"I'm a big Eagles fan," the Scranton native and former Naval Academy linebacker declared. "Some people I went to high school with live in Philadelphia. My wife, Teressa [an ex-Eagles cheerleader], still has a lot of friends there. Certainly, that's an area we'd consider moving to in the future."

But Stann - who says that coming onto the field before his first Army-Navy game at Veterans Stadium remains his greatest sports thrill - has places to go and things to do before he can think about maybe settling down somewhere in the Delaware Valley.

Tomorrow night, at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Stann challenges Doug "The Rhino" Marshall for the World Extreme Cagefighting light-heavyweight championship.

The bout will be televised live on the Versus channel.

"I was supposed to fight someone else in February, but that match fell through. Then they offered me the champion and I jumped at it," said Stann, 27, a decorated Marine Corps captain who earned a Silver Star for his role in saving the lives of four of his men during a May 2005 firefight in Iraq.

Now down to 205 pounds from his Navy playing weight of 230, the 6-1 Stann, who is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., is as combat-ready in the Octagon as he is in his day job as a company commander in the 8th Marine Regiment. All five of his WEC bouts have ended in first-round stoppages.

Marshall, 31, is 7-2 and figures this one also won't go the distance.

"When me and Brian step in there, there will be some big bombs thrown," Marshall said. "I see us touching gloves and getting right after it. I don't think it will be too much of a technical fight."

Don't say uncle

The world's best pound-for-pound fighter, WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., could be ready to cut more family ties.

There was some actual boxing news to come out of a Mayweather teleconference last week to promote his goof-and-giggles WWE match with 7-foot, 440-pound rassler' Big Show Sunday in Orlando, Fla.

Mayweather, who once fired his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., as his trainer, also is leaning toward handing his current trainer and uncle, Roger Mayweather, his walking papers.

Roger was training Steve Forbes for a May 1 bout with Oscar De La Hoya, whom Floyd Jr. hopes to face in a megabucks rematch sometime in September. But if Forbes pulls off the upset, Mayweather-De La Hoya II probably wouldn't happen.

"I asked Roger not to train Forbes," Floyd Jr. said. "If Forbes beats De La Hoya, money is being taken out of my pocket. I completely disapprove. I might have to move on and get another trainer."

Or maybe not.

When Forbes heard of the family feud, he fired Roger and hired another one of Mayweather's uncle, Jeff, as his chief second.

As for the chances of Floyd Sr. and Floyd Jr. getting back together? None. Floyd Sr. has reunited with De La Hoya.

Ready to mumble

For more than a quarter of a century, Michael Buffer's signature phrase, "Let's get ready to ruuuuuumble!," has set the stage for hundreds of major boxing matches televised by HBO. Those five little words - OK, four little ones and a really drawn-out one - have made Buffer, 63, the richest, most famous ring announcer of all time. In many cases, he's more recognized by the public than the fighters he introduces throughout the nation and around the world.

But, while he recovers from surgery to remove some small tumors in his throat and neck, the Philadelphia-born Buffer might never even be ready to mumble for some time.

"I have the highest expectations for a positive result," Buffer said via e-mail last week, a day before he underwent surgery. "For the next couple of months I'll get to sit back and watch major league baseball, NBA and NCAA playoffs, Stanley Cup games and some great fights while you all [boxing writers and broadcasters] work your butts off. Maybe this is working out better than I thought."

Get well soon, Michael.

Laila's next phase

From her very first professional bout, a first-round knockout of moonlighting waitress April Fowler on Oct. 8, 1999, Laila Ali was the biggest name in women's boxing. And why not? She is runway-model gorgeous and, oh, yeah, the daughter of a pretty good scrapper named Muhammad Ali.

Media types from around the world - not all them boxing writers, either - converged on the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y., on June 8, 2001, for "Ali-Frazier IV," the celebrity offspring pairing of Laila Ali and "Smokin' " Joe Frazier's daughter, Jacqui Frazier-Lyde. It might not have been the Thrilla in Manila, but the ladies put on a surprisingly entertaining show that Ali won on an eight-round majority decision.

But time marches on. Frazier-Lyde is now the Honorable Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge. And Laila, 30, also appears to have left the ring forever. Her last bout was almost 14 months ago, a one-round blowout of Gwendolyn O'Neil in South Africa.

Ali (24-0, 21 KOs) is the co-host (with wrestling's Hulk Hogan) of "American Gladiators" on NBC, and she reports on health and fitness on the CBS Early Show. She's also working on a new Nickelodeon show called "The N's Student Body," which follows a group of teens as they change their lives by diet and exercise.

"I got bored with boxing," she said. "You can't fight forever. You get older. I want to do other things." *

Send e-mail to fernanb@phillynews.com