TAMPA, Fla. -- With eyes fixated on perspiration-soaked, WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto's workout, Bob Arum surveyed his latest promotional responsibility at The Fight Factory gymnasium like an artist appreciating his most recent piece.
"Miguel is just a fighter with great, great heart," said Arum, whose 42 years in boxing began with the Muhammad Ali victory over George Chuvalo -- his first of 26 fights involving the man many call "The Greatest" -- and included the George Foreman comeback.
FanHouse caught up with Arum on Tuesday during Cotto's training in Florida for his Nov. 14 defense against Manny Pacquiao to discuss the futures of Cotto, Pacquiao, and several other fighters he promotes.
On Saturday night, three fights of interest will transpire in the superbantamweight and featherweight divisions.
Puerto Rico's WBO superbantamweight (122-pounds) champion, Juan Manuel Lopez (pictured left) and WBA featherweight (126) king Yuriorkis Gamboa (middle) will be involved in two of them at the WaMu Theatre in New York's Madision Square Garden, with Mexican-born 126-pounder, Israel Vazquez (right) being in the third at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
Depending on the results, any of the three boxers could soon wind up in the ring opposite each other.
Cuban-born featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa (15-0, 13 knockouts) will go after his sixth straight knockout when he defends his WBA title against Panama's Whyber Garcia (22-6, 15 KOs) on Oct. 10 at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The clash of 126-pounders will take place on the undercard of a main event featuring another rising star and potential opponent for Gamboa - Juan Manuel Lopez. The 26-year-old, Puerto Rican super bantamweight (122 pounds) (26-0, 24 KOs) will put his WBO crown on the line against Rogers Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KOs).
"I do not want to lose focus in preparation for this fight, because I know that without winning this fight I can't get to the bigger fights, with Juan Manuel Lopez being one of them," Gamboa said.
After watching last weekend's one-sided loss by Juan Manuel Marquez, fellow Mexican Cris Arreola feels a cultural responsibility entering Saturday night's fight against heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.
"It did give me an extra incentive to carry the Mexican torch and grab the bull by the horns," said Arreola. "Whether my fellow Mexican fighters are on the top or not, I am in the business to win the title."
Juan Manuel Marquez, who is considered one of Mexico's greatest fighters, will fight at 144 pounds -- the highest weight at which he's ever competed -- to face unbeaten Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr. in a battle pitting two of boxing's pound-for-pound best performers Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
FanHouse sought out the opinions and predictions of some of the sport's most knowledgeable sources in the boxing world for the megafight.
In March of 2008, Michael Buffer was lying on an operating table at the USC Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
The man known for igniting crowds with an electrifying introduction of boxers with his signature, copywritten phrase, "Lets Get Ready To Rumble," was receiving potentially life-- if not -- career-threatening neck and throat surgery.
"The prognosis early on was that I would have to have continuous radiation, which, of course would cause a problem with the saliva glands, which would mean I wouldn't be doing any more announcing," said Buffer, 65, whose operation removed a lymph node attached to his tonsils -- the source of a cancer called squamous cell carcinoma.
HBO's Max Kellerman responded to the performance by saying, "A star is born," and he's absolutely right. Lopez is a destructive fighter, with punching power that guys who weigh 121 pounds just aren't supposed to possess: He's 22-0 with 20 knockouts, and in his two fights that went the distance, he dominated so thoroughly that four of the six judges awarded him every round.
The super bantamweight division has been dominated of late by Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, who fought twice last year and had a rubber match this year. But now there's another super bantamweight force to be reckoned with: Lopez is the real deal.
There are four title fights on cable TV Saturday night, a bonanza for fight fans who won't have to pony up for pay-per-view to catch some good boxing. Since it's boxing in 2008, there's gotta be a drawback and in this case it is that two fights are on HBO and the other two are on Showtime. Still, some judicious flipping and/or the use of a DVR should make it a full night of pugilistic enjoyment.
We'll start by looking at the two HBO fights, live from Atlantic City at 10PM Eastern. Kelly Pavlik (33-0) vs. Gary Lockett (30-1) for the WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine Middleweight Titles We start with Pavlik because he's the biggest name, not because this is going to be the best fight of the night. Lockett is a mandatory challenger for Pavlik and he's going to have to come up with a pretty magical effort to hang with Pavlik. He's never fought in the United States before, never fought anyone close to Pavlik's ability and doesn't have the skills of Jermain Taylor or Edison Miranda, each of whom couldn't solve Pavlik's mix of punching power and boxing skills. Unless Pavlik is looking past Lockett, he should end this one fairly early.
TAMPA, Fla. -- With eyes fixated on perspiration-soaked, WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto's workout, Bob Arum surveyed his latest promotional responsibility at The Fight Factory gymnasium like an artist appreciating his most recent piece.
Cuban-born featherweight 
After watching last weekend's one-sided loss by 
In March of 2008, 
During 
