Before we really get into the recap, I cannot let it get buried under analysis and "hey, what a guy this guy is" talk -- it has to be up front. After his 12-round majority decision victory, Tomasz Adamek was asked by HBO's Max Kellerman if he was ever hurt in the fight. Adamek said no, and remarked that he was "too quick" for Cristobal Arreola. Then he unleashed a great, great quote:

"I am Highlander! I have chin! Hard chin!"

After that, Max spoke with the defeated Arreola, who made sure to note that he felt the judges' scorecards (117-111 and 115-113 Adamek, plus a 114-114 draw) were correct, thanked Adamek's small but vocal Polish cheering section for coming, and called Adamek "a great motherf***er." He also remarked that, with the swelling on his face, he looked "like f***ing Shrek."

So, there you have it. Recap over.

OK, we'll go on. Adamek (41-1, 27 KO) boxed a disciplined, smart fight tonight against Arreola (28-2, 25 KO), occasionally getting himself in trouble but mostly dominating the action. Bad Left Hook scored it 117-111 for Adamek, but it was an entertaining fight that felt like a powder keg. Throughout the action until the end, when Arreola injured his hand and spent the last two-plus rounds bleeding and grimacing in pain, it felt like Arreola could land a shot that would blow Adamek away at any moment. But Adamek just proved himself a higher level and more complete fighter than Arreola.

I also decided during the fight, with Arreola fighting like a really brave, really valiant guy (including waving off referee Jack Reiss when Reiss considered stopping it due to the hand injury), that I don't care about his weight anymore. It is not going to change. Why focus on that when the fact of the matter is, Arreola is one of the only consistently entertaining heavyweights we have? He's not a great fighter. He's not a world-beater. A disciplined boxer will almost always beat him. He's never going to come in ripped. The man has boobs. They're gonna jiggle when he fights. But he's gonna fight. And at this point, I'm willing to simply accept that when I tune in to see Cristobal Arreola fight, he'll fight.

Adamek is now in an interesting spot. He's a good fighter, and I think he's a legit heavyweight. But he's a small heavyweight. He didn't have the stamina issues tonight that hurt him against Jason Estrada, but against a Klitschko he'd have just an awful time. He's said he'd be ready to fight Wladimir or Vitali by the end of 2010, and he might well do it (I don't think he lacks for guts). But he won't win. He can't beat either of them. He's just not big enough. If he were 6'4" and a solid 230-240, maybe he could. He's got the brains and the style and the brass. But he is just not a big enough man.

If he doesn't look to fight one of the Klitschkos next, I'd expect him to fight a fringe contender, maybe a tall guy. Maybe someone like Alexander Dimitrenko. That might give him the test he needs to see how he deals with that sort of height and reach, and Dimitrenko is a decent enough fighter that he'd get some real work. But we've seen Dimitrenko picked apart by Eddie Chambers, too. Adamek could use Dimitrenko as a good stepping stone.

Arreola? He'll fight someone. He'll be back. I wouldn't mind seeing him and Chambers mix it up next. They could both use the win, and it'd be a test for both of them. Chambers can fight smart, too, and he's quick. Can Arreola deal with Chambers? Can Chambers deal with Arreola's power and recklessness?

Tony Thompson is another possibility. Thompson and Arreola have traded words in the recent past, and frankly if Goossen Tutor was hoping that Arreola was still a bit of a golden goose, that's probably over with now. Arreola-Thompson is just a good fight to figure who their best heavyweight is.

In the co-feature, Alfredo Angulo knocked out a game and sharp Joel Julio with a counter right hand in the 11th round. I had Angulo ahead 96-94 at that point. Julio was following the script that Kermit Cintron laid out last year, but he's not quite as good as Cintron, and Angulo clearly learned some things from that fight. This was the best Joel Julio has looked since before his first defeat against Carlos Quintana a few years back. Julio seemed re-energized, re-focused, and like he had a good idea of what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, he wound up on the short end again. After the fight, Julio seemed a bit crushed by the loss, and it's hard to blame him. He fought to the best of his ability against a good opponent and again came up short.

But Julio did show some real improvement with his new corner tonight, and there just might be a new window opened for him. Angulo (18-1, 15 KO) and Julio (35-4, 31 KO) both showed granite chins and a lot of resolve. It was a heck of a good fight, and part of a weekend of some phenomenal boxing. With these two fights, Froch-Kessler, Munroe-Terrazas and Hammond-Concepcion, it's hard to ask for more.

We'll have more on tonight's big fights tomorrow, and we also kick off Big Fight Week coverage this week for the May 1 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley. Stick with us this week, because we're going to have a lot of good stuff for you. Thanks for joining us tonight!

HBO presents a two-fight card tonight that could and should be all action, starting at 11:15pm EDT. In the main event, heavyweights Cristobal Arreola and Tomasz Adamek square off. In the junior middleweight co-feature, Alfredo Angulo and Joel Julio do battle.

DO NOT post about the Froch-Kessler fight in this thread. If you go one post down, there is an open thread for the Showtime-aired, tape-delayed U.S. broadcast, plus tonight's Top Rank Live card on FSN featuring Jorge Arce. If you want to talk about the Froch-Kessler live results, go here.

CRISTOBAL ARREOLA		TOMASZ ADAMEK
	Main Event

"When Brant Colamarino removes his shirt for the first time in an A's minor league locker room he inspires his coaches to inform Billy that "Colarmarino has titties." ... Titties are one of those things that just don't matter in a ballplayer."

--Excerpt from Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Brant Colamarino never did make it to the big leagues.

Heavyweights, 12 Rounds: Cristobal Arreola v. Tomasz Adamek

What do Cristobal Arreola and Tomasz Adamek have in common?

• They're both right handed.
• They're both currently top 10 heavyweights.
• They both come to fight and generally have entertaining bouts.
• They both used to be light heavyweights.

Of course, Adamek was a world titlist in professional boxing as a light heavy, while Arreola boxed at that weight as an amateur, but it's something.

Arreola (28-1, 25 KO) and Adamek (40-1, 27 KO) have guaranteed that their Saturday fight will be exciting, rather than one of those heavyweight snoozers you're probably accustomed to sitting through at this point. Of course, Arreola also promised his weight would be in the high 230s or low 240s, and he came in at 250, but Arreola is generally better about providing action than he is watching his figure, so I'm still buying that the fight will be good.

Arreola is also pretty certain that Adamek will run. Well, maybe not "run," but try to avoid prolonged trades of punches. He might be right, and given that Adamek is going to be faster, more accurate, a better boxer, and a lot smaller, it would even be smart. Arreola seems to be indicating that he's prepared for the boxer Adamek, that he's ready to pursue and give chase as much as he has to, to hunt Adamek down and make him eat the shots he'd rather avoid.

But I don't know that it'll go that way. Tomasz Adamek is 33 years old and he likes to fight. His two wars with Paul Briggs never got quite as much love as they should have, and he also had a hell of a fight with Steve Cunningham. When Chad Dawson was dominating him in his last fight at 175 pounds, Adamek stayed in there and nearly pulled a come-from-behind stunner. What I'm saying is that Adamek has never been really great about "fighting smart." He fights. I'm not saying he's Arturo Gatti, but he's got a fighter's mentality. He likes to go on the offensive.

So will Arreola really have to hunt as much as he expects? I don't believe he will, and I believe that will suit Arreola just fine. The big Californian is going to have home turf for this one, though the fight would have drawn its best crowd in New Jersey, where Adamek has proven he can draw a big crowd consistently. But I doubt that'll matter much either. Adamek doesn't strike me as a fighter who gets flustered by crowd response.

This fight isn't nearly as interesting to me as Froch-Kessler, because I can't help but let it enter my mind that no matter who wins this fight, it's just two guys that can't beat the Klitschkos and two guys who David Haye isn't going to fight. (I don't mean to say that Haye is a coward, for the record, but rather that he believes in that long-disgraced trinket he carries, and he'll be tied up in WBA B.S. for a while.)

So what's the end result of this fight? Say Arreola knocks Adamek flat and looks great. Where does he go? Say Adamek gives Arreola a boxing lesson and puts on a great performance, slicing Arreola up like a Christmas ham. Where does he go?

I am interested in this fight purely because of the fight itself, which is sort of weird for me because of my nature to always wonder what's next, where we go from here, how a fight affects both fighters, how it affects the rest of their division. Frankly, this is just two top ten heavyweights fighting because they gotta fight someone, and they both had the sack to just fight each other. Arreola will never beat one of the Klitschkos. Adamek won't either. He's too small.

In a sense, I just don't care that much about this fight. I want to see it, because it should be a really good fight, or at the least exciting, but it doesn't really have much by what I'd consider genuine ramifications. If Arreola loses, he smashes a few more guys and gets right back to where he is now. He's a TV friendly-guy that people like to watch. If Adamek loses, he gave heavyweight a hell of a run, and then he'll consider what his future really is in the division.

Am I not entertained? Give me the big guy by way of being too big in an exciting fight where they both take some heavy shots. Arreola TKO-8

Junior Middleweights, 12 Rounds: Alfredo Angulo v. Joel Julio

You really start thinking about these two fights, and man, you've got a lot of firepower on this HBO card.

This is 12 rounds because it's for that ridiculous interim title that Angulo won in that shamockery fight with Harry Joe Yorgey in December, where referee Johnny Callas damn near let Yorgey get decapitated. Angulo (17-1, 14 KO) has come back well from the loss to Kermit Cintron last year, but he did it against Gabriel Rosado and Yorgey. Rosado, admittedly, is better than his record, and Angulo shredded him. But Yorgey was a no-contest.

Julio (35-3, 31 KO) is a guy I liked a lot (not as much as ESPN.com did, but a lot) but have pretty much given up on personally. He can bang, but there's something about him -- it's almost like he lacks true confidence. He traded with James Kirkland and had his will sapped. I'm not saying James Kirkland is anything to mess with, or that he couldn't sap a lot of guys of their spirit, but it was the way Julio folded his hand. Quintana and Dzinziruk were better boxers than Julio, and that's nothing to be ashamed of.

I do think Julio has a chance here. Angulo seems pouty, and maybe isn't 100% focused on the task at hand, and Julio can hit. If he can catch Angulo early and shake him up, he might be able to score this upset, which would do a lot for his career. He's being brought in as an opponent again, but a win makes him a viable guy at 154 instead of a fringe contender with some remaining and lessening upside. Kirkland did have to wear Julio down, and I think Kirkland is more ferocious and powerful than Angulo is, not that Angulo is lacking in either department. There's also the fact that Angulo is really slow. Chances are Julio and his team have spent a lot of time examining what Kermit Cintron did. If flat-footed Kermit can outbox Angulo, then so can Julio.

But I can't with a right mind pick the upset, either. I figure the most likely scenario is Julio starts out spirited, but finds he can't shake Angulo down too easily, and in the process gets hit plenty himself. If it's a test of who decides enough is enough first, I think that'll be Julio. Angulo TKO-6

Cristobal Arreola is up first.

Fight 1: Israel Garcia (W-TKO-3 / September 25, 2008)

Weight: 258 1/2. The last five fights of Arreola's career are, coincidentally, where his conditioning has taken a massive slide backward. Arreola had come in in the mid-250s earlier in his career in junk fights where he was all but guaranteed a win simply by being better than the other schmuck out there. But let's not make any mistake: Cris Arreola has looked his best when he's fought in the 230s, even getting down to the high 220s for a couple fights. Before this laugher, he had weighed 239 against Chazz Witherspoon, where he looked pretty good. Three months later, he'd ballooned up 19.5 pounds at the scales. This was a Versus Network co-feature the night that Paul Williams moved up to middleweight to rip Andy Kolle. I remember remarking early how fat Arreola looked.

Listen, before we really get started, let's get this out of the way. Cristobal Arreola is fat. I am not trying to insult him, I'm just saying what it is. I am also fat. However I have no designs on being the world heavyweight champion. If I'm trying to analyze his career, it's pretty hard to do so without talking about his weight. He and his camp can chalk it up to "hating" if they want to, but I'm confident that if he doesn't change the course he's on, he's never going to be more than a fun TV heavyweight. I don't like insulting fighters -- it's just not something I take any pleasure in. I'm just saying, as countless others have, that the guy's weight is a clear issue, and it gives the impression that he doesn't really give a shit about dedicating himself to the sport, and in return, a lot of people wonder why they should give a shit about watching him fight. HBO has gotten on his bandwagon pretty hardcore -- they've televised his last four fights, three of which didn't really deserve to be televised on HBO. Because he's a fun TV heavyweight, Arreola gets breaks that other guys probably won't. That and he's a Mexican-American, so his instant fanbase is very good. I'm not saying he's a bad guy, or that there are even more than about three heavyweights I'd rather see fight. I'm not saying I don't enjoy watching him fight. It just is what it is. He's consistently out of shape. We'll discuss that more.

This fight was a mismatch with a 38-year-old fighter who fought on average twice a year for ten years coming in. Garcia had turned pro in '98 and never really made it, but his record was decent enough to put on a chyron (19-1). Arreola smashed him, but was clearly well out of shape.

Fight 2: Travis Walker (W-TKO-3 / November 29, 2008)

Weight: 254. Walker came out like a heavyweight tornado in round one, throwing a butt load (scientific term) of punches and giving Arreola some huge trouble. Arreola hit a knee in the second round, still under major pressure, but came up from it ready to fire heavy artillery of his own. As has been the case on several occasions, Walker hits like a truck (Arreola described him later as a guy who "hits like a donkey kicks"), but his chin tends to fail him. Walker hit the mat twice in the second round, and Arreola finished him off 13 seconds into the third frame. Referee Jack Reiss told a downed Walker that it was just like Hagler-Hearns. Jack Reiss was overstating it, but it was a hell of a big man brawl.

Fight 3: Jameel McCline (W-KO-4 / April 11, 2009)

Weight: 255. McCline, a month away from turning 39 entering this fight, clearly did not care about winning. He mostly just didn't want to get hurt, get some money, and go home. It happens. Jameel McCline made a lot of efforts over his 14-year career, and by this point it was pretty well apparent to all that the world title wasn't going to be coming his way. For a guy who started 2-2-1 in his first five fights, I'd say McCline didn't do too badly overall. He had that nice three-fight run with wins over Michael Grant, Lance Whitaker and Shannon Briggs back in 2001-02, but then he met Wladimir Klitschko and had the crap beaten out of him, and he never quite made it back. He was a longtime contender, a valuable veteran to have around, and he scored some nice wins. He was what he was. He wasn't much by way of pure talent, but he was a big man who had a run, short as it was.

As for this fight, Arreola wailed on McCline for a few rounds and then Jameel decided that was enough. McCline has not fought since, and as he turns 40 years old next month, likely won't again if he has himself in good standing.

Fight 4: Vitali Klitschko (L-RTD-10 / September 26, 2009)

Weight: 251. Arreola came in at his lightest weight since Witherspoon, but it wasn't even sort of moderately close to enough. Vitali Klitschko did some sort of awkward shuffle around the ring all night, as Arreola helplessly and cluelessly walked into jab upon jab, arm punch after arm punch, getting his face busted up despite never appearing to be in any serious trouble, until the fight was stopped after 10 incredibly one-sided rounds. A week before this, Floyd Mayweather Jr. had made Juan Manuel Marquez look like a 16-year old sparring partner who'd just started boxing four weeks before, and then Klitschko did much the same with Arreola, though it wasn't as fluid or pretty.

This, everyone assumed, was to be Cristobal Arreola's wake-up call. He'd gotten by for long enough, and now he'd tried his luck with one of the top dogs in the heavyweight division. I've said numerous times that it's no coincidence that the three best heavyweights in the world are the Klitschkos and David Haye. They all stay in shape and actually care about their fitness. Hell if anything, Haye probably packs on too much muscle at this point.

Cristobal Arreola seems like a good dude. He makes his tired jokes about burritos and Coronas (seriously, Cris, drink a better beer), and most laugh with him. But after this fight, he was incredibly emotional, and it was perfectly OK to think to yourself, "Wow, yeah, I think he gets it now."

Arreola returned to the ring just over two months later, another sign that he'd gotten some hunger (the good kind) beaten into him by Vitali Klitschko. Sure his opponent was no world-beater, but he wanted people to see the new Cris Arreola. This Arreola, we were promised, would be in shape, focused, and ready to kick some ass in the heavyweight division. It was so convincing that HBO produced a short video feature about how focused and in-shape Arreola was going to be. They aired it just before his fight with Brian Minto.

Fight 5: Brian Minto (W-TKO-4 / December 5, 2009)

Weight: 263. Then after the feature was finished, Jim Lampley had to take the microphone and explain that Cristobal Arreola had come in at a career-high 263 pounds for his fight with Brian Minto. Arreola was all cowboy on this night, and the gutsy but wildly overmatched Minto tried to meet him toe-for-toe. The end result was predictable -- for God's sake, Arreola outweighed him by 45 pounds on the scales. Minto's next fight is to be against cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck. I dare say that more people came away from this fight impressed by Minto's chutzpah than they did by anything Arreola did.

Continue reading this post »

With boxing just about to really kick into full swing for 2010, I'm checking my watch every other day or so for the time someone at ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Comedy Central, ET Online or the famed site Old Man Who Used to Like Marciano and Hasn't Seen Boxing in 11 Years to chime in and notice, "HEY!"

"You know what would help?!"

"Heavyweights!"

"People always liked heavyweights before."

"With heavyweights, yada yada, Marciano and Louis and Ali and Frazier and Foreman and Holmes and Tyson and Jersey Joe and I guess Holyfield, too, why not?!"

Personally, I think the sport of boxing does just fine without a dominant heavyweight division, but I also don't deny that of course the game could benefit from a headline-grabbing big man. I also don't deny that without the lettuce, a BLT is just a BT.

For those who might not pay close attention, here are some notable heavyweight fights coming your way. I figure after Pacquiao-Clottey one of those "Hey! The heavyweight division is dead!" articles will pop up, so let's burn this out now.

Friday, March 12: Samuel Peter (33-3, 26 KO) v. Nagy Aguilera (15-2, 10 KO)

The night before the big Pacquiao-Clottey show in Arlington, Top Rank will put an appetizer onto the table about a half hour up the road at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine. Sam Peter is still best-known for knocking down Wladimir Klitschko three times in a 2005 loss, and has in a lot of ways become a hype job because of that performance, despite the constant harping on Klitschko for having a glass jaw that follows the world champion around to this day. If Klitschko's chin is so bad, what's the big deal about Peter knocking him down?

That was the last time Wladimir looked so much as vulnerable, too. Since then, Peter has stopped four guys, and three of them were bums. The fourth, Oleg Maskaev, was stopped in under two minutes by Nagy Aguilera in his last fight. Oleg, for the record, recently said he plans to box on at age 41, and considering how giddy the WBC has proven to be to hand him mandatory challenger positions before, why not, I suppose.

Anyway, this could be a decent sleeper fight if all goes right. Since signing with Top Rank after losing two straight to Vitali Klitschko and Eddie Chambers, Peter has been slowly rebuilding his career. He's run over Marcus McGee, Ronald Bellamy and the free-moving land mass that is Gabe Brown in his last three. Though not a world-beater, Aguilera could be a fair step back up the ladder in terms of competition.

Most likely, though, he isn't, and Peter will blast him out without much trouble. Aguilera's only credible win is over Maskaev, who is really old and never took a punch all that well, and was caught cold.

Continue reading this post »

With the event being called "Ring of Fire," heavyweights Cristobal Arreola and Tomasz Adamek are ready to burn the house down on April 24, when they headline a pretty substantial HBO Boxing After Dark card from Ontario, California.

One note: If the press release is correct (and it very well may not be), this show won't start until 11:15 ET, which would mean plenty of time for the Showtime Super Six double-header to air and finish. That show will start at 9pm ET, with Froch-Kessler leading off (and probably taped), and Ward-Green live in the second slot.

If that's not the case, then so be it, but that'd be pretty nice.

Arreola likes his chances, in large part due to his size advantage. "It’s a boxing fight, man. It’s a chess match. He’s gonna try to catch me, I’m gonna try to catch him. I’m gonna find some openings, just like he’s gonna find some openings. But I believe my punches are more effective than his. I’m a natural heavyweight. I became a heavyweight because of Coronas and burritos. That’s the truth. But I’ve been a heavyweight for 29 fights. That’s the way I see it."

And despite his joke about Coronas and burritos (which gets funnier every time), Arreola is at least giving lip service to coming in significantly lighter than he has for recent bouts.

"I wanna come in at 240. 240 is easy. That’s my target weight. That’s where I really do belong. Boxing any higher than that and I’m kicking myself in the ass. There is no excuse why I shouldn’t come in at that weight. Tomasz comes up from cruiserweight and he fights at around 225. And he’s a very agile guy. He’s gonna be on his toes a lot. So, I’m gonna have to try and keep up with him because I’m gonna have to chase him."

240 would be 23 pounds lighter than what Arreola weighed against Brian Minto in December, and 11 pounds less than he weighed when Vitali Klitschko took him to the woodshed back in September. It would be his lowest weight since he came in at 238 against Chazz Witherspoon in 2008, which was the last time he looked really good.

Adamek has a pretty good reason for taking the challenge from Arreola, too.

"It was all about the fans. Like I said before, I am fighting for the fans. Without fans there is no point in going into the ring. Having a guy like Chris Arreola, who goes forward and is relentless, and everybody knows me. I love to punch people in the mouth, there’s nothing wrong with this. I mean this guarantees a great fight, and this is a fight that HBO and the fans wanted for a long, long time. If I were to fight somebody boring there would be seven fans in the stands.  No point."

There aren't a whole lot of heavyweight fights that get put together with this sort of talk, these promises of action, and especially not many where you actually believe it will happen. Personally, I actually believe this could be a tremendous fight, and not just "good for heavyweights."

Arreola's trainer Henry Ramirez summed it up best: "This kind of a fight, there is no way this is going to be a boring fight."

Katie, bar the door. HBO confirmed today that the rumored April 24 heavyweight clash between Cristobal Arreola and Tomasz Adamek is official, and the two will headline from Ontario, California.

Arreola (28-1, 25 KO) lost his first pro fight last year to Vitali Klitschko, a brutally one-sided affair that was stopped after 10 rounds. Adamek (40-1, 27 KO) has gone 2-0 since moving up to heavyweight last year, after years campaigning at light heavyweight and winning the world cruiserweight championship in a seven-fight run in that division.

Both are known as two of the more action-driven and exciting heavyweight fighters in the world today, and sparks will be expected to fly in this one. The fight will be 12 rounds, and one would think one of the major sanctioning bodies would try to get an eliminator tag on this one. If not, both have minor trinket belts in their collections at the moment.

Adamek, 33, came up in weight last October for a fight against fellow Polish superstar Andrew Golota, whom he dispatched of easily, and then fought again in February against former U.S. Olympian Jason Estrada, who troubled a fatigued Adamek late in the bout. That must have been a sight for sore eyes for the Arreola camp, as the bruising Mexican-American is a far harder puncher than Estrada.

Conditioning will be the focus of the fight. Arreola promised after being routed by Klitschko that he'd take training more seriously, then showed up for a December fight with Brian Minto at a career-high 263 pounds on the scales. Adamek may want to consider not packing on more weight, as the 220 (his career high) against Estrada seemed to give him a couple of problems.

On the undercard, Alfredo Angulo (17-1, 14 KO) will take on former highly-touted prospect Joel Julio (35-3, 31 KO). Both have serious power, but Julio has failed in three attempts to step up in class, losing to tricky lefties Carlos Quintana and Sergiy Dzinziruk, as well as brawling southpaw James Kirkland. Though Angulo is not left-handed, he swarms similarly to Kirkland, and will be expected to stop Julio. Julio, however, is easily the second-best challenge Angulo has yet faced, a clear step above guys like Cosme Rivera and Harry Joe Yorgey, but not quite in the class of Kermit Cintron, the only man to beat Angulo.

It's a good card, but unfortunately will be going head-to-head with Showtime's Super Six double-header featuring Ward-Green and Froch-Kessler. Such is life at this point, and it really does stink that the entire month of February will go by without a single major fight, while the two major American networks are loading up for March through May.

With the lull in boxing right now about to give way to an absolute storm of compelling fights, I thought it'd be a good time to focus on 10 of them that stick out. Not all will be great (or even good) fights, but they all have distinctly interesting storylines, and will help shape what's to come on boxing's biggest stages for the rest of 2010 and into 2011.

Well, except one of them, probably, and we'll lead off with that one.

Honorable Mentions: Andre Ward and Allan Green didn't make the cut, but I suppose that could be an interesting fight if the "good" Green shows up ... Ya like old folks? Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. II is for you ... Andre Berto's proposed fight with Carlos Quintana has some spark ... Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi could be good, but I'd never watch that over any of the fights on this list ... Tavoris Cloud-Glen Johnson just barely missed the cut, and will almost surely be more enjoyable to watch than at least two of the fights that did ... Koki Kameda's first WBC flyweight title defense against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will decide the new Ring Magazine world champion at 112 pounds.

10. Israel Vazquez v. Rafael Marquez IV (May 22, Showtime)

About three years ago, I tried to do my bit to help start the hype train for the first meeting between reigning junior featherweight world champion Israel Vazquez and reigning bantamweight world champion Rafael Marquez. I could envision nothing less than a great, knock-down, drag-out fight between the two talented and exciting Mexican warriors.

They surpassed my expectations in the first fight, upped the ante in their second bout, and in their third and supposedly final battle, they put on a classic for the ages. Every time out, their fights got better, culminating in a 12-round war (how could they go 12 rounds?) that saw Vazquez storm Marquez in the final frame to secure a razor-thin decision win, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It was truly epic -- a word overused now (thanks, World of Warcraft), but perfect to describe the trilogy between these two men.

Like many, I had my doubts about a fourth fight. It seemed, in a way, to cheapen what they'd already done. Too much of a good thing. But with both men now campaigning at featherweight, they still offer one another the most money they can make.

It's a dangerous fight for both in so many ways. Not only that they might lose, but that it could be the last time we see either of them in the ring, or at least fighting on the top levels of the sport.

Vazquez, 32, and Marquez, 34, will forever be connected, boxing brothers in bloodshed and brutality. Like Gatti and Ward, Barrera and Morales, Ali and Frazier, and Zale and Graziano, you won't be able to mention one without quickly mentioning the other. The impact they've had on each others' careers and legacies is immeasurable. There is no Israel Vazquez as we know him without Rafael Marquez, and vice versa.

For all those reasons, I've come around and become quite excited for the fourth fight between the two. They deserve the money, the glory, and the chance to do what they wish with their careers. If their desire is to wage war one more time, then so be it. Bring it on.

Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime

9. David Haye v. John Ruiz (April 3, Sky Sports PPV)

David Haye won a paper heavyweight title from Nikolai Valuev last year in a dreadful fight that has been discussed far more than it really deserves. End of the day, Haye has the belt, Valuev and his team are now making outrageous demands for money with Vitali Klitschko's people, and old John Ruiz -- now with Golden Boy -- is in line for Britain's golden child heavyweight.

I've said from minute one that John Ruiz will be more of a danger to Haye than he's likely to get credit for being, and since he's still being given very little credit at all, I'll say it again. Ruiz is no superstar, but Haye's real (read: current) heavyweight experience is limited to the tremendously shot Monte Barrett and Valuev, who pretty much fights exactly the same no matter who he's against, because he's that limited.

Ruiz is better than Valuev, stands more of a chance at being able to cut off the ring and force Haye into a fight, and has been stopped all of one time in his career, against David Tua in 1996. We're talking 14 years ago, and we're also talking the first round knockout, and one that was exceptionally fluky-seeming. Not that Tua didn't have the power to turn anyone's lights out with a good shot, but 19 seconds? They could fight 100 times and that happens that one time.

I still figure Haye will win, whether or not he really deserves to. Ruiz's luck on scorecards isn't about to start changing at age 38, and Haye is a more dynamic fighter. But David's got the still-questionable chin, and Ruiz is a legit heavyweight who isn't a light puncher.

8. Manny Pacquiao v. Joshua Clottey (March 13, HBO PPV)

We're coming up fast on fight week for this one (though not fast enough by my watch), so I'll just put it like this for now, since we'll have a ton more when the week rolls around. Pacquiao-Clottey is compelling mostly because it has Manny Pacquiao. Clottey isn't exciting, isn't a big name, isn't a great fighter. He's solid, tough, very good, and it takes a lot of balls to fight him. This is a really good fight with the potential for a mega upset, and now that Antonio Margarito has been pulled from the undercard (thanks to that dastardly California commission, if you listen to Bob Arum), the anti-Margarito alliance can rest easy and order. Or choose not to order because the undercard isn't very good and there are too many PPVs again.

7. Arthur Abraham v. Andre Dirrell (March 6, Showtime)

Whatever you thought of the decision in Dirrell's fight with Carl Froch last year, it's hard to not admit that Dirrell showed a real aversion to mixing it up with a guy who can punch. Abraham is tremendous at exploiting weakness in his opponents and striking when the time is right, and his high-guard defensive tactics could shut down Dirrell's offense entirely.

On the other hand, if Dirrell learned to be more aggressive after the Froch fight, there's no doubt he's the quicker, more athletic guy in this fight. Using his movement and his hand speed, Dirrell could frustrate the stoic and generally non-aggressive Abraham and rack up a lot of rounds against the unbeaten Armenian, who has a habit of starting slowly. An Abraham win all but assures him of a spot in the semifinals of the tournament, no matter what happens with him in stage three. A win for Dirrell puts him right back in the tournament's running.

Photo by John Gichigi / Getty Images

6. Cristobal Arreola v. Tomasz Adamek (April 24, HBO)

Who's for real? Anyone? Arreola and Adamek are lining up to slug it out on HBO in a fight that will knock one guy out of immediate heavyweight contention, and the fight looks more interesting than ever right now.

Adamek had a bit of a conditioning scare late against Jason Estrada, running out of gas fighting at his heaviest-ever weight. If Estrada had Arreola's power, would we even be talking about this fight? Arreola can punch, and he can box a little. Adamek is a tough guy, but Arreola would be without question the heaviest hitter he's ever faced, and by a good margin at that. There's almost nothing to not like about this matchup on paper. It's about as close to a guaranteed exciting fight as you can get at heavyweight.

5. Chad Dawson v. Jean Pascal (July 17/24, HBO)

This was originally supposed to be set for June 19, but Pascal is coming off of shoulder surgery and his team says he won't be fit to go until late July. It's a good call by them, as there's no good reason to risk rushing Pascal into a fight against the top man in the light heavyweight division. Dawson is a tremendous boxer, but if you look at his sheet since he stepped up a bit in competition starting in 2006, there's nobody who has Pascal's skill set. Eric Harding, Adamek, Jesus Ruiz, Epi Mendoza, Glen Johnson (twice) and Antonio Tarver (twice) are just not the athletic specimens that Pascal is, and Pascal has proven his toughness and willingness to get hit in order to land. He's just a different animal than Adamek, Johnson or Tarver, who presented their own challenges, but nothing like what Pascal offers. Dawson may well cruise to victory, but if he does so it will be because he's that good. Pascal is about as good an opponent at 175 as Dawson is going to get right now.

4. Carl Froch v. Mikkel Kessler (April 24, Showtime)

Froch and Kessler have talked big leading up to this one, and that will probably just get more fiery as the fight draws near. Kessler fired his trainer after his embarrassingly one-sided loss to Andre Ward last November, while Froch has been dogged by questions of a hometown decision over Dirrell.

Kessler's two career losses have come against "spoilers," guys who Kessler himself described as spoiling his style and giving him fits. Joe Calzaghe and Ward bear little resemblance to the straight-forward, basic style that Froch employs. Kessler himself is about as mechanical and predictable as a top-level fighter gets, but when he's able to work behind his powerful jab, he is highly effective. Froch doesn't figure to give Kessler the headaches that Calzaghe and Ward did, so what is Froch's plan? If it's to use brute strength, I suppose there's a chance he can scare Kessler, but nobody has yet.

With Carl Froch, much as I like him, there is still that sense that he's almost living a fairytale, and that the clock has to strike midnight. It's either that or he's perennially overlooked and underappreciated. The Kessler fight will go a long way to figuring that out.

3. Yuri Foreman v. Miguel Cotto (June 5/12, PPV)

The talk of Miguel Cotto being damaged goods is overdone. He stood up to a barrage against Manny Pacquiao, withstanding two knockdowns and trying hopelessly to find a way back into the fight. Even his running seemed to be tactical in nature, as he kept looking for any way to land something on the Filipino that might slow him down. In the end, Pacquiao stopped him in the 12th when Kenny Bayless decided enough was enough, and rightfully so. But Miguel Cotto is no chump, and to be honest, Yuri Foreman is no dazzling sensation.

Foreman's best win was on that undercard against Daniel Santos, who was rather grossly out of shape, hadn't fought in a while, and hasn't been truly active in years now. Santos was once a very good and underrated fighter, but those days are gone. Yuri Foreman is as basic as a bread and water lunch, and doesn't like being hit. That's not a bad thing, but Cotto is probably going to hit him. What happens then?

As our own Matt Miller has said recently, I expect a quite ugly fight with this one, something that will have the NYC crowd booing the dreadful lack of action and amount of hugging going on. Foreman is pretty good, but on pure talent, not in Cotto's league. That said, size is going to matter, and Foreman is a bigger man. Cotto wasn't a big welterweight by any stretch, and he's going to be a tiny junior middleweight. If Cotto can't hurt Foreman or at least make him nervous, I'd expect to see a lot of Yuri jabbing his way around the ring and scoring points in a boring fight. Or Miguel might just rattle his cage early and go for the kill against a less-talented foe.

Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images

2. Kelly Pavlik v. Sergio Martinez (April 17, HBO)

Style-wise, Kelly Pavlik's only real challenge in his career has been Bernard Hopkins, the mental assassin who banged him around and dominated him more through willpower and smarts than physical strength, speed or agility. Martinez is a cutie southpaw who seemed tougher than previously imagined in December against Paul Williams, but Kelly Pavlik's biggest weapon -- the straight right hand -- is the southpaw killer, and Martinez has been there to get hit when he decides to get aggressive offensively. This is the first real challenge Pavlik has taken since the October '08 loss to Hopkins, and Martinez is a legitimate threat to the middleweight crown.

1. Shane Mosley v. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (May 1, HBO PPV)

What more can you say about this one? It's a mega-fight that we've been waiting on for a decade. Finally, these two will get it on and sort out what's what between them.

The Super Six World Boxing Classic double-header set for April 17 on Showtime could be moved back to April 24, says Rick Reeno.

The move is somewhat surprising, though totally understandable. With HBO making an April 17 double-header featuring Kelly Pavlik and Lucian Bute, plus HBO's availability in twice as many homes as Showtime, plus the fact that the biggest star on either card is still Kelly Pavlik, Showtime was in a bit of a spot.

Promoter Dan Goossen is unhappy about the whole thing since he has Cristobal Arreola going on April 24 on HBO, likely against Tomasz Adamek, but Showtime is playing tiny violins for the promoters given that Goossen also promotes Edison Miranda (fighting Bute) and Lou DiBella promotes Sergio Martinez (fighting Pavlik). DiBella also promotes Allan Green, who faces Andre Ward in the Super Six on whichever night it winds up being.

It's all a bit of a mess, really, and it seems like a case where really nobody could be made totally happy, whether they go head-to-head with HBO on the 17th or move it to the 24th. As a fan, I'd be thrilled if they'd move it to the 24th. The card mentioned here that I'm by far the least interested in is Arreola-Adamek, which is paired with Alfredo Angulo-Joel Julio. It's not that I have no interest in that card, especially the main event (should it go through), but Pavlik-Martinez and the Super Six trump it. Put it this way: I'd rather miss Arreola-Adamek live than I would Pavlik-Martinez or the Super Six show.

Some news from two Rick Reeno reports over at BoxingScene.com today has HBO's April dates possibly moving around to accommodate a host of big-name fighters.

First, HBO's Ross Greenburg says that the Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. rematch is likely to take place on April 3 instead of April 17. Greenburg notes they're holding basically every Saturday in April for fights, too. April 24 is still being looked at to host Cristobal Arreola-Tomasz Adamek,  April 10 and 17 are in the air right now, with the names of Kelly Pavlik, Amir Khan, Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez and Lucian Bute being discussed.

Greenburg indicates that HBO has a clear stance. They want Pavlik-Williams just like most everyone does. But more and more, it looks like we just might get Pavlik taking on Sergio Martinez. Top Rank and DiBella Entertainment continue to discuss that fight, which HBO is willing to broadcast, seeing Martinez as a more-than-worthy "replacement" opponent for either Pavlik or Williams, which would be a rematch of a Fight of the Year candidate from December.

Reeno reports in the second linked article that HBO is talking about doing an April 17 double-header featuring Pavlik and super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute, which would go head-to-head with Showtime's Super Six double-header. Bute could even wind up fighting Allan Green, who is also promoted by DiBella, as it appears that -- shocker! -- there's some trouble getting the February 5 fight between Green and Sakio Bika finalized. Who woulda thunk it with those two guys?

Amir Khan's American soil debut is also going to come in April, though it could still wind up on the Hopkins-Jones show.