Fighting in Las Vegas – the modern-day mecca for professional boxing – will have to wait for Toledo’s Devin Vargas.

The 2004 United States Olympic heavyweight hyperextended his elbow earlier this week during a training session in Chicago. He was preparing for a scheduled Showtime ShoBox undercard bout with Chris Arreola (17-0, 15-0 KOs) next Friday at The Palms.

The injury forced Vargas to drop out of the fight. The 25-year-old was returning to Toledo yesterday afternoon to meet with a doctor concerning the injury.

“It’s nothing serious,” said Vargas, sounding optimistic by telephone prior to having the injury examined.

Nevertheless, the Toledo native, who is 11-0 overall with six knockouts since turning pro after the 2004 Olympic Games, will miss out on fighting for the first time in Las Vegas as a professional. Vargas, who has been anticipating his first fight in 2007, last fought in November and totaled only three fights in 2006.

Vargas, who had trimmed down from 240 pounds to 211 over the past three months, had been waiting for an opportunity like the one that presented itself in recent weeks to take on Arreola in a bout pitting two unranked up-and-comers in the heavyweight division. The matchup was also intriguing for the Glass City fighter since Arreola defeated Vargas’ older brother, Dallas, in a National Golden Gloves 178-pound championship fight in 2001.

Vargas recently signed with Chicago-based boxing adviser Mike Joyce to manage his career after his father, Ray, gave up managerial responsibilities. Vargas has spent some time over the past few months training in a Chicago gym. He also eliminated fast foods from his daily diet to help him return to the weight he fought at as an amateur.

The main event for the Showtime production features heavyweights Eddie Chambers and Dominick “The Southern Disaster” Guinn.

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WBC rules require all fighters to be within 10 percent of the contracted weight 30 days prior to championship matches, in this case up to 16 pounds over the 160-pound middleweight limit.

“I feel good,”Spinks said. “I’m right where I need to be and I’m really looking forward to this fight.”

Promoter Lou DiBella sent a certification from Todd Brooks, M.D., that Taylor’s weight today was 174 pounds.

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MANCHESTER, England (CP) — Never a shrinking violet, UFC president Dana White took a swipe at boxing in the leadup to the mixed martial arts organization’s UFC 70 card.

“The bottom line is boxing needs to face the facts. They’re looking at me and us, like we’re the bad guys,” he told a news conference. “I’m not trying to destroy boxing. Boxing has destroyed itself. The people who have controlled boxing over the last 40 years have stuck their hands in, ripped the life out of it and stuck it in their pocket. That’s what wrong with boxing, it has nothing to do with me or any of these fighters.

“Floyd Mayweather is shooting his mouth off, making all these challenges and writing cheques that his ass can’t cash.”

Mayweather made disparaging comments about the UFC in a recent conference call to promote his May fight against Oscar De Lay Hoya.

“It ain’t but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight,” he said, alluding to UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell.

“These are guys who couldn’t make it in boxing,” he added. “So they do (MMA). Boxing is the best sport in the world and it’s here to stay.”

Mayweather also challenged the UFC.

“We should put Liddell against a good heavyweight, under Mayweather Promotions,” Mayweather said. “If Chuck wins, then I’ll give him a million dollars out of my own pocket.”

White responded by offering to pit Mayweather against UFC lightweight (155-pound) champion Sean Sherk.

“He’ll get smashed, and so will any other boxer,” White said. “It is what it is. It’s apples and oranges, Boxing is one little component of this sport. No professional boxer could come into this sport and beat any of these guys. I don’t know what boxing’s problem is.”

White went on to say that boxing is his “road map of what not to do,” saying boxing was only interested in making a buck while his organization is investing to spread the sport of MMA around the world.

“You’ve never see anybody in boxing do that. Until you do, boxing’s in big trouble.”

OFFICIAL INFLUX: Because the British Boxing Board of Control does not regulate MMA, the UFC looked after the official side of Saturday’s UFC 70 card at the MEN Arena.

That includes pre-fight medicals, judging, officiating and drug tests.

“We’re doing it exactly the way I would do it in Nevada,” said UFC vice-president Marc Ratner, a former head of the Nevada state athletic commission.

Ratner says MMA fighters in Britain currently don’t have to undergo MRIs or blood tests.

“I don’t know how referees are trained,” he added. “And we want to make it what it is, a very professional sport that needs to be regulated.”

Ratner brought in two inspectors from the U.S. and three locally, to check fighters’ gear. He has also engaged three American judges, three referees and one doctor who will consult with four local physicians.

“I just want to show more than anything (to) the British boxing board that it can be regulated and that we’d be happy to work with them to form an MMA regulatory group,” said Ratner, who says some of the British boxing officials seem reluctant to take over MMA.

Doing that would make financial sense for the British boxing board. Ratner says the UFC pays the Nevada commission four per cent of the live gate at their events — five per cent in Texas. The Manchester show gate was listed at 1.3 million pounds (C$2.93 million) as of Thursday.

“So there’s money to be made,” Ratner said.

NOTES: It appears Canadian Jason MacDonald’s next UFC opponent will be Rory Singer, an alumnus of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show. The middleweight from Red Deer, Alta., has confirmed he will fight at UFC 72: Victory on June 16 in Belfast. Singer says in an Internet posting that he will be the Canadian’s opponent. ….. The UFC says its Ultimate Iceman DVD, about light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, was the best-selling sports DVD in the U.S. for the second week in a row. ….. Hawaiian heavyweight Scott Junk stopped Vancouver’s Dominic Richard in the second round Friday night at the MFC card in Edmonton.

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Oscar de la Hoya against Floyd Mayweather promises to be boxing’s biggest fight for years – and you can see it live on Sky Sports.

We will be screening the WBC light-middleweight showdown from Las Vegas on Big Fight Special as the game’s two biggest names go head-to-head.

It has been rightly billed as The World Awaits and is expected to be the biggest non-heavyweight bout in history.

It is already the sport’s richest fight, with tickets at the MGM Grand selling out in three hours for a whopping $19million, surpassing the previous best of $16,860,300 set by Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield II in 1999.

Pay-per-view television and closed-circuit cinema bookings in the United States are expected to smash all records, but Sky Sports subcribers can watch at no extra cost!

And it promises to be a night not to be missed.

Between them they have won no fewer than 14 different major world titles and boxed in a mind-blowing 45 championship bouts.

De la Hoya has made history in becoming the first man to be a world champion at six different weights, while Mayweather will make it five himself if he wins this.

He is considered the pound-for-pound number one right now, but has never truly won over the boxing public. He was booed in his last Las Vegas outing and as a result, says this will be his last fight.

De la Hoya, in contrast, is not called the Golden Boy for nothing. Popular right across the board, he has come out of a year-long sabbatical for this and could also bow out after May 5, to concentrate solely on his Golden Boy Promotions.

The pre-fight press conferences have seen Pretty Boy Floyd do the trash talking, while Oscar has shown rare signs of being unsettled – he says he has never wanted to hurt a person so much in his glittering 15-year career.

And then of course there is Floyd Mayweather Snr.

So long de la Hoya’s trainer, he turned down a reported $2million to help plot his son’s downfall. Not finished there, he has ended his long-standing feud with Floyd Jr and is now helping him prepare.

The family feud, the multi-million dollar purse, the small matter of the WBC light-middleweight title, the legacies of two modern-day greats on the line and the whole world watching – and you can see it all on Sky Sports!

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PANAMA – The World Boxing Association (WBA) wants to clarify the situation of its Lightweight champion Juan Diaz as in the last few weeks it has been widely publicized that he would be taking part in a fight that has not been approved by the WBA.

During the last WBA Annual Convention, held back September 2006 in Tokyo, Japan, representatives for Juan Diaz solicited a special permit for him to fight an optional fight against Fernando Angulo even though his mandatory period was overdue. The permission was granted on the grounds that the winner of Diaz vs. Angulo would face Prawet Singwancha, who had been appointed as official challenger, before February 4, 2007.

However, in the last few weeks a unification bout between Diaz and Freitas emerged as a possibility.

The WBA has always been in favor of encouraging unification fights and in this case has been open for an agreement between the parties involved for that bout to come off.

Consequently, the WBA showed its good willingness towards this matter but ultimately it goes far beyond its power. As no agreement had been reached, the WBA had no other option but to call a purse bid for the Diaz vs. Singwancha fight to proceed as mandated.

The mentioned purse bid was won by Golden Boy Promotions on Monday and that fight has to take place within the next 90 days.

The World Boxing Association (WBA) informs that on Monday April 2 Golden Boy Promotions won the purse bid for the WBA Lightweight mandatory fight between champion Juan Diaz and official challenger Prawet Singwancha.

The purse bid was supervised by WBA Executive Vice-President Gilberto Jesus Mendoza and Audit Director Michael Welsh and was won with a 160,000 US dollars offer, presented by Sampson Lewkowicz on behalf of Golden Boy Promotions.

The cities appointed as possible venues for the fight are Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Atlantic City, while the tentative date is June 30.

According to WBA Rules, the winning promoter of the purse bid must submit the signed contracts of the fight to the WBA and confirm the date and venue within the next 15 days.

TWO PURSE BID CANCELLED

Meanwhile, two other purse bids originally scheduled for Monday were cancelled due to the fact that the respective managers and promoters have come to an agreement and have sent the corresponding signed contracts for the fights.

In the case of the vacant WBA Light Flyweight title fight between No. 2 contender Juan Carlos Reveco and No. 3 contender Nehtra Sasiprapa, the bout will be organized by promoter Osvaldo Rivero, who appointed the province of Mendoza, Argentina as the venue next May 25.

As far as the bout between WBA Super Welterweight champ Travis Simms and official challenger Joachim Alcine, it will be promoted by Don King Productions, who appointed the state of Connecticut, US, as the venue, no later than next June 30.

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Often feared, and known the world over, a boxing legend has died.

Reagan “Buddy” Turman passed away Sunday in a Longview hospital. The Noonday native was known as “Texas Tornado” and the “Golden Boy from Noonday”.

He fought all over the world.

Funeral services are set for Thursday morning at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church in Noonday. Buddy Turman was 73.

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