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LAS VEGAS -- Here are a few pieces of news I picked up this week while roaming the "Mayhem" media center while covering Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana II at the MGM Grand: • I ran into interim welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs), who is here for the fight, and he told me that his planned October return has been pushed back until November to give his injured shoulder more time to heal. Thurman said his shoulder is OK and he has been rehabbing it but the change was "just to be on the safe side. There's no reason to hurry." • I also caught up with former three-division titlist Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14 KOs) in the media center and he said that promoter Golden Boy and adviser Al Haymon are planning his return for November or December. He said he heard that interim featherweight titlist Jesus Cuellar called him out after knocking out Juan Manuel Lopez in the second round on Thursday night in Las Vegas and that he would be interested in the fight. Mares lost his featherweight belt by first-round knockout to Jhonny Gonzalez in a major upset 13 months ago and returned in July to outpoint Jonathan Oquendo. • Former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has been at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas all week for Mayweather-Maidana II, but he is keeping a very low profile. He quit Golden Boy in June after a falling out with president Oscar De La Hoya, who filed a $50 million arbitration case against him. The case is ongoing. So while Schaefer is at the venue where his old company will co-promote the fight, he is on site because he is close to Mayweather and because one of his sons is working for Mayweather Promotions on the event. • Junior featherweight Jorge Lara (25-0-1, 17 KOs), a 23-year-old southpaw from Mexico, has signed with adviser Al Haymon, according to Sampson Lewkowicz, Lara's promoter. Haymon now handles around 120 fighters.
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