Brian Minto will take on Cristobal Arreola on December 5 in Atlantic City. HBO will televise. (Photo via hornetpower.files.wordpress.com)

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Looks like the speculation is over. Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com reports that it will be fringe contender Brian Minto who will face Cristobal Arreola on December 5 in Atlantic City. HBO will televise the fight as a co-feature. The show will be main evented by Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez.

Minto (34-2, 21 KO) is a 34-year-old pug whose greatest win probably came in 2006, when he quickly ended Axel Schulz's comeback attempt in Germany. He's beaten several knockaround guys like Jeremy Bates, Vinny Maddalone, Danny Batchelder, Billy Zumbrun and Chad Van Sickle, but has never beaten anyone near Arreola's level. Minto's two losses have come against Tony Tubbs (SD-10, 2004) and Luan Krasniqi (UD-12, 2007).

Since I don't want to say he has no shot, I'll jut say he has very little chance at upsetting Arreola. At 5'11" with a 72" reach, he's quite small compared to Arreola (6'4", 77"), doesn't have big power, isn't fast, isn't terribly skilled. He's a tough guy and he always comes to fight, but I see him getting blown out.

On paper, this seems like a big guy version of what we saw with Alfredo Angulo and Harry Joe Yorgey this past week. Tough, strong, promising younger fighter against a guy in his 30s with a decent looking record and not much else going for him. If Minto makes this an exciting fight, don't be surprised. But also don't be surprised if that excitement doesn't last very long.

Derric Rossy is one of two leading contenders to face Cristobal Arreola on December 5. (Photo via www.finalforumboxing.com)

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BoxingScene.com reports that there are four names being talked about as opponents for Cristobal Arreola on December 5, but two men are leading the race.

While Malik Scott (32-0, 11 KO, very empty record) and 37-year old Michael Grant (45-3, 33 KO) have been mentioned, it appears that Brian Minto and Derric Rossy are the most likely to face Arreola, as "The Nightmare" comes back from his first professional loss.

Rossy (22-2, 12 KO) is a 29-year old out of Medford, New York whose most famous fight was a win over Ray Mercer in China back in 2008. He was knocked out by Eddie Chambers in 2007 and by Alexander Dimitrenko in 2008, and the same fate surely would await him against Arreola. He's not that big of a puncher and doesn't have Arreola's boxing skills, either. He's also notable for playing college football at Boston College (1998-2001). He started three games in his senior season.

We discussed Minto (34-2, 21 KO) yesterday. He's a tough guy, but he's also 34 years old and really undersized (5'11", 72" reach). Arreola would likely take his head off, and even with Minto's reputation of making it a tough night for anyone, Arreola's size, youth and power spell doom for Minto, and I don't think that one goes too far into the night.

Neither Rossy nor Minto are exactly big steps up from the guys Arreola's already been beating, for instance Travis Walker or Chazz Witherspoon. But at the end of the day, it is just a bounce-back fight; HBO and Goossen Tutor will try to rebuild Arreola. Neither of the Klitschkos are likely to be in the sport for a whole lot longer, and at that point the heavyweight division will be in need of a new king. Arreola's as good a candidate as anyone, and with his style, the fact that he's Mexican-American, and his great personality, he's worth the bet.

Cristobal Arreola still needs an opponent for December 5, but the show has a venue. Arreola, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez will bring their gloves to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. (Photo by Will Hart, via www.hbo.com)

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The December 5 HBO card main evented by Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez is picking up some steam. Rick Reeno reports that the show will be held at historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which was the venue for Williams' twice-postponed fight with middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, too. It's an amazing boxing venue and even though it might not be the truly ideal place for this fight, there really isn't an ideal place for this fight, either. It should do far better in AC than it would have in Vegas, where they might've gotten lucky to draw 1,000.

With heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola heading up the televised co-feature, contenders and pretenders alike seem anxious to take on the Mexican-American slugger, who suffered his first defeat in September at the hands of Vitali Klitschko. Owen Beck's manager contacted BoxingScene.com and had this to say:

"[I]f this was the 60s or 70s these young guys would be jumping at the chance to fight a proven veteran like Owen. That is one of the problems with boxing nowadaways. No one wants to take a risk."

He also said that Beck had been turned down by HBO (after the manager, Frank Meehan, contacted the network about the fight) because he's "been fighting journeymen." I think it's probably every bit as likely, if not more likely, that Beck was turned down because he's not a suitable opponent for Arreola at this point. Beck (29-3, 20 KO) hasn't beaten a notable opponent, well, ever really, with his best win coming against Darnell "Ding-a-Ling Man" Wilson, a natural cruiserweight who was giving up about 40 pounds in their fight. He was knocked out by Monte Barrett, knocked out by Nikolai Valuev, and beaten in a split decision by Ray Austin. Beck's simply not a viable name. He's not a "proven veteran," he's a guy that got exposed when he stepped up in competition and has never done anything to change the perception that he's just another mediocre heavyweight.

A slightly more interesting idea comes in the form of Brian Minto, the Pennsylvania scrapper. His team sent out a press release saying he'd love to take the fight with Arreola. Minto (34-2, 21 KO) is really no more qualified overall than Beck, probably, but he fights his ass off every time out and I'd rather see him get the shot than Beck, though again, to be fair to Owen Beck, Minto might have an even worse shot at beating Arreola. Minto is a mere 5'11" with a 72" reach and would be giving up a lot of size. He is probably best known as the guy that aborted Axel Schulz's 2006 comeback attempt by stopping him in six.

Beck is 33, Minto is 34. Either of them really would be a soft touch for Arreola, frankly, and I doubt either of them would be considered appropriate opponents by HBO's standards, which sometimes fluctuate given their intent for any given show

You know who I think would be plenty interesting at this point? Dominick Guinn, who isn't busy right now and is a DiBella fighter. DiBella's already involved in the card with Sergio Martinez, and Guinn has gone on a nice little three-fight win streak, taking Johnnie White's "0" in one round, beating the mammoth Gabe Brown, and knocking out Jean Francois Bergeron in two. He's 34 and if he's going to ever make that move some felt he had in him, it's probably now or never. Since that disastrous streak in which he went 4-6-1 (but still managed to beat Audley Harrison), he's rebounded and tried to get back on track.

I'm sure some will disagree that Guinn is much of a legit opponent, but I'd give him 10 times the shot I'd give either Beck or Minto, and there might not be anyone better willing to take the fight.

If Paul Williams fights Sergio Martinez on December 5, it'll be at 160 pounds. (Photo via www.braggingrightscorner.com)

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Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com reports that a potential match on December 5 between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams would take place at 160 pounds, not 154:

In a follow-up to an earlier story posted on BoxingScene.com, the clash between Paul Williams and WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Martinez will be contested at 160-pounds, and not at 154. There is a verbal agreement between both parties to fight on December 5 on HBO. The contracts have yet to be exchanged at the present but both sides are confident the deal will get done.

Reeno reports that weight was a hang-up, but appears to also be a non-issue. Martinez is willing to fight Tall Paul at 160, instead of his natural 154. Williams had been training for a 160-pound fight with middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik.

Martinez-Williams wouldn't be for Martinez's WBC strap or Williams' interim title at 154 pounds if they fought at 160, but it shows gumption on behalf of both men if they do fight at that weight. With no titles, they're just fighting for pride and status. Hard not to respect both Paul and Sergio in that case.

Looks like Sergio Martinez will be the opponent for Paul Williams on December 5. The two will most likely fight at 154 pounds for Martinez's WBC title. (Photo via DiBella Entertainment)

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Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com has learned that a deal for Paul Williams to face Sergio Martinez on December 5 is close, ending speculation as to whom Williams would face with his now-open HBO date. Williams was slated to challenge middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik, who pulled out of the fight for a second time with staph infection in his left hand. Martinez is the WBC's junior middleweight titleholder.

As for venue, Reeno says it will either stay in Atlantic City or move out to California. And as for the televised co-feature, talk for Chris Arreola's opponent has somewhat stagnated. Derric Rossy's name has been connected to the fight. Rossy (22-2, 12 KO) is a 29-year old American perhaps best-known for fighting and beating Ray Mercer in China in 2008. He's been knocked out by Alexander Dimitrenko and Eddie Chambers, his two best opponents.

Reeno also spoke with Paul Williams about Joshua Clottey, who turned down an $650,000 offer for the December 5 fight. Clottey was originally to be on the card against Carlos Quintana, but that fight was scrapped when Pavlik pulled out. Williams was less than kind:

"He talks all this mess about me all the time in all of these internet interviews. He says I'm a weak welterweight and he wants to fight me but when the opportunity comes, and he can make three times more [money] than he's ever made - he folds up like a tent. It don't take much to get his trainer back and I know people in the gym who told me he's been training the whole time. When you catch someone in a lie you want to bring to someone's attention."

Williams isn't limiting his trash talking to just Clottey. It's clear that "The Punisher" is getting frustrated with his career progression and lack of truly big fights:

"Like Shane Mosley. He’ll go in the ring and call out Floyd Mayweather but when someone calls him out - he don’t want to fight. I don’t know why these guys are still in the game if they don’t want to fight nobody. They are willing to fight for peanuts against someone safe, that they know they can beat. What these guys do, like Kelly Pavlik and Clottey, it's bad for boxing. They build themselves up but then when it comes down to getting in the ring - they don't want to fight."

This is all kind of on the same wavelength Martinez has been on lately, too. Sergio has called out plenty of guys, then called then "pussies" when they wouldn't take a fight. As always, the real truth why these fights weren't made is probably somewhere in the middle of the trash talk. But Martinez-Williams is a really good fight and more than a suitable replacement for Pavlik-Williams.

Welterweight contender Joshua Clottey has turned down a December 5 fight with Paul Williams. He explains himself today.

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Former welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey has turned down a $650,000 to fight Paul Williams at 154 pounds on December 5, and now he's defending the decision to do just that. Speaking with Ryan Burton, Clottey had this to say:

"I don't turn down any fights and I want the fight with Paul Williams.  I have been telling you that for a long time. What is fair is fair. I haven't been in the gym for 5 days and I sent my trainer back home to Africa.  If they want to fight me why didn't they call me first?  Why did they negotiate with Sergio Martinez and Sergiy Dzinziruk first? They could have came to me right away and we would have a deal.

"We are only 5 weeks away from that date and they want me to fight for 650k?  Ryan let me tell you something, I made less than that to fight Cotto and Cotto made millions.  The arena was full.  You were there you saw it.  Now for this fight, Paul Williams is going to make a lot more than $1 million and you want to give me 650k to fight on short notice.  That just isn't right.  Either give me more money or move the fight back a few weeks so I can have a full 8 weeks to prepare."

It sounds reasonable enough, but the fact is both of these guys are faced with pretty limited options right now. Williams is basically trying to get anyone that'll fight, and Clottey...well, Clottey's screwed for a name opponent for a while now.

As Clottey says, $650,000 is more than he got to fight Cotto. If that seems low because he's a good fighter, remember that being a good fighter isn't the issue here. Williams-Clottey isn't going to draw a crowd. His reference to the full arena in June against Cotto ignores that that was 97% Cotto's doing. Williams has no fanbase, Clottey doesn't have a fanbase. As good as they both are in the ring, Williams-Clottey sounds like the kind of fight that does 1,200 at the live gate in Vegas or, well, just about anywhere else. Maybe 2,500-3,000 or so if you stick it in an "out-of-the-way" place like Spokane, Wash., and promote like hell in the local market, which is something promoters were trying a while back that seemed to work OK.

$650K for this fight seems more than fair to me as an observer. Williams also does hold an interim title at 154. And Clottey has been training, and he's been training for a southpaw, to boot. His attempt to hold them up for more than $650K just doesn't seem like a smart move, because that already seems fairly generous, and it kind of seems like the combined purses here might lead to Goossen Tutor and HBO taking a bath on this show in the interest of getting a good fight out there.

There is also no chance that the fight will be pushed back "a few weeks," considering HBO scrapped plans for Mosley-Clottey on December 26 when they apparently and suddenly realized that December 26 is close to Christmas.

As for why he went to Martinez and Dzinziruk first -- well, they're 154-pound fighters, and titleholders in the division, too. It's nothing to do with "ignoring" Clottey, who prefers to fight at welterweight and has no "extra incentive." Martinez, Dzinziruk and Clottey are all more than suitable replacement opponents for Williams on December 5. It's not like he's trying to find an easy fight here.

Sergiy Dzinziruk is looking to land a fight with Paul Williams on December 5. It would be the undefeated junior middleweight titlist's first appearance in the United States. (Photo via a.espncdn.com)

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With Paul Williams now having an open date and searching for an opponent on December 5, Sergiy Dzinziruk says he's ready, willing and able to take the challenge at 154 pounds. He'll be flying to the States to meet with promoters this week. BoxingScene.com interviewed Dzinziruk about the subject.

I’m interested in it, but the thing is I will fly to the USA on Wednesday, and only then we’ll meet the promoters and will start negotiating the conditions. But I can say that if we manage to agree upon everything and make this bout happen, I’ll be really glad.

Dzinziruk (36-0, 22 KO) recently split with his promoter, Universum, and addressed that topic as well. He figures they may want to work with him on the fight, and he seems more open to it than he did the last time he spoke about the company.

Maybe they want to take part in it, but I don’t want to have any business with them. As of now they haven’t contacted me or offered anything. If they do, I can think about it and analyze it. But actually I think that they will try to mess with this bout, do something nasty to undermine our negotiations, but we’ll be ready for that.

Dzinziruk is a fellow southpaw and a really disciplined boxer, and he's the real deal. He'd be no easy replacement opponent for Williams. Sergio Martinez is also in the running and also holds a title belt at 154 pounds. I thought there was a chance that promoter Lou DiBella would try to get Kermit Cintron into a fight with Williams, but DiBella appears set on keeping Cintron for a big Puerto Rican showdown against either Miguel Cotto or Daniel Santos, both of whom fight on November 14. DiBella also promotes Martinez and was involved with the original card, which was to co-feature his fighter, Carlos Quintana, against Top Rank's Joshua Clottey. Clottey was pulled from the card along with Kelly Pavlik.

Cristobal Arreola will return to the ring on December 5. Sadly, his opponent won't be veteran slugger David Tua. (Photo via www.mightygloves.com)

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Cristobal Arreola will make a quick return to the ring after his September 26 thrashing at the hands of Vitali Klitschko, as it's been confirmed he'll be part of the re-shuffled December 5 HBO card, reports Rick Reeno. Reeno also says that junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez is leading the race to land the main event fight with Paul Williams on that night.

While Williams-Martinez could be a very interesting fight, with two tall southpaws matching wits and clashing styles, let's focus right now on Arreola. As expected, Reeno says the chances that Arreola will fight David Tua are slim. Tua made $500,000 for his New Zealand fight with Shane Cameron, and he wouldn't be able to get near that for a fight with Arreola as an HBO co-feature. While it could be a hell of a fight, it's just not a sound economic choice for Tua or the promotion, probably.

Brick mentioned in a thread yesterday that Goossen Tutor could look in-house for an Arreola opponent, which would offer up James Toney, Tony Thompson, Malik Scott and Manuel Quezada as possibilities. I think there's a genuinely good chance Arreola loses to Toney or Thompson, and I think he probably steamrolls Quezada or Scott. Lucky for Arreola, Toney would probably balk at an "opponent's purse," just as Tua would, because in his strange world, James remains a top contender and some sort of draw. Scott has built up a 32-0 record while never jumping in competition, really, and at least you could put that sparkling "0" up there and make it look good. Quezada would probably at least give Arreola a scrap. Thompson, who is tall, tricky, and old, lost to Wladimir Klitschko in 2008 and has little upside; I hesitate to believe Goossen Tutor would give Arreola that kind of a fight if they could avoid it.

But I'm glad we're going to see Arreola back in action so quickly. He took the loss to Vitali hard, but he also immediately said he'd be back, and he seemed quite genuine about that. Turning around and getting back in the ring in a little over two months time shows he's ready to get back in position.

With the Joshua Clottey-Carlos Quintana fight off for December 5, heavyweight slugger David Tua could be in position to capitalize. (Photo via www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com)

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Dan Rafael reports today that with the cancellation of Kelly Pavlik's fight with Paul Williams on December 5, the welterweight clash between Joshua Clottey and Carlos Quintana that was going to be positioned as the co-feature is also down the drain. Williams will keep the December 5 date, but Top Rank (promoters for Pavlik and Clottey) have totally pulled out of the event.

I really feel bad for guys like Joshua Clottey and Carlos Quintana, who were supposed to open the HBO telecast Dec. 5. Now they're out because that was Top Rank's fight, and it won't be involved in a reformulated card. It would be nice to see HBO stick with the fight, but that's not going to happen. Instead, don't be shocked to see the return of heavyweight Cristobal Arreola. And don't be surprised if David Tua faces him. Clottey went from thinking he'd meet Shane Mosley in December (until HBO reneged) to being bumped to an undercard against Quintana to being left with nothing. Quintana was supposed to fight Saturday in Puerto Rico but was taken off the card for the bigger opportunity against Clottey. Now Quintana has nothing, either.

This is something I mentioned yesterday when the cancellation news came down the pipe, that it would be truly unfortunate if Clottey and Quintana got scrapped because of the Pavlik pull-out, and that's the case indeed. It's a good fight -- not a great fight, but a good fight -- and both guys had a strange journey to get there in the first place. Mosley-Clottey was an HBO jerk-around, and Quintana dropped out of a tune-up fight this Saturday in Puerto Rico to take a bigger, more important, and much tougher fight with Clottey. Now they'll both sit around and make no money.

The possibility of Arreola-Tua is somewhat intriguing, though I hesitate to get all excited about a potential war. There's a good shot at an early knockout. Tua can still punch, and Arreola can throw some bombs himself. I almost want to favor Tua because I've been a fan of his for so long and he's a great guy and all that, but I just don't have the rosy memories of David Tua: Mr. Destruction that so many people seem to have. I remember him knocking out some guys, and that John Ruiz crushing, and then having all kinds of trouble when he stepped up in class. Arreola has basically done the same thing, except he's only stepped up once. And I take little from Tua's bashing of Shane Cameron, because Cameron isn't near Arreola's league.

But all that said (and I don't know who I'd pick because it's such a shootout scenario), I guess if I have to watch heavyweights lumber around, I'd at least like to watch the two that throw punches. A loss to Tua could really crush Arreola, though, especially considering losses to Tua usually came at the end of a brutal barrage of punches.

Paul Williams will keep his December 5 date on HBO. Williams' fight with middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik was called off for a second time yesterday. (Photo via assets.nydailynews.com)

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BoxingScene.com has learned that Paul Williams will be keeping the December 5 date on HBO, with an opponent and site to be announced soon. Rick Reeno reports:

After two withdrawals, [promoter Dan] Goossen and Team Williams are not willing to wait any longer. They are working fast to secure a site and a good opponent for December 5.

"We are going to put this behind us. We gave Kelly Pavlik and Top Rank every opportunity to make this fight a reality. We went through two cancelled dates and right now it's all about Paul Williams and focusing on bringing him back on December 5th," Goossen told BoxingScene.

"We'll try to get him a world title fight or have him defend his title [WBO interim-junior middleweight title]. Right now we are talking to a few sites. Paul is the star and the guy the fans love to see and we plan to bring him back on December 5th - no ifs, ands or buts."

Williams' manager/trainer, George Peterson, was quite blunt about the Pavlik situation:

"We are tired of this bulls**t. We know the deal here. He just needs to man up but we ain't fooling around with him no more. We ain't waiting around for him. [Paul] wasn't surprised. We've been through this thing before. We were expecting this. We know when someone doesn't want to fight us. We're going on. We're ain't waiting on him no more. I don't know who, but we are fighting somebody on December 5," Peterson said.

Staph infection isn't exactly easy to get rid of, but it's been a while and the last time we heard much about it, even Kelly Pavlik's own promoter wasn't making excuses for him. "He's missing appointments," was what Bob Arum told the world when they had to postpone the October 3 date, and now December 5 is off as well.

I don't see this fight ever happening, to be honest. I'm not sure Pavlik wants any part of Paul Williams, and it just feels like the more we get to know him, the less appealing he is overall. I've been a Pavlik fan as long as I've known who he was, since the first time I saw him fight, which was years ago. He's not the same guy he used to be. Some guys handle fame well, some don't. Pavlik appears firmly in the "don't" camp. You can disagree with me all you want on that point, it's just the way I see this situation.

Williams will not find a fight as big as Kelly Pavlik, because there simply isn't one out there, not at 160 or at 154, where he still holds an interim title belt. When we discussed the cancellation of the Pavlik-Williams fight yesterday, lots of names were thrown around in the comments.

Lou DiBella says that he'd be happy to get Sergio Martinez, another 154-pound titlist, in that December 5 slot. Martinez has been calling out everyone he can lately, and it'd be an interesting fight. As good as Williams is, a fellow tall southpaw could certainly give him a lot of trouble, and don't forget that Williams' only loss came to Carlos Quintana, a tricky lefty in his own right.

There's also Sergiy Dzinziruk, a promotional free agent who was in talks with Williams for an HBO fight before the Pavlik fight "came together"; Roman Karmazin is always out there and always willing to fight; Cory Spinks, like him or not, has never backed down from a challenge and has a title at 154.

If the scheduled Clottey-Quintana undercard fight stays on the bill, Lou DiBella could also try to get Kermit Cintron in there with Williams. Cintron fights on Saturday, but he shouldn't have much trouble with Juliano Ramos. DiBella is already involved in the promotion with Quintana, and there's a good chance Williams doesn't want to get ready for a southpaw like Sergio Martinez if he's been expecting a powerful, straightforward righty, which describes Pavlik and Cintron both.

We'll see how it works out, but there are some fine options out there.