Filipino journalist and commentator, Chino Trinidad, has found himself at the center of a manufactured controversy surrounding claims that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s publicist, Kelly Swanson, intentionally snubbed the Filipino media during the Los Angeles portion of the Mayweather-Mosley publicity tour.

Trinidad alleges that he and another Filipino journalist were directly told by Swanson that the Philippine media was essentially banned from accessing Mayweather Jr at the press conference.

Of course, some dim-witted bomb throwers were bound to latch on to the issue and milk it for some cheap publicity. At the expense of any sense of fair play or journalistic ethics, a Pacquiao fan boy at The Examiner immediately pounded fingers on keyboard and produced a poorly thought-out, incendiary article aimed at taking dig number one million at Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Knowing the writer in question’s work (a writer who once threatened to stab me in a Twitter disagreement), I’m sure the article was only designed to bring traffic his way and ingratiate himself to a Pacquiao inner circle that he so desperately wants to be part of. However, if you have any sort of journalistic integrity, you simply can’t just blindly lob accusations of racism without being willing to hear both sides of the issue.

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It’s official: James “Lights Out” Toney, one of boxing’s modern day greats, is now a member of the UFC.

Of course, the UFC isn’t getting the James Toney that outclassed most of the best middleweights and super middleweights of his generation. They’re not even getting the post-prime Toney who floored, and ultimately beat, Vassiliy Jirov at cruiserweight or the one who humiliated a shot Evander Holyfield at heavyweight. But, nonetheless, Toney represents the biggest name to ever cross the imaginary border between boxing and mixed martial arts.

Toney’s been looking at a move to the UFC for a few years now, claiming that he just can’t get the big fights in boxing.

Technically, he’s right; But, realistically, he just doesn’t have the juice anymore to beat the top dogs at heavyweight and lacks the draw to entice the young lions to try him out. So, with nowhere to go in the sport and his internal clock ticking away, he’s packed his bags for a try at the UFC octagon and one last power grab at making some real headlines.

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Nowadays, a prospect will be spoon fed until a mega-payday and title shot against some paper champion comes his way. Then, and only then, will the world see if the young star truly has what it takes to be a world class fighter. That’s why we have guys like Andre Berto and Nonito Donaire sporting two and three year title reigns, respectively, without having faced more than one world-class challenger apiece.

Fights like Sonsona-Vazquez, where both young fighters have a ton to lose, just don’t happen all that much anymore. Lest we forget, though, that this is 2010, the contest is for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title. So, yeah, a bogus paper title is on the line. But, more importantly, this is a dangerous bout between two young, talented fighters just starting to realize their potentials.

If you look around cyberspace these days, there has been a subtle shift in the public wind as it pertains to Antonio Margarito and his indefinite suspension from boxing. Margarito’s attempted use of illegal hand wraps for his January, 2009 contest with Shane Mosley seems a distant memory to some and, shockingly, a flat-out falsehood to more than a few.

A year ago, there was outrage and indignation in the public discourse. Now, articles are popping up in support of the return of Margarito’s license and all sorts of conspiracy theories are springing up that would have one re-think their stance on “The Tijuana Tornado.”

But, before we forgive and forget, let’s take a look at the night Antonio Margarito wanted on January 24th, 2009.

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There were a lot of championship fights in Mexico last night and Paul Magno has a recap of all the action. See if Giovani Segura and Elias Rojas were able to hang on to their titles. Also in action were Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Orlando Cruz as well as Lucas Matthysse vs. Vivian Harris. Read on for all the results.

According to nearly every credible source, the rumored Tomasz Adamek-Chris Arreola fight will cease to be a rumor in a matter of hours.

Apparently, contracts are signed, fighters are ready and all that’s left is the official press conference to kick off the countdown to the proposed April 24th date. That official press conference is scheduled for Friday, February 19th, on Arreola’s home turf of Southern California.

While this fight won’t be as significant to the heavyweight division as Wladimir Klitschko-Eddie Chambers or, even, David Haye-John Ruiz, it will be the first time in a long time that fans are getting an evenly-matched, entertaining battle between two guys on the verge of being considered legit threats in the heavyweight division.

A good homework assignment would be to try and remember the last time we were treated to something as all-around good as Adamek vs. Arreola.

If you can come up with an answer, by all means post it in the comment section here because, honestly, I’m having a hard time coming up with anything in recent memory.

In any case, both fighters have a lot to lose on April 24th.

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When Nonito Donaire first hit the world stage and KOd trash-talking Armenian world champ, Vic Darchinyan, I was riding high on the Donaire bandwagon.

This kid looked like he had it all: power, speed, skill and charisma. He was the type of fighter who could be built into something truly special.

Now, almost 3 years after his shocking title grab, I am firmly off the Donaire bandwagon and it’s all Nonito’s fault.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Shane Mosley: May 1st.

I dare you to hate on this one. Go ahead…I dare you.

While Manny Pacquiao is fighting Joshua Clottey, the guy who lost to the guy that he just blew away, Mayweather will be fighting the consensus number one welterweight in the world and a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Mayweather’s opponent is the same one who practically begged Pacquiao for a fight to no avail. Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, even said, “Shane came to the gym twice to ask me to let him fight Manny…I told him ‘no’ both times, and both times for the same two reasons: First, there isn’t enough money there, and second, you’re too good a fighter.”

Best of all, this fight was signed with no drama about fear of needles, superstitions and blood-letting; No weight stipulations and penalties and no petty lawsuits.

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Yusaf Mack (28-2-2, 17 KOs) has traveled down the old-school road of professional boxing. From club to club, undercard to undercard, he’s pulled himself to the upper ranks of the sport via hard work, dedication and a never say die attitude.

Now, he faces the defining fight of his career on February 5th against “The Road Warrior” Glen Johnson. The winner gets a shot at the IBF 175 lb. crown, the loser gets pushed back into the pile of contenders.

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As Floyd Mayweather Jr and Shane Mosley get closer to signing on the dotted line and Manny Pacquiao continues to sell thousands of tickets in Cowboys stadium, the actual business of boxing continues to chug along.

Last night was boxing being boxing, for better or worse, and it was about time business went on as usual.

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