Jones Delivers Knockout in Title Defense

Tony Thornton, known as “the Punching Postman,” was nearly punchless as Roy Jones Jr. stopped him in the third round Saturday night at Pensacola, Fla., to retain his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title.

Jones dropped Thornton into the ropes and onto the canvas with a sweeping left hook at the bell to end the second round and then referee Brian Garry stopped the fight 45 seconds into the third.

It ended after Jones backed Thornton against the ropes and pummeled the challenger with a flurry of more than 30 unanswered punches.

“I set him up with a jab the whole fight, up and down, up and down, up and down,” Jones said. “I jabbed up and faked jabbed down and caught him with a hook. That was it.”

Boxing in his hometown, Jones remained undefeated in 30 fights including 25 knockouts. Thornton of Glassboro, N.J., dropped to 37-7-1 with 26 knockouts.

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Minutes after getting knocked out in a nontitle bout at Atlantic City, N.J., junior-middleweight Buddy McGirt announced he was retiring.

McGirt, 31, dropped to 64-5-1 after being floored by Andrew Council in the ninth round of the scheduled 10-round bout.

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Jorge Paez, clowning through his opponent’s late rally, lost a 12-round split decision to Jose Vida Ramos in a rematch of their controversial first junior-lightweight bout at South Lake Tahoe, Nev. Paez lost by disqualification to Ramos last July.

Golf

Fred Funk and Steve Stricker, two players trying to get into the $3-million Tour Championship, are tied at 11-under 205 after three rounds of the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain, Ga.

Funk shot a 69 Saturday to tie Stricker, who led by two strokes after the second round but shot even-par 72 on the Mountain View Golf Course at Callaway Gardens.

John Morse, Loren Roberts, Larry Nelson, Kirk Triplett and Jeff Sluman are one stroke back.

Senior PGA Tour money leader Dave Stockton and three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin were tied for the lead after two rounds of the Vantage Championship at Clemmons, N.C.

Stockton had a six-under-par 66 for a 10-under 134 total that was matched by Irwin, who started the day alone at the top after an opening-round 66. They were two strokes ahead of Mike Hill, who shot a second-round 69, and three ahead of Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Jim Albus.

Gail Graham shot a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke lead over Hiromi Kobayashi and Tammie Green in the inaugural LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Classic at Cornelius, N.C.

Graham was at 12-under 204 heading into today’s final round.

Hockey

After winning a contract arbitration with Stanley Cup most valuable player Claude Lemieux, the New Jersey Devils announced that they will trade the disgruntled forward “in the best interests of the team.”

Meanwhile, the Devils signed goaltender Martin Brodeur to a reported $5.3-million, three-year contract.

Lemieux, 30, had played a major role in helping the Devils win the NHL championship by scoring 13 postseason goals. But he also angered General Manager Lou Lamoriello in recent months by challenging a contract he signed in the off-season and then failing to report to training camp because of the dispute.

Guy Carbonneau, a three-time selection as the NHL’s top defensive forward, was left unprotected by the St. Louis Blues as teams submitted lists for Monday’s waiver draft. Defenseman Mike Ramsey was made available by Detroit and left wing Gilbert Dionne, the brother of Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne of the Kings, was left unprotected by Philadelphia.

Right winger Donald Audette, who led the Buffalo Sabres with 24 goals last season, will be sidelined for three to four weeks after knee surgery.

Basketball

Center Hakeem Olajuwon probably will sit out the first week of the Houston Rockets’ training camp, which opens next Friday, because of the sore back that kept him from playing in a one-on-one duel with Shaquille O’Neal.

“I don’t think I can think about opening camp right now,” Olajuwon told a Houston radio station. “I think it will take a couple of weeks at least.”

Miscellany

Scott Kalitta set an NHRA record with a time of 4.660 seconds in Top Fuel qualifying for today’s Sears Craftsman Nationals at Topeka, Kan. Kalitta, who broke the mark of 4.690 set by Michael Brotherton last year at Englishtown, N.J., had a top speed of 302.52 m.p.h. for his quarter-mile run.

Rebecca Twigg, the first American to win a world title in the women’s 3,000-meter pursuit, reclaimed her world record in winning that event at the World Cycling Championships in Bogota, Colombia. Twigg, a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics and the world champion in the 3,000 pursuit in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1987, won the gold medal in 3 minutes 36.081 seconds. She bettered the day-old record of 3:36.122 set by Marion Clignet of France in a qualifying race Friday. Clignet’s mark had broken Twigg’s record, set in 1993.

David (Junior) Robinson, 27, a defensive back with the Canadian Football League’s Memphis Mad Dogs who played two seasons in the NFL, was one of two people killed Saturday in a two-car collision near High Point, N.C.

Isaac Viciosa of Spain won the Fifth Avenue Mile in a hand-timed 3 minutes 47.8 seconds. Viciosa outkicked Kenya’s Stephen Kipkorir (3:48.2) in the 19-man field. Sinead Delahunty of Ireland took the women’s elite race in 4:25.2.

Fifth-seeded Jim Courier advanced to the final of the $1-million Swiss Open at Basel along with Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, who made it when top-seeded Boris Becker pulled out because of a back injury. Courier defeated Britain’s Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 6-4.