Forget about Harmon-y

Dean Juipe

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 8:23 a.m.

From dining pals and buddies, and, now, to combatants.

Derrick Harmon and Montell Griffin once laughed together and discussed the issues of the day, but when they meet Sunday in a nationally televised fight from Friant, Calif., each will be more inclined to try and hit the other in the head.

"This is an emotional fight for me," Harmon said this week. "Griffin was once a good friend, an associate. We've had dinner at each other's house. We used to hang out together and have lunch at Marie Callender's every day."

Ah, those were the days. Fellow natives of Chicago, each of whom moved to Las Vegas, sharing good times, bonding and assisting one another's career.

But that was then.

"I knew something was going on when he stopped talking to me," Harmon continued. "Then, at my (April 14) fight at the Hard Rock, he started rapping and raving about wanting to fight me.

"Maybe he felt he needed more TV exposure than he was getting, or that fighting me was his big opportunity. So I accepted the challenge and it's an easy fight to get up for, but I wouldn't have fought him if it wasn't for the Hard Rock incident.

"He's got other guys out there he could have fought, and it seems like it would be better if one of us had a (major) title if we were going to fight.

"So I think he's doing this out of jealousy, out of envy."

Harmon, 22-2 with 10 knockouts, and Griffin, 42-3 with 28 KOs, are matched in the main event of a card to be televised by the Fox Sports Net. Their 12-round light heavyweight bout comes a day after another significant light heavyweight fight, one between Eric Harding and Antonio Tarver on the Shane Mosley vs. Vernon Forrest card in Indianapolis, that figures to give the division some badly needed exposure.

"I hope so," Harmon said of the 1-2 punch. "I hope it'll lead to me fighting Harding or Tarver, which I think people would like to see."

This is a crucial fight for Harmon and Griffin, as only one of them can expect to see his career prosper after their head-to-head showdown. Griffin believes he will be that man.

"Derrick is a decent fighter but when I'm at my very best I think I'm the best in the world," he said.

Griffin trains at Nevada Partners and Harmon at Tocco's gym, so they haven't bumped into each other since their verbal scrape at the Hard Rock the afternoon Harmon took a narrow decision win over Glencoffe Johnson.

"I'm sure he's in shape and he comes into the fight with ability and skills," Harmon said. "But I've got something more, I've got faith."

While this is a fight that seems to have been made for Las Vegas, it's being held in California to the dismay of at least one of the participants.

"I know I've got friends coming from Chicago and maybe he does too, and it would have been way easier for those people to get to Las Vegas instead of (Friant)," Harmon said. "Las Vegas would seem to be the natural place for us to fight and it could have saved us a lot of trouble if we were fighting here."

Yet the bout will be held in California and, beyond the friendship they once shared, it's a fight that matches men who have also sparred together.

"It's been a few years," Harmon said. "I think I was about 6-0 at the time. One thing I can say about it is that if he's going on how I looked then, he'd better check his chin."

But this is a story that also retains the possibility of an encouraging conclusion, no matter who wins.

"I hope we can remain friends," Harmon said. "Maybe we can shake hands afterward."