How important is Bermane Stiverne’s rematch with Chris Arreola to the American boxing market?

Saturday evening, a small piece of the heavyweight title is up for grabs in a rematch between Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola. Good ol’ ESPN is dipping their toe into the major fight scene (for an estimated 500k) by televising.

Stiverne is a fighter who, at 34, is fighting for just the fifth time in the past four and a half years, his only consistency being his inactivity. He represents 84-year old promoter Don King’s last real chance to remain a relevant force in boxing, getting a piece of the heavyweight title pie he had a controlling interest in up until a decade ago.

For Arreola, it is his last opportunity to fool Mexican-American fight fans (and every combination thereof) into believing he can be anything more than a gatekeeper or contender. To his credit, Arreola is in shape for the second straight training camp, though that kind of dedication should be typical of a professional fighter, not the aberration.

Stiverne was tired of talking about the fight as early as Tuesday’s open workout, the first event of press week. Stiverne was understandably tired of being asked about what the fight will be like with Arreola in shape, almost discrediting his decision win last year.

A quiet fellow, Stiverne offered some interesting words on the fight, calling Arreola a joke among other things. It is the lack of charisma Stiverne uses when delivering his words that make it hard to see a world where he rules as the heavyweight champion. This is a problem only because Stiverne has actually shown the kind of game that could give real problems to heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Arreola is the piece of the puzzle that would open things up a bit more on the American fight scene. As decrepit of a time period it was, the dominance of the Klitschkos makes one perhaps long for the days of Chris Byrd, Lamon Brewster, Hasim Rahman, and even John Ruiz.

Arreola still is without a significant win over a top heavyweight, but proved in going twelve with a badly broken nose the first time against Stiverne that he’s willing to dig deep. Arreola is in great shape for the fight and camp insiders tell me his camp for the Stiverne fight was among the worst of his career. That Stiverne was fading a bit at the end of the fight makes this more interesting than most rematches.

2008 Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder waits patiently as the mandatory challenger to the winner. A fight between Arreola and Wilder would match the two most charismatic American heavyweights and is the kind of fight ESPN could use to launch a broader mainstream interest in the heavyweight division. Richard Schaefer agreed when presented with the possibility, also saying he wouldn’t rule out CBS being interested in the fight. The network hasn’t aired a fight since a December 2012 Leo Santa Cruz junior bantamweight title defense.

It is worth noting that Chris Arreola is advised by power broker Al Haymon, and has been on the roster as long as anybody.

Arreola promoter Dan Goossen is confident that the fight will do well and thinks everyone in boxing should be rooting for it to do just that. Schaefer said he’s interested to see how it will do and says it was a good buy from ESPN.

Though it is too early to really expect ESPN to make a significant investment into boxing, the reported 500k is more than they’ve done in a decade. ESPN typically spent no more than 50k on their weekly Friday Night Fights license fee, and the network had reduced their schedule from including a midweek show several years earlier.

ESPN has picked up new leadership in Brian Kweder, a guy who previously oversaw the acquisition of fights for ESPN Classic. Kweder has proven very quickly that he’s looking outside the box for ideas.

Kweder replaced Doug Loughery, who, according to Thomas Hauser in 2004, was a key cog in an output deal with Main Events where the network was ripped off greatly. This was a deal where Main Events shows with large license fees were outperformed by $15,000 regular shows on ESPN2 in the ratings. For instance, For instance, Terry Smith against Fernely Feliz did a higher rating than Antonio Margarito against Sebastian Lujan.

Their partnership with Banner Promotions to do two eight-man tournaments called “Boxcino” has been a rousing success. The tournament successfully made fights between Fernando Carcamo and Petr Petrov as well as Brandon Adams against Willie Monroe Jr. two fights that people are genuinely interested in. Had those two fights been made without being part of a tournament, they would’ve been considered intriguing but unspectacular co-features on Friday Night Fights. Boxcino proved that people LOVE brackets of all kinds and the belief that anyone can win any given fight.

It’s worth noting that ESPN recently spent $100 million dollars for the rights to televise one single NFL wildcard playoff game. That game could conceivably feature an 8-8 team. HBO and Showtime reportedly have around $35 million invested a year into boxing. Getting ahead of ourselves, if ESPN committed $100 million and the reach of their various platforms, they would run televised boxing in America.

That this much could rest on a rating generated by the good but not overly interesting Stiverne and the interesting but underachieving Arreola is both compelling and a bit worrisome.

-Mark E. Ortega / @markeortega
-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Saturday night, Floyd Mayweather earned a hard fought majority decision win over Marcos Maidana in Mayweather’s most competitive fight since Zab Judah gave him trouble in 2006.

Perhaps the fight that developed Friday after the weigh-in was one of Mayweather’s toughest, as a controversy regarding gloves took place between the two camps. A pair of customized Everlast MX gloves Maidana was looking to wear were deemed unfit by Mayweather’s team, to which the Nevada State Athletic Commission was in agreement.

After this, a stock red pair of the same brand of Everlast MX gloves was deemed acceptable by the commission, but Mayweather’s team was not sold and they demanded Maidana choose a new pair.

As Friday turned to Saturday, the glove controversy still raged on with conflicting reports saying the issue was handled and others saying the battle still raged. When the two stepped into the ring, Maidana was donning a pair of Everlast PowerLock gloves rather than the MX gloves he had used the past few years.

After the post-fight press conference, Maidana’s manager Sebastian Contoursi told reporters that a deal was worked out but said it was confidential what the agreement actually entailed, leading many to believe Mayweather’s team gave up some extra money to have their way.

Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe also failed to specify what the agreement was while also being vague about what the issue was with the stock pair of red gloves the commission deemed acceptable.

It is a letdown that Maidana and his team backed down from their stance because they had Mayweather trapped in a corner. Though Mayweather and Ellerbe said there would be no fight if Maidana didn’t change gloves, contractually they had every right to wear them. Should Mayweather not change his mind, it is his team that would’ve been on the hook legally and in a position where they could’ve faced lawsuits from all angles. That and missing out on his guaranteed $32 million payday.

In the end, Maidana wore different gloves, and if there is to be a rematch you can bet it’ll be in the contract that Maidana can’t wear his beloved MX gloves.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

@shosports

Floyd Mayweather survives and wins majority decision over Marcos Maidana

LAS VEGAS–In Floyd Mayweather‘s toughest fight since Zab Judah gave him early trouble seven years ago, Mayweather gutted out a twelve round majority decision over Argentine power puncher Marcos Maidana on Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

Maidana outworked Mayweather for the first half of the fight, averaging about 100 punches a round. Mayweather was consistently with his back on the ropes, and Maidana’s body punching kept Mayweather from being as mobile as he usually is. As Maidana slowed down, opportunities arose for Mayweather to counter more effectively, and Mayweather truly won the fight down the stretch as Maidana’s output slowed a bit. There were a large amount of close rounds and BehindTheGloves.com even scored it 116-115 for Mayweather, meaning three rounds were even on our card. The official cards read 117-111, 116-112, and 114-114 as Mayweather unified two 147 pound belts.

When asked by Showtime’s Jim Gray whether or not he’d do it again, Mayweather said if the fans want it then they can do it again.

On the undercard, Amir Khan earned a twelve round unanimous decision over a gutsy Luis Collazo, Adrien Broner won a ten round decision over Carlos Molina, and J’Leon Love rose from the canvas to win a ten round decision over Marco Antonio Periban.

Check back later for press conference quotes and a full story…

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Floyd Mayweather objects to gloves of Marcos Maidana

Michael Woods of The Sweet Science has reported there is a bit of a controversy regarding the gloves that Marcos Maidana wanted to use for tomorrow night’s fight against Floyd Mayweather.

Maidana wanted to use Everlast MX gloves, but Mayweather’s team objected to them due to the distribution of padding in the gloves.

MX gloves are considered punchers gloves and Mayweather’s team felt the knuckles aren’t properly padded in the gloves. There was also concern that the gloves weren’t in the type of packaging the way gloves are expected to be, particularly for a fight of this magnitude.

UPDATE: The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed that the MX gloves are approved and that this is an issue the two camps need to work out.

UPDATE (2): Richard Schaefer spoke to assembled media in the media center around 7:40 PM PT:

“I was called in when the shit almost hit the fan to come save the day. By that time, the blue colored gloves, everybody had touched them already so it isn’t very fair to say that these were not conformed. By the time I saw them, I have to admit, it was very thin padding, but if you keep touching them and stretching them and stuff like that, I didn’t really see it from the beginning.”

“Both fighters, when you have usually in these big fights, it says both fighters can select the brand and the color of the gloves but both agree to eight ounce and if it is above 147 pounds, then ten ounce, but that is it. It doesn’t stipulate what type of gloves. Probably going forward, that has to be done. These days, you see these fancy gloves and custom made gloves and so on being used by fighters and I think the commission is probably gonna be implementing some new rules where if somebody wants to use customized gloves that they’re gonna have to be presented to the commission way before the weigh-in so that the opposing camps can take a look at it so we can avoid these kinds of disputes.”

“They’re basically working on what the right way is to go about it. I’m not worried. There were a bunch of gloves there. There were foam gloves, horsehair gloves, different gloves, all sorts of stuff lying around by the time I was there. Now, the commission basically said you guys go and figure it out.”

“I am told it is gonna be no problem. There’s gonna be a fight, and they’re both gonna wear gloves, and you’re gonna be happy. It will be a brand which is acceptable to the commission and that’s what it is gonna be.”

Schaefer also denied that Maidana stormed out of the room.

“They were different MX gloves. They were different gloves. When you start ordering gloves and making your own gloves, it’s not like a standard glove anymore. You have different color, everything is different. I can understand that fighters oppose to that, so I think as a result of this we are going to see more stringent rules as it relates to non-standard gloves.”

Schaefer said the problem wasn’t with the brand of Everlast MX, but said it was a variation of that glove type.

Videos of the controversy can be seen on Fighthype.com.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Bernard Hopkins on Golden Boy rift, working with Top Rank

LAS VEGAS–After Thursday’s undercard press conference for Floyd Mayweather against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand, unified light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins talked to the media about a wide array of topics, most of which centered around the rift between Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya at Golden Boy Promotions as well as the possibility of working with Top Rank in the future.

Hopkins, who is a shareholder in Golden Boy and also has a personal friendship with both De La Hoya and Schaefer, is in a tricky predicament. Hopkins was asked by BehindTheGloves.com if for him, the rift between De La Hoya and Schaefer is more than just professional but personal, given his close relationship with both parties. Hopkins said absolutely, he agrees with that.

For Hopkins, he’s in a tricky predicament because however things shake out, one imagines it will be hard to maintain a personal relationship with the side that goes against Golden Boy, where he has a vested interest. Hopkins doesn’t think it will be a problem maintaining a friendship with Schaefer if he leaves the company.

“I don’t see why not,” said Hopkins. “If there’s two companies then there is a conflict of interest. When things play out, as it will, I think that everybody would be happy and pleased to be doing something and be in a position where they feel they are happy and have control of their destiny. One thing I know personally about these disagreements, we can all agree to disagree.”

“You can fight it out in the media, you can fight it out in court, or you can fight amongst yourselves. At the end of the day, I think that everybody is gonna walk away with something that they wanted more, something that they got more. Nobody is gonna be happy 100% with everything, because it never works that way.”

Hopkins said that no matter what, he’s pro fighter and no matter how things shake out, he wants the fighters to be taken care of. When asked by BehindTheGloves.com whether or not that extends to the where it hurts his company, he wouldn’t answer. With a large number of Al Haymon fighters reportedly not under contract with Golden Boy (like Keith Thurman as we reported earlier this week), those fighters could jump ship to whatever entity that might start up between Schaefer and Haymon. Hopkins wouldn’t comment on that idea because he says he doesn’t like to talk about “if” or “almost”.

Hopkins also said he has no interest on his end in working with Bob Arum and Top Rank, though he noted he had no personal problem with them having fought two fights with Top Rank in the past.

“We don’t need Bob Arum, no,” said Hopkins. “I wouldn’t [work with him], no. For what? No, I wouldn’t. We don’t need to.”

“I think it is no secret who is the promoter of this time,” said Hopkins about Golden Boy. “Yeah there’s a few dinosaurs hanging on, but we all know, look around.”

Hopkins agrees with Schaefer’s stance that too much has happened between the two rival companies for the two to work together in the future.

“They worked together and then didn’t and then patched things up and then broke up and then patched things and didn’t work together and then patched things up,” said Hopkins. “There comes a time when you can’t patch things up anymore.”

When asked if it has to do with the name calling, Hopkins says it is much, much more than that.

“There’s so much of an on and off relationship with Top Rank, that experience Richard Schaefer had with Arum that I don’t think that can be re-patched up,” said Hopkins. “I don’t think they would ever in this lifetime, because of the on and off emotional…if it was just the name calling, I would say they should get together tomorrow. The lawsuits, the ‘we agree, then we don’t agree, then we don’t go against each other, and it is the same shenanigans…I think the emotional rollercoaster and on and off becomes a worn out soap opera and at the end of the day it hits the nerve to where there’s no more nerves there and you’re completely exhausted with dealing with the individual on that capacity of business anymore.

“I think Richard reached that a long time ago. I think that wall was reached. Obviously, Oscar thinks differently and that can be a major, major sticky breaking point to the point where one wants to think one way and the other wants to go the other way. That could be the clutch of a dispute, because if I want to work with you and my partner who doesn’t want to work with you who is running the business, let’s keep it real, who has been running the business, then you’ve got a problem.”

Hopkins doesn’t think they need Arum and asked the press what multiple fights are out there that aren’t being made now. I pointed out there’s a potential $100 million dollar fight out there that could be made (Mayweather-Pacquiao) and Hopkins jumped all over it.

“You’re talking about one date and after that date, then what’s up? What $100 million dollar fight can there be, I know you’re not talking about the one we shoulda had three or four years ago. In boxing they’ve got a build up. It’s called build a guy’s career, then build his star power, and then see what his numbers on the pay-per-view is, and then there’s the climax.”

Hopkins then uses an analogy of a sexual nature to describe the process.

“A $100 million dollar fight, you’re talking about Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. As far as I’m concerned, that was three years ago. The mainstream media is getting free passes to cover the fight. The people that want to buy the fight and wanted to see the fight don’t care no more. Not like three or four years ago, who cares? Especially after Pacquiao had those bumps in the road.”

Though the boxing industry is tired of talking about Mayweather and Pacquiao, there are still countless fans that don’t watch much boxing that ask about and want to see that fight. For some, it is all you ever hear about from casual fans, the type of large scale audience that could be reached by that fight. Yes, the best time to make the fight was 2009 or 2010 but there’s still massive interest. And there always will be as long as the two are still active.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Schaefer eyeing ESPN’s foray into boxing with interest

Though Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is obviously focused on Saturday’s mega event between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand on SHOWTIME pay-per-view, there’s a fight taking place next weekend that has definitely grabbed his attention.

ESPN is televising the vacant heavyweight title bout between Chris Arreola and Bermane Stiverne on May 10, emanating from USC’s Galen Center. The fight marks the first real involvement by The Sports Leader in boxing in about a decade. ESPN paid a relatively sizable rights fee to televise the bout, and coupled with the showing of last weekend’s real heavyweight title fight between Wladimir Klitschko and mandatory opponent Alex Leapai, it is clear that ESPN sees value in the emerging heavyweight division to make a splash.

Golden Boy promotes the man who has to be considered the most interesting heavyweight prospect in the world, unbeaten 2008 US Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder. 31-0 with 31 knockouts, Wilder is at this stage a promoter’s dream, and is also the mandatory challenger to the winner of the rematch between Arreola and Stiverne.

“I think it is terrific that ESPN is doing that and I agree with you, I think they picked a very interesting fight,” said Schaefer, who last year co-promoted an Arreola fight against Seth Mitchell on Showtime with Arreola promoter Goossen-Tutor Promotions.

“I think it is going to be a great night of boxing on ESPN and I applaud them for that. I hope it is gonna be the first of many and I’d be happy and thrilled and delighted to to be working with ESPN.”

“Deontay is everything, from size wise, spectacular in the ring, big puncher, charisma outside of the ring, very well spoken, good looking, and definitely the kind of guy who would bring the interest to the heavyweight division back to the United States.”

“That’s a fight, the winner of Arreola-Stiverne against Deontay Wilder is a fight which a lot of networks are going to be interested in,” said Schaefer. “I’m sure Showtime is going to be interested in that as well. I would assume that even a CBS might be interested in that.”

In December 2012, CBS made a venture into boxing when they televised a Leo Santa Cruz title defense in the afternoon. Though the network and promoter were happy with the result of that broadcast, we haven’t seen them take another shot at putting boxing back on CBS in the year and a half since. Obviously, an Olympic heavyweight medalist going for his first world title would draw more attention and buzz than a junior bantamweight defending his title.

“In a perfect world, it might just be wishful thinking, if you could have the next heavyweight champion from America being crowned on an ESPN or a CBS for that matter, that is maybe how you really break through and bring non-boxing fans back to the sport.”

About a decade ago, ESPN signed an output deal with American promoter Main Events that saw the network shell out sizable license fees for cards that often were outperformed by their regular ESPN2 Friday Night Fights shows that had a fraction of the investment. Perhaps learning from that mistake, the Arreola-Stiverne rematch is reportedly a one-off, and should the fight do reasonably well, could lead to more involvement in boxing from the largest scale sports network in the future.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Keith Thurman: “I’ve got no contract with Golden Boy”

LAS VEGAS–With stories like RingTV.com’s Tim Smith’s circulating that the power struggle is real between Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer at Golden Boy Promotions, the thought of the two splitting into separate stables has gotten heaps more realistic.

Many boxing insiders have mentioned that a large percentage of Al Haymon advised fighters don’t have anything on paper with Golden Boy stating that they are the sole promoter of those fighters. With that in mind, should Schaefer leave Golden Boy and align with Haymon, that leaves a much easier opportunity to grab a number of quality fighters who have been built on Golden Boy shows and promote them on their own.

BehindTheGloves.com caught up with interim WBA welterweight titlist Keith Thurman at Wednesday’s press conference for Floyd Mayweather against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand. Though Thurman discussed his impressive stoppage win last weekend over Julio Diaz, Thurman’s admission that he isn’t under contract with Golden Boy comes as the juiciest bit of news.

“I’m not with Golden Boy, I have no contract with Golden Boy,” said Thurman. “I’m a free agent.”

Thurman didn’t say that he had any conflict with Golden Boy and seemed happy with the way he has been moved even though he hasn’t exactly gotten the biggest fights available and it is an easy argument to make that he is due for one.

BTG then asked Thurman for his opinion about the idea of Haymon moving off and doing his own thing with his deep stable of fighters.

“He’s got all the fighters like you said,” said Thurman. “It is nice to talk about rumors but a rumor is a rumor and I don’t talk about anything until it happens.”

Thurman acknowledged that his loyalty is to Haymon.

Saturday night, Mayweather faces Marcos Maidana, whom people forget that Thurman was in line to face a few years ago when the 25-year old Thurman was still green and mostly unknown to casual fans of boxing.

When asked how different things would be if Thurman had gotten the Maidana fight (which Thurman said Maidana’s side turned down), Thurman had a few ideas.

“If that would’ve happened, that would’ve been my moment,” said Thurman. “This [event] is called ‘The Moment’, that would’ve been my moment. It would’ve been an opportunity to skyrocket my career, and at the same time in the same moment, he would’ve been put down so far because people didn’t know who Keith Thurman was at that time.”

Thurman made a good point in saying how strong of a victory it would have been perceived as.

“They would just think that Maidana is an Argentinian opponent,” continued Thurman. “Who knows how many phone calls he would’ve gotten from Golden Boy after that. If Maidana would’ve beat me in that moment were he to fight me, his career would’ve continued just like it did after he got his fight with [Jesus Soto] Karass and Josesito Lopez.”

“He may not have been given a whole lot of credit. He would’ve been moved forward and I would’ve moved back a little bit, but with my young age, I would be able to continuously fight my way into the rankings. It’s a fight that is nice to talk about, it is a fight that didn’t happen. Not happening, this moment is Floyd and him. Obviously, his team has done a great job to put him in this position.”

Thurman has scored a number of quality wins against solid fighters that don’t carry much name value. Argentina’s Diego Chaves would probably compete with a lot of fighters at 147 pounds if given another opportunity. Jan Zaveck was giving Andre Berto hell before his face ripped like tissue paper. But because he’s been kept away from the more recognizable names in the division, Thurman has needed to work harder in order to impress people and earn his way into the mix with the top names in the deep welterweight class.

“I am not an elementary boxer, I have already graduated. I am just waiting for them to initiate me and put me on the main stage,” said Thurman.

“There’s not a fight in the welterweight division that Keith Thurman is not actively trying to pursue,” continued Thurman. “Anybody in the top ten. Who is still around, does Paulie want to fight? These guys don’t want to fight. They want to fight everybody else. How did this card happen, Luis Collazo and Amir Khan. They don’t want to fight Keith Thurman. Luis called me out, then he takes another fight.”

Though Thurman would love to be in the big fights right now, he didn’t come off as overly agitated given that he’s still very young in the sport and has time on his side.

“It’s a big, big political game. These guys wish I wasn’t a welterweight, wish I didn’t exist in the world of boxing but I do. One day, these guys will answer. If it is this year, if is is next year, I’m 25 years old, I’m not worried about nothing but creating my fan base right now and bringing home the cheddar. I’m gonna get my time. Saturday night is their moment, my moment is in the future and it is coming soon.”

Saturday night, Mayweather, Maidana, Khan, and Collazo are getting their moments, and you can bet that Keith Thurman will be there as an interested spectator. His role seems destined to change pretty soon.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Anthony Ogogo Las Vegas bout not likely for UK TV

LAS VEGAS–It was discovered today that it is very unlikely that unbeaten British middleweight Anthony Ogogo‘s Las Vegas debut on Saturday will be televised back home on British airwaves.

Ogogo (5-0, 2 knockouts), a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, will fight in the United States for the second time on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand.

BoxNation will televise the main card but their international deal to televise the show didn’t include a provision to show Ogogo’s bout, however, his fight will be shown eventually but most likely on delay, according to Richard Schaefer. There is still time between now and the fight that something could be worked out, but it is more likely that the fight would be shown on delay rather than live.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Lanardo Tyner, two others fail drug tests on Feb. 28 Mayweather Promotions show

Welterweight Lanardo Tyner was supposed to be facing Jermall Charlo this past weekend on the Sho-Extreme portion of the Keith Thurman-Julio Diaz card that took place in Carson, California.

Tyner was inexplicably pulled out and was replaced by a late substitute. BehindTheGloves.com was informed from a trusted source that Tyner had failed a drug test following his Feb. 28 split decision loss to Chris Pearson on a ShoBox card promoted by Mayweather Promotions that took place at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.

BehindTheGloves.com contacted the Oneida Indian Nation Athletic Commission to find out more information. Executive director/commissioner Dan Gustafson informed BTG that it is their policy not to release names, but did tell BTG that not one, but three fighters failed drug tests in relation to that show.

UPDATE: Literally minutes after this story went up, Fighthype released a piece saying that the other two fighters that tested positive were Mayweather Promotions fighters Luis Arias and Chris Pearson, who both tested positive for marijuana.

The Oneida Commission also informed BTG that the suspensions were for 45 days, meaning technically both Pearson and Arias could have fought on this weekend’s Mayewather-Maidana card. So it was up to Mayweather Promotions to keep them off the card.

BTG had information previously that the two fighters in question were the ones who tested positive, but awaited confirmation. BTG reached out to Pearson’s publicist Radio Rahim for a statement a few days ago and was provided with the following statement:

“Chris is sparing with Miguel Cotto. He feels his last performance showed him areas he needs to work on. He opted to continue working on his technique while getting Cotto ready for Martinez. Chris will be back in the ring soon, facing tough competition and showing vast improvement.”

In that statement, there is no admission of a positive test.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

Mayweather-Maidana fight week: who has most to prove?

Its technically fight week for Floyd Mayweather against Marcos Maidana and at Behind The Gloves we will be discussing Saturday’s pay-per-view all week long.

Of every fighter on the PPV portion, who has the most to prove?

Floyd Mayweather: The pound-for-pound King Mayweather has never officially tasted defeat, and at an 11-to-1 favorite, it’s highly unlikely that he will be on the losing end against Marcos Maidana. For Floyd, how important is it that he scored a dominant victory over his opponent?

The expectation is that Mayweather will play it safe and box the ears off of Maidana without putting himself in harm’s way, similar to the way he beat Maidana’s fellow countryman Carlos Baldomir in 2006. Is it important that Floyd not just beat Maidana, but beat him down and try and stop him? Floyd hasn’t stopped an opponent in recent years aside from the controversial KO of Victor Ortiz when Ortiz gifted his chin on a platter and Floyd landed a one-two. A stoppage win would be out of character for Mayweather and would definitely be the best way to end the evening’s festivities.

Marcos Maidana: Maidana earned this fight off the strength of his December domination of Mayweather pal Adrien Broner. While we await to see if Broner’s loss was just a fluke or if he’s really not all we thought he was, Maidana is faced with the task of beating the most dominant fighter of the past quarter century.

Should Maidana fall victim the same way most other Mayweather opponents do and he get outboxed definitively, it would do very little to damage Maidana’s marketability. One thing is that most Mayweather victims have a hard time bouncing back from a loss and rarely make it back to being a top fighter, Canelo Alvarez aside.

Amir Khan: The UK’s Khan arguably has the most to prove out of anyone. Khan missed out on a Mayweather fight after Floyd lead him on for months into thinking he’d be his May 3 opponent. Khan backed out of a fight with Devon Alexander and has sat out more than a year and will now face veteran Luis Collazo.

Collazo is a formidable opponent coming off a career defining KO over Victor Ortiz but still lacks the name recognition necessary for Khan to get lots of credit just for winning.

Coming off a difficult win over Julio Diaz, Khan has to prove he’s got what it takes to compete with Mayweather while also not looking past Collazo. Khan is more or less fighting for a chance to face Floyd and can’t afford any setbacks, putting ultimate pressure on himself.

Luis Collazo: It took a long time for Collazo to earn his way back into a major fight on a major card and he isn’t about to let it all go.

Collazo was fighting off TV as recent as a few years ago, even fighting on an internet PPV at one point. In his biggest challenges, Collazo has come up just short against the likes of Ricky Hatton and Andre Berto and knows now that to get a win over a flashy name, it’s gonna take just a little bit more. Collazo could become the unlikeliest of Mayweather opponents should he dominate Khan, while also representing the best shot at bringing Mayweather to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, being a native. Into his thirties, this maybe represents Collazo’s last chance at becoming a big name player.

Adrien Broner: Broner is coming off a humbling defeat at the hands of Maidana, a loss that spawned thousands of boxing memes from his many detractors. Broner faces light hitting Carlos Molina and must dominate every second in order to dodge the criticism of all who can’t stand him. A win and Maidana loss would setup a rematch between the two, something Broner seems to really want. First, he must look fantastic.

J’Leon Love: Love has now fought twice since escaping with a win last May over Gabriel Rosado on Mayweather’s undercard. He tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended, with the win being changed to a no contest.

That erased Love’s most credible win and again he is out to prove himself in a 50/50 fight against Marco Antonio Periban. Should Love want to be taken seriously as a top super middleweight, dominating Periban is a good place to start and would most likely lead to a title shot.

Marco Antonio Periban: Mexican contenders above the middleweight class are hard to come by and are extremely bankable. Periban showed guts in squeaking out a draw against Badou Jack and just narrowly lost his first vid at becoming champ against Sakio Bika. If Periban wants to avoid becoming a stepping stone, it is necessary he gets by Love, and does so impressively.

Every fighter on Saturday is out to prove something, but Khan carries the most weight on his shoulders. He’s also most likely to face an upset and knows all eyes are on him.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega
-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com