BOXING: ARUM IS MAN WITH HEAVYWEIGHT PLAN.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing

Bob Arum promoted 25 of Muhammad Ali's fights. He also promoted George Foreman and Ken Norton, two other superstar heavyweight champions.

Today, we have four heavyweight champions because there are four belts. They are Hasim Rahman (World Boxing Council), Chris Byrd (International Boxing Federation), Lamon Brewster (World Boxing Organization) and Nicolay Valuev (World Boxing Association).

Yes, this state of the heavyweight division is kind of a bummer. But Arum, who is promoting the March 18 title fight between Hasim Rahman and James ``Lights Out'' Toney in Atlantic City, is trying to take the positive approach to the situation.

``I don't look at who are the champions of these organizations, I look to where the best fights can be made,'' said Arum, who is promoting his first heavyweight title fight in 11 years. ``And Rahman-Toney is the best heavyweight fight, and then the logical opponent of the winner of the fight is the winner of Byrd and (Wladimir) Klitschko (on April 22).

``And then Lamon Brewster, he would be a very viable opponent in that mix. Now, is this the era of Ali, Foreman and Norton and those guys? Of course not, but they are fairly decent fighters.''

All except Valuev, Arum said. The 7-foot Russian won the WBA belt with a majority decision over the dreaded John Ruiz last December in Germany. Valuev is 43-0 with 31 knockouts.

``The big Russian, in my mind, is a joke,'' Arum said. ``He is worse than Primo Carnera.''

Carnera, who was 6-5 1/2, was heavyweight champion for 16 months in 1933-34.

--Now, he's Big Joe: Let's hear it for Joe Calzaghe. He had defended his WBO super middleweight belt 17 times, yet he was an underdog to Jeff Lacy on Saturday when they squared off in Manchester, England.

Even the British sports books tabbed the American Lacy to win, and Calzaghe is from Hammersmith, England.

Calzaghe not only defeated Lacy to retain his WBO belt and take Lacy's IBF belt, he did it in grand fashion in winning by 12, 12 and 14 points on the three scorecards.

Calzaghe still hasn't fought in the U.S., but his tremendous victory over our best super middleweight means Calzaghe doesn't have to. Lacy, of St. Petersburg, Fla., was good going in. He had made four defenses of his belt and most boxing writers figured he would be too much for Calzaghe to handle.

``Jeff just didn't do anything we asked him to do,'' Lacy's trainer, Dan Birmingham, told the Associated Press. ``We had a Plan A and a Plan B but there's nothing you can do when your fighter won't listen to you.''

Calzaghe, 33, after the fight told the Associated Press that he would next like to move up to light heavyweight and fight either Roy Jones Jr. or Antonio Tarver.

``If I get an opportunity to fight Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones Jr. in the states, I'll go for it,'' Calzaghe said. ``Those are the sort of fights I want at this stage in my career.''

--Navarro unsuccessful: Jose Navarro of South Central Los Angeles last Monday was unsuccessful in his bid for the WBC flyweight title when he lost a unanimous decision to the champion, Masamori Tokuyama, in Osaka, Japan.

That's twice in 13 months Navarro has gone to Japan to fight for the same belt - and lost. Katsushige Kawashima won a controversial split decision over Navarro in January 2005 in Tokyo. Kawashima then lost the belt to Tokuyama via unanimous decision last July in Osaka.

--Taylor-Wright: The early favorite to play host to the highly anticipated middleweight title fight between champion Jermain Taylor and Winky Wright was the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Alas, it will be held at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.

Taylor, the WBC and WBO champion, is from Little Rock, Ark.

``Having held my last training camp there, and it being just two hours from Little Rock, Memphis is like a second home to me,'' Taylor said. ``I can't wait to perform in front of my fans from Arkansas and my adopted hometown fans in Memphis.''

--Judah-Marwa: Daniel Judah, brother of welterweight champion Zab Judah, will square off with Joseph Marwa of Tanzania in the eight-round light heavyweight main event Thursday at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills.

Judah, 28, is 20-1-3 with 10 knockouts. Marwa is 19-7-1 with five knockouts.

The card, which will feature seven bouts, is being promoted by Deborah Sable of Final Round Entertainment. For tickets, call [phone]. First bell is 7:15 p.m.

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