Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pacquiao itching for a shot at Mayweather Jr.: Boxing Insider

by Joe Maxse, The Plain Dealer

MANNY PACQUIAO is closing in on his welterweight bout against Joshua Clottey at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on March 13.

But it's evident Floyd Mayweather Jr. still gets as much attention as the Pac Man's upcoming opponent, especially when trainer Freddie Roach is involved.

"We are not happy with his remarks," Roach said during a conference call, referring to Mayweather's inference that Pacquiao has been using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. "Manny wants to fight him in the future.

"Sometimes when Manny is shadowboxing he will show me how Mayweather fights and how he will take care of the problem. I've never seen him do that before. [Mayweather] was trying to ruin our reputation with those allegations and we do want to fight him and we do want to knock him out."

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) is the solid favorite to keep Mayweather in his future by getting past Clottey (35-3, 21 KOs). HBO will show it on a pay-per-view basis.

Around the ring: The Feb. 19 pro show at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center had a gate sale of $91,625. The Ohio Athletic Commission collected $4,581 in taxes for the state. . . . Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini has helped produce a documentary film on his hometown titled "Youngstown: Still Standing." It will debut at the Cleveland International Film Festival at Tower City Cinemas on March 24 at 2:10 p.m. and March 25 at 9:30 p.m. . . . The annual Jimmy Bivins Classic will combine amateur and professional bouts at North Olmsted's Soccer Sportsplex on April 24. Call 216-854-0485 or 440-258-8117. . . . Joe Louis was honored Saturday with the unveiling of an eight-foot bronze statue in his hometown of Lafayette, Ala. "The Brown Bomber" moved to Detroit when he was 12. . . . Tickets for the May 1 bout between Mayweather and Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand are on sale through Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets range from $150 to $1,250. It will be shown on HBO PPV. . . . Allan Green (29-1, 20 KOs) has replaced Jermain Taylor in Showtime's "Super Six World Boxing Classic." Green will face WBA super middleweight champ Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) on April 24. . . . The Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KOs) match against Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs) in the "Super Six" has been moved from California to Detroit on March 27. Dirrell suffered a back injury to force the postponement from Thursday. . . . Kelly Pavlik has opened training camp at Youngstown's South Side Gym under trainer Jack Loew for his April 17 middleweight title defense against Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City, N.J. Tickets are $350, $200, $100 and $50, through Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420.

History: Joe Frazier opened the fourth Madison Square Garden by stopping Buster Mathis in the 11th round on March 4, 1968. Nino Benvenuti decisioned middleweight Emile Griffith on the same card.

Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini was born on March 4, 1961.

TV: The ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" are in Temecula, Calif., where lightweight Martin Honorio (27-4-1, 14 KOs) faces Wilton Hilario (12-0-1, 9 KOs) at 10 p.m.

On Saturday HBO will be in Uncasville, Conn., for the unification bout between WBC super lightweight champ Devon Alexander (19-0, 12 KOs) and IBF 140-pound champ Juan Urango 22-2-1, 17 KOs) at 9:30 p.m.

Showtime goes against its cable rival from Rancho Mirage, Calif., where WBC super flyweight champ Vic Darchinyan (33-2-1, 26 KOs) meets Rodrigo Guerrero (12-1-1, 7 KOs) at 9 p.m.

source:cleveland.com

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