Amir Khan, who wears lightning bolts on his dark trunks, is a lightning rod for controversy, especially in the week after Danny Garcia stopped him in the fourth round of an upset that few foresaw.

The attention on Khan is unfair to Garcia, but that’s built into a modern star system created and sustained by social media. Khan, a designated star since the 2004 Olympics, knows how to use it. Garcia, a relative newcomer with an annoying trash-talker for a dad, does not.

Stardom looms for the unbeaten Garcia.

It’s not quite so clear for Khan.

But here is a scorecard, a guide of sorts, on what Khan should do and not do:

Retire: Ridiculous. Fellow Brit Carl Froch said he was misquoted by the BBC. Whatever Froch said or didn’t say, it’s safe to assume Froch would have a more damning comment if the 25-year-old Khan did in fact retire. There’s another way to describe a young fighter who retires a few years from his prime. He’s called a quitter. Khan is not. He proved that by fighting back after the third-round knockdown and getting up from a knockdown early in the fourth.

The chin: Golden Boy promoters insist that Khan proved he could withstand power in 2010 when he survived Marcos Maidana’s crushing blows in the 10th round. But the Maidana fight created a dangerous illusion that Khan could take a big punch. Khan believed it. That’s why he decided to brawl in the fourth against Garcia, who dropped him twice in the round. Remember, Maidana’s punches landed late. Garcia’s biggest punch landed early – in the third. If it hadn’t ended in the fourth, it would have in the fifth or sixth or seventh. Khan fought as if he thought Maidana had inoculated him from having a weak chin. No, he just needs to know he must use superior skills to protect it with his reach, jab and feet. A fragile chin, which Khan leaves high and exposed, is not a career-ender. From Floyd Patterson to Lennox Lewis, history is full of fighters who have learned to fight despite it and perhaps succeed because of it.

Freddie Roach: Don’t fire him. UK media are full of stories about Khan hiring a new trainer who can teach defense. Roach is known for emphasizing offense. Hard to blame him. A little more offense from Manny Pacquiao might have resulted in a stoppage that would have averted the flap over his split-decision loss to Timothy Bradley. It’s an insult to say Roach can’t teach defense. Boxing isn’t football. Offense and defense aren’t played by different squads and coached by different coordinators. They are inseparable. Khan just has to suspend a confidence bordering on arrogance and remember to execute a Roach plan with tactics defending the chin while augmenting the offense.

Time: There is still plenty of it left. It’s too easy of think of Khan as much older, perhaps because he’s been a star since the Athens Olympics when he was a 17-year silver medalist. He is still maturing. In a couple of years, Pacquiao will probably be a full-time Filipino politician. A couple of more fights are left in Pacquiao’s career. Pacquiao’s retirement would mean more time for, say, a rematch with Garcia.

Quotes, Anecdotes
· A sign of Khan’s over-confidence can be found in what was missing in his contract with Garcia. It didn’t include a rematch clause. A loss to Garcia never seemed to be even a remote possibility to Khan, who in pre-fight interviews often talked about fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December.

· Several possibilities have been mentioned for Garcia’s next bout, including Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi. A rematch with Khan was eliminated by Garcia’s dad, Angel, who in pre-fight exchanges insulted Khan’s Pakistani roots. “Why should we give him a rematch when he didn’t give us any respect?’’ Angel said.

AZ Notes
Phoenix super-bantamweight Alexis Santiago (11-2-1, 5 KOs), nicknamed Beaver, is scheduled Friday night for an 8-rounder in Santa Ynez, Calif., against Roman Morales (10-0, 6 KOs) of San Ardo, Calif., on a ShoBox-televised card featuring former World Boxing Association lightweight champ Miguel Acosta (29-5-2, 23 KOs) of Argentina against Armenian Art Hovhannisyan (14-0-2, 8 KOs).

Philadelphia junior welterweight Danny Garcia was gradually fading against Erik Morales in March. The old Mexican master was coming forward in Houston’s Reliant Arena, and having taken away one of Garcia’s best punches, winning rounds and remembering his legacy. Then Morales began a right uppercut, moving forward and from distance – two mortal sins in one punch – and Garcia put his life behind a left-hook counter, and Morales crumbled.

In the final minute of the third round of his fight with Amir Khan Saturday in Mandalay Bay, Garcia was gradually missing Khan by wider and wider margins. Then Khan, catalyzed by the prospect of not being hit, began a right uppercut, moving forward and from distance, and Garcia put his life behind a left-hook counter, and Khan crumbled. The rest were details that ended with this line: Garcia TKO-4 Khan.

Danny Garcia used proper footwork to stand his ground from the opening bell, Saturday, choosing to be a fighter – not merely an athlete. The slower-reflexed man, Garcia took Khan’s first shot over and again and threw a dozen counter left hooks and overhand rights, which landed or barely missed, before he got the definitive punch of his career to come home. It struck Khan on the neck, arriving from an overshot place behind the ear, and rattled Khan’s stem enough to shake his brain, claim his equilibrium, and give him a storefront on Queer Street memorable as where Zab Judah set up shop against Kostya Tszyu in 2001. Khan’s footwork was worse with communication severed from his central nervous system to his lower body, yes, but only marginally so.

It’s not that Khan is a victim of brave choices – a man like that, after all, would have re-fought Marcos Maidana a couple Aprils ago instead of cherrypicking Paul McCloskey – rather it’s that Khan has enormous technical flaws boxing’s star system continues to overlook because it does not fit the narrative of a handsome, multicultural “warrior” with “fast hands” and “so much heart”

That is the confection boxing’s star system tried, and tried again, and will try at least one more time, to make of Khan. But boxing, bless its dark and easily corruptible heart, always finds the truth in its ring eventually, and the truth is this: Amir Khan, while a very decent and telegenic young athlete, is not a championship caliber fighter. He never has been because he is missing something, and it is not the obvious thing.

What Khan is missing is a certain willingness to be hit, and that is a flaw that unless one is a defensive specialist, professionals like Garcia and Maidana and Lamont Peterson will discover with an almost audible “Eureka!” and exploit. Even Garcia, a light hitter requiring an opponent’s wrong-leaning momentum to score a knockdown, threw haymakers, both counters and leads, from the fight’s opening minute. Why? Because he realized that, unlike Morales before him, Khan is not wired to step inside a wild punch and abuse its mania. Khan is hardwired to show athleticism – to leap backwards and demonstrate for euphoric onlookers how quick he is of hand and foot from the (way) outside. So long as Garcia threw threatening punches, then, he could trust Khan’s counters would be late-arriving and halfhearted when they got there.

Give Khan a chance to step forward, front-run and lead, and he’ll make a heavybag of you. But hurl crazy punches his way, and Khan’s first instinct, one trainer Freddie Roach has been unable to overcome, much to his reputation’s chagrin, is to flee momentarily and return once the craziness abates. It takes an opponent of incredibly little power across from him, a Paulie Malignaggi, say, for Khan to commit to a proper counter.

Khan’s handlers and their enablers thought they had that guy, again, with Garcia, a man who’d needed the full 36-minute distance to beat a fat and semiretired Erik Morales, and had only stopped 14 of his first 23 opponents. They were wrong, but do not expect them to admit it. Danny Garcia is not the guy they want. He’s prickly in his garish tiger stripes. He’s more Philadelphian than Puerto Rican but just Puerto Rican enough to not invoke images of Joe Frazier or Bernard Hopkins. “I want to thank God, I want to thank Al Haymon,” Garcia said immediately after stopping Khan, “he changed my life!”

And Garcia’s dad is a racist and a bigot, too. Goodness gracious, but when did boxing become about nonviolent expressions of offense? Yet, as part of Saturday’s HBO event, viewers were treated to broadcaster-cum-advocate Jim Lampley laying into Garcia’s dad like it was a cable talkshow. It was a better time when networks’ prefight meetings were candid affairs, and someday their programmers will rue broadcasting such footage.

It was a better time to be an aficionado, too, when broadcasters were not advocates, when they simply called both fighters’ punches and did not try to sell an audience the narrative most favorable to their last, or next, side project. But bad as Lampley was Saturday, that’s how good Max Kellerman was. He was the one member of HBO’s team who saw Garcia land several significant punches before the one that dropped Khan in a heap and made it a technical impossibility to celebrate Amir any further.

Saturday Garcia unified three titles in the junior welterweight division, though the path to that “unification” – as outlined by David Greisman on Twitter – does brings a chuckle. This Garcia knockout win, then, was not what was planned or promised, but aficionados are nimble enough to pivot like the Philadelphian, celebrate a great performance by an underestimated talent, and enjoy whatever comes next. We’ll see if the star system’s footwork is good as Khan’s.

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

LAS VEGAS – Amir Khan and Danny Garcia were light on the scale Friday at a weigh-in that included all of the usual poses and promises, yet little of the buzz that puts some drama into the pre-fight ritual.

A crowd of a few hundred watched Khan and Garcia weigh in at 139 pounds, one under the limit for their junior-welterweight bout Saturday at Mandalay Bay. From Garcia’s potential emergence to Khan’s bid to re-assert his claim on stardom after a controversial loss, the ingredients for an interesting fight are there. But there are questions about whether many paying customers will be.

Ticket sales have been slow, according to sources at the box office. Barring a good walk-up during the hours before opening bell, a small crowd would raise familiar questions about Khan’s marketability in the United States. He’s a British fighter of Pakistani descent. Some of his fans were there Friday, dressed in T-shirts that said Khan’s Army. But it was a small army.

In part, there’s been a dilution of interest in his bout with Garcia in the UK because of the heavyweight brawl Saturday between Dereck Chisora and David Haye in London. Much of the UK media stayed home for Chisora-Haye instead of traveling to Las Vegas for Khan’s first fight since his controversial loss to Lamont Peterson in Washington D.C.

Then, there’s Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs), a Philadelphia fighter who is still relatively unknown, even in his own country. His dad and trainer, Angel, has been trash-talking non-stop in an evident attempt to gain some notoriety for his 24-year-old son. But if early ticket sales are an indication, the public hasn’t been paying attention. What’s more, the bookies aren’t impressed with Angel Garcia’s braggadocio. Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) was about a 5-to-1 favorite on Friday. That means he is expected to win the HBO-televised bout easily.

“I will knock Danny Garcia out,’’ Khan said. “ I will take the world titles home. I know Danny didn’t train as hard as me. I promise I will knock him out. That is the only way.’’

Khan said it with the conviction of fighter who knows he must be sensational in his bid to eliminate questions that have lingered since his mixed performance against Peterson, who was forced out of rematch by a positive test for a synthetic testosterone.

Khan also had a message for Garcia’s dad, who has said he has never seen a good fighter of Pakistani descent.

“I cannot wait until after the fight when we stand here and I have knocked your son out,’’ Khan said. “He is going to see what a Pakistani-British fighter can do. I cannot wait to get in there.’’

Angel Garcia couldn’t wait to deliver a rhetorical counter.

“This fight is going to show the world who is the boss,’’ Angel said. “Danny is the boss. Khan has never faced a Latino like Danny. This is Latino blood. A nation. We are going to show the world who is the boss.”

Well, a fraction of the world anyway.

A zero on the right side of a rare won-lost ledger can be a doughnut hole full of illusions. It’s hard to confront and harder to learn from something that amounts to nothing. Amir Khan doesn’t have that problem.

There’s opportunity on that side of the equation for Khan, who is coming off a loss to Lamont Peterson in a decision as controversial as any, including the latest twitter-driven flap over the split scorecards favoring Tim Bradley over Manny Pacquiao. Without returning to the grassy knoll full of lousy decisions and subsequent suspicions, let’s just say that Khan has another chance to define himself in the way great fighters always have.

They are remembered for their victories, but they are measured by how they respond to the adversity that comes with a loss, no matter how controversial. Defeat is the great divide between good and great. Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) won’t make the leap in one night Saturday against the unbeaten and untested Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) in a HBO-televised bout at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

But Khan can re-assert his potential, eliminate doubt left in the wake of the Peterson performance and show that he is ready to move on, from junior-welterweight to welter. Don’t expect him to send any thank-you notes to Peterson, who was forced to withdraw from a scheduled rematch because of a positive test for synthetic testosterone. Without Peterson and the timing of the loss last December in Washington D.C., Khan might not have been forced to acknowledge and presumably correct mistakes that could have set him for more significant trouble later one.

“At times, we got lazy and stuff,’’ Khan said in a conference call. “We weren’t feeling the effects of his punches, so we just stood there and took punches that we shouldn’t have taken. I think we were too brave really. That’s why I knew in the rematch I was not going to do what I did in the first fight and make the silly mistakes I did make. There are some things that we did in the fight that I shouldn’t have done.

“Also, outside of the ring there were a few things in training camp I did that I’ll never do again. I’ve changed them around and I feel like a totally different fighter now.

“It was a great learning curve for me, the Peterson fight, because it made me realize that, ‘Look, I need to do things and I have to be more professional and I can’t do this and I can’t do that.’

“Sometimes, it’s a good wake up call.’’

A willingness to change has already been evident in Khan’s camp, which was interrupted by news of Peterson’s positive test and the announcement he would fight Garcia instead. Khan fired conditioning coach Alex Ariza and hired Ruben Tabares.

“Yeah, we’ve changed from Alex to Ruben Tabares and it was just a change I needed because it’s always good to have a change and work on new things,’’ said Khan, whose chin has been suspect ever since his first loss – a first-round KO to Breidis Prescott in 2008 . “There are a few things in camp I changed and I didn’t change. It was a big wake up call for me after the Peterson fight and there were a few things I could change. This was one of the things that changed.’’

Tabares, he says, has forced him to re-focus by altering routines.

“It’s a new challenge, as well, which kind of drives me and I think that’s what young fighters need because you can get bored doing the same thing.’’

In dumping Ariza, Khan did what Pacquiao, his stable mate at trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym, would not. Tension between Arizona and Roach muddied the waters before the Bradley fight.

On HBO’s 24/7, Roach said Ariza would not be in the corner. Then, however, Pacquiao stepped in and said that Ariza would be there. Pacquiao, a Filipino Congressman, often acts like that politician who wants to please all of the people all of the time. The impossibility of that task is no secret, especially in the contentious boxing business. The controversial Ariza was in Pacquiao’s corner on June 9, but there was still speculation about lingering tension between him, Roach and cutman Miguel Diaz. Ariza repeatedly insulted Diaz after the Diaz-trained Marcos Maidana lost to Khan in the 2010 Fight of the Year.

Unlike Pacquiao, Khan eliminated any chance of Ariza becoming an issue against Garcia or presumably anybody else. It’s a sign that he has moved on in perhaps one small, yet significant step toward crossing that great divide.

QUICK HITS
· The U.S. economy is headed for a fiscal cliff on Jan. 1 if politicians can’t agree. By then, the boxing business will already have driven off its own fiscal cliff if the Top Rank-promoted Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight at Thomas & Mack Center and Golden Boy’s Canelo Alvarez-Josesito Lopez bout go off on the same night, Sept. 15, in the same city, Las Vegas.

· Any odds on who will outweigh whom by more on Sept 15? Chavez, a 160-pound champion has been entering the ring at 180 pounds and more at opening bell. Lopez, who has never been at more than 144 pounds, is facing a junior-middleweight (154) in Canelo.

Amir Khan was reinstated as the WBA Super Light champion due to the circumstances around Lamont Peterson and thus, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com sets up a unification bout with WBC champion Danny Garcia this Saturday night in Las Vegas.

“This decision was taken after the positive doping result of the American Lamont Peterson, confirmed by the medical experts,” the WBA said in a statement.

“It’s thrilling to know that because I think they’ve seen there was some wrong and they have made the first move,” Khan said of the WBA. “I’m glad that the title will be on the line now. It just makes the fight even more exciting and also having two world titles makes the fight even bigger.

“Me and Danny are young fighters. He’s 24. I’m 25 and to be in this position fighting a huge fight with so many titles on the line I think is brilliant. We just hope that the IBF may do the same thing, put that title on the line, as well, which will be coming on this unification. I think the WBA made a great choice and I just want to thank them.”

After the disclosure of Lamont Peterson’s positive for a banned substance that canceled his May 19th rematch, Amir Khan has found a new dance partner in WBC Super Lightweight champion Danny Garcia as they have agreed to meet on July 14th according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

The bout will take place at The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas

“You have two young guys, two of the best in the division,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer,who promotes both fighters.. “Danny Garcia is undefeated and a champion and Amir Khan is one of the biggest names in the sport, so I am really excited about this fight and lucky we were to be able to put it together considering what happened (with Peterson).”

Schaefer said heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell (25-0, 19 KOs) of Brandywine, Md., will open the HBO telecast. He could face Detroit’s Johnathon Banks (28-1-1, 18 KOs), a former cruiserweight title challenger who has been at heavyweight since 2009 and gone 8-0-1 in the weight class

“I feel like this is how its supposed to be — the best versus the best, both of us in our prime and giving the fans a great fight,” Garcia told ESPN.com. “I’m just happy. Its going to be a great fight and I feel like I have what it takes to beat this guy.”

“When I heard about the possibility I strapped on my shoes and went out running. I want to be ready,” Garcia said. “I believe everything happens for a reason. I guess that (Peterson-Khan II) wasn’t meant to be. I feel like Khan and me are young fighters taking it back to the old days when the best mixed it up with the best.

“I’ve watched Khan a lot. He’s a good fighter, but I don’t think he’s what people say he is, getting all this credit. I’ll expose all that stuff July 14. I know I’m going to win this fight. I feel like he will leave himself open for some big shots and we’ll see if he can take them. I can box and I can punch. I’m going to hit him with stuff he won’t see. I can’t wait.”

Lamont Peterson’s camp must not have been reading websites, Twitter or Facebook when ESPN reported just two days after Peterson’s upset on Dec. 10 of Amir Khan that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun had tested positive.

Either that or Peterson’s management was partying on a planet where there is no social media. Braun’s positive test was for elevated levels of testosterone. A second test showed that the testosterone was synthetic, meaning that Braun, the National League’s 2011 MVP, had either injected it or ingested it.

Braun’s positive test was a cautionary tale in what not to do. Peterson went ahead and did it anyway, setting off a fast-moving chain of events that led to the cancellation Wednesday of a May 19 rematch with Khan at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay. Peterson’s test samples also revealed a testosterone that had been injected as pellets into the junior-welterweight’s hip.

Expect lots of legalese in the argument about whether the testosterone in the Peterson sample was synthetic. His Las Vegas physician, Dr. John Thompson, said it was soy-based, calling it “bioidentical testosterone’’ administered after Peterson complained about fatigue brought on by what Thompson said were low levels of the natural stuff.

Even if those pellets were veggie burgers, they had to be injected in a procedure not reported to VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, which conducted the tests in an agreement with both camps. If there was in fact a legitimate medical reason for the testosterone treatment, VADA should have known about it. That it didn’t before a positive test on March 19 raises a red flag.

Peterson, a nice guy with a compelling story, said he was told that soy-based testosterone was not on the banned list. He said he researched on-line and decided it was natural. He said there no reason to worry. If not, why not report it on a VADA form that asked each fighter to disclose medications? Sorry, but to call its absence on the document an inadvertent slip just doesn’t explain it. Even his own camp says the treatment started about a month before his controversial decision over Khan in Washington D.C.

Questions raised by Braun’s positive test should have alerted Peterson to the peril of continuing it without disclosing it. Unlike Braun, the unfortunate Peterson doesn’t have a Player’s Union or an appeal process that can protect him and his livelihood. Braun’s 50-game suspension was overturned in February on an appeal that disputed only the process in which the sample was delivered and not the result itself.

Braun got off on a technicality.

Peterson didn’t.

He already has lost a payday in a cancellation also costly to Khan and Golden Boy Promotions. He’ll lose a few more if he can’t explain to various state commissions why he wasn’t more transparent about his use of a substance long controversial in other sports but just becoming an issue addressed by boxing.

In some ways, Peterson has become the personification what boxing must do: Pay attention, or else there will be cancellations in a business that can’t afford them.

AZ Notes
Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. (14-0, 12 KOs) is expected to test his surgically-repaired right wrist on May 26 at Casino Del Sol in Tucson against Josh Sosa (10-2, 5 KOs), a Leavenworth, Kan., fighter who has lost has last two. The fight will be Benavidez’s first since injuring the wrist during a victory in November on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.

Benavidez is scheduled for an undercard that will feature Mexican welterweight Jesus Soto Karass (24-7-3, 16 KOs) against Said El Harrack (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Henderson, Nev. Karass-El Harrack replaces the Antonio Margarito-Abel Perry bout, which was moved to July 7, also at Casino Del Sol, because of an Achilles tendon injury suffered by Margarito last week while training in Tijuana for his first bout since a loss in December to Miguel Cotto.

Washington, D.C. (May 10, 2012) – IBF and WBA Light Welterweight Champion Lamont Peterson’s team issued the following statement in response to the cancellation of the Peterson vs. Khan II rematch:
Team Peterson is very disappointed and distraught by the decision to cancel the May 19th rematch against Amir Khan. This is an extremely difficult decision to accept. We have always taken the position of providing factual information rather than responding emotionally to rumors and innuendoes. We did everything that was asked of us in efforts to comply. To support our stance we provided the Nevada State Athletic Commission with a significant amount of factual medical data in response to these allegations. Lamont did a battery of test this week and saw a number of independent board certified physicians. They all had the exact same conclusion as the doctor that initially treated and diagnosed Lamont’s medical condition. It began as a confidential medical matter between a patient and his physician; unfortunately, it has now become a public issue in efforts to clear the name and reputation of this young man.

As a condition for this rematch Lamont demanded that Olympic style random drug testing be implemented. He has been a true advocate for making boxing drug free and fair. In his 18 year career (10 amateur and 8 professional) Lamont Peterson has never failed a drug test and has always complied with the rules beyond this isolated and explainable occurrence. We still stand behind the fact that he did nothing wrong and he was more than ready to go through with the May 19th fight. He is a man of tremendous character and will. His work ethic is second to none and in every sense of the word he is a true Champion, in life, as well as in the ring.

We will vigorously pursue the truth with regards to this matter and continue to fight to protect this young man’s character, credibility and all he has accomplished. Once all the facts have been reviewed we have no doubt that he will be vindicated.

LOS ANGELES, May 9 – A failed pre-fight drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), coupled with the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s (NSAC) legal inability to hold a formal hearing on the matter of licensing Lamont Peterson for his Saturday, May 19 rematch against Amir Khan until Tuesday, May 15, has forced the cancellation of the event.

Ticket refunds for “Peterson vs. Khan II” will be available at your point of purchase. Ticketmaster may be reached at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com. Event ticket refunds for fans traveling from the United Kingdom are available at www.sportscorporation.comor by calling +44 (0)845 163 0845.

On a Tuesday conference call, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer updated the media on the situation regarding Lamont Peterson testing positive for a banned substance which puts in doubt his May 19th IBF/WBA 140 lb title defense with Amir Khan in Las Vegas.

Schafer said it was Nevada Commission head Keith Kizer who informed him the commission had just received the letter from VADA outlining the issues, including the revelation that Peterson’s “A” sample and “B” sample both had tested positive for a banned substance.

Schaefer claimed neither he nor anyone from team Khan was notified until this week and the “A” Sample was reported dirty on April 12th and the “B” sample came back April 30.

There was no news on what the status of the bout is at this time

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that IBF/WBA Jr. Welterweight champion Lamont Peterson has tested positive for a banned substance which now puts into question weather he will be able to fight his May 19th rematch with Amir Khan in Las Vegas.

Jeff Fried, Peterson’s attorney, acknowledged the positive test on Monday night.

“We have tremendous respect for VADA and its mission,” Fried said in a statement to ESPN.com. “Lamont, (trainer/manager) Barry (Hunter) and the entire team emphatically support random drug testing in the most comprehensive manner possible. We are working expeditiously with a team of pathologists and other medical specialists to confirm the origin of the test result and in full compliance with the rules of the Nevada Athletic Commission.

“Lamont has never had a positive test either before or after this isolated occurrence and we plan to submit the medical findings by close of business Tuesday reflecting the actual facts in support of Lamont’s good faith intentions and the requirements of the commission.”

Ironically, it was Peterson who asked for Khan to undergo random blood and urine testing leading up to their HBO-televised main event.

They contracted with the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, whose president is Dr. Margaret Goodman, a former Nevada State Athletic Commission ringside physician

“At this point in the process, I think it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the matter with the media,” Goodman said.

WBO Super Featherweight champion Adrien Broner will face unknown Gary Sykes on May 19th as the co-feature to the Lamont Peterson – Amir Khan rematch in Las Vegas according to espn.com’s Dan Rafael

“Man, no matter who it was, I am still going to make all work look like easy work,” Broner said. “I’m taking over boxing. I’m the missing puzzle piece, flat out.”

“The fight has been approved and we’re all confirmed. We are ready to go,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. “The visa attorneys are working on the visa. Obviously, they don’t see any issues. He should get it in about 15 days. We informed HBO of the visa situation and they are aware the visa has to be processed and that it takes some time.”

“We are bringing Adrien back quickly from the February fight and we were looking at different opponents, but some were not available and we zeroed in on Gary Sykes,” Schaefer said. “You need to realize that when you call to ask people if they want to fight Adrien Broner, the other side doesn’t say, ‘Oh, great.’ There is a hesitation. So it’s becoming more and more difficult to find an opponent from a field that is already skim pickings to start with because the 130-pound division is not a deep division. You have guys like (Yuriorkis) Gamboa and (Robert) Guerrero who are top fighters but who moved up in weight.”

“Combine the talent, the charisma and the brush and he has superstar written all over him, so we want to keep him busy,” Schaefer said, referring to Broner’s habit of having his father brush his hair in the ring after his victories. “He is comfortable at 130 pounds. He’ll probably have a few more title defenses before he goes up to lightweight. But if the right opportunity came along at 135, he would probably go up for that.

“There is no rush to leave 130, though. He’s entertaining and one of the most exciting fighters and one of the most charismatic. So more power to him that he can capture the interest of the public in a division which lacks other big names.”

LOS ANGELES (January 17, 2012) – Due to the fact that there was only to be partial representation of fight officials who were involved with the December 10, 2011 Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson bout at tomorrow’s scheduled appeal hearing of the fight’s outcome before the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan have decided to withdraw their appeal and focus their full attention on Amir’s next fight.

Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan are pleased to have been vindicated by the World Boxing Association’s (WBA) recent decision to mandate an immediate rematch and still hope that Mr. Peterson will honor earlier statements in which he asserted that he would be happy to agree to a rematch. In that vein, Golden Boy Promotions and Team Khan would agree to a 50/50 split of worldwide revenues derived from a rematch (including those derived from the United Kingdom) should Mr. Peterson agree to participate and hope that this will be both financially and professionally satisfying to Mr. Peterson and his team.

Former 140 pound world champion Paulie Malignaggi talks Khan – Peterson; Froch-Ward and and a possible title shoy againsy Vyacheslav Sanchenko

Follow all the action LIVE from Ringside in Washington, DC as Amir Khan defends the WBA/IBF 140 lb title against hometown Hero Lamont Peterson. The action begins at 10:30 pm eastern time/3:30 am on Sunday in the UK with a Heavyweight tussle between undefeated Seth Mitchell and Timur Ibragimov
12 Rounds–IBF/WBA 140 lb title–Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO’s_) vs Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KO’s)

ROUND 1 Fast pace early …Khan trying to bully Peterson…BIG LEFT HOOK DOWN GOES PETERSON…10-8 Khan

Round 2 Straight right from Khan… Peterson lands a left hook…Left hook to the body..Khan comes back with a flurry…Good jab from Peterson…Khan lands a little left at the bell…20-18 Khan

Round 3 Peterson gets in a right…Khan fires back…Peterson ripping to the body…Right from Khan..Hard right to the body fromPeterson…Good right from Khan..29-28 Khan

Round 4 Peterson..hard 1-2….Ripping combination from Peterson…Jab from Kahn…big 1-2 from Khan..2 hard rights from Peterson…Big right from Kan…..38-38

Round 5 48-47 Khan

Round 6 Khan lands a good 3 punch combo…counter left from Peterson…Left from Khan…2 to the body from Peterson…Lead right from Khan…Good shots on the from Peterson..Khan shakes it off…58-56 Khan

Round 7 3 punch combo from Khan…left to the body…left hook from Khan…right over the top from Peterson followed by a body shot…Peterson mauling Khan on the ropes…Khan trying to run away but Peterson is relentles…KHAN DEDUCTED A POINT AT END OF ROUND FOR PUSHING…66-66

Round 8 Peterson pounding the body…Peterson starting to batter Khan upstairs…1-2 Khan…3 punch combo from Khan…Peterson pounding the body… 76-75 Peterson

Round 9 Hard right from Khan..8 hard shots from Peterson…Khan comes right back…..Khan landing the body…combo from Khan…big right hurts Peterson badly…he holds on…hard combo off the ropes…Peterson lands a big right…85-85

Round 10 Peterson lands a left hook…Khan lands a left…Good right from Peterson…95-94 Khan

Round 11 Body shots from Khan..big uppercut from Khan…Body from Peterson…Chants of DC for Peterson…105-103 Khan

Round 12

S HEAVYWEIGHTS–SETH MITCHELL (23-0-1, 17 KO’S) VS TIMUR IBRAGIMOV (30-3-1, 16 KO’S)

ROUND 1 Mitchell jabbing to the body…Right over the top…left hook..right on the ropes…..Ibragimov gets in a short right…Right over the top...10-9 Mitchell

Round 2: Good action inside..Hard left hook from Mitchell..Mitchell all over Timur…Big right over the top… 3 more rocks Ibragimov HE IS HURT,,,,THE FIGHT IS STOPPPED

TKO 2:48 OF ROUND 2 FOR SETH MITCHELL

Amir Khan is in a city where it is very hard to get any kind of a decision. Some would say it’s impossible. Washington D.C. is only a fight town if you’re a Republican, or a Democrat, or Barack Obama.

That said, I’m thinking Khan will get what no American politician can, even those who were anointed to sit on some budget committee that was called super. Or was that stupor? It’s a risk, of course. Allowing the junior-welterweight fight to go to the scorecards Saturday night for a decision in Lamont Peterson’s hometown is the kind of gamble that could go terribly wrong.

But there’s much to admire in Khan’s bold willingness to take on risk and then manage its dangerous dynamics. His desperate stand in the 10th round of a vicious assault from Marcos Maidana a year ago in Las Vegas is a sure sign that he knows how to prevail. It’s instinctive. It had to be then, because instinct was all he had after Maidana’s punches nearly separated him from consciousness.

Bernard Hopkins, in his role as a Golden Boy Promotions vice president, has warned Khan he has to pursue a stoppage. Khan will, of course. That almost goes without saying. But Peterson is nothing if not a survivor. He learned the survival arts on D.C. streets where he grew up with his brother, homeless without a dad and seemingly without a chance. Peterson has survived before at home. It’s hard to believe he won’t survive 12 rounds this time.

But Peterson’s inexhaustible resiliency and hometown support don’t figure to score enough points against the emerging collection of speed, skill and smarts possessed by Khan, who at 25 appears to be nearing his prime.

“I can’t afford to lose and get beat,’’ Khan has said in conference calls and at news conferences. “It’s going to take me from being a good fighter to be being a superstar. Hopefully, Lamont Peterson will make me one of the best fighters in the world.’’

Khan might still be a Tim Bradley and another weight class, welter, from super-stardom. But the stakes are as high as the risk in what could be his most dangerous fight since Maidana.

In an unexpected twist, Khan trainer Freddie Roach got an object lesson, up close and personal, in the danger posed by Peterson. Roach, an advisor to America’s 2012 Olympic team, was with Peterson, who sparred as designated training partners for the Olympic boxers.

For two rounds, Roach held mitts that Peterson pounded with punches that revealed their power. If there’s a weakness in Khan, it is a fragile chin. Despite his desperate stand in the victory over Maidana, it’s been there ever since Breidis Prescott stopped him in the first round of a stunner.

Since then, Khan has learned to employ his evident quickness and long jab to stay away from the inside brawling that opponents are sure to employ in an attempt to test that chin.

Intrigue rests in how Khan uses and mixes the elements in his versatile array of skill. The guess here is that he will have to do exactly that and perhaps more in a story on scorecards that will say a lot about him.

QUOTES, ANECDOTES
Congratulations to the 2012 Hall of Fame class of Thomas Hearns, Mark Johnson, Freddie Roach, Al Bernstein and especially retired boxing writer Michael Katz, whose words from ringside always said it better than anyone.

Life imitates art: Max Kellerman and Larry Merchant will do in fact for the HBO telecast of Khan-Peterson what they did in film a few years ago as a fictional broadcast team in the Rocky Balboa movie.

Lieutenant Colonel Manny Pacquiao has rank enough to command a Filipino battalion, yet still has no command of what Juan Manuel Marquez does to him.

AZ NOTES
Hall of Fame junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal of Phoenix applauds Johnson for getting into the Hall.

“I’m happy for him,’’ Carbajal said.

Johnson, of Washington D.C., and Carbajal were once mentioned as potential opponents.

“I would have fought him, but I lost to Jake Matlala,’’ said Carbajal, who lost a ninth-round stoppage to the South African in 1997. “If I’d beaten Matlala, that was the plan. We were talking about Mark Johnson. But I got beat.

“Johnson was a great boxer, really quick. But I would have put the pressure on and kept that pressure on him.’’

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that IBF/WBA 140 lb champion Amir Khan will face mandatory challenger Lamont Peterson on December 10th in either Washington, Detroit or Montreal in a bout to be televised on HBO.

Peterson does not have a promoter, so Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer said he made a deal with Barry Hunter, Peterson’s manager, trainer and father figure.

“I’ve been talking to Barry for the last couple of weeks and we were going back and forth between what they wanted and what the Khans wanted, trying to bridge the gap and agree on a number,” Schaefer told ESPN.com at the MGM Grand, where he is promoting Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz fight. “And we were finally able to do that, so as a result we have informed the IBF and called off the purse bid.”

“A dream come true,” Peterson told ESPN.com about the prospect of fighting for a world title in D.C.

“Lamont Peterson is a very skilled fighter with a different skill set than fighters like Maidana or Judah,” Schaefer said. “It’s going to be interesting. Lamont was dropped a couple of times in the fight with Ortiz, but showed the heart, the smarts and the skills to have the fight end up in a draw.”

“Lamont is a credible opponent. He got a draw with Ortiz, who is now fighting Mayweather,” Khan said in an interview with ESPN.com last week, while negotiations were ongoing. “Now he’s my mandatory and it would be a good fight. He wants to fight and I am willing to fight him. That’s probably the best fight for me before I move up to welterweight.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that IBF/WBA 140 lb champion, Amir Khan is looking to fight on December 10th and may fight his IBF mandatory Lamont Peterson

“Dec. 10 I will be back. I’ve got a TV date with HBO and I am looking forward to it,” Khan told ESPN.com, adding that the fight would take place in the United States. “Opponents are quite hard to get. We asked about (Erik) Morales, but he said no. Bradley (titlist Timothy Bradley Jr.) has said no, just refused to fight me even though we offered him everything he wanted. I really think he just doesn’t want to fight me no matter what’s on the table.

“It’s too bad because the fans want to see it. But I know I am No. 1 in the division and that’s what most other people say also because Bradley has not been active and he just won’t fight me.”

Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions said he is negotiating for Khan to face Lamont Peterson of Washington, D.C. Peterson is one of Khan’s mandatory challengers.

“That’s the fight we are pursuing,” Schaefer said. “We are having conversations with Barry Hunter (Peterson’s trainer, manager and father figure). “They’re interested in the fight. Now we have to see if we can agree on a purse. If we can’t, I guess we will go to a purse bid, but we are working on the numbers.”

Said Khan, “I think it’s a good fight. Peterson is skillful and a good fighter. But I will leave the negotiations to Golden Boy. This will probably be my last fight (at) 140.”

“Lamont is a credible opponent. He got a draw with Ortiz, who is now fighting Mayweather,” Khan, 24, said. “Now he’s my mandatory and it would be a good fight. He wants to fight and I am willing to fight him. That’s probably the best fight for me before I move up to welterweight.”

“I know I will give him a tougher fight than Victor Ortiz will,” Khan said. “He’s never faced anyone as slick as me.”

“I love fighting in the U.S. My fan base is growing,” said Khan, who trains with Roach at his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif. “I’d like to do another fight in New York or Las Vegas or have a fight in Los Angeles. Los Angeles would be a good place. I train there, so it would be like home for me.”

“It was good to come to Washington and meet Hillary Clinton,” Khan said. “She shook my hand and mentioned me on the podium when she was giving her speech. She called me a good role model for Muslims. That was nice to hear. She had nice words to say to me. We got to take a picture together. It was exciting.”

Zab “Super” Judah has filed a protest with the Nevada Athletic Commission and has also sent letters to both the WBA and the IBF requesting that those organizations order a rematch with Amir Khan.

According to the protest letter, Judah’s requests are predicated upon the inappropriate actions of the referee, who was clearly not in a position to see the low blow administered by Khan which ended the fight, as well as the referee’s reluctance to sanction Khan for repetitious hitting behind the head and holding Judah down throughout the bout.

A copy of the letter that was sent to the WBA, as well as the IBF and the Nevada Athletic Commission outlining the details of Khan’s infractions, is attached, along with a link to the video tape illustrating the repeated fouls, is attached.

Bill Halkias, Super Judah Promotions, “We know Zab was behind on the scores cards but there are numerous examples in boxing history where boxers that were behind came back with a knockout. The fact that Zab was behind has no bearing on whether the low blow call was wrong. We still had seven more rounds to fight. Zab still could have won, but that opportunity was wrongfully taken away from him”

“Before making any judgments, I would ask everyone to take a look at the tape,” Promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events, said. “The video doesn’t lie.”

Lamont Peterson secured a future date with IBF/WBA 140 lb champion by stopping Victor Cayo in round twelve of their IBFelimination bout at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.

Peterson was very solid thoughout the fight as he dictated the fight at his geography by forcing Cayo to fight on the inside where he could effective with good body work. Cayo had some moments by landing some good long right hands.

In the final round, the fruits of Peterson’s labor came to fruition as a worn down Cayo could not withstand the infighting of Peterson and he was dropped after a flurry of punches. Cayo could not beat referee Kenny Bayless’ count and the fight was stopped at 2:46 of round twelve.

Peterson, 140 lbs of Washington, DC is now 29-1-1 with fifteen knockouts. Cayo, 139 1/2 lbs of the Dominican Republic is now 26-2.

Yordenis Desaigne scored a fifth round victory over former two-time world title challenger Edison Miranda after referee Vic Drachulich disqualified Miranda due to low blows.

Despaigne hurt Miranda with a big right at the end of round one. At the end of the second frame, Miranda was docked a point for the first time as he tapped Despaigne low for the first time. Just seconds into round three Miranda was docked for a second time for a low blows. Round four saw Despaigne landed a six punch combination to the head of Miranda as Miranda invited Despaigne to hit him as he kept his gloves at his side.

In round five, another of Miranda’s punches strayed low and Drachulich was quick to pull the plug on the fight just forty-five seconds into the round.

Badou Jack remained perfect by scoring a second round stoppage over Timothy Hall in a scheduled six round Super Middleweight bout.

Jack dropped Hall with a body shot early in round two. Jack finished Hall off with a flurry of punches that sent Hall down and referee Kenny Bayless stopped the bout at 1:31 of round two.

Jack, 170 lbs of Las Vegas is now 7-0 with six knockouts. Hall, 168 lbs of Athens, GA is now 6-12.

Despaigne, 176 lbs of Miami is now 9-1. Miranda, 174 lbs of Carolina, PR is now 34-6.

Englishman Amir Khan will never fail to look unbeatable against an opponent who considers contact optional. If you are a prizefighter who relies on once-youthful reflexes to get the better of every exchange, there’s a good chance you have no chance against Khan. He is too fast and confident. He is going to hit you, and if being hit ruins your prefight strategy, ruined you will be.

Brooklyn’s Zab Judah, older and slower and newly devoted to the Prince of Peace, was just such a man – one who wanted no part of being hit.

And so, Saturday at Mandalay Bay, Amir Khan stopped Judah at 2:47 of round 5 with a punch that hit Judah on the belly button, making Khan a unified titlist at 140 pounds. And Judah – who try, try, tried again to get the fight stopped – was left with little more than another professional paragraph that ends “, if only.”

After the fight, Khan said he believed Judah a better boxer than Timothy Bradley, the recognized champion at 140 pounds. Khan is right. If you understand the word “boxer” in the headgear-and-big-gloves, hit-and-don’t-get-hit, make’em-say-“ooh! ahh!” sense of the term, Judah is a better boxer than Bradley. But Bradley is twice the fighter Judah is.

Don’t for a second think Khan’s ability to dominate a formerly flashy prizefighter with diminished reflexes is indicative of how Khan would fare against a prime volume puncher. Khan looked unstoppable against Paulie Malignaggi. And it told you nothing about how he’d look when Marcos Maidana laid hands on him. Maybe Malignaggi was no Zab Judah, but neither was Maidana any sort of Timothy Bradley.

Frankly, it’s hard to concentrate on another disappointing match in a papered (but still sparsely occupied) arena in a depressed American city when there is a looming debt crisis.

Let’s spend some time thinking about this looming crisis, then. No, not the politics of it. That part is beneath us. Rather, let’s look at the consequences of our Treasury bonds losing their AAA rating.

Since July of 1944, America has effectively owned the world’s printing press. When the Allies met in Bretton Woods, N.H., and agreed to make the dollar the world’s reserve currency, our country was given an extraordinary economic advantage. We have not used this advantage predatorily as European history tells us we could have, no, but we’ve still taken some liberties with it. In 1971, President Nixon “temporarily” suspended the redemptions we’d promised the Allies – dollars to gold – and floated the world’s reserve currency, and every other currency along with it. In the 1980s, President Reagan used the printing press to lose a race to bankruptcy with the Soviet Union.

Today we are told to fear a takeover of the world’s economy by China – as if the yuan were poised to replace the dollar. That is unlikely. After all, it took 65 million deaths in World War II for the world to agree on a common currency.

But what if our Treasury bonds were to lose their AAA rating?

It is instructive to look at the case of American International Group (AIG) in 2008 to start answering that question. AIG, believe it or not, never exactly defaulted on its debt. Instead, it issued an incredible number of bonds to borrow money to leverage its positions. And AIG’s bondholders bought those bonds based on their AAA rating – with an agreement that if AIG were to lose its high rating, it would provide additional collateral.

When AIG’s debt was downgraded by rating agencies, it suddenly had to produce tens of billions of dollars in additional collateral to meet its obligations. Its ability to raise additional capital reflexively cancelled, AIG faced default, and our federal government – owner of the world’s printing press – intervened, covered AIG’s debt, and prevented default.

Now, imagine AIG were a country whose debt the entire world owned and who suddenly lost its AAA rating. Then imagine there was no federal government to step in and prevent default.

Welcome to the United States of America in 2011.

What happens if U.S. Treasury bonds lose their AAA rating? Nobody knows. The quality of American debt is the one constant in every economic model designed and used for the last 67 years. America is uniquely empowered by the rest of the world to print money in a crisis. It has never struck anyone that a country with this advantage would consider not using it.

Every fixed-income model used by every country relies on the U.S. Treasury bond to be a standard. If this were to change, one assumes, the algorithms on which the world’s financial models are built would trigger immediate downgrades of every entity that owns U.S. Treasury bonds.

And you thought AIG was interconnected?

If American debt loses its AAA rating, it will be ruinous to our way of life, and more ruinous to everyone else’s. Quickly enough – deprived of its standard – the credit-rating system, itself, will disappear. And without a way to know who will pay and who will default, the entirety of the global economy will congeal.

Take solace in this, though: Unlike the case of 2008, when a tiny and private band of men conspired to end the world’s economy, this time it will be elected officials of the United States that publicly raze it. A democratic solution for ending the world as we know it – which does seem fairer.

Oh, about Amir Khan? It’s hard to say. He seems to be positioning himself for a run at the winner of Mayweather-Ortiz (Mayweather) at welterweight. Timothy Bradley seems to be positioning himself for a run at Manny Pacquiao. That is, both Khan and Bradley are mapping their careers on the assumption that Pacquiao-Mayweather never happens. Hard to argue with them.

Chances are, we’ll be deprived of both Bradley-Khan and Pacquiao-Mayweather, then. Let’s hope that’s the extent of our deprivations.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS – It was a career on the borderline. Zab Judah always walked it. Amir Khan knocked him off of it Saturday night with a body punch. There will be controversy about the punch. Legal? Illegal? Below-the-belt? Right on it?

Review the video. Go ahead and argue. Judah surely will. He always has. Judah and controversy are a combination, if not a tiresome redundancy. There’s no way to separate them. Perhaps, Judah is an older, wiser man.

Perhaps, Judah has changed. There’s no doubt that Khan has. He changes and changes a little bit for the better almost every time he steps through ropes for a significant fight. He confounded Judah seconds after the opening bell, moving in-and-out foot and landing precise jabs as he circled to his right.

Judah, whose right eye was slightly hurt in an apparent collision in the first round, appeared confused, then weary. He began to drop his right hand, leaving himself wide open to Khan combos that were sure to come. They didn’t, only because of body shot in the fifth round that put Judah on his hands-and-knees before he started arguing.

Judah bent over after he was rocked by a right hand. As he held on, Khan threw another right to the body. At first, it looked as if it might have been below the belt.

But repeated reviews from different angles of video at the Mandalay Bay Events Center appeared to show that the punch landed right on Judah’s belt, gold above his black trunks. At 2:47 of the round, referee Vic Drakulich counted out Judah, a loser by knockout. Other than the ensuing controversy, there was nothing technical about it.

“The shot when he went down was clean on the belt,’’ said Khan, who earned a minimum of 1.07 million and added Judah’s IBF junior-welterweight belt to his WBA title “If the fight had gone a few more rounds, I would have knocked him out with a clean shot. I knew he was hurt. It was only a matter of time.’’

At ringside, a theory quickly began to circulate about whether Judah simply went down to avoid the beating that seemed to be inevitable. His post-fight comments only seemed to support that speculation.

“I thought it was a low blow,’’ said Judah, who collect a minimum of $500,000. “I thought the referee was trying to give me a standing 8-count. I didn’t understand.’’

Yeah, it is hard to understand how Judah thought he could get a standing eight count when he was on hands, knees, an occasional elbow and never his feet.

On the back of Judah’s belt, there was this inscription: Godspeed.

Should have been goodbye.

On the undercard
The Best: It was another chapter in an ongoing comeback for Texas middleweight James Kirkland (29-1, 26 KOs), who scored his second successive stoppage by putting an overwhelmed Alexis Hlores (15-3-2, 11 KOs) onto his knees at 28 seconds of the second. Kirkland, who is fighting to restore his earlier promise after a stretch in prison, scored a first-round KO after he got knocked out in April.

The Rest: Unbeaten Peter Quillen (25-0, 19 KOs) threw chocolate kisses at the crowd and the corner for Jason LeHoullier (21-6-1, 8 KOs) of Dover, NH, threw in the towel at 1:38 of the fifth after the Brooklyn middleweight nicknamed Kid Chocolate punished him wit body shots and uppprcuts;

featherweight Gary Russell (17-0, 10 KOs) of Capitol Heights, MD, put some more polish on an already bright future by scoring one knockdown and winning all eight rounds in a one-sided decision over Eric Estrada (9-2, 3 KOs) of Chicago;

Philadelphia heavyweight Bryant Jennings (9-0, 4 KOs) was stronger and faster throughout six rounds for a unanimous decision over Theron Johnson (5-6, 1 KO) of Chicago;

lightweight Jamie Kavanaugh (8-0, 3 KOs) of Hollywood, Calif., won a six-round unanimous decision over Marcos Herrera (6-6-1, 2 KOs) of Arvada, Calif.;

Brooklyn super-middleweight Josiah Judah (10-1-1, 2 KOs) scored a six-round majority decision over Rafal Jastrzebski (4-7-1, 1 KOs) of Poland;

junior-lightweight Ronny Rios (15-0, 7 KOs) of Santa Ana, Calif., moved in a hurry and finished Noe Lopez (8-9, 5 KOs) in a hurry, stopping the Mexican at 1:12 of the first round.

LAS VEGAS – The scale might as well have been a stage. The weigh-in played out as though it had been written and rehearsed. It was a non-event. The fight doesn’t figure to be.

Amir Khan and Zab Judah each weighed 140 pounds – the junior-welterweight limit, posed like body-builders and smiled politely at each other Friday in front of a quiet crowd of about 300 at Mandalay Bay.

Unscripted drama is supposed to supplant the predictable Saturday in the Khan-Judah clash for two pieces of the junior-welterweight title, also at Mandalay Bay, in an HBO-televised bout. There are no guarantees. Never are.

But talk suggests that a dramatic twist is possible. It’s up to Judah (41-6, 28 KOs), who is at crossroads that includes only two paths. Win, and he is on the road to a rebirth. Lose, and his career is on the exit ramp. When the fight was announced in June, it looked as if Judah was already hurtling down the ramp to nowhere. But his intriguing talent, quick hands and fast feet, is still there, which means he still has a real chance.

One scenario has Judah, the International Boxing Federation’s champion, aggressive early in search of the suspected weakness in Khan’s chin. By the middle rounds, a swift left uppercut might find it for an upset of Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) in a stunning stoppage.

Here’s one reason: Judah is more capable of setting up a precise punch than Marcos Maidana, whose wild whirlwind of punches lacked tactical design, yet were enough to almost stop Khan in a memorable 10th round last December. Here’s another: Khan looked vulnerable to a left uppercut in his last outing, a decision over Paul McCloskey, who lacked the power to do any real damage.

That might be Judah’s best, perhaps only chance if there is anything to believe in a second scenario that circulated Friday during the formal weigh-in. If the fight goes into the later rounds, the guess is that Khan, the World Boxing Associations champ, will survive and prevail.

Here’s one reason: Judah is known for meltdowns. The longer the fight goes, the better the chance at another one. Here’s another: Khan’s mastery of tactical skill means he is built for the long haul, which means his best chances rest between the eighth and 12th rounds.

Rest of the weigh-in for an eight-fight card scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. (PST):

10-round middleweight fight: Peter Quillin (24-0, 18 KOs) of Brooklyn, NY, 161 pounds; Jason Lehoullier (21-5-1, 8 KOs) of Dover, NH, 161 pounds.

Eight-round featherweight: Gary Russell (16-0, 10 KOs) of Capitol Heights, MD, 126 pounds; Eric Estrada (9-1, 3 KOs) of Chicago, 128.

Six-round heavyweight: Bryant Jennings (8-0, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia, 221; Theron Johnson (5-5, 1 KOs) of Chicago, 231.

Eight-round middleweight: James Kirkland (28-1, 25 KOs) of Austin, TX, 157.5; Alexis Hloros (15-3-2, 11 KOs), Mt. Clemens, MI, 157.5.

Eight-round junior-lightweight: Ronny Rios (14-0, 6 KOs) of Santa Ana, CA, 129; Noe Lopez (8-8, 5 KOs) of Mexico, 130.

Six-round super-middleweight: Josiah Judah, (9-1-1, 2 KOs) of Brooklyn, NY, 163; Rafal Jastrzebski (4-6-1, 1 KO) of Poland, 166.

Six-round lightweight: Jamie Kavanaugh (7-0, 3 KOs) of Hollywood, CA, 135.5; Marcos Herrera (6-5-1, 2 KOs) Arvada, CO, 135.5.

Two anticipated undercard bouts that were tabbed for the July 23rd show that will features a 140 lb unification bout between Amir Khan and Zab Judah are off the card according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

The welterweight bout between Joel Julio and Antowne Smith has been called off for a second time due to a family emergency that Julio has to attend to and the Victor Cayo – Lamont Peterson bout has hit major stumbling blocks concerning contractual language.

The Peterson-Cayo fight, which will determine a mandatory challenger for the winner of the Khan-Judah bout, will now head to an IBF purse bid on July 5, Warriors Boxing promoter Leon Margules told ESPN.com on Wednesday.

Margules, who promotes Cayo, and Golden Boy had reached an agreement on the fight to take place July 23 rather than go to a purse bid.

“But Golden Boy came back to me and wanted to be my partner on Cayo if he won and I said OK, for a couple of fights,” Margules said. “We would co-promote him. Then the documents came back giving them control of my fighter and they wouldn’t agree to a full 50-50 promotion. They came to me in the first place, so if they didn’t want to agree to 50-50, no deal. When I told them that, they said they are passing on the fight. So now it goes back to a purse bid.

“We didn’t pull out of the fight, we pulled out of the deal. When I insisted on a 50-50 deal on the options they wanted to control the fighter during the option period and have final say on my fighter. I said no. If it’s a true 50-50 deal we both have to agree, not them having the tie-breaker.”

The Julio -Smith fight was scrapped again after Julio’s mother and sister were injured in an auto accident in their native Colombia over the weekend.

“I guess this fight is not meant to be,” said Jolene Mizzone, matchmaker for Main Events, Julio’s promoter.

Mizzone said Julio’s mother had broken ribs and that his sister also was injured.

“But he had to go down there to take care of them,” Mizzone said. “He flew down there right away to take care of them. I was giving it a couple of days to see if he was coming back up but he’s not coming back yet. He’s the only down there to care of them, so the fight is not happening.”

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that WBA 140 lb champion Amir Khan will take on IBF beltholder Zab Judah in a unification bout that will take place July 23rd in Las Vegas.

Richard Schaefer, Khan’s promoter of Golden Boy Promotions offered the fight to resurgent former three-division champion Erik Morales, who works with Golden Boy, but he rejected the fight. That left Judah, a big name and owner of a world title, as the obvious choice. “We’ve agreed on the terms and the contracts are being drawn,” said Judah’s promoter Kathy Duva

“I told Zab I’d rather just get the promotion going and get him in the gym and we’ll make money at the site in Las Vegas if we promote it well,” Duva said. “Zab agreed. At some point you stop quibbling over a couple of points. Zab will make money when he beats this guy. That’s where the upside is. They each have a world title, but the thing Khan has that Zab doesn’t is a multi-fight agreement with HBO. That’s where his strength comes from. And when Zab beats him, HBO will be seeking out Zab Judah for a multi-fight contract. He’ll be the man at that point.”

“I got what I wanted, so I am happy. Now it’s time to go work,” said Judah, who was on his way to the gym for a training session. “I’ve been praying on this fight. My goal is to be undisputed champion at two weights. I did it at 147 and I’m gonna do it at 140 starting with Amir Khan. I’m gonna work hard. I’m very experienced, so whichever way he brings the fight I can deal with it and take it from him.

“I know Amir wanted the Bradley fight, but who wouldn’t? Bradley can’t break an egg. A fight with ‘Super’ Judah is not a fight Amir wanted. Don’t let him lie to you.”

“Zab’s a good fighter. He’s strong, he’s fit. All the stuff on Twitter is fun, but we’re both professionals. It’s just spicing things up,” Khan told ESPN.com a couple of days before the deal was agreed to. “He was undisputed champion at 147 and now he’s a champion at 140. … If Bradley don’t want me, I’m happy to take Judah on and beat him.”

“You see Bradley and Morales turning down this fight with Khan and, at some point, you just say, ‘OK, thank you.’ Zab is very excited to get the fight. So is Whitaker,” Duva said. “This leads Zab to a very nice position in the fall where he’s got major fights and nothing but major fights when he wins. We’re all very excited about it. We believed since he came back to junior welterweight that he could beat everyone in the division. He’s already taken out Matthysse and Mabuza and now it’s Khan.”

Said Judah, “My trainer, Pernell Whitaker, will have a great game plan for this fight. I knew this fight was coming and I’ve been preparing myself. I have already been training. I wish we could do a press conference tomorrow so I could take off my shirt and show everybody how ready I am already.”

“Freddie Roach against Pernell Whitaker, that’s a helluva trainer matchup,” Duva said. “It will be really interesting to watch them go head to head and try to outdo the other guy’s game plan.”

Golden Boy and Main Events will share the undercard and Duva said she intends to put welterweight contender Joel “Love Child” Julio (37-4, 31 KOs) on the card in one of her company’s fights. Julio scored a lopsided decision win against Anges Adjaho on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” on May 20.

“Our plan is to put him on the card,” she said. “We’re looking for somebody interesting for him to fight. Maybe we can match him with one of Golden Boy’s fighters.”

Argentinean hard man Marcos “El Chino” Maidana 30-2(27) has been enjoying a well earned rest of late after going life and death with modern day legend Erik Morales back in April. The 27 year old regained the WBA Interim Light Welterweight title when he scored a close majority decision over the rejuvenated Morales. He had lost that very crown when he fought WBA champion Amir Khan last December in a fight that was voted fight of the year at the weekend’s BWAA awards in Las Vegas. After surviving a torrid opening round when he was almost broken in half from a debilitating bodyshot from Khan, Maidana came on and showed how much of a warrior he is going toe to toe with Khan rocking him several times before losing a close decision. He first gatecrashed the world scene when he lost a razor thin decision to Andreas Kotelnik back in 2009; he rebounded with a career best win over new WBC Welterweight champion Victor Ortiz. It was another exciting fight in which both guys were on the canvas 5 times in total before the fight was stopped in the sixth round. If you want excitement Maidana is your man, he boasts knock out ratio of nearly 90% and is regularly in thrill a minute fights. Here’s what “El Chino” had to say in an exclusive interview with 15rounds.com when he kindly took time out from his vacation.

Hello Marcos, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly you recently fought Erik Morales, what are your thoughts on that fight looking back?

Marcos Maidana – Great fight, great rival! It was a close fight in which I made the difference in the last two or three rounds.

Anson Wainwright – Was Morales tougher than you expected? Were you 100% in shape for the fight or did you look past Morales?

Marcos Maidana – If you review all my quotes before the fight I always said he would come tough and prepared for a war. You should never write off a great champ like Morales. No way I underestimated him at all. And yes, I was fully prepared.

Anson Wainwright – What have you done since your last fight?

Marcos Maidana – It was crazy and we were jumping from here to there since we got back to Argentina. Press conference and tons of interviews in Buenos Aires, first. Then, I finally made it back to my home province of Santa Fe, where the governor appointed me as Sports Ambassador. Then, I had the best welcome party ever in my birth-town of Margarita. All the people went out to the streets to greet me. It was great. Now I am finishing my vacation after spending time with my family.

Anson Wainwright – What are your plans for 2011? Do you have a rough idea when you’ll be next in action? Are you targeting anyone?

Marcos Maidana – Our plan is to have the next fight by the end of July or early August. We have a few offers to fight in America and others to fight here in Argentina. My team will weigh them all and make a decision very soon. I am not targeting anyone in particular.

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

Marcos Maidana – My advisor is Sebastian Contursi, who I worked with since a few years back. My trainer is the well known Mexican Rudy Perez, who formed Marco Antonio Barrera. I worked with him for the first time for the Morales fight. My promoter is Golden Boy Promotions. I usually train in Buenos Aires only for a few days before going to training camp overseas.

Anson Wainwright – You were going to train with Nacho Beristain for the Morales fight however Juan Manuel Marquez wasn’t happy with this and ultimately you didn’t work with Beristain. What are your thoughts on that? Would you like to fight Marquez?

Marcos Maidana – We were quite upset with Beristain’s last minute decision to go back on his word to train me. But things in life happen for a reason. We were already in Mexico City when this happened but we were lucky enough to find Rudy in the same city. I’ll fight Marquez, of course. But I’m not particularly interested on him. If it comes, it comes.

Anson Wainwright – What are your thoughts on the current Light Welterweight champions WBC/WBO Tim Bradley, WBA Amir Khan & IBF Zab Judah?

Marcos Maidana – They are all great champs, no doubt about it. They are skilled and fast. I respect them all and I’d like to face them.

Anson Wainwright – You lost a very close fight with Khan last December, what do you think you’d need to adapt if a rematch took place?

Marcos Maidana – I’d make a only few changes in the tactics. But I’d try to put the same pressure on him in a rematch ‘cause I think he would not take it again.

Anson Wainwright – One fight many people have wondered about is you against fellow Argentinean Lucas Matthysse. You both have very similar records and are both big punchers. You fought in the amateur’s could you tell us about those fights and what your thoughts on Matthysse and fighting him are?

Marcos Maidana – Matthysse is a great fighter. We fought four times in the amateurs, when we used to compete for a spot at the national team. I beat him three times and we had a draw. Three of those fights were tough and close but I came stronger in the end. We could very well fight each other as pros yet I guess he needs to beat a few names out there first.

Anson Wainwright – You currently fight at 140, do you make weight easily enough or do you think you’ll move up to Welterweight at some point? What is your walk around weight between fights?

Marcos Maidana – For the time being I can make 140 lbs. Not easily, but I can still make it comfortably. Between fight I normally go up to 160 lbs. Yet, I feel I have a few more fights before moving up to Welterweight.

Anson Wainwright – You’re younger brother Fabian is a top amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2010 Youth Olympics. Can tell us about him, will he go pro? Are any other members of your family Boxers?

Marcos Maidana – He is the only other boxer in the family. He is tall with long arms and more skilful than me. He will probably go pro next year but he is trying to qualify for the next Olympics first.

Anson Wainwright – You were born in Santa Fe, can you tell us about your early years growing up there? Was it tough for you as a kid and was that how you first became Interested in Boxing?

Marcos Maidana – I was born in a little town called Margarita, which has about 5,000 people. I was raised in a farm and had great memories of my childhood. We were poor but always had something to eat. I started boxing at 14 and then moved to the city of Santa Fe, where it was tougher ‘cause I had to be on my own until I was called up to the amateur national team.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing to relax? What are your hobbies and Interests?

Marcos Maidana – I am a family guy. I enjoy myself spending time with my 7-year-old son Yoyo, my mom, dad, bros and sisters. I don’t have the chance to be with them often, so I spend good time with them between fights. I love hunting and fishing also. My tattoos don’t have a special meaning for me. Just like the street-style ‘cause I know the streets.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for your fans?

Marcos Maidana – I always thank my fans for the great support they show me every time I fight. They know I am not the most skilful boxer but I always leave it all in the ring for them.

Thanks for your time “El Chino”

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

Weekend Thoughts – Manny Pacquiao has taken a bit of criticism for his performance against Shane Mosley, it’s tough being Pacquiao it seems not even a near shut out is enough against one of the best fighters of the past 20. In truth it wasn’t his best performance and he only fought in spells but when he went through the gears, it was all Mosley could do to get out the way of the firestorm. It was surprising to hear boo’s in the arena during the fight, the Las Vegas crowd is indeed a tough crowd. Perhaps we are seeing the very first signs that Pac Man is actually slowing down but I’m still not sure there is a fighter in the game outside of Mayweather who could live with him…It was good to see Kelly Pavlik return to action after a year out in which he’s gone into rehab for an alcohol problem. He lacked the sharpness though that was to be expected, the ten rounds would of done him good. Hopefully they can keep him active and get him back out in the next few months, perhaps in front of his adoring fans in Youngstown while moving towards something bigger…I didn’t expect Jorge Arce to be much more than cannon fodder against Wilfredo Vazquez, but full credit to the old warrior who joined and illustrious band of Mexicans to win world titles in 3 weight classes. Arce started extremely fast and bullied the young Puerto Rican for much of the first four rounds before walking onto to a huge hook from Vazquez who gamely hung in there and did well in the middle rounds when it looked like Arce was fading. Full credit to Arce who charged out in the eleventh and let his hands go like a human windmill. By the end of the round Vazquez was hanging on, a minute into the final round Arce scored the KO when Vazquez corner called the fight off. Arce’s will to win was humbling. It was a brilliant fight with fantastic two way action. At the time of the stoppage two judges had it all square while the third has Arce up 107-102.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that discussions for the 140-pound unification bout between Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan have been extended until Wednesday at 4pm eastern after Monday’s deadline came and went without a deal.

The fight is tentatively scheduled for July 23rd in Las Vegas, Anaheim or Los Angeles.

Khan has already reached an agreement with his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions while Bradley is still mulling over an offer which will pay him $1.3 million.

“HBO asked me to extend the deadline with the understanding that if Bradley doesn’t take it we will go forward and lock in another opponent for Amir for July 23,” Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions said. “Bradley was calling out Amir for so long and questioned if Amir would ever fight him and then Amir agrees to fight him and agrees to terms, and Bradley doesn’t. I find that ironic.”

“I’m going to have to call my fighter and see if I can get him here sooner than later,” said Cameron Dunkin, who manages Bradley and lives in Las Vegas. “I don’t think he’s coming in until Thursday night, so a deadline of Wednesday at 4 isn’t going to do us any good. Timmy’s perspective is that he needs some time to think about it and what he wants to do with his career. There are issues for us to discuss. But I want to get this worked out. I would have liked to see him get more money for this fight, but that’s obviously not what they’re going to do.”

“We’ll see Amir in Las Vegas this weekend. He’ll be at the boxing writers’ dinner to receive his fight of the year award and we will have some conversations with him about what he wants to do if Bradley does not take the fight,” Schaefer said. “I’ve already had some conversations with Amir and his father and the fact is they don’t care who they fight. They will fight anyone. It is refreshing to have a fighter like that.

“Khan is ready and willing to fight Bradley. That’s the fight HBO wants to buy. But if Bradley does not take the fight, HBO is not going to punish Amir. He’s willing to take the fight they want. It’s not Amir turning down the fight, so he will still fight July 23. I don’t know what is going on with Bradley. I know Timothy Bradley is a terrific young man and a great fighter and $1.3 million is a very good purse. It would be the biggest purse of his career.”

Before his technical decision victory over Paul McCloskey this past Saturday, WBA Super Lightweight champion Amir Khan re-signed with promoters Golden Boy Promotions and television network HBO to four year extensions according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“We’ve been negotiating the extension and last week we signed it,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “We agreed awhile ago that we would want to continue to work together. It took time while we were negotiating the best possible deal for everyone.”

“Amir’s future is so bright,” said Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, who was ringside for the fight against McCloskey. “Amir wants to unify titles. He would also want to move up to 147 pounds eventually. There are many possibilities. He wants to fight the best and we want to make those fights for him. It’s very exciting for us. We will have a great champion for many years to come.”

Said HBO’s Kery Davis, “We believe Amir has a bright future in the sport and is an emerging star. We look forward to his next fight on HBO.”

Khan’s next fight is tentatively supposed to be a July 23 unification bout with American Timothy Bradley Jr. (27-0, 11 KOs), who owns two 140-pound belts. He unified two titles with a 10th-round technical decision victory against Devon Alexander on Jan. 29.

“We are trying to finalize that fight,” Schaefer said. “[Bradley promoter] Gary Shaw is going to be in Los Angeles this week, so we can talk about it some more. There’s been some talk that maybe the Bradley side isn’t going to take the fight or this and that, so I talked to Gary on Monday and wanted to know if we have a fight. He confirmed we have a fight, so we are working on the paperwork.”

“We are excited to continue to work with Amir,” Schaefer said. “He and his team see we have done a good job for Amir, taking his fights to New York and then to Las Vegas, and we know there are huge opportunities for Amir. I can see huge paydays for him. We want to start in July with Amir’s run with the fight against Bradley to get him in position where he can eventually fight for that No. 1 position on the pound-for-pound list.”