I'm looking forward to this bout, though many call it a mismatch. Ray "Rainman" Austin, as will most any heavyweight of size, will definitely have a puncher's chance against the oft-rattled Wladmir. I'm predicting a sixth-roound KO win for Wlad, but anything could happen. Austin getting this fight is just another example of how insanity rules the roost at the IBF. Austin simply has not done anything to justify his being the IBF's mandatory challenger. Austin has size, and he can take a punch, and it may be that he's thought to be a better foil for Klitschko than the dozens of better fighters in the division. While Austin looked to have improved in his recent draw with Sultan Ibragimov, he has never had a victory over an opponent of note, unless you count Owen "What the Heck" Beck, which I don't.

Elsewhere among the heavyweight strap-holders, it looks like Nikolai Valuev will be in the ring with Ruslan "The White Tyson" Chagaev on April 14 (the same date as our Manny Pacquiao boxing funfest, to which all reading this are invited). Chagaev could well finally topple the gentle giant, but I'm expecting a Valuev decision, or perhaps a late-round KO. Chagaev has wowed some folks with his gym work, but his pro career lacks notable knockouts. He did win a split-decision over Johnny Louise, but I don't think that translates into much of a chance against Valuev. If Valuev can establish his jab, he'll win a close one.

Shannon Briggs is still nursing his damaged lungs, Lamon Brewster is still rebuilding himself after his "eye-popping" loss to the now-hiding Serguei Lyakhovich (the guy Briggs beat down to take the belt that Brewster took from Klitschko).

Oleg Maskaev may be fighting again soon, but whether it will be an un-retired champion Vitali Klitschko or the deserving contender Samuel Peter remains to be seen. Peter has earned his shot, and while I'm no fan of his clumsy and questionably legal style, I whole-heartedly endorse him as Maskaev's next mandatory challenger.

And lest I forget, Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBA strap from Peter Okhello in Russia last weekend. Maskaev knocked Okhello down twice en route to a twelve-round unanimous decision. Often, a new heavyweight champ will take a relatively easy 'tune up and recover' fight, and, while Okhello is tough, he seems to fit that description.

The rest of the cream of the heavyweight crop is active as follows:

Wladmir Klitschko has a March 10th date on HBO, but no opponent.

Shannon Briggs is fighting Sultan Ibragminov, a fight that's tough to predict. Briggs is tough and has a chin, so he could well pummel Ibragminov, who nearly lost to the tough but unskilled Ray Austin on ESPN2 back in July.

Serguei Lyakhovich is not yet scheduled, nor is Lamon Brewster, or Hasim Rahman. I guess losing your belt kinda takes it out of you for a while.

Calvin Brock, Chris Byrd, Tye Fields, Oliver McCall (who knocked out Yanqui Diaz last weekend) and others had been slated for the Superfighter heavyweight tournament which was cancelled. None of them are scheduled for bouts as of yet.

James Toney and Samuel Peter have a rematch on Showtime in early January, and it is said that the winner will face Maskaev as a mandatory challenger.

Nikolay Valuev will be fighting a resurgent Jameel McCline, on HBO on January 1st. Most folks assume that Valuev will beat McCline, but don't forget that while McCline has lost six fights, he completely dominated Shannon Briggs a mere four years ago. It just depends on how well each fighter is conditioned, and how actively McCline pursues Valuev. I predict a Valuev victory, but this fight could be extremely exciting (of course, it could also be a dud of a hug-fest). The winner will face WBA mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev, who has the awful nickname "The White Tyson". Chagaev, yet another former Soviet with an extensive amateur career, won a 12-round split decision over Johnny "Louise" Ruiz in the WBA title eliminator last month in Germany.

Audley Harrison's recent KO of Danny Williams may set up a match between Harrison and Matt Skelton for a battle that no one outside of the U.K. will notice. If Harrison is serious about challenging for a belt, he'll be needing to look good.

In the Prospects section:
Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Brian Minto, Alexander Povetkin and Roman Greenberg
have nothing on the schedule as of yet.

Well, it looks like 'Fraudley Harrison', the 2000 Olympic gold-winner, is getting his butt back into gear. Audley 'A-Force' Harrison up and beat the piss outta Danny Williams in a rematch of the fight that nearly ended Harrison's career.

Danny Williams is not a bad heavyweight, but he never was as good as the 'Tyson conqueror' moniker would suggest. He got lucky that a shot Tyson blew out his knee, and he made the most of it. I don't know if it's time for him to hang up the gloves, but unless he has another fight with Matt Skelton, there's not likely to be another big-money fight for him.

Harrison was seen by many as the stylistic heir of Lennox Lewis, and while I've not bought that, I do believe that he has to tools to be a great heavyweight. His recent lackluster performances (two pathetic losses to Williams and Dominick Guinn--in which he barely used his gloves) will hopefully be forgotten as he demonstrates a return to top form.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah, you read the headline right. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center today on charges of grand larceny. The larceny is related to the domestic violence allegations against Josie Harris, as Mayweather is alleged to have stolen her iPhone and other items.

Mayweather's lawyer Richard Wright had this to say:

"Josie can't find her iPhone," Wright said. "We're attempting to find it or replace it. He did not commit grand larceny. We expect that to be resolved."

As for any domestic violence charge, Wright said his client would cooperate with police in any investigation, "if there is one."

Mike Blasky and Brian Haynes are following the story for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and they also have this:

Police have not arrested Mayweather for misdemeanor domestic violence because an arrest must be made within 24 hours of the crime. After that, the case must be submitted to the district attorney's office for review. Capt. Brett Zimmerman, who oversees the Crimes Against Youth and Family Bureau, said police will submit their case to prosecutors.

TMZ reports that Mayweather is being held on $3,000 bail, or to him, a cheap watch.

And on it goes. To say this has been a crap week for Mayweather would be understating it quite a bit.

HBO's Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward weigh in on the September 18 HBO pay-per-view fight between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora:

Now that that's out of the way, let's address a question many probably have right now.

Why is HBO wasting money that could have gone to something better on this fight, and more specifically, why are they allowing themselves to be put into a position where they're openly supporting this lame duck pay-per-view? I thought this was being distributed by HBO, but not produced by the company, and apparently that's not the case. Past examples of Golden Boy fights distributed by HBO but not produced by them are Casamayor-Marquez (which was worthwhile) and Hopkins-Jones II (which was not). But this is a full-on HBO event.

I don't mean to disrespect the fighters at all. I am a huge Shane Mosley fan, and I respect Mora's skills. So what I figure is that Golden Boy simply put together too large of a card fit for TV, and PPV was the only option. With four fights that aren't bad -- Mosley-Mora, Ortiz-Harris, Alvarez-Baldomir, Ponce de Leon-Escalante -- there's just no room for this on a Saturday night on HBO. Those are four fights that Golden Boy wants on TV, packed onto one card. So it has to go to PPV, basically. The choice to buy it is yours, but with the way the entire card is set up, there's no way this was ever going to be on HBO or any other non-PPV outlet.

Now, I do have my doubts that this is going to sell very well at all, and I think they might be lucky if they manage the 200,000 that Marquez-Diaz II pulled in. They've got to be banking on Saul Alvarez to help the buyrate, as he's arguably the most exciting young Mexican star in the sport.

But hey, I'm ordering it. I'll admit that I like the overall card enough for a Saturday night at home watching boxing, particularly the featherweight fight between Daniel Ponce de Leon and Antonio Escalante, and I think Vivian Harris might have more for Victor Ortiz than Ortiz and Golden Boy are counting on. They've hooked me in with quantity over great quality, more or less -- are they going to get you, too?

Poll

Will you be ordering Mosley-Mora on pay-per-view?

• Yes
• No
• I'm going to watch it at a theater

  39 votes | Results

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