Old Diogenes strolled the streets and alleys of Ancient Athens carrying his oil lamp and searching for the elusive honest man. Me, I search earnestlessly for the solid boxing man who will go out on a limb and pick Mexican ringmaster Juan Manuel Marquez to upset the undefeated and comebacking Floyd Mayweather Jr. I?m not a totally defective detective, I have ascertained that the reason my search is so futile is that Juan Ma, age 36 and creaking a bit, is older, slower and can?t hit as crisply as ?Money May? can. So I fought an oracle named Don ?War A Week? Chargin, the octogenarian who made his bones producing one great fight after another?week in, week out, month in, month out and year after year?at the Los Angeles Temple de Boxeo, the old Olympic Auditorium. Chargin, who with wife/sidekick Lorraine is still making matches and putting on shows (their latest hot prospect is MMA standout Nick Diaz), is biased when it comes to Mexican fighters. Let?s be upfront on that. Chargin is BIASED FOR the South of the Border battlers who provided him and the fans with so much blood and gore at the Olympic. Maybe, I guessed, Chargin would see a sliver of a slender reed of a tiny chance of Mayweather being upset. But Chargin, who just finished a lengthy stint as a key adviser to promoter Golden Boy, is like nearly all of his contemporaries. I say upset by Juan Ma, Chargin says No Sale. After speaking with the sagacious Chargin, I was humming the theme to ?Mission Impossible? in terms of Marquez?s chances. ?If it goes to a decision, it will because of the work of Nacho (Beristain, Marquez?s celebrated trainer),? Chargin said from his Central California Wine Country home. ?I wouldn?t too surprised to see Mayweather stop him in the late rounds.? With all the media attention being paid to Manny Pacquiao, Chargin believes Mayweather won?t be content with a close victory. ?No, Floyd will be going all out. Mayweather is a nightmare opponent for anybody with the tools he?s got. He?s got so much speed.? Chargin is rooting more for Nacho than he is for Juan Ma. The two go way back to when Beristain was trying to crack the hard to break into Olmypic lineup. ?There were four dominant managers in Mexico?Cucu Conde, Lupe Sanchez, Lupe Serrano and Pancho Rosales?and they told me not to use Nacho?s kids. Nacho was a young trainer trying to get work and these guys had a monopoly in Mexico. He had a kid named Aceves and I began using him.? Beristain gets ?work? on Sept. 19 against Mayweather. But Chargin, like so many others, views it as a payday and nothing more.
