Note: Those that stop by tomorrow prior to the U.S. airing of Peter-Klitschko on Showtime at 9pm EDT, please do not say anything about the fight, as BLH will be waiting for the U.S. tape delay to watch the fight so that it can be covered "live" with other U.S. viewers participating. Thank you in advance.

via espn-i.starwave.com

Ahhh...the heavyweights. Those most tantalizing of boxers, they of the most lore and historical noteworthiness. The big men. The prize fighters.

The division of Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Floyd Patterson, John L. Sullivan, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes.

And the division that continues to paint boxing as a "dead" sport to the mainstream media, because nothing interesting ever happens. None of the best fights are at heavyweight anymore. None of the best fighters, sans Wladimir Klitschko, ply their trade in these ranks.

While sportswriters of a certain vintage likely grew up as boxing "fans," they were really fans of the spectacle that can be the heavyweight division at its best. The pomp and circumstance, the showmanship, and the clash of the titans feel that a great, important heavyweight fight can give.

Tomorrow night, Vitali Klitschko, retired four years, will return to the ring to face WBC titleholder Samuel Peter, yet another effort by the boxing world to capture some energy in its heaviest and most historically profitable division. Like many of today's biggest heavyweight title fights, the match will take place in Germany, held at the O2 Arena in Berlin.

For Peter, it's a chance to force Vitali's little brother, Wladimir, to face him again, which is the lone fight that could crown a true heavyweight champion. Wladimir beat Peter once, but it was a rough win, and one of the few memorable heavyweight scraps of recent years.

For Vitali? It's a payday. It's a return to the ring which will be treated by his biggest fans as something akin to a great warrior returning to his home city to defend the castle once more.

He's tried to come back before, of course. Just last year he was supposed to face Jameel McCline, then backed out due to yet another injury. When Peter's fight with then-WBC titleholder Oleg Maskaev fell through around the same time, it was Peter that stepped in to fight McCline, something he did not have to do. He got a bad scare from McCline, but ultimately prevailed. Later he would destroy Maskaev, the man Vitali tried to fight instead, attempting to use his "champion emeritus" status to the fullest degree.

Peter wouldn't budge, though. He was the #1 contender, and he took his shot. He cleaned house on Maskaev in March, and here we are, one day away, and Vitali Klitschko isn't hurt yet.

The fight will go on. We're talking hours at this point.

It is of less concern to me the intangibles of the matchup than the fact that it's taking place to begin with. Vitali may not have gotten it as quickly as he wished, or against the fighter he desired, but he has, for certain, returned from a long absence to cash in "champion emeritus" and walk right into a title shot. In a business -- yes, business -- you can't expect any less. Outside of perhaps Wladimir, there is no bigger money opponent for Samuel Peter than Vitali Klitschko. I'm sure Peter is perfectly happy to fight Vitali for big money than someone more "deserving" and get less.

As for the matchup, it's all a big mystery. What does Vitali have left? How strong is he? Is he really 100%, or close enough to it? How rusty will he be?

How good is Sam Peter, anyway? Even with a four-year layoff, is Klitschko still better than Peter? Prime-against-prime, I'll take Vitali every time. He's taller, stronger, and hits just as hard, if not harder. Peter's punching power has probably been overstated thanks to a lack of big-time finishers in the division. Among the riff raff, Peter scores the best knockouts at the top level.

If you ask me, this is about as likely to end on a Vitali injury as anything else, but here's hoping we get a show. If Peter comes out ready to throw bombs, Vitali may have no choice but to throw them back, which could erupt into quite a spectacle.

Who do you like tomorrow?

Brett Myers walks around thinking he's cool with that rockin' goatee and those eyebrows of his. He's very wrong.

OK, so tomorrow night's IBF light heavyweight title fight between Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KO) and Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KO) isn't, as Showtime has put it, "the most anticipated fight of the year."

So maybe it's not even close. Maybe, like me, the network claiming as such digs under your skin, if only because of their ongoing and increasingly absurd love affair with network headliner Tarver, a rapidly-aging 39-year old man who hits the magic four-oh in about a month and a half. A "champion" whose career accomplishments are alarmingly thin for a man who makes claim for a Hall of Fame case. A man who is a legend in his own mind.

But to Showtime's credit, this fight has been in the making, at least in their minds (and Chad Dawson's) since the middle of 2007. Only Tarver, it appears, has held it up this long.

When Dawson dominated Tomasz Adamek to win the WBC light heavyweight title in February 2007, Showtime knew they had a young star on their hands, a guy who would no doubt love to keep representing the company in its ongoing war with rival network HBO.

They wanted to make a big light heavyweight fight: Tarver, the old pro, against Dawson, the rising star. They booked a show with Tarver in the main event against club fighter Elvir Muriqi, with Dawson defending against unimpressive challenger Jesus Ruiz on the undercard. Right then, Tarver-Dawson was the goal.

Did it come next? Of course not. Dawson fought Epi Mendoza in September, and Tarver skirted his way out of a fight with Danny Green in December, fighting another club fighter, Danny Santiago, instead.

Did it come after those fights? Of course not. Instead, Showtime lined up a nice night of the light heavyweights, with Dawson facing former Tarver foe Glen Johnson (a close fight that Dawson won on the cards), and Tarver blowing out a disinterested-seeming Clinton Woods. But it's not Tarver's fault that Woods barely fought back -- he did his job that night, and I'm not trying to say otherwise.

Now, it's here. The 39-year old Tarver, the 26-year old Dawson, one-on-one, tomorrow night, live from the Palms in Vegas, on Showtime. It's the fight Dawson has been wanting for over a year -- it's the fight Tarver, it seems, has been forced to accept or face ridicule.

Maybe that doesn't sound like a fair observation to you, but to me, Tarver has earned all doubts I could throw his way.

But I'll never doubt Tarver's in-ring intelligence. The man is crafty, knows the game, and presents a tough matchup if only because of his southpaw stance. Dawson's also a southpaw, but we've all heard enough times that southpaws don't like fighting each other any more than righties like to square up with them.

Tarver is clearly in the final chapter of his career, a career that probably could have been a lot more than it really is when you get down to the facts of it all. He beat Glen Johnson, but he also lost to Glen Johnson. He definitely had Roy Jones' number. He was blown out by Bernard Hopkins, and since then, only Woods has been a quality win, and I again handicap that one a bit because of how awful Woods looked, and how much he seemed to not care that he was even in there.

But "The Magic Man" is not a fool, and he'll use every trick he can fit up his sleeve to combat the younger, faster, fresher Dawson. Tarver is not an old 39 in one sense: he's not beaten up by a litany of great ring wars. Though Father Time has slowed him in many senses and taken some of his punching power, he's relatively unscarred by his career.

It's also worth noting that Tarver is an egomaniac. This isn't really a knock; rather, it's a way of describing what he's fighting for tomorrow night, aside from titles and money and the fact that fighting is his job. Should Tarver beat Dawson, considered by most to be the 175-pound division's future, ready to take over with the old guard going out, he will have a lot more fuel to add to his Hall of Fame fire.

Simply put, Tarver wants to go down as one of the greats, and unlike you or me, has the chance to do just that still. A win over Dawson would make the wins over Muriqi and Santiago in underwhelming fights easy to put out of focus; after all, he's never had a bad loss, besides the one he avenged against Eric Harding, and past Hopkins, he's come back to beat every man that beat him.

For Dawson, it's a chance to prove his place among the division's elite. He doesn't get enough credit for the way he blew out Tomasz Adamek in February '07, because that was an extremely impressive performance and put him on the map for major fights.

He also gets overly criticized, I think, for his tough decision win over Glen Johnson, a fight I had scored a draw. Since when does struggling to beat Johnson harm anyone's reputation? Johnson remains one of the best in the division; if he were fighting Tarver, I'd take Johnson without thinking twice. His relentless style and rock-solid chin (he's been knocked out once in 61 professional fights) makes him a tough win for anyone.

Dawson is strong, dynamic, quick, and charismatic. He's proven an ability to go verbal smack-for-verbal smack with the sharp-tongued Tarver. Now, should he beat Tarver, he'll be firmly implanted as the division's No. 2 man, behind only Joe Calzaghe. And at that point, you have to start giving Dawson serious top 20, maybe top 15 pound-for-pound consideration, too.

Make no mistake -- as it stands right now, Chad Dawson is the long-term hope at 175. I expect that in time, Kelly Pavlik will join him in the light heavyweight ranks, but for the moment, a quick scan of the division's best reveals only Dawson under the age of 30. Calzaghe (36), Hopkins (43), Johnson (39), Tarver (39), Jones (39) -- these are the big names best known to the public. WBO titlist Zsolt Erdei is 34 and barely fights real competition, anyway. Tavoris Cloud is 26 and rising, but not yet in the company of these men.

It's up to Dawson to lead the light heavyweight division into the next phase of its existence. A win over Tarver not only goes a long way in making that happen, but it also means that every other big name in the division will be forced to consider him as an opponent if they want to be seen as fighting the best in the world.

As much as you think I might be clearly favoring Chad Dawson, don't mistake my fan dislike of Antonio Tarver for a disrespect. He'll give Dawson trouble. He'll press Dawson. He'll test him. And he'll be one of the three best fighters Dawson has faced to date.

But in the end, I expect the aforementioned Father Time to play a key role in the outcome of this bout. Though Dawson looked weary down the stretch against the active, tireless Johnson, we're talking about a totally different opponent in Tarver. Dawson will not be backed against the wall the way Johnson put him; he won't exhaust so much energy on the defense, or getting hit with so many shots. Tarver will want to counter-punch. Does Tarver have the reflexes and the legs to go 12 rounds with a quicker-fisted fighter?

No matter how you slice it, it's a hell of an intriguing fight.

Who you got?

BoxingScene.com has been informed that Zab Judah, who is reportedly planning to return to action at 140 pounds, may be close to a deal with Roy Jones' Square Ring Promotions, and may find himself fighting on November 8th on the undercard of Calzaghe-Jones.

Should Judah fight on the undercard, I can't imagine he'll be in against anyone of any real note, given that there is less than a month to go. Square Ring also promotes Frankie Figueroa and Dmitriy Salita. Salita is slated to face Willie Limond on November 8.

For what it's worth (often not much), BoxRec.com has Judah facing 28-year old Ashley Theophane (22-3-1, 7 KO), who is coming off of a decision win over Chop-Chop Corley.

Saying that Calzaghe and Jones in promotional roles haven't been able to line up the most enticing undercard would be a massive understatement. When a Judah-can fight is the most interesting thing going, there are problems. Salita-Limond is a matchup of two second-rate fighters with little real future.

To be brutally honest, it's a horrible show for 50 bones. Calzaghe-Jones has a little bit of intrigue, but there's nothing else.

As much as I like Zab's decision to return to 140 pounds, it's no sure bet to think he'll have any great success. He's probably looking to land a money fight with Ricky Hatton, but that won't be easy. Hatton wants to fight Oscar or Pacquiao, and has a tough one against Paulie Malignaggi lined up. He also doesn't seem intent on sticking around a whole lot longer, though that of course frequently changes with fighters. If it makes dollars, it makes sense.

Zab did weigh in at just 143 for his last fight, a loss to Joshua Clottey, and weight shouldn't be an issue. But he's 30 and fights older than that, and truth is he was probably always a little overrated. He has yet to recover, really, from his 2006 loss to Carlos Baldomir. Since that fight, he's gone 2-3 with a no-contest, beating Ryan Davis and Edwin Vazquez.

Still, I like his chances at 140 more than I do 147, and any chance to inject some non-Hatton life into the junior welterweight division would be welcome.

Do the Phillies have the 2008 postsesaon's best fans? Answer: yes.

Phillies 3, Dodgers 2 (Philadelphia leads series, 1-0)

Into the bottom of the sixth, Derek Lowe was cruising, Manny Ramirez had struck in the first inning with an RBI double, and the Dodgers were up 2-0, looking like the team that swept the Cubs.

Sixth inning comes along, Chase Utley hits a two-run bomb to tie it, and then two batters later, Pat Burrell goes deep, putting the Phillies up 3-2, a lead they'd hold for good to go up 1-0 in the NLCS.

Cole Hamels went seven strong innings (2 ER, 8 K, 2 BB) and the bullpen held it down with Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge for the final two.

The most exciting part of the game, besides all the tense moments and the home runs and the good baseball, was probably Derek Lowe and Shane Victorino colliding.

Last July, former British heavyweight champion "Big Bad" James Oyebola was shot fatally shot while working as a bouncer, over an argument about smoking (Britain had banned smoking in pubs three weeks before).

Yesterday, Kanyanta Mulenga was found guilty of murder, and is awaiting sentence. Hopefully this scumbag gets exactly what he deserves, which is to never breathe free air again.

This is not a joke. Well, at least not in the sense that I'm making it up or that there aren't genuine reports of this happening. As for the fight, yes, that's a joke.

Dan Rafael has the report:

Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) said his attorney is reviewing a contract from Valuev promoter Sauerland Event for a fight that would take place Dec. 20 in either Germany or Switzerland.

"It's solid. They asked if I will take the fight for the offer they made and if everything is straight up, I will take that fight," Holyfield said. "My lawyer is looking at it."

Evander Holyfield is 45 years old. He can go on and on all he wants with that "age ain't nothin' but a number!" BS, and recall George Foreman and compare himself to other old fighters all he wants. But Holyfield has not won a decent fight in six years, and whenever he fights anyone worth their salt, he loses. Even his 2006 decision win against Fres Oquendo was highly debatable.

Holyfield was last seen getting slapped around by Sultan Ibragimov. Ibragimov, at 6'2", is a full ten inches shorter than Valuev, who will tower over Holyfield. Evander had trouble getting inside against Ibragimov. What the hell does he think he's going to do with Valuev? He might as well fight Wladimir Klitschko.

Rafael says the purse is under $750,000, putting one-and-one together when Holyfield would not disclose the amount but would say it's the lowest he'll have ever received for a championship fight.

It's kind of sad, and I don't have first-hand knowledge or anything, but Evander's probably hurting for the money. We all got to hear about his bad financial situation this past summer. Boxing is what he does. It's how he makes money.

There are only two things I can say about this fight, really. First, I hope Evander doesn't get hurt. Second, anyone that buys this sham of a fight on pay-per-view deserves the turd sandwich they'll be served.

OK, a third thing: ugh.

There has been a lot of talk all over the place about Mike Mussina maybe returning to Baltimore, at least in fan circles.

There are good reasons to do it, and good reasons not to do it. Of course, it may not matter, as most believe that Mussina, sitting on 270 wins, will retire. At least they believe that for now -- Mussina hasn't made up his mind, and says he isn't thinking about it right now, enjoying his time at home after his first 20-win season.

Mussina pitched excellently this year (20-9, 3.37/1.22, 43.1 VORP), and though he turns 40 in December, he still throws a good six innings and does his job.

Let's just say that Mussina does decide to return in 2009. He'll be looking for a three-year deal.

Pros

Mussina, again, throws a good six innings still. He's a highly intelligent pitcher that has worked around a loss of velocity and stayed very competitive. The Orioles, even in a rebuilding phase, need guys that throw strikes, and Moose throws strikes.

He's also a guy that could assume a leadership role on the staff, a veteran that commands respect for his career achievements and the fact that he still gets it done.

On a three-year deal, Mussina would only need to average 10 wins a season to reach 300, and he'd do it as an Oriole. While he left for New York and angered a lot of Orioles fans (and I don't want to go into who's to blame again, because we know how I feel and I know how y'all feel), I still remember Mussina's time as an Oriole very fondly. He's one of the best pitchers this team has ever known.

Cons

He's going to turn 40. This is a team that is focused on the future. As many good things as there are to say about Mussina on the club, even in rebuilding, you can't ignore his age and the increasing likelihood that he gets hurt and misses a lot of time, and then what are you getting out of him?

He's going to be expensive. Mussina is not a man fixated on personal achievement, really, and I don't think anything he's ever done goes against that idea. 300 wins would be great, but I don't think that'll drive Moose to come back. If he comes back, it'll be to win a World Series, something that the Orioles can't offer.

At $15 million a year or so, are the leadership and the six innings really worth it?

I don't think it's as easy a question as it appears to be at first thought. There are some very nice things Mike Mussina could do for us, but the price will be steep and the rewards just may not justify the contract.

What say you? And, again, assume he's even going to pitch next year, and that he'd entertain the idea of doing it for a team that has no World Series hope.

For a decade the Rays were the respite on the Red Sox schedule, but they might not be so easy to beat in the ALCS.

YA THINK??!