Paul Williams told The Boxing Lab that he's viewing himself as the underdog this coming Saturday against Nobuhiro Ishida, getting himself into the mindset that he's being counted out and will prove the skeptics wrong with a good win.

He also made this excuse for his performance against Erislandy Lara, which he says isn't an excuse:

"Going into the Lara fight you could say I was a little gun shy. I wanted to see if I could take punches and if I was scared to get hit. That was one of my longest layoffs too. I'm not making any excuses but I was basically allowing him to get off and I was waiting on him."

There is a constant state of denial with Team Williams -- a belief that there's nothing wrong and that his bad habits and poor performances can't be corrected, because there's nothing to correct. It's one of the most fascinating things in boxing today, at least to me. It's really bizarre, and it's not just the things they say in public. Williams (40-2, 27 KO) has the same issues in every fight.

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In an interview with RingTV.com, Juan Manuel Marquez says that he doesn't think Timothy Bradley has the power to defeat Manny Pacquiao when the two meet on June 9.

"Even though Bradley is a great boxer, and he has skills, he needs the power. He (doesn't) have that power. Pacquiao has the speed and Pacquiao has the power. The difference in this fight is power. The difference will be the power punches that Pacquiao has."

Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO) is still the lightweight champion of the world, and is coming off of a debated loss to Pacquiao in November that did nothing but raise his stock as a marquee player in the boxing world.

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Dereck Chisora says he won't go looking for the knockout on Saturday when he faces WBC heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko, but that he feels he's going to be able to get one by pushing the pace and tiring out the 40-year-old Ukrainian.

From the Daily Star:

"If he doesn’t go down I will just keep working. I’m not going there looking for a knockout, I’m going there to out-work this guy. I would leave myself vulnerable by looking for a knockout. He’s going to feel the pace by the middle rounds and then I will knock him out in the eighth round. A lot of his opponents are defeated before they even walk to the ring but I’m not scared of this guy. I’ve got speed – and speed kills. He will look his age."

Chisora (15-2, 9 KO) does keep a high workrate when he's in shape, and all reports are that he's kept himself fit between fights this time and is taking this as the big opportunity that it is. Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO) is a powerful man who also stays in shape constantly, but he's 40 years old and has not been pressed with a rough pace since making his comeback in 2008.

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Peter Quillin tells Ryan Maquiñana that his rumored May 5 fight against 40-year-old retiree Winky Wright is nearly official:

"When they brought up Winky’s name a week ago, I had to take it. Every fight is step up on the ladder of my career, and this is clearly going to be more of a challenging camp. I’m 28 years old, and I want to be in contention for a world title shot this year."

It is impossible to blame Peter Quillin (26-0, 20 KO) for jumping at this opportunity, and I do firmly believe that. I don't even really blame Canelo Alvarez for fighting Shane Mosley -- whether he believes what he's shoveling about Mosley being a stern test or not, I really believe that kid was good to go if they'd booked him against Mayweather.

Like Quillin says, he's 28 years old and time's a-wastin' when it comes to moving him up the ladder. He wants a big fight. With 160 devoid of names (also, with Golden Boy having no one to give him), you can almost understand bringing Winky out of mothballs.

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Less than three months from now the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada may double as a funeral home for one of this generation's finest fighters. Shane Mosley, the same man that was widely recognized as the world's best lightweight some 13 years ago, will face Canelo Alvarez at junior middleweight in a fight made possible by the people at Golden Boy Promotions. The same people that claimed they were going to work to clean up boxing, and change the game.

When Oscar de la Hoya began his promotional company it was naturally met with some derision. Many fighters attempt such a task with limited or completely absent success. Oscar started by promoting small cards to get a feel for the business, and eventually (spoiler alert) they have grown to be one of the biggest promotional companies in the sport. In short, regardless of how little he now has to do with the finished product, he did follow through with his goal to have a legitimate promotional company. Bravo for him.

However, something has become startlingly clear over the past few years: Golden Boy Promotions is no different than any other promotional company. They protect their prospects just like other promoters. They have put on some terrible pay-per-view undercards just like other promoters. They can even bullshit just like other promoters.

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Tonight's card from the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, was a mixed bag for the top fighters on the bill, with the main event over in just one round, and a featured undercard bout far more of a struggle than was expected.

In the main event, Samuel Vargas demolished Manolos Plaitis to win the vacant Canadian welterweight title, knocking out Plaitis violently at 2:49 of the first round. Vargas (9-0-1, 3 KO) has gained a reputation as an action fighter, but not to date as a puncher. Plaitis (17-2-1, 8 KO) hadn't faced much better or worse competition than Vargas had coming into the fight, but was knocked out in two in his only other loss coming into the fight.

But it was quite a knockout, as Vargas simply teed off on Plaitis eventually, sending him staggering into the corner, where Plaitis was out on his feet before an extra shot sent him hard to the canvas.

Vargas, a Colombian native, isn't likely to become a major star in the future, but his action credentials will likely carry him to regional star heights at worst, and if he keeps winning, could certainly come up with some American TV chances in due time.

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Live video is available via UStream and Boxing Channel.

I'm joining the card a hair late myself, but it's still very early in the show, and the main event and most of the card is still to come. Tonight in Mississauga, Ontario, there's some live boxing going down, and since Ortiz vs Berto was supposed to happen tonight, we've got the room to cover some of the more unsung fighters in the boxing world, so we will.

In the main event, Samuel Vargas (8-0-1, 2 KO) meets Manolis Plaitis (17-1-1, 8 KO) in a 10-round welterweight bout. Vargas, a Colombian-born fighter now based in Ontario, had a great fight last year with Ahmad Cheikho.

Won't lie and say it's the biggest show in the world, but you'll get a chance to see some fighters you otherwise wouldn't, and hey, it's boxing, you know what I mean? Let's watch some boxing. Let's talk about some boxing. Let's do this, you guys. It'll be fun. I promise.

Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions continues to bash Bob Arum, a hilarious bit of irony given the seniors' tour undercard he's putting together for Mayweather vs Cotto. Here's what he said to BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno about his supposed super duper fantasti-card, which will feature a shot Shane Mosley and perhaps a functionally retired Winky Wright, making this the event of the year for 2004:

"I think you really have two pay-per-views wrapped in one. The fact is, Mayweather and Cotto is as big as a fight can be. It is clearly the most dangerous fight that Mayweather has had for a long time. It is clearly, I would say, the most dangerous since the De La Hoya fight. Cotto is coming off one of the biggest wins of his career, a demolition of Antonio Margarito. This is a fight that quite frankly you wouldn't need any undercard because people want to see it [and instead] you could just put a couple of tuneups [on the undercard] and you're done....like most other promoters probably would," Schaefer said.

This is coming from the genius who put together such enormous pay-per-view flops as "Action Heroes" (a whopping 50,000 buys) and Hopkins vs Dawson (an even worse 40,000) in 2011. This from the guy who promoted Hopkins vs Jones II as a pay-per-view, and Mosley vs Mora.

Yup. Only the best from the fan-first gentlemen at Golden Boy Promotions. That damn Bob Arum, ruining boxing.

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