Kos

It is standard operating procedure in professional boxing to feed up-and- coming fighters a steady diet of cream puffs, making it easier to assemble a glossy record and zoom toward a world rating with a little resistance. By all rights, Ivan "Mighty" Robinson, the near-Olympian from Nicetown, should be chowing down on hapless opponents fresh from the bakery oven at this comparatively early stage of his career. He ought not to have to step up in class to guys who might actually give him a fight until he'd polished off, oh, 15 or 20 empty-calorie snacks.

Here is a list of the boxers for the third season of 'The Contenders,' which begins Sept. 4 on ESPN2: Max Alexander (14-1, 2 KOs), 26, Camden David Banks (14-2-1, 2 KOs), 24, Portland, Ore. Saiko Bika (22-3-2, 14 KOs), 28, Cameroon Henry Buchanan (14-1, 11 KOs), 28, Capitol Heights, Md. LaFarrell Bunting (16-3-1, 16 KOs), 27, Las Vegas Jaidon Codrington (16-1, 12 KOs), 23, Queens, N.Y. Miguel Hernandez (20-5, 10 KOs), 32, Chicago Wayne Johnsen (16-1, 9 KOs)

NEW YORK - A pair of brown-tinted sunglasses concealed Gabriel Rosado's bludgeoned left eye, an injury that cut short the gritty North Philadelphian's bid for a world championship. Gennady Golovkin, the WBA and IBO middleweight champion, opened two cuts near Rosado's eye early in Saturday's fight at Madison Square Garden and continued to target the wound until Billy Briscoe, Rosado's trainer, threw in the towel during the seventh round to end the fight on a technical knockout. "Billy is going to look out for my best interests," Rosado said as he dabbed a bloodied white cloth underneath the sunglasses.

AGENDA Who: Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) vs. Timothy Bradley (28-0-0, 12 KOs) What: WBO welterweight championship fight Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas When: 9 p.m. Saturday TV: HBO Pay-Per-View Undercard: Three Philadelphia boxers are also fighting that night: Mike Jones (26-0-0, 19 Kos) vs. Randall Bailey (42-7-0, 36 Kos), for vacant IBF welterweight title; Teon Kennedy (17-1-2, 7 KOs) vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux (9-0-0, 7 KOs)

THE BROKEN bones have healed. He no longer is confined to a wheelchair. But the wounds to Rock Allen's mind and spirit aren't quite as visible, and they continue to hurt him in ways that may be beyond absolute repair. Allen, the North Philadelphian who was the 140-pound representative on the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team that competed in Athens, Greece, was 15-0 with seven knockouts as a professional when he was involved in a horrific automobile accident on June 7, 2011, that nearly killed him. He has not fought since he scored a unanimous, six-round decision over Adan Hernandez on April 10, 2009, in Tucson, Ariz., and, although he has not officially announced his retirement from boxing, it seems highly likely that he never again will be seen doing his thing in the ring.

Harold Brazier, of South Bend, Ind., stopped Philadelphia's Brian Baronet at 2:02 of the 10th round to capture the vacant North American Boxing Federation junior welterweight championship at the Sands Hotel and Casino last night. Brazier raised his record to 38-7-1 (26 KOs) while Baronet, who had been rated as the No. 10 contender by the International Boxing Federation, fell to 32-3 (18 KOs).

MAIN EVENTS president Kathy Duva and matchmaker J Russell Peltz have come up with late substitutions for Saturday night's featured bout at the Asylum Arena, which was to have paired heavyweight contenders Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18 KOs) and Sergei Liakhovich (25-4, 16 KOs). That fight went by the boards when Chambers suffered cracked ribs in training last week and was forced to withdraw. The new 10-round main event for the debut event of four 2012 cards to be televised by the NBC Sports Network pits Maurice "Freight Train" Byarm (13-0-1, 9 KOs)

HOUSTON - What potentially could be the biggest all-Philadelphia boxing event in decades is only two unclaimed world-championship belts from coming into sharper focus. The first of those belts could be cinched around Danny "Swift" Garcia's waist late Saturday night, when the WBC's No. 4-ranked contender from Juniata Park challenges WBC super-lightweight titlist Erik Morales at the Reliant Center. The scheduled 12-round main event is part of a doubleheader to be televised nationally by HBO, the lead-in of which is a 10-rounder pitting middleweights James Kirkland (30-1, 27 KOs)

While recovering from injuries suffered in a 1993 automobile accident, former welterweight contender Glenwood "The Real Beast" Brown consoled himself by stuffing his face. "The Real Beast" became "The Real Feast" as he gained nearly 100 pounds, topping out at an unseemly 240. George Foreman might feel emaciated at that weight, but you have to consider the built-low-to-the-ground Brown is only 5-7 1/2. "It was very hard trying to get back into it," Brown said of his return to training after a 14-month layoff from the ring.

The first "Law Enforcement Fight Night" at the Blue Horizon in North Philadelphia will take place tonight. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police and the Sentennials of Law Enforcement. The card will include eight bouts. The main event will be a scheduled 10-rounder between junior middleweights Pete Manfredo Jr. (18-0, 8 KOs) of Providence, R.I., and Leonard Townsend (37-15-1, 20 KOs) of Chicago. Tyrone Winkler (12-7-1, 5 KOs), a Philadelphia policeman who fights as a junior middleweight, will step into the ring against Adam Green (6-0, 2 KOs)

THE BROKEN bones have healed. He no longer is confined to a wheelchair. But the wounds to Rock Allen's mind and spirit aren't quite as visible, and they continue to hurt him in ways that may be beyond absolute repair. Allen, the North Philadelphian who was the 140-pound representative on the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team that competed in Athens, Greece, was 15-0 with seven knockouts as a professional when he was involved in a horrific automobile accident on June 7, 2011, that nearly killed him. He has not fought since he scored a unanimous, six-round decision over Adan Hernandez on April 10, 2009, in Tucson, Ariz., and, although he has not officially announced his retirement from boxing, it seems highly likely that he never again will be seen doing his thing in the ring.

Tyson Fury, Britain's heavyweight boxing star, had finished his brief remarks on Thursday afternoon and sat down at Jack Demsey's Pub in Manhattan before he said he had one more thought: Has anyone sponsored the bottom of Steve Cunningham's boots? If not, Fury said he would like to put his Twitter handle on the bottom so he can gain more followers after he knocks out the West Philadelphian on April 20 at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in a match televised on NBC. Cunningham dismissed Fury and said he had no interest in talking.

NEW YORK - Bernard Hopkins traded in his ski mask for a brown knit hat at his postfight news conference shortly after midnight on Sunday morning. His alter ego, the Executioner, was gone, Hopkins explained. Still, it was the rediscovery of his old Executioner attitude that had allowed the 48-year-old Hopkins to dismantle 31-year-old Tavoris Cloud by unanimous decision on Saturday night at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. Hopkins captured Cloud's IBF light-heavyweight title and surpassed his own mark as the oldest boxer ever to win a world title.

Wladimir Klitschko will defend his four heavyweight titles against Francesco Pianeta in May. Klitschko's management said the fight will take place on May 4 in Mannheim, Germany. Klitschko holds the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight belts. Pianeta (28-0-1, 15 KOs) was briefly Klitschko's sparring partner last year. Klitschko is 59-3 with 51 KOs. British boxer John Donnelly was suspended for two years after a positive doping test. TENNIS: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Mardy Fish in the American's return to the court after a six-month absence caused by a heart condition in the inaugural Los Angeles Tennis Challenge exhibition.

One day after Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods went home, more top seeds followed Friday in the Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz. No. 3 seed Luke Donald lost to Scott Piercy, as did No. 4 seed Louis Oosthuizen , who never led against Robert Garrigus . Masters champion Bubba Watson , the No. 8 seed, was the only top-10 seed remaining. American Stacey Lewis shot a 3-under 69 at the Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course in Chonburi for a 12-under 132 to keep her 3-stroke lead after the second round of the LPGA Thailand.

If Bernard Hopkins could have extended the fingertips of his outstretched right hand a little bit more, he might have touched the ceiling. The 48-year-old boxer was demonstrating how steep and high the hills are near Fairmount Park's Valley Green, where he runs at 6:30 each morning in preparation for his March 9 IBF light-heavyweight title bout with champion Tavoris Cloud at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But what Hopkins could not show with a wave of his hand are the doubts he wards off each morning.

Karl Dargan's Saturday night bout on NBC Sports Network will be just his 12th in a little more than five years. The North Philadelphia lightweight has not quite been the busiest fighter. And with a new promotional contract and television exposure, Dargan said that is about to change. "I want to fight no less than three or four times a year," Dargan said Tuesday at Joe Hand Gym in Northern Liberties. "At 135 [pounds], I feel that they can put anybody in the ring with me. " Dargan (11-0, 6 KOs)

BERNARD HOPKINS knows he is old. He knows, still fighting at age 48, that he is an outlier, that most boxers his age would be taking a huge risk entering the ring. He knows this because it is always the first question he is asked, and it has been for almost 15 years. "I don't mind that question, I get it all the time," Hopkins said on Tuesday at a media workout at Joe Hand Boxing Gym. Hopkins is training for his HBO-televised challenge of undefeated IBF light-heavyweight champ Tavoris Cloud, scheduled for March 9 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. "How long they been calling me old?"

GABRIEL ROSADO was knocked out in the seventh round by champion Gennady Golovkin in their WBA middleweight title bout Saturday night in New York. Rosado (21-6, 13 KOs) was bloodied over his left eye and had blood coming from his nose by the fourth round. The ringside doctor looked at Rosado's eye before the sixth and seventh rounds and allowed the fight to continue. Rosado's trainer, Billy Briscoe, threw in the towel at 2 minutes, 46 seconds of the seventh round. Golovkin (25-0, 22 KOs)

NEW YORK - A pair of brown-tinted sunglasses concealed Gabriel Rosado's bludgeoned left eye, an injury that cut short the gritty North Philadelphian's bid for a world championship. Gennady Golovkin, the WBA and IBO middleweight champion, opened two cuts near Rosado's eye early in Saturday's fight at Madison Square Garden and continued to target the wound until Billy Briscoe, Rosado's trainer, threw in the towel during the seventh round to end the fight on a technical knockout. "Billy is going to look out for my best interests," Rosado said as he dabbed a bloodied white cloth underneath the sunglasses.