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May 13, 2002
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Hopkins Wants David Haye

Bernard Hopkins told Steve Bunce he is interested in a fight with David Haye at Heavyweight after his fight with Roy Jones and Hayes fight with John Ruiz.

He said that Jones beat Ruiz and Haye is class above Ruiz he is willing to step up and take that fight because Haye inst a big heavyweight.

Hopkins is currently 190lbs and doesn't see him bulking up that much and will be very interesting fight.
 
May 13, 2002
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I think he would go the distance against Haye and the fight would be competitive. Hopkins would smother haye and use lateral movement to take away haye's big shots, I think it would frustrate haye a bit.

Regardless, gotta respect the challenge though. It's a huge gamble.
 
May 13, 2002
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I like this fight for Valro rather than jumping straight to the top against Bradley, this way he can test the waters a bit at 140 and at the same time this is a very tough challenge...


Edwin Valero vs Lamont Peterson!

WBC lightweight (135 pounds) champion, Edwin Valero, of Venezueala, will rise into the 140 pound division for a June or July bout against once-beaten Lamont Peterson (picutred at far right, with Timothy Bradley) of Washington, D.C., possibly in Florida or Washington, D.C., FanHouse has learned from Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank Promotions, which handles both fighters..
 
May 13, 2002
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yeah it's not looking that great.

Main Event - Pac vs Clottey

Humberto Soto (50-7-2) vs. David Diaz (35-2-1)
Alfonso Gomez (21-4-2) vs. Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-1)
John Duddy (28-1) vs. Michael Medina (23-1-2)
Salvador Sanchez (18-3-2) vs. TBA
Roberto Marroquin (12-0) vs. TBA
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Did Calzaghe ruin Kessler?

By Sean McDaniel: Although not much has been said about this topic, I think it’s something that needs to be considered. Former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since suffering a 12 round unanimous decision loss to unbeaten Joe Calzaghe in November 2007. The fight, which took place in Wales, saw Calzaghe and Kessler fighting at a pretty much even pace in the first six rounds of the bout. Indeed, it was hard to tell who the better fighter was during this point in the fight.


However, Calzaghe turned it into overdrive in the 2nd half of the fight, and basically took command of the fight down the stretch run of the bout, landing a high number of head shots during this time. While Calzaghe doesn’t credit for being much of a puncher, his shots would add up because of the sheer number that he used to throw in his fights.

A volume puncher by tradition, Calzaghe’s fight against Kessler was no different in that respect than many of his other bouts of his career. Calzaghe unloaded with a high number of punches to the head of Kessler in the 2nd part of the fight, especially in rounds 8 through 12. Kessler looked fine at the end of the fight, aside from some redness around both of his eyes. However, in his next fight against Dimitri Sartison in June 2008, Kessler no longer looked like the confident, unbeatable fighter he was previous to his loss to Calzaghe. Something appeared to have been taken out of Kessler in the Calzaghe fight.

Kessler did not look confident at all against Sartison, and took a number of hard rights to the head from him until Sartison faded in the second half of the fight. If you look at that fight and compare it to Kessler’s other bouts before the Calzaghe fight, Kessler looked like he’d lost something in his performance. In Kessler’s next fight against Danilo Haussler in October 2008, he looked like the Kessler from old.

However, because Haussler was so badly over-matched and folded quickly in the 3rd round, you couldn’t see how Kessler had slipped as a fighter. But in Kessler’s next fight against Gusmyr Perdomo in September 2009, Kessler clearly looked like something was wrong with him. No longer was he dominating like he had before the Calzaghe fight.

Perdomo, a halfway decent southpaw, landed at will with sweeping left hands and right hooks against Kessler frequently during the first three rounds. Kessler’s power, which hadn’t abandoned him, bailed him out in that fight as he stopped Perdomo in the 4th round. But Kessler looked almost shot in his next fight against Andre Ward in November 2009, getting totally dominated by Ward en route to losing by an 11 round technical decision to the American boxer in the Super Six tournament.

At this point, other boxing fans and experts could see that something was amiss with Kessler that he no longer looked like the same fighter he once was. However, few people have arrived at the conclusion that Calzaghe may have somehow ruined Kessler in his win over him in 2007, but I think it’s something that needs to be considered.

Kessler hasn’t looked like the same fighter since that fight and with the huge amount of head shots that Calzaghe landed in that fight, I have to wonder whether it did something to Kessler to make him less of a fighter
 
Jul 24, 2005
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The Pacquiao – Mayweather Wars

by Glen Anglin: There is an all-too-common tendency among many boxing fans to attempt to promote the greatness of their chosen hero by denigrating their hero’s current rival. Currently, there is a blazing war of words between the respective fans of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather .

Normally, this verbal battle takes 4 basic forms:

· Mitigating the accomplishments of the other guy. (He defeated stiffs, old guys, shot fighters)


· Your guy cherry picks his opponents; my guy fights real competition.

· Your guy’s style is not as good as my guy’s style.

· You are blindly rooting for your guy without looking at the facts.

Recently, the Pacquiao/Mayweather debate has added some new forms such as: insults, charges of PED’s and worst of all, thuggish racial epithets. This sort of behavior only drags our great sport down and reaffirms what outsiders say about boxing, boxers and boxing fans.

Let’s start with the simple fact that rarely do two great fighters fight in their primes against each other. It is an unusual occurrence if for no other reason that the prime of many fighters just do not coincide. Birthdates are different, guys peak at different times, guys have an off night, etc. Many people forget that Liston was pushing 40(at the very least) when Clay ‘shocked the world’. In turn, Ali was in his late 30’s when Larry Holmes beat him so badly the fight was stopped with Ali cowering in a corner. By the same token, some of the guys Mayweather and Pacquaio have fought were not at their best either.

Now, let’s address the respective legacies of Mayweather and Pacquiao. PBF has beaten the best the world has to offer for the last 8 years (with a 2-year layoff). He dominated JMM and Hatton and has victories over Judah, Corley, ODLH and two over Castillo among others. With a likely win over Mosley, he has HOF credentials and is an all-time great for sure, possibly retiring undefeated. Any questions?

Pacquiao has also beaten the best the world has to offer for a decade, but mostly at a lower weight. His 10 or 12 knockdowns scored against Barrera, Morales and Marquez are a HOF accomplishment BY THEMSELVES. Not to mention victories over ODLH, Diaz, Hatton, Cotto and a likely win over Clottey. How about 7 weight division champ? How can anybody think he is not an all-time great?

As for ‘Cherry Picking’, how can ANY fighter fight EVERYBODY who calls him out? It’s impossible. So, considering that most champions want to make a truckload of money while their skills allow it, almost all of them try to get an easy payday here and there between the real tough fights. Examine the record of any great champion, and you will find a sprinkling of tomato cans on their resume. This applies to Mayweather and Pacquiao, as well as Louis, Ali, Robinson, Duran……anybody. No shame in it.

Regarding the charge of PED’s, I am not exactly sure what it is all about, other than MP’s refusal of PBF’s unreasonable demand to have unannounced, random blood tests within days of the fight. He will submit to random, unannounced urinalysis anytime and also blood test immediately after the fight and all other boxing commission requirements. Those who say he is turning down a lot of money are ignoring the fact that he already has more than he can ever spend and will make tens more millions each time he fights. Filipino’s are prone to superstition. Pacquiao thinks he lost to Morales partially because he allowed blood to be drawn from him 2 days before the fight. By the way, Pacquiao and Mayweather both started boxing in their teens under 110 pounds and are now around 145.

Let’s now review the style argument. Supposed boxing purists are constantly sniffing at Manny Pacquiao’s lack of boxing ability. He is a brawler with no skill, they say. The record shows that Pacquiao’s slashing, herky-jerky, 7-punch-combination-from-impossible-angles offense has done him quite well in the sport of boxing, thank you. After all, asthetics aside, isn’t it only the results that matter? I mean, if it is true that a REAL boxer can easily defeat Pacquiao, then why doesn’t it ever happen? Weren’t Barerra and Marquez considered master boxers the same size as MP? Having an acute appreciation of the finer points of the sweet science (as do I) should not close your mind to Pacquiao’s greatness. It only makes you look foolish and elitist, or even worse, racist. (By the way, isn’t it interesting that the same people who attack Pacquiao’s lack of boxing skill also attack the Klitschko brothers for being boring and cowardly? The K’s fight very carefully, taking few risks and taking full advantage of their physical ability and gifts…….in other words they fight just like Mayweather).

On the other hand, many Mayweather haters drone on and on about his predictable, boring style that is designed only to win rounds and influence judges. Let me ask you, if you were blessed with the talent that allowed you to win boxing matches against top shelf fighters without even getting hit, what would you do? That’s right, you would do the same as Mayweather. At the end of the Mayweather/Marquez fight Floyd had to be thinking: What a great life I have. I easily defeated a world class boxer and he barely even touched me.

If MP and PBF ever get in the ring against one another, I would pay $100 PPV to see it. However, neither of these guys is defined by the other. It is their body of work in the ring that matters. It is the only thing that can truly be judged.

One of the saddest ‘too-bad-that-fight-never-happened’ stories is Hagler vs Monzon. For a couple of years in the mid to late 70’s they were both near their prime. However, they never fought each other. Does that diminish what either man accomplished in the ring? JGA
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Hopkins says he’ll fight Dawson after he cleans up the light heavyweight division

By Jim Dower: 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO’s) said to ESPN analyst Brian Kenny on Friday night that he plans on cleaning up the light heavyweight division after Bernard gets through with his fight on April 3rd against 41-year-old Roy Jones Jr. Hopkins, who has only fought once in the past two years, said “I’m just going to clean up the light heavyweight division after Roy Jones Jr. And then I’m going to go after all the other champions who have a title, and then I’m going to unify the titles. The Chad Dawson fight will be even bigger, if he still has title. When the time comes, it [Hopkins-Dawson] will be bigger money. People will know who Chad Dawson is by them. That will be a good way to exit out of the light heavyweight division and go on with Golden Boy Promotions.”


That certainly sounds very ambitious of Hopkins. However, by the time that Hopkins beats the current light heavyweight champions – Beibut Shumenov, Jurgen Brahmer, Jean Pascal and Tavoris Cloud – Hopkins will be pushing 47 if he fights three times this year and twice next year. I can certainly see Hopkins beating Shumenov and Brahmer, but I’m less sure about whether he could beat Cloud and Pascal. But even if Hopkins does, he’s going to have to speed up the pace that he fights his opponents.

Since 2006, Hopkins has mostly fought only once a year, and to unify all the titles before he retires, Hopkins is going to have to pick up the pace if he doesn’t want to be still fighting at 48. I somehow don’t see that as realistically happening. Hopkins just hasn’t been lighting a fire with getting in the ring all that often in the past four years. A fight against Chad Dawson after Hopkins takes on all those guys, if he ever does, would likely be a horribly one-sided fight with the young Dawson beating up on a near 50-year-old Hopkins.

It wouldn’t even be fair at that point. If Hopkins fought Dawson now, Bernard would likely be in way over his head and would end up losing a lopsided decision. Hopkins didn’t look good in his last fight against middleweight contender Enrique Ornelas in December. Hopkins won the fight by a 12 round decision, but looked as if he had lost a step from his last fight before that against Kelly Pavlik a year earlier in October 2008.

Even that version of Hopkins would have huge problems against the lightning quick Dawson. I hate to imagine what Hopkins will look like by the time he clean up the light heavyweight division as he says and beats all the current light heavyweight title holders. I’m not very impressed with any of them, but Hopkins may have problems against Pascal and Cloud.

Pascal likely won’t be the WBC champion for very much longer, because he has a fight against Dawson coming up this summer. But I think Hopkins would have problems against Pascal. The real problem for Hopkins is that it’s going to take a lot of time to fight all the guys, and who’s to say that Hopkins will be able to successfully negotiate a fight with all of them.

Those fighters probably won’t like the idea of taking a smaller percentage of the revenue in a fight against Hopkins. So Hopkins might be better off being a little more realistic about his ambitions and taking on Dawson now, and forgetting about wasting time talking about cleaning up the division. It sounds like a pipe dream to me.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Pacquiao-Clottey won’t be getting an HBO 24/7 series

By Sean McDaniel: If the March 13th bout between World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey is going to succeed, it’s going to have to settle for a simple 30 minute special from HBO named “Road to Dallas.”

This has got to be a huge blow for the fight, because the HBO 24/7 specials are great vehicles for attracting casual fans to their big pay-per-view boxing attractions.


There are usually at least three specials to help give unknowing fans a glimpse of the fighters and give them some much needed facts. In this case, boxing fans will have only once chance to see the “Road to Dallas” special. That’s unfortunate because more than in other fights, Pacquiao-Clottey fight really could use at least four HBO 24/7 specials to introduce the unknowing boxing fans to the 32-year-old Clottey.

With only one special to be aired by HBO on the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, it could dramatically reduce the amount of boxing fans that decide to purchase the card. Because if casual boxing fan aren’t familiar with the boxers in a particular fight, then fans won’t be purchasing the fight. It’s a simple as that. Pacquiao is a popular fighter, but he’s not popular enough to draw fans without advertising and marketing of his fights.

Pacquiao has been fortunate in his last three fights to be taking on mega stars Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. But on March 13th, Pacquiao will be facing Clottey, who most fans don’t have clue one about. I hope that HBO and Pacquiao’s team aren’t counting on people purchasing the fight just because of their familiarity with Pacquiao, because they might be disappointed. Without a star opponent opposing Pacquiao, it takes advertising to get casual fans interested in seeing a fighter they’ve never even heard of.

The “Road to Dallas” Pacquiao-Clottey special will show immediately after the March 6th light welterweight unification fight matching Devon Alexander vs. Juan Urango. But that fight probably needs a 24/7 special of it’s own because neither fighter is well known to casual boxing fans and it likely won’t be a fight that gets high numbers of viewers.

The way things are looking, the Pacquiao-Clottey fight will live and die on the hardcore boxing fans that are fans of Pacquiao. If they don’t know who Pacquiao is or don’t care about his opponent Clottey, then few casual fans will waste their time and money purchasing the expensive $49.95 fight. The undercard has few recognizable stars to make counter balance the lack of a good main event bout.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Donaire should give Concepcion a rematch

Instead of taking on another miniature fighter like Manuel Vargas or beatable opponent like Gerson Guerrero, Nonito Donaire (23-1, 15 KO’s) needs to give a rematch with super flyweight contender Rafael Concepcion (13-4-1, 8 KO’s). Donaire defeated Concepcion by a 12 round decision in August 2009, and looked horrible in doing so, taking a lot of punishment from Concepcion all the way through the fight. Donaire looked especially unimpressive in the last four rounds as he ran from Concepcion and looked to be just trying o survive the fight.


Concepcion looked like a bull as he roughed the skinny stork-looking Donaire up with heavy shots. I scored the fight a 12 round draw, but Donaire being the more popular fighter, won the fight by a 12 round decision. Donaire moved up in weight from the flyweight division to take the fight against Concepcion, but I was shocked at how awful Donaire looked.

And I was really unimpressed with the matching of Donaire recently with Vargas, a fighter form the minimumweight class. Donaire looked like Klitschko facing a welterweight. It was such a bad match-up and naturally, Donaire took the much smaller Vargas out without too many problems. That was a total waste of a fight if you ask me. I still can’t believe that fight was the main event in the Latin Fury card.

But before I see Donaire in a rematch with Vic Darchinyan or in a fight against someone like Fernando Montiel, who I highly doubt they’ll put Donaire in with, I want to see Donaire prove that he can beat Concepcion conclusively. What I saw was Donaire taking a ton of punishment in that fight, running like crazy and doing nothing offensively. Donaire’s punches had no effect on the bull like Concepcion and he found himself in a real fight for a change.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Froch: “I am planning to knock him out”

By William Mackay: WBC super middleweight Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) sounds like victory over former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) is a foregone conclusion.

Froch says in an article at the UK.eurosport “They say styles make fights and our fight will be an exciting one. I am curious to see whether it will be the old or the new Kessler in the ring. It does not matter to me. I am planning to knock him out anyway.”


Kessler, 30, is in a rebuilding process with his career after losing an 11 round technical decision to Andre Ward on November 21st. Kessler replaced his long time trainer after the loss. However, it’s doubtful that any trainer or earth could have trained Kessler well enough to beat Ward on that night. It was beyond training and strategy.

Ward just looked like an altogether better equipped fighter in terms of raw physical skills. Kessler, a decent puncher, didn’t have the massive power needed to make up for his lack of speed and movement against Ward. Without the speed and movement to contend with Ward, Kessler found himself in an impossible situation and went down to a one-sided defeat.

Kessler says “Well, Carl, you don’t know the new Mikkel Kessler yet. You will be in for a very explosive surprise when we meet. You [Froch] are a nice guy, but business is business, and I want to win my old WBC belt back. I had a very bad night in the office against Ward but champions bounce back even stronger. I did that once after the Calzaghe fight and I will do it against when get in the in the ring.”

After losing a 12 round decision to Calzaghe in November 2007, Kessler responded with three consecutive wins, beating Dimitri Sartison, Danilo Haussler and Gusmyr Perdomo. Kessler looked especially good in the Sartison and Haussler fights.

Sartison had his moments in the first half of his fight against Kessler in June 2008, landing a handful of nice right hands that got Kessler’s attention and had him looking a little timid for awhile. However, Kessler continue to pump in a hard jab and land right hands and left hooks to punish Sartison. As the rounds went by, Sartison took more and more of a beating and by the 12th, he had taken enough and the fight finally stopped.

Froch will have to land more than an occasional right hand if he wants to beat Kessler. And more importantly, Froch is going to have to find some hand speed if he wants to beat Kessler. As slow as Froch looked in his fight against Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor last year, Kessler would likely dominate Froch and win the fight.

Froch has the power to win, but his delivery system is lacking entirely. Froch doesn’t have good hand speed at all, and he had huge problems landing any of his power shots in his last fight against Dirrell because of Carl’s slow hand speed.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Lamont Peterson's Trainer: We are ready for Edwin Valero

By Rick Reeno

When Barry Hunter, trainer/manager of junior welterweight Lamont Peterson, got a call from Top Rank with an offer to fight hard-punching Edwin Valero - a big smile ran ran across his face. The unbeaten Venezuelan is targeting the big fights at junior welterweight, and Peterson is the likely opponent to test Valero's potential at 140-pounds.

"If Valero moves up, then it's a done deal, and it looks like that what's going to happen," Hunter told BoxingScene.com. "We are ready to get at him."

If the fight happens, Top Rank told Hunter to expect a possible June date in Washington, DC - which is Peterson's hometown. Valero has to get his boxing license in in order, and more importantly a visa to enter the United States.

Peterson picked up the first loss of his career when he challenged Timothy Bradley last December. Suffering his first career loss was a big learning experience. Peterson is already back in the gym and working hard to correct the mistakes he committed against Bradley.

"He's in the gym working hard. He's learning from his mistakes. He's going to be ready," Hunter said.

Hunter watched a few rounds of Valero's recent TKO win over Antonio DeMarco. He was impressed with Valero. He tells BoxingScene that Valero's unpredictable style is what makes him a very dangerous opponent, but Hunter also knows of a simple solution to control an unpredictable fighter like Valero.

"That was probably the best he ever looked to me. The thing that makes him dangerous - in Valero's case - is it's hard to fight a fighter who is unorthodox, rather than a fighter who displays a lot of skill. But, all of that can be controlled with the jab," Hunter said. "It's the easiest punch in boxing to learn but it's the hardest punch to discipline people to use."
 
Jul 24, 2005
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De La Hoya Stays Firm: "No License For Margarito"

By Mark Vester

Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is sticking to his guns. He doesn't think former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito should regain his boxing license. Margarito will go before the California State Athletic Commission next week. On January 24, an illegal substance was discovered in Margarito's handwraps before his scheduled fight with Shane Mosley. Margarito's license was later revoked for one year by the CSAC. He is not trying to get his license back.

The question was raised to De La Hoya, about Mosley's use of performance enhancing drugs several years ago. Mosley, without his knowledge, was given performance enhancing drugs prior to the 2003 rematch with De La Hoya. Margarito never actually used the wraps in the Mosley bout

"Yes, many have said Mosley made a mistake by doping, and Margarito did not because he didn't fight with bandages with the plaster but the situation is different. Mosley may have had more energy but he didn't play with someone's life," De La Hoya told The Record.

"I know boxing is Margarito's job, but what he wanted to do was dangerous, to play with the someone's life in the ring."
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Does Dawson beat Hopkins and Shumenov?

By William Mackay: In looking at the light heavyweight horizon, interim WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KO’s) may be out of action for some time waiting on the injured shoulder of WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal to mend before possibly facing him on June 12th. However, hopefully Dawson fights well before that so he can stay. I think great fights for Dawson would be either 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins or WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (9-1, 6 KO’s).

Of the two, the Shumenov bout would be interesting to see how well the 27-year-old Dawson does against the robotic style of Shumenov. The Kazakhstan fighter recently captured the WBA title in a controversial 12 round decision over then champion Gabriel Campillo. Shumenov looked not very good in the fight, as he appeared worn out by the mid point of the fight. However, he was able to squeak out a controversial decision that has many people shaking their heads in disbelief.

Shumenov, 26, rapidly worked his way into a title shot after only nine bouts. In looking at how average Shumenov looked in his last two fights against Campillo, it’s hard to see how he was ever given a chance at the title in the first place. Campillo defeated Shumenov by a 12 round majority decision in their first fight in August. After much complaints from the Shumenov camp, their was a rematch in January 2010.

This time Shumenov won, albeit in a controversial fashion. He looked horribly slow, tight and not particularly strong. Of the top contenders in the division, it’s a wonder that he got a shot at the title at all, because Shumenov looks like a bottom 15 fighter rather than a champion. Never the less, he’s the current WBA light heavyweight champion as of now.

I’d be curious to see how Shumenov would do against Dawson, a fighter who is considered by many to be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division. I can’t help thinking that Shumenov would be made to look silly by Dawson and would likely either lose all 12 rounds in a one-sided loss to Chad or end up being stopped. As tired and robotic as Shumenov did look against Campillo, I think it’s fair to say that Dawson would probably destroyed Shumenov early in the fight and win by knockout
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Lamont Peterson Will Kick Edwin Valero's Ass, Says Shaw

By Rick Reeno

Promoter Gary Shaw was very upset after reading BoxingScene.com's recent posting on a possible fight between Edwin Valero and Lamont Peterson. Two weeks back, Valero pulled out a dominating TKO win over Antonio DeMarco. Following that win, Valero announced his plan to move to the junior welterweight division.

Valero's promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, reached out to Shaw for a possible meeting with WBO champion Timothy Bradley. Shaw spoke to Bradley's team and received their blessing to make the fight. He then spoke with Showtime and received their blessing to make the fight. After he lined everything up, Shaw says the negotiations went completely cold.

"I just read something that really bothers me. They [Top Rank] came up to me and said they wanted Valero. I agreed, I got Showtime to agree. Everyone wanted to go to Mexico and then Top Rank's phones went dead," Shaw told BoxingScene.com.

"If you are going to call out someone, be prepared to fight them. But to make someone go through all of the work, and then for everything to go dead, there is no excuse. And they had no excuse. Maybe they thought Bradley wouldn't fight. But he did want to fight. Maybe they thought Bradley wouldn't go to Mexico, but he wanted to go to Mexico. Maybe thought Showtime wouldn't going to to Mexico, but Showtime wanted to go to Mexico. Things like this, it doesn't help the sport of boxing."

Shaw also took aim at some of Valero's recent public challenges through the media.

"Valero said he wanted to fight the best. Well, the best right now at 140 is Timothy Bradley so obviously he doesn't want to fight the best. He's out there calling out Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez, all of these guys are all 135-pounders. Next he'll be calling out Darchinyan," Shaw said.

And Shaw doesn't believe the fight with Peterson will happen. He believes the Peterson discussions are nothing more than hype. Peterson lost a twelve round decision to Bradley in December. If the fight comes together, Shaw is tipping Peterson to pull off the upset.

"All they are trying to do is get attention by calling out Peterson. He'll never fight Peterson. Peterson is a much better fighter than Valero. Peterson will kick his ass. First they called out Bradley, and all of you wrote about it like 'wow, he called out Bradley' but then all of the phones went dead for Bradley," Shaw said.

"The Pacquiao-Clottey media tour must be over, so now Top Rank has to work on Valero again and they are calling out Peterson. What [Peterson manager/trainer] Barry Hunter should do is ask them to sign a contract this week. He should see if they are willing to sign a contract."