America at Large: On the sidewalk outside Planet Hollywood, gawking tourists stopped to pose for snapshots alongside a life-sized statue of Sylvester Stallone-as-Rocky before moving a few steps away to a photo op with yet another Times Square fixture: the self-styled "Naked Cowboy", who obligingly posed wearing the ten-gallon hat atop his head, the guitar slung around his neck, and little else.

A gaggle of professional photographers, distinguishable by the expensive equipment dangling from their necks, also milled about in front of the restaurant. Since most of them were conversing in German, we were able to discern that they were awaiting the arrival of Wladimir Klitschko.

The heart of New York might seem an odd place to boost a boxing match between a Ukrainian domiciled in Hamburg and an opponent who bills himself as "the Nigerian Nightmare". But promoter Dino Duva and the executives of HBO, which will televise Saturday night's bout between Dr Klitschko and the undefeated Samuel Peter a few hours' drive down the road in Atlantic City, had apparently found the opportunity to boost ticket sales with a side trip to the Big Apple irresistible.

Although no title is at stake, both the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Organization have officially designated the Klitschko-Peter fight a championship eliminator. What makes the match-up so intriguing, though, is not so much that the winner will assume a prominent place in the heavyweight pecking order, but that the loser will almost certainly be consigned to boxing oblivion.

Asked what a loss might do to his sagging career, Klitschko appeared to take umbrage.

"I ignore the question," Dr Klitschko replied defiantly.

"There is no space in my mind for any loses."

But since the good doctor already has three "loses" on his record, the question was hardly off-base. In a 1998 fight back in Kiev, Wladimir was surprised by an American journeyman named Ross Purrity, who stopped him in the 11th round. Two years ago he defended his WBO belt against Corrie Sanders in Germany and was whacked out inside two rounds.

And last year in Las Vegas, fighting for a vacant WBO title, he was ignominiously knocked out by Lamon Brewster in a fight memorable primarily for Klitschko's ungracious response to the defeat: he claimed he must have been poisoned.

When the 6ft-5in Ukrainian and his entourage arrived at Planet Hollywood on Tuesday and began to make their way through the buffet line, we watched closely, trying to figure out which sparring partner had been assigned to be Wladimir's food-taster.

Although his elder (and, at 6ft 7ins, marginally larger) brother Vitaly is at present the more visible heavyweight, as owner of the World Boxing Council title, for much of their careers Wladimir was considered the more talented of the two.

In 1996 he won the Olympic super-heavyweight gold medal at the Atlanta Games (Vitaly sat that one out, having been barred from the Ukrainian team after failing a steroids test), and quickly mowed down his first 24 professional opponents (all but one of the fights taking place in Germany) before running into Ross Purrity.

Both brothers earned PhDs (in the taxing discipline of "sports science") from the University of Kiev and are, by boxing standards, considered erudite.

The Brothers Klitschko have never fought one another and say they never will. ("We love our mother too much for that.")

Indeed, after Vitaly's ignominious 2000 loss, in which he quit against Chris Byrd, Wladimir avenged the family honour by defeating Byrd.

"Now people are saying Vitaly is the best, which is fine," said Wladimir.

"But it seems like we have been taking turns."

Samuel Peter was also an Olympian. Young (he turned 20 in Sydney) and untested, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2000 Games and has accumulated a 24-0 mark as a professional, albeit mostly against opposition even more suspect than Wladimir's.

"But you haven't seen all that Sam can do," said Peter's trainer, Pops Anderson. "We haven't had anybody stay the course to show what he can do, but the better the opponent, the more he can do."

"The heavyweight division needs a fresh new face," said Duva.

"If Sam wins we plan to call out Vitaly. Maybe we can get rid of both brothers in the same year."

Duva had to do more than his share of talking at Tuesday's Times Square get-together, because his fighter showed up half an hour late.

The Klitschko camp was so annoyed by the delay that once the dashiki-clad Nigerian Nightmare finally materialised, they allowed their fighter to pose for a couple of photos (which, if nothing else, revealed that Wladimir is at least half a head taller than Peter) before storming outside to rejoin the Naked Cowboy.

"It is very important that Samuel Peter come to the fight and not miss it too," grumbled the doctor on his way out the door.

"He's a loser, because that is how losers behave," said Peter as the elevator doors closed behind Wladimir. "They leave."

Few expect the scheduled 12-rounder to last the distance, and Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward believes Peter's lack of experience on the world stage will prove his undoing on Saturday night.

"We get into the ring," said Steward, "and we say 'Welcome to big-time boxing'."