Source: Sporting Life

Former cruiserweight champion and current heavyweight contender David Haye is setting his sights on WBC titlist Vitali Klitschko and not his multiple-body titleholder brother, Wladimir, according to Haye's manager, Adam Booth:

"At first they were talking about Wladimir, now they pull Wladimir out and offer me Vitali," Booth told Setanta Sports.

Booth added it was a case of either fighting the brother "with better punches and a weaker chin [Wladimir] or the one with the better chin but who has slowed considerably over the last few years [Vitali]."

Coming off of his destructive domination of Monte Barrett in London, which Vitali attended in an obvious set-up fashion, Haye may have to wait a bit. Vitali has been ordered by the WBC to fight mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez, another former cruiserweight king. In the meantime, Haye could take another fight with a fringe contender to stay busy and hype even further.

Right now, I'd have to say that Haye versus either Klitschko brother will be the most legitimately anticipated heavyweight fight in years. Vitali has a rock solid chin, and watching Haye try to chop him down could be extremely compelling.

One thing seems certain: unless something catastrophic happens, Haye and a Klitschko will battle in 2009. That's good news for the division and for boxing in general. Haye has massive star potential as a charismatic, brash, big-punching, genuinely exciting heavyweight. His being English won't hamper him in the States, either; this guy, if all goes right, could be a major star. He has some obstacles, of course, and he seems intent on taking them head-on. That's another thing to like.

Top prospect Yuriorkis Gamboa will return to action on January 9 in Primm, Nevada, a place he's made his home away from home in the last year. He'll share the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights bill with fellow Cuban Gold Medalist and defector Odlanier Solis, who will be in heavyweight action. The two will share a pro bill for the first time.

Gamboa (12-0, 10 KO) went 5-0 in 2008, including notable televised wins over Darling Jimenez and Marcos Ramirez on HBO. He beat Jimenez and Al Seeger in Primm.

The explosive Cuban may face Belarusian "contender" Andrey Isaev (19-1, 6 KO), who is ranked No. 2 by the WBO, which is about as laughable as rankings come. Isaev has never beaten anyone, but was stopped by still-unbeaten Brit Kevin Mitchell in 2006. Gamboa, needless to say, will be a massive favorite, and should he get past Isaev (or whomever), will move on to face Elio Rojas for an interim title.

Solis (12-0, 8 KO) has no rumored opponent as of yet. He is among the best prospects in the heavyweight division, and the 28-year old has been facing solid pros pretty much his entire pro career thus far, though he's yet to face a serious challenge. He is fast-tracked, though, much like Alexander Povetkin was.

Frankly, no matter the opponent, Gamboa is so much fun to watch that that week's FNF will be better than the average bear regardless. There are really very few guys with his offensive skillset, and his vulnerability makes him even more interesting.

Source: BoxingScene.com

Following a cancellation of his November fight against Sam Hill, all eyes in John Duddy's career appeared pointed toward a January matchup on Boxing After Dark with fellow unbeaten Ronald Hearns. Instead, it looks like Duddy's next battle could be in the courtroom, as his ongoing troubles with Irish Ropes Promotions and manager Tony McLoughlin appear to have no amicable end in sight.

Duddy (25-0, 17 KO) may look back on 2008 as a lost year, and that appears to be headed into 2009, too. With a debated win over Walid Smichet and a rout of unheralded Charles Howe, Duddy has managed to get only two fights in, neither available on U.S. television.

A cut in the Smichet fight cost him what appeared to be a done deal shot at middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, and negotiations for a fight with 154-pound titleholder Verno Phillips also fell through. The latter may be part of Duddy's concerns about management, come to think of it.

Not that I think Duddy is a great fighter or destined to be a Hall of Famer or has any more than what he's shown, but there will always, always be a place for a charismatic, crowd-drawing, crowd-pleasing fighter like Duddy, who pretty much lacks the ability necessary to be in a bad fight. The blood-and-guts warrior is important in boxing, and Duddy is that sort of guy. It's too bad his career looks to be on ice for the short term.

CRAZEDANG touched on it in this FanPost, and the word is in: WBA welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito has officially passed on a January 24 defense against Shane Mosley, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This has a lot of domino potential, really, both in fights being made or not made, and in terms of perception. Let's start with perception before we move on to what might go down as a result of Margarito-Mosley falling through.

Antonio Margarito is the man at 147 right now, but this is the second time since beating Miguel Cotto that I think we can legitimately and rightly question exactly where his heart and guts might truly lie. For years, Bob Arum did a phenomenal job of casting Margarito as the most feared man in boxing. They offered Floyd Mayweather a cool $8 million, and Floyd turned it down, taking a fight with lineal welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir for a big payday instead. Floyd had his reasons; Margarito, though, could claim fear on the part of the "Pretty Boy."

But when he had a chance post-Cotto to fight Paul Williams and avenge that loss, Margarito turned down a $4 million offer, which was absolutely the best he was going to be getting. By turning down the Mosley fight after claiming Sugar Shane was scared of him, Margarito has infuriated Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who had this to say:

Margarito should shut up and not call out people anymore after this, when they accept and then he chickens out," Schaefer said. "Margarito says he's the most feared fighter in the world. Well, he's now lost that title.

And that's kind of where I'm at right now. It's that that Margarito-Mosley was some must-have fight, but Shane agreed to it, all the pieces were in place, HBO was ready to roll for January, and now Margarito has decided that a world-ranked contender with a great reputation and name value, coming off of a win, is not a good enough fight.

Top Rank exec Todd duBoef almost sounds like he's apologizing with this quote:

"Part of their thinking, I'm sure, is that the Cotto fight did good numbers [more than 450,000 pay-per-view buys] and that's the fight they want, more than a guy that Cotto beat," duBoef said. "Shane Mosley was a big name seven years ago, but they weighed the consequences and decided it was onward and upward."

If this were the case, the Margarito camp does realize that this is not the economy it was in July, don't they?

Cotto-Margarito did great numbers at a little over 450K, which if I'm remembering correctly, currently puts it at No. 2 for the boxing year, behind Jones-Trinidad, which did about 500,000. Pacquiao-Marquez II did 400,000, and past that we've had disappointments with Calzaghe-Jones (225K), Pavlik-Hopkins (190-195K), Pavlik-Taylor II (250K for a compelling rematch of one of the best fights of 2007). Pacquiao-Diaz and Casamayor-Marquez were about on point for their expectations.

Even though it remains a genuinely interesting matchup, does a Margarito-Cotto rematch match the big numbers they did the first time around? I think it's a toss-up.

Anyway, that's not even really the point. The point is more that if Margarito is going to basically back out of fights he's agreed to, this aura that he's tried so hard to build is just as much of a put-on as anything else.

Meanwhile, with that fight off the docket, the schedule has opened up for revisiting talks on a WBC welterweight title fight between titleholder Andre Berto and Mosley, which I think is a hell of an interesting matchup, and one I'd love to see. As far as replacement fights go, they don't get much better than that.

It's not as important as Margarito-Mosley would have been, maybe, but in many ways it's a better fight for Mosley. After the two shared the bill with wins in September on HBO, Mosley commented that Berto reminded him of a younger version of himself, which is both high praise and something I think is very valid. Berto lives on hand speed and accumulated power, much as Mosley has done over his career. Both are also willing to ditch boxing to get into a brawl as soon as the situation hints at a need for that.

Berto presents Mosley with a challenge -- he's a young, fast, strong fighter with explosive offensive ability. Mosley presents Berto with a very big challenge -- he's still pretty fast, still pretty strong, and he's a smart veteran. Berto has never faced anyone near Mosley's level, frankly. They had talked Berto-Collazo, which seemed a logical step up, but fighting Mosley skips that Collazo level and goes right into the division's elite. And honestly, Berto's probably as ready as he's going to be to make that leap.

As far as Margarito goes, if he wants to go right into a Cotto rematch, that could be a go for February. All the recent scuttlebutt has had Cotto returning on February 14 or February 21, possibly against UK welter Michael Jennings, a name that nobody knows. Bob Arum had talked Margarito-Cotto II for next summer, but he might have to step on the gas and get to it now. Margarito didn't fight Williams, didn't fight Josh Clottey in November (which Arum tried to make happen), and now won't fight Mosley.

We'll see how it all shakes out, but expect to see Mosley fighting on January 24. Just not against Antonio Margarito, the most feared man in boxing, the robo-machine that can't be taken apart, the man who avoids nobody...

Source: The Sweet Science (Bernard Fernandez)

Gary Shaw is a lot of things. I would list some of those things, but I fear it would only needlessly offend.

I really don't think "stupid" would be on my list, though. Even with his many ugly fallings out with fighters, and for as laughable as his run with EliteXC was, the man isn't stupid. He's made a lot of money, brought up some great fighters along the way, and put on some damn good shows.

Gary also is in love with Kimbo Slice. There is no other way to put it. Gary struggles to come up with reasons that he thinks Kimbo Slice is still on the upswing as a pro athlete, trying hopelessly to compare him to Mike Tyson and noting times when chefs at restaurants wanted to come out and say hello to him.

Gary can't quite explain it; you have to be there, man. You have to experience it for yourself. You have to find this IT that Kimbo has. Ya gotta believe.

Gary thinks Kimbo Slice could be a heavyweight titleholder in boxing. Admittedly, says Gary, Kimbo is a novice. But imagine if he learned to sit down on his punches, turn them over. Imagine, if you will, if Kimbo Slice wasn't a 34 year old man whose upside is hampered dramatically by his age.

But that's really all it is, isn't it? It's imagination gone wild with Kimbo, who is quite a nice guy, proved gracious in defeat against Seth Petruzelli, and never came across as arrogant in victory, either, and that goes back to his ever-popular streetfights.

While Gary Shaw dreams of Kimbo Slice, heavyweight boxing champion, and claims that today's heavyweight scene is open enough for his guy to grab a title, the actual world keeps moving on. Neither Klitschko brother would have any trouble with Kimbo, as both are far too savvy, even with Wladimir's lingering chin questions. Big Nikolai Valuev could well crumble to a Kimbo power combo, but it's also a question of whether or not Kimbo would have the technical prowess to get past the giant's jab. And if Seth Petruzelli can rock and drop Kimbo, Valuev can, too.

It's not even that I'm against seeing Kimbo give boxing a shot. But just like in MMA, his problem would be the race against time. He isn't of the age that he can take five or six years to hone his craft and work his way up. No matter how much Gary or anyone else talks about "the proper training" and making him a truly better pro fighter, I would expect that within 8-to-10 pro fights, Shaw and another promoter would get together, try to sell tickets by the bushel, and send Kimbo out into a situation he's not really prepared to handle. Some will argue that Kimbo found himself in that situation against James Thompson back in May; his 14-second October loss to the smaller Petruzelli gave his naysayers a huge, celebratory, "I told ya so!" 

And it's not Kimbo's fault. It's Shaw's.

Gary Shaw dreams of Kimbo Slice, megastar and great success, because Gary Shaw sees big money in the guy. You can't blame him for that, either. As a promoter, that's business goal number one. Make money. Kimbo does have that potential, and his skills need not go past novice to accomplish such in the short term.

But in the long term, is Shaw merely trying to keep a company line going with regards to Mr. Ferguson? He says all these great things about Kimbo, but he never truly expresses any great belief in Kimbo's abilities. He talks only about persona, about the head chef running out to meet the man, about people reacting to him when he walks into a room.

Gary talks business. That's because Gary's a businessman. His dreams are tinted green. For Kimbo's sake, I hope the money is his main aspiration, too, because then at least promoter and fighter are on the same page.

The image with Kimbo Slice is the easy thing to sell. They've already sold that. They can still sell that. But it's never going to come easy to get him accepted as a legitimate professional fighter, no matter which sport he chooses to ply his trade. There are too many that are dead set to be opposed to his rise that even if he had the skills of a prodigy -- which he does not -- he'd be meeting resistance.

Really, as much as I actually like Kimbo Slice, I think the whole thing is a battle that neither fighter nor promoter can ultimately win.

But remember to be fair to Kimbo Slice, who has never asked anyone to consider him a top-grade fighter. If you want to blame anyone, blame the dreamer.

Say what you will about Paulie Malignaggi, but he's a tough dude. The beating he took from Miguel Cotto somehow saw him last all 12 rounds, and he's overcome an amount of hand injuries that would force many to retire.

He can be obnoxious. You can write him off as a pretty boy. But he's also a straight shooter, knows when he's underperformed, and doesn't cast himself as the second coming. In his own way, he is quite the realist.

He's also got a shot on Saturday night to become the legitimate junior welterweight champion of the world if he can upset Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas.

While Hatton's biggest fans and Malignaggi's biggest detractors may point to his lack of any punching power, his frequent injuries, and his marginally soft record, which is devoid of any truly "big" wins. He also has been spotty in recent performances; since the Cotto loss, he's 4-0, including two genuine outclassings against Edner Cherry and Lovemore N'dou. He arguably won 22 straight rounds in those fights.

But his January win over Herman Ngoudjo didn't come easy, and his May rematch with N'dou in Manchester was seriously rough, as Malignaggi's ridiculous hair extensions may have caused him to give some rounds away before his corner got fed up and cut them off. And even without the stupid hair mistake, Paulie simply didn't have his best night.

But the win, coupled with Hatton's victory over Juan Lazcano in the main event that same night, set it up. Hatton (44-1, 31 KO) would face Malignaggi (25-1, 5 KO) for Hatton's Ring Magazine championship.

Ricky has reigned as world champion since 2005, when he forced Kostya Tszyu into retirement after 11 rough rounds, defending against Carlos Maussa, Juan Urango, a faded Jose Luis Castillo, and Lazcano. He also went 1-1 in two attempts to move up to welterweight, scoring a tight win over Luis Collazo and being knocked out by Floyd Mayweather last December.

Let's say Paulie, 27, beats Ricky, 30. Hatton is working without Billy Graham for the first time, he's had even more trouble cutting weight than usual by all accounts, and the way he and new trainer Floyd Mayweather, Sr., are talking in the press, that relationship just may not work out (that'd be a shocker).

Malignaggi has a shot, and if he wins, he's the real world champion at 140 pounds. Who would that put in line? Hatton says if he loses to Malignaggi, he'll have to think about retiring. So let's assume no rematch. Who are Paulie's potential suitors?

The winner of Holt-Torres III

Holt (24-2, 13 KO) and Torres (32-2, 28 KO) will meet for a third time on December 13 in Atlantic City. While their trilogy won't quite join the ranks of Vazquez-Marquez or Barrera-Morales, they've had two wildly compelling fights. The first time, bad officiating and a bad environment on a poorly-run show in Torres' home country, Colombia, led to a Torres win in a controversial fight.

When Holt appealed, he was at first shot down, but he got his rematch 10 months later. Torres had stayed out of the ring that entire time; Holt had taken a stay-busy fight that turned out tougher than he hoped for against veteran Ben Tackie. But their one-round rematch saw Holt floored twice before knocking Torres cold after a right hand...which was preceded by a nasty incidental headbutt.

Holt is the slicker boxer, but Torres' power is among the sport's best pound-for-pound. Either would present a nice matchup for Malignaggi, or Hatton for that matter.

Timothy Bradley

The 25-year old WBC titlist scored a stunning upset over Junior Witter on the road in May, chopping down longtime Hatton hater Witter's chances at ever facing "The Hitman," which was a fight many wanted to see for years. The most interesting thing going on right now in the division past Malignaggi centers on Bradley, Torres and Holt. The Holt-Torres winner is likely to face Bradley after that, with Bradley giving up his WBC strap to go after the big fight and the WBO belt. But if Paulie wins, I think the game changes for everyone. Hatton isn't going to fight any of these guys -- if he wins, he'll look for the Oscar-Manny winner. Paulie's not in that position.

The winner of Ngoudjo-Urango

Former Malignaggi challenger Herman Ngoudjo will fight Juan Urango for the IBF belt that Paulie vacated in order to fight Hatton. The IBF had ordered Malignaggi to face Ngoudjo, their mandatory, but he passed to go for the money, which any sane boxer would have done. Urango is a past Hatton victim and is probably simply too slow for Paulie. The fact is, Malignaggi-Urango isn't marketable, period, and Malignaggi-Ngoudjo II won't be what Paulie's looking to make happen. He knows with his right hand that his time in boxing is limited; he'll want to make the big money.

Zab Judah

Judah (37-6, 25 KO) would be a wonderful matchup for Malignaggi. The two Brooklyn natives could do a house in the Big Apple, and any network would be interested. Judah plans to return to 140, where he belongs. Zab can still fight, but he was again unimpressive in routing a tremendously overmatched Ernest Johnson on the horrific Calzaghe-Jones undercard. The last impressive performance Zab has had was a brutal loss to Miguel Cotto. And before that? Cosme Rivera? The TKO win over Cory Spinks?

Still, Zab's hand speed remains top notch, and the weight drop would likely suit him well. It's not like Paulie is going to back him down or push him around. Of all the potentials, this is the one I like most. Frankly if Hatton wins and couldn't land a Pacquiao or Oscar fight, Hatton-Judah at 140 sounds good to me.

It's all no guarantee, of course. Hatton still bullies with the best of them, Paulie's hand is still made of fiberglass, and Ricky's been in these big fights before. Still, it's fun to consider what would be a genuine changing of the guard at 140 pounds.

For those that aren't familiar with junior featherweight titlists Celestino Caballero and/or Steve Molitor (pictured), the two men will meet in a unification match this Friday on Showtime. It's a true hardcore fan's matchup, and Showtime should be commended for making room for it on the schedule. Here are some articles from around the web so that you can familiarize yourself with the two if you don't much about them. Both are fine, fine fighters, legitimately among the top five in their division, and a win by either puts them into the pound-for-pound top 20 discussion, too.

Molitor, Caballero play it cool -- Toronto Star

Molitor looks to beat WBA champ Caballero to lift his boxing profile -- Canadian Press

Ex-trainer won't watch Molitor fight -- Calgary Herald (This one discusses Steve Molitor's falling out with former trainer Chris Johnson.)

Steve Molitor fights for himself and his brother -- MaxBoxing.com (Excellent article discussing Steve's brother, Jeremy, a former amateur standout currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend.)

Caballero & Molitor set for unification battle -- SecondsOut.com

We'll have more on this fight in the coming days, plus some talk about the junior welterweight championship fight between Ricky Hatton and Paulie Malignaggi on Saturday. We'll also have round-by-round coverage and scoring for both cards.

Tip of the cap to our friends at Bloody Elbow. Original article at the Daily Star is here.

And ‘The Hitman’, who faces Paulie Malignaggi at the MGM Grand Arena next Saturday, told me: "The presentation and general approach of the UFC is something that boxing can learn a great deal from."

It was Hatton’s first taste of live UFC action and he said: "The whole aspect of it was great and, rather than boxing ignore it, it should take a leaf out of the UFC book.

"For instance, they have big screens around the arena with pre-fight interviews which really get the crowd involved. Why can’t we do that at boxing matches in the UK?

"I was really, really impressed. I know that the UFC sells out wherever it is – but to be present at this fight night was an eye-opening experience."

This is something that's really started sticking in my craw in 2008, and I say it every time we see a big fight that takes place in England or Germany or Canada or Japan, too. Ricky's also right in that even those events could go a step further, too, but honestly I'd be happy if U.S. fights just had more of an event-like atmosphere to them. The UFC and, yes, WWE both know how to put on a show. It involves the crowd, gets them going, keeps them entertained, and people are actually there for the whole event.

And I know Las Vegas sites pay really well, but if you watched even Taylor-Lacy from Nashville on Saturday, I think you can also see my point when I wish that there were more events that did not take place in Las Vegas. Vegas is such a phony  boxing crowd, filled up with celebrities and their free tickets, and gamblers that come in for the main event, the only fight they have money on. Some damn good fights this year have gone ignored by Vegas audiences, but that goes for Atlantic City to a lesser degree, too. Rubio-Ornelas in A.C. and Segura-Canchila in Vegas spring to mind.

There's so much more energy on a UFC broadcast than there is a boxing broadcast. The fans are far more familiar with fighters up and down the card than it seems boxing's audience generally is. It doesn't hurt that UFC has a better network/cable TV presence than boxing, and that they simply promote better because it's all under their own banner. But these things can be accomplished in boxing. It would require more effort than I think promoters in boxing are used to putting in, though.

I'm not even saying that Richard Schaefer, Oscar, Bob Arum, Gary Shaw, Don King, Lou DiBella, etc., don't know how to promote a show. I am saying that they're all pretty far behind what Dana White and the UFC office does on a regular basis. You look at Gary Shaw's MMA attempt, which died a remarkable and gruesome death, and even with backing from CBS and Showtime, EliteXC against UFC was just night-and-day, even ignoring the fighters involved and just focusing on the presentation aspects.

I don't want it to turn into really corny, cheeseball-type stuff, but U.S. boxing promoters need to take note that a combat sport can and should be as much a show as it is the sport being put on display. There's no downside to it. It can only do good for the fights and for business.

When I went over to the new and improved Ring Magazine web site (a long time overdue on "new and improved," by the way), I noticed that Freddie Roach "has a blog" for them now, starting with his first "entry."

I don't think I'll cause The Ring to crap too hard by reprinting the entire entry here:

At first, I thought putting this fight together would be impossible because Manny and Oscar were in different weight classes. Then I started thinking about it. After I trained Oscar, I realized he had trouble with smaller guys and southpaws. Oscar sparred with Ivan Calderon, the former 105-pound champion, when I trained him for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight because I wanted someone real quick. Calderon slapped Oscar around like it was unbelievable. I said between rounds one time, "Oscar, I want you to hit him one shot to show him who’s boss." He couldn’t do it. I got mad at him. I told him the same thing another time; we used Calderon for a couple of days. I said, "Go ahead and hit that little mother." Again, he couldn’t do it. Calderon was too quick and had a southpaw stance, like Manny does. That’s when I thought of Manny. I knew then it was a winnable fight.

I love to take little pot shots at Oscar as much as the next guy. I don't hate him, but I do think he's about fake as they come. I appreciate his attempts to go over the top, since I don't think showmanship hurts. He just stinks at it.

Freddie Roach's act of revealing "the real" Oscar that can't do anything right anymore is getting just as tired, though. Ivan Calderon? The five-foot tall, 105- and 108-pound champion? No. I'm sorry. I'm really just not buying it. If Oscar didn't land a big shot on Calderon in practice -- giving this credit for it having happened -- it might've been more because Oscar didn't feel like hitting a man he's nearly a foot taller than (Oscar is 5'10 1/2") and outweighed by 40 or 50 pounds. Manny Pacquiao, at 5'6 1/2", is a monster next to Ivan Calderon. Calderon is f---ing tiny, to put it bluntly.

And this is Freddie Roach we're talking about, the man who thinks every fighter should retire after every fight for which he trains them. I can't see him demanding that Oscar hammerfist down on to the top of "that little mother's" head.

I know it's hype, I know they're just trying to sell, but this is a lame, lame attempt at selling a fight.

The weather outside is frightful, dudes. I am a huge, huge fan of Christmas, so I'm getting psyched. This may come as no surprise, but I'm a huge dork.

YOUR DREAMS WERE YOUR TICKET OUT

"It's all about getting your confidence back up. The more fights you win, the more confidence you get. I feel like this fight was a confidence builder. Jeff is the hardest-hitting guy I know. If I can take his punches, I know I've still got it." -- Jermain Taylor, who easily outpointed friend Jeff Lacy on Saturday Night (HBO.com)

"The referee did a great job of not calling a knockdown. It was a slip. He stepped on my toe and I slipped." -- Taylor, singing the praises of Laurence Cole

"It was a knockdown; he went down when I hit him. He's a good friend outside of the ring. I thought it was a close fight, especially if they counted the knockdown." -- Jeff Lacy, who was outlanded 213-75 and raised his arms in victory just before Taylor's name was read as the winner, despite being told by his trainer numerous times he was losing the fight (ESPN.com)

"If they want us, we will be happy to go to Wales. Joe's the man." -- Taylor's promoter Lou DiBella, on fighting Joe Calzaghe

"But I don't know about going to Wales. Maybe he should come back here." -- Taylor

"This is the best I ever felt after a fight. I am so proud of myself -- not like in the Kelly fights, where I half-assed it." -- Taylor

HAYE AQUALUNG

"I was very impressed with the fight. Next year, it will be a great fight in Britain or Germany, in a big stadium." -- WBC heavyweight beltholder Vitali Klitschko, talking fight with David Haye (AP)

"I don't mind if it is Wladimir or Vitali. He and his brother are the best in the world. That's why I want to fight these guys." -- David Haye

UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH

"They said I was too old when I was 34 and was getting ready to fight Mike Tyson for the first time." -- 46-year old Evander Holyfield, who will fight 7-foot titlist Nikolai Valuev in Switzerland next month (ESPN.com)

"Just imagine a 46-year-old guy being heavyweight champ of the world?" -- Holyfield, who one year ago asked us to imagine a 45-year old guy heavyweight champ, before being dominated by Sultan Ibragimov

"I'm taking this fight very seriously. Holyfield is a strong opponent." -- the respectful Nikolai Valuev

POURIN' IT ON A LITTLE THICK, CHAMP

"Hey, I love this. I love boxing. I love training." -- Oscar de la Hoya, whose eyes apparently "sparkled" as he said this (AP)

"I see other guys in here, my sparring partners or other guys just training here, and I'll see them sitting down between rounds and drinking water. And I say to myself, `What the heck is that?' I would never do that." -- Oscar, who definitely never showed up out of shape to fight an opponent he overlooked

"Welterweight is natural for me. Now we just have to maintain for three weeks. No tamales, nothing like that. I even have to skip Thanksgiving. It's a tough life." -- Oscar, who says he feels stronger and faster cutting down to 147

ODDS N' SODS

"I feel very happy. I thank God for the opportunity to fight for the IBO title. Next I want Bernard Hopkins." -- Sakio Bika, who blew out Peter Manfredo on Thursday. Good luck getting Hopkins. (AP)

"You can't play at this. He needs to stop drinking. Period." -- Floyd Mayweather, Sr., on Ricky Hatton's noted weight gains and drinking between fights (Daily Mail via BoxingScene.com)

"That ain't going to happen. I'm 30 years old and I still go down to the pub with the lads." -- Ricky Hatton, who is 30 years old and still goes down to the pub with the lads