Romero’s Career Could Be Ended by Eye Injury

International Boxing Federation flyweight champion Danny Romero Jr. sustained a career-threatening fractured eye socket Friday night in his loss to Willy Salazar, Romero’s father said Saturday.

Romero, who went into the nontitle bout with a 25-0 record and was heavily favored to beat the unheralded Salazar, was injured in the first round of the fight in Las Vegas when he caught a hard right on the left eye.

By the second round, Romero’s eye had swollen badly and was completely shut. The referee, on the advice of a doctor, stopped the fight after the seventh round, with Salazar (42-21-1) awarded a technical knockout.

Golf

Bob Lohr used a superb putting stroke to hold off charges by Mark O’Meara and defending champion Nick Price in the third round of the Canadian Open in Oakville, Ontario.

Lohr, who took a one-stroke lead into the round, shot a three-under-par 69 for 12-under 204 total and a three-stroke advantage over O’Meara heading into the final round.

O’Meara closed within two of Lohr, but struggled on the final two holes to finish with a 68. Price, who won the British Open, PGA and four regular tour events last year, shot a 68 to join Bob Tway, Hal Sutton and Andrew Magee at 209.

Walter Morgan, looking for his first Senior PGA Tour victory after a career in the Army, shot a four-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Bob Smith after the second round of the GTE Northwest Classic at Kenmore, Wash.

First-round leader Alison Nicholas closed with consecutive bogeys to drop into a four-way tie for the lead after the second round of the LPGA Ping-AT&T; Wireless Services Championship at Portland, Ore. Nicholas, 33, of England, shot a one-over-par 73 to join Patty Sheehan, Barb Mucha and Italy’s Stefania Croce at five-under 139.

Britain and Ireland took a big step toward only their fourth Walker Cup victory, taking a 7-5 lead over the United States at Porthcawl, Wales, with 12 points up for grabs today. Two-time U.S. Amateur champion Tiger Woods lost, 1-up, to little-known Gary Wolstenholme when he hit his approach out of bounds on the final hole.

Track and Field

Michael Johnson and Algerian Noureddine Morceli barely missed world records in the Mobil Grand Prix Final in Monte Carlo, upstaging Maria Mutola of Mozambique and Moses Kiptanui of Kenya, who won the overall titles and collected $130,000.

Morceli’s 1,500-meter victory in 3 minutes 28.37 seconds was only a second off his world mark and the third-fastest ever. Johnson’s 200 time of 19.93, into a wind, was 0.21 seconds off the 1979 world record held by Italy’s Pietro Mennea.

Mutola ran the top 800 time of the year, 1:55.72. Kiptanui, who set world records this year in the 5,000 and the 3,000-meter steeplechase, easily won the steeplechase in 8:02.45.

Arizona State is investigating allegations that track coach Leonard Braxton has violated NCAA rules in such areas as payments to athletes and recruiting, the Arizona Republic said in Phoenix.

Motor Racing

Rusty Wallace used a fast pit stop with 104 laps to go and a precise weave through slower traffic to win the Miller Genuine Draft 400 by 5.6 seconds over Terry Labonte at Richmond, Va. Wallace, who started seventh, passed Winston Cup point leader Jeff Gordon on the 222nd lap and never looked back.

Jacques Villeneuve won the pole for today’s Bank of America 300 with a record-breaking lap of 114.476 m.p.h. at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. . . . Britain’s David Coulthard, 24, grabbed the pole for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with a time of 1 minute 24.462 seconds to edge Germany’s Michael Schumacher (1:25.026).

Miscellany

Sun Shuwei of China won the men’s 10-meter title in the World Diving Cup at Atlanta. The Chinese also won the women’s three-meter synchronized competition, the country’s seventh gold medal in 10 events in the pre-Olympic meet.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has asked governing bodies of all the Olympic sports in this country to do spot drug tests on their athletes before next year’s Games. “The only way to really make sure you’re getting accurate results is the unannounced testing program,” USOC spokesman Mike Moran said in Washington.

Anglers aboard the Cat Special out of Cisco Sportfishing in Oxnard had caught about 75 albacore by late Saturday afternoon, providing probably the best indication this summer that the first albacore season in 10 years may become a reality. “I’m really excited,” said Russ Harmon, Cisco’s owner. “I haven’t seen one of those things in five years, except when I open a can of tuna.”

Lindell Lee Houston, a member of the first Cleveland Brown team from 1946-53, died of an undisclosed illness at 74 in Canton, Ohio.