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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Daily Star:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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After a brief stint as a cruiserweight, New Zealand's Shane Cameron will return to the heavyweight division for a fight with American veteran Monte Barrett on May 30, the Sunday Star Times reports.

After months of negotiation and a late attempt to stage a third fight between Tua and Barrett, the Sunday Star-Times can reveal that a deal has been brokered by David Higgins, the promoter who staged the Tua-Cameron "Fight of the Century" in 2009.

Higgins says Cameron-Barrett will headline the first in an annual series called Heavyweight Explosion and he is chasing leading Australian and Kiwi heavyweights to figure on the undercard.

Barrett (35-9-2, 20 KO) is coming off of a controversial win over David Tua in Manukau City on August 13 of last year. The fight itself was dramatic and entertaining, but Barrett reportedly failed a drug test after, although nothing ever happened to change the result of the fight.

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Sugar Shane Mosley says he's in shape and ready to go on May 5 against Canelo Alvarez, and that he's not going to be the old man that Alvarez and Golden Boy believe he is. From an interview at RingTV.com:

"I think that he's disillusioned. I think that Golden Boy and his entire team are disillusioned with what they believe is going to happen with this fight. It's an illusion. It's not what it seems. I'm not what they think that I am. I'm not over the hill. I'm not done. I'm not what they think. I think that they'll find out. In fact, I'm sure that they'll find that out when we're in the ring the night that the fight happens."

Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO) will face Alvarez for the WBC junior middleweight title on the Mayweather vs Cotto undercard at the MGM Grand, live on pay-per-view.

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Timothy Bradley tells Ryan Burton of BoxingScene.com that it wasn't easy for him to sit around and wait out the Manny Pacquiao decision for June 9, but now that he's the Pacquiao foe on that date, he's happy he waited, and thankful for the chance.

Bradley (28-0, 12 KO) says that after two years with just three fights total, he was itching to get into the ring, and didn't care if it was against Pacquiao -- a fight he wanted, but knew not to expect. After Miguel Cotto dropped out of the running, and Juan Manuel Marquez became a non-factor in the race for various reasons, the 28-year-old Bradley, in just his second fight under the Top Rank banner, became the choice. Maybe by default, but Bradley doesn't seem concerned so much with how he got the fight, just that he got it.

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Infamous Nicaraguan brawler Ricardo Mayorga is apparently planning another return to the ring, and said on a radio appearance that he'd like to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at a catchweight.

Now obviously Mayorga would want to face Chavez, since there's a little money in that, but what's fascinating is that Mayorga, once the world welterweight champion, would be asking Chavez, the current WBC middleweight titlist, to go up in weight to 165 pounds.

Mayorga, 38, hasn't exactly kept himself in prime condition over recent years, and has become little more than a recognizable name for veteran fighters to knock out in the last half decade. His last fight came in March 2011, when he was beaten up by Miguel Cotto before basically quitting in the 12th round.

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