Arthur Abraham knocked Mahir Oral down five times to retain his IBF middleweight title, but Marcos Maidana's stoppage of Victor Ortiz was the story of the night. (via d.yimg.com)

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Marcos Maidana stopped Victor Ortiz in the sixth round of a junior welterweight war, but the biggest story of the night may have come from Ortiz's post-fight interview.

After essentially quitting in the sixth round, Ortiz said in his post-fight interview that he had "a lot of thinking to do" about his future, and pretty much seemed to give the impression that he doesn't love boxing and isn't up for getting hit the way he was tonight. Many guys have come up fast without much resistance, and then break down once they find that guy that hits back, hits hard, and tests their mettle. I don't want to speak to his future absolutely or anything, but if I were a betting man, Victor Ortiz is never going to be the fighter Golden Boy wanted him to be. I just don't think he has it in him. I don't say that to be disrespectful -- anyone that heard that interview would have to have the same questions. He put them out there.

The fight itself was a Fight of the Year contender, with both men dropped in the first round and Maidana down twice more in the second. The Argentinian Maidana (26-1, 25 KO) stormed back to drop Ortiz in the sixth, after which Ortiz gave up, went to the doctor, and they quickly called it off with a cut bleeding pretty well and his opposite eye swelling shut.

Ortiz (24-2-1, 19 KO) really does have a lot of thinking to do. He also noted that he's "not going out on his back for nobody," which received a few scattered boos. Not exactly warrior talk to say the least.

If you missed the fight, do catch a replay this week on HBO.

On Showtime from Germany, Arthur Abraham knocked down Mahir Oral five times, three in the tenth round, at which point the Oral corner stopped the bout. Oral fought and fought, and came forward, and never ran, but he was simply outgunned by a better, stronger fighter.

Results from the Top Rank PPV in Atlantic City:

• Juan Manuel Lopez RTD-9 Olivier Lontchi ... Called an ugly fight.
  
• Jorge Arce KO-3 Fernando Lumacad
• Yuri Foreman NC-3 Cornelius Bundrage, fight stopped on a headbutt cut
• Vanes Martirosyan RTD-6 Andrey Tsurkan; Martirosyan reportedly gave Tsurkan an awful beating
• Off-TV results: Mario Santiago UD-8 Gilberto Sanchez Leon ... Matt Korobov KO-1 Benjamin Diaz

We will have a lot more tomorrow on Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana in particular. This is a pretty interesting developing story to say the least.

Victor Ortiz looks to continue his climb up the 140-pound ranks against Marcos Maidana tonight on HBO.

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Neither of this weekend's fights being offered on major American TV are really big enough to go into our running picks competition, but both are more than worth discussion.

First off, Showtime will bring us a middleweight title fight on tape delay from Germany. IBF titlist Arthur Abraham is considered by some to be the world's top 160-pound fighter, not world champion Kelly Pavlik, and he faces yet another fairly soft touch when he takes on unknown Mahir Oral. The fight is live at 3 ET, but Showtime won't have it on our TVs until nine, so no spoilers tomorrow.

As much as I like and respect Abraham, and feel he's a tremendous fighter with some good wins, fights like this one and his last with Lajuan Simon are really no better than what Universum does with Felix Sturm. If Sturm is going to get the business for it, so should King Arthur, who likely will fight Giovanni Lorenzo next. I'm also not taking a shot at Abraham, but it appears more often that Sturm and Pavlik get grief for their competition, while Abraham rarely takes any guff whatsoever. They're all doing more or less the same thing: Dominating an empty division on their own terms and not fighting each other. If Pavlik-Sturm goes forward (tentatively scheduled for October 3, and not even close to a sure thing), I'll be pleasantly shocked.

If you've never seen Oral, here's the final part of his last fight, a win over Alexander Sipos:

It's not that I'm claiming to be a scout or anything, but watching this entire fight from last November, I see nothing about Oral that will give Abraham real trouble. Arthur will plod, play defense, and strike when he needs to. I don't know that he'll stop him, because some nights Abraham just doesn't ever go into a stopping gear, but he'll beat him convincingly.

On HBO at 10pm, Victor Ortiz matches up with dangerous Marcos Maidana. Maidana's a really good puncher, and his KO rate attests to that. He gave titlist Andriy Kotelnik (Ortiz's original opponent) all he could handle his last time out:

If you look at how Maidana fights and compare it to Ortiz, you can see trouble ahead for either man. Ortiz is a golden child sort of prospect, and a loss to Maidana would short-term ruin future plans that Golden Boy and HBO have for him. But I think he's probably just too fast for Maidana, and as aloof and surfer dude-ish as Ortiz is in interviews, he's a nasty finisher that knows how to go in for the kill. I don't see this one making it to the cards.

The Top Rank PPV from Atlantic City is headlined by Juan Manuel Lopez, who ought to flat-out demolish Olivier Lontchi. The best fight of that show might be Vanes Martirosyan versus Andrey Tsurkan, which should be your usual Tsurkan fight where Andrey shows lots of heart and guts but is seriously out of his league. That's $40 I'm keeping in my wallet. Yuri Foreman-Cornelius Bundrage might require viewers to set their alarm clocks for roughly 45 minutes after the first bell. Actually, if Jorge Arce is as shot as he's looked, his fight with Fernando Lumacad might turn into a war.

Elsewhere On Saturday: Jorge Linares returns against Josafat Perez ... Daud Yordan, who impressed many in his too-short no-contest against Robert Guerrero, fights in Indonesia ... Craig McEwan is on the untelevised HBO undercard, as is prospect Adrien Broner, who faces Willie Kickett.

Looking to make bigger and better fights, Juan Manuel Lopez considers a move to featherweight. (via www.boxnews.com.ua)

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Juan Manuel Lopez told Primera Hora (link via BoxingScene.com) that he's considering moving up to 126 pounds after his Saturday night fight with Olivier Lontchi, but it's not because of any trouble whatsoever making weight at 122. He's simply looking to make the best money deals.

Often when a fighter talks about making more money, it comes with an asterisk that he might be avoiding good fights in his own weight class. But that is hardly the case here. Lopez would be moving up along with divisional stars Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez and Celestino Caballero, so instead of avoiding any of them, he's just chasing them up the ladder a bit. There's also been all that recent talk of a super exciting clash between Lopez and fellow phenom Yuriorkis Gamboa, a featherweight titlist who recently signed on with Top Rank.

I've said plenty of times that I might be the world's biggest non-Puerto Rican fan of Juanma, and this potential move does nothing but excite me as a boxing fan. There are bigger and better fights at 126, he's got the size and definitely the skill for the division, and he's coming off as a guy that really wants the best fights. In the lighter weight classes, it's generally the best fights that make the most money, because nobody's a box office superstar, really. There's no Mayweather-de la Hoya to make down there.

Top Rank has sent out a press release with the full lineup for their upcoming June 27 pay-per-view, and it's a pretty solid show all around for Caesars Atlantic City.

Main Event: Juan Manuel Lopez (25-0, 23 KO) v. Olivier Lontchi (18-0, 8 KO)

Maybe the least intriguing of the four scheduled televised fights, Lopez will put his WBO 122-pound title on the line against Cameroonian-Canadian Lontchi. Lopez of course last fought in April when he wailed on Gerry Penalosa, and he's been inserted into this main event after Top Rank pulled the plug on Pavlik-Mora, which Bob Arum thinks he wants to re-schedule for September 12.

Lontchi doesn't have much of a KO rate against iffy competition, and has yet to face anyone near Lopez's level. All signs point to a one-sided slaughter in this one, more a showcase for Lopez than a competitive matchup.

Fernando Montiel (39-2-1, 29 KO) v. Eric Morel (41-2, 21 KO)

WBO 118-pound titleholder Montiel has won his last seven, mostly at 115 pounds, and five of those wins have come by stoppage. Morel has fought his last five bouts in his native Puerto Rico, though he lives in Wisconsin now. "Little Hands of Stone" is probably best known for his outside the ring troubles, most notably his sexual assault of a drunk 15-year old girl that put him in prison for a couple years. Since his comeback he's 6-0 (3 KO). He's faced decent competition, too, including Ricardo Vargas and Heriberto Ruiz, but Montiel is a big step back up the ladder.

Paulie Malignaggi (26-2, 5 KO) v. Mike Alvarado (26-0, 18 KO)

Arguably the most intriguing and important fight on the show. For Malignaggi, this is kind of make or break. If he can't beat Alvarado, his status as a legitimate contender at 140 goes to pot. If Alvarado loses to Malignaggi, it's a more short-term setback. Malignaggi has to be at his best to beat a guy with Alvarado's power, but Alvarado can certainly be outboxed.

Vanes Martirosyan (24-0, 15 KO) v. Andrey Tsurkan (26-4, 17 KO)

Martirosyan fought on May 16, stopping yet another mediocre opponent. Tsurkan represents a step up, though he's very beatable. He'll also come to Martirosyan and test his mettle, so that's important. Tsurkan has been MIA since his brutal loss to Alfredo Angulo last October.

Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik says he was cleared to fight Sergio Mora on June 27, despite the cancellation of the fight. (via mvred.com)

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Despite his June 27th fight with Sergio Mora being canceled/postponed, middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik told the Youngstown Vindicator he was recently cleared to go ahead with the fight:

Pavlik said the staph infection occurred around the time of his fight with Marco Antonio Rubio in February. He suffered a small cut on one of his knuckles and he developed a minor staph infection. But that has since healed and recently he got clearance from his doctor to fight.

Last Friday, Top Rank Boxing president Todd duBoef revealed Pavlik's infection to ESPN.com and said the company had decided to postpone the Mora bout to give Pavlik time to heal.

But Pavlik told The Vindicator, "I'm healthy enough to fight."

Pavlik declined further comment.

A lot of speculation has pointed to Pavlik not being happy with Mora as an opponent, which is understandable given the fact that the fight -- which was to be independently produced on pay-per-view by Top Rank -- wasn't going to make Pavlik any bigger a star. He's floundered since his second fight with Jermain Taylor, fighting Gary Lockett (HBO World Championship Boxing, bad ratings), Bernard Hopkins (an HBO pay-per-view bomb) and Marco Antonio Rubio (Top Rank pay-per-view).

This may point to a bigger problem brewing between Pavlik and Top Rank. The company postponed the bout, not Pavlik. Frankly, none of this sounds particularly healthy between the two sides (Pavlik and Top Rank). It's rare to say the least that a bout is postponed and the injured fighter says, "I could have fought."

Kelly Pavlik's June 27th middleweight championship fight with Sergio Mora is off for the time being, with Pavlik suffering from staph infection in his hand.

The fight may be rescheduled for September, according to Top Rank president Todd duBoef.

Honestly? A welcome cancellation. I was debating with myself whether or not to pay for the Pavlik-Mora fight or just watch the HBO Boxing After Dark that night, which features Victor Ortiz v. Marcos Maidana and the rematch between Chris John and Rocky Juarez. It's unlikely that Top Rank can find a great opponent for Juan Manuel Lopez on this short notice. It's nice that they plan to keep the show and give Lopez the main event -- he deserves it -- but boxing fans are getting a small break here. There's almost nothing the Top Rank crew can come up with for Lopez that beats Boxing After Dark on June 27.