BIG-TIME boxing returns to Detroit for the first time in 12 years tonight. The city which gave the pug world one of its foremost academies, the Kronk Gym, gets a sample of the boom and spatter of the sweet science when the Prince Naseem roadshow rolls into the Joe Louis Arena.

On the supporting bill - well, top of the supporting bill - is Wayne McCullough, still trying to assemble a career which will match his early promise.

Since McCullough's hopeful, post-Barcelona departure from Belfast to work in the States with Mat Tinley, the professional journey has proved hard and bumpy. Since his almost miraculous title win in Japan four years ago, McCullough's career has been slowly ripping at the seams.

He still has the Vegas house, but the distance between himself and Tinley, and the growing influence on his career of his wife, Cheryl, may have made McCullough a happier man but they have scarcely brightened his future.

A year ago, on Hallowe'en night, he was in Atlantic City topping the bill in his bout with Hamed. In the aftermath of a narrow loss there was much talk of respect and rematches.

Tonight, however, McCullough fights Erik Morales of Tijuana, Mexico, the WBC super bantamweight champion in a bout which carries virtually no promise of success for the Belfast man.

Morales is the roaring favourite to finish the fight well within the distance, and everything about his demeanour suggests he has the equipment to do the job. At 23, and unbeaten in 34 professional fights - 28 of them finished with knockouts - he seems precisely the sort of fighter for whom McCullough isn't designed.

Morales, the son of a professional boxer, enjoys advantages of height, reach (72 in) and weight, and has the additional advantage of being an intelligent fighter who can pick his punches and play the percentages.

In the lead-up to the fight, he has been dismissive of the skill level of the Belfast boxer, and, while much of the talk is the usual pre-fight pejorativeness, McCullough need only look back to his own fight with Hamed last year to see how few of the punches he throws actually land.

Fewer again do damage. As for Morales, he is effective with more than 40 per cent of what he throws and is on a streak of six knockout wins.

Most telling in a comparison of the fighters' records are their experiences at the hands of Daniel Zaragossa, who they both fought in 1997. McCullough suffered the first big setback of his career while losing to Zaragossa in Boston that year. Later on, Morales claimed the scalp, knocking Zaragossa out in the 11th round of their bout in El Paso.

McCullough has been characteristically careful and respectful in his comments in advance of the fight. Morales has talked bigger, as befits a champion looking to increase his name recognition north of the Mexican border.

If McCullough can engage Morales in the type of patient dance which he introduced Naseem to a year ago, he stands a chance. Morales isn't as elusive a figure in the ring as Hamed was, but McCullough's lack of a big punch will have to be compensated for with a new-found accuracy.

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't figure on a defeat within the distance, however, which will leave McCullough struggling to find the next big pay day.

Meanwhile, the Naseem Hamed circus rolls on. Managed these days by his brother Riath, his assault on the American consciousness continues. He has been training for the past couple of months in the Poconos outside Philadelphia, making the occasional appearance on late-night chat shows where his brand of boasting and posturing has come across as strangely awkward and forced.

This week in Detroit, though, he has hit more confident form. The city is home to America's largest Arab community and Hamed has exploited his Yemeni roots effectively, talking freely about Arab pride and power, about his need for prayer in everything he does.

On Wednesday, he received the freedom of the city and he spent much of his time wheeling through the Arab community on a goodwill mission, announcing sweetly that he wants to make his second home in the Dearborn section of the city.

The effect on box office sales has been startling, with 8,000 tickets for tonight's fight with Cesar Soto of Mexico already sold.

Naseem's opponent could prove trickier than the sales job he has been doing around Detroit. Soto, the WBC title holder, has fought more and has fought a better calibre of fighter through his career.

In 62 pro fights Soto has yet to be put on the canvas, and Hamed will have to eliminate the sluggishness which has marked several recent performances if he is to survive. The evidence suggests that if Soto stays upright for the early rounds he stands a good chance as Hamed's small pool of stamina dries up.

HBO have bet big on Hamed, a $48 million deal in fact, and tonight he starts earning that money the hard way.