4B
SPORTSAThe Charlotte Post
Thursday, May 15 1997
Tyson fit to fight in June
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS - Rumors that
Mike Tyson wasn’t training and
that his once-postponed bout
with Evander Holyfield was in
jeopardy prompted a visit to
Tyson’s training camp by a top
Nevada boxing official.
After watching Tyson train for
about an hour, Nevada Athletic
Commission executive director
Marc Ratner said he was satis
fied the June 28 fight was going
ahead as scheduled.
“For the last 10 days, every
other phone call is another
rumor about the fight,” Ratner
said Friday.
“We as a commission just
wanted to put the fears to rest
about this fight.”
Ratner asked the Tyson camp
if he could watch the former
heavyweight champion work out
this week at the Golden Gloves
Gym. Tyson recently resumed
training after
a cut by his
left eye forced
the postpone
ment of the
bout, original
ly scheduled
for May 3.
He watched
for about an
hour as Tyson
worked on the
heavy bag, the speed bag and did
some other exercises.
“We heard rumors his shoulder
was bothering him,” Ratner said.
“That certainly was not the case.
He is at his fighting weight. I
was impressed that he looked
physically very good.”
A spokesman for the MGM
Grand hotel, meanwhile, said
the postponement didn’t result
Tyson
in any appreciable return of tick
ets to the sold-out MGM arena.
“We only
had a handtul
of refunds,
less than 50,
out of 16,331
tickets,”
spokesman
Bill Doak said.
Doak said
the demand
for tickets,
which cost up
to $1,500, was even greater than
the fet fight, won by Holyfield
in a huge upset last November.
“We could probably sell the
arena three times over if we
wanted to,” he said.
Holyfield will get some $35
miUion for the rematch, while
Tyson will make about $20 mil
lion.
Holyfield
Dent likes the way golf is turning
Continued from 1B
much money you make, they
have to forget about you.
“Second is good, money is good,
but you know that victory just
tastes a little better.”
TOnning earned Dent a first
place check of $135,000 that
pushed his Senior Tbur total
past $5.1 milhon. But if not for
people like Charlie Sifford of
Charlotte, the first black player
on the PGA tour. Dent would not
be making the money he now
enjoys, or the fame that comes
with playing in front of big gal
leries on national television.
And then there’s superstars
like Tiger Woods, who has
helped generate fan interest.
Dent was happy to see Woods
become the first African
American to win the Masters
but was more impressed by the
munber of new fans who flock to
tournaments to catch a glimpse
of Woods.
“Any superstar, black or white,
it doesn’t matter what kind of
superstar, like Michael Jordan
or whatever,” Dent said.
“Anybody who can keep the peo
ple coming to the golf courses,
whether he’s black or white, blue
or yellow.”
Dent turned professional in
1966 and is a familiar face to a
lot of golf fans but he admits peo
ple don’t recognize him the way
they do Woods.
“Hell no. No human, nobody
not even Jack Nicklaus, Arnold
Palmer, not even those
guys...but the kid deserves it,”
he said. “I guess he came out like
a tiger should come out, come
out running. All I can say is I
take my hat off to him, I don’t
care if he is black or white.”
Dent believes Woods’ rapid rise
on the PGA tour and huge popu
larity has helped everybody earn
extra money.
“He helped me, he put money
in my pockets,” he said. “If he
can get a million dollars a guar
antee (tournament appearance
fee), I can sure get 10,000, if
somebody wants to give me
10,000, so he helped me.
“He’s just a great player, he’s
somebody that people have been
looking for and he’s just what
the tour needed.”
What the tom didn’t need was
the big racial flap created by
Fuzzy Zoeller. On the final day of
the Masters, Zoeller said Woods
shouldn’t order fried chicken and
collard greens at the champion’s
dinner next year. Dent says the
media blew the conunents out of
context and that there’s no room
for politics in sport.
“That shouldn’t even go into
sports I think. We have too much
fun and too many things going
on to be spoiled by politics,” he
said. “Pohtics should stay in
Washington because you don’t
want yom president speaking
for you do you?
“Every sport, everybody black
and white, they have fun togeth
er and if you’re playing basket
ball and you got a black guy,
you’re going to throw it to the
guy who can make the two
points to win the game. You
want to win, that’s the way I
looked at it.”
After beating a legend like
'Trevino, you’d think Dent would
boast about it. No way. He was
just happy to see Trevino and
some of the big name senior
stars get imtracked.
“It’s good to see aU the guys
playing good again,” he said. “It
just keeps the people coming
and it’s good for all of us and Lee
put a little money in my pocket
because he played so many
times.
“I’m glad to see him play good
because he might be thinking of
quitting.”
Dodgers may be sold to Fox TV
By John Nadel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Rupert
Mmdoch appears on the verge of
adding the Los Angeles Dodgers,
one of sport’s premier finnchises,
to his bmgeoning business
empire.
Owner Peter O’Malley, whose
family has controlled the
Dodgers since 1950, when they
were still in Brooklyn, said
Monday he has asked baseball
for permission to enter into seri
ous talks wdth Fox Group, an
affiliate of Mmdoch’s News
Corp.
Fox spokesman Wnce Wladika
said, “We’re in negotiations,” but
would not comment further.
A television source, speaking
on the condition he not be iden
tified, told The Associated Press
the deal could be annoimced
next week. The price is expected
to be $350 milhon-$4CK) million.
O’Malley said in a statement
issued by the Dodgers: “We’re in
the fifth month of what we
expected to be a six-month
process.”
The team’s sale price is expect
ed to set a baseball record, top
ping the $173 million Peter
Angelos’ group paid for the
Baltimore Orioles in 1993.
O’Malley announced on Jan. 6
that he was putting the team on
the block.
He needed the permission of
baseball officials before he could
share certain financial informa
tion with the Fox Group, includ
ing details of baseball’s national
television, marketing and licens
ing deals.
Any deal would be subject to
the approval of baseball owners,
which would take several
months. O’Malley still would
run the team during the
approval process.
Fox would become the latest of
several media companies that
control baseball teams. Already
involved are Thne Warner Inc.
(Atlanta Braves), The Walt
Disney Co. (Anaheim Angels)
and the 'Tribune Co. (Chicago
Cubs).
The Dodgers come with the
300-acre site near downtown
Los Angeles where Dodger
Stadimn is located, a 468-acre
spring training facility in Vero
Beach, Fla., and property in the
Dominican Republic.
When O’Malley first
aimoimced he was selling the
team, he cited estate planning as
his main reason for the move.
But he was quoted in Monday’s
editions of the Los Angeles
'Times as saying that, if he had
been able to build a stadium for
an NFL team near Dodger
Stadium, he might not have put
the Dodgers up for sale.
“I can’t deny that was a factor,”
he said. “I must teU you I was
extremely disappointed when
we were asked to shelve our
ideas.”
(TMaUey said mayor Richard
Riordan first asked him to help
attract an NFL franchise in
August 1995 - shortly before
LA’s first season without an
NFL team since 1946. The Rams
moved to St. Louis and the
Raiders to Oakland before the
1995 season.
O’Malley figured a new stadi
um next to Dodger Stadium
would complement his efforts to
help.
But last summer, before the
feasibility study on the impact of
a football stadium next to
Dodger Stadium was even fin
ished, the City Council voted to
build a new stadium at the Los
Angeles Coliseum.
O’Malley said he notified
Riordan in August it was “tech
nically feasible” to build a foot
ball stadium on Dodger Stadium
property. But a few weeks later,
O’Malley received official notifi
cation from a Riordan represen
tative asking him to throw his
support behind the Coliseum.
“We were extremely disap
pointed, but I completely under
stood the position we were asked
to take,” OMalley said.
“I stiU beheve it was the right
decision not to compete with the
Coliseum, and I completely
understood the position we were
asked to take. 'The Coliseum
deserves that final look, but it
must have closure at some
point.”
Weak hitting leaves Cincy red
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATT - Bret Boone, who had six RBIs in his past three
games, says he’s finally coming out of his season-long batting slump.
“I really wanted to get off to a real good start, and it didn’t work out
that way,” Boone said. “So it snowballed to 80 at-bats. But, hey, those
80 at bats are over with. I can’t worry about what’s happened in the
past.
“It’s been fhistrating because we haven’t played well as a team,
which makes it worse.”
TTiat tension showed in the clubhouse Saturday night when Boone
and Deion Sanders had a disagreement alter the Reds lost 9-6 to the
Padres in San Diego.
Boone and Sanders were restrained by teammates and the cause of
the dispute wasn’t clear, although it apparently was rooted in some
thing that occurred during the game, teammates said.
“They didn’t fight,” Knight said. “There was just exchange of ver
biage in the heat of the loss.
“There is fnistration, probably, in struggles that we’re having indi
vidually. 'Things heat up and you have to release them. Sometimes
somebody says something to someone, and you explode,” Knight said.
ITS TIME
FOR THE 1997-98 ISSUE OF THE BLACK GUIDE
ii- ' a
to renew his Black Guide ad for ^7-
.ate Agent, Bob White’s reply was...
Yo^r placemdiit wal^great, can we get^s
more of this year’s at the Convention & ^
i^istoi^s Bureau?...The Black Guide was a ‘ a
Ighemchdous source and reached many due
to strategic placement. x;
1^^ I received numerous calls from people relo-
J;j^"'cating to Charlotte that needed cov-
ll^^erage, It generated a fairly substan-
’!■ tial amount of business for me. /
Bob White’s Allstate Office is located in Midtawn S§ttBri
I would like to be listed in the 1997-98 issue of the Black Guide.
Or I am already listed and have changes to the previous
information.
Please mail or fax to
THE CHARLOTTE POST
P.O. BOX 30144, CHARLOTTE, NC 28230 • FAX (704)342-2160
ZmeiTKm.
H
Nominate Your Favorite Teacher/Professor/Administrator!
Who Qualifies: An individual who has touched your life, made an
impact on the direction your career has taken, or someone who has
enhanced the destiny of your life.
Think of someone who has gone above and beyond the obligation of
the classroom time and assisted you academically or socially.
Then, simply complete the form below, and return to:
Cijarlottc
P.O. Box 30144, Charlotte, NC 28230
Attention: Fran Farrer or Fax (704)342-2160
By May, 30th 1997
Name of Nominee
Street Address
City
State
Zip
Phone
Day
Evening
School University
Nominated by.
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