ESPN Boxing

Middleweight titlist “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin has looked quite impressive in his recent fights.

In his last three bouts combined, decisions against Winky Wright and Hassan N’Dam (to win a belt) and a seventh-round knockout of Fernando Guerrero on April 27, Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs) has scored 11 knockdowns. He dropped Wright once, N’Dam six times and Guerrero four times.

Now Quillin wants to unify the titles, even though it won’t be easy for those fights to be made.

"I want to fight one of the other champions,” Quillin said. “Sergio Martinez would be my first choice, but he's injured and out for the rest of the year. [Daniel] Geale is the IBF champion, and that, right now, looks like the easiest unification fight to make.”

Gennady Golovkin, who defends against Matthew Macklin on June 29, also holds a belt. But the reason that unification fight is unlikely is simple: Quillin is with Golden Boy Promotions, which has all its notable fights on Showtime at the moment. Martinez and Golovkin are HBO fighters, which makes either of those bouts nearly impossible to make. Geale, who is with promoter Gary Shaw, has no network allegiance in the United States. However, Shaw is close to HBO, and Showtime is doing business with Golden Boy only these days.

Still, Quillin wants people to know that he is ready, willing and able to unify 160-pound belts.

“We'll fight anybody in a unification or major fight,” said John Seip, who co-manages Quillin with Jim McDevitt. “Peter was awesome in his last fight. He really hurts his opponents with both hands. He connected on 50 percent of his power punches against Guerrero, and that's an astronomical number. Nobody in this division can handle him. It's a numbers game now. The promoters and networks have to put egos aside and give fans what they want with Peter in a major fight.

“You don't make big money winning the world title belt; you do retaining it, and now it's time for Peter to reap the fruit of his labor. The biggest market in boxing is in America, and a unification fight belongs here. Martinez is out with injuries, [Julio Cesar] Chavez [Jr.] won't fight us, Golovkin has a fight at the end of June, but Geale interests us.”

England’s Martin Murray knew what he was up against going to Argentina to challenge middleweight champ Sergio Martinez in his homecoming fight Saturday night, and he came close to pulling the upset, too.

He dropped Martinez once officially and could have been credited with another knockdown that was controversially ruled a slip. In the end, all three judges had it 115-112 for Martinez, thrilling the nearly 50,000 who packed a soccer stadium in Buenos Aires.

But even in defeat, Murray showed he is a legitimate middleweight contender and deserves another fight of note.

He’d love another crack at Martinez (51-2-2, 38 KOs), but that isn’t going to happen. Martinez re-injured his surgically repaired right knee and broke his left hand. He’s out, most likely, until next spring. And even when he returns, Martinez is not going to face Murray (25-1-1, 11 KOs) again. He will move onto something else. Murray understands that.

"I'd love the chance to fight Martinez again, but there's no way I'll get the opportunity," Murray said. "Martinez is amongst the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world and I had him down twice, bossed him and lost a very close debatable decision in his own backyard, so I think I've proven I belong at world level.

“I'm obviously gutted that I'm not taking that belt home with me but I'm happy and proud that I can leave Argentina with my head held high, knowing that I represented [hometown] St. Helens and Great Britain.”

Still, Murray believes he deserved the decision.

"If it was fair scoring, then I would have got the decision but it was always going to be an uphill battle in Argentina and I knew that when I accepted the fight,” Murray said. “I just want to say a massive thank-you to my family, friends and team. I'm so lucky to have these people around me, especially Oliver Harrison, who's just an amazing trainer, and I know that one day I'll get them that world title that they all deserve.

"Also, a big thank-you to Sergio Martinez, his team and the people of Argentina. From day one, we were all treated so well and really looked after.”

Although middleweight champ Sergio Martinez won a dominant unanimous decision against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in their big-time showdown in September at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, the most memorable moment came in the 12th round when Martinez, way ahead on the scorecards, got dropped and nearly knocked out as Chavez went for broke in the final 90 seconds of the fight.

Although Martinez rose from the canvas and fought back hard in what was eventually the 2012 ESPN.com round of the year, he was injured.

On the knockdown, Martinez injured his right knee, which required surgery for a partially torn meniscus. He also injured his ankle. There were other injuries, as well. Martinez broke his left hand during the fight and wound up needing stitches to close a cut over his eye and a gash in his scalp.

Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KOs) is now healed and ready to go for his Argentina homecoming fight -- his sixth title defense -- against England's Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KOs) on Saturday night (HBO, 8:30 ET/PT) at the 50,000-seat Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Martinez said that despite the injuries and subsequent surgery, he is good to go for the fight with Murray.

"All of my injuries have healed 100 percent," he said. "Thanks to my sports therapist, Raquel Bordons, I can perform to my full abilities prior to my injuries. Without her I probably would have retired a couple of fights ago."

Martinez also touched on some other other topics with ESPN.com.

On the significance of the win against Chavez, in which he regained an alphabet belt that had been stripped from him:

"I was very emotional after that win. I cried in the ring and in the dressing room after with my team. I worked so hard for so many years to become champion, and then to lose my belt in an office and not in a ring really affected me. So when I won back my belt, I felt like a wrong has been righted."

On surviving the knockdown in the 12th round and fighting back back hard rather than trying to kill the clock:

"[Trainer] Pablo [Sarmiento] and I trained for that moment. We trained to possibly get knocked down and to get up. We knew going in that Chavez was strong and could potentially knock me down, but in no way would he be able to knock me out completely. The reason why Chavez caught me with that shot is because I was going for the knockout in the 12th. I wanted to show everybody what a true champion is supposed to do and that is finish strong."

On giving Chavez a fall rematch -- which has been discussed -- should he defeat Murray and if Chavez wins a summer fight:

"I would offer Chavez a rematch but only if he agrees to Olympic style [random drug] testing. He needs to respect the sport. I know that if we did, in fact, have a rematch and Chavez agrees to testing, I will KO him next time."

Who else would he like to fight?

"I would love to fight [former junior middleweight titlist Miguel] Cotto as he has disrespected me in the past when we have been at the same event together. [Titleholders] Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Geale and Peter Quillin are great champions and if the proposal to fight is great, then we can discuss the possibilities of fighting them as well."

Now that middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin is safely through his Saturday fight -- having absolutely drilled Nobuhiro Ishida in the third round in a knockout-of-the-year candidate -- attention can turn to a more serious fight for the man called “GGG.”

Golovkin (26-0, 23 KOs) is slated to be back in action June 29 at a site to be determined (likely on the East Coast) to headline an HBO tripleheader. He will be making his eighth title defense and fighting for the third time already this year. Golovkin’s opponent will likely be the one I have been hoping it would be (and the one HBO wants): Great Britain’s Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KOs).

Promoter Lou DiBella said both fighters have accepted the bout, and he is working to finalize the details with K2 promoter Tom Loeffler.

I see no possible way this can’t be an exciting fight. Golovkin is one of the most fan-friendly fighters on the planet and is in such a groove right now it is scary. Macklin is a quality contender who is also a regular crowd pleaser.

Although Macklin is just 1-2 in his last three fights, let’s go beyond the record. In June 2011, he lost a split decision in a world title fight to Felix Sturm on Sturm’s turf in Germany. Macklin was robbed, simple as that. He won, and did so rather easily in my view, but was absolutely ripped off.

His performance against Sturm was so good that it got him a shot at Sergio Martinez, the legitimate 160-pound champion. They met in March 2012 at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York and produced a compelling and competitive fight. Macklin dropped Martinez in the seventh round before being stopped in the 11th round. Then, in Macklin’s ring return, he starched former junior middleweight titlist Joachim Alcine in the first round on the Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard last September.

Macklin is a worthy opponent for Golovkin, who has not had any other top middleweight contenders or titleholders show a willingness to face him. So props to Macklin for taking the fight a few months after he and Golovkin went back and forth a bit on Twitter about the proposed fight. Now DiBella and Loeffler are finishing a few details, DiBella said.

The two other featured fighters on the card are supposed to be Cleveland junior middleweight Willie Nelson (20-1-1, 12 KOs), who is on a very nice run and looking quite formidable, and super middleweight contender Thomas Oosthuizen (21-0, 13 KOs), a lanky lefty from South Africa.

Nelson, who is starting to win me over, doesn’t have an opponent yet. He has beaten three solid opponents in a row. He is coming off a blazing first-round destruction of Michael Medina on March 1. But before that, he upset John Jackson (one of former champ Julian Jackson’s sons) on the Martinez-Chavez Jr. undercard and also outpointed former Cuban amateur standout Yudel Jhonson.

Oosthuizen is my kind of fighter. He has skills and size (and a good chin) but is also more than willing to take two shots to give one. He’s a crowd pleaser.

DiBella and promoter Dan Goossen are trying to close the deal to match Oosthuizen and Brandon Gonzalez (17-0, 10 KOs), of Sacramento, Calif. Gonzalez recently withdrew from an April 12 ESPN2 undercard fight because of a hamstring problem, but he is expected to be just fine to lace 'em up for June 29.

A little of this and a little of that from the boxing world:

• As part of the lead-up to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero welterweight title fight on May 4 (Showtime PPV) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the documentary “30 Days In May” debuts on Wednesday night (Showtime, 10 ET/PT). The one-hour film chronicles the days between Mayweather’s May 5, 2012, win over Miguel Cotto and the June 1 start of a three-month jail term for domestic abuse at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. The film concludes on Aug. 3, Mayweather’s self-described “best day of my life,” when he was released early for good behavior after serving two months behind bars. The documentary features the only interviews Mayweather has conducted (so far) about his incarceration, which he calls a “life-changing experience.”

• Middleweight champ Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KOs) and challenger Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KOs) of England, who meet April 27 (HBO) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Martinez’s home country, were both inside the limit of what they were allowed to weigh for their 30-day weight check. They were each 170 pounds a month before their 160-pound championship fight.

• "Friday Night Fights” fan favorite Delvin Rodriguez (27-6-3, 15 KOs) returns to the ESPN2 series on May 24 at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn., where Connecticut resident Rodriguez is a good draw. He’ll face fellow former welterweight title challenger Freddy Hernandez (30-4, 20 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round junior middleweight bout.

• The epic Mike Alvarado-Brandon Rios rematch at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Saturday night was another hit for HBO, which said that, according to Nielsen Media Research, it drew 1.2 million viewers for the live airing. That was a 45 percent increase in viewership from the first Rios-Alvarado fight, which was also a barn-burner, but on an undercard. Saturday’s undercard fight between unknown junior welterweight prospect Terrence Crawford and Breidis Prescott drew 845,000 viewers, according to the network.

• Promoter Don King, who won the purse bid for the third fight between cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck (35-2-1, 25 KOs) and Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KOs) despite not handling either fighter, told the camps that the fight would take place May 11 in Germany. However, King, who bid a surprising $1.5 million, still does not have a specific venue lined up or a television deal in place The fighters are both in training camp, but their handlers remain skeptical that the fight will come off. Without a TV deal, King would likely default on the bid.

Junior featherweight Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland is one of the best prospects in boxing and he has wanted a fight with European champion Kiko Martinez of Spain for some time.

Twice, Martinez pulled out of the fight while working out his promotional issues, and he is now signed with the company belonging to middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.

Now, finally, Martinez and Frampton are scheduled to fight, this time seemingly for real. It goes down Feb. 9 (Sky in the United Kingdom) at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Frampton’s hometown.

The 25-year-old Frampton (15-0, 10 KOs), who is managed by Hall of Fame former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, is psyched for the fight that he wanted.

“He’s pulled out on me twice so I have a score to settle with him there,” said Frampton, who is coming of a dominant sixth-round knockout of former junior featherweight titlist Steve Molitor in September.

“It’s a great fight for the fans and one that I have craved for a long time. I had too much for Steve Molitor and he was a step-up, so I am confident I can beat Kiko and do so in style.

“Martinez pulling out in September was a blessing in disguise really, as I have been able to mature and learn even more and in February in front of another packed crowd at home, I’m looking to make another statement.”

Martinez (27-3, 19 KOs), 26, will be making his second European title defense and is on a seven-fight winning streak since back-to-back decision losses in 2009 to Rendall Munroe in a European title fight and former world titleholder Takalani Ndlovu in a world title eliminator.

“I do not read much into Carl beating Molitor as he took the fight at late notice and that’s (Molitor’s) only fight of 2012,” Martinez said. “I will beat him by KO -- there’s no alternative outcome. It is not my fault that we have not been able to do this fight so far. There have been many circumstances around that but I know that the Belfast fans will come out and support Carl as always and it will be an electric atmosphere.”

Sergio Martinez, who is from Argentina but spent several years living and fighting in Spain, recently founded a promotional company and was happy to sign Kiko Martinez.

“He is the best boxer in Spain, top three in Europe in (his) division and top 10 in the World,” Martinez said. “We have also been friends for years and he wanted to make a leap in his career and my company was there for him to do so. Carl is a talented young fighter but I believe he needs to beat the champions in hostile territory to prove that, which is what Kiko is doing.”

We all know that Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will meet for the fourth time on Dec. 8 (HBO PPV) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But what else will you get if you decide to shell out the $50 or $60 to buy the pay-per-view? Here is what you can expect the undercard to look like, according to Top Rank, although the bouts are not finalized yet:

• Former featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KOs), who left Top Rank when rapper 50 Cent, an aspiring promoter, bought out his contract for seven figures earlier this year, will be on the card under a deal struck between 50 and Top Rank. If the fight is finalized, Gamboa -- idle since September 2011 after pulling out of a fight earlier this year with Brandon Rios and because of the snit with Top Rank that led to the sale of his contract -- would face Mexico's Miguel Beltran Jr. (27-2, 17 KOs) for a vacant interim junior lightweight belt. Beltran is coming off a split decision loss to Roman “Rocky” Martinez for a vacant title in an all-action slugfest on the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard on Sept. 15.

• Lightweight titleholder Miguel Vazquez (32-3, 13 KOs) of Mexico, who retained his belt with a split decision win against mandatory challenger Marvin Quintero last Saturday night in the opening bout of an HBO tripleheader, is being lined up to face the Philippines’ Mercito Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KOs) in a fight that has been in the works since before Vazquez even faced Quintero.

• Dynamic featherweight prospect Javier Fortuna (20-0, 15 KOs) of the Dominican Republic likely will face upstate New York-based Ireland native Patrick Hyland (27-0, 12 KOs) for a vacant interim featherweight belt.

It has been years since promoter Don King has put on a “ShoBox: The New Generation” card on Showtime, but he has one in the works with two of the remaining prospects in his dwindling stable of fighters.

Showtime said the card will take place on Nov. 16 at the Miami Jai Ali Fronton, where King has done smaller shows over the years.

The main event is supposed to feature junior middleweight prospect Omar Henry (12-0-1, 9 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout, although his opponent has not been signed yet. Henry has been awfully inactive, with only 13 fights since he turned pro in mid-2008.

Showtime had hoped King would match him with Willie Nelson (19-1-1, 11 KOs), but Nelson is coming off a good victory against previously undefeated John Jackson (the son of all-time power puncher Julian Jackson) on the Sept. 15 Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard. Nelson’s team turned down the fight, according to the network.

In the co-feature, southpaw lightweight prospect Angelo Santana (13-0, 10 KOs) -- a two-time Cuban national champion -- will take a big step up in competition by facing former lightweight titlist Paulus Moses (28-3, 19 KOs), who lost his belt by sixth-round knockout to Miguel Acosta in 2010. Moses won three fights in a row after that defeat before dropping a lopsided decision challenging lightweight titlist Ricky Burns in March. Moses rebounded July 28 by outpointing one-time contender Cassius Baloyi via 10-round split decision.

When Top Rank and Golden Boy (and their "strategic partners," HBO and Showtime, respectively) decided to go head-to-head with their big Mexican Independence Day weekend cards a mile apart in Las Vegas on Saturday night, few fans or media were happy about it.

But now the official gate numbers have been released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and neither show appeared to suffer. In fact, they both seemed to thrive.

Top Rank’s HBO PPV card at the Thomas & Mack Center, headlined by the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight championship fight -- which produced one of the most dramatic endings in boxing history -- produced a gate of $3,052,475 from a sellout crowd of 16,939. There were 751 complimentary tickets given away.

For the record, here's the reason for the discrepancy between the 16,939 official tickets sold and the arena-record sellout figure of 19,186 announced early during fight week by Top Rank and the Thomas & Mack Center: The 19,186 figure includes even those credentialed to be in the building without a ticket -- media members, television production folks, commission officials, hot dog vendors, etc. -- according to Top Rank's Todd duBoef and the commission.

Down the street at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Saul "Canelo" Alvarez retained his junior middleweight belt against Josesito Lopez in the main event of the Showtime card, the figures were also strong despite doubts that the sellout was legitimate. Why the doubts? Because even hours after Golden Boy announced it, blocks of seats in most price levels could still be purchased on Ticketmaster's website.

Funny business or not, the crowd looked good on television and the official figures were also strong. The commission reported that the MGM Grand card generated a gate of $1,618,150 from 12,860 tickets sold (a sellout), with 1,659 freebies.

That means that on the same night in two arenas that are walking distance from each other, there were about 30,000 people watching two big-time boxing cards.

Dying sport, right?

The downside to this success, of course, is that it probably emboldens Top Rank and Golden Boy, locked in a petty war for years, to go head-to-head again.

Will anyone be surprised to see a similar situation arise on May 4, 2013, Cinco de Mayo weekend?

LAS VEGAS -- Middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who routinely struggles to get down to 160 pounds, made it on Friday with two pounds to spare at the weigh-in for his fight with lineal champ Sergio Martinez on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Martinez, as usual, looked strong, weighing in at 159 pounds.

Despite the fact that Chavez came in at 158, trainer Freddie Roach has been an advocate of a move up to the 168-pound super middleweight division.

"Weight's always a problem," Roach said. "We're never going to make 160 easily."

At least for this fight, Chavez -- who likely will enter the ring in the high 170s after rehydrating -- didn't have to cut 16 pounds in the final two days before he weighed in to face Marco Antonio Rubio in February. He had a little easier time for his June fight against Andy Lee.

Still, as the 26-year-old Chavez gets older, making 160 will get harder and harder.

"He's a big kid at 160,” Roach said. "I always say he should go to '68, but he always disagrees with me. I've seen him suffer to make the weight and I think he'd be a much stronger and better fighter at '68. But I can't convince him of that yet."

Roach said he hopes the fight against Martinez is his last one at middleweight.

"He'll be stronger and healthier, and I think '68 is the better weight for him," Roach said. "We have some good opponents up there. Andre Ward looked great [last Saturday in a knockout win against light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson]. I don't think we’d fight [Ward] first, but Ward would come somewhere along the way."

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the division Chavez fights in is up to the fighter, not him.

"Obviously, fighting at 160 gives him a huge advantage because he outsizes his opponents, but that's for him to decide," Arum said. "He knows his own body."

Chavez admitted that he hasn't lost the weight properly for some of his fights, resulting in tired legs during his bouts. But he also said he can still make 160, proving so on Friday.

"I feel great at 160 now that I know how to take the weight off the right way," Chavez said through a translator. "I know I can do 160."

It remains to be seen for how much longer.

LAS VEGAS -- Lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez will have another voice of great experience in his corner when he faces titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET, $49.95) at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Naazim Richardson, the longtime trainer of Bernard Hopkins who also worked with Shane Mosley, will be there to assist head trainer Pablo Sarmiento, according to Sampson Lewkowicz, Martinez's adviser.

Richardson primarily will be with Martinez so he can oversee the wrapping of Chavez's hands in the dressing room before the fight, Lewkowicz said.

Richardson, of course, was Mosley's trainer for his welterweight title fight against Antonio Margarito in January 2009. In the dressing before the fight, it was Richardson who did not like how Margarito's hands were wrapped and insisted they be re-wrapped, upon which it was discovered that Margarito had illegal inserts in his hand wraps.

"His role will be to check the wraps and to make sure there is not another Margarito case," Lewkowicz said. "And he will also be in the corner to advise Sarmiento and let him know what he is seeing."

Lewkowicz said Richardson has been in place for about two months, but they did not want to make a formal announcement as they were trying to keep his presence low-key.

"We are happy to have another great set of eyes and another great mind on the Sergio 'Maravila' Martinez team," Lewkowicz said.

LAS VEGAS –- The Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. act is well known to those who have followed him closely. He beats to his own drummer and isn't particularly good at keeping to a schedule he agreed upon or training as diligently as he should. It drives his handlers crazy, especially trainer Freddie Roach.

So it's understandable why Roach has been even more irritated lately than usual.

Rather than train middleweight titlist Chavez at the Wild Card gym in Hollywood, Calif., for his showdown with lineal champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs) on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET, $49.95) at the Thomas & Mack Center, Roach agreed to relocate for the camp to Las Vegas and train Chavez at the Top Rank gym.

But then Chavez failed to show up to the gym when he was supposed to and Roach would wait around for him until finally heading back to his hotel room. According to Roach, Chavez (46-0-1, 32 KOs) missed at least six gym sessions over the past four weeks, not exactly a good thing when you're training for the most significant fight of your life.

"It does irritate me a little bit, but the thing is, I do wait for world champions and I do wait for Manny Pacquiao sometimes also," Roach said. "I wouldn't wait for some ordinary fighter."

But Roach, a Hall of Famer, is used to training camp drama given all he has gone through with Pacquiao over the years. With Chavez, Roach made an adjustment and decided to be the adult. He agreed to go to the house that Top Rank rented for Chavez in Las Vegas and train him there when he didn't want to come to the gym.

Chavez also doesn't keep a set schedule. There are late-night sessions that Roach is called in for, along with morning and afternoon sessions. There's just no set schedule. Whenever Chavez wants to train, Roach is there with him to get through it, day and night.

It may be disrespectful and unprofessional, but Roach has learned to be laid back about it.

"I told him we need to be more consistent in the gym and that's been better, not 100 percent," Roach said. "I have gone to the house a couple of times to work him out there. One thing about Julio, once we start working out, the workouts are very good and he does work his ass off. The times are awkward and the locations are awkward sometimes. If he wakes up at three in the morning and wants to work out, so we go."

At first Chavez's antics upset Roach.

"The first couple of times I would just go back to the hotel," Roach said. "Then he asked me to come to the house and work the mitts."

Then Roach explained how exactly they went about it since there is no ring at the house.

"I like working in the ring, but we move the couches and we have the living room," Roach said, understanding that it was comical to those listening.

Well what about moving around and knowing how far to go?

"We have imaginary ropes," Roach deadpanned.

He continued, "The workouts would be better inside a boxing ring so you can visualize it. That's why I told him we need to do the last week in the boxing ring to really get this down pat."

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has dealt with his fair share of prima donna fighters. Chavez's act is nothing new to him.

"It's different, but who's to say it's wrong," Arum said of training on a living room carpet. "Whatever works for this guy."

With Roach sitting next to him, Chavez was unapologetic for his refusal to stick to the schedule or come to the gym.

"For five years this is what I've done, this is how I train," Chavez said. "I know it's not normal, but this is how I do it. I could work right here [in an empty casino restaurant during a meeting with reporters] and know I would work just as hard as I would in any fight. I know it's not the best way to do it, but it's better to train than not to train."

He looked at Roach and smiled. Roach smiled back.

LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada State Athletic Commission will be awfully busy on Saturday night handing out checks to fighters from two major cards taking place about a mile from each other –- the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Top Rank/HBO PPV card at the Thomas & Mack Center and the Golden Boy/Showtime card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena featuring Saul "Canelo" Alvarez-Josesito Lopez.

Here are the official contract purses for the televised bouts from each show, according to commission executive director Keith Kizer, plus other pertinent notes:

Thomas & Mack Center card: Chavez Jr. $3 million (plus pay-per-view upside); Martinez $1.4 million (plus pay-per-view upside); Roman Martinez $50,000; Miguel Beltran $25,000; Guillermo Rigondeaux $150,000; Robert Marroquin $50,000; Matthew Macklin $85,000; Joachim Alcine $61,000; Mike Lee $50,000; Paul Harness $2,000.

MGM Grand card: Alvarez $2 million; Lopez $212,500 (plus an undisclosed amount from adviser Al Haymon); Jhonny Gonzalez $40,000 (plus Mexican television money); Daniel Ponce De Leon $100,000; Marcos Maidana $250,000; Jesus Soto Karass $80,000; Leo Santa Cruz $85,000; Eric Morel $35,000.

LAS VEGAS -- There was one particularly interested observer inside the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas during the final news conference for the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight championship fight on Wednesday: Daniel Geale.

Geale, of Australia, flew in to attend Saturday night's fight at the Thomas & Mack Center and also to meet with his promoter, Gary Shaw, and HBO executives.

Geale became a major player in the red-hot middleweight division when he went to Felix Sturm’s turf in Germany on Sept. 1 and won a split decision to unify two of the major middleweight titles.

Of course, he would like to fight the Martinez-Chavez winner but he is also anxious to fight in America and to be on HBO.

"It was a big risk going over there [to Germany], but the rewards were better and it sets up big things," Geale said. "I've said for awhile I want to come and fight in the U.S. I want the American people to know about me. Boxing is so huge over here. It's disappointing that it's not as big in Australia, so I want to come over here.

"We're talking to those [HBO] guys and they're very interested. Hopefully, we can set something up. It would be great to fight the winner of this [Martinez-Chavez] fight. I'll leave that up to my management."

One of Geale's belts is the WBA's so-called "super" title. Gennady Golovkin owns the organization's "regular" title, which he defended with a very impressive fifth-round destruction of European champion Grzegorz Proksa on HBO, hours after Geale beat Sturm.

The sanctioning organization nonsense drives me crazy, but the reason their belts are worth noting is because the WBA has mandated that Geale and Golovkin fight each other.

Geale (28-1, 15 KOs) and Shaw said they are willing but, naturally, would prefer the greater exposure and money a fight with Martinez or Chavez would bring.

"It's not as big of a fight [against Golovkin], obviously, but if we've got to do it, I'm more than happy as long as my management says that's the way to go," Geale said. "We've got big decisions and a lot of people knocking on the door. It's just a matter that we get the right fights and not rush into any stupid decisions."

Shaw said his first priority is trying to line Geale up against Saturday's winner. He did not sound too interested in Golovkin, but he said he will talk to HBO and see what it wants to do.

"They know where we stand," Shaw said. "They're very interested in Daniel and they want him on HBO. Daniel is a great boxer but he's willing to stand in the pocket and trade. He's a very fan-friendly fighter. He's a great looking guy, speaks well. I think he's the entire package. He'll be a fan favorite here in the U.S."

HBO's Kery Davis confirmed that they planned to meet this week.

"We're interested in the middleweight division, so we're interested in talking about potential next steps, whether it's a fight [for Geale] with Golovkin, the winner of Saturday's fight or maybe even the potential of moving up to fight Andre Ward at 168," Davis said. "It's not a specific agenda meeting. It's a meeting to talk about what they want to do and to take a look at the landscape."

Meetings and business aside, Geale said he keeps going back and forth on his pick for Martinez-Chavez.

"I think Sergio will win but I believe it will be a very interesting fight," Gale said. "If Chavez Jr. can make the fight and press forward and put a lot of pressure on Sergio, then the fight changes, especially late in the fight."

Middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has one-upped his Hall-of-Fame dad by selling more tickets than his father did for his biggest fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KOs) faces lineal champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs) on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET, $49.95) at the arena, which sold out on Tuesday.

The fight will become the highest-attended boxing event in the history of the arena, with 19,186, topping the record set by the heavyweight championship rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, which drew 19,151 in 1999.

According to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, the last ticket sold at 1:58 p.m. PT.

"Viva Chavez and Martinez," said Arum, adding that the gate for the much-anticipated fight on Mexican Independence Day weekend would be more than $3 million.

The sellout came on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.'s junior welterweight title-retaining decision win against Hector Camacho, which drew 17,972, the fourth-biggest crowd for a fight in Thomas & Mack Center history.

"How appropriate that on the eve of the 20th anniversary, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. [surpassed] his father's record in an epic fight of his own," Arum said. "Father and son will be forever linked as two of the highest-attended paid boxing events in the building's history."

Added Lou DiBella, Martinez's promoter, "This is a celebration about everything that is great about boxing. This is obviously a fight that everyone wanted to see and thanks to Sergio and Julio everyone will have the opportunity."

With the sellout anticipated for weeks, Wynn Las Vegas, the host casino, opened closed circuit viewing for $70 per ticket at the Encore Theater and $50 for general admission in the Lafite Ballroom at Wynn.