FightHype is reporting that sources tell them Manny Pacquiao has informed adviser Michael Koncz that he wants to make a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Koncz will soon be meeting with Top Rank boss Bob Arum to get things in motion.

"He's meeting with Bob to make the fight," one source revealed to us.

... "They've got the investors. The money is there. It's what Manny wants. It's just a matter of whether or not Bob is willing to make the fight," another source added.

Now, take this for what it is: Chatter, but not a lot more. There's certainly nothing concrete here, but the fight is still being talked about, even at this level, and that's better than no word at all.

Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO) and Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO) have been dancing around one another for three years now, dominating their rivals until Pacquiao's close call with Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12. Arum has made clear that he prefers a fourth Pacquiao vs Marquez fight. But the public reaction to that hasn't exactly been an outpouring of support, even from those who feel Marquez won the third fight this month. Mayweather vs Pacquiao is still THE fight to make in all of boxing, and no one's minds seem to have really changed there, with the only difference being more strongly favor Mayweather after November 12.

Mayweather is scheduled to fight again on May 5, 2012.

The rumor going around right now is that Floyd Mayweather Jr has been guaranteed $40 million for his September 17 fight with Victor Ortiz, which is an incredibly large figure, and twice what Manny Pacquiao was guaranteed in May against Shane Mosley.

Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO) will have been out of the ring for 16½ months by the time he fights Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO). The 24-year-old Mexican-American has never headlined a fight of this magnitude, but Mayweather has, and if this rumor is even close to accurate, they're obviously counting on Floyd's return to the ring being a major event that sells a lot of pay-per-views.

How much can this fight really sell, though? Now we're just talking about a rumor here, but let's say it's $40 mil for Floyd. Is Ortiz taking a relatively low payday? Do they think this can sell more than the standard major PPV, that is to say somewhere between one and 1.5 million?

No matter what there's no way Floyd isn't going to pull in some serious bank here, at least a $20 million guarantee. But $40 is wild.

Rumor rumor rumor rumor -- it has to be done.

Anyway, the rumor of a Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Victor Ortiz fight in September is back, with a report indicating that the fight could be announced sometime this week, and that Cowboys Stadium outside of Dallas is the target venue.

Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO) hasn't fought since May 1, 2010, when he routed Shane Mosley in Las Vegas. In the meantime, Mayweather has had further tax issues, multiple assault allegations, gambling updates on Twitter (when he wins), and has been barely visible in the boxing world other than being, still, a superstar whose name people know and care about. Mayweather has attended a couple of fights since he fought Mosley, and was notably present on April 16 when Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO) defeated Andre Berto in Connecticut.

One thing that would be interesting -- again, it's just a rumor, but let's talk shop anyway -- would be seeing how Mayweather could draw in Texas with Ortiz, who is based in California and while he can draw a little bit, certainly isn't a huge star or anything. Mayweather is a big PPV attraction and there's no arguing that, but he's never been a great live draw, even post-superstardom.

Mayweather also hasn't fought outside of Las Vegas, where he has also lived for years, since 2005, when he beat Sharmba Mitchell in Portland. Even if the fight does come around, I kind of have a hard time seeing it happen at Cowboys Stadium. Too much chance of it looking bad if it doesn't sell. But Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, might also be worried that his megabuilding will sit empty if there's no NFL season, so who knows how much he might pay to get the fight?

It's all still just a rumor, but it's now a lot of smoke for there to be no fire coming.

TMZ is reporting that Oscar de la Hoya has checked into a rehabilitation facility for a substance abuse problem:

We're told De La Hoya is seeking treatment for a substance abuse problem and checked into a California-area facility within the last few weeks.

De La Hoya has posted a flurry of very introspective tweets in the past few days, including, "Take a deep breathe and let out all that anger that makes you hate. it really is going to be o.k."  and "Stop finding excuses not to live. life is controlled by what you make of it and not of what it makes of you."

Now, a couple of things:

1. Oscar has not been present at the Hopkins vs Pascal stuff, with Richard Schaefer representing Golden Boy.
2. Oscar's Twitter account is always full of stuff like that. That's not new.
3. Oscar's account is still active, though that could easily just be someone else posting on it.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, this is seriously still just a rumor until Oscar or a Golden Boy rep confirms it. But it's out there.

Victor Ortiz's manager Rolando Arellano denied the rumors that have the fighter facing a returning Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September of this year earlier today, stating that Ortiz is "enjoying his time off" and is looking to sign a fight soon.

"That is a false rumor. I'm not sure where these things come from," Arrellano said.

Well, since he asked...

On May 4, KUsports.com reported this:

WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, a native of Garden City, told the Journal-World on Tuesday night that he plans to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

"I just need to look at the contract and make sure everything is OK," Ortiz said. "It's not 100 percent sure yet, but that's what I'm setting my sights on."

And the Kansan had this:

Next, Ortiz will face Floyd Mayweather Jr. The details of the fight are still being worked out, but Ortiz said contracts should be signed soon.

So, you know, that's where. Apparently they came from Victor Ortiz during a visit to Kansas, or at least that's how it was reported. Currently, BoxRec is listing a Mayweather-Ortiz fight for Cowboys Stadium on September 17, which is jumping the gun even for BoxRec. There have in fact been no strong rumors from within boxing, only rumors coming out of two original articles that seemed, at best, very, very, very preliminary. From what it seems looking at those quotes from the articles in Kansas, which weren't by guys who follow boxing much at all (it would seem, anyway), it appears that Ortiz might have made some comment like, "I would love to fight Floyd Mayweather!" It could have gone into any direction from there. Or maybe I'm wrong, but either way, this is seriously nothing more than rumor mill material.

Still, from past experience, where there's smoke with something that at least makes a little sense, there often is fire. The Spadafora rumor was ridiculous and everyone agreed that it was ridiculous. It was only talked about because it was so silly. But Ortiz makes some sense. He made a splash at welterweight, was seen by a lot of viewers that night, put on a good fight, raised his stock, beat the supposed next top welterweight, and I think a fighter like Mayweather looks at that whole package and licks his chops. Ortiz is made to order for Floyd in a lot of ways. He's the extra tomato taco that Floyd Sr. gets at Taco Bell. Everything Mayweather can exploit, Ortiz has, plus a history of mental weakness in the ring. (And by the way, that didn't not happen now that he beat Andre Berto.)

The fight does make sense. But it's still in pure rumor stage.

If Ortiz does not fight Mayweather, he has a mandatory title defense he could take against Selcuk Aydin (21-0, 16 KO), or he could look in another direction, but the truth is welterweight is dead empty for money fights at this point.

Update (May 6, 7:40pm EDT): Thomas Hauser noted the denials from Yahoo! and stated, "In determining the truth of the matter, these denials should be given the full weight that they deserve. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating."

Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com reports today, by word of Thomas Hauser, that current Yahoo! executive vice president Ross Levinsohn will be named the new president of HBO Sports. Yahoo! is denying the move, but Levinsohn has made no official statement.

Levinsohn was named EVP at Yahoo! in November 2010, and if the rumor is true, would be replacing longtime HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. Recent swirling winds around HBO Sports, and particularly the boxing division, have indicated that the company is very unhappy with the current direction of the product. HBO has "lost" Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto to rival Showtime this year, and with Floyd Mayweather Jr. still on the sidelines, they find themselves without a major star to which they can hitch their wagon. Indications so far are also that the Pacquiao camp is very happy with the way Showtime has promoted Saturday's Pacquiao vs Mosley fight, and that there is no reason to expect Pacquiao to return to HBO for his next fight.

It has also been recently rumored that ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael has been in talks with HBO to come on board as a matchmaker.

Just so we can make this clear, as we always have to do in these situations because some people have a hard time reading words: This is, for now, only a rumor. A strong rumor, but still just a rumor.

A report at Kansan.com says that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz are negotiating for a September fight:

Next, Ortiz will face Floyd Mayweather Jr. The details of the fight are still being worked out, but Ortiz said contracts should be signed soon.

Another report at KUsports.com has this:

WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, a native of Garden City, told the Journal-World on Tuesday night that he plans to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

"I just need to look at the contract and make sure everything is OK," Ortiz said. "It’s not 100 percent sure yet, but that’s what I’m setting my sights on."

This is making the rounds, of course, but there are a few things to question:

• September 16 is a Friday.
• September 17 is the supposed date for Cotto-Margarito II.
• Nobody in boxing is really saying anything about this yet, so this might be nothing more than something Ortiz said while visiting his home state, and there may well be nothing to it.

Take this as a rumor for now, but we'll have more if anything develops.

Rumors are swirling around that ESPN boxing reporter Dan Rafael has been in talks with HBO Sports to come on board in a matchmaker role, possibly replacing Kery Davis. FightHype's Ben Thompson talked about this yesterday:

"He's going to be the new matchmaker for HBO. He's already had a meeting with somebody and it's in the works. By the end of this year, Dan Rafael will be deciding which fights will be on HBO," one source revealed. ... "They're going to fire Kery Davis. They're going to let him go. He's been catering to Al Haymon too much and that's why they're in the position that they're in now. That's why they're talking to Dan," another source revealed.

Let me put this in bold, italicized letters so this is clear: This is only a rumor.

In fact, let me do this, too, because sometimes people have a hard time figuring out when things are rumors: RUMOR RUMOR RUMOR RUMOR THIS IS A RUMOR

And it's a pretty interesting rumor. Davis has been rumored to be on the hotseat for a while now, and with Showtime taking major measures this year to close the perceived gap between their boxing product and HBO's, it could just be a matter of someone needing to be blamed. But Davis' work as senior vice president of sports programming at HBO has been criticized fairly often in recent times, particularly in the last 18 months or so, by several in the boxing media.

As for Dan Rafael, if you're a boxing fan who reads about boxing online, you know Dan Rafael. He's arguably the most visible boxing writer in the world, as he's the lead man at ESPN, responsible for breaking a ton of news, and he has people who enjoy his work and people who don't. He is, I think it's fair to say, a pretty polarizing figure among hardcore boxing fans, but facts are facts, and he has put in the work as one of the most reliable reporters out there, no matter what you think of his opinions or alleged biases or whatever.

One of the criticisms about Davis has been that he's not "a boxing guy," and even though Rafael has been a boxing scribe for years, I'm sure he'd meet the same criticisms initially. Writers are writers; writers are not classified as "boxing guys" in most instances. That said, Ken Hershman and the Showtime team have done a pretty phenomenal job recently. Are they "boxing guys" by definition?

Even if this rumor does hold water, it could be months before we find out anything official. But for now, a simple question: Yea or Nay on this idea?