WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wants and needs a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) in order for Canelo to transition from being just a regular Showtime fighter to a pay per view fighter. However, Canelo expects Mayweather to go back up to 154 to fight him if he says yes to a fight in September instead of Canelo dropping a little weight and fighting Mayweather at 147.
Robert Garcia, the well-known trainer of Brandon Rios and many other fighters, doesn’t think Mayweather should up in weight to fight Canelo because he sees the 22-year-old Mexican as being too heavy for Mayweather.
(Photos courtesy PR Best Boxing Promotions/Joel Colon) Billy Nelson, the trainer of WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) feels that his opponent for Saturday night Jose Gonzalez (22-0, 17 KO’s) isn’t the puncher that many people think is. In fact, Nelson thinks Gonzalez isn’t even as big a puncher as former WBO super featherweight champion Roman Martinez, who Burns defeated by a close 12 round unanimous decision in 2010 to take his title. 
The MGM Grand boasts in excess of 6500 guestrooms. Its sprawling casino is an endless maze of over 2500 illuminated gaming machines. No less than 19 restaurants cater for the discerning appetites of its multi-national clientele. Considering such extravagant interiors it is by no coincidence that this past week the largest advertisement conceivable was draped over its glazed exterior bearing the proud caption: The Home of the Champion. 
With the back and forth banter between WBA 147lb champ Paulie Malignaggi and WBC 135lb champ Adrien Broner set aside, it looks like this could be one hell of a scrap. Malignaggi is the bigger man and Broner is moving up 2 weight classes to face him. But…when you look a little closer at this matchup there are red flags all around that will make it a very hard fight for Malignaggi to win, in terms of style matchup, ring generalship, punching power and skills in-general.
By Vitali Shaposhnikov: It appears as thought Deontay Wilder has recently joined the criminal record boxing club. Wilder was arrested for domestic assault in Las Vegas, but was later released after a very hefty jail bond fee of $15,000 was paid. He has now been scheduled to appear in court on July 3.
By Vitali Shaposhnikov: I assume that at this point, most of you already know that Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios are slated to meet inside the ring come November 24th. This will be a very unusual fight in a sense that it will be taking place in China, far away from where both fighters are used to going to work. This may turn out to be a bad decision, taking the sport of boxing away from where both men earned their status, but Top Rank is convinced that this decision will yield much better profits by lowering the tax fees.
After this past Saturday night, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. made his fight against Robert Guerrero look like a sparring session rather than a world championship bout, the mystery of how to beat Floyd remains in tact.
Marv G. (Charlotte, NC): Despite the layoff, time in jail, and partying, I really thought Mayweather looked incredible. Do you think Guerrero was just a joke? Or do you think Floyd is really that good?
This Friday night on SHOBOX: The New Generation, a clash between junior welterweight contenders Cleotis Pendarvis (17-3, 6 KOs) and Dierry Jean (24-0, 16 KOs) will take place in order to determine the new IBF mandatory challenger. Last night I was afforded the opportunity to speak with Pendarvis, and the 26 year old Los Angeles southpaw shared his views on his upcoming opportunity. He also discussed a number of other topics, which included his boxing philosophy, working with Sugar Shane Mosley as his chief sparring partner for Friday’s match, future aspirations, Floyd Mayweather’s dominant victory over Robert Guerrero, the showdown between Lucas Matthysse and Lamont Peterson, and more. Here is a complete transcript from that interview: