For a sport which gave us such memorable productions as the Rumble in The Jungle and the Thrilla in Manilla, boxing would appear to have lost its way even in the matter of hype.

Tonight's heavyweight title fight between Lennox Lewis and Michael Grant is billed clumsily as "Two Big". In fact, the early indications are that this one is too much ado about nothing.

Tickets are easily available and HBO's pay-per-view sales are sluggish. The quiet, poorly-defined, profiles of the participants have ensured that this Madison Square Garden event bears the status of an off-off Broadway show.

The principal players in Two Big are simply "Two Alike". Lennox Lewis - strong, silent type - meets Michael Grant - strong, silent type.

Opinion is sharply divided as to whether or not Grant, the towering challenger, can provide an upset. There are some who view his ascent to the top as inevitable and unstoppable, others who believe that he will do well to manage even dignified resistance for the evening.

The latter group probably underestimate Lennox Lewis's natural tendency towards caution. It is not the style of this champion to administer cuffings to impudent challengers, no matter how vociferously his public may bay. Lewis will happily coast to a points win and another big pay-day rather than risk it all.

Grant's support among the cognescenti (and he has drawn the endorsement of even such a professorial eminence as Mike Katz) base their position on flashes of talent rather than a steady pattern of excellence.

Grant came to boxing late and his accumulation of a 31-0 record has involved ransacking at least the odd hospice. Yet he can point to a series of wins over the last couple of years which represent an accelerated learning curve if not a glittering necklace of accomplishments.

Grant has a good reach, fast feet and quick hands when he needs to use them. While he brings an appealing variety of punches to the party, earlier in his career, when he was fighting the sick and the indigent, he showed evidence of owning a convincing knockout punch. In recent bouts against men with real chins, though, Grant has huffed and puffed to victory.

"My advantage is that I am faster," he said this week, "I throw more combinations at angles. I throw my punches not just at the mid-section. I throw my punches upstairs, then take it back down to the kitchen."

However, Emanuel Steward, Lewis's sage trainer, doubts if Grant is going to provide the whirlwind of activity which he has been forecasting. Not many people get close enough to Lewis to throw punches upstairs and then amble down to the kitchen.

"I think Grant will come after Lennox alright, but that's not his normal way of fighting. After a while when somebody tries to make a change like that they revert to their normal way of fighting. It's just a matter of time before the slowdown."

The weigh-in provided little signs of daylight between the fighters. Grant at 6ft 7ins is a couple of inches taller and enjoys a reach advantage of two inches, negligible distinctions against a creature with the hedgehog-like caution of Lewis. At 250lbs, Grant is also marginally the heavier of the pair.

For trivia buffs, the combined flesh total of 497 pounds makes this the biggest and bulkiest heavyweight title fight ever fought, edging out the clash between Primo "Man Mountain" Carnera and Paulini Uzcudun in 1933. A win for Grant would make him the tallest champion of all time.

Majority opinion, however, reflects the wisdom of the bookmakers who make Lewis a clear favourite to win, without permitting the odds on Grant to get too generous.

The prologue provided by both men's fight histories provides a couple of reference points. Grant's 10-round win over Andrew Golota last November, when Grant was knocked down twice in the first round, looks sickly poor when held up against Lewis' first-round dismissal of the same opponent a year before.

Golota's erraticism and a large dose of lydocaine he took before the Lewis fight may have a little to do with that discrepancy.

If Grant is to win he needs to buckle the safety belt and then box aggressively and against the grain of his nature. For Lewis the task is more familiar - avoid being punished for the sins of a careless moment, keep plugging away.

What will be interesting to watch is whether or not the taunting by sections of the boxing press and boxing public alike has got to Lewis. Critics note that he has yet to conduct a fight with the aggression and majesty of a true champion and until he does his persona in a place like New York City will remain curiously undefined.

If Lewis succumbs to that temptation, Michael Grant might just steal it all.