PEOPLE Are Talking About …

* Three-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who told Newsweek magazine that he plans to enter the ring again. "Now I'm fighting Parkinson's disease. But I don't let it stop me. I still travel, attend to my business, do interviews," said the 57-year-old ex-champ. "And let me tell you something that'll shock the Earth. I'm going to train and get in really good shape, lose 35 pounds and do an exhibition in Madison Square Garden with two or three contenders. I'll dance for 15 rounds and whup 'em. I haven't forgotten. I'll be weighing in at 210 pounds. I'll just say, `I am returned. Get the contract.'"

* Two Miami policeman who were reassigned to desk duty because they posed for Polaroid snapshots with O.J. Simpson after Simpson's emergency call for help for a friend. "I'm not sure it violates any rule, but you've got to consider the situation. It was kind of inappropriate," said Miami-Dade Police Detective Ed Munn. The two officers, one a rookie, answered a 911 call from Simpson where he asked for help because his friend allegedly had been on a two-day drug binge.

* Los Angeles Lakers star forward Rick Fox's purchasing a home in the Marina del Rey section of Los Angeles for approximately $2 million, according to the Hot Property section of the Los Angeles Times. Fox, who recently wed Vanessa L. Williams and signed a six-year, $25 million contract with the Lakers, bought a five-bedroom, 5,000 square foot home for just under its asking price of $2 million. The home has ocean views, a hot tub on the roof, an elevator, marble floors in the bathrooms and has 11 1/2-foot ceilings, the paper reported.

* Experts who suggest that weight loss must first begin with emotions. "Diets don't work because, for many people, this is not a body problem," eating disorder expert Ellen Shuman said in the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's a head problem. What you do with a diet is you hassle the body, but you don't touch the head stuff."

* When tennis star Venus Williams won the Swisscom Challenge in Zurich. In spite of her family (who remained in Florida) not being at the event to cheer her on, she still took home the top prize. "My parents had confidence in me and I'm glad I didn't disappoint them, "Williams said in the Chicago Tribune. "I was a little nervous being without them at the start of the tournament. Naturally, as everybody gets older you have to start doing things on your own. That's what I did here, so I really deserved this title."

* Celebrating birthdays this week are singer Monica, 19, on Oct. 24; former TV sportscaster-actress Jayne Kennedy, 48, and actress Ruby Dee, 75, both on Oct. 27; and award-winning filmmaker-photographer Gordon Parks, 87, on Oct. 30.