Boxing

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says that Floyd Mayweather does intend to fight on September 14, and knowing that plans need to be made soon for that date if it's going to happen, he expects Mayweather (44-0, 26 KO) to announce his plans "in a couple weeks." Mayweather, 36, is coming off of a routine May 4 win over Robert Guerrero, a fight that may have underperformed on pay-per-view in the first fight of his mega-deal with Showtime Sports. Though promoters have said it will go over one million, ESPN.com reporter Dan Rafael is adamant that the fight was last around 870,000 buys, and that it won't go over a million. It would be Floyd's first sub-million pay-per-view since 2007. But all that aside, Mayweather obviously puts the sport on a different level when he fights, and having him back so quickly would be nothing but good for boxing. Schaefer has insisted that he's working hard on putting together a Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez fight, which would be massive on pay-per-view, at the gate, and everywhere else, but if that can't happen, leading candidates to face Floyd in September are fairly thin, as Amir Khan doesn't plan to fight until December because of Ramadan. We might be talking about Devon Alexander as the second option here. Hopefully, Mayweather fights again in September. If 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins can go in March and July, Floyd can pull off May and September.

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Middleweight titlist Daniel Geale, the No. 1 active fighter in Australia, is coming stateside to make his fifth defense when he faces England's Darren Barker on Aug. 17.

Bernard Hopkins talks about performance-enhancing drug use, the way boxing is covered in the media, and how he's lasted so long in a demanding sport.

Daniel Geale of Australia to make middleweight defense vs. Darren Barker in U.S.

Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler meet again in London this Saturday, with Tony Bellew rematching Isaac Chilemba on the undercard, along with the return of George Groves. Friday, May 24 TV Publica (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Carolina Raquel Duer vs Sabrina Maribel Perez. ESPN2, 10:00 pm EDT, Delvin Rodriguez vs Freddy Hernandez, Issouf Kinda vs Chris Howard. A decent FNF double-header, with a couple of familiar veteran fringe contenders in the main event. Both Rodriguez and Hernandez are credible, solid fighters, but short of the top level. So this is pretty well-matched, and looks to have good action potential on paper. BLH will have live coverage. CadenaTres (Mexico), 11:00 pm EDT, Abdiel Ramirez vs Jorge Martinez, Miguel Roman vs Rafael Urias. Saturday, May 25 HBO (US) / Sky Box Office (UK), 3:00 pm EDT, Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler II, Tony Bellew vs Isaac Chilemba II, George Groves vs Noe Gonzalez Alcoba. HBO will pick up coverage at 6:00 pm EDT for the main event. We'll be here for the full card, of course. Bellew-Chilemba was a pretty lousy fight the first time around, a draw if ever I've seen won, in that I didn't think either guy really wound up earning the win. Armchair quarterback blah blah. Froch-Kessler could really be terrific, though; personally, I can see it being better than the first fight. Kessler has been aggressive since his return, and Froch is never in a truly dull fight. Groves is keeping busy against Alcoba. BLH will have live coverage. TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Omar Narvaez vs Felipe Orucuta. This is actually a good fight. Narvaez is now again the clear No. 1 in the division, for our money anyway, and Orucuta is an actual contender. This is Omar's best matchup since that paycheck turd he laid against Donaire. Direct TV (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Marcelino Nicolas Lopez vs Sergio Javier Escobar, Diego Gonzalo Luque vs Martin Antonio Coggi. Televisa (Mexico), 11:00 pm EDT, Zulina Munoz vs Soledad Macedo. Sunday, May 26 Rossiya-2 (Russia), 12:15 pm EDT, Oleg Maskaev vs Jason Gavern. Finally, an exciting heavyweight fight.

Friday, May 24 TV Publica (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Carolina Raquel Duer vs Sabrina Maribel Perez. ESPN2, 10:00 pm EDT, Delvin Rodriguez vs Freddy Hernandez, Issouf Kinda vs Chris Howard. A decent FNF double-header, with a couple of familiar veteran fringe contenders in the main event. Both Rodriguez and Hernandez are credible, solid fighters, but short of the top level. So this is pretty well-matched, and looks to have good action potential on paper. BLH will have live coverage. CadenaTres (Mexico), 11:00 pm EDT, Abdiel Ramirez vs Jorge Martinez, Miguel Roman vs Rafael Urias. Saturday, May 25 HBO (US) / Sky Box Office (UK), 3:00 pm EDT, Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler II, Tony Bellew vs Isaac Chilemba II, George Groves vs Noe Gonzalez Alcoba. HBO will pick up coverage at 6:00 pm EDT for the main event. We'll be here for the full card, of course. Bellew-Chilemba was a pretty lousy fight the first time around, a draw if ever I've seen one, in that I didn't think either guy really wound up earning the win. Armchair quarterback blah blah. Froch-Kessler could really be terrific, though; personally, I can see it being better than the first fight. Kessler has been aggressive since his return, and Froch is never in a truly dull fight. Groves is keeping busy against Alcoba. BLH will have live coverage. TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Omar Narvaez vs Felipe Orucuta. This is actually a good fight. Narvaez is now again the clear No. 1 in the division, for our money anyway, and Orucuta is an actual contender. This is Omar's best matchup since that paycheck turd he laid against Donaire. Direct TV (Argentina), 8:00 pm EDT, Marcelino Nicolas Lopez vs Sergio Javier Escobar, Diego Gonzalo Luque vs Martin Antonio Coggi. Televisa (Mexico), 11:00 pm EDT, Zulina Munoz vs Soledad Macedo. Sunday, May 26 Rossiya-2 (Russia), 12:15 pm EDT, Oleg Maskaev vs Jason Gavern. Finally, an exciting heavyweight fight.

When I called strength and conditioning coordinator Angel “Memo” Hernandez (aka Angel Heredia) a couple weeks ago, I wondered what kind of person I’d be talking to. Was he the guy former BALCO associate Victor Conte (a former PED peddler himself) constantly bashes on Twitter for being a crook? Or was he, as he claims, just a man who had cleaned up his act? “Hold on,” he said to me on the phone the minute he picked up. “I’m in Nevada and they have cell phone laws over here. Let me pull over. Call me in five minutes.” Indeed, a few minutes later I was chatting with the man who perhaps most famously -- at least by boxing’s standards -- helped welterweight Juan Manuel Marquez (pictured at right with Heredia) build his 38-year-old body into the Manny Pacquiao-decapitating form we saw last December. To begin, I asked him what he thinks about Conte. “To be honest with you, one of my least concerns is him,” he told me. “He doesn’t possess a single college degree and yet calls himself a nutritionist. I just think that’s being a con artist. Putting that aside though, I think there is a lot of jealousy. He’s put himself as the Godfather of cleaning up the sport and trying to redeem himself from what he did in the past.” If you follow either or both men on Twitter, you probably know Conte has made no bones about calling Hernandez out as a cheat. He does this repeatedly. The two argue back and forth almost daily, and even bring their own fans into the fray at times to help plead their cause. Hernandez said it was, and continues to be, Conte who engages him first. “It kind of surprises me that a guy like that who calls himself very smart is acting like a little kid, sitting behind a computer and making things up with no proof,” said Hernandez. “He tells everyone that every boxer I work with, that I supply them drugs and all this kind of stuff. It’s very childish. I don’t think anything positive about him at all.” Hernandez said Conte takes issue with Hernandez’s claim that his boxers are PED-free, as well as his preference for getting his fighter’s tested through the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). “My boxers will be using USADA so it’s constantly a battle with him,” said Hernandez. “It seems, from my perspective, that he’s only siding on VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association), and my understanding is that he’s an advisor for VADA, and that he gets money from VADA, so I pretty much don’t want my boxers with them.” While there seems to have been some confusion in the media during its start-up, Conte does not, in fact, hold any kind of a position with VADA. This was confirmed by both Conte as well as Dr. Margaret Goodman, VADA president and board chairman. “VADA's alleged association with Victor Conte is completely false and incorrect,” said Goodman. “This [idea that I am associated VADA] is simply not true,” Conte added. “I was originally contacted by Dr. Margaret Goodman in 2010 and she asked me to do an interview for her monthly column called ‘Fight Doctor’ in Ring Magazine. I agreed and we did an interview that was published. Thereafter, I talked with Dr. Goodman on several occasions and answered her many questions regarding my thoughts on the effectiveness of WADA's anti-doping policies and procedures. I want it to be clearly understood that I have never received any form of compensation from Dr. Goodman or VADA.” Conte said he has freely advised other anti-doping organizations as well: “During 2003-2005, I met with USADA associated attorney Rich Young on three separate occasions. In short, Mr. Young is a co-author of the WADA code. I voluntarily participated in these meetings and provided him with my input without rece

Lucas Matthysse just might be the best junior welterweight in the world. For a long time I wasn't convinced. His resume previously left a lot to be desired. His best "wins" were actually losses to Zab Judah and Devon Alexander. Zab had seen better days, Devon was weight drained, and both fights were close enough to steal. They were not robbery of the year candidates (at least for those of us watching more than 2000 new fights a year). He couldn't even finish a "4 round" "glass jaw" Judah after dropping him in the 10th round. I've questioned Matthysse's punching power because his better opponents always seemed to last longer than they should have. But after witnessing him destroy Lamont Peterson in 3 rounds, I no longer have doubts. Matthysse's the biggest puncher at 140 right now, and referee Steve Smoger agrees with me. After the fight Smoger told me it was "without question" that Matthysse has the most lethal hands in junior welterweight division. Later, renowned trainer Nazim Richardson told me, paraphrasing from memory, "There are guys who can punch, there are guys who can box, and then there are guys who are special. Matthysse is a special fighter." Richardson thinks Matthysse hits so hard that opponents must avoid getting hit completely because he'll break through whatever guard they have. Too bad there's no Winky Wright at 140 right now to test that theory... But I digress. I'm sold on Matthysse's power but let's not crown him as the terminator just yet. This is going to seem counter intuitive, but, the Peterson fight only lasted 3 rounds. Back when Peterson fought Victor Ortiz I remember thinking that Peterson wouldn't survive that round 3 either (where he was also dropped twice). But the referee let that fight continue. Peterson regrouped and did enough to earn a draw, albeit controversially. Matthysse had a history of taking rounds off in the past, so I don't know if he would have fought the rest of the fight as good as rounds 2 and 3. There could have been a lot more rounds like the 1st, which 2 of the 3 judges gave to Peterson. Peterson told Smoger that he wanted to continue and still felt that way during the post-fight presser. Peterson said, "I believe I can weather any storm." Maybe Peterson has a point. Soon after getting dropped and hurt in round 2 by a left hook Peterson finished strong by landing a big left hook of his own. Matthysse grinned, effectively acknowledging that it was a good shot. In round 3 Peterson was hurt even more by another left hook, which landed because he was throwing one of his own, but he beat the count and the referee let it go on. I would have preferred a stoppage then to be honest. I didn't think the knockdown that immediately followed that had Peterson any worse off, which was my opinion from deep in press row and when I watched the fight again on Showtime. The last knockdown occurred pretty much due to poor balance and weak legs. If Peterson was OK to continue before, he was still OK to continue then. That being said, it wasn't a bad decision, just a debatable one. I, like just about anyone, would have expected Matthysee to finish the job more emphatically had the fight continued. And as much as I like Danny Garcia, who Matthysse considers "slow" and "wide open", I'll expect Matthysse to finish him off too should they ever meet. Matthysse was a little ironic with his comments about Garcia, but I agree that he wouldn't be any harder to hit than any other opponent Matthysse has already faced. And whatever Matthysee hits, he at least puts down. But can Garcia come off the floor to win? Hopefully we'll find out. Promoter Richard Schaeffer said he wants to make a Garcia-Matthysse / Judah-Peterson double header. Then again, Schaeffer also said that Alexander is top 3 or 4 pound for pound, that "Shane Mosley is back" following a hard fought win over Pablo Cano, and that the official "AC Fight Night" attendance was 4215. If any of that is true it

Andre Ward, the undefeated king of the super middleweight division, has made the decision to drop his WBC 'Champion Emeritus' title after disagreeing with the sanctioning body about the validity of their stripping him of the 168-pound title in the first place. Ward, 29, was "moved" to the Emeritus title earlier this year, despite the obvious fact that he was well within the time usually allotted to defend his title against a mandatory challenger. He has been inactive this year after undergoing shoulder surgery, which canceled a fight with Kelly Pavlik. By comparison, Vitali Klitschko, the WBC heavyweight champ, has not fought since the exact same date as Ward (September 8, 2012), and also has not made any firm indication that he's got a fight in the works. Klitschko has been considering retirement, even. Yet he has not been stripped of his title. Here's a piece of what Ward said about his decision: "Without what we feel was appropriate due process, the WBC elected to strip me of my World Title. I think my track record in fighting the best opponents available speaks for itself. I worked extremely hard and dedicated my entire career to win and defend my WBC belt. As a matter of principle, I have chosen to stand up for what I believe is right. I think the fans know and appreciate that I am the Super Middleweight Champion of the World, and I trust that I will continue to be recognized as such." Ward (26-0, 14 KO) is expected to fight sometime later this year, perhaps in the fall, and it seems would have been able to return before a full year out of the ring. He still holds the WBA "super" super middleweight title.