David Haye, in many ways, carries the hopes of a division on his shoulders this Saturday against Nikolai Valuev.

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Let's just come right out and say it: If Nikolai Valuev retains his WBA heavyweight title on Saturday in Germany when he faces David Haye, the heavyweight division remains that far off from anything terribly interesting happening.

Even though Haye takes his share of talk for being mouthy or arrogant or egotistical, or for ducking out of fights with both Klitschkos this year after making such a show of calling them out, I think the vast majority of boxing fans around the world will be rooting for Haye to take Valuev out of the picture.

It's nothing personal against Valuev, really, it's just that his fights stink. He's deserved to lose more than the one time he has. John Ruiz beat Valuev and was jobbed. A 12,000-year-old Evander Holyfield beat Valuev and was jobbed. Valuev has plenty of legitimate wins, too, I'm not saying that he doesn't. I'm also not saying he's somehow not a legit fighter because he happens to be seven feet tall.

It's just that his fights are rotten to watch, he's generated no significant interest over his career, and if he was going to make anything happen, he would have by now.

Haye, on the other hand, has a future. He's bigger than he's often given credit for, at 6'3" with a 78-inch reach. He's a fitness fanatic, the type of guy that stays in immaculate shape between his fights, much like his would-be rivals, the Klitschkos. He's got massive power. And at 29, he's still young enough to stir up some genuine interest in the still-failing heavyweight division.

But for as much talk as there is of Haye knocking Valuev out, I just can't see it. Brickhaus said something to the same effect, and here are the two scenarios I think are most likely for Saturday.

1. David Haye by decision

Haye will out-quick and batter Valuev, but never break him. He will win a clear decision -- clear even in Germany -- and head off to his likely mandatory fight with John Ruiz, another thriller waiting to happen.

2. Nikolai Valuev by knockout

Haye's chin has always been a bit dodgy. Monte Barrett managed to rock him around a little bit in his proper heavyweight debut last November -- coincidentally, the last time Haye fought. With the unusual angles from which Valuev can punch a man, including straight down, Haye has got to be careful to not leave himself wide open. For such a huge man, you could say that Valuev doesn't punch that hard. But it's relative; he is a huge man, and he punches plenty hard enough to knock Haye out if David gets reckless.

I can't see Valuev being stopped by Haye unless it's an accumulation of body work that just breaks Valuev's spirit and gets him to quit on his stool or something like that. It's not that I underestimate Haye's power, which I think is outstanding. It's that I think the only guy in the division that might be able to seriously knock Valuev out is Wladimir Klitschko, were Wlad willing to unleash one of his cannon right hands or a series of left hooks like destroyed Ray Austin a couple years back. Valuev's just such a mass of flesh, blood, bone and muscle that I don't think anyone will really hurt him too bad without the perfect shot, and like him or not, he's not a dumb fighter, and he protects himself.

I am oddly excited for this fight because of what a Haye victory could mean. Haye is an exciting fighter who could finally spark some real interest in the division. We all recognize that the Klitschkos are great talents and have become as close to unbeatable compared to the rest of their division as it's likely to get, and that's nice, but they're never going to stir up any real emotion or interest unless they were to do the unthinkable and fight each other.

David Haye is the sort of talent and personality that can revive a division like this, which has stagnated but does have some nice young talent here and there.

But if Valuev wins? That's a bitter question to taste, really. If Valuev wins, and deserves to have won, then Haye leaves Germany dejected, embarrassed and in many ways, debunked in the court of public opinion. It'd be a long, hard climb for him back up the ladder. And it would mean that still another of the major heavyweight titles is controlled by a man who just doesn't make for a compelling night at the fights.

For the good of heavyweight boxing, David Haye must win.

WBC titlist Devon Alexander could be involved in a four-man HBO tournament at junior welterweight in 2010. (Photo via www.boxnews.com.ua)

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Ben Thompson of FightHype reported a couple of days ago that he'd had sources tell him that HBO was looking to put together a four-man tournament at 140 pounds, with some major names and three titleholders involved. WBA titlist Amir Khan, WBC titlist Devon Alexander, interim WBA titleholder Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz have been the fighters named.

Today, Rick Reeno and Altaf Mubarik followed up at BoxingScene.com with confirmation that there has been discussion, though nothing concrete at this point, and that includes money, locations, fighters involved, etc.

This isn't surprising, really, as one of the key points that came up in some recent speculation over the security of HBO Sports head Ross Greenburg's job was that the honchos at HBO were wondering why they didn't have something like Showtime's Super Six. You have to remember that HBO has a lot more money than Showtime; that's just a fact. The HBO boxing budget is way, way bigger than Showtime's, because HBO is a much bigger network. Meanwhile, HBO had paid mega money for Chad Dawson to land two fights on the network, which have turned out to be rematches of fights that already took place on Showtime, and there were other things of that nature named.

The Super Six is a revolution in boxing promotion. This doesn't seem like it would necessarily be on the same scale, and the idea appears to be similar to what HBO did back in 2001 with Bernard Hopkins, Tito Trinidad, Keith Holmes and William Joppy at middleweight. Hopkins beat Holmes, Trinidad beat Joppy, and then Hopkins beat Trinidad. All the while there was a clear agenda to make a Hopkins-Trinidad fight, which worked out. But there's no particularly big fight that could come out of the four names involved here.

What you have are good, young fighters. Maidana, at 26, is the old man. The other three guys are 22 years old. Maidana already waxed Ortiz and made him quit, but Ortiz seems intent to come back strong from that. Three of them currently have fights scheduled, too. Khan faces Dmitriy Salita on December 5, Maidana faces William Gonzalez on November 21, and Ortiz faces Antonio Diaz on December 5. Only Alexander has no fight scheduled right now, which is pretty much par for the course for his career under Don King.

It might wind up tough to get the promoters all working together. Even with the Super Six working out, that's always going to be hard. You'd have Golden Boy (Ortiz and working with Maidana now, too), King (Alexander), and Frank Warren (Khan). Plenty of egos there, especially with King all jacked up on Mountain Dew after the success of the Agbeko-Perez card last weekend.

It's very, very interesting, but this is also very, very, very preliminary stuff. It's mostly speculation at this point, and if nothing ever comes of it, don't be surprised.

I'm sure the Koreans hosting the WBC convention have really strong feelings about the affront Shane Mosley provided to the WBC by fighting the best fighter available rather than the cupcake the WBC mandated. via www.jejuboxing.com

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Since the WBC Convention started, which of the following crazy actions has the WBC NOT taken?

1. Suspended Cris Arreola for six months for swearing in a post-fight interview
2. Resolved to ban fathers working as trainers in their son's corners
3. Refused to sanction Berto-Mosley as a title bout unless Mosley apologizes for dropping the belt to fight Margarito
4. Named Floyd Mayweather as champion emeritus, forcing Andre Berto to fight him next
5. Said that the Humberto Gutierrez-Vitali Tajbert winner would become champion after Humberto Soto's next fight, if he moves to lightweight as expected.
   

On the bright side, they have made a few positive decisions:

• They did make Andre Dirrell Carl Froch's mandatory, pending the outcome of the Super Six.  It's quite possible that they may meet again in the tournament anyway.
• Oleg Maskaev and Ray Austin will fight an eliminator to be Vitali Klitschko's next mandatory.  While neither is particularly worthy, it's better than Maskaev automatically being the mandatory, which is what they had decided previously.
• They have mandated that the Pascal-Diaconu winner and the Dawson-Johnson winner must fight next.  Johnson will face anyone, but if Dawson wins, I'd love to see Dawson-Pascal, even though I think it would be a blowout.
• Sergio Martinez won't need to give up his 154 pound strap in order to fight Paul Williams at 160.

By the way, the correct answer to the question above is (4). 

Jason Litzau continued his rebound effort with a win over Johnnie Edwards at Camp Lejuene. (Photo via www.theamericanboys.com)

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On tonight's special ESPN2 card at the Camp Lejuene Marine base in North Carolina, Jason Litzau won a wide decision over ex-Marine Johnnie Edwards in the main event, and Frankie Figueroa and Rashad Holloway fought to a six-round draw in the co-feature.

Litzau (26-2, 21 KO) was largely unimpressive in beating Edwards (15-5-1, 8 KO), and didn't exactly hold up to the constant claim by ESPN's Brian Kenny that he was a "world class fighter." Litzau went back down to 130 for this fight, picking up a meaningless trinket title belt, which he also did in August at 135 pounds on the Jones-Lacy undercard. Litzau's career isn't in bad shape with Roy Jones' Square Ring Promotions, but the one time he really stepped up in class came against Robert Guerrero, and he was badly beaten that night.

He seemed tentative and sloppy for most of this fight. Litzau's calling card was always his flash and above average speed and power, but his confidence appeared a bit shot tonight. He had a massive six-inch height and nine-inch reach advantage against Edwards, but he didn't really use it to his advantage at all. In the tenth and final round he did fight a bit more like the Litzau you probably remember during his rise up the prospect ranks, but it seemed almost like he was forcing that.

Litzau won on scores of 99-91, 98-91 and 97-93.

In the co-feature, Manny Pacquiao sparring partner Rashad Holloway and former Miguel Cotto sparring partner Frankie Figueroa fought like a couple of sparring partners, killing the awesome live crowd at Lejuene with a rotten non-fight. Like Litzau, Holloway had and failed to use a significant size advantage by steadfastly refusing to jab. Figueroa really landed nothing the entire fight, which I suppose was an example of both his "Gato moves" and his "thang thang." It was an awful fight, a contender for worst TV fight of 2009. I scored it a draw, which more accurately could be described as my feeling that nobody deserved to win.

The best fight of the night was undoubtedly the four-round showcase for 20-year old Yaundale Evans, who met up with double-game Jason Rorie. Evans improved to 3-0 and knocked Rorie down twice, but he had an awful cut opened up, likely from a combination of Rorie rights and some pretty clear headbutts. The two put on a four-round war that definitely stole the show.

ESPN goes back to Camp Lejuene in North Carolina with a show for the troops. Square Ring has Jason Litzau and Frankie Figueroa in the house, and the main event should be pretty fun. As Brickhaus said in this week's schedule, Litzau is a flashy guy that likes to look impressive. The show starts at 8pm ET.

JASON LITZAU		JOHNNIE EDWARDS
	Main Event

On the Undercard: Fresh off his dismissal from the Cotto camp, Frankie Figueroa (20-3, 13 KO) will bring his "Gato moves" to Camp Lejuene and put them on display against Rashad Holloway (11-1-1, 5 KO). The last time we saw Figueroa's "Gato moves," he was knocked out by Randall Bailey.

Though Kermit Cintron (left) beat Alfredo Angulo in May, it is Angulo who will get a crack at an interim title at 154 pounds. Cintron is the mandatory for that body's full titleholder. (Photo via farm4.static.flickr.com)

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Banner Promotions put out word today that Saturday night's fight between Harry Joe Yorgey and Alfredo Angulo will be for the WBO's interim 154-pound title, and Kermit Cintron isn't happy about it.

Hours after the word went wide about the Angulo-Yorgey fight being sanctioned for that belt, DiBella Entertainment sent out a press release highlighting Cintron's issues. He has some pretty valid points, not the least of which is (as you might guess) that he beat Angulo in May. That win supposedly put him in as the No. 1 ranked contender by the WBO.

"What sense does it make that I beat Angulo and now he gets to fight for the interim title, when I am the top contender? I have done nothing but bide my time waiting for Dzinziruk, and now I’m on the outside looking in."

His attorney and adviser, Josh Dubin, also commented on the matter.

"Boxing becomes problematic when fighters earn their stature outside, instead of inside the ring," he said. "Kermit earned his spot in the rankings by clearly defeating Alfredo Angulo in the ring. I am advising the WBO that we will take any appropriate action to ensure that Kermit Cintron is treated in accordance with his ranking. Two fighters below Kermit in the ratings have been elevated into greater financial opportunities and a better standing with the WBO. We will not tolerate Kermit being financially damaged by arbitrary and capricious decision making."

Whether or not they can actually get anything done is another matter entirely, but a big part of the problem with this situation lies with Dzinziruk and his current beef with promoter Universum. Dzinziruk says he'll never fight for the promoter again, although he appeared willing to reconcile were it to lead to a December 5 fight with Paul Williams. Since that's not happening, Dzinziruk is likely back to "standing his ground."

With the full title in Dzinziruk's hands and the WBO having made no decision about whether or not to strip him, the belt is essentially held hostage for the time being, no matter who you blame for that. Dzinziruk last defended on November 1, 2008, when he beat Joel Julio. He won the belt in 2005 from Daniel Santos and since then has made five defenses.

But if he's not going to be fighting any time soon, why bother letting him keep the belt? It doesn't really help anybody, even the WBO, who will get no sanctioning fees or anything from him. They will get some money on Saturday now, but I can't help but agree with Cintron that this is clearly the wrong fight for which to contest the interim title. Cintron earned his spot with a win over Angulo, who now gets first crack at bigger paydays. Honestly, that's wrong, and they know it's wrong, or at the very least they know it's not right.

Normally, the weekend before a megafight there isn't much else going on.  This weekend is an exception, as there are two solid cards happening, and a few smaller fights that could be worth watching. 

Wednesday, November 4

ESPN2, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Jason Litzau vs. Johnnie Edwards, Frankie Figueroa vs. Rashad Holloway.  Tonight, ESPN2 will be airing a live fight card that's taking place on a military base for our troops.  You can't get a ticket to go live, but you can catch the action on TV.  Litzau vs. Edwards may be an exciting one.  Litzau is a flashy fighter who has good quickness and power, but likes to showboat a little too much and has a chin that's just one step above grade A china.  Edwards is also most famous for being a first round knockout victim of Yuriorkis Gamboa, but he owns a couple of decent wins over Freddie Norwood.  Since his last Norwood victory, he's lost two decisions to up and coming prospects.  Still, both guys like to bang a bit and neither guy has a good chin, so this one should at least have an exciting ending.  Figueroa makes his first appearance since being kicked out of the Cotto training camp, and will try to show off his "Gato moves" against Holloway, a Cincinnati prospect who's taking a big step up in class.

Friday, November 6

Sky Sports, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Paul McClosky vs. Daniel Rasilla.  McCloskey's opponent was originally to be Soulemane M'Baye, but 15-2 Rasilla is stepping in as a late replacement.  However, this will still be for the vacant European junior welterweight title.  It wouldn't be the biggest fight in the world, but if McClosky wins, he has to be on the short list for a Ricky Hatton comeback fight.   

Integrated PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($24.99), Zab Judah vs. Ubaldo Hernandez, Joey Casamayor vs. Jason Davis.  Scott's write-up on this card is here.

Saturday, November 7

Integrated PPV, 3:00 p.m. Eastern ($24.99), Nicolai Valuev vs. David Haye, John Ruiz vs. Adnan Serin.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage, at least of the Haye fight.  Don't blame Scott if he doesn't cover the John Ruiz fight - staring directly at a John Ruiz fight can cause permanent blindness.  Lucky for all of us, Ruiz is the mandatory for the winner of the main event.  Those of you in Germany can also catch the fight for free on ARD.

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($5.99), Mike Jones vs. Raul Pinzon, Gabriel Rosado vs. Latif Mundy.  Frankly, for $20 less, this one's worth about as much as the Zab Judah card.  Someone needs to get Mike Jones on TV already.  He's one of the better prospects out there who has yet to be televised.  He was scheduled to clash with Richard Gutierrez, but Gutierrez had to pull out.  Pinzon isn't a bad replacement, but not a great one either.  He's a standard Columbian slugger with a questionable chin who lost his last two fights to Saul Alvarez and David Torres.  Rosado tries to bounce back from his loss to Alfredo Angulo, which he can probably blame on his lack of concentration during the fight as much as anything. 

HBO, 9:30 p.m. Eastern, Chad Dawson vs. Glen Johnson II, Alfredo Angulo vs. Harry Joe Yorgey.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage of this card as well.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing....

• Sam Sexton will rematch Martin Rogan on Friday.  Sexton vs. Rogan I was a fun heavyweight bout earlier in the year that ended quite controversially.  Sexton was beating up on Rogan pretty good early in the fight, but Rogan, with both of his eyes closing shut, came back to seriously hurt Sexton.  Sexton stayed up on his feet, but was clearly in la-la land, and one more solid punch would have taken him down for the count (and possibly seriously injured him).  Rogan took his foot off the gas, thinking the referee would step in and stop the fight when his opponent was clearly defenseless.  Instead, this gave Sexton enough time to recover and last the round, and the referee stopped the fight between rounds due to Rogan's eyes swelling shut, resulting in a TKO win for Sexton.  Rogan is a throwback mauler, so the rematch should be fun as well.  Sadly, best I can tell, it's not being televised live because it conflicts with the McClosky fight.  It will be shown on tape delay on BBC1 on Wednesday.  In addition, it will be aired live on Hungarian TV, of all places, so maybe you can catch a stream.

• The Haye-Valuev undercard is absolutely loaded with every Sauerland prospect out there, although I don't know which fights, if any, will be televised.  Robert Helenius takes on Taras Bidenko in a matchup between two fringe contenders.  Gbenga Oloukun tries to bounce back from a loss only a few weeks ago against 2-0 Kurbat Pulev.  Sergei Lyakhovich is scheduled to fight West Virginia insurance salesman (and recent victim of every senior citizen comebacking heavyweight out there) Jeremy Bates.  Alexander Frenkel will take on a completely shot to bits Kelvin Davis.  6'7" cruiserweight prospect Francisco Palacios will take on DeLeon Tinsley in a step up fight.  Tinsley has good wins over Alfredo Escalera Jr. and Lou Del Valle, but has generally lost to class opposition, such as Ola Afolabi, Enad Licina and Aaron Williams.  David Haye's prospect George Groves takes a minor step up against seasoned veteran Konstantin Makhankov. 
• In an all-Canadian card, Sebastian Demers takes on Nicholson Poulard, David Lemieux goes after Alfredo Contreras.  Demers got smashed the two times he stepped up at 160, so despite not having much power, he's moved up to 168.  His debut in the weight class went well, as he won by first round knockout.  If he gained power in gaining weight, he might actually be better off at his new weight. The fight is for the NABO title vacated by Andre Ward when he joined the Super Six tournament. 
• Heriberto Ruiz and Jackson Asiku will face off for an IBO title.  Ruiz seems to be leveling out as a high level gatekeeper, with wins over Rey Bautista and Mauricio Martinez, but losing every time he's jumped up one level in class, losing to Steve Molitor, Eric Morel, Alejandro Valdez and Irene Pacheco.  Asiku has gone undefeated in the last 5 years, clearing out the Aussie circuit in the process. 
• Taking tune-up or stay-busy fights this weekend: Peter Manfredo, Austin Trout, Jean Paul Mendy, Martin Lindsay, Grzegorz Proska, Keith Thurman, Brandon Rios, Tyrone Brunson

David Haye and Nikolai Valuev gave their final thoughts and quotes in Germany. The two meet Saturday for Valuev's WBA heavyweight title.

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David Haye:

"He hasn't fought anyone of my caliber; he's never fought anyone in their prime or someone so fired up," the challenger said. "I'm not one of these guys he's used to fighting. I'm not over-the-hill, I'm not tainted, I'm not past my sell-by-date. I am fresh, I am ready."

"Training has gone great and I am going to make him look silly on Saturday night. I am going to embarrass him, knock him out. He's never fought anyone as fast or who punches as hard as me, or as accurate. I know he feels I'm a little mouthy man from England, but he's gonna be in for a rude awakening when that bell goes."

"I don't care what I weigh. I haven't looked at the scales all through training camp. So long as I'm fit and sharp at the weight, I'm not bothered what the scales say. As far as bring my power up, I have no doubt I'll hit hard enough to knock out top heavyweights. I've never been in the ring with an opponent - amateur, sparring, or as a pro - who hasn't respected my punching power. I've floor top heavyweights, in the gym and in the ring, and none of them can ever believe how hard I punch for a smaller guy."

"It's never much fun getting hit by a man weighing 23 stone, so I'm not underestimating the power he generates. He must hit fairly hard. Technically, he does most things right. He's a well-schooled fighter that has improved over the years. Saying that, though, his last five fights have gone the distance, and I certainly don't think he's the fearsome and terrifying puncher he perhaps should be for a man of that size."

Nikolai Valuev:

"He can say what he wants. I have heard that from many opponents before. It is not going to happen. I will win."

Wilfried Sauerland (Valuev's manager):

"I don´t know where he takes it from. He is untested at heavyweight and got knocked down a lot of times in his career. Now he is facing a proven champion with 50 victories, so I really wonder why he is so optimistic."

(Photo via www.google.com)

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David Haye arrived in Germany just recently for his Saturday fight with WBA heavyweight titleholder Nikolai Valuev, and in typical Haye fashion, he found something to say, and he did so in a rather hilarious fashion. From Haye's blog at The Sun:

We were booked on the ridiculously early 7am flight and that meant I had to be packed and out the door at 5am.

Given that we train very late in the evening and didn't finish until midnight, I ended up getting zero hours sleep on Sunday night.

That was annoying, but nothing I couldn't handle.

The most frustrating part was still to come, as when I reached German soil I was guided towards a disgusting hotel, with a dingy room.

After a quick call or two, we managed to depart the rancid lair with our legs and arms still intact.

We actually ended up at a lovely five-star hotel, though we had to pay for the five-star privilege. Still, if it saves us from the guaranteed Black Death of the first place, it will be well worth the price.

These are the sort of mind games and tactics you have to put up with when fighting abroad.

They rattle some fighters, while others refuse to ever box on foreign territory. The foreign promoters are always looking to give their guy any possible advantage and they'll look to screw you around left, right and centre if they think it's going to unsettle you.

So Haye is already saying he's had "sleeping problems," but he's framing it in such a comical manner that he probably never had any single problem with it whatsoever. The guy goes a bit over the top sometimes, but it's this sort of humor that makes me really like him. I mean that whole thing is funny.

Valuev did respond, though:

"I don't care whether he can sleep or not," said Valuev. "And I don't really care about what hotel he stays in."

Short. To the point. Effective.

Derric Rossy is one of two leading contenders to face Cristobal Arreola on December 5. (Photo via www.finalforumboxing.com)

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BoxingScene.com reports that there are four names being talked about as opponents for Cristobal Arreola on December 5, but two men are leading the race.

While Malik Scott (32-0, 11 KO, very empty record) and 37-year old Michael Grant (45-3, 33 KO) have been mentioned, it appears that Brian Minto and Derric Rossy are the most likely to face Arreola, as "The Nightmare" comes back from his first professional loss.

Rossy (22-2, 12 KO) is a 29-year old out of Medford, New York whose most famous fight was a win over Ray Mercer in China back in 2008. He was knocked out by Eddie Chambers in 2007 and by Alexander Dimitrenko in 2008, and the same fate surely would await him against Arreola. He's not that big of a puncher and doesn't have Arreola's boxing skills, either. He's also notable for playing college football at Boston College (1998-2001). He started three games in his senior season.

We discussed Minto (34-2, 21 KO) yesterday. He's a tough guy, but he's also 34 years old and really undersized (5'11", 72" reach). Arreola would likely take his head off, and even with Minto's reputation of making it a tough night for anyone, Arreola's size, youth and power spell doom for Minto, and I don't think that one goes too far into the night.

Neither Rossy nor Minto are exactly big steps up from the guys Arreola's already been beating, for instance Travis Walker or Chazz Witherspoon. But at the end of the day, it is just a bounce-back fight; HBO and Goossen Tutor will try to rebuild Arreola. Neither of the Klitschkos are likely to be in the sport for a whole lot longer, and at that point the heavyweight division will be in need of a new king. Arreola's as good a candidate as anyone, and with his style, the fact that he's Mexican-American, and his great personality, he's worth the bet.