LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather, said Richard Schaefer on Tuesday as he looked across a large crowd that had gathered in the lobby of the MGM Grand specifically to catch a brief glimpse of the world's best boxer, is a details man.

The chief executive officer of Golden Boy Promotions, Schaefer said there are few details of a business deal that escape Mayweather's eagle-eyed scrutiny.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is as focused on the business of boxing as he is on punching. (Getty Images)On this day, the people had crowded around a makeshift boxing ring erected in the lobby to help promote Mayweather's welterweight title fight Saturday in the Grand Garden Arena against Robert Guerrero. Many were snapping photos; a few carried signs in support of Mayweather. All were lively as they awaited his entrance.

A video board behind the front desk at the hotel included a scroll of a Twitter feed filled with comments about the fight. Trying to kill time to appease the crowd until the man they came to see had arrived, the day's host shouted into a microphone. Tickets, he said, were still available. The

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones already has one loss and nearly suffered another Saturday, but no one has even come close to defeating him in the cage.

Despite his dominance of Chael Sonnen on Saturday at UFC 159 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Jones was only 27 seconds away from losing his belt. Jon Jones attends a press conference after UFC 159. (USA Today Sports)He suffered a broken toe while taking Sonnen down in the first round. Had referee Keith Peterson not stopped the bout at 4:33 as Jones was pounding on Sonnen, it is highly unlikely that the New Jersey commission would have allowed Jones to come out for the second round because of the gruesome injury. 

As a result, Jones would have lost the bout by knockout, even though a novice could see he was the far superior fighter.

Jones' one defeat came in a non-title bout in 2009 as a result of a highly controversial disqualification during a match with Matt "The Hammer" Hamill. Jones was disqualified for throwing an illegal elbow that caused Hamill to be injured. After reviewing a

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. was only about a year into his professional career and still a year away from fighting for his first world title when he was already considered by many boxing insiders as one of the game's elite talents.

Even while still a teenager, Mayweather had a preternatural ability to see an opponent's punches as well as deliver spectacularly fast and accurate counters.

He was an underdog when he met the great Genaro Hernandez for his first world title on Oct. 3, 1998, but only because Hernandez was so highly regarded and because so few could believe what they were seeing from Mayweather could be duplicated against an elite opponent. Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a punch against Miguel Cotto. (AP)

Mayweather's rise to the top wasn't like that of Leon Spinks. Spinks became the heavyweight champion in his eighth professional bout through a set of good fortune and fluke circumstances.

Spinks was one of the gold medalists on the highly acclaimed 1976 U.S. Olympic team that got significant air time during ABC's television coverage

NEWARK, N.J. – It was no coincidence that middleweight champion and reigning pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva chose to call Dana White in the early hours of Sunday morning.

White wouldn't say who Silva wanted to fight. Unquestionably, though, Silva called White to ask for a match with Jones, because the legendary Brazilian superstar saw what was plainly obvious to all: Jones is getting closer and close – if he's not already there – to surpassing Silva as the greatest fighter alive.

Jones retained his light heavyweight belt with a first-round stoppage of Chael Sonnen on Saturday before a crowd of 15,227 at Prudential Center in the main event of UFC 159.

It wasn't so much that Jones, won, though, that forced Silva to dial White's number. It was the manner of the victory that caused him to pick up the phone.

[Related: Jon Jones makes quick work of Chael Sonnen, suffers gruesome injury]

Jones was a 9-1 favorite, so it's no surprise that he won, and perhaps not even that he won

NEWARK, N.J. – Just 25 months ago, Jon Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history when he routed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the Prudential Center to claim the light heavyweight title.

Jones has gone on to unprecedented heights since and, on Saturday, put his name into the record books with a dominating victory over Chael Sonnen. It was his fifth consecutive successful title defense, tying Tito Ortiz's record by obliterating Sonnen and putting to rest the foolish notion he was somehow afraid when he declined to fight him on eight days notice at UFC 151. 

Jones took Sonnen down late in the first round and was pounding on him with punches and elbows when referee Keith Peterson stopped the fight at 4:33.

[Related: Eye poke ends Bisping vs. Belcher]

Sonnen came out hard, but he was never able to mount an offense. Jones took him down three times, and the last time led to the finish. Sonnen briefly argued the stoppage, but he was taking a lot of abuse.

The feud came to an end with the

NEW YORK – Michael Bisping's telephone wasn't ringing. Reporters weren't calling to talk to him. He wasn't being sought to make personal appearances.

He was preparing for a fight of some significance and it was as if he were an anonymous guy preparing for his pro debut.

Michael Bisping, left, and Alan Belcher are separated by UFC president Dana White during UFC 159 media day Thursday. (Getty Images)It's what happens when you're in Bisping's lot, when you win just about every fight except those that matter the most.

He'll meet Alan Belcher on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 159 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., a critical bout for him in order to keep his title hopes alive.

Bisping is 23-5, but he's known more for his big losses rather than any of his significant wins.

"That's a pattern and a storyline, if you will, and of course I don't want that to be the story of my career," Bisping said during a media scrum at Madison Square Garden.

[Also: How does Jon Jones stack up against the combat greats? ]

Bisping won "The Ultimate Fighter 3" in 2006 and quickly shot up the ranks in the light heavyweight

NEW YORK – Something is missing here.

Jon Jones is the UFC light heavyweight champion and, at only 25, already one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters of all-time.

Jon Jones doesn't care that he's viewed by some as arrogant. He calls it confidence. (Getty Images)He comes from a family of athletes. His oldest brother, Arthur, is a defensive tackle for the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. He's a big man, but Arthur Jones has incredible burst and the body control of a man much smaller.

His youngest brother, Chandler Jones, was a first-round pick of the Patriots who kicked off his NFL career in a big way, getting six sacks in his first eight games.

And then there is Jon.

He's 6 feet, 4 inches with the kind of wingspan that would seem to make him a perfect two guard.

But, no.

[Related: How does Jon Jones stack up against the combat greats? ]

"Basketball," the champion says, "I just don't have [the ability]."

He might have made a great wide receiver, shooting across the middle to nab a pass out of the sky and then running it into the end zone for a touchdown.

Again,

When a wobbly Sergio Martinez withstood a furious last-minute assault from Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Las Vegas last September to win the WBC middleweight championship, hundreds of his Argentinian compatriots poured out of the stands at the Thomas & Mack Center and rushed toward the ring in celebration.

Sergio Martinez knows how to promote his bout in Buenos Aires with England's Martin Murray. (AP Photo)On Saturday, Martinez will repay his countrymen for their support by making a title defense against Martin Murray in front of a sellout crowd of more than 50,000 at Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires in a bout that will be broadcast live by HBO.

It will amount to a celebration of Martinez's greatness, but it should rightly be perceived as a celebration of what is right in boxing, as well.

The bout falls in the middle of an incredible stretch that demonstrates, despite all the problems it faces, the undeniable lure of boxing.

If only boxing were promoted, marketed and distributed half as well as, say, the NFL, it would undoubtedly be one of the country's top sports again.