Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. to promote fights

Welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxing's biggest stars, are hitting the road for a promotional tour, albeit not to hype a fight between them.

Unable -- or unwilling -- to make a deal to face each other in the biggest fight in the sport, Mayweather and Pacquiao have separate pay-per-view fights a month apart and it is time for them to bang the promotional drums.

Mayweather is moving up in weight to challenge junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Pacquiao defends his welterweight title against junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. on June 9, also at the MGM Grand.

Although Pacquiao and Bradley fight later on the calendar than Mayweather and Cotto, they will go first. They open their two-city tour Tuesday afternoon when they -- along with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach and Bradley trainer Joel Diaz -- will meet the media for a news conference at a hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

On Thursday, they will be in New York for a gathering at Chelsea Piers in New York. That event, which is open and free to the public, takes place at noon ET at The Lighthouse on Pier 60.

Top Rank also announced ticket availability for the fight. Priced at $1,200, $900, $600, $400 and $200, tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. ET Friday via Ticketmaster or through the MGM Grand.

After Thursday's news conference, Pacquiao will head back to the Philippines, where he is a member of congress, while Bradley will head to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., to appear as the studio guest on the following night's edition of ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," in addition to other appearances on various ESPN shows.

Mayweather and Cotto commence their three-city tour in Cotto's native Puerto Rico. All three events are free and open to the public. They first will be at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan at 1 p.m. ET on Feb. 27. 

On Feb. 28, they will appear together at 1 p.m. ET at the famed Apollo Theater in New York. And at 4 p.m. ET March 1, they will appear at PT Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.

Golden Boy Promotions said ticket information for Mayweather-Cotto would be announced shortly.

Philippines files diplomatic protest

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest to the Argentine government after fans attacked a Filipino fighter in the ring after winning the title bout.

John Riel Casimero and members of his team were kicked and assaulted when fans in Mar Del Plata hurled chairs and stormed the ring following his 10th-round knockout of local fighter Luis Alberto Lazarte in the IBF junior flyweight championship.

Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said Wednesday his country's embassy filed a protest with Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is awaiting an explanation.

He says after the riot, police escorted Casimero and his team to their hotel and provided protection for them. Lazarte later visited to apologize.

Saul Alvarez-Shane Mosley set for May 5

Shane Mosley, the former pound-for-pound king, three-division champion and probable Hall of Famer, knows he has not looked good in recent fights. In fact, the 40-year-old Mosley is 2-3-1 in his last six bouts and 0-2-1 in his last three since his major upset of Antonio Margarito in 2009.

But Mosley, still with one of the most recognizable names in boxing, is getting what figures to be his last title shot after he and junior middleweight titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez came to terms Friday night.

They will meet on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the co-featured fight on the pay-per-view card headlined by Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs) moving up to junior middleweight to challenge Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) for his version of the 154-pound title.

"This is more of a fight to prove myself. I know I didn't look good in my last couple of fights and I really to make a statement in this fight," Mosley told ESPN.com on Friday night. "I just want to get in the ring, fight a world champion and win another belt.

"I'm very excited and happy. It's another chance for me to show that I still belong. He's a young guy and it's a tough fight, but I'm excited to get the fight. A lot of guys want to be in the position I am in to have this type of fight."

Said Alvarez, "This is the fight I was looking for. Shane Mosley is a tremendous fighter with a lot of experience and big victories in his storied career. Even though I have enormous respect and admiration for Mosley, because he is a great person outside of the ring, my goal is to defeat him with a great performance."

Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs), just 21, is already one of boxing's biggest stars. His addition to the Mayweather-Cotto undercard on Cinco de Mayo, a traditional weekend for a major fight featuring a Mexican star, is a huge boost to show that already figured to be the year's biggest to date.

"It's Cinco de Mayo, so when you add Mexico's biggest star to a card that already has Mayweather, the pound-for-pound king, and Cotto, Puerto Rico's biggest star, and 'Canelo' is fighting Mosley, who is a legend, that is a huge night," said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who had been working for weeks on the fight.

Because of the revenue Alvarez generates on his own, it was a difficult to have him accept a spot on an undercard, Schaefer said.

"It was not an easy fight to put together because it is really a main event on its own and could have sold out a venue on its own or even been its own pay-per-view," he said. "But this takes a mega event with Mayweather and Cotto, which is a huge fight and didn't need any help at all, and takes it to a totally different level. With these two fights on the card, it's one of the biggest events we've ever promoted. It will be a celebration of the sport of boxing, a shining moment for the sport. To have Mayweather, Cotto, Canelo and 'Sugar' Shane Mosley all on the same card, I get the chills thinking about it."

It took some convincing for Alvarez to agree to go on the undercard. In September, he was also on a Mayweather undercard, but only in terms of the pay-per-view broadcast. While Mayweather fought Victor Ortiz in Las Vegas, Alvarez headlined a card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against Alfonso Gomez. Now they will fight in the same arena. Schaefer said that Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya was the driving force in convincing Alvarez, who will be making his fourth defense of the belt Mosley once held, to go on the undercard.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Oscar," Schaefer said. "He worked very hard on this to get this done. He did a terrific job. He pulled it together. He dealt with Canelo. It was challenging to secure the spot than getting the actual fight done. But Canelo knows it's a big fight. When we met with him, he said he knows it's a dangerous fight. Shane Mosley knows he has his back against the wall. He knows it's do or be done and that makes a veteran that much more dangerous." "Canelo said he's going to go into the fight and make a statement and that would be to stop Mosley, because nobody has ever done that before."

Mosley also believes he is not an undercard fighter, but accepted the spot because of the opportunity to fight Alvarez.

"I didn't have any negativity about being the co-main event," he said. "I know I am not a co-main event fighter, but I want to get in the ring. To fight someone like Canelo Alvarez will be tremendous for me at this stage of my career. I believe I'm a lot more experienced that he is. It's youth against experience. It's 'Sugar' against 'Cinnamon.'"

In his last fight, Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) got knocked down in the third round and lost every round in a shutout decision to Manny Pacquiao in a welterweight title bout in May 2011. Mosley said he went into the fight with an injured Achilles tendon in his left foot.

In order to take the fight with Pacquiao, Mosley went with Top Rank, Golden Boy's chief rival, and gave up his stake in Golden Boy, which he had been a partner in for several years. Now, he is back with Golden Boy. Schaefer said Golden Boy will have Mosley under contract for the fight with Alvarez plus options on his next two bouts.

Mosley said he has no hard feelings toward Golden Boy and is happy with work the team there again.

"I have no grudges against Golden Boy, they're a good company," he said. "I can do business with them. I can do business with Top Rank, whoever is going to be fair. I wanted this fight, so we did what we had to do to get it. It would be great to beat somebody like Canelo to kind of show that the naysayers that say I'm old and can't do it anymore and should retire are wrong. This will be the victory to show I am still here and I haven't left yet."

Ali attends Angelo Dundee funeral

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Hall of Fame boxing trainer Angelo Dundee was remembered Friday as a master motivator and a man who left a legacy of kindness that was just as impressive as what he accomplished in the ring molding a record 15 world champions, including Muhammad Ali.

"If you only knew him as a trainer, you missed out on something pretty special," the Rev. Stephen King said, beginning the funeral service Friday for Dundee, who died last week at the age of 90.

Ali was among about 600 people who paid final respects at the Countryside Christian Center. The self-proclaimed "Greatest" wore a black suit and sunglasses and sat in front of the casket and a stage lined with flowers, pictures, paintings, and a pair of red boxing gloves sitting on a stool.

Ali's wife, Lonnie, spoke during the service on behalf of her husband, who has Parkinson's disease.

"He used to call us all the time and say it doesn't cost nothing to be nice. ... It was like his mantra," she said. "Whenever we saw Angelo there was a smile of his face. He was always a happy guy."

"You can't call too many men sweet. Angelo Dundee was a sweet man," added former NFL player Ian Beckles, who co-hosts a local radio show and became friends with the legendary trainer after Dundee moved to the Tampa Bay area a few years ago.

"Angelo didn't give you a choice," Beckles added. "You had to love him."

That was the prevailing sentiment throughout the 80-minute service attended by many of the friends Dundee made through boxing and his charitable endeavors, including promoter Bob Arum and former heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas.

"As a man, he taught me so much," Thomas said before the service.

Arum was among the speakers, calling Dundee "one of the nicest people I ever met." Former Ali business manager Gene Kilroy talked about the bond that the trainer and boxer retained long after both retired.

"You can't buy loyalty today," Kilroy said. "Boxing has lost a great man."

Dundee died Feb. 1 at his apartment. His son said he recently had been hospitalized for a blood clot and briefly spent time in a rehabilitation center before returning home, where he was surrounded by family members when he died.

Best known for being Ali's corner man for most of the former heavyweight champion's career, Dundee was a brilliant motivator who trained 14 other world champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles.

"When you think about the beauty of Angelo, when you think about the personalities that he had to coach and train, I actually have to start with Muhammad," Lonnie Ali said.

"Muhammad's not an easy person when it comes to boxing because Muhammad thought he knew how to train himself. He had that ego. But Angelo somehow realized that the best way to make Muhammad great was to get out of his way, to let him do his thing. He really didn't have to coach him. He just had to come in and do the little things. ... Angelo was able to do that with each and every one of his fighters."

Dundee's career, which led to his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, spanned six decades. He last got together with Ali for The Greatest's 70th birthday party last month in Louisville, Ky. -- a visit that Dundee's son said meant a lot to his father.

With the native of south Philadelphia in his corner, Ali became the first to win the heavyweight title three times. Dundee began working with Leonard late in Ali's career and trained him for many of the former welterweight champion's biggest fights, too.

Dundee joined Foreman in 1994 to help him become the oldest heavyweight champion at age 45.

"He made all of our lives better," said Arum, who promoted some of Ali's biggest bouts.

"Dad was a simple guy. He never thought he was anything special," Jimmy Dundee said, adding that his father treated everyone he met -- from wide-eyed little kids on the street to the fighters he helped win championships -- the same.

"Dad loved everyone. No one wasn't his friend. We've got people here from the rehab center where he stayed six days. ... All the fighters in dad's past life loved him because they weren't fighters, they were family."

Two hours before the service, Jimmy Dundee smiled while recalling some of his father's most memorable moments in boxing, including refusing to allow a then young Cassius Clay to quit in his first title fight against Sonny Liston, and practically willing Leonard to shrug off a beating he was taking from Thomas Hearns to win a championship bout.

"When you walk through history, there are moments you have to grab to make them special," the son said. "Dad always seemed to be in the right place at the right time."

Floyd Mayweather to fight Miguel Cotto

Welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. will rise in weight and challenge junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted 5-0 on Wednesday to grant Mayweather a one-fight license at the conclusion of a one-hour hearing.

"Miguel Cotto is a world-class fighter who can never be taken for granted and continues to prove he is one of the best in boxing," said Mayweather, whose long-discussed match with Manny Pacquiao has been put off yet again. "It will be a challenge for me to compete with him at this weight, but this is the type of test I thrive on and gives me the motivation to train even harder. I have no doubt in my mind that my title belt collection will increase once again and Cotto's reign as champion will come to an end on May 5."

“

I'm fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5th because Miss Pac Man is ducking me.

”-- Floyd Mayweather Jr., in a tweet after his hearing

Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) has had one previous fight in the 154-pound division, which was when he outpointed Oscar De La Hoya to win a belt in May 2007.

The selection of Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) as the opponent for the fight, which will be on pay-per-view (although the network that will handle the event was not announced), does not come as a big surprise. He was one of the leading names to get the fight along with fellow titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Besides Mayweather and Pacquiao, Cotto is the next biggest pay-per-view attraction in boxing.

"I am here to fight the biggest names in boxing," said Puerto Rico's Cotto, a three-division titleholder. "I've never ducked anyone or any challenge in front of me. I have accepted everything to give the fans what they like -- great and exciting fights. That is what the sport of boxing is all about, making the fights that the fans want and deserve to see. On May 5, stay tuned, because I will convincingly beat Floyd Mayweather."

Mayweather tweeted after the announcement, "I'm fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5th because Miss Pac Man is ducking me."

Both fighters have agreed to random blood and urine testing for the fight, which Mayweather has demanded of his recent opponents.

"What we have here are two champions of amazing caliber set to meet in the ring on May 5 and give boxing and sports fans one of the most compelling matchups in the sport's history," said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who will be working with Mayweather on his sixth consecutive fight even though they do not have a long-term agreement. "Floyd Mayweather has already achieved worldwide recognition as one of the best fighters ever and Miguel Cotto is one of the greatest fighters of this era.

"I commend both fighters for agreeing to fight each other on one of the biggest weekends for boxing [Cinco De Mayo, even though neither is Mexican] and also commend them for agreeing to participate in Olympic-style drug testing, a precedent set by Floyd, which continues to uphold the integrity of the sport."

Said Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's advisers, "Floyd always asks us to find the best available competition for him to fight and we have found that in Miguel Cotto. This is a very risky fight for Floyd as Miguel is a solid 154-pound champion who has already proven to have great boxing abilities and to be a very competent and strong puncher. This is a big test for Floyd, but as always I believe, he is the superior fighter with unmatched skills. This will make the difference and lead to another Mayweather victory the night of May 5."

“

That is what the sport of boxing is all about, making the fights that the fans want and deserve to see. On May 5, stay tuned, because I will convincingly beat Floyd Mayweather.

”-- Miguel Cotto

Cotto, 31, who will be making the third defense of his title, will be in a fight without Top Rank as his promoter for the first time in his career. His contract with Bob Arum's company expired following his Dec. 3 revenge, 10th-round knockout victory against Antonio Margarito and he will be working with Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank's archrival, on the fight with Mayweather.

When Mayweather, who turns 35 on Feb. 24, and Cotto were both promoted by Top Rank several years ago their eventual meeting was often discussed but never came about. Now it has with another company.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef, the person at Top Rank closest to Cotto, wished him well.

"Miguel Cotto is at a point in his career where he has outlined certain parameters -- that he wants only the biggest fights and this is one," duBoef said. "We have a great relationship and I think it's a credit to our relationship with him and where he is in the industry that he is a superstar because of our efforts together and I wish him luck."

Top Rank would have liked to continue promoting Cotto and had tried to negotiate a rematch between him and Pacquiao, but the fighters could not agree on the weight. Pacquiao wanted Cotto to come down several pounds to meet him at a catch weight between 147 and 154 pounds. DuBoef said he appreciated that Cotto called him directly to tell him about the deal with Mayweather.

"I give him an incredible amount of credit because he reached out to me personally and said this was a great opportunity," duBoef said. "He had to look out for his family and this was the biggest thing out there. So for the next three months he is tied to a fight for a good opportunity. It's terrific for him. When he's done with the fight and what we do after that we'll discuss it."

Topics: Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Miguel Cotto

For full coverage of the May 5 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto.

Mayweather's Nevada boxing license normally would have been a rubber stamp, but the commission insisted that he appear in order to question him about the criminal case he recently made a plea deal in.

Mayweather faces an 87-day jail sentence at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas after a plea deal on domestic violence charges related to a September 2010 incident with his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris, who is also the mother of three of his children.

It is unprecedented for the commission to grant a license to a fighter with a jail sentence pending.

Mayweather, who reclaimed one of his old welterweight titles by knocking out Victor Ortiz in the fourth round at the MGM Grand on Sept. 17, was supposed to begin his sentence on Jan. 6, but the judge in the case, Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa, deferred his report date to June 1 after his attorney, Richard Wright, successfully argued that he should be allowed to fight on May 5 in order to honor an existing deal with the MGM Grand and because a Mayweather fight would inject $100 million into the ailing Las Vegas economy.

Mayweather, who faced intense questioning from the commission about his legal situation, reiterated that he was not guilty of striking Harris and that the reason for his plea deal was to keep his children, two of whom were present during the incident, from having to testify. Mayweather said that he restrained Harris, whom he said was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time.

"I feel I'm automatically guilty without getting a chance," Mayweather told the panel. "I could have fought the case. I chose to take a plea bargain."

He told the commission that he had been going to his weekly court-ordered counseling sessions and actively participating in the community service he was ordered to perform.

"If I could go back to the time when that happened, would I do something different? Absolutely," Mayweather told the commission.

The commission said it was skeptical about licensing him while he had a jail sentence pending and made a major issue out of getting Mayweather and Wright to assure it that he would begin his sentence on June 1 and not ask for any further deferrals.

"The only reason we are considering this today is because we respect the judicial system and the court granted you a deferral of your [report to jail] date," chairman Raymond "Skip" Avansino said. "We wanted to be certain that you are committing to the commission you will serve that time beginning on June 1."

At one point during the hearing commissioner Pat Lundvall asked Mayweather if he had an opponent contracted for the May 5 fight, at which point Mayweather announced that it was Cotto.

The commissioners approved the one-fight license as long as Mayweather continues to perform all of his court-ordered requirements, does not get into further trouble and does not fight his June 1 report date. If he does, the commission said it would impact his ability to be licensed in Nevada in the future.

Manny Pacquiao agrees to June 9 fight

Manny Pacquiao has agreed to terms to defend his welterweight title against junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Michael Koncz, Pacquiao's adviser, told ESPN.com on Monday.

The Bradley side still needs to finalize its deal with promoter Top Rank.

"From our end, the fight is done," Koncz said. "I just got off the phone with (Top Rank's) Bob Arum and Manny, so we're done. I don't assume there will be a problem from the Bradley side. We came to terms with Top Rank on the fight and Manny has approved everything. This morning I had a number of conversations with Bob negotiating the June 9 fight and I relayed everything to Manny."

Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com that he is still working to finalize Bradley's end of the deal.

"We are going to be having further conversations with Bradley and his management early this week and hopefully finalize the deal," duBoef said. "But the truth is my (promotional) agreement with Bradley lays out certain parameters for a Pacquiao fight, so there is a framework already."

The hopes for a long-anticipated Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight ended last week when, after the sides once again did not come to terms, Mayweather announced he would challenge junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto on May 5. Cotto had also been in the running to face Pacquiao in a rematch, but Pacquiao and Cotto could not agree on the weight for the fight. Pacquiao wanted the 147-pound welterweight limit, which Cotto said was too low for him, and he accepted a deal from Mayweather.

The other names in the running to face Pacquiao in the pay-per-view fight were junior welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson and Juan Manuel Marquez, who is 0-2-1 in three incredibly close and exciting fights with Pacquiao, including a majority decision loss to him in November.

Bradley would move up in weight to challenge Pacquiao for his title.

"We've been talking about this for over a month and we always had a Plan B in case Mayweather didn't happen," Koncz said. "Last time I went to the Philippines, I took Manny tapes of all of the opponents we were talking about and he watched them with his wife, Jinkee. Bradley was one of them, as everybody knows."

There is a chance Marquez will fight Peterson next, with the winner of that bout getting a fall match against Pacquiao if a Mayweather fight still is not made.

Koncz flew to San Antonio last weekend to meet with Arum, who was there promoting Saturday night's Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Marco Antonio Rubio middleweight title fight at the Alamodome, about the Bradley fight. Cameron Dunkin, Bradley's co-manager, was also in San Antonio and met with Arum.

Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Palm Springs, Calif., does not have the kind of profile as the other opponents who were in the running, although he is widely considered one of the top 10 fighters in the world even though his most recent fights have not been hits.

Thirteen months ago, he won a sloppy, head butt-induced 10th-round technical decision in a heavily hyped junior welterweight unification fight against Devon Alexander. It did poorly at the gate and did not come close to the ratings expectations HBO had hoped it would achieve, despite spending millions on the fight and its marketing.

Then Bradley rejected a July fight he had called for with Amir Khan to further unify the 140-pound division, even though Khan, who brought far more economic muscle to the fight, offered him a 50-50 deal.

Bradley then split with co-promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson and, despite litigation, signed with Top Rank, knowing a Pacquiao fight was possible.

Top Rank gave Bradley the high-profile co-feature slot on the Pacquiao-Marquez III pay-per-view card in November. Bradley stopped faded former lightweight champion Joel Casamayor in the eighth round of an uncompetitive, foul-filled fight.

But Bradley is in his prime, fast and experienced against good opponents, and he could give 33-year-old Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) a competitive fight.

"Bradley is a young, undefeated fighter who deserves a chance," Koncz said. "Manny is excited. Until we name an opponent, boxing is out of Manny's mind. He's busy working in (the Filipino) congress. But he gets interested in boxing again when he has an opponent and a fight. Now we know we have a date (and) an opponent and he's excited."

Koncz, who lives in Southern California, said he is flying to the Philippines on Tuesday night to meet with Pacquiao and go over logistics for the media tour for the fight.