Kind of a bare week, to be honest. You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have the facts of life.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MOUSEVILLE...

"[Tarver is] definitely past his prime. Look at his last three performances. They speak for themselves." -- Chad Dawson, on upcoming opponent Antonio Tarver (Showtime, via BoxingScene.com)

"Clinton Woods didn't put up a fight. He came to collect a paycheck." -- Dawson, discussing Tarver's last opponent

"I'm listening to a guy that is very naive, a guy that is very young, obviously mentally, and he's sadly mistaken." -- Antonio Tarver, in response

"He's right about the prediction. It won't go the distance." -- Tarver

"You will see a display of the sweet science when I technically annihilate Chad Dawson on the 11th." -- Tarver

"I believe in my abilities and he believes in his abilities. But, like he said, October 11, somebody is going home with hell, and it's not going to be me." -- Dawson (going home with hell?)

"Tarver has 28 days left on death row before he faces my two-gun firing squad on October 11." -- Dawson (ESPN)

"If they ever do a remake of 'The Green Mile,' Tarver will have the experience to play one of the death row prisoners." -- Dawson, just unloading heavy artillery

HOW ABOUT ONE HOOT?

"I couldn’t give two hoots about the belt." -- Ricky Hatton, on the IBF threatening to not sanction his November 22 showdown with Paulie Malignaggi (Daily Express)

"I have won five world titles so does six make any difference? Malignaggi and I are the top light-welterweights around so why should we bother chasing the IBF?" -- Hatton

"I love Billy but for a few fights now I have been feeling that his injuries and Old Father Time have been catching up with him." -- Hatton, on his split with trainer Billy Graham

"Paulie feels bad about having to give up the title and would like to eventually get it back, but he's getting a huge economic opportunity with Ricky Hatton. If he beats Ricky Hatton there will be giant fights ahead of him and Herman Ngoudjo won't be one of them." -- Malignaggi promoter Lou DiBella, after his fighter officially gave up the IBF title (ESPN)

CALZAGHE-PAVLIK: S***-TALKING FIGHT OF THE YEAR?

"They're inventing a star [in America]. You've seen boxing's a dying sport over there. They only got one medal at the Olympics. They want him to be a big star." -- Joe Calzaghe (Setanta)

"Calzaghe's pops keeps throwing shots out. He has Roy Jones and the chances of him getting past Roy Jones are slim." -- Kelly Pavlik

"No, they never offered a fight." -- Pavlik, bluntly refuting claims that Calzaghe offered Pavlik a bout

"It is what it is. It would be a great fight. I've got October 18 to worry about." -- Pavlik, on fighting Calzaghe in the future

THEY DID IT THEIR WAY (MORE JOE!)

"I feel free and unshackled from the chains." -- Joe Calzaghe, on his fight with Roy Jones, Jr., being promoted by the two fighters (Wales Online)

"It was never a case of Joe not being good enough back then or needing to prove himself. I have always wanted to fight him and it’s just a shame it has taken so long. I wanted to make this fight happen years ago but Joe wasn’t available because his people wouldn’t let him take that gamble." -- Roy Jones, Jr.

"We are fighting for ourselves and just because we love boxing." -- Jones

"It just goes to show that you don’t need a promoter." -- Calzaghe, engaging in dangerous talk

POLITICS, MAN

"I don't think it's as good as it could be. I think pay-per-view has had unintended consequences as well as intended, and it has narrowed the viewing audience. You see this 'ultimate fighting' filling in a bit of a vacuum there. I'm a proud conservative; I still think it is the sport that needs a union, because these are the people with the shortest spans of participation. They need to have retirement benefits, and they need it as badly or worse than any professional sport." -- GOP Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (ESPN)

"[Boxing] should be managed by a person who knows boxing and should go across the country. The government is bailing out the financial institutions, so it could even help some of the promoters take care of the costs." -- Sugar Ray Leonard (News-Leader)

"For these same kids that are unfortunate enough to be in this financial or economic situation, boxing is that protector," Leonard said. "It's that surrogate father. It's that person or thing that keeps them off the streets, off of drugs and out of crime." -- Leonard

ODDS N' SODS

"This guy is a complete joke, he talks all this crap how he will fight anyone and he is the man now in the heavyweight division, yet he has not fought anyone yet. And I am here telling him that I want the fight, I want to come to London and show his country what a real heavyweight looks like, and he punks out." -- Kevin Johnson on David Haye (BoxingScene.com)