Two boxers, one name, one fight

You could say every boxer's toughest opponent is himself.

Jose Medina, a stocky junior middleweight who grew up in North Philadelphia, made a New Year's resolution that in 2007 he would rededicate himself to training, after losing three of his four fights in 2006. He didn't know he'd begin rediscovering himself by literally fighting against Jose Medina.

Tonight, it's Jose Medina of Philadelphia vs. Jose Medina of Tilton, N.H., in a six-round preliminary bout at the New Alhambra (fittingly named for this bout, for Spanish history buffs).

Philadelphia's Jose "El Macho" Medina, whose family is Puerto Rican, says he usually comes across the name of the Mexican-born Jose "Stinger" Medina on the Internet when he looks up his own name.

"I always thought, maybe one day, me and him would fight. I always joked about that with my wife," he said. "I'm training very hard for this."

Few will confuse the two in the ring. The Philadelphian, with a 13-8 record, is 31 years old and a compact 5-foot-7. He had perhaps the best fight ever waged at the New Alhambra, a 10-round war with Miguel Figueroa in December 2005. Out-of-town Medina (10-7) is 23 and slim at 5-10.

J. Russell Peltz, the fight's matchmaker, who has been promoting since 1969, couldn't recall any other fight in which both guys had the same name.

But Bruce Trampler, matchmaker for Bob Arum's Top Rank, says "Peltz is a rookie." Trampler remembered a 1967 Miami Beach bout between Al Jones and "Memphis" Al Jones, two good heavyweights.

Nolo Contender. The TV series The Contender has been a mixed blessing for boxing and also for Mike "No Joke" Stewart, the talkative junior-welterweight and local gym warrior who was a member of the show's cast last summer.

Stewart, who lives in New Castle, Del., and trains at Champs Gym in North Philadelphia, surprised a lot of people by knocking out the promising Ebo Elder with a left hook after losing the first three rounds of their fight in an early episode of The Contender's second season.

Stewart says he tore his rotator cuff in that fight. Due to the show's production schedule, he had to fight again less than two weeks later, still injured, against the bigger Grady Brewer, the eventual series champ. He lost by decision. Stewart was competing in the series about eight pounds above his normal fighting weight of 140.

"They said it was muscle spasms. They gave me some muscle spasm medicine," he says. "As soon as the [Brewer] fight was over, they said, 'We got to take you to the doctor.' I had to get four pins in my shoulder.

"But I'm not crying," Stewart said. "It did open some doors."

Well, sort of. At 29, Stewart (41-5-2) has had 48 professional fights, a career's worth already, and he's building his roofing and construction business as a post-boxing career. Tonight, he fights Enrique Colin (21-3-3) of Mexico, headlining the 7:30 p.m. card at the New Alhambra. Is he getting better paydays now that he's a TV star? "Naw," he says. "The money's the same."

The show will be televised in Spanish on Telefutura (8 p.m.) and also features 2004 Mexican Olympian Abner Mares.

Book note. Christian Giudice of Haddonfield journeyed to Panama uninvited to find Roberto Duran and document the 2007 Boxing Hall of Fame inductee's life story. Giudice's new book about Duran, Hands of Stone (Milo Books, $24.95), is terrific. The author will sign copies tonight at the New Alhambra.

In other rings. There's spectacular boxing on TV this weekend. HBO's main event is welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (28-0, 23 KOs) against Oktay Urkal (38-3, 12 KOs), but it's the featured undercard bout (tomorrow, 9:45 p.m.) that has insiders all jittery. Super-middleweights Edison Miranda (27-1, 24 KOs) and Allan Green (23-0, 16 KOs), both scorching knockout artists, are expected to put on a tremendous show. . . . On Showtime (tomorrow, 9 p.m.), a doubleheader features Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez in a super-bantamweight title brawl.