So here we go again, a mega week here in Las Vegas that will culminate on Saturday night at a beyond sold out, beyond raucous crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as ‘The Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya takes on Filipino sensation ‘The Pac Man’ Manny Pacquiao scheduled for 12 rounds or less! Now will this turn out to be a mega fight or is it just a mega match-up featuring boxing’s biggest cash cow, De La Hoya, vs., perhaps, boxing’s pound for pound best and most exciting fighter, Pacquiao. I think it is more about the later.

That damn Bernard Hopkins did it to me again! I have no one to blame but myself, well, and maybe Kelly Pavlik a little bit, right? I, more than any other boxing expert, know what Hopkins is capable of doing as I have been actually in the ring with this guy who first hand demonstrated his wide variety of wonderful boxing skills and other boxing attributes.

This week kicks off what will be a great end to the 2008 boxing season, as we head into the holidays and a new year. Unbeaten, big-time knockout artist, Kelly Pavlik from Youngstown, Ohio, takes on one of the great Middleweight Champions of all time, Philadelphian Bernard Hopkins, this Saturday from Atlantic City, New Jersey on HBO pay per view. Before we get to my breakdown of that fight, let me first recap a few fights from this past weekend seen on Showtime Championship Boxing.

Should be a very good weekend featuring mostly Latino Lightweight Championship Boxing with four very good, skilled, tough fighters involved in two separate fights.   Joel Casamayor from Cuba, 36-3-1 (22 KO’s) battles  Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez 48-4-1 (35 KO’s) here in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.  A little further South, down in Biloxi, Mississippi at The Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, it will be Nate Campbell, the lone Americano,  32-5-1 (25 KO’s) taking on unbeaten Joan Guzman 28-0 (17 KO’s) from the Dominican Republic.