ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – George Peterson has been involved in training fighters for around 60 years. And never in those 60 years, a period which dates back to the Truman administration, has Peterson had a more difficult time finding matches for one of his boxers than he has for Paul Williams.

No one wanted to fight Williams when he was a neophyte and even less do now that he's seasoned and one of the world's elite talents. Williams, who is ranked No. 3 in the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound poll, faces champion Sergio Martinez for the World Boxing Council middleweight title Saturday at Boardwalk Hall on HBO in a rematch of the 2009 Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year.

If he had his druthers, he would be facing someone in a welterweight fight, but there aren't too many welterweights who are eager to hop into the ring with a 147-pounder who has the wingspan of a pterodactyl.

He hasn't fought at welterweight since knocking out Carlos Quintana on June 7, 2008, which Peterson attributes to opponents

Read More »from One fight at a time for Williams

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Stretched out on a couch in a spacious hotel suite, a dazzling view of the Atlantic Ocean to his left and an NBA game flickering on the high-definition television in front of him, Sergio Martinez seems like the guy who has everything.

He has the looks that make women swoon – "You ought to see it; the women go crazy over him," promoter Lou DiBella said – and he has athletic talent such that he could have played any one of a handful of sports professionally.

Martinez will defend his World Boxing Council middleweight championship in an HBO-televised fight on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall against Paul Williams – a rematch of the 2009 Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year.

He'll collect a seven-figure paycheck and, with a victory, likely will be regarded as no worse than the third-best boxer in the world, behind Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Martinez, though, is very much a product of his environment. Beyond the movie-star looks and dazzling smile is a hard-nosed

Read More »from Martinez took long road to the good life

The world middleweight championship is one of the marquee titles in professional boxing, a prize held by some of the greatest fighters who ever lived.

It's not, apparently, good enough for Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez. The two will meet on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., for the World Boxing Council version of a crown, albeit with a ridiculous agreement insisted upon by Williams' team that the upper weight limit is 158 pounds and not the division limit of 160.

That's just another sign of the negotiating power wielded by Williams' adviser Al Haymon, who dictated to everyone involved – HBO, Martinez promoter Lou DiBella and Williams promoter Dan Goossen – what the terms of the fight would be.

But the middleweight belt is just a sidelight to the Williams-Martinez rematch. The real prize, if any of those would answer honestly, is a fight with the reigning pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao.

Goossen has made no secret of his desire to pit Williams against either

Read More »from Pac-Man eludes Williams-Martinez winner

Manny Pacquiao's victory over Antonio Margarito elicited a flood of responses, as many Yahoo! Sports readers wanted to sound off about some aspect of the bout.

As has become typical, I received the usual number of ridiculous letters accusing me of being racist because I praised either Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. When I have praised Pacquiao, as I did on Saturday, I hear from African Americans calling me racist for not boosting Floyd. And when I've sung Mayweather's praises, the Filipino fans have done the same thing for not boosting Manny.

I've excluded those questions from the mailbag, but we have a pretty lively debate nonetheless.

I don't understand why you didn't include the original "Sugar Ray," Ray Robinson, in the "best ever" conversation. According to the Wikipedia article on Robinson, both Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali agree that Robinson the best of all-time.

Chris Dunfield
Corvallis, Ore.

Chris, I have long believed Robinson is

Read More »from Mailbag: The Pacquiao show

ARLINGTON, Texas – Antonio Margarito was determined to make it to the end of his fight with Manny Pacquiao on Saturday no matter what, and he wound up paying a severe price as a result.

Margarito will have surgery on Tuesday at Dallas Methodist Hospital to repair a fractured right eye socket, said promoter Bob Arum. Arum explained the surgery can't be performed until the swelling on the eye has reduced.

Pacquiao's speed was far too much for Margarito to handle Saturday in their bout for the World Boxing Council super welterweight title before 41,734 fans at Cowboys Stadium. Pacquiao landed fast, hard combinations from the earliest moments of the fight and Margarito could not answer.

Ringside physician Manuel Gonzalez, who started checking Margarito in the fourth round and last checked him after the 11th round, said Saturday he felt Margarito could see, so he didn't recommend to referee Laurence Cole to stop the match. Trainer Robert Garcia said Margarito would not allow him to halt it.

Read More »from Margarito needs face surgery after Pacquiao

ARLINGTON, Texas – When Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said last November that he considered Manny Pacquiao the best fighter he'd ever seen, it seemed at the time as little more than promoter hyperbole.

A successful salesman like Arum is always pitching and conjuring new ways to sell his next fight. Arum began promoting boxing in 1966 and handled legends like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Julio Cesar Chavez.

After watching Pacquiao decimate opponent after opponent over the last two-plus years, perhaps Arum isn't as batty as we all thought.

Dominating a slow and one-dimensional fighter like Antonio Margarito, such as Pacquiao did Saturday in winning a wide unanimous decision before 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium, doesn't make one the equal of legends like Ali, Leonard and Hagler, et al.

Pacquiao, though, is far more dominant against his opposition than the likes of Leonard and others ever were

Read More »from Is Pacquiao the best ever?

ARLINGTON, Texas – Manny Pacquiao was once again masterful, beating Antonio Margarito so frightfully that Margarito's face looked as it had been pounded repeatedly by a club.

Pacquiao won a unanimous one-sided decision in a blowout from the opening seconds of the fight to capture the World Boxing Council super welterweight title before 41,734 in-awe fans at Cowboys Stadium.

[Photos: See Pacquiao take down Margarito]

Pacquiao's title belt, coming against an opponent who had a 17-pound weight advantage when the bell rang, 165-148, was the eighth in his illustrious career. Pacquiao has won world titles at 112, 122, 126, 130, 135, 140, 147 and now 154 pounds.

Judges Jurgen Langos had it 120-109, Glen Crocker had it 118-110 and Oren Schellenberger had it 119-109 for Pacquiao. Yahoo! Sports scored it 120-107 for Pacquiao, giving Pacquiao a 10-8 edge in the 10th round when he dominated tremendously.

Margarito, fighting for the first time in the U.S. since Jan. 24, 2009, when he was caught

Read More »from Pacquiao clobbers Margarito for eighth title

ARLINGTON, Texas – Manny Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, complained that Antonio Margarito had taken Ephedra, a banned stimulant, prior to their World Boxing Council super welterweight title fight at Cowboys Stadium and demanded an immediate urinalysis.

Texas boxing regulators in charge of the bout refused and said Margarito would be tested for a complete drug screening following the fight, per normal.

Roach associate Billy Keane was in Margarito's locker room and saw a bottle of something he believed to be Ephedra or a substance containing Ephedra. He then alerted Roach, who complained to the commission.

"I saw them try to give [Margarito] Hydroxycut and caught them," Keane told Yahoo! Sports via text message. "He had coffee loaded with Splenda and sugar. The doctor said it was his choice to take the pills, but it would probably come up in the [post-fight urinalysis]. I did not see him take any pills."

Hydroxycut was linked to liver damage and rhabdomyolysis in a 2009 report issued

Read More »from Pacquiao, Margarito trainers trade allegations