Spinal Injury Leads Packers to Cut Sharpe

Sterling Sharpe, one of the NFL’s premier receivers, was released by the Green Bay Packers on Tuesday, less than a month after his spinal surgery.

The four-time all-pro was operated on Feb. 3 for a neck problem that kept him out of Green Bay’s two playoff games and will sideline him for all of 1995.

His physician said there is a 90% chance of Sharpe’s playing in 1996. Sharpe, 29, has spent seven years with the Packers and is the team’s all-time leader in receptions.

Sharpe’s agent, William (Tank) Black, demanded that the Packers either raise their $200,000 offer for 1995 or release him so he could sign with a team willing to pay more.

Sharpe’s non-guaranteed contract would have been worth $3.2 million this year, part of a six-year deal he renegotiated after his brief holdout on the eve of the season opener last fall.

The renegotiated contract included a provision that Sharpe be paid a $1.2 million advance on his 1995 pay by mid-March--a factor that added some urgency to the Packers’ decision.

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Dexter Carter and Derek Loville, who backed up Ricky Watters at running back for the NFL champion San Francisco 49ers, are leaving the team for more lucrative offers. Carter, the team’s main returner on kickoffs and punts, has agreed to a free-agent contract with the New York Jets, and Loville has agreed to a deal with the Denver Broncos, their agents said.

Boxing

Fighter Gerald McClellan’s blood clot was caused by punches that forced the skull and brain to twist in opposite directions, said John Sutcliffe, the London neurosurgeon treating the American.

“I think one of the punches moved the skull and the brain didn’t catch up as quickly,” he said.

Sutcliffe removed the blood clot from McClellan’s brain after the fighter collapsed in the ring at the end of his 10th-round loss to Nigel Benn in a WBC super-middleweight bout Saturday night.

McClellan remained heavily sedated Tuesday and Sutcliffe said it was impossible to predict the outcome. Benn said he will not decide whether to retire until he knows that McClellan has recovered.