They may find Jimmy Hoffa before America finds another great heavyweight. It’s almost redundant to call the search futile. Yet it continues Saturday, mostly because Seth Mitchell and Johnathon Banks are good guys. They respect each other, their craft and their audience.

Thank you, gentlemen, for a rematch that serves as a refuge from a main event preceded by the indulgent trash talk that Adrien Broner has spewed without shame or end in the build-up to his welterweight debut against Paulie Malignaggi at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The temptation is to boycott Broner. Not because he figures to win. His talent speaks for itself. It’s just all the speaking Broner promises to do after the victory. Anyway, I’ll watch him fight, but skip Showtime’s post-fight interview.

“To each his own,’’ said Mitchell, a former Michigan State linebacker who picked up some of dipolomacy’s finer points while majoring in football and criminal justice. “I’m big a fan of both of them. Adrien Broner and me have a personal relationship. I know Paul Malignaggi but not on a personal relationship level. Both of them are helluva fighters. I can’t speak on how they feel about their fight. That’s just what they do. To each his own. But I know I’m looking forward to a good fight.’’

Banks agreed when asked about rhetoric that has taken on a garbage-like tone in pre-fight proceedings for Broner-Malignaggi.

“Well, it’s almost the same thing that Mitchell said: To each his own,’’ said Banks, who inherited some of the calm-in-the storm poise from his late teacher, trainer and father-figure, Emanuel Steward. “This is their personalities, and I think no matter what, when you have two fighters, you must show their personalities. These guys’ fans, they’re talkers. It’s what they do. It’s their personalities. So, that’s what they’re doing.’’

Mitchell and Banks agree on a lot. It’s as if they understand instinctively that they’re partners in a business that dictates they fight each other. It’s not personal. It’s just punches.

Banks displayed superior instinct for those punches in a surprising second-round stoppage of Mitchell last June. It was a sign, perhaps, of what will happen again Saturday in a sequel postponed in February because Banks fractured a thumb in training. Banks grew up in boxing at Detroit’s Kronk Gym. He moves around the ring like its home. Mitchell is a newcomer. If not for a knee injury at Michigan State, he might be an NFL linebacker today.

But their respective personalities create a compelling rematch. Mitchell understands that he’s still a student. In Banks, he lost to a fighter who also learned the trainer’s trade from one of history’s all-timers in Steward. Banks, who succeeded Steward as Wladimir Klitschko’s trainer, is a teacher.

Their rematch is about how much the student learned in a loss to the teacher.

“I just have to go out there and show you what I’ve learned from that fight, what Johnathon Banks has taught me from that fight,’’ Mitchell said.

Banks, who said he has two different and distinct roles, says he won’t be working as the teacher in the rematch.
“I wear two different hats,’’ Banks said “I wear a training hat and a fighter’s hat. When it’s time for me to prepare for my fight, the training hat goes off and the fighter hat comes on. So, the two don’t connect with one another.’’

They don’t insult anyone either, which on Saturday night’s card stands as pretty good lesson for everyone.

DALLAS – Thirty five miles due west of American Airlines Arena, where Oxnard’s Mikey Garcia unpicked Puerto Rican Juan Manuel Lopez Saturday, there is a bold and colorful exhibition of 20th century American artist Romare Bearden’s work. It is called “A Black Odyssey.” Its collages and cut-paper works are vibrant depictions of acts that were necessarily intimate, vile and lunatic, acts captured in historic prose by Homer. That such acts led to such words led to such visual art is a testament of sorts to the species’ resilience.

Our startling recuperative powers felt like a theme last weekend. To see Garcia on Friday and the discomfort the sight of him caused others, specifically his octogenarian promoter Bob Arum, a man who, for all his reassuring words publicly uttered during and after Garcia jeopardized his fight with Lopez, did not even look at Garcia when he returned from an hour of admitting there was no way to lose what two pounds stretched between his desiccated body and the featherweight limit, to see Garcia’s wretched demeanor, a combination of shame and shame weakened, like the rest of him, by hunger, was to wonder how such a man would summon reserves enough to rise from bed the next day – much less make violence with a former world champion in the evening.

Yet there was Garcia 33 hours later, a transformed man, or at least a returned one, a person reassured enough to stand directly in front of another world class fighter and do everything with a confidence that is Garcia’s most noticeable quality at ringside. Order was restored by a man who feels orderly, a man who absorbs others’ teachings and heeds others’ carefully worded observations and places his right cross elegantly.

There is an ecosystem in boxing, fragile as it is small, one that relies on a premium network providing meaningful programming to its audience, in the form of championship fights, one that relies on fighters arranging their calendars such that on the day or three of every year they perform they are at or very near their top physical capabilities, or else willing to be victimized by men who are, and all that was imperiled by Garcia’s weighing 128 pounds Friday afternoon.

When Arum shuffled to the podium and declared the title fight cancelled and then departed nearly alone while his matchmakers and publicists continued to speak to HBO programmers and others, it was a reminder, too, of how little about the prizefighting industry we know or get told. This was not lost on the media; few of what could be called reporters remained after the initial weights were read and Mikey Garcia strode on the sunbleached walkway outside American Airlines Arena.

The Romare Bearden exhibition in Fort Worth is the sort of pleasant surprise in which the Amon Carter Museum of American Art specializes. Southernmost destination in a triangular mall that features better known collections at The Modern and The Kimbell, Amon Carter, for being committed to American art alone, finds itself liberated to make original exhibitions – like bright construction-paper collages of black figures reenacting Odysseus’ homewards journey – its larger neighbors might not. If there are parts of the Bearden exhibition that remain partially inexplicable, Bearden’s talent for shape and color and narrative remains uncompromised. And when such expressive colors as Bearden’s are juxtaposed with Homer’s uniquely pitiless descriptions, blood brought by steel and leaked always in a wine-dark sea, one is startled such art came of such depredations, that our species recuperated enough to make visually pleasing depictions of something described in “The Iliad” thusly:

The famous spearman struck behind his skull,
just at the neck-cord the razor spear slicing
straight up through the jaws, cutting away the tongue –
he sank in the dust, teeth clenching the cold bronze.

The Bearden exhibition was a fair way to prepare oneself for what he expected to happen later to Juan Manuel Lopez and did happen to him. Juanma, once the future of promoter Top Rank’s stable and celebrated as Mikey Garcia is celebrated now – though with a larger and more reliably rabid following, especially when endorsed continually and publicly by Felix Trinidad, as Juanma was and fellow Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto was not – was there to be felled and sacrificed in the erection of a new flawless promotional creation, though ultimately not free of flaws as hoped or promised.

Juanma Lopez, once accurately described by an insider as “a world-class dissipater,” nevertheless made the contracted weights for his fights, whatever had to be done – which is not to accuse of lollygagging Garcia, a man who complained of his eyes being too poorly lubricated Friday to blink without discomfort.

In black bugeye shades and a pumpkin skull cap and saddle jacket, there was Juanma at ringside Saturday, two hours before the opening bell would ring on the last meaningful match of a career that would be excellent by most other standards – there to escort his wife to her ringside seat and sit beside her through preliminary bouts. It is an interesting thing these Puerto Rican fighters do, for Cotto does it as well: Wander through an arena’s worth of people hours before a gladiatorial spectacle that anticipates their consciousness sacrificed, or another’s, or worse.

It is a reminder they are sportsmen, craftsman at something that is beastly, more than warriors. Their perspective is a healthier one than the Mexicans with whom they form our sport’s best rivalry.

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

DALLAS – If this city’s partisan-Mexican crowd came out Saturday to see one of its own blast away a rugged but overmatched opponent in the last fight of its untelevised undercard, it got its wish when Sonoran Oscar Valdez (6-0, 5 KOs) brought a properly leveraged right cross counter square on the face of Houstonian Gil Garcia (5-5-1, 1 KO) in the second round of their featherweight match, Saturday’s seventh, dropping Garcia on his back and marking as inevitable Valdez’s victory.

Instants after referee Laurence Cole brought the fighters together, Valdez, showing the sort of thrill for combat that pleases fans and makes promoters salivate, swarmed Garcia, striking him with any punch he could land and bringing a merciful stoppage at 2:32 of round 2.

Valdez has an exciting style and desire for contact that should make him a friend of fans in years to come.

MIKAEL ZEWSKI VS. DAMIAN FRIAS
Completing a hat-trick of undefeated Top Rank prospects, in Saturday’s sixth match Canadian Mikael Zewski (20-0, 15 KOs) boxed and slugged and generally outclassed Florida welterweight Damian Frias (19-8-1, 10 KOs), ultimately decisioning him by three scores of 77-74.

Despite applying plenty of commitment to his punches, and throwing them in cleaver and accurate combinations, Zewski never appeared to have Frias imperiled, after dropping the Floridian in the first round. Rounds 2 through 7, in fact, were dull enough affairs to have much of the American Airlines Arena crowd expressing its loud disapproval. All such noise as that stopped in the final round.

Appearing to be winded by his own onslaught in the preceding rounds, Zewski put whatever he had left behind his blows in round 8, opening himself to accurate and surprisingly hard counters from Frias – whose punches appeared to lack commitment most of the night. Despite clipping Zewski a number of times in the eighth, ultimately Frias did not have enough to cast doubt on the outcome, and the decision went the Canadian’s way.

MATT KOROBOV VS. OSSIE DURAN
Saturday’s most pleasant surprise came in its fifth fight when Russian middleweight Matt Korobov (20-0, 12 KOs), once more highly touted than he is now, performed a vicious stoppage of New Jersey’s Ossie Duran (27-11-2, 10 KOs) at 0:51 of round 3. After a slow start that brought nearly unanimous boos from the Dallas crowd, Korobov landed a twisting counter left cross from his southpaw stance in the closing minute of round 2, one that dropped Duran and seemed to surprise both fighters.

Korobov attacked from the very beginning of round 3, showing an intensity of assault unpredicted by his record’s paltry knockout ratio, winging and digging left crosses to Duran’s midsection. Duran dropped quickly, his face showing the wincing hopelessness brought only by a liver shot, and the match was over. And Korobov was on his way back towards important matches in the middleweight division.

VANES MARTIROSYAN VS. RYAN DAVIS
Buried in the third match of a nine-fight card in Texas was likely not where 2004 U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (33-0-1, 21 KOs) anticipated his career would be if he came to his 33rd professional fight still undefeated, and yet, that was where he was, dropping and stopping Illinois super welterweight Ryan Davis (24-11-3, 9 KOs).

Martirosyan landed most every punch he threw, including batting-cage right hands with which he was unable to miss the hopeless Davis, and succeeded in looking impressive as he needed to, en route to a corner stoppage at 2:01 of round 2.

UNDERCARD
The knockout of the night came in Saturday’s fourth match, when local super bantamweight Tony Lopez (4-0, 2 KOs) dropped South Carolina’s Jonathan Hernandez (1-3-1, 1 KO) at 0:38 of round 4, and dropped him in a way that brought ringside doctors on the canvas before the 10-count was finished. Hernandez, who had fired back valiantly through the opening three rounds, finally caught the southpaw Lopez’s left cross in a way that ended his night emphatically.

Saturday’s second fight, a welterweight tilt between Puerto Rican welterweight John Karl Sosa (7-0, 5 KOs) and Mexican Ramon Alejandro Pena (7-3 5 KOs), was an overmatched affair in which Pena landed very few right hands and absorbed many more. The end came at 1:54 of round 2, when a Sosa left hook found its mark on Pena’s liver and rendered the Mexican wholly unable to continue.

The evening began on a fine note, with Austin middleweight Kurtiss Colvin (8-1, 7 KOs) stopping Arlington’s Angel Sigala (8-4, 2 KOs) at 0:22 of round 5.

Opening bell rang on a sparsely populated American Airlines Arena at 6:03 PM local time.

Adrien Broner has used his favorite theatrical prop to comb his hair and stroke his ego, but has yet employed it to brush up on his manners and consistency.

In a wild conference call that included an interruption from Paulie Malignaggi, Broner was asked about fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. Who doesn’t get that question these days? With the kind of money Mayweather generates, I’m surprised somebody didn’t pick a winner in the Los Angeles Dodgers-Arizona Diamondbacks brawl Tuesday night and then asked whether Mayweather was next. I’m picking Yasiel Puig. But we digress.

Broner channeled his best Greg Poppovich, the San Antonio Spurs taciturn coach, and said:

“Next question.’’

Next what?

“Next question.’’

Okay.

Trouble is, Broner then referred to Mayweather during the rest of a Q-and-A session that didn’t include Malignaggi’s heated promise to beat the bleep out of him on June 22 at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.

After looking out over the boxing landscape, Broner says he sees only Mayweather and himself. Malignaggi, of course, is next. But Broner made it sound as if Malignaggi will be about as challenging as Al Bernstein or Larry Merchant might be.

“He’s a good talker,’’ Broner said. “He’s got some great talent. He’s a great commentator.’’

The dismissive suggestion is that Broner will force Malignaggi into retirement and into a fulltime gig alongside Showtime’s Bernstein at ringside, where he is proving to be an insightful analyst. To his credit, Malignaggi has other ideas. If you don’t believe him, then remember this: In 2012, he traveled to The Ukraine to fight an unbeaten somebody named Vyacheslav Senchenko. It wasn’t who. It was where. Everybody assumed that a loss was packed into Malignaggi’s luggage. But he won a ninth-round TKO in Senchenko’s home country. To wit: Malignaggi can surprise you.

It’s impossible to know whether Broner will take that important caveat into the ring. At 23, he’s young. His abundant talent has allowed to him roll along untested. He is, after all, called the next Mayweather.

A sure sign of his plans, however, rests in the weight. Broner is jumping a division — from lightweight (135 pounds) past junior-welterweight (140) and straight to welter (147). It’s no coincidence that welter is Mayweather’s weight and probably will be throughout the rest of his 30-month Showtime contract, which could be worth $250 million dollars if he fights four more times after facing Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14.

It’s also no coincidence that Broner said during the conference call that he “will rule’’ boxing in about a year. If Broner beats Malignaggi and Mayweather fulfills expectations with a victory over Alvarez, you won’t need a scale to see the possibilities. Mayweather-Broner is there.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer suggested Saturday after Marcos Maidana’s dramatic stoppage of Josesito Lopez in a welterweight bout at Carson, Calif., that Maidana’s next fight might be against the Malignaggi-Broner winner.

“I didn’t see it,’’ said Broner, who – we’re guessing — was too busy brushing his hair to watch last Saturday’s Showtime telecast. “I heard he got a victory. Maidana is Maidana.’’

Yeah, and Money is money. Mayweather has the nickname and most of the currency. He is the fighter Broner has to face if he really hopes to transform that silly brush into boxing’s ruling crown

Next question.

Canelo-Mayweather stop a step in AZ re-emergence?

The Phoenix addition to a list of 11 cities on the promotional tour for the Mayweather-Alvarez fight on Sept. 14 is confirmation of what everybody within the boxing industry has always known. Phoenix and Arizona have always been an important boxing market, yet the city and state suffered because of the immigration controversy surrounding SB 1070.

Golden Boy Promotions staged many of its early cards in southern Arizona, but withdrew from the state when Mexican fighters were ordered to have work visas instead of tourist visas. That rule was changed a couple of years ago. Mexican boxers can again fight in the state with a tourist visa, which are easier and less expensive to acquire.

But then the controversy over SB 1070 erupted, forcing the cancellation in 2010 of at least one card in Phoenix that would have featured Top Rank prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. At the time, Mexican advertisers did not want their names attached to a card in the state.

Through it all, Phoenix and the rest of Arizona continued to generate big pay-per-view numbers for HBO and Showtime, especially on cards involving Mexican and Mexican-American fighters. Phoenix has been a top 10 market for about as long as there has been pay-per-view, according to promoters and various network officials.

CARSON, Calif. – They collided like a couple of weather fronts. One from Argentina. The other from Riverside, Calif. Only one would be left standing. That was the only safe prediction.

In the end, the sudden storm belonged to Marcos Maidana, another force of nature from Argentina.

Maidana got up from one knockdown in the fourth round to score one in the sixth for what led to a technical knockout of Josesito Lopez in a dramatic welterweight fight at the StubHub Center.

Maidana (34-3, 31KOs) landed an overhand right that put Lopez on one knee early in the sixth. Stunned yet resilient, Lopez (30-6, 18 KOs) got up amid huge cheers for the Southern California fighter nicknamed The Riverside Rocky. But the loud crowd of 8,629 at the former Home Depot Center couldn’t protect the hometown favorite from Maidana’s next assault. The Argentine winged successive punches at Lopez at a whirlwind rate. Referee Lou Morett interceded with a stoppage at 1:18 of the round.

“My guts got me this victory,’’ said Maidana, whose inexhaustible power puts him alongside fellow Argentine Lucas Matthysse.

In the fourth, Lopez dropped Maidana with some head-rocking power of his own. Lopez’ delivered it with a right that looked as if it might prove to be the fight’s decisive weapon. By then, however, Maidana had felt enough to know he could survive it with smarts and poise.

“In the second round, he hit me in my head and it was like I was paralyzed,’’ said Maidana, who would have been happy if Morett had let the fight continue.

Lopez was unhappy at the stoppage.

“I felt like it was premature,’’ said Lopez, who led by one point on each of two scorecards. “I was stunned, but I was not down for the count. He landed a couple of good punches, but not good enough to end the fight.’’

With the victory, stays in a welterweight race led by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“I just want to fight the best,’’ Maidana said after prevailing in a wild fight with one of them.

In a super-welterweight bout, Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs) looked tough, stubborn and on his way to a surprising victory over ErislandyLara (17-1-2, 12 KOs), who was down twice – once in the fourth and again in the ninth. Just as it looked as if Angulo would be the winner, however, he was the loser.

A sudden left-right combination from Lara in the tenth ended the super-welterweight bout abruptly. Angulo turned around and took one step toward his corner. He was finished. Referee Raul Caiz, Sr., ended it at 1:50 of the tenth.

Seconds after the stoppage, a huge welt appeared above Angulo’s left eye. Before Angulo was taken to a nearby hospital, the grotesque swelling was believed to have been caused by either a fracture to the orbital bone or by injury to the back of the eye. Angulo complained that Lara had thumbed him.

Despite suffering two knockdowns, Lara led, 85-84, on scorecards held by judges Max DeLuca and Hoyle cards. Marty Denkinhad Angulo leading, 86-83.

ON THE UNDERCARD
THE BEST: Dublin junior welterweight JamieKavanagh (14-0-1, 6 KOs) had green shamrocks on his black socks and power hidden beneath the gloves he wore. That power didn’t stay hidden for long. Through two rounds, Kavanagh rocked Adolfo Landeros (21-32-2, 10 KOs) of Calexico, Calif., with a stinging succession of body shots punctuated by a head-rocking left hook. Landero’s corner threw in the towel between the second and third rounds.

THE GOOD: Johan Perez (17-1-1, 12 KOs) of Caracas, Venezuela allowed Yoshihiro Kamegi (22-1-1, 19 KOs) to walk into his punches for a unanimous decision over the previously-unbeaten welterweight from Sapporo, Japan; junior-lightweight Ronny Rios (21-0 10 KOs) kept his credentials as a prospect intact with sixth-round TKO of Mexican Leonilo Miranda (32-6, 30KOs); Los Angeles bantamweight Edgar Valerio (3-0, 2 KOs) left David Reyes (2-3-1), also of Los Angeles, bloodied and, in the end, beaten by split decision after four rounds of work in the card’s first bout on a warm afternoon under the Southern California sun.

THE FORGETTABLE: Junior-featherweight Manuel Avila ofFairfield, Calif., remained unbeaten (12-0, 4 KOs) with a unanimous decision over Jamal Parram (6-8-1, 4 KOs) of St. Louis; featherweight Joseph Diaz Jr. (6-1, 3 KOs) scored a third-round TKO of Rigoberto Casillas (8-11-1, 6 KOs) and Los Angeles heavyweight Gerald Washington heard boos from a gathering crowd for a unanimous decision over Sherman Williams (35-13-2, 19 KOs) in a fight about as exciting as an afternoon nap.

Josesito Lopez has a nickname that is a mixed blessing. He’s called the Riverside Rocky because he came from nowhere. If the nickname sticks, however, so does the nowhere.

Lopez’ fight to knock out a future full of forgettable sequels as the designated opponent in somebody else’s tune-up starts Saturday in a Showtime-televised bout from Carson, Calif., against Marcos Maidana, who doesn’t have the nickname, yet is confronted by the same challenge.

It’s what makes their welterweight bout intriguing. Both are at the crossroads. A variety of things creates a Fight of the Year possibility. But a reliable place to start is at that familiar intersection. Lose, and you’re irrelevant. Win, and you still matter. Options are clear. Stakes are high.

“It’s a very important fight,’’ said Maidana (33-3, 30 KOs) who trained at Robert Garcia’s gym in Oxnard Calif., instead of at home in Argentina for a fight in an outdoor ring at StubHub Center, the former Home Depot Center. “It’s one of the most important fights of my career. Yes, I’ve fought some big names in the past. But this is what’s in front of me. This is the next fight and I have to get past this to be considered for bigger fights and to keep moving up the ladder.’’

Bigger fights at Maidana’s weight lead to a single biggie. Follow the money. Floyd Mayweather, Jr., is at the top of that ladder. For now, Mayweather is busy with a Sept. 14 bout against Canelo Alvarez. If Mayweather does the expected and beats Canelo, he still has four possible bouts on his Showtime contract, worth a potential $250 million. The Maidana-Lopez winner presumably stays in the pool of potential candidates for a shot at career-making payday. It’s no coincidence that Maidana mentioned Mayweather during a conference call.

“Yes, I did say Mayweather,’’ Maidana said through an interpreter.

Lopez didn’t. Then again, he didn’t really have to. The possibility almost goes without saying for any welterweight trying to stay relevant in boxing richest sweepstakes.

“I think we’re two of the toughest fighters at 147 so definitely a victory here would put us near the top, and get us in line to fight some of the best in the world,’’ said Lopez (30-5, 18 KOs), a former junior-welterweight (140). “So, who wins is very important.’’

The fight to stay in line for a chance at Mayweather is the biggest thing that ties Lopez and Madiana together. But not the only thing. Lopez is 28; Maidana is 29. A couple of days separate their birthdays. Maidana was born on July 17 and Lopez on July 19. If a rematch becomes necessary, maybe they could do it on July 18 in 2014.

Each also arrived like Sylvester Stallone’s character in Rocky against the same opponent: Victor Ortiz. Ortiz was supposed to beat then unknown Maidana in June 2009. But Ortiz lost for the first time in a stunner. In what was then supposed to be an Ortiz tune-up for a Canelo showdown last year, Ortiz faced an equally-unknown Lopez. But Ortiz lost a ninth-round stoppage and was left with a fractured jaw that has left questions about whether he’ll ever fight again.

Maidana has gone 7-2 since Ortiz, losing a dramatic decision to Amir Khan in the 2010 Fight of the Year and another decision to Devon Alexander. Lopez is 0-1 after a bout in which he played the role of an opponent in a loss at 154 pounds to Canelo, who scored three knockdowns in winning a fifth-round TKO over the former 140-pounder at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

“He had no business in that division,’’ said Maidana, whose feared punching power looms as a critical advantage over Lopez.

He didn’t. Still, Lopez profited in the mismatch with his biggest paycheck, $212,500, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Now, Lopez hopes the experience at a heavier weight against the heavy-handed Canelo will pay off with a victory that could generate bigger fights and further dividends.

“I wouldn’t say the move to 154 was a great decision, but I have no regrets on taking that fight,’’ Lopez said. “I fought one of the best fighters out there. I lost, but it helped me. I think that moving up to154 probably helped me. Now, I feel a little bit better and feel more comfortable at 147.

“I’ve been molded in to 147.”

Molded and perhaps ready to move on.

She sets her left foot slightly in front of her right and tries to keep them a shoulders’ width apart, whatever that means, and counts her punches as they leave her shoulder instead of listening for them like her brother does. They don’t sound much but remind her others might be listening, listening and watching.

“How many rounds you got left on the bag?” a guy in a yellow Under Armour shirt asks, and he looks away as she answers.

“Two?” she says, and he walks away. “Coach said I could –”

“Whatever, it’s cool,” he says. “That’s the lucky bag. There are others. As you were.”

Impersonal questions feel like achievements and feel good to answer as nobody. Hers is a morbid futility, more than her other morbidity, because nothing about her new regimen is hopeful to anyone but her, or perhaps not her either, and certainly to no one who does not know what fuel she finds in betrayal, timeless betrayal, and the timelessness of betrayal’s catalyzing force.

It was fuel enough to fuel her intake of fuel till she weighed quite nearly 400 pounds or maybe more had there been a scale available to mark her, but there wasn’t, so her brother, moved back to mom’s by a disgruntled ex, used their mechanical scale and marked how far beneath the dial’s last score, 290 in bold black, she spun the red metal needle, and it was probably 103 but as he knew his sister was unable to see beneath herself, and as he wanted her to find momentum during the first month when anything done with her body might shrink it, he told her it was 110, which weighed her a symmetrical 400 pounds. It invested her first week with the hope of a 10-pound loss, one miraculous enough to return anyone for a month to the lunglike haze of the city gym where an amateur program thrives even as the city’s retired champion gets the kids when they turn pro.

She knows the guys at the gym who didn’t know her family thought her younger brother, born in 1996 and only three years her junior, was actually her son, so different were their appearances, so ageing was the flesh that made the distinguishing contours of her brown face float between her forehead and chin like the yolk of a fried egg, she was too aware, but she appreciated their treating her like nobody after the first shocked glances and customary leers. No cruelty, despite their cruel ages. That was a gentle surprise till her brother explained the code of truthtelling required once a person slipped beneath the delimiting bungee cord that separated the gym’s spectators from boxers: “Be honest, if you’re going to fight anyway.”

A year of eating after the guy nobody believed was interested in her was interested in her for a week, long enough to get it, and then uninterested as everyone imagined him, what few people knew they were together at all – and those few included her mother, who surely knew the tally when he came to retrieve her daughter for their date but didn’t caution her daughter because she wanted experience and that had to begin with an experience.

Now her mother wonders at the silence she showed the events of that week, and the 51 that followed as she sat on their sofa and said only cursorily encouraging things, as she sits in the spectator area and sees her daughter’s want of coordination and oxygen, exerting on the heavybag in an awful impression of the gym’s better athletes, brokenwrist slaps beneath an uneven face of coffee grounds sprinkled on sandpaper and splotched now with a fire-engine red, angry as her new gloves, ones her mother bought at the secondhand store as a reward for her daughter’s initiative in losing a miraculous 11 pounds that first week in the gym when her daughter wore the same black sweatpants and black cotton shirt from Wal-Mart, where they stocked XXXXL in the men’s section, five days in a row, walking each night to the laundry room of the small Southtown apartment complex with a roll of quarters her mother bought on her lunchbreak that Monday to ensure no foreseeable obstacle lay on her daughter’s path.

She swats the bag with hapless hooks, knocking on a door hung sideways, and fixates on her hunger, on the enormously empty sensation and impossibility of what one reward could reliably compensate for the acid now in her shoulders and wrists, and the cramps on the bottoms of her feet caused by tennis sneakers, from a smaller time and biting mad about it. She tries to count her breaths like she heard an old guy say to one of the pros, something about getting him with a hook on the inhale, whatever that could mean.

Her brother helps pull the stiff gloves off her small hands, and she replaces them, squeaking, in their black mesh packaging then unwinds her stretchy pink wraps and drops them in a small gearbag from her brother. She turns three quarters of the way from the bench and sidles to her mother, her ride, in the spectator area, careful not to face the enormous shadowboxing mirror opposite the bench where her brother put the gearbag. Her mother shows stoicism instead of bubbly encouragement, as her son exhorted, but still quietly tells her daughter at this rate she can’t imagine where she’ll be in a month, and the thought stops there because neither is sure she’ll return tomorrow.

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

Boxing was back at the BB&T tonight with the second installment of Golden Boy Boxing at the BB&T Center in Sunrise Florida. This card was stacked with excellent young Golden Boy talent who all were matched with fierce competitors, … well with the exception of one disgraceful “fighter” with loose screws.

The main event showcased featherweights Brualio Santos and Derrick Wilson clash who excited the crowd with a very entertaining, hard punching, close encounters all action brawl. The two warriors answered the opening bell with big power punches and great skilled technique boxing and continued until the final bell. The early rounds found the two tactfully exchanging heavy short combinations and sharp accurate punches. Santos dug with deep body shots and short punches while Wilson used his excellent athletic skills to counter punching the hard charging Puerto Rican. The action persisted through the middle rounds with both fighters throwing heavyweight thumping punches… Santos kept his steady attack however as the fight grew Wilson started settling in with his timing and blocking the hard punches thrown by Santos. The final rounds kept tempo and were very close, with Wilson doing just a little bit more each round. Round 9 Wilson landed a great right hand to the temple that put Santos down to the delight of the crowd. Santos quickly made it to his feet and back into action and the two went back to exchanging power punches. Going into the final round I had Wilson up by two points, the final round was a bit of a chess match where both fighters looked in great shape to finish strong and close. I scored the fight 96-95 for Wilson. The final cards read 96-93 twice and 96-94.

Light middleweight Daquan Arnett 11-0(7KO) kept his 0 intact with a sensational made for highlights knockout over hard charging Hector Zuniga 10-2(7KO) who was fighting of Tijuana Mexico. Arnett showed his superior boxing skills and defense. He was sharp with his counter punches and kept Zuniga off of him, when the Mexican was able to catch him on the ropes he was gifted with a few nice shots. The knockout sequence was awesome bringing the sparsely crowded BB&T center to a roar, one would think it was a packed house. The two combatants were exchanging along the ropes when Arnett connected with a left hood, followed by another, and yet another at which time Zuniga shook his head and waved Arnett in for more, a split second later Arnett unloaded a fourth and final left hook that dropped the Mexican like a hot tamale. Arnett barely beat the count but the towel from the Mexicans corner did not as they saved their beaten fighter. The end came at 1:37 of the fifth.

Jamall “The Hitman” Charlo 14-0(10KO) had someone special watching him tonight, the original Hitman, Thomas Hearns was ringside to watching the action. The new aged Hitman did not disappoint as he crushed 39 Ecuadorian journeyman Luis Hernandez 21-6(14KO) dropping him twice in the second round. Officially scored a TKO2 at 2:26

Local favorite Steve Geffrard got off the canvas in round one and put together a nice comeback in an entertaining and tough fight for the former amateur national champion and Boca Raton native. Travis Reeves 1-1-1 ripped a big left hook that dropped Geffrard in round one Round two was very close as Geffrard got a lead later in the round which made it very hard to score. Rounds three and four was in favor of the hard hitting Geffard who found comfort in a shelled inside affair with the Baltimore based Reeves who was happy to trade shot for shot with the taller Geffrard. Each fighter caught each other during inside pot-shotting action with very close rounds three and fourth that seemed to favor Geffrard. A deflated Geffard fell to the ground when the final decision was announced in favor of the underdog, Reeves. Two judges saw the fight 38-37 for Reeves and the other 38-37 for Geffrard

2012 United States Olympian Errol Spence 6-0(5KO) from Dallas TX made quick work of Guillermo Ibarra 11-4(7KO) fighting out of Mexico. Spence landed a nice left to the head that dispensed the Mexican to the floor and out at 1:33 of round one. Spence has gotten a nice start since he entered the pro ranks in November of last year.

Highly touted amateur and “dream team” fighter Justin DeLoach 3-0(2KO) made quick and almost comical work of shamefully licensed Jonathan Olivera who looked as if he had just started boxing this morning. Honestly one of, if not the most embarrassing fighters I have ever seen, next to “Worst Boxer in the History of the World …epic mullet!!!” who entertains on YouTube, and obviously used Mullets “Cat Technique” Which was embarrassingly ineffective. I am certain once this hits YouTube it will be a rival. Just a shameful performance by Olivera, and shame on the commission and his team and corner for putting this kid in the ring in the ring with a fighter who could have killed him. This kid didn’t even look like an amateur. I understand he was a late replacement and I truly believe he was literally a last minute replacement and traded his seat for a corner stool.

Fort Lauderdales Travis Castellon 1-0(1KO) kick started his professional career and the evening with an exciting round that got the rain soaked crowd off to an upbeat start. The southpaw Castellon met Orlando’s Will Fauth 0-1-1 mid ring a second after the opening bell meaning business. The two threw early heavy punch and a clash of heads midway through the first stanza caused an ugly bump on the head of Fauth who then pressured the former amatuer standout Castellon into a corner and caught the young pugilist with his first hard professional punches. In a show of true heart that corner worked seemed to ignite the young pro who then found his distance and landed some great shots including a perfect uppercut at the bell. Between rounds Dr. Allen Fields advised the Fauth corner to cease the action. As a result Castellon earns a TKO in his debut and the BB&T Center gets an awesome appetizer to kick the night off.

Chris “SugarBoy” Valez improved to 5-0-1(3KO) by prowling and landing clean shots almost at will on tough as nails Jose Segura in a bloody welterweight affair. Valez looked sharp throughout the bout picking his shots. The cards read 40-36 for Valez who remained undefeated.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s brilliant career and shrewd mastery of the risk-to-reward ratio are no coincidence. Mayweather has put himself into history’s pound-for-pound debate and at the top of a pay scale dominated by playmakers, quarterbacks and pitchers because he knows who to fight. And when.

Canelo Alvarez on September 14 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand is mostly a money move, motivated by disappointing pay-per-view numbers for his one-sided decision over Robert Guerrero on May 4. Reports from various media put the PPV buy rate at 875,000, despite a Showtime prediction that it would exceed one million.

If accurate, that means Showtime sustained a $12 million loss, according to Forbes. Mayweather got his $32.5 million, but probably not much more than that for his first Showtime fight in a contract worth a possible $250 million.

After just one fight in a 30-month deal for as many as six bouts, Showtime and Mayweather are partners, joined at the wallet. Showtime, a CBS subsidiary, wants to recoup losses, probably as fast as possible. And Mayweather, closer to retirement than his prime, wants to max out his income potential.

Canelo serves both masters, especially on a date that coincides with Mexico’s celebration of its independence. Canelo might not be Mexico’s best fighter. That honor still belongs to Juan Manuel Marquez. But the 38,000 fans Canelo drew to San Antonio’s Alamodome in April for his victory over Austin Trout make him the biggest draw among Mexican and Mexican-American fans, the demographic that sustains the boxing business. Canelo sells.

But September 14, announced by Mayweather on Twitter Wednesday night, isn’t only about money. If dollars were the sole motivation, we already would have seen Mayweather-versus-Manny Pacquiao. We haven’t, for reasons repeated into mind-numbing redundancy. No reason to repeat them here. Fifty-million dollars were said to be the potential payday for each during those futile talks. Fifty-million is said to be Mayweather’s potential for Canelo, whose share has yet to be reported.

Why Canelo and not Pacquiao? In calculating risk-to-reward, the guess is that Mayweather has detected flaws that make Canelo easier to beat now than Pacquiao was a couple of years ago.

Much has been made of Canelo’s maturing skillset in his unanimous decision over the left-handed Trout. However, the scorecards – 118-109, 116-111 and 115-112 – might have papered over Canelo’s weaknesses with too wide a margin.

Yes, he displayed newfound head movement. Yet, he often lunged awkwardly in attempting to land against the quick Trout, who is slick, yet possesses none of Mayweather’s calculated precision. Lunge against Mayweather, and Canelo is bound to feel the right hand that landed at will against Guerrero.

Then, there’s the foot speed. Canelo often appears flat-footed, which is what Mayweather said of Guerrero before a bout that is beginning to look like a tune-up. Mayweather has none of the foot speed he had a decade ago, but he still has a lot more than anything displayed by Canelo.

Also, there are signs of fatigue. Against Trout, Canelo appeared to tire late in the sixth round and throughout the seventh. The 36-year-old Mayweather is still able to conserve energy with carefully-orchestrated tactics. That could prove problematic for Canelo, especially late in a 12 round bout.

A lot has been made about a catch-weight, 152 pounds. It might only be cosmetic. But if there’s an effect, it’s only to Canelo, a junior-middleweight (154) who will have to work a little harder to make the mandatory for Mayweather, a natural welterweight.

At opening bell, there’s talk that Canelo could be 170, or 15 to 20 pounds heavier than Mayweather. Maybe, although Mayweather looked to be at least 160 in September 2009 when he easily beat Marquez, who collected an additional $600,000 when Mayweather was two pounds heavier than the contract’s catch-weight, 144. We’ll never know how heavy Mayweather was that night. He refused to step on the scale for HBO not long before entering the ring. But it’s safe to assume Mayweather will be heavy enough on the night of September 14.

The risk appears to be Canelo’s power. The heavy-handed red-head is dangerous, especially with effective combinations. A danger-sign for Mayweather was in the facial bruises suffered when he beat Miguel Cotto in May, 2012 at 154 pounds.

A key might be Canelo’s age. He’ll turn 23 on July 18. Youth, perhaps, will lead him into harm’s way with awkward lunges into Mayweather’s right hand with bursts of energy that will leave him fatigued. But the victory over Trout included evidence that Canelo is on a learning path toward his prime. How fast? Hard to say. But a maturing Canelo means a more dangerous one. Mayweather’s decision might be as simple as the calendar: Fight Canelo now before he gets better and Mayweather only gets older.

A loss to Mayweather in September would hurt, but hardly devastate the young Mexican. A loss is a good lesson and even a yardstick for true greatness in boxing, which more than any sport is about overcoming adversity attached to defeat. Would Muhammad Ali be the legend he is today if he had not come back from a loss to Joe Frazier? Defeat appears to be a chapter Mayweather plans to avoid.

Then again, there’s always the possibility of a rematch, or another opportunity for him, Canelo and Showtime to ride the revenue steam. But that’s another story for another day, perhaps waiting to be told on September 14.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s brilliant career and shrewd mastery of the risk-to-reward ratio are no coincidence. Mayweather has put himself into history’s pound-for-pound debate and at the top of a pay scale dominated by playmakers, quarterbacks and pitchers because he knows who to fight. And when.

Canelo Alvarez on September 14 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand is mostly a money move, motivated by disappointing pay-per-view numbers for his one-sided decision over Robert Guerrero on May 4. Reports from various media put the PPV buy rate at 875,000, despite a Showtime prediction that it would exceed one million.

If accurate, that means Showtime sustained a $12 million loss, according to Forbes. Mayweather got his $32.5 million, but probably not much more than that for his first Showtime fight in a contract worth a possible $250 million.

After just one fight in a 30-month deal for as many as six bouts, Showtime and Mayweather are partners, joined at the wallet. Showtime, a CBS subsidiary, wants to recoup losses, probably as fast as possible. And Mayweather, closer to retirement than his prime, wants to max out his income potential.

Canelo serves both masters, especially on a date that coincides with Mexico’s celebration of its independence. Canelo might not be Mexico’s best fighter. That honor still belongs to Juan Manuel Marquez. But the 38,000 fans Canelo drew to San Antonio’s Alamodome in April for his victory over Austin Trout make him the biggest draw among Mexican and Mexican-American fans, the demographic that sustains the boxing business. Canelo sells.

But September 14, announced by Mayweather on Twitter Wednesday night, isn’t only about money. If dollars were the sole motivation, we already would have seen Mayweather-versus-Manny Pacquiao. We haven’t, for reasons repeated into mind-numbing redundancy. No reason to repeat them here. Fifty-million dollars were said to be the potential payday for each during those futile talks. Fifty-million is said to be Mayweather’s potential for Canelo, whose share has yet to be reported.

Why Canelo and not Pacquiao? In calculating risk-to-reward, the guess is that Mayweather has detected flaws that make Canelo easier to beat now than Pacquiao was a couple of years ago.

Much has been made of Canelo’s maturing skillset in his unanimous decision over the left-handed Trout. However, the scorecards – 118-109, 116-111 and 115-112 – might have papered over Canelo’s weaknesses with too wide a margin.

Yes, he displayed newfound head movement. Yet, he often lunged awkwardly in attempting to land against the quick Trout, who is slick, yet possesses none of Mayweather’s calculated precision. Lunge against Mayweather, and Canelo is bound to feel the right hand that landed at will against Guerrero.

Then, there’s the foot speed. Canelo often appears flat-footed, which is what Mayweather said of Guerrero before a bout that is beginning to look like a tune-up. Mayweather has none of the foot speed he had a decade ago, but he still has a lot more than anything displayed by Canelo.

Also, there are signs of fatigue. Against Trout, Canelo appeared to tire late in the sixth round and throughout the seventh. The 36-year-old Mayweather is still able to conserve energy with carefully-orchestrated tactics. That could prove problematic for Canelo, especially late in a 12 round bout.

A lot has been made about a catch-weight, 152 pounds. It might only be cosmetic. But if there’s an effect, it’s only to Canelo, a junior-middleweight (154) who will have to work a little harder to make the mandatory for Mayweather, a natural welterweight.

At opening bell, there’s talk that Canelo could be 170, or 15 to 20 pounds heavier than Mayweather. Maybe, although Mayweather looked to be at least 160 in September 2009 when he easily beat Marquez, who collected an additional $600,000 when Mayweather was two pounds heavier than the contract’s catch-weight, 144. We’ll never know how heavy Mayweather was that night. He refused to step on the scale for HBO not long before entering the ring. But it’s safe to assume Mayweather will be heavy enough on the night of September 14.

The risk appears to be Canelo’s power. The heavy-handed red-head is dangerous, especially with effective combinations. A danger-sign for Mayweather was in the facial bruises suffered when he beat Miguel Cotto in May, 2012 at 154 pounds.

A key might be Canelo’s age. He’ll turn 23 on July 18. Youth, perhaps, will lead him into harm’s way with awkward lunges into Mayweather’s right hand with bursts of energy that will leave him fatigued. But the victory over Trout included evidence that Canelo is on a learning path toward his prime. How fast? Hard to say. But a maturing Canelo means a more dangerous one. Mayweather’s decision might be as simple as the calendar: Fight Canelo now before he gets better and Mayweather only gets older.

A loss to Mayweather in September would hurt, but hardly devastate the young Mexican. A loss is a good lesson and even a yardstick for true greatness in boxing, which more than any sport is about overcoming adversity attached to defeat. Would Muhammad Ali be the legend he is today if he had not come back from a loss to Joe Frazier? Defeat appears to be a chapter Mayweather plans to avoid.

Then again, there’s always the possibility of a rematch, or another opportunity for him, Canelo and Showtime to ride the revenue steam. But that’s another story for another day, perhaps waiting to be told on September 14.

According to his official Twitter account, Pound for Pound King Floyd Mayweather will take on WBC/WBA Super Welterweight champion Saul Alvarez on September 14th in Las Vegas.

The official statement read: “I chose my opponent for September 14th and it’s Canelo Alvarez. I’m giving the fans what they want. It will be at the MGM Grand”

The rumor is the bout will be contested at 152 lbs.

In round 6 of their super middleweight match, Saturday, Englishman Carl “The Cobra” Froch and Dane Mikkel “Viking Warrior” Kessler briefly got separated by the ref after a Kessler blow struck well beneath Froch’s cranberry-satin belt line. Froch shook it out, dangling his right foot off the mat till he was rearranged enough to resume, and then the two men came together and Kessler belly-piped Froch with a 2-3 combo that was Kessler’s best of their match’s first half.

Froch, practiced as any prizefighter at showing an opponent no spiritual weakness while showing sundry technical weaknesses in a uniquely shameless way, tucked his hearth-bottom chin, took the blows, and fought back without spite or regard for personal safety – the way a gentleman is expected to do. London’s aficionados applauded raucously, the scrap continued apace, and Froch had his satisfaction, prevailing in a rematch with Kessler by unanimous decision.

There is something absurd about Carl Froch’s self-belief, and the absurder element of it is its contagiousness, an infectious impulse so potent others catch it and assign Froch many times more effectiveness than his attacks merit, a reflexive thing that confirms itself while denying reason. The affliction of Froch’s self-belief does not noy cautious and naturally suspicious technicians like Andre Ward, a man likely to believe the most potent thing about any opponent for 10 minutes, but someone like Mikkel Kessler, a man with little cause for caution who nevertheless finds his attack bilked, time and again, by the force of Froch’s absurd self-belief and its awkward manifestation – so awkward an attentive spectator must sometimes ask: Where does The Cobra practice such moves?

It’s a proper question because you cannot toss yourself at the handpads the way Froch tosses himself at an opponent, and no one would shadowbox with such raveled feet or twisted torso, and you cannot make a heavybag elusive as Froch can make an opponent; it is as if, in camp, Froch begins swimming at a line of double-end bags, punching, missing, bracing, absorbing, eluding, biting, countering, pivoting, blocking, tasting, and pirouetting, before he arrives at the rusted pipe of their frame, touches it with a spin, then swims home, getting as well as he gives, and ending each lap with an avouching nod. Pity poor Mikkel Kessler, then, for showing any vulnerability to a man capable of such random violence and indefatigable self-belief.

Their second fight, though, was very much closer than one official judge and one unofficial judge had it. Rounds 3, 4 and 5 could probably have gone either way, with two of them perhaps belonging to Kessler. Rounds 9 and 10 were good, even affairs. When five rounds of 12 were that close, there is no reason for one man to win a fight 118-110, unless a judge is scoring crowd noise, and if she is doing that, how much better is she than a decibel meter?

Lost in the cacophony about Froch’s chin was a point open to be made about Kessler’s: He caught the entirety of the fight’s unpredictable punches and the final counter in every exchange, an absurdly confident Froch punctuation mark at the end of every paragraph, and yet Kessler did not buckle as he did in their first match. He got shuffled round the ring, and his head got jammed backwards more than advisable, but he was never in danger of being stopped, and if anyone wintled from a punch, it was Froch in round 11, when the Cobra sprang into a rightcross counter and staggered ropesward immediately after.

Froch-Kessler II was a gentleman’s fight in gentlemanliness’ birthplace, an agreement between two chums to make a hellacious scrap, dirty as it need be, entertain those gathered, and embrace at the close. There was a tender moment when, after hugging the man he verily believed he’d beaten, and while still buzzing from what blows the man sloshed his brain with, Froch held Kessler’s handsome pink face between his black gloves and asked several times if his friend were all right. It was a thing Europeans have to show us how to do; our best Americans take themselves too seriously, and therefore every punch too personally, to fight so hard or show such affection immediately afterwards; and Latin America’s finest, usually Mexicans, keep score of grievances too proficiently and with much too much granularity, in their fetish for vengeance, to hope for a foe’s health while their own remains compromised.

The world does not await a rematch between Andre Ward and Carl Froch, a rematch the victor seems to want more than the vanquished; Froch alluded to Ward’s spoiler style and how incapable it often proves of uplifting observers’ spirits, Ward replied no fighter ever prefers a style than solves his own, and both men were correct. After ignoring the super middleweight division and its deserving champion for years, HBO now appears to have wagered its future on Ward’s charisma, a characteristically wrongheaded bet and typical overcorrection by a network whose commentating crew regularly swings like a tardy pendulum between proofs and disproofs of its prefight narrative, and prizes consensus more than interesting people do.

Ward convincingly defeated Froch 17 1/2 months ago by accumulating a large points lead, conserving strength, and finishing hungrily – but if Ward won the second half of their fight on an unbiased scorecard, it wasn’t by much. Which is a thing that should be said about Froch’s Saturday victory over Kessler. Froch-Kessler III will be more enjoyable for all involved than Ward-Froch II.

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

Carl Froch extracted revenge and retained the IBF and won the WBA Super Middleweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Mikkel Kessler in a terrific fight at the O2 Arena in London.

The bout was very competitive with Froch’s volume and come forward style being the difference in the outcome.

Froch was effective early with Kessler only looking for one shot. Kessler started to come forward and landed some vicious right hands that the Nottingham, Englad native Froch walked right through. The two had frequent toe to toe exchanges throughout the second half of the fight the had the capacity crowd of 19,000 people on the edge of their seats for much of the bout. The fight mirrored the first fight, which was won by Kessler on April 24, 2010 in Denmark in a thrilling battle.

Froch won by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 and is now 31-2. Kessler of Denmark fought a tremendous fight but came up short and is now 46-3.

Follow all the action LIVE from the O2 Arena in London as Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler meet in a unification rematch. The fight will begin at 6pm eastern / 3 pm pacfic / 11 pm in London and Midnight in Copenhagen.

12 ROUNDS–IBF/WBA SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLES–CARL FROCH (30-2, 22 KO’s) vs Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s)

Round 1 Good left from Kessler..Kessler jabs to the body..Jab..body..Froch lands a jab..good combination..Kessler lands a good body shot and left hook…10-9 Kessler

Round 2 Kessler lands a right to the body…Froch lands a left to the body and a hard right..Kessler hold on..Froch lands a right and shot drives Kessler to the ropes..lead right...19-19

Round 3 Froch has some redness around the nose…Kessler redness over the left eye…Froch lands a jab..Kessler lands a double jab..3 rights from Froch…Kessler lands a body..Froch lands a right to the head..good body punch and combination..29-28 Froch

Round 4 Kessler lands a left hook…Jab from Froch…Good left hook from Kessler..38-38

Round 5 Good left hook from Kessler..2 jabs…Hard right stuns Froch..Froch lands a right to the body...48-47 Kessler

Round 6 Big right from Kessler..Left hook..Left hook…right from Froch…58-56 Kessler

Round 7 Combo from Kessler…big left hook…Froch lands a left..good left hook from Kessler..Froch lands a body shot and a hard right wobbles Kessler…big right and left…67-66 Kessler

Round 8 Froch lands a big left hook..Kessler lands a hard right..left hook…Froch lands a huge right…uppercut from Kessler…Hard right…they trade rights…left hook from Kessler….77-75 Kessler

Round 9Hard right from Kessler..left hook..2 shots from Froch..trading shots..Froch 2 body shots…86-85 Kessler

Round 10

Andre Ward kept himself in the pound-for-pound debate with smarts evident all over again this week when he trashed the World Boxing Council with skillful subtlety.

In saying no to a meaningless belt in a prepared statement Monday, Ward saved himself some future sanctioning fees and was rewarded with applause for a demonstration that represented no risk to him. Taking a stand against the WBC these days is little bit like saying you’re opposed to dirty water. Who isn’t?

Besides, what is a WBC Super Middleweight World Champion Emeritus Title anyway? Just a redundancy? Or a gold watch? Retired professors have titles that include emeritus. The unbeaten Ward is neither retired nor emeritus.

Ward is active, which was the real point to a move that was the rhetorical equivalent of former heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe dumping a WBC pea-soup green belt into a garbage can in 1992.

Pound-for-pound ratings are political. A debate, first-and-foremost. There’s not much chance that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will ever face Ward. With Mayweather at welterweight and Ward at super-middle, more than 20 pounds separate them. For now, fans and Showtime will just be happy if Mayweather agrees to fight Canelo Alvarez. To stay in the debate, however, you have to remind everybody you’re still in the game. Inactivity is a sure way to drift out of mind and out of contention.

Shoulder surgery in January limited Ward to only one fight – a victory over Chad Dawson more than eight months ago – since beating Carl Froch in December, 2011. If not emeritus, Ward wasn’t exactly active. Now, he plans to resume his career in September. The timing of his statement to the WBC coincides with his appearance Saturday in London as a ringside analyst for HBO’s telecast of the Froch-Mikkel Kessler rematch. He’s back in the headlines, back in the hunt and poised to re-assert himself in a race with Mayweather for pound-for-pound supremacy.

It’s still not clear who Ward will fight in September. But he has said he eventually wants Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., expected to face Brian Vera on August 3 in Mexico City. Chavez promoter Bob Arum also says he foresees a bout with Ward.

It would be a biggie for both. For Chavez, it’s a chance to resurrect his reputation after haphazard training and a one-sided loss to Sergio Martinez exasperated Mexican fans hoping for a second-coming of his legendary dad. For Ward, it’s a chance to win over Mexican fans, the demographic that can turn a good fighter into a pay-per-view star. To wit: Manny Pacquiao. Without Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao would not have blown up into a worldwide phenomenon.

A Chavez fight in August eliminates a September bout against Ward, although it’s fun to wonder whether Arum might be tempted. If the promoter could talk Chavez out of Vera in August and ask him to go straight to Ward on Sept. 14, he might have a fight that would compete with any Mayweather bout not involving Canelo.

Let’s say there’s a repeat of the Top Rank-Golden Boy rivalry played out last September in Las Vegas with Martinez-Chavez at Thomas & Mack Center and Canelo’s victory over Josesito Lopez at the MGM Grand. Which one would you watch? HBO’s Chavez-Ward at Thomas & Mack or Showtime’s Mayweather-Devon Alexander at the MGM Grand?

It’s speculative. Even mythical. Then again, so is the pound-for-pound debate, which Ward brought back by getting back into the headlines.

“Yes, right,” said Argentine Lucas Matthysse in Spanish, Saturday, when asked if he next wished to fight junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia. “For that reason, I am thankful to Golden Boy and Al Haymon. They are going to get me that fight, and I know that it is going to be like that.”

Hear the difference in tone? It is not a translation trick but the firmness of a man expressing a proper understanding of power’s proper balance. Having undone Lamont Peterson in fewer than three rounds at Boardwalk Hall, Matthysse did not plead with his promoter to fulfill a contract tortured by an attorney from English to Latin and back, nor did he bend his knee in supplication to a manager or television exec. Matthysse instead gave a polite order to his American promoter, manager and network in the clear language of one genuinely empowered: Thank you in advance.

What you feel about Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse today is a thing to take measure of, perhaps record in a diary, and use as your standard to come, because what you feel is genuine enthusiasm, the euphoria of discovery, a sensation of hopefulness one gets when he realizes the world is a more original, entertaining place than previously surmised. The optimism comes from a place of promise: If this discovery happened, there was a wondrous thing out there I knew nothing about, which means there are other wondrous things out there I know nothing about, wondrous things I necessarily know nothing about knowing nothing about, and life might put them in my way, and what better reason to answer tomorrow’s alarmclock?

Everyone appears to realize the epiphany of Matthysse except Matthysse, and why would he? He is the person he expects himself to be, courteously indifferent and trancedly unbothered by what details modern fight fans think need admiring – entrance music, posse count, apparel sponsorships, purse sizes, management choices.

Ah, management choices; one of the more enchanting things about Matthysse is how he tells Jim Gray whatever he wishes after a fight because Gray works for Richard Schaefer who works for Al Haymon who works for Lucas Matthysse. For once a Haymon-managed fighter did not begin by thanking Haymon and God, reconfigurable in many fighters’ minds, but directed a man whom he pays as an employee. It is sensed, and quivers every brink-pink strand of their free-market pom-poms, while manifesting itself most deliciously in the spectacle of Schaefer arresting Gray’s microphone to whoop like an apprentice hype-man at a freestyle battle.

There is a financial component to this, of course; Matthysse understands what fellow Argentine Sergio Martinez, too, understands: He now needs his promotional team fractionally much as they need him. But there is also a cultural component one sees in other Latino phenoms like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: They originate in lands where their country’s best athletes amassed incredible stores of celebrity and wealth in a sport, soccer (fútbol [whatever]), unbroadcasted by American networks. Alvarez visited with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto last month. Martinez’s last kickoff press conference was emceed by Argentine president Cristina Kirchner. To empathize with how such experiences might affect these men, an American can answer this question: After a meeting with Barack Obama, how seriously would I take a promoter promising I might, with his help, someday, if I’m incredibly lucky, make it to the prestigious airwaves of Showtime?

There will ever be a place for a handsome guy with knockout power in both hands, a place in our sport, a place in general sports lore, a place in popular culture at large, and even if Matthysse somehow does not know this, he necessarily senses it, and if he feels any compulsion whatever, and perhaps he does not, it is a compulsion to verily pain the man across from him, as he did in quick time against Lamont Peterson, Saturday.

Much could be deduced from the final instants of round 1, when Matthysse landed a leaping lefthook lead that imparted to Peterson such significance all athleticism fled Peterson’s legs in the minute that followed, a minute after this moment: At the bell Matthysse watched Peterson take his first steps towards the corner, with a predator’s facade, placid to a point of complacency, one not often seen since Juan Manuel Marquez studied Juan Diaz at the close of every round in Houston – like a disinterested curator pondering a work’s craquelure. “The Machine” confirmed about Peterson what Matthysse enters every fight suspecting of every opponent: He is fragile.

Matthysse then waited a few minutes before timing Peterson’s jab, using the twitch of Peterson’s left shoulder as a trigger, and spear-chiseling him with a right cross that drained the match of any suspense save: How badly will Lucas hurt Lamont?

Both men started left hooks in the middle of round 3, and while Matthysse’s arrived earlier by a piece of a second, the difference in the punches’ effects was anticipated by their hips, not their fists: Matthysse squared his feet and completed a 180-degree hip turn before his punch struck. Peterson threw his punch more correctly – short, balanced, fist pronated – and it made Matthysse’s eyes widen for a moment, which is now a solacing detail Peterson might find on replay, since Peterson was, by the time Matthysse reacted, dropping canvasward in the unresisting way unique to the freshly unconscious.

Welcome to boxing’s new pleasure, then, a comely man who unwreathes other men with a dispassionate glaze on his eyes that he rinses with tears at the mention of his daughter’s name on an American television channel he cares rather little about.

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

ATLANTIC CITY–In a fight between two reigning beltholders, Lucas Matthysse made a bold statement by wrecking IBF Jr. Welterweight champion Lamont Peterson in round three of their twelve round fight at Boardwalk Hall

Matthysse dropped Peterson with a vicious left hook in round two. Peterson fought back and landed some shots but Matthysse’s power Made a huge impact as he dumped Peterson in span of seconds from two huge left hooks and referee Steve Smoger stopped the fight at 2:14.

Matthysse who was looking a potential September 7th bout with Danny Garcia now with this performance could vault to the head of the line to fight pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather.

Matthysse of Argentina is now 34-2 with 32 knockouts. Peterson of Washington, DC is now 31-2-1.

After the fight, Matthysse spoke through a translator, “The first round I was trying to find out what I was bringing to the fight. After the second round I started connecting with more force. I had two and a half months of preparation for this fight and that was the difference.”

Feeling confident, Matthysse boasted, “Now I know I am the best at 140 pounds because no one has ever dominated Peterson the way I did tonight.”

When asked by SHOWTIME reporter Jim Gray if he would like to fight Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Danny Garcia, who was in attendance at Boardwalk Hall, Matthysse responded, “Golden Boy and Al Haymon will get me that fight. I’m ready for that fight. I want to fight him.”

Gray also spoke with Peterson right after the fight and asked how he felt following the three knockdowns. Peterson said, “I feel good. There is nothing physically wrong with me right now. Of course I am upset that I lost, but so far I feel good.”

On his performance, “I think I got a little lazy with the jab. I started relaxing a little bit…I guess he hit me with a good shot. He did a good job. I recovered from that first knockdown and I was okay for a while and then, eventually, he hit me again and he hurt me again. I still thought I could have fought through it but the ref did the right thing. I guess tonight he was (the better fighter). He won the fight fair and square tonight. He’s a good fighter.”

In round one, Alexander looked to be dominant as he landed some hard body shots to start the round and then some scraping lefts and uppercuts to close the stanza. Alexander continued to outclass the visitor while standing in the pocket and landing some great shots. Purdy was game and landed a few left hooks on the inside. The accumulation of blows began to show in round six as blood came down from the nostrils of Purdy.

Alexander continued using Purdy for target practice in round seven to the point that fight was stopped in the corner following that frame.

Alexander, 146.7 lbs of St. Louis is now 25-1 with 14 knockouts. Purdy, 147.8 lbs of Colchester, UK is now 20-4-1.

The fight was to be contested for Alexander’s IBF Welterweight title but Purdy weighed in one pound over the limit. He could only lose one-quarter of a pound and was fined ten percent of his reported $150,000 purse

Alexander admitted that he wasn’t able to fight to the best of his ability due to an injury. “I hurt my left hand in the first round actually. I hit him on top of the head. I hurt my hand, but I had to get that out of my mind. I had to fight to win. I wanted to impress tonight. My left hand was on point in camp. When I hurt my biceps, that strengthened my left hand so it would have been popping real hard, but I hurt it. I had to set it up softly. I wanted to use my hook and my upper cut but I couldn’t.”

He continued, “There are going to be a lot of critics saying Purdy wasn’t all that anyway, but he’s a good fighter. Over in the U.K. he beat some good guys and I think he was very suitable. He came to fight and he gave me a good fight. I got the win. I got the technical knockout.”

Haroon needed just fifty-seven seconds to dispatch of Vicente Medellin in a scheduled four round Bantamweight bout.

Khan dropped Medellin twice and the fight was stopped.

Khan, 116 1/2 lbs of Bolton, Englans is 2-0 with 1 knockout, Medellin, 115 lbs of Riverside, CA is 0-6.

In a battle of undefeated Welterweights, Shawn Porter had a relatively easy time with Phil Lo Greco as pounded out a unanimous decision.

In round one, Porter tried to back up Lo Greco with some solid body work. In round two, Porter landed a hard combination that backed up Lo Greco which led to two hard uppercuts on the ropes. Porter came out and in round four and landed some hard combinations. Later in the round, Porter ripped Lo Greco with a hard one-two combination. Porter then rocked Lo Greco with hard left hook in the fifth.

Porter continued to dominate and score a dubious knockdown with what looked like a left hook. In the tenth, Porter scored a more emphatic knockdown when he dropped Porter with a left hook. After that, Lo Greco did well to hold on to last the distance.

Porter, 150 lbs of Las Vegas won by scores of 100-88 on two cards and 99-89 and is now 21-1-1. Lo Greco, 150 lbs of Toronto is now 25-1.

Thomas Williams Jr. scored an eight round unanimous decision over veteran Otis Griffin in Light Heavyweight bout.

Williams boxed well over the first few rounds. He then opened up and hurt Griffin on the ropes in the fourth. Williams landed some of his best power shots in the seventh and eighth and had Griffin reeling several times but was not able to come close to the stoppage.

Williams, 175 lbs of Washington, won by scores of 8-72, 79-73 and 79-73 and is now 14-0. Griffin, 175 lbs of Sacramento is now 24-13-2.

2012 Olympic Bronze medal winner Anthony Ogogo pounded out a six round unanimous decision over Edgar Perez in a Middleweight bout

In round two, Ogogo started landing the power punches at range. Ogogo continued to use his range and mix up his punches over the next several rounds. Ogogo was never tested and boxed his way to the decision via scores at 60-54; 60-54 and 60-53 for Ogogo.

Ogogo, 159 lbs of East Anglia, UK is 2-0. Perez, 159 lbs of Arecibo, PR is now 5-5.

Cesar Seda banged out an eight round unanimous decision over Miguel Tamayo in a Bantamweight bout.

Seda, 117 1/2 lbs of Juana Diaz, PR won by scores of 80-70, 80-72 and 79-73 and is now 25-1. Tamayao, 117 1/2 lbs of Ciudad, MX is now 13-6-2.

Former world title challenger Anthony Peterson scored a stoppage over Dominic Salcido after round two of their scheduled ten round Lightweight bout

Peterson came out landing hard power punches in round one. In round two he scored with a vicious body shot that led to a hard barrage in the corner. Peterson continued to land with pummeling shots to the head. After the round, the fight was stopped after Salcido was deemed to have a broken nose.

Peterson, 136 1/2 lbs of Washington, D.C. is now 32-1 with 21 knockouts. Salcido, 136 1/2 lbs of Rialto, CA is now 18-5.

Three-time U.S Olympian Rau’She Warren scored a fourth round stoppage over Angel Carvajal in a scheduled four round Bantamweight bout.

Warren dropped Carvajal in round’s two and four and the bout was stopped at 2:05 of the final round.

Warren, 118 lbs of Cincinnati, OH is now 4-0 with 2 knockouts. Caravjal, 116 lbs of Chicago, IL is now 2-2.

It took two rounds and alot of vicious shots but Robert Easter Jr. scored a second round stoppage over Eduardo Guillen in a scheduled four round Light bout.

Easter landed a many hard lefts and rights that would have put most men down in the first round as Guillen was bouncing and flopping all over the ring from those shots. In round two, Easter landed a cruching left hook that looked like it almost spun Gullien’s head around before he dropped to the canvas. he was able to get up but that was not a good thing for him as another booming left hook sent him to the canvas and the fight was stopped at 1:30 of round two.

Easter, 133 1/2 lbs of Toledo, OH is now 4-0 with all wins coming early. Guillen, 132 lbs of Brownsville, TX is now 0-3.

2012 U.S. Olympian Jamel Herring opened the show with a one round beatdown over Victor Galindo in a scheduled four round Light weight bout.

Herring dropped Galindo with a hard riht to the body. Galidno continued only to absorb massive shots and finally went to his knee form another body shot. Galindo’s corner then stopped the fight at 2:01 of round one.

Herring, 134 lbs of Coram, NY is now 3-0 with 2 knockouts. Galindo, 134 1/2 lbs of San Juan, PR is 1-2

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s No.1 spot on another list of highest-paid athletes is attached to a key word: Projected.

Sports Illustrated projects Mayweather to be No. 1 in 2013 among America’s top-earning athletes on the magazine’s Fortunate 50 list at $90 million if he fights in September and adds an undisclosed percentage of pay-per-view receipts to his guarantee, which was $32.5 million for his decision over Robert Guerrero on May 4.

For now, we only have Mayweather’s promise to fight in September in what would be his second bout in a Showtime deal worth a potential $250 million for six bouts over 30 months. He hasn’t fought twice within one year since 2007.

There’s talk about Canelo Alvarez. However, a September opponent still remains undetermined. If it’s Danny Garcia or Devon Alexander instead of Canelo and his Mexican fans, pay-per-view numbers don’t figure to do much better than they did for Mayweather-Guerrero. The PPV count exceeded one million for that one, according to Showtime. That’s a good number if you don’t have to pay Mayweather’s minimum wage, $32.5 million. If you do, you start talking about Canelo as often as possible. Showtime has.

Even without any pay-per-view boost to his pay, Mayweather still would lead the SI list with two fights in 2013 worth $66 million, nearly $10 million more than the Miami Heat’s LeBron James. The NBA MVP is a distant second at $56,545,000.

Argue all you want about whether Mayweather or Andre Ward is No.1 in the pound-for-pound ratings. On the dollar-for-dollar lists, Mayweather, No 1 on Forbes’ world-wide list last June, is undisputed.

Even if he doesn’t fight in September, he would be seventh on the SI list at $32.5 million, behind injured Chicago Bulls playmaker Derrick Rose at $33,403,000 and ahead of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning at $31 million.

It’s astonishing, especially for an athlete who spent two months in jail last summer on domestic-abuse charges. Unlike every other athlete among the top 10, Mayweather doesn’t collect a projected dime from an endorsement. Thirty-nin million dollars in endorsements account from more than 50 percent of James’ money.

The absence of any endorsement money might go a long way toward explaining Mayweather’s behavior in the build-up to the Guerrero walk-over.
Mayweather, known for outrageous trash-talk, barely uttered a single profanity. Perhaps, he was trying to tell corporate America that he could sell its wares and not offend potential customers. Money, the motivator, might be more than just Mayweather’s nickname.

On another level, it’s hard to know what Mayweather’s status as the world’s top-earning athlete says about boxing. The money is a sure sign of life in a sport so often deemed dead. But it’s not necessarily a sign of health either. Mayweather is the only boxer on an SI list that includes 25 from major-league baseball, 13 from the NBA and eight from the NFL.

One athlete isn’t sport. Nobody is going to buy the pay-per-view to watch Mayweather shadow-box. In the end, a winner-take-all equation eventually leaves nothing, nothing-at-all.

AZ NOTES
Iron Boy Promotions will stage its seventh card Friday night in Phoenix at Celebrity Theatre. Opening bell is scheduled for 6 p.m. (PST). Ten pro bouts and five amateur are on the card. Bantamweight Francisco C. De Vaca is donating his purse to the Arizona chapter of the Breast Cancer Society.

To return to aficionados’ better graces, Saturday Lamont Peterson must perform a stern act of contrition at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, one from which his career is unlikely to emerge intact: a visit to the crucible Argentine Lucas Matthysse makes of a prizefighting ring, a place of penance whence no prizefighter returns undamaged.

What Peterson confronted when he faced Kendall Holt in February is not nearly what will confront him Saturday. Matthysse has none of Holt’s regard for personal safety; Holt possess a certain frailty, like all power punchers, a certain possibility of discouragement that seems untroubling to Matthysse – who luxuriates in knowing that no matter the result, so long as he applies himself relentlessly, his admirers, both male and female, will applaud him because his opponent will be hurt. A scroll through Matthysse’s BoxRec entry since 2009 is instructive: “Castaneda down three times” / “Judah down in rd 10” / “Corley down twice in the 5th, once in the 6th and 3 times in each of the 7th and 8th rounds” / “Alexander down once in rd 4” / “Soto down once at the end of rd 5” . . . and those don’t include what five other prizefights Matthysse ended prematurely.

Lamont Peterson, a man whose persona was fabricated upon making people feel good about him (and in self-interest’s anfractuous way, good about themselves by projection), a man whose career was resurrected after he won cleanly perhaps two rounds, though officially even fewer unanimously, against Timothy Bradley 3 1/2 years ago, resurrected after a draw with flighty Victor Ortiz in 2010 and a surprise decision victory over fragile Amir Khan in 2011, has fought but once in 18 months.

This is because Peterson’s confirmatory B sample came back positive one year ago last week for a banned substance later obfuscated as a non-enhancing form of “bioidentical testosterone derived from soy” by a doctor in the medical-research hotbed of Las Vegas, where Peterson went to be diagnosed with hypogonadism, a condition that caused the testosterone levels of this muscular, fully bearded professional athlete to be so perilously low it “literally shocked” his esteemed physician. Peterson has been forgiven mostly by fans and certainly by the IBF, whose junior welterweight belt he will not defend Saturday, for a pretty simple reason: Fans don’t care about the use of PEDs because fans are paying to be entertained, and athletes who use PEDs are more entertaining than athletes who do not.

There is a parallel to be draughted, a parallel worthy of much greater investigation than it will receive here and now, between the painters of the Renaissance and the athletes of today. In his formative work, “Secret Knowledge,” a book whose study would replace entire art-history departments were academia a meritocracy, British artist David Hockney asserts the historic progression that painting undertook before and during the Renaissance was a technological leap first of all. Beginning most evidently with Jan Van Eyck’s 1434 depiction of a golden chandelier in “The Arnolfini Wedding,” painters employed lenses, which took nature’s camera effect – one first commented on by the ancient Greeks – and projected subjects’ likenesses on a screen, from which they could be traced, a practice that continued uninterrupted until, about 400 years later, chemistry replaced the artist’s hand with a process that became known as photography.

When a person visits, say, National Gallery of Ireland and beholds Caravaggio’s seminal 1602 work, “The Taking of Christ,” and proclaims to her peers, why, it looks just like a photograph!, she doubtfully knows how very right she is. Caravaggio, like Van Eyck before him, and Velazquez and Vermeer after him, fulfilled a demand for realism made by his patrons: the most realistic image wins, and the means of accomplishing such realism should be protected assiduously as the trade secret it is. As Hockney returned to the masterpieces of the last half-millennium and scrutinized them with the improved eye of a skeptic, so might sports fans return to the accomplishments of the last 30 years at least – the records that were set, the feats of theretofore impossible athleticism now routinely accomplished – and assume guilt, always, contrary to what generous impulses they otherwise assign themselves.

Boxing fans were for the most part angry at Peterson for getting caught, if we’re being honest: They wanted a rematch, and Peterson’s carelessness got that rematch cancelled. Sportswriters, meanwhile, were more enraged by the false piety of the spectacle – from the promoter’s self-aggrandizement to the Peterson camp’s ludicrous explanation to the way Peterson’s positive results aged the florid prose with which writers adorned the story of upstanding Lamont, brother Anthony and trainer Barry. Lance Armstrong, now famous for cycling, taught the unscrupulous world of professional athletics how to put the First Amendment on ice with well-placed lawsuits – and that was before every contributor had to “agree to indemnify and hold harmless” his publisher. Telling a reader his hero was a product of chemistry more than work ethic was ever thankless, long before writers were legally liable, as individuals, for doing so.

While it was possible for master painters to take the lessons taught them by lenses and evolve beyond them – Rembrandt and Velazquez certainly did, and Vermeer used them creatively enough to make their obvious use an artform of its own – such is not and will never be possible for athletes, men whose talents are eclipsed by years at the same ages others’ talents are enhanced by them. Lamont Peterson will not return to the form he showed in training camp a year ago, or probably the form he showed against Amir Khan, or probably the form he showed against Timothy Bradley, such as it was, when he fights Lucas Matthysse.

This is a fine turn for all but a handful of Saturday viewers, as the rest of us would like nothing better than ghoulishly to indulge what sadistic impulses delight at others’ subjections to pain – and all the better if a sense of justice can be invoked.

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

Canelo Alvarez emerges as the biggest winner from Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s predictable and perhaps necessary victory over Robert Guerrero. Argue you all you want about the merits of Mayweather’s dominance. Get over it. Doesn’t matter. Besides, what did anyone really expect?

If dollars are the most reliable path in boxing or any other business, it was no surprise. Follow the purses. According to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather’s guarantee was $32.5 million. Guerrero’s was $3 million.
Mayweather’s compensation was 10.83 times more than Guerrero’s paycheck. That’s a long way from the widening gap that separates CEO from employee in today’s America. According to various sources, that number is bigger by 350 to 354 times, or more canyon than gap.

No matter how it’s calculated, here’s the bottom line: Guerrero did what he was hired to do. He was virtually Mayweather’s employee. He might as well have come into the ring on May 4 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand wearing one of those caps that say TMT, the Mayweather logo that stands for The Money Team.

Guerrero clocked in at opening bell and clocked out after 12 rounds of work. He allowed Mayweather to shake off some rust and re-establish a working relationship with his dad, Floyd Sr., who is back as his trainer. Above all, Guerrero was a vehicle for Mayweather to test his readiness for a Showtime contract worth $250 million if he fights five more times over the next 30 months. So far, so good.

But the tune-up Mayweather needed left a potential problem. Guerrero is everything that Alvarez is not. Alvarez continues to emerge as a Mayweather equal at the box office with proven drawing power absent on May 4. As of Thursday, pay-per-view numbers had yet to be released. If – as rumored – they fall short of expectations, Alvarez’ importance to Showtime’s deal with Mayweather grows.

Even if the numbers are better than speculated, Alvarez-Mayweather is the fight Showtime must have if the deal is to succeed. Alvarez, of Guadalajara, is the red-head Pied Piper for Mexican fans. He brings the Mexican audience. No demographic is more important in boxing. Mayweather seemed to forget that on May 4 when he tried to appropriate the popular Cinco de Mayo holiday for himself. On fight posters, the celebratory weekend was called May Day.

In 2007, Mayweather wore a sombrero and Mexican colors into the ring before a split-decision on May 5 over Oscar de la Hoya. That might have been a little over the top, but it worked because it acknowledged an audience that has helped him make all that Money. His tip of the sombrero was noticed then. Six years later, I can’t help but think there’s annoyance at suddenly seeing his signature on the same weekend that is Mexican history.

In a savvy move, Alvarez displayed business smarts usually associated with Mayweather when he decided not to fight on the May 4 card, because he couldn’t be guaranteed a Mayweather fight on September 14. Instead, he moved into the main event in a victory on April 20 over Austin Trout in San Antonio. A crowd of nearly 40,000 showed up at the Alamodome. Ticket prices were cheaper than they were in Vegas for Mayweather-Guerrero. But would 40,000 have shown up for Mayweather-Guerrero in San Antonio?

It’s impossible to say what the pay-per-view audience would have been on May 4 if Alvarez had been on the card. But it’s fair to assume they would have been better than whatever the official tally winds up being. Talks for Alvarez-Mayweather reportedly are already underway. At this point, the proposed financial split is anybody’s guess. But here’s a good one: Alvarez won’t fight for $3 million. Multiply Guerrero’s guarantee five times, add a substantial percentage of the Mexican television revenue to Alvarez’ purse and you might get a deal.

We say might, because it’s hard to know how Mayweather will react. He has a history of dictating terms, a factor in the abortive talks for a fight with Manny Pacquiao. If Home Box Office had signed a Showtime-like deal with Mayweather, HBO might still be counting its losses. An HBO deal with Mayweather would have needed Pacquiao then as much as Showtime needs Alvarez now.

Time could be pushing Mayweather to an Alvarez fight sooner than anyone might have expected. At 36, Mayweather is probably a step or two beyond his prime. He said after beating Guerrero that he is five fights from retirement. His best chance might be now instead of later against the 22-year-old Alvarez, who is still approaching his prime.
Meanwhile, the ambitious Alvarez might pay for some youthful impatience. He continues to lobby for Mayweather. Alvarez fights at 154 pounds. Mayweather, comfortable at welterweight, could demand a fight at 147, forcing him into a diet and regimen that could weaken him. There are warnings that Alvarez is getting ahead of himself. Friends and associates are telling him to fight Miguel Cotto first. They are asking him to wait.

But time, money, Mexican fans, Canelo’s ambitions and his emerging role as a make-or-break component in Showtime’s deal with Mayweather are creating momentum hard to stop.

Saturday heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko knocked out a 240-pound Italian named Francesco Pianeta, and few in the United States without an internet connection saw it, and many fewer cared, because there is no interest in Klitschko; because he is dominant his fights are too predictable. Some hours later, in a fight many more Americans knew and cared about, Floyd Mayweather dominated challenger Robert Guerrero in predictable a match as fans have paid extra to see since Mayweather’s last.

In his first event since beating Miguel Cotto a year ago by slightly more lopsided scores than he beat Guerrero, Mayweather allowed Guerrero, and pay-per viewers, six minutes of hope the fight would be entertaining and Guerrero could be competitive, and then, his paycheck cleared, Mayweather snatched all hope away, strolling to a unanimous decision and promising, as he does every year, to fight again soon – early, this time, as September.

The worst blow the Mayweather brand could sustain would be an increase in its namesake’s activity. His admirers ask to see more of him because it is the reasonable request any admirer makes any object of his affection, a request that relies upon a humility that goes: I am not observant enough to capture all your colors and luminosity on first sight and must look and look again and more closely till I have cataloged the entirety of your charms.

But the prefight Mayweather documentaries, saturating and interchangeable, revealed this: The more time you spend round Mayweather, the duller he gets. Have you ever seen so many people nodding-off, catching naps or crashed on couches, while the subject of a documentary – a subject worthy of a documentary, rather – is awake and performing? Showtime featured four or five documentaries on Mayweather, or perhaps they were two, or 47 (it’s impossible for an average mind to keep them separate), that held a revelation and a question: First, everyone falls asleep after a couple hours in Mayweather’s presence, and second, did a 36-year-old really just write his name on the steamed window of a shower door?

A Mayweather event is more spectacle than combat, more fashion art than fine art, and absolutely worth the 70 annual dollars that has become its tariff. But who that has $140 of disposable income – as opposed to money borrowed from mom – would pay it to watch the spectacle twice? It is a question Showtime unadvisedly will answer if given its druthers, one Mayweather is probably too wise to answer. An all-time great handicapper of challengers, Mayweather is too knowledgeable about boxing to find his prizefights entertaining enough to watch twice.

Were he able regularly to end his matches with violence, like he ended Ricky Hatton or even Victor Ortiz, tip the highlight-reel maker, as it were, instead of doffing his cap at B+ opponents postfight, he could work at Manny Pacquiao’s previous rate, or at least try his (right) hand at it. Therein lies the problem: Mayweather’s best punch is the potshot right – a demonstrated susceptibility to which will land you a fight with Mayweather quickest of all – but that hand is brittle a weapon as there is in our beloved sport.

A man does not strike another easily with one punch as Mayweather began to do to Guerrero with righthands in round 3 and then stop unless his hand is fragile or he wishes to carry his opponent. While either is possible when a salesman like Mayweather makes a fight with an opponent pedestrian as Guerrero, probability favors Mayweather’s history of hand problems, though Mayweather detractors are cautioned not to become hopeful about the future: His fight with Carlos Baldomir showed “Money” is still less entertaining in a one-handed fight.

Saturday’s match followed Mayweather’s three-part design; there were the studying rounds followed by the potshotting rounds followed by the uppercutting rounds. Guerrero was a relevance during the first part; Mayweather tied him up and tasted his counters and drew the perimeter in which he might creatively roam for the next half hour. After the second round, Guerrero was a target, interchangeable with Shane Mosley or Oscar De La Hoya.

Mayweather confounded Guerrero by hitting him with righthands from everywhere, hard, accurate, stinging punches Guerrero likely fancied himself walking through in training camp without fancying how impossibly far away Mayweather would be by the time Guerrero’s neurons registered the punch, without fathoming Mayweather’s head and foot would follow directly behind his glove, on a plane so confoundingly low to Guerrero’s left-cross counter they might well have been attached.

Then Guerrero was too confused to hurt Mayweather by any one punch he landed, every punch now thrown from a tentative mien that asked over and again “Is this an opening or a trap?” – then once Guerrero realized it was an opening and tried to repeat the punch, the opening was gone. To hurt Mayweather, as Mosely did, you must put all your confidence behind a punch that exploits an actual opening; it is boxing’s rarest occurrence because you are hoping, not exploiting, in the opening rounds, and by the time you are familiar enough with Mayweather’s rhythm and patterns to see an actual opening, you no longer have confidence enough to make a dent.

Part three of the Mayweather design was to drop a then-desperate Guerrero on right uppercuts the way Andre Berto did. This final phase failed only because Mayweather lacked the commitment to throw his evidently damaged right hand with the force required to position it properly for greeting Guerrero’s downrushing chin.

Mayweather is in danger now of becoming Wladimir Klitschko. He is a fighter too dominant for his own good who may be about to learn it is disproportionately easier to filch $70/year from American consumers than $140. Mayweather’s next fight will open at odds even with those that say it will not do a million buys.

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

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t exactly easy money. More like seed money.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. planted what he hopes will blossom into five
more Showtime fights for $250 million with a decision more one-sided
than unanimous Saturday night over Robert Guerrero in a welterweight
bout at the MGM Grand.

“Five more to go,’’ Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) said. “Let’s do it.’’

Can he? That answer was the key to Mayweather’s first fight since
his release from jail late last summer and his first bout since
beating Miguel Cotto a year ago.

Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs) was there, perhaps, because he is as
tough as he was overmatched. His lack of speed and limited athleticism
made a Mayweather victory likely. It was the same on all three cards.
Judges Julie Lederman, Jerry Roth and Duane Ford scored it 117-111,
each for Mayweather.

On the 15 Rounds card, Mayweather was a 120-109 winner with
Guerrero failing to win a round. 15 Rounds scored the first round
even. Guerrero appeared to be winning the second, but that proved to
be the beginning of the inevitable when Mayweather stole the round by
landing the first right hand in what turned into avalanche of rights.

Guerrero wound up bloodied above one eye. The ringside physician
looked at the eye after the eighth. But the doctor decided that
Guerrero could continue.

“He was hard to hit,’’ Geurrero said. “But I’ll be back. Maybe
back for a rematch.’’

Guerrero was hurt, yet upright. In hindsight, that’s why he was
picked to be Mayweather’s first opponent in the Showtime deal. Every
new vehicle needs a test drive. Mayweather got the full, 12-round
drive, shaking off some initial stiffness and establishing some
familiar fluidity later.

There were also no hitches in the reunion with his dad, Floyd
Mayweather Sr., as his trainer. Roger Mayweather, his uncle and his
lead trainer for years, wasn’t in the corner, although he was in
middleweight J’Leon Love’s corner for a controversial victory on the
undercard.

“My father provided defense,’’ Mayweather Jr. said. “The less you
get hit, the longer you last.’’

Durability is the key if Mayweather hopes to collect the $250
million that is there if he fights five more times over the next 30
months. Even in the Guerrero fight, he might have suffered a
problematic injury. He complained of pain in his right hand, which he
said he hurt midway through the bout.

“I feel bad I didn’t give the fans a knockout,’’ said Mayweather,
who was guaranteed $32 million, more than 10 times Guerrero’s $3
million, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic
Commission. “I was looking for it. I hurt my right hand.’’

It wasn’t known late Saturday whether the hand was hurt bad enough
to prevent him from fighting in September.

“I plan to fight in September, yes,’’ Mayweather said a couple
hours after defeating Guerrero.

Even if healthy, however, Mayweather’s history indicates that five
more fights over the term of the deal are unlikely. He hasn’t fought
twice within 12 months since 2007.

Canelo Alvarez, the popular Mexican red-head, has called out
Mayweather repeatedly. After beating Austin Trout in San Antonio,
Alvarez again said he wanted to fight Mayweather. For Showtime, a deal
without Canelo-Mayweather would seem to be a bad one. Showtime, Golden
Boy Promotions, Mayweather and Canelo have 30 months to get it done.

If there is a Mayweather fight in September without Alvarez, there
are other possibilities. Danny Garcia, the current junior-welterweight
champion, was mentioned in Saturday night’s aftermath. Welterweight
Devon Alexander was another possibility.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer talked about somebody special.

A “red-headed” somebody, he said.

Schaefer didn’t have to say who.

After what happened Saturday night, talk about Mayweather-Alvarez
took on a momentum all its own.

Best of the Undercard

It was friendly fire, the toughest kind of all.

But a contract between longtime pals and sometime sparring
partners, Abner Mares and Daniel Ponce De Leon, had to be fulfilled.

It was.

In full.

Mares (26-0-1, 14 KOs) made sure of it with a brilliant display of
versatility and surprising power for two knockdowns in a ninth round
TKO of Ponce De Leon (44-5, 35 KOs) for the World Boxing Council’s
featherweight title.

“He’s my friend,’’ said Mares, whose friendship with Ponce De Leon
includes the same manager, Frank Espinoza. “I wanted him to stay down,
especially after I dropped him the second time. You just don’t want to
keep hitting a friend.’’

There was some mild controversy over whether Mares should have
been allowed to. After dropping Ponce De Leon with a right in the
ninth, Mares pursued and caught him along the ropes with succession of
blows. At 2:20 of the ninth, referee had seen enough. Jay Nady ended
it, despite Ponce De Leon’s pleas for more.

“I don’t feel the fight should have been stopped,’’ said Ponce De
Leon, who also said he wants a rematch.

Friendship’s perks might get him one, although that would still
leave him with an impossible task. In Mares’ first fight at 126
pounds, he knocked down Ponce De Leon with a left in the second and a
right in the ninth.

“I think I confused him,’’ said Mares, who dedicated the victory to
his father. His dad suffered a stroke nearly a month ago.

The Rest

· A move up in weight embellished Leo Santa Cruz’ emerging
status as perhaps the best fighter in the 118-to-126-pound range with
an overwhelming stoppage of ex-flyweight champ Alexander Munoz of
Venezuela in a junior-feather bout. Santa Cruz, of Los Angeles,
dedicated his victory to an ailing brother. “He’s fighting for his
life,’’ Santa Cruz (24-0-1, 14 KOs) said. He fought for him, knocking
down Munoz (36-5, 28 KOs) in the third, rocking him with head-snapping
punches in the fourth and finishing him off with a right-left
combination at 1:05 of the fifth. Santa Cruz landed an astonishing
219 punches before five rounds were complete, according to CompuBox.
Santa Cruz might be next for Mares, according to Golden Boy Promotions
CEO Richard Schaefer.

· Las Vegas middleweight J’Leon Love (16-0, 8 KOs) got no love
in getting a split decision, booed loudly and often, over Garbriel
Rosado (21-7, 13 KOs), who lost despite scoring a knockdown in the
sixth round with a right. “It is what it is,’’ Love, a Mayweather
Promotions prospect, said after the 10-round victory over Rosado, a
Philadelphia fighter who sat on top of the ropes in his corner and
shook his head as if to say it was lousy.

· Las Vegas super-middleweight Ronald Gavril (4-0, 1 KO) closed
the non-televised portion of the pay-per-view card with a sweeping
right hook that appeared to leave Roberto Yong (5-7-2, 4 KOs) of
Phoenix defenseless and without a chance. Referee Russell Mora
stopped, making Gavril a TKO winner at 2:12 of the third round.

· Super-middleweight Luis Arias (5-0, 3 KOs), a Cuban
super-middleweight now living in Las Vegas, relied on a solid right
to survive some rocky moments and repeated left hands from DonYil
Livingston (8-3-1, 4 KOs) of Palmdale, Calif., for a six-round victory
by majority decision.

· Las Vegas light heavyweight Badou Jack (14-0, 10 KOs) of
Mayweather Promotions landed a right-handed body punch that put
Michael Gbenga (13-8, 3 KOs) to one knee in the third. Gbenga of
Silver Springs, Md., complained that the punch was a low blow. Video
said otherwise. Jack stayed unbeaten, winning a third-round TKO.

· Las Vegas super-middleweight Lanell Bellows (4-0-1, 4 KOs)
won a fourth-round stoppage over Matthew Garretson (2-1, 1 KO) of
Charleston, WV.

LAS VEGAS – It was a weigh-in noteworthy for what didn’t happen. Ruben Guerrero behaved himself. Sort of.

Expectations for a brawl before opening bell weren’t fulfilled Friday in a pre-fight ritual that went off almost as if it had been rehearsed. Robert Guerrero was at 147 pounds, the welterweight limit, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was one pound under at 146 for a bout on Showtime’s pay-per-view television Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Escalating trash talk had set the stage for one of those confrontations that often send weigh-ins spinning into some unregulated violence. Ruben Guerrero, Robert’s dad and trainer, fueled much of it with insults that went viral Wednesday when he repeatedly mocked Mayweather and his jail sentence last summer for domestic abuse.

If the insults bothered Mayweather, however, there were no signs of it when he took his turn on the scale. He smiled at a noisy crowd of a few thousand fans. He blew kisses at them as he walked onto the stage. Mayweather has been CEO cool and calm, almost eerily so, throughout the buildup for his first bout since his last fight, a victory over Miguel Cotto a year ago.

There’s been a lot of amateur psychology floating around, suggesting that Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) is a different person. Even his dad and lead trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., has said jail changed his son. Maybe.

In the pre-fight proceedings for Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs), he’s been more careful with what he says and how he says it. If anything, he relinquished his trash-talk title to Guerrero’s dad, Ruben, who was watched by vigilant Golden Boy Promotion officials throughout the weigh-in. They didn’t want an ugly incident.

The stare-down after both stepped off the scale lasted about a minute. It ended when Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez pulled Guerrero away. In bit of a surprise, Robert appeared to be more animated than anybody, even his dad. He was asked about what he was thinking while looking into Mayweather’s unblinking eyes.

“Thinking about getting down, that’s what I was thinking about,’’ Guerrero said with an edge of excitement in his tone. “Got to beat him down. Got to take full advantage of it.’’

There’s been speculation that Guerrero might get overwhelmed in his first experience on boxing’s biggest and richest stage. According to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather is guaranteed $32 million for his first fight under a Showtime deal worth a potential $250 million if he fights six times over the next 30 months. Guerrero will get $3 million.

Maybe, that helps explain his father’s antics. Dad has been diverting some of the attention and subsequent pressure onto himself and away from his son. Maybe.

Both fighters enter the ring with their own back stories. Guerrero has his wife, Casey, and his role in her fight against leukemia. He also has his faith, an element that stands in contrast to Mayweather’s flamboyant lifestyle, summed up by his nickname, Money. Yet, controversy also is part of Guerrero’s tale of the tape. He’s facing gun possession charges in New York, for allegedly trying to bring a weapon onto a flight in checked baggage.

Mayweather’s crazy family is never from his story. His dad, often estranged, is back in his son’s corner. As of late Monday, it still had not been determined whether Roger Mayweather, his uncle, would work the corner with Floyd Sr. Roger has diabetes. Floyd Jr. said at times it affects his uncle’s vision. The only certainty Friday was that Floyd Sr., would run the corner. A reunion between father and dad has been an element to the Mayweather story for Guerrero. It’s as if Floyd Jr. is using the bout as way to repair a dysfunctional relationship.

At opening bell, however, there will be only Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero.

“He’s flat-footed,’’ said Mayweather, who also has called Guerrero a hypocrite for talking about his faith. “He fights like a grappler.’’

In Mayweather, however, Guerrero sees a 36-year-old fighter who appeared to have lost his foot speed in a bruising victory over Cotto. Mayweather likes to say that there’s no blueprint on how to beat him. Nobody has. But Guerrero, a left-hander, doesn’t believe it. He has spent a career humbling his skeptics and his faith tells him he can do it again.

“Not just to humble Floyd, but to humble the boxing world,’’ Guerrero said. “You get a lot of people out there that think Floyd’s like a god, the way he acts, the way he lives, the way he spends money, the way he boasts about stuff. You get everybody thinking that he’s unstoppable, that nobody could beat him. That with Floyd, there’s no blueprint to beat him. You can’t break him down. But you know what? Being a big believer in God, there’s a blueprint for everybody.”

LAS VEGAS – Frank Espinoza isn’t from Switzerland, but the manager might wish he was in the Alpine nation known for neutrality Saturday night instead of a ringside seat at the MGM Grand.

Espinoza won’t be able cheer.

Or boo.

Espinoza will be hamstrung from one corner to the other, tied down by contractual obligations and personal loyalty to both Abner Mares and Daniel Ponce De Leon in a featherweight fight on Showtime’s pay-per-view card featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Robert Guerrero.

“It’s a very awkward situation,” Espinoza said. “I’ll be in the ring prior to the fight, but I won’t walk with either of them or visit either in their dressing rooms. I’m as neutral as I can be.

“I’m close to both of the guys. I love them like my own sons. I just want them to both come out healthy. I’m not happy they’ll be punching each other.”

In other words, Ponce De Leon said, the fight could be harder on Espinoza, a longtime Los Angeles manager, than either of the fighters.

Neither Ponce De Leon nor Mares dared to guess who Espinoza was picking or even how their mutual manager thought the fight might end.

“He’s picking a trilogy,’’ Mares joked.

Espinoza will have the winner, Ponce De Leon said.

“He’s going to keep one champion in the company,’’ said Ponce De Leon, who holds the World Boxing Council’s version of the 126-pound title. “And it’s going to be me.’’

Mares and Ponce De Leon promised that the scorecards won’t be even. But their paychecks are. In a sure sign that Espinoza isn’t playing favorites, he negotiated $375,000 for each in a Golden Boy Promotions bout initially proposed for April 20 at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

“They’re fighters, but they’re both businessmen, and they both wanted to fight,” Espinoza said. “Fighting on this platform, Cinco de Mayo, millions of people watching two warriors, showcasing their talent. There’s no losers.

“Boxing needs the best fighting the best. I know I could’ve gone a different direction. But I got them the most money they could get from a fight now. I did my job as a manager.”

Espinoza is not the first to manage fighters in the same bout. After all, boxing has seen it all, done it all ad nauseam. A parachutist – Fan Man – dropped into the ring like the 82nd Airborne Division during the middle of an Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe rematch. Mike Tyson dined on a Holyfield ear.

But this time history doesn’t figure to repeat itself. Espinoza doesn’t have to be told about the Carlos Zarate-Alfonso Zamora Jr. bantamweight fight in April, 1977 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

Manager-trainer Arturo Hernandez worked for both Zarate and Zamora Jr. But neutrality had more holes in it than Swiss cheese for Hernandez. He played favorites. He worked the corner for Zarate, who won a fourth-round knockout. But Zarate’s victory and Hernandez’ role in it enraged Zamora’s father, who was in his son’s corner.

It’s hard to see exactly what happened in some old video on You Tube. Let’s just say that Alfonso Zamora Sr. went Ruben Guerrero, Robert’s father and trainer who became a breakout star Wednesday with insults gone viral of Mayweather during a formal news conference.

Zamora Sr. walked across the ring and kicked below – way below – the belt line, according to a couple of ringside observers, Hall of Fame promoter Don Chargin and longtime publicist Bill Caplan, who still wince when recalling a moment more than 36 years ago. Let’s just say it was beyond a low blow. It was obscene.

And, Espinoza said, Zamora Sr. kicked “more than once.’’

Neutrality, no matter how difficult, figures to be a lot less painful.

In the opening bout of the evening, Fernando Fuentes scored a four round majority decision over Cristian Lorenzo.

The bantamweight bout featured two undefeated fighters that saw Fuentes win by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38.

Fuentes, 117 ½ lbs of Hemet, CA is now 2-0-1. Lorenzo, 117 ½ lbs of Tijuana, MX is now 2-1

DALLAS – The career of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez will not end any better than our sport ends its every practitioner’s career, and that is an unfortunate revelation made obvious Saturday, when the Argentine Martinez made a homecoming title defense against Englishman Martin Murray and won a unanimous decision narrower than what its three rainswept judges, surrounded in a soccer stadium by 40,000 Argentines, tallied. The decision was not controversial because the decision was really not the point at all.

This was an exhibition, a career retrospective of Martinez’s works, and if it was rougher than planned for the homecoming champion, a scrap more than a celebration, it will not appear that way in the official record, which reads Martinez UD-12 Murray.

There is a level of introspection to Sergio Martinez that is rare among professional athletes in general and prizefighters in particular, perhaps because Martinez did not come to acclaim until he was well in his 30s, which is to impart Sergio Martinez knew himself, what he was and what he thought of what he was, before others could tell him what he was and what they thought of what he thought of what he was. There is a composure to Martinez, an affability, a willingness to show vulnerability – yes, that is the differentiating word: vulnerability – rare among professional athletes and all but impossible among prizefighters.

I spoke to him in January, nearer his penultimate fight than Saturday’s, and he was willing to describe, in surprising detail and self-deprecation, what discomfortingly intense moments ended his September match with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He treated rage-at-self and what drunkenness comes from sipping a homebrew of fatigue and abuse, and the revelatory fact nothing at the end went as he prepared it to go. Immediately after that I borrowed Thomas Hauser’s advice and asked Martinez what question he would ask those who ask him questions, his interviewers, if given the chance.

His answer was unique and personal: “What is the key to finding inspiration to write?” He spoke of what travails he encountered working on his first book, the hours cum days cum weeks of a blank page followed unexpectedly by a visit from the muse at three in the morning. Readers of this column will be unsurprised by how I answered: You must be willing to write garbage, Sergio, to keep your fingers flurrying on the keys, knowing your first draft is likely to be schlock anyway, and so why belabor it?

Saturday I was not in Buenos Aires, or Brooklyn, but rather at the final professional hockey game of the 2013 season in Lone Star State, this city’s Stars against the Detroit Red Wings, and I was not there to see either team or even the game of hockey, particularly, one I played through my adolescence, but rather an individual who plays the game close to perfectly as I have seen done: Pavel Datsyuk. His connection to Martinez is that Martinez is the professional athlete Datsyuk just edges on my list of favorite professional athletes. There is no one in any sport I appreciate more than Datsyuk.

I did not watch Saturday’s game, consequential as it was for the Red Wings franchise, but Pavel Datsyuk. When he was on the ice I followed him to the exclusion of the puck, and when he was not on the ice I was distracted, like other Texans, by campy fan-appreciation giveaways, shapely ice girls in lycra bottoms and a themeless potpourri of loud music. Datsyuk’s skating skills are now quietly eroded by knee surgeries; it is why he conserves energy by making large Cs more than large strides, more and more. His warmup stretching routine is novel for all the contortions it comprises, and his pregame skate was noteworthy for the number of times he lost edges, and the way he stood apart from the rest of the team, making passes to invisible marks on the boards, as his teammates swooped round him. While others collected pucks to fire at the Red Wings goalies – at them, not by them, by design – Datsyuk stood in innocuous places on the ice, passing the puck between the skates of his teammates to private spots on the boards.

Datsyuk is known in the league as “The Magician” for the innovative way he handles the puck, but that is missing the point of his greatness, which is a preparedness leavened by grit; no one makes it to the NHL without he can do things with a rubber disk and blacktaped blade of wood others appreciate in direct proportion to what hours they’ve practiced the same – which is altogether different from impressing naïfs and dilettantes, or Texans – but Datsyuk’s greatness is found in his individual battles with other men put on earth, they believe, only to play hockey. He defeats these men by being as good from either side of the puck, forehand or back, as no one before him has.

Martinez, for an enchanted stretch, bore a similarity to this. He stood before larger men and discouraged them, dis-couraged them, by causing their professionally aimed shots to miss by fractions of acceptable spaces in ways they could not predict. Martinez no longer has this capacity – as Martin Murray proved often, Saturday, but most especially in round 6, when Martinez invited Murray to discourage himself by missing Martinez repeatedly, and Murray repeatedly did not miss. Martinez hasn’t the technical perfection to perform adequately against larger men now that his reflexes have been taken by those larger men and what repairs to his body they’ve made necessary.

Saturday’s postfight happenings brought word Martinez will not return till April 2014. Better to call it a career, now, having filled a venue with his countrymen in a way no American prizefighter has done in decades.

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

NEW YORK–Danny Garcia retained the WBA/WBC?Ring Magazine Super Lightweight championship with a twelve round unanimous decision over former two division world champion Zab Judah at the Barclays Center.

The first few rounds were close but Garcia tried to land the hard right while Judah moved and looked for a win with the jab. Garcia had a strong round four that was highlighted by hard left hook that bounced off the jaw of Judah. Garcia had a big round five as he rocked and buckled Judah with hard right. Garcia was all over Judah and landed many power shots. Round six Garcia come out and jump all over Judah in the corner. he landed some thudding power shots that had the challenger in trouble for mist of the round.

In round eight, Judah landed his best left hand of the night but got countered with a hard right hand that sent Judah to the canvas. Upon getting to his feet a cut formed under his left eye. Judah made it a fight when rocked Garcia continuously in round eleven. A headbutt opened up a huge gash in the middle of Garcia’s frehead in the beginning of round twelve. Judah failed to capitalize on any of the momentum he garnered for himself in the previous six minutes. The two swung and connected down the stretch but Judah’s failure to unleash his left hand earlier probably cost him the contest.

Garcia won by scores 115-112, 114-112 and 116-111.

Garcia, 139.8 lbs of Philadelphia is now 26-0. Judah, 140 lbs of Brooklyn is 42-8.

After the fight Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s) praised Judah, saying, “It was a hell of a fight. I had to beat the Brooklyn guy in his hometown. I knew he had a lot of pride behind him and he was never going to give up. He is a crafty veteran with power. He hit me with a good shot. He hit me in the eleventh with a left hand that spun me around. It shook me up a little bit.”

He continued “I am a true champion and I had to fight through a storm tonight to prove that. Judah is the craftiest and strongest guy that I have fought so far. I knew he had a lot of power with the left, but I was able to stand my ground and counter it. My game plan was to try to use the jab, but he was stepping around. He was crafty and he took my jab away so I had to do what I had to do.”

Referring to the bad blood between the two fighters, Garcia said, “It’s gone. It’s respect. As you can see, it’s a lot of bad blood. I’ve got cuts. He has cuts. We came here and gave the people of Brooklyn a nice show.”

Speaking on his performance, Judah (42-8, 29 KO’s) said, “It’s boxing and things happen. You win some, you lose some. Danny is a young, tough fighter. I was on my A-game tonight. I worked hard. I had a great training camp and we gave it our best shot.”

When asked if this would be his last fight Judah emphatically responded, “You’re going to see me fight again. Why would I quit?”

Peter Quillin made the defense of the WBO Middleweight championship with a seventh round stoppage over Fernando Guerrero.

After a lackluster first round, Quillin landed a vicious right that sent Guerrero to the canvas in round two. Guerrero was hurt badly and Quillin jumped on him and landed uppercut followed by a right that dropped the challenger for a second time in the round. Quillin was not down as he buckled Guerrero badly with a ghard roght just before the round came to an end. Guerrero was having a solid round four until a big right to the temple buckled him yet again. Round five was an incredible display of courage as both guys took turns landing hard power shots at close range.

Quillin came out in round seven and dropped Guerrero in the opening seconds from a right hand that sent Guerrero rubbery legged into the bottom rope. Guerrero was hurt and ate a huge right hand that sent him flat on his back and referee Harvey Dock stopped the bout at 1:30 of round seven.

Quillin, 160 lbs from Brooklyn is now 29-0 with 21 KO’s. Guerrero, 160 lbs of Salisbury, MD is now 25-2.

After the win,Quillin reflected on his preparation and the fight itself saying, “It’s the journey that is the most important. I have to thank Fernando for coming up, but he couldn’t do it. I had to do it for New York City.

“There is no concern when you are trying to stick to the gameplan. I believed in what my corner was telling me. I value their opinion and fernando came. This wasn’t a fight that was made because we thought that I could beat Fernando Guerrero. He came and had the opportunity. I’m very thankful.

“I’m inpsired by my team. It’s always working to try to do your best. I was working hard to do my best. I put myself through a hard training camp to try to come to this fight and try to look like superman. The sky is the limit.”

Former world title challenger Daniel Jacobs scored a fourth round beatdown of Keenan Collins in a scheduled eight round Middleweight bout.

Jacobs dropped Collins twice in round four from blistering left hooks. Collins continued on until he was battered all over the ring and the fight was stopped at 2:06 of round four.

Jacobs, 161 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 25-1 with 22 knockouts. Collins, 161 lbs of Brooklyn is now 15-8-3.

Former world Welterweight champion Luis Collazo scored a fifth round stoppage over Miguel Callist in a scheduled eight round bout.

Collazo was dominant throughout as he dropped Callist in round three and round five and the fight was waved off at 1:33 of round five.

Collazo, 146.4 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 33-5 with 17 knockouts. Collins, 147.4 lbs of Brooklyn is 27-9-1.

Eddie Gomez beat up Luis Hernandez over eight rounds to pound a unanimous decision in a Jr. middleweight bout.

In round one Gomez landed some heavy blows and scored a knockdown at the end of the round with a thunderous right hand. Gomez hurt Hernandez with some vicious shots in round two. Hernandez fought back monetarily. In round three, Gomez dropped Hernandez with a short left hook. Gomez continued to pound Hernandez with hard shots. Hernandez face was bloodied from that power shots. Gomez was in cruise control until he started to pummel a battered Hernandez at the end of round seven. Gomez was never challenged in the eighth round.

Gomez, 151 lbs of Bronx, NY won by scores of 80-70, 80-70 and 79-71 and is now 14-0. Hernandez, 148.6 lbs of Ibarra, ECU is now 21-5.

Boyd Melson scored a six round unanimous decision over Edgar Perez in Jr. Middleweight bout.

Melson dropped Perez in round five from a hard straight left. Melson was all over Perez but could not finish him.

Scores were 60-53 on two cards and 59-54 for Melson, 160.6 lbs if Brooklyn and is now 10-1-1. Perez, 161.4 lbs of Arecibo, PR is now 5-4.

2012 U.S. Olympian Marcus Browne scored a second round stoppage over Tanel Goyco in a scheduled four round Light Heavyweight bout.

Browne dropped Goyco in round one from a hard left hand and again in round two from a left / right combination. Browne jumped all over Goyco and Goycos corner stopped the bout at fifty-four seconds of round two.

Browne, 175 lbs of Staten Island, NY is noiw 4-0 with all wins coming early. Goyco, 173.8 lbs of Philadelphia is now 4-6-1.

Zachary Ochoa scored a four round unanimous decision over Calvin Smith in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Ochoa, 140 lbs of Brooklyn and is now 4-0. Smith, 135 lbs of Prichard, AL is now 2-3.

Good looking Bantamweight prospect Miguel Cartagena scored a four round unanimous decision over Angel Carvaljal.

Both guys gave a good effort but Cartagena landed the harder blows and had Carvajal on the defensive after taking those shots.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Cartagena, 114.8 lbs of Philadelphia and is now 6-0. Carvajal, 117 lbs of Chicago is now 2-1

D’Mitrius Ballard scored a second round knockout over Marcus Clay in a scheduled four round Super Middleweight bout.

Ballard dropped Clay in round one from a body shot and again from a flurry of punches in round two and referee Earl Brow stopped the bout at 2:21 of round two.

Ballard, 166.6 lbs of Temple Hills, MD is 2-0 with two knockouts. Clay, 167.4 lbs of Baton Rouge, LA is 2-6.

In city where almost every other street seems to be named Peron or Evita, promoter Lou DiBella saw a middleweight’s name on cabs, buses and billboards. On DiBella’s trip from the airport to his hotel in Buenos Aires, there it was, again and again.

Sergio Martinez.

Welcome home.

“He’s really like a rock star here,’’ DiBella said.

It’s been eleven years since Martinez last fought in Argentina, a beautiful country with a star-crossed history and boxing tradition undergoing a revival because of those who left to fight elsewhere.

Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KOs) returns Saturday night on HBO (8:30 pm ET/PT) against Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KOs) after more than a decade abroad. He lived and trained in Madrid. He fought in the UK. He made a pound-for-pound name in the United States. It was a journey of discovery, a personal quest. Martinez found what he believed was always there on his horizon.

He grew up in Quilmes, south of downtown Buenos Aires in a town known for a brewery, soccer and poverty. He tried soccer. It would have been hard not to. Google Quilmes. Then, look up the list of notable people from the town of about 240,000. Almost all of them are soccer players.

He also dreamed of racing on the international bicycling circuit. But that ended when a prized bike was stolen when he was 15. That theft was part of an upbringing – mean streets, Argentina style – that prepared Martinez for what he would later forge into an instinct within a fighter ranked among the world’s top four, including Floyd Mayweather Jr., Andre Ward and Juan Manuel Marquez. Martinez, the son of a laborer, grew up around neighborhood bullies. He learned how to confront them. Fight them. Identify them.

Over the last four years, you could watch Martinez and detect an unshakable sense of self and confidence in what he can do. He engaged Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a wild punching duel in the 12th round last September. It looked like a foolish gamble then. He had an insurmountable lead on the scorecards. But he did it anyway, perhaps because he knew he could survive as he always has. It was an amazing three minutes that seemed to sum up the gutsy nature of a fighter with an unorthodox style.

Don’t look for the insecurities that lead to trash talk. You won’t find them. Don’t look for the complacency that leads to unexpected losses. It’s not there. If it had, it would have appeared and ended Martinez’ ambitions long before anybody in the U.S. of even Argentina knew who he was. He paid his dues, so often that there is widespread respect for him in his homeland. In the wake of his triumph over Chavez Jr., Martinez met Argentina’s president, Cristina Kirchner. When was the last time a U.S. fighter was invited to the White House?

“Sergio is hands down the greatest fighter I have ever promoted,” DiBella said during a conference call not long after he arrived Wednesday in Buenos Aires. “Not only because he is a terrific talent. Not only because he is at the top of the pound-for-pound list, right up there with Floyd Mayweather, but also because of the type of man he is. He is a good human being. He has a great sense of social consciousness. He’s back in his homeland where he’s waited for this opportunity, to fight again in Argentina for many, many years.

“You’re getting a chance to see a Hall of Fame fighter, who, in my mind, is one of the best middleweights who ever lived, and one of the two great middleweights in the history of Argentina.

“You can mention Sergio Martinez in the same sentence as Carlos Monzon at this point and you’re not doing any injustice to Monzon.’’

Over time, Martinez will get the appreciation he deserves. But time also poses a potential problem. He’s 38. According to longtime advisor Sampson Lewkowicz, he promised is dad that he would not fight past 40. He’s also coming off knee surgery for an injury suffered against Chavez Jr. Murray, a tough inside fighter managed by Ricky Hatton, is bound to test that right knee with pressure that will force Martinez to employ lateral movement.

There are also potential distractions. Martinez has fought in Buenos Aires, but never as a hometown hero who has captivated a nation. There were signs of it in September when a small crowd of fans waving the powder blue-and-white Argentine flag celebrated his victory over Chavez by dancing on the floor at Las Vegas Thomas & Mack Center. But that crowd figures to be just a tiny fraction of the 40,000 expected Saturday night at an outdoor soccer stadium.

Martinez is grateful for the attention.

But he promises not to be deluded by it.

“This is not going to be an easy fight, because Murray has lots to gain and little to lose,” he said. “Today, I see Murray in the same situation that I was in four years ago, and it takes a lot of hunger for glory to get here. I have nothing but respect for him.”

Respect for a craft and a country where the lessons began.

SAN ANTONIO – Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a better fighter than he appears on television, which is an ironical development given how desperately two television broadcasters, one in the U.S., one in Mexico, now crave his success. He is also better with fans and interviewers, more comfortable, more himself, if no better looking, than many stoic Mexican champions are. These are fine, important things, since Saturday at Alamodome ensured he is our sport’s future, being, as he is, the best young representative from boxing’s most reliable fanbase.

One didn’t need to be a Canelo partisan to see him win a close, clear victory over New Mexico’s Austin Trout in their junior middleweight title-unification match, Saturday, a victory judges unanimously saw Alvarez’s way: 115-112, 116-111 and 118-109. My scorecard concurred, 115-114, marking rounds 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 for Trout, rounds 1 and 4 even, and rounds 2, 3, 7, 9 and 11 for Alvarez – with round 7 going 10-8 in his favor. Additionally, I marked with an asterisk rounds 2, 3, 5, 11 and 12, as those close enough to engender goodfaith debate.

All calculus aside, my sense of the fight at ringside was that Alvarez was its winner, the man who most successfully manifested what the verb “to fight” both connotes and denotes. What is not adequately transmitted about Alvarez by television – why, once more, attending fights bests watching them through self-interested and -deluding filters – is the ferocity of his attack. He has none of the workaday commitment his countrymen typically apply to their punches, blows that hurt for being efficiently leveraged by professional fighters whose bodyweights are properly balanced over feet that are flat.

Alvarez punches to hurt his opponent in a personal way; he wants every blow to tell with a wince or whimper or welt from or on its recipient – and Alvarez flies his body at another’s in a flash of violence quickly as he returns it to a more observant mien. He sells-out with his right hand; from the opening of Saturday’s fight, long before he had Trout’s measure or any expectation he’d not be countered and then imperiled by Trout’s counter, Alvarez threw righthands recklessly, whether as straight crosses or looping hybrid hooks, while Trout threw a fleeing jab, one meant as a tasting, sampling thing, something from which he could hurriedly extract himself when it did not land – and it did not land, not fractionally often as anyone, especially Trout, thought it would.

If Alvarez’s ferocity was the evening’s best surprise, his elusiveness was runner-up. It was striking how few of Trout’s strikes got closer than near him. In the kaleidoscope of lights and colors and angles and commentary that is a televised prizefight, much of what appears a clean punch verily is not. From my ringside notes, about a round scored for Trout: “Round 5: Trout is being outclassed by Canelo. In that round Canelo didn’t land enough to win, but Trout didn’t land hardly anything either. Trout cannot seem to find Canelo.”

Thursday night Austin Trout visited San Fernando Gymnasium, downtown, for a light workout. He was very good at what he did but not great. He did mitts work at a pedestrian rate, not hitting particularly hard, not committing particularly full, not catching the center of the mitt with more than two-thirds his punches. Were he a baseball pitcher, Trout would barely miss corners, get behind in counts, and then serve a juicy fastball over the plate.

He was gracious, of course, gracious as the reputation that preceded him: After 40 minutes of shadowboxing, mitts and skipping rope, his handlers had the San Fernando faithful – mostly local boxers and their families (the workout was not public or announced) – line up at the base of the steps, make their ways to the ring, and have their pictures taken with the champ. Trout had a smile or hug or softly said pleasantry for each, even if not one bore a resemblance to him, even if every one planned to cheer Alvarez’s passionate pursuit of his unconsciousness in 48 hours.

Trout is not special as Alvarez, and that would be so even if Trout had somehow finagled a decision Saturday. When I glanced at the tally of my scorecard, I was glad to see Alvarez was the victor, because that is how the fight felt from ringside. Alvarez made the consequential choices in the fight, whether the choices that preceded his hurled righthands, or the choice to retreat to the ropes and audition for a Mayweather fight unlikely to materialize.

Or perhaps it was not an audition at all but evidence of his fatigue; it is a sapping strategy Alvarez applied Saturday, harder than pressure fighting, for its backward steps, harder than defensive boxing, for the contractions that happen an instant before throwing righthands and the exertion of stopping them when they miss. Alvarez relaxes much as possible for his style of combat, one wishing to inflict pain with every blow, he throws three punches – jab, cross and right uppercut – more efficiently than his peers, but still he gets visibly fatigued at regular intervals of a 36-minute fight, giving an opponent at least six of them through inactivity.

I have now borne eyewitness to Canelo Mania, yes, but I still do not understand it; Alvarez feels more like a 20,000-seat prizefighter than the nearly 40,000 he filled at Alamodome. He is a more suspenseful fighter in person than he appears on television, though, and more than a novel complexion, much more, which assuages a fear serious people had about him. If he is our sport’s future, he is not a bad future to have.

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

SAN ANTONIO – Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was supposed to be a heavy-footed stalker who would either grind Austin “No Doubt” Trout in the canvas with a left hook, or never close space enough to make a challenge. That was what aficionados said before the fight. That was what Trout prepared for in training camp.

How wrong they were – all of us.

Saturday at Alamodome, before a partisan-Mexican crowd of nearly 40,000, Mexico’s Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs) decisioned New Mexico’s Trout (26-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous scores of 115-112, 116-111 and 118-109 to become the unified junior middleweight champion of the world. The 15rounds.com ringside scorecard concurred with the official decision, though by a narrower margin: 115-114.

“Austin was a very difficult fighter, but I was smart,” Alvarez said afterward. “And as the fight went on, I figured out how to fight him.”

There was a ferocity to Alvarez’s punches, particularly the commitment with which he threw his right hand, that was too much for Trout’s counters. From the opening round onwards, Trout was unable to catch Alvarez with nearly as many or as much as he needed to.

“I connected with my right and my jab,” Alvarez said. “My jab was perfect.”

Alvarez, the heavy-handed Mexican, was actually more elusive than Trout, the slippery American.

“He shocked us tonight,” Trout conceded. “I was prepared for a totally different fighter.”

The quiet-spoken Trout, who made the fight close as it was with his persistence more than any other trait, appeared to have taken Alvarez more lightly than he should have. Trout’s prefight preparation assumed that so long as he did not needlessly engage Alvarez inside, he’d be able to catch the heavyfooted Mexican on the way in. That was not the case at all, as Alvarez often outjabbed Trout, and the jabs Alvarez landed were very much more than the flicking, swatting, sampling efforts Trout employed for most of the match.

“He boxed a lot better than I thought,” Trout said. “He moved a lot better than I thought.”

The fight’s opening five rounds featured nothing decisive and lots of close scoring. Alvarez’s punches, consistently, were the harder blows, but he was not nearly active as Trout, who often threw at triple Alvarez’s rate.

The sixth round marked what may have been Alvarez’s only tactical error, as he made the first of a number of choices to be elusive rather than aggressive, allowing Trout finally to measure him and land more successfully than he had to that point. Round 6, subsequently, was the first round Trout won cleanly.

“I learned a lot from this fight,” Alvarez said. “It was a great experience for me.”

The seventh round changed everything and ultimately supplied the Alvarez point that decided the match for the Mexican on the 15rounds.com scorecard. Showing a willingness to sell-out with the right hand in his 1-2 combination, Alvarez stepped forward and blasted Trout with a straight right that dropped him in the opening minute of round 7. That 10-8 round made the scoring difference.

Alvarez then rested as much as he fought in the rounds that followed, showing himself a fighter capable of 30 minutes of constant pressure in a 36-minute fight. He protected his lead properly, though, winning on all three cards.

“I take my loss like a man,” Trout said. “The better man won tonight.”

Asked afterwards if he wished to fight Floyd Mayweather, Alvarez was unequivocal.

“Obviously,” he said. “Of course I want Mayweather next.”

He will need to prepare himself for 36 fully concentrated minutes, if that fight ever comes to fruition.

OMAR FIGUEROA VS. ABNER COTTO
The co-main event was not the ticket-seller, and it’s a good thing too.

Local Texas favorite Omar Figueroa (21-0-1, 17 KOs), a lightweight titlist from Weslaco, a bordertown just east of McAllen, made startlingly quick work of outmatched Puerto Rican Abner Cotto (16-1, 7 KOs) in Saturday’s co-main event, stopping Cotto at 2:57 of round 1, with a lefthand to the body that dropped Cotto for the second time in as many minutes and caused him to remain on his knees.

“I could tell my body shots hurt him,” said Figueroa immediately afterward. “I was just waiting for my next opportunity.”

At Friday’s weighin, co-main event co-promoter Miguel Cotto arrived in a casual black getup and remained seated at the back of the stage, acknowledging almost no one. If he had an inkling how to sell his nascent promotional company to the public of South Texas, he didn’t show it. Saturday his namesake displayed the same capacity for prizefighting.

JERMALL CHARLO VS. ORLANDO LORA
Prognostications for Saturday’s penultimate match went: Houston super welterweight Jermall Charlo, who has class but not much pop, will outclass fully Mexican Orlando Lora, who is tough and applies pressure. Prognostications were ultimately wrong – Charlo stopped Lora fairly early – though whether because of Charlo’s improved power or Lora’s increased fragility remains unknown.

Charlo outboxed Lora for every minute of their match, but Lora seemed willing and able to absorb the abuse, at least, which brought sighs of displeasure and surprise from the filled-in Alamodome crowd, when Lora quit on his stool after round 4, awarding Charlo a victory that will go in the books: KO-5.

Charlo continues to build momentum in his career, boxing under Houston trainer Ronnie Shields and improving his physique in each match by applying an innovative and scientific approach to conditioning.

TERRELL GAUSHA VS. WILLIAM WATERS
U.S. Olympians are not supposed to suffer first-round knockdowns to novices with losing records, but that’s exactly what Cleveland super middleweight Terrell Gausha did in the first round of Saturday’s sixth match, catching an overhand right flush on the chin and dropping like he was shot.

Gausha (4-0, 2 KOs) was fortunate, the back of his head caught the ropes on the way down, and he did not suffer the doubly concussive effect of having his brain bounced on the canvas. Still, he was dazed. Gausha rose, collected himself and boxed to a narrow four-round unanimous-decision victory – 38-37, three times – over Alabaman William “The Outlaw” Waters (2-4, 2 KOs), a decision the half-capacity Texas crowd booed loudly.

As many different styles as Gausha had to see en route to representing his country in the Olympics, it was remarkable how often Waters caught him with clean power punches.

RAUL MARTINEZ VS. OMAR GONZALEZ
If it was a surprise to see San Antonio’s two-time world title challenger Raul “Cobrita” Martinez in a four-rounder against an unknown opponent near the bottom of Saturday’s undercard, it was quite a bit more than a surprise to see Martinez bloodied, dropped and beaten by Omar “Bad Boy” Gonzales.

In a four-round match judges scored 39-36, 38-37 and 37-38 for Gonzales (6-8, 1 KO), both San Antonians fought well and hard, but Gonzales was just a little better in a number of exchanges with Martinez (29-3, 17 KOs), who appeared to struggle with balance issues from the opening minute. An accidental collision of heads in round 3 opened a significant cut near Martinez’s left eye, likely buzzing him.

That must be the reason, or at least it will be the explanation, for Martinez’s being dropped on the blue mat in round 4 by a well-placed left-cross counter from the southpaw “Bad Boy,” who then had Martinez nearly down again in the match’s closing seconds.

When the fair split decision in Gonzales’s favor was read, Gonzales celebrated euphorically, and Martinez looked dazedly about, still apparently unsure of his bearings.

UNDERCARD
Saturday’s third match saw Mexican super bantamweight Andres Gutierrez (26-0-1, 22 KOs) brutalize fellow Mexican, and now-worn novelty, Salvador Sanchez III (30-6-3, 18 KOs), stopping him at 1:25 of round 5. Sanchez should no longer be asked to compete against elite fighters, no matter how catchy his deceased uncle’s name.

In other action, Houston featherweight Miguel Flores (11-0, 6 KOs) decisioned Texan Guadalupe De Leon. Tijuana super flyweight Ivan Morales (21-0, 13 KOs) decisioned Chihuahua’s Raul Hidalgo (17-8, 13 KOs). And Philadelphia middleweight Julian Williams (12-0-1, 7 KOs) stopped overmatched Californian Dashon Johnson (14-11-3, 5 KOs) at 1:43 of round 3.

Opening bell rang on a sparsely populated Alamodome at 4:37 PM local time.