(Even Kessler can't figure out where JaMarcus Russell is throwing the ball)

Mikkel Kessler got his wish. The Dane voiced concerns earlier in the week that there were too many Californians involved in judging and officiating his fight against Andre Ward tomorrow night in Oakland. According to the Oakland Tribune, the California State Athletic Commission acquiesced and replaced one of the Californians with Swedish judge Mikael Hook. California's Steve Morrow is still judging the fight and the referee is California-based Jack Reiss. The other judge is South African Stanley Christodoulou.

The WBA was talking about not sanctioning the super-middleweight title bout if the situation wasn't addressed. On Thursday, The Copenhagen Post wrote that the decked was stacked against Kessler (42-1, 32 KO's) and Ward (20-0, ) was going to get "home cooking." Kessler's management also complained that Reiss was a bad choice:

Wilfried Sauerland, owner of Team Sauerland, told Sporten.dk."‘They’ve also picked a referee who’s never worked a fight at this level."

If Kessler beats Ward, he'll fight Carl Froch next to unify the WBA and WBC 168-pound straps. After that, the 30-year-old Kessler fights Jermaine Taylor. 

It's been a banner year for boxing at least on the blockbuster fight/pay-per-view front. HBO PPV chief Mark Taffet predicted just before the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight that 2009 would be the first year where two fight cards would exceed the 1 million buy threshhold. He was right. Pacman's win turned in 1.25 million buys domestically. Who knows how viewers that really means. Worldwide it may have been in excess of 10 million. HBO reported that in Puerto Rico alone, there were 110,000 buys made. The fight was broadcasted across the Philippines for free. 

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole spoke with HBO's Ross Greenburg and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum about boxing's latest home run and what could be coming in 2010. 

If you missed the fight, the replay is tomorrow night on HBO at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Those of us who enjoyed Manny Pacquiao's victory on Saturday night over Miguel Cotto have no idea of the impact the Filipino has back home as he continues to climb the ladder of boxing history.

Pacquiao's win was also a nice pick up after horrible months of typhoons that killed 1,128:

"This is a glorious day for the Philippines especially after the typhoons," Tondo district chief Marcel de Asis.

Cerge Remonde, President Gloria Arroyo’s spokesman said, "Once again, Filipino grit and determination triumphed over great odds. The President joins the entire nation in rejoicing over the unprecedented victory of Manny Pacquiao over Miguel Cotto."

The Manila Times reports today that jailhouses were quiet and the Islamic revolution front took a day to rest, in order to watch Pacquiao fight on Sunday afternoon in the Philippines.

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He's not too small. He can take a welterweight punch. And yes, Manny Pacquiao may be the fastest fighter in the world. Miguel Cotto, a very good welterweight, was taken apart for 12 rounds. By the end of the fight, Cotto had blood leaking from above his left eye, below his right eye, from nose and mouth. Pacquiao won a seventh title in a seventh weight class, picking up the WBO welterweight title via TKO at 0:55 of the 12th round.

Pacman (50-3-2, 38 KO's) put Cotto on the floor twice, in the third and fourth rounds. Pacquiao's greatness is clear in the fact that it was a short right that produced the first knockdown and a left uppercut that put him on the deck in the fourth.

Cotto had little left by the eighth. His wife Melissa, left the arena with her son after the 10th. Cotto's father begged for a stoppage after the 11th but was overrules by the corner. They couldn't overrule referee Kenny Bayless who saved Cotto in the final stanza.

Pacman outlanded Cotto 336-172 and nailed him with 43-percent of his punches. Over 270 of those punches were to head and 276 were power shots. He landed those with a 49-percent accuracy rate.

Cotto did land some big shots on Pacquiao but the Filipino withstood all of them. He did have some bruising and small cuts under both eyes.

Pacquiao wouldn't say in the ring if he wanted Floyd Mayweather Jr. next. His trainer Freddie Roach didn't hold back saying that's the fight he wants.

The preview for Miguel Cotto versus Manny Pacquiao fight began in round seven of the final undercard fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. HBO pay-per-view's broadcast team of Larry Merchant, Manny Steward and Jim Lampley bailed on the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Troy Rowland fight when it was clear that it was going the distance and the decision would be handed to kid with the bigger name. In spite of being outlanded 249-238, Chavez Jr. rolled to a unanimous decision win 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93.

Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KOs) was fighting for the first time at 160 pounds. He threw the harder punches but still lacked the zip to ever hurt the 34-year-old journeyman Rowland. 

It's mystifying that Top Rank would put this fight as the lead-in to Cotto-Pacquaio with 16,000-plus folks in attendance and probably 5-6 million watching worldwide.

There is talk of Chavez Jr. being matched next against Irishman John Duddy. Let's hope it happens, so we can see if the kid can actually fight.

He's a rabbi-in-training, so Yuri Foreman made for a nice storyline coming into his junior middleweight title shot against Daniel Santos. Most critics concentrated on the fact that Foreman, 29, only had eight knockouts in 27 fights. No punching power, meant no real threat to the veteran Santos. Foreman showed he could be a rough, tough customer. He often charged with his head which resulted in several headbutts and was credited with a knockdown in the second when he slugged Santos in the back of the head. He got a more legitimate knockdown in the 12th to seal the deal.

Foreman became the first Orthodox Jewish boxing world champ in more than 70 years. Jackie "Kid" Berg, a junior welterweight from London, was the last, in 1932.

With a better connect rate throughout, it was more than enough for Foreman to get his first world title via unanimous decision 116-110, 117-109 and 117-109.

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Alfonso Gomez of "Contender" fame stayed on the winning track but it wasn't the prettiest result. Gomez and Jesus Soto-Karass got a little nasty at times. An accidental clash of heads in the third round, ended up stopping the fight with 19 seconds left in the sixth. Gomez could not continue because of huge gash over his eye. It went to the scorecards, where the judges had it 57-55, 57-55 and 58-54 for Gomez.  

Soto-Karass really lost the fight in the third and fourth, when he was penalized a point in each stanza for repeated low blows. If he hadn't lost those poiints it would've been a majority draw. It was the third straight win for Gomez, who's hoping to get another welterweight title shot. He lost his first shot against Miguel Cotto back in 2008.

Middleweight Matt Korobov, the best fighter on the non-televised undercard, steamrolled James Winchester. Winchester didn't have a chance with his less-than-skilled approach. The Russian mauled Winchester to the body. The judges couldn't find a round to give Winchester. All three had it 60-54 for Korobov (8-0, 6 KO's)

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He's arguably the greatest promoter the sport has ever seen and part of that is Bob Arum's recent willingness to put matchmaking and money before personal differences. He was able to bury the hatchet with Golden Boy Promotions to make several megafights and he's going to need plenty of help from Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer to get Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in the same ring together.

First things first, Pacquiao needs to beat Miguel Cotto. If he does, Steve Carp from the Las Vegas Review-Journal said initial conversations for a 2010 megafight could start as early as Monday. Arum will ask Schaefer to reach out to Team Mayweather:

"I have tremendous respect for Richard," Arum said. "We give each other our word, and we can make a deal or we could not make a deal in two hours."

Schaefer will have to take the lead because Arum can't stand Mayweather managers Al Haymon and Leonard Ellerbe:

"I don't know," he said. "Nobody is going to sit around and wait for Mayweather and take his abuse. If Mayweather wants to fight Pacquiao if Manny wins and (Mayweather) is sensible about it, why not?"

Schaefer said it all comes down on how the purse money is split. If Pacman crushes Cotto, he's certainly entitled to something in excess of 50-percent. Can Mayweather and his boys deal with being on the short side?

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Yuri Foreman takes a big leap of faith when he enters the ring on Saturday night against junior middleweight champ Daniel Santos. But the 29-year-old Belarussian will go into the squared circle with peace of mind because this isn't a make or break situation. If the boxing thing doesn't produce titles and big paychecks, he's already working on his future. Foreman is training to be a rabbi.

Foreman, born in Belarus, he moved to Israel as a child and eventually made his to New York in 1999 where his wife, Leyla Leidecker, convinced him to study the Torah with a Brooklyn rabbi named DovBer Pinson.

It's never been easy for Foreman, who lived through a dangerous childhood according to the New York Times:

His early memories are trailing his mother with a knife tucked in his waistband as she walked through Gomel for fear that she might be kidnapped. The blade of the knife was so big (“like Crocodile Dundee,” he said) that it pricked his knee as he shadowed her. When he was 5, thugs forced his mother into a car and she was missing for days. 

He even felt threatened when making the simple move of switching trainers. His first trainer Michael Kozlowski, didn't deal with things gracefully:

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(BHop and Calzaghe finally agree on something)

You know you have a great fight on the way when guys who have stepped in between the ropes have varying opinion on who will pull out a mega-fight. The fellas who have laced them usually give the fans and media a dose of reality. In the case of Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquaio, it's a tough call. Jeff Haney from the Las Vegas Sun did a great job polling some of boxing's biggest names.

George Foreman picks Cotto. He liked what he saw out of the Puerto Rican post-Antonio Margarito. Cotto is a smarter fighter now:

"I think there would have been a good opportunity for Pacquiao to win if he faced Cotto before he fought (Joshua) Clottey, but now Cotto is thinking defense. I think Cotto is going to pull out a decision, and now because of the terrible beating he took against (Antonio) Margarito, he knows he can't get into a knockdown, drag-out brawl. He's going to be smarter, and I think Cotto wins in a 12-round decision."

Hector Camacho says Cotto is not a smart fighter:

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