I don't know if you've heard, but Andre Ward has a really big chance to make a name for himself tomorrow.

Ward's Super chance at breakthrough (Yahoo! Sports)
Kevin Iole looks at Andre Ward, the Olympic gold medalist and nice man: "I would imagine it’s a problem fighting Andre Ward. He’s such a nice guy, you want to hug him rather than punch him in the nose. He’s polite to a fault, he smiles easily and he’s never got a bad word to say about anyone."

Round One’s Almost Done (Max Boxing)
Julian Kasdin's take on the fight. "This fight is taking place in Andre’s hometown, and while there are some doubts as to whether Mikkel is still the fighter to beat at 168, I do not think Ward will be the one to beat him."

Andre Ward Vs. Mikkel Kessler On Saturday (The Sweet Science)
David A. Avila compares Ward to another former American gold medalist, Oscar de la Hoya, and has some solid quotes from Ward. The best: "If I didn’t expect to beat every man in this tournament then I shouldn’t be in this tournament."

Notebook: Ward ready to fight for title (ESPN)
Dan Rafael quotes Ward as being very ready for the fight. "I've been here before with the Olympics and it's something that I relish. There's always going to be pressure. It just depends on how you deal with the pressure."

Andre Ward – American Hero, Take Two (Boxing Scene)
Thomas Gerbasi says Ward is -- get this! -- ready. (Well, Ward says it in his column.)

Kessler all set for Ward defence (BBC Sport)
Believe it or not, some people are actually focusing on Mikkel Kessler a little bit.

USA hopes riding on Ward (USA Today)
Hacksaw Jim Duggan will be rooting for Ward, tough guy.

Can Ward take a punch? We'll find out (San Francisco Chronicle)
Kessler's trainer doesn't think Ward likes to get hit. Ward wonders who has ever hit Kessler to show how good his chin is.

I'd like everyone at Bad Left Hook to join me in a warm welcome to The Boxing Bulletin, SBN's newest site and a brother community for us in covering the sweet science. You may already be familiar with the site, as they've been pumping out fantastic analysis for a while now. They're a wonderful team of writers and I couldn't be happier to call them colleagues under the SBN banner.

Some recent highlights from The Boxing Bulletin that will get you familiar with their work:

Pacquiao's Triumph, Cotto's Tragedy by Jeff Pryor

Rendall Munroe-Simone Maludrottu Preview by Matt Chudley (Bad Left Hook will cover this show live at 5pm ET today, and this is as good a preview for the fight as you're going to find)

Boxing's Best Seniors - 10 Big Wins from Fighters Over 40 by Andrew Fruman

Ryan Rhodes-Jamie Moore Photo Gallery (Photographer: Chris Royle)

Interview with Odlanier Solis' Trainers Pedro Diaz & Russ Abner by Ivan Montiel

David Tua Can Still Make Some Noise by Lee Payton

The other four participants of the Super Six World Boxing Classic have made their picks for tomorrow night's final stage one battle between Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward in Oakland.

Andre Dirrell:

"I'm going with Ward. Ward has the ability to win. This is his biggest fight so he'll have to stick to his game plan but I'm going with him."

Dirrell and Ward were Olympic teammates, so Andre is surely rooting for Andre. Plus it would probably help everyone if the Americans could come out of the first stage with even one win. If Ward loses convincingly, there's going to be plenty of talk that none of the Americans really deserved to be here.

Jermain Taylor:

"Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler will be a very competitive fight and both want to make a statement in the Super Six tournament. I think the key to the fight depends on who will dictate and set the pace in the early rounds. Both fighters have a lot of skills and will be well prepared to do battle. It's a very close fight to make a prediction on. I would call the fight a toss-up."

Try not to get too bold, Jermain.

Carl Froch:

"Mikkel Kessler will win because of his strength and ring experience. I'm looking forward to it because obviously it's a fight that has major implications for me in the Super Six tournament. Andre Ward has that terrific amateur pedigree, winning the Gold medal at the Athens Olympics. He's had some good wins in the pros but we will only find out how good he really is when he steps in there with Kessler."

Kessler is next for Froch, and since Froch is one of those guys that genuinely seems to want his fights to be challenges, he's rooting for Kessler so that he can knock off the tournament favorite and take his title in his next fight:

"Ward will have the benefit of home advantage, which I'm sure will play its part but Kessler is very experienced and has won on the road before so I'm sure he won't see it as an issue. I'm hoping for my own selfish reasons that Kessler wins because then he'll still have the WBA belt. I'm fighting him next so if he beats Ward then it means that our fight becomes a massive WBC and WBA unification clash and I can get my hands on his belt."

Kessler's previous road wins: Israel Ponce in Las Vegas (2000), Anthony Mundine in Australia (2005) and Danilo Haussler in Germany (2008). Not exactly Murderer's Row.

Arthur Abraham:

"Because I have not ever seen an Andre Ward fight live or on tape, I cannot say much. But Kessler is the favorite in this fight nevertheless. I have seen Kessler fight many times and he is very clever and very strong. I have to give the advantage to Kessler because of his strength, experience and cleverness. Andre Ward is not to be underestimated. He is very good. He is technically very sound and can also punch hard as he has shown in previous fights. But I hope that my new stablemate, Mikkel Kessler, wins."

Abraham's statement is my favorite. It's mind-boggling to me that he's never seen Andre Ward fight, even on tape, and he also goes from telling us he's never seen him to describing his technical skills and how hard he can punch. How would he know?! Knockout rates? Olympic pedigree? You know what happens when you assume, Arthur.

USA Today's J. Michael Falgoust reports that the November 14 fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao was a big live success in Las Vegas, blowing out the Mayweather-Marquez fight from September in money drawn at the gate and tickets sold.

The gate from last weekend's showdown between Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto— which will air on HBO Saturday (10 p.m. ET/PT) — was $8.84 million with 15,470 tickets sold.

That's 3,500 more tickets sold and $2 million more than what Mayweather's comeback from a near two-year layoff drew when he fought Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September on Mexican independence weekend.

Most interesting to me was this comparison, which probably highlights the difference in demographics between the crowds. Cotto-Pacquiao had the MGM filled with people who wanted to see the fight. Mayweather-Marquez had the MGM almost filled with people who came to see the big boxing show in Las Vegas.

No tickets were sold beneath face value for Pacquiao-Cotto. For Mayweather's bout, 94 tickets were sold at 50% discount and 895 were comps, or giveaways while just 46 comps were doled out for Pacquiao-Cotto.

And then there's PPV, which will have figures released later today. The Mayweather camp is already excusing themselves from the comparison by saying that Pacquiao "had a dance partner," apparently operating now under the idea that Juan Manuel Marquez is a bum with no fans, while selling us beforehand on Marquez's ability to draw in the Mexican audience as one of the reasons they chose to fight him in the first place.

They'll go back to pointing at their better numbers with Oscar and Hatton, not acknowledging the fact that Oscar and Hatton were both better "dance partners" when Floyd fought them than when Pacquiao fought them, and that Pacquiao also fought both in a recession. And they'll say, "I did a million homes with Marquez! But guess what! Guess what! But guess what! Guess what! He only did 400,000," except they probably won't even say 400,000, they'll say something lower than that, which might mean that Pacquiao-Marquez at 130 pounds in 2008 is about equal to Floyd's riveting fight with Carlos Baldomir in 2006. But hey, who's counting?

Floyd and Manny have become big stars in pretty much the exact same way. They were both noted as great fighters, but as draws, they were what they were. Manny was pretty good for his size -- again, nobody has ever sold more PPVs at that weight or lower than Pacquiao-Marquez II sold -- and Floyd just never quite got rolling.

Oscar de la Hoya made them both PPV forces. They took that momentum and ran with it. Floyd did it with his personality first, and his great skill second. Manny did it with his ferocious performances first, and a personality second, a personality that is something that I think American fans are just in love with at this point. The casual boxing fans out there barely recognized in a pre-MP world that there are Filipino boxers, let alone this force of nature.

If you want to be black and white about it, and make it really, really simple, then let's say it this way:

• Floyd outdrew Manny with Oscar, Hatton and Marquez;
• Manny's numbers with all three of them were excellent;
• Manny looks to have just smoked Floyd with guys who were similar-level stars.

Floyd will want to talk about the past, Manny will want to talk about right now, and they'll continue to bicker for a little while.

Leonard Ellerbe (right) says that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will look to fight Shane Mosley if a mega fight with Manny Pacquiao can't be made. (Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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With the 2010 mega fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao uncertain but the talk of boxing, the quotes just keep coming in.

Bob Arum told Larry Fine of Reuters that he fears Mayweather will back out due to the risk of losing the "0" on his record:

"Psychologically he may not be prepared to do this fight," Pacquaio promoter Arum added.

"Now this is me being an amateur psychologist, but Mayweather is so tied up with the fact that nobody has beaten him, that he has a zero on his record, I don't know if he would be willing to go into the ring with anybody that could jeopardize that zero."

This isn't the first time Arum has said something like this, and he wasn't done on the matter there, either.

"He is afraid, terrified of losing that zero," said Arum, possibly in an effort to goad Mayweather into making the match.

"That's why he's ducked (Shane) Mosely, (Antonio) Margarito and Cotto, and the question is will he duck Manny Pacquiao because he's so afraid of losing that zero."

* * * * * * * * * *

Manny Pacquiao himself is now playing a Floyd-like game. He told the Inquirer that Floyd should challenge him, not the other way around, as Mayweather has been saying:

"We are not pushing the fight. He should be the first to challenge me; after all, I got a higher pay-per-view from my fight," Pacquiao said.

Since I find it so catty and juvenile that Floyd needs Manny to ask him to the prom, I'll say the same thing for Manny's side. Just cut the crap. Without each other, the fighters make significantly less money. They both know it. They're playing some sort of weird little high school game with this. "All he has to do is challenge me." "No he should challenge me!" If we wait for that to play out, we'll be here until the reign of Queen Dick.

* * * * * * * * * *

From the Mayweather side, Leonard Ellerbe spoke with Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, and said they definitely have a backup plan should negotiations with Pacquiao and Top Rank prove fruitless.

"If the fight can't be made, we'll fight Shane Mosley if he can get past Berto."

Sort of makes you wonder what's changed and made Mosley so much more attractive.

Winky Wright can apparently expect a war from Grady Brewer on December 11. What are the odds?

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A press release hyping the fight between Grady Brewer and Winky Wright warns of an impending war in Puerto Rico on December 11. The two will meet in a main event fight available on budget pay-per-view in the United States.

From Winky:

"Just like Columbus discovered Puerto Rico hundreds of years ago, December 11 will be the day that I discover victory once again and show the world that I am still one of the best fighters in the sport today," said Wright. "I feel great, and I'm ready for a hard fight. Brewer is coming in with high hopes. I'm preparing to deflate those hopes on fight night."

From Grady:

"When I meet Winky, it's going to be a battle," said Brewer. "Unlike Columbus who took Puerto Rico without a fight, Winky should expect a war on fight night."

The last time I saw Grady Brewer, he stunk out the joint against Cornelius Bundrage in one of the most mind-numbingly boring televised fights of 2008. Since then, he's won a couple of fights by quick knockout, so who knows? Maybe he's gotten more aggressive. At 38, the former "Contender" champ is probably getting his last chance at romance with this fight.

I like looking over a record like Grady's. He has losses to Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor, and he actually lost to Pavlik before he lost to Taylor. But he also hasn't lost since May 2005. Boxing is weird, even considering the level of competition he's been beating (mostly "iffy' at best).

Then again, Winky hasn't won a fight since December 2006. Can you believe it's been three years since Winky Wright has won a fight? Three years!

This PPV is bananas.

The condition of Filipino boxer Z Gorres has dramatically improved in recent days, according to an official statement from ALA Boxing Gym.

Dr. Michael Casey, the trauma surgeon who performed emergency surgery on Gorres last Friday night in Las Vegas, said that he was happy with Gorres' recovery thus far.

Michael Aldeguer of ALA had this to say about the fighter's condition:

"Z has a good chance to live a functional life, not necessarily yet a normal life for now, because he may need to rehabilitate his left side which may need time. He is not critical anymore but still in a serious situation. However, in the next 48 hours they may get him off the ventilator. He has also reacted to certain commands though not yet consistent. According to Dr. Casey, the progress of Z is remarkable and is normally seen in two weeks but because Z is young and in great health he responded well in only five days. We are pleased to hear the news and would like to thank everyone for all the prayers that we know that have helped Z recover from the biggest fight of his life. Thank you. Please continue to pray for Z."

We'll continue to keep tabs on Gorres' condition, but so far the news has been stellar since the surgery.

Mikkel Kessler's WBA super middleweight title will be on the line against Andre Ward on Saturday.

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Ramon Aranda of 411 Mania reports that the California State Athletic Commission has acted quickly to comply with the contracts of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, changing the disputed officials for Saturday night's Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward fight.

Russ Heimerich, a spokesman of the California State Athletic Commission informed 411mania moments ago that the commission has now come to terms with both the WBA and Team Sauerland on a new set of officials.

The officials will now include Swedish judge Mikael Hook alongside Steve Morrow (Calif) and Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) along with referee Jack Reiss (Calif).

As we discussed earlier today, the contracts called for one judge from Ward's "territory," one from Kessler's (a Scandinavian country), one neutral judge, and a neutral referee. Stanley Christodoulou was already in place as the neutral referee. Mikael Hook replaces California's Steve English. With a neutral referee likely harder to get on such short notice than a judge, Jack Reiss will stay in the spot. Reiss is a fine referee and shouldn't show any favoritism to Ward, so I expect no issue there. In a perfect world, I'm sure the Kessler side would have a referee from England or Canada or the like, but this was a commission screw-up and they made it as right as possible 48 hours before the fight.

After all that, Kessler's WBA super middleweight title will be on the line. It really made no difference to me whether the title was up for grabs or not, but I'm sure it mattered to Ward and the promoters and the WBA themselves, so it's good it got resolved as quickly as possible.

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg is vowing to not let a potential super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao die, reports Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.

Greenburg was on the record calling the fight a must-have as soon as Pacquiao had defeated Miguel Cotto this past weekend in Las Vegas. I cannot remember the last time any possible fight in boxing was talked about the way this one has been in the days following Manny's last win, and Greenburg has to go back a bit to remember similar situations, too:

"It's rare when you have the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world both in their prime in the same weight class," Greenburg said. "And when that happens you seize the opportunity. I've lived through Leonard-Hagler, Leonard-Hearns. That's exactly where we were in 1981 [with Leonard-Hearns I], and the fight had to get made. The public demanded it and the fighters demanded it. And so there's no gray area. As far as the split, why hassle? Just do what Ali and Frazier did in 1971 -- split it in half. I'll go on record. What's a percentage point here or there to satisfy somebody's ego?"

He also promises to go the extra mile -- or ten -- to promote the fight:

"I don't know what the final number will be but I know if we're going to do this fight, we have to do it out of the box and we have to treat it as a Super Bowl. We have to put all of our energy into every angle of the promotion and the production and the site and treat it as a true Super Bowl, and that means generating a lot more money than we ever have generated."

Greenburg mentioned the possibility of adding a fifth episode -- instead of the usual four -- to the run of the Emmy Award-winning series "24/7" following the buildup to the fight.

"Everything about this fight is bigger than other fights," he said.

Greenburg could not be more right, and it's good to see he's taking a leading role to try to make this happen. HBO has essentially become a boxing promoter over the years in many ways, and that can mean good and bad things depending on the situation. But in this situation, I think it can only help.

Kevin Johnson will challenge Vitali Klitschko on December 12 in Switzerland. The unbeaten American has high hopes. (Photo via Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing)

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A Star Boxing press release featuring unbeaten heavyweight contender Kevin Johnson paints the next challenger to Vitali Klitschko as a confident but respectful young fighter heading into his December 12 shot at glory.

"Since the Europeans took over the heavyweight division, boxing lost some of its appeal. The average American walking down the street couldn't tell you who the champ is. When I think of great fighters I think of Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. When these guys were champs, they were icons in this great nation. The Klitschkos are a temporary mistake and I'm going to fix that mistake for good."

Despite that brash statement, he also considers Vitali the only true heavyweight "champion" out there, and points to his willingness to defend against young, undefeated fighters:

"I give Vitali a lot of respect for giving me this opportunity. He is a true champion that doesn't duck anybody. Of all the champions he is the only one who has stepped up and given us young guys, such as Chris Arreola and myself a chance to fight for his championship."

Johnson also says he won't fight the way the lumbering Samuel Peter or the overmatched Arreola did:

"If he wants to fight, I'll go toe-to-toe with him and use my speed to knock him out. I want to make things clear for everyone; I'm not Cristobal Arreola, or Sam Peter. If he stands in front of me with his hands down, I'll hit him ten times before he can land once. It's going to be a short night for him if he tries that amateur stuff with me."

Johnson is counting on his youth, speed and technique to make a difference, saying nobody besides Lennox Lewis has ever brought that sort of complete skillset against Vitali.

I'll say this. A year or two ago, I wasn't too high on "Kingpin," but the more I've watched him mature, the more I like him, and I think he has an actual shot at upsetting Vitali on December 12. I'm not picking him to win the fight, nor do I think it's anywhere near likely, but a Johnson decision win would not completely flatten me with shock or anything. And he's right: Vitali deserves some genuine respect for fighting guys like Arreola and Johnson instead of the Oleg Maskaevs of the world.

HBO will air Klitschko-Johnson on tape delay in the United States as part of a triple-header, paired with the Diaz-Malignaggi rematch and Victor Ortiz's return from Chicago.