America at Large: The last two times Hasim Rahman fought with a world title on the line, he was knocked out by Lennox Lewis and out-pointed by John Ruiz in a fight both participants, as well as referee Randy Neumann, characterised as "ugly".

In between those bouts, Rahman also dropped a "technical decision" to a shopworn Evander Holyfield.

James Nathaniel Toney hasn't lost in the ring in almost nine years, and the last time he fought for a world title he won a unanimous decision over John Ruiz, only to be stripped of the World Boxing Association (WBA) championship in a matter of days after his post-fight urinalysis confirmed the presence of the steroid nandralone.

What does it say, then, about boxing politics, not to mention the state of the heavyweight division, that when the two meet at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night, Rahman will be the champion and Toney the challenger? This unlikely turn of events came a few months ago when Vitali Klitschko opted to resign his World Boxing Council (WBC) championship and retire from the ring after a series of injuries left him unable to defend against Rahman.

Klitschko's ascension to the title had been almost as curious: beaten on cuts in his 2002 challenge to Lewis, the widely-

acknowledged champion, who himself retired shortly thereafter, the Ukrainian subsequently won the WBC title by beating the South African Corrie Sanders, and defended it just once, against England's Danny Williams.

The mediocre quality of his opposition notwithstanding, the powers-that-be at The Ring magazine conferred legitimacy on Klitschko's claim by adding their recognition as "world champion", implicitly dismissing the claims of the three other men who held heavyweight titles.

Since his retirement from the ring, Klitschko now finds himself in search of a new line of work: he is running for mayor in his native Kiev. (Although the polls show him trailing the incumbent, Oleksandr Omelchenko, by six percentage points, Vitali doesn't seem worried. Presumably even if he loses the election in 10 days, his friends at The Ring will proclaim him mayor anyway.)

This weekend's Rahman-Toney bout is the first of four heavyweight title fights on the books over the next two months, but in the eyes of many it could prove to be the most significant.

On April 1st, in Cleveland, Lamon Brewster will defend his lightly-regarded World Boxing Organisation (WBO) championship against a Belarussian named Sergei Lyakhovich in a bout that could be of more than passing interest to the Irish audience. In his first outing since defeating Mike Tyson last June, Clones heavyweight Kevin McBride is scheduled to perform on the undercard, and could be the next opponent for the winner.

On April 22nd, in Mannheim, Germany, Chris Byrd will put his International Boxing Federation title on the line against Vladimir Klitschko, Vitali's younger brother, in a rematch of their 2000 fight. (Byrd is 1-1 against the Brothers Klitschko; in 1999 he won a TKO when Vitali quit in the ninth round, but lost a decision to Vladimir the following year.)

And the newest heavyweight claimant, Nicolay Valuev, is supposed to make the first defence of his WBA title in Germany on May 27th. A Russian giant who makes the Klitschkos seem like bantamweights, Valuev stands 7ft and weighs 320lb. That his May opponent could well turn out to be Ruiz, the man from whom he won his championship back in December, makes it easier to understand why the boxing world is hoping that Rahman and Toney make a fight of it on Saturday.

Rahman is 41-5-1, and briefly held the WBC title after he knocked out Lewis in South Africa five years ago. (He was kayoed in the rematch.)

Toney, who is 69-4-2, in his late thirties and a former middleweight champion, has managed to revive his career, defeating first Vassily Jirov for the cruiserweight championship and then Ruiz, before running afoul of the drug-testers.

Rahman and Toney describe themselves as "old-school fighters".

"We're not going to have any feeling-out rounds," said Rahman in the course of a New York press conference two days ago. "He's run his mouth too much for a feeling-out process. When the bell rings, it's on."

Toney, who scaled 233lb when he fought Ruiz, said he could come in anywhere between 245 and "bring on the truck scale" at tomorrow's weigh-in.

"I love beating bigger heavyweights up," said the irrepressible Toney. "It makes me feel like I'm at a buffet."

There is an added irony to Saturday night's fight, in that it will also be a match-up of two disciples of the late Eddie Futch, the Hall of Fame trainer who died four years ago. Freddie Roach, Steve Collins's former corner man and 2003 "Trainer of the Year", was a longtime Futch lieutenant and has worked with Toney (who describes him as "my freaky-assed trainer") for over a decade.

"Of all the people Eddie worked with, Freddie really personifies the theories of Eddie Futch," Futch's widow, Eva, told boxing scribe Michael (Wolf Man) Katz last week. "He's calm and he's controlled and he has wisdom."

In the opposite corner will be 70-year-old Thell Torrance, who has taken over as chief second in the Rahman corner; he was for many years Futch's second-in-command.

The world got a brief preview of Saturday's activities in Mexico two months ago, when Rahman and Toney interrupted a WBC convention to exchange pleasantries.

"When I came down in the elevator to meet the press, he got mad because he didn't have any attention," Toney recalled the episode a few days ago. "So he came in and said, 'The champ is here', and pushed me out of the way. Then things got out of hand on his behalf. People were holding me. Nobody was holding him. He scratched me like a little woman. He ain't fast enough to hit me. He scratched me on the lip just like a little bitch."

"It's very important that a good fight comes out of Saturday night," Rahman said. "We're not just competing for heavyweight supremacy. We're competing against the middleweights, the lightweights and the junior middleweights. People don't really care about the weights anymore. They just want to see a good fight."

The sports books make Rahman a slight favourite. Toney appears to have taken umbrage - and prefers to blame the messenger.

"What have I got to do to prove to you that I'm the best fighter in the world, period?" Toney challenged a gaggle of reporters last week. "After Saturday, I want every boxing writer on their hands and knees to kiss my feet before I even talk to you."