National television is coming to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the first live boxing event in nearly four years.

And the cameras are coming to show Monty Meza-Clay, in his hometown, waging the fight of his boxing life. Live.

"Got a lot at stake now," the ranked Rankin fighter said the other day before breaking camp in the Washington County outpost of Coal Center, a suburb of California. "This is it.

"I will show them. I will rise to the occasion."

Meza-Clay, who has faced a run-in with the law, a police brutality case and a night where he saved the life of gravely injured motorcyclist, has grown into a young man who speaks about giving back to his community. He brings the biggest fight stage to his hometown since Paul Spadafora brawled to a unification-bout draw with Leonard Dorin in May 2004. Headlining an ESPN2 ticket inside Pittsburgh Expo Mart in Monroeville tomorrow night, the 126-pound featherweight (26-1) competes against former International Boxing Federation featherweight champion Eric Aiken (16-6-1) with his fighting future on the line.

He has won six consecutive fights, four by knockout, since a learning experience in May 2006, when he lost on ESPN2 against lightweight Edner Cherry. That recent run helped to gain him No. 14 rankings in the IBF and World Boxing Association plus a World Boxing Organization No. 8. If he beats Aiken, an Ohio native whose championship lasted four months until he lost to Roberto Guerrero in September 2006, Meza-Clay is likely to rise higher in the rankings.

"This fight right here could put him in the Top 10," trainer Tom Yankello said. "Our plan is for him to fight this fight here, fight another in May on ESPN, and come back in August on ESPN. Three fights in the next seven months, that'll make him a real star. Then maybe have a world-championship fight at the end of the year, early 2009. That's the perfect-world scenario. That's our goal."

Of course, that means Meza-Clay must extend his winning streak while taking large strides upward in ring class.

Meza-Clay spent significant chunks of his teenage and early adult years as a decorated amateur and a Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort undercard feature for Aliquippa's Verquan Kimbrough. Breaking away on his own, Meza-Clay reached a point where, as Yankello said, "Now the nation can see him. Monty has the makings of a star, he really does."

He trained the past three weeks in Buzz Garnic Jr.'s Round 2 center surrounded by woods, homes, the Monongahela River and quiet.

"When I was younger, you couldn't keep me up here," he admitted. "Now I'm older, slowing down ... You get serious. My J-O-B is to box."

Still, he enjoys the fight-night atmosphere, and he expects this one to "be like a Vegas fight without being in Vegas, with all the celebrities." Former world champion Roy Jones Jr., who trained for his recent Felix Trinidad fight in the same Washington County digs, is scheduled to be ESPN2's color commentator, subbing for Teddy Atlas. Pro Bowl linebacker James Harrison is expected to bring a few Steelers friends. Even some Penguins are purported to be coming.

"I guarantee a lot of athletes will be there," Meza-Clay said. "It definitely will be the most celebrity-packed fight not in Vegas since ... I don't know. You watch. And I need the crowd out there, too. I'll give them what they're looking for: A show."

Tickets, costing $100 ringside, $75 gold balcony, $50 reserved and $25 general admission, are available through www.worldclassfp.net and 724-513-1416. Standing-room-only tickets also will be sold at the door. The card, containing local fighters Mike Strauss and Jesse Lubash along with an ESPN2-arranged co-feature between Brian Camechis and Doel Carrasquillo, is set to begin at 8 p.m. with TV to start at 9 p.m.