ESPN Boxing

There are two big fight cards on June 8.

A Showtime tripleheader from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., will be headlined by the welterweight clash between Marcos Maidana and Josesito Lopez, and also will feature two junior middleweight fights: Erislandy Lara against Alfredo Angulo, and prospect Jermell Charlo facing Demetrius Hopkins.

In an HBO doubleheader, Chad Dawson will defend the light heavyweight world championship against Adonis Stevenson in the main event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and Yuriorkis Gamboa will move up to lightweight to take on Darley Perez in the co-feature.

Now both undercards have come together.

The Carson undercard includes a pair of fights that will air as part of Showtime Extreme's coverage of the preliminary bouts. Japan's Yoshihiro Kamegai (22-0-1, 19 KOs) and Johan Perez (16-1-1, 12 KOs), a former interim junior welterweight titlist from Venezuela, will meet in a 10-round welterweight bout. This one could be action-packed. Also, heavyweight Gerald Washington (7-0, 5 KOs), a former USC football player, will meet journeyman Sherman Williams (35-12-2, 19 KOs).

Time permitting, junior featherweight Joseph Diaz (4-0, 2 KOs), a 2012 U.S. Olympian, will also get TV time for his six-rounder against an opponent to be determined.

In other fights, junior lightweight prospect Ronny Rios (20-0, 9 KOs) will face veteran Leonilo Miranda (32-5, 30 KOs); lightweight Luis Ramos (23-1, 10 KOs) will face Fidel Maldonado (15-2, 12 KOs); lightweight Jamie Kavanagh (13-0-1, 5 KOs) will face Sergio Perez (27-14, 18 KOs); junior featherweight prospect Manuel Avila (11-0, 4 KOs) will meet Jamal Parram (6-7-1, 4 KOs) and bantamweight Edgar Valero (2-0, 2 KOs) will take on David Reyes (2-3-1).

In Montreal, lightweight prospect Jose "Sniper" Pedraza (12-0, 8 KOs), a 2008 Puerto Rico Olympian, will face an opponent to be determined. The bout will air on HBO Latino, which will begin televising undercard bouts from some HBO cards, similar to what Showtime Extreme does for Showtime bouts. The big difference, though: HBO Latino telecasts will be broadcast in Spanish.

Among the other undercard fights, light heavyweight prospect Eleider Alvarez (12-0, 8 KOs) will face former super middleweight contender Allan Green (32-4-0, 22 KOs), who was a washout as an alternate in the Super Six World Boxing Classic; Montreal middleweight David Lemieux (28-2, 27 KOs), one of boxing's biggest punchers, will meet Robert Swierzbinski (11-1-0, 3 KOs); and unbeaten heavyweights Didier Bence (8-0, 2 KOs) and Eric Barrack (7-0, 6 KOs) will square off.

Featherweight Gary Russell Jr., the 2011 ESPN.com prospect of the year, has been cleared to resume training after fracturing his left hand in a March 2 victory.

The 24-year-old Russell (22-0, 13 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., scored a 10-round shutout win against Russia's Vyacheslav Gusev -- 100-89 on all three scorecards -- that included his knocking down Gusev in the third round. But Russell also injured his left hand (and he's a southpaw) around the fourth or fifth round of the fight.

Russell said he has been training despite the injury, but without any contact using his left hand.

"I'm always in the gym with my dad and my brothers, and the hand injury didn't change that," Russell said. "I focused a lot of my training on strength and conditioning work over the past two months, but I was definitely ready to start punching again and we are back 100 percent now."

Russell, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, has fragile hands, so he and his father and trainer, Gary Russell Sr., have developed techniques to help protect them during daily training sessions, including using larger gloves.

Russell is scheduled for his next fight on July 13 (Showtime) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on the undercard of light heavyweight titlist Bernard Hopkins' mandatory defense against Germany's Karo Murat.

Russell doesn't have an opponent yet, but Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com that he is trying to get former featherweight titlist Jhonny Gonzalez (54-8, 46 KOs) to accept the fight.

Gonzalez's promoter, Oswaldo Kuchle of Promociones del Pueblo, is supposed to meet with Golden Boy officials at their offices in Los Angeles in early June to further discuss the fight.

While Russell gets ready for his bout, he also accompanied his father and younger brother Gary Antonio Russell to the recently concluded 2013 National Golden Gloves tournament.

Gary Jr., a 2005 Golden Gloves champion, joined his father working in Gary Antonio's corner. Gary Antonio won the tournament's bantamweight title and the Outstanding Boxer of the Tournament award. Gary Antonio is the third Russell brother to win a National Golden Gloves title, along with Gary Jr., and Gary Allan Russell III, who won it in 2010. They are the third trio of brothers and the first since 1977 to win the event.

It is not unusual for a fighter who says he is retiring to reconsider and return. Sometimes it's only a matter of days, such as this week’s announcement from Audley Harrison that he was coming back just 20 days after announcing his retirement. Sometimes it is years. George Foreman, for example, was retired for a decade before launching a comeback that included reclaiming the heavyweight championship.

When former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito, notoriously remembered for getting caught with illegal knuckle pads coated with a plasterlike substance before a 2009 fight with Shane Mosley and his subsequent license revocation, announced his retirement after taking a beating from Miguel Cotto in their rematch for Cotto’s junior middleweight title in December 2011, many figured it would be only be a matter of time until the “Tijuana Tornado” made a comeback, despite a surgically repaired right eye that Cotto smashed up.

Rumors have swirled recently that Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs), 35, was on the verge of unretiring because of financial difficulty while going through a divorce. Frankly, money issues or not, few would have been surprised had he done so.

But Margarito, who lives in Los Angeles, put the rumors to rest this week when he issued a statement denying any financial issues (which he shouldn’t have after the millions he earned for major fights against Cotto, Manny Pacquiao and Mosley) and saying that he wasn’t coming back.

“I was surprised by several unfounded rumors regarding my current situation, including news on a return to boxing and supposedly a divorce settlement that has left me broke and with the need to return to boxing,” Margarito said in a statement. “In some cases, the information dealt with news of my return, and some unfounded news about a settlement. However, some tabloid media has gone further than that, spreading unfounded rumors that no one took the trouble to investigate fully. I am the fist to admit that my time [on] the boxing stage is a thing of the past and as a man who has his feet firmly on the ground, I also know that I have to be jealous of guarding my property as it will be difficult to find another profession that could produce a higher yield than what I earned in the ring. However; there is some damage to my family that can be done by spreading lies and half-truths.”

Margarito explained that he and his wife, Michelle, have been separated for more than two years and that she is in a new relationship and pregnant. He said he has also started a new life and has a baby with girlfriend Lorena Vidales.

“The divorce settlement has not been finalized and as civilized people we respect each other's life, and during this time have been negotiating the settlement,” Margarito said. “With what we will share, I expect that it will help us to live, if not full of luxuries, in a comfortable lifestyle. However, when people start talking of ‘a millionaire settlement,’ it exposes Michelle and my children -- who live in Tijuana, Mexico -- to becoming victims of blackmail and even kidnapping. That is why I wanted to make this public statement about the situation.

“I accepted and still accept any criticism about my boxing career and was always thankful that the press covered my boxing career. But this is not a case strictly related to the sport. I believe that boxing has been used by a few journalists to trample on my private life, showing no respect for other people who have nothing to do with boxing and could be seriously hurt by this erroneous information.”

Super middleweight titlist Carl Froch of England will certainly have his hands full when he faces fellow titleholder Mikkel Kessler of Denmark in a rematch on Saturday (HBO, 6 p.m. ET) at the sold-out O2 Arena in London.

Froch lost the first fight in 2010 by competitive decision in Kessler's home country, although he is the favorite in the sequel. Meanwhile, light heavyweight titlist Bernard Hopkins, who won his title in March by outpointing Tavoris Cloud to become -- at age 48 -- the oldest fighter to win a world title (breaking his own record set at age 46), will make a mandatory defense against Karo Murat of Germany on July 13 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

But if Froch and Hopkins both win their upcoming fights, they said they would welcome a fight with each other.

It would be an interesting fight, in my view, and clearly be an entertaining promotion given how both guys like to run their mouths.

Hopkins began throwing Froch's name around after beating Cloud -- even saying he would go to England for the fight -- and Froch heard about it.

"I've heard that and, you know, I look up to Bernard Hopkins," Froch said. "I think he's a great ambassador for the sport. I think he's been around too long, but he's still doing it, so you can't knock him for it. And, you know, one day in the future, it would be an honor to fight somebody like that."

Froch said there would be one stipulation for the fight to be possible: It would have to be at a catch weight, because he said he has no intention of going to 175 pounds for the bout.

"I feel I know how to beat him," Froch said. "But it's one step at a time. But I'll have you know, I'm not a light heavyweight. So he's going to have to come down to a catch weight. I don't expect him to do super middle [168 pounds], but don't expect me to do light heavyweight."

When Hopkins met with media members in Atlantic City, N.J., last week before the Lucas Matthysse-Lamont Peterson fight, he was told about Froch's remarks and a smile came to his face.

"I accept," Hopkins said, noting that he has agreed to catch weight fights in the past, dropping a few pounds for his wins against Kelly Pavlik and Winky Wright. He said he would be happy to do it for a fight with Froch, as well.

"We could do 171, 172. I'm in," Hopkins said. "I did it for Pavlik. I did it for Winky Wright, cutting down. Let's do [the fight] either there [in Froch's native England] or here [in the United States.] Let's go where the money is."

Keep in mind that a Hopkins-Froch fight is possible because Hopkins promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, which promotes Froch, get along just fine and made last week's Devon Alexander-Lee Purdy welterweight title fight together.

Hopkins said he would also be interested in a fight with Kessler "but I don't see him winning" against Froch. Hopkins admitted that he picked Lucian Bute to beat Froch when they met last year, but Froch wound up knocking Bute out.

He said doing a fight with Froch would make for a two-way promotion because Hopkins would not have to carry the promotional load like he has to do in recent fights with opponents who lack personality or name recognition, such as Cloud, two fights with Chad Dawson and Murat.

"He has a personality, and I don't have to do all the work," Hopkins said.

When light heavyweight contenders Tony Bellew of England and Isaac Chilemba of South Africa met on March 30 for the right to become the mandatory challenger to world champion Chad Dawson, they fought to an unsatisfying draw in England in a dreadful fight.

Now they are set to do it again with the title shot on the line when they meet Saturday at the O2 Arena in one of the featured bouts on the Mikkel Kessler-Carl Froch II undercard (on Sky Box Office pay-per-view in Great Britain).

"I wanted the rematch straight away and he basically had nowhere to go," Bellew said. "He is somebody who no one wants to fight because at the end of the day Isaac Chilemba is in the 'who-needs-you' club because he doesn't come to fight. He comes to make you miss and make you look bad."

Indeed, while Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KOs), 30, is typically an aggressive fighter, Chilemba (20-1-2, 9 KOs), 26, played the spoiler role in the first bout. Bellew is hoping he comes to fight this time.

"Ideally, we match up very well and we match up to make a really, really great fight but you can't force a guy to fight in that ring," Bellew said. "To make a great fight happen it takes two to tango and it takes two guys who really want to have a fight. I am willing to play my part in it. It is whether he is willing to play his part. The real big difference on the night will be in my output and this time I am not going to stop after seven rounds. That is the top and bottom of it. I am not going to fall apart halfway through the fight.

"I didn't perform last time, it is as simple as that. I did not perform to anywhere near the best of my ability or my potential and I was very disappointed in myself. While I still think I won, and he knows I won deep down, I still didn't perform well enough and I am paying for that by having this rematch."

Chilemba also feels like he won the first fight.

"I feel like I've already beaten Tony, but apparently that wasn't enough, so this time I am getting in the ring with full intentions of surpassing my last performance," Chilemba said. "If Tony thought he had it tough in our last bout, then he better be ready this time around because he is in for the fight of his life.

"I am sharper, stronger and definitely healthier this time around. I will adjust and do whatever is necessary to beat him and bring the victory home. The changes that I made this time were mostly to do with my approach to the camp and keeping healthy. [Trainer] Buddy [McGirt] has made a few changes in the ring with me as well."

When the March fight ended one judge had it 114-114, one had it 116-115 for Bellew and one had it 116-112 for Chilemba.
Dawson is defending his title against Adonis Stevenson on June 8 in Montreal. The winner will have to take on the winner of Bellew-Chilemba II.

Bellew thinks Dawson's skills will trump Stevenson's freakish power.

"I think Dawson is too clever for Stevenson," Bellew said. "But Stevenson has an equaliser in that right hand. He can really, really punch. I am not looking too much into that fight. I will pay attention to that once I beat Chilemba, but my head says Dawson because he is at that level and has dealt with people at that level many times before but you can never write off a puncher and Stevenson is definitely, definitely a puncher."

Junior lightweight contender Juan Carlos Burgos of Mexico re-signed Wednesday with co-promoters Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions and Ken Thompson of Thompson Boxing after being sought after by other promoters.

Pelullo and Thompson made the announcement with Burgos at a media luncheon in Los Angeles.

"We know Juan Carlos Burgos can be the best 130 [pounder] in the world. He is ranked No. 1 in the world by the WBO and he should be challenging for that title in the very near future," Pelullo said. "I'm happy to have been able to work with Burgos thanks to my friendship and association with Ken Thompson and [Thompson Boxing general manager] Alex Camponovo. I know we will continue doing great things together."

Burgos fought to a split draw in a junior lightweight world title fight against titleholder Roman "Rocky" Martinez on Jan. 19 in New York in a fight many believed Burgos should have won.

"Juan Carlos Burgos should be recognized as the best 126-130 pounder out there," Thompson said. "He has done a great job in every facet of his young career and today we will solidify his future and we will make sure he gets what he so eagerly deserves, a belt around his waist. Although he is 25 years old, he is a veteran of the sport as he started his professional career at the age of 16 and we know one day he will be considered as one of the greats. This is a happy day for our company."

In Burgos' only other world title fight, he traveled to Japan in 2010 and challenged then-featherweight titleholder Hozumi Hasegawa and lost a spirited decision in a terrific fight.

Burgos, the nephew of former junior flyweight titlist Victor Burgos, then won five fights in a row against mostly solid competition before the disappointment against Martinez.

"All of them have given me the opportunity to get to a world title [fight on] two occasions and now is my turn to pay them back," Burgos said, speaking about trainer Gerardo Espinoza, manager Roberto Sandoval and his promoters. "I will be a world champion and that day we will have a big celebration because they have been with me during the happy and hard times of my career."

Super middleweight champ Andre Ward knows what he is talking about when it comes Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch.

Ward, after all, easily defeated both of them in world title fights during the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Ward cruised to an 11th-round technical decision win against Kessler to win his first world title in their opening bout of the tournament in November 2009. In the December 2011 tournament final, Ward routed Froch to unify 168-pound titles to establish himself as the super middleweight king.

Since the tournament, England’s Froch and Denmark’s Kessler have each picked up versions of the title and they will meet to unify those belts in a rematch on Saturday (HBO, 6 p.m. ET) at the sold-out O2 Arena in London. In their first fight in April 2010 -- as part of the Super Six -- Kessler won a tight decision in Denmark in the most action-packed fight of the tournament.

The winner of Kessler-Froch II could potentially get a rematch with Ward, who doesn’t exactly have a plethora of name opponents to face when he returns to the ring (probably in September) following a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery.

Ward will be ringside to call the fight as part of the HBO broadcast team (and, undoubtedly, get a close-up look again in case he wants to fight the winner) on Saturday and he thinks Froch will beat Kessler to even the score, perhaps even by knockout.

“Carl Froch has been in some tough fights but I think he has more in the tank,” Ward told England’s weekly Boxing News. “I think Kessler has kind of dipped a little bit since he and I fought, and even since he fought Froch the first time. Even though it’s going to be a tough fight, it’s going to be back and forth, I can’t see Kessler winning this.

“Kessler’s last two performances, he hasn’t fought the best guys -- a shop-worn Allan Green then Brian Magee, who’s very tough but limited -- and he’s going to look good against them. But I don’t know if he has the same fire as when he fought Froch the first time. I would be shocked if Kessler got his hand raised. I think Froch wins and I wouldn’t be surprised if Froch caught and stopped him.”

With the news this week that Golden Boy has put Sept. 28 on hold at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the possible return of Miguel Cotto, it got me thinking -- if Cotto indeed fights, who should he face?

Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), a former junior middleweight, welterweight and junior welterweight titleholder, will be coming off back-to-back decision losses in competitive and crowd-pleasing fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout, and he'll be fighting for the first time since the Trout fight in December.

Cotto may not be what he was when he was at his wrecking-machine best, but he remains an excellent fighter who has never given anything less than 100 percent and been one of boxing’s biggest attractions for a reason -- he’s always in a good fight.

Because he works closely with Golden Boy Promotions it means there are a plethora of quality and interesting opponents for him. So here’s a look at some of the opponents I think might be possible, taking into account that he won’t be facing a Top Rank fighter and that a fight with junior middleweight champ Canelo Alvarez is unlikely because: (A) Alvarez may be facing Mayweather on Sept. 14 on Showtime PPV; (B) If Mayweather fight on Sept. 14, Showtime would not do PPV events two weeks apart and certainly if there’s even an Alvarez-Cotto fight it is a major PPV event; (C) Alvarez-Cotto almost certainly would take place in Las Vegas, not New York.

• Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KOs): This is my pick as the fight I’d like to see most other than Alvarez. Like Cotto, Ortiz, a former welterweight titlist, is also coming off back-to-back losses, stoppages against Mayweather and Josesito Lopez, against whom he suffered a severely broken jaw last June. While recovering from the jaw injury, Ortiz did a stint on “Dancing With the Stars” but is due back in the ring, most likely in September. So the schedules match. He also can certainly handle the move up to 154 pounds and a fight with Cotto would be nothing less than exciting. No doubt there would be drama too, because both men are typically in dramatic fights. It’s a can’t miss-action fight.

• Alfredo Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs): Cotto-Angulo could not possibly miss as an exciting action fight. It would also be an authentic Puerto Rico versus Mexico rivalry fight, which always generates heat. Angulo, although dangerous because of his power, is also one-dimensional enough that Cotto would be the favorite. Angulo, of course, would have to beat Erislandy Lara on June 8, and Angulo is the clear underdog in that fight. If Lara wins, I doubt Cotto would want to tangle with Lara’s difficult technical style, especially without a world title at stake.

• ”Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs): There’s been quiet word that Cotto might want to move up to middleweight and see what he can do. Quillin holds a title, is one of boxing’s most exciting and charismatic fighters and looking for the kind of fight to help him break out. Cotto would be a big underdog, but he has always taken on big challenges so maybe he would want to take a shot. Quillin, I’m certain, would take the fight in two seconds. It would also probably sell well given Cotto’s enormous New York/Puerto Rican fanbase combined with the fact that Quillin is a New Yorker. This fight intrigues me.

• Robert Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs): Sure, he was schooled by Mayweather on May 4 but so what? Guerrero is always up for fighting the best, usually involved in good fights and I think he and Cotto would be a good one. If Guerrero gets the fight, he just needs to make sure of one thing when he heads to New York -- leave the gun at home this time.

• Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KOs): The former welterweight titlist got beat up by Guerrero in a November decision loss in a great fight so he would have to beat Jesus Soto Karass, whom he meets June 27, to even have a prayer of landing the fight, although the turnaround might be a little quick, making him an unlikely foe. But if Berto looks OK against Soto Karass, why not a Cotto fight? Two big names, two action styles. Count me in.

• Ishe Smith (25-5, 11 KOs): If Cotto wants to try to pick up another 154 belt, Smith is out there. He would have to get past Carlos Molina on July 19, and coming back on Sept. 28 might be a little bit of a quick turnaround, but anything is possible. Smith is promoted by Mayweather’s company, which works closely with Golden Boy so from that point of view it is a fight that could be made. Not the best fight in the world, but not out of the realm of possibility in my view.

• Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (32-5, 19 KOs): He lost his belt to Smith in February, but it was competitive. If Cotto is looking to ease back into things and take a little bit of a lesser fight this one sticks out like a sore thumb. The 40-year-old Bundrage will come to fight but Cotto would be the favorite to win and then move into something bigger.

Heavyweight Audley Harrison, long ago dubbed "Fraudley" by the media for his massive underachievement, is now just a sad joke in boxing.

Harrison (31-7, 23 KOs) won a 2000 Olympic super heavyweight gold medal for Great Britain and arrived on the pro scene with enormous potential. It went unfulfilled -- and dramatically so.

He never had a breakout win, yet still got a world title shot against David Haye, who cherry-picked him and won by third-round knockout in a fight so horrible that British fans revolted and caused Sky Sports to stop broadcasting pay-per-view boxing for a while.

Harrison thankfully retired. But he came back 16 months later, beat nobody and then got whacked in the first round by hot prospect David Price in October.

After winning an edition of the "Prizefighter" competition, Harrison got obliterated by Deontay Wilder in the first round on April 27.

On May 1, Harrison announced his retirement again. Good, I thought. He should have stayed retired after the Haye embarrassment.

But on Tuesday -- just 20 days after retiring a second time -- Harrison announced that he is unretiring.

Oh joy.

Harrison claims that the birth of his son last week helped him make the decision.

"When I made the tough decision to walk away from boxing, I knew it was not going to be easy. As the days passed, I knew I would not be able to live with the decision," he said in a long-winded statement. "I wrestled with it for a few weeks and spoke to everyone from the [British] Boxing Board, to Lennox Lewis, David Haye, my dad, wife and many others. Ultimately, seeing my son born crystallized my decision.

"There is no way I am going to tell my son, 'I gave up because I didn't want to climb the mountain again, I didn't want to dust myself off again, when I'm now in the best shape of my career, doing things I haven't done for years, and back in love with the sport.' How can I retire when I know I have another shot in me? If I don't get up and try again, everything I've stood for would mean nothing."

Does Harrison actually believe that? He has been knocked out four times, all inside three rounds. And when Harrison, who has no chin whatsoever, gets knocked out, he really gets knocked out. In splattering fashion.

For him to seriously think he will ever get another big-time fight, or even have a prayer of winning one, is just sad. Seriously, who would pay 10 cents to see him fight again? Yet here comes more gibberish from his statement:

"We all saw how the fight [with Wilder] ended, which was not right," Harrison said. "I can't walk away with that performance. If I do, it would haunt me until I'm old and gray. I got up. They should have let him come to finish me and let me show what I got."

Show what I got? Really? REALLY?

Harrison had absolutely nothing, which was exactly why Golden Boy Promotions settled on him as the opponent for Wilder. He was a decent name who presented no real danger to the undefeated prospect.

"People who worry I may get hurt, I thank you for your concerns," Harrison continued. "We live in a free society, and my desire for freedom and autonomy is my universal right. Don't know where, but see you in a ring real soon."

And then, without question, we'll see "Fraudley" flat on his back yet again.

The fall showdown between welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez has moved a step closer to being finalized.

Bradley signed his contract on Friday, manager Cameron Dunkin told ESPN.com.

The fight is supposed to take place Sept. 14 (HBO PPV) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. However, that is also the date (on Mexican Independence Day weekend) that pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he will next fight, at the MGM Grand in a Showtime PPV fight.

If Mayweather finalizes his own fight -- opponent TBA, but hopefully Mexican star junior middleweight champ Canelo Alvarez -- Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who is putting on Bradley-Marquez, said he will get out of the way and move the fight to Oct. 12. Arum said he has the Thomas & Mack Center also on hold for that date in case he needs to move it.

As for Marquez, who is coming off a sensational one-punch knockout of Manny Pacquiao in December, he hasn't yet signed his paperwork, but there are no issues, according to Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti.

"He has not signed, but all is done," Moretti said. "Nothing new when it comes to this stuff."

Just on their own, the fights between Danny Garcia and Zab Judah, who met April 27, and Lamont Peterson and Lucas Matthysse, who meet Saturday night (Showtime, 9 ET/PT) at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., are attractive matchups.

Garcia is a unified junior welterweight titleholder and the No. 1 fighter at 140 pounds. Judah is a former three-time titleholder with one of the biggest names in the sport. As it turned out, they waged an excellent fight with plenty of drama, and Garcia survived to win a unanimous decision.

Peterson, who also has one of the world titles, and Matthysse, an interim titleholder, are the Nos. 2 and 3 fighters in the division, and they have styles that should mesh beautifully and make for a terrific fight.

But when Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer and Showtime Sports boss Stephen Espinoza put together the fights, they had a grander idea than simply having the individual bouts separated by three weeks.

The plan was for the Garcia-Judah winner to face the Peterson-Matthysse winner to crown a 140-pound king in an unofficial tournament because the four fighters have not signed contracts calling for the final.

But that remains the plan, and everyone involved appears to be on board. The target date for Garcia to meet Saturday night’s winner is Sept. 7.

After Garcia defeated Judah, he came to the post-fight news conference and said to count him in.

“You know me, I'll fight anybody,” Garcia said. “If that's what [manager] Al Haymon [who recently signed Matthysse] wants, then that's what I'll do. I think Peterson will win [against Matthysse].”

Garcia plans to be ringside on Saturday night,too.

“Garcia is committed to it and the other two want to do it as well,” Schaefer said. “All the fighters are on board and so are the managers. I have to still discuss the money but [after Saturday] we’ll sit down with Showtime and work out a license fee.”

Although Peterson and Matthysse face a difficult assignment against each other, both also want Garcia next.

Peterson has wanted nothing more than to face elite opponents. He has faced Victor Ortiz and Timothy Bradley Jr. (both of whom are now welterweights). Peterson said he is all about proving he is No. 1 at 140 pounds.

“At the end of the day, those are some of the top guys in the division and to me that’s what boxing’s all about,” Peterson said. “Once you get to this level it shouldn’t be no more 'C class' fighters. There should be top-level guys, top five. I don’t even want to say top 10. It should be the top five guys. And those are some of the names that are in the top five, in my book, so I have no problem with that lineup. [So as for fighting Garcia], yeah, yeah, I’m definitely OK with it.”

As interim titlist, Matthysse is Garcia’s mandatory challenger, and that is the fight he has wanted even more than the one with Peterson.

“Yes, definitely, definitely, that’s what I want,” Matthysse said of facing Garcia. “I want that, if that’s the reason for this fight [with Peterson]. I hope that everything comes out OK because, yes, I would love to fight Danny Garcia.”

After former featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez got knocked out by Orlando Salido in a world title fight for the second time in March 2012, it seemed like Lopez was poised to make the move to junior lightweight.

He had talked about issues making the featherweight limit of 126 pounds and after nearly a year layoff -- caused by his suspension after the Salido rematch because of the accusations that the referee stopped the fight because he had wagered on the outcome -- Lopez returned in February. His two fights (both knockout wins) since ending the layoff were both contested at 128 pounds, halfway between the featherweight and 130-pound junior lightweight limits.

But Lopez is going to fight at featherweight, at least for the time being, and is all set to challenge titleholder Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KOs), who won his belt from Salido in January. The fight is June 15 (HBO, 10:15 p.m. ET/PT) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

It appears as though Lopez (33-2, 30 KOs) is taking his training seriously and that making weight won’t be an issue. At this week’s Puerto Rico commission’s 30-day weight check, Lopez scaled 138 pounds, well inside the allowable weight of 144.9.

“We are working to make the weight and to get the best condition,” Lopez said. “Our goal was to make 139 pounds [Thursday] and we made 138, it’s so good. We are one month before the fight and I’m feeling very good with the training. As we made two fights [in February and April] this year, I kept in the gym all the time. We want to be in 131 or 132 pounds next week and work with that weight for the finals weeks, but I’m so good -- eating good and in a good mood.”

Although his weight is fine, he did have a gym mishap this week. He suffered a bruise on his face after falling.

“In reaction work with the medicine ball, I slipped on the on the wet racetrack and fell,” Lopez said. “Unbelievable. That’s the first time in my career.”

Interim junior welterweight titlist Lucas Matthysse was supposed to arrive in New York on Tuesday morning on a flight from his native Argentina that would give him plenty of time to make it the final news conference on Wednesday to promote his 141-pound nontitle showdown with junior welterweight titleholder Lamont Peterson.

They are scheduled to meet Saturday night (Showtime, 9 ET/PT) at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

But when Matthysse was a no-show at the media event, the reason for his surprising absence was glossed over. Promoter Golden Boy simply attributed it to "a travel issue" and moved on to Peterson and welterweight titlist Devon Alexander and his challenger, Lee Purdy, who will meet in the co-feature.

But behind the scenes there was worry. Golden Boy officials were concerned about whether Matthysse would make it to the United States in time -- or at all -- for the fight.

A source involved in the fight told ESPN.com that Matthysse's home in Argentina was robbed last weekend. During the robbery, according to the source, Matthysse's passport was badly defaced and rendered unusable. It is believed by Matthysse's camp, the source said, that it was an inside job by somebody clearly upset with Matthysse and purposely trying to screw up his travel plans for the fight. After all, burglars don't break into a stranger's home and then go hunting for a passport to destroy.

The intruder almost prevented Matthysse from fighting. Golden Boy spent the early part of the week contemplating a contingency plan in case Matthysse couldn't make it to America in time. What Golden Boy hoped to work out with Showtime in the event that Matthysse couldn't travel would have been to elevate Alexander-Purdy to the main event, with the welterweight fight between unbeaten prospects Shawn Porter and Phil LoGreco getting bumped up to the main broadcast from its slot on the Showtime Extreme portion of the card.

As of last Friday night, Matthysse didn't have a usable passport and needed to get one on short notice in order to get a visa. His team in Argentina was up to the challenge and worked very quickly. Somehow the time-consuming process was completed in a few days.

According to the source, Matthysse had been issued a new passport by the time the Wednesday news conference had started, saving Golden Boy officials from having to explain the situation to the media and to Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KOs).

With his paperwork in hand, Matthysse (33-2, 31 KOs) flew overnight on Wednesday night from Argentina to New York and arrived on Thursday morning. He and his team then drove to Atlantic City and were there by Thursday afternoon to rest, work out, do some interviews, get ready for Friday's weigh-in and, thankfully, Saturday night's big fight.

There have been a lot of good fight cards over the past couple of months and there are more to come. One of the shows I like the best, even though it won't get as much attention as some of the others, is Golden Boy's tripleheader on June 8.

That Showtime card (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) -- which takes place at one of boxing's best venues, the outdoor Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. -- is headlined by slugger Marcos Maidana (33-3, 30 KOs) of Argentina against Josesito Lopez (30-5, 18 KOs) of Riverside, Calif., in a welterweight scrap. How can that not be a good fight?

In the co-feature, junior middleweight contenders Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs), the slick boxer from Houston by way of Cuba, and Mexican brawler/puncher Alfredo "Perro" Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs) square off. And in the opener, a serious crossroads fight, Houston hot prospect Jermell Charlo (20-0, 10 KOs) -- who I think highly of -- faces veteran (and Bernard Hopkins' nephew) Demetrius Hopkins (33-2-1, 13 KOs) of Philadelphia in a junior middleweight contest.

The fighters in the top two bouts, along with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, met the media this week in Los Angeles to kick off the promotion. Here's some of what they had to say about the fights:

• Maidana: "I know [Lopez] likes to stand and trade and fight. That's what I do and that's why it's going to be such an exciting fight.

"My plan is to go toe-to-toe. I don't know what Josesito is going to do, but that's what I plan to do. Pressure is the key to the fight. I'm feeling great. I've been in Oxnard, Calif., for over a month already. I love training there. The weather is great and it's where my coach [Robert Garcia] is. It's going to be a great fight and I'm going to defend the honor of Argentina.

"The 147-pound division is where I feel best. I didn't feel that way at 140. Now I'm free and I can eat more. My body is different and you can see the definition."

• Lopez: "When you're fighting a heavy puncher like Maidana, you have to be smart. The move up to 154 pounds [for a loss to Canelo Alvarez in September] helped me now that I'm back at 147. Now I feel I'm a true welterweight. I feel great in the gym -- stronger and faster.

"I'm so excited about this fight and I'm the one receiving the punches. I can only imagine how excited the fans are. Years ago before I was at this level I thought, 'Man, this would be an exciting fight. I would love to get in there and bang with him.' Now we're here. It's a hell of a match-up. It could be the fight of the year.

"This is a fight I have to win. It's a fight that keeps me on the map. This is where I want to be and I'm working my ass off."

• Angulo: "This is my third fight after my time off [because of immigration issues] and conditioning-wise I'm feeling like my old self, feeling like I used to feel. There's no doubt I'll be in better condition than I was for my last two fights. There was just too much time off. Now, I'm in a rhythm.

"It's going to be a very good fight, the bull versus the matador. I have a lot of respect for Lara. He's a really good fighter and he wants to show he's the best, but he's going to have to come out and fight. He may think he's just going to box, but he's going to fight."

• Lara: "There's always a lot at stake when I fight, so I know I can't look ahead or take Angulo for granted. He is my total focus now. After I win on June 8, I can start thinking about a world title shot again. Angulo is a good fighter. I give him a lot of credit. He always comes to fight. I've worked very hard and am preparing for the best Angulo possible.

"The fact that I'm favored to win means nothing. Once the bell rings, it doesn't matter what the odds are. It's what you do in the ring that counts. Style-wise this is a perfect fight for me because Angulo likes to come forward. It's the classic boxer versus the puncher. I expect to put on a boxing clinic, so you can expect a smart fight from me.

"Obviously, the most important thing is for me to win, but I want to put on a great show for all the fans."

• De La Hoya: "We should have called this 'High Stakes' because you have the welterweight division where you have Floyd Mayweather. The winner between Marcos Maidana and Josesito Lopez automatically puts himself in line and at the front door knocking to fight the very best.

"What's most exciting for Alfredo Angulo's team is that he's just now putting everything together and really learning the craft of boxing under [trainer] Virgil Hunter. It's going to be very exciting to see him fight such an incredible fighter like Erislandy Lara."

Middleweight contender Andy Lee returned with a vengeance on Wednesday night in New York, needing just 87 second to knock out Daryl Cunningham on promoter Lou DiBella's "Broadway Boxing" card at BB King's Blues Club.

The win was Lee's second in a row since getting stopped in the seventh round in a middleweight world title fight by then-titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last June in El Paso, Texas.

It was also Lee's second fight with new trainer Adam Booth, who Lee hired after longtime trainer and close friend Emanuel Steward died in October.

Ireland's Lee (30-2, 21 KOs), 28, who now trains with Booth in England, stunned fellow southpaw Cunningham (28-5, 11 KOs), 38, of Detroit, with a left hand and was all over him. He trapped Cunningham on the ropes and let his punches fly. Cunningham was taking heavy punishment when referee Benjy Esteves Jr. stepped in.

"Onward and upward from here," Lee said after the fight. "I feel like I am at the top of my game right now and obviously the No. 1 guy in the middleweight division is Sergio Martinez and that is the fight I want. We have the same promoter in Lou DiBella, so I feel like it is an easy fight to make and one that is very attractive for the middleweight division. I know that Sergio is taking some time off [because of a knee injury], but I'll be ready for him once he is ready to go."

DiBella was impressed with Lee's performance.

"It was very explosive," DiBella said. "He came out like he had the intention to hurt him from the get-go and he did. I thought it was very impressive. Adam Booth told me before the last fight, 'You gotta give me a couple of fights with him because we're working on some things, so it won't happen in one fight.' But Andy looked like a beast.

"I think he's ready to go into a more substantial fight and there are tremendous fights to be made in the middleweight division."

With Martinez on the sidelines, probably until at least next spring, DiBella mentioned some other potential opponents for Lee, including Martin Murray, Darren Barker and the winner of the June 29 fight between titleholder Gennady Golovkin and Matthew Macklin.

With Lee being from Ireland and Murray, Barker and Macklin (who is Irish) all being from England, DiBella noted that those fights are a natural.

DiBella also said that he would like to try to get Lee a shot at titlist Daniel Geale of Australia, whose next fight likely will be in the United States on promoter Gary Shaw's HBO "Boxing After Dark" card in August.

"That's a fight we would be very interested in and I think that would be a helluva fight in the ring," DiBella said.