[h2]Khan, Maidana get 2-week extension[/h2]
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ESPN.com
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The junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan and interim titleholder Marcos Maidana have been given a two-week extension to see if they can work out an agreement for their mandatory fight, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com.
Golden Boy signed England's Khan to a promotional deal last weekend and co-promotes Maidana with Universum, one of the leading promoters in Germany.
The WBA had scheduled a Monday purse bid for Khan-Maidana in their offices in Panama before agreeing to the extension.
There was some confusion, however, because several media outlets reported that the sides had made a deal after the WBA announced on its Web site that the purse bid had been canceled because they struck a "tentative agreement" for the bout to take place "approximately" at the "end of March or beginning of April."
That is not the case, Schaefer said. He said Golden Boy asked for the extension, which is why the purse bid was called off, not because a deal for the fight had been made.
"Amir Khan just changed promoters and is with us now, so we asked the WBA to allow us to discuss things with him to see what he wants to do and so we can speak with our co-promoters with Maidana to see if we could come to terms without a purse bid, or work out a situation acceptable to both parties, and that was granted," Schaefer said. "We have two weeks to see what we can work out. If we can't work anything out we will go to a purse bid."
Freddie Roach, Khan's trainer, would prefer for Khan to face somebody else in his next fight rather than the big puncher from Argentina.
One possibility, according to Schaefer, is for Khan, who wants to fight in the United States, to make an optional defense with Maidana fighting on the undercard, before eventually matching them.
"A situation where they are on the same card would make sense. Let's build up the fight," Schaefer said. "We want to explore what other fights are out there."
Schaefer has discussed a match between Khan and former titlist Paulie Malignaggi with Malignaggi promoter Lou DiBella, but said that Khan facing Maidana is still possible for his next bout.
"Amir has not said to me, nor has Freddie said to me, that they are afraid to fight Maidana," Schaefer said. "But at this point of his career, there are other bigger names out there."
Schaefer mentioned Malignaggi along with former lightweight titleholders Juan Diaz and Nate Campbell, both of whom are promoted by Golden Boy, as potential opponents.
"If they are not available, Khan is not saying he won't fight Maidana," Schaefer said. "We have two weeks to figure it out."
The 23-year-old Khan (22-1, 16 KOs), a 2004 British Olympic silver medalist and the 2007 ESPN.com prospect of the year, won a 140-pound belt in July with a dominant decision victory against Andreas Kotelnik. Khan made his first defense on Dec. 5, stopping outgunned mandatory challenger Dmitriy Salita in 76 seconds.
Maidana (27-1, 26 KOs), 26, lost a debatable split decision to Kotelnik in a February 2009 title challenge before making a name for himself in June, when he stopped rising prospect Victor Ortiz in the sixth round in an HBO main event to claim the vacant interim title. Maidana has made one defense, a third-round knockout of William Gonzalez in November.
Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com.
[h2]The top three pound-for-pound fighters[/h2]
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</div><cite class= By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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Who is the world's best fighter regardless of weight class? See my top 20 below.
And don't forget to check out the
divisional rankings, now updated weekly.
For a list of the current champions in all weight classes,
click here.
Note: Results through Jan. 19.
1 |
Manny Pacquiao
Welterweight titlist
Age: 31 | Record: 50-3-2, 38 KOs
|
Hits: Pacquiao is boxing's biggest star and the ESPN.com Fighter of the Year in three of the past four years. When he (and his team at Top Rank) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (and his people, along with Golden Boy) screwed up the biggest fight in boxing, Pacquiao at least moved on to the next best available welterweight: former titleholder Joshua Clottey. It should be a good fight, and the fact that it will take place at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas adds a bit of sizzle to the promotion.
Misses: Pacquiao could have made the Mayweather fight, made boxing fans around the world ecstatic -- and earned perhaps as much as $40 million for the match -- if he had just agreed to drug testing (via blood) up to 14 days before the fight. He wouldn't budge off an arbitrary 24-day window. This is not an accusation that Pacquiao uses performance-enhancing drugs, but it's easy to understand why many believe he should just take the test if he has nothing to hide.
| |
2 |
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Welterweight
Age: 32 | Record: 40-0, 25 KOs
|
Hits: Since the fight with Pacquiao has fallen apart, there's a chance that Mayweather will face Shane Mosley in the spring instead. Aside from a fight with Pacquiao, Mosley is the biggest match Mayweather could possibly make -- and one that many fight fans have wanted to see for a long, long time.
Misses: Even if Mosley-Mayweather happens -- still a big "if" because Mayweather has avoided the top welterweights for years -- it's still not Pacquiao-Mayweather. Both camps screwed up that fight. We might eventually forgive, but we do not forget. Mayweather deserves a giant share of the blame for the fight falling apart because he wanted additional drug testing for Pacquiao (as well as himself) that isn't covered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
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3 |
Bernard Hopkins
Light heavyweight
Age: 45 | Record: 50-5-1, 32 KOs
|
Hits: Even at 45, Hopkins remains a physical marvel. Six weeks before his Jan. 15 birthday, Hopkins ended a 14-month layoff and looked very good rolling to a near-shutout decision against a game Enrique Ornelas. Hopkins may be an old man, but he remains a master technician. He is one of the greatest fighters in history and would have had success boxing in any era.
Misses: Even though Roy Jones Jr. got blasted out in one round by Danny Green on the same day that Hopkins beat Ornelas -- which should have killed the Jones-Hopkins rematch that had previously been agreed to -- Hopkins still pressed for the fight. Jones, with nowhere else to go after such a pathetic loss, reworked their deal. The result is a spring rematch on pay-per-view. What a miserable idea.
| |
[h2]Top pound-for-pound fighters[/h2]
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</div><cite class= By Dan Rafael
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4 |
Shane Mosley
Welterweight champion
Age: 38 | Record: 46-5, 39 KOs
|
Hits: Although Mosley's much-anticipated Jan. 30 unification bout against Andre Berto was canceled because of Berto's family tragedy, Mosley could wind up with a much, much bigger fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if the negotiations work out. Mosley-Mayweather is one of the biggest fights boxing has to offer, even if it isn't as big as the ruined Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.
Misses: If Mosley-Mayweather is made for early May, the time frame being discussed, Mosley will have been out of the ring for 16 months since his spectacular destruction of Antonio Margarito in January 2009.
| |
5 |
Paul Williams
Middleweight
Age: 28 | Record: 38-1, 27 KOs
|
Hits: There are two outstanding options out there for Williams to go after this year. One is a rematch with junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez, whom Williams edged via majority decision in December in one of the best fights of 2009. The other is to challenge middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, with whom he has tried to make a fight three times only to see it fall apart each time. Williams also continues to say he's willing to drop back to welterweight for the right fight.
Misses: As long as the Williams camp insists on parity to fight Pavlik, the bout is dead in the water. Besides, Pavlik may end up defending against Martinez in the spring, and that would leave Williams without either of his most significant opponents. And the answer won't be facing obscure welterweight belt holder Jan Zaveck, an opponent the Williams camp has reached out to.
| |
6 |
Chad Dawson
Interim light heavyweight titlist
Age: 27 | Record: 29-0, 17 KOs
|
Hits: In 2009, Dawson closed the book on rivalries with Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver, a pair of 40-plus fighters. In 2010, it finally looks as though Dawson will tangle with some of the talented younger guys in the division, beginning with a mandatory fight against 27-year-old titleholder Jean Pascal of Canada. Not only is it a legitimate matchup, it also figures to be a very good fight.
Misses: Although Dawson and his team would have preferred for the Pascal fight to take place in April, he'll have to wait until late June because Pascal is rehabilitating a shoulder injury that he suffered in his December rematch victory over Adrian Diaconu.
| |
7 |
Juan Manuel Marquez
Lightweight champion
Age: 36 | Record: 50-5-1, 37 KOs
|
Hits: How good has the three-division champion been throughout his 17-year pro career? You can make a reasonable argument that the only absolutely clear loss of his career came in September when he moved up two divisions and dropped a lopsided decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who had all the advantages, including coming in heavier than the contract weight. The other blemishes on Marquez's record all have question marks: Two highly controversial fights (a split-decision loss and a draw) with Manny Pacquiao, a controversial decision loss to Chris John in John's native Indonesia, a debatable decision to Freddie Norwood in a fight in which Norwood did nothing but try to stink him out, and a first-round disqualification in Marquez's 1993 pro debut to long-forgotten journeyman Javier Duran.
Misses: He's 36 and coming off two very tough fights in 2009: the loss to Mayweather and the brutal ninth-round knockout victory against Juan Diaz. So you have to wonder just how much is left in the tank at this point.
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8 |
Miguel Cotto
Welterweight
Age: 29 | Record: 34-2, 27 KOs
|
Hits: Despite taking a pounding from Manny Pacquiao in November in a 12th-round TKO loss, the former welterweight and junior welterweight titleholder is hungry to come back. And when he does, he'll take the challenge of moving up to junior middleweight to face titlist Yuri Foreman in a fight Top Rank is negotiating with both fighters. Cotto has given so much of himself to boxing and should be appreciated every time he steps between the ropes, regardless of whom he faces.
Misses: Although Cotto has only two defeats to Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, both fights ended in knockout losses with Cotto taking a beating in the later rounds. You wonder how much more he can take before it's over.
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9 |
Nonito Donaire
Interim junior bantamweight titlist
Age: 27 | Record: 22-1, 14 KOs
|
Hits: The "Filipino Flash" returns to action on Feb. 13 to open a year that has so much promise for him. If he takes care of business against Gerson Guerrero on Top Rank's pay-per-view card, and champion Vic Darchinyan wins his fight on March 6, we could see a rematch between Donaire and Darchinyan. Their 2007 fight was quite memorable, with Donaire scoring the sensational fifth-round knockout in an upset. Fight fans have talked about a rematch ever since.
Misses: It's too bad that a fighter with the talent and charisma of Donaire is stuck fighting low-profile (and poor) opponents such as Guerrero.
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10 |
Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon
Junior flyweight champion
Age: 35 | Record: 33-0-1, 6 KOs
|
Hits: Calderon, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Jan. 7, has been one of the best pure boxers of his generation, even if he has slowed just a tad in the past year or so. Even when Rodel Mayol, who would go on to win a belt, made him look bad in their two bouts in 2009 -- both of which ended with Calderon suffering severe cuts and forced a technical decision -- he still pulled out a decision and draw.
Misses: Calderon, who has won titles in two divisions, still has not had a defining fight despite fighting all sorts of former and future titleholders. He needs a significant fight. There's no reason a unification match with titleholder Brian Viloria can't be made if Viloria retains his title Friday, especially because Viloria promoter Top Rank and Calderon promoter PR Best Boxing have a very close relationship.
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The next 10:
11. Arthur Abraham
12. Kelly Pavlik
13. Chris John
14. Sergio Martinez
15. Tomasz Adamek
16. Timothy Bradley Jr.
17. Hozumi Hasegawa
18. Andre Ward
19. Celestino Caballero
20. Joshua Clottey