LOOKING IN ON: BOXING

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006 | 6:56 a.m.

Laila Ali, the most prominent fighter in women's boxing, will make her Madison Square Garden debut Saturday night before a crowd expected to include her father, one of the most famous figures in the history of sports.

Muhammad Ali fought several memorable bouts at the Garden, most notably the 1971 "fight of the century" against Joe Frazier.

"My dad is excited about it, and he's planning on attending," Laila Ali said at Wynn Las Vegas. "That excites him, the whole idea of being at the Garden and bringing back all the great memories of him being at the Garden.

"My dad comes (to a fight) and they start chanting, 'Ali!' Whether they're chanting it for me or for him doesn't matter to him, he just likes that feeling of excitement.

"It's funny, my dad always asks me, 'Do people ever ask you about me?' I'm like, 'Yes, dad, of course.' "

Ali, 28, is 22-0 with 19 knockouts since turning pro in 1999. Saturday's fight against Shelley Burton of Kalispell, Mont., is for the women's super middleweight championship.

"The first thing that comes to my mind (about Madison Square Garden) isn't even that my dad fought there," Ali said. "It's just that as a fighter, it's a great venue. I like fighting in front of a lot of people. The more people that are there, the more exciting it is for me."

Ali and Burton (8-2-1, 2 knockouts) both trained in Las Vegas for the bout - Ali with Floyd Mayweather Sr. at Top Rank Gym, Burton with Don House at Gold's Gym in southeast Las Vegas.

"Normally I don't shake anybody's hand because they already (ticked) me off," Ali told Burton. "But I have a lot of respect for you. I know you're a tough, serious fighter and you're not going to back down. That's all I ask."

The fight takes place on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko-Calvin Brock heavyweight main event. HBO will show the headliner but not the Ali bout, per its policy of not televising women's boxing.

Kelley's Garden memories

Former featherweight world champ Kevin Kelley, who won a 1986 New York Golden Gloves championship at the Garden, will meet veteran former champion Manuel Medina (66-15, 31 KOs) on the undercard of Klitschko-Brock. The fight is billed as an IBF superfeatherweight eliminator.

"Every fighter has his own motivation," said Kelley (59-7-2, 39 KOs), who trains in Las Vegas under House. "Mine? I want another world title."

A Brooklyn native, Kelley, 39, said fighting in Manhattan has always held a special appeal for him. He considers his 1997 fight against Naseem Hamed the second-greatest bout ever in the Garden, behind only Ali-Frazier. Each man was down three times before Hamed won by a fourth-round knockout in a featherweight title match.

Vegas undercard

The WBO's top two junior welterweight contenders, Mike Arnaoutis (17-0-1, 9 KOs) and Ricardo Torres (29-1, 27 KOs), will fight for the organization's vacant 140-pound title on the undercard of the Nov. 18 superfeatherweight showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The title was vacated when champion Miguel Cotto (27-0, 22 KOs) moved up to welterweight.

Torres scored a knockdown and staggered Cotto a couple of times in a September 2005 fight in Atlantic City before getting knocked out in the seventh round.

Also on the undercard, WBC light flyweight champ Omar Nino (24-2-1, 10 KOs) of Mexico meets former champ Brian Viloria (19-1, 12 KOs) of Waipahu, Hawaii.

With more than 13,000 of 17,000 tickets already sold, promoter Bob Arum said he expects a sellout at the Thomas & Mack.

Pacquiao a favorite

Pacquiao is a decided favorite in Top Rank's online poll asking fans to predict the winner Nov. 18. With more than 25,000 votes cast, Pacquiao has collected 16,239 (65 percent) to Morales' 8,796 (35 percent). The percentages roughly correspond to the Las Vegas betting line, which has Pacquiao a little better than a 2-1 favorite.