Boxing

During his boxing career, Leslie Wolff said Joe Frazier never stopped fighting. And Wolff said he has no reason to think he'll stop now. On Saturday afternoon, it was confirmed that the former heavyweight champion and Philadelphia boxing icon was in serious condition after being diagnosed with liver cancer. "We're looking for some miracles," said Wolff, Frazier's business manager. "When you're dealing with the Big C, it's not an easy thing to deal with. " The 67-year-old Frazier was diagnosed a month ago and is currently in hospice care in Philadelphia.

The recommendations made by former heavyweight boxing champ Larry Holmes make a lot of sense. The safety of prize fighters should be the premier concern of all those who enjoy the sport of boxing. All too often boxers are seriously injured because of too-frequent bouts and the promoters' concern for profits instead of the boxers' welfare. If the individual state boxing commissions are not willing to oversee the welfare of fighters, the federal government should pass laws regulating this "industry.

People in the boxing world aren't shocked by much. But the news that legendary trainer Eddie Futch died Wednesday morning at his Las Vegas home stunned almost everyone. That's because everybody thought Futch would be around forever. It wasn't that Futch appeared indestructible - he was 90 years old, frail and arthritic - but he was such a venerable and beloved figure that everyone wanted him to stay around forever. "There was nothing bad about Eddie Futch," promoter Lou DiBella said.

J. Russell Peltz, who is known as a walking encyclopedia of boxing history, kept his most treasured items in his office at 25th and Brown Streets. His collection of pugilisticmemorabilia was valued at $1 million. Today, a portion of that collection - ranked among the best in the world - is in ruins. Peltz, a boxing promoter, and Philadelphia police are trying to determine why the office, in the city's Fairmount section, was firebombed early Friday morning. The fire consumed much of Peltz's secretary's space, where various boxing artifacts were kept.

Comcast-owned sports channel OLN is poised to enter boxing in a big way, in a move that would add another major indoor sport to the lineup of a channel that used to be called the Outdoor Life Network. Several people familiar with the negotiations, who did not want to be identified, said OLN is close to sealing a 10- to 12-date deal with boxing promoter Bob Arum that would create a national Thursday night fight series beginning in July. OLN would pay Arum $250,000 per date to produce the boxing shows, the people said.

Mike Tyson had been found guilty of rape 18 hours earlier, and the No. 1 topic of discussion among the late-afternoon crowd at Joe Frazier's Gym in North Philadelphia was the former heavyweight champion's unanimous-decision defeat at the hands of 12 Indianapolis jurors. Some of those at Frazier's Gym were steadfast in the belief Tyson had not committed the crime for which he was convicted; others said that the verdict against him was justified. But regardless of where they stood on the question of guilt or innocence, there was a unanimity of opinion that the downfall of an individual, no matter how powerful or prestigious, does not presage a downfall for boxing.

Like other retailers, auctioneers will be catering to last-minute shoppers during this final week before Christmas, starting today. At 10 a.m. in Norristown, Ah Ram Lee, an auction newcomer, will conduct the first session of a two-day sale offering collectibles and sporting memorabilia, much of it devoted to boxing. The boxing memorabilia, consigned by John Iorio, a former middleweight now living in Norristown, will be offered at today's session, along with a late-arriving consignment of African statuary.

I don't know all the circumstances surrounding his indictment, but Philadelphia boxer Calvin Davis did a lot for Philadelphia such as donate money to the African American museum, help women with domestic violence, provided basketball events for children, so let's focus on the positive instead of negative media coverage. Calvin Davis'record speaks for itself with the Philadelphia community. George Hall State Correctional Institution-Greene I have seen all the great, great fighters from the '20s through the '90s, but all of them were beaten many times.

It may not come as a surprise to anyone that boxing has been corrupted by underworld influence. That sad fact has been documented by investigations in the past. Nonetheless, the New Jersey Commission of Investigation has performed a useful public service by conducting an extensive study of the inner-workings of the boxing business and reporting its findings. It is not a pretty picture. The commission has detailed, for example, how young fighters controlled by the mob are elevated quickly to contenders for world championships through fraudulent means.

While it was way too long and depressing for summer (let's face it: 'toons, guns, and superheroes always rule in the heat), Ron Howard's Cinderella Man still packed a serious punch. The DVD, available in single-disc form and a two-disc collector's edition, does a pretty good job of protecting the film's integrity. The story is the stuff of boxing legend. A once-promising heavyweight prospect, James J. Braddock (admirably portrayed by Russell Crowe), rises from the ashes of the Depression to upset champ Max Baer (Craig Bierko)

AS THE LATEST on-screen incarnation of America's most iconic superhero, Superman, hits cineplexes this weekend, it's clear there is more at stake than the success of the movie, which seems guaranteed to be a hit on some level the same year "The Big Red S" turns 75. Indeed, "Man of Steel" will play a large part in shaping what we see - or don't see - in theaters for some time to come. DC Entertainment/Warner Brothers (hereafter referred to as DC/WB) has a lot at stake here and, with its rivals, will be waiting anxiously to see just how super "Man of Steel" is. First, there is the obvious.

Last week and total box office in millions. Weeks    Per    Rank/Title/Studio Last Week   Total    Out   Location    1. The Purge (Universal) $34.1   $34.1   1   $13,430    2. Fast & Furious 6 (Universal) 19.6   202.8   3   5,205    3. Now You See Me (LionsGate) 19.0   60.9   2   6,305    4. The Internship (Fox) 17.3   17.3   1   5,147    5. Epic (Fox) 11.9   83.9   3   3,304    6. Star Trek (Paramount)

It's always fun to see Hollywood's anointed winners, those ugly mega-blockbuster Goliaths , fall on their faces. And this week they did, to a most unexpected David , writer-director James DeMonaco 's home-invasion thriller, The Purge . A $3 mil morality play set in an imaginary America where once a year people can murder each other without fear of arrest, The Purge opened this weekend atop the box office chart, earning $34.6 mil, according to...

Meldrick Taylor's Champions of Tomorrow boxing series will debut June 20 at the Deck at Harbor Pointe in Essington, Delaware County. The card will include welterweight Tim Witherspoon Jr., son of the former heavyweight champion. Also fighting will be middleweight Isiah Seldon, the son of another former heavyweight champ, Bruce Seldon. "We're trying to pack this house and bring boxing back to Philadelphia," promoter Damon Feldman said. Taylor has joined Feldman's promotional team.

North Philadelphia's Jesse Hart (6-0, 5 KOs) is scheduled to take on Thomas Turner (3-3, 2 KOs) Saturday night at Bally's in Atlantic City in a six-round super-middleweight bout. The card, promoted by J. Russell Peltz, begins at 7:30. Tickets are available at the door. In the main event, Teon Kennedy (17-2-2, 7 KOs) is set to fight Carlos Vinan (10-9-5, 2 KOs) in a 10-round super-featherweight bout. Kennedy, also of North Philadelphia, has not fought since a fifth-round stoppage loss last June to Guillermo Rigondeaux in a WBA super-bantamweight title fight.

A few days before Camden's Vidal Rivera is to take off for the Golden Gloves National Championship in Salt Lake City, youth boxing's premier event, he jumped out of a worn-down brown Plymouth minivan and ran into a Pennsauken gym. It's his almost-daily routine since his hometown gym in Camden shut down two years ago. The Pennsauken gym is on a quiet street in an industrial park next to Route 90 - a much different venue than his old gym in...