I’m gonna take a chance and write what I believe today at 9 a.m. on this January 6 Wednesday morning.

Don’t get your hopes up. This is all just another futile charade by the fraud. March 13 isn’t gonna happen, George Peterson and Bernard Hopkins already told us.

The fraud has his out – the random blood test the week of the fight. The fraud saw that video before the Morales loss and knows Pacquiao won’t budge on it. And Pacquiao shouldn’t.
The fraud doesn’t want this fight and he never did. It’s too risky. He didn’t even want it before what happened to Cotto on November 14. And Bob Arum was right, this fraud is indeed a “psychological coward.”

The fraud is also a known liar. Boxing would die without him. God doesn’t want him to lose. He made $12 million for Baldomir. He’ll fight Margarito any time any where, just as long as Bob Arum shows him the money. The Philippines has the best performance enhancing drugs. Pacquiao doesn’t want to fight me because he knows he can’t beat me. Cotto knows he can’t beat me, and he’s a punching bag. Bob Arum doesn’t want to do business with me. I’ll fight Mosley for $25 million guaranteed. They better be prepared to pay me $100 million if they want me to come our of retirement. $200 million liquid. $20 million for one night of work from WWE.

The fraud is a coward who lies and deceives and also manipulates his protectors to lie and deceive on his behalf. They survive because no one can accept the plain truth – this fraud is a coward who only handpicks safe, easy opponents and will never ever fight a beast who can brutally knock him out.

Bob Arum, HBO, most fans, most media refuse to believe this. They can’t believe it. They all still believe the fraud will eventually come to his senses because the money is too much. They don’t realize this is a megalomaniac fraud who is playing them all for suckers. But underneath the delusions of grandeur is a coward child who absolutely knows who can knock him out and crash the house of cards he’s carefully constructed.

This fraud knows Margarito, Cotto, Mosley and Pacquiao all will beat the shit out of him and he will use any excuse and reason to avoid being physically humiliated and exposed. He will lie and deceive, he will even bring down the sport if he has to. He will also use assassination of character tactics via baseless accusation and insinuations of steroid use to maintain his fraud.

This fraud will discredit any man, any legend that stands in his way, including Sugar Ray Leonard. He will call his family HBO racist when they speak the truth. This fraud would have used the same dirty filthy tactics to duck Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Robinson, Ali, all of whom would have been smeared by himself and his protectors as cheaters or steroids users. Just so this coward could go on his merry ducking way, polluting the sport with his garbage act.

I believe George Peterson, a colleague of Al Haymon by way of managing Paul Williams, knew of the secret plan by this fraud to duck Pacquiao as far back as December 2, well before the steroid excuse was first used. A disgusted George Peterson actually told me, point blank, this fight “is not gonna happen. Some fights aren’t meant to be made.” I believe George Peterson is disgusted at this ccowardly fraud who is a shame on our great sport, and wanted the truth to be known.

This fraud will never put himself in a position to be brutally knocked out, where the images of that brutal knockout will be shown repeatedly all over the world till the end of time, on TV replays, You Tube and photography. The fraud knows he’ll be slaughtered by Pacquiao and will not let his happen, by any means necessary.

The sport is going to lose it’s Super Bowl, all on account of this cowardly fraud. We’re talking millions upon millions, maybe billions. Just imagine how far boxing would have sunk in the 1980’s if Sugar Ray Leonard was a cowardly fraud and ducked Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler. Just imagine how many millions in revenues, goodwill, positive buzz and hype would have gone down the drain if Leonard were a cowardly fraud who only handpicked safe sparring sessions, pardon I mean fights, against low-risk opposition.

The great sport might have died. Or sunk to a level of irrelevance of such sports as roller derby or pro wrestling.

After the mediation falls through today, the sport will need to take immediate action against this cowardly fraud and any entity that attempts to sell this massive fraud to the public. The future well-being of this historic sport may depend on it.

(Artwork by Michael Canja)

The Mayweather ship is sinking fast. And there’s no hope really. It’s inevitable that Mayweather is going to hit the bottom and be humbled. “The humble shall be exalted and the exalted shall be humbled.”

Floyd’s in a no-win situation, really, outside of the money factor (and Floyd recently said it’s not about the money any more). Almost 34, his skills and confidence are fading fast, he is ignored or deplored by most of the sporting public, and he absolutely is going to get knocked out by Manny Pacquiao, the younger, faster, stronger, more beloved and humble man who is everything Floyd wishes he could be.

A friend of mine named Luther Chiles made a good point. “I was watching “24/7″ on HBO, as a boxing fan I must admit that the overwhelming popularity of Manny Pacquiao has to be great for boxing,” wrote Luther. “As much as I respect and admire my man Floyd Mayweather’s ability, he needs to steal a page or two from the positive feedback Manny gets from doing positive things consistently – those TV endorsements can carry you a long way and earn you some good money even when you can’t participate in combat anymore. Look at what George Foreman did when he came back with a new attitude and commitment. I don’t think George made anywhere near in ring earnings as much as he made in endorsements. It’s a no brainer!”

It was interesting to hear an honest Mayweather fan raise this issue. Luther’s comment made me remember hearing many boxer and tennis player say how important the positive support of the crowd was, that it was the reason they won a certain fight or match. So I replied to Luther:

“Interesting point Luther. Floyd should sign the Pacquiao deal, get knocked out like he knows it’s inevitable and just learn from it. Get touched by the greatness of Pac and learn from it. Like Foreman learned from getting knocked out by Ali. And ultimately became a better man from it. This is Floyd’s only hope, he needs to be humbled and humiliated. Experience rock bottom. His current ugly act will never endear him to the public.”

Luther responded. “Good comparison Scoop! That’s your journalistic creativity coming out, we will never agree on the outcome of this fight but after Ali vs Foreman, it was actually Philadelphia native Jimmy Young who sealed the deal for Foreman and sent him into retirement the first time around.”

Another excellent point from Luther. I re-watched Young vs. Foreman about a year ago for the first time since seeing it on ABC in 1977, and was enthralled seeing how the huge, vocal Puerto Rican stadium embraced Young in this fight, while totally rejecting Foreman who was acting like a bully jerk, fouling Young repeatedly. At first the crowd was neutral but after seeing Foreman act like a goon, they got behind Young booed and jeered Foreman relentlessly. And it actually seemed to break Foreman’s spirit as the fight proceeded. The entire Roberto Clemente Stadium helped the underdog Young who got off to a slow start and then energized and willed him to victory. It was an incredible fight to see the audience be such an important factor.

I strongly believe it was the rowdy Puerto Rican crowd support for Young and AGAINST George which was the key factor in this fight. In his heart, Foreman had to feel ashamed again (like in Zaire) for being so hated by the crowd and that was the last straw that broke him and his career. He left boxing and found religion and completely changed his life and later, public image.

Make no mistake about it: Crowd support can be so crucially important sometimes – and it can even make the difference between victory or defeat.

Mayweather knows when he faces Pacquiao he will get treated worse than what Foreman got in Zaire and Puerto Rico. He just can’t win. I remember Floyd even said last year, “It’s a no-win situation.” The only hope is to just accept his fate and let it happen. The public is never wrong. Floyd certainly deserves all the scorn he gets.

The only hope for Floyd is to accept it and learn from it and try to better himself and become a better man. After Floyd takes his beating from Pacquiao, the people will forgive him, just like they forgave Foreman and later embraced him. Humanity always forgives.

But Floyd Mayweather has to admit to himself, the way he has behaved for the last decade – the false drug accusations against Pacquiao, the materialism, the whoring himself for money, gambling, the bad examples he’s shown in public, the immaturity – this must be changed.

George Foreman learned a lot from Muhammad Ali and how to become a great person.

Likewise, Floyd Mayweather will learn a lot from Manny Pacquiao and how to finally become a great person instead of just a great boxer.

Scoop Malinowski is the author of “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle.” He has also created www.tennis-prose.com

(Mayweather artwork by John Paul Raloto.)

 Everybody’s favorite judge and HBO’s unofficial scorekeeper Harold Lederman took time out to talk some sweet science. Read on to learn Harold’s thoughts on this weekend, why he believes Floyd will do the right thing and fight the winner, why he likes Paul Williams and Tavoris Cloud and much more…

BoxingInsider: We have the big one we all been waiting for this weekend, you have to be excited.

Harold Lederman: “Very much so, I think it’s going to be a sensational fight. Miguel Cotto is a very hard puncher, he’s the bigger guy. Durable, he keeps coming, he always makes exciting fights. He digs to the body. He’s certainly capable of giving Manny Pacquiao trouble.”

BoxingInsider: You’re picking Cotto to win?

Harold Lederman: “No I’m not picking anybody. I gotta keep score, I gotta be nuetral [laughs]. But Manny is really in his prime right now. Bigger guys don’t bother him, we saw what he did to Oscar, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton. He looks sensational. He throws a punch, he just doesn’t miss. Always right on the money. The question is can he stop a real full fledged 147 pound fighter like Miguel Cotto? We don’t know. On the other hand, can he stand up to Cotto’s power? It’s gonna be interesting. If Cotto looks great…if either one of them looks great, it’s gonna set up a heckuva fight with Floyd Mayweather. I’m really excited.”

BoxingInsider: Do you think it will happen? Floyd seems not to be too interested.

Harold Lederman: “I think Floyd is looking for the best money he can get. And I think the best money he can get is with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto. I think it’s a bigger fight than Shane Mosley. I think more people will want to see it. The Mosley fight might be easier to make but I think Floyd will just look at the numbers and say, I’m gonna do the best fight – Cotto or Pacquiao. Personally I think Floyd is praying for Manny Paquiao to win because he loves to fight small guys [laughs]. But it remains to be seen. If the fight turns out to be a dull fight – which I don’t think is gonna happen – then Floyd will probably take Shane Mosley.”

BoxingInsider: But we have heard rumors that Floyd is looking to make a Hatton rematch, or pick Dimitri Salita – if Salita upsets Khan.

Harold Lederman: “I don’t think so. I doubt it. I think he’s looking for the biggest money he can make. I think it’s with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto.”

BoxingInsider: This will be the biggest night of the year for boxing.

Harold Lederman: “Huge, I think it’s absolutely gonna be huge. Everybody wants to see the fight. It’s exciting, it’s huge in the Latin and Filipino communities. The guy on the street wants to see it.”

BoxingInsider: Yeah people like Shaq, the New York Giants are hyped about it. Like the Larry Holmes era in the 80s, the welterweight division is picking up the slack and taking the sport to a higher level.

Harold Lederman: “There’s more interesting fights at welterweight than there is at heavyweight. The heavyweights are dominated by the Klitschkos, they look terrific. You can’t take it away from them, they just keep on winning. You don’t see any opponents out there who can give them a competitive fight. They both have fights coming up – Vitali with Kevin Johnson and Wladimir with Eddie Chambers.”

BoxingInsider: We know who will win those.

Harold Lederman: “That’s what I’m saying, the Klitschkos are so dominant. Eddie Chambers is really a good fighter, but at his size, can be beat Wladimir Klitschko? He’s not a really big guy.”

BoxingInsider: Solis from Cuba looks like he could be the future of the heavyweight division.

Harold Lederman: “You know what scares me about Odlanier Solis? I saw him beat Monte Barrett and he has power. But when he was an amateur beating Felix Savon, he weighed 201. For Monte Barrett he weighed 271. That’s scary. I don’t know if he can put on all that weight and be efective. I don’t know, I’m a little leery. Wait till we see him in a couple more fights. He may be suffering from that problem Chris Arreola has – in other words, he may be 25-30 pounds overweight. But from what I saw in the Barrett fight, it sure looks like he can punch.”

BoxingInsider: With the “Super Six” on Showtime, Cotto and Pacquiao on Saturday, you’ve been in boxing a long time. Is your enthusiasm for the sport still very high? Or has it declined?

Harold Lederman: “No [laughs]. Not in the least [laughs]. Without question, Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward is gonna be a great fight, there’s no doubt about that. And our show is going to be fabulous. I’m really excited about several fights coming up. I’m really looking forward to seeing Paul Williams against Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City.I’m looking forward to Paulie Malignaggi-Juan Diaz again December 12 in Chicago. I’m looking forward to Librado Andrade-Bute in Quebec City.”

BoxingInsider: How good is Paul Williams?

Harold Lederman: “Dynamite. When do you see a southpaw knock people out with right hooks? I mean, he doubles and triples the left hook. Which is unheard of for a southpaw. I think he’s a terrific fighter, he really is. Not only does he have a helluva straight left hand, good size, good power, but what he can do with a right hand is amazing for a southpaw.”

BoxingInsider: And where is the boxing talent in America? The amateur system is not producing the future stars like we have come to expect, especially in the heavyweight division. What is going on?

Harold Lederman: “We will. It’s a lull in the action. They’ll be back. I guarantee they’ll be back. There’s Deontay Wilder, Demetrius Andrade from the last Olympics. Guys like that. It’s just a matter of time. Now there isn’t a lot of young Americans coming up but I’m impressed by Tavoris Cloud. He seems to be a great name that we didn’t know about. The new IBF Light Heavyweight champion of the world. He impresses me with his punching power. I’m sure, before long, we’re going to see a whole lot of new faces.”