Big Fight

This town, which bills itself as "The Biggest Little City in the World," is playing host to what might turn out to be the smallest big fight of the year. Tonight's 12-round bout between former lightweight champions Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini (29-3, 23 knockouts) and Hector "Macho" Camacho (34-0, 17 KOs), for the vacant World Boxing Organization junior welterweight title, appears to qualify as a big fight on several counts. It ostensibly is for a world championship, although the fledgling WBO is not as widely accepted as boxing's other three sanctioning bodies.

Late tomorrow night, a little after 11 Eastern time, the super-fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. - finally - will be about the actual sport of boxing. Up until now it's been about everything else. It's been about the paydays the fighters will receive - at least $25 million for De La Hoya and $10 million for Mayweather. It's been about the massive revenue the event will produce. The $19 million in ticket sales at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is the biggest live gate in boxing history, and a potential record pay-per-view audience expected to near two million buyers at $54.95 each would add $109 million, for a total that in one night would surpass Spider-Man 3's opening weekend.

On good days, Gypsy Joe Harris remembers what it felt like to be a phenomenon. Harris was 21, wild and dapper and armed with the most potent weapon against the despair of the streets - a dream. He was going to be welterweight champion of the world, no doubt about it. "Hey, I'm Gypsy Joe," he would tell his friends, as if the title were his by birthright. "I'm Gypsy Joe. " Harris is 43 now, and the good days do not last very long. The dream of becoming champ died on Oct. 11, 1968.

Wesley McGavock, chief executive officer of Misericordia Hospital in West Philadelphia, yesterday reacted to the proposed federal budget plans as if a scalpel were being waved in his face. "These are tremendously important votes, and I think they will have a tremendous and very negative impact on the ability of this hospital to provide high-quality services in this community," the hospital chief said, estimating cuts of $3 million to $6 million over seven years - as much as 10 percent of the hospital's operating budget.

It was a feel-good Saturday night for Philadelphia. Bernard Hopkins brought his International Boxing Federation middleweight championship back home, staged a one-man coup before he left the arena, and claimed to be the best fighter in the entire middleweight division. "I da man," he declared simply after stopping former world champion Simon Brown a little before 2 a.m. yesterday in the ballroom of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. And everyone tended to agree. Even Roy Jones Jr. Olympic champion David Reid of Philadelphia turned the corner in his career, answered a lot of questions about himself and took a giant step toward the top-10 list of 154-pound professionals.

Thomas Hearns' 22-year-old brother faces a hearing this afternoon on an open charge of murder in the Saturday night shooting death of his girlfriend in the boxer's suburban Detroit home, according to promoter Bob Arum and the brother's attorney. Police in Southfield, Mich., refused to identify either the suspect or the victim. Arum and Detroit television station WDIV-TV both said the suspect was Henry Hearns. Another Detroit television station, WXYZ-TV, identified the victim as his girlfriend, Nancy Barile, 20. Henry Hearns, 22, was scheduled to be arraigned today just hours before Thomas Hearns' scheduled title fight with Sugar Ray Leonard in Las Vegas, Henry Hearns' attorney, Neil Fink, said.

If you were planning on taking in tonight's Mike Tyson-Larry Holmes heavyweight title fight, here's hoping you either have HBO or know somebody who does. That old reliable standby, the closed circuit broadcast, is hard to find when the bout is also on TV. Joe Hand Jr., whose family usually contracts for a number of closed-circuit outlets in the area when a big fight comes along, said he only knows of three official commercial locations that are showing the fight; all are restaurant-bars with limited seating.

After retaining his World Boxing Organization heavyweight title Saturday by pummeling aging Ray Mercer into submission, Wladimir Klitschko made it known whom he wants next: Lennox Lewis, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation champion. "From my side, I'm ready to fight," said the 6-foot-7 Klitschko, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, whose weight was listed at 243 on fight night. "Now, we have to take counsel from the guys who can do it, and bring it to life. " Saturday's nationally televised bout at the Trump Taj Mahal ended at the 1-minute, 8-second mark of the sixth round.

Promoter J. Russell Peltz is trying to line up an opponent for North Philadelphia heavyweight Bryant Jennings, but it apparently will not be the rising star of Golden Boy Promotions. Jennings is set to fight the main event Dec. 8 in Philadelphia on a card that will be televised by NBC Sports Network. Peltz said he offered Golden Boy a match between Jennings (15-0, 7 knockouts) and Deontay Wilder, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist who has won all 25 of his pro fights by knockout.

Guys in the press corps are getting a rare glimpse this week of what Vegas is like when there's no big fight in town. They marvel at how easy it is to walk through the Las Vegas Hilton's lobby, how quick the service is in the bars and restaurants. The room service waiter is at the door by the time you hang up the phone. Except for the line of Wayne Newton fans that snaked its way through the casino before his opening night show Thursday, nobody has had to wait for anything all week.

Promoter J. Russell Peltz is trying to line up an opponent for North Philadelphia heavyweight Bryant Jennings, but it apparently will not be the rising star of Golden Boy Promotions. Jennings is set to fight the main event Dec. 8 in Philadelphia on a card that will be televised by NBC Sports Network. Peltz said he offered Golden Boy a match between Jennings (15-0, 7 knockouts) and Deontay Wilder, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist who has won all 25 of his pro fights by knockout.

LAS VEGAS - For undefeated Danny Garcia, there was never any doubt. "I always knew I would win this fight," the Philadelphia native said Saturday night after he stopped heavy favorite Amir Khan in the fourth round of their super-lightweight World Boxing Association World Boxing Council unification bout. "When I dropped him, I thought they probably would have stopped it," said the 24-year-old Garcia, who floored Khan with a left hook in the third round before finishing off the British fighter with the fourth-round TKO in front of 7,061 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Danny Garcia needed just one punch Saturday night in Sin City to keep his undefeated record perfect, and provide himself with plenty of potentially big paydays in the future. "When I dropped him I thought they probably would have stopped it," said the 24-year-old Philly native, who floored Amir Khan with a left hook in the third round before finishing the Brit off via a fourth-round TKO in their 140-pound World Boxing Association-World Boxing Council unification bout before 7,061 fans at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

LAS VEGAS - For the first time all week, there were no words coming out of Danny Garcia's camp Friday afternoon during weigh-ins for his light welterweight title unification bout with Amir Khan on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay. But really, what was left to be said that hadn't already been uttered this week? Garcia's outspoken father and trainer, Angel, shook things up at the prefight news conference when he told Khan - who is British, and of Pakistani descent - that "Pakistanis can't fight.

LAS VEGAS - The outcry in this gambling city was so loud Floyd Mayweather Jr. could have heard it in his jail cell. On the other side of the world, people cried in the streets in Manila, and the presidential palace issued a statement praying for the quick return of their hero's strength and fervor. Through it all, Manny Pacquiao was a model of serenity. "I hope you're not dismayed or discouraged," Pacquiao said. "I can fight. I can still fight. " That much was evident Saturday night in a fight Pacquiao seemed to have under control up until the time the judges' scorecards were announced.

IT'S NEVER a good idea to look too far ahead in boxing. Even a momentary lack of focus on the task at hand could end up in a costly setback at the wrong time. Still, it doesn't take much connecting of dots to see that undefeated Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones could be in line for some special opportunities if he is succeeds in becoming the International Boxing Federation champion on Saturday in Las Vegas. Ranked No. 1 by the IBF, Jones (26-0, 19 KOs) will fight No. 2-ranked Randall Bailey (41-7, 36 KOs)

Q: I am a 22-year-old college graduate with big dreams. My only problem is this love triangle I have put myself in for the past five years. At the age of 15 I met this young girl who was clean, smart, beyond beautiful, trustworthy – and to top it off, I was her first sex partner. We spent a lot of time together during my teenage years and I started to get bored with her. I put her through a lot of hurt and BS, but she still stood by my side. At age 17, I met another very pretty girl.

CHAZZ Witherspoon understood the statistics. He knew the odds would be stacked heavily against him. Of the millions of kids who play, even excel at, sports, only a handful ever go on to earn a dime as a professional athlete. And most of those who do achieve professional status are not around long enough to earn enough money to be set for life. Of the lucky few who do end up earning millions of dollars, way too many wind up losing their fortunes shortly after the final whistle.

BOXING'S ALREADY exclusive club of unforgettable characters became a bit more so on Sunday with the death of Bert Randolph Sugar, 75, the raconteur/historian known as much for his one-liners and ever-present fedora and cigar as for the 80 books he authored. Coming a little more than 7 weeks after another true original, Angelo Dundee, passed away at 90, the loss of "The Hat" is enough to sadden anyone who has been around long enough to understand that outsized personalities such as theirs are as close to irreplaceable as it ever gets in the fight game.

Top-ranked welterweight contender Mike Jones was looking for a fight to keep busy. He was not busy for long. Jones remained undefeated with a second-round knockout of journeyman Raul Munoz on Saturday at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia. Jones (25-0, 19 KOs) finished off Munoz (22-14-1, 16 KOs) with 50 seconds remaining in the round. Jones was fighting in his hometown for the first time in 2 years and at the 1,100-seat facility for the 12th time in his career. "I took my time [in the first round]