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Ol’ man river,
Dat ol’ man river
He mus’know sumpin’
But don’t say nuthin’,
He jes’keeps rollin’
He keeps on rollin’ along.

– Lyrics from "Old Man River," performed by Paul Robeson 

The first verse of this classic African-American spiritual embodies the career of Glencoffe "The Road Warrior" Johnson (49-13-2, 33 KOs). This Road Warrior is nowhere near as popular as Mel Gibson’s Mad Max persona, but he’s been nearly as resilient over his 17-year career. And don’t let the 13 losses fool you. Probably only a handful were legitimate.

This Friday, the "41-years young" Johnson faces off against the much younger, 30-year old Yusaf Mack (28-2-2, 17 KOs) in an IBF title eliminator. But as Bernard Hopkins has proven, getting old in the 175 pound division is not necessarily a bad thing. Ironically, Mack, like Hopkins, is a tough Philadelphia fighter. And like Hopkins did nearly 13 years ago, Mack will be looking to lay a "not-so-Brotherly Love" beat-down on Johnson.

Mack has a problem though. He’s not Bernard Hopkins circa ‘97. Even worse, he’s facing Glen Johnson 2.0, an upgrade on its previous installation. Look for the "new Johnson" to use his familiar tactics of pressure and powerful right hands to wear Mack down on the way to a 10th round stoppage.

He keeps on rollin’ along … like old man river.

Juan Ma(nuel) Lopez (28-0, 25 KOs) and Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs) are not just interesting-sounding names. They are "big little men," skilled enough to invoke memories of the legendary trio of featherweights named Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and of course, Manny Pacquiao. Look no further than their impressive wins this past weekend to understand why so many boxing pundits are so high on them.

And they appear to be on a collision course. How soon? Only Bob Arum knows since he promotes both fighters. And if he’s smart, as he typically is on such matters, he will let this one marinate like some well-seasoned pernil. Superfight-hungry fans would surely welcome this fight in light of recent "non-events."

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, there is one thing that could get in the way of this scintillating superfight. It won’t be random blood testing. It won’t be disputes over the purse split. The answer lies right under their noses.

Their Chins

With all due respect to the very capable Elio Rojas (21-1, 13 KOs) and Chris John (43-0-2, 22 KOs), both Gamboa and Lopez are faster and more skilled than any other boxers in the featherweight division. However, the great equalizer could be their chins. Just in case you haven’t noticed, neither one of these guys has proven to be Julio Cesar Chavez in the chin department.

I’ll cut both boxers some slack because they are both young. And maybe these shaky moments are mere bumps on the road towards super-stardom. However, it’s hard for me to forget that "Juan Ma" made journeyman Roger Mtagwa look like he had anvils in his gloves in their fight last year, and that Gamboa has been dropped four times already by journeymen. They both have shown a penchant for producing chin music. Let’s hope they save these tunes for one another.

TNT isn’t the only channel that knows drama. If these two fighters meet, with their excellent power, speed and leaky defenses, HBO PPV will know drama too. Juan Manuel Lopez vs Yuriorkis Gamboa promises to be that kind of fight so long as both boxers keep their hands up and their chins tucked in the meantime.

Boxing is as unpredictable as the weather in this global warming era. One minute it rains down on you. The next minute the sun is lighting up your day. The prospect of Floyd "Money" Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) facing off against "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) could be one of those shining moments.

That we may get there at the expense of Mayweather-Pacquiao and Mosley-Berto is unfortunate. That we may get there at all temporarily ceases the buzz-kill that was the Mayweather-Pacquiao debacle.

If they meet, it’s arguably the biggest and best fight that the welterweight division has to offer. It surely beats Pacquiao-Clottey. Don’t get me wrong, the latter is a decent scrap. But I have a hard time paying (PPV) for a fight that pits the "Pac Man" against the man (Clottey) who just lost to the man (Cotto) that he just destroyed.

I couldn’t help but italicize all of the coulds, mays and ifs in this post. Forgive my cynicism nowadays, in the wake of Mayweather-Pacquiao. Also, cut me some slack if I am not convinced that the "Pretty Boy" really wants to take on the considerable risk that is Shane Mosley at 147 pounds. In fact, I think a fight with Mosley is actually more difficult than one with Pacquiao.

Who Wins The Fight?

Obviously, I will share my official prediction a few weeks leading up to the fight. But just in case the fight does not take place, I’ll leave you with a few thoughts. Shane Mosley’s natural (and enhanced…just kidding) physical strength will present problems for Mayweather. Add in Mosley’s well-rounded boxing ability, and you have a potentially nightmare matchup for Mayweather.

Mayweather counters with his usual advantages in defense, hand and foot speed. The last quality will be the key to a Mayweather win. At this point of his illustrious career, Mosley simply does not have fresh enough legs to keep Mayweather cornered nor to set consistent traps.

We’ve been burned already this year but let’s keep hope alive that Floyd Mayweather meets Shane Mosley this spring. I need it in order to have a superfight to post about. Mayweather needs it to prove that he’s willing to take on tougher challenges than former lightweights and junior welterweights. And boxing needs it because the failed Mayweather-Pacquiao fight had the sport feeling like a wet food stamp.

Editor’s Note: My thoughts and prayers go out to Andre Berto, his family and his recovering homeland of Haiti. To all my fans and followers, please do whatever you can to help the cause.

I’ve been running my mouth on HBO’s Boxing Forum on this much-debated topic. To get the conversation started here, I’ll present the cases against each defendant in this crime on boxing and then let you be the judge of who deserves the most blame.

The Accused

1. Bob Arum. "Manny doesn’t like needles." Yet Pacquiao has enough tattoos to make Dennis Rodman proud. "My fighter feels that losing blood so close (within 30 days) to the fight weakens him." Yet the Pac Man is shown on HBO’s Hatton-Pacquiao 24×7 having blood drawn 24 days before their fight last May. Beyond these head-scratchers, Arum’s arrogance and hubris didn’t stop there. He initially flirted with the prospect of Pacquiao facing off against Yuri Foreman, while still negotiating Pacquiao-Mayweather. Even worse, he was chastised by the mediator, who was brought in to salvage the fight, for misrepresenting details of the negotiations. To be fair, Bob Arum has brought us many superfights, but I will not forget his leading man role in this fiasco.
2. Golden Boy Promotions (GBP). Bob Arum and GBP CEO Richar Schaefer were both involved in this fight-jacking. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, Oscar De La Hoya has reportedly suggested that Pacquiao’s successful ascension in weight has been aided by performance-enhancing drugs (PED). Making matters worse, his GBP cohort Shane Mosley, a busted PED user, has implied that Pac Man is a cheat. Yes, hypocrisy knows no limit. Oscar De La Hoya KTFO’d Fernando Vargas who was juicing when they fought. He also nearly beat Shane Mosley in their rematch even though Shane was apparently juicing prior to the fight. My point: even if they suspected Pacquiao of juicing, was it enough of an issue to beef over when PED use hasn’t even proven itself positive in the ring?
3. Floyd Mayweather. Many boxing pundits say that Manny Pacquiao is the best fighter in the world today. Floyd thinks that he’s the best boxer of all-time. Floyd belittles Manny Pacquiao for being knocked out twice early in his career and losing a tough fight to Erik Morales. But Floyd proclaims that he’s undefeated, and thus better. I have come to expect such exaggeration and hyperbole from Mayweather, but I never thought that I’d see the day when he put $40 million at risk over an issue like random blood testing. Was he simply responding to whispers that he had heard around the gyms about Pacquiao? Maybe he was being swayed by his father’s scathing accusations about the Pac Man and wanted to call the man’s bluff? Or maybe he was looking for a way out of this risky fight? He calls himself Money, but his nickname and reputation have definitely taken a hit.
4. Manny Pacquiao. Pac Man was in a position of power during these negotiations. He’s coming off more impressive wins than Mayweather. He’s the boxer that more people like because of his everyman personality outside of the ring and his gladiator mentality inside it. He was likely able to leverage these facts based on the fact that the Mayweather camp agreed to an unprecedented fine for coming in over-the-weight as well the smaller glove size, favoring Pacquiao’s less brittle hands. With these concessions, why protest so much over random blood testing if you are as clean as you say you are? Rightly or wrongly, that is the question that I and many boxing fans will be asking ourselves for some time. And sorry Manny, fighting the man (Joshua Clottey) who just lost to the man (Cotto) that you destroyed does not cut it as a replacement for Mayweather.

Who do you think deserves most of the blame in the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao failure?

Today, a dude name "WIL" commented on a boxing rankings post that I wrote almost two years ago. A few days before that, my blogging brethren Bryant Maxwell asked me to provide him with a list of the top fighters today. With the battle for pound-for-pound supremacy on the horizon (Mayweather vs Pacquiao), the time is right for me to respond to WIL, Bryant and anyone else who cares to debate on this topic.

1. Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) - Since his last defeat nearly five years ago to Erik Morales, he stopped Morales twice in return bouts, decisioned Marco Antonio Barrera in a rematch, edged Juan Manuel Marquez in another rematch, made Oscar De La Hoya quit after eight rounds, knocked Ricky Hatton senseless in two rounds, and beat Miguel Cotto down for a 12th round TKO. No fighter today trumps this resume. Period. 
2. Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) – Most of his career-defining wins ironically came when he was fighting under current adversary Bob Arum’s promotional outfit. Diego Corrales (R.I.P.), Jesus Chavez and Jose Luis Castillo (twice) were among his early noteworthy victims. Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez are among his latest. He is the most gifted boxer today and will seek to prove that he’s also it’s baddest in his upcoming battle with my numero uno.
3. Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) - Like old man river, the Executioner just keeps going. His resume speaks for itself but what is most amazing is that he’s doing this at the ripe old age of 44 (he turns 45 next week). In hindsight, his struggles against the now "shot" Jermain Taylor are head-scratchers. But his subsequent domination of then-light heavyweight king Antonio Tarver and current middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik in 2008 were head turners. I’d like to see him fight Tomasz Adamek or Chad Dawson in 2010. But retirement and early induction into the Hall of Fame would work for me as well.
4. Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) – It’s funny. When Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao hopefully meet in March, the two best boxers in the world will be fighting at 147 pounds. However, neither fighter has better credentials at the weight than my number four. Unlike Floyd Mayweather, Mosley took on the considerable challenge that was Antonio Margarito and dented his seemingly indestructible chin. And unlike Manny Pacquiao, Mosley defeated a prime Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight. Unable to secure a fight with my number one or number two, he’ll settle for rising star Andre Berto later this month. 
5. Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs) - First, dude has a great last name. Second, he’s perhaps the most gifted boxer on this list, behind Floyd Mayweather. He’s defeated Glen Johnson (twice), Antonio Tarver (twice), and most impressively, a prime Tomasz  Adamek three years ago. That’s the good news. The bad news is that most of his wins have come against fighters past their best, his recent wins haven’t exactly gotten people out of their seats and there appears to be a lack of name opponents for him on the horizon. My advice to Chad: follow the Hopkins blueprint and the rest will fall into place in due time.
6. Paul Williams
7. Juan Manuel Marquez
8. Wladimir Klitschko
9. Vitali Klitschko
10. Tomasz Adamek

If you do not agree, you know how to reach me. Please don’t be shy.