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

He has to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s the only way to vote.

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

Hello Nkosinathi, welcome to 15rounds.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, world Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is plotting his next move and two names have come to the forefront in Winky Wright and Shane Mosley.

“I have to pursue all possibilities for Sergio, and Richard and I have discussed both Winky Wright and Shane Mosley,” said Lou DiBella, Martinez Promoter, adding that Wright was the one they discussed more seriously.

“I like Martinez. He has very good skills, a very smart fighter. That’s the kind of fight I am looking forward to and to show why I was the undisputed junior middleweight champion,” Wright told ESPN.com on Thursday.

“It all depends on my management and promoter and what they can bring to the table,” Martinez said. “Whoever they bring, I will fight them. Either division would be OK.”

“Martinez is a guy I would get up for, a guy I would be motivated to train hard for,” Wright said. “I know I haven’t fought for a while, but every time I go to the fights people ask me, ‘When are you getting back into the ring?’ I tell them there really hasn’t been anyone to fight. I couldn’t get a fight with Pavlik. Who else was there to fight? Martinez is the fight we’re looking for. He really beat Paul and then he beat Pavlik.

“When I fought Paul Williams I was coming off an even longer layoff, more than two years. People gotta realize the position I was in. I didn’t come back and pick and choose an easy opponent. Of course, I could fight and get three or four easy wins, but I want to fight the people that people think I will lose to. Williams was so tall and awkward. He was hard to fight, especially coming off a two-year layoff.”

“I’ve been fighting almost 20 years and for me to really get up and fight on an undercard it ain’t no challenge,” Wright said. “The money is low and the stakes aren’t high, so I am not driven to do it. In boxing you have to feel it. If I can’t get a challenge there is no need to be in the sport. I need a good, tough opponent. Fighting just anyone ain’t me.

“I talked to Richard and we’re definitely going to do what we can do to get the Martinez fight. I don’t see myself fighting too much longer unless we can come up with a good opponent. If I can’t get a big fight, I will leave the game. I love boxing, but boxing is not all I want to do. I had a great career. I can say I ran from no one. There are not too many who can say that. I fought everyone. I hope I can get another good fight before I leave the game.”

Atlantic City, NJ—The Road To The World Title continues for welterweight contender Mike Jones, of Philadelphia, PA, as he puts his unbeaten record and his world ranking on the line in a scheduled 12-round contest against Irving Garcia, of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, on Friday evening, July 9, in the ballroom at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall.

Also at stake will be Jones’ North American Boxing Association (NABA) and North American Boxing Organization (NABO) titles. The first of seven fights begins at 7.30 p.m.

Jones, 27, is 21-0, 17 K0s, and he is ranked among the Top 10 welterweights by all four major world sanctioning bodies: No. 3 WBO; No. 5 WBA; No. 7 IBF; No. 7 WBC. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Andre Berto are on Jones’ radar, but Garcia stands in the way.

This will be Jones’ fifth consecutive fight in Atlantic City and his first as a headliner at Boardwalk Hall. He has victories over Lenin Arroyo, Raul Pinzon, Henry Bruseles (who had not lost since Mayweather beat him in 2005) and Hector Munoz in previous Atlantic City fights.

“We are moving to a larger venue since the Jones-Bruseles fight sold out the ballroom at Bally’s last February,” said Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz. “Ticket demand was high for that fight and we ran out of seats nine days before the match. We anticipate a high demand for tickets for this one, also.”

Jones won the vacant NABA title Aug. 29, 2008, knocking out Juliano Ramos, a Brazilian living in Boca Raton, FL, at The Alhambra in South Philadelphia. He made successful defenses against Dairo Esalas, Arroyo, Pinzon, Bruseles and Munoz. He added the vacant NABO belt when he K0d Munoz in five rounds on April 17.

A pro since 2005, Jones also has beaten Pito Cardona, Germaine Sanders, Gilbert Venegas and Luciano Perez.

Garcia, 31, could be Jones’ toughest test. His 17-4-3 record includes eight knockouts and a controversial loss to world-rated Luis Carlos Abregu, of Salta, Argentina, in his last fight one year ago in Santa Ynez, CA. Garcia had Abregu down twice and the fight was even on the scorecards (28-28, 28-28, 27-29) when Abregu dropped him in the fourth round and the ref stopped the contest.

Prior to the Abregu match, Garcia had earned a 10-round decision over Chris Smith, of New York.

A pro since 1998, Garcia has a few souvenirs of his own: Puerto Rican Junior Middleweight Title; WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation welterweight title; WBC Latino welterweight belt. He is undefeated in five scheduled 12-round fights. This will be Jones’ first at that distance.

Tickets priced at $50, $75 and $100 are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions (215-765-0922) and all Ticketmaster outlets (800-345-7000). They also can be purchased at Boardwalk Hall and online at www.peltzboxing.com and www.Ticketmaster.com.

Sources from South Africa indicate that Simphiwe Nongqayi 16-0-1(6) will look to make his second defence of his IBF Super Flyweight title against mandatory challenger Juan Alberto Rosas 31-5(25) in Rosas homeland of Mexico in late July on a date to be announced at a soon.

Though in his mid thirty’s Nongqayi didn’t turn pro till 2002 after a solid amateur career. “The Golden Master” won the first 10 fight before stopping Khulile
Makeba in eight to claim the WBF 115 crown. After three successful defence’s he stepped up in class to win an IBF eliminator against Francisco Arce in February 2009 before being matched with Francisco’s elder brother Jorge for the vacant title in September of the same year. Though a heavy underdog Nongqayi surprised Arce in Mexico winning a comfortable decision. Last time out on 9 April Nongqayi travelled to France where he drew with Malik Bouziane.

It will be Rosas 25 of Navojoa, Sonora, first World title fight having debuted back in 2001 winning the first 25 fights all in Mexico winning the Mexican & NABF Flyweight title’s along the way. Things tailspan from their for Rosas as he lost three on the bounce over a five month span to future World champion Jose Lopez, journeyman Sergio Espinoza and contender AJ Banal. He took time off and then regrouped winning three consecutive fights collecting the Mexican Super Flyweight title along the way. Rosas was then offered the chance to move up to Bantamweight division where he lost to teak tough Rodrigo Guerrero who later went on to go twelve with Vic Darchinyan. Then it he lost a non title fight to WBO Bantamweight holder Fernando Montiel. Since then he’s again regrouped and picked up three more wins including last time out when he won an IBF title eliminator leading to this challenge.

The first seeds were planted for a potential mega showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather as Dan Rafael of espn.com reported that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is looking at a November 13th date for the newly elected congressman from the Philippines.

“Manny is definitely going to fight in November,” Arum said during a teleconference in which he addressed a handful of media members upon his return from the Philippines, where he had spent the past week supporting Pacquiao in the final days on the campaign trail and also talking a little business.

“The fight we want to do is the Mayweather fight,” Arum said. “There is no question that is the fight the public wants. I’m very optimistic once we start we will conclude this time [but] you never know.”

“My belief, based on my conversations with him, is that he will engage in probably three more fights,” said Arum, noting that if the Mayweather fight can’t be made Plan B is to match Pacquiao with former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito.

“It’s amazing how many people came up to me as I was leaving the Philippines and asked me when is the Mayweather fight going to happen,” Arum said. “That’s the fight people want to see. That’s the fight and I will do my darnedest to make it happen.”

“The people are requesting that I fight Mayweather before I retire,” Pacquiao told The Associated Press. “If I ever fight again, I think I will give in to the request of the people.”

“People don’t realize that this victory over the candidate that he beat was a tremendous upset that nobody expected him to pull off,” Arum said. “The Chiongbian family holds all of the major businesses in his province. Every major elected official in the province, congressman, mayor, are related to the family or are associates of the family. Manny was running against the elder son in the family and they hadn’t been defeated. Manny Pacquiao is a fighter and with his grit and determination was not only able to win, but win by a landslide. … To me it is incredible.”

“I don’t want to discuss the issues involved in making the fight because we will be involved in negotiations. Our goal is to make that fight happen,” said Arum, who would not discuss Pacquiao’s stance on the drug testing. “We’re not going to negotiate in the press. If we do, given the egos of both camps, it will never happen.”

“Right now the lawsuit is still in play. The lawsuit is still being actively pursued,” Arum said. “All these issues are on the table and they’ll be negotiated. I assume in the negotiation the issue of the pending lawsuit will be discussed.

“Once you start negotiating through the media it becomes an ego contest. Then each side can’t wait to give its statement to the press and the flames just shoot up and there is no real opportunity for rational behavior to take over. Everybody is so interested in setting forth his position to the media that that becomes the contest, and that involved me as well as everybody else [last time].”

“Negotiations are negotiations and a lot of nice things happen if people negotiate in good faith and people want something to happen and negotiate without going through the media,” he said. “Let’s see what happens.”

“Is it the fight everyone would like to see? Yeah, it is,” Schaefer said. “But everyone would like to see as well LeBron James against Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals, or [Roger] Federer against [Rafael] Nadal in the Wimbledon final, or now that World Cup soccer is coming up, the Brazilians against the Italians in the World Cup soccer final.

“Does it always happen? No, it doesn’t. But I don’t think the success of one event is really the beginning or the end of a sport.”

“Jerry [Jones] is certainly interested and so is the MGM,” Arum said. “It will be, if the fight happens, and I hope it will, in mid-November. It would be in one of those two places.”

“I’m not married to Dallas,” he said. “I love Jerry Jones. He’s a terrific guy but I am going to advocate putting any fight of Manny’s where it will do the best and make the most sense and that is not necessarily Dallas.”

“Obviously, there is a plan and we haven’t started negotiations yet,” Arum said. “There is a plan. I don’t want to go into what’s happening but there are things happening on the ground.”

“I have my marching orders and it will be sooner rather than later,” Arum said.

“There will be a [congressional] session during the month of July and then they are off for a few months,” Arum said. “When he is training he runs in the morning, then sleeps, then trains in the gym and then eats dinner and then he has all his free time. He sings, he’s around with his people. A lot of that free time will be devoted to his political responsibilities. He’ll have plenty of time to do his politics while he is in training and out of training.”

“The one activity I know it will affect is his time playing billiards,” Arum said jokingly. “He will have to slow down on that.”

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 12, 2010) – WBC title challenger Albert “The Dragon” Sosnowski plans to become the first Polish Heavyweight Champion of the World when he fights defending champion Vitali “Dr. Ironfist” Klitschko on May 29, headlining the “Fists Of Steel” pay-per-view event, live from the 61,000-seat Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

“I will shock the world” Sosnowski predicted. “Everything happens for a reason and this is my time. Klitschko has ruled the heavyweight world long enough. I will win this fight for all of my Polish fans across the world.”

“Fists Of Steel,” presented by K2 Promotions and Klitschko Management Group, is being distributed in North America by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, Avail-TVN and DISH Network in the United States, as well as Bell TV, Shaw PPV and Viewer’s Choice in Canada, for a suggested retail price of only $24.95.

Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KOs), now fighting out of the United Kingdom, became the European champion by capturing the European Boxing Union heavyweight title in his last fight. He won a 12-round decision last December against Italian Olympian, Paolo Vidoz.

“Fighting Klitschko for the WBC world title is a dream-come-true for me,” Sosnowski remarked. “It looked like an impossible dream when I first started boxing, but now it will happen on May 29th. Winning the world title will be more than a dream and then I will be on top of the world.

“It’s very important and a great honor for me to be fighting on pay per view in the United States. Fans in the U.S. know about great Polish boxers – first Andrew Golota and now Tomasz Adamek. They have great names and unbelievable followings, packing arenas across the U.S., and I know that they will be supporting me 100-percent.”

After a 4 year retirement, 3-time heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs) returned to the ring and regained his WBC championship belt by stopping Samuel Peter in 2008. He has since defended his title three times by stopping Juan Carlos Gomez and Chris Arreola, and winning every round against Kevin Johnson last December.

“Both of Klitschko’s hands are lethal and he has an awkward style,” said Sosnowki, who came into boxing from kick-boxing. “He is powerful and tough. It’s difficult to find a sparring partner who can simulate him because nobody fights his way. From a technical standpoint, Klitschko makes tons of errors, but he’s very tough and intelligent in the ring. He never lets you fight your fight but I will find a way to capitalize on the mistakes he makes in the ring.

“I have nothing to lose and I know people aren’t giving me much of a chance. That’s okay, though, they don’t know what I can do or hard I’m training. I will aggressive and take risks against him because too many fighters have gone in the ring against Klitschko just to earn a pay-check. I will move sideways, trying to explore his defensive errors, and see what happens when he gets hit. Aggression, movement and speed are the keys for me to win. I will not just stand there and let him beat me like others did. It’s all or nothing for me.”

For more information about the Klitschko-Sosnowski PPV event go to www.integratedsportsnet.com.

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

WORCESTER, Mass. (May 12, 2010) – In only his third professional mixed-martial-arts fight, iconic Polish powerhouse Mariusz “Dominator” Pudzianowski makes his U.S. debut against former 2-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim “Maine-iac” Sylvia, headlining the May 21st “Moosin: God of Martial Arts” pay-per-view event, at the DCU Center in Worcester.

Pudzianowski, 5-time World’s Strongest Man, is arguably the most popular Polish sports personality today, even hotter than boxer Tomasz Adamek, Formula One driver Robert Kubica, tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska, swimmer Otylia Jedrzejczak and NBA player Marcin Gortat.

The 6-1, 275-pound chiseled Pudzianowski practices karate, boxing and even finished second last year in Poland’s version of “Dancing With The Stars.” Taking on a super heavyweight such as the 6-8, 300-pound Sylvia (25-6-0), however, rates as an ambitious challenge for the relatively inexperienced Pudzianowski.

Sylvia (25-6-0), a native of Eastbrook, Maine, has defeated many of the top MMA heavyweights and super heavyweights – Andrei Arlovski (2) Brandon Vera, Jeff Monson, Wes Sims, Ricco Rodriguez, Mike Whitehead (2), Ben Rothwell and Jason Lambert. He believes that, if the Polish strongman and his team agreed to fight him this early in Mariusz’ MMA career, they must feel that he is over-the-hill in the cage.

Why fight Sylvia in only his third pro MMA fight? “First of all,” the 33-year-old Mariusz answered, “I’m not getting any younger. On a more serious note, though, I need to know as soon as possible what my strengths and weaknesses are fighting an established named fighter like Sylvia. My latest fight (last Saturday night in Poland) versus (Yusuke) Kawaguchi was worth every penny as a part of my MMA education (Mariusz won a 2-round decision against an opponent who was 11-1 going into the fight). Sylvia is the next logical step on my way to a world championship. I believe in learning by doing things.

“Sylvia brings experience, which I obviously don’t have, and he can punch. He is tall and has a long reach. I would like to use his strengths as his weaknesses, but I don’t want to talk too much about this. No extra tips from me, no way. I am somebody who will never quit. He has to knock me out cold to win. There’s no other way. I will fight a more disciplined fight than my last one, for sure, but I will still be fun to watch. I’m fighting for fans in order to give them good entertainment for their money.

“Fighting on in the United States and on pay-per-view is very significant. The USA is the birthplace of the real MMA, where the whole craziness started and now, in the age of the Internet and satellite TV, everything is global. I have a lot of fans in the U.S., not only Polish fans who always show-up to support their countrymen. It’s a global exposure and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to fight Tim – to gain recognition.”

“God of Martial Arts” is being presented by Moosin, the South Korea-based promotional company, which has promoted MMA shows in South Korea and the United States. Moosin, in conjunction with the International Taekwon-Do Federation, plans expansion into to China, Poland and Australia.

Pudzianowski has the rare combination of power, evident as a 5-time World’s Strongest Man, as well as the footwork and dexterity of a ballroom dancer. “MMA and ballroom dancing are both hard,” Mariusz added. “Both need dedication, depending on what you like, and I got tired training for dancing. But it wasn’t for me in the long run. The whole ‘Dancing With The Stars’ competition was a nice distraction, but, I prefer more manly endeavors.

“I never attempt any competition, dancing included, not thinking that I will win. It’s not in my nature. My fight with Sylvia will not be an exception. Losing to him is not even an option for me. This time the judges will not be needed.”

In the co-main event, Korean heavyweight Mu Bae “The Heavy Tank of Busan” Choi (9-4-0) faces veteran Travis “Diesel” Wiuff (59-14-0). Brazilian middleweight Rafael “Sapo” Natal (11-2-0) meets The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Travis “The Serial Killer” Lutter (10-5-0), while Bahamian lightweight Yves “The Texas Gunslinger” Edwards (37-15-1) tangles with rising New England star Mike Campbell (7-2-0).

A special female attraction features two of the premier women MMA fighters in the U.S., Tara LaRosa (18-1-0) and Roxy Modafferi (13-4-0), at a 130-pound catch-weight.

“God of Martial Arts” is being distributed by Integrated Sports Media at 9:00PM ET/6:00PM PT in North America on cable and satellite Pay-Per-View via iN Demand, DIRECTV, TVN and DISH Network, as well as Viewer’s Choice, Bell TV and Shaw PPV in Canada, for a suggested retail price of only $29.95 (also available in HD). It is also available on www.GoFightLive.TV outside of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Poland.

The show has worldwide appeal but also features several local favorites on the undercard: Korean light heavyweight Chang Seob Lee (2-4-0) vs. Lukasz “Juras” Jurkowski (5-6-0), Clinton’s Matt Lee (11-8-1) vs. Bridgewater’s Brett Oteri (5-0-0) in a match-up of Massachusetts lightweights, unbeaten Worcester (Mass.) welterweight Ralph Johnson vs. NAAFS champion Forrest “The Meat Clever” Petz (23-7-0 undefeated Rockland (Mass.) heavyweight Paul Barry (3-0-0) vs. Stipe Miocic (1-0-0), Stoughton (Mass.) middleweight Fred “French Foot Fighter” Belleton (6-2-0) vs. Anthony “The Recipe” Lapsley (14-5-0).

Also, fan favorite Eric “Butterbean” Esch (98-18-5, all-fighting) squares-off against former Boston Bruins enforcer and popular WAAF sports personality, Lyndon “LB” Byers, in a charity fundraiser. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

Tickets, priced at $35.75, $55.75, $75.75, $150.75 and $250.75, are on sale at the DCU Center Box Office (50 Foster St., Worcester, MA), all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com, or by calling 1.800.745.3000.

Doors open at 7:30 PM/ET, first bout 8:00 PM/ET, first PPV bout 9 PM/ET (6 PM/PT). Go to www.MoosinUSA.com or www.dcucenter.com for additional information. For odds on the fights go to http://partners.betus.com.

Moosin: A global event promoter based out of Seoul, South Korea, in conjunction with the International Taekwon-Do Federation, Moosin is known for bringing fans the finest in mixed martial arts competition. Moosin is revolutionizing the MMA industry by merging an international roster of talented fighters with recognizable stars from the world or music, sports and popular culture. Moosin pits warrior against warrior, featuring a hybrid of MMA and hard-hitting Moosin-style kickboxing, in hand-to-hand battles of skill, honor and art.

DCU Center: A multi-purpose arena and convention center uniquely designed to accommodate the needs of any size group from 15 to 15,000 DCU Center is owned by the City of Worcester and managed by SMG, the world’s leading private management and developing firm for public assembly facilities. Headquartered on Philadelphia, SMG provides management services to over 200 public assembly facilities internationally and also offers food and beverage operations through SAVOR…Catering by SMG. For more information, please visit www.dcucenter.com.

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

Former national and international amateur champion Patricia “Boom Boom” Alcivar 1-0(1KO) will be making her return to the ring for her second professional fight Friday May 14th. Alcivar will be facing tough Mexican fighter Laura “La Maravilla” Gomez, 3-1 as a co-feature of the Hector Camacho Sr. vs. Saul Duran main event at the Civic Center in Kissimmee Florida.

Alcivar ended her first fight with a boom by knocking out Jennifer Batchelder last October at 1:21 of the first. With the addition women’s boxing to the 2012 Olympics women’s boxing is back on the rise. Alcivar looks to represent the sport with absolute class inside and outside of the ring. Her fluent and exciting boxing style reveals her excellent amateur pedigree.

Alcivar is considered a pioneer in female amateur boxing. She had a brilliant amateur career having won 2 NYC Golden Gloves, a National & International Championship and was voted the first female to ever to win “Athlete of the Year” by the United States Olympic Committee. Alcivar is also a 10 time participant of the NYC Marathon & a 2-time Qualifier/Finisher of the Boston Marathon.

Billed as “A Part of History” the bout is to take place Friday May 14, 2010. Catch the action at the City of Kissimmee Civic Center, 201 East Dakin Avenue, Kissimmee, FL. Doors open at 6:30pm.

For tickets please call 813-857-3141.

Undefeated Lightweight prospect “Hammerin” Hank Lundy talks about his recent winb over Tyrese Hendrix and looks forward to a summer showdown with Johnny Molina.

Watch Hammerin Hank Lundy in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Undefeated Welterweight Mike Jones discusses his recent victory over Hector Munoz and talks about his bright future

Watch Mike Jones in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

15rounds.com, Claudia Bocanegra was at the Trinity Boxing Club in New York where WBA Super Welterweight champion Amir Khan worked out for the media in advance of Khan’s title defense against Paulie Malignaggi

SAN ANTONIO – Whoever turns out to be the better prizefighter on June 26, one thing is already certain. Puerto Rican Eric Morel is a much better pool hustler than Mexican Jorge Arce.

That much was established on Tuesday afternoon at Dave & Buster’s restaurant where participants in Top Rank’s “La Furia de México 15” gathered for a rescheduled press conference in the northern part of the city. Morel and Arce posed for pictures, answered questions and expressed lots of mutual fondness both before and after their impromptu pool match, as part of the promotion for their co-main-event fight at the Alamodome in June.

The two rivals confessed to being good friends outside the ring and admiring one another’s accomplishments. Both assured local fans and members of the press, however, they would not fight that way when facing one another for the WBO’s interim bantamweight title.

“Very hittable,” is how Morel described Arce’s appearance in recent fights. He also called Arce a “great fighter who’s very, very tough.”

For his part, Arce emphasized Morel’s background as a Puerto Rican, saying, “All know that when a Mexican and a Puerto Rican fight, it is always a battle.”

Arce, who goes by the nickname “El Travieso” (Naughty One) also spoke of the recent birth of his son, Nazareth. Asked about the name, Arce explained, “It was a promise I made to God that if he gave me a son, I would name him after the birthplace of His son.”

More interesting still was Arce’s explanation for his poor showing against Vic Darchinyan last year in Anaheim, Calif. Arce held up the back of his right hand, which sports a noticeable bump at the attachment of his thumb, and explained, “I have to have my hand wrapped extra tight, with extra wraps of tape, or it hurts when I punch. The week before (the fight with Darchinyan), all those things happened in California with (Antonio) Margarito and the wrapping of his hands. So, before my fight, they’re all standing over me, as a Mexican fighter, and saying ‘no, no, no’ about the extra tape. . . . It hurt every time I hit Darchinyan.”

Whatever happens against Morel next month, Arce, one of prizefighting’s most colorful personalities, is certain to have a colorful explanation.

RAUL MARTINEZ & GABRIEL ELIZONDO
Also taking the stage at Tuesday’s press conference were local bantamweight standouts Raul Martinez and Gabriel Elizondo. Much like Arce and Morel before them, Martinez and Elizondo spoke of their close friendship, with Elizondo saying, “(Martinez) is a good friend of mine. We have been friends for a very long time.”

Martinez took the podium and agreed. He then thanked his team and assured the gathering he would be ready for a “very difficult fight.”

He had better be. Very often when two longtime friends make a match together, the fighting is clean but savage, with the lesser man giving more than expected and the better man having to transcend previous performances.

LATIN FURY 15
The Top Rank pay-per-view event will feature Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. John Duddy as its headline fight and is expected to be the most successful event of the “Latin Fury” brand. The card takes place at Alamodome on June 26.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik will forgo his proposed rematch with Sergio Martinez according to his manager Cameron Dunkin.

Pavlik, who lost a unanimous decision and his title belts to Sergio Martinez on April 17 in Atlantic City, N.J., declined his contractual option for an immediate rematch on Tuesday and will move up to the 168-pound super middleweight division or the 175-pound lightweight heavyweight division.

“My take is that Kelly has been struggling to make weight. He made a comment the other day that he wished he had told us this five fights ago,” Dunkin said.

The decision to abandon the middleweight division was reached Monday when Pavlik, trainer Jack Loew and father and co-manager Mike Pavlik met together in their hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, with Dunkin on the telephone from Las Vegas.

“We sat down and talked,” Loew said. “We don’t know where we’re going. Kelly was 178 pounds yesterday. It’s not 178 pounds of fat. It’s 178 pounds of muscle. We’ll look at what’s the most attractive offer and go from there, 168 or 175. I think we’ll be comfortable in either weight class.

“It will be nice to train for the fight instead of battling the weight the last couple of weeks of camp. For this last fight, we hit a wall and it was hard to budge,” Loew explained. “It was horrible what we had to do to make the weight, sweating it off. It was really hard to get off. We had to get on the treadmill and then get in the sauna. We had to do that repeatedly

“In my own mind, there are several places we could go,” Dunkin said. “I don’t think he’ll have a problem with 168 but he may go to 175. It’s wide open. We want to take the best opportunities. We know what we’ve seen from Kelly, he doesn’t have the same snap he had earlier at 160, before [the weight loss] finally drained him. You want a guy to fight at his best weight.

“When we got to weigh 166 for the rematch with Jermain, it started where Kelly had to go from working out two times a day to three times a day to maintain his weight,” Loew said. “Then when we got to weigh 170 for Bernard, after that it was four times a day. We were training more for the weight than the fight. We have no excuses.

“We were 110 percent ready for Martinez and we really thought the weight would come down easier,” Loew said. “We were battling the weight and it cost us. We kept food in him, but not much. There is no reason to go through that anymore.

“Nobody can ever take away that he was middleweight champ of the world,” Loew said. “He’s still healthy, he still has that drive. But not to work out four or five times a day. That caught up to us. He’s got to train like regular fighter — get up, go running and go to the gym to box. Let’s concentrate on fighting again, not losing the weight. He’ll enjoy it more. It wasn’t good what we had to do.”

“I think Chad Dawson and Kelly Pavlik would be a very interesting fight. Chad is a great kid and fighter,” Loew said. “I think that would be a great fight for him and Kelly. Maybe we’ll be sitting ringside for Pascal-Dawson.”

Photo By Chris Farina/ Top Rank

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, The May 1st mega bout between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley drew an estimated 1.4 million Pay Per View buys making it the second largest grossing non-heavyweight bout of all-time.

The buy total ties the fight with the 1999 welterweight unification showdown between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad. However, Mayweather-Mosley generated more money because pay-per-view costs more. Trinidad-De La Hoya grossed $70.6 million.

Mayweather’s 2007 decision win for the junior middleweight title against the now-retired De La Hoya, the reigning pay-per-view king in terms of total dollars, set the all-time pay-per-view record with 2.446 million buys and nearly $137 million in revenue.

DAVID PRICE has returned from helping Albert Sosnowski prepare for his WBC heavyweight title showdown against Vitali Klitschko. The 6ft 8in Olympic bronze medallist (5-0) is the same size as Klitschko and become a Price-less asset in the Pole’s preparations. Price, 26, makes his London debut at Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham on Friday May 14 when he faces experienced Russian Daniil Peretyatko (16-27).

Promoter Frank Maloney said: “I am a great believer in heavyweights learning their trade in different environments. “Being part of a world heavyweight title fighter’s training camp teaches upcoming professionals so much. “In fact David leant more from sparring with Sosnowski and than he does in some fights and it is a great experience. “His trainer was delighted with the trip to Poland and he caused Albert plenty of problems in their sessions and his confidence is soaring.

“When I managed Lennox Lewis plenty of prospects came into the camp for sparring and went home better fighters. “Later this year, I hope to take David to some American gyms where he will learn even more.”

Peretyatko, 36, is one of the most experienced heavyweights in Europe and a decent test for any prospect. A year ago he outpointed Larry Olubamiwo and he has gone the distance with several leading British fighters including Derek Chisora and John McDermott. Maloney added: “Some people have questioned David’s opposition, but there are no doubts about Peretyatko’s credentials.”

Top of the Sky Sport televised show is a British flyweight title showdown between defending champion Shinny Bayaar (15-4-1) and Cheshunt hopeful Ashley Sexton (9-0)

Ticket prices for the top class night of boxing are £30 and £70. They can be obtained by logging on to www.frankmaloney.com or 0871 226 1508

The Ballroom was dancing Saturday night ,not with feet but with fists, as Kinkaid & Goddard Promotions presented The Battle in the Ballroom. A capacity crowd was treated to 13 exciting amateur bouts with the main event leaving the crowd cheering for more as Jessica Eye (Strong Style MMA) captured the Ohio Women’s Lightweight Title with a decision over Lauren Coney (PAL / Thurogood BC). Both women had their shining moments throughout the contest but it was Eye who stuck to her game plan and wore down the aggressive Coney. Eye, a crowd favorite, is easily making the transition from MMA to Boxing as she has yet to be defeated in either arena of combat.

The 12 bout undercard saw:

Christian White (Terminator BC) def. Daniel Caldera (Freddies BC)
Pat Brown (Downtown Youngstown BC) def. Christian Colon (Raul Torres BC)
Eve Santiago (Health 360) def. Asia Smith (PAL / Thurgood BC)
Rajiu Hernandez (Empire BC) def. James Washington (Raul Torres BC)
Angel Figuerora (Freddies BC) def. Lucian Clinkscale (Downtown Youngstown BC)
John Kutitus (Raul Torres BC) def. David Frum (Terminator BC)
Ashley Barnett (Old School Boxing) def. Carrie Fiol (PC Torres / Warren BC)
Brandon Radiwiec (Freddies BC) def. Abdul Omar (Good Shepherd BC)
Dequilla Smith (PAL / Thurgood BC) def. Matt Brown (Terminator BC)
Brian Park (West Side Boxing Club) def. Latiss Norman (Cory Fight Club)
Darren Rivera (Downtown Youngstown BC) def. Roher Canales (Raul Torres BC)
Greg Gilbert (West Side Boxing Club) def. Kenneth Brown (Cudell Rec.)

Following the event, promoter Todd Kincaid stated, “The Slovenian National Ballroom is an amazing venue to showcase Cleveland’s top talent. The crowd was electrifying, and the intimacy of the venue made everyone feel apart of the show. I want to thank all of our fighters for their dedication to the sweet science and all the staff and sponsors that made this event a success.”

Reading, PA (May 10, 2010) – Fighting is ingrained deep into the genetic material of Van Oscar Penovaroff. A native of Kailua Kona, Hawaii but now residing in Reading, PA, Penovaroff was an alternate on the 2004 US Olympic boxing squad after 120 amateur fights. He also won the 135 pound world title with the Hawaiian-based X-1 World Events mixed martial arts outfit, concluding with a 4-1 record.

When Penovaroff returns to the ring Saturday, May 22 at the Sovereign Center in Reading, PA, boxing will be the only combat sport on his mind. Penovaroff will be featured in a six-round bout against Jamar “Sandman” Saunders of Atlanta, Georgia on “Pain on Penn Street”, which will be promoted by King’s Promotions.
The main event will feature Travis Kauffman of Reading, PA fighting Chris Koval of Youngstown, OH for the vacant WBF Intercontinental heavyweight title.

The 27-year-old Penovaroff holds a record of 4-0-1 (3 KO) in professional boxing, with the only blemish being a controversial draw with Francisco Palacios in his last bout. Penovaroff controlled the tempo and appeared to clearly win every round but only walked away with an even verdict. One judge scored it six rounds to none for Penovaroff.
Penovaroff, himself of half-Filipino descent, turned pro in 2006 in Manila, Philippines but fought only once more in boxing before taking time off to focus on mixed martial arts. After two easy knockout wins in Hawaii, Penovaroff signed with manager/trainer Marshall Kauffman and relocated to King’s Boxing Gym in Reading.

Penovaroff once trained at the Olympic Development Program at Northern Michigan University alongside Travis Kauffman and at the American Kickboxing Academy with current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stars Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch.

However, Penovaroff never forgot his first love of boxing and returned to the Sweet Science to follow his dream of being the next great Hawaiian fighter.

“I was an MMA champion but I relinquished my belt just to focus on boxing because of guys like [Hawaiian-raised boxing champions] Andy Ganigan, Jesus Salud, Ben Villaflor and Brian Viloria. I would love to go down as the best boxer ever from Hawaii someday.”

Hawaii’s most recent champion, former two-time 108 pound champion and 2000 US Olympian Viloria, offered his ringing endorsement of Penovaroff’s warrior spirit.

“He reminds me of myself with the hunger and determination to be on top,” says Viloria. “He showed hunger and does all the essential things to be a world class fighter and a champion. Coming from a small group of island thousands of miles away from the rest of the United States, us Hawaiians try to use our talents to magnify themselves on the national and world stage.
“That’s what Van Oscar tries to do every time he steps in the ring, he shows that he belongs there. He trains extremely hard and can and will mix it up with the best out there.”

Though the American Northeast’s climate is a little different from what he’s used to, boxing fans in Pennsylvania are just beginning to warm up to Penovaroff.

“I can’t wait to put on a great show for all the fans in Reading. On May 22, I’m going to make a huge statement and show everyone what I’m made of.”

Tickets, priced at $65, $50, $35 and $25, are on sale now and can be purchased at Kingsboxing.com, the Sovereign Center Box Office at 700 Penn Street in Reading (610-898-7200) and at all Ticketmaster outlets (800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a poor night for boxing.

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

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

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

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

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

This week on the Sunday Sizzler. Paulie Malignaggi Interview! Patty Boom Boom Alcivar LIVE on air!! – Weekend Fight recaps and upcoming fight previews! 15rounds.com’s Johnny Schulz presents: Talking BOXING with JSizzle and New York Dan NYD. And joined by Billy from Philly – A weekly Sunday boxing show covering Boxing from all angles. Alongside and boxing aficionado Danny “NYD” Stasiukiewicz, RTB will cover: • All of the week’s top boxing stories from results to fight previews.

Claudia Bocanegra was onsite on Thurs, May 6th at Aerospace High Performance Gym, where they held their 3rd Annual Fundraiser for the East Harlem School. Owned by Michael Olajide Jr and Leila Fazel, this Meatpacking District’s high end boxing gym packed up about 300 people to attend their competition. Members dressed up in themed costumes and competed in jump rope and hand mitt shadowboxing. Guest Judges included Hugh Jackman, Harvey Keitel, Adriana Lima, and Narciso Rodriguez. On the Mic was Q-tip to introduce the competitors. A silent auction was also held.

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS

CARSON, CALIFORNIA — After the most unusual of endings, Paul Williams was declared the technical decision victor over Kermit Cintron due to an injury before the end of four rounds in the HBO World Championship Boxing main event at the Home Depot Center.

Williams (39-1, 27 KOs) of Augusta, Georgia now has a win over Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KOs) of Houston, Texas on his record, but even he is not happy with how it got there. Both fighters got their licks in to end a round one that started out slow, as both looked to have some nervous energy. The action began to heat up in round two. Cintron, 154, caught Williams, 152 ½, with two good right hands in an exchange early in the round. Later in the round, Cintron caught Williams over swinging again with another solid counter.

Round three offered little action, as Williams refused to play into Cintron’s apparent plan of playing the counter puncher. Things changed in round four, as Cintron landed a clean right that woke up Williams and the crowd. Williams quickly responded with a head-snapping shot. For a brief moment, it looked as though the fight may turn from a boxing match to a slugfest. Shortly after a heated exchange, Williams lost his footing and grabbed onto Cintron a bit as he fell to the canvas. As Williams went down, the momentum toppled Cintron through the ropes, on to a table and eventually down to the hard floor.

In moments it was clear that Cintron was injured, but it was unclear how bad the injury might be. Cintron remained in the same position that he fell for some time, as a ringside physician watched over him. According to sources on the side of the ring that he fell, Cintron told the ringside physician Paul Wallace that he was able to fight on, but it was the decision of the doctor to not allow him to continue.

Most ringside in press row assumed the fight would be declared a no contest. However, in the state of California, the start of the fourth round makes the fight official and thus the scores were read. One judge had the fight a shutout for Cintron, 40-36. The other two scored the fight for Williams, 40-36 and 39-37 respectively. Ring announcer Michael Buffer read the scores as Cintron, protesting with his gloved fists, was carried out on a stretcher.

Not only did most ringside assume that fight would be ruled a no contest before the decision was announced, so did Cintron’s promoter. “That rule is ridiculous, it was three rounds,” said Lou DiBella. “That is not a fight. How do you call a fight after three rounds?” Cintron’s trainer Ronnie Shields told the press that he had objected to using the California rules instead of the generally used ABC rules prior to the fight.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Williams after the fight. “It’s a strange way to get a win and I’ll try to get a better one next time.” Just as there was before the fight started, there should be many options for both fighters, including the obvious one – a rematch. Cintron entered the ring as the WBO #2/IBF #3/WBC #3 ranked light middleweight, and his promoter seems to want the rematch. “That should have been a no contest, and it should happen again,” said DiBella at the post-fight press conference.

Williams, WBC #3 middleweight and the WBO #1/IBF #5 ranked 154-pounder, could go the rematch route, but there are other fights out there for him as well. Williams’ promoter Dan Goossen seemed less inclined to make a Cintron rematch right of the bat. “There was nothing that happened in that ring that was compelling enough that would lead me to believe that we want to see the fight again,” claimed Goossen. Lou DiBella vehemently disagreed with Goossen’s assessment of the potential rematch. While Goossen would go onto say Cintron is always a possibility for Williams, it looks as though he has his eyes set on bigger fish.

As he mentioned in the build-up to Saturday’s fight, Goossen made mention of plans to see if the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight is made or not. “If a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight doesn’t get made, then obviously we will be standing there and hopefully we would be one of the fighters to take that place,” said Goossen, who added Williams will not sit and wait on the shelf as talks for that superfight do or do not resume.

Styles make fights, and sometimes styles make dull fights. In what looked to be an attractive super featherweight scrap on paper and turned out to be a lackluster bout, Argenis Mendez claimed the vacant USBA Super Featherweight title with a majority decision over Martin Honorio.

Mendez (16-1, 9 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York by way of San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic proved to be an elusive target for the forward-moving Martin Honorio (28-4-1, 14 KOs) of Bell, California by way of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. Honorio, 130, took the fight to Mendez, 130, in the opening round and appeared to be ahead after two rounds.

Mendez, the WBA #10 ranked super featherweight, scored well with hard body shots in round three and the fight began to turn. As the fight went on, Mendez stood his ground less and less, picking his shots and moving out of range. Honorio, the WBO #3 ranked lightweight and IBF #6 ranked 130-pounder, did not display the same boxing skills that led him to a win over John Molina Jr. last year. Too often, Honorio found himself chasing Mendez instead of effectively cutting off the ring.

While he did not exact any sort of dominance in the bout, Mendez did enough to get the nod on two of the judges’ scorecards 116-112. The third official scorer had it even, 114-114. With the win, Mendez may have earned a better ranking, but it is unlikely he gained many fans ringside.

Former amateur standout Walter Sarnoi (6-0, 2 KOs) of Monterey Park, California boxed his way to a four-round majority decision win over Adrian Aleman (6-7-3, 4 KOs) of Cathedral City, California. Sarnoi, 123, was the naturally bigger man, but decided to box and move rather than put his size advantage to use. Aleman, 123, went rounds as usual, but was unable to get much done in the fight. One judge found two rounds to give to Aleman, to make the even score of 38-38. The other two judges scored the fight 40-36, 39-37.

Stan Martyniouk (9-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California rebounded from a flash knockdown in the first round to pull out a six-round split decision over Brian Ramirez (5-3, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California. Ramirez, 133, charged out of his corner to open the fight, backing Martyniouk, 133, to the ropes. As the round progressed, Martyniouk settled into a boxing rhythm. Just before the bell to end the round, Ramirez caught Martyniouk with a left uppercut to score the knockdown.

Martyniouk, who did not appear to be hurt from the knockdown, began round two with a sense of urgency, as he pressed the fight. As the fight progressed, the rounds were competitive, but it was Martyniouk that was able to maintain his punching power, while Ramirez’ pace slowed. Martyniouk took the fight after a decisive sixth round which the Sacramento resident swept on all three judges’ cards. Two judges scored the bout 57-56 for Martyniouk, with the lone dissenting judge scoring it 57-56 the other way. Martyniouk hopes to return to the ring June 19th at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

Michael Ruiz Jr. (2-0, 1 KO) of Fresno, California blew away Jose Pacheco (2-13-6) of Cudahy, California in the second round of a scheduled four. Ruiz, 118, downed Pacheco, 122, with a straight right hand early in the second. Pacheco rose to his feet, but was clearly not the same. Moments later, a brutal right hook dropped Pacheco hard, prompting referee David Denkin to immediately call a halt to the bout without need for a count. Official time of the stoppage was 1:37 of the second. Ruiz is slated to return to the ring June 19th at the McDermont Field House in Lindsay, California.

Unbeaten Jeremiah Wiggins (8-0-1, 3 KOs) of Newport News, Virginia scored a unanimous decision win over game free-swinger Juan Carlos Diaz (0-3) of Ciudad Neza, Estada de Mexico, Mexico. Wiggins, 152 ½, showed his superior boxing skills in the first, but found himself slugging it out in some heated exchanges by the second round. Diaz, 153 ½, stood in and took some hard shots, but landed some of his own. The underpowered Diaz was simply out of his league with the more skilled Wiggins. In the end, two judges scored the bout 59-55 and the third 60-54 all for Wiggins.

After less than two one-sided rounds, Mike Dallas Jr. (14-0-1, 5 KOs) of Bakersfield, California was declared victorious over journeyman Daniel Gonzalez (9-28-2, 3 KOs) of Billings, Montana. Dallas, 149 ½, was just too much of everything, speed and power, for Gonzalez, 151. With no reason for the mismatch to continue, referee David Denkin saw fit to call halt to the bout at 2:03 of the second round before Gonzalez could absorb any more punishment.

Before the card, Goossen Tutor Promotions announced the signing of WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Beibut Shumenov, who is slated to defend his title sometime in July against mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov.

Photos by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

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

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Top ten pound-for-pounder Paul Williams takes on perennial contender Kermit Cintron in a non-title twelve-round light middleweight fight tonight at the Home Depot Center in nearby Carson. The fight will be broadcast live by HBO alongside the replay of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley fight from last week. Fighters for tonight’s event weighed in Friday afternoon at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Los Angeles – International Airport.

Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) of Augusta, Georgia is the heavy betting favorite Saturday according to most online sportsbooks, but the odds that the fight will be exciting would have to be listed just as strong. Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs) of Houston, Texas by way of Carolina, Puerto Rico may have displayed new found boxing skills in his decision win over Alfredo Angulo last year, but he knows he will need to revert back to the slugger of old in order to have a chance against a supreme boxer-puncher like Williams.

The event has been dubbed “Over the Weight,” because both Williams and Cintron have long campaigned as welterweights, and Williams especially has expressed his desire to get a big money fight at 147-pounds. Williams currently holds the WBC #3 middleweight ranking, and the WBO #1/IBF #5 rankings at 154-pounds. Considering Cintron is currently the WBO #2/IBF #3/WBC #3 ranked light middleweight, one would think this fight would have some interim title or alphabet eliminator sanctioning attached to it, but alas it is just a twelve-round scrub between two top fighters with no promises of championships to the winner.

Both Cintron and Williams know that winning eliminators or even titles are not always what they are cracked up to be. Cintron’s win over Angulo was a sanctioned WBC Light Middleweight eliminator, but he did not get a title shot since Sergio Martinez has been tied up with middleweight fights. Meanwhile, Angulo claimed the Interim WBO 154-title over Harry Joe Yorgey. Williams has held titles at welterweight and light middleweight, but his handlers have never been overrun with offers from top notch fighters.

In any event, the winner of Saturday’s fight should be in line for the big money fight they have desired. For Cintron, the upset would be by far the biggest win of his career and catapult himself into the upper echelon of the sport. For Williams, he must win impressively in order to have any bargaining power as he chases the money men of the welterweight division. Williams scaled 152 ½-pounds, while Cintron came in at the division limit of 154.

The off-television undercard is headed by an attractive and meaningful twelve-rounder. Resurgent contender Martin Honorio (28-4-1, 14 KOs) of Bell, California by way of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico will take on 2004 Dominican Olympian Argenis Mendez (15-1, 9 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York by way of San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic for the vacant USBA Super Featherweight title.

Honorio, the WBO #3 ranked lightweight and IBF #6 ranked 130-pounder, leaped back onto the national stage with an upset decision win over previously unbeaten prospect John Molina Jr. last November. Mendez, the WBA #10 ranked super featherweight, has revitalized his career since suffering his only defeat in October 2008, posting three consecutive victories. The winner would likely be in line for a world title or world title elimination bout. Honorio and Mendez both scaled 130-pounds.

In a six-round lightweight bout, Stan Martyniouk (8-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California will meet Brian Ramirez (5-2, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California. Martyniouk, who came in at 133-pounds, has not seen ring action since posting a four-round decision over Anthony Martinez in November. Ramirez, who weighed in at 133 as well, suffered his second defeat last time out after a point deduction cost him a draw.

Unbeaten light middleweight Jeremiah Wiggins (7-0-1, 3 KOs) of Newport News, Virginia will make his West Coast debut against Juan Carlos Diaz (0-2) of Ciudad Neza, Estada de Mexico, Mexico in a six-rounder. Wiggins, who scaled 152 ½, was a chiseled and imposing figure at the scales Friday. Diaz, who sports a far more slender build, weighed in at 153 ½-pounds. Diaz’ two defeats were by knockout to undefeated foes. Wiggins last fought on the Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez undercard in December, scoring a unanimous decision over Manuel Guzman in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Well regarded bantamweight prospect Michael Ruiz Jr. (1-0) of Fresno, California will take on game trial horse Jose Pacheco (2-12-6) of Cudahy, California in a four-round bout. Ruiz, who weighed in at 118-pounds, turned pro last month with a comprehensive decision victory after a distinguished amateur run. Pacheco, who weighed in at 122-pounds on his initial try, fought on the same card last month and dropped a four-round decision. Pacheco was given more time to lose an additional pound.

Former amateur standout Walter Sarnoi (5-0, 2 KOs) of Monterey Park, California will tangle with the naturally smaller Adrian Aleman (6-6-3, 4 KOs) of Cathedral City, California in a four-round super bantamweight fight. Sarnoi, who scaled 123-pounds Friday afternoon, was a member of the U.S. National Team as an amateur before turning professional in 2008. Aleman scaled 123-pounds at the weigh-in, but has fought as a flyweight earlier in his career. Should Aleman, who has never been stopped, be able to handle Sarnoi’s power, he could provide a test for the young pro.

Light welterweight prospect Mike Dallas Jr. (13-0-1, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California was a late re-addition to the card and will now open the evening in a four-rounder against well traveled journeyman Daniel Gonzalez (9-27-2, 3 KOs) of Billings, Montana. Given the short notice these fighters will be fighting nearly as junior middleweights today. Gonzalez, weighing in at 151-pounds, is coming in off of twelve straight defeats, but with only two of those coming by way of the knockout. Dallas, who had been penciled in for a step-up fight against Josesito Lopez, scaled 149 ½-pounds Friday.

A last minute scratch from the card was an interesting ten-round heavyweight rematch between Jason Gavern (19-7-3, 8 KOs) of Kissimmee, Florida and Manuel Quezada (29-5, 18 KOs) of Wasco, California. Gavern scored a minor upset over the world ranked Quezada last month, claiming the regional WBC CABOFE Heavyweight title with the decision victory. According to Gavern, who was present at the weigh-in, Quezada pulled out just an hour prior.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Light middleweights, 12 Rounds
Williams 152 ½
Cintron 154

USBA Super Featherweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Honorio 130
Mendez 130

Lightweights, 6 Rounds
Martyniouk 133
Ramirez 133

Light middleweights, 6 Rounds
Wiggins 152 ½
Diaz 153 ½

Super bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Ruiz Jr. 118
Pacheco 122*

Super bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Sarnoi 123
Aleman 123

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Dallas Jr. 149 ½
Gonzalez 151

*attempting to lose one pound at press time

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

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA — Former amateur star DonYil Livingston and former Contender series star Deon Elam each scored knockout wins to highlight a night of both boxing and mixed martial arts before an energetic crowd at the Circus Disco on Thursday night.

Taking on Lamar Horne in his professional debut, Livingston (1-0, 1 KO) of Palmdale, California started out the fight aggressively. Horne (2-6, 1 KO) of San Diego, California was competing for the first time in three years and seemed to be caught a little off guard by Livingston’s determined start. Livingston, 166 ¼, varied his attack to the head and body of Horne, 170, and landed in combinations.

Midway through the second round, Horne was stunned by a straight right, and began to hold on. Soon enough Livingston was able to break loose on the inside and landed four unanswered left hooks with Horne against the ropes, prompting referee Raul Caiz Jr. to call a halt to the bout. Official time of the stoppage was 2:57 of round two.

The most recognizable name on the card was that of cruiserweight Deon Elam (12-1, 6 KOs) of Van Nuys, California, a member of the season four cast of The Contender, who took on Vashon Daniels (6-5, 4 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas. Elam, 192, had a sizeable height and reach advantage over Daniels, 202, who had trouble finding his way to close quarters without getting caught with hard shots en route.

A stiff jab, right hand combination was successful early for Elam, but it would be a left to the body that would first drop Daniels to one knee. Daniels was able to reach his feet, however Elam soon found a home for a few more body shots to score a second knockdown. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. immediately waved off the fight without a count at 2:35 of the first round. For Elam, it was his second win in two weeks after ending a more than one year layoff following the taping of The Contender in Singapore.

In other action, Artur Bernetsyan (3-0, 2 KOs) of Glendale, California scored a second round stoppage over Nichoulas Brannies (1-5) of Bend, Oregon. Bernetsyan, 142, scored a knockdown in the first after hurting Brannies, 144, with a right hook and following up with a flurry. Bernetsyan focused on the body of Brannies early in the second round, eventually doubling him over with his attack. With Brannies in trouble, Bernetsyan again followed up with a flurry to score another knockdown and the fight was waved off at 1:09 of the second round.

In the fight of the night, debuting Richard Contreras (1-0, 1 KO) of Riverside, California scored a minor upset over former amateur standout Vachik Avagyan (2-1, 1 KO) of Glendale via third-round knockout. Avagyan, 117, got off to a solid start and outboxed the taller, lanky Contreras, 116, in the both first and second rounds. Avagyan, a former member of the Armenian National Team, displayed a hit-and-run style that suited him well as an amateur. Avagyan landed a hard left hand in the second that could have been scored a knockdown had he not fallen over on top of Contreras.

For two rounds Contreras could not pin the southpaw Avagyan down long enough to land more than one or two blows in succession. Finally in the third, Contreras countered Avagyan with a clean right hand to drop his opponent hard to the mat. Avagyan rose and quickly returned fire, rather than hold on or move away to completely clear the cobwebs. Both fighters went toe-to-toe for a stretch, before a vicious right uppercut dropped Avagyan again to end the fight. It was clear that Avagyan, who had gamely battled back toward the end of the round, was not going to get up and no count was needed. Time of the stoppage was 2:14 of the third round.

MMA

In the featured MMA attraction, Noad Lahat (4-0, 1 KO, 3 Submissions) of Glendale scored a quick submission victory over Richard Schiller (6-1, 5 Submissions) of Torrance, California. Lahat, 145, quickly gained control of the fight on the mat. Before Schiller, 144, could get acclimated to the ground game, Schiller cinched in with a rear naked choke. Schiller, displaying the will of an undefeated fighter, was able to get to one knee with Lahat locked in on his back. Unable to break free, Schiller had no choice but to tap out at 2:15 of round one.

In other mixed martial arts action, Andy Dermenjyan (4-1, 2 KOs, 2 Submissions) of Van Nuys scored a first-round stoppage over Jason Williams (1-6, 1 KO) of San Bernardino, California. Williams, 153, came out swinging, but was quickly taken to the mat by Dermenjyan, 150 ½, who immediately took control of the fight. Dermenjyan eventually worked his way to Williams’ back and locked in a choke hold for the tap out. Time of the stoppage was 2:50 of the first round.

In a competitive three-rounder, Jared Papazian (8-5-1, 3 KOs, 1 Submission) of Glendale took a hard-fought unanimous decision over Tyler Weathers (6-5, 4 Submissions) of Lakewood, California. The fight included some roughhousing, including an instance in the second round when Weathers, 144, ducked out of the ropes only to get hit by Papazian, 144, from a punch over the top rope. The fight was won in the third, as Papazian completely controlled the action. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Papazian, who returns to the ring June 4th at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.

Local favorite Cooper Gibson (1-1, 1 Submission) of Hollywood scored a quick submission victory over Ulises Figueroa (1-2, 1 Submission) of Lakewood. Gibson, 145, forced Figueroa, 145, to the ground a quickly applied a guillotine choke to get the victory. Time of the stoppage was 1:22 of the first.

Haik Tsaturyan (1-0) of Glendale made a successful pro debut with a unanimous three-round decision win over Chris Wolf (0-4) of San Bernardino. Tsaturyan, 135, controlled most of the first round, outside of one shot that sent him down to the mat. Tsaturyan quickly got up continued his success over Wolf, 135. Rounds two and three were turned completely into wrestling matches, where Tsaturyan had a decided advantage over Wolf. In the end, two judges scored the fight a shutout for Tsaturyan, 30-27, with one judge finding a round to give to Wolf with the score of 29-28.

Thursday’s card was the first offering of upstart promoters King Of The West Promotions.

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

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

Hello Frankie, welcome to 15rounds.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Weights for Friday Night’s card at The Arena (Formally The New Alhambra)

Danny Garcia 141 ½ – Christopher Fernandez 141
Karl Dargan 137 – Jorge Ruiz 138
Latif Mundy 163 – Todd Eriksson 164
Andre Espuet 174 ½ – Charles Hayward 173 ½
Mike Dargan 154 – Jason Montgomery 152 ½
Jose Ortiz 130 – Jason Sosa 129 ½
Julian Williams 152 ½ – Antonio Fernandez 154

WEIGH IN QUOTES:

Chris Fernandez: “I know he is going to try to come out and entertain his fans. That’s the problem going into someone’s hometown but I have been here before. I have fought in Philadelphia before and fought in hostile environments. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I am prepared and ready”

Danny Garcia: “I am happy to be back in Philly. You are going to see a lot of smartness, Speed and power and I will give the fans what they want.”

Karl Dargan: “This is my first co-main event. I haven’t fought since February 25th and there is going to be a lot of anger, excitement, skill and determination”

Promoters: Golden Boy Promotions in assoc. with Joe Hand Promotions
First Bell : 7:30 pm est
TV: Telefutura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Bill’s Fight Night 27
Friday at 7:30PM ET
Friday, May 7th, Duluth, Georgia will play host to Wild Bill’s Fight Night 27. The action starts at 8:30pm ET in a card many would say is a “futures” event. Eight amateur bouts are set to take place and some of the state’s and region’s top up-and-coming fighters will be featured. Many of the bouts will be for vacant amateur title belts, making these some of Wild Bill’s 1st amateur belt holders.

Fighters from AMAC, AL MMA, Legacy Fight Club, HardCore Gym, Genesis MMA, RUSH MMA and many more, will pit their skills against evenly matched, tough opponents. Be sure to check out www.GoFightLive.tv to see the full fight card and see these rising stars take home a title!

For event information or to purchase a pass for online viewing, go to http://www.gofightlive.tv/showEvent.do?eventId=675.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Steve “USS” Cunningham will take on Troy Ross for the vacant IBF Cruiserweight championship, June 5th in Neubrandenburg, Germany.

“This is a chance of a lifetime for Troy and we are confident he will win the title,” said Yvonne Michel, who is Ross’s promoter. “The fight being in Germany we believe it will be an even playing field for both.”

“He is very skilled, powerful and mature,” Michel said of Ross. “We know Steve Cunningham and we have a lot of respect for him. It is going to be a very spectacular and contested fight but Troy will prevail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

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