Vecchione Gets Money, Rule Gets Changed

Vinny Vecchione will get the $179,820 due him from Peter McNeeley’s 89-second fight with Mike Tyson, despite what a state boxing official called Vecchione’s “strange and unexpected” action that stopped the fight.

Nevada boxing commissioners agreed Monday to release Vecchione’s cut of McNeeley’s purse, saying they could find no evidence the trainer did anything illegal in jumping into the ring to stop the fight with McNeeley still on his feet and seemingly able to go on.

The commissioners decided against holding a formal hearing.

“There has not been one shred of any reliable or verifiable evidence at this time to substantiate any of the rumors,” said James Nave, the commission’s chairman. “The people who checked it out could give us no proof otherwise. We had to follow advice of our attorneys.”

“I didn’t mean to get anybody mad or upset,” Vecchione said from his home in Braintree, Mass. “I made a decision and I went with it.”

Commissioners voted unanimously to change state boxing regulations that call for the automatic disqualification of a fighter if a member of his corner steps into the ring. Under the proposed new regulation, the referee would have the discretion to order the corner man out of the ring and allow the fight to continue.

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Tim Witherspoon’s heavyweight bout with Carl Williams in Westbury, N.Y., was called off Monday night when New York boxing authorities refused to allow Williams to fight for medical reasons.

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Jesse Magana won a split decision over Joe Manzano in a 12-round junior-featherweight fight at the Forum. Magana (15-4-2) is unbeaten in his last 10 fights. Manzano fell to 11-4.

Jurisprudence

The attorney for Laker forward Elden Campbell told a Simi Valley judge that his client intended to plead no contest to one count of drunken driving on Thursday.

Campbell, 27, had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge and his misdemeanor trial was scheduled to start when attorney George Eskin told Municipal Judge Bruce A. Clark of Campbell’s change of heart.

Campbell was arrested July 7 after his 1994 Mercedes-Benz flipped while traveling east on California 118 at 75 m.p.h., police said. Neither Campbell nor his passenger was injured seriously.

Gennadi Touretski, Australia’s national swim coach, will keep his job despite being convicted of assaulting four people on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Touretski was fined $10,000 and sentenced in Honolulu to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty.

The 46-year-old former Russian Olympic coach admitted poking one passenger in the eye, jumping on another, shoving a flight attendant and biting the arm of the plane’s first officer. Touretski sustained a broken nose.

College Sports

Mesa Community College in Arizona decided not to allow New York prep star Richie Parker to play basketball this season.

Mesa is the first junior college and the fourth institution to deny Parker a chance to resume his promising career because of his sexual-abuse conviction.

Georgia signee Corey Simon, a highly recruited defensive lineman from Pompano Beach, Fla., was released from his national letter of intent commitment, Athletic Director Vince Dooley said.

Miscellany

Takayuki Shimizu drove in four runs, and two Japanese pitchers gave up only one hit as Japan trounced the United States, 15-0, in the baseball tournament at the World University Games in Fukuoka, Japan.

Florida State, which had a 53-13 record and finished fifth in the College World Series, is representing the United States.

Despite the defeat, the American team advanced with Japan to the tournament’s final four. Japan is 3-0 and the Americans 2-1.

Also at the World University Games, American swimmers won three races and broke two records, boosting the United States into a tie with Japan for the lead in gold medals with 15.

Tobie Smith cut 21 seconds off the games record in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle, winning in 16 minutes 20.58 seconds. Teammate Julie Millis was second in 16:34.01.

A 16-year-old soccer fan died of head injuries, a week after he was brutally beaten in a riot between rival fan clubs in Rio de Janeiro.

Auto Racing

The new Indy Racing League will schedule its season over parts of two calendar years in order to end its championship competition annually with the Indianapolis 500.

The IRL, the creation of Speedway president Tony George, will make its debut Jan. 27 with the Indy 200 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The only other races during its inaugural season will be the Phoenix 200 on March 24 and the Indianapolis 500 on May 26.

The 1996-97 season will begin Aug. 18 with the New England 200 at Loudon, N.H. The only other race scheduled is the Las Vegas 200 on Sept. 15, 1996.

Hockey

Individual game tickets for King exhibition and regular-season games will go on sale Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Forum box office and Ticketmaster outlets. Random priority numbers will be distributed at the Forum only, beginning at 9 a.m., and fans will be permitted in the lot no earlier than 8. Each person may then purchase a maximum of six tickets per game.

Roller Hockey

The Eastern Conference champion Montreal Roadrunners will play the Western Conference champion San Jose Rhinos tonight at San Jose in the first game of the two-game Roller Hockey International championship series. The second game is Friday at Montreal. If the series is tied after that, a 12-minute mini-game will determine the champion.