In early May, I'll head to Vegas for a big fight card featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Miguel Cotto, and then in June, it's back to Vegas for Manny Pacquaio's battle with Timothy Bradley. One of the great joys of big fight weeks is simply hanging around the press room, visiting with the boxing people who converge on the fight site. There are stories and laughs galore. Boxing, for all its faults, has some of the greatest characters and fun people to be around  in sports. However, the ranks are slimming. 

    Over the past weekend, we lost Bert Sugar, a boxing historian and author straight out of Damon Runyon. Sugar died at the age of 75 from cardiac arrest, and in recent months had been suffering from the effects of lung cancer. Sugar was a fixture at the big fights. Every time we would do my old boxing show "Rich Marotta's Neutral Corner" live from a big fight, we'd make sure to have Bert on. He could put the fights into perspective not only because he stayed on top of the current game, but because of his knowledge of the sport's history. He was a wordsmith, and very, very funny. Bert was immediately recognizable in his fedora, with cigar in his mouth, and often wearing those awful plaid pants. Fans sought out his autograph and his opinions, and he gave both freely. Sugar loved it!

   Not that long ago, I had both Bert Sugar and the great trainer of champions Angelo Dundee on my show together to discuss the book they had co-authored, "My View From the Corner". The stories were fantastic. Now they're both gone, Angelo having died just a couple of months ago. In fact, the past year has been very tough on the sport. First former Junior Welterweight Champ, and a frequent broadcast partner of mine, Genaro Hernandez died of cancer. Then we lost Nick Charles, the talented boxing blow-by-blow commentator on Showtime, also from cancer. After that it was one of the giants, former heavyweight champion Smokin' Joe Frazier who left us, followed by Dundee and Sugar. Every one of those gentlemen had a personal effect on me, other members of the media, the fans and most certainly the sport of boxing. The boxing press room will never be the same.