Hunter Jr.’s disqualification overturned

By PAT GRAHAM, AP Sports Writer

DENVER (AP)—Michael Hunter Jr. fought his way back into the USA boxing national championships in a room, not a ring.

Hunter, who was disqualified from his bout the day before for using too much gauze on his hands, hired a lawyer to plead his case to an arbitration panel Thursday.

After nearly five hours, the arbitrators ruled in his favor, restoring the super heavyweight into the semifinals of the championships.

Due to the delay, the super heavyweight bouts were moved to Friday night. Hunter will face J’Von Wallace, while Javier Torres takes on Trevor Bryan.

The dispute started soon after Hunter beat Lenroy Thompson 8-7 in a quarterfinal match Wednesday, earning the decisive final point on a punch with 2 seconds remaining in the last round.

However, a protest was filed over how much gauze Hunter used to wrap his hands.

The grievance committee rendered a verdict to disqualify Hunter, giving his spot to Thompson.

But on Thursday, the ruling was overturned.

“It was a long process and I think each party had a good point of view,” Hunter said. “But I think the right thing happened.”

So does USA Boxing CEO Jim Millman.

“Our philosophy as an organization is to get it right and part of the getting it right is to go through a process like today,” Millman said. “We are satisfied with the decision and we wish Michael all the best going forward.”

Hunter won the national championship title in 2007 and followed that up by earning a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. He missed out on going to Beijing, though, after falling in international qualifying.

Hunter said the controversy centered on the length of his gauze. Under the rules, no more than 15 yards are allowed per hand. Hunter said his gauze measured 19 yards, although he pointed out that it got stretched from removal.

The reversal surprised him.

“To me, it wasn’t looking too good in there,” he said of the discussions in the room. “I thought they had more points. … But it went in my favor.”

Hunter said he briefly spoke to Thompson after the decision.

“He told me congratulations,” Hunter said. “I’ve got to crush him (Wallace) tomorrow.”

Warren upset in semis at national championships

By PAT GRAHAM, AP Sports Writer

DENVER (AP)—Rau’shee Warren stormed out of the ring, leaping over a barrier and flying through a row of seats.

He wasn’t really sure where he was going, just allowing his fury to guide him.

The two-time Olympian was agitated and dispirited over a loss in a tiebreaker to Jesus Magdaleno during a semifinal bantamweight bout Thursday night at the USA boxing national championships.

Warren thought he’d landed enough punches to earn the win after the fight ended tied at 19.

But the judges gave the 17-year-old Magdaleno the victory by a one-blow difference.

“If you get the tape and look at it and see how many punches I threw—I won the fight fair and square,” Warren said. “Ain’t no way he threw more punches than me.”

Trailing 19-14 in the third and final round, Magdaleno landed a series of combinations and tied the match up with seconds remaining.

When the referee held up his hand in the ring, Magdaleno was stunned. He didn’t know how to react as the crowd chanted his name.

“It’s a little nerve-racking” going against Warren, said Magdaleno, who’s from Las Vegas. “I give a lot of props to him, he’s a wonderful fighter. Tonight was the night that somebody else had to step in and steal the spotlight.”

Magdaleno’s win was a complete shocker to Luis Rosa, who won his bantamweight bout in the adjacent ring. Rosa has been training with Warren in mind.

This changes everything.

“I was hoping to fight him,” Rosa said. “He’s an Olympian and has plenty of experience. But he lost so I’ve got to take the next person.”

A letdown?

“Not really,” said Rosa, who’s never fought Magdaleno. “I’m so pumped I don’t have any words for it.”

Warren didn’t mince his words after the bout.

“I’m ready to be done with USA boxing,” Warren said. “All I did for USA boxing, this is what they do to me?”

The three-time national champion is respected in this setting. He’s found peace on the amateur level.

That’s one of the reasons he passed on several lukewarm professional prospects soon after the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. He still enjoys hanging out at these big amateur bouts, watching the up-and-comers.

This, though, clouds his perception.

“I can’t go through this no more,” Warren said. “I can’t deal with it no more.”

He said events like this could change his mind on attempting to qualify for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

“The way stuff is going right now, it’s going to be a lot of these kids going pro,” he said.

Including him?

He just shrugged, not wanting his emotion to get in the way of his decision.

“I was up five, ain’t no way that he scored five points in a minute!” Warren said, exasperated.

Magdaleno knew he was in dire need of points late in the bout, and just started throwing punches.

“I used my speed, used what I knew I could get him with—more aggression,” he explained. “He wasn’t expecting it. He’s not a back-up fighter. I put a lot of pressure on him.”

This loss conjures up memories of his defeat at the Olympics.

Believing he was up a point in his first-round match in Beijing, Warren danced around and didn’t pounce in the waning seconds. He even raised his glove in victory after the bell.

Warren was stunned by the 9-8 loss to South Korea’s Lee Ok-sung. He broke into tears after the bout.

But the loss no longer eats at him.

“That’s the past. I think about the future,” Warren said.

Still, it opened his eyes to what he needed to do next.

Warren has been working on packing more power into his punches. He ramped up his use of weights and plyometrics to increase his strength.

He now feels speedy and strong, displaying that Thursday as he jumped out to a big lead against Magdaleno, landing a flurry of body shots.

But Warren couldn’t hold it.

“He’s a good fighter, he’s strong,” Warren said of Magdaleno. “He ain’t beat me—that’s how I see it. He caught me with a couple of good shots in the third round, that I knew he hit me with. Come one, I was up five points. I was up, and in the end, 19-19? He did not score that many points on me.”

Calderon fighting for respect for little guys

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Ivan Calderon is accustomed to being overlooked. It’s easy, after all, when you stand just 5 feet tall. But the little Puerto Rican package of dynamite just might be the best pure boxer in the world.

He moves effortlessly between Spanish and English, dresses in dapper dark gray suits, and is so engaging that he commands attention like a circus ringmaster. And between the ropes he’s virtually impossible to hit, winning all 32 of his fights and putting on such a tactical display that he’s stopped an opponent only six times.

About the only fight Calderon hasn’t won is acceptance for the little guys.

He’ll fight on the undercard Saturday night when Miguel Cotto defends his welterweight title against Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden. But unless you’re inside the sold-out arena, you won’t see the 108-pound champ take on top contender Rodel Mayol.

The premium cable network is showing “The Dark Knight” before the main event.

“I want to show HBO that small people need an opportunity,” said Calderon, who’ll make his 17th title defense. “At least the HBO people will be there to show them what I have, and keep on putting me in their eyes.”

That’d be a good start, because his last two fights have been in Puerto Rico, and before that New Mexico—not exactly a boxing hotbed. He’s fought everywhere from Oklahoma to Arizona to Las Vegas, taking whatever he can get, which usually isn’t much.

Smaller fighters seem to get a proportional amount of respect, and a proportional payday, compared to their larger counterparts. Most top fighters in Calderon’s weight class get less than $40,000 a fight, and although he’ll clear closer to $100,000 on Saturday night, that’s a far cry from the $1 million that middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik often commands.

“I know what’s happening,” Calderon said. “They don’t pay us the same way they pay the big guys, and I always do better fights. I always get more action.”

For years, fans didn’t believe that was the case.

Heavyweight icons like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman—all the way back to Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano—were big fighters who threw big punches, making for dramatic fights and bone-rattling knockouts.

But the current heavyweight division is a mess, with champions in recess and a slew of other ridiculous titles. The Klitschko brothers, considered the only notable champs, will never fight each other. Other hefty classes offer few worthwhile fights—175-pound king Bernard Hopkins might go the entire year without stepping into the ring.

That void is being filled by smaller fighters.

It started years ago with Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, and has morphed into the Pacmania that surrounds pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. But even he, despite starting his career at 106 pounds, didn’t become a blockbuster attraction until he moved up in weight.

“It’s a little less giving,” said HBO sports president Ross Greenburg, noting that Calderon has often appeared on pay-per-view. “It takes a certain kind of mix to get on HBO at that weight.”

For one thing, it takes a big-name opponent, and there aren’t many available.

Nonito Donaire has some name recognition at 112 pounds, a weight at which Calderon might be able to fight. Vic Darchinyan has broken through at 115 pounds, fighting Joseph Agbeko on Showtime next month, but that would be a stretch for the man nicknamed “Iron Boy.”

“He obviously has name recognition and is on most peoples’ pound-for-pound list,” Greenburg said of Calderon. “He needs the guy across the ring.”

Calderon holds up his end of the bargain, though, exuding charm and charisma. He once fought Cotto when he was 17 and the current 147-pound champion was several years younger. They both weighed about 100 pounds and Calderon proudly proclaims he won.

Too bad Calderon had already stopped growing.

“He’s probably the best boxer in the world today,” said Bob Arum of promoter Top Rank. “He’s relentless and he’s always in a tremendous fight.”

Cotto keeps focus on Clottey as Pacquiao comes calling

NEW YORK (AFP) - Manny Pacquiao will be sitting at ringside to watch Miguel Cotto defend his welterweight crown Saturday against Ghana's Joshua Clottey, the Filipino superstar sizing up his potential next opponent.

Puerto Rican star Cotto, 33-1 with 27 knockouts, will face Clottey, 35-2 with 20 knockouts, on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York - a date that has become a fight tradition for Cotto at Madison Square Garden.

Pacquiao is considered boxing's pound-for-pound champion after knocking out Britain's Ricky Hatton in the second round last month at Las Vegas.

"It was very good and a very strong moment for Pacquiao in that fight," Cotto said.

While fight fans hunger for a Pacquiao showdown against unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather Jnr, who ends his retirement next month against Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez, it might be Cotto who climbs into the ring with "Pac-man" next.

"I can?t tell you about anything the rest of the year or next year because I'm preparing for Clottey," Cotto said. "The only person I have on my mind right now is Joshua Clottey."

Pacquiao and Cotto each have Bob Arum as promoter while Mayweather has often worked with Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which can offer veteran US fighter Shane Mosley as a possible next opponent if Pacquiao-Mayweather does not materialize quickly.

Clottey is a major obstacle in Cotto's path, however.

Cotto suffered his first loss last July to Mexico's Antonio Margarito but bounced back to win the lightly regarded World Boxing Organization crown, the one he risks Saturday, from Britain's Michael Jennings in February.

"It was good coming off my first loss," Cotto said. "After that fight I felt pretty good to be ready for this fight now. This fight is important.

"No matter what Joshua brings to the ring, I will be fine. If he wants to move, I am ready for him. If he wants to face me in the middle of the ring, I am ready for that, too.

"I don't know what's going to happen. The only thing I know is I am going to be the winner."

Clottey knows the crowd will be with Cotto.

"When I come to the ring I'm a very deaf guy. I see people but I don't hear what they're talking about," Clottey said. "I don't know how tough he's going to be, but anybody who chooses me to be the winner, they will win, because that's what I'm going to do. I will win the fight."

Clottey won the International Boxing Federation welterweight crown by beating US veteran Zab Judah last August but was stripped of the title in April for refusing to fight South African mandatory challenger Isaac Hlatshwayo in favor of Cotto.

Now Clottey figures if he defeats Cotto, he will have a place in the conversation about whom Pacquiao fights next.

"Cotto is going to fight Pacquiao if he wins - that?s what I?ve been hearing," Clottey said. "Cotto is going to get his. Even if he wins it is not going to be easy at all. He?s not going to be able to fight somebody else."