Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Prime title bout close to a done deal

LAS VEGAS - The dates are set and so is the site. Now all promoter Bob Arum needs is a signature from middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins to complete his two-fight deal with Oscar De La Hoya.

Arum said he finalized a handshake deal Monday for the MGM Grand hotel-casino to host a June 5 fight card featuring Hopkins and De La Hoya in separate bouts. If they win as expected, they will meet Sept.18 at the MGM for the middleweight title. Arum said Hopkins agreed to terms and will sign his contract Wednesday.

De La Hoya, who lost his 154-pound title fight to Shane Mosley in September, will move up to middleweight to take on Felix Sturm on the June 5 card. Hopkins will defend his undisputed titles against Robert Allen, who he has fought twice.

STATUE DEFACED: A sculpture commemorating Joe Louis was vandalized with white paint, and two men were in custody, police said. The men were stopped by police in a Detroit suburb after authorities were tipped off by a motorist, Romulus police Lt. Cora Semrau said. Police spokesman Glen Woods said there was no reason to believe the vandalism was racially motivated. Louis, who died in 1981, was black.

Fox's telecast of the Subway 400 NASCAR race from Rockingham, N.C., drew almost twice as many viewers in large U.S. cities as ABC's NBA coverage Sunday. The race, won by Matt Kenseth, drew 6.3 percent of viewers in the top 55 markets, compared with 3.2 percent for the Cleveland-New York NBA game that featured the Madison Square Garden debut of Cavaliers rookie LeBron James. The top markets represent about 70 percent of the nation's 108.4-million homes with TVs.

BUSCH FINE: Johnny Benson's crew chief, Jon R. Wolfe, was fined $2,000 by NASCAR for using an unapproved front spring in qualifying for Saturday's Busch series race. NASCAR discovered the spring during postqualifying inspection at North Carolina Speedway on Thursday. Benson finished ninth in the Goody's Headache Powder 200.

BASKETBALL: DeLisha Milton-Jones, a forward with Los Angeles of the WNBA and a former Gator, will miss the U.S. women's team's trip to Cuba after injuring her knee in practice at Jacksonville. The U.S. team plays a three-game series starting today against the Cuban national team.

GOLF: A team headed by Mike Regner of Orlando (10-under 126) won the North Florida PGA scratch pro-amateur tournament in Lakeland by a stroke. Wink Amerman of St. Petersburg's Isla Del Sol Country Club and teammates Kristian Koltz, Kyle McCarthy and Bob Yurgoich were second. Regner and Bill Buttner of Eckerd College shared low pro honors at 71. ... Defending champion Tiger Woods is a No.1 seed for the World Golf Championships Match Play event, which begins Wednesday in Carlsbad, Calif. The other No.1 seeds are Vijay Singh, Davis Love and Mike Weir.

SOCCER: MLS MVP Preki Radosavljevic will be sidelined up to four months after breaking his left leg and dislocating his ankle in a preseason game. The Kansas City midfielder landed awkwardly in a 4-0 loss to Columbus on Saturday. Kansas City opens its season on April 3 against Chicago.