Boxer Kills Sportswriter
 

BOXER HELD IN SPORTSWRITER SLAYING

LOS ANGELES — A long-troubled prizefighter was picked up yesterday in connection with the slaying of Sam Kellerman, brother of Fox Sports host Max Kellerman.
Boxer James "The Harlem Hammer" Butler — who's had a fistful of troubles in and out of the ring — was nabbed yesterday by Los Angeles police. He was wanted in the killing of actor-sportswriter Sam Kellerman, 29, who once had a public-access cable show in New York.

Kellerman's body was discovered Sunday in his Los Angeles apartment. Police believe he was killed by blunt-force trauma to the head and had been dead for two to four days.

"He was the center of my family and I can't imagine life without him," Max Kellerman told The Post yesterday.

The LAPD discovered Kellerman's missing 1993 Cadillac Seville abandoned near UCLA. Then they tracked down Butler, who was being treated at UCLA Medical Center.

Friends of the middleweight had guessed he was on his way to Florida, where his girlfriend lives, or to family members in Harlem.

"I thought he'd be in Florida by now," said LAPD Capt. Mike Downing. "It was a good break for us."

Butler is infamous for sucker-punching Richard Grant after their fight at Manhattan's Roseland Ballroom in 2001 — an event set up to benefit the families of 9/11 victims.