Symbols have been attached to the Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander fight, so many in fact that they might outnumber the tickets sold for the junior-welterweight bout at the Silverdome, a blimp-like arena in Pontiac, Mich., that for years has been full of only empty seats and hot air.

Conflicting and perhaps premature projections promise only more empties and air. Even with a good walk-up before opening bell on Jan. 29, there will still be a lot of both.

Ten-to-fifteen thousand seats are for sale in an arena once big enough for two crowds of more than 93,000 each for Pope John Paul II and Wrestlemania in 1987. Promoters Don King and Gary Shaw said the plan always has been to set up the arena for a fraction of its current capacity, now said to be 70,000. That’s a lot of curtains.

The dismal projections are unfortunate, mostly because they have become a story that takes away from a bout, as significant as it is intriguing, between two unbeaten fighters, both African-Americans.

When the site was first announced, Shaw told reporters that he wanted to stage the fight in a city with a big African-American population. Atlanta or Detroit, he said.

Detroit, Motown, sounded good then. It might have been, if the town was Detroit instead of Pontiac, a dateline and troublesome symbol in itself. A new Pontiac is harder to find than a good American heavyweight these days. There are none. General Motors quit making the car in 2009.

For symbolism, Alexander-Bradley belongs about 30 miles away, in Detroit, at Joe Louis Arena, which was named for an iconic and African-American heavyweight who made his historic impact before Jackie Robinson broke major-league baseball’s color line and Muhammad Ali opened his mouth.

These days, The Joe is a hockey arena, home for the Detroit Red Wings. On the night of Alexander-Bradley, the Red Wings won’t be there, but college hockey will be with Michigan-versus-Michigan State.

I’m not sure whether there was an alternate date at The Joe or on HBO’s schedule. I’m also not sure whether any arena anywhere was willing to pay the $500,000 site fee that Shaw and King reportedly got from the Silverdome. That dollar sign might have been the biggest symbol at play.

Even if Alexander-Bradley had wound up at The Joe on a different date, it might not have mattered. Last March, Arthur Abraham’s disqualification in the Super Six bout against Andre Dirrell, a native of Flint, Mich., at The Joe drew a disappointing crowd, reportedly about 5,000.

Predictably, Shaw expressed frustration at criticism of the site during a conference call Tuesday.

“First, let’s wait until January 29 and find out how many people are in there,’’ said Shaw, Bradley’s promoter. “No. 2, I put on the greatest fight of the decade, (Diego) Corrales vs. (Jose Luis) Castillo and we didn’t sell even 2,000 tickets. I never heard anyone say that it wasn’t a fight that was extraordinary.

“We have two great undefeated American fighters and we went to a place we thought was befitting. We never set if for 70,000 – the set-up was always going to be between 10,000 and 15,000. Those that came to the press conference saw how it would be mapped out. The Silverdome was well-prepared and did a great job.

“There should be compliments to the new owner of the stadium who wants to do more boxing and is willing to take the risk to bring big-time boxing back to the Detroit area. I think it’s a terrific place to do the fight. I’m not sorry and Don’s not sorry. We are doing something for that economy. We are bringing HBO, which is going to shine a big spotlight on that economy.

“Everybody claimed a couple years ago the U.S. automobile industry was dead. If you’d all bought stock in those companies, you would be rich today.’’

Please, promoters aren’t in the business of propping up any economy other than their own.

Yet, Bradley-Alexander is a worthy fight, mostly because it has a chance to stimulate interest in boxing’s battered model of an American game.

In terms of philosophy, this one has a chance to be a game-changer. American fighters have become increasingly protective of their unbeaten records – the so-called 0, which both Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs) and Bradley possess (26-0, 11 KOs).

Greatness in boxing is often measured in large part by how a fighter comes back from defeat. Rocky Marciano is known for retiring unbeaten, but is his name at the top of any all-time, pound-for-pound lists?

King said a lot of things during Tuesday’s conference call.

“Ticket sales will not determine the greatness of this fight,’’ King said.

Yeah, and I’ll be the next chairman of GM.

But he did say something that could help boxing recapture some of the fan interest that has eroded precipitously since last year’s second round of abortive talks for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The winner, King said, will be a superstar.

“But the loser will be a star, too,’’ said King, who echoed a comment from Bradley 10 days ago when the multi-skilled junior-welterweight said big fights were more important to him than the play-it-safe desire to protect the 0 and only the 0.

If Bradley-Alexander can help alter thinking behind a zero-sum game, it will be remembered as a winner, regardless of the zip code.

“We can spotlight this hard-hit economy,’’ said King, who talked about Motown as if it were boxing.

On the economic GPS, they’re in the same place.

PHOENIX – The calls have been coming from everywhere, from old friends and family. What the hell is wrong with Arizona?

I’m not sure how to answer that one, how to explain the damage done, the anguish felt in a state that has been home for more than 30 years. There simply is no explanation for the Tucson tragedy last Saturday that left six dead and 13 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. I only know that it is another piece in a jagged puzzle. Unfortunately, it fits, fits like a sharp piece of broken glass. The puzzle? It’s still there.
Maybe, this is what anarchy is supposed to look like.

I don’t know. I’ll let somebody smarter, somebody from MSNBC or Fox News, figure that one out. After the toxic, still unresolved controversy about immigration and political campaigns full of fear-mongering lies about headless bodies buried in the desert, it’s hard to be optimistic about Arizona, where there must be something foul in what little water we do have. Maybe, friend and 15 Rounds colleague Bart Barry was right with his poignant column several months ago. He definitively answered the question with a moving van. He got the hell out, left Arizona and its state of fear, for San Antonio.

During the last few days, there have been moments when I wished I had been a stowaway, a refugee, from this state known for the Grand Canyon, also a metaphor for Arizona’s deep divisions between white and brown, Anglo and Latino, Spanish and Inglés.

But on Thursday I found a reason not to look for a new area code. I found some optimism. I found it in a gym. There was Jose Benavidez, Jr., sparring in a ring set up in old storeroom behind a patchwork of shops on hardscrabble west Van Buren Street in a Phoenix neighborhood where Spanglish is spoken.

The junior-welterweight prospect is home after about a year in Los Angeles at the Wild Card Gym with famed trainer Freddie Roach. Benavidez and his father, Jose Sr., split with Roach for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. There has been speculation about problems between Roach and Benavidez, Sr. Not true, say father and son. Roach has been busy with Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The split with Roach was mutual, both say. The prospect and the trainer are still friends, they say.

Above all, the son is simply happy to be back. Forget author Thomas Wolfe’s defining line about not being able to go home again For Benavidez, home has been changed dramatically by the immigration debate raging over SB 1070. There also is proposed legislation that would overturn the 14th Amendment and deny citizenship to so-called anchor babies, those born to parents in the U.S. illegally.

If there had been no birthright citizenship before 2008, there would have been no Henry Cejudo at the Beijing Games. Cejudo, who grew up in Phoenix and has trained with Benavidez, was one of the best stories at the last Olympics. His gold-medal in freestyle wrestling was captured forever in a photo of him racing across the mat with the American flag flying off his shoulders like superman’s cape. Cejudo, who will return to wrestling in a bid for more Olympic gold after going 2-0 as an amateur boxer, was born in Los Angeles to former illegal immigrants. If Arizona legislators succeed, they could eliminate the next Cejudo, the next American victory. But that’s another story for another time.

For now, it’s about Benavidez and his hopes for the kind of fan base that is loyal, unique and often can define a fighter. Think of Michael Carbajal. He would have been a terrific junior-flyweight anywhere. If he had not generated a large following in Arizona, however, he would not have emerged as somebody special, a Hall of Famer. Benavidez is still a fighter without that identity, a man without a country. Throughout nine pro bouts, the unbeaten Benavidez has yet to fight in his home state, much less his hometown. Top Rank plans for his Phoenix debut last summer were scuttled when TV Azteca and sponsor Tecate decided they didn’t want to do business in Arizona because of SB 1070.

Benavidez and his father even had anti-SB 1070 T-shirts made. They had had planned to wear them at a bout in Chicago, but the shirts were lost before opening bell of a first-round knockout of Ronnie Peterson. Benavidez said he still plans to wear one, possibly at his next fight Jan. 22 at Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas against Francisco Rodriquez (5-1) of Dallas. If not Vegas, maybe he’ll wear one in Phoenix. Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said he has clearance from TV Azteca to proceed with plans for a Benavidez bout in Arizona.

The controversy has subsided, Trampler said.

“We’re actively looking to do a fight here that would highlight Benavidez,’’ Trampler said Thursday as he watched the 140-pound prospect spar.

The renewed plans must sound like Home, Sweet Home to Benavidez. Throughout nine bouts on the road, he has worn Phoenix on his trunks like a varsity letter. His loyalty is there to see. And hear.

“This is my home, and of course that’s not going to change,’’ Benavidez said. “I was raised here. If I ever become famous, I want to bring that Arizona part of me with me. It’s going to happen. Everything, I guess, happens for a reason. My friends and my family tell me just to have patience. They know who I am, where I’m from. They always tell me how proud they are when they see the Phoenix, Arizona, on my trunks.’’

Benavidez’ tone was that of somebody who wanted to fight instead of flee despite the dispiriting succession of events that have kept his home state in turmoil and now tragedy. As I listened to the 18-year-old Benavidez, I couldn’t help but think of another Mexican-American and fellow Arizonan.

He is 20-year Daniel Hernandez, a University of Arizona sophomore who rushed to Rep. Gifford’s side seconds after she was shot through the head. He stopped the bleeding, perhaps long enough to save her life. At a memorial Thursday at Arizona’s McKale Center, Hernandez said he wasn’t a hero. Instead, he talked about a moment that he said would eliminate divisions and unite Arizona.

I hope he is right. I only know for sure that Hernandez will be my answer for the next out-of-state call with questions about my home. Hernandez is one reason to believe that Arizona can begin to pick up the pieces and start over. Benavidez is another.

As criticism of Bob Arum’s decision to go with Shane Mosley instead of Juan Manuel Marquez for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight on May 7 lingers like a Holiday hangover, there’s a ballot that unwittingly supports Arum’s controversial move.

Marquez isn’t among the nominees for 2010 Fighter of the Year, the most prestigious prize among those that the Boxing Writers Association of America presents every year after a January vote. Pacquiao, Filipino Congressman and international celebrity, is there and should be. So, too, are Wladimir Klitschko, Sergio Martinez, Giovani Segura and Andre Ward.

Marquez’ absence is an omission that Arum can mock, seize and spin into a sales pitch for Mosley-Pacquiao, which has been battered from pillar-to-post by condemnations from everybody who has ripped the Top Rank boss for letting his feud with Golden Boy Promotions get in the way of a Marquez-Pacquiao rematch.

If the writers don’t include Marquez at the top of their ticket, why would the public buy one? All along, Arum has said that Marquez is not known by the casual, so-called crossover customer, who apparently couldn’t pick him out of a lineup that includes Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and a couple of lampposts.

Arum’s argument about Marquez sounds like a rhetorical feint, if not an insult to Mexico’s many fans, who aren’t casual about their country’s best fighters. Besides, Pacquiao’s international stardom is such that I’m beginning to think he could draw a crowd against one of the lampposts, which might prove to be more durable than the faded Mosley.

There are plenty of reasons for Marquez’ absence from the ballot. Plenty of blame, too. Start here. Start with me. I didn’t nominate him, mostly because I overlooked him all over again and also because I would not vote for him even if he were a 2010 nominee. My vote is for Martinez, the likely winner for his rocket-like rise to prominence with a victory over Kelly Pavlik and dramatic knockout of Paul Williams.

Hindsight and December hot debate about Pacquiao against Mosley instead of Marquez, however, forced me to re-think the ballot. Instead of Klitschko or Ward or even Segura, Marquez should have been one of the five nominees.

Klitschko retained his heavyweight control of the Euro zone with victories over Samuel Peter and Eddie Chambers. He figured to win both.

In opponent shuffles that have plagued the 168-pound division’s Super Six, Ward beat Sakio Bika and over-matched Allan Green. No surprise there either.

Segura, a Mexican junior-flyweight, proved to be as much of a surprise as he is unknown. In 2010, Segura went 4-0, adding the World Boxing Organization’s 108-pound title to the World Boxing Association’s version in a run that included a stunner – a stoppage of Puerto Rican Ivan Calderon in a bout nominated for Fight of the Year.

OK, keep Segura on the ballot. Instead, subtract Klitschko or Ward and add Marquez, who came back from a one-sided loss in late 2009 to a bigger Floyd Mayweather Jr. with victories in 2010 over Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis.

In July, Marquez won a unanimous decision over Diaz in a rematch of a Marquez victory, a ninth-round stoppage, in the 2009 Fight of the Year. In November, a dramatic ninth-round TKO of Katsidis is on the 2010 ballot for Fight of the Year. If a victory in a fight voted as the best in one year followed by another win in a fight nominated to be the best in the next year doesn’t add up to some consideration for Fighter of this Year, what does?

Even if he doesn’t win the vote, his nomination represents a measure of respect that has been withheld, perhaps because of his consistency. The 34-year-old Marquez, who fought Pacquiao to a draw before losing a controversial split-decision to the Filipino, has been practicing it for so long that there is nothing new about his tactical brilliance. It’s expected, meaning that – yawn – it’s assumed and easy to forget.

Too easy.

I forgot about Marquez and so did my colleagues. The BWAA selected Pacquiao as Fighter of the Decade, which makes Marquez the Most Unappreciated Fighter of those same 10 years. If we can’t put Marquez on the ballot, it’s hard to rip Arum for not making the rematch in a rivalry that is a third leg short of being a decisive trilogy.

Predictions are a lot like contract clauses, which is to say they are hard to fulfill. They fall apart faster than Jean Pascal. So don’t take them seriously, especially after a problematic 2010 left a fractured web of further trouble in 2011. But here goes anyway,15 predictions for every round in a New Year:

· Floyd Mayweather Jr. will only fight security guards and only if they undergo Olympic-style drug-testing.

· Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao thinks about becoming his own security guard, but decides he has better things to do. He writes and proposes legislation; raises funds for his presidential campaign; asks Freddie Roach to be his running mate; asks Bob Arum to be his Secretary of Defense; studies for a couple of movie roles; plays point guard, power forward, shooting guard, center, small forward and sixth man; negotiates for ownership of an NBA franchise; tries to sing; puts off singing lessons; speaks to the United Nations; writes his autobiography; visits Barack Obama; hosts a talk show and assures the faithful that he isn’t distracted. What, Manny, worry? He stops Shane Mosley within nine rounds on May 7.

· For a couple of rounds, Mosley looks better than expected. He pushes the Manny congregation to the edge of despair with an early knockdown of Pacquiao. A red-faced Arum can be heard screaming at Todd DuBoef, telling him to arrange an immediate rematch with either Joshua Clottey or Antonio Margarito. But like the T–Shirt says: Manny Knows. Translation: No worries. Wear and tear from a long career, combined with Pacquiao’s inexhaustible energy and speed, sap Mosley, turning him into the burned-out shell he was against Sergio Mora.

· Miguel Cotto gets in the last word against Ricardo Mayorga, everybody’s first choice for a tune-up, and then moves onto some unfinished business against Margarito. Cotto avenges his 2008 loss to Margarito. Cotto never mentions whether he suspects that Margarito wore the altered hand wraps that led to his license revocation after they were discovered loss to Mosley. He doesn’t have to. A one-sided victory says it all.

· The Arum-Oscar De La Hoya feud continues, also a safe for prediction for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and beyond, say, until sometime after Pacquiao’s term as the Filipino president ends.

· Pascal says he doesn’t do rematches, even though Bernard Hopkins earned one in a majority draw and a contract clause entitles Chad Dawson to one. Pascal doesn’t do late rounds either, a habit which would doom him in another go-round with either Hopkins or Dawson, who figures to be smarter and much tougher with trainer Emanuel Steward.

· Juan Manuel Marquez beats Andre Berto and again asks for a second rematch with Pacquiao. Arum, already in a never-ending battle with Marquez promoter De La Hoya, is running short on reasons to avoid Marquez. But Arum re-opens a forgotten front. He tells Marquez to dump trainer Nacho Beristain, who has been a forgotten in the ongoing saga. Beristain walked out of a news conference amid an exchange of obscenities after Pacquiao won a disputed decision in their last bout. Years ago, Beristain ended his relationship with Arum after an angry breakdown in negotiations.

· Sylvester Stallone opens and concludes his acceptance speech in June for induction to the International Boxing Hall of Fame by saying “Yo.’’

· Mike Tyson tells the Hall of Fame audience in June that he doesn’t really belong in the Hall, but he has already been there in photos and memorabilia for several years anyway. Tyson’s induction, a worthy one despite the controversy surrounding him throughout his career, only makes it official.

· The Hall announces plans for a Hollywood wing. Mark Wahlberg is nominated for spot in Hall alongside Stallone for his starring role in The Fighter. Some critics continue to call The Fighter the best film ever about boxing. They must have never seen When We Were Kings, the poignant story about Muhammad Ali’s 1974 victory over George Foreman in Zaire. It’s a documentary, which means the drama is real in a sport that is so often its own screenplay.

· Evander Holyfield doesn’t retire. Hopkins, Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson don’t either.

· Beyond his boxing prime and a mixed-martial bust, James Toney has nowhere to go. He becomes a pro wrestler.

· Saul “Canelo” Alvarez calls out Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Canelo tells him: “Let’s fight at Azteca Stadium and see if we can do what your daddy did.’’ Chavez’ father, the legendary Julio Sr. and another 2011 Hall of Fame inductee, drew a record crowd of 132,247 to the Mexico City stadium for his 1993 victory over Greg Haugen..

· Amir Khan unifies the junior-welterweight title and begins talks about moving up in weight and class, possibly against Cotto.

· The heavyweights get a new name, the Euros, overrated and devalued.

It will be remembered for what didn’t happen instead of what did and for a self-proclaimed face of the game seen more often in a booking photo than the ring.

To 2010:

Bah, Humbug.

Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t happen in March, didn’t happen in November and might have its best chance at happening in virtual reality. Look for the video game in neighborhood stores, maybe next Christmas. With legal trouble multiplying for Mayweather and his future subject to a jury’s unpredictable deliberations in a domestic-abuse trial scheduled for Jan. 24, he only will be fighting to stay out of jail, at least in the near term.

There is a cynical temptation to say that Mayweather’s legal bills are the only way to ensure a fight that has become the real face of a business that can’t get its divided house in order. He’ll need the money. Whatever finally happens, abortive negotiations throughout a futile year have set the stage for more trouble in 2011, which is already clouded by Holiday condemnations for promoter Bob Arum’s decision to go forward with Pacquaio against a faded Shane Mosley on May 7 instead of worthy Juan Manuel Marquez.

If Pacquiao-Mayweather doesn’t come off later in 2011, it will be more of the same. If it does, cynics and conspiracy theorists will spin damning speculation. You can hear it now. If Mayweather is acquitted or gets probation, blogs and talk shows will be full of suggestions about how the casino industry and politicians pressured the prosecution into a deal for a fight that could be a stimulus that Vegas needs in a wager to lift itself out of recession,

At the intersection of Sin City and boxing, there is suspicion at every turn.

Reasons for optimism have been lost, trampled, in the attention to do just one fight. Blame Arum. Blame Oscar De La Hoya. Blame the he-said, she-said feud between De La Hoya and Arum. Blame the media, which pursues page views and internet hits like Arum and De La Hoya chase money, which means mentioning Pacquiao and Mayweather, Mayweather and Pacquiao gratuitously, ad nauseam and all too often at the expense of everybody else.

In November and early December, there was a chance to salvage 2010 with a string of terrific fights. There was a banquet from which to pick Fight of the Year contenders, one after another. The pick in this corner is Humberto Soto’s victory over Urbano Antillon on Dec. 4 in Anaheim, Calif. But there is no argument with Amir Khan’s gritty stand against Marcos Maidana on Dec. 11 or Juan Manuel Marquez’ comeback drama against Michael Katsidis on Nov. 27. For emphasis, there was a knockout on Nov. 20 as good as any from Sergio Martinez, the likely Fighter of the Year whose left hand in the second round sent Paul Williams crashing to the canvas like a demolished building.

But there was a disturbing sign at all of those memorable fights. Attendance was down. On good nights, crowds of maybe 5,000 showed up. For Khan-Maidana in Vegas, there were reports of ticket upgrades and giveaways.

Even beneath the big top in a ring above the 50-yard-line and below the Jerrytron on the Dallas Cowboys home field at Texas Stadium on Nov. 13, there was a crowd that failed to fulfill Arum’s expectations for Pacquiao’s dismantling of Antonio Margarito. Arum predicted more than 60,000. But the announced crowd was 40,154. Of that, paid attendance was 30,437, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Even with 9,717 comps, Pacquiao-Margarito fell about one-third short of Arum’s projections. On Wall Street, that would lead to a huge sell-off.

In recession-plagued Vegas, economic woes are a reasonable explanation for slow sales especially for two cards, Marquez-Katsidis and Khan-Maidana, without an American in the main event.

The Pacquiao-Margarito shortfall is harder to explain, especially with Pacquiao’s international stardom at the top of a card against a well-known Mexican, Margarito, in a city with a big Mexican and Mexican-American population. Also, Texas is reported to be one of the few states on solid economic footing. So what gives? In this era of HD television and screens that are getting cheaper by the day, there’s good reason to stay home and watch.

Nevertheless, there’s a theory that the live gate is still a good indicator of whether a fight is attracting so-called crossover fans. They’ll shed their ambivalence about boxing and show up in person to see more than a fight. They want to experience it as well. That they weren’t there in the expected numbers adds up to a problematic 2011.

One guess is that they stayed home, went to a concert or out to dinner, because of Pacquiao-Mayweather talks that went nowhere once, then twice. See ya.

There’s been lot of talk that boxing is finally making matches that matter. True enough. Soto-Antillon, Khan-Maidana, Marquez-Katsidis, Martinez-Williams, Juan Manuel Lopez’ victory over Rafael Marquez and even Bernard Hopkins controversial majority draw with Jean Pascal are all evidence of that. Those were good fights, some great,

But the crossover crowd had lost interest in the empty aftermath of talk about nothing. For the casual fan, it’s hard to believe that any fight can be a good one if the best one can’t be put together. If customers can’t get what they most want, they’ll move on, no matter what else is in stock.

This is the season to talk about awards, about who is worthy and who’s not. But 2010 will be remembered for America’s empty seats, which are beginning to look like a prize you can’t even give away anymore.

A conference call with Bernard Hopkins is a lot like his career. It goes on forever, which is one way of saying he has been at it longer than anybody ever imagined.

The unabridged Hopkins added volumes in a call last week and plans to deliver on the filibuster’s promises Saturday in Quebec City with another defiant stand against time and Jean Pascal.

“Walking away because of my age would be a disservice to what I bring to boxing,’’ said Hopkins, who has already made history and wants to make more by becoming the oldest ever to win a major title, the World Boxing Council’s light-heavyweight crown.

Not talking, instead of walking, would be the bigger disservice. It’s hard to know what Hopkins can still do as a fighter. Let’s just say that it would have been a service to boxing if he had not fought and beaten Roy Jones, Jr., in his last outing. Hopkins-Jones was bad enough to be irrelevant, which is something that Hopkins-Pascal is definitely not.

I suspect nobody knows that better than Hopkins, who at 45 and within a month of turning 46 will be 38 days older on Saturday than George Foreman was when he beat Michael Moorer for a heavyweight title in 1994. In beating a younger man, there was newfound respect, relevance and pop-like stardom for Foreman among generations that knew him more for a hamburger grill than Muhammad Ali.

Hopkins likes to talk about going old-school. In taking on a fighter near his prime, however, Hopkins isn’t pursuing anything old, or even nostalgic. He’s battling to stay current, determined to prove he still belongs in the middle of the ring instead of in a commentator’s seat at ringside, wearing a tux and an ear-piece.

In part, that means pressure, which has always been there for Hopkins, yet inevitably builds with the time he has so famously been able to manage but will never stop.

“Even if I lose, I’m still young,’’ said Pascal, who is defending the WBC title for the first time. “I can do it again. But Bernard, if he loses, that’s going to be the end. This is it for him.

“He is going out there with all pressure. Even if I’m the champion, it doesn’t matter because he’s the legend. He’s got the legacy. He has to back it up, his history.’’

He also has to back up his words. He is as good at that as just about anybody. The conference call stand-up is one way. He talks, talks and talks, forcing himself to live up to all he says. It’s self-imposed, perhaps. It’s a little bit like former Indiana Pacers shooter Reggie Miller. He needed Spike Lee as an antagonist, as motivation. Lee was always there, in a prime seat in the NBA playoffs, to heighten Miller’s energy and focus.

In conference calls, Hopkins finds his audience of antagonists. Real or imagined, one thing is always certain: The more there are, the better.

“I must say, the naysayers, I thank them because they have been a big part of me proving that I can do it,’’ said Hopkins, who went on to say “thank you, thank you, thank you.’’

I don’t count myself as a Hopkins naysayer, although I’m sure he’d argue right now. I like him, mostly for what he says. Yeah, there is some recklessness in his words. His racial remarks often come off as gratuitous, especially if it is just seen in print.

In person, Hopkins mixes outrage with comedy and uses a tone that says he is willing to talk about it. He has long been condemned by some colleagues for screaming at Joe Calzaghe that he would never let “a white boy beat him.’’ But he made the remark seconds after he told British writers that the “UK has better health care than America. Then again, you all drink a hell of a lot more than we do.’’

Much of what Hopkins does is theater, pure shtick.

But his date with Pascal appears to be serious. It is taking on the dramatic look of a potential last stand. Can he beat the younger man? Sure. But I don’t see how. I don’t think he has even a fraction of the hand speed possessed by the quick Pascal.

Then again, I’ve always been wrong about Hopkins. I picked Felix Trinidad in 2001. Hopkins won. I picked Kelly Pavlik in September, 2008. Hopkins won. The judges gave Joe Calzaghe a victory by split decision in April, 2008. On my card, Hopkins and Calzaghe fought to a draw.

I might be wrong all over again. But another conference call would be good consolation.

“When it’s over with, who else are you going to ask a question for two seconds and get a 10-minute answer?’’ said Hopkins, who was only wrong about the 10 minutes.

More like 60.

LAS VEGAS – LAS VEGAS – Amir Khan’s date with stardom is still there. But for one night it had to wait. Survival got in the way and perhaps forged a stronger possibility that Khan will indeed be the next big thing in boxing.

First, however, he had to prove he could endure.

Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) did so Saturday night in front of an announced Mandalay Bay crowd of 4,600 against volatile Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs), the son of an Argentine gaucho who was as wild and dangerous as an angry stallion.

Maidana suffered a first-round knockdown from a body punch, a Khan left that he never saw. He was penalized a point by referee Joe Cortez in the fifth for throwing an elbow. In every round, he threw punches that sometimes left Khan looking dazed and often left at the perilous edge of defeat.
Khan danced away, ducked, countered and desperately held on to victory. He won a decision that was unanimous in name only and narrow in fact.

Judges Jerry Roth and C.J. Ross scored it for Britain’s 140-pound champion, 114-111 each. On Glenn Trowbridge’s card, it was even closer — Khan by a mere point, 113-112.

Immediate emotion after the final bell was evident in some frustration expressed by Maidana’s corner, which to a man was convinced that they had been robbed of victory.

“I thought I did enough in the later rounds to win,’’ Maidana said.

An unidentified member of Maidana’s corner rushed into the ring and appeared to go after Cortez.
He couldn’t get to him, unlike Maidana, who repeatedly got to Khan.

For Kahn, however, part the victory as in a newfound ability to withstand the most powerful puncher in the division. His ability to take a punch has been an apparent weakness since he was stopped within a minute by by Breidis Prescott.

“I’ve got a chin,’’ Khan said. “I was hurt, but I came back stronger.’’

Strong enough perhaps to become the star that everybody believes he can be.

The assumption was that Victor Ortiz was fighting for a chance at a rematch with Marcos Maidana.

Think again.

First, Ortiz might have to settle for a rematch with Lamont Peterson.

Ortiz’ priorities and perhaps career were shuffled with a majority draw Saturday night with Peterson at Mandalay Bay in a junior-welterweight steppingstone before Maidana’s bid at an upset of Amir Khan.

Two judges scored, Dave Moretti and Patricia Morse Jarman, scored it 94-94. On judge Robert Hoyle’s card, it was 95-93 for Peterson.

Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs) was left with the tie, an ambivalent mark on his resume, after scoring two knockdowns in the third round. Slowly, Peterson (28-1-1, 14 KOs) came back with series of punches that lacked power, yet were on target.

“I fell like crap,’’ said Ortiz, whose career was stalled when he was knocked out in 2009 by Maidana. “I thought I pulled it off. He doesn’t hit that hard. But, you know, bleep happens.’’

But there was more than just bleep. There were precise Peterson punches from the seventh round through the 10th. He repeatedly sent sweat flying off Ortiz’ face and head with lefts, rights and just about anything else he threw. Peterson landed 111 punches to 95 by Ortiz, according to PunchStats.

It said Mr. Nice Guy on the green waistband of Jacob Thornton’s trunks.

No argument there.

Thornton (2-2), a super-lightweight from St. Louis, was nice enough to go to his knees in the opening seconds of a first-round loss to Jamie Kavanaugh (4-0, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles.

Forty-four seconds after opening bell for the third fight Saturday on the card featuring Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana at Mandalay Bay, Kavanaugh’s opening assault left Thornton kneeling. It looked as if he were begging for a stoppage.

Junior-welterweight Sharif Bogere (18-0, 11 KOs), an African living in Las Vegas, had the look of a lion. The face of one adorned the front and back of his black trunks. A woman in lion’s costume accompanied him into the ring in the fifth fight on the Khan-Maidana card. Chris Fernandez ( 19-11-1, 11 KOs) of Salt Lake City was prey. Boegere, blood streaming from cuts near both eyes, mauled him for eight rounds, winning a unanimous decision.

Referee Jay Nady granted Thornton’s apparent wish, stopping the fight as though it had been scheduled to last only within the span of two NBA shot clocks.

In the card’s second bout, super-bantamweight Randy Caballero (6-0, 4 KOs) of Coachella, Calif., got a predictable victory and some necessary work in a four-round unanimous decision over Robert Guillen (5-9-3, 1 KO), a tough Phoenix fighter who was knocked down in the opening round.

The show opened in front of few fans and fewer chances for Arizona middleweight Gustavo Medina (1-3-1), who had no defense and even less offense in a third-round loss by TKO to rangy Venezuelan Alfonso Blanco (2-0, 1 KO).

The fourth bout on the Khan-Maidana card was a cross-town battle, two junior-welterweights from Las Vegas. Unbeaten Jessie Vargas (13-0, 7 KOs) prevailed. With Floyd Mayweather Jr. advisor Leonard Ellerbe in his corner, Vargas scored an eight-round, unanimous decision over Ramon Montano (17-9-2, 2 KOs).

Junior-welterweight Sharif Bogere (18-0, 11 KOs), an African living in Las Vegas, had the look of a lion. The face of one adorned the front and back of his black trunks. A woman in lion’s costume accompanied him into the ring in the fifth fight on the Khan-Maidana card. Chris Fernandez ( 19-11-1, 11 KOs) of Salt Lake City was prey. Boegere, blood streaming from cuts near both eyes, mauled him for eight rounds, winning a unanimous decision.

Heavyweight Seth Mitchell (20-0-1, 14 KOs) won the card’s sixth bout. But he didn’t celebrate. At least, not immediately. The ex-Michigan State linebacker was disappointed that Taurus Sykes (25-7-1, 7 KOs) of Brooklyn quit. Not long after a Mitchell left dropped him early in the fifth, Sykes went down again from what appeared to be a grazing punch. Mitchell urged him to get up. Sykes wouldn’t. He stayed down, a KO loser, at 1:42 of the fifth. Mitchell waved his gloves at him in disgust. Then, he celebrated.

In the end, only a white towel was defense against New York welterweight Joan Guzman (31-0-1, 18 KOs). Jason Davis’ corner threw it in surrender at 29 seconds of the second after the intimidated Canadian (11-8-1, 3 KOs) was unable to cope with the powerful Guzman, who dropped him in the opening round with a low blow in the card’s seventh fight and the last one before junior welterweight Victor Ortiz and Lamont Peterson clashed in the co-main event.

LAS VEGAS – He has mastered the Manny Pacquiao pose. Amir Khan looked as if he had been rehearsing it Friday at the weigh-in for his junior-welterweight date with Marcos Maidana at Mandalay Bay.

Khan was on target, on the scale and for the cameras. After checking in at the mandatory 140 pounds, Khan went into the Pacquiao pose, arms down and hands pressed together in a familiar look that has rippled through the internet for as long as the Filipino has been the brightest in a sport without many.

It was no coincidence, perhaps. Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) has been learning at the foot of Pacquiao’s throne as a sparring partner. For now, at least, Khan is Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach’s second favorite student. But it is impossible to know whether the pose was just another imitation in a town already full of Elvis impersonations.

A hint is forthcoming Saturday night.

Against Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs), the pose will prove to be nothing more than a cheap mask or in fact a sign that Khan is poised to move in when Pacquiao moves on, possibly in three years. The bet is that Khan’s pose is real — a good look at what can happen. He is about a 3-1 favorite to beat Maidana, a feared power puncher who was at 139 pounds Friday.

In the other featured junior-welterweight bout on a nine-fight card, Maidana knockout victim Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KOs) was 141 pounds and Lamont Peterson (28-1, 14 KOs) was at 140.

But the small crowd was there to see Khan and only Khan

“A-mir, A-mir’’ was the chant from his British fans.

There was only a fraction of the UK party that used to follow Ricky Hatton to Vegas. Then again, the Maidana fight is Khan’s first on the Strip and only his second in the United States. His first U.S. bout was in New York last May in a victory over Paulie Malignaggi.

Khan, who was was heavier Friday than he has ever been at a weigh-in, remains mostly-unknown in the U.S. and that might be evident at the box office. Ticket sales were reportedly slow Friday.

But if the pose takes on the real look of a potential Pacquiao successor, Saturday will be remembered as a successful introduction.

Photo By Claudia Bocanegra

LAS VEGAS — There is no advantage in hype, at least not at opening bell. Amir Khan has all of it. Marcos Maidana has none of it.

Maidana, an Argentine farm boy who can punch like a mule, is the son of a gaucho and about as anonymous as one in the hours before he faces Khan, whose good looks and versatile collection of agile skill have some anointing him as Manny Pacquiao’s heir apparent.

If this was a horse race, Maidana’s advertised chances Saturday night at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay would be about as good as a Clydesdale pulling a keg-filled wagon in six furlongs against Secretariat. It’s not. It is 12 rounds, thirty-six scheduled minutes and every second a chance for Maidana to unload a kick that damaged one prospect’s career with doubts that have yet to be eliminated.

Victor Ortiz still bristles at suggestions that he surrendered in June, 2009 to Maidana, who was more anonymous then than he is now. A few days ago during a conference call, Ortiz would not answer questions about whether he wants a rematch with Maidana. No answer needs no translation. Of course, he does. A complete rehab of his prospects can’t be complete without one.
For Khan, the good news is that Ortiz is there, on the Golden Boy-promoted and HBO-televised card against Lamont Peterson. Khan won’t have to look far to know what can happen if he lets the hype blind him to the imminent danger posed by Maidana.

Khan, a British silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, is the latest Pied Piper for the UK media, which is about to stage its biggest invasion of Vegas since Ricky Hatton.

“A mini-England,’’ Khan said of beer, Union Jacks and more rounds of beer that he expects will transform Mandalay Bay into another colony for one night.

By the way, Hatton was a good example of what hype can do. Likable and entertaining, Hatton also was overrated, a fact proven first by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and then Pacquiao in crushing stoppages. The guess here is that Khan, the British-born son of Pakistani immigrants, has more physical skills than Hatton and is smarter than Naseem Hamed. In boxing terms, Khan has the skill and instinct to be the UK’s best since heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis.

But Maidana stands in the way. For fans and often media with a short memory, the Argentine’s chances at an upset have been ignored, mostly because of a lousy performance against DeMarcus Corley, who hurt him with an uppercut.

But that performance was a lesson, says Maidaina trainer Miguel Diaz, a fellow Argentine with as much horse sense as anybody in any corner. The Argentina connection is coincidence perhaps, yet impossible to ignore. Khan’s quickness, precise jab and budding relationship with Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach are considered insurmountable.

Khan can just do more things. If that sounds familiar, think back to Atlantic City a few weeks ago. Paul Williams was feared, had speed, energy and all of the hype against Sergio Martinez, another Argentine. But with one big punch, Martinez made himself a contender for Fighter of the Year with a stunning second-round stoppage. Sometimes, upsets come in bunches.

If there is a weakness in Khan, it is his vulnerability to the big punch, which Maidana possesses two-fold, right and left. Breidis Prescott exposed that vulnerability in 2008 with a KO within a minute of opening bell. Sparring with Pacquiao and listening to Roach are the double-edged lesson in the plan to resurrect Khan and transform him into the fighter who was the talk of the 2004 Games in Athens.

Until opening bell Saturday night, however, the only sure thing is that the hype is back. The guess in this corner is that Maidana is too. That might not be enough against a fully-restored Khan. But for everybody talking about Khan as the next Pacquaio, or against Pacquiao or against Mayweather, beware.

Beware of Maidana.

The sun set on the British Empire long ago, but it might be rising for the UK’s newest hope at conquering the world, or at least the junior-welterweight’s version of it. Amir Khan’s promotional nickname is King.

King Khan sounds good, but an alliterative ring straight from Hollywood’s history of a much-aped film doesn’t make him worthy of a real crown. Not yet, anyway.

Khan’s chance at a claim takes him to Las Vegas next week for a Dec. 11 date against Marcos Maidana at Mandalay Bay. On the path back from his lone defeat, the fight looms as a decisive marker en route to perhaps the Devon Alexander-Tim Bradley winner and undisputed rule of the rich 140-pound division. Lose it, and a potential milestone turns into a deadly millstone, a career killer.

In a conference call Thursday, Khan was part confident, part cautious.

The confidence comes from the most capable corner in this empire and perhaps a few others.

Freddie Roach is there and has been since Khan beat Marco Antonio Barrera, a fading fighter with a master tactician’s undiminished smarts. Through four fights with Roach, Khan first re-established credentials tarnished by a 2008 loss – a first-round knockout – to Breidis Prescott in front of his stunned countrymen in Manchester, England. A steep learning curve followed, one which displayed a marked increase in versatility and poise.

“We haven’t lost a round since we’ve been together,’’ said Roach, who predicts Khan will knock out Maidana in a late round. “… I don’t see us losing a round here either.’’

Further confidence is rooted in Khan’s work with Manny Pacquiao in a globetrotting camp that started in the Philippines, stopped in Los Angeles at the Wild Card Gym and ended in Dallas before the Filipino Congressman dismantled Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium. During 15 to 20 rounds of sparring, Roach said Khan had some good moments against Pacquiao, who took the mythical out of the pound-for-pound debate with a performance that, among other things, displayed speed that Maidana does not possess.

Do well against Pacquiao, Khan said, “and you can do well against anybody.’’

But a good measure of caution was unmistakable Thursday in perhaps a reflection of Khan’s growing maturity and certainly a byproduct of Maidana’s record. Maidana has already proven himself to be a dangerously effective roadblock for anybody with eyes on a bigger horizon. Ask Victor Ortiz, a surfer who sounded as if he wanted to leave the ring and retire to his board after suffering a sixth-round stoppage at the powerful hands of Maidana.

Lest anybody forget that Maidana is dangerous, the Dec. 11 card includes a warning with the presence of Ortiz, who faces Lamont Peterson in an attempt to go 5-0 since his lone loss in 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“It won’t be easy, because he is durable guy,’’ Roach said.

And Khan said he won’t be focused to on trying to make good on Roach’s knockout prediction.

“Because when you do, you make mistakes,’’ said Khan, who perhaps betrayed some of his confidence when he said Maidana’s unadorned, straight-ahead style means he “won’t be hard to find.’’
In terms of career momentum, Khan has an edge. He has been on a roll, especially since he joined Roach. For Maidana, there are questions left by a poor showing in a decision over DeMarcus Corley in August. He spent too much time training in his native Argentina, trainer Miguel Diaz said.

“First he came to the United States, late and fat,’’ Diaz said. “Then, he signed a contract with Golden Boy (Promotions). That was another week lost.

“For this fight, he has already been here nine weeks. By the time of the fight, it will be 10 weeks in America. He has been isolated. He comes only to the gym, leaves and rests. He is ready.’’

Problems against Corley, Diaz said, taught Maidana that there would no more training in Argentina, where boxing has become a popular diversion from soccer and tango. First, there was Maidana. Then, there was Sergio Martinez’ stunning second-round knockout of Paul Williams.

Translation: Khan would be surprised if he doesn’t see the best in Maidana; if he doesn’t encounter the stubborn, power puncher who shocked Ortiz. Actually, it sounds as if he would be more than just surprised. He’d be disappointed. Khan’s birthday is Wednesday. He’ll be 24.

But there won’t be a celebration of some newfound maturity until at least Saturday, Dec. 11. And there won’t be one at all if Khan can’t display it against a prepared and capable Maidana.

Canelo in, Junior out
In a budding rivalry to win over Mexico, Saul Alvarez appears to have grabbed an advantage over Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., who inherited a name and crushing expectations from his father, the senior legend and scarred face of the Mexican franchise.

Alvarez is fighting Saturday.

Chavez isn’t.

The Golden Boy-promoted Alvarez, better known as Canelo, faces Lovemore N’dou in Veracruz on a night when a reported fever and flu bumped Junior off a shuffled Top Rank card Saturday in Anaheim, Calif., against Pawel Wolak, who stepped in for injured Alfonso Gomez.

“This happens sometimes,’’ said Chavez promoter Bob Arum, who went on to to describe Junior’s luck as the kind that gets flushed. “Really bad luck, not of his doing. Anybody can get a serious fever and get knocked out of a fight. It’s not something you can really guard against. It just happens.

“It’s like fate, man. It happens. Bleep happens.’’

What won’t happen any time soon is a fight with Miguel Cotto, who could do more damage to Chavez’ career than the flu.

“I don’t think it would be prudent, at this point, to put him in with Miguel,’’ said Arum, who is offering ticket refunds for anybody who wants one, yet will proceed with the pay-per-view card at the Honda Center with bantamweight Nonito Donaire in the main event against Volodymyr Sydorenko.
Ideally, Arum said, he would like to see Chavez win two fights at 154 pounds before Cotto is again a possibility for Junior, still an heir-apparent in name only.

Donaire, who has Margarito trainer Robert Garcia in his corner, is fighting for a shot at Fernando Montiel. Montiel and Donaire turned down a chance to be part of a bantamweight tournament that includes Yonnhy Perez -versus-Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares-versus-Vic Darchinyan at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., in a Showtime-televised doubleheader on Dec. 11.

Drachinyan ripped Montiel in a conference-call doubleheader Thursday.

“He’s already a loser,’’ Darchinyan said from Australia. “He didn’t want to be part of the tournament.’’

On second thought
Attendance was disappointing for cards in November, which looked like a banquet for fans starved for fights throughout a long, dark summer.

Juan Manuel Marquez’ victory over Michael Katsidis at Las Vegas MGM Grand on Nov. 27 drew 4,920.
Andre Ward’s win over Sakio Bika, also on Nov.27, in Oakland, drew 4,100.

There were 4,818 for Juan Manuel Lopez’ win on Nov. 6 over Rafael Marquez, also at the MGM Grand.
Pacquiao’s destruction of Margarito on Nov. 13 attracted 41,734, but even that was a disappointment. Arum predicted 60,000-plus.

In a tight economy, perhaps there were too many fights. It might have been tough on the wallet to see them all. Or maybe fans are staying away, turned off by the abortive talks for Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Then again, more and more living rooms have high-definition television screens, which are getting cheaper almost by the day.

It is easier to stay at home and more satisfying to watch a fight on HDTV than it is from a seat at the venue. You save on parking and see more. A lot more. Even from the press section on the floor at Cowboys Stadium, I found myself looking up at the brilliant screen above the ring throughout Pacquiao-Margarito. The fighters were bigger on that screen than they were in the ring.

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

Being underestimated is a source of frustration for some. Anger for others. Motivation for many. For Andre Ward, it’s been a career.

Ward promoter Dan Goossen repeated trainer Virgil Hunter’s insightful look at his intriguing and likable super-middleweight at a news conference for his title defense against Sakio Bika Saturday in hometown Oakland, Calif., in a Showtime doubleheader that starts with the Super Six bout between Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch in Helsinki.

“I believe Virgil put it best when he said people underestimate Andre,’’ Goossen said.

Even with an Olympic gold medal, the World Boxing Association’s version of the 168-pound title and his emergence as the Super Six favorite, Ward is underestimated, part by circumstance and yet also a role comfortable and cultivated because it works.

Within a tight circle of friends and family, Ward has kept himself insulated from distractions and delusions that surround an emerging star like a trail of chaos.

“The day they say I arrived is the day I should retire,’’ Ward said during a conference call.

It’s a comment that seems to say that Ward is guided by what he knows instead of what he hears, by the internal instead of the external. In part, it’s what makes him so likable. Yet, it’s also hard to believe it will remain in place if and when Ward achieves the stardom he appears to moving toward. If Manny Pacquiao fulfills the promise he delivered in an address to the Filipino Congress the other day and retires in three years, Ward could succeed him at the top of the marquee. He looks like an heir-apparent, the potential face and voice of Generation Next.

First, he has to beat Bika. Then, he has to win the Super Six and perhaps a showdown with Lucian Bute. If, if and if he accomplishes all of that, he will face the challenge of maturing into an enduring star, which means nobody will underestimate him anymore. An underestimated star is just another way of saying he is lousy draw. Celebrity, distractions and even an entourage are all written into the ticket that adds up to big numbers at the box office.

For now, Ward is still a fighter displaying versatile skills and finding motivation in the doubts planted by circumstances that have plagued the Super Six. He was supposed to have fought friend and 2004 Olympic Andre Dirrell, who withdrew from reported neurological problems linked to a punch thrown by Abraham last March while he was down. Skepticism about the injury has been the speculation, perhaps because of the Dirrell-Ward friendship or maybe because the Internet wouldn’t be what it is with second-guessing.

Whatever you think, Ward says he has moved on.

“Business as usual,’’ he said.

But the shuffle — Bika instead of Dirrell in a bout that has been dropped from the tournament – has eroded interest and put Ward back into the role he knows so well.

“I’ve prepared myself for a fight like this years in advance, said Ward, the World Boxing Association champion, who is still guaranteed a a spot in the semifinals against either Glen Johnson or the Froch-Abraham winner. “…At the end of the day, my championship belt is still on the line and at the end of the day I’ve got to show up and get the job done. And I’ve got a guy on the other side of the ring that’s trying to hurt me. For me, personally, there’s no letdown. This is as big as it gets. There’s really no problem with this not being in the tournament.’’

Any fight against a stand-in is unpredictable, if not inherently dangerous. But the unflappable Ward seems to take it all in stride. The guess here is he could face some real trouble against the emerging Bute or even against the ageless Johnson, whose skill and poise were evident all over again in beating of Allan Green.

But Ward already has dealt with adversity. With American attention on Olympic boxing gone even in 2004, Ward encountered and beat. I like, so many others, had underestimated him. At the start of Olympic boxing, I bet boxing writer-and-author George Kimball 50 Euros that the U.S. wouldn’t win a medal in Athens. After the preliminary rounds, I was already planning to spend my winnings on a good Greek meal. Then, Dirrell won bronze. A few days later, Ward won gold.

I had underestimated him. He surprised me then.

I hope he does again.

Saying Thanks
· For Juan Manuel Marquez, whose endless resiliency will be tested all over again Saturday night at Las Vegas MGM Grand against dangerous Australian brawler Michael Katsidis on HBO. A Marquez victory should be enough for him to get another third shot at Pacquiao, although the Golden Boy-Top Rank cold war stands in the way.

· For emerging Sergio Martinez, whose home run — a one-punch knockout of Paul Williams — proved me wrong in the most exciting stoppage of this year and maybe a few others.

· For Pacquiao, whose pay-per-view audience of at least 1.15 million for his victory over Antonio Margarito is reason to say that the international game, always declared dead, is alive-and-well.

· For Bob Arum, who has come back from the personal tragedy of losing his son in a hiking accident. It’s been a tough year for Arum. Without him, it would be tough for boxing.

· For Oscar De La Hoya, who is one fighter, a rare professional athlete, who is trying to give back to a troubled sport. In a rivalry that is all about business, Arum is battling De La Hoya for market share. The market is better off because it has a major promoter who has thrown punches and endured more than a few.

· For Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, who is middle aged and in his toughest fight ever – a long, trying legal battle to regain what belongs to him. A victory in upholding an order of protection and a judgment against neighbors sets a potential precedent for success in an ongoing civil case to get 12 Phoenix properties in his name. Carbajal alleges they were purchased with ring earnings taken from him in a scheme put together by brother and former trainer Danny, who is in prison.

· For fans, readers and – above all – the fighters, Happy Thanksgiving.

The Internet is atwitter with speculation about what Manny Pacquiao will do. Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Filipino politics and more, much more, is out there, everywhere. There’s no way to know what will unfold. Even Pacquiao doesn’t know where he’ll be next. But here’s one place he should be:

On the cover of Sports Illustrated.

SI is scheduled to announce its coveted award, Sportsman of the Year, on Nov. 29. The nominees – retired Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Canadian Olympic hero and Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby – are worthy. But Pacquiao’s ascent from third-world streets to wealth, international celebrity and a seat in the Filipino Congress is singularly astonishing.

A year ago, this corner nominated him for the SI prize, as well as the Associated Press version, Male Athlete of the Year. Since then Pacquiao beat Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium, won a Congressional seat, served on committees, authored legislation, trained and beat a much bigger man, Antonio Margarito, in what he called his toughest fight, also at Cowboys Stadium.

Last year, this nomination for the awards was an effort just to get his name into the mix. It belonged there then, although he was roundly snubbed. Derek Jeter, perhaps the most popular Yankee since Mickey Mantle, was SI’s choice. NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson was the AP winner according to votes cast by sports editors, many of whom didn’t know how to spell Pacquiao’s name a year ago. I hope that’s changed, although I have my doubts about the boxing abolitionists among those newspaper editors, some of whom would vote for a spare tire before they’d vote for a boxer.

Pacquiao’s dynamic combo of skill, speed and energy has already put him alongside legends such as Henry Armstrong, Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard, the SI winner in 1981. After his stunning dominance of Margarito Saturday, Bob Arum said Pacquiao was the best fighter he has ever promoted in his rich career, which includes Leonard and Muhammad Ali. I’m not sure about that one and I may never be, because the defining fight, Pacquiao-Mayweather, might never happen.

But Pacquiao has put himself into the argument. That’s enough to ensure his place in a debate that is as current as it is ancient. That said, Pacquiao’s evolution as fighter is just one reason he was the best of 2010. There is a fundamental goodness about him, and it revealed itself once again late in the devastating decision over Margarito.

Margarito, who suffered a fractured orbital bone beneath his right eye, was hanging onto nothing more than his pride after nine rounds. In the 11th, Pacquiao looked back at referee Laurence Cole as if to say it’s time to stop this.

In a cruel business, Pacquiao was worried about his opponent, whose apparent mocking of trainer Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s in a controversial video had prompted some ringside ghouls to urge the Filipino to exact revenge with a sustained beating. But that’s not Pacquiao. There is a genuine concern for even a dangerous rival, whom Pacquiao said hurt him in the sixth. After his victory, Pacquiao conceded that he backed off, pulled his punches, because he didn’t want to do any more damage.

In Ali – history’s greatest for a Baby Boom generation that grew up watching him, there was a streak of cruelty displayed in his punishing attack in 1967 of Ernie Terrell, who had mockingly called him by his birth name, Cassius Clay. What’s my name, what’s my name? Ali asked again and again, punctuating the question with cutting combinations. Against Joe Frazier, Ali expressed his cruelty with trash talk that portrayed the proud Frazier as an Uncle Tom.

In the ring and at news conferences, Pacquiao has done neither. After victories over Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Marquez, the media started calling him “The Mexican Assassin.’’ Pacquiao said, please, don’t call me that. He knows about assassinations. He has seen them in The Philippines. Assassins wage war and murder. Reporters and headline writers needed Pacquiao to remind them that boxing isn’t either one. It’s a sport.

Against Margarito, there was no vengeance against a heavy-handed puncher who appeared to mock his beloved trainer. In September, there was a racist rant in a video posted by Mayweather, who called him a “little yellow chump.’’ Pacquiao did not respond in kind or even in anger.

A few months ago, I was skeptical of Pacquiao’s comments that he only wanted to help his people. It sounded like a cliched load of more political bull from another candidate on the campaign trail. But against Margarito, his gesture of concern told me he really means it. Naive? Perhaps. Politics might corrupt Pacquiao in ways that boxing never could.

But I have this memory of him from 2005 before a loss, his last one, to Morales at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Roach talked about how Pacquiao slept on the floor while training at home in the Philippines. Growing up, he often slept on the streets.

At the comfortable MGM, Roach said he entered Pacquiao’s room and saw that the bed was still made. He saw Pacquiao curled up in a corner, sleeping on the floor. I’m not sure he sleeps on any floors anymore. But I am sure he hasn’t forgotten it or the people who are still there, either. For 10 rounds of sustained fury against Margarito followed by two more marked by concern for a beaten business partner, Pacquiao showed that his generosity is as genuine as his punching power.

He cares.

SI and the AP should too.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

ARLINGTON, Tex. – Manny Pacquiao’s congregation wore T-shirts that said it all. Say it all.

Manny Knows

Does he ever.

There’s never a hint of doubt in that enigmatic smile and child-like eyes. Pacquiao never doubts. He just believes and on Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium he crushed those doubts and Antonio Margarito with hands that deliver an unrivalled mix of speed and power.

Questions about Pacquiao’s commitment and priorities were everywhere and building for weeks before he would challenge for an unprecedented eighth title, junior middleweight, at a catch weight. He was said to be more of a politician than a puncher since his election to the Filipino Congress. The guessing game was that he wanted a political title more than a boxing one. When he isn’t in the ring, maybe he does.

But at opening bell, this Congressman is still the pound-for-pound champion.

Margarito never had a chance in losing a decision. It was more than unanimous. It was one-sided. Judge Jurgen Langos scored it 120-108. It was 118-100 on Glen Crocker’s card. Oren Schellenbruger had it 119-109. On the 15 Rounds card, Margarito won only one round, the eighth, out of the scheduled 12. Even that one might qualify as a gift to the gutsy Margarito, who withstood a blinding succession of combinations and was clearly finished after the ninth.

“He is a tough fighter,’’ said Pacquiao, (52-3-2, 38 KOs), who said he was hurt by body punch along the ropes in the sixth.

But he is a slow fighter.

That became oh-so-evident quickly.

Seconds after the opening bell, Pacquiao was more effective with a consistent jab and an accurate right that began to expose Margarito’s ponderous lack of speed.

Pacquiao’s right landed, landed and landed in the first round. There it was again in the second, even in the face of a more aggressive Margarito, who landed an uppercut that served as an early warning and a powerful reminder that standing still was a one-way ticket to defeat for the Filipino.

Suddenly, a crowd announced at 41,734 began to witness answers to questions about Pacquiao had done the roadwork. He had. From round-to-round, Margarito moved forward. He knows no other way.

Through at least seven rounds, Pacquiao darted out of the corner, off the ropes, around Margarito as he landed a bewildering array of punches off-balance and always on the fly.

“He is the fastest fighter of our era,’’ Margarito trainer Robert Garcia said. “We’ve never seen anything like him.’’

In the later rounds, Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) had trouble seeing at all.

In the third round, Pacquiao opened up a cut below Margarito’s right eye with an uppercut. With each round, the swelling grew and it looked as if it began to affect Margarito’s vision. By the 11th, even Pacquaio was concerned. He turned and seemed to ask referee Laurence Cole to stop it.

“My opponent looked bad,’’ Pacquiao said. “I didn’t want to damage him permanently.’’

But damage might have been done to Margarito’s future as fighter. At least, Roach thought so.

Margarito, Roach said, has “the worst corner.’’ Garcia, he said, should have stopped the fight to save Margarito’s career. But Margarito would not quit and said so in the ring after it was over. His pride, his Mexican heritage, would not permit surrender, he said. Still, there was no chance at victory either.

Magarito came into the ring just three pounds lighter than a super-middleweight and 17 pounds heavier than Pacquiao, who at 148 pounds was just one heavier than a welterweight.

Margarito gained 15 pounds between weigh-in and opening bell. He grabbed the water bottle after stepping off the official scale Friday and must have kept room service busy with orders for pasta, more pasta, for the next few hours.

But the early issue involved something that isn’t on any menu. Ephedra, a stimulant, is illegal. Roach suggested that Margarito might have been sprinkling it onto that pasta, or spiking his breakfast cup of coffee with the stuff.

In the end, neither the pounds nor ephedra, not anything else mattered.

But like the T-shirt said Pacquiao already knew that.

A good, sometimes great fight, unfolded while laptops at ringside were abuzz with tweets about a locker room debate initiated by Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, who asked that Antonio Margarito undergo drug testing for ephedra, an illegal stimulant.

It wasn’t clear who was winning in the locker room.

It also wasn’t clear who was winning in the ring between Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (23-0, 18 KOs) and Mexican Jesus Soto-Karass (24-5-3, 16 KOs). In the end, Jones got the nod, a 12-round majority decision, over Soto-Karass.

Jones and Karass brought the crowd to its feet with a toe-to-toe, free-swinging exchange in the second. Jones won the round. For awhile, however, it looked as if had lost the fight. He nearly exhausted himself and Soto-Karass capitalized with stubborn aggressiveness and body shots followed by head-rocking right hands. Judge Serio Caiz scored it 97-93 for Jones. Jones won, 95-94, on Levi Martinez’ card. Gale Van Hoy scored it 94-94, leaving Soto-Karass with a tough loss to go along with bloody cuts near both eyes.

Guillermo Rigondeaux (7-0, 5 KOs), an Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, won a fight, but no fans. They had a new way to spell his name, as in Rigondull.

That’s what his split decision over Panamanian Ricardo Cordoba (37-3-2, 23 KOs) for a World Boxing Association interim junior-featherweight title was: Dull, dull and duller. Did we forget to say dull?

The only cheers were for legendary Roberto Duran, who accompanied Cordoba into the ring. After that, there were yawns, then boos and even the wave, which might have been the most derisive gesture from bored fans awaiting Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito.

For awhile, it sounded as if the restless crowd was watching the Cowboys, who have yet to win a game this NFL season on the home turf beneath the ring.

Rigondeaux escaped with a victory, in part because Cordoba went down on to a knee in the fourth from an apparent body shot. The Cuban won 117-109 on one judge’s card and 114-112 on a second. The third judge scored it 114-112 for Cordoba.

For the first time in days, there were cheers for Brandon Rios, who had been booed for mocking Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s symptoms in a controversial video.

Rios was booed at Friday’s weigh-in.

He was booed when he walked to the ring Saturday for the first fight on the HBO pay-per-view telecast that featured Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito. And booed when he stepped through the ropes. And when he was introduced.

The cheers came later, after Rios (26-0-1, 19 KOs), a super-lightweight from Oxnard, Calif., was declared the winner by TKO over Omri Lowther (14-3, 10 KOs) of Valdosta, Ga.

Rios cut off the ring, cut off every avenue of escape and began to subject Lowther to a withering succession of body punches. In the fifth, a few well-placed head shots brought about the inevitable end for an exhausted Lowther.

An Antonio Margarito sparring partner was beaten up in the gym and beaten Saturday night on the card’s opening bout.

Los Angeles welterweight Rashad Holloway (11-2-2, 5 KOs) lost an unanimous decision to Dennis Laurente (35-3-4, 17 KOs), one of Manny Pacquiao’s fellow Filipinos.

Fellow Filipinos already in their seats at Cowboys Stadium probably hoped that was a good sign for their revered Congressman in a main event scheduled to start six hours after the opener. For Margarito fans, it might have been a sign of what they hope he will do to Pacquiao.

Margarito reportedly hurt Holloway in sparring. One of his injuries was reported to be a dislocated eye socket. Holloway never had a chance against Laurente, who won seven of eight rounds on one card, six on another and five on the third.

In the second bout, Mexican super-lightweight Oscar Meza (20-4, 17 KOs) left no questions, scoring a knockdown in the fourth and final round for a unanimous decision over Jose Hernandez (10-3, 4 KOs) of Dallas.

There were some questions in the third fight. Filipino flyweight Richie Mepranum (17-3-1, 3 KOs) got the favorable answer, an eight-round split decision over Anthony Villareal (10-4, 6 KOs), of Perris, Calif.

Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. (9-0, 9 KOs) knocked fellow super-lightweight Winston Mathis (6-3, 2 KOs) of Stockbridge, Ga., down and around, but never much sense into him.

After scoring two knockdowns in the first round, Benavidez sent Mathis up and back onto his heels with a looping right that landed with the impact of bat onto a fastball. Referee Neal Young looked into the hazy daze of Mathis’ eyes. What he saw was obvious: The end.

Young stopped it at 2:24 of the third. But the stoppage angered Mathis, who for a moment raised his hands and ran at Young as if he had decided to continue the fight against a different opponent. Mathis lost that one, too

Notre Dame graduate Mike Lee did to Keith Debow what the Irish used to do to Navy. He mauled him. Lucky for Debow, this one didn’t last four quarters.

It was over at 1:33 of the first round.

Lee’s report record as a light-heavyweight remained perfect (3-0) with his second knockout, which came about as a result of big right hand followed by several more against defenseless Debow (0-3-1), a St. Louis who leaned on a neutral ring post as though it if it were the only thing keeping him up and in the ring.

First-round stoppages began to become a theme in the next bout, the sixth on a card scheduled for 11. Dallas featherweight Robert Marroquin (17-0, 13 KOs) scored the encore, knocking down Mexican Francisco Dominguez (8-8, 7 KOs) twice within 87 seconds for a TKO victory at 1:27 of the first.

It was a swing fight. For super-featherweights Angel Rodriguez (6-4-2, 4 KOs) of Houston and Juan Martin Elorde (11-1, 4 KOs) of the Philippines, it was swing and mostly miss through flour erratic rounds. Rodriguez missed less often Elorde. He scored a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Filipino.

Photo By Cgris Farina / Top Rank

ARLINGTON, Tex. – He graduated near the top of his class at Notre Dame with a major in finance and a grade-point-average of 3.8, or just two-tenths-of-a-point short of perfect.

So what’s somebody with a resume stamped for post-graduate study doing in a place that smart guys avoid?

Stupid question, at least it is when put to Mike Lee.

“I love to fight,’’ said Lee, the smart guy with the Notre Dame degree, the 3.8 GPA and a light-heavyweight apprentice who figures to extend his record to 3-0 against Keith DeBow (0-2-1) of St. Louis Saturday night on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard.

It is fitting, perhaps, that Lee will fight in a ring on a football field beneath the big top at Cowboys Stadium. Notre Dame and football are synonymous, although success is a fading factor in that part of the Irish tradition.

Notre Dame is 4-5 with a home game Saturday against No. 15 Utah. Lee has a better chance in Dallas than his alma mater has in South Bend, Ind., Saturday.

Some of his fellow alums seemed to know that Friday at a Friday weigh-in on the East Pavilion at Cowboys Stadium, where Pacquiao is 1-0, or one more than the home team has won this NFL season. They surrounded Lee, dressed in Notre Dame colors. Only that acrobatic Leprechaun was missing.

“With the football team struggling, maybe I can give them to cheer for,’’ said Lee, who weighed in at 175.25 pounds in front of a noisy crowd of more than 1,000. “I’d love to do that.’’

Lee’s interest in boxing started as a 16-year-old in Wheaton, Ill. He hung around the gym, listened to the rhythms of the speed bag, hit a few bags himself and began to think he wanted to step through those ropes. By the time he reached Notre Dame after a year at the University of Missouri, he did. It didn’t take long for him to realize he liked the action as much as he liked those financials.

He won the Bengal Bouts, which like so much of everything at Notre Dame has a football tie. It was started about 80 years ago by Knute Rockne.

“I had a lot of opportunities to train with good coaches and in a great environment,” said Lee, who has been working in Houston with trainer Ronnie Shields in gym that includes former lightweight champ Juan Diaz and junior-featherweight prospect Guillermo Rigondeaux. “But the priority was always to get my degree. That was first.

“Once I did that, I wanted to pursue something I think I love and I think I can be great at. I can only find out whether I can accomplish that now. I can’t wait 10 years from now. I wouldn’t want to wonder then whether I should have tried now.’’

Give him another A for knowing himself and what he wants.

Remember Antonio Margarito’s motivation for Manny Pacquiao? It was a fight to rehabilitate his reputation, knock out the cheato and restore his good name. Well, forget it. Marga-cheato became Marga-creepo with a video that could have been filmed, directed and produced by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Margarito could still beat Pacquiao Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. He is the bigger fighter. He has a vicious uppercut. He is as tough as he is strong. Don’t delude yourself, he has a legitimate shot. But the advertised chance at rehab is gone. Margarito has already lost that one with an AOL FanHouse video that, weak apologies aside, will forever be seen as obscene.

If Margarito’s shaking hands aren’t a gesture that mocks Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach’s deadly battle with Parkinson’s, what is it? At least, those hands aren’t wrapped in something illegal.

Unlike stablemate Brandon Rios who stood up Thursday and accepted responsibility for his role in the mockery, Margarito has tried to spin, spin and spin away from accountability. If it sounds familiar, remember the wraps. Margarito said he didn’t know, couldn’t know, never knew that former trainer Javier Capitello had loaded his gloves with a plaster-like substance before it was discovered in the furor that preceded his loss to Shane Mosley in January, 2009.

Margarito refused to apologize, until finally he was badgered by the media into saying he was sorry for at least not knowing. I guess he doesn’t know when a rock is in his shoe, either.

Thanks to a loyal and defiant defense that cost promoter Bob Arum a reported $500,000, a willingness to give Margarito benefit of the doubt grew among some in the media and many in the public. California wouldn’t give him a license. But Texas did. Acceptance wasn’t complete. But Margarito had a chance and a $3 million purse. He’ll still get the money, but his reputation has been infected by video gone as viral as the racist, homophobic rant that Mayweather dropped into the Internet and onto Pacquiao in September. By the way, Mayweather tried to apologize, too.

Margarito apologizes by saying that his shaking hands were misinterpreted and taken out of context in a video that he suggests was edited in a way designed to create controversy.

“I would never make fun of Freddie Roach or anyone with that disease,” Margarito said Thursday in surprise appearance at a news conference for Saturday’s undercard. “I have someone in my family who has it. I’ll tell you how it happened: There was a guy in the gym with a camera and he said, ‘Freddie Roach said you’re going to be knocked out.’

“I shook my hands and said, ‘Oh, I’m really scared now.’ ”

But the video, without any apparent editing at that point, moves directly to Rios. He begins to shake his head. That’s when Margarito trainer Robert Garcia says “Hey, there’s Freddie Roach.’’ No denials are heard on the video. And there were no denials from Rios Thursday.

“I take responsibility for what I did,” said Rios, a lightweight who fights Omri Lowther on the undercard. “I’m a man about it. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”

Meanwhile, Roach said he got a call Thursday from Garcia, who offered a sincere apology. Roach said he accepted. He said he was ready to move on. Roach also told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole that he “would shake (Margarito’s) hand to end this.’’

But those are hands few can ever trust.

LAS VEGAS — It wasn’t a defining moment. For the fighter known simply as JuanMa, that will have to wait. JuanMagnifico, he wasn’t.

But JuanMature he might become after a bruising battle Saturday night at the MGM Grand that ended with Rafael Marquez unable to continue after the eighth round because of an injury to his right shoulder.

After early dominance, Juan Manuel Lopez (29-0, 26 KOs) fought through trouble, recovered and reasserted himself to stay undefeated in defense of his featherweight crown, the World Boxing Organization’s version of the 126-pound title. The 27-year-old Lopez had the crowd chanting his name – JuanMa, JuanMa — in the opening rounds and again in the end for the stinging power in his hands and the young legs that carried him into trouble, out of it and finally up the ladder to stardom. Early on, JuanMa smiled and gestured at the crow, which included boyhood idol Felix Trinidad, as though he thought he was in for an easy night. His hands were faster; his legs younger. At the end of the first round, JuanMa bounced a succession of punches off Marquez (39-6, 35 KOs) at the rate of a pinball. After the bell sounded, he turned, smiled at his corner and waved his gloved hands in front of him as if to say it would end quickly. For the next two rounds, there was nothing to change his mind.

In the third, a short left hand from the left-handed Puerto Rican sent Marquez stumbling half way across the ring and into the ropes. How tough could it be? Turns out, very tough. The experienced Marquez caught Lopez with a head-rocking counter seconds after it looked as he might be finished in the third. In the fourth, the 35-year-old Mexican began to put together punches that looked like a lesson plan. Suddenly, JuanMa’s early success began to look like a mirage. Left-handed counters left JuanMa looking dazed, yet still on his feet.

“It’s going to happen,’’ JuanMa said. “”You get hit. He gets hit. He has tremendous power.’’

Translation: JuanMa endured that part of the lesson and survived, although his youth showed for a moment. He was penalized a point by referee Tony Weeks for hitting Marquez on the back of the head. He argued with Weeks after the round ended.

But the frustration dissipated as quickly as Marquez’ chances. Marquez began to look his old. That might have been because of an unspecified injury. “I was hurt before the fight,’’ said the Mexican great, whose thumb injury in August forced the fight to be postponed from Sept. 18. Marquez said he hurt his right shoulder in the third round. After the eighth, he told his corner about the injury.

“I can’t move it,’’ Marquez said he told trainer Daniel Zaragoza. Zaragoza asked him if would have to stop the fight. Then, somebody touched Marquez shoulder. He winced. The pain was evident. “I can’t go,’’ Marquez told Zaragosa. The injury happened sometime in the third round, said Marquez, who said it limited his ability to throw punches. “I couldn’t punch the way I always do,’’ he said, “If I could have I would have won the fight.’’

Marquez seemed to be saying that he wanted a rematch. Against a JuanMature, that might be a tough sequel.

Johnson scores 8th-round TKO over Green

It took a sub to make another one look sub-par. Glen Johnson made Alan Green look like a sub sandwich in the super-middleweight’s Super Six Classic Saturday night at the MGM Grand. Green went down easily against an older and much tougher Johnson.

The 41-year-old Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KOs), who looked more comfortable at 168 pounds than he has at light heavyweight (175), threw right hands early, later and almost at will. The 31-year-old Green (29-3, 10 KOs) had no counter, no defense and not much else other than perhaps a quick shuffle out of the Showtime tournament. Like hammer to nail, Johnson’s right hand finished the job at 36 seconds of the eighth round when at least two rights put Green down.

“ I knew that eventually he would move into a position where I could really land those punches,’’ said Johnson, whose fight-ending blows crashed off of Green’s left temples As he tried to get up, referee Robert Byrd looked and saw shaky legs, unsteady feet and uncertain eyes. Byrd had seen enough. As Byrd waved his arms, Green there was a hint of relief in his dazed eyes, even though he was leading on two of three scorecards. Judges Jerry Roth and Dick Houck had Green leading, 67-66. Johnson led, 68-65, on Burt Clements’ card. En route to his TKO victory, Johnson delivered an early message, a wicked overhand right, in the first round that must have told Green that next time he should try to get into a different kind of tournament. Table tennis, anyone? Green, Johnson’s longtime friend, backpedaled until there was nowhere to go. There was no refuge in retreat. Only the ropes. That’s where Green found himself near the end of third. Johnson caught him once in the back of the head.

Then, he followed with the right hand that already had displayed its power. The bell ended the round. But Green was in trouble. He stumbled in search of his stool. It was only a matter of time before he would find only defeat and an exit from the Super Six.
Knockouts are early theme on JuanMa-Marquez undercard

Derrick Campos (20-10, 11 KOs), a super-featherweight from Topeka, Kan., got up, close and personal with the canvas. Unbeaten Diego Magdaleno (17-0, 5 KOs) of Las Vegas made sure of it a in bout that was part of Showtime’s international telecast. Magdaleno put Campos down three times in four rounds. A left-right sent Campos tumbling in the final second of the first. A right hook sent down again in the third and encore right at 15 seconds of the fourth ended it.

Knockouts were the early story. Through the first three fights, they were the only story. The biggest was delivered by Washington D.C. lightweight Daniel Attah (25-6-1, 9 KOs), whose right hook at 1:55 of the second round almost sent Mexican Marvin Quintero (20-3, 16 KOs) skipping across the canvas like a flat stone on a pond. It took several minutes before Quintero could walk under his own power. He was helped onto stool at the center of the ring where he sat, dazed, while his corner men try to tell him what had happened. He was unconscious at the moment Attah’s right landed.

Attah only took a little bit longer than Jesse Magdaleno and McWilliams Arroyo did in the first two fights of the untelevised part of a card featuring featherweights Juan Manuel Lopez and Rafael Marquez.

In the night’s opener, Arroyo (5-1, 4 KOs), a Puerto Rican flyweight, won a by TKO at 2:55 of the first round over Mexican Cesar Grajeda (7-2, 1 KO,).

Magdaleno (1-0, 1 KO), a Las Vegas super-featherweight, won his debut with a TKO at 1:38 of the first over Matthew Salazar (1-3-1, 0 KOs) of Albuquerque.

The judges finally had some say-so in the night’s fourth fight, won by Las Vegas welterweight Anthony Lenk (8-1, 4 KOs), who scored a 6-round unanimous decision over formerly-unbeaten Danny Escobar (6-1, 5 KOs) of Riverside, Calif.

In the last fight before the card moved onto the Showtime stage, Cleveland lightweight Mickey Bey stayed unbeaten (16-0, 8 KOs) with a 6-round,unanimous decision over Erick Cruz (7-6-3, 7 KOS), a Puerto Rican who was on his knees in the second after he was rocked by a right-left combo.

LAS VEGAS – In a gambling Mecca full of whispered tips and inside information, there’s talk that Juan Manuel Lopez is worried. Only a fool wouldn’t be.

Lopez’ advertised potential as the face of boxing’s next generation of stars is about to be tested as it never has Saturday night at the MGM Grand in a dangerous encounter with one of the masters of the reigning generation. Rafael Marquez stands in his way, perhaps as formidable as ever and still feared by many.

There was no sign of fear in JuanMa at the weigh-in Friday or the final news conference Thursday. His charisma is as powerful as his punch. It knocks out everything else, including any hints of self-doubt.

He and Marquez left no doubt they were ready for the Showtime-televised clash Friday when stepping onto the official scale, both at 125.5 pounds, a half-pound under the featherweight division’s limit. They posed. They stared. The weigh-in ritual didn’t include a single blink or smile. Only potential fury waits in a fight that will result in more punches and fewer headlines than anything produced by jockeys Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano Friday in a Breeders Cup brawl at Churchill Downs.

But there were a couple of words Thursday, mostly from Lopez, who is defending his World Boxing Organization title. Marquez has seen film of Lopez, down in the opening round against Bernabe Concepcion, who will never be confused with Marquez. For the deliberate Marquez, that moment represents a weakness that has seen and exploited often. He mentioned it and Lopez countered.

“I read that the team of Rafael Marquez said that I have no chin,’’ said Lopez (29-0, 26 KOs), a 27-year-old Puerto Rican. “But the one who is undefeated is me. I know he has won a few fights by knockout, but on Saturday night you’ll see who really can take a punch and who can’t.’’

Lopez suggested that Marquez promoter Gary Shaw annoyed him by saying he had to prove himself against the 35-year-old Mexican (39-5, 35 KOs), who is the brother of better-known Juan Manuel Marquez.

“Shaw told me: ‘If you’re so good how come you don’t fight Rafael,’ ‘’ Lopez said. “I’m so good I’m going to beat Rafael Marquez on Saturday.”

The 35-year-old Marquez sounded as if he has experienced enough, learned more than enough, to withstand any storm.

“I will show that I can beat anyone at any point in their career,’’ said Marquez, whose bruising series with Israel Vazquez has left some wondering if he there is anything left of the brilliant bantamweight he was in his prime. “Experience and talent will beat youth. …Hard work and preparation will beat youth anytime.’’

Although there were no surprises on the scale from either Lopez or Marquez, there were a couple from super-middleweights Allan Green and Glen Johnson, tournament subs who will fight for a chance to advance to the semifinals of the shuffled Super Six.

Glen Johnson, who has been campaigning at light-heavyweight (175) for years, easily made the weight at 167, one pound under the 168 limit.

“I thought making the weight would be more difficult,’’ Johnson said. “I was at weight two weeks ago, so that was surprising.’’

In making weight, trainer Orlando Cuellar said Johnson might have learned something that could have worked a few years ago.

“I know a lot of people were concerned if he could make ‘68, much less be effective at ’68,’’ Cuellar said. “I guess you all get to find out Saturday. But if it is any indication what he has done at the gym I think he is faster, lighter on his feet. I think we discovered that maybe he should have been at this weight a few fights back.’’

For Green, the weigh-in wasn’t so easy. He was a half-pound too heavy in his first trip to the scale. In a quick strip-tease, Green stepped behind a blanket, took off his shorts and made the mandatory 168.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – After a dark month that didn’t include much more than the sad spectacle of watching Shannon Briggs endure a terrible beating from Vitali Klitschko, November dawns with fighters and a fight, Juan Manuel Lopez-versus-Rafael Marquez, with all of the elements that have been missing in action.

Lopez, a Puerto Rican, and Marquez, a Mexican, haven’t said much. They haven’t had to.

A Fight-of-the- Year possibility is real in a featherweight bout at the MGM Grand on Showtime Saturday night in a classic confrontation at the crossroads. There’s the 35-year-old old Marquez in a battle to extend his career before turning toward a retirement that is destined to take him into the Hall of Fame. In the opposite corner, there is the 27-year-old Lopez, who is eager to just move into a position that one day might allow him to be where Marquez is now.

“Without a doubt, I know he’s coming to prove that he’s still at the same level,’’ the fighter best known as JuanMa said on a conference call. “I’m out to prove that I’m at the same level he’s at. …I can’t see how it will not be a good fight. We both have a lot to prove. We’re willing to give up everything in the ring.”

Like any good fight, plenty of intrigue is offered by a collection of subplots. Lopez-Marquez looks as if it will be another chapter in a rivalry, Puerto Rico-versus-Mexico, as rich in tradition as any. Flags will fly. So, too, will the fists, some of which promise to result in knockdowns. Playing-it-safe is Chad Dawson’s game, which has never been played by JuanMa.

The unbeaten lefthander (29-0, 26 KOs) has been down, off his feet in the first round against Bernabe Concepcion and victorious in the second. Lopez courts trouble, which is part of the attraction. If the danger isn’t there and always imminent, there’s no reason to watch.

“I see how strong and powerful he is,’’ Marquez (39-5, 35 KOs) said. “But I also see his weaknesses. I see that he has a weak chin. So we have to take advantage of that and put our punches together and use a lot of combinations. I have to use all of my experience and all of my power and all my intelligence in the ring to get to him. It’s a winnable fight, no question.’’

From this seat, Lopez-Marquez looms as the best of a loaded Holiday card, which includes Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., the Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez rematch on Nov. 20 in Atlantic City, Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis on Nov. 27 and Amir Kahn-Marcos Maidana on Dec. 11.

There’s plenty on the plate, almost too much. Pacquiao’s crossover celebrity – he’s an intercontinental star – takes away some of the attention on Lopez-Marquez, which would have captured more of the headlines if it had happened on Sept. 18. But a postponement was forced by an inadvertent injury suffered by Marquez, who hurt his thumb in a car door. But it’s the first in a revival after a recession, an Octoberflop. After it’s all over, I suspect first will rank as the best.

It’s a lot easier to pick Lopez-Marquez as a Fight-of-the-Year contender than it is to pick a winner. Lopez has never encountered anybody with Marquez experience, smarts and instincts. Like his brother Juan Manuel, Rafael has a predatory eye for weaknesses and there are many in Lopez’ aggressive pursuit.

But there also are haunting questions about Marquez. How much is left? His battles with Israel Vazquez were as bruising as they are memorable. There had to be price. It was evident in May that Vazquez had paid in full when he fell within four rounds against Marquez. The bout hinted at two possibilities:

A) — With the victory, Marquez proved he has a lot more left than some thought.

B) — He looked so good simply because Vazquez is beyond his prime.

If it’s B, JuanMa moves forward on a path to the kind of Puerto Rican stardom enjoyed by his idol, Felix Trinidad.

If it’s A, expect a rematch.

The hunch here is that Lopez will temper some of his aggressiveness and win a late-round stoppage against an aging Marquez in a contender for Fight of the Year, which is the best pick of all.

NOTES, QUOTES
· It looks as if Filipino Congressman Pacquiao’s political punch is also potent. Five days after endorsing Nevada Senator Harry Reid at a Las Vegas campaign stop, Reid knocked out Republican challenger and tea-party darling Sharron Angle. Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said Pacquiao’s appearance with Reid energized the Filipino and Hispanic vote. Vegas’ Filipino population is about 30,000. The city’s Hispanic community numbers about 130,000. Reid, a Democrat and the Senate’s majority leader, won by about 40,000 votes.

· An order-of-protection filed by Hall of Fame junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal and girlfriend Laura Hall against neighbors Josephine Carbajal, Michael’s niece, and Jose Espinal was upheld Tuesday at a Phoenix hearing. Josephine played a recording in an attempt to show a pattern of domestic abuse at Michael Carbajal’s home. But the recording was discredited in testimony from Hall. The voice of Michael’s son and the barking of his dog were heard on the tape. Neither was in the house at the time Josephine said the recording was made. Michael Carbajal is battling to gain ownership of 12 properties he says were purchased by brother and ex-trainer Danny Carbajal with money he earned in the ring. Danny is in prison for a conviction on charges he stole an estimated $2 million.

· And keep your day job, which is either in the ring, or the Filipino Congress, or both. Wherever it is, it’s not in music. At least, Margarito doesn’t think so. Margarito said he didn’t see Pacquiao join Will Ferrell in a rendition of the Beatles song, Imagine, the other night on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Apparently, he didn’t have to. “All I can tell you is that he is a better boxer than he is a singer,’’ Margarito said. “I think maybe he should dedicate himself more to boxing.’’

The irresistible story about whether Manny Pacquiao is out-of-shape, or out-of-focus, or more politician than pugilist is either setting the stage for a monumental upset in a loss to Antonio Margarito or masterful spin in the promotional wizardry exercised by Bob Arum.

The guess is all of the above and maybe more. There’s nothing new about Pacquiao and distractions. If anything, they’ve become inseparable. Pacquiao almost seems to be energized by familiar chaos that surrounds him like a human typhoon.

It’s fair to wonder whether the storm will reach a tipping point and overwhelm the Filipino Congressman on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium against a bigger man who used to be called The Tornado and is anxious to prove he doesn’t need illegal hand wraps to be one all over again.

The hand-wrap controversy, which has haunted Margarito since a loss to Shane Mosley 22 months ago, has been shoved into the background. Glovegate is an afterthought and Arum made sure of it with his trip a couple of weeks ago to the Philippines for a look at Pacquiao’s training camp. The story’s emphasis shifted subtly, yet unmistakably onto the star, Pacquiao, and away from the controversy, Margarito, when Arum warned the Filipino that he was in danger of losing if he didn’t work harder. The next day, Arum said all was well. Pacquiao looked good.

With his early warning, Arum accomplished a couple of tasks. He motivated Pacquiao and he ensured that the attention moves toward and stays on the biggest attraction. That’s where it belongs. Pacquiao makes the money. Talk about a marquee fighter in a battle with distractions is as old as Muhammad Ali. It’s compelling enough to invest in pay-per-view. But controversy over what, when and if Margarito knew about altered wraps and whether he should be allowed to fight in Texas after a denial in California is just buzz-kill.

Intrigue about Pacquiao’s readiness gained momentum at the very moment he set foot at LAX Sunday. That’s when trainer Freddie Roach told the media that the Filipino part of the training camp was the worst he had ever endured.

Trainers, of course, are paid to worry. Roach sounded as if he were relieved to be away from Pacquiao’s many commitments and desire to stay close to his newfound position in the Filipino Congress. He blew off for a day to visit Filipino President Benigno Aquino. Roach also told reporters that Pacquiao told him that he missed his job. Pacquiao’s comment to Roach is curious, to be sure. If he had not been so good for so long at his job in the ring, he wouldn’t have one in politics. In the political ring, misplaced priorities are an argument. Against Margarito, they’re a loss.

If priorities are in fact misplaced, there are questions — further intrigue — about whether Pacquiao has enough to time to put them back in order. In comments during media day Wednesday at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, Roach sounded as if two-to-three weeks were enough. Yet within a week after leaving the Philippines, Pacquiao planned to be back on the campaign trail for a quick trip Friday to Las Vegas where he is scheduled to appear with Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat and majority leader, who is a tough run against Tea Party darling Sharron Angle.

Just a couple days after Roach told the media that there were no politicians around to take Pacquiao away from the Wild Card Gym, the trainer has another reason to worry. But Arum, Senator Reid’s friend and loyal supporter, can’t be worried at all. Otherwise, Pacquiao wouldn’t be taking this trip in support of a fellow politician who might be in bigger trouble than he will be against Margarito.

All options still on the mat

Henry Cejudo, a freestyle-wrestling gold medalist at the 2008 Olympics and one of the best stories at the Beijing Games, is 2-0 as an amateur boxer. Cejudo, who began training alongside Top Rank prospect Jose Benavidez, Jr., at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix not long after Beijing’s closing ceremonies, won his second amateur bout in a surprise appearance a week ago at a tournament during the Arizona State Fair.

Cejudo, who won his boxing debut during a smoker at Central, has told the wrestling media that he probably will return for another shot at Olympic gold at the 2012 Games in London. But boxing, which will perfect his punching know how, might also be one way of jumping into mixed-martial arts. That opportunity looms, especially since Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White announced Thursday that the UFC will merge with World Extreme Cagefighting.

The merger will include the addition of two weight classes, 135 pounds and 145. There also are plans for a 125-pound division. Cejudo, who grew up as a boxing fan, won Olympic gold at 55 kilograms, 121.25 pounds.

Notes, quotes
· Kelly Pavlik trainer Jack Loew is relieved that weight won’t be the biggest opponent when the former middleweight champion tries to resurrect his career against journeyman Brian Vera on the Pacquiao-Margarito undercard at catch weight, 164 pounds. “We were burning this kid out,’’ Loew said Tuesday of training before Pavlik loss to Sergio Martinez. “We were training four or five times a day and it was because of the weight. We trained more for the weight than we did for Martinez.’’
· Most of the talk is about Pacquiao-Margarito, but the Fight of the Year might happen on the Saturday before Nov. 13 when featherweights Rafael Marquez and Juan Manuel Lopez tangle on Nov. 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Arum, Lopez’ promoter, called it a Fight of the Year candidate. There was no argument Monday from Lopez. “My expectation is the same, that it will be a Fight-of-the-Year-type candidate,’’ said Lopez, who also expects the bout to end in a later-round knockout.

Photo Chris Farina / Top Rank

The Super Six represents a blueprint, a plan instead of another accident on a haphazard road littered with the same old mishaps and anarchy. The super-middleweight tournament and concept continue, first with Allan Green and Glen Johnson in a Stage 3 substitute on Nov. 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and then a version featuring bantamweights in December. It’s a reason to applaud. Good ideas need to survive.

After injuries scrambled the 168-pound roster and forced Showtime’s Ken Hershman to look for backups like an NFL coach suddenly in need of a healthy quarterback, there were some inevitable suggestions that the network abandon the idea and move on, which doesn’t mean forward. Business-as-usual is a fast lane down the drain.

“If we’re not creative, if we’re not innovative, if we don’t take chances, we’re going to head more into the shitter than we already are,’’ promoter Lou DiBella said Thursday on a conference call that included Johnson, Green and Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio.

There’s no reliable way to tell whether there’s any way out. Boxing’s inherent nature – injuries, feuding promoters and greed- greed- greed – might flush the tournament concept into the sewer along with everything else.

“I think there will always be challenges for the sport because anything that takes any length of time presents difficulties,’’ DiBella said. “You have your legitimate difficulties with injuries. But you also have your political difficulties with guys’ fortunes changing, other opportunities popping up and people hesitating. This tends to be a sport of immediate gratification. People don’t have to look down the line. They look for tomorrow, they look for the immediate payday.

“So, a tournament, a tournament concept, is a difficult undertaking.’’

About the attempt, however, DiBella left no doubt. Without one and a sustained effort to make it work, there is only the undertaker.

Showtime’s concept offers possibilities and even punches instead of tired methods that create headlines, rancor and not much else. The Super Six isn’t what it was intended to be. But chances that it will produce fights and a winner are a lot better than any chance of Manny Pacquiao fighting Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Yeah, the 168-pound tournament has lasted too long for an impatient public. But at least there were fights, a few dramatic upsets and the emergence of Andre Ward, who has used the Super Six as a vehicle to real stardom. Compare that to the ad nauseam produced by the Mayweather-Pacquiao talks that, once again, sums up Jerry Seinfeld’s defining line about his sitcom. It was about nothing. Give me something.

The Super Six has, especially with Ward, who faces Sakio Bika in a non-tournament bout on Nov. 27 after Andre Dirrell, his 2004 Olympic teammate, withdrew from the round-robin because of troublesome neurological symptoms in the wake of his March victory over Arthur Abraham. Based on a scoring system that includes points for knockouts, Abraham and Carl Froch, who face each other on Nov. 27 in Helsinki, also are already in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Green and Johnson will fight for the last spot in the semifinals. Johnson, who is more experienced and comfortable at light-heavyweight, moved into the round-robin in place of Mikkel Kessler, who withdrew because of an eye injury. Green, a one-sided loser to Ward, is a sub for Jermain Taylor, who dropped out after a knockout delivered by Abraham.

In effect, the Super Six became Five. There are lessons in that, perhaps. The bantamweight tournament, scheduled to begin on Dec. 11 in Leon, Mex., starts with four – Abner Mares, Vic Darchinyan, Yonnhy Perez and Joseph Agbeko. It’s a Final Four scheduled to be decided in 2011.

Fewer fighters might mean fewer chances at injury and all in less time, which might mean sustained interest.

Will the second time around work? Are tournaments the way to go? Nobody knows. But if DiBella is accurate about where the business is now, everybody knows it will just go, go away.

“I honestly believe we have to take these kind of chances, we have to go for this kind of innovation,’’ said DiBella, who has looked down and seen no other choice.

Carbajal’s battle continues
Michael Carbajal, a Hall of Fame junior-flyweight from Phoenix, was back in court Wednesday with companion Laura Hall for a hearing in a battle to retain an order of protection against his neighbors, niece Josephine Carbajal and Jose Espinal.

Hall, who continues to wear a cast on her left arm from an alleged assault on Sept. 6, testified. Josephine Carbajal, acting as her own attorney, cross-examined. There were several contentious moments. When Josephine Carbajal approached the stand, Hall asked if she was trying to intimidate her. The acting judge admonished both parties several times.

The lengthy hearing included some comedic relief. Josephine Carbajal tried to establish a pattern of domestic abuse within Michael Carbajal’s residence. She produced a tape recorder that she said included evidence of a fight between Hall and Michael Carbajal. But nothing decipherable could be heard. The acting judge and attorneys gathered around the stand at which Hall was seated, leaned over and tried to listen to the hand-held recorder, almost as if it included a lost Beatles tape. They tried three times and heard only the sounds of static.

The case was continued for a second time. The third session is scheduled for Nov. 2 when the featured witness is Michael Carbajal, who is battling to recover assets worth about $2 million that he says was stolen from him by brother ex-trainer Danny Carbajal. Danny Carbajal, convicted of felony theft and fraud, is in prison. He is scheduled for release in October, 2011.

Notes, quotes
· Glen Johnson and Allan Green are longtime friends and sparring partners. Green sparred with Johnson in 2004 before Johnson’s upset of Roy Jones, Jr. Johnson sparred with Green in 2007 before Green’s loss to Edison Miranda.

· Johnson is 41, but still young enough to dream. “I’m still searching for greatness, no doubt about it,’’ he said. “I’m still waiting for somebody to shout out ‘Glen Johnson is a great fighter.’ ‘’

· And Johnson lost an 11th-round TKO to Bernard Hopkins in the last century, 1997. Hopkins, who faces Jean Pascal on Dec. 18, turns 46 on Jan. 15. When asked what he would have said in 1997 if he had been told he and Hopkins would still be fighting in 2010, Johnson chuckled and said: “I’d be laughing, just like I am right now.’’

It is the indispensable medium. Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya need television as much as Bill O’Reilly needs to shout into the cameras. But it is also a dilemma for young fighters impatient to get onto that rich stage as quickly as possible. Mike Jones is about to step through those ropes and into that light, which can be as unforgiving as it is bright.

That Jones has yet to do so can be viewed through a prism that casts a varied spectrum of interpretation. Prospects with less experience, a lesser record and a lot less potential have already been there. Fair or not, Jones has been waiting his turn, which finally comes on Nov. 13 beneath a screen that enriches as much as it exposes at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

The wait, however, represents another opportunity, one which has been swept aside in the headlong rush to cash in before dues have to be paid. Jones, a Philadelphia welterweight who faces Jesus Soto-Karass on the HBO telecast of Manny Pacquiao-versus-Antonio Margarito, has served an apprenticeship. That’s a quaint notion, I know. Maybe, it’s even been forgotten. But forgotten fundamentals are a sure way to foreclosure.

While listening to Jones, promoter J Russell Peltz, Arum and Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler on a conference call Wednesday, I couldn’t help but think that Jones hasn’t been allowed to forget lessons presented, reviewed and repeated at the rhythm and rate of a speed bag over the course of his 22-fight resume (22-0, 18 KOs).

A negative turned into a positive, Peltz said of Jones’ classroom away from HDTV’s defining portrayal.

“You can’t be beholden to the television networks,’’ Arum said. “If you are, you’re doing a disservice to your fighter.’’

More than a disservice.

It is irresponsible to both fighter and fan to push a prospect in front of the HBO cameras before he has a chance to discover whether he really wants to enter the crosshairs in pursuit of a living. Too many have. I still recall a former heavyweight, Danell Nicholson, saying that he wanted to be famous. Nicholson never said he wanted to be a fighter. Fame was his only objective. But it’s not a commodity. You can’t pick up a couple of pounds of it at the corner store

It was as if Nicholson had calculated that boxing was the quickest way to claim his share. But dangerous punches can get in the way of fame, money and common sense. A willingness to take those punches, endure them and counter them is the priority. Fame or money is the windfall, but it is only there if the prospect discovers that he likes to fight — first, foremost and mostly for himself. The cameras are incidental, almost like that windfall.

Among other things, Jones has had a chance to discover that, yeah, that willingness is within him like a heartbeat. Throughout his apprenticeship, he supported two daughters, aged four and six, with a day job at Home Depot. It would have been easy, even understandable, if he had decided to punch-in, punch-out and forget about punches at the gym.

But he didn’t. In the gym and away from the cameras, Jones, who has been compared to Thomas Hearns, learned that the brutal trade was his trade. He’s still learning and re-applying some of the fundamentals, including a more effective jab. He calls himself “a work in progress.’’ But it doesn’t sound as if there any doubts or looming identity crisis about where that progress is headed.

HBO is just a natural step in the progression.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Pacquiao fans must be getting nervous. According to reports from the respective camps, Margarito’s has been single-minded and his work uninterrupted. Meanwhile, Pacquiao has suffered from the flu and a slight foot injury. It might not matter; Pacquiao might win as expected. In the long wake of hand-wrap controversy in a loss Shane Mosley in January, 2009, however, Margarito has much to prove, He is armed with motivation to redeem himself. That’s powerful. Meanwhile, Pacquiao has a new career as a Filipino Congressman and an opponent not named Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

· More Margarito motivation: Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that Margarito has a bet with clothing manufacturer Affliction. He will wear the company’s T-shirt during HBO’s 24/7 series and into the ring. If he loses, he’ll only have the shirt. If he upset Pacquiao, he’ll win a renewal of his endorsement deal. It’ll be worth five figures.

· Two more reasons to forget about the heavyweight division are on the schedule, first Friday and then Saturday. Antonio Tarver is old enough for a cinematic rematch against Sylvester Stallone. Yet, he will make his heavyweight debut on ShoBox against Nagy Aquilera in Miami, Okla. On Saturday, Shannon Briggs faces Vitali Klitschko in Hamburg, Germany. Tarver, an insightful commentator for Showtime, and Briggs are personable. They’re great talkers. If only they could have talked their way out of these fights.

The International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot is a formality. Mike Tyson is a lock for induction. Fact is, Tyson is virtually in the Hall already. The building near a freeway exit in Canastota, N.Y., already includes Tyson photos and memorabilia.

But the induction ceremony, which on June 12 will also include Julio Cesar Chavez and Kostya Tszyu, promises to be an event that goes beyond the usual parades, handshakes and hangovers. The unpredictable Tyson is liable to say anything when he steps to the podium. When Tyson speaks, controversy or comedy or outrage or insight or nonsense or all-of-the -above is sure to follow. So, too, do headlines, blogs and video.

If his boxing career were the only factor in the boxing writers’ vote for the Hall, there might be a reasonable debate about whether Tyson merits induction. In his biggest bouts, he was simply unable to fight through adversity. Not against Evander Holyfield. Not against Lennox Lewis. Without an early knockout scored by frightening power and set up by an innate ability to intimidate, Tyson couldn’t adjust and often couldn’t avoid an emotional meltdown.

Five years after his final fight, his name doesn’t appear in many ratings of history’s greatest heavyweights. He is not this corner’s top 10: 1.-Joe Louis, 2.-Muhammad Ali, 3.-George Foreman, 4.-Rocky Marciano, 5.-Joe Frazier, 6.-Gene Tunney, 7.-Holyfield, 8– Jack Dempsey, 9.-Ezzard Charles, 10.–Archie Moore. An argument can even be made about whether Tyson should be considered among candidates for an unranked list of the second 10: Lewis, Sonny Liston, Billy Conn, Larry Holmes, Jersey Joe Walcott, Jack Johnson, Max Schmeling, Jim Jeffries, Sam Langford and – someday – Wladimir Klitschko.

What’s undisputed, however, is Tyson’s celebrity. Long after an almost perverse blow-by-blow account of the way he bit off a piece of Holyfield’s ear, Tyson continues to fascinate. When he repeats, ad nauseam, that his life is “a waste,’’ it’s a headline. When he appears in Hangover, he is Hollywood schtick. When he examines his own life in Tyson, there’s dramatic acclaim from sophisticated critics.

Perhaps, Tyson continues to capture public interest because he is that proverbial accident-about-to-hit-the-wall. But there is also a child-like, naive quality that has always been there, impossible to obscure or even disguise despite scars, a facial tattoo and predictable profanity. Genuine spontaneity is hard to find these days. In Tyson, however, it is there, like a force of nature. Unlike so many who emerge from the media hothouse with painful lessons on how to choreograph every word, step and gesture, there is still Tyson.

That’s why he belongs in the Hall of Fame, which already is full of actors who understood that boxing’s power is defined by more than deadly punches. It’s also about theater. Tyson is real-life drama, complete with a plot full of lines that only he could say.

Here’s another top 10 list, a personal favorite of Tyson quotes:

1. – “I’m not Mother Teresa. But I’m also not Charles Manson.”

2. – “I’m just a dark guy from a den of iniquity. A dark shadowy figure from the bowels of iniquity. I wish I could be Mike who gets an endorsement deal. But you can’t make a lie and a truth go together. This country wasn’t built on moral fiber. This country was built on rape, slavery, murder, degradation and affiliation with crime.”

3. – “I really dig Hannibal. Hannibal had real guts. He rode elephants into Cartilage.”

4. – “My style is impetuous, my defense impregnable. I want to rip his heart out. I want to eat his children. Praise be Allah.’’

5. — “Everyone in boxing probably makes out well except for the fighter. He’s the only one that’s on Skid Row most of the time. He’s the only one that everybody just leaves when he loses his mind. He sometimes goes insane, he sometimes goes on the bottle, because it’s a highly intensive pressure sport that allows people to just lose it.’’

6. — “I can sell out Madison Square Garden masturbating.”

7. — “I’m the most irresponsible person in the world. The reason I’m like that is because, at 21, you all gave me $50 or $100 million, and I didn’t know what to do. I’m from the ghetto. I don’t know how to act. One day I’m in a dope house robbing somebody. The next thing I know, ‘You’re the heavyweight champion of the world.’ …Who am I? What am I? I don’t even know who I am. I’m just a dumb child. I’m being abused. I’m being robbed by lawyers. I think I have more money than I do. I’m just a dumb, pugnacious fool. I’m just a fool who thinks I’m someone. And you tell me I should be responsible?”

8. – “I’m on the Zoloft to keep me from killing you’all.’’

9. — “Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It’s like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you. It can heat your house. If you can’t control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn.”

10. – “I guess I’m gonna fade into Bolivian.” Bolivia, maybe. But fade or oblivion? Never. On June 12, Tyson will remind us why all over again.

Oscar De La Hoya is shortsighted, misguided or just naive, but – please – he isn’t an enemy of the free-market system in comments this week about wanting to sign all of the talented fighters and secure the best television dates.

De La Monopolist, he is not.

In telling Broadcast & Cable that boxing needs to be run more like baseball or the National Basketball Association, De La Hoya is being as American as the New York Yankees. Since when haven’t the major leagues been able to sidestep anti-trust laws? Baseball has an anti-trust exemption.

In 2007, economist Andrew Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College and author of books on the sports business, told The New York Times:

“Each league is a monopoly and exercises significant market power by, (among other things), extracting significant public subsidies for the construction of facilities.

“The players in each league share in the monopoly booty.”

Enough said.

Unfortunately, De La Hoya said a lot more, too much more in the Q-and-A format. First, the Golden Boy Promotions president said he did not want to take over boxing. Then, he said, “in a way, yes, we do want to take over.’’ He wasn’t finished. In the next sentence, he said, “Well, we don’t want to take control of boxing, but we want to do the right thing for the sport.’’

De La Hoya is more of a politician than Congressman Manny Pacquiao. More than annoying, the yes-no-maybe spin is a unifying call for promotional rivals, who are having a tea party of their own in an overreaction to De La Hoya’s comments.

Not to worry. Boxing is the Balkans. Allies are temporary and always an imminent enemy. If it sounds like anarchy, it is and has been. Leave it to somebody else to decide whether that’s good or bad for business.

This week, at least, Paulie Malignaggi will probably says it’s very, very good after Golden Boy signed him to a contract in the wake of his last fight, a loss to Amir Khan, that prompted even him to concede that retirement was a consideration. In an attempt to expand the Golden Boy brand from west-to-east, from Los Angeles-to-New York, De La Hoya needed a well-known New York name to sell a deal to promote at the new Brooklyn arena, the Barclays Center, starting in 2012. There are questions about whether Malignaggi can still fight, but absolutely no doubt about whether he can talk through 2012 and beyond.

Above all, Malignaggi’s signing exposed – all over again – the game’s defining characteristic. He wasted little time and no apologies in a rip of his former promoter, Lou DiBella, whom he said did not market him enough. It was as unfair as it was embarrassing. But it was boxing. It illustrates a business guided more by bitter rivalries that unity.

For three decades, it was Bob Arum-versus-Don King. Now, Arum and King talk like old friends and loom as business partners if an agreement for a Pacquiao fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. can ever be reached.

For Arum, however, the rivalry – a little bit like oxygen – is still there.

In De La Hoya, Arum has another one, which makes some fights tough to make and makes all those worries about a monopoly just look foolish.

Carbajal’s legal fight continues
Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, a retired junior-flyweight from Phoenix, appeared Thursday in court with companion Laura Hall for a hearing to retain an order of protection against his neighbors, Carbajal niece Josephine and Jose Espinal.

Carbajal alleges that he and Hall were assaulted by Espinal and a couple of unidentified assailants on the night of Sept. 6. Through an interpreter who translated his Spanish, Espinal called the allegation a lie. He said he was not there. No charges have been filed. A criminal investigation is underway.

At the hearing in downtown Phoenix, Hall wore a cast on her left arm. She said two fingers had been crushed in the alleged incident. A bruise from a black eye was still evident. Photos of her injury and cuts to Carbajal’s face and head were provided as evidence.

Josephine alleged that Michael Carbajal had been drinking. Police officers, who answered the 911 call, said that they smelled alcohol. The hearing was continued. It will resume on Oct. 20.

It is just the latest battle in Carbajal’s star-crossed life. Brother and former trainer Danny Carbajal, Josephine’s father, is still in prison for stealing an estimated $2 million from his brother, who earned about $8 million over 49 fights. Danny Carbajal is scheduled for release in October 2011. Danny Carbajal’s wife, Sally, was murdered in Feb. 25, 2005, three days before they were scheduled to be in divorce court. The murder has never been solved. More than five years after Sally after was found dead from a gunshot, the murder is still a cold case.

Josephine entered a guilty plea for her role in the theft from Michael, who is trying to recover what was stolen from him in civil court. She was sentenced to probation. In April, she and Espinal moved into Danny’s former residence next to Michael’s boyhood home. Michael Carbajal said they moved into the house in an attempt to provoke him.

“They’re trying to make me to do something that will put me in jail,’’ said Carbajal, who continues to battle a drinking problem. “That’s what they want. It’s about greed. That’s what it goes back to. That’s what this is all about.’’

Notes, quotes and a couple of counters
· Golden Boy is suing Top Rank for allegedly trying to hide money that De La Hoya’s company says it is owed from three Pacquiao fights. Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz reacted to the lawsuit suit, telling AOL: “I guess since Golden Boy doesn’t have any boxers to promote that are of any high quality, they have to find a fight somewhere, so they have chosen to fight in the courts through frivolous litigation.” Say what? Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach might disagree. Roach trains the Golden Boy promoted Amir Kahn.

· And the International Boxing Federation is threatening to strip Devon Alexander of its junior-welterweight title if he fights Timothy Bradley instead of South African Kaiser Mabuza, the No. 1 contender. Where is the trash can that Riddick Bowe made so in famous in 1992? That’s where Bowe deposited the World Boxing Council’s heavyweight belt. That’s where the IBF’s 140-bout belt belongs right now.

The last month has been about Floyd Mayweather Jr,’s arrest and racist rant, Ricky Hatton’s trip to rehab after looking like a drug cartel’s favorite customer and another lawsuit in the Golden Boy-Top Rank war-without-end.

I didn’t mention Sergio Mora-Shane Mosley. I didn’t see it. I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was tempted to look for the closest exit. Then, November appeared without a turkey on the calendar.

It begins on Nov. 6 with the rescheduled Juan Manuel Lopez-versus-Rafael Marquez bout at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, followed by Antonio Margarito-Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13 beneath the Jerrytron at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, then Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez II on Nov. 20 at Atlantic City and Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis, also at Vegas’ MGM.

If that’s not enough, the banquet continues on Dec. 11 with Amir Kahn-Marcos Maidana at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

The sudden sequence of compelling fights, a timely relief to mounting frustration, is also a timely reminder of the game’s inexhaustible quality. Resiliency defines the business, keeps it in business, a lot like the Mickey Ward or Aruro Gatti or Michael Carbajal or any of the other stubborn legends who got up from knockdowns and came back from defeat. .

Make no mistake, nothing in November will mend the damage left by the fractious and failed negotiations for Pacquiao-Mayweather. That’s the one fight that could push the sport off the fringe and back into the mainstream for a few days or maybe a week. But it wouldn’t have won over casual fans or newspaper editors who have never liked it anyway. They would have gone back to ignoring it altogether.

Pacquiao-Mayweather might still happen one day, although reasons for doubt lurk in the four felony counts facing Mayweather, who also was charged with four misdemeanors more than a week ago and within days of a racist video directed at Pacquiao. Meanwhile, an apparent political career is just beginning for Filipino Congressman Pacquiao. Elements are falling into place for a change, which was also evident Saturday in 39-year-old Mosley, whose age seemed to be as much of an opponent as Mora in a dull draw.

The good news about November is that the business can move past Pacquiao-Mayweather, which has been sucking the wind out the sport for all of this year and some of last. The new guard is there, poised to step into the vacuum with a restoration of punches and promise instead of criminal charges and lawsuits.

Martinez promoter Lou DiBella said it best Thursday during the formal announcement of the rematch with Williams.

“We’re fading as an industry,’’ DiBella said. “There are some days I wake up and wonder if the sport is going to be around five years from now. This is the kind of fight the sport needs.”

This is the kind of month it needs, a November which is an appropriate time to say thanks for resiliency that so far has always been there.

The self-proclaimed face of boxing was captured last week in a booking photo. Floyd Mayweather Jr. looks as if he has a chance to go to the senior prom instead of prison. He’s smiling.

Or is that a sneer? Whatever it is, it’s no joke.

It turned deadly serious Thursday with news that the Clark County Attorney’s office in Las Vegas has charged Mayweather with four felony counts of coercion, robbery and grand larceny in addition to four misdemeanor counts on battery and harassment for an alleged incident involving former girlfriend Josie Harris on Sept. 9.

Just a couple of months ago, it looked as if Mayweather, who faces 34 years behind bars if convicted on all charges, would be busy in early November. He will be, but not against Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather is scheduled for arraignment in Las Vegas on Nov. 9, four days before he was supposed to have Pacquiao on his schedule.

Instead, Pacquiao faces Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Instead of a record-setting payday against Pacquiao, Mayweather has a chance at being O.J. Simpson’s roommate. Why-oh-why is he smiling? There’s a theory that none of this would have happened if Mayweather had agreed to the fight. He would have been in training. The regimen would have keep him busy and out of trouble.

It’s a good argument, but not convincing, at least not from this corner. He is always training. It’s routine, Mayweather’s lifestyle. So, too, is trouble, which has always lurked like a bad rumor. Yet, Mayweather has been able to elude serious consequences, including assault complaint in 2003 from Harris, who backed off the allegation at a trial in 2005. Oscar De La Hoya, a regular target of Mayweather’s trash-talk, has taken the high road, expressing sympathy for his former rival and current promotional client.

Maybe, Mayweather’s troubles are a cry for help, De La Hoya said while promoting the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora fight Saturday night at Los Angeles’ Staples Center in a week-long celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.

Maybe, but Mayweather’s self-destructive spiral might be a symptom of something predicted a couple of years ago by Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, Mayweather’s former promoter. Months before two rounds of failed negotiations, Arum said Mayweather wouldn’t fight Pacquiao because the welterweight didn’t want to take a chance at jeopardizing his unbeaten record.

Late last year, Mayweather suddenly shattered an apparent agreement for a bout in March by parroting unconfirmed gossip that Pacquiao used performance-enhancers. The deal fell apart with Mayweather’s demand for random, Olympic-style drug-testing.

A couple of months ago, there was a flurry of speculation, including a midnight media call with Arum. Again, there was no deal, yet many denials from the Mayweather camp about whether there were any talks at all.

A couple of weeks ago, Mayweather unleashed a racist, homophobic video directed at Pacquiao. The alleged incident at the Harris’ residence in Las Vegas quickly followed.

If there is a parallel, maybe it is Mike Tyson. During his days of rage, commentator Teddy Atlas, who also trained the retired heavyweight, theorized that Tyson’s behavior was the expression of a fighter doing everything he could not to fight.

Sound familiar? It’s beginning to.

Mayweather acts as if he is doing all he can not to fight Pacquiao.

Maybe that explains the smile.

Boxing and decorum have always been strangers, but even by standards of a sport without one, the last seven days have been staggering.

Within a week, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and David Haye managed to offend more people than Mike Tyson did at the height of his ear-splitting rage. First, Mayweather offended all of Asia with his racist video Friday about Manny Pacquiao. Then, Haye offended women Tuesday at a London news conference by saying his heavyweight bout with Audley Harrison on November 13 would be “as one-sided as a gang-rape.’’

Somehow, Mayweather and Haye didn’t include middle-aged white guys or the handicapped, but they’ll get around to both sooner than later if their recent capacity to offend most of the people on this planet is any indication.

I’m not sure who is more offensive, Mayweather or Haye. You decide. Mayweather’s problems might just be starting with news Thursday that Las Vegas police want to question him about domestic battery alleged by the mother of three of his children, former girlfriend Josie Harris, who said she lied about a Mayweather assault in 2005. On Thursday, he was a suspect. Tomorrow or next week, law enforcement may get answers that will clear Mayweather.

In the court of public opinion, however, suspicions will stay with Mayweather like a scar. His video went viral in the worst way. It has infected his career and, to a lesser degree, the sport which he says he defines. In the public mind, Haye’s remark about a gang-rape raises the disgust by another outrageous octave or two. You can hear what people are thinking: What’s wrong with these guys? You can also anticipate their next move: That sport won’t be getting my pay-per-view money.

Speaking of money, Mayweather might as well be amending his nickname to Money Lost. In calling Pacquiao “a yellow chump,’’ maybe he was trying to call the Filipino gutless. But it is safe to say that any Asian will hear it and think only of a racial slur, no matter how many times Mayweather apologizes. The only chump here is Mayweather, who knocked out any chance he might have had at a rich endorsement from a Chinese company.

What Mayweather, the self-proclaimed face of boxing, and Haye fail realize is the potential devastation left in the wake of their attempt at some headline-grabbing rage. Boxing, once an American pastime and now mere nostalgia, is increasingly sustained by international interest. Sorry Floyd, but Pacquiao is the face of that market. The Filipino Congressman also knows not to offend it. Publicly, at least, Pacquiao did not express outrage at the Mayweather video. He was smart not to. Wade into that cesspool, and he’d only get dirty.

What’s more, it was a further display of Pacquiao’s consistent respect for opponents in game that sometimes is a clash of cultures. After beating one Mexican hero after another, Pacquiao was the first to ask that, please, don’t call him The Mexican Assassin.

Pacquiao still might get a chance to take Asia’s collective rage out on Mayweather in a fight that increasingly seems unlikely. If Mayweather hasn’t been talking himself out of it, he is talking the public into looking somewhere else for an event without the ugly edges, which now includes an unapologetic Haye and – as of Thursday – Mayweather as a police suspect.

Mayweather is unbeaten. Haye has been beaten only once. But a D should be attached to each of their records. We’re not talking about a draw here. With some luck, the damage in that D will be limited to only Dumb and Dumber.

NOTES, QUOTES

· Oscar De La Hoya says junior welterweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez gets rock star-like television ratings in his hometown, Guadalajara, and throughout Mexico. A rock star deserves a big stage and it sounds as if that’s exactly where Alvarez wants to be after his date on Sept. 18 with Carlos Baldomir at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the Shane Mosley-Sergio Moro card. “This fight has me so motivated, so hungry for the bigger fights, that I’m talking a little bit,’’ said Alvarez, who during a conference call asked De La whether the winner of the Baldomir bout would get a title fight. De La Hoya sounded as though he was taken aback by Alvarez’s bold query. Said De La Hoya: “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.’’

· Jose Benavidez Jr. (7-0, 7 KOs), a junior-welterweight prospect from Phoenix, stays busy Saturday night against Manuel Delcid (4-2) of Los Angeles on the Yuriorkis Gamboa-Orlando Salido card at The Palms in Las Vegas. Benavidez had been scheduled to fight Sept. 18 on the Rafael Marquez-Juan Manuel Lopez card, which was postponed until November by a hand injury sustained by Marquez. The promising Benavidez, who turned 18 in May, is still at the apprenticeship stage, which figures to proceed without interruption against Delcid, who lost his last bout and 1-2 over his last three.

If all the great heavyweights aren’t NFL linebackers these days, they’re fighting in Germany.

That means there aren’t many in the dinosaur division, perhaps just a Wladimir Klitschko defeat away from extinction.

Klitschko might be at a crossroads that determines whether he will ever have a chance to move on and into consideration for greatness.

If he can’t dispel lingering questions left by a difficult victory five years ago over powerful Samuel Peter in a rematch on Sept. 11 in Frankfurt, he is in danger of being an oddity in a division that has become a museum piece since Mike Tyson’s self-destructive era.

Klitschko’s trainer, Emanuel Steward, thinks he will ensure further opportunity at securing his place in history with a knockout of Peter, a Nigerian who knocked down Klitschko three times in 2005 before the Ukrainian survived the dramatic for decision.

The technically-proficient Klitschko, likeable and philosophical, has never fulfilled his potential. That’s not exactly his fault. Steward remembers Lennox Lewis.

For years, Lewis was the frustrating face of the could-be, wannabe until he beat Evander Holyfield 1999 and then Tyson in 2002.

Boxing wouldn’t be what it is without bitter rivals, business partners who exchange insults, then punches while enriching each other and ultimately defining one another. What would Ali have been without Joe Frazier and George Foreman?

Klitschko never has had a Frazier or Foreman or Holyfield or even a Tyson. In time, Steward believes he will. In part, there is longevity as the very best in a division with few rivals, much less contenders.

“If you keep winning, something is going to come up,’’ Steward said Wednesday from Klitschko’s training camp in Austria.

Steward looks at David Haye and sees an emerging rival, a potential business partner who can unlock Klitschko’s designs on history.

“Wlad just needs to get some big-name opponents, and I think that will happen,” said Steward., who is nervous about the Peter rematch. “You can only be judged by your performances against the best, and unfortunately, Wlad hasn’t had anything to that degree.

“But the heavyweight division will always spring up a situation. I think if a fight with David Haye takes place, which Wladimir has said he thinks it will, he’ll be considered a great fighter. If you’re the heavyweight champion and you keep winning, eventually something is going to come up.”

So far, I’m not sure I’ve seen much about Haye that says great. Haye is a good talker, which is good for business, In the ring, however, little has yet to emerge that says he can shake Klitschko’s singular hold on the heavyweight division. That said, I hope Haye’s is all that Steward say he is.

At 34, Klitschko has a few years – four or five — left in which to finally fulfill all that he might have in a different era. For the here-and-now, however, there is the immediate task at hand. Beat Samuel Peter, or the heavyweights are one step closer to a spot in a glass case next to that Tyrannosaurus rex exhibition.

A couple of jabs
· Newly-minted Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao must be learning how to play politics. After Antonio Margarito was licensed last week for the Nov. 13 fight at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Pacquiao was quoted as saying he doesn’t believe Margarito’s repeated claim that he didn’t know former trainer Javier Capetillo tried to load up his gloves during Tapegate before his loss to Shane Mosley in 2009. No matter what Pacquiao believes, the controversy could plant some doubt in Margarito, who might begin to wonder at his ability to punch regardless of whether he knew about the tape job. Pacquiao is trying to plant that seed of doubt

· There is plenty of moral chest-thumping about whether Margarito should have been licensed in Texas after California stood by its revocation of his license. Like so many others, I also believe that Margarito knew that Capitello was trying to turn hands into a loaded weapon. I’ll say it again: If you’ve got a rock in your shoe, you know it. But there has yet to be any evidence that Margarito is lying. There is just a lot of preaching from a very crowded pulpit.

A couple of pretty good actors are scheduled for a fight that will match them Saturday night in Boston in a mixed mess of boxing, wrestling, checkers, chess, apples and oranges. I’m not exactly sure what all Randy Couture and James Toney will be doing. I just wish they weren’t doing it.

The Expendables, with a cast that includes Couture in a major role, is a hit, an entertaining few hours of fiction during a long summer when Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still just a fantasy. But it would have been a relief if the film turned into reality and Toney-Couture was made expendable long before it ever happened. This is no knock on the movie or Couture or Toney, a former middleweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight champion who was convincing as Joe Frazier in the 2001 film Ali.

In some corners, this so-called fight– Toney the boxer versus Couture the UFC legend — is being portrayed as a final judgment on whether the art in the martial mix is sweeter than anything in boxing’s traditional science. Please, Toney is 42 and Couture is 47. Give the winner an AARP belt or a shot at Evander Holyfield, but don’t take this more seriously than anything you might see in a parking lot after last call.

Other than Toney, everybody thinks Couture wins easily because he has the home-cage advantage. He knows his way around the chain-link fence, unlike Toney, who knows all about clinching, but won’t be able to trash-talk his way out of Couture’s Greco-Roman education. Toney figures to have his feet taken out from under him and find himself flat on his back not long after the circus begins.

So what?

This mismatch of mixed skill has never been known to go far or prove much. On the scale of significance, it belongs right there, alongside Mayweather-versus-Big Show.

Three years ago, former heavyweight Tommy Morrison tried a version of mixed martial arts in a show with rules written to favor his punching power. Against an unknown, Morrison was allowed to wear shoes against his bare-footed opponent in at a casino on Apache land in Northern Arizona. Like Toney, Morrison bragged about how dangerous his punches would be in the four-ounce gloves worn by MMA fighters.

But Morrison never got much of a chance to land the power that made him a dangerous heavyweight. He got shoved around the cage, looking trapped and panicked. He was declared the winner, although it was hard to tell. He needed those shoes to run out of the cage and into a waiting van, never heard from again.

The crowd, MMA partisans, booed Morrison and a show without winners.

Expendable then. Expendable now.
NOTES, ANECDOTES

· Jose Sulaiman, president of the Mexico City-based World Boxing Council, threatened to suspend lightweight Genaro Trazancos and featherweight Adolfo Landeros for fighting last Friday in Tucson in defiance of a declaration that the WBC would not authorize Mexicans to box in Arizona because of the state’s tough new immigration law. Trazancos and Landeros said they were in Arizona only to make a living. If Sulaiman is serious and not just grandstanding, he would pay the fighters the purses that they would forfeit if they didn’t fight in Arizona. The WBC has been taking money in the form of sanction fees out of fighters’ pockets for years.

· Despite Sulaiman’s threats, Don Chargin, last Friday’s promoter at Casino Del Sol, plans to stage another card on Tucson property on Sept 24 or Oct. 1. Despite controversy over the immigration legislation, Chargin says that Arizona will continue to be an important boxing market. He points out that Roger Mtagwa’s dramatic 10th-round stoppage of Tomas Villa in a featherweight bout at Casino Del Sol was a contender for Fight-of-the-Year honors in 2008

TUCSON – No Mercy is the nickname, the message and the plan. But it would have to wait. Time was more important than a swift stoppage for Filipino prospect Mercito Gesta Friday night at Casino Del Sol.

Gesta (19-0-1, 9 KOs) put in some overtime and still walked away with a dramatic stoppage, a seventh-round knockout of Mexican Genaro Trazancos (23-12-1, 13 KOs), in his apparent ascension to stardom.

“Six-plus rounds is pretty good,’’ Gesta said of a fight he probably could have ended a couple of rounds before he dropped Trazanco with a short left at 53 seconds of the seventh.

Work today might mean more in a later day. Gesta wants a shot at Australian Michael Katsidis, who holds the World Boxing Organization’s interim title. Gesta’s management and promoter, Don Chargin, have mentioned Katsidis as a possibility early next year.

“Hopefully,’’ said Gesta, who has No Mercy stitched in gold onto the bottom of his red trunks.

No Mercy was as good as no hope for Trazancos. He was unconscious before the back of his head hit the canvas with a frightening thud in an outdoor ring on a hot desert night.

“I never felt it,’’ Trazancos said not long after the main even on a card Chargin dedicated to his late wife, Lorraine. “He hit me in the right place.’’

It took several moments for Trazancos to climb off the canvas and onto his feet. Then, he sat in folding chair for several more moments. Finally, he stood up, turned toward Gesta and applauded.

Trazancos saw a lot of stars. In the end, he applauded one that might be around for awhile. Best of the undercard: In an upset, featherweight Noe Lopez (7-5, 4 KOs), a Mexican and a late-standin for injured Michael Franco, scored an upset, taking a unanimous decision from Adolfo Landeros (924-25-1, 9 KOs) of Mexico City

Lopez agreed to the fight early Friday. Franco withdrew from the bout Thursday night because on eye injury, torn retina.

The rest: Tucson middleweight Pahoron Gastellum (4-0) won a decision, unanimous in name and one-sided in fact, over Steve Macomber (3-10-1) of Lakeside, Calif.; Phoenix super-featherweight Carlos Luque and Martin Armenta of Mexico have more defeats than victories on their respective records, yet they fought each other as if they had never lost. In tough battle, Luque (2-6) prevailed, winning a unanimous decision over Armenta (12-24-3).

It was a show trial. Antonio Margarito had to show up in a procedural step that fulfilled, if not satisfied, bureaucratic protocol. The result was almost an after-thought. Margarito had no chance in California Wednesday. It’s a good thing he wasn’t applying for a driver’s license.

The California State Athletic Commission’s predictable denial of Margarito’s application for reinstatement of a boxing license might prove to be more significant for what he said instead of the one-sided, 5-1 decision against him.

In finally saying he didn’t know but should have known about irregular hand wraps before his loss in January, 2009 to Shane Mosley at Los Angeles Staples Center, Margarito accepted some responsibility, which figures to be the centerpiece of Top Rank’s attempt to get him licensed in Texas for a proposed bout on Nov. 13 with Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas metroplex.

“I am here to make an apology not only to the commission, but to the entire world for not knowing what was in those wrappings,” said Margarito, who for months refused to apologize for wraps loaded with inserts applied by former trainer Javier Capitello.

There is plenty of debate about what and when Margarito did or didn’t know. There is also no evidence. There’s only reasonable doubt. On that one, Margarito, a first-time offender, deserves benefit of the doubt, which by the way was granted to Mosley after his reported use of performance-enhancers as a BALCO customer before his rematch victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2003.

His chances at reinstatement of a license revoked on Feb. 11, 2009 had been trampled beyond repair by talk seven, eight months ago that he would attempt to get licensed in Texas for a bout on the undercard of Pacquiao’s victory over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium. Then, there were a couple of appearances before the Nevada Commission, which told Margarito to first go to California.

To the California commission, it looked as if he were executing an end-around in an attempted evasion of accountability. Margarito said the right things Wednesday, but the state’s regulators were going to make him pay anyway for trying to sidestep them. Hence, they slapped him with a denial that in at least one aspect was ridiculous. To wit:

According to state attorney Karen Chappelle, Margarito had illegally trained at Robert Garcia’s gym in Oxnard, Calif., for a victory on May 8 in Mexico. Margarito sparred without a California-issued permit mandatory for all boxers training in the state. Margarito said he didn’t know about that one, either. Other than lawyers and regulators, I’m not sure anybody else did mostly because it’s a rule seldom, if ever, enforced in any state without funding needed to enforce commission rules. To use that one as another reason for a Margarito denial is little bit like withholding a driver’s license because of jaywalking.

In Texas, however, Margarito will be one more step down protocol’s path and another step toward accepting accountability, which has been demanded repeatedly by media and fans in the court of public opinion. It’s an opinion that matters, perhaps more than any other. That was evident in questions and comments from commissioners at Wednesday’s hearing. Despite criticism of Margarito, even Chappelle seemed to like what she heard from the former welterweight champion.

“I think that Mr. Margarito came across as very sincere, which should do him well in the future,’’ Chappelle told Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

The future looks a lot like Texas.

Gesta’s rise continues at Tucson’s Casino Del Sol

Lightweight Mercito Gesta (18-0-1, 8 KOs), called one of the best Filipino prospects by Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, figures to continue on an apparent arc to stardom tonight in Tucson at Casino Del Sol on TeleFurtura card against Mexican Genaro Trazancos (22-11-1, 13 KOs).

The 22-year-old Gesta hopes for a shot at interim World Boxing Organization champion Michael Katsidis, possibly next year. Against Trazancos, the Filipino lefthander has a chance to look very good. The 35-year-old Mexican has lost six of his last seven.

The Don Chargin-promoted card was scheduled for seven fights. A super-bantamweight bout featuring unbeaten Michael Franco (16-0, 11 KOs) of Riverside, Calif., versus Mexican Adolfo Landeros (20-14-1, 9 KOs) was canceled, because of an eye injury to Franco, a Riverside, Calif., prospect who is suffering from a torn retina. First bell is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (Arizona time).

Notes, anecdotes
· According to news reports of Wednesday’ hearing in California, attorney Daniel Petrocelli told the commission that Garcia will tape Margarito’s hands in the presence of the fighter “so that Antonio can personally oversee the procedure for himself.” Huh? It would be difficult, if not very painful, for Margarito to be anywhere but present.

· And De La Hoya capitalized on the Margarito denial to lobby for a third Juan Manuel Marquez-Pacquiao fight. It makes sense. Since Pacquiao’s rise to the top of the pound-for-pound debate, nobody has tested Pacquiao more than Marquez. Marquez might be the one fighter who can beat the Filipino Congressman. For the best, there’s always somebody, which is probably the reason Pacquiao won’t agree to a third fight with Marquez any time soon.

He’s back, the good, the bad and the hair-do.

If there’s any doubt that Don King has been missed, just listen to Bob Arum, who sounds positively giddy at the prospect of again doing business with an old rival whose booming voice, mangled metaphors and taunts defined a promotional feud that was boxing’s 30-years war.

It’s hard to say for certain whether King’s reality television-like courting of Floyd Mayweather, Jr., over lobster two weeks ago and at ringside for Devon Alexander’s victory last week will lead to a contract. At his best, King says lots of things. Meanwhile, Mayweather doesn’t say much anymore. Buyer beware. But a vintage King indicated Thursday on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show on Fox Sports that a deal is imminent.

From this corner, it’s not exactly clear how a King-Mayweather alliance makes it any easier to finally put together a fight with Manny Pacquiao. There’s still the matter of Roger Mayweather, Floyd Jr.’s uncle and trainer. Roger is facing a trial on Oct. 25 in Las Vegas on charges he assaulted a female boxer. If convicted, Roger could go away for as long as 10 years. The legal process is already underway. It doesn’t look as if a re-energized King, even with his persuasive powers reborn, can do much about that.

Above all, Mayweather is known for not taking chances. Pacquiao would be his riskiest fight ever. Barring a fundamental shift in his character, it’s not likely he would agree to fight Pacquiao when there’s uncertainty about the availability of the trainer he trusts. Could King talk him into allowing his father, Floyd Sr., into his corner if Roger goes to jail? Possibly. But the guess is that Floyd Jr. would want at least one tune-up, a test flight, with his dad, Floyd Sr., before agreeing to the biggest fight in years.

The hope is that will happen in May. King’s emergence as a Mayweather suitor sparked renewed enthusiasm for moribund negotiations because Arum and King have talked — know how to talk — to each other. That, however, wasn’t always the case at the height of a rivalry as bitter as anything in Arum’s standoff with Golden Boy Promotions.

After the then-Arum promoted Oscar De La Hoya lost for the first time in 1999 to King-promoted Flex Trinidad, Arum had a member of his staff pull the plug on a crowing King during the middle of the post-fight news conference. The electric outlet powering the audio at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay was yanked from the wall, which didn’t silence King as much as it surprised him.

Amid the battered game’s ever-shifting alliances, Arum and King are apparently back on speaking terms, mostly because Arum refuses to speak to Mayweather representatives Al Haymon, Leonard Ellerbe, Golden Boy President De La Hoya and his CEO Richard Schaefer. Arum went through an intermediary, HBO’s Ross Greenburg, to speak to Mayweather’s reps during the last round of reported talks, or non-talks, or whatever they were.

The terms that tie Mayweather to Haymon, Ellerbe and Golden Boy haven’t been disclosed. But it hard to believe that there won’t be some kind of legal fight if Mayweather decides to sign with King in anticipation of a Pacquiao agreement that could be worth between $40-to-$50 million for each fighter.

That’s not ghetto-ese, the common language that King said he shares with Mayweather and a term ridiculed by Schaefer, who called septugenarians King and Arum a couple of dinosaurs in a story by AOL FanHouse’s Lem Satterfield .

It’s money-e$e.
From dinosaurs to dollars, everybody understands that one.

Mayweather model
Light-heavyweight Chad Dawson hopes to follow a path to stardom blazed by Mayweather.
“Call him an asshole if you want, but he definitely gets it done in the ring,’’ Dawson said a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas as he trained for a significant test of his skill and star power Saturday night against Jean Pascal (25-1, 16 KOs) in an HBO fight in Montreal.

Like Mayweather, Dawson says he will rely on brain power.

“Usually, guys who look for the knockout, get knocked out,’’ said Dawson, whose 27-0 record includes 17 KOs.

Notes, anecdotes
· Former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield plans to fight again on Nov. 5 against Sherman Williams at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. There’s a tired debate about whether Holyfield should be licensed to fight. But the market p[lace is making it own decision. Holyfield victory over Frans Botha at Las Vegas Thomas & Mack Arena on April 10 drew a reported crowd of fewer than 2,000. The public is saying it won’t watch Holyfield anymore.

· And business, including boxing, has been staying out of Arizona because of the angry debate over a tough new immigration law. Sponsor Tecate and TV Azteca forced Arum to pull a July 17 card featuring Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez out of the state. The Mexican companies did not want to do business in Arizona, Arum said. But TeleFutura is scheduled to televise a card on Friday, Aug. 20 at Tucson’s Casino Del Sol. It will feature Filipino lightweight Mercito Gesta (18-0-1, 8 KOs), now of San Diego, against Genaro Trazancos (22-11-1, 13 KOs), who was born in Mexico City and currently lives in Fort Myers, Fla.

Devon Alexander is the irresistible story that explains the battered game’s inexhaustible resiliency.

As reports of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather talks continue to sound like a sequel to Seinfeld’s theme about nothing, along comes Alexander and the junior-welterweight division with a chance to talk about something real.

I’m not sure what to make of Alexander, unbeaten (20-0, 13 KOs) and in possession of the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles. Not yet anyway. Don King, who loves references to ancient history and is old enough to be one, is calling him The Great. Maybe he is. Or will be.

Standing in his way, however, are Tim Bradley, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz, just a few who will try to turn him into Alexander The Wannabe.

In Alexander’s immediate path Saturday night in hometown St. Louis on HBO, there is Andriy Kotelnik (30-3-1, 13 KOs), an able Ukrainian who probably finds motivation in Russian Dmitry Pirog’s stoppage last Saturday that knocked-much hyped Danny Jacobs, The Golden Child, out of the ranks of middleweight contenders. Pirog’s stunner is a timely memo, reminding Alexander that a nickname only makes the target a lot bigger.

If Alexander doesn’t get deluded and decked by historical allusions, headlines and assorted other feints, he can help recreate interest in a business that has been backed into a dark and dull corner by the Pacquiao-Mayweather talks to nowhere.

Alexander’s well-documented story, tried and true, is a perfect fit for the timeless drama that always has a role for somebody who shakes circumstances and adversity that condemns neighborhood and friends to poverty and jail. Alexander, a child of the Midwest’s meanest streets in north St. Louis, is winning that one, thanks to a cop-turned-trainer, Kevin Cunningham.

King has almost sounded like a grandfather when talking about Alexander on conference calls and at news conferences. Alexander is a chance, one more opportunity, at getting back to the big-time for the aging promotional lion. Alexander lived at King’s home in Las Vegas while he trained for Kotelnik.

On the streets, Alexander whipped temptations more dangerous than Kotelnik, a former World Boxing Association champion. But in the here-and-now, only Kotelnik matters. A few weeks ago, the talk was about Bradley, whom Alexander has been pursuing for a long time. Neither Cunningham nor Alexander was impressed with Bradley’s welterweight experiment, a unanimous decision last month over Carlos Luis Abregu of Argentina. “A subpar decision,’’ Cunningham said.

Real subpar, Alexander said.

“I didn’t see nothing special,’’ said Alexander, whose potential for stardom continued to emerge in a stoppage of Juan Urango in his last bout. “I don’t really see the hype about, you know: Am I up to Timothy Bradley’s skill level. I mean, he has heart, but nothing special. It was a lame performance.’’

After beating Abregu, Bradley announced he wanted to fight Pacquiao. Other than Mayweather, who doesn’t? But Cunningham called Bradley’s predictable declaration a “disgrace.”

Alexander, Cunningham says, doesn’t talk about fighting Pacquiao or Mayweather. He can’t, Cunningham said. There’s too much else to do, a lot left to conquer. It took a long time for the ancient Alexander to be great. His story was a long one.

Hopefully, the modern Alexander’s story will be too.
NOTES, ANECDOTES

· The $115-million lawsuit against Mike Tyson is either a result of too many unemployed lawyers, or web sites starving for frivolous content, or all of the above. Somebody named Mike Landrum, 49, filed the suit in Los Angeles, alleging that Tyson stole his nickname, “Iron Mike.’’ TMZ reported Landrum was 6-4 as a fighter and alleged he was unable to get fights or endorsements because Tyson had ripped off his moniker. Maybe, TMZ got that record from Lindsay Lohan. According to boxrec.com, Landrum was 0-2 as a junior-middleweight, losing in the first round in 1982 and in the second round in 1985. The pick here is that Landrum is about to go 0-3. ·

It was Deja vu all over again in news last week of an eviction notice filed against Mayweather’s promotional company. Through an attorney, the landlord said Mayweather owes $63,000 in back rent. Mayweather has until Aug. 17 to respond, or exactly one month after he failed to respond to Bob Arum’s deadline for a yea or nay on a deal to fight Pacquiao on Nov. 13.

LAS VEGAS – In the beginning, the arena looked like a vacant warehouse. The Mandalay Bay Events Center felt empty. It didn’t stay that way.

A crowd began to gather, maybe to escape the recession, or the desert heat, or the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao talks. There’s a lot to run from these days. But a good main event isn’t among them. Juan Manuel Marquez’ unanimous decision over Juan Diaz Saturday night wasn’t one of the best, not even as a rematch.

But it was an attraction in a year without many. Or any. It also was a good example of a fan base hungry for a real fight instead of just talk about one that has yet to happen and perhaps never will.

“If I never hear another word about whether Pacquiao will fight Mayweather, that’s fine with me,’’ said Rudy Perez, a Los Angeles fan who was one of 8,383 who began to fill the Mandalay Bay arena not long before opening bell for the rematch of Marquez’ stoppage of Diaz in the 2009 Fight of the Year. “I just wanted to see a couple of good fighters, good guys, really fight. I’m so sick of all that bull.’’

After his one-sided victory over Diaz, Marquez couldn’t resist talking about Pacquiao. He still wants a third shot at the Filipino Congressman, who has quit talking about Mayweather and apparently has an agreement to fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.

“Everybody wants that trilogy,’’ said Marquez, who lobbied to keep himself in line for rich shot at Pacquiao if a licensing problem in the United States or some other issue knocks Margarito out of the November date. “It’s the one fight I want.’’

Perez is skeptical that Marquez will ever get that opportunity. So, too, is Golden Boy Promotions, the Oscar De La Hoya company that promotes the Mexican lightweight champion. In two fights, Marquez has been more of threat to Pacquiao than anybody since Erik Morales beat the Filipino in their first bout.

“Pacquiao should fight him,’’ Perez said. “But he won’t. No way that happens.’’

The good news is that Marquez probably will fight somebody as soon as he can. He’ll be there in the ring when there is only talk, rumors and denials on message boards.

LAS VEGAS – A trip to the hospital is no victory.

But that’s about all Jean Paul Mendy won in a scary moment Saturday night against Sakio Bika before the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch at Mandalay Bay.

Mendy was hospitalized for tests and observation after Bika was disqualified for hitting him while he was down on one knee 79 seconds after the opening bell of a super-middleweight bout.

“He put his life on the line,’’ Michael Bazan of the Mendy promotional team said.

Mendy was face down for several seconds after Bika threw an uppercut that landed like a baseball bat. Mendy never saw it coming. He was on one knee, dazed, after he had been rocked by an overhand right from Bika.

Mendy, a stationary target, was looking down at the canvas when Bika wound up and delivered the uppercut. Mendy, declared the victor by disqualification, had to be helped onto a stool.

“I’m really disappointed,’’ Bika said through a member of the publicity staff for Golden Boy Promotions. “I was very excited. I didn’t see him go to a knee.’’

It looked as if Bika would win easily in a 12-round eliminator for a shot at the International Boxing Federation title held by Lucian Bute of Montreal.

“We’re happy at the official call,’’ Gabriel Gaide, also of Mendy’s promotional team, said. “But I don’t want him winning that way. Jean Paul came to fight the right way.’’

Mendy didn’t come for the money. His purse was $12,000, according to Bazan, who said most of that went for expenses. Bazan said Mendy was fighting only for an opportunity that didn’t include a doctor’s bill.
No Maidana for Ortiz

Surfing has taught junior-welterweight Victor Ortiz something about boxing. Fights are like waves. There’s always another one.

Ortiz, a surfer when not in the gym, expressed disappointment Saturday at not getting a rematch against Marcos Maidana on Sept. 18 on the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora card at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

But Ortiz — who has boxing gloves and his nickname, Vicious, inscribed on to his surfboard — was already looking forward, toward the horizon, for another opportunity. Maidana is gone, but it looks as if Vivian Harris will be there. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said Harris, a former World Boxing Council champion

“Sept. 18 was supposed be about a fight with Maidana,’’ Ortiz said at Mandalay Bay before Diaz-Marquez. “He turned it down.’’

Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya said Ortiz was anxious for some redemption in a rematch with Maidana, who scored a stunning 6th-round stoppage of Ortiz in 2009.

“I know the truth and Victor knows it too,’’ said De La Hoya, who also introduced Mosley, Mora, and emerging Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. “He wants to redeem himself.’’

But Ortiz talked as if he only wants to continue his career, which has proceeded with three successive victories after Maidana. Questions about his will have lingered since the loss. Some in the media said Ortiz quit in the fight and that perhaps it’s time to leave the ring for the beach.

“Why retire?’’ said Ortiz, who promises that one loss didn’t wipe out the potential he displayed a few years ago. “I’m only 23.’’
NOTES, QUOTES

· Alvarez, a Guadalajara welterweight called the Mexican James Dean by Schaefer, is expected to face former WBC champ Carlos Baldomir on the Mosley-Mora undercard, which is being marketed as a celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.

· WBC light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson also met with the media Saturday to talk about his Aug. 14 against Jean Pascal on Pascal’s home ice in Montreal. “It’s my coming out party,’’ Dawson said of his appearance on HBO and an expected capacity crowd at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

· And Arizona’s tough immigration law continues to be a hot talking point among Mexican and Mexican-American boxers. De La Hoya told 15rounds.com Wednesday that he saw “racism” in the state’s controversial law, SB 1070. Mora wasn’t asked about the law at Saturday’s news conference. But he ripped it anyway. “Lots of ignorant laws are being passed in Arizona,’’ Mora said. “There’s a lot of bigotry and latent racism being expressed down there.’’

LAS VEGAS – Shane Mosley likes to play basketball when he isn’t pounding a heavy bag. He did a little bit of both a few weeks ago.

Mosley got into the ring against Shaquille O’Neal, who is as big as a collection of heavy bags these days and just about as quick.

“It was fun,’’ Mosley said of his appearance on Shaq Vs., which is expected to be shown on ABC within a couple of weeks.

Mosley wouldn’t say who won the mock fight, which was filmed in Las Vegas on July 10. The pick-and-roll might have been his most effective combination.

O’Neal, who lost a mock decision to Oscar De La Hoya a couple of years ago, hasn’t been able to step up and defend against that fundamental combo since he left the Miami Heat for the Phoenix Suns and then the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But Mosley sounded as though he was relieved that his next opponent will be Sergio Mora instead of O’Neal on Sept. 18 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mosley’s punches were enough to rock Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an eventual loss on May 1. But those same blows apparently didn’t have much impact on the 7-foot-2 O’Neal, who is big enough to slam-dunk Mosley.

“He gave me a couple of big shoves,’’ said Mosley, who must have felt like a point guard tossed around like a rag doll after just one push.

Mosley is scheduled to appear at a news conference for the formal announcement of the fight against Mora today at Mandalay Bay before the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch. Then, Mosley is expected to begin training, which won’t include O’Neal as a sparring partner.

Among other possibilities, Mosley would like to keep himself in line for a shot against Manny Pacquiao, who is headed for fight against Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.

Margarito appears to be closer to getting a license for a fight in the United States. According to AOL’s Fanhouse and the Los Angeles Times, the California State Athletic Commission will hear an appeal on Aug. 18 from Margarito, whose California license was revoked for one year after altered hand wraps were discovered at Staples Center before his loss to Mosley in January 2009.

The Nevada commission told Margarito to face California regulators before it would consider his application for a fight. It’s not clear whether there’s time to get a license in Nevada, or whether the Nevada commissioners would balk at granting him a license because of the hand-wrap flap.

Texas at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas is another possibility. Margarito promoter Bob Arum also says he has an offer from Monterrey, Mexico, although the U.S. State Department has warned against traveling to the city because of drug-cartel violence.

“Margarito has the height advantage,’’ Mosley said. “Anything could happen. But the winner would probably be Pacquiao.’’
NOTES, ANECDOTES

· Juan Diaz stepped on the official scale Friday at 135 pounds. Unlike Marquez (133 ½), there was no muscle definition. There was baby fat where other fighters have a six pack. “That’s why fans identify with me,’’ Diaz aid. “I look like the average Joe.’’

· Golden Boy Promotions says it has invested $4 million in the Diaz-Marquez card. Out of that, $1 million will go to Marquez, $540,000 to Diaz, $200,000 to Danny Jacobs, $75,000 to Robert Guerrero and $40,000 to Joel Casamayor.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank