HOLLYWOOD, California – Now that they have buried their hatchet, WBA junior middleweight champi­on Floyd Mayweather Jr. and HBO senior commentator Larry Mer­chant are expected to step into the ring together again in the future for a post-fight interview in May­weather’s next fight as they used to do prior to their verbal joust that grabbed headlines last year. If Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) would fight again after completing his jail sentence which commences on June 1, it could be against Man­ny Pacquiao (54-3, 38 KOs), who is favored to put away Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (28-0, 11 KOs) on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Manny Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach and his counterpart in the Timothy Bradley camp both predicted their wards’ June 9 title fight will end via the short route. Saying that all fights should end ideally via knockout, Roach averred “I don’t see it going the distance.” Diaz, who, along with Roach, Pacquiao and Bradley themselves, appeared in HBO’s “Face Off” aired recently, for his part, likewise, vowed. to “look for stop­page.”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA- The Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program (YPSP) at the University of San Francisco launches From Pancho to Pacquiao: Philippine Boxing In and Out of the Ring, a book that examines the economic and social contribuons of a marginalized minority, Filipinos and Filipinas, to the history of boxing in the United States and the world. The book is co-authored by the chair of the Philippine Studies Program, Jay Gonzalez, and adjunct professor and USF head boxing coach, Angelo F. Merino.

Consuls in the US Embassy in Manila are very open to granting US Visas to Filipinos wanting to witness the ring fights of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao. The embassy along Roxas Boulevard has seen hundreds of boxing fans the past days whose only reason to travel is to watch the pound-for-pound king face the reigning and undefeated world junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley for his 147-pound belt on June 9 in Las Vegas.