LANCE WHITAKER

STATUS: Heavyweight contender.

HT: 6-8  WT: 250

BORN ON: May 29, 1972  IN: Granada Hills, CA

CHILDHOOD HEROES: "Muhammad Ali, George Foreman. I remember when George fought four guys in one day. That was pretty awesome. I could've done the same thing after Maskaev. I could have fought a few more times that night [smiles]."

NICKNAMES: Mount, Big Foot, The Gentle Giant, The Quiet Man ("I was always quiet, you know.")

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: "Work on cars. Work out a lot. Bowling."

FAVORITE MOVIES: "The Shawshank Redemption, Rocky. I love the old Twilight Zones."

MUSICAL TASTES: "Jazz, Miles Davis, Sade. Oldies, Marvin Gaye, Isley Brothers, Tina Turner. A little bit of rap, not too much."

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: "The Golden Girls, Good Times, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons."

EARLY BOXING MEMORY: "I was skipping high school class with my friends. A guy (Francisco Ortega) walked up to me in line at Burger King and said, 'How'd you like to make a million bucks?' Exactly what he said to me. He trained boxers. And we exchanged numbers. I instantly liked boxing. Self-motivating. Loved hitting the bag, doing the roadwork, sparring. I just knew it was for me. I'd get the adrenaline. It's just one-on-one. Guess I'm not a team player. I liked football and basketball but the drills, I was like, Awww, we got to do that again? But boxing, I look forward to it. I want to run, train, spar, lift weights, look good on TV. Then once I started, I started beating everyone in amateurs. Beating everyone in Golden Gloves. I was on my way."

FUNNY MEMORY: "When I fought Alex Stewart on the Tyson-Botha undercard at the MGM Grand. Coming out for the very first fight...there was maybe five people, including the judges [laughs]! Completely empty. I got it all over with (KO 7) and then watched the Tyson fight."

FIRST JOB: "Paper route for LA Daily News (age 13)."

FIRST CAR: "'67 black Chevy Impala."

PRE-FIGHT FEELING: "Nervous. Pretty relaxed. Picture what I want to do when I get in that ring. Re-think what I want to say after the fight in the interviews. So I don't stutter [smiles]. Move around, shadow box. Picture what I'm gonna do to the guy. I like to listen to Sade 'No Ordinary Love,' 'Cherish The Day,' and 'Bulletproof Soul.' Yeah, I look at him. Size him up, stare him down [laughs]. I mean business. This is a tough business. If I hurt you, I hurt you. I'm going in to win."

GREATEST SPORTS MOMENT: "I guess the last couple of fights, very good on HBO. (Knockout wins over) Robert Davis and Oleg Maskaev."

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: "I guess it was the Monte Barrett fight when I hurt my knee. Twisted it going backwards. I had knee surgery in '98."

FAVORITE FIGHTS: Ali-Foreman, Foreman-Frazier I, Leonard-Hagler.

PEOPLE MOST ADMIRED: "Honest and just be nice. To be sincere. I like to help people out. But I guess being too nice is bad. You know, people take advantage. In general, I'm a nice guy. But once I get in the ring, it's either you or me. And it ain't gonna be me."

ON HIS ENORMOUS IMPROVEMENT: "Experience got me to relax a little bit more. Be patient. When I got cut (vs. Savarese) it was desperation. I was fighting myself. Every fight I get better and better. And more confident in myself. I haven't been to confident in myself all my life, with a lot of different things. I never thought I'd go this far in boxing. Now I want to be a role model. I want to be a champion. My confidence is building up."