Tyson to Fight McNeeley Aug. 19

A confident Mike Tyson announced his return to the ring Wednesday in Las Vegas, saying his first fight in more than four years will be against lightly regarded Peter McNeeley on Aug. 19 at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

McNeeley, whose father, Tom McNeeley, was knocked out by Floyd Patterson in the fourth round of a 1961 title fight, is 36-1. His most recent fight was a six-second knockout of Frankie Hines in Hot Springs, Ark.

Tyson’s trainer, Houston gym owner Carlos Blackwell, says the fighter is in better physical shape now than before he entered prison.

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In a lawsuit filed in Newark, N.J., former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer says the International Boxing Federation rigged its rankings to comply with promoter Don King’s efforts to return Tyson as undisputed champion and refused to name Moorer its top contender.

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Japan’s Hiroshi Kawashima won a unanimous decision over South Korean Lee Seung-koo to successfully defend his World Boxing Council junior bantamweight title in Yokohama.

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Former heavyweight boxer Tim (Doc) Anderson was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Orlando, Fla., boxing promoter Rick (Elvis) Parker, 39, who was shot to death in a Lake Buena Vista hotel April 28.

Basketball

NBA Commissioner David Stern said the sides are far apart in the league’s labor talks with no sign that an agreement is near as the no-strike, no-lockout moratorium agreed upon last year nears an end.

Charles Barkley will have knee surgery today and probably won’t decide until after a six-week rehabilitation whether to return to the Phoenix Suns.

Boston College freshman Chris Herren, one of the nation’s top high school prospects last year, will transfer to Fresno State, Bulldog Coach Jerry Tarkanian said.

Soccer

Patrick Kluivert, who entered the game in the second half, scored with seven minutes to play, giving Ajax Amsterdam a 1-0 victory over AC Milan in the final of the European Champions Cup in Vienna.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince was acquitted of assaulting a fan and threatening spectators in the fracas that followed his teammate Eric Cantona’s kicking of a fan during a match Jan. 25.

Miscellany

The Dakei Hawks, who signed Kevin Mitchell to a $4.5-million contract, largest ever in Japanese baseball, have told him they won’t pay his salary for May because he won’t accept their plan for treatment of an injury to his right knee.

Organizers of the 1996 Olympic Games must report the names of politicians who accept their offer of preferential treatment for buying Olympic tickets, a Georgia ethics commission official said.

Cal State Sacramento and Cal State Northridge have applied for Big Sky Conference membership.

Track and field athletes will be offered more than $7 million in prize money at the 1997 World Championships at Athens, IAAF President Primo Nebiolo said.

A former cheerleader for the Minnesota Vikings has dropped her sexual harassment lawsuit against quarterback Warren Moon and the team after learning the documents were being published.

Names in the News

Former Ram cornerback Darryl Henley, convicted of cocaine trafficking along with four others in March, is asking for a new trial, alleging juror misconduct. . . . Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, N.C. . . . Vibeke Stensrud of San Jose State and Laura Philo of Wake Forest shot three-under-par 69s to share the lead in the NCAA women’s golf championship in Wilmington, N.C.