Couple of ‘Rockys’ Will Get Their Shot

Sometimes while walking a beat as a New York City policeman, Rick Frazier must have thought about fighting for a world championship.

And while scrambling eggs and flipping burgers as a short-order cook, Golden Johnson had to have sometimes dreamed of throwing punches in a world-title fight.

Tonight, title shots are what Frazier, 39, and Johnson, 24, will get at the Pensacola Civic Center.

Frazier will challenge hometown hero Roy Jones Jr. for the WBC-WBA light heavyweight titles. Johnson will challenge Shane Mosley for the IBF lightweight championship in the first half of an HBO doubleheader.

Frazier is not bothered by fighting in Jones’ hometown, or by criticism that his 18-3-2 record, with 17 knockouts, isn’t worthy of the No. 1 ranking that has made him a mandatory challenger to Jones (38-1, 32 knockouts).

“Look, I’m a cop--most hated profession in the world,” the 17-year police officer said.

Of his big chance, Frazier, a pro boxer since 1992, said, “Sooner or later I knew it would happen. That’s why I kept training.”

Jones is a prohibitive favorite.

Johnson (15-2-2), of Killeen, Texas, didn’t know he was going to fight Mosley until about a week before Christmas.

“I’d just gotten back in the gym, getting ready to redeem myself, when we got the call,” said Johnson, loser of his last fight, on Oct. 16.

Johnson got the call to fight Mosley (30-0, 28 knockouts), of Pomona, because Justin Rowsell of Australia, scheduled to challenge the champion, took a fight he didn’t need and got knocked out.

Winner of seven of eight fights in 1998, Johnson was inactive from July 19, 1995, until Oct. 5, 1997.

“I took two years off and was a short-order cook in Wichita Falls, Texas,” he said. “I took off because I had manager problems and I wasn’t focused. I had to get focused on boxing.”