with Gary Shaw. Leaving a matchmaker for a promoter is a good idea. That Top Rank will know what to do with an African American from Palm Springs, Calif., though, is disputable.

What is indisputable is Bradley’s fear of Amir Khan. There is none. Whatever Bradley’s actual reason for declining a title-unification bout with Khan, fear can be dismissed. Khan’s stand-up, boxer-puncher style is custom made for Bradley. Khan is no faster than Devon Alexander and has roughly half the chin. And Bradley fearlessly gave Alexander the business till he quit in January.

Khan, though, could do Bradley quite a favor by beating Zab Judah on Saturday. Judah, in his latest incarnation at least, is more than capable of beating any of the top-5 junior welterweights. He is a wildcard and always has been.

Since his 2008 loss to Joshua Clottey – yes, the timid turtle from Cowboys Stadium – Judah has turned his life around and figured things out and adjusted his priorities and, why, every other cliché used by athletes whose talent outpaces their achievements. He’s had impressive wins against unimpressive foes and one unimpressive win against an impressive foe.

He’s also gotten a recent helping of positive press disproportionate to recent accomplishments. Most of this can be attributed to his promoter Kathy Duva, a refreshingly accessible craftsperson who treats the print media much better than many of her peers. Much of the rest of Judah’s darling treatment is attributable to the residue left by hopes appended to him years ago.

That was before Kostya Tszyu sent Judah stumbling everywhere in 2001. It was before Carlos Baldomir put him on Queer Street in 2006. It was before Floyd Mayweather solved him 90 days later. And it was before Miguel Cotto brutalized him in 2007.

Thing is, if you add Mickey Ward and Cory Spinks to the names above – Tszyu, Mayweather, Cotto and Clottey – and consider that Judah fought all of them in their primes, you come to a conclusion Judah himself has come to: He’s faced much better men than Amir Khan has. Much better men than Amir Khan is, too.

But Judah is a stereotypical front runner, one of the modern era’s greatest four-round fighters. And when the going has got tough in his career, Judah has not got going.

Khan, for his part, is considered by many the stereotype of a protected European champion. He roars like a lion when standing before overmatched opponents like Paulie Malignaggi or an old and blood-blinded Marco Antonio Barrera, but he cut a significantly different figure peddling frantically away from Marcos Maidana in December – yes, the same limited Argentine who just had a terrible time with old Erik Morales.

So what? Corpus Christi is supposed to be a warm-water, oil-rigged net for catching tourists of modest means and more-modest tastes. If you’re not standing at the end of a jetty with a fishing rod and fears of heat stroke, you’re supposed to be watching sea otters at the aquarium, marching across the USS Lexington’s 100-degree flight deck, or gobbling freezer-to-fryer seafood inside the humid belly of a concrete shark.

And yet, mere yards from that bazaar is South Texas Museum of Art. So much for stereotypes.

A prediction, then? Khan-Judah will be a fine match that either guy might win. The difference-maker, likely, will be Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach. He’s had plenty of time and case history from which to shape a strategy that will unman Judah. He may not be able to protect Khan’s chin from Judah’s quick hands, but he’s had an entire camp to teach his charge how to counter those hands.

And Judah, well, his record in big fights speaks for itself.

I’ll take Khan, SD-12.

***

A special note of thanks to local artist Miranda Gonzalez whose “Alejandro the Sea Horse” inspired the better parts of what’s above.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

If it isn’t the biggest upset in many years, New Jersey’s suspension of the three scorekeepers in the decision given to Paul Williams and stolen from Erislandy Lara is a stunner that is laudable for its immediacy, yet incomplete in its scope, language and accountability.

To wit: It is hard to judge, which is something Al Bennett, Hilton Whitaker and Don Givens were not able to do on cards that must have made Lara feel like a bank teller with a note from a guy in a ski-mask.

In a letter Wednesday to Lara’s reps at Golden Boy Promotions and Williams promoter Dan Goossen, New Jersey Commissioner Aaron Davis told them of the indefinite suspensions after a review that did not turn up “evidence of bias, fraud, corruption or incapacity.’’

For now, we’ll have to take New Jersey’s word on the first three. But incapacity? It can mean a lot of things. Presumably, New Jersey meant to say that the scorekeepers were capable enough to know which end of a pencil to use.

But “being incapable” is part of Merriam-Webster’s primary definition. Synonyms include inability, incompetence and ineptitude. The three scorekeepers were all of that in scoring a majority decision Saturday for Williams in an Atlantic City bout dominated by Lara, who from opening bell through the 12th repeatedly rocked Williams by landing 49 percent of his power punches.

Davis’ letter, which included an apology, said New Jersey was “unsatisfied” by the scoring. But “unsatisfied’’ is not a satisfactory explanation for New Jersey’s assignment of three scorekeepers to a high-profile, HBO-televised bout. Bennett, Givens and Whitaker will have to undergo further training before they are issued another scorecard, according to Davis’ letter. Left unexplained is what kind of training they underwent in the first place.

A lot already has been said about their relative lack of experience. It’s been reported that Bennett, who scored it a 114-114 draw, had never worked a title fight televised by HBO or Showtime. OK, but does that explain how not one of the threesome knew that Lara was winning? Bennett was closer to reality than either Whitaker (115-114) or Givens (116-114), but all three might as well have been watching waves from a seat on the boardwalk instead of a one-sided fight from a perch at ringside.

The training, assignment and identity of judges has always been a murky process — different from state-to-state, nation-to-nation. HBO does a good job in providing some details about their respective records, including scores in significant fights. Yet, there are still nights when the three judges might as well be Manny, Moe and Jack.

Who are these guys?

For Williams-Lara, it looks as if the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board had no clue. It’s no surprise that Bennett, Givens and Whitaker didn’t either.

REMEMBERING KIMBALL
I couldn’t help watching the Lara-Williams controversy without thinking about what George Kimball would have written. It would have been uniquely his and his alone. Through the terrible toll of cancer, Kimball never lost his ability to express outrage or be outraged. I suspect it kept him alive long after doctors told him he had six months to live in 2005 when he was diagnosed with a death sentence. Kimball, who died on July 6, just loved a good fight.

Kimball was a fellow Army brat. I went to more high schools than he did. But he had more of everything else.

He became a mentor for me and then a friend during two weeks in Athens for the 2004 Olympics. During the preliminary rounds of boxing at a rundown gym in a lousy Athens neighborhood, I bet him 50 Euros that the U.S. wouldn’t win a single medal. Kimball, then a Boston Herald columnist, looked at me like the fool I was, took the American field and collected the 50 Euros on the night Andre Dirrell won bronze, two nights before Andre Ward won gold.

As I paid him off, he gave me a shrewd, amused look – pure Kimball.

“Why don’t you pay me after we get back to the Olympic Village?’’ he said. “That way, I won’t get robbed while we try to get out of this place.’’

For anybody who loves great writing from irreplaceable characters, his death robs us all.

AZ NOTES, ANECDOTES
· The Arizona market, dormant for the last few years, continues to heat up. On Friday, July 22, two cards are scheduled, one in Phoenix and one in Tucson. Longtime promoter Don Chargin is in Tucson at Casino del Sol with a card scheduled for seven fights and featuring super-bantamweight Christopher Martin (22-0-2, 6 KOs) of San Diego against Mexican Jose Silviera (12-3, 4 KOs). In Phoenix, Michele Rosado of Face II Face Events is at Madison Events Center with a card that includes two bantamweight bouts, featuring Emilio Garcia in one and Alexis Santiago in the other. If a large, noisy crowd at a Phoenix news conference Wednesday is a sign, both are becoming local attractions.

· Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales, entertaining and gutsy in an ESPN2 victory last Friday, got six stitches for a cut over one eye suffered in an apparent heat butt with Francisco Sierra. Gonzales is expected to fight again in Phoenix sometime in the fall. Another fall fight is also expected for 19-year-old Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr., who pushed his junior-welterweight record to 12-0 in his hometown debut six weeks ago. Benavidez fought with injuries to both hands in his last victory. The hands have healed. He’s back in the gym.

Morganville, NJ (July 12, 2011) – Well regarded junior middleweight prospect Denis “Da Mommas Boy” Douglin outpointed hard-nosed Philadelphian Philip McCants over six rounds last Saturday evening at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.

Fighting for the first time since a shocking loss in February, Douglin effectively outboxed McCants, connecting with jabs, hooks and hard straight left hands throughout the contest. McCants proved to be game and displayed a great chin, but Douglin’s skillful performance earned him a clear-cut unanimous decision victory.

Scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56.

“It felt great to finally get back in the ring,” said Douglin, who had a bevy of fans cheering him on. “I had a very serious training camp and what happened in my last fight made me work even harder.”

He was also glad to get rounds in against a credible opponent.

“I’m glad I fought a tough opponent. I didn’t want to face a guy that would go down if I breathed in his direction. Phillip McCants is a solid fighter and this was the start of a new beginning.”

Douglin, who improved to 13-1 with 8 knockouts, has already returned to the gym and expects his next bout to be announced shortly.

Fans can follow him at twitter.com/damommasboy.

Boxing insiders will forgive David Haye. Many of us have already. What he did some Saturdays ago against Wladimir Klitschko, the ballsy hustle of it, was different to us only for reasons of scale. We see the same embellishment and churlish irony from smalltime promoters each month. Supposedly, it’s part of prizefighting’s charm.

We endure it out of self-interest. If the heavyweight division could just get back on the front page of . . . well, OK, the homepage of, well, something, laymen would again talk about our sport. They’d want to read about it, too. Advertisers would return. Writers would be paid.

But what about those laymen? If you know any, they approached you this week about Klitschko-Haye because you’ve mentioned boxing to them at Starbucks. These aren’t your friends from the gym. These are the people with whom you talk about boxing, work or federal-debt-ceiling negotiations.

And what they wanted from you, believe it or not, was a little outrage. They watched Klitschko-Haye, because it was for the heavyweight championship of the world, and they were unimpressed. So, they wanted your eyes to flash or your voice to rise Monday. They wanted to hear what Haye did was unacceptable. When you explained the fight wasn’t that bad and Klitschko is very effective at what he does and Haye’s trash-talking is just the way of the world, you know what these laymen thought?

Hadn’t watched boxing in ages. Seems I haven’t missed anything.

We won’t mourn these absentee fans’ future absence because that’s what the 1990s and 2000s were for – fretting over a dwindling interest in our sport. Today, God love us, we’re defiant; those moronic ghouls, we say, they just want senseless violence and don’t even know what a counterpunch is!

There went the last three casual fans? Very well. No one here but the choir, then, so let’s preach to us.

We found comfort on Friday and Saturday – a couple reminders of why we stick with this sport no matter how little this sport cares that we do. Arizona super middleweight Jesus “El Martillo” Gonzales made a fine scrap with Mexico light heavyweight Francisco Sierra on ESPN2, Friday. And Saturday “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios made one of the finest three-round championship fights of the last 30 years, with Urbano Antillon on Showtime.

But it was all ruined by HBO. There is a temptation to think that way, sure. It was hard to watch Saturday’s fare in the aficionado’s proper order – Showtime first, HBO second – without going to bed a little downtrodden. HBO set out to rehab one of its house fighters, and he lost, and the Atlantic City judges – unaware HBO had quit on its house fighter – turned in majority-decision scorecards confirming a rehabilitation.

Paul Williams’ victory, contrary to popular sentiment, was not all that is wrong with boxing. At this point, a 100-round fight couldn’t turn that trick. Williams’ victory instead was a lesson in the corrupting effect of vesting a small group of people with disproportionate power, but if we’re going to play the boxing-as-metaphor game, we might as well find a worthier subject to treat than some Machiavellian advisor or other.

You know what? Let’s scrap the game altogether and just celebrate what Gonzales, Sierra, Rios and Antillon gave us.

Jesus Gonzales, possessed of one remarkable punch and many flaws, returned to the place where he was comprehensively undone by Jose Luis Zertuche almost six years ago. He dropped Sierra in the fourth round with a left cross he throws to the body as well as any southpaw in the game. Then he was dropped in the fifth by a Sierra right hand to the chin Gonzales leaves unguarded as any southpaw’s in the game. But Gonzales rose from the canvas to win a fair unanimous decision.

His attack consists of a bunny hop, a pair of jabs and a lunging left hand followed by backwards hops and a reset. Something like this.

Gonzales bounces, sets. He jabsjabs, then leaps. Right hand in his front pocket, chin good and high, he dives forward. The left fist uncoils perfectly from behind his left shoulder, and his wrist turns over at the instant before impact, to make a punch forceful enough to crack a human rib – a feat Gonzales achieved against Kendall Gould 50 months ago in Fountain Hills, Ariz. – the very sort of punch that would fold Andre Ward in half were it to land. The odds of that happening are long. Ward is much better than Sierra. Much better than Gonzales, too. But anyway.

Gonzales is not the future star promoter Bob Arum thought he was in 2003. But ESPN2 could do a lot worse than televising Gonzales’ next three or four fights.

Writing of Arum’s roster of future stars – the fluctuating team of a curmudgeonly coach – how about that Brandon Rios? Little was missing from his 8 1/2 minute destruction of Urbano Antillon but the finish. With Antillon dazed and stumbling away, Rios just missed a chance to run across the ring and finish him like Marvelous Marvin Hagler finished Tommy Hearns in the only better three-round fight you can think of.

This was a fight for a world lightweight title. It was a fight in which neither man gave ground. A fight that saw Antillon, felled twice and on the verge of unconsciousness, scoff at a ref’s suggestion the fight should not resume. A fight of gorgeous uppercuts and hooks and no defense for its own sake. A treat that Rios ended by catching Antillon’s left hook to the body and countering it with a right cross, twice. Poetic.

Yes, sport in general has forgotten but not forgiven David Haye. And there are fewer prospective boxing fans today than there were two weeks ago. But there are still prizefighters from the Mexican tradition out there. And in that, friends, we must find our solace.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com @bartbarry

PHOENIX – Jesus Gonzales wears a Fifties’ style hat that is everywhere these days. Old-school is new-century chic. Everybody has a hat and a Twitter account. But Gonzales has been wearing the hat for as long as anybody in Phoenix has known him, which means his hometown still calls him Ernie.

“Yeah, I’m a lot more of an Ernie than a Jesus,’’ Gonzales said not long after he began his pro career in 2003 as Jesus instead of the Ernie who had promoters and managers buzzing about a powerful, promising amateur nearly a decade ago.

Then, Top Rank’s idea was to re-name Gonzales in an attempt to better sell him to Mexican and Mexican-American fans. But a stage name never changed the identity. Gonzales, now a super-middleweight, has always been the friendly, approachable personality you would expect an Ernie to be. It’s who he is. It’s who his 4-year-old son is. He didn’t name him Jesus, Jr. He’s Ernie III.

“If Ernie The Third was here right now, he’d be racing around this place, playing, saying hello to everybody and just having fun,’’ Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) said at US Airways Center where he faces Francisco Sierra (24-3-1, 22 KOs) Friday night in an ESPN2-televised bout.

If fathers are like their sons, Gonzales, now 26, still has lot of the kid in him. There have been tough days, moments inside and outside of the ring that he wishes he could re-do. Through it all, however, Gonzales is still that kid, just having some fun.

A lot of hyped prospects collect as many grudges as they do scars in careers that go awry. But there’s no chip on Gonzales’ shoulder. There’s only that hat. Let somebody else be angry. Gonzales moves forward with undiluted optimism rare in a cynical business, yet as undiminished as the power in a left-hand that accounts for his nickname, El Martillo — The Hammer.

The temptation is to say that Gonzales is just naïve. But there’s something refreshing about a fighter who hasn’t let the game’s unforgiving criticism drive him into bitterness. For a couple of years, he couldn’t get a fight because of management problems and old stories about interference from his father, another Ernie, who is no longer his trainer.

He wound up doing whatever he could to support his growing family. Another child is on the way. He loaded trucks for Target at midnight. He worked late-night shifts as a security guard. In tough times, he saw people stuck in the same place he was.

“I did whatever I could to make a little money,’’ he said.

He vowed that if he ever got back into a position where he could help, he would. Since he launched his Phoenix comeback with a victory in March, that’s what he’s been doing. He has worked with underprivileged school kids and spent time with cancer patients. The Phoenix City Council honored him for work in the community.

“I’ve been in a position where nobody would help me,’’ Gonzales said as he stood in front of a wall covered by posters full of cheers done in crayon by school kids. “I can’t give anybody money, cause I don’t have any money. But I can give them my support.’’

Gonzales, a people person, is back in the fight to become a people’s champ, which seemed to be his destiny when he signed with Top Rank. If anything, his renewed attempt at recapturing an Ernie’s promise will be at least as difficult as it was when the name changed and Jesus’ hopes unraveled.

He returns to the scene of his lone loss Friday at US Airways Center against an opponent, Sierra, who took the fight on short notice when Henry Buchanan of Maryland backed out late last week. In some ways, the place and the opponent bring Gonzales back to the beginning of the end. He was stopped in eight rounds by Jose Luis Zertuche in 2005.

It’s difficult to judge Sierra. The Mexican failed to make the contracted 168 pounds Thursday, meaning he can’t win the North American Boxing Federation’s vacant title. Only Gonzales can. Sierra was heavy in two trips to the scale – 176.5 pounds the first time and 175 an hour later. He reportedly had been training for a fight later in July in Mexico. He agreed to the Gonzales bout only last Friday. It’s hard to know if Sierra is ready.

Nonetheless, his record says he’s dangerous. He beat former champion Jose Luis Lopez and lost to Edison Miranda. Twenty-two knockouts in 28 fights add up to fight-stopping, career-ending power. If Sierra is ready, he looms as Gonzales’ toughest challenge since Zertuche.

What’s more, the ESPN2 cameras will be there. Gonzales fell off the national radar after the Zertuche loss. Against Sierra, he has a chance to re-introduce himself and perhaps get in line for a shot at even bigger prize.

Gonzales is known for being the last fighter to beat reigning super-middleweight Andre Ward. It happened in the amateur ranks. Gonzales hasn’t forgotten and – for a while at least – neither had Ward. A couple of years ago, Ward was quoted as saying he wanted to avenge the loss to Gonzales. Ward has bigger fish to fry these days. First, there is Carl Froch for the Super-Six Tournament title.

For Gonzales, perhaps there’s a better chance at a fight against Kelly Pavlik, who is trying to get back into the mix after a stint in rehab.

“Pavlik makes some sense,’’ said Gonzales promoter Darin Schmick, whose Fan Base card includes lightweight Emanuel Lucero (26-6-1, 14 KOs) against Roy Jones-promoted Yaundale Evans (14-0, 10 KOs) on a seven-fight card scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. (PST).

Gonzales sparred with Pavlik before Pavlik was beaten in 2010 by Sergio Martinez in a crushing defeat. According to Gonzales, he injured Pavlik’s rib cage.

“I spent three weeks with him in camp,’’ Gonzales says. “If we fought, he knows how it would go. I don’t think he’d take a chance against me. I think Pavlik wants big money in a world title fight. But we’ll see. Right now, I’ve got Sierra that’s more than enough to worry about. I’ll just keep on working, doing what I do.’’

Doing what an Ernie would do.

Rising bantamweight prospect Michael Ruiz Jr. moved past the first rival of his professional career in his last outing in May and now has his sights set on a former amateur nemesis in Randy Caballero.

Ruiz (8-0-1, 3 KOs) of Fresno, California put tough Jonathan Alcantara in his rearview with a unanimous six-round decision in Reno, Nevada on May 27th. Alcantara held Ruiz to a draw last November, but managed to only win one round on one official card in the rematch. Ready to move on to the next level, Ruiz and his team are eyeing the Golden Boy Promotions-promoted Caballero (12-0, 7 KOs) of Coachella, California.

Caballero claimed the WBC Youth Intercontinental Super Bantamweight title with a victory over Alexis Santiago this past Friday at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. Caballero claimed an eight-round unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Santiago, but the scoring left some scratching their heads. Despite the competitive nature of the bout, only one of the three judges seated ringside managed to find a round to give Santiago.

Ruiz’ manager Repo Ric happened to be on hand working the event. Ruiz’ Tio Alfredo lives in the Indio area and has been keeping his eye on Caballero, who has fought seven of his last eight fights at the Fantasy Springs Casino. Prior to the fight, Alfredo got Repo’s attention with a suggestion. It was Ruiz’ uncle’s idea that Repo match Ruiz with Caballero a couple fights down the road.

“When I watched him, I got pissed off and called him out,” recalls Repo, who was not impressed one bit by Caballero’s performance. “The scorecard was pathetic. [Caballero] lost every round, and that was bull. Santiago was bad, he threw way more punches. The scores were so bad.”

Outraged by the decision and intrigued about a potential Caballero-Ruiz showdown, Repo confronted the new titleholder and his father-trainer Marcos. “I said why don’t you fight Mike Ruiz, let him get a shot at that title,” recalls Repo. “His father and I got into a confrontation in front of everybody. They filmed it and it was in the paper and everything. I called him out baby, I called him out.”

Reports of the backstage argument made Caballero’s hometown paper The Desert Sun and video was filmed and posted on YouTube. Caballero, who cites an amateur victory over Ruiz, tells the camera, “I’ll sign anything.” Repo Ric would like to hold him to that by getting Caballero to fight Ruiz outside the friendly confines of his home arena and on a card promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions.

Word about the potential match-up and the confrontation got to Ruiz, and the Fresno-prospect decided to take a look at the bout, which aired nationally on Telefutura. Ruiz’ assessment of Caballero’s victory mirrored that of his manager’s. “Randy is a good fighter and everything, but he was fighting in his hometown, so he got some favor from the judges,” says Ruiz.

“If Alexis had a little more power, it would have been a different fight, but he did outpunch [Caballero] in the first four rounds,” says Ruiz. “He had him beat, then Randy got a couple rounds, but the last round I gave to Alexis. All in all, I thought Alexis had the fight, but what can I say.”

In the YouTube video, Caballero is quick to mention his amateur win over Ruiz, but as is often times the case, an amateur victory is not a good indication of how a pro fight would unfold. “I fought him once in the amateurs,” recalls Ruiz of their 2008 meeting, which took place at 112-pounds. “I had only about thirteen amateur fights, and he had 240. It was my first time at nationals and I fought him in the semi-finals and he beat me by a couple points. I fought straight up with him, but he beat me on points.”

“I fought a pro style against him there, but I was just starting,” explains Ruiz. “In the pros it’s a different style. He’s a good fighter. He was a good amateur and it would be a good fight.”

Given Caballero’s notoriety, a fight with him would be a quality opportunity for Ruiz to make a name for himself on the world level. It’s an opportunity Ruiz looks forward to gaining. “This would be an opportunity for me to show everything I have, everything I have been working for and everything that my trainers have put me through, step-by-step,” explains Ruiz. “This would be a good challenge for me and I am excited. So whenever they put that fight together, I am ready.”

Ruiz is always in the gym and in fighting shape should he get the call that a fight is signed. Should the call come in that Randy Caballero has signed the contract, Ruiz vows to be ready for the challenge. “I am ready and I have no doubt in my mind,” says Ruiz. “I will pour everything out of my heart and my body. If I fight the way I am supposed to fight and do everything I am supposed to do and give it my all, then I have no doubt I will beat him. If my team has no doubt, I have no doubt in myself. I am going to go in there and handle this. This is what I am here for.”

Photo by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

Eight months ago, Paul “The Punisher” Williams walked towards the ring at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Standing in the middle of the ring waiting for him was another threat to his rise to stardom, Sergio Martinez. Williams had already defeated Martinez in a closely contest twelve round slugfest that was already hailed by many as the fight of the year. As a featured fighter among HBO’s heavy stable of boxers, he was en route to lucrative pay per view showdowns and rumored to be in talks with the sport’s elite.

Six minutes after entering the ring, that all came crashing down.

With a looping overhand left, Sergio Martinez had knocked Williams out cold in the second round of their rematch. As Martinez and his team celebrated, Williams lay unconscious on the canvas; hovered over by ringside physicians. After a few minutes, he regained his composure and was able to take in what had happened. Instead of disappointment, anger, or great sadness, Williams had a look of shock on his face. He stood in disbelief as Martinez’ arm was raised.

He’s been here for years

On Saturday, Williams returns to the very ring he was knocked out in. Instead of going back to the drawing board and making changes, Williams hopped right back onto the horse. He will be facing Erislandy Lara. Formerly a star of the Cuban amateur system, he has since become a highly regarded up and coming fighter. As an amateur, he compiled an amazing record of 310-10.

Williams has been here before. In 2008, he suffered a decision loss to Carlos Quintana, only to come back four months later to knock him out in two minutes. Despite his two losses, Williams holds a claim that few fighters can; he has defeated everyone he has ever faced.

“I have never been in a comeback fight,” stated Williams, who takes exception to the word ‘comeback.’
“To me it’s just another fight. Some of the top guys out there, like many Pacquiao, he lost a couple times. He didn’t have a comeback fight – he just comes back and fights. This is what we do. Guys that do have comeback fights, they are guys that don’t know themselves what they are doing.”

Williams knows what he’s doing. He stands at 6’1” and towers over all of his opponents. Instead of backing away and working behind his jab, Williams stands in and slugs it out against his opposition. His exciting style has made him a favorite among fans of the sport.

In regards to Lara, Williams knows he is not a typical fighter to come back against. “He is the new lion on the block and all that. You always see on TV how the young lions are trying to overtake the old lions, but this old lion isn’t ready to leave… We are going to have to go through the rain and get wet. We are going to have to go through the fire and get burnt… I am looking forward to a rough fight. It is going to be exciting for the fans to see. I am going to be excited to see it too. I am just hoping that nobody gets seriously hurt…just hurt.”

And what of Lara’s extensive amateur background? Williams’ trainer George Peterson is not concerned. “Amateurs are all right,” stated Peterson, “but this is a professional boxing match. That amateur record doesn’t matter to us one way or another.”

The co-feature of the evening features two relative unknowns facing off in a super-bantamweight showdown with a title on the line. Champion, Akifumi Shimoda of Japan, squares off against Rico Ramos of California. This is an interesting scrap that could very well show us here the future of the division lies.

Chris Arreola continues his active comeback trail/weight loss showcase against Friday Ahunanya. HBO will showcase highlights of the match during the broadcast. Say what you want about Arreola, but he is just fun to be around. Arreola who has been fined in the past over his foul language, seemed to loosen the vocabulary of the presenters of the press conference on Wednesday. Kerry Davis of HBO began a sentence with a “Yo,” while promoter Dan Goosen dropped a profound “damn.” His having to lay off the late night tacos and beers brought about laughter at the packed press event.

The Championship event is promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, with the Williams-Lara bout in association with Golden Boy Promotions and the Ramos-Shimoda bout in association with Teiken Promotions and hosted by Caesars Atlantic City. The Williams vs. Lara and Shimoda vs. Ramos bouts will be broadcast on HBO’s Boxing After Dark beginning at 10:15 PM ET/PT (delayed on the west coast). Tickets, priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50, are on sale and can be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office, by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or online at ticketmaster.com.

It’s been over a year since we last saw Kermit “The Killer” Cintron in action. Not since last May when he tangled, literally with Paul Williams in a fight which saw Williams topple from the ring landing on the floor outside and ultimately unable to carry on have we seen Cintron. Since then Cintron has taken time out and spent it with his family but now he’s ready to get back to work & that starts this Saturday against tough Carlos Molina live on Showtime as chief support to the much anticipated Brandon Rios-Urbano Antillon fight. It represents a welcome return for the Reading, Pa based Cintron who’s now 31 boasting an impressive 32-3-1(28). All of the blemishes on the former IBF Welterweight champion’s record were tinged with controversy of some sort. First the two fights with Antonio Margarito because of the possibility Margarito’s gloves had been tampered with like that had been prior to the Shane Mosley, leading many previous Margarito opponents to cry foul play. Whilst Sergio Martinez in many people’s opinions did enough to beat Cintron but the fight was only called a draw. Most recently of course he lost to Williams leading to a hiatus. He’s what Cintron had to say on all those fights, his return and future plans.

Hello Kermit, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – You’ll be fighting Carlos Molina in a few weeks, what are your thoughts on that fight & how do you rate him?

Kermit Cintron – I think Carlos Molina’s a good fighter, very tough. He comes to fight. I have to be very prepared for this fight and I’ve been doing it. I’ve been down here (he’s training in Houston) for 5/6 weeks now. Just getting myself prepared for the fight.

Anson Wainwright – It’ll have been 14 months since we last saw you fight, why was there such a long space of time since you last fought. What have you done in that time?

Kermit Cintron – Oh yeah after the Paul Williams fight I decided to take some time off and take care of a few personal things back home. For the reasons I just wanted to spend time with my kids. I’m always on the run with training camps, so I decided to take the time off and enjoy the time.

Anson Wainwright – Of course your last fight was when you lost a technical decision to Paul Williams. He fell from the ring and injured himself. What are your thoughts on that and how did you see things?

Kermit Cintron – Well you know it’s a fight I should have won, except for the accident. Boxing’s a little shady like that, it is what it is. But I can only move forward. I was looking great against Paul Williams. I feel like I was winning every round. All I can do now is focus on future fights. Big fights coming up, and make sure I take of business and finish my fights.

Anson Wainwright – Could you tell us about your team, who is your manager, trainer & your promoter? Also could you tell us about what gym you train at?

Kermit Cintron – Josh Dubin & James Prince are my managers, they gave me the opportunity to sign with Top Rank. I’ve got Ronnie Shields as my trainer. Brian Caldwell is my strength and conditioner. We have a great team. I feel like I have the Dream Team that every fighter would want. Everybody gets along, everybody works together. I’m not longer with Lou Di Bella. When I’m in Houston, I train at the Savannah Boxing gym owned by Willie Savannah who is Juan Diaz (Former WBA, WBO & IBF Lightweight Champion) manager. When I’m home I’m not in the Boxing gym just the gym working on my strength and conditioning with Randy Yocum who’s a good friend of mine he helps me when I’m home. Brian Caldwell & Randy Yocum do talk and keep each other updated with what I have to do. So it all works out.

Anson Wainwright – There are many options at Light Middleweight, provided all goes well for you against Molina. What are you looking to do next?

Kermit Cintron – As of right now I don’t have anything. My focus is on Carlos Molina. If I don’t get passed him there’s nothing else for me in the future. Make sure I come out victorious and look good and I’m sure that’ll help get me go fights afterwards.

Anson Wainwright – What are your thoughts about the current Light Middleweight champions WBC Alvarez, WBA Cotto & Trout, IBF Bundrage & WBO Dzindziruk?

Kermit Cintron – I think there all good fighters, there champions for a reason. One of the fighters I’d like to fight is Dzindziruk who has the WBO but I think the weakest right now that I believe to be champion is the young kid who just fought Saul Alvarez. I think it’s showed twice now that the two European fighters he fought him for the world title. Both fighters did absolutely nothing to win the fight against him.

Anson Wainwright – You drew with current Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, many people thought you actually lost that fight. What are your thoughts on that fight?

Kermit Cintron – I have to respect the judges they had it a draw. I felt I won the fight. I think it was a close fight but that I won it. I should have fought the twelfth round after they took the point from Martinez. But decided to waste time thinking I won the round but they ended up giving the round (to him) and that’s how it ended up being a draw.

Anson Wainwright – Another fighter you fought was Antonio Margarito, he stopped you twice. What are your thoughts on those fights & do you believe Margarito was using loaded gloves against you or was it just a case of him being the better guy?

Kermit Cintron – I believe in the second Margarito fight he used those wraps whatever they were. After the fight I told my manager Josh Dubin in the locker room “I’ve never been punched so hard and felt his knuckles through his gloves like I did tonight” It was weird at the time nobody knew anything but then he gets caught a few years later.

Anson Wainwright – Do you feel as though he punched harder the second time you guys fought?

Kermit Cintron – I believe so yes.

Anson Wainwright – What goals do you still have as a professional Boxer?

Kermit Cintron – I definitely want to be a world champion again. Everybody in this game wants to make big bucks. I just want to come out on top and be one of the best fighters whoever put Boxing gloves on.

Anson Wainwright – Where do you see your future in terms of what weight classes do you want to fight at back down at Welterweight, at Light Middleweight or higher?

Kermit Cintron – I fell like I’d like to go back to 147 and win a world title there again. Hopefully it can happen, but I know for sure It can become a champion at 154. I’m not thinking higher, It wouldn’t be the right move for me. I do want to go back to 147 and challenge for a title in that weight class.

Anson Wainwright – Making 147 wouldn’t be a problem for you?

Kermit Cintron – I don’t believe so. I feel I could make the weight. The second week of training camp for this fight I was already down at 155, I had to pretty much cheat a little with my diet because I couldn’t keep my weight up. I like to stay the same (weight) until the last 2 weeks of the fight which was going to be 152. I think I can make 147 easily.

Anson Wainwright – If we can talk a little about you as a person, could you tell us about your younger days and how things were for you growing up in Puerto Rico and then Reading, Pennsylvania?

Kermit Cintron – As you know I was born in Puerto Rico, I moved to The United States when I was 8. I moved outside Philadelphia it’s called Warminster. I came to Reading because of my room mate in college and he was from there. The first year we were in college we really clicked and became really close friends so we started to make plans after our first year. I found a Boxing gym and that’s how I started Boxing.

Anson Wainwright – How did you first become Interested and take up Boxing?

Kermit Cintron – I grew up around Boxing. My uncle who raised me was a professional fighter himself but I was more into Wrestling. As you know I Wrestled for a bunch of years. I ended up going to college with a scholarship for Wrestling. I ended up dropping out of school in my sophomore year to give Boxing a try. After signing to go pro after being an amateur for a year. I turned pro just to make a few bucks and ended up being signed by a promotional company which was Main Events. That’s when I started taking this serious.

Anson Wainwright – You have come a long way for a guy who turned pro without much of an amateur Boxing background?

Kermit Cintron – Yeah, I had pretty much no amateur background, no National Championships. So I pretty much had to come up the hard way. I can honestly say I’m not doing to bad.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do with your time when you’re not training or fighting?

Kermit Cintron – I love spending time with my kids and my wife. I try to enjoy being with them, hang out and chill. I do a lot of Golfing. My younger brother likes Bowling so I go Bowling with him.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for your fans?

Kermit Cintron – July 9th is my comeback fight after a year off. It’ll be on Showtime if you can’t make it to the fight in California at the Home Depot Center watch it on Showtime.

Thanks for your time Kermit. It’s good to see you getting back to action.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Boxing fans are advocates for the sports by default.

They want to see the sweet science back in the spotlight, they preach the Gospel of boxing whenever they can; whenever a big fight is on the horizon.

In America at least, boxing’s fan-base has been shrinking since the start of the new millennium. The sport has shed a chunk of casual fans over the last tens years or so and has struggled to get them back.

It is true, however, that the bowing out by many casual fans in the US has left the boxing community with arguably the most knowledgable, passionate, and engaging fan-base in all of sport. But the fact of the matter is — for the sport to thrive like it did only some time ago, the casual fan needs to pay attention again.

Not all fans of boxing should know who Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym is.

Like any fight involving Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao, Saturday’s heavyweight unification bout was a chance perhaps win back a few of those fans — especially the one’s who fell in love with the heavyweight division watching Ali or Tyson.

Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye was being billed as the most important heavyweight bout in at least the last eight years. So when the HBO telecast went live at 4:45 EST, everyone gathered around the television set, hardcore and casual fans, alike. We were dutifully fulfilling our duty as loyal sheep — sheep herded by the Shepard that is boxing.

It blew. I blame Haye. Haye blames his foot.

I don’t care that Klitschko didn’t look amazing. It’s not his job to put himself in harms way when he doesn’t have to. He’ll sell 50,000 tickets in Germany if he was fighting a corpse. He keeps winning, people keep watching — just not in the US. It’s as simple as that. If I were him, I’d do the same thing. Keep opponents at bay, get the job done. Leave with my belt and my marbles.

It’s Haye who failed to make this exciting. He didn’t take risks. Even when he had to know he was down big in the later rounds, Haye continued keep at distance, only letting his right hand fly two or three times per round.

I was and still am a bit angry. I wanted a hearty heavyweight meal. Instead me and everyone else, including hundreds of thousands who probably haven’t watched a heavyweight fight in years, got served a side salad.

There’s hope that Tomasz Adamek – Vitali Klitschko in September will create some fireworks, but I won’t try to convince the world it’s a great fight like I did for this one.

Instead, I’ll once again suggest to those looking to come back to boxing or enjoy a change of pace from UFC, watch Manny Pacquiao.

While there are a ton of great fights sets for the rest of the calendar year, there is one in particular that stands out for me. That fight is the third installment Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez.

Sure, you’re probably saying, “Well, of course you are looking forward to watching the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. That’s obvious.”

But, you must remember that not everyone is in love with this fight. Countless members of the media and fans on Twitter have written this fight off already. They say Pacquiao has outgrown Marquez; that when Marquez came up to 142 lbs. to fight Floyd Mayweather he wasn’t himself — too big, too slow; and that since their last bout in early 2008 years, Manny has fought his best boxing.

To those people, I say: I agree whole-heartedly. But to me, that’s not a reason to hate this fight. It’s a reason to love it.

First and foremost, Marquez is Mexican and is used to eating Mexican food. Therefore it’s unlikely he’ll claim he was holding in diarrhea like Joshua Clottey did after he was thoroughly dominated for twelve rounds in the ring with the Pacman. Second, Marquez is still Mexican and will undoubtedly show more heart and take more risks against Pacquiao than Mosley did.

Once Marquez starts taking those necessary risks in the mid-to-late rounds, he’ll probably end up with his back on the mat, staring up at the MGM ceiling.

It’s exactly what boxing needs. They were in two wars already, that much we know. It’s unlikely their third go at the rodeo will be as competitive as the first two, but I don’t care.

Pacquiao is the most exciting fighter in boxing — and at the time of the fight, it will be two years since he’s won a fight by knockout. That will change. I’m looking forward to it.

To the casual fans, the ones who decided the open up the boxing door last weekend only to find the stinker that was Klitschko-Haye behind it: Wait until the world’s number one ranked fighter returns in November. Check back then, please.

Klitschko-Haye was another swing and a miss for boxing to regain momentum. But no worries. When in doubt, watch the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Sure it’s a wait, but all good things require some patience.

Everyone loves a home run, everyone loves a knockout. Like Babe Ruth, I’m calling this shot. Pacquiao-Marquez will be a four-bagger.

Kyle Kinder can be reached via Twitter @ Twitter.com/KyleKinder

In all walks of life it helps to have some sort of gimmick to set you apart from your piers. Unbeaten Lightweight contender Sharif “The Lion” Bogare uses an unusual but catchy ring entrance; he enters the ring in a cage which is carried by dancers, inside Bogare is dressed as a Lion. Of course an entertaining ring entrance only takes you so far, you have to be able to actually fight once you get inside the squared circle. So far Bogare 22, has done all that he has been asked to do boasting a perfect 20-0(12) record. The Ugandan who now lives in Las Vegas is trained by well respected trainer of champions Kenny Adams who is helping bring out Bogare’s undoubted talent. Despite only being a pro for 3 years he’s already world ranked by the IBF at number 12.

Hello Sharif, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you recently beat Raymundo Beltran. How did you find that fight, what can you tell us about the win?

Sharif Bogare – That fight was a good experience for me. I did what I had to do. The first few rounds I was Boxing him very good. When I got cut, the blood started to go into my site a little bit. That fight wasn’t so hard for me; I think I won that fight easy.

Anson Wainwright – When can we expect to see you in action next?

Sharif Bogare – Mmm hopefully next month or in the next two months. Right now I’m looking at those top guys. I’m ready for whoever my promoter brings, I’m ready to fight anybody.

Anson Wainwright – You turned pro back in April 2008 and have quickly moved to 20-0(12) with 2 wins this year already. How have you found fighting in America as a pro?

Sharif Bogare – You know America is the place for Boxing. Every fighter wants to fight here, they dream of coming here. It’s like a home to me right now because it’s where my business takes place.

Anson Wainwright – How did moving from Uganda to America come about?

Sharif Bogare – Everything back home was hard but I came to America to turn professional. I was in Thailand for the World Championship and I decided to remain behind and turn professional, because I could take care of my business.

Anson Wainwright – Could you tell us about the team behind you, your manager, trainer & promoter? Also where do you regularly train?

Sharif Bogare – I have two managers right now, one is Jimmy Alex and Ralph Heredia. My trainer is Kenny Adams, one of the best trainers in the world. My promoter is Golden Boy Promotions owned by Oscar De La Hoya. I train in Las Vegas at a gym called Pound for Pound.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us how you came to be in contact with those guys as there based in America?

Sharif Bogare – Before I came to America I already had contact with Jimmy Alex my manager. So it came from that & I came to Las Vegas.

Anson Wainwright – You have a reputation of coming into the ring dressed as a Lion in a cage. Can you tell us about this and how it came about?

Sharif Bogare – You know my manager and my team saw the way I fight when I just got here in the U.S and they said I fight like a Lion. The Boxing world needs entertainment, Like Naseem (Hamed) he used to do the entrances. We don’t only want to come in the ring and fight it’s important to have an exciting entrance and entertain then take care of business in the ring too.

Anson Wainwright – Presumably things were tough growing up in Uganda? Could you tell us the path it took you as a child through to how you got involved in Boxing?

Sharif Bogare – For me my family wasn’t a wealthy family so I was a young kid who used to struggle. We used to fight on the streets and I got impressed with it. A friend of mine started bringing kids from different families and let them fight each other. What we used to do was take off our shirt and wrap them around our hands like Boxing gloves and started fighting each other. So one day a friend said “Hey Sharif” there’s a Boxing gym right next to your house you should go join. It looks scary not everybody walks straight into the gym , so a friend of mine who was a little older than me took me but he never got in the Boxing ring he was scared. One of the boxers in the gym was like “what are you here for” we said “we’re here to do some Boxing” I took of my shirt and did some shadow boxing, they saw me. I had a little bit of skills that I brought from the ghetto and everything developed from there.

Anson Wainwright – Kassim Ouma is from Uganda, is your situation similar to his in that you can’t go back to your country now?

Sharif Bogare – For me my situation is much different from Kassim. Kassim was in the army. For me I can go home and visit and see my family.

Anson Wainwright – Your still very young , but you had a decent amateur career? If so can you tell us about it the titles you may of won and your record?

Sharif Bogare – Boxing in Uganda we had really good competition. If you fought for Uganda you had to be the best in the country so back home I had a lot of competitions and experience from there I fought in the Central Africa games I won gold medals there. Then I went to the Commonwealth (games) in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. I got all the way to the quarter finals, but I think I never lost there; the amateur style wasn’t good for me. You hit a guy and they give them the point! So thought I go professional. We did African championship in Madagascar then from there we qualified for the World Championships in Chicago. Then from there I turned professional. Back home in Uganda I think I had a lot of fights but we never had record books. But from what I recall 60 something fights and I lost 4 or 5 fights.

Anson Wainwright – Have you been able to spar with any top pros since you came to America?

Sharif Bogare – Umm I’ve sparred with a lot of good prospects and World champions. When I just got here one of the bigger names I sparred with was Zab Judah. I sparred with a lot of good fighters.

Anson Wainwright – What are your goals in Boxing?

Sharif Bogare – My dream is to make it to a World title. To be a world champion. I have dreamed about it since I was a little kid.

Anson Wainwright – Who is your Boxing hero?

Sharif Bogare – I would say (Mike) Tyson. I grew up watching him.

Anson Wainwright – When your not Boxing, what do you like to do with your time?

Sharif Bogare – For me my life is I’m addicted to training. If I’m off after a fight I go to the gym, lift weights, go to the park and run. I keep busy all the time.

Anson Wainwright – Do you have a message for the Lightweight division?

Sharif Bogare – They better stay ready Sharif is coming! I’m always going to get better. My last fight moved me to the next level. I’m coming for you. Sharif “The Lion” Bogare is coming to take the titles!

Anson Wainwright – Is there anything you’d like to add?

Sharif Bogare – I’d like to thank my team and the gym back in Africa Kampala Boxing club it’s the same one Boza Edwards & John Mugabi came from.

Thanks for your time Sharif.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

In the moments after two contemporary prizefighters meet at a press conference to question each other’s class, family, sexual orientation and all the rest, each man invariably wants to beat on the other in hot blood. But by the time their fight arrives months later, each man has a higher motivation: Prevent that sonofabitch from embarrassing me in front of the world.

That is how we get what we got from David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko for the last two months. That is how we get what we got Saturday afternoon.

And what we got was not good. It was another dull half hour from Wladimir Klitschko, whose reign has been so unexceptional that we no longer blame him for its dullness. And Klitschko was the exciting part of Saturday’s production, too, beating Haye by unanimous-decision scores of 118-108, 117-109 and 116-110.

My scorecard concurred, 117-109. Its details are unimportant.

What is important, though, is a durable rule of contemporary prizefighting that rarely fails: The violence in the ring will be inversely proportionate to the violence of the promotion.

Somewhere between salesmanship and Hamlet’s line about an actress protesting too much lies the above truth. But still they hooked us with the spectacle of a palpably furious Ukrainian giant across from a cocky Brit, one who nervously predicted the men’s pending collision would cause a great, great fight.

They hooked us because of a residual or-die-trying ethic that still adheres to our sport, or better put, adheres to our imaginations when we think about our sport. Today that ethic is gone from most of prizefighting and all of the heavyweight division.

What caused its general exit from the world stage – deregulation maybe – is anyone’s guess. But everyone’s honor is now for sale, flamboyantly so.

David Haye just cashed the largest check of his career, honor be damned. He will live happily ever after this disgrace – one that began with a promise of beheadings and ended with his flopping on the canvas to draw penalties like a soccer player. Haye will sleep each night on a mattress stuffed with money and tell himself – and have young people believe that – his main purpose was making money. If that required a con, well, all the better.

What he needed to say after his shameful effort was this: “Bollocks, that guy can hit! I sat across from him at press conferences, and all I saw was an oaf I’d have no trouble whacking. But in that ring, mate, he’s a monster. He looked nine-feet tall, he did. And he’s fast, too. I tried to rush him a few times. He hit me. I realized the best chance I had of staying conscious, being in a healthy state of mind when I collected my purse, you know, was to keep him afraid of my right hand. That required me not to throw it but threaten with it. He was the better man tonight, and he’ll be the better man tomorrow. I’m sorry I crossed him.”

Instead, Haye removed his boot from his right foot and implored interviewers to look at the right toe he claimed to have broken three weeks before. It was about selling the next sham, of course. It was the first line of a pitch you’ll hear soon enough: “I went 12 rounds with the best heavyweight in the world, on a broken foot! You can be right sure the next time you see the ‘Hayemaker’ at 100 percent, some unlucky bloke is going to sleep.”

Which is why fight fans should hold men like Haye to account. Trouble is, most of the men old enough to remember honor as more than a slogan have abandoned boxing. And those who’ve replaced them find a certain postmodern charm in prizefighters’ unreliable first-person narratives. “Fighting” as a word, anymore, is a decorative tool for improving one’s prize.

None of this excuses Wladimir Klitschko. Saturday brought another serving of a delicious between-rounds show that never fails to please: Trainer Manny Steward imploring the reluctant “Dr. Steelhammer” to nail a much smaller man.

Steward, with an assist from Larry Merchant, provided frustrated HBO viewers the affirmation they needed. Steward assured us we were not alone in our disbelief: The hardest punching man in the world really would skitter round the ring before he’d fight toe-to-toe with an opponent he outweighed by 30 pounds.

Klitschko jabbed. Jabbed. Feinted and jabbed. Hooked off the feinted jab. But that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with jabbing, nothing at all, don’t misunderstand, please! Klitschko jabbed. Jabbed.

And Haye circled and looked menacing. He leaped forward and back. He impressed Roy Jones. Then he did something major that will be covered in the next paragraph.

Haye circled. He growled. He shouted inciting words at Klitschko. He promised a right hand. He then did something major that will be covered in the next paragraph.

Haye landed on his left foot. He got to the final bell and waved his right fist. Then he did something major that will be covered in the next column . . .

So it went. The fight boxing badly needed was a dud. Apologists will emphasize the conditioning each man showed. His skilled footwork or hand speed. The possibility that a lot of things could have happened. Apologists, in other words, will make a prizefight for the heavyweight championship of the world sound like the summary of a Women’s World Cup match.

In an interesting interview with RingTV.com last week, Many Steward said, “People don’t see Wladimir’s footwork. That amazes me.”

Klitschko’s footwork, though, balletic, backwards moving, tuned to the retreating commands his sharp mind sends it, is not what anyone wants to see from a baddest man on the planet. It’s not that we all don’t see Wladimir’s footwork, Mr. Steward; it’s that those of us who do are amazed by it.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

For years, Wladimir Klitschko has been the solitary chess master against a field full of guys who should be playing checkers. He’s been winning with a stoic efficiency that earns polite applause, yet without any of the passion that captures the public imagination.

Maybe, David Haye, a joker on Klitschko’s familiar board of squares, can change that Saturday on HBO at Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany. There’s a theory that Haye has been winning the psychological rounds, the fight before the fight. It’s as if he hired Bernard Hopkins to be a consultant.

Haye’s insults, choreographed to be as outrageous as possible, have ringside psychologists reading the body language and interpreting the words for signs of anger in Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs). An angry Klitschko might result in mistakes that could turn him into a beatable Klitschko, whose many advantages include a powerful jab, size and friendly German fans.

Haye’s tactical gamesmanship is a reasonable, perhaps necessary, weapon in a plan to lure Klitschko away from strengths and into an exchange designed to expose a brittle chin to quick hands that could score a dramatic upset. Still, it’s hard to tell whether Klitschko’s anger is just some gamesmanship of his own. Nobody has ever questioned Dr. Klitschko’s smarts.

Klitschko, who has a PhD in philosophy and sports science, has to have a pretty good read on what Haye (25-1, 23 KOs) is trying to do. It ain’t academic. It’s been all street, including a cartoonist’s rendering of Wladimir and brother Vitali’s severed heads bleeding across a T-shirt. Haye has even gone Hitler on Klitschko. He tweeted a link to Downfall, a film about Hitler’s final days. Maybe, Haye’s parade to the ring will include a few goose-steps. There’s nothing he won’t do to offend, offend and offend again.

Trouble is, Haye probably has turned Germany into a bigger fan of Klitschko than he already is. I’m not sure Klitschko will ever express the kind of emotion that becomes a bond between some fighters and their countrymen in other corners of the world. The Filipinos identify with Manny Pacquiao. Mexicans looked at Julio Cesar Chavez and saw themselves. Klitschko, a Ukrainian, looks like the stoic face of an Eastern European edifice. He is as hard to know as he is to appreciate during the weakest era in the heavyweight division.

For the last several years, we’ve watched Klitschko to applaud his skill. But Haye, as unlikely a business partner as there has ever been, has created an opportunity for him to become somebody he has never been.
“If you keep winning, something is going to come up,’’ Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward said nearly a year ago when asked what or who will propel the heavyweight champion into a legacy of his own.

Then, Steward said it would be Haye, who has willingly and perhaps unwittingly transformed himself into a bad guy. For Klitschko, it means chance to be cheered like a hero instead of applauded like an artist. It means a place in heavyweight history.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Floyd Mayweather Jr. said this week in New York that he never accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancers. “I’ve never said that Manny Pacquiao was taking steroids, I never said he was taking enhancement drugs,” Mayweather said during a news conference for his Sept. 17 fight with Victor Ortiz. Huh? So what was Mayweather trying to say last September in his infamous YouTube rant? That’s when he said: “I’m gonna fight the Pacman when he’s off the power pellets.” What he meant by power and/or pellets figures to be a question he’d have to answer under oath if he shows up for a deposition in the defamation suit filed against him by Pacquiao. So far, he hasn’t. A district court judge this week denied Mayweather’s appeal for an order to prevent a court-ordered deposition.

· Memo to the International Boxing Hall of Fame: Put broadcaster Nick Charles on the next ballot for induction. Charles, who died June 25 after a long battle with cancer, earned a spot alongside journalists already in the Hall. It’s been a tough few weeks for boxing. In addition to Genaro Hernandez and Charles, the game lost former Hopkins trainer Bouie Fisher and former junior-welterweight champ Billy Costello. Fisher was 83; Costello 55.

· A sign of a boxing resurrection in Phoenix will include television cameras on July 8 for super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) against Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs) in a ring near the center of the floor at the Suns home, US Airways Center. ESPN2 will be there.

· And a sure sign you’re getting old: Happy Birthday, Mike Tyson. He turned 45 Thursday.

At the turn of the year Thomas Dulorme was just another nameless prospect in the talent laden Welterweight division, however after 2 impressive KO’s on big shows in Connecticut he created his own buzz and moved away from the pack. It’s still early days for the 21 year old; he’s only had 12 fights all wins with 10 inside the distance. His power makes for Interesting viewing, his team matched him with tricky southpaw veteran former world champion DeMarcus Corley last time out, it was a test that Dulorme promptly passed. He’ll stay busy and fight next on 19 August back in Puerto Rico. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him then get a slot on the undercard of Sergio Martinez next fight on 1 October. From here on the challenges get tougher but if Dulorme can keep doing what he’s doing Puerto Rico may just have another star in it’s midst.

Hello Thomas, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulations on your recent win over former world champion DeMarcus Corley. You won comfortably enough on points. Can you tell us about the fight from your point of view and were you happy with your performance?

Thomas Dulorme – It was a great fight and a great learning experience for me as a boxer. Corley is a trickster and you’ve got to be ready against him.

Anson Wainwright – Word is you will next fight on 19 August in Puerto Rico. Can you tell us about this? Any news on who you will fight?

Thomas Dulorme – Yeah. I’m very happy about that. To fight in Puerto Rico is a great opportunity for me, I love my Island. The rival hasn’t been announced.

Anson Wainwright – Prior to the Corley fight you had two very impressive KO victories over Guillermo Valdes on the Martinez-Dzindziruk card & Harrison Cuello on the Berto-Ortiz card. Both were respected journeymen. Can you tell us what it was like for you to appear on big shows in Connecticut like those?

Thomas Dulorme – It was a great experience for me, because fighting the both of them gave me other great opportunities in boxing. They were great foes.

Anson Wainwright – In your last two fights you have weighed in 3 pounds under the Welterweight limit, do you consider yourself a Light Welterweight or Welterweight?

Thomas Dulorme – Well I started as a Light welterweight and what happened was that one day I had problems making the limit of 140 and I started fighting on 142, and then 143 and 144. As of right now I can make the limit of 140, but not easily, so my trainer and me decided we should stay at the low side of Welterweight till I become a full fledged Welterweight which I’m not right now. I’m only 21 so maybe by next year I can become a full Welterweight.

Anson Wainwright – You’re known as a big puncher, could you tell us about your power and also the other skills you believe you possess?

Thomas Dulorme – I believe that my power comes from my fighting stances and speed. I move a lot and have a lot of angles and that helps me a lot to have different positions that allow me to power punch. I really like my speed and lateral movement it helps me a lot to move in and out of trouble.

Anson Wainwright – Who are the members of your team; your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you train at? Have you trained or sparred with any contenders or champions? If so how did it go?

Thomas Dulorme – My manager and trainer is Jose Bonilla and my promoters are Javier Bustillo, Lou Di Bella and Gary Shaw. I train a lot and spar with ex world champion Carlos “El Indio” Quintana. It did go well, I help him since I was little for his fights.

Anson Wainwright – I believe you were born in The Dominican Republic and moved to Puerto Rico. Could you tell us about your early years growing up?

Thomas Dulorme – I grew up in the French side of the Island of St. Martin and then moved to the Dominican Republic and then to PR. I moved to PR when I was nine and it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me I love living here.

Anson Wainwright – Could you tell us how you first became Interested in Boxing and when you took it up? Were you a natural or was it something you had to work at? Did you have much of an amateur career? If so what tournaments and titles did you win? Also what was your final record?

Thomas Dulorme – I became interested when I was little because I walked in to a gym and I thought it was interesting and I started. I was fast but technique wise I had to work a lot to perfect it. I won the Puerto Rico Golden Gloves, St. Martin Golden Gloves and Dominican Republic Golden Gloves. I did 142 amateur fights and lost only 2 of them.

Anson Wainwright – You are a member of Team Puerto Rico, could you tell us a bit about this?

Thomas Dulorme – Well it’s an honour because only the best Puerto Rican fighters are chosen to be part of Team Puerto Rico and it’s an honour to be part of it.

Anson Wainwright – What fighters did you grow up admiring & who you enjoy watching today?

Thomas Dulorme – My favourite fighter of all time was Sugar Ray Leonard, he had everything, speed, movement and power. If I can be half of what he was I will be fine in boxing.

Anson Wainwright – What are you goals in Boxing?

Thomas Dulorme – I want to become a world champion for my Island of Puerto Rico.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for the Boxing world?

Thomas Dulorme – I want to thank all of them for taking some of their time to see my fights, hopefully I can repay them with excellent fights from now on.

Thanks for your time Thomas, we look forward to seeing you progress in your career.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

NEW YORK CITY -In many ways boxing is theater. The fighters – the actors; the ring – their stage.

But when a press conference for one of the most anticipated fights of 2011 takes place in an actual theater, the Hudson Theater just away from Times Square, boxing isn’t just theater anymore…it’s THEATER.

For the two-plus hours I occupied my seat on the first floor of the triple-tiered playhouse, I was aching for popcorn, dying for a large soda.

The kick-off press conference for September 17 Floyd Mayweather – Victor Ortiz welterweight title bout had all the bells and whistles of a Broadway show.

The theater was dark, spotted lights littered the walls and ceiling. The closed red curtain on stage was used as the backdrop for a giant projector looped both Mayweather and Ortiz’s greatest hits, as well as scenes from outer-space — keeping in theme with the “Star Power” label given to the their upcoming scrap.

At about noon, the two hundred or so fans that had formed a line hugging the exterior of the theater on 44th Street were let in. They filled the two upper balconies. With the fans came buzz; excitement. Some of them had been there since 8:45 am. Two others drove all the way to the Big Apple from Virginia just to be in the same room as the man they consider to be the greatest active fighter.

Immediately after entering the theater, fans with dueling interests began belting out support for their respective fighters. Chants of “Ortiz! Ortiz!” were quickly drowned with boos from the pro-Mayweather crowd. The next round of “Ortiz!” chants were countered with triumphant choruses of “Money! Money!” It was as if we were watching some sort of musical — the kind where the actors ask the audience to clap and sing along to each song.

Then, at about 12:45 pm or so, a deep voice came over the speaker system as the theater lights got even dimmer.

“Please take your seats, the press conference will begin shortly.”

I swore he was going to ask if we could please remain silent throughout the duration of the movie.

Anyway, after a mini-documentary of Victor Ortiz was shown, a spotlight revealed Ortiz to be in the back of the theater. With music blaring over the speakers, he slowly made his way to the stage, stopping to shake a few hands, pose for a few pictures, and blow kisses to the fans up top.

The same went on for Mayweather. A mini-documentary followed by a WWE-like walk to the stage.

Once on stage, both fighters faced-off. We’ll call it a draw. Nobody blinked; it seemed like it lasted forever.

The red curtain finally went up, revealing a giant promotional banner and a podium, and just like that, Act I was underway.

Aside from the spectacular setting of this particular press conference, the content was typical. Mayweather was sold as the greatest active fighter; Ortiz billed as a heavy-handed rising star. Both can be debated, I suppose, but both have earned those reputations.

The opening Act did have two moments that had me at the edge of my seat, however.

The first came from the mouth of Victor Ortiz, who riled up the Mexicans in the crowd when he said this:

“I hope not offending anyone, but July 7th 1985 — there’s going to be a repetition on September 17th. It was Mr. Roger Mayweather vs. Mr. Julio Cesar Chavez!”

Ortiz slapped both hands on the podium and briskly walked away from the microphone. Only feet way, Floyd Mayweather remained expressionless.

When it was Mayweather’s turn to speak, he only threw one jab Ortiz’s way, perhaps in response to the JCC-Roger Mayweather dig. Money May just casually mentioned that he’d “a ton of money for this fight,” while Ortiz would make some “good money.”

He did throw some bigger shots toward the media, however. And after delivering those blows, he followed up by offering some praise.

“To the media, and everyone’s entitled to write what they want to write, and I just want to let you guys know that my children are a lot older now and are able to go on the computer and read the stories that you guys write,” Mayweather said.

He continued, “You turn the tables…do you want me to write negative things about you just because I won’t give you guys a story, so let me write my own stories and make up stories? It’s not right.”

Moments later, praised the media for keeping him relevant even when he is out of the ring.

Both points noted. Although, to his second point, I would just argue that his actions keep him relevant — the media are just writing their reactions.

The press conference had a little this, a little that. It was an eventful first scene.

At times it was over-the-top, flashy, and flat-out dramatic. The fans seemed to enjoy that, though — which of course is great.

I thought it was an above-average opening Act myself. It did what it was supposed to do: lay the groundwork for the rest of the performance, set the scene.

They’ll be other Acts along the way — other stops here and there. But ultimately, we’ll all have to wait a few months — September, in fact — to see how this particular piece concludes. The setting will have changed by then, too; to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. A fitting place for the final Act of “Star Power” to take place.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder or KyleKinder1@gmail.com

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

Unlike many other fighters Adrian “El Confesor” Hernandez 21-1-1(13) had to earn his title opportunity the hard way fighting several tough opponents & continually improving his ranking, even travelling to Europe where he twice fought and won in Italy before becoming the mandatory challenger for the WBC Light Flyweight title. He was determined not to waste his chance when it came beating wily veteran Gilberto Keb Bass to achieve his life long ambition via tenth round stoppage. Now he hopes to retain that title as many times as possible. Currently Hernandez 25, who hails from Toluca in Mexico is awaiting news of his first defence. Here’s what he had to say.

PHOTO CREDIT: ALMA MONTIEL

Hello Adrian, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulations on your terrific title winning effort against Gilbert Keb Baas. What can you tell us about the fight and your performance?

Adrian Hernandez – It was a tough fight, but I was sure of myself because I had beat him before.

Anson Wainwright – What does it mean to you to win a world title?

Adrian Hernandez – It was exciting. It is a life long dream.

Anson Wainwright – It has been mentioned that you may have to fight a rematch with Keb Bass in your first title defence. What do you think of that? When may you be back in action?

Adrian Hernandez – The first fight will be a voluntary defence in August.

Anson Wainwright – Could you tell us about your team; who is your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you train at?

Adrian Hernandez – My manager & promoter is Salvador Briman. My trainer is Cesar Bazan (Former WBC Lightweight champion). My gym is Gym Centro Ceremonial Otomi.

Anson Wainwright – The Light Flyweight division is very tough with many talented fighters about and also full of Mexican boxers. What are your thoughts on the current champions WBA Roman Gonzalez, IBF Ulises Solis & WBO Ramon Hirales?

Adrian Hernandez – They are all great and tough champions.

Anson Wainwright – Could you tell us about your younger days and what it was like to grow up in Toluca, Mexico?

Adrian Hernandez – I was a normal student from a close knit family. Great family values.

Anson Wainwright – How did you first become Interested and take up Boxing? Did you have an amateur career?

Adrian Hernandez – I fell in love with Boxing after watching Rocky. I also got into a lot of fights so Boxing came naturally. I had 40 amateur fights.

Anson Wainwright – What goals do you have in Boxing after winning the WBC 108 title?

Adrian Hernandez – To retain the title.

Anson Wainwright – Who was your hero growing up & who do you like to watch fight today?

Adrian Hernandez – My hero was Chavez. I love Pacquiao.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing; what are your hobbies and Interests?

Adrian Hernandez – I like to play Handball.

Anson Wainwright – Some boxers have to work a day job on there way up, is this something you had to do? If so what was it and do you still do the day job after winning the title?

Adrian Hernandez – I had a candy store with my dad. I still help out.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for your fans in Mexico after your recent title victory?

Adrian Hernandez – Thanks for your support. I will keep working hard.

Thanks for your time Adrian, keep up the good work.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

We all knew Wladimir Klitschko was a chinny smart guy who took no unnecessary shots and worried openly about what might happen if the right man put a punch on his chin. We had our suspicions, expressed openly and often in the United States where he was more of an Off-Broadway attraction than a demigod, suspicions of what form he would revert to if put back in that scary mid-career place where Sanders then Brewster found him.

Suspicions confirmed.

Saturday in Hamburg, a record number of German fight fans watched in stunned silence as Klitschko was decisively undone by a single punch from Englishman David “Hayemaker” Haye in the first minute of round 3. It took another 80 seconds of grappling and referee interference before Haye could drop Klitschko for a count of 20 – officially at 2:03 of the third – but the fight’s conclusion moved from startling to inevitable in the instant after the first right hand landed for Haye.

Exactly as Haye promised it would.

And yet the match began on such an affirming note for the fragile Klitschko. He kept his left arm fully extended during the opening round. Gone were the tension and quiet fury he’d showed HBO analyst Max Kellerman in that eerily scored promotional sitdown with Haye. Instead it was the prototypical Klitschko of other title defenses: left jab, left jab, left jab, balletic backwards leap, left jab.

Then David Haye sold his soul and took the sort of chance that marks heavyweight champions. He hurled himself at greatness and caught Klitschko flush. “Untergeht Klitschko! Untergeht Klitschko!” cried the Cosell of Cologne, over Germany’s airwaves.

Immediately afterward, as a brash and further-emboldened Haye donned his infamous beheaded-brothers t-shirt and ensured his diamond earrings were properly replaced, Klitschko spoke tentatively about any athlete being capable of a bad night, and his legacy, and a rematch.

Let’s simplify things. Wladimir, your legacy is this: A properly matched giant whose reign as heavyweight champion saw boxing’s popularity plummet. The very man, in other words, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster said you were.

*

Well, that was futile, wasn’t it? To see David Haye in person is to be as surprised at his height as his sprightly tongue. The man is bigger than he looks on television. He has all the confidence needed to be heavyweight champion of the world. He looks the part. Or so we thought.

What other excuse do we have as the witlings who picked him to upset Wladimir Klitschko?

Saturday in Hamburg, a record number of German fight fans watched in cruel ecstasy as Haye collected an indecent number of blows from Wladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko before Haye’s corner climbed in the ring and threw its white terrycloth at the Ukrainian ogre. The official time of the Klitschko TKO victory was 1:19 of round 11. But it should have come five rounds earlier.

By then it had become obvious to even a casual observer Haye was a media creation, an inflated cruiserweight with the British accent Americans traditionally mistake for learnedness and wit.

It started in the first minute of the second round, after a dull opening stanza that saw Haye pace five feet from Klitschko’s extended left arm, imitating a caged version of Lion from “The Wizard of Oz.” Then something clicked behind Haye’s eyes and he went for greatness. His head raced into a Klitschko jab that struck with unmanning force.

Three rounds later, with a softened foe before him, Klitschko began to offer right crosses, and it looked like a pro golfer bludgeoning his caddy with a three iron.

The tragic irony of the evening was that Klitschko badly wanted to knock Haye senseless – a merciful conclusion. But each time Klitschko had his finishing blow ready, Haye would feint a blow of his own, and Klitschko would leap backwards. Finally, it was Klitschko’s skittishness that turned him from gentleman to enhanced interrogator.

After the fight Klitschko offered to cover part of the cost of Haye’s time in a Hamburg hospital room, where reports indicate Haye is recovering and expected to announce his retirement from prizefighting by week’s end.

*

Which outcome will it be? There’s no telling just yet, and that means the suspense of what may unfold might entice American viewers to spend an hour of their Saturday afternoon next week to watch the first anticipated heavyweight title fight since Lewis-Tyson. This is a fight boxing badly needs.

Not because it’s consequential, mind you. It’s too late for that. Five years ago, a heavyweight title-unification match would have been reason enough to spend $50 on a pay-per-view fight broadcast from Madison Square Garden. But that was five years ago.

Today, when even aficionados forego weekly offerings from ESPN, Telefutura, Fox Deportes, and increasingly Showtime and HBO, a consequential fight is not enough. No, this match in Germany, Klitschko-Haye, must transcend itself. It must surprise us in a way that wins fans back.

Too tall an order for these men, you say?

We’re all afraid you might be right. We’re afraid Klitschko will come out and keep Haye six feet away as rounds accumulate – like Haye were a braided version of Sultan Ibragimov. Or that Haye will flex and threaten and wing unbalanced shots from a safe distance, never imperiling Klitschko.

If those things happen, it will not be the end of boxing. It will be but another eroding wave that washes away a little more of the majestic bluff boxing once occupied – taking with it another handful of people who’ll no longer notice if boxing continues or doesn’t.

David Haye has an opportunity to dam that erosion by introducing doubt to our flagship division. The best thing, really.

But best things don’t happen in boxing anymore. So I’ll take Klitschko: KO-11.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @barbarry

FAIRFIELD, CALIFORNIA – Local favorite Alan Sanchez kept his record at home unblemished with a well-fought technical stoppage victory over Clint Coronel before his supportive fan base, capping an entertaining night of action at the Fairfield Sports Center on Friday night.

Sanchez (8-2-1, 3 KOs) of Fairfield just had too much height and length and too many dimensions for the crude slugger Coronel (4-3-2, 1 KO) of San Jose, California. To no great surprise, Coronel, 149, opened the fight moving forward, while Sanchez, 147, remained on the outside, using his footwork and his getting behind his jab. Coronel placed a clean overhand right early, but had trouble getting set to land anything clean for the most part.

By the end of the second, Coronel was already bleeding pretty well from his left eye, which prompted Coronel’s corner to ask referee Dan Stell to watch for the headbutts in between rounds. In any event, Coronel was down two rounds and now had a bloody eye for a target, which Sanchez nailed to start the third.

The third was another clear Sanchez round, but Coronel did manage to get in some clean blows in the fourth as the Fairfield resident stayed more stationary than in previous rounds. Coronel was deducted a point in the fifth for a bad low blow which caused a time out. Though it was low, it seemed to be mostly a side effect of Coronel’s swinging punching style more than an intentional foul. Moments later, the referee had both ringside doctors examine Coronel’s right eye, which was bleeding profusely by the end of the round.

Just seconds into the sixth, Stell brought Coronel over to the ringside doctor again, which would make one believe that the referee was leaning towards a stoppage at that point. However, the fight continued, with Sanchez now fighting more on the inside and rubbing against Coronel’s shredded face.

Stell and the doctor took another close look before the seventh, but allowed the fight to resume. To his credit, Coronel remained determined despite the vision and skill disadvantages. Before much of the seventh round had got underway, Stell brought Coronel over to the doctor and this time got the ok for the stoppage he had been looking for in rounds prior. Stell motioned to the commission table that the blood was spurting from Coronel’s face shortly after the bout’s conclusion.

Manuel “Tino” Avila (5-0, 2 KOs) of Fairfield kept his unbeaten record in tact with a measured four-round decision win over the aggressive Salvador Cifuentes (1-2) of Chula Vista, California in the night’s co-main event.

Cifuentes, 124, came out looking to pressure Avila, 123, but the prospect managed to place some pinpoint shots upstairs against his onrushing opponent. Cifuentes found more success in the second half, as he caught Avila, who employed little head movement, numerous times with clean shots to the cranium. Avila remained composed and managed to weather Cifuentes’ flurries before countering with his own more precision style attack.

Midway through the fourth round, a clash of heads opened up a bad cut over Cifuentes’ left eye. Referee Jon Schorle nearly waved off the fight in the corner, but appeared to be talked into allowing the fight to continue by Cifuentes, who came out swinging when action resumed.

In the end, all three judges failed to give Cifuentes any credit for his second half surge, scoring the bout a shutout, 40-36 across the board.

Super featherweight prospect Guy Robb (5-0, 2 KOs) of Sacramento, California did what he was supposed to do against a novice opponent, score a quick knockout. Despite all the talk of his camp at the weigh-in Thursday, Tyshawn Sherman (0-1) of Hesperia, California presented no challenge for Robb.

Sherman, 128, came out running and moving in a very unorthodox manner, which gave Robb, 128, reason to pause and assess the situation for a brief moment in the opening moments of the fight. Once he realized what he had in front of him, Robb stalked his fleet of foot opponent before landing a left hook that got Sherman on his bicycle even more than before.

Moments later, Robb landed a two punch combination that put Sherman into a corner. With Sherman folding over and almost turning away, Robb unloaded with both hands before referee Dan Stell leaped in to protect the amateurish Sherman from any harm. Time of the stoppage was 1:28 of round one.

Former amateur standout-turned mixed martial arts prospect Mike Ortega (2-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento made his return to the sweet science a successful one as he scored a fourth-round stoppage of dangerous Michael Alexander (1-5-3) of Antioch, California.

Ortega, 152, stunned the taller Alexander, 154, early in the bout with two lefts and a hard right. Ortega, who also mixed in his shots well to the body, scored with an overhand right that rocked Alexander for the second time in the round. Ortega continued to press the action before landing a short counter left hand in the closing seconds of the first which backed Alexander into the ropes. Ortega flurried, but Alexander’s cause was aided by the ring of the bell.

Alexander regained his footing by the start of the second, but was still getting outfought by Ortega. The Sacramento native continued to control the action in the third, backing Alexander up with a one-two and placing his other shots well to the body and head.

Alexander got on his toes to start the fourth, eventually landing a stiff jab that got Ortega to take a step back. Just as Alexander landed one of his better shots in the fight, Ortega came back with a four-punch combination that began with a right, followed by a solid left hook and two overhand rights. The last right put Alexander all the way down and prompted referee Dan Stell to wave off the bout without a count. Time of the stoppage was 1:50 of round four.

Local product Omar Sanchez (0-2) of Fairfield came to the Fairfield Sports Center in search of his first pro victory, having fought two legitimate prospects to begin his career in losing efforts, but came away with neither a win nor a loss.

Debuting Jhonnathan Zamudio of San Francisco, California by way of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico scored a knockdown in the first but had to settle for a no contest when a Sanchez cut was ruled to come from a heabutt.

Zamudio, 139, put Sanchez, 134, down in an exchange of left hooks early in the first, but it appeared to be mostly a flash knockdown. Zamudio began the second well, landing two solid counter left hands against the forward-moving Sanchez. The Fairfield product began to get a bit reckless later in the round, which may have been when the headbutt took place. The now bloodied Sanchez did stun Zamudio with a combination, but the Mexican import fired right back.

What looked to be a solid scrap heading into the second half was cut short when referee Jon Schorle took Sanchez over to the ringside doctor in the third round. After getting advice from the physician, Schorle stopped the fight, resulting in a no contest due to the few rounds completed. Zamudio plans to return to the ring September 2nd in Salinas, California.

Jonathan Chicas (2-0, 1 KO) of San Francisco spoiled the professional debut of former amateur standout Michael Islas (0-1) of Madera, California via decisive four-round unanimous decision in the night’s opening contest.

Chicas, 142, countered the attack of Islas, 139, well and outworked the Madera native over the four-rounds. Islas seemed hesitant to unload his artillery and simply waited for openings too often. Chicas attempted to make his own openings, and usually found Islas best with the third or fourth punch of his combinations. In the end all three judges had Chicas the winner. Scores read 40-36 and 39-37 twice.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/trappfotos@gmail.com

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