That alone makes it worth watching, as does the fact it's taking place at 154 pounds.

How will Floyd look at the higher weight class? Perhaps it will suit him at 35 better than it did in 2007 against Oscar De La Hoya.

While that was the signature bout of his career in the sense it gave him widespread attention (He just about singlehandedly assured that HBO's 24/7 would become a continuing entity with his Black Hat antics), I thought it was one of the least impressive showings of his championship career. A more ardent opponent than De La Hoya could have decisioned him that night.

More invested boxing writers than I believe that Cotto comes with the style that will see Mayweather win in spectacular fashion less than a month ahead of his jail stint.

I don't foresee that, but I'd still welcome it if it happened. Because, let's face it, as Mayweather's purses have hit the stratosphere, his performances really haven't. He's been "impressive", but rarely spectacular.

I have a hard time envisioning Mayweather stopping him, unless it happens because Cotto's tender skin doesn't hold up.

Cotto hung in for several rounds of punishment from what were quite likely the loaded gloves of Antonio Margarito.

He was ready to go in the fourth against Manny Pacquiao and stuck around until the 12th.

Both of those fights were at welterweight (Pacquiao's team insisted on a weight stipulation less than the 147 pounds).

Cotto looks sturdier both physically and with respect to his beard at 154. He's focused again, devoid of the drama in his corner and his personal life.

Mayweather's last stoppage against someone who was paying attention (Not you, Vic Ortiz) was nearly five years ago, against Ricky Hatton moving up in weight.

It stands to reason that to beat Mayweather a concerted body attack would help. That was once the bread and butter for Cotto (37-2, 30 knockouts), but he's largely abandoned those debillitating shots for a circling style that sees him jab and throw from a distance.

Cotto, with a significant speed deficit, hardly figures to win that kind of contest against Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs).

Still, it seems to me we're entering the part of Mayweather's career where most of his victories will come with a lot more huffing and puffing than in the past. Even the unsophisticated Ortiz was able to land some clean shots on him, something that wouldn't have happened a few years earlier. 

I'm most interested in seeing what happens when Mayweather attempts to grab on the inside. Will he be able to successfully maneuver Cotto as he has with others, or will the Puerto Rican use his strength to help tire the Las Vegas native and reduce his already limited punch output.

I do see Cotto making him sweat in there, but with an 8-4 or 7-5 type decision for Mayweather.  

As for Pacquaio, who fights next month against unbeaten Tim Bradley, Mayweather was once again this week accusing the Filipino icon of doping.

A strange tack considering he's been slapped with a defamation suit for such claims.

We have no way of knowing if Pacquiao used performance enhancing drugs in the past because boxing's testing protocols have been lax and varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

But don't know about Mayweather, either.

Mayweather continually harps on Pacquiao's movement through the weight categories. While it is unusual historically, veteran fight writer Kevin Iole in the past punched huge holes in this theme. When you compare the two fighters' ages and weights through the years, there's not a huge difference.

The undercard

Not that anyone following boxing was under any illusions, but Saturday's card vividly demonstrates that Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions are as cold and ruthless a boxing entity/promoter as all that have come before them.

We have former GBP charge and partner Shane Mosley, 41 in September and already noticeably slurring his speech, being served up for unbeaten Saul Alvarez, who is half his age.

I think that Alvarez is spectactularly overhyped, and it's true that Mosley's best situated at 154 pounds as opposed to the 147 limit where he was drubbed by Mayweather and Pacquiao, but even if he pulls off the unlikely upset this fight does nothing for his long-term health.

For what it's worth I do expect Mosley to have Alvarez in some danger early but ultimately get grounded down by the redheaded Mexican.

If that weren't enough, we've got Steve Forbes (winner of three of his last 10) getting pay-per-view real estate against unbeaten Jessie Vargas.

Notes

It was a mostly positive last weekend for boxing in terns of action and wholly positive in the sense that Chad Dawson outpointed Bernard Hopkins to little debate other than Hopkins and one other poor sod. Which spares boxing fans a third installment of a dreadful stylistic matchup. Hopkins has been a marvel, but it's time.

We saw previously unbeaten Ismayl Sillakh have his way with Denis Grachev in a light heavyweight bout but make the mistake of letting his opponent hang around. Sure enough, Grachev put Sillakh on the proverbial Queer Street in the eighth round. Back to the drawing board!

And it's always good when a battle of two unbeaten prospects ends in one round, exposing one of them. Such was the case with Javier Fortuna KO 1 Yuandale Evans, which featured one of the more spectacular knockdowns you'll see. 

For good measure, we had heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell wade through first round hellfire against Chazz Witherspoon, barely surviving. Mitchell stopped Witherspoon in three in the rare exciting bout - rare bout period - between two decent American heavyweights.

Speaking of excitement, former lightweight contender Andy Ganigan died this week at age 57. He was nicknamed The Hawaiian Punch for a reason, which you can see for yourself. His bouts against Sean O'Grady, Alexis Arguello and Gato Gonzalez are currently viewable on the internet and highly recommended. 

That matchup was secured on Monday night when Phoenix downed Chicago, clinching its first ever playoff round win since 1997, when it relocated from Winnipeg.

Jim Balsillie, you may recall, tried to buy both the Predators and Coyotes, but came up empty handed.

The bid for the Nashville club in 2007 fell on deaf ears before ever getting to a Board of Governors vote when Balsillie started getting the gears in motion to host hockey games in Hamilton, not Music City.

Having badly charred the bridge to the NHL, Balsillie tried to purchase Phoenix from Jerry Moyes through bankruptcy court

It seemed logical on the face of it - what right-thinking corporation would year after year prop up a division that was losing dozens of millions of dollars? - but a judge ultimately ruled that a sports league such as the NHL has the right to determine its owners and where franchises are located, among other factors.

We don't think commissioner Gary Bettman overtly roots for teams. But given that he's always been quick to recite the league's successful interventions on behalf of Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Ottawa, etc., Bettman is undoubtedly pleased at a turn of events that will see one of the Coyotes and Predators just one step away from challenging for the Stanley Cup.

Given the massive ratings haul in the U.S. for the first round, there could be momentum established to help cushion the fact that Nashville and Phoenix won't set the meters ablaze.

Bettman, unlike former boss David Stern, sees it as extremely critical that franchises don't jump about, and has fought hard for both franchises.

It would be hard to argue at this point that Nashville isn't one of the more vibrant franchises in the NHL: well-run as a hockey club, an arena experience that gets positive reviews, and a celebrity factor few other cities can match.

Phoenix is a different kettle.

There's no guarantee that this success, which could be fleeting given the number of Coyotes banged up from the six-game series, will mean the league can finally secure a buyer for the Arizona franchise it has stewarded for over two years.

But it certainly won't hurt the cause too see the Jobing.com Arena more fully employed by passionate fans.

Cynics will point out that the teams below Nashville on the attendance list include recent Cup champions Anaheim, Colorado, Dallas and New Jersey.

Clubs need staunch, not fairweather fans for long-term stability.

But in the meantime, let's enjoy the moment in the sun for Bettman's Southern strategy. 

New blood

There's still a chance that the second round of the NHL playoffs could feature a whopping seven of eight clubs who have never won the Stanley Cup in their current incarnation (we're not counting the 1920s Senators).

Obviously Boston, New Jersey and the New York Rangers will have a lot to say about that over the next three nights. Philadelphia is the lone exception locked in to future play who have won the Cup, albeit not since 1975.

There is also the possibility of not one Original Six club among the final eight. That wouldn't be unprecedented (see the Great Anomaly Year of 2005-06), but it's quite rare.

In addition to the Coyotes and Predators, the West will feature the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings.

All told, the franchises remaining have endured a heavy dose of disappointment in the Stanley Cup Final, with only New Jersey boasting a winning record at the final stage.

Stanley Cup Final record:

• Boston (6-12)
• Florida (0-1)
• Los Angeles (0-1)
• St. Louis (0-3)
• Ottawa (0-1)
• New York Rangers (4-6)
• New Jersey (3-1)
• Philadelphia (2-6)
• Phoenix  (0-0)
• Nashville (0-0)
• Washington (0-1)

TOTAL:15-32
 

Is goaltending most important? How about power-play prowess?

Maybe it's one of those, but you could do worse than making the case that 5-on-5 scoring ratio is most key, essentially the ability to generate offence even strength.

The stat measures goals a team has scored with all 12 on the ice, divided by goals allowed in those scenarios.

Detroit is the current leader, with a ratio of 1.45.

Of the Top 16 teams in 5-on-5 scoring ratio each season since the lockout, this is how many made the playoffs:

• 2010-11: 14 teams
• 2009-10: 14
• 2008-09: 15
• 2007-08: 15
• 2006-07: 13
• 2005-06: 14

If you are a top 10 regular season team in this category, it's exceedingly likely you are going to the postseason. The only exceptions to that rule since the lockout are Toronto in 2007 (ninth) and Florida in 2006 (ninth). It should be pointed out, however, that San Jose and/or Phoenix could threaten to join as the exceptions to the rule.

This year it is looking like 13 or 14 teams of the top 16 teams 5-on-5 will be in.

Current stats here.

There's already one exception locked in - New Jersey, which has a 0.93 ratio 5-on-5. Florida, even worse at 0.88, could also join soon.

Here are the Stanley Cup champs since the lockout. The first figure is their regular season power-play ranking, the second their ranking in 5-on-5 hockey.

• Carolina 17th - 12th
• Anaheim 3rd - 7th
• Detroit 3rd - 1st
• Pittsburgh 20th - 6th
• Chicago 16th - 4th
• Boston 20th - 1st

In five of six cases, the eventual winners ranked higher relative to their NHL counterparts in 5-on-5 goal ratio during the regular season than on the power play.

Of course, all hockey fans remember the Bruins prevailing in spite of their ineptitude with the man advantage, though it's probably not something anyone will try to emulate.

And as you can see, the Stanley Cup champions over the last five years have been in the top 8 in the 5-on-5 stat category, with two of them league leaders.

The exception was Carolina in the first season after the lockout, one my colleague Jesse Campigotto likes to call The Black Hole Year as everyone was feeling their way after a year off and the new rules (and it's largely true that if you do any kind of number crunching with NHL stats, the 2005-06 season invariably is an outlier).

Yes, past doesn't mean present, but for fits and giggles, here's the top 8 as of right now in 5-on-5:

• Detroit 1.45
• St. Louis 1.42
• Boston 1.32
• NY Rangers 1.19
• Vancouver 1.18
• Pittsburgh 1.15
• Philadelphia 1.14
• San Jose 1.08

Ottawa and Phoenix, by the way, are next on the list at 1.06.

Start placing your bets.

Whitney set up a Radim Vrbata goal for his 1,000th career point in the 4-0 home win for the Coyotes.

Whitney, who turns 40 in May, has developed a chemistry with Vrbata to the extent he now has 75 points, just eight off his career best in one season.

The man they call "The Wizard" has been a late bloomer all right.

Point No. 1,000 is another accomplishment in a hockey career that has seen Whitney win a Memorial Cup (1991, with Spokane), and a Stanley Cup (2006, with Carolina).

"It's special ... it's only 79 people in the history of this game have done it," Whitney said after the game.

"I've been bought out twice, I've been on waivers on a couple times, there's been a couple times in [my] career that it didn't look like it was going to go on further," he added.

The humble Whitney mentioned Saturday opponent Teemu Selanne for context, pointing out that the soon-to-be 42-year-old Duck is "400 points" ahead of him. (404, to be exact)

(Click here for an HNIC Radio interview with Whitney)

Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Whitney was a Western Hockey League legend as a teen with the Spokane Chiefs but has played just nine games for a Canadian NHL team in his lengthy career, the bulk spent in new and emerging NHL markets - part of the reason he's been one of the more unheralded players in the league.

He's also experienced hard luck at the world championships. He played on four Canadian teams at the worlds, none of which landed on the podium.

Whitney's NHL teams:

• San Jose
• Edmonton
• Florida
• Columbus
• Detroit
• Carolina
• Phoenix

He was selected at the top of the second round of the 1991 draft, with San Jose taking long- since retired Pat Falloon in the first round.

Have a gander below at players taken from picks 7 through the end of the first round (sorry, guys), a particularly brutal opening stanza for Canadian NHL teams and Washington:

And oh yeah, it wasn't even the first year the five-foot-10 Whitney was draft eligible.

• Vancouver - Alex Stojanov
• Edmonton - Tyler Wright
• Washington - Pat Peake
• Montreal - Brent Bilodeau
• Calgary - Nilas Sundblad
• Washington - Trevor Halverson

The focus will increasingly turn to clashes between clubs within the same conference towards the final regular season date of April 7, on which all 30 teams will be in action.

For the second straight season that we've tracked it, games go beyond 60 minutes at a much higher rate when featuring clubs from opposing conferences than those from the same conference.

We were prompted to crunch the numbers again after Pierre LeBrun's ESPN column on Friday, which indicated that there was little support for a 3-2-1 point system, which would seemingly provide more motivation on a regulation win (three points) than one in overtime or shootout (which would result in two points).

Proponents of the current system, i.e. most NHL GMs, always argue that the standings under a 3-2-1 would shake out basically the same with the exception of one or two placings.

But as LeBrun points out, there's no way of knowing how teams would approach games under a 3-2-1 system. The extra point could be a really effective carrot - after all, a three-point swing in a division game is a far cry from a one-point swing.

Which brings us back to interconference games.

So far this season, about 31 per cent of contests pitting Western with Eastern Conference clubs go into an extra session.

That figure is about 21 percent for intraconference games. About 60 per cent of the remaining intraconference games would have to beyond 60 minutes to reach a similar percentage.(For the record, the East has featured a handful more 60-65 minute games than the West).

Yes, interconference games are a smaller sample size, but these figures are in line with what transpired last season.

If you watch enough ESPN boxing you may have year commentator and former trainer Teddy Atlas talk about a "silent bargain" between fighters to fall into clinches.

Charitably, you could try to make a case that the unfamiliarity aspect leads the two teams to a mean. But to that degree of difference over intraconference games?

No one's arguing that there's any kind of overt collusion going on, but instinctively, you have to believe that there is just slightly less intensity from NHL teams or passion over whether their opponent gets a single point when the opponent resides in the other conference.

Instead of looking at it a must-win, perhaps teams believe even a single is a bonus point because the opponent in front of them doesn't factor into their standings.

It's flawed thinking, but that doesn't mean it doesn't creep in from time to time.

Of the Canadian teams, Calgary fans are probably more apt to wonder about this in 2011-12.

The Flames have the second worst record in the NHL with respect to games that go beyond 60 minutes. 

Of the 12 OTL's Calgary has, five have come against Eastern clubs, a disproportionate rate given that the split is 64 intraconference games and 18 interconference contest.

Their overall record in interconference games is 4-7-5, with Ottawa and Philadelphia games particulary frustrating additions to the third column for the Flames' faithful.

The realignment plan that never was in December had many flaws, though it would have seen teams play 30 times against the other conference, up from 18.

Perhaps the strangest part of LeBrun's column was when an anonymous GM stated as if it was a bad thing, that under a 3-2-1 design a club in the final week of the season might pull the goalie in a tie game to get that three-point swing.

How could going for it be less exciting for the fans than the current standard of settling?  

Here's a look at some significant deals made by Edmonton after the calendar turned in a particular season (We include all deals made after Jan. 1 of a particular season).

1987

Kent Nilsson from Minnesota for a second rounder in 1988

The Oilers had the super-talented core in the 1980s, and trades during the season usually featured depth players like Willy Lindstrom and Kevin McLelland.

In this particular deal, the pick was used by the Stars to select goon Link Gaetz, while the WHA veteran Nilsson got to taste from the Stanley Cup, scoring 19 points in 21 playoff games for Edmonton.

1988

Bill Ranford and a second rounder from Boston for Andy Moog

Edmonton traded a goalie not then on their active roster - Moog was playing for the Canadian national team - for one who had fallen out of favour in Boston after a strong rookie season. Moog would spend five productive years as Boston's starter, including a trip to the 1990 Stanley Cup finals. But once there, he would be bested by Ranford, whose Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP was the crowning achievement of eight years in Edmonton

1993

Doug Weight from the New York Rangers for Esa Tikkanen

Tikkanen contributed to New York's Cup run in 1994 and then was gone to another destination. Weight spent eight more seasons with Edmonton, served as captain, and topped 100 points in 1995-96.

1997

Craig Millar and Barrie Moore from Buffalo for Miroslav Satan

After two so-so seasons in Edmonton, Satan would be shipped out, going on to score 224 goals in just over seven seasons with the Sabres. Moore and Millar played a combined 40 games with the Oilers.

1998

Bill Guerin and Valeri Zelepukin fron New Jersey for Jason Arnott and Bryan Muir

Guerin marked his first 30 goal season with the Oilers but New Jersey edged this deal. Arnott stayed in New Jersey one season longer than Guerin in Edmonton, and more importantly, scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Devils in 2000. 

1999

Tommy Salo from the New York Islanders for  Mats Lindgren and a eighth rounder in 1999

Jason Smith from Toronto for fourth rounder in 1999 and second rounder in 2000

It didn't end so well for Salo, but he was a horse for four seasons in Edmonton, earning 20 shutouts and averaging 69 appearances per season. Interestingly, the Isles got more use out of the eighth rounder (Radek Martinek) than their main attraction.

Toronto would go on to be frequently cavalier with picks for established players, but the Smith deal was the reverse. The picks were used for Jonathan Zion and Kris Vernarsky, neither of whom played a game for the Maple Leafs. Smith was a force in Edmonton's end for over seven seasons, and was captain when the team went to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006.

2004 

Tom Gilbert from Colorado for Tommy Salo and a sixth rounder in 2005

Oilers win a Salo deal again. The Swedish netminder appears in Colorado's net just five times, while Gilbert is into his fifth full season with the Oilers.

2006

Dwayne Roloson from Minnesota for a first rounder in 2006 and a third rounder in 2007

Sergei Samsonov from Boston for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a second rounder in 2006 

Who knows what might have happened had Roloson stayed healthy in the final round of the 2006 playoffs? He gave them 211 regular season and playoff games of service over nearly four years, recording seven shutouts. The Wild used the first round pick for a trade with Los Angeles, also sending Patrick O'Sullivan to the Kings for the late Pavol Demitra, who had two productive seasons in Minnesota. They sent the third to Atlanta for one Petteri Nummelin.   

The Oilers also picked up impending free agent Samsonov, who was a useful contributor as Edmonton reached the 2006 finals, with 15 points in 24 playoff games. Samsonov opted not to re-sign with the Oilers that summer and was never really the same again. The Bruins didn't get much yield from Reasoner and Stastny but the pick was used for Milan Lucic, judged this week in an NHLPA poll to be the toughest hombre in the league.

2007

Ryan O'Marra, Robert Nilsson and a first rounder in 2007 from the New York Islanders for Ryan Smyth 

A heartbreaking trade for the Oilers faithful, as Smyth departed after more than 11 seasons in Edmonton. The Islanders weren't able to capitalize much on acquiring him, but the Oilers didn't exactly hit a home run with their three swings. The pick used to select defenceman Alex Plante, who has most recently been dealing with concussion issues as a pro.

2010

Ryan Whitney from Anaheim for Lubomir Visnovsky

The edge so far goes to the Ducks because, as of Feb. 19, Whitney had suited up in just over 50 per cent of Edmonton's regular season games since the deal. Visnovsky had a Norris Trophy calibre season in 2010-11. But he's 36, has suffered a fallback in points this season, and could conceivably be dealt again. Whitney has another year left on his deal to try and bolster the other side of the ledger.

Here's a look at some significant deals made by Vancouver after the calendar turned in a particular season (yes, we're not adhering to a strict trade deadline day/week definition).

You can make a strong case that no other Canadian team has done as well with second-half trades as the Canucks.

1980

Jerry Butler and Tiger Williams from Toronto for Bill Derlago and Rick Vaive

Tiger became a fan favourite and is part of the cast for a memorable spring two years later but the Leafs come out way ahead in this deal involving four forwards. Derlago has a few productive years in Toronto, while Vaive rings up over 50 goals in three consecutive seasons.

1983

Tony Tanti from Chicago for Curt Fraser

After a slow start, Fraser was a productive player for three seasons in Chicago. But Tanti fulfilled the promise he displayed as a teen sniper in the OHL, averaging 40 goals over his first five full seasons in Vancouver. He couldn't connect in the playoffs, however, with only a single goal in 18 postseason games with the Canucks (he did have 11 assists)

1990

Jyrki Lumme from Montreal for a second round pick in 1991

The pick was used for Craig Darby, the journeyman forward who actually had two stints with the Habs. Lumme, when healthy, averaged about 44 points per season over the next seven years on Vancouver's blue-line. 

1991

Geoff Courtnall, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning and defenceman Robert Dirk from St. Louis for Dan Quinn and Garth Butcher

Dana Murzyn from Calgary for Kevan Guy, Ron Stern

Sing along: It was a ver-ry good year.

Quinn was gone by the following season in St. Louis, making defensive defenceman Butcher an unlikely focal point of a deal from the Blues perspective. The trio of forwards the Canucks obtained would all spend at least four seasons in Vancouver, each contributing offensively as the team finished just one game shy of the Stanley Cup in 1994.

Like Lumme, Murzyn was a fixture on Vancouver's back end for much of the decade.

1994

Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican and forward Nathan Lafayette from St. Louis for Craig Janney

A deadline deal in name, but a continuation after Janney refused to report to Vancouver at the beginning of the season when an arbitrator ruled he and a draft pick go to the Canucks for compensation for restricted free agent Petr Nedved. The Canucks picked up another three key contributors for their '94 Cup run, with Hedican providing longer-term benefits.

1996

Markus Naslund from Pittsburgh for Alex Stojanov

Not one of the most lopsided trades near the deadline. Not one of the most lopsided trades in hockey history. Pity poor Stojanov as this one of the most lopsided trades in sports history. The tough Stojanov would play just 45 games for Pittsburgh before settling into a minor pro career. Naslund notched about 90 per cent of his 395 NHL goals and 869 career points in a Canucks uniform.

1998

Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a third rounder in 1998 from the New York Islanders for Trevor Linden

Brad May and a third rounder in 1999 from Buffalo for Geoff Sanderson

Tough to trade a franchise face, and the Canucks would fall into the doldrums from awhile, but from a pure statistical perspective it wasn't a contest. Linden struggled on Long Island. McCabe was still a work in progress, but the third rounder was used to take abrasive Jarkko Ruutu, and Bertuzzi developed into a force through seven-plus years in town.

May provided grit for a few seasons while Sanderson's goal total in Buffalo was underwhelming.

1999

Dave Gagner, Ed Jovanovski and Kevin Weekes and a first rounder in 2000 for Pavel Bure, Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and a third rounder in 2000

The Canucks part with the beloved Russian Rocket who scores over 50 twice more in Florida.

Jovanovski becomes a rugged and productive offensive player for several seasons in B.C.

So call it a sawoff though given the difference in draft picks, Vancouver should have won. Unfortunately, Nathan Smith never produced a point in 26 NHL games played with three different teams.

2000

Brendan Morrison and Denis Pederson from New Jersey for Alexander Mogilny

A deal that paid dividends for both clubs. Of the 135 games Mogilny would play in New Jersey, 48 would be playoff contests, including a Cup win in 2000. Morrison marked some big goals in nearly eight years with the Canucks.

2001

Dan Cloutier from Tampa Bay for Adrian Aucoin and a second rounder in 2001

It didn't end well for Cloutier in Vancouver but he gave the Canucks three strong seasons, while Aucoin played just 26 games with the Lightning.

2011

Chris Higgins from Florida for Evan Oberg and a third rounder in 2013

Maxim Lapierre from Anaheim for Joel Perrault and a third rounder in 2012

Higgins and Lapierre were more than useful in the team's run to the final game of the Stanley Cup and are still with the club, which is as much as you can ask for this type of deal.

1980

Bill Derlago and Rick Vaive from Vancouver for Jerry Butler and Tiger Williams

Tiger becames a fan favourite in a different Canadian city but the Leafs come out way ahead in this deal involving four forwards. Derlago has a few productive years in Toronto, while Vaive rings up over 50 goals in three consecutive seasons.

1989

A pair of first round picks in the 1989 draft from Philadelphia for Ken Wregget

The 1989 draft wasn't a great one, but you have to wonder if those quite good Leafs teams of the early 1990s might have received a further jolt had the team extended their scouting of top picks in this particular draft beyond the Belleville Bulls. The Leafs selected Rob Pearson and Steve Bancroft with the picks received from the Flyers, and Scott Thornton with their own - all players from Belleville. The player selected after Bancroft, who had the least successful pro career of the trio? Adam Foote.

1991

Bob Rouse and Peter Zezel from Washington for Al Iafrete

Win-win. Iafrete gives the Caps three really good years while Rouse and Zezel are dependable soldiers on Toronto's best teams of the last 30 years.

1992

Doug Gilmour, Kent Manderville, Ric Nattress and Rick Wamsley for Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and Jeff Reese

For the sake of Calgary fans, we don't have to belabour this one. The players heading to the Flames contributed less than 100 points total. Gilmour finished with 452 regular season points while with the Leafs, while Macoun was a stalwart on Toronto's blue-line.

1993

Dave Andreychuk and Daren Puppa and a first rounder in 1993 for Grant Fuhr and a fifth rounder in 1995

One of the best trades ever for the franchise as Andreychuk scores 95 times in his first 135 regular season and playoff games with Toronto, with the pick used to select Kenny Jonsson.
 
1994

Mike Gartner from the New York Rangers for Glenn Anderson, fourth rounder in 1994 and the rights to Scott Malone

A trade hard to stomach for fans of good guy Gartner, who never won a Stanley Cup. He would miss the playoffs entirely as a member of the Leafs and watch as New York just weeks later won the franchise's first Stanley Cup in more than 50 years. Anderson would win his sixth Cup as a member of the Rangers, but with just six points in 23 playoff games, it still seems hard to make the case that New York was that much better off. Gartner went over 30 goals once for Toronto, while the other parts of the deal were of little consequence in the long run.

1996

Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider and D.J. King from the New York Islanders for Sean Haggerty, Darby Hendrickson, Kenny Jonsson and a first rounder in 1997

Sentimentality will get you nowhere. Clark had one good season in his second tenure with the Leafs, while Toronto was one of Schneider's least successful NHL stops. Jonsson was no star, but a dependable blue-liner, while the pick was used for Roberto Luongo. 

1997

Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, rights to Alyn McCauley from New Jersey for Doug Gilmour, Dave Ellett, a fourth rounder in 1998 and a third rounder in 1999

The Leafs technically won this deal, as Ellett and Gilmour didn't do a ton in the Meadowlands, but it should have been a landslide. However, Toronto decided to trade Smith and Sullivan in separate deals before their careers had fully ripened.
 
Nothing from Detroit for Larry Murphy and cash

Murphy, who had played on Stanley Cup winners with Pittsburgh, racked up 100 points in 151 games for Toronto, but that wasn't good enough for many of the faithful at Maple Leaf Gardens, who booed him consistently for his defensive lapses.

Near the 3 p.m. ET, deadline, Cliff Fletcher gave him a "get out of jail" card and the Leafs even paid part of his salary. Detroit was all too happy to pick up a first-rate veteran essentially for nothing, with Murphy a key contributor in back-to-back Cup wins for the Wings and coach Scotty Bowman, who knew him well when both were with the Pens.

2000 

Darcy Tucker, a fourth rounder in 2000 from Tampa Bay for Mike Johnson, Marek Posmyk, a fifth rounder and sixth rounder in 2000

Tucker spent 7 1/2 seasons with the Leafs, while Johnson spent just over one in Florida.

2003

Owen Nolan from San Jose for Brad Boyes, Alyn McCauley and a first rounder in 2003

Doug Gilmour from Montreal for a sixth round pick in 2003

Phil Housley from Chicago for a ninth rounder in 2003 and a fourth rounder in 2004

Glen Wesley from Carolina for a second rounder in 2004

It only seemed like the Leafs bought every toothy veteran in the league. Housley, Wesley and Gilmour played something like 20 games total for the Leafs, with Gilmour suffering an irreparable knee injury in his first game back.

Nolan gives the Leafs his full effort, but the fact that none of the draft picks Toronto gave up didn't become stars doesn't negate the fact that it was, five draft picks.

2010

Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, Matt Stajan and Ian White from Toronto for Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie.

The Flames have Stajan and no one else just two years later, although White was packaged in a deal that garnered two journeymen. Phaneuf is Toronto's captain while Aulie could be a fixture long term.

2011

Jake Gardiner, Joffrey Lupul from Anaheim for Francois Beauchemin

Probably not even the Toronto brass could have predicted how well this one turned out. Beauchemin is clearly at his best in an Anaheim uniform, but the Leafs received promising young rearguard Gardiner and a huge surprise in Lupul, who's bounced back from injuries and inconsistency in previous stops to become something of a sniper for Toronto. 
 
Joe Colborne, a 2011 1st round pick and a 2012 conditional 2nd round pick (which materialized when Boston reached the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals for Tomas Kaberle Kaberle

The Bruins fleeced Toronto on the Tuukka Rask-Andrew Raycroft deal, while both teams did quite alright in the deal that sent Phil Kessel to the Leafs (Boston selected Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton). This could be where the Leafs gain a measure of revenge. Kaberle just didn't fit in Boston after a dozen years with the Leafs, who get back three prospects at various stages in return. Toronto selected Swede Rickard Rakell with the the 2011 first rounder, and he's currently playing in the OHL. 
 

The Canadiens didn't do much of significance in the first decade of the official modern "deadline", although they parted with franchise legends Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe in the early 1980s near the deadline, though with little payback. 

1981

Robert Picard from Toronto for Michel Larocque

Both teams thought they were getting something a little more. Picard had reached as high as 65 points in Washington, while the Leafs wondered if Larocque could be a No. 1 goalie. Neither player lived up to those expectations.

Second round pick from Los Angeles for Rick Chartraw

The Habs used the pick to select Claude Lemieux.

1990

Second round pick in 1991 from Vancouver for Jyrki Lumme

The pick was used for Craig Darby, the journeyman forward who actually had two stints with the Habs. Lumme, when healthy, averaged about 44 points per season over the next seven years on Vancouver's blue-line.

1995

Mark Recchi and a third round pick from Philadelphia for Eric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne, John LeClair

Big advantage to the Flyers. Recchi was no slouch in Montreal, racking up 320 of his NHL points, while the draft pick never panned out. But Leclair, with two 19-goal seasons under his belt in Montreal, would pot 260 in his first 5 1/2 years in Philly, while Desjardins spent over a decade with the Flyers and was one of the league's top 10 D-men for some of the time.

Vladimir Malakhov and Pierre Turgeon from the New York Islanders for Craig Darby, Kirk Muller, and Mathieu Schneider

A bonanza of a trade at the time, somewhat underwhelming in retrospect. Turgeon gave the Habs a 96-point season but then was gone to St. Louis early in 1996-97. Schneider, too, would have one productive season with the Isles before leaving. Muller only played 27 games on Long Island. Malakhov was a fixture on Montreal's blue-line for four seasons, giving the Canadiens the edge in this deal.

1999

A fifth round pick in 1999, a first round pick in 2000 and a second round pick in 2001 from San Jose for Vincent Damphousse

Damphousse enjoyed five more solid NHL seasons, while the Habs really didn't hit on any of the picks. Marcel Hossa, taken with the first round pick, scored just 10 times in a Montreal uniform.

Dainius Zubrus, a sixth round 2000 pick and a second round 1999 pick from Philadelphia for Mark Recchi

The Habs again come out on the wrong side of a Recchi deal. The gritty winger hits 91 points in a season in his second tenure in Philly, which lasts five seasons. 

2001

Richard Zednik, Jan Bulis and a first round pick from Washington for Trevor Linden, Dainuis Zubrus and a previously acquired draft pick

As far as the established players, Montreal came out ahead as Linden played under 30 games in Washington. Zubrus enjoyed some success with the Caps, but Zednik and Bulis each had their most fruitful NHL seasons in Montreal. The Canadiens used their own 2001 draft pick on solid defenceman Mike Komisarek, with the Washington pick used for Alexander Perezhogin, who was involved in an ugly stick incident in the American Hockey League and played two seasons with Montreal before returning to Russia this season.

2004

Alexei Kovalev from the New York Rangers for Jozef Balej and a second round pick in 2004

Nothing comes of this deal for the Rangers, while Kovalev enchants the Montreal faithful over four seasons and hits 84 points in 2008-09, his highest point total in nearly a decade.

2006

David Aebischer from Colorado for Jose Theodore

Goalie swaps are rare but ultimately this one didn't live up to the hype. Theodore was four seasons removed from his MVP season but not yet 30, and Aebischer was in his second season as a NHL starter

But the Avalanche had to figure they'd get more than three shutouts and 108 regular season and playoff games out of Theodore. He would be off to Washington just two years later.

Aebischer was never a starter again, and has played just 40 more NHL games.

2007

Josh Gorges and a first-round pick in 2007 from San Jose or Craig Rivet and a fifth rounder in 2007

This trade is a win for the Habs, and could be even more one-sided down the road, especially if Jason Demers continues to sit or is traded in the coming weeks. He was the player the Sharks used for the fifth round pick.

The reliable Gorges is assistant captain in Montreal, while the draft pick was used to select Max Pacioretty, one of the league's top even-strength scorers this season.

2009

Mathieu Schneider from Atlanta a second round pick in 2009 and a third round pick in 2010

Given that Schneider played under 30 games in his second stint in Montreal. The Thrashers/Jets haven't yet yielded fruit from the picks, but that doesn't mean the Habs didn't err by giving up two picks.

Wouldn't Jonathan Bernier really help one of the multitude of mediocre, borderline teams in the East, it's suggested?

Wouldn't Cory Schneider net some additional depth for Vancouver's Cup push, while solving Tampa Bay's long-term goalie situation?

Maybe this year will be an exception.

But historically, these type of deals for young goalies have just about never happened around trade deadline time over the past decade.

Carey Price is still with Montreal. Josh Harding is back with Minnesota. Craig Anderson didn't move when he was a backup to Tomas Vokoun in Florida.

Heck, this isn't the first time Bernier himself has been speculated about by pundits.

There are many reasons these trades rarely happen this time of year. Like with any other deal, the three point system has contrived to make over 80 per cent of teams nominal contenders right now. 

Then there's the fact that NHL GMs are a conservative lot, preferring known quantities.

Most of the deals involving goalies near or at the deadline in recent years have involved proven quantities, the likes of Dwayne Roloson, Mathieu Garon, Sean Burke etc.

If you peruse the goalie who lead their team in games played, about 60 per cent are with their first clubs. 

Of the others, you'd have to think St. Louis, New Jersey and others are satisfied with their crease lot. Others like Philadelphia less so, but they're pot committed.

As well, it's best to have insurance in the playoffs.

Unlike the one-horse era of 1995-2004, many Stanley Cup aspirants realize they best have that insurance policy in net. Cam Ward took over from Martin Gerber in 2004, Chris Osgood usurped Dominik Hasek in 2008, and Ilya Bryzgalov did some key spotting of Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2007.

At the 2010 trade deadline, Chicago's Cristobal Huet had played just over 40 games while Antti Niemi had appeared in 23. YOu probably don't need to be reminded of who carried the freight en route to the Cup.

It's just not a time to mess with your goaltending too much if you're a contender.

About the only deal in recent memory to involve a budding starting goalie saw Mike Smith head from Dallas to Tampa Bay. But  there were two caveats. That wasn't The Mike Smith Trade, it was The Brad Richards Trade, and the Lightning were a last place team.

So sure, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi could send Bernier to the basement dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets without any fear of playoff reprisal (at least this year).

But why would any sensible general manager not wait to open the field of potential buyers up wider after the season? 

There are some current Eastern contenders who don't have a rock solid plan in net down the road. Say, New Jersey with their toothsome tandem (How about them Zach Parise negotiating rights?) or Toronto.

Although, given their wacky goaltending rollecoaster this season, if any team's going to buck this trend, the Leafs wouldn't be a bad bet!

1999-00

Atlanta traded Kelly Buchberger and Nelson Emerson to Los Angeles for Donald Audette and Frantisek Kaberle.

It doesn't exactly get the heart rate rising, but Audette notched 71 points in 64 games the following season and Kaberle provided four years of service.

The best that can be said for Atlanta is that the picks aren't yet NHL stars, They had also included a first round 2008 pick in the deal, but retained it when Tkachuk re-signed in St. Louis in the summer. (For the record, the Thrashers picked Zach Bogosian with their first pick in '08)

The 2007 first rounder ended up in Calgary's hands, used on Mikael Backlund. The second rounder in 2008 was used by the Blues on foward Phil McCrae, who's in the AHL. Atlanta got a conditional fourth rounder when Tkachuk went back to his old club, but to no avail.

It is in fact more often a perfunctory, trite occasion, and only an annual "tradition", as it were, in recent times. While sports team visits to the White House date back over a century, World Series champions were only annually invited starting with the Reagan administration, according to a 2010 New York Times article.

Annual visits for hockey champs only followed later, although Reagan did host an NHL contingent of present and past all-stars in 1982, where he joked about "my mother taking me by the hand" early in life to see Howe play.

Whatever charms the ceremonies once had have given way to an almost desperate need for the White House to ensure the president - no matter his name or party - can burnish his sports bona fides.

By the way, had Hilary won in '08 could you see her holding court at these things? Don't you think they'd have been pawned off to the Veep? Not because she's a woman, but just because it seems so un-Hilary. It's certainly hard to picture Newt and a hockey team engaged in bonhomie.

There's no guarantee they will continue in perpetuity.

And they don't even pretend to hold these anytime close to the season anymore.

When the 1991 Penguins swung by, it was a few weeks after their win. The ceremony involving the Blackhawks a couple years back was held nearly 10 months later; they were just days away from nearly crashing out of contention for that year's tournament!

Free agency and increasing player movement have added another layer of ridiculousness to the proceedings.

Many people thought the spectacle of Tomas Kaberle being on a Stanley Cup team was ridiculous enough. How about the spectacle of him returning seven months later to take part in the ceremony after being cut loose by both the Bruins and the Hurricanes, and while playing for Boston's most hated rival, no less.

As Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette has pointed out, Hal Gill didn't attend Pittsburgh's ceremony because it coincided with a golf tournament being held by his subsequent team, the Canadiens.
 
Thomas isn't even the most high profile athlete to not show up this month. Albert Pujols didn't join his (now former) St. Louis Cardinals teammates last week. The baseball world managed to survive, and none of the sport's beat writers were hospitalized for conniption.
 
James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers also declined a few years back because ... I won't even try to decipher anything that man says.

As far as the politics, Thomas has the right to an individual decision, has the right to be wrong even.

It wasn't an enlistment into service and he has no duty to obey the president, even if his words sounded a little too discomfitingly like some of the ramblings of a guy from the exact same Michigan community, convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols.

The reaction was more of the same boring old tropes that work day in and day out on the hockey beat. Thomas had done a "selfish" thing and had "taken away from his team's big day", one that could have repercussions down the line for team unity. One sports network even mentioned the succession plan involving Thomas and backup Tuukka Rask. Why?

This wasn't a Scottie Pippen moment of in-game abandonment. There was no rink set up out back for the first ever Rose Garden Classic. In a photo op and meet and greet, explain how Daniel Paille's enjoyment of the day is diminished by Thomas's absence?

Most dangerously, the suggestion implies that the choice was to march lockstep into team groupthink or to ... well, actually, that's basically what many hockey writers were suggesting.

In a sport that among the four team sports in North America probably features on the whole, the blandest interviewees and the most conformity-minded athletes, we time and again slam the ones who poke their necks out to do or say something the least bit provocative. Andrew Ference, PK Subban, Ilya Bryzgalov - whatever you think of them - certainly get an inordinate amount of attention from the chattering classes for colouring outside the lines.
 
Again, these ceremonies didn't take place in earnest until the last generation or so. Do you really want to go down the path of wondering whether your hero Bobby Orr's political views match your own? You think agitator Ted Lindsay would have been a smiling idiot over the prospect of a White House visit?

There isn't even a guarantee that a Canadian team would be invited to one of these things. It's been so long, I can't remember, and at the rate it's going, it could be moot.

To close, it should be pointed out that vice president Joseph Biden was in California around the time of Monday's ceremony being interviewed on a number of topics on Ryan Seacrest's radio show (Yeah, I don't get that one, either)

But he wanted to pass on his regret in not being able to participate in the ceremony honouring the Boston Giants.
 

A week after imploring Pacquiao to "Step up, punk" on Twitter, Mayweather took time on Thursday to make an international call to the Filipino icon in the hopes of getting a superfight agreed upon for May 5.

Time is of the essence for the American, who appallingly got a judge to agree to postpone a jail sentence of several weeks for a trifling domestic assault case because he'll bring in big money for an MGM Grand fight on the aforementioned date.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum has thrown up a couple of reasons, at least, why it doesn't make sense. He says Pacquiao won't be ready until later in the month at earliest due to a cut suffered the last time out, and he wants an outdoor stadium built to cash in on what would be the most lucrative fight of all time. The MGM Grand isn't a huge venue, and a special fight like this shouldn't have the same old look as all previous superfights (I'm paraphrasing).

Given it's Arum speaking, those are debatable points, but really: Why would a savvy promoter make this fight in May when the storyline will largely be about Mayweather, given that he'll be off to jail in the following days? 

To have been a fly on the wall or a News of the World editor for that phone call, though. These two very different men actually share some things in common that they could have talked about - they are both huge basketball fans, and both have been known to frequent cockfights.

As far as business, the latest is that Pacquiao believes a 50/50 split of money is just and Mayweather doesn't.

I will be shocked, shocked, shocked if this fight gets done in May.

I'll be happy to be wrong, but it makes much more sense for this fight to take place in November. No playoffs to contend with in other sports and a lot of time for the promotional wheels to take full effect.

Boxing skirts

I once wrote a piece on the appalling result of a horse finishing third in The Associated Press female athlete of the year voting, which essentially proved that the largely male sportswriting contingent pay little attention to women's sports.

I say this to point out that I'm not a chauvinistic type, unfeeling to the plight of female athletes often struggling to get attention or be taken seriously.

But ... I just can't muster much passion for opposing the AIBA's desire to have women wear skirts when female boxing debuts at the Olympics this summer in London.

Yes, it's wrong, lamentable, regrettable. All and more.

But I'm more concerned about bribery allegations that seem to crop up not infrequently around the shady world governing body.

I'm more concerend that amateur boxing has largely turned into a snorefest, fencing with gloves.

These last two points, among other things, have caused IOC president Jacques Rogge to openly question whether boxing, which has been an Olympic sport for over a century, is integral going forward.

And I definitely care more about the fact that Canada won't be able to maximize our Olympic medal potential because we have two strong fighters (Mary Spencer, Ariane Fortin), but not enough recognized divisions, so they are forced to compete against each other, with bad feelings resulting. 

Then there's the fact that in 30 years of watching boxing regularly I've seen him:

And this guy:

And the son of:

And him:

And this clown:

Heck, it's not like it'd be the only sports fashion crime around. We're regularly treated to 70-year-old specimens wearing baseball uniforms:

I consult a select group of sources to help clarify my thinking for the boxing awards. Foremost is The Queensberry Rules blog, who put up video of their round, KO and fight of the year nominees, in addition to wrapping up the year with sevral other interesting posts.

But every year, another source is provided by my equally passionate boxing fan brother. He submits a very thorough list of his picks and reasoning in several categories. 

Given the hard work he puts in, and the fact that my holiday season has been marked by the hecticness accompanying the birth of a child - strangely my wife hasn't let me spend countless hours in front of the computer watching boxing clips on YouTube - why not give the 2011 floor to Dean Iorfida?

This decision was made easier by the fact that I agree with him on nearly every category - it's no small feat for us to agree!

Here are Dean Iorfida's picks and explanations, with my one rebuttal following at the end.

Fighter of the Year: Andre Ward

Heading into his Dec. 17 bout with Carl Froch to crown the Super Six super middleweight tournament winner, there was no clear Fighter of the Year. Ward changed that with his dominant performance over Froch, to such an extent that he's the consensus choice of nealry every boxing observer.

Honourable mentions: Brandon Rios, Brian Viloria, Jorge Arce, Vitali Klitchsko, Orlando Salido, Saul Alvarez, Carlos Molina, Lucian Bute, Lamont Peterson.

KO of the Year: Nonito Donaire KO2 Fernando Montiel

A no brainer pick. What's shocking is that Montiel got up from the punch.

Honourable mentions: Hank Lundy KO6 David Diaz, Rico Ramos KO7 Akifumi Shimoda, Zab Judah KO7 Kaiser Mabuza, Michael Grant KO3 Tye Fields, Kendall Holt KO3 Julio Diaz, Pier-Olivier Cote KO2 Jorge Teron, Brandon Rios KO10 Miguel Acosta, Nobuhiro Ishida KO1 James Kirkland, Denis Lebedev KO10 Roy Jones Jr.

Round of the Year: James Kirkland - Alfredo Angulo, Round 1

Similar to the above two categories, the number 1 pick was a no brainer.  I was ready to write Kirkland's boxing obituary, so to speak, a minute into the fight.

Honourable mentions: Antonio DeMarco-Jorge Linares (11), Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto (6),  Hernan Marquez-Luis Concepcion I (1), Brandon Rios-Urbano Antillon (1), Manny Pacquiao- Juan Manuel Marquez III (9), Hank Lundy-David Diaz (4), Kompayak Porpramook-Adrian Hernandez (6), Tyson Fury-Dereck Chisora (2), Delvin Rodriguez-Pawel Wolak (9)

Fight of the Year: Victor Ortiz W12 Andre Berto  

Although 2011 may have lacked a truly great fight for the ages, I ended up coming up with 20 fights (1) that I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the calendar year, with only fights a couple being ones I watched after the fact. The multiplicity of fights on my list may have had something to do with internet streams, however, many of the fights were on the standard fight channels (ESPN, HBO, Showtime).

I gave Berto-Ortitz the nod because it was competitive between two highly ranked fighters and included knockdowns which are seemingly an increasing rarity when fighters step up these days.  The quieter second half of the fight separated this one from becoming a classic for the ages.   

Honourable mentions: Delvin Rodriguez D10 Pawel Wolak I, Hernan Marquez KO11 Luis Concepcion I, Kompayak Porpramook KO10 Adrian Hernandez, Lamont Peterson W12 Amir Khan, Brandon Rios KO3 Urbano Antillon, Brandon Rios KO10 Miguel Acosta, Mike Alvarado KO 10 Breidis Prescott, Jorge Arce KO12 Wilfredo Vasquez Jr., Orlando Salido KO8 Juan Manuel Lopez, Manny Pacquiao W12 Juan Manuel Marquez III, Hank Lundy KO6 David Diaz,  Vernon Paris KO7 Tim Coleman, Teon Kennedy W12 Jorge Diaz, Marcos Maidana W12 Erik Morales, Jesus Gonzalez W 12 Francisco Sierra, James Kirkland KO6 Alfedo Angulo,  Gennady Golovkin KO10 Kassim Ouma, Antonio DeMarco KO11 Jorge Linares, Abner Mares W12 Joseph Agbeko I

Performance of the Year: Bernard Hopkins W12 Jean Pascal II

Can't deny Bernard's accomplishment at 46 and the chutzpah of doing push ups in the ring.

Honourable mentions: Andre Ward W12 Carl Froch, Nonito Donaire KO2 Fernando Montiel,  Brian Viloria KO8 Giovanni Segura, Vitali Klitschko KO10 Tomasz Adamek, Lucian Bute W12 Glen Johnson, Amir Khan KO5 Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto KO10 Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez KO8 Sergei Dzinziruk, Toshiaki Nishioka W12 Rafael Marquez

Upset of the Year: Orlando Salido KO8 Juan Manuel Lopez

After losing to Yuriorkis Gamboa, I figured Salido wouldn't play a factor at featherweight again, especially against last year's Fighter of the Year runner-up to Sergio Martinez (Editor's note: Chris picked Lopez over Martinez for 2010 FOY).

Honourable mentions: Nobuhiro Ishida KO1 James Kirkland, Marco Antonio Rubio KO7 David Lemieux, Grady Brewer KO 4 Fernando Guerrero, Jorge Arce KO12 Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr.,  Carlos Molina W10 Kermit Cintron, Lamont Peterson W12 Amir Khan, Brian Viloria KO8 Giovanni Segura, Kompayak Porpramook KO10 Adrian Hernandez, Aaron Pryor Jr. W10 Librado Andrade

Comeback of the Year: Jorge Arce

Arce finds himself as a marketable fighter again. Three victories in 2011, including a big upset, two WBO title victories in two weight classes and an avenged defeat by KO. 

Honourable mentions: Brian Viloria, James Kirkland, Erik Morales, Antonio Tarver, Delvin Rodriguez, Andy Lee, Lamont Peterson, Jhonny Gonzalez, Chad Dawson

Bad officiating of the Year: Paul Williams W12 Erislandy Lara

The HBO commentators were calling for Williams's retirement after regularly getting clocked with left hands.  

Dishonourable mentions: Robert Helenius W12 Dereck Chisora, Devon Alexander W10 Lucas Matthysse, Edwin Rodriguez W10 Will Rosinsky (decision OK, brutal scorecards), Manny Pacquiao W12 Juan Manuel Marquez III, Floyd Mayweather Jr. KO4 Victor Ortiz (Ref Joe Cortez). Abner Mares W12 Joseph Agbeko I (Ref Russell Mora), Lamont Peterson W12 Amir Khan (Ref Joe Cooper), Yoan Pablo Hernandez TD6 Steve Cunningham, Bernard Hopkins ND2 Chad Dawson (Ref Pat Russell)

Fight of the Year, from Chris:

I have no qualms with Dean's picks in most of the categories. Ward, Donaire KO 2 Montiel, Kirkland-Angulo I, and Salido-Lopez would have been my picks.

As stated by my brother, this was a year in which there were a number of corkers, but no one galvanizing fight of the year.

Many people loved Marquez-Concepcion I most of all, but when one guy keeps his hands at his waist at all times and has no interest in defence (Concepcion), that's totally unfair to the fight of the year candidates who do pay attention a bit to all facets of the game. It's like counting home runs hit off the Tigers bullpen coach in batting practice as opposed to the ones hit off Justin Verlander.  

The relatively ho-hum second half of the Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto fight, along with its sloppiness, probably wouldn't make it my fight of the year pick.

The three fights that got me off my couch and standing up 18 inches from the TV were, in order: Wolak-Rodriguez I, Salido-Lopez, and Maidana-Morales.

Here's to a great 2012 for fans of The Sweet Science!

Here's a snapshot of each team through 20 or so games. Included for each: A debatable list of three stars, biggest individual disappontment, and a "same old"; that is, an issue that has carried over from last season.

The three stars have been left loose. In some cases it's a reflection of the top three players, and in other cases include mention of a player who's greatly exceeded expectations.

Calgary Flames (8-11-1)

3 Stars: Mark Giordano, Miikka Kiprusoff, Alex Tanguay

Disappointment: Rene Bourque

Same old: Backup goalie points, underperforming veterans

The best that can be said is that Calgary are truly giving some young players a shot: Roman Horak, and more recently, TJ Brodie and Paul Byron. But that's partially because the likes of Nik Hagman, Matt Stajan, Brendan Morrison and Cory Sarich have faded. 

Bourque and captain Jarome Iginla have combined for just 20 points.

Calgary talked a good game about resting Kiprusoff more, but the tact hasn't paid off. Henrik Karlsson is 0-3-1. It's been partially his fault, partially his teammates in some games, and at least once coach Brent Sutter exhibited curious strategy (sitting Kiprusoff against a team he's excelled against, St. Louis),  

Edmonton Oilers (11-8-2)

3 Stars: Nikolai Khabibulin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Corey Potter

Disappointment: Sam Gagner

Same old: Face offs, offence from defence

Sure, there was huge room for improvement, but the special team units have answered that challenge. There were expectations for Nugent-Hopkins, but certainly nothing of the order of a hat trick here, a five-assist game there. Perhaps Corey Potter won't have staying power over a full season, but what a start for a guy who's been cast off by two teams.

Maybe it's a lot to ask given the blue-line injury issues and the talent up front, but a couple more goals from the back end would have welcomed in the first quarter. Gagner seems destined to join Andrew Cogliano as someone who needs a change of scenery. 

Montreal Canadiens (10-9-3)

3 Stars: Josh Gorges, Max Pacioretty, Carey Price

Disappointment: Scott Gomez

Same old: Goal production, face-off percentage

Few would have expected Pacioretty to lead the team in goals at this point. That could be taken as a positive or a negative.

It's been a bravura job by a young defence group that has only seen Josh Gorges, PK Subban and Raphael Diaz play every night. Of course, they are helped immensely by Price. Interesting thought exercise to get the rabid fans of both teams angry: Where would Montreal be with Toronto's current goaltending pickle, and how would these current Leafs fare with Price in net?

Ottawa Senators (10-9-2)

3 Stars: Jared Cowen, Erik Karlsson, Milan Michalek

Disappointment: Bobby Butler

Same old: Slow starts

Paul MacLean should get some coach of the year consideration if Ottawa is able to keep up this standard. The Senators generally play hard until the end, which they've had to many nights, given their low output of 12 goals total in the first period.

Given the muted expectations of this club (and maybe that was a mistake), the biggest disappointments on this team have been pretty mild all things considered. Are the struggles of Stephane Da Costa, David Rundblad or Erik Condra that jarring? Probably not.

That said, Bobby Butler was a healthy scratch to begin and has scored in precisely one of 12 games (scoring twice in that contest). 

Toronto Maple Leafs (12-8-2)

3 Stars: Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf

Disappointment: Nikolai Kulemin

Same old: Penalty killing

It's a minor miracle Toronto has its current record given a green goaltending tandem and a healthy dose of injuries. But even when No. 1 man James Reimer was in the net, the penalty killing numbers and ability to clear rebounds where still sore spots. 

Kulemin scored 30 last year but is not the same player so far. Another disappointing trend that has continued: He usually has higher points per game against teams he doesn't see that often as compared to Toronto's division rivals. He's usually negligible against Boston but gets off scot free, attention wise, because former Bruin Kessel often doesn't score in those games.

Vancouver Canucks (11-9-1)

3 Stars: Alex Edler, Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin

Disappointment: Alex Burrows

Same old: Depth scoring

Vancouver in their next game will go for its first three-game winning streak so far this season, which gives a sense of their first 20-ish games. Some of the names have changed up front, but the depth scoring has improved since Boston's foot soliders outperformed Vancouver's in the final only by a smidge. More skilled newcomers like Marco Sturm (already gone) and David Booth had trouble meshing into the core group.

Roberto Luongo's slow start wasn't as alarming as made out to be, and Ryan Kesler perhaps paid the price for coming back from his injury as soon as possible. But Alex Burrows, due to injury and line switching, has only occasionally been a team sparkplug in the best of ways. 

Winnipeg Jets (8-9-4)

3 Stars: Ondrej Pavelec, Mark Stuart, Kyle Wellwood

Disappointment: Blake Wheeler

Same old: Inconsistency, extra points on the table

Winnipeg can do it all. A 9-8 game here, a 1-0 game there. You never know what you'll get.

Atlanta led the NHL last season with 27 games that went beyond 60 minutes, giving the opposition extra points. The Thrashers did have a positive 15-12 record in those games. While the Jets aren't on pace for 27 such contests, they're just 1-4 in games that go beyond 60.

Pavelec can have the odd turkey, but has also posted two shutouts. Winnipeg are learning what the Bruins faithful could attest to: Mark Stuart bleeds for his team. 

Boston fans also rightly believed that Blake Wheeler should score 25 goals given the time he spends near the net. He's coming on a bit of late, it's true, but has just one goal in 21 games.

That is, a verdict based more on the fact that they're a great champion than what they actually accomplished in between the ropes on that given night. Manny Pacquiao was bestowed such a result on Saturday night in Las Vegas in a majority decision over nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez.

The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114. As a result, the great Pacquiao retained his WBO welterweight trinket in a bout fought at a catchweight of 143 pounds.

It might seem strange to call Marquez a nemesis when Pacquiao's official ledger against the Mexican now stands at 2-0-1.

But there are reputable boxing people who believe Marquez won at least two of the three fights. I think if you had Marquez winning all three you probably have a wee bit of bias going on. They were all competitive fights, and the first two were very close.

To be clear, I had Pacquiao winning both the 2004 and 2007 bouts. The difference were the knockdowns Marquez suffered in each fight.

But Marquez was never even close to hitting the canvas in this fight and I didn't see any justification for the notion that Pacquiao won this fight. Didn't even think it was particularly close. Pacquiao had some great exchanges and moments, to be sure, but he seemed at sea as to how to fashion a consistent blueprint for solving Marquez.

Marquez, who at 38 is six years older, landed the cleaner shots, snapping Pacquiao's head back several times. He timed Pacquiao beautifully in the middle rounds, continually spearing the Filipino before he could establish any momentum.

I had Marquez winning at least eight rounds and have no issue with someone seeing him take nine rounds. I thought it was a virtuoso performance, one of the best boxing displays against an elite fighter in recent years.

Pacquiao's only definitive rounds in my eyes were three, six and nine, and it's not like they were blowout rounds. I thought that Marquez emphatically won five rounds, especially five, seven and eight.

Here's a look at the scorecards of 10 of the more reputable boxing writers and observers in North America:

Kevin Iole, Yahoo!, 114-114
Dan Rafael, ESPN, 114-114
Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN, 114-114
Tim Dahlberg, AP, 114-114
George Willis, NY Post, 115-113
Gary Andrew Poole, Pacquiao biographer, 114-114
Steve Kim, Maxboxing, 115-113 Marquez
Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times, 115-113 Marquez
Tim Smith, NY Daily News, 116-112 Marquez
Ron Borges, Boston Herald, 117-111 Marquez

Folks, I'm not just cherry picking the Marquez voters. Nearly all observers paid to watch the sport had it no better than a draw for Pacquiao, which speaks volumes given that he's boxing's biggest global star.

More to the point: You can bet your bottom dollar that nearly all of them gave Pacquiao the first and last rounds even though nothing much really happened in either frame. Pacquiao landed one hard left in the first and final rounds and Marquez didn't go all out to win the final stanza, which always psychologically seems to make people think the other guy actually did something. He also started cautiously (wisely), but I gave him the first on the basis of a couple of good bodyshots and one landed upstairs. 

So, in the 10 rounds in between, the consensus of boxing observers who aren't officals is that Marquez won anywhere from six to eight rounds.

Per Steve Kim, the official card of the judges didn't reflect that view.

Marquez established a beautiful rhythm in the middle rounds, but evidently the official judges didn't care much for his body work or his uppercuts down the pipe.

Much was made of how the Pacman has finely honed his right hand since the second meeting between the two rivals, but he more closely on this night resembled the dangerous but somewhat predictable and largely one-handed fighter who was beaten by Erik Morales in 2003.

When he wasn't made hesitant by Marquez's counterpunching too often Pacquiao lunged in recklessly or windmilled his arms for a lot of bluster, but not a lot of clean shots.

Also, how many body blows did Pacquiao land all night? Ten?

The exception to the list above was HBO judge Harold Lederman, who had Manny ahead by a preposterous four points. Lederman's logic was that Pacquiao was more aggressive and was the ring general in between the ropes.

Seemed to me the aggression was ineffective as often as it wasn't, and the ring generalship issue was a no-brainer: Marquez's defensive posture and ability to pick off Pacquaio's bulrushes with precise counters were making him hesitant. That's called dictating the tempo of the fight.

How could Pacquiao possibly be the ring general when the bout was clearly fought at a pace that Marquez preferred? The look on the icon's face in between rounds late in the fight should have helped answer that particular question. He was one frustrated dude.

Also, I don't like what Lederman's view implies. A boxer should be able to fight his game and have a good chance of winning without dealing with biases. To hear Lederman talk, an opponent has to top Pacquiao at his own style to get the nod.

It's not like Marquez was running in there.

All this said, I don't consider this a "robbery." It was simply one of those unfortunate cases where the more well-known champ gets overcompensated for things he was doing OK, while the guy doing a lot of the nice craftsman and technical work gets overshadowed by the occasional flashy flourish.

Pacquiao wasn't bad. He just was a bit off on a night when Marquez was very impressive, and those two descriptors were interconnected. Pacquiao on Saturday probably cruises against everyone else with one notable exception.

Would I have liked Marquez to punctuate his performance more emphatically in the final two rounds? Yes, but the official cards show that even if he had swept those rounds, he settles for a draw.

But it has to be concerning for even his most ardent supporters that when faced with an elite fighter with sound defence, great counterpunching skills and a solid beard, Pacquiao can't excel like he has in recent years against a slew of really good but slow and one-dimensional fighters.

Those are precisely the skills that unbeaten Floyd Mayweather brings to the table.

The notion that the judges rewarded Pacquiao because he could potentially face Mayweather in the most lucrative fight boxing's ever had, posited on Twitter by CNBC sports reporter Darren Rovell, just doesn't wash.

It's the kind of thing sports guys who parachute into one big fight a year are wont to say.

There isn't an all-expense paid trip to Monaco on the horizon, the site of many big bouts in the 1970s and 1980s. There's no impetus for an American judge, who odds are can't count on getting that next boffo assignment, to do that to curry some kind of imagined favour.

This was more to do with the fact that judges psychologically in big fights have a tendency in the absence of a knockdown or major action early on to not go out on a limb when two great fighters are meeting. They keep it relatively close. No one wants to be the guy that has an 8-2 fight heading into the final two rounds.

Glenn Trowbridge, the judge with the widest Pacquiao margin, actually scored the last round for Marquez. Again, I don't think it's outlandish to suggest Marquez won that round, but you have to also believe that in his heart of hearts that Trowbridge could tell by the crowd's reaction and the look on Pacquiao's face throughout that this wasn't a 9-3 result for the Filipino, which is what his card would have said had he scored the last round the other way.

It's also due to the fact that boxing matches are divvied up. You swing two of my Marquez rounds the other way - and there were three or four close rounds - and it's a draw.

The other trend in recent years is that aggression seems to have taken over from clean punching, especially in Nevada. That also favoured Pacquiao.

The first three rounds were a chess match, and his status and busier-looking style won Pacquaio those frames on the official cards.

To hear guys like Rovell talk, you'd think that every planned major fight came to fruition. If you've followed the fight game long enough you'll undoubtedly know that there have been many upsets to derail the best laid plans.

Besides, there are a lot of reputable people who don't think Mayweather-Pacquiao will ever happen. The CNBC reporter might not have heard, but standing in the way of the bout currently, are the following: a defamation suit, potential criminal trial, a blood testing debate, a mercurial fighter and a cantankerous, grudge-holding promoter.

Mayweather is a loathsome creep and people like to blame him for the Pacquiao bout not happening yet due to his unpredictable nature and Johnny-come-lately calls to eradicate boxing of a supposed performance enhancing drug issue.

He plays his part in the superfight delay, but let's be equinamous. As long as Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is walking this coil, we'll likely not see the bout. Arum loathes Mayweather, his former fighter, as well as Oscar De La Hoya, whose promotional company benefits when "Money" laces up the gloves.

In his dotage, Arum loves him some all-Top Rank bouts so he doesn't have to divvy up the pie.

Arum even put new recruit Timothy Bradley into an undeserved spot in a mismatch before the main event Saturday to grease the skids for a possible Pacquiao foe. 

But Bradley was ho-hum against Joel Casamayor so Arum is quickly moving on to Plan B,  talking up a fourth Pacquiao-Marquez fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Easy peasy now that Marquez is not tethered to Golden Boy, huh?

If Marquez were to make good on his retirement talk, we'll get a better sense of Arum's devotion to the "good of boxing.".

(For the record, the more I watch Bradley and his lack of elusiveness, the more I think he's the William Joppy to Felix Trinidad if ever matched with Pacquiao.)

It was a far from perfect night for boxing, but hey, nobody fell in 64 seconds.

Nobody fell at all, despite a ton of hellacious punches. That's what happens when great warriors who've been honing their craft for decades meet.

You can't just invent that stuff.

He wasn't Muhammad Ali, wasn't particularly articulate nor a defining athlete for a generation. He was Smokin' Joe inside and outside of the ring, often complaining bitterly about injustices real and perceived.

"Down Goes Frazier" is a popular sports catchphrase based on his lowest moment, possibly the lowest moment of any notable heavyweight champion, when he was bounced off the canvas six times in two rounds by the much bigger George Foreman.

The civic leaders of Philadelphia would pile on years later, choosing to erect a statue commemorating the white movie fighter who toiled in the slaughterhouse, not the snorting, ferocious one who actually did hammer the slabs of meat on his way up, Frazier.

But no big name heavyweight champion got more out of his ability. None possessed a will as giant.

Few in the history of sport overcame greater odds than Frazier, who at a listed five-foot-11, was among the shortest heavyweight champions of all time.

He was among 13 children in his family, his father a South Carolina sharecropper who had lost his arm in an automobile accident.

Frazier left for the Northeast at 15 and was aimless for a couple of years before taking up boxing in earnest. He ended up in Philly and the Broad Street Gym under the tutelage of Yank Durham.

He actually lost in the Olympic trials to the much bigger Buster Mathis, but Mathis injured his hand. Frazier went on to Tokyo and captured the gold medal in the heavyweight division.
 
Legend has it when Frazier first encountered the man with whom he would be forever linked, who had won the Olympic heavyweight title four years earlier, Ali - then Cassius Clay - advised him he should drop down to light heavyweight because he was too small.
 
Wishful thinking.

Aside from tough Argentine Oscar Bonavena, Frazier's rise to the top of the heavyweight rankings met with little resistance. He was the first to stop iron-chinned Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo, then a veteran of over 60 bouts, and he also disposed of contenders Mathis, Doug Jones and Jerry Quarry.

'Truth Machine'

He draped himself on opponents with relentless pressure, bobbing and weaving under their punches and rising up with a two-fisted attack to the body and the head, highlighted by a pulverizing left hook.
 
Sportswriter-turned-television commentator Larry Merchant aptly described Frazier as a "Truth Machine" who tested an opponent's willingness to go beyond normal levels of pain.

With Ali on the sidelines after refusing induction into the military during the Vietnam War, Frazier stopped Jimmy Ellis in five rounds in early 1970 to become the undisputed champion of the division among active fighters.

Ali was finally granted a license again that same year, and after two tune-up fights, what would become known as The Fight was arranged for March 8, 1971.

It was a rare meeting of two bona fide champions, long before boxing's power brokers would pervert the meaning of that word through a surfeit of "world" titles and absurd decisions.

The build up to the fight saw the loquacious Ali taunt Frazier mercilessly for his lack of intelligence, and worse, called him an Uncle Tom who was a pawn of the white establishment.

Ali resented the fact Frazier took advantage of his misfortune and didn't speak up politically on his behalf when he was threatened with jail time. Frazier was admittedly uninterested and uncomfortable being anything other than a fighter.

It was a curious attack at best. Of the two fighters, Ali was the one with a white trainer and white blood in his lineage. Frazier had grown up almost desperately poor. But Frazier couldn't compete in the war of words and could have enjoyed more defenders in the press; Ali, once reviled, was made a more sympathetic figure due to his three-year exile and the rising counterculture opposition to the war.
 
Frazier was described in one contemporary newspaper account as a Man Out of Time. 
 
It was likely the most anticipated fight in boxing history - only the rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling would probably compare - and it lived up to the hype. One of the nearly 20,500 fans in attendance at a star-studded Madison Square Garden died of a heart attack.

An even fight turned in the 11th when Frazier wobbled Ali with a left, and he incited one of the biggest roars in arena sports history when he decked the Louisville fighter in the 15th and final round to clinch a decision win.

The winner was 27 years old and unbeaten in 26 fights, but enjoying the victory would have to wait. Jubilant in the ring immediately after the win, he would have to spend several days in hospital after the gruelling fight. He would fight just 10 more times, winning six.

Both men earned $2.5 million US for their efforts; boxing observers estimated they'd have earned at least twice as much if they'd foregone the guaranteed rate for a take of the closed-circuit revenues.

Frazier won by unanimous decision and made two easy defences before the disaster with Foreman in 1972.

Frazier was outboxed by Ali when both were mere contenders in their second meeting in early 1974, but the final bout in their trilogy a year-and-a-half later defined their careers, and the rest of their lives.

Writing in the New York Times about The Thrilla in Manila, the great sportswriter Dave Anderson said the two rivals "maintained a level of boxing violence seldom seen."

While the official scorecards had Ali ahead comfortably, many boxing observers thought Frazier was winning through 12 rounds but Ali summoned a second wind and pummelled him at will over the bout's next two rounds.

Trainer Eddie Futch decided to not allow a grotesquely swollen Frazier out for the 15th. Frazier agreed with the decision at the time but later added it to his list of resentments.

He fought just twice more in five years. (It's a measure of his incredible self-belief and stubbornness that he thought it wise to try on Foreman for size again in 1976, losing in five rounds)

Frazier managed and trained a slew of young Philly fighters, most notably his son Marvis, who like many fighting scion couldn't nearly match his father's accomplishments.

While not naturally charismatic, Frazier enjoyed being a social animal, sometimes too much.

As early as the Ellis win he was talking about retiring so that he could "sing rock 'n' roll" with his band. Some called it warbling, but he didn't care. Frazier rarely passed up a promoter's invite to appear at a fight card to mingle and sign for fans, included on more than one occasion in Canada in recent years.

No holding back

He called Ali a "great champ" after their final fight, expressing astonishment at Ali's ability to withstand what he said were some of the hardest punches of his career. And when the pair appeared at functions together in their advancing years, it was civil.

But with Ali eventually silenced by the effects of Parkinson's, it was usually Frazier's turn to talk. He rarely passed up an opportunity to throw in a barb, even revelling in the damage his punches caused his famous rival.

He joked in 1996 that he wished Ali had fallen into Atlanta's Olympic cauldron after that famous moment. It might have sounded ghastly to the uninitiated, but to longtime boxing fans, it was darkly comical.

"People ask me if I feel sorry for him. Nope. Fact is, I don't give a damn," Frazier said in his 1996 autobiography. "They want me to love him, but I'll open up the graveyard and bury his ass when the Lord chooses to take him."

Unfortunately, Frazier got the equation wrong one last time.

Frazier never in a million years would have used a word like hagiography, but he saw how over time the thornier parts of the Ali story (controversial views on race and women, for example) were being forgotten or smoothed over in countless depictions of his life.

The eulogies will undoubtedly focus on the two great men, but I think it's important to mention the next one in the heavyweight title succession.

In the 1980s, Ali was forever changed and Frazier never really did change. Unbeknownst to everyone, and away from the public eye for over a decade, Foreman was in the process of changing himself to a degree almost unprecedented in public American life, a comeback Dick Nixon would have envied.

During that halcyon early 1970s era of heavyweight boxing, Foreman was much more unlikable than Frazier, a scowling, often monosyllabic brute.

Foreman found God after his boxing career apparently ended for good in 1977. When he re-emerged en route to his improbable recapturing of a heavyweight belt in 1994, he had obviously studied just a bit from the Ali playbook.

He was a garrulous, jolly bear to the media and fans and also hit the jackpot outside the ring endorsing a certain well-known product (Ali and Frazier, like many ex-champs, didn't have great luck with money matters).

That he was able to do some of this was in large part due to the fact that he made peace with his own bitter defeat against Ali, one that had consumed him for years.

Smokin' Joe could never quite get to that point.

He was a true fighter until the end.

Here's a closer look at the 168-pound fight:

The Principals

Bute (29-0, 24 knockouts) has won his last six fights by stoppage and has earned a reputation for possessing some of the sport's quickest fists, punching in combination and often connecting with withering bodypunches.

Bute won the International Boxing Federation super middleweight title in late 2007 against Alejandro Berrio at Bell Centre in Montreal and has successfully defended the belt eight times.

The southpaw is coming off a fourth-round KO win in July in Romania over Jean-Paul Mendy.

While it's a subjective analysis, many boxing writers have Bute in the bottom half of their Top 10 pound-for-pound fighter list.

Johnson (51-5-2, 35 KOs) was named The Ring Magazine's Fighter of the Year for 2004 after a one-punch KO over Roy Jones Jr. and a close decision win over Antonio Tarver in light heavyweight bouts. He's won just nine of 15 since then, usually giving it a whale of an effort but falling short on the scorecards. In his last bout, he lost a competitive but clear decision to Briton Carl Froch.

It is Johnson's third fight at the 168-pound level after spending nearly a decade fighting nearly 10 pounds heavier.

The 42-year-old native of Miami hasn't been stopped since a 160-pound title challenge against Bernard Hopkins way back in 1997, and he's never been knocked out.

The Backstory

Bute and Johnson sparred extensively in the past, most notably two years ago when the Quebec fighter was preparing for Librado Andrade and the Jamaican-born American was getting ready for Chad Dawson.

"Sparring, you don't put 100 per cent into it," Bute said when both fighters visited CBC Sports in Toronto in late August to promote the fight. "November 5th is different, it's a real fight with strategy."

The personable Johnson has always been willing to go to war, but has never been the kind to engage in trash talk.

"He's a great guy, I have tremendous respect for him," he said of Bute. "He's cool, he's very humble and a nice person to be around."

It's not unheard of for business concerns to override any sentimental notions.

Simon Brown famously battered longtime friend Maurice Blocker in a 10-round war in 1991.

Bute and Johnson have just about never given less than full effort in their 87 combined bouts, so few boxing observers expect them to hold back due to the pre-fight niceties.

"As a young man growing up, if you have brothers, as much as love you brothers, you have a few fights here and there," Johnson said.

The Stakes

Many boxing analysts are dying to see how Bute will fare against the division's best. He was essentially saved by the final bell and some dubious officiating after 12 rounds in 2008 against the rugged Librado Andrade, an otherwise fine performance that he followed with a resounding rematch win.

Bute readily admitted that only does Johnson represents the biggest name he's faced, but, unless he gets old overnight in the ring, the best he's battled.

Born in Romania, Bute is also a bona fide sport star in Quebec since taking up residence in the province eight years ago. He's defended his 168-pound International Boxing Federation title in front of crowds of 15,000 in Montreal and Quebec City.

Can he start to get attention among mainstream sports fans and the rest of Canada? A win will help, but Interbox isn't doing sports fans a favour by blacking out his fights for English Canada from Superchannel (which carries bouts, like Saturday's, that are presented by Showtime in the U.S.)

Being the first to stop the visiting fighter in nearly 15 years would be a real feather in his Bute's cap, regardless of Johnson's age.

Next month, Froch and Andre Ward of Oakland will fight in a big 168-pound title fight. Bute against the winner of that bout sometime in 2012 would be arguably the biggest and best boxing has to offer next year aside from the elephant in the sport, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.

Should Johnson win, he could face Ward, if the American wins the December bout. There would seem to be not much demand for a Johnson-Froch rematch if the Nottingham pugilist prevails next month. Johnson against Hopkins would be an intriguing, very competitive rematch some 15 years after their first bout.

"I've had a wonderful career, don't get me wrong," Johnson said in August. "But there's a hunger that's still there, where you really look at yourself and say, 'I think I could accomplish more.'"

The Fight

Johnson will need to turn the clock back to what he did optimally six or seven years ago - closing down the distance to his opponent and blocking enough punches while putting on consistent pressure.

Can he do it? In recent bouts it's seemed like he's only had the energy to do it, at best, eight out of 12 rounds. That's four rounds in the bank for the other guy.

"I have to be making adjustments along the way," Johnson said, admitting to a failure to adapt in recent bouts with Froch and his second go-round with Dawson.

Bute has lost very few rounds in his last six fights but has still had to contend with swelling around his right eye on occasion. Part of that is because he's one of those fighters who feels he functions best with the lead hand (in this case, the right) held low.

That provides an opportunity for Johnson, although the left is not usually his most potent weapon.

It's hard to see Johnson winning in front of a partisan crowd, but The Road Warrior will certainly try his mightiest.

In their second fight, Dawson was able to keep Johnson at a distance for much of the night and not have too much trouble. 

Bute isn't as "classic" a boxer as Dawson, but he uses his legs more and has quicker hands.

The pick is for Bute to wheat the appetite for a bout with Ward or Froch by winning eight or nine rounds for the decision.  

The rest of the story

It hasn't been the best of years for boxing, but this weekend represents the start of several weeks of what should be top flight action. There will even be a couple of solid bouts on New Year's Eve, a date avoided by promoters in the modern era.

Steve Molitor of Mississauga, Ont., will look to get back on track on the Bute-Johnson undercard after losing his IBF 122-pound title in his last bout to familiar foe Taklani Ndlovu of South Africa.

Molitor (33-2, 12 KOs) faces Sebastian Gauthier (21-2, 13 KOs) of St. Jerome, Que., in a 10-round bout.

In a terrific matchup in Cancun on Saturday, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland are expected to go to war. Neither are slick boxers, having combined for 43 stoppages in their 49 collective wins. Both want to prove they have championship potential after losing their unbeaten marks in recent times. Angulo lost to the best fighter he faced 2 1/2 years ago (Kermit Cintron), while Kirkland was shocked in the first round earlier this year against Nobihiro Ishida, just his fourth round of action after a two-year layoff due to a prison stint.

Next weekend: Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and his Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez meet for the third time.

In the latter category, there was the cartoonish level of violence in the Hernan Marquez-Luis Concepcion fight, and Pawel Wolak gutting out a draw against Delvin Rodriguez despite possibly the most monstrous-looking eye swelling you'll ever see.

There will be a rematch of the first fight on Oct. 29, and of the second on Dec. 3. Do yourself a favour and find an online stream.

But unfortunately for the sport, the biggest bouts this year, the ones predestined to get mainstream coverage, have been completely lacking,

Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley. Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye. Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz.

All of these fights were duds and/or tinged with embarrassment.

Since I last wrote, there have been two more entries to the list.

Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson was depressing because it didn't seem like anyone involved knew the rules when the veteran Hopkins injured his shoulder after being shaken loose by a Dawson shoulder push in the second round.

Referee Pat Russell inexplicably thought he had to decide the outcome on the spot, and Dawson walked out with a title belt despite not landing a punch in the fight-ending sequence.

It seems like Hopkins will get the belt back as the fight is being reviewed. Yes, Hopkins is tiresome, has cried wolf before and is a dirty fighter, but rules should be applied properly to all.

I had no real problem with what Dawson did as Hopkins was already trying to bend a rule here and there; I didn't see it as a disqualifiable offence. But Hopkins was not given five minutes to recover nor examined thoroughly by a doctor to get to the bottom of the shoulder issue. So the result has to be a wash, whether you want to call it a no-decision or technical decision.

This past weekend, budding superstar Nonito Donaire was unimpressive in winning a lopsided decision over previously unbeaten Omar Narvaez in an 118-pound bout.

The matchup might have looked good on paper but it was Exhibit A in an annoying trend that promoters like Top Rank and Golden Boy, aided by HBO, traffick in - pitting guys who aren't really in the same weight class, with the desire to "showcase" the bigger name in what is hoped will be a sensational performance.

Narvaez was moving up one weight class, and because of day-before weigh-ins and rehydration, Donaire was at least two weight classes above the Argentine by fight night.

Predictably, boxing fans and some writers who should know better focused on Narvaez's lack of effort in the second half of the bout. Some even compared the action to Manny Pacquiao's unrequited punching of Joshua Clottey about 18 months ago. 

Aside from the fact that Donaire and Pacquiao were both born in the Philippines, it was an absurd comparison. Pacquiao was about 15-20 pounds lighter than Clottey; on Saturday, Donaire was the bigger guy by about the same margin.

It's not like Narvaez was running around the ring, so it was incumbent upon Donaire to try Plans B andn C in order to end the affair.

Yes, Narvaez should have done more. In fact, it was strange he abandoned the jab that was landing pretty easily against Donaire.    

Considering that 122-pounders were first being mentioned as potential fall opponents for Donaire, it was an unacceptable matchup.

On the other hand, there was some exciting Canadian action on Saturday.

Logan McGuinness of Orangeville, Ont., landed a beautiful right-left combo to fold former world title challenger Benoit Gaudet of Drummondville, Que., for an 11th-round stoppage in a junior lightweight bout.

But there isn't enough time left in 2011 to salvage the overall impression of the year.

The last really big fight - the third Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez bout - probably won't be dull, but also has the makings of a mismatch given that it's being fought above 140, a chore for the Mexican.

It's also disappointing that boxing's power brokers apparently didn't give much thought to the possibility of an NBA lockout. There are empty arenas that could be used. But promoters are still too locked into the thinking that the only time for a bout is Saturday night, and the only avenue to get the fight out is through premium cable in the U.S.

But there are several appealing matchups that hopefully will live up to their potential and provide a silver lining:

• Alfredo Angulo-James Kirkland, Nov. 5
• Montreal's Lucian Bute against warhorse Glen Johnson in Quebec City, Nov. 5.
• Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito, in a rematch of a controversial bout, Dec. 3
• Joseph Agbeko-Abner Mares, ditto, also Dec. 3.
• Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson, Dec. 10.  
• Andre Ward-Carl Froch for the Super Six tournament, on Dec. 19

Floyd Mayweather might be the least likeable person in boxing - nay, in all of sports - but he was the least culpable for the bizarre ending in Saturday's win over Victor Ortiz.

Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) won by a much-talked about fourth round knockout at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but referee Joe Cortez and Ortiz himself helped set the table big time for the winner's questionable two-punch volley to end matters.

Mayweather, ever the villain, made matters worse by launching into a profane tirade against HBO commentator Larry Merchant, who's 80 years old. Merchant snarled back, but it wasn't one of his finer moments, either.

By boxing's standards, it had been a pretty good night up until those final five minutes. It was one of the rare occasions where the pay-per-view undercard bouts offered pretty sustained action, if not knockouts.

It seemed clear the entertaining main event was going to end in empathic fashion, with Mayweather scoring a clear-cut stoppage.

While Ortiz had touched up Mayweather on a couple of occasions, the undefeated Grand Rapids, Mich. native hardly seemed bothered by those efforts. Mayweather was timing the defensively liable Ortiz with a series of right hands, and the younger fighter could do little to stop the incoming fire. He was so at sea that at one point he even decided to backpedal, as if he was going to somehow jab and dance his way to a victory over the premier boxer of the last 20 years.

While it's true Ortiz showed aggression in the sequence before The Sequence, as a long-term strategy that would have likely only sped up his demise. He would have walked into a concussive counter or two, not unlike Ricky Hatton, Mayweather's last stoppage victim.

In the days leading up to the fight, a few bloggers and writers remarked presciently on Ortiz's odd duality. His nickname is "Vicious" and he openly seethes from the abandonment he suffered as a child, but at other times he affects the attitude of a nonchalant, slightly stoned skater boy.

That duality played itself out in the fourth. Ortiz followed up some effective aggression with one of the more blatant head butts I've seen in awhile.

That kind of thrust can stun or badly cut a guy. And on at least two earlier occasions, he had tried to use either his shoulder or head to his advantage on the inside.

But then like a chastened schoolboy after getting a point deducted, he proceeded with a never-ending series of mea culpas, bows, hugs, and kisses, continuing even after Joe Cortez apparently called "time in."

I say apparently because nothing Cortez did was authoritative, contributing to the latest in a string of dreadful late career performances as third man in the ring (see Humberto Soto-Francisco Lorenzo for the worst of Cortez's worst). It's high time Nevada stopped using him for prime assignments.

With Cortez failing to keep his eye on the fighters, Ortiz and Mayweather proceeded as if in entirely different realities. One was involved in a prizefight, and the other was in La-La land.

It's hard to claim you've been sucker punched when you've been hit twice. If Ortiz didn't know he had to protect himself at all times - the No. 1 rule in the sport - after the first punch, God help him.

And the fact of the matter was, that wasn't the hardest Floyd can throw a right hand.

Could he have backed up and given Ortiz a second or two to smarten up and realize the fight was back on? It's easy to say yes when you haven't just taken a pretty sick head butt to the face.

Mayweather savvy?

If it was a foul, then Cortez should have jumped in and given Ortiz all the time he needed to recover. But history's shown that Cortez is loathe to admit that he might have contributed to fighters' confusion. 

There was more than one feature last week before the fight lauding Mayweather's business acumen, with respect to his method of ensuring he that nets a very healthy share of the pay-per-view pie. 

The man who calls himself "Money" said after the fight he didn't need Manny Pacquiao because he rakes in mammoth purses no matter who he fights. In a perfect world, this would be the point where HBO would insist there's only one opponent they are interested in at this point.

Because that's the only opponent sports fans are interested in for Mayweather. Amir Khan, as talented as he is, won't cut it.

Heck, HBO could even promise to keep Larry at home.

A cynic would suggest that Mayweather has to get creative with his paydays. He's also lost all the major endorsements he once had due to his spate of legal troubles.

He faces a criminal trial that could see him locked up, and a defamation suit from Pacquiao for suggesting the Filipino icon uses performance enhancing drugs.

And he's been consistently hounded by the IRS for failure to pay taxes.

Even if his legal troubles don't interrupt his career, he'll be at least 35 the next time he fights. He was perceptibly slower on Saturday, and the fact Ortiz was able to touch up him up put doubts in my mind that he'd be able to easily time Pacquiao and avoid return fire (which is how I've felt since the fight was first posited).

The Merchant tirade, meanwhile, put an exclamation point on the notion that no one reputable is going to hire Mayweather when is career is over, either as a pitchman or a boxing commentator.

Mayweather got the last laugh on Saturday but it's hard to see him continuing on this track without getting his comeuppance one day. Just maybe not from Pacquiao.

Floyd Mayweather seemingly has his mind on only one man as he prepares for his first fight in 15 months on Saturday.
 
And that man isn't Victor Ortiz, who'll be occupying the other corner come fight night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
 
At Wednesday's press event, Mayweather went on his latest rant directed at the other boxing superstar he has been reluctant to face as of yet, Manny Pacquiao. The bout would be the most lucrative in the sport's history, but it's just a notion at this point after past attempts to make it happen have failed.
 
The subject of age has come up in recent days.
 
Los Angeles Times reporter Lance Pugmire filed a pre-fight feature on Mayweather, and Pacquiao, flirting with Father Time as their superfight remains a notion that will at best be realized no earlier than spring 2012.
 
Mayweather turns 35 in February. When you think of the great non-heavyweight fighters of the 1980s, none of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns or Marvin Hagler posted a significant win after that age.
 
Leonard got pounded by Terry Norris around that age, Hearns would fight pretty much all journeymen after losing to Iran Barkley a second time, and Hagler was in Italy by that point, settling into a permanent retirement.
 
Roberto Duran was losing to Robbie Sims around that age. While Duran did post a significant win or two past 35, that says as much about the fact that he had to keep fighting well into his 40s due to the millions he partied away.
 
Mayweather wasn't concerned with his own boxing shelf life on Wednesday, but the fact that Pacquiao didn't come to prominence, from a North American perspective, until his mid-20s.
 
"I know what happens in this sport," Mayweather said. "A guy doesn't all of a sudden get to an age and just become good ... He just all of a sudden pops up and becomes good out of the blue - just out of the blue. Come on, man. Make this make sense, man."
 
In other words, he was once again making the inference that the Filipino icon has prospered in part through performance enhancement means.
 
Dubious logic, given there has been fighters who've enjoyed a renaissance well into their careers. Glen Johnson, who'll be fighting in Quebec City against Lucian Bute on Nov. 5, is one of them.
 
Bernard Hopkins had a pro record of 1-1 at the age of 25.
 
While it's true that boxing's drug testing has its holes, and Pacquiao has surprised many observers by bringing power all the way up from featherweight to welterweight, it's a tack that has got Mayweather into legal hot water. Pacquiao's camp is proceeding with a defamation suit.
 
And of course, no one who follows boxing closely heard a whisper of Mayweather's hobbyhorse, Olympic-style blood testing, until Pacquiao became a likely foe for the undefeated Grand Rapids, Mich., fighter.

I'd love to be able to logically parse some of the other things Mayweather said Wednesday, but logical is not an area he trafficks in. He took aim at the fact Pacquiao doesn't make a lot of money on the "back end" of the pay-per-view haul, and the fact he earns millions in U.S. fights and takes that money back to the Philippines.

Yes, because Floyd is so synonymous with money spent on good deeds done in America. Maybe if you count casinos in the defintion of charity.
 
Is Mayweather-Ortiz the next-best thing to Mayweather-Pacquiao? It's not even a question worth wasting time on given that it could the best thing Mayweather gives us for a good while, given his legal issues.

What matters is that it is a fight well worth watching due to Ortiz's energy, the fact he's the closest comparable that Mayweather's going to get to Pacquiao, and the layoff factor. 

Ortiz is a southpaw (like Pacquiao) and brings legit punching power to the table. He's also 10 years younger than Mayweather. Most of the men "Money" has faced in recent years - seven of the last nine - have been older.
 
It would be a stretch to say that Ortiz has incredibly fast hands, but they're the fastest Mayweather has seen since Zab Judah in 2006. Since then: Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya in his Carmen Miranda phase, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley, none of them fleet at that point in their careers.
 
This will be Mayweather's fifth fight in the last four years; Ortiz has fought 16 times during that span.
 
As a boxing observer of some vintage, this fight has the whiff to me of Leonard's late 1980s fight against Winnipeg-native Donnie Lalonde.
 
Ortiz may very well trouble and even stun Mayweather, but he's way too defensively negligent to avoid Mayweather's sharp right hands. He's also been on the deck more than once.
 
It seems some bettors are chasing the fool's gold, with Ortiz's long odds dropping since when the fight was first announced. If Mayweather can still pull the trigger as adeptly as ever after a 15-month layoff, a late-round stoppage seems likely.

Short jabs
 
Speaking of Pacquiao, he and Marquez are making the rounds to promote their first two bouts. This appearance on Mexican TV seemed to indicate the two are as evenly matched in actual singing ability as they have been in the ring, despite the ubiquitous press notices about Pacquiao's vocal warblings, I mean, stylings.
 
After Vitali Klitsckho beat up on Cris Arreola two years ago I committed to print one statement that looks quite smart, and one that was patently wrong.
 
Wrong: The prediction that there would be some appealing heavyweight bouts due to Vitali and brother Wladimir reigning and promising contenders like David Haye, Alexander Povetkin, Eddie Chambers, Alexander Dimitrenko and Kevin Johnson on the rise.
 
There've been some entertaining heavyweight bouts in the last two years, but hardly any involved the Klitschkos, who've barely lost a round en route to dominating the opposition. The recent bout between Wladimir and Haye was a disaster, in large part due to the British challenger, but the younger Klitschko wasn't blameless. 
 
I did say Vitali's win over Arreola that he was the most unbeatable looking heavyweight titleholder since the prime of Mike Tyson.
 
I took some heat days later from Yahoo! columnist Steve Cofield, who seemed to misunderstand what I was saying. I wasn't saying he was one of the best ever (though at six-foot-seven he'd be a tough out for any great champ from the past), or better than recent champs Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield etc.
 
It was just a reflection of his size, skills and the opposition on the horizon. Where were the real dangers and vulnerabilities? Unlike brother Wladimir, Vitali's never been seen flopping around on the canvas.
 
Nothing's changed two years later, with a now 40-year-old Vitali pounding the game and but outgunned Tomas Adamek in front of 42,000 last week. 
 
Adamek's effort went from gutsy and "cute" (my wife's word) to health-endangering in a matter of minutes. The ref mercifully called a halt in the 10th.
 
Steve Bunce of The Independent called Klitschko Ali-esque ... although he was talking about his willingness to take the title belt to several differendt countries.

The one-sided beatdown didn't discourage Bermane Stiverne's people from e-mailing me post haste to talk up the possibility of a bout between the Montreal-raised heavyweight and Klitschko. 

Depending upon the result of a Dimitrenko bout later this month, Stiverne could be the highest ranked contender that Vitali hasn't yet beaten, at least according to the WBC's view of the Top 10.
 
Stiverne most recently posted a come-from-behind KO of Ray Austin. Given that Stiverne's fairly short for a heavyweight and had trouble with Austin's jab, which isn't Klitschko-esque, it's hard to be too enthusiastic about the Haitian-born fighter's prospects.
 
But ... he does have eye-catching power. We've seen enough of the Klitschkos against soft-punching heavyweights to know that's not the recipe to give them trouble. There are no Chris Byrd's around in the division right now.
 
Stiverne has power, and with six-foot-six Robert Helenius and six-foot-nine Tyson Fury now in the title picture, at least the Klitschkos could one day in the near future be taking on someone their own size.
 
That said, I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice and lead you to believe we're likely entering a fertile period in the heavyweight division.

World Boxing Clown Jose Sulaiman has been up to more antics recently, stripping Timothy Bradley of his 140-pound title last week.

The name Sulaiman has been synonymous with shenanigans in a 35-year Reign of Error as World Boxing Council president.

Bradley topped Devon Alexander in a battle of unbeatens in January, capturing the WBC belt in the process.

It's true that Bradley is now embroiled in a promotional dispute, has turned down a very generous offer to fight Amir Khan, and is probably moving up to welterweight in the hopes of chasing a Manny Pacquiao bout.

Sulaiman of course leaned heavily on those points in his rationale, but the fact remains, it's been a mere six months. Given that fighters regularly now compete just twice a year, the most polite thing you can say about the decision is that it's quite premature. Bradley at this point is well within the organization's own rules on these sorts of things.

This is really all about El Presidente giving Mexican countryman Erik Morales a shot at the "vacant" title on a prime piece of boxing real estate, the now annual September pay-per-view card timed to coincide with Mexican Independence Day. In this case, an undercard bout on the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz card, which will likely heavily feature Mexican fighters. And of course, it's about collecting some more sanctioning fees earlier than expected (the alphabet soup organizations essentially extort fighters for the privilege of competing for their trinkets).

Morales, who lost his last fight, will take on Jorge Barrios of Argentina for a "vacant" title and the right for a dubious claim of winning titles in four different weight classes. It'll probably be a terrific fight given each figher's attributes, but it's not a championship bout.

Over the years, Sulaiman's dizzying crimes have often been hard to get a bead on, but many have fallen into one of two themes: performing a series of tricks in concert with the machinations of organ grinder Don King, and/or demonstrating favouritism towards fighters from his native Mexico.

In a weird bit of happenstance, the three most impactful non-boxers in the sport of the last four decades each turn 80 this year: Sulaiman, King, and Bob Arum.

Those boxing fans wishing Travis Bickle style that a real rain would come and wash the scum away have been thwarted thus far by their longevity.

And it's hard to feel too rosy about the future when it's Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions abetting Sulaiman this time around.

De La Hoya bills himself on Twitter as a 10-time champion in six weight classes. He is no such thing. Like Morales, he is a ring legend and a champion in multiple weight classes, but the numbers have been inflated by boxing's version of steroids, the sanctioning bodies that grow like fungus.

(Sulaiman said after his was originally published that Bradley is a "champion in recess" and has not been stripped. Fine. Then don't call the Morales-Barrios bout a title fight, but rather, an eliminator)

Anyways, this ruling has coincided with research spanning decades that I've been undertaking on other topics, so it seems fitting to remind or regale the uninitiated with a sampling of Sulaiman gems from the past.

1976: Well into 1976, Sulaiman strips Muhammad Ali of his 1975 World Boxing Council Boxer of the Year Award.

Why? Because Ali took part in a silly exhibition with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki ... which took place in June 1976. Ali fought four times in 1975, including his harrowing, life-altering Manila win over Joe Frazier, but it evidently wasn't enough to offset how "embarrassed and disgusted at Ali's action in bringing boxing into disrepute" Sulaiman felt.

1978: Relative pro novice Leon Spinks scores a massive upset over Ali, and a rematch seems in order to determine whether it was a fluke. But just four weeks after the result, the WBC decides to strip Spinks, represented by Arum's Top Rank. The fight that is made for the vacant belt involves two King fighters, Larry Holmes and Ken Norton.

The Holmes-Norton fight turns out to be a classic, and the Easton Assasin proves a worthy champion, eventually beating both Ali and Spinks. Sulaiman has no problem stripping Holmes of the title in the mid-1980s, ostensibly for facing Marvis Frazier (not promoted by King) instead of Greg Page (King-promoted). But really, stripping Holmes was done because the heavyweight champion was finally tiring of King and seeking to exert his independence.

1982: Charged with illegal possesion of archaelogical objects and plotting to smuggle them out of Mexico for profit. Sulaiman says it's a misunderstanding, he actually has a keen interest in preserving treasured artifacts from his culture.

1983: Sulaiman does everything in his power to strip Bobby Chacon of his 130-pound title for facing Cornelius Boza-Edwards (a mandatory challenger by the organization's own rankings!) instead of King-promoted Hector Camacho. An outcry in the sport temporarily prevents this from happening, but just weeks after Chacon-Boza Edwards II, one of the most thrilling fights of the decade, Sulaiman gets his revenge. He declares that Chacon has broken nine organization "rules" without elaborating and questions the gritty veteran's "mental attitude" while stripping him of the belt.

1988: In the wake of Holmes coming out of retirement just to get drubbed by Mike Tyson, Sulaiman says he will recommend that boxers over the age of 36 not be allowed to fight for titles. While his heart may have been in the right place in terms of preventing long-term damage, it is a completely arbitrary, unscientific approach. It is also thankfully quickly forgotten, enabling the veteran likes of George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins to prosper in the future.

1990: In their most egregious collaboration, Sulaiman and King prove themselves fans of Groucho Marx and/or Richard Pryor, doing their own take on "Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"

The dreadful duo (and the WBA, it must be noted) try to deny Buster Douglas his landmark upset win over Mike Tyson. They withhold recognition of Douglas as champ pending the outcome of a King protest over how long Douglas was on the canvas earlier in the fight. Witnessing a heist in progress, the outcry of the sports media proves too great, and the boxing power brokers back off.

Sulaiman doesn't stop there, however, repeatedly bending reality in the months to follow, including while testifying in court: "In the bottom of my heart I did not withdraw recognition."

1993: King-promoted Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez is summarily outboxed and outfought on the inside by Pernell Whitaker. Two WBC crony judges rule the fight a draw, thereby preserving Chavez's supposed unbeaten record (the ring legend also had a 1981 disqualification reversed in order to preserve that mark).

1998-2004: Payback's a ... Sulaiman gets hoisted by his own petard for his typical flip-flopping and propensity for determining championship bouts by fiat. The WBC decides to strip Roy Jones of his 175-pound title when the American contemplates leaving the division. Graciano Rocchigiani wins the vacant title, but Sulaiman declares him a non-champ weeks later when Jones has a change of heart and decides to stay in the division.

Rocchigiani sues Sulaiman and the WBC for damages, a years-long process that results in a multi-million dollar court ruling for the German fighter. The WBC files for bankruptcy, but most correctly believe it's a move made to avoid paying. The organization continues to function.

2007: Along with Whitaker, among others,  Sulaiman is inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y.

If you caught Lucian Bute's title defence in Romania on the weekend as well as the boxing broadcasts of HBO, Showtime, and ESPN, you didn't see much.

Only about a dozen knockdowns, two candidates for Knockout of the Year, perhaps the best opening round of any major fight since Hagler-Hearns, an absolute bloodbath, and a robbery of the highest order (in which one guy developed an unsightly Rahman-esque hematoma on his forehead).

Other than that...

It was a great weekend to be a fight fan and it helped erase the stink of the Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye debacle in Germany a week before.

It was at least the second legitimately outstanding weekend for boxing this year, following up on the April night when the Andre Berto-Victor Ortiz and Orlando Salido-Juan Manuel Lopez wars occurred.

The breakdown:

The knockouts

Montreal's Bute returned to the land he was born and raised in, thrilling the Romanian fans with his win over Jean-Paul Mendy in the fourth round. Bute, who's made a habit of finishing opponents with bodyshots in recent years, ended this one with a left upstairs that sent the Frenchman face first to the canvas.

By all accounts, Bute is headed for a 168-pound defence against Kelly Pavlik. The Youngstown, Ohio native has dealt with professional and personal setbacks in the last couple of years, but would be by far the biggest scalp Bute has claimed.

The other notable KO of the weekend started innocently. Really innocently. Rico Ramos and Japanese 122-pound titleholder Akifumi Shimoda threw wispy punches for nearly seven rounds before the American landed a left that lifted Shimoda off the canvas and sent him sprawling. When he tried to get up, he reeled several steps before falling again.

The abbreviated war

Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon said they punch and punch some more, but only the younger Rios had the artillery and reflexes to see it through for the long haul. The first round of this fight was ridiculously brutal, recalling the opening stanzas of Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns and Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales, two legendary fights.

The second round was nearly as good, but Antillon was taking about twice as many punches as he was giving by that point. Rios scored big knockdowns with each hand in the third, and when Antillon lost his legs along the ropes a little while later, the bout was mercifully stopped. Antillon showed a ton of heart, but this had the makings of a very, very dangerous looking fight had it lasted a few rounds more.

Bloody good fun

Jesus Gonzalez prevailed by justifiable decision over Francisco Sierra in a highly entertaining scrap in which each man tasted the canvas and were sliced open by cuts that could've led to a premature end.

I felt like Gonzalez could have pressed towards a stoppage in the last two rounds as Sierra looked completely gassed, but Gonzalez was undoubtedly not feeling so chipper himself.

The robbery

Paul Williams was doing his best Jermain Taylor impression in this bout against Erislandy Lara, showing major signs of slippage despite being fairly young in terms of actual age. In terms of ring wear, Williams wasn't helped by the Cuban's left, which was just about permanently tattooed to his temple. The Georgia native simply couldn't get out of the way of that punch.

Williams moved forward constantly and had his arms moving in windmill-like fashion, but the vast majority of time it was bluster more than  There really isn't a way to justify the decision, but after hearing the decision I thought it was undeniable that Lara cost himself by coasting in the final round.

But in an example of how screwy the judging was, that was only slightly true. Fightnews.com reported that all three judges had Williams ahead after 11. The best Lara could have done barring a knockdown in the 12th would have been a draw.

It's absurd, but often in boxing the market isn't determined by official verdicts like these. Lara, the one who developed a hematoma on his head from a butt, isn't likely to be hurt in terms of his boxing profile.

Calgary native shines

Calgary's Janks Trotter got himself noticed on sports blog The Big Lead with his KO on the undercard of Gonzalez-Sierra. Trotter raised his record to 5-0 by sending Arturo Crespin to the canvas face first, and the canvas hit Crespin harder.

On the same card, undefeated prospect bounced cagey vet Emmanuel Lucero off the canvas four times (I think, I lost count), including one in the first round that really got the Mexican's attention.

Bonus track

Those living in the U.S. with access to Solo Boxeo on the Telefutura network saw a third wicked KO on the weekend, a Jesse Vargas left hook that splayed Walter Estrada on his back.

David Haye went a long way on Saturday to ensuring he will be the most derided heavyweight challenger since Gerry Cooney.

Cooney is a much-admired figure in the boxing world nowadays, as he has his wits about him and has done much to help struggling ex-fighters through his charitable organization F.I.S.T. And his challenge of Larry Holmes in a huge 1982 superfight seems spirited when you watch it on tape today.

But at the time, the effort seemed extremely insufficient given the tremendous buildup of the Great White Hope. Cooney was a pitiable figure immediately after the stoppage loss, lampooned for his excessive low blows during the fight, and his excuses/apologies afterwards.

He wasn't really vilified per se -a process that has begun in earnest with Haye in the non-British press - because he never talked pre-fight trash like the brash Briton did over the past two years when it came to the subject of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko..

Haye is worthy of the criticism after a clear decision loss Wladimir in a ballyhooed fight in front of a drenched stadium crowd in Hamburg on Saturday. Haye had the germ of a fight plan for the first few rounds but then disengaged emotionally and physically.

He then really put his foot in his mouth by talking at length about a broken toe that prevented him from committing to hard punches. While he quickly offered that Klitschko might have been dealing with ailments too, the damage had been done in terms of optics. Haye even had his sock off in the ring and the postfight presser in case anyone doubted him.

Let's be clear about something, however. Wladimir Klitschko didn't really do much to take Haye out of their unification fight. Haye took himself out of the fight. 

The first four rounds of the fight were intriguing - and pretty much even - and the 12th frustratingly for fans saw each man land some hard shots. Too little, too late. The only part of the fight that was a bore was that one round that lasted 21 minutes, otherwise known as rounds 6 through 11.

Let's agree that Haye did next to nothing from about round five to early in the 12th, when he buzzed the Ukrainian-German with a good right.

So then why then didn't Klitschko do more damage?

Where was the footwork to try and pin Haye? Where were the bodypunches that would have helped slow down the smaller man?

There were several instances where Haye missed wildly trying to bridge the height difference. Where were the counter shots on a fighter in a vulnerable position? Klitschko could have offered up an uppercut instead of incessantly pushing down on the smaller man. Haye played that Klitschko tendency to the hilt, flopping to the canvas several times (his equivalent to Cooney's cup blasters).

If you were to ask me to name the 10 most significant right hands in this bout (and there weren't much more than that), I'd say Haye landed about seven of them.

He also made Klitschko miss badly in the first half of the fight. Whenever Haye tried to engage, Klitschko lurched back awkwardly with his head high in the air, benefiting from his considerable height advantage.

I never thought Haye had much of a chance to KO Klitschko heading into the bout. The best tack, in my mind, was a fight plan in the manner of Michael Spinks against Holmes. In that bout, Spinks used movement but also got inside the arms of the bigger man to make him look oafish on several occasions.

That kind of fight was there for Haye make a go at winning but inexplicably he chose to not take the risk. He was the hare hopping around the ring, and Klitschko was the tortoise, plodding forward. Klitschko was effective with the jab in some rounds, but not nearly to the degree that some writers have bestowed upon him.

But Klitschko rightly got the nod because he was moving forward and landing a little bit. And I mean a little bit. In the land that of that ring in Hamburg, he was the one-eyed man.

Bottom line: Neither man covered himself in glory.

I re-watched the fight on Sunday and in round nine the first meaningful right hand Klitschko throws occurs 75 seconds into the round. In the 10th, it took him 90 seconds. (In the interest of fairness, the ninth was one of Klitschko's best rounds as he had a terrific last 60 seconds or so).

It had long been clear by that point that Haye was in self-defeat mode. I really think Klitschko could have stopped Haye had he put his mind to it.

To extend this blog's comparison to its natural end, this wasn't Holmes beating it out of Cooney. Of the three judges I agreed most with Stanley Christodoulou, who had it a six-point margin. I actually had it 8-4. 

I said in my set-up piece last week that this fight was important in terms of each guy's legacy, and it that regard they both failed in my mind. Haye just failed more glaringly.

I'll stand by my assertion in that same piece that both are pretty good fighters. They were wary of each other's power, there was a considerable size discrepancy, and neither really ever counterpunches. Add that all up and you've got a letdown of a fight.

In this Twitter era where everything slightly out of the ordinary is the best or worst ever, there's been a lot of "pathetic" and "shameful" being thrown around in the wake of the fight.

Fine. But did you ever see Pinklon Thomas-Trevor Berbick? I did and I'm still scarred. Mike Tyson's fights with Bonecrusher Smith and Tony Tucker (also unification bouts) were dreadful. Heck, it was more entertaining than Haye pecking and poking at seven-foot embarassment Nikolai Valuev.

It was the type of the fight that will have MMA chirpers gleeful, as if there's never been a relative snoozer in that sport.

Boxing is as much the cagey, slightly crazy vet beating down the younger prospect or the 18-year-old making an exciting pro debut as it is the disappointing heavyweight title fight. Those two other happenings were on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights with wins by Sebastian Lujan and debuting Ivan Najera.

Cooney fought just five more times after Holmes, and was never a serious factor in the division again. Haye might even surpass that level of ambivalence, as he's already been talking about retirement for some time.

It will take a lot more time to rehabilitate his reputation.

The biggest heavyweight boxing match in at least eight years will take place in front of over 50,000 fans this weekend and it will be a defining moment for David Haye.
 
The Brash Briton Haye, with just a handful of heavyweight bouts to his name since leaving his cruiserweight title status, has goaded Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko at every opportunity for the past few years. Haye (25-1, 23 knockouts) didn't even miss a beat after it was he who pulled out of fights with each brother a few years back.
 
There were those who made a mountain out of Haye's withdrawals in 2009, but those bouts were nowhere near ripe. In fact, you could argue that his fight with Wladimir this Saturday afternoon in Hamburg, Germany - HBO Canada is broadcasting at 4:30 p.m. ET - still could use about another year to marinate and reach the kind of mass appeal where it gets talked about incessantly on ESPN and on Internet sports podcasts.
 
But as most know, the division is fairly barren and nothing much can be gained by watching Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs) beat up on a couple more underqualified challengers.
 
Make no mistake, though, this is a defining moment for Klitschko as well.
 
Even with his limited resume, the 30-year-old Haye is clearly a more talented fighter than either Lamon Brewster or Corrie Sanders. Both of those men sent Klitschko sprawling on the canvas to an early stoppage defeat.
 
You can convincingly make the case that Klitschko is a much more well-rounded, mature fighter under Emmanuel Steward since his last defeat to Brewster seven years ago.

Much of that good work in recent years will go for naught with a defeat on Saturday, especially if by knockout. Klitschko will just be seen as a good fighter who was a caretaker of the division through weak times, winning a slew of bouts in large part due to considerable size advantages and not inherent skill.
 
Haye has been such an antagonizing force that some "journalists" have taken to openly rooting for his defeat (cough*Dan Rafael of ESPN*cough). You can almost see the headlines now, even if Haye puts forth a decent showing in defeat.
 
Sure, you can say Haye engendered that kind of adverse reaction himself, but at least give the guy some credit for injecting some interest in the heavyweight division. And it's clear he can fight more than a little bit.
 
Others have said that Haye's plan to retire sooner rather than later is a reason to cheer against him because, if he wins, it "won't be good for boxing."

That's nonsensical. Boxing isn't good for boxing. I think most people just want to see good fights and compelling storylines.
 
We're stepping into the unknown with this one. It's not accurate to call it an even fight but, on the other hand, the 35-year-old Klitschko really hasn't faced this combination of speed and power in a long time - maybe since Sanders in 2003.
 
Because of the other power both men pack and the hatred they've built up, it could be over early. Or they could each be wary of the other and waltz to a 12-round decision. They've got 72 stoppages in 80 combined wins after all.

Klitschko will have about a 30-pound advantage and is three inches taller, but the modest three-inch reach advantage could be negated by Haye's speed and movement. If Haye is to win, think "Michael Spinks-Larry Holmes I" stylistically, and how big the ring ultimately is could have an effect.
 
Whatever happens, it's unlikely I'll be piling on with any extreme opinions. I'll still think these are two pretty good fighters, regardless of the result.

Hopefully, this bout will spark interest in the top heavyweight boxers among the American sports media, but it's neither going to "save" the division nor send it lower than it currently it is.
 
Quick Takes
 
There were two fights last weekend that easily exceeded expectations. Some would argue that the decisions in each went to the wrong fighter and that's the way my scorecards read. But they weren't on the scale of robbery. They were hard-fought encounters in which all four men gave it their all.
 
I thought Matthew Macklin beat middleweight belt holder Felix Strum by a 7-5 count and, if forced to change one of my rounds, I would have gone in the 8-4 direction rather than 6-6. I just thought Macklin clearly won most of his rounds, while Sturm barely won a couple of his. Macklin was basically "in" every round.

(Disclaimer: I watched and scored the bout a couple days later after knowing the result, though I try my best not to care about what prevailing opinions are. The good news is that they're already talking rematch, so Macklin will get another chance to wrest the belt.)
 
I thought Argentine Lucas Matthyse beat Devin Alexander by three points in their junior welterweight, but I was actually more engaged by the St. Louis fighter in this apparently "losing" effort than in his other high profile bouts. In a weird way, I think he might have found a style in the second half of the fight that could work for him - using angles in the middle of the ring and turning his opponent while mixing up his punches. Because when he fights on the outside and flicks his jab and grunts - call him the Maria Sharapova of boxing - he is hardly effective.
 
Many in the boxing world questioned HBO's decision to air Bermane Stiverne-Ray Austin over Cornelius Bundrage-Sechew Powell. It was a longshot that ultimately didn't work. It was pretty clear HBO was hoping the relatively untested but powerful Stiverne would score a sensational KO and give the network a marker to create some excitement in the heavyweight division going forward.
 
Stiverne, who represented Canada as an amateur, did score a sensational knockout in the 10th, but was hardly impressive otherwise. Austin confounded him with nothing more than basic boxing technique aided by a substantial height advantage (there's no way Stiverne is 6-foot-2).

It would be easy to Stiverne on ESPN, but I'm not sure HBO would come calling again unless they had him in with an opponent who doesn't move excessively, like Cris Arreola or Tomasz Adamek.
 
It was two weeks ago, but I have to weigh in on undefeated Saul Alvarez, who's getting the full HBO shine. It's hard to knock a guy who's accomplished so much just shy of his 20th birthday, but I'm having a hard time seeing why I should be lulled into thinking this is one of boxing's next great stars, given his recent efforts. Ryan Rhodes put forth a pathetic effort and it was clear by about the fifth round that there was nothing he could offer that should dissaude Alvarez from attacking. But the stoppage win for Alvarez took seven rounds later. Why?
 
In talking about the red-haired Mexican they call El Cinnamon, some have talked about previous bodypunching specialists Miguel Cotto and Julio Cesar Chavez as far as his star potential.

At this point, Alvarez reminds me of a young Yory Boy Campas, with less power. (A bit of a gatekeeper the past decade, people forget that Campas was a beltholder who troubled Felix Trinidad a bit).

Unsurprisingly, wire service obits of sports broadcaster Nick Charles focused on his long body of work with CNN. But to boxing fans, he was much more than a great foil for Fred Hickman. Around midnight or 1 a.m., after a big heavyweight or middleweight fight in the 1980s and much of the 1990s, you could reliably tune in to the network for post-fight coverage with Charles leading the charge.
 
At a time when most mainstream sports journalists were turning their backs on the sport other than to offer tired punch lines, Charles realized that boxers offer some of the most compelling stories in all of sport. He then joined Showtime and, for years, played the seasoned pro perfectly as a blow-by-blow man, setting up longtime fight writer but TV neophyte Steve Farhood expertly.
 
He will be missed.

Coming Soon

Lucian Bute of Montreal fights in his native land of Romania against Jean-Paul Mendy on July 9.

And the one all hardcore boxing fans are waiting for on July 16: Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon. Each guy believes they are Mexican warriors and never give an each - and they hate each other.

There will be blood. 

Floyd Mayweather is coming back, but for how long?

Mayweather continued his flirtation with boxing and its fans this week, announcing he'll fight World Boxing Council welterweight champion Victor Ortiz in mid-September. That will represent nearly 16 months since his last fight, a significant layoff but much less than the 2 ½ years he took off from 2007 to 2009.

Some of the tea leaves would indicate that this could mean the unbeaten fighter has an eye on Manny Pacquiao in 2012 in what would be the most lucrative bout of all time.

As with many superfights, it would occur when both fighters are technically past their peak. Mayweather will be 35 in 2012, Pacquiao 33.

It didn't escape the notice of Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach that Ortiz is a southpaw like his charge, as well as an action fighter.

No one can compare to Pacman, but of all the welterweight candidates, Ortiz is the closest you'll get.

But don't get too excited about the possibility, this is a tune-up for much bigger things. There are still several factors and obstacles in the way.

One is easy to dispense with. Juan Manuel Marquez may have given Pacquiao fits in two previous fights south of 130 pounds, but in an over-140 bout in November he'll show plenty of heart but not threaten to win.

It's on the Mayweather ledger that things get cloudy.

The Ortiz bout is sandwiched between a misdemeanour battery trial and a more serious preliminary hearing for felonies in an alleged incident involving the mother of two of his children. The latter case could involve prison time.

Also needing to be settled is a defamation suit that Mayweather is facing after strongly hinting that Pacquiao has used non-natural means to rampage up the weight classes (This has depressingly become de rigueur - previously unbeaten Andre Berto wondered on Twitter days ago just how Ortiz could be so physically strong in their recent fight).

There's also the possibility that Mayweather is back in the ring mostly for cash and not the purposes of enhancing his ring legacy in the shape of a career coda against Pacquiao. According to Grand Rapids Press reporter David Mayo, who's followed Mayweather as long as anyone, the fighter is again facing a multi-million dollar tax bill from the I.R.S.
In addition, anyone following Mayweather on Twitter knows that he uses large sums of money for betting on basketball, among other things.

It will be good to see Mayweather back in the ring, and the matchup with Ortiz should provide some compelling moments.

But beyond that, it's foolhardy to say.

Nostalgia sells

What else to make of reports this week that HBO's Boxing After Dark received its highest ratings in four years for a decision win for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over Sebastian Zbik last week?

Zbik is an unknown quantity and his opponent, the son of ring legend Julio Cesar Chavez, has been much maligned for taking the long (very long) road to respectability, feasting on all sorts of flotsam and engaging in a terrific stinker on the biggest stage of his career (the fight before Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto in late 2009).

Some thought he lost to Zbik in a bout for a 160-pound trinket, but I thought it was a clear cut win for the Mexican. The Hungarian Zbik may have been aggressive to a degree in the early rounds, but how effective can it be when you can't crack an egg? As well, Chavez took his will in the late rounds with his attack downstairs.

It was a pretty terrific fight considering the limitations of the fighters involved.

So it appears HBO has an attraction on their hands, but he has to be matched extremely carefully. The network was able to get a ton of mileage out of Arturo Gatti, but the late brawler had legitimate punching power.

Not so with Chavez, and it's hard to see him having a long shelf life. The problem with Junior is that he's too physically big for his style and his talent level. He weighed 180 pounds at fight time against Zbik but fights like a lower-weight fighter, digging to the body and engaging in the trenches.

He's fortunate to be dealing in a division that aside from Sergio Martinez is fairly thin. It's hard to imagine him lasting the distance with Martinez or any of the super middleweights just a few pounds north, including Montreal's Lucian Bute.

Super Two

Carl Froch put forth his third consecutive strong performance on the weekend with a clear decision win over Glen Johnson (one judge had it a draw, which was off-base).

The Super Six super middleweight tournament will come to an end this fall with Froch taking on unbeaten American Andre Ward.

Froch throws punches in bunches and always adapts to what's presented him in the ring. The fact he's full of piss and vinegar outside the ring and has a "glamour model" girlfriend, as they're called in the UK, doesn't hurt.

I still think that just about everything Froch does, Ward does a bit or much better, but it will be a terrific conclusion to the tournament.

What can you say about Bernard Hopkins that hasn't been said before?
 
All-time great, student of the game, iconoclast, royal pain in the ass, street philosopher, proud and worthy carrier of the Philly fighter lineage, provocateur.
 
Now you can add the title of oldest boxing champion of all-time after the 46-year-old beat Laval native Jean Pascal by unanimous decision at Bell Centre on Saturday night. The pair had fought to a draw in Quebec City in December, a bout that divided opinion.
 
This one seemed a bit more clearcut but still fairly close on the cards. Hopkins did next to nothing in three of the rounds, and was legitimately rocked in the fourth and 12th. But in the remainder of the rounds, there was perhaps one that was up for debate. The rest were decidedly for Hopkins, who was more precise and crisp with his punches than in the first fight.
 
I didn't think it was a master class on the order of his late-career performances against Antonio Tarver and Kelly Pavlik, but considering his age as well Pascal's merits, it was quite impressive.
 
Some people saw the Montreal bout as a repeat of the first encounter, but I didn't think so. The two instances where Pascal stunned Hopkins were more significant in terms of punch damage than the two marginal knockdowns he scored in the first fight (though of course, official knockdowns are more impactful on the scorecards).
 
Another theme of the first fight was Pascal's lack of stamina. On Saturday, he didn't look particularly physically tired to me as much as mentally less engaged, no doubt in large part due to the mental games, boxing acumen and unpredictability of Hopkins. It could be accurately said that at the Pepsi Center he was too amped. This time, he often bordered on lethargic.
 
Hopkins, who did pushups in the ring between rounds at one point said he might keep fighting until he's 50.
 
It was nice to hear Hopkins give Pascal some props after the bout. If you were to read some boxing fansites and boards, the fact might be lost on you that no fighter - not Roy Jones, Tarver, Joe Calzaghe, or Felix Trinidad - has inflicted as much damage on Hopkins as Pascal.
 
As well, people forget pretty quickly that in the last few years one of the dominant themes surrounding Hopkins was how boring and stultifying he had become to watch. Pascal was the main reason these two bouts that had plenty of action, both because of his strengths and his faults. Does anyone really think Hopkins-Chad Dawson will be nearly as entertaining?
 
Pascal tried to beat the drums for a rematch, but it's really not necessary.
 
It certainly tarnishes the Quebec fighter's image to lose to a 46-year-old, but if he has the fire in his belly, there's no reason Pascal can't have a fruitful second act to his career. He has physical gifts that most don't possess.
 
The degree to which he can improve his focus, stamina and defence will determine how successfully. (Did Pascal move his head and shoulders to avoid a punch even once on Saturday, as opposed to shifting his entire body downward or back?)

No ducking necessary

On the undercard, "Bad" Chad Dawson returned to the site of his lone loss (to Pascal) and had only a few spots of trouble with Montreal-based Adrian Diaconu.
 
These two were slated to fight in 2007, but when Diaconu got injured, Dawson didn't wait around to reschedule. The American later dropped his trinket to chase a bigger money fight instead of facing Diaconu, prompting a notable Canadian boxing commentator to accuse him of ducking the challenge.
 
The notion seems laughable in light of their fight on Saturday. Diaconu was fortunate he didn't get KO'd, as on a number of occasions he awkwardly lunged and tumbled right into the headlights of oncoming fire. Only Dawson's relative lack of power prevented that from happening.
 
One of the things I like about boxing is that there's no single person outside of the ring who has the authority to tell a fighter to stop, or in the parlance of the UFC, "cut" them.
 
For lack of a better word, the whole notion seems un-American to me. Market forces often help determine the end of a career, and we've seen too many boxers put in terrific performances after they were written off by the "experts".
 
The downside is that boxing is more global than its younger competitor, so there's often a jurisdiction somewhere with a local product who can be matched against a faded champion. The situation is compounded when the old champion is also a promoter.
 
Evander Holyfield was suspended years ago by New York for his own good but has managed to carry on around the world.

A sad reminder
 
On Saturday in Moscow, former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr. clearly wanted to just be competitive and cash a payday against cruiserweight contender Denis Lebedev. Jones didn't make it to the finish line, however, suffering his fourth frightening knockout in the last five years.
 
It wasn't lost on anyone that the latest sad reminder of how far he's slipped came just hours before the Hopkins accomplishment. Jones, almost exactly four years younger, defeated Hopkins by clear decision in May 1993 before both established themselves as stars in the sport.
 
After Hopkins upset Trinidad, there as about an 18-month window where a pairing between them would have been the biggest non-heavyweight bout in the sport. Egos got in the way to scuttle negotiatons, with Hopkins winning a decision in a 2010 bout in which both managed to embarrass (Jones with his effort, Hopkins with his incessant complaining to the ref).
 
Saturday's results brought out the inevitable tortoise/hare comparisons. Jones Jr. had a 15-year as a brilliant fighter, something few can claim. Hopkins built slowly and even had a dip five or six years ago against the likes of Howard Eastman and Jermain Taylor, but has come back with a number of strong results.
 
As with many older fighters, there are rumours that Jones hasn't exactly been the best of money managers. But unlike many ex-fighters, he has a platform and a paying gig through commentary work with HBO Boxing.
 
It seems like pleas from friends to quit the sport haven't worked; you have to wonder if HBO wouldn't get involved. It doesn't exactly enhance the brand to have an expert commentator who's getting battered in the ring every six months.
 
As vexing and arrogant as Jones was in his prime as a person, no one wants to see one of the most talented ever suffer what could be irreversible damage.
 
Boxing is a hurt business and an unpredictable lottery. If Jones were to quit right now, it's still entirely possible that he could be less afflicted by neurological damage in later life than the defensive master Hopkins. 
 
So while we rightly celebrate B-Hop today, let's hope we're not talking about him in the same way in three or four years time.

Can Manny Pacquiao fight 168 pounders?
 
That was my first thought as Andre Ward was combination punching his way to an impressive decision over Arthur Abraham in the Super Six super middleweight tournament bout on Saturday.

It's an absurd thought, but the contrast was striking.

There have been several great 168-pound matchups in the last two years, some involving Ward, and there are likely more to come even in the division even when the tournament ends. Montreal champ Lucian Bute will be among those in that mix.
 
Meanwhile, Pacquiao doesn't appear to have any grave challenges at 147 pounds if a superfight with Floyd Mayweather doesn't materialize - and it doesn't look likely anytime soon.
 
It would be easy to dismiss Ward's win on Saturday, given that Abraham was defeated by both Froch and Andre Dirrell in 2010. But I thought it was notable for a couple of reasons.

Ward stood in the pocket much of the fight, whereas Dirrell, and especially Froch, used a lot of movement to keep away from the bruising Abraham. As well, Ward took some hard shots from Abraham and barely blinked. It was clearly a better and harder punching Abraham than we saw against Dirrell and Froch.
 
What Ward and Pacquiao have in common is they have been among boxing's few bright lights in what hasn't been the best couple of weeks for the sport as far as mainstream attention is concerned, to put it mildly.
 
First, we had Shane Mosley put in a lame effort against Pacquiao in a lopsided decision loss on May 7. All that was expected by most of us was for Mosley to give Pacquiao a couple of rounds worth of exciting exchanges and a few moments of genuine doubt for the Filipino icon, but he failed even by that low standard.
 
Some days later, Mosley and Mayweather separately used the power of the Internet effectively (if effective means in a Rashard Mendenhall kind of way) by pointing to a wholly specious, anyonymous-athon URL that accused Pacquaio of receiving injections of performance enhancing drugs by some fighter, at some time.
 
It is an accusatory theme Mayweather has returned to time and again and it was bickering over blood testing that scuttled negotiations for a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout last year. But it was sad to see Mosley, who received EPO through the BALCO lab, go down that road.
 
Not to be outdone last week, Philadelphia's Bernard Hopkins took time out from preparations for Saturday's rematch in Montreal against Jean Pascal to launch in a tirade against ... former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Huh? 
 
Hopkins has expounded on matters relating to race in the past and the irony was rich given that his last pronouncement on the subject was several months ago, when he questioned whether Pacquiao could defeat an African-American fighter like Mosley. "The Executioner" may have great timing in the ring but not on this count.
 
The frustrating thing about all this is that, if you're a hardcore boxing fan, there has been a ton of great stories and exciting happenings this spring.
 
There was Orlando Salido's upset over previously unbeaten champion Juan Manuel Lopez in a thriller, Erik Morales turning back the clock in a close call to Marcos Maidana in a fight of the year candidate and Victor Ortiz edging Andre Berto in a knockdown fest. Unbeaten fighters James Kirkland and David Lemieux were introduced to the loss column in surprising fashion.
 
Even on the night of the disappointing Pacquiao-Mosley fight, the table was set by a fantastic scrap between veteran Jorge Arce and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Arce won by stoppage in the last round but could probably give some sage advice Vazquez, having lost in similar fashion when he was a young pup to Michael Carbajal in 1998.
 
Yes, boxing has its share of problems and the sport doesn't market itself well. But if you don't know who Arce is yet can name 100 PGA golfers as well as every fighter that's ever stepped into an UFC octagon, that's on you as a sports fan because Arce has been on a number of big boxing pay-per-views and is quite simply one of the most entertaining people and performers in all of sports.

In his native Mexico, he's been on their Big Brother AND Dancing with the Stars, but that would be just a mere curio if he didn't consistently bring the blood and guts nearly every time in the ring.

Do yourself a favour and check his fights out online if you need an introduction.
 
Moving forward, it might be unreasonable to expect the Hopkins-Pascal rematch on Saturday to be as exciting as the first fight, but you never know. There's certainly bad blood between the two and the Laval native wants to prove he can fight a full 12 rounds without tiring against the cagey old pro.
 
Meanwhile, Ward's final tournament opponent will be determined by a June 4 battle between Carl Froch and Glen Johnson, which could turn out to be a Fight of the Year candidate.
 
Those three men, along with Bute, Kelly Pavlik and Mikkel Kessler, could be matched in 2012 in any number of great fights.
 
Hopefully, the fights can speak for themselves over the next little while.

Just one week after a requiem for boxing was written in Canada's "national newspaper" the most lucrative fight in the sport in a year's time will take place Saturday.

I won't rehash my previous response to this kind of thinking, except to say you could probably right a requiem piece for hockey in Atlanta. Doesn't mean it's not wildly popular in other spots and among other ethnic groups, if still a niche sport in the grand scheme of the sporting universe.

While most believe that Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao's 147-pound bout with veteran Shane Mosley in Las Vegas is a bit lacking in the suspense department, it's hard to see it not being exciting for however long it lasts. Neither fighter is inclined to give an inch or wheel around the ring flicking jabs.

There's even some evidence to support the idea that it will be a competitive fight. Mosley has never been stopped, Pacquiao remarkably has never faced an African-American fighter (which in the non-PC world of boxing is code to say he's never faced a guy with exceptional mobility), and estimable Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach for the first time in awhile is not head and shoulders above his counterpart - highly regarded Nazim Richardson is in Mosley's corner.

There's also the nagging question every fight over whether this will be the time Pacquiao pays the piper for too much time spent outside the gym as a congressman/singer/actor/friend to everyone.He's now promoting his latest venture - MP8, a $55 US cologne that combines "fresh bergamot, lemon, and citrus followed by combination punches of lavender, sage, vetiver, and a jab of nutmeg at the bottom."

But even with all of that being said, one eventually comes against cold, hard facts: Mosley is 8-6-1 in his last 15 official results.

Seductive argument

It's true that most of the men to defeat Mosley were physically bigger and/or elusive, and those descriptors don't naturally fit Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts).

But the most vexing fight, if you're trying to talk yourself into betting on Mosley (who at best is being offered at 4-to-1), is his loss to Miguel Cotto, especially after the Puerto Rican was demolished by Pacquiao two years later.

Trainer Richardson has an explanation for that result, believing that a lot of it had to do with Cotto electing to jab and circle in the late rounds, avoiding a firefight.

"Cotto started out aggressive but once he was hit solid he switched to boxing," Richardson has said.

Richardson implied that the southpaw Pacquiao won't be so interested in a free exchange of punches after he tastes the California native's power, and if that happens, the favourite has never shown that he can outbox someone from a distance, because it's not a style he's ever really needed to employ.

It's a seductive argument. I believe Pacquiao would have hit the deck if hit by the same shot Mosley put on Floyd Mayweather in the second round last year. It was one of the best punches of Mosley's entire career.

The counter-argument is that it's unlikely Pacquiao gets hit with that punch without first making significant inroads against Mosley. As well, if Cotto could outbox Mosley, then Pacquiao certainly has the skills to do so if he needed to.

Talent and heart

Mosley (46-6-1, 39 knockouts) was never a defensive expert, even when he had great speed and foot movement, and if he gets a bit weary from the artillery he's facing, what's left for him?

Stating it in the most polite way possible, Mosley has never been a brilliant strategist in the ring. He wins on a combination of talent and heart. The only great fighter he out-thought was Oscar De La Hoya, who was legendary for his brain cramps.

If it's just talent and heart that will decide the outcome, Mosley doesn't have much of a shot given that Pacquiao is seven years younger and close to his prime (if slightly on the other side of it).

Mosley turns 40 in September and it's hard to envision him being able to transition into a cagey style a la greybeard Bernard Hopkins to confuse younger opponents in the ring. Mosley too often paws with the jab and is fairly wedded to an agressive, stalking style.

Mosley also has had a problem staying relaxed against the likes of De La Hoya, Mayweather, and, to a lesser extent, Cotto. The inability to get into a rhythm and have punches flow naturally has been an issue against elite competition. Combined with the fact that most fighters, as they age, have difficulty pulling the trigger on openings they see, it could be a recipe for a KO defeat against someone like Pacquiao.

A lot of hardcore fans are really down on this fight because of those reasons, and many expect a beatdown that will do nothing for Mosley's long-term health. But, really, how isn't this a step up from Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, Pacquiao's 2010 opponents? Mosley offers some mobility and can modify his style somewaht, unlike those two monochromatic, stationary targets.

The middle rounds, when Margarito was able to more or less fight on even terms against Pacquiao, were thrilling, and in the last two bouts the Filipino's face at the end of the night illustrated clearly that he was facing bigger men. Mosley figures to provide some moments of jeopardy; this isn't a dried-out De La Hoya that Pacquiao will be facing.

I think the chins will prevail here. We may see a knockdown or two, but I doubt a knockout is in the cards. Perhaps a stoppage on accumulation. It wouldn't shock me to the core to see Mosley win because of his punching power, as it seems it would for others, but the disparity in punching activity points to an 8-4 type win for boxing's current icon, Manny Pacquiao.

Montreal middleweight boxer David Lemieux will have to go back to the drawing board after he was taken into deep water and couldn't swim his way out of trouble last week.

Lemieux, 22, was stopped in seven rounds at the Bell Centre by Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio in a middleweight bout after stopping 24 of his first 25 opponents.

Lemieux was piling up points through the first five rounds, but there was a sense that Rubio was sopping it all up with a "That all you got?" attitude. The visitor had to know he wasn't getting a decision from the judges in Montreal, but bided his time until the second half of the bout. After all, Lemieux had been past five rounds just once.

For his part, after losing in a mere 33 seconds to Kofi Jantuah in 2004, Rubio has proven to be a durable veteran against world class competition. He wasn't cowering at Lemieux's impressive combinations, as others had.

The Quebec fighter began to tire in the sixth, and Rubio began to close the distance and tag him with shots.

Lemieux was dropped into the turnbuckle in the seventh and eventually stopped. The stoppage could have come even sooner had Rubio mixed up his attack instead of headhunting, but the cagey Mexican got the job done.

It's much too early to write off the Canadian on the basis of one defeat, but it hardly augurs well that he couldn't get the best of a division gatekeeper. And it's debatable at best whether his defence will ever be sufficient against world-class fighters.

Lemieux's defeat was sobering, but not shocking.

That sentiment was produced the next night in Las Vegas, when Nobuhiro Ishida dropped unbeaten American brawler James Kirkland three times in less than two minutes to produce a first-round stoppage.

Kirkland was believed by some, including myself, to be a potential ideal foil for dominant middleweight Sergio Martinex provided he was handled correctly.

Oh, how we were wrong!

Kirkland has a snarling demeanour that recalls a prime Mike Tyson a bit, but unless he can pick up the pieces from an embarrassing performance, he might not even reach the level of underachieving Jeff Lacy, another comparable fighter. At least Lacy won a world belt before fading badly.

Three important things happened to Kirkland since he was seen frequently in the ring racking up noteworthy stoppages in 2009: He went to prison on weapons charges; he parted with longtime trainer Ann Wolfe; and he got out of prison.

The last bit of news should have been a good thing, but he's been rushed back into action at a busy clip. The Ishida fight was his third in a span of 36 days. Granted, he only went three rounds in the previous two fights, but still.

You can't blame Kirkland's handlers for moving aggressively with their charge. The imprisonment wasn't his first brush with the law as he was connected with an armed robbery when he was younger.

The warning signs inside the ropes were there in his March 18 fight, however, when his legs were short-circuited by a right to the temple. He wobbled, but remained upright.

Under Wolfe, Kirkland paid heed to a minimum acceptable level of self-protection and defence. Perhaps trying too hard to make up for the two years he lost, the Texas native has barged in without forethought in his last two fights and Ishida just couldn't miss with his precise punches.

Kirkland may have had a point that referee Joe Cortez was a tad premature with the stoppage against his Japanese opponent, but given that he had no ability to block or elude punches, the merits of letting the fight go on were dubious.

Kirkland only made matters worse by saying after the fight that Ishida didn't have any power and that he wasn't hurt. Better to just say you got caught cold and promise to be back stronger the next time.

Lemieux and Kirkland weren't the only ones to be derailed. Showtime produced a card of undefeated on Friday in which all three undefeated fighters were defeated (including a six-foot-three welterweight named Willie Nelson).

Mexican legend Erik Morales couldn't quite cap off the theme of the weekend with his own upset, but summoned a bit of old magic in losing a close decision to the younger, bigger Marcos Maidana of Argentina.

Some fans on Internet boxing boards complained about the decision, especially the fact that the two judges who scored it for the 27-year-old winner had the margin four points.

It appeared to me watching on the Internet that Maidana won the first three and the last two rounds, so to make the case Morales won more than five of the seven interim stanzas was a bit of a stretch.

But as an overall picture, it "felt" like a pretty close fight because, other than the first five or six minutes when he appeared slow and outclassed, Morales was in it to win it.

Morales, like Ishida, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Rubio, further developed what I thought was a secondary theme of the weekend's action: Sharp technique can quite often trump power, strength and youthful energy.

The only thing preventing an upset was Maidana's will power, which ranks among the best in boxing and overrides his often questionable pacing and conditioning.

You couldn't help feeling of two minds watching the fight. There's an appreciation for what Morales has given fans for the last 14 years or so - he's been among the Top 5 consistently entertaining warriors during that time, probably Top 3. I saw him live once, albeit in a losing cause in the second Manny Pacquiao fight (people forget he was winning that fight against Pacman, too, until the Filipino started using a body attack and movement in about Round 5 or 6 to turn it around).

But there was also the realization that the stirring performance will mean the 34-year-old Morales will step in the ring a few more times.

That really won't prove much or be good for his long-term health. But that's why they're called fighters - they don't go gently into the night.

Boston won for the fourth time in its last five games on Tuesday night, which could be a sign that they're a serious challenger for the Eastern crown.

The Bruins did what they should have against a Chicago team that was playing one night after a pitched battle with Detroit. They rode things out early and then pounced as the Blackhawks began to tire in the second half, winning 3-0.

ESPN.com beat reporter James Murphy was able to get a few Bruins to respond on Monday - off the record - and those that did said they'd prefer a first-round matchup with the Rangers rather than the Canadiens.

Boston has scored just 11 goals in their last eight games against the Rangers. But it's also true that New York exerts a tremendous amount just to eke out 1-0 or 2-1 win over the Bruins. Could they do that in a sustained fashion over a long series? Possible, but debatable.

But that's not what makes the New York players' playoff preference a curious stance.

The reason for the preference, it was conveyed, was the media circus that a Montreal series would entail. The bitter rivals would be adding to their NHL record of playoff battles, but this time with the spectre of Zdeno Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty and the resulting fallout.

From a human perspective, that's understandable, but from a hockey standpoint the salient question is: Where do the Bruins get off expressing any kind of preference?

From an optics standpoint, a team that blew a pair of 3-0 leads in the playoffs last spring shouldn't be saying that they'd rather fly under the radar and not have to deal with increased media attention. A team in that position should be taking a welcome-all-challengers approach, especially toward a dreaded rival that has killed the franchise's playoff dreams more than 20 times. You should want to slay some dragons, not consult the map for an alternate route to your preferred destination.

The Bruins should follow the lead of their captain, who's played some of his best hockey since his hit on Pacioretty.

It would be one thing if the Bruins had showed improved resilience this season to back up such talk, but in reality the results have been decidedly mixed.

A victory on Sunday over Philadelphia was a good first step. The Flyers scored first but the Bruins won 2-1.

But, all told, Boston's record on weekend games has been dreadful this season. The Bruins have won just five of 17 Saturday games (5-5-7).

They may want to change whatever they're doing to prepare on Fridays, because all indications are that the NHL will still schedule Saturday games in the post-season.

An early March game against a PIttsburgh team without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin - also on a Saturday - was a good microcosm of how unpredictable the Bruins can be.

Boston started off strongly and scored the first goal. But when Jordan Staal responded for the Pens, several Bruins had that same rattled look they had when the Flyers made the score 3-1 in Game 7 last season. It was if they couldn't believe the opponent had the temerity of, you know, not folding up shop after the mighty Bruins had scored.

Pittsburgh quickly scored to take the lead and it took awhile for Boston to get out of the fog. The positive? The Bruins tied it in the last minute of the third. The negative? They proceeded to lose in OT, part of their dismal 3-10 mark in extra time. 

It wouldn't take long for any serious Boston fan to recount how past playoff teams were done in by their inability to strike in overtime.

There's a lot to like about the Bruins, from their goaltending to decent forward depth and the reinforcements they made before the deadline.

Montreal has a winnable game against Carolina on Wednesday, and the Rangers visit Buffalo. Depending on what shakes out, a 3 vs. 6 matchup with the Habs could be closer to happening, so Boston better be prepared.

Let's go streaking

Detroit has the chance Wednesday to reach 100 points for the 11th consecutive season. The Wings are also unmatched when it comes to consecutive playoff appearances.

The following represents how many years in a row each team will have made the playoffs (should they make it, in many cases):

Who is the Felix Hernandez of hockey? Who is the Dice K equivalent, feasting on great offensive support?

Below you'll find the goal production the No. 1 goalies for NHL clubs have received in their starts this season.

This analysis was influenced by a couple of recent events - Montreal's goalless drought of historic proportions, and watching a 1-0 Boston loss to the New York Rangers on the weekend.

And in general, I've always felt it strange that when it comes to goalie awards, things like offensive support and the quality of the netminder's teammates go almost completely ignored in the analysis - see Jimmy Howard getting nominated for the Calder over Tuukka Rask last season.

Boston's 1-0 loss to New York confirmed the notion, having watched several Rask starts this season, that the Bruins generally have given him dreadful goal support. To be exact, they've averaged 2.36 goals in his starts.

The degree to which the Habs haven't helped Carey Price brings to mind their lack of offensive support for him last season when he was a backup to Jaroslav Halak. You could argue it helps burnish Price's Vezina bona fides over someone like Tim Thomas, who's received strong goal support. But a breakdown of the numbers also support the contention that goalies like Henrik Lundqvist and Pekka Rinne and even Jon Quick are more deserving of hardware than Price.

That's the fun thing about stats.

The abbreviations stand for Games Started, Goal Support Average, how many times his team was Shutout By the other club, and the 'No Help' Ratio (those shutout games as a percentage of total starts). Obviously the lower the NHR, the better.

It's not a perfect system but it's worth considering. These stats were crunched in one prolonged session so I'll allow for the possibility of a niggling adding error but nothing that would radically alter the findings.

GOALIE	TEAM	GS	GSA	SOBY	NHR
Martin Brodeur	NJ	50	2.07	5	.100
Jon Quick	LA	55	2.42	5	.091
Niklas Backstrom	MIN	48	2.44	4	.083
Jaroslav Halak	STL	51	2.47	0	.000
Tomas Vokoun	FLA	55	2.47	5	.091
Pekka Rinne	NSH	58	2.50	6	.103
Carey Price	MTL	65	2.55	7	.101
Steve Mason	CBJ	49	2.71	3	.061
Jonas Hiller	ANA	46	2.71	3	.065
Cam Ward	CAR	67	2.73	4	.060
Marc-Andre Fleury	PIT	57	2.74	5	.088
Ondrej Pavelec	ATL	50	2.74	1	.020
Dwayne Roloson	TB	29	2.76	0	.000
Antti Niemi	SJ	55	2.80	4	.073
Kari Lehtonen	DAL	60	2.83	3	.050
Ilya Brzygalov	PHX	62	2.87	6	.097
Henrik Lundqvist	NYR	61	2.88	1	.016
Miikka Kiprusoff	CGY	67	2.96	3	.044
Ryan Miller	BUF	63	3.02	4	.063
Roberto Luongo	VAN	56	3.04	4	.071
Michal Neuvirth	WSH	40	3.05	2	.050
Jimmy Howard	DET	58	3.26	2	.034
Corey Crawford	CHI	47	3.26	1	.021
Tim Thomas	BOS	50	3.36	5	.100
Sergei Bobrovsky	PHI	46	3.37	5	.109

What jumps out?

Corey Crawford and Sergei Bobrovsky have been impressive rookie stories, but they haven't exactly wanted for goal support on the order of a Halak. Bobrovsky on average has received more help, but his team has also been shut out more than Crawford's.

On that side of the goal scoring continuum, it also leads further fuel to the notion that it would be fascinating to see just how good Howard would be on a team not named the Red Wings.

Speaking of Halak, St. Louis managed to pull off the tricky feat this year of being the last NHL club to be shut out while offering middling goal production.

Obviously these stats somewhat mirror a team's overall ranking in goal production, but it's crystallized in better terms when you see a goalie's name attached to the production level.

And there are some variations. As awesome as Thomas has been, the Bruins for the second straight season don't give their goalies comparable goal support for some strange reason. Boston averages 2.99 goals per game - they're way under that standard when Rask plays and way over when Thomas does. Astute Boston fans will know this has been the reverse of last season, where Thomas lost his job to Rask but actually didn't play terribly. He was often done in by a lack of support.

Lundqvist's goal support is somewhat misleading, as New York had a trio of shutout games in which they outscored the opposition by a combined 20-0 (pummelling Washington in two of those games). Those one-sided games bumped up his goal support by about 0.16. But you can strongly argue Lundqvist deserved those nice one-sided nights at the office as he's also presided over a trio of 1-0 wins for New York this season, as well as a 2-0 shutout that featured an empty-net goal with three seconds left.

It was no secret that Niemi struggled early this season in San Jose, but it's also true that the Sharks were shut out four times in his first 23 starts. They've hit the scoreboard in all of his subsequent starts.

The reverse scenario has played out with Fleury. Dan Bylsma's receiving a lot of chatter for Jack Adams for keeping the Penguins in the Eastern title hunt without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but a lot of the credit has to do with Fleury.

The Penguins have been shut out five times in Fleury's last 23 starts, averaging just 2.17 goals per game. But he's been outstanding in all but a few games, lowering his goals-against average to 2.28 despite the heavy rotation of AHL teammates.

Interesting note about Lehtonen. Dallas has given him decent offensive support, but each of the three games the Stars were shut out were 1-0 regulation losses. A total of zero points gained despite a .958 Lehtonen save percentage in those games. If Dallas should fall one point short of a playoff spot, remember that stat.

Nobody's going to feel sorry for future Hall of Famer Brodeur. But he did endure one stretch where his teammates scored just one goal in seven of eight games played.

The cliche "new lease on life" fits Roloson with respect to his trade to the talented Lightning. In his first 20 starts this season with the Islanders, teammates scored 1.90 goals per game and were shut out three times.

You may have noticed a few teams' goalies were not in the chart, mainly because their goaltending scenarios were too convoluted. We apologize to any offended Islander or Avalanche fans, but when Peter Budaj faithfully allows at least three goals per game, does it really matter? And frankly, New York's use of 14 goalies this season was too frightening to contemplate tackling.

Also worth mentioning - Braden Holtby truly has been amazing. The Caps have scored just 29 times in his 12 starts (2.42) and been shut out twice.

Cancon

A trio of Canadian teams have endured unpredictable goaltending scenarios this season, and are worth discussing.

While it remains to be seen whether Craig Anderson is worthy of his recent contract extension, he's given Ottawa better results than Brian Elliott did with fairly similar goal support (though in fairness to Elliott, his sample size was much larger).

In Edmonton, the Oilers have averaged 2.57 goals when Devan Dubnyk has started, compared to 2.19 when veteran Nikolai Khabibulin is in the crease. In addition to his poor numbers, perhaps yet another plank to support the contention Edmonton should write off as much of that dreadful contract they inked him to in the summer of 2009.

We've left Toronto for last because a) it's the centre of the universe; and b) it's the team that CBCSports.ca and Hockey Night in Canada to a man root for to win the Stanley Cup.

Just seeing if you're paying attention. Seriously, the breakdown is fascinating.

GOALIE	GS	GSA	SOBY	NHR
Jonas Gustavsson	21	2.14	5	.238
Jean-Sebastien Giguere	26	2.42	4	.154
James Reimer	29	3.07	2	.007

You could draw one or both of the following conclusions - that James Reimer is a bit overrated, or that the Leafs love to play for the popular Reimer.

It will be interesting to see next season with more evidence which of those holds must true.

I have a number of pet peeves when it comes to hockey writing, blather and coverage that I regale (tire) everyone around the office with.

Now it's your turn!

A couple surround faulty math and reasoning. For example, I bet you read or heard this morning about the Toronto Maple Leafs being three points out of a playoff spot.

They are no such thing.

They have played two more games than eighth-place Buffalo. Even if the games played were equal, the Sabres possess more non-shootout wins (the first tiebreaker) and currently hold the series lead.

The only tournament three points gains Toronto players entry to is the Poker Stars bonanza. 

It might seem like nitpicking any other month, but once we get into March, people need to start paying attention to these "technicalities." They're kind of important.

The second peeve is all the "If the playoffs started today" pages you see round about this time. Invariably they just regurgitate the standings page.

Wrong.

You might as well then call the exercise: "If the playoffs started today and not a single team with games in hand gained any more points."

Which, when you think about it, is impossible since teams with games in hand might very well play other teams with games in hand. Even 0-0 games in the NHL get settled with a 'W.'

How can you do such an exercise when teams have played uneven numbers of games?

That's why I submit that once the all-star break passes that hockey writers and sites should start broadcasting points-per-game averages for the teams. It's not perfect (it fails to take in account tiebreakers between any two teams next to each other in the standings) but it's more accurate.

You'll likely see a lot written in the coming weeks about Calgary squandering their big run in the last couple weeks. But the truth is, it was a somewhat ephemeral rally based on their advantage in games played over all other rivals. Yes, they were in the Top 8 for a bit, but they were never really fourth as the "flat" standings at one point suggested.

Admittedly, we're at the point of the season where these averages are less mutable by individual game results, but if you're doing to do the "If the playoffs" exerecise, do it right. There's a couple of key changes for playoff matchups in the West if we did it My Way.

Dallas (1.178 points per game played) at Vancouver (1.419)

Nashville (1.2) at Detroit (1.284)

Chicago (1.205) at San Jose (1.267)

LA (1.216) at Phoenix (1.224)

Makes a difference. Most chumps probably have the Canucks in line to play the Ducks, but Anaheim's regulation loss in Nashville last night was huge, putting them just a hair below the Stars.

Also, a standings rehash would have Chicago in seventh, but the Hawks have two games in hand on the sixth-place Preds. According to average, they'd make up that two points (and they own more non-shootout wins). This method sets up the possibility of Chicago meeting familiar face Antti Niemi in the first round.

The East remains unchanged no matter which way you slice the standings today: Buffalo at Philadelphia, Rangers at Washington, Montreal at Boston and Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh.

But who knows what the weekend will bring?

Smashville

We talked about the fascinating parts of Anaheim's playoff push yesterday - two goalies not with the team just weeks ago, and a string of stirring comebacks.

They nearly pulled another off Thursday but dug too big a hole in Music City.

Nashville has their own interesting stories.

Jordin Tootoo scored last night for the first time since his return from counselling and treatment.

David Legwand may still be one of the worst contracts in the NHL, but he now has six goals and 10 assists in the last 14 games.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is that as the games have gotten more important, the Predators have gotten younger. Some of it was by necessity of course, with Steve Sullivan and Matt Lombardi suffering long-term injuries.

But Nashville's on-ice lineup if currently 26 years old, on average.

It would be wrong to overstate their importance, but Nashville has Howie Morenz scion Blake Geoffrion and puckhandling defenceman Jonathan Blum playing regular minutes.

Potting a goal against Anaheim was 22-year-old Nick Spaling, in his first full NHL season though technically not a rookie.

Former Canadian world junior member Matt Halischuk didn't play against the Ducks, but he's been in the lineup in several March games.

Finally, there is 28-year-old Pekka Rinne, en route to another ho-hum seven shutout season (with improvements in his goals against and save percentage in this his third season).

By accounts of those at the game, Rinne contributed to a misleading score by making several huge saves in the early going.

You have to wonder if Rinne will go unnoticed in the Vezina list making due to the accomplishments of Eastern goalies Carey Price, Tim Thomas and Henrik Lundqvist.

The Anaheim Ducks kept hold of eighth place with a thrilling comeback win in Dallas on Wednesday night, and by Friday could be as high as sixth in the Western Conference.

It's been a pretty noteworthy run considering they've been without their top goalie since just after the all-star break and also played several games without power forward Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne.

And they're doing it in dramatic fashion.

When Cam Fowler scored at 1:42 of extra time in a 4-3 win over the Stars, it represented the third consecutive overtime win for Anaheim. The Ducks needed Selanne to score with just six seconds left in the third just to get to that point.

It was the second time in three weeks they stunned the Stars in late fashion, as they tied a March 4 game with 63 seconds left before winning in OT.

Anaheim ran their record to 13-5 in extra time games, a mark only surpassed by the New York Rangers.

Corey Perry continued his push for Hart Trophy finalist inclusion, scoring for the ninth time in the last seven games, to go with three assists. Relatedly, Ryan Getzlaf has two goals and nine assists during that same span.

One coach conspicuously absent from the Jack Adams talk is Randy Carlyle, but he's helped the Ducks stay in the thick without Jonas Hiller, who was having a Vezina finalist type season until his vertigo-like ailment.

And you'd have to figure Bob Murray would get some consideration for top GM honours this off-season.

Anaheim began to flounder with Curtis McElhinney filling in for Hiller, and Murray made two moves that have helped save the team's season - trading for Dan Ellis and signing comebacking Ray Emery to a two-way contract. Both goalies have posted huge wins in the last week.

As well he shipped out a forward who wasn't fitting in after a long injury layoff (Joffrey Lupul) for a familiar face (Francois Beauchemin) who's logged over 25 minutes in each of the past three games.

Anaheim is far from being in a comfortable place. They play Thursday in Nashville and two nights later in Chicago.

April includes two games each with the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings, and a return engagement with the Stars. So Dallas may indeed get the ultimate revenge.

It's a tough road for the Ducks, but for Lubomir Visnovsky's sake, you'd hope they get in. The veteran defenceman went to the playoffs in his first two NHL seasons with Los Angeles and hasn't been back since. That was in 2002.

Talking droughts

Speaking of personal playoff droughts, Jay Bouwmeester was a minus-2 last night as Calgary's already slim hopes took another hit in a 6-3 loss in San Jose.

At 629 games played, and with the Flames unlikely to make the post-season. Bouwmeester could hit 700 plus games before reaching the playoffs.

Teammate Olli Jokinen reached nearly 800 games before his first in 2009, breaking the drought record Guy Charron held for decades. Charron never played an NHL post-season game despite 734 regular-season appearances. 

Now on to the main course.
 
Lucian Bute put forth another dazzling display in Quebec on Saturday, drubbing Brian Magee in the 10th round in his debut on Showtime, but now, finally, he will take on an opponent worthy of his stature.
 
Bute enhanced his reputation as one of boxing's most dynamic fighters, and more tellingly, one of its best bodypunchers in the win at Bell Centre. It was the seventh defence of his International Boxing Federation super middleweight title.
 
The bout was competitive for three rounds but then the difference in class began to show through. The Irishman only had one plan of attack behind his southpaw style, and Bute began to use more angles and footwork to riddle his game opponent.
 
The challenger's resistance wore down a little, and then Bute attacked the solar plexus.
 
Magee showed tremendous heart getting up from multiple knockdowns after body blows that were excruciating sitting in a living room watching the proceedings. One can hardly imagine what they must have felt like in reality.
 
All indications are that Bute will take his Kid Gavilan-like bolo punch to the body and unbeaten record into a big bout later this year against Mikkel Kessler.
 
It's about time.
 
Kessler might not exactly be great, but the Dane is darned good.
 
Because while Bill Beacon of The Canadian Press described Bute last week as "the man considered the best in the world in the 168-pound division" that's not even remotely the case in the minds of any objective, knowledgeable boxing fans I've talked to or come across on the internet.
 
The Montreal native could be one day soon, but he isn't right now. And he won't be with a win over Kessler, but it's a big step in the right direction.
 
Both Ring Magazine and Fightnews.com have Andre Ward as the top fighter in the division, and Fightnews even has Carl Froch ahead of Bute in its rankings.
 
Those two men are still vying to win Showtime's Super Six division champ, and Kessler was in that tournament for a while before bailing.
 
Bute wasn't included in the competition, but in a way it's turned out to be an advantage. The 31-year-old has developed his skills while the rest of the division's best have beat on each other a little bit. Only Ward hasn't dropped a fight in the tournament, with Froch, Kessler, Andre Dirrell and Arthur Abraham all tasting defeat.
 
Abraham, for example, was believed by many to be top dog in the division heading in to the multiple-stage event, but he's lost about 75 per cent of the rounds in dropping fights to Dirrell and Froch.
 
For his part, Kessler is by far the best opponent Bute has faced. Remember, Bute would have been stopped by dogged-but-limited Librado Andrade had their October 2008 fight had just 30 more seconds on the clock.
 
Bute has blown by his next five opponents in admirable fashion, including Andrade in a rematch. But he still has to show how he'll respond when a top-notch opponent is fighting back hard in rounds 10 to 12.
 
Kessler showed even in his one-sided loss to Ward that he was still trying, even if futilely, until the bitter end.
 
He's also fought a hard 12 rounds against both Froch and retired great Joe Calzaghe.
 
Kessler's a tad slow and mechanical but not ponderously so, and he throws every punch in the book.
 
Few in the sport possess the combination of speed and power Bute does offensively, but he carries that right hand awfully low. In addition, he doesn't move his head as much as you'd think someone with his speed would.
 
We've seen him swell up considerably against the decent opposition he's faced. He'll have to shore up defensively against Kessler, let alone Froch or Ward.
 
What happens if the better fighters protect their midriff from harm by covering up and keeping their distance? Does Bute have the power to hurt them upstairs? Kessler, Froch, Abraham and Ward could all be said to possess good to strong whiskers.
 
Bute-Kessler is a mouth watering fight, and it's one I'll have to work out in my mind for awhile before I have a prediction I'm very confident in.
 
Bute is now aligned with Showtime and there's plenty of great matchups in store should he beat Kessler. Maybe it'll happen one day, but I can't help thinking right now that Bute against middleweight Sergio Martinez (tied to HBO right now) would be about the second or third most electric matchup that could be made in boxing.

Klitschko hits the right spot
 
While Bute seems assured of a stronger challenge the next time out, that may not be the case with Vitali Klitschko.
 
Klitschko dispatched previously unbeaten Odlanier Solis at the end of the first round in a bout on Saturday that left a bad taste for most.
 
There was a bit more anticipation than usual for a Klitschko bout because Solis was an Olympic super heavyweight champion, and had a shot at becoming the first ever Cuban pro heavyweight champion.
 
For two minutes and change he was winning the round and set up some potential intrigue but then he got caught with a high punch. He fell awkwardly, got up, stumbled and limped around. That was it.
 
Many questioned the veracity of his injury, but why exactly would he quit when he started better against Klitschko than anyone has since the Ukrainian came out retirement in 2008?
 
I think people underappreciated the punch. It wasn't highlight reel, 10-count material, but it was damaging stuff.
 
The right spot for Bute was the breadbasket, but in this case it was the temple.
 
Sometimes people miss what's happening while watching a fight, myself included. But on this occasion, as soon as Klitschko connected with a short right to the top left of the head, I knew Solis was in serious trouble.
 
It was the right spot - an equilibrium shot to the temple that shortwires the brain and affects the legs.
 
We saw the same thing in the boxing world the previous night when unbeaten James Kirkland took a shot that didn't so much bother him upstairs, but made his left leg do things he didn't have control over.
 
Difference is, Kirkland is driven and in shape. The most polite description for Solis's body type is barrel-shaped.
 
The replays confirmed it was a decent punch. Remember, Klitschko is six-seven, 250 pounds. Solis immediately pulled his gloves up to his head earmuffs style like Mike Tyson frequently did to signal when he was in trouble.
 
The punch came before the leg injury, not vice versa. Would Solis have survived a follow-up attack if his leg was fine? I'm not so sure.
 
After Klitschko beat Chris Arreola about 18 months or so ago, I wrote in this space that he was the most unbeatable heavyweight since Mike Tyson.  

I took great pains to state I didn't think he was an all-time great or better at his peak than Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe or Lennox Lewis were at theirs.
 
I do think his younger brother Wladimir is a better all-around fighter. Wladimir has taken strides in the last couple of years, while Vitali's looked a bit gassed at times in a couple of his fights and is nearly 40.
 
But Vitali's size, the fact he's never been knocked down since coming to prominence, and surveying the landscape, I still believe he's less vulnerable than his brother, who's been chinny in the past.
 
Vitali's now 7-0 with five knockouts since coming out of a four-year retirement, and he's maybe lost about three of 62 rounds fought.
 
What was a bit Pollyannaish from that previous column was my hopeful note about the future. I mentioned a bunch of unbeaten guys, none of whom have panned out, with a few of them destroyed with impunity by one of the brothers.
 
There are a couple of things to look forward to in the immediate future, but the long-term future doesn't look great.
 
Brash Briton David Haye is to fight Wladimir in July, but if the younger brother's pesky rib injury isn't co-operating, Vitali supposedly will step in.
 
The other brother may then fight Tomasz Adamek in September or so. The Polish fighter will give away much size, but will give every ounce of blood and sweat in the ring.
 
It's probably not going to turn the division around. But they are legitimately good matchups, and people have no right to squawk if they end within three rounds.
 
Beyond that, who knows? And to be honest, I don't care.
 
We see a lot of mourning for the good old days of the heavyweight division - and they were great. But I think people are bringing a lot of assumptions and biases to the table. Who ever said anything in sports was guaranteed in perpetuity?
 
If you haven't noticed, the demographics of the sport have changed, and many of the places where boxing is one of the top sports, well, they're not exactly teeming with heavyweights.
 
So be it. I don't see a lot of two-way football players, complete game pitchers or 130-point scorers in the NHL anymore and I also still enjoy those sports just fine.

The Anaheim Ducks won 2-1 over St. Louis on Wednesday, which didn't just mark the first win for goalie Ray Emery in over a year.

Anaheim is now technically in eighth over Calgary, meaning all five Pacific Division teams would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

In the era of the two-point game this would be very unlikely to happen.

But in assessing whether the five are among the eight because of parity or strong lineups, it seems to be very much a case of the latter argument.

The Pacific has seen 40 of its 60 games played (I may be off by a game, don't sue me), and just 10 of them have gone into extra time.

So fans of the Calgary Flames can't exactly use the three-point game as an excuse.

If you look at non-shootout wins (bottom of the page), only Dallas is not in the top 8 in the West. And barely at that.

For the record, the Stars have seen the most Pacific extra time games by a fair margin.

Of course, with about 20 Pacific matchups to go and teams desperate for points, the incidence of overtime games could very well increase.

Sobering stuff for the Flames.

Phoenix and San Jose still have to play three more times, while Anaheim and Los Angeles get three short travel days late in the season against each other.

Thursday's big games.

Elsewhere on the site you can find: Toronto-Florida, Edmonton-Phoenix, Calgary-Colorado, New Jersey-Ottawa and Montreal-Tampa Bay.

Blackhawks at Stars

Standing: Chicago 84 points (6th), Dallas 82 (7th)
Non-shootout wins: Blackhawks 33, Stars 32
H2H: Stars 1-1-1, Blackhawks 2-1 (Teams play 4) 

Bruins at Predators

Standing: Boston 87 points (3rd in East), Nashville 80 (10th in West)
Non-shootout wins: Bruins 37, Predators 29
H2H: None, irrelevant 

Wild at Sharks

Standing: San Jose 88 points (3rd), Minnesota 77 (11th)
Non-shootout wins: Sharks 35, Wild 33
H2H: Sharks 1-2, Wild 2-1 (Teams play 4) 

Blues at Kings

Standing: Los Angeles  85 points (4th), St. Louis 71 (13th)
Non-shootout wins: Kings 33, Blues 27
H2H: Blues 3-0, Kings 0-3 (Teams play 4) 

Non-shootout wins

The following is the list organized by most non-shootout wins, which will be the first deciding criteria for any tie in the standings. The team's actual position in the current standings is in the bracket - here's the traditiaonal standings page. We've only included teams with a feasible shot of making the playoffs.

Eastern Conference:

Philadelphia 41 (1)
Washington 38 (2)
Boston 37 (3)
Pittsburgh 36 (4)
Montreal 36 (6)
Tampa Bay 33 (5)
New Jersey 30 (11)
Rangers 29 (7)
Sabres 29 (8)
Carolina 28 (9)
Toronto 26 (10)
Atlanta 26 (12)

Western Conference:

Vancouver 42 (1)
Detroit 38 (2)
San Jose 35 (3)
Anaheim 34 (8)
LA 33 (4)
Phoenix 33 (5)
Chicago 33 (6)
Minnesota 33 (11)
Dallas 32 (7)
Nashville 29 (10)
Calgary 28 (9)
Columbus 28 (12)
St. Louis 27 (13)

The NHL could see a leading scorer under 50 goals for the first time since before the lockout.

Only Steven Stamkos has what seems to be a likely shot at reaching the mark, with 43 goals currently. (I do appreciate the positivity of you Vancouver loyalists who think Daniel Sedin can bury a dozen more).

The season before the lockout, the NHL saw three players tied with the distressingly Original Six-like total of 41 goals to lead the league, which helped usher in changes to free up the game.

Those changes, over time, have led to more hitting, dangerous plays, and speed.

Goal totals have been affected this season in which marquee players have been sidelined. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Getzlaf and Derek Roy have missed significant time, while others like Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards have been out of the lineup for multiple games at a time.

Last season saw three 50-goal men and four others with over 40.

It seems unlikely that seven players will finish over 40 this season, though it's not out of the realm of the possible: Eight have 32 goals or more as of this writing.

The most positive spin to put on goal scoring is that the distribution at the lower end of noteworthy goal scoring continuum is not too shabby. For example, there are 74 players who are over 20 goals currently, with many new names dotting that list: David Jones, Milan Lucic, Blake Comeau and Brian Boyle, among others.

As well, Michael Grabner, Jeff Skinner, Logan Couture, Taylor Hall have hit 20, and there's a legitimate shot for seven or eight rookies to reach the mark, the most since the double cohort of rookies coming out of the lockout in 2005-06. Recent years have seen typically just three or four 20-goal rookies.

Last season, 110 players finished with 20 or more. Given the fact that 149 players are currently with at least 15, it's quite possible that will be bettered - in essence, almost exactly a quarter of those currently in the high teens would need to reach 20 to better last year's mark.

It will be intriguing to see how many 30-goal men there will be at the end of the season, following a total of 24 in 2009-10.

Currently, 11 players have reached the 30-goal mark, so there's catching up to do.

But all told, there's 25 players with at least 25 goals but not yet 30. So about 60 per cent of them could conceivably convert to represent an slight overall uptick in the 30 club.

If Eric Staal scores Wednesday against Toronto or Phil Kessel or Alex Ovechkin net two on Wednesday, they'll get there.

Kessel would hit 30 for a third straight year despite a long period of media scrutiny and tumult due to a drought.

As well, while Washington's recent play is admirable, it's hard to believe we're talking about Ovechkin just shy of 30 goals in mid-March.

Seen on Twitter

therealjonneely (Jon Neely):
Scouting report on James Reimer: shoot high. Scouting report on J.S. Giguere: shoot at the net. #Leafs

SensReporter (James Gordon):
Kovalev video tribute met with smattering of applause, boos. Kovie horks on bench in response.

Cycling

The Toronto Star's Mark Zwolinski provides a little more background on recent acquisition Jake Gardiner, on the occasion of the defenceman signing a pro contract.

Deborah Petley of the Calgary Herald on the passing of a local minor hockey legend, Murray Copot.

Hockey History

Here's a weird one we dug up:

On this date in 1983, Danny Gare of the Detroit Red Wings scored the tying and winning goals in a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Noteworthy game for Gare? That's an understatement. He and the Wings brass were informed by the RCMP before the game that a death threat had been called in to a Toronto radio station from of all places, Las Vegas.

Gare wore a flak jacket and admitted it weighed heavily in the first period.

He may have had a difficult conversation with his wife afterward. He admitted to reporters he didn't tell her of the threat, so as not to worry her.

Over a quarter century later, Gare was a TV commentator for the Blue Jackets when a crackpot Calgary fan allegedly called in a death threat to then rookie goalie Steve Mason.

Calgary and Nashville are battling for the last playoff spot. Well, they kinda are right now, but we mean in the final week of the season.

Both club are tied in points as each plays their 82nd game on the final Saturday.

Calgary has two more overall wins than the Predators and swept the season series 4-0.

Sounds like a perfect setup, and the folks at Hockey Night in Canada are excited for the final game of the doubleheader, Calgary against Vancouver.

And ... the possibility exists that game will be rendered meaningless by the first intermission.

Possibly even at puck drop if Nashville is blowing out St. Louis in an 8 p.m. start.

Why?

Because starting this season, the primary tiebreaker in the standings is non-shootout wins. If Nashville holds an advantage of two more non-shootout wins heading into that final night, that's all she wrote. They just need to handle their business and not waste time sweating it out for the Calgary game against the Canucks.

We'll take the scenario one step further. Calgary's penultimate game is April 6, a full five days before the end of the season. If they are two points behind Nashville in the standings at the end of the night and have two fewer non-shootout wins, that's it folks, they're done, no matter what the overall wins or season series looks like.

The new system also applies to draft order. Sure it's a lottery system, but shouldn't the team with fewest wins get the better odds, not the team with fewer non-shootout wins?

Obviously any tiebreaking system can lead to quirks.

The impetus for this change was to motivate teams to finish more regular season business in regulation and before the shootout, as shootout games had crept up.

But have NHL GMs thought this all the way through for all the unintended consequences?

Listen, the change isn't going to produce seismic changes and our scenario rested on the extreme side of the continuum. But it will help determine placement in the standings, and more importantly: Why blunt the impact and suspense of any games during the final weekend?

The NHL needs to decide if the shootout is important or not, not just kinda important.

The change also needlessly complicates the chase for the fans - with overall wins, you knew where you stood.

Another quirk: We could see a few teams pulling the goalie in overtime in the final days of the season. Maybe that's not a huge deal but it seems optically kind of dumb for a team to need to pull a goalie in an even game because a shootout result is anathema.

(Greybeard fans will know of the 10-2 Chicago win over Montreal in the early 1970s, when goals were the primary tiebreaker and the Habs tried in vain to match the Rangers' goal total).

The overtime/shootout dividing line could also come into play with post-season matchups. Teams say they don't care about who they face in the first round, but do you believe them? In theory, it'd be a lot easier to coast through a five-minute 4-on-4 session to get what they perceive as a favourable matchup than an entire game.

At the very least the league - and maybe they've thought about this, I don't know - should leave final weekend start times amenable. If two teams are battling for a spot, their games should start at the same time to ensure some suspense.

And if non-shootout wins are so imporant, maybe they should be prominently displayed on the NHL's own website in the standings section; at the bottom of this article you'll find the totals for each team.

For the record, this writer believes that regulation excellence should be rewarded, with the main tiebreaker fewest regulation losses.

Fat Tuesday

There's a whack of games tonight with playoff race implications in both conferences.

Thrashers at Devils
Atlanta has played 69 games, New Jersey 68
Standing: Atlanta 70 points (11th), New Jersey 68 (12)
Nonshootout wins: Devils 29, Thrashers 26
H2H: Thrashers 1-1-1, Devils 2-1 (Teams play 4) 

Hurricanes at Sabres
Both have played 69 games
Standing: Buffalo 76 points (7th), Carolina 72 (9th)
Nonshootout wins: Buffalo 29, Carolina 27
H2H: Sabres 1-0-1, Hurricanes 1-1 (Teams play 4)

Rangers at Islanders
Both have played 70 games
Standing: Rangers 76 points (8th), Isles 65 (14th)
Nonshootout wins: Rangers 28, Isles 24
H2H: Rangers 3-1, Isles 1-3 (Teams play 6)

Kings at Predators
Both have played 69 games
Standing: Kings 83 points, Predators 80 points
Nonshootout wins: Kings 32, Predators 29
H2H: Predators 2-1, Kings 1-2 (Teams play 4)

Sharks at Stars
Both have played 70 games
Standing: Rangers 76 points (8th), Isles 65 (14th)
Nonshootout wins: Sharks 34, Stars 32
H2H: Sharks 1-1-2, Stars 3-0-1 (Teams play 6)

Cycling

Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times has a terrific piece on the long road and personal tragedies of California-born Predators defenceman Jonathan Blum.

Non-shootout wins

Philadelphia 40
Washington 37
Boston 37
Montreal 36
Pittsburgh 35
Tampa Bay 33
Buffalo 29
New Jersey 29
Rangers 28
Carolina 27
Toronto 26
Atlanta 26
Florida 24
Islanders 24
Ottawa 24

Vancouver 41
Detroit 37
San Jose 35
Anaheim 33
Minnesota 33
LA 32
Phoenix 32
Dallas 32
Chicago 33
Nashville 29
Calgary 28
Columbus 28
St.Louis 27
Colorado 23
Edmonton 21

The Washington Capitals will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and they'll be gunning for their seventh consecutive win.

There was a time midway through the season where the Caps were looking like one of the more disappointing teams in the league.

There's reason to think this could be their year. If so, they'd shed some of the suppositions that have often made the rounds in recent years:

Bruce Boudreau isn't the coach to take them to the Promised Land

Boudreau enjoyed a honeymoon period after winning the Jack Adams Trophy based on only about 60 games of work over Detroit's Mike Babcock, arguably the worst modern NHL trophy decision. But three Game 7 defeats in the playoffs and a December losing streak this season led to speculation over whether his days were numbered.

It's debatable at best whether Boudreau burnished his credentials with his hammy display in HBO's 24/7.

But if the club was inclined to tune him out or quit on him - and who knows if they were - the presence of television cameras may have in fact prevented that from happening.

The Caps can't win championships playing that style

Washington's exciting style saw them finish with a goals per game average a half goal better than any other team last season. The previous two seasons they finished third and eighth, respectively.

This year, they rank 22nd in goals and have needed to find ways to win grinding games, the type of style that will resemble playoff action.

Their 5-0 win over Edmonton earlier this week snapped a string of five consecutive one-goal games. They've allowed just eight goals during their streak.

It's a bit of a stew as to why Washington isn't playing as many woolly games - it's part design and accident. Their goaltending is better and while they added veterans Scott Hannan and Dennis Wideman on the back end, the kids are all right: John Carlson is undoubtedly the most unheralded high-performing rookie of this year's class, and Karl Azner has established himself as an NHLer.  

The Southeast Division, while not great, is clearly much better than in the past, which is another factor.

And of course, lack of execution has been a big reason. Washington ranks just 23rd on the power play, for example. Remarkably, Alex Ovechkin's power-play goal against the Oilers was his first at home since late last season.

Ovechkin is a danger to himself, not just others, and is gonna get hurt

Remember this one? Will we look back in 10 years and realize that we had the right worry, but the wrong superstar?

Ovechkin has played in all of his team's games this season and has missed just 14 in a six season career. Most of those absences were due to suspensions as well as a serious illness in the family.

Even before the lamentable head shots, Sidney Crosby has endured knee, foot and hand injuries.

We all remember Crosby's previous most famous injury. While Crosby has a Cup and was a Conn Smythe candidate, Ovechkin can hold serve or one-up him by actually being on the ice and scoring a goal that matters in a Stanley Cup clincher.

Also, does Ovechkin's example rub off on others? Nicklas Backstrom missed the first of 314 NHL assignments against the Oilers.

Something's wrong with Ovechkin

Maybe there was, and this season's not up to his previous standard in terms of stats. But he could still hit 90 points, and he's currently fifth in the league in points.

In his last 15 games he has six goals and 10 assists. 

You need an experienced goalie to win the Cup

This hoary old chestnut lasted about three years after the lockout even though there was evidence right away that this wasn't the dead puck era of the late 90s and early naughts, where the best teams pretty much had the best goalies. But some hockey pundits were seemingly blind to the displays of Cam Ward and to a lesser extent Ryan Miller in their first playoff experiences, and the struggles of veterans like Martin Brodeur.

Doubt was finally removed with Chicago winning with Antti Niemi last season, and Jaroslav Halak wasn't too shabby in his first playoff campaign.

Boudreau probably doesn't even know who his Game 1 starter will be. That would have sent hockey writers into a panic when assembling their predictions in previous years.

But why worry? Nominal No. 3 goalie Braden Holtby has a goals-against average under 0.60 in his last five starts. Michal Neuvirth has set a franchise record for rookie goalie wins. The somewhat forgotten man is Semyon Varlamov, who when healthy only has 12 regulation losses in 50 career starts.

You have to figure on the basis of holding that trio, George McPhee will be a popular guy during draft weekend among fellow GMs who want to upgrade the position. 

It remains to be seen whether the Caps can emulate Pittsburgh and Chicago, who rebounded from previous playoff disappointment to hoist the Cup, or if they'll be the San Jose of the East.

But in this hockey season, where preconceived notions about the game have been challenged, things we thought we knew aren't necessarily the truth. There might not be a more apt team around to carry that theme the full distance.

In case you missed it

As mentioned in yesterday's breakdown of the Western teams battling for spots, Nashville has a really favourable home schedule the rest of the way. The Predators started on the right foot with a shutout over Minnesota. (As an aside, while the accounts say the workload last night wasn't onerous, is Pekka Rinne the most consistent player in the NHL? He's on his way to another seven shutout season and might not even get a Vezina finalist nod).

Meanwhile, Calgary's loss to Phoenix was damaging. While Flames' fans can say their team is in fifth, when you factor in points per games played of all the Western teams, Calgary is barely eighth. The Flames have to make it a dynamite dozen, beginning Saturday against Vancouver on Hockey Night in Canada (plug).

In the East, Buffalo is essentially in seventh now because they've played two less than the Rangers. Toronto lost, and it looks they'll have to target the Rangers or Carolina to catch. Problem is, New York has more non-shootout wins and won the season series. The Leafs and Hurricanes play once more, while Toronto plays the first of two remaining games against Buffalo on HNIC on Saturday.

After taking a look at the battle near the bottom of the East playoff standings, today we take a look at the much more tangled West web.

It's a snapshot of the the number of games left for the West teams not assured of a spot yet (we omitted Vancouver and Detroit). Among the schedule features we look at include: how many back-to-backs the teams have remaining, how many more games against Eastern teams, and how many games they have against the "near rivals" they're battling for position with. It's a bit arbitrary to be sure (we've included Columbus but not St. Louis for example) but fun to pore over nonetheless.

The first tiebreaker the NHL uses in the standings is now regulation plus overtime wins, so that's illustrated as well.

We'll start with the Canadian team in the hunt, with the rest alphabetically (I think). Games against near rivals are not in chronological order. 

CALGARY

GR: 13 (5)
REG + OT WINS:  28
B2B: 2 back-to-backs
RIVALS: 2 
EAST: 0

The biggest challenges are obviously the number of games left relative to other teams, the fact eight are on the road, and the relatively low number of regulation/overtime wins.

The Flames are fifth in the league at home, and 18th on the road.

For the record, the Flames have two regulation losses against Phoenix and two extra time losses to Anaheim. They've got two left against Vancouver, and they're 1-3 against the Canucks.

On the positive side, they've got two left against Colorado, who they've beaten both times. There's two remaining against Edmonton, a team they've defeated three of four times.

ANAHEIM

GR: 15 (7)
REG + OT: 32
B2B: 3
EAST: 0
RIVALS: Phx, LA (3), SJ (2), Cgy (2), Dal (2), Nas, Chi

Is Hiller ready yet? The Ducks are in the thick of it, with nine games against the quartet of the Kings, Flames, Sharks and Stars helping determine their fate.

We've already mentioned their success against the Flames. As far as their record against the other teams, Anaheim is 3-1 (Dallas), 2-1 (San Jose) and 1-2 (L.A.).

CHICAGO

GR: 14 (6)
REG + OT: 32
B2B: 3
EAST: 5
RIVALS: SJ, Phx, Dal, Ana, CBJ

The intriguing part of the schedule is the five games left against the East, more than most of their near rivals. These games are double-edged - the opponent doesn't factor into the standings equation even in OT games, but the pressure's on to win when their are so many all-West games elsewhere in the NHL. Chicago had a terrific record against the East going, but then went 0-1-1 in Florida over the last two nights.

The other challenge? Three games against the Wings. Chicago is 2-1 against Detroit halfway through the season series.

COLUMBUS

GR: 16 (9)
REG + OT: 27
B2B: 3
EAST: 6
RIVALS: LA, Min, Phx, Chi, Dal, Nas

Let's face it: The Jackets don't have much of a chance to catch up, especially with a lot of West teams likely to play some three-point games down the stretch. But it should be pointed out that Columbus is 9-2-1 against East teams, with more games against that conference left than anyone else.

DALLAS

GR: 15 (9)
REG + OT: 31
B2B: 1
EAST: 1
RIVALS: Cgy, Min(2), Nas, Phx, CBJ, SJ (2), LA (2), Ana (2), Chi

With a travel schedule more onerous than nearly all teams, the Stars still have seven left against their California and Arizona division rivals. They've gone a decent 8-6-3 within the division. They've had the Sharks' number this season, but have found the Ducks diffcult. Of the eight division wins, three have resulted in an extra point for their opponent. 

LOS ANGELES

GR: 15 (8)
REG + OT: 29
B2B: 1
EAST: 0
RIVALS: CBJ, Dal (2), SJ (2), Nas, Cgy, Phx

What's noteworthy is that Los Angeles already has at least two wins against all of the rivals mentioned above, that is, they're not sub .500 against any.

MINNESOTA

GR: 15
REG + OT: 33
B2B: 3
RIVALS: Nas, Dal (2), SJ, CBJ
EAST: 3

If there's one thing that will keep Minnesota out of the playoffs, it's their shootout record, at 2-5. Paradoxically, their preponderance of regulation plus shootout victories could see them claim the seventh or eighth spot over another team.

Also, the Wild still have four games left against St. Louis and Edmonton. They are 6-0 against those teams this season.

NASHVILLE

GR: 15 (12)
REG + OT: 27
B2B: 2
EAST: 3
RIVALS: Min, LA, Ana, Dal, CBJ

The Predators play 12 of the final 15 at home. The good news about that? The Predators have come away with a point in all but seven of those games, tied with Vancouver for the lowest regulation loss total in the NHL. But that stat belies the fact that Nashville has ended up with the "W" just 15 of 29 times in those home games (i.e. they have eight extra time losses at home). Single points won't be enough at this juncture.

The only team they have multiple games left with is Colorado, and they've beaten the Avalanche in both previous meetings.

PHOENIX

GR: 15 (9)
REG + OT WINS: 30
RIVALS: SJ (3), Cgy (2), Chi, Ana, CBJ, SJ, Dal, LA
B2B: 2
EAST: 0

The Coyotes are again in the playoff hunt despite uncertainty surrounding the team, but one thing is different from last year. They've lost some of their extra time magic, losing 11 times after 60 minutes, which may or may not bite them.

Another challenge? They've got three more against the Sharks, a team they haven't even got a charity point against in three previous meetings.

SAN JOSE

GR:  15 (9)
REG + OT:  34
B2B:  3
RIVALS: Chi, Dal (2), Min, Cgy, Ana (2), LA (2), Phx (3)
EAST: 1

San Jose have the most wiggle room plus nine dates left at home, although they haven't been quite as imposing at the "Shark Tank" as in previous years.

The Sharks will have a lot to say about the Pacific Division ordering, with nine left against their biggest rivals. They are 9-3-3 within the division so far.
 
Weird times

Doing some research on Wednesday, I came across the sad tale of an old hockey card favourite Ed Kea, the Dutch defenceman who had a lengthy NHL career and fought many times.

It was on March 7, 1983, that his career ended when he suffered a brain injury in a Central Hockey League game after a check and contact with the ice with his head (Kea never wore a helmet, and one of those involved in the multi-player collision was Washington GM George McPhee).

The date of the Matt Cooke-Marc Savard hit? March 7. Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore? March 8, also the date, of course, that people will remember as the night Zdeno Chara drove Max Pacioretty into the stanchion.

It's the kind of weird date cluster that Malcolm Gladwell could use to spin a book subject.

Everything was set up Tuesday night for the New Jersey Devils to make another incursion into the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but the comebacking club suffered a setback.

When Patrik Elias finally broke through on Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson to tie the game early in the third, it appeared the Devils were on the way to yet another 2-1 victory (six since Feb. 1, but who's counting?)

Elsewhere, Buffalo was losing and Toronto was getting outplayed. The latter two scenarios played out for New Jersey, but they themselves would lose 2-1 to the Senators.

The Devils remained eight points back of the eighth-place Sabres, and Buffalo has won more games.

Earlier in the week, a hockey writer posited that New Jersey's remaining schedule augured well for the completion of a crazy comeback into a playoff spot because the majority of their games are against non-playoff teams.

Perhaps, but a closer examination reveals its own challenges. The fact is, the Devils play only three teams who are just above the playoff dividing line, or closest to playoff position.

New Jersey doesn't play Carolina again, and they have one game each against Buffalo, Toronto and the New York Rangers. But the Leafs and Rangers games don't occur until the last week of the season. By that point, the Devils may be officially out.

In other words, they're going to have to rely on getting help from other teams.

New Jersey does have two games in the next four against Atlanta, the first team they have to vault, to help establish momentum.

On that note, here's a look at the Eastern teams and their remaining schedule: the number of games left, how many back-to-backs they have, how many games against Western teams, and how many games they have against "near rivals" they're battling for position with (unscientifically set at those teams within eight points).

The first tiebreaker the NHL uses in the standings is now regulation to overtime wins, so that's illustrated as well.

The interconference games are an interesting beast. Winning is always key, but in the past week we saw Paul Maurice use Justin Peters against Chicago and Lindy Ruff start Jhonas Enroth against Minnesota. Pretty canny to start a backup against a team that can't move up in your own conference's standings, no?

NEW JERSEY

GR: 16 games remaining, 8 at home

REG + OT WINS: 27

B2B: 2 back-to-backs

RIVALS: Atl (2), Buf, Tor, NYR

WEST: 1

From the previoius description, your powers of deduction will logically conclude that the playoff teams the Devils do face are currently in the upper half of the East standings: two each against Pittsburgh and Boston, and once each against Philadelphia and Washington.

ATLANTA

GR: 16 (6 home)

REG + OT WINS: 24

RIVALS: Car (2), NJ (2), Buf, NYR

B2B: 3

WEST: 2

The Thrashers have swung wildly in the public opinion, appearing a likely playoff team earlier this year and then hardly part of the conversation as of late. But it's still there for the taking given the six games they have against near rivals, though a big challenge obviously. The other thing that stands out is that they still have three games to play against the Flyers.

TORONTO

GR: 15 (7 home)

REG + OT: 25

B2B: 1

RIVALS: Buf (2), Car

WEST: 3

Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada game against the Sabres (shameless plug) will help determine what momentum the Leafs bring into the final four weeks. If they can win, they only have one more back-to-back assignment. They've got two left against the Bruins, who they've played well against, a matchup this Thursday against the Flyers, and one against the Lightning and Capitals.

BUFFALO

GR: 16 (9 home)

REG + OT: 27

B2B: 6

RIVALS: Tor (2), Car (2), Atl, Mtl, NJ, NYR

WEST: 2

Oh my, six back-to-back challenges, way more than any other team battling for a spot. Relatedly, that means they have a bunch of three-in-four night assignments as well. For a team that relies so heavily on their No. 1 goalie, it's a chore.

As is plainly evident, they also have more games against near rivals in the standings. It remains to be seen whether that will be advantageous or their downfall.

CAROLINA

GR: 16 (10 home)

REG + OT: 27

B2B: 6

RIVALS: Atl (2), Buf (2), Mtl, Tor

WEST: 2

The Hurricanes will have a lot to say about the Southeast Division, and possibly the top spot in the East, as they have three left against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and two against the Capitals.

RANGERS

GR: 14 (7)

REG + OT: 28

B2B: 1

WEST: 2

RIVALS: Atl, Buf, Mtl, NJ

Obviously the biggest challenge for the Rangers is having fewer games to work with.

But there's a lot to like about New York's remaining string, too. They don't have a lot of games against the teams chasing them, having completed series against Carolina and Toronto. And as of now, they own the most regulation and overtime wins combined.

New York has just one back-to-back left, and they get all of their West travel out of the way this week with a two-game trip to California. Over the last month of the season, all of their road games are in the Northeast; even the games against the Georgia and Florida teams are at MSG (though it must be stated that New York has a better road than home record).

The bad news? Should they end up tied in points and in regulation/overtime wins with Carolina, they'll lose the second tiebreaker: head-to-head points. The Rangers have four, the Canes have six.

If such a scenario existed with the Leafs - which seems not as likely given the fact they have three more non-shootout wins - they'd hold sway over Toronto on the basis of grabbing seven of a possible eight points in the meetings this season.

Tomorrow: A look at the much more complicated Western road to the playoffs.

One of the criticisms of the sport is that fighters with glistening records too often take on opponents who are overmatched.

It's found currency among MMA types who hate boxing and it's not without merit. But it also must be stated that it's a convenient trope for the MMA crowd, almost as if to rationalize the fact that there's necessarily a lot of parity but just a couple superstars in that still young sport.

There are way more professional boxers around the world than MMA fighters and therefore more gradations in talent level. And there's a logic to having a fighter progress slowly up the ranks.

Bernard Hopkins, at 45 an ageless wonder, would be the first to admit he's still learning in the ring. Throwing two guys in the ring who are both 5-0 is nice once in awhile, but if both of those fighters look as if they've the potential to be 20-0, it's going to mean a lot more fan interest and bank at that point.

As well, in boxing, there are five possibilities as far as fight length is concerned - from four to 12 rounds. Throwing guys into 10- to 12-round fights before they're ready isn't likely to provide the most entertaining product, even if they match up talent-wise.

But like I said, there has been recognition that the argument has merit and, in the past couple of years, there have been more matchups of rising or undefeated fighters - fights like Danny Jacobs against Dmitry Pirog and Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana jump to mind.

The most recent example came Friday when Ismayl Sillakh defeated Yordanis Despaigne by unanimous decision in a battle of unbeaten light heavyweights.

The fact that these two had just 22 combined fights heading in may, superficially, seem to go against my argument, but both of these guys had hundreds of amateur fights to learn the craft before turning pro.

It was a terrific scrap. Despite having only four knockouts to his name, Sillakh showed pop dropping Despaigne in the second and cutting him around both eyes.

Despaigne showed tons of heart. He pounded his chest with bravado several times after getting hit and he even staged a bit of a rally in the middle rounds.

He definitely seems like he could handle either of Belbeit Shumenov and Gabriesl Campillo, who've split two bouts for the WBA light heavyweight crown (Shumenov of Kazakhstan is the current belt holder).

But it also appears like several Cuban fighters before him, the 31-year-old may, ultimately, see his pro career hindered by the fact that he couldn't bolt for freedom earlier than in 2009. This is a guy who beat Canada's Jean Pascal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and fought 300 amateur bouts - were he from a country that allowed pro boxing, he'd likely have made that leap after the Games.

The typical example of matchmaking came Saturday, when Saul Alvarez pounded on the smaller Matthew Hatton - younger brother of Ricky - for 12 rounds in a nominal junior middleweight bout in Anaheim.

Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions is banking on the red-headed Mexican to be a staple in big fights for years to come and he's already drawing good-sized crowds.

Alvarez is one of the thickest fighters, pound for pound, that I've ever seen in the ring, rivalling Mike Tyson. The natural 154-pounder is grimly determined and has the right offensive instincts, as far as where to place his punches and in what sequence.

But the matchup proved nothing. As game as Hatton was, he's a 147-pounder and not a junior middleweight. They handed out a belt at the end for a vacant "title" but Alvarez needs bigger scalps before we can really call him a champion.

At this point, he reminds me of a prime Yori Boy Campas and a bit like Miguel Cotto, though not quite as talented. He'll likely be in a number of exciting bouts, but his defensive liabilities seem like they'll prevent him from achieving elite status.

Whose sport is dying?

This week saw not one, but two columns emanating out of Toronto from sportswriters usually supportive of boxing that read quite a lot like epitaphs for the sport:

Don King, Bob Arum collide one last time

Boxing has boxing on the ropes

It was curious timing, given that there was no big "black eye for boxing" story making the rounds. In fact, the previous two weekends saw a candidate for Fight of the Year and the almost certain pick for Knockout of the Year.

(The columns also came just a couple of days after an interesting and somewhat depressing piece in the New York Times that provided anecdoctal evidence that cutbacks to school and municipal athletic programs amid tough economic times in the U.S. have led to an uptick in the less costly - or free - youth boxing participation in some areas.)

The electrifying KO happened when Nonito Donaire demolished longtime top fighter Fernando Montiel in two rounds, with a shot that sent Montiel's legs into an involuntary spasm.

The compelling bout occurred when Brandon Rios, summarily outboxed and hit hard for the first four rounds against Miguel Acosta, rallied to break down his opponent, winning by stoppage in 10 rounds after scoring a couple of knockdowns.

Donaire is Filipino-American and, along with Manny Pacquiao, it's reasonable to expect that, in five to 10 years, we're going to see a wave of their compatriots following in their footsteps.

Despaigne is Cuban and Acosta is Venezuelan. Sillakh is a brown-skinned Ukrainian, bemusingly nicknamed the "Black Russian."

Montiel, Alvarez and Rios are Mexican or Mexican-American, the demographic that helps drive the fight game.

I guess the point is that maybe it's a bit out of place for white guys from Ontario to sound the death knell for a sport that is dominated by other ethnic groups. It's probably true that boxing lost a good percentage of a generation of Caucasian fans with its various ills.

But last I checked, other demographics get to participate in and choose what sports they want to follow.

(Photo of Ismayl Sillakh courtesy Mark Ralston/Getty Images) 

With the Feb. 28 NHL trade deadline just around the corner, here's a look at the questions and possibilities surrounding the six Canadian teams.

Calgary

There isn't much that can be done, which is good, because there isn't much that should be done.

Interim GM Jay Feaster probably can't do more than one significant move due to the team's cap situation.

Feaster will be generally loathe to tinker with the chemistry the Flames have established so far in 2011.

The long term view is crucial. If Calgary misses the playoffs or has another first-round playoff exit, at least they can say this time they didn't sacrifice any of their future.

While pundits are focusing on the likes of pending UFAs Curtis Glencross as potential targets, the ideal for Feaster would be to unload someone on the roster under contract for next season, taking on a UFA in exchange.

Easier said than done in the best of times, and even harder given the unfriendly contracts doled out to some of the mid-tier Flames.

Acquiring a backup goalie to save Miikka Kiprusoff two or more games, as Calgary has done before at the deadline, is a silly move at this point. That ship has sailed.

Edmonton

Dustin Penner's contract seemed a bit ridiculous when first struck in 2007, but his remaining year will look reasonable to many clubs. The dilemma for Steve Tambellini is that he's the only skilled and consistent big forward the Oilers have.

Ales Hemsky also has one year left on his deal, and the argument from some hockey pundits is that the return for these two forwards will never be higher than from now until July 1.

That Edmonton is last in goals-against and penalty killing should point one in the right direction as to what type of prospects or players they'll want to consider acquiring.

Montreal

Pierre Gauthier shed a bit of his cautious reputation last summer when he traded Jaroslav Halak.

Will the multiple moves from division rival Boston in the last two weeks exert more pressure for Gauthier to improve the Habs?

Likely not for a bunch of reasons. Montreal is getting healthier as the deadline approaches, and since East is wide open, there's no sense mortgaging the future. Last year's team made the Conference final, and while you can argue that was a bit flukey, you could just as persuasively argue that this year's club is better, with many players benefiting from that experience.

Defence may be the area of greatest need, but that's precisely where the Habs have the very large majority of their UFAs and RFAs this summer. That makes potential moves a bit trickier. Why add another UFA like Ottawa's Chris Phillips to the mix? Up front, they've pretty much cast their lot over the next couple of years with Mike Cammalleri, Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta.

Elsewhere you've got Scott Gomez, whose contract is unmovable, a number of young players in the lineup the club is high on or not willing to give up on yet (see Eller, Lars), and the requisite journeyman types who aren't going to fetch much.

The one player who fits outside these parameters is impending RFA Andrei Kostitsyn. Would he moved to acquire a grittier forward? Seems unlikely but we've seen stranger things on deadline day.

Ottawa

With so many having departed already, the focus will be on Chris Phillips, Chris Neil and Alex Kovalev.

Phillips may have compromised his trade value to other teams by hinting he'd want to sign with the Senators to be part of their rebuild beginning next season. Of course, that is incumbent on Ottawa actually wanting him back.

Kovalev's inconsistencies are reportedly scaring most teams away, but any team taking him on would be doing so at a modreate cost and only for 20 regular season games plus playoffs. With the power play so important in the playoffs, someone will likely want him.  

(Editor's note: This was published a mere two hours before he Kovy was dealt.)

Neil, with Stanley Cup final experience, is under contract for the next two seasons, but at a manageable $2 million US.

It is expected that Swedish defenceman David Rundblad will make an NHL bid next season with Ottawa, but that wouldn't seem to preclude the Senators from taking another defensive prospect back. The club needs to bolster their depth at just about every position.

Toronto

The departure of Tomas Kaberle means that either by Monday, during draft weekend or come July 1, Toronto needs to find a puck-moving defenceman.

Not hard to do. Columbus has only been looking for that player for 12 years (of course, Brian Burke knows how to pull the trigger on a deal, unlike some GMs).

One of the big questions is whether Burke will play the Dominic Moore game with Clarke MacArthur.

Like Moore a few years back, MacArthur has performed out of his pay grade. He's a UFA who'd likely be coveted by a few times, and the Leafs could feel his blossoming has a lot more to do with with other Leafs floundering rather than MacArthur being ready to consistently produce at his current rate.

Vancouver

Defence much?

Vancouver's recent string of bad luck with injuries could be seen as opportune if you're a glass-full kind of person.

Better now than during what the team expects to be a long playoff run. Buffalo and Montreal in years past are among the clubs whose playoff fortunes could have been different if not for a rash of blue-line injuries in the post-season.

Any blue-liner acquired wouldn't get the blood racing, and would likely be a press box denizen in the playoffs if things go ideally.

Canucks watchers are also focusing on the team's fourth line and whether a more experienced grit hand is needed.

Inevitably, the names of Cody Hodgson and Cory Schneider always come up this time of year, but those types of relatively inexperienced prospects aren't likely to help an NHL team in playoff position or within sniffing distance - in other words, three-quarters of the league.
If ever it is contemplated to move those players, it seems better suited to a time when other clubs are taking the long view, like draft weekend.

Mikael Samuelsson's name has somehow been mentioned as a potential moving piece. Why would you give up a guy who's played 75 games in the playoffs - including two finals - in the past four springs? Only a handful of NHL players have more experience in that time.

With players like Tomas Kaberle, Erik Johnson, Craig Anderson and Mike Fisher already dealt, it's reasonable to ask if NHL trade deadline day itself will feature any sizzle at all.

It will evidently be the second straight season when the main action took place in the weeks leading up to the deadline.

It could be that we'll ultimately look back on 2009-10 as the turning point as far as trade deadline day is concerned.

In the first few seasons after the lockout, general managers were still proceeding as if pre-lockout conditions pertained.

But in 2009-10, names like Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were traded weeks before the final day.

It seemed the lightbulb went from flickering to fully bright for a sizable enough sample of GMs. Slowly the grim realities of managing the salary cap were realized, and the premium on young players and picks increased, making teams less careless about their future.

While the 2009-10 deadline day had volume, the quality was lacking.

Deadline day doesn't leave a lot of wriggle room. Boston's double dealing last week illustrated that one move sometimes can't be made unless another is first consummated. That's a lot harder to accomplish during the frenzied hours of deadline.

And then there's chemistry.

We've all been well-versed in the stories of Butch Goring, Ron Francis and Jamie Langenbrunner completing the puzzle for Stanley Cup winning teams, but really, it's been awhile since you could say a championship-winning team made a do-or-die deal. The likes of Brad May, Chris Kunitz and Mark Recchi were nice pickups for Cup teams in recent years but would you go to the wall arguing their fate would have been different otherwise?

Remember two years ago, when some pundits declared Calgary the "winners" of trade deadline day simply because they picked up a couple of good looking names on paper? The Flames proceeded to lose eight of the next 13 games and went out in the first round. The doomed bid ultimately cost a young, cap-friendly defenceman (Ryan Wilson, Colorado) and a first rounder Phoenix used last year for QMJHL defenceman Brandon Gormley. The damage could have been worse.

Last year, Calgary picked up six veterans after January. With Niklas Hagman waived on Monday, they now have one left.

In the playoffs last spring, none of the four teams in the conference finals had made any significant deals on deadline day. The only "new" player of significance in the playoffs was Ville Leino, who Philadelphia acquired three weeks before the deadline.

As far as players acquired on the actual deadline day, only Andrew Alberts of Vancouver played into the second round. That's right, Andrew Alberts. The rest of the acquired went to teams out in the first round or out of the playoffs entirely.

Of course, general managers themselves have done a lot to change the dynamic by locking up players for extended contracts (many before they've proven themselves consistently).

There are about 100 players who beginning in 2011-12 will have at least three years remaining on their contracts. There's even a couple dozen or so who have a whopping five or more years left.

Each of the 30 teams also has a handful of players still on their entry-level deals.

Players from these aforementioned groups aren't impossible to trade, but realistically, what per cent of them gets moved? Five? We're largely talking about players coveted by their own teams.

So what do we have left for deadline day? Let's take a look at some of last year's moves for clues.

• The Kings picked up Freddy Modin and Jeff Halpern. Modin is now on Atlanta, Halpern is on Montreal.
• Clarke MacArthur went from Buffalo to Atlanta. He's now with the Leafs.
• Raffi Torres: Columbus to Buffalo. Now on Vancouver.
• The Predators got Dustin Boyd from Calgary. He's since been waived by Montreal.
• Eric Belanger went from the Wild to the Caps. The Coyotes signed him in the off-season.
• Joe Corvo went from Carolina to the Caps. He since re-signed with the Hurricanes.

Elsewhere, players nearing voluntary or forced retirement like Martin Skoula, Mathieu Schneider and Scott Walker were moved.

Much like the NBA, the NHL now has a permanent class of well-trod veterans and journeymen who can't get too comfortable in their environs.

The Wojtek Wolski-Peter Mueller trade at last deadline had potential, but Wolski's since been dealt to the New York Rangers and Mueller hasn't played for Colorado this season due to a concussion.

When all is said and done, the top mutually beneficial trade of deadline day 2010 was Lubomir Visnovsky to Anaheim from Edmonton for Ryan Whitney.

The next level of players still making contributions to the team that acquired them on deadline day includes Derek Morris and Lee Stempniak (Phoenix) and Dennis Seidenberg (Boston).

Sexy stuff, huh?

All of this leads to the following:

Please tune in for all the action on deadline day on CBC Bold and CBCSports.ca, on Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET! Keep up to date with the latest transactions, and vote on each trade, at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/tradedeadline/.

The fighters will be contesting the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization belts, but really, this fight is not about alphabet straps but laying claim to being No. 1 in the bantamweight division.
 
(That claim will have some dissenters later this spring, with top bantamweights Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko battling to determine 1B status in the division).
 
Montiel has been a boxing player at the world-class level for over a decade. The Mexican is known as the technician, but he's strung together nine stoppages in a 12-bout unbeaten streak.
 
Donaire at 28, is three years younger. But he's never faced someone with the total boxing ability of Montiel.
 
The nagging thing with Montiel, on the other hand, is that in arguably his two biggest profile bouts (against Mark Johnson and Jhonny Gonzalez) he lost decisions. Supporters would argue that he's undefeated in nearly five years, and is now fully mature.
 
The final component added to the mix is nationalistic fervour. It sure doesn't hurt when well-loved fighters from different nations collide in a big fight.
 
With the success and status of Donaire and Pacquiao in their country of birth - Donaire has lived in the U.S. since the 1990s - it's reasonable to wonder if in five or 10 years the Philippines will supplant Puerto Rico as Mexico's primary heated boxing rival. (There have already been entire fight cards pitting Mexicans and Filipinos, though not with any fighters at this level of excellence).
 
If forced to make a pick I'd go with Donaire, but Montiel is getting tremendous value as an underdog on most online sites (not that I'm encouraging anything).
 
The two will set up by an appealing appetizer. Mike Jones of Philadelphia won a debatable decision over Jesus Soto Karass in late 2010, and they'll square off again. Jones threw everything and the kitchen sink in the second round against Soto Karass, but in the process spent himself, allowing the Mexican to come back strongly. I thought Jones eked it out, but most didn't.
 
Canadian content
 
Logan McGuinness will look to keep his unbeaten record intact through 15 fights on Saturday at Mississauga, Ont., when he takes on Hector Avila in a lightweight bout. The visiting Dominican has fought world-class guys like Orlando Salido and Joan Guzman, but most of his career has been spent at lower weight classes.
 
The undercard features Junior Witter, who's only lost to Bradley and Alexander. The Briton is angling to get back into the junior welterweight mix to land a big fight against countryman Amir Khan.
 
Finally, in Germany, Felix Sturm looks to continue his fairly inconsequential middleweight "title" reign against Ronald Hearns, the son of legend Thomas Hearns. It's now or never for Hearns, who's almost 33 years old.

A few weeks back, we postulated that Jean-Sebastien Giguere seemed an unlikely trade target.

Most teams who are in playoff contention like their goaltending just fine, Giguere was battling a groin injury, and why dispense with part of the future - even a draft pick - for a UFA who's not much more than an insurance policy given that the trade deadline occurs with less than 20 games to go?

Giguere's latest injury, on Wednesday against Buffalo, brings out another thought (perhaps not coincidentally hours after getting a haircut): players who, if they are going to continue in the NHL next season (no guarantee), are looking at an end to the salad days.

Here's a look at some pending UFAs and their cap number this season:

• Tim Connolly $4.5 million US
• Jason Arnott $4.5
• Simon Gagne $5.25
• Marco Sturm $3.5
• Alex Ponikarovsky $3.2
• Michael Ryder $4
• Alex Kovalev $5
• Steve Sullivan $3.75
• Milan Hejduk $4
• Ed Jovanovski $6.5
• Bryan McCabe $5.75
• Roman Hamrlik $5.5
• Scott Hannan $4.5
• Jean-Sebastien Giguere $6
• Tomas Vokoun $5.7
• Pascal Leclaire $3.8

The list of course is not exhaustive (we only looked at UFAs), and these type of things are always debatable.

At one end of the debate continuum is Vokoun. His current rate seems high for a goalie that has been to the playoffs just once in over a decade and who's often had a dip just when Florida starts to tease with playoff potential (take a look at his March and late February stats in recent years in relation to other months). But there are seemingly NHL people who love this guy - he's been traded to Detroit just one less time than Tomas Kaberle has been dealt to Boston.

At the other end is Leclaire. How could you rely on him as a backup goalie? It seems likely he'd have to string together at least a full season's worth of health in some other league to even think about returning to the NHL.

Injury histories could scare teams off Marco Sturm and Steve Sullivan (assuming they even feel fit enough to play), and pride is another factor. Would someone like Alex Kovalev play for a fraction of his current salary when he could probably make some decent coin in the KHL?

Then there's the terrific to solid players who are overpaid to a slight or significant degree. Most Bruins fans would probably love to have Michael Ryder back at a ticket about 60 per cent of what he makes now, and you can't just grow young defencemen who'll play to the minutes and level of Bryan McCabe, Ed Jovanovski and Roman Hamrlik. Up front, Simon Gagne's  been there, done that and possesses offensive instincts. No one's crying for millionaire hockey players, but on their terms, they will likely feel a bit of squeeze..

Cycling

It wasn't much of a fight, but it probably made Toronto and Vancouver team officials a bit nervous. Pension Plan Puppets has video of Nazem Kadri of the Marlies dropping the gloves with Sergei Shirokov of the Manitoba Moose.

The Canucks play the Predators on Thursday, and interestingly, the return of Marcel Goc and Marek Svatos from injuries, as well as the acquisition of Mike Fisher, led to a notable name being scratched from the lineup on Tuesday against the Sharks - J.P. Dumont. Bonus feature from the article from the Tennessean is Carrie Underwood in her new team attire.

It's a day old, but this story on recent Pittsburgh call-up Joe Vitale is a compelling read. Courtesy of Shelly Anderson of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It's official. The trade period has officially begun. Paul Mara has been traded. It marks the third time Mara's been dealt in February or March. Can Jim Vandermeer be far behind?

Hockey history

Feb. 17, 1978: The Cleveland Barons threatened not to play their next game after their owner missed the Jan. 31 payroll date and threatened to do so again with the mid-February target. The NHL was propping the Barons up at the time (the Coyotes weren't the first!). The Barons somehow lasted the season and one more, merging ahead of 1978-79 with Minnesota.

But really, all this is a feeble excuse to trot out maybe the best-named NHL team of any era:

Owner: Mel Swig. Players: John Baby, Len Frig, Jim Moxey, Brent Meeke, Mike Fidler, Rick Shinske, Rick Jodzio, the gone-too-soon Juha (Whitey) Widing, and of course, No. 1 goalie Gilles Meloche and star Dennis Maruk.

Kris Versteeg might not have been the elite forward Toronto hoped for, but he could join elite company after getting traded Monday from the Leafs to Philadelphia.

Versteeg was sent to the Flyers for a pair of draft picks. Joining a deep Philadelphia team, Versteeg has a chance to win Stanley Cups in consecutive seasons with different clubs.

Here are the previous men to do so, with the first year of their daily double:

• Cory Stillman - 2004 (Tampa Bay, Carolina)
• Claude Lemieux - 1995 (New Jersey, Colorado)
• Al Arbour - 1961 (Chicago, Toronto)
• Ed Litzenberger - 1961 (Chicago, Toronto)
• Ab McDonald - 1960 (Montreal, Chicago)
• Lionel Conacher - 1934 (Chicago, Montreal)
• Eddie Gerard - 1921 (Ottawa, Toronto, Ottawa)
• Harry Holmes - 1917 (Seattle, Toronto)
• Bruce Stuart - 1908 (Montreal, Ottawa)
• Art Ross - 1907 (Kenora, Montreal)
• Jack Marshall - 1901 (Winnipeg, Montreal)

As you can glean, Arbour and Litzenberger achieved the feat as teammates, and Gerard actually won three years in a row for different clubs (Ottawa, Toronto and back to Ottawa), Stillman's double came with a lockout year in between.

Arbour and Litzenberger won a second time against their old team, but Versteeg can be the first in the modern era to help the team he beat in the first year win the next time around (follow?). Versteeg of course could also claim the unusual journey of playing for another team in between.

Given that the Blackhawks had to shed salary in the wake of their championship, there's a few players with a conceivable shot at the Stanley Cup.

The most likely other candidate is goaltender Antti Niemi, who could also claim to achieving the feat in his first two NHL seasons.

With more player movement these days (it's telling that the dynasties of the 70s and 80s rarely traded bodies to other contenders), it's a list that figures to grow in the next few years.

Workhorses

It looks like Ryan Miller's streak of 31 straight starts could end Tuesday in Montreal as the Sabres pay a visit.

Here's a look at the heaviest No. 1 goalie workloads so far this season.

• Carolina (Cam Ward), 88 per cent of starts
• Montreal (Carey Price), 86
• Calgary (Miikka Kiprusoff), 85
• Buffalo (Ryan Miller), 83
• Anaheim (Jonas Hiller), 79

Here are the five percentages of the Cup champions since the lockout.

• Chicago (Cristobal Huet), 59
• Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), 74
• Detroit (Dominik Hasek), 50
• Anaheim (Jean-Sebastien Giguere), 65
• Carolina (Martin Gerber), 70

Now, there are ton of factors that go into a Stanley Cup run, and none of this necessarily suggests even a correlation with workload. In fact, three of the champions ended with goalies who didn't get the majority of starts during the regular season (Chicago, Detroit, Carolina). But the trend away from the workhorses of the mid-1990s to early 2000s is, at minimum, interesting.

Leaving aside the two clubs who made a goalie trade, the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago is the current club closest to a 50-50 split of their two goaltenders, although likely not by design.

Cycling

With so much (too much?) baseless NHL trade speculation about the internet place these days, howsabout some links involving hockey's future?

Sean Durack of InsideToronto.com has a profile of the youngest of the Subbans, midget-aged Jordan. Middle brother Malcolm is a goalie in the OHL.

Saskatoon Blades forward Brayden Schenn returns to Brandon on Tuesday night, where he played nearly 200 regular season games before a January trade. Corey Wolfe of the Star Phoenix reports.  

Slovakian Tomas Jurco of the Sea Dogs is 13 of 16 in shootouts, which could help his draft standing, Peter MGuire of the Saint John Telegraph Journal writes.

Hockey history

Feb. 15, 1980: The beginning of the miracle. Captain Mike Eruzione is one of seven players to score as the United States thumps Czechoslovakia in Olympic hockey. The Czech team includes the Peter, Anton and Marian Stastny, future Oiler Jaroslav Pouzar and Frantisek Kaberle, whose namesake and younger son Tomas would both reach the NHL.

On the same day, Wayne Gretzky notches his 96th point for Edmonton, the most ever for a first-year NHL player. He'd go on to reach 137.

Feb. 15, 1977: Fans at the Inglewood Forum leave thinking that their favourite goalie, Rogie Vachon of the Kings, has become the first goalie to ever score a goal in NHL play. But after the game, the NHL's official scorer looks at the tape of the empty-net goal against the Islanders and rules that John Bealy actually touched it last.

Star Marcel Dionne had scooped up the puck for his goalie.

Said Vachon after the scoring change was made: "I guess I'm going to have to eat the puck now."

It was an NHL weekend filled with many strange occurences, but Western teams Detroit and Los Angeles helped perpetuate one consistent trend this season.

First, some of the wacky:

Buffalo's Drew Stafford notched his fourth hat trick of the season Sunday (no one else has more than two) and now has 23 goals in 36 games.

The New York Islanders not only channeled the Broad Street Bullies, but also the Edmonton Oilers of yesteryear. The Isles have scored 16 goals in the last two games, and 28 in the last five. Where did that come from?

As a result, Michael Grabner of the Islanders (given up for nada by Florida) has now passed Logan Couture as the NHL's rookie goal scoring leader.

The strangest things about the Detroit-Boston home-and-home was Todd Bertuzzi playing like it was 2002.

Boston showed that a lineup of Shawn Thorntons couldn't have made up for the evident gap between the Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit Bertuzzi'd the Bruins, outscoring them 10-3 in taking a weekend set.

That two-game spanking and the difference in class inspired this writer to take a gander at the interconference numbers, to see where teams stand when playing their most unfamiliar opposition.

It won't surprise anyone who's watched a healthy amount of hockey this season that the West is the stronger conference, and that's certainly reflected in the figures.

There are just two teams in the West that have five wins or fewer and a sub .500 against Eastern teams: Phoenix (3-5-6) and Minnesota (5-6-1).

No Eastern club has yet to reach double digit wins with respect to interconference play, while there are four teams in the West who've reached that level against their counterparts.

Here's what the numbers specifically look like.

Against the East

Dallas 11-4-1
Vancouver 10-3-2
Anaheim 10-5-1
Los Angeles 10-5-1
Columbus 9-2-1
St. Louis 9-3-2

Against the West

Carolina 9-4-2
Rangers 9-5
Buffalo 8-4-1
Pittsburgh 8-4-1
Philadelphia 7-5-3

Least from the East:
Boston 3-7-2
Washington 3-6-1
Montreal 5-5-2

With the wins over the Bruins, meanwhile, Detroit upped its record to 7-3-1 against the East.

L.A. allowed just one goal in defeating Washington and Philadelphia, but San Jose cooled off at the end of a long road trip by losing one-goal games to East teams Florida and New Jersey. The Sharks are 7-8 against the East.

Cycling

Stafford may be lighting it up, but otherwise it's pretty grim in Buffalo after a 7-6 loss to the New York Islanders.

Ryan Miller didn't take too kindly to a reporter insinuating that maybe he's battling an injury or fatigue.

Meanwhile, on flagship sports station WGR 55, there's even a poll question, "Should Ryan Miller be part of the core" under the incoming owner's regime?

I know a certain team two hours away that would love to have such "problem" goaltending.

New Jersey is trying to pull off what would be an improbable rally but they'll have to do it with Johan Hedberg a couple of games more. Martin Brodeur doesn't expect to play until Saturday at the earliest.

You might have missed it, but the floundering Dallas Stars signed veteran Jason Williams to a free-agent contract on the weekend.

Few teams have drafted as poorly in the last seven or eight years as the Minnesota. The Wild have also had some bad luck with injuries, and on the weekend former first-round pick Tyler Cuma was hurt in an AHL game, and will now need reconstructive knee surgery.

According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, this is the third left knee injury for the former Ottawa 67.

Hockey history

Wayne Gretzky showed his love for the Quebec Nordiques 25 years ago on Valentine's Day by racking up seven assists in an 8-2 rout.

Gretzky hit seven helpers for the third time in his career for Edmonton, tying an NHL record that had only been done before by Billy Taylor of Detroit (in 1947).

No one has performed the feat since.

First Francois Beauchemin and Joffrey Lupul, and then Mike Fisher. What will the weekend bring?

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, who traded Beauchemin to Anaheim for Lupul and prospect Jake Gardiner, has long railed against the madness of the NHL's trade deadline day.

And it makes sense for chemistry's sake that 25 games with a new club is better than 15.

Could this be the second straight year in which the top deals happen weeks before the actual deadline (which is Feb. 28)?

Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were three big names dealt by early February 2010, with several moderate-sized names also on the move. In total, the names roundly trumped the largely journeyman class of the actual deadline day a few weeks later.

Here's a look at some other notable transactions that have happened in the 2000s in the weeks or days leading up to the actual deadline.

2009

Pittsburgh adds another piece to the puzzle and a six-foot-four prospect from Anaheim for Ryan Whitney, who the Ducks trade a year later to Edmonton (for Lubomir Visnovsky).

Chris Kunitz is still with the Pens, and he contributed 14 points in their 2009 Stanley Cup runup, while Eric Tangradi made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh earlier this season.

2008

Bryan Murray thought he could spark Ottawa, who were flat a year after their runner-up finish. But the deal that brings Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore aboard for Patrick Eaves and Joe Corvo is negligible.

Only Corvo made an impact in his new location.

2007

Some key pickups though nothing of the star order, as Kris Versteeg heads to Chicago from Boston, Sean Avery to the New York Rangers from L.A., and Scottie Upshall from Nashville to Philadelphia.

Upshall was part of a Peter Forsberg transaction, which turned out to be an extremely overhyped pickup for the Predators.

Montreal is benefiting to this day from one deal, grabbing Josh Gorges and a pick used for Max Pacioretty from San Jose in the Craig Rivet transaction.

2006

At the time, the big shockwaves on the eve of the deadline had to do with Jose Theodore leaving Montreal for Colorado.

A significant deal, but Edmonton's acquisition of Dwayne Roloson from the Minnesota Wild for a couple of picks turned out to be much more important.

Weeks earlier, Carolina grabbed one of the pieces for its Cup run, veteran Doug Weight from St. Louis in a multi-player deal.

2004

The winter of Jaromir Jagr's discontent ends as he goes from Washington to the New York Rangers, with Anson Carter the major player going the other way.

Jagr rejuvenated his career, finishing with 54 goals and 123 points in 2005-06.

And while he's been injured plenty, there's no doubt that Nashville made out alright in a deal to get Chicago forward Steve Sullivan, as the two picks going the other way never really panned out.

2003

Toronto kicks off a particularly brutal season of greybeard picking by getting Owen Nolan for Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes, and a first-round pick.

The Leafs would later give up a total of three draft picks for Glen Wesley and Phil Housley.

Buffalo picks up from Phoenix a player who would score 102 regular season goals for them, Daniel Briere, in exchange for oft-travelled Chris Gratton.

2002

A veritable steal for Tampa Bay, who give up a mid-level pick to Florida for the services of Dan Boyle, who provides offence from the back end for a championship team two years later.

2001

Rob Blake is the centrepiece in a six-part deal between Los Angeles and Colorado. The Avalanche go on to win the Cup later that spring.

Another pivotal Cup deal occurred when Phoenix traded the rights to Nikolai Khabibulin to Tampa Bay in a multi-player deal. The Lightning win the Cup three years later.

2000

Keith Primeau and Rod Brind'Amour change sweaters in a deal with four parts between Philadelphia and Carolina. Brind'Amour stays on with the Hurricanes, helping them win the Cup six years later, and Primeau is no slouch for the Flyers.

Boston trades Ray Bourque and Dave Andreychuk to Colorado - Brian Rolston and Sami Pahlsson were among the pieces that went the other way. Andreychuk doesn't stick around for the next season, but Bourque does to win a long-awaited Cup.

Cycling

This ain't Hockey Bay in T-Bay. Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has an op-ed in the St. Petersburg Times today to lay out his pledge to the area's fans.

Henrik Lundqvist hasn't played a game in eight days, one of the longest breaks of his career, and he's itching to get back for the Rangers, courtesy New York Daily News.

This isn't the first article about the strains of the butterfly, but it's one of the best, with comments from Jose Theodore, Kay Whitmore and noted sports surgeon Dr. Marc Philippon. From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley will begin to beat the drum Thursday for their welterweight fight.

The press tour for the May 7 bout kicks off in Los Angeles.

Pacquiao, 32, will be fighting in Las Vegas for the first time since destroying Miguel Cotto in late 2009, after his two-fight turn last year at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

None too soon for the Nevada tourism industry as the action at the tables is reportedly greater for bouts involving Pacquiao than any other fighter.

A lot of fight pundits derided this matchup when it was first posited late last year, but it now comes at least with some interesting angles attached which have to do with the business of boxing.

About 90 per cent of Pacquiao's bouts in the last eight years have been broadcast on HBO, but the network was evidently lukewarm on the bout given Mosley's performances against Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum turned to Showtime Network, which is a division of the CBS Corporation.

What interested him most was the synergy between CBS and Showtime. He secured a deal to ensure that the big network will promote the pay-per-view bout, including some episodes of a preview series.

It remains to be seen whether it will arouse casual fans or those unaware of one of the biggest athletes in the world and boxing's most exciting fighter.

Arum wasn't able to secure a replay of the bout on CBS, often a weekly home to boxing until the mid-1990s.

Other notes

It seems fight fans will annoyingly have to do some juggling and taping once again on May 21, according to initial reports.

That is the date HBO is looking at for the light heavyweight rematch between Laval's Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

That same date sees Carl Froch and Glen Johnson square off in Showtime's super middleweight tournament.

Pascal-Hopkins was a better than expected fight and will likely be held in Canada, but I know if forced to choose just one, it'd be Froch-Johnson, which has Fight of the Year potential.

ESPN2's Friday Night Fights will broadcast Friday from Montreal's Bell Centre as local product Jo Jo Dan - like Lucian Bute and Leonard Dorin, born in Romania - faces grizzled veteran Stevie Forbes in a welterweight bout.

Laval welterweight Anton Decarie, trying to get back in the hunt after his first career loss last year, takes on capable Shamone Alvarez.

(Photo of Manny Pacquiao courtesy Nick Laham/Getty Images)  

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/nhlwraparound/ every day for the latest news, internet humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

We're not going to single anyone out, but in the demand to get hockey material out on a daily basis, one pundit wondered a couple weeks ago if the San Jose Sharks would be "sellers," the black mark for any NHL club given that 80 per cent of the teams are in the playoff hunt at the deadline.

Don't look now, but San Jose is essentially atop the mighty Pacific Division. They're tied with the sputtering Dallas Stars, who've played one less game.

As recently as Monday, all five Pacific teams were in playoff position, quite a feat in the ultracompetitive West.

Los Angeles has fallen out but have played three fewer games than eighth-place Calgary. The Kings are in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

You know that old cliche about a team bonding on the road? Evidently, that's the Sharks.

They are on a 9-0-1 streak after reaching the halfway point of an eight-game trip with a come-from-behind win in Columbus on Wednesday.

San Jose has allowed just 19 goals in that span, putting the Antti Niemi decision into focus again.

Niemi has lowered his numbers to a 2.63 goals-against average and .910 save percentage after blanking Boston and Washington in succession. His shutout streak lasted nearly 144 minutes.

Chicago, who could've saw fit to retain Niemi if they really, really wanted to, are threatening to join an undesirable club.

The only previous clubs to follow a Stanley Cup win with a non-playoff year since the '67 expansion are Montreal (1970), New Jersey (1996) and Carolina (2004),

The Blackhawks are tied for 10th, three points back of the Flames with two games in hand on Calgary.

As for the Sharks, clutch rookie Logan Couture scored his NHL-best eighth game-winning goal earlier this week. Even midseason pickup Kyle Wellwood has gotten in on the act, with two goals in his last five games. Ben Eager, acquired from Atlanta, has stayed on the right side of the edge so far.

The Sharks still miss Rob Blake on the back end, but after poor starts, youngish defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Jason Demers have been in fine form of late on a corps led by Dan Boyle.

Kent Huskins scored a rare goal Wednesday but he and Niclas Wallin have otherwise stayed true to their M.O. in lengthy careers - unflashy play.

Cycling

Things aren't going so well with Dats, Drapes, Holmer, Bert, Howie et al. Mike Babcock has a string of colourful phrases to describe how badly the Red Wings played against Nashville, from the Detoit Free Press.

Dan O'Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch checks in with Blues forward David Backes, who scored his career-best 18th goal on Tuesday.

The Atlanta Thrashers are struggling but Craig Ramsay says Zach Bogosian is playing much better and Tobias Enstrom is close to returning, from Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/ every day for the latest news, internet humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

Matt Cooke does not discriminate.

Stars Alexander Ovechkin, Marc Savard, Vincent Lecavalier and Andrei Markov are among the number of players who've felt the pain of a Matt Cooke hit. So have Artem Anisimov and now, Fedor Tyutin.

In the wake of Cooke's hit on Columbus defenceman Tyutin on Tuesday night, which drew a four-game suspension, here is a rundown of some Cooke happenings throughout his career - some legal, some clearly not, but usually in the fray regardless.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Feb. 8, 2011

Cooke drives Fedor Tyutin of the Columbus Blue Jackets into the boards from behind. Potential discipline from the NHL is on hand.

Tyutin calls it the worst hit from behind he's ever received.

Cooke tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Tyutin saw him coming and could have avoided being vulnerable.

"It used to be you were responsible for yourself if you turned, but that's not the way anymore," Cooke tells the Post-Gazette. "That call's been called on us four or five times this year. It's the same thing."

Feb. 6, 2011

Cooke upends Washingon star Alexander Ovechkin with a knee-on-knee hit. Ovechkin and teammate Nicklas Backstrom go after Cooke after the play.

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau is livid.

"It was Matt Cooke. Need we say more? It's not like it's his first rodeo," Boudreau said. "He's done it to everybody and then he goes to the ref and says: 'What did I do?' He knows damn well what he did. There's no doubt in my mind that he's good at it and he knows how to do it. He knows how to pick this stuff."

April 30, 2010

Montreal's playoff hopes take a serious blow when Cooke's hit on Andrei Markov ultimately leads to torn knee ligaments for the Canadiens defenceman.

While the hit is clean, it is a bitter blow for Montreal, who saw Cooke plant a cross check to the lower back of Markov in a contest three months earlier.

April 10, 2010

Cooke, who earlier in the season was even able to induce Atlanta star Ilya Kovalchuk into a rare fights, gets his comeuppance.

Rookie Evander Kane, himself not universally popular around the league for usually fighting while wearing a shield, drops a helmetless Cooke with a right hand during a fight.

Cookie is flat on the ice for a few minutes and a stretcher is brought out, but he leaves under his own power.

March 7, 2010

The hit that helped change the league. Cooke drills Boston centre Marc Savard from the blindside, sending the Bruin off on a concussion.

The NHL elects not to suspend Cooke because it is not an illegal play within the rules. Rule 48 would come in effect in the off-season to deal with headshots.

The reaction is swift.

"He's got no respect for the players," said Vincent Lecavalier, who previously tangled with Cooke. "Matt Cooke, he's been doing that for a long time."

Don Cherry rails against Cooke on Coach's Corner, calling him gutless.

Savard has played just 35 games since, dealing with headaches, depression, and ultimately, another concussion.

Nov. 28, 2009

Cooke gets a two-game suspension for a hit to the head on Artem Anisimov. The New York Rangers forward made the mistake of watching the result of his pass and was hit on the head from the blindside by Cooke, who drew a two-minute penalty.

June 2, 2009

While on the ground battling in the Detroit crease in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final, Cooke appears to intentionally lift his skate in the air, making contact up high on Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood. The play goes unnoticed by the officials.

May 18, 2009

With Erik Cole of Carolina driving to the net against Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, he is blindsided under his knee by Cooke's knee. Cooke escapes suspension.

March 17, 2009

Cooke skates several strides to hit Zach Bogosian of Atlanta, making leg-on-leg contact, though it appeared he was attempting a clean check to the body.

Jan. 20, 2009

Against Carolina. Cooke suspended two games for a hit to the head on Scott Walker.

Nov. 29, 2008

With the door to New Jersey's bench open, Zach Parise (without the puck) is driven over the boards by a Cooke hit.

Washington Capitals

April 3, 2008

Tampa Bay's poor season winds down with an exclamation mark, as shoulder surgery is required for star Vincent Lecavalier after a Cooke hit.

"Cookie" is fined $2,500 US by the league. Lightning coach John Tortorella calls it an "absolute cheap shot", while Tampa general manager Jay Feaster is perplexed the play didn't draw an interference call.

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau defends Cooke, saying that he intended to hit puck carrier Michel Ouellet but Lecavalier stepped in the path at the last second.

Vancouver Canucks

March 8, 2004

Against Colorado. A night that goes down in infamy due to Todd Bertuzzi's unprovoked attack on Steve Moore, which draws a lengthy suspension.

Moore had drawn the ire of the Vancouver Canucks for a low hit weeks earlier. In the March 8 game, Cooke seeks revenge, dropping the gloves with Moore several minutes before the Bertuzzi incident.

Feb. 19, 2004

Against Minnesota. Cooke spears Matt Johnson of the Minnesota Wild, earning a two-game suspension. Johnson gets five games for slashing Cooke with intent to injure.

The good news for the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday was that their best player broke out of a drought and the game ended in regulation.

The bad news for the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday was that their best player committed a critical gaffe and the game ended in regulation with the other team winning.

Dustin Byfuglien scored - his first point in 14 point games - but his turnover in front of his own goalie changed the course of the game in the third period of a 5-4 road loss to Toronto.

Atlanta now finds itself tied in eighth in the East with Carolina, who play on Tuesday, but the Hurricanes will have played two fewer games by the end of the night.

The silver lining is that the Southeast rivals play three more times, including later this weke, so the Thrashers can take the initiative in salvaging their promising start to the season.

Coach Craig Ramsay was prophetic before the Toronto game in describing his team's woes and his players proceeded to follow them to a tee.

Ramsay said the Thrashers put in an honest effort against the likes of Detroit, Washington and Chicago due to a "fear factor" but their concentration wanes against lesser foes.

He also spoke of the presence Byfuglien brings to the table, but did allow that the big defenceman sometimes wants to do too much for the good of his team instead of making the simpler play.

The Thrashers have won just 11 of the last 31, and in five of those wins, they gave the other team an extra point by going past 60 minutes. Since Dec. 1, they've also lost six games that went into overtime or shootout.

"We've been closing those close games and at the end of the season those [overtime] points ... you dont want to be looking back at the end of season saying coulda, woulda, shoulda," Anthony Stewart said early Monday.

If NHL games were 40 minutes, Atlanta could be in business but they are a dreadful 15-11-8 (.441 winning percentage) in games in which they score the first goal. Even the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders have a .600 or better winning percentage when getting the first goal.

Relatedly, the Thrashers have a minus-18 goal differential in the third period of games. Heading into Monday, only non-playoff contenders Ottawa and the New York Islanders were worse in that department.

Stewart has been full value, but if there's one player who could be said to epitomize the team's inconsistency, it's Nik Bergfors.

The second year Swede has the potential to be not unlike countryman Alex Steen of St. Louis - an effective two-way player. Bergfors talked a good game on Monday morning about not putting too much pressure on himself as his season has taken roller-coaster turns (strong start, big drought, time in the press box, huge turnover last week) but it wasn't entirely convincing.

Bergfors finished with a game-worst minus-3 in Toronto, and was reduced to just 13 minutes of play.

As with many NHL clubs, the Thrashers simply don't have the depth to survive too many injuries, and they've had a bunch to key players: Evander Kane, Tobias Enstrom, Zach Bogosian, Nik Antropov.

The positive side for Atlanta is that goalie Chris Mason is now back to pick up some slack from tiring Ondrej Pavelec, and all but Enstrom are currently in the lineup.

But the pressure is building for one of just two NHL franchises never to have won a playoff game.

Cycling

Two entries on talented but inconsistent defencemen at different points in their careers:

Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News Observer spotlights Joni Pitkanen. The workhorse Finn is having a decent but not great season, and is a UFA in the summer. He's currently making $4.5 million US.

Rangers coach John Tortorella hasn't decided through six games of his call back up to the NHL if Michael Del Zotto will stay, writes Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Can Peter Forsberg summon some old magic - and quickly? Colorado has been shut out in two straight and neither Matt Duchene nor Paul Stastny had a shot on goal against Phoenix on Monday, writes Terry Frei of the Denver Post.

Hockey history

Do you remember the Challenge Cup?

On Feb. 8, 1979, NHL all-stars and the Soviet Union's best faced off for the first of three times at Madison Square Garden.

The NHL team included the likes of Ken Dryden, Bobby Clarke, Mike Bossy, Borje Salming, Guy Lafleur and some WHA players, like Winnipeg's Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg.

It started with a 4-2 win for the NHL but the series changed in the second period of Game 2, when the reps from the North American clubs twice blew two-goal leads.

Game 3 saw Gerry Cheevers in net instead of Dryden but the move backfired and the NHL couldn't beat Vladislav Tretiak. The 6-0 shocker was the first of two whippings in just under three years.

These days, the Toronto Maple Leafs typically take about four games to score 10 goals, but it was 35 years ago Monday that franchise legend Darryl Sittler racked up that many points in one game.

Darryl Sittler scored six goals and assisted four times in an 11-4 thumping of Boston on Hockey Night in Canada on Feb. 7, 1976.

Sittler set an NHL record that will likely not be broken, with the previous mark of eight points held by Rocket Richard and Bert Olmstead.

The centre set a franchise record for goals in one game (held by Howie Meeker) and he and Red Berenson remain the only players after the expansion in 1967 to score six in a game.

Sittler had two assists after the first period, and three goals and four assists after two.

One day earlier, cantankerous Leafs owner Harold Ballard took a shot at Sittler saying the team was looking for a centre worthy enough to play with Lanny McDonald and Errol Thompson.

It's easy to forget that Sittler was in his fifth season and not quite yet the star he would become. He'd managed just nine points in 20 career playoff games up that point.

"Undoubtedly Mr. Ballard will figure his little blast inspired me to set the record but it just isn't that way," Sittler told the Toronto Star after his point explosion.

Boston coach Don Cherry was embarrassed, though he said: "But if somebody has to do it, I'm glad it was a player of Sittler's calibre, a guy who works for what he accomplishes."

Cherry kept young goalie Dave Reece in for all 11 goals. It wasn't quite Mario Tremblay and Patrick Roy, and there was a reason to Cherry's madness.

Gilles Gilbert had a knee injury and Gerry Cheevers had just re-signed with the Bruins days earlier after a WHA spell with the Cleveland Crusaders.

Cherry said earlier that week he planned to play Reece against both Toronto and Detroit in the weekend games because Cheevers wasn't quite ready for game action.

The next night, Cheevers was back in and the Bruins thumped the Wings 7-0.

Other facts lost in the mist of time:

• Boston's line of Bobby Schmautz, Johnny Bucyk and Jean Ratelle combined for 10 points, against Toronto, not too shabby in any other game.
• Toronto played the following night and won 4-1. Sittler told reporters the line actually had better scoring chances than in the Boston game but the puck wasn't bouncing the right way. (He had one assist; Minnesota's goalie was Cesare Maniago)
• Reece ended up forever tarred in NHL terms, but he finished with a 3.32 goals-against average in 14 games, meaning his non-Sittler games saw him averaging about 2.70.

Shutouts

The Detroit Red Wings joined the ranks of lowly Toronto and Ottawa this weekend, not a typical occurence.

Detroit heads into Monday's home game against the New York Rangers not having scored in over 120 minutes after consecutive shutout losses on the weekend.

In fairness to the Red Wings, these weren't lethargic 16-shot efforts. The Red Wings ran into strong performances from Steve Mason and Pekka Rinne on the weekend against Columbus and Nashville, respectively.

Detroit players not named Johan Franzen have accounted for only five goals in the last five games.

As you'll see by the top and bottom lists in terms of recording and losing by shutouts, there's not always been a correlation to standings.

You probably wouldn't guess the only team yet to be shut out, as well as the only NHL club which hasn't posted a shutout through 50-odd games.

Shut out by:

Worst: Toronto (8), Washington, San Jose (7); Ottawa, N.Y. Islanders (6).

Best: St. Louis (0); Chicago, Atlanta (1); Edmonton, Columbus (2).

Shutouts:

Best: Boston (8); Rangers (7); Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Nashville (6).

Worst: Philadelphia (0), Colorado, Toronto, Islanders (1); Detroit, Edmonton, Dallas, Carolina (2).

Will the Stars solidify their surprising season, or is this the point they revert to pretender status in the wake of some gains from Anaheim and San Jose in the Pacific?
 
The Stars were spanked by Vancouver in their last game, their third defeat in four games. Dallas has allowed 19 goals in the last four games.
 
Dallas forward Travis Morin, an AHL all-star just called up last week, passed out while travelling with the team. It's not believed to be anything serious, but Morin won't play on Thursday.
 
Nathan Horton scored his first goal in forever for Boston on Tuesday, and given that he's a streaky scorer, Bruins fans have their hopes up.  

Boston is looking to maintain its four-point cushion over Montreal in the Northeast.
 
Nashville at Philadelphia
 
The Flyers have gotten where they are by beating up the East: 28-9-2. They've won just five of 12 against the West (5-4-3).
 
Jeff Carter is hot, with seven goals and three assists in his last nine games.
 
Andrej Meszaros, meanwhile, leads the NHL with a plus-27.
 
For Nashville, Pekka Rinne is second in the NHL to Tim Thomas in goals-against.
 
Martin Erat has scored in each of his last four meetings against the Flyers.
 
The Predators were torrid for much of January but have dropped three in a row, scoring just four times.
 
Minnesota at Colorado
 
Colorado's players are being overshadowed by guys not in the lineup.
 
The Peter Forsberg saga continues, with no clear indication of where it's going according to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.

Meanwhile, Peter Mueller went for a skate for the first time this season. Mueller is out with a concussion.
 
The Wild are 13-6-1 in their last 20, and because of that, at this time, general manager Chuck Fletcher tells Mike Russo of the Star Tribune not to expect big moves from Minnesota at the trade deadline.

Alain Vigneault won the Jack Adams Award four years ago, but if the Vancouver Canucks keep up their current pace, it could be argued he's a more deserving candidate this time around. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/ every day for the latest news, internet humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

Tampa Bay and Vancouver each won in impressive fashion on Tuesday night, and their coaches could be in the mix for season's end honours if they keep up their current winning pace.

Guy Boucher's Lightning blanked Philadelphia 4-0, putting them just two points behind the Flyers for the Eastern Conference lead. The Canucks under Alain Vigneault extended their Western Conference margin to seven points.

If you haven't noticed, in the last four years the Broadcasters Association - which chooses the Jack Adams Trophy winner - have been enamored with coaches in their first year with a club.

So much so that they made the highly questionable choice of rewarding Bruce Boudreau of Washington for 61 games of work in 2007-08 while ignoring Mike Babcock.

Detroit was the Presidents' Trophy winner that season and went on to win the Stanley Cup. While we realize the voting reflects regular season totals, it's undeniable that in recent years the voters have taken more of a shine to the coach of a team that makes that 15-20 point leap into contender status than those who guide clubs to that next critical 5-10 points, or those who maintain elite status.

It leads to an old question: What is more impressive, leading a group that underperformed in its previous season (hence the coaching change), or keeping your message and tactics fresh to improve the club you've been coaching for awhile?

It's hard to say what begat this trend. In the nine years leading up to the lockout, all but one Jack Adams winner was an incumbent coach, and Lindy Ruff of Buffalo won in 2005-06 coming out of the lockout.

This recent history towards coaches in their first year with a team would seem to favour Boucher. The only other conceivable first-year candidate would be Craig Ramsay, but the Thrashers are doing their best of late to squander a promising start.

With 30ish games left, there's a healthy crop of so-called veteran candidates who could buck the trend.

Vigneault is an interesting case. While it's undeniable the Canucks are a much more talented team than in 2006-07 when he won the Adams, that trophy was in large part gifted by Roberto Luongo, who finished second in Vezina and Hart voting. As well, Vancouver's special teams overall this season are much better than in '06-07.

To keep with the current theme, Vigneault was in the first year with the team when he won. Meanwhile, returning coach Randy Carlyle was helping lead his Ducks to a 12-point improvement and into elite status. They won the Cup, and like Babcock, Carlyle has never been coach of the year.

Marc Crawford of Dallas, another previous Adams winner, and Philadelphia's Peter Laviolette have to be recognized through 50-odd games as strong candidates.

While it's longer odds at this point for Babcock, Jacques Martin of Montreal, and John Tortorella of the New York Rangers at this point, if their clubs continue to thrive in the face of significant injury challenges, you never know.

A rough measure is points improvement, although it doesn't totally encapsulate who's doing a great job and who isn't. The Nashville Predators, for example, have the same amount of points as this juncture last season, but it would hard to deny that Barry Trotz's team wasn't predicted by many to be ahead of Chicago in their division. Many had the Preds out of the playoff picture.

For what it's worth, here are some of the biggest gainers compared to this juncture last season: Philadelphia (17 point improvement), Carolina (17), Tampa Bay (15), Boston (11), Dallas (11), Vancouver (9), Detroit (8), Montreal (8), Rangers (6), Atlanta (5).

Cycling

Todd Richards of Minnesota likely won't figure in the Adams talk, but many pundits had him pegged as the first coach to be fired this season, ignoring the fact that after a dreadful start in 2009-10, the Wild were a respectable 35-27-8. Minnesota is flirting with a playoff position and Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune looks at the turnaround, which came after a now infamous bag skate.

Brent Sutter would happily take Ron Wilson's place at No. 1 in the Hockey Night in Canada/NHLPA player poll. Something's telling us Sutter wouldn't be saying that if his team wasn't in the midst of a five-game winning streak.

The Carolina Hurricanes have the appearances of a team that may have to make a move or two before the deadline to push them over the playoff hump, according to Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News Observer, but will their budget allow for such moves?

Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson is hot as a pistol, and likely set to face a Washington Capitals club on Friday that he's shut out in his last twice starts. Lightning GM Steve Yzerman says he'll eventually have to trade or send down one of Mike Smith or Dan Ellis.

The Ducks have surprised this season in no small part because they grab the lead in 60 per cent of their games and very rarely cough it up.  Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register profiles Toni Lydman, who's helping hold down the fort.

Hockey history

Here's an interview from Washington on Tuesday night with Hockey Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli, who was honoured before Monday night's Capitals' game.

On Feb.  2, 1998, while with the Florida Panthers, Ciccarelli joined the select company of 600-goal men (the group has since expanded to 17). Ciccarelli also enjoyed the fact that it came against Scotty Bowman and Detroit, who had jettisoned him after the 1995-96 season.

Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders was a desirable name in terms of trade deadline and free agent talk, but he went off the market on Thursday.

Moulson, who has scored 47 goals in 131 games since the beginning of last season, agreed to a three-year deal.

You may not know it, and he may not know it, but he's part of a dying breed.

Moulson was selected in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL entry draft by Pittsburgh, but couldn't latch on with the Penguins and the L.A. Kings.

So maybe Moulson is being buoyed a lot by John Tavares, but he's still quite a find for a ninth rounder.

That particular round in that particular draft is remarkable in retrospect.

There are at least seven players out of the 30 selected in the final round of the 2003 draft who've made more than just a brief cameo in the NHL, including energy-type players such as Troy Bodie, David Jones, Tanner Glass and Nick Tarnasky.

It's a high number when you compare it to final rounds of prior years, and it looks even better when you consider that two of the three goalies picked in that frame were Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak (The third was a local high school kid that Boston picked, Kevin Regan, who made it as high as the AHL).

In fact, when you take the triumvirate of Moulson, Halak and Elliott, you could make the case that they stack up better than several of the top three from earlier rounds from that same 2003 draft. As you can see, the eighth round wasn't too shabby, either:

• 8TH: Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, Shane O'Brien
• 7TH: Kyle Brodziak, Joe Pavelski, Jay Rosehill
• 6TH: Bruno Gervais, Marc Methot, Drew Miller
• 5TH: Nigel Dawes, Brad Richardson, Lee Stempniak
• 4TH: Paul Bissonette, Jan Hejda, Kyle Quincey
• 3RD: Dan Carcillo, Clarke MacArthur, Ryan O'Byrne

The top three from each round are subjective of course, but you can do your own digging and find that there weren't a lot of stars to emerge (yet) from rounds 3 through 7. Rounds 1 and 2 had the likes of Mike Richards, Ryan Kesler, David Backes and Corey Perry, topped by the 1-2 of Marc-Andre Fleury and Eric Staal.

Pin pricking the round of 9 in 2003, you could perhaps make the claim that at least one of Moulson, Halak and Elliott would have gone earlier but the league's clubs as a whole were still in the habit of taking Russian players in the middle rounds prior to the emergence of the KHL.

Anyways, as you may or may not know, Moulson et al were part of the penultimate ninth round ever (at least until the next collective bargaining agreement). The CBA ratified in 2005 shortened the draft to seven rounds.

Other notable ninth rounders from the decade leading up to the lockout: Adam Burish, Jonthan Ericsson, Sami Salo, Craig Adams, Grant Clitsome, Jannik Hansen, Karlis Skrastins and Mark Streit.

So it's clear 2003's best "niners" stand pretty tall.

With seven the new nine, some of the players selected in the last round since 2005 have included Sergei Kostitsyn, Anton Stralman, Patric Hornqvist, Derek Dorsett, Jason Demers, and Anders Lindback, and who knows yet to come.

Cycling

Greg Harder of the Regina Leader Post argues that the WHL coaching pool has never been stronger, with a mix of vets like Don Hay and Lorne Molleken and young blood like Dave Hunchak and Ryan Huska. Will the last two one day join the league's other alum who've coached in the NHL?

Former Islander Molleken, meanwhile, became just the fifth man to earn 500 wins in the WHL on Thursday.

History

On Jan. 28, 1992, St. Louis forward Brett Hull beat Los Angeles goalie Kelly Hrudey in a 3-3 tie.

That gave Hull 50 goals in 50 games or less for a second straight season, and he joined Wayne Gretzky as the only players ever to go 50-50 twice.

Also, another instalment in the "things weren't exactly peachy before headshots and the instigator rule" files:

On this day in 1982, Jimmy Mann of Winnipeg received a 10-game suspension after skating up behind Paul Gardner and decking the unsuspecting Pittsburgh forward. You can watch the clip here. Gardner earlier in the game had cross-checked Doug Smail.

But the players respected each other more back then because they could police themselves!

Gardner, who had his jaw busted, would have had a shot at his only 50-goal season in the NHL, but finished with 36 goals in 59 games.

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/nhlwraparound/hockey/ every day for the latest news, Twitter humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

The Carolina Hurricanes would have liked to have headed into their hometown all-star game in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, but they remain where they largely have been for the last several weeks.

Carolina defeated the New York Islanders 4-2 on Wednesday, but Atlanta stayed in eighth spot with a 1-0 result over the Washington Capitals.

While it's true that the Hurricanes briefly moved into the top eight in November, the NHL's Eastern Conference has been stagnant as far as the teams in contention.

Here is the top eight of both conferences, taken at a random point in the first week of each month:

EAST

• NOV: TB, PHI, MTL, WAS, NYR, PIT, BOS, ATL
• DEC: WAS, PHI, MTL, PIT, TB, NYR, BOS, ATL
• JAN: PIT, TB, BOS, PHI, WAS, ATL, NYR, MTL
• FEB. 2 (end of all-star break): PHI, TB, BOS, PIT, WAS, MTL, NYR, ATL

WEST

• NOV: LA, CHI, VAN, STL, CLB, DET, NAS, COL
• DEC: DET, DAL, VAN, PHX, CHI, LA, STL, CLB
• JAN: VAN, DET, DAL, SJ, COL, NAS, ANA, STL
• FEB. 2: VAN, DET, DAL, NAS, ANA, PHX, COL, CHI/SJ (tie)

While the East has been stagnant as far as the top eight has been concerned, the West has been inter-changeable.

St. Louis has essentially defaulted in the face of massive injuries, but Anaheim and Nashville have been among the few to do some legitimate climbing.

Those two clubs have vaulted into the middle of the West pack about the only way you can in this era of NHL - with regulation wins. 

Nashville has won 15 of 24 since the beginning of December, with 12 regulation victories. Anaheim is 16-9-1 since Dec. 1, with 11 wins in regulation.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has long argued that (with the exception of at most one team) alternate point schemes pretty much lead to the same standings breakdown at the end of the season.

But the process of getting to that point would feature more standings changes with a 2-0 or 3-2-1 points scheme (i.e., three for regulation win, two for OT victory, one for loss). And, it could be argued, more excitement.

Calgary is perhaps the latest team to feel like they're spinning their wheels, winning four in a row but generally only moving up in the standings when other teams are idle.

And here's an eyebrow-raising statistic.

At the all-star break, 58 games between Eastern teams went past regulation, while for the West the total number of games that went to overtime and/or shootout was 61.

The number for interconference meetings? 53!

When you consider that teams play just 21 per cent of their games against the opposite conference, it's interesting that those games account for 31 per cent of the total overtime total.

Charitably, you could try to make a case that the unfamiliarity aspect leads to conservative play, which in turn leads to more tight games. But to that degree?

Instinctively, though you have to feel that there is just slightly less intensity from teams in caring much whether their opponent gets a single point when they reside in the other conference.

Anaheim is instructive. They've played teams from the East just 10 of the last 26 games and has played 16 games of 26 against Western teams since Dec. 1. But of their six games to go beyond 60 minutes, three were against East foes.

It'll be interesting to see if that trend holds up the remainder of the campaign, and even next season.

Worth retweeting:

Brian Compton, senior editor at NHL.com, looking at the production of a player waived in training camp by a team that can't score much:

15th goal of the season for @grabs40 [Michael Grabner]. He has now has more goals than any Florida Panther.

Hockey History:

On Jan. 27, 2001, 19-year-old goaltender Rick DiPietro made his debut for the New York Islanders. The No. 1 pick of the previous year's draft was impressive, making 29 saves, but the Isles lost 2-1 to Buffalo.

The great part? DiPietro couldn't finish his debut, leaving with five minutes left due to leg cramps.

If ever there was a harbinger of things to come. Exactly 11 years (10 seasons) later,  DiPietro has played just 299 games more. He's made only 32 NHL appearances since the beginning of the 2008 season.

GOALIE	TEAM	GS	GSA	SOBY	NHR
Martin Brodeur	NJ	50	2.07	5	.100
Jon Quick	LA	55	2.42	5	.091
Niklas Backstrom	MIN	48	2.44	4	.083
Jaroslav Halak	STL	51	2.47	0	.000
Tomas Vokoun	FLA	55	2.47	5	.091
Pekka Rinne	NSH	58	2.50	6	.103
Carey Price	MTL	65	2.55	7	.101
Steve Mason	CBJ	49	2.71	3	.061
Jonas Hiller	ANA	46	2.71	3	.065
Cam Ward	CAR	67	2.73	4	.060
Marc-Andre Fleury	PIT	57	2.74	5	.088
Ondrej Pavelec	ATL	50	2.74	1	.020
Dwayne Roloson	TB	29	2.76	0	.000
Antti Niemi	SJ	55	2.80	4	.073
Kari Lehtonen	DAL	60	2.83	3	.050
Ilya Brzygalov	PHX	62	2.87	6	.097
Henrik Lundqvist	NYR	61	2.88	1	.016
Miikka Kiprusoff	CGY	67	2.96	3	.044
Ryan Miller	BUF	63	3.02	4	.063
Roberto Luongo	VAN	56	3.04	4	.071
Michal Neuvirth	WSH	40	3.05	2	.050
Jimmy Howard	DET	58	3.26	2	.034
Corey Crawford	CHI	47	3.26	1	.021
Tim Thomas	BOS	50	3.36	5	.100
Sergei Bobrovsky	PHI	46	3.37	5	.109

  

Ryan Smyth scored his 350th career goal on Monday. (Associated Press)

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/nhlwraparound/hockey/ every day for the latest news, Twitter humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

Congratulations to Ryan Smyth, who became the 128th player in league history to reach 350 career goals in a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday night.

Captain Canada is also Captain Power Play, scoring his 149th career goal with the man advantage against the Bruins. That's 43 per cent of his goal total, and it's more than the other active NHL players in his neighbourhood as far as career goals are concerned:

• Daniel Alfredsson:  121/389, 31 per cent
• Marian Hossa: 108/374, 29 per cent
• Ilya Kovalchuk: 122/352, 35
• Milan Hejduk: 129/350, 37
• Patrick Marleau: 105/338, 31
• Vincent Lecavalier: 93/334,  28
• Patrik Elias: 91/327, 28

Smyth ranks fourth among active players in power-play goals, and his percentage is higher than the three men ahead of him:

• Mike Modano: 156/559, 28 per cent
• Mark Recchi: 200/573, 35
• Teemu Selanne: 229/600, 38

When we take into consideration forwards that can fit under the loose umbrella of "power forward", Smyth still ranks among the best:

• Tomas Holmstrom: 107/225, 48 per cent
• Thomas Vanek: 84/190, 44
• Todd Bertuzzi : 104/281,  37
• Eric Staal: 81/216, 37
• Brenden Morrow:  70/212, 33
• Jarome Iginla: 142/461, 31
• Shane Doan:  88/287, 31
• Rick Nash: 75/249, 30

Smyth's 43 per cent is exactly in line with the all-time power-play king, Dave Andreychuk, who scored 274 of 640 career goals on the man advantage.

Worth retweeting

Adrian Dater, Denver Post hockey columnist:

[Peter] Budaj's 14th straight start with 3 goals allowed

Trending topics in Canada: Mike Brown, Tim Brent, Mikael Samuelsson, Kari Lehtonen.

Cycling

Ian Walker of the Vancouver Sun looks at the various bonding trips NHL clubs come up with to inspire the troops.

Speaking of Vancouver, Bernie Puchalski of the St. Catharines Standard catches up with 2010 Canucks draft pick Alex Friesen,  in his fourth season with the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Hockey history

A couple of items to lend perspective to the current transitionary period in establishing Rule 48. While the game is faster and the players are bigger in the NHL today, creating headshot hazards, it's clear from past examples that behaviour can be modified and the culture of the game can be changed over time.

On this day in 1979, the NHL suspended a trio of Bruins who ascended the stands at Madison Square Garden to mete out some vigilante justice to heckling fans in an earlier game. Terry O'Reilly got eight games, while Mike Milbury and Peter McNab - the original Shoe Bomber - got six each.

Consider that half the Bruins went into the stands and that the trio were among those roughing up the fans.  Rick Rypien of Vancouver got six games just for momentarily grabbing a fan this season, while the NBA suspended a trio of Indiana Pacers at least 15 games for fighting with fans a couple years back.

An article by Christine Brennan in USA Today in 1989 dealt with a rash of incidents in recent games:

In less than a month earlier this season, the NHL handed out four suspensions worth 38 games to players who improperly used their sticks. There was Edmonton's Mark Messier hitting Vancouver's Rich Sutter in the mouth with the blade of his stick, New York Ranger David Shaw woodchopping Pittsburgh superstar Mario Lemieux in the chest, Miroslav Frycer of Detroit hitting Murray Craven of Philadelphia near the eye with his stick and Montreal's Stephane Richer sending his stick into the ribs of Jeff Norton of the New York Islanders.

It almost goes without saying that the number of stick incidents that have led to sizable suspensions in recent years have gone down substantially from the 1980s and 1990s, especially since Chris Simon has left the league.

Also important to point out that the incidents Brennan mentioned came a full three years before the instigator rule. Revisionist history would have you believe that Messier, Frycer, Richer, Shaw (or say, Dale Hunter after Pierre Turgeon) were dealt with on the ice without the pesky instigator rule interfering with the proper policing of the game. If so, they were among the quietest lessons handed out.

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/nhlwraparound/hockey/ every day for the latest news, Twitter humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

Saku Koivu has enjoyed many memorable games in a lengthy NHL career, but he knows No. 913 will belong near the top of that list.

The Anaheim Ducks forward heads back to Montreal for the first time as a member of the opposition on Saturday. The native of Turku, Finland, played his first 13 NHL seasons with the Canadiens before leaving via free agency in the summer of 2009.

"It's not going to be [just] another game," Koivu told CBCSports.ca on Thursday. "It's obviously going to be a special couple days in the weekend. When the season started it was far away, end of January, it felt like I had all kinds of time for that, but now it's [here].

"Obviously I think about it and I'm getting nervous about it, but it's going to be a fun one - the game and the weekend and obviously going to see a lot of friends that are close to me."

Ups and downs

Selected by Montreal in the first round (21st overall) of the 1993 NHL draft, Koivu won the Bill Masterton Trophy following the 2001-02 season.

The honour followed his battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, as he returned to the ice just seven months after he was diagnosed in September 2001. He received overwhelming support from the Canadiens faithful during his bout with cancer.

He was named Habs captain on Sept. 30, 1999, a capacity in which he served until leaving. His best season came during the 2006-07 campaign when he set career highs in goals (22), assists (53) and points (75).

The vagaries of the NHL schedule have the 36-year-old making his first appearance back nearly two years after leaving. That's a lifetime in hockey terms - Andrei Markov's has endured about four injuries since then and the relationship between Carey Price and the fans has evolved at least that many times.

Familiar teammates

Maxim Lapierre, by contrast, comes back to Montreal just nine games into his Anaheim tenure.

"It's weird, it's my hometown too," said Lapierre. "I've got to put the emotion on the side and play my game. We need the two points as a team."

While he wasn't overly surprised by the Dec. 31 deal, Lapierre said the impact of being traded for the first time was blunted by having Koivu, as well as former Habs and AHL teammate Kyle Chipchura, at his new NHL home.

Lapierre has one assist in eight games with the Ducks.

"It's going to take some time for him to really feel comfortable and getting used to the system," said Koivu. "It took me a long time last year. At this point he just has to be really patient and work, and he'll find it."

If the emotional lift of Koivu's return isn't enough, Anaheim should be smarting after a 5-2 loss in Toronto. It was a rare bad performance in recent weeks, during which the rest of the Ducks have pulled up their straps in the absence of captain Ryan Getzlaf.

The Ducks take on Montreal as part of Hockey Night in Canada (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).

Worth retweeting

SensChirp

Night in, night out, Jesse Winchester is the best player on the ice for the Senators. It has been that way for awhile now too.

Hockey history

A couple of unique stories 42 years ago this weekend involving some familiar NHL builders who are still involved to this day in advisory roles.

Cliff Fletcher, under the auspices of Scotty Bowman, begins the process of trying to get the transfer of three Czech players for the St. Louis Blues. Jaroslav Jirik would end up playing three games in the 1969-70 season, becoming the first from his country - and the Iron Curtain as a whole - to play in the NHL.

Meanwhile, Minnesota North Stars general manager Wren Blair is a winner in his first game back behind the bench. Blair replaced a first-time NHL coach who wasn't ready for prime time.

The 34-year-old who went 6-23-6 on a Stars team that included Cesare Maniago, Danny Grant and J.P. Parise? John Muckler.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere has made his first appearances in net this week after a month on the sidelines. (John Ulan/Canadian Press)

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/nhlwraparound/hockey/ every day for the latest news, Twitter humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

For veteran Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who faces his old team on Thursday, all questions about his future take a backseat if he can't stay healthy.

"My concern right now is to try to put some games together, try to stay healthy and try to play well," he said Thursday morning.

Giguere, who will turn 34 in May, has been dogged by a groin injury all season. He made his first start in a month last week with a 2-1 shootout loss to Calgary. He made 32 saves.

With Toronto again looking like non-factors after a 7-0 drubbing Wednesday against the New York Rangers, Giguere's name will naturally be mentioned by pundits who make a good deal of their salary as trade speculators.

"I haven't asked, I haven't waived my no-trade," he said. "I haven't talked to Burkie at all about it. And I've said earlier, and I'm sure you guys have read it, that if Burkie was to kind of come and see me, I would owe him the respect to think about it and talk to my family about it."

If hockey decisions were made based on popularity and not money and age, Giguere would have never left Anaheim.

As the Ducks made their way on to the ice for their morning skate at Air Canada Centre, several found their way over to Giguere boardside.

Smiles all around. They included the man who took his job, Jonas Hiller, as well as George Parros, Corey Perry, Todd Marchant and Saku Koivu.

In addition to the question of health, there's at least two more.

One of the reasons teams are in playoff contention is because their goaltending situation is set. Why would a team disrupt their tandem and forego the devil they know as backup for a lesser known quantity?

When you go down the list of those with realistic playoff hopes, there's not many vacancies.

Second, while Leafs GM Brian Burke is a hockey businessman, would he trade a guy who's gone to battle for him in two places to a non-contender just to get assets back? Especially when Giguere just went through a family upheaval a year ago. It seems to go against Burke's loyalty ethos.

Giguere has a .906 save percentage in his 35 appearances with Toronto with a 2.62 goals-against average.

Respectable numbers, but you might remember he started off well early in Toronto with a pair of shutouts. Since then, those numbers change to a .900 save percentage and 2.79 average.

Giguere is at the end of a contract that pays him $7 million US this season. Whoever took him from the Leafs wouldn't be paying peanuts, even for just a seven-week stretch.

Giguere hopes that if he can put together a decent second half he can give the Leafs "the option" of bringing him back.

"I like playing here, I love wearing the white and blue," he said.

Is this a veteran clinging to one of the few options he has left?

But with Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson floundering so badly, maybe it is realistic.

Cycling

The Kings have won just two of the last 11, but GM Dean Lombardi told L.A. Times reporter Helene Elliott Terry Murray's job is safe.

Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News Osberver helps introduce the local fans to Troy Bodie, who's added muscle to the Hurricanes.

Who would you rather have, Giguere or Evgeni Nabokov? There was heavy Twitter speculation that Detroit is interested in signing Nabokov, as no matter how warmly people feel towards Chris Osgood, the Wings don't have a hope if Jimmy Howard's injury is very serious.

But Nabokov has to clear waivers, a perilous route in recent weeks after Marek Svatos and Kyle Wellwood were plucked.

This Day in Hockey History

Happy 15th anniverary to Fox Trax!

It was on this day in 1996 Fox introduced the technological enhancement for that year's all-star game.

On behalf of all Canadians, thank you Fox for this advancement that we enjoy to this day (well, we enjoy bringing it up and laughing).

Check out James Brown dutifully hyping the gizmo before the ASG.

Martin Brodeur hasn't been in a shootout this season, but the New Jersey Devils legend has pretty much been the best in the business since it was introduced. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

Be sure to check http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/ every day for the latest news, Twitter humour, history and more in the NHL Wraparound.

Mathieu Garon just missed a chance on Tuesday night to reach an impressive shootout feat, but he's been one of the best in the discipline since it's been introduced.

Garon and the Blue Jackets lost to Tampa Bay Lightning, with Ryan Malone the only scorer. Garon could have been the only current netminder with at least 20 wins and just single digit losses.

Kari Lehtonen was in that category heading into this season. In a statistic that seems to support the randomness of the shootout, Lehtonen is helping to spur a surprising Dallas campaign but is actually just 2-4 in the shootout lowering his winning percentage to (23-12).

Garon dropped to 19-8 overall on Tuesday. Johan Hedberg has a terrific 18-6 mark, and Jonathan Quick and Pekka Rinne are quickly making their mark early in their careers. Both are 16-7.

Of course, it's a lot of easier to have a sterling percentage with just 20-35 career shootout appearances than 50.

Among the grizzled goalies, the kingpins are the trio of Martin Brodeur (.654), Ryan Miller (.620) and Henrik Lundqvist (.592). Brodeur's numbers have been stagnant this year - of the three shootout games New Jersey has played, all have featured Hedberg.

It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that the goalies with the lowest shootout win percentages have played on teams that have struggled to score goals. Tomas Vokoun (.432), Miikka Kiprusoff (.400), Ilya Bryzgalov (.457) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere (.409) are in that category. Kiprusoff has actually improved his standing with a 4-1 mark this season.

Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas have less of an explanation, given that their teams have been much better. They're just not great in the shootout, with a .468 and .479 win rate, respectively.

And Minnesota's often anemic offence can't fully explain Nik Backstrom's dreadful .324 percentage. Cam Ward of Carolina isn't much better, at .346.

Backstrom has a .577 save percentage, only rivalled (in a bad way) among experienced goalies is Kiprusoff's .584.

The top save percentages are Hedberg (.796), Rinne (.785), Garon (.755) and Lundqvist (.755). Jaroslav Halak and Jonas Hiller look to be joining those ranks; both are above .740 in about 20 shootout appearances each.

Is Jhonas Enroth of Buffalo the next shootout stalwart? Kid has made six NHL starts, has lost four of them, but is 2-0 in the shootout with a .782 save percentage.

Cycling

"One thing, you wouldn't want to be a defenceman with Zach bearing down on you because he can skate and is a physical guy."

Zach Bogosian has been a healthy scratch recently and the Thrashers have been short on forwards due to injuries.

Craig Ramsay is toying with the idea of putting Bogosian up front for a game, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In case you missed it, ex-NHL forward-con Mike Danton received an academic award from Saint Mary's University. And his parole is up soon.

The Frozen Four in Nashville? The city is interested in making a bid.

Before you scoff, you should know Tampa Bay is hosting the event next year. According to Josh Cooper of the Tennessean, Predators president Sean Henry was involved in that bid and this one.

Worth retweeting

USA Today hockey writer Kevin Allen:

St. Louis Blues should open a business of identifying and signing scorers who can help rival teams...no wait, they are already doing that.

Columbus Dispatch hockey writer Aaron Portzline:

#TBLightning C Stamkos has 15 power play goals. #CBJ as a team has 22, nobody with more than 4.

This day in hockey history

The one that got away: Indianapolis mayor Dick Lugar on Jan. 19, 1973, joined a "We want NHL Hockey" campaign urging citizens to sign petitions asking National Hockey League to consider the Midwest city. Indy settled for the Racers, the WHA franchise that lasted just four years, folding in 1978 not long after owner Nelson Skalbania sold the thoroughbred he spent over a million or, Wayne Gretzky.

As for Lugar, he's still in the news. On Tuesday he announced he's running for a seventh term as U.S. senator in 2012.

Speaking of Gretzky, NHL teams learned in 1979-80 not to mess with the teen. Jan. 19, 1980, was one of the incidents that forged the legend of Dave Semenko.

Gretzky  he was felled by a stick near the eye from Pittsburgh goon Kim Clackson (1,302 PM in 377 NHL & WHA games). Dave Semenko went after Clackson, and a bench clearing brawl ensued. Check the clip from NHLfightclub.com to see Oilers coach Glen Sather nearly go into the stands, one of the brawl's events that evidently greatly distressed one female fan.

Gretkzy had two goals and two assists in the 5-2 win.

Florida Panthers coach Peter DeBoer spoke glowingly about captain Bryan McCabe's warrior spirit after he played through intense pain on Monday.

McCabe suffered facial fractures after taking a puck to the face in Saturday's win over New Jersey.

The Panthers responded to that evocation Monday night with a disappointing loss against the team they're trying to catch.

Florida broke open a scoreless game with Atlanta early in the third with two goals.

They led 2-0 with just over two minutes left in the third period. And then they let in two goals in regulation and lost in a shootout.

Just another day for the baffling Panthers.

Florida is once again engaging in its annual dance of flirtation. Will they be contenders or pretenders? Relatedly, will they be buyers or sellers at the deadline? (We hate the outdated buyer-seller narrative framework, but you get the picture).

The loss followed three straight wins. According to beat reporter George Richards of the Miami Herald, the Panthers have not enjoyed a four-game winning streak since 2008. Jacques Martin was still coach and GM and Jay Bouwmeester was ensconced in Florida.

As a result of the loss, Panthers moved five points back of the playoff pace. The franchise could be en route to an ignominious feat by NHL standards - failing to make the playoffs for a full decade of seasons.

Florida was last in for the 1999-00 spring but never won a game. Their last postseason win was in 1997. 

The game was notable also because it was the third consecutive start for Scott Clemmensen.

This not long after there was talk healthy goalie Tomas Vokoun might be given a contract extension.

General manager Dale Tallon was not overly revealing on Monday's Hockey Night in Canada Radio.

"We're interested in doing something with Tomas and hopefully we can work something out that's beneficial to both sides," said Tallon.

But:

"We do have a lot of depth in goal, we have a lot of good young kids, whether they're ready yet or not, that's the question. We're trying to evaluate [the goaltending situation]."

Vokoun and McCabe are among seven unrestricted free agents on the Panthers, who also have five RFA's.

So whatever the nomenclature you want to attach to trade deadline, they'll definitely be a team to watch on Feb. 28.

Cycling

Whatever happened to the Minnesota Wild draft class of 2006? The Wild would like to know. Hockey's Future provides the answers, which go a long way towards explaining why the team has struggled in the last couple of years.

Jim Parker of Postmedia News catches up with Meghan Agosta, who's looking to finish her collegiate career in style.

Patrick Marleau and Jamie Langenbrunner each scored in their 1,000th game on Monday. Cory Stillman of Florida and Minnesota's Andrew Brunette are each within 10 games of 1,000.

Wade Redden is stuck at 994.

John Tavares looks to follow up his second career hat trick as the New York Islanders are one of six NHL teams in action on a holiday Monday afternoon in the United States.

The Islanders face the Devils, Boston take on Carolina, and Phoenix and San Jose do Pacific battle during the afternoon games on Martin Luther King Day.

Tavares is showing signs of taking that next step in his NHL career. Tavares has seven goals in his last seven games. In his last 16, he's tallied 10 goals and nine assists. He is on pace to finish with 35 goals and 30 assists.

For what it's worth, the Devils showed signs of life last week, going 2-0-1.  Martin Brodeur and the Devils have also limited Tavares, with the sophomore forward scoring just once with three assists in eight career games against New Jersey.

Carolina at Boston

Don't look now but the Carolina Hurricanes are spoling to return to the playoffs. Carolina is 5-1-2 in January, one point off the playoff pace.

Mark Stuart is back for Boston, which is good news for the Bruins, who've been hit hard by injuries on the back end. Rookie Steve Kampfer broke his nose in Saturday's loss to Pittsburgh, and the trio of Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk played a total of 82 ½ minutes, according to the Boston Globe. And that was a game that ended in regulation.

San Jose at Phoenix

The Sharks won for the first time in seven games on Saturday, and general manager Doug Wilson said coach Todd McLellan's job is safe, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

"I believe in our coaching staff," Wilson told the paper. "It's the same staff we beat Detroit with."

San Jose begins Monday three points out of a playoff spot and it won't get easier. They play 13 of the next 17 on the road.

Keith Yandle has been earning raves for Phoenix - and some called him the biggest all-star snub - but he earned the ire of the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Yandle slashed Corey Perry on the wrist in Saturday's game, an infraction that went uncalled in a 6-2 win for Phoenix.

Cycling

Guess who was named the KHL player of the week and has "dominated" with four shutouts in his last eight starts? Slapshot from the New York Times has the answer.

The Save our Suhaki campaign would take too long to explain, but it is a humourous response to a politically correct decision involving the University of North Dakota's hockey team. Zach Parise is involved, but former 1980 U.S. Olympian Dave Christian steals the show.

On this day in hockey history

Jan, 17, 1986: Buffalo Sabres coach Jim Schoenfeld was fined $5,000 for throwing a water bottle at referee Terry Gregson in an earlier game. Hours later, Scotty Bowman returned behind the bench and fired Schoenfeld, who was in his first year as an NHL coach.

Schoenfeld was 33 at the time, still one of the youngest men to ever coach an NHL team. The incident predated (by over two years) his infamous heckling of ref Don Koharski after a New Jersey-Boston playoff game.

Most of all, it's a great excuse to link to his classic Schony album, with its covers of Great Balls of Fire, Chain Gang, as well as the trippy hippie original Before.

Don't be upset, Robin. You are about to join the relatively select ranks of goalies who've started an NHL game while still a teen. (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Robin Lehner of the Ottawa Senators is set to join a fairly exclusive list on Thursday night: The ranks of the NHL teen goalies to start a game.

Lehner has played in 34 minutes in a pair of relief appearances, but the 19-year-old Swede is set to get his first NHL start against the New York Islanders.

The list of teen NHL goaltenders over the past eight decades is only about 50, and that includes several who only played a game or two before hitting 20, not always starts.

The list of famous recent goaltenders who earned a taste of NHL hockey as teens is notable - Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Mike Vernon, John Vanbiesbrouck, and Olaf Kolzig - but none played extensively until their 20s.

And reflecting its stature as the goalie rich region for quite a long time, Quebec teens have been known to debut early: Stephane Fiset, Jocelyn Thibault, Maxime Ouellet, Martin Biron, Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

It's a relatively modern phenomenon.

Harry Lumley is the unquestioned king of the teen goalie with respect to the first decades of NHL play. He racked up 71 shutouts between 1943 and 1960 after debuting at a record 17 years of age, won a Stanley Cup with Detroit, and went into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980.

After that, the oldtimer list is pretty short, even though it wasn't unheard of for skaters to debut before their 20th birthday.

Harvey Bennett is an interesting case. All 25 of his NHL games came at age 19, but he left quite the legacy. Four sons played pro hockey, led by Curt Bennett, who played over 500 NHL games in the 1970s.

With six teams and workhorses Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante dominating the crease, chances were few and far between, and eventually the draft age agreed upon by NHL clubs was 20 years.

That changed in the late 1970s, and a trio of goalies made their mark in the first half of the next decade. Don Beaupre helped lead the Minnesota North Stars to the Stanley Cup, Edmonton's Grant Fuhr posted a glistening 28-5-14 record, and Tom Barrasso of the Buffalo Sabres stood above all before or since by winning the Calder and Vezina in 1984, his first year.

Some other teams tried to emulate that trend with less than desirable results. Allan Bester couldn't help the Toronto Maple Leafs get out of the Norris basement in 1983-84, and the team even tried fellow teen Ken Wregget for a few games (but they thought he was 31 because of the mustache).

But at least those two went on to have NHL careers.

Pity Ron Loustel. The Saskatoon Blades goalie was thrust into action for the truly wretched 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets (9-57-14). He can say that he once played an NHL game. A game the Jets lost 10-2, but a game nonetheless!

The tendency not to want to ruin a kid has been paramount if perhaps a tad paternalistic. From a mental standpoint, Rick DiPietro and Marc-Andre Fleury were able to bounce back fine despite going a combined 7-29-3 in their first seasons.

In this century, no teen hit the crease more than Dan Blackburn (63 games) but a shoulder injury spelled a premature end to his career.

If Lehner were to take the ball and roll with it the rest of this season, he'd be a pioneer of sorts, because unsurprisingly, the list of goalies from across the pond who've played in the NHL under 20 is scant.

Remember Evgeny Konstantinov of the turn of the century Tampa Bay Lightning? Didn't think so.

Cycling

Goalies old and young:

Rogie! Rogie Vachon has apparently made peace with not being in the Hockey Hall of Fame, even if Jeff Marek and myself haven't.

It happened Tuesday night, but in case you're not up on your QMJHL, Evan Mosher of the P.E.I. Rocket made 65 saves, courtesy of the Saint John Telegraph Journal.

Sure, it would be neat to see Daniel Sedin, left, try and catch brother Henrik in an NHL all-star game that pits them on opposite sides, but will it make the quality of the game better? (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

There didn't seem to be any huge injustices from the NHL all-star game selections on Tuesday, and really, when have the selections been entirely about who's been having the best first half? 

The league did seem to miss an opportunity, given how young the roster is skewing, by leaving someone like John Tavares out at the expense of a returnee like Patrik Elias. But that's one man's opinion ... take our poll and pick the least deserving of five all-star game selections.

And if you're going to go with all rookies for the skills competition, who cares that Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are already there. How could you not include Linus Omark, who attempted the most "controversial" shootout goal? Omark, it should be noted, was selected to the AHL all-star game on Tuesday.

It's probably not wise to encourage members of the NHLPA to collude given their torturous history, but wouldn't it be great if the 42 somehow came up with Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin as captains?

Colleague Tim Wharnsby thinks it's a no-brainer for Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin to be captains, and I'm sure his is a popular view.

But I have to respectfully disagree with Tim. We just saw the Winter Classic a couple of weeks ago, and Sid and Ovie may meet again in the spring in games that really matter.

Yes, we've seen them on an all-star side before, but they were younger and clearly pressing in an attempt to create some chemistry. How many times are we going to get to see these guys on the same team in their careers? Let's take advantage of the few opportunies we have.

Much like when the game was organized along international lines, the draft format means that NHL teammates could be on opposite sides.

It would seem to hinder against a truly competitive game. Imagine if someone, even unintentionally, put their teammate out of commission for several weeks?

And right or wrong, some fans to identify with places, no matter how flimsy the affiliation, such as rooting for a conference. Maybe with younger fans there'll be some identification with "Team Crosby" or "Team Ovechkin", but will anyone else care?

I should mention at this point that the perverse side of me wants to see Team Backes take on Team Giroux, with my second choice Team Kesler against Team Kessel just to confuse the hell outta everyone.

It's an admirable stab from Brendan Shanahan and his gang at breathing life into the game, no doubt. But the NHL needs to resist the temptation to do what it usually does - repeat something until it's beaten to a pulp.

The format next year must be different. Because different creates interest. Would the Winter Classic have been as hailed this year if it wasn't preceded by a terrific behind-the-scenes series, along with the unplanned shift to nighttime outdoor hockey?

How about establishing the median NHL age and picking an over/under team? It could be good to see the "older" players try and teach the whippersnappers a lesson, with the cocky youth looking to run rampant. More logistically tricky down the road, matching NHL all-stars against KHL all-stars or against the defending Cup champions.

Cycling

One irreverent, one serious:

Atlanta Journal Constitution's Bill Tiller goes in for a heavy dose of fun prodding over the incessant reports of the Thrashers moving to Manitoba - the most recent a piece from the Winnipeg Free Press?

Hockey Night in Canada Hotstove contributor Eric Francis in the Calgary Sun features a story on Moe Halat, a former minor hockey teammate of Dany Heatley battling a rare form of cancer. 

Worth retweeting

Schuyler Baeham, the NHL's Senior Manager of Communications

Thanks YYZ for the free Internet, but for whoever programs the tunes, I don't want Gordon Lightfoot before I get on a plane in a snowstorm

Trending topics in Canada on Tuesday night: Mason Raymond, Alex Auld

On this day

1988: Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones announced their engagement after a seven-month courtship, with a planned summer wedding. Little did the fans know how the hockey world would be shook just weeks after the nuptials.

Sergei Bobrovsky has won 15 games for the Philadelphia Flyers in his first NHL season. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

The Philadelphia Flyers will host the Buffalo Sabres tonight and Sergei Bobrovsky will be in the lineup for the home team.

Bobrovsky has endured a small dip in play in the last couple weeks, but the 22-year-old rookie has mostly been one of the revelations of the NHL season. Philadelphia, long dogged by goaltending issues, has won 15 games with the Novokuznetsk, Russia native in net.

We bring this up to denote the fact that Jan. 11 marks 35 years since Russian players came and left the Spectrum ice in Philadelphia, with the Soviet Red Army famously threatening to quit during a Super Series tour stop.

Red Army coach Konstantin Loktev pulled his charges from the ice after Ed Van Impe rocked Valeri Kharlamov midway through the first. Kharlamov had famously been introduced to Flyers captain Bobby Clarke 3 1/2 years earlier in the Summit Series.

The Russians were coaxed back - a polite word to describe NHL pres. Clarence Campbell's threats of withholding cash - and proceeded to lose 4-1. The Red Army hadn't lost in games with league powers Montreal, Boston and the New York Rangers.

While the Montreal-Red Army game of two weeks earlier has been hailed as a classic, Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette hailed Philadelphia's performance as a masterpiece, one that salvaged national pride. Even Flyers coach Fred Shero admitted afterward he was in "a state of shock" over how comprehensive the beating was.

Shero said he long dreamed of facing, and defeating, the vaunted Soviets.

Burke's view wasn't universally shared, and over the years, there's been a lot of revisionist history about the game to neatly weave it into the popular narrative of the Broad Street Bullies.

A couple of points. The Flyers simply "gooning it up" hardly explains a 49 -13 shot total, nor does the possibility that the Russians simply got cranky or disinterested as they did in Lake Placid four years later.

Said Flyers owner Ed Snider at the time: "I didn't think we played as rough as some of our playoff games. What right do writers have to decide what is good hockey?"

The Flyers were also without star goalie Bernie Parent, who was dogged by back issues at the time. Fine backup Wayne Stephenson, who died a few months ago, was in net against the Soviets.

Cycling

Speaking of products of the Soviet hockey system ... the Wall Street Journal has a feature on Aleksey Nikiforov, who has tutored many future NHLers in Long Island over the past two decades.

Steve Yzerman does not want your stinky veterans ... well OK, he's not given up his draft picks is what he means, courtesy of the Tampa Tribune.

The other Florida GM, Dale Tallon, gives an assessment of his team at the midway point, courtesy of the Miami Herald.

It was an interesting, often frustrating 2010 in the world of boxing. The majority of great moments occurred in the last three months, salvaging the year and providing hope for 2011.

Thanks to the Queensberry Rules boxing blog, which does a great job of curating the top rounds and knockouts of the year for those with fuzzy memories. There you can find many great KOs and rounds from 2010 not listed below.

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. Juan Manuel Lopez
2. Sergio Martinez

This isn't the consensus pick, with a large majority of boxing observers opting for Martinez. There really are no other serious contenders for the top honour, in my opinion, although Manny Pacquiao and several others had fine years.

Martinez's KO of Paul Williams was undoubtedly a stunner worthy of him getting the pick. And while he put forth a strong performance in his win over against Kelly Pavlik, the fact that the older Bernard Hopkins nearly shut out the one-dimensional Pavlik just 16 months before nagged at me.

Lopez went from a sloppy but exciting fighter to a reasonable facsimile of countryman and idol Felix Trinidad circa 1998. An offensive machine. The Puerto Rican fought three times, outboxing and pounding out Steven Luevano and engaging in a shootout to stop Bernabe Concepcion.

But it's his mostly one-sided war with Rafael Marquez in November that puts him over in my book. Even at 35, and a bit slower than in his prime, Marquez is a better overall fighter than Williams or Pavlik. Lopez at most lost two rounds, overcoming a huge shot that wobbled him in the fourth round to grind Marquez up and essentially make him quit.

I also subscribe to the notion that the fighter of the year either has to be totally dominant, or walks through what looks like a career-defining gut check moment and takes it to another level. In the absence of total dominance in 2010, I went with the guy who walked through fire.

1. Jean Pascal
2. Lucian Bute

There have been some pretty outrageous things written, especially in the U.S., after Pascal's draw with Bernard Hopkins. One usually terrific scribe, who obviously didn't watch the fight live, opined that Hopkins won eight of the first nine minutes save for those pesky two knockdowns. Anyone who watched that fight live knows that Hopkins was as uncomfortable over the first five rounds as he's ever been.

Yes, Pascal faded late, but there's no shame in his effort against Hopkins. Plus, he dented Chad Dawson's unbeaten mark earlier in the year.

Lucian Bute had another great year, but Edison Miranda and Jesse Brinkley just aren't on the level of Pascal's opposition. Elsewhere with respect to Canadians, Steve Molitor regained a world title belt and David Lemieux put himself into the middleweight conversation with a string of knockouts.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR

1. Amir Khan W 12 Marcos Maidana
2. Antonio Escalante W 10 Miguel Roman
3. Juan Manuel Marquez KO 9 Michael Katsidis
4. Abner Mares D 12 Yhonny Perez
5. Humberto Soto W 12 Urbano Antillon

It was a year of several really, really good bouts but not one galvanizing classic that'll stand out from the pack years from now. My winner featured in chronological order: a stunning first two rounds for Khan, some impressive, dogged rounds from Maidana, some classic give-and-take rounds, and Khan's desperate fight for survival after getting rocked in the 10th. Khan arguably landed his hardest punch in the 11th, again fading in the 12th before an end-of-the-round flourish.

Escalante-Roman was exciting in a fun way, while Marquez-Katsidis and Soto-Antillon were gruelling, exhaustive affairs that made you marvel at the grit and determination on display.

KO OF THE YEAR

1. Sergio Martinez KO 2 Paul Williams
2. Dimitry Pirog KO 5 Daniel Jacobs
3. Freddy Hernandez KO 5 DeMarcus Corley
4. Audley Harrison KO 12 Michael Sprott  
5. David Lemieux KO 1 Hector Camacho Jr.

For the second straight year, it's a second round KO taking top honours. It is the least debatable choice of all the categories, which is saying something given the large number of eye-popping knockouts this year. Fernando Montiel essentially knocked out Hozumi Hasegawa, with the Japanese fighter hanging limp on the ropes as the ref stepped in. Other bouts of less importance, with great finishes: Maxim Vlasov KO 3 Jerson Ravelo, Tim Coleman KO 8 Patrick Lopez, Ed Paredes KO 2 Joey Hernandez. They can all be found at the Queensberry blog.

ROUND OF THE YEAR

1. Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis, 3
2. Joseph Agbeko-Yonnhy Perez II, 6
3. Antonio Escalante-Miguel Roman, 8
4. Giovanni Segura-Ivan Calderon, 4
5. Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana, 10

Some sites are picking Round 10 of Khan-Maidana as the best. It was definitely the most suspenseful round of the year owing to Khan's attempts at survival, but I preferred rounds where there was a more equitable exchange of artillery. Katsidis planted Marquez hard in the third, and the two spent the final minute testing each other's mettle in a thrilling way. Much like fight of the year, you can't go wrong with any of these in the top spot.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Bob Arum
3. Manny Pacquiao

Mayweather could have been in line for fighter of the year honours after walking through Shane Mosley's fire to outfox the veteran, but he chose to spend the rest of the months living like Suge Knight in the mid-90s.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum is heading into his ninth decade, and unsurprisingly cares not one whit about topping off his legacy on a positive note. He's largely refused to work with competing promoters, and served up a series of face-first opponents for Pacquiao. Next is faded Shane Mosley, who Arum himself believes will be easy fodder for Pacman.

Pacquiao is unassailable inside the ring, and exemplary for wanting to make his struggling country a better place - as opposed to Mayweather, who in addition to his legal troubles spends hit time tweeting pictures of his bank roll or yacht. But the "my promoter decides who I fight next" act is not acceptable for an icon like Pacquiao. There's at least three more palatable opponents than Mosley, and all Manny had to do was demand it, because he holds the leverage, not Arum.

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR 

1. Joseph Abgeko W 12 Yhonny Perez
2. Michael Katsidis KO by 9, Juan Manuel Marquez
3. Manny Pacquiao W 12 Antonio Margarito

Agbeko had lost a close, clear decision to Perez in 2009, but he tapped into all of his potential in early December, boxing and slugging to a wide points win over Perez. It was a thing of beauty.

I've always thought Katsidis was overrated, and that even his reputation as an action fighter was a bit inflated. A bit too mauling for me most times. On Nov. 27, he probably beats any other lightweight in the world and even a bunch of top junior welterweights.

Fighting just weeks after the unexpected death of his brother, his effort against Marquez was the kind of inspiring stuff that helps explain why Hollywood keeps dining at the boxing trough.

Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins trade blows during Saturday's bout. (Canadian Press)

The first thing you need to know about the Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins bout was that it wildly exceeded expectations.

Most seasoned boxing watchers expected one of two things: Pascal winning with speed, at which point Hopkins would resort to complaining, fouling, whatever was necessary really, to slow the man 17 years his junior.

Or what also could have easily been envisioned was Hopkins entangling the talented but sometimes crude younger fighter in his defensive web en route to a stinker of a decision.

It was neither.

It was always intriguing, and something compelling happened in most rounds.

It was contentious. But contentious doesn't mean controversial.

The majority draw result was an entirely fair and appropriate one.

You can't say a man was robbed when he hit the deck twice and was legitimately buckled in the fifth round.

Were those knockdowns more due to Hopkins being off balance and out of position than being in real trouble? Sure, but so what?

It's not like Hopkins has scored only picturesque knockdowns in his career. The guy's been in a passel of ugly bouts from the mid-1990s onward. He's cuffed a guy behind the ear a time or two, which is what led to his downfall in the first on Saturday. Sometimes you bite the shark and sometimes the shark bites you.

Old marvel

Hopkins, at nearly 46, is indeed a marvel. But it took him longer to figure out Pascal than all but arguably two men - Joe Calzaghe and Jermain Taylor.

But Pascal landed more hard shots on the Philly legend than those two men did altogether. In fact, he probably landed more significant blows on Hopkins than anyone, ever.

Make no mistake, Hopkins did figure Pascal out eventually, and the Laval fighter cooperated by abandoning his jab and body punching abilities.

One of the things Hopkins has on his side these days is the old man factor. Whenever he loses a round, he loses a round. Whenever he wins a round, many boxing fans bellow that he "schooled" the other man, even if it was just a ho-hum round.

I thought he schooled Pascal in four, and won three others by a mix of grit and Pascal inertia. He clearly hurt the home fighter to the body, which should be of concern to Pascal's team.

Some will question Pascal's conditioning as a result but I also think it was clear as water from the opening bell that he was too amped up in the early going. That can contribute to fatigue.

Pascal tags Hopkins

It would also be a mistake to say that Pascal limped to the finish.

While Hopkins looked masterful in the first half of the 10th, he took about four of five Pascal punches in the latter half that were harder than anything he landed.

Same with the 12th. Hopkins won the round, but a Pascal punch in the final minute was the hardest of the stanza, by far.

Some of the reaction to the fight reminded me of the first Manny Pacquiao bout against Juan Manuel Marquez, where the Mexican rebounded strongly after three first-round knockdowns.

The early rounds count just as much as the last, folks, and if you had Hopkins within two points of Pascal after five rounds, sorry, but you're probably just a wee bit biased towards the wizened Executioner. I had Pascal up by five, and the judges had advantages of three, four, and five for the Laval boxer.

The scorecards indicated that there was nothing untoward. The Belgian judge scored the first 10-9, so backers of Hopkins have no complaint he was robbed. There was agreement by all three on seven rounds, and dispute on five. That sounds entirely reasonable, and while you could raise an eyebrow at a particular judge's assessment of an individual round once or twice, there were no outrageous pronouncements.

So praise the old man all you want, but save at least a little something for the young tiger, too. He tagged Hopkins harder and more often than just about any one ever has.

No one shamed themselves on this night, which can't always be said for boxing. Many months in 2010 were incredibly frustrating for fans of the sport, but several impressive battles in recent weeks, capped off by Saturday night's fight, provide a sliver of hope for the road ahead.

What appeared at first a star-making turn from Amir Khan, right, turned into a test of his heart and courage after Marcos Maidana battered him in the 10th and 12th rounds. (Isaac Brekken/Associated Press)

It wasn't a banner first half of the year in boxing, but the last several weeks have produced much excitement, with two bouts on Saturday among the best of 2010.

Terrific beat writer Kevin Iole from Yahoo! asked a legitimate question last week: Where are the next stars of boxing?

Amir Khan and Abner Mares may never reach truly elite fighter status (though they might), but they seem on track to providing fans with compelling action, win or lose, for the next couple of years.

They were the winners in two of the most entertaining bouts of the year on Saturday, and a third fight featured one of 2010's top performances.

And while UFC's Dana White talks a good "global" game, it was a night that showed boxing's superior reach.

There was a British Pakistani Muslim taking on an Argentinian known as El Chino, a Mexican-American facing an Armenian-Australian, and a Ghanaian fighting a Dominican. You can't talk worldwide when you're not in one continent and barely in another.

Khan, who turned 24 earlier in the week, came out with speed and purpose against Marcos Maidana in their 140-pound bout, landing a hellacious body shot that nearly ended matters in the first. The Briton then pounded Maidana for much of the second.

Had the fight ended shortly after, which it appeared it might, we would have had a spate of "A Star is Born" articles.

Some fans, no doubt, would have countered that the Argentine Maidana was tailor made for Khan. That's just going to come with the territory for Khan, who like Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya, has a faction that will always hate him just for being telegenic and flashy.

But Maidana isn't tailor made for anybody, with an iron will that ranks among the best in boxing. He started to get in the swing beginning in the third and fourth, but it seemed clearly Khan's night. Even after half of the 12 rounds were in the bank, you wouldn't have pegged this for a Fight of the Year candidate.

The intensity was ratcheted up soon enough, and after some hard fought rounds, Khan was tagged with a big right hand in the 10th and must have broken his toes fighting to stay upright. He was subsequently beaten from pillar to post in a clear 10-8 round. Khan's best moment of the round came when he winked at someone ringside while he was grappling for dear life. Cheeky, as they say from where he's from.

The next two rounds is where there seems to be some conflicting opinions. What I saw in the 11th was Khan land his two best right-hand headshots of the night, winning him the round. Khan was again in survival mode in the first two minutes of the 12th, however, losing him the round, but he fought back furiously in the final 30 seconds and even appeared to sting Maidana in the waning moments.

It was a redeeming ending because his uncontroversial unanimous decision win would have come with a bit of a bad taste had he spent the entire final three running from the dangerous Maidana.

So, sure, you can argue Khan got a little lucky and looked plenty vulnerable. But doesn't that make you want to see him fight again with some of the best in the world?

Khan wants Floyd Mayweather (Khan and Manny Pacquiao share Freddie Roach as a trainer, so that bout won't happen unless the entire boxing world clamors for it). It seems a bit ambitious right now, but I believe in 12-18 months, it's worthy. Khan's style could be the trickiest for Mayweather to handle.

More Mares, please

When I saw Abner Mares live in Las Vegas in 2006, I felt I was probably watching a future titleholder even though it was just his sixth bout. The question was whether he would be just one of the multitudes who hold a boxing trinket, or in the first class.

Now, I see a lot of Erik Morales in Mares. Like Morales, he has the unique blend of skills, heart and vulnerabilities that guarantee he's going to be in a lot of terrific action bouts. Against other gifted world-class fighters, he's not going to blow them out, but it's hard to see anyone dominating him, either.

He may never reach the level of Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, but unlike them he's comfortable in two languages, which can only help.

Here's what he had to contend with in a bantamweight title bout on Saturday: A bloody face from the opening minute on after a headbutt near his hairline (which required 12 stitches), an early knockown that put him down on the scorecards, and a referee oblivious to the fact that Vic Darchinyan has been one of the dirtiest fighters in recent memory. It was Mares, 25, who drew three quarters of the warnings on this night, and he got docked a point for a low blow.

While Darchinyan was putting forth one of his best efforts ever, he was really only landing one shot at a time, all of them to the head. Mares in most rounds was punching in combination, to the head and the body. And the nine-year age gap showed in the last four rounds, when Mares won probably 10 of the 12 minutes within.

At the end, it kind of looked like a 7-5 type of fight overall, but boxing is scored on a rounds basis. I thought eight for Mares were undebatable, and I gave him two others as well. He took a split decision officially.

Joseph Agbeko is no spring chicken like Mares and Khan, but he should have a couple years yet to make a run at being his country's second-best fighter ever, behind Azumah Nelson.

Agbeko, 31, continually snapped Yhonny Perez's head with right hands en route to a comprehensive decision. While the bout didn't have the sustained action of their first match in 2009, it was more technically proficient, and the sixth round may just end up being the round of the year in boxing. Both men landed bombs that would have felled most.

Anticipation mounted for the seventh, but what we saw instead was maybe the best round from any fighter in 2010. Agbeko from Ghana absolutely riddled the Dominican with hard shots from all angles, slipping the return fire.

It was the Agbeko that I envisioned after seeing him pummel the capable Luis Perez in 2007. He has the talent to be a top-10 pound-for-pound entrant, but focus and inactivity have hurt him.

So now Agbeko will face Mares in the mini-tournament final early in 2010, with Darchinyan and Perez battling.

Meanwhile, top bantamweights Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire are supposed to fight in February. That's three top-drawer bouts in just one division, with tantalizing permutations down the road.

Coming Up

Did you think Georges St. Pierre was the only Quebec fighter who can fill a barn?

Later this week I'll set up the fight between Laval's Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins, at a capacity Colisee. Yes, it will only be about 15-16,000, but let's also remember that Hopkins ain't a thriller and the undercard isn't star packed.

Hopkins is trying to trump Archie Moore and George Foreman in the annals of wizened champions, while Pascal is looking to cap off what would be one of the top years in boxing.

Pascal may not have the status of GSP, but his 2010 competition of unbeaten Chad Dawson and ring legend Hopkins is much, much superior, comparatively speaking.

(A Klitschko injury scuttled the Chisora bout for the time being, just hours after this blog was posted.)

For a round and a half, it seemed that Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez were going to give us another fight of the year instalment.

Eleven months ago, the pair went 12 spirited rounds, but on Saturday Martinez lowered the boom instead with a candidate for KO of the year to retain his middleweight title.

If you didn't know any better, you'd call the second round eraser a lucky punch. Martinez wasn't even looking at Williams when he threw the left.

But it's one of several reasons that make Martinez one of the more unusual fighters seen in a ring in some time.

The Argentine didn't really come to wide prominence until about four years ago, at almost 32 years of age.

Unconventional style

He's a chameleon in the ring. He's employed a somewhat tedious - but very fleet - style against certain fighters in his 154-pound bouts, but has upped the excitement level in the past year in his middleweight fights with Williams and Kelly Pavlik.

Martinez has been forced to scrap more at the higher weight and it's to the benefit of everyone. He also he seems to have more power at 160, even before the highlight reel punch on Saturday.

Martinez has shown that when pressed, he'll always respond with punches. Many of them come from unorthodox angles, like the KO of Williams.

The funny thing is: it's unclear where the Argentine goes from here.

Showtime just signed Lucian Bute and if a 2011 bout with Mikkel Kessler doesn't materialize, they'll want to pit the Montreal fighter in a less threatening fight or two.

Montreal's David Lemieux and Dimitry Pirog are a couple of exciting middleweight fighters, but neither has really fought anybody with a great resume.

Martinez might have to bide time with a couple of showcase title defences. He may be considered a star within the boxing community, but with his limited English it's uncertain that the general sports universe will catch on here in North America.

Dream matchup on horizon?

A matchup in about a year that would have me drooling, provided the American doesn't self-destruct and head back to jail, is Martinez against uber aggressive James Kirkland.

Williams has said he wants a rubber match. I'd hope his handlers would push him back to the 154-pound division, where there's a gathering of intriguing opponents like first-timers Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez, or rematches with Antonio Margarito and Kermit Cintron.

I saw Williams live in about his 12th or 13th fight and I've never seen a fighter so fully formed. You could have thrown him in with a contender that night years ago in Buffalo and had about the same result as if he fought a contender here in 2010.

Of course, that's also a criticism. He hasn't really progressed in terms of technique, getting by on his talent, heart and freakish size advantage in many bouts.
 
Hopkins's Pacquiao dis

Bernard Hopkins made waves in some quarters last week by suggesting Manny Pacquiao has been ducking African-American fighters and would have trouble against the type of style an African-American usually brings to the table.

As far as BHop's criticism:

• Obviously Pacquiao isn't the promoter and doesn't determine his opponents.
• After some initial haggling, he was willing to take on Floyd Mayweather.
• The elite crop within Pacquiao's previous weight classes are almost exclusively non-American fighters.

But Hopkins in his typically unsubtle way was in the ballpark with respect to how many people are feeling.

Boxing fans want to see Pacquiao in with a guy that can offer some hand speed and mobility. His last several opponents have generally been tough but slow, face first fighters.

If it's not Mayweather, then Timothy Bradley. I'd accept Andre Berto too, although it seems many wouldn't.

Are all fleet, elusive fighters African-American and the rest plodders? Martinez is one of many who obviously prove that isn't true.

(Although if you watch boxing for enough years on end you'll soon see that fighting styles, even favoured punches, are taught through the generations of a particular culture or location. That's probably what Hopkins was getting at. The problem is that the U.S. is a very large country: The irony of the Hopkins remarks is that if there's a type of American fighter Pacquiao opponent Joshua Clottey and many of his fellow Ghanaian fighters resemble, it ain't the St. Louis or Detroit guys, but rather the Philadelphia ones, where Hopkins is from.)

People are so desperate for a test for Pacquiao they were positing a Martinez-Pacman pairing after Saturday's KO, with some on the internet even saying the Filipino sensation "had to" make the fight.

There's just way too big a size gap there. Martinez, like Antonio Margarito and Clottey, wouldn't be felled by the blows of the smaller man and would offer speed, power, combination punching and angles like Pacquiao wouldn't see from any other opponent, even Mayweather. It would be a lopsided decision or possibly late stoppage for the South American.

Besides, there's still some fish for Pacman to fry at welterweight before we contemplate another catchweight bout.

Big weekend:

In a year in which there hasn't been that one galvanizing fight - there are about three top contenders so far for best bout of 2010 - there are two more candidates on Saturday.

They are: Carl Froch vs. Arthur Abraham on Showtime (Superchannel in Canada), and Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis on HBO. Pint-sized Giovanni Segura - possibly the most exciting fighter in the sport - is also in action although in what appears to be a fairly routine defence and in a fight Canadian fans will have to try and find on the internet.

Manny Pacquiao wasn't the first boxer ever to give away nearly 20 pounds by the time the opening bell rang, but none have dominated a bigger man the way he did against Antonio Margarito on Saturday night in Dallas.

Pacquiao won a lopsided decision in his first bout since being elected as a Filipino congressman. Margarito paid a heavy price, suffering a broken orbital bone, and his face looked as if the cartoon character Droopy put on a ghoulish Halloween mask.

Had the fight been in a more regulated jurisdiction like Las Vegas or California, officials would have likely stepped in to spare Margarito several minutes before the final bell.

Pacquiao's most impressive moments might have been in the middle rounds, when he took a couple of man-sized punches from Margarito - once to the body and once an uppercut between the guard.

Pacquiao was bothered by both, but like all great fighters, punched back with ferocity when in a hint of trouble.

Dream matchup around corner?

A meeting between Pacquiao and the undefeated Floyd Mayweather would be the richest fight of all time, but there's not much reason to be overly optimistic after previous negotiation attempts failed.

Mayweather's facing yet another trial in connection with domestic assault charges, but in a weird way that could be a factor in making the fight come to fruition. While the megalomaniacal Mayweather no doubt feels like he'll beat all charges, those who advise him might think it best for him to reap a huge payday as soon as possible.

I still feel that Mayweather would 'technically' outbox Pacquiao. The Filipino has been sensational in the last two years, but precisely none of David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Josh Clottey and Antonio Margarito offer any head movement, let alone head movement, shoulder rolls, blazing hand speed, and some of the best foot movement and balance ever seen in a ring.

For all of the offensive explosiveness, Pacquiao couldn't deck Clottey and Margarito. Most of his other knockdowns come from accumulation, but Mayweather has rarely been hit with two punches in a row in his entire career.

But I say 'technically' because Mayweather's low punch output could result in him losing a decision based on Pacquiao's aggressiveness and work rate.

It's that kind of contrast of styles that has fans demanding it be made.

Mosley a possibility

Pacquiao said he will continue fighting, and here are some potential foes if a Mayweather matchup doesn't pan out:

Shane Mosley: There is little appetite for this bout, but Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum has been talking up the fact that Pacquiao has never faced an African-American opponent. Mosley's worst fights have come against technical boxers, which doesn't describe Pacquiao.

He's 39 but has never been stopped, another potential Arum selling point. He would certainly crow about it if Pacquiao stopped the guy who recently went 12 with Mayweather.  But is seeing whether Pacman could be the first to do so worth the damage done to Mosley for the rest of his life?

The nagging question is that it's not entirely certain whether Pacquiao could have taken punches like those two huge right hands Mosley landed in the second round against Mayweather in May.

Juan Manuel Marquez: There are those who believe Marquez deserved the decision in at least one of two prior fights with Pacquiao, and some think he had more points in both. I thought he won neither close fight, with Pacquiao's knockdowns making the difference on each occasion.

There's no doubt that Marquez's ring smarts and defence have made him Pacquiao's greatest challenge, but so much has happened in the three years it would be since their last meeting. Marquez looked pedestrian at his only fight above 135 pounds, and even in his wins has looked slower than in the past.

Pacquiao is simply too big for Marquez now.

Andre Berto: Berto is engaging, and would be the first unbeaten opponent Pacquiao has faced in about four years. Also, given that Pacquiao couldn't deck Clottey or Margarito, and that Berto's been wobbled in the past, it would provide the opportunity for Pacquiao to score his first big stoppage win over a guy who's been a welterweight his entire career.

Timothy Bradley: Probably the most intriguing opponent outside of Mayweather. But he's fighting in late January against Devin Alexander - no gimme - that potentially makes a May bout a little ambitious.

The chiselled Bradley is undefeated, and would also bring to the table hand speed the likes of which Pacquiao hasn't seen in years, if ever. The problem for Bradley is that he doesn't have much power to speak of, but "Desert Storm" throws in bunches and has tremendous heart.

There may finally be some fireworks at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, but it'll be up to boxers Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito to produce them.

The two action fighters will square off at 150 pounds in Dallas in what could the most attended U.S fight in modern times. Pacquiao drew over 50,000 against Joshua Clottey in the spring, and this bout will top that total.

It is clearly a white hat/black hat fight, with the global icon Pacquiao taking on a guy still suspended in most jurisdictions for (unknowingly, he says) being found to have an illegal, hardened, gauze pad in his handwraps prior to his loss to Shane Mosley.

The main theme of the bout is Pacquiao's level of preparation. He said at Wednesday's press conference that he'll likely come in around 148 pounds to maintain his speed against the bigger Margarito, but observers have wondered if he's spread himself too thin with his hectic lifestyle.

Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) is fighting for the first time since being elected as a congressman in his native Philippines.

He's also been a singer, actor, and businessman, among other side pursuits. He arrived in Dallas on Monday night, just a few hours too late to add the title of Cowboys head coach.

Trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum have stoked the fires, questioning his level of training, particularly before they moved to Roach's Los Angeles.

A 60 Minutes crew followed Pacman in both countries for a segment that aired on Sunday. Perhaps the most bemusing part came when the smiling Pacquiao was jetted in by Arum for a brief Vegas appearance at a rally for wooden senator Harry Reid. How that helped the incumbent defeat Sharron Angle, exit polls have yet to determine.

In the ring, HBO 24/7 caught Amir Khan continually beating Pacquiao to the punch in a sparring session, but even if that wasn't selectively edited, the speedy Briton is in no way like Margarito.

Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) is seeking redemption and cut ties with former trainer Javier Capetillo in the wake of the handwrap controversy. But that cause was hurt this week when video appeared on the internet of Margarito, new trainer Robert Garcia and stablemate Brandon Rios seemingly imitating Roach's tremors, the result of Parkinson's.

Garcia offered a weak, not-really-apology at Wednesday's presser, saying Rios was imitating Roach taking punches, as he often did in his fighting career. Of course, those punches helped cause the disease.

Ring Magazine writer William Dettloff made the case that a Margarito victory could be good for boxing. Dettloff is terrific, but it almost read like a writing exercise.

It's hard to see how it would be great for a fighter still under suspension elsewhere in the U.S to win, given the reflexive nature of generalist sportswriters to dump on boxing.

Despite the stigma, it is likely Margarito will get much support from the thousands of Hispanic fans expected to attend.

But his last significant win - and they're all under scrutiny now, fair or not - was over two years ago against Miguel Cotto.

Margarito will have a big size advantage over Pacquaio. He held his own with both Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez, the pair who'll meet for the middleweight crown before the year is out.

But he's never really been a one-punch KO artist and he's never faced anyone with such speed. It's hard to see him doing sustained damage to Pacquiao when he was riddled by the quickness a 37-year-old Shane Mosley brought to the table.

He'll have some moments, but he'll really have to put pedal to the metal during those moments to have any shot of winning.

It's a can't-miss fight. The only x-factor is how long the 126-pound battle will last.

Both little big men have power in spades but sometimes admire their handiwork a split second too long. That guarantees action.

It's a match of young and veteran sluggers, the latest in boxing's historic series of great Mexico-Puerto Rico matchups.

Where to watch? It'll be broadcast in Canada on Superchannel at 9 p.m. ET. If you don't have that, you're instructed to find a boxing-friendly bar or internet feed.

Marquez, 35, has been one of the top five hardest punchers in the sport for nearly a decade and engaged in a hellacious trilogy with Israel Vazquez.

The trilogy more than held its own with the modern three-fight series of Mickey Ward-Arturo Gatti and Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera.

A fourth fight in March between the Mexicans was anticlimactic as the valorous Vazquez just didn't have anything left in the tank.

The Mexican is slower and cuts easily as a result of his many wars, but there doesn't seem to be a drop-off in ring smarts or his ability to put punches together.

Lopez has not lost in 29 pro fights. The 27-year-old has only gone the distance three times.

On paper, the younger Puerto Rican seems to have the edge, and by judging by pre-fight press, is determined to fight a smart fight that will utilize his greater hand and foot speed without totally abandoning his firepower.

Will he be able to maintain that composed strategy once he's hit with something substantial? Can't wait to find out.

What's next, a buddy picture?

On Nov. 13, Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito will hope to provide just about the only exciting offensive action seen this fall at Cowboys Stadium.

Pacquiao has hit the mainstream big time ahead of this fight.

Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has taken a shine to the Filipino sensation in recent years, and earlier this week treated viewers to this interesting Pacquiao duet with arguably Hollywood's top comedic draw.

Of course not only is Pacquiao a recording artist, but a congressman back home.

It's been reported that 60 Minutes will educate some of its viewers on the phenomenon that is Pacmania on Sunday.

Canadian fighter news

Last weekend, Canadian fighters Troy Ross and David Lemieux stayed busy with wins, with Ross winning by decision.

And late Monday it was announced that Steve Molitor had signed with Top Rank in the U.S.

While the particular promoter wasn't known, the move was hinted at a few weeks back when it was announced that Cameron Dunkin would be Molitor's new manager.

Molitor will have his next fight sometime early in 2011.

Check it out as Lemieux, to paraphrase The Stones, destroys Hector Camacho Jr's notion of circular time in one round of action ...

Toward the end of the clip Camacho realizes, yes, he is on his stool in his corner, but the fight has ended some time ago.

The fight will be held in Quebec City on Dec. 18, but it made good sense to drum up interest in Ontario. Bouts involving Pascal and fellow Quebec native Lucian Bute have been too difficult to find outside of that province, which has hurt them in terms of press from a national perspective. They are legitimate stars in their sport yet the fourth-line players of Canada's NHL teams are better known.

This bout will be available for pay in Canada via the major cable operators, but the U.S. arrangement tripped up co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

"We're extremely excited to be showing this fight [in the U.S.] on HBO," De La Hoya said from the dais in downtown Toronto.

Sounds great! Except the fight is being shown south of the border on the rival Showtime.

You can hardly blame De La Hoya -- in Ontario for the first time since an amateur bout as a teen in the late '80s -- for feeling like he was on unfamiliar ground in more ways than one.

These are interesting times for Golden Boy Promotions, which in a relatively short time has assumed a position of pre-eminence in the sport. They are assailed by those within the naturally suspicious boxing community with criticisms both legitimate and silly. De La Hoya, the main face of the company, meanwhile, is stretched pretty thin -- home in Puerto Rico, boxing operations in Southern California, and an ownership stake in the Houston Dynamo, among his other interests.

De La Hoya and HBO have made untold amounts of cash for each other since the early 1990s, first when he was a fresh-faced Olympic gold medallist, through a host of huge event in his prime, and now in his current incarnation as a promoter.

That relationship hasn't soured; in fact, many boxing writers and fans on the internet have spent a lot of time this year decrying its coziness. Golden Boy Promotions command a high percentage of HBO dates, and after some promising signs in 2009, there have been plenty of curious and regrettable fight programming choices this year.

Master showman Hopkins regaled a crowd largely unfamiliar with his (admittedly entertaining) schtick, but even he slipped up once.

"I told the other network, their name has three letters, I think this guy [Pascal] does nothing for me."

Hopkins' telling of events appears to have a heavy whiff of revisionism. HBO came up to Montreal for Pascal's win over Chad Dawson in August, and were suitably impressed by the local lad judging by the opinions of their broadcast crew. But by all indications the network has tired of the usually aesthetically unpleasing nature of Hopkins' fights and his difficult personality. And at 45, he may be an athletic marvel, but he's not the future of boxing.

But perhaps out of inconvenience, Golden Boy will benefit.

They ultimately sought out Pascal and his promoter Yvon Michel, and they have even talked up the prospect of holding a big-time fight in Ontario one day.

It's probably just talk, but Golden Boy has shown signs of late of smartly diversifying from its casino-Vegas-event-rinse-repeat strategy, as that tourist town struggles.

While the bout has been given the title Dynasty (the start of a new one or the continuation of one, get it?) the biggest buzz in the sport in recent weeks has arisen over De La Hoya's talk of a promotional dynasty.

"We need to sign all the talent and get all the TV dates; then you can have your own agenda and have a schedule for the fans and the sport," De La Hoya told Broadcaster & Cable in an interview in September. "You can do a monthly PPV, a bi-weekly [cable network] fight, you can have the best fighters fight each other. When you have five or six promoters, it's very difficult."

Seems pretty sensible to anyone whose interest in boxing has waned in recent years due to the fragmentation and sanctioning body silliness.

But if you're one of those four or five other promoters, it was yet another sore spot. New Yorker Lou DiBella, for one, was already irked that GBP recently signed a boxing exclusivity agreement with the soon-to-be-finished arena in Brooklyn.

GBP CEO Richard Schaefer, who often polishes up De La Hoya's sometimes inartful comments a short time later, said the company wants to be like the New York Yankees, Real Madrid and Manchester United. Big and deep with talent (begging the question, would Giggs-Rooney be Man United's Hopkins-Pascal?)

Unique analogies aside, there's no doubt that De La Hoya envies not just the success of UFC, but the control someone like Dana White - unknown to the masses just a decade ago - can exert. While MMA aficionados know there are other organizations that put on events, there's no widespread confusion going on for them or the nascent fan, either.

Boxing's biggest bouts do better on PPV and transcend the world of sport more so than MMA at this point, but they only happen a couple times a year. Golden Boy is trying to better focus mindshare on all that time in between.

Again, nothing necessarily venal about that.

"The UFC is not worried about monopoly and they're doing wonderful, De La Hoya said on Tuesday. "They were just valuated at $1.3 billion and there's no complaints there."

When I asked him about his comments last month, he confirmed, "We want to sign every fighter out there."

The specifics are fuzzy but one thing De La Hoya consistently stresses is that his boxers will be well compensated, a knock on the UFC.

But De La Hoya's words have long been a maddeningly contradictory maze, a mixture of naiveté, delusion, and the need to please everyone.

"I'm telling you, at Golden Boy, we're open to working with anybody; we're open to working with Top Rank, Don King, Lou DiBella, Gary Shaw. Our arms are wide open to work with them, to work with Showtime, to work with HBO, to work with all the organizations. We do what's best for the fighter, we make them the most money.

"When we started Golden Boy Promotions, it wasn't to shut everyone out, it was as to help everyone out. As long as they want to work with us, we're more than happy to work with them."

In other words, have a slice of the pie, but we want to be Mrs. Smith and Sara Lee.

The challenges are great. Boxing fans are naturally resistant to change, De La Hoya has always been big but never universally loved, the company's attempts at thinking outside of the Vegas box have been mixed, and the past examples resembling a monopoly were not promising.

When the heavyweights were under Don King's thumb, it was hardly an era covered in glory. There were more lawsuits than fights, and if you didn't have the right manager - usually Carl, Don's son - you were shut out.

Golden Boy and Top Rank, Arum's company, are back to bickering more than ever after a period of cooperation and there's been a trend this year for both promoters to keep matchups in-house, and it hasn't produced the best results for the fans.

During the transitional time to its hope for boxing dominance, what happens to those fighters who belong to promoters who don't have enough of a stable to keep them busy in house?

It's a lot harder to exert control on a sport that's been around for decades, not mere years, and one with sanctioning organizations located outside of the U.S.

But why not be bold? Arum and King are each 79, and god knows people sit on their duffs and accept monopolies in industries a lot more important than boxing.

Still, to quote Seinfeld: Good luck with all that.

None of the above is to suggest that Pascal-Hopkins isn't a fight to be genuinely interested about. It'd have to be in the Top 5 of a list of biggest bouts ever to be held in Canada.

I'll have more about the fight as we get closer to Dec. 18.

I'm not great at predictions, but I'm fairly sure sometime during the 2012 London Olympics or in the weeks leading up to the Games, some Canadian scribe will opine: What's wrong with Canadian amateur boxing?

The answer: Not that much.

Before Steve Simmons's head explodes, let me explain.

The facts are that Canada won nine Olympic boxing medals between 1984 and 1996 and none since. The last medal was David Defiagbon's silver in 1996.

We sent just one fighter to the Beijing Games, which is not acceptable, and if we have a half-dozen in London we'll be doing great. Boxing Canada would be over the moon if one of those fighters reached the podium in England, and they've said they're not banking on the streak ending in 2012.

We'll have five fighters in India after two withdrawals in the days leading up to the Delhi games.

The Own the Podium program has targeted women's boxing, where we could win a couple of medals in its inaugural Olympic debut, and not the men's ranks.

A bit of history

Canada has won nine Olympic medals between 1984 and 1996, it's true, and we'll gladly take them all.

Many of our sportswriters came of age professionally during the 1980s, when we were helped by two Cuban boycotts. Pro boxing was on over-the-air networks, with sizeable contracts handed out to top amateur prospects every four years. That just doesn't really happen anymore.

During the 1984 and 1988 Olympic boycotts we were essentially able to send a fighter for each weight class, but that's been an anomaly historically speaking.

We've never been a boxing power and when Willie de Wit won a medal in Los Angeles (Shawn O'Sullivan and Dale Walters soon followed) it was the country's first medal since the first L.A. Olympics were held in 1932.

At the 1976 Montreal Games we didn't have a single medallist even though we had nine boxers compete, with four not even making it out of the first round.

That healthy stable of fighters undoubtedly reflected an investment in sport ahead of the home country Olympics, as it was about as many boxers as we had participate in the previous two Games combined.

Why the drought?

There have been changes in recent years to amateur boxing in the last 20 years that altered officiating (both refereeing and judging) and safety.

The amateur game too often resembles fencing with gloves, with body punches of little importance, overzealous referees who warn about the most mundane (or imaginary) offences) and few knockouts.

The changes haven't completely severed the link between amateur and pro boxing, but you're not necessarily great at one if you're great at the other.

A very substantial portion of pro boxing titleholders today are from the U.S., the rest of the Americas, Germany and Japan, plus three from Canada. The sum total of boxing medals won by ALL of the aforementioned regions at the 2008 Olympics was two. Out of a possible 33.

The United States were also buoyed by Cuban boycotts in the 1980s and won a ton of medals that decade. The U.S. then won 13 boxing medals at the Olympics between 1992 and 2000, but have just three to show since.

The second reason is that the amateur game has become truly global. When you peruse the list of countries represented at an Olympic boxing tournament, it encompasses more nations than many other sports.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in particular has made a huge impact on the amateur sport. There are over a dozen post-Soviet states, which has meant a lot of new fighters per division that otherwise didn't exist.

Concurrently, many of these post-Soviet countries don't really have a pro boxing infrastructure, so you've gotten a lot of mature careerists in the amateur ranks.

That's not the situation in Canada.

"The problem that box will face compared to other combat sports like wrestling, judo, karate, taekwondo, is after an Olympic cycle most of our very good boxers turn pro," says Daniel Trepanier of Boxing Canada. "We're like a junior team in hockey."

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan alone have combined for 19 medals since 1996, with Moldova and Azerbaijan also winning multiple medals.

It might seem unfathomable to some Canadians that we'd do worse than small countries like Kazakhstan and Moldova. But remember, boxing is among the most egalitarian of sports and it's also tied to socio-economic factors of access and income more than most. If anything, it partly reflects an abundance of choice of sports for budding Canadian athletes, and let's not kid ourselves that boxing is particularly high on the list.

And that equation works in the other direction, too.

Mexico, it could be argued, has essentially propped up pro boxing during the last 20 years with a host of exciting fighters breathing life into the sport. They have precisely one bronze Olympic boxing medal in that time, and they last won a boxing gold in 1968. When you have limited career options and can make money at 16, why wait around for a shiny, dangling medal?

There have also been many accomplished fighters from Ghana and South Africa in the pro ranks. No Olympic medals have been won any time recently from those countries, either.

It's only going to get more competitive, it seems.

A virtual UN of competitors

The halcyon days - for Canada and the U.S. - took place when the world's two most populous nations didn't really partake in amateur boxing to any significant degree. China and India, with big international sports meets to host so far this century, are now players.

As much as I'd like a nice infusion of cash to the Canadian amateur boxing program as a fan, under these circumstances, it's hard to argue it would be justified or have a huge impact in terms of podium results.

The sheer size of our country can be a factor in training for a number of amateur sports, and boxing is something that's hard to practice on your own. If you're not blessed with above average God-given talent, you probably need to based in one of four or five provinces, or you're going to be hard pressed to get the kind of sparring you need to take it to another level.

Say you're at that level and you make the national team. Consider the size of Europe, the number of countries there, and how many amateur meets could conceivably be organized. Now consider the same possibilities for Canada, and the expense involved.

It should be mentioned, especially given that it's the Commonwealth Games, that one of the few regions to have success in both amateur and pro boxing is Great Britain, but obviously there's been a cash and resource infusion ahead of the home Olympics. There's a facility in Sheffield called by many who've visited it the best gym in the world.

Amateur or pro?

Of the aforementioned nine Canadian Olympic boxing medals in recent history, Lennox Lewis went on to a pro career that's world-renowned. The rest of those medallists combined for one pro title shot, and a couple of decent careers. That's it.

By contrast, Otis Grant, Eric Lucas, Troy Ross and Billy Irwin are recent fighters who've all had decent amateur careers void of Olympic success, who either went on to pro titles or title shots.

If you're going to lament the state of amateur boxing in the country, you have to at least acknowledge that we're in the midst of Canada's most prosperous pro boxing era.

Jean Pascal of Laval, Que., and Steve Molitor of Mississauga, Ont., currently hold pro title belts. Both had fine amateur careers that didn't include signficant Olympic credentials.

The same can be said of rising prospect David Lemieux, who is drawing interest from the U.S networks that show boxing.

Would you rather have a situation where Canada is better at pro boxing or amateur boxing?

Many Canadians may have one answer due to the often-unsavoury nature of pro boxing and its lack of morals and principles, but given that a healthy number of accomplished amateur fighters want to turn pro and make some money out of their passion, it might be best to defer to them.

Mikael Zewski was the top Canadian at the 2009 world championships, coming in fifth.

The Trois-Rivieres, Que., native won't be competing in Delhi or London. Trepanier told CBCSports.ca it would have been "stupid" for Zewski to keep pushing towards the next Olympics and turn down the contract offer TKO Boxing in the U.S. gave him in late 2009.

Just a few weeks ago, Zewski, 4-0 as a pro, took another step. He became the first Canadian ever signed to Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.       

All of this isn't to say that there aren't things that can be done better. Boxing Canada has recognized the need to focus on the best fighters at the expense of greater numbers, and to get more creative in getting fighters competition against other top fighters.

But we have a tendency in this country every four years to look at the sports where there's a lack of podium results and whip it into some kind of crisis or dilemma.

It's incredibly arrogant on the one hand, dismissing the notion that there just might be some talented athletes elsewhere in the world.

More to the point, sometimes it's just the natural order playing itself out.

He was a consensus pick as one of the top 15 talented fighters in the game, after all, with Floyd Mayweather deeming him the best not named Floyd Mayweather. But he was fighting in Jean Pascal's hometown because he couldn't draw a big crowd in his own.

Some writers focused on Dawson's safety-first style, which was fair enough as far as it went. But William Dettloff had an intriguing piece on The Ring website, which touched on the issues of race and ethnicity as well.

Because the same question could have been asked of other active black fighters who've shown the ability to entertain in the ring, guys like Paul Williams, Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, Glen Johnson (who is Jamaican-American).

Dettloff's piece resonated with me and got me thinking. While it's very difficult to make a box office draw out of a stylistic dud (though Floyd Mayweather and Cory Spinks have often disproved this point), I think the sports media has a role to play in all of this.

I've been grappling with this piece since just after the Pascal-Dawson fight but last week's live chat hosted by Floyd Mayweather proved instructive. In case you missed it, Mayweather unleashed a string of racist and homophobic invective towards Manny Pacquiao, the man he isn't so passionate about facing in the ring. (As this column was being published, a TMZ report emerged that Mayweather is a suspect in a domestic assault case, which isn't the first time that he's faced such allegations).

When you think of the African-American boxers who are known to the general sports fan, they've gotten to that point only through proving excellence over a very, very long time (longer than in other sports, I'd argue) or with comments and actions that have them looking like a me-first wide receiver at best and a state facility outpatient at worst.

Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins are fighters for whom both statements could be applicable. Mayweather, seemingly made for the 'look at me' tendencies of social media, tweeted a photo of his Cadillac Escalade golf cart the day before the Pacquiao rant.

He's been a champ since 1998. He was once in the same boat as the previously mentioned Dawson in terms of attendance, but has made himself a star through sheer force of will.

Other contemporaries haven't succeeded to that degree despite being more entertaining in the ring. Shane Mosley has engaged in several exciting fights but has only drawn huge crowds when matched with a Mayweather, De La Hoya or Antonio Margarito. He's earned a few endorsements, but nothing commensurate with his talent level in his prime.

Antonio Tarver was probably as well known for being in Rocky Balboa as for hanging the first definitive loss - in devastating fashion - on Roy Jones Jr.

If we were in a debate hall, you'd probably counter by reminding me that boxing is a niche sport and that all fighters take awhile to get exposure beyond the sport.

And you'd get no big protest here. Pacquiao wasn't really known to the general sports fan until he battered Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, some four years after emerged as a star in the boxing community.

The likes of future Hall of Famers Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez could pack arenas in the western U.S., but most sports fans are probably more likely to be able name three F1 drivers (language barriers played a small part).

It just seems like someone like Kelly Pavlik got known a lot quicker than a Paul Williams without having to resort to any histrionics. There seemed to be more media coverage surrounding Pavlik following his wins over Jermain Taylor than there was for Taylor when he twice beat the legend Hopkins (sure, the decisions were debatable, but they were tightly contested bouts).

The best-known boxing trilogy among general sports fans in recent years was Arturo Gatti against Micky Ward.

It was great, primal stuff, but it can't touch the Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera trilogy and first three bouts of Rafael Marquez-Israel Vazquez in terms of action and skill level.

The story line for the Gatti-Ward battles was the fact that it was the kind of Italian-Irish pairing that used to be commonplace in the sport through many decades in the 20th century.  

And that is what it is all about: story lines. There's nothing overt going on in terms of race or skin colour, but having worked in two sports shops with a national bent it seems to me there are some institutional forces at play, perhaps even biases.

That which is exceptional is likely to get more play.  It is that simple.

It means a Pavlik might get more media attention than a non-white fighter of similar stature and back-story.

Boxing obviously has also been hampered over the past two decades by a necessary move from over-air networks to pay-per-view events and cable, before those outlets were truly in every home. 

As a result, there's been a generation of sports fans (and those who work in the sports media) who have little ability to parse the newsworthy events and fighters.

Last year the public editor of the New York Times was confronted by old press staple and HBO commentator Larry Merchant with why their once boxing-rich sports pages offered scant coverage of the sport, often choosing the strangest of stories (e.g. running wire copy of a fight in Germany but not one in nearby Jersey).

He essentially fell back on the "Oh, it's just too confusing a sport " argument.

As someone who once wrote a modern pentathlon recap for a past Olympics, I would think it part of the deal to get educated to a passable level.

The result is that to the degree boxing gets covered we have a disproportionate share of stories that have nothing to do with the fights themselves. They include: the older, recognizable name fallen on hard times outside of the ring, the older, recognizable name deluding himself with dreams of another title shot, and the latest wacky thing Mike Tyson said.

Or the guy going off like an ill-educated, soulless, money-loving whore on an internet chat.

If you're not a boxing fan, you probably think dust-ups at weigh-ins happen all the time, or at least, way too often. Actually, they happen in total about twice a year, it's just that they get covered 100 per cent of the time.

The guys simply strutting their stuff in the ring are left out.

The solution is simple to any sports media types.

When you see a wire report of a Timothy Bradley, Andre Berto, Paul Williams, etc., etc., taking to the ring and it sounds like it was just a good clean action fight, with nothing otherwise "remarkable" about it?

Run it. And then maybe it won't be so confusing.

Margarito, of course, was suspended for illegal hand wraps discovered prior to his bout with Shane Mosley in January 2009. He was forced to re-wrap, and beaten in surprisingly one-sided fashion.

A one-year suspension ensued, and in recent weeks the California commission upheld that decision (Nevada deferred to their neighbouring state). 

Margarito (38-6-1, 27 knockouts) has cut ties with Javier Capetillo and blamed the incident on his former trainer, stating repeatedly he had no knowledge of the difference in hand wraps. Those claims rang hollow but ...
 
Texas has looked askance in the past to convention held elsewhere by the other U.S. commissions. It is the state that has continually employed as referee the dangerously incompetent Lawrence Cole, son of the previous commission chairman.
 
Margarito is not deserving of this chance morally or by boxing standards - he's fought just once in the last 20 months, a workmanlike decision over the unthreatening Roberto Garcia in Mexico in May.

But boxing writers are a passionate breed, and many are letting their repugnance get in the way of their judgment and supposed neutrality. Many have gone on record hoping that Pacquiao administers a prolonged beating.
 
It's possible that Pacquiao will blow out Margarito, but in the absence of the controversy, there's no way you could make a logical case for it.
 
Prior to the Mosley bout, many of the same writers who now find Margarito morally repugnant were absolutely clamouring for Floyd Mayweather to give the Mexican a title shot, and accusing the American of ducking him.
 
He'd never been blown out by anyone prior to that, and you could convincingly argue that Mosley, while not at the total level of Pacquiao, offered a mix of consistent bodypunching and bullying that is stylistically different than what the Filipino sensation offers.
 
True, even Margarito's impressive victory over Miguel Cotto in 2008 is now legitimately under question due to what he attempted to do against Mosley, but he's a huge guy relative to the weight class he fights in.
 
I've been five feet away from in Las Vegas when he was in between bouts, and he looked about 170 pounds, with not much fat on him.
 
They'll be fighting at up to 154 pounds, and Pacquiao hasn't exactly devastated the two natural 147-pounders he faced with his punches. Joshua Clottey and Oscar De La Hoya mostly just stood there, too helpless in the face of Pacquiao's awesome mix of speed and pop, but they were never really close to going down due to anything other than attrition.
 
The size difference between Margarito and Pacquiao was readily apparent at the first press stop to announce the fight this week.
 
Unlike the nearly as large Clottey, Margarito won't be timid. So it means that while the fight lasts, it will be fascinating at worst and quite entertaining at best.

I don't buy for a minute Margarito's excuse that he was clueless as to what Capetillo was doing with his wraps.

It brought up the spectre of the Luis Resto-Billy Collins bout in 1983 on the undercard of Roberto Duran-Davey Moore, one of the lowest moments for the sport (although it must be pointed out for accuracy that the padding of the gloves were removed in that case).

And it seems bizarre to me that someone like NFLer Plaxico Burress serves a full term for an offence that ultimately didn't harm anyone but himself, while Margarito and Capetillo never even faced criminal charges. The fact they were caught before damage could be done, or that Mosley and trainer Nazim Richardson - who caught the infraction - kicked their butts, shouldn't matter.

Neither should the probability that others before him probably did the same with hand wraps in the past (there have been rumours about a few world class fighters).
 
But I just fail to understand why he should be given the permanent scarlet letter when someone like Mike Tyson is treated with a mixture of pathos or like that crazy uncle you shake your head at, not wholesale disgust.  Aside from the things he allegedly did outside of the ring - he bit a man's ear off, pushed a referee out of the way to continue pounding a semi-conscious foe, legitimately tried to break another's arm, bit a man at a press conference, etc.

But he kept getting chance after chance.

Margarito will be forever besmirched by that night in Los Angeles but if he loses in Dallas it won't be poetic justice, and if he wins it won't be a disgrace to boxing. It will be a fair and square fight between two aggressive punchers.
 
Remember, Bob Arum promotes both guys. He had power to steer Pacquiao - who believes Margarito knew about the wraps - to a nobler foe, but never showed the inclination.
 
The bout will take place at Cowboys Stadium, and could draw 60-70,000 people, potentially the biggest outdoor crowd in modern U.S. history if the weather co-operates.
 
Pacquiao drew 50,000 for Joshua Clottey at the same venue in March, a fighter from Ghana who lives in New York City. Margarito will draw from the state's Hispanic fan base.
 
But apparently boxing is dead if you listen to the exceedingly Caucasian MMA fan base in Canada, who assume the rest of the world resembles the exceedingly Caucasian MMA fan base of Canada. (On that note, Pacquiao, whose name has barely ever even been mentioned on the national sports channel and whose offerings primarily consist of MMA, poker and darts, has ranked in the top 10 of the Forbes richest athlete list the last two years, with nary a single UFCer or their ilk remotely close to the list).
 
Pascal gets B-Hop
 
I will admit to surprise that the Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins fight has apparently come to fruition, for Dec. 18 in Quebec City.
 
When the fight was first mentioned as a possibility in the wake of Pascal's 11-round technical decision win on Aug. 14 in Montreal over previously unbeaten Chad Dawson, I just didn't think it would be economically feasible.
 
But it's a sign of how desperate Hopkins is, at 45, to continue to add young scalps to his resume, even though his status as a boxing legend is secure.
 
Hopkins made $3.5 million US at minimum for his ugly win over fellow geriatric Roy Jones Jr. in April, and more than that my most account for handing Kelly Pavlik his first loss in late 2008.
 
I figured he'd price himself out of a Pascal bout, but apparently not. Financial information isn't yet available but he's not going to make that much this time around, and even HBO has tired of his late-career shenanigans, which have involved too much clinching as well as the milking of every perceived foul inflicted upon him. The network apparently has no interest in airing Pascal-Hopkins in the U.S.
 
I actually see this bout as a no-win proposition for Pascal. Adding a scalp like Hopkins to his ledger on the surface would be tremendous - if his promoters make the bout readily available outside of Quebec. Many disappointed fans in English Canada had to resort to finding a stream on the internet to view the bout live, and that's just not acceptable.
 
I also believe Hopkins' craftiness will be troublesome, both in aesthetic terms and with respect to the ultimate result. Pascal's every punch will be met with a roar from the crowd, but he'll have to curb the awkward lunges or else a counter right could put him on his backside. I also think Pascal will have to refrain from his occasionally winging body shots.

I believe Pascal's busy style will hold sway for a decision, but I don't believe he'll the first to be able to say he beat up Hopkins.

Yes, Pascal had already secured one of the gazillion "world" trinkets last year, but in the eyes of the learned boxing public, it was Dawson who he needed to beat before anyone would take him seriously as the top of the heap at 175 pounds.

Dawson had held his own version of a world belt for 3 ½ years, and Saturday's 11th round technical decision for Pascal earned him recognition as Ring Magazine's top fighter at the weight class.

It's the biggest victory in decades on Canadian soil by a fighter who learned the craft here.

Hopefully Pascal can garner attention beyond the hardcore fans and in the year-end Lou Marsh considerations in a non-Olympic year.

Yes, boxing is a niche sport. It's maddening and some don't even think it should exist. None of that should matter a whit or detract from Pascal's accomplishment.

Top Canadian athlete nod in future?

To analogize, it's hard to imagine cyclist Ryder Hesjedal being ignored at year end - and he shouldn't be - despite the necessary collusion in his sport and the near-farcical level of drug penetration.

It doesn't help that Canadian boxers of a certain stature fight only on pay-per-view telecasts here, but it should be the duty of any Lou Marsh voter to get a tape of this bout or catch it when it appears on a cable net. (For those thinking it's too early for such talk, from Pascal's standpoint, he may or may not have just one more bout this year).

Pascal doesn't have any teammates once the bell sounds and he's put in the work, following up on an amateur career that fell short in the end of his considerable talent level. The Haitian-born fighter has also persevered through injuries and disappointment in the shape of a close loss to Carl Froch in England in a 168-pound bout in late 2008.

The Bell Centre bout on Saturday was the biggest of his career and his first as an HBO headliner, but Pascal wasn't rattled. He was fatigued at points and shaken up at others, but that's because Dawson is among the top 12 or 15 most purely talented fighters in the sport.

I was at the fight as a fan due to other commitments in town, so my scorecard and impressions don't reflect the proximity of press row.

You could hardly call it a great, exciting fight overall due to the expected early tentativeness from two guys who hadn't fought in the previous nine months. But from the sixth round on, it was a terrific affair with shifts in momentum, which should augur well for a rematch.
 
And make no mistake, a rematch is definitely warranted. Pascal started the 11th with guns a blazin' but got careless and was countered with a shot from the American that hurt him badly. Dawson pressed and landed several follow-up shots, and for a few moments, it appeared he might rally for a come-from-behind stoppage.

Pascal appeared to be mostly (but not fully) recovered at the time of the nasty cut that appeared above Dawson's right eye. But you never know what could have happened in those final four minutes of the fight had the blood not spurted like a faucet.

Add to that the fact that, post-fight complaining aside, Dawson has ducked no one and given rematches himself, and hopefully we'll see this again to erase any doubts (with a better undercard).

The crowd reacted deliriously when the Dawson gash necessitated a stoppage, mistakenly thinking it was a TKO win.

But an unintentional headbutt caused the cut, and the inevitable was delayed a few minutes as they tallied the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

The Dawson camp was worried about the Canadian officiating heading into the bout, and unfortunately, the lone judge from our parts will allow visiting American fighters in the future to voice this complaint with justification.

Iffy judging

Jack Woodburn's 108-101 scorecard was a disgrace. The rounds in this bout, for the most part, were fairly clear to score.

Dawson was the winner in No.'s 11, nine, six and four (sorry Montrealers, but one great right hand from Pascal in the final seconds doesn't negate the Dawson boxing clinic of the previous 150 seconds).

I also gave Dawson the eighth, with Pascal winning the other six rounds. The two official judges who weren't bozos (and not from Canada) rightly scored the action 106-103; in other words, had I given the eighth or fourth to Pascal, I'd have had the same tally.

Woodburn had the audacity to give Pascal the 11th, where he was badly hurt. He already had Pascal up by six points heading into the round, so it's truly baffling as to why he wouldn't throw Dawson a bone. If he truly believes Pascal won that round, he should never judge a major fight again.

As I hinted in my pre-fight blog, the combination of Dawson's conservative style and Pascal's aggression favoured the local fighter.

Pascal got off to a good start and did effective work to the body. Credit to him and trainer Marc Ramsay for knowing how and when to attack Dawson, who has the quicker hands. I thought the crowd wildly overreacted to some truly sloppy and ineffective Pascal lunges, but I expected that.

Dawson wasn't doing much to dissaude them, either. He helped give this fight away in the first five rounds with his extreme caution.

Maybe he can put it all together in a rematch, but there have been reports in the boxing press of internal strife in his camp.

For his part, Pascal keeps growing and growing, and the future prospects are exciting, with the possibility of a bout with 168-pound local champion Lucian Bute filling the rafters at Bell and drawing attention of boxing fans around the world.

A tune-up bout for Pascal might not be a bad thing, either. The attendance of over 8,000 is more than a lot of premier fighters in the sport can draw, but it'd be nice if Pascal's mass total could start pointing in the direction of the great Bute, who didn't even grow up in the province.

There's plenty of room on the bandwagon, Canada.

I'm especially excited because it's my first really big fight in a couple years, and it's an important moment for the sport in Canada.

The fight is being held in Montreal because it's a great fight town, and Dawson has trouble drawing big crowds near his Connecticut home or in Las Vegas (William Detloff has a good article on The Ring website about the challenges of African-American fighters in today's marketplace, a theme I'll touch on next week.)

This is the biggest boxing match in the country aside from Archie Moore-Yvon Durelle, Roberto Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard, and any of Muhammad Ali's trips to Canada.

"It's a historic moment for sure. And if Jean wins, it will be the greatest win by a Canadian on Canadian soil," his trainer Russ Anber said at Wednesday's presser.

The often-hyperbolic Anber was probably on the money with that one.

On that note, hey Sportsnet, it'd be nice if you could, you know, maybe mention this fight on your boxing-free "sports" network. It's one thing to showcase MMA champions, but God knows you give hours upon hours of attention to just about any bloke who steps inside a cage, regardless of their talent level.

I'm under no illusions that boxing is more than a niche sport but there will about 15,000 fans at Bell Centre, and it will be televised around the world - it's that big of a fight.

To explain it in a way you'd better understand: If Pascal beats Dawson, his resume is the equivalent in his sport of what champion Georges St. Pierre has done in MMA. So why hail one and ignore the other?

Big job ahead for Pascal

While he'll have the crowd on his side, Pascal's task is great.

If this bout were being held in a neutral site, you'd have to favour Dawson.

He's beaten Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver a total of four times. Yes, they were in the twilight of their careers, but they were once among the best in the game.

Dawson also came off the deck to beat Tomasz Adamek via decision, a fight in which he dominated for long stretches. That result only looks better and better since Adamek hasn't lost since that night despite moving up to take on cruiserweights and now, heavyweights.

Dawson (29-0, 17 knockouts) is the classically superior fighter and probably a shade quicker, with a much more consistent jab.

The American probably doesn't have as much power as Pascal, but he's gotten a bit of a bum rap in that department. Glen Johnson has only been stopped once -- by Bernard Hopkins way back in 1997 -- and Tarver has never been stopped.

While Pascal holds the WBC trinket, pay no attention to that nonsense - Dawson has been a titlist for a longer period of time and is considered the man to beat at 175. He's part of a new brigade of fighters who once they receive some name recognition are wisely opting out of the sanctioning body extortion and absurdity game.

Pascal (25-1, 16 KOs) has all the tools to fight the way Dawson does, but he tends to rely on his athleticism more than classic technique at times. It's a mix of power and speed, not totally unlike what Shane Mosley has built his career on.

Pascal turned the corner mentally in his tough loss to Carl Froch in late 2008. You could see him understand that he can hang with, and beat, the best in the game. He knew what sacrifice would be involved in the future. Prior to that, he'd often looked unmotivated in the ring.

Can he go all the way to the top?

This is a bit of a heart over head pick, but not to an uncomfortable degree. I like the fact that Pascal's four most recent fights have generally involved a level of effort and resistance from his opponents that Dawson's haven't. I think it will have prepared him better, despite the fact each man hasn't fought since 2009.

I think he'll take a decision and maybe even hurt Dawson late in the fight. Pascal can be sloppy at times, but I think his energy level will take the day, and each punch close to the target is going to be met with a roar hard for the judges to ignore.

Effective work to the body, in particular, will be critical for Pascal.

Each man is likely facing his toughest opponent on Saturday. You can't beat that.

Close, but not controversial

There was a terrific bout and an intriguing style match-up last weekend, and both had fans on the Internet debating the scorecards.

For the record:

I thought Tavoris Cloud clearly won the "overall" fight with Glen Johnson, if that makes sense. But fights are scored on a rounds basis and I had it 6-6 at the end of the fight. In about five of the rounds Cloud won he landed really impactful punches while Johnson won about three rounds on the strength of arm punches and Cloud's inactivity.

Rounds 2 and 6 will have to get consideration for frame of the year at year's end.

Glen Johnson, at 41, is an absolute marvel to hang in there and make it close against a young tiger like 26-year-old like Cloud. It's a shame Johnson has never gained mainstream sports attention. He's rarely dull outside the ring (he swings between humour and bitterly complaining about decisions he's lost, all in his Jamaican lilt), and a warrior inside.

I had Andreas Kotelnik winning 7-5 over hometown favourite Devin Alexander, but I wasn't terribly confident in my scorecard. There were a ton of close rounds, especially in the early going. It was no robbery in my eyes, just a very fortunate decision for Alexander.

But he'll have to figure out some other stratagem other than the strange game of grunt-whiff-repeat if he takes on the likes of Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan.

The rematch, won by Marquez, was entertaining if predictable by the last few rounds, and it didn't match the ecstatic highs of their first bout. That kind of mirrors the year it has been in boxing relative to last year.

Boxing enjoyed one of its strongest years in a long time in 2009, with plenty of great storylines and fights. Some of it was planned (the super middleweight tournament) and some of it not, but it all added up to something strong.

Unsurprisingly, in a sport filled with maddening and unscrupulous promoters and governing bodies and egomaniacal fighters, that momentum hasn't been exactly maintained in the first half of 2010.

Failure to land big fight

The big reason is the failure by all concerned parties to negotiate a match between the two biggest fighters in the sport, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum earlier this summer absurdly imposed a deadline on Mayweather to get cracking on signing a contract for a November bout, holding court during a media teleconference while taking great pains not to diss the Las Vegas native.

It was another virtuoso performance by the septuagenarian promoter, and since he talks the loudest, it was the narrative that predominated mainstream coverage. Arum proffered up alternative Pacquiao opponents, that, surprise! he also promotes (Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto). Win-win!

Mayweather representative Leonard Ellerbe absurdly followed a week later by insisting there hadn't been negotiations of any kind this spring for the superfight, as if that was some kind of defensible ground to stand on.

Why haven't there been?

The explanations offered up have been regarding trainer and uncle Roger Mayweather's pending trial for assault and the fact that Floyd only wants to fight once a year at best.

Obviously those aren't good enough reasons, but don't be duped by Arum or others into thinking Mayweather is afraid of Pacquiao. That's nonsensical.

Mayweather believes he can beat any man in the ring. But he's a raving egomaniac who wants to call all the shots because he believes he has the leverage to do so. It has nothing to do with fear.

Will he try to gain every concession he can, as he is trying with blood testing? Of course. But so did Ray Leonard, who only fought everybody.

Name recognition

Floyd points to his name recognition and the strong pay-per-view takes of his last two bouts, with Marquez and Shane Mosley, as proof he's bigger than the sport.

But each of those bouts had unique circumstances. The Marquez bout was his first in nearly two years (and Marquez brought a lot of Hispanic viewers), and the matchup with Mosley was one boxing fans had been dreaming about for years. Should Mayweather fight someone other than Pacquiao in his next trip in the ring, say, Cotto, I think he'll find a sobering comeuppance at the box office.

The other major party to blame for a less-than-desirable year is HBO. Fight fans would be in a pickle if the network got out of the boxing business, but they have been all over the map in terms of their approach this year after enjoying a fairly strong 2009.

On the one hand, they served up a dreadful pay-per-view for 40-somethings Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones.

At the other extreme, they've gone back wholeheartedly into showcasing fighters in predictable matches (bouts involving Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, and Andre Berto), as well as doing the bidding of promoters who think their prospect is boxing's next big star.

On the Marquez-Diaz undercard on Saturday, one of the hopes that they've groomed in the last 18 months, Danny Jacobs, got starched by a right hand from Russian Dmitry Pirog. So much for that plan!

We earlier in the night heard HBO announcer Jim Lampley breathlessly declare that Jorge Linares appeared to be a star in the making after his win over Rocky Juarez. Linares had only done what about a half-dozen others have - outbox the intermittently aggressive Juarez.

Linares also lost the last two rounds of the 10-round bout, which had to make one wonder what would have happened over a dozen rounds, given Juarez's tendency for aggressively emptying the tank in the 12th and final round of his bouts.

Linares deserves to be shown again, but he doesn't need puffing up.

HBO are continuing the showcase trend on an unappealing card on Sept. 18 headed by Sergio Mora against Shane Mosley in the main event, with prospects Saul Alvarez and Victor Ortiz taking on the shop-worn Carlos Baldomir and Vivian Harris, respectively.

HBO has never been the best prognosticator of who boxing's next big stars are, but they stubbornly insist on doing so. (In 2001 they were madly in love with a so-so South African named Lehlohonolo Ledwaba for a couple of fights, not paying attention until about the fifth round of a June bout that his Filipino opponent was doling out an ass-kicking, some guy named Pacquiao.)

Reality check

The network in 2009 seemed to be taking steps in the right direction towards just showing good matchups, a response to the fact that Showtime had often outshone them in recent years with thrilling bouts involving Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez and Diego Corrales.

As August beckons, there are signs of light.

This coming Saturday HBO has a card that largely takes that approach. They've never had Tavoris Cloud on their network before and his opponent, Glen Johnson, is 41 and has a limited future. But it has all the trappings of a damned good fight, and that's what the fans care about. The main event, Devon Alexander-Andreas Kotelnik, is also an acceptable matchup, if less exciting on the surface than Cloud-Johnson.

Quebec clash

I will be attending the tremendous light-heavyweight title bout in Montreal on Aug. 14 between Jean Pascal of Laval and Chad Dawson from Connecticut (also to be shown on HBO).

Quebec has had a ton of big fights in recent years, and this is undoubtedly the biggest there's been in this generation. It's one of the 10 best fights that can be made in all of boxing, a matchup between the unbeaten American and the once-beaten Pascal, who is as confident as he's ever been in his career.

Over the next three months, there's Andre-Ward-Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham-Carl Froch, and Rafael Marquez-Juan Manuel Lopez. All three of these matchups have been pondered desirously by boxing fans for at least a couple years.

There will also be bouts featuring Quebec's Lucien Bute, Yuriokis Gamboa, Mikkel Kessler and a rematch between Joseph Agbeko and Yhonny Perez, one of the 10 best bouts on 2009.

Fingers crossed.

Miguel Cotto was leading in the 154-pound bout when the right leg of titleholder (and rabbinical student) Yuri Foreman started to give way on him. Foreman fell to the canvas on two occasions and when upright fought in a crouch.

Without movement, the gutsy but light-hitting Foreman didn't have a chance. Cotto started to land headshots to a degree he hadn't earlier in the fight and the fight's ending seemed at hand.

But when a white towel came from Foreman's corner in the eighth, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. chose to overrule it, and ordered everyone out of the ring. The process took a few minutes, and when action resumed Cotto landed a bodyshot that crumpled Foreman in the ninth.

Mercante Jr. didn't bother to issue a count and stopped the fight.

The ref is within his rights to ignore a towel thrown into the ring, but usually when the cornerman enters the ring on behalf of his fighter it results in a disqualification. The corner knows their fighter and (presumably) cares about their well being.

Mercante's forceful actions were greeted with much approval by most boxing observers following on Twitter.

I didn't get it. The ref's job is to protect the fighter, not to impose his will or provide a more satisfactory outcome for the paying customers.

It's great that Foreman himself wanted to continue and put on a gutsy display, but all Mercante's much-ballyhooed intervention accomplished was to prolong the inevitable by three minutes. Foreman was trailing by anywhere from four to six points and doesn't have a big punch even when he can plant and pivot with two good legs, let alone one.

Mercante seemed jacked up from the outset, and that was partly understandable. It was a big event and also his first major assignment since his father, the legendary ref of the same name, passed away earlier this year.

But he seemed to want to inject himself into the proceedings. He invoked his dad's name before giving instructions to the fighters, and he repeatedly pointed to the sky as he waited for the opening bell.

When Foreman fell to the ground because of his leg, Mercante told him to "suck it up." Not his job to do that.

For all of his forcefulness at the end of the fight, he wasn't exactly aggressive when Foreman's mouthpiece twice came out earlier. Each time over a full minute went by before he stopped action. The ref is supposed to find a suitable break to replace the mouthpiece, and it wasn't like there was non-stop punching taking place.

I'm usually OK with Mercante as a ref, and it's not like I thought Foreman would get seriously hurt the extra time, but I just didn't think the peformance was deserving of heaps of praise either.

Newsday posited the theory that Mercante in effect saved what could have been an unruly crowd reaction had the main event ended in muted fashion via the corner stepping in.

Maybe, I wasn't there. But you can hardly give Mercante credit for that kind of foresight when he also said he couldn't assume where the towel was thrown from.

Who just happens to have a towel with them at a fight other than the cornermen?

As well, this couldn't have been the first fight in which most of the fans there had seen a towel thrown into the ring.

As for Cotto, it was a confidence-building effort after the beating he received from Manny Pacquiao, which came 18 months after the beating he received from Antonio Margarito. I didn't see anything appreciably different from Cotto, despite the raves of some that he looked improved under new trainer Emanuel Steward.

In fairness, they've been together for one fight, and Cotto's still a really good fighter. He just looks awfully slow to me now, a sitting duck for an opponent's punches, and he was actually physically moved on one occasion by a right hand from Foreman, a light puncher.

Cotto could put together a fruitful couple of years in the 154-pound division, which is in a bit of a flux. The likes of Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez have bounced from that weight to 160, Margarito just came back after a one-year suspension due to the glove-tampering scandal, Vernon Forrest died, and James Kirkland went to prison. Guys like Alfred Angulo and Erislandy Lara are still a little green.

Where to next for Cotto? While Kermit Cintron is also Puerto Rican and a maddeningly inconsistent fighter, he's also much bigger physically than Cotto and has a good right hand. I wouldn't put Cotto anywhere near him just yet if I were guiding him. Another Puerto Rican might be a more appropriate step: Luis Collazo, who always seems to do enough to lose closely to the best fighters, but can punch a little bit harder than Foreman.

Bitter Ross loss

Canadian Troy Ross should give Glen Johnson a call.

Ross, nearly 35, saw his first title shot end in disheartening fashion. The Brampton, Ont., cruiserweight knocked down Steve Cunningham in a battle for a vacant title bout in Germany, but suffered a bad cut from a thumb just seconds later.

Had the fight taken place in the U.S., it would have gone to the scorecards due to an unintentional thumb. But referee Bill Clancy ruled it a punch, completely ignoring the fact that Ross immediately recoiled as soon as the cut occurred as if thumbed.

That made Cunningham a TKO winner. Cunningham is a good guy but he celebrated just a little too enthusiastically for a guy who'd just been on his butt two minutes earlier. I understand he was happy to regain a belt, but you'd have thought he had been dominating the bout.

Cunningham was signed in recent months by Sauerland Promotions of Germany, which also represents some cruiserweight contenders from that country.

There's no doubt Cunningham will be matched with some of them, so he'd be wise to not to assume the officials are going to be on his side next time around.

Johnson was an oft-avoided guy who persevered and bounced back after some tough breaks on the road to flourish in his late 30s. Provided the cut isn't career threatening, hopefully Ross can do the same.

I highly encourage you to find the May 22 bantamweight fight between Abner Mares and Yhonny Perez somewhere online. Both fighters had really strong moments and gave it their all. The fight was declared a draw and while I didn't have a huge problem with that it seems when a guy starts and finishes a fight strongly, as Mares did, he should get the nod.

The rounds that were difficult to score were in the middle, where Mares was playing Miguel Cotto to Perez's Antonio Margarito. In other words, Mares was still landing, but also doing a lot of running. He found his second wind, and at best you could only give Perez one of the last four rounds. Personally, I thought Mares took all four.

It's possibly the best fight so far this year though I imagine by year's end it'll be about fifth or so on the list.

The main event, the fourth fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez did not live up to the epic three bouts that came before. That wasn't too surprising. Vazquez likely would have lost his last fight if he'd been in with a contender and the skin around his eyes is now tissue paper after all the wars he's thrilled us with. Vazquez had already given us three bona fide classics even before ever facing Marquez, so hopefully he'll retire.

It turns out that Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley didn't have blood drawn in the two weeks leading up to their fight, according to a report released last week. Olympic-style blood testing was the contentious issue that scuttled the top fight that can be made in boxing, Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

It remains to be seen whether this new blood testing info assuages concerns that arose from the Pacquiao side, and whether Mayweather will balk at the previous relatively even split of money given that the Mosley bout did quite well in terms of pay-per-view buys.
 
So don't expect this deal to get done too soon. I pledge to try and ensure my colleagues and I refrain from endless stories on the minutiae of the negotiations - the claims, counterclaims and recriminations. Wake me when both sides have signed a contract and/or a presser has been scheduled.
 
I want to see Mayweather and Pacquiao like everybody else but I've got this nagging feeling that the only outcome that will satisfy the sportswriters and casuals who parachute in for boxing superfights is a Pacman victory. If Mayweather denudes Pacquiao through his vortex of counterpunching and defence - entirely possible - we'll get more complaints about the Las Vegas fighter's lack of sizzle.

We say we crave technical brilliance in sports, but do we really? We saw some gripes after Mayweather's brilliant performance against Shane Mosley. If you're going to point out that Mosley looked old, you also have to mention that Mosley landed his best punch in a decade in that second round and Floyd held up. And no matter how old Mosley looked - and let's remember that it was Floyd who helped make him look old - no one limits him to three punches landed per round. That's impressive, no buts.
 
Since Pacquiao has last stepped in the ring, by the way, he has been elected to congress in his native Philippines and been briefly hospitalized for an ulcer. Ho hum.

Khan job done

Briton Amir Khan was forced to decamp at Sugarrays Gym in Vancouver after some work visa problems in the U.S. He looked fine against Paulie Malignaggi, which was a good step in his career.

Malignaggi poses no real offensive threat but you had to be impressed with how often Khan was able to land on the Brooklyn fighter, who's not usually a sitting duck.

A great matchup would be Khan against Argentine titleist Marcos Maidana. Maidana is an action fighter who never gives up, but he's never faced anyone with the speed and skill that Khan has. As for Malignaggi, the next time he's on HBO should only be if he's holding a microphone. He's a better personality than a fighter at this point.

Speaking of, HBO let Lennox Lewis go after a couple of years as a commentator. The result was predictable for anyone who remembers a couple of Lewis forays as a commentator in Canada in the 1990s. He's articulate for a boxer, but wittiness and opinionated have

There's a lot of Canadian content in the next weeks.

ESPN2's Friday Night Fights will head to Montreal this weekend for a bout between comebacking Montreal fighter Eric Lucas and Librado Andrade, who is almost a Quebecer at this point. The Mexican-American will be fighting for the fifth time in the province, and will be looking to bounce back himself after losing to the great Lucian Bute.

Troy Ross of Brampton, Ont., gets a long-awaited big fight on June 5, against American Steve Cunningham for the vacant International Boxing Federation. It's an interesting matchup in that they have similar styles, although Ross possesses more power.

Cunningham is American but the bout is taking place in Germany because he's been recently signed by that country's Sauerland Promotions, who are no doubt angling him towards potential matchups with any of a passel of German-based fighters in the division. In other words, Ross is going to need to dominate or KO Cunningham to come out of Mecklenburg with the belt.

The big one from a Canadian standpoint, is still a couple of months away. Jean Pascal of Laval will take on undefeated Chad Dawson in a light heavyweight bout in Montreal on Aug. 14, one of the best matchups in all of boxing this year.

Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockout) and Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) bring a repertoire to the table that may have only been matched in the last 20 years by the matchups of Roy Jones-Antonio Tarver, Jones-James Toney and Mosley's first bout with Oscar De La Hoya.

Luckily for boxing, which suffers enough self-inflicted blows, there will be another such fight not too far down the road if power puncher Manny Pacquiao takes on the winner.

Mayweather and Mosley have been potential opponents for over a decade. If it's happening a few years too late their take-home pay certainly won't reflect it - both will gross double-digit millions after the box office and pay-per-view numbers.

On paper it doesn't look like a pick'em fight. Mayweather at barely 33 is 5 1/2 years younger than Mosley.

It also begs the question: How can a fighter with five losses be reasonably expected to knock off an undefeated guy?

But nearly all fighters, even the all-time greats, lose at some point in their career, and not so often to other undefeated fighters. Tarver had two losses when he starched Jones, and Bernard Hopkins also had two career defeats when he belted Felix Trinidad.

Mosley has also consistently fought a superior level of opposition than Mayweather, raising the odds he'd lose, and has only been beaten by three men.

He was beaten twice each by Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, rangy, physically strong fighters. Their traits are largely dissimilar to Mayweather's.

Forrest and Wright were also able to defeat Mosley because they landed enough hard right hands to earn his respect.

It's an open question whether Mayweather can do the same. Mayweather has a sneaky right hand, but it's been a long time since he seriously hurt an opponent who wasn't coming up in weight to face him.

There's a big difference between wobbling Ricky Hatton or a blown-up Juan Manuel Marquez and hurting Mosley, who's only been in serious trouble in precisely one of 51 fights.

The most vexing fight on Mosley's resume is his 2007 loss to Miguel Cotto. To some degree it looks worse now because the Puerto Rican has suffered drubbings to Antonio Margarito and Pacquiao.

But Cotto was undefeated at the time, fighting in a New York venue in front of countrymen who've always buoyed him beyond the level of his performances in Vegas. Here again, Cotto's late round success only came after he got Mosley's attention with some hard shots to the head and body.

To hear some recount it, you'd think Cotto outboxed Mosley for several rounds. In truth, it was for about two rounds, it involved heavy amounts of bicycling and occurred because Mosley had stung him earlier in the fight.

Mayweather is in another universe than Cotto when it comes to boxing ability, but he doesn't run. He uses his legs, sure, but by degree. He bends his torso, leans back, tucks his chin behind his shoulder and moves laterally.

He's there, but not there, for most opponents. But most opponents aren't Shane Mosley.

Layoffs

Much has been made of the fact that Mosley will be coming off a 16-month layoff, the result of a scuttled bout in January.

The argument is that for such a mature fighter, that time off will be detrimental in terms of timing and ability to let punches go in the ring. It's a valid point.

But Mosley has fought twice since Mayweather called it quits for a time after a Dec 2007 fight with Hatton (a bout that came just weeks after Mosley fought Cotto).

Mayweather's only activity since then was in September against Marquez, who was fighting 10 pounds over his best weight. The fight told us absolutely nothing about where Mayweather's at in terms of being able to go 12 hard rounds against a bona fide, top-flight welterweight. It was a stroll in the park.

You can also make a case that at Mosley's age, and given the tough battles he's been in, it's a good thing for him to essentially be fighting once a year.

In Floyd's corner

Despite the fact that Mosley brings a blend of speed and power that Mayweather hasn't seen before, there'll be a distinct speed difference in the ring. Mosley is more busy than fast, and Mayweather faced a quicker foe in Zab Judah.

It would stand to reason that the fighter who's going to be the one to defeat Mayweather will have to employ a hard jab to keep him off balance and prevent him from setting or getting off first. De La Hoya did it with some degree of success in the early rounds of their fight and then completely abandoned it.

But Mosley's jab isn't usually among his primary weapons. He often buzzes with it to establish an area of comfort and to parry incoming fire instead of attacking with it.

Mosley, despite his athletic gifts, was never among the game's defensive best. Mayweather should be able to tag him fairly regularly with the right hand without great difficulty.

Most importantly, Mayweather is one of the best defensive fighters of all time and one of the best counter-punchers of all time.

In Mosley's corner

Mosley was, is and may forever go down as one of the best bodypunchers in the game. In the fights where Mayweather has had the most difficulty establishing space and countering, it was because Jose Luis Castillo and to a lesser extent De La Hoya, focused on the torso.

Mosley will be the harder, if not cleaner puncher, and he will be the physically strongest Floyd has faced. He also knows the tricks of the trade and only on a couple of occasions has shown his opponents too much respect.

While Mosley has been discouraged in the past, it's usually come against fighters who've possessed some degree of power. If Mayweather's punches are more a nuisance than truly hurtful, Mosley will continue to find a way to win until the final bell, something that can be said for only a few of Mayweather's opponents since he's left 135 pounds.

Mosley has displayed the mentality of a warrior. We've never seen over a prolonged period if Mayweather can dig deep through great adversity.

Remember the judges

De La Hoya's aggressiveness was only moderately effective against Mayweather, but four points was the widest margin on any scorecard in that much ballyhooed fight.

Mosley, meanwhile, was rewarded in his second bout against De La Hoya for punches that looked and sounded harder than his opponent's even though it appeared as if he was being outboxed much of the time. If Mayweather relies on a peck-and-poke strategy, he too could get himself into such a predicament. Most of the judges in Nevada like aggression.

There exists the possibility that Mosley will get old overnight or come out too respectful - a strong start is a must for him - but more than likely the judges will have the fighters separated by just a point or two at the halfway point. They usually do in fights between great fighters, and Mayweather himself usually contributes to this by fighting at a methodical pace.

Mayweather's fights are often snoozes but I don't think this one will be. He's dissuaded other opponents with just a few right hands and a web-like defence, allowing him to fight at a casual pace.

But they've been smaller men and not of the calibre of Mosley. The type of performances Mayweather gave against De La Hoya, Judah and Hatton were good, but he'll need another level against Mosley.

So there's a strong chance we'll be quite entertained - either Mayweather will be upset, or he'll have to fight at an activity level we haven't seen in a long, long time. 

Valero allegedly stabbed his wife to death on Sunday in his native Venezuela, a jolt enough for boxing fans. He allegedly confessed his guilt to authorities, and by the next morning he had hung himself in his jail cell, ending his life at 28.

The couple had two young children.

Did it all really happen?

The phrase perfect storm is overused these days, but in this case it's tragically apt. You had a guy with demons who was evidently abusing drugs and whose profession was to use his fists for survival. He happened to be from a country that international NGOs have continually targeted as a trouble spot for domestic violence, with little in the way of effective protection for women or prosecution for their abusers.

From pro boxing cradle to grave Valero was really only in the consciousness of the most ardent fight fans for about six years.

He was heard about more than seen and he was the first fighter of the internet age. Most saw his fights online and not even necessarily live.

The original wire reports in the wake of the tragic killing of his wife, Jennifer Viera, as they are want to do, focused too much on the alphabet trinkets of the sport. Because he was summarily stripped of a title in February for the flimsiest of reasons (no need to get into that now) he was referred to as a "former champion."

A load of rubbish that probably led a few to surmise without bothering to read the story that he was a washed-up fighter who couldn't adjust to his glory days being in the rearview mirror.

Drumbeat of trouble

Nothing could be further from the truth. Valero's career in the ring was in ascension and he potentially could have been headed for bouts with the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez or even one day, Manny Pacquiao.

He was 27-0, all wins by knockout. He may well have had a problem with domestic abuse all his adult life, but part of what makes his case so fascinating is that the drumbeat of trouble brewing outside the ring only grew more incessant within the last year, which was the time of his greatest success in the ring.

He first came to attention when he landed in Southern California in 2003, fighting there twice and inspiring word on the wire about how he was handling fighters like champion Erik Morales in sparring sessions.

But when he got to about a dozen fights he underwent a brain scan that revealed an abnormality, at which point Valero revealed a motorcycle accident in 2001. He was deemed unlicensable by the major U.S. jurisdictions.

Valero was out of the ring for 18 months after that but his handlers were able to capitalize on boxing's lack of structure and global popularity, and he fought in six different countries over the next three years, most frequently in Japan.

Piling up knockouts

He kept piling up the knockouts against so-so opposition. Inside the ring he was a sight, with his Incan blood and wild-eyed expression as he stalked his foes. With his unkempt hair, chin patch, 70s-ish hipster clothes and designer glasses, outside the ring he looked like a Latin cross between Austin Powers and Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Veteran fight writer George Kimball wrote this week that Valero should have never been allowed to resume his career after the MRI results. While he's technically right, I'm not sure what good that stance does now. He would have just have been another person we wouldn't have given much thought to. Boxing offered a ticket out. He grew up in extreme poverty and was on the streets fending for himself by the time most kids here are preparing for high school.

Over the last couple of years Valero professionally worked his way back closer to the Americas, fighting in the last two years in Mexico and Texas (where money talks, rules are pesky and nepotism reigns).

Just weeks after an impressive performance over Antonio DeMarco in February, however, he was arrested and pegged for rehab after his wife was seriously injured. He never went. A preventable tragedy was seemingly allowed to happen due to a lack of will.

How good a boxer could he have been?

I thought for the longest time that he was one-dimensional, albeit a dimension that was too overwhelming for most top 10 fighters. I thought there were a number of contenders that could beat him, and I wasn't particularly impressed by his 10th-round stoppage of Vicente Mosquera, who was completely ready to be taken for a few rounds before Valero actually could put him away.

Out of control

But over his last three fights he was a more contained and therefore better fighter, while his life was evidently spiraling out of control (he was arrested for a domestic incident involving his mother and sister in September).

He was moving towards likely status as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Pacquiao was the name that got the most attention, but the Filipino's card is full, and after the DeMarco win, the fight hardcore types relished for him was against Timothy Bradley. It would have been a sensational mesh of styles, and I think Bradley would have prevailed in a corker.

Valero figured to be at least as good as Acelino Freitas, the Brazilian who had a somewhat similar run of knockouts early in his career before plateauing as merely a good titleholder.

What to watch

This Saturday, the Showtime super middleweight tournament continues with Carl Froch of Great Britain battling Mikkel Kessler in his native Denmark. Kessler was soundly beaten by Andre Ward last time out, but Froch didn't exactly cover himself in glory with a debatable decision win over Andre Dirrell.

Froch is not at all elusive like Ward, so Kessler should land plenty of punches and be buoyed by his fellow Danes. This fight boils down to which is stronger - Froch's chin (he's been down before) or the will of Kessler, who spent more time in a sulk over Ward's occasional skirting of the rulebook than trying to come up with a plan B.

If that weren't enough, the oddsmakers are having a heckuva time figuring out Tomas Adamek against Cris Arreola in heavyweight action. You can find sites that plug each fighter as the favourite. It's rare that happens but in this case you've got a superior all-around fighter, Adamek, going up against a legitimate top 10 heavyweight who has a 30-pound weight advantage.

Bute (25-0, 20 knockouts) will be the focus at Bell Centre a couple days before Les Canadiens make their home playoff debut when he puts his International Boxing Federation 168-belt on the line Saturday against Edison Miranda (33-4, 29 KOs).

Bute will be making his fifth defence, and the last one was an ecstatic rematch knockout of Librado Andrade in Quebec City, with HBO's boxing crew heading to Canada for the first time in nearly 30 years to capture the excitement.

Always on the lookout for a new star (to them at least), HBO will be back on Saturday, broadcasting it as part of a split site night of boxing that will includes a terrific matchup from Atlantic City between Kelly Pavlik and Sergio Martinez at 160 pounds.

(Shame that just because there's Canadian content that fight fans here who don't want to resort to combing the internet here are being dinged 50 bucks for a pay-per-view when these two bouts are on the basic service in the U.S. - don't say I didn't warn you, which HBO Canada did not ahead of the Bute-Andrade rematch).

Big money options for Bute

Bute's performance was very impressive in his last fight, and he's turned out to benefit from not being picked to participate in Showtime's wild and woolly 168-pound tournament. While those six fighters are tied up for another year-ish, Bute has a clear path to some other big money options.

While it's likely that if victorious Pavlik is headed to a showdown later in the year against Paul Williams (provided he defeats Kermit Cintron later this spring) there's a possibility that the Youngstown, Ohio native and Bute would tangle soon.

Another option: Bernard Hopkins, fresh off his dreadful win over Roy Jones Jr., and realizing he has no hope of luring David Haye into a heavyweight win, has begun talking up a possible meeting with Bute at a catch weight of 170 pounds.

It's not even out of the question to start thinking about Bute further down the line (say, late 2011) in with the survivor of the summer light heavyweight unification bout between Laval, Que.'s Jean Pascal and Chad Dawson.

Those tantalizing possibilities could be a distraction for a less-focused fighter, and could make Miranda more dangerous than he realistically is at this stage of his career.

Nicknamed Pantera, the Colombian has been more of a pussycat in his recent big fights. For those not overly versed in boxing, he's been akin to a latter-day Tyson, full of audacious talk heading into a fight and dangerous for a couple rounds before being brutally de-fanged.

He's actually a year younger than Bute, but much older in terms of boxing wear and tear.

Hardened fans have seen Pavlik overwhelm Miranda with his power, Arthur Abraham bully Miranda in their rematch, and Andre Ward box Miranda's ears off for 12 rounds.

If Bute is at his best, stylistically his taking apart of Miranda will fall somewhere between the Pavlik and Ward efforts. Bute does everything well without having one signature.

But given that Miranda has been bothered to the body before and Bute took Andrade's breath away to end their rematch, it's one area to watch.

Miranda has been quite gracious and well behaved in press dealings for this fight, undoubtedly realizing it is the proverbial last-chance saloon for him.

His best showing was probably his gritty performance in Germany in his first fight against Abraham, a debatable decision. But that was some years ago.

Pavlik, Martinez interesting bout  

The clash between Pavlik and Martinez is the more intriguing fight by far.

I thought the Argentine just edged his great battle with Williams in December. But while I consider Williams a better overall fighter than Pavlik, he's not without his flaws.

I think Pavlik is a stronger fighter and a harder puncher than Williams. While Pavlik was befuddled and to a certain degree embarrassed by the boxing acumen of Hopkins, that fight was at 175 pounds and the younger man was only once bothered greatly by the right hand of Hopkins (who punches much, much harder than Martinez).

Martinez will have to be a little less willing to engage than against Williams while avoiding the propensity he sometimes showed against Cintron of wheeling around the ring without throwing many punches.

If you like both hockey and boxing, it's the most wonderful time of year. In addition to the playoffs heating up, next week brings both Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler and Tomas Adamek against Cris Arreola, while in two weeks time it's Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley in a fight many boxing fans have only been waiting wanting for about a decade.

It will be an intriguing litmus test for Haye, who overcame seven-foot hairy beast Nikolay Valuev the last time out. Can the brash Briton stop or dominate the awkward Ruiz, who possesses a sneaky right hand? If so, it will breathe some new life into the heavyweight division.

Astounding punching clip
 
Pacquiao added another feather in his cap on Saturday, proving he can go 12 rounds with a full-fledged welterweight.
 
He threw over 1,200 punches, an amazing figure under any circumstances.
 
That said, he'll be looking at half that output - at most - if he fights guys who move their feet, heads and have quick hands, such as Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley.
 
Clottey has been excoriated over his effort by general sports fans who watch a handful of fights, which was understandable.
 
I've been a bit taken aback that hardened fight reporters are shocked by his performance.
 
The man has never thrown a lot of punches, and he was operating without a top-notch corner.
 
I rewatched Clottey's fight with Zab Judah in the days before the fight. Even in arguably his best career performance, Clottey was not an active fighter.
 
He imposes his will by the threat of his strength, moving forward, and an effective defence. It makes some fighters a bit timid or at least very tired by the end of the night, but it was a style designed to be gobbled up by Pacman.
 
The only appreciable difference I saw in Clottey on Saturday than in the past was that he was facing a buzzsaw.
 
Clottey couldn't get off because he can't counterpunch in flow. By the time he split his gloves from his peekaboo defence, Pacquiao was nowhere to be found, reloading for another salvo.
 
All that said, Clottey landed more hard punches on Pacquiao then even Miguel Cotto - unfortunately they were sprinkled at a rate of four or five a round as opposed to Cotto's condensed early output before he was pummelled.
 
Clottey snapped Pacquaio's head back a few times with uppercuts, but what caught my interest were the bodyshots he occasionally landed.
 
Pacquiao wasn't enamored by them, and a low blow warning that the champion elicited against Clottey late in the fight was borderline.
 
Would a Mayweather or Mosley be able to attack Pacquiao's midriff and get out range, while also serving to sap his legs a bit for a long fight?
 
Even after the Cotto performance I still felt that Pacquiao's attacking style would largely be in Mayweather's wheelhouse to pick off and counterpunch.
 
I'm much less confident in that view after Saturday's fight.
 
Truth be told, I've always thought Mosley was the man who could beat Mayweather due to his unique blend of activity, speed and power.
 
On May 1, time will tell if Mosley's age (39) and 14-month inactivity will hurt him, or if Mayweather's gifts were always too abundant for Sugar Shane.

Haranguing Box Office
 
Jim Lampley is rightly getting some online play for his enthusiastically childlike "Bang, bang" routine to Manny's punches late in the fight.  

Elsewhere, HBO did not have a banner night. In UFC events, the "analysts" continually, excessively and puzzlingly hype the proceedings - seems to me there's an already captive and rabid audience. Every so-so fight is a classic and "Legend" gets passed around more than the Bob Marley anthology at a college residence.
 
HBO again demonstrated its propensity to be regrettable on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, continually criticizing the very product its offering.
 
How is that good for business?
 
I mean, all told, I prefer a sport (and hockey's quite good at this) where we're not sold a line when something obviously stinks.
 
But it was a bit relentless. What's galling about it is that HBO always acts as if it were utterly powerless, as if the card was foisted on them.
 
Top Rank needed HBO's reach, and the network could have flexed its muscles more with the promoter if it so wanted. It certainly has in the past.
 
Moreover, HBO has certainly served up some stinkers of its own making over the years.
 
Luckily for boxing fans, there's some great matchups beyond Mayweather-Mosley in the coming weeks. They include: Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Martinez, Arthur Abraham-Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler, Alfred Angulo-Joel Julio and Montreal's Lucian Bute-Edison Miranda.
 
Plenty of opportunities for Lampley to go off the rails again!

Pacquiao will return to the ring for the first time since his destruction of Miguel Cotto on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas against Joshua Clottey in front of an expected crowd of 40-45,000 people.

The welterweight bout is a more than acceptable outcome after negotiations for a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather megafight got bogged down because of haggling over blood testing.

The bout is one of two in the coming months at larger venues, with Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman set to tangle at Yankee Stadium in New York.

But Cotto has a significant following among New York's Puerto Rican community; Pacquiao's star power is heavily propelling the Dallas bout, as well as the desire of Jerry Jones to attract big events to his fancy new stadium.

Promoter Top Rank has wisely stocked the undercard with Mexican brawlers for both the local gate and the pay-per-view take, which usually requires strong Hispanic support.

Fights at indoor and outdoor stadiums have taken place in recent years, with the Klitschko brothers in Germany, Joe Calzaghe in Wales and Mikkel Kessler in Denmark.

But they've been pretty rare in North America as fandom is more localized and promoters too often lazily retreated to their Las Vegas casino confines and concomitant high rollers.

Oscar De La Hoya fought at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center a couple years back against Steve Forbes but there were plenty of empty seats and comps for that one, by all accounts.

Fans of a certain age of course remember Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez at the Alamodome in San Antonio 17 years ago. (And because it needs to be shouted from the rooftops every time that "draw" is mentioned - Whitaker handily beat Chavez at every facet of the game, including when they stood in front of each other flatfooted).

As far as the fight, Clottey, 32, will earn his biggest payday. A very capable fighter, he was treated like a complete no-hoper on the order of Peter McNeeley in an ESPN Magazine profile recently. (The writer, Canadian Chris Jones, did much better work with his poignant Roger Ebert profile in Esquire)

It's pretty amazing that not three years ago Clottey was deemed by most prognosticators as too strong for the six-foot and powerful Diego Corrales when that late warrior was moving up to the 147-pound class. Those predictions were played out in definitive fashion.

At the time of Clottey-Corrales, Pacman was fighting at just 130 pounds but now there's little doubt among the cognoscenti that he'll be too much for Clottey after blitzkrieging a succession of naturally bigger men like De La Hoya, Cotto and Ricky Hatton.

I can't say I ultimately disagree, although Clottey's tight defence could provide some frustration early on for the Filipino icon.

But Clottey in his two biggest bouts has proven unable to seize the moment, instead content to hear the judges' rendering against Antonio Margarito and Cotto. He had a legitimate hand injury excuse for his fade against Margarito, but regardless of what you think of the Cotto decision (I thought Cotto edged it out), it's unquestionable Clottey didn't do enough in the final two rounds to put an exclamation point on the proceedings after a strong middle portion of the fight.

The man who'll next defeat Pacquiao will have to be a fluid counterpuncher with good head movement and at least decent hand and foot speed, someone who'll time him coming in.

I won't consider it a massive upset if Clottey wins, but I don't think he really fits that bill. He spends long portions posing, and while he denies his opponents many easy shots, he also too often waits for them to finish punching before launching a counterattack. Finally, he has heavy hands but hasn't exhibited a lot of one punch power against grade A opposition.
 
On the positive side, he has the type of personality where Pacquiao's punches could merely compel him to smile and forge ahead, which could make for some interesting moments. And Ghanaian fighters rarely fold under pressure.

But overall, it seems to add up to another big Pacquiao victory, putting the ball in the court of Mayweather, who is taking on a much bigger challenge on May 1 against Shane Mosley.

Programming note:
 
CBC News Network will be presenting the Thriller in Manila documentary originally shown on HBO in the U.S. last year.
 
The documentary details the greatest rivalry in the history of sports, as well as the complex relationship between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

After all, Douglas was barely a top 10 contender who had lost in the past to previous Tyson victims Jesse Ferguson and Tony Tucker.

In those pre-Internet days, where you couldn't just find this stuff out in seconds, I also messed up on the start time of the fight in Japan so when we were watching the CBC news and the sportscaster - I think it might have been Debbie Lightle-Quan - said "this just in" and read the result, I refused to believe it was true. My relatives got a real big kick out of this, grilling me on whether I thought the news people make stuff up. And here I am in the media.

My brother had a more social time of it that night, hanging out with friends, but he too didn't go out of his way to watch. He arrived at a Niagara Falls, N.Y., bar showing the fight, just in time to see Douglas sobbing while being interviewed by Larry Merchant.

"Did he get his ass kicked?" he asked a bar patron.

"No, he kicked Tyson's ass."

"I beg your pardon?"

The fight famously never had a moneyline offered by any of the biggest books in Las Vegas, that's how much a formality it seemed.

We later found out that Tyson hadn't exactly been spartan-like in preparations and had been dropped in sparring by Greg Page. He had broken up with Robin Givens and was also fighting without proven trainer Kevin Rooney, with his corner that night resembling the Keystone Kops.

But given that Tyson's title defences were climbing into the double digits by that point, you can't sell me on the notion that this was the first time he took an opponent lightly, especially given some of the addled contenders who dotted the landscape back then (click HERE to see which former Tyson challenger spends more time looking for a fix than with any of his 16 children from various mothers).

The fact of the matter is that Douglas executed a great game plan like only a handful of other fighters have in history.

Jab vs. punch

The fight showed how crucial and underrated the jab is as a punch. It's crazy how often it is neglected in big fights, but Douglas gave a blueprint for men like Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, timing Tyson like a metronome with double and triple jabs. Holyfield added a diet of elbows and butts, making the bully cry - and bite.

The Douglas performance also proved how indomitable the will can be when a guy feels like he's got nothing to lose. We had seen just about a year earlier Thomas Hearns come up with his best late-career performance just a few days after his brother had been fatally shot.

Douglas was dealing with the death of his mother, who died during the run up to the Tyson fight.

The uppercut Douglas took in the eighth round that sent him to the canvas for a nine-count was actually one of the most impressive punches Tyson ever landed. Maybe only Gene Tunney against Jack Dempsey in the famous Long Count fight would beat it in boxing history on the list of the top 10 survived knockdowns of all time.

It takes a special kind of discipline and dedication to win the title against one of the best fighters in the game, but it takes even more to stay on top (see the likes of Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather).

Douglas showed he lacked that quality big-time by packing on 15 more pounds and cashing out his chips eight months later with in a megabucks defence against Holyfield. That was a fight my brother and I weren't going to miss, shelling out closed-circuit money (at Don Cherry's Grapevine) for a dreadful undercard during the short-lived boxing heyday of The Mirage, an ample description for the Douglas effort that night. Hey, we were far from the only suckers.

After a mortality scare related to massive weight gain, Douglas has by all accounts lived a fairly mundane life. He hasn't exactly strived for the same kind of heights outside the ring, but given the many sorry tales of ex-champions swindled, beaten down or numbed by drugs and drink, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Douglas is scheduled to be in the studio for ESPN's Friday Night Fights this weekend. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

What are your memories of the Douglas-Tyson fight, either watching or learning about the outcome? Did any other fights you can remember produce the same level of shock?

WHAT TO WATCH

If you can find an Internet feed, there is a Top Rank card on Saturday that features two of the best little men in the business in separate bouts - Mexico's Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire of the Philippines.

Mosley had been preparing for what would have likely have been a corker of a bout on Jan. 30 against unbeaten Andre Berto, but the Haitian-American Berto pulled out to concentrate his energies on helping relatives and countrymen devastated by the earthquake.

If you consider it a disappointment that Mayweather is fighting Mosley instead of Pacquiao, you are either: 1. Filipino, 2. Not a hardcore boxing fan, or 3. A sports reporter who doesn't pay attention to boxing 99 per cent of the time but still feels confident opining on which fights must happen to "save boxing."

Yes, Mayweather-Pacquiao is a bigger, higher-profile bout for the sport, but the alternative is still an A-plus matchup and could arguably turn out to be an even better fight. Pacquiao is the most explosive of the trio, but it can be argued that the other two have more dimensions to their game.

Coveted fight

The fact of the matter is that Mayweather-Mosley is a fight that's been coveted for about a decade, about eight years longer than Mayweather-Pacquiao.

In effect, boxing now has an unofficial welterweight tournament going on. Two top-notch fights, plus you have to figure Berto will get back in the mix at the some point after his selfless move.

Could Mayweather or Pacquiao blow their boffo payday for a fight against each other – estimated to be at least $25 million US for each – by losing these interim bouts?

Sure, but why should that be our concern? The more great matchups fight fans get to see, the better, and to the best go the spoils.

Should Mayweather and Pacquiao win these bouts, the clamour will only be greater for them to step in the ring, heightening interest.

The fact that the bouts are taking place six weeks apart doesn't hurt either. If Pacquiao beats another strong welterweight in Clottey, that's only going to please the Vegas houses even more.

Big bets

Art Manteris of Sportsbook Casinos originally made Pacquiao an 8-to-5 favourite for a Mayweather bout after his impressive win over Miguel Cotto in November. Manteris later admitted he might have overshot the initial projection (and how), but it sure inspired action – reportedly in the form of several $20,000 US or more bets on Mayweather.

Other places were more in line with the projections of boxing observers, with Pacquiao a +130 underdog. Should he beat Clottey in impressive fashion, that line will move.

And let's call it like it is. Had Mayweather fought and beat Pacman in March, we'd never see him a ring with Mosley, ever. He'd have considered his ring legacy cemented and would have milked us for occasional bouts against uninspired competition while continuing to revel in his celebrity status.

After all, when it first appeared that the Mayweather-Pacquiao boaut would fall through, some possible opponents that were floated for the flashy Las Vegas native were Paul Malignaggi (ugh) and Matthew Hatton (gross).

If Pacquiao were to have defeated Mayweather in March he too would have likely gone after not a Mosley or Berto, but someone of the order of Yuri Foreman, an opponent that could have given the Filipino a chance at another trinket but one that hardly gets the blood boiling.

Legit fight

Given that Mayweather's previous two fights were against Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton, Mosley will be the first legitimate welterweight he's faced in three years, or since he took on Oscar De La Hoya, otherwise known as the last fight that "saved boxing."

Mosley's reputation took a hit after it was revealed that he testified to a grand jury in the BALCO case that in 2003 he obtained from the lab the energy booster EPO (erythropoeitin), and designed steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone).

Despite those revelations, boxing hasn't changed its testing protocol for big fights one bit.

"They [the commissions] test for a basic, simple menu that anybody with a heartbeat will escape," chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Association, Travis Tygart, told the Grand Rapids Press last month.

Should the Mosley-Mayweather blood testing process take place without a hitch, it will make it much more difficult for the Paccquiao camp to try and control the process, as they sought to do in the first negotations. The argument of "we've always been clean" would seem to hold less sway.

What to watch

The fight to look for this weekend on Superchannel or on the internet is the lightweight battle between Edwin Valero and Antonio DeMarco (the broadcast originates from Showtime in the U.S).

Valero has knocked out all 26 men he's faced ahead of Saturday's bout, but he's never met anyone as durable as DeMarco, who's won his last dozen fights. For good measure, the Venezuelan Valero will be fighting in front of a pro-DeMarco crowd in Mexico.

Taylor's inclusion in the tournament in the first place was clearly due to his name recognition and being American. He was coming off a devastating knockout loss o Carl Froch and he began the tournament in a similar fashion, losing to Arthur Abraham in the 12th in Germany.

That made three KO losses in the last five fights, following a defeat to Kelly Pavlik in 2006.

It was just over four years ago that Taylor was coming off his second decision win over Bernard Hopkins, a remarkable achievement considering Hopkins hadn't lost in over a decade.

But here we are with Taylor done as a serious force and Ol' Man Hopkins, who turns 45 on Friday, still in the mix for another big fight. That's boxing for you.

It's not known who'll replace Taylor, but it figures that DiBella will likely be allowed to use another of his fighters, Allan Green.

Canadian boxing fans would love to see Lucian Bute in the tournament up against the likes of Ward, Froch and Abraham, but that will have to wait.

Rival network HBO has rightly taken a shine to Bute after a packed house and sensational knockout in a rematch with Librado Andrade in November. Bute could be headed down the line for fights against Pavlik, or less likely, Hopkins.

More Mayweather-Pacquiao madness

Speaking of people not coming to their senses, there are some reports indicating that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will indeed each fight on March 13. Just not against each other.

Mayweather could face Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium, with Mayweather facing an opponent yet to be named in Las Vegas the same night.

Just what boxing needs when it barely gets mainstream attention to begin with: duelling cards.

I say "could" because until I see the press conferences announcing those stay-busy fights, I won't believe it.

But time is running out after even a mediator couldn't get the two sides to hammer out an agreement on blood test guidelines, the type that have never been followed for a big fight before.

As for Mayweather, Golden Boy Promotions has also floated the idea that he wouldn't fight until May, allowing time for the winner of a bout later this month between Shane Mosley and Andre Berto.

If he can't fight Pacquiao next, the Mosley-Berto winner would truly be a coup for Mayweather, who has been dogged by criticism he hasn't always the faced the best and who seems to have lost the P.R. battle in some quarters over the fractious negotiations.

While Bob Arum has been firebombing with his media comments - interesting to see an ill-informed Canadian reporter basically repeat Arum's talking points on TSN on Sunday - Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach struck a conciliatory note.

To hear Roach speak, you have to think these guys are going to fight sometime this year.

Remember that he's had a longstanding feud with Mayweather, whom he once promoted, and to a lesser degree with Oscar De La Hoya, another former fighter of his, and whose Golden Boy Promotions, along with manager Leonard Ellerbe, is representing Mayweather.

This is not to say the March 13 date isn't in jeopardy. But let's remember that date was chosen primarily because Pacquiao's running for Congress (again) in May in his native Philippines. It was always an ambitious target from the standpoint of how much promotion and marketing will go into this bout.

I'm not an expert on Filipino politics, but would Pacquiao get elected by the good people there if he hasn't yet fought Mayweather? Do they want Manny the politician or Manny the boxer extraordinaire/action movie star/singer?

And if these two guys fight the likes of Paulie Malignaggi and Yuri Foreman in March instead, it's not like they're going to lose (well, in the ring; I can't imagine what the gate receipts would be like). So we'd still end up at the same place, with No. 1 and No. 2 in the sport (you debate the order) looking for a major payday.

They've already hammered out the complex money details in what will probably be the most lucrative fight ever, and you can't downplay that important fact.

I totally don't buy the premise that this fight will be less interesting or popular at the box office if it is held in September or early November - traditional beachheads when the sport isn't competing with the stretch drives of the big U.S. pro and college sports for mindshare. The last big superfight held in March was the first fight Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield fight, 11 years ago.

Besides, an injury to either fighter ahead of the March date would have likely left no alternative until at least September anyways.

I remember when everyone tuned out after Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns and Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney were postponed the first time. No one cared. Seriously, I've been racking my brain all day to come up with a fight of this magnitude that you could argue was legitimately wounded by a postponement of a number of months.

Mayweather or Golden Boy Promotions have not commented on the record yet, just two days after retired U.S. federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who specializes in mediation, met with the sides for a reported nine hours.

So howsabout we all take a deep breath, wait a few weeks before proffering doomsday opinions on the future of the sport should this fight not take place in March. Heck, maybe could even wait to hear the other side or the mediator actually comment first.

Nothing's dead in boxing until someone actually is dead.

On hypocrisy

The situation is of course a mess and it's fair to say that none of this is good for boxing. But to say, as many have already taken to the blogs to do, that this is why boxing's no longer a mainstream sport is silly.

Oh, I see, a big part of the UFC's popularity is because Dana White has such a genteel manner about him, has never said anything offensive or controversial, and has always paid his fighters a fair share. Sure.

It has nothing to do with the fact that at the same time boxing was shooting itself in the foot in a myriad of ways and making itself harder to find for sports fans, losing a generation of young fans in the late 1980s and early 90s, things like mixed-martial arts, pro wrestling, and video games were all gaining in popularity. In addition a variety of other societal changes over that time recalibrated the attention span in a way that, say, a five-round fight might be more palatable for a bunch of young people than a 12-round fight.

It's the business of MMA that keeps the fans coming back.

I write this hours away from the Texas-Alabama game for the BSC championship. Myself and millions of others are going to abstain from watching this one, just because the bowl game system is absurd, contrived and often leaves someone on the outside with a legitimate complaint, arguably even more so than boxing does. Add in the fact that every week there's stories about megalomaniacal coaches, unscrupulous recruiting practices, college athletes allegedly committing crimes and getting a bogus education, etc.

So watch the fight - if it happens – or don’t, but spare the righteousness and scorn over the unseemliness of it all. Boxing ain't alone.

The Bright Side

In the meantime, a spate of exciting bouts has helped reinvigorate the sport over the past two years, and there's no sign that's going to stop in 2010. Shane Mosley and Andre Berto fight in a matter of days in a bout that will provide the legitimate next-in-line for a Mayweather-Pacquiao winner, brash Briton David Haye will get people to notice the heavyweight division again win or lose, especially if he fights one of the Klitschkos, and the super middleweight tournament comes to a head this year, featuring at least two of the top 15 fighters in the world.

In addition, there appears to be momentum in making the following important bouts for the sport, to name a few Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams, Yuriorkis Gamboa-Juan Manuel Lopez, and Chad Dawson-Jean Pascal.

If you're a general sports fan reading this, you may have said to yourself during that last paragraph, "Who is that?"

Remember, you probably said the same thing about three or four years ago about Pacquiao. The sport goes on and will, despite the never-ending reports of its demise.