Boxing

It's the company man against the bad boy. The fitness freak against the unapologetic pot smoker. Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is as close to the face of the brand as any fighter in the organization. Stockton's Nick Diaz is the black sheep, someone who marches to his own beat, has blown off planned news conferences and tested positive for marijuana after his most recent fight. St-Pierre (23-2) has chafed at how "disrespectful" Diaz (27-8-1)

Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao last June to remain undefeated. It was Pacquaio's first defeat in seven years. But instead of being hailed, Bradley was vilified. Rather than return to Las Vegas' MGM Grand for a big pay-per-view date, Bradley on Saturday will return to the ring and fight an obscure Russian welterweight, Ruslan Provodnikov, at Home Depot Center in Carson for the World Boxing Organization title. "I understand what people say, that just because you beat Tiger Woods doesn't make you Tiger Woods," Bradley said last week in his Indio gym before a training session.

At a spot on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, visitors scoop up sushi, taste frozen yogurt and order lattes. But this isn't a restaurant or even a fancy supermarket. It's that Main Street staple: Walgreens. "It's like an amusement park," gushed West Hollywood resident Brent Leonesio, 30, as he eyed the line of people waiting to pick up caffeinated drinks to go. "They've kind of made this into a destination. It's actually fun to come here. " Once mainstays for late-night snack runs and toilet paper emergencies, drugstores are shaking off their stale image and going upscale.

The Clippers' play on defense has slipped since the All-Star break in mid-February. And that bothers Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro to no end. "I don't think our defensive intensity is where it needs to be right now," Del Negro said. In their three losses since the All-Star break, the Clippers have given up 116 points to San Antonio, 108 to Oklahoma City and 107 to Denver. "You see some of our defensive numbers dropping a little bit," Del Negro said, "and I don't like that.

After the coffee. Before the dentist and lots of pain and blood. The Skinny: On Saturday night, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes showed up in a dream. Last night it was CNN chief Jeff Zucker. Don't let anyone say I don't take my work home with me. Monday's headlines include the weekend box office report and a look at the ratings comeback of ABC's "The Bachelor. " Daily Dose: Graphic sex is no big deal on HBO's "Girls" but Sunday's episode was a bit over the top even for a TV show on pay cable.

This weekend, Sam Raimi's "Oz the Great and Powerful" became the first bona fide blockbuster of the young year (sorry "Identity Thief"). The reasons for any big hit are hard to categorize, and this one's a little more difficult than most. It's a big title that can't draft off the big title. It has four lead actors who are not quite A-listers but who may add up to more than the sum of their parts. (“We wanted to do something with a quartet that collectively said something to the audience,” said producer Joe Roth.)

A week after a near $200-million movie debuted with a flop, another big-budget 3-D film proved to be box office magic. "Oz: The Great and Powerful" enjoyed a far better opening than "Jack the Giant Slayer" did last weekend, launching with a robust $80.3 million in the U.S. and Canada over the weekend, according to an estimate from distributor Walt Disney Studios. The film, which a person close to the movie said cost the studio roughly $235 million to produce, had the biggest launch of the year not only domestically but also internationally.

Bernard Hopkins eclipsed his own record as the oldest boxing champion on Saturday night with his unanimous-decision victory over Tavoris Cloud at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But did an elbow by "The Executioner" to Cloud's left eye help the 48-year-old champion win the IBF light-heavyweight title? "He hit me with an elbow but I'm not complaining," Cloud said after the bout, his first loss in 20 outings. "It is what it is. " Actually, that would be a complaint. The referee ruled it an accidental head butt, but replays showed it was a short left hook, complete with elbow, that did the damage.

After the coffee. Before deciding if I'll see 'Oz' this weekend. The Skinny: After seeing "Being Flynn" on HBO last night, I've decided that "Silver Linings Playbook" was over-hyped. Friday's headlines include a preview of the weekend box office, a look at Alan Horn's first year at the helm of Walt Disney Studios and a review of "Oz: The Great and Powerful. " Daily Dose: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. detailed plans for the spinoff of its publishing arm, which includes the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers around the globe as well as book publisher HarperCollins.

The underwhelming numbers for Warner Bros.' "Jack the Giant Slayer" this weekend remind us that Hollywood executives are masters of public-relations hustles -- and rarely is that talent more dramatically displayed than in the wake of a box-office bomb. You will never hear a marketing or distribution executive publicly admit the truth: Our movie truly stinks, and we're amazed anybody even showed up. Instead, you will get all manner of excuses, fabrications and fibs. They generally can be divided into distinct categories of spin.   VIDEO REVIEW: Nothing magic about 'Jack the Giant Slayer' Here's our look at eight ways studios dissemble when the numbers don't turn out as they had hoped.