278 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Robert Morales byline.
Every story follows our editorial policy. To report a mistake, use our corrections form; for anything else, contact us.
WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (23-0, 13 KOs) appears to be the favorite to win Showtime's Super Six tounament. Aside from his victory over Mikkel Kessler in the first stage of the Super Six, he easily defeated Allan Green over 12 rounds and he took a win by forfeit when Andre Dirrell had to pull out with an injury. Later tonight he squares off with Arthur Abraham in the tournament semifinals at Home Depot Center.
The win by Victor Ortiz over Andre Berto in a welterweight title fight last month left quite an impression on Shane Mosley.
By Robert Morales - Manny Pacquiao has graced the professional boxing world with his presence for the past 16 years, since he turned pro in January 1995 at the age of 16. Much has been made of the success he has had in eight weight classes, having won major-governing body world titles in six and people's-champion titles in two others. Unquestionably, Pacquiao - who will defend his welterweight title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley on Saturday at MGM Grand in Las Vegas - will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection five years after he retires. But as good as he has been, it's difficult not to wonder how he would have done against the likes of Roberto Duran as a lightweight, Aaron Pryor as a junior welterweight and Sugar Ray Leonard as a welterweight. After all, none of the fighters Pacquiao has beaten from lightweight to welterweight - David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito - are in the same class as any of those three.
By Robert Morales - Saturday’s main event on HBO featuring Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz attracted 1.5 million viewers, making it the highest audience for a fight this year on HBO. This audience number is for the live Saturday night airing of the fight on the network. If Manny Pacquiao successfully defends his welterweight world title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley next month and then were to sign to fight Victor Ortiz, Oscar De La Hoya said he knows what would happen. "I have to say if they fight four, five months from now, I have Victor winning probably by knockout," said De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Ortiz. "Victor's a strong guy, a strong guy." Indeed, Ortiz looked like a beast in moving up in weight and wresting away Andre Berto's welterweight world title via unanimous decision on Saturday in Connecticut. The sixth round, in which Ortiz was dropped with a huge right cross, apparently told De La Hoya a lot because of the way Ortiz responded. "The big right hand he got caught with in the sixth round, I didn't count him out, but I didn't think he was going to get up and drop Berto," De La Hoya said. But Ortiz did, at the end of the round. It was, perhaps, a round that proved to be Ortiz's coming out party because it was the same round in which he was stopped by Marcos Maidana in June 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. That was the fight in which many thought Ortiz might have given up the ship. Ever since, Ortiz has had to listen to experts and other fighters - including Berto - question his heart.
Hollywood, California - Sitting in the hot-box that is his dressing room at the Wild Card, with about 15 reporters jammed into it, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao was asked if he would like to tangle with Victor Ortiz, the new WBC champ.
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya confirmed he re-signed super lightweight champion Amir Khan to a long-term deal over this past weekend. Which means he will be promoting Khan for a long time as well. De La Hoya was asked if Khan, who beat Paul McCloskey on Saturday in England, will eventually move up to 147.
Victor Ortiz was stopped in the sixth round by Marcos Maidana in a brutal fight in June 2009 at Staples Center. Ortiz has gone 4-0-1 with three knockouts since then. But Andre Berto still has a question about Ortiz's courage because of his body language at the time of the TKO loss to Maidana, which officially was stopped because of a cut over Ortiz's right eye and a black and blue lump under his left eye.
A student of the game, former three division champion Shane Mosley told BoxingScene.com earlier this week that he watched quite a few of Manny Pacquiao's previous fights. And, like other boxers, he has noticed discrepancies in Pacquiao's style. Mosley faces Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight tite on May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
By Robert Morales - This ongoing saga with promoter Bob Arum and bantamweight world champion Nonito Donaire is far from over. But assuming Donaire reluctantly goes back to Arum as per an arbitration decision that enjoins Golden Boy Promotions from representing Donaire, it'll be interesting to see how Arum deals with a fighter who wanted to leave him. One of the toughest things to get past could be the remark attributed Arum regarding Donaire's wife, Rachel. A recent conversation at Manny Pacquiao's training camp in the Philippines had Arum referring to Rachel Donaire as someone who dresses "all tarted up." Arum was asked Tuesday if he regretted going there. He said he does, but that it was important to know that he did not go out of his way to insult Donaire's wife. It was his way of defending Jinkee Pacquiao, wife of Manny. "Yeah, I did it because this was a conversation we were having when I was in Baguio City in the Philippines," Arum said. "And they said she (Rachel) made comments about Jinkee's dress and it was more in defense of Jinkee than an attack on Rachel. "It came out like an attack on Rachel, but it was a comment meant as a defense of Jinkee." At this point, that may not matter. Unless Donaire is somehow able to go to court and free himself of his contract with Arum's Top Rank Inc., he is going to have to go back to Arum after having signed with Golden Boy the middle of last month.
When Golden Boy Promotions recently signed bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, it meant Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens likely would get a chance to fight him if Mares defeated another world champion, Joseph Agbeko, on April 23 in the Showtime bantamweight tournament finale at Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live.