On this day in 1967, Emile Griffith retained his WBA and WBC middleweight titles with a unanimous decision over Joey Archer in a rematch at Madison Square Garden.

In another instance where truth takes a backseat to expediency, one-time heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson pleaded not guilty earlier today to charges of drug possession and DUI.

On this day in 1973, George Foreman won the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles with a brutal and memorable TKO of Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica.

On this day in 1978, Roberto Duran unified the lightweight title with a 12th-round stoppage of the late Esteban De Jesus in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was their third and final meeting.

Newly crowned IBF junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (42-0, 30 KOs) decisioned Juan Urango (17-1, 13 KOs) over twelve rounds Saturday night at the Paris in Las Vegas.

In the first defense of the WBC junior welterweight title he won from DeMarcos Corley last September, Junior Witter blasted out Mexico’s Arturo Morua at 2:12 of the ninth round at the Alexandra Palace in London Saturday night.

WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev, aka the Russian Giant, retained his crown in Switzerland Saturday night when Jameel “Big Time� McCline collapsed in a heap to the canvas after he blew out his knee in round three.

On this day in 2001, Floyd Mayweather, Jr, retained his WBC super featherweight title with a 10th-round TKO of Diego Corrales in Las Vegas, Nevada.

No sport receives more punishment from abolition-minded folks who are looking for a juicy target to smear than boxing. Let’s be up front, though, sometimes we think they have a point.

The point of this weekend’s exercise is threefold: First, to acquire for Ricky Hatton a title he can live with; second, to grease the skids for a fight between Hatton and Castillo; and third, to facilitate a makeover of Hatton’s American image by eradicating the residual stench of his HBO debut against Luis Collazo in Boston last year.