NYSAC to consider implementing blood testing procedures, a joke

Boxing News World

I'll probably laugh at my own stupidity but the recent report that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) is considering implementing blood testing procedures to detect performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) comes humorous to me for three specific reasons.

1. Blood testing for PEDs if not done randomly is nothing but a waste of time and resources. It is a fact that there are numerous masking drugs and agents out there that can effectively conceal the presence of illegal drugs in an athlete’s body in a matter of minutes. A negative result in a scheduled blood test is almost a guarantee.

2. Assuming that the commission catches someone positive for PED use, the public probably wouldn’t know about it since NYSAC regulations do not allow medical information of boxer to be released to any institution or interested party without the boxer’s authorization in writing.

3. Authenticity of some test results would always be questionable because NYSAC regulations allow boxer to use laboratories of his choice to draw and analyze blood if the boxer resides at a place where Quest Lab does not operate.

Perhaps I’m wrong about this. But if I am right, NYSAC needs to review some of its existing regulations first before considering implementing effective, transparent, and reliable drug testing procedures.

- Marshall N. B., marx7204@lycos.com

Morales wants another crack at Pacquiao -- The Ring

By Michael Rosenthal, The Ring

Erik Morales, the last fighter to beat Manny Pacquiao, says he wants another shot at the Filipino champion.

The three-division titleholder from Mexico, who is 33, returns from a 2½-year layoff to face Jose Alfaro on a pay-per-view show March 27 in Monterrey, Mexico.

Morales, then a junior lightweight, outpointed Pacquiao in 2005 in Las Vegas before being stopped twice by Pacquiao at the same weight the following year.

The San Diego resident fought once more, losing a decision at lightweight to David Diaz, and then announced his retirement. He has lost five of his last six fights.

Now Morales (48-6, 34 knockouts) insists he’ll be a new man at 147 pounds. He wants to become the first Mexican to win major titles in four weight classes.

“The two opponents who have defined my career are Junior Jones and Manny Pacquaio,” Morales said. “Defeating Jones was important to me because he had stopped something like 32 Mexicans in previous fights. Defeating Pacquaio is my greatest accomplishment in the ring. I remember seeing him cry after our fight. I would love another chance at Pacquaio and I also look forward to fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in the future.

“At 147, I’m faster than ever and freer with my body so I can get the most out of it. First, though, is my fight against Jose Alfaro on March 27 in Monterrey on pay per view. Alfaro is a great young fighter and a former world champion. A wicked puncher who will bring his best, he has a big heart into the ring, and always gives fans everything he has.”

Alfaro (23-5, 20 KOs) briefly held a junior lightweight title in 2007. The Nicaraguan is coming of a 10th-round knockout loss to Antonio DeMarco in October.

In the co-feature, Hugo Garay (32-4, 17 KOs) faces Chris Henry (24-2, 19 KOs) in a light heavyweight title eliminator.

Source: ringtv.com

Erik Morales v Manny Pacquiao? No chance. Morales against Hatton maybe… -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

Erik Morales expressed his desire for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao as he prepares to return to the ring after a two-and-a-half-year absence. Poppycock. Yes, they had memorable battles, but those inside boxing know that Morales’s best days are well behind him. In the thirty months he has been away, Pacquiao has gained in thought and deed. The idea of matching them now seems ludicrous.

But Morales versus Ricky Hatton at 147lbs, might not be such a bad idea. ‘El Terrible’ (48-6, 34 KOs) remains the last man to beat the current pound for pound No 1 having outpointed Paxquiao when they faced off at the MGM Grand in March 2005. Yes…five years ago.

The three-division world champion is preparing to fight WBA lightweight champion Jose ‘Jicaras’ Alfaro for the vacant WBC intercontinental welterweight crown in March 27 in Monterrey, Mexico. But he is already eyeing future challenges.

At a Televisa event honouring Mexico’s best athletes of the last decade, he said: “The two opponents who have defined my career are Junior Jones and Manny Pacquaio. Defeating Jones was important to me because he had stopped something like 32 Mexicans in previous fights. Defeating Pacquaio is my greatest accomplishment in the ring. I would love another chance at Pacquaio and I also look forward to fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in the future. At 147, I’m faster than ever and freer with my body so I can get the most out of it.”

He added: “Alfaro is a great young fighter and a former world champion. A wicked puncher who will bring his best. He has a big heart and always gives fans everything he has.”

If Morales comes through the Alfaro challenge, he should look to another challenge. Hatton. If Hatton really is coming back…

Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Erik Morales looking for a 4th fight with Pacquiao? -- The Examiner

By Ramon Aranda, Examiner.com

March 19, 2005 may go down as one of if not, Erik Morales' defining moment when he out-boxed, boxing's current pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao, en route to a close but decisive unanimous decision win.

Unfortunately for Morales (48-6, 34 KOs) it was the final win of his career before retiring in 2007 after losing to David Diaz (and previously to Pacquiao in a 2nd and 3rd fight). Since then, Morales has sat back watching the boxing world go by but after nearly three years in retirement, "El Terrible" has had enough and is set to return on March 27 against Jose Alfaro in Monterrey, Mexico.

It's a tough task for an aged fighter, especially after losing four straight since that 2005 win over Pacquiao, to return to form; in fact it's nearly impossible. Still, that hasn't stopped Morales from thinking about the future, which includes a 4th bout with the Pacman. A 4th bout? Yes, you read that right.

“The two opponents who have defined my career are Junior Jones and Manny Pacquaio,” Morales said today. “Defeating Jones (TKO4) was important to me because he had stopped something like 32 Mexicans in previous fights. Defeating Pacquaio is my greatest accomplishment in the ring. I remember seeing him cry after our fight. I would love another chance at Pacquaio and I also look forward to fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in the future. At 147, I’m faster than ever and freer with my body so I can get the most out of it. First, though, is my fight against Jose Alfaro on March 27th in Monterrey on pay per view. Alfaro is a great young fighter and a former world champion. A wicked puncher who will bring his best, he has a big heart into the ring, and always gives fans everything he has.”

Wishful thinking that's for sure, especially considering how Pacquiao battered him in their return bouts.

Needless to say, Morales has high hopes and expectations of himself and on the 27th, we'll see if the layoff has given him enough rest to even contemplate getting it on with the best that the welterweight division has to offer - a far fetched goal, if you ask me.

Still, if there's one thing you can count on Morales for, it's fun-to-watch fights. Alfaro however, will show us if the end of the line arrives in March or if one of Mexico's best has anything left in the tank.

Their bout airs on PPV beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT which also features a 12-round light heavyweight title eliminator between Hugo Garay and Chris Henry.

Source: examiner.com

There's Nothing Magical About Manny Pacquiao's Improvement: Part 1 -- The Sweet Science

By Frank Lotierzo, The Sweet Science

During the lead up to Manny Pacquiao’s brilliant dismantling of Joshua Clottey, he’d received more than his share of criticism from people hinting that his blitz through the weight classes on his way to the WBO welterweight title had been assisted by various forms of chemical help. I think that the reason for Pacquiao’s being able to retain and even augment his effectiveness is far less mysterious, although much more rare, than his detractors might realize. Manny Pacquiao is one of the very few boxers in the sport’s history able to make dramatic improvements after attaining star status, during the very late stages of his prime.

In some circles, this is seen as a kind of magic. But there’s nothing magical about it. It’s now apparent that Pacquiao is not only one of the most physically gifted fighters we’ve seen in years, he’s also one of the smartest. As he’s had to take on increasingly large opponents, there’s been an inverse proportion in the balance between physical advantage and strategic superiority.

Pacquiao had already been a champion and was a world class fighter when he lost a decision to Erik Morales in 2005. He was good enough to fight on better than even terms with the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez. That he was able to do this as an essentially one handed brawler with bad balance was a real testament to both his power and his fighting heart. But trainer Freddie Roach understood that, without further technical development, especially as he moved up in weight, Pacquiao was going to reach a point of diminishing returns, and would be getting into tougher and tougher fights. Considering that he’d already engaged in a series of taxing encounters, it would be crucial for Manny to learn new skills.

This is the point where Pacquiao’s uniqueness really began to manifest itself. Instead of assuming that what he’d always done would be enough to carry him at the elite level (he was, after all, both a champion and a star), he dedicated himself to learning a repertoire of added techniques. With some things, he had to go back to the drawing board and start with the basics. That he was humble enough to do that tells you a lot about his character.

Although Pacquiao was a fantastic natural fighter, as a southpaw he had relied too heavily on the great power from his left hand. His right was severely underdeveloped. Even though it had power, Manny really didn’t know how to deliver with it, and he couldn’t use it to set up combinations. He threw lots of punches, but seldom put them together in tactical sequence. Furthermore, his footwork and balance were adequate at best for a fighter of his accomplishment.

Starting with his 2007 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera, we started to see steady improvement in every facet of Pacquiao’s game. By the time he took on Juan Manuel Marquez in 2008, he was able to engage a complete boxer/puncher in an exciting twelve round strategically sophisticated war - a chess match played out with high powered weaponry. His punches were now thrown straight. His right jab and hook were both solid weapons and he was capable of moving in and out quickly while maintaining excellent balance.

Three months later he was even better, taking on David Diaz for the WBC title in his first fight at lightweight. Diaz wasn’t anywhere close to being in Pacquiao’s league, but he was a strong, durable guy whose only previous loss had come to the murderously hard punching Kendall Holt at junior welterweight. Pacquiao administered a truly brutal beating to Diaz, systematically breaking him down, judging distance magnificently, remaining nearly untouchable, staying patient, and hurting Diaz throughout all nine rounds before firing off a perfect combination that left him lying in a pool of blood.

Like many, I assumed that 135 pounds was about as far north as Pacquiao could travel while remaining effective. His frame didn’t seem suited to carrying much more weight, even taking into account his junior middleweight legs. And it’s at about this point that Manny Pacquiao stopped being seen as a fighter and started being looked on as a mythical being. It’s where his detractors began to question how what he was accomplishing was humanly possible, and where his supporters began to attribute super human powers to him.

But, as I say, what happened next with Pacquiao isn’t mysterious at all. It’s just nearly unprecedented. Moving into the welterweight division, Pacquiao appeared to be punching harder than ever. The ability to do this runs contrary to conventional boxing logic. And, in fact, it wasn’t what was happening; appearances can often be deceiving.

What was really happening was that Pacquiao was now facing slower moving, less complete, and even possibly shot fighters. If you add in his recently acquired ability to throw punches in strategic combination and his newly found leverage, it’s no wonder that what he was landing was causing tremendous damage. He wasn’t actually punching any harder; he was just punching more effectively. And he was now punching the right guys.

Because I didn’t regard either Oscar De La Hoya or Ricky Hatton as legitimate barometers of Pacquiao’s progress (it was evident as soon as they stepped into the ring that both were shot), I thought of Miguel Angel Cotto as the first genuine test of how Pacquiao was faring at a higher weight. He looked great fighting Cotto. Initially, it appeared that taking shots from a hard punching, bigger guy might give him problems. But, by using his legs a lot in the first couple of rounds, in combination with being aggressive, Manny had things well under control by the third round. From that point on, Cotto’s style couldn’t have been better suited to Pacquiao. Too slow, too confused by the angles of Pacquiao’s punches, and too damaged from previous fights, Cotto was a sitting duck, taking a horrific beating until being rescued in the last round.

In spite of how impressive the win was, there was still a small lingering doubt as to how Manny would do against an undiminished, big, powerful, impervious-to-punches welterweight in his prime. Beating Joshua Clottey convincingly would erase any questions about how completely Manny Pacquiao had transformed into a viable welterweight champion.

It was in this fight that Pacquiao showed every aspect of the lessons he’d learned since 2005. Without even scoring a knockdown, he fought the greatest fight of his life. Using a spellbinding combination of power, accuracy, footwork, hand and foot speed, aggression, and boxing skills, Pacquiao made a previously indomitable opponent give up within three rounds. Things grew so one sided that it was soon obvious Pacquiao was trying to make Clottey commit to anything. The only possible chance he had to accomplish that was to give Clottey some free shots. Joshua was just too freaked out to take them. He was being hurt constantly, he was scared, and he had no answers. He steadfastly refused to take the bait.

There are guys who'd have been content to take the easy decision. Even though he didn’t get it, don’t think that Manny wasn’t looking for the knockout all night long. He didn't take dumb risks, but there wasn't a moment when he wasn't trying to make something happen. That's just one more thing that makes him a great, great fighter.

Manny Pacquiao is at his very best at this point in time. He is a fighter who had rough edges and weak spots even after he was a world champion, even after he’d beaten fellow greats. But, through hard work, good advice, diligence, and sound scouting by Freddie Roach, and a willingness to address his own liabilities, those rough edges and weak spots no longer exist. He’s clearly the best fighter in the world.

Any fighter is beatable, and someone will beat Manny Pacquiao someday. But for the moment, it’s hard to imagine who that fighter will be.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

Source: thesweetscience.com

UFC 111 fighters talk Pacquiao vs. Clottey, fan apathy and boxing’s struggles -- Yahoo! Sports

By Steven Marrocco, MMAjunkie.com

Many top MMA fighters love boxing, but even they admit that the sport is on the ropes.

This past weekend's Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight came with a fraction of the hype for a long-anticipated showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. And when it was finished, fans slapped their collective foreheads.

Clottey threw 399 punches to Pacquiao's 1,231 and spent the majority of the fight blocking the welterweight champion's blows. The fight was so drab commentator Jim Lampley resorted to sound effects during Pacquiao flurries, with shouts of Bang! Bang! Bang! dotting the eighth round.

UFC 111 headliners Dan Hardy and Frank Mir said they still support the sweet science, but its hiccups are wearing them thin.

"I've always been a huge fan of boxing … but as far as what boxing's doing, I think it's no statement to say that it's been on a decline due to its own results, and also the fact of what the UFC is now," Mir today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in a conference call promoting his interim-title fight with Shane Carwin on March 27.

Hardy said he watched the Pacquiao fight in a sports bar and was not happy with what he saw.

"I've always been a huge fan of boxing, and I'm very selective about what boxers I watch and what fights I watch," said Hardy, who fights welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 111. "I would say unfortunately, 50 or 60 percent of the time I've watched a boxing match that I've been looking forward to, I kind of feel like I've been robbed of 45 minutes of my life."

The UFC welterweight contender said the boxing ring allows fighters to hide and avoid the fight. But he also put the blame on Clottey for refusing to engage.

"Clottey didn't really want to fight Pacquiao," he said. "He didn't come to win. It was kind of like my fight with (Akihiro) Gono, my first fight in the UFC. The guy didn't come to win, and they're not my kind of fighters.

"I like guys that don't mind taking a risk and putting their neck on the line just (for) the adrenaline rush for that fight. Unfortunately, there aren't that many boxers out there who will do that now. I think that's why MMA is coming up so fast because people need to see that intensity in the fight that I think boxing's losing."

Mir said boxing's decline has forced the sport to put together substandard match-ups because there are few bankable stars in its divisions.

"They're trying to move guys into different weight classes to make superfights," he said. "There's really no weight division that has anything going on in it. If you look at boxing as far as (the) mainstream, I think you're hard pressed now to even ask people who's in the heavyweight division in boxing, which has always been one of the premier weight classes for the sport of boxing.

"Right now, if it wasn't for the two or three superstars that they have in their sport willing to fight each other even through they're not in the same weight class I don't think you'd have any boxing matches going on whatsoever."

Most boxing observers pin boxing's future success on Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, a fight that was supposed to happen this month before it was derailed by the bickering of opposing promoters. After defeating Clottey, Pacquiao said he wants to fight Mayweather, but he doesn't think the brash fighter will agree to face him.

A myriad of less-than-stellar options await the welterweight stars. Mayweather is scheduled to take on Shane Mosley in May.

This past Saturday night, Carwin was hanging out with his 20-day-old daughter, his son, and his wife a familiar routine so he didn't watch the fight. He planned to catch it later.

Despite its shameful reviews, Pacquiao vs. Clottey promoter Bob Arum said he expects the event to do between 700,000 and 900,000 pay-per-view buys (a mark the UFC rarely reaches), which will make the headliners wealthy men.

Carwin, however, believes UFC 111's pay-per-view numbers could equal the boxing event's take.

"Yeah, I think it's very liable," he said. "UFC 111, it's a big card, one of the biggest cards the UFC has had in a while. There's some intruguing fights on there. Not only the main and co-main (events), you have (Thiago) Alves fighting (Jon) Fitch again, so I think the numbers will be right up there with [Pacquiao].

"Pacquiao is boxing's main guy right now, and the UFC has a number of main guys and fights that they can fill out their cards."

Source: sports.yahoo.com

Freddie Roach: Amir Khan 'Walks Right Through' Paulie Malignaggi -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

When England's 23-year-old, WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Amir Khan (pictured above, at left), steps into the ring opposite New York's Paulie Malignaggi (pictured above, at right) on May 15 at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater, Khan's trainer, Freddie Roach, predicts the challenger will be in for a short, if not physically brutal evening.

"I think that Amir walks right through him. Ricky Hatton walked right through Malignaggi, and I know that Amir is better than Hatton," said the 50-year-old, four-time Trainer Of The Year, referring to Hatton's, November, 2008, 11th-round stoppage of Malignaggi, who was knocked out for the only time in his career.

"Amir's very fast, and very aggressive, and he can box when he wants to. We're going to get a guy in Malignaggi who is going to run a little bit on us, so we're going to have to make that ring a little bit smaller and control the ring," said Roach, of his answer should the fleet-footed, Malignaggi try to turn the fight into a route-going track meet.

"My guys know how to cut the ring off, and they know what ring generalship is. That's something that we work on all of the time. It's a lost art, but my guys know how to make that ring smaller," said Roach of Khan, who is coming of December's first-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Dmitriy Salita (30-1-1, 16 KOs).

"We're going to set traps for Paulie, who is not a big puncher and who is not dangerous," said Roach. "We can take a little more risks with him because he's only knocked out five people. I think that our speed and our power will overwhelm him, and that we'll definitely stop him in the later rounds."

Khan (22-1, 16 KOs) will defend his crown against the slick-boxing, 29-year-old Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs) before a crowd that Malignaggi, a Brooklyn native and resident, believes will be rooting for him against Khan.

"All of these Brits come to the U.S. to make their debuts against New Yorkers, and yes, they all have the common denominator that they have all beat us. But they were never tested like I will test Amir in his debut," said Malignaggi.

"I have a lot of respect for Amir, but he's going to get beat on May 15, because when I get in the ring, I throw down," said Malignaggi. "Madison Square Garden is Paulie Malignaggi. This is New York and it's my town. On May 15, I will have all the answers."

But Roach doesn't necessarily believe that Malignaggi will be the fan favorite, given his pure-boxing style and his tendancy not to engage in toe-to-toe battles in the center of the ring.

"I will bet you that we have more fans than Malignaggi in the crowd that night. Malignaggi doesn't draw people. Let's face it. They put it in the little Garden because he doesn't draw, and that's the only reason. Paulie never sold in the Garden. He's just not that popular a guy," said Roach, who is not concerned about controversy or the prospect of having to win a decision.

"We're going to have neutral officials, and the New York commission is a top-notch commission that knows what it's doing. The ring's the same size in Dallas, or in Las Vegas, or in Madison Square Garden," said Roach. "There's a lot of history in The Garden and I think it's a great venue for Amir's United States debut. But I still think that Amir will have a better draw than Paulie, and that the crowd will be on our side."

Like Roach, Khan believes that he is well-prepared for Malignaggi.

"I have watched tapes of Paulie and I think it is a style we can beat. We are both great fighters, both fast and tricky," said Khan. "Styles make fights, and this is a great matchup. I'm another great fighter that will beat Paulie, just like Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and others did. I'm going to keep this title on May 15, its mine."

A winner of four consecutive fights, three of them by knockout, since being stopped in the first round by Breidis Prescott in September of 2008, Khan had better prepare himself for disappointment on May 15, said Malignaggi.

"I'm a different fighter in my last couple of fights than before, because I made a change with my team and found my match with [new trainer] Sherif [Younan]. I'm not the same fighter you saw against Ricky Hatton or Juan Diaz the first time," said Malignaggi, who lost a decision to Diaz, and then, defeated him by decision.

"I don't feel like I talked my way into this fight at all. I think this is a great fight and styles make fights, so this one was made. I think I'm getting better and better, and my resume speaks volumes," said Malignaggi. "Amir has never fought a guy like me. Amir has had the red carpet treatment so far in his career, and bar none, I'm the best fighter he has ever fought. He may have a great career ahead of him, but on May 15, he will get his second loss."

Khan-Malignaggi appears to set the stage for what amounts to being a 140-pound, tournament over the next few months.

On June 26 at the Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, in Calif., 26-year-old WBO champion, Tim Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs), of Palm Springs, Calif., will participate in a non-title, over the division weight limit match up opposite Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KOs), of Salta, Salta, Argentina, on HBO as part of a deal worked out with the network.

Nicknamed "The Desert Storm," Bradley is coming off of December's one-sided, 12-round unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten Lamont Peterson (27-1, 13 KOs), of Washington, D.C., during which Bradley may have one virtually every round.

In the 27-year-old Abregu, Bradley is meeting a fighter who has fought mostly as a welterweight (147 pounds).

Considered the sport's top 140-pounder, Bradley made the move from Showtime to be on the same network that houses all of the other key players in the division, including Khan, 23-year-old, southpaw, IBF and WBC titlist Devon Alexander (20-0, 13 KOs), of, St. Louis, Mo., and 26-year-old, Argentinian WBA interim junior welterweight king, Marcos Rene Maidana (27-1, 26 KOs).

Khan said that he is ready to make a statement against Malignaggi that will go a long way toward distinguishing him among the division's premiere athletes -- just as he did against Salita.

"Its always been my dream to fight here in the U.S. and I know there will be a lot of pressure on me not fighting in front of my U.K. fans, but I made a name over there and now I'm ready to come make a name for myself here," said Khan.

"I have a test in front of me on May 15 at Madison Square Garden, the 'Mecca of Boxing.' On May 15, Paulie's New York fans will become my fans when I beat him here. I'm very excited for my U.S. debut," said Khan. "At first, they told me it would be against Juan Manuel Marquez, but he pulled out and Malignaggi's name came up and I wanted the fight. I think all things happen for a reason, and I'll be ready for him."

Alexander recently dethroned 29-year-old, Juan Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs) as IBF champ with an eighth-round knockout, and could be considering a bout with 32-year-old, former junior welterweight, and, welterweight titlist, Zab Judah (38-6, 26 KOs), in the summer.

In action on March 27 will be Maidana, defending his belt aginst 25-year-old Victor Cayo (24-0, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic.

In addtion, the Khan-Malignaggi undercard will also feature 23-year-old southpaw, 140-pound contender, "Vicious" Victor Ortiz (26-2-1, 21 KOs), against 37-year-old former world champ, Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs).

Also, the 26-year-old Peterson can thrust himself back into the mix should he get by 28-year-old Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KOs), the former WBC lightweight (135 pounds) titlist . Valero vacated the WBC lightweight belt to rise to junior welterweight for a bout against Peterson possibly in July in Washington, D.C., according to Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum.

Lamont Peterson must first get past southpaw Damien Fuller (30-6-1, 14 KOs), on April 10 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"I'm sure we're going to see how Amir does stack up against some of those other guys in the division, because after we beat Malignaggi, then I'm sure that Golden Boy [Promotions] is going to put us into a test with one of those other guys," said Roach.

"You've got Bradley, you've got Maidana, you've got some great talent there," said Roach. "If they pay us what the fight's worth, and they build the fight up, then everyone gets happy. We know that we want to fight each one of them because to be the best you've got to beat the best."

Khan and Maidana were supposed to fight for the unified, WBA crown, but Golden Boy Promotions -- which handles both fighters -- was granted an extension on the deal.

Roach, at the time, was not keen on Khan facing Maidana, who, is coming off of June's sixth-round knockout of Ortiz, as well as November's third-round stoppage of William Gonzalez.

In that bout with Ortiz, Maidana was down once in the first round and twice in the second, with Ortiz hitting the canvas once each in the first and sixth rounds.

"Risk and reward is the business, and when Victor fought Maidana for no reason whatsoever -- he could have fought anybody he wanted -- it almost ruined Victor's career. The guy [Maidana] is very dangerous, and we know that. I know that Amir can out-box him, but it's not an easy task," said Roach.

"Maidana's not somebody that we're ducking, but it's just not a big fight right now. I just want it to be a big fight someday. For now, though, nobody knows Maidana. Nobody really knows Amir in America yet either. Nobody knows either man," said Roach.

"The fight wouldn't draw 10 people right now. So that fight needs to be built up," said Roach. "You need to put them on the same undercard a couple of times and then have the winners fight each other."

Roach feels the same about Khan-Bradley, or, Khan-Alexander matchups.

"Bradley and Alexander are great champions, and they would be tough fights for us, of course. But in terms of pay per view, does any of them sell yet in America where they can generate that type of audience?" asked Roach. "No. Not even my own guy, because he hasn't fought here yet."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com

Klitschko makes hay, but not in States -- ESPN

By Don Steinberg, Special to ESPN.com

In the video, Wladimir Klitschko is a cowboy, a good ol' boy in some American honky-tonk. Yes, that's the heavyweight champ lip-synching in the 2009 music video for "Part of Me," a 2009 Latin-flavored tune by Chris Cornell. Wlad looks great in a plaid shirt and white Stetson. As the beat bumps, the 6-foot-6 Ukranian rises from a seat at the bar, swaggers over to a pretty blonde and lets the dude she's dancing with know it's time for Wlad to cut in.

It's fantasy, of course. Klitschko can only pretend to command such respect in America.

Last weekend, in the real house of America's Cowboys, more than 50,000 people watched Filipino Manny Pacquiao outpunch Joshua Clottey of Ghana. This Saturday, Klitschko will defend his championship, against underdog American Eddie Chambers, in another packed football stadium. Except it will be in Dusseldorf. Klitschko's fight will be on network TV -- in Germany -- but no TV at all in the United States. Viewers in North America will have to watch online, at Klitschko.com, for $14.95.

The reality is that American sports fans have given up on Wladimir Klitschko and his big brother, Vitali, who each hold heavyweight belts. It's a shame, really. Wladimir could be a champ America loves: He's smart, witty, young (33), good-looking, scandal-free, built like a quarterback. He's a savvy businessman and a great humanitarian, and he loves to rock. (He enters the ring for every fight to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Can't Stop," because he knows the guys in the band and, he said, "I picked the song because that's exactly what it means: can't stop. I think it's perfect for walking in the ring.")

"Wladimir and Vitali are superstars in Germany -- you'd equate them to LeBron James or the New York Yankees," said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports. But American sports fans have about as much interest in the LeBron James of Germany as they would in, say, the Brett Favre of France.

"For a while, Wladimir was hell-bent on maintaining a presence in the United States, and we were starting to break through with him," Greenburg said. "Unfortunately, at the same time [2008], his brother decided to come back, so that kind of confused the consumer again in the United States. People have trouble differentiating."

It probably doesn't help that Klitschko earns a living bullying American fighters and taking our women (his current flame, Hayden Panettiere, is expected to be ringside in Dusseldorf) -- and making his fights appear so robotically easy that anyone who had ever been intrigued has lost interest. Klitschko is 14-2 with 12 KOs in title fights. It sounds exciting, but the fights have been dreary. (Against Ray Austin in 2007, Klitschko won by TKO in Round 2 without ever throwing a right hand.)

"Well, maybe it looks easy," Klitschko told ESPN.com earlier this month, phoning from his training camp in the Austrian Alps. "All of these guys that I fought, and my brother, Vitali, fought, are good. They have boxing skills." But, he admitted, "I definitely have an issue with opponents right now -- especially opponents that I can fight in the United States. I wish that I had as many opponents as Muhammad Ali had in his time. It would be more exciting for the division and more of a challenge."

Greenburg insists it's no disrespect that HBO didn't pick up the Chambers fight -- it's economics and timing. The Klitschkos' Euro fame makes it lucrative for them to fight there. The time difference means fights air live in New York at 5 or 6 p.m. This weekend, that bumps up against NCAA basketball. How many U.S. sports fans would watch Klitschko versus Chambers (whose only prior HBO appearance was his lone loss, a late-innings fade against Alexander Povetkin)?

If he gets past Chambers, Klitschko owes a mandatory defense to Povetkin. Until then, all Klitschko can do is sell Chambers as a worthy opponent, and maybe bait David Haye into a fight. The Klitschko brothers say one of them will fight Haye.

"I believe that Eddie Chambers is a much better boxer than David Haye," Wladimir said, showing a knack for trash talk that is, characteristically, underappreciated by Americans. "Haye is ridiculous. He bailed out from my fight, from a fight with Vitali. He actually admitted he was going to fight Valuev because it's an easier fight for him. So he fought Valuev in a very boring way for 12 rounds. And -- excuse me -- Valuev is just a freak show."

Don Steinberg, a winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America's award for best column in 2005, covers boxing for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Source: sports.espn.go.com

K2 Dynasty: And Now, For the Next Stadium "Superfight" -- The Sweet Science

By Phil Woolever, The Sweet Science

DUSSELDORF - There is a strong probability that the ESPIRIT Arena here will have as many fans present this Saturday night for the Wladimir Klitschko - Eddie Chambers tilt as there were in Cowboys stadium last weekend for Pacquiao - Clottey.

And believe it or not, there is also a decent chance that the fans in Germany will see a better main event than those in Texas did. Despite many US observers who ridicule the Klitschkos, the comparison could be quite symbolic of the heavyweight division's slow but recently steady climb back to prominence.

It isn't stretching things too far to suggest that perhaps, just as boxing itself was incorrectly portrayed as a sport headed inexorably for Mike Tyson's Bolivia wasteland, the heavyweights had more life than reported.

Could booming exchanges flow along the Rhine more than they did in Rio Grande territory? Could Klitschko-Chambers actually eclipse Pacquiao-Clottey?

That's almost as absurd a possibility as Tyson getting a reality show about pigeons on Animal Planet.

HBO apparently figured the replay of Pacman-Clottey was a better bet than Klitschko-Chambers live, considering factors like production costs.

In Germany, just as women's boxing is a major attraction, so are the big boys, and recently across the region there have been many solid scraps between fighters who may never be true title contenders, but who can still provide some bang for the euro.

Klitschko-Chambers was a hot enough ticket that a large scale advertising campaign was minimal. The box office was busy through word of mouth alone. If ESPIRIT isn't full on Saturday evening, it will be very close.

As the soused season of Karneval came to pass in a blur last month, so did prime time availability to secure decent tickets for the scrap now coming up in just a few days. Most of the choice floor seats, VIP passes, and good first tier tickets were gone within a week of going on sale in February.

With around 72 hours before first bell, there were a handful (around twenty) of just released ringside seats going for the equivalent of around 850 US bucks. Other than that, all that remained were a few hundred spots along the top of the arena going for about thirty to sixty dollars. On my patrols in the upper levels at Klitschko fights, including a stadium holding 10,000 more than Pacquiao - Clottey, nobody was acting unhappy.

By cost effective standards in many zones of my limited European Union exposure, Klitschko VIP ticket scenes are one of the best sport bargains in this region of the punching planet, with extraordinary food, drink, beautiful people and famous Eurozone entertainers.

Klitschko may never be outrageously renown or fully accepted fully in the USA, but over here he's recognized as a top quality personality. Considering that great beers and brats will be widely available at a fraction of US stadium prices, its pretty much guaranteed that most of the fans will go home happy Saturday night, even if Chambers upsets the local favorite.

Whatever the haters may say, if Klitschko can continue his reign for another three or four fights, or approximately two more years, like it or not he'd be a very legitimate candidate for the Hall of Fame. If Vitali could accomplish the same, he'd qualify just as much.

If the brothers K could each notch big wins over two or three respected opponents, meaning fighters like Alexander Povetkin, David Haye, Odlainer Solis or Denis Boytsov, it would be hard to deny the K2 Dynasty.

Can someone in The TSS Universe document brother pairs to have each achieved comparable status? The names Spinks, Baer, and Marquez come to mind, but not many others in many decades. The Klitschkos are approaching rare rubling air among the highest profile brothers ever to achieve quite a feat. I've seen posts predicting that both the Spinks and Baer Bros would cream their European counterparts on the heavyweight ladder. Excepting the very exceptional Michael Spinks, I'd wager with the Kboys.

Back to the business of Saturday night. The biggest shock to my little corner of the scene would be if an American challenger showed up without using the "shock the world" cliche. Unless the folks at Goosen-Tudor come up with some new lines, we can expect pretty the same business as usual until the boxers head to their corners.

The scenarios during prefight buildups for the half dozen Klitschko shows I've seen have been almost identical. High class, with a more corporate feel than most US promotions, but also with less facades.

Unfortunately, the fights themselves have also followed their own repetitive pattern of "grind' em down and put 'em away," However that translates to German, it translates to a winning, if unspectacular tradition.

It seems most likely that Chambers will find himself in roughly the same situation as Ruslan Chagaev and Hasim Rahman did during Klitschko's latest defenses. Sitting on the end of a jab that is getting harder and landing more, seemingly from farther away. The key question to any Klitschko fight is what the challenger does about it.

These days, they all wilt.

The feeling here is that Chambers will fight back more than anyone has in years, and try to establish the type of constant pressure attack that worked so well for Lamon Brewster the first time around. Chambers doesn't have the one shot power Brewster carried back then, but he does have better movement and combinations.

Odds against Chambers at over five to one are too high. Hey, he's based in Philadelphia. Two or three to one is more like it.

I for one won't be shocked if Chambers does well Saturday night, but I also think Klitschko is a class act and getting closer to even more significant acclaim and recognition.

Can Klitschko produce a more noteworthy performance than Pacquiao did within seven days of each other when both champions were very near their respective peaks?

On an even farther out limb, how about Klitschko-Pacquiao in a global charity event at a catch weight of 215?

Yes indeed, the sky could be the limit for the heavyweights soon. In another month, David Haye and John Ruiz attempt to light their own fireworks, just a time zone away. Around London, Haye's fight is bigger news than Pacquiao's or Mayweather's.

That isn't meant as any slight toward the iconic Pacman or any other fighter in the lighter weights, its only to say that maybe the heavyweights are finally stepping out of the smaller shadows.

This time last year, that was a crazy thought. Some will say it still is.

Saturday will say different.

Source: thesweetscience.com

Boxing commission mulls testing for PEDs -- New York Post

By George Willis, New York Post

The New York State Athletic Commission is considering changes in the way it regulates boxing in the state, changes that could include implementing blood-testing procedures to detect performance enhancing drugs.

Melvina Lathan, chairwoman of the NYSAC, said the commission's medical advisory board is in the process of researching various policies and procedures available to regulate boxing, including blood testing for PEDs.

"We're in the process of doing the research now," Lathan said. "We have been for several weeks. We're going to upgrade our testing policies. As soon as my medical advisory board gets back to me with their findings, we're going to look over their recommendations."

The NYSAC currently tests for steroids and other banned substances through a urinalysis conducted not only just before and immediately after every championship fight, but also other random bouts.

But growing concern over the use of HGH and other PED's detectable only through blood tests has caused the NYSAC to investigate whether changes are needed.

"We're tossing around a lot of policies," Lathan said. "We're trying to find out which ones work better for our state, for our boxers and for boxing. We're trying to get what works, and once we get all of those things together, then we'll come out with a statement about our policies."

An impasse over blood-testing procedures ruined a potential bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. And the use of PEDs became a topic during a press conference yesterday to announce the May 15 WBA junior welterweight title fight between the champion Amir Khan of England and challenger Paulie Malignaggi of Brooklyn. The fight will be held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Malignaggi recently ruffled Khan's camp by saying it has crossed his mind that Khan might be dirty considering he trains with Pacquiao at Freddie Roach's Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles. Pacquiao and Khan both train under Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza.

"I know some people have made some comments about [Pacquiao and Khan] using steroids and that ticked me off," Roach said yesterday. "Why can't they just accept that these two guys work harder and they're great fighters?"

Malignaggi didn't back down.

"I stand by what I said. But this is between Paulie Malignaggi and Amir Khan," Malignaggi said. "It's not about Freddie Roach. It's not about Manny Pacquiao. It isn't about steroids. On May 15, the bell is going to ring and we're going to settle it in there."

The NYSAC probably won't have its new policies in place by then, but perhaps by the end of the summer.

"It's something that needs to be addressed," Lathan said. "It's been a number of years since it's been dealt with, and I think it's something we need to look at. It's still in the discussion phase. There are a lot more meetings and a lot more discussions left until we actually settle in on something final."

george.willis@nypost.com

Source: nypost.com