Finally, the Prince Can Win a Crown : Mohammed Faces Williamson Tonight for the WBC Light-Heavyweight Title

Prince Mameh Mohammed will fight for the only throne he ever wanted tonight, boxing J.B. Williamson at the Forum for the World Boxing Council’s vacant light-heavyweight title.

Mohammed, who claims to be a legitimate heir to a good-sized kingdom in Ghana, long ago disdained his father’s crown in favor of this one. Why be king if he can be champ, has been his career decision.

There are those, of course, who would choose differently. King Issah Mohammed leads a comfortable and influential life in Tamale, taking on as many wives as please him and not having to worry about somebody doubling up on his jab. Coups, of course, are another thing.

But the prince never dreamed of that life. Perhaps it was the occasional animal sacrifices, or just the whole philosophy of royalty.

“We have big buildings and freeways but we have this old fashioned domination,” he once said of his homeland. “I can’t go with it. I wouldn’t want anybody dominating me, I won’t dominate them.”

So it was with that thinking that the prince, at the age of 12, got into boxing, where the domination was between consenting soon-to-be-adults. He prospered as an amateur and soon turned pro, coming to the United States in 1981 in search of ring royalty.

The king wasn’t happy about that, though, and, the prince, through some lean times when he lived more like a pauper, wasn’t always happy either.

The problem was in getting a title shot. Even in the light-heavyweight division, which is largely a collection of men Michael Spinks already had trashed, the prince was having trouble moving up. Except for the tournament at the Forum, which he won, it was hard getting work. Spinks kept promising a fight but, in the prince’s words, always reneged.

But then Spinks discovered that the bigger they are, the harder they really do fall. After beating Larry Holmes for the International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship, he moved up to the big boys and big money full time, vacating his WBC and World Boxing Assn. titles. Suddenly there were titles to be had.

The prince originally was scheduled to fight Marvin Johnson for the WBA version, but Johnson elected for a tuneup fight first, forcing a title fight into February. So the impatient prince, No. 2 in the WBC, opted for that title and ended up with Williamson, No. 3 in the division, as an opponent.

The prince, 28, has a 32-1-2 record. Williamson, 28, has a 21-1 record.

Williamson, a former marine who was all-military, started his career in Indianapolis, sparring with Marvin Johnson in the St. Rita Police Athletic League.

Williamson, who came here in 1979 as an amateur to fight for the Muhammad Ali Sports Group, has been a sparring partner for Spinks in the past. But his most important sparring, as he prepares for the left-handed prince, may have been that early work with Johnson, himself a southpaw.

Each fighter will get $45,000 for tonight’s scheduled 12-round fight, in which someone will surely get crowned.

Also on the card, which will begin at 7, are three 10-round bouts. Oscar Muniz will fight undefeated Tony Montoya in a super-bantamweight bout, Lucilo Nolasco will fight undefeated Jibaro Perez in a bantamweight bout, and undefeated Michael Nunn will fight Billy Robertson in a middleweight bout.