And unless Floyd Mayweather Sr.'s work with him in training camp was on the level of Creed-Balboa in Rocky III, he'll not veer too far from script in Las Vegas.

Which makes Paul Malignaggi the real X factor come Saturday night.

The 30-year-old Taylor (28-2-1), fighting for the first time in his career at 168 pounds, won by scores of 119-109 from two of the judges and 118-110 from the other one.

Coming off consecutive losses to Kelly Pavlik, the former middleweight champion pounded Lacy early on.

wasn't there to say it for himself.

But according to both his manager and the CEO of his promotional company, last Saturday's methodical beating at the hands of unbeaten Welsh import Joe Calzaghe will not be the last time the 39-year-old Floridian laces up the gloves.

Instead, before a vocal crowd 14,152 at Madison Square Garden, he just looked old.

The former four-division world champion provided a highlight-reel moment with a first-round knockdown, but never equaled it the rest of the way en route to a methodical, bloody decision loss to unbeaten Welsh import Joe Calzaghe for the Ring Magazine light heavyweight championship.

and likely finished his career unbeaten by scoring a 12-round unanimous decision Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

The fight for the light heavyweight championship as recognized by Ring Magazine turned out to be a walk in the park for Calzaghe, who was actually knocked down in the first round but won 118-109 on all three scorecards.

The fight was originally scheduled for October 4, but Abraham (28-0, 23 KOs) came down with the flu and the bout was postponed.

The month-long layoff apparently worked to Abraham's advantage, as the Armenian-born fighter came out strong and beat Marquez (41-4-1) over six rounds, so thoroughly that Marquez did not come out of his corner for the seventh.

"That made me feel so good to be an American again, and I'm so proud to be an American," said Jones, at the final pre-fight media gathering Wednesday at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill in Times Square.

"It's 20 years since I represented this country (at the 1988 Olympics) and I poured my heart out for it then, and I'll pour my heart out for it again." A decision winner in three comeback bouts since the end of a status-sapping three-fight skid, the 39-year-old Jones will meet the unbeaten Welshman in a scheduled 12-rounder for the light heavyweight championship as recognized by Ring Magazine.

Chavez Jr. (38-0-1), the son of Mexican boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., defeated Vanda in a controversial split decision back in July.

The 22-year-old was much more convincing in the scorecards this time around, with the judges awarding him marks of 99-91, 97-93 and 98-92.

Darchinyan, nicknamed "Raging Bull", used a right jab and left to the face to floor his opponent at the end of the round to capture the WBA, WBC and IBF versions of the 115-pound belt.

He's the first man in history to unify the titles in the weight class.

Sturm (31-2-1) used a constant barrage of punches plus timely defense against countryman Sylvester (29-3) throughout the 12-round contest to earn the victory with dual 118-110 results followed by a 119-109 score. For the 28- year-old loser, it was a good showing in his first career title bout.

In addition, WBO junior middleweight champ Sergei Dzindziruk (36-0) came away with his fifth successful title defense in a unanimous decision over Joel Julio.

The 23-year-old Moreno (24-1-1) was making the second defense of his crown he won on May 31 last year in a bout versus Wladimir Sidorenko.

Matsushita (25-7-1) had won his previous six fights.

But rather than droning on about the goods and evils of red and blue states - you can get that from insipid TV know-it-alls like Keith Olbermann, after all - I'm tackling something more impactful.

A full 96 hours before that Election Day, members of the Boxing Writers Association of America are charged with tapping three more recent standouts for induction to the "modern" wing of the International Boxing Hall of Fame & Museum in Canastota, N.Y.

Kessler was dominant early and ended the fight just 1:08 into the third round when he sent Haussler to the canvas with a left hook.

The victory improved Kessler's record to 41-1 with 31 knockouts. After losing the crown to Joe Calzaghe in a unanimous decision last November, the Dane won the vacant WBA belt in June with a 12th-round knockout of Dimitri Sartison.

Bute (23-0, 18 KOs) defeated Alejandro Berrio to capture the belt, then overcame a challenge from William Joppy before outlasting Andrade (27-2, 21 KOs).

Bute went down with two seconds left in the final round but was able to beat the count, rallying to stay in the match until the bell rang shortly after.

The bout was stopped in the eighth round when an unintentional headbutt left Fragomeni (26-1) with a cut.

At the time of the stoppage, Fragomeni held a 77-74 advantage over Kraj (14-1) on the cards.

A late surge by Cruz (37-11-1, 23 KOs) pushed him to identical 116-112 decisions with Salido (31-10-2) gaining a 115-113 decision on the other card.

Or, for those alphabet-fatigued, the International Boxing Organization.

Created in 1993, but more recently an idealistic vehicle of retired real estate attorney Ed Levine, the Florida-based outfit has faced all the predictable resistance while attempting to defend its self-proclaimed title as "Champion of Integrity." Still, Levine, who earned a law degree from Syracuse University in 1967 and went down south to practice for 40 years before handing the reins to his son, seems determined to fight the good fight for as long as it takes to reach his goal of sanctioning body relevance.

But I for one happen to know that Johnny Sample was alive and well Saturday night.

Because he was sitting on my living room couch.

The 43-year-old Hopkins (49-5-1) had lost three of his last five fights dating back to 2005 but won on the scorecards 117-109, 119-106, 118-108 in the light heavyweight bout.

Pavlik (34-1), the 26-year-old reigning WBC/WBO middleweight champion, moved up in weight and encountered and energized Hopkins in the early rounds. Hopkins landed a number of punches to the body and head in the first two rounds, causing swelling around Pavlik's right eye.

Klitschko is 51-3 with 45 knockouts and has won nine straight fights since an April 2004 loss to Lamon Brewster.

He scored an 11th-round knockout of Tony Thompson in his most recent bout on July 12.

So when he enters the Boardwalk Hall ring with Bernard Hopkins on Saturday night in Atlantic City, he's going to do all he can to remove it from the proceedings.

"My job is to beat him up," the unbeaten Youngstown slugger said earlier this week in a FitzHitz interview. "Whether I beat him up over 12 rounds or knock him out, it doesn't make any difference.

Hasegawa (25-2, 9 KOs) scored a second-round TKO, finishing Valdez (21-3-1) at 2:41 of the round. It marked the seventh consecutive successful title defense for Hasegawa, who first captured the crown in April 2005 and has won his last 22 fights.

On the undercard, Oscar Larios kept his WBC featherweight belt with a split decision victory over Takahiro Aoh. Larios (63-6-1, 39 KOs) won by scores of 115-111 and 114-112, while another judge saw it 114-112 in favor of the previously undefeated Aoh (16-1-1).

Soto (45-7-2, 29 KOs) failed at a try for the WBO 130-pound title in 2007, but he floored Diaz (23-8-2) in the first round. Two points were taken away from Diaz for holding, and after the 10th round Diaz's trainers decided not to send out their fighter for round 11.

Judges scored the fight 118-109, 117-110, 117-110 to crown Dawson the new champ.

The 26-year-old Dawson (27-0) had relinquished the WBC belt, which he defended three times, to meet Tarver (27-5), who was making his first defense. The 39- year-old Tarver won the belt in an April fight with Clinton Woods, which he won by decision.

Klitschko (36-2, 34 KOs) was named mandatory challenger because he was the WBC champion in 2004 before leaving boxing due to a number of injuries. The 37-year-old Ukranian national's last fight was an eighth-round TKO of Danny Williams in December 2004.

The 28-year-old Peter (30-2, 23 KOs) was making the mandatory defense after scoring a sixth-round technical knockout of Oleg Maskaev on March 8.