WBO JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

MAIN EVENT – 12 ROUNDS

WILFREDO “WV2” VAZQUEZ, JR. ZSOLT “Mr. Lefthook” BEDAK

WBO Junior Featherweight Champion/The Ring #9 WBO # 1 Contender/European Champion

Bayamon, Puerto Rico Hamburg, Germany by way of Hungary

18-0-1 (15 KOs) 14-0-1 (12 KOs)

WBO JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

CO-FEATURE – 12 ROUNDS

ROMAN “Rocky” MARTINEZ GONZALO “El Destructor’ MUNGIA

WBO Super Featherweight Champion/The Ring #3 WBO #10/WBO Latino Champion

Vega Baja, Puerto Leon, Nicaragua

23-0-1 (14 KOs) 17-6-3 (13 KOs)

WBO FEMALE SUPER WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

10 ROUNDS

HANNA GABRIEL GARDY PENA

San Jose, Costa Rica Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

9-0-1 (5 KOs) 9-1-2 (6 KOs)

4 ROUNDS – FLYWEIGHTS

McWILLIAMS ARROYO SAMUEL GUTIERREZ

2008 Puerto Rican Olympian

San Juan, Puerto Rico Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico

1-0 (1 KO) 5-6-1 (0 KOs)

4 ROUNDS – BANTAMWEIGHTS

McJOE ARROYO ROBERT GUILLEN

2008 Puerto Rican Olympian

San Juan, Puerto Rico Glendale, Arizona, USA

1-0 (1 KO) 5-7-3 (1 KO)

(ALL FIGHTS & FIGHTERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

WHEN: Saturday, May 29, 2010 – 9 PM/ET 6 PM/PT

WHERE: Bayamon, Puerto Rico

PROMOTER: PR Best Boxing in association with All Star Boxing

PAY-PER-VIEW INFORMATION: Distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 9 PM/ET – 6 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, and DISH Network for a suggested retail price of only $34.95.

PAY-PER-VIEW ANNOUNCERS: World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Col. Bob Sheridan (blow-by-blow) and former NFL player and veteran boxing announcer Benny Ricardo (color analyst).

CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT

With the biggest mixed martial arts weekend in Las Vegas’ history just days away, the city’s premier amateur fight organization has finalized a pair of action-packed fight cards.

Fans flocking to Las Vegas for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s “UFC 114: Jackson vs. Evans” event, as well the second-ever UFC Fan Expo, can also attend a pair of affordably priced events featuring some of the brightest prospects in the nation at the Orleans Hotel & Casino.

And for those fight fans unable to make the shows, Tuff-N-Uff has teamed up with GoFightLive.com to stream both cards to you live for one low price of $9.99.

Tuff-N-Uff invades the Orleans Hotel & Casino’s Mardi Gras Ballroom on Friday night, May 28, and then returns for even more fighting action on Sunday evening, May 30.

Tickets for both events, which start at just $25, are available at the Orleans Hotel & Casino’s box office or online at OrleansCasino.com and TuffNUff.net.

Tuff-N-Uff officials will also be distributing $5-off coupons at the UFC Fan Expo, while anyone with a Military ID is also entitled to a $5 discount on tickets.

Included among Friday’s 14 contests will be a 115-pound female title fight between undefeated Missouri resident Ashley Cummins (4-0) and the hard-hitting Gabriella Lakoczky (1-1), as well as a Las Vegas-area grudge match between wrestling stalwarts Greg Gifford (1-0) – a Las Vegas High School wrestling coach who put together an 80-1 record in his final two high-school wrestling seasons – and veteran Weston Duschen (3-6), who fought in the first sanctioned amateur MMA card in Las Vegas.

In another intriguing matchup undefeated Xtreme Couture prospect Jake Swinney (2-0) meets former NFL prospect Chris Camacho (2-0).

Also on the card are appearances by five-time Tuff-N-Uff veteran Jimmy Spicuzza (4-2) and UFC president Dana White’s cousin, Justin Vadnais (0-2).

In additional action, a pair of undefeated lightweights meet as Spiritwolf MMA’s Paul Blancaflor (2-0) faces Fasi Sports’ Dustin Bredwick (1-0).

Sunday’s 12-bout fight card is anchored by Striking Unlimited bantamweight Maurice Senters (3-2) against Legend MMA’s Chris Brady (4-6). The co-feature sees a pair of undefeated 250-pound brawlers square off as Kevin Absher (1-0) faces Chris Simmons (1-0).

Female 135-pounders Robin Hartman (2-2) and Emily Peters-Kagan (1-0) face off, while undefeated prospects Sedrick Sweet (1-0), Lee Henry Lilly (2-0) and Ahmed Sanchez (1-0) will also appear on the card.

In addition to the weekend’s featured matchups, a full lineup of aspiring amateur fighters from some of the world’s top academies, including Excel Defense, Fasi Sports, Legends MMA, Striking Unlimited, TapouT Las Vegas, Throwdown, Wand Fight Team and Xtreme Couture will compete at Tuff-N-Uff’s dual Memorial Day weekend events.

Both nights’ full fight cards are available for viewing at TuffNUff.net.

Come see the future stars of mixed martial arts.

CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE EVENT

Carlos Tamara was clearly behind against IBF junior flyweight champion Brian Viloria midway through their January 23 bout, but overcame far too much to let short term frustrations deter his championship dreams.

Tamara, like most immigrants, came to America in search of a better life. From the moment he turned pro, Tamara envisioned a world title strapped around his waist and enough financial security to provide a happy life for his two young daughters back home in Colombia.

“Since day one, my biggest goal was to make my family better off financially” said Tamara, who grew up dirt poor.

Things didn’t go as planned.

Fours years after representing his homeland in the 2004 Olympics, Tamara was in Miami, Florida wondering what went wrong. Three controversial losses and a one sided defeat to WBO flyweight champion Omar Narvaez put him in a tough spot. He received a paltry $2,000 for a 12 rounder against future world champion Giovanni Segura, while walking away with just $5,000 for fighting in Narvaez’ home country.

At a time where everything was going wrong and his career was on a downward spiral, Tamara got back on track by defeating fellow comebacking contender Juan Esquer. The Esquer fight was a huge breath of fresh air; just not financially.

Shortly after defeating the highly regarded Esquer, Tamara, now a world rated contender, couldn’t afford his rent and was hours away from living on the streets. A dispute with then manager Tony Gonzalez left him with one final prayer to avoid being homeless; a call to trainer Butch Sanchez in New Jersey. Sanchez quickly agreed to let Tamara live in his house and continued to train him along with Angel “Ping” DeJesus.

“Carlos was 24 hours away from being homeless”, said Nelson Fernandez, who now manages Tamara. “It was a bad situation for him in Miami and he was in need of help. We had to take care of him not just because he is my fighter, but because he is a human being and nobody (deserves to be homeless).”

Things in North Bergen, NJ quickly looked far brighter than they did in sunny Miami.

Even with more than a year of inactivity by the time numerous situations were sorted out, Tamara maintained a top ten world ranking by the International Boxing Federation at junior flyweight. He scored two nondescript victories in Colombia before the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself; a bout with Viloria.

Tamara knew this was his chance to shine.

Viloria was a well regarded and skilled champion, but unbalanced performances made him a vulnerable target for one of the sport’s hungriest fighters. With another defeat likely knocking him out of contention in the immediate future, Tamara had a tremendous training camp at the Hackensack Police Athletic League gym and was ready for whatever his opponent had to offer. He was an inspired fighter confident of victory, but once the bell rang, he was having a difficult time.

Viloria was boxing his way to victory, tagging the aggressive Tamara with hard punches to both the body and head. His terrific start was met by cheers from 12,000 fans at the Cuneta Astrodome in the Philippines. Although Tamara never stopped giving it his all, the champion continued to control the fight and Viloria by decision was the census opinion amongst ringsiders. This was until the bell rang singling the 8th.

Viloria’s punch output drastically decreased and he appeared to tire out from a high workrate in the earlier rounds ala Miguel Cotto against Antonio Margarito. Tamara continued to press the fight and Viloria was now struggling to keep him off. Tamara seemingly had everlasting stamina, as Viloria’s best shots couldn’t slow him down.

Viloria was nearly stopped on his feet during a dramatic 11th round, where an onslaught of punch came oh so close to ending his night in stunning fashion. With three minutes left in the biggest fight of his life and a major swing in momentum, Tamara went for the kill.

Viloria was damaged goods from the bell singling the start of the 12th. He was barely able to stand and it was evident he had nothing left to keep one off one of the hungriest fighters in boxing. The championship that he dreamed of since turning pro was as close as it had ever been. Tamara wasn’t going to let it fall through the cracks.

Tamara swarmed Viloria, who twice hit the canvas due to exhaustion. The same fighter who was cruising to victory early on was now hanging on for dear life. He wasn’t able to hang on much longer.

With Viloria lifeless near the ropes, Tamara tagged him with a multi punch combination, forcing referee Bruce McTavish to save the defenseless Viloria from further punishment. Mission accomplished.

“I am a twelve round fighter (not a four round fighter)”, Tamara said shortly after his victory. “My plan all along was to start building momentum and peak during the championship rounds.”

With the stamina of a horse and heart of a lion, Carlos Tamara officially became a world champion. The long term sacrifices were now all worth it. The same man who was close to being homeless was now in the driver’s seat and thinking about a unification bout.

“I (wanted) to fight (lineal world champion Ivan) Calderon since he has been the number one guy in the division”, exclaimed Tamara. “People (have been proposing) that fight since I took out Viloria and I am all for it”.

With Calderon tied up in the immediate future, Tamara will have to wait for his crack at the number one fighter in his division, but the show must go on.

This Saturday, Tamara returns to the lion’s den for his first title defense when he takes on hometown favorite Luis Lazarte of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Having fought for a world title five times, Lazarte is expected to present difficulties for Tamara, thus is more than just an opponent.

“Lazarte is (definitely an) extremely hungry (fighter)” said Tamara. “(This is) his last hurrah, so I (expect him to be) hungry and (do everything in his power to) take my title. I’m still hungry and I have a lot of personal goals to fulfill, (so) Lazarte better come in the shape (or he’ll have) no chance.”

The length of Tamara’s heroic run remains to be seen. A victory on Saturday night propels him into a tough mandatory defense against former titleholder Ulises Solis, but regardless of how long he remains champion or the amount of money he makes, Tamara will forever serve as a prime example of how hard work, dedication and perseverance can overcome life’s ultimate hardships.

I’m writing a letter, not because it’s the 50th anniversary of anything, not to celebrate a birthday or any other benchmark, not because I believe you will ever read this but because I believe I am one of millions of people that owes you a thank you.

In a world where reality tv characters are pop culture icons, and we know more about our favorite movie stars than our own families, I often ask myself why we care so much about people we’ve never met nor will meet. Yet, here I am writing a letter to a man that it is safe to say I will never meet, thanking him for events I wasn’t even born t to see. What sets you apart? Easy, you shook up the world, with an aftershock so profound the trembling can be felt a half century later.

Will I ever shake up the world? Probably not. Will anyone ever do so the way you did? Also doubtful, but the image of a 22 year old Cassius Clay breaking free from his entourage, jumping onto the ropes and pointing into the crowd of critics, almost as if to count the men that doubted he could beat Sonny Liston that night never fails to give me the idea that anything in the world is possible.

Having the audacity, at age 22, to look the world in the eye and say “I told you so” is something you have to take for yourself, and that night Cassius Clay grabbed it with no intention of giving it back.
46 years after you captured your first world title, a cold reality has long been established, and a man that once bounded around the ring with an innovative grace has been dramatically slowed and withered by Parkinson’s Disease. The same hands that stunned the sports world by knocking out George Foreman are now plagued by tremors, and the feet that shuffled around the canvas in a manner that no one had ever seen at that time are now bound to a wheelchair. The mouth that had the audacity to fearlessly shoot off at the government, the business, and any man that stood across the ring from him has been all but silenced. Although you are not the same man today that you were in 1960, 1965, or 1980 for that matter, the story of a man daring to tell the world “I told you so” has been told, and can never be untold. A man that announced his greatness over and over, until it became true.

Few men have been as loved as well as hated to the degree that Muhammad Ali has, but it takes something special to evoke that kind of emotion. Mothers, fathers, husbands and wives often have that power, the ability to inspire, anger, and break a person’s heart. You have to give yourself over to someone entirely to give them that power, and Muhammad Ali was this person to the entire globe.
I write this letter as a thank you note, for changing the landscape of the sports world, and in many ways American culture. For giving boxing an icon unlike anything else. In a sport that is said to be dying a glimmer of hope can be found in the image of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch at the 1996 Olympic Games, and the realization is that one of the most influential human beings of all time was a boxer.

A thank you note, addressed to two men, Muhammad Ali, who with hands that tremble with Parkinson’s Disease is still able to grab the world’s attention, and make people fall in love with him all over again, and a 22 year old Cassisus clay. The same Cassius Clay who’s image is frozen in time as he informs the world that he is indeed the greatest of all time.

You shook up the world champ. Rumble young man, rumble.

Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr.: “We are prepared to defend the title and look good to my people. That’s what we intend to do – a good job. My condition is the best from working with my dad (former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez, Sr.) and my team. I know Bedak is disregarding me because of my little experience in boxing, but everybody should know I’ve trained real hard to keep my title.”

Zsolt Bedak: “Our training has been strong (he is trained by former world champion Artur Grigorian) and I have come here to take the title. We’ve come to put on a great show and go home with a victory.”

Rocky Martinez: “All I want is the day of the fight to come because I’m in tremendous shape and I want to defend the title again. We are prepared for whatever my opponent brings (Gonzalo) Mungia has been talking a lot. He has a mouth but everything will come out in the ring.”

WHEN: Saturday, May 29, 2010 – 9 PM/ET 6 PM/PT

WHERE: Bayamon, Puerto Rico

PROMOTER: PR Best Boxing in association with All Star Boxing

PAY-PER-VIEW INFORMATION: Distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 9 PM/ET – 6 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, and DISH Network, for a suggested retail price of only $34.95.

PAY-PER-VIEW ANNOUNCERS: World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Col. Bob Sheridan (blow-by-blow) and former NFL player and veteran boxing announcer Benny Ricardo (color analyst).

CLICK FOR MORE EVENT INFORMATION

LOS ANGELES – In the hot blood that came immediately after his loss, blood that had streamed in his left eye and made a red mask of his face yet again, Israel Vazquez expressed a desire to fight Rafael Marquez a fifth time, to break their tie. Thirty minutes later, when everyone’s blood had cooled, Vazquez’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya shared a wiser sentiment.

“It’s 2-2,” De La Hoya said, “and that’s the way that it should be.”

Saturday in Staples Center, Vazquez and Marquez made an unusual fourth fight that ended at 1:33 of round 3 when referee Raul Caiz Jr. astutely read Vazquez’s body language and precluded any further damage from being done to one Mexico City native by the other. Before Vazquez could drop to the canvas a second time, Caiz stepped in front of Marquez and waived the end. Marquez had evened the series. There was no reason to fight any more.

Finally, there was little reason for Vazquez and Marquez to have made their legendary trilogy into a disappointing tetralogy. If any energy coursed through Staples Center during the Friday weigh-in and Saturday undercard, it was an obligated sort. Those of us present showed dutifulness more than excitement. The larger venue and paychecks, too, were more honorary than celebratory:

We’d like to give you guys an apt send-off and pension, but to do it, unfortunately we’re going to need you to fight once more.

Vazquez and Marquez obliged – or should it now be Marquez before Vazquez? – and made an uneven end to their fantastically even beginning and middle. But if the fourth fight had to happen, its conclusion was unexpectedly merciful. For that we should be grateful.

Throughout, there was an appropriate theme of unity. Both men were Mexicans, world champions and gentlemen. This theme happened best during ring walks, when for the first time in memory, two fighters shared the same band, a Mexican mariachi group that paid homage to “La Patria.” The Staples Center crowd of 9,236 – a couple thousand more than attended Vazquez-Marquez III in nearby Carson, Calif. – was predominantly Mexican, too, if smaller than hoped.

If there was a moment that reminded you of the last time Vazquez and Marquez fought, it came in the opening seconds. The two men touched jabs more than gloves, and then Vazquez tossed a wild right hand Marquez’s way. It said, “We both know how you were at the end of our third fight, why don’t we pick things up right there?”

That was Vazquez’s most confident moment of the night and perhaps his last. Asked afterwards when he knew his opponent was in trouble, Rafael Marquez said he felt it on the end of his jab in round 1. As he once more sunk knuckles in Vazquez’s flesh, that is, Marquez noted something less resolved, a bit softer, somewhat less steeled. Fighters do sense that sort of thing; it’s a requisite tool in the box when your craft is hurting other men.

Ringsiders would not notice the slice Marquez put beneath Vazquez’s left eyebrow till it became gruesome in round 2. But it was there. Even from 30 feet away, a redness could be seen over Vazquez’s damaged eye in the first minute. And looking at pictures from early in Saturday’s fight, you now see darker blemishes in the tissue than the rosy hue that has dusted Vazquez’s eyebrows at his public appearances since 2008. Were it anyone else, you’d wonder if some handler had taught the man how to apply makeup en route to press conferences and award ceremonies, to ward away errant inquiries from careful journalists.

Marquez’s masterful right hand, among the finest seen in a generation, instantly knew better. It quickly took the flesh over Vazquez’s eye from nick to gash to wound.

“You could see the bone,” explained Vazquez’s veteran cut man Miguel Diaz afterwards. “You cannot stop these things with the medicine that we have.”

Then you stop the fight! Well, yes. Or maybe no.

Better that you do what Vazquez’s corner did. You tell your charge he gets one more round. You give him a last chance to measure himself, and you hope nothing gets permanently altered within him but his desire to fight on. And so, in the third round of his fourth fight with Rafael Marquez, Israel Vazquez relented.

He went down differently than he’d gone down in the fourth round of their third fight. He didn’t get knocked to the canvas by a concussive blow. He blindly wandered into a Marquez right cross, instead, and kneeled hopelessly. It was a distress signal from one of prizefighting’s noblest men. All read it. And had Caiz not closed things a few seconds later, Vazquez’s corner would have.

Had the fight been stopped by a ringside physician after round 2, the prospect of Vazquez-Marquez V would haunt both men, and their managers, and their fans. Were Vazquez able to attribute his loss to an accident of some kind, chances are good some of us would have to make another trek to California and see things to their bitter end. Who, after all, would deserve another chance if not Israel Vazquez?

No, it ended better this way. Vazquez was beaten, his incredible will subdued. Pushed for a retirement announcement at the post-fight press conference, he used the Spanish verb “meditar” – to meditate. He and his family will meditate on his future, think about it thoroughly, and see what it holds for them.

Those of us who came to this city to honor Vazquez and Marquez, to stiffen the ranks on press row or stand and cheer the men’s sacrifices as they walked to the ring, could never return for a fifth fight. All the reasons that brought us to this one would bar us from another.

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

LOS ANGELES – Despite bleeding profusely from both eyes before 10 minutes of combat were up, Israel Vazquez never retreated in his fourth match with Rafael Marquez. He made no backwards laps round the ring, a tactic that, in boxing parlance, is called “getting on your bicycle.”

Unfortunately, a number of local aficionados who might otherwise have been at Staples Center to honor Vazquez and Marquez in “Once and Four All” were unable to make it – mostly because so many men were on their bicycles outside.

Saturday’s crowd arrived late and, with an announced attendance of 9,236, was perhaps a few thousand lighter than hoped and many thousands fewer than deserved. Blame the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race time trials, which began just outside Staples Center, at L.A. Live, round 1:00 p.m., causing street closures and barricades all round the arena ticket office and main entrance till about 5:00 p.m.

“Parking was a nightmare” was the theme on press row. This caused one prominent scribe to ask, “How many Mexicans got within a mile of the stadium, saw the road closures, and went home to watch on television?”

A fair question. Both main-event fighters hail from Mexico City. Mexican fight crowds are known throughout boxing as “walk-up crowds” – those that buy tickets at the box office the day of a fight. That raised an interesting question: What happens to a walk-up crowd, if it can’t?

The upper deck was closed Saturday, and good seats were available for $25. But to collect a ticket from will call at 2:50 p.m., 10 minutes before doors were originally scheduled to open, required a security escort and a long stroll round the outside of the arena. Ticket buyers, too, were required to wait till their escort returned – so fearful were the Amgen organizers that fight fans might abscond with free food from one of their otherwise empty tents.

When the first bell rang at 4 p.m., fewer than 500 people were in the arena. Standard attendance for Las Vegas, but disappointing for Southern California.

One fight fan who strolled through the front door, ticket in hand, was trainer Freddie Roach, who performed as Israel Vazquez’s chief second in the first match of the Vazquez-Marquez tetralogy, in 2007.

Asked if he’d had to buy his ticket, Roach gave a big smile.

“No,” he said. “They gave it to me.”

Pressed for an insider’s view of what might happen, Roach was quick to concede he was no insider at Vazquez-Marquez IV.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know anything you don’t.”

Shortly before Vazquez-Marquez II, when he was no longer training Vazquez, Roach said that he wished Vazquez would retire. He felt his former charge was taking too much punishment and no longer the fighter he’d previously been. Vazquez would prove his old trainer wrong a few months later.

Saturday, fans learned that Roach was not wrong – just early.

LOS ANGELES – A place called the Star Plaza outside Staples Center on a Friday afternoon was a curious spot to stage a weigh-in between two of the era’s least-frilly, least-flashy and least-assuming prizefighters, but there it was. Under a hot sun and before a black backdrop, the “Once and Four All” fighters took the scale and completed a collective journey from underappreciated craftsmen to stars.

Mexicans Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez each made the featherweight limit for their Saturday fight, the fourth in their rivalry, with a half pound to spare. Vazquez took the scale first, looking fitter than he’d appeared in his previous fight, and marked it at 125.5 pounds. Marquez followed immediately behind and made an identical 125.5.

Then the men turned and faced one another. Their expressions were serious and no words were exchanged. But that was expected. No trash-talking, no faux rage, no unseemly shtick. On the eve of what could well turn out to be the finest boxing tetralogy in 50 years, the combatants stuck to a formula they’d employed in their previous three encounters.

Honorable to a fault, Vazquez and Marquez might have arrived at Staples Center earlier if they’d joined hands and lunged at the promotion of another tired blood feud, like so many lesser combatants have in recent years, but that has not been their way. And because they did things the right way, a crowd gathered to celebrate them.

Round the press area in Star Plaza, a common sentiment was expressed by scribes. Vazquez-Marquez IV might be good as its predecessors, or it might not, but either way, attendance was mandatory to honor the sacrifices the men had made and would make at least once more.

Those sacrifices have been, and will remain, brutal. The terrible prospect of facing the same man a fourth time is one few prizefighters have confronted. The last American to do it, San Antonio’s Jesse James Leija, addressed the hardest part of the feat, earlier this week.

“You know him so well,” Leija said of his four-fight series with Ghanaian Azumah Nelson. “You know he’s not going to give up. Knowing they’re not going to give up, I’d say, is the hardest part.”

Adjustments can be tried in training camp, and the rumor of a new strategy can be dangled before fans and media, but according to Leija, none of it matters much.

“Not really,” Leija said about the likelihood of either fighter making significant stylistic changes. “Nothing is going to happen that’s going to change who you are once the fight starts.”

That hasn’t stopped Rafael Marquez from making one rather large change going into this fight with Vazquez. Saturday night, Marquez will fight without legendary trainer and instructor Nacho Beristain in his corner, for perhaps the first time since Marquez began wearing gloves. In a quiet homage to Beristain – the man who taught him to box – though, Marquez has selected Mexican Daniel Zaragoza to be his chief second.

But Zaragoza, a hall of famer who was also trained by Beristain, does not expect to provide Marquez with much that Beristain did not.

“Nothing more than attention,” Zaragoza said Friday, when asked what more he could offer. “Solely attention.”

Zaragoza was also quick to assert that no strain exists between Marquez and Beristain.

“All is well between them,” Zaragoza said. “And, of course, all is well between (Beristain) and me.”

But when asked if there was anything he might have changed in the 12th round of Vazquez-Marquez III, had he been in Marquez’s corner, Zaragoza was emphatic.

“Right hands, right hands,” Zaragoza said, and he punched his left palm. “More right hands!”

Certainly, that was the strategy that worked for Vazquez, was it not?

Saturday’s card will be broadcast by Showtime at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. Its co-main event will feature an intriguing fight for the IBF bantamweight title between Colombian Yonnhy Perez – who weighed 117.5 pounds Friday – and California’s Abner Mares, who made 116.8.

Staples Center doors open at 2:55 p.m. local time, with the first fight, of seven, expected to commence at 3:00.

GOLDEN BOY FANS SEE ONLY BRONZE
Any local fight enthusiasts who attended Friday’s weigh-in hoping to catch a glimpse of Golden Boy Promotions’ Oscar De La Hoya had to content themselves with a statue in Star Plaza. De La Hoya, whose company is a co-promoter of “Once and Four All” and who has not been seen at events recently, was not present at Staples Center though his bronze likeness was.

Teon Kennedy 122 – Jose Angel Beranza 121
(For Kennedy’s USBA Super Bantamweight Title)
Patrick Majewski 161 – Loren Myers 163
Anthony Flores 130 – Carlos Vinan 130
Ryan Carson 131 – Marcos Garcia 131
Ronald Cruz 142 – Juan Ramon Cruz 142
Josh Mercado 143 – Joel Nieves 146
Troy Maxwell 166 – Rafael Jastrzebski 167

TO BE BROADCAST LIVE ON www.gofightlive.tv at 7:30 pm est

CLICK FOR FULL EVENT INFORMATION

He sat at a table a year ago in a New York restaurant, dressed in a conservative suit and unknown to most in a crowd that was there to honor him. Israel Vazquez didn’t care. It also didn’t bother him that the plaque, the symbol of his honor, was not there either. It, like him, had apparently been overlooked

But Vazquez was there.

He was happy for the honor at the Boxing Writers Association’s 84th annual dinner and business-like in his acceptance of a professional milestone, the 2008 Fight of the Year, on a night when rival and partner Rafael Marquez couldn’t be there because of an auto accident near the Mexico City airport earlier that day.

It was a moment when other fighters might have felt insulted and angry enough to complain loudly and often. Vazquez didn’t. Celebrity has never been part of a job definition that he and Marquez will define and refine for a fourth time Saturday night in a Showtime-televised encore at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Vazquez-Marquez, already a memorable trilogy, is about to become further entrenched in historical lore, although both approach it without any of the tired hyperbole attached to Fights of the Century that now seem to happen every other year.

“It is the biggest day of my life,’’ said Vazquez, who won the two rematches, yet also looms as the underdog in the fourth because of scars that include a broken nose and damaged retina. “With this fight, Marquez and I will definitely be part of boxing history, even more so than now.’’

History speaks for itself, although Floyd Mayweather Jr. often speaks as though it has yet to say enough about him and how he belongs alongside Sugar Ray Robinson, or Muhammad Ali, or Julius Caesar. But Vazquez and Marquez aren’t trying to talk their way into history. They are only trying to make some.

“There are no words to say,’’ Marquez said. “There are no introductions to make. Everybody knows us.’’

Their understated fashion leaves no room for role playing or mind games. What everybody knows about Marquez and Vazquez is that they what to be known for what they do and not what they say. Imagine that. I’m not sure what old-school means anymore. If there is a face book for what it was, however, the defining faces are Vazquez and Marquez. In part, that’s why so many historical parallels are being drawn to their four-peat.

It’s rare and evocative with names from black-and-white newsreels of Ezzard Charles-versus- Jerry Joe Walcott and Willie Pepp-versus-Sandy Saddler. Boxing was big in those days. It might never be again. For one night, however, Vazquez and Marquez will explain why it was with workmanship that says it all instead of the words that say so little.

More Four
The former King of the Four Rounders, Eric “Butterbean” Esch, is attempting to become a heavyweight promoter. How heavy? He is somewhere near 400 pounds. Esch, whose promotional interest and personal preference is in mixed martial arts, is promoting a pay-per-view MMA card, Moonsin, Friday night (9 p.m. ET) at the DCU Center in Worcester Mass., featuring Tim Sylvia against Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Esch also had planned to fight. But the Massachusetts commission reportedly wouldn’t approve an exhibition between him and former Boston Bruins enforcer Lyndon Byers. Apparently, Esch’s ring experience, which includes everything from boxing to sumo wrestling, was cited as a factor. No truth to the rumor that nobody could find a stool big enough to support 400 pounds.

The entertaining Esch, now 43, hasn’t abandoned boxing, even though his former division, heavyweight, almost has. He would like to promote a boxing card featuring 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder in Birmingham, Ala., not far from his home in Jasper. Wilder, an unbeaten heavyweight in the initial stages of his pro career, is from Tuscaloosa.

“But nobody in the state Alabama knows who he is,’’ Esch said. “I’d like to get him some recognition in his home state.’’

Notes, anecdotes
§ Esch grew up in Alabama, but there isn’t a hint of a Southern accent in the many interviews he does with the media. “At home with my family, you’d hear it,’’ he said. “But not in the media. If the accent was there, they might have to include those subtitles.’’

§ Marquez promoter Gary Shaw thinks his fighter will stop Vazquez. “My prediction is that this fight does not go the full five rounds,’’ he said.

§ And there’s been some talk that a fourth fight between Marquez and Vazquez is one too many. There’s fear that the fighters will suffer long-term damage because of the series, already 25 rounds long and noteworthy for its sustained violence. “I recognize that,” Vazquez said Thursday at a news conference. “I don’t have anything against people who think like that. But I’m very sure that May 22, they’re going to feel different. I’m going to prove it. Honestly, of course the three battles that we had took something from us. Something from Marquez, something from me. This is boxing. This is a contact sport. You are expecting that. It is normal.”

He maybe widely regarded as the best Super Featherweight in the world but it’s an honour that has been bestowed on Roman “Rocky” Martinez more so because other fighters have left the weight class than what he has actually done himself. This year both Humberto Soto & Robert Guerrero abdicated their throwns as WBC & IBF champions to move up to Lightweight. Martinez 27, wants to prove he’s the top man at 130 and will look to catch the publics eye with his second defence of his WBO championship defence against Gonzalo Munguia who’s rated at number 11 by the WBO. Having been a pro since December 2001 Martinez has seen many things along the way to taking his record to 23-0-1(14) he’s beaten several very good fighters but now he wants to prove he’s worthy of being called the best and that campaign starts on 29 May against Munguia in Puerto Rico.

Hello Roman, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you have a fight with Gonzalo Munguia on 29 May. What can you tell us about this fight?

Roman Martinez – Well, it’s going to be a difficult fight because it’s a fighter that likes to come forward and place his punches strategically. I’ve watched some videos of him and we have already have planned out our attack.

Anson Wainwright – Where are you training for the fight? What’s a typical day in the gym?

Roman Martinez – I’m training in the Dorado Puerto Rico municipal gym and my head trainer is Raul “Papo” Torres. A typical day of training starts at 4:00am with my 55 minute run, and then I rest till 11:30 am and then head to the Dorado Gym where I strength train and box for about an hour and a half. I am currently sparring with two 140 pound prospects from the Island.

Anson Wainwright – You were due to face Ricky Burns from Scotland. What happened to prevent that fight happening?

Roman Martinez – The fight didn’t happen because there were some differences in the economic side of things but in the warrior side I’m willing and able to fight him. I loved Britain, the people there are gentle and treated me with a lot of respect I’m looking forward to going back. I also would like the opportunity to give a shoutout to Shannons Gym who helped us keep in shape for the Cook fight.

Anson Wainwright – Since you went to Manchester and won the title against Nicky Cook how has life changed for you? How much more popular have you become? Do you get asked to do more things than previously?

Roman Martinez – Life’s been good, but it has been a result of my hard work and dedication. Nicky Cook gave me a chance to face him and I gave it my all and got to fulfill my lifelong dream: become a World Champion. Yes, becoming a world champion has given me a lot of exposure and its direct result of the high quality of opponent that I faced to win my championship and my dedication.

Anson Wainwright – Who is part of team Martinez?

Roman Martinez – Raul “Papo” Torres-is the head trainer
Dennys “Sensei” Rivera- is the assistant trainer (From Philadelphia, helping Rocky to improve his head and lateral movement)
Ricardo Rodriguez-Rivera-Publicist

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your early years in Vega Baja and how it took you into Boxing?

Roman Martinez – I remember that I always loved boxing and I wanted to start practicing it but at the moment I had bad grades and I remember that my father and uncle told me that if I didn’t get good grades that I wasn’t going to be able to start. So I improved my grades and then I was able to start boxing and now here I am having the privilege to be talking to you.

Anson Wainwright – What are you goals in Boxing?

Roman Martinez – First I would like unify my weight class and become its Super Champion and then go up to light weight and do the same. And be able to become a pound for pound best.

Anson Wainwright – Who has been your toughest opponent to date and why? What do you think is your best win?

Roman Martinez – They have all been tough; I’m just not able to pick one in particular. They all have been great wins but if I have to pick one I would be Nicky Cook because of the level of difficulty that I had to encounter in him, he’s a great fighter.

Anson Wainwright – Who was your Boxing hero?

Roman Martinez – Félix “Tito” Trinidad and Julio Cesar Chavez they’re both just amazing.

Anson Wainwright – What can you tell us about you as a person and what you like to do away from Boxing?

Roman Martinez – I always like to rest a lot and have fun with my family. Speaking of family I just started training my 6 year old son Luis Antonio who is already showing his skills.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for Gonzalo Munguia? Do you have any prediction?

Roman Martinez – Just to come in his best condition because we’re fighting in front of my people and we should give them the spectacle they deserve. No predictions, I’m just going to give it my best.

Thank you for the opportunity and my best to all the 15 round staff and people from England who always have shown great support to my career.

Good luck in your upcoming figtht Roman.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Boxer’s as a rule have always been known as having rather ugly faces, for example the boxers nose, the cauliflower ear, scar tissue, the high cheek bones, are what are usually remarked about of the boxers face.

However contrary to popular belief, there comes along the pretty boy, or better known as the golden boy whose handsome countenance makes a mockery of the trade he plies and clearly dispel’s such stereotypical views of the boxer’s boat, {cockney slang for someone’s face} and talking of boat’s don’t worry guy’s we’ll be taking a trip to the seaside soon, in the literary sense of course!

Through the years, there have been plenty of good looking men who have traded leather but have dismissed the old adage about ‘he looks a bit banged up’ let’s start with Jack Dempsey, the first million dollar fighter, who also had a short career on the silver screen with actress wife Estelle Taylor, then came boxing’s first golden boy Art Aragon, then Sugar’s Robinson and Leonard, both pretty boy’s, Muhammad Ali, Bobby Czyz, Donnie “Golden Boy” Lalonde the former W.B.C 175lb king, who ring magazine stated as ‘diabolically good looking’ to Britain’s own Robin Reid, who in his spare time posed for girly mags in erotic poses, Calzaghe is another one, both former World super middleweight champions respectively.

However it’s with the super middle’s and Britain where we’ll stay, shall we?, see down in the South coast there’s a super middle coming up the rankings, and from Margate actually, look I’ll explain a little later!

However though only boxing six times and winning his last five in a row as a pro, he sure looks impressive inside the confines of a boxing ring, but talking of looks it’s on the outside his been causing waves, well he is from Margate ain’t he!

So without further a due, let me introduce boxing’s latest golden boy……Jack Morris.

See Jack does’nt look like your average boxer as I once stated in a previous article on the super middleweight prospect, with his boy next door good looks and much, much further away girls, in your wildest dreams!

Morris a native of Margate, the place of kiss me quick hats, though I’m sure ladies you’d opt to kiss Jack slowly!

Jack who stands six foot tall has been dubbed by many of the local lasses down there in Southwark as the Beckham of boxing, oh sorry guy’s I did’nt mention when Jack’s not at home weekend’s in Margate, he stay’s in London as this is where he trains down at the City Boxer gym, a personal trainer during the day, Jack also doe’s a bit of modeling naturally.

Having modeled in his teens, it was’nt long before bigger names came knocking at the afforementioned City Boxer gym, one time Jack modeled in Holborn in London and was paid for a measly two hours work the grand sum of 00!

Modelling anything from Suits to Boxing wear, Jack is at the moment in talks with GQ magazine and Men’s Health involving more work, only last year Jack was offered a week’s work in Milan, the fashion capital of the World for 000, as one of the top people from the late Alexander McQueen’s company felt Jack had the right look and build, however due to there not being enough model’s with the right look, the shoot was canceled.

However despite that initial setback of sorts, the offers weren’t far away from big name modeling agency’s, has Jack was picked up by Dominic Barratt Evans who himself is good friends with Jason Joyce {take a look at www.jasonjoyce.com to see for yourself} who shoots some of the most famous people in the World, U2, Oasis, Cheryl Cole, amongst some of the World’s top models amongst others….so Jack is certainly mixing with the big boys in the photogenic sense, say no more!
Has I mentioned earlier Jack who stand’s an imposing six feet tall, his twelve stone is distributed nicely over his manly frame, wide sloping shoulders with a good six pack chucked in for good measure, and with bulging biceps and unlike most muscle men he doesn’t suffer from what I term ‘lolly pop legs’ as his pin’s are more shapely and well muscled, more like that of a footballer.

It amazes me that a guy that get’s punched in the face for a living is in my totally unbiased opinion a lot better looking than most footballers and for that matter film stars, so I told you quite a bit about Jack, so what’s his face like?, well….. if you could imagine a guy that looks across between Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore, you might know where I’m coming from, this guy is so handsome, and please let me go on record as one writer once did in Ring magazine back in 1993 when doing an article on Billy Conn, who was former light heavy champ, “he was the most handsome man I ever saw in my life” and where Jack’s concerned I echo that very sentence, drop dead gorgeous he sure is, nice friendly blue eyes, shine from his pale complexion, with a nicely shaped nose, also his lovely smile that’s harbored by wait for it girls…..his squarish manly jaw and more importantly Jack when he speaks, it’s with a nice quiet baritone, see there’s nothing flash or cocky with this guy, he is one of the quietest people I have had the pleasure of meeting in my life.

Born on 15th August 1982, I remember the actual day very well as I was a twelve year old at Leigh on sea in Essex, I remember seeing a pretty girl of a similar age, both looking at each other, I felt like I was falling in love at such a young age, it reminded me of that scene from Blake Edward’s film ’10’ where Dudley Moore is imagining his running along the beach meeting up with Bo Derek {a regular at the big fights in the 80’s}, but sadly for me reality struck later that day as she left and I never saw her again, I could have cried but one thing’s for sure someone did that very day, some miles away in Greenwich, it was a newborn baby….it was Jack Morris!

Never mind ’10’, the number ’13’ is a number that Jack seems comfortable with as this is for some reason his nickname, see no one other than the man himself know’s why this is, and in true Bond fashion, it’s top secret simple as, see Jack won’t unleash the reason why he calls himself this until after one of his fights, possibly after he becomes a champion, so you could say ’13’ will one day be number 1!

And in true Patrick Mcgoohan fashion from the hit TV series, The Prisoner, he is not just a number, he is the man!

Jack Morris however is from my knowledge the only boxer ever to call himself ’13’, but by eerie coincidence in the sport of baseball, there was also another Jack Morris who had made history with the number 13, as he scored a record Major League thirteen consecutive straight opening day starts from 1980 through to 1992, but hey it’s the boxing version whose knocking em for six, man and woman alike,See every man want’s to be him, every woman with him!

Jack however is now also a proud father himself, real name Andrew Morris, due to the British boxing board of control deciding that there couldn’t be two Andrew Morris’ as there’s a Andy Morris a super feather from Manchester, so Andrew named himself after his son whose name’s Jack obviously.
The name cunjer’s up that of a old time prizefighter, someone who plied there trade back in the 20’s during the time’s of another Jack, Dempsey that is, however not only that but Morris fights like one also, my first time of watching him was last year at the Troxy, when he defeated the durable Kenroy Lambert who rarely gets stopped, sitting there I felt excited just like when I was a sixteen year old watching for the first time the black and white fights of Dempsey, Marciano and Tunney, it felt as though I was watching a throwback the very way Morris moved and let go with his shots, even managing to score a most impressive stoppage victory over Lambert which is a rarity itself! or has Steve Holdsworth pointed out to me when I was around his house, “that’s a good result, no one hardly stops Kenroy!” enough said!

However at that particular venue on a big screen before the contest, Jack was shown being interviewed by his trainer Mark ” the Burf” Burford, the big screen treatment fitting as Jack is hoping that an acting career will hopefully come to fruition on a much bigger screen after his finished trading punches for punch lines!

Also it is hoped a much bigger stage boxing wise, with the good looks of a James Bond type, and like the nickname of his trainer, the “Burf” it could be the birth indeed of a champion boxer and film star, or like the recent film starring Jim Carey ‘I love Philip Morris’ all I can say is Jack ain’t too bad himself! and while on the subject of celluloid, in true Bond idiom on getting back to that particular March evening last year, it was Lambert who was shaken, myself stirred!

However thus far as a pro Jack has showed progress more so in his last two fights, beating oft beat journeymen in Jamie Ambler and Adam Wilcox, it’s not just beating them, it’s the way he has, more conclusively than that of the other so called prospects, harmed not only with hooks that weaken opponents knee’s, but looks that weaken the ladies knee’s Jack is a winner on both sides of the ropes it seems.

Surely a member of the bored housewife’s club and many a teenage girls fantasy, let me put it into some kind of perspective shall I, after buying the trade paper Boxing news, showing my mate at work Dave Crossley the photo of Jack he remarked ‘good looking boy’ on showing my mum some film I had taken of my subject for this article ‘his not a bad looking bloke is he’, see everyone loves Jack from the young to the old, and it’s with the young that Jack works closely with, as he helps raise money for a children’s charity that helps children with various illnesses, conclusive proof that the saying ‘beauty’s only skin deep’ need not apply to the man from Margate has he is on both counts, last year at Jack’s effort versus Jamie Ambler, the brigade of charity workers holding buckets for Jack around the ringside, to help raise cash for Jack’s designated charity or has I noted in my report, “if only footballers followed by Jack’s fine example, Jack the Beckham of boxing? definitely! his better looking than David’s Beckham and fellow pin up boxer Haye, and with bigger balls and better look’s than Beckham, his more golden than golden balls himself!

So call him what you like, the Bond or the Beckham of boxing, but one things for sure girls, Jack bends it like Beckham if not better and that certainly would be a case of ‘for your eyes only!’

At the turn of the year all was well for Steve Luevano he was looking forward to his biggest fight and pay day of a near 10 year career. He knew if he could add to his five successful defence’s with number six he’d move himself into a higher tax bracket. However things didn’t go well for the Californian native when he lost to uber talented Puerto Rican JuanMa Lopez via seventh round stoppage. Now fully rested one of Boxing’s quiet guys Luevano 29 hopes to soon be back in action and make some noise with some of the top guys at Featherweight. Here’s what Luevano had to say.

Hello Steve, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly it’s been nearly 4 months since you fought JuanMa Lopez, how have you been since that fight? What have you done with your time?

Steve Luevano – I’ve been good since then, i’ve not really done anything just hanging out and spending time with my family and my friends Baseball team.

Anson Wainwright – Do you have any idea when we may see your return to the ring?

Steve Luevano – Not at the moment, Cameron (Dunkin) hasn’t said anything or my trainer Robert (Garcia) he is the one who normally lets me know.

Cameron Dunkin – Steven will fight this summer and I have no doubt he will be champion again. Todd duBoef has told me he will support us (Steven, me and Robert) and I’m really excited for Steven. I think Juanma is a great fighter so there is no disgrace in Steven losing to him. Steven fought his heart out and he does in every fight.

Anson Wainwright – When would you like to be back in action?

Steve Luevano – Umm doesn’t really matter to me.

Anson Wainwright – You have been a career Featherweight do you think you’ll comeback at 126 or are you moving up to Super Featherweight? What is your weight now?

Steve Luevano – Whatever it’s doesn’t matter to me. I can make 126 still it they want to put me at 130 that’ll be even easier for me. I’m 20 pounds over my fighting weight.

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

Steve Luevano – Well my manager is Cameron Dunkin and trainer is Robert Garcia & my promoter is Top Rank. I train out of it was La Colonia but it’s now Garcia Boxing club.

Anson Wainwright – If we can touch on what you have done so far in your career how do you look back on your WBO title reign at Featherweight? What was your proudest moment?

Steve Luevano – The proudest moment was defending my WBO title 5 times. They gave me a ring for that and i know a lot of fighters don’t do that. For me that was the proudest moment.

Anson Wainwright – How good in your opinion is JuanMa Lopez?

Steve Luevano – He’s a good fighter, i always thought he was a good fighter. What i think of him, to me he’s just another fighter. He’s very tough fighter but i don’t think he’s the next Floyd Mayweather because nobody can be better than Floyd. But because he’s Puerto Rican Trinidad but he’s like Trinidad but he’s nowhere near as good as Trinidad.

Anson Wainwright – His next opponent will be another guy you fought Bernabe Concepcion how do you see that going?

Steve Luevano – I see it going pretty good. If Concepcion catches him with the punches he’s going to get in trouble because he hits hard. He (Concepcion) never really got me with a good punch until after the bell (Concepcion lost via seventh round DQ after a late punch) It’s going to be an interesting fight. If Concepcion can get him to brawl it’s better fight for him.

Anson Wainwright – What are your goals in Boxing on your comeback?

Steve Luevano – Getting a title back

Anson Wainwright – The Featherweight division is pretty hot at the moment with several top guys JuanMa Lopez, Chris John, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Elio Rojas & Celestino Caballero what are you feeling about your division being so hot at the moment?

Steve Luevano – It looks like better fighters are there and better paydays. To me I can still make 126 but if Cameron thinks i should move to 130 i’ll move to 130.

Anson Wainwright – Do you have anyone in mind that your targeting?

Steve Luevano – Chris John because it looks like he wants to make a break out and a name for himself so i wouldn’t mind that one.

Anson Wainwright – You train with Mikey Garcia he’s well thought of what can you tell us about how you assess his ability?

Steve Luevano – Oh Mikey is a really good fighter, very technical. His dad trains him not to fight like Robert did, because Robert was a brawler, he rarely boxed. With Mikey all he does is box, he’s very skilled. He has a lot of potential to beat those guys who are out there right now

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for your fans and the Boxing public?

Steve Luevano – I’m just waiting on a date for my comeback.

Thanks for your time Steve, good luck in your comeback.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Last Tuesday while the “Once and Four All” conference call happened, I sat beside Mexican Jorge “El Travieso” Arce. He was at Dave & Buster’s restaurant in San Antonio to promote a different fight, with Eric Morel on June 26 at Alamodome. Arce likes to opine. Saturday’s match is two Mexicans in a historic fourth fight. So I asked him who’ll win.

“¡Híjole!” he said. “It is going to be a fight!”

Right on, Jorge. Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez will make the fourth fight of a rare tetralogy, after their trilogy ended in 2008 with Vazquez leading 2-1. The fight will be broadcast by Showtime.

Not on pay-per-view, mind you. No need to belabor the point, but one of the greatest trilogies in the history of prizefighting happened with no extra charge to Showtime subscribers. The fourth fight happens the same way. That’s a commendable model if boxing ever had one.

Back to El Travieso, whose nickname translates to something like “Naughty One.” Soon as he heard mention of Vazquez-Marquez IV, he said “¡Híjole!” – a word with no apt translation in English. It’s what would happen if you appended the personal pronoun “him” to “boy.” It’s a Mexicanism that makes no more sense in Spanish than English. It’s also a wonderfully expressive term that works like “Wow!” and usually gets accompanied by the speaker shaking his hand as if he just burned it.

Point is, Saturday’s fight is one that finds even Arce – a showman who promotes his own bleeding – using interjections and raising his voice. That says quite a bit about the evenness, drama and suspense of this series.

This says even more. Rafael Marquez won the first fight after Vazquez was unable to continue at the end of round 7. Israel Vazquez won the second fight when the referee stopped it a minute into round 6. The third fight, as you know, went the distance – barely. That’s 24 complete rounds worthy of revisiting old scorecards over.

So I did. Here’s what I found.

In the first fight, I gave Vazquez rounds 3 and 6, with the third going 10-8. Second fight, I had Vazquez winning rounds 2, 3 and 5. Third fight, he got rounds 2, 3, 6, 8, 11 and 12 – with the 12th going 10-8.

First fight on my card, Marquez won rounds 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7. Second fight, I gave him rounds 1 and 4. Third fight, he got rounds 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9, with the fourth going 10-8.

That comes to 226-226. Fitting, no?

Whither “Once and Four All” then? There’s no telling. Jorge Arce shared the conventional wisdom that Vazquez is the more-damaged of the two fighters; that Marquez, despite losing twice, hurt Vazquez in more permanent ways. Maybe.

The old adage says boxers gain weight on their chins more than their fists, and as this match is being made at 126 – four pounds above the weight limit for the first three – it’s worth asking whom that favors. Marquez seems the obvious choice.

After all, he would have won the second fight had he had perhaps a round or two more to work on the cuts above Vazquez’s eyes. He would have won the third fight if he’d just stayed upright in the final 10 seconds. His increased ability to withstand Vazquez’s punches, with the addition of four pounds, seems to portend victory for Marquez.

But what if the only thing that kept Vazquez from finishing Marquez in the final round of their trilogy was the 15 or so extra seconds Marquez’s fantastic right hand bought him over the preceding 11 rounds? That is, what happens if Vazquez tastes Marquez’s right cross early on Saturday and finds more fat on it and less chile?

Marquez says he’s better for the fights that he’s had with Vazquez. “The only thing that is different with me this time is that I am more mature,” Marquez said last Tuesday. He didn’t say but verily believes he would have won the second fight had it continued. He believes he won the third. Marquez, too, hears the whispers that Vazquez is no longer the man he was, that his reserves are spent. But he says, “I have always said that Israel is a great fighter.”

Asked if it’s a negative or a positive to know an opponent well as he now knows Marquez, Vazquez answers, “I see it as a positive . . . I know where to attack him from.” Note that Vazquez emphasizes the offensive benefit: If each man attacks the other’s weak point, the stronger man wins. So goes his calculus.

Rafael Marquez is a special talent. He has won 79 percent of his fights by knockout. His long right cross is devastating as any punch of this era. He is one half of the best brother combination in boxing history. He is one half of the best boxing trilogy in at least 30 years.

Israel Vazquez is a special talent, too. But Vazquez also has a component of will few athletes before him have possessed. When Showtime replays Vazquez-Marquez III Friday night, watch him in the 12th round. Watch him explode off his stool after 33 minutes of combat and a knockdown – with two damaged eyes and a surgically rebuilt nose. Watch him throw right hand after right hand without regard for consequence. It is a performance that, within its proper context, is demonical as any boxing has seen.

That kind of man should not be doubted. All indications are that Vazquez expects this match to be every bit as long and brutal as its immediate predecessor. Marquez might not. His promoter says Vazquez won’t last five rounds.

I beg to differ. This time, I think Vazquez gets to Marquez a half-minute earlier. So I’ll take Vazquez: KO-12.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

Though only in the fledgling stage of his career Michael Finney 3-0(3) has impressed many people so far with his skills, work rate and power. He may end up as one of the three musketeer’s down the road along with the more known Frankie Gomez & Jose Benavidez Jr among the young pro’s who have gone pro in recent months amongst large fan fare at Light Welterweight. Finney 18, moved to live an hour outside Las Vegas in Pahrump with his Mother, father & brother Brian also a boxer who awaits his pro debut. They moved 3 months ago from there home in Smith Station, Alabama. He’s taken to his new life like a duck to water and is constantly improving under the watchful eye of famed trainer Kenny Adams. To date Finney has fought away from the spotlight but racked up three first round stoppages, that spotlight will shine on him and soon if he continues to gain impressive wins.

Hello Michael, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you moved to 3-0(3) when you stopped you last opponent in the first round last time out. How do you feel about that fight and performance looking back at it?

Michael Finney – It was great, the guy started out good an everything but i was just faster than him and did good listening to my trainer. His punches were kind of slow and i would go over them, he wasn’t blocking them. I hit him with a right onto the ropes, i hit him with another right and a hook then i hit him with an uppercut to his chest, finally he went down, the referee jumped in and that was it.

Anson Wainwright – Thought it early days any idea when we may see you in action next?

Michael Finney – It’s supposed to be 4th or 5th June i think from what i’ve heard and it’ll be in Houston, Tx.

Anson Wainwright – Who is your manager, trainer & Promoter? Also what gym do you train at?

Michael Finney – It’s the TKO gym (In Las Vegas) my trainer is Kenny Adams he’s great, he’s really patient with you he doesn’t get stressed out so he makes it fun for you, he breaks everything down. My manager is Cameron Dunkin, he’s great he does everything for me. Without him i’d be lost! Haha They’ve been really good to me. My promoter is Chet Koerner of TKO Boxing he’s great he lets us know what’s going on.

Anson Wainwright – How did you first get into Boxing?

Michael Finney – Well my mom came home one day and we played all different sports Football, Basketball & Baseball and she had a paper with an advert for Boxing and said do you want to try Boxing, we said sure and that was basically it.

Anson Wainwright – For fans who perhaps aren’t familiar with you, what can you tell us about your style of fighting?

Michael Finney – I like to go forward, i like to get inside and throw bodyshots. I don’t like chasing guys down that’s one of the things i need to work on. I move my head well. I’m a good counterpuncher too.

Anson Wainwright – You moved from Smith Station, Alabama and now live in Primm, NV how have you found the move?

Michael Finney – We’ve been here for 3 months now. The temperature and climate are way different. In Alabama it’s really humid you have trees and grass everything but here it’s so dry, you have dust everywhere. I hadn’t realised how much i missed grass! Haha But i like it here. It’s actually hotter in Alabama than it is here now.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do with your time when your not Boxing?

Michael Finney – I work in the shop (Garage) with my dad on car’s that’s my hobby. We work on our car’s or family members cars. My Granddad was a mechanic and he passed some of it on to my my dad. I also like reading action or thriller books.

Anson Wainwright – You had a very good amateur career, can you tell us what you won and what your record was?

Michael Finney – I had 147 amateur fights i lost 30 of them. I won the Junior Olympics in 2008, i got to the semi final of the Golden Gloves and fought in the PAL’s. I won the Georgia games a few times but there not ranking events. I’ve been around awhile.

Anson Wainwright – What made you decide to go pro at just 18 instead of perhaps trying to fight for America at the 2012 Olympics?

Michael Finney – Well i’ve been an amateur for 9 years and i wasn’t felling it like i used to so it was either change it up or go pro. If i kept at the pace i was going i would of burned out. My coach was great but he trained us so hard without breaks and stuff. You’d be hurting so bad you wouldn’t be able to keep going like you were. We trained 4 hours a day and that’s not including the runs.

Anson Wainwright – What for you is the Best part about being a boxer & the Worst part?

Michael Finney – The Worst part i reckon would have to be getting knocked out i guess. I’ve been lucky enough not to of been knocked out. But i’d say that would have to take a chip off your pride. The Best part is actually fighting it’s self. I get really excited about fighting. I like fighting and the money’s not bad either! Haha I have to say fighting, i love the sport.

Anson Wainwright – What would you be doing if you weren’t a boxer?

Michael Finney – We actually when we boxed amateur had a lawn business, me and my brother used to go around cutting people’s grass and stuff like that. That was good money, i reckon if i wasn’t boxing i’d be doing that.

Anson Wainwright – What are your goals in Boxing?

Michael Finney – Right now when they tell me to go fight i go fight. I listen to my manager and do the best that i can.

Thanks for your time Michael

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Sergiy Dzinzurak made an impressive American debut as he defended the WBO Jr. Middleweight title with a tenth round stoppage over Daniel Dawson at the Chumash Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

Dzinzurak was steady if not spectacular as he was methodical with his jab and straight left hand coming from his southpaw stance. Dzinzurak was extremely effective with a jab that was piston-like as the fight wore on. Dzinzurak began to turn the heat up a little more with each passing round starting in round five.

Dzinurak began mixing in power punches and was dominant in round’s seven and nine. In round ten, Dzinzurak landed a plethora of shots with out much coming back from Dawson. Dzinzurak landed a big 1-2 combination and referee Jose Cobian stepped in at the 2:12 mark of 2:12

Dzinzurak, of Brovari, Ukraine is still undefeated at 36-0 with twenty-four knockouts. Dawson, 154 lbs of Australia is now 34-2.

“My plan was to use the jab to make him tired and then go to the other punches,” Dzinziruk said. “We saw some tapes of him and knew the early rounds would be tough. Our plan was to apply more pressure in the later rounds and finish him. We’d had a long layoff and we wanted to take it easy in the beginning.

“Whatever we planned, it worked out. I feel good about my performance, especially after the long layoff.

I wanted to please the American fans, and I think I did. Now, I want to take collect a few more belts and take on the other (154 pound) champions.”

“Obviously, he had a good jab. That’s pretty clear,” Dawson said. “I think once he established the jab and the range, I was fighting to get back in it and he was already comfortable. I failed to get around the jab or beat him to it. “

Vernon Paris remained undefeated with an exciting split decision over Juan Santiago in an eight round Welterweight bout.

Paris was the quicker puncher as he landed some nice swift combinations. In round one, Paris was deducted for a hard ow blow that sent Santiago to the canvas. Satiago came on straing as he showed incredible courage after eating alot of punches early. It was Santiago driving Paris back and landing hard body shots in an effort to slow down Paris. In round five, Paris landed another low blow but he was not penalized by referee David Mendoza. The continued to trade rounds in this ebb and flow contest with Paris maybe eeking out the final round.

Paris, 146 1/2 lbs of Detroit won by scores of 76-75 on two cards while Santiago took a third card at 77-74.

Paris is now 21-0-3. Santiago, 146 1/2 lbs of Denver is now 12-4-1.

“It was a close fight, but the judges got it right,” Paris said. “He was aggressive and strong and he landed a lot of good blows, but he also missed a lot. At the same time, all of my punches landed. The judges got it right.”

“I’m very disappointed,” Santiago said. “I feel like I won, everyone knows that I won. I don’t know what more I needed to do to win it.

“I did everything I possibly could do. I fought my hardest. Everyone thought I won that fight.

Campaign promises in politics are like noses in boxing. They are there to be broken. But Filipino Congressman-elect Manny Pacquiao has one promise he can’t break:

He has to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

If the Mayweather promise wasn’t exactly stated in Pacquiao’s successful run for the seat representing the Sarangani province, it was there, everywhere. Few would have paid as much attention otherwise. Just ask Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who a few days ago returned from the Philippines so upbeat that it was as if his flight through time zones included a stop at The Thrilla In Manila.

“It’s amazing how many people came up to me as I was leaving the Philippines and asked me: When is the Mayweather fight going to happen?’’ Arum said Wednesday in a conference call with a few media members. “That’s the fight people want to see. That’s the fight that I’m going to do my darndest to make happen.

’’ This corner, like several others, has been skeptical about chances that Arum or anybody else has at putting together a rare fight that can captivate worldwide attention. Yet, that rare potential is still there, despite the buzz-kill that came with the noisy, then dreary negotiations that fell apart just five months ago. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly re-invigorated interest. Maybe, the interest was always there anyway.

Whatever it was, Arum re-discovered in his trip to the Philippines that the appetite for Mayweather-Pacquiao is as keen as ever. If there were any misgivings still with him in the wake of the feud, that baggage wasn’t with him upon his return. In part, I suspect, that’s because it’s so easy to get caught up in the phenomenon that is Pacquiao, whose ability to surprise is seemingly endless.

The word after his one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Dallas was that he couldn’t win in a return to the political ring against a wealthy, well-entrenched rival. Even Filipino writers who chronicle his every move, made it sound as if Pacquiao’s chances at defeating Roy Chiongbian were about as good as Clottey winning a rematch.

Like coming back from a loss to Erik Morales in their first fight, however, Pacquiao learned from defeat, adjusted and added a right to the left for an uninterrupted run of 12 successive victories since 2005. There are no lasting losses for Pacquiao. There are only lessons. If the 31-year-old Filipino can adjust, so can the 78-year-old Arum.

This time, Arum promises not to negotiate in the media, which late last year was like a flame to a fuse. It blew up egos that are never far from exploding.

“Once you start negotiating through the media, it becomes ego driven,’’ said Arum, who is talking about Nov. 13 or Nov. 6 at either Las Vegas’ MGM Grand or Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas metroplex. “People can’t wait to give a statement to the press. The flames just shoot up and there is no real opportunity for rational behavior to take over. Everyone is so interested is setting forth his position to the media that it becomes the contest. That involves me as well as everybody else.’’

Arum’s acknowledgement of his role in the blowup represents a promising sign. But it’s reasonable to remain skeptical about whether he can rein in his quick temper, which has been great for the media but often a deal breaker in negotiations, especially involving a fighter, Mayweather, he doesn’t like.

For Arum , a good starting point – a symbol of good will – would be to drop a lawsuit filed against Mayweather, Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya and others. It charges that Pacquiao, who has never failed a sanctioned drug test, was defamed in what was said and written in the debate over Mayweather’s demands for random testing. If the public didn’t suspect Pacquiao as a user of performance-enhancers before, it does now. That, at least, is the allegation.

Arum said Wednesday that “the lawsuit is still being actively pursued.” However, he also said: “All these issues are on the table and they will be negotiated and nothing cannot be discussed.

’’ OK, can we talk about taking that lawsuit off the table?

It’s a beginning, a tentative step in trying to find out whether Mayweather is really interested. He says is. Then again, he says a lot of things. It’s also reasonable to be wary of Mayweather, a man of many motives, moods and roles. A kinder, gentler and better Mayweather showed up in the pre-fight build-up to his brilliant victory on May 1 over Shane Mosley.

At news conferences during the two weeks before opening bell, he dropped the profanity. It was hard to tell whether he was playing his own brand of politics in Las Vegas while Pacquiao was running a political campaign on the other side of the world. But a likable Mayweather, before, during and after the fight, emerged. That, too, looms as a promising sign for a deal.

Still, the imminent renewal of talks could all be for naught if the impasse over random, Olympic-style drug testing remains unresolved. It’s hard to see how Mayweather, who underwent eight tests before his decision over Mosley, can compromise on that one. He has said he won’t. If he does, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which supervised the testing for Mayweather-Mosley, will surely criticize him.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Pacquiao, who has said blood-testing weakens him, might be willing to soften his stand of no testing within a couple of weeks of opening ball.

Without some sign of compromise from either or both camps, forget it. There’s no reason to even begin talking.

If the drug-testing issue is resolved, another one looms over the money. Before a proposed March 13 fight, they had agreed to a 50-50 split. But the equation has changed. Mayweather ‘s pay-per-view numbers are harder to debate now than they were before he beat Mosley. His victory over Mosley generated 1.4 million customers, or twice that of the 700,000 who bought the HBO telecast for Pacquiao’s victory over Clottey. Depending on the projection, Pacquiao and Mayweather could set the pay-per-view record, meaning their purses could be a split of $100 million.

If the agreement isn’t 50-50, the devil is in the percentages. If Mayweather demands 55 percent, the additional five percent means $55 million for him and $45 million for Pacquiao, who might need some money after spending a reported $6.5 million on his Congressional campaign. The difference amounts to 10 million reasons to fear that the fight won’t happen. For now, however, I’ll bet on the optimism.

It’s the only way to vote.

Just six weeks ago Nkosinathi “Mabhere” Joyi 21-0(15) won the biggest fight of his life and achieved his life time goal when he beat Raul “Rayito” Garcia for the IBF Strawweight title. Going in it pitted two unbeaten fighters who had a combined record of 47-0-1(31) in what looked a 50-50 fight. However Joyi 27, was always confident in his own ability and won comfortably on the scorecards 118-110, 119-109 & 119-109 in front of his adoring hometown fans in East London. Having turned pro in 2002 Joyi took the long road to the title first winning the South African National title, after 2 years as a pro which he defended six times. That took Joyi onto the International scene where he won the IBO crown which allowed him to move forward making three successful defences all inside the distance. At this point Joyi was ready to turn his attention to the IBF championship where he met former title holder Florante Condes in an eliminator, Joyi won with ease thus setting up the fight with Garcia. Here’s what Joyi had to say.

Hello Nkosinathi, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulation’s on a fantastic win over Raul Garcia, looking back at that fight what are your thoughts on how you felt it went and how it felt to become the World Champion?

Nkosinathi Joyi – The fight went very well for me, I won it by a big margin. I feel great that I finally realised my dream

Anson Wainwright – Though it’s early day’s do you have any idea when you may make your first defence? Any idea who it will be against and where it will take place?

Nkosinathi Joyi – I am looking around August or September, the opponent may be my country man, Tshepo Lefele, who is also promoted by Branco. That will be a good fight in that whoever the winner is, the title will remain in the stable.

Anson Wainwright – How has winning the IBF Strawweight title changed your life? Do people recognise you more now in Mdantsane?

Nkosinathi Joyi – It took my country by storm, even though it was expected, anything is possible in boxing. Recognition is there, more so because I never deserted my province to seek greener pastures else, I remained loyal to my province, hence I get so much support from the people.

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

Nkosinathi Joyi – My promoter is Branco Milenkovic, Business Manager Siphatho Handi & Trainer Boyboy Mpulampula. They are a very strong SA Team.

Anson Wainwright – Your quite tall for Strawweight at 5’6 do you have any problems making 105? what is your walk around weight?

Nkosinathi Joyi – I have absolutely no problem in making my weight (47,63kg), as I am always in the gym. I relax @ 50kg. My management is very strict, they give me only two weeks break after each and every fight.

Anson Wainwright – Though the Strawweight division isn’t the most popular weight class around there are several very good fighters there what do you think of your weight class at the moment?

Nkosinathi Joyi – I want to unify all the titles in my division, but the first one to go for after my first defence is Roman Gonzalez, I’ve read in a number of his local news papers that he can’t wait to fight me. I am, therefore, pleading with my mangament to bring him on. Please make it happen, I am ready.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your younger days and how it took you into Boxing?

Nkosinathi Joyi – I never new that I would be a boxer in my life. I used to accompany my friends & my elder brother to Mr. Handi’s gym, watch them fight in amateur boxing tournaments, but one day in 1997, Mr. Handi refused to let me go, he forced me to train, that is how it started, the rest is history.

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

Nkosinathi Joyi – Away from boxing, I listen to African traditional music & watch soccer.

Anson Wainwright – Your Nickname is Mabhere, where did that come from and what does it mean?

Nkosinathi Joyi – Mabhere, means Baby Bear, very kind & innocent when there is no problem, but very aggressive & vicious when provoked. It came from my Mom, Evelyn.

Anson Wainwright – Who is your hero in Boxing growing up and why?

Nkosinathi Joyi – George Foreman, for bravery during his days, even when he did his come back after a long lay off.

Anson Wainwright – What are your goals in Boxing? Unify the title’s, move up to Light Flyweight, fight over seas etc?

Nkosinathi Joyi – Unify all the titles in my division, as I have no reason to move up my division, I will not make the Light Flyweight.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for the Boxing fans of the World?

Nkosinathi Joyi – Fans of boxing around the world: Watch out for Mabhere as he is the History Maker.

Thanks for your time and once again congratulations on winning the title.

You are more than welcome Anson, thanks for your interest in me.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Here’s what we know. Saturday two welterweight titlists made a non-title match at junior-middleweight on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing.” In the middle of the fourth round of a fight neither was winning conclusively, the mens’ limbs tangled. One ended on the canvas. The other ended outside the ring, where a doctor said he was unfit to continue. His opponent won by technical decision.

Here’s what we can consider. A normally fine fight venue was two-thirds empty. Two normally fine fighters made three insipid rounds. The much taller fighter caused the tangle by dropping his head to waist level. The fighter outside the ring got there by leaping. A man was carted off in a neck brace while waving his arms. And, oh yes, the result.

It went: Paul Williams TD-4 Kermit Cintron. An unusual line, that. Williams won by scores of 39-37 and 40-36 on two judges’ cards and lost 36-40 on a third. I had it 39-37 for Williams. Any combination of numbers that did not have one guy winning all four rounds was acceptable. Calling a 3 1/2-round fight complete may not be.

Writing of unacceptable, though, how about the size of that crowd in Carson, Calif.? The tennis stadium at Home Depot Center is an excellent venue for a prizefight – when it’s full. But it was nothing like full Saturday. Why not?

Ethnic interests, maybe. Williams is a black Southerner. Cintron is a Puerto Rican raised in the Northeast. Carson crowds prefer Mexican prizefighters. Combining the three didn’t work at all. And the fight’s promotion was overshadowed by “Who R U Picking?” hoopla.

Set ethnicities aside. Williams enjoys significant physical advantages over opponents, but he doesn’t make dull fights. Cintron has a famously fragile psyche, but he also has a higher career knockout ratio than Mike Tyson. There was ample reason to expect an entertaining match from two prime craftsmen.

And yet Southern Californians knew better. They stayed away, and the rest of us found out why. After a month of threatening one another, Williams and Cintron met in a place of sanctioned violence and showed no such impulse for nine minutes.

When two fighters publicly state the worst of intentions for one another, they are, in many cases, quite sincere. But they rarely tear out their corners and bludgeon one another. Why not? Fear. Not a fear of pain; a fear of humiliation. Much as one might desire to render the other senseless, he desires more intensely to foil the other man’s fantasy. This is how we get tense and tentative opening stanzas even between action fighters who feel mutual animosity.

Things picked up in round 4, though. Williams increased his pace. Cintron clocked him with a counter right hand. A fight began. But unfortunately for Williams, lately that means the start of some bad habits.

Williams enjoys an extraordinary edge in height and reach with opponents. Yet he eliminates that advantage by dropping his chin to theirs and ducking punches. Men who would need to leap and turn-over shots or toss ugly overhand rights instead find Williams’ chin level with their power hands. It’s a gift to opponents who mightn’t otherwise have a chance of hitting him.

It was a gift Williams bestowed on Cintron several times and an opening he offered in round 4. Williams dropped low and fired a long left cross from his southpaw stance. It landed. Cintron, though, rolled with it and loaded a right-cross counter. Williams, whose head was actually below the plane of Cintron’s punch, ducked still lower, parried Cintron’s cross with his left shoulder and put himself in a headlock with Cintron’s right arm.

Williams continued forward, trying to punch. He also twisted leftward and down. His long legs went out from under him. Williams fell to the canvas on the seat of his trunks.

Cintron began forcefully in the opposite direction. His feet were not tangled. Perhaps he feared Williams’ long body would land on his ankle because he came to the ropes and exploded through them, pushing off his left foot. Cintron did not fall out the ring; he hit its perimeter like a safety lowering his right shoulder into a wide receiver. He somersaulted onto the scorer’s table, legs splayed. He appeared to come to rest. He raised his glove to his right temple. Then he somehow fell on the tennis court below and finished directly before the event’s promoters, Lou DiBella and Dan Goosen.

A ringside doctor rushed to Cintron. You imagine reflexivity took over from there in a precaution-rich way like this: “Are you all right?” “I hurt my back.” “It could be serious, so don’t move.” “I won’t move.” “You can’t move?” “What?” “Get a gurney!”

That brought the oddest spectacle of all. After only slightly moving his arms and legs while paramedics made their ways to ringside, Cintron got furious when they wheeled him from the ring. Once he was buckled in, Cintron began to resist, waving his arms. After the judges’ decision was read, he punched the ambulance door.

It was a poor night for boxing.

The California State Athletic Commission has a rule that states if three rounds are completed and a fighter cannot continue for some reason other than a punch, a decision must be divined from the judges’ tallies. That rule should be revisited.

Saturday’s ruling, though, should not. A bad law was enforced. Blame the legislative branch, not the executive.

Does that mean anything to either fighter? Not really. Cintron has a third loss on his record. Williams has a 39th win. No title was at stake. Nothing monumental was gained or forfeited. A rematch would be an appropriate remedy.

But that will require an outcry from fans. Based on Saturday’s attendance and the fight’s opening rounds, such out-crying fans had better bring megaphones and an amplifier.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

Last year America went to the World Championships in Milan, Italy hoping to have more success than they’d had at the Olympics the year previous. They took a young squad and gave them all important International experience, unfortunately the experience wasn’t a good one for most of the team as they went out early. That wasn’t the case for Frankie “Pitbull” Gomez though he exceeded all expectations and came home with a Silver medal that catapulted him into the American publics view. A few short months later the 18 year old who comes from the same area of East L.A as his hero Oscar De La Hoya they also spookily share the same birthday decided to except an offer to to pro and signed with the aforementioned De La Hoya’s promotional company Golden Boy. Since then Gomez has made his debut on the Hopkins-Jones 2 undercard when he scored a third round stoppage. He won his most recent fight at the Tropicana Hotel Casino the night before Mayweather-Mosley to take his record to 2-0(2). Here’s what one of the brightest young prospects in America had to say on various subjects.

Hello Frankie, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Congratulations on winning your debut fight on the Hopkins-Jones Jr 2 card. How happy were you with the performance?

Frankie Gomez – Overall, I thought it was an exciting experience and one that I will never forget. As far as the boxing aspect, I thought I performed ok. I would give myself a C+ rating. It was a great learning experience though and one that I can grow from.

Anson Wainwright – You seemed a little nervous, with all the pressure on your shoulders. Would you say that was fair? Can you tell me how you felt before the fight?

Frankie Gomez – It’s fair to say I was nervous. But I wouldn’t say I felt any additional pressures going into my first fight. I think it was the nervousness that naturally goes into any professional debut. I was just glad to finally get in the ring and fight.

Anson Wainwright – Do you know when you’ll be back in action next? If so against who and where?

Frankie Gomez – I just fought again against Ricardo Malfavon at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. I won via TKO in the 2nd round. My next fight will be at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California on May 27th.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your younger years when you were growing up and how you first got interested in Boxing up until when you first took part in Boxing?

Frankie Gomez – I have always been boxing. It has been something that has been a part of me my entire life. I started at 5 yrs old with my first trainer Ronnie Rivota. He was the first one to bring me along and introduce me to the sport of boxing. Then a couple of years later I joined the Los Angeles Police Department’s PAL Boxing program. It is through that program that I began my amateur career. Ronnie Rivota and Hector Ibarra have been my trainers ever since.

Anson Wainwright – Who are your team members, your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you use mostly to work out at?

Frankie Gomez – Team Gomez consists of Ronnie Rivota as my Manager/Trainer, Hector Ibarra as my Manager/Conditioning Coach, George Ibarra as my weight training and diet coach and Tony Gomez, my brother and motivator. Oscar de la Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions Company promote me and we mainly train at his gym in Los Angeles, California.

Anson Wainwright – You had a stellar amateur pedigree in which you won Silver at last years World Championships. What can you tell us about how you look back on that tournament? What made you turn pro so young and not wait until 2012 Olympics?

Frankie Gomez – The tournament was tough but I got through it alright. Looking back, I thought my last fight in Italy was a little closer and could have gone either way, but that is the sport of amateur boxing. Overall, I felt like it was great learning experience facing off against some of the best competition in the world.

As far as me turning pro, I thought it was just time to move on. After looking at all the factors, my team and I felt it was best, both inside and outside the ring, to go to the professional ranks. Golden Boy offered a very fair contract and I thought it was best for my family and myself to accept.

Anson Wainwright – What other titles did you win in your amateur career? Also what was your final record? Who was the toughest guy you fought in the amateur’s?

Frankie Gomez – My amateur titles include four Junior Gold Glove titles, four Silver Glove titles, six Junior Olympic titles, the Gold Medal at the AIBA Cadet World Championships in 2007, one Ringside World title in 2008 and the Silver Medal at the AIBA World Championships in 2009.

My overall amateur record finished at 120 wins and 8 losses.

The toughest opponent I ever faced was during the AIBA World Championships in 2009. The boxer from Uzbekistan (Sanjarbek Rahmanov, Gomez won 19-10 in the third round)Â was a tough opponent that I truly respect.

Anson Wainwright – It seems that a few years down the road there could be a rivalry with you and Jose Benavidez Jr and Michael Finney. While it is obviously early days. What do you think of that? It could be the three musketeers?

Frankie Gomez – I believe in taking it one fight at a time. If that day comes, when I face one or both of them, then I will worry about it then. But it is exciting to see such talented boxers on the rise. The future of boxing will be fun to watch.

Anson Wainwright – It has been said you have more of a pro style, what do you consider your best attributes as a professional fighter?

Frankie Gomez – I do not worry about the “pro-style” or anything like that. I am constantly trying to get better at my craft and work hard everyday to get that done. I believe in my three S’s: Smarts, Speed, and Strength. If I can improve a little bit each day on those three things, I believe I can be successful.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing? Do you have any hobbies?

Frankie Gomez – Any chance that I have to relax and be away from boxing, I like to spend with my family. I travel and am away from them so much that when I do have the time, all I want to is spend time with them. I believe they give me the strength to go in the ring and perform well. They continue to give me the love and support I need to be successful.

Anson Wainwright – What boxers do did you like growing up and who do you enjoy watching now? What did you think of the Mayweather-Mosley fight?

Frankie Gomez – Growing up, I was always a big fan of Oscar De La Hoya. He was a big influence on my life and boxing career. It means a lot to be working with him now on my professional career. I rooted for Shane Mosley this past weekend but unfortunately he wasn’t able to win. Now, I always root for boxers from my hometown!

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for your fans? I know many of them were very proud of your performance at the World Championships.

Frankie Gomez – I just want to thank all my fans for all the support they have shown me throughout my career. It means a lot to have everyone come out and cheer for me. It gets me motivated for my fights. Thank you to everyone that followed me during the World Championships, it was amazing to have that support. I look forward to one day winning a world championship and I want everyone to know that that day will be soon!Â

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

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Paulie Malignaggi is not from Arizona. I am, which must mean there is reasonable cause to suspect my sanity.

As I sit here wearing a Los Suns jersey with passport, an Arizona driver’s license and enough money for bail nearby just in case Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sees the Los and translates it into reasonable suspicion, I listen to Malignaggi go off on a rant that in tone sounded like the screaming that has turned this piece of the desert into an overheated corner of the immigration debate.

I’m not sure of everything said by Malignaggi, who was talking Thursday from New York about concerns that Amir Khan had yet to acquire proper documentation – a work permit – for their welterweight clash on May 15 in The Theatre at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Malignaggi conceded he was animated, which is beyond the capability of an ordinary digital recorder. An F-16 in hot pursuit is quieter.

But it is safe to say that Malignaggi, a New Yorker, is angry at the attempted car bombing late Saturday night at Times Square by Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan. Pakistan is also home for Khan’s parents, who immigrated to Britain where their son was born in Greater Manchester, took up boxing and won a 2004 Olympic silver medal for the UK.

Malignaggi started talking about a grandfather, who travels between Italy and New York. For the last few summers, he said, his granddad has been stopped at customs “like some kind of criminal.’’ After what almost transpired at Times Square, Malignaggi says U.S. immigration has been stopping the wrong guy.

“It’s a bleeping joke, when you got guys already in the country, blowing shit up or looking to blow the shit up’’ said Malignaggi, who is confident Khan will get the papers he needs for his first fight in the United States.

I’ve heard the same sentiment yelled from street corners, screamed in headlines and by grandstanding politicians in the debate over SB 1070, Arizona’s new immigration law. The dumbest grandstand play came from the World Boxing Council’s Jose Sulaiman, who declared that the WBC would not “authorize” Mexican boxers to fight in Arizona. I’m not sure whether Sulaiman got a sanction fee for the edict, but, please, since when did the WBC gain the authority to issue Mexican passports?

Sulaiman’s rush to grab a headline sums up a stampede to capitalize on a controversy that is reaching ridiculous proportions. The Boycott Bandwagon is getting very crowded. Like a lot of people, I don’t like the Arizona legislation because reasonable suspicion, like driving erratically, is in the eye of the beholder. If you look down to change the radio station and inadvertently cross the white line for a split second, the cop behind you could decide you are driving erratically. Make sure you’ve got your papers and leave the Los Suns jersey at home.

The immigration issue is especially relevant to boxing, which is more international than any sport other than soccer. As of Thursday, there are all kinds of rumors as to why Khan has been unable to get a work permit. He left Los Angeles about 12 days ago for Vancouver, B.C., to apply for a work permit. According to Golden Boy Promotions Chief Operating Officer David Itskowitch, the hope is that the papers will be arrive in time for Khan to be in New York by Monday. The process has been underway since early March.

“This process has been going on since way before anything happened in Times Square,” Itskowitch said.

But it’s not clear why the process has taken so long.

“We don’t know,” he said. “The only thing we’re told is that an administrative process is going on and that they don’t divulge that kind of information.’’

There were questions Thursday about whether Khan’s name, Pakistani roots or the failed bombing at Times Square has held up the process.

“We don’t what it is,’’ Itskowitch said. “We have no indication.’’

Khan’s father told the Bolton News, the boxer’s hometown newspaper, blames the delay on the name and not for reported driving offenses.

“The delay is nothing to do with his motoring convictions as has been reported,’’ Shah Khan told the newspaper. “It is because of his name.

“Because of what happened on 9/11, Amir gets stopped every time we come into the country.

An application for work permit is a more comprehensive process, Shah Khan said.

“He always gets interviewed and is asked which countries he has visited, but now they know him and know who he is, the interviews are not as rigorous.

“But with a visa application there are certain checks that have to be made and it takes time. I don’t blame them and we have nothing to hide.”

For Arizona, there is a surprising twist in a process forcing Khan to get a work permit. About two years ago, boxing in Arizona was brought to virtual standstill by immigration law that required fighters from Mexico or any other country to get a work visa, a so-called P-1. They had been allowed to fight with a tourist visa, which is easier and less expensive to acquire. The law forced prospect Erislandy Lara, a junior-middleweight prospect who escaped Cuba, off a Golden Boy card last June in Tucson. Lara, who had fought in Europe before moving to the U.S., did not get a work visa in time to fight on the Arizona card.

But the requirement for work visa has been changed, according to Dennis O’Connell, the new chief of the Arizona State Boxing Commission.

“I have confirmed that you need to establish a lawful presence in the state,’’ O’Connell said.

That means a tourist visa again works. It also means boxing is beginning to come back to Arizona, a state with a colorful history that includes Mexican Salvador Sanchez, Mexican icon Julio Cesar Chavez and Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello.

Top Rank has scheduled a card for July 17, which will feature junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr., at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in his first bout in Phoenix, his hometown, since he turned pro a few months ago. Other smaller cards have been scheduled for the next month, two in Phoenix and one in Tucson.

Each card is an opportunity for boxing. The Suns expressed their opposition to the Arizona legislation Wednesday with Cinco de Mayo-null uniforms in an NBA playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs. Agree or disagree, a boycott only hurts the Mexican and Mexican American boxer. It also is reasonable cause to suspect that Sulaiman and crowd of other grandstanders care about them or an immigration controversy that is a lot bigger than Arizona. They care only about themselves.

Last Saturday, two fighters presumed to be among the top three welterweights in the world squared off before millions of viewers on pay-per-view. Of course, Floyd Mayweather Jr. completely outboxed an older version of former pound-for-pound kingpin Shane Mosley in a fight that left many at home wanting. This Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, Paul Williams will again be auditioning for an opportunity against one of the top two welterweights as he takes on Kermit Cintron. Their fight will be televised live by HBO and be paired coincidentally with the rebroadcast of the Mayweather-Mosley fight.

Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) of Augusta, Georgia will not be fighting at the 147-pound welterweight limit Saturday, but instead in the junior middleweight division. But if you ask Williams if he can still make 147, it won’t be the first time he has heard the query. “I’ve been asked the same questions so many times about fighting in different weight classes that my answers are almost like turning on a recorder and pressing play, but only with my mouth moving,” said Williams Wednesday at a press conference. “But, make no mistake; I don’t mind getting the attention and all the questions. I am confident and comfortable fighting in different weight classes and I will continue to do so for as long as I can and it is feasible.”

Williams has not made 147-pounds since avenging his sole defeat in June of 2008, a first-round stoppage over Carlos Quintana to reclaim the WBO title. In his four fights since, Williams has bested Verno Phillips to claim an interim 154-pound title and fought at middleweight in the three others. The idea of fighting in different weight classes in order to chase the big fights came from the Williams brain trust.

“Originally we came to the understanding that at the welterweight division, which is his natural division, it was becoming harder and harder to find takers for him out there, mainly because of the size discrepancy,” said Williams’ promoter Dan Goossen, referring to himself, Williams advisor Al Haymon and trainer George Peterson.

“But it is not Paul’s fault that he is 6’2” with a longer reach than the Klitschkos. We all came to the solution that the best way to keep his career progressing was by fighting in different weight divisions. But what has never left us was to crack that superstardom. And the way to do it is to make the superfight. The fight we would like to make, with a win Saturday night, is the [Manny] Pacquiao, is the Mayweather [fight]. The [other] top welterweights have gone by the wayside, the Cottos and the Margaritos. So there are three welterweights out there in my opinion that are the top guys today and they should all be mentioned in the same breath, and that is Pacquiao, Mayweather and Williams.”

Maybe it is because the boxing pundits did not understand their plan, but rarely do you hear Paul Williams name pop up as a potential opponent for either Mayweather or Pacquiao. Case in point, at the end of last Saturday’s pay-per-view broadcast. When HBO commentator Jim Lampley asked the rest of the broadcast team who they would like to see in with Mayweather, should the blockbuster with Pacquiao not come to fruition, neither could come up with a definitive reply. Especially considering the fact that Williams would be appearing on their network just seven days later, one would think Williams would be the name that came to their mind. However, this oversight is nothing new in the world Paul Williams lives.

“Every time a fight is mentioned, nobody even mentions my name,” says Williams frustratingly. “They know I am a threat, but most of them don’t want to put me in that category with them guys. So they mention me like real easy and don’t say too much. I’ll let Mr. Peterson, Al and Dan deal with it.”

If those who overlook Williams as a threat to the welterweight elite due so because they doubt his ability to still make 147-pounds, Williams’ trainer George Peterson has their answer. “[The critics] make decisions for people, when they should let the fighters make their own decision,” says Peterson. “Paul is saying, ‘Give me a 147-pounder, and let me show you I can make the 147-pound [weight limit]. And if you are that much in doubt, watch me eat breakfast before the weigh-in.’”

While Goossen mentions both Pacquiao and Mayweather as the fighters that he targets for Williams, it seems farfetched to think that the “Pacman’s” promoter Bob Arum would let his moneymaker in the same building as the 6’2” man known as the “Punisher.” Reportedly Pacquiao’s handlers rejected a fight with 5’11 junior middleweight Yuri Foreman based mainly on his height.

If Pacquiao is out of the question, Mayweather would seem the logical target for Team Williams, which makes Saturday’s fight of the utmost importance. With the Williams-Cintron bout being aired alongside the replay of last Saturday’s fight, everyone will be drawing their comparisons between the two. Many fighters in Williams’ position would feel the pressure of competing against a high-caliber fighter such as Kermit Cintron, knowing many watching will be measuring his performance against Mayweather’s. Williams however is not most fighters. “My main thing is to keep winning and the doors will open up.”

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

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

Kermit Cintron has been on this stage before. Since 2004, Cintron has been at the doorstep of breaking through to the upper level of the sport. Just one win away from the big money fights, Cintron has come up short each time. On Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, another such opportunity presents itself. Standing in his way is one of the world’s elite and most avoided fighters, Paul Williams.

Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs) of Houston, Texas by way of Carolina, Puerto Rico, can sympathize with the oft-evaded Williams. In May of last year, Cintron took on the most feared junior middleweight prospect at the time Alfredo Angulo. Cintron, known to be much more of a puncher than a traditional boxer, put on a clinic and won eight rounds on all three judges’ scorecards.

In winning the fight, especially by such wide margins, one would figure Cintron would be in line for a high profile fight, or at least welcomed back with open arms by HBO, which televised the Angulo bout. Neither possibility happened for Cintron in the ensuing twelve months. Adding insult, Angulo has fought twice on the network since last May and even picked up an interim title. Meanwhile Cintron has fought just once during that stretch, stopping journeyman Juliano Ramos in Puerto Rico.

Cintron’s promoter Lou DiBella is understandably a bit bitter about the whole situation. “It is frustrating when you beat a guy from pillar to post and then the guy gets two easy touches and a lot of money on premium cable while you have to fight a keep busy fight and wait for a guy who frankly most people in boxing don’t want to fight,” said DiBella during Monday’s conference call. “The idea that you can lose nine out of twelve rounds, and you are brought back as if you won, and the guy that won is sitting around waiting, that’s troubling. The other thing that is troubling is when you get passed over by the WBO for a vacant interim title, when you have beaten the guy that is fighting for it and you are not even offered the fight.”

While the Angulo aftermath clearly bothers Cintron, he has seemingly put it into the rearview and used it as motivation for Saturday’s fight. “The whole situation with Angulo, them putting him ahead of me, it is what it is,” said Cintron. “I’m not going to cry about it. I know I beat his ass, so right now I feel like I am the champion. I’m just going to move forward in my career and I am looking forward to May 8 against Paul Williams. We are going to put on a good show and the best man is going to win. I am going to go in there with the attitude that we are going to win, because I am not an opponent for nobody.”

When a big fight comes along, it is customary for fight scribes to compare their performances against common opponents as a way to gauge the outcome. Cintron and Williams have three common opponents. Williams beat all three, while Cintron went 1-2-1 against the group. They both stopped Walter Matthysse, which makes their fights against Antonio Margarito and Sergio Martinez the most notable. Last December, Williams edged Martinez in a close and competitive fight and fight of the year candidate. Earlier in the year, Cintron struggled against Martinez in an awful fight that most felt he should have lost. Cintron was counted out in the seventh after he went down from what he thought was a headutt, but the fight was allowed to resume. Later in the bout, a point deduction from Martinez would seal the draw.

Cintron’s most defining fights to date came against Antonio Margarito. Two years before Paul Williams outpointed Margarito, the “Tijuana Tornado” completely dominated a young and raw Cintron before scoring a fifth-round stoppage. Three years later, and trained at the time by Emanuel Steward, Cintron was stopped by Margarito again, this time by a body shot in the sixth. The events of last January, namely plaster of paris being found in Margarito’s hand wraps, put a cloud of doubt over those two Cintron defeats.

DiBella puts those three Cintron performances in perspective. “Particularly the second loss to Margarito [hurt him] and Kermit is not the type of guy to complain, but with all respect Margarito is a cheater, the worst kind of cheater,” stated DiBella. “Right now you have Sergio Martinez standing right with Paul on everybody’s pound-for-pound list. That was a tough fight for Kermit, but when you look at it now in 20/20 hindsight, and how competitive a lot of those rounds were, you see that he stands with the best fighters in the world. And again, you should not be penalized for being willing to fight the best.”

The best fighting the best, regardless of titles or treatment from the premium cable outlets, is what Saturday’s fight is all about, especially to Cintron. “This is a great opportunity for me to be able to fight Paul Williams,” stated Cintron. “A lot of fighters are avoiding us and best needs to fight the best. That is why I am here, to fight the best and to be the best.”

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

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

Boxing, unlike most other athletic endeavors, is a sport that one can leave for a long period of time and pick up again down the road. Most fighters pick up the sport at a very young age, and often times get burnt out once or twice in their lifetime before returning to the ring. Back in 2003 and 2004, DonYil Livingston was among the top amateur fighters in the nation. Livingston came close to winning national titles on several occasions, competed at international events representing the United States and had his eye on making the U.S. Olympic squad. When things did not work out, Livingston eventually took a step away from the sport. After a couple years Livingston’s love for the fight game caught back up to him, and he made the decision to return to the ring. On Thursday night at the Circus Disco in Hollywood, California, Livingston will make his professional debut in what he hopes is just step one on the road back to national prominence.

Livingston, who fights out of Palmdale, California, found boxing on a fluke as a ten-year old. “I went to a park to play football during the summer of ’96,” recalled Livingston. “Based on my age and weight, they told me I was too big to play for my age and weight class. As my father and I were exiting the park, I heard a loud pounding inside of a gym. I poked my head in and saw some guys hitting the bag and inside of the ring. We talked to the coach, he gave us a waiver to fill out and we came back the following day. Since that next day I have grown to love boxing.”

Livingston quickly developed into one of the top junior Olympic division fighters, winning national and international titles. At just 16-years-old, Livingston moved into the open division to become one of the top amateur middleweight boxers in the country. “Everybody that I competed against, everybody that I came up with, they are now either title holders or top contenders as professionals,” says Livingston. “I sit back and look at some guys and I am happy for them, but I think to myself that I should be right next to them.”

Competing in national and international competitions in 2003, Livingston would fight some of the top fighters in pro boxing today. At the 2003 U.S. Championships, Livingston would lose by decision to eventual U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell in the quarterfinals. Livingston also fought reigning WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal at a May 2003 dual in Canada. At the 2003 National PAL Championships, Livingston made it to the finals, before losing to present day prospect Joe Greene.

The following February, Livingston’s dreams of making the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team ended with a preliminary round loss to Jorge Hernandez of Lompoc, California. Livingston would continue his amateur career, including advancement to the quarterfinals of the 2004 National Golden Gloves, but eventually his commitment to amateur boxing would wane.

“After the ’04 Western Trials I stayed in it for a couple years and then I took a couple years off from boxing because I was ready to turn pro,” recalls Livingston. “Mentally I was tired of the amateurs, and I was ready to go pro. All of my friends, all of my peers were going pro. For me to stick around in the amateurs, I didn’t have the hunger for it anymore. So I stepped away from the sport, because if you are not 110 percent into the sport, both mentally and physically, you can seriously get hurt. So I stepped away until I had my mind completely made up.”

In his time away, Livingston’s love for the sport of boxing haunted him at times. “I love boxing and I have been in love with boxing,” says Livingston. “Everything I have been doing, whether it was sports or life in general, I have always found a way to tie it back to boxing. I was getting ready for the Sheriff’s Academy, and we were out there running and everything, but for some reason everyday at five o’clock, I would think to myself I should be at the gym training. I would watch various fights on TV, and I would think I could dominate this guy. My heart and my love is boxing.”

Coming to the realization he was not done with the sport, Livingston made the decision to turn pro. “I couldn’t continue going on, pushing it to the side, because I would have gone miserable. I don’t want to be one of those guys that says later, ‘I could of’ or ‘I should of’. So now I came back and I am ready to go. It is a few years later, but we are more hungry than we were then.”

Livingston’s professional career begins Thursday against Lamar Horne (2-5, 1 KO) of San Diego, California, who is a replacement for a less experienced fighter. The late change in opponents does not bother the well composed Livingston. “When I train, I am not the type to study fighters,” reveals Livingston. “I train to defeat myself. Not to belittle anyone, or overlook anyone, but I know the type of fighter that I am. I am a very talented, very blessed fighter. I look at it that I train to defeat me, and I know I can’t defeat me.”

Livingston, who competed mainly at the 165-pound middleweight class as an amateur, will debut at super middleweight as a pro, but may make the move down to 160-pounds in time. Now matter the weight class, Livingston is just about done waiting, and ready to get back to fighting. “It has been a long journey and I am ready to continue this ride.”

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

Upset in a closely contested fight by hard-nosed journeyman Jason Gavern this past April, heavyweight contender Manuel Quezada expressed his desire to get his conqueror back in the ring as soon as possible in the bout’s immediate aftermath. Quezada, who had been riding an 18-fight win streak, was on cusp of some potentially big fights before the split decision verdict was announced. On May 8th, exactly one month after their first encounter, Quezada will get his chance at redemption in a ten-round rematch on the Paul Williams-Kermit Cintron undercard at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Their first meeting, which took place on Quezada’s home turf at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California, was an entertaining scrap, especially by heavyweight standards. Quezada (29-5, 18 KOs) of Wasco, California had a solid first round, but both fighters agreed that the momentum of the bout changed directions after an accidental head clash bothered the local favorite in the second round. “I came out ready to fight, but I wasn’t the same after the headbutt and the cut,” admitted Quezada recently. “After that, it was all downhill for me. I got into fighting his fight instead of fighting my fight. I am not going to let that happen this time. The cut actually healed really good, so we are ready to go and I can’t wait.”

Gavern (19-7-3, 8 KOs) of Kissimmee, Florida seemed to gain confidence in that second round and turned up his offense as the fight progressed. What resulted was a heated action fight, which Goossen Tutor Promotions has made available in its entirety on YouTube. “I was able to watch [the fight] and see our mistakes,” said Quezada. “We are going to correct those mistakes and be ready for May 8th.”

Aiding in Quezada’s preparation for the rematch will be the return of famed trainer Joe Goossen to his camp. Goossen joined the Quezada team in early 2009, prior to a fifth-round knockout of Eric Boose. Quezada reeled off two first-round kayos and a ten-round decision in his next three fights, but a scheduling conflict made working with Goossen prior to the first Gavern bout unfeasible. “We didn’t go to camp with Joe because he was really busy with Edison Miranda, getting ready for his fight,” explained Quezada. “Everything is good now. We are back with Joe and getting ready for this fight.”

The end goal of the Gavern rematch for Quezada is to erase the damage the first defeat did to his world ranking and prospects of landing a big fight. Quezada had been ranked by the WBC as high as #4 in late 2009 and was still in the top ten at the time of the Gavern bout. While there was movement above and below him in the WBC rankings, Quezada found himself frozen out of the action as the year began. “It was hard. We were in the top ten in the WBC and we couldn’t get any fights,” explained Quezada. “We were out of the ring for six months almost. It gets frustrating, but that is part of the business and we can’t really do much about it. We just have to wait our turn.”

If Quezada is able to turn the tables on Gavern in emphatic fashion on May 8th, he could see his turn come up sooner rather than later. “We are going to give the best performance we can give, so we can stay in the top ten and they can see that the loss was just something that happened and that we are back where we left off,” says Quezada. The Wasco native knows what to expect this time out, and the fans in attendance at the Home Depot Center should know to expect fireworks. “Gavern always comes to fight, but we are just going to be ready for him, so you are definitely going to see an exciting fight.”

Photo by Jason Pachura

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

HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 3, 2010) – WBO junior lightweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez (22-0-1, 143 KOs) makes his second title-defense May 29th in the 12-round co-feature against WBO No. 10 rated Gonzalo “El Destructor” Mungia (17-6-3, 13 KOs) on the “Undefeated Champions” pay per view event, airing live in the United States from Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

“Undefeated Champions,” presented by PR Best Boxing in association with Al Star Boxing, features three world title bouts. It is being distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 9 PM/ET – 6 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, and DISH Network, for a suggested retail price of only $34.95.

The 12-round main event features the first title defense of Boricua star, WBO Junior Featherweight Champion Wilfredo “WV2” Vazquez, Jr. (18-0-1, 15 KOs), against No. 1 contender Zsolt “Mr. Lefthook” Bedak (14-0-1, 12 KOs).

Martinez, rated No. 3 by The Ring, captured the WBO championship this past March 14, stopping Nicky Cook in the fourth round of their title fight in England. The popular Puerto Rican fighter successfully defended his crown last September, stopping Feider Viloria in the ninth round.

Martinez is excited about fighting on pay per view. “This fight is very important to me because it opens the way for me to fans in the United States,” he said. “They’ll learn more about me and my boxing career. It will also help me later when I go for a unification fight. If everything goes good in this fight, I may fight mandatory challenger Ricky Burns, possible here in Puerto Rico, in August. But what I’d really like to do is unify the title against any of the other champions (WBC Vitalki Tajbert or WBA Takashi Uchiyama).”

Reigning WBO Latino super featherweight title-holder Mungia, fighting out of Nicaragua, has won his last four fights, three by knockout.

“Mungia is a good fighter who comes to fight,” Martinez noted. “I love to fight, too, so if he really comes to fight, it’s going to be a something to remember. I’m going to use my distance and put my shots where we want. We trained hard, studied him and are ready for all Mungia’s style. I’m going to make my fight; relax and be ready for him. I studied him with my trainer, Raul Torres, and I’m going to knock Mungia out. This bout isn’t going the distance.”

The third world title fight on this exciting card matches females Hanna Gabriel (9-0-1, 5 KOs) and Gardy Pena (9-1-2, 6 KOs) for the vacant WBO super welterweight crown in a 10-round bout. Fighting on the undercard are the Arroyo twins, bantamweight McJoe (1-0, 1 KO) and McWilliams (1-0, 1 KO), the former Puerto Rican Olympians. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

Integrated Sports Media: North America’s leading distributor of International Pay-Per-View and Closed Circuit sports events has presented World Championship and world-class boxing matches featuring Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, Cristian Mijares, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Jr., Ivan Calderon, Rocky Martinez, Nicolai Valuev, Amir Khan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Arthur Abraham, David Haye, John Ruiz, Wilfredo Vasquez, Jr. and Ruslan Chagaev. In addition, Integrated Sports Media distributed numerous International soccer matches showcasing teams like Club America of Mexico and the National Teams of Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador and the USA, as well as World Championship and world-class mixed martial arts shows featuring Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Bobby Lashley, Bob Sapp, Jeff Monson, and Roy Nelson. For more information on upcoming Integrated Sports events visit www.integratedsportsnet.com.

Last month via a popular social networking site, WBO, IBF, RING and IBO Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko issued a challenge to his WBA counterpart David Haye. The pair were due to fight last year, but Haye pulled out of the fight due to a back injury. Haye would later enter talks with Wladimir’s older brother and holder of the WBC title Vitali, but pulled out or talks to fight the then WBA champion Nikolai Valuev. Haye would go on to earn a close decision against in Nürnberg, Germany.
The video message in which he accused Haye of ducking him and his brother, Wladimir thundered “David, you’ve bitched out on fighting both Klitschko brothers twice already and now is the time to make it happen.” He went on to say “On behalf of the boxing fans around the world, I am officially calling you out to fight me, you can’t run away from me forever and you need to follow through with this fight to get respect. I’m ready, what are you waiting for?” Shortly after the video message from Wladimir, Haye confirmed that trainer and manager Adam Booth is set for negotiations with the Brothers, who are based in Germany. Haye revealed “After a meeting on Thursday I will know more, But until then, I’ll leave Adam to it. I’m relaxing and enjoying myself now.” However he did not specify which brother he would face.

In his last outing Haye (24-1 22KO’s) stopped the tough American two time WBA title holder John Ruiz in the 9th round. Dropping him in the 1st, 5thand 6th rounds. Haye nicknamed the Hayemaker for his punching power has only had three fights at heavyweight stopping gatekeeper Monte Barrett in five rounds. Followed by a fight with the seven foot giant Nikolai Valuev where he captured the WBA world title. Before his step up to heavyweight, Haye was the undisputed cruiserweight champion. Scoring a 7th round TKO over Jean Marc Mormeck in 2007 to capture the WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles. Four months later he went on to destroy the WBO title holder Enzo Maccarinelli in two lop sided rounds. The only blip on the Londoners record came against the tough Carl Thompson (who holds two victories over Chris Eubank) back in 2004. After stopping Haye in the 5th round, Thompson retired twelve months later.

Wladimir (54-3 48KO’s) has three losses on his record the last one coming in 2004 a KO against Lamon Brewster For the vacant WBO title. Strangely enough all three of his losses were stoppage losses. The others being a 2nd round TKO against Corrie Sanders and an 11th round TKO way back in 1998 to journeyman Ross Puritty. Since the 2004 loss to Brewster, Wlad has notched up a twelve fight winning streak earning him the WBO, IBF, Ring and IBO titles. His most recent victories coming against Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev, Hasim Rahman, Tony Thompson, Sultan Ibragimov, and a rematch against his last conqueror Lamon Brewster, who he retired in the 6th round. Wladimir is widely regarded as the man to beat at heavyweight closely followed by his older brother Vitali.

The eldest of the Klitschko’s, WBC king Vitali (39-2 37KO’s) had his last outing against Kevin Johnson in December 2009, winning a wide unanimous decision. A pretty rare thing for Vitali, who sports the highest KO ratio of any heavyweight champion in history currently standing at 90.2%. Other notable victories have come against the tough Chris Arreola (who retired in round 10.) Britain’s Danny Williams (TKO 8) who knocked out Mike Tyson in 2004 and Herbie Hyde (KO 2) for the WBO title in 1999(his first world title) His only two losses have come in the form of stoppage losses against Chris Byrd (RTD 9) for his WBO belt. Bryd was later out boxed over twelve rounds by Wladimir. In 2003 Vitali suffered his last loss against the then WBC and IBO champion, the legendary Lennox Lewis. The fight was stopped in the 6th round due to a nasty cut over Klitschko’s eye. Vitali has since claimed Lewis promised a rematch, but he retired straight after the fight. Vitali was ahead 58-56 on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Following the loss to Lewis, Vitali notched up three more wins before entering a four year retirement. Coming back in 2008 to retire Samuel Peter in the 8th to recapture his WBC crown. Since 2008 he has embarked on a four fight winning streak, his next fight coming against former European champion Albert Sosnowski. Vitali has never been down in his pro career and never received a standing count.

It is still undecided which Brother Haye will be facing yet, but one thing is for certain, there is no love lost between the brothers and Haye. Last year Haye wore a t-shirt depicting him holding the severed heads of the pair. Wladimir and Vitali found it very disrespectful and were both highly offended. In response the brothers threatened Haye with the now infamous “pizza face,” promising to batter him as long as they possibly could. With both sides apparently desperate to fight, the trio and the fans could Finally get what they are asking for. The Heavyweight division could also finally get the excitement and fireworks it’s been crying out for since the retirements of fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazer or your Lennox Lewis’s and Mike Tyson’s. The question is when it’s all said and done, who will be the last man standing and the number one heavyweight in the world?

On Jan. 31, I wrote, “If he makes this fight with Mosley at the welterweight limit and beats him, however he does it, I’ll give Mayweather nothing but praise.. . . If Mayweather makes May 1 dull, in other words, he’ll deserve our admiration.” I stand by that.

Mayweather made May 1 dull. No one thought a dull fight could be made with Shane Mosley at welterweight; Mosley was too big, too quick, too experienced, too crafty, too physical, too powerful. Turned out, he was none of these things for Floyd Mayweather.

Mayweather just won the most important fight of his career in surprising fashion, but another surprise awaits. Call it the apogee of the Mayweather mood.

Can’t happen. Not after Mayweather took the greatest challenge of his career, on paper, and won it by unanimous scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 119-109. Guys like that experience no apogees! We’ll see.

I had the fight even after round 4. A half hour later, like everyone else not being paid to score the fight, I wondered why I’d bothered.

Whatever you opine of Mayweather’s everyday character, you now must recognize his character in the ring. Saturday night Mayweather was hurt by the best finisher in the welterweight division, and he fought back when flight was still an option. He put his hands up and walked forward, punching. Mayweather was tested, and he passed.

Make no mistake, Mayweather was hurt. He was rocked in the second round, twice. The first time was a right cross on the chin that bent Mayweather dramatically backwards. He grabbed desperate hold of Mosley’s right arm. Gone were the good balance and low lead hand. Mayweather used both arms to pin Mosley’s right glove to his chest. He didn’t let go when referee Kenny Bayless politely asked him to. He barely let go after Bayless and Mosley worked in tandem to wrestle it away from him.

A minute later, Mayweather threw a lead left hook – the one punch he wasn’t quick enough to land on Mosley – and Mosley threw a right hand over it. The punch struck just above Mayweather’s ear; a balance shot. Mayweather’s left knee buckled.

A few rows back of the canvas, Oscar De La Hoya, ostensibly the event’s levelheaded promoter, leaped to his feet. An enormous grin – unusually sincere – rushed over his face. He began to shout for Mosley. Nobody in all of MGM Grand, nay Las Vegas, wanted Mosley to stretch Mayweather more than De La Hoya. In that instant, wonderfully enough, De La Hoya’s inner fighter overwhelmed his inner businessman.

Mayweather did enough clinching, elbowing and punching to survive the round. Then he walked to his corner – where Handpad Jockey and Towel Boy merely cried “box!” at him – and rested. Mayweather’s conditioning refilled his legs, and his confidence came shortly behind.

He climbed off his stool, took Mosley’s good fortunate at having hurt him and turned it against the game, if aged, champion. Mayweather showed openings enough to make Mosley flex his fast-twitch muscles, then he closed them right before Mosley’s startled eyes. Then he did it again.

Through round 3, though, things went as Mosley’s trainer Brother Naazim Richardson said they would. Mosley put it on Mayweather, and Mayweather turned into a fighter. Then Mosley tried to box, and well, ah, at least Richardson had the first three rounds right, no?

Confident he could hurt Mayweather with the right punch, Mosley stopped trying to throw anything but the right punch. For the next nine frustrating rounds, Mosley looked and looked. Mayweather was stronger, sharper, quicker and far, far more confident. Between rounds, Mosley nodded along with Richardson in the corner, even audibly promising to do better, but it was little use. Mosley was under 30 punches per round, and nobody will ever beat Mayweather that way.

Other things might have happened in rounds 6 through 12. But if you remember only a blur of silence, potshots and Mayweather’s left elbow, you’re forgiven.

That brings us to the fight “everyone wants to see” between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Spoiler alert: If you’re a company recently contacted by Golden Boy Promotions about a potential sponsorship deal for Mayweather’s next fight, please stop here.

We all admire the hell out of Pacquiao, and his record of 5-1-1 (3 KOs) against Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez likely ensures his legacy as the era’s greatest fighter. But setting aside all paeans to styles making fights, it’s hard to imagine a way for Pacquiao to beat a 147-pound man too quick for Marquez and too physical for Mosley.

Calm down. Once the pay-per-view receipts are counted for Saturday’s fight, anyway, Pacquiao-Mayweather will come to the end of its trip from improbable to impossible. So, we’ll never know. And trust me, Pacquiao fans; it’s better that way.

Which returns us to the apogee of the Mayweather mood. Mayweather’s achievements are nearer his self-assessments, today, than ever before. No, he’s not Muhammad Ali or, God help us, Sugar Ray Robinson. But he’s now done enough to be entitled to delusions. That means the acceleration of his rhetoric can no longer outpace his achievements. He’s antagonized his critics more than he ever will again.

And that’s a marketing problem. Mayweather’s fans enjoy antagonizing others more than they enjoy their guy’s fights – which they never understand. Neither Mayweather nor his fans want capitulation; they want someone to hector.

Denied a way to antagonize critics further, Mayweather is left with what he does in the ring. Aficionados are only going to pay $54 again to see Mayweather genuinely imperiled, and you’d probably need to look to the winner of the “Super Six” for a guy that could do that.

So finally, Floyd Mayweather proved his doubters wrong. And irony says it could be the very day we all started to lose interest.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

Marc Abrams

I subscribe to the Theory that if in forty previous fight, Floyd Mayweather has given me no reason to pick against up and tomorrow night is the same story.

Floyd may be in for the toughest night of his life but somehow someway he will win this fight by pounding a tough and well earned decision that actually may turn some of his harshest critics to realize that Mayweather is a superior talent and hopefully set up a fall mega matchup with Manny Pacquiao

Bart Barry

One thing I know about picking fights is that if you do it with your
heart instead of your head you’ll live a happier life on fightnight. My
head says Mayweather. My heart says Mosley. It says here: Mosley TKO 11.

Mario Ortega Jr.

First off, this is the first Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight I have had an above moderate excitement level going into fight week since he fought Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. This is also the first time since he fought the rematch against Jose Luis Castillo in 2002 that I can really envision a scenario in which he could lose. Shane Mosley is one of the best fighters of recent times, but Mayweather is the best fighter of recent times. I was in the minority of writers for this site that voted him the fighter of the past decade over Manny Pacquiao and I see him taking the decision over Mosley on Saturday.

Anson Wainwright

I believe this is a tougher fight for Mayweather than a fight with Pacquiao. Mosley will most likely be the fastest guy Mayweather has fought and visa versa. I think early Mosley may pose several problems for Mayweather round by round Mayweather will figure things out and win a close but deserved points decision.

Joon Lee
Mayweather on points.
Stylistically, this would’ve been a much more intriguing duel had it taken place when it was first proposed back in ‘99. Shane’s blend of speed, power, and naturally superior strength might have prevailed then, but with his inevitable decline in those departments with an exception of strength, I have to favor the younger, faster, and better defensive boxer in Mayweather. Mayweather doesn’t throw punches nearly as much as in the past, nor is he as mobile as he was at lower weights, but he’s still the sharper technician and I anticipate his speed and impenetrable defense to be the factor in out-pointing Shane over twelve rounds.
Natash Aiello

Mayweather by decision

David Winston

Mayweather by unanimous decision. Floyd is still in his prime, Shane is not. PBF almost never gets hit in the head; Mosley knows this and will concentrate on the body. This will open up Mosley to Floyd’s right hand upstairs. Remember, Floyd is an extremely selective, but accurate puncher. Sugar Shane is not known for defense the way Money is. Both quality and a surprising quantity of shots will carry The Money Man to a clear victory.

Matt Yanofsky

Mosley by knockout: I have a crazy feeling about this one much like I did with Baldomir-Judah. This will be Floyd’s first test against a real welterweight that appears to have a good amount left in the tank. Mosley also has Nazim Richardson, the best trainer at depicting styles not named Freddie Roach, in his corner. The always prepared Richardson helped Bernard Hopkins demolish previously unbeaten fighters in Felix Trinidad and Kelly Pavlik, while giving the great Joe Calzaghe the toughest fight of his career. I expect him to provide the same guidance to Mosley, who will break through Mayweather’s shoulder roll defense with straight right hands en route to a stoppage that will go down as one of the most unforgettable moments in boxing history.

Rick McKenzie

I feel as if I’m having a deja vu..last time I said “this is the fight Floyd will lose” was against Hatton, and PBF KO’d him. Blueprint is there, pressure fighter with skill, speed , and power. Sugar should win right? Wrong! PBF is the top 3 defensive fighters of all time IMO…I got Mayweather winning UD. I’ll even give him 7 rounds.

Brett Mauren

I’ll take Mayweather via UD in the fight of his life.

Dominick Panfile

This fight will not be a matter of whether Sugar Shane will figure out a way to win. It’s simpler than that. Mayweather does not know how to lose, and the fight Saturday night will be no exception to the rule. Shane will keep it close early getting in some good shots during exchanges, but as the fight progresses and Floyd slows him down, Mosley will increasingly end up on the shorter end of the exchanges. Shane can be a solid defensive fighter as well, so I’ll give him some credit for that and predict that Mayweather wins a Unanimous Decision. A tenth round stoppage would not surprise me either. Either way, there is no path to victory for Sugar Shane Mosley.

Joseph Davey

There are two fighters in boxing I never pick against: Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio. If a fight ever does take place between the two, I’ll make my choice then. Until that moment, I’m staying the course and going with Mayweather by unanimous decision. I think by the fourth round he’ll have timed Mosley well enough to start taking command of the fight en-route to a fairly wide points victory.

Adam Berlin

When Mosley, with the help of Nazeem Richardson’s insightful eyes, figures out how to get inside Mayweather’s pocket, he’ll strafe Money with brutal shots. And when Mayweather goes back to his corner, he’ll realize how alone he is. Punch-drunk Roger will provide no answers. As this fight progresses Mosley will take Mayweather’s mind and shut down Floyd Jr.’s mouth. It may be wishful thinking, but I see Sugar Shane beating Pretty Boy Floyd inside the distance.

Alejandro Echevarria

For a few years now I’ve thought Mosley to have the biggest chance of beating Mayweather. His combination of speed, power and experience might just be enough to solve Floyd’s defensive enigma. I expect to see Sugar tagging Money’s body with both hands when the latter goes into his shoulder roll defensive posture but not sticking long enough to get countered that often. Mosley is also wise enough (especially with Nazeem Richardson in his corner) to be able to tell when a round is going his way so as to force Mayweather to come forward and fight.

Floyd Mayweather is closer to his peak in physical condition than Shane is. At 38, Mosley may age overnight and get outhustled all might long. If the Pretty Boy were to press the action and throw over fifty punches a round there would be little Mosley could do as he usually gets beaten to the punch when his opponent doesn’t let him get into rhythm.

I’m going against the odds in this one and I’m picking Mosley to pull off the upset. Most of my brain suggests otherwise but Mayweather may finally hit a bump in the road when he gets in the ring with an elite welterweight.

Johnny Schulz

Floyd Mayweather will be all money Saturday night. His natural skill and amazing slick defensive will prevail here as he will win a unanimous decision over Sugar Shane Mosley. I say he will win at least 9 out of the 12 rounds. Nonetheless this proves to be a very exciting bout, and great for boxing fans, new and old! The sport needs more of these types of match ups.

Claudia Bocanegra

Out of the list of men that Mayweather has beat under his belt, Mosley may well be one of those challenges that will shine on your resume. But even with that, I still think that Mayweather’s speed and defensive skill overpowers Shane. Money May UD.

Dan Stasiukiewicz

I predict a close decision in favor of the younger, slicker Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather will use his elusive defensive techniques to fend off the agressive Mosely. In the early rounds Mosely’s pressure will win him a few of the early rounds but the age and mileage on Mosely’s body will become apparent in the later rounds. Neither fighter will be seriously hurt and I do not see a knockdown for either fighter as well. Also look for Mosely to make this fight interesting early by pressuring Mayweather and taking him out of his element but look for that attack to wane in the later rounds. The end result of 8 rounds to 4 in favor of Mosely.

On September 19th Floyd Mayweather’s successful return to the ring was interrupted by a welterweight champion who commanded the respect of the boxing world by demanding Mayweather face him. The best move for Mayweather at the time seemed naturally to be taking on Manny Pacquiao. I don’t think I need to go into how Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fell apart, but it’s clear that if one man benefited from the debacle it was Shane Mosley. Mosley will have an opportunity to grab his largest pay day to date, and grab the boxing world’s respect by taking on the best in the sport on May 1. Here is a breakdown of what looks to be the toughest bout of both fighters’ careers.

Mayweather
40-0 (25 KO’s)
Age: 33
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Notable wins: Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Zab Judah, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo

Shane Mosley
46-5 (39 ko’s)
Age: 38
Hometown: Pomona, California
Notable wins: Oscar De La Hoya 2x, Fernando Vargas, Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga
Notable losses: Winky Wright (twice), Vernon Forrest (twice), Miguel Cotto
Speed/Athleticism

This fight is nothing short of comparing a Ferrari to a Lamborghini. I don’t care that both fighters are well into their 30’s both men are capable of blinding combination, and both have solid reputations as gym rats. Mosley at his peak is one of the fastest fighters of my lifetime pound for pound, and he showed the world he isn’t slowing down when he dismantled Antonio Margarito in 2009.

Floyd’s hands on the pads are a sight to be seen, and at this point in his life he probably is faster than Shane, but athletically I think Mosley may have more tools. Strength and speed are a deadly combination and I think Mosley still has a world of both. It’s not often I’d give another man the edge over Mayweather in this category but I think Shane at his own weight is the guy to take it.
Advantage: Mosley by razor thin margin

Matt’s Take: Mosley-Mayweather was always a fantasy match up amongst fight fans, especially as the latter rose to the top of pound for pound lists. Shane was always one of the few men who could match him athletically. Both had lightning fast hands and were elite natural athletes. The two are arguably the most gifted fighters in the last 15 years with all due respects to Roy Jones Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. As of their last bout, both had their athleticism and speed in tact. Unfortunately for Mosley, 39, his last bout was almost a year and a half ago.

By watching HBO’s award winning 24/7 series, it is evident that Shane has aged considerably since we saw him demolish disgraced Antonio Margarito in January 09 and fighters don’t improve athletically in their late 30’s. This gives me every reason to believe that there will be SOME repercussions on fight night, especially considering who will be standing across the ring from him.

Whether you like it or not, Mayweather has shown few (if any) signs of slowing down. The snappy jab and famed shoulder roll were intact when he fought Marquez, so without serious aging issues or injuries, expect his elite athleticism to be full in effect.

Advantage: Mayweather

Power
If there is one category Shane takes the cake in its power. The fight is at 147, where Mosley has dropped some major names. A Dazzling left hook that stretched both Vargas, and Mayorga is an image that stands out when weighing Shane’s power, and that’s a weapon Floyd will have to look out for.

Mayweather is not known for his power. Despite knocking out Ricky Hatton, and putting Marquez on the canvas Mayweather probably won’t be banking on knocking Mosley out. I’m not saying he doesn’t have the ability, but with his prowess Mayweather’s best bet is aiming for a 12 round outclassing of his foe.

Advantage: Mosley

Matt’s Take: Even if my observation about Mosley’s aging is correct, anybody that knows boxing will tell you that the last thing a fighter loses is his power; just ask Michael Moorer, who was knocked out by a 45 year old George Foreman. From lightweight to junior middleweight, Sugar Shane exemplifies what “Pound for Pound” punching power.

He has the ability to finish a fight with either hand and his last two bouts ended in dramatic knockouts, putting both Ricardo Mayorga and Margarito to sleep impressively. Against Mayweather, Mosley must use his biggest advantage if he hopes to be victorious; power.

The majority of Mayweather’s offense is jabs and counter shots, giving him little opportunity to knockout a naturally bigger opponent. Mayweather’s two knockouts above 140 lbs came against blown up (perhaps literally in Ricky Hatton’s case) opponents. He was unable to hurt Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah or Oscar De La Hoya and deep down, the six division champion knows this category isn’t one he takes the nod in.

Advantage: Mosley

Defense/Chin

Mayweather’s best weapon is his own defense. When he is in the zone he is virtually un-hittable. Mayweather’s patented shoulder roll defense has been giving opponents headaches for years and that will be Mosley’s egg to crack on May 1.

The category is defense and chin, Mosley showed the world he has a chin when he fought Miguel Cotto in 2007, but it’s hard to make up ground in this category on one of this era’s great defensive fighters. Floyd’s elusiveness could very well end up being the storyline Saturday night and with that said this category belongs to him.
Advantage: Mayweather

Matt’s Take: Mayweather’s defensive abilities rank alongside fighters such as Willie Pep and Pernell Whitaker as the greatest ever. His tremendous movement, aforementioned reflexes and shifty shoulder roll are yet to fail him. This has helped him steer clear of danger throughout his career and he has rarely been hit flush.

Mosley’s chin is amongst the best and he was only dropped twice in his 52 fight career while standing up to punchers like Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto. He is usually found standing directly in front of his opponent but tremendous ring awareness and staying on his toes help him avoid punches. Defensively, he is no Mayweather, but is adequate.

Advantage: Mayweather

Heart
If there is one thing we don’t know about Floyd its how would he react when he’s under fire. Mayweather’s defense is so remarkable he has not honestly been in a firefight and hasn’t had an opportunity to show the world his heart. Mosley on the other hand has shown a number of different sides, including brawler. His fight with Cotto should serve as a prime example of what the man is willing and able to go through.

It’s hard to fathom one fighter losing a category based on his excellence in another but that is exactly what is happening right now. Shane Mosley wins the heart category by default, because it’s an asset Floyd has never had to use.
Advantage: Mosley

Matt’s Take: Mayweather’s only true test under pressure was in his first fight with Jose Luis Castillo. Many considered his antics unsatisfactory due to his inability to deal with adversity down the stretch. Outside of a few rough rounds against Castillo, his exceptional skills have cleared him free of anything more than an in fight hand injury. He has never been completely knocked off his feet as a pro, yet to bleed and outside of being briefly buzzed by Demarcus Corley many years ago, hasn’t had to fight in danger. Mayweather deserves the world of credit for being able to avoid danger all these years, but at the same time, his heart remains a big question mark.

Mosley has never backed down in a fight. His ability to take shots and keep on coming is a major attribution to his heart. He stood directly in front of some of boxing’s best and is yet to be phased. Being able to overcome distractions from a nasty, well publicized divorce prior to dominating Margarito also earns him major kudos.

Advantage: Mosley
Experience

Both have taken part in highly publicized fights, and shared the ring with only the best over the past five years. Mosley has tasted victory and defeat, whereas Mayweather has seen only success. When a fight of this magnitude goes down, I almost feel like experience goes out the window.

When you have stared down Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao and even Ricky Hatton you’ve peaked. Both Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather have fought on the biggest possible stage over the course of their careers and both have been to this dance before. Neither fighter’s experience will make a difference come May 1.

Advantage: Draw

Matt’s Take: Simply put, Mayweather and Mosley, two of boxing’s top fighters in the last 15 years, have fought some of the biggest names to get to the top. Collectively they have faced Oscar De La Hoya (three times), Winky Wright (twice), Vernon Forrest (twice), Fernando Vargas (twice), Jose Luis Castillo (twice), Miguel Cotto, Diego Corrales, Ricky Hatton, Arturo Gatti, Antonio Margarito, Zab Judah and Juan Manuel Marquez. If this were chess, it would be a stalemate.

Advantage: Draw

Verdict

Shane Mosley is one of the greatest fighters of this era, and possibly of all time, but on May 1 he will face a fighter that is in that same category, and five years younger. Mayweather opponents are almost automatically labeled underdogs, but I don’t think there has been one as live as Mosley. Live as he may be, Shane is still an underdog.

If Floyd brings his A game I don’t feel like anyone in the world can beat him, and if you expect anything less than his a game for this bout you are mistaken. I see Floyd showing up in one of the toughest fights of his career and coming out on top again. Mosley will make it a war, and probably get the respect he’s sought in what may be one of his final appearances. Mayweather meanwhile will pick up a major victory and some heavy negotiating leverage for a bout with Manny Pacquiao.
Mayweather UD

Matt’s Take: Mayweather has plenty of advantages. His body is fresher. He is younger. His last bout was more recent than Mosley’s. But something tells me Sugar Shane is going to pull out one for the ages. This bout has been proposed for years and a victory moves either fighter up on the all time pound for pound list. With the huge fight just days away, Mosley is humble as always, while Mayweather is cocky as ever. Physically, Mayweather has plenty of reasons to be, as he looks to be in perfect form, but there is one major x-factor Sugar Shane has that Floyd doesn’t; Nazim Richardson.
Richardson has long been boxing’s most underrated trainer, as few give him the proper credit for helping Bernard Hopkins expose previously unbeaten opponents in Felix Trinidad and Kelly Pavlik. Those that know Richardson will tell you that he is more prepared than any trainer in the world. In his lone appearance working with Mosley, he helped him upset the highly favored Antonio Margarito in what many considered the best performance of his career.

Richardson and Mosley will be the team to figure out Mayweather’s seemingly unbeatable style, and while Shane may get outboxed in the early going, he will be the first man to really catch “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Expect to see Mosley use feints followed by right hands to bust up Mayweather’s shoulder roll. Enough clean shots from Mosley are enough to end any opponent’s night, including Floyd Mayweather, who will get stopped in one of the most storied victories in boxing history.
Mosley by late stoppage