LAS VEGAS – This town might be only a little bit closer to Houston than it is to Mexico City on a map, but if a town’s heart can be measured, this one’s a lot closer to Chilango than Houstonian. Or so it sounded Friday afternoon.

That was when Mexico City lightweight world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) took the scale with Houston’s Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs) in Mandalay Bay’s Events Center before a small but enthusiastically partisan-Marquez crowd.

As the challenger in Saturday’s fight, which is being billed simply as “The Rematch,” Diaz was first to be weighed. Looking relaxed and customarily fit, if a little soft, Diaz marked the lightweight limit on the nose, weighing 135 pounds for his first fight since two ill-advised trips to 140 last year.

Those fights, of course, came after his knockout loss in 2009’s Fight of the Year against Marquez a couple Februaries ago. Marquez, meanwhile, appeared both the taller and more muscular fighter, Friday, marking a well-defined 133 1/2 pounds.

If the Mandalay Bay crowd favored Marquez, so too did most boxing insiders milling about the stage during the weigh-in for Marquez-Diaz II. Though all gave Diaz a chance at an upset, knowledgeable fighters such as Shane Mosley and BJ Flores confidently predicted victories for the lightweight champion of the world.

Also taking the stage were Golden Boy Promotions fighters and partners. Michael Katsidis, David Haye, Amir Khan, Bernard Hopkins, and of course Oscar De La Hoya all greeted gathered fans.

LINARES TOWERS OVER JUAREZ
First on the Events Center scale Friday were Venezuelan lightweight standout Jorge Linares (28-1, 18 KOs) and perennial Houston contender Rocky Juarez (28-6-1, 20 KOs). Though Linares weighed only a half pound more than Juarez – 132 1/2 to Juarez’s 132 – he appeared to have significant physical advantages over the Texan. And the advantages didn’t stop there.

While Juarez has made unsuccessful challenges in five world title fights – all happening at or below the super-featherweight limit of 130 pounds – Linares sported a 4-0 (4 KOs) record in championship matches until a shocking first-round knockout to Mexican Juan Carlos Salgado last October.

Is Linares’ chin suspect? That is a question Juarez will have to ask early and often, Saturday, if he is to pull the upset in a fight most are only giving him a “puncher’s chance” of winning.

GUERRERO AND CASAMAYOR JAW THEN EMBRACE
Following a quiet run-up to his Saturday showdown with California lightweight Robert Guerrero (26-1-1, 18 KOs), Cuba’s Joel Casamayor (37-4-1, 22 KOs) briefly returned to form on Friday’s stage. After he’d made 138 pounds and Guerrero had made 138 1/2, Casamayor stepped into Guerrero’s chest and began speaking his trademark Spanish – which always features a Cuban rhythm and is often seasoned with unthinkable vulgarity.

After exchanging a few unfriendly phrases, though, the fighter’s made nice and embraced before leaving the Events Center.

Also making weight Friday were undefeated middleweights Danny Jacobs (20-0, 17 KOs), from New York, and Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13 KOs), from Russia. In Saturday’s co-main event, Jacobs and Pirog will swap blows for the WBO’s vacant middleweight belt.

MOSLEY MAKES AN EARLY PACQUIAO PREDICTION
Receiving the largest ovation of any Golden Boy Promotions dignitary, Friday, was future hall of famer Sugar Shane Mosley. After exiting stage right, Mosley, cordial as ever, posed for photos and gave impromptu interviews that included, among other things, some details about his recent made-for-television match with NBA great Shaquille O’Neal – a fight in which, apparently, Mosley buckled the 350 pounder.

When asked for a prediction on rival promoter Top Rank’s upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito – the Mexican prizefighter Mosley knocked out 18 months ago – Mosley was initially reticent, sticking to the old cliché about styles making fights. Asked on whom he would bet the proverbial house, though, Mosley opened up slightly.

“Bet the house?” he said. “Probably Pacquiao.”

COVERAGE OF THE REMATCH
Saturday’s card will feature nine bouts. Four of them will be broadcast on the pay-per-view portion of “The Rematch.” 15rounds.com will have full ringside coverage.

Photo by Tom Hogan/Hogan Photos

LAS VEGAS – Shane Mosley likes to play basketball when he isn’t pounding a heavy bag. He did a little bit of both a few weeks ago.

Mosley got into the ring against Shaquille O’Neal, who is as big as a collection of heavy bags these days and just about as quick.

“It was fun,’’ Mosley said of his appearance on Shaq Vs., which is expected to be shown on ABC within a couple of weeks.

Mosley wouldn’t say who won the mock fight, which was filmed in Las Vegas on July 10. The pick-and-roll might have been his most effective combination.

O’Neal, who lost a mock decision to Oscar De La Hoya a couple of years ago, hasn’t been able to step up and defend against that fundamental combo since he left the Miami Heat for the Phoenix Suns and then the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But Mosley sounded as though he was relieved that his next opponent will be Sergio Mora instead of O’Neal on Sept. 18 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mosley’s punches were enough to rock Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an eventual loss on May 1. But those same blows apparently didn’t have much impact on the 7-foot-2 O’Neal, who is big enough to slam-dunk Mosley.

“He gave me a couple of big shoves,’’ said Mosley, who must have felt like a point guard tossed around like a rag doll after just one push.

Mosley is scheduled to appear at a news conference for the formal announcement of the fight against Mora today at Mandalay Bay before the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch. Then, Mosley is expected to begin training, which won’t include O’Neal as a sparring partner.

Among other possibilities, Mosley would like to keep himself in line for a shot against Manny Pacquiao, who is headed for fight against Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.

Margarito appears to be closer to getting a license for a fight in the United States. According to AOL’s Fanhouse and the Los Angeles Times, the California State Athletic Commission will hear an appeal on Aug. 18 from Margarito, whose California license was revoked for one year after altered hand wraps were discovered at Staples Center before his loss to Mosley in January 2009.

The Nevada commission told Margarito to face California regulators before it would consider his application for a fight. It’s not clear whether there’s time to get a license in Nevada, or whether the Nevada commissioners would balk at granting him a license because of the hand-wrap flap.

Texas at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas is another possibility. Margarito promoter Bob Arum also says he has an offer from Monterrey, Mexico, although the U.S. State Department has warned against traveling to the city because of drug-cartel violence.

“Margarito has the height advantage,’’ Mosley said. “Anything could happen. But the winner would probably be Pacquiao.’’
NOTES, ANECDOTES

· Juan Diaz stepped on the official scale Friday at 135 pounds. Unlike Marquez (133 ½), there was no muscle definition. There was baby fat where other fighters have a six pack. “That’s why fans identify with me,’’ Diaz aid. “I look like the average Joe.’’

· Golden Boy Promotions says it has invested $4 million in the Diaz-Marquez card. Out of that, $1 million will go to Marquez, $540,000 to Diaz, $200,000 to Danny Jacobs, $75,000 to Robert Guerrero and $40,000 to Joel Casamayor.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Long before management and marketing promoted him as The Golden Child, his grandmother called him Baby Maniac.

Cordelia Jacobs knew her grandchild better than anybody. She saw the fight in Danny Jacobs before it matured and began to look as if it had value.

“I was probably the worst baby you could possibly have,’’ said Danny, who at 23 isn’t a child anymore, yet retains potential that is as golden as ever. “I was doing everything. Running into walls, knocking everything down.’’

Grandma Jacobs is gone. She died Sunday, within a week of her grandson’s first shot at a major title, the World Boxing Organization’s middleweight championship, this Saturday night against Dmitry Pirog at Mandalay Bay. Danny was there, at her bedside in New York before leaving for Vegas.

“There are people in life you can’t live without,’’ said Jacobs, who will fight for the vacant WBO title in a HBO pay-per-view bout on the undercard of the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch. “She was that person to me.

“I took it hard. I sat there and watched her pass. I was in the hospital and witnessed everything. I get emotional just talking about it. But I know I have to be strong at the same time.’’

Strong is what his grandmother would expect. He and his mom, Cordelius, raised him in Brooklyn after his parents separated when he was a toddler. Grandma Jacobs was not a boxing fan. She couldn’t be, Danny said, because of her faith. She was a Jehovah’s Witness.

“She couldn’t support boxing, but she supported me,’’ Jacobs said of a grandma who taught him to believe in the person more than the profession.

The unbeaten Jacobs (20-0, 17 KOs) said his grandmother did not attend his fights.

“To actually go there is something she just couldn’t do,’’ he said. “She’d see me fight on TV, but never in person. Then, she’d only watch the fight after it’s done. So, she already knew that I’d won. Then, she would only watch the first round, probably because that might have been when I was at my best.’’

But, Jacobs said, she always would tell him not to skip any part of his daily workout. Call her Grandma Trainer.

“Her advice to me was always: ‘Make sure you do your sit-ups, so when they hit you in the stomach you won’t cry,’ ‘’ he said.

Jacobs joked that he has been working harder than ever to strengthen his abdominals for his first scheduled 12-rounder against Pirog, an unknown Russian and also unbeaten (16-0, 13 KOs).

In remembering his beloved grandmother, her lessons will always be with him. He has dedicated Saturday’s fight to her. Her nickname, Lady Bird, will be stitched onto his trunks.

A few hours after the fight, he will take the red-eye home. The funeral is scheduled for Sunday in New York.

He plans to celebrate Saturday night. He knows he will mourn Sunday. He will have to be strong to do both. But without Grandma’s lessons, a Baby Maniac would never have become The Golden Child.

NOTES, ANECDOTES
· Despite eight options, an octopus in the Shark Reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay had the same pick as everybody else. The eight-armed octopus picked Marquez over Diaz Thursday in a promotion borrowed from the World Cup. Two boxes, each with a prawn inside, were lowered into a tank. Marquez’ name was on one box. Diaz was on the other. In a quick TKO, the octopus immediately attacked the Marquez box.

· Marquez’ victory, a ninth-round stoppage of Diaz last year, was voted the 2009 Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. “I think this fight will be better than the first one,’’ Marquez said.

· Boxing’s international reach was evident Thursday at a news conference. Jorge Linares, who faces Rocky Juarez of Houston, is a Venezuelan lightweight who has been living in Japan for the last several years. Linares has a Japanese trainer, Sendai Tanaka. Tanaka is bi-lingual, but that doesn’t include English. He spoke to the media in Spanish, which was translated into English by Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez, who would have been in trouble if Tanaka had spoken Japanese.

Carlos Vinan’s professional record doesn’t exactly stand out.

At 10-8-2 with two wins by kayo, The Newark, NJ based Ecuadorian journeyman is not regarded amongst the top fighters in the lightweight division. He has however proven to be a battle tested veteran without the luxury of hand picked fights.

When it comes down to taking a deeper look into Vinan’s losses during his 5 year career, things certainly become a bit more interesting. Carlos’ opponents that managed to defeat him came into those bouts a combined 73-9-4. The latest, Diego Magdaleno was a perfect 10-0 and is one of the more heralded prospects around. Naturally, Carlos and his team are not ones to turn down bouts with promising fighters.

“We look for fighters whose styles match up well with Carlos,” said manager Jose Rosario. “Carlos is a skilled fighter. His only problem in his closer fights is that he fights to the level of his competition. When Carlos fights an undefeated fighter, he seems to fight much better than when going against someone not as good.”

This proved to be the case on the undercard of the David Tua-Monte Barrett matchup earlier this month in Atlantic City.

Vinan was pitted as the opponent for IBF #2 rated lightweight, Anthony Mezaache. At 18-5-3 (4 KO), the Frenchman had not suffered a defeat in his past 11 matchups and spring boarded up the IBF rankings. With bigger fights on the horizon, Mezaache likely failed to realize Vinan was far better than his record indicated.

Early in the bout, Mezaache seemed to control most rounds, using his jab to keep Vinan from winning too many rounds. This was until crunch time.

In the 8th and final round, Vinan came out of the corner with a newfound energy and sent Mezaache to the canvas following a barrage of punches. Just moments later, a follow up assault forced his corner to throw in the towel 37 seconds into the round.

When asked about what was the drive behind the furious 8th round by Vinan, Rosario noted “He is not afraid to finish off fighters; we felt we were ahead in the scorecards. Carlos isn’t afraid to finish off fights. And this was the biggest fight that Carlos won.”

Another big victory of Vinan’s career was against skilled prospect, Eric Hunter, 13-1 (6 KO). At the time, the undefeated Hunter was looking for a fight, and Carlos stepped in on 15 days notice. Hunter bit off more than he could chew.

After getting knocked down in the second, Vinan outhustled the well regarded hunter over the next four rounds. Even though he appeared to be a clear cut winner, Rosario and Vinan were worried that the hometown favorite Hunter would win on the scorecards. This didn’t turn out to be the case. Vinan was awarded a split decision.

After the victory at the Tropicana against Mezaache, we look to what is next for Vinan. Rosario is hoping to get him ranked in the top 10 by the IBF and WBC, but knows that if he is, they must be careful. He is worried about some of the talent at the top of the division. Stylistically, southpaws tend to give Vinan problems, and with many tough fights behind him, he is not a young 30 years old. Either way I hope to see Vinan compete for a while longer.

He is a fan’s boxer; he is going to trade blows with the bangers and is going to show his boxing IQ against the more technical fighters. Hopefully, for all of his sacrifices fighting against undefeated boxers and other heavily favored opponents, Carlos is rewarded with a bout that is showcased in front of a large audience. With few easy fights and most of his matches taking place in his opponent’s hometown, this is something he earned.

For more New Jersey boxing news, go to gardenstatefightscene.com

LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya said Wednesday that the Arizona immigration law is racist if it is allowed to stand as it was written.

“We’re looking at racism,’’ De La Hoya said during a news conference to promote the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch Saturday night at Mandalay Bay. “We really are.’’

De La Hoya made the comments while U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton filed an injunction in Phoenix against parts of SB 1070, delaying provisions that require immigrants to carry documentation and prohibits them from seeking employment on street corners or in parking lots. The law was scheduled to go into effect Thursday.

De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions and a fulltime promoter since he retired after a loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2008, said he would not stage cards in Arizona if the law is reinstated through likely legal fights, including an expected appeal by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

Golden Boy promoted at Desert Diamond Casino near Tucson for a few years. The last Golden Boy card in southern Arizona was in the summer of 2009.

When asked if he could return to the state and promote again, De La Hoya said: “If they do lift the law, I would. But I don’t know now. If they don’t lift the law, then I don’t think we have business there.’’

Both Diaz and Marquez have fought in Arizona. Diaz, a Mexican-American lightweight, beat Fernando Angulo in 2006 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Marquez, a Mexican, has fought in Arizona twice, both in 2007 and both in Tucson. In his last Arizona bout, he beat Rocky Juarez, also of Houston, is also on Saturday night’s card at Mandalay Bay.

Six of the eight fighters on HBO’s pay-per-view portion have fought in Arizona, including middleweight Daniel Jacobs of New York junior-welterweight Robert Guerrero of Gilroy, Calif., and Joel Casamayor, an Olympic gold medalist from Cuba.

Diaz, an aspiring attorney, was born in Houston to parents, Olivia and Fidencio, who at the time were undocumented immigrants from Mexico.

“I talk about it with them and it hits home for them a little bit more,’’ said Diaz, whose parents took him back to Mexico briefly before returning to Houston. “They experienced it first-hand as far as crossing the border, dealing with border patrol and sometimes running from immigration. Those are some interesting stories.’’

The stories are also full of reasons to fear the SB 1070 if the courts allow it to be enforced, Diaz said.

“It’s a rough law,’’ he said. “It’s gonna infringe on a lot of human rights. Local law enforcement is going to take a little bit too much of the power that it has and abuse it. There’s going to be so many cases in which families and people are going to be abused that we’re not even going to hear about.’’

Despite his concern about the law’s potential abuse, Diaz said he would not rule out fighting in Arizona again.

“I’d have to look at the circumstances,” said Diaz, who Saturday hopes to avenge a loss to Marquez in the 2009 fight of the year. “I’m not going to sit here and say: ‘No, I’m never going to go fight.’

“You look at each, specific situation. If the situation is that they want to put on a show to raise money for immigrants, then it would be different. A lot of people automatically assume that they won’t fight there because of the law. But, like I said, I’d have to look at the circumstances. Then, say yes or no.’’

Marquez, who is from Mexico City, said the Arizona law has been talking point in his country ever since Brewer signed it in late April.

“It is bad, bad for me and bad for the Mexican people,’’ Marquez said. “Many Mexicans live in Arizona. I want to support them, help them through this.’’

De La Hoya said he understands those who argue that the United States has to defend its borders and maintain a process through which immigrants can gain legal entry.

“If you are illegal in this country and you’re a person who doesn’t come here to work and to help build America and to be in gangs and commit crimes and this-and-that, then, you-know-what, maybe you should go back,’’ said De La Hoya, who fought at then-America West Arena in Phoenix twice early in his career.”But if you are a person who is this country to help build America the way immigrants built America back in the day, then I think they do have a chance, that there should be fairness.

“I understand that there has to be a process, of how that is regulated.’’

De La Hoya says the law targets Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent.

“They were thinking that this is meant for European immigrants, this is meant for the Asian immigrant,’’ said De La Hoya, who grew up in Los Angeles before becoming the world’s most popular and richest boxer after winning an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

De La Hoya points to Arizona large Hispanic community, which is estimated to be about one-third of the state’s population.

“So, to a certain extent, I call it racism,’’ De La Hoya said. “I really do. What happens now? I got to Arizona. I look Hispanic. They pull me over and ask for my ID? It’s not fair.’’

Back when things were in Black and white and Boxing had only 8 weights classes, Lightweight was one of the toughest division’s to make a name for yourself fast forward to today things haven’t changed much. Lightweight still has some of the elite performers in the game. Granted things aren’t as hot at 135 as they have been in the past years. That could all change this weekend when Juan Manuel Marquez heads back to the more cosy confines of Lightweight after his sojourn to a Welterweight catchweight against Floyd Mayweather. His opponent this time at least seems mortal, a rematch with Juan Diaz. Last February Diaz’s youth, size and strength seemed as though they would help him gain the biggest win of his career to date. Slowly but surely Marquez refined and tuned his considerable skills, creating gaps in Diaz defence until landing two howitzer right hands that dropped Diaz before conclusively ending the argument with a devastating right uppercut. It was ultimately one of the top fights of 2009.

Also on Saturday’s card will be Robert Guerrero & Joel Casamayor, though the fight is a few pounds above the Lightweight limit the winner will most likely look to fight the winner of the main event. Just a few pounds south at 130 Jorge Linares and Rocky Juarez duel in an intriguing fight in which the loser has no place to go. It’s not quite the Lightweight Lightening that took place last April when eight of the top Lightweights were scheduled to face off, though it never quite worked out. This could end up having more of an effect on the Lightweight demigraphic.

A few months ago Michael Katsidis scored possibly the best win of his career to date when he went into the lions den and stopped unbeaten Kevin Mitchell in three. Afterwards Katsidis declared he wants to fight the winner of Marquez-Diaz 2 this fall. The Lightweight confines also house the legendary Marco Antonio Barrera who recently ended a year long hiatus, he’s expected to return again in late summer before fighting another Mexican Humberto Soto for Soto’s WBC crown. Soto himself is angling for a big fight and would be a handful for anyone at 135.

In the past the Lightweight division has been the home to a murders row of greats including Joe Gans, Benny Leonard, Tony Canzoneri, Carlos Ortiz, Roberto Duran, Pernell Whitaker and Shane Mosley, even briefly Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao.

Here’s a look at some of the guys who created havoc at 9 stone 9 pounds.

The Old Master Joe Gans fought in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, reigning from 1902-1908 making 15 defence’s. He died of tuberculosis in 1910, at just 35 years old with a record of 138-10-15(96) and considered one of the greats of Boxing. Sadly Gans passed away at just 35 from tuberculosis.

A year after Gans sad demise Benny “Ghetto Wizard” Leonard made his debut, losing a third round KO. It was hardly the start to a career that would make anyone forget Joe Gans. Over the next 6 years Leonard learnt his trade and stayed busy developing his skills. It was at this stage he won the Lightweight crown beating Freddie Welsh making 9 defence’s reigning from 1917-1925. In 1918 he even dared to go up to Welterweight where he drew with Ted “Kid Lewis, he again made that move in 1922 though lost a thirteenth round disqualification to Jack Britton, when he hit Britton while Britton was down. Leonard retired as the reigning Lightweight champion in 1925. Before briefly trying to make a return in 1931.

Like Leonard before him Tony Canzoneri fought out of New York. Canzoneri won the Featherweight world title in the late 1920’s before heading up to Lightweight where he demolished Al Singer in the first round in late 1930. He even went up to Light Welterweight where he beat Jack “Kid” Berg reigning at both weights consecutively. Canzoneri would reign until the summer of 1933 when he lost a majority decision to another Lightweight legend Barney Ross then losing a split decision 3 months later. It was at this stage he really showed his metal staying busy when most though he’d seen better days and winning his old Lightweight title back nearly 2 years later against Lou Ambers though he eventually lost it back to Ambers.

Puerto Rico Carlos Ortiz fought for 17 years and won the Light Welterweight crown four years after debuting in 1959 after one defence he lost the title. Ortiz then dropped to Lightweight where he had even more success beating Joe Brown for the title then reigning for 3 years making 4 defence’s before losing a very close decision Ismael Laguna in Panama. Not deterred Ortiz reclaimed the crown 7 months later outpointing Laguna in Panama making a further 5 defence’s until he lost to Carlos Teo Cruz in 1968. He continued until 1972 when he lost to Ken Buchanan.

The Pride of Panama Roberto “Manos De Piedra” Duran was a force of nature that for over 5 years in the 1970 was a wrecking machine. He devastated all before him, that version of Duran many believe was the greatest Lightweight to ever draw breath. He bludgeoned all 12 title challengers into defeat with only one lasting the course. Duran went onto become a 4 weight world champion fighting well into his forty’s and decades past his prime. His relentless pressure, unbridled ferocity coupled with no lack skill saw off all comers. Similar to Mike Tyson years later Duran beat many opponents before they stepped in the ring with him. Through out his storied career Duran beat some fantastic fighters most notably Sugar Ray Leonard thought that was up at Welterweight.

Having won Gold at the 1984 Olympics Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker was long known for his outstanding boxing skills, fantastic defensive ability along with an uncanny knack of making Hall of Fame Fighters look like novices. Whitaker was so gifted that it was difficult to find rounds he would lose let alone fights. Whitaker like Duran would go on to become a 4 Weight world champion. Both fighters were poles apart with Whitaker a modest puncher at 135 though he would end up using his mastery to conquer 140, 147 & 154 defeating many good fighters including Azumah Nelson, Jose Luis Ramirez, Buddy McGirt and in the eyes of everyone except the two judges who scored it a draw he beat Julio Cesar Chavez Snr.

After a stellar amateur career in which “Sugar” Shane Mosley narrowly missed out on taking part in the 1992 Olympics he embarked on a pro career starting out at Lightweight. Though many insiders and Los Angeles aficionados knew Mosley’s potential fans and media alike seemed to miss out on the secret that was Shane Mosley. Infact he arguably didn’t gain his full adulation until he relinquished the IBF crown he had defended 8 times all inside the distance, going straight to Welterweight where he posted an outstanding victory over a prime Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley joined Duran missing out Light Welterweight and heading straight to 147.

In the last decade or so Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao all had brief layovers at 135 before heading to Light Welterweight and then Welterweight.

De La Hoya lasted 18 months and 7 fights before he out grew the division. Though in that time he did post impressive stoppages over Rafael Ruelas, Jesse James Leija & Genaro Hernandez & a points win over seasoned veteran and former world champion John John Molina.

After an outstanding run at Super Featherweight Floyd Mayweather won his second world title at his second weight class when he barely squeezed past Jose Luis Castillo in early 2002. To shut up all the doubters he fought Castillo in a rematch and was far more convincing 8 months later. After two defence’s against average opponents in Victoriano Sosa & Phillip Ndou, Mayweather abdicated his thrown.

In the summer of 2008 Pacquiao made a brief pit stop of just a single fight when he flattened David Diaz to collect the WBC crown.

Another shooting star Edwin Valero threatened to join the elite at Lightweight before his untimely demise.

Just who joins the list of immortals in the future remains to be seen but one thing is likely to continue and that is that the Lightweight division will thrive as one of the strongest weight classes in Boxing just as it has over the past 100 or so years.

The Friday before last, Team Mayweather handed Bob Arum and Top Rank a bunch of lemons. Instead of trying to make lemonade, Arum passed the lemons off to boxing fans in the form of Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito.

Now it’s up to the boxing community to determine what to do with them.

During his now-infamous conference call, Arum made it clear that his intentions were to pursue fights with possible opponents other than Mayweather, specifically Miguel Cotto or Margarito.

Less than two weeks later the “Tijuana Tornado” emerged as the next opponent for the Filipino Congressman.

In fighting Pacquiao (51-3, 38 KO) on November 13, Margarito (38-6, 27 KO) is receiving a “hand-wrapped” gift from Arum and Top Rank. In taking care of his own, Arum is granting Margarito what will most likely amount to the biggest pay day of his career. He is awarding “Tony” the chance of a lifetime simply for fighting under the Top Rank banner.

During his conference call, responding to an inquiry about a potential Pacquiao-Tim Bradley fight, Arum immediately dismissed the possibility.

“Tim Bradley is a tremendous fighter and he’s a great young man,” Arum said. “But the problem with a guy like Tim Bradley is that even though you and I know what a superb fighter he is, the public really doesn’t know.”

He continued, “The other promoters don’t really promote their fighters. They take money from HBO or Showtime or a little Indian casino and they think they’re doing the kid a big service. I’m not going to give them a free ride on the work we have done.”

That same logic applied to a question about a potential Paul Williams fight with Pacquiao.

“Paul Williams is a tremendous fighter – a great fighter, but he hasn’t been promoted correctly — he doesn’t have any following, can’t sell any tickets,” Arum said. “Nobody is financing the pay-per-view fight. On an HBO fight – HBO pays the money. I’m the one that’s financing the pay-per-view and don’t want to give anyone a free ride.”

Arum’s thinking, which in this specific case is reasonable, has ultimately left us with a mid-Autumn clash between Pacquiao and Margarito. It has also left us disappointed with the realization that a Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight won’t be taking place any time this calendar year.

It’s left us with a decision about what to do with these lemons.

It’s true that Margarito, or as many in the fistic community have comically renamed him, “Margacheato”, was caught with loaded hand-wraps before his bout with “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

It’s also true that he doesn’t deserve the big pay day that will come when he faces the world’s number one pound-for-pound boxer.

Margarito is a cheater who was caught and is still being punished. He is a fighter who, presumably, was willing to endanger the lives of his opponents for a win inside the ring.

He is still not licensed to prizefight in the United States ] and the last time most boxing fans saw him, he was being battered around the ring for nine rounds by Mosley.

So what are we to make of Pacquiao-Margarito?

Lemonade?

Let me try.

Margarito is a battle tested warrior. Having suffered early defeats in his career, Margarito had to work twice as hard to prove the crooked numbers in the loss column were due to the fact that he turned professional at the ripe young age of 15, not necessarily due to lack of skill.

After years of compiling win after win, Margarito fought his way to the top. He has held, at some point or another, the WBA, WBO, and IBF welterweight championships.

He walks through the best punches his opponents have to offer just so he can fire off a few of his own.

This past decade alone, Margarito has stopped Sergio Martinez, Antonio Diaz, and twice stopped Kermit Cintron.

He was awarded a decision over Joshua Clottey. He has battled in tough losses against Paul Williams and Daniel Santos, proving that even in defeat, he still possesses the heart of a true Mexican warrior.

He has fought in fights that looked like they belonged in bars, specifically the hellacious brawl with Miguel Cotto — a fight that left Cotto’s face almost unrecognizable.

Truth be told, plaster-wraps aside, Margarito is an entertaining fighter to watch.

To add to the fan-friendly style of Margarito is the always-entertaining Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao, the seven division world champion and current WBO welterweight champion, is the world’s number one pound-for-pound fighter and arguably the most entertaining boxer on the globe.

Pacquiao’s “Energizer Bunny” style is enough to draw most boxing fans’ interest. In recent years, Pacquiao’s domination of opponents has tended to end fights in spectacular fashion — such as the Ricky Hatton knockout, Cotto stoppage, and David Diaz knockout.

But even in fights where the endings weren’t as exciting, Pacquiao is still a pleasure to watch.

Take the Clottey fight, for instance. It was a fight that was dominated by Pacquiao from the opening bell, a fight in which Clottey suffered a slow, twelve round death. In a unanimous decision win, where two judges somehow awarded Clottey a single round, Pacquiao still made the fight entertaining. Pacquiao’s tireless work-rate was something to marvel at. He averaged over 100 purposeful punches a round throughout the twelve round bout and finished the fight looking like the he could fight twelve more.

Any time the best fighter in the world is fighting, I am going to be watching. It’s as simple as that.

The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world versus a Mexican warrior, who can take an inordinate amount of punishment, but always seems to dish out just more than he receives. This has all the makings to be an intriguing fight.

End of squeezing lemons.

Do I buy into the hype I just tried to create in an attempt to excite myself?

I’m not so sure.

But at least I was trying to make lemonade. With the immediate dismissal of a potential Bradley or Williams fight with Pacquiao, that’s more than Arum and Top Rank can say. They simply handed off the lemons to boxing fans to let us decide what to make of them.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

On the 18 September Frank Warren Promotions will present one of the biggest bill’s in recent British Boxing history, known as “The Magnificent Seven”. One half of the main event is Karo Murat 22-0(13) who know’s he wont have to much support when he enters the ring at The LG Arena to face’s fellow unbeaten Nathan Cleverly. Murat 26, will be looking to make history for his country of birth Iraq by becoming there first World Champion. He fights out of Germany these days having turned pro in September 2006, starting out at Super Middleweight where he won the European title before deciding to move up to Light Heavyweight. He’ll be looking to continue the run of German transplants at 175 after Dariusz Michalczewski and more recently Zsolt Erdei who reigned supreme as champions for the WBO. The fight with Cleverly will be for the Vacant Interim Light Heavyweight crown. The winner could be made up to full champion depending on what happens with a court case that currently surrounds current champion Jurgen Braehmer.

Hello Karo, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you beat Tommy Karpency over 12 rounds on 1 May what can you tell us about that win and what do you looking back think of that performance?

Karo Murat – Karpency is a good, a strong fighter. You could see that he can box. He moved well. And he did well to get back on his feet after the knock down in the second round. It was a good fight.

Anson Wainwright – Your next fight is supposed to be against Nathan Cleverly. What do you think of the fight? What do you know about Cleverly?

Karo Murat – I have already seen a couple of his fights. I try to internalize his movements and style. He is tall and he is strong, and he has good movements.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your team. Who is your trainer, manager & promoter? Also what gym do you use regularly to train at?

Karo Murat – I am trained by Ulli Wegner in Berlin´s famous Max-Schmeling Gym. My manager is Wilfred Sauerland and my promoter is Sauerland Event.

Anson Wainwright – Your originally from Iraq, you must have a fascinating story to tell. Can you tell us abit about how you found growing up there? Where you living there through all the Gulf War? How did you get involved in Boxing from there?

Karo Murat – Our family original has Armenian roots. And to be honest I do not remember too much about that time because I was too young. I kept asking my father about it but he does not like to speak about it too much. I came to Germany when I was ten years old and at first I did not understand much but I learned the language and quickly found friends. I grew up in Germany so can I tell you a lot about it. I started boxing with 13.

Anson Wainwright – Did you have an amateur career? If so what titles did you win and what was your final record?

Karo Murat – I boxed in the Bundesliga. There were world-class opponents such as Vitali Tajbert or Eduard Gutknecht as well as a lot of strong fighters from abroad. I made around 120 fights, winning 95 of them.

Anson Wainwright – It was only late last year that you stepped up from Super Middleweight having held the European title there. How did you come to step up to Light Heavyweight?

Karo Murat – I kept growing and getting stronger. I always had to make a lot of weight for super-middleweight, so this is much more natural for me. Now I don´t have to focus on losing weight, I can eat whatever I wish to eat. That is a great feeling. All my focus is on my opponents now, not on the food. Light-Heavyweight is a great weight class for me with a lot of great fighters. I am determined to stamp my authority on the division. My goal is to beat the best.

Anson Wainwright – Who do you consider the best fighter you have fought to date and why?

Karo Murat – Gabriel Campillo was very strong. He later became a world champion. But my other opponents also were pretty good, too. Like Karpency, even though he did not have the best ranking, he was tough to beat. His style reminded me of Andre Dirrell – it was a good win for me!

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do when you are not fighting?

Karo Murat – I like to spend time with my family and my friends. I love BBQs or just chilling out, having fun!

Anson Wainwright – Who was your hero growing up?

Karo Murat – Prince Naseem Hamed.

Anson Wainwright – Finally what goals do you have in Boxing?

Karo Murat – I want to become the best, beat the best and be world champion soon!

Thanks for your time Karo.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” – Ernest Hemingway, “The Sun Also Rises”

And so it is with a prizefighter’s energy and legs. He begins a championship fight doing as he planned. He loses strength at predictable intervals, familiar intervals, intervals commensurate with his opponent’s. Then suddenly he finds himself weak and discomfited.

So go championship prizefights. So go champions’ careers.

That race, right there, who gets from gradual bankruptcy to sudden first, will determine the loser of “The Rematch” at Mandalay Bay. That is what they’re calling the second fight between Ring magazine lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, to remind us Marquez-Diaz I was 2009’s Fight of the Year.

Think of this fight as a race – Marquez’s legs against Diaz’s energy – where the loser will be lightweight champion of the world. The gradual bankruptcy of Marquez’s legs can be measured in years. The gradual bankruptcy of Diaz’s energy will be measured in minutes. And then, suddenly, one of those will be measured in instants.

Something like that happened when Marquez and Diaz fought the first time, in Diaz’s hometown of Houston, 17 months ago. Few of us knew it at the time, and no one knew it at ringside. The closest anyone came, probably, was Marquez’s trainer Nacho Beristain. He couldn’t be sure his fighter’s legs wouldn’t wilt under the heat and humidity of Diaz’s relentlessness, but he knew his fighter’s spirit was implacable and courage unquestionable. And he knew he wasn’t going to stop the fight regardless.

“Juan is not fragile.” That’s how Beristain explained it an hour after his fighter knocked-out Diaz in round 9. Beristain was certain to a point of dismissive about his charge’s fortitude in those opening rounds when Marquez’s mouthpiece was visible for two of every three minutes. He was amused by an inquiry about his own state of mind when Marquez was bullied to the ropes by the “Baby Bull” time and again. No, Beristain wanted it understood, he couldn’t have been less preoccupied by what he saw.

He was about the only one. Diaz appeared to have his way with Marquez in the fight’s opening half. He had me fooled; I scored the opening six rounds 4-1-1 for Diaz. And after round 6, when an esteemed fight scribe leaned over and said Marquez wouldn’t get out of the eighth, I nodded.

But by then Marquez had begun to do something we mistook for a ruined spirit. He’d begun to pivot away from Diaz rather than fighting Diaz off him. It was uncharacteristic of Marquez. He was the more accurate puncher in every minute, of course, but he was also the smaller and older man. His sudden change of strategy appeared, if not a surrender, certainly the opening sentence of an unfavorable treaty: You let me finish on my feet, and I’ll stay out of your way.

What had really happened, though, was different. Marquez had seen the first cracks in Diaz’s relentless spirit. Those cracks lent Marquez time enough to take a look around. And when he did, he realized he was not being outmaneuvered but cowed. Diaz was not pinning him to the ropes with superior footwork but merely corralling him with activity. And that reminded Marquez he hadn’t survived the rings of Mexico City without discouraging a few relentless left-hookers.

That was when the 35 year-old switched from brawler to dancer to assassin. He pivoted away from Diaz and struck the younger man now searching for an abruptly elusive target. He stopped trying to break Diaz on Diaz’s terms and began to stretch him on the rack of fundamental boxing: straight punches hurt more than crooked ones.

Diaz must have been surprised. He had, after all, faced larger, tougher men at lightweight, wearing each down with his knuckles, the cuffs of his gloves, the commitment of his blows, his self-belief. Here was a smaller man whose temples he’d assaulted with 20 minutes of hooks. Here was a lighter man whose neck he’d whiplashed with battering-ram jabs. Here was a boxer, a craftsman, whose sensibilities he’d surely offended.

And now he pivots away on fresh legs? And now my knees are suddenly hollow?

But Diaz did the right thing when bankruptcy visited him suddenly: He pressed forward. He was either about to fool Marquez, or bring a mercifully quick conclusion to his evening. And Marquez wasn’t fooled.

Marquez is hard to fool. Ask Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather apologists – a species the great man himself is rendering extinct – may still insist that after knocking Marquez down in the second round of their mismatched fight, Mayweather didn’t press because he “needed rounds.” But that’s inane. Rounds to do what, sharpen his potshots on a man 15 pounds smaller? Mayweather could get better work in the gym.

No, Mayweather didn’t press Marquez because, 15 pounds or 50, you don’t stop Marquez without making a slow tour of hell to get there. That’s not Mayweather’s style. Even when Marquez was hurt, especially when he was hurt, he fought back with harshest intentions. Mayweather was against the best counterpuncher he’d ever faced, and he backed off. Mayweather couldn’t stop Marquez in 100 rounds of trying.

Diaz, on the other hand, hasn’t Mayweather’s luxury of reflexes or class. He will have to go straight at Marquez because it affords him the best chance of making Marquez’s now-36-year-old legs go bankrupt. And in so doing, Diaz will afford Marquez a chance to take Diaz’s energy to bankruptcy, by pivoting away earlier and finishing Diaz quicker than the first time.

Marquez has been losing his legs gradually since he moved from featherweight. So is it possible they could go bankrupt suddenly on Saturday? Yes. Does Diaz have the style to cause it? Yes. Does Diaz have the energy to do it? I don’t think so.

I’ll take Marquez: KO-7.

Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com

The Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz sequel to the 2009 Fight of the Year on July 31 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay has a simple marketing label: The Rematch. Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer also could have called it The Relief.

Let’s just say that Marquez-Diaz II and its compelling undercard are a timely refuge from talks – or whatever they were – for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. A couple of testaments, old and new, could be filled with all that has been said, written, rumored, alleged and denied about a fight that has yet to happen and perhaps never will.

Attention on Pacquiao-Mayweather is sucking the wind out of a sport full of good stories, of which there are many on the Diaz-Marquez card. There is Robert Guerrero, who faces Joel Casamayor. He fights for his wife, Casey, who has fought leukemia and knocked the cancer into remission.

There’s Diaz, an aspiring lawyer and proud son of Mexican immigrants who is fighting to keep his career alive while he argues for rights that he believes are under assault in the wake of Arizona’s tough new immigration law.

There’s Rocky Juarez, who faces Jorge Linares. Juarez, who is 0-5-1 in world title fights, was robbed at the 2000 Olympics of a gold medal and left with silver that he says reflects a career full of frustration. Yet, he is still pursuing a world title, still trying turn silver into gold.

Guerrero, Diaz and Juarez are just a few of the stories that once put a gritty face on a sport that, in large part, has been about comebacks, second chances and redemption. Now, however, all of the focus appears to be on nothing, which worked on Seinfeld but won’t in boxing.

It’s been there before, following Mike Tyson to nowhere. Tyson was the train wreck that kept everybody looking only for the next accident instead of the next prospect. Tyson moved on and mixed martial arts moved in.

De La Hoya, Pacquiao and Mayweather helped boxing diversify and it began to recover. Yet, suddenly it is back at an intersection where one story, and only one, seems to matter. Who to blame? From promoters to regulators, the usual suspects are there.

But the internet, the only media that covers the sport regularly anymore, also deserves its share. Determining a good story isn’t much of a choice anymore. It’s all about numbers, hits. Plug in the right words and you’ve got a winner recognized by the Google algorithm. That means Pacquiao and Mayweather, over and over again.

The internet equation often means the media follows the mob instead of the stories. Guerrero, Diaz and Juarez offer an old-school, perhaps quaint opportunity to reverse that trend during the next week. Each has different motivations. Yet, each is confronted with a fight the looms as decisive in what they do next.

“I see this as a win-win situation,’’ Diaz said during a conference call when asked about the significance attached to chances at avenging his 2009 loss by knockout to Marquez. “This fight is going to prove to me whether I have it or I don’t. This fight right here is what’s going to take me to the top and make me the super star that I’ve been wanting to be in the lightweight division.

“But if it doesn’t happen then that means it’s not meant to be and I’ll move on to bigger and better things, which could be start from the bottom and pick up the pieces to rebuild myself up or just completely do a 360 – I mean a 180 – and just go in the opposite direction.

“This fight here, a lot of people have been mentioning to me that it’s a do-or-die fight. Well, I don’t think it is do-or-die. I think it’s win-win because either I become a world champion once again and become a super star or it opens up doors for me to do other things and focus on other aspects of my life.’’

Real-life.

For now and perhaps forever, that represents a real chance at future business, unlike Pacquiao-Mayweather, which is beginning to look like fantasy that will never be more than a video game.

As innovative and interesting as Showtime’s Super 6 is there is one glaring omission that keeps the winner from being crowned the King of Super Middleweight division. When it was originally announced a year a go many believed Lucian Bute should of been amongst the entrants, his two fights since that have added further fuel to that fire. Bute 30, boasts a perfect 26-0(21) cementing the belief that he should of been included. The reason for his omission is differs depending on whether you believe Team Bute or Showtime. The move hasn’t been as detrimental to Bute’s career as it first appeared with HBO picking up Bute’s last two fights, which were coincidentally the most impressive of his career to date. First came the rematch with teak tough Librado Andrade who a year before had given Bute the toughest fight of his career. This time Bute triumphed when he dropped Andrade in the fourth before later in the round delivering a debilitating bodyshot that nearly broke Andrade in two. Then most recently back in April Bute was matched with swing from the fence’s Colombian KO machine Edison Miranda. Once again Bute found the perfect punch when he landed a devastating uppercut that starched Miranda in the third. This October Bute returns to action and makes the sixth defence of his IBF Super Middleweight crown against his mandatory former Contender alumini Jesse Brinkley again in front of his hometown fans who flock to the Bell Center in Montreal in there thousands. Here’s what Bute had to say.

Hello Lucian, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly can i congratulate you on a terrific performance last time out when you demolished Edison Miranda. What are your thoughts on that fight looking back in particular the ending of the fight?

Lucian Bute – I’m very proud of how i end this fight. I stay focused during all the fight even when Miranda try to distract me. I practiced that with my coach Stephan Larouche during my training camp. I also worked hard on this uppercut and it work !!

Anson Wainwright – It was reported for awhile that you were going to fight in your homeland of Romania in July. Was this ever the case, if so what happened to prevent this happening, it seemed a great idea and opportunity of your people to see you fight live? Will you look to do this at some point in the future?

Lucian Bute – We tried hard to fight in my home country but due to the economic crisis it finally won’t happen. InterBox and I work hard on this but it will happen one day!

Anson Wainwright – I believe we will see you in the fall against an as yet unnamed opponent, it must be hard to find opponents with many of the top guys involved in the Super 6? Do you have any idea who you may face and when?

Lucian Bute – It’s now confirmed, I will face Jesse Brinkley for my mandatory defence on Friday October 15th. It’s gonna be an interesting fight, I already watched some videos of him. I took him seriously, I will be well prepared as every fight.

Anson Wainwright – Much has been said on the Super 6. Your obviously a glaring omission from the tournament. What can you tell us from your point of view why you weren’t involved was?

Lucian Bute – It’s out of my control. To be not involved in the Super six give me the chance to be with HBO. They came for my last 2 fights and I’m very happy with that. I will fight the winner of the tournament to reign on my division!

Anson Wainwright – The second round of fights has just taken place, what are your thoughts on how it has gone so far? How do you see the tournament panning out?

Lucian Bute – Every fight was interesting since the beginning. I think Andre Ward will defeat Dirrell and win the tournament.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your team and handlers. Who is your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you regularly use ahead of a fight?

Lucian Bute – During my training camp I go to Miami. I love this place, there a very nice gym (Thump GYM). I go there with my coach Stephan Larouche and Andre Kulesza, responsible for my physical condition. I’m with them since the beginning and we have a very nice relationship. My promoter is InterBox who also promote Adrian Diaconu and former World Champion Leonard Dorin and Eric Lucas. Both are retired.

Anson Wainwright – Romania isn’t to well known from a Boxing point of view, can you tell us how you first became interested in Boxing and how the love affair with boxing began? Also can you tell us a little about your career from the amateur’s?

Lucian Bute – I wasn’t interested by boxing till the age of 14 when one of my friend bring me to a boxing gym. After that it was a really love affair and I never stop training and fight. I hope to do it for many years!!! In 1999 I won the Bronze Medal at world championships, the Gold medan at Francophony Games in 2001 and represented Romania at the World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand as a Middleweight.

Anson Wainwright – How did you end up fighting in Canada, can you tell us about how this relationship started? Where are you more popular Canada or Romania?

Lucian Bute – Popular at both place’s !!!! I arrived in Canada to be a sparring partner for Eric Lucas during his preparation for his rematch with Markus Beyer. We had a plan, my promoter, my coach and I to be World Champion in 4 years and it happened.

Anson Wainwright – What are your future Boxing goals? Maybe move up to Light Heavyweight or defend your title in Romania etc

Lucian Bute – My main goal is to be recognized by everyone in boxing. I want to retire undefeated and to be immortalised at the Boxing Hall of fame.

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

Lucian Bute – To spend time with my friends and family, travelling and have a good dinner at the restaurant. I watch also football games!

Anson Wainwright – If you weren’t a boxer what would you be doing?

Lucian Bute – I don’t know! Since i’m fourteen I know I wanted to be a boxer.

Anson Wainwright – What would you like to do when you retire from Boxing?

Lucian Bute – I want to finish my master at the University and will see after. I want to stay in boxing as a fighter as long as I can.

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

Lucian Bute – I want to thank them very much to supported me at every fight. I’m lucky to have a huge fan base across the world and I really appreciated that. I want to give them excellent shows every fight

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

Thanks! It’s a pleasure

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

No news is good news. At least that has been the case for the last year and a half with regards to a possible Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather superfight.

Last Friday, Top Rank boss Bob Arum held a conference call to update boxing aficionados on the latest happenings in the sorry attempt to put together the one fight that all boxing fans are dying to see.

As the story goes, Arum had set a deadline for Mayweather’s camp to get in touch with Top Rank and HBO get the ball rolling. The deadline put in place by Arum was Friday at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time.

The international conference call played host to journalists from all around the globe. Some woke up early or stayed up late, while others abandoned their daily routines and responsibilities all to call in and hear what Top Rank’s grill master had to say.

Further, Top Rank, along with other various media outlets, allowed for a live-streaming of the call on their websites giving boxing fans worldwide access to the call.

Unfortunately for all who possessed even the tiniest bit of hope that Arum would talk about progress, he filled the airwaves and telephone lines with disappointment almost immediately. Arum confirmed that he had yet to hear anything from Money May’s camp. As the deadline came and went, Mayweather and his team stayed silent.

But just when you thought all hope was lost, Arum dangled yet another carrot in front of boxing fan’s faces.

“People have asked me as well as others at Top Rank, does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead?” Arum said. “Even though Mayweather has not responded by the deadline, the deal is dead when we reach a deal with an opponent for Manny’s fight in November.”

To quote Jim Carrey in the 1994 film “Dumb & Dumber”: “Soooooo, you’re telling me there’s a chance!?”

Friday at midnight — on the west coast — marked the time when Arum stopped exclusivity with the Mayweather camp and announced his intentions to explore other options for Pacquiao.

Arum went on to declare that he is turning his attention to making a possible fight with the “Tijuana Tornado”, Antonio Margarito, or a possible rematch with newly crowned WBA Junior Middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.

Needless to say, neither is remotely as appealing as a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.

There is little intriguing about a rematch with Cotto, who Pacquiao thoroughly dissected just some seven-plus months ago.

If he were to fight Margarito, who is currently not licensed in Nevada after the infamous hand-wrap scandal, Arum said the fight would most likely take place in Monterrey, Mexico.

For some reason, I don’t see that happening. The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, traveling into another fighter’s backyard — potentially a hostile environment — where Mexican fans would be rampant in their support of their native fighter.

After Arum acknowledged his intentions to inquire about matching Pacquiao with either Margarito or Cotto, he speculated about the possible reasons Mayweather had stayed silent as the deadline passed.

“One of the reasons could be the uncertainty regarding Roger Mayweather and for people that don’t know, Roger Mayweather is scheduled for court in Nevada regarding criminal charges,” Arum said. “Now I know how Manny would feel if he had to go into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and presumably Floyd would feel the same way going into a fight like this without the services of his uncle Roger who has been training him for a number of years.”

Two days later, the Mayweather camp finally released a statement via Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.

“Here are the facts. Al Haymon [Mayweather’s manager], Richard Schaefer [CEO of Golden Boy Promotions] and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg [President of HBO Sports] or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”

After Arum read the statement, he responded by sticking to his guns, saying Greenburg told him he was active in talks with Haymon, who was relaying messages back and forth to and from Mayweather.

The he-said, she-said all sounds like a childish game of ‘telephone’ — rather than grown men, heads of companies negotiating what could amount to the most prosperous fight in boxing history.

Whatever it is — lack of communication or lies, it all amounts to negativity.

Enough is enough.

No more chasing the elusive carrot.

Arum, Ellerbe, Greenburg, or anyone else involved in the attempt to make this fight a reality should stay silent until legitimate progress is made.

Top Rank has a great stable of fighters and its upcoming bouts should be the focus of Arum’s dialogue, not the constant letdowns that seem to come with the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations — whether it be the fault of Team Mayweather or not.

No more conference calls to report disappointing news.

No more public cheap shots at Mayweather or Pacquiao and their teams. There is enough blame to go around for everyone.

Holding an international conference call and inviting the entire boxing world to listen in to disappointing news fails to positively serve the sport of boxing.

Next time there is disheartening news to report, save your breath and let us all move on from what could have been.

And on that note, if the next news out of the Top Rank camp does in fact have to do with a Pacquiao-Margarito bout, or Pacquiao-Cotto rematch, you can stay silent about that too.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBA Middleweight champion will take on Marco Antonio Rubio on September 4th in Cologne, Germany.

“We have negotiated with different fighters from overseas, but for some reason most of them asked for crazy money,” Sturm said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking. Here in Germany I got calls from fighters with decent records who wanted to fight me for free — just for the shot at the title.”

“I feel great at the moment,” he said. “I chose to take a break to spend some time with my wife and my newborn son. It was good not to think about boxing all the time and not to count the calories on every meal. Now I am all fired up to get back into the ring. I cannot wait for my comeback. I am even looking forward to the hard weeks of preparation and training camp, and I will prove that I got no ring rust whatsoever.”

Fernando Montiel tuned up literally and figuratively as pounded out Rafael Concepcion in round three of a twelve round Bantamweight fight to retain the WBC/WBO Bantamweight titles.

Montiel dropped Concepcion in the first seconds of round two from a perfect right. About a minute later, Concepcion walked into a left hook that sent him to seat of his pants for a second time in the round. Late in the round, Concepcion was docked a point for holding by referee Robert Byrd. Montiel ended things in the third when he landed a perfect right that knocked Concepcion down and out and Byrd stopped the fight without a count at 1:07 of round three.

Montiel, 118 lbs of Los Mochis, Mexixo will now look for a fall showdown with former Flyweight and Super Flyweight beltholder Nonito Donaire with a record of 43-2-2 with thirty-three knockouts. Concepcion, 118 lbs of Panama City, Panama is now 14-5.

Michael Medina scored a fourth round stoppage over Gilberto Flores in a scheduled ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.

Medina landed a barrage of punches that forced the referee to stop the bout at 1:41 of round four

Medina, 155 lbs of Monterrey, Mexico is now 24-2 with nineteen knockouts. Flores, 154 lbs of Tuianciago, Mexico is now 14-5.

Ramon Maas scored a four round split decision over Carlos Penaloza in a Featherweight bout.

Maas 122 lbs of Merida, Mexico is now 21-0. Penaloza, 123 1/2 lbs of Mexico is now 10-11-1.

Photo’s by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Here’s how I’d planned it. Timothy Bradley might be my favorite American prizefighter and so why not write a column mimicking his style with relentless sentences words upon accurate words and rare combinations with no punctuation or pause? For Luis Carlos Abregu: Small words, lots of breaks, some heft. The conclusion seeing Bradley’s varied run-on sentences overwhelm Abregu’s short phrases by the 12th paragraph.

Then reality intervened. The fight didn’t correspond to expectations. Let’s explore why not.

Saturday, Bradley, the man widely recognized as the world’s best junior welterweight, made an ill-advised welterweight fight with Argentina’s Luis Carlos Abregu at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Bradley decisioned Abregu by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. The match marked Bradley’s debut on HBO.

That seems like part of the problem. After five intriguing, 140-pound matches on Showtime – an upset of titlist Junior Witter followed by victories over Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell (later declared a no contest), and Lamont Peterson – Bradley arrived at HBO and made a dull fight. Until Saturday, Bradley, a forward-pressing volume puncher whose offense can double as defense, seemed incapable of a dull fight.

Recently I read “Only the Ring Was Square” by Teddy Brenner, Madison Square Garden’s longtime matchmaker. His responsibilities were several. He always had to fill the Garden. And he often had to satisfy whichever television network broadcasted from the Garden. He was obligated not to managers or fighters but fans and viewers. That book raised some questions of particular relevance Saturday.

Does HBO have an in-house matchmaker? If so, where is he? If not, why not?

Matchmaker or no, why did HBO let Bradley fight Saturday at welterweight? The network has feinted at the possibility of a junior-welterweight tournament similar to Showtime’s acclaimed “Super Six.” HBO has now showcased all five of the hypothetical tournament’s four participants – Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz (alternate). And yet, there was Bradley at welterweight, Saturday.

Bradley’s people want their guy in the Plan B sweepstakes. They’d love for Bradley to fight either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather this fall, since those two won’t fight each other. A fight with either guy would bring Bradley, and his handlers, a windfall. And it would have to happen at 147 pounds.

Let’s go on the record right here: It’s a bad idea.

Pacquiao’s next opponent will be a Top Rank fighter. This is not news. That leaves Mayweather. This is not good news.

Here’s the calculus. Bradley was unable to hurt Abregu more than twice in 12 rounds. Shane Mosley would not have needed five rounds to stop Abregu. In 12 chances, Mosley did not win three rounds against Mayweather. There’s no chance Bradley, right now, gives Mayweather a competitive match at welterweight. No chance at all.

Did Bradley look slow and tentative enough Saturday to leapfrog to the top of “Money May’s” prospective-opponents list? Quite possibly, and quite unfortunately.

Gone was Bradley’s frantic pressure. Gone was his quickness. Gone was his fearlessness. In their stead was a talented boxer who’d seen more complicated styles than Abregu’s and who determined he was safer outside it than in.

After the fight, Bradley said Kendall Holt hit harder than Abregu. Bradley didn’t fight that way. In the fight’s fourth minute, Bradley saw Abregu’s one enormous flaw, but he did little to exploit it in the 32 minutes that followed. That flaw was Abregu’s left hand. The Argentine brought his jab back lazy and low. Bradley stepped into him with a fantastic right cross in round 2 and then left things alone after that.

Abregu cocked punches from his own waistband and returned his hands there. The times Bradley committed to precise combinations from inside, he found Abregu. The rest of the time, Bradley either stayed outside and threw fewer punches or got in manic exchanges with Abregu and tasted enough power to back off.

Blame the weight. The additional seven pounds on Bradley rendered him slower, less confident in his own quickness. The additional seven pounds on Bradley’s opponent meant even deflected punches hurt Bradley more than square shots did at junior welterweight.

The fight comprised no drama. There was no building narrative or set of basic questions for the fighters to answer. At best there was the suspense of wondering if Bradley might get sloppy and give Abregu a chance at one leveling blow. That doesn’t read like a suspenseful foundation because it wasn’t.

Which returns us to the question of why this fight happened. If we’re going to suspend disbelief and say no one wants to fight Bradley at 140 pounds, we’re still left with a question of why Bradley’s debut at welterweight was with a guy who barely cracks the Top 30. Here’s a theory, in retrospect: Timothy Bradley is only a Top 20 welterweight.

That might be the best development yet for the Bradley brand. He’s a good name opponent – a legitimate champion till proven otherwise at junior welterweight – for a 147-pounder with an aversion to risk. Chances are good we’ll look back at last January as the month Mayweather-Pacquiao came closest to fruition. Even if Mayweather doesn’t fight again till 2011, he’s going to need an opponent next May. Bradley could triple his previous purses against Mayweather. Good for the Bradley brand. Terrible for the Bradley legacy.

If Bradley’s handlers care at all about legacy, they’ll send their guy back to 140 pounds and make the concessions that make HBO’s junior-welterweight tournament a reality – with their guy its favorite. Surely that’s why HBO televised Bradley, Saturday.

Then, all HBO would need is a plan and a matchmaker. Because a lackluster showing by Bradley at welterweight has to have been the craziest possible way to create demand for a junior-welterweight series.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

There is Greenwich Mean Time and Daylight Savings and maybe even “Money” Time, but there is nothing standard about the digital countdown Top Rank added to its website in an attempt to get a decision, yea or nay, from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., about a proposed fight with Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13.

Mayweather has his own clock.

From minute-to-minute, it is hard to know what that clock says. But it is safe to assume that it doesn’t include any alarms, or even an acknowledgement, for deadlines imposed by anyone other than Mayweather himself.

The guess is that Bob Arum won’t have to check his web site when the final split-second expires at midnight Friday in Las Vegas, where there aren’t many clocks, No yea. No nay. No decision either.

Any answer at all would be a concession from Mayweather that Arum has the upper hand in reported negotiations. If there is anything to be learned from failed talks late last year, it is that Mayweather will not allow anybody to dictate terms or time, especially Arum. They are locked into a deadly rivalry that starts –and thus far ends — with one-upmanship at the bargaining table.

During the last few days, questions have been raised about whether there is an agreement at all. Despite a reported gag order, Arum said there is. Mayweather and his representatives, including Golden Boy Promotions, have said almost nothing, although Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya was quoted in Spanish-speaking media a few weeks ago that a deal was close.

De La Hoya told Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer that he had been misquoted, but nobody has denied that there have been talks. It is safe to say that the talk included more than juts gardening tips. Still, there has been only speculation about all those devils in the details. The purse? Pick a percentage: Fifty-fifty or 55 percent for Mayweather and 45 for Pacquiao. Random blood-testing? Pick a timetable: Two weeks before the welterweight bout or the night before opening bell.

Other than comments from Arum and to a lesser extent De La Hoya, there has been no real way to determine whether terms are in place for a deal that would lead to the biggest fight in years. Maybe you can blame the gag order, although has anybody ever been able to silence Mayweather, uncle-trainer Roger Mayweather and dad Floyd, Sr.? They talk as often as they exhale. Yet, they’ve said nothing.

Then, there is a defamation lawsuit, alleging that Mayweather, his uncle, father, Mayweather Promotions, De La Hoya and Schaefer slandered Pacquiao. The suit charges that Pacquiao, who balked at Mayweather’s demands for random blood-testing late last year, was smeared by comments that made him look like he was guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs despite his clean record in tests conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

There has been no news that the lawsuit has been dropped. As long as the lawsuit is still there, it’s hard to imagine that negotiations can move forward. Maybe, a yes from Mayweather would take the lawsuit and legal expenses off the table. That would be a surprise. Santa Claus in July would be too. But I suspect that Santa is not anybody’s clock.

Instead, Arum is talking and acting as if he doesn’t expect an answer, which presumably will be interpreted as a no. For a couple of weeks, he has said that Mayweather might not want to fight again in 2010 in part because Roger Mayweather faces a trial in August on an assault charge..

Then, Arum traveled to Puerto Rico where he spoke to Miguel Cotto about a rematch with Pacquiao in the wake of Nevada’s tabling last week of Margarito’s attempt to regain a U.S. license since his revocation in California a year-and-a-half ago for altered hand wraps.

A day in May has been designated as the next possibility for Mayweather-Pacquiao. But the next couple of weeks loom as sudden death if Mayweather starts talking not long after he lets the deadline pass without a word. There’s no telling what Mayweather might say. But accusations are possible, even likely, in another chapter of a feud without end or an opening bell against Pacquiao.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Arum says he has an offer for Pacquiao to fight Margarito in Monterrey, Mexico, where Margarito faces no licensing problems. But if Pacquiao-Mayweather is a real possibility in May, a fight for Pacquiao, Arum’s major star, against a popular Mexican in Mexico sounds like a crazy gamble. Talk about Pacquiao in Monterrey is a good way to negotiate, but a bad move. A Pacquiao rematch with Cotto in Dallas or Las Vegas makes a lot more sense.

· Timothy Bradley, who has assumed the title of the fighter most avoided by the game’s biggest stars, tries to get in line for a shot at either Pacquiao or Mayweather Saturday night in his 147-pound debut against Carlos Abregu in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on HBO.

· And Detail magazine’s fascinating Q-and-A with Mike Tyson includes a quote that raises one question: Where were the regulators? In talking about his disqualification on the infamous night in 1997 when he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield ear at Las Vegas MGM Grand, Tyson says: “I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t training for that fight. I was on (expletive) drugs, thinking I was a god.” Forget about random or blood. How about a test of any kind?

Click for full event info
Philadelphia, PA–When Derek “Pooh” Ennis defends his USBA junior middleweight title against fellow-Philadelphian ‘King’ Gabriel Rosado on Friday evening, July 30, at the Arena in South Philadelphia, it will bring back memories of some of the local showdowns that once made Philadelphia one of the boxing capitals of the United States.

The list of outstanding fights reads like a page out of Who’s Who in Philadelphia boxing history: Al Ettore vs. Gus Dorazio, Bob Montgomery vs. Wesley Mouzon, Charley Scott vs. Sugar Hart, George Benton vs. Joey Giardello, Gypsy Joe Harris vs. Kitten Hayward, Bennie Briscoe vs. Cyclone Hart….

You could go on and on.

“The formula for success in Philadelphia always has been to match two local fighters against each other,” says Nigel Collins, editor of The Ring magazine. “There is nothing like it anywhere else.”
Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz, who is staging the Ennis-Rosado fight, agrees.

“In 1961, when I was 14 years old, my dad took me to the old Arena at 46th & Market Street to see Harold Johnson defend his light-heavyweight title against Von Clay,” Peltz said. “Johnson was from Manayunk and Von Clay was from West Philadelphia. It was an unusually hot night in late April and the Arena was not air-conditioned and you couldn’t move in there it was so packed. It was sweltering.

“We sat on the first row. Johnson was my boyhood idol and when he knocked Clay out in the second round, my emotions ran wild. I was ecstatic that Johnson had won but I was upset at Clay because I wanted to see more of the fight.

“It was the second time I had been to a fight in person and the first time at an all-Philly showdown. There were plenty to follow.”

Philadelphia long has been synonymous with tough fighters, guys who throw the left hook all night, even from left field. Fighters who stand toe-to-toe until only one of them is still standing.

“I remember the night George Benton fought Jesse Smith at the old Convention Hall in 1962,” Peltz said. “Benton was known as the Mayor of North Philadelphia and Smith ran with a fast crowd from West Philly. Benton was just too much for him and he dazzled the crowd with an incredible defensive display by staying in the pocket and making Smith miss all night while landing his own solid shots.

“I was at the Arena the night Gypsy Joe Harris got off the floor to stop Kitten Hayward in seven rounds. Again the place was packed, about 7,000 fans. We sat in the balcony—it was the only seats we could get at the last minute.”

After Peltz got in the business, he became part of the story.

“The Philly fans always liked to see the neighborhood wars,” he said. “There was a lot of interest and a lot of passion. I had been promoting less than two years when I made Cyclone Hart against Kitten Hayward at the Arena in May, 1971. North Philly against West Philly. Hart had knocked out all 18 of his opponents and he was stepping in against his most experienced opponent. Hayward had beaten Curtis Cokes and Bennie Briscoe and Emile Griffith and we sold nearly 1,000 tickets at the Arena box office the day the fight was announced.

“Hayward stayed at a hotel in South Jersey across from street from the Garden State Racetrack. He didn’t think a 19-year-old kid like Hart could beat him and he spent most of his time around the horses.

“Briscoe was in the co-feature and Augie Pantellas, a popular featherweight from the suburbs, was in the third 10-rounder. You couldn’t get in the place it was so mobbed. About 30 seconds into the first round, Hart did a little shoe-shine on Hayward along the ropes, just touching him, and then he unloaded a tremendous left hook that sent Kitten flying into the corner. Three more hooks and Hayward was down. When he got up, Hart was all over him until Zach Clayton stopped the fight. It lasted 60 seconds and made Hart an instant hero.”

In the mid-1970s, Peltz staged all-Philly showdowns at The Spectrum featuring a group of middleweights which included Hart, Briscoe, Willie “The Worm” Monroe and Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts.
While Peltz won’t compare the upcoming Ennis-Rosado fight to those great ones of yesterday, he’s hoping all-Philly matchups can help to revive the once-great boxing town.

“The biggest stumbling block we face today is a new generation of fight managers who want their fighters to be 25-0 by fighting easy guys,” Peltz said. “This way the managers brag to their friends about their great fighter and his great record. They don’t want to put their fighters in tough and they certainly don’t want to fight guys from the same city. I love the excuses such as ‘they train side by side in the same gym’ or ‘they’re good friends’ or my favorite is ‘why should we knock off a local guy.’

“It’s a hard sell also because most of the TV networks frown on guys who have more than one or two losses so, in some cases, it’s hard to blame the managers. But boxing suffers along the way because there are too many shows featuring Cowboys and Indians and the fighters never get to experience being under fire. When we were kids, one of us would bet the blue corner all night and one guy would bet the red corner. I can go to most fights today, look at the lineup sheet, and make money by betting the corner with all the favorites in it.

“Philly is not alone in this. New York always had its neighborhood wars. Guys from the Bronx fought guys from Brooklyn. The Lower East Side against.Hell’s Kitchen. They did it in the small clubs and they did it in Madison Square Garden.”

Peltz recalled a couple of neighborhood wars he promoted at the Blue Horizon.

“We had plenty of showdowns there,” he said. “In 1985, I made a 12-rounder for the vacant Pennsylvania State Bantamweight title between Bryan “Boogaloo” Jones, of North Philadelphia, and Troy Fletcher, of West Philadelphia. Jones had had a big amateur career and Troy was Frank “The Animal” Fletcher’s brother. Jones was 8-0, Fletcher was 8-0-1 and the fight was so popular they were selling counterfeit tickets on North Broad Street. I wanted to know why you couldn’t move around upstairs and that’s when I sent a friend outside to buy one of the tickets and we saw that someone had made copies of the same ticket on a homemade printing press with the same number on it over and over.

“When Frankie Mitchell, of West Philadelphia, fought Anthony Boyle, of Kensington, in 1992 for the NABF lightweight title, fans started lining up at 5pm, three hours before the first bout. We still had general admission seating in those days and everyone wanted to be first in line for the front row of the balcony.”

For the time being, Peltz is concentrating on the Ennis-Rosado matchup.

Ennis, 29, is from the Germantown section of Philadelphia. His record is 21-2-1, 13 K0s, and he is ranked No. 12 in the world by the IBF. He is the defending USBA champion, a title he won by beating Eromosele Albert, of Miami, FL.

Rosado, 24, is from North Philadelphia. He is 14-4, 8 K0s, and has beaten ex-world champ Kassim “The Dream” Ouma, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and Saul Roman, of Mexico.

The seven-bout card begins at 7.30 p.m. and will be televised by www.gofightlive.tv.

Tickets priced at $50 and $75 are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions (215-765-0922) or online at www.peltzboxing.com.

Twenty-four professional bouts, twenty-four victories. Eighteen coming by way of knockout.

That is a sound resume for any boxer.

But add to that prizefighter’s resume the fact that he serves as the Chief Commander of the Krav Maga Instructional Division of the Israeli Defense Force (I.D.F.) and that sound resume becomes an intimidating one.

It becomes the resume of Ran Nakash.

Before coming to the sweet science, Nakash — who hails from Haifa, Israel — trained in various fields of martial arts, including kickboxing and karate. But it is his expertise in Krav Maga, the official hand-to-hand combat defense of the Israeli military, that is perhaps his most impressive skill set.

Krav Maga, which translated into Hebrew means “contact fighting,” is a hand-to-hand combat defense style which aims at taking down an enemy as quickly as possible. It is a system of defense that was founded by Imre “Imi” Lichtenfeld, a Hungarian-Jewish boxer, wrestler, and former member of the Israeli military, in the 1930s.

From an early age, Nakash became engaged in various forms of martial arts, all roads which eventually led him to boxing.

“I started training at the age of ten, kickboxing — Muay-Thai,” Nakash said. “I kickboxed for seventeen years and have been boxing for four,” he continued. “It just came naturally.”

But kickboxing or Krav Maga were not all that Nakash did in his previous seventeen years before coming to boxing. In addition to placing first in Israel’s kickboxing championships, Nakash has also won Israel’s free style fighting championship and the full contact karate championship.

Further, in 1997, when Nakash’s main focus was kickboxing, he placed second in the world Muay-Thai championships in Thailand.

For Nakash, who is the 13th ranked Cruiserweight by the WBC, that same year also marked the first of three years he would spend as lead instructor at the IDF’s school for Krav Maga.

Nakash then spent five years as head of the Krav Maga division in the security center of Israel’s court system. Along with this title came the responsibility of training special security personnel to prepare them to serve as personal bodyguards to “judges, senators, councilmen, and businessmen.”

It wasn’t until 2007, however, that he was tapped to become the Head of the IDF’s Krav Maga school.

According to his website, RanNakash.com, it is a position that put the undefeated fighter in charge of:

– The teaching and instructing of chosen IDF soldiers into Krav Maga instructors.
– Choosing the Krav Maga curriculum of each unit. With an emphasis on Special Forces.
– Fitting specific forms of Krav Maga to each unit’s special needs.
– Creating the curriculum and instruction of the IDF’s anti terror school.
– Many more important aspects of this position simply cannot be exposed due to their level of confidentiality.

While training Krav Maga, Nakash is responsible for teaching all who seek his wisdom. However, in the ring, Nakash is solely responsible for himself — something he has been perfect at, having yet to suffer a loss.

Although boxing and Krav Maga may seem intertwined, Nakash is quick to expose differences between the two.

“It is not the same,” said Nakash. “Krav Maga is very different than boxing. All the things you aren’t allowed to do in boxing, you do in Krav Maga; and the opposite.”

Upon further inquiry, however, Nakash did admit to the mental advantages that his Krav Maga training and his experience in the Israeli military have given him.

“The advantages are the mental things: to go all the way, never bail out, keep going forward,” Nakash said. “That’s what we teach the soldiers in Israel.”

Tonight at The Arena in South Philadelphia, Nakash will fight his thirteenth bout on American soil, his eleventh in the City of Brotherly Love.

“Philadelphia is like a second home,” Nakash said. “This is my eleventh fight here, so I know everybody, it is great.”

The man tasked with attempting to blemish Nakash’s perfect record will be Victor Barragan (11-5, 3 KO) of Oxnard, California.

For Nakash (24-0, 18 KO), a win against Barragan will put him one step closer to a title-shot and add one more impressive victory to his already intimidating resume.

You can reach Kyle Kinder @ Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Californian based Mexican Leodegario Santa Cruz 13-0-1(5) is looking to gatecrash the world scene at Super Bantamweight in the coming months. It’s been a slow start to the year for the 21 year old who returned from a 6 month hiatus with an impressive third round stoppage over Jose Angel Cota. The man nicknamed “Teremoto” meaning Earthquake hopes to continue his path to the top when he gets back into action in quick time facing hard hitting southpaw Andre Wilson 11-4-1(9) who is sure to pose new questions on 17 July in Pala, Ca.

Hello Leo, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulation’s on an impressive win recently when you stopped Jose Angel Cota in three. What can you tell us about that fight? Did you feel you had any ring rust?

Leo Santa Cruz – Yeah I felt good. I trained hard for it. I hit him in the second with a left hook, i dropped him and then in the third I got him with a straight right he kinda wobbled and the referee stepped in and stopped it.

Anson Wainwright – You’ve been off for 6 months what kept you out of the ring for that amount of time?

Leo Santa Cruz – It was because my manager & promoter were trying to get me a couple of fights but they got cancelled. I was going to be busy but the fights kept falling out.

Anson Wainwright – You came in very light at 116 against Cota, but have been up at around 120 was there any reason you fought that low?

Leo Santa Cruz – Right now I’m trying to fight at a higher weight but I can’t gain more weight. My goal is to make 130. But right now I’ll fight at 122, fight there for like a few years then move on. I walk around at 126/127.

Anson Wainwright – What weight are you looking to settle down at?

Leo Santa Cruz – I haven’t thought about that really. Wherever I feel natural. At the moment around 120/122 i feel good.

Anson Wainwright – Who is part of Team Santa Cruz? Who’s your trainer, manager & promoter? Also what gym do you train at?

Leo Santa Cruz – My manager is Cameron Dunkin, my trainer is my father Jose Santa Cruz & my promoter is Chet Koerner’s TKO. I first trained at Eddie Heredia’s but now I’m at Maywood.

Anson Wainwright – Southern California is a hot bed for Boxing with many top fighters, who have you sparred with?

Leo Santa Cruz – I sparred with Giovani Segura, Jose Navarro & Ronnie Rios and another guy Joseph Diaz right now he’s amateur. He’s training for the USA Championships in July. I’ve sparred with a lot of good fighters. I feel good against them, people tell me I look good too.

Anson Wainwright – What is a typical day’s training for you?

Leo Santa Cruz – I train Monday to Saturday. I go to the gym at 10 I go at 1.30 i spar and mitts stuff like that and get home around 2. If it’s a light session 12.30-1.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your amateur career? What titles did you win and what was your final record?

Leo Santa Cruz – I did 70 something fights, I only lost 8. Mostly I fought at tournaments. I lost in the finals of the USA’s against Gary Russell the guy who went to the last Olympics.

Anson Wainwright – Your from a family with your older brother Jose Armando also fighting and having a big fight with Zab Judah coming up? Are any other brother’s or cousins boxers?

Leo Santa Cruz – My oldest brother used to box and my other brother Robert too. But one got sick and the other quit.

I think my brother can beat him. All he has to do is watch out for the first few rounds. My brother will pressure and pressure him. He has to watch Judah early he’s strong then.

Anson Wainwright – What can you tell us about your life from when you were growing up and how it took you into Boxing?

Leo Santa Cruz – When I was about 8 I went to the gym to watch my brother fight and one day my dad told me you want to get in the ring and spar I said yeah and then I fought a guy who had fought a lot. I hit him and beat him. People said I should take it up. From there I started liking it. I went to school and played with my friends then I went home and trained.

Anson Wainwright – What are your interests away from Boxing? What do you like to do, do you have any hobbies?

Leo Santa Cruz – I like playing Soccer & Bowling. When I’m not Boxing I go and play with my brother Jose, he likes Bowling too. I was hoping Mexico would win (In the World Cup) but they lost and USA too. I think Germany or probably Brazil, one of those two will win it.

Anson Wainwright – How far do you consider yourself from fighting the top guys in your weight class?

Leo Santa Cruz – Right now I still need more work. When I get to 20 fights maybe even 18/19 I will start fighting the top guys. I’ve sparred with the top guys & looked good with them.

Anson Wainwright – Who was your favourite fighter growing up?

Leo Santa Cruz – Chavez haha I liked the pressure he brought and the bodypunching and he was tough. I saw him at the gym with his son but didn’t get chance to meet him.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have anything to say to the Boxing public?

Leo Santa Cruz – I’m hoping people will take notice of my fights and show them there is more than one Santa Cruz in Boxing not just my brother. We’ll try to do our best for them.

Thanks for your time Leo.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

“The conduct of both Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo was unacceptable and threatened the health and safety of another licensee.” – Carrie Lopez, Director, State of California Department of Consumer Affairs, Feb. 10, 2009

“We’ll figure out a fight for (Margarito) in Mexico. It will be on one of our pay-per-view shows this summer. I think we’d have the opportunity to do 200,000 or 300,000 buys.” – Bob Arum, CEO, Top Rank, Feb. 10, 2009

And so here we are, 506 days later, and Mexican Antonio Margarito is no nearer to having a license to fight in the United States than he was on the day his license was revoked. Has he “served his time” or “paid his debt to society” or “(insert courtroom drama cliché here)”? Irrelevant, your honor.

Right now, Margarito is no more permitted to climb in a prizefighting ring in this country than an eight year-old boy is allowed to take Dad’s car for a spin. He has no license. And he will not have a license until the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) gives him a license. Or until some other athletic commission determines California’s handling of his case is unjust enough to be overruled. The rest is just noise.

And there’s plenty of that.

On Friday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) refused to give Margarito a license and make the details go away. Instead, the NSAC told Margarito to go back to California with his application. Bravo. However you feel about Margarito’s innocence or guilt, you cannot condone a fighter shopping for a sympathetic commission – first Texas then Nevada – and still say you care about the cleanliness of our sport.

Margarito did not have his license suspended in California 17 months ago. He had his license revoked. Because the right to appeal is one of America’s defining traits, Margarito was told he could return to California in 365 days to ask for a new license.

Fighters have their licenses suspended all the time. Margarito has had his license suspended twice before. He had a one-week “rest” suspension in 2001 after he knocked out Robert West. He had a 45-day “hard fight” suspension in 2007 after he lost to Paul Williams. He attended no hearings, hired no attorneys, fired no trainers, and was back in a prizefighting ring on schedule.

Margarito knows the difference between the Spanish verbs “revocar” and “suspender.”

And yet, to hear him tell it to the NSAC on Friday, he’s already met every requirement for a new license, and he’s just been looking to swing by Austin or Las Vegas to pick up the license as a matter of convenience.

“I’ve paid a high price,” Margarito said Friday in Nevada. “But I think I’ve earned the right to come before you and respectfully request to receive my license and fight for my fans.”

To hear his attorneys tell it, Margarito is the victim of more sinister goings-on in the Golden State, as well as the victim of his former trainer Javier Capetillo, a contract worker who absconded with Margarito’s hands just before that 2009 fight with Shane Mosley and accidentally put the tiniest bit of slightly used gauze in Margarito’s knuckle pad. Attorney Daniel Petrocelli – to whom Margarito never should have given the pass code for his Apr. 5 conference call – views the CSAC’s treatment of Margarito as a direct violation of our country’s founding document, of course:

“About the contracts, Capetillo wasn’t an employee of (Margarito’s),” Petrocelli ruled three months ago. “You can’t be penalized because somebody did something without your knowledge or participation, let alone something as severe as taking away your right to earn a living (sic). That’s just unconstitutional.”

Right now, it’s hard to imagine how Margarito could have handled the revocation of his license and reputation much worse. From his disappearing act in 2009, to his lawsuit against the CSAC, to his lack of remorse, to his presenting himself as a victim, to Friday’s unsatisfactory conclusion, Margarito has put himself on a path to become boxing’s version of Pete Rose.

Rose, you’ll remember, was found to have bet on baseball and, in accordance with Rule 21(d) of Major League Baseball’s code, banned from the game in 1989. Since then, Rose has gradually admitted, usually in tortured language, to a variety of unscrupulous things – just never that for which he was banished.

He had a friend named Paul Janszen whom he called just before games and who placed calls to bookies from Rose’s hotel room.

“No, no, don’t start on the phone records,” Rose said in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 1999. “I am at the ballpark. So I can’t be in my room making a phone call if I’m at the ballpark. And it is obvious to me once again Paul Janszen is making bets, and he is making them from my room, because he had adjoining rooms with me.”

As things concern the plaster-like substance smeared on a pad that was placed over his knuckles, Margarito, too, was victimized by a person he trusted.

“Before the fight, my former trainer, Javier Capetillo, put old knuckle pads on my hand,” Margarito said Friday. “As I learned later, there was an irregularity with them.”

And this is where lawyers are a hindrance to Rose and Margarito, not a help. They give them words like “irregularity,” lend them their cloaks of certainty, and send them before panels to haggle over the difference between responsibility and culpability. But all anyone wants – all anyone will accept – is contrition.

Instead of contrition, Margarito, like Rose before him, presents his years as a well-liked professional as evidence that he’s incapable of wrongdoing. People loved Margarito because he fought in an unglamorous way. People loved Rose for running to first base every time he was walked. Trouble is, the admiration of others, which they cite, is gone by the time they cite it: I’m not sure I ever knew Antonio Margarito, are you?

There are a number of differences between Rose’s case and Margarito’s. Rose was a much larger figure in baseball than Margarito is in boxing. Rose made wagers. Margarito, or his trainer, plotted to harm another athlete. And most importantly for Margarito, Rose was retired from playing the game when all his troubles happened.

Margarito is 32 years-old. He’s past the prime of his career but was very much at its apex, in accomplishment and popularity, two years ago. If he’s not licensed to fight in the United States in 2010, he’ll lose what remains of his drawing power. That’s something he should consider while his attorneys assure him of victory in a case slowly making its way through the California Court of Appeals.

If the CSAC is injudiciously biased against Margarito, he needs to get them on the record saying something new and biased. What’s currently there is not persuasive enough for other commissions to overrule the CSAC.

But, see, it’s not overruling! It’s a brand new license to do something entirely different in a place that is not California. It’s unconstitutional to deny the man a right to feed his family!

That didn’t work Friday. And the NSAC just set a precedent that says it isn’t going to work later or elsewhere.

Writing of elsewhere, Margarito still can fight in Mexico, of course, because he’s licensed to fight there. But 50 percent more people were in Aguascalientes at his May return fight with Roberto Garcia than paid to see it on pay-per-view. Exit drawing power.

It’s time for Margarito to try something wholly different. The Spanish word for it is “contrición,” Tony.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

At the close of 2008 it looked as though Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin unbeaten in twenty fights with fifteen stoppages was headed for a breakthrough 2009. It turned out very different when an injury plagued Quillin was forced to sit out for the next 18 months with various injuries including a broken hand & an appendix operation. He became one of Boxing’s forgotten men. Finally on 6 February 2010 Quillin now 27, got back in the ring and posted a very impressive ten round decision over Fernando Zuniga. Two of the three judges gave Quillen all the rounds. Though he doesn’t have any a fight lined up he is training hard in Los Angeles at the Wild Card under the expert eye of Freddie Roach. Here’s what Quillin had to say.

Hello Peter, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Congratulations on your comeback win against Fernando Zuniga. That was a pretty tough opponent especially considering you hadn’t fought in 18 months. How did you think you did?

Peter Quillin – I gave my self a B-. What more can you expect after being out for a 1 ½ years?

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about the 18 months you were away from Boxing with the various injuries?

Peter Quillin – Well, I had a lot of time to think, of course. I was anxious to come back but I did strengthen my mind for my comeback.

Anson Wainwright – You were supposed to be action on April 15 in your hometown of New York. What happened?

Peter Quillin – That fight has been put off and we working out a different situation.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your amateur career? Including what titles you won and what your final record was?

Peter Quillin – I only had 15 fights or so. I won the Ringside National Tournament in 2002 and fought a couple of times in the Golden Gloves, always making it to semis or finals.

Anson Wainwright – Originally you are from Grand Rapids where James Toney & Floyd Mayweather, Jr. are from. Your in very good company there, do you know those guys?

Peter Quillin – Yes, I’ve met James in New York. I’ve been around town and bumped into Floyd at the gyms. Just being out and about, he knows of me and also through mutual friends.

Anson Wainwright – Grand Rapids is known as “Fighter Row.” That must be a tough place to grow up? How did you first get into Boxing?

Peter Quillin – From just being a knucklehead, running the streets. My older brother used to have my baby brother and we’d go at it when we were young. I guess that played a big part.

Anson Wainwright – Who are your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you use for training?

Peter Quillin – I train at Trinity Boxing Club when I’m in the city (NYC. My manager’s name is John Seip, along with his partner, Jimmy McDivitt. My promoter is Cedric Kushner (Gotham Boxing). My trainer is Colin Morgan.

Anson Wainwright – What is the best part about being a boxer and the worst?

Peter Quillin – The best part of being a boxer is the attention you get for being a fighter. The worst is getting too most attention.

Anson Wainwright – The landscape of the Middleweight division has changed a bit in the time you were away from the sport. What do you make of the Champion’s WBC Martinez, WBA Sturm & IBF Sylvester?

Peter Quillin – Let them fight each other and then I’ll fight the winner.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing?

Peter Quillin – Playing video games, travelling, training people to box, shooting at the range, yoga…I have tons of things I do outside of boxing.

Anson Wainwright – Who is your Boxing hero?

Peter Quillin – There are too many to name. I just like great fights and fighters.

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

Peter Quillin – Keep following me with that positive energy you’ve been giving me. Pray that I fight for a title soon. Thank you.

Thanks for your time Peter, good to have you back doing what you do best.

Peter Quillen – Thanks to 15rounds.com and to you, Anson, for covering the latest and greatest about me.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

By now, Antonio Margarito knows the questions like he knows an old sparring partner. He has heard them from the California State Athletic Commission. They have been thrown at him from all angles in the court of public opinion. He has heard them in whispers, shouts and legalese.

If his appearance Friday in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission were a fight, Margarito should be ready. If he isn’t, he never will be in an attempt to regain a license in the United States about 18 months after his gloves were found to be loaded and potentially lethal before a loss to Shane Mosley in January, 2009.

His fate rests not so much in what he says, but in how he says it. It’s a subtle adjustment, more about tone than substance. So far, however, Margarito has either been unable or unwilling to assume some accountability for inserts in hand wraps applied by his former trainer, Javier Capetillo.

Since he began to talk to fans and the media a few months ago, Margarito has repeatedly, almost defiantly, said he had no idea what was in those wraps. He has always assigned the blame to Capetillo. The wraps belonged to Capetillo, Margarito said. But the hands have always belonged to Margarito, which is another way of saying he can never completely separate himself from what happened.

Here’s what he can do: He can continue to say he never knew what was in the wraps, but he can include an addendum, an apology for not knowing. For those adamantly opposed to Margarito ever fighting in the U.S. again, that won’t be enough. That opposition will always be there.

But a willingness to acknowledge his own accountability represents an important step that could win over skeptics, who have yet to hear any remorse in Margarito’s explanations.

There are plenty of other hurdles for the former welterweight champion, who has been free to apply for a license in any state since Feb. 11. There is protocol. California has yet to rule on an appeal of his license revocation at a hearing a few weeks after the altered wraps were discovered at Los Angeles Staples Center.

When there were Top Rank plans for Margarito to seek a license in Texas for a bout in March on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey card in Dallas, the U.S. Association of Boxing Commissions urged that the revocation continue. Top Rank never pursued the license. Instead, Margarito fought in Mexico, winning on May 8 in his only bout since the California revocation.

Margarito is back, this time in Nevada, because he looms as a possibility for Pacquiao on Nov. 13 if Floyd Mayweather, Jr., says no next week. If Pacquiao-Mayweather is a go, then a Margarito rematch with Miguel Cotto, perhaps in December, is on Top Rank’s agenda.

There has long been speculation that Margarito’s hand wraps were altered in similar fashion for his stunning, brutal upset of the previously unbeaten Cotto in Las Vegas during the summer of 2008. There is lingering confusion about Margarito’s beat-down of Cotto at the MGM Grand.

Speculation about Margarito’s hand wraps on that night has been fueled in part by a Cotto comment. In a conference call, Cotto said nobody from his corner was in Margarito’s dressing room to watch how Capetillo wrapped his hands. However, Cotto’s assertion has been disputed in various news reports by officials and inspectors assigned by the Nevada Commission. Margarito’s management team also has told 15 rounds that somebody from Cotto’s corner was in fact in Margarito’s dressing room.

Still, suspicion about what was in Margarito’s hands for Cotto will never vanish. If Margarito didn’t know before Mosley, he can’t say he knew before, during or after Cotto.

But he can say he should have known.

That decision has always been in his hands.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Robert Guerrero said his wife’s cancer is in remission. Casey has been battling leukemia. “My wife is doing great,’’ Guerrero said Thursday in a conference call that included Joel Casamayor, his opponent for a junior-welterweight bout July 31 on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz II card at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay. “She’s doing so great. That’s why I’m taking big fights and getting back into the ring.”

· Casamayor is 38 and confident as ever. “Losing is not an option,’’ Casamayor, the former lightweight champion, said. “Retirement is not an option.’’ Casamayor said he wants a rematch with Marquez, who stopped him in the 11th round in 2008.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Shortly after Roman “Rocky” Martinez impressively moved to 24-0-1(15) with a fourth round stoppage of Gonzalo Munguia in his second defence of the WBO Super Featherweight title, he contacted 15rounds.com to share some thoughts on his win and what he had planned for the future. Here’s what Martinez had to say.

Anson Wainwright –

Firstly congratulations on an impressive win, what can you tell us about that fight and how you feel looking back on it?

Roman Martinez – I felt it was a great fight and I had a good rival in Gonzalo Munguia.

Anson Wainwright – It was seen by many as a stay busy fight and though he was tough you put on an impressive display. Can you tell us about the finish of the fight?

Roman Martinez – Gonzalo is a good fighter and he had never been knocked out. I prepared for the 12 rounds but the end came early.

Anson Wainwright – What have you done with your time since the fight? What will you do between now and when you get back into training? How long will you have off? Will you go on Holiday if so where?

Roman Martinez – After the fight I took two weeks of to vacation with my family. I already started training for Ricky Burns before the Munguia fight because I knew that in some time in my career we would have met.

Anson Wainwright –

How has your win gone down with your countryman? Were the celebrations? Did you get kind words from people like Tito Trinidad etc?

Roman Martinez – Yes, when we won we had a Caravan and Homage in Vega Baja and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Yes, some fighters came up to me and said that I had a great fight. Tito came up to me and said: you’re the best and no one beats you on 130 or 135.

Anson Wainwright –

You will once again go into the Lion’s den when you fight Ricky Burns. What are your thoughts on him?

Roman Martinez – The fight is confirmed and we will be fighting soon. I’ve been studying burns a long time ago and I already know the fight plan that we’re going to be implementing so the fight doesn’t go the distance.

Anson Wainwright –

How easily did you make weight for your last fight? What is your walk around weight?

Roman Martinez – Easy work, I’ve never had problems making weight. I walk around 140 or 142.

Anson Wainwright –

With Robert Guerrero & Humberto Soto recently leaving 130 things are quite up in the air, who do you see as your main rivals at the top of the division?

Roman Martinez – We’re open to any title opportunity in the 135 pounds. After this fight I want to fight Jorge Solis and and maybe go up to 135 if there is a good opportunity.

Anson Wainwright –

What did you think of the rest of the card. What were your thoughts on Wilfredo Vazquez Jr fight and the Arroyo twins wins?

Roman Martinez – They are all great fighters and they did a good demonstration.

Thanks for your time and good luck with your preparations for the Ricky Burns fight.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

Many expected Jersey City, NJ native Danny McDermott’s March 25 clash with Brian Miller to be his coming out party.

Local fans and media had taken an interest in the bout leading up to fight night. A raucous crowd was on hand to support him. The vacant World Boxing Foundation All Americas title was up for grabs, providing McDermott an opportunity to leave North Bergen’s Schuetzen Park Ballroom with a minor championship belt.

The popular lightweight had an opponent in front of him who at 7-0-3, was unbeaten but yet unproven. The Schenectady, NY native had just one victory over a fighter with a winning record and fought a toe to toe style, which is McDermott’s bread and butter. Having previously battled to draws in his opponents’ hometown, Miller’s toughness was without question, but this was supposed to be McDermott’s time to shine.

Things didn’t go as planned.

McDermott’s troubles started twenty four hours prior to fight night during the weigh in, initially coming in over the contracted limit before scaling in at 135 lbs on his second try. Members of his team attributed his weight struggles to the fact that he was seemingly working double duty since his wife Anette recently gave birth to their first child. With the responsibilities of caring for a newborn baby during the most crucial part of training camp, many would have withdrawn from the fight altogether. McDermott never consider that an option.

“Not once did I think about pulling out.” “To me it was a responsibility. (Regardless of what kind of shape I am in) I had to go in and fight. As a fighter you fight, as a father, you have to provide for your family whether you are tired or not.”

McDermott’s choice turned out to be bitter sweet.

He fought his heart out, but was in the squared circle with a better conditioned opponent. In a bout that epitomized the term “phone booth battle”, McDermott had spurts of success before fatigue prevented him from effectively neutralizing his volume punching opponent down the stretch. Miller ultimately earned a split decision in one of the Garden State’s most entertaining club fights in recent memory.

McDermott was clearly dejected by the defeat and even refused a post fight interview to this writer immediately following the bout’s completion. His night it wasn’t.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it stung a bit”, said McDermott, who fell to 8-2-1 (3 KO’s) following the defeat. “It’s boxing you have your good nights and your bad nights. Miller outhustled me for sure that night and I tip my hat off to him. I can admit that.”

With more than three months in the history books and an ample amount of time to recover, John Lynch of Pound 4 Pound Promotions worked out a deal for McDermott to return against hardcore veteran Marty Robbins this Saturday at the State Fairgrounds Sports Arena in Nashville, TN. Robbins has an unimpressive 23-46-1 record, but has swapped punches with world champions, title contenders and unbeaten prospects. The Tennessee native is a prototypical stepping stone opponent and can take a decent punch, making it to the final bell in 33 of his defeats.

Being the victor in the four round “keep busy” fight is expected but not guaranteed. He will enter the ring as the favorite, but also runs the risk of dropping a decision in his opponent’s hometown. McDermott has no logistical concerns.

“I am not worried whatsoever (about fighting in his hometown).” “The fight is to keep me busy to be honest with you. I plan on having more of these types of fights around different parts of the country. All the greats have done this. I’m just taking a page from them.”

If everything goes as planned against Robbins, all signs point to a rematch with Miler as part of the August 21 Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant headlined card at the Prudential Center in nearby Newark, NJ. Upwards of 10,000 screaming fans flooded the very same arena to see Adamek defeat Jason Estrada in February. Each of the four times Adamek headlined in Newark, the attendance rapidly increased. With the potential of 12-15,000 fans in the arena, McDermott’s acknowledges there is no better time or place to seek revenge.

“I’d love to be on a big card like that, especially against Miller.” “I think the Prudential Center crowd would love a fight like that. What’s better than two guys who put everything on the line and go toe to toe for the love of the sport? I only can hope it happens.”

If the rematch – which according to reports, Miller initially rebuffed if it were to take place on McDermott’s turf – does happen, the latter recognizes he must come far better prepared than the first time around. His level of concentration would undoubtedly have to change and McDermott acknowledges that preparing for the rematch farther away from home would be a major x factor.

“The thing I would do differently is go away to training camp (to) get away from (the) distractions and get enough sleep every night. (This would enable me to) come in (tip top) shape; then you will see the difference.”

If Miller does in fact agree to a rematch and McDermott’s plan to prepare in a location far away from the many distractions in the New York metropolitan comes to fruition, the night of August 21 could very well be stolen by two lightweights that already displayed the willingness to duke it out as if there were no tomorrow.

For more New Jersey boxing news, go to Gardenstatefightscene.com.

Let’s face it. Boxing is seldom talked about on Sportscenter, hardly heard on sports radio, and rarely written about in newspapers. If you called up your local sports radio station and wanted to talk about the ‘sweet science,’ chances are you wouldn’t sniff a second of airtime – and you may even get a cheap laugh from the call screener. Conversely, if you wanted to talk about next year’s Super Bowl, you’d get right on the air.

But what if I told you there is a place where boxing cannot get shut out of the discussion? Better yet, what if I told you that place was accessible to all – a place where boxers, journalists, promoters, and fans can come together and collectively drive the discussion about boxing to the next level?

Well folks, it exists. It is called Twitter.

Besides the classic case of “open-mouth, insert-foot” a la Andre Berto after the Edwin Valero killings when he tweeted “R.I.P to Edwin Valero after killing his wife yesterday he just killed himself in jail today. WOW women are a Motherf***er boy RIP E.V.,” (a statement in which he obviously backed off of); Twitter doesn’t have much downside for athletes. It offers a free platform to help build their brand. It acts as a virtual soapbox for boxers to stand on and talk about their upcoming bouts and intentions. Everyone who follows another Twitter user does so willingly and presumably is interested in hearing what the other has to say. Therefore, for boxers, it can be an effective platform to promote themselves and try to gain recognition amongst both boxing heads, as well as the general public.

Some boxers have already recognized the power of social media and have used Twitter to intereact with their fans. Everything Andre Dirrell writes about on his Twitter account is read by 2,388 people. Whatever it is that Zab Judah decides to tweet about reaches 9,985 people. Amir Khan’s messages are delivered to 26,674. Never before has there been constant access to an audience like the access Twitter provides its users. However, unlike your typical average Joes, the use of Twitter by athletes provides them a tool for free advertising. I wonder how many of Zab Judah’s 9,985 followers will tune in to ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on July 16 to watch him take on Jose Santa Cruz simply because they were reminded by “Super” Judah himself via Twitter. Whatever that number is, it can only help the cause.

Keep in mind, this is a two-way street. Similar to how Twitter allows for boxers to reach an audience in a matter of seconds, fans and followers of fighters also have access to the athletes. While fighters have access to an audience at their fingertips, fans have direct access to the athletes. Most boxers I have come across that use the social networking website actively engage their followers, often fielding questions, and allow for sneak peeks into the life of a fighter.

For instance, back in February, I asked Paulie Malignaggi why he taunted Juan Diaz in the 6th round of their first bout, after he seemingly stunned the “Baby Bull”, instead of following up to try and stop the fight. Malignaggi replied in two separate tweets, “S**t happens lol, I knew I had him hurt but was covering up real well. next time it won’t happen. was a mistake on my part, but live and learn.”

On the promotional side, HBO Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, and Top Rank, Inc. are three boxing forces that have fully immersed themselves into the world of social media. All of them have thousands of followers on Twitter whom they often interact with by posing questions and asking for their follower’s opinions. At times, they respond directly to suggestions and comments or even “re-tweet” a response, which allows for all of their followers to read someone else’s comments. Top Rank Live telecasts regularly show tweets directed at the broadcast between rounds. The constant engagement of promotional companies with fans keep boxing fans interested and talking about the sport, even during the summer months, when the sport seemingly dies down a bit.

Boxing will never get shut out of social media, like it has on television or terrestrial radio. All promotion companies should follow the lead of Top Rank Inc. and Golden Boy Promotions and establish a presence on social media sites. They risk little by investing time, money, and manpower into actively maintaining and using social media because everything they say on these websites will be read by thousands of people. Further, boxers should be excited and jump at the chance to grow their fan base by simply having an active Twitter account.

If used properly, Twitter can act as a complimentary outlet for promoting fights (just ask Malignaggi and Amir Khan, who, together created a buzz with their vicious war of words on Twitter). The boxing industry — fighters and promoters — need to continue to embrace social media and use this free media platform as best they can. The benefits far outweigh the costs.

I encourage you all to join social media revolution. See you there. Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Going into the Lion’s den is nothing new for Michael “The Great” Katsidis, it’s something he enjoys doing, it brings out the best in him. Recently that was very much the case when he defended his WBO Interim Lightweight crown against Britain’s highly thought of Kevin Mitchell in front of thousands of raucous fans at Upton Park home of Mitchell’s beloved West Ham soccer club. Katsidis 29, entered the ring as very much public enemy number one. That never bothered the battle tested Australian of Greek descent. For the first few rounds Katsidis took a look at what Mitchell had to offer before exploding early in the third, hurting Mitchell. Despite Mitchell valiantly trying to last the round he wasn’t able to as Katsidis got the stoppage and arguably his best win to date. After the impressive victory Katsidis hoped it would propel him into a Big summer fight with Amir Khan, up 5 pounds at Light Welterweight, however that never came to fruition. Now Katsidis has shifted his gaze to this summer’s Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz 2, he hope’s to fight the winner later this year.

Hello Michael, welcome back to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulations on a tremendous win against Kevin Mitchell, how do you look back on that fight and how highly do you rate your performance?

Michael Katsidis – I rate the performance to where we were at in my training. I was stopping guys during sparring accidentally whereas in the past I had trouble with he same people. It just goes to show the hard work paid off and as expected we got the result on the night. I was prepared to fight hard for 12 rounds though I knew at some point Mitchell was bound to come on to one of my shots as I felt I had improved my power better than it was before.

Anson Wainwright – Apparently you had a really tough training camp in Thailand, can you tell us about this. How long were you there? What sort of things did you do during your stay?

Michael Katsidis – We did a lot of what we have always done. Basically I entered rugged tough training camps in Thailand after I has my first loss. I knew these were fights I believe didn’t show nearly my full potential. My career needed a rebirth and the only way I could do this was by isolating myself away from the luxury’s that most face in everyday lifestyle living in America. What we worked on there was very simple repetitious and hard. As it should be doing what we always did best.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about the occasion, how were you treated in London? What did you think of Upton Park and the atmosphere?

Michael Katsidis – In the lead up to the weigh in everything that went on was like back ground noise to me. Everything we had worked on over the hard 3 months sacrifice of being away from my wife and new baby daughter was about to pay it’s dividend. I made weight easily and stepped out to the arena then with one breath of fresh air everything around me had come to life, the wide open space of a 40,000 plus venue began one of the most thrilling rides of my life. From that moment to the time the referee waved the fight off was pure bliss. I want to go again! The people, love me or hate me, So many people so passionate about the sport. I love in one arena, something to remember indeed.

Anson Wainwright – Have you been able to go back to Australia because of the Volcano which disrupted everything in Europe?What are your thoughts on the Volcano?

Michael Katsidis – “I might not get to go home because of the volcanoes”. I couldn’t believe what I was saying after the fight. All this time and then the airports about to shut down due to volcanic eruptions. Incidentally at the same time there was news of extreme violence in Thailand where there was an official warning given to most tourists intending on landing in Bangkok. I wasn’t going to let this get the better of me. The morning after the fight I booked my flight direct to Japan to pick up my wife and daughter. 3 hours later the airports had closed. Fortunately the rest of team Katsidis had a safe return also.

Anson Wainwright – It was reported that your one of the leading contenders to fight Amir Khan in late July early August possibly in England again. Obviously that never worked out what are your thoughts on that possible fight and can you tell us had you been contacted regarding that fight?

Michael Katsidis – I believe there was discussion. But nothing serious was ever put to me about this. This is a great fight for England and if Amir wants to make a statement that fight is the one. Obviously Amir Khan’s camp isn’t serious about making that statement as yet. He’s a great fighter and has many great fights to come, this may become a reality. Well, the idea of it sounds great at least.

Anson Wainwright – Will it be a problem to fight up at 140? You seem a natural 135 where you are very strong would you not lose some of your advantages going up in weight?

Michael Katsidis – Of course Lightweight is my division. Others adapt differently, are more versatile. I can only comment on what I know works. I’m not a 140 fighter as yet. I will cross that bridge when it comes though I do know I will become one very strong wrecking ball making way, that I am sure of. Perhaps I will be better though, I am yet to have difficulty at my current weight.

Anson Wainwright – Where do you stand with regards your next fight?

Michael Katsidis – Normally I would have been preparing for my next bout though Paco of the WBO has ordered me to stand aside to fight the winner of the Diaz Marquez fight July 31st. As much as I would have loved to have been working on another great fight in England or the States I believe in the WBO and the wait will be worth it. for both myself and the fans of the sport.

Anson Wainwright – Since the Mitchell fight what sort of reaction have you got from fans where you’ve been?

Michael Katsidis – In England every cab driver or store attendant and people at the airport were stopping me to congratulate me on my efforts. From that to landing in Japan picking up my family then heading to my desert home out at Vegas I can honestly say I haven’t been around it. Being with my family has been day after day in paradise and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anson Wainwright – Is there anyone you’d like to mention who helped you with preparations for the Mitchell fight?

Michael Katsidis – My family, my wife Kumi baby Kalia Brendon, Kerry, Noah and Tanner. My sparring partners Nestor Rocha, Brandon ‘Bone crusher’ Smith and of course the WBO.

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

Michael Katsidis – Don’t die wondering.

Thanks for your time Michael, keep entertaining us.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

No, the upcoming rematch between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz does not belong on pay-per-view. Two fighters whose cumulative record is 1-2 since their first match should not charge extra for a second go. And no, this fight does not belong in Las Vegas. Chilango versus Houstonian, surely, has more appropriate host cities.

There, that takes care of the disclaimer. In keeping with the sprit of this long weekend, in fact, let’s call what’s above a Preamble. Now for the salvaging.

On July 31, Marquez and Diaz will fight for Marquez’s WBA, WBO and Ring magazine lightweight titles at Mandalay Bay. It will be the first fight for Marquez since his 10-unanimous-rounds-to-none loss to Floyd Mayweather in September. It will be the first fight for Diaz since his one-sided loss to Paulie Malignaggi in December.

It will also be a rematch of 2009’s Fight of the Year. That lends the match a distinction its combatants’ recent showings cannot sully. Yes, Marquez was foolish to make the mercenary’s choice and take that high-paying fight with that high-weighing superstar. And yes, Diaz was nobly foolish to grant Yankee Fan an immediate rematch on neutral ground. But there we are.

Where we also might consider being in four Saturdays is Las Vegas. Marquez-Diaz I really was that good – especially if you were in Houston’s Toyota Center to see it.

I was in Houston 16 months ago. That’s why I’ll be in Las Vegas later this month – to honor the combatants and see if they can do it again.

A doubtful proposition. After all, there was a reason Diaz began the post-fight press conference by assuring his mother he was OK. There was a reason Marquez called-out Mayweather – aside from Manny Pacquiao’s not wanting a rubber match. It was because none of us who sat in that Toyota Center conference room hankered for Marquez-Diaz II.

The fight was excellent. Sensational, actually. But it left few questions unanswered. Act One saw Diaz apply great pressure, assaulting Marquez’s vanity with the rude force of his youth. Act Two saw Marquez change from veteran boxer to hot-blooded finisher. The fight’s arc resembled that of Margarito-Cotto, but with a more decisive ending and no later allegations of foul play. Its decisive ending also saw Marquez set a new standard in right uppercuts.

You had another chance to see that right uppercut, Friday night, when Golden Boy Promotions replayed Marquez-Diaz I in something of a Telefutura infomercial on its weekly “Solo Boxeo” program. The purpose of that 90-minute program was to promote “Marquez-Diaz 2” of course. But Golden Boy Promotions deserves credit for another thing it did, and has been doing: Easing Israel Vazquez into retirement.

For the third week in a row, Vazquez was a major part of the Telefutura broadcast. You hope he enjoys his time in front of the camera enough not to return to the ring. Looking at his face and listening to his speech gives you the impression that if a pending retirement comes in time for Izzy, it will be just barely.

But Golden Boy Promotions also has a different kind of infomercial it routinely does that is less creditable. That would be the emphasis it places on sponsors in conference calls and press conferences – ostensibly media events. This has never felt right for reasons that couldn’t quite be identified.

Until the opening part of last week’s conference call when CEO Richard Schaefer recognized Cerveza Tecate, AT&T and NCM Fathom. It sounded exactly like a Wall Street earnings call – that quarterly tradition in which an executive tells analysts why others should invest in his company.

Which is where the incongruity sets in. Golden Boy Promotions is not a publicly traded company; no one on these calls or at these press conferences is a potential investor. It’s akin to a Hollywood studio inviting critics to a movie screening and then discussing concession sales. It seems to miss the point of American journalism.

We’ve gone along with it for years as part of our advocacy for a thing Top Rank’s Todd DuBoef recently called “brand of boxing” in an interview with Thomas Hauser. We want the sport to succeed. We were ecstatic when we thought corporate sponsorships would somehow lead to mainstream interest. That hasn’t happened. Instead, these sponsorships are but another way to help millionaires get richer.

Which is fine. It’s part of the system formerly known as democratic capitalism. But it is not news, and it should not be treated as such. Journalism is not public relations.

Got it? Good. Now let me don my PR cap.

Las Vegas needs your help. No city has felt the depredating effects of the Great Recession more. It looked desperate, starving even, last November. And since then, there’s nary a report of its having improved.

Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, too, could use your help. Both need to strike their most recent fights from folks’ memories. They promise to make a compelling match – master boxer-finisher against young volume puncher – any time they share a ring.

And the brand of boxing? It should be championed. Supporting a city that has been an important part of that brand is an admirable thing to do. But the best reason to attend Marquez-Diaz II is this: We cannot allow our sport to be held hostage by a fight unlikely to happen.

We must celebrate the fights we have and the fighters who make them. There’s no need to waste words or time on others. No need to waste them on sponsors, either.

See you in Las Vegas.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

Photo by Gene Blevins/Hogan Photos

A reported agreement on terms for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. should be reason for optimism. Maybe, the biggest fight in years will finally happen. But skepticism is the only reasonable reaction. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We’re back at the scene of an old accident, waiting on Mayweather all over again. I’d prefer to wait on a root canal.

Mayweather is as unpredictable as he is elusive. Annoying, too, but give him this: He says – ad nauseam –that he is the face of boxing, that everything happens because of him. Few can argue with him on that one right now. In resurrected talks of negotiations that blew apart more than six months ago, Mayweather has the last say, yea or nay.

“It’s up to him,’’ Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum told Yahoo Wednesday.

Safe to say, Arum won’t leave it up to Mayweather for long. He’ll give it a couple of weeks. The Top Rank promoter says he will wait until mid-July for an answer from Mayweather. No reply presumably means Arum will turn to Plan B or C, Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto for a Pacquiao bout scheduled for Nov. 13.

But nobody knows how — or even if — Mayweather will respond. Mayweather’s representatives, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Leonard Ellerbe, have honored an initial agreement not to comment. If Mayweather-Pacquiao is going to happen in November, however, it’s time to take off the gag.

Mayweather must enjoy the power of being granted the last word. But it is double-edged with potential enough to destroy Mayweather’s attempts to spin himself into a less profane, more media-friendly personality before and after his brilliant victory over Shane Mosley in May.

In renewed talks however, it looks as if there is a reversal of roles. There was no deal six months ago because of a sudden, deal-breaking demand from Mayweather for random, Olympic-style drug-testing. Pacquiao said no, a refusal that then aroused speculation about whether he was in fact a user of banned substances despite a clean record of tests sanctioned by regulatory agencies, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

According to Arum, the drug issue has been resolved. Arum didn’t provide any specifics, but the assumption is that Pacquiao has agreed to some sort of random blood-testing under protocol set down by the Nevada commission, which appeared to consider possible methods and timetables during discussions last month with sports-medicine experts, physicians and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

If Pacquiao has agreed to drug testing, Mayweather has lost the high ground he had occupied amid repeated boasts that he was only try to clean up boxing. Drug testing is no longer the issue. But that doesn’t mean that Mayweather won’t find another one.

If he does, Mayweather will have to face renewed accusations that he just doesn’t want to fight Pacquiao.

Arum is right:

It is up to Mayweather.

Is it ever.

From this corner, it looks as if Mayweather’s only wiggle room is a delay until next year. In interviews with Yahoo and Filipino media, Arum seemed to prepare himself for Pacquiao-Mayweather at a later date.

He has to look only at Mayweather’’s recent record. The unbeaten welterweight has fought only four times over the last four years – twice in 2007 with victories over Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, not once in 2008, once in 2009 with a lopsided decision over Juan Manuel Marquez and once this year against Mosley.

Even if Mayweather’s career is down to only one a fight year, it appears as if there is only one fight for him. It looks as if he can’t say no to Pacquiao. Then again, Mayweather has already shown that he can say just about everything and sometimes nothing at all. It’s impossible to know what he will do. The only thing anybody knows for certain is that he will make you wait.

Sunday, July 4th marks the 100th anniversary of the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight title fight. In the history of our sport, perhaps only the 1938 Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rematch surpasses the bout in terms of historical significance. Johnson was the controversial first black heavyweight champion, having defeated Tommy Burns in Australia less than two years prior. Spearheaded by famed writer Jack London, racially-motivated calls rang out from all over the country for the former champion Jeffries, retired since 1904, to return to the ring and unseat Johnson.

Promoter Tex Rickard had hoped to place the fight in Jeffries’ hometown of San Francisco, California, but the controversial nature of the fight and the sport of boxing in general at the time forced it out of the state. Rickard quickly found Reno, Nevada to be an excellent fit, as many east-west railroads met in the city. Rickard had a specially constructed stadium erected to host the fight, which would be known as the ‘Fight of the Century.’

July 4, 1910, less than 50 years since the end of the Civil War, Johnson would take on “The Great White Hope” in a bout scheduled for 45 rounds. Where the United States stood racially at the time, made the fight much bigger than boxing. That much goes without saying. However, it is interesting to note that the fight would have been significant under any circumstances. Well into the late 1960’s, Nat Fleischer would rank Jack Johnson as the greatest heavyweight champion of all-time. Fleischer, co-founder of The Ring Magazine in 1922 and its editor-in-chief until he passed away in 1972, rated him ahead of Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and the early reign of Muhammad Ali. Who did Fleischer rank second behind Johnson? James J. Jeffries.

The fight itself would end brutally one-sided. The time away from the ring had eroded Jeffries, who according to some reports had ballooned up to 300-pounds in his retirement. Johnson, in his physical prime, would pound away on the would-be white man’s hero for fifteen rounds before dropping him twice, the first two knockdowns of Jeffries’ career. According to some sources, it would be former champion James J. Corbett, who had been shouting back-and-forth with Johnson all fight, that would order Rickard, acting as the referee, to stop the fight.

With the press fanning the flames with their coverage of the bout, race riots would break out all over the country over the result. It would be Jeffries final bout. Johnson would go on to defend his title just once more in the U.S., before being convicted of violating the Mann Act, or “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes.” Johnson was convicted even though the instances which prompted the charges took place before the Mann Act went into effect. Johnson was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, but skipped out on bail and left the country.

After two defenses in France, and a non-title bout in Argentina, an aging Johnson would lose the title to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba. Johnson fought on for four years, in Spain and Mexico, before returning to the U.S. and turning himself in on July 1920. Johnson was imprisoned until July 9, 1921.

Johnson returned to the ring nearly two years after his release, fighting into his fifties. Johnson, known to drive at high speeds, died on June 10, 1946 in a car crash in North Carolina. Johnson was reportedly headed to New York to witness Joe Louis, the next black fighter to fight for and claim the heavyweight title, defend his laurels against Billy Conn.

In recent years several attempts have been made to exonerate Johnson of his violation of the Mann Act. Most recently, in April of 2009, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Representative Peter King of New York appealed to President Barack Obama for a posthumous pardon for Johnson. However last December, the U.S. Justice Department recommended against the pardon, as Justice Department pardon attorney Ronald Rodgers wrote King a letter which stated it is general policy not to process posthumous pardon cases for the reason that pardon resources “are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request.” President Obama has not made a public comment on the matter.

Reno-based promoters Terry and Tommy Lane of Let’s Get It On Promotions have organized a centennial celebration weekend to honor a monumental event in both the history of boxing and our country, Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries. It had been the original hope that the weekend would celebrate the pardon of Johnson, as well as commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fight.

In any event, the jam-packed weekend begins this Friday with a gala hosted by boxing commentators Al Bernstein and Rich Marotta. Beginning Saturday morning, several discussions will be held by noted authors and journalists, leading in to a live boxing event held at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, headlined by former IBF Light Flyweight Champion Ulises Solis and televised by Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports en Espanol. On Sunday, an honorary ten-count will take place using the original ring bell at the original fight site.

For more information on the series of events, visit JohnsonJeffries2010.com.

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

Former two time Strawweight World champion Katsunari Takayama 23-4(9) embarks on his attempt to add the IBF Strawweight championship to the WBC & WBA he’s already won. He’ll fight in South Africa against local Tshepo Lewele in a title eliminator. Takayama 27, previously held the WBC crown briefly in 2005 for four months & WBA Interim title from late in 2006 until he fought full champion Yutaka Niida in a bid to unify the WBA championship in April 2007. Though he’s been a pro since 2000 and has fought many of the top fighters in and around his weight class he still remains a top contender rated 10 by the IBF & 11 by the WBO. Here’s what he had to say.

Hello Katsunari, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you recently signed to fight under the ALA Boxing Promotional company. How did this move come about? What can you tell us about this deal, it’s especially interesting because few Japanese fighters leave Japan and fight for other company’s outside there homeland?

Katsunari Takayama – As for the relationship with ALA Boxing Promotional, our team developed a good relationship with them through the daily practice at ALA Gym. Then, that contract was concluded.

Anson Wainwright – It’s reported you will fight Lucky Lewele in an IBF Eliminator at the end of August in South Africa. What can you tell us about this, is it the case? If so what do you think of Lewele?

Katsunari Takayama – As for the fight with Tshepo Lefele, we plan to hold it in Johannesburg in South Africa on August 27. The contents reported by news agencies are correct. I think I can win the fight with Tshepo Lefele.

Anson Wainwright – Japanese fighters don’t normally fight for a title that’s not by the WBC or WBA. However that’s what your attempting to do. Can you tell us about this move, it seems pretty ground breaking?

Katsunari Takayama – I have a dream of winning titles in 4 leagues and several classes. The Japanese commission does not approve IBF and WBO, and so we have no choice but to leave Japan to actualize my dream. Then, we are taking the first step. As for boxing weight classes, I am okay with 105 lb. Of course, I am thinking about the 108-lb class, too.

Anson Wainwright – You’ll of been off over a year by the time you fight Lewele, how are you preparing yourself for such a big fight without ring rust coming into play? Who will you spar with?

Katsunari Takayama – As for practice and adjustment, I plan to do one-month training at ALA Gym from June 21, and make final adjustments in Japan.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your team, who is your manager, trainer & Promoter?

Katsunari Takayama – Manager: Ken Matsumoto, Chief trainer: Hiroaki Nakade, Physical trainer: Hideki Aoki & Promoter: ALA Promotions

Anson Wainwright – You have fought three of the best Strawweights of the last few years Eagle Kyowa, Yutaka Niida & Roman Gonzalez unfortunately you lost to them all. Can you assess how good each one was for us? Who was the best of them? Who was the best boxer & who hit the hardest?

Katsunari Takayama – The strongest boxer I have ever encountered is Roman Gonzalez.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your younger days growing up in Osaka and how you first came across Boxing and the path you have since taken?

Katsunari Takayama – I was motivated to start boxing after the following experience. Invited by my friend, I visited a boxing gym. My first boxing practice was all new and enjoyable to me, and since then, I have been addicted to boxing.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing? What hobbies do you have? What do you think you’d be doing if it was for Boxing to make a living?

Katsunari Takayama – I cannot lead my life without boxing, and so my lifestyle is filled with boxing.

Anson Wainwright – Who was your Boxing hero growing up? What fighters today do you admire and why?

Katsunari Takayama – I like Yoko Gushiken & Sugar Ray Leonard. I like boxing style of Sugar Ray Leonard

Best Wishes and thank you for your time

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com