By Norm Frauenheim

London’s Wembley Stadium will be the stage Saturday for what figures to be a terrific rematch in the second edition of Carl Froch-versus-George Groves and an even better lesson for what ails the business in North America.

It’s pretty simple, obvious enough to be embarrassing. Give the fans what they want. From New York to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, that market fundamental has been lost, or perhaps ignored for all the tired reasons that have been reported ad nauseam for the last few years.

It’s an era that should be remembered for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. and maybe a rematch or two. Instead, it’s marked by the deadly Top Rank-Golden Boy feud that denied customers what they have wanted the most.

The Wembley crowd is expected to be 80,000, a UK record, for a fight between two very good super-middleweights. Yet, neither Froch nor Groves will ever be Mayweather and Pacquaio, who were and perhaps still are the best of their generation. If Froch and Groves can draw 80,000 to an arena for a grudge match-turned-spectacle, imagine what Mayweather could have done, or perhaps can still do.

Froch-Groves is essentially a UK story full of tension between the two and controversy about a debatable stoppage that allowed Froch to win a ninth-round TKO last November in Manchester. But their rematch is also a snapshot look at what could have – should have – been. The world has wanted Pacquaio-Mayweather.

The good news in Froch-Groves is that it is a sure sign business can thrive if it’s done right, which simply means that the customers are always more important than promotional egos. After all, Froch could have walked away, or hid behind some marketing spin or manufactured social polls in an attempt to fight somebody else. But that would have been running away from what the market demands. That would have been stupid. Froch isn’t. A record crowd is about to thank him.

The bad news, at least in North America, is in declining television numbers for major bouts over the last few months. HBO’s pay-per-view buy rate for Pacquiao’s rematch victory over Timothy Bradley on April 12 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand was reported to have been between 750,000 and 800,000. Solid, yet short of the million milestone. As of Thursday, there was still no official word on Showtime’s PPV buy rate for Mayweather’s majority decision over Marcos Maidana on May 3, also at the MGM Grand. Fair or not, a slow count means Showtime is no rush to report disappointing numbers, which have been speculated to be about 900,000, also short of the million marker.

Numbers can be twisted into equations that serve just about any agenda. But the last two from Pacquiao and Mayweather point to the same result: Exasperation at no Mayweather-Pacquiao is beginning to add up to fewer customers.

A further red flag was raised Saturday in light-heavyweight Adonis Stevenson’s surprisingly difficult decision over Andrzej Fonfara in a non-PPV bout in Montreal. In his first fight since jumping from HBO to Showtime in late March after signing with advisor Al Haymon, the Stevenson-featured card drew an average audience of 672,000, according to Nielsen. The rating peaked at 800,000 for Stevenson-Fonfara.

Stevenson’s last fight on HBO — a sixth-round stoppage of Tony Bellew in November – drew a reported audience of 1.3 million, also for a non-PPV bout. Some difference was expected, because HBO has a bigger universe (29 million) than Showtime (23 million). But even at the 800,000 peak for the victory over Fonfara, the audience for Stevenson was down by half-a-million.

Forget the marketing spin, which will try to explain away the decline. Like the latest returns from Pacquiao and Mayweather, the Stevenson numbers are rooted in what the customers have been denied. Before Stevenson jumped to Showtime and Haymon, there was momentum for a Stevenson-Sergey Kovalev fight.

Kovalev-Stevenson wasn’t Pacquiao-Mayweather, but it was a good alternative for fans weary of not getting the fights they wanted the most. Just when it looked as if the bout would happen late this year, Stevenson walked away from the blockbuster. A lot of customers joined him.

Many more will walk away from a lot more if feuding promoters don’t pay attention to Froch and Groves to a London primer in basic business sense.

By Bart Barry-

In a “Gloves Are Off” prefight conversation more entertaining than a highlight reel of every eerily scored “Face Off with Max Kellerman” episode HBO has aired, British super middleweight George Groves, dangling awkwardly in a frame hung by his opponent as a man who makes mysterious predictions profound to him alone, assured Sky Sports host Johnny Nelson of victory this Saturday in his rematch with Carl “The Cobra” Froch:

“I will knock Carl Froch out on May 31st,” said Groves, diverting briefly his eyes from staring in disbelief at Froch. “And I’ll tell you which punch I’m going to do it with – on fight week.”

“Let me guess,” said Froch in a belittling deadpan. “It’s going to be a left or a right.”

It was fine an example as any of Froch’s singularly unflappable comportment in the face of other men’s threatened aggression. Froch’s approach to insulting opponents, prefight, is more devastating for its calm and often eloquent expressions of contempt so deeply set that his heart rate doesn’t quicken even in self-amusement. Like the wrastlers of bygone years, Froch’s self-belief hails from parts unknown. It is the most essential element of what will almost assuredly be our sport’s largest event in 2014 – one made between British fighters by a British promoter in a British stadium by a British cable network, evidence, perhaps, of how much healthier our sport is when kept out American hands – an event that will sell more tickets than the aggregate of Mayweather-Maidana, Mayweather-Alvarez, Mayweather-Guerrero and Mayweather-Cotto.

Froch’s self-belief, an entity that ranges liberally in the large field between confidence and arrogance, was once merely amusing to American aficionados. In his first trip to our continent, Froch came within 14 seconds of losing to a diminished Jermain Taylor. Six months later, in a dreadful start to a wonderful concept, Froch decisioned American Andre Dirrell in the inaugural match of Showtime’s “Super Six” tournament, a snakebitten arrangement that nevertheless got both its creator, Ken Hershman, and its winner, Andre Ward, promoted to HBO, and made an international star of Froch, the colorful runner-up. Froch won a hometown decision of sorts over Dirrell by revealing the American was an athlete, not a fighter, while warming to the idea of a fight even if not knowing how properly to perform one. Froch then lost a close decision to Mikkel Kessler in Denmark, before defeating Arthur Abraham and Glen Johnson – when both were more highly considered than we may remember.

Froch’s stature and confidence grew disproportionately, making him quite likable to strong-character types: For once a man claiming to be more than appearances indicated was more than appearances indicated. Froch has proved many times more than a sum of his parts in a prizefighting ring; his reflexes are good, as is his chin, and he has power enough that no one engages him straight away or else gets iced, but his defense is porous and his footwork is ungainly and his punches’ effect appears to derive more from his belief in their effect than anything resembling effective technique.

He was outfought and given his first defeat in 2011 by Andre Ward, a transcendentally good fighter before his semiretirement as an HBO commentator, but even in that fight it was Froch, not Ward, who appeared stronger in the latter 18 minutes. Then in a twist only American cable television could devise, the winner of Showtime’s super-middleweight tournament, Ward, was unable to fight Showtime’s super-middleweight house fighter, Lucian Bute – for whom crowning a suitable opponent appeared to be the entire point of the tournament. Froch signed-up to fight Bute instead. Froch went through Bute like a roller-coaster train through a pile of shaving cream, stopping the undefeated Romanian in round 5 and denying boxing’s legion of malcontent fans one more match, Ward-Bute, they were never going to get anyway. Six months later, Froch made a homecoming to Nottinghamshire and flattened Yusaf Mack in three rounds. Then he decisioned Mikkel Kessler a year ago in their rematch in London.

Six months after that, Froch took on an undefeated Londoner who’d once acted as his sparring partner, George Groves, in a match so lightly considered in the United States it didn’t land on a network called AWE till a month before opening bell – with neither Showtime, who introduced Froch to American audiences, nor HBO, who finances Andre Ward’s semi-retirement with commentating gigs, bothering to carry it. Had more than a handful of Americans been able to see the match, they’d have seen Froch conclusively outclassed for nearly every minute of the match, getting drilled with righthands, and getting made to look fragile by righthands, in a way few would believe.

Worse yet were Froch’s punches. They appeared, in the opening two or three rounds, like open-handed cuffs. The Cobra looked like nothing so much as a man alternately slapping either end of a large watermelon while staggering drunkenly forward in a head-lowered rage. And that was before Groves put the stopwatch to Froch’s every hung jab, blasting the titlist with even more righthands, blasting him enough not only to drop and wobble him in round 1, to hurt him in a way no one had before, but also to make Froch throw the sort of push-off jab that invites an opponent’s fury and incites aficionados’ contempt. There was contempt everywhere in that ring, and finally it was contempt – that which Froch felt for the usurper Groves – that caused Froch to surge obdurately forward in round 9, catching Groves with clean shots enough to make referee Howard Foster interfere with the match and call-out a TKO victory for Froch.

The fans were displeased as Groves was, though Foster’s comportment was not dishonorable, however the honorable International Boxing Federation ruled shortly after considering what sanctioning fees it might collect for a mandatory rematch. And so we have one, a fight expected to sell 80,000 tickets and fill London’s Wembley Arena for what knowledgeable British commentators are openly calling one of the largest prizefights in the history of their island.

It appears Groves may have Froch’s number in a way reminiscent of Antonio Tarver having Roy Jones’, or in keeping with the sparring partner tradition, in the way Paul Williams had Antonio Margarito’s. Froch has even gone so far as to hint it may be his final prizefight. It won’t be, of course, but it is noteworthy nevertheless as a reminder: Sporting characters original as Froch appear so rarely on American television screens it behooves us to watch and appreciate them whenever we’re granted the access.

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

By Norm Frauenheim–

Sergio Martinez probably won’t ever invite Miguel Cotto to a backyard barbecue. Martinez talks as if he just doesn’t like Cotto. Evident tension between the two is an entertaining sidelight to their intriguing fight on June 7 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

But their middleweight bout is interesting, hard to pick, mostly because it’s really it’s a question of who has the most left at the end of long, Hall of Fame careers.

Martinez looked like an aging NBA player the last time he climbed through the ropes and limped across the canvas on bad knees. The promise is that those knees are healthy and he’s as mobile as ever. Until opening bell, however, it’s fair to wonder how they’ll hold up the first time Martinez pivots to throw a punch or avoid one. It’s also safe to assume that Cotto will test them as early as possible with some lateral movement.

Meanwhile, there’s more scar tissue around Cotto’s eyes than there is on Martinez’ knees. Martinez is bound to test it with a precise jab that could re-open old wounds in an attempt to fulfill his prediction of a stoppage before the ninth round.

Does it matter if they don’t like each other? Not at all. Cotto has always proceeded as if he doesn’t care one whit about whether he’s liked. He’s quiet and disciplined, a man with more ring skill than social skill. He only asks for respect, and that’s something he has throughout a business known more for shifting feuds than real friendship. Cotto repeatedly says he just wants to do his job. With a unique consistency, he has.

During a conference call Thursday, Cotto was asked about Martinez’s annoyance at various issues, including a 159-pound catch weight. Predictably perhaps, Cotto seemed to dismiss the question, saying Martinez should speak to his management if he’s unhappy. Cotto, it seems, was not going to be drawn into a diversionary debate that could disrupt his attention on the task at hand. It was vintage Cotto, always pragmatic and never fooled by a feint.

“If he’s training for only seven or eight rounds, he’s in trouble,’’ Cotto said in a simple counter to Martinez’ promise to score a stoppage within nine.

Cotto also would not let himself be diverted by talk of a legacy, especially in his island home, Puerto Rico. A victory over Martinez would make him the first Puerto Rican to win a title in forth weight class. But he would not rank himself among Puerto Rican legends, including Felix Trinidad and Wilfredo Gomez.

“It’s a personal achievement and a personal matter that I want to win,’’ said Cotto, who will be at middleweight for the first time. “So I’m working toward that. It doesn’t mean that I’m going to be better than Gomez or better than Trinidad or better than the great champions that Puerto Rico has had. But for myself, for Miguel, this will be the biggest accomplishment of my career.’’

The tension between Cotto and Martinez is reported to be rooted in a chance encounter at an ESPN Deportes studio a few years ago. Cotto apparently ignored Martinez, who took it as sign of disrespect. Apocryphal or not, it has set the stage for an element of controversy. That’s never a bad thing to have in HBO’s run-up to a pay-per-view fight. Some personal drama is just another way to sell a fight that Top Rank’s Todd duBoef says has the potential to be the biggest fight that doesn’t include a Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Cotto trainer Freddie Roach made a few comments that were rooted in the reported issues that divide the two fighters. Roach talked about Martinez making excuses, although the Argentine hasn’t questioned the condition of his knees. The media have.

“I don’t want to hear after the fight that his knees hurt,’’ Roach said.

Roach talked about Cotto attacking Martinez’ with body punches. Although smaller, Roach said the 5-foot-7 Cotto is stronger than the 5-10 Martinez.

Martinez, Roach said, “might be bigger, but he’s not better.’’

In test of what’s left, he’ll only have to be good enough.

By Bart Barry–

Saturday at the newly reopened Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Mexican “Dinamita” Juan Manuel Marquez and Colorado’s “Mile High” Mike Alvarado engaged in a fight entertaining as any that ends with one guy besting the other by wide, unanimous scores, the way Marquez bested Alvarado. It was an engrossing if ultimately inconsequential tilt that approached today’s premium-cable-prizefight definition of transcendent: The favorite was knocked-down, and genuinely tested, if only for a round or two.

These days, even the threat of such belligerent happenings usually lands a fight on pay-per-view, and an annual calendar of five or six pay-per-view events says all that needs saying about how often competitive, elite-level fights even get threatened.

If you do not love to watch Juan Manual Marquez fight, you do not love boxing. You may have favorites whom you prefer to watch, but if boxing is what you derive your joy from, if boxing is the entity that takes your life into the present tense, that cleansing place, you love watching Marquez in a prizefight. If ethnic considerations or rivalries or the like preclude you from being enchanted by the spectacle of Marquez plying his craft, it evinces no fault of character – boxing just isn’t what you love.

Every punch with Marquez is a personal event, a thing in which he personally invests, whether landing or being landed upon. He is predatory in a way few other men are predatory; he is predatory even by a standard set by those who make their livings hurting other men in sport’s most intimate way. He is a meanspirited perfectionist, a man, one gathers, who has acquaintances more than friends and loves what few others he loves in the perfunctory way Mexican culture demands he love them. In his treatment of opponents, he has an offensive brilliance exceeded only by Mayweather’s defensive mastery, among contemporaries, and in the public personality that boxing has given him, he is Bernard Hopkins sans charisma and verbosity.

He is not surly, quite, but that is a calculation; his surliness and trainer Nacho Beristain’s tutorial surliness once landed them in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, Indonesia, eight years ago, across from Chris John, for a purse that wouldn’t cover Floyd Mayweather’s weekend earbuds budget. Marquez is now something of a Spanish-television personality, and while he cannot help but be honest when treating matters of his own fights, he otherwise does a passable impersonation of every other ESPN flummery boiler, never anticipating an upcoming fight’s inevitable dullness.

Mike Alvarado understood the stakes Saturday: If he got stretched, he was off premium cable for life; if he could stay conscious for all 36 minutes, regardless of the assault visited upon him by a master pugilist, he had a decent shot of economic realities prompting his promoter to propose him for a last profitable purpling on HBO. But Alvarado did not catch Marquez repeatedly with a jab merely because Marquez, three months from his 41st birthday, has reflexes eroded slowly by time and combat but also because Alvarado is an excellent athlete who’s never had trouble jabbing an opponent effectively.

If Alvarado’s ability to touch Marquez with nearly every jab the Coloradoan tossed Dinamita’s way was not surprising as Marcos Maidana’s recent outjabbing of Floyd Mayweather, it was nevertheless at least as surprising as a training camp strategy that treated Alvarado’s jabbing and Alvarado’s winging right crosses but evidently not Alvarado’s ever mixing those traditionally harmonious elements together. Being generous, one might assume Alvarado’s corner knew their guy would get countered savagely by Marquez if Alvarado threw more than one punch at a time, but irony happened to dictate thusly: Alvarado’s best moments were in the frantic exchanges – as they ever compose Pacquiao’s best moments with Marquez – when Marquez’s pathological need to land an exchange’s final punch left him open in a way no lead punch of any kind from any one ever would find him.

Alvarado dropped Marquez in round 9 and buckled him a few minutes later with counterpunches. Their other, earlier exchanges, though, were a bit more telling: For once, Marquez voluntarily disengaged from sustained volleys, pivoting away and ducking Alvarado’s right hands, in a way he’d not done even against the much larger Mayweather in 2009 or the much faster Pacquiao in 2004, 2008, 2011 or 2012 (or the end of 2014).

No one in boxing, perhaps no other athlete in any sport, discovers better the fissures in another man’s façade than Marquez, or calibrates the circumstances most likely to convert them to suppurating crevices. Whatever permanent damage Ruslan Provodnikov visited on Alvarado’s spirit and brain in October, this remains true: But for the instant at the end of round 8, after Alvarado pulled himself back through the ropes and onto the canvas, rose uncertainly and trudged resignedly forward, an instant that followed a gorgeous right cross from Marquez, an instant that – were it merely 14 instants larger – would have seen Alvarado’s consciousness snatched from him by prizefighting’s greatest closer, Marquez saw a resilience in Alvarado he did not expect to see, a resilience that surely left Marquez’s fists painfully tender on Sunday morning. That the man who, with a single punch, temporarily suspended Pacquiao between the living and the dead could strike Alvarado crisply and precisely and sustainedly for 12 rounds, while leaving him fit to continue in a way he was not against Provodnikov, surely was not lost on promoter Top Rank’s matchmakers.

Provodnikov will see a five-division-catchweight match with Guillermo Rigondeaux before he’ll ever be allowed near Pacquiao.

Which is fine, frankly, because the makeable match that is most desirable today is a fifth Marquez-Pacquiao fight, one that will see the men’s diminished reflexes and enhanced familiarity – and all the contempt that engenders – provide a violent and vengeful spectacle that ends with one of them unconscious, and the other vindicated evermore.

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

By Norm Frauenheim–

Boxing returns to a place Saturday that helped re-define the business in a way that allowed it to move beyond the Sugar Ray Leonard generation and into an era without the heavyweight division as its flagship.

Welcome back to The Forum.

It also was nicknamed the House of Upsets, which might mean trouble for favored Juan Manuel Marquez against Mike Alvarado if contractors didn’t remove that legacy in the $35-million remake of the old arena near LAX.

It’s a good fight, but Top Rank’s return to the building is more intriguing for historical significance and perhaps coincidence.

“This is going to be a great night and a fight that is really important for boxing,’’ said Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who during a conference call also said The Forum was “a venue that helped make boxing as popular as it is today.’’

Note that Arum did not say boxing was as popular as it was the last time it was there. Nobody would. Or could. Arum promoted Muhammad Ali, the most legendary name of all, in a decision over Ken Norton at The Forum in a Sept. 10, 1973 bout that drew 12,417 customers for a live gate of $476,750, a California record that stood for 27 years.
“That was what? Forty-one years ago,’’ Arum joked. “Oh my, I was a thin, young handsome guy. Now, I’m an old fat guy.’’

But the memories are as keen as ever for Arum, who at 82 finds himself confronted by decisions about where to go and what to do. Maybe the answers are in China or with boxers from Kazakhstan, Russia and The Ukraine. It’s hard to know. But it’s becoming abundantly clear that change is on the horizon.

The Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. era is near its end. HBO’s pay-per-view numbers for Pacquiao’s rematch victory over Timothy Bradley on April 12 were reported to be between 750,000 and 800,000, down from the 890,000 for their first fight in 2012.

As of Thursday, there was still no news on Showtime’s PPV number for Mayweather’s difficult decision over Marcos Maidana on May 3. However, there were indications that it might not reach the one-million mark, a Mayweather standard.

Barring a Mayweather-Maidana surprise, the numbers, although still strong, are short of expectations. No matter how you add them up, it’s impossible to subtract public exasperation at never getting Mayweather-Pacquiao. Consequences have come home to roost.

If there’s any good news, it’s in boxing’s proven resiliency. The Forum is a symbol of that. From 1968 through 1999, the Forum was an entry point for Mexican and Mexican-American fighters. A fight in The Forum was a good introduction to the American market. With them, there were fans. Ruben Olivares and Carlos Zarate drew bigger crowds than Ali.

Olivares’ fifth-round knockout of Australian Lionel Rose in a 1969 rematch drew 18,408, The Forum’s biggest boxing crowd ever. In 1970, Olivares won a decision over Chuchu Castillo in front of 18,141. In 1977, Carlos Zarate scored a fourth-round stoppage of Alphonso Zarate in front of 13,971. They were little guys, bantamweights.

They got smaller and in the nick of time. Heavyweight Mike Tyson was in prison for rape and Leonard’s career was all but finished in the wake of a loss to Terry Norris when Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez met at The Forum. They were 108 pounds in a division sometimes called light-flyweight, a redundancy if there ever was one. But their impact at the box-office was big.

A crowd of 10,333 showed up on Feb, 19, 1994 for a Forum rematch of their 2003 Fight of the Year, won by Carbajal, who got up twice to score a seventh-round stoppage at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Gonzalez, who made his name at The Forum after beginning his career at home in Mexico City, won a debatable split decision in the second of three fights between the two. But the real history in their first rematch was in the purse.

Arum paid Carbajal $1 million, which then made him the lightest ever to collect the milestone purse. Carbajal’s victory in the first bout had given him leverage in negotiations. To get the $1 million, however, Arum told him he had to fight Gonzalez at what was then called The Great Western Forum. On the scorecards, Carbajal, who also lost the third fight a narrow decision in Don King-promoted bout in Mexico City, might have paid for that move.

“Michael fought Gonzalez in his living room and then fought him in his kitchen,’’ said ex-Forum broadcaster and fighter Ruben Castillo, who called his friend’s second loss “The Great Western Rip-off.”

At The Forum, however, Arum confirmed what had been evident for many years. There was a new market for fights at weights that promoters had always ignored. There was a new way to do business at a time when one was badly needed. Arum is back in a place he knows and a time he recognizes.

By Bart Barry–

AUSTIN, Texas – Somewhere round here, likely on currently gentrified streets once mean, James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland roamed and terrorized sparring partners en route to network-darling status, a falling-out or five with trainer Ann Wolfe, a prison stay, a brutal victory over Alfredo Angulo in 2011, and a brutaler victory over Glen Tapia in December. Where he is right now is a source of speculation, as usual, but this is not: Had he been present in San Antonio last week to announce a fight with Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at Alamodome, many more San Antonians would have been there as well.

One such San Antonian spent the weekend with Austin locals, instead, in the hopes of finding some evidence of cultural offerings greater than University of Texas’ Blanton Museum of Art and sanitized bars on West 6th Street. He found some, too, good contemporary- and folk-art offerings, and also a reason to reflect on what appears to be one of our sport’s greater missed-ticket-selling opportunities.

This city is not weird so much as haphazard and disorganized, a hippie enclave in a state that, since making a fortuitous discovery dinosaurs once died within its borders, has trended ever more conservative, free-market and likely to conflate luck with merit – convincing its citizenry one’s birth in a resource-rich state is evidence, somehow, of exemplary character or virtue. For every action a reaction: Austin, now enjoying a real-estate boom financed by those scrofulous knaves who brought ruin to sandy states from Florida to California, makes a fetish of embracing its eccentricities, not uncommon to college towns, and planting on its automobiles’ bumpers and townfolk’s t-shirts declarations about keeping itself weird and loving live music.

Ask most who embellish Austin’s merits to catalog this city’s cultural offerings, aside from live music, and they’ll tell you, “Live music!” It’s the sort of exhausting, end-of-boom chatter one encountered in Silicon Valley round 2001, when everyone intended to be a billionaire but no one knew how clicks-from-coffeeshops could be monetized. It’s marginally less cynical here, though, because it is a celebration of culture, such as it is, not capitalism.

To this city’s ever more gentrified climes comes West Austin Studio Tour 2014, a sprawling collection of 241 art galleries and exhibitions, for two weekends, this one and last, and it is, in its seeming disinterest, nearly an opposite of the South by Southwest festival that now makes Austin a destination for the coolest folks from all about our fruited plain. Disinterested because most artists are borrowing corners of their friends’ gallery spaces, have yet to name much less sign their works, and rarely take anything but cash or check. As one local put it: “That’s Austin. We don’t really plan things all the way through. We just sort of get them started and see what happens, you know?”

And there-across spans a bridge from one unplanning gaggle of artists to another: Wednesday afternoon, Oscar De La Hoya, whom business circumstances appear to be pushing from figurehead to manager, visited San Antonio’s historic Mercado district, about 70 miles southwest of here, to announce that the one prizefighter insiders are reasonably certain remains tied to him by promotional contract, Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, will be fighting Cuban Erislandy Lara in Las Vegas in a couple months, in an event called “Honor and Glory.” De La Hoya, freshly enthusiastic if not yet sincere, announced, in Spanish, the card was about “honor y gloria” before switching to English and explaining that honor is what men fight for, and glory.

It was vacuous and scripted, the way these things ever are – or perhaps it was the South Texas sun breaking unexpectedly through what Weather Channel’s app promised would be a cloudy day – but it sapped one’s humor and acted as a reminder of a question Alamo City insiders often ask ourselves when asked to cheerlead for Canelo: Why not James Kirkland at Alamodome? Surely Mike Battah of Leija-Battah Promotions, the man who risked a large sum of his own capital to bring Alvarez, on short notice, to San Antonio to fight an otherwise unknown New Mexican named Austin Trout 13 months ago, and then made of his opportunity one of the more groundbreakingly excellent promotions of the last decade, putting more than 40,000 people in Alamodome, expected such a debut effort would reap rewards many times greater than schlock like Fidel Maldonado against John Nater on a Monday night in February.

Battah once openly imagined 70,000-person gates for Canelo at Alamodome, regardless of opponent, and must now content himself with renting restaurant plazas on Wednesday afternoons to have the firehaired horseman of Jalisco, diminished in everyone’s eyes, make a few serious poses, promise redemption for all Mexicans from a Cuban, and tell the people of, let’s see, San Antonio, how very much he appreciates their support.

To resume his ascent after the Mayweather debacle in September, Canelo needed to do more than score a referee stoppage over a ruined countryman like Alfredo Angulo, on pay-per-view in March; and if we’re being honest, even if he’d put “El Perro” to sleep in 90 seconds, Canelo would have suffered mightily from an Argentine doing to Floyd Mayweather two months later what Mexicans verily expected Canelo would do. One shudders to think what comes of Oscar De La Hoya’s company if Lara undresses Canelo the way that, say, Winky Wright undressed Felix Trinidad in 2005.

Since, like their statesmen, American boxing promoters cannot be counted on to do the right thing till they’ve tried everything else, one might as well hope, too, that such an outcome would make the fight that makes much more ticket-selling sense than Canelo’s tilt in July will: A match with Austin’s James Kirkland at Alamodome.

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

By Norm Frauenheim–

There are losers aplenty in the wake of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Gennady Golovkin possibility headed to never-never land, right there alongside the Manny Paquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fantasy. There are the fans, of course. But there’s nothing new about that. Their hopes are always first to take a beating.

They’ll be back.

But you have to wonder whether Chavez Jr. ever will.

An intriguing Chavez-Golovkin fight, which had been scheduled for July 19 at the old Forum in Inglewood, Calif., is off the board because of failed negotiations between Chavez and Top Rank.

Depending on the source, Chavez Jr. said no to a contract extension that Top Rank said it wanted as insurance if the fight failed to make money. According to Yahoo, Chavez manager Billy Keane said Top Rank’s offer for just the Golovkin fight was for 70 percent less than what it offered for a two-fight extension. According to Ringtv.com, Top Rank’s Bob Arum said Chavez Jr. could have made $12 million for two fights in the event of a loss to Golovkin and $17 million if he beat him.

Follow the money, and Chavez Jr doesn’t look good from either side of the table. Fair or not, public perception figures to interpret the failed negotiations as a way for Chavez Jr. to sidestep a fight he couldn’t win against the most feared fighter in the game. Chavez Jr. needed an escape clause and Top Rank gave him one with that two-fight option.

It’s a move that is bound to make Chavez Jr. look bad in the eyes of Mexican fans. Canelo Alvarez readily stepped up and asked for a fight against Erislandy Lara on July 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. More hype is attached to Golovkin than Lara, but Lara is every bit as dangerous as the middleweight from Kazakhstan. Canelo never looked for a way out against the slickly-skilled Cuban, who presents some of the same challenges that Mayweather did in his one-sided victory over the red-headed Mexican last September.

But the perception will be that Chavez looked for an escape and found one. After all, he always has. At almost every turn, there has been an excuse – a way out. Chavez was allowed to train whenever and wherever he wanted before his loss to Sergio Martinez, which was followed by a positive test for marijuana. He said he couldn’t make weight for Bryan Vera. Then, he was allowed to weigh whatever he wanted before winning a controversial decision over Vera in Carson, Calif. At the end of the buffet table, there was no end to the enablers, including Top Rank.

But even Top Rank appears to have lost its patience with the 28-year-old Chavez. The two-fight option includes an unspoken option to walk away. The guess is that Top Rank won’t shed any tears if he does. Arum went public with his exasperation before Chavez Jr. won a rematch over Vera in San Antonio. By then, it was becoming loud and clear that there was a growing disconnect between Julio Jr. and Mexican fans. Only the name connects the son to his legendary dad. There were boos in Carson, Calif., for the first Vera fight. There was a smaller crowd than expected, about 7,300, at San Antonio’s Alamodome for the rematch.

Even the best trainers of the day opted not to work with him. Freddie Roach left him after the loss to Martinez. Robert Garcia chose not to work with him before the Vera rematch. A year from now, Chavez Jr. might regret turning down Top Rank’s option. It’s beginning to look as if he doesn’t have many left.

By Bart Barry–

After their Saturday welterweight match at MGM Grand, American Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Argentine Marcos “El Chino” Maidana proffered a study in contrasts as they made their ways back to their respective dressing rooms beneath the Grand Garden Arena. One man, shiny-faced and unmarked, greeted a swarming mass of exuberant countrymen. The other, shuffling slightly with face partially misshapen and flanked by enormous body guards, smiled perfunctorily at those who wished him well.

Despite prevailing by majority-decision scores, Floyd Mayweather was not the shiny-faced lad with the exuberant fans.

The idea that Mayweather would not win more than five unanimous rounds against Marcos Maidana on Saturday was one that traversed few minds. The large number of folks who attended the fight or purchased it on pay-per-view did so to support a TMT franchise we’ve been told is historic. A much smaller number of buyers invested their entertainment funds in the hopes El Chino would catch Money cold, somehow, and score a Hasim Rahman-like upset. Nobody who spent money on a ticket or telecast envisioned Maidana decisioning, in Las Vegas, the guy whose head is now more ubiquitous at MGM Grand than that golden lion’s. And yet, there were rounds not even a partial observer like judge Burt Clements could find a way to give Mayweather.

The first round is the first that comes to mind; perhaps Maidana did not sprint from his corner recklessly as he bumrushed Adrien Broner in December – and if Saturday’s main event did not restore much glimmer to “About Billions,” it did embolden those critics who quietly wonder if Mexican Saul Alvarez isn’t something of a frecklefaced fraud – but once he found Mayweather was overconfident enough in the shoulder-roll defense to let the ropes stop his backwards lean, Maidana brought the contact to Mayweather in a way no one before him has.

Part of that could be diminished reflex on Mayweather’s part, though only a tiny part of it, while much of it ought be attributed to the Charmin-soft competition Mayweather has served himself since about the time he slipped past Jose Luis Castillo in 2002; those who hit hard enough to imperil Mayweather generally have not been fast enough, and those who are fast enough generally have not hit with sufficient force. Unflappable as he is, and an unaffected demeanor during physical confrontations is Mayweather’s greatest pugilistic asset, Mayweather did not expect to be hit hard on as many different spots of his head for the rest of his career as Maidana delivered him in their second 90 seconds together.

What became suddenly apparent: Nobody in a sparring session with Floyd Mayweather since Money was about 12 years-old has attempted the clockwise-bolo thing Maidana hurled his way; were it not for Maidana’s startlingly effective jab, Mayweather would not have been speaking out of turn about Maidana had he paraphrased what Evander Holyfield once said of John Ruiz – that he was the most technically incompetent opponent he faced as a pro. Maidana solved the shoulder roll not through expertise but by overthrowing his right hand like a circus-strongman hammer; it was a physical impossibility for Mayweather to get his lead shoulder high enough and his torso tilted rightwards far enough to evade a punch that, at its apex, resembled nothing so much as Kareem’s skyhook.

Trainer Robert Garcia deserves all the credit heaped on him for Maidana’s fantastic jab, well-timed and stiff and accurate as it is, but when it comes to Maidana’s sledgefisted right, Garcia has mentored the Argentine no more than a handler who unclips the leash from an attack dog already in full froth. A camera on Garcia’s face in the opening round likely would have revealed a man both surprised and delighted by what surprise in Mayweather’s demeanor and delight in Maidana’s rabidity the landing of that first righthand brought. Mayweather’s surprise was quickly compounded when, soon after Maidana began crashing into him, Money’s go-to defensive ploy, the lead-elbow-to-opponent’s-neck shimmy, received a warning from referee Tony Weeks, whom Mayweather afterwards banished unhesitatingly from ever again officiating the otherwise high-paying exhibition matches Mayweather thought Showtime signed him up for.

There was one other surprise, too, for both Mayweather and aficionados who have followed his career often begrudgingly: The left-hook lead did not work till the championship rounds. There is not an orthodox fighter in memory, and certainly not a Latino one, whom Mayweather has been unable to tag and tag early with his springing left-hook lead; even master Juan Manuel Marquez got flattened by the punch. Maidana’s guard, though, was high and tight to his cheek, and Mayweather got nothing but right glove, when he didn’t miss both wildly and uncharacteristically.

Worse yet for Mayweather’s plans of a painfree evening was how little his potshot right dissuaded Maidana, who viewed it as a hard tariff, but not a barrier to entry like other Mayweather opponents have. Maidana expected to be hit repeatedly. It was in his contract. He hoped, but likely did not expect, to hit Mayweather repeatedly. When he found Mayweather was willing to sell him a stationary target on the ropes for the price of a flush righthand or two, Maidana became an animated buyer.

Mayweather’s best adjustment was the very return-to-fundamentals Paulie Malignaggi counseled any future Maidana opponent to employ, in the April issue of The Ring magazine. Mayweather, gloves high in the fight’s final third, preceded most of his righthands with jabs; in lieu of reinventing boxing, Money May threw straight 1-2s the exact way he learned to do as a seven-year-old in Grand Rapids, Mich., and it worked exactly as his father knew it would. Floyd Mayweather proved Saturday, as he did against Miguel Cotto in 2012, that, at his core, he is all fighter. Even his Friday protest of Maidana’s gloves was, at its inception at least, a legitimate nod to boxing’s history of illegitimate glove-tampering; what alarmed Mayweather first of all was how “broken-in” Maidana’s custom-made gloves felt.

And Sunday morning, undoubtedly, Floyd Mayweather awoke to a feeling of body-wide trauma that has led other accomplished prizefighters to pursue business ventures elsewhere.

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

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – It was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. got the victory that oddsmakers, pundits and just about everybody not from Argentina thought he would. But it was less than dominant. At times, it was just ugly. Marcos Maidana made sure of it in an exhausting, carpet-bomb style of punching that pushed Mayweather onto the ropes and even through the ropes.

There were few moments, it seemed, when Mayweather wasn’t on the ropes, literally and figuratively. Mayweather got the decision. But there was a qualifier. It wasn’t unanimous. It was a majority decision, meaning it fell one judge short of Mayweather’s predicted dominance.

It was a draw, 114-114, on Michael Pernick’s scorecard. Burt Reynolds had it 117-111 and Dave Mortetti 116-112, each for Mayweather. The draw on Pernick’s card opens the door for a debate about just how good the unbeaten Mayweather was in winning his 46th fight and the third in a rich Showtime contract worth a potential $250 million.

“I’d describe this as a tough, competitive fight,’’ said Mayweather (46-0, 25 KOs), who collected at least $32 million. “Normally, I like to box, but I couldn’t.’’

He couldn’t because of the inexhaustible Maidana, who walked forward in a dogged pursuit of the mythical pound-for-pound champion.

After it was all over, Maidana walked and talked like the winner. In some ways, he even looked the winner. He was unmarked, unlike Mayweather, who was left with a cut above his right eye.

“He never hurt me with a punch,’’ said Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs), who was guaranteed $1.5 million. “I thought I won the fight.’’

Maidana seemed to fight as if he were angry. Perhaps, he was, especially after a glove controversy that wasn’t settled until early Saturday. Maidana was not allowed to wear custom-made gloves that bore Argentina’s blue and white colors. The Mayweather camp objected to them, arguing they lacked the requisite padding along the knuckles.

“He doesn’t fight like a man,’’ Maidana said in Spanish translated into English for the MGM Grand’s crowd, which included a lot of jeering fans from Argentina.

Mayweather escaped with the decision by scoring with precise punches in the later rounds. From the seven through the 12th, Maidana couldn’t quite sustain the pace he had at the beginning. That left him open for counter shots and an effective uppercut. Still, Maidana had enough energy to bull-rush Mayweather in the 11th, pushing him half way through the middle ropes.

Mayweather sustained a cut above his right eye late in the fourth.

“I couldn’t see out of the eye for two rounds,’’ Mayweather said.

A left hook from Maidana appeared to cause the wound, although Maidana’s furious pace made it hard to tell exactly what landed. At times, it looked as if Maidana was trying to land just about everything, all at once.

Maidana wasted no time. In the first, the Maidana whirlwind began, dropping shots from countless angles and at a machinegun rate. Everything was a target. Mayweather’s head and hips. Even Mayweather’s left shoulder was under a sustained assault. Mayweather rolls the shoulder in what is his best-known defensive tactic. Early on, however, the roll was rare, if there at all. There was no time to initiate, much less complete the trademark roll. Mayweather was too busy ducking and leaning back on the ropes.

Mayweather didn’t eliminate the possibility of a rematch. Maidana talked as if he deserved one.

“I’m not scared of him,’’ Maidana said. “Why not do the rematch?’’

It might be in the cards.

Amir Khan restores credibility with tactical decision over Collazo

Amir Khan added pounds to his body and hope to his future.

Kahn restored some lost credibility with a poised, tactical decision over Luis Collazo in a welterweight bout Saturday night before the main event featuring Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand.

There will always be doubts about Khan’s notoriously fragile chin. Against the rugged Collazo, however, the former junior-welterweight seemed to fight as though he knew he couldn’t leave it exposed. For the most part, he used his quick feet to stay a step away from Collazo.

Byt the 10th round, his superior athleticism just proved to be too much for Collazo. He knocked down Collazo twice in the round. The first knockdown came at the end of a left uppercut as short as it was beautiful.

For Khan, the inescapable question revolved around what was next. Mayweather? Mayweather had bypassed Khan for Maidana.

“Absolutely,’’ Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) said when asked if he wanted to be next in the Mayweather sweepstakes. “Absolutely.’’

In the fourth, Khan’s hand speed exercised some Mayweather-like superiority with a short right hand that knocked Collazo off-balance and onto the seat of his trunks. Seconds later, Khan staggered him. But the tough Collazo (35-6, 18 KOs) is nothing if not resilient. That’s the story of his long career.

The knockdown seemed to embolden him. He stubbornly moved forward in an evident attempt to draw Khan into a brawl. Khan instinctively moved away, almost as if he knew he couldn’t win the kind of street fight Collazo wanted.

But the stubborn Collazo kept moving forward and kept taunting Khan in the late seconds of each successive round. It was if he was trying to wear down Khan, wear off the slick veneer on the Brit’s versatile skill set. In the eighth, it looked as if Collazo might succeed. He was penalized a point for a low blow. For a fleeting moment, Khan looked fatigued. Collazo staggered him with a right. Khan held on and was penalized a point for holding Collazo’s head.

Broner Big Winner on Cards, Big Loser with Fans
Adrien Broner talks about boos as though they were terms of endearment.

He says he loves to hear them.

He must have been happy Saturday night. Boos filled the MGM Grand Garden Arena for how he won and how he talked about it after scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Molina, a Mexican-American from Norwalk, Calif.

“I’m the Can Man,’’ Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) told Showtime broadcaster Jim Gray at the center of the ring. “I just beat the bleep out of a Mexi-Can.’’

On a night billed as a celebration of Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo holiday, the patrons were angry enough at the slur to collectively kick Broner’s can. They couldn’t. Neither could the resolute Molina (17-2-1, 7 KOs). But somebody else will if Broner continues to fight with more showmanship than skill.

He mocked Molina in the late rounds, he looked at the crowd in almost every round and threw Molina onto the canvas with a wrestling hold in the third round. There wasn’t much time left for punches and, sure, enough he didn’t throw many. He mixed in just enough to collect a points’ victory in a junior-welterweight bout, his first since Marcos Maidana embarrassed him in December.

“It was a sparring session on national television,’’ said Broner, who showed he can insult pay-per-view customers too

Too Much Love for Periban
J’Leon Love’s story is about learning how to survive. Out of the ring. And in it.

It was a lesson Love (18-0, 10 KOs) put to good use against Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13 Kos) in the first fight of the pay-per-view portion of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana card. Love, a Mayweather-promoted super-middleweight, survived the fifth round.

A straight right from Periban turned Love’s head violently from one side to the other and eventually put him on the canvas. Periban, of Mexico City, fell back and down in the wild round, apparently from over-exerting himself in an attempt to finish Love. But Love would not go away. First, he regained his equilibrium and then the momentum with careful and precise shots from several angles and enough abundance to win a 10-round unanimous decision.

OFF TV: The non-televised portion of the card was consistent, if not exactly perfect. It went six-for-six. Six fights, six stoppages. The sixth came from Las Vegas cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti, who scored a fourth-round TKO of John Shipman (3-2, 2 KOs) of Amarillo, Tex.

Las Vegas super-middleweight Ronald Gavril (9-0, 7 KOs) remained unbeaten with a fourth-round TKO of Tyrell Hendrix (10-4-2, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles.

British middleweight Anthony Ogogo (6-0, 2 KOs) kept the KO streak going. He scored the card’s fourth straight stoppage, finishing Jonuel Tapia (8-5-1, 5 KOs) of Brooklyn, NY, in the third round.

Ashley Theopane (35-6-1, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas employed speed and precision to overcome a bigger Angino Perez (15-5, 13 KOs) for a fourth-round stoppage of the Miami welterweight. Theopane finished the bout with a succession of punches that drove Perez into the ropes.

Lanell Bellows (7-1-1, 6 KOs), a Las Vegas super-middleweight, scored two knockdowns en route to a second-round stoppage of Thomas Gifford (2-2-1, 1 KO), an Arkansas fighter who went down in the second round as though he had been hit by runaway truck.

More than three hours before Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast began, junior-welterweights Ladarius Miller of Memphis and Richard Colas opened the show. Their punches echoed throughout the empty arena. The biggest echo came from Miller (2-0, 1 KO), who scored a third-round TKO of Colas (11-3, 1 KO).

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya, founder of Golden Boy Promotions, said he is fighting for his company and that he doesn’t want to fire his CEO, Richard Schaefer.

“Look, nobody is going to dismiss Richard,’’ De La Hoya said Saturday during a news conference before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana fight at the MGM Grand. “I don’t want him to leave.’’

But De La Hoya could not be certain that he won’t. He was asked whether the relationship could be healed.

“I don’t know,’’ he said.

De La Hoya conceded that he had alternate plans if he and Schaefer are unable to end a feud that has disrupted their business.

“I have a Plan B, C and D,’’ said De La Hoya, who hired Schaefer, a former Swiss banker to run the promotional company that is named for him. “I found Richard from the banking world to help me out. I can do that again.’’

The De La Hoya-Schaefer feud is marked by disagreement over whether to have any sort of relationship with rival Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s primary promoter throughout his Hall of Fame career. Schaefer has vowed to never do business with Arum again. De La Hoya visited Arum Thursday at the Top Rank promoter’s home in Los Angeles.

De La Hoya said he only wanted “to bury the hatchet” with Arum. He said no business was discussed. However, De La Hoya did not rule out the possibility that business might be discussed if there is another meeting with Arum.

Another issue involves questions about how many fighters are under contract to Mayweather advisor Al Haymon instead of Golden Boy Promotions. Schaefer has developed a close working relationship with Haymon and Mayweather. Schaefer has said that some fighters have contracts with Haymon and not Golden Boy.

“I don’t have the number,’’ De La Hoya said.

De La Hoya said he hoped to talk to Schaefer about the issues that divide them

“Like Richard said, here are a few things we are not agreeing on,’’ he said. “But it’s nothing that can’t be worked out.’’

“I said what I had to say and I stand by those statements,’’ Schaefer said. “Whatever the future holds, hopefully, we can have this resolved within the next couple of weeks.”

It is believed that De La Hoya reached out to Arum as part of his rehab from substance abuse. De La Hoya went into rehab last September before Mayweather’s victory over Canelo Alvarez.

“Bottom line, I was not well,’’ De La Hoya said. I got caught up in stuff. I was down and out. I really was. Right now, I want to be the real Golden Boy. This company is named Golden Boy for a reason. This is the fight of my life right now. I can win. I know I can.’’

Follow all the action live as Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana meet in a WBA/WBC Welterweight unification bout. A big 3-fight undercard will take place beginning at 9 PM ET that will see Former world champions Amir Khan and Luis Collazo squaring off in a Welterweight bout. Former world champion Adrien Broner battles Carlos Molina and the night kicks off with a Super Middleweight elimination bout between J’Leon Love and Marco Antonio Periban

12 ROUNDS–WBA/WBC WELTERWEIGHT TITLE–FLOYD MAYWEATHER (45-0, 26 KO’S) VS MARCOS MAIDANA (35-3, 31 KO’S)

Round 1 Righgoot to body from Maidana…Jab from Mayweather..Maidana lands a left..Mayweather getting hit on the ropes…Mayweather lands a right at the bell…10-9 Maidana

Round 2 Maidana landing shots on the ropes…Mayweather lands 2 hard lead rights..19-19

Round 3 Jab to body from Mayweather..Hard counter right…Hard rights on the ropes from Maidana…Left and right from Mayweather..Lead right…29-28 Mayweather

Round 4 Mayweather lands a good body shot and left hook..Mayweather is cut over right eye…Left to body from Mayweather..39-37 Mayweather

Round 5 Cut caused by headbutt…Right from Maidana…right…Mayweather lands a right..jab..right..Right from Maidana..Body fromMayweather…body/head from Maidana..48-47 Mayweather

Round 6 Right and left from Mayweather…counter right.. Maidana lands a few rights..jab///uppercut from Mayweather..lead left hook..righlt…jab to the body..staright right..right to body from Maidana..right and uppercut…left from Mayweather..58-56 Mayweather

Round 7 Lead left from Mayweather…left to body..2 left hooks…double jab…2 rights..right and 2 lefts from Maidana..68-65 Mayweather

Round 8 Maidana lands 2 over hand right…right from Mayweather..double jab from maidana..right from Mayweather…Jab and right from Maidana..lead left from Maywetaher..chaopping left…lead left and counter left…78-75 Mayweather

Round 9 Mayweather lands a right…left..left from Maidana..lead right and left hook…big right..right and blistering combination…jab…88-84 Mayweather

Round 10 Mayweather lands a jab and right..combination..right to body..jab..Lead right..lead left from Maidana..2 right from Mayweather..good right from Maidana..98-93 Mayweather

Round 11 Mayweather lands a left hook…trading jabs..right from Mayweather..right from Maidana..108-102 Mayweather

Round 12 Left from Maidana..counter combo from Mayweather…Maidana landing hard bod pucnhes..lead right from Mayweather…right…counter right…118-111 Mayweather

114-114; 117-111, 116-112 winner by majority decision Floyd Mayweather

12 ROUNDS WELTERWEIGHTS–AMIR KHAN (28-3, 19 KO’S) VS LUIS COLLAZO (35-5, 18 KO’S)

Round 3 1-2 from Khan…Left from Collazo..Khan gets in a right..Body..30-27 Khan

Round 4..RIGHT TO THE CHIN AND DOWN GOES COLLAZO..Khan landing combiation..Collazo trying to comeback..40-35 Khan

Round 5 Right and left from Khan…Left from Khan..Combo from Collazo..lead left..50-44 Khan

Round 6 Right and left from Khan..Left from Collazo…right from Collazo…Khan lands a straight right…660-53 Khan

Round 7 lead left and jab from Collazo..Hard right from Khan..quick combination..70-62 Khan

Round 8 Collzao docked a point for Low Blows…Big left from Collazo..Khan being warned for holding the head..1-2 from Collazo..lead left from Collazo…point deducted from Khan..right from Khan..78-71 Khan

Round 9 Good combo from both..body and head from Khan..straight right..88-80 Khan

Round 10 Hard left hurts Collazo…right..left..left to jaw..LEFT AND DOWN GOES COLLAZO..HARD COMBINATION AND LEFT AND DOWN GOES COLLAZO..Hard combo on ropes…98-87 Khan

Round 11 Good combo from Collazo..right from Khan..2 jabs..left hook to body and head..good right and left from Collazo..3 jabs from Khan..straight left and uppercut from Collazo..108-96 Khan

Round 12 Low blow from Collazo…118-106 Khan

117-106, 119-104 twice for Amir Khan

10 ROUNDS–SUPER LIGHTWEIGHTS–ADRIEN BRONER (27-1, 22 KO’S) VS CARLOS MOLINA (17-1-1, 7 KO’S)

Round 1 Molina works the body..10-9 Molina

Round 2 Combination from Molina..Broner lands a right behind the jab..Molina lands a left to the body..Good right..20-18 Molina

Round 3 Broner takes down Molina..Molina landing on the ropes..Over hand right and jab from Broner…Left hook from Molina..30-28 Molina

Round 4 Right from Molina..Combination to head from Broner..good body from Boner..Combo from Molina..uppercut from Broner..quick combiantion…39-39 Molina

Round 5 Combinatu…48-48

Round 6 Broner lands a short right…body..58-57 Broner

Round 7 right and left to body from Broner..right to head…right cross..right from Molina..big right and left hook..68-66 Broner

Round 8 Uppercut from Broner..overhand right from Molina..Both landed rights..right from Broner..78-75 Broner

Round 9 Jab From Broner…88-84 Broner

Round 10 Right from Broner..left to body from Molina..left hook from Molina..Jab from Broner..Molina lands a left hook..right from Broner..Good exchange at the bell...98-94 Broner

99-91, 98-92, 100-90 for Adrien Broner

10 ROUNDS–SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS–J’LEON LOVE (17-0, 10 KO’S) VS MARCO ANTONIO PERIBAN (20-1-1, 13 KO’S)

Round 1 Periban lands a right to the body..Love lands a jab.right to body..10-9 Love

Round 2 Double jab from Love..Periban right to the body..Periban bleeding from the nose..counter right to body from Love..20-18 Love

Round 3 Periban backing Love on the ropes with a flurry..2 jabs from Love..Periban lands a left to the body…combination..left from Love..jab..Nice combination..Combination..29-28 Love

Round 4 Love lands a jab to the body…5 jabs…39-37 Love

Round 5 Periban lands a combination..Huge Right..hurts Love..love is eating about 25 punches to the face…Love in real trouble..HUGE RIGHT AND LEFT AND LOVE TAKES A KNEE…Love eats a hard right…47-47

Round 6 Jab from Periban..Big left..Jab from Love..right to body from Periban..Good left from Love..body..Cut over left eye of Periban..Love landing an uppercut…Periban looking tired..2 jabs from Love...57-56 Periban

Round 7 Left to body from Love..Left from Periban..67-66 Periban

Round 8 Triple jab from Love..good jab..Counter right from Periban..exchange rights to the body..76-76

Round 9 Body from Periban…2 jabs from Love..Good right from Periban..86-85 Periban

Round 10 double jab from Love…Left to body from Periban….95-95

95-93, 97-92, 96-93 all for J’Leon Love

By Norm Fraienheim–

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. complained about the lack of padding at the knuckles of Marcos Maidana’s gloves in a controversy that erupted Friday after the weigh-in for their pay-per-view welterweight fight at the MGM Grand.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled that Maidana could not wear the gloves, which were custom made for him by Everlast, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said Friday night.

After the Commission’s ruling, negotiations between the respective camps were underway for the kind of gloves that each fighter would wear. Schaefer said the controversy would not put the fight in jeopardy. Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe was quoted as saying there would be no fight if Maidana were allowed to wear the specially-made gloves, which included horsehair for padding and were done in the blue-and-white colors of his home country, Argentina.

“I am absolutely confident that everything will be worked out,’’ Schaefer said. “There will be a fight.’’

Both camps had agreed to wear eight-ounce gloves. However, Mayweather’s management, including Ellerbe and attorney John Hornewer, objected to Maidana’s gloves, complaining that most of padding was at the wrist and not at the knuckles.

“It was like there was one ounce at the knuckles and seven ounces at the wrist,’’ said Elvis Grant, who makes the Grant model that Mayweather plans to wear.

Grant attended the rules meeting. He said Mayweather tried on the Maidana pair that the Argentine planned to wear.

“Floyd said there was no way he’d fight that guy with those gloves on,’’ Grant said.

Maidana is known for his power. With 31 knockouts in 35 fights, he has one of the best KO ratios in boxing.

The glove controversy was just one of many in a week full of them during the build-up for Mayweather-Maidana.

At a weigh-in that sounded like a rap concert, the only excess pounds came from booming speakers loud enough to simulate a small earthquake. The building shook. The scale rocked. The noise was heavy. Only the fighters weren’t.

Both Mayweather and Maidana came in under the 147-pound limit. Mayweather looked bigger and might be much bigger at opening bell, but at 146 pounds he was lighter on the official scale than Maidana, who was at 146-½ for his sixth fight at welterweight.

Mayweather, who had Atlanta rapper 2Chainz in his entourage, appeared calm and confident as ever, despite controversy throughout the week before his third fight in a Showtime contract for a possible six bouts and a potential $250 million.

The week started with Mayweather defending Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, whom he called “a nice guy” despite Sterling’s racist comments that resulted in the NBA banning him for life. The controversy continued Thursday when Mayweather posted allegations on his Facebook account that his former fiance, Shantel Jackson, aborted their twins because he is pro-life. The post, taken down later in the day, included a photo of what he said was her sonogram.

Showtime broadcaster Jim Gray asked Mayweather about “distractions” after the pound-for-pound champion stepped off the scale.

“Pressure, I love it,’’ said Mayweather, who also promised to do what he does best.

There doesn’t appear to be much pressure on Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) in the bout itself. Odds, which have been as high as 11-to-1, have made him the overwhelming favorite since the fight was announced.

If there’s pressure, it’s in how he wins. At different times and in different words, Mayweather has been close to promising his best performance ever. He has said that doesn’t necessarily mean a stoppage. But fans are interpreting it that way. Consider this: The odds are 6-to-5 for Mayweather by KO. A lot of bettors are putting their money on the 10th-round, which would coincide with Mayweather’s 2007 TKO of Ricky Hatton, who — like Maidana – was a natural 140-pounder fighting as a welterweight. Mayweather by KO in the 10th opened at 12-to-1. Late in the week, it had been bet down to 8-to-1.

Predictably, Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) has said he is not bothered by the overwhelming odds. What else is he going to say?

“I know he’s going to be much bigger, but because of my style I know I can beat him,’’ said Maidana, who possesses one of the best knockout ratios in boxing, yet could not stop Adrien Broner, a former lightweight, in his upset of him in December.

In some ways, Maidana’s slim chance at a monumental upset is reflected in the wealth gap that separates the two purses. Mayweather’s guarantee is $32 million, according to a contract filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Maidana’s guarantee is $1.5 million, according to the Nevada commission. Maidana is expected to get a percentage of Argentina’s television revenue. Nevertheless, Maidana’s guarantee is a fraction of what Mayweather will pocket no matter what the pay-per-view does.

Form the odds to the respective paychecks, it all adds up to Mayweather, unless — and perhaps only if — Maidana gets lucky. In this city of longshots, he might. But the best bet is that his chances at luck are better with a pair of dice at a Vegas’ table than in the ring against Mayweather.

De La Hoya, Arum meet
According to various reports, Oscar De La Hoya met Thursday with Bob Arum at Arum’s home in Los Angeles in an attempt to end the Golden Boy Promotions-Top Rank feud.

“Our relationship is now totally repaired, whether we do any specific business, we will have a friendly relationship between Todd (DuBoef) and I on our side and Oscar,’’ said Arum, De La Hoya’s primary promoter during his Hall of Fame career “We’ll have a collegial relationship.

“It was a very emotional meeting. We hugged each other. Oscar meant a lot to me, and I meant a lot to him. We had a helluva ride together. It was the right thing to do.”

Arum said the meeting lasted about two-and-a-half hours.

“We had lunch,’’ he said. “It was at our vacation house in Los Angeles. There was a good tenor to our conversation. Todd and I met with Oscar, and reminisced about old times. We talked about how it was crazy that we were at odds. We buried the hatchet, and it as a very productive meeting. We never talked any specific business, ever.”

De La Hoya, founder of Golden Boy, has been feuding with his CEO, Richard Schaefer, who has vowed to never to do business with Arum again. Golden Boy has been working as associate promoter for the Mayweather-Maidana fight.

However, De La Hoya has not attended any of the news conferences. He also was not at Friday’s weigh-in.

Also on the scale
Both Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) and Luis Collazo were at the mandatory, 147-pounds, for their key welterweight fight on the televised card. Khan hopes for an impressive victory that will keep him in line for a shot at Mayweather, perhaps later in the year.

Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) was at 140 pounds and Carlos Molina at 138 ½ for their junior-welterweight bout. There were boos for Broner, who was happy to hear them. “Keep on booing me,’’ said Broner, who is coming off his loss to Maidana. “I’m going to keep on doing my thing.’’

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. complained about the lack of padding at the knuckles of Marcos Maidana’s gloves in a controversy that erupted Friday after the weigh-in for their pay-per-view welterweight fight at the MGM Grand.

There are two pairs in question. Both are in light blue, the national color for Argentina, Maidana’s home country.

Mayweather’s corner did not argue with the brand, Everlast. But Mayweather’s management, including advisor Leonard Ellerbe and attorney John Hornewer, demanded during a rules meeting that the Nevada State Athletic Commission prohibit Maidana from wearing either pair. Maidana walked out of the meeting. There was still no resolution to controversy late Friday.

Maidana is known for his power. With 31 knockouts in 35 fights, he has one of the best KO ratios in boxing. Mayweather wears Grant-made gloves.

The glove controversy was just one of many in a week full of them during the build-up for Mayweather-Maidana.

At a weigh-in that sounded like a rap concert, the only excess pounds came from booming speakers loud enough to simulate a small earthquake. The building shook. The scale rocked. The noise was heavy. Only the fighters weren’t.

Both Mayweather and Maidana came in under the 147-pound limit. Mayweather looked bigger and might be much bigger at opening bell, but at 146 pounds he was lighter on the official scale than Maidana, who was at 146-½ for his sixth fight at welterweight.

Mayweather, who had Atlanta rapper 2Chainz in his entourage, appeared calm and confident as ever, despite controversy throughout the week before his third fight in a Showtime contract for a possible six bouts and a potential $250 million.

The week started with Mayweather defending Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, whom he called “a nice guy” despite Sterling’s racist comments that resulted in the NBA banning him for life. The controversy continued Thursday when Mayweather posted allegations on his Facebook account that his former fiance, Shantel Jackson, aborted their twins because he is pro-life. The post, taken down later in the day, included a photo of what he said was her sonogram.

Showtime broadcaster Jim Gray asked Mayweather about “distractions” after the pound-for-pound champion stepped off the scale.

“Pressure, I love it,’’ said Mayweather, who also promised to do what he does best.

There doesn’t appear to be much pressure on Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) in the bout itself. Odds, which have been as high as 11-to-1, have made him the overwhelming favorite since the fight was announced.

If there’s pressure, it’s in how he wins. At different times and in different words, Mayweather has been close to promising his best performance ever. He has said that doesn’t necessarily mean a stoppage. But fans are interpreting it that way. Consider this: The odds are 6-to-5 for Mayweather by KO. A lot of bettors are putting their money on the 10th-round, which would coincide with Mayweather’s 2007 TKO of Ricky Hatton, who — like Maidana – was a natural 140-pounder fighting as a welterweight. Mayweather by KO in the 10th opened at 12-to-1. Late in the week, it had been bet down to 8-to-1.

Predictably, Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) has said he is not bothered by the overwhelming odds. What else is he going to say?

“I know he’s going to be much bigger, but because of my style I know I can beat him,’’ said Maidana, who possesses one of the best knockout ratios in boxing, yet could not stop Adrien Broner, a former lightweight, in his upset of him in December.

In some ways, Maidana’s slim chance at a monumental upset is reflected in the wealth gap that separates the two purses. Mayweather’s guarantee is $32 million, according to a contract filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Maidana’s guarantee is $1.5 million, according to the Nevada commission. Maidana is expected to get a percentage of Argentina’s television revenue. Nevertheless, Maidana’s guarantee is a fraction of what Mayweather will pocket no matter what the pay-per-view does.

Form the odds to the respective paychecks, it all adds up to Mayweather, unless — and perhaps only if — Maidana gets lucky. In this city of longshots, he might. But the best bet is that his chances at luck are better with a pair of dice at a Vegas’ table than in the ring against Mayweather.

De La Hoya, Arum meet
According to various reports, Oscar De La Hoya met Thursday with Bob Arum at Arum’s home in Los Angeles in an attempt to end the Golden Boy Promotions-Top Rank feud.

“Our relationship is now totally repaired, whether we do any specific business, we will have a friendly relationship between Todd (DuBoef) and I on our side and Oscar,’’ said Arum, De La Hoya’s primary promoter during his Hall of Fame career “We’ll have a collegial relationship.

“It was a very emotional meeting. We hugged each other. Oscar meant a lot to me, and I meant a lot to him. We had a helluva ride together. It was the right thing to do.”

Arum said the meeting lasted about two-and-a-half hours.

“We had lunch,’’ he said. “It was at our vacation house in Los Angeles. There was a good tenor to our conversation. Todd and I met with Oscar, and reminisced about old times. We talked about how it was crazy that we were at odds. We buried the hatchet, and it as a very productive meeting. We never talked any specific business, ever.”

De La Hoya, founder of Golden Boy, has been feuding with his CEO, Richard Schaefer, who has vowed to never to do business with Arum again. Golden Boy has been working as associate promoter for the Mayweather-Maidana fight.

However, De La Hoya has not attended any of the news conferences. He also was not at Friday’s weigh-in.

Also on the scale
Both Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) and Luis Collazo were at the mandatory, 147-pounds, for their key welterweight fight on the televised card. Khan hopes for an impressive victory that will keep him in line for a shot at Mayweather, perhaps later in the year.

Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) was at 140 pounds and Carlos Molina at 138 ½ for their junior-welterweight bout. There were boos for Broner, who was happy to hear them. “Keep on booing me,’’ said Broner, who is coming off his loss to Maidana. “I’m going to keep on doing my thing.’’

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – The Golden Boy Promotions divide between CEO Richard Schaefer and founder Oscar De La Hoya appeared to widen Thursday with comments from Bernard Hopkins, who supports Schaefer’s vow to never to do business with Bob Arum despite De La Hoya’s attempt at renewing a working relationship with the Top Rank promoter.

“We don’t need Bob Arum,’’ Hopkins said after a news conference for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana undercard Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Hopkins, a Golden Boy vice-president, had a lot more to say. When does he not? But he was careful not to comment on whether there was a chance at healing the De La Hoya-Schaefer rift. He said he has a commercial interest in the company’s future. But he said he wouldn’t talk about their reported differences.

“When I was training for Beibut Shumenov, I’d hear this and I’d hear that,’’ said Hopkins, who won another piece of the light-heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Shumenov a couple of weeks ago. “I’m not going to comment about things I don’t know about because that makes things worse.’’

But the argument about Arum is no rumor. De La Hoya is on record about wanting to resume business with his former promoter. There’s even talk that he approached Arum with a proposal for a Canelo Alvarez fight against the Arum-promoted Manny Pacquiao. De La Hoya’s attempt to make peace with Arum has been a step in the healing process since his release from rehab.

But Schaefer is also on record about Arum. Business between the two is over, said Schaefer, whose alliance with Mayweather and his advisor, Al Haymon, appears stronger than ever. Forget business. There’s a sense that the Schaefer and Arum couldn’t even be civil to each other.

“There is so much on and off with Top Rank that Richard Schaefer has had with Arum that the relationship will never be patched up,’’ Hopkins said. “Not in this lifetime, I don’t think. It’s not just the name-calling. If it was just the name-calling, I think they could get back together. It’s the lawsuits. Then, it’s ‘we agree,’ and then ‘don’t agree.’ It’s the emotional roller coaster, again and again. I just think it’s become a worn-out soap opera.’’

If the respective positions have hardened on Arum, any chance at peace between Schaefer and De La Hoya are dim and getting dimmer. De La Hoya has not commented on the situation since the week-long build-up for Mayweather-Maidana began on Tuesday. His absence was notable at news conferences Wednesday and again Thursday.

No Golden Boy-Top Rank alliance, of course, means the most-talked-about fight of the last four years will never happen. No real news there. Pacquiao-Mayweather will go the way of Riddick Bowe-Lennox Lewis. Trouble is, the lost opportunity will take a lot of fans with it.

“We blew that opportunity,’’ Hopkins said. “We lost what would have been the Super Bowl of boxing. It’s like not having Ali-Frazier. The moment was there three, four years ago. But I think people have gotten past it.’’

For Hopkins, it was another way of saying it’s time to move on. It’s beginning to look as if Schaefer and De La Hoya will do exactly that.

Mayweather post stirs up controversy
Mayweather created a predictable buzz early Thursday by alleging that his former fiance, Shantel Jackson, aborted their two twins because he is pro-life.

Mayweather posted what he said was a photo of her sonogram on his Facebook account with this message: “The real reason me and Shantel Christine Jackson @missjackson broke up was because she got a abortion, and I’m totally against killing babies. She killed our twin babies.#ShantelJackson#FloydMayweather#TheMoneyTeam#TMT.

The post was taken down later in the day, apparently because of the furor it caused..

Notes: If Amir Khan beats Luis Collazo Saturday night, there’s talk that Khan will get a September shot at Mayweather, a one-sided favorite over Maidana. But Khan said he could not fight in a mid-September bout that coincides with a celebration Mexican Independence (Sept. 16) because of the Muslim observance of Ramadan. Khan is a practicing Muslim. …Adrien Broner took the podium Thursday and said that he was a changed man before his fight with Carlos Molina, his first bout since losing to Maidana in in December. “I’m humble, I don’t trash talk no more,’’ the bearded Broner said. Then, the real Broner appeared. “Get the hell out of here,’’ he said after a pause. “…At the end of the day, we’ve got to get back to business.’’ Yeah, the trash-talking business.

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza called Floyd Mayweather Jr. “a show” and Mayweather proved him right throughout a news conference Wednesday with only praise for Marcos Maidana, a rip at promotional rival Bob Arum, a surprising hint that the end of his career might be near, a promise to be better than ever Saturday night and even a further defense of disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

Mayweather did it all.

Well, almost all.

Mayweather didn’t indulge in anything that even remotely sounded like the trash-talk that identified for so many years.

It’s not as if he didn’t get the opportunity. Maidana concluded his part of the news conference with a closing shot that included an f-bomb for emphasis.

“I don’t give a bleep about him,’’ Maidana said through a translator.

There was no response in kind from Mayweather.

“Lately, Maidana has been making a lot of noise,’’ said Mayweather, who has a $32 million guarantee for Saturday night’s pay-per-view bout. “He’s one of the best fighters. But I am the best.’’

Hard to argue with that. Maidana is a double-digit dog, according to betting odds. Maidana was in a tuxedo Wednesday that made him look like a game-show host. He was all dressed up. But with the odds against him at 11-1 and climbing, he’s got nowhere to go. A lucky shot could land, but Mayweather is known to gamble only on the casino floor.

“He should have knocked out Adrien Broner, a lightweight,’’ Mayweather said of Maidana’s unanimous decision in December over Broner, who was at welterweight for only the second time. “But he didn’t.’’

If there’s going to be a knockout, Mayweather continues to suggest that he’ll be the one to score it.

During the news conference, Mayweather told the audience to be prepared for perhaps his best ever. He even introduced a new acronym. He was wearing a cap with the trademark TMT, The Money Team, when he introduced TBE, The Best Ever.

“I promise you, this will be different than the fight you saw against Canelo (Alvarez)”, said Mayweather, who scored a dominant decision over the red-headed Mexican last September in the second fight of a Showtime deal for a possible six bouts and a potential $250 million.

After the news conference, he was asked if he planned to stop Maidana in what would be his first stoppage since a controversial knockout of Victor Ortiz in 2011. Mayweather hesitated before he answered.

“Looking to win, looking to win very, very impressively,’’ he said.

Mayweather also dangled the possibility that he might retire. With odds indicating a mismatch, perhaps he has to. If the bout is a foregone conclusion, his future isn’t. At least, that’s what he said.

“I really don’t know,’’ Mayweather said when asked whether there would be a fight after Maidana.

Mayweather’s last fight would be history, said advisor Leonard Ellerbe, who knows that the possibility of some history is always a good sales pitch.

The real history for Mayweather appears to be Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record. If Mayweather (45-0) beats Maidana, he’s three fights from tying that one and four from eclipsing it. He’s unbeaten, he said, because nobody can solve the challenging puzzle he represents at opening bell.

“Still wondering who’s gonna solve the May-Vinci Code,’’ said the pound-for-pound champion, who envisions himself as one day being seen as boxing version of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Mayweather also took a predictable shot at Arum, the Top Rank promoter who was enraged at the MGM Grand’s signage before Manny Pacquiao’s unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley in an April 12 rematch. Advertising for Mayweather-Maidana was everywhere.

“You hear people say bad things about this hotel,’’ Mayweather said after associate promoter Richard Schaefer took his turn at ripping Arum. “But their run is coming to an end.’’

Mayweather also would not join in on the condemnation of Sterling, the Clippers owner who was fined $2.5 million and banned Tuesday by the NBA for life after TMZ aired audio of his racist comments. Mayweather was a Sterling guest at several games.

“I don’t have nothing negative to say about the guy,” Mayweather said Tuesday. “He’s always treated me with the utmost respect. He has always invited me to games, always. And he always says, ‘Floyd, I want you to sit right next to me and my wife.’ ”

Mayweather repeated that sentiment Wednesday.

“He’s a nice guy,’’ Mayweather said. “He never said anything racist to me. If he did what they said he did, it’s up to God to forgive him.

By Bart Barry–

Saturday American Floyd “Money” Mayweather will fight once more at MGM Grand, this time with Argentine Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, in a welterweight title match the prestigious WBA has honored with “Super World” status, defying courageously those haters who argued for its belt to bear an “Average World” or “Lopsided World” appellation. Mayweather, who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, probably wouldn’t have paid their fees for anything less than a shot at “Super World” supremacy. How serendipitous.

If a Buddhist monk who spends his days meditating in a burlap coverall tells you he doesn’t care what others think, you might believe him. But if ever a man who spends tens of millions of dollars on conspicuous displays of his wealth tells you he doesn’t, check your wallet. Recently Robin Leach came out of retirement – surely he doesn’t need the money, because everyone who comes out of retirement never needs the money, just a rekindled love of the game – to walk us through the Big Boy Mansion in the 15th or so vacuous homage to Floyd Mayweather’s residence, showing us the million-dollar automobiles Mayweather drives alternately to a boxing gym and fastfood eatery, and the bedizened jewels Mayweather wears over white t-shirts.

It was another tired move from a tired franchise in a tired sport. Most of the off-television coverage of Saturday’s match has treated the prohibitive ratio oddsmakers assign the fight, declaring in a short declarative sentence not unlike that last one that Marcos Maidana hasn’t a jot of a chance of beating Floyd Mayweather. Those guys know their craft, and they understand probability better than Mayweather’s companions do, and they see no reason Maidana should beat Mayweather, and they are correct, there really isn’t a reason to expect anything that resembles a competitive main event Saturday. If you’re reading this, though, you’re part of the reliable half-million or so Americans our industry needs to buy every fight, and for your loyalty you deserve some reason to watch better than what pap Showtime infomercials offer.

Floyd Mayweather has to be in control of everything to be comfortable. Raised in what might euphemistically be called an unstable household, Mayweather imposes order wherever he can and does not relinquish it. He is perhaps the greatest handicapper of opponents boxing has ever seen, never endangering himself in a real fight against a real opponent when it can possibly be avoided. If Mayweather did not know about Antonio Margarito’s propensity for liberal hand-wrapping techniques in 2006, Mayweather absolutely knew something was off about him and wanted no part of a guy who was that big, somehow made 147 pounds for a few minutes of every year, and was incapable of discouragement.

Mayweather got the hell out of his contract with promoter Top Rank, in retrospect the best business decision made by a boxer in a generation, and fought Margarito’s wornout sparring partner Carlos Baldomir instead, because the Argentine surprised everyone and beat Zab Judah, three months before Mayweather did (don’t ask), and then changed his name to “Money” from “Pretty Boy” – a somewhat lamentable choice, as Mayweather has more beauty in person than cameras credit him, and money is, well, an idea so mundane it’s what every American dad spends 40 weekly hours making.

When he’s on, “Chino” Maidana does an excellent imitation of a fighter who is not in control. His footwork is a jumbled mess, his right hand is more like a club than a piston, his left hand is thrown with many times more commitment than technique, and his defense is poor enough that, after 38 prizefights and many more amateur bouts, his dad felt compelled to interrupt a televised barbecue and tell Chino to employ head movement. Odds are, that’s not the way to beat Mayweather – odds are, once more, pronouncedly that way. But in about the only reasonably unfiltered answer Mayweather gave his conference-call audience last week, “Money” did mention Emanuel Burton-Augustus as his toughest opponent, and Burton/Augustus was an old-time opponent who understood the value of dropping a competitive fight to a hometown favorite, quite often a more lucrative way to make a living than Maidana’s approach of whupping someone like Victor Ortiz in Staples Center, and imagine for a second the skill it takes to travel the country losing competitive fights without imperiling yourself unnecessarily. It also takes a lad who’s a bit off-kilter, and Burton-Augustus was surely that.

Maidana’s style was not built to solve the Mayweather style – Maidana’s style was built only to pulverize whatever object, animate or otherwise, came in its way – but it might have the ancillary effect of discomfiting Mayweather enough to make him entertain us for a brief respite, at least entertain us more than the aggregate of Mayweather’s last two opponents, Ghostly Canelo, managed to do. When I asked Paulie Malignaggi a few months ago how you fight a guy like Maidana, Malignaggi said you do nothing you didn’t learn in your first six months in a boxing gym. You go back to basics till you’re boring yourself.

Mayweather knows to do this; unlike the impostor buffoon Maidana traumatized in December, Mayweather comes right out of his cutiepie defense the second he’s touched for real. In their 2010 match, Shane Mosley dropped a right hand on Mayweather that made Money’s knees clap, and what did Mayweather do next? He set his hands high, went forward behind his jab, and applied pressure, like they teach on your first day in a gym.

Mayweather has much better footwork than the men whom Maidana has beaten up, and he’s physically stronger, too. He knows Maidana can be discouraged, and he will locate, before the bell sounds for round 4, the guy who dropped every minute to a 147-pound Devon Alexander and barely outboxed at 140 an unretired version of Erik Morales knocked-out twice by Manny Pacquiao five years earlier at super featherweight.

As ever, if this fight goes nine minutes without Mayweather being hurt badly, it will not be competitive. I’ll take Mayweather, UD-12, then, and hope for the sake of this increasingly moribund sport and its committed fans to be entirely wrong.

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

By Norm Frauenheim-

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has said repeatedly during the promotional push to his May 3 bout with Marcos Maidana that nobody has ever seen him at his best.

He said it again Tuesday during his media day at his Las Vegas gym. He introduced the idea on March 8 during a
round-table session with reporters before Canelo Alvarez’ victory over Alfredo Angulo at the MGM Grand.

“I still haven’t been able to move my ‘A’ game up,” Mayweather said then. “I’ve beaten fighters with a ‘C’ game, probably a ‘D’ game. I’ve never had to do it with an ‘A’ game.”

The suggestion is that Mayweather’s best-ever in an 18-year, unbeaten career will be on display against Maidana. There’s salesmanship attached to that. Mayweather, advisor Leonard Ellerbe and associate Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions have been effusive in their praise of Maidana. They have to be. Betting odds against the Argentine have ranged between 7-to-1 to 11-to-1. Showtime’s pay-per-view price tag is approaching sticker shock. At $64.99 to $74.99 for the PPV telecast, they have to assure a reluctant public that the Argentine has a real chance, despite overwhelming odds that say otherwise.

But there’s something else too. The best Mayweather ever would seem to be Mayweather by knockout. During the round table, Mayweather wouldn’t go that far. He knows not too. If he had, he would be left with the task of having to explain why there was no stoppage. It’s the very problem still confronting Manny Pacquiao after a rematch victory on April 12 over Timothy Bradley by decision following weeks of promising a knockout.

When asked in March whether Mayweather’s ‘A’ game meant a knockout, he quickly countered, saying:

“No, no, just winning.”

The KO prediction comes with a real downside if it doesn’t happen. But there’s plenty of upside if Mayweather does what he hasn’t promised. Can he stop Maidana? The one-sided odds say, yes, hell yes. Mayweather’s history of picking opponents indicates he believes there’s a real shot at a stoppage, too. First, it would fulfill some of the unspoken promise Showtime had in him when it signed the welterweight to a contract for a possible six fights and worth a potential $250 million. Then, it would end a knockout drought. Mayweather has won three straight by decision over Miguel Cotto, Robert Guerrero and Canelo since a stoppage of Victor Ortiz in 2011. But the fourth-round Ortiz stoppage was clouded by controversy over the way it happened. Ortiz was looking at the referee when the KO blow landed.

Mayweather hasn’t had a clean stoppage since a 10th-round TKO of Ricky Hatton in 2007. Maidana’s power makes him a lot more dangerous than Hatton. Maidana has been knocking out 81.58 percent of his opponents. Hatton’s KO ratio was only 66.67 percent. Still, there are similarities. Like Hatton, Maidana has spent more of his career at light-welterweight then welter. Maidana’s height is listed at 5-feet-7. Hatton was 5-7 1/2.

In a national conference call Wednesday, there were a few Mayweather comments that hinted at the KO possibility.

“We must realize that I am the bigger guy,” Mayweather said. “I walk around at 150, and I don’t go no higher than 152. I’m naturally the bigger guy because I’ve been at 147 for almost 10 years now. So I’m naturally the bigger guy.”

Big enough apparently to go toe-toe with Maidana.

“I’m not going to do a lot of moving,” Mayweather said. “I’m going to come straight ahead and do what I have t

The what sounds a lot like a KO.

PHX Homecoming
Referee Tony Weeks, who will work the Mayweather-Maidana fight, will return to Phoenix Saturday night for an Iron Boy Promotions’ card at Celebrity Theatre. Weeks, who started his career in Arizona, is schooled to work a Phoenix card that includes junior-middleweight Siju Shabazz (3-1, 3KO) in his co-main event bout against Rollin Williams (23-16-2 8KO). Shabazz was an Olympic alternate in 2008. Opening bell is scheduled for 6 p.m.

By Bart Barry–

What if Michael Jordan came back tomorrow, at age 51, and won an NBA championship with, say, the Washington Wizards for whom he last played in 2003? It would be a massive event, an orgy of media celebration as one of the world’s most famous athletes, nay, men, returned to a field of glory and dominated at an age that was absurd. But once the orgy got tired and broke up and media folk went their separate ways, showing the promiscuity of spirit for which they are notorious, what would it say about professional basketball that a man in his sixth decade was able to dominate the best professionals in their 20s?

Now imagine for a second that Jordan never did retire in 2003 but rather finagled from that lousy Wizards team a four-corners offense, and as part of an ownership group selected referees prone to ignoring the shot clock, and won his 2014 championship in five games by an average score of 38-36. Would kids still wish to “Be like Mike” or would they perhaps decide football players were cooler, and spend a generation in cleats instead of Jordans?

Saturday in Washington D.C., 49-year-old American Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins decisioned 30-year-old Kazakhstani light heavyweight titlist Beibut Shumenov in a match uncompetitive enough to bring heaps of dudgeon upon the lone judge who narrowly scored the match for Shumenov – in a nod to this fact much as another: Boxing aficionados are a cantankerous lot, and they like writers who tickle their lesser impulses, and also because tributes to agelessness are, almost invariably, insipid.

Through three rounds Saturday’s match was unwatchable as any Hopkins fight. Whatever else Shumenov was in his title-winning San Antonio match in December, and he was not particularly active, he was fearless. He had a willingness to stand wherever his opponent’s punches were bound to land, arms spread, chest bared in willing reception, and blast his way through them. Shumenov was not a picture of athleticism or class, perhaps, but he was verily a picture of self-belief. Hopkins removed that from him almost instantly and instead of seeing the dangerous puncher Texans watched flatten Tamas Kovacs, a man whose 23-0 dossier was, in retrospect, filled with hot air enough to fuel at least two questions of a Hopkins interview, fans in Washington D.C. got treated to an entirely untested man who did not belong near even a WBA light heavyweight title of the Eastern Bloc, much less the world.

Hopkins’ style remains defensively flawless – he has righted what balance issues sprung up years back against men of faster reflex and activity, and his skills as a handicapper, too, have kept pace, ensuring nobody busy or quick need apply for the privilege of standing across from him. Hopkins still flashes a silent dissent that takes men’s fingers off their triggers, and make no mistake about this either: Hopkins still punches hard and accurately enough to dissuade even men previously mistaken for portraits of fearlessness.

Boxing is not a dying sport in the sense of an entity that has a terminal condition – as anyone who reads about our sport knows already. Most arguments for boxing’s health treat either this certainty, that the spectacle of men swapping blows in a primal reenactment of what was done for finite resources millennia ago will not cease in our lifetimes and draw always paying spectators, or else fetishize the iota of one percent of licensed prizefighters still making massive fortunes from duping the public semiannually with large promotional budgets, special effects, roadtours, conference calls and a medium, television, ever compelled by itself to sell its customers reheated products they’ve already purchased.

It’s all missing widely a point quieter debate fails rarely to unearth: Ours is a sport fantastically diminished. Every number, from subscribers to media-day galas to earnings to punch stats, is open to wildeyed interpretation or misunderstanding in the name of profit, in the short-term or long-. What cannot be faked but easily confirmed in the urban area of any city in the United States, though, is this: There is a fraction the interest in boxing among kids today as there was even a generation ago. The gyms are not filling the way they always did before, and if your city is blessed with a full gym here or there, you can be assured your city once hosted five more than it does right now. Every local initiative to get kids in boxing begins with a wealthy donor and an employed politician and so much hope, and every local initiative quietly loses its impetus for one reason or another and is forgotten.

There is a desire among many to conflate probability and possibility, and so now is the time we excavate a gym here or there in an urban area that hasn’t hosted a fight and hasn’t a commission to confirm it, hold that concept aloft and give fullthroat to it as if its unverified existence disproves the very thing we all know already. And those that stick around to hear this conflation get convinced anew, inevitably, but their number dwindles each time.

Bernard Hopkins’ longevity and wondrous agelessness is good a monument as any to this. Were Michael Jordan still able to ply his Washington Wizards craftsmanship and win titles, outclassing LeBron James and friends in championship games, the NBA would know there was something dreadfully wrong with its product, would know how embarrassingly it appeared to those just discovering the physics of its nature, cylinders and shots and nets and reflexes and vertical leaps and the like, and would know better than to project images of half-filled arenas on the public’s consciousness as if all were just wonderful.

No, there will never be another Bernard Hopkins.

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

Follow all the action live as Bernard Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov meet in a Light Heavyweight unification bout. the action start at 9:30 pm with 2 more world titles, Shawn Porter defends the IBF Welterweight championship against former two-division champion Paulie Malignaggi. WBO Middleweight champion Peter Quillin defends against Lukas Konecny

12 Rounds–IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight title–Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 34 KO’s) vs Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9 KO’s)

Round 1 Not much at all..Shumenov tried to jab…10-10

Round 2 Trading rights..20-20

Round 3 Shjab..umenov lands a jab..Good right from Hopkins..jab…right uppercut..body..jab..jab..Shumenov lands a right...30-29 Hopkins

Round 4 Hopkins counters with a right…counter right..Shumenov lands a right…Hopkins lands a right..combination from Shumenov…39-39

Round 5 Shumenov lands a hook..Right and 2 lefts from Hopkins..Perfect right to the head..49-48 Hopkins

Round 6 Hopkins lands a right..Right from Shumenov..Jab and 3 rights from Hopkins..swelling around left eye of Hopkins..59-57 Hopkins

Round 7 Hopkins lands a counter right..lead right..jab..jab…69-66 Hopkins

Round 8 Jab from Hopkins…Left from Shumenov…lead left hook from Hopkins..1-2 and jab..79-75 Hopkins

Round 9 Hopkins lands a left...89-84 Hopkins

Round 10 Right from Shumenov…Counter right from Hopkins..99-94 Hopkins

Round 11 HUGE RIGHT AND DOWN GOES SHUMENOV…jab and big right..Big lead left…109-102 Hopkins

Round 12 Big right from Hopkins..119-111 Hopkins

116-111 Hopkins…114-113 Shumenov….116-111 Hopkins

12 Rounds–IBF Welterweight title–Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KO’s) vs Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KO’s)

Round 1 Malignaggi cut under left eye…Malignaggi lands a right..right.. 2rights..Porter lands a body shots and 2 rights..10-9 Malignaggi

Round 2 Porter lands a left..Malignaggi lands a jab..right from Porter..big right..trading jabs..huge left hurts Malignaggi..19-19

Round 3 Porter double jab/left…hard jab..Porter landing power shots..clubbing right..Malignaggi lands 2 rights and Porter lands a left…29-28 Porter

Round 4 RIGHT HAND AND DOWN GOES MALIGNAGGI…Hugke keft hook..BIG COMBINATION AND DOWN GOES MALIGNAGGI AND THE FIGHT S STOPPED

12 Rounds WBO Middleweight Title–Peter Quillin (30-0, 22 KO’s) vs Luka Konecny (50-4, 23 KO’s)

Round 1 Right from Quillin…right to the body..jab..Kocecny lands a jab..Quillin 1-2…Konecny lands a jab abd a couple left hooks..10-9 Quillin

Round 2 Konecny flashes jab.uppercut..left hook..left..Quillin lands a left…19-19

Round 3 Quillin lands a jab..uppercut and combination..Konecny lands a body combo…body..over hand right…29-29

Round 4 Quillin double jab and right hand…4 punch combination…double jab/right hand..stiff jab..39-38 Quillin

Round 5 Quillin lands a jab..left to body..left hook to head…49-47 Quillin

Round 6 Quillin lands a combination..nice right from Konecny..right from Quillin..uppercut…Konecny lands a right..good combination…Konecny wobbled at the bell…59-56

Round 7 Right from Konecny..big left hook from Quillin..Nice combo from Konecny..2 left hooks…68-66 Quillin

Round 8 Quillin lands a leadt keft hook..left..Combination from Konecny..Quillin lands a combination..Right from Konecny..right uppercut from Quillin..Lead right and uppercut get through..left hook..78-75 Quillin

Round 9 Quillin lands a straight right…jab…88-84 Quillin

Round 10 Clubbing keft from Konecny..right from Quillin..right uppercut..clubbing right..jab…Right from Konecny..Blood from around the right eye of Konecny.uppercut and straight right from Quillin..98-93 Quillin

Round 11 Double jab and right from Quillin..lead right..Konecny lands a lead left hook..combination..Qullin lands a right to the body..Konecny lands a jab..jab..left hook and body shot from Konecny..they trade body shots..Konecny lands 2 left hooks..107-103 Quillin

Round 12 Konecny working body..nice left hook..116-113 Quillin

120-108, 119-109, 119-109 for Peter Quillin

49 year-old Bernard Hopkins continued to make history as scored a 12 round split decision pver Beibut Shumenov to to retain his IBF and capture the WBA Light Heavyweight title at the DC Armory in Washington, DC.

The 1st three rounds set the pace that Hopkins wanted as next to nothing happend and Shumenov’s offensive pace was set for the evening. Hopkins started to get his trademark lead right hand going in round four. Hopkins became a little more active as each round passed. Hopkins took took all the middle rounds and was building up a solid lead. In round 10, he landed a perfect right hand that sent Shumenov to the canvas. It looked for a minute as if Hopkins would be able to get the stoppage but he did not turn on the gas and continued to land solid shots all be that they were one at a time. Shumenov landed very few punches of note but somehow a score card read 114-113 in his favor. The two other cards were correct at 116-111 for Hopkins.

The ageless wonder will now wait for the winner of the May 24 WBC title fight between Adonis Stevenson and Andrej Fonfara. Hopkins, 172.4 lbs of Philadelphia improves his Hall of Fame mark to 55-6-2. Shumenov, 174.4 lbs of Shymkeent, KAZ is now 14-2.

On his future, Hopkins said, “We are with SHOWTIME until I end my career. Stevenson, I am coming to Canada. I am getting my papers together. I want to be the undisputed light heavyweight world champion this year, period.”
A disappointed Shumenov told Gray, “To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about the scorecard. I tried hard. Bernard, but he was the better man tonight. I chose the wrong strategy and used the wrong style. I am angry that I couldn’t get the victory. I am a true warrior and I want to fight only the best. Tonight, obviously it wasn’t my fight.”

Shawn Porter scored an explosive 4th round stoppage over Paulie Malignaggi to retain his IBF Welterweight title.

In round one, Malignaggi was cut from what looked like a jab. In round two, the fight get physical and hurt Malignaggi from a leaping left hook. Porter landed several more power shots during the round.

In round four, Porter came out and landed a right hand that sent Malignaggi to the canvas. Malignaggi was clearly hurt and ate a huge left hook that drove him to the ropes. Porter was all over Malignaggi and landed 2 hard punches in close and Malignaggi was sent to the canvas and the fight was stopped.

In the aftermath, Gray asked Porter what it was that Malignaggi had told him just moments after the bout. “Paulie, wished me the best and I don’t know what he is looking at for himself [in the future] but he said, ‘Make sure they know that I lost to a great champion. Go out there and be great.’ I am going to honor his words and his wishes.”

Speaking about the win, Porter said, “I definitely needed this victory. To get it like that from a guy like this. He touched me in every way possible being in the ring with him. I knew what he was coming with. But I always had questions of my own. I came in and answered those questions tonight.”

When asked what he wants next, Porter said, “I’m going to enjoy this and let my team handle what is next. I’m sure they will all communicate. We’ll come up with the next game plan and we’ll tackle it.”

Gray then asked Malignaggi what it was that he told Porter. “I just said, ‘Don’t make me have lost to an average fighter. Go be great so that I can say that a really great fighter beat me.’ I know that he has that potential.

Regarding retirement, “If I do retire, and I don’t want to make that decision right now while I am emotional, but I don’t want to do it off of an average champion. I want to do it off of a great champion.

Breaking down the fight, Malignaggi said, “He was controlling the distance. I couldn’t get going. He was going away and then bringing the attack. He mixed it up well. He came right at me at times and then, at other times, he moved away.”

When asked about retiring and focusing the rest of his career solely on his commentating work for SHOWTIME, Malignaggi said, “I can’t really think about that right now. If I give you an answer right now I would tell you that I am stopping fighting but maybe I’d change my mind next week. I want to go home and think about it.”

Porter, 146.8 lbs of Akron, OH is now 24-0-1 with 15 knockouts. Malignaggi, 146.2 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 33-6.

Peter Quillin scored a 12 round unanimous decision to retain the WBO Middleweight crown over Lukas Konecny.

Quillin boxed well over the 1st half of the fight and landed shots through the high guard of Konecny. At the end of round six, a right hand wobbled Konecny. Round eight saw some good action as both land hard shots. Quillin got through with a left hook while Konecny landed some left hooks. The fight turned lethargic in round ten and even drew some boos from the crowd at the Armory. Konecny started to bleed from right eye in round ten. There were a couple decent exchanges down the stretch but neither fighter was in any danger.

Quillin, 159.8 lbs of Brooklyn won by scores of 120-108 and 119-109 twice and is now 31-0. Konecny, 158.25 lbs of Usti, CZ is now 50-5

After the fight, Quillin said, “I’m thankful that I was able to get up in here with a tough customer in front of me and get up and fight.”

Sadam Ali made short work of Michael Clark by scoring a 1st round stoppage in their 10-round Welterweight bout.

Ali landed a left hook to the face that sent Clark down for the 10-count at 2:06 of round one.

Ali. 146 1/4 lbs of Brooklyn is now 19-0 with 12 knockouts. Clark, 144 lbs of Columbus, OH is now 44-10-1-1.

Marcus Browne remained undefeated by scoring an 8-round unanimous decision over veteran Otis Griffin.

Browne dominated the action and scored a knockdown from a perfet straight left in round five.

Browne, 174 lbs of Staten Island, NY won by scores of 80-71 on all cards and is now 10-0. Griffin, 176 lbs of Sacramento, CA announced his retirement before the fight finished with a mark of 24-16-2.

Zachary Ochoa scored a 5th round stoppage over Hector Marengo in a scheduled six round Jr. Welterweight bout.

Ochoa dominated and scored a knockdown in round round from a roundhouse right hand. He dropped Merango for a 2nd time from a body shot in round five. Just seconds later, Merango’s corner threw in the towel at 1:32 of round five.

Ochoa, 139 1/2 lbs of Brooklyn is now 7-0 with 4 knockouts. Merango, 140 1/4 lbs of Aricibo, PR is now 6-8-4.

Scott Quigg retained the WBA Super Bantamweight title with a 2nd round stoppage over late replacement Tshifiwa Munyai.

Quigg dropped Munya in round round with a perfect left hook to the jab. Munyai was on shaky legs but there was only a few seconds left in the round. It didn’t matter as halfway through round two, Quigg landed a booming right that crumpled Munyai to the canvas again. Quigg finished things with a big flurry of punches and referee Howard Foster stopped the fight at 1:56.

Quigg, 121 1/2 lbs made the 3rd successful defense of his belt and he is now 28-0-2 with 21 knockouts. Munyai is now 24-3.

In what was billed the Battle of Manchester, Anthony Crolla scored a 10th round stoppage over his close friend John Murray in a scheduled 12 round Lightweight bout.

The fight lived up to its billing that saw Murray set a face pace early. Around the 5th round, Crolla started getting into the fight as he landed some shots and began to focus on the body.

Colla seemed more confident and was getting through with shots that cut and eventually closed the left eye of Murray. Crolla wore Murray down and dropped Murray in round 10. Murray showed toughness but ate a flurry of hard punches and was eventually stopped.

Crolla, 134 3/4 lbs is now 28-4-1 with 11 knockouts. Murray, 134 3/4 lbs, who fought Brandon Rios for a Lightweight title is now 33-3.

Josh Warrington scored the biggest win of his career by stopping former world title challenger Rendall Munroe to and retained his Commonwealth Featherweight title after the 7th round of the 12 round bout.

Warrington systematically beatdown Munroe until he stopped the fight in the corner between round’s 7 and 8. Munroe cited a damaged mouth.

Warrington, 125 1/2 lbs is now 17-0 with 2 knockouts. Munroe, 125 lbs is 28-5-1.

An emotional Munroe announced his retirement after the bout.

Good looking Super Middleweight prospect Callum Smith scored a 3rd round stoppage over Francois Bastient in a scheduled six round bout.

Smith dominated the fight while landing shots to the head and especially to the body. It was an uppercut to the body that sent Bastient to the canvas and the bout was stopped by the corner at 1:10 of round three.

Smith 171 1/4 lbs of Liverpool, UK is now 10-0 with 8 knockouts. Bastient, 177 lbs of France is now 43-11-1.

Sam Eggington scored a 6-round decision William Warburton in a Jr/ Middleweight bout.

The score was 59-55 for Eggington is now 10-2. Warburton, 152 lbs is 12-61-3.

Nat Heaven remained undefeated by scoring an explosive 1st round stoppage over Donovan Dennis in a scheduled 8-round Heavyweight bout.

Both guys landed heavy shots until Heaven landed a crushing right to the jaw that sent Dennis down. Dennis got to his feet but was wobbly and the fight was stopped at 3:00 of round one.

“I give all hail to god,”said Heaven. “The right hand is my weapon. I saw him on youtube and saw that he gained weight and got slower. My coach said to relax and I would get him.”

Heaven, 233 lbs of Ocala, FL is now 9-0-1 with 7 knockouts. Dennis, 226 lbs of Davenport, IA is now 11-2.

Marcus Hall scored a 4-round unanimous decision over Raphael Luna in a Jr. Middleweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Hall, 153 lbs of Rochester, NY and is now 7-6. Luna, 152.5 lbs of Albany, NY is now 3-8-3.

Simeon Hardy destroyed Rahman Yusubov inside of a round of their scheduled 6-round Jr. Middleweight bout.

Hardy scored three knockdowns with the 1st and 3rd coming from devastating left hooks at 2:36 of round one.

Hardy, 155 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 12-0 with 10 knockouts. Yusubov, 155 lbs of Dallas is now 9-15.

Cecil McCalla remained perfect by scoring a 6-round unanimous decision over Antonio Chaves Fernandez in a Welterweight bout.

McCalla hurt Fernandes in the 4th and cruised home to the victory by scores of 60-54 on all cards.

McCalla, 149 lbs of Randallstown, MD is now 18-0. Fernades, 150 lbs of Brockton, MA is now 4-17-2.

By Norm Frauenheim

During a noisy week when the shouting got louder and the insults grew more insulting, there was a moment of relief that seemed to say a crazy game hasn’t changed at all.

Marcos Maidana was answering questions last Saturday during a polite news conference at a restaurant on the floor of the MGM Grand’s casino in Las Vegas when an uninvited voice screamed:

“Please, just kick Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s ass.”

The plea from the party-crasher begged a question. What did Maidana think of that?

Maidana didn’t seem to know what to say. Trainer Robert Garcia, conditioning coach Alex Ariza and everybody else around the Argentine welterweight already has said the expected. Maidana’s punching power gives him the proverbial chance. His unorthodox style will confuse Mayweather. His whirlwind pace of a promised 100 to 120 punches-a-round will confront Mayweather with a challenge he has yet to encounter. There was an answer for every question, a slice of pizza for every attendee. Even Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, dropped by, ready to counter any doubts about a bout that has put Maidana at the wrong end of 7-1 odds. Ellerbe was also prepared to dismiss rival promoter Bob Arum’s condemnation of the May 3 fight and and rant at the MGM Grand’s preponderance of advertising for the bout on the very day of Top Rank’s promotion of Manny Pacquiao’s unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley in the same arena.

“Maidana’s a tremendous fighter, and that’s what we’re preparing for,” said Ellerbe, who called Arum a liar Wednesday during a conference call. “We know that we’re in a fight. “This guy, right here, he’s the real deal. Everybody else is taking this lightly. But Floyd’s busting his ass, day-in and day-out. That’s because he knows what this guy is bringing to the table. He’s young. He’s hungry. He knows that he’s in the fight of his life.”

Ellerbe also said during the news conference that Mayweather-Maidana was the big event. Then, he called Pacquiao-Bradley a good fight. But Ellerbe’s tone said something else. To wit: Pacquiao-Bradley amounted to small change when compared to what Ellerbe expects from Mayweather-Madiana. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the live gate for Pacquiao-Bradley was $7,865,100. For Mayweather-Madand, Ellerbe and associate Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions are saying the live gate will be at least $14 million.

Why the difference? Why nearly twice as much ticket revenue for a 7-to-1 fight over a fight that was nearly a toss-up? Odds favored Pacquiao to win the Bradley rematch by fewer than 2-to-1. The reason was summed up in the simple plea from a guy nobody invited or knew. In the Bradley-Pacquiao fight, there was no villain. Fans and media liked both fighters. There were cheers for Pacquiao and polite applause for Bradley. It would have been okay if it had ended in a draw. Two good guys make for a fight without a compelling, perhaps necessary edge of drama. But fights are about emotions and polarization. The more extreme, the bigger the gate.

Mayweather has toned down the trash talk by a decibel or two. But the bad-guy role still belongs to him. There’s money in being a villain, especially an unbeaten one. It’s the unbeaten side of that well-rehearsed routine allows him to pick Maidana or anybody else he wants to fight. The idea is to make sure that fans think that the designated opponent has a chance, no matter how small.

That’s why people buy lottery tickets, play slot machines and throw dice. It’s probably why that guys as in a Las Vegas casino in the first place. Maidana might not be the smart bet. But it’s the emotional way to wager and Mayweather was won that one every time in a style and with a method in a business the sounds different, yet isn’t. One crazy guy said it all.

By Bart Barry-

LAS VEGAS – Having scored the first match between American Timothy Bradley and Filipino Manny Pacquiao the wrong way from ringside, I found myself situated in a spot from which scoring was impossible at the rematch. With the back wall as my headrest, peering at the ring from a seat meters above the ceiling camera and a full level above a concourse kiosk advertising binocular rentals, I saw Pacquiao and Bradley approximate the choreography of modern dance, which approximates the behavior of molecules in an excited state: colliding, racing apart, reversing course, colliding again, racing apart.

Pacquiao won a fair and unanimous decision at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Saturday, in a match more competitive than great, a balletic sort of confrontation that required a 12th round headbutt to make either guy’s face look as a prizefighter’s should. Neither guy landed cleanly a fraction his power punches, and the match was marked more by hollowed-out suspense than building drama.

Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley fought like grade-A natural athletes, tested and stamped Certified. For the first time in years, a spectator could watch a championship prizefight and assume from the data his eyes sent him, instead of what haranguing an agency or promoter or reporter did him, the two men making combat were not using performance-enhancing drugs. They appeared slow, inaccurate and generally winded much of the night. Gone was the Filipino wildcat who haunted trainer Nacho Beristain’s preparatory ruminations, and likely still haunts Erik Morales’ conscious thoughts. In his stead was a comparatively docile veteran who didn’t miss openings presented him when he went for them, and generally did not go for them.

Round 2 was the best Pacquiao and Bradley had made in their first 42 minutes of trying and better than anything they made in their next half hour. It was final evidence Pacquiao no longer has a three-minute round in him and evidence, too, that for whatever reason – and overtraining cannot be ruled out – Timothy Bradley cannot go a hard 36 minutes either; Bradley’s strategy was about conditioning, all about making Pacquiao fight more frantically than he wanted to, tossing punches at a pace unfamiliar to any version of Pacquiao over 130 pounds. It was the very thing, too, and Bradley sensed it and went for it, bringing what he once called “the dog” out, snarling and nipping, never imperiling exactly, but leveraging punches with his all body to make the other guy wilt.

If Pacquiao did not wilt, in rounds 3 and 4 he did wonder why the hell he had to keep doing this violent thing, and why he’ll have to do it for the foreseeable future, and where his fortune went. That happened after Pacquiao finally found Bradley in round 2 with his signature jab-feint-jab-cross combination, the one with which he felled everyone from Marco Antonio Barrera to Juan Manuel Marquez, and multiple times each, too, and Bradley did what everyone will now do in retaliation: Set his weight on his back foot and wing his right hand in a baseball pitcher’s homage to Marquez. The punch didn’t land, not till the fourth, but it made Pacquiao stop and ponder things in a way he never did in his prime.

The gambit worked too well for Bradley, and for the next seven or so minutes he threw his right hand with an enthusiasm so reckless it surely was a missed right in round 4, or early in round 5, that caused his calf muscle to sever and lump beneath him. Afterwards Bradley insisted his plunged activity level was not a matter of conditioning, and that is at least partially believable – although one must imagine how it saps a man’s stamina and fighting spirit to have to stop punches that hit only air. Stopping one’s own punches, after all, is a contingency for which no man trains; to replicate its effect, a trainer would have to yank a heavy bag entirely out his charge’s way on the final punch of each combination.

It took Pacquiao about six minutes – or 5:30 longer than it once might have – to realize Bradley was diminished. Pacquiao may not have thrown a punch in the opening minute of round 6. Round 11 brought justifiable boos from a slightly exasperated MGM Grand crowd, an acknowledgement Bradley no longer had the wherewithal to make a fight with Pacquiao, and Pacquiao was evidently scoring rounds in his head, locking in early leads and protecting them from a guy uninterested in taking them away.

The 12th was a competitive stanza between two good guys who like one another and like competing and really like the paychecks pay-per-view matches bring them but do not see any particular reason to endanger others unnecessarily. Each threw hard punches and hoped for a knockout, but finally it was a relenting sort of Timothy Bradley that Devon Alexander would have appreciated greatly, and a kindhearted sort of Manny Pacquiao that Erik Morales would have treated terribly. That brought a postfight scene long on words like “competitive” and short on words like “great” because, frankly, nobody believed Saturday’s match determined the world’s best welterweight.

As everyone at MGM Grand got reminded constantly all week, the world’s best welterweight is Floyd Mayweather, and he has a shrine window in the front entrance of MGM Grand to prove it. Mayweather’s countenance was ubiquitous during Pacquiao fight week – as promoter Bob Arum reminded everyone, in a show of indefatigability his main-event fighters could not emulate – and that is more than partially attributable to the casino’s sorrowful financial state; walking round and looking for postfight dining, one suspected that for a nominal fee the casino would have hung “Steve Wynn Wants You” posters with the hometown entrepreneur, and MGM competitor, pointing his finger in top-hat and tails.

Mayweather’s group took advantage of MGM’s finances in a move that was tacky, sure. But then, what in Vegas isn’t?

*

Editor’s note: The photo above is part of an extraordinary tapestry sewn by the Canadian artist Sola Fiedler and exhibited at Trifecta Gallery in the 18b Las Vegas Arts District.

*

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

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t everything Manny Pacquiao promised. But it was enough, more than enough to put his Filipino presidential ambitions on hold.

Pacquiao’s boxing career and his place in the pound-for-pound debate stayed very much alive with a unanimous decision Saturday night over Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand.

A piece of the welterweight title lost in a controversial split decision in 2012 is back in Pacquiao’s possession with the victory over Bradley.

This time, there was no argument. The judges were unanimous. Glenn Trowbridge scored it, 118-110. Michael Pernick and Craig Metcalf had it 116-112 each, all for Pacquiao. There was unanimity on both sides of the ropes.

There was no argument from Bradley, who congratulated Pacquiao in the center of the ring after the scores were announced.

“No excuses, no excuse at all,’’ Bradley said at the post-fight news conference while reporters waited for Pacquiao to appear after getting stitched up for a cut above an eye.

Pacquiao had promised, or perhaps expected, to win by knockout. His trainer, Freddie Roach, predicted one. The compassionate Pacquaio would not answer the opening bell, Roach said. But the KO prophesy was never fulfilled.

“I tried,’’ Pacquiao (56-6-2, 38 KOs) said in the middle of the ring. “I really wanted that knockout.’’

Against the tough Bradley, a knockout was too much to expect. Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) lost for the first time. Yet, he still has never been stopped.

For Pacquiao, the victory was a step in growing older. Some of his quickness has vanished like grains of sand in an hourglass. But time has turned him into more of a thinking fighter.

“His punches were harder in the first fight than they were this time,’’ Bradley said. “The difference this time was his experience.’’

Pacquiao adjusted in the face of wild, awkward shots from Bradley

“That’s when I knew I had to go down the middle,’’ said Pacquiao, who will collect a $20-million guarantee for his 12 rounds of work in regaining the World Boxing Organization’s title.

After opening the fight with a lot of side-to-side movement, he walked into a head-rocking punch from Bradley in the fourth. It was a sure sign that it was time for an adjustment.

Even without the key adjustment, Bradley’s chances at a victory that would have validated his split decision nearly two years ago might have been eliminated in the first round. After the first three minutes, Bradley told trainer Joel Diaz that he thought he sustained an injury to his right hamstring. For Bradley, it must have felt like déjà vu all over again. On his June 9, 2012 decision over Pacquiao he suffered injuries to both feet. There was no update about the severity of the injury during the post-fight news conference. Bradley didn’t want to talk about it.

“This sort of thing happens in big fights,’’ Diaz said. “But our plan was to dominate Manny. With something like that happening so early in the fight, we just couldn’t do that.’’

No argument about that either.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – It’s a fight without a villain. Timothy Bradley tried to play the role Friday at the weigh-in for his rematch with Manny Pacquiao. He arrived on stage wearing black and to pounding rap. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses. His headphones were an appropriate red. But only the Devil wears Prada. There’s no costume to hide the good guy in Bradley.

He beckoned the crowd to boo with friendly gestures. The Pacquiao partisans among the estimated 4,500 tried comply, but their booing had a hollow ring. There was none of the genuine passion you heard when Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Oscar De La Hoya or when fought Mike Tyson fought just about anybody. Take off the sunglasses, remove the headphones, and there’s that Bradley smile. It even made Pacquiao grin when both engaged in the ritual face-off for the cameras.

Bradley promised Pacquao that he would knock him knock out. But Pacquiao said nothing. He just smiled back at his business partner. Their sequel Saturday night at MGM Grand is scripted to include violence, perhaps more controversy and maybe even a knockout. But at this moment they were what they have always been and will be: Friends.

If styles make fights, dignity makes this one.

“He’s ready,” Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs) said of the look in Pacquiao’s eyes after he tipped the scales at 145.5 pounds, half-a-pound heavier than the Filipino Congressman. “He’s fierce, he looked ready and determined for the fight.”

In other words, Bradley, who is guaranteed $6 million, liked what he saw. He and his trainer, Joel Diaz, have called themselves Pacquiao fans. In part, that means they hope to encounter the best possible Pacquiao. Friends, after all, don’t disappoint.

Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs), whose guarantee is $20 million, was reminded of Bradley’s promise to score a stoppage that would eliminate any repeat of the controversy that engulfed Bradley after he won by a split-decision in June 2012.

“Well, he’ll have to prove it in the ring,” said Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs), who hasn’t scored a knockout in seven straight fights. “That’s where he’s going to have to try to knock me out. But I’m prepared for that. A lot of people tell me that they’re going to knock me out, but it’s another thing to do it.

“‘He said ‘Let’s do this, let’s do this’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ I have to finish business in the ring this time. I’m happy to be back in Las Vegas again. I have peace of mind. No worries. There will just be rest, prayer and belief.”

And after it’s all over, a likely friend.

That sounds like a pretty good decision no matter what the scorecards say.

LUNCH WITH COTTO: Miguel Cotto, who has been training alongside Manny Pacquiao this week in Las Vegas, met the media Friday at the MGM Grand to talk about his June 7 middleweight clash with Sergio Martinez at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Cotto’s trademark poise and understated confidence was there, as always. Roach, he said, has re-energized him and helped correct some bad habits he picked up over his long career. He also wasn’t worried that Martinez might target some facial scars in an attempt to open up some old wounds.

“I’m a boxer,’’ Cotto said. “I’ve bled before. I’ve found out the way to work with the bleeding on my face in the fight. If that happens on June 7, I’m going to be able to work with it again and beat him.’’

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – A compassionate Manny Pacquiao can’t win. That’s the popular theory, anyway. Pacquiao Freddie Roach introduced it. Media and fans have been repeating it ever since. But compassion is also the reason Pacquiao is still fighting. That’s Timothy Bradley trainer Joel Diaz’s theory.

“A lot of people need him,’’ Diaz said.

Diaz said Thursday that Pacquiao would already be retired if it weren’t for the people who work for him.

“A lot of people would be out of jobs if he left the ring,’’ Diaz said during a roundtable session with reporters before the Bradley-Pacquiao rematch Saturday night at the MGM Grand. “Pacquiao has a corporation behind him. He’s done a lot for boxing. I’m a big Pacquiao fan. He’s a great guy.’’

But he also happens to be a guy Diaz is plotting to eliminate, along with a lot of paychecks.

“Everything has a beginning,’’ Diaz said. “Everything has an ending. Manny is getting old, that’s all.’’

Diaz’ theory is an intriguing one, mostly because of Pacquiao’s political instinct and reputation for generosity. As a politician, the Filipino Congressman is in the business of pleasing all of the people all of the time. It’s no coincidence .perhaps, that as a fighter he often says the same thing. He wants to please the people, he says, with an exciting fight. From Roach’s perspective, that means only one thing: A knockout. Fans want knockouts and that’s the result Roach has been predicting.

“In training, Manny threw a combination and said: ‘That’s what I’m going to finish him with,’ ‘’ said Roach, who hasn’t seen Pacquiao win by stoppage since a 12th-round TKO of Miguel Cotto on November 14, 2009. “I was so happy to finally hear it from his mouth and not mine.’’

But a knockout of Bradley is not a simple task. In fact, it would unprecedented. It hasn’t happened in Bradley’s unbeaten career. Sure, maybe the scorecards were wrong in Bradley’s split decision over Pacquiao in 2012. Sure, maybe the decision should have gone to Pacquiao. Even if it had, Pacquiao would not have shown he could knock out Bradley, who was hobbled by injuries to both feet. At closing bell, Bradley was still standing. He was only in a wheelchair at the post-fight news conference.

If Roach is to be believed, the challenge confronting Pacquiao in the sequel is to do what couldn’t be done the first time. Eliminate the compassion. Leave it in the spit bucket. But can he?

If Diaz is to be believed, the Filipino can’t. If he could have, Pacquiao would have eliminated the payroll and quit the game altogether. But he didn’t, or perhaps couldn’t, because compassion is a very stubborn dilemma.

MGM Controversy, Part II: According to ESPN, Richard Sturm, president of entertainment and sports for MGM Resorts International, issued a statement Wednesday night, responding to promoter Bob Arum’s condemnation of the MGM’s signage for the May 3 Marcos Maidana-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight.

“I was truly shocked by Bob’s comments at (Wednesday’s) press conference and honestly disappointed,” Sturm said in the statement reported by ESPN. “MGM Grand hosted a fight March 8 and has three additional fight events scheduled now through Memorial Day weekend. We always do everything possible to properly promote the events throughout our resorts and over the decades have promoted many, many sporting events with enormous success.”

MGM Resorts International Resorts President Bill Hornbuckle said: “Apparently Bob’s definitions of respect and class are different than ours.”

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – A rematch Saturday marked mostly by polite exchanges between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley suddenly got a shot of some old-school trash talk from promoter Bob Arum, who is angry at the MGM Grand for selling Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana on May 3 with advertising throughout the casino.

A Mayweather mural, estimated to be 20 stories tall, soars up the side of the MGM Grand and overlooks the busy intersection at Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, The Strip. For nearly every Pacquiao-Bradley poster on the sides of slot machines, there’s one of Mayweather-Maidana staring back at it. Outside the door to the media’s workroom, a Mayweather-Maidana ad hangs from the ceiling, above a Pacquiao-Bradley poster.

By the time the 82-year-old Arum arrived at the formal news conference Wednesday, he had seen enough, especially of Mayweather looking down at him.

Arum began the news conference by introducing Richard Sturm, MGM President of Entertainment & Sports as “the president of hanging posters for the wrong fight.’’

The media asked for a response from Sturm following the news conference. Several hours later, none was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Arum was just getting warmed up during a one-man stand-up that included a vague reference to Frankie Carbo, a 1950’s gangster who owned a piece of Sonny Liston.

“I know that at the Venetian, they wouldn’t make a mistake like this,’’ said Arum, who is friends with Sheldon Adelson, who owns the Venetian in Vegas and Macao, China’s gambling mecca and fledgling boxing market. “They would know what fight they have scheduled over the next three or four days.

“They wouldn’t have a 12-to-1 fight being advertised all over the building that’s going to take place three weeks from next Saturday. But that’s why one company makes a billion dollars a quarter and the other hustles to pay its debt. So there it is.”

Arum’s bitter feud with Mayweather is hardly a secret. It too was evident in a discussion that Arum had with Bradley while still on stage and not far from the microphone.

“Why don’t you ask the guy whose picture is all over the building? When is he going to fight somebody real?’’ Arum said in a booming voice that really didn’t need any electronic amplification.

Bradley replied: “I’ll let you ask him that.’’

As it turned out, Bradley might have been the only one who had anything nice to say about the MGM.

“I’ve never been in a hotel room with stairs,’’ Bradley said of his suite. “You need an elevator in there.’’

An elevator decorated with a Mayweather-Maidana poster, of course.

By Bart Barry–

Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, not Macao, undefeated American welterweight Timothy Bradley will make a rematch of his 2012 fight with Filipino Manny Pacquiao, one sure to provide scoring quandaries, and what bad-faith and acrimony our beloved sport attaches to such. A shame, that, since Bradley and Pacquiao are generally good-faith guys.

Whatever his faith, Bradley, a former champion at 140 pounds, has yet to fight his best at welterweight. He made the best match seen in quite a long time at welterweight about 13 months ago, against the ruinous “Siberian Rocky” Ruslan Provodnikov, a grotesquerie of volition from which Bradley is unlikely ever to recover fully, followed by a busier-is-better decision victory over Mexican master Juan Manuel Marquez in October. Not yet has Bradley shown anything like the identity-snatching form he employed against Joel Casamayor, Lamont Peterson, Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt or Junior Witter – the British junior welterweight titlist Bradley dropped and decisioned in Nottinghamshire in 2008, launching “Desert Storm’s” unanticipated championship reign.

With few exceptions, every man at the elite level of sport is an overachiever – certainly Pacquiao and Marquez are – but Bradley appears to have done more with his talents than nearly anyone has. What is his signature fighting style? The man who at 140 pounds flashed righthand leads to corral opponents towards the ropes, and then, in a nod to Joe Frazier, another undersized overachiever, smoked where those men lived, has done nothing of the sort in his move to welterweight, a move whose stylistic understatement was anticipated by a lackluster 2010 welterweight debut against Argentine Luis Carlos Abregu. Bradley’s identity at welterweight is that he finds a way to win, but if you took even a Bradley partisan and told him to teach a youngster the Bradley Style, he’d lack the clarity of objective a request for the Pacquiao Style or Marquez Style would surely summon.

Bradley does not naturally place his head in an auspicious place for avoiding other men’s punches; with no opponent was this more obvious than Provodnikov, a puncher who, for all his primitive merits, consistently placed his head out of the sights of Bradley’s gloves while throwing much better leveraged punches. Bradley was, that evening, the better athlete, and a miracle of conditioning and resolve too, but he was not the better fighter – not even close. He was not the better fighter, either, against Marquez in October, though little shame might be extracted of that.

Ringside for both, I saw Marquez decision Bradley, 116-114, similarly to the way I saw Bradley decision Pacquiao, 116-115. We return to the scene of the robbery, then. I was one of three credentialed media ringside for Bradley-Pacquiao who scored the match the way the official judges did. I was uncertain of my scorecard as the judges’ collective verdict was; I marked five rounds as either/or affairs, and the judges were unanimous about fewer than half the rounds. My scorecard was, as ever, fallible, and it is important to impart, once more, the reason: A writer honored with a ringside credential should honor that honor by scoring truthfully, not “correctly” – seeking to record what he senses, not what he predicts others will sense.

It was and remains memorable to me how little import persons assigned my immediate admission of fallibility; saying my scorecard was a truthful if imperfect representation of what I saw from row H was wholly inadequate, since anything but capitulation was intolerable to those who knew what they saw on television; somehow, to a surprisingly large but unsurprisingly unseemly mass, unless I joined the other 100 guys in the Pacquiao column, the browbeating shouldn’t cease. Among other mildly amusing pastimes, the experience of others’ reactions to my Bradley-Pacquiao scorecard launched me on a hobbyist’s investigation of the science of optics, one that quickly led away from high-definition television and towards camera obscuras, camera lucidas and fiber optics though not before uncovering this: A boxing broadcast’s most powerful filter is not its audio commentary or unofficial scorecard but what 30-second replays it shows between rounds.

Less than a 10th of the round is repeated for a viewing audience programmed by the medium to believe whatever is repeated is what is priority. The punch you thought you saw the other guy land at the 47-second mark of the round apparently wasn’t essential as the punch landed by the A-side guy in the final 19 seconds, else why isn’t it being repeated? And the antidote to an awareness of such influence is no antidote at all: Assuming nefarious intent and scoring against it makes a tally no more objective than otherwise.

Saturday’s match will likely be another hard-scoring affair. The erosion of Pacquiao’s reflexes continues apace, yes, but Bradley’s recent stylistic conversion, and his newfound expectation that he’ll receive the benefit of every scoring doubt, at least from official judges, tend to diminish Bradley’s activity at the exact moment it should increase, and this is bound eventually to be a problem for him – and quite possibly a problem, come Saturday, when official judges look to score close rounds for Pacquiao because, well, who wants to be part of another investigation?

Wait a tick, way back at the beginning of that ran-on monstrosity, didn’t you mention an erosion in Pacquiao’s reflexes, which would seem to indicate you missed Mastery in Macao when Pacquiao proved to himself and trainer of the year Freddie Roach he was all the way back? For a championship-caliber prizefighter, finding Brandon Rios with a combination rates in difficulty between a heavybag and the red-brick façade of what boxing gym houses it; nothing Pacquiao did in Macao indicated he was better than the man decisioned by Bradley 22 months ago in Las Vegas – and no matter what one opines of that decision, he must concede this: Pacquiao was outhustled and outhit in the 12th round by a man who was immobile enough to require wheelchair assistance a half hour later. And since then, Pacquiao was the B-side of what HBO analyst Max Kellerman, in a nod to his medium’s penchant for understatement, called “arguably the greatest one-punch knockout in the history of boxing!” And yet.

I’ll take Pacquiao, MD-12, in a fight Bradley wins, and judge Glenn Trowbridge nevertheless scores 119-109 for the Filipino.

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

By Norm Frauenheim–

A couple days after 40-year-old New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter began a long goodbye to baseball with the first stop in a farewell tour, 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins talked during a conference call Thursday about a new beginning in the cruelest game of all. Jeter got golf clubs, cowboy boots and a Stetson as big as the old Astrodome before a game in Houston. That’s a lot better than a punch in the face, which is about the only thing Hopkins can be sure of getting on April 19 in a fight with light-heavyweight Beibut Shumenov, who was a four-and-a-half-year-old kid in Kazakhstan when Hopkins lost his pro debut in October 1988.

Hopkins has been fighting for so long that it’s getting hard to remember what boxing was like before him. Indeed, the youngest generation of fans and fighters have never known the sport without Hopkins, who has been around since Ronald Reagan and at this rate might still be fighting after Barack Obama moves out of the White House. Truth is, there are some in his own generation who would be happy to see him retire. They’d even buy him the boots, Stetson and clubs if he would.

But Hopkins fights on, in part out of familiar defiance, in part for an ongoing pursuit of history and, mostly, because he can.

There’s a compelling argument that Hopkins continues to fight at the highest level because of a shallow pool of world-class talent. There are fewer good Americans than ever. But an arrival of tough and talented fighters from Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan and other locales have turned that shrinking pool into dangerous waters. At light-heavyweight, there’s Haitian-turned-Canadian Adonis Stevenson and Russian Sergey Kovalev. They were supposed to fight each other in a bout that was near the top of the fans’ wish list. But Kovalev-Stevenson wound up in the trash, right next to Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr., when Stevenson signed with Al Haymon and moved across the street, from HBO to Showtime. Only the promotional feuds are older than Hopkins.

But there are plenty of reasons to think fans will continue to watch Kovalev and Stevenson, even if they don’t fight each other. To wit: The audience for Kovalev’s seventh-round stoppage Saturday of Cedric Agnew exceeded one million, according to HBO. In an HBO doubleheader on November 30, 1.305 million watched Stevenson beat Tony Bellew and 1.254 million saw Kovalev beat Ismayl Sillah.

Kovalev or Stevenson? Stevenson or Kovalev? Doesn’t matter. For Hopkins, they are just different sides of the same coin. Against either, the likely expectation is that Hopkins would finally encounter his own mortality. That, of course, was the expectation in 2008 against Kelly Pavlik, now retired and never the same after Hopkins did what few thought he could. No wonder Hopkins sounded so confident Thursday. The same circumstances are on the horizon.

“Been there, done that,” said Hopkins, who sounded as if he were anxious to be there and do it once more.

Stevenson’s move to Showtime for a May 24 bout with Andrzei Fonfara sets up a showdown with Hopkins if he beats Shumenov, a 30-year-old fighter who is hard to judge mostly because of a small sample. Shumenov, who reportedly had more than 100 amateur bouts, has only answered a professional bell 15 times for a 14-1 record with nine KOs.

“It’s bad to think beyond April 19 and Beibut Shumneov, but the Stevenson fight is going to be mentioned,” said Hopkins, who will be able to put an AARP card next to his Costco card when he turns 50 next year on January 15. “It’s out there. It’s been out there since Stevenson came on board to eventually unify titles.”

There was no hint of a farewell in anything Hopkins said. He wouldn’t know how to say goodbye to a threat anyway. He’ll let younger guys do that.