Mayweather vs. Marquez on June 18? Hopkins vs. Trinidad II in November?

It would appear that two fighters are planning on coming out of retirement this year, one of which I'm looking forward to seeing again while the other should seriously remain retired.

Sources close to the situation have suggested that former pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr will likely come out of retirement to fight current lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez. The fight would take place at a reasonable catch weight of 145lbs. Marquez intends to go up to 140lbs anyway, and Money May could probably fight at 140lbs if he elected to do as much. Mayweather vs. Marquez would be a battle that pits two of boxing most intelligent technicians of the last ten years against one another. I'm still waiting for a public announcement on Mayweather's comeback as well as the official signing of the bout, but it will probably happen on July 18 in Las Vegas and be televised on HBO PPV.

From what I read earlier today, former three division world champion Felix Trinidad wants to make yet another return to the ring against former two division champion Bernard Hopkins, the man who hand him his first professional defeat back in September of 2001. Trinidad, 36, would be well served to stay retired, as he has only fought twice in the past four years and lost both bouts [unanimous decision loss to Winky Wright in 2005 & unanimous decision loss to Roy Jones, Jr in January 2008] in convincing fashion. Planning to make the fight sometime in November, promoter Don King and Golden Boy Promotions are close to reaching an agreement.

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Cotto vs. Clottey officially set for June 13!

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum held a press conference in New York City earlier this week to officially announce the welterweight title unification fight between WBO champion Miguel Cotto and IBF titlist Joshua Clottey. The fight will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade and will be televised live on HBO. The timing and location of this contest has become a traditional right of passage for Cotto, the Puerto Rican superstar who has fought at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of this holiday for four of the last five years.

In terms of the significance of this fight, it is highly significant for all of the fights that take place at 147lbs as well as for the fighters who campaign in that weight class. The winner of the Cotto vs. Clottey will cement his status as the number one contender for welterweight champion Shane Mosley. What makes this fight so interesting is that it could turn out to be a good fight with some fireworks. Clottey, who is more or less the dark horse of the welterweight division as Winky Wright was for many years at super welterweight, does not come easy for anybody he fights. Ever since his close unanimous decision loss to then WBO champion Antonio Margarito in December of 2006, Clottey has been on a nice winning streak that includes wins over Zab Judah and the late Diego Corrales.

Whether or not Cotto has recovered from the potential physical damage of the knockout loss to Margarito last summer remains unknown, as his last fight against Michael Jennings failed to answer those questions. Jennings put up very little resistance and was finished in that fight from a competitive stand point the moment Cotto laid hands on him. We still don't know the aftermath of the punishment Cotto took from Margarito. Regardless of whether or not Margarito's gloves were loaded with an illegal substance, Cotto still took physical punishment. Physical damage, whether it is the product of illegal wraps or legally wrapped fists, can not be reversed. Meldrick Taylor never took a punch quite the same way again after his classic encounter with Julio Cesar Chavez in 1990, a fight in which Chavez came from behind to stop Taylor with two seconds remaining in contest.

There are questions to be answered on June 13, and boxing fans just might have some fun as they get those answers when these two top welterweights meet each other in the ring at Madison Square Garden.

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Rest in Peace Arthur Curry

Last week in New York City, Arthur Curry, Director of Boxing Talent Relations at HBO Sports, passed away due to unknown causes. Acting as a liaison, Curry was the friendly and personable connection between HBO and many of boxing's super stars such as Roy Jones, Jr, Riddick Bowe, James Toney, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Curry was loved by the fighters as much as he was by HBO's staff and family. Executives and television broadcasting crew members were close with Curry, as was evident in the emotional distress exhibited by HBO ring announcers Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant, as they spent a few moments grieving Curry's tragic and untimely death concluding the Williams vs. Wright telecast last Saturday night. Curry died at the young age of 49. May he rest in peace; my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

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Boxingchronicles.com Pound 4 Pound update!

The latest Pound for Pound rankings are in at Boxingchronicles.com. With the retirement of Joe Calzaghe, Juan Manuel Marquez's knockout of Juan Diaz, and Paul Williams lopsided conquest of Winky Wright, who's in, who's out, who's up and who's down? Click here to see for yourself and feel free to comment!

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The Punisher punishes Wright the Wright way!

Paul Williams W12 Winky Wright... They say defense wins championships in Superbowls, but it was the offense and overwhelming work rate of Paul Williams that caused former super welterweight champion Winky Wright so much trouble on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, NV. Williams threw practically every punch in the book over the course of twelve rounds, winning a lopsided unanimous decision over the former champion. Official scores were 119-109 (2X) and 120-108 all in favor of Williams. Boxingchronicles.com scored the fight 118-110 for Williams, giving Wright rounds 5 and 6. Williams has an unbelievable work rate; he never even showed signs of slowing down at any point in the fight. Gunshy does not go in the same sentence as the name Paul Williams. Williams would love to go back down 147lbs and fight welterweight champion Shane Mosley, but if that doesn't happen middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik should be mandated to face Williams, but I highly doubt Pavlik's promoter Bob Arum would ever allow that to happen. Last night's performance by Williams could not have possibly done anything to change Arum's mind.

Chris Arreola KO4 Jameel McCline... Undefeated heavyweight contender Chris Arreola may have delivered one of the best performances of his young career to date, as he dominated Jameel McCline for the most part with good body work and right hands in the first three rounds and stopped him with a right hand in the fourth round. Arreola blasted McCline with a beautiful left uppercut, followed by two right hands that put McCline down for the count. Nice showing by Arreola, who maintains that he is ready for the Klitschko brothers. I liked the body work, the right hands, and the left uppercut that set up the knockout. Hopefully Arreola can lose some of that excess weight.

television: HBO World Championship Boxing

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Wright vs. Williams tonight in Las Vegas!

Tonight is fight night on HBO, as former two-time welterweight titlist Paul "The Punisher" Williams and former undisputed super welterweight champion Winky Wright square off in a twelve round middleweight contest live at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

Williams has remained active from 147lbs to 160lbs, scoring wins that included his one round revenge stoppage of Carlos Quintana, another first round stoppage of Andy Kolle in his middleweight debut, and a 9th round TKO win over former IBF junior middleweight champion Verno Phillips in his most recent outing.

Wright, who is ten years Williams senior, hasn't seen action in the prize ring since losing a close unanimous decision to then-light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins in July of 2007. Depending on what kind of shape Wright is in for this fight and how much he has left to give, this fight could interesting and entertaining to watch Facing a guy like Williams, who is in prime fighting shape, this might not be pretty for Wright, but I think it will be a good scrap.

Over the years with age, Wright has become more stationary and does not move like he used to. He stands there in front of his opponents with that turtle shell defense and throws punches. Williams is pretty offensive minded himself, so it's quite possible that this fight will be fought in telephone booth. Neither of these guys really have a reputation for hugging or holding. I look for this to be a battle of attrition, in which there are two solid fighters giving their greatest efforts to impose their wills in one another.

In his prime when he was more active and at his very best, one might say that Winky had the Wright style to trouble Williams. He's a slick defensive-minded southpaw by nature. Quintana, another southpaw who is more less a poor man's version of Wright, was able to outbox Williams and Quintana's defense is not as tight as Wright's. Having seen Wright in recent photos, he looks physically drawn and somewhat frail in his return to 160lbs after almost 2 years of inactivity. Williams, who has decent fire power, throws a lot of punches from different angles and also has advantages in size and reach, which served him well in the first 7 or 8 rounds when he masterfully outworked Antonio Margarito in July of 2007.

At this stage, looking at Wright and taking into account their activity and careers over the course of the past two years, I'd say Williams wins a clear decision in a fight in which the judges might have it scored a little closer than it really is.

In the televised co-feature, undefeated heavyweight contender Chris Arreola faces his stiffest test to date when he takes on three-time heavyweight title challenger Jameel McCline. McCline has been in the ring with a who's-who of heavyweights including Michael Grant, Shannon Briggs, Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock, and Sam Peter just to name a few.

Having built a reputation as a veteran gatekeeper who's done just enough to lose competitively, McCline dropped Sam Peter three times in their fight in October of 2007. Peter went on to out hussle McCline and win the fight by a close decision. McCline has also dropped Chris Byrd and Calvin Brock, but also found himself on the losing end of those fights that ended in decisions. Arreola is a young contender who's had a tendency to come into his fight overweight and showed vulnerability in the early rounds of his last fight against Travis Walker. Walker knocked Arreola down in the 2nd round of their fight last November, but failed to capitalize on it as Arreola stopped Walker in the following round.

McCline can be dangerous early on, but Arreola is vulnerable early. It might take about five or six rounds for Arreola to even figure McCline out, if McCline brings his A-game to this fight. Arreola is not a one punch knockout artist and I don't recall McCline being taken out by one punch. If Arreola stops McCline, it'll probably be in the later rounds based on accumulation of punishment. In any case, I pick Arreola either by a late stoppage or a sloppy decision win.

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Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye set for June 20!

After months of ongoing negotiations with a number of them stalling, an agreement has finally been reached between the parties of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and former cruiserweight champion David Haye. Klitschko will defend his titles against Haye on June 20, at a site that is still yet to be determined. HBO will televise in the US, which adds another upcoming fight to the list of intriguing matches that have been and will be televised by the network.

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