Hype, inevitable as it is dangerous, accompanies Devon Alexander into the ring Saturday against Lucas Mattysse as ally or enemy.

Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs) can use it the way Victor Ortiz did against Andre Berto. For Ortiz, hype became a motivational resource that dramatically restored public credibility and personal confidence. Or Alexander can allow it to intimidate and metastasize, a paralyzing foe powerful enough to leave LeBron James a quarter short and empty every time.

Mattysse’s proven power makes him dangerous, yet it’s hard to believe he would be considered much of a threat if Alexander was not coming off his first defeat. A loss in January to Timothy Bradley tagged Alexander with the kind of criticism that haunted Ortiz after losing to Marcos Maidana, like Mattysse (28-1, 26 KOs) an Argentine junior-welterweight.

Like Ortiz in the wake of Maidana, Alexander’s character was questioned for an apparent surrender in a 10th-round technical decision brought on by a cut Alexander suffered in a head butt.

“People want to criticize everything you do,’’ said Alexander, who went on to say that Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Barack Obama face criticism. “It’s part of the territory. I didn’t read anything after the fight. I just stayed to myself. I knew there was going to be criticism. I just stayed away from it and blocked it all out. I know what I’m capable of doing in the ring and it only motivated me to get back in the gym and get back on top. So it didn’t affect me at all.’’

But criticism comes from all angles and from just about anywhere. One day, it’s on the internet. The next day, it’s in a question during a conference call. It’s there, everywhere, meaning it’s impossible to ignore and a mistake not to use. Eventually, Ortiz did.

During a conference call about 10 days before Saturday’s HBO-televised bout in St. Louis, both Alexander and his trainer, Kevin Cunningham, sounded as if they have acknowledged the questions and taken ownership of the implied lessons.

“I lay the blame on Devon and me and that’s where it should be laid,’’ Cunningham said “When you don’t go out and do what you’re capable of doing, you are going to get criticized. I accept the criticism, he accepts the criticism and we accept full responsibility for coming up short in a great opportunity that was before us.

“But I’m telling you we won’t come up short on June 25, and I believe this fight is going to be a lot tougher fight than the Bradley fight.

Hype portraying Alexander as boxing’s next legend was a factor in the loss to Bradley. It either deluded him, or allowed him to grow so overconfident he cut corners. Whatever it was, he promises there will be no repeat.

“It was all me and what I didn’t do,’’ Alexander said. “…I have to stay focused, no matter how high the stakes are or how low the stakes are. You have to stay focused and follow the game plan.’’

A plan that also includes judicious use of everything there, even the hype.

NOTES, QUOTES
• While wondering whether Mayweather will ever fight Pacquiao and if Mexicans will one day witness Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-versus-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., here’s a question: How is it that fellow Argentines Matthysse and Maidana, both junior-welterweights, have never fought? Matthysse-Maidana sounds as if would do big business at soccer stadium in Buenos Aires.

• With temperatures reaching 110-degrees, the Phoenix market continues to heat up with two cards in July. A couple of weeks after Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) faces Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs) of Maryland at the Suns downtown home at US Airways Center on July 8, former light-heavyweight Rico Hoye makes a comeback at heavyweight at Madison Event Center on July 22 on a card promoted by Michelle Rosado of Face II Face Events.

• And German Felix Sturm has no second thoughts about fighting in the U.S. Sturm hasn’t fought in the U.S. since he was robbed of a decision over Oscar De La Hoya in 2004 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “No, I’m ready,’’ Sturm said.” I’m always ready to come back to the U.S. …I’m not scared to come back there.’’ Sturm (35-2-1, 15 KOs) defends his World Boxing Association version of the 160-pound title Saturday against Matthew Macklin (28-2, 19 KOs) Saturday in a Cologne bout televised by EPIX.

Introductions were fun, yet cosmetic. Saul Alvarez knows that.

“People won’t follow you just because of the red hair,’’ said Alvarez, the red-headed Pied Piper for a new generation of Mexicans looking for the nation’s next big star.

The search for substance — grit that will be there even after the red goes gray — takes an early, yet significant turn Saturday night in Alvarez’ first defense of his World Boxing Council junior-middleweight title against Ryan Rhodes at Vicente Fernandez’ rodeo arena on the singer’s ranch near Guadalajara.

Alvarez rapid rise is little bit like the nickname, Canelo, which has been attached to him like one of his freckles. Cinnamon is a good condiment to have around for special occasions. But it’s not dinner. Where’s the beef? No single, definitive answer figures to come out of the bout against Rhodes. It is just the beginning of one.

Against undersized Matthew Hatton there was only an opportunity for Alvarez (36-0-1, 26 KOs) to win his first major title. He did, winning a decision. His inability to stop Hatton, however, put the substance question at the top of the menu.

“I’m nothing like Mathew Hatton,’’ Rhodes (45-4, 31 KOs) said in a conference call when confronted by questions that implied a similarity between the UK fighters.

Reasons are plentiful to think Rhodes has no chance. He has never fought in the United States, much less Mexico. Without a knockout, it’s hard to see how Rhodes can score an upset in Alvarez hometown.

“It is a little bit of an issue, but I believe I’m mature enough to handle it,’’ the 34-year-old Rhodes said.

Maybe big enough, too.

On the scale, at least, Rhodes won’t be at a disadvantage. He’s been at or near the 154-pound weight throughout his 16-year career. For Hatton, Alvarez failed to make the catch weight, 150 pounds. He was nearly two pounds heavier than the negotiated mandatory. At fight time, Hatton, a welterweight, was probably two divisions lighter than Alvarez, who looked like a middleweight.

Against Rhodes, Alvarez won’t have that hefty advantage. Rhodes, listed as a lefthander yet able to switch, promises to have equal power, which offers an intriguing glimpse at how Alvarez will respond. Alvarez’ debut in the U.S. against Jose Miguel Cotto in May 2010 introduced the question that will be there at opening bell Saturday on HBO’s Boxing After Dark. Cotto, a welterweight, had Alvarez in trouble in the second round.

Alvarez survived. He went on to win a ninth-round TKO, but the victory planted the question: What might have happened if those second-round punches had been delivered by a bigger man?

Against Rhodes, an answer looms in perhaps the first of many that will determine whether Alvarez is more than just another carrot top.

Where’s the Sulaiman protest?

While the Fernandez arena was being prepared for Saturday night’s bout, the legendary Mexican singer was in Phoenix last weekend for a show. He also was target of demonstrators opposed to Arizona’s controversial immigration legislation, SB 1070. Protesters chanted and sang outside of US Airways Center while Fernandez performed within the NBA arena.

Immigrant activists are asking for an Arizona boycott until the legislation is revoked. No word on whether WBC chieftan Jose Sulaiman plans to suspend Fernandez from singing. Sulaiman issued a ban on Mexicans fighting in Arizona. He threatened to suspend three who fought in Tucson last summer.

If Sulaiman was serious about his over-the-top decree, he’d demonstrate outside of the Fernandez arena Saturday. But there are no sanctioning fees in protest songs. Instead, Sulaiman figures to be at ringside, singing Fernandez praises while collecting the WBC cut for its sanction of the title fight.
Notes, quotes

· The Phoenix City Council honoured super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales Tuesday in a proclamation that cited his community involvement with kids and the needy during the last several weeks. Gonzales has participated in fund raisers, spoken to kids and just been the overall good guy everybody has known since he undertook his Phoenix comeback with a victory in late March. Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) faces Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs) of Maryland on July 8 at US Airways Center.

· And the unforgettable Roberto Duran celebrated a milestone Thursday. He turned 60. He has always been among boxing’s most compelling and entertaining personalities. A few years ago, he told me and 15 rounds colleague Bart Barry that he might still be fighting if not for injuries sustained in an auto accident in Argentina. Duran recalls the moment when he knew he wouldn’t fight anymore. He woke up and saw a circular light, the kind often seen in the ceiling of a hospital room. But Duran thought he had already passed on, into the after-life. “I saw the light and started yelling, “I made it, I made it,’ ‘’ Duran said. “Then, a hand grabbed my arm. It was a patient in the next bed. The guy tells me: ‘Not yet, not yet.’ ‘’ Have a Happy, Roberto.

PHOENIX — The right wrist was hurting. The left knuckle was bruised. The fight was painful. But the homecoming was sweet. Jose Benavidez Jr. made sure of it.

Benavidez (12-0, 11 KOs) overcame injuries to both hands and turned his hometown pro debut into a knockout, a fourth-round stoppage Saturday night of well-traveled Corey Alarcon (14-18-1, 4 KOs) at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino.

“I actually met with my doctor a couple of weeks ago about the injury to my right wrist and he told me that maybe I should postpone this fight,’’ Benavidez said. “I told him ‘No way.’

“I’ve been waiting too long for this.’’

Benavidez said he had not been able to use his right hand in training at all since he suffered an apparent strain to the wrist in a victory in early May on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s unanimous decision over Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.

“I didn’t throw it at all tonight,’’ Benavidez said.

Actually, he threw it at least once. Once was enough. A right hand behind Benavidez’ stinging, precise jab knocked down Alarcon, of Denver, for a second time in the fourth. Seconds later, referee Bobby Ferrara had seen enough after Alarcon stumbled backwards. Ferrara stopped it, a TKO, at 1:02 of the round.

The big knuckle on Benavidez left hand was scarred and swollen perhaps because that was the only hand he could throw throughout training. He relied on it for three-plus rounds, with shots that echoed throughout the small theater-like arena and rocked Alarcon’s head repeatedly. No telling what the 19-year-old Benavidez could have done – and might do – with two good hands.

Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler was happy with what he saw in the junior-welterweight prospect, who signed with Bob Arum’s promotional company as a 17-year-old.

“We wanted to see what Jose could do when he was under some real pressure,’’ Trampler said. “This was his homecoming. I thought he was little tight in the dressing room before opening bell. But, yeah, I think he delivered. I really do.’’

Trampler said he will wait a few days, perhaps as long as a week, to see how Benavidez’ hands are before Top Rank thinks about time, place and opponent for his next bout.

Best of the undercard: Call it a draw. Phoenix super-bantamweights Emilio Garcia (2-0-1, 1 KOs) and Alexis Santiago (8-0-1, 2 KOs), emerging rivals, each fought their way to unanimous decisions, Garcia beating Buddy Holly look-alike Eric Henson (0-1) of Albuquerque in a four-rounder and Santiago over Carlos Luque (2-7) of Mexico in a six-rounder.

Garcia displayed resilience after scoring a couple of knockdowns with a succession of body punches in the first round. Santiago had to adjust and rely on his agile footwork in the face of stubborn pressure from a bloodied Luque.

Garcia-versus-Santiago is inevitable in a can’t-miss fight for a Phoenix promoter trying to sell tickets.

The rest: Phoenix junior-middleweight Juanito Gonzalez (2-0, 1 KO) won a unanimous decision over Mexican Moses Alvizo (0-3); New Orleans middleweight Justin Williams (3-3-1, 2 KOs) upset Mexican Jovan Munoz (12-2, 5 KOs) in a third-round stoppage; and Mexican lightweight Oscar Meza (22-4, 18 KOs) won a third TKO over mismatched Kelly Wright (4-8) of St. Louis.

PHOENIX — Junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. looked at the scale and saw a familiar number Friday at the formal weigh-in for his homecoming Saturday night against Corey Alarcon at Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino in suburban Chandler.

Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs) was at the junior welterweight limit, 140 pounds, for six-round bout that had been scheduled for 143 to 144 pounds.

“A big suprise,” said the 19-year-old Benavidez, who will fight for the first time as a pro in his home state after signing with Top Rank as a 17-year-old. “I expected to be at 144. That’s what happens when you give up soda pop.”

Benavidez gave up soft drinks as part of a renewed commitment to boxing in the wake of a disappointing victory by decision in January. It was the first fight that was decided on the scorecards instead of by stoppage for the lanky, athletic Benavidez.

Alarcon (14-17-1, 4 KOs) was at 144.5 pounds. An Arizona State Boxing Commission official said it will license Alarcon, an experienced Denver fighter who came off a 60-day suspension on June 1. Alarcon lost a TKO in his last bout. The suspension was automatic. The 33-year-old Alarcon’s record includes losses to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Rocky Juarez. He also won a bout against Victor Ortiz by disqualification.

FULL WEIGHTS BY PHIL SOTO

6 RDS Welterweight
Jose Benavidez (11-0, 10KOs) 140 lbs
VS
Corey Alarcon (14-17-1 4 KOs) 144.5 lbs

6 RDS Lightweight
Oscar Meza (21-4-3 17KOs) 139.5 lbs
Vs
Kelly Wright (4-7). 139.5 lbs

6 RDS Middleweight
Jovan Munoz ( 11-1-1 4KOs) 160 lbs
Vs
Justin Williams (2-3 1 1KO) 160 lbs

4RDS Light Middleweight
Juan Gonzales (1-0 1KO) 152.5 lbs
Vs
Moses Alvizo (0-2 ) 150 lbs

4RDS Super Bantamweight
Emilo Garcia (1-0-1 1KO) 123.5 lbs
Vs
Eric Henson – Debut 123.5 lbs

4RDS Super Bantamweight
Alexis Santiago (7-0-1 2KOs) 122 lbs
Vs
Carlos Luque (2-6 ) 123 lbs

PHOENIX – It’s a line as old as a jab. It’s about going home. It says that you can’t. But Jose Benavidez, Jr., can look around and know that he can.

Benavidez was there a few days ago, surrounded by bags that Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Kostya Tszyu and Floyd Mayweather Jr. used to hit. Central Boxing’s rebuilt walls are covered by aging posters that recall fights involving Tyson, Chavez, Tszyu, Mayweather and others.

They’ve passed through, moved on. Tyson, Chavez and Tszyu will be inducted Sunday to the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. The old gym near Arizona’s state capitol has always been a good training stop. But never home, at least not until Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs).

Benavidez grew up there, learned how to throw a long, quick jab there. One day, he might become its identity. A clue at his chances should begin to unfold Saturday night when he finally makes his home-state as a pro at Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb, Saturday night, against well-traveled Corey Alarcon (14-17-1 4 KOs), a 33-year-old veteran from Denver who expects to be licensed Friday by the Arizona State Boxing Commission at a formal weigh-in.

“It’s been something like three years since I’ve even fought in my hometown and that’s when I was an amateur,’’ said Benavidez, who will appear in his first main event on a seven-fight card scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. (PST). “I’ve been wanting to do this for such a long time.’’

There was lot of attention on Benavidez after he first joined Top Rank as a 17-year-old junior-welterweight prospect. YouTube video of him sparring with Amir Kahn at famed trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles got a lot of people talking. Then, there were quick and efficient stoppages in his first few fights. For a young talent, nothing goes awry in the early days.

But Benavidez has been at a plateau lately. First, he left the Wild Card amid internet speculation about problems between Benavidez trainer-and-dad, Jose Sr., and Roach, who is already busy with Manny Pacquiao, Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

“No, that was just people talking, making stuff up,’’ Benavidez said. “I still talk to Freddie Roach. We’re friendly. The last time I talked to him he told me to use more lateral movement and throw more punches from angles.’’

Whatever happened at Roach’s Wild Card Gym, Benavidez and his dad came home, confronted by adjustments. There was some disappointment in February with Benavidez’ first fight that didn’t end with him winning by stoppage. Instead, he scored a six-round, unanimous decision over Fernando Rodriquez on Jan. 22.

In that frustration, however, there was renewed commitment. Benavidez, still only 19, changed his diet. No more soda pop.

“No more trouble making weight either,’’ said Benavidez, a junior-welterweight who has agreed to fight the 33-year-old Alarcon at 143-144 pounds in a bout scheduled for six rounds.

No more doubts about where he belongs either.

First, there is the task of establishing his Phoenix identity. His pro debut in his hometown was delayed by controversy over Arizona’s immigration legislation, SB 1070. A Phoenix card featuring Benavidez a year ago was canceled when TV-Azteca, a Mexican network, and beer sponsor Tecate told Top Rank that they didn’t want to do business in the state.

But Benavidez knew that eventually business would bring him home. In California, Nevada and Texas, Phoenix was always there in red stitching on the waistband of his trunks

“During the next couple of years, I see us fighting six, seven times a year with maybe two a year in Phoenix,’’ said Jose Sr., who foresees his son reaching his prime as a junior middleweight. “Coming home to fight is kind of a new stage in his career.’’

Inevitable, too.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.-versus-Victor Ortiz: Tune-up or tease?

The tune-up, of course, is a widely-held interpretation of Mayweather’s Twitter-delivered announcement that he’ll fight Ortiz on Sept. 17. Mayweather can’t go to the corner convenience store without speculation about whether he’s closer to fighting Manny Pacquiao.

The Ortiz bout is full of reasons to guess Mayweather is once again moving in that direction. Top among them is that Ortiz is a left-hander, making him the perfect vehicle for a test flight before a showdown with the left-handed Filipino Congressman.

I’d like to believe it. I really would. But the guess here is that Mayweather is more interested in a payday than Pacquiao.

Anybody who calls himself Money needs a lot of it to live up to the nickname. By the time Mayweather answers an opening bell against Ortiz, 17 months will have come and gone since he collected a guaranteed $22.5 million for a decision over Shane Mosley.

His bills over that time are only a guesstimate, but if a reported $3.4 million debt to the Internal Revenue Service and betting slips are the fire, lots of cash has been going up in smoke. Mayweather proudly displayed a winning wager for $37,725.75 on a NBA bet in the last tweet that got him any attention. I didn’t see any losing slips in his tweet Tuesday about Ortiz. But I’m betting they are there.

Add to that, there are undisclosed legal bills. He faces four felonies and four misdemeanor charges for an alleged domestic abuse incident with his former girlfriend and mother of his kids. A preliminary hearing in Las Vegas is scheduled for Oct. 20.

Then, there are two misdemeanor assault charges for alleged incidents with security guards. One case is scheduled for trial on Sept.1, also in Las Vegas.

In Ortiz, the shrewd Mayweather has again calculated that he can earn the most money for the least risk. Ortiz won over a lot of fans with his gritty victory Andre Berto. Ortiz is an emerging star, which means he’ll generate pay-for-view business. But he looks to be a fight or two away from being able to contend with the accomplished Mayweather. If Berto could find openings to knock down Ortiz twice, the precise Mayweather figures to find many.

Ortiz will have some apparent advantages, including Mayweather’s long layoff and potential distractions that will force him to divide time and energy between court and gym.

Then, there’s age. At 24, Ortiz is 10 years younger than the 34-year-old Mayweather. Ortiz also won’t surrender any of the size that left Juan Manuel Marquez with no chance in a loss to Mayweather, who looked as if he was at least 160 pounds when he entered the ring after refusing to step on the scales for HBO. Ortiz was reported to be at 165 pounds on the night he beat Berto in a welterweight bout.

Yeah, Ortiz has a few chances. But his skills have yet to mature into the kind of threat that can upset the clever and careful Mayweather.

There’s speculation that Mayweather won’t fight Pacquiao until, or if, the Filipino gets old. Turn that theory upside down, and you might have a reason for facing Ortiz now: Mayweather is fighting Ortiz before he gets better.

If talk about Pacquiao helps sell the fight and thereby generate a bigger cut of the pay-per-view revenue, Mayweather won’t stop it. He’ll play along in another tease that will keep him out of debt and undefeated.
Remembering Genaro Hernandez

Genaro Hernandez lost his fight to cancer Tuesday with the quiet dignity and unshakeable courage that characterized him in and out of the ring.

“He was so damn brave,’’ said longtime publicist Bill Caplan, who accompanied Hernandez, nicknamed Chicanito, on eight trips to and from Houston for treatment during the last few years. “The cancer was in submission, but on the fifth or sixth trip to Houston it was back. Gernaro never complained. Never.
“Through it all, he was as gutsy as he ever was in the ring.’’

Caplan remembered Hernandez’ fight with Azumah Nelson in 1997 in Corpus Christi, Tex. Hernandez was leading on the scorecards when he was hit in the throat after the bell ending the seventh round. Referee Laurence Cole threatened to disqualify Nelson, who held the World Boxing Council’s super-featherweight title.

“If Genaro had stayed on the canvas, he would have won the fight,’’ Caplan recalled. “But he told Cole that he didn’t want Nelson to lose that way. He asked that the fight continue. Cole said OK. Genaro won a split decision.

“I’ve seen a lot of things, but never anything that noble.’’

Caplan started sobbing. He couldn’t say anything more. He didn’t have to.

Funeral services are scheduled for Monday, 11 a.m. (PST), at Resurrection Church, 3324 Opal Street in East Los Angeles. Hernandez was 45.

NOTES ON A SCORECARD
· Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez and Kostya Tszyu will be formally inducted to the Boxing Hall of Fame Sunday in Canastota, N.Y. Here’s hoping the ceremonies will include a Genaro Hernandez memorial.

· Instead of Jobing.com, an NHL Arena, in Glendale, Ariz., super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales’ next fight, scheduled for July 8 against Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs) of Maryland, has been moved to U.S. Airways Center, the Suns home, in downtown Phoenix. That means Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) returns to the scene of his only defeat, a loss by eighth-round stoppage to Jose Luis Zertuche in 2005. Gonzales has long wanted to avenge the loss to Zertuche. It doesn’t look as if he’ll get that chance, but he can alter a record in the only place he’s never been a winner.

PHOENIX – Phoenix junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. learned Wednesday that he is scheduled to fight well-traveled Corey Alarcon Saturday night at Chandler’s Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in Benavidez’ home-state debut as a pro.

“He’s the most experienced guy I’ve been in against, no doubt,’’ said the unbeaten Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs), who turned 19 a few weeks ago.

The 33-year-old Alarcon (14-17-1, 4 KOs) still has to be licensed by the Arizona State Boxing Commission. The official weigh-in is scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. (PST) at Native New Yorker in Westgate Center in Glendale.

Alarcon, who suffered stoppages in his last two bouts, isn’t new to Phoenix. He lost a second-round TKO to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2005 on a night when Chavez’ legendary dad saw his career end in a loss to Nebraska car salesman Grover Wiley at U.S. Airways Center.

Alarcon’s experience also includes a 2001 loss to Rocky Juarez and a 2005 victory by disqualification over Victor Ortiz, who was declared the loser after he knocked down Alarcon for a second time while the referee was trying to separate them.

Benavidez, considered the best Arizona prospect since Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal and super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales, has been anxious to fight at home since Top Rank signed him as a 17-year-old. His professional debut in Arizona was canceled a year ago because of controversy over the state’s immigration legislation, SB1070.

Benavidez and Alarcon have agreed to fight at 143-144 pounds in a six-round main event on a seven-fight card scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. (PST), according to Gerry Truax of Showdown Promotions.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., says he wants to create his own history, which means he will try to re-write a chapter as old as any in the family business.

Fathers fight so their sons don’t have to. Name the profession and you’ll probably find some version of that collective wisdom, passed down from one scarred generation to the next. My dad was a career soldier, a veteran of combat in World War II, Vietnam and conflicts in between.

He fought, survived and left me with a comfortable life. Yet, there was always this tug, the wonder at what the old man had done and endured. Should I have followed him into harm’s way? For me, it’s a question without an answer. I can only say thanks, dad.

For Chavez (42-0-1, 30 KOs), however, there is the determined pursuit of more than just mere speculation. The answer remains unpredictable. The only sure answer is danger, although maybe not against light-hitting German Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KOs) Saturday night at Los Angeles’ Staples Center in an HBO-televised bout for the World Boxing Council’s version of the middleweight title.

But it will surely be there if Sergio Martinez or Miguel Cotto is next for Junior. I admire him for the attempt, especially under the crushing inheritance of a name that is royalty in Mexico. His dad, J.C. Superstar, was – still is — the battered face of an often angry fighter who was easy to like only in the ring.

The dad’s unblinking eyes, dark as flint, provide a glimpse at a heart of larceny. Translation: Julio Cesar Chavez, Sr., would steal the other guy’s heart and often did. Junior didn’t inherit that look, which is one part generous and another part world-weary, unlike his dad’s mix of contempt and single-minded purpose.

Junior’s father grew up seeing only an incoming punch. Thanks to how his dad countered, Junior saw wealth, comfort and – above all – options. Yet, he chose the difficult, perhaps impossible, path.

“To me, it is something that I love to do,’’ said Chavez, who hopes to become Mexico’s first middleweight with a major title. “I grew up in boxing. All my life, I saw how good boxing was to my father and I always wanted to be part of it, somehow, some way.

“I want to make a name for myself. I am very hungry to do something in this world, to be someone in this world and I think boxing has given me the opportunity to do so. I am just as hungry as any other guy and I want to win a world title just like any other boxer.’’

Junior’s relationship with his legendary dad has been complicated. In addition to impossible yet inescapable expectations that come with the name, there have been his father’s substance-abuse problems.

It’s no secret that the senior Julio has been in-and-out of rehab in Guadalajara. A couple of years ago, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum didn’t even mention the dad when introducing Junior at an undercard news conference for a Las Vegas card featuring Manny Pacquiao.

The omission wasn’t a mistake. It was intended, Arum said then. The son, apparently exasperated that his dad had fallen off the wagon, didn’t want to talk about him a couple of days before a fight. It looks as if father and son have moved on since then and found new ground on which to rebuild a fractured relationship.

“People are human and everything happens for a reason,’’ Junior said in a conference call. “I saw a lot of things with my father in my lifetime and obviously I think I am prepared to handle anything that comes my way. I am also human and you never know what is going to happen. You just try to do the best you can, not only in the ring but in your life.’’

Above all, repaired relationship is a chance to move beyond history and toward a story that the son hopes is his. It’s a sign that Junior is step closer to maturity. There’s also trainer Freddie Roach, a teacher who is turning into a father-like figure himself. Junior enters the ring with Roach in his corner for the third time. Initial results were promising with a victory over John Duddy last June. They were less so with a ho-hum performance in a decision over Billy Lyell in January.

“I actually expect a much better performance,’’ Roach said when asked about the victory over Duddy. “We had a much better training camp for this fight. We had great sparring.’’

In Junior, Roach says he sees an attentive student who knows the ring as if he had grown up in it. Delete the if. Junior did grow up in it. Growing up in it, however, is different than conquering it.

Despite the three ropes, four corners, two stools and canvas, he grew up in a place dictated by his dad’s defiant toughness. He can make it his, but only with his style and personality, both of which are a fight with Martinez or Cotto from maturing into an identity that makes him his own man.

Only then can we quit calling him Junior.

LATE LOOK AT THE TAPE
Showtime sent a preview to the media of a moment before the 10th-round of Shane Mosley’s loss to Pacquiao. The network plans to show it Saturday before the Super Six tournament semi-final between Carl Froch and Glen Johnson in Atlantic City.

In it, Mosley wants to quit, which is what he essentially did anyway after he was knocked down in the third. He pleads with trainer Naazim Richardson to throw in the towel, saying he can’t move. Richardson won’t let him. Richardson urges him on.

There are questions about whether Richardson or the Nevada State Athletic Commission should have stopped it at that point. A stoppage would have done the fans a favor. In the end, however, Richardson did Mosley a favor. At least, Mosley can point to his record and say that he didn’t quit on the stool.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Golden Boy’s apology to Pacquiao for allegedly linking him to performance-enhancing drugs marks an end to the defamation suit that was at the root of the rancorous split with Top Rank. It’s a relief, but not much of a surprise. Top Rank and Golden Boy were leaving too much money on the table with fights left undone by the feud. That said, the truce is also a message to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who along with his uncle and dad are still being sued. The promoters are moving forward and perhaps beyond the Mayweather-Pacquiao possibility, which has held the business hostage.

· There’s a buzz building in Phoenix about 19-year-old junior-middleweight Juanito Gonzalez, who turned his pro debut on May 28 in Parker, Ariz., into some quick work with a first-round TKO of Anthony Garcia (0-1), also of Phoenix. Garcia is scheduled to fight on a June 11 card featuring junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs) in his home-state debut as a pro at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in suburban Chandler.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Confidence, too often a bully’s mask or manufactured by insecurity, can sometimes be genuine. Thanks, Carl Froch. From Froch, it sounds like the real thing.

The British super-middleweight spoke during an international conference call Wednesday about his Super Six semifinal on June 4 against Glen Johnson with the self-assured tone of somebody certain of his destination. The scheduled 12 rounds on Showtime might prove to be bumpy, but Froch made it sound as if his victory was one segment in a longer trip. So buckle-up and enjoy the flight.

I’m not sure that Johnson won’t have plenty to say about where all of this is headed. For about 30 minutes, however, Froch had me convinced that it would end with him against Andre Ward in the finale of the longest tournament since the Thirty Years War.

The inevitable question was Ward, who already has secured his spot in the championship of the 168-pound tourney with his victory over Arthur Abraham. Froch could have passed on the question, of course. But he didn’t. I suspect the taciturn Ward would have, saying he would not think beyond the task at hand. But if the long view includes a destination that Froch sees as inevitable, hesitation could be interpreted as doubt. Froch has none.

“He’s got some skills,’’ Froch said, almost as if he knew he would be asked about Ward. “He’s an Olympic gold medalist, but having that doesn’t win world titles all the time and we’ve seen that recently. These top amateurs don’t always make top pros.

“He’s obviously won some great fights and he beat Mikkel Kessler. …But other than that, if you look at his record, I haven’t been too impressed with him as far as who he’s fought or how he’s won. Ward’s definitely a threat and someone I have to take seriously.

“But I know I can beat Ward. One thing he’s lacking is punching power. And that’s a big factor.”

Between him and Ward, there is Johnson, although Froch would have preferred Kessler, who accounts for his only loss.

“I would have rather fought Mikkel Kessler just purely for the revenge,” Froch said. “I’m a warrior myself. It’s a big thing for me to have lost that fight against Mikkel Kessler, because I’m serious about this business and that blemish on my record. I’d love to get that corrected before I retire. Someday after I hang them up, I want to be able to say I lost that decision to Kessler, but I won it back, that I avenged that defeat.’’

Froch voiced some deserved respect for Johnson, whom he called a war horse. At 42, however, Froch believes Johnson, a veteran light-heavyweight, will weaken himself in the battle to make weight.

“Going down to super-middle at his age is brutal,’’ Froch said.

Froch’s confidence also is rooted in a Johnson style that he believes will suit him. Johnson, he says, will be there, in front of him.

“The one thing about Glen Johnson is I don’t think I’ll have to go looking for him,’’ Froch said. “ I don’t think he’s going to be on his back foot looking to jab and pick me off. He doesn’t have the speed or the skill to match me. So, he’s going to come straight ahead.

“…I don’t think it would be wise for him to sit in front of me for too long. If he walks into me, he’s going to be taking on some shots. We’ll see how much the referee thinks he can take. It’s going to be brutal, if he keeps walking forward and taking shots.’’

Johnson scoffs at what Froch says of his style. Johnson says he is no Arthur Abraham, whom Froch defeated in the Super Six quarterfinals.

“People seem to think Abraham and I have a similar style,’’ he said. “We don’t. It’s not a valid comparison. That tells me that Carl Froch is not doing his homework. He’s in for a world of hurt.’’

Johnson also finds motivation in any talk about his age.

“I actually get excited when people mention my age, focus on my age,’’ Johnson said. “That means they are not focused on my skills and what I bring to the table.”

Johnson watched 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins win one against age with his historical victory for a light-heavyweight title in a unanimous decision over Jean Pascal. If Hopkins is Daddy Time Sr., Johnson has to be Father Time Jr.

For now.

If the Froch clock strikes with the inevitability he promises, that Jr. will soon turn into a Former.

Moving plans
Talks about moving Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales’ next fight, rescheduled for July 8, against Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs), to the Coyotes’ NHL home, Jobbing.com Arena, in Glendale, Ariz., are underway. Gonzales’ second bout in a hometown comeback had been set for early June at Celebrity Theatre in central Phoenix. But the date was rescheduled, in part because Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) needed more healing time for a cut suffered in a victory over Dhafir Smith on May 18.

The likely move to Jobbing.com might be the first of many for boxing as arena operators and the cities that own them scramble to fill dates that could be left vacant by NFL and NBA work stoppages.

Glendale has been embroiled in a protracted and expensive battle to keep the Coyotes from leaving for Canada. The Phoenix suburb faces an even deeper financial hit if the Cardinals don’t play at nearby University of Phoenix Stadium because of the ongoing standoff between NFL owners and players, who are arguing about lot more money than Manny Pacquiao has ever made.

If NFL millionaires can’t agree on how to divvy up billions, there’s been talk that the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito rematch could wind up at one of the league’s empty arenas, possibly Giants Stadium.
Notes, Quotes

· Any thoughts about a Margarito-Cotto rematch were on hold because Margarito had yet to heal from the nasty eye injury suffered in the one-sided loss to Pacquiao in Dallas last November. But hopes for a sequel to Margarito’s stunning upset of Cotto in 2008 were revived on May 19 when Margarito underwent cataract surgery.

· Just a guess, but former Eagles and current Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb probably wasn’t one of the 1.8 million who watched the HBO telecast of Hopkins-Pascal.

· Watching the sad spectacle of Roy Jones Jr. suffering a devastating, dangerous knockout at the unknown hands of Denis Lebedev in Moscow left me wondering when we’ll hear about plans for Jones-versus-Evander Holyfield.

· Surprising news about Oscar De La Hoya in rehab is an indication that maybe there was something to rumors he was considering a comeback. There had to be frustration in discovering he just couldn’t fight anymore. De La Hoya might have tried to drown his disappointment in substance abuse. He isn’t the first and won’t be the last, but he has already scored a victory in acknowledging the problem. Here’s wishing him the best.

Bernard Hopkins’ diet apparently has never included a single potato chip or one of George Foreman’s cheeseburgers. Meanwhile, Jean Pascal sounds as if he has his own suspicions about what might be in the Hopkins diet. I’m only certain of one ingredient that Hopkins consumes morning, noon, night and every hour in between.

It’s defiance, a Hopkins’ preservative.

Hopkins finds it everywhere in his quest for the ages. Pascal seems to be a nice enough guy, but he unwittingly provided Hopkins with just enough of that age-old element when he suggested some sort of enhanced drug testing before their light-heavyweight rematch in an HBO televised bout fight Saturday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre. For Pascal, it was the rhetorical equivalent of Michael Moorer walking into a Foreman punch on that long-ago night when Foreman, then 45, became the oldest man to win a heavyweight championship.

Pascal gave Hopkins just enough of that defiant anger to prove them all wrong all over again. Hopkins finds it, manufactures it, anyway. But Pascal just made it a lot easier for Hopkins to seize on slights, imagined or real, which have driven him to maintain discipline that, at 46, could make him the oldest ever to claim a major title.

Hopkins has a chance at history, in part because he understands that a fight begins on the day it is announced. He has worked that psychological angle tirelessly, shamelessly and more effectively than anyone throughout a career that spans at least a couple of generations. Pascal, a Haitian-turned Canadian, was on a grade-school playground at about the time that Hopkins turned the trash-talk trade into a tactic. He was a 5-year-old when Hopkins made his pro debut in 1988. In other words, Pascal has only a learner’s permit in a game that Hopkins has long been a master

Ever since Pascal suggested drug- testing and Hopkins countered angrily in a predictably over-the-top tone, Pascal has been back-pedaling. A big step backward came during a conference call a week ago.
“I don’t think Bernard’s cheating,’’ said Pascal, who escaped 12 rounds against Hopkins with a majority-draw last December. “I said that at the press conference.’’

Then, Pascal said he told Hopkins: “Bernard, I know you’re a clean fighter.”

According to Pascal, Hopkins responded by saying: “Who am I to ask him that?”

Pascal says he wasn’t trying to offend Hopkins.

“I wasn’t going to be disrespectful,’’ he said. “ I just wanted to make sure that the fans’ voices were heard, to let them know that we participate in a clean sport. That’s it.’’

But in going politically-correct, Pascal’s implication was that the fans’ voices have included questions about performance-enhancing drugs. It’s slippery slope. Excellence in any sport these days includes questions about PEDs. From Tiger Woods to Manny Pacquiao, everybody hears them. Hopkins is hardly immune.

But for Pascal to raise the question just isn’t smart, especially when Hopkins is standing there. Above all, it just says that Pascal doesn’t know much about his opponent’s calculating, predatory nature. Hopkins’ vitriolic hyperbole included this shameless sales pitch: “Don’t be surprised if I kill him.’’

Weeks later, Pascal laughed at that one. He also dismissed the possibility of a defamation lawsuit from Hopkins, who implied that might be on the agenda after Saturday night’s closing bell.

“That just makes me laugh, because if he wants to sue me, I will file a complaint because he said he’s going to kill me,’’ Pascal said. “… He’s trying to make me quiet. But, that won’t work. I’m going to bark like a dog.’’
That’s exactly what Hopkins wants to hear.

Joe Calzaghe had it right. In December of 2007, Calzaghe quietly stood by and watched Hopkins taunt him as “a white boy” in a crowded press room in Las Vegas. A few months later, Calzaghe proceeded to beat him on the scorecards. Calzaghe didn’t leave many opportunities for Hopkins to nurture the defiance that has sustained him.

The talented Pascal, still a student, must not have been paying attention. He’ll pay for that inattention. The backpedaling that started in a conference call will continue in the later rounds Saturday night. Look for Hopkins to win a unanimous decision in a defiant, record-setting victory that will whip a younger man and – for now – the oldest one of all, Father Time.

Fight fans, an endangered species, will applaud if Golden Boy Promotions does not match Top Rank’s offer to Juan Manuel Marquez, thereby ensuring a Marquez-Manny Pacquiao trilogy. For Pacquiao, it makes sense, which is another way of saying that Floyd Mayweather Jr. never does. It’s also fair to Marquez, whose draw and controversial loss by split decision in two bouts with Pacquiao provide him claiming rights on a third shot at the Filipino Congressman

But this is boxing, which is to say that common sense and fair play are about as endangered as those fans. CBS/Showtime is interested only in the potential numbers. Before Paquiao’s one-sided decision over Shane Mosley, they looked promising. In the aftermath, not so much.

The fine print in sportscaster James Brown’s apology for pre-fight hype about a rejuvenated Mosley has to include a warning that the network won’t be so quick to buy into any Pacquiao opponent other than Mayweather.

That pretty much leaves the business exactly where it was before Bob Arum dumped HBO and pay-per-view’s gilded cage for what Arum calls terrestrial television. Whatever it is, it’s still subterranean for boxing.

Marquez, a consummate pro, is well-known in Mexico. Yet his popularity lags behind emerging star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr, the crown prince of Mexican boxing. Marquez has neither Alvarez’ red hair nor Chavez’ legendary name. He only fights with a style that has given Pacquiao fits. But ask the so-called casual U.S. fan about him and they’re likely to answer with a question: Juan Manuel Who?

During the week before Mosley failed to deliver on the promised drama at Las Vegas MGM Grand, there were sources close to Pacquiao who said Marquez worried the Filipino more than any fighter. For Pacquiao, Marquez might be what Ken Norton was to Muhammad Ali. There’s always somebody out there who can beat you. In Marquez, Pacquiao has an opponent who specializes in counter-punching and has figured out how to time his counters with uncanny precision.

A couple of days before opening bell last Saturday, Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson said he had detected a vulnerability in a Pacquiao assault that includes a high volume of punches from unusual angles. The secret might be in the geometry. If there is form or function or repetition to any one of Pacquiao’s angles, there might be an opportunity to time a counter. Richardson could have seen it, but Mosley couldn’t capitalize because he lacked either the will or had lost the ability or a combination of both.

Perhaps, Marquez and trainer Nacho Beristain saw the flaw before Richardson or anyone else. They were able to implement an effective counter when Marquez was younger and fighting Pacquiao at a lighter weight, first at 126 pounds in 2004 and again at 130 in 2008. But youth and weight are the issues.

If Golden Boy passes on the right to match Top Rank’s offer, Marquez-Pacquiao III is projected for Nov. 12, or more than three months after Marquez turns 38. If a bigger Mosley at 39 had no chance against Pacquiao, it’s fair to wonder whether a smaller Marquez at 38 would fare much better.

Then there’s the weight, potentially a bigger issue. The agreement calls for a fight at 144 pounds. It’s called a catch weight, but it could be a gotcha clause.

Pacquiao, who has the legs of a middleweight, has become more and more comfortable at 140-plus pounds since he moved up the scale for his stunning stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya in 2008. He was at 142 for De La Hoya, 144 ½ for Antonio Margarito, 145 ¾ for Joshua Clottey, 144 for Miguel Cotto and 145 for Mosley.

Compare that to Marquez, whose experience at more than 140 pounds is limited to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2009. That’s when the Mexican was 142 pounds and looked about as mobile as a 1965 Chevy, stripped of its tires and left to rust on cinder blocks. Marquez’ one-sided loss by decision to Mayweather was as devoid of drama as Mosley’s weary walkabout against Pacquiao.

A fight? Maybe.

Yeah, Marquez could make it a good one.

But the toughest fight figures to be the sales pitch.

Back at home
Jose Benavidez Jr. was the featured attraction Wednesday at a news conference for his pro debut in his hometown, Phoenix, on June 11 at Wild Horse Casino in suburban Chandler. Arizona’s immigration controversy has kept Benavidez on the road since Top Rank signed him as a 17 year-old.

“It’s been like three years since I fought in front of family and friends,’’ said Benavidez, who is 12-0 as a junior-welterweight after a fifth-round stoppage of James Hope on the Pacquiao-Mosley undercard.

Benavidez’ long-awaited homecoming represents a second stage in his development. It’s a chance for him to create a hometown identity. For the last couple of years, he’s been a fighter without one, although he has been wearing Phoenix on his waistband of his trunk since he turned pro.

Benavidez, who will be 19 when he makes his homecoming, says he still has a lot to learn. On the Pacquiao-Mosley undercard, he sometimes stood too upright, although his jab continued to work with punishing proficiency. The lanky, athletic Benavidez often looks as if he has some of the same physical components of the late Diego Corrales.

“He was my favorite fighter,’’ said Benavidez, who was kid when he saw Corrales for the first time in a loss to Mayweather. “It’s just an honor to even hear my name mentioned in any comparison to Corrales.’’
Notes, Quotes

• Bernard Hopkins has never been afraid to throw race into the argument. But a slur directed at former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, now of the Redskins, is offensive. Hopkins attacked McNabb’s upbringing in suburban Chicago. “He’s got a suntan, that’s all,’’ Hopkins told reporters at his Philadelphia gym while selling his May 21 rematch with Jean Pascal in Montreal. I guess that means Hopkins must not think much of Barack Obama either. President Obama grew up privileged in Honolulu where he went to Punahou, an expensive, predominantly-white prep school. Hopkins’ slur reminds me of Fernando Vargas, who insulted De La Hoya’s roots by saying he failed to fight with the courage of a true Mexican. Ridiculous.

• Andre Ward, who might become a potential Hopkins opponent if he wins the Super Six tournament, figures to beat Arthur Abraham in the 168-pound semifinal in Carson, Calif., in a Showtime-televised bout. Ward likes to say he stays motivated by slights, real or imagined. There might some unspoken motivation for him against Abraham, who hurt his friend and 2004 Olympic teammate, Andrew Dirrell, in March 2010. That’s when Abraham hit and hurt Dirrell when Dirrell was down. Dirrell, who won the bout via disqualification, hasn’t fought since.

• And here’s another fight I guess we’ll never see because of the Top Rank-Golden Boy feud: Heavyweight and former Michigan State linebacker Seth Mitchell against Baltimore Ravens safety and former North Dame star Tommy Zbikowski. Zbikowski is a Top Rank fighter. Mitchell, scheduled for a bout Friday night against Evans Quinn in Primm, Nev., is with Golden Boy. Zbikowski-Mitchell would be a natural on the night before a Michigan State-Notre Dame game.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – For Manny Pacquiao, there is only more waiting and more speculating about Floyd Mayweather, Jr. For Shane Mosley, there are boos.

Other than hype and some good rock-and-roll in the fighter’s parade to the ring before opening bell, not much else happened Saturday night at the MGM Grand. Then again, it was exactly what many had expected when the welterweight fight was announced four months ago.

It was a mismatch. Pacquiao was too good. Mosley was shot. The decision was more than unanimous. It was Pacquiao in a rout on scorecards that couldn’t add up the potential damage to Mosley’s reputation. On Glenn Trowbridges’ card, it was 119-108. Dave Moretti scored it 120-108. On Duane Ford’s card, it was 120-107. Mosley must have got points for tripping while he backpedaled, hopefully into retirement.

Mosley came into the ring with his knockout promise put into pounding lyrics by LL Cool J. But the rapper might have had a better chance at a stoppage. Pacquiao followed with Eye of The Tiger. He didn’t need the eye. He need some Tiger balm for cramps in his left leg that trainer Freddie Roach said limited his ability to land a knockout punch.

There were a lot of misses Saturday, other than perhaps the driver who rear-ended Pacquiao’s vehicle in a reported minor mishap while he was returning from a mid-day church service. As it turned out, Pacquiao’s vehicle wound up with more damage than he did.

“I wasn’t going to take risks,’’ said Mosley, whose only chance at an upset seemed to be in taking a least a few.

The first round was hard to judge. Perhaps, it was even, because both Pacquiao and Mosley were equally cautious. Pacquiao landed a couple shots to the body. Mosley scored with a right hand and an uppercut. If there was a surprise, it was Pacquiao’s immediate aggressiveness.

Conventional wisdom seemed to dictate that the Filipino Congressman would wait for a few rounds, first to avoid Mosley’s power and then to test his 39-year old legs. But nothing about Pacquaio has ever been conventional. If the opening round was a scouting mission, it was successful. Pacquiao quickly detected an opportunity, a Mosley vulnerability.

Pacquaio almost seemed to leap off his stool to begin the second round. The Pac-man pace, an exhausting race for fallen challengers, was underway. It quickly produced a left-right combination from Pacquiao and there was a sting-of-things-to-come in a foreboding look from Mosley.

In the third, the sting turned deadly. A Pacquiao left dropped Mosley and left those same eyes spinning like errant dice on the nearby tables in the MGM casino. In the face of Pacquiao’s relentless pursuit, Mosley had thrown it into reverse in an attempt to survive. He did so, but there will be price to pay in terms of reputation from a public that expected a desperate last stand.

Wary and weary, Mosley pulled himself up and off the canvas like a man a lot closer to retirement than his prime. He wasn’t the younger fighter he had promised to be. Instead, he was the shell of the Hall of Famer many had suspected he was. Broken promises mean consequences and for Mosley that meant the booing had begun. It continued through the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, when Mosley said he suffered a blister on one foot.

In the eighth, there were finally some cheers. A couple of Mosley rights rocked Pacquiao, who said he began to suffer leg cramps in the fourth. In the 10th, Mosley was credited with a knockdown by referee Kenny Bayless. But on a night when Mosley didn’t deserve much, he didn’t deserve that either. He stepped on Pacquiao’s right foot while pushing the Filipino down with his left hand.

“He is fast and strong,” said Pacquiao, a politician and diplomat who was expected to collect more than $20 million for a forgettable bout that included a $6 million guarantee for Mosley.

But Mosley isn’t Mayweather, who is the only fighter on this planet that anybody other than Juan Manuel Marquez wants to see in the ring against Pacquiao.

“I leave it up to my promoters,’’ Pacquiao said. “But I’m satisfied with my career, with what I’ve done, no matter what happens with Mayweather.’’

Pacquiao has said that before and might again. On this night, however, there was not much else he could say.

Jorge Arce’s nickname is Trevieso. It means Mischievious

. The mischief continues.

Arce (57-6-2, 44 KOs) stunned a younger Wilfredo Vazquez (20-1-1, 17KOs), forcing him to surrender his WBO super-bantamweight title in the 12th and final round Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

The 31-year-old Arce looked as if he was in trouble after suffering a knockdown from a Vazquez left in the final second of the fourth round. Both Arce’s energy and mischief looked as if they had been exhausted. But plenty of both was left in an Arce career that found new life.

Early in the 11th, Arce knocked Vazquez into the ropes, hurting him with a lunging right hand. At the end of the round, Vazquez’ corner men helped the stumbling and dazed Puerto Rican to his corner. But they couldn’t save him. After 55 seconds of a sustained fury in undefended blows from Arce, Vazquez’ corner stepped onto the ring’s apron, stopping a fight, that was a majority draw on the scorecards after the 11th.

Mike Alvarado (30-0, 22 KOs) continued to put himself back into the middle of the junior-welterweight debate. At least, there won’t be much debate from Ray Narh (25-2, 21 KOs). In the first fight on Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast, Narh quit after three rounds of punishment from Alvarado, a Denver fighter who has the city’s 303 area code tattooed across his chest.

The Showtime telecast was about to begin, but the network first had to wait for Filipino flyweight Rodel Model to finish. He almost didn’t. Model (28-5-2, 21 KOs) held on for a majority decision over Javier Gallo (17-4-1, 9 KOs) of Tijuana. It looked as if Model would win by a stoppage in the fifth. But he began to tire over the next five rounds. Judge C.J. Ross scored it a draw, 95-95. But it was one-sided on the other two cards. Both Lisa Giampa and Jerry Roth scored it, 98-92, for Mayol.

It was Jose Benavidez Jr.’s turn in the third fight on the non-televised portion of the Showtime card. Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs), an 18-year-old junior-welterweight from Phoenix, scored a fifth-round TKO of James Hope (6-8-1, 4 KOs) of Rock Hill, S.C. Benavidez, scheduled for his hometown debut on June 11, landed head-rocking combos throughout the first four rounds, yet was not able to knock down Hope, whose nickname could have been “No.” In the fifth, a couple of undefended body shots were enough for referee Russell Mora to end it at 1:43 of the round.

In the second fight, Canadian junior-welterweight Pier Oliver Cote (16-0, 11 KOs) got in some target practice en route to a fourth-round technical knockout of Aristeo Ambriz (15-2-1,8 KOs of Azusa, Calif. Ambriz was virtually finished in the third when a right hand from Cote dropped him, leaving stretched across the canvas like a blanket. In the fourth, referee Tony Weeks stepped in for a predictable, merciful stoppage.

The biggest crowd at MGM’s Grand Garden Arena was in the ring several hours before Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley were supposed to take center stage Saturday.

Karl Dargan, Randy Arrellin and referee Vic Drakulich were there, surrounded by ropes and rows of empty seats.

In the end, the place belonged to only Dargan.

The unbeaten Philadelphia lightweight (9-0, 4 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Arrellin (8-5, 4 KOs) in the opening bout on the Pacquiao-Mosley card. With Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson in his corner, Dargan employed his superior reach and power to win all of the rounds on two scorecards and five of six on the third.

Richardson’s work day started early. It began before even the arrival of Mosley or Pacquiao, who reportedly was involved in an auto mishap after leaving church service in Vegas hours before the card.
Arce dethrones Vazquez Jr in a war

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Freddie Roach will try to put America’s Olympic boxing back on the gold standard.
USA Boxing and Roach announced Saturday morning that the Hall of Fame trainer will help select and train the U.S. team for the 2012 London Games.

“It’s a little embarrassing for America right now,’’ Roach said about 12 hours before working Manny Pacquiao’s corner in a welterweight title fight against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand. “We’ve got to change that. We’ve got to bring some gold back to this country.’’

U.S. boxers failed to win gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The Americans left China with one medal, a bronze by heavyweight Deontay Wilder. The last American gold medalist was unbeaten super-middleweight Andre Ward at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Roach was offered $75,000 to work with the U.S. team, according to his agent Nick Khan. But Roach gave the money back to the United States Olympic Committee, Khan said.

The Roach-USA Boxing partnership will include Olympic training at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. Roach is expected to share the training duties with U.S. National coach Joe Zanders.

Over the last three Olympics, the U.S. team has been plagued by politics and turmoil, including interference from fathers and personal coaches. The American fighters listened more to them than they did to coaches on American staff. Roach said he will attempt to work with everybody.

“I want everybody to learn and maybe I can learn something,’’ said Roach, who plans to travel to amateur tournament whenever possible.

Roach said he was first approached by Pacquiao about coaching the Filipino team for the London Games.
“But I’m an American,’’ Roach said. “I asked to work with the American team.’’

LAS VEGAS – The scales tipped in favor of Shane Mosley by three pounds. The noise meter favored Manny Pacquiao by untold decibels, all deafening. The odds grow, but never really change. They always add up to Pacquiao.

From news conferences to introductions to the official weigh-in, all of the preliminary rituals have gone as expected, almost as if they have been rehearsed and the roles pre-determined. But Pacquiao-Mosley Saturday night in Showtime-televised fight at the MGM Grand isn’t a movie script or a Broadway play.

It’s a fistfight, which means the real chance at drama lurks in the unforeseen. Maybe, it’s there in Mosley’s power or Pacquaio’s aggressiveness, or a twisted knee, or twist of fate.

But if there’s a buzz for this welterweight clash, there also are things that make you stop and wonder at a betting line that has grown faster than the national debt. It was 6 ½-to-1 on Wednesday, 8-to-1 on Thursday and 9-1 on Friday, all for Pacquiao. If you believe the line, Congressman Pacquiao (53-3-2. 38 KOs) is about to win in a landslide, or at least bury Mosley (46-6-1-1, 39 KOs) in one.

It’s been abundantly clear for weeks that Mosley (46-6-1-1, 39 KOs) doesn’t believe in any of it. If anything, he’s bemused by it when the media asks and perhaps motivated by it when the camera crews aren’t around.

“I’m confident I’m going to win,’’ Mosley told broadcaster James Brown and a crowd of about 6,000 after he was at 147 pounds, the welterweight limit, three more than Pacquiao, who was at 144 after he stripped off a bright yellow shirt emblazoned by a red heart.

A reason for his confidence is rooted in what Pacquiao himself has done. For at least the last couple of fights, distractions have followed Pacquiao the way an entourage used to collect around Mike Tyson. But those distractions have been pushed into the background in training for Mosley. Pacquiao put them aside, almost as if he knew he knew he couldn’t let them get in the way of a fighter who looms as a much bigger challenge than Antonio Margarito or Joshua Clottey ever did.

A refocused Pacquiao can be interpreted in a number of ways. Call it concern. Call it worry. Call it the look of an athlete who is happy to be away from the daily grind of duties in the Filipino Congress. Whatever the interpretation, it is surely the look of a fighter who knows he can’t take his eye off the threat about to face him at the MGM Grand.

In the end, the 39-year-old Mosley might prove to be too old or too shopworn to do any more than just stand. He might not have enough left in his legs to move out of harm’s way, which is sure to be there early, or late, or throughout the scheduled 12 rounds against Pacquiao.

In his last two fights, there was precious little of the Mosley remembered by fans. He couldn’t follow up on a right hand that rocked Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in the second round a year ago. He looked tired and sloppy in winning a decision over Sergio Mora in September.

But the Mora fight was misleading, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said. It was a bad match for Mosley.

“A bad choice,’’ Roach said. “Shane looks bad against runners and that’s what Sergio Mora did. It made Shane look like he’s shot and I don’t think he is.’’

But the one-sided odds are a sure indication that the betting public thinks otherwise. Mosley’s hair is growing as gray as Barack Obama’s. It’s a good look for a president or an AARP member, but not a fighter.
Meanwhile, the crowd’s cheers at the weigh-in said something else. Overwhelmingly, they were for Pacquiao, who is expected to collect between $20 and $25 million. Mosley stands to earn about a quarter of that. Pacquiao is riding a cresting wave of popularity. A pop icon, he also aspires to be the Filipino president one day, or at least his promoter, Bob Arum, thinks so.

But Pacquiao won’t be playing politics Saturday night. He’ll be more than a politician. Arum, who promoted Muhammad Ali, calls him the best fighter he has ever seen. With punching power and accuracy in both hands, Arum compares Pacquiao to major-league pitcher who can throw with both his right and left.

“He’d be pretty damn good,’’ Arum said.

He also doesn’t exist.

Not yet, anyway.

Notes, Quotes
Roach trained rock-and-roller John Mellencamp’s son to an Indiana Golden Gloves title. Roach’s compensation for about a month of work probably didn’t include all of those interest-bearing zeroes he gets from a Pacquiao fight. Still, it was valuable. “A Fender guitar with Mellencamp’s autograph on it,’’ Roach said. “Got it in the mail. It’s on my wall.’’

Pacquiao’s gambling isn’t a secret, especially in the Philippines. Pacquiao likes to bet and bet big. Roach recalls a fight in 2000 against Nadel Hussein in The Philippines. Pacquiao, then a junior-featherweight, bet his entire purse that he’d win a first-round stoppage. He won the fight, but lost the bet in scoring a 10th-round TKO.

Rest of the weights for Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast: Former middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) was at 170 pounds for his super-middleweight bout against Texan Alfonso Lopez (21-0, 16 KOs), who was at 169; Super-bantamweight champ Wilfredo Vazquez (20-0-1, 17 KOs) was at 122 for his WBO title fight against Jorge Arce (55-6-2, 43 KOs) also 122 pounds; and unbeaten Denver super-lightweight Mike Alvarado (29-0, 21 KOs) was at 139 pound for his bout against New Yorker Ray Narh (25-1, 21 KOs), who was at 140.

Photo by Chris Farina/ Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao has angles. Naazim Richardson has analogies.

Those analogies might not be enough to counter the endless geometry of power and accuracy in Pacquiao’s array of punches. But they are endlessly entertaining and powerful in their own right. Listen to Richardson long enough, and those one-sided odds against Shane Mosley begin to sound like funny money, a counterfeit come-on.

Of course, trainers are supposed to say that their fighters can win. It’s in their job description. It is their job. But Richardson makes you believe that maybe, just maybe, Mosley really will win Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Richardson speaks with the unblinking conviction of a preacher and the common-sense perception of a street-corner philosopher. Fools beware. Richardson doesn’t suffer them lightly, if at all. He only asks for a chance, which might be his way of demanding respect for his fighter. There was a moment Thursday when it appeared that the requisite respect wasn’t there during a media roundtable that Brother Naazim turned into his pulpit at the busy MGM Grand’s Media Center.

Somebody wanted to know how surprised Richardson would be at a Pacquiao victory. The suggestion was that Mosley had no chance, not one at all. For a moment filled with potential for a spontaneous burst of angry frustration, Richardson paused. It came and went, like flash.

“Had to stop for a second there,’’ Richardson said as he exhaled. “The street was about to come rolling out of me.’’

For a man in the business of exerting control over a violent game with tactics designed to give his fighter every possible advantage, a fit of temper would have been uncharacteristic. Anger won’t beat Pacquiao. Poise and a patient, calculated delivery of Mosley’s proven power might.

Richardson has seen, studied and felt the impact of Mosley’s power.

“I keep asking everybody if they’ve ever been hit by Shane Mosley,’’ Richardson said. “I have. I’ve worn the pads. I’ve felt those punches.’’

Richardson is convinced that Mosley’s power can dictate a change in Pacquiao’s style. Richardson has a theory that Pacquiao’s inexhaustible energy has a way of scoring points because it is such an eye-catcher. The judges, like the crowd and the television audience, can’t take their eyes off of him. It was a style, Richardson said, that Sugar Ray Leonard used to his advantage in his 1987 decision over Marvin Hagler.

“I’ve always said that Leonard was masterful in the way he got everybody, including the judges, to just watch him,’’ Richardson said. “Nobody, including the judges, paid any attention to Hagler.

“That’s what Pacquiao does. With his energy and that head bouncing up and down, everybody just watches him. That’s what Shane is going to have to do: He’s have to take away some of that energy.’’

The suggestion is that a Mosley punch or combination in the early rounds will do exactly that, although a cracking right in the second round a year ago wobbled Floyd Mayweather Jr., yet still was not enough for a Mosley victory.

But the Pacquiao and Mayweather styles are as different as the Marines and Coast Guard. Pacquiao attacks; Mayweather defends. Pacquiao’s offensive style and mindset mean he is open to a counter. Richardson says he has studied Pacquiao throughout his career and detected a flaw that he believes could result in a Mosley victory

“I’ve seen something pop up in the tapes,’’ said Richardson, who wouldn’t be more specific. “It’s like one of those things you see when you’re in school. You know, you’re sitting there, the teacher asks a question and you’re still sitting there without an answer. Then, somebody gives you the answer and you think: ‘Damn, why didn’t already think of that?’

“It’s that simple.’’

Simple is not synonymous with easy, however. If it were easy, Richardson probably wouldn’t be in any fighter’s corner. His relationship with Mosley first had to be tested before he knew it would be effective. It was before Molsey upset of Antonio Margarito in January, 2009

“I felt like me and Shane could work together when we had that first dispute,’’ Richardson said. “You know, it’s like that girlfriend. Everything is great until you leave the toilet seat up for the first time.

“The first dispute with Shane was when I started wrapping his hands. Shane wants to fight like it was back in the bare-knuckle days. I’d wrap with the stuff and he’d say: ‘Too much, I like to feel it.’

“I had to tell him: You’re fighting a monster, a guy who is hard to knock out. You got to protect those hands.

“We talked. We worked it out.’’

About two-and-a-half years later, Mosley is confronted by a bigger challenge in Pacquiao, yet still daunting. Few gave Mosley a chance against Margarito, who was coming off a huge upset of Miguel Cotto.
“Right now, Shane looks just like he did before Margarito. The same confidence, he’s doing the same things.’’

If he same things include a Mosley victory Saturday night, it won’t be just another Richardson analogy. It’ll be amazing.

NOTES, QUOTES
• A Top Rank-promoted card featuring Las Vegas featherweight Jesse Magdaleno (3-0) against Jonathan Alcantara (4-3-2) of Novato, Calif., will begin at 5 p.m. (PST) at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay. ESPN’s telecast of the card, scheduled for seven fights, will begin at 7 p.m. Chicago light-heavyweight Mike Lee (4-0, 3 KOs), a Notre Dame grad, faces Gilbert Gastelum (0-1) of Tucson.

• Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik appeared Thursday at a news conference for the Pacquiao-Mosley undercard Saturday night. Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) faces super-middleweight Alfonso Lopez (21-0, 16 KOs) in his first bout since undergoing rehab for alcohol problems. “The story has already been; everything has been told,’’ said Pavlik, who only wanted talk about Lopez

• Lopez wore a black cowboy hat. He must have bought in his hometown, Cut & Shoot, Tex.

• Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr. (10-0, 9 KOs) appears on the Pacquiao-Mosley undercard in a junior-welterweight bout against James Hope (6-7-1, 4 KOs) of Rock Hill, S.C. It is Benavidez’ last fight before he is scheduled for hometown pro debut on June 11 at Wild Horse Pass Casino in suburban Phoenix. A card featuring Benavidez in Phoenix last summer was cancelled because of controversy over Arizona’s proposed immigration legislation.

• And Top Rank’s Bob Arum couldn’t resist a shot Thursday during the undercard news conference at rival Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and its banker-turned CEO Richard Schaefer. In introducing Felix “Tutu” Zabala, promoter for junior-featherweight champion Wilfredo Vazquez, Arum said Zabala was an example of old-school promoters who “don’t steal other fighters.’’ Arum and Zabala have a deal to co-promote Vazquez, who faces Jorge Arce. Both Zabala and Arum have been in court against Golden Boy, Zabala over the contract rights to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Arum over rights to Nonito Donaire.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao will never jump up the boxing scale to heavyweight, but he is beginning to sound as if he might try to make a run at that title in the political ring.

A boxing news conference sounded a little bit like a presidential campaign Wednesday when Pacquiao talked about plans to fight poverty with more evident passion than he did about a welterweight fight Saturday night against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand.

“All of my life, I’ve had to fight,’’ said Pacquiao, who has eight titles, all in different weight classes. “As a child, I had to fight for food. But the biggest fight of my life is the end of poverty in my country.’’

Pacquiao, still in campaign mode, said he will wear yellow gloves Saturday night and urged a sellout crowd to also wear yellow. For him and his countrymen, it’s the color of unity. Former Filipino President Corazon Aquino wore yellow. It was the color that identified the opposition that chased ex-Filipino strongman Ferdinand Marcos out of office in 1986.

Now, it’s a look at what Pacquiao might be planning for a whirlwind of a life that is always moving forward and at a furious, fearless pace with more angles than punches. On Wednesday, he even sang the title of his recent release, Sometimes When We Touch, at Dan Hill, who is other half of the duet in the recorded melody. There were no babies to kiss. But give him time. Someday, there may even be some broken campaign promises.

Thus far, there have been none, although Mosley hopes to change that with an upset that would send The Philippines into dark mourning. On the betting board up and down the Strip, that doesn’t look likely.

Late Thursday, Mosley was about a 6 1/2-to-1 underdog. If this were politics, Mosley would be Donald Trump. Comedian Seth Meyers said he was surprised to hear that Trump might runs for President as a Republican. Meyers thought Trump was running as joke. Despite odds that are hard to figure, however, this isn’t politics. Mosley is no joke, not even at late comedian Jack Benny’s forever age, 39

“We’re not talking about an ordinary guy,’’ Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson said in the wise voice that is always accented with common sense.

Richardson argues that Pacquiao hasn’t been hit with the mix of power and experience possessed by Mosley, whose 32-0 record, including 30 knockouts, at 135 pounds makes him one of the great lightweights of all time.

“Put a Shetland Pony in there and when Shane hits it, he’s going to wobble it,’’ Richardson said.

The secret to Pacquiao are the thick legs of a bigger man, if not a Shetland Pony. But that’s another story for another day. What is increasingly evident is some newfound focus in Pacquiao on the immediate challenge. He will always multi-task, as he did Wednesday at the news conference/political campaign that included Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and his wife, Carolyn, who is running for the office her husband is about to vacate.

Unlike some of his recent training camps, this one is not about how or if a distracted Pacquiao might lose. Last November, there were more stories about Pacquiao’s distractions than there were about Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao left Margarito battered and badly injured in taking a one-sided-decision.

The reported distractions never mattered and perhaps Pacquiao knew that they wouldn’t. Margarito just wasn’t fast enough to be a threat. If Pacquiao’s reported attention to training over the last two months is any indication, Mosley is.

“From Day One, he told me this is not an easy fight,’’ said Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, who already has said he wants the Filipino idol to be the first to knock out Mosley. “I think this is the best training camp we’ve ever had. Manny is in the best shape he’s ever been in. He has to be. He’s fighting an experienced, crafty guy.’’

Pacquiao said he is as concerned about Mosley as he was about Oscar De La Hoya in 2008.De La Hoya quit after eight rounds against Pacquiao, who exhausted him with relentless energy and a nonstop barrage of punches. De La Hoya never had a chance. Pacquiao’s newfound dedication might mean Mosley won’t have one either. Then again, Mosley beat De La Hoya twice. Unlike Pacquiao, Mosley stopped Margarito.

“Mosley knocked him out …he has that advantage,’’ said Pacquiao, who is smart enough to know that timing dictates that Saturday night’s fight is next and dangerous enough to may be the biggest one he’ll face before he tries to knock out poverty.

Knockout talk is pretty standard stuff in the build-up for any fight, especially one that Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley have transformed into an event. But it has a different tone this time around, because Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach hopes a stoppage will either lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. into the ring or provide Pacquiao an edge in an argument for the ages if the much-discussed fight never happens.

“ It would be incredible for Manny to be the first one to stop him and just prove to the world how much better he is than that guy that couldn’t stop him,’’ Roach said Wednesday during a conference call when asked about the chances at a knockout of the durable Mosley on May 7 at Las Vegas MGM Grand.

Not that anybody had to ask, but that guy, of course, is Mayweather, who on Thursday had a preliminary hearing on felony and misdemeanor charges from alleged domestic violence delayed in Las Vegas until July 29.

Translation: The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight isn’t any more likely today than it was a year ago when Mayweather was terrific and resourceful in surviving a rocky second round, yet characteristically cautious in settling for a one-sided decision over Mosley.

For now, Pacquiao has only the fights that can help him build his case while the prosecution for Nevada’s Clark County its own. Common opponents are poor comparisons, made unreliable by time, circumstances and styles. But Mayweather leaves the Filipino Congressman without options or even much of a clue as to what he intends to do.

“It’s hard to judge him,’’ Pacquiao said when asked if he thought Mayweather feared him. “I don’t know what the reason is. I really don’t have an idea. I can’t say something. We don’t know, so it’s hard to judge him.”

Instead, Pacquiao does what he always has done. He moves forward. There is a sense that he already is at work on the finishing touches to a legacy that would be incomplete without Mayweather, yet still as brilliant as any.

News broke in Mexico that Juan Manuel Marquez already has a Top Rank offer to fight Pacquiao for a third time sometime in the fall. Top Rank’s Bob Arum was annoyed at the Marquez questions. He dismissed them twice, first Tuesday in a conference call with Mosley and again on Wednesday.

But it only would be a surprise if Marquez had not been approached by Top Rank. Marquez, who has a draw with Pacquiao and a controversial loss by decision to the Filipino, represents a chance for Pacquiao to eliminate lingering doubts about his ability to beat the accomplished Mexican. It also is another opportunity to further build his case in the potential debate about whether he was better than Mayweather, who outweighed Marquez and dominated him for 12 rounds, yet again settled for a decision in September, 2009.

If Pacquiao could somehow be the first to knock out Mosley and the first to stop Marquez, he would win the debate no matter what Mayweather does or doesn’t do. It’s a risk, first and foremost in terms of the motivation it provides Mosley, who is a better bet to win by stoppage than Pacquiao, especially within the first three to four rounds.

Another cracking right in the early rounds might accomplish for Mosley what eluded him against Mayweather. It might finish Pacquiao in another spring stunner during boxing’s season of upsets, especially if the 39-year-old Mosley can summon up a will, way and maybe a big left hand. Against a stumbling Mayweather, Mosley was curiously unable to capitalize.

The guess here is that Mosley won’t squander that kind of an advantage again. If he does, Pacquiao will be on his way to a significant victory and perhaps a stoppage that could win an argument, which on Thursday looked more likely than a Mayweather fight.

NOTES, QUOTES
• Insightful Al Bernstein offered an intriguing possibility that could surprise Pacquiao. During a Showtime conference call Thursday, Bernstein said Mosley might unleash a potent left that has been dormant lately. “The left-hand,’’ Bernstein said. “I think that’s the secret.’’

• Boxing’s best, hidden on premium networks and pay-per-view for years, goes back to prime time for the first time in generations Saturday night when the third episode in Showtime’s Fight Camp 360, an inside look at Pacquiao-Mosley, will air on CBS at 8 p.m., Eastern and Pacific. There were mixed reviews for the first two episodes. The third figures to attract the biggest audience, meaning there is motivation for Showtime to make it the best of the four.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Victor Ortiz’ personal triumph in his dramatic upset of Andre Berto re-affirms an increasingly forgotten fundamental. Defeat is important. It’s an opportunity, one that now confronts Juan Manuel Lopez.

Lopez finds himself where Ortiz was nearly two years ago. With his stunning loss to Orlando Salido Saturday, Lopez has fallen from the undefeated ranks, an insulated niche, and into the harsh, unforgiving light that forces a fighter to question himself and endure further questions from everybody else. It’s a final chapter for many, the first in a newborn stardom for a few and perhaps one that Floyd Mayweather Jr. just wants to sidestep.

Unbeaten only means untested. Rocky Marciano retired at 49-0, but it’s hard to find him among history’s top 10 in any all-time ranking.

From this corner’s perspective, defeat is an inescapable rite of passage for fighters with the highest aspirations. It’s also what keeps the public interested. It’s no coincidence that the reported audience of 1.5 million for Ortiz’ welterweight decision over Berto in a unanimous counter to doubts about his courage was HBO’s biggest of the year. The irresistible drama attracted a crowd that gathered for a glimpse at whether there was enough within Ortiz to overcome. There was. He did.

Your turn, JuanMa.

The guess here is that the likable Lopez can and will. It won’t be easy. The Ortiz experience is the freshest example of that. Anguish and anger stood in the way of Ortiz after the 2009 surrender to Marcos Maidana.

Unlike Ortiz, few doubt Lopez’ will. But there are plenty of questions about the featherweight’s commitment. He got too comfortable, perhaps softened and deluded about an illusion of invincibility that comes with an unbeaten record. By now, his marital problems and inattention to training, including a trip to the Philippines for Manny Pacquiao’s birthday party, are well-documented. There also was some arrogance. In a conference call before the Salido loss, Lopez called himself the favorite of Puerto Rican fans.

“With all due respect to Miguel Cotto and Ivan Calderon, both great champions, I feel I am the most popular boxer in Puerto Rico,’’ Lopez said a days before Salido’s eighth-round stoppage forced a reassessment of that claim.

Lopez first step would appear to be a rematch with Salido. There had been plenty of talk with boxing circles about a Lopez showdown with Yuriorkis Gamboa. But promoter Bob Arum pushed aside that possibility until, he said, somebody showed him the money. If Lopez can mature into the committed fighter he is expected to be, that money and perhaps more will be there.

A key to Lopez’ predicted stardom is his personality. Fan-friendly, Arum said. Some, probably many, of those fans might not be as friendly as they had been. But that’s a good thing if Lopez forges himself into the fighter they have always expected.

Those fans will renew that friendship, strengthen it as never before, if Lopez answers their criticism the way Ortiz did.

Ex-Phoenix fighter killed in police shooting
In a sad story, a onetime promising light-heavyweight was killed by Phoenix police early Monday. Robert Charlez, 40, was shot to death while sitting outside of a fence on a freeway overpass. According to police, officers asked Charlez to come down from a bridge across I-10.

Officers shot when Charlez advanced on them with what police said was an article of clothing wrapped around his right hand. According to police, Charlez said he had a gun. A police spokesman told Phoenix media that Charlez “had a simulated weapon in his hand at the time of the shooting.” But it wasn’t clear whether there was a gun or a knife in Charlez’ right hand. According to The Arizona Republic, the police spokesman did not say what the object was.

Charlez’ right hand was powerful. In 1992-93, Charlez scored six knockouts, winning seven fights and losing one, before getting into trouble with the law.

“A good fighter and a nice guy,’’ said Phoenix cornerman Dominic DiGuiseppe, who worked with Charlez at former trainer Willy Borchert’s old gym in west Phoenix.

Notes, quotes, anecdotes
• A NABF title will be at stake and perhaps represent another step toward a shot at a major title for Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) on June 4 in front of a hometown crowd at Celebrity Theatre against Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs).
• And Shane Mosley talks as if he will be facing a much smaller task in Manny Pacquiao on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “Lately, I’ve been dealing with bigger guys, monsters,’’ Mosley told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times during a media day at his training camp. “To have a guy with a smaller frame in front of me this time, he doesn’t intimidate me at all.” Mosley might want to take a second look at Pacquiao. Pacquiao has the legs of a much bigger man. Those legs look like a couple of tree trunks. They are the source of his speed, balance and power.

It’s popular these days to rip Victor Ortiz. It’s also a little too easy, perhaps because his quick mix of honesty and anger create a convenient target. The heart is always there, on Ortiz’ sleeve and never hidden beneath layers and loopholes. But it’s the heart that’s under attack. The critics say Ortiz doesn’t have one.

In our playground full of clichés, heart has been confused with courage. For anybody who forgot or just didn’t know, Ortiz, battered as a child in a broken home, became the legal guardian for a younger brother. That’s heart, the kind that many of our celebrated winners could use a lot more of.

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

So, please, don’t question Ortiz’ heart. It’s proven. But you can question his focus. That’s the issue Saturday night in his welterweight date with unbeaten Andre Berto in a HBO bout at The Foxwoods in Connecticut. Talented and powerful, Ortiz’ resume is tarnished with two fights that leave questions about whether he can fight, adjust and endure long enough to prevail in the face of a tough challenge

He didn’t against Marcos Maidana, whom he knocked down three times before his infamous surrender in the sixth about a year-and-half ago at Staples Center in Los Angeles. About 18 months later in a troublesome moment that led critics to recall his loss to Maidana, he seemed to settle for a majority draw in December after knocking down Lamont Peterson twice in the third in Las Vegas.

In the immediate aftermath of both, Ortiz didn’t sound or appear frustrated. Only after an unrelenting tide of media criticism did he react in anger.

“I felt like a piece of gum on the bottom of someone’s shoes,’’ he said in February during a news conference in New York. “So, I said to myself: ‘It’s my turn.’

“I’m going in against some tough opposition. Andre Berto is no chump. But now I’m hungry. I’m tired of people saying I have no heart or no balls. At the end of the day, I’m not scared of getting in the ring or challenging anyone.’’

But there’s more to the task than having the courage to make that walk from the dressing room, through the crowd, up the steps, under the ropes and into harm’s way. There’s finishing the job and that’s what Ortiz has yet to do in a defining fashion. Berto gives him that opportunity.

Ortiz is armed with powerful motivation. The media have piled on, putting a massive chip on his shoulder. As motivation, it figures to drive him and make him very dangerous during the first three to four rounds. But then what?

The guess here is that Berto will be careful early and still around later. Once the anger is gone as an emotional weapon, Ortiz will have to rely and re-fashion his evident talent with adjustments. He’ll have to think his way through adversity. I don’t think he will, simply because he has yet to show that he can. Still, a part of me will be cheering for him because of the media criticism arrayed against him.

His honesty, that heart, makes him a likable underdog at a career crossroads that could either propel him to real stardom or make him as forgettable as that chewed-up piece of gum.

PHOENIX –About a year after controversy over immigration legislation forced the cancellation of Jose Benavidez Jr.’s hometown debut as a pro, the Arizona prospect has another chance to fight in his home state for the first time on June 11 at Wild Horse Pass at Gila River in suburban Chandler.

Gerry Truax of Showdown Promotions requested approval of the date Monday at a meeting of the Arizona State Boxing Commission for a card scheduled to feature Benavidez (10-0, 9 KOs), a Top Rank fighter who also is scheduled for a bout on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said a couple of months ago that he had the go-ahead to seek a site and date for Benavidez to fight in Arizona. Before the immigration controversy forced him to stay on the road, Benavidez’ homecoming was scheduled for last July 17, also at Wild Horse and also on a card promoted by Showdown, which represents Antonio Margarito.

“We’ve been waiting for a long, long time to fight,’’ said father-and-trainer Jose Benavidez, Sr., whose 18-year-old son is considered Arizona’s best prospect since Jesus Gonzales and Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal. “I can’t tell you how happy we are at this opportunity. It’s really important, I think, to build a hometown identity.

“My son has been fighting in Las Vegas and Texas and just about everywhere but here at home.

Everywhere we go, everybody knows him, more than they know him here. It’s time to come home.’’

Showdown’s request for Commission approval of the June 11 date coincided with a federal appeal court’s refusal to lift a stay on the toughest parts of the controversial Arizona law, SB1070. The 9th U.S. Court in San Francisco on Monday rejected Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s appeal. Among other things, SB1070 would require police to check on an immigrant’s legal status during routine traffic stops.

Benavidez’ homecoming last July was canceled when Top Rank’s Bob Arum said he was told by TV Azteca and beer sponsor Tecate that they did not want to do business in Arizona. At the height of the controversy, World Boxing Council chief Jose Sulaiman issued a directive from his Mexico City office in which he banned Mexican fighters from bouts in Arizona. When two Mexicans fought on a Don Chargin-promoted card in Tucson last August, Sulaiman threatened to suspend both in their home country.

While watching Benavidez spar in February, Trampler said he was given clearance to schedule a hometown fight for the Phoenix prospect because the controversy had begun to subside.

Benavidez, who has been fighting as a junior-welterweight, has been training in Phoenix for the last several months after leaving trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. He signed as a 17-year-old, whose potential for stardom began to spread far and fast through YouTube clips of his sparring sessions with Amir Khan.

In other business heard by the Arizona commission Monday, Fanbase Promotions requested approval of a Phoenix card at Celebrity Theatre, featuring Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) against Henry Buchanan (20-2, 13 KOs) of Capitol Heights, Md., in a super-middleweight bout at Celebrity Theatre. Gonzales (24-20-7, 4 KOs) made his hometown comeback on March 18 with a unanimous decision over Dhafir Smith (24-20-7, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia, also at Celebrity.

Intrigue is attached to Marcos Maidana-Erik Morales, perhaps for debatable reasons in a fight that might be determined more by what each fighter can’t do rather than what they can.

By now, fears for Morales’ well-being are well-documented. Rival promoters, trainers and media have talked about their concerns, which – right or wrong – have helped sell the junior-welterweight fight Saturday night Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on an HBO pay-per-view card. A heightened sense of danger never fails to attract a crowd.

Morales is quick to say that he picked Maidana, who in fact was the first option after Juan Manuel Marquez said no. Nevertheless, Morales, who is about a year into his comeback, looks at Maidana and sees vulnerabilities.

I suspect that Morales is looking at the powerful son of an Argentine gaucho with the sharp eye of the insightful trainer he could be and should be. Maidana’s loaded war chest includes everything but a GPS. There aren’t many smart bombs in there.

Maidana says referee Joe Cortez allowed Amir Khan to survive a ferocious 10th round in Maidana’s loss on Dec. 11 in the Fight of the Year. He won’t have Cortez to blame Saturday night. Tony Weeks has the assignment.

But the referee could have been Barney Fife for all that it mattered against the courageous Khan. Maidana had only himself to blame. He simply didn’t know how to set up a fight-ending combination. Maidana’s last trainer, Miguel Diaz, suggested exactly that when he called the Argentine’s tactics in pursuit of the wounded Khan “disorganized.’’

Maidana’s lack of tactical focus, surely detected by Morales, appears to be the cumulative result of never one trainer long enough in his corner to direct, discipline and refine all of his evident talent. After 18 months with Diaz, he left the experienced corner man following the loss to Khan.

“I feel that I reached a point with Miguel where I wasn’t advancing anymore,’’ Maidana said. “I think that’s what happened to me in the Khan fight. I felt that I needed a change.’’

The change was supposed to include Nacho Beristain, Marquez’ longtime trainer in Mexico City.

“I was there in Mexico,’’ Maidana said. “I traveled to Mexico. We had an agreement. I was supposed to train with Beristain. As soon as I touched down in Mexico, Beristain informed us that he wasn’t going to be able to work with us, that Marquez pretty much prevented him from working with him, that Marquez made a comment that possibly down the line there could be a fight with Maidana.

“I think maybe he just got jealous and he didn’t want me to train with him.’’

Maybe.

A string of maybes in any corner often adds up to an incomplete fighter, a beatable one. I’m not sure Morales, now 34 and back after losing four straight before an abbreviated retirement, still has the physical wherewithal to beat him. The best of his Hall of Fame career appears to have been left in the ring against Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.

Uncertainty in Maidana’s corner, however, creates a hedge, a reason to wonder whether Morales can in fact pull it off. Angered at Beristain’s sudden about-face, Maidana hired an able and experienced Rudy Perez. But there is no way to know whether the two can forge a working relationship within a few weeks. The corner shuffle had to cause some early confusion in Maidana’s approach to training camp.

“Yes, of course, I was upset,’’ Maidana said. “I was very upset. That’s something that’s very unprofessional. I was upset about it. But at the end of the day, there’s other trainers at the same level, if not better than Beristain. I think I found that in Rudy Perez. But, yes, I think it would bother anybody.’’
Bothered long enough perhaps for Morales to do what few think he can anymore.

“Look, he’s only been with Rudy Perez for a little bit of time,’’ Morales said. “It’s only been a few weeks. …It’s very clear to me what type of fighter I’m going to face. It’s going to be the same old Maidana. I don’t think that Rudy Perez can be a miracle worker.’’

The biggest miracle for Maidana might be a long-term trainer. Without one, his promising career might be remembered as disorganized, a puzzle full of unfulfilled potential.

Erik Morales has heard questions loaded with suggestions that he is damaged and in danger of permanent disability or worse when Marcos Maidana’s power figures to land with probability dictated by a record that includes 10 first-round knockouts and stoppages in 87.1 percent of his 31 fights.

Fear not, Morales says.

“I feel good,’’ Morales said this week at the end of a conference call 11 days before his April 9 date with Maidana at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “I feel calm.’’

The questions, he says, are coming from his former promoter, Fernando Beltran.

“It is a matter of revenge, because I am not with him anymore,’’ Morales said through an interpreter, Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez. “I know Fernando Beltran is causing these problems.’’

At 33, Morales is still at an age when many are at the end of their prime, which means they are still capable in mind and body. Like so many Mexican fighters, however, it’s not the age so much as the record. They are kids, teenagers, when they begin a trade so often mastered in a perilous exchange built on the ability to set up a punch by enduring two, three and four. Morales was 16 when he answered his first pro bell, one of 57.

“I know I have been in some wars,’’ Morales said in a matter-of-fact tone with a comment that also is a matter-of-record, yet cuts both ways.

For him, the experience represents well-practiced skill, the knowhow to avoid power long enough to counter it and transform it into an advantage. But those wars aren’t video games. They come with a physical price, each tagged with the same question: How much is left? I have no doubt that Beltran is asking, again and again.

He wouldn’t be the first former promoter to do so and he won’t be the last. Maybe, he is motivated by reasons other than concern. Maybe not. But Beltran also is asking only what so many others have. Morales’ four fights, all defeats, before he left the sport after losing to David Diaz in 2008 were full of troubling signs. Two of them were to the undisputed best, Manny Pacquiao.

It was the second loss to Pacquiao in 2006 that left a moment impossible to forget. Morales was down in the third and final round. He looked up at his father and trainer, who urged him to get up and continue. Morales waved him off with a gloved right hand. It was as if he was saying good bye. No, no more. For one of the toughest fighters of his generation, it was a concession that his best days were over.

Perhaps, a flicker of what he once was will be there for what would be a significant upset of Maidana.

“I’m not old,’’ said Morales, who won three comeback fights in Mexico last year. “I just decided, at 30 years old, to take a little break.’’

In Maidana, Morales sees a flawed fighter. At 28, Morales would have beat him, no doubt. Five years later, however, there are doubts about whether the toll he paid in speed and reflexes against Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera left him with enough to match the knowhow, especially when Madaina’s shotgun style of power is unleashed. It’s one thing to know how to get out of the way. Doing it, however, is something altogether different.

According to Gomez, Morales passed a battery of medical tests in Mexico, including one administered in Mexico City by the same neurosurgeon who reportedly put a plate in Barrera’s skull in 1997 to correct a congenital condition, one not related to boxing.

What’s more, Morales believes he is stronger perhaps healthier than ever, in part because he doesn’t have to break himself down to make junior-welterweight, 140 pounds. At his featherweight prime, Morales often would step onto the scale at the official weigh-in looking as if he had starved himself. He was always as gaunt as a refugee. If you saw him a couple of months and several meals later, he was hard to recognize.

Maybe, the fears have been overstated. I can’t help but think of Evander Holyfield in 1996 before his first fight with Mike Tyson. From promoter to bookie to fan, the prevailing talk was that Holyfield was damaged. Few thought he could win. The better chance was that he would suffer serious injury.

Holyfield won.

Maybe, Morales will too.

In the meantime, however, I can’t help but wonder about the questions and worry about the result.

It’s hard to know what Manny Pacquiao thinks about all the mixed signals coming from Floyd Mayweather Jr. these days.

First, Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum tells the Filipino media that Mayweather wanted $100 million in undisclosed talks for the biggest fight nobody has yet to see.

Then, Mayweather brags on twitter by displaying a winning ticket for $37,272.75 on a bet that the Atlanta Hawks wouldn’t outscore the Chicago Bulls by six or more points in the second half.

If accurate, Arum is 100 million times right in interpreting Mayweather’s demand as just another way of saying — no, hell no — he won’t fight.

But the winning ticket from Las Vegas’ M Resort looks like another good bet that Mayweather is going to need more than a nickname to pay his bills. He calls himself Money, but he won’t have much of it if gambling is a habit and criminal lawyers are a necessity.

Let’s just say that it’s safe to assume Mayweather isn’t tweeting anything that ever looks like a losing ticket. For anybody who has invested part of a paycheck at a Vegas’ book, it is also a good bet that the losers outnumber the winners.

Does Pacquiao even care? If he doesn’t, then there are 100 million more reasons to believe the long-awaited showdown will happen only in a video game. Pacquiao already is well into his second career as a politician. As the public and media grow weary of the continuing speculation, Pacquiao appears to already have moved on and beyond.

Sometimes, however, money – or the urgent need for some – creates big fights. There continues to be talk that Shane Mosley, who faces Pacquiao on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, has to fight to pay for his divorce. That price is as cynical as it is steep. It is also dangerous. But it has always been there.

Mayweather, who faces eight criminal charges for an alleged incident involving a former girlfriend, has countless ways of saying he won’t do this and he might do that. It’d be no surprise if he soon denies that Arum’s latest story about negotiations that heretofore had gone unreported. It would be a lot harder for him to deny that he wants $100 million.

But Mayweather’s words don’t really matter. It’s what he shows us. The latest offering is several zeroes short of what his nickname claims and one reason to think that Pacquiao-Mayweather will happen.

NOTES, QUOTES
· The best hope for a resurrected heavyweight division is an NFL work stoppage that lasts, say, a couple of years. Baltimore Ravens safety Tommy Zbikowski, who fights Saturday night in Atlantic City on the Yuriorkis Gamboa-Jorge Solis undercard, is as skilled and athletic a prospect as there is on the side of the world that does not include a Klitschko. Zbikowski is evidence that America’s best heavyweights are in the NFL. “Yeah, it might be true,’’ said Zbikowski, who says Ravens defensive lineman Haloti Ngata could be a great one. “The Klitschkos are the best right now and they’ve been the best for a long time. Just because they’re in Europe doesn’t mean there are not great heavyweights. I think a lot of the American heavyweights right now are playing football. Boxing is honestly one of the most athletic things you can do. To be a good boxer, you have to be very athletic. Right now, you’re seeing the top athletes go to college to get an education. I think if you have boxing back at the collegiate level, you might have some more American heavyweights.”

· And another shot in the Golden Boy-Top Rank feud could be fired next week. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said Wednesday that he is planning to meet with Juan Manuel Marquez. There is rampant speculation that Marquez will jump from Golden Boy to Top Rank. That might be the only way he gets a second rematch with Pacquiao. “We don’t know what Márquez’s plan or plans are,’’ Schaefer said during a conference call for an April 9 card topped by Erik Morales-Marcos Maidana and will include Robert Guerrero, Michael Katsidis and James Kirkland at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “I am actually scheduled to meet with him next week in Mexico and see what he is planning on doing.’’

PHOENIX – Familiar echoes filled the building. Jesus Gonzales was back.

Back at work.

Gonzales returned Friday to his hometown in an attempt to restart a career that began with him tagged as a big-time prospect. The tag is gone. Some of the skills are rusty. But the second chapter is underway with a victory. Little else mattered to a near-capacity in the 2,600-seat Celebrity Theatre.

Gonzales (26-1, 14 KOs) could do no wrong for a lively crowd that chanted his nickname and cheered his unanimous decision over Dhafir Smith (24-20-7, 4 KOs) for the International Boxing Federation’s North American super-middleweight title.

“I got work to do,’’ said Gonzales, who is called El Martillo, Spanish for The Hammer. “I know that. But, man, it just feels good to be back in the ring.’’

For most of 12 rounds, Gonzales’ powerful left hand hammered Dhafir of Philadelphia. Gonzales was credited with a knockdown in the third. But Dhafir called it a slip. Whatever it was, it would not have mattered. Gonzales, who collected $3,500, won all but two rounds on the 15rounds scorecard, although he also suffered a cut over his right eye in the 10th by a left hand from Dhafir, who beat former and faded champion Jeff Lacy in his last bout.

“Just a bad night,’’ said Dhafir, who earned $7,500. “But, man, that was not a knockdown in the 10th.’’

“My jab wasn’t the way it needs to be,’’ said Gonzales, who needed six-to-10 stitches for the cut. “I’ll go back into the gym and work on that for sure.’’

On the undercard there was confusion and controversy. Canadian junior-middleweight Janks Trotter (4-0-1) fought to a technical draw with Arturo Crespin (6-1-1) of New Mexico The six-round fight was stopped after the second because Crespin suffered a cut caused by a head butt, although Trotter argued that a pitch, a left hand, cut Crespin.

Trotter went into the ring with a shuffled corner. Michael Carbajal had been training him at the Ninth Street Gym in Phoenix, but did not work the corner because the Phoenix Hall of Famer had been drinking. The Arizona State Boxing Commission was notified of the change by Fanbase Promotions before the card began. Carbajal, 43, has been struggling with drinking problems since he retired from the ring in 1999.

Carbajal, who was honored for his career at intermission, sat a table near ringside. During the fight, he was agitated by what he saw. It looked as if he was about to leave his ringside seat for a seat in Trotter’s corner. But he stayed put at the urging of friends who were with him.

Rest of the card: California welterweight Ricky Duenas (8-1) won a majority decision over Eddie Brooks (9-3) of Phoenix; Phoenix light-heavyweight Roberto Yong (1-2) scored a unanimous decision over Nelson Lopez of Reno; and cruiserweights Carlos Reyes (4-3-1) of Superior, Ariz., and Billy Schmidt (1-0-2) fought to a draw.

PHOENIX – You won’t find the hours loading trucks, or the nights as a security guard, or the days as a temporary Census employee anywhere in Jesus Gonzales’ fight-by-fight record. You won’t find many losses, either.

“I did whatever I could to bring in some money,’’ said the once-beaten Gonzales, a one-time prospect and full-time dad who goes back to work at the only job he has ever wanted Friday night at Celebrity Theatre in a homecoming against Dhafir Smith of Philadelphia.

It’s not the career that Gonzales had envisioned in 2003 when Top Rank signed him to a contract that included a $250,000 bonus.

Then, he was compared to Oscar De La Hoya. Then, he seemed destined to succeed and even surpass Michael Carbajal’s Hall of Fame impact on the Phoenix boxing market. Then, it seemed as if nothing could get in his way.

Now, we know that a lot has.

“It’s been a rocky road,’’ Gonzales said. “Yeah, real rocky.’’

But it’s not over, at least not if Gonzales (25-1, 14 KOs) can prevail at 168 pounds against Smith (24-19-7, 4 KOs), a more experienced super-middleweight who beat former and faded champion Jeff Lacy in his last outing.

The bout, Gonzales’ first at home in about four years, represents an initial step in an attempt to recapture the promise he displayed as an amateur about a decade ago.

Before Emanuel Steward quit as the U.S. Olympic coach before the 2004 Athens Games, he said Gonzales would be America’s best bet for a gold medal. Gonzales, who decided to forego the Olympics, had beaten Andre Berto and Alfredo Angulo. He also beat Andre Ward, America’s lone gold medalist in Athens. In fact, Gonzales is the last one to beat Ward, an unbeaten pro and the Super Six super-middleweight favorite who has said he would like to avenge that loss in a rematch.

For a while, it looked as if his amateur accomplishments and early promise as a pro would be only memories, stories he could tell could tell his 4-year-old son, Ernie III. But then he began to realize he had not been forgotten

When he was loading trucks at Target and working security at Metro Tech High School, he would hear his nickname, El Martillo, Spanish for The Hammer.

“All the time,’’ said Gonzales, who fights as Jesus but is known simply as Ernie by friends and family. “People would stop for a second, look and say ‘Hey, Martillo, is that you?’’

At 26, Gonzalez is near or at his physical prime. That means undiminished power. For anybody who had forgotten about it, Gonzales delivered a stinging reminder in November in Calgary against Jason Naugler, also a former Top Rank prospect. He won a second-round stoppage, leaving Naugler with broken ribs.
But that power, Gonzales says, is now only one of his weapons. The difference, he says, is in when and how he uses it. Another difference is the absence of his father, also Ernie, in his corner. One of the issues with Top Rank was Gonzales’ dad. Father and son are still close. But trainers from the Busted Knuckles Gym in north Phoenix will be in the corner Friday night. Ernie Sr., will be nearby, but in a seat at ringside.
In Calgary, Gonzales’ corner was manned by longtime friend Rafael Valenzuela, a high-school classmate and featherweight whose string of bad luck continues. Valenzuela, who was disqualified in his last fight, was scheduled for the Friday card. But his bout fell through when his opponent failed to make weight Thursday at Carbajal’s Ninth Street Gym.

“Rafael is a good trainer, a real good trainer,’’ Gonzales said. “So is my dad. But one of the things I learned is that you can’t have family in your corner. It just gets confusing. I know that now. If there’s one thing I could do over, I wouldn’t be as hard-headed as I was when I was younger. I thought I knew it all. I should have listened to those Top Rank guys. They’ve been there. They know about the business. They can put you in position to win. You can learn from them. ’’

Gonzales says a key part of his newfound learning curve is happening within the ropes.

“It’s about boxing, all about boxing skills,’’ said Gonzales, who eight years ago would abandon tactics in an erratic bull-rush that inevitably left him open for a career-changing loss an 8th-round TKO, to Jose Luis Zertuche in 2005. “I’ve learned a lot in a lot ways since then. Now it’s time for me to give this career one more big push.

After Top Rank dropped him in the wake of Zertuche, he moved to Houston to train with Kenny Weldon. He went 8-0, but his career went nowhere.

“There were good guys there, but they just didn’t have any pull,’’ Gonzales said.

He thought he was in line for a mandatory shot at a minor title held by Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., a Top Rank fighter.

“But Top Rank wouldn’t talk about it, wouldn’t talk at all’’ said Gonzales, who fights Smith Friday for the International Boxing Federation’s vacant version of the North American 168-pound title.

A minor IBF championship is significant only for the possible ranking attached to it. Gonzales’ new promoter, Canadian Darin Schmick of Fanbase Promotions, says that if Gonzales wins, he could get ranked among the super-middleweight’s second five.

“We’ve calculated No. 6 or No. 7,’’ said Schmick, who has signed Gonzales to a five-fight deal. “But this a tough fight and Jesus has to win.’’

Nobody knows that better than Gonzales. Once was enough to tell him what can happen if he doesn’t.

NOTES
· Schmick said Wednesday at a news conference that he has talked to Top Rank about including Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. on a Fanbase card in April. Benavidez, an unbeaten junior-welterweight, fights Friday in Tijuana. He has yet to fight in his hometown. Top Rank had scheduled him for a bout in Phoenix last year. But the card was canceled because of the controversy over Arizona’s immigration legislation, SB 1070.

· Another reason to appreciate the Klitschko brothers came from Vitali Wednesday during a call promoting his fight in Germany Saturday night for the WBC heavyweight title against Cuban Odlanier Solis. The bout will be televised by EPIX, a new entry in the boxing broadcast game. Vitali talked about the ongoing catastrophe in Japan. Explosions and reports of a potential meltdown at a Japanese power plant reminds him of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. “My father was there,’’ said Vitali, a Ukrainian. “I know how big this tragedy is. I want to support Japan’s people. I want to support the people who are fighting right now against this tragedy. And we definitely will make a donation from this fight to support Japan. I know how hard it is. I know how dangerous. It touched my family.

Miguel Cotto has always given us many reasons to like him. He provided another one Wednesday in the build-up for his super-welterweight fight Saturday night with noisemaker Ricardo Mayorga.

Cotto refused to indulge in the silly ritual of posing — nose-to-nose, eyeball-to-eyeball, and don’t-dare-blink – for the gallery of cameras at the mid-week news conference at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Take a bow, Miguel. Boxing needs a lot more of your class, poise and toughness.

There are various reports as to why Cotto said no to a tired piece of theater that would be amusing if it weren’t such a cliché. Mayorga is called crazy by anybody close to him, including his promoter, Don King, who knows something about crazy. Perhaps, Top Rank just told Cotto not to play a role in a scripted scene that could turn into a stupid brawl. Works for me.

But I also suspect that Cotto might be angry, rightfully so, at the homophobic insults that Mayorga always spews at any opponent days before opening bell. This time, Mayorga has joked about how he will beat Cotto into retirement and into a job working for Ricky Martin, the Puerto Rican singer who told Oprah that he’s gay.

“I have spoken to Ricky Martin’s camp and they say they have an opening for him,’’ Mayorga said in a conference call. Mayorga has repeated the insult in different words and an escalating tone, ad nauseam. Surprise, surprise. Trouble is, he did so again Wednesday with Cotto’s mother in the audience. Go ahead and insult Cotto, the quiet gentleman. But be careful of those insults when mom is around.

In declining to join the Mayorga circus, Cotto might have been making a stoic gesture, a signal that he intends to keep the fury bottled and brewing until opening bell. I’m not sure Cotto needs to. Mayorga has natural power, but doesn’t know how to deliver it. To wit: Mayorga has more manners than skill.

“If he has better skills than me, I haven’t seen them,’’ Cotto said in a comment that qualifies as a huge understatement. Before Mayorga’s mouth turned into an open sewer, the bout appeared to be a steppingstone for Cotto in his bid to avenge his stunning loss to Antonio Margarito in 2008.

What’s more, Mayorga-Cotto appeared to be part of a bigger story that includes promoter Bob Arum’s move to Showtime and CBS. There’s also Arum’s old-school partnership with King in an alliance that might finally lead to a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Maywather Jr. fight.

Then, however, Cotto put an unexpected twist into the plot. In saying no to the posed face-off, it was if he had decided he would not be the straight man for an opponent who talks, talks and talks until he sounds like a fool. Cotto’s cool, stubborn demeanor suggests he is a serious man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

The guess here is that he will gladly make a fool suffer Saturday night

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

A promotional attempt at resurrecting the Phoenix boxing market will start at the roots of some of the city’s better days with Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal in the corner as the trainer for Canadian junior-middleweight Janks Trotter on a March 18 card featuring super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales in a homecoming against Dhafir Smith at Celebrity Theatre.

“It’s an opportunity,’’ said Carbajal, who wants to rebuild his life as a trainer after an estimated $2 million in assets were taken from him in a fraudulent scheme that led to a conviction and 54-month prison sentence for his brother, Danny. “It’s up to me, but this could lead to something.’’

Darin Schmick of Fanbase Promotions reached out to Carbajal not long after he decided to stage five cards in Phoenix after Gonzales fought and won two months ago in Calgary, Schmick’s hometown.

Schmick had long been acquainted with Phoenix, the city’s busy gym scene and its rich boxing history, which is featured by Carbajal’s unique and turbulent story.

“Mention Phoenix and you think of Michael,’’ said Schmick, who has matched Trotter 4-0, 4 KOs) against Arturo Crespin (6-1, 2 KOs) of New Mexico. “I know things have been tough for him lately. But we also know he can help Trent and we feel like we can help him at the same time.’’

Schmick’s promotional schedule includes a news conference and official weigh-in next week at the Ninth Street Gym, an old church where Carbajal trained for an unprecedented career as 108-pounder and the first in the lightest weight classes to fight for a $1 million purse.

The Carbajal angle is just one part of Phoenix theme. Gonzales, a leading prospect in 2003, returns after controversy and a loss, his only defeat in 26 fights, to Jose Luis Zertuche in 2005. After the loss – an eighth-round stoppage, Top Rank dropped him.

“At 26, he is still a young man with a 25-1 record,’’ Schmick said of Gonzales, who won a second-round stoppage over Jason Naugler in Calgary on Nov. 12. “He’s also a terrific story.’’

In the 28-year-old Smith (24-19-7, 4 KOs), Gonzales faces an experienced fighter whose record includes a unanimous decision over former Jeff Lacy on Dec. 11 and a 2007 loss by sixth-round stoppage to current super-middleweight champ Andre Ward.

If there is ever another remake of The Sunshine Boys, Bob Arum and Don King can play themselves. They are classics, as cantankerous as Walter Matthau and as charming as George Burns.

After a 30-year promotional war followed by an undeclared armistice lasting five years, Arum and King are friends. They argue that they always have been.

“Of course,’’ Arum said Thursday in a conference call.

King did what he often does. He interrupted. Yet, he also agreed with his old rival, calling him a freedom fighter and almost nominating him for a Medal of Honor. For emphasis, King screamed in mock disbelief at a question that suggested there was a time when things between them were less than friendly.

“What are you talking about? … What in the hell you talking about?’’ King bellowed, which is a redundancy for anybody who has listened to him for decades.

Arum was once so exasperated at the redundant bellowing that he ordered a member of his Top Rank staff to unplug King’s microphone midway through “Veeeeeva” and “Puertoooo Reee-coooo” after Puerto Rican Felix Trinidad beat the Arum-promoted Oscar De La Hoya at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay in 1999.

That might have been the only time that Arum subtracted an octave or two from King’s delivery, although King probably didn’t notice. On a noise-meter showdown between a state-of the-art megaphone and King, bet your ear plugs on King every time.

Arum and King, both 79 and going on 80, are co-promoters of the Miguel Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga fight in a March 12 bout that is part of a bigger story involving the renewed partnership of old rivals, an old feud with De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and new television deal with CBS and subsidiary Showtime.

Unmistakable nostalgia is attached to Arum and King, who represent a different time and a better era for boxing. They are re-introducing themselves to a new generation that knows them as if they were The Rat Pack, pre-Tweet and Before-Facebook. The good old days always look better in the rear-view mirror, probably because the tough times are so easy to forget. Arum and King needed each other to make their fame and fortune. They are forever linked, like Ali and Frazier.

Now, King and Arum are together, like a couple of aging veterans who battled each other from opposite sides of a bitter front in a long-ago war. They survived and now they are comrades. The rivalry defined them, gave them a reason to get up and resume the battle. But there was antagonism. There had to be. Without it, there can be no rivalry.

Both King and Arum mentioned it repeatedly Thursday, as if they missed it.

“Don made me a better promoter,’’ said Arum, who whose off-and-on partnership started with the second Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier rematch 1975, an Ali victory in Manila

Acrimony?

Sure, King said.

If a fight needed some, King said “we gave it a little taste.’’

More of it, in fact, than anything that has fueled Arum’s cold war with De La Hoya, who has replaced King as Arum’s rival and reason to get up for another day of battle. Despite all of the insults Arum throws at De La Hoya, there’s still nothing that rivals the Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard fight. That’s when Arum tried to have King thrown out of the ring before Leonard’s victory. They laughed about it Thursday. But nobody was laughing in 1987.

I suspect a lot of the trouble between De La Hoya and Arum is rooted in the inevitable clash between generations. It’s as old as sons rebelling against dads. In turning De La Hoya into the most marketable fighter of his generation, Arum taught him tricks of the trade. De La Hoya and his chief executive, Richard Schaefer, are using them in a bid to turn Saul “Canelo’’ Alvarez into star, a process that continues Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim where a bigger, stronger Alvarez fights Matthew Hatton.

Arum and King dismissed – mocked — De La Hoya Thursday.

“Is he a promoter?’’ Arum said when asked about De La Hoya.

Said King: “I didn’t know who you were talking about.’’

The attack on De La Hoya is more than just generational. It’s business. Arum says he can put together the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight if King goes to work for Mayweather. He blames the twice-failed negotiations for a fight last year on Mayweather’s Golden Boy representation, although he also has blamed other factors, including Mayweather’s apparent fear of risking his unbeaten record.

King kept open the possibility Thursday that he might represent Mayweather if and when there’s another round of talks for a Pacquiao showdown. Speaking from his home Palm Beach, Fla., King said that Mayweather also was in south Florida. Mayweather has a home in Miami.

“Just so happens Mayweather is here now,’’ King said. “I don’t know if anything is going to happen.’’

For now, an Arum-King remake is a happening, big enough for an old school rivalry and maybe big enough for a fight that could rival one from any era.

A few leftovers while wondering whether 34-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s birthday wish Thursday included a bout with Manny Pacquiao sometime before he turns 35:

· Nonito Donaire’s second-round stoppage of Fernando Montiel Saturday provided a badly needed shot of drama in a sport desperate for some. It also has Donaire rapidly climbing the pound-for-pound ladder, although this corner still has fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao at No. 1 and Mayweather at No. 2. At No. 3, it’s either Donaire or Sergio Martinez. I’d still like to see Donaire in another 12-round bout full of adversity and adjustments.

· Donaire’s relationship with Victor Conte resulted in questions as tiresome as they were predictable. Conte’s well-documented role with Balco, Barry Bonds, performance enhancers and his 2005 prison sentence are impossible to ignore. Donaire began to get exasperated with the repeated questions. Yet, nobody asked Donaire to undergo random testing, the Mayweather demand that derailed talks for a fight with Pacquiao, who has no relationship with Conte..

· Ricardo Mayorga might test Miguel Cotto for a couple of rounds, but the real significance of the fight on March 12 is Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s move away from HBO and to Showtime/ CBS. The March 12 bout is a test run for the Showtime telecast of Pacquiao-Shane Mosley on May 7. Before the Donaire stunner over Montiel, Arum repeated his hope that the Showtime/ CBS deal will re-introduce boxing to a larger audience, instead of one that sees it only on premium TV. But he has no illusions. He has to convince CBS executives that sponsors will buy boxing. It doesn’t matter whether they like boxing, he said. “It’s all about the Benjamins,’’ said Arum, who is betting he can deliver a lot of the $100s between now and May 7.

· Delivering the sales pitch: In a bid to deliver sponsors to CBS, Top Rank has hired Lucia McKelvey, IMG’s former vice president for Golf Development & Sales. IMG represents Tiger Woods.

· Antonio Margarito was in Las Vegas for Donaire-Montiel. If Cotto – as expected – prevails against Mayorga, there’s been talk of a summer rematch of Margarito’s 2008 upset of Cotto. But one look at Margarito says that might be too soon. His face bears the marks of the brutal beating he took from Pacquiao in November. A fracture to his right orbital bone still appears to be healing. If there is a rematch, it looks as if Margarito would be wise to wait until at least the end of the year.

· HBO showed a terrific premiere of Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV a week ago, the Friday night before Donaire-Montiel. UNLV basketball in the 1980s and early 1990s was as big an attraction in Vegas under former coach Jerry Tarkanian as any major fight. In some ways, UNLV took a page out of the boxing book. The Rebels played the bad guys in a good-versus-evil drama that is missing in today’s edition of college basketball.

· It’s hard to believe that the first black heavyweight champ, Jack Johnson, still hasn’t been granted a posthumous pardon. More than a century ago, Johnson did time for a violation of the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for so-called immoral purposes. After all, how hard is it for Barack Obama or any other president to put pen to paper? Arizona Senator John McCain and New York Representative Peter King have renewed a legislative attempt that has been in the works longer than talk about Pacquiao-Mayweather.

LAS VEGAS –He called himself No. 2 on the Filipino ticket, but Nonito Donaire was No. 1 in the ring Saturday night. As a bantamweight, he is all by himself. A guessing game will soon ensue about how long he will stay at 118 pounds. Bigger things await Donaire.

Within seven minutes, however, General Santos City in The Philippines emerged on the boxing map like no other piece of modern real estate. It is more than Manny Pacquiao’s hometown. Donaire was born there, too.
There must be some punch in the water.

Donaire threw a huge one to stop the accomplished Fernando Montiel in the second round of a bout for two pieces of the bantamweight title. Montiel missed with a right. Donaire countered with a left, which traveled in an orbit-like loop and landed on Montiel’s chin with the impact of a baseball bat.

“I’m very surprised he got up,’’ said Donaire (26-1, 18 KOs), who earned $350,000, $100,000 more than Montiel’s purse.

Montiel (44-3-2, 34 KOs), who lost the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization versions of the title, went down as if he had been dropped onto the canvas from a diving board. The Mexican landed on his back in a flop. His legs twitched one way, then another. His arms and upper body moved, almost as if he were trying to regain control of nerve endings that connected him to consciousness. He did, long enough to get up and onto his feet. He stumbled in a futile attempt to re-gain his balance.

Referee Russell Mora must have thought that he had. Mora signaled for the fight to continue.

It did for a maybe a couple of seconds. Donaire threw a couple of punches that quickly indicated Montiel was defenseless. Mora ended it, calling it a TKO at 2:25 of the second.

But there was nothing technical about a knockout that makes Donaire the world’s best bantamweight, a future contender in the featherweight divisions, a rising factor in the pound-for-pound debate and the second-best fighter from General Santos City.

Mike Jones and Jesus Soto-Karass got it right the second time around.

The controversy of Jones victory by majority decision in November was swept away Saturday night at Mandalay Bay with poise Jones and guts by Soto-Karass.

Jones (24-0, 18 KOs) won another decision. But this one was unanimous on the scorecards and unanimous for its brilliance. Duane Ford scored it 115-113, Robert Hoyle 116-112 and Ricardo Ocasio 117-111, for Jones. The crowd roared in approval for both.

Cuts near each eye in the third seemed to put Soto-Karass (24-6-3, 16 KOs) in early jeopardy. Before the fourth, it looked as if Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer and one of the four ringside physicians were about to stop a bout, scheduled for 12 rounds on a card featured by Nonito Donaire’s second-round stoppage of Fernando Montiel for two pieces of the bantamweight title.

Blood poured from a cut near the outside of Soto-Karass’ left eye. That one was caused by a head butt. There was more blood flowing from another cut near the outside of his right eye. It looked as if a Jones’ punch caused that one. Blood flowed like tears. But Soto-Karass wasn’t crying.

If anything, he appeared energized, emboldened by his wounds. He could taste the sense of urgency. He jumped off his stool and raced at Jones throughout the fourth, gesturing at him as if he were inviting him inside for a closer look at the carnage. Jones played it smart.

He stayed away, backed away, from the dangerous, courageous Soto-Karass. While Soto-Karass saw less and less. Jones could see what was happening. He waited with patience and enough quickness to score with range and precision.

In the ninth, a long Jones punch opened up another cut on the inside of Soto-Karass’ left eye. By then, it was only a matter of time before the end, before Jones celebrated a victory and everybody else celebrated a great fight.

Four hours before Nonito Donaire and Fernando Montiel entered the Mandalay Bay ring, the card began in a chilly and empty arena Saturday with Denver junior-welterweight Mike Alvarado (29-0, 21 KOs) in a bid to restore his chances at being a contender in the crowded 140-pound division after a stretch in jail on a parole violation.

Alvarado, who did time on a domestic violence charge and driving offenses, needed some work. He got four rounds. Alvarado’s tune-up turned into target practice against Englishman Dean Harrison (16-5, 5 KOs), a TKO loser who was left bloodied, beaten and unable to continue after the fourth of a scheduled eight.

The undercard’s best: Welterweight Mark Melligen (21-2, 14 KOs), who had the Filipino flag on his trunks and Filipino fans in his corner, didn’t disappoint his countrymen with a unanimous decision over Mexican Gabriel Martinez (27-2-1, 14 KOs), who staged a ninth-round rally that was too late to save him from a one-sided loss on the scorecards.

The worst: Dallas lightweight Jose Hernandez (10-4-1, 4 KOs) had the fans screaming Si Se Puede, Si Se Puede. Either the judges don’t speak Spanish or they didn’t hear a chant that means Yes We Can, Yes We Can. Hernandez’ bid for an upset of unbeaten Mickey Bey of Cleveland (16-0-1, 8 KOs) fell a few points short. CJ Ross and Glenn Trowbridge scored it even, 76-76, each. Lisa Giampa gave it to Bey, 78-74, for a majority draw booed by a majority of the fans.

The rest: Welterweight prospect Yordenis Ugas (6-0, 3 KOs), a Cuban bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympics, continued his apprenticeship with a unanimous decision over a Sacramento opponent, Carlos Musquez (3-3-4, 3 KOs), who rocked Ugas in the opening round, yet did little throughout the next five.

LAS VEGAS – There was no discrepancy on the official scale, but there was one about the timing Friday before Nonito Donaire and Fernando Montiel weighed the mandatory 118 pounds for their bantamweight showdown Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

There was talk that Montiel was annoyed that the weigh-in was delayed for about 25 minutes. Montiel’s representatives said Donaire was about a half-pound heavy when he tested the scale before the weigh-in was scheduled to happen in front of media and fans at a bar on the casino floor. The delay gave Donaire time to make weight, they said.

Donaire is listed at 5 feet -7, or three inches taller than 5-4 Montiel.

Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), who is fighting for only the second time at 118, looks as if he could comfortably add weight and fight at a super-bantam (122) or featherweight (126). A move up in weight appears to be the plan for Donaire, a Filipino native who was born in General Santos City, also Manny Pacquiao’s hometown.

Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KOs), who holds the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization titles, has been campaigning at 118 since late 2008. His experience at the weight is thought to be a significant advantage, although Donaire was a 3-1 betting favorite late Friday.

Meanwhile, Jesus Soto-Karass was 146 pounds, one under the welterweight’s mandatory 147, for his rematch against Mike Jones. Jones, who won a majority decision over Soto-Karass in November at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., was 147.

Nonito Donaire faces expectations that are growing into a challenge more dangerous than even Fernando Montiel. The next Manny Pacquaio? The next bantamweight champion should be enough, but it isn’t for an audience and nation that apparently thinks Donaire will be the next Filipino boxer to visit the White House.

The next syndrome has undercut countless other careers. The next John Wooden never had a chance. Unfortunate Roger Maris could never be the next Babe Ruth. But here’s Donaire, a good fighter, already being asked to satisfy the Filipino appetite for another Pacquiao. There will only be one, especially after Pacquiao’s visit with President Obama further cemented a unique ascendancy to stardom attained by few.

Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs) can beat the accomplished Montiel. He is still this corner’s pick by decision. Donaire’s recent victories, including a fourth-round dismantling of Volodymyr Sydorenko, are full of signs that indicate he is a fighter just entering his prime. Donaire is bigger than Montiel. Younger than Montiel. He looks more like a featherweight than a bantamweight.

But doubts have increased with each headline calling him the next this and the next that. There are a lot of longtime ringsiders who think Donaire only will be Montiel’s next knockout victim. For Donaire, the coincidence of Pacquiao’s visit with President Obama a few days before opening bell Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay only heightens the pressure on him to do what is impossible.

At Thursday’s news conference, Montiel had the benefit of lessons from a country that already has learned from the perils of searching for the next Julio Cesar Chavez. In Mexico, there will only be one Chavez.

“No one’s ever going to be Julio Cesar Chavez,’’ said Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KOs), who wants to become the first Mexican to win titles in four weight classes. “No one is ever going to come close to that.”

For Montiel, that acknowledgement allows him to be himself. For Donaire, there’s a lingering question about whether all of the attention on Pacquiao will be a distraction — a feint that takes his focus off the danger in front of him. There’s some irony in that. Pacquiao’s last fight was preceded by swirling stories about distractions that were supposed to have been his undoing against Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao conquered them and Margarito.

“I will be very happy if Nonito Donaire continues to win and beats all the top fighters and reaches the prominent position he is capable of,’’ promoter Bob Arum said.

But, Arum warned, Muhammad Ali couldn’t be cloned.

“You couldn’t duplicate Sugar Ray Leonard,” Arum said. “You can’t duplicate. But you forge your own story and that’s what Nonito is in the process of doing.

“It remains to be seen whether it resonates as much as Pacquiao or Leonard or one of these other guys.
“He is trying to create a great story for himself.’’

If Donaire’s story is about anybody else Saturday night, he’ll have to create a comeback.

There’s a new wrinkle to a line that has echoed throughout boxing for as long as gyms have been full of the familiar rhythms from a speed bag. Yeah, styles make fights. That one fits like an old glove. But styles do more than that. They create audiences, which these days are more interested in fighters willing to risk a record instead of protecting one. Fernando Montiel has figured that out. At least, it sounds as if he has.

He returns to the United States for the first time in a year and to HBO for the first time since 2006 on Feb. 19 in an intriguing a bantamweight clash against Nonito Donaire at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay. About five years ago, Montiel was told he would never appear on HBO again. A split-decision loss to Jhonny Gonzalez was one thing. Another was a performance that included no compelling reason for anybody to think they’d like to see him an encore.

“That fight against Gonzalez, I think, was a question of styles,’’ Montiel said during a conference call Tuesday. “We just couldn’t get together. His style and my style could never match that night. It was a difficult fight for both of us and we each wanted to show something and it wasn’t possible.

“After the fight, I heard the criticism and thought I needed to do something about it. I did. I changed my style, became more aggressive. I wanted to give people a better show, a better fight. I think I have done that. My style is better and it has shown in my fights. Now I get another opportunity on HBO and I’m not going to mess it up.’’

Any change in style is problematic. It’s not as if Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KOs) or any other fighter can walk into a gym and order up a few alterations. He’s not visiting a tailor. Style is about personality, habit and instinct. All three will likely be tested by Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), who isn’t a Filipino Congressman, yet often moves with the speed of the only one who is known in places other than the Pacific nation.

A Manny Pacquiao-like punch from Donaire, who like the Congressman was born in General Santos City, could quickly force Montiel into a comfort zone full of old habits, yet forgettable to the audience he hopes to create.

That won’t happen, promises the 31-year-old Mexican who is popular in his own country, yet mostly unknown in the United States. Montiel, who has held major titles at three weights – flyweight, super-fly and bantam, believes he re-fashioned himself in 2010, possibly as a dramatic finisher with four victories, all by stoppage. The key to re-opening the door to HBO was a fourth-round TKO of Hozumi Hasegawa in Tokyo last April.

Montiel also seems to understand that the timing of the Donaire bout is critical. A couple of weeks after Tim Bradley’s victory over Devon Alexander in front of a few customers and thousands of empty seats at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., fans are still yawning. Montiel-Donaire is a chance to wake them up with a bout that promoter Bob Arum says has Fight of the Year potential.

“You have to fight smart, but I am here to entertain too,’’ Montiel said. “I want people to go in there and say that is a fight that they will remember for a long time. If we need to break into a war, let’s do a war if that’s what needs to be done. But it is certainly not going to be a boring fight.

“For sure, I am ready to risk getting knocked down and getting back up and knocking him down and him getting back up. I want it to be a great fight so everybody can remember.”

Memorable enough for a rematch, Montiel said.

“Maybe, two or three,” he said.

Maybe.

But after the Silverdome sleeper, one would be enough.

While hoping for a Super Bowl that doesn’t turn into the stupor left by Tim Bradley and Devon Alexander in a fight preceded by the same advertising adjective, some headlines and counters:

News item: An estimated 16,000 tickets are sold within about three hours for the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Reaction: Promoters Gary Shaw and Don King couldn’t give away that many tickets in 16 days or 16 months for Bradley’s technical decision over Alexander at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., where the estimates were like the empty seats. They were all over the place. There are no reports on the number of paying customers. Let’s just say that the Silverdome’s box office has collected more dollars for its drive-in movie business last spring and summer.

News item: Bradley is expected to sign with Bob Arum or Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions after his deal with Shaw expires, reportedly in May.

Reaction: If it’s Arum, don’t expect Bradley to fight for 140-pound supremacy with Golden Boy-promoted Amir Khan. If it’s Golden Boy, don’t expect a Bradley fight against the Arum-promoted Pacquiao.

News item: Bradley says he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Reaction: Get in line. Las Vegas and Nevada’s Clark County already have a couple of mandatories against Mayweather, including a trial on misdemeanor battery, rescheduled for April 25, and a hearing on March 10 for felony domestic abuse.

News item: Bradley says he wants to fight Pacquiao.

Reaction: Break the head-butt habit. It’s a pattern that continued with Alexander badly cut over his right eye, first from a Bradley head-butt in the third and again in the end, the 10th Pacquiao hasn’t lost since 2005 when a fifth-round clash of heads with Erik Morales left him badly cut, also above his right eye. Pacquiao was clearly bothered by blood streaming from the wound for the rest of the 12-round bout, which Morales won with a unanimous decision. Pacquiao might think twice about the threat of a bloody encore if he thinks Bradley can’t break the habit.

News item: HBO will honor its $1.25 million guarantee to Alexander with a possible fight against Marcos Maidana.

Reaction: Save the money, Devon, because it figures to be your last big payday. If the powerful Maidana is in shape, he will win by a crushing knockout, which narrowly eluded him in a scorecard loss to Khan.

News item: Khan fires conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who says he has yet to be paid for his work before a Fight of the Year victory over Maidana in December.

Reaction: Maidana trainer Miguel Diaz, who called Ariza “a fraud,’’ is laughing.

News item: Evander Holyfield’s fight with Brian Nielsen is postponed from March 5 to May 7 because of a Holyfield cut suffered on Jan. 22 in a bout with Sherman Williams.

Reaction: Huh? Holyfield fought Williams? He is scheduled to fight Nielsen, who hasn’t fought in nearly a decade? Holyfield-Nielsen has been re-scheduled for May 7? Won’t everybody be watching Pacquiao against Mosley then? Holyfield-Nielsen in Copenhagen? Not the Silverdome? Must be a night for drive-in movies.

News item: Pacquiao is already 2-0 at Cowboys Stadium, which means he has competed there two more times than the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers.

Reaction: Pacquiao will get some company in that unbeaten column. Steelers, 27-24.

Bob Arum’s bold move from HBO to CBS and cable subsidiary Showtime is all about numbers. CBS has a lot more of them, more than four times as many, than HBO. But there is another number, pathetically small, that is huge in significance and sums up the move’s urgency.

At about the same time that news of Arum’s deal with CBS/Showtime for rights to Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley on May 7 leaked last week, there was a Harris poll of American fans and their preferences in 2010.

Boxing was the favorite of one percent of those polled, right there alongside horse racing, women’s tennis and swimming. You can get more than one percent for a certificate-of-deposit at a bank these days. There’s just not much interest out there. If there is a trend in the Harris poll, the direction is ominous. It points to zero, which adds up to business no more.

Boxing trailed men’s tennis, track-and-field, men’s golf and bowling by one percent on a list topped by the powerful NFL at 31 percent. Golf, down two percent from 2009, figures to regain fans if Tiger Woods wins another major and stays away from waitresses at Denny’s. As long as there is a Michael Phelps, swimming can look forward to a percentage boost in 2012. As long as there is nicotine and standing pins, bowling will inhale and get its usual two.

With doubts about whether Pacquiao will ever fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr., however, boxing has nowhere to go. Nowhere but down, that is.

In 2010, boxing declined by one percent from the two percent it polled in 2009 and 2008. One more percent and it will fall to ground zero, alongside women’s basketball, golf and soccer. Women’s pro and college basketball, at least, has the NBA and Title IX to keep it afloat. But boxing has no sugar daddy. It only has its fans. The Harris poll indicates they are heading to the exits.

The poll also adds up to a message that screams for a new way to do business. Or else. Arum has heard it. Arum’s motivation for the move has been linked to several sources, according to various news stories and blogs. Discontent with HBO and the premium network’s relationship with Arum’s bitter rival, Oscar De La Hoya, is said to be one. I don’t know if it is. I also don’t care. It doesn’t matter.

Only boxing’s dire condition matters. Arum, the businessman, is moving toward CBS because its reach, 115 million households, represents marketing potential that HBO’s 28 million can’t match. There’s also the Latin population, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S.

Through CBS, Arum hopes to communicate with a larger and growing audience. In Pacquiao, he has international celebrity as a face for an attraction that might attract sponsors, introduce other fighters to a public that doesn’t know them from a lamppost and maybe – just maybe – return boxing to free-per-view.

In the process, Arum’s move might re-energize Pacquiao with motivation to fight on, even if that doesn’t mean Mayweather. I’m not sure if anything can heal Top Rank’s rift with De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. But 115 million households instead of 28 million could create pressure from a public that wants good fights instead of a tired feud.

In announcing the deal, Arum told reporters that he thinks it will get everybody in the business to do things differently.

If they don’t, they won’t be doing business at all.
A good decision for the future

Phoenix junior-welterweight Jose Benavidez, Jr. (10-0, 9 KOs) fought to a decision for the first time Saturday in Las Vegas in a six-round victory over Fernando Rodriguez (5-2, 3 KOs) of Dallas.

“It was a good fight for him,’’ said Phoenix Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, who was at ringside to watch the 18-year-old Benavidez for the first time. “You’re not going to learn anything by knocking everybody out. That was the kind of fight he can learn from.’’

Carbajal, who posed for photos with Benavidez, liked what he saw.

“He really has potential,’’ Carbajal said. “If he keeps working, keeps learning, he has a chance to really do something.’’ Benavidez, who no longer has famed trainer Freddie Roach in his corner, was bruised in the fight, the toughest in his young career. His father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., said training had been plagued by problems, including the flu. Benavidez still suffered from flu-like symptoms about 10 days before opening bell.

Jose, Sr., said he and his son had a heart-to-heart talk about the difficult bout and what it means. Benavidez’ immediate future might include his first bout in his hometown.

Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said he is looking for dates and a Phoenix site for Benavidez hometown debut. He was scheduled to fight in the Phoenix area last year, but the bout was canceled because TV Azteca and sponsor Tecate did not want to do business in Arizona amid controversy surrounding immigration legislation, SB 1070. Trampler said TV Azteca and Tecate have given him clearance to do a Benavidez fight in the state. The controversy has subsided, Trampler said.

“He is just anxious to go back to work as if he was starting a new career,’’ the senior Benavidez said. “He knows he is at new level now. It’s going to get tougher.’’