Countdown has begun for the biggest fight in female boxing history.

Laila Ali, proclaimed the best fighter on the planet, faces the hard-hitting Christy Martin, who held that distinction for many years until recently.

Both fighters will meet in nine days for the IBA super middleweight title, but more importantly the winner gains distinction as the best women's fighter in the world at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Aug. 23. The fight will be shown live on pay-per-view around the world.

Martin's agreement to fight a much heavier and taller Ali matches more than just the best fighters, it brings together two icons in the sport who may have never met without assistance from another woman icon of the sport.

When Martin stepped in a Detroit arena to face Mia Rosales-St. John last December, before several hundred fans, many boxing observers scoffed at the match. Some experts, including Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, predicted the Mexican-American boxer would not last 30 seconds. Instead, Rosales-St. John moved deftly around the ring much to the chagrin of Martin.

"I sparred only nine rounds before the Mia fight," said Martin (45-2-2, 31 KOs), not wishing to detract from Rosales-St. John's accomplishment of lasting the entire scheduled 10 rounds. "I don't mean that as disrespect to Mia, because I thought Mia fought one hell of a fight. But you know that's not the same Christy Martin."

With a twinkle in her eye, Martin contends she was setting the bait for Ali.

"It brought interest from Laila. Before that fight they would not talk to us," said Martin, 35, who intends to train harder than any fight before. "After that the phone starts ringing."

After hearing of Martin's contention Ali fumed.

"She is going to come up here and try to act liked she tricked me into this fight?" said Ali (15-0, 12 KOs). "I don't want to hear no drama - I don't want to hear no excuses, what I expect is for her to come into the ring."

Ali, 25, the beautiful daughter of boxing great Muhammad Ali, scorched through the super middleweight division in the last two years with riveting victories over title-holders who served as minor road bumps for the 5-10 fighter with hand speed, power and looks that can kill.

Though many daughters of famous fighters have entered the ring, only Ali has emerged as comparable to her father in terms of boxing skills. But she hasn't gained her style from her father.

"You can't study my dad and try to be like him. He did so many things wrong," said Ali. "I happened to watch one of his old fights, it was against George Foreman on ESPN, and I was like, God, they were like so slow and so lazy. But the outcome was good, you know what I mean?"

Ali said her corner men have being trying to entice her to pick a few of her dad's calling cards to flaunt to the public.

"I've still got my camp trying to show me to do the (Ali) shuffle," said Ali grinning as she recalled the futile attempts. "They tell me Œif you do it Laila you'll blow up.' I'm not thinking about shuffling. I'm thinking about winning."

Ali has picked up three world title belts but has another goal on her mind when she steps into the Mississippi heat next week against Martin.

"It's going to elevate women's boxing," said Ali, who wants to bring her sport to the forefront.

The 168-pound champion has learned much about the sport through her husband and promoter Johnny McClain and through trainer Roger Mayweather. But her father, who is considered the greatest heavyweight of all time, gave her one important tip.

"My dad basically is more concerned about the public and how I'm perceived by the public and not to let my head get too big," Ali said.

Rosales-St. John, whose startling performance against Martin may have triggered this fight, said this upcoming fight will be an energy boost for women's boxing.

"It's great, you have the two most famous women getting in the ring to fight each other," said Rosales-St. John. "Laila is a lot bigger and a lot heavier, but I don't think she can knock out Christy. I don't think anyone can knock out Christy Martin. She's too tough."

But Rosales-St. John also predicts that Martin cannot knockout Ali.

"It's going to be really difficult for Christy to get inside that jab of Laila's," said Rosales-St. John. "She's got the best jab."

Despite the weight and height disparity, it should go all 10 rounds.

"I expect a great fight by the two," said Rosales-St. John. "Christy Martin has so much experience. She's been in a lot of tough fights and that should help her against Laila. But Laila is young and so talented. I really think it's going to make boxing history."

There have been comparisons made of the Roy Jones Jr. fight against the heavier John Ruiz, but Ali says it's not an applicable comparison.

"It's not the same situation here. It would be different if I was a slow pressure fighter that didn't know anything and Christy Martin is this great fast fighter. But that's not the case," said Ali. "It's going to seem a little bit silly after the fight. I know she's going to go in there and try and take my head off. Actually, it ain't going to be too silly."

Martin, who has fought professionally since 1989, has more knockout victories than Ali has total fights. The key difference is the size where Ali has dominated her weight class and Martin is entering for the first time in her career.

"The last girls I fought, except for Mia, they were all champions. They're all tough because they all fight their best fight against me. It's their super bowl for everybody," said Martin who feels this kind of experience prepares her for the athletic Ali. "I don't know if I can stop her, she's a big girl. But she might stop herself because she might be so overaggressive and so angry with me that she's going to come in there and punch herself out. I'm going to be in great condition, my experience will kick in and I'll be able to take over in the late rounds."

Ali, who discovered female professional boxing when she saw Martin and Dierdre Gogarty fight in 1996, predicts the fight will be end by knockout.

"I say it won't go past five," said Ali.

As she sat under the shade, looking toward a hill filled with green vegetation, a smile emerged as she contemplated the upcoming fight.

"The best thing about this is we get to throw punches," Ali said. "We get to get in there and actually get it on."

LAST WEEK'S FIGHT CARD

Acelino Freitas' last round knockout win over the determined Jorge Barrios proved three things: Freitas still can punch, a Brazilian against an Argentine will always evolve into a nationalistic war and the loveable Brazilian is not ready for the likes of Diego Corrales or Erik Morales. But he is an excellent fighter whose smile and personality bring many fans to the arenas and the TV viewing audience.

The best fight was Teddy Reid's exercise in "clobbering time" against Venezuela's Elio Ortiz. Both traded neo nuclear warheads that might have erased whole island nations against other opponents. It was a matter of who "got got" first. In this case, Reid fired the first fireball that landed and he eventually won the firefight. But who would have thought that Ortiz would have survived yet hurt Reid twice? This is a fight that could be a great rematch.

Francisco Bojado engaged in a tactical fight against Lemuel Nelson, who was knocked out several years ago against Freitas in two rounds. It proved that fighting at 140 pounds is going to be tough for Panchito, who seems better suited as a lightweight or junior lightweight. But sometimes the body doesn't agree and perhaps this is Bojado's destiny. Though unable to score a knockout, the East Los Angeles/City of Commerce fighter displayed brilliant hand-speed and footwork that can carry him to the elite of the weight class. But then you run into the coma boys like Randall Bailey, Diobelys Hurtado, Chop Chop Corley, Kelson Pinto, and Miguel Cotto to name a few. It's not going to be easy for Panchito, but there's room for lots of improvement. Especially using a jab. Bojado has exceptional hand-speed that could easily shock his opponents with a left jab setting up that right he loves to throw. Once he does that, the knockouts will come.

OSCAR AND SHANE

Tickets for the Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley rematch set for Sept. 13 have nearly sold out at the MGM Grand Casino. Only 200 tickets remain and those are isolated seats around the arena, according to Top Rank Promotions. The Mirage Casino will be showing the fight on close circuit and has 20,000 seats available. The fight will also be shown on HBO pay-per-view.

GOOD FIGHT CARD THIS WEEKEND

Fernando Montiel (26-0-1, 20 KOs) will pit his eye-catching skills against the once unbeatable Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson (41-3, 27 KOs) on HBO this Saturday. Montiel is considered the next Ricardo "Finito" Lopez of Mexico with his calculating style of speed and power. Johnson, who lost against IBF bantamweight title-holder Rafael Marquez twice, is seeking to prove that he still has the ability to claim a world title. At one time Johnson was considered a Pound for Pound fighter who was unbeatable for 10 years until going to jail for a year. When he returned, he moved up in weight class but his skills weren't as obvious as before.

In another match, Juan Manuel Marquez (40-2), the older brother of Rafael, will defend his IBF featherweight title against Marcos Licona (20-3-1) who was a last minute replacement for the injured Derrick Gainer. Licona fights under Golden Boy Promotions and is a surprising replacement considering the rough time he gave WBC junior featherweight champion Oscar Larios several months ago.

Jesus Chavez (39-2) will be gunning against WBC junior lightweight title-holder Sirimongkol Singmanasak (40-1) in a fight from Austin, Texas shown on Telefutura. Chavez will be making his second attempt. It was more than a year ago that he lost by technical knockout to Floyd Mayweather. This time he faces a guy who probably loves to exchange punches as much as he does. It should be another war.