Michael Grant

When Blue Bell's Michael Grant stepped between the ropes in Madison Square Garden more than 11 years ago to challenge Lennox Lewis for his undisputed heavyweight title, he did so with a 31-0 record, with a No. 3 world ranking, and harboring more self-doubt than at any other point in his career. "I sensed it," said Grant, who was then 28 and a sculpted 6-foot-7, 250 pounds of sinewy muscle, reflecting on Lewis' second-round knockout victory over him. "I'm not naive to that fact.

Undefeated heavyweight Michael Grant, down for the first time in his career in the first three minutes and behind on the scorecards, scored a 10th-round technical knockout over Andrew Golota last night in front of world champion Lennox Lewis and a crowd of about 4,500 at the Taj Mahal Hotel Casino. Grant, the most interesting and most likely challenger to Lewis, the new undisputed world champion, landed a solid right hand to Golota's face midway through the 10th round and Golota dropped to the canvas.

Lennox Lewis, the Englishman who has won everything in the heavyweight division except America's respect, solved that sticky problem last night. In front of a near-sellout crowd of 17,234 at Madison Square Garden, the towering champion clubbed Michael Grant, America's best young heavyweight, into submission in less than six minutes. The bout, scheduled for 12 rounds, ended at 2 minutes, 53 seconds of the second round with a helpless Grant trying desperately to get to his feet as referee Arthur Mercante Jr. counted him out. It was the fourth knockdown in the short bout for the Norristown fighter.

If you listen closely to the cheers for heavyweight boxer Michael Grant tonight, you just might be able to make out shouts of joy from Joseph Manzo, who will be among the 100 Norristown area fans boarding two buses to see the title fight at Madison Square Garden. Manzo is vice president of Williams Intraoral Protective Sports Systems Products Inc., which markets the WIPSS Jaw-Joint Protector, a plastic mouthpiece that locks the lower jaw down and forward so that it will not slam against the base of the skull.

RE COLUMNIST Rotan Lee on "Words, Words, Words": Just last week, I was going to write on this topic, but me being in my careless 20s, I forgot. (Bill Cosby, I hear you!) My point is I respect where you're coming from trying to broaden and expand our horizons, but the average reader is commuting, on lunch, coffee break, etc. Or even just a careless 20-something who doesn't have much time and does have a short attention span. We don't have dictionaries handy just to try to find out what you're saying.

The family of Michael Grant, the freelance photographer who died after a scuffle with two police officers during a traffic stop April 4, filed a $20,000 wrongful-death suit yesterday against the officers and the City of Philadelphia. The suit, which also names Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams, accuses the officers of recklessness and negligence during a struggle with Grant, 34, after they stopped him for a traffic violation in West Philadelphia. The suit, filed on behalf of Grant's mother, Pauline Grant, also accuses the city and the Police Department of failing to "establish legal guidelines which prohibited police officers from using excessive force in detaining civilians such as . . . Michael Grant.

Grant, Grant, Grant. That's all Ahmad Abdin has been hearing since he signed to fight undefeated, 250-pound Michael Grant tonight at the Boardwalk Convention Hall (HBO, 10:30). The bout headlines a Bally's Park Place card that also features Andrew Golota and an old Philadelphia-based war horse named Jesse Ferguson. "Michael Grant, the next heavyweight champion. " "Michael Grant, the fighter for the next millennium. " "Michael Grant, the anti-Tyson. " "He sings in his church choir.

The death of free-lance photographer Michael Grant in April has resulted in a lawsuit seeking more than $20,000 from the city and two police officers. Grant's mother, Pauline Grant, filed the suit Wednesday on behalf of her son's estate and his three children. The suit alleges Police Officers Robert DeBellis, 39, and William Duboe, 29, "handcuffed Michael Grant and severely beat him about the head, face, neck, chest, hands, arms and body until he died. " The officers stopped Grant, 34, for a traffic violation at 40th Street and Parkside Avenue, West Philadelphia, after he ran a red light.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham won't reopen an investigation into the death of Michael Grant, a 34-year man who died during a confrontation with two police officers earlier this year. Abraham made the decision after federal authorities said there wasn't enough evidence to charge the two officers, Robert J. DeBellis, 39, and William DuBoe, 29, with federal civil rights violations. In a statement released yesterday by spokesman Bill Davol, Abraham noted the city's medical examiner and a forensic pathologist hired by Grant's family agreed that Grant died of a cocaine overdose.

Lou Savarese loves it when people doubt him. He becomes almost giddy when skeptics say he's too old (32), too slow, too white. And why not? Sneaking up on overconfident opponents seems to be his stock in trade. By Savarese's reckoning, the best thing the Las Vegas oddsmakers could have done was to make him a suicide-mission, a 15-1 underdog to rising heavyweight sensation Michael Grant (29-0, 21 KOs) for Saturday night's HBO "Boxing After Dark" showdown in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

When Blue Bell's Michael Grant stepped between the ropes in Madison Square Garden more than 11 years ago to challenge Lennox Lewis for his undisputed heavyweight title, he did so with a 31-0 record, with a No. 3 world ranking, and harboring more self-doubt than at any other point in his career. "I sensed it," said Grant, who was then 28 and a sculpted 6-foot-7, 250 pounds of sinewy muscle, reflecting on Lewis' second-round knockout victory over him. "I'm not naive to that fact.

RE COLUMNIST Rotan Lee on "Words, Words, Words": Just last week, I was going to write on this topic, but me being in my careless 20s, I forgot. (Bill Cosby, I hear you!) My point is I respect where you're coming from trying to broaden and expand our horizons, but the average reader is commuting, on lunch, coffee break, etc. Or even just a careless 20-something who doesn't have much time and does have a short attention span. We don't have dictionaries handy just to try to find out what you're saying.

As it turns out, the Norristown Times Herald was more prepared for a Michael Grant victory than was Michael Grant. In the anticipation, or perhaps just hope, of a title-wresting victory by the Chicago-born, Norristown-based Grant over Lennox Lewis, the newspaper printed a number of faux front pages with the headline "Norristown's World Champ. " That attention-grabbing announcement ran above a large color photo of a smiling Grant, his arms gleefully raised aloft. The plan was for Grant to pose with the front page after he scored an upset over Lewis, who holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation versions of the heavyweight championship.

Lennox Lewis, the Englishman who has won everything in the heavyweight division except America's respect, solved that sticky problem last night. In front of a near-sellout crowd of 17,234 at Madison Square Garden, the towering champion clubbed Michael Grant, America's best young heavyweight, into submission in less than six minutes. The bout, scheduled for 12 rounds, ended at 2 minutes, 53 seconds of the second round with a helpless Grant trying desperately to get to his feet as referee Arthur Mercante Jr. counted him out. It was the fourth knockdown in the short bout for the Norristown fighter.

If you listen closely to the cheers for heavyweight boxer Michael Grant tonight, you just might be able to make out shouts of joy from Joseph Manzo, who will be among the 100 Norristown area fans boarding two buses to see the title fight at Madison Square Garden. Manzo is vice president of Williams Intraoral Protective Sports Systems Products Inc., which markets the WIPSS Jaw-Joint Protector, a plastic mouthpiece that locks the lower jaw down and forward so that it will not slam against the base of the skull.

A few years ago, before one of Lennox Lewis' bouts on HBO, he appeared in an HBO-produced commercial in which he took tea with a sparring partner and sounded very much like a character on "Masterpiece Theatre. " "Will that be one lump or two?" asked Lewis, a London native, in his most aristocratic tones. That television spot thoroughly agitated Lewis' American trainer, Emanuel Steward, who comes from a gritty section of Detroit that produces few entries in anyone's social register.

Embroidered on the back of Michael Grant's white satin boxing trunks are the letters FTS. They stand for "Flip the switch. " One of the main criticisms of Grant, maybe the most physically imposing heavyweight in the world, has been that he seldom has felt the need to locate the switch, much less flick it. Oh, the Chicago-born, Norristown-based Grant might have believed he could crank out his best effort whenever the mood struck him. But why...

Undefeated heavyweight Michael Grant, down for the first time in his career in the first three minutes and behind on the scorecards, scored a 10th-round technical knockout over Andrew Golota last night in front of world champion Lennox Lewis and a crowd of about 4,500 at the Taj Mahal Hotel Casino. Grant, the most interesting and most likely challenger to Lewis, the new undisputed world champion, landed a solid right hand to Golota's face midway through the 10th round and Golota dropped to the canvas.

It couldn't get much better for Andrew Golota, a one-time street tough from Warsaw who became a seven-time national champion, Olympic bronze medalist, and Polish hero before he moved to the United States. Now, at 31, living in Chicago, he has virtually everything - a wife, two children, a house in Old Norwood Park, two Mercedes, a boat, a motorcycle, investments, and a rejuvenated professional boxing career that could skyrocket if he wins tonight. He is fighting Michael Grant, the 30-0 young lion based in Norristown and boxing's new darling, the man to beat in the heavyweight division.

He is no threat to Amarillo Slim, but Michael Grant's introduction to high-stakes poker suggested he does, indeed, know how to play his cards right. Grant helped hype the 17-day U.S. Poker Championship, which will be held here Nov. 29 to Dec. 16 at the Trump Taj Mahal, by sitting down Wednesday for a few fast shuffles with selected suckers, uh, media members. Tomorrow night, at the Taj, Grant (30-0, 21 KOs) defends his North American Boxing Federation heavyweight title against Polish-born, Chicago-based Andrew Golota (34-3, 28 KOs)