Holyfield Wins Nevada Ruling

The Nevada state boxing commission lifted the medical suspension of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who is scheduled to make his comeback May 22 against Ray Mercer in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Nevada commission voted, 4-1, Friday to lift the suspension, allowing Holyfield to seek licensing in other states, but did not promise to reinstate his Nevada license.

Nevada suspended Holyfield’s license when the boxer developed minor heart problems after his loss to Michael Moorer last April. After Holyfield was cleared by the Mayo Clinic, a five-man advisory board in December voted unanimously to lift the suspension.

Jurisprudence

Alejandro Figueroa Cuevas, a government witness, said that he has ignored threats to himself and his family in order to tell the truth about the role of Ram cornerback Darryl Henley and four other defendants in an alleged drug conspiracy ring.

Cuevas said that after the arrests of alleged ring members in the fall and winter of 1993, co-defendant Ralph Bustamante threatened to hurt his infant son if he “ratted anyone out.”

The testimony in the five-week-old federal drug conspiracy trial came as prosecutors sought to shore up Cuevas’ credibility against attacks by defense attorneys. Cuevas has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion in the case and has agreed to testify against Henley and four others in exchange for a chance at a reduced sentence. He faces a maximum 20-year sentence.

Sailing

America 3sailed its last America’s Cup race as its all-women crew, which will have a new yacht next week, lost to Stars & Stripes by 1 minute 52 seconds to conclude the third round-robin of the defender trials.

Auto Racing

Jeff Gordon set a track record in winning the pole for the Goodwrench 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Gordon recorded a lap of 157.620 m.p.h., which broke the record of 157.099 set in October by Ricky Rudd.

Tennis

Defending champion Michael Chang defeated Jonathan Stark, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Indoor Championships in Philadelphia. Others reaching the semifinals were Paul Haarhuis, Thomas Enqvist and Andre Agassi.

Top-seeded Boris Becker defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1), to reach the semifinals of the $2.25 million Eurocard Open in Stuttgart, Germany.

Basketball

Princeton Coach Pete Carril got career victory No. 500 as the Tigers beat Cornell, 64-54, at Ithaca, N.Y. Carril, 64, has compiled a 500-265 record in 29 seasons of coaching, all but one of them at Princeton. He is the 16th active coach and 40th overall to join the 500-win club.

Golf

Victories by Nick Price, Ernie Els and David Frost and their partners helped give Southern Africa a 6 1/2-1 1/2 lead over Australia after the first day of the Alfred Dunhill Challenge at Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Miscellany

The NCAA is conducting a preliminary investigation into a $6,000 shopping spree by Florida State football players during the team’s 1993 national championship season, the school said. . . . French soccer star Eric Cantona escaped the lifetime ban he had feared, but he was suspended until October by the English Football Assn. for going into the stands and taking a karate-style kick at a spectator shouting racial abuse at him from the stands.

Bonnie Blair, the five-time Olympic champion who is in her farewell season, sprinted to victory in the 500-meter race in a speedskating World Cup meet in a time of 40.56 seconds at Inzell, Germany. . . . Three-time Olympian Leslie Thompson of Stowe, Vt., won her 11th national ski title by winning the 5-kilometer championship in the U.S. cross-country championships at Lake Placid, N.Y. . . . The Denver Broncos signed defensive tackles James Jones and Michael Dean Perry. Both were unrestricted free agents who played for the Cleveland Browns last season. . . . Woodrow Wilson Williams, who tied a National League record with 10 consecutive hits while playing as a shortstop for Cincinnati in 1943, died at age 82.