Timothy Bradley

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)

PHILADELPHIA'S DANNY Garcia will fight Erik Morales for the WBC super lightweight championship on Jan. 25 in Houston. The bout officially will be announced at a news conference today. Garcia (22-0, 14 knockouts) won the WBO junior welterweight title with a split-decision victory over Kendall Holt in October in Los Angeles. It was Garcia's first appearance on a pay-per-view telecast. Garcia, 23, is from the Juniata section and is part of a young group of Philadelphia fighters, including welterweight Mike Jones, rising to the next level.

MANNY PACQUIAO might meet an old foe in a new place in September. Promoter Bob Arum said he is trying to put together a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez and shopping it to casinos in Macau and Singapore. Marquez would be the most likely opponent for Pacquiao, though Arum indicated earlier that Timothy Bradley - who won a disputed decision over Pacquiao last year - is another possibility. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out in the sixth round in December, flattening the Filipino fighter with a right hand that left him face down on the canvas for 2 minutes.

For Philadelphia boxing fans of a certain age, the 1970s were not just about Watergate, Vietnam, and really ugly leisure suits. The decade was the last golden era of Philly boxing, and arguably the most gilded stretch of sustained excellence for what many still consider to be America's finest fight town. At one point in the mid-1970s, four of the world's 10 highest-rated middleweights — Bennie Briscoe, Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts and Willie "The Worm" Monroe — were based in Philly.

More than 900 people have joined the search for Lance Armstrong's stolen bike. The custom Trek Livestrong 1274 was taken after Armstrong used it during Saturday's time trial before the first stage of the Tour of California. Those hunting for the bike enlisted through the Facebook group "1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong's Stolen Bike. " The search was set up by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's communications office. The editor of Cycling News says the bike is worth $10,000 and calls this the biggest bike theft ever.

EIGHT WEEKS AGO, after a controversial double-tiebreaker loss to Terrell Gausha at the USA National Championships in Fort Carson, Colo., ended his dream of representing his country at this summer's London Olympics, a bitterly disappointed Jesse Hart hinted that he might be through with boxing forever. "Right now, I don't think I'll ever fight again," said the 22-year-old North Philadelphian. "I don't even know about the pros. " But they say that time heals all wounds, and the signing of a lucrative contract and a chance to make your professional debut on one of boxing's biggest stages make a great salve.

LAS VEGAS - Three times in a 30-minute sit-down with reporters Wednesday, Manny Pacquiao assured the media he is not underestimating Timothy Bradley before their welterweight world-title fight Saturday night. "I know what Timothy is feeling now, how he's trained hard, thinking this is his big break," Pacquiao said. The unsettling fact for the 33-year-old Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts), as he finalizes preparations for his 60th pro fight, is that the underdog spirit he relates to in Bradley is what helped push the champ to breakthrough victories years ago over Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Oscar De La Hoya.

LAS VEGAS - Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally found himself in a real fight, complete with a bloody nose and an opponent, in Miguel Cotto, who was never going to quit. As usual, he found a way to win. Mayweather used his speed and accuracy Saturday night to take a unanimous decision over a game Cotto in a bruising bout to win a piece of the 154-pound title. But it wasn't easy, as Cotto landed some hard punches and kept attacking all the way to the final bell. "You're a hell of a champion," Mayweather told Cotto in the ring afterward.

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)

It ended with a birdie, a standing ovation and a seventh-place finish for Annika Sorenstam, leaving the Hall of Fame golfer with no regrets after the final stroke of her career. The Swedish star shot a 1-under 71 yesterday at the Dubai Ladies Masters in the United Arab Emirates, finishing 6 shots behind winner Anja Monke after an eight-foot birdie at No. 18 drew a standing ovation from the packed gallery. Sorenstam, 38, is retiring to focus on family and business interests.

MANNY PACQUIAO might meet an old foe in a new place in September. Promoter Bob Arum said he is trying to put together a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez and shopping it to casinos in Macau and Singapore. Marquez would be the most likely opponent for Pacquiao, though Arum indicated earlier that Timothy Bradley - who won a disputed decision over Pacquiao last year - is another possibility. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out in the sixth round in December, flattening the Filipino fighter with a right hand that left him face down on the canvas for 2 minutes.

LAS VEGAS - The idea of Manny Pacquiao being knocked out cold was shocking enough. The sight of him face down on the canvas, unresponsive even as bedlam broke out all around him, was positively frightening. Pacquiao's wife, Jinkee, broke down in tears and tried to get in the ring to aid her downed husband. Juan Manuel Marquez didn't even look. He was already busy celebrating the knockout of a lifetime. This was boxing at its brutal best, a toe-to-toe welterweight slugfest late Saturday night that was destined from the opening bell to be decided by fists instead of judges.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., is investigating allegations that former doubles champion Bob Hewitt sexually abused girls he coached, an inquiry that could result in expulsion from the Hall. Hewitt, 72, won all of the Grand Slam doubles during his decades-long career in the 1960s and 1970s and was inducted into the Hall in 1992. He lives in South Africa and has not been charged criminally. Among Hewitt's accusers is Heather Conner, of West Newbury, Mass., who has spoken publicly before and agreed to be identified.

ONE OF boxing's major sanctioning bodies will review Timothy Bradley's controversial split-decision victory over Manny Pacquiao, the first step toward what promoter Bob Arum hopes will be "clarity" in the judging of the fight. WBO President Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel said in a statement Wednesday that the WBO's championship committee will review video of the fight with five "recognized international judges" and make a recommendation. He said the WBO does not doubt the ability of the scoring judges.

LAS VEGAS — Nobody likes to feel like a schmuck, but if you listen to fight promoter Bob Arum that's exactly how anyone who watched the World Welterweight Championship fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley should have felt after the judge's decision was announced. To say that Arum was unhappy with the split decision that made Bradley the newly crowned World Boxing Organization welterweight champion and dealt Pacquiao his first loss since March, 2005, would be understating an understatement.

LAS VEGAS - Three times in a 30-minute sit-down with reporters Wednesday, Manny Pacquiao assured the media he is not underestimating Timothy Bradley before their welterweight world-title fight Saturday night. "I know what Timothy is feeling now, how he's trained hard, thinking this is his big break," Pacquiao said. The unsettling fact for the 33-year-old Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts), as he finalizes preparations for his 60th pro fight, is that the underdog spirit he relates to in Bradley is what helped push the champ to breakthrough victories years ago over Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Oscar De La Hoya.

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 RODRIGUEZ family never directed any animosity toward Teon Kennedy.   Yes, it was during a boxing match with Kennedy on Nov. 20, 2009, that the youngest of the three Rodriguez brothers, Francisco, received the injuries that ultimately claimed his life. But Evaristo Rodriguez Sr. had been a professional fighter, and he introduced his boys — Alex, Evaristo, Jr (Tito) and Francisco — to the sport. They understood what happened to Francisco could have happened to Kennedy or any other fighter who enters a ring.

IT'S NEVER a good idea to look too far ahead in boxing. Even a momentary lack of focus on the task at hand could end up in a costly setback at the wrong time. Still, it doesn't take much connecting of dots to see that undefeated Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones could be in line for some special opportunities if he is succeeds in becoming the International Boxing Federation champion on Saturday in Las Vegas. Ranked No. 1 by the IBF, Jones (26-0, 19 KOs) will fight No. 2-ranked Randall Bailey (41-7, 36 KOs)

For Philadelphia boxing fans of a certain age, the 1970s were not just about Watergate, Vietnam, and really ugly leisure suits. The decade was the last golden era of Philly boxing, and arguably the most gilded stretch of sustained excellence for what many still consider to be America's finest fight town. At one point in the mid-1970s, four of the world's 10 highest-rated middleweights — Bennie Briscoe, Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts and Willie "The Worm" Monroe — were based in Philly.