On the surface, you can't make a better impression than Arthur Abraham did with his knockout win over Jermain Taylor to kickoff Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic Tournament. Abraham finished Taylor with that 12th KO with less than 20 seconds left in the fight. The Armenian's straight right was so effective that it knocked Taylor stiff. When Taylor hit the mat, his head bounced violently against the canvas. He was admitted to a Berlin hospital with a concussion.

In the tournament's format, Abraham picked up three points, but does it mean he should be a heavy favorite? I beg to differ on that one. Viewers of the Abraham-Taylor fight got cheated a bit by Showtime. Without Compubox stats and listening to the slanted call from Steve Albert, you would've thought Abraham was leading 11-0 entering the 12th round. Far from it. Abraham was virtually inactive in six rounds. Sure the scorecards had Abraham leading handily (105-103, 107-103, 106-102) entering the final round but it could've been a different story if the American wasn't dealing with a homefield advantage. Showtime did a good job in the prefight of warning the audience about Abraham's propensity to beg for low blow calls. His wish was granted early in the fight when referee Guido Cavalleri called a couple on Taylor. It took a lot of the steam out of Taylor's efforts to lower Abraham's hands by going to the body. Without a ringside judge of its own on the scene, Showtime didn't have an objective voice on what the score really was entering the final round. There's no way with the Abraham's low punch output in half of the rounds, that he was leading that fight 9-3 as one judge had it. 

Even with a low punch output, Abraham also looked a bit winded in rounds 9-through-11. Abraham did a get a big win but he'll have to step things up to win the Super Six. If he fights in front of judges who favor volume over power, he may have trouble beating a guy like Andre Dirrell. Abraham faces Dirrell in Round two and said he's ready to take America. Be careful what you wish for. The next time around, on a level playing field, the story may be different.  

"If anyone resorts to force, then I'll resort to force too," the World Boxing Council heavyweight title holder threatened, as a scuffle broke out.

Klitschko, 38, was angered by the session's inability to approve a land redistribution. Klitschko and his allies tried to bring a halt to the proceedings.

"I didn't hit anyone, I just tried to push a few people away," he told television channel 1+1 afterwards. He added that a real fight, "could have led to certain lawmakers being admitted to hospital."

Klitschko, who has a doctorate in Sports Science, has twice run unsuccessfully for Mayor of Kiev. Klitschko and his brother, Wladimir have always been active on the Ukranian political scene. Back in 2004, Wladimir, the WBO and IBF heavyweight champ, led a protest 10,000 strong in Kiev.

Sure, Lewis was a better overall fighter than Klitschko, but there was always a healthy dollop of vulnerability. We saw early on that his chin could be reached, and that threat never really left, even against someone like Shannon Briggs. The Canadian also compounded matters by not always showing up in top-notch shape.

Klitschko gave Lewis a run for his money but in the end an old Lewis shredded the Russian's face and forced a stoppage. In general, he put his punches together much better. And most importantly, Lewis (38-2, 37 KOs) faced much better competition than Klitschko. "Dr. Ironfist" is a solid fighter and his defensive abilities defy logic, but let's not gloss over the fact that this rebirth at 38 has come against Chris Arreola, Juan Carlos Gomez and Sam Peter.

While we're at it, is 38-year-old Vitali even the best Klitschko? Iorfida says so:

Yes, younger brother Wladimir is also a heavyweight titleholder with several defences under his belt, but he's been knocked out twice and doesn't have the "It" factor Vitali does. Wladimir has scored some great KOs, but too often his game plan is mechanical.

Iorfida also says the heavyweight picture is better now than it was five years ago. That's a tough call to make especially since it looks like both Klitschkos have run out of worthy opponents. The good news is Oliver McCall is fighting Lance Whitaker next month in Las Vegas. Kidding. It's no knock on the Klitschkos. They may be all-timers for all we know, it's just tough to gauge what they've done considering the competition.

Cris Arreola broke down in the ring after the fight. He cried uncontrollably after not being able to catch a Vitali Klitschko, 6-foot-7, 252-pound heavyweight for 10 rounds. Klitschko, with his hands down for most of the fight, put on a show nailing Arreola throughout with six and seven unanswered punches at a time. By the end of the tenth, the big Russian was leading 10-0 and 9-1 on most cards, and had outlanded Arreola 301-86. Arreola's trainer Henry Ramirez told referee John Schorle that was it. Klitschko, 38, retains his WBC heavyweight title with a thudding technical knockout victory over Arreola at Staples Center.

"He was taking too much punishment," Ramirez told the L.A. Times. "Arreola was irate. It was not an easy decision, but we had discussed it, and I had to do it."

Arreola, weeping for minutes after the fight, could barely pull it together to speak with HBO announcer Larry Merchant:

"I couldn't get to him," said a sniffling Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs). "He ran when he was supposed to. Whatever I did he found a way to counteract that."

Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs) was super confident from the start holding his left hand by his side. Arreola stood in front of the big guy the entire fight and got nailed by three and four-punch combinations. When it wasn't three or four punches, Klitschko was masterful pcking apart Arreola with two-punch combos and then sliding to his left or right. Arreola couldn't pull the trigger after getting drilled or would simply swing and miss.

"I don't know [what happened] man. I worked my ass off. [Expletive]!," said Arreola. "Vitali is a strong [expletive]. He hit hit hard."

The 28-year-old from just outside L.A., in Riverside, was distraught about the fact that his corner threw in the towel:

"That's never in me. I didn’t want to quit. I knew he was [expletive] me up. I'm sorry guys."

Schorle had no choice. By the middle of the fight, Klitschko's confidence soared as held both hands at his side and landed almost everything he threw. He mixed together clubbing lead left hooks, straight rights and wicked uppercuts to puff up Arreola's face.

Arreola's best rounds were No. 4 and 8. Yahoo! Sports' writers on the scene in Los Angeles, Kevin Iole and Martin Rogers, each had it 89-82 for Klitschko. I had it a clean sweep for Klitschko. Klitschko led 99-91 on the cards of Anek Hongtongkam and Ken Morita, and Guido Cavalieri had it 100-89.

The final punchstats illustrated just how dominant Klitschko was. He outlanded Arreola by 215 and threw 471 more shots. He also landed 151 power punches (53-percent) to just 24 for Arreola. "Dr. Ironfist" still looked very fresh even after throwing 802 punches.

It's difficult to see what's on the horizon for Vitali and his brother Wladimir (53-3, 47 KOs), who holds the other major heavyweight titles. The brothers have been resistant to the talk that they fight each other. Who else is out there? Arreola may have been the last American heavyweight for a while who can challenge the massive Russians. 

He's a mean looking dude but Cris Arreola has a soft side and a good sense of humor. That said, he should've let poor Dan Goossen in on the joke at yesterday's weigh-in for his fight against Vitali Klitschko. Arreola is always fighting the battle of the bulge. So when he chose to step on the scale in front of Staples Center with his shirt on, first thought had to be, "did this guy train at all?" Then Michael Buffer announced, "272 pounds!" It appeared that Goosen was freaking out that the scale was malfunctioning:

"Everybody keeps bitching about the weight. That's the first question. I [said] I'm going to run with this and put the weight vest on (2:04 mark)," Arreola told Elie Seckbach from AOL Fanhouse. "And make them all believe that 'damn, this is a fat [expletive],' but I'm not."

Arreola removed the vest and weighed in at a trimmer 251 pounds. He averaged roughly 256 for his last three fights up from the 230's he fought at back in 2007. Arreola challenges for Klitschko's WBC heavyweight title tomorrow night Los Angeles.

The one million buy total represents the highest performing boxing pay-per-view event in 2009 and generated $52 million in pay-per-view revenue. The million buys include 525,000 from cable homes and 475,000 from satellite homes. It is only the fifth time in boxing pay-per-view history that a non-heavyweight event has attained the one million buy mark. [Mayweather] has now participated in two events that have reached the one million buy mark.  

HBO PPV chief Mark Taffet was fired up:

"Sept. 19 was an event that connected with sports fans across the country. Floyd Mayweather has clearly reinforced his standing as a top attraction and fans are excited about his return to the sport."

Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole told Cagewriter that his sources said UFC 103 finished in the 450,000 range. The UFC does not release its PPV buy statistics.

Make sure you tune in on Thursday night, when Yahoo! Sports, The Ring and Versus team up to give you a free night of live-streamed pro boxing action from Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. The live stream starts at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Fight Night Club is your chance to check out some of boxing's most promising up-and-comers before they become stars. Thursday night's main event is a six-round bantamweight contest featuring unbeaten Charles Huerta against Derrick Wilson. Four other matches will also be broadcast.

So make sure you stop by Thursday night and check out the fights. Follow all the action via the live stream from L.A.

On Thursday, Yahoo! Sports teams up with Versus and The Ring magazine to present a live stream of the Fight Night club event at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Bell time is 9 p.m. Eastern/ 6 p.m. Pacific.

The card features a co-main main event. In a junior lightweight showdown, David Rodela (12-1-3, 6 KOs) meets Juan Garcia (14-2, 5KOs). And at featherweight Charles Huerta (10-0, 5 KOs) meets Noe Lopez Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs).

And you don't have to pay a dime. So be sure to tune in to Yahoo! Sports and The Ring magazine on Thursday to watch the fights.

"He's taking his time. He is single minded, stubborn if you like, and once he makes up his mind that will be it. We will respect that decision and knowing him it will be final and certainly he won't be a Frank Sinatra, forever making comebacks."

The older Hatton says there's no need rush into the second phase of life at such a young age:

"This is one big decision for a 30-year-old. It's not like old Father Time is catching up on him. It's the biggest decision of his career, even of his life, and he's got to get it right."

Hatton's legacy is at stake if he walks away off a defeat where he was last seen laid out:

"The defeat is still very painful for him even now. He knows he was reckless and his game plan went out of the window. A lot of people who know him well are thinking they can't see him going out and ending his career on the back of that sort of defeat. Some genuine experts and people who know him best reckon he won't want to be remembered flat on his back."

The Manchester Evening News also confirms a story first reported by the Yahoo! Boxing Blog, that Hatton's co-trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. showed up late on fight night.  Mayweather blames the loss on Hatton listening to others and not him exclusively during training.

Michael Katsidis has been mentioned as an opponent for what could be a farewell fight later this year. The Hattons are busy this evening opening a huge fitness center in Manchester.

Manny Pacquiao may not be boxing's best pitchman but his trainer is certainly making up for it. Freddie Roach has taken on the role of trash-talker extraordinaire. Roach isn't happy that the upcoming Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight is simply being dubbed "No. 1":

"They can call Mayweather-Marquez "No. 1" but it smells like No. 2," said Freddie Roach. "The fight stinks. Two counter-punchers waiting for the other one to make the first move is boring and proves nothing." 

Since the minute the Pacman-Ricky Hatton fight ended, Roach has been ripping the Mayweather comeback effort. He told ESPNRadio1100 that the fight will be terrible. He repeated recently that Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao:

"If Mayweather wanted to prove he was the best all he had to do was wait one day to see who won Pacquiao-Hatton before signing to fight Marquez.  You might as well rename him Fraud Mayweather, Jr.“

Marquez twice fought Pacquiao going 0-1-1. The WBA and WBO lightweight champ is fighting Mayweather at a catch-weight of 144 pounds.

"Bernard is full of [expletive]!"

That prompted Hopkins' camp member Malik Chambers to snap at Shaw during the press conference. Chambers took issue when Shaw said that Hopkins had offered Tomasz Adamek $300,000-$500,000 for a fight. Chambers told Shaw to mind his own business because it was really $1.2 million. For some reason, Hopkins also told ESPNRadio1100 that it $500,000 last week (3:05 mark). There seems to be some disconnect between Chambers and Hopkins or is it possible that in the week since the BHop interview, Adamek was offered $1.2 million?

Dawson told ESPNRadio1100 there haven't been any negotiations with the Hopkins camp (7:00 mark) so it seems a bit odd that Chambers would be yelling out, "get the money right!" during the press conference:

"There's not been one second of conversation. So how can he say it's a money issue? What he should say is, I'm going to have my representatives call Gary Shaw and work out a deal."

Watch Shaw talk about Dawson v. Hopkins with Yahoo!:

Shaw says he's not going to chase Hopkins. Fortunately for fight fans Dawson does have the option of going down to 168 pounds to take on Carl Froch or Mikkel Kessler. Is there any other fight we care about for Hopkins other than Dawson?  

There were plenty of negative cries about this rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver. Dawson did beat Tarver the first time around but it wasn't a walkover. There didn't have to be a rematch but it turned out to be a pretty good fight. The fans and the HBO broadcast team seemed to think it was a much closer fight than the judges who gave a unanimous decision to Chad Dawson 117-111 on two cards and 116-112 on the other card. The Yahoo! Boxing Blog scored it 115-113 but there were at least three difficult rounds to score. Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole had it 117-111 for Dawson.

Dawson retains his IBO light heavyweight title in front of 2,156 at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas but sounded disappointed after the fight:

"I was a little bit out of my element. He came back strong in the middle rounds. He said he was going to push the pace. He came forward," said Dawson (28-0, 17 KOs). "He took me off my gameplan. He fought a heckuva fight. My hats off to him."

Dawson outlanded Tarver 209-121 and landed at a higher connect rate (31-percent to 16-percent). He also impressed the judges with his body punching, landing 62 shots to just 14 for Tarver.

Dawson's best rounds came in the sixth and seventh. His combinations of three or body punches followed by a big uppercut were impressive. He did the same in the ninth round to at least lock up a draw at that point in the fight.

Tarver trainer Buddy McGirt thought his fighter closed stronger:

"We thought it was a lot closer. We thought we won the last two or three rounds to pull out a draw."

The Yahoo! Boxing Blog had Tarver (27-6, 190 KOs) winning the final two rounds. Patricia Jarman and Duane Ford gave the final two rounds to Dawson while Alan Davis gave them to Tarver.

Dawson is looking to take a step to the next level and draw Bernard Hopkins or Joe Calzaghe into a fight. His gas tank was running on empty down the stretch and this decision on points and cleaner boxing may not be enough to woo one of the big names into a big money fight.

It was the third win of the year for Topou (17-0, 13 KOs), who was coming off a victory over the one and only Marcus Rhode.

Another unbeaten prospect, Ismayl Sillakh (8-0, 7 KOs) scored a sixth round KO (2:25) win against David Whittom )_in a light heavyweight fight.

Jose Guzman, 25, also remained unbeaten but it wasn't easy. Veteran Jose Lugo was outclassed but was able to sucker Guzman onto the ropes where he did some decent damage to the body, In the end, Guzman (7-0, 5 KOs) was simply too slick in the middle of the ring. He won a majority decision (59-55, 58-56, 57-57) over Lugo (10-8-1, 5 KOs).

Additional undercard results:

Melisa Hernandez (10-1-2, 3 KOs) defeated Jeri Sitzes (14-9-1, 6 KOs) via Unanimous decision (60-54, 59-55, 59-55)

Anna Donnatella Hultin (1-0, 1 KO) defeated Jasica Rojo (0-1) via fourth round KO, 1:08 - Jr. Lightweight

Said El Harrack (5-0, 2 KOs) defeated Hugo Correa (8-3, 4 KOs) via first round KO, 1:55 - Middleweight

Jose Pacheco (1-5-6) and Omar Valencia (0-3-1), Majority Draw (39-37, 39-32, 38-38) - Jr. Featherweight

Hopkins says he's ready to fight someone in September but the terms have to be right:

"I'm not waiting on nobody," Hopkins told Yahoo! Sports. "If it ain't set up by at least June or July, whoever it is, then it's a wrap. It's a done deal. What's the purpose? If a guy's 44 years old, they should be beating his door down."

Listen to Hopkins talk about Dawson and Adamek (2:45 mark):

Hopkins claims that Dawson wants a 50-50 split. Dawson told ESPNRadio1100 on Friday that's not the case:

"We haven't even talked about money. No one's even mentioned anything about money. Let's just fight man. Stop all the bullcrap. I go to the ratings, they have Bernard rated above me. He's one, I'm two. Don't you think one and two should fight? The money will be good for both of us. Let's just fight."

Now word is leaking out that Hopkins is throwing the name Felix Trinidad into the mix. Huh? That set off Keith Idec of the North Jersey Herald:

(Hopkins') penchant for trying to peddle fiction as indisputable fact has become rather ridiculous. No one other than Hopkins, Trinidad and Don King, Trinidad’s promoter, has any interest in seeing Hopkins-Trinidad II.

How, exactly, could this warrant a rematch?

And why does Hopkins think he can conveniently dismiss higher-risk, higher-reward fights against Dawson or cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek in trying to convince everyone that a Trinidad rematch matters?

Idec is right but it's all part of Hopkins' negotiating games. We're not exactly sure why the games are needed with Dawson. If he wins tonight, he sounds like he's going to be pretty reasonable to try and seal a deal with Hopkins. At that point, the ball's in BHop's court. Does he really want to play with the 26-year-old Dawson?

Eight months has passed since the first time they met but you'd think it was five years from the recent reports of their first meeting. Chad Dawson rolled to a decision win over Antonio Tarver but it was far from a beating. Yet according to the odds, this is one of the most lopsided title bouts of the year. Dawson (27-0m 17 KOs) was as high as -900 at some Las Vegas sportsbooks on Friday. The number has settled down but it's still at a very high in the -600 to -700 range. What's the deal?

The 40-year-old Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs) has a shot in this fight. He was more dedicated this time around with his training. Tarver got as a high as 233 pounds for the role of "Mason Dixon" in Rocky VI. He's generally cutting from around the 200 pound mark but there time there was no massive weight loss. If anything, he may have overtrained a bit coming in at 172 pounds during Friday's weigh-in. His dedication is from joining forces again with Buddy McGirt:

"Buddy is a great trainer," says Tarver. "We've had a lot of success together, and I think along with Jimmy Williams, two great minds are better than one. Where Jimmy is weak at, as a trainer, Buddy has strengths. And vice versa. They complement each other. And just to be able to have two guys in that corner that I love, and believe in and trust in, I think it just helps me. I know Buddy's going to be cool and calm under pressure and that's what I need between those rounds."

Trainer and fighter are both hard-headed but they put aside their differences for this one:

"It's been a year and a half since I worked with Antonio, and it was difficult at first. But we've worked hard, and I see Antonio winning back the championship Saturday night."

The fight starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET on HBO live from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. This is the first major boxing card to be held at the Hard Rock's new venue concert/fighting venue The Joint. The $60 million facility is configured for 2,900 fans for boxing cards. Let's hope this fight performs better than the first one which sold less than 700 tickets in a similar venue, the Pearl at the Palms.

There's no one better than Steve Kim from Maxboxing.com to cut through the bull. K-9 says enough with Oscar De La Hoya comeback talk. DLH is not "Oscar De La Favre."

Floyd Mayweather's return last week got some people buzzing about a rematch between the two. The first fight was a financial success but a dud for most boxing fans.

Stay retired Oscar! There's plenty of real 147-pounders lining up to take on Mayweather. No need to block Shane Mosley, Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

"Chad throws combinations like the old Sugar Ray Robinsons," said Mustafa Muhammed. "You don't see that no more. These guys throw 1-2 and then they resort to holding."

Dawson and his boys don't believe a knockout is a must to prove you're a great fighter:

"The name of the game is 'I hit you but you don't hit me' not 'I hit you and you hit me back.' It don't work like that. That's not the game," said Mustafa Muhammed extolling the virtues of Dawson's defensive prowess.

It's the rematch that no one was calling for except a piece of paper. Back in October, Antonio Tarver gave Chad Dawson a shot at his title belts (not sure which ones and don't care) but he made sure there was a rematch clause in the contract. To no one's surprise, the younger Dawson was faster, got off more punches and beat "The Magic Man" to the punch during most exchanges. The judges scored it a lopsided 118-109 and a pair of 117-110's for Dawson. But it was far from utter destruction for Tarver. He just needed to sit down on his punches more and stay in the pocket. Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs)says he's going for broke this time around:

"When I look back at the fight, I feel I beat myself, it was nothing that Chad did," Tarver told the Las Vegas Sun. "Basically I’m gonna let my hands go this time. I’m not gonna be in a defensive posture. I’m gonna let my offense be my defense and I’m gonna fight — that’s the bottom line."

Tarver has won all three of his rematches after a loss (Glen Johnson, Eric Harding and Roy Jones Jr.). That was then, this is now for the 40-year old Tarver:

"We corrected our wrongs and you’ll see the difference Saturday night. When I’m determined, I’m a hard guy to beat, history proves that."

Tarver says it's time to swing for the fences:

"I’m gonna put this guy in uncomfortable situations and I’m gonna touch him. I have the power. I’m gonna touch him on the arms, touch him on the body. If I crack him or hurt him, I’m knocking him out. Period."

Tarver is also back with trainer Buddy McGirt. McGirt missed the first matchup working with another fighter. Dawson (27-0, 17 KOs) by most as the No. 2 light heavyweight in the world behind Bernard Hopkins. A big show for Dawson on HBO may coax Joe Calzaghe out of retirement for a big money fight or convince BHop drop some of his demands. 

The swine flu has the world in freakout mode and for good reason, especially if regions aren't prepared to handle a serious outbreak. Manny Pacquiao is dying to get back home to the Philippines after nearly two months in the United States, and his Pinoy brothers and sisters are exploding at the seams ready to greet their national hero. A parade was supposed to happen on Friday but has now been postponed. 

According to Philippine news services, Pacman was told by officials that he must delay his return, originally scheduled for Friday or upon arrival in Manila. He and his huge entourage will be quarantined for five to 10 days to ensure they haven't been exposed to the swine flu while in Southern Nevada and California:

Although there have been no confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) in the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque is concerned the boxer or his entourage could have picked up the virus while in the United States.

Not all Philippine officials are in agreement:

"(Duque) might as well shut down the entire airport if he is planning to quarantine Manny [Pacquiao]," said Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. "Right now, Manny Pacquiao is the healthiest Filipino. He defeated a tough British fighter in two rounds and I think he wouldn’t be able to do that if he’s sick."

Once the quarantine is over, further recommendations were made by Duque:

"The welcome greeters in Manila should be kept at a distance of at least one meter and no handshake or any form of social greetings like hugging or kissing. The team members who are not ill during the time of arrival should be encouraged to observe for any signs of illness for a period of five days and inform immediately the Department of Health if there are any symptoms," said Duque.

"(Pacquiao’s group) is not a small group and they come from different parts of the country."

There are also calls for all Philippine congressmen who attended the Ricky Hatton-Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas to be quarantined as well. There have been two reported deaths and 403 have been infected in the United States.

This movie looks awesome and then reached a new level of awesome with a late cameo from Iron Mike (2:15 mark). You can skip ahead but you'll miss plenty of chuckles especially if you have the sense of humor of a 15-year-old, like me.

The Hangover is out June 5.

Tip via With Leather

His rise from 130 pounds to take out elite fighters at 140 and 147 is amazing. Not only did Manny Pacquiao beat Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya, he destroyed them and may have sent both to the old folks home. Those conquests were dynamite,, but he does have his limits. Freddie Roach told the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show that he'd like to see Pacman fight Shane Mosley or Miguel Cotto but that they'd have to come down a few pounds. So, basically, Manny is a little too small to fight legitimate welterweights. Pacquiao can only reach so high at barely 5-foot-6.

Meanwhile our buddy MDS at AOL's Fanhouse has lost his mind:

Pacquiao would beat any boxer at any weight class under 160. Yes, you read that right: Pacquiao would have to move all the way up to middleweight before I'd bet against him.

How many fighters under 160 pounds can you name to bet on against Pacman?

I'll go with:

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (5-foot-8, 147 pounds)

2. Paul Williams (6-3, 154)

3. Shane Mosley (5-9, 147)

4. Miguel Cotto (5-8, 147)

5. Antonio Margarito (6-0, 147)

The win over Hatton is impressive but let's keep in mind "The Hitman" had two quality wins in his career. I'm thinking MDS is employing an ESPN "First Take" mentality here, making outlandish statements to simply stir up an argument.

New Jersey Athletic Control Board commissioner Aaron Davis and assistant commissioner Sylvester Cuyler watched Camacho spar last week at the Atlantic City Police Athletic League Gym:

"I thought it was important to see them in the gym before I approved the fight," Davis told The Press of Atlantic City. "I'm looking to see if they get tired in the ring, and I wanted to get a gauge of their skill level. I saw Campas spar eight rounds and he looked good."

According to FightNews.com, the NJACB came back today and denied Camacho a license to fight Campas.

It might be good thing after both of his sparring partners said they felt like they needed to take it easy on Camacho:

"I didn't spar him like I would spar someone like (Somers Point middleweight prospect) Patrick (Majewski)," said Shamone Alvarez, 32. "I mean, the man's got to eat. It is what it is. I did what I had to do, so he could show his stuff."

Patrick Perez was a little more positive on Camacho's chances:

"I opened up on him a little bit, but he was hard to hit," said the 36-year-old Perez. "He's got a couple of fights left in him. I sparred with Yory Boy about 10 years ago and I think this would be a decent fight. Hector is faster and has a good chin, but Yory Boy hits harder."

Camacho (79-5-2, 38 KOs) has won 16 of his last 17 fights but had fought only once in the last four years. Maybe he needs to head to Alabama, where they'll license anyone including Kyle Maynard, a congenital amputee, for an MMA fight and 48-year-old boxer Ray Mercer.

Merchant joined Yahoo! Sports and ESPNRadio1100 during our Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton postfight show and did a nice spot. He made salient points about Pacman's place in history and what could be next against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

For some reason, Gawker.com decided to unload on Merchant after viewing the fight. Joshua Stein was livid with the boxing analyst:

"If anyone watched the Hatton v. Pacquio fight last night, the biggest loser wasn’t Ricky Hatton. It was Larry Merchant, the lipid eyed drunkard whose inane commentary damages more brains than Pacquio’s right hook."

The Sports Pig points out that Stein also called Merchant  "tuxedoed stooge," "boxing’s old joke," and a "drunk [expletive]."

The Pig defends Merchant nicely:

However, it’s ridiculous to assert or even imply that Larry Merchant is drunk on-the-air with HBO. However, he is 79-years-old. HBO has brought in Max Kellerman to pick up some of the load from Merchant but, since they’re only doing THREE pay-per-view events this year, it begs the question. Isn’t Larry Merchant semi-retired already?

I don't understand all the hate. Merchant's pacing is slow but he's still in a different league versus Max Kellerman. If you don't believe me, watch Steve Bunce explain why. This fan thought that Kellerman's on-air essay sucked after the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez fight.

It was a rough night for his fiance Jennifer Dooley, who was distraught as "The Hitman" hit the canvas. Looking back on HBO's 24/7, Hatton sort of foreshadowed his demise when he talked about not allowing his son Campbell to come see the fight in person:

"I don't want Campbell to come and watch the boxing," Hatton said on 24/7. "You never can tell in a boxing ring what can happen. One punch and it could all be over for you. I wouldn't forgive myself if I said to Campbell 'you want to come watch the fight' and I got knocked out. I know how hard it was for me Mom and girlfriend when Floyd Jr. knocked me out. I wouldn't like it if my little eight-year-old champion sat there watching that."

Hatton is only 30 years old but has 47 fights under belt and likely banked $25-30 million for his six minutes of work on Saturday night.

Bob Arum is one lucky man. Late in life, the 77-year-old has been handed what could be the greatest fighter he's ever promoted. Manny Pacquiao is an action fighter who appears to be able to fight in three different weight classes and has an entire nation of 90 million people behind him.

After each Pacman conquest, Arum beams and is growing with confidence. When asked about Pacquiao meeting Floyd Mayweather Jr. down the road, Arum called out the former pound-for-pound king:

"(Juan Manuel) Marquez shouldn't be fighting Mayweather, he should be fighting (Humberto) Soto or (Edwin) Valero," said Arum. "And Mayweather, if he wants a piece of this little Filipino, just be my guest."

Mayweather announced on Saturday morning that he was coming back to fight Marquez on July 18. Pacman trainer Freddie Roach responded to this by telling the collected media during the postfight press conference he thinks Mayweather is afraid of his guy (3:15 mark):

"Mayweather could fight Pacquaio, he just had to wait one day. I think he's scared of Manny Pacquiao," said Roach. "We not going to wait around. I'd like to keep Manny busy. I'd like to get a fight in November or December."

Roach said if Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley could come down a few pounds, those fights could be made against Pacquiao.    

Manny Pacquiao really is a national institution. It seems like everyone in the Philippines congregates at arenas and malls to watch his fights. Filipinos literally live and die with his every move. Sadly, three people actually died the moment Pacman landed his huge left hook that knocked out Ricky Hatton.

According to the Inquirer, 64-year-old tricycle driver Francisco Lalongisip, 49-year old Vic Ocampo and 52-year-old farmer Rolando Cabang all had heart attacks as Pacquaio planted The Hitman.

Lalongisip, collapsed in his neighbor’s house at around noon, at the same time Pacquiao knocked Hatton down.

Ocampo, a resident of 1154 Casanas Street in the Sampaloc district, was watching the free showing of the live Pacquiao-Hatton match at the Dapitan Sports Complex along with other boxing fans when he collapsed at around 11:50 a.m., just as Pacquiao knocked out Hatton in the second round

Rolando Cabang fell to the ground gasping for air at the start of the second round.

The Pacquiao phenomenon is amazing in the Philippines. Many cities show his fights for free in the town's malls, theatres and stadiums. One report said the line to get into the stadium in Cavite City was nearly two miles long.

But there was also lots of anger from those who tried to watch it on television. GMA-7 showed the fight on a tape delayed basis but threw in so many commercials that many viewers already knew the result by the time Pacman pulled off his KO:

GMA-7, the official media partner of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, finally aired the delayed telecast of the main event at 2:03 p.m., two hours after Pacquiao knocked out his opponent.

It began with celebrity Martin Nievera singing the Philippine National anthem then immediately cut to a rundown of nearly 30 major and minor sponsors.

The telecast noticeably skipped Tom Jones singing "God Save the Queen," Britain's national anthem, and (Jasmine Villegas') rendition of the United States anthem,"Star-Spangled Banner".

There were three commercial gaps before the telecast showed Pacquaio enter the arena.

Some gaps were as long as eight minutes and a portion of the introductions to the match lasted for only a minute before another commercial break.

Sources said the television network had to force in more commercials because the fight was sold as a minimum six rounder. When Pacman made it into a two rounder, the network was thrown for a loop.

Just because the fight is in the books, doesn't mean the angst between the Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao camps has been put to rest. Pacman trainer Freddie Roach dropped another bomb last night saying that Floyd Mayweather Sr. showed up an hour and a half late for the fight (1:43 mark).

Sounds ridiculous, right? Don't discard the possibility so quickly considering some of the drama that went down during the week. It started with reports from Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and several British papers saying that the Hatton camp had already decided to fire Floyd Sr. and reached out to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Roach's lawyer to gauge the trainer's interest in working with Hatton after this fight. Schaefer and Nick Kahn went on the record confirming that calls had been made. Floyd Sr. then confirmed that there were issues with he and some Hatton campers, including Lee Beard. The statement was made to 15 media members during a roundtable discussion:

"I think we had a good camp. Was there a problem there? Yes. But I will say right here that the camp was good," Mayweather Sr. told Gareth A. Davies from the Telegraph. "Why pick on Lee out of everybody? You have all kinds of people coming in (to camp), not just me and Lee. But you could be on the right track."

The Guardian reports that was Floyd Sr. operating on his own schedule during the five week training camp in Las Vegas:

The build-up to the bout was marred by rumours of a split in the Hatton camp, with Mayweather's reportedly inexact timekeeping believed to have been an issue.

There were rumors swirling around the media center during the pre-fight that Floyd Sr. had been fired earlier on Saturday. Iole said on the ESPNRadio1100 postfight show that he was told Floyd Sr. and Hatton barely talked before the fight:

During the same post-fight show, Steve Kim from MaxBoxing.com said he thought Floyd Sr.'s behavior after the fight was bizarre. Kim saw Mayweather signing autographs and taking pictures with remaining crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena minutes after Hatton was brutally knocked out:

Floyd Sr. was also in "me-mode" during the postfight press conference telling The Guardian that Hatton blew it:  

"He didn't do as he was told," he said. "He didn't put his hands up. It was an error on his behalf. I was telling him in the dressing room before the fight, 'Make sure you keep your hands up'. Defense is very important. Defense can destroy a fighter."

Mayweather told everyone who'd listen last night that it's time for Hatton to hang up his gloves. After hearing some of the reported and rumored behavior, does Mayweather have any right to comment on the Brit's future?

We kick things off at 1 a.m. ET in the media center at the MGM Grand. Cofield and co-host Steve Kim from Maxboxing.com will speak with the winners, trainers and several media experts.

What happened to Ricky Hatton? Did Floyd Mayweather Sr. chang anything in his game? Did the rift between the Hatton camp and Floyd Sr. this week hurt the fighter on this night?

How good is Manny Pacquiao? How has he gotten more powerful and retained his speed with a jump from 106 to 140 pounds? What happens if he meets Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

Cofield and Steve Kim from MaxBoxing.com - Fight breakdown and calls:

Cofield and Pacman trainer Freddie Roach:

Cofield and HBO's Harold Lederman:

Cofield and Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole:

It was a bloodbath from the opening seconds. Manny Pacquiao came out and stunned Ricky Hatton with blazing speed. By the end of the second round, Hatton was asleep and getting fitted for a neckbrace. Pacquiao landed his huge left with seven seconds left in the second round. Hatton was out cold on the way down to the mat. It was over at 2:59 of the second as Pacquiao won something called the IBO super lightweight belt with his knockout victory. The belt means nothing, Pacquiao simply further secures his spot as the king of boxing.

He can now spend the early part of the summer prepping to view Floyd Mayweather Jr. face off against Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 in Las Vegas. Another Pacman superfight is likely for November. Keep in mind, it took 22 rounds for Mayweather to finish Hatton (KO) and Oscar De La Hoya (dec.). The "smaller" Pacquiao took out the pair with stoppages inside of 11 rounds.

The problems started early for Hatton (45-2, 32 KOs). He simply couldn't see Pacquiao's right hook.

"I expected my right hook was going to control him," said Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs). "He's open when he's coming forward and his hands are down. He was very surprised by the right hook."

Pacman blasted Hatton early with rights and floored the Brit just 55 seconds into the fight and then did it again in the closing seconds of the first. Pacquiao landed an amazing 35-of-62 (56-percent) punches in that opening round.

"I'm surprised that the fight was kind of easy," said Pacquiao. "I knew the left hook and right hook were going to be key in the fight."

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach wanted this fight from the second it was mentioned as a possibility last year:

"Everytime Ricky throws his left hand he pulls it back and cocks it, he's open for a right hand from a southpaw stance," said Roach, who had predicted a third round knockout. "We worked on it everyday in the gym and it worked out beautfully. I knew it was over. Ricky doesn't have the ability to adjust."

Pacquiao went off as a -280 favorite. Las Vegas bettors pounded the under 9 1/2 rounds proposition bet. It went from +130 on Thursday to -125 late this afternoon.

This was supposed to be an easy showcase for WBC super feathweight champ Humberto Soto. Benoit Gaudet was anything but a patsy. The Quebec-native gave Soto a good fight for eight rounds but when he tried to mix it up more in the ninth round, he got caught.

Soto floored Gaudet with a huge right uppercut with 1:13 left in the round. When Gaudet got up, he still wasn't all there. Soto landed a thunderous left-right combination that left Gaudet prone on the ropes. Gaudet's hands dropped. He was a sitting duck. As referee Jay Nady was jumping in, Soto knocked him down for the second time in the round with a grazing left. The fight was stopped at 2:25 giving Soto his second successful title defense at 130 pounds.

The fight was relatively even by the punch stats with Soto (48-7, 31 KOs) outlanding Gaudet 159 to 111. Soto landed the harder shots and was more accurate at 36-percent versus 21-percent. Soto was leading on two cards 80-71 and 78-73 but losing on another 76-75. Gaudet (20-2, 7 KOs) earned himself another pay-per-view appearance down the road with his effort.

Follow Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole ringside (twitter.com/kevini).

Listen here after the big fight tonight. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Callers are welcome at 702-364-1100 and the instant feedback text line is 63532.

Danny Jacobs defines old school. In an era when the elite fighters often have six-to-nine months between each fight, Jacobs, possibly the top middleweight prospect in boxing, took a fight against Mike Walker after having fought last week on ESPN's Friday Night Fights. It was a pretty risky move just 17 months and 15 fights into his career. Walker, coming off a win over former middleweight champ Antwun Echols, was supposed to fight junior middleweight top 10 fighter James Kirkland.

Jacobs (16-0, 14 KOs) was impressive as he boxed his way to a unanimous decision (80-72 on two cards and 79-73) victory. He threw with thunder in the first two rounds. Then realizing Walker wasn't one of the D-level fighters that he faced in racing out to a 15-0 start to his career, Jacobs decided to outbox the veteran. He outpunched Walker (19-2-2) 225 to 82, landing 29-percent of his punches. HBO's new punch stat system "Punchzone" also showed Jacobs landed 49 lefts and 39 rights to the head and another 85 to his face. The 22-year-old from Brooklyn showed versatility and a helluva gas tank, fighting twice in eight days.

Kirkland was scratched from the card after he was arrested two weeks ago on a gun possession charge.

If you want to follow Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole ringside (twitter.com/kevini).

Listen here after the big fight tonight. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Callers are welcome at 702-364-1100 and the instant feedback text line is 63532.

Anthony Bartinelli looked shocked when his fight against Matt Korobov was stopped late in the second round. After all, he'd been outpunched 57-1! That's right, Bartinelli landed one punch in five-plus minutes of boxing while getting smashed by right hooks and straight lefts from the Russian middleweight prospect. Korobov scored a TKO victory at 2:15 of the second round to move to 5-0 in the second fight of the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view in Las Vegas.

Bartinelli (20-13-2) was rocked late in the first from a beautiful combo. He was knocked down by a left with with one minute left in the second. Bartinelli got up but when he failed answer nine straight punches from Korobov, the referee stepped in.  

The 26-year-old Korobov is a native of Orotukan, Russia, who trains in Florida under trainer Dan Birmingham. 

EARLY RESULTS (via FightNews.com):

Middleweight Erislandy Lara (5-0, 3 KOs) easily outpointed Chris Gray (11-8) 40-36 on all cards. Lara is a former world amateur champion.
 

Off TV Results:
Matthew Hatton W8 Ernesto Zepeda (welterweight)
Mike Alvarado W8 Juaquin Gallardo (welterweight)
Abner Mares TKO6 Jonathan Perez (super bantamweight)
Bernabe Concepcion W6 Yogli Herrera (featherweight)
Omar Chavez TKO2 Tyler Ziolowski (welterweight)
Joe Murray W4 Missael Nunez (featherweight)

Listen here after the big fight tonight. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Callers are welcome at 702-364-1100 and the instant feedback text line is 63532.

A humble Floyd Mayweather Jr. was on display for a few minutes this morning when he announced his comeback fighting against Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 at the MGM Grand. He apologized for being disrespectful to the folks at Golden Boy Promotions. After those nice moments, the old Floyd came out swinging (0:45 mark):

"A small man will never retire me," said Mayweather, who undoubtedly will never fight the top three welterweights in the world: Paul Williams, Shane Mosley or Miguel Cotto. "I'm the king. I'm here to stay. I left on top, came back on top. I'm here to reclaim what's mine."

Mayweather retired last June with a perfect 39-0 record.

"I'm the king, nobody has took my throne," said Mayweather. "You got all these fighters who claim they're the best."

It was interesting to hear the British media spin Mayweather's announcement this morning at the MGM as "stealing the thunder" from Ricky Hatton. He also addressed the persistent rumors that he's carrying a heavy tax debt:

"Okay, well, let me see," Mayweather said, when asked about the financial rumors. "If that was the case I would have taken one of those other deals. I've got three cars paid for. I've got the mansion paid for, house costs $15 million paid for, another house costs $5 million paid for, mother's house paid for. The kids got college funds. I'm fine, believe me. When I tell you I'm okay, I'm okay."

Mayweather also claimed that he is the pay-per-view king and that he'd like to do another fight against Oscar De La Hoya because it would make $50-60 million. The opening line is set at Mayweather -350 and the take back is +290 on Marquez.

Listen here after the big fight tonight. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Callers are welcome at 702-364-1100 and the instant feedback text line is 63532.

"Hatton has a chance if Pacquiao goes in there thinking it's going to be given to him," said Hopkins. "But a bettin' man who's not a promoter will go with Pacquiao based on pound for pound."

The 44-year-old veteran said Hatton's biggest hope is if Pacquiao has changed his mentality and lost of his fire because of his newfound riches:

"If he can fight like he's poor. Like he's living in a box in the Philippines then Hatton has a rough night coming to him," said Hopkins. "But if somehow, the silk underwear has changed Manny's mentality. And the L.A. lifestyle, changes his mentality. It sneaks up on us when we don't even know it. It's hard to fight when you got that money in the bank the way you fought when you didn't have a dime."

Listen to Hopkins talk about the big fight and why he probably won't fight Chad Dawson:

Hopkins (49-5, 32 KOs) hasn't fought since his rousing victory over Kelly Pavlik back in October. He says fights against Dawson or cruiserweight champ Tomcz Adamek won't happen if those fighters are looking for 50-50 splts on money. Hopkins says it doesn't pay for him to split the money with guys when he's taking all the risk and has to be the face of the promotion.

Marquez, ranked No. 2 in the latest Yahoo! Sports Top 10 boxing poll, is currently the WBA and WBO lightweight champ. He'll be jumping nine pounds to a catch weight of 144 pounds to face Mayweather, who will drop down from his fighting weight of 147. Mayweather, 32, last fought in December of 2007 when he defeated Ricky Hatton via 10th round TKO. He retired in June of 2008 when terms couldn't be reached on a rematch against Oscar De La Hoya.

The July battle against Marquez potentially sets up a fight against the winner of tonight's Manny Pacquiao-Hatton fight.

Mayweather (39-0, 25 KO's) started his pro career back in 1996 at 130 pounds and held world titles in four different weight classes. The 35-year-old Marquez (50-4, 37 KOs) has been a pro since 1993.

The only folks picking Hatton were Chuck Johnson and Bert Sugar both from HBO and Chris Maathuis from CBS in Las Vegas. Even the British media members in the poll, Simon Lewis, John Dirs, Mike Costello, John Welsh and Gareth A. Davies all tabbed Pacman. The total was 23-3 for Pacquiao with 13 saying he'll finish the fight by knockout or technical knockout. Most finishes were in rounds 8-10 which makes betting the length of the fight an interesting proposition.

Pacquiao is a big favorite ranging anywhere from -250 to -280. The public is generally  wary of laying a big number so many more shooting for Pacman KO. On Thursday, over 9 1/2 rounds was -150. By Friday afternoon, it had dropped to -130.

Don't forget that this same media poll also had Miguel Cotto winning in a landslide against Antonio Margarito. Cotto may have also fallen victim to Margarito's cement hands shenanigans in that fight. 

Check out the picks:

Al Bernstein, Showtime -- Pacquiao by decision
Kevin Blackistone, AOL Sports -- Pacquiao by decision
Steve Carp, Las Vegas Review-Journal -- Pacquiao by TKO 9
Steve Cofield, ESPN 1100 -- Pacquiao by TKO 9
Dave Cokin, ESPN 1100 -- Pacquiao by KO 8
Mike Costello, BBC Radio -- Pacquiao by decision
Gareth A. Davies, Daily Telegraph -- Pacquiao by TKO 10
Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press -- Pacquiao by TKO 10
Ben Dirs, BBC Sports -- Pacquiao by TKO 8
Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times -- Pacquiao by TKO 9
Norm Frauenheim, 15rounds.com -- Pacquiao by decision
Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal -- Pacquiao by TKO 10
Kevin Iole, Yahoo Sports -- Pacquiao by decision
Chuck Johnson, HBO.com -- Hatton by decision
Steve Kim, MaxBoxing.com -- Pacquiao by KO 8
Simon Lewis, Press Association -- Pacquiao by TKO 10
Chris Maathuis, KLAS Channel 8 -- Hatton by decision
Robert Morales, Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram -- Pacquiao by decision
Kieran Mulvaney, Reuters -- Pacquiao by decision
Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times -- Pacquiao by KO 10
Dan Rafael, ESPN.com -- Pacquiao by TKO 10
Mike Rosenthal, ringtv.com -- Pacquiao by TKO 9
Tim Smith, New York Daily News -- Pacquiao by decision
Bert Sugar, boxing historian -- Hatton by decision
John Welsh, Telegraph & Arguis, West Yorkshire, England -- Pacquiao by decision
George Willis, New York Post -- Pacquiao by decision
Total: Pacquiao 23, Hatton 3

Listen here after the big fight tonight. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Callers are welcome at 702-364-1100 and the instant feedback text line is 63532.

His pound-for-pound title is gone and much of his money may be as well. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been away from active boxing for nearly 17 months. He retired last June six months after a December win over Ricky Hatton. Gone is his label as the undisputed king of boxing. At this point, it's not even safe to say he's the best welterweight in the world since he won't fight Shane Mosley or Paul Williams. More distressing is the fact that after banking millions of dollars, Floyd may be returning to the ring under the pressure of a huge debt to the IRS.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal talked about what's at stake for Mayweather, who'll be closely watching the outcome of the Manny Pacquiao-Hatton fight. A Hatton win would be disasterous. Realistically a rematch against Hatton cannot be sold to the American sports fan who watched "Pretty Boy" whip the Brit to end 2007. A Pacman win and the world is Floyd's oyster if terms can be reached for a fight in September:

"I have no dislike whatsoever for Floyd Mayweather. I have no like whatsoever for Floyd Mayweather," said Pacquiao's promoter Arum. "My only concern is he has to have someone on his negotiating team I can trust. I don't need any sleazebags. I don't need any Machiavellis."

Arum thinks it would be wise for Mayweather to have someone negotiating on his behalf to remove emotion and ego from the situation:

"If Schaefer came to me with a contract, we can get a deal done in a day," Arum said. "There's no bull with Richard. If Don King were on the other side representing Mayweather, I'd have no problem with that. I understand Don. There'd be a little more posturing, but we would get it done."

Word is that King has been cozying up to Mayweather. The former welterweight does need to get a summer fight out of the way first. It's expected that a July 18 fight against Juan Manuel Marquez held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be announced this weekend. That's an interesting date with UFC 100 filling the arena the week before. Mayweather has had difficulty selling out Vegas venues without a huge running mate. One wonders with the down economy in Las Vegas, if the town can support megacards at megaprices in back-to-back weeks.

In Las Vegas, if you speak sans a British accent you are on foreign turf this weekend. The bloaks from the U.K. have invaded Sin City and simply overwhelmed today's weigh-in at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. A gathering of over 7,000 fans sounded like 20,000 and all British. They booed Manny Pacquiao and broke into Ricky Hatton's theme, "A Hatton Wonderland".

There is nothing like this Hatton crowd anywhere in the U.S. A few college football fanbases, like the 95,000 who showed for the Ohio State spring game, may be able to compete. But that's about it. The guess here is that 70-80 percent of the MGM's 14,000 seat arena will be Brits. Plus the Mirage and Mandalay Bay are combining for another 25,000 closed-circuit seats. Guess who will be filling most of those seats?

Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) weighed in at the limit of 140 while Pacquiao (48-3-2, 26 KOs) was under at 138.

Listen here after the big fight on Saturday night. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"Ricky Hatton comes in with his hands down and his head up," Moorer told ESPNRadio1100 in Las Vegas. "He comes in off-balance all the time. When he's coming into Manny, all (Pacquiao) has to do is move his feet and counter him."

Hatton may be a champion but Moorer doesn't think he's at that special level like Pacquaio, who hasn't lost since 2005:

"Ricky Hatton, a good fighter (but) overrated," said Moorer. "He hasn't fought the caliber of fighters that Manny Pacquiao has fought. Manny Pacquiao is a totally different fighter (than he's fought). The footspeed, the handspeed, the power ... woo, it's gonna be a lot of hurt."

Listen to Moorer talk about Manny's lifestyle, Hatton's weaknesses and recently meeting former President Bill Clinton:

We've covered the politics of media credentialing pretty heavily over on Cagewriter, the Yahoo! MMA blog. Dana White and the UFC have banned certain folks from attending its events. Some may think this is unique but the same thing is happening with boxing promotions according to Mike Marley of the Boxing Examiner. Marley has worked in and around the game for years. The former N.Y. Post columnist is an excellent writer but he's been hammering Ricky Hatton in the lead-up to the fight saying the Brit has no shot against Manny Pacquiao.

Now Marley has been denied a fight night credential from MagnaMedia, the company in charge of managing the hoard of "media" asking for access. Marley thinks it's simply because "Hatton's hillbillies" as he's calling them, and Golden Boy Promotions are angry with what he's written:

A fight publicist said, "I don’t know who in the Hatton camp you pissed off but they won’t even hear of you getting a press credential! The mention of Michael Marley had them breathing fire!"

If I have to suck up to Hatton and his acolytes to get a free pass to the fight, with my record as a journalist at The Las Vegas Sun, The New York Post, ABC Sports and numerous boxing magazines including Boxing Scene and The Ring, then I’ll accept the refusal every time.

Marley was on the other side years ago working in PR for Don King when he encountered a similar scenario:

"This nonsense reminded me of another such brouhaha at the hotel-casino back in the Tyson era. The promoter wanted to put the kibosh on credentials for constant critics Mike Katz of the New York Daily News and Wally Matthews of Newsday. I told King he was 1000-percent wrong. I told him that their newspapers deserved credentials and that banning the two scribes would only inflame the situation. OK, King said, then let’s put them up in the balcony nosebleed section. King was my boss back then but he was wrong in trying to suppress the press. He was wrong then and Team Hatton is wrong now. And so is Golden Boy.

This isn’t really about me, is it? It’s about the freedom of the press and that’s something a lot bigger than any prizefight, any fighters and any reporters.

These bans are too common in the fight world. In an era when fewer and fewer media outlets have any desire to cover boxing why turn down coverage? It was sad to check in on New York radio this morning and hear a complete non-event like the Kentucky Derby mentioned dozens of times on the Brandon Tierney Show on ESPN 1050 and not once hear a mention of this "mega-fight."

This is a dangerous game to play with these big fights. Boxing can pick and choose who it wants to cover the high-profile fights but then wonders why no one shows for a second-tier fight like Paul Williams versus Winky Wright. There was little media coverage of that fight and consequently a pathetic crowd of 5,400 filled the 11,000-plus seat Mandalay Bay Events Center a few weeks ago.

The cash cow has been sent out to stud. Oscar De La Hoya, the best pay-per-view fighter in the history of boxing ($700 million in earnings), is gone and now it's time for the new stars to step up. Can Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton pick up where DLH left off? HBO's Mark Taffet sounds like he has zero confidence the little guys will be huge PPV stars:

"Only fights with Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Oscar De La Hoya have done a million buys or more in the sports history," said HBO PPV boss Mark Taffet. "It's unfair to burden any fight with that type of expectations. But we think this fight is going to have real legs in the United States because these guys fight with a style that every boxing fan of every race, gender and ethnicity loves."

Taffett and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said they'd be happy if the fight landed in 600,000-700,000 buy range domestically. Bob Arum, who once told ESPNRadio1100 that anglo fans in the U.S. don't care about boxing, is now saying Americans are smart and will latch onto to the British and Filipino fighting stars:

"Americans aren't just focused on Americans fighting," said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. "Americans will go to their pockets and see an event where they believe they will be entertained and they will see two great fighters facing each other in the ring."

The HBO buys don't tell the entire story. It's expected that Hatton will draw huge numbers in the U.K. and Australia. Those two regions may account for near 1.5 million PPV buys internationally.

Listen here after the big fight on Saturday night. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Drama sells but it can also splinter a fight training camp. Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole first reported that there was trouble in the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather Sr. paradise. So much so that the Hatton holdovers after his split with Billy Graham, reached out recently to Golden Boy Promotion's Richard Schaefer to line up trainer Freddie Roach for future fights. Clearly, that's an odd scenario with Hatton fighting Roach's guy Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night.

Without much inside knowledge, any fan watching HBO's 24/7, could see that Floyd Sr. was a bit loosy-goosy during the five-week training camp in Las Vegas. Roach was asked if he had heard Floyd Sr. was often late for his training sessions with Hatton:

"I think it's a slap in the face for a trainer to show up late for a training session with a world champion," Roach said.

Problems seemed to arise with one of Hatton's closest confidants Lee Beard, who apparently didn't enjoy working with Floyd Sr. The Guardian reports that the discontent in the camp included making Floyd Sr. an outsider:

The story goes that when they went to Los Angeles for a press conference last week, they did not tell him they were staying overnight and he consequently did not bring with him the medication he needs for his debilitating chest condition. Instead, he turned up in his suit, with no change of clothes, and someone had to rush to a drugstore to get his medicine.

Meanwhile, FightNews is reporting all of this untrue.

The Guardian also reported a rumor that Hatton was injured last week and finished his sparring two days early on Wednesday. There was also word that he took a cortisone shot in his left elbow.

Listen here after the big fight on Saturday night. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Order more beer.

The powers that be at one of The Strip’s most iconic casinos know how to react to changing circumstances, and most pressing issue once this Saturday’s bout was announced was to avoid a repeat of the only time in history that it ran out of brewer’s fuel.

Hatton’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007 brought a remarkable invasion of boisterous Brits, thousands of whom used the MGM as a base to turn chugging into an Olympic sport and to scream themselves hoarse for the Hitman.

“It was the first and only occasion that we didn’t have any beer left,” said Richard Sturm, president of sports and entertainment for MGM Mirage. “They simply drunk us dry. We had never seen anything like it.”

These are tough times on The Strip, with a nation’s supply of spare cash to blow on rum and roulette dwindling rapidly as economic factors continue to pinch at pocketbooks.

Hatton though, comes with a stimulus package secreted behind that cheeky smile and those murderous fists and as far as the MGM is concerned, he can come and fight whenever he likes.

The arrival of 15,000 exuberant visitors from across the Atlantic provides a unique and slightly surreal boost to the MGM, with the fight to be held in its Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night.

“One-time events like this are very special for us,” said Sturm. “And Ricky Hatton and his fans bring something completely different to Las Vegas.

“They have so much fun, they are up all night singing and they add a lot of color to a place that is already pretty colourful.”

Thousands of Brits, many from Hatton’s hometown of Manchester, have already touched down in Sin City, with more expected to arrive closer to fight night.

A vast Filipino contingent is also on its way to support on Pacquiao, the biggest celebrity in his nation.

The doom-mongers like to predict woe for this town that rides its luck in a bad economy just as much as the punters who sit at its gaming tables.

Likewise, boxing has been earmarked for demise by those convinced that mixed martial arts is the combat sport of the future.

But if Vegas, or boxing, are on their last legs, it sure doesn’t feel like it this week.

Clinton was chowing down at the Four Seasons, Mandalay Bay's sister property. Pacquiao came down from his room along with advisor Mike Koncz, one of his trainers Michael Moorer and Philippine Sec. Joselito Atenza.

Koncz told Yahoo! Sports that Pacquiao was actually in awe and very when he first met Clinton. That was surprising considering all the big name celebrities, diplomats and politicians Pacman has met over the years. Once the initial greetings were finished, Clinton transitioned right into talking about Pacquiao fights and boxing career. Clinton was also excited to meet Moorer and chatted him up about his fight against Evander Holyfield.

The meeting lasted roughly 10 minutes and also included some discussion about Clinton's unique ties to the Philippines. The President said that he had several Filipino classmates at Georgetown, including the current Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The conversation eventually moved toward Pacquiao's political aspirations.

One notable absence was Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum. Arum was called about the last second meeting but couldn't attend because he was having a birthday party at his house that included casino giant Steve Wynn.

President Clinton will not be attending the fight this weekend. He left today for a weekend stay in Kentucky.

The BBC does a nice job of recapping the pandemonium around Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton as they arrived at their respective Las Vegas hotels before the big fight this weekend. Americans may feel a bit out of place at the MGM with all the Filipinos and British in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden.

The British media is interesting to watch at Hatton fights. It's part fan, part story teller. According to the media folks from the U.K., this battle is somehow for the title of pound-for-pound king (stated at 2:53, 3:06, 3:20 & 3:50). I'm not as high as many on former top three fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. but have we forgotten about what he did to The Hitman?

Floyd Jr. is retired and technically not eligible for many pound-for-pound lists, but he is just 16 month removed from destroying Hatton. Hatton does have a solid shot in this fight against Pacman but a win over Paulie Malignaggi has somehow transformed him from trash, as many media types were calling him after the Floyd Jr. loss, to top shelf boxing treasure.

Listen here after the big fight on Saturday night. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The sport is scuffling to make up for lost time. Too often boxing promotions used  aging stars like Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the only centerpieces of big fights from 2004-2007. That meant little play for oustanding youngsters like Chad Dawson and Paul Williams. No problem, right? Now Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton, both 30, can be the stars of the next five years. Wrong, or at least those are the signs being put forth by both of the fighters. Pacman's trainer Freddie Roach said there's only a fights left that are worth the Filipino's time:

"I would like to see Manny fight two more times after Hatton" Roach said. "I’d like to see him fight Marquez one more time because everybody wants to see that fight. That would be a great fight. And of course Floyd Jr. is talking about coming back. That’s definitely a possibility. If Shane Mosley wants to come down a little bit in weight, that’s a possibility."

Pacquiao has long had his hands in different endeavors like music, basketball, charity and politics, during his downtime in the Philippines between fights. Hatton has plenty of money and is looking to transition soon to the world of promoting. So both guys should be good for at least a few more megafights over the next 18 months, then what?

The huge money being hauled in by boxing's mega-stars is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is a reason to stay around. But when it approaches $25-30 million a fight, fighters in their early 30's may be convinced to hang it up before the suffer any longterm damage. That said, outside of Floyd Jr. and Lennox Lewis, there is no track records of even the highest earners being to walk away early. We'll see if Hatton and Pacquiao can easily be pulled away from the ring.

Listen here after the big fight on Saturday night. Starting at 1 a.m. ET, Cofield will host the ESPNRadio1100/Yahoo! Sports postfight show from the media center.

The fighters have arrived in Las Vegas for Saturday's big fight. Truth be told, Ricky Hatton didn't have to travel very far to get to his room at the MGM Grand. He's been training with Floyd Mayweather Sr. in Sin City for the last five weeks. Manny Pacquiao has made the trip from Los Angeles a ritual of sorts. Pacman elects to pass on 55 minute private jet ride and take the bus. It's far from a Greyhound. Pacquiao takes his entire entourage of 30-plus on a luxury bus. The exterior is all decked out with photos and highlights of Pacman.

He made his grand entrance at the Mandalay Bay on Tuesday. That's right, he's not staying at the host hotel for the fight. Mandalay, located just south of the MGM on Las Vegas Boulevard, is a short walk for Manny and his merry men. The Filipino superstar stays there each time he fights in Vegas. It's good luck.

It's all part of Paquiao's generosity. If you've watched the last two HBO 24/7 Pacquiao fight previews, he doles out lots of cash to his friends and co-horts. He offered anyone in his entourage $3,000 if they lost 10% of their body weight by the end of camp. His trainer Freddie Roach actually worries about Pacquiao giving all of his riches away someday according to the Sunday Times of London:

Pacquiao, brought up a Catholic and still deeply religious, takes his faith and his position as a standard-bearer for his people seriously. Even strangers who turn up at his home in General Santos City in the south of the Philippines, which they do incessantly, looking for money and food parcels, are never turned away from his door. “God has given me a gift and it is my duty to share the fruits of this gift with my people,” he says

Pacquiao's mother, Dionisia, made the trip on the bus as well. This will be the first time she's ever seen her son fight in person. It's also her first trip to the United States. The Las Vegas Sun said "Pac-Mom" was a little overwhelmed by the crowd of 200 or so that greeted Pacquiao in the Mandalay Bay lobby. The always bitter Bob Arum thought the crowd got a little too froggy:

"We’re gonna have to quit doing these arrivals if there’s not better security," Arum said later. “Something could have gone terribly wrong."

Someone may want to tell Arum there may be a day soon, that no one will greet fighters. It's silly to smash boxing fans for being excited to see their hero.

You've got two fighters who've combined for 93 wins against four losses. It's pretty hard for either side to point out some huge weakness in their opponent yet trainers Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr. have found a way to do so when talking about the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight. Even Hatton has jumped on board. Floyd Sr.'s mind may be fried but when he says something thousands of times it's bound to seep into his fighter's head. He says Pacquaio still hasn't learned to move his head after eight years of working with Roach. Hatton went even further telling the Sunday Times of London that Pacman is one-dimensional:

"I can fight going backwards, too, and I know he can’t. He does all of his punching on the front foot. He shuffles in and out constantly but when he punches he’s always coming forward. He doesn’t get leverage on the back foot and, in order to punch on his front foot, he will have to come into my territory."  

Hatton says people are getting two excited about Pacman's win over Oscar De La Hoya:

"Oscar was like a walking corpse that night but I have plenty left in the tank. Manny is in for one hell of a shock when he realises just how much boxing ability and hand speed I have."

Roach and his assistant Michael Moorer have been calling Hatton one-dimensional throughout HBO's 24/7 preview of the fight.

Boxing fans have been calling for better competition for middleweight prospect Danny Jacobs. They're going to get in now under some unusual circumstances. Jacobs just moved to 15-0 with 14 knockouts after finishing Jose Varela on ESPN's Friday Night Fights and his next opponent is already set. Golden Boy Promotions announced Jacobs will step for James Kirkland this weekend against Mike Walker on the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton undercard.

"I’m very excited that I have the opportunity to fight again this week,” said Jacobs. “I’m in shape and coming off a big knockout win, so I’m ready for the fight with Walker. "It’s an honor for me to get this type of exposure on the undercard of the year’s biggest card.  I promise that no one will be disappointed with my performance on May 2^nd."

Walker, who just beat former world champ Atwun Echols, looks like a solid test especially on seven days rest. Jacobs, a Golden Gloves legend out of Brooklyn, narrowly missed the U.S. Olympic team. He has racked up 15 wins in roughly 17 months. Walker is solid fighter but appears to be a little small for the 160-pound weight class at 5-foot-7. Jacobs is 6-foot-1.

Kirkland was dumped from the card after he was arrested on weapons charges.

A similar scenario unfolded on Saturday night when Jermain Taylor took a four point lead over Carl Froch into the 12th round on two of the three scorecards. But the score didn't tell the story as Taylor was fading badly to end the 11th. He got whacked with 1:58 left in the fight, stumbled around the ring for the next minute and then finally went down with 44 seconds left in the fight. Taylor tried to hold on, drifted to the ropes and then dropped his hands. Referee Michael Ortega stepped into to stop it with 14 seconds left.

Watch the Froch knockout (0:44 mark):

"My main concern is the safety of fighters at all times, regardless of time," Ortega told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "I don't concentrate on time. Fourteen seconds, 10 seconds, it doesn't matter. The main thing is for the fighters to go home safe and sound to their loved ones. I knew it was close to the end of the round, but [Taylor] wasn't throwing anything back. I said 'Enough is enough' and hopefully he can come back another day."  

Taylor led the fight 106-102 on the scorecards of Nobuaki Uratani and Omar Minton. Even with a 10-8 in the 12th round, Froch would've come up short of closing the gap. With that, Taylor still wouldn't say he was screwed:

"I don't know if he made the right decision or not, but he is the referee and he thought he should stop it and he stopped it," Taylor said. "I take my hat off to the referee.

Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) said he definitely wants a rematch against Froch (25-0, 20 KOs). With all the difficulty the elite fighters have making fights against top notch competition in this weight range, why wouldn't these guy fight again? It's an easy sell.

Roach fired back saying he was on television more and that Mayweather ruined his career by getting shot. Roach really unloaded when Mayweather said he was the better trainer. Roach is receiving his third trainer of the year award at the boxing writers dinner in June:

"I want you to present me the ... award this year. This is as close as you'll get to it," Roach said. "You're never going to win it. Ever."

It's gotten even nastier than that in the past. Both former fighters mock each other for the damage they took in the ring. Mayweather is difficult to understand while Roach suffers from Parkinsons. Both definitely suffer a lack of judgement at times.

Jermain Taylor is facing a no-win situation. Carl Froch is on tap this weekend. He's the WBC super middleweight champ but anytime Taylor mentioned his opponent the last few weeks, the response was most often, who? Froch is 24-0 with 19 knockouts but he's never fought outside of England. Taylor knows that doesn't mean Froch is a fraud, just underexposed. And if there was any chance Taylor was going to overlook Froch, the Brit's trash talk has corrected that issue:

"He's a cocky fighter, but he hasn't lost," Taylor said. "It's hard to fault him for being cocky when you're undefeated. He'll learn when he gets in there with me."

Froch has been trashing Taylor, saying the former middleweight champ is too small for super middleweight:

"Hmmm," Froch said, shrugging. "I thought he was bigger than that. He's going to be in trouble Saturday when I start hitting him with those hard, heavy shots. I'm ruthless when I start landing those shots."

Froch knows everything is on the line against Taylor, who is an established name in the U.S.:

"What I want to do is come to America and establish myself on American soil," Froch said. "This is a great platform for me to do that, to show boxing what I'm about. I don't want to miss out on this opportunity. I know all the odds are stacked against me, but I thrive on pressure."

Taylor's reputation has taken a hit but it's hard to understand why. The guy only fights the best and he's taking a huge risk on Showtime tomorrow night.

The BBC followed Froch's trip to New York for the final press conference. Sadly lots of New Yorkers knew of the 47-year old singing sensation Boyle. Froch? Not so much.

Watch New Yorkers express love for the Scottish lass:

Not so much. Froch did talk some major league trash:

"Jermain seems very confident, talking about being back and No. 1, but make no mistake, this is my belt. I am the champion. I am undefeated. Only a few warriors have gone the distance with me. Everyone else hasn't been able to stay in there."

Taylor didn't seem very threatened as he chuckled at Froch.

It's now been over five months that California has gone without an official chief to run its State Athletic Commission. The very controversial Armando Garcia resigned back in November. Thank god nothing major has happened: just plaster-gate with Antonio Margarito and then the joke two weeks ago when female MMA fighters were allowed to fight with 20 pound weight difference.

The update is that there is barely an update. We do know this that interim commish Bill Douglas is out of the running. According to FightNews.com, Douglas accepted another position within the state's Department of Consumer Affairs Legislative and Policy Review division. FightNews was told:

He was in no way “terminated,” or removed, or asked to resign from his post.

That's not what the story sounded like when Douglas spoke with Lance Pugmire of the L.A. Times:

"I don't know how this madness started," Douglas said. "I took a day off yesterday, and I'm moving to a new department next month for career advancement."

Douglas did interview for the CSAC's executive director during a closed hearing earlier this month along with Ron Scott Stevens, Pat Russell and Ron Arnold. Douglas was thought to be the front-runner but for some reason was dropped from consideration. Chances are someone will be given the position officially in June. Also adding to the current confusion is the sudden departure of CSAC inspector Dean Lohuis. Let's hope nothing major arises in the next 60 days because the MMA weigh-in debacle involving Cris "Cyborg" Santos was a potentially danger situation.  

It's hard to deny, though, that Juan Manuel Lopez is, pound-for-pound, one of the hardest hitters in the game.

He holds an unofficial record for most first-round knockouts in a row in world title fights, having scored consecutive kayos in the first round over Daniel Ponce de Leon, Cesar Figueroa and Sergio Manuel Medina.

The WBO super bantamweight champion, Lopez, 25, has 22 knockouts in his 24 professional fights and has ended 17 of his 24 bouts in three rounds or less.

He'll face his toughest challenge on Saturday, when he defends his title against veteran Gerry Penalosa on an HBO Boxing After Dark card in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

"I don't think all my fights are going to be like my last few fights have been and I know there are going to be some tough fights in there," Lopez said. "But I know this: I hurt guys even with the 16-ounce gloves on in the gym. I know I have the power to do what I need to do in there."

A left-hander, Lopez has a devastating straight left that he delivers with speed and accuracy. He also has a pretty fair right hook, which he's worked to make into a weapon for him.

Boxing, though, isn't all about offense. Lopez knows that one day, there will be someone who stands in front of him and trades. He has to be able to take the big shots that are inevitably going to come in return.

His countryman, Felix Trinidad, became beloved on the island for his ability to pull himself up off the canvas and register a knockout. Lopez believes he has similar capabilities.

"Sooner or later, one of those kinds of fights is going to come around and I know there's a chance I could go down," he said. "I'm not thinking about that, but it's a fact in this sport if you fight that way. If I go down, I just have to get back up and keep fighting, like Tito did."

When all of them are done fighting, it may turn out that he faced seven men who went to the International Boxing Hall of Fame: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley (twice), Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez (twice) and Pernell Whitaker.

Two other De La Hoya opponents, Fernando Vargas and Arturo Gatti, are Hall of Fame long shots, but at least have a chance.

If they make it, that will mean that 11 of his 45 fights, or 24.4 percent, were against Hall of Famers.

That's a remarkable achievment.

We want to know what you'll remember most about Oscar, who retired on Tuesday: The victories, the losses, the controversies. Share your thoughts about one of the most popular athletes in boxing history by commenting below.

Los Angeles may not welcome back heavyweight boxing anytime soon. A big boys battle that was billed as a chance to move up the rankings, turned into a total joke. "The Nigerian Nightmare" Sam Peter, weighed in at a career-high 265 pounds, and plodded around the ring allowing (Not So) "Fast" Eddie Chambers to pepper him with the pillows and win via decision (95-95, 99-91, 96-94):

"The jab worked great," Chambers said. "I slipped his punches, worked for it. I also jabbed a lot to his body. I had him leery of that. A lot of people didn't think a puncher could hold off a big, strong guy like that," Chambers said, "but I proved I could."

Peter defended his bloated body before the fight but it was clear he really didn't care about winning:

"The most important thing for me to think about is winning and I don’t pay attention to all the other things…what people say about me. I come to win and you will see and the people will see," Peter told the L.A. Daily News. "It’s important for me and I’m going to show you. The most important thing for me is to get my belt back and I have to beat him to do that. I will beat him...I’m going to answer all your questions and all the people’s questions about me. I will show the people what I can do."

Peter shouldn't get a sniff at the heavyweight title anytime soon but with the current state of the division and the corrupt ranking system, we could see the big guy get his next shot later this year. Frankly, who will pay to see it, after he showed so little desire in this fight against Chambers?

Saturday's "March Badness" event was a success at the box office with 6,500 in attendance at the Pensacola Civic Center. No one can blame Roy Jones Jr. if he wants to keep making a living in the ring and use his appearances as a tool to build his company Square Ring Promotions. If Jones lines up a few more tomato cans like Omar Sheika, who pose little threat to his aging reflexes, fine. But you know that won't be the case. The 40-year-old Jones is now calling out top level fighters who are in their prime:

"I would like to fight super middleweight, but if I told you I was going to do that (for sure) I'd be lying to you," Jones told the Pensacola News Journal. "Because if someone called me and told me they want to fight me for the heavyweight title tomorrow, I would be on my way back to 199 (pounds)."

Jones is targeting Jermain Taylor. There's also the possibility of 44-year-old Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, who at worst is at the back-end of his prime, would be wasting his time against Jones. The fight couldn't do more than 200,000 pay-per-view buys and a victory now over an aged Jones is hollow. BHop needs to continue with his "Defeating Father Time" storyline against younger fighters in their prime.

The beating that Jones took at the hands of Joe Calzaghe last November is clearly a distant memory. He's also not worried about becoming another Evander Holyfield or Tommy Hearns, two of the many great boxers who fought way past their prime:

"Don't you understand?" Jones said. "I don't know how to go out of boxing yet. I haven't learned that yet."

What top five fighter from 168 to heavyweight could Jones face that would interest boxing fans? More importantly, who would he stand a chance against?