Rusty Rubin, Managing Editor
www.ringsports.com

The big news is that British undefeated Olympic gold medalist, Audley Harrison is moving to Las Vegas in order to get the big fights he needs to advance his pro career. Seems like the UK keeps turning out some outstanding (and huge) heavyweight champions.

The big fight this week features a younger, taller and heavier Laila Ali vs. Christy Martin, who is considered one of the premier women boxers of our era.

The bout will be held in Biloxi, Miss.

This will be the first time that Martin has gone into where not only is she not the favorite, she is a 4-1 underdog in some betting places.

Christy has seen her share of ring wars and may be now officially sent into retirement by the daughter of the greatest heavyweight fighter of modern times.

But you can’t count Christy out. She does have a champions heart, although the rest of the body seems to be getting a bit weak, and it may be time for her to step aside and turn the sport of women’s boxing over to a younger crowd.

No pick here. Enjoy the fight. Ali has gotten better with every fight while Christy hasn’t looked good in a while.

Still you can’t turn your back on all Martin’s experience, anymore then Christy can turn her back on father time.

We can now officially add Joel Casamayor to our Thanksgiving cruise to raise money for Greg Page and Gerald McClellan. Casamayor joins Angelo Dundee and (we’re hoping) Wayne McCullough. Joel, is a former jr. lightweight champion from Miami, out of Cuba, and a member of “Team Freedom”. My sincere thanks to Joel and to Eric Bottjer for his help here. Also sincere thanks to much of the working press for their support in getting the word out.***

Glove2Glove: Please say prayers for soul of Bob Iole, father of outstanding boxing scribe, Kevin, who passed away the morning of the 18th.

Also prayers and cards are requested for boxing fan Martin Sommers, St. Marys Hospice, Room 519, 1300 Massachussettes Ave., Troy, NY, 12180.

Also down but not out with cancer is Kathy Cerola, sister of top referee Elmo Adolph, and my best friend and co-founder of Glove2Glove, Susiey Walker.
Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.

Glove to Glove is a non-denomination group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.

Touching on politics briefly: Two bombings in the Middle East today, one in Iraq and the other in Israel, does nothing more then prove that this world, even without Sadaam Hussein in power, is still a very dangerous place.

Those who committed the bombings are obviously cold-blooded terrorists who should be dealt with accordingly, although I doubt that either survived, so their punishment will probably be dealt out in HELL!

I don’t much care if the terrorists were Iraqi’s, Palestinians or Al Qaeda. It doesn’t matter, a killer is a killer and they must be dispensed with to make this world a better place.

The interesting thing is that many of these guys are of Arab/Muslim decent and they wind up killing many of their own people, as well as those they have targeted.

All one has to do is look at how many Arabs or Muslims were killed on Sept. 11. These guys have no qualms about killing their own people, and that part IS very scary.

It’s time that the vast majority of the Arab/Muslim population, the good guys, rise up in a united stance against these terrorists, who are not only killing them, but ruining their hard earned and well deserved reputations as honest, hard working citizens.

Agree or disagree, we’d like to hear from you, but please watch your language. I don’t expect a lot of happy responses on this one.