FanHouse JuanDiaz

Mark Taffet, Senior Vice President of HBO Sports Pay Per View, said Floyd Mayweather "clearly has proven his star status by generating the kinds of pay per view numbers that very few men in the history of the sport have ever generated."

FanHouse spoke to Taffet, the man in charge of HBO's Pay Per View, as he addressed Mayweather, the Nov. 14 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, the cable giant's "hunger to go younger" initiative geared toward drawing America's youth to the sport of boxing, and how the organization determines which fights are deserving of pay television status during this exclusive interview.

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in June 2005, he was greeted by a hostile crowd partisan to the New Jersey native.

The acrimonious reception brought out the best in Mayweather, who stopped Gatti in six rounds after dropping him early during a generally dominant performance for the World Boxing Council light welterweight title.

The undefeated six-time champion expects a similar atmosphere Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather (39-0, 25 knockouts) takes on Mexico City's Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

Paulie Malignaggi heavily criticized the judges following his controversial unanimous decision loss to Juan Diaz last month. From his post-fight interview with HBO's Max Kellerman to the post-fight press conference, Malignaggi wasn't afraid of voicing his displeasure with the politics that have plagued boxing for years.

When FanHouse recently spoke to Malignaggi, he was still fired up over the loss. The 28-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., said he's been promised a rematch against Diaz and is hopeful it will happen on the East Coast. The full video interview is below.

Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Sr. both agree with Floyd Jr. that his return to the sport should be as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound.

"Nobody beat him. He's still undefeated. He's still Floyd Mayweather Jr. It's like your read a book and you're in the 10th chapter, and you close the book to take a nap," said De La Hoya. "You open the book, once again, when you wake up and you pick up where you left off. It's a continuation."

In a brilliant showing at the Toyota Center in Houston, Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Juan Diaz to win the world lightweight boxing title on Saturday night.

Diaz gave a game performance in a dead-even fight through the first eight rounds, but Marquez overwhelmed him and knocked him out in the ninth.

And he may have done something more than that: Marquez may have shown that he's the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

If there is a lesson to learn from the life of Juan Diaz, the former unified lightweight champion of the world, current college senior and boxer with a motor so powerful NASCAR would stick a restrictor plate on it, it is simply this.

Don't mess with the fat kid.

In an amount of time smaller than any second could be split, and faster than even he can bob, weave and hurl a counterpunch, Juan Manuel Marquez leaps to an answer with enough enthusiasm you'd be forgiven for thinking someone had just asked a kid to the prom.