Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

UA's 3 of a kind beats Jacks Arizona Wildcats Basketball: UA beats NAU 74-57 NAU coach happy to take his lumps, play at McKale Cats catch break with mediocre schedule 4 games into season, Budinger displaying clear leadership skills Cats on brief break from hoops, but not mentally Arizona 69, Santa Clara 66 Loss is Santa Clara's fourth close one this year Judkins, in starting debut, blossoms as forward option Horne plays, sounds fine in Georgia

General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor

Armed with serious gifts for gab and jabs, analyst Kevin Kelley sized up a new boxer when he showed up at Roger's Westside Gym this week.

Himself.

Years after fighting standouts such as Naseem Hamed, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera — and after launching a commentating career on HBO, Westwood One and other outlets — Kelley is still planning to climb through the ropes tonight at Desert Diamond Casino.

At age 41. Against somebody nearly young enough to be his son, 26-year-old super-featherweight prospect David Rodela of Oxnard, Calif.

Why?

Kelley's trainer, Don House, has one answer.

"The reason why he's not worried is he has nothing to prove, nothing to lose," House said. "If (Rodela) beats him, it's just 'he beat an old man.' "

Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez said Kelley (60-8-2, 39 KOs) is in "tremendous shape" and a dangerous threat to Rodela (10-1-3, 6 KOs), whom Golden Boy is considering signing.

As only he can, Kelley listed some other reasons to watch out for him:

● The sport is in his blood.

"I got into boxing because of my father and uncles. I walked into the gym, and the next thing I knew, I had a career. I'm always training. I'm always in shape. If you stay in the gym, and in shape, you don't have to train for fights."

● He knows how to avoid getting pummeled.

"I don't go in there flat-footed. I've got good hand speed and great punching power. I've got a lot of things I can do. I think the mistake everyone makes is to look at my age, not if I can perform."

● After 70 pro fights, he still loves the sport.

"I heard a saying on TV the other day and it's very true. It says if you go to sleep at night and it's all you can think about when you're sleeping, and when you wake up, that's your passion.

"That's what you should be doing. I think about boxing most of the time."

● Experience will help.

"As you get older, you're smarter. When you're young, a bunch of things are just happening. Now, I know how to make those things happen."

● Popular Nogales middleweight David Lopez (36-12, 25 KOs) will headline the Telefutura-televised card with a 12-round bout against Samuel Miller (19-2, 16 KOs) of Colombia. Lopez is coming off a fifth-round TKO of Billy Lyell at the Desert Diamond on Aug. 1, saying he's stayed in Nogales to train since then. A recent street fight outside a Nogales dance club was a distraction, but Lopez said "people love me just as much as before."

● Tonight's card is the last this year for Golden Boy at Desert Diamond, but Gomez said he is negotiating to hold more fights at the casino next year. The only problem, he said, has been Arizona's tougher immigration-for-employment law this year. "It's affected us. It really has," Gomez said. "It used to be easy to get guys over the border."

● Eric Woods, the 30-year-old son of Tucson trainer Roger Woods, will make his Desert Diamond debut after fighting at Casino del Sol and in Phoenix. At 233 pounds, Woods (3-0, 2 KOs) will become the pro debut opponent for 314-pound Andrew Fish.