Boxing

Hours after the death of boxing great Alexis Arguello, his greatest rival in the ring, Aaron Pryor, recalled Arguello as a great champion.

Alexis Arguello, the former boxing world champion who in 2008 was elected mayor of his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua, was found dead on Wednesday. He
was 57.

The newspaper El Nuevo Diario reported that Arguello's death appeared to be a suicide.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Marcos Maidana stopped Victor Ortiz early in the sixth round of an action-packed fight Saturday night, using a punishing right hand to upset one of boxing's top prospects.

Maidana (26-1, 25 KOs), a 140-pound Argentine who fights mostly in Germany, was knocked down three times in the opening two rounds of his first fight in this country. Yet Maidana also flattened Ortiz in the first round, and he steadily landed punches until Ortiz finally was forced to stop, his face badly cut and terribly swollen.

"I went down, but I got up because I have a big heart," Maidana said. "I saw that Victor felt my punches, and I said, 'I know I can win this."

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Floyd Mayweather has been cleared by doctors to fight Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 at the MGM Grand.

The flamboyant former pound-for-pound king was scheduled to fight Marquez next month at the MGM Grand, but his return from a brief retirement was postponed after he injured a rib training.

Victor Ortiz's mother abandoned him at the age of 7. Five years later, his father left, too. So, it's surprising to hear the 22-year-old light welterweight boxing star say that his life is still "hell."

"When you're champion, everyone wants to take it from you," Ortiz told FanHouse recently." So, you have to put yourself physically and mentally through hell to keep what you have already."

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Paul Spadafora, a former IBF lightweight champion fighting for the first time in 14 months, knocked out Ivan Bustos on Wednesday night.

Bustos' corner threw in the towel 2 minutes, 26 seconds into the sixth round of the scheduled eight-round welterweight fight.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate urged President Barack Obama Wednesday to pardon the late black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, who was sent to prison nearly a century ago because of his romantic ties with a white woman.

Senators approved the resolution by voice vote; it now goes to the House.

Paul Spadafora is sitting in a hotel room just outside of Pittsburgh, the city where he grew up, talking about coming back.

It seems that's all boxers do these days, is come back. Well, Spadafora is really coming back, he says for the last time. The former IBF lightweight champion will fight Wednesday night against Ivan Bustos in a junior welterweight bout in downtown Pittsburgh.

This is the beginning of a comeback for Spadafora, who at 33, needs this break. He got one years ago when he was this young undefeated fighter who beat veteran Israel Cardona on ESPN2 to win the IBF lightweight title. He's also fought on HBO and earned millions of dollars for hitting and moving and raising his arms in victory since winning the belt in 1999.

But over the last few years, Spadafora's life resembled an irritated engine.

There are reports across the globe that we have our first real heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.

Wladimir Klitschko defeated some guy named Ruslan Chagaev Saturday in Germany to retain his IBF and WBO titles. Klitschko also won The Ring magazine belt for recognition as the best heavyweight in the game.

Big deal.

Wladimir Klitschko beat Ruslan Chagaev to win the heavyweight championship of the world in a dominant if slow-paced performance on Saturday before an estimated 60,000 fans at Veltins Arena in Germany.