A fight between WBA junior middleweight titlist Daniel Santos and Sergio Martinez has been agreed to for HBO's February 14 card, removing Martinez from the January 17 show and turning that Feb. 14 lineup into a brilliant triple-header, according to BoxingScene.com.

Santos (32-3-1, 23 KO) and Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KO) will likely be the opening fight on a night featuring Ricardo Mayorga v. Alfredo Angulo and Nate Campbell v. Ali Funeka, making for a PPV-worthy fight of nights on HBO World Championship Boxing. Frankly, given recent PPV cards, it's far more than PPV-worthy.

Santos was approached as a replacement for "Mean" Joe Greene on Jan. 17, but balked at having to get ready on just 10 days' notice. The multiple-time titleholder has been out of the ring since knocking out Joachim Alcine last July, gaining the WBA title in the process.

It's an excellent fight added to an already-great doubleheader. There's a lot of intrigue in every bout, and I can't say enough good things about the three-fight event. Kudos, HBO.

(I will say this one time: Do not, do not, do not, DO NOT (OK, four times) turn this into a political discussion. Do not do it. I will seriously review your worth to me if you do, and consider you for total and complete banning. I'm not trying to be an a-hole here, but if you want to talk politics on a blog, Google that and keep us out of it.)

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a lifelong boxing fan who has tried and failed in the past to fight for what he feels would be the sport's best interests, is again pushing for boxing to be nationally regulated in the United States.

While I think it's an all well and good sort of idea, in practice you probably don't wind up doing much other than ruining the sport. I suppose some may argue it's long since been ruined, but I'm not one of the doom-callers that think the sports world is ending when my childhood memories simply become memories, so that's best left for others to discuss.

I'd love for McCain or anyone else to help get the sport "cleaned up. Problem is, I don't think it's as dirty as the uninformed, "boxing is dead and fixed" dorks believe it to be thanks to a hundred sixteenth-hand conspiracy theories they read on the internet.

Should there be MUCH tighter medical standards and practices? Yes, there absolutely should be. No one in this country should have been allowed the gall to let Tommy Morrison step foot in a boxing ring again as a competitor. States like West Virginia and Texas, which spring to mind immediately, have given licenses to fighters that in a sane world don't belong owning them. Nevada generally does a good job, and so does New York, the state that originally put the ban on Evander Holyfield, until Texas later re-licensed "The Real Deal."

That's one thing that should certainly be looked into. But if the idea is to spend a lot of time hemming and hawing about how boxing operates, then this will go the way of any blog post or internet article myself or anyone like me could write, which is the exact same destination of a fart in the wind.

I also still can't get over McCain's stance on mixed martial arts, which once was something I sort of agreed with as far as rules and regulations and all that go (and the sport, in a roundabout way, owes McCain a debt of gratitude), and now is the stance I most hate hearing:

"I didn't like it when I saw a film of a guy who had somebody down on the ground and was head-butting him while he was unconscious. But they cleaned it up. If that's what people want to see, I'm not complaining about it. I just complained about what it was originally. I just don't think it is a pure sport. It's not what boxing can be."

In Bob Costas Speak (which is all that is), he means, "It wasn't around when I was a kid."

Ah, there's so much more to talk about right now. Not really big stuff, but enough that I want to take little shots at or discuss briefly.

Dan Rafael's Notebook contained a few more neat tidbits, the big leading story being Bob Arum working out an agreement with Azteca America for a new series to sort of replace the departed Telefuture series, Solo Boxeo.

Already on tap for the series are the following bouts:

Cesar Canchila v. Giovanni Segura II (February 27): This is a fight that absolutely was good enough to warrant a rematch, even though I felt Canchila clearly won the first time around. With no better opponent for either man at 108 pounds, why not? They put on a great show the first time around, and here's hoping they do it again.

Monty Meza-Clay v. Jorge Solis (January 30): This is an IBF featherweight eliminator. Solis' only loss came to Manny Pacquiao in '07 on Top Rank pay-per-view. Meza-Clay is a fine fighter. Good matchup.

There are other shows in the works, with names like Urbano Antillon, Orlando Salido, Jose Luis Castillo, and others involved. It's already a good-looking series for the diehards. Thank God someone stepped up to make something happen. Losing Wednesday Night Fights and Solo Boxeo was quite a blow. Thanks, Bob.

Dan also says that O'Neil Bell has pulled out of a heavyweight fight for "personal reasons." Hey, there's an early runner for shocker of the year, O'Neil Bell pulling out of a fight. It's too bad the last couple of years of his career have been filled with things like this, like the time he left his promoters and ESPN hanging without notice, because he was a hell of a fighter. I'm also not trying to be outright disrespectful, either. I hope everything's good with O'Neil and that we see him refocused and back in action soon.

Former Canadian star Dave Hilton, Jr., whose career and positive press vanished when he was convicted of sexually abusing his two daughters in 2001, has been acquitted on new charges of of sexual assault, assault and assault causing bodily harm against a woman when the 48-year old woman dropped the case. As far as I'm concerned, I hope this is the last we ever hear of Hilton.

Geoff "The Professor" Poundes of Ringside Report has this to say about Hatton-Pacquiao:

Manny Pacquiao is going to get his ass-whipped by Ricky Hatton. Oh yes, that’s what I said – Hatton will win inside distance in a fight that may not even be close, if the Hitman turns up fit, healthy and ready for action. ... I say it because I worry for Pacquiao’s ability to take Hatton’s body shots, which are as perfectly constructed as any practitioner in the game today, and will carry the kind of weight that Manny will never have experienced. I worry having reviewed the tape of Manny’s early losses to Torrecampo and Singsurat, both 3rd round knockouts and affected with, yes, you guessed it, body blows. Sure, Pacquiao was younger, smaller, less effective, and rumor has it that he was battling his own weight issues in those contests. One thing is for sure – Floyd Mayweather, SR., will not miss the opportunity to highlight perceived weaknesses in his own personal odyssey to uproot Freddie Roach as the world’s finest coach.

I'm not really commenting on it because I agree or disagree, but because a lot of the Pacquiao fans have gone on a rampage against Mr. Poundes for having an opinion, which is sadly a fairly common thing in most fan circles, particularly one as rabid, dedicated and in many ways outstanding as Pacquiao's. It's been sort of a hot-button article, so I thought I'd point you in that direction.

I also think he's wrong, but who cares?

Speaking of Freddie Roach, he's on SI.com saying that soon-to-be boxer Andrei Arlovski (again, I'll believe it when I see it) will knock out Fedor Emelianenko at the Affliction MMA PPV later this month. Fedor, for those who don't know, is perhaps the most dominant MMA fighter of all-time and world-regarded as the best heavyweight fighter ever in the rather short history of the sport.

Freddie's interest in MMA seems confined to the guys in the sport he's trained in boxing rings (a pretty impressive little list, to be sure), but I love his sly comments on the Fedor-Arlovski fight: "If I saw [Fedor] on the street, I wouldn't be scared of him. But I'd be wrong."

Retired star Genaro Hernandez is currently battling a cancerous tumor in his brain, and will be honored at a fund-raiser on January 17 in San Bernadino, California. We send our best wishes to Genaro, as well as our sincere hope for a full recovery.

On a final, sad note, female lightweight champion Jisselle Salandy was tragically killed in an automobile accident on January 4, and we at Bad Left Hook send our best wishes and condolences to her family and friends. Hers was a life ended much too soon.

JISSELLE SALANDY

1987-2009

The starting rotation isn't starting to take shape at all, but potential suitors for rotation spots are starting to turn up. Let's take a look at the gentlemen who will vie for positions taking the ball every five days.

As odd as it may seem to an outsider that hears "one guy in the rotation from last year," we haven't really LOST anyone besides Daniel Cabrera, which I now skeptically look at as a mistake (we'll get more into that), and sort of Adam Loewen, who was finished as a pitcher in May of 2008 anyway.

The Master Lock: Jeremy Guthrie, RH

"Take a hike, Rick. I got this."

Jeremy Guthrie (10-12, 3.63/1.23) is the only guy we've got heading into spring training that has a rotation spot locked up, at least as it stands right now. No one else is even close to having a spot locked up, in fact.

This is dangerous. It's dangerous because even when accepting another losing season with the idea of rebuilding surrounding it all, you're basically telling the fanbase that you're hucking up prayers from half-court four days out of five. I'm not trying to say we can't find some consistency and reliability and real spark from some of our younger arms -- there's a decent chance of that happening. There's also a good chance that nobody gets much better, and it's a complete disaster out there.

Jeremy Guthrie's won-loss record reflected the team he played for in 2008, and it will do so again in 2009. And just like last year, there's a distinct possibility he's the only guy in the rotation that won't make you pull your f---ing hair out all the time.

Kind of a crap position for Guthrie to be in, really. He's not only going to have to lead by example, he's going to be feeling like Tom Hanks in Cast Away if he doesn't get any pitching support. Maybe someone can buy him a volleyball.

There also does remain the feeling that this Guthrie balloon could pop or at least start deflating any time now. I know this will probably seem like I'm a typical fan that expects everything to go wrong, but statistical trends aren't calling for Guthrie to keep having these seasons. There's no definite either way, but if Guts regresses some, don't be surprised. It's not like you can argue that he has the stuff to be doing what he does. But then that's part of why I like him so much. He defies expectation at this point in his career.

Newbie: Koji Uehara, RH

Some of y'all are super intent on considering Uehara a set part of the rotation. I'm super intent on trying to curb your enthusiasm, so to speak, because it's a simple matter of connecting the dots to me.

1. Uehara turns 34 on April 3 and has never pitched in the Major Leagues.

2. Uehara hasn't been a full-time starter the last two seasons. It's been said it was punishment, making him the closer in '07, or whatever, but the fact remains he has thrown 151 2/3 innings in the past two seasons combined.

3. Uehara was signed for two years and $10 million. Do the math -- we're not getting a front-line starter for $5 million per season. The max it can be is $16 million, if he meets innings, starts, and other performances marks. Andy Pettitte -- a middle rotation guy at this point -- just turned down a $10 million offer from the Yankees for '09.

In other words, we're not talking about Daisuke Matsuzaka here. Uehara could be the Akinori Iwamura of pitchers, or he could just be another Kei Igawa or Masato Yoshii, a pretty low-risk guy that just isn't going to cut the mustard.

I love his lack of walks (1.2 BB/9 in Japanese ball) and I truly like the signing. The O's didn't exactly break down the door for the Japanese market, but they knocked on it and it sort of creaked open just that little bit.

Newbie: Mark Hendrickson, LH

Here's where I start to question the idea to just let Daniel Cabrera walk (ha!) instead of paying him a relatively small amount of money to eat up innings in 2009. Hendrickson is just as bad as Cabrera for what would've been pretty comparable money to keep Cabrera, and he throws way less innings. It'll be nice for me and the like-minded Cabrera Haters to not see Big Bad Dan out there throwing fits and missing the plate by six feet, but it's not like I look at Hendrickson and see much of a different result for my game-watching experience.

Radhames Liz, RH and Garrett Olson, LH

Both guys got extended trial by fire runs last year due to injuries and the like, and neither acquitted himself very nicely at all. If I'm taking all the analytical B.S. out of this and just saying what I feel, I'll tell you that Liz looks like a bullpen guy at best to me, and Olson is a back-end starter at best, and probably not a guy that sticks around for very long. Neither of them have exceptional stuff and neither of them really impressed me. Of course, I could be totally wrong, which is part of why I like to keep the analytical B.S. in there. If I just start telling you all the players in which I see little value at all, it'd get pretty old, pretty fast.

The Blue Chipper: Brian Matusz, LH

It's unlikely the O's want to rush Matusz, but I think it may wind up unavoidable. If they can't find guys that can get through five or six innings routinely without putting us in a massive hole, Matusz has to become an option if he's throwing well in the minors.

As a college pitcher, he's polished and fairly close to ready to go. It'd probably be an upset if we didn't see him at some point in '08 -- that could be good (the rotation stabilizes somehow) or indifferent (the organization sees no point in moving him up to a team with no hope).

Matusz and Chris Tillman, who's almost ready to buy a legal drink in this country (April 15, woo!), are the two genuine stud arms in the system. Both will hopefully be part of the Oriole rotation for years to come. Matusz is probably closer to ready for prime time simply in terms of maturity.

...And the Rest!

Righty Brian Bass and lefty Brian Burres could be a totally awesome new version of The Killer Bees. They even have the neat number thing going on. Burres is 56, Bass is 59.

All that talk of Danys Baez (RH) moving to the rotation was just talk, it appears, which I figured it would be. Baez stating a desire to start can easily be met with, "...sure, let's try that," because the obvious fact is that there's nothing really for him to do in 2009. He's a sunk cost and it probably hurts less to do nothing with him than force him into a role he can't handle, like pitching.

Would you give Jim Johnson a shot at the rotation? He came up as a starter. I say go for it, dude. Why not?

Oh Chris Waters, keep on rollin', Norfolk moon won't you keep on shinin' on me...

Don't count out Hayden Penn. On second thought, probably count him out. Don't count out seeing Hayden Penn at some point in '09. There, that's better.

Conclusion

In the immortal words of Steve Zissou as he and his maybe-son, Ned Plimpton/Zissou, are about to hit the ocean in their sputtering helicopter, "This is gonna hurt."

The injury bug has bitten Carlos Quintana, the former welterweight titleholder who beat Paul Williams last February, and he's been forced to pull out of his January 16 Friday Night Fights main event with Eromosele Albert.

In Quintana's place will be Ossie Duran, who fought Albert to a draw last September at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. The two will now meet again at Mallory Square in Key West.

Both are also former opponents of rising junior middleweight star James Kirkland. We all remember Kirkland destroying Albert in the first round last May, but Duran took Kirkland to a ten-round decision in June 2007. He then sat out for 15 months before taking the fight with Albert.

Considering the short notice, it's a nice replacement by ESPN, and they'll also be featuring James McGirt, Jr., in action against veteran Angel Hernandez.

Queens fighter "Mean" Joe Greene (pictured, courtesy Sky Sports) is out of a scheduled fight on January 17 against Sergio Martinez, which was to be the co-feature to Andre Berto-Luis Collazo on HBO. The unbeaten Greene is currently suffering from kidney stones, and despite a desire to fight anyway, promoter Lou DiBella and doctors have strongly advised Greene to fight, and thus he will not.

The 22-year old Greene was taking a massive step up in competition, going from fighting the likes of Joshua Okine and Jose Miguel Torres to Martinez, a world-ranked competitor who stole the show on HBO's last "night of the prospects" offering when he thoroughly dominated the rugged Alex Bunema.

According to Dan Rafael, ESPN first tapped 154-pound titlist Daniel Santos on a deal to fight over the divisional weight limit in a non-title bout, but even though promoter Don King was OK with it, Santos balked at having to get ready for a fight on just ten days' notice.

HBO is now looking at 27-year old Anthony Thompson, whose career has stalled a bit after back-to-back controversial losses to Yuri Foreman and Ishmail Arvin, and 37-year old ex-titleholder Travis Simms, who hasn't really fought since a July 2007 loss to Joachim Alcine. Simms did fight last August, but against a total tomato can at a Radisson Hotel in South Carolina.

Unbeaten Indonesian featherweight titlist Chris John will make his U.S. debut on February 28, when he defends his WBA title against Rocky Juarez in Juarez's hometown of Houston. The John-Juarez bout will be on the televised undercard of the lightweight championship fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and another Houston fighter, Juan Diaz, reports Dan Rafael:

The deal for John-Juarez was completed Wednesday after talks for Juarez's proposed bout with titleholder Steve Luevano ended.

A Thursday press conference is scheduled in Houston to formally announce the fight as well as the previously announced Marquez-Diaz bout.

"We have talked for a while about the right fight for John to come to the U.S. and now that time is here," Schaefer said. "It's a big fight for Chris John and the right spot for him. Everyone has accused him of just fighting in Indonesia but now he comes into the lion's den to defend his title in Rocky's hometown. It's a big showcase for both of them. For Rocky, it's an opportunity to finally win a world title and do it in his hometown, and for Chris John it's an opportunity to silence the people who say he only fights in Asia. He's not just coming to the U.S. for a fight, he's coming here to fight in his opponent's backyard."

At the end of the article, Juarez's manager Shelly Finkel says, "If Rocky is going to get a title, this is his best shot. If he can't do it, he just can't do it and he'll be one of the best fighters who never won a title. But if Rocky beats him, he beats the best guy in the division."

Frankly, I disagree with the assessment that John is Juarez's best hope for a world title, and with the way they're talking about Juarez as a "now or never" guy, I think it kind of speaks to exactly how low expectations from his management seem to be. Finkel doesn't say that he believes Juarez can beat John, he says Juarez believes he can beat John after seeing him on tape. It's "if" Rocky can get a title, Chris John is his best shot -- not Rocky will beat Chris John. It's a moot point, really, but it's rare to see managers or promoters talk like that.

And as much as I'd like to see Rocky win, simply because he's a solid fighter and a good, hard-working dude, I don't think he can beat John, who is a terrific fighter even if I don't consider him among the 20 best pound-for-pound, which most would if only because of his status as the world's best featherweight and what is nearing a five-year world title reign. I'm not even trying to discredit John's record completely, because he has a win over Juan Manuel Marquez and beat Hiroyuki Enoki last time out. But Renoit Caballero? Zaiki Takemoto? Jose Rojas as a world title challenger in 2007?

Either way, it's good to see Chris John finally coming to the States, and taking on a top contender. Chances are, he dominates Juarez. That's just my gut feeling after seeing them both fight several times. I think Chris is a bit out of Rocky's depth. But it's better that it's happening than another cupcake defense for John.

Dan Rafael of ESPN has a lot of news in this weekend's Notebook (as always), but the most interesting to me is discussion regarding the February 21 Top Rank pay-per-view

Arum also laid out his plans for the rest of the Feb. 21 split-site doubleheader. The telecast will open in New York with heralded 2008 Russian Olympic middleweight Matvey Korobov (2-0, 2 KOs) in a four-rounder. "Then we’re looking to do an Anthony Peterson fight, maybe against [former lightweight titlist] Julio Diaz," Arum said. "If Diaz doesn’t take the fight, we’ll do Peterson against another good opponent." Also on the New York portion of the card, Arum might try to do welterweight titleholder [and New Yorker] Joshua Clottey’s mandatory defense against ex-titleholder Kermit Cintron. That bout would be followed by Cotto-Jennings. Then, Arum said, the telecast "will magically shift" to Youngstown, Ohio, for the main event of the telecast, middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik’s mandatory against Marco Antonio Rubio. "We’ll have five fights on the broadcast and not a lot of talking," Arum said. Pavlik opens training camp in Youngstown this week, manager Cameron Dunkin said.

So after a couple years worth of complaining that UFC's pay-per-view cards have more complete lineups than boxing's -- and that it wasn't even close in comparison -- here's this, and this is about as good as it gets. To recap:

World Middleweight Championship: Kelly Pavlik v. Marco Antonio Rubio
Vacant WBO Welterweight Title: Miguel Cotto v. Michael Jennings
IBF Welterweight Title: Joshua Clottey v. Kermit Cintron
Anthony Peterson v. Julio Diaz
Matvey Korobov v. TBA

Not bad, huh? There are four legit fights on there, even though Cotto-Jennings is an obvious "comeback fight" for Cotto against an opponent likely overmatched.

Of course, I'd still bet at least a small sum of money it won't quite come off this way, that Peterson won't fight someone as good as Julio Diaz, or that Clottey-Cintron simply isn't fiscally possible to throw on with the rest of the purses, but it'd be great if it did happen. Talk about your bargain PPVs at 30 bones.

For Shane Mosley, his fight with Antonio Margarito is arguably his most daunting task in years.

The last time Mosley beat an elite opponent came in September 2003, when he won a 12-round decision against Oscar de la Hoya in their rematch. And a Google search of that fight will tell you there may have been something more than hard work going on that night with Mosley.

Since that win over the "Golden Boy," Shane has gone 6-3, beating Fernando Vargas (twice), Ricardo Mayorga, Luis Collazo, Jose Luis Cruz and David Estrada, and losing to Winky Wright (twice) and Miguel Cotto. In other words, on the three occasions he's faced a truly top-shelf opponent, Mosley has lost. He hasn't fought badly in any of the fighs (no Tito Trinidad losses), but he's lost.

Shane is an interesting fighter for any number of reasons, the biggest of which to me has always been style. Though Mosley has long had the skills to be a hit-and-avoid slickster perhaps nearly on par with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., (in my opinion, of course), he has never fought that way.

As has often been said, Mosley can't help himself when he tries to box. He loves to throw down. He loves to fight.

Against Miguel Cotto, who does not have huge power at 147 pounds, he managed to fight tooth-and-nail. Against the big, rangy, powerful and rugged Margarito, conventional wisdom points to one thing: Mosley stopped early for the first time in his career.

Of course, that also tells us something else. Shane's chin, like Margarito's, is outstanding, among the best in the sport.

It's already been brought up in the comments for part one of this preview, but if Mosley is to beat Margarito, he will have to ignore that impulse to brawl. It simply doesn't seem as though, at 37, he'll have the firepower to stand up to the younger, stronger, and bigger Margarito for 12 full rounds without getting beaten down at some point.

Mosley, now trained by Nazim Richardson, will likely have to incorporate a gameplan that looks something like what Bernard Hopkins did against Kelly Pavlik, and something like what Cotto did against Margarito for six rounds. Margarito is slower of hand than Mosley, same as Pavlik was against Hopkins, but Pavlik's weight gain, possible sickness, and perhaps a lingering elbow injury made him look really slow. Margarito will throw a lot of punches, and will be more than happy to get hit in order to land on Sugar Shane.

Unlike Cotto, Mosley won't want to simply glide around the ring looking to land and avoid, either. That wore Cotto down -- it would wear anyone down, especially with Margarito pot-shotting to the body the way he did against Cotto.

If Mosley is to beat Margarito, he will have to be perfect, or damn close to it.

So does Shane Mosley have a prayer? Of course he does. He's a world class fighter, a Hall of Famer-to-be, and he hasn't yet slowed down the way other future HOFers still fighting on have done.

But does he have a legitimate shot? Is this close to a 50-50 fight on paper? If you're asking me, no, not even close. Shane Mosley should be considered a huge underdog.