Arum being disingenuous when it comes to picking Manny's next opponent | ESPN

Dan Rafael rightly rips Bob Arum in this opinion piece for limiting Pacquiao's options to Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.  Arum wants to keep the fight in the Top Rank family, although he won't come out and say it publicly.  So we're probably going to get a fairly unintriguing matchup with someone Pacquiao already soundly beat, or with a disgraced fighter who got his butt kicked two fights ago, even though there are much more intriguing matchups available. 

Floyd Mayweather is a Coward for Ducking Pacquiao | Huffington Post

I'm not posting this because I agree with the statement.  We've said our piece, and believe that both parties are at fault here.  But I want to point out that by firing the first shot, Pacquiao and Top Rank seem to have won the battle of public opinion on this one.  Headlines like this have been common in many mainstream news sources. 

Bradley and Khan in Twitter war | Amir Khan's Twitter

After Timothy Bradley called out basically every good fighter from 140 - 147 on Saturday, he's had a few interesting responses.  While he wants Pacquiao, that ain't gonna happen.  Instead, Amir Khan tweeted that he's telling Golden Boy that he wants a Bradley fight next.  We'll see if his handlers let him go in that direction, but it would be a great fight that could elevate the profile of both fighters.  It also makes sense because Bradley has some name recognition in the U.K. after beating Junior Witter on foreign soil.  Elsewhere, Lou DiBella has mentioned that he has reached out to Gary Shaw about setting up a fight between Bradley and Andre Berto.  Either way, it looks like Bradley will have some very good options on the horizon.

Malignaggi splits with DiBella | ESPN

In a move that seems kind of dumbfounding to me, Paulie Malignaggi has paid a high six-figure buyout to split with Lou DiBella as his promoter.  DiBella is the man who was able to bring him a number of very big fights, despite not having much power or being an elite boxer, and is probably the most influential promoter in New York at the moment, where Malignaggi has his biggest fan base.  DiBella has promoted Malignaggi for his entire career.  Malignaggi says he's going to be looking on the European market, where his style is more similar to other fighters in his weight class.  He also says he wants to win a European title, which frankly I don't think he's eligible to win.  Don't be too shocked if he ends up signing with Golden Boy, who's made a habit of signing faded fighters near the end of their careers, and who just entered into a long-term deal to put on three cards a year in Brooklyn starting in 2012.

Povetkin a no-show for Klitschko presser | RIA Novosti

Povetkin had originally been resistant to attending the press conference at all since he's training in the U.S., but agreed to one a couple weeks ago.  Of course, a day before, he comes down with a sinus infection and says he's unable to fly.  Hopefully he shows up to the actual fight, unlike Wladimir's last several opponents.  If nothing else, it made for some amusing photo ops as Wladimir posed with a cardboard cutout of Povetkin. 

Green furious over Briggs missing weight | Sydeny Morning Herald

Danny Green and Paul Briggs are slated to face each other tomorrow morning in a cruiserweight IBO title fight.  In the contract, they had agreed to a catchweight of about 184 pounds, but Briggs flouted that limit and weighed in at about 192.  While one can understand Green's anger, this should have been expected if there wasn't a contractual penalty - it IS a cruiserweight fight, so the commission can't fine him, and the fight is still for the title, as long as he weighs less than 200 pounds.  If Briggs can win, he'll capture that  belt, which actually means something in Australia, one of the few places where the IBO is recognized as a major title. 

Fight Night Champion Announced | 1UP

Electronic Arts has unveiled the next game in its popular Fight Night series.  It's expected to feature 60 to 65 real fighters, and spokespersons have said that it will feature a new single player mode that will be unique among sports games and 'not something people would expect'.  Let the speculation begin. 

Mainstream Media - Quit it with the Boxing vs MMA crap! | Watch Kalib Run

Here here.

It's a relatively light week in terms of big fights (with little to nothing going on Saturday), but don't sleep on this weekend.  At least two smaller fights have a lot of promise to be entertaining slugfests.

Wednesday, July 21

Main Event PPV (Australia), 5:30 a.m. Eastern, Danny Green vs. Paul Briggs, Shane Cameron vs. Daniel Ammann.  This might be one of the best fights that can be made in Australia, although it's probably coming a few years too late.  The two men had the opportunity to fight each other in 2007, but both instead retired.  Green came out of retirement a year and a half ago, nominally fighting at cruiserweight, and has run off a series of wins over old former titleholders, including Roy Jones Jr.  Briggs only fought once since losing a close brutal war to Tomasz Adamek at light heavyweight, and will be fighting for the first time since early 2007.  Ring rust may be a factor, but if both men are on their game, they're both fighters who aren't afraid to mix it up and like to come forward.   There are a number of undercard bouts, so the main event will probably start about two to two and a half hours after the start time listed above.

Thursday, July 22

Fox Sports 2 (Australia), 5:30 a.m. Eastern, Lenny Zappa vs. Billy Sumba, Will Tomlinson vs. Junmar Dulog. Zappa is coming off a close call win that he probably deserved to lose against Fernando Angulo.  He'll bounce back against Indonesian Sumba, who has a pretty 18-1-1 record, but has never actually beaten anyone with more than four career wins.  Tomlinson is a top Aussie prospect, but he's facing even weaker Indonesian competition.

Fox Sports Net, ringmagazine.com, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Jose Navarro vs. Juan Jose Beltran, Angel Estrada vs. Raul Tovar, Nestor Rocha vs. Benjamin Garcia.  Former title challenger Navarro headlines this episode of Fight Night Club. 

Friday, July 23

Sky Sports 2 (UK), 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Stuart Hall vs. Martin Power, Dean Harrison vs. Nigel Wright.  Hall and Power will fight for the British bantamweight title, while Harrison and Wright will face off for the English light welterweight title.  The card is a bit weak, but originally it was supposed to be headlined by Jason Booth vs. Steve Molitor.  Prospects Tony Jeffries and Jon Lewis Dickinson fight on the undercard, so hopefully there's enough time to show some of their fights.

ESPN2, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Beibut Shumenov vs. Vyacheslav Uzelkov, Gayrat Ahmedov vs. Dallas Vargas. Don't get scared of all the Russian sounding names - this should be a good one.  Shumenov rose to prominence by taking on solid opponents right out of the gate, earning a title shot in his 9th pro fight.  While he lost to Gabriel Campillo on his home soil, he was able to 'win' a title by 'defeating' Campillo in the rematch in what was the robbery of the year so far.  Uzelkov has beaten Campillo for real, by knocking him out.  Both guys like to move forward, throw lots of big punches, and eat lots of big punches.  It could be a slugfest, and one where Shumenov is the underdog to keep his belt.  Ahmedov is an undefeated light heavyweight who is promoted by Shumenov, and is getting his stiffest test to date in Vargas.

Telefutura, 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Craig McEwan vs. Danny Perez, Keith Thurman vs. Stalin Lopez.  This is probably the best installment of Tecate Solo Boxeo since Golden Boy revived the show at the beginning of this year.  McEwan is 18-0, but has been moving slowly under the tutelage of Freddie Roach.  Perez, a former title challenger who lost his last fight to Erislandy Lara, is somewhat of a step up.  Thurman and Lopez are both prospects, which could make for an interesting fight.  Lopez was a Cuban Olympian and could be primed for the upset.

Saturday, July 24

Televisa (Mexico), 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Aristides Perez, Oscar Ibarra vs. Carlos Melo. Gonzalez is a rare beast, a great Mexican boxer with a rotten chin.  Since getting knocked out by Toshiaki Nishioka, he's come back with several solid wins and should add Perez to the list.  Perez somehow has a record of 17-2, but he lost his last fight to Eduardo Escobedo, and he was obliterated by Humberto Soto a year ago.  Just to show how low the WBC has sunk, Ibarra vs. Melo is actually for a WBC interim title (I ain't calling it silver), even though Ibarra has four losses without any wins of note, and Melo is basically a standard Mexican journeyman.  I suspect this will also be aired live on wbcboxing.tv.  

Sunday, July 25

MBS (Japan), 6:50 a.m. Eastern, Koki Kameda vs. Cecilio Santos, Daiki Kameda vs. Rosendo Vega.  For the first time in a while, Japan gets a Kameda doubleheader.  Koki will take on Mexican journeyman Santos in his first bout at super flyweight, as he begins his quest to win a title in his third weight class.  Daiki takes on Vega in a stay-busy non-title bout.  Hope that he comes out unscathed, as he's scheduled to defend his title against Takefumi Sakata in two months.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing....

• In Mexico, Johnriel Casimero will make the first defense of his interim light flyweight title against Ramon Garcia, brother of former strawweight titlist Raul Garcia.  The fight was originally supposed to be on the undercard of Calderon-Iribe, but Casimero had to postpone with an injury.  This is a particularly dangerous fight for the undefeated Pinoy, another ward of Freddie Roach.  He's also scheduled to fight Calderon himself in a little over a month.  Garcia isn't a joke opponent to begin with, and if Casimero gets hurt (or worse, loses), then that throws a Calderon matchup out the window.  
• Up in Detroit, a couple of decent prospects will be facing a couple of decent names well past their primes. Vernon Paris will take on Courtney Burton, while Darryl Cunningham takes on Rubin Williams.  
• Also fighting this weekend - Deandre Latimore, Marvin Quintero, Antonio Lozado Jr., Chauncey Welliver, Tony Jeffries, Jon Lewis Dickinson, Rich Power, Gary Russell Jr., and Omar Chavez.