Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

It looks like maybe the rumored Berto/Mosley fight was hatched merely as a negotiating ploy, because Dan Rafael reports that Margarito/Mosley is back on.

“It’s back together. Everybody got satisfied. Everybody was sensible,” Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Margarito’s promoter, told ESPN.com’s Rafael. “We adjusted the purses as far as HBO putting more money in and it got solved.”

The bout will take place Jan. 24 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Berto and Mosley both told TSS that a deal was virtually done, but virtually ain’t certainly…

The best is about to get better, TSS Universe.

Monday, we’re adding another top-notch talent to the stable.

He’s a veteran, and as we all savor the superlative showing by Bernard Hopkins, I think you’ll agree that there is no substitute for the breadth and depth of knowledge coming from somebody who’s been a fighterwriter for multiple decades.

Our mystery addition is hammering out a piece on Hopkins as you read this.

And there is probably nobody better suited to offer a take on what that outing means, for Hopkins’ legacy, and his standing in the sport now.

Editor Mike

ESPN has a newsmagazine show, like 60 Minutes. It’s called E:60. They ran a segment on Kelly Pavlik on the latest episode. Jeremy Schaap reported, and I have to say the piece, utilizing music by Bruce Springsteen (“Youngstown,” off The Ghost of Tom Joad) is rock-solid.

I throw down my two cents in the piece.

Here it is: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=3060647

A tidbit I forgot to share…

Freddie Roach told me that new client Amir Khan will give Manny Pacquiao sparring leading up to the Dec. 6 Oscar/Manny tiff.

Also, New Yorker Yuri Foreman will be brought in to give an Oscar-type look.

The young Puerto Rican bantamweight star Juan Manuel Lopez took care of business, and foe Cesar Figueroa in brisk fashion on Saturday evening in Hato Rey, PR. A lead left hand/right hook combo sent Figueroa, a 30-year-old Mexican fighter, to the mat, and he couldn’t beat the count of ten. The time of the stop: just 47 seconds into the first round.

Truthfully, this first defense of the WBO super bantam title for JunaMa (23-0, 21 KOs) was a bit of a gimme; Figgy came in with a 30-6 mark. He’d lost to Ghost Guerrero in Dec. 2004, then lost to Al Seeger in his next outing in Sept. 2005. Both were stoppage losses. He took 2 ½ years off, and then beat two sub-journeyman and was given a title shot.

OK, this was more than a gimme. Golfers, what’s easier than a gimme?

Hopefully, JuanMa’s next scrap will be against a worthy foe and TSS will devote the amount of time and space it deserves. May we suggest another crack for Ponce De Leon?

Ken Shamrock cut his left eye during an afternoon warmup, and needed six stitches, so he had to pull out of his Saturday evening fight with Kimbo Slice. Slice will fight; his foe will be Seth Petruzelli.

Shamrock maintained that he wanted to fight, but the Florida commission would not allow it.

“I hope that they will put this together again, because he deserves a beating and I want to be the one to give it to him,” he said.

The cut came when Shamrock was rolling during a warmup, and his training partner butted him with his head. That area had been cut before, and was tender, so minimal contact caused the cut.

Ken’s adopted brother Frank Shamrock laced into Frank for going hard before a fight, and putting his fight in jeopardy.

Petruzelli is a UFC vet, and the door is wide open for him to make a sick splash. He is a more difficult test for Slice than Shamrock, and no doubt Team Slice is chewing on their fingernails going in to the main event on CBS.

James Toney was present at the California card headlined by Paul Williams/Andy Kolle.

Toney recommended that Chris Arreola come into his next fight in better shape.

He also told Hasim Rahman that he “quit like a little sissy.”

Toney said that he’ll be taking on Tony Thompson in December.

Two months after being rendered comatose in a televised bout against Delvin Rodriguez, San Antonio welterweight Oscar Diaz is awake and breathing on his own, reports ESPN’s Dan Rafael.

“He’s opening his eyes and showing improvement. He is off the ventilator and breathing on his own,” a spokesman said to ESPN.

“It’s very exciting to see Oscar open his eyes,” says Oscar’s mother Theresa Diaz to WOAI.com. “He’s a fighter and I believe he will get better.”

Diaz (26-3, 12 KOs), age 25, collapsed after the 10th round on July 16 in San Antonio.

His bout was the main event of ESPN’s Wednesday Night Fights. He was rushed to the hospital with his boxing gloves still on. After undergoing surgery to relieve swelling in his brain, he has been comatose.

Lightweight Amir Khan, a 2004 silver medallist, was knocked out by Colombian Breidis Prescott.

Prescott (20-0, 17 knocks) knocked Khan (18-1) down with a left hook and ended the fight with a flurry of punches. 54 seconds had elapsed.

The 21-year-old Khan was not supposed to be in tough. The 25-year-old Colombian had not met stiff opposition.

Cotto maybe could use a switch, if only for a new cardio regimen. He has faded late in fights several times now, and that may be something he can attend to…He and Uncle ‘Vangie haven’t always seen eye to eye, so it’s almost a certainty….