Take it to the Bank

This week we've got undefeated cruiserweight contender Jonathon Banks and ESPN's Joe Tessitore.

Banks is a highly touted prospect who takes on Tomasz Adamek, Friday night on ShoBox. It should be a war as Adamek is extremely tough. This is Banks' time to either shine or get back in line. He can bang, he's personable and is handled by Manny Steward, so it's not hard to picture him as a star. But he's got a very tough test Friday night.

ESPN's Joe Tessitore is a long-time friend of the show and he'll talk about this season's Friday Night Fights and this week's Glen Johnson - Daniel Judah main event.

Getting Your Money's Worth

This week, we've got two fighters who always give fans their money's worth -- IBO lightweight champ Juan Diaz and former light heavyweight king Glen Johnson. Both boxers let their hands fly for 12 straight rounds if necessary. In addition, both are great guys out of the ring. It's hard to find two people more well liked and respected in the sport.

Speaking of getting your money's worth, that's what you get when you go to a Don King show. This weekend's Boxing After Dark undercard featured 9 fights! Heavyweight prospect Bermane Stiverne looked ordinary beating Robert Hawkins. Stiverne was someone I thought had the potential to be heavyweight champ some day. Now I'm not so sure.

I was the undercard announcer and I can tell you that Don got his money's worth out of me.

After all this time, I finally met Michael Buffer. I've talked to him on the phone before and had him on the show, but never spoke to him in person. He couldn't have been nicer. I also talked with Max Kellerman who confirmed my theory that he never received all of my interview requests for the past two years. Now that he's been on once, hopefully that log jam has been eliminated.

Also, I was threatened for refusing to write a story about Owen Beck. Seriously. After being asked to write the story, I replied that no one cared about Beck when he was a fringe contender. Boxing fans certainly don't care about him now. That led to threats that I'd be paid a visit within 48 hours to change my mind. So if there's dead air Thursday at 9:06, you know what happened.

Let Me Entertain You

This week on the show, we've got two of the most entertaining people that I know in the sport. Lightweight champ Nate Campbell will join us. He is always outspoken and he and I often go toe to toe on various subjects.

You're also in for a treat with matchmaker John Beninati. He currently works for Gary Shaw Productions and has worked for Don King in the past. John has hilarious stories to tell including his experience of making the big time with Don. He'll also talk about his experience over the past week in trying to find an opponent for Alfredo Angulo after Ricardo Mayorga pulled out of the fight.

By the way, if you're interested in what went on in Margarito's dressing room, this is the best story I've come across that describes those moments. http://www.hbo.com/boxing/events/2009/0124_margarito_mosley/columns/nazim_profile.html

Packed House

This week's show will be jam packed with guests.

Kermit Cintron will talk about his upcoming fight with Sergio Martinez. And you know I'm going to ask him if he thinks Antonio Margarito had anything illegal in his gloves when he handed Kermit a beating last April.

Andre Ward is the last American to win gold at the Olympics. That was nearly 5 years ago. Boxing fans have been waiting for this talented fighter to make his move to the top of the division. Will he do it in 2009?

And Mike Silver, author of "The Arc of Boxing, The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science" will discuss his book and why today's fighters couldn't carry the spit buckets of the greats from yesteryear. We'll also give away a copy of the book as a prize for trivia.

On a personal note, I'll be working the undercard of the HBO show next weekend for Don King. I really enjoy introducing fighters that I know. Heavyweight prospect Bermane Stiverne is a guy I've written about before. He's incredibly exciting to watch. Cruiser prospect Francisco Palacios is a guy I've known for years and Olympian Gary Russell, Jr, whose pro debut I announced on ShoBox will all be on that card.

Even better, my wife and my parents will be at the show, all watching me for the first time. I asked my 7 year old son, who couldn't care less about sports, if he wanted to go. Without looking up from his computer game he strongly declared, "No." I walked away muttering, "It's OK. It's only your father announcing in a big arena in front of thousands of people on a Don King card."

It Ain't Braggin if You Can Back it Up

Shane Mosley told us that he's been fighting rough and tough Mexican fighters his whole life and that he could more than handle Antonio Margarito. I believed him, which is why I picked him to win the fight. I must admit I never suspected he had the power to knock him out.

Another guy who is the first to tell you how he is going to win is Vic Darchinyan. Other than a poor performance against Nonito Donaire, Vic has backed up all of his talking - most recently in an upset win over Christian Mijares.

This week, Vic will tell us all about how he is going to dismantle Jorge Arce.

We'll also check in with Fightnews' Karl Freitag, our resident expert on the European boxing scene. He'll break down the upcoming Chagaev - Drummond fight. As the publisher of Fightnews, he's also got his finger on the pulse of the business of boxing. Karl will offer his insight on the business during these tough economic times.

Tune in and call in on Thursday.

Two Ghosts

This week we'll have Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero. He fights Saturday night for the first time in over a year.

The second ghost we'll have is Max Kellerman. I call him a ghost because I've been trying to get him on the show for a long long time. I don't know if it's been my constant bashing of HBO's PR team or if they're starting to feel the heat of Showtime's competition, but they finally came through for me.

I'm really looking forward to speaking with Max because I used to watch him on public access cable when he was a 16 year old kid and I was a fan with no involvement in the sport. I used to call him up and try to stump him and was never able to. I plan on coming clean that I was "94th St. Marc" who used to ask him questions about Saoul Mamby.

Should be a lot of fun. Be sure to tune in.

In the Air, Not On the Air

No show tonight as I will be in the air on my way to Tulsa to ring announce ShoBox on Friday night. Sports Byline will run a "best of" Through the Ropes, so you can listen at www.sportsbyline.com if you need a fix.

We'll be back live next week.

By the way, I can't wait to get to Tulsa. It's going to be 14 degrees and I didn't take a winter coat. Good times.