Password:sweetboxing

Password: sweetboxing

Password: sweetboxing

12 Rounds – Junior Middleweight Division (for Cotto’s WBA title)
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 New York City (HBO pay-per-view)

Manny Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 for a vacant super welterweight championship, either in Las Vegas if Margarito can get licensed or in Monterrey, Mexico, if he can’t, promoter Bob Arum said.

That ends any possibility of a match between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the top two boxers in the world, for 2010.

Arum said he decided to choose Margarito instead of Miguel Cotto, whom Pacquiao stopped in the 12th round in November, because it would be perceived as a more competitive bout. The bout will be offered on HBO Pay-Per-View.

“Cotto was beaten and even with [Hall of Fame trainer] Emanuel Steward now with him, I don’t think people believe that it’s enough to make a difference and I’m not sure they would buy it as competitive,” Arum said by telephone from his vacation home in Los Angeles. “But putting aside the controversy about the wraps, the one thing you know for sure with a Margarito fight is that it will be a hell of a fight for however long it lasts.

“Margarito knows only one way to fight and that’s coming forward. They’re going to get in there and fight. That’s what people want to see.”

Margarito’s hand-wrap controversy is no minor matter, however. He was caught with a hardened substance in his knuckle pad prior to a Jan. 24, 2009, fight in California against Shane Mosley.

He was forced to re-wrap his hands and was knocked out in the ninth round by Mosley. In February 2009, he was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission.

He fought once since the Mosley fight, winning a lackluster unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia.

He applied for a license in Nevada on July 9, but by a 4-1 vote, the Nevada Athletic Commission tabled the matter and told Margarito to return to California. Arum said Margarito will file paperwork with California on Monday.

If Nevada grants Margarito a license, Arum said the fight would be in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. If not, it is all but certain to wind up at a 22,000-seat arena in Monterrey, Mexico, though a group from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is also bidding for the fight.

Skip Avansino, a member of the Nevada commission, said he thinks California regulators should consider it first, even though Margarito doesn’t plan to fight there. The California commission knows the matter best, Avansino said.

Avansino wasn’t willing to speculate what would occur if California were to decline taking up his request, given he doesn’t have a fight planned in the state.

“He certainly deserves a decision,” Avansino said. “I don’t know what procedures California will consider in connection with his reapplication. I would think that they would consider his application appropriately, just as we would, but I would want to wait until I see what California decides.”

Avansino said he wouldn’t be swayed by the huge economic impact the fight would have upon the depressed Las Vegas economy.

Pacquiao is a huge draw in Las Vegas and is one of the few boxers who attracts high-rolling Asian gamblers, who play $25,000-a-hand blackjack as well as baccarat. Las Vegas casinos had their best night in two years Nov. 14, 2009, when Pacquiao fought Cotto, because of the large influx of high-rollers who flooded Las Vegas, according to analysis by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

“I’m mindful of the economic conditions in the state of Nevada and I understand them well,” Avansino said. “I have every interest to improve and help improve the economy in this state. But as a commission, my responsibility is to protect the health and safety of those who compete in our state and to uphold the integrity of the sport. That’s my primary responsibility.”

The match would be for the World Boxing Council super welterweight championship. If Pacquiao wins it, it would be either the seventh or eighth division in which he has held a title, depending upon how it is calculated.

He has won sanctioning body titles at 112, 122, 130, 135, 140 and 147 pounds. At 126 pounds, he beat Marco Antonio Barrera, who was the linear champion. But Barrera had surrendered all of his sanctioning body titles by the time he fought Pacquiao, though he had not been beaten.

Shane Mosley (46-6-1) and Sergio Mora (22-1-2) fought to a Split Draw.

The judges’ score cards were 115-113 (Mora), 116-112 (Mosley) and 114-114.

Watch the Shane Mosley vs Sergio Mora video:

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora fought to a 12-round draw in a junior middleweight bout Saturday night at Staples Center.

The 39-year-old Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) had hoped to earn another big-money fight after his one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May, while Mora (22-1-2, 6 KOs) was trying to re-establish himself as an elite fighter. Neither fighter left the arena satisfied—and neither did the crowd, which booed both boxers.

“We both fought hard,” Mosley said. “It was good fight, a good decision.”

The fight was very difficult to score, with judge Kermit Bayless calling it 115-113 for Mora, David Denkin giving Mosley a 116-112 edge, and Lou Moret ruling it even at 114-114.

Mosley had an edge in the CompuBox punchstats, landing 161 of 522 punches to 93 of 508 for Mora.

Mora, who held the 154-pound (69.9-kilogram) title in 2008, said he actually let up because he thought he was winning the fight down the stretch.

“I should’ve listened to my corner,” he said. “They were telling me that it was a close fight. I thought I was winning, so I didn’t fight as hard because I have respect for Shane. I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Mosley was the aggressor from the beginning, but had a difficult time landing clean punches because Mora is a standout defensive fighter. The former 154-pound titleholder consistently danced out of harm’s way or tied up Mosley when he got inside.

Mora threw many fewer punches than Mosley but landed more clean shots, giving him several rounds. Neither fighter hurt the other or even had a particularly big round, making it even more difficult to separate them.

Before the main event, junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KOs) took a round to feel out Guyana’s Vivian Harris (29-5-1, 19 KOs) before unloading, stopping Harris early in the third round after knocking him down three times in the second.

Ortiz was too quick and sharp for his aging opponent. He landed a right hook and then a quick right uppercut to knock down Harris 45 seconds into the third round, with referee Raul Caiz waving off the fight right when Harris hit the canvas.

Ortiz’s handlers have been talking to WBO titleholder Timothy Bradley, and Ortiz likes the idea of facing the winner of the Dec. 11 fight between WBA champion Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, who knocked out Ortiz in the sixth round last year at Staples Center.

Harris, a former titleholder from New York, is 1-3 with one no-contest in his last five fights.

Earlier, budding Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had a spectacular third-round knockout of veteran Carlos Baldomir.

Alvarez (34-0-1, 26 KOs) hurt Baldomir (45-13-6, 14 KOs) with a number of punches toward the end of the final round before a straight left put the Argentine on his face. Baldomir, who had failed to go the distance only once before, was able to get to his feet, but was too wobbly to continue.

Baldomir was a good test for the 20-year-old star from Guadalajara because of his experience and awkward style, but Alvarez was much quicker than Baldomir, and he patiently outboxed his 39-year-old foe. Baldomir, who has one of the best chins in boxing, took most of the big shots, but was slowly worn down.

Daniel Ponce de Leon (40-2, 33 KOs) also stopped fellow-Mexican Antonio Escalante (23-3, 15 KOs) with a single right hook at 2:40 of the third round in a 12-round featherweight bout.

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