Tonight's rematch between junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon and former champion Hugo Cazares will be on pay-per-view, but you can count me out. Not because I don't think it'll be a good fight, because I do. Their first one was entertaining and this one should be, too, and I don't count Cazares out. He floored Calderon last time, and Ivan is 33 years old. Still, I've got a BBQ to go to. This isn't the type of fight for which you disrupt your social duties. Diaz-Katsidis next week? Yeah, that's one of those.
Nutritionist Kerry Kayes has left Ricky Hatton's team, reportedly in connection with the firing of Billy Graham. Kayes has long been credited with being the man responsible for getting Ricky Fatton into Ricky Hatton's body, and it'll be interesting to see now how Hatton does against Paulie Malignaggi in November not only without Graham for the first time, but without another trusted member of his team.
The October 4 clash between Joel Julio and Sergio Martinez is off, and instead Julio will take a far tougher test by heading to Germany on October 18 to meet WBO junior middleweight titleholder Sergei Dzinziruk. This is a highly risky move by Julio (34-1, 31 KO), but a win would solidify him as one of the premier fighters at 154 instead of just a rising star. Julio's 2008 has gone well with a solid decision win over Ishe Smith followed by a righteous pummeling of Jose Varela. But Dzinziruk is crafty, he's a southpaw, and he'll have home field advantage. Risky indeed.
The Oscar de la Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight has a lot of rules and stipulations that needed to be agreed to, and one of the biggest is this one: if Oscar doesn't make the 147-pound weight limit, he has to pay $3 million for every pound over. If Oscar weighs 149 pounds, that's a $6 million hit. This is about the only thing that Team Pacquiao has done right in negotiations.
Some are surprised that Vitali Kiltschko has opened various sportsbooks as the betting favorite over Samuel Peter. What this fails to take into account is that sportsbooks aren't really picking the winners. They're picking what makes the most money. I'd guess they're hoping people remember Vitali's name, confuse him with Wladimir, or are just dopey enough to favor a guy who hasn't fought in four years. This seems weird to diehards that don't care about the outside perception of boxing, but nobody knows who Sam Peter is.
Former welterweight champ Carlos Baldomir is training again, and he's looking to move back down to 147 to take on Margarito, Cotto or Clottey. Hey, those are three fights where Baldomir would get smoked, so that takes guts. I don't know if anyone's seen him lately, but "welterweight" is not the term I'd use to describe his physique the last time I saw him on ESPN2. Still, I have no doubts that he's serious about his comeback and that he has the guts to fight anyone.