Bryant Jennings (R) celebrates a first-round KO of Chris Koval (AP)Seth Mitchell's demolition at the hands of Johnathon Banks on Nov. 17 in Atlantic City, N.J., should serve as a warning for those ready to anoint a young fighter the next anything.

Mitchell, the erstwhile Michigan State linebacker, had been getting a lot of attention for reeling off 23 consecutive wins and becoming, in theory at least, the top American heavyweight prospect.

But Mitchell had fought a bunch of lesser known and hardly known opponents and didn't have the kind of experience to justify much of the praise he was receiving. Banks, in one of the year's more startling upsets, stopped Mitchell in just the second round.

That's pushed Bryant Jennings, once a high school athlete of some note at Ben Franklin High School in Philadelphia, to the forefront as perhaps the best American-born heavyweight in a very weak field. Jennings, 28, faces unheralded Bowie Tupou on Dec. 8 in Philadelphia in a bout that will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network.

Jennings was a defensive end who attracted notice from a number of Division I schools, he said. No matter the sport, he was able to star. Basketball, football, track, it didn't matter.

"I'm had the ability to do a lot of things," Jennings said.

His best ability of all may be his ability to fight. He's 15-0 with seven knockouts and has gone 4-0 in 2012, looking impressive in wins over Mo Byarm, Sergei Liakhovich, Steve Collins and Chris Koval.

But just like Mitchell's resume, Jennings' is filled with guys like Liakhovich, who were at the end of the line, or like Koval, who have essentially been career opponents.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson during better times (AP)Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn't have a Harvard education like his adviser Al Haymon (or like promoters Bob Arum and Lou DiBella, for that matter), but the world's finest boxer showed his wisdom a few months ago when he chose to side with Haymon over one-time good buddy 50 Cent.

Mayweather and 50 Cent, the rapper whose real name is Curtis Jackson, got into a very public feud not long after Mayweather's August release from the Clark County Detention Center.

For a while, it had seemed that Mayweather and 50 would partner in a promotional company that would instantly become significant because of their ownership. It seemed like a good way to broker a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, as well. But when they had a personal falling out -- and let's be honest, it's almost impossible to know what's really going on between them, because the accounts of the so-called feud change almost daily -- Jackson decided to go his own way.

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (AP)On Thursday, the Nevada Athletic Commission conditionally granted Jackson's SMS Promotions a promoter's license, essentially giving him entree into boxing's big-time. He's now licensed in Nevada, New York, Florida and Connecticut, which is more states than he has fighters under contract.

He won't have Mayweather, though, and he's apparently not going to go into business with Pacquiao either. After an early flirtation, nothing has been formalized between Jackson and Pacquiao. His fighters under contract so far are Andre Dirrell, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Billy Dib, notable mostly for their inactivity and inability to sell tickets.

Dirrell hasn't fought since Dec. 30, 2011, his only bout in 30 months. Prior to that, he was last in the ring March 3, 2010. Gamboa last fought on Sept. 10, 2011, while Dib at least has a pair of 2012 fights under his belt (not that anyone noticed).

Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. confers with his son, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (AP)Former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. doesn't deserve to get locked up after having gotten caught smoking a joint prior to his Sept. 15 middleweight title fight with Sergio Martinez in Las Vegas. Chavez tested positive for marijuana after the fight and faces a Thursday disciplinary hearing in front of the Nevada Athletic Commission.

In the grand scheme of things, smoking marijuana doesn't equate with rape, murder and armed robbery and Chavez shouldn't be treated that way.

Still, it's against Nevada's rules and Chavez knew it was against Nevada's rules. Given that, and given that in 2009 Chavez tested positive in Nevada for Furosemide, a diuretic that is often used to mask steroid use, he can't be allowed to walk away from it as if nothing happened. He was suspended for seven months and fined $10,000 by the Nevada commission for testing positive for Furosemide after a bout with Troy Rowlands.

In addition, this is a guy who in January was caught driving while intoxicated. He clearly has some issues.

WBC president Jose Sulaiman (AP)That said, his godfather, Jose Sulaiman, is pleading for leniency. That would be an OK thing for most godfathers to do on behalf of their loved ones, but Sulaiman's position in boxing makes his statements decidedly not OK. Sulaiman is the president of the WBC, one of the four major (at least in terms of recognition, though hardly in terms of respect) sanctioning bodies.

The WBC has blatantly ignored and manipulated its own rules for years, so nothing Sulaiman might do should come as much of a surprise.

But in an interview with BoxingScene, Sulaiman was, in essence, attempting to do a little jury tampering prior to Chavez's hearing Thursday. Incredibly, he said that if a legitimate sanctioning body were to issue a punishment he deemed too severe, he would help Chavez find ways to skirt it.