EYE ON THE RING

YOU SCORE THE FIGHTS

The dust has barely settled on Pacquiao's whitewashing of Sugar Shane, but Manny's next opponent is already signed: Juan Manuel Marquez, November 12, in Las Vegas. News of the pair's third go-round (and its catchweight of 144 lbs.) was first broken by Boxingscene.com. Some recent clarifications of the contract offered by Top Rank:

• Marquez is guaranteed a minimum of $5,000,000 for the November fight, and $10,000,000 for a rematch if he wins
• For every PPV sold over 700,000, Marquez will receive $5
• The contracted weight is 144 lbs., with either side paying $1,000,000 for each lb. over at the weigh-in

The ball is now in Golden Boy's hands to match that offer, but it seems highly unlikely they will be able to.

A discouraged Shane Mosley speaks to the press after his desultory performance against Manny Pacquiao. Couple quick notes:

• Shane cites Manny's power, repeatedly, as a reason for why he fought so carefully
• Says that a fight between Manny and Floyd would be "very interesting" due to Floyd's defense and technique
• Did not indicate a desire to hang 'em up, suggesting that there is no shame in losing badly to the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world

Unsurprisingly, both men look to be in fine shape. What a crowd at the MGM Grand for the weigh-in--apparently, at least 6,000 showed up and many more were turned away at the door by the fire marshal.

While everyone focuses on the big fight this weekend, there's still boxing after Pacquiao-Mosley. Check out this HBO Face-Off between Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins in advance of their May 21 rematch. This is without question the most amusingly combative Face-Off we've seen yet--these guys love to argue with each other. Most hilarious moment: B-Hop suggesting Pascal is delusional due to drug use.

Manny looks sharp.

Floyd broke his silence today in a brief interview with Ben Thompson at Fighthype.com. The skinny:

• He calls Mosley his "leftovers," and says although he will be rooting for Shane, he doesn't give him much of a shot against Manny, and even implies that Shane should take PEDs for the fight to level the playing field
• The rumors of him fighting this summer, especially against Paul Spadafora, are completely unfounded, and that he is happily enjoying his hiatus
• He will fight Manny whenever Manny agrees to take the test

In other words, same old Floyd.

Due to inactivity, Floyd was removed from The Ring Magazine's Pound-For-Pound Top Ten List this week, enabling Miguel Cotto to return to the list at number ten. Personally, I would've preferred the inclusion of someone fresher, like maybe Amir Khan or Yuriorkis Gamboa.

The current rankings are (courtesy of The Ring):

This tour of Manny's L.A. home includes footage of his backyard swimming pool, replete with a fireplace IN the pool--never seen that before.

Things are heating up already in advance of the May 21 rematch between Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins for the legitimate light heavyweight championship of the world. Is it hype, or is the animosity real? Judge for yourself.