CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – There is a gorgeousness to the seashore that is difficult to debase, and yet this town nearly does it, lining its bay and neighboring stretches with gray oil rigs, not what cute rockinghorses play acupuncture on the state’s bare terrain, but edifice-like seascrapers that block the horizon in a way sometimes impenetrable. You see them on I-37 South, after two hours’ driving from San Antonio, and you go quickly from wondering when the hell you’re going to get there to worrying you are there. And you are there.

If this steamy spot, humid enough to make you sweat on its seawall even at midnight on November’s second Saturday, is not nearly the tourist-friendly locale its lodging prices anticipate, it is not a bad place at all for a prizefight, and even an apropos venue for the wonderful violence “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire and Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan visited on one another, Saturday, in a 10-round titleless scrap Donaire won by brutal stoppage in the ninth.

Donaire showed us he is a fighter – that was the thought that came to mind at the end of his rematch with Darchinyan, one that was significantly more competitive than hoped. Donaire was a skittish, super-talented but still skittish, young man when he iced Darchinyan more than six years ago and genuinely shocked the tiny world of aficionados in 2007 by running the so-called Raging Bull into a fit of his own menace, and a gorgeous left hook, that uncovered an unknown vulnerability in Darchinyan.

Donaire was in only his 19th professional match, and Darchinyan (28-0, 21 KOs) was about to make the seventh defense of his IBF flyweight title, four months after mercilessly beating little Victor Burgos to a coma, nine months to the day after blitzing and breaking Donaire’s older brother Glenn in six rounds. Donaire successfully endured 13 1/2 minutes of Darchinyan rage, a surprise to most, then put a counter left hook on Darchinyan, a southpaw in full self-hurl, left hand and body cocked in a defensively indefensible way. When Donaire put that left hand on him with precision and grace he sent the bully of all boxing bullies stumbling drunkenly about, down then up then down then legless then down again, smiting the mean little bastard Darchinyan was, a man whose spirit manifested itself perfectly in the sharp-featured scowl and hatred-contorted grimace he made whenever he punched the hell out of men best as he could.

Darchinyan, then, was a man whose promoter at the time, Gary Shaw, had to remind him to show an iota of decorum while paramedics tried to save Burgos’ life a few feet away, salvage what vital signs remained after Darchinyan finished savaging for 34 1/2 minutes an opponent who looked three weightclasses mismatched for a live-television tragedy that remains, today, an enduring companion for the word “preordained.” When Donaire iced that man, he did boxing, and humanity too, it seemed, a plethora of favors. Darchinyan, a bully to the last, accused officials of conspiring against him with an early stoppage – rather than thank what two sets of ropes twice kept him from careering into snack bars a hundred feet away.

Donaire became instantly an aficionado’s fighter, left his promoter soon thereafter and with Top Rank’s help squandered heaps of goodwill by appearing on “Pinoy Power” pay-per-view telecasts, occupying for a dwindling number of fans the ethnic on-deck circle while Manny Pacquiao was at bat. Donaire came out of hiding in 2011 in a most spectacular way, dropping with gorgeous precision, on HBO, Mexican Fernando Montiel, a prodigy of matchmaking who dropped a lackluster decision to Jhonny Gonzalez in 2006 but reemerged 57 months later as one of the sport’s most-feared men, somehow, just in time to get chloroformed by Donaire in five minutes. And HBO commentators stamped the moment with a hysterical overreaction that is become their trademark, declaring Donaire a prodigy of the first order.

Donaire squandered that goodwill, too, and quickly, with an attempt to leave promoter Top Rank just as its investment in him was about to go in the black. That got Donaire matched on HBO against Omar Narvaez, a Patagonian with no plans to get Montieled and all the wherewithal and toughness to ensure the increasingly prettified Filipino could make nothing of their 36 minutes together, turning in an aesthetic spectacle atrocious enough for a B-Hop execution. Donaire spent 2012 garnering incredible praise for voluntarily submitting to anti-doping tests and blasting through decreasing competition before being conclusively outclassed by Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux in April – a promotional nightmare from which HBO and Top Rank still stubbornly refuse to awake.

All of which led to Saturday’s spectacle against Vic Darchninyan, Donaire’s second opponent of the year who hadn’t plans to lose to him and may have held him in contempt, too – or in Darchinyan’s case, loudly and plainly held Donaire in contempt in the pit of the Armenian’s charred soul. Along the way, too, too, Darchinyan remembered he once outboxed Mexican Cristian Mijares, then one of our sport’s craftiest wizards, and struck an oddly prudent posture in the opening minutes. But Darchinyan was outfighting and outboxing Donaire through eight rounds, Saturday – at ringside, I had Darchinyan up by three points, and two judges had a wider margin still – when Donaire golfed him with a counter hook he’d set the entirety of his fortune on. After that, he fixed a Darchinyan-like scowl on his mug and pounded the Raging Bull like he’d paid for it.

It was Donaire as fighter, a version we’d not before seen and might not see again, but a sight that wholly justified a five-hour roundtrip from San Antonio to this scruffy seaport.

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

Photo By Chris Farina / Top Rank

Mikey Garcia had to climb off the canvas and come back to score an 8th round stoppage over Roman Martinez and win the WBO Jr. Lightweight championship at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Garcia boxed very well for most of the fight the exception of a brief moment in round 2 when he was caught with a sneaky right hand that sent him to the canvas. That advantage was short lived for Martinez as Garcia started finding a range with his power shots. In round six, a left hook wobbled Martinez. Garcia finished the round landing a nice right hand and a body shot. Garcia continued landing good shots and in round eight he landed a perfect left to the body that sent Martinez down on all fours. he was unable to beat the count and the fight was over at 56 seconds of round eight.

Garcia of Oxnard, CA is now 33-0 with 28 knockouts. Martinez of Puerto Rico is now 27-2-2.

Nonito Donaire made it two for two against Vic Darchinyan as the Filipino Flash had to come from behind to score a ninth round stoppage in their Featherweight bout.

Both guys landed hard shots for the first eight rounds with Darchinyan landing more often and even rocking Donaire, the heavy favorite several times. Finally in round nine, Donaire dropped Darchinyan with a huge left hook. Donaire went in and landed a huge flurry of punches and the fight was stopped at 2:06 of the ninth round. Donaire was down 78-74 on two cards while a 3rd card was even at 76-76.

Donaire is now 32-2 with 21 knockouts. Darchinyan falls to 39-6-1.

Demetrius Andrade won the WBO jr. middleweight championship with a workmanlike split decision over 2004 U.S. Olympian and previously undefeated Vanes Martirosyan.

Andrade of Providence, Rhode Island, is now 20-0 with 13 knockouts and is promoted by Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

Andrade proved early that he had the heart of a champion as he came back from a flash first -round knockdown.

Andrade got off the deck and dominated the rest of the bout as he stuck his hard right jab consistently in
Martirosyan’s face.

Andrade’s best round was the sixth when he hit Martirosyan with repeated power shots that raised swelling around his left eye.

Andrade was never challenged down the stretch as he put on a beautiful boxing exhibition that Martirosyan had no answer for.

According to Compubox Andrade landed 219 of 769 while Martirosyan only managed 83 of 443.

Two judges had Andrade winning by scores of 117-110 and 114-113, While a third judge turned in a dubious card that had Martirosyan ahead 115-112.

“He caught me but I stayed focused,” said Andrade about the knockdown. “I stayed focused and continued to jab and started to pick him apart. I started to feel comfortable inside and won the fight.”

On becoming a world champion, “This feels great and my time is now.”

Said co-promoter Arthur Pelullo, “This is what we envisioned when we signed him. That was to become world champion and he did that tonight. We feel that he is on track to become the best jr. middleweight in the world. Winning this belt puts him in the mix to be able to prove that.”

Affirmation and reclamation are on a loaded card Saturday night that is intriguing on several levels. There’s much to prove for Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan and even trainer Robert Garcia in Corpus Christi, Tex.

For Mikey Garcia, there’s the chance to affirm his ascendancy at a new weight against a tough Puerto Rican, junior-lightweight champion Ramon Martinez.

For Nonito Donaire, there’s the chance to reclaim his pound-for-pound credentials against old rival Vic Darchinyan, who for his own part is fighting to regain the aura that made him such a feared fighter.

For the busy Robert Garcia, there are a couple of chances to silence a few critics.

If that’s not enough, there’s a sense that the Top Rank card (HBO 9:30 p.m., ET/PT) is a chessboard full of potential moves that could determine who will be in position to claim Manny Pacquiao’s spot at the top of the marquee if he falls against Brandon Rios in a couple of weeks at Macao.

Start with Mikey Garcia. He’s in the main event, because of a promotional blueprint that has him ticketed for big things. Among them, there’s Fighter of the Year, a possibility that was addressed during a conference call Wednesday.

“I don’t look for that,’’ said Garcia, who possesses a tactical mastery and poise rivaled by perhaps only Gennady Golovkin. “That is something every writer and critic will have to decide on their own. I just try to win every fight and it has been a good year for me so far. I want to finish strong and maybe next year will be an even better year for me.’’

If all goes as well as expected against Martinez, indications are that it won’t be long before Garcia jumps to lightweight. He failed to make the featherweight mandatory, 126 pounds, in his last outing. Martinez gives him a chance to claim another acronym-sanctioned title in another weight against a fighter who never been knocked off his feet. His brother and trainer, Robert Garcia, hinted that a move from 130 to 135 is near.

“Moving up in weight – we should not have a problem but it is still not easy, said Robert Garcia, who will also train Donaire before he packs his bags and heads to Macao next week to work Rios’ corner. “It was hard to get down to 128, which was the weight he fought at last time. That was 128, so it wasn’t even the featherweight division and everybody had seen what Mikey went through to make that weight. One-thirty, hopefully he can make that weight but it won’t be that easy.’’

For Donaire, the trip to Corpus Christi comes on the heels of a rapid rise and quicker fall. A year ago, he was just a few months from being voted 2012’s Fight of the Year. Then, he lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps 2013’s Upset of the Year. He arrives in south Texas as a new dad and reunited with his father, who will assist Robert Garcia. Donaire’s dad was there, Nonito said, when he was at his fundamental best — a 2007 stoppage of Darchinyan.

Nonito looked at his young son and thought of his dad. If he was starting over, it only made sense to reunite with the father who was there for the beginning.

Darchinyan has his own ideas. He always does. Since his move into the bantamweight ranks, he’s not been the intimidating force he was as a flyweight. But the edge on his confidence is as sharp as ever.

“I think (Nonito) was exposed in his loss to Rigondeaux,’’ Darchinyan said. “He had a good year and was voted Fighter of the Year, but inside me I know – personally he is a good guy — but about skills and power, he should not be pound-for-pound.’’

Never at a loss for words, Darchinyan had more to say.

“I will stalk him,’’ he said. “It is not about him. It is about me. I have more skills and I have more power. If I am motivated against someone – all of my title fights – I am getting prepared for me. I am not getting prepared for my opponent. I am getting prepared for myself. I have prepared mentally. I know everything that he is going to do and I know everything that I am going to do. I just want to come and demolish him, that’s what I want.’’

There wasn’t much response from the soft-spoken Donaire about all that Darchinyan said. He might still be talking.
Donaire has things to do other than just listen to Darchinyan. Things like sleeping and eating. Still, it sets the stage for a fight with plenty at stake for each.

There’s that, too, for Robert Garcia. Garcia, also Marcos Maidana’s trainer for a Dec. 14 clash with Adrien Broner in San Antonio, was asked about Rios’ loss to Mike Alvarado in a March rematch and Donaire’s defeat to Rigondeaux in April.

“Everybody mentions those two losses that we had with Brandon Rios and Nonito Donaire,’’ he said “But nobody mentions that Mikey beat Orlando Salido, the best featherweight in the division at that time and beat him so easy. Nobody mentions Evgeny Gradovich who beat Billy Dib when he was the underdog and we had an upset. And Jesus Cuellar, who became a featherweight champion also. People just don’t want to remember that. Now we have very important fights coming up with Donaire, with Mikey, with Brandon, with Marcos Maidana – those fights are very dangerous.

“We are training to win the fights, not to please the media or the people that like to criticize our team. We are doing it to win, not to be mentioned among the best trainers in the world.

“We do it because we want to win.’’

On a rare night full of multiple opportunities to do just that, it’ll be interesting to see who walks away with the most say-so.

U.S. Army veteran Tim Kennedy scored a spectacular 1st round stoppage over Rafael Natal in a scheduled 5 round Middleweight bout the headlined UFC Fight for the Troops in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Kennedy landed a vicious leaping left hook that sent a limp Natal to the canvas. Kennedy landed one more shot at a prone Natal but it was not needed as he was already out and the fight was stopped at 4:40 of round one.

Kennedy of Austin, Texas is now 17-4. Natal of New York, NY is now 17-5-1.

Fighting with a bad cut over her left eye, Alexis Davis scored a 3 round unanimous decision over Liz Carmouche in a Featherweight bout.

Davis, 134 lbs of San Jose, CA won by scores of 303-27, 30-27 and 29-28 and is now 15-5. Carmouche, 135 lbs of San Diego, CA is now 8-4.

Yoel Romero scored a devastating 3rd round knockout over Ronny Markes in a Middleweight bout.

Romero landed a perfect left to the jaw and Markes folded up to the canvas. Romero was able to get one more shot in but it was a needless one and the bout was stopped at 1:39 of round three.

Romero, 186 lbs of Coconut Creek, FL is now 6-1 with 6 knockouts.

Rustam Khabilov scored a three round unanimous decision over Jorge Masvidal in a Lightweight bout.

Scores were 30-27, 30-27 ans 29-28 for Khabilov, 155 lbs of Albuquerque, NM and is now 17-1. Masvidal, 156 lbs of Miami, FL is now 25-8.

Michael Chiesa scored a 2nd round stoppage over Colton Smith in a Lightweight bout the Featured former Ultimate Fighter winners.

Chiesa got Smith on the ground and got him in a choke from behind that forced Smith to tap out at 1:41 of round two.

Chiesa, 156 lbs of Spokane Valley, WA is now 9-2. Smith, 156 lbs of Fort Hood, TX is now 6-3.

Bobby Green scored a dubious stoppage win over James Krause in the 1st round of their Lightweight bout.

Green landed two low blows earlier in the round and then landed a kick that was right on the belt for which at the first moment looked like a 3rd low blow but it was correctly ruled ruled on the belt line and Krause plummeted to the mat and referee Jon McCarthy ruled the fight over at 3:50.

Green, 155 lbs of Fontana, CA is now 21-5. Krause, 156 lbs of Lees Summit, MO is now 20-5.

Francisco Rivera scored a 2nd round stoppage over George Roop in a Bantamweight bout.

Rivera landed unanswered strikes and referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the bout at 2:20 of round two.

Rivera, 136 lbs of Buena Park, CA is now 10-2-1. Roop, 136 lbs of Tucson, AZ is now 14-11-1.

Dennis Bermudez scored a three round unanimous decision over Steven Siler in a Featherweight bout.

Scores were 30-27 on all cards for Bermudez, 146 lbs of Lindenhurst, NY and is no 13-3. Siler, 146 lbs of Ogden, UT is now 23-11.

Amanda Nunes stopped Germaine de Randamie in round one of their female Bantamweight bout.

Nunes took down de Randamie and landed about 12 straight strikes before referee Herb dean stopped the bout at 3:56 of round one.

Nunes, 13 lbs of Miami, FL is now 9-3. de Randamie, 136 lbs of San Jose, CA is now 4-3.

Derek Brunson choked out Brian Houston just 48 seconds into the 1st round of their Middleweight clash.

Yancey Madaris stopped Yves Edwards in the 1st round.

Saturday on the small stage at Madison Square Garden, before a crowd of 5,000 – in a city of 8.3 million – a throng one euphoric commentator described as both “electric” and “jumping,” Kazakhstani middleweight titlist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin scored a corner stoppage over Brooklyn’s Curtis “Showtime” Stevens at the end of round 8, after dropping Stevens in round 2, and battering him for what 18 minutes followed. It was another fearsome beating administered another barely ranked opponent, by Golovkin, a beating to inspire still more fearless commentary.

One must wonder if Gennady Golovkin’s interpreter tells him what expectations now rest their weight on the boyish Kazakhstani’s juicy deltoids, the hope a television network now kindles that he will be an all-time great, whatever defensive limitations he might have, however late their campaign for his greatness started. If Golovkin is going only on his perception of what is said to him by HBO talent in fighter meetings, in English, a language he does not yet speak coherently – “OK, man, I respect box, I respect everybody,” he said after Saturday’s fight, “I respect everybody athletes, I respect everybody sports, you know, this is a sport for me, first, hey man, going to home just tell your parents just, ‘Hi, I come back, thank you’” – he may not grasp yet the gravity of others’ expectations, of the investment, financial and reputational, boxing’s most powerful network now makes in him. Golovkin likely does not, or he would fight with greater urgency than he showed Saturday against Curtis Stevens, a chinny man he struck nearly 300 times en route to a corner stoppage quite similar to the one he scored on Gabriel Rosado in January.

Golovkin (28-0, 25 KOs) just required 96 seconds longer to bring Stevens to justice than did Marcos Primera (20-28, 13 KOs), a man who has not won a single contest since stopping Stevens more than seven years ago, evidence of nifty matchmaking at least. That Golovkin’s official promoter, K2, has as its figurehead Wladimir Klitschko implies a cautious approach to matching a man whose unofficial promotional company, HBO, finds an extraordinary number of openings every telecast and ring announcement to mention Golovkin’s record-breaking knockout percentage as champion, which would be more meaningful, if not quite meaningful, if Golovkin actually were the middleweight champion, or at least if there were not already a lineal middleweight champion who was not Golovkin and whose reign as champion did not precede Golovkin’s by four months. Or does it violate decorum to mention such a thing in the throes of this, our fourth orGGGy of 2013?

Asked to call-out a postfight opponent, Golovkin wisely chose a limited fellow titlist already promised to another network and a champion already promised to Miguel Cotto. Good boy: when spring of 2014 finds Marco Rubio or Max Bursak on the bill, it will demonstrate only that Golovkin is so feared neither Peter Quillin nor Sergio Martinez had the courage to ply limited wares before Golovkin’s marketplace of pain – an absurdity in the case of Martinez, a man who fought but once at 160 pounds before decisioning the lineal middleweight champion of the world, before spearchiselling a guy, Paul Williams, who held boxing’s Most Avoided title after decisioning that moment’s Most Feared titlist, Antonio Margarito. Much as it may warm this instant to project fear on Martinez’s inactive fighting spirit, it’s not likely a guy who needed 500 punches to stop Rosado and Stevens on their feet makes “Maravilla” sleep fitfully on his leopard-skin satins.

So here’s a callout worth making: Andre Ward. Before we say once more about a guy who this year laid waste to two career 154 pounders, at middleweight, before April Fools’ Day, he will “fight anyone from 154 pounds to 168,” we might at least give him a tryout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., whom, it says here, Saturday night’s Golovkin would need 1,200 punches to stop, or else put him directly in the ring with Ward, a prizefighter who, we might remember for the sake of comparison, is 22 months younger than Golovkin.

The year Golovkin captured a silver medal in the Olympics, Ward won gold. And in the 25 months Ward beat Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, winning the Super Six tournament, Golovkin beat Mikhail Makarov (10-0), Milton Nunez (21-1-1), Nilson Julio Tapia (14-2-1), Kassim Ouma (27-7-1) and Lajuan Simon (23-3-2). For all Golovkin’s prowess in sparring sessions, it is instructive to recall in the moment Golovkin was racing through Simon, Ward was preparing to beat Froch – as proper a juxtaposition of the words “untested” and “tested” as exists in prizefighting from 154 pounds to 168.

Golovkin is entirely effective at beating up men who retreat and nearly as effective at causing their flight. But even Curtis Stevens, whose eyes rolled grotesquely sideways when a Golovkin left hook bounced his head off the blue mat in round 2, was able to neutralize at least temporarily Golovkin’s attack, and place a few decent shots of his own, by muscling forward to a range at which Golovkin does not seem nearly comfortable as he is at middle distance.

Andre Ward is the current best in our sport at getting to an opponent’s chest, discomfiting him, and removing all traces of menace; in a match with Golovkin, Ward would clinch, headbutt, shoulder and infight, and he would snatch the spirit from Golovkin the very way Bernard Hopkins did to Felix Trinidad, at the very moment Trinidad was both more dominating and more tested than Golovkin is now. Or perhaps he would not; perhaps Ward, too, would succumb to Golovkin’s relentless fiststorm, justifying fully half the credit Golovkin enjoys for what fantastical beasts his partisans currently see him hypothetically slaying.

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

NEW YORK–Gennady Golovkin retained his WBA Middleweight championship with an eight round beatdown over a tough Curtis Stevens in from of 4,618 fans at the Theater at Madison Square Garden

Stevens did well to match punches with Golovkin in the 1st but in round two he ate a monster left hook that sent him to the canvas. Stevens steadied himself in round three but still dropped the frame. Stevens started to take a beating in round four but came back late in the round to land four nasty shots that got him right back in the fight.

In round seven, Golovkin started to pound on Stevens along the ropes. The challenger kept Golovkin honest by landing an occasional power shot but the relentless Golovkin continued his assault. In round eight, Golovkin continued with a two fisted attack that was divided up between crunching body punches and sharp shooting to the head. Golovkin was undaunted and was gunning for the knockout of Stevens, who at this point was looking like a beaten man with blood coming from his nose. Finally and luckily for Stevens, he has a trainer who cares and it was his uncle Andre Rozier who saved his nephew from any more damage and called off the fight at the end of round eight.

Golovkin, 159 1/2 lbs of Kazakhstan is now 28-0 with 25 knockouts. Stevens, 159 1/4 lbs of Brooklyn is now 25-4.

In a battle of undefeated southpaw Heavyweights Mike Perez scored a 10 round unanimous decision over knockout artist Magomed Abdusalamov.

Perez came out swinging and landing power shots in the 1st round. Abdusalamov came back and backed Perez up with a hard combination on the ropes in the 2nd. Abdusalamov’s nose begin to bleed in the same round. Perez hung in there and started to box through the middle rounds. Abdusalamov’s

In round eight, Abdusalamov was deducted a point for a low blow. In the final round, Perez hurt Abdusalamov with a hard right. He continued the assault with a follow up combination but he could not put the Abdusalamov on the canvas.

Perez, 235 lbs of Cork, Ireland won by scores of 97-92, 97-92 and 95-94 and is now 20-0. Abdusalamov, 231 1/2 lbs of Kazakhstan is now 18-1.

Ola Afolabi scored a twelve round majority decision over Lukasz Janic in a Cruiserweight bout.

Scores were 115-113 and 117-111 and 114-114 for the former world champion Afolabi, 194 lbs and is now 20-3-4. Janic, 197 3/4 lbs of Poland is now 26-2.

19 year old Dusty Hernandez Harrison got a good test but remained undefeated by scoring a ten round unanimous decision over Josh Torres in an entertaining Welterweight bout.

At the end of round one, Harrison landed a nice right hand. He started opening it up more towards the middle of the second frame. Harrison continued to work at a good rate before Torres landed a solid right in roun four and second one actually sent Harrison back off balance.

Round six started off with Torres throwing and landing with Harrison against the ropes. Harrison did well in fighting off. Harrison got going again in round seven, as he drilled Torres with two solid right hands. Harrison continued working solid as he landed a nice right hand while fighting inside in the eighth. In round ten, Torres rocked Harrison with a right just after the bell rang. harrison came back and rocked Torres with a straight right that sent Torres into the ropes. The two battled toe to toe down the stretch which thrilled the already packed house in the Theater.

Harrison, 146 1/2 lbs of Washington, DC won by scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 98-92 and is now 18-0. Torres, 145 1/2 lbs of Albuquerque, NM is now 12-3-1.

Joel Diaz Jr. scored two knockdowns en route to a six round unanimous decision over Bryne Green in a Jr. Lightweight bout.

In round two, Green rocked Diaz with a big counter right and had him holding on after landing a hard left -right combination. Later in the round a seemingly meaningless right hand sent Green back to the ropes and Diaz pounced on him as he landed a bout five shots in the corner. In round three, Diaz landed a straight right and then dropped Green with a left to the body.

Just a minute into round five, Diaz drppped Green again with a right hand.

Diaz Jr, 132 1/4 lbs of Palmdale, CA won by scores of 60-52 and is now 13-0. Green, 131 lbs of Vineland, NJ is now 7-7-1.

Diaz

Isa Akbarbayev opened the show with a tough four round unanimous decision over Brian Clookey in a battle of undefeated Cruiserweights.

The action was fast at the outset and it was not more than a minute into the bout before Clookey was cut under the left eye.

Akbarbayev landed a couple of hard right hands in round two. Clookey hun tough and continued to throw and he landed a pair of left hooks at the end of the third round. With blood streaming down the left side of his face, Clookey opened up round four with a hard left hook.

Akbarbayev, 192 1/2 lbs of Almaty Kazakhstan won by scores of 40-36 on all cards and is now 11-0. Clookey, 189 lbs of Chase, NY is now 4-1-2.

Manny Pacquiao’s larger-than-life persona is intact despite last year’s long fall to the canvas in a stunning reminder that nothing lasts forever. That much was evident a few days ago in a conference call with Brandon Rios.

One of the questions assumed that Pacquiao was bigger than Rios.

No, not now. Not ever.

“If you say that, your eyes are deceiving you,’’ Rios said.

Rios is right, of course. Look at the photos of the two, standing face to face, in news conferences announcing their fight on Nov. 23 in Macao. Rios, listed at 5 feet 8, looks down at Pacquiao, 5-6 ½, in every one of them. Yet in the public imagination, Pacquiao is the bigger guy. It’s a perception created by a celebrity that grew like a monument with dramatic victories that transformed the Filipino into an icon.

Over the last decade, maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been the better fighter, the pound-for-pound choice. But as a people’s champ, it’s Pacquiao. They look up to him, even when he was face-down from a crushing right delivered by Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

For Rios, Pacquiao’s enduring popularity is just one of many challenges, especially if the fight goes to the scorecards. It’s no secret that Pacquiao is the point man in promoter Bob Arum’s attempt to turn China into a boxing market. Pacquiao will be fighting in his home hemisphere. Calculate those odds and you get a pretty good idea why Timothy Bradley wouldn’t go to China for a rematch of his controversial decision over Pacquiao. If Bradley had a chance, he figured it wasn’t in the cards.

The assumption is that Rios-Pacquiao won’t be decided by judges, whose scoring has already made 2013 a controversial year. Rios is there because he’s supposed to make Pacquiao look good. Rios moves forward in the relentless style perfect for a dramatic Pacquiao stoppage. It’s what a comeback needs. It’s what a new market demands.

But there’s a caveat attached to that plot. Yeah, the Pacquiao we remember – the guy who beat Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto – makes short work of Rios. But the post-Marquez Pacquiao? It’s a question that has to make Arum very nervous.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether Marquez’ knockout punch will have lingering effects. It’s impossible to know until opening bell. In part, that’s why Pacquiao-Rios is the most intriguing fight of the year. But Marquez’ punch was just one among many over the last three years in Pacquiao’s career. Both Pacquiao and Rios say that anybody can get knocked out by a single blow.

The bigger question is whether there has been a cumulative effect from all of the punches Pacquiao endured in fights against bigger guys. The biggest came in one of Pacquiao’s signature victories, a unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito in November, 2010 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. All of the attention was in the way Pacquiao left Margarito’s right eye so horribly disfigured in what was supposed to be a junior-middleweight fight. But in beating Margarito, Pacquiao also took one in body blows from a fighter who outweighed him by nearly 20 pounds at opening bell.

In Pacquiao’s subsequent fights against Shane Mosley, Marquez in a second rematch and Bradley, there were signs of decline. His hands didn’t move quite as fast. Gone was the instinct to finish a hurt foe. Maybe, Marquez’ right hand in their fourth fight just confirmed what many had begun to see. Maybe, it was the final punctuation point to an ongoing narrative.

A lot has been made of Rios’ friendship with Margarito. Rios says he’s different than Margarito. Fair enough, but they are both brawlers and, in the end, that might serve Rios well. Rios is nothing if not tough. In the classic Mexican style, he takes punches to throw them. It would be no surprise if Pacquiao scores an early knockdown. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if Rios gets up, smiles through bloody teeth and begins to turn the bout into a brawl.

How does Pacquiao react then? Does he want another victory at the price of more punishment?

It’s then – and only then — when we’ll know whether Pacquiao is back or in fact finished by punches that preceded the single shot that took down a monument.

Saturday on Madison Square Garden’s small stage Kazakhstani middleweight titlist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will fight American Curtis “Showtime” Stevens, on HBO, in a match of the two middleweights most likely to rend with thoughtless ferocity any overmatched unfortunate set across from them. That is, somebody stopped by, say, Vanes Martirosyan at 154 pounds, as Stevens’ last opponent was, ought tremble at rumors of GGG’s approach. And any man knocked-out by Sergio Martinez last year, as Golovkin’s last opponent was, would do well not to be on Showtime’s side of town when night falls.

OK, the leavening of this match with a pinch of facetiousness was overdue, and so there it is, with a concession directly afterwards: Saturday’s fight will be quite entertaining as it happens, in a manner more suspenseful than dramatic, and should end with one man, more likely Stevens, unconscious before its 36th minute completes. Our sport needs more of that, much more, not less, and who cares, then, if Saturday’s champ is unproved and his challenger more so?

That Gennady Golovkin is untested is not a valid reason to dislike him or distrust his abilities. He appears to have a plethora of them and appears, too, to have come along at a fine time, one in which the depth of the middleweight division is hopelessly shallow. Golovkin has risen in all minds to no worse than second best in one of our sport’s storied divisions by beating up Matthew Macklin (1-2 in three fights before Golovkin), Nobuhiro Ishida (1-2 in three fights before Golovkin) and Gabriel Rosado (in his middleweight debut).

There is even talk among serious individuals of calling Golovkin’s rampage through Macklin and Ishida and Rosado – three guys Marvelous Marvin Hagler probably could have beaten in a handicap match, one on three, and Bernard Hopkins would have unmanned in one night, stopping Ishida on the undercard, decisioning Rosado in the co-main and inviting a red towel from Macklin’s corner in the main, all while donning a differently ridiculous mask for each – three quarters of enough to be considered 2013’s fighter of the year, if he is able to beat Stevens on Saturday. Golovkin is nearer his 32nd birthday than his 31st, and that may explain this urgency to place his name among boxing’s best, because it certainly has nothing to do with the strength of his opposition or even, to pause for honesty, his supposedly withering power.

Golovkin is technically sound and accurate, his footwork fine but not otherworldly, his defense average, but he is a friendly gent with a telegenic smile and a chance of graduating from the Manny Pacquiao School of English Conversation, with honors, before 2015. For goodness’ sake, though, here for comparison, is whom (Olympic gold medalist) Oscar De La Hoya had fought by the time he was the same age (Olympic silver medalist) Gennady Golovkin is: Genaro Hernandez, James Leija, Julio Cesar Chavez (twice), Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Arturo Gatti, Fernando Vargas and Yory Boy Campas. That is another way of imparting De La Hoya was already a Grammy-nominated, first-ballot hall-of-famer about to begin the silly season of his career at the age Golovkin is yet to fight an opponent who ranks with one of the names above.

Beating Curtis Stevens, which Golovkin is expected to do even in Stevens’ New York City, the collection of boroughs in which the Brooklynite once terrorized a few no-hopers of his own, will do little to elevate future historians’ estimation of GGG, though losing to Stevens, or even getting his chin checked by a guy once chin-checked by Marcos Primera, will cause no small discomfort for a gathering army of Golovkin partisans who describe the savagery of the Kazakhstani’s attack in terms frightful enough to remind readers of Lucas Matthysse – before September.

There is a standard enjoyed by Golovkin that is a wee bit inexplicable, too, in an era that sees every elite athlete tacitly suspected of PED use, as search engines looking to sate inquiries that marry Golovkin’s name with acronyms like VADA or WADA or USADA return nothing substantive. If our concern is with the perilous effects of pharmaceutically enhanced fists slamming against standard-issue craniums, should we not begin with a man widely considered the boogeyman’s boogeyman – or did athletic programs in the former Soviet Union, of which Kazakhstan was a part, eschew performance-enhancing drugs so spectacularly?

Aficionados desperately wish to discover an unknown entity, and be the ones to say they did, a sparring-session ghoul in need of only one chance at yesterday’s paper champion, just one, to set right the injustices that burn aficionados’ stomachs when they lie down at night, and such a beast’s necessary quotient of mysteriousness is aided, not obstructed, by taciturnity or simple incomprehension of what is asked him. Golovkin has all such ingredients in a batch of accomplishments that do not yet merit his name in a sentence with Sergio Martinez’s unless and until Martinez himself puts it there. Or have we learned nothing from the RJJ and Money eras, and what ultimate dissatisfaction comes of awarding hypothetical victories?

One cannot say yet what happens when Golovkin is hurt in a prizefight, though perhaps Saturday will reward our forbearance with a stiff left-hook counter or accidental headbutt, but if Golovkin’s next four opponents come no closer to revealing it than his last four, let us still our tongues about Floyd Mayweather’s handicapping before the muse again makes us sing Gennady Golovkin’s praises.

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

ATLANTIC CITY–The ageless Bernard Hopkins yet again held back the clock as he scored a 12 round unanimous decision over unheralded mandatory challenger Karo Murat at Boardwalk Hall.

Hopkins took a few rounds getting adjusted to Murat who came to win.

The bout was entertaining and featured many furious exchanges that aren’t common in most Hopkins bouts. Hopkins had Murat hurt on several occasions as his vaunted straight right hand was on point and began to bust up the face around Murat’s left eye. In between the action there was some holding that was precipitated by Murat and he was docked a point by referee Steve Smoger in round seven.

In round eight, the man known as “The Alien” became more entertaining as he engaged in an exchange with Murat while talking to the television cameras on the apron. Hopkins desperately wanted a knockout was aggressive and had Murat hurt down the stretch. Murat did mount an effort but came up short on this night to the 48 year-old legend.

Hopkins outlanded Murat 247-565 to 147-486. The hopkins tally included 184 power punches.

Hopkins, 172 1/2 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 119-109, 119-109 and 117-110 (same as 15rounds.com) and is now 54-6-2. Murat, 174 lbs of Berlin, Germany is 25-2-1.

“Richard Schaefer said we needed to be crowd pleasers,” said Hopkins, the oldest champion in sports history. “The crowd wanted to see skill and blood so I had some blood to give them. I am an entertainer and this is what people want to see… He was a game number one contender.”

When asked by SHOWTIME ringside reporter Jim Gray if Murat brought out the best in him, Hopkins answered, “Not really, but he didn’t bring out the worst either.”

Regarding the slow start, Hopkins said, “That was the plan. That was the bone on the string so that the dog could follow him into a dark alley and then realize someone was waiting on him. And that dog was me.”

Hopkins continued, “He throws pretty good punches and he is no one to sleep on. He is going to give some light heavyweights a bit of a problem.”

When Gray asked Hopkins how he stays in such phenomenal shape at age 48, Hopkins replied, “I’m a freaking alien.”

Gray then spoke to Murat who said, “Bernard is a good boxer and I lost concentration due to the two cuts which came by head butts. I know that when I am in good shape I can beat him, however, the cuts disturbed me.”

Peter Quillin retained the WBO Middleweight title with a 10th round stoppage over Gabriel Rosado when the challenger was deemed unable to continue due to a cut over the left eye.

In round two, Quillin landed a left hook to the side of the head that sent Rosado to the canvas. Rosado fought back valiantly and started to get into fight with some solid right hands. the two traded off rounds with Quillin throwing less but landing harder. Rosado landed the flashier punches and seemed to be picking up momentum in various parts of the fight.

In round nine, a bad cut appeared around the left eye of Rosado that was ruled from a punch. Just forty seconds into round ten, ringside doctor Blair Bergen thought the blood was too much and stopped the fight.

Quillin, 159 1/4 lbs is now 30-0 with 22 knockouts. Rosado, 160 lbs is now a hard luck 21-7.

Said Quillin after the fight, “I’m not a judge. I’m not an elected official. I did what I had to do as a fighter and I respect the call. The referees and doctors ringside did what they had to do to make sure the fighters are safe.

“I never expect an easy payday or an easy fight. I work hard every time for each fight… When you dedicate to win a title you need to give that person a sense of being able to achieve what they want. I am a world champion and I work hard. He has never been a champion and he doesn’t know.

“I’m ready for anybody. I am a fighter and I worry about fighting. If it is a rematch, then I don’t care. I work hard to be in this ring and I work hard to defend my title against anybody. I don’t care if it is against my own mother.”

Of the stoppage, Rosado told Gray, “I felt like that was B.S. This is a championship fight. We were going into the championship rounds. This was a competitive fight. I never complained about a cut. When the doctor saw my eye, I told him that I could see. It was not giving me any problems up to that point.

“I noticed if I backed him up with a jab that I was hurting him and I was doing that. But then the doctor called me over and stopped the fight. This is boxing. What about Gatti-Ward? They didn’t stop that fight. Corrales-Castillo. We are warriors.

“I never even complained that I couldn’t see. Of course I want a rematch. This is the story of my life. I’m the real Rocky Balboa.”

Deontay Wilder made it 30 for 30. 30-0, 30 knockouts that is as he scored a four round destruction over Nicolai Firtha in a scheduled ten round Heavyweight bout.

Firtha came rushing out and made Wilder stumble from a left hand. Wilder came back string in the round as he floored Firtha twice in the round. The first knockdown came from a hard right hand while the second was from a right to the side of the head. Firtha began to gush blood from his nostrils. Wilder kept up the power assault in round two and then dropped Firtha from a huge power right in the third.

Wilder ended things with a huge right hand that sent Firtha flat on his back and the fight was stopped at 1:26 of round four.

“This is what i wanted. To box and have fun. I told everyone that Firtha was coming to fight. I am right there at the door. Everytime you see me, you know what you are going to get and that a knockout.”, Said Wilder

Wilder, 224 lbs of Tuscaloosa, AL is now 30-0 with 30 knockouts. Firtha, 252 1/2 lbs of Akron, OH is now 21-11-1.

Zachary Ochoa remained undefeated with a four round unanimous decision over Michael Doyle in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

Scores were 40-36, 39-37 and 39-37 for Ochoa, 140 1/2 lbs and is now 5-0. Doyle, 137 lbs is 2-6.

Braulio Santos disposed of David Clark in round one of their scheduled eight round Featherweight bout.

Santos rocked Clark with two vicious power shots and then connected on a devastating left hook that sent Clark down. Clark got to his feet but referee David Fields called the bout off at 1:49 of round one.

Santos of Puerto Rico is now 11-1 with 10 knockouts. Clark is 6-3.

Dominic Wade opened the show up with a first round destruction over Roberto Ventura in a scheduled eight round Middleweight bout.

Wade rocked Ventura with a left hook and then dropped him with an overhand right. Seconds later Wade dropped Ventura with an overhand right. Wade finished things with a hard overhand right that sent Ventura down for a third and final time and the bout was stopped at 2:08 of round one.

Wade is now 13-0 with 10 knockouts. Ventura is now 12-8.

Google doesn’t know who the Italian was. It doesn’t say how old the proverb is. But I could only think that its wisdom is as current as ever in a battered business that these days could use a grandmother’s counsel, cooking and tough love. Call Kathy Garcia.

She’s 57, half Filipino, half Japanese, 100 percent American and thoroughly devoted to the boxers she manages. Boxing is still a mom-and-pop store at the Garcia home in Salinas, Calif., where Kathy manages income property from an office across the street from author John Steinbeck’s old house when she’s not managing fighters and playing with two grandkids, aged one and two.

These days, two of the fighters, middleweight Paul Mendez and junior-welterweight Darwin Price, share a room in her house, which includes a gym where husband Max and son Sam train them. Don’t be late for meals, turn off the cell phones at the dinner table and make sure you live within your weekly allowance. It’s hard to say no to Granma.

“If you can’t abide by the rules, you’re not for us and we’re not for you,’’ Kathy Garcia said of a family business that goes to work Monday night at the Sports House in Redwood City, Calif., on a Fox 1 televised card (10 p.m. ET/7p.m. PT) with Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) scheduled to fight Louis Rose (8-1, 2 KOs) of Lynwood, Calif., and Price (2-0, 2 KOs) against Omar Avelar (2-9, 1 KO) of Washington State.

Garcia’s rules-and-regs are part-and-parcel of any well-run household. But many fighters, often from broken homes, miss that part of the growing up process. Some seek it. Some don’t. Some rebel.

“Fighters come from tough backgrounds,’’ she said. “I’m not afraid of that. Truth is, what they really need is some love.’’

They get it, although sometimes their response can be a real heart-breaker. Garcia got involved boxing because of her husband’s interest in training.

“I only got involved in 1997,’’ said Garcia, whose father spent the World War II years in an American re-location camp because of his Japanese ancestry.

She watched the kids train and saw that many needed help in managing their affairs. Over the last 15 years, her role evolved into the manager of record for 10 fighters, including Jose Celaya, a junior-middleweight contender who nearly made the U.S. Olympic team for the 2000 Sydney Games. She also managed Eloy Perez, who was knocked last year by Adrien Broner

Celaya spent too much money, Garcia said. Perez tested positive for cocaine. Both broke her heart. But the toughest was Preston Freeman. Freeman had as much raw talent as any young fighter the Garcias had seen.

“He was a young Floyd Mayweather Jr., that kind of talent,’’ Kathy said.

But after going 3-0 as a junior welterweight under the Garcia guidance, the 20-year-old Freeman got homesick for St. Louis, which he left in an attempt to escape the mean streets of his old neighborhood. A younger brother had been filled there. So, too, had a friend.

“His mom told me, ‘Don’t let him come back. He’ll get killed,’ ‘’ Kathy said. “But I couldn’t change his mind. I tried, but he was going home no matter what. I couldn’t keep him here. I got him a ticket. Thirty-six hours after he left, he was gone.’’

Shot and killed in front of a night club at midnight on March 7, 2012.

“Devastating,’’ she said. “Three boxers have broken my heart, but Preston is the one I’ll never really get over.’’

Yet, Freeman’s memory lives on for a grandmother who sees boxing as an opportunity for other kids from tough places.

Mendez fights on. He and Freeman lived and trained at the Garcia house, ate at Kathy’s table. Price, Freeman’s cousin and a former track star at Grambling, arrived after the tragedy and moved into the room that Mendez had shared with Freeman. Families get rocked, but never knocked out.

“For me and Max, this is not about money,’’ she said. “We have other jobs. I mean, if our kids get $1,000 a fight, it’s a good night. We’re doing this to put these kids in a position for bigger fights and a chance to improve their lives.’’

Throughout her decade in boxing, she has witnessed an increasingly divisive business. It’s one that could learn a lot from her. Boxing’s promotional feud is no secret. It’s nowhere near an end either. The Golden Boy-Top Rank stand-off is this century’s version of the Cold War and at – at this rate – it’ll last just about as long.

“It’s in very difficult place right now,’’ she said. “The public doesn’t get the fights it wants to see because of this feud. Fans quit watching and that’s not good for anybody. The public knows Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But who else? I knew who Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and Muhammad Ali were in a time when I wasn’t involved in boxing at all. I just think if that if this feud could get settled, everybody would better off. It would create a better future for these young kids.’’

Maybe, it’s time for a Grandma Summit at Kathy Garcia’s dinner table. She might have a hard time telling Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum to turn off their cell phones. But they’d have a harder time saying no to her.

DENVER – Afterwards, when “Mile High” Mike Alvarado, still adorned in throwback-Broncos orange and blue, an egg-shaped contusion over his right eye, claimed he considered his own health before round 11, before somehow indicating to referee Tony Weeks he could not continue, from his stool, he was being honest but not telling the truth about how his match with Russian challenger Ruslan Provodnikov ended in KO-10. What Alvarado hoped to do with such a claim, instead, was regain a dash of control from a moment of combat that snatched it from him verily and placed his vanquisher, an amiable, off-kilter Siberian, near the very top of boxing’s tacitly kept Most Feared list.

At the conclusion of round 10, after a closing 10 seconds in which every punch Provodnikov struck him with, wherever he struck him, visibly pained Alvarado, making him wretched and fragile, Alvarado stumbled to the nearest corner, the wrong one, draped himself over the turnbuckle and began a search for handlers. Shann Vilhauer, Alvarado’s chief second and a man who used the moments after his charge was stopped either to fire a parting shot in claiming Alvarado devised a strategy for himself Vilhauer did not approve, or try to keep himself in the inevitable makeover-training sweepstakes – “back to basics!”, “remind Mike how he got here!” – had to throw a net of words and arms over Alvarado to haul him across the ring to where a man of any lucidity whatever should have gone unassisted.

Vilhauer was trapped in a moment, a combination of thinking his man was unstoppable by others (Brandon Rios, remember, never felled Alvarado) and worrying his future income stream would be stopped by stopping a match that stopped needing to continue at least 70 seconds before, and so he went about his between-rounds chores like nothing much had happened. Tony Weeks brought adult supervision to the moment, forcing his way deeper and deeper in Alvarado’s corner, forcing Alvarado’s attention for the prizefighting equivalent of “blink once for no and twice for no.”

The end brought Provodnikov unfiltered glee and most of the other 7,000 or so folks gathered at 1stBank Center a thing that tilted reliefways in a disappointment-to-relief balance. Though 1stBank Center is not in this city proper, it is in a suburb of this rough, weird, enjoyable metropolis, a place whose young residents seem not potheads so much as shroomers, residents of a place that set for itself this goal while extending Denver Art Museum: Erect the first great building of the 21st century. And with architect Daniel Libeskind’s awkward genius, city planners’ audacity, and nearly as many obtuse angles as titanium panels, DAM met its mark with the Frederic C. Hamilton Building.

Provodnikov beat to spiritually unrecognizable this city’s native son, a Denver cowboy, a fearless hombre from the 303, tatted and rapsheeted, one who wore open, bottle-shard facial wounds while he unmanned Brandon Rios in March – the sort of person who needlessly carries within himself a very dark place and visits regularly with those who know its coordinates. Provodnikov found the dot of fragility within such a man’s soul, the camouflaged doorway that hides a cavern filled to bursting with betrayal and violation and vilest injustices, and then smashed that dot till it became a hole gaping enough to put an eight-ounce glove through.

The fight’s fortune was told in its first minute, Saturday, when Alvarado’s demeanor was far too stiff for a titlist in his 36th prizefight, and Provodnikov’s demeanor was not nearly stiff enough for a man gone to another’s hometown in pursuit of a first meaningful title. Provodnikov’s first right cross made Alvarado wince in a way that made Alvarado’s intelligent face – and it is that, however he’s learned to mask it – impart a thought like: Yup, this is going to be bad as feared. That Alvarado’s back was to his corner when that wince came is all that might explain Shann Vilhauer’s later contention Alvarado, buried in an avalanche of his own press clippings (and cheers to that quaint analogy), was wrong to devise a defensive strategy in training camp.

Alvarado knew instantly he would not be able to win any fair exchange with Provodnikov, a man whose vicious assault of Mile High Mike bore no sign of animosity whatever, a man who probably would have gone so far as to stop punching Alvarado had the champ told him he needed a few seconds pause to weigh options, a man Pacquiao-esque in his enchantment with knuckles sunken in flesh. An instant after Alvarado’s instant calculation was complete Provodnikov got word, an instant message of sorts, Alvarado was removing from consideration fully half the offensive tactics for which Provodnikov prepared, and by round 2 the Russian was marching straight at Alvarado, feet squared in the international symbol for “I’m willing to be hit!”

Alvarado, a famous athlete in these parts, tried to switch identities on the fly, becoming a southpaw, hopping forwards with lead uppercuts, belligerently dropping his left hand in homage to the righthand-feasting way that got him stopped by Brandon Rios a year ago. It confused Provodnikov, some, enough anyway to let Alvarado get a few licks in, with this caveat: Provodnikov knew if he could merely touch Alvarado 10 or so times every three minutes, he would break Alvarado before 36 of them were up.

A right cross to Alvarado’s body in round 8 pained him too deeply to smile or shrug at; had someone stopped the match at that instant, before the two knockdowns, before the six minutes of assault that succeeded them, it would have served a buffet of vicarious rage to boxing’s legion of malcontents but not altered the outcome. Alvarado was, after that punch, indulging a profoundly masochistic impulse, not fighting. Bless Tony Weeks for temporarily sparing the man from his troubled self.

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

DENVER – Among boxing’s myriad of adages is the one that says you must beat the champ – meaning beat the champ down – to take his belt. Russian Ruslan “Siberian Rocky” Provodnikov did exactly that to American light welterweight champ “Mile High” Mike Alvarado, stomping into Alvarado’s hometown and breaking his spirit.

Saturday at 1stBank Center, Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs) did the previously unthinkable before a soldout crowd of more than 7,000 Coloradoans, all on hand to cheer Alvarado (34-2, 23 KOs), punching the Coloradoan to a point of submission, dropping him twice and making him thrice refuse referee Tony Weeks’ inquiries about fitness to continue after round 10.

“I asked Mike two or three times, ‘Do you want to continue?’” Weeks said afterwards. “And Mike answered each time, ‘No.’”

“That’s how you become a world champion!” an elated Provodnikov said through his translator. “I went to his hometown. It was a tough fight, I knew it was a tough fight. That is now you become a world champion.”

From the very first round, one man’s punches told more than the other’s. Alvarado, who began tight, hands too high, skips too skittish, was moved sideways by Provodnikov’s hooks, even when Alvarado blocked them. Right hands from the Russian appeared to make Alvarado’s face wince before the first 90 seconds were complete.

“He’s the hardest puncher I’ve ever faced,” Alvarado said after being beaten.

Alvarado collected himself and made rounds 2 through 7 considerably more competitive than the first, switching styles almost constantly, from orthodox to southpaw, from uppercut specialist to defensive specialist, dropping his lead hand at times, leaping in with lead uppercuts at others. The boxing approach ultimately did not serve Alvarado.

“It just wasn’t Mike’s night,” said his trainer, Shann Vilhauer. “He was too defensive. He’s been reading his own clips since the (Brandon) Rios fight, thinking he’s this great boxer. This guy was tailor-made for him, but he was too defensive.”

In round 8, what appeared to that point a competitive scrap became a destruction, as Provodnikov’s fully committed punches cracked the façade of Alvarado’s poise. Twice Alvarado went down, waited for Tony Weeks’ count to near 10, touched his own chest then rose to fight on.

But by the 10th round, Alvarado, a large egg-shape swelling his right eye shut, was a broken man, walking at the round’s completion to the wrong corner, having to be fished from across the blue mat by trainer Shann Vilhauer. Referee Weeks went to the corner behind them and confirmed Alvarado had neither the will nor the ability to continue.

“I made him not want to fight me anymore, and that is the best outcome I could think of,” said Provodnikov. “After the eighth round, I just needed to stay calm.

“Mike Alvarado. He’s a real man, a real world champion.”

JUAN DIAZ VS. JUAN SANTIAGO
When Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz is at his best, every round bears a close resemblance to its predecessor. In Saturday’s co-main event, Diaz was at his best.

Making the second appearance in a nascent comeback, Diaz (38-4, 19 KOs) decisioned local lightweight Juan Santiago (14-11-1, 8 KOs) by lopsided unanimous scores of 97-93, 99-91 and 100-90.

“It felt great,” Diaz said of his victory afterwards. “I needed the rounds. It was a good fight.”

Diaz fought in his typical, self-possessed way, never overcommitting to any advantage, never fretting at an eaten punch, focusing on his opponent’s chest, measuring the patterns of his torso, relentlessly punching, regardless of effect. Saturday, though, he did a bit more jabbing than has been his custom.

“I believe that I have one of the best jabs in boxing,” Diaz said. “It’s undiscovered, but I believe tonight it showed.”

Diaz spun his shoulders, every left hook to the body opening the possibility of a right to the head, until Santiago, like so many men before him, lost his effect. For a beaten man, though, Santiago did not fight with reservation – often finishing rounds with a flurry and greeting his local fans with a raised left glove. Nothing Santiago did was enough; he was outclassed from the beginning but did his job, giving Diaz’s continuing comeback, and new jab, a firm chin to slam against.

“When I fight the best guys in boxing, (the jab) will come in handy,” Diaz said.

UNDERCARD
The final non-swing portion of the undercard saw two local welterweights do battle, as Denver’s Daniel Calzada and Longmont’s Carlos Marquez made the sort of entertainingly violent match that can happen when limited local fighters, guys who’ve seen one another round the gyms for years, fight for bragging rights, not titles. Each guy fought without regard for personal safety for all six rounds of a match Calzada won by majority decision: 57-57, 59-55, 58-56.

Accompanied to the ring by his famous uncle Acelino “Popo” Freitas, undefeated Brazilian super featherweight Vitor Jones de Oliveira (1-0-0-1, 1 KO) – and man whom Banner Promotions publicist Marc Abrams says “will transform boxing” – brought early and merciless ruin to local fighter Martin Quezada (2-8, 2 KOs) in Saturday’s fourth fight.

Possibly the best four-round fight in recent Colorado history happened before that, when local super featherweight David Escamilla (3-0, 1 KO) matched up with Mexican Jair Quintero (2-1-1), in a back-and-forth affair that saw each man rocked and winded at various moments of their 12 minutes of combat. Ultimately, the local prizefighter prevailed by three unanimous-decision scores of 39-36, but the match was closer than its scorecards would indicate.

The evening’s second match saw undefeated Puerto Rican super featherweight Starling Cordero (7-0, 3 KOs) race out his corner and race directly through overmatched Mexican Abraham Rubio (3-2-1, 1 KO), stopping him at 1:39 of round 1, after dropping him once and striking him with a large number of uncontested blows.

Saturday began with a heavyweight mismatch between Iowan Donovan Dennis (9-1-0-1, 7 KOs) and Hugo Arceo (3-1-1, 3 KOs), of nearby Boulder, and ended with one too many felled mouthpieces for Arceo, giving Dennis the win by knockout at 2:33 of round 3. Despite being staggered once in the second round, Dennis generally clobbered Arceo, dropping the face-bloodied Coloradoan, and his mouthpiece, numerous times.

Opening bell rang on a sparsely occupied 1stBank Center at 5:28 PM local time.

DENVER – The crowd was over capacity at the weighin, and so was light welterweight “Mile High” Mike Alvarado, the hometown favorite. A little bit of vigilance got the crowd back under capacity, and it worked for Alvarado’s weight too.

Friday at Diego’s Mexican Food & Cantina, a medium-sized eatery in the center of this city, Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) and Russian challenger Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs) each made weight, eventually, for their Saturday title fight at 140 pounds. Provodnikov needed only one try to weigh 139.8. But Alvarado marked 141.1 on his first try, a pound over the contracted weight for their title match, left the restaurant, returned two hours later and marked 139.8.

Vulnerability is an odd thing to express in the leadup to a match considered by those who should know a certain candidate for 2013 fight of the year, one that pits Alvarado, whose match a year ago this week with Brandon Rios led 2012 fight-of-the-year polling till December, and Ruslan Provodnikov, whose March match with welterweight champion Timothy Bradley leads this year’s polling, but vulnerability is the very element both men showed in a recent episode of “Face Off with Max Kellerman” – admitting to fear and consciousness of how much their profession imperils them.

Odder still, this profession of fear, as neither man fights like he is aware there are consequences for collecting another man’s punches to the body and head. Alvarado is athletically gifted as any prizefighter, capable, that is, of employing reflex and coordination to offset other men’s offenses, serving thrice the abuse he collects, but he eschews prudence at most turns, planting instead and trading with men who haven’t another recourse. He did not do this at the beginning of his career, when he was on a short list of his promoter’s favorite prospects, but he does today because he is now 33 years-old, no longer fleet of foot as before, and watching what appear to be few grains of sand in an hourglass before his fighting- and lifestyles do him in.

Provodnikov understands the science of prizefighting, too, and understands them well enough not to employ them when to do so might surely benefit an opponent. Provodnikov figures to be the larger man in Saturday’s match, coming, as he is, down from 147 pounds to contest Alvarado’s light welterweight title.

But Alvarado struggled more mightily to make weight, needing almost exactly the allotted two hours after Friday’s official weighin to come in below 140. It is unlikely weight will affect either fighter; both men looked healthy and good from Friday’s cantina, a venue that was warm with bodies and entirely overstuffed with them as well, causing employees to begin citing fire marshals and capacity restrictions 15 minutes before the first fighters took the scale. Diego’s was long, not wide, and with barely a full door from which celebrities might escape, those unable to maneuver their ways inside had the consolation of HBO’s broadcasting crew and former champions like Juan Diaz and Acelino Freitas forced to pass within arms’ reach, availing themselves to many more photos than likely planned.

Boxing comprises many fights that should entertain but might not, last week’s match between Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez was a timely example, but Saturday’s fight is not one of those. Rather Alvarado-Provodnikov is a rarest spectacle: A fight that cannot help but be excellent before a partisan and boxing-starved crowd.

Doors open at 5:00 PM local time. 15rounds will have full ringside coverage.

It’s probably just a scheduling coincidence, but the suggestion is there Saturday night in HBO’s decision to air its beautifully-done Legendary Nights: The Tale Of Gatti-Ward after the Mike Alvarado-Ruslan Provodnikov fight in Denver.

Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward stands alone. Their three-fight rivalry is called a classic because it can’t be duplicated. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) is smart enough not to promise one in junior-welterweight bout he knows will be challenging enough against Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs), who is already on the ballot for a Fight of the Year contender with his dramatic loss to Timothy Bradley in March. Classics are good for history. But they aren’t easy on careers.

“When I sit here and think about it, it’s kind of scary,’’ Alvarado said when asked about the Gatti-Ward parallel during a conference call. “Those dudes about killed each other. That’s a big step. Those are some big names to categorize ourselves with. It’s an honor to be in that kind of fight. We’ll see what happens. I am ready to perform and show greatness.’’

HBO’s documentary of Gatti and Ward, also junior-welterweights, is a poignant portrayal of two fighters who will be forever tied together by the violence they shared. They were Blood Brothers in the truest sense of the term.

“We could see in front of our eyes this bond starting to form,’’ ringside analyst and philosopher Larry Merchant says during the film. “It was a bond of pain and respect, and it couldn’t be written in a script. It had to be seen live; seen happening in front of our eyes.’’

Alvarado-Provonikov is scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m., ET/PT. The Ward-Gatti documentary will follow the bout, scheduled for 12 rounds. Other HBO dates for Ward-Gatti film are Oct. 21, Oct. 24, Oct. 26. Oct. 30 and Nov. 3.

NOTES
· One of the best lines in Ward-Gatti came from Kathy Duva, who promoted the late Gatti. “At one point, somebody said he was sort of boxing’s answer to The Grateful Dead,’’ she said. “You had this same group of people that kept coming over and over and over.’’

· Here’s a new guide for the pound-for-pound ratings: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t fight them, they should be ranked. That means Manny Pacquiao stays in this corner’s top five. Also, it probably means Bradley belongs there. After his victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, Bradley said he should be No. 3. He also said he wanted Mayweather. Don’t see that happening. Bradley’s tactical mastery makes him a problematic opponent, even for Mayweather, who probably wouldn’t fight a Top Rank boxer anyway.

· Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain’s sour grapes about Bradley’s split-decision at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center were insulting and more. They didn’t ring true. When Marquez agreed to the fight, Beristain told Mexican media that he didn’t like the bout. He said Bradley had the kind of style that always gave Marquez trouble. Beristain was right. Yet, he whined anyway. Give me a break.

· During an informal session with media members before Bradley-Marquez on Oct. 14, Gennady Golovkin said he would still like to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., despite Chavez’ messy performance and inability to make the contracted weight, 168 pounds, in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. The weight question is ballooning into issue that could knock Chavez off Golovkin’s list of possibilities. Golovkin says he’ll fight anybody between junior-middleweight (154) and super-middle (168). But he doesn’t want to fight a cruiserweight (200).

· And Top Rank has scheduled onetime Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr.,17-0 as a junior-welterweight, for a comeback on Nov. 16 in Laughlin, Nev. An opponent has yet to be determined. Benavidez hasn’t fought since he was rocked in a victory by unanimous decision over Pavel Miranda a year ago in Carson, Calif. It’ll be his first fight since undergoing further surgery on a troublesome right hand.

Golden Boy Live!Series on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes showcased a number of up and coming prospects. The evening was capped with a main event light middleweight bout where Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo 22-0, 11 KO’s used a late fight surge to overwhelm and stop Jose Angel Rodriguez late in the final round of their televised bout. Charlo the WBC Continental Americas and the NABF light middleweight champion started the bout strong and rocked Jose Angel Rodriguez early in round one to set the tempo, however that tempo was slowed in the mid rounds where Rodriguez seemed to neutralize the attack of Charlo with slick counter punching and feints. The mid rounds were close chess match style rounds that slightly favored Charlo. At the end of Round 5 the action picked up when Charlo landed a few nice straight punches and caught Rodriguez against the ropes, Charlo failed to sustain the attack but the barrage did manage to slow a quickly bruising Rodriguez. Rodriguez answered the bell for round six with a noticeable mouse under his right eye compliments of a great left hook from Iron Man. As the fight wore on Charlo started landing frequent clean punches winning each round but not by an overwhelming margin. As the rounds wore on Rodriguez wore down and Charlo gradually turned the heat up and in the final round he blasted Rodriguez with neck snapping punches from close range. Charlo smelled the end and finished the show at 1:4 of the 10th and final round where referee Sam Burgos stepped in to save the tough but beaten Rodriguez. Where the fight was not overly exciting it was technical showcase and show of closing power by Charlo. Charlo was a bronze medalist at the 2005 Junior Olympics at the age of 15. He finished his amateur career with a record of 56-8. Charlo has been busy in 2013, winning both the WBC Continental Americas and USBA Junior Middleweight Titles with victories over Harry Joe Yorgey and Demetrius Hopkins.

Welterweight Martin Lagunas Jr. made a very successful pro debut with a dominant and strong performance. Lagunas, who was a former national amateur champion threw heavy punches from the opening bell catching Larry Yanez with meaningful punches early on. Yanez was able to establish an early jab, however Lagunas took that away with great heavy counter punching. As round two wore on Lagunas started landing bigger and bigger shots until a thunderous combo floored the game Yanez with the end coming at 1:56 of round number 2.

The second bout of the evening barely got on its way when Willie Jones landed a thunderous left uppercut to the body of Jose Segura Torres at just 56 seconds of the first round. Jones improved to 3-0(2KO),where Torres dropped literally to 1-5

Three time US Olympian Rau’Shee Warren improved to 8-0(3KO) with a quick win over tough, experienced and tested Jhon Alberto Molina 32-25(20KO). Warren, fighting for the sixth time in 2013 came out punching with power from the opening bell. A slick straight left dropped the Colombian Molina in round one while the former Olympian chased stalked Molina steady for 4 rounds landing shots one and two at a time. All three cards read 40-35 to finalize a unanimous decision.

In an interesting match-up of unbeaten southpaws Errol “The Truth” Spence 9-0(7K0) clashed with tough Ghanaian Emmanuel Lartei Lartey 15-1(7KO). Spence was the predator throughout the chess match of southpaws. Spence landed a heavy straight left in the opening round that established momentum while Ice Cold’s corner begged for their fighter to move forward instead of backwards. The only problem was Spence and his heavy shots that kept Lartey from taking a step forward. Spence controlled the fight by being first and keeping his s All three judges saw the bout 79-73 in favor of Spence.

Hard Hitting light welterweight Jeffrey Fontanez 13-0(10KO) looked impressive with a fourth round TKO over tough journeyman Gerardo Zayas.

Notable Boxers in attendance, Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver, Adrian Broner, Paulie Malignaggi, Bermane Stiverne, Daniel Edouard, Luis Ortiz, Micheal Moorer.

LAS VEGAS – “He seemed to be selling something, as if by not getting knocked-out, he was winning. Odd ending for Bradley. Hard to see him winning this, but who knows?” Those were the final words in my ringside notes from Saturday’s main event, notes oblivious of whatever whacky scorecard happened on the pay-per-view telecast, and if I may be allowed to italicize something retroactively, I’d like to put the emphasis here: “but who knows?”

At Thomas & Mack Center, in the winner’s bracket for promoter Top Rank’s unannounced and asymmetrical welterweight tournament – we’ll get something akin to a middle bracket in Denver on Saturday and the loser’s bracket in China next month – American Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley decisioned Mexican Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez by split scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 116-112, scores whose reading put the majority-Mexican crowd in a lather.

I scored the fight for Marquez, 116-114. Rounds 1, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 11 went to the Mexican. Rounds 2, 6, 10 and 12 went to the American. Rounds 5 and 7 were even. And rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 were all marked with an asterisk to remind me I was not certain who won them. If you’re looking for a blowhard expert, rarely right but never uncertain, an ally in your endless battle against any who would dissent, in other words, look elsewhere.

And let the well-deserved reevaluation of Timothy Bradley continue apace, as it did Saturday, as one expected it eventually would, with many folks milling round ringside citing as a reason for scorecards that went narrowly, and in some cases widely, for Bradley: Marquez missed an awful lot. That’s exactly right, he did, confirming Bradley’s awkward elusiveness, and raising hope many of these insiders will take their fresh consensus – consensus being something some crave like diabetics do insulin – along with Manny Pacquiao’s subsequent vulnerability, and someday review Bradley-Pacquiao with a touch more scrutiny, noticing, at last, Manny Pacquiao missed an awful lot too.

The inertia 16 months ago was with Pacquiao, though, and confirmations abounded, from the promoter to the HBO commentating crew to the drunken masses on social media. The inertia that informs such confirmatory musings is now shifted Bradley’s way, and good for him. Bradley was disciplined enough to engage Marquez only rarely, and solely when something invisible between the men made an audible click in Bradley’s mind that assured him the arrangement was changed and he would get the better of what came next, an audible click whose false positives Marquez’s career was built creating. But when Bradley leaped at Marquez, cranking his right hand as Bradley is wont to do, never a straight cross but more a bent, arcing, descending motion dependent on pulling violently backwards on the lead shoulder, he somehow knew Marquez’s only meaningful counter would come via a left hook, and so, whatever else Bradley did, he returned his right glove to temple, quickly, and kept it there on the way out.

But where was The Marquez, the fabled left-uppercut-lead, right-cross combination with which the Mexican outboxed Pacquiao for the final 18 minutes of their third encounter? The answer to that question is perhaps a doorway in the room of why the Bradley consensus now shifts: The few times Marquez threw it, necessarily using a leftwards tilt for its trigger, Bradley clubbed him with a short left of his own that disrupted the trajectory of Marquez’s punch enough to have it miss and make Marquez, a master boxer who delights little in being struck unnecessarily, holster his trademark combination. In this subtle way, too, Marquez was able to holster Bradley’s otherwise effective jab by flashing a signal of some kind, a thing only the fighters sensed, something imperceptible to others as the consent given by mating birds of paradise, that told Bradley to alter immediately his rhythm because Marquez had the pattern marked, the code deciphered, and Bradley’s next repetition might be his last repetition.

Marquez was embittered afterwards, in part because he is a Nacho Beristain fighter, and that requires absorbing elements of the master’s dour disposition, a stream of resentment that runs deep and cold and fresh, going unnoticed like an abandoned well never filled-in, only covered, until one hits the wrong spot and suddenly plumbs its depths. Where Marquez’s embitterment about the third Pacquiao fight was well placed – he had beaten Pacquiao for 16 1/2 of their match’s final 18 minutes and seen a scorecard by Glenn Trowbridge capture its image like a photographic negative, exactly transposed, perfectly backwards – his embitterment about Saturday’s decision seemed overly theatrical, almost Hopkinsesque, but that’s Marquez, and that’s coming from someone who scored the match for Marquez.

There was a moment of unexpected angst for me in round 10, Saturday, when I wondered if I should even continue scoring the match, so little sense I was able to make of it. To my eyes, neither guy was hitting the other more than a couple meaningful times every three minutes, and while Marquez was not moving much (his personal trainer gave him power to extend and extend again a career that looked done with in 2009, but not even Memo’s prodigious potions returned Dinamita’s once balletic legwork), Bradley was exulting way too much in not being hit. Bradley’s plan appeared to be about not getting hit, finishing on his feet conscious enough to enjoy the view, and everything else was muddling through, a mess of athleticism and fitness and the disproportionately large head with which he struck Marquez in round 1, and selling ring generalship to the judges, and bless him, it worked!

This was not Bradley’s best fight, just as Pacquiao was not Bradley’s best fight, and if Bradley is still undefeated in five years, imagine for a moment what it will say of his legacy that he beat Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on nights his advocates do not believe were his best.

Welcome to your fine young consensus, then, Tim, and enjoy it. Heaven knows you earned it.

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

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley now has decision victories over two of the very best prizefighters in a generation. The victories may both be controversial, but this much is not: In a collective 72 minutes of trying, neither man ever caught Bradley cleanly enough to hurt him for an instant.

Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus, American Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs) decisioned Mexican Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs) by split scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 116-112, in a fight that saw only four rounds scored unanimously, one way or the other, by the judges. The 15rounds.com ringside scorecard dissented from the official decision, marking a 116-114 tally for Marquez.

“This is my ticket to the boxing hall of fame,” said a jubilant Bradley after the victory, his voice drowned-out by boos from the partisan-Mexican crowd.

There were very few rounds of the 12 in which one man clearly outclassed the other, and until the final two seconds of the match, no moment in the fight when one man clearly hurt the other. As feared, two superbly professional fighters offset one another’s strengths, with each man missing far more often than he landed cleanly.

“You don’t have to knock the other guy out to win a fight,” said Marquez afterwards, characteristically disgruntled after a decision loss. “I thought that I clearly won.”

From the opening instant of the match, when the men strolled from their corners and began a very wide, very respectful circle, until the 35:58 mark of the fight, when the men silently agreed to break the counsel of their trainers and engage one another maniacally, the fight was a tactical one bound to lead to frustrated fans and questions about scoring. Such frustration and scoring inquiries, though, will be shown, by time, to be misplaced.

“I’ve been robbed six times in my career,” said Marquez nevertheless.

The Mexican, for all his mastery, never solved Bradley. While Bradley appeared to exalt too much in his not getting hit by Marquez, showboating when he should have been countering, potshotting when he should have been using combinations, Marquez was not mobile enough to outwork Bradley for sustained periods of time, and Marquez was also, in the evening’s largest surprise, inaccurate when he did have open looks at Bradley.

“I’ve always tried to fight for the fans,” said Bradley, while those same fans lustily booed him.

After 11 even rounds in which one man was elusive while the other was predatory if immobile, in the final instants of round 12, in a moment of sudden suspense that would be ultimately inconsequential, Bradley staggered Marquez with a counter left hook, sending the Mexican spinning and spasming leftwards. Bradley then raised his hands and posed like a statue, enjoying already a victory that was barely assured.

Bradley, as is his tendency, apparently knew something the rest of us didn’t.

ORLANDO SALIDO VS. ORLANDO CRUZ
Topping an undercard filled with novelties, into the co-main event ring came Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz, boxing’s first active fighter to announce publicly that he is gay, his fighting attire adorned in rainbows, his ringside entourage preceded by a rainbow flag, and his black gloves highlighted with pink, to fight Mexican stalking horse Orlando Salido. But as boxing rarely respects decorum or politics, no matter how well scripted, Cruz’s fabulous ring entrance was the last enjoyable part of his night.

Saturday’s co-main event ended at 1:05 of round 7 – with Salido knocking Cruz out.

After two uneventful rounds that saw Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs) too slow to find Cruz (20-3-1, 1 KOs) and Cruz too light-hitting to punish Salido’s navigational errors, things changed in the third, and Salido began to use his awkward crossover style to drive heavy lefts and crisp rights into Cruz’s body and face.

By the middle of round 4 it was apparent that, for all his flair and fashion sense, Cruz simply did not have heavy enough hands to keep a veteran attrition fighter like Salido off him. Salido casually stepped backwards and recollected himself after every exchange won by Cruz, while Cruz was forced to flee exchanges in which Salido proved superior, skipping sideways, leaping out the way of body punches, and having his balance regularly compromised by Salido’s strikes – even, or perhaps especially, when they missed.

One does not make his living in this sport without toughness, though, and Cruz fought back gamely in the fifth, absorbing Salido right crosses to the body that moved him backwards, and taking even sterner abuse in the sixth. As the rounds progressed and Cruz’s activity diminished, it became increasingly important for Cruz’s corner to look for a chance to save its brave fighter from himself.

The corner never had to intervene, however, as Salido caught Cruz on the ropes with an overhand-right, left-uppercut combo, both punches landing to Cruz’s increasingly battered head, Cruz dropped, the 10-count completed without incident, and Orlando Salido was the new WBO featherweight champion of the world.

VASYL LOMACHENKO VS. JOSE RAMIREZ
What sort of a monster makes his professional debut in a 10-round match for a minor featherweight title? Two-time gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko, that’s who – and that’s how promoter Top Rank wishes Saturday viewers to remember the new Russian prospect’s debut.

Fighting with technical proficiency from a southpaw stance, Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO) dropped Mexican Jose Ramirez (24-3-2, 15 KOs) with a body shot in the opening 90 seconds. For a southpaw to overcome angular problems enough to land that punch is no mean feat. For him to land it on a Mexican in the opening round, though, is still more impressive.

Rounds 2 and 3 saw less explosiveness from the Russian, as he absorbed some blows and landed many more, occasionally employing the nifty trick of sending himself to the ropes, so as to spring from them with a harder counter, quicker-arriving for being enhanced by the ropes’ elasticity.

Early in the next round, Lomachenko stopped Ramirez with what appeared to be a double left uppercut to the solar plexus, causing the Mexican to stop, drop and begin rolling about the blue mat, showing the sort of anguish that can be given a prizefighter solely by a punch to the body. No 10-count was necessary, Ramirez was still writhing at the count of 20, and Lomachenko had his first professional victory at 0:59 of round 4.

SEAN MONAGHAN VS. ANTHONY SMITH
Most every insider regards New York light heavyweight Sean Monaghan as a novelty concept, a way for promoter Top Rank to exploit an Irish marketplace of fight fans. Monaghan’s victory over unheralded Pennsylvanian Anthony Smith did little to disabuse anyone of that, in Saturday’s first televised fight.

While Monaghan (19-0, 12 KOs) was able to strike Smith (14-2, 10 KOs) with impunity at the open, worrying little about counterpunches or meaningful traps, he was unable to hurt Smith through six minutes of assault. That changed in round 3, when Smith unadvisedly tried applying a wee bit of offensive pressure and got clocked by Monaghan. Sensing his opponent was stunned, Monaghan transformed from a light-hitting boxer to a light-hitting hurricane, striking Smith with a dozen or so unanswered punches until referee Tony Weeks waved the match off at 2:49 of round 3.

And like that, the WBC Continental Americas Light Heavyweight Title was successfully defended.

UNDERCARD
A few years back, and understandably, a parade of Manny Pacquiao-inspired fighters began to emerge from the Philippines; they are all southpaws, they all like to bounce, and they all tend to leap in with their hands perilously low. Filipino featherweight Jun Doliguez is yet another in what promises to be a generation-length parade. Fighting a journeyman Mexican, Geovanny Caro (23-14-4, 19 KOs), in Saturday’s fourth match, one who nevertheless appeared not to know he was fated to lose, Doliguez (17-0-1, 13 KOs) leaped in, leaped out, bounced a lot and kept his lands low. He got stunned a few times by headbutts, and buckled once by a right hand, à la his role model, but otherwise won in excellent fashion, dropping Caro twice with straight left hands, and stopping the overmatched Mexican at 2:53 of round 6. Doliguez is clearly not Pacquiao, but he likes contact and will make a fun spectacle every match.

If Mikael Zewski’s fans traveled from Canada to see their favorite welterweight defeat an overmatched Californian by violent stoppage, they almost got what they came for. Zewski (21-0, 16 KOs), who is charismatic and hails from a fight-crazed nation, whacked away at Riverside’s Albert Herrera (9-10-1, 5 KOs) for five rounds, busting-up Herrera’s face till the Californian’s corner abided no more and stopped the match, providing Zewski a TKO-5 for his resume, at which time Herrera leaped off his stool, grinned broadly and made a lap round the canvas waiving to what few fans were in the arena.

The second match of the night saw McCumby (13-0, 10 KOs) decision game West Virginian Eric Watkins (10-5-1, 4 KOs), but not before landing on the canvas. After dominating the first round and part of the next, McCumby, who sacrifices all sorts of defense for power and has little head movement on the way in, got caught with a right hand as he threw a right hand, and he dropped quickly. McCumby rose and appeared fine, but he was absolutely knocked to the blue mat by a fighter with only four knockouts in 15 previous prizefights. McCumby then restored order in the fourth round, dropping Watkins and commencing to beat him severely for the next 2 1/2 rounds, winning a unanimous decision: 59-53, 59-53 and 58-53.

Saturday’s card began with a classic case of a dull boxer with good reflexes against a pressure fighter without them, when Louisiana welterweight Brad Solomon (21-0, 8 KOs) outclassed Kenny Abril (14-7-1-1, 7 KOs), moving and infrequently landing meaningful punches and more infrequently having meaningful punches landed on him, en route to a unanimous decision: 79-73, 79-73 and 80-72. It is imperative, with his style, that Solomon remain undefeated.

Opening bell rang on a cavernous Thomas & Mack Center at 3:39 PM local time.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – The Juan Manuel Marquez-Timothy Bradley fight Saturday night is hard to predict. The weigh-in wasn’t.

Marquez and Bradley did the expected, both stepping onto the scale lighter than the welterweight’s mandatory limit, 147, pounds, Friday in an uneventful formality.

Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), the challenger and a slight favorite late Friday, was first to the scale. Amid chants from his Mexican fans at the Encore Theater at the Wynn hotel and casino, Marquez was 144.5 pounds, including a bright silver chain. If he had taken off that chain, he might have been a pound lighter.

Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), who holds the World Boxing Organization’s version of the welterweight title, didn’t have the chanting fans. But he brought a pound-and-half more to the scale than Marquez did. He weighed 146 pounds.

A lot has been said about Bradley possessing an advantage in size over Marquez, who is attempting to become the first Mexican to win titles at five different weights. On Friday, however, the difference appeared negligible. Both looked sculpted and without a hint of any struggle to make weight.

There had been some question about Bradley, who said the 147-pound weight was a difficult challenge before his bruising decision in March over Ruslan Provodnikov. But Bradley was at 148 pounds Thursday, according to his trainer, Joel Diaz.

The weight was no problem. That’s good thing, because Marquez will be in what figures to be one of Bradley’s toughest fights against one of boxing best tacticians. Bradley has sent out mixed signals as to what his strategy might be. Box or brawl? Marquez, a classic counter-puncher, says he’s prepared to do either. Conventional wisdom has Bradley scoring from the outside and never allowing Marquez to unleash the big punch that put Manny Pacquiao face down on the canvas in December.

Until opening bell in the HBO pay-per-view bout, Bradley’s plans are a guessing game. At least, the weigh-in wasn’t.

The pay-per-view portion of the card is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Nevada (9 p.m. in the East). The undercard features Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs), one of Mexico’s archetypical tough guys, against Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs), whose gay lifestyle has been the subject of more media attention than either Bradley or Marquez. Salido weighed 126 pounds, the featherweight limit. Cruz, who stepped onto the scale wearing rainbow-colored shorts, was a pound lighter at 125.

The televised undercard also includes amateur star Vasyl Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine. Lomachenko is making his pro debut in featherweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds against Jose Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) of Mexico. Lomachenko weighed in at 125 pounds. Ramirez was at 126.5

Timothy Bradley’s story, called a journey by some, can be summed up best by a poignant sight amid the outrage in the wake of his split-decision over Manny Pacquiao. He was in a wheel chair. History is littered with controversial decisions. But the winner confined to a wheelchair at the post-fight news conference? That had to be a first.

It’s an image of a fighter that the world tried to dislike, but just couldn’t. He wouldn’t let that happen. He’s stubborn and vulnerable, all at once. In, the end, he’ll be there, even if he can’t walk to get there. In that wheelchair with badly-injured feet and in front of a restless throng angry at his scorecard victory, Bradley was a defining example of author Ernest Hemingway’s description of courage:

Grace under pressure.

It’s a trait that figures to re-surface sometime Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center in a welterweight clash with Juan Manuel Marquez, a fight fan’s fight, which probably means the cross-over crowd fascinated with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s obsession with money won’t be watching HBO’s pay-per-view telecast. Too bad. On several levels, Bradley-Marquez ranks as the most compelling bout of the year.

Above all, they are just different personalities. An irony is that they share one thing in common: A victory over Pacquiao. It’s what ties them together. It’s the biggest reason they’re fighting each other. It’s also a reason to watch. Yet, their respective victories over the Filipino Congressman – Bradley by controversial scoring and Marquez by definitive knockout — are as different as they seem to be in so many other ways.

Marquez comes across as shrewd and calculating. There’s almost a manipulative manner to the patient counter-puncher, who waits on the other guy to make a critical mistake. In a game built in part on a good feint, it’s what makes him a great fighter and the favorite to beat Bradley.

Marquez’ agenda for the Bradley bout includes a title in a fifth weight class and a claim on No. 2 in Mexican history, second only to the revered Julio Cesar Chavez. That’s believable enough, especially in the wake of Canelo Alvarez’s one-sided loss to Mayweather and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s continuing exhibition of immaturity in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. Near the top of their favorite game, there’s a vacancy in Mexican hearts. A victory over Bradley would add to a Marquez resume that Mexicans would have to acknowledge and respect.

Harder to believe are Marquez’ comments that he’s done with Pacquiao. At 40, Marquez says he foresees a few more fights in his career. Wouldn’t one with Pacquiao have to be among them? A victory over Bradley would strengthen his leverage in negotiations for a fourth rematch with the Filipino, who faces a problematic challenge of his own on Nov. 23 against Brandon Rios in Macao, the Chinese re-creation of Vegas.

There were reports that Marquez asked for as much $20 million in initial talks for a fifth with Pacquiao. If Marquez finally wins over Mexico as its most popular fighter since Chavez Sr., Mexican demands for another Pacquiao fight will be there. Marquez can then say he’s doing only what his country wants and he’ll do it for $20-million-plus. It’s appears to be a calculated move that might prove brilliant. Like his opponent, Marquez will let the other guy, the Mexican fan, decide his next move.

Contrast that with Bradley. He doesn’t know how to sustain a fake. Can you imagine Marquez showing up anywhere in a wheel chair? Didn’t think so. But Bradley, perhaps honest to a fault, did so in the engaging style that was subsequently played out in his dramatic and dangerous victory over Ruslan Provodnikov in March. In a conference call, Bradley was forthright in discussing the concussion he suffered. He said he saw physicians in New York, Las Vegas and New York. It’s a possible vulnerability. It’s one that Marquez will surely target. It’s also one that makes Bradley engaging and so likable. He’s fearless about who he is. Perhaps even foolish. We’ll see.

But his comments about fighting Marquez more for pride than money ring true. Bradley’s guarantee for Marquez is $4.1 million, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. His guarantee for Pacquiao was $5 million. More was there in the potential purse for a Pacquiao rematch, promoter Bob Arum said. But Bradley said no, in part, because he didn’t want to fight Pacquiao in China.

It was an honest assessment of his chances in Asia, Pacquiao’s home hemisphere, where anger at the Las Vegas decision in June 2012 lingers.

Honesty doesn’t always win. It’s not the way to bet either. But it’s worth a few cheers. The guess here is that they will be there Saturday night. Bradley has fought for them. Earned them too.

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HBO’s vastly improved “Face Off With Max Kellerman” franchise, the penultimate episode of which found California’s Timothy Bradley seated at its brushed-steel tabletop with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, showed Bradley vulnerable and honest in his native language and Marquez happy to say nothing in his second language, English, one whose learning was fully inspired by and limited to marketing considerations. It was an advantage Marquez did not seek but certainly enjoyed, being able to study serenely from a meter’s distance an opponent earnestly examining health concerns and working through existential crises.

Until that faceoff between the men who will contest Bradley’s welterweight championship Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV, it was proper to fear their match heading towards the cruelest paradox boxing affords its pay-per-viewers: The hostility two men show one another before a fight is inversely proportionate to the hostility they’ll show one another during a fight. Bradley’s allusion in a promotional video to Marquez’s historic growth prompted such fears but also, and unexpectedly, prompted Marquez to extend a considerable invitation.

What makes Marquez’s invitation considerable – that, to dispel rumors of advantages through PED use, Marquez and Bradley share the same strength and conditioning camp, complete, one assumes, with Marquez’s coach and whatever supplemental cocktail he gives Marquez – is that it inadvertently handles the PED question much as the NFL does it: Our evenly matched athletes are the largest, strongest creatures to roam the earth, and you love it, don’t you? (It is worth reiterating that America’s adulation for a league whose players are enhanced by any measure sets the hands on the proverbial clock of whether American sportsfans care about PED use.) We may care about fairness, some, or at least its gerrymandered appearance, but we will forgive winning in nearly any form we find it.

Manny Pacquiao, the prizefighter who moved up a weightclass and leveled lightweight titlist David Diaz, moved up another weightclass and knocked champion Ricky Hatton rigid, moved up another weightclass and beat Miguel Cotto till Cotto’s wife fled the arena, then beat him some more, and a year later crushed Antonio Margarito’s orbital bone, well, he might have escaped public suspicion had Floyd Mayweather, prizefighting’s greatest handicapper, not made PED testing a prerequisite for the Fight to Save Boxing.

While that saggy saga flubbed along, little Juan Manuel Marquez, who fought Pacquiao evenly when no one else could then survived 12 rounds with Mayweather when Mayweather had the back of a middleweight and Marquez the legs of a super bantamweight, declared, in his countrymen’s tradition, “¡Ya Basta (Enough)!” and became big Juan Manuel Marquez, photography’s most evidently enhanced athlete since Barry Bonds. His personal trainer smiled warmly and cited “science” whenever asked, and really, it wasn’t Memo’s fault if our sport assumed he meant physics, not chemistry.

It is worth reiterating, too, none of us is innocent as all of us when it comes to PEDs: To imagine anyone in boxing did not think PEDs were in use at every level until Marquez dropped Pacquiao in a lump last December is to credit us without 30-percent our intellects. What happened in MGM Grand was this: One athlete with a famous personal trainer and extraordinary quadriceps and calf muscles leaped on the right fist of another athlete with a famous personal trainer and extraordinary deltoids, and their collision produced one of the more violently wondrous moments in our sport’s storied story.

Timothy Bradley would do well to remember two men for each of the 2,160 seconds, or fewer, he is in Saturday’s prizefighting ring with Marquez: Manny Pacquiao, of course, and Juan Diaz. Bradley must neither leap fullboard Marquez’s way, à la Pacquiao, a mistake Bradley is unlikely to make, or get his head extended over his front knee, à la Diaz, a mistake Bradley made numerous times against Pacquiao, one Pacquiao never exploited with an uppercut because, for all the happy talk of Pacquiao’s evolution as a prizefighter, the Filipino has always been more athleticism than technique – something no one ever opines of Marquez.

There is not a more predatory man in prizefighting than Juan Manuel Marquez; as Bradley undoubtedly has been reminded every hour in training camp, if he pulls the macho stunt with Marquez he pulled with Ruslan Provodnikov in March, Bradley’ll need Big Ray to carry him to his dressing room afterwards. No one in prizefighting finishes with Marquez’s precision and indifference for other men’s health: Marquez will not bull an unconscious Bradley to the ropes for a frantic last stand, gifting Bradley’s indomitable spirit with legs and leverage; Marquez will lure Bradley’s pride to the center of the canvas, let his force and desire push his shoulders forward, drop his head necessarily, and meet Bradley’s downrushing chin with an uprushing right fist – and when it’s done Bradley will hear the 10-count no better than Pacquiao did.

Or perhaps not. Perhaps Bradley will move in and out, never overcommitting to a punch, swim without getting wet, as Naazim Richardson puts it, and frustrate Marquez by not fighting him. Perhaps Bradley will make Marquez wonder what in the hell his wonderful strength and conditioning is for if neither finds a man who will test it, disgusting Marquez with the possibility 36 minutes with Timothy’s feathery fists are less taxing than 10 minutes with Memo’s medicine ball, using Marquez’s machismo against him the way Sugar Ray Leonard did it to Roberto Duran in New Orleans.

Events would suggest, via Bradley’s decisioning Pacquiao and Marquez’s being decisioned by Mayweather, Marquez doesn’t mind losing a glorified sparring session any more than Bradley enjoys winning a glorified fitness contest – and pity the pay-per-viewer who expects March’s Bradley versus December’s Marquez and gets, instead, the Bradley who fought Pacquiao against the Marquez who fought Mayweather. That happening is not impossible, but as we board our flights for Las Vegas, friends, what do you say we pretend it is?

Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez are my two most favorite prizefighters, so I’ll take Bradley, SD-12, or Marquez, KO-9, and be happy for the winner regardless.

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

Miguel Cotto brought back memories of the past as he knocked out Delvin Rodriguez in round three of their scheduled twelve round Jr. Middleweight bout at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

Cotto came out in round one by focusing his left to the body. Cotto continued his sharp shooting in round two and he finished the frame with a huge right and left to the chin.

In round three, it took just one left hook to the jaw that sent Rodriguez down in front of the ropes and referee Frank Santore stopped the fight immediately at 18 seconds of round three.

Cotto, 153.25 lbs of Caguas, PR will now seek a big fight with a record of 38-4 with 31 knockouts. Rodriguez, 154 lbs of Danbury, CT is now 28-7-3

Terrence Crawford scored a lack luster ten round unanimous decision over Andery Klimov in a fight that featured two undefeated Lightweights.

Crawford boxed from the pocket and switched to southpaw in round two. Crawford stayed there for the rest of the fight and was content on jabbing and landing an occasional straight left. Klimov did a little more then stick out the jab and never really threw any punches with purpose. Neither guy was ever in any type of danger. The fight was void of action until the final bell when the two engaged for the last ten seconds that saw Crawford land a hard left to the body and right to the head.

Crawford, 134 1/2 lbs of Omaha, NE won by scores of 100-90 on all cards and is now 22-0. Klimov, 134 1/2 lbs of Russia is now 16-1.

Super Prospect Felix Verdejo scored a second round stoppage over Gary Eyer in a scheduled six round Super featherweight bout.

Verdejo wobbled Eyer a couple of times in round one. Verdejo landed ripping shots in round two that started Eyer’s nose to leak blood. After the doctor looked at Eyer’s nose, Verdejo opened up couple of rights and two wicked left hooks that forced referee Tellis Asselminios to stop the bout at 2:52 of round two.

Verdejo, 133 1/2 lbs of San Juan, PR is now 8-0 with six knockouts. Eyer, 132 1/2 lbs of Duluth, MN is now 11-4-1.

Moises Carrasquillo Jr. scored a four round unanimous decision over Steven Chadwick in a Middleweight bout.

Carrasquillio dominated the bout and bloodied the nose of Chadwick in round two.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Carrisquillo, 161 1/2 lbs of Orlando and is now 4-0. Chadwick, 160 1/2 lbs of Jacksonville, FL is 2-5.

Ricky Tomlinson and Lamar Charalton battled to a four round draw in a Featherweight bout.

Each fighter won a card at 39-37 while a third card read even at 38-38.

Tomlinson, 124 3/4 lbs of Thonosissia, FL is 1-0-1. Charlton, 124 3/4 lbs of Ocala, FL is now 1-4-2

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

It wasn’t pretty but Wladimir Klitscho made another title defense of the WBA/WBC/IBF Ring Magazine Heavyweight Wladimir Klistchko defended his crown against WBA regular champion Alexander with a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in Moscow, Russia.

Pobetkin tried to start out quick but without much success. In round two, Klitschko landed a short left hook that Povetkin down for the 1st time in his career. The fight never had any flow to it due to Klitschko holding and headlocking Povetkin any time that Povetkin got close. The fight was essentially put out of reach when Klitschko dropped Povetkin three times.

The first came from a hard 1-2 combination. The second came after Klitschko rocked Povetkin with a big right hand, the champion jumped all over Povetkin and sent him to the canvas after a big flurry of punches. Klitschko hurt Povetkin with a left and sent him to the canvas for a fourth time in the fight and third in round seven with a follow up left hand.

Povetkin did well to make it out of the round and to the final bell but he never had Klistchko in any trouble despite continuing to try more then most previous Klitschko opponents. Klitschko did well to hold, grab and push Povetkin down to the canvas several more times and was even penalized a point in round eleven by referee Luis Pabon.

Klitschko went 61-3 with a decision that read 119-104 on all cards. Povetkin loses for the first time and is now 26-1.

Follow all the action from Moscow, Russia as WBA, WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Wladimir Klitschko defends his title against WBA Regular champion Alexander Povetkin. The action begins at 3:30 pm eastern/9:30 pm im Hamburg, Germany / 11:30 pm in Moscow

12 ROUNDS–HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP–WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO (60-3, 51 KO’S) VS ALEXANDER POVETKIN (26-0, 18 KO’S)

Round 1 Povetkin lands a left hook..Klitschko lands a left hook..jab..jab..left hook...10-9 Klitschko

Round 2 Povetkin lands a left hook..LEFT HOOK AND DOWN GOES POVETKIN…20-17 Klitschko

Round 3 Povetkin lands 2 body shots…body shot…quick left from Klitschko…1-2..Povetkin lands a left…29-27 Klitschko

Round 4 39-37 Klitschko

Round 5 2 jabs from Klitschko..right from Povetkin…49-46 Klitschko

Round 6 Povetkin lands a right…58-56 Klitschko

Round 7 HARD 1-2 AND DOWN GOES POVETKIN…Big right…Klitschko JUMPIN ALL OVER POVETKIN AND GOES DOWN AGAIN…left hurts Povetkin…LEFT DOWN GOES POVETKIN…68-62 Klitschko

Round 8Klitschko lands an uppercut…Right from Povetkin…Uppercut from Klitschko..78-71 Povetkin

Round 9 Klitschko lands a left hook..3 jabs..2 more jabs..right..right…88-80 Klitschko

Round 10 Klitschko lands a jab..98-89 Klitschko

Round 11 Povetkin lands a hard jab to the body…Big combinations wobbles Povetkin..Klistchko docked a point for elbowing…107-98 Klitschko

Round 12 117-108 Klitschko

119-104 on all cards for Klitschko

Nobody pays to see judges at ringside with scorecard in one hand and pencil in the other. But it’s the judges, not the fighters, who are dominating talk in a way that can’t be good for business.

Debatable scorecards are part of the game. And, sometimes, the subsequent controversy is even good for it. If the public is arguing, it’s interested. But a succession of lousy decisions and inexplicable scoring is an ominous trend.

In the messy wake of judge C.J. Ross’ 114-114 score for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s brilliance in overwhelming Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas and Brian Vera’s unanimously controversial loss on the cards to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., in Carson, Calif., there is angst about what might happen Saturday in the Miguel Cotto-Delvin Rodriquez fight in Orlando, Fla., and the Wladimir Kitschko-Alexander Povetkin bout in Moscow.

Attention on whether Freddie Roach can revive Cotto’s career and Klitschko’s chase of Joe Louis’ record of 25 successive title defenses has been obscured by questions that shouldn’t matter. But they do, now more than ever. It was even there Tuesday during a conference call with Timothy Bradley for what should be the best in boxing’s Octoberfest against Juan Manuel Marquez on Oct. 12 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

Worried about the judges?

“There is always a concern,’’ Bradley trainer Joel Diaz said. “This is boxing, and at the end of the day, what’s going to happen is going to happen. Tim is a very elusive fighter and has great speed and great footwork. If it’s up to the judges, we hope they do their job.’’

Good luck on that.

Too many scores just don’t add up any more. The fighters, themselves, can settle it before the decision falls into the judges’ unreliable hands. The knockout is what separates boxing from figure skating or American Idol.

Amid warnings about long-term damage from concussions, however, fewer fights figure to end in a definitive stoppage. Mayweather’s defensive mastery has allowed him to elude punishment and fight on in career that has turned him into the world’s highest-earning athlete.

Mayweather, the self-proclaimed face of the battered game, has more decisions than scars. For Mayweather, there’s been unprecedented wealth in the cards. Young fighters are bound to follow his example.

Even for Mayweather, there was a scare when Ross’ bizarre score was the first of three announced in his majority decision over Canelo. It also was a sure sign that scorecard arithmetic can make just about anybody feel as if they just had their pocket picked. Ask Vera.

Controversy over Chavez Jr.-Vera might lead to a rematch. Vera promoter Artie Pelullo said preliminary talks are
underway, possibly for Dec. 7 or Dec. 14 in Texas, Vera’s home state.

There’s been no word from Chavez Jr. on whether he’d agree to one. However, Pelullo said Wednesday that Chavez Jr. is under pressure from Mexican fans to fight Vera a second time. Chavez Jr.’s popularity in Mexico is at stake, Pelullo said during a conference call.

Pelullo suggested that there will be a rematch because Mexico is holding Chavez Jr. accountable.

Holding judges accountable, however, is a different issue. After reported complaints from Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Ross took a leave of absence. If there were any consequences for the Chavez-Vera scores in California, they have yet to be disclosed.

Without accountability, the controversies will continue in Nevada or California or Texas or Florida or Moscow, Pelullo said.

An enforcement of standards and discipline, however, isn’t free. Despite all the screaming about what state commissions and regulatory agencies should do, few real solutions have been offered.

Here’s one suggestion:

Boxing is trying to get drug use under control. After some early controversy, Dr. Margaret Goodman’s VADA, an outside testing agency, has become part of a process accepted by the fighters. It’s not perfect. But it’s a beginning.

Can’t a similar agency under the control of retired judges be created? Give it the authority to review a commission’s assignment of referees. Let it put together a policy of standards and ethics. It would cost money, which means a percentage of the total purse split by fighters and promoters. It’s a fee, another one that would anger Top Rank and Golden Boy and anybody else with an investment in the game.

Without one, however, there might not be a much of purse left for anyone to split.

Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. – the man whom middleweight champion Sergio Martinez alternately calls “a lie” and “the lie” – likely lost the chavezweight championship of the world to Bryan Vera, Saturday, were we able to get scorecards in what Shakespeare called honest hands (“And put in every honest hand a whip / To lash the rascals naked through the world”), but that is irrelevant to both Chavez’s legacy and his promoter’s immediate plans. And probably Chavez didn’t lose boldly as television said he did.

Live from the inanely named StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., came Chavez’s 173-pound fight with Texas middleweight Bryan Vera, a man long on chin as he’s short on defensive wherewithal, in a match that presented what scoring difficulties come whenever one man hits another disproportionately harder and less often than he gets hit. Official scores all went for Chavez: 96-94, 97-93, 98-92. My scorecard did not concur, finding for Vera, but as my vantage came via television’s profoundly distorting lens, I’ll defer to personal experience and flee our sport’s social predators as they perpetually pack in pursuit of dissenting judges.

Regardless of record or baubles, it is enough to see Son of the Legend struck repeatedly, is it not? So goes the strategy for promoting Chavez henceforth, in a subtle way fans recognize even when they do not grasp it: the more outraged a man was with Saturday’s decision, the more hardily he hoped for a larger and better opponent to do Chavez wrong and thorough-like, for attendance figures show very, very few disinterested folks feel strongly enough about Bryan Vera or his career to demand a rematch, and if the remainder of strong feelings about Saturday reasonably then can be summarized as “I’d like to see Chavez’s bitch ass beat unconscious,” will anyone be sated by a rematch with little Bryan Vera so much as a run-in with super middleweight champion Andre Ward, or something vengefully served by light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson?

How rich it was to see Junior deftly maneuver the compulsories of Saturday’s prefight-promo video (not “Punching in the Rain” but the other one), citing his professionalism and habit of making weight, every time, in a manner nimbly unconscious of his same body having missed weight at least three times, four if one counts the postponement, and having missed it in a way to make his fight-contract a fight-expand, a miss so gloriously wide countrymen Erik Morales and Jose Luis Castillo now appear pikers beside him. It was an out-of-body trick Chavez pulled, talking about himself like a talent scout proud of this Chavez kid, disciplined as he is, before he treated the inexpressible joy of pending fatherhood – and show us a professional fighter not prone to sympathetic pregnancy symptoms! – in what might have been a piece of only slightly embarrassing symmetry, had the Legend in the moniker “Son of the Legend” spoken of his ineffable pride at siring a lad like Junior, had the HBO production crew not already spent its budget making it rain elsewhere.

Bryan Vera outworked Chavez, while neither out-defending nor out-slugging him, making furious an HBO broadcaster otherwise reliably derisive of judges who score activity alone, but so what? Cheering for Chavez to get beaten is a thing that transcends what petty barriers otherwise divide us; who but Son of the Legend – his country casting about for a new hero, anything to look away from Cinnamon Alvarez for a spell – agrees to fight at a rust-removing 162 pounds then takes the scale 2 1/2 from the light heavyweight limit, smiles jubilantly, raises his hands triumphantly, and hits a most-muscular pose in peach micro briefs?

And that was not the best of Chavez’s stylishness – as he would go on to tire expectedly in the second half of Saturday’s fight and ape his vanquisher, the aforementioned Sergio Martinez, dropping his hands, hanging his arms loosely, and hopping at Vera with lead power shots. Fortunately nothing tragic happened at StubHub Center, and let us not conflate tragedy with travesty, because Chavez was not conditioned well enough to do his signature left-shoulder corral and whale Vera for more than five-second increments.

Had Chavez a whit of conditioning, he might have beaten Vera severely, as the Texan’s defensive tactics approached self-sabotage in their carelessness; Vera dropped his right hand as an offensive prerequisite – he did not attack, even with his left, until his right was secured on the metallic-rust waistband of his trunks, allowing himself to be hit flush with left-hook leads, the successful landing of which surprised Chavez enough to embolden him. It is not a just world that sees someone like Chavez so much better outfitted for combat than someone serious as Bryan Vera, but there was nothing just about the entirety of last week’s spectacle, and but for the 34-minute denuding Martinez performed on him in 2012, the concluding 90 seconds of which saw Chavez nearly return himself to regally adorned splendor, what about Chavez’s career has even feinted justice’s way?

A thought that came to mind between rounds Saturday, as Chavez Sr. called for a right cross to the body that would be the most debilitating blow his son landed in 30 minutes: Does the Legend ever imagine what it would be like to fight Son of the Legend, does he ever shunt fatherly considerations and empathize with those men who have none of the benefits given his son, benefits he did not have? Does Julio Cesar Chavez, in other words, ever suspend disbelief and catch himself accidentally cheering a Bryan Vera to whup his son, the way his longtime fans now do?

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

BROOKS, CALIFORNIA – Rising middleweight Paul Mendez boxed his way through five rounds en route to a corner retirement of journeyman Rahman Yusubov at the Cache Creek Casino Resort on Saturday night to successfully preserve an already scheduled October 28th Fox Sports 1-televised date and claim the vacant IBA Middleweight title.

Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) of Delano, California began the fight in his usual measured posture, despite rocking Yusubov, 159.5, with an overhand right and nearly scoring a knockdown with a straighter punch with the same hand early in the first round. Yusubov (9-12, 7 KOs) of Dallas, Texas by way of Tashkent, Uzbekistan reeled towards the ropes on his heels after the straight right, but Mendez refused to follow his off balance adversary for an attempt at ensuring a knockdown. Patience of course is a virtue preached by Mendez’ trainer Max Garcia, but the Delano native seemed to take it to an extreme at times in the first two rounds.

After taking a solid left at close quarters early in the second round, Mendez, 159.5, boxed his way accurately and efficiently through the rest of the stanza. Mendez relied on his jab throughout the third, easily moving the roughly six-inch shorter Yusubov around the ring with his left. Yusubov, who entered the bout having lost nine of his ten bouts within the United States, never managed to really solve Mendez’ jab, even though his favored opponent was stingy with his right in the early going.

The best two-way action in the contest took place in the fourth. Mendez allowed himself to engage Yusubov a bit more recklessly in the round, outright neglecting his defense for a short stretch of flurrying. It was apparent from that solid left in the second that Yusubov was not going to hurt his naturally larger opponent, which perhaps gave Mendez the confidence to throw without worrying too much about what would come in return. A briefly unanswered flurry from Mendez was enough to force a protesting Yusubov to a knee late in the round, which was correctly ruled a knockdown.

Though his trainer never encourages his fighters to go for a knockout, it appeared as though a fire was lit under Mendez as he entered for the fifth. Mendez came out aggressively to begin the round and immediately began to snap Yusubov’s head back violently with both jabs and rights. Some intermittent attention to Yusubov’s body may have help lead to the journeyman’s eventual withdrawal from the bout before the start of the sixth. Referee Mike Margado visited Yusubov’s corner after seconds were ordered out, and it was quickly apparent the Uzbekistan native was not going to be answering the bell.

With the win Mendez claimed the vacant IBA Middleweight title. That the International Boxing Association decided to put their title on the line despite the fact that Mendez’ opponent had a sub .500 record and had lost two straight bouts says all that needs to be said where the IBA stands among recognized sanctioning bodies. Mendez had previously held the IBA Continental Middleweight title.

More importantly than the shiny trinket Mendez claimed, the one-sided win paves the way for an already scheduled Fox Sports 1-televised bout which will take place on Monday, October 28th at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, California. Promoter Paco Damian of Paco Presents told 15rounds.com that Mendez would be in against a high caliber opponent in a ten-round bout on that date. Locally popular prospect Manuel “Tino” Avila will be in the televised co-feature, also in a ten-round contest.

What was the best fight on paper turned out to be the best fight on the casino’s Club 88 stage on Saturday, as was expected. Bruno Escalante Jr. (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Redwood City by way of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines controlled five eighths and survived three eighths of an intriguing eight-round bout with tough journeyman Joseph Rios (13-9-2, 4 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas en route to a majority decision.

After a somewhat tentative start by both, Escalante, 113.5, used his superior technique, conditioning and athletic ability to clearly take rounds two through four. Rios, 113.5, had his first solid round in the fifth. Escalante, who had boxed beautifully on the outside for most of the first four rounds, found himself in an inside fight in the fifth. Two clean short rights gave the impression Rios was coming on and perhaps in the process of turning the fight around. Escalante battled back in the final seconds, slightly staggering Rios in the final ticks. Though it may have been the best shot of the fight to that point, it was really Escalante’s only moment in the round, which this writer scored as the first round for Rios.

Though the quick turn of events at the end of the fifth was not enough to give Escalante that round it sure set up the sixth nicely for the Filipino. Escalante landed a solid right on the inside early in the round before reverting to his effective earlier form – boxing and moving at range. Rios, though game and determined, had all sorts of trouble cutting off the ring and getting into position to unload when Escalante boxed in this manner.

The fight turned again in the seventh. Rios managed to turn Escalante and back him into a neutral corner before uncorking a clean right hand that landed flush in the middle of “The Aloha Kid’s” face. For several moments Escalante was in survival mode, holding and turning Rios every time the Texan got into punching range. Late in the round Escalante battled back at the urging of his corner who continuously yelled, “Get it back Bruno,” despite what looked like a comfortable lead on the cards.

Despite all the vehement encouragement from his corner, Escalante was forced into full-on survival mode in the eighth and final round. Another short right hand at close quarters wobbled Escalante for a bit. The normally offensive whirlwind that is Bruno Escalante was now a fighter looking to buy time by holding, pushing and spinning his way through the round. Rios never could get close enough for the succession of punches he needed to pull out the miracle. Judge Bruce Rasmussen had the fight even, 76-76, while Judges Susan Gitlin and Marshall Walker had it 78-74 and 78-75 respectively, giving Escalante the majority nod.

Every card needs something unexpected to happen. On Saturday night’s bill that instance was the shocking second-round stoppage of former amateur star Ricardo Pinell (5-1-1, 4 KOs) of San Francisco, California by inactive three-year pro Eric Mendez (3-1, 2 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, California. Pinell, 153.5, carried the action in the first round with his better all-around boxing skills. Though it was not dominating, the only action of note in the first stanza was the right jabs and few lefts thrown by the southpaw Pinell.

Mendez, 154, came out more offensive-minded in the second, quickly engaging Pinell in an exchange. Mendez’ right hand landed first in one such exchange and wobbled Pinell across the ring to a neutral corner. Mendez followed and flurried his favored opponent to the mat for a knockdown. Pinell beat the count on unsteady legs and retreated back to the neutral corner where Mendez again followed with an unanswered flurry that forced the hand of referee Mike Margado. Time of the unlikely stoppage was 1:53 of the second round.

In a pretty solid fight, Andy Vences (4-0, 2 KOs) of San Jose, California turned back the game challenge of Matthew Flores (0-3) of Twin Falls, Idaho via four-round unanimous decision. Flores, 134, was solid from the outset, clearly taking the first round in this writer’s eyes on the strength of several solid hooks. Vences, a former amateur standout, shrugged off the shots but did little in return through the first three minutes of the fight.

Flores rocked Vences, 134, in the first few seconds of the second round with a right hand. Flores, seeing he had his man in trouble, threw punches without really directing them to a specific target. It proved to be a costly miscalculation as the well-schooled Vences dodged and moved while regaining his footing. Vences, now apparently fully recovered, rallied back late in the round with a concentrated body assault. Though Flores had moments in the final seconds, Vences rally may have snatched a round that looked like Idahoan’s in the early going.

Solid exchanges marked the third and fourth rounds. Though Flores got in his licks, Vences’ offense was more sustained and eye-catching. In the end, Flores went home one of the better 0-3 fighters in the sport by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice.

Darwin Price (2-0, 1 KO) of Saint Louis, Missouri outworked and outfought his naturally smaller short-notice opponent Johnny Frazier (2-20-4, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada en route to a four-round unanimous decision in the evening’s opening contest. Frazier, who took the fight on less than one week’s notice, just could not keep up with the fresher and more athletically-gifted Price.

Price, a former collegiate track star, was effective behind his jab all fight. Especially in the early going, Frazier, 139, just could not find his way around Price’s stick. For one instance in the first, Price, 139.5, let Frazier into range and the Nevadan landed a solid overhand right. Just that quickly, Price got back out at range and behind his jab.

In the second the third rounds, Price began to let his right hand go behind his jab, giving Frazier and even tougher time finding his way into punching range. Though it would not have much affected the final scoring of the fight, referee Mike Margado did miss what looked like a clear knockdown call in the final seconds of the fight. Frazier landed a right hand while Price was clearly off balance, which sent the Missouri native to the mat. Margado ruled the fall a slip, even though a clean punch had landed. Though it would not change the outcome of the fight, which was scored 40-36 across the board for Price, it would have given the now 20-loss veteran Frazier something to hang his hat on in the aftermath.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280.

Good looking Super Featherweight prospect Gabino Saenz scored a first round stoppage over Dominic Coca in a scheduled six round bout.

Saenz dropped Coca once and the fight was stopped at 2:27 after a barrage of punches.

Saenz, 127 3/4 lbs is now 11-0-1 with eight knockouts. Coca, 128 1/2 lbs is 8-5.

Former world title challenger Diego Magadaleno pitched a shutout over Edgar Riovalle in a ten round Lightweight bout.

Magadeno, 131 1/2 lbs won by scores of 100-90 on all cards and is now 24-1. Riovalle, 132 lbs is now 36-16-2.

Middleweight prospect Matt Korobov scored a eight round unaninous decision over former Contender winner Grady Brewer.

Korbov dominated and scored a knockdown from a left hook in round five.

Scores were 80-71, 80-71 and 79-72 for Korobov and is now 21-0. Brewer is now 30-17.

Put a pair of boxing gloves on Peter Pan and you’ve got Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A man-child, emphasis on the child.

The real fight for Chavez Jr. is whether he ever grows up. It’s a question that has begun to take on urgency as he enters his late 20s after a series of exasperating, often embarrassing missteps that leave doubt about whether he cares about his craft or his dad’s legacy.

Anybody who has met Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KOs) knows him to be likable. There’s an adolescent charm about him. He’ll make you laugh, unlike his feared dad, the proto-typical hard man whose meltdown stare could make you look over your shoulder in search for a quick exit to safety. Like him or not, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was a serious guy. Through 48 fights, his son isn’t.

That might begin to change Saturday night against Bryan Vera (23-6, 14 KOs) at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., in an HBO-televised bout. But it’ll take more than just one fight for Chavez Jr. to get beyond a reputation that only got worse last September in his loss to Sergio Martinez.

There was his bizarre training camp, conducted mostly at a Las Vegas home in early-morning workouts. Then, there were 11 one-sided rounds, all in favor of Martinez, before a wild 12th that saw Chavez Jr. suddenly wake up with a ferocious knockdown of Martinez. Chavez Jr. nearly stole the fight with a knockout. It made you wonder what he might have accomplished with some real roadwork instead of a few laps around the couch in the living room of that comfortable Vegas’ rental. Then, there was the subsequent news that Chavez Jr. had tested positive for marijuana. Ah-ha, everyone joked. No wonder he didn’t start working out until about 1 a.m., what with the midnight munchies and all.

For his promoter Bob Arum and loyal cadre of Mexican fans, that dramatic 12th is the flash of brilliance that illuminated his potential. It represented what he could be. But maturity is about staying power. And that’s what has yet to be seen from a very nice kid, yet one seemingly without the requisite accountability that comes with being a grown-up pro.

He says the right things. In a conference call Tuesday, Chavez Jr. said he accepted responsibility for his failed drug test, which initially led to a controversial $900,000 fine levied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. After Arum took the bully pulpit and condemned the size of the fine, it was reduced to $100,000. Even that seems a little high by today’s standards, laws and PEDs. Voters in Colorado and Washington made pot legal in their respective states. It’s not as if Chavez Jr. tested positive for HGH, EPO or some other chemical acronym. A positive test for marijuana doesn’t put him in Lance Armstrong’s league. Pot is about as much a performance-enhancer as a bacon cheeseburger. Still, it was also a sure sign that his mind wasn’t on the fury he was about to encounter against the disciplined Martinez.

With the inevitable question Tuesday about Chavez Jr.’s positive drug-test, Arum was back on the bully pulpit.

“I want to go on record as saying that there is nothing wrong with smoking pot,’’ Arum said. “There is nothing wrong with marijuana.’’

Colorado and Washington voters agree with Arum, always candid and quick to confront an issue. In some ways, perhaps, Arum is expressing how public opinion on pot has changed over the last 10 to 15 years. Bill Clinton didn’t inhale; Barack Obama did. But Arum might regret the timing of this one. He’s got a fighter who needs to grow up.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t need another excuse to train the way he wants, eat what he wants, or smoke a joint whenever he gets the urge. Excuses are enablers, which have proven to be Chavez Jr.’s toughest opponents.

Even for Vera, there are troubling signs of some of the same. Vera is tough, but lacks the talent so often evident in Chavez Jr. Chavez’ struggle to make weight has led to a reported agreement, –173 pounds instead of the junior-middleweight’s 168 — and 10 rounds instead of 12. It looms as another excuse, a way for Chavez to slip through another loophole that has allowed him to avoid accountability and prevented him for reaching his potential.

In the art of match-making, Top Rank has been brilliant with Chavez Jr., who didn’t start with the bedrock of fundamental skill learned over an amateur career. It has moved him carefully and against opponents who have allowed to him to display power and instinct.

Yet, there’s still an unresolved challenge: Himself, his own immaturity.

If he can’t win that one, does Top Rank or anybody else think he has a chance against Gennady Golovkin, or Andre Ward, or even Canelo Alvarez?

Didn’t think so.

SAN ANTONIO – There’s a fine barber shop in the basement of the historic Gunter Hotel in the center of this city’s downtown, it’s called Barber Shop and has three barbers and a shoeshiner and a barber’s pole and Playboy magazines, and if its banter isn’t quite of an Ice Cube flick, it’s just as manly and fun. Since every barber shop could use a boxing writer, and since a boxing writer encounters few venues so appreciative of his gifts, I spend a half hour every month giving an editorial review of prizefighting’s calendar, 1974-present.

Austin is 70 miles up I-35 from here, and Austin middleweight Brian Vera, who fights Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., Saturday, apparently has an interested relative who frequents the same barber shop. And so, every month for what feels like seven, I’ve been asked when Vera is going to get to fight Chavez, a request for information to which I confess honest ignorance, citing Chavez’s unpredictability and eliciting, without fail, a question like: What the hell is wrong with that kid?

And as I climb in the chair, I tend to say, “Where does one begin?”

Lost in the justifiable concern about Sergio Martinez’s knee after the extraordinary conclusion of his otherwise unmemorable match with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 53 weeks ago, the last time Chavez fought, were the lasting effects of the beating Chavez sustained, a beating that included 300 flush shots to the Mexican’s head by a man who knew how to do it with gusto. Chavez has an uncanny flair for midwifing others’ resentment. Even the men whom Chavez defeats, in an original twist, rarely have good things to say about him, a surprising departure from the tradition of saying the guy who beat me is a great champion because, well, I wouldn’t lose to a nobody.

Speaking to Sergio Martinez four months after he and Chavez made one of the more rapturous 90 seconds prizefighting has accomplished, a half of the 12th round nearly unbearable in its suspense and just as nearly the opposite of what Día de Independencia Mexicana ’13 yielded, the Argentine had little good to say about Chavez, a rarity for Martinez, rarely dismissive of his ambassadorial duties.

Martinez implied several times and with uncharacteristic urgency marijuana – the drug for which Chavez tested positive and received an absurdly harsh fine and suspension – was the least of Chavez’s banned-substance affairs, wondering how a man with so little use for weight control or proper camp comportment was so strong after 34 1/2 minutes of collecting five or so concussing shots every minute. That Martinez saw the final 90 seconds of his September match with Chavez as a sum of his own poor choices, misjudgments of time and space and improvisation manifesting themselves as carelessness, was an unsurprising turn for a world champion jealously guarding life’s controllable moments. That Martinez would not cop to a tittle of admiration for a former opponent, too, was unsurprising when that former opponent remained a future opponent. That Martinez would take a lobbed question about a challenger winning a bit of his respect, though, and use it as the doorway into a room of specific accusations and untrammeled resentment was a surprise and a half.

It was a peek at the peaks of what Chavez piques so uniquely among prizefighters that no one empathized even slightly with the abuse he suffered from Martinez’s left hand, which hand rendered Paul Williams instantly unconscious two years before, or wondered where it might leave Chavez’s career. Such is the sentiment Chavez inspires that even today, as a fight that was considered for June and has been moved all round the calendar and western states finally draws near, no one attributes any of Chavez’s camp injuries to anything but sloth. But slothful as Chavez was, imagine such indolence now confronted by a mind that may not be more than 2/3 right, a trainer and dad whose mind cannot possibly be rated that well, and an opponent who rightfully regards this match as a career opportunity, which it might be.

Brian Vera is good enough, as he showed against Andy Lee and Sergio Mora and Serhiy Dzinziruk, to surprise opponents who do not take seriously his limited pressuring style, and he’s also the sort of grinder boxing likes to see matched against those it resents. Vera is the constant, of course, and Chavez is the variable; in the very unlikely case that Saturday’s opening bell finds the same Chavez it found for round 1 in Thomas & Mack Center a year ago, Chavez will handle Vera the way he handled Peter Manfredo and luckless Andy Lee, wearing them down by channeling others’ hatred for him – yes, and again, Chavez knows exactly where he stands with you – and beating on them for royalty’s sake.

This time Chavez will have his dad in his corner, too, where Junior will be able to ignore him more easily than when dad was credentialed by TV Azteca to be ringside and bark maniacal instructions at a son physically incapable of executing more than half them and mentally equipped for perhaps their first tenth, barking directly over former chief second Freddie Roach’s strong preference for a quiet, respectful corner.

What Vera stands to gain by beating Chavez is at least an argument for a larger future payday on HBO, banishing for a moment a thought he could be Rigondeauxn, while Chavez might with a win return to the superfight-cashout sweepstakes, nominating himself for a supporting-actor role in Andre Ward’s 2014 pay-per-view debut, and a chance to don once more his pink briefs and show those tired “24/7” episodes the aplomb with which he carries the Chavez name.

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