FOR MOST "Rocky"-loving tourists, the preferred photo ops are at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The bronze statue that was a prop in "Rocky III" is near the base of the steps. At the top of those steps, of course, is the chance for fans to gleefully jump around, arms extended, just as the future heavyweight champ of the silver screen did in 1976's Academy Award-winning flick written by and starring Sylvester Stallone.

But for those who want to really get into boxing's most beloved fictional character, there's nothing quite like strolling the streets of Rocky Balboa's blue-collar neighborhood, where Mickey's gym and Adrian's pet shop were located.

Local super middleweight Dennis "The Assassin" Hasson, who lives on the 1800 block of Tusculum Street - just a few doors down from Rocky's dingy apartment - must feel as if he's playing a part in a cinematic tribute that never ends. Sometimes, when he returns from his daily gym workout (he splits his training between Joe Hand's Boxing Gym and the Rock Ministries Gym), "Rocky" fans will ask him to pose for snapshots.

"It happens all the time," Hasson, 24, said.

Hasson (3-0, 1 KO) who takes on Dave Cook (3-1, 2 KOs) in a scheduled four-rounder Friday night at the New Alhambra, has a more legitimate connection to a Philadelphia boxing legend than anything concocted in Stallone's fertile mind.

His great-great-uncle is former light-heavyweight champion Tommy Loughran, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991 and will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 13.

Loughran, who was 79 when he died in 1982, was one of the finest 175-pounders in boxing history, posting a 94-23-9 record (which doesn't include 46 no-decisions or no-contests) with victories over such notables as Jimmy Slattery, Mike McTigue, Harry Greb, Mickey Walker, Jack Sharkey, Max Baer, James J. Braddock and Georges Carpentier.

"I fought as a light-heavyweight in the Golden Gloves, because that was Tommy Loughran's weight class," Hasson said. "I guess I wanted to hold up the family tradition."

Muhammad Ali's manager dies

Herbert Muhammad, who managed Muhammad Ali throughout the three-time heavyweight champion's legendary boxing career, died yesterday afternoon in Chicago of complications following triple-bypass heart surgery. He was 78.

The son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad, he was reviled by some, praised by others and misunderstood by many. Gene Kilroy, Ali's business manager, said his friend helped make it possible for athletes in all sports to begin making big money.

"To me, Herbert was a great man," Kilroy said. "Many star athletes were making less than $100,000 before Herbert started marketing Ali. Even Jim Brown, I think, was making around $80,000 at the time."

Slipping punches

This Friday through Monday, Bruce Silverglade, proprietor of Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, N.Y., will conduct his sixth annual "Fantasy Boxing Camp" at Kutsher's Country Club, an old Borscht Belt inn in the Catskill Mountains that once served as the training-camp site of such world champions as Rocky Marciano, Emile Griffith and Sandy Saddler.

Forty or so campers (nearly half of whom are female) from as far away as Australia, Germany and England will attend this year's camp - paying nearly $2,000 - for the privilege of doing roadwork, banging the heavy bag and receiving tutorials from guest instructors Griffith, Iran Barkley, Mark Breland, Carlos Ortiz, Juan LaPorte and Yuri Foreman.

No rust on Yorgey

A 10-month layoff because of a managerial dispute didn't appear to affect Harry Joe Yorgey (21-0-1, 9 KOs), as the Bridgeport, Pa., resident scored a 12-round majority decision over Jason LeHoullier (21-1-1, 8 KOs) for the vacant IBF North American junior middleweight title Friday night in Nashville, Tenn.

ESPN guest analyst Shannon Briggs, filling in for Teddy Atlas, who was covering the Olympics in Beijing, had Yorgey winning 11 of 12 rounds. I had him winning 10 of 12. But one myopic judge - Valerie Dorsett - scored it 114-114.

Do the right thing

Last week, I noted how the District of Columbia boxing commission perpetrated the latest boxing injustice in depriving Southwest Philadelphia junior middleweight Anthony "The Messenger"

Thompson of a deserved victory over

Baltimore's Ishmail Arvin. A battered Arvin won by sixth-round "technical knockout" when referee Malik Waleed incorrectly ruled that a bad cut over

Thompson's left eye was opened by a punch, not a head-butt.

IBO president Ed Levine, whose organization had sanctioned the bout for the vacant USBO 154-pound championship, has since declared the title vacant and urged the D.C. commission to reverse Waleed's decision, or at least to declare a no-contest. *

Send e-mail to fernanb@phillynews.com.