Primo Carnera (right) suffered his share of losses to much smaller men. (Photo via www.boxingforum.com)

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When David Haye climbs into the ring later today to take on WBA heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev, he'll be looking to make history as best I can tell.

Should Haye win the fight, he will have set a record for overcoming the largest official weight difference in notable heavyweight boxing history. Just a quick scan of some famous fights and other notable bouts shows that Haye's 98-pound disadvantage tomorrow would top the record that Ruslan Chagaev set when he beat Valuev in 2007.

Now, I might be wrong, but I'm fairly sure I'm not. If David Haye can beat Valuev tomorrow, he will have made some form of history, no matter how frivolous it really is in the grand scheme of things.

One note of course: Valuev isn't just heavy, he's seven feet tall. Some of the guys on this chart were giants for their time, such as Primo Carnera (6'5 1/2"), but the height differential tomorrow is quite enormous, too. Jack Sharkey, who beat Carnera while giving up 59 pounds, was about 6'0". Max Baer was 6'2 1/2", and Joe Louis was 6'2". They gave up very little height to Carnera. Jack Dempsey's very famous win over Jess Willard was similar -- Willard was a massive 6'6 1/2", while Dempsey was also quite a big man at 6'1".

Haye, at about 6'3", gives up a lot more height than those guys did. Valuev has often beern compared to some of these guys, relative to the eras. Like Carnera, many have seen him as a lumbering lummox with no appreciable skill, but I'd actually say he's a far better boxer than Carnera was.

Here are some of the notable fights Haye over Valuev would top. (Notes: The biggest weight differential loss of Carnera's career was actually 68 pounds to Larry Gains in 1932, and I included Holmes-Butterbean mostly for fun.)

Promoters Bob Arum and Oscar de la Hoya may do business together, but they'll never be best pals. Arum ripped Oscar for erroneous statements about the upcoming Cotto-Pacquiao fight.

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In Oscar de la Hoya's latest blog entry at the Ring Magazine's web site, he suggested that promoter Bob Arum had shown favoritism toward Manny Pacquiao on November 14 by getting the fight into a bigger ring than normal. It was a glaring mistake, of course, as it was way back in August that the ring issue first came up.

At the time, there were rumors that Cotto-Pacquiao would be held in a 24-foot ring. It was totally false information. Nevada regulations call for a 20-foot ring, and the fight will be in a 20-foot ring.

The Ring essentially apologized for the error and removed that portion of de la Hoya's entry, which originally read as follows:

"I believe that’s the reason Bob Arum arranged to have a big ring, to give Pacquiao an advantage. Arum promotes both fighters but, obviously, it benefits him more if Pacquiao wins so they’re going to favor him."

What the Ring didn't print was Arum's full, angry statement about the alleged favoritism. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports interviewed the Top Rank chief, who had this to say:

“Is that little (expletive) crazy?” Arum asked. “Who writes this (expletive) for him? I’m absolutely outraged. He can pick whoever he wants to pick to win the fight and he can say whatever he wants to say about me, but to write that I arranged to have the ring made bigger to favor anyone is a complete (expletive) lie and is just not true. For as long as I can remember, the rings in Nevada have been 20 feet by 20 feet and I didn’t do (an expletive) thing about changing it.”

Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer -- who had cleared this up back in August -- backed Arum:

“Mr. Arum absolutely did not ask for a different ring size,” Kizer said. “We haven’t been asked that in a long time. As you know, our standard ring is 20-by-20 and no fighter, no promoter, nobody, has asked for a different size in quite some time. The size of the ring on Nov. 14 will be 20-by-20, like it always is.”

Some things never change.

Former lightweight champ Joel Casamayor returned to the ring tonight with a tougher-than-expected win over Jason Davis. (Photo via assets.espn.go.com)

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Zab Judah and Joel Casamayor won as expected in their Las Vegas comeback fights tonight on pay-per-view, leaving only the question of what's left and if either of them are actually any good anymore. Tonight taught us nothing.

In front of a very small crowd that included Erik Estrada at The Palms, Judah stopped retired scrub Ubaldo Hernandez in two rounds on a clear low blow and some sort of arm injury after knocking down the journeyman in the first. The groin shot wasn't intentional, it just sort of happened as Judah was going to the body. He knocked him down on a jab to the body in the first.

Judah (38-6, 26 KO) proclaimed after the fight that he'd be going down to 140 pounds -- yes, he said that again -- to fight titlist Juan Urango. Honestly, as little as I think of Judah at this point, if he's got much of anything left he can and should beat Urango. I have no doubt that Urango could knock him out, but if Zab can make 140 comfortably and fights smart, he's way too fast and skilled for the exceptionally slow and plodding Colombian. He said after that he wants to return to 147 and take on Andre Berto, a guy I'm quite confident he'd lose to in typical Judah fashion.

Before anyone gets excited about Judah's return, let's recap just what this fight was. Hernandez, now 22-20-2, was never good. Ever. And he also hadn't fought in two years. For some reason, Hernandez came out fighting southpaw. His complaining about his arm might indicate he came in with an injury from training.

His recent resume is utterly pathetic for a guy still paraded as a contender. He's also been talking this return to 140 jive for about two years, and he's never actually done it. He did use that as an excuse for pulling out of a twice-scheduled fight with Matthew Hatton, who has never fought at 140 pounds. He ducked out of two fights with Hatton and one with Antonio Diaz this year, and then turned down an offer from Shane Mosley. He'll tell you it was money or not a big enough name, but what do you think he pulled in tonight? This show made no money. This opponent was a straight-up bum with zero credibility who hadn't fought in two years.

If you're going to talk the talk, at least try to walk the walk.

In the co-feature, Joel Casamayor took his first fight at 140 pounds and looked sluggish, powerless and old against a game Jason Davis. Casamayor (37-4-1, 22 KO) won an eight-round decision, taking the cards 79-73 across the board. Bad Left Hook scored it 78-74 for Casamayor. It was a definite win, but not much of one, and it was obvious he has zero power fighting that heavy. He shook off the rust, but never had Davis in any trouble at all and couldn't get the guy to back down one step. He has no future at 140 pounds and if he can make 135 (which his handlers say he still can), he needs to get back down there. He's 38 years old (officially, anyway) and the clock is ticking fast if it hasn't totally run out.

A few more notes:

• Zab Judah brought out a bunch of belts he used to hold. That was cute.
• Fernando Vargas, who co-promoted the show, did post-fight interviews and such. He needs to fight again about as badly as I need another meatball sub. (Or about as badly as he needs another meatball sub.)
  
• Casamayor says he'll fight anyone, that he's "old school." I'll give him this: He's definitely old school, and I don't doubt he'll fight anyone.
• I'm serious. Erik Estrada was there.
• The American national anthem was sung by an Englishman.

Yeah, you read it right. The co-main events are just about to start (11:08pm ET).

Junior Welterweights: Joel Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 KO) v. Jason Davis (11-4-1, 3 KO)

Welterweights: Zab Judah (37-6, 25 KO) v. Ubaldo Hernandez (22-19-2, 10 KO)

Let's... do this.

Chad Dawson escaped with a narrow win over Glen Johnson in 2008. Tomorrow, he tries to do it again with no doubts remaining. (Photo via cache.daylife.com)

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He was referred to by Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter during Mayweather's short retirement. Four of his last six wins came over top names. When he took the title, he really took it.

He's the only man yet to beat Tomasz Adamek. He routed Antonio Tarver twice. And he came out the victor in a highly competitive and very entertaining fight against Glen Johnson last year. But somehow, Chad Dawson still doesn't seem to have mass respect.

Part of it lies with the fact that many feel Johnson deserved the W over Dawson. I scored that fight a draw, and still feel it's hard to really make a good case that Johnson was "robbed," but since that's been the story of Glen's career, it's an easy story to market from the Johnson side.

Part of it also stems from the fact that Dawson, despite being a very likable guy who makes for solid fights when not against the frustrating Tarver. He's unbeaten, has had good backing from both Showtime and HBO, and has honestly taken the best fights he could get. The Tarver rematch was a contractual thing, the Johnson rematch something he admittedly didn't want to go after, but when his hand was forced, he did it, and he vacated a title to make it happen. It was the only fight out there for him.

Someday, Dawson will move up in weight. He's talked about going down to 168, but that would probably just serve to weaken him. There are several who feel -- and I'm one of them -- that Dawson will someday compete at heavyweight, as his old foe Tomasz Adamek is now doing. A stop over at cruiserweight could offer some attractive bouts, too, and would help him bulk up naturally.

For now, though, he's a light heavyweight, and you can argue he's the world's best (I don't, at least not yet, with Bernard Hopkins still existing). And the rematch with Johnson tomorrow night can go a long way to earning him the accolades he's yet to fully acquire.

Make no mistake, it's no easy win. Johnson is probably still the most dodged man in the division, and at 40 has shown no real signs of slowing down. He's as tough as they come, a relentless sort who loves to mix it up, with a chin made of granite and heavy enough hands to put down anyone. Since the narrow loss to Dawson, Johnson has again found it hard to get proper opponents. He has faced Aaron Norwood and rematched Daniel Judah in the 19 months since the Dawson loss.

Dawson, who lives in New Haven, will have the home field advantage in Hartford, Connecticut tomorrow. His family and friends will be there, the XL Center will be almost 100% his fans, and the truth is, he's the younger, faster, more athletic, more dynamic fighter. He should win.

And if he doesn't, make way for 40-year old Glen Johnson, the continually-ignored, continually-great fighter that refuses to go away, no matter how many times it seems like promoters or TV networks wish he would.

Sam Sexton (right) won decisively against Martin Rogan in their Belfast rematch. Rogan quit after six rounds of action. (Photo via www.irishnews.com)

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On the Friday Sky Sports double-header from two sites in Northern Ireland, Sam Sexton came out with a much clearer victory over Martin Rogan in their heavyweight rematch, and Paul McCloskey dominated Spaniard Daniel Rasilla to claim the vacant European junior welterweight title.

First from Magherafelt, McCloskey improved to 20-0 with a completely one-sided victory over Rasilla, a late substitute for Souleymane M'baye, stopping him with two knockdowns in the ninth round. McCloskey won every round of the fight, and basically every minute of the fight, with his awkward, stalking southpaw style. His punches come from all angles, and he gave the outclassed Rasilla nightmares the entire evening.

Rasilla (15-3, 4 KO) gave a brave effort, but was just too slow and mechanical for McCloskey, who hopefully will get a fight on par with the M'baye proposal next. He's good, but it's time to find out how good with another step up. Rasilla was no challenge at all. McCloskey (20-0, 10 KO) probably won't be a world force, as he's already 30, but only the very best wouldn't have a bit of trouble with his style, I believe.

In the big heavyweight rematch in Belfast, Martin Rogan came to knock Sam Sexton out, which he likely should have the first time around, but failed to get rid of him. I had Rogan up four rounds to one (49-46) after five rounds, the fifth of which was an oddly desperate sort of charge by Rogan, who was clearly leaving it all in the ring in what smelled of a last-ditch effort.

As it turned out, it pretty much was. Sexton dominated the sixth round with jabs, combinations, lead rights, and left hooks, destroying Rogan and leaving him wobbling at the end of the round. After that sixth round, Rogan retired from the fight in his corner.

Afterward, Rogan (12-2, 6 KO) said he has a pinched nerve that was a holdover from the first fight with Sexton, and that his left arm felt "dead." Again, the fifth round felt like a guy who was fighting to get a knockout or that was it. He must have felt that injury creeping up fast, because he was winging every big shot he had in his arsenal. Sexton withstood it, blasted him around in the sixth, and Rogan decided that was enough.

Sexton (13-1, 6 KO) retains his Commonwealth heavyweight title with the big victory, and at 25 I think he has some solid promise, at least on the domestic level. He is getting better, and he mostly dominated the first fight with Rogan with his jab. This time around he wasn't in the same rhythm, but he also appeared much more calm, relaxed and aware of what he could do. They were confident this time, and it showed, even though I had Sexton down 58-56 when the fight was stopped. That sixth clearly had the fight going his way, and had Rogan come out again a stoppage wasn't far off.

At 38, Rogan has only a short window remaining. I actually think he's a better boxer than he's often given credit for being. Yeah, he's a lunging brawler and gets hit a fair amount, but his base skills really aren't that bad. He's not some hack; he knows what he's doing in there. And given that his fights are almost always entertaining and that he's absolutely adored in Northern Ireland, he's still got some fights left in him. His career's already been pretty improbable, but I for one am glad we've gotten to see it happen.

Congratulations to Sexton and McCloskey on their wins, and a hats off to the brave Rasilla and the always-fun Martin Rogan.

Bad Left Hook will have live, round-by-round coverage starting at 5pm ET for the Sky Sports dual-site double-header featuring Paul McCloskey against Daniel Rasilla and the Commonwealth heavyweight title rematch between Sam Sexton and Martin Rogan. Join us!

PAUL MCCLOSKEY		DANIEL RASILLA
	Co-Main Event

SAM SEXTON	Rematch	MARTIN ROGAN
	Co-Main Event

Pong and Naito fought in four battles that helped define the weight class in the past decade.

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Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over.  Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade.  I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

Flyweight in the 2000's has been one of those strange divisions where there are obviously a number of guys who are pretty good, but it's hard to tell who was the best simply because the better fighters in the class almost never fought each other.  Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Omar Narvaez each had huge title defense streaks, but even Joe Calzaghe would complain about how weak their competition was.  Others generally avoided each other as well, with guys like Arce, Donaire and Darchinyan preferring to plow through guys who were in the bottom half of or just outside of the weight class' top 10.  Unfortunately, the lack of money in the weight class, together with the fact that little guys tend to come from specific different corners of the world, means that this division will probably always be pretty fragmented in the future.

Jorge Arce - Arce went 9-0 at the weight in the middle of the decade, and in what seems like a strange glitch, six of his fights were for an interim title where he never got to fight for the main belt.  All nine wins came by way of knockout, including two bloody wars with Hussein Hussein, two wins over Adonis Rivas, and wins over Rosendo Alvarez and Angel Priolo.

Vic Darchinyan - Raging Bull went 14-1 in the weight class, where he was able to build a reputation as an awkward, extremely hard hitting fighter.  Wins include Wandee Singwancha (twice), Ireme Pacheco, Jair Jimenez, Diosdado Gabi, Luis Maldonado, Glenn Donaire and Victor Burgos.  After cutting a swathe through good but not great competition, the gravy train ended when he faced Glenn's brother Nonito, who managed to knock out Darchinyan in pretty spectacular fashion.

Nonito Donaire - Donaire is actually only 5-0 at the weight, as up until the Darchinyan fight, he had almost always fought at 115 or 118 (and a couple of times, even at 122).  The big win here is over Darchinyan, who was possibly the top fighter at 112 at the time, but who had not yet established himself as the pound for pound force he would become after his loss to Nonito.  Other wins include Raul Martinez, Morute Mthalane and Luis Maldonado.

Eric Morel - Morel went 6-1 in the decade in the Flyweight division, all of which were title bouts.  Wins include Sompichai Kratingdaenggym, Denkaosan Kovichit and Isidro Garcia.  His lone loss came to Lorenzo Parra.

Daisuke Naito - Naito has gone 20-2-2 in the weight class, including going 1-2-1 against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.  His other draw came against Takefumi Sakata.  Other key wins include Salaryman Teppei, Hiroshi Nakano, and Daiki Kameda.  While he's generally fought the best Japan has to offer, the only time he's left Japan, he was knocked out by Pong in 32 seconds, and he really hasn't faced anyone else of note besides Pong and the Japanese fighters.  He does have a December fight against Koki Kameda, but I doubt the outcome of that fight would change voting here.

Omar Narvaez - Narvaez is a southpaw cutie from Argentina who currently has the longest title defense streak out there.  He's gone 30-0-2 in the weight class, with his entire career spanning the 2000's.  He won a WBO belt in only his 12th fight, and he's kept it since them, fighting whoever are the worst fighters he's able to get away with and racking up 16 defenses.  Granted, he's had a couple of decent mandatories and has been able to beat them, but he's definitely more concerned with his streak than anything, and his opposition reflects that.  Key wins include Adonis Rivas, Everardo Morales, Rexon Flores, Brahim Asloum, Rayonta Whitfield and Omar Soto.

Lorenzo Parra - Parra went 14-1 in the weight class during the 2000's, including 6 title bouts.  Key wins included Eric Morel, Takefumi Sakata (twice, both times in Japan), Brahim Asloum and Yo Sam Choi.  In a third defense against Sakata that was mandated by the WBC, he struggled immensely to make weight, coming in 4 pounds over, and was summarily knocked out in his weight drained state.  However, while at the weight, he was a force at 112, although he wasn't necessarily able to make an impact at higher weights.

Takefumi Sakata - In his favor, he almost certainly faced the toughest roster of opposition in the 2000's of any flyweight.  On the downside, his record in the weight class was only 20-5-2, probably losing more fights against that tough competition than he won.  He did at one point run off five title defenses.  He went 1-2 against Lorenzo Parra, 0-1-1 against Denkaosan Kaovichit, 1-1 against Roberto Vasquez, 1-1 against Trash Nakanuma and had a draw with Daisuke Naito.

Pongsaklek Wonjongkam - Pong has gone 42-1-1 at 112 in the 2000's, including 33 straight victories and 17 title defenses.  The major issue, however, is his level of competition and the fact that he's rarely left Thailand.  Most notably, he is 2-1-1 against Daisuke Naito, including a knockout victory that set the record for fastest ever knockout in a flyweight title fight.  Other notable wins include Malcolm Tunacao, Alex Baba, Hidenobu Honda, Hussein Hussein, Trash Nakanuma and Julio Cesar Miranda.  As impressive as the title defense streak is, most of it is pretty empty, much like Narvaez's, although in his prime he crushed Naito like a walnut.  Only when he was 29 year old and starting to slow down a tick was Naito able to garner a win.  The two should be fighting for a fifth time not too long from now.

After Shane Mosley's interview with 411mania.com's Ramon Aranda hit the wire, the back-and-forth between Mosley and Andre Berto continued on their respective Twitter pages. Mosley said in the interview that they were getting the January 30 fight between the two welterweight titlists done from his side, and that it was done from Berto's side. So that fight looks like a go with all but an official announcement yet to come.

Berto said on his Twitter page that his contract was finalized and signed before he headed out to South Korea for the WBC convention. Berto then attempted some humor (all of this is [sic]):

"Lol lol its just funny to me how @shane_mosley got so tough overnight do you'll peep that. He's talkin crazy to me he runs up on floyd lol"

"But I know what it is though I've done alittle reaserch on steriods and it says the drug makes u have crazy mood swings and feel bigger than U really are..... Man Steriods is a hell of a drug!!!! @Shane_Mosley we can help u but the first step is to admit u have a problem.."

You know? Like that show?

Here's what Mosley said on his Twitter page:

"I'm glad he signed the contract tho, so now I going to display what I started with Margarito. I'm dishin ass whupping's in 2010!"

"I don't care who it is! The true welterweight king has spoken!"

This is the damned future of trash talk. Or maybe it's just the fleeting present. I sort of hope for the latter. But my hatred of Twitter aside, I'm 100% happy that this fight looks like it's a go. It's a great fight for Shane, and it's a great fight for Andre. I also see it being a hell of a good fight. Mosley thrives when fighters bring pressure to him, and Berto likes to throw his hands. We'll see where Shane's speed is at at his age (Margarito was always going to look slow against him, even if the fight had played out like most figured it would at the time) and we'll see how Berto takes good punches from someone who's a stronger puncher than Luis Collazo, by far the best fighter he's faced thus far and his only gut-check fight to this point, too.

Can't wait for the fight. It's awesome on paper.

There will be no fourth war between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez for the time being. Vazquez is moving on to other ideas. (Photo via www.israel-vazquez.com)

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Israel Vazquez and manager Frank Espinoza told ESTO (link via BoxingScene.com) that the talked-about fourth fight between Vazquez and his great rival Rafael Marquez is "ruled out" for the time being, and they're blaming Marquez for asking for too much money.

"Everything I know is from the newspapers. I will speak to my manager Frank Espinoza. If Rafa does not want to fight me because he is asking for the stars and the moon, then that's theur problme. I will take another direction. As I've said, I want the WBC's featherweight. I want to fight in February or March," Vazquez told ESTO.

Espinoza confirmed:

"There definitely will not be a fourth fight between Israel and Marquez [next]. It has been completely ruled out. We have some very good plans or Vazquez," Espinoza said.

Gary Shaw said a few days back that a fourth fight wasn't even close, but he said both fighters were asking for too much money, and that the blame was shared. He said Showtime offered a one-time only $2.5 million for the fight, which would have been all-time high purses for both men.

When Vazquez says he wants the WBC featherweight title, that would indicate a desired fight with Elio Rojas (21-1, 13 KO). The Dominican has held the title since July, when he beat Takahiro Aoh in Japan. Rojas is a really good fighter who would have some fair size advantages and isn't anywhere near as beaten up. At 27, Rojas is far fresher than Vazquez. I don't discount Vazquez's spirit, only his physical ability to actually win a fight like that. After watching his October return against a guy who isn't a quarter as good as Rojas, I think that possible fight would be a huge uphill climb for Vazquez. I'd favor Rojas heavily.