This week, we say goodbye to a former middleweight champion of the world, we say hello to Breidis Prescott's left hook, and we observe the somewhat catty bickering between the Pacquiao and Oscar camps. Plus much more!
IN MEMORIAM: JOEY GIARDELLO (1930-2008)
"He was the greatest middleweight ever to come out of this city, I don't care what anybody says. Joey didn't duck anybody and he never backed down from anybody. He was one of the few white fighters who fought all the tough black fighters." -- J. Russell Peltz on the late Joey Giardello (Philly.com)
"I never thought I'd get another chance, so I had to fight all the guys that nobody else wanted to fight." -- Joey Giardello, 1993
"That night, nobody could have beaten me." -- Giardello, on his middleweight championship win over Dick Tiger in 1963
"He couldn't have cared less about the money. The lawsuit was never about money to him. The most important thing was getting a public acknowledgment from Rubin Carter and the director that the depiction of him was unfair, and he got that." -- attorney Greg Bochetto, on Giardello's lawsuit against Norman Jewison's film The Hurricane
"Joey was a great fighter, but a greater man." -- friend Charlie Redner
"Any time there was a tough guy out there, promoters would say, 'Get Joey.' He fought everybody. He took short money sometimes, just to fight. And it was always a war." -- former trainer Lou Duva (ESPN.com)
"He'd rather play cards [than train]. Sometimes you had to throw bottles at him to get him in the gym." -- Duva
"He was a rough, dead-end kid. But if you were his friend, he'd go to hell for you. If you knew him, you had to love him. Whether you were a priest or a gangster, you loved him." -- Duva
"I'm real excited to be back on top. I was concerned when they read the first score, and I think it was my jab that won the fight for me. I hurt him and I busted him up." --Juan Diaz, who won a highly-criticized split-decision in a fight that seemed quite clearly in his favor against Michael Katsidis (ESPN.com)
"I proved I just had a bad night against Nate Campbell." -- Diaz
"Well, you win some and you lose some, but I think I won that fight. But that's kind of what I was expecting coming into his hometown." -- Michael Katsidis, who may have taken one too many shots
"Nah. Go big or go home." -- Katsidis, delightfully answering HBO analyst Max Kellerman's question of whether he should schedule a soft opponent next
THE HARDER THEY FALL, ONE AND ALL
"These things happen. I got caught cold and I shouldn't have done. I was in too much of a rush, trying to please the crowd as usual, I suppose." -- Amir Khan, after his shocking 54-second knockout loss to unknown Breidis Prescott (The Independent)
"But it's not the end of the world. I'll come back stronger. I'll be back in the gym after a week and my next fight will be different. This will make me a better fighter." -- Khan, keeping on the sunny side
"I made a stupid little mistake in there and I just couldn't get it back again." -- Khan, obviously not worried about his glass jaw (Sky Sports)
"That guy [Prescott] was a good fighter and a tremendous puncher. There's no disgrace in losing to him - but what a disaster." -- Sky Sports analyst Jim Watt (Sky Sports)
"One of the problems they have is are they building a fighter, or were they building an unbeaten career?" -- Watt
"When you're facing a man with a 90 per cent knockout ratio [Prescott], you know he can punch so you find out in the opening round what else the guy can do. But Amir shot straight off his stool, right down to business without a thought - because that's what he's been getting away with in his career up to now." -- Watt
"I'm not really sure he would want (a rematch). I'll do whatever it takes. Like I said, I'll give it to him in his house if he wants. If he wants a rematch, I don't care." -- Breidis Prescott (Boxing Scene)
FRANK TV
"Joe would have been too big for Pavlik and it would have meant so much more than beating Jones." -- Frank Warren, ex-promoter of Joe Calzaghe, talking about how he wanted Joe to fight Kelly Pavlik (Buzzle.com)
"Those early years with (Naseem Hamed) were brilliant. I'd go into an empty dressing room and he'd be on his own doing somersaults. Within 18 months it was completely different and you had to shoehorn your way in because there were so many people around him. Naz screwed up." -- Warren, also ex-promoter of Naseem Hamed
"I should have never left Frank. It was the worst thing I ever did." -- Naseem Hamed
"Maybe they'll all think that one day." -- Warren, commenting on the many big fighters that have left him over the years
"I think it's ludicrous. I'm not saying he's not a good trainer, but it's outrageous. He's not the trainer for Ricky Hatton." -- ex-Hatton trainer Billy Graham, on Hatton hiring Floyd Mayweather, Sr., to replace him (Manchester Evening News)
"I can train (Hatton) blindfolded with both hands tied behind my back." -- Floyd Mayweather
"Graham's one of the worst trainers I have ever seen in my life. You've seen my style against his style, and you've seen what happened. He says I can't teach (Hatton) nothin', but I bet he would see how much better a fighter Hatton would be. He wouldn't be the only fighter of Hatton's age that got better with me." -- Mayweather
"Hatton was fighting on his guts and his pure desire to win. He fought with a lot of pressure, a lot of hard shots and his pure will to win - that's all." -- Mayweather
"At this stage of my career I am not going to change my style too much, but you are never too old to learn." -- Ricky Hatton
CUT THE WEIGHT, TUBBY
"If de la Hoya comes in at 150, I'll say, 'No fight.' I wouldn't put it past him to try something like buying his way to 150, but three pounds over is a huge difference." -- Freddie Roach, questioning the character of Oscar de la Hoya (Manila Bulletin)
"When (Oscar) fought Forbes, he was supposed to make 150 and he came in at 151, and they gave it to him. I am not doing that. A contract is a contract. The contract weight is 147. Make it. I want him to work as much as possible." -- Roach
"(Oscar's) a consummate professional and he knows what he has to do. He is a veteran and he knows that it's very important for him to be well within his weight." -- Golden Boy matchmaker and de la Hoya personal friend Eric Gomez
"Make it five million dollars. It doesn't matter. He is going to make the weight." -- Gomez
I GUESS BUFFALO AIN'T GEARED FOR ME AND PAUL
"Anyone willing to get in the ring with Paul from 147 to 168, he's willing to fight." -- Dan Goossen, promoter of welterweight titleholder Paul Williams (ESPN.com)
"I walk around about 160 so I can go up and down between 147 and 168. I just want to fight. I want to fight people who are on the same level with me or on a higher level than me in their mind. That's what boxing is all about, risk. My fans always tell me they love that about me." -- Paul Williams, who fights Andy Kolle at 160 pounds later this month
ODDS 'N SODS
"The last time I overlooked somebody, I got my jaw broken." -- Antonio Tarver, on why he's not looking past Chad Dawson, and remembering Eric Harding (ESPN.com)
"Pavlik is a bit one-dimensional. He can punch hard. You have to remember against Jermain Taylor in the first fight he was knocked out. Most people would have stopped that fight." -- Joe Calzaghe (Boxing Scene)
"(Anthony) Mundine is the one I really want. He's much bigger than me, but I know I have the skills to cut him down to size. Mundine has never held a major crown. As a world champ he's an imposter -- a phony. I really want to expose him for what he is." -- junior welterweight Lovemore N'dou on super middleweight Anthony Mundine (Boxing Scene)
"I'm not at all nervous for my first title defense. This is my job, it's what I do." -- Timothy Bradley discussing his upcoming fight with Edner Cherry (Boxing Insider)
"I can tell you from first hand experience that Forbes is tough and crafty." -- Oscar de la Hoya, on the upcoming Andre Berto-Steve Forbes fight (Sporting Life)