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CANCUN, Mexico -- Pablo Cesar Cano wants to end the arc of Shane Mosley's career, but the former three-division titlist still believes he has the drive and passion to be a player at the top of the welterweight division.

After clearing Friday's weigh-in -- Cano came in at 146 pounds, Mosley at 148.6 -- each fighter is confident that Saturday's matchup at the Grand Oasis will lead to a championship fight coming his way.

"The last few fights I lost because of injuries, but I'm well," said the 41-year-old Mosley (46-8-1, 39 KOs) after the weigh-in. "My body tells me I'm well, so we are still going to be doing this for a while. Cano is a tough fighter, but I shouldn't have any problems beating him and being on my way to win a world title.

"I'm over 40, but I feel a passion for this sport. It's what I love doing and I will show it in the ring [Saturday]. This is an important fight, and I have to show that I'm still a player."

Cano, 23, has had his share of big fights in his relatively short career, at least as compared to Mosley. He lost to Mexican legend Erik Morales in 2011 and fell to Paulie Malignaggi in a close, disputed fight last October. Both were championship bouts -- the only blemishes on Cano's record (26-2-1, 20 KOs). Now Cano believes Mosley can give him the boost he needs to reach the next level.

"In boxing and life there are cycles," Cano said. "I think Mosley's is about to end and mine is just starting. I'm in the best shape to win and make him think about his career.

"Mosley is already a legend, and that's why I thank him for this opportunity. I know no one has knocked him out, and it would be special to do it. That's my mission, and I'm sure they will raise my hand so I can pursue another title belt."

If a random reader strolled into my office this afternoon, looked me up and down, then said I should hit the bricks because I'm no good at my job anymore, you can imagine where I'd tell him to go. (And then I'd wonder how the guy got in the building and change the locks.)

So I don't expect Shane Mosley to heed my words -- or the warnings of anyone else, outside of those in his family or professional circle. Boxing is his trade, he's allowed to make an honest living, and if a boxing commission is still willing to green-light him, who am I to tell him not to step through the ropes again?

But here it is anyway: Shane, please take your gloves and go home.

Here's the thing: I actually believe Mosley, even at 41, remains a viable welterweight opponent at the second -- or third-tier levels. And when he returns Saturday in Cancun, Mexico to face Pablo Cesar Cano -- a tough 23-year-old kid whose only two losses came to Paulie Malignaggi and Erik Morales in close decisions where Cano gave as good as he got -- there will be an element of mystery to the proceedings. Mosley isn't being thrown to the wolves.

But it comes down to more than just an interest in honest competition, or even a preservationists' urge to hermetically seal the legacy of a three-division titlist and former pound-for-pound buzzsaw. (Mosley hasn't won a fight since 2009, going 0-3-1 since then, so that ship has sailed anyway.) Of greater concern is the toll exacted on him by 55 professional fights -- particularly the more recent ones, in which his hair-trigger reflexes seemed to rust before our eyes.

This isn't a broken-down Joe Namath or Shaquille O'Neal hobbling through his final days of athletic glory. Losing a few ticks off the fastball or a half-step down the line? A guy can live with that. But for a fighter whose foundation is built on reaction time and hand speed, a slight erosion of skills translates to fewer connects, longer bouts and more glancing blows coming back that turn into flush shots to the face. Can a guy live with that? Maybe. But even a handful of those sort of rounds can ruin the quality of that life over time.

Fighters and fans both understand the potential costs. You either make peace with them or move on. But no one who appreciates the sacrifices that boxing requires has the stomach for gratuitous carnage. Mosley might not be that far gone just yet, but he's testing those limits. For his own sake, is it too much to ask him not to?

With that, here are five fighters I'd like to see retire right now:

Shane Mosley
He hasn't thrown a meaningful punch since buckling the knees of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the second round of their 2010 fight, when Mosley was coming off a 15-month layoff and suddenly appeared a different fighter. He went into a shell after those initial rounds against Mayweather, and he was painfully gun-shy against Manny Pacquiao a year later. Having trouble touching up Floyd is one thing. The fact that Mosley not only couldn't get to Manny but ultimately stopped trying was perhaps the more telling sign.

James Toney
Toney, 44, is a mess in just about every sense of the word. Once a devastating middleweight and super middleweight titlist, he's now a sloppy heavyweight who is 6-4-1 with two no-contests against middling competition since 2005. Toney still has power, but he's too slow to use it effectively. Worse, his titanium chin, which keeps him in fights even when he's overmatched, ironically has become one of the greatest threats to his health. After 87 pro fights -- an almost obscene number in this day and age -- he conducts blustery, unintelligible interviews that would be humorous if they weren't so heartbreaking.

Oliver McCall
McCall's moment in the sun -- a second-round TKO of heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis in London -- is now almost two decades old. Now consider that he has fought 40 times -- forty! -- since. McCall still has the goods to have somewhat recently beaten creaky former contender Fres Oquendo but couldn't measure up to Wladimir Klitschko victim Francesco Pianeta. That shouldn't inherently rule that “The Atomic Bull” be put out to pasture, but considering his age (48), the power of his heavyweights foes and the sustained punishment he has taken (McCall went the distance in 10- or 12-rounders in nine of his past 10 fights), I'd say enough is enough.

Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
Because they're often left with so little after being stripped of their speed in their early or mid-30s, most of boxing's little guys get out of the game at a more appropriate time relative to their primes. Wonjongkam, 35, never got the memo. The former flyweight champ and Thai stud seemed to be drained of most of his fight after outpointing Edgar Sosa in 2011. A draw and an upset loss to journeyman Sonny Boy Jaro followed, and his since then his wins (three against fighters making their debut) don't speak near the volumes of his single defeat (a TKO at the hands of sub-.500 foe Rey Megrino).

Roy Jones Jr.
For those who aren't old enough to remember or who were living on Neptune during Jones' prime from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, here's a quick scouting report: Think Floyd Mayweather Jr. meets Mike Tyson. Jones was literally scary-good, combining speed and dominance with a fearsomeness that infused each of his fights with a sort of fascinatingly macabre inevitability. Which is why it's stunning to see the current version of Jones so utterly disarmed against fighters he would have ripped to shreds back in the day. Yes, he's 44. And of course the moves between divisions weren't kind to him. But even just five years ago, when Jones already was in mid-decline, the crushing knockout he suffered against Denis Lebedev (in 2011) would've been unthinkable. There's a reason we now only see Roy on HBO with a mic in his hand.

DALLAS -- Juan Manuel Lopez says he has learned his lesson.

Two defeats against Mexico's Orlando Salido -- and worse, the loss of his featherweight title -- left a mark that the Puerto Rican star hopes to carry with him as a reminder for the rest of his career.

"I realized that I'm not invincible," Lopez said. "At one point I think I felt invincible. I had never lost.

"But the fight with Salido helped me realize that I have to work harder and harder. It helped me to work with more vigor. I've learned to take things more calmly."

Lopez will have the opportunity to regain his 126-pound belt against current titleholder Mikey Garcia when the fighters meet on June 15 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Garcia won that title in January by beating Salido in a fight that he dominated before it was stopped in the eighth round by an accidental head-butt that had fractured Garcia's nose.

But as far as Lopez is concerned, there is nothing to read into Garcia's victory over Salido when it comes to predicting the outcome of his own bout with Garcia.

"Mikey faced a beaten Salido, who was coming off a very difficult fight against me," Lopez said. "Mikey is a great fighter with a style quite different from mine. I've always said that styles make fights, and Mikey has the style required to dominate a fighter like Salido.

"Many say that Mikey hurt [Salido's] right eye socket, and I am sure that I hurt his orbital [bone] fighting in Puerto Rico," Lopez added. "I really damaged Salido. I'm not taking anything away from Mikey -- he is a great fighter with a very fine style. But I helped him defeat Salido."

Lopez (33-2, 30 KOs) was knocked out by Salido in the eighth round of their first bout, in April 2011. Salido then repeated the feat with a 10th-round stoppage in their March 2012 rematch.

The second time around, a concussed Lopez, 29, cried fraud and accused the fight judges and organizers of gambling and was suspended from boxing for a year by the Puerto Rico Boxing Commision.

The punishment was lifted 11 months later. Since then, he has won by knockout in both of his matches, against Aldimar Silva Santos and Eugenio Lopez.

"The year I was inactive helped me recover, to think about boxing, to regain the hunger for the sport and for a world championship," Lopez said.

Garcia (31-0, 26 KOs), 25, expects a tough and experienced opponent in Lopez, one who is motivated to regain the title he won in January 2010 against Steve Luevano.

"I'm getting ready to fight the best JuanMa, which I think is going to surface that night -- a good fighter with good technique," Garcia said. "And nothing's going to have to do with my victory over Salido. It has nothing to do if I beat Salido and he beat JuanMa. I'm going to face a great fighter."

Lopez said he is going to show up in Dallas an improved boxer. He claims that he will continue to press forward in his fights -- which has long characterized his style -- but will also try to box more to avoid taking too much punishment.

"I'm going to move a little more and be a little more calm," he said. "Before, I was just a slugger, in search for action all the way.

"I'm going to keep my style but with some adjustments that you will see in front of Mikey. You will see me be aggressive, but I'll box at the same time."

Lopez, who has fought mostly in Puerto Rico and just once in the U.S. since beating Luevano for the title, recently visited American Airlines Center. He had been there just once before -- back in 2010 when he dropped in on an NBA game to see his friend, Mavericks guard Jose Juan Barea.

"And I hope that the third time around, it's to win a championship," he said.

MEXICO CITY -- With his shiny green championship belt in hand, sunglasses perched on his nose and an ear-to-ear smile on his face, junior featherweight titlist Abner Mares arrived in this city on Monday fresh off his May 4 defeat of Daniel Ponce De Leon -- and for the first time as a three-division champ.

A native of Guadalajara who has been adopted by Mexico City, Mares spoke to ESPNDeportes.com about his future, the possibility of challenging for another belt and whether he might return to his former weight class to settle old scores.

"I want to offer good fights," he said. "Where there are good fights, I'll be there -- either at super featherweight, or even at featherweight. ... I'm even willing to go down again to super bantamweight to face Nonito [Donaire] or Guillermo Rigondeaux. Where I'm offered a good fight, I'll be there."

Mares was reminded that Rigondeaux outclassed Donaire as no one had since Donaire's second professional fight (his only other defeat), and that the Cuban is a difficult matchup and a largely non-marketable fighter.

"I am aware that styles make fights," Mares said. "Nonito tried at times to figure out Guillermo's style, but Nonito lacked the fire that I think I have. I have the fire, I know that I can beat Ringondeaux, and that's why I’m challenging him."

Mares' immediate plans' are a vacation in Acapulco and Cancun with his family. But looking further ahead, he didn't close the door on a potential fight with Donaire, who had been expected to continue campaigning as a junior featherweight after his defeat. Mares, for one, believes that Donaire might reconsider.

"I think Nonito is more interested in the fight than before," Mares said. "Now I'm the champion, and he's not. He lost, and people know that I was asking for that fight. He also said he wanted to fight me, but you never saw that interest from his promoters."

It was just a week ago that, along with everyone else with even a passing interest in the sport of basketball, I found myself asking, "Who is that idiot who voted for Carmelo Anthony over LeBron James for NBA Most Valuable Player?"

Turns out there were four fingers pointing back at me and I'm the idiot.

To clarify, I'm not the guy who cast a vote for 'Melo. But if being the lone dissenter on a sports media panel makes you an idiot in the minds of the majority, then I'm just as bumbling.

Granted, the sole Carmelo-over-LeBron voice was heard among 120 other voters, which makes for a much sorer thumb than being the contrarian among a field of 10. But I'm a sore thumb just the same, the only one of ESPN.com's 10 pound-for-pound voters who still ranks Andre Ward No. 1.

Going into Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s May 4 fight with Robert Guerrero, there were three of us. But Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore both abandoned me and moved Mayweather back into their respective top spots a week ago, and when the new rankings were published, there was Floyd with 99 of a possible 100 points. I was suddenly the only thing preventing him from being a unanimous choice.

It's a bit uncomfortable knowing every one of your peers (at least among these nine particular peers) disagrees with you. But I stand by my rankings. I don't dispute Mayweather's ability in the least and I understand why most people rank him No. 1, but I still believe Ward is the best boxer in the world, pound for pound, at this moment.

I actually wrote a year ago on Grantland, just prior to Mayweather's fight with Miguel Cotto, that I felt Ward might already be the best in the business, only without the signature win to justify ranking him No. 1. A few months later, Ward, the lineal champ at super middleweight, dominated and stopped Chad Dawson, the lineal champ at light heavyweight. He had the signature win. He validated my suspicions. He became, for me, a downright obvious choice, particularly with Mayweather having struggled more than most observers expected he would with a past-prime Cotto.

Against Guerrero, Mayweather gave one of the more sterling performances of his lengthy career and erased the doubts raised by the Cotto fight. But was one great performance against a solid opponent enough to change the order at the top for those who previously favored Ward? Especially given that Ward's most recent performance was even more dominant, much more physically destructive, and came against Dawson, a better all-around fighter than Guerrero? For me, no. Not quite.

Part of the argument against Ward is that he's coping with injuries, hasn't fought in eight months and probably won't fight for another three or four months. That's fair, and if his inactivity extends to a full year, he'll need to be dropped from the rankings, per ESPN.com guidelines, at that time.

But if we look at recent history -- not just the last few months when Ward hasn't fought, but going back to the start of Mayweather's un-retirement in 2009 after a 21-month break from the sport -- I believe Ward has the superior résumé.

Mayweather has beaten some high-profile foes, but there are asterisks almost everywhere: He didn't try to make weight for the Juan Manuel Marquez bout, thus gaining an unsportsmanlike advantage he never needed; he sucker-punched Victor Ortiz, again taking a legal but unnecessary shortcut; he got rocked by Shane Mosley; he had a tougher time beating Cotto than Austin Trout did a few months later.

Again, they were all quality wins, and Mayweather is undoubtedly still very close to the peak of his powers. But Dawson, Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch were all pound-for-pound top-20 fighters when Ward convincingly beat each of them, and in Ward's lesser tests, he might not have lost a round to Allan Green, Sakio Bika or Arthur Abraham. In fact, he hasn't lost more than two rounds to anyone in his entire professional career except for maybe Froch -- who, by the way, currently resides one spot outside ESPN.com's current P4P top 10.

Stylistically, Mayweather fights in a manner that makes his greatness more obvious, more tangible. There's an aesthetic beauty to the way he boxes that Ward lacks. Ward doesn't have Mayweather's ridiculous hand speed or reflexes. But Ward's boxing brain is a wonder. It's perhaps the greatest weapon that exists in boxing today.

Ward fights in a style reminiscent of Bernard Hopkins, mauling and negating and nullifying without producing a preponderance of oohs and aahs. Mayweather, meanwhile, is capable of some of the spectacular displays of athleticism that Roy Jones Jr. used to offer in his prime. It's no surprise that Jones spent a lot more time at No. 1 on the P4P list than Hopkins did. But history will be more kind to Hopkins because history doesn't care as much that his style, like Ward's, is a turn-off to many fans.

Another flaw of most pound-for-pound rankings is that, typically, it takes so long to prove your greatness that it isn't recognized until you've started to decline. Mayweather wasn't considered boxing's pound-for-pound No. 1 when he was at his absolute best, eviscerating Diego Corrales in 2001. He wasn't even No. 2 or 3; most people had the more proven Jones, Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad ahead of Mayweather after Floyd, in his true prime, scored the greatest victory of his career.

At 29, Ward is currently in his prime. He has sufficiently proven his worth at the elite level to me over the past four years. I'll drop Ward if he isn't ready to fight by September or if, when he does fight, he doesn't perform as effectively as Mayweather did against Guerrero. But for now, to my eyes, Andre Ward is the best there is.

And if all nine of my colleagues at ESPN.com believe differently, that's fine. It doesn't make them wrong. But it doesn't make me wrong, either.

There’s a pretty strong possibility you’ve never heard of Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis. And even if you have, there’s an equally strong likelihood that you’ve never seen him fight. But one seasoned observer thinks that Pendarvis, who makes his television debut in Friday’s “ShoBox” main event against undefeated Dierry Jean, can go all the way: Shane Mosley.

“He just keeps telling me to keep working like a champ,” said Pendarvis to ESPN.com during a phone conversation from Big Bear, Calif., where he was in training for the Jean fight. “He speaks to me about my vision and hand speed and power. He truly believes I will be world champion. He told me straight out that he’s passing the torch.”

“

I used to fight a lot when I was little because I had to. I had no choice growing up. Most of my family is from the streets, so it was all around me.

” -- Cleotis Pendarvis on growing up in South Central Los Angeles.

Pendarvis, a junior welterweight who with a victory over Jean would become the No. 1 contender for the belt held by Lamont Peterson, first met Mosley when helping the future Hall of Famer prepare for his 2008 bout against Zab Judah. An encounter between Judah and his shower door put paid to that matchup, but, recounts Pendarvis, “Although that fight never happened, I was up there with him for almost two months.”

Recently, Pendarvis (17-3-1, 6 KOs) encountered Mosley while both men were out running. The end result of the chance meeting was that Mosley and Pendarvis sparred with each other in camp in Big Bear -- quality work for a young man about to make his first appearance on TV.

“It’s been real good work,” Pendarvis said. “Shane is Shane. He still can fight. He’s still a crafty veteran, he’s still got pop, he’s still fast. He’s going down in the game as one of the best.”

Jean may be portrayed as the favorite in their contest, not least due to his undefeated record, but, notes Showtime’s Steve Farhood, “Dierry Jean is undefeated but untested at the highest level. Pendarvis has three losses but has more impressive wins than Jean does.”

Outside of an early stoppage defeat, Pendarvis' losses, too, have been close and against solid opposition -- by split decision to veteran Terrance Cauthen in 2010 and by majority decision to Maurico Herrera, who went on to beat Ruslan Provodnikov and give Mike Alvarado a tough test.

Pendarvis admits that he feels disrespected by what he sees as a condescending tone coming from Jean and his camp, but if he has to struggle to be taken seriously, well, that’s OK, he says. His whole life has been a struggle.

“I grew up in Los Angeles, Calif. -- South Central,” he said. “There’s a lot of beasts out there, nothing but Bloods, drugs, pimps and all kinds of things to steer a young man away from becoming someone. I used to fight a lot when I was little because I had to. I had no choice growing up. Most of my family is from the streets, so it was all around me.”

As a child, he was plucked from his mother and placed into foster care -- a decision with which he did not agree and that continues to grate on him.

“I had to deal with losing contact with my family, having my mom taken away from me at a young age,” he said. “It was rough. My mom wasn’t a bad lady; she was really a good mom. It’s just that she made some mistakes, and it was unfortunate that some people really hated on my mom and they didn’t want us to be happy. It was my family that hated on my mom. I have to be honest, a lot of my heartache and pain came from those closest to me. They said that they loved me, and they betrayed me. So I went out into the world and just got caught up sometimes.”

Eventually, he channeled his aggression into boxing. Although he was a promising amateur, his professional career took a while to ignite, not least because he did not have much in the way of promotion.

Over the last two years, however, a supportive team has coalesced around him in the form of manager Warren Wilkerson and Herb Hudson, owner of the L.A. staple Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles and Pitbull Energy Drink. Hudson has placed Pendarvis at the center of his new Pitbull Boxing Promotions, which takes its bow with Friday’s contest and is headed by Rachel Charles, former publicist for Goossen Tutor, Star Boxing and Diane Vara.

Pendarvis reunited with his mother, but tragedy, it seems, is rarely far from his life. She is paralyzed following an automobile accident in 2010. And his little brother is gone, shot dead at age 22 in 2009, shortly before Pendarvis somehow had to focus on fighting Herrera.

Win or lose, though, his tone is charmingly and relentlessly philosophical and upbeat.

“We all have struggles within us. We all have to go through things that are part of life,” he said. “Life is not a journey, it’s a not a rat race, it’s not a marathon, it’s not a sprint. It’s a journey until it’s over. So I just want to give a shout-out to the people who really believe and who really understand. To the kids out there who think their dream has been killed or it’s over: It’s not. Just keep on waking up and keep on believing in yourself. Whatever happens, you’ve got to stay strong.”

It wasn't so long ago that Vernon Paris was considered a prospect who was on the rise in the junior welterweight division.

But after an impressive streak of 29 fights without a defeat, Paris was stopped by Zab Judah in a March 2012 title elimination bout.

Paris (27-1, 16 KOs) now finds himself in a must-win situation as he looks to continue his comeback on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" (10 p.m. ET) in a welterweight bout against Manuel Perez (19-8-1, 4 KOs) from the Masonic Temple in Detroit.

Perez, a native of Hawaii who resides in Denver, has more experience and toughness than his record might suggest. The 28-year-old Perez, who won three of his four fights in 2012, enters a bout in his opponent's backyard with plenty of experience against high-end competition.

Perhaps the most important moment of Perez's career was the draw he managed against Brandon Rios in 2008 (he went on to lose the rematch by KO). He also has victories over Jose Miguel Cotto, Edgar Santana and Aaron Melgarejo, while having been defeated by the likes of Paul McCloskey, Mercito Gesta and Diego Magdaleno.

Perez is an aggressive fighter with a closed guard and not the type who expects to be backing up for any length of time. He also is able to absorb a lot of punishment while waiting to throw his hook at close range, which is how he scored a points victory against Cotto in July 2012.

Paris, meanwhile, is a stylish fighter who regulates his fighting pace very well and feels comfortable punching from distance. The 25-year-old Detroit native has been able to surprise his foes by entering enemy space with flurries from his powerful right hand. He behaves like a sniper in his desire to strike with measured punches, which can become a problem against faster fighters when he neglects his own defense in the process. Judah was able to overwhelm Paris against he ropes before finishing him in the ninth round.

Friday’s fight presents a likely scenario that involves Perez chasing Paris all over the ring. The local fighter will surely set the distance with his jab and footwork while he executes target practice from the outside. It is difficult to expect a toe-to-toe exchange, where Paris runs several risks. It is also difficult to predict a knockout, with the likely verdict a decision victory for Paris.

Nevertheless, Paris will have to watch his physical endurance very carefully as he looked drained against Judah late in their fight. He also will have to overcome the pressure of being the local fighter and the responsibility of winning at any cost if he wishes to restore the expectations placed on him before his defeat at the hands of Judah.

In Friday's co-main event, junior lightweights Cornelius Lock (20-6-1, 13 KOs) and Lonnie Smith (14-4-2, 10 KOs) square off in a 10-round bout. Lock has lost against opponents of the caliber of Mickey Garcia and Daniel Ponce de Leon, but he owns a fifth-round knockout against Orlando Cruz in 2009.

Smith, who enters the bout on a three-fight winless streak, is a fighter with an aggressive style who knows how to put on a show. He has important victories against Eduardo Arcos, David Rodela and Lowell Brownfield, while he has lost recently against Mason Menard and Vicente Escobedo.

Manny Pacquiao has lost his past two bouts, so his next scrap, against Brandon Rios in Macau on Nov. 24 (Nov. 23 in the U.S.) is beyond crucial.

I checked in with Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, and asked him for his take on the bout, Rios as a foe and all matters Manny.

-So, Freddie, is this a must-win for Manny?
Yeah, if he loses I will tell him to retire.

What if he loses in a great fight?
If you lose three in a row it's your time. He's up there in age, I've got to keep a close eye on him. It's part of my job to protect him. I will do the right thing, I don't want him to be a stepping-stone.

-And if Manny ever started accepting fights in which he was booked as the figurative stepping-stone?
Would I step down if he is the stepping-stone, I'd have to, yes. I will never go into a fight I don't think we win.

-Is Rios the right foe, though, for Manny to snap a two-fight losing streak?
I believe so. Rios likes to exchange, stay in the pocket, but Manny is faster and hits harder. I think Manny will knock him out. I think it will be a great fight, Rios will talk and embarrass himself, but it will be a great fight.

-Rios got in hot water when a video of him emerged apparently mocking you, approximating the symptoms of Parkinson's, which you battle, back in fall 2010. Do you hold that against him?
It showed what an ass he is. Revenge will be great. That doesn't stick with me so much as other people that have Parkinson's who are not boxers. It was a childish thing to do, him and his trainer. They're a bunch of a-------, can't wait to beat them."

Roach said he doesn't think that trainer Robert Garcia deserves his reputation as a nice guy, necessarily. The video showed former champion Antonio Margarito mimicking Parkinson's symptoms, and Garcia picking up on it, and encouraging Rios to also do an impersonation of Roach dealing with tremors. "I don't think Garcia has ever been a nice guy," Roach said.

Garcia, at the time, apologized but also defended Rios. "He didn't even know Freddie had a disease," Garcia said to Dan Rafael. "He thought it was from 13 losses that Freddie Roach had when he was a professional boxer."

That backstory aside, Roach said that Rios will be active early, then fade.

"He's a pretty good puncher early," the trainer said. "Then he'll fatigue. But it's a very tough fight, we have to be at our best."

Roach said he and Pacquiao both wanted a fifth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. Roach admitted he doesn't know why Marquez instead chose to meet Timothy Bradley in September.

"Who cares about that fight? Rios will bring good numbers to the table."

LAS VEGAS -- Sin City is best known, in boxing terms, for its mega-events -- the high-stakes clashes that today headline Saturday nights at the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay and formerly brought regular doses of sanctioned violence to the likes of Caesars Palace and the Las Vegas Hilton. (If, incidentally, you've ever tried to picture the rusting hulk of the Starship Enterprise being turned into a casino, check out the former Hilton, now shorn of its franchise and known as the LVH. It's a ... thing.) But Las Vegas is also home to a thriving community of boxers, managers, promoters, gyms and off-the-radar smaller-scale fight cards -- and has been for many years.

Beginning with this fifth professional fight in 1979, for example, a scrappy New England featherweight called Freddie Roach contested the majority of his bouts at such long-lost Vegas venues as the Showboat and the Silver Slipper (the latter of which was famously purchased by aviator, inventor and wackadoodle Howard Hughes, just so he could disassemble the rotating neon slipper that shone light into his quarters at the Desert Inn across the street). More recently, the social highlight of the Vegas boxing calendar every month wasn't found on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, but west of the Strip at the Orleans, where Guilty Boxing's regular Friday Night Fight cards attracted local crowds to watch young boxers like Ishe Smith and Alfonso Gomez in closely contested matches.

So when veteran broadcaster Rich Marotta moved to the Silver State from southern California, he thought, "I'm going to try to support the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame -- go to their events, go to their dinners. So I did a bit of research, and found out to my astonishment, there is no Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. How can that be? There's one in California, one in New York, in New Jersey, in Washington, in Pennsylvania -- and you're telling me there isn't one in Nevada?"

And so, Marotta decided to start one himself, reasoning that it would not only be a vehicle for honoring Nevada boxing legends, but would provide an opportunity that would allow the boxing community to mingle and give fans the chance to rub shoulders with stars of the sport. In the process, it would also raise some money for worthy, boxing-related causes "like the University of Nevada Las Vegas boxing program, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs that have boxing programs -- those kinds of things."

The effort was, he admitted, "a much bigger undertaking than I anticipated," but, aided by a board of directors comprising fighters, writers, casino officials and others, the Hall now has its first round of inductees and, on Thursday evening at Diego's restaurant in the MGM Grand, hosted its first dinner and fan event.

Oscar De La Hoya was there, remembering his 30 (!) professional fights in Nevada, and jokingly bemoaning the fact that, while he was renowned for attracting female fans to the sport, today those female fight fans scream for Canelo Alvarez. Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum cheered and shouted along with the rest of the room as video played of his knockout victory over Donald Curry. Freddie Roach and Wayne McCullough signed autographs and posed for pictures. The loudest table in attendance was the one occupied by the fraternity of officials, including Kenny Bayless, Robert Hoyle, Tony Weeks and Robert Byrd, who will be the third man in the ring when Floyd Mayweather squares off against Robert Guerrero on Saturday night. It was all, as they say, a rousing success -- even if, at the end of it all, Marotta was exhausted and hoarse.

"I think we've really got a boxing community here that was waiting for something like this to bring it all together," he said as he unwound and the restaurant slowly emptied. "Boxing takes a lot of shots, but there's a lot of great people in boxing and a lot of great characters in boxing. This is just a stepping-off point for us. It's a beginning, and I really expect the boxing community here will get behind the effort."

LAS VEGAS -- When Robert Guerrero enters the ring to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand on Saturday night, his trunks will bear the logo of an organization called Be The Match, a nonprofit entity that runs the national registry of potential bone marrow donors.

It is, of course, a cause dear to his heart, given that his wife Casey was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007 and relapsed three times before finding a matching marrow donor. She underwent a successful transplant in 2010 and has since been declared cancer-free.

"My wife was fortunate to find a marrow donor," Guerrero said. "But there are thousands of other blood cancer patients out there who still need a match. So I'm spreading the word: Go to BeTheMatch.org and join the Be The Match registry. You could be someone's cure."

LAS VEGAS -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero, naturally enough, steal the headlines. And the hard-core fans are salivating at the thought of Abner Mares tangling with Daniel Ponce De Leon. But Saturday’s card at the MGM Grand also includes an intriguing middleweight battle between J'Leon Love and Gabriel Rosado.

Love, one of the higher-profile up-and-coming members of The Money Team -- Mayweather's promotional outfit -- has plenty of talent. But he hasn't yet been truly tested or faced top opposition. In his most recent outing, notable for the fact that Mayweather also served as his cornerman, Love endured some torrid times against tough-as-teak Derrick Findley.

He will take a major step up in class on Saturday when he squares off against Rosado, who turned down the opportunity to headline an ESPN2 card against Delvin Rodriguez to stay at middleweight and take on Love. Rosado, who has fought most of his career at 154 pounds, most recently moved up to 160 in a valiant but losing effort against Gennady Golovkin.

LAS VEGAS -- After years of simmering turmoil that came to a boil with an emotional argument in front of HBO cameras in 2011, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Jr. are -- for now at least -– reconciled, with Mayweather père returning to his son's corner for this Saturday's clash with Robert Guerrero.

But while the proximate cause of Floyd Sr. taking the place of his brother Roger as the younger Mayweather's trainer is Roger's declining health, the switch has also apparently resulted in a slight change of philosophy in the Mayweather Boxing Gym.

Call it "Hard Work, Relaxation."

"There's certain things only my dad may see in the camp," Floyd Jr. said in a laidback session with reporters at the MGM Grand on Tuesday. "For this fight, I made sure I got more rest. My dad said, 'You need the rest. And when you've rested, you can come back and box in the gym and you're going to look a lot better.' And he was right."

It's a situation he contrasts with the build-up to his most recent contest, a grueling 12-round win over Miguel Cotto in the same ring one year ago.

"I think I was overworked for the Cotto fight. I think I probably overtrained for the Cotto fight," Mayweather Jr. revealed.

And while he is legendary for his workouts and his fitness, he says there is one particular aspect of that camp that worked against him.

"I did more boxing for the Cotto camp. I'd come into the gym and one day I'd box 12 rounds and the next day I boxed another 12 rounds, and the next day I'd come back and do 10," he said. "And we're talking all of this within five days, so that's a lot of wear and tear on a body. But I shouldn't even have been making the mistakes I was making in the Cotto fight. I wasn't the best Floyd Mayweather. But I'm not crying or complaining. I got the job done."

LAS VEGAS -- It was not exactly shaping up to be the most electrifying media conference of all time. Sponsors, promoters and broadcasters all took their turn at the podium, and the assembled media fidgeted and tweeted and waited for something interesting to happen.

And then Ruben Guerrero walked to the microphone.

"My son's blessed, I'm blessed," said the father and trainer of Robert Guerrero.

Fair enough, and all fairly uncontroversial so far.

"I'm the real deal, and I don't talk s---, baby, I back it up."

That, perhaps, suggested that the elder Guerrero had something more contentious in mind. Even so, the rapidity with which he accelerated the news conference from "Masterpiece Theatre" to "The Wire" took all in attendance by surprise.

"We're going to beat up that woman-beater -- the one that beat up his wife," Ruben suddenly proclaimed, a reference to last year's incarceration of Floyd Mayweather Jr., his son's opponent on Saturday, for domestic assault. "He beat up his wife in front of his kids. He must have learned that from his dad. We're going to beat that woman-beater."

That, unsurprisingly, prompted a retort from the aforementioned dad, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who began jawing at Guerrero from the audience, shouting at him to sit down and shut up, while the elder Guerrero continued to turn up the volume. After a period of stunned paralysis, promoter Oscar De La Hoya ushered Ruben away from the podium.

"It's OK, it's OK," he said.

Ah, but it wasn't.

After the news conference, Ruben Guerrero returned to his theme: "He's a woman-beater, man," he repeated to journalists. "He's talking s--- about my son, that he's a hypocrite. What about him? He's beating up women in front of his kids and then he's crying in jail? Be like a real man. Don't be crying."

And then Floyd Sr. emerged, as if from nowhere, flying toward Guerrero until he was tackled by promoter and light heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins, who held him back as the two trainers/fathers yelled at each other.

"Hit me brother, hit me," shouted Guerrero. "Let's do it right now. You're scared, brother, you're shaking."

Robert Guerrero took it all in stride.

"He will throw down," the fighter said of his father, who was still taunting Floyd Sr., who in turn was yelling back at Ruben even as he was hustled away. "He's the real deal."

"Yeah, I can crack baby," exulted the elder Guerrero. "He ain't getting up if I hit him."

Amid the chaos, the two sons retained a detached calm.

"My thoughts are to think about the fight, not worry about what these guys are saying," Robert Guerrero said. "My job is to focus on what I got to do, to take care of my business in the ring."

"I don't have to sit here and bad-mouth his father," Floyd Jr. said. "Only God can judge me. I just say a prayer for him. I'm not upset at all."

The reason Mayweather's father was in the audience yelling at Ruben Guerrero and not up on the dais alongside his son was, said Mayweather, because he had asked him to sit down there expressly to avoid any possible conflict between the two men.

"I'm trying to avoid anyone getting hurt," Floyd Jr. said. "If I'm up here and my dad and his dad get to fighting, they fall on him or they fall on me, somebody's finger or something gets broke or something happens, somebody gets a cut, you're talking about millions of dollars going down the drain. You have to be smart."

LAS VEGAS -- There are elements of Floyd Mayweather's welterweight title fight with Robert Guerrero on Saturday that bring to mind his 2011 tilt against Victor Ortiz. Both Guerrero and Ortiz earned their shots on the back of impressive victories over Andre Berto, for one. Mayweather gives the impression of being as dismissive of Guerrero's chances as he was contemptuous of what Ortiz brought to the table, for another. (In contrast, the build-up to his contest with Miguel Cotto last year was marked by mutual respect from both sides.)

There's something else, too. Mayweather couldn't abide the constant prefight references to Ortiz's famously difficult childhood -- in which first his mother and then his father deserted he and his siblings. Mayweather hinted that there was less to the story than met the eye and even promised to invite Ortiz's father to the fight. He also fumed at the attention the Ortiz upbringing received on HBO's 24/7 series.

It appears he feels much the same way about the seminal element of the Robert Guerrero story -- in which he took time out from the ring to help care for his ailing wife Casey, as she battled and ultimately defeated leukemia.

"Do I feel bad about the situation his wife went through? Absolutely," Mayweather said on Tuesday. "But trying to gain fans by having the sympathy story every week, I don't think that's a good thing. I'm glad that his wife was able to beat the leukemia. I don't feel anyone should have to go through a situation like that. But we all go through certain things. But I think just to gain fans, you're using your wife's story, you're using a sympathy story. I'm glad she was able to beat leukemia, that's a great thing. And I'm glad those two have such a great bond. But I don't like every week they keep selling the same story."

And then, in typical Mayweather style, he took the opportunity to take one more dig, a riposte to Guerrero's arrest after he declared and attempted to check a handgun at New York's JFK Airport -- an arrest that came after Guerrero had pointedly referred to Mayweather's incarceration for assault last year. It is possible, although unlikely, that Guerrero may himself face jail time for the firearm charge.

"The main thing that he really needs to focus on at this time is that he's going away to do time after the fight," smiled Mayweather with apparent satisfaction. "He was pointing the finger and talking trash about me, and now you have to go and do time."

Mauricio Herrera and Ji-Hoon Kim will meet in a 10-round junior welterweight fight on Thursday at the Omega Products International in Corona, Calif., in a special edition of ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" (10 p.m. ET).

Despite dropping his past two bouts, Herrera (18-3, 7 KOs), of Lake Elsinore, Calif., has a respectable record with resounding victories over Mike Dallas Jr., Ruslan Provodnikov, Efren Hinojosa, Cleotis Pendarvis and Jason Davis. His first defeat came in 2009 against Mike Anchondo; the others were in 2012, against Mike Alvarado and Karim Mayfield.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kim (24-8, 18 KOs) is coming off a defeat in December against Raymundo Beltran. He lost a decision for a vacant lightweight belt against Miguel "Titere" Vazquez in August 2010, and in order to face Herrera, he is going up in weight to the 140-pound division.

On paper, this fight can be an all-out war. Herrera and Kim bring styles that complement each other thanks to their clear commitment to exchange, but with different nuances. Herrera is a hard, tough and aggressive fighter with a penchant for making fans rise from their seats. His loss against Alvarado -- the reigning junior welterweight titleholder -- in April 2012 was a fight of the year candidate. Herrera has good defense and is technically superior.

Despite being equally as overwhelming on offense, Kim's defense still needs work. Most of the time his power makes up for his defensive deficiencies. He has managed to throw more than a thousand punches in a fight. With his all-action style, Kim has earned many followers. He has won more than 56 percent of his bouts by way of knockout.

Kim tends to harass his opponents until he manages to land, using the idea that the more he throws, the better his chances become to get a stoppage. If he manages to overwhelm Herrera and land his punches, he'll win by knockout. On the other hand, the risk of him being exposed due to his defensive deficiencies grows as the fight wears on. In an elimination bout against Australia's Leonardo Zappavigna in 2010, a mistake cost him the fight in the first round.

In the co-feature, former lightweight titlist Miguel "Aguacerito" Acosta (29-6-2, 23 KOs) faces Miguel Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KOs) in a 10-round bout. Acosta won an interim lightweight title by stopping Mexican Urbano Antillon in the ninth round in 2009. Then he traveled to Namibia and finished Paulus Moses in the sixth round. He was later stopped by Brandon Rios in the third round, before easily beating Luis Cardozo in Colombia.

Acosta sought to regain his title against Cuban Richard Abril in 2011, but lost the decision. He also failed to win his previous bout, on July 20. It was a close battle that ended in a split decision against Armenian Art Hoyhannisyan. On Thursday, Acosta will go for a much-needed win that enables him to get another title opportunity.

Gonzalez, 27, of Cleveland, is a rising prospect who had a 14-bout winning streak before falling on the scorecards in his previous fight against Mike Dallas Jr. For Gonzalez, defeating Acosta also would mean an open door to a possible title fight in the near future.