Freddie Roach

LAS VEGAS -- Someone's confidence is either misguided, or Saturday's Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Sergio Martinez fight will be a boxing match for the ages. World Boxing Council middleweight champion Chavez, 26, could walk into the Thomas & Mack Center ring with as great as a 20-pound advantage. That brawn and an unconventional training method that has led him to skip sparring sessions altogether and launch other workouts between 1 and 5 a.m. emboldens Chavez. "I'm crazy. I'm a boxer.

Little has come easy for Sergio Martinez in life. The 37-year-old emerged from some of the poorest, toughest streets in Argentina to ultimately embrace boxing, grinding through nothing bouts in Buenos Aires around a knockout loss to Antonio Margarito 12 years ago. The southpaw sustained, continuing to develop through a draw and close loss in 2009 to become the Boxing Writers Assn. of America's fighter of the year in 2010 by defeating world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and knocking out Paul Williams in the second round.

Comedy and boxing don't seem to be an obvious couple. For instance, there's nothing too funny about what Mexico's star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez plans to do to Josesito Lopez on Sept. 15 in their world super-welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. Yet, as Alvarez sweated his way through a workout Wednesday in Santa Monica, he could glance over to the gym's co-owner, comedian Garry Shandling. Shandling has owned the cozy facility, TSB 44, for more than two years with director Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “On Freddie Roach”)

Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 24 - 30 in PDF format TV listings for the week of June 24 - 30 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies   CBS This Morning Director Seth MacFarlane. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Matthew McConaughey; Channing Tatum; R. Kelly. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America Usher; Oliver Stone; Taylor Kitsch; chef Michael Symon.

LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao interrupted training in Hollywood recently and confided in his conditioning coach Alex Ariza that something wasn't right. "I'm not feeling well. I'm restless. I can't eat," Pacquiao told Ariza. "Bro," Ariza answered, "those are all the effects of overtraining. " With that, Ariza began adjusting to a startling revelation: Pacquiao, at age 33, preparing for his 60th professional fight Saturday night at MGM Grand against unbeaten Timothy Bradley, is officially dealing with his ring mortality.

It might be stifling hot in the glorified broom closet where Manny Pacquiao wraps his hands and changes into training gear, but there's a chill elsewhere at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach is not pleased with Pacquiao conditioning coach Alex Ariza. Roach, perturbed at Ariza for leaving Pacquiao during the early portion of their training camp in the Philippines, has mentioned the possibility of a future without Ariza on HBO's "24/7" reality series.

The promoter for Riverside welterweight Josesito Lopez said Monday that the boxer has verbally agreed to replace Andre Berto and fight former world welterweight champion Victor Ortiz of Oxnard on June 23 at Staples Center. Lopez (29-4, 17 knockouts) last fought in September, dropping a questionable split-decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. protege Jessie Vargas on the undercard of Mayweather's knockout victory over Ortiz. Lopez is a tough, smart boxer "who knows how to use the lost art of digging that left hook to the body," according to promoter Dan Goossen.

Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) appeared more human than ever in his last fight, however. As he prepares now for his next bout June 9 against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao and his trainer acknowledge Everyman's frailty has been his most imposing contender. "All the distractions caught up to Manny in his last fight," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday of the boxer's narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Spend enough time around hard-core boxing followers, and their opinions begin taking the shape of gospel. Timothy Bradley is stronger and younger than Manny Pacquiao, the argument starts. Some say that Pacquiao was "exposed" as an older, less powerful fighter in his narrow November decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. And that Bradley, 28, can beat Pacquiao, 33, in their June 9 fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Wait, what? "It's a tough test, this is a young guy coming up to take on the established guy and being undefeated can make you highly resilient to losing," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said about Bradley during a Beverly Hills news conference Tuesday.

Freddie Roach was on track to marry his high school sweetheart and become an arborist caring for ornamental trees. "I chose to become a prizefighter instead," Roach said last week while standing in a ring corner of his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood as a fighter sparred. "I got a plane ticket to Vegas instead, and here we are. " Where he is now is the subject of a new reality series from director Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights") that will debut Friday on HBO; titled, "On Freddie Roach," it's a six-part series co-produced by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley.