Ouma has a chance to size himself up

In a case of Little Big Man vs. Very Big Man, former junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma takes on often-disputed (at least if you're talking with Bernard Hopkins) middleweight champion Jermain Taylor Saturday night on HBO.

Ouma will enter the ring with a sizable disadvantage, not only because the fight will be in the raucous hometown arena of the champion in Little Rock, Ark., but also because he will stand 5 inches shorter and have 7 inches less reach (71 to 78) against the 6-foot-1-inch champion.

It is no accident that he was chosen to challenge Taylor after the champion's two tough fights with Hopkins and then a draw against Winky Wright in his last outing. The whole idea of giving Ouma this chance is that the champion's people believe he has no chance, which is often what passes for opportunity in boxing.

"Kassim is the underdog," acknowledged his manager, Tom Moran. "He knows that. But we believe he'll be stronger than they anticipate, and he's always busy. We have nothing but respect for Jermain but Kassim is going to make him fight."

Of course, the undefeated Taylor is fine with that, believing that the more fight in Ouma, the better the fight for him.

"I won't have a problem getting up for this fight," Taylor said from Miami, where he's been preparing with trainer Emanuel Steward. "I'm not looking past this man. I know he comes to win, but I want to do my thing at home and look good doing it.

"I don't think he can handle my power. Once he feels my power, I don't think he will want to mix things up very much. Kassim likes to get into a flow. If that happens, he can be tough as the fight goes on, but I don't plan on letting him get into his flow. I will offset his flow with my power."

Taylor fully understands that Ouma's strength is a tenacity born after he was kidnapped by a rebel army in Uganda at the age of 6 and forced to live as a child soldier for more than four years before that army rose to power. From those difficult experiences, Ouma has grown into a little man with a big heart and a willingness to throw punches until it seems his arms should fall off. The champion understands he is up against a miniature windmill in boxing gear.

"I think Ouma throws about a 100 punches a round," Taylor said. "He's never been in a bad fight in his career. I'll be the first one to say I was the one out there saying, 'Take an easy fight, take an easy fight.' Well, Kassim Ouma isn't an easy fight. I got overruled."

Perhaps, but the widely held belief is that the people around Taylor felt Ouma was, pardon the pun, tailor-made for the champion. He's smaller and not a big puncher, yet he's always throwing punches, which makes him vulnerable to be countered. He is also a target for Taylor's long, sharp jab, which will be coming from half a foot outside of Ouma's range. It is logical to assume those things, as well as Taylor's unusually long arms and wide shoulders, will prevent Ouma from forcing the champion into the one thing Steward doesn't want to see.

"No way I would like to see Jermain get into a contest of trying to see who can throw the most punches," Steward said. "That doesn't matter to me. He doesn't have to do that. Jermain's punches have to be precision punches with full power. When a guy is coming in and putting pressure on, if he gets hurt, he feels that and then he comes in a little bit slower and they throw a little less punches because there's a caution factor."

If Ouma begins to grow cautious, Steward knows what will follow. The Little Big Man will be on the end of far too many punches for his own good. Which is why he's been invited to Little Rock.

"All my championship fights have been close fights," said Taylor. "I'm not saying Kassim Ouma is a lesser opponent than anybody else, but I'm supposed to look good this fight."

Ouma understands that. He knows he's not been brought to Arkansas to be the equivalent of Florida, which just beat Taylor's beloved Razorbacks for the SEC title. He's supposed to be Southeast Missouri State or Louisiana-Monroe. He's supposed to be a walkover. Just don't expect him to believe it.

"Everyone will assume a size and strength advantage for Jermain but I believe Kassim has the fight of his life in him," Moran said. "This is a career-defining fight for him."

Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard had an interesting position on the future of World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, whose next fight will be in March against Providence's Peter Manfredo Jr. "If he boxes the way he did against Jeff Lacy, Joe beats them all, even Bernard Hopkins," said Leonard. "I watched that fight with Eddie Murphy and we both expected Jeff would knock Joe out. Joe was masterful. It was a complete clinic." Leonard knows a thing or two about clinics, having conducted many during his long career. Calzaghe still would rather fight Hopkins, although there seems little chance that will happen. "Records are great, but I have to fight big-name fights," the 34-year old undisputed super middleweight champion said. "It would be fantastic if Hopkins could come back and fight. That would be worth half a dozen defenses itself. It's all about the opponents you fight. The fight with Hopkins will be my dream at this stage of my career. I think it would be one of the best fights in the last 10 years if we managed to get it on, except that I don't think he wants to fight." . . . As for Lacy, last weekend he looked to be still suffering the aftereffects of the terrible beating Calzaghe gave him in March. Lacy took a second bad beating against a pedestrian Vitali Tsypko Saturday night but was awarded a hometown decision in his native Tampa. His handlers later said the former 168-pound champion tore the rotator cuff in his left arm in the second round and fought bravely through the pain. Lacy is expected to undergo surgery and could be out nine months to a year. Lacy is known as "Left Hook," because that is his best punch, and if it is diminished, that certainly would be a problem, as it was against Tsypko. But Lacy seemed to have no better idea how to fight against the unranked Ukrainian than he did against Calzaghe when problems developed. He is a one-dimensional guy who doesn't punch with the power that his reputation carries. Lacy (22-1, 17 KOs) will have nothing to think about in the interim except that in his last two fights, his face took a pounding. One boxing insider said yesterday, "Jeff was never the most talented guy. He was just strong and had that swagger that he was coming to knock you out. It looks like he lost that against Calzaghe, and that doesn't leave him with much else."

Sylvester Stallone's sixth and final (we hope) "Rocky" film is set to open Dec. 22 with the Rock an older, sadder but maybe not all that wiser guy as he makes a final comeback. So, too, is Stallone, who also is planning a new Rambo film. The entire Rocky series (three good ones and two clinkers) came out this week. The original Rocky, a 1976 Academy Award winner, has been released on DVD in two versions, one with a documentary and other features included. Then there is the complete set on DVD for the first time. It's worth the cost just to see Mr. T in Rocky III as Clubber Lang, replying to being asked his prediction for his fight with Rocky: "Pain!" . . . Anybody not interested in seeing young Miguel Cotto in with Antonio Margarito after their performances last Saturday in Atlantic City? Cotto (28-0, 23 KOs) now holds the previously vacant World Boxing Association welterweight title after destroying previously undefeated Carlos Quintana, while Margarito's claim to being the welterweight no one wants to fight took a hit even though he easily outpointed Joshua Clottey. Margarito (34-4, 24 KOs) was underwhelming but many people would seem the same way if they had to match Cotto, who has tremendous power and just enough vulnerability to make it all interesting. "He will destroy anyone at welterweight," said Evangelista Cotto, his trainer. Since promoter Bob Arum directs both their careers, the match would seem easy to make, but does he want to make it? Cotto is expected to make a mandatory defense vs. Oktay Urkal next, while Margarito likely is in a mandatory against perhaps the most dangerous welterweight in the division other than Cotto -- unbeaten Paul Williams. Williams is called "The Punisher" with good reason. A Cotto-Williams match in 2007, especially if it's to unify the title, would be spectacular . . . James Toney faces Samuel Peter in an ordered rematch Jan. 6, with the winner getting a title shot, so he's decided to go all-out. Former Boston martial arts expert and Tae Bo guru Billy Blanks has been hired to help prepare the oft-rotund Toney. Peter won a split decision in the first fight that was so controversial the World Boxing Council Board of Governors voted, 21-10, for an immediate rematch. Don King will promote it at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and the winner faces the victor of the Oleg Maskaev-Peter Okhello heavyweight title fight in Moscow Dec. 10. One impediment to such a fight is that the man recognized as the best of the worst in the division, International Boxing Federation champion Wladimir Klitschko, is trying to lure the Maskaev-Okhello winner into an April 28 unification fight at Madison Square Garden in which the money would be split 50-50. Maybe that's why Klitschko is challenging the WBC champion, because he knows he won't be available and then he could go off, fight a lesser opponent such as Ray Austin (are you kidding me?), and claim it wasn't his doing . . . Toney's handlers claim the 38-year-old former middleweight has been working out twice a day with Blanks for the past few weeks, as well as boxing at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif. Blanks was once a Massachusetts Golden Gloves champion before gaining national fame as an infomercial pitchman for Tae Bo.

German boxing continues to grow, but reports that Klitschko's brother, Vitali, had signed a four-fight deal worth $12.8 million with powerful German TV network RTL have been denied by Klitschko on his website. "It was a big surprise for me to find out that I'm coming back," he said on the site. There has been repeated speculation that he would come out of his year-old retirement to make millions cleaning up the division, but he has remained steadfast in his decision that repeated training injuries had become too much for him to overcome . . . In boxing, a deal is never a deal, as Foxwoods learned recently when its plan to stage the Ricky Hatton-Juan Urango junior welterweight title fight ended up at the Paris Hilton in Las Vegas Jan. 20. Promoter Art Pelullo and Foxwoods executives had agreed on a contract to bring the fight to Foxwoods, but Hatton decided he'd rather go to Vegas. The fight will be broadcast on HBO along with Jose Luis Castillo's debut as a junior welterweight. That bout is another example of everything that's wrong with the sport. Castillo twice failed to make the lightweight limit to face Diego Corrales, was fined and suspended, yet never really missed a beat. He's back in Nevada after skirting their rules and being well-paid to be there . . . Sometimes a guy who fights hard and bleeds for his money gets a break beyond his nose, and undefeated light heavyweight champion Tomas Adamek (31-0, 21 KOs) finally may be in that category. After two battles against Paul Briggs that few saw, Adamek is in line for a shot on Showtime March 3 vs. Connecticut's fast-ring contender Chad Dawson (23-0, 15 KOs). That will be a classic bout of speed vs. resiliency. Dawson is a lefthander originally promoted by Providence's Jimmy Burchfield, but he jumped ship to go with Gary Shaw and is now looking at a title shot against Adamek. Of course, he'll also be looking at giving options to King, who promotes Adamek. So it goes.

WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev will defend his title against Jameel McCline (38-9, 23 KOs) Jan. 20 at St. Jakob Halle in Basel, Switzerland. It is the first heavyweight title fight in Switzerland. I thought the Swiss were neutral pacifists . . . Valuev-McCline should be a matchup of the biggest two men to fight for the heavyweight title. Valuev weighs around 325 pounds, McCline 270. Valuev is somewhere north of 7 feet while McCline is 6-6. Their combined 595 pounds would exceed the 520-pound record set by Vitali Klitschko and Danny Williams two years ago . . . Valuev is 46-0, meaning he's only three victories away from tying Rocky Marciano's heavyweight record. If that happens, they should disband the division . . . Newly crowned WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs (48-4-1, 42 KOs) faces mandatory challenger Sultan Ibragimov (19-0-1, 16 KOs), likely March 10, in a bout promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Golden Boy won the purse bid for that fight and would love to expand into the heavyweight division. De La Hoya's company outbid King, who promotes Briggs, by $1 million.

Ron Borges can be reached at borges@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and other sources was used in this report.