Gonzalez Is TKO Winner Over Cordoba

Humberto Gonzalez retained his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council light-flyweight titles Saturday night with a seventh-round technical knockout over Juan Domingo Cordoba of Argentina in a scheduled 12-round bout in Stateline, Nev.

The ring doctor stopped the bout when Cordoba’s left eye was nearly swollen shut and his right was bleeding.

Gonzalez, 28, of Ciudad Neza, Mexico, won his championships last February, outpointing previously unbeaten Michael Carbajal in a split decision at the Forum. Saturday’s victory is expected to set up a lucrative third fight with Carbajal.

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British boxer Nigel Benn (39-2-1) retained his WBC super-middleweight title with a unanimous decision in Birmingham, England over Juan Carlos Gimenez (43-7-3) of Paraguay. . . . In Miami, Danny Nunez of the Dominican Republic outpointed former World Boxing Assn. flyweight champion Jesus Rojas of Venezuela in a 12-round unanimous decision to capture the WBA and WBC Latin American flyweight titles.

Golf

Mark McCumber shot a five-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead over Nick Price after three rounds of the Bell Canadian Open at Oakville, Ontario.

Dave Eichelberger shot a five-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead over Graham Marsh after the second round of the Quicksilver Classic in Midway, Pa.

Auto Racing

Terry Labonte overwhelmed the field and overcame a superb 16.6 second late-race pit stop by Rusty Wallace to win the rain-delayed Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va.

Labonte chased down Wallace, who had taken the lead after the pit stop with 60 laps to go, shot past him on Lap 373 and was unchallenged the rest of the way. He finished 1.79 seconds ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon. Winston Cup point leader Dale Earnhardt edged Wallace for third.

Jeff Burton, the leading rookie driver on the Winston Cup circuit, lost his ride when NASCAR officials disqualified his car.

Officials said a large number of holes had been illegally drilled in the Ford Thunderbird’s roll cage in an apparent attempt to make the car handle better in the turns.

NASCAR Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said officials were satisfied that Burton was unaware of the holes.

Paul Tracy won the pole position for the Texaco-Havoline 200 at Elkhart Lake, Wis., for the third consecutive year.

Tracy, a 25-year-old Canadian, broke the track qualifying record set Friday by Al Unser Jr. with his lap of 136.602 m.p.h.

Jacques Villeneuve made it an all-Canadian front row with a lap of 135.864, joining Nigel Mansell, who slipped from second to third at 135.829.

For the first time in 12 years, Jean Alesi earned Ferrari the pole position at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Alesi edged teammate Gerhard Berger by .13 seconds. Alesi turned the 3,604-mile course in 1 minute 23.844 seconds, an average speed of 154.401 m.p.h.

Dorsey Schroeder charged from third to first in one lap to win the SCCA Trans-Am race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Track and Field

Elana Meyer and Okkert Brits became the first South Africans in more than 30 years to win titles at a major international track and field competition.

Meyer won the women’s 10,000 meters with the fourth-fastest time in history, 30:52.51, and Brits took the pole vault, clearing 19-4 1/4 at the World Cup at Crystal Palace in London.

The South African breakthrough overshadowed another 1,500 victory by Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, a win by Antonio Pettigrew of the United States in the 400 and the 30th consecutive victory in the women’s 800 by Maria Mutola of Mozambique.

Names in the News

Bob Myers, 87, a former sports editor for the Associated Press in Los Angeles, died of natural causes in North Hollywood. Myers worked for AP for 35 years and was sports editor during the 1950s and 1960s. No services are scheduled. . . . Bill Cartwright, who won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls before becoming a free agent after last season, says he’s close to signing a multiyear contract with the Seattle SuperSonics.