Boxing Hbo

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."

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."

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.

Miguel Cotto defeated Joshua Clottey by split decision Saturday night in a wild WBO welterweight title fight that left the fans in attendance at Madison Square Garden standing and cheering, and gave Cotto what may have been the biggest win of his boxing career.

Cotto knocked Clottey down with a stiff jab in the first round, and he appeared to be the better fighter in the early going. But a key turning point came when Cotto was cut over the left eye by an accidental head butt in the third round. After that, the fight turned into less of a boxing match and more of a slugfest, and Cotto often appeared to be frustrated by the blood in his eye.

Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev have agreed to fight on June 20 in Germany, and I suppose that's the best possible outcome after David Haye dropped out of the fight. But HBO has decided to pass on televising Klitschko vs. Chagaev, and that means that with just 12 days to go, we have no idea which American TV channel -- if any -- will be showing the fight.

When Floyd Mayweather retired last year, he did so as the undisputed best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. But now that Mayweather is returning, he's no longer the best. That distinction now goes to Manny Pacquiao, and HBO's Max Kellerman did a great job of explaining exactly why that is: Pacquiao challenges himself against bigger opponents, and goes after them like a warrior.

HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley has a real gift for brevity: He can tell you everything you need to know about a boxer in just a couple of sentences. And I think a comment he made before Saturday night's Chad Dawson-Antonio Tarver fight demonstrates that beautifully.

"Zsolt Erdei has held a title belt for quite some time," Lampley said. "At 30-0, he is probably the least respected, most ignored unbeaten longtime title holder in the history of the sport."

Following Chad Dawson's 12-round destruction of Antonio Tarver last October, there wasn't much interest in seeing a rematch. However, in the wacky world of professional boxing things like fan interest and common sense don't always come into play. Tarver excercised his rematch clause and there was nothing Dawson could do to avoid the fight.

Plus, Dawson, one of boxing's brightest young stars, will gladly remind you that he never ducks anyone.

FanHouse spoke to Dawson about being forced to fight Tarver again this Saturday night in his HBO debut and his thoughts on Bernard Hopkins' refusal to fight him. The interview is after the jump.

On Saturday afternoon, I told someone that I thought Floyd Mayweather Jr. would beat Manny Pacquiao, if the fight between the world's two best boxers finally materializes. After watching Pacquiao destroy Ricky Hatton on Saturday night, I no longer think that.

In fact, I now think this: Pacquiao, the little man who started his professional boxing career in the Philippines fighting at 106 pounds, would beat any boxer at any weight class under 160. Yes, you read that right: Pacquiao would have to move all the way up to middleweight before I'd bet against him.

As we watched video of Manny Pacquiao flooring Ricky Hatton with a vicious left hook, it seemed almost surreal. After all, this fight was hyped for so long, to see it end before the third round was not what anyone expected. But there was Hatton, being taken by complete surprise when Manny whipped the left around to knock him senseless. If you missed the punch or just want to watch it five more times like I did, his second-round knockout is after the jump.