QUICK HITS

Pavlik

• Despite reports in the Ohio media that Pavlik injured his left elbow in training camp, he said they were blown out of proportion. "With the local people, the media, you always say things and they get blown up to a whole new level," Pavlik said. "We bumped it about maybe a month ago and had a little bruise on it, but it was nothing that ice didn't fix." Pavlik said he continued sparring regularly after the bruise and has had no problems with it. "People hear one little thing," he said. "It was a little leak, I hit it that day and that little leak turned into something big for a reporter to keep his job."

Campbell

• Unified lightweight titleholder Nate Campbell, who declared bankruptcy earlier this month and rejected his promotional contract with Don King, met recently with Golden Boy Promotions in Los Angeles about a possible deal. Two fights in particular were discussed, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting: Campbell against Juan Diaz in a rematch, or a fight with lineal champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Diaz, who lost his belts to Campbell in March, and Marquez are both with Golden Boy. King, meantime, has sent legal letters to promoters and television networks threatening legal action if they put Campbell on.

Barrera

• Marco Antonio Barrera, the former three-division champ who is ending a brief retirement after signing with King, has an opponent for his comeback fight Nov. 7 in Chengdu, China. Barrera, idle since losing a rematch to Manny Pacquiao last October, will face Mexican countryman Sammy Ventura (25-19, 20 KOs). Although the bout is scheduled for 12 rounds, don't bank on it going the distance. Ventura has been stopped in 16 of his losses.

Valuev

• While King is working on the China card, he is also attempting to put together a defense for heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev, whom he co-promotes with Sauerland Event. The German-based company has made an offer to former four-time champ Evander Holyfield to face Valuev in Germany on Dec. 20. However, King is proposing a fight for Valuev against Andrew Golota on the same date. King would like to put the bout at New York's Madison Square Garden and distribute it via pay-per-view, according to two sources with knowledge of the proposal. However, the Garden is booked on Dec. 20. Golota would have to defeat Ray Austin on the China card to make the fight possible. Valuev-Golota appears to be a long shot, however, because Valuev stands to make more money against Holyfield (or another opponent) by staying in Germany.

Alexander

• Within a couple of days of King's being heavily criticized for keeping junior welterweight prospect Devon Alexander, 21, out of action for eight months, manager Kevin Cunningham told ESPN.com that King offered Alexander two fights, one on the China show and the other in the opener on the Versus-televised Steve Cunningham-Tomasz Adamek cruiserweight title bout Dec. 11 in Newark, N.J. "It's about time this kid get some attention," Cunningham said.

• After airing for eight seasons on ESPN2 -- the first six as "Tuesday Night Fights" and the past two as "Wednesday Night Fights" -- ESPN has pulled the plug on the midweek live boxing series that ran during the spring and summer. The reasons: weak ratings and a money crunch at the network that also saw it cut coverage of most of next year's spring training baseball games. The money saved by cancelling "WNF" will not be pumped into "Friday Night Fights," which returns for its 11th season Jan. 9, instead of the originally scheduled Jan. 2.

Torres

• When Top Rank made a deal with Showtime to air the rubber match between junior welterweight titlist Kendall Holt and ex-titleholder Ricardo Torres on Dec. 13, it was only the first step in a longer-range plan. A key part of the negotiation between Top Rank and Showtime for the fight was that the winner agree to next face fellow titleholder Timothy Bradley on Showtime in the first half of 2009, according to Top Rank president Todd duBoef and Bradley promoter Gary Shaw. Bradley would likely face the winner in April, Shaw said.

Rodriguez

• Welterweight Delvin Rodriguez (23-2-1, 14 KOs) heads to Johannesburg, South Africa, to face Isaac Hlatshwayo (28-1, 10 KOs) on Nov. 17 in an eliminator -- with a shot at beltholder Joshua Clottey at stake -- Rodriguez manager Stan Hoffman told ESPN.com. Hoffman said they signed for the fight this week after talks for a Nov. 29 challenge of welterweight titlist Paul Williams broke off. HBO would not approve the match. Hoffman, of course, has fond memories of South Africa. He co-managed Hasim Rahman when he knocked out Lennox Lewis in a major upset to win the heavyweight championship there.

Phillips

• With Rodriguez out as an opponent for Williams, junior middleweight titleholder Verno Phillips is back in the picture as Williams' likely opponent in the headline bout on HBO's Nov. 29 "Boxing After Dark" card. However, it is uncertain whether Williams will face Phillips for his 154-pound belt. If the fight happens, it could be a nontitle fight -- and Phillips likely would relinquish his belt -- if the IBF does not approve the match.

• Promoters Gary Shaw and Cedric Kushner signed South African lightweight contender Ali Funeka (30-1-2, 25 KOs) to a co-promotional agreement. Funeka, a gigantic lightweight at 6 feet tall, burst onto the world scene with a crushing five-knockdown performance in a fourth-round knockout of Zahir Raheem in July to become one of unified titlist Nate Campbell's mandatory challengers. Following the bout, Funeka and South African promoter Branco Milenkovic parted ways, and Funeka signed a multiyear deal with Shaw and Kushner, who intend to bring him to the U.S. "We want to do the fight with Campbell," Shaw said. "If we have to go to purse bid, we will. I think Funeka is exciting enough for either HBO or Showtime to have an interest in him. I think he and Campbell is a terrific fight." Shaw also signed interim junior featherweight titleholder Ricardo Cordoba (34-1-2, 21 KOs) of Panama to a co-promotional agreement with Miami-based Bad Dog Promotions with the intention of bringing him to the U.S.

Guzman

• Joan Guzman (28-0, 17 KOs), who failed to make weight and then pulled out of a Sept. 13 bout with lightweight titlist Nate Campbell hours before, is planning to fight Dec. 20 in his native Dominican Republic, Sean Gibbons of Guzman promoter Sycuan Ringside Promotions told ESPN.com. Gibbons said the former junior lightweight and junior featherweight titleholder would fight at 135 pounds, even though he couldn't make that weight to face Campbell, instead weighing 138½. "Guzman has been training and says he can make that weight, so we'll see," Gibbons said. "He needs to show he has the desire and can make the weight, win and hope for bigger things in 2009."

Abraham

• Middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham has good reason to pick middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to defeat Bernard Hopkins in their 170-pound fight Saturday -- he wants to preserve a possible big-money showdown with him next year. "I have a lot of respect for both fighters," Abraham said. "Normally I'd say the better man should win, but in this case I am supporting Pavlik for a simple reason. I want to be the first man to defeat him. I want to fight him as soon as possible to unify the titles. I will even come to his home city to prove that I am the world's best middleweight boxer." Even if Pavlik does win, Abraham still has to take care of mandatory challenger Raul Marquez on Nov. 8 (Integrated Sports PPV) in their fight, which was postponed from Oct. 4 because of Abraham's bout with the flu. "Once I have beaten [Marquez], my management can focus on the showdown with Pavlik."

Prescott

• Colombian lightweight Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs), who stunningly knocked out Amir Khan in the first round in a major upset on Sept. 6, signed with Germany's Arena Box-Promotion and DeCubas Presents, the co-promoters announced. Arena's Ahmet Öner said his company already had Prescott under contract when he signed to fight Khan but had delayed the announcement until now. "This kid is a true jewel," Öner said. "He is one of the most powerful lightweights around and he definitely [has] championship potential. Also, the lightweight division is extremely hot with superstars like [Manny] Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez or Nate Campbell. I am sure we will see lots of great fights of Breidis."

QUOTABLE

Mijares

"Darchinyan is talking too much because he's scared of me. Jorge Arce talked a lot of trash too and I shut him up. I'll do the same with Darchinyan." -- unified junior bantamweight titlist Cristian Mijares on beltholder Vic Darchinyan, whom he faces Nov. 1 (Showtime) to further unify the 115-pound division

QUOTABLE

Darchinyan

"I didn't have to take this fight but I'm so glad I did. I will knock him out, there's no question about it. I will come not just to win. I will knock him out." -- Darchinyan predicting the result of his bout with Mijares