USC’s Stafon Johnson accepts Senior Bowl invitation

USC tailback Stafon Johnson, who suffered season-ending throat injuries in a September weightlifting accident, has accepted an invitation to participate in the Jan. 30 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

Johnson could have opted to petition the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility, but he has been expected to make himself available for the NFL draft.

The Senior Bowl includes a week of practices in front of NFL coaches and scouting personnel.

“He’s grateful to the Senior Bowl for giving him this chance,” USC Coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. “He’s been a great player for us, and everybody is ecstatic about him showing his playing ability there at the Senior Bowl.”

USC safety Taylor Mays, tight end Anthony McCoy and offensive tackle Charles Brown also will participate in the Senior Bowl.

-- Gary Klein Florida cornerback Joe Haden is skipping his final year of eligibility and making himself available for the NFL draft.

He is widely considered college football’s top cornerback and is expected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL draft.

WINTER SPORTS

Vonn loses overall lead in World Cup

With her arm in a brace and her hand aching, Lindsey Vonn missed a slalom gate and lost her overall lead in the World Cup standings.

Her mistake came at the 15th gate during the second run Sunday at Zagreb, Croatia, and she did not finish a race won by Sandrine Aubert of France.

Vonn, the two-time defending overall champion, was skiing with a brace on her left arm and her pole taped to her hand after bruising a bone in a fall last Monday. This time, she was 1.71 seconds back after the opening run.

Aubert’s victory was her second this season and fourth of her career. She had the fastest second run on the Crveni Spust course and had a total time of 2 minutes 0.36 seconds.

Maria Riesch of Germany finished fourth to take the lead in the standings with 599 points. Vonn has 594 and Kathrin Zettel of Austria has 569.

Jerry D’Amigo scored two goals, the second short-handed, and the United States beat Sweden, 5-2, to set up a title showdown against Canada in the world junior hockey championship at Saskatoon, Canada.

In the first semifinal, Taylor Hall scored twice, and Jake Allen made 20 saves in five-time defending champion Canada’s 6-1 victory over Switzerland.

American snowboarder Kevin Pearce remains hospitalized in critical condition in Utah after suffering a severe brain injury in a training accident.

Pearce was injured Thursday in Park City as he prepared for next week’s Olympic qualifying events.

The 22-year-old from Norwich, Vt., is a top-ranked halfpipe rider.

ETC.

Mediation is set for stalled mega-fight

A Tuesday mediation meeting has been scheduled in Santa Monica to attempt to resolve the differences that are keeping the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight from happening as tentatively scheduled, March 13 in Las Vegas, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum confirmed to The Times.

The development was first reported by AOL Fanhouse.

-- Lance Pugmire David Beckham wishes he had stayed at Manchester United his entire career.

The Galaxy star, who initially left United for Real Madrid and is now on loan to AC Milan, told BBC Radio that he never wanted to leave the English club in 2003.

United sold Beckham to Real Madrid after his relations soured with Manager Alex Ferguson, who was concerned about his off-field commitments.

“I’d have loved to have stayed at Manchester United for my whole career and never gone anywhere else, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Beckham told the Associated Press. “It takes a special person and a player to stay at a club for so many years.”