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By: Mike Sloan: Cinco de Mayo weekend is always the best weekend of the year because of two things: The Kentucky Derby and the biggest boxing event of the year (depending on what the September card will be). What’s even better is that the boxing event is always in Las Vegas and it always features at least one of the biggest stars in the entire sport. 
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By Mike Sloan: In one of the tightest races in recent years, the winner of the Fight of the Year category was given the honors by the slimmest of margins: one vote. 2012 was flooded with plenty of terrific fights, but these past twelve months were anchored by two battles.
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By Mike Sloan in Las Vegas: The fight that has nabbed the majority of the attention in Las Vegas this week is the huge showdown between unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez at the Thomas & Mack Center. The HBO Pay Per View-televised bout has sold out the 19,000-seat venue and it’s expected to do very well in terms of television viewers.
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By Mike Sloan: The other major fight in Las Vegas on Saturday is the Golden Boy-promoted, Showtime-televised battle between Mexican sensation Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and streaking Josesito Lopez. The bout headlines a stacked card inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the victor could wind up hitting a jackpot in his next bout.
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By: Mike Sloan: The Oracle Arena in Oakland, California will play host to the weekend’s most intriguing showdown: Andre Ward versus Chad Dawson for the undisputed super middleweight crown. Featuring a young unbeaten superstar on the rise squaring off against a man equally as skilled and dangerous, Ward v Dawson should wind up being an entertaining battle.
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By: Mike Sloan inLas Vegas: If the weeks leading up to Saturday’s major fight between Amir Khan and Danny Garcia were teetering on boring and lackluster, everything changed today inside theMandalayBayduring the final pre-fight press conference. Not too much has taken place in terms of verbal barbs between the two camps, but Garcia’s father, Angel Garcia, potentially opened up a can of worms; one that could backfire in his son’s face or work in his favor.
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By:Mike Sloan inLas Vegas: Compared to the hostilities of the Amir Khan-Danny Garcia press conference a few miles away and a few hours earlier, the final pre-fight presser featuring Anthony Mundine and Bronco McKart was tame. Never bordering on tasteless or aggressiveness by any means, both former titleholders were respectful of one another, though both predicted a victory.
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By Mike Sloan: The Mandalay Bay Events Center in torrid Las Vegas will play host to one of the more intriguing showdowns of the year in Amir Khan versus Danny Garcia. Khan was originally supposed to try to exact revenge against Lamont Peterson in May, but when Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone after a random urinalysis in March, the ballyhooed rematch was scrapped.
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By: Mike Sloan: Mike Dallas, Jr. was once a highly touted contender who never lost a fight as a pro. He was throttling his opposition en route to racking up a 17-0 record. If he wasn’t dominating his foes toward a unanimous decision, he was taking them out early.
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By: Mike Sloan: Rico Ramos won his first twenty fights as a pro and he was clearly one of the most promising of all the young prospects at the time. He was making his opponents look foolish at times and he usually won his fights easily. Sometimes he’d score a sensational knockout, sometimes he’s score a unanimous decision.
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