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If James Kirkland fights with the desperation of a prison yard scuffle, it may be because he has some experience in the matter. If he fights like a man brawling to put food on the table, it's because he knows dearly what that's like. And if he tosses the art of boxing to the side like warmup robe on in favor of delivering the kind of punishment you might have to thumb back to Genesis to be familiar with, it's because that's the only thing he knows.

"When I'm in the ring I love to bring pain," says Kirkland (24-0, 21 KOs) who faces the hard-hitting Jorge Julio (34-2, 31 KOs) Saturday night on HBO's Boxing After Dark (10PM ET). "I want to make him hurt."

If there is a lesson to learn from the life of Juan Diaz, the former unified lightweight champion of the world, current college senior and boxer with a motor so powerful NASCAR would stick a restrictor plate on it, it is simply this.

Don't mess with the fat kid.

Here's how Antonio Margarito knows training camp has gone well: His sparring partners won't talk to him and their medical staff are buying stitches from Costco and vacation homes by the dozen.

Margarito is many things. A fighter who brawls like a bulldozer with reverse ripped out of the transmission. The favorite boxer of Mexico, a boxing nation so tough it probably shaves twice in the morning and wears flannel every day. A classically styled tough guy with a smile as crooked as a Louisiana politician, an angular face that's a road map of the hard way to the top, and an iron scowl that suggests he ate a bowl of nails for breakfast and then asked for seconds.

The hype machine for the Beverage Sponsorship Money of Which I Do Not Receive a Cut AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic continues to hum. I took part in an informative conference call yesterday in the wake of NBC's announcement that Bob Costas would finally have the opportunity to match the prestige of appearing in "BASEketball" by hosting the NHL's outdoor hockey game in Buffalo on New Year's Day 2008.

NHL on NBC vets Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and producer Sam Flood were joined by newbies "Mad" Mike Milbury and Costas, whose focus is clearly on making a game between what are currently two non-playoff teams into something transcendent, saying that "you don't have to be somebody who follows the NHL day in and day out to enjoy it as an event."

Being that this is a large-scale sporting event with an opportunity for some NBC cross-promotion, someone asked Flood if there would be an NBC celebrity component at the Winter Classic, and specifically about arguably the network's biggest prime-time star and most prominent Canadian, Howie "Deal or No Deal" Mandel. "In terms of Howie Mandel, no plans at this time to have him at the game site. Remember, Jan. 1 is a different kind of day to have these celebs in different locations," said Flood.

Having Mandel at the game, or on any hockey telecast, would obviously be a coup based on his current popularity and general appeal; but it would also be the safe, obvious play. If NBC and the NHL really wanted to create some buzz, they should draft some of the network's stars whose hockey credentials are a little less established. Who isn't tuning in to the Winter Classic pregame show to hear Tracy Morgan of "30 Rock" do five minutes on hockey? Of course, the probability of getting Tracy Morgan to Buffalo, NY on New Year's Day afternoon for a hockey game is about the same as the probability that Jamie-Lynn Spears was going to save it 'til marriage. Some other points of interest from the conference call...

Once in a while, a sport located further down the food chain from the NHL will mistakenly smell blood in the water and attempt to knock hockey down a few links. Remember when indoor lacrosse was on the rise? Or when MLS was going to surpass the NHL, before David Beckham logged more minutes on reality television than he did with the LA Galaxy?

One sport I didn't expect to have hockey in its cross-hairs was professional boxing, which has been as marginalized as a former mainstream sport can become; hell, even horse racing still has the Triple Crown to attract annual attention from the casual fans. Boxing also has something that professional hockey does not, which is serious challengers to its popularity from within its own genre: UFC and MMA, both of which have captured large chunks of younger demographics, as well as valuable airtime on non-pay-per-view television networks -- unlike boxing.

In many ways, boxing and hockey face many of the same stigmas, marketing obstacles in the face of shifting cultural tastes and numb-nuts in the ESPN-ized mainstream media who think "boxing is dead" or "hockey is dead." I wish boxing fans and hockey fans could just get along, like Ilya Kovalchuk and Evander Holyfield in the photo above. Alas, one boxing writer feels that hockey is "the proverbial falling tree in a vacant forest," and that the sweet science is poised to surpass it in popularity -- if it hasn't already.

If you're of a certain age or comedic disposition, the name Don Rickles has immediate resonance. His particular brand of winking snark has influenced generations of comedians, from Howard Stern (and his clones) to Sarah Silverman. Tonight on HBO is the cable premiere of "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project," a documentary that celebrates and analyzes the comedian's caustic career and continuing appeal. If nothing else, it could be the funniest thing John Landis has directed since "Coming To America" -- unless you're a "Blues Brothers 2000" fetishist.

Rickles's connection with the greatest sport ever invented by man is quite infamous: One of his most-referenced verbal jabs is calling his comedic target a "hockey puck"; a site that calls itself "the ultimate Don Rickles Web experience" is even called The Hockey Puck. I've wondered for years where the seemingly random insult originated; the Minneapolis Star-Tribune asked Rickles about it recently in a preview for the HBO film:

A. ... If I'm walking down the street with Clint Eastwood, people are afraid of approaching him, but they've got no problem coming up to me and saying, "Hey, you hockey puck."

Q. What's the deal with "hockey puck"?

A. You got me, babe. I think years ago, I heard it from some hecklers and I liked it. It's weird. I've got hockey pucks all around the house, hockey sticks, jerseys from strangers. The game is fine, but it's not my whole life.

"The Game Is Fine." -- Don Rickles. Start printing up the posters now, Bettman. As for the rest of you, here's something Comedy Central might think twice about airing today: A "classic" Dean Martin introduces Casey Kasem as Adolf Hitler roasting Don Rickles, via YouTube.

Something that has been making waves in the Kansas City media (at least for a day) was Larry Johnson's recent appearance on HBO's Inside the NFL. According to the Kansas City Star's Jeffrey Flanagan, Cris Carter and Larry Johnson had the following exchange:

"I wouldn't pay attention," Johnson said of playing under Vermeil. "My eyes, I would be up in the sky. You know, I would be sleeping in my locker. I wouldn't carry my playbook because I was just trying to get away from this building, you know, when Dick was here."

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Carter asked LJ, "Do you think Herm Edwards, being an African-American and you being raised, of course, by an African-American, that you see a lot of similarities in Herm that you saw in your dad that made you open up to him?"

LJ's response: "I think so. I could relate to Herman. I couldn't do that with the other coaches I had because they had not done it. You know, they haven't put those pads or they haven't been in the situation as a young black athlete and know what we had to go through.

Pretty powerful words. AOL's Jason Whitlock certainly noticed. In this week's Real Talk segment, Whitlock, in my opinion, hits the nail on the head: "Johnson likes to posture in public. He wants to be controversial and misunderstood. He wants to be Jim Brown. He just doesn't know how to do it."