TAKE FIVE: CALVIN BROCK VS. TIMUR IBRAGIMOV

Friday, June 23, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.

By Jeff Haney

The principals

Calvin Brock (28-0, 22 KOs) vs. Timur Ibragimov (20-0-1, 12 KOs), 12 rounds

At stake

WBA heavyweight eliminator, IBA Continental Americas heavyweight championship

Time/site

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Caesars Palace Roman Plaza Amphitheater (first bout, 6 p.m.)

Tickets

$50 to $250. Call 474-4000, visit the Caesars Palace box office, or online at ticketmaster.com

Brock favored approximately 3-1

HBO

Featured on undercard

Joel Julio (27-0, 24 KOs) vs. Carlos Quintana (22-0, 18 KOs), 12 rounds,

1. Running man

Ibragimov, 31, a native of Uzbekistan, figures to box at a distance and try to avoid Brock's big shots rather than mixing it up on the inside. He believes a superior work ethic is behind the Eastern Bloc's assault on the heavyweight division. "You see Rahman and James Toney, they are good fighters, but the Soviet fighters, they train like they are in the army," he said. "Even if you don't have a fight, you get up and run. American fighters, they don't do that - only when it gets close to the fight."

2. Who's who?

Brock has been adamant that a victory Saturday will put him at the front of the line for a shot at the world heavyweight title, a once-prestigious honor that's currently fractured seemingly beyond repair. One belt is held by Nikolay Valuev, a 7-footer from St. Petersburg, Russia, who won the WBA title from John Ruiz by majority decision in Germany last year. Hasim Rahman held onto the WBC belt after fighting James Toney to a draw in March. Rahman meets Oleg Maskaev, another Russian challenger, in August. Wladimir Klitschko owns the IBF belt, and Sergei Liakhovich of Belarus lays claim to the WBO title. (Whew!)

3. He's so money

Brock, who earned a degree in finance from his hometown University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said his goal is to finish off Ibragimov with a knockout, then fight for a title before the end of the year. "That's why I'm here - to become the next heavyweight champion of the world," said Brock, a 2000 U.S. Olympian known as "the Boxing Banker." "I am definitely the one. It's my time."

4. Stepping up

Undefeated at age 31, Brock fancies himself as just the guy to clean up the heavyweight class - or is that morass? He's coming off a sensational knockout victory against Zuri Lawrence in February on the undercard of the Shane Mosley-Fernando Vargas fight. Brock said he's ready to face the best fighters in the division - and that after Saturday, they will be forced to view him as a real threat. "I am the hottest heavyweight contender in the world," he said. "I think that everyone knows they are going to have to fight me."

5. The entertainer

In a fight against Jameel McCline last year at Caesars Palace, Brock was knocked down in the seventh round but rallied to win a 10-round unanimous decision. More exciting moments like that could make Brock - a well-rounded boxer with knockout pop - a real crowd-pleaser as he takes on headliner status, promoter Carl Moretti said. "The more you see him on TV and you see the knockouts, the more he is gaining public interest and (you see) that he is as good as any heavyweight out there, including the champions," Moretti said.