By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – A rematch Saturday marked mostly by polite exchanges between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley suddenly got a shot of some old-school trash talk from promoter Bob Arum, who is angry at the MGM Grand for selling Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana on May 3 with advertising throughout the casino.

A Mayweather mural, estimated to be 20 stories tall, soars up the side of the MGM Grand and overlooks the busy intersection at Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, The Strip. For nearly every Pacquiao-Bradley poster on the sides of slot machines, there’s one of Mayweather-Maidana staring back at it. Outside the door to the media’s workroom, a Mayweather-Maidana ad hangs from the ceiling, above a Pacquiao-Bradley poster.

By the time the 82-year-old Arum arrived at the formal news conference Wednesday, he had seen enough, especially of Mayweather looking down at him.

Arum began the news conference by introducing Richard Sturm, MGM President of Entertainment & Sports as “the president of hanging posters for the wrong fight.’’

The media asked for a response from Sturm following the news conference. Several hours later, none was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Arum was just getting warmed up during a one-man stand-up that included a vague reference to Frankie Carbo, a 1950’s gangster who owned a piece of Sonny Liston.

“I know that at the Venetian, they wouldn’t make a mistake like this,’’ said Arum, who is friends with Sheldon Adelson, who owns the Venetian in Vegas and Macao, China’s gambling mecca and fledgling boxing market. “They would know what fight they have scheduled over the next three or four days.

“They wouldn’t have a 12-to-1 fight being advertised all over the building that’s going to take place three weeks from next Saturday. But that’s why one company makes a billion dollars a quarter and the other hustles to pay its debt. So there it is.”

Arum’s bitter feud with Mayweather is hardly a secret. It too was evident in a discussion that Arum had with Bradley while still on stage and not far from the microphone.

“Why don’t you ask the guy whose picture is all over the building? When is he going to fight somebody real?’’ Arum said in a booming voice that really didn’t need any electronic amplification.

Bradley replied: “I’ll let you ask him that.’’

As it turned out, Bradley might have been the only one who had anything nice to say about the MGM.

“I’ve never been in a hotel room with stairs,’’ Bradley said of his suite. “You need an elevator in there.’’

An elevator decorated with a Mayweather-Maidana poster, of course.

By Norm Frauenheim–

A couple days after 40-year-old New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter began a long goodbye to baseball with the first stop in a farewell tour, 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins talked during a conference call Thursday about a new beginning in the cruelest game of all. Jeter got golf clubs, cowboy boots and a Stetson as big as the old Astrodome before a game in Houston. That’s a lot better than a punch in the face, which is about the only thing Hopkins can be sure of getting on April 19 in a fight with light-heavyweight Beibut Shumenov, who was a four-and-a-half-year-old kid in Kazakhstan when Hopkins lost his pro debut in October 1988.

Hopkins has been fighting for so long that it’s getting hard to remember what boxing was like before him. Indeed, the youngest generation of fans and fighters have never known the sport without Hopkins, who has been around since Ronald Reagan and at this rate might still be fighting after Barack Obama moves out of the White House. Truth is, there are some in his own generation who would be happy to see him retire. They’d even buy him the boots, Stetson and clubs if he would.

But Hopkins fights on, in part out of familiar defiance, in part for an ongoing pursuit of history and, mostly, because he can.

There’s a compelling argument that Hopkins continues to fight at the highest level because of a shallow pool of world-class talent. There are fewer good Americans than ever. But an arrival of tough and talented fighters from Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan and other locales have turned that shrinking pool into dangerous waters. At light-heavyweight, there’s Haitian-turned-Canadian Adonis Stevenson and Russian Sergey Kovalev. They were supposed to fight each other in a bout that was near the top of the fans’ wish list. But Kovalev-Stevenson wound up in the trash, right next to Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr., when Stevenson signed with Al Haymon and moved across the street, from HBO to Showtime. Only the promotional feuds are older than Hopkins.

But there are plenty of reasons to think fans will continue to watch Kovalev and Stevenson, even if they don’t fight each other. To wit: The audience for Kovalev’s seventh-round stoppage Saturday of Cedric Agnew exceeded one million, according to HBO. In an HBO doubleheader on November 30, 1.305 million watched Stevenson beat Tony Bellew and 1.254 million saw Kovalev beat Ismayl Sillah.

Kovalev or Stevenson? Stevenson or Kovalev? Doesn’t matter. For Hopkins, they are just different sides of the same coin. Against either, the likely expectation is that Hopkins would finally encounter his own mortality. That, of course, was the expectation in 2008 against Kelly Pavlik, now retired and never the same after Hopkins did what few thought he could. No wonder Hopkins sounded so confident Thursday. The same circumstances are on the horizon.

“Been there, done that,” said Hopkins, who sounded as if he were anxious to be there and do it once more.

Stevenson’s move to Showtime for a May 24 bout with Andrzei Fonfara sets up a showdown with Hopkins if he beats Shumenov, a 30-year-old fighter who is hard to judge mostly because of a small sample. Shumenov, who reportedly had more than 100 amateur bouts, has only answered a professional bell 15 times for a 14-1 record with nine KOs.

“It’s bad to think beyond April 19 and Beibut Shumneov, but the Stevenson fight is going to be mentioned,” said Hopkins, who will be able to put an AARP card next to his Costco card when he turns 50 next year on January 15. “It’s out there. It’s been out there since Stevenson came on board to eventually unify titles.”

There was no hint of a farewell in anything Hopkins said. He wouldn’t know how to say goodbye to a threat anyway. He’ll let younger guys do that.

By Norm Frauenheim
Just when Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr., most of the NFL, NBA and major-league baseball have us convinced that disrespect is an athlete’s best friend, along comes Timothy Bradley with a different take and some real friends because of it.

“I don’t feel I’m disrespected at all, honestly,” Bradley said.

It was an astonishing comment, straight out of the man-bites-dog variety, especially from Bradley, who wondered if there was anything resembling respect in a world overrun by social-media vigilantes with no accountability and armed with 140 characters to express anger at his controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao.

Disrespect isn’t just another cliche when it comes in the form of death threats.

Bradley heard them, battled them and exorcised them in a personal journey through what he called “a bad place.” He whipped them and Ruslan Provodnikov in a blood, sweat and tears drama that was the 2013 Fight of the Year. He had “a look of anger in him” against Provodnikov, Bradley trainer Joel Diaz said of reckless tactics that earned him a unanimous decision at the price of a concussion. He followed up with a patient, poised split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. The disrespect was left behind in a passage that has transformed Bradley into a fighter who sounds more confident, self-assured and perhaps wiser than ever.

Convenient excuses and that tired pursuit of motivation from imagined slights just aren’t there in Bradley’s clear sense of who he is and what he must do to beat Pacquiao on April 12 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand in a rematch of his split decision over the Filipino icon on June 9, 2012.

“It’s all about staying on TV, showing my craft,” Bradley said Thursday during a conference call. “It’s about fighting. That’s what it’s all about. Staying on TV, fighting the best fighters out there and beating them. That’s it. I came up the hard way. I came through the back door.”

Over time Bradley said, fans have gotten to know him and the way he works at his craft.

“I think now fans and people are beginning to gravitate toward me,” said Bradley, who is convinced he can beat Pacquiao with a decision that will leave no doubt on the cards or among those in the social-media mob who attacked him as if he were responsible for scores turned in by judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford. “Before, they didn’t know me. They didn’t know me before Pacquiao. And after the controversy, they really didn’t. Like I had something to do with anything. I didn’t have anything to do with anything. I’m not a judge. I always did my job. But it’s hard to make people realize that. At the end of the day, all I’ve got to do is to continue to win. Then, they’ll have no choice.”

No choice, but to respect him.

By Norm Frauenheim

It’s not everyday that Bob Dylan just drops by. But there he was last week at the Wild Card Gym to see Manny Pacquiao. The singer, song-writer, poet and Sixties’ icon posed for photos with the fighter, Congressman, singer and Filipino icon. It was an intriguing meeting, in part because both are as enigmatic as they are likable. No telling what they said to each other, if anything at all. I have no idea whether Dylan is a fight fan. The guess here is that he likes fighters and their compelling stories, yet isn’t sure what to think about their brutal craft.

We have only his lyrics, and they are full of an ambivalence about boxing. Dylan is best known for Hurricane, the popular song about ex-middleweight contender Rubin Carter, who was convicted in 1967 for a triple homicide, re-convicted in a 1976 trial and released in 1985 after the conviction was overturned. Dylan’s powerful lyrics about a wrongful arrest and conviction have long been disputed. But the song’s influence on the controversial case never has. It turned Carter into a cause célèbre.

Before Hurricane, Dylan wrote Who Killed Davey Moore?

Moore, a featherweight champion, died after a 1963 loss to Cuban defector Sugar Ramos at Dodger Stadium. The lyrics are a pointed examination of the circumstances, attitudes and business that are part and parcel of a sport where death is always a risk.

Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?

“Not me,” says the boxing writer
Pounding print on his old typewriter
Sayin’, “Boxing ain’t to blame
There’s just as much danger in a football game”
Sayin’, “Fist-fighting is here to stay
It’s just the old American way
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”

Laptops have replaced typewriters at ringside, but there’s still no answer for the question in Dylan’s refrain. I couldn’t help but think about the uncomfortable lyrics as I read about his visit and looked at photos of the poet and the Pac Man. Pacquiao is in camp, trying to regain his “killer instinct” for a rematch on April 12 with Timothy Bradley at Las Vegas MGM Grand.

“We are training for big game in this fight,” Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said in a press release Tuesday, just a few days after Dylan’s visit. “Manny knows he is going to have to hunt Bradley down and close the show this time. The first fight with Bradley was so easy for Manny that after six rounds he just took it easy on him. Not this time. Our Mantra is ‘Close the show. No Mercy.’ ”

For the last few years, Roach has worked hard to re-instill aggressiveness that Pacquiao had in his astonishing emergence to international stardom. Somewhere along the way and for some reason, he lost his finishing touch, or perhaps his will to deliver it. Since becoming more religious, Pacquiao hasn’t scored a stoppage since a 12th-round TKO of Miguel Cotto in November, 2009. He appeared to back off against Antonio Margarito in winning a decision in 2010. In his last fight — a November comeback from the 2012 KO he suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez, he appeared to do the same against Brandon Rios.

Against Bradley, the stage is set with plenty of motivation for Pacquiao. It’s a rematch of Pacquiao’s controversial loss, a split decision, on scorecards condemned by nearly everybody who witnessed the 2012 fight. In the rematch, Pacquiao can correct the mistake, can take back what was stolen from him. But Bradley appears more confident than ever, especially after a gritty stand in a decision over Ruslan Povodnikov and then a poised decision over Marquez. Even he has asked whether that “killer instinct” is still part of the Pacquiao persona.

“For Bradley to say ‘Manny doesn’t have the hunger anymore and it’s never coming back’ and ‘Manny no longer has his killer instinct,’ that tells me that Bradley is still suffering from the concussion Provodnikov laid on him,” Roach said in the press release.

Dylan had another way of saying it at the end of his haunting song.

Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?

“Not me,” says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist
Who came here from Cuba’s door
Where boxing ain’t allowed no more
“I hit him, yes, it’s true
But that’s what I am paid to do
Don’t say ‘murder,’ don’t say ‘kill’
It was destiny, it was God’s will”

It sounds like something Pacquiao might say.

By Norm Frauenheim

Danny Garcia might be the only fighter not trying to elbow his way toward the front of the line that leads to the big paycheck that comes with a bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Garcia wouldn’t turn down the opportunity. Too many numbers after the dollar sign to do that. But he’s not going to launch a social-media campaign in a noisy attempt to get himself on Mayweather’s short list. Yeah, all that money can buy a lot. But there’s a sense that Garcia is investing in something that can’t always be bought.

“At the end of the day, I’m working on my own legacy,’’ he said.

Legacy-building is a gamble. It’s also long-term, which can require patience when confronted by the temptation to cash in as quickly as possible. Garcia is in the Mayweather mix whether he wants to be or not. Media speculation, twitter and the blogosphere have put him there. So has he, of course. But he hasn’t talked his way into consideration.

The junior-welterweight’s unbeaten record (27-0, 16 KOs) including upsets of Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse, says it all. It’s a resume tough to ignore and perhaps wise to avoid. He wasn’t a finalist in Mayweather’s last deliberations, which led to him pound-for-pound kind picking Marcos Maidana over Khan for May 3.

But the Garcia name was there, maybe as an alternate or a future possibility for a spot on Mayweather’s Showtime dance card. It’s difficult, if not hazardous, to guess what might be next for Mayweather, anyway. The latest example of that is explosive allegations in a TMZ story about Mayweather’s role in a beat-down of two people, whom he suspected of stealing jewelry. The story is short on sources. But TMZ is often right.

Whether the story unravels or leads to further trouble with law enforcement for Mayweather, it’s a warning for any fighter who hooks his hopes on to the Mayweather bandwagon.

Garcia hasn’t.

“If a Mayweather fight came along, I’d fight him,’’ Garcia said. “I’d fight anybody. But don’t expect me to call him out or anything. That’s just not me. I’m just trying to stay in my own lane.

“Whoever they put in front of me, I guess that’s who gets beat up that day.’’

On Saturday, that somebody appears to be Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7 KOs) of Riverside, Calif. In part, the Showtime-televised bout is a way for Garcia to introduce himself to his roots. He’s fighting in Puerto Rico, the boyhood home for his outspoken dad and trainer, Angel. Although unknown, Herrera has shown he can be dangerous. He beat Ruslan Provodnikov in 2011. Garcia only has to look in the mirror to know the price of overlooking anyone. He was overlooked by Khan and Matthysse. He promises that he won’t commit the same mistake. Besides, a loss might damage his chances at ever facing Mayweather.

“As a fighter, I deserve to fight him more than anybody,’’ he said. “But there’s a plan to all of this.’’

Garcia’s plan. About that, there’s little doubt.

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez got the victory. Got the boos, too

Alvarez won the fight, but failed to win back many of his disaffected fans with a 10th-round technical knockout of Alfredo Angulo Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Canelo’s first fight since a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September was supposed to restore his popularity among Mexican fans, many of whom weren’t sure what to think of him after he had looked so ordinary in such a one-sided defeat.

If an arena full of boos was any indication, some of their ambivalence turned into anger Saturday night.

Fans were as frustrated as Angulo at referee Tony Weeks’ stoppage at 47 seconds of the 10th. Both of Angulo’s eyes were swollen and surrounded by darkening bruises when Weeks stepped in and said no more. Angulo complained loudly. He screamed that he should have been allowed to fight on.

“The ref was wrong,’’ Angulo said.

No, he wasn’t, Canelo said.

“The referee is the marshall,’’ Canelo (43-1-1, 31 KOs). “He stopped the fight, because he knew what was going on. I was still doing my job, working my jab. Sure, I was a little tired. But I was ready to fight on. I could have gone 10 more rounds if I had to.’’

Canelo led on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Judge Craig Metcalfe had it 89-82. So did Dave Moretti. On Jerry Roth’s card, it was 88-83.

Going into the fight, there was lot of talk about whether Angulo’s scarred face could withstand sustained punishment. A grotesque welt above one eye result in him losing a 10th-round TKO to Erislandy Lara, whom he knocked down twice.

Sure enough, signs that injury would again stop Angulo were there early against Canelo. In the second round, swelling began to appear above Angulo’s right eye, which Canelo quickly targeted with a jab that landed repeatedly and with a baseball bat’s deadly impact.

Late in the third and again in the fourth, the stubborn Angulo’s persistence began to pay off with occasional bursts that seemed to stun Canelo. For a fleeting moment late in the fourth, there was a look of doubt in Canelo’s eyes. Maybe, he was suffering from the fatigue that has been one of his habitual weaknesses. Or, maybe, he was just surprised to see the sight of Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) persistently moving forward and straight at him.

Canelo backpedaled in the fifth and again in the sixth. Angulo always followed. No matter what Canelo threw at him, or how much he busted up the right eye and then the left, there was Angulo moving forward and willing to endure more punishment. In the eighth, the crowd went wild when the junior-middleweights, fighting at an official weight of 155 pounds, stood and traded. By the ninth, it was evident Angulo would be there until the end. No matter what Canelo threw at him, there he was, like the incoming tide.

Finally, Weeks did what Canelo couldn’t.

He stopped it, sparing Angulo from further punishment and maybe much more. In time, Angulo might be able to see that and be thankful that he can see at all.

Rest of Pay-Per-View Card

Los Angeles super-bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 16 KOs) was methodical and efficient, yet short of sensational, defending his acronym-sanctioned version of the title with a unanimous decision over Mexican Cristian Mijares (48-8-2, 22 KOs), who absorbed a variety of body shots and left Santa Cruz with a bloodied right eye from a fourth-round head butt.

Jorge Linares (36-3, 23 KOs), a Venezuelan living and training in Japan, kept himself in the mix for a shot at a lightweight title with superior speed and punishing blows for a unanimous decision over Nihito Arakawa (24-4-1, 16 KOs), a 135-pound Japanese fighter who endured and had a few moments, yet never a real chance.

The Alvarez family got off to a rough start on the card’s first pay-per-view bout. Canelo’s brother, lightweight Ricardo Alvarez (23-3-3, 13 KOs), suffered two knockdowns in losing a unanimous decision to fellow Mexican Sergio Thompson (29-3, 26 KOs), who took the fight on short notice. A Thompson left in the second sent Alvarez falling into the ropes. If not for the ropes, Alvarez would have fallen into a ringside seat. That was the first knockdown and a sign of things to come. A clean right in the eight floored Alvarez for the second time.

Pre-TV

Junior-lightweight Jerry Belmontes (19-3, 5 KOs) scored a one-sided decision over Australian Will Tomlinson (21-1-1, 12 KOs), who suffered a bloody gash over his right eye in seventh-round head butt; Mexico City junior-lightweight Francisco Vargas (19-0-1, 13 KOs) survived a spirited challenge for a unanimous, 10-round decision over Puerto Rican Abner Cotto (17-2, 8 KOs); former Olympian Joseph Diaz (9-0, 7 KOs) of South El Monte, Calif., cautiously, for four rounds before scoring a fifth-round super-bantamweight TKO of Puerto Rican Jovany Fuentes (5-4, 4 KOs); junior-welterweight Keandre Gibson (9-0-1, 4 KOs) landed a succession of punches that seemed to render Mexican Antonio Wong (11-8—1, 6 KOs) unconscious before he hit the canvas in a fourth-round stoppage; Australian light-heavy Steve Lovett (7-0, 6 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a second-round stoppage of Mexican Francisco Molina (2-3, 2 KOs).

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. was an hour late Saturday for his own news conference. But a crowd stuck around, waiting for him to arrive anyway. It just goes to show that Mayweather can draw a crowd even if he’s fighting nobody.

Marcos Maidana is next on Mayweather’s rich Showtime card, May 3 in a pay-per-view bout at the MGM Grand. Maidana didn’t make it to the first formal news conference since he was picked to fight Mayweather instead of Amir Khan. Maidana stayed at home in Argentina to be with his pregnant wife.

“He did the right thing,’’ said Mayweather, who apologized for being late and blamed it on a late night at the
tables in the MGM Grand’s casino. “He’s supposed to stand by his wife.’’

Maidana’s understandable absence didn’t matter much anyway. It’s the Mayweather brand that accounts for the biggest numbers in boxing these days. The HBO audience for his victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 is still the pay-per-record. His victory on Showtime over Canelo Alvarez in September set the revenue record.

“They used it to call it pay-per-view,’’ Mayweather said in a video promo for a fight dubbed The Moment. “Now, it’s May-per-view.’’

Some early odds indicate that Maidana will go the way of Robert Guerrero and Canelo, who was getting ready to fight Alfredo Angulo while Mayweather was holding court. Some off-shore odds-makers have favored the unbeaten Mayweather by as much as 10-1. That’s the kind of chance a nobody gets. Yet, Maidana’s heavy-handed power and his December upset of Adrien Broner, a Mayweather wannabe and friend, moved him to the head of the line, or least ahead of Khan.

“Marcos Maidana is young, strong, a great competitor and one I can’t overlook, because anything can happen,’’ Mayweather said, his promotional mouthpiece firmly in place.

By now, it’s no secret that Mayweather picks and carefully choose who he fights. Maidana was the choice in many social media polls. In his own poll, Khan was the choice. But he picked Maidana anyway. The decision, he said, was based mostly on each fighter’s last four fights. Maidana had earned his way onto the ticket; Khan had not.

But it’s clear that polls didn’t make the choice. Only Mayweather did. And does

“I’ve earned my stripes,’’ said Mayweather, who said he began sparring last week. “I earned the right to pick and choose who I fight.’’

Nobody at the MGM Grand had any complaints about that prerogative Saturday. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, Mayweather’s promotional partner, said 14,700 tickets were gone within hours after they went on sale at 10 a.m. (PST). According to Schaefer, the early rush amounts to a live gate of more than $12 million. Tickets were still for sale. A crowd of about 16,000 for a gate of about $16 million is expected.

“Nobody is forced to watch,’’ Mayweather said.

But they do.

By Norm Frauenheim

Canelo Alvarez hears the question more often than he saw Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s shoulder roll, roll and roll on a long, one-sided night nearly six months ago. Defeat is a lesson, says Alvarez, who really can’t say anything else about his first pro loss. If it’s not a lesson, it’s a problem. Simple as that.

Multiple-options are nice, but Alvarez doesn’t have that luxury Saturday night against Alfredo Angulo in his first bout since suffering his first loss in a September wipeout administered by Mayweather.

Win, and he leaves the ring with proof that the lesson was learned and his identity intact. Lose, and he leaves with damage to his career and agonizing self-doubt about whether he was ever the fighter who had been hyped as perhaps the brightest prospect in a new generation.

It’s not complicated. It’s just dangerous.

“This will be a savage, savage affair,” Angulo trainer Virgil Hunter said Thursday during the formal news conference at Las Vegas MGM Grand.

Hunter’s prediction probably helps boost the pay-per-view sales for the Showtime bout from the same Grand Garden Arena where Canelo lost a decision to Mayweather. Savagery, or even the promise of it, sells. It’s hard to to judge whether the always cool Canelo is buying into all the talk about a knock-down, blood-and-guts encounter between Mexican warriors. Angulo is known for his well-advertised power. He knocked down Erislandy Lara twice, Yet, he suffered a grotesque welt above one eye in losing a 10th-round TKO to Lara because of a couple of other things well-advertised:

Angulo gets hits often. His scarred face bloodies and bruises easily.

The 23-year-old Canelo (42-1, 30 KOs), seemingly wise beyond his years, must know that and even more. At the news conference, he talked about how styles make fights as if to say that, yeah, watch this one, because it will provide the violence so often promised. But Angulo’s style also seems to be perfect for Canelo’s skill-set. He couldn’t find Mayweather. But Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs) figures to be there, stubbornly moving forward and providing a willing target for Canelo’s arsenal of well-executed combinations. There’s a hedge, however. There’s growing sentiment that Angulo might have a chance after all, because of lingering questions about Canelo’s endurance. He seems to tire in later rounds. The task for Angulo is to take him beyond the sixth. Perhaps, Angulo has learned how to do that in sparring with the Hunter-trained Andre Ward and Amir Khan.

“There seems to a shift going on,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said about a tide of second opinion that suddenly favors Angulo.

A patient, cautious Angulo in the early going could lead to a more tactical fight and not the one promised in the Toe-To-Toe advertising. Hunter, in a somewhat ominous tone, made it sound as if a wild, chaotic fight is the only possibility. He talked almost as if he feared for each fighter.

“I don’t think both men will walk out the same,” said Hunter, who during Thursday news conference also said: “It’s been taken out of my hands.”

Hunter sounded nervous. Perhaps, he knows that Angulo will have a hard time resisting the temptation to slug it out early, especially in the first pay-per-view fight of his career. The junior-middleweight also will be making his debut at the MGM Grand.

Canelo has been there. Has lost there.

Maybe, learned there too.

Angulo will be the first test of whether in fact he has.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s biggest challenge on May 3 won’t come from Marcos Maidana. Not even Maidana’s heavy-handed power has much of a chance at knocking Mayweather off his pound-for-pound perch.

But Mayweather’s promotional skill faces a real test as he reaches what could be the halfway point of a Showtime deal for a possible six fights and a potential $250 million. Maidana-Mayweather looks to be a tough sell, especially at a pay-per-view price for the Showtime telecast that figures to be $60, or $70 for high definition.

Mayweather’s biggest rivals will be in a busy PPV market during the next few months. There’s Canelo Alvarez-Alfredo Angulo on Showtime PPV on March 8. On April 12, Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley engage in a PPV rematch offered by Home Box Office. After Mayweather-Maidana, there’s Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez on June 7, also an HBO pay-per-view bout.

To watch all four in high-def, it’ll cost $280. That’s not much if you’re in Mayweather’s income bracket. For the average fan, however, that’s a lot of groceries.

Mayweather’s marketing team will invest time and ad money into saying that Maidana is dangerous. He is – he was – in beating Adrien Broner in a December upset that shoved Amir Khan to the back of the line and earned Maidana the big payday that comes with a shot at Mayweather.

But some of the early betting odds indicate that the public will need a lot of convincing. Mayweather could be a 10-1 favorite. Translation: The bookies are saying that the betting public thinks that Maidana has no chance. Compare that to Pacquiao-Bradley in a sequel of Bradley’s hugely controversial decision over the Filipino Congressman in June, 2012. Pacquiao is a slight favorite.

Odds are, Pacquiao-Bradley is the better buy.

There’s a theory, often offered by Showtime, that people will watch Mayweather no matter who he fights. OK, Mayweather possesses singular speed and skill. But this isn’t Olympic figure skating. It’s a fight. If there isn’t much doubt, there isn’t much drama.

Maidana is a tough sell for at least two reasons:

· Khan, whose reputation has taken the biggest beating in the polling and guessing game over who Mayweather would anoint as his next foe, beat Maidana in what was the 2010 Fight of the Year.

· Maidana lost a one-sided decision to Devon Alexander in 2012. On only one of three scorecards did Maidana win a single round. He was shut out on two cards. The 10-round loss to the quick Alexander could serve as a preview to what might happen to Maidana against Mayweather, who has lost some foot speed but still had enough to confound Robert Guerrero and Canelo. Maidana has one thing in common with Guerrero and Canelo. He’s flat-footed, which represents two more reasons to think he has virtually no chance on May 3.

Mayweather, whose career has generated a reported 12.8 million PPV customers for about $800 million in gross revenue, is averaging 1.5 million PPV buys over his last eight bouts, according to reports from the networks and television media.

It’ll be harder to maintain that average than it will to stay unbeaten.

The first two Saturdays in March are a window that will provide a look at whether two heavily-hyped fighters, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Canelo Alvarez, have retained their popularity among their loyal fan base.

Chavez comes off controversy on March 1 in a rematch of his hotly-debated decision over Bryan Vera. Then, Canelo tests his Q rating on March 8 against Alfredo Angulo in his first bout since losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a decision seen as one-sided by everybody but a judge, C.J. Ross, who scored it a draw.

Chavez and Canelo may never share the same ring because of all the usual divisiveness in boxing’s balkanized business. Still, they are linked, almost like a couple of rival politicians, in an ever-shifting race for allegiance among Mexican and Mexican-American fans. If presented a ballot these days, some of those fans might be tempted to vote none-of-the-above. Neither distinguished himself in his last outing.

Of the two, however, Chavez suffered more damage to his reputation and legendary name than Canelo sustained in a predictable loss. The difference: Chavez did it to himself. Canelo had it done to him.

Chavez appears to be closer than ever to losing a nation of fans who revere his dad, yet have grown ever more exasperated with the son’s apparent sense of entitlement and lack of maturity. Chavez continued to make a mockery of making weight and training before he got a gift on the scorecards against Vera in September. They booed him.

“I owe the fans,’’ says Chavez, a brand new father.

Is Chavez just talking or serious about sustaining a commitment to his craft this time around? It’s fair to wonder about that. Ratings for his HBO rematch at San Antonio’s Alamodome with Vera will say a lot about whether fans have given up on him.

That said, fans also might decide to wait-and-see. It will take more than one good fight from Chavez to win them back. If he is in shape, he figures to beat Vera easily. But the real proof would be in what he does over the next couple of fights. After a victory, he too often gets comfortable, falls off the wagon and into a lifestyle with no discipline. Roadwork consists of midnight laps around the couch and to the fridge.

For Canelo, there’s a different kind of skepticism. His pound-for-pound credentials took a big hit when he was so out-classed by Mayweather in September. Not to worry, Canelo promised in a conference call.

“I learned a lot from that fight,’’ he said. “I learned a lot from the Mayweather fight. He’s got a style that’s very complicated. He’s got a style that’s very intelligent and he fights intelligently. I think that his whole purpose is just to win. But I learned a lot. I learned a lot about the fight itself inside the ring and outside the ring as well.’’

In Angulo, Canelo took a fight he figures to win. Still, it’s dangerous. Angulo is tough and heavy-handed. He knocked down accomplished Erislandy Lara twice in June, before losing 10th-round stoppage. He also might have learned some valuable new tricks in sparring with Andre Ward. Virgil Hunter trains both Angulo and Ward.

Let’s put it this way: Angulo has better shot at scoring an upset than Vera does.

Yet, Golden Boy Promotions is betting that Canelo will emerge with his career and popularity intact. Canelo’s Showtime-televised comeback against Angulo at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand is a pay-per-view bout.

“I have loyal fans and I’m very grateful for that,’’ Canelo said. “They’re always going to be with me. I feel that they’re going to support me through thick and thin. They’re going to follow me in this Pay-Per-View.’’

If they don’t, only Canelo will pay.

Sergey Kovalev’s projected path to the top of the light-heavyweight division is at a stage in a well-worn process that is necessary, yet often dangerous for promising fighters who don’t know their history. The good news is that Kovalev has a promoter who won’t let him forget it. Kathy Duva has lived it.

Duva’s historical lesson was delivered a couple of times Thursday during a conference call for Kovalev’s next fight, March 29 in a HBO-televised bout in Atlantic City against Cedric Agnew. Agnew, of Chicago, is unbeaten and has impressive amateur credentials. But he could have been Cedric The Entertainer for all anybody knew.

Repeatedly, Kovalev was asked more about Adonis Stevenson, possibly in a fight later this year. Repeatedly, Duva reminded an audience, which included Kovalev, about a fight that happened 24 years ago, almost to the day.

Main Events, the Duva’s family business, promoted Evander Holyfield. A Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight was a hot possibility. First, however, Tyson had a fight with Buster Douglas on Feb. 11, 1990 in Tokyo.

“We know what happened,’’ Duva said.

Douglas beat Tyson, scoring a 10th round knockout, in an upset as big as any in history. Momentum for Holyfield-Tyson was gone. Instead of late 1990, six years and nine months came and went before Holyfield and Tyson fought for the first time – Nov 9, 1996. Excuse Duva, but she doesn’t want to re-live the past. One Upset of the Century is enough in any lifetime.

Kovalev might not be as big a favorite to beat Agnew as Tyson was over Douglas. But it doesn’t matter. In real time, a loss to Agnew would be devastating for the Russian, who has stopped six straight opponents within four rounds.

For now, Kovalev finds himself in a situation similar to middleweight Gennady Golovkin. Both are at a stage where their drawing power isn’t enough for a big-name opponent to take the chance. They fall into that most-feared category. Like Golovkin, however, HBO is interested in Kovalev. If HBO begins to attract an audience for Kovalev, money and opponents will follow. It’s a potential formula that dictates some urgency, or at least due diligence.

“On March 29, Sergey will be fighting two things, in my opinion,’’ Duva said. “He’ll be fighting Agnew and the temptation to look past him.’’

Reasons to look past Agnew are on his 26-0 record, which includes 13 knockouts. Agnew went the distance with Yusaf Mack in March, winning a 12-round unanimous decision. Against well-known fighters, Mack didn’t last. Carl Froch knocked him out in three rounds in 2012. Tavoris Cloud stopped him in eight in 2011. Glen Johnson stopped him in six in 2010.

Agnew believes he has the right skillset to beat Kovalev, whose nicknames include Krusher and the Terminator. Kovalev’s intimidating record (23-0-1, 21 KOs) includes a tragic death. Roman Simakov died three days after he lost a seventh round TKO to Kovalev in Russia in December, 2011.

“I don’t look at him as no Terminator,’’ Agnew said. “He’s a human being. He can be hurt just like anybody can.’’

If Agnew was impressed by Kovalev’s knockout ratio and the hype that comes with it, he didn’t reveal it.

“My personal opinion: I think he’s ordinary,’’ Agnew said.

Meanwhile, Kovalev seems to understand the stakes. He can’t afford a misstep if he hopes for a showdown with Stevenson, a power puncher in his own right with 20 stoppages in 23 fights on a record that includes one loss. Stevenson might fight in May on HBO in Montreal. A possible opponent is Polish light-heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs), now of Chicago.

“Last year, the best in my division was Stevenson,’’ Kovalev said. “I have to beat Stevenson if I want to be the best.’’

To get that chance, he has to remember to take care of business against Agnew. Kathy Duva’s history lesson is good reason to believe he will.

Polls can be as reliable as scorecards. About as scientific, too. That’s why it’s hard to know what to make of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s question to fans about his next opponent.

Marcos Maidana?

Or Amir Khan?

From this corner, Khan still looks like Mayweather’s likely foe on May 3 no matter what the poll says. The only numbers that seem to matter are summed up by Mayweather’s nickname, Money. Follow it and you can get a pretty good look at what Mayweather is attempting. Against Britain’s Khan, Mayweather has a shot at a share of the UK’s big pay-per-view potential. Against Argentina’s Maidana, he doesn’t.

That’s a theory anyway. On second thought, however, perhaps it’s too simple. Mayweather is a gambler only at Vegas’ sports books. As a boxer, he’s careful about whom he fights and when he fights. He manages the risk, which helps explain his longevity and maybe his unbeaten record, 45-0 and counting.

The Maidana-or-Khan poll is the result of an argument that emerged after Maidana’s beat-down of Mayweather wannabe Adrien Broner in December. Then, there was already public discontent about whether Khan deserved the opportunity. He has won twice, yet struggled since Danny Garcia upset him. In April, he had to get up from a fourth-round knockdown for a narrow decision over Julio Diaz. Maidana, who lost to Khan in the 2010 Fight of the Year, has done more to stake his claim. Fair enough, but this is boxing. Fair is often an illusion, if not an artful feint.

Few give Khan a chance against Mayweather. Yet despite his vulnerable chin and recent struggles, he still possesses fast hands and agile feet. Mayweather has been at his dominant best against foes he has called flat-footed. Can it be a coincidence that Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez were the first two opponents on his rich Showtime contract? He called them flat-footed and he proved it with dominant victories over both.

No matter what you think of Khan, he’s not flat-footed. Add his fast hands, and Mayweather could have a problem, at least for a while. It’s simple as that old line about styles. They make fights. Few understand that quite as thoroughly as Mayweather.

The risk against Khan might look slim, but it’s bigger than the one Mayweather would face against Maidana. The Argentine has heavy-hands, but they land in a predictable, almost plodding way. Put Maidana in a foot race with Canelo and Guerrero, and you’ve got a dead heat.

Mayweather figures to beat either Maidana or Khan. But if it’s Maidana, he limits the risk. Doesn’t he always?

The poll gives him a chance to pass off the responsibility. Madiana was the poll’s early leader. Let’s assume it finishes with Maidana as the pick. If somebody accuses Mayweather of taking an easier fight in Maidana, he can simply say that he’s only giving fans what they want.

For the moment, let’s assume that Khan is Mayweather’s opponent, regardless of the poll. Then, it could become another example of Mayweather’s gamesmanship. Khan, who said weeks ago that he already has signed to fight Mayweather, appears as nervous as a politician fearful of losing an election.

Within hours of learning that Maidana was leading the poll, Khan was on Twitter, saying:

“Mayweather says he needs a easy fight and fans want to see a knock out so maybe thats the reason he doesn’t want fight me n wants Maidana ??”

“for those that hate me & think FM can KO me, then let’s see him try. Fight me! #SkillvSkill SpeedvSpeed.”

No matter what happens in this poll, the only winner is the guy conducting it.

Rematches can be predictable remakes, or tiresome redundancies, or just unnecessary. But Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley is none of the above. It had to happen.

In some ways, April 12 is more of a resumption than a rematch of Bradley’s rancorous split-decision over Pacquiao on June 9, 2012. Once the controversy subsided to a dull roar, only questions were left in the debris. If this were business as usual, there would be no answers and only the futility that surrounds the never-never land of a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. possibility.

But Pacquiao and Bradley will pick up where they left off in the same MGM Grand ring where their first chapter ended in what ranks as boxing’s noisiest controversy during the Twitter era.

Economics and a collection of dwindling options probably had more to do with the agreement than anything. Robert Guerrero’s name popped up as a Pacquiao possibility, but Bob Arum quickly dismissed that one.

If Arum hopes to re-affirm Pacquaio as a pay-per-view star after a reported audience of 475,000-to-500,000 bought his victory in China over Brandon Rios, he needed an attraction. Guerrero would have been a tune-up, another Rios. But a rematch with Bradley represents compelling drama with stage and story already in place.

It’s a dangerous fight, especially for Pacquiao. Most of the momentum appears to be with Bradley. In announcing the rematch, Arum called Bradley a different guy. In the public eye, he is. He underwent a remarkable transformation in the months since he was unfairly portrayed as a villain for the scorecards that gave him the debatable decision over Pacquiao.

He displayed courage in beating former Pacquiao sparring partner Ruslan Provodnikov in the 2013 Fight of the Year. Then, there was his poise and patience in outworking Juan Manuel Marquez, whose one-handed stoppage of Pacquiao in December 2012 put him face down and face-to-face with doubts the Filipino has yet to knock out. He looked good in scoring a decision over Rios in November. Only against Bradley, however, can he really prove he’s still the whirlwind we remember.

There’s plenty of uncertainty about whether he can. Indications are that Pacquaio will be about 7-4 favorite. At opening bell in 2012, he was favored 4 ½-to-1. If the speed and angles employed by Pacquaio in the first fight are still there, Bradley is in trouble. At least, that’s the theory.

But a couple of things happened in 2012 . Bradley suffered injuries to both ankles then. He showed up at the post-fight news conference in a wheel chair. In a sport that has seen it all, there’s no record of the winner ever addressing the media while confined to a wheel chair.

It’s fair to assume that Bradley’s ankles will hold up this time around. What happens then? Bradley without limits on his mobility has a much better chance in what figures to be another close fight.

Meanwhile, close fights have become a Bradley trademark, if not identity. He’s won each of his last three by narrow decision – Pacquiao and Marquez by split and Provodnikov by one point on two cards and three on the third. Debate the scoring all you want, but they add up to a resiliency. The unbeaten Bradley finds a way. He’s a survivor, which means he won’t waste a second chance.

Pacquiao’s motivation is no secret. He has a right to think he was robbed in 2012. He’s anxious to correct the record, to claim what should have been his all long. That’s an intangible, yet powerful. Still, it’s hard to get a good read on just who Pacquiao is these days. There’s been plenty of evidence he has lost some speed and power. To wit: The Pacquaio of old would have stopped Rios within five rounds.

There’s also talk about money problems and reports about tax issues. Who really knows? But know this: Pacquiao could have told Arum to put a hold on Bradley. He could have demanded Guerrero in a dull, yet safe step that might have kept alive talk about Mayweather, who started his Showtime contract with tune-up victory over Guerrero.

Pacquiao’s contract with Arum is set to expire at the end of 2014. Could Arum have said no? Pacquiao apparently listened to Arum. In terms of the bottom line, Bradley makes sense. In terms of Pacquaio’s career, there was no other choice. He had to pick Bradley if he wanted the public to take him seriously. But it’s very dangerous. So know this too:

Pacquiao has a history of agreeing to perilous rematches. He gave Marquez three extra chances when he really didn’t have to. The third chance proved devastating. But it was also fair and fearless, just two more elements in a series that has it all and begs for more.

Richard Sherman’s controversial interview with Erin Andrews after Seattle’s NFL playoff victory over San Francisco is being interpreted and analyzed more often than the Gettysburg Address. Much of the ongoing discussion leads to Muhammad Ali.

Please, can everybody just leave the Ali comparison in the spit bucket.

I suspect Sherman would if he could and that’s a compelling reason to like the Seahawks cornerback. He admires Ali. In Ali’s time, there was a personal price for what he said. In Sherman’s time, there might be an endorsement.

A few days after the heated comments about 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, Sherman told reporters that Ali was confronted by circumstances “100 times crazier” than anything surrounding today’s generation of athletes.

The big difference – one forgotten amid today’s attention on mere words and only words – is that the true measure of Ali was in what he did. Yeah, he said a lot, a hell of a lot. But it was always what he did, whether it was his opposition to Viet Nam or his rematch victory over Joe Frazier. There are as many Ali imitators today as there are Elvis impersonators. But they’re cheap knock-offs, more outrage than substance.

Over the years, Ali has become the father of trash talk. I’m not sure it’s a title he ever sought. But it’s his and it always will be. Nevertheless, words were just part of the game for Ali. He used them like an artful feint and mostly before a fight in an attempt to rattle, unsettle and even intimidate an opponent before stepping into harm’s way.

His words were often cruel, especially when directed at Frazier. Ali portrayed him as an Uncle Tom. There was a racial edge and Frazier never forgave him for it. But much of what Ali said was tempered by how he said it. Look at the video. Look at his playful eyes. Listen to his sing-song tone. He was having fun with the pre-fight byplay that has been heard in boxing for as long as there’s been an opening bell.

Compare those moments to what we saw from Sherman. There was a scowl on his face, anger in his eyes and a threat in his tone. It was like watching road rage.

As it unfolded, I didn’t think of Ali. I thought of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his infamous outburst at Larry Merchant after his controversial stoppage of Victor Ortiz in September 2011. Merchant, now retired from his HBO role as a ringside analyst, asked about the timing of Mayweather’s punches, which landed when Ortiz was looking at referee Joe Cortez. Merchant called the punches a legal cheap shot. Mayweather erupted, telling Merchant he didn’t know bleep about boxing and that HBO should fire him.

Merchant’s response was classic old-school.

“I wish I was 50 years younger and I would kick your ass,’’ Merchant told Mayweather.

If only Merchant had been there instead of Andrews. Sherman’s rant might have ended then and there, saving us all from an Ali comparison that just doesn’t work.

The best in a new and diverse generation is about to make its claim on future stardom with a wave of new accents and surprising possibilities that could further re-make the face of the game. It used to be as familiar as a cheeseburger and fries. But today it’s more like an international food court.

“A lot is happening in boxing,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Tuesday in a conference call. “And it happens real quick.”

So quickly, in fact, that Arum looks around and sees the American brand facing more challenges than perhaps it ever has, especially from fighters from the former Soviet Union.

Arum’s search for a few good Americans in the New Year starts with Mikey Garcia, who defends his junior-lightweight title in a significant test of his pound-for-pound credentials on January 25 against Juan Carlos Burgos at New York’s Madison Square Garden in an HBO-televised bout.

“Mikey is one of the few American stars in boxing,” Arum said. “We have Mikey and Andre Ward, Floyd Mayweather and Timothy Bradley. There are not many other Americans who qualify as superstars.”

Not everybody is sure that Garcia qualifies for super-stardom. But Arum mentioned him because of the potential he has exhibited over the last two years. The unbeaten Garcia’s thorough skill set looks like a good fit for a place alongside better-known names in bouts that could transform him into a pay-per-view attraction. Garcia-Burgos is not a PPV bout.

In Tuesday’s call, Arum mentioned Manny Pacquiao, one of the biggest PPV draws in the business , as a possibility. That alone is a sure sign that Garcia has arrived. It was the first time his name has been thrown into the Pacquiao mix. At 130 pounds, however, Garcia is still a couple of weight classes lighter than Pacquiao.
Garcia didn’t mention the Filipino by name. But he did say he’d consider a move up in weight.

“We will have to look at the options after this fight,” said Garcia, who was in Macao in November for Pacquaio’s welterweight victory over Oxnard, Calif., stablemate Brandon Rios. “Hopefully, everything turns out well next week and we can move forward with our plans. We’d have to look at the top fighters in the next weight class, and if I do that, I have to grow into the weight class.

“I would like to unify the titles before moving up, but if there is something better at 135 then I will go there. Then I can unify the titles there or move up to 140, if the right fight is there.”

A more immediate option might be Vasyl Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who in October won a major featherweight title in his first and only pro fight.

Lomachenko, a Ukrainian and one of the greatest boxers in Olympic history, is among emerging fighters from the former Soviet empire. He joins Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev and Ruslan Provodnikov in an Eastern Boxing Bloc that had a profound impact in 2013 and could have an even bigger one in 2014.

Arum said he envisioned Garcia “taking on a lot of these non-Americans in really big fights.”

But, Arum said, “where that takes him, I’m not sure.”

A spot the in pound-for-pound debate sounds like a pretty good place.

Never-ending speculation about Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao is boxing’s version of Groundhog Day, the 1993 film starring Bill Murray as a weatherman trapped in time, re-living the same day everyday until he gets it right.

Getting it right, of course, means an actual fight. Without one, we’ll only hear more of the same talk. I’d rather be a groundhog. More of the same seemed to be the message in Mayweather’s New Year’s missive in comments to FightHype. He ripped Pacquiao all over again. That’s not exactly news. On the surface, Mayweather made it sound as if there’s no chance that the two would ever agree to a fight.

But the timing was curious. Mayweather’s latest trashing of Pacquiao happened a few days after they actually agreed on something. Both dismissed an un-sourced story that reported they would fight in September.

Mayweather called the report “a lie.” Pacquiao said it was untrue.

Then, Pacquiao told Yahoo’s Filipino correspondent that they could only “talk about a possible fight next year” and only if there’s no new deal with Top Rank. Pacquiao’s Top Rank contract ends at the end of 2014. Within a few days, Mayweather delivered his rant. But why? Why now?

If Mayweather didn’t really want to fight Pacquaio, wouldn’t he’d quit talking about him? Wouldn’t he ignore Pacquiao altogether? If you’re not interested, why mention his name at all? But Mayweather chose that moment to re-ignite a possibility that had been muted throughout most of 2013.

Mayweather, who is as clever a promoter as he is a fighter, understands that the beginning of any fight starts with gaining the upper hand, a psychological edge, even before negotiations begin. He repeated a lot of the same old insults, but his comments were significant in what they indicated. If he’s talking about Pacquiao in any way, he’s probably thinking about a fight everybody still wants to see. Talk is the first step, but maybe a calculated one.

For Mayweather, Pacquiao appears to be something of a straw man anyway. Mayweather’s real target looks to be Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter. Mayweather trashes Pacquiao to get at Arum. Mayweather says there’ll be no fight with Pacquaio as long as he is represented by Arum. It’s as if Mayweather is trying to get Pacquiao to leave Arum. The Filipino has been Top Rank’s biggest money earner for nearly a decade. Top Rank without Pacquiao is a promotional entity without its biggest star. In Mayweather’s bitter rivalry with Arum, that would rank as a significant victory for Mayweather.

There are plenty of reasonable ways to interpret what Mayweather says and doesn’t say, but it’s impossible to separate anything he does form the context of his Showtime contract, a 30-month deal for a possible six fights and a potential $250 million. For that kind of money, you’d think that Showtime would get some say-so. It’s safe to say that Showtime — and its bosses at CBS — would love to have Pacquiao-Mayweather.

On Feb. 19, Mayweather’s landmark deal with Showtime will be two fights and 12 months old. In 2014, let’s assume he fights Amir Khan in May and Marcos Maidana in September. If he wins both, Mayweather would be 47-0, two victories away from equalling Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 milestone.

Over the first six months of 2015, he could maximize the contract’s potential with two more fights, the second of which might be for his legacy against the very fighter he trashed a few days ago. It’s only trash talk if there’s no plan. The timing makes it look as if Mayweather has one.

A crystal ball is just another glass chin, which is one way of saying New Year predictions have no chance. They’re fun, but they’re also about as likely as Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer wishing each other a Happy in any holiday season. More of the feud appears to be the only sure thing. But it also appears to be headed for a new level of acrimony, perhaps even a make-or-break confrontation, over Manny Pacquiao.

There’s potential for a lot of intriguing stories, but Pacquiao’s Top Rank contract figures to be the biggest in 2014. He has one year left on a deal extended in October 2012 through the end of 2014.

Leave it up to some other self-appointed Nostradamus to predict what Pacquiao will do. His loyalty to Bob Arum has been unshakable since 2006 when he spurned a Golden Boy offer, which reportedly included a suitcase stuffed with a $250,000 in cash. But loyalty is about as fragile as that crystal ball. In some ways, Pacquiao is to boxing what Peyton Manning was to the NFL after the Indianapolis Colts released him following a 2011 season on the injured list. The quarterback eventually signed a landmark deal with the Denver Broncos in March, 2012. Pacquiao’s potential free agency could also transform boxing’s landscape, at least for a while.

Pacquiao enters the final year of his Top Rank contract amid questions. He answered some, but not all, in his one-sided decision over Brandon Rios in November at Macao. Speed was still there. He didn’t appear to have any lingering effects from the crushing knockout he suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez in December, 2012. So far, so good, although Rios’ style proved to be the perfect comeback for Pacquiao’s skill set. The true yardstick for whether he is still the fighter of five years ago won’t be determined until — or if — he faces Marquez or Timothy Bradley in a rematch.

On the business side of the ledger, the bigger question is his drawing power. Pay-per-view reports for his victory over Rios put the Home Box Office audience at between 475,000 and 500,000. It’s a good number for anybody not named Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. More on that later. Arum predicted that the pay-per-view number would take a hit. It did, maybe because it was in China and away from the daily pre-fight media coverage in the United States. Again, maybe.

But Arum’s decision to bring Pacquiao back to the U.S., perhaps in April, doesn’t appear to be a coincidence. Without television’s traditional infrastructure and the daily headlines, the PPV number in Pacquiao’s first U.S. fight in more than a year will be a true test. If the PPV number disappoints, it might be a sign that Pacquiao and Top Rank will go their separate ways. If it’s closer to one million, look for Arum to introduce negotiations for another extension.

Thus far, there’s been no news that one is on the table. Pacquiao and Arum agreed to the additional year about 14 1/2 months before the old deal was set to expire at the end of 2013. When it comes to potential free agency, boxing isn’t any different than the NFL, NBA and major-league baseball. There’s plenty of speculation about any athlete, coach or manager entering the final year of a deal. It indicates uncertainty on both sides.

For all sides, money is the bottom line. For Pacquiao, there’s anecdotal evidence that it’s a potential issue There are reported problems with both the Internal Revenue Service and Filipino tax authorities. Perhaps, the stories are overblown. Perhaps, they’ll be settled before the first page in the new calendar is turned. But the ominous smoke is there.

If in fact Pacquiao needs money, the best way to get the most of it is in a fight against Mayweather. No secret there. There’s renewed speculation in an unsourced story about a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight happening in September. It’s about as believable as any other off-the-wall New Year prediction and as likely as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ever making weight. But it’s getting attention, which is a sure sign that it’s still the one fight everybody wants to see. Mayweather, of course, has repeatedly insisted he’ll never fight Pacquiao for as long as he is represented by Arum. Mayweather’s latest attack of Pacquiao via social media appears to be a poorly disguised attempt at badgering the Filipino Congressman into making a move.

In part, Mayweather is an example of how the best boxers can evolve as businessmen. Mayweather is now a promoter, an independent entrepreneur aligned with Golden Boy and under contract to Showtime. A better example is Miguel Cotto, who has avoided the bitter feuds and been able to do business with Top Rank, Golden Boy and any other entity in the promotional swamp. By the way, Cotto is friendly with Pacquiao, who beat him in 2009.

Will Pacquiao follow Cotto’s model? Split with Arum? Follow the money to Mayweather for a 2015 fight? Retire after losing to Bradley or Marquez? A New Year offers answers to 2014’s undisputed Story of the Year.

A look-back at 2013 with a nomination, one for every month in the calendar:

Fight of the Year: Timothy Bradley’s decision over Ruslan Provodnikov. In an era when memories last about as long as a tweet, a Fight of the Year is often about timing. To wit: If it happened late in the year, it gets votes becauseit’s still remembered. In part, that tells you how good Bradley-Provodnikov was. Nothing that followed the March classic could surpass it.

Good Guy Award: Bradley. A fractured business could learn from him. He was a target for the social-media cowards who attacked him in the wake of a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao. It would have been easy to wallow in bitterness. But he didn’t. Bradley emerged as a winner, with two narrow decisions in the ring and a unanimous one out of it.

Statesman of the Year: Vitali Klitschko. The retired heavyweight champion is the courageous face of the opposition party in the Ukraine .

Smartest Guy In The Room: Paulie Malignaggi. Media critic and Showtime analyst, Malignaggi exposed Adrien Broner as flawed in losing a split decision. Marcos Maidana finished the job on Dec. 14, in a dominant decision over Broner, the Upset of the Year.

Three Reasons Not To Believe The Headlines: Broner, Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. All three were shown to be over-rated, over-hyped and — in Chavez’ case — over-fed. Floyd Mayweather Jr. made Canelo look like Robert Guerrero. Here’s hoping Chavez got a Jenny Craig gift card for Christmas. He never made weight for Bryan Vera. Never intended to. Then, he got an early Christmas in September with a gift-wrapped decision over Vera.

Promoter of the Year: Mayweather. He’s grown into the role. The annoying trash-talk has subsided. He’s transformed himself into a singular pay-per-view franchise. He managed to land a Showtime contract worth a potential $250 million, or the reported price that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos paid for The Washington Post. Mayweather, also a contender for Businessman of the Year, is smart to stay out of the troubled media business. Then again, he already owns Showtime.

Matchmaker of the Year: Canelo was marketed as a threat, but Mayweather knew better. He’s a great judge of talent and danger. To wit Antonio Margarito: Mayweather was smart to never have fought him. It can be argued that the beginning of a Pacquiao decline started with the brutal blows he sustained in beating Margarito in 2010. For all of those pound-for-pound lists, a good guide is a list of those Mayweather won’t fight.

Craziest Quote of the Year: There are always a lot of contenders for this one. In 2013, however, the over-the-top prize belongs to Angel Garcia, one of boxing’s crazy dads who deserves serious Trainer of the Year consideration for his work with son Danny. Before his son beat Argentina junior-welterweight Lucas Matthysse in one of the year’s biggest upsets, Angel Garcia went patriotic: “Everybody wants to have their Argentine flags out, but they forget where they live. We represent the USA. Danny is an American fighter. Background is Puerto Rican and I’m Puerto Rican. They say the American fighters can’t fight. The USA gets no props. The same country that sends the welfare check to you. You get that check and sign it, don’t you? Then, you want to be an Americanito.”

Rest In Peace: Ken Norton, Emile Griffith, Tommy Morrison and Jake Matlala. Norton, a former heavyweight champ who had the style to beat Muhammad Ali, died on Sept. 18. He was 70. Ex-welterweight and middleweight champ Emile Griffith, remembered for a 1961 fight in which Benny Paret died after questioning Griffith’s sexuality, passed on July 23. He was 75, Ex-heavyweight champ Morrison, who denied he had the HIV virus, died on Sept 1. Ex-flyweight champ Matlala, one of Nelson Mandela’s favorite fighters and best known for upsetting Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, died on Dec. 7. He was 51.

Tragedy of the Year: Frankie Leal. The junior-featherweight died on Oct. 23 at a San Diego hospital, three days after he was knocked out in Cabo San Lucas. He was 26. It was a death that could have been avoided. Leal was a tragedy waiting to happen. He was hospitalized in March 2012 when he was carried out of the ring on a stretcher after Evgeny Gradovich knocked him out in San Antonio.

Move of the Year: China. Top Rank’s Bob Arum has placed a big bet on Macao, the gambling district near Hong Kong. Will it work? Hard to say. As an emerging market, China has no rivals. But whether that market includes boxing is still a great unknown. A sign of that uncertainty was raised when Arum announced that Pacquiao’s next fight would be back in Las Vegas after mixed signals in the reported pay-per-view of audience of about 500,000 for his victory in Macao over Brandon Rios in late November. There’s a lot of potential money in China, but boxing’s proven bucks and reliable infra-structure are still in Vegas.

Trend of the Year: Fighters from the post Soviet Union. They weren’t going to China. Instead, they were moving into the U.S. market. Their collective face is already this corner’s choice for Fighter of the Year. Gennady Golovkin’s emergence, proven by a reported audience of 1.41 million for his last appearance on Home Box Office, is evidence that fighters from Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Siberia can make it in the U.S. Look for an even bigger impact in 2014 from several, including Siberian welterweight Provodnikov, Russian light-heavyweight Sergey Kovalev, and featherweight Vasyl Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

A look back at any year starts with Fighter of the Year. But the 2013 ballot includes an argument against just about every candidate in the conversation. Light-heavyweight Adonis Stevenson is too much of a newcomer. Timothy Bradley’s split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez was debatable. Mikey Garcia’s victory over Orlando Salido was a technical decision, meaning the end wasn’t definitive.

This was a year for many fighters. The collective – no pun intended – face of fighters from the former Soviet Union is this corner’s choice for Fighter of the Year.

Boxing’s resilient ability to re-create itself has always been about different eras identified by fighters from a region or nation, culture or race who have transformed the sport. There have been the African-Americans and Mexicans, the Irish and the Jews.

In 2013, there was middleweight Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan, Russian light-heavyweight Sergey Kovalev and Siberian welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov. Their names a few years ago might have been confused with the label on a Vodka bottle. But as the sport enters the New Year, no major promoter is without a fighter from the former Soviet Union. It’s a trend. Major-league baseball wouldn’t be what is today without the Dominican Republic and boxing wouldn’t be what it’ll be tomorrow without the old Eastern Bloc.

In time, Golovkin, or Kovalev, or Provodnikov might be Fighter of the Year in their own right. Between now and that
probable eventuality, however, the trend promises to produce many more names we still can’t pronounce. Vasyl Lomachenko, a Ukrainian featherweight and two-time Olympic gold medalist, is planning to fight for a major title in only his second pro bout since signing with Top Rank.

A Ukrainian super-middleweight named Ievgen Khytrov, who reportedly had about 500 amateur bouts, scored a first-round stoppage in his debut Thursday night in front of sold-out crowd at New York’s Webster Hall just a few weeks after he signed with Dmitry Salita’s company, Star of David Promotions.

America fans are suddenly interested in fighters who were ignored just five years ago, but now are part of a growing number in a group that probably includes more than one Fighter of the Year during the next decade.

SAN ANTONIO – Adrien Broner calls himself The Problem because he thought he’d never have one. Marcos Maidana proved just how wrong he was.

Maidana was his problem, again and again, throughout 12 surprising rounds Saturday night at the Alamodome. In the end, Broner was left with multiple problems. But let’s start with the biggie. Broner, a big betting favorite, lost for the first time.

But, it turns out, Broner had an edge in only flamboyance. All of the other advantages belonged to Maidana. The Argentine’s power, resilience and nasty grit were just too much for Broner, who entered the ring with About Billions spelled out in gold sequins on the back of his robe and trunks. He left looking like a broken man. There were no billions in his loss to Maidana. There wasn’t even a single scorecard in his favor.

The judges were unanimous for Maidana. Laurence Cole scored it 117-109, Nelson Vazquez had it 116-109 and Stanley Christodoulou 116-110, all for the heavy-handed Argentine.

Maidana re-defined those AB initials on the front of Broner’s robe. They could have meant Approaching Bankruptcy in this stunning bout, Broner’s second and perhaps last attempt at welterweight.

“I showed I had a lot of heart,’’ Maidana said.

Actually, Maidana showed a lot more than that. He fought with urgency, almost as if he knew this was his career’s last chance in an arena named for a one history’s famous last stands. Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) made an immediate statement, stunning Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) with a left hook against the ropes.

That left hand punctuated the fight early, midway and in the end. It knocked down Broner in the second and again in the eighth. It was always there, slowing down Broner just as though it looked as if he were about to dictate the pace and perhaps the result. Broner raced to his dressing room without facing the media. His only quote came through a spokesperson. He asked for another chance.

“I’ll tell you one thing, I want a rematch,’’ Broner said through the spokesperson. “I don’t want a warm-up fight. I want a rematch.’’

Maidana had no problem with that request.

“Sure, I’ll do a rematch,’’ said Maidana, who never seemed bothered by the power shots thrown by Broner, a former lightweight and maybe a future one.

Maidana spoke with confidence that he could repeat a victory that included some rough moments. In the eighth, Maidana was penalized one point after dropping Broner to his knees. The penalty was for an infraction that looked to be an elbow and/or head butt to Broner’s chin. It left Broner rolling around in the canvas in apparent pain. There was also a look of anguish, if not self-doubt. It almost appeared that Broner wondered what he had gotten himself in to.

“It was a dirty fight,’’ Maidana said. “I had to get dirty.’’

He had to be The Real Problem.

The Best of the Undercard

· Florida welterweight Keith Thurman calls himself One Time. It’s etched across the belt of his trunks. It’s supposed to be a promise. It’s what he intends to do to the other guy. One time early in the first round, however, it almost happened to Thurman (22-0, 19 KOs). Jesus Soto Karass (28-9-3, 18 KOs), Antonio Margarito’s old sparring partner, hurt him with a winging right. Thurman was quick to recover, landed a left for a knockdown in the sixth and went on to win by a wicked stoppage at 2:21 of the ninth. Soto Karass dropped his hands after he was rocked by a left from Thurman, who followed with three successive punches – two lefts and a right.

· If there’s a sure sign of Leo Santa Cruz’ imminent stardom, it’s in the margins. It’s not if he wins. It’s how. Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15 KOs) wasn’t happy with his unanimous decision over Puerto Rican Cesar Seda (25-2, 17 KOs). “I wanted to give the fans of San Antonio a better fight,’’ said the Los Angeles super-bantamweight, who retained his acronym-sanctioned version of the title. In the fifth, Santa Cruz knocked down Seda, who argued that he was robbed. But even the knockdown wasn’t enough for Santa Cruz, his own worst critic and a good bet to improve.

· Beibut Shumenov looks awkward. Looks slow. But don’t let looks fool you. His power is real. Shumenov 14-1, 9 KOs), another Kazakhstani with a big punch, knocked down Tamas Kovacs (23-1, 14 KOs) once in the first round, again in the second and finished the Slovakian by TKO at 2:55 of the third. In his first fight in a year-and-a-half, Shumenov kept his acronym-sanctioned light-heavyweight belt and maybe moved to the front of the line as a possible challenger to Bernard Hopkins, who watched from a ringside seat.

The Controversial

Former super-middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was off TV. Some thought he should been off the card, too. But he wasn’t. Taylor was licensed to fight in his second comeback since suffering a reported brain bleed in a loss to Arthur Abraham in 2009. Taylor (32-4-1, 20 KOs) was never in danger in this one, scoring a fifth-round knockdown en route to a seventh-round TKO of faded J.C. Candelo (32-13-4, 21 KOs) of Houston.
The Rest

· Junior-welterweight Ricardo Alvarez (28-4, 20 KOs) has none of his brother’s red hair, but some of his luck. Alvarez, Canelo’s brother, got a 10-round majority decision – a controversial one, too – over Rod Salka (18-3, 3 KOs) of Bunola, PA.

· In a television opener, Toledo lightweight Robert Easter Jr. (8-0, 8 KOs) scored a first-round knockout by dropping Chilean Hardy Paredes (16-13, 10 KOs) with a paralyzing body shot 2:30 after the opening bell.

· Three-time Olympian Rau’Shee Warren stayed unbeaten as a pro bantamweight with an 8-round, unanimous decision over Mexican Jose Silveria (15-10, 6 KOs). But there’s some discrepancy about Warren’s record. The official program and FightFax listed him at 16-0 with three KOs before opening bell. According to BoxRec, he’s now 9-0, his record since his final amateur bout at the 2012 London Games.

· In a swing bout, lightweight Jamel Herring (6-0, 3 KOs) of Coram, N.Y., probably left Showtime producers scrambling to fill some air time. Herring made making quick work out of Lance Williams (6-3, 6 KOs) of Muscatine, Iowa, scoring a second round TKO in the final second of the second round.

SAN ANTONIO – Brandon Rios’ strength-and-conditioning coach Alex Ariza was surprised at a ringtv.com report Friday that Rios tested positive for a banned stimulant after Rios lost a unanimous on Nov. 23 to Manny Pacquiao in China.

“It’s been three weeks, and then, all of a sudden, something like this comes out,’’ Ariza told reporters Friday at the weigh-in for the Adrien Broner-Marcos Maidana card Saturday night at the Alamodome. “He tested four times through the whole camp, and then, nothing. We showed them everything, and we disclosed everything that we were using. They never said anything or complained about it. Now, all of a sudden, this comes out? It just seems a little bizarre to me.”

Rios promoter Bob Arum told ringtv.com that Rios tested positive for dimenthylamylamine, a substance found in controversial over-the-counter supplements.

In the ringtv.com story, Dr. Margaret Goodman of VADA confirmed that Rios tested positive in one of five tests. VADA conducted the testing before and after the welterweight bout in Macao. Goodman told ringtv.com that Pacquiao, also promoted by Arum, passed all five tests.

“It’s some kind of dietary supplement that can be obtained over the counter, so I don’t know any details,’’ said Ariza, who joined Rios after a fallout with Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach. “Everybody takes stuff that they sell at GNC or at vitamin shops and stuff like that.”

Rios trainer Robert Garcia also was surprised. He said he had never heard of the banned substance.

“I have no idea what it is,’’ said Garcia, also Maidana’s trainer. “We’re dealing with some words that I’ve never heard before.”

Dimenthylamylamine is considered dangerous, according to a warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration. The substance has been linked to fatal heart attacks.

It wasn’t known Friday whether Rios faced any consequences. China’s introduction to pro boxing includes a new commission, but its rules and enforcement powers aren’t clear.

SAN ANTONIO – Adrien Broner just wants a little love. Mostly, he loves a stage and that’s where he asked for some Thursday during his turn at the microphone at the final news conference for his second test run at welterweight Saturday night against dangerous Marcos Maidana at the Alamodome.

“With all due respect, I really think everybody should be thanking me,’’ Broner said after introducing his monologue with thanks to all of the usual suspects gathered in a downtown ballroom. “I’m the one putting my life on the line every time I get into that ring.

“I’m the one taking off from sex, although sometimes I probably sneak and cheat.’’

The crowd chuckled, but not because anybody was surprised that Broner doesn’t honor boxing’s old-school ban on sex during training camp. After all, Broner’s flamboyant reputation precedes him. It’s fair to assume he abstains about as often as he is shy.

The laughs were there, simply because Broner is willing to say – and do – almost anything. On the scale of mundane to over-the-line, the laugh-meter often soars into the red zone of outrage. But that’s Broner. It’s why some like him. Why some hate him. By the way, he also thanked the haters Thursday.

It’s hard to know whether all the talk is just shtick or genuine. Maybe, it’s a mix of both. Maybe, it comes from a streak of insecurity. To wit: He talks, talks and talks so he doesn’t have to listen the critics. Or, maybe, it’s a well-rehearsed act designed to attract attention that separates him from the faceless fighters who casual fans will never know. Whatever the motivation, Broner is getting known, gaining notoriety, for his X-rated style of showmanship. But it’s dangerous role. Comedians get booed off the stage all the time. But they don’t get knocked out.

Broner might. At least, some think he might get stopped by Maidana, whose paralyzing brand of power is defined by 31 stoppages in 37 bouts. Nothing about Broner’s noisy reputation will deflect the Maidana punches bound to come his way Saturday night in a Showtime-televised bout. If the taciturn Maidana (34-3, 31 KOs) lands a punch, it could prove to be a very different kind of punch line. It could turn Broner into a joke. But Broner is willing to take that chance. Call him fearless. Call him foolhardy. He’s been called both and a lot more. He just calls himself the next, the heir apparent.

“I’m going to take over boxing when Floyd Mayweather is finished,’’ said Broner (27-0, 22 KOs), a lightweight champion who is making his second appearance at 147 pounds after he escaped on June 22 from his welterweight debut with a split-decision over Paulie Malignaggi.

Those are bold words. Then again, what isn’t from Broner? He is compelled to put on a show, which is exactly what he did at a news conference that included emerging super-bantamweight star Leo Santa Cruz, dangerous welterweight Keith Thurman and former super-middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, who is embarking on another controversial comeback Saturday.

Broner, who said he’ll be the first to stop Maidana, turned everybody into a bit player. He wore a cap emblazoned with his trademark logo, Band Camp, a stable that also includes three-time Olympian Rau’shee Warren, now 16-0 as a bantamweight. His head bobbed up and down, one way and then another. He threw short punches, one after another. He mocked Maidana’s turn at the podium by clapping his hands in a slow, exaggerated manner that needed no interpretation. Come on, man, is that all you’ve got.

When it was his turn, he shuffled and danced across the stage as though he was about to embrace the waiting microphone. He was that restless grade-school kid squirming in his seat at the back of the class.

He couldn’t wait. Couldn’t sit still.

Couldn’t keep quiet either.

Boxing has no time for late bloomers. Old guys, yeah. But the late bloomer is either forgotten, or dismissed for squandering talent, or just an easy victory for an emerging star. Zab Judah is that fighter. He’s that legendary prospect who has matured after his physical skills have passed their prime.

Yet, it’s the maturity that makes him so likable against Paulie Malignaggi Saturday night at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn in a Showtime-televised bout (8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT). It’s been a long journey for Judah, who has fought his way back from almost being a cartoon character in a loss to Kostya Tszyu.

In what became a YouTube hit and an early lesson in how social media’s virtual reality can leave real scars, Judah dominated Tszyu in the first round, then mocked him in the second. The clowning opened Judah up to successive rights that left him stumbling across the canvas as though it were a trampoline. Down once. Down again. Enraged by a stoppage, Judah threw a stool and shoved a glove into referee Jay Nady’s neck.

Funny stuff for anybody with a laptop, but it was deadly for a career that should have been near its prime. It was also a temper tantrum from a kid who thought he’d never lose. Judah was 24 then. He’s 36 now. In the 12 years since Tszyu stopped him in his first defeat, he’s won 15, lost seven and learned a lot.

“As everybody can see throughout my career, I hate losing’’ Judah (42-8, 29 KOs) said in a conference call. “Some of my early losses, I kind of went crazy. I’ve learned to control myself over the years, but losing is something that’s not in my arsenal right now. It’s something that we’re not looking forward to doing. We’re looking at progress and moving forward.’’

There’s a sense that Judah, now in his 18th yer as a pro, is still chasing potential that was there as an amateur with a record reported to be 110-5. He still talks as if he has pound-for-pound aspirations. Memories last longer than hand speed.

Malignaggi, a fellow Brooklyn fighter, remembers how he would wait around the gym just to watch Judah spar. For younger amateurs, Judah was going to be the fighter that that they could only dream about. There was even a time when Judah coached Malignaggi, now 33, in a New York amateur tournament.

“I thought he won that fight, from my recollection,’’ Judah said “Even back then as an amateur he had a heart, he was gutsy. He came out, he was very scrappy. I recall that, yeah, we kind of pulled out a lot of champions that year. So yeah, I think that Paulie did win the fight that year.’’

Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KOs) remembers a different result.

“I didn’t win that fight but I lost to a big rival of mine,’’ he said. “But we won the team trophy. Zab was the team coach and we won the team trophy at the Empire State Games.’’

Malignaggi’s fond memory looks to be a reflection of how the public has begun to see Judah. Flawed, yet likeable for the way he has endured and grown up in a place where vulnerabilities are always exposed. To a lesser degree, it’s like the evolution in public perception of Mike Tyson. Once reviled, Tyson has become a personality that fascinates the public because he doesn’t hide.

In that, there’s a fearless nature exhibited by Judah in losing a 2006 decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr., again in an 11th-round TKO loss to Miguel Cotto in 2007 and still again in losing a unanimous decision to Danny Garcia in April. Each was a defeat, which many believe will be how Judah will be remembered.

But also remember this: With each loss, Judah grew up in a personal victory that turned boos into applause.

No defeat in that.

There’s terrible irony in news that the Philippines has frozen Manny Pacquiao’s financial assets and placed a lien on the Filipino Congressman’s home over allegations that he owes $50.2 million in unpaid taxes. Pacquiao fought Brandon Rios in China to avoid U.S. taxes, yet he finds himself in a tax fight at home just a few days after a convincing decision over Rios in Macao.

There’s been a lot of talk about whom Pacquiao will fight next. Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov have all been mentioned. No matter where and when the next one happens, however, the taxman could be there in what might be Pacquiao’s toughest and longest fight.

The Filipino Bureau of Internal Revenue’s claim against him is as confusing as the IRS long form. In a prepared statement, Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said U.S. taxes have been paid for five fights during the two years in question, 2008 and 2009. Under Filipino law, Pacquiao would not be have to pay the Filipino taxes on money already taxed and paid in the U.S., Even there, however, a potential problem has emerged. The U.S. tax rate in 2008 and 2009 was 30 percent. The Filipino rate was 32 percent. In some news reports, Filipino authorities have suggested that Pacquiao might be liable for the two-percent difference.

Arum said that Top Rank will prove that Pacquiao paid his U.S. taxes. Documentation, certified by the IRS, will be made available, Arum said. But you might get on to the Obamacare website before those documents get done. Filipino tax commissioner Kim Henares said she has been waiting for them for two years. Expect this mess to drag on. And on.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao has alleged harassment. Maybe. He’s a politician, after all. Alleging tax evasion has always been one way to attack a political opponent, in the U.S. and everywhere else. If the political version of a low blow is in the mix, however, it only makes things messier than they already appear to be. It also means it will be there, in one form or another, for as long as Pacquiao stays in politics

Politics and money, often inseparable, have become the two-headed distraction that the multi-tasking Pacquaio cannot control. Against Rios, Pacquaio showed he still can fight at a level that can generate more money in a career already estimated to have grossed $300 million. He looks to have a couple of years, three or four more fights, left in the bank. In a somewhat surprising announcement, Arum said Pacquiao will be back in the U.S. for a fight in April.

There had been talk that Pacquiao would never set foot in a U.S. ring again because of President Barack Obama’s 39.6-percent tax rate. Even with that, however, the U.S. still might be the best place to maximize Pacquiao’s income because the pay-per-view infrastructure is in place. In China, it’s not and won’t be for perhaps another year. Pacquiao can’t wait and HBO won’t. In Macao, Pacquiao’s guarantee was $17 million. The guess is that he’ll wind up with about $20 million after he gets his cut of the pay-per-view, still undisclosed. If those projections stand up and the Filipino tax man takes 32 percent, Pacquiao winds up with $13.6 million.

In his loss by a lethal stoppage to Juan Manuel Marquez last December in Las Vegas, Pacquiao grossed about $30 million. At the old IRS rate of 30 percent, he netted $21 million. Under the new rate of 39.6 percent, his net would have been $18.12 million, or $4.52 million more than he was projected to collect in Macao. Follow the money. Arum always does. His Chinese venture looks to be an investment in the future. In time, maybe the money will be there. For now, however, it’s where it’s always been.

At 34, money is probably more important than ever for Pacquiao. He has just a more few opportunities to make the big bucks. Although confusing, the Filipino tax claim only adds a sense of urgency to the final stage in his career. In part, the tax controversy isn’t exactly a surprise. There has been anecdotal evidence for at least year that Pacquiao is under some financial pressure. There have always been stories about Pacquiao’s generosity. Arum openly joked about it. Then, worried about it.

Pacquiao gave it away to poor people on Filipino streets. Then, he spent lavishly on political campaigns for himself and wife Jinkee. In August 2013, he put his Los Angeles home up for sale at $2.7 million. A longtime associate, Wakee Salud, was quoted in Filipino media as saying that Pacquiao was going broke. For now, it’s impossible to know if he is. Or he isn’t. But the tax controversy is a sign that money will motivate him as much as it does Floyd Mayweather Jr., who has the “Money” nickname and more of it than anybody.

Maybe, money will finally make the Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown. Don’t bet on it. But if it ever does, don’t be surprised if the Filipino taxman is there, demanding most, if not all, of Pacquiao’ share in what could be $100-million fight.

While waiting to see if Brandon Rios’ first few punches will show Manny Pacquiao to be a shot fighter, it was nice to see the old Pacquiao personality still intact amid a fracas that had to make some Chinese nostalgic for the days when Chairman Mao banned boxing.

Pacquiao has always been so likable because he gets it when nobody else seems to.

Pacquiao was a peacemaker in public appearances not long after the opposing camps faced off like schoolyard bullies during recess a couple of days ago at the Venetian in Macao. He laughed at it. He asked everybody to forget the grudges and remember that they are engaged in sport. The Filipino Congressman might never be his country’s president. But he’d be a good diplomat. For years, he’s been an ambassador for a sport desperate for one.

Pacquiao wasn’t there for boxing’s latest assault on decorum. Too bad. If he had been, maybe the embarrassing incident, which grew out of a scheduling conflict, might not have played out, ad nauseam, on video that went viral. He might have told trainer Freddie Roach to leave it alone, to let the Rios camp have the gym for a few extra minutes. He might have talked Roach out of confronting Rios trainer Robert Garcia and mostly Alex Ariza, the conditioning coach and provocateur who moved from the Pacquiao corner to the Rios camp with no apologies, yet plenty of insults.

As it was, the racial epithets and vulgar threats made everybody look bad, other than perhaps Rios, who practiced some Switzerland-like neutrality as he stayed busy on an exercise machine while the noisy chaos played out in front of him.

That Rios didn’t get involved is reason to suspect that the drama wasn’t exactly spontaneous. Rios loves a good brawl, doesn’t he? But he remained a bystander, even when Ariza tried to drop-kick Roach. He was just part of an audience for a scuffle that provides an edge to HBO’s 24/7 and a potential boost for the network’s pay-per-view telecast Saturday (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from China. During the week of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, that might sound like just another conspiracy theory. But, hey, it makes as much sense as anything else on the grassy knoll.

After all, can somebody please explain why both camps were using the same gym? According to news reports and tourist brochures, the Venetian Macao is the biggest casino in the world. It covers 10,500,000 square feet, which makes it the sixth largest building in the world. That’s big enough to occupy a couple of zip codes. There are 3,000 suites and 1,200,000 square feet of convention space. But there’s no room for a second gym?

The hostility between Roach and Ariza isn’t exactly a secret, yet the shared gym put them on a collision course. When was the last time opposing camps used the same gym in Las Vegas during the week before a big fight at one of casinos on The Strip? It just doesn’t happen, yet for some unexplained reason it did in Macao.

From the Roach side of the confrontation, the flare-up might be a symptom of the unknown. There has to be some anxiety in not knowing whether Pacquiao will display any ill effects from getting knocked out so savagely last December by Juan Manuel Marquez. Roach has revised his prediction. Pacquiao by KO within four rounds instead of six, he said, after watching Pacquiao in training camp. But nobody can say for certain how he will react when that first Rios’ punch lands.

That uncertainty was the theme of a conference call with Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Tim Bradley.

“Rios needs to be very careful because I once was knocked out and I came back and won the title,’’ said Duran, who came back almost as dangerous as ever after Thomas Hearns knocked him out in 1984. “So, by no means can you count Manny Pacquiao out. He is a very dangerous fighter. Brandon Rios needs to be intelligent in the ring, protect himself at all times because he doesn’t know where these hits are coming from. Manny Pacquiao is not finished in my eyes and I still believe he is one of the world’s most dangerous fighters in the world.’’

Leonard, Duran’s old rival, has a different take. He thinks Rios should begin to test Pacquiao immediately in a quick attempt to test his mental state in his first fight since the KO.

“What Brandon Rios needs to do is not let Pacquiao forget about what took place in his last fight,’’ Leonard said. “Rios has to jump right on top of Pacquiao, because what happens is when you get knocked out in the fashion that Pacquiao was knocked out, it becomes like an Achilles heel. But if there is anyone that could block that out, Pacquiao is definitely the guy to do that. This fight depends on whose game plan, who dominates the other, takes control early in the fight.’’

So far, at least, Pacquiao looks to be as cool and confident as ever. The calm within the storm was still there a few days ago. His body language provides an interesting forecast, but not a reliable one for the moment when that storm moves into the ring.

It’s your turn, Andre Ward.

Ward’s comeback Saturday night in Ontario, Calif., against Edwin Rodriquez (HBO 10 p.m. ET/PT) is just the latest in a succession of Saturdays that sets the table for 2014 and perhaps beyond.

It started with Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight stoppage of Curtis Stevens on Nov. 2 in New York, continued with Mikey Garcia’s junior-lightweight knockout of Ramon Martinez on Nov. 9 in Corpus Christi, Tex., continues with Ward-Rodriguez at super-middleweight and reaches a peak on Nov. 23 with Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios at welterweight in Macao.

It’s an uninterrupted series at different weights, yet with a common story line that determines who belongs, who doesn’t, who’s hot, who’s shot and maybe somebody who can challenge Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s pound-for-pound supremacy.

Golovkin and Garcia did what they were supposed to. They are newcomers no more. With a mix of tactical skill, power and poise possessed by each, Golovkin and Garcia fought and won like the major players they figure to be in any of next year’s projected bouts.

Now, it’s up to Ward and then Pacquiao. Same goal, yet the roles differ from Golovkin and Garcia. Both Ward and Pacquiao aren’t emerging stars. Instead, they are fighting to prove that they still are one.

Ward, often listed second to Mayweather in the pound-for-pound debate, has enjoyed critical acclaim from the media throughout his unbeaten career, yet the customers aren’t listening. He’s not a draw, perhaps because he’s been sidelined by injuries, or poorly promoted by Dan Goossen, or unappreciated by modern fans who want more blood and bruises than defensive skill.

Ward, who will turn 30 on Feb. 23, faces an unbeaten Rodriguez in his first fight since undergoing surgery on his right shoulder 14 months ago. He tried to end his deal with Goossen, but lost in arbitration. Goossen is still with him. The guess in this corner is that his skill set is too.

But the burden of proof rests with his ability to win and win big against an unbeaten Rodriguez, who has enough power to make it dangerous in the early going. More than a year of inactivity might make Ward a little tentative in the opening rounds.

For Ward, the task is to get back into the conversation and perhaps generate some speculation about a fight with Golovkin. If not Golovkin, there is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A fight with Chavez Jr. might awaken Mexico’s loyal fans to Ward’s ability, often subtle, yet a lot easier to appreciate than anything seen lately in the erratic son of the Mexican legend.

Ward needs to create an audience. Pacquiao already has one.

Yet even it is nervous about who will show up on Nov. 23 in a bout that also represents the biggest step in promoter Bob Arum’s attempt to create a Chinese market. The last time we saw Pacquiao, he was face-down and unconscious from a crushing knockout by a right from Juan Manuel Marquez in December.

Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach and Arum are saying all of the right things. Knockouts happen. Pacqiao has looked as “brave” as ever in sparring, Roach said in a conference call from General Santos City, Pacquiao’s Filipino hometown, which was not affected by the devastating typhoon that hit other parts of the island nation.

Roach said he expects Pacquiao to knock out Rios within six rounds. But even he conceded he couldn’t be certain how Pacquiao will react until opening bell. Roach has only his own experience as a featherweight and lightweight. But it’s a reason for caution.

“To be honest with you, when I was knocked out for the first time, it changed my whole career, because I was never as brave as Manny,’’ Roach said. “I lost my self-confidence. But Manny is not like me. Manny is a realist and he accepts it. I know everybody doesn’t think the same way. But since he accepts it, it doesn’t bother him.”

If Roach’s confidence isn’t misplaced and the fearless, relentless Pacquiao is back, Roach would like to see a rematch in a fifth fight with Marquez.

“We wanted to fight Marquez but Marquez refused to fight us,’’ Roach said “We want Marquez one more time, yes. That’s the fight we want. Mayweather too, of course.’’

Of course, Mayweather hasn’t said anything about that renewed possibility. There are still a couple of Saturdays to go before he can really address that one.

AZ Notes
· Speaking of comebacks, remember Jose Benavidez Jr.? The unbeaten junior-welterweight (17-0, 13 KOs) from Phoenix is scheduled for his first fight in more than a year Saturday at the AVI Resort & Casino in Laughlin, Nev., on a televised card (Solo Boxeo on UniMas, 11 pm. ET/PT) featured by 140-pound contender Jose Felix (25-0-1, 20 KOs) against Santos Benavides (23-4-1, 17 KOs). Benavidez, who has undergone a couple of surgical procedures on a troublesome right hand, hasn’t fought since October, 2012 when he was rocked late in an 8-round victory by unanimous decision over Pavel Miranda. He’s scheduled for a six-rounder against Mexican Abraham Alvarez (16-4-1, 7 KOs) First bell is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

· Another Saturday night card (first bell 6 p.m.) is scheduled in Phoenix at Celebrity Theatre. Iron Boy Promotions has eight bouts planned. Phoenix junior-welterweight Juan Garcia (18-3, 7 KOs) is in the main against Rashad Ganaway (14-3-1, 9 KOs).

Affirmation and reclamation are on a loaded card Saturday night that is intriguing on several levels. There’s much to prove for Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan and even trainer Robert Garcia in Corpus Christi, Tex.

For Mikey Garcia, there’s the chance to affirm his ascendancy at a new weight against a tough Puerto Rican, junior-lightweight champion Ramon Martinez.

For Nonito Donaire, there’s the chance to reclaim his pound-for-pound credentials against old rival Vic Darchinyan, who for his own part is fighting to regain the aura that made him such a feared fighter.

For the busy Robert Garcia, there are a couple of chances to silence a few critics.

If that’s not enough, there’s a sense that the Top Rank card (HBO 9:30 p.m., ET/PT) is a chessboard full of potential moves that could determine who will be in position to claim Manny Pacquiao’s spot at the top of the marquee if he falls against Brandon Rios in a couple of weeks at Macao.

Start with Mikey Garcia. He’s in the main event, because of a promotional blueprint that has him ticketed for big things. Among them, there’s Fighter of the Year, a possibility that was addressed during a conference call Wednesday.

“I don’t look for that,’’ said Garcia, who possesses a tactical mastery and poise rivaled by perhaps only Gennady Golovkin. “That is something every writer and critic will have to decide on their own. I just try to win every fight and it has been a good year for me so far. I want to finish strong and maybe next year will be an even better year for me.’’

If all goes as well as expected against Martinez, indications are that it won’t be long before Garcia jumps to lightweight. He failed to make the featherweight mandatory, 126 pounds, in his last outing. Martinez gives him a chance to claim another acronym-sanctioned title in another weight against a fighter who never been knocked off his feet. His brother and trainer, Robert Garcia, hinted that a move from 130 to 135 is near.

“Moving up in weight – we should not have a problem but it is still not easy, said Robert Garcia, who will also train Donaire before he packs his bags and heads to Macao next week to work Rios’ corner. “It was hard to get down to 128, which was the weight he fought at last time. That was 128, so it wasn’t even the featherweight division and everybody had seen what Mikey went through to make that weight. One-thirty, hopefully he can make that weight but it won’t be that easy.’’

For Donaire, the trip to Corpus Christi comes on the heels of a rapid rise and quicker fall. A year ago, he was just a few months from being voted 2012’s Fight of the Year. Then, he lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps 2013’s Upset of the Year. He arrives in south Texas as a new dad and reunited with his father, who will assist Robert Garcia. Donaire’s dad was there, Nonito said, when he was at his fundamental best — a 2007 stoppage of Darchinyan.

Nonito looked at his young son and thought of his dad. If he was starting over, it only made sense to reunite with the father who was there for the beginning.

Darchinyan has his own ideas. He always does. Since his move into the bantamweight ranks, he’s not been the intimidating force he was as a flyweight. But the edge on his confidence is as sharp as ever.

“I think (Nonito) was exposed in his loss to Rigondeaux,’’ Darchinyan said. “He had a good year and was voted Fighter of the Year, but inside me I know – personally he is a good guy — but about skills and power, he should not be pound-for-pound.’’

Never at a loss for words, Darchinyan had more to say.

“I will stalk him,’’ he said. “It is not about him. It is about me. I have more skills and I have more power. If I am motivated against someone – all of my title fights – I am getting prepared for me. I am not getting prepared for my opponent. I am getting prepared for myself. I have prepared mentally. I know everything that he is going to do and I know everything that I am going to do. I just want to come and demolish him, that’s what I want.’’

There wasn’t much response from the soft-spoken Donaire about all that Darchinyan said. He might still be talking.
Donaire has things to do other than just listen to Darchinyan. Things like sleeping and eating. Still, it sets the stage for a fight with plenty at stake for each.

There’s that, too, for Robert Garcia. Garcia, also Marcos Maidana’s trainer for a Dec. 14 clash with Adrien Broner in San Antonio, was asked about Rios’ loss to Mike Alvarado in a March rematch and Donaire’s defeat to Rigondeaux in April.

“Everybody mentions those two losses that we had with Brandon Rios and Nonito Donaire,’’ he said “But nobody mentions that Mikey beat Orlando Salido, the best featherweight in the division at that time and beat him so easy. Nobody mentions Evgeny Gradovich who beat Billy Dib when he was the underdog and we had an upset. And Jesus Cuellar, who became a featherweight champion also. People just don’t want to remember that. Now we have very important fights coming up with Donaire, with Mikey, with Brandon, with Marcos Maidana – those fights are very dangerous.

“We are training to win the fights, not to please the media or the people that like to criticize our team. We are doing it to win, not to be mentioned among the best trainers in the world.

“We do it because we want to win.’’

On a rare night full of multiple opportunities to do just that, it’ll be interesting to see who walks away with the most say-so.

Manny Pacquiao’s larger-than-life persona is intact despite last year’s long fall to the canvas in a stunning reminder that nothing lasts forever. That much was evident a few days ago in a conference call with Brandon Rios.

One of the questions assumed that Pacquiao was bigger than Rios.

No, not now. Not ever.

“If you say that, your eyes are deceiving you,’’ Rios said.

Rios is right, of course. Look at the photos of the two, standing face to face, in news conferences announcing their fight on Nov. 23 in Macao. Rios, listed at 5 feet 8, looks down at Pacquiao, 5-6 ½, in every one of them. Yet in the public imagination, Pacquiao is the bigger guy. It’s a perception created by a celebrity that grew like a monument with dramatic victories that transformed the Filipino into an icon.

Over the last decade, maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been the better fighter, the pound-for-pound choice. But as a people’s champ, it’s Pacquiao. They look up to him, even when he was face-down from a crushing right delivered by Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

For Rios, Pacquiao’s enduring popularity is just one of many challenges, especially if the fight goes to the scorecards. It’s no secret that Pacquiao is the point man in promoter Bob Arum’s attempt to turn China into a boxing market. Pacquiao will be fighting in his home hemisphere. Calculate those odds and you get a pretty good idea why Timothy Bradley wouldn’t go to China for a rematch of his controversial decision over Pacquiao. If Bradley had a chance, he figured it wasn’t in the cards.

The assumption is that Rios-Pacquiao won’t be decided by judges, whose scoring has already made 2013 a controversial year. Rios is there because he’s supposed to make Pacquiao look good. Rios moves forward in the relentless style perfect for a dramatic Pacquiao stoppage. It’s what a comeback needs. It’s what a new market demands.

But there’s a caveat attached to that plot. Yeah, the Pacquiao we remember – the guy who beat Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto – makes short work of Rios. But the post-Marquez Pacquiao? It’s a question that has to make Arum very nervous.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether Marquez’ knockout punch will have lingering effects. It’s impossible to know until opening bell. In part, that’s why Pacquiao-Rios is the most intriguing fight of the year. But Marquez’ punch was just one among many over the last three years in Pacquiao’s career. Both Pacquiao and Rios say that anybody can get knocked out by a single blow.

The bigger question is whether there has been a cumulative effect from all of the punches Pacquiao endured in fights against bigger guys. The biggest came in one of Pacquiao’s signature victories, a unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito in November, 2010 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. All of the attention was in the way Pacquiao left Margarito’s right eye so horribly disfigured in what was supposed to be a junior-middleweight fight. But in beating Margarito, Pacquiao also took one in body blows from a fighter who outweighed him by nearly 20 pounds at opening bell.

In Pacquiao’s subsequent fights against Shane Mosley, Marquez in a second rematch and Bradley, there were signs of decline. His hands didn’t move quite as fast. Gone was the instinct to finish a hurt foe. Maybe, Marquez’ right hand in their fourth fight just confirmed what many had begun to see. Maybe, it was the final punctuation point to an ongoing narrative.

A lot has been made of Rios’ friendship with Margarito. Rios says he’s different than Margarito. Fair enough, but they are both brawlers and, in the end, that might serve Rios well. Rios is nothing if not tough. In the classic Mexican style, he takes punches to throw them. It would be no surprise if Pacquiao scores an early knockdown. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if Rios gets up, smiles through bloody teeth and begins to turn the bout into a brawl.

How does Pacquiao react then? Does he want another victory at the price of more punishment?

It’s then – and only then — when we’ll know whether Pacquiao is back or in fact finished by punches that preceded the single shot that took down a monument.

Google doesn’t know who the Italian was. It doesn’t say how old the proverb is. But I could only think that its wisdom is as current as ever in a battered business that these days could use a grandmother’s counsel, cooking and tough love. Call Kathy Garcia.

She’s 57, half Filipino, half Japanese, 100 percent American and thoroughly devoted to the boxers she manages. Boxing is still a mom-and-pop store at the Garcia home in Salinas, Calif., where Kathy manages income property from an office across the street from author John Steinbeck’s old house when she’s not managing fighters and playing with two grandkids, aged one and two.

These days, two of the fighters, middleweight Paul Mendez and junior-welterweight Darwin Price, share a room in her house, which includes a gym where husband Max and son Sam train them. Don’t be late for meals, turn off the cell phones at the dinner table and make sure you live within your weekly allowance. It’s hard to say no to Granma.

“If you can’t abide by the rules, you’re not for us and we’re not for you,’’ Kathy Garcia said of a family business that goes to work Monday night at the Sports House in Redwood City, Calif., on a Fox 1 televised card (10 p.m. ET/7p.m. PT) with Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) scheduled to fight Louis Rose (8-1, 2 KOs) of Lynwood, Calif., and Price (2-0, 2 KOs) against Omar Avelar (2-9, 1 KO) of Washington State.

Garcia’s rules-and-regs are part-and-parcel of any well-run household. But many fighters, often from broken homes, miss that part of the growing up process. Some seek it. Some don’t. Some rebel.

“Fighters come from tough backgrounds,’’ she said. “I’m not afraid of that. Truth is, what they really need is some love.’’

They get it, although sometimes their response can be a real heart-breaker. Garcia got involved boxing because of her husband’s interest in training.

“I only got involved in 1997,’’ said Garcia, whose father spent the World War II years in an American re-location camp because of his Japanese ancestry.

She watched the kids train and saw that many needed help in managing their affairs. Over the last 15 years, her role evolved into the manager of record for 10 fighters, including Jose Celaya, a junior-middleweight contender who nearly made the U.S. Olympic team for the 2000 Sydney Games. She also managed Eloy Perez, who was knocked last year by Adrien Broner

Celaya spent too much money, Garcia said. Perez tested positive for cocaine. Both broke her heart. But the toughest was Preston Freeman. Freeman had as much raw talent as any young fighter the Garcias had seen.

“He was a young Floyd Mayweather Jr., that kind of talent,’’ Kathy said.

But after going 3-0 as a junior welterweight under the Garcia guidance, the 20-year-old Freeman got homesick for St. Louis, which he left in an attempt to escape the mean streets of his old neighborhood. A younger brother had been filled there. So, too, had a friend.

“His mom told me, ‘Don’t let him come back. He’ll get killed,’ ‘’ Kathy said. “But I couldn’t change his mind. I tried, but he was going home no matter what. I couldn’t keep him here. I got him a ticket. Thirty-six hours after he left, he was gone.’’

Shot and killed in front of a night club at midnight on March 7, 2012.

“Devastating,’’ she said. “Three boxers have broken my heart, but Preston is the one I’ll never really get over.’’

Yet, Freeman’s memory lives on for a grandmother who sees boxing as an opportunity for other kids from tough places.

Mendez fights on. He and Freeman lived and trained at the Garcia house, ate at Kathy’s table. Price, Freeman’s cousin and a former track star at Grambling, arrived after the tragedy and moved into the room that Mendez had shared with Freeman. Families get rocked, but never knocked out.

“For me and Max, this is not about money,’’ she said. “We have other jobs. I mean, if our kids get $1,000 a fight, it’s a good night. We’re doing this to put these kids in a position for bigger fights and a chance to improve their lives.’’

Throughout her decade in boxing, she has witnessed an increasingly divisive business. It’s one that could learn a lot from her. Boxing’s promotional feud is no secret. It’s nowhere near an end either. The Golden Boy-Top Rank stand-off is this century’s version of the Cold War and at – at this rate – it’ll last just about as long.

“It’s in very difficult place right now,’’ she said. “The public doesn’t get the fights it wants to see because of this feud. Fans quit watching and that’s not good for anybody. The public knows Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But who else? I knew who Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and Muhammad Ali were in a time when I wasn’t involved in boxing at all. I just think if that if this feud could get settled, everybody would better off. It would create a better future for these young kids.’’

Maybe, it’s time for a Grandma Summit at Kathy Garcia’s dinner table. She might have a hard time telling Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum to turn off their cell phones. But they’d have a harder time saying no to her.

It’s probably just a scheduling coincidence, but the suggestion is there Saturday night in HBO’s decision to air its beautifully-done Legendary Nights: The Tale Of Gatti-Ward after the Mike Alvarado-Ruslan Provodnikov fight in Denver.

Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward stands alone. Their three-fight rivalry is called a classic because it can’t be duplicated. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) is smart enough not to promise one in junior-welterweight bout he knows will be challenging enough against Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs), who is already on the ballot for a Fight of the Year contender with his dramatic loss to Timothy Bradley in March. Classics are good for history. But they aren’t easy on careers.

“When I sit here and think about it, it’s kind of scary,’’ Alvarado said when asked about the Gatti-Ward parallel during a conference call. “Those dudes about killed each other. That’s a big step. Those are some big names to categorize ourselves with. It’s an honor to be in that kind of fight. We’ll see what happens. I am ready to perform and show greatness.’’

HBO’s documentary of Gatti and Ward, also junior-welterweights, is a poignant portrayal of two fighters who will be forever tied together by the violence they shared. They were Blood Brothers in the truest sense of the term.

“We could see in front of our eyes this bond starting to form,’’ ringside analyst and philosopher Larry Merchant says during the film. “It was a bond of pain and respect, and it couldn’t be written in a script. It had to be seen live; seen happening in front of our eyes.’’

Alvarado-Provonikov is scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m., ET/PT. The Ward-Gatti documentary will follow the bout, scheduled for 12 rounds. Other HBO dates for Ward-Gatti film are Oct. 21, Oct. 24, Oct. 26. Oct. 30 and Nov. 3.

NOTES
· One of the best lines in Ward-Gatti came from Kathy Duva, who promoted the late Gatti. “At one point, somebody said he was sort of boxing’s answer to The Grateful Dead,’’ she said. “You had this same group of people that kept coming over and over and over.’’

· Here’s a new guide for the pound-for-pound ratings: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t fight them, they should be ranked. That means Manny Pacquiao stays in this corner’s top five. Also, it probably means Bradley belongs there. After his victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, Bradley said he should be No. 3. He also said he wanted Mayweather. Don’t see that happening. Bradley’s tactical mastery makes him a problematic opponent, even for Mayweather, who probably wouldn’t fight a Top Rank boxer anyway.

· Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain’s sour grapes about Bradley’s split-decision at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center were insulting and more. They didn’t ring true. When Marquez agreed to the fight, Beristain told Mexican media that he didn’t like the bout. He said Bradley had the kind of style that always gave Marquez trouble. Beristain was right. Yet, he whined anyway. Give me a break.

· During an informal session with media members before Bradley-Marquez on Oct. 14, Gennady Golovkin said he would still like to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., despite Chavez’ messy performance and inability to make the contracted weight, 168 pounds, in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. The weight question is ballooning into issue that could knock Chavez off Golovkin’s list of possibilities. Golovkin says he’ll fight anybody between junior-middleweight (154) and super-middle (168). But he doesn’t want to fight a cruiserweight (200).

· And Top Rank has scheduled onetime Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr.,17-0 as a junior-welterweight, for a comeback on Nov. 16 in Laughlin, Nev. An opponent has yet to be determined. Benavidez hasn’t fought since he was rocked in a victory by unanimous decision over Pavel Miranda a year ago in Carson, Calif. It’ll be his first fight since undergoing further surgery on a troublesome right hand.

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley promised to be like the government. He wasn’t, thank goodness. There was no shutdown. There was only more of the same for Bradley, who can only get a unanimous decision for being a nice guy. His victories are always disputed.

Against Juan Manuel Marquez, the unbeaten Bradley got another one Saturday night at Thomas & Mack Center.

Another split decision. Another debate

What it all means for him and Marquez is hard to say. Let’s just say that, for now and perhaps for quite a while, their respective futures are as uncertain as, well, a split decision.

For Bradley, the narrow victory puts him first in line for a second shot at Manny Pacquiao, who lost to him on split scorecards in June 2012 in decision as contentious as any.

For Marquez, it means a lot of agonizing about judging and what to do next. During an interview in the middle of the ring moments after the scores were announced, Marquez said he was robbed. At 40, the great Mexican faces some serious contemplation about retirement.

Then again, grounds for a rematch were also there in the disagreement on the cards. Bradley was a 116-112 winner on Patricia Morse Jarman’s card. Robert Hoyle had it closer, 115-113, but still for Bradley. It was judge Glenn Feldman’s score, 115-113, for Marquez that will keep the pot stirring about who is next. What’s next.

Pacquiao will have a lot to say about that. More to the point, the real say rests with Brandon Rios on Nov. 23 in Macao, the Chinese re-creation of the Vegas Strip. A Rios’ upset of Pacquiao probably would mean a full-time job in politics for the Filipino Congressman and perhaps work as a ringside commentator for Marquez.

Only Bradley’s ring career is sure to continue. He has said he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. But Bradley’s promotional rights belong to Top Rank and Mayweather is represented by Golden Boy. In other words, there’s a better chance that Republicans will join Democrats for a few verses of Kumbaya than there is of a Top Rank-Golden Boy agreement on Mayweather-Bradley.

Then, there’s the whole issue of Bradley traveling to Macao, Pacquiao’s new home, for a rematch. Rios is fighting Pacquiao in Macao instead of him, because he said wouldn’t go to China.

With anger still lingering among Pacquiao’s Filipino fans about Bradley’s victory in that split decision more than a year ago, what are the chances of Bradley winning a rematch in Asia?

At least, there’s no debate about that one.

LAS VEGAS – The Juan Manuel Marquez-Timothy Bradley fight Saturday night is hard to predict. The weigh-in wasn’t.

Marquez and Bradley did the expected, both stepping onto the scale lighter than the welterweight’s mandatory limit, 147, pounds, Friday in an uneventful formality.

Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), the challenger and a slight favorite late Friday, was first to the scale. Amid chants from his Mexican fans at the Encore Theater at the Wynn hotel and casino, Marquez was 144.5 pounds, including a bright silver chain. If he had taken off that chain, he might have been a pound lighter.

Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), who holds the World Boxing Organization’s version of the welterweight title, didn’t have the chanting fans. But he brought a pound-and-half more to the scale than Marquez did. He weighed 146 pounds.

A lot has been said about Bradley possessing an advantage in size over Marquez, who is attempting to become the first Mexican to win titles at five different weights. On Friday, however, the difference appeared negligible. Both looked sculpted and without a hint of any struggle to make weight.

There had been some question about Bradley, who said the 147-pound weight was a difficult challenge before his bruising decision in March over Ruslan Provodnikov. But Bradley was at 148 pounds Thursday, according to his trainer, Joel Diaz.

The weight was no problem. That’s good thing, because Marquez will be in what figures to be one of Bradley’s toughest fights against one of boxing best tacticians. Bradley has sent out mixed signals as to what his strategy might be. Box or brawl? Marquez, a classic counter-puncher, says he’s prepared to do either. Conventional wisdom has Bradley scoring from the outside and never allowing Marquez to unleash the big punch that put Manny Pacquiao face down on the canvas in December.

Until opening bell in the HBO pay-per-view bout, Bradley’s plans are a guessing game. At least, the weigh-in wasn’t.

The pay-per-view portion of the card is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Nevada (9 p.m. in the East). The undercard features Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs), one of Mexico’s archetypical tough guys, against Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs), whose gay lifestyle has been the subject of more media attention than either Bradley or Marquez. Salido weighed 126 pounds, the featherweight limit. Cruz, who stepped onto the scale wearing rainbow-colored shorts, was a pound lighter at 125.

The televised undercard also includes amateur star Vasyl Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine. Lomachenko is making his pro debut in featherweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds against Jose Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) of Mexico. Lomachenko weighed in at 125 pounds. Ramirez was at 126.5

Timothy Bradley’s story, called a journey by some, can be summed up best by a poignant sight amid the outrage in the wake of his split-decision over Manny Pacquiao. He was in a wheel chair. History is littered with controversial decisions. But the winner confined to a wheelchair at the post-fight news conference? That had to be a first.

It’s an image of a fighter that the world tried to dislike, but just couldn’t. He wouldn’t let that happen. He’s stubborn and vulnerable, all at once. In, the end, he’ll be there, even if he can’t walk to get there. In that wheelchair with badly-injured feet and in front of a restless throng angry at his scorecard victory, Bradley was a defining example of author Ernest Hemingway’s description of courage:

Grace under pressure.

It’s a trait that figures to re-surface sometime Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center in a welterweight clash with Juan Manuel Marquez, a fight fan’s fight, which probably means the cross-over crowd fascinated with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s obsession with money won’t be watching HBO’s pay-per-view telecast. Too bad. On several levels, Bradley-Marquez ranks as the most compelling bout of the year.

Above all, they are just different personalities. An irony is that they share one thing in common: A victory over Pacquiao. It’s what ties them together. It’s the biggest reason they’re fighting each other. It’s also a reason to watch. Yet, their respective victories over the Filipino Congressman – Bradley by controversial scoring and Marquez by definitive knockout — are as different as they seem to be in so many other ways.

Marquez comes across as shrewd and calculating. There’s almost a manipulative manner to the patient counter-puncher, who waits on the other guy to make a critical mistake. In a game built in part on a good feint, it’s what makes him a great fighter and the favorite to beat Bradley.

Marquez’ agenda for the Bradley bout includes a title in a fifth weight class and a claim on No. 2 in Mexican history, second only to the revered Julio Cesar Chavez. That’s believable enough, especially in the wake of Canelo Alvarez’s one-sided loss to Mayweather and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s continuing exhibition of immaturity in a controversial decision over Brian Vera. Near the top of their favorite game, there’s a vacancy in Mexican hearts. A victory over Bradley would add to a Marquez resume that Mexicans would have to acknowledge and respect.

Harder to believe are Marquez’ comments that he’s done with Pacquiao. At 40, Marquez says he foresees a few more fights in his career. Wouldn’t one with Pacquiao have to be among them? A victory over Bradley would strengthen his leverage in negotiations for a fourth rematch with the Filipino, who faces a problematic challenge of his own on Nov. 23 against Brandon Rios in Macao, the Chinese re-creation of Vegas.

There were reports that Marquez asked for as much $20 million in initial talks for a fifth with Pacquiao. If Marquez finally wins over Mexico as its most popular fighter since Chavez Sr., Mexican demands for another Pacquiao fight will be there. Marquez can then say he’s doing only what his country wants and he’ll do it for $20-million-plus. It’s appears to be a calculated move that might prove brilliant. Like his opponent, Marquez will let the other guy, the Mexican fan, decide his next move.

Contrast that with Bradley. He doesn’t know how to sustain a fake. Can you imagine Marquez showing up anywhere in a wheel chair? Didn’t think so. But Bradley, perhaps honest to a fault, did so in the engaging style that was subsequently played out in his dramatic and dangerous victory over Ruslan Provodnikov in March. In a conference call, Bradley was forthright in discussing the concussion he suffered. He said he saw physicians in New York, Las Vegas and New York. It’s a possible vulnerability. It’s one that Marquez will surely target. It’s also one that makes Bradley engaging and so likable. He’s fearless about who he is. Perhaps even foolish. We’ll see.

But his comments about fighting Marquez more for pride than money ring true. Bradley’s guarantee for Marquez is $4.1 million, according to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. His guarantee for Pacquiao was $5 million. More was there in the potential purse for a Pacquiao rematch, promoter Bob Arum said. But Bradley said no, in part, because he didn’t want to fight Pacquiao in China.

It was an honest assessment of his chances in Asia, Pacquiao’s home hemisphere, where anger at the Las Vegas decision in June 2012 lingers.

Honesty doesn’t always win. It’s not the way to bet either. But it’s worth a few cheers. The guess here is that they will be there Saturday night. Bradley has fought for them. Earned them too.

Nobody pays to see judges at ringside with scorecard in one hand and pencil in the other. But it’s the judges, not the fighters, who are dominating talk in a way that can’t be good for business.

Debatable scorecards are part of the game. And, sometimes, the subsequent controversy is even good for it. If the public is arguing, it’s interested. But a succession of lousy decisions and inexplicable scoring is an ominous trend.

In the messy wake of judge C.J. Ross’ 114-114 score for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s brilliance in overwhelming Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas and Brian Vera’s unanimously controversial loss on the cards to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., in Carson, Calif., there is angst about what might happen Saturday in the Miguel Cotto-Delvin Rodriquez fight in Orlando, Fla., and the Wladimir Kitschko-Alexander Povetkin bout in Moscow.

Attention on whether Freddie Roach can revive Cotto’s career and Klitschko’s chase of Joe Louis’ record of 25 successive title defenses has been obscured by questions that shouldn’t matter. But they do, now more than ever. It was even there Tuesday during a conference call with Timothy Bradley for what should be the best in boxing’s Octoberfest against Juan Manuel Marquez on Oct. 12 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

Worried about the judges?

“There is always a concern,’’ Bradley trainer Joel Diaz said. “This is boxing, and at the end of the day, what’s going to happen is going to happen. Tim is a very elusive fighter and has great speed and great footwork. If it’s up to the judges, we hope they do their job.’’

Good luck on that.

Too many scores just don’t add up any more. The fighters, themselves, can settle it before the decision falls into the judges’ unreliable hands. The knockout is what separates boxing from figure skating or American Idol.

Amid warnings about long-term damage from concussions, however, fewer fights figure to end in a definitive stoppage. Mayweather’s defensive mastery has allowed him to elude punishment and fight on in career that has turned him into the world’s highest-earning athlete.

Mayweather, the self-proclaimed face of the battered game, has more decisions than scars. For Mayweather, there’s been unprecedented wealth in the cards. Young fighters are bound to follow his example.

Even for Mayweather, there was a scare when Ross’ bizarre score was the first of three announced in his majority decision over Canelo. It also was a sure sign that scorecard arithmetic can make just about anybody feel as if they just had their pocket picked. Ask Vera.

Controversy over Chavez Jr.-Vera might lead to a rematch. Vera promoter Artie Pelullo said preliminary talks are
underway, possibly for Dec. 7 or Dec. 14 in Texas, Vera’s home state.

There’s been no word from Chavez Jr. on whether he’d agree to one. However, Pelullo said Wednesday that Chavez Jr. is under pressure from Mexican fans to fight Vera a second time. Chavez Jr.’s popularity in Mexico is at stake, Pelullo said during a conference call.

Pelullo suggested that there will be a rematch because Mexico is holding Chavez Jr. accountable.

Holding judges accountable, however, is a different issue. After reported complaints from Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Ross took a leave of absence. If there were any consequences for the Chavez-Vera scores in California, they have yet to be disclosed.

Without accountability, the controversies will continue in Nevada or California or Texas or Florida or Moscow, Pelullo said.

An enforcement of standards and discipline, however, isn’t free. Despite all the screaming about what state commissions and regulatory agencies should do, few real solutions have been offered.

Here’s one suggestion:

Boxing is trying to get drug use under control. After some early controversy, Dr. Margaret Goodman’s VADA, an outside testing agency, has become part of a process accepted by the fighters. It’s not perfect. But it’s a beginning.

Can’t a similar agency under the control of retired judges be created? Give it the authority to review a commission’s assignment of referees. Let it put together a policy of standards and ethics. It would cost money, which means a percentage of the total purse split by fighters and promoters. It’s a fee, another one that would anger Top Rank and Golden Boy and anybody else with an investment in the game.

Without one, however, there might not be a much of purse left for anyone to split.

Put a pair of boxing gloves on Peter Pan and you’ve got Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A man-child, emphasis on the child.

The real fight for Chavez Jr. is whether he ever grows up. It’s a question that has begun to take on urgency as he enters his late 20s after a series of exasperating, often embarrassing missteps that leave doubt about whether he cares about his craft or his dad’s legacy.

Anybody who has met Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KOs) knows him to be likable. There’s an adolescent charm about him. He’ll make you laugh, unlike his feared dad, the proto-typical hard man whose meltdown stare could make you look over your shoulder in search for a quick exit to safety. Like him or not, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was a serious guy. Through 48 fights, his son isn’t.

That might begin to change Saturday night against Bryan Vera (23-6, 14 KOs) at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., in an HBO-televised bout. But it’ll take more than just one fight for Chavez Jr. to get beyond a reputation that only got worse last September in his loss to Sergio Martinez.

There was his bizarre training camp, conducted mostly at a Las Vegas home in early-morning workouts. Then, there were 11 one-sided rounds, all in favor of Martinez, before a wild 12th that saw Chavez Jr. suddenly wake up with a ferocious knockdown of Martinez. Chavez Jr. nearly stole the fight with a knockout. It made you wonder what he might have accomplished with some real roadwork instead of a few laps around the couch in the living room of that comfortable Vegas’ rental. Then, there was the subsequent news that Chavez Jr. had tested positive for marijuana. Ah-ha, everyone joked. No wonder he didn’t start working out until about 1 a.m., what with the midnight munchies and all.

For his promoter Bob Arum and loyal cadre of Mexican fans, that dramatic 12th is the flash of brilliance that illuminated his potential. It represented what he could be. But maturity is about staying power. And that’s what has yet to be seen from a very nice kid, yet one seemingly without the requisite accountability that comes with being a grown-up pro.

He says the right things. In a conference call Tuesday, Chavez Jr. said he accepted responsibility for his failed drug test, which initially led to a controversial $900,000 fine levied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. After Arum took the bully pulpit and condemned the size of the fine, it was reduced to $100,000. Even that seems a little high by today’s standards, laws and PEDs. Voters in Colorado and Washington made pot legal in their respective states. It’s not as if Chavez Jr. tested positive for HGH, EPO or some other chemical acronym. A positive test for marijuana doesn’t put him in Lance Armstrong’s league. Pot is about as much a performance-enhancer as a bacon cheeseburger. Still, it was also a sure sign that his mind wasn’t on the fury he was about to encounter against the disciplined Martinez.

With the inevitable question Tuesday about Chavez Jr.’s positive drug-test, Arum was back on the bully pulpit.

“I want to go on record as saying that there is nothing wrong with smoking pot,’’ Arum said. “There is nothing wrong with marijuana.’’

Colorado and Washington voters agree with Arum, always candid and quick to confront an issue. In some ways, perhaps, Arum is expressing how public opinion on pot has changed over the last 10 to 15 years. Bill Clinton didn’t inhale; Barack Obama did. But Arum might regret the timing of this one. He’s got a fighter who needs to grow up.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t need another excuse to train the way he wants, eat what he wants, or smoke a joint whenever he gets the urge. Excuses are enablers, which have proven to be Chavez Jr.’s toughest opponents.

Even for Vera, there are troubling signs of some of the same. Vera is tough, but lacks the talent so often evident in Chavez Jr. Chavez’ struggle to make weight has led to a reported agreement, –173 pounds instead of the junior-middleweight’s 168 — and 10 rounds instead of 12. It looms as another excuse, a way for Chavez to slip through another loophole that has allowed him to avoid accountability and prevented him for reaching his potential.

In the art of match-making, Top Rank has been brilliant with Chavez Jr., who didn’t start with the bedrock of fundamental skill learned over an amateur career. It has moved him carefully and against opponents who have allowed to him to display power and instinct.

Yet, there’s still an unresolved challenge: Himself, his own immaturity.

If he can’t win that one, does Top Rank or anybody else think he has a chance against Gennady Golovkin, or Andre Ward, or even Canelo Alvarez?

Didn’t think so.