Notes on a Scorecard - April 21, 1994

Michael Moorer should be considered dangerous. . . .

All punchers are. . . .

However, any checklist for the heavyweight title fight Friday night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas would give the edge to champion Evander Holyfield in determination, big-time experience, heart, conditioning and chin. . . .

This is the first time in a while that Holyfield will be fighting someone his own size. He usually looks up to people in the ring but will be eye to eye with Moorer at 6 feet 2. They each weighed 214 pounds Wednesday. . . .

Moorer is the first left-hander to oppose Holyfield since he dispatched one Jesse Shelby in the third round eight years ago in Corpus Christi, Tex. . . .

Only two other southpaws have challenged for the heavyweight title, both times in Germany against Muhammad Ali. Karl Mildenberger went in the 12th round in Frankurt in 1966, and Richard Dunn in the fifth in Munich in 1976. . . .

Holyfield probably will get the job done before the limit Friday and then face Lennox Lewis for the undisputed championship in November, providing that Lewis defeats Phil Jackson as expected May 6 in Atlantic City. . . .

A year after his first retirement, Holyfield is talking about working until 1996 and anticipating a mega-bucks bout against Mike Tyson just before the Olympic Games in his hometown of Atlanta. . . .

One punch from Moorer could spoil the plans, but if he doesn’t pull a surprise, Michael should try baseball. . . .

That sport, you know, is in dire need of hard-throwing southpaws. . . .

*

Something must be wrong with the marketing of baseball when its best player, Barry Bonds, can’t crack the list of the nation’s 10 most popular athletes. . . .

It shouldn’t be long before Don Mattingly, who set a major league record with six grand slams in 1987, increases his career total to seven. . . .

Among the best-dressed teams are the Oakland Athletics when they wear their green shirts with gold trim. . . .

Dodger Stadium fans are really getting with it this year, throwing back baseballs hit into the pavilion by visiting teams. . . .

It doesn’t look as though the Colorado Rockies will suffer the sophomore jinx at the gate. Despite rain that caused a 42-minute delay, official attendance at a Tuesday night game against Florida at Mile-High Stadium was 50,217. . . .

That wasn’t a misprint. The high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins actually got off only three shots on goal in the second period and one in the third period during their 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. . . .

When the season began, the last place I expected to see King Coach Barry Melrose during the first round of the playoffs was in the ESPN studio. . . .

Chris McCarron, who has won 15 stakes races at Santa Anita this meeting, will have a great chance to win another Sunday aboard Bien Bien in the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap. . . .

Bobby Bonilla, in town on business with the New York Mets, dropped by Hollywood Park on Wednesday to apply for an owner’s license. Trainer Melody Conlon recently purchased three horses for Bonilla at the Barrett’s Sale in Pomona. . . .

Gary Jones says Holy Bull impresses him as much before the Kentucky Derby as Seattle Slew did in April of 1977. . . .

If Barry Switzer wins two games next season, he will set a Dallas Cowboy record for a first-year coach. Tom Landry was 0-11-1 in 1960 and Jimmy Johnson 1-15 in 1989. . . .

There is a decent chance Gary Colson will leave Fresno State and return to Pepperdine. . . .

UCLA center George Zidek, an economics major, had a 4.0 grade-point average during the winter quarter. . . .

Easton Stadium, new home of the Bruin softball team, is a little gem. . . .

The Boston Celtics have lost as many home games, 22, this season as they did during the five seasons from 1983-84 through 1987-88. . . .

The Detroit Pistons’ plight was summed up when Isiah Thomas suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon during what probably was the last game of his career. . . .

Charles Smith has become the boo birds’ favorite target at Madison Square Garden. . . .

Any week now, the NBA playoffs will start. But in 1962, the Celtics defeated the Lakers in the seventh game of the championship series on April 18.