Junior Welterweight

This Saturday in Las Vegas, Amir "King" Khan will take on "Swift" Danny Garcia for the WBA and WBC light welterweight titles.

It's a great matchup featuring two young fighters who throw a lot of punches and are both in their prime. It should be an awesome fight and will definitely be entertaining.

There's been a lot of trash talk—mainly from the Garcia side. Khan will look to make them eat their words, while Garcia will try to back it up in the ring.

Amir Khan is one of the best young talents in the world right now. He's got good power and blindingly fast hand speed. Khan's feet are as fast as his hands, as he's a masterfully conditioned all-around athlete who has the athletic edge over almost everyone that he'll step into the ring against.

Khan knows that he has the talent to be a pound-for-pound type of fighter. It's just a matter of him putting it all together.

And with a potential mega-money clash with Floyd Mayweather looming in the near future, he's fully aware that he has to look good in this fight in order for the public to view him as a viable challenge to "Money May."

In Danny Garcia, you have a young fighter with good skills and pretty decent power to go along with it. He sported nice wins in his last two fights over the power-punching Kendall Holt and the legendary, albeit older, Erik Morales.

Garcia is definitely a quality fighter, and at 24 years old he's just coming into his prime. Garcia fights in a very conventional style. His lateral movement isn't great, but he's an all-around solid boxer.

What could ultimately be Garcia's downfall is the pressure is on his shoulders after his father viciously bashed Khan in the pre-fight press conferences. Garcia's dad mocked Khan's ethnicity and religion, which certainly wasn't cool.

Now Khan's got extra motivation to win (via Daily Star), not that he needed it, and Garcia will feel like he has to defeat Khan due to everything his dad's said.

When you try to force things in boxing you can get hurt, and there's a good chance that'll happen to Garcia on Saturday. 

So, what's going to happen when they meet under the lights in Vegas? I think that Khan's going to outclass Garcia and make his father eat his words. Ultimately, Khan's going to stop him in impressive fashion somewhere around Round 9.

I think we're going to see a more vicious Khan in this fight because he knows now after the Peterson debacle that you can't depend on the judges or officials to give you a fair shake, especially in Las Vegas. Overall though, it should be a fun fight and it'll be a good watch for boxing fans. 

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When a person says something about someone else, the verbal exchanges usually spiral into finger-pointing and convoluted explanations as to what was really said. There is always drama when boxing promoters and their fighters say things about each other that are either misinterpreted or simply don’t match.

Recently, Timothy Bradley and Bob Arum mentioned a few things about each other, possibly launching a mistrusting relationship between the two.

"I tried hard but I couldn't beat the guy," is what Timothy Bradley supposedly told Bob Arum (h/t ESPN.com) after the Pacquiao fight, right before the decision was announced. The authenticity of this was claimed by Bob Arum, as he is the one who quoted Bradley making that statement.

Timothy Bradley not only denies saying anything as such to Bob Arum, but he also seems very frustrated with his promoter:

I never told Bob that at all. He's a liar and I will tell him that to his face. I told Bob I did the best I can. I got injured. That was it. That's all I said to Bob. I didn't say, "Bob, I couldn't beat that guy." I would never say that, because I thought I won the fight.

Bradley has recently said too many things, and most of them are inflicting a lot of damage to his own reputation. Still, in this case, I have to believe Bradley, as I find it excessively unusual for any boxer to claim defeat before the decision is ever announced.

Not only that, but no one was knocked down, and the fight went all 12 rounds. Bradley seems to be a very proud man; he acknowledges the value of his flawless record and his abilities inside the ring. If anything, based on the way the fight unfolded, I would expect him to scream robbery if he had lost the decision.

"Bob's going to say that because that's his cash cow. The fact he lost to me, that's hard on him. That's hard on everyone," continued Bradley.

That’s another interesting statement made by "Desert Storm." Looks like Bradley knows and understands that Arum is protective of only one of his moneymaking champions, and we all know who that is. It’s so severe that Arum might be throwing his other fighters under the bridge just to save the more financially beneficial one.

Bradley concluded:

I have nothing but love for Top Rank. I have nothing but love for the people. This is a business and some things are said and taken out of context. It is what it is. When I see him, we'll settle this. I'm a big man, I'll talk to him.

I think that many of us can assume that Bradley’s love for Top Rank will quickly dissipate over time. If Bradley believes that all this is strictly business, then his own promoter Bob Arum is trying to derail money from going in a less profitable direction—the Bradley direction.

I wonder what Bradley is planning on asking or telling Arum when they meet next time. Will Bradley call him out or try to convince himself that it was nothing but a misunderstanding?

The raging controversy stemming from the reported flawed scoring by the judges in the recent fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley has triggered the creation of a national body to regulate boxing in the U.S.

In a controversial split decision, Pacquiao, who was a 5-1 favorite before the fight, lost to Bradley in what appeared to be a flawed scoring by the judges. The fight was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 9.

U.S. Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Harry Reid (Nevada) are in the forefront of a proposal to create the United States Boxing Commission (USBC).

The proposed boxing bill was actually filed in U.S. congress in 2007 and reintroduced in 2009 under the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

One of the salient features of the bill is the creation of a boxing body known as the USBC, which will be tasked to regulate the sport of boxing in the country.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Harry Reid, who is a former amateur boxer, said he favors an investigation of the controversial fight held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9.

According to AFP, McCain, speaking on the Senate floor, said the outcome of the June 9 welterweight world title bout between Bradley and Pacquiao, “is the latest example of the legitimate distrust boxing fans have for the integrity of the sport.”

"Professional boxing is the only sport in the United States not regulated by a strong, centralized association," McCain continued.

On the controversial Pacquiao-Bradley fight, McCain said, “Clearly, the conspiracy theories and speculation surrounding the fight are given life because there are so many questions surrounding the integrity of the sport and how it is managed in multiple jurisdictions,”

Under the proposed boxing bill, boxing judges and referees in professional fights lasting 10 rounds and higher must secure a license from the USBC

Senators McCain and Reid both have amateur boxing experience in their early lives before embarking on their political careers.

Floyd Mayweather (43-0, 26 KO) needs to fight again this year and Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO) is his best bet.

While Mayweather fights as a welterweight (147 lbs) and 25-year-old Khan competes in the junior welterweight (140 lbs) division, there has been talk for years about their eventual matchup.

Khan has promised on numerous occasions that he would move up in weight, but a loss to Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO) put those plans on pause.

Recent drug test results however found Peterson to have taken synthetic testosterone, which invalidates his victory over Khan.

Khan now faces WBC junior welterweight champ Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KO) in July. He is young and undefeated. If Khan beats him impressively, the stage is set.

At 35 years of age, Mayweather has not been down to 140 since 2005, but Mayweather barely re-hydrates even a pound after a weigh-in.

Most fighters go to the official weigh-in on Friday at 140 or 147 and then ascend to 150-155 on fight night after re-hydration.

Mayweather would only have to do what every other fighter has done before him and cut weight a little earlier and a little harder. It will not hurt him, but it can be used to sell this fight.

The media will exaggerate the challenge of Mayweather cutting weight to reach 140 as well as questioning how well will Mayweather perform after coming out of jail in August.

Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KO) has a very similar body-type to Mayweather. Judah went up to 147 and experienced some success and some failures before moving down to 140.

Judah is just as healthy if not healthier at 140. The main difference is his competition, which are more wet-behind-the-ears fighters like Vernon Paris (26-1, 15 KO) and not Mayweather.

Mayweather already went up to junior middleweight (154 lbs), a division he is far from comfortable at, to beat a future Hall of Famer in Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO).

Shedding a couple pounds to face a less-experienced foe would not be as big a challenge as the media will likely hype it to be.

On the fifth anniversary of the year he defeated British superstar Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO), Mayweather could face and defeat an even younger British star in Khan.

Mayweather has already proven he has a love for nostalgia this year.

He moved up to 154 lbs for only the second time in his career to face Cotto on May 5th, the fifth anniversary of when he faced Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO) in his 154-pound debut.

Mayweather improved upon his 2007 154-pound win by facing an opponent who was four years younger than himself and coming off a great win.

He could also improve upon his his 2007 win over Hatton if he moves down to 140 this December 8th instead of bringing a fighter from 140 up to 147.

The fact that during Mayweather's brief stay at 140, he knocked down or out every opponent he faced there. The media will question if that exciting version of Mayweather will show up again.

All around, Mayweather vs. Khan happening at 140 makes all the sense in the world, in terms of both money and legacy. Only time will tell if it actually happens.

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Timothy Bradley has made up his mind: He will not be returning the belt back to Manny Pacquiao because he decided that he clearly won the fight.

On a recent radio interview with The Boxing Lab, Bradley expressed his dislike in how boxing fans reacted to the decision, and reminded them that watching the fight without the sound will change everyone’s mind:

"Everyone is saying I should give the belt back but I'm not giving the belt back. Everyone can forget about that. I won the fight. Everybody turn down the volume and watch the fight. You can see I won the fight," stated a clearly upset Bradley.

Of course, giving back the belt is not necessary and probably not an easy thing to do had he wanted to return it.

The only way Bradley can lose his belt now is if the Nevada State Athletic Commission reverses the decision. As a matter of fact, the NSAC has plans to review the decision with every judge separately to make sure they made the right choice, and to understand how they arrived to that conclusion.

Maybe doing this will provide the right insight into what the judges had going through their heads as they scored the fight the way they did:

“I just watched the replay last night without any sound and you need to see the punches and how many times I connected and how many times Manny connected. Boxing isn't just about landing the biggest punches. That is why they have judges. Pacquiao is throwing punches and missing and the crowd is going crazy yelling. Pacquiao misses a punch and the commentators say how he hits me while I land a punch and they don't say anything," Bradley continued.

In a way, I can see what Bradley is talking about, but it’s important to remember that volume is crucial in a fight like this. This is not a heavyweight bout, thus the fight will rarely be judged based on a dozen of total punches landed.

Both Bradley and Pacquiao wanted to fight an aggressive fight, and in a way, both let their hands go.

Having said all that, the judges and the commentators don’t communicate with each other in making their decision. Thus, pointing fingers at the commentators about how they called the fight and possibly influenced the decision is absolute nonsense.

Both fighters—as well as the rest of the world—should soon hear from the NSAC and the WBO on their finding about the accuracy of the scores and the final decision.

Losing is always a bitter feeling. Whether its sports related or not, it’s never easy.

In some instances a loss yields more inspiration and the drive for improvement. In other cases, a loss can bring someone down and damage their self-esteem to a point where giving up seems not only reasonable, but also the only way to go. There are also times when the confidence and the love for what one does takes a hit when it really shouldn’t, like when a fighter loses their fire after an incredible performance.

This is exactly where Timothy Bradley seems to be stuck.

According to BoxingScene.com, Bradley made the following statement in regards to his feelings on boxing and the reaction to his victory:

I am at the point where I am losing my love for boxing. It's just that I have come a long way and never got any credit. Still today I don't get credit. I'm a 4 time world champion and I still haven't gotten any credit. I am sick of it. I just want to fight the best fights out there for me and my family and the fans out there. I want to give them the best fights. I don't really care about the record books. I'm the freaking welterweight champion of the world and people feel like I don't deserve it. It is sad man. I worked my butt off to win that fight.

I will be honest, I don’t think that he won that fight, and most certainly don’t believe that he deserves to hold on to that belt. The judges made a terrible miscalculation, and they awarded the victory to the wrong fighter.

Having said all that, I think that Bradley surprised us all with his amazing performance. He showed heart and dedication, and he put forth a tremendous effort to stay in the fight and make Pacquiao work for his money. As a matter of fact, if anyone deserves a second fight with Pacquiao, it is Timothy Bradley, aside from Juan Manuel Marquez of course.   

Of all the fighters that have challenged Pacquiao, only Marquez and Bradley were able to make Pacquiao look human and not an invincible powerhouse.

I feel bad that Bradley is thinking the way that he is, and if I could say anything to him, it would be that his feelings are askew. He has done what almost no other boxer have been able to do against Pacquiao—put on a competitive performance. Losing his love for boxing is absolutely premature and uncalled for, as his presentation last weekend skyrocketed his stock as a fighter to all new incredible heights.

I am sure that his entire team is very proud of his achievement, as are many boxing fans around the world.

The shocking decision to reward Timothy Bradley a questionable victory over Manny Pacquiao dealt a major low blow to boxing that an investigation cannot undo.

Judges Duane Ford and C.J. Ross each awarded Bradley a 115-113 edge to award him the World Boxing Organization welterweight title in a controversial verdict that led many boxing fans to consider conspiracy theories.

Although Pacquiao controlled the majority of the bout, Bradley rolled away (he attended the post-fight press conference in a wheelchair) with the victory. Pacquiao landed 253 punches to Bradley's 159 and accumulated more hits than the victor in 10 of 12 rounds.

Before anyone could even process the events that just transpired, they watched the build-up for an upcoming rematch between the two fighters. That certainly did not help angry fans cool down as they now held a reason to believe the sport financially benefited from the noteworthy split-decision.

Prior to a second showdown between Pacquiao and Bradley, promoter Bob Arum wants to formally look into the fight's results. Arum, who works for both fighters, filed a request to Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto to commence an investigation to see if any of the conspiracy theories hold credence.

If this was a subjective view that each of [the judges] honestly held, OK. I would still disagree, but then we're off the hook in terms of there being no conspiracy. But there needs to be an independent investigation because it strains credulity that an event everybody saw as so one-sided one way all three judges saw it as close.

Since Pacquiao wants the rematch, the fight likely is not in too much jeopardy. An exploration into the fight's shady scoring might briefly satisfy some frustrated boxing fans, but what will it really accomplish in the long run?

Perhaps this is just a cynical outlook, but a formal investigation is unlikely to lead to the uncovering of any earth-shattering evidence that unfolds a major conspiracy. In the end, their excessive digging will lead to nothing, and a lot of time and money will go down the drain without any tangible results.

This does not necessarily mean that the results could not be part of a conspiracy, but how can they possibly prove it?

Also, Arum's outrage over the decision seems more like a PR move to save face and distance himself from the fury of those calling shenanigans. If Arum is the promoter, something tells me he played a part in promoting the rematch right after Saturday's fight. 

Boxing fans are outraged, and they have every right. If they have to shell out $60 to wait for Pacquaio to finish watching the Boston Celtics lose Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, they should at least know that the winner is going to, you know, win.

David Stern might as well have stopped the Miami Heat celebration to declare that, despite the score, the Celtics are advancing to the NBA Finals because they "taught Miami a lesson" on playing team basketball. Basketball fans already think the NBA is fixed anyway.

At this rate, boxing barely holds any more credibility than the WWE. At least Vince McMahon acknowledged that he screwed Brett Hart in the infamous Montreal Screwjob match against Shawn Michaels.

As controversial decisions scar every fight and the only matchup the world wants to see will probably never happen, boxing is falling from relevancy faster than the black silhouette in Mad Men's opening credits.

Unfortunately, an investigation will not stop the free-fall and prevent boxing from crashing to the ground. The search will be nothing more than a show put on to try to convince boxing fans that the sport is truly concerned with maintaining its credibility. 

Instead, the investigation will keep the maddening decision in the spotlight for a little longer and give boxing fans more time to stew in anger.

Maybe a prominent star losing a match on a split-decision will cause enough backlash that people will realize the lunacy of leaving the results of a major bout with a decision holding major implications in the hands of three men.  

Nothing will cover the black eye inflicted onto boxing by the head-scratching conclusion to the Pacquiao vs. Bradley contest. Boxing fans are going to be furious for a long time, and the sport is in grave danger of losing all cultural significance if the men watching outside the ring continue to make more headlines than the actual fighters.

The results of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight stirred up some controversy in the boxing world.  Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach were shocked at the split decision loss for the veteran boxer.

Roach seemed shocked during the post-fight interview with the media.  He didn't quite understand what fight the judges were watching. 

Roach told reporters after the fight, "I think they had their eyes closed. I'm not sure."

This controversial decision put a black eye on boxing as we know it. 

WBO world welterweight champion Timothy Bradley isn't complaining about the results. Heck, he may be the only person in the boxing world who is happy with what happened on Saturday night in Vegas.

Pacquiao seemed to have controlled the entire fight, but two judges thought otherwise.  This gave Bradley a controversial split decision victory.  This ended Pacquiao's incredible streak of seven unbeaten years of boxing in a row.

Pacquiao was shocked when the decision was announced and the crowd also seemed as displeased as he was, booing the results of the match.  Promoter Bob Arum was also unhappy with the results and has started planning for a November rematch between the two.

According to the ringside punching statistics, Pacquiao had landed almost 100 more punches than Timothy Bradley.  This just elevates the controversy to the next level.

Many fans and insiders are furious at what took place and have been screaming controversy and pointing to the idea of the fight being fixed for Bradley to win.

This was the fight that may have caused a downfall in the sport. People are no longer going to take notice if decisions like these keep happening where most see a clear winner and the opposite result is announced.

What are fans to do when they see a man fight his heart out and then get a loss?

Yes, both fighters deserved a win, but Pacquiao deserved it a little more with the way he put on a show and seemingly edged out the younger Bradley.

Maybe it was Pacquiao's trainer, Roach, who should be at fault for this loss.  He scheduled a fight with an undefeated young boxer in his prime.  Almost setting the veteran up for a loss.

Pacquiao has become a national hero in his homeland of the Philippines where millions of people pay to watch his fights on TV.  This fight and controversial decision may have veered many of his fans away from the sport forever.  If their hero can't win a split decision that seemed clear as day, why watch him lose in the same fashion again?

Boxing has been growing in popularity ever since Pacquiao burst onto the scene and began winning every match since 2005.  Floyd Mayweather has also made boxing as popular as it has become today.

When controversy like this strikes a sport, it takes a while for the sport to recover and come back to full strength.  There are examples of such controversy in other sports like the NBA referee controversy. 

Some NBA officials had been caught fixing games and it took a while for the fans to trust and support the league again.  I would say that today, there is still some mistrust and screams of "controversy" among fans and even some experts.

This fight was supposed to help the sport, not hurt it.  The fight was a good one, two tough fighters knocking each other silly for 12 rounds and the results going down to the wire. 

The fans saw a Pacquiao victory, the judges saw otherwise and the sport is going to see a downfall.

If promoter Bob Arum follows through on the rematch between Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley and Manny Pacquiao, Bradley should be shaking in his boots at the prospect of giving Pacquiao another go at him.

After the controversial 115-113, 113-115, 115-113 split decision victory in Bradley's favor, the last thing he should want to do is get back in the ring with a man who so clearly dominated him in their first fight. Nobody knows what the judges saw that the general public didn't, but it worked out for Bradley, and he will definitely realize that once he re-watches the fight. 

This isn't to say that he shouldn't agree to a rematch if Pacquiao wants one. In fact, he can't decline a rematch because of a stipulation in Pacquiao's contract that allowed him the right to a rematch if he lost. 

This is mean to say that Bradley shouldn't be too happy that he has to get in the ring with a man as dangerous as Pacquiao for a second time. As if it wasn't enough that he got left straight after left straight to his head, now he has to get back inside the ropes and do it again.

Only this time we're going to see a Pacquiao that we haven't seen before. Pac-Man is going to come out like a man possessed, unlike this time when he seemed to enjoy playing with Bradley more than he enjoyed hitting him.

If he didn't spend the first two minutes of every round bobbing around and letting Bradley swing and miss at him, he would have floored "Desert Storm" way before the decision had to go to the judges.

It seemed like Pacquiao took this fight lightly in the hours before. He was missing from his training room because he was running on a treadmill to work on his tight calves. But that won't be the case if there is to be a rematch. 

Pacquiao's legacy will be on the line—or whatever is left of it after that debacle of a ruling. He needs to come out and pummel Bradley from the first bell, and he's going to do so. He was a much better fighter on Saturday night. He hit a higher percentage of both jabs and power punches, and just looked better in the ring. What did Bradley do to deserve a win?

If the two meet again, it will spell the downfall of Bradley. Pacquiao probably could have knocked him out on Saturday, but in their next fight, he most certainly will.

Perhaps it is time boxing did more than appoint judges to determine the winners of a fight. Perhaps it is time we started judging the decisions of our judges as well.

That's right—boxing must institute a post-fight review board if it wants to quash the conspiracy theories and be taken seriously once more.

To the naked eye, Manny Pacquiao clearly beat Timothy Bradley on Saturday night, or at least to most naked eyes. Clearly, judges Duane Ford and C.J. Ross saw it differently.

But given the majority and the stats compiled during the fight, shouldn't that decision be reviewable? Wouldn't that clear up any conspiracy theories—or errors in judgment—after a fight like this one?

It couldn't hurt. In this case, the outcome may very well be overturned if this fight was reviewed after the fact. Consider the following from Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press (via the Idaho Press-Tribune):

The end of Pacquiao's 15-fight winning streak was even more startling because most near ringside didn't see it coming. Almost without exception every writer had Pacquiao well ahead, while HBO's resident unofficial judge Harold Lederman had him winning 11 rounds out of 12. The Associated Press scored it 117-111 for Pacquiao.

Punching stats compiled by Compubox showed Pacquiao landing 253 punches to 159 for Bradley, and landing more punches in 10 of the 12 rounds.

I know there will always be a grey area of subjectivity, even in compiling punches-landed stats. And ultimately, there is a certain amount of gut feeling that must be taken into account when deciding which man "won" the fight when both are left standing at the end.

But why not ensure we get the result right? We've seen the advent of instant replay in sports. Rules are updated and altered to ensure the highest quality of results.

Is boxing so sacred that it too cannot adjust?

If so, people will continue to doubt the legitimacy and integrity of what they have seen. I'm not saying this fight was fixed, but does it really matter anyway?

A huge legion of people are convinced it was. That belief alone is damaging. And it's not as though boxing doesn't have a seedy enough history to warrant speculation after a result like the one on Saturday night.

A post-fight review board could clear up many of the issues boxing faces. It's worth consideration at the very least.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets really wanted to have another.