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There are prelims, and there are pre-prelims. "Pre-prelims" is a word that has been coined just now, right before your eyes, to describe what Milton McCrory is scheduled to fight tonight in Las Vegas. McCrory is defending his North American Boxing Federation super- welterweight title against Herman Cavesuela, in a 12-round bout at an outdoor stadium at the Las Vegas Hilton. The more boxing-conscious readers might be thinking that Thomas Hearns is scheduled to fight Juan Roldan in an outdoor stadium at the Las Vegas Hilton tomorrow night.

Viewers of last night's USA network cablecast from the Blue Horizon could be excused for thinking they were watching taped highlights of Mike Tyson's greatest hits. Of the card's eight fights, four ended in the first round. The main event was halted in the second round. There also were fourth- and fifth-round stoppages, plus a six-rounder that went the distance. Main-event winner Frankie Mitchell (26-1, 11 KOs), who won the vacant North American Boxing Federation lightweight championship by starching fill-in Kenny Vice (29-7, 24 KOs)

Meldrick Taylor of Philadelphia defeated Robin Blake yesterday in a 10- round lightweight bout in Lake Charles, La., winning a unanimous decision that is likely to make him the first 1984 Olympic gold medalist to break into the top 10 pro rankings. Taylor, 19, used speed and his aggressive style to keep the pressure on Blake, 23, and to repeatedly foil the southpaw's uppercuts. Blake, of Levelland, Texas, tried to take control in the fifth and sixth rounds, but Taylor, his lip bleeding profusely, picked up the pace in the seventh and dominated the rest of the bout.

And so a fight that promised a firestorm of action ended with an abrupt and unsatisfying resolution - a technical decision. Bryant Brannon captured that decision over Frank Rhodes after only four rounds of a scheduled 12-round super-middleweight bout last night at the Blue Horizon in North Philadelphia. The bizarre ending, which was booed by the capacity crowd, came about because Brannon, cut by an unintentional head butt in the first round, could not continue fighting beyond the fourth round - a situation that forced ringside officials to go to the scorecards to determine the winner.

Bryant "BB" Brannon of Trenton outpointed Eric Lucas of Montreal and retained the North American Boxing Federation supermiddleweight championship in a yawning, 12-round bout last night at the steamy Blue Horizon in North Philadelphia. The bout was the show-topper on a seven-fight card and the slowest of the night, judging by the hooting of the standing-room-only crowd of about 1,300. There were no knockdowns, and neither fighter was in trouble in the 12- rounder. The judges gave the fight to Brannon unanimously, 117-111, 118-110 and 119-109.

Former Olympian Zahir Raheem is one of two local boxers who will make their HBO boxing debuts tomorrow in Houston in televised 12-round bouts that will have title ramifications. Raheem, a 28-year-old featherweight from Philadelphia, will meet 2000 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Rocky Juarez. The winner will be declared the IBF's No. 1-ranked contender and become the mandatory challenger for IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Raheem, a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, is 25-0 with 15 knockouts.

Everyone agreed that it was Terry Norris's most impressive performance since, uh, his last time out. "That's the thing about Terry," Norris's co-trainer, Abel Sanchez, said after the North American Boxing Federation middleweight champion pitched a 10- round shutout at Ralph Ward last night at the Showboat Hotel & Casino. "He just keeps getting better. " Off recent performances, there wouldn't seem to be much room for improvement for the San Diego-based Norris (21-2, 12 knockouts)

The weighty hands of Julio Cesar Chavez, the hands that have changed the course of many a career, stung Frankie Mitchell on Saturday night. But they did not make him run or hide, and they did not put his career in a slide. Philadelphia's Mitchell, inspired by the biggest fight of his life, succumbed to Chavez in a little more than three rounds at the Las Vegas Hilton. But he lost with his leather flying. "He's not going to run," Dean Rosenberg, one of the men who manage Mitchell, had said a day before the match.

Junior welterweight Rock Allen waited nearly a year for his professional boxing debut, but he wasted little time earning his first win. The 2004 U.S. Olympian from North Philadelphia cranked up a barrage of punches late in the first round to score a technical knockout over Damon Antoine last night at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. In the night's final fight, Philadelphia welterweight Demetrius Hopkins improved to 20-0-1, knocking Paul Delgado...

Andre McCall, a senior at Jesse H. Jones High in Houston, got a crash course in the proper deployment of the overhand right at Resorts International Casino Hotel. Instructing the formerly undefeated McCall, 18, was Sharon Hill's "Smokin" Bert Cooper, who bounced enough right hands off McCall's face last night to successfully defend his North American Boxing Federation cruiserweight championship with a sixth-round technical knockout in a bout nationally televised by ESPN. McCall (13-1-1)

TYPICALLY weighing in just north of 200 pounds, Philly-based heavyweight "Fast" Eddie Chambers has made a career out of being overlooked. With a recent string of injuries causing the 30-year-old to bow out of two fights in the past year, Chambers knows the public has a new reason to doubt him. On Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Chambers (36-2, 18 KOs) takes on Polish heavyweight Tomasz Adamek (45-2, 28 KOs) in the main event of NBC Sports Network's "Fight Night.

Junior welterweight Rock Allen waited nearly a year for his professional boxing debut, but he wasted little time earning his first win. The 2004 U.S. Olympian from North Philadelphia cranked up a barrage of punches late in the first round to score a technical knockout over Damon Antoine last night at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. In the night's final fight, Philadelphia welterweight Demetrius Hopkins improved to 20-0-1, knocking Paul Delgado...

Former Olympian Zahir Raheem is one of two local boxers who will make their HBO boxing debuts tomorrow in Houston in televised 12-round bouts that will have title ramifications. Raheem, a 28-year-old featherweight from Philadelphia, will meet 2000 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Rocky Juarez. The winner will be declared the IBF's No. 1-ranked contender and become the mandatory challenger for IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Raheem, a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, is 25-0 with 15 knockouts.

Under the watchful eyes of a few homegrown former champions, and one current belt holder, Philadelphia's Charles "The Hatchet" Brewer went out last night at the First Union Center and claimed a championship of his own. Facing Fernando Zuniga for the vacant North American Boxing Federation super-middleweight crown, Brewer (37-8, 26 knockouts) nearly had a shutout in claiming a unanimous decision before 6,154 fans. Among the crowd watching Brewer break down the stubborn Zuniga (21-5, 16 KOs)

So you think the infamous "Bite Fight" between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson had an unusual conclusion? Well, how about the Jan. 13, 1995, meeting in Atlantic City of super middleweights Merqui Sosa and "Prince" Charles Williams? That one resulted in a rare double technical knockout when ring physician Frank B. Doggett ruled after the seventh round that both fighters had inflicted too much damage upon one another to continue. Sosa and Thomas Tate might have been headed toward a similar finish in their ESPN2-televised slugfest last night at The Orleans, pounding each other's faces into swollen, bloody pulps through nine rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder.

Thomas Tate has a philosophy: Beat your opponent at his own game. "You counteract a body puncher by hitting him to the body," Tate said after he retained the North American Boxing Federation super middleweight championship on a third-round technical knockout of Anwar Oshana last night at the Blue Horizon. "If my man wants to shoot a hook, I'm going to shoot him with a hook right back. If he wants to shoot right hands, I'm going to shoot right hands right back. Whatever he wants to do, I'm, like, 'OK, fine.

Joseph Kiwanuka tumbled crazily into the ropes, bounced onto the canvas, rolled over on his back, and hardly moved as referee John Carroll counted him out at the Blue Horizon last night. Out with him went his North American Boxing Federation super-middleweight title, plus the world title shot that had seemed just around the corner. A thundering right hand to the head by Thomas Tate, the only fighter to defeat Kiwanuka (25-2-2), ended the scheduled 12-round bout 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the 11th round as a standing-room only crowd of more than 1,200 thundered its approval.

It's a good thing Joseph Kiwanuka does not frustrate easily. A more impatient sort might have gotten discombobulated in the early rounds by Antoine Byrd's stick-and-move tactics, which the slick southpaw from Los Angeles used to build a lead through five rounds last night at the Blue Horizon. But Kiwanuka, the Ugandan-born, Las Vegas-based North American Boxing Federation super middleweight champion, stalked his elusive quarry until a tiring, undergunned Byrd became easier to find and hit. "He was a survivor, you know?"

Tony Martin, an old ring warrior trying to hit the top before time runs out, took a giant step toward that goal last night at the Blue Horizon. The Philadelphia postal worker, who is three or four fights away from retirement, took the North American Boxing Federation welterweight title from Kip Diggs on a 12-round split decision. It was the second title for Martin, 34, who beat Diggs in April on a come-from-behind technical knockout for the United States Boxing Association crown.

Bryant "BB" Brannon of Trenton outpointed Eric Lucas of Montreal and retained the North American Boxing Federation supermiddleweight championship in a yawning, 12-round bout last night at the steamy Blue Horizon in North Philadelphia. The bout was the show-topper on a seven-fight card and the slowest of the night, judging by the hooting of the standing-room-only crowd of about 1,300. There were no knockdowns, and neither fighter was in trouble in the 12- rounder. The judges gave the fight to Brannon unanimously, 117-111, 118-110 and 119-109.