Arum Says Foreman Has One to Go

Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, 46, will end his career when he fights Michael Moorer at Madison Square Garden Feb. 29, boxing promoter Bob Arum said Wednesday.

“This is Foreman’s final fight, no ifs, ands or buts,” Arum said at a news conference. However, the fight is not official because no contracts have been signed.

The two-time heavyweight champion made his professional debut at the Garden on June 23, 1969, with a three-round victory over Donald Waldheim on the undercard of a Joe Frazier-Jerry Quarry bout.

The fight will be a rematch of the November 1994 bout in which Foreman knocked out Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion, 20 years after losing the title to Muhammad Ali in Zaire.

Soccer

The Netherlands gained the final spot in next summer’s European Championship, beating Ireland, 2-0, in a playoff at Liverpool, England, on two goals by 19-year-old Patrick Kluivert.

College Football

Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George of Ohio State heads the East roster of the East-West Shrine Classic to be played Jan. 13 at Palo Alto. George will be the 20th Heisman winner to play in the Shrine game and the first since Miami quarterback Gino Torretta in 1993. Ohio State quarterback Bobby Hoying and tight end Rickey Dudley will also be on the roster, East selection chairman Bob Blackman said.

Wide receiver Burnell Roques of Claremont McKenna College has been named NCAA Division III player of the year by CNN Sports.

Miscellany

Charles Jordan Jr. of the Green Bay Packers, under investigation by federal authorities for possible links to a cocaine deal, said he has done nothing wrong and does not mind the review.

“I guarantee you they won’t find anything dirty on me,” the wide receiver and kick returner told the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

A prosecutor said the player’s name came up when Willie Toris Smith of Selma testified Jordan had paid his $622 airfare for a flight from Los Angeles to Montgomery. Smith, 23, and a cousin of Jordan, allegedly claimed a suitcase containing three kilograms of cocaine after the plane landed.

World Cup leader Bjorn Daehlie of Norway dominated from start to finish and scored his third cross-country ski victory of the season in Brusson, Italy, winning the 15-kilometer freestyle in 36 minutes 6.6 seconds.

Spanish officials are trying to determine whether tennis star Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has been violating the country’s tax laws, according to El Mundo. The newspaper reported that the probe centers on the tennis player’s declaration of residency in Andorra.

John Carbray, who is trying to bring a triple-A baseball franchise to Fresno, reportedly has made an offer to buy the Phoenix Firebirds. Martin Stone, president of the Pacific Coast League team, said Carbray’s Fresno Diamond Group has made an offer. Phoenix will have a major league baseball team in 1998.

Names in the News

Skier Craig Thrasher of Steamboat Springs, Colo., suffered apparent ligament injuries to both knees when he crashed during practice for a World Cup downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.

Former USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux and Robert Dockson, former dean of the USC school of business administration, will receive Orthopaedic Hospital’s Here’s to the Winners Award on Feb. 3 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez and celebrity golfers Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner and Jimmy Connors will play in the $1-million Lexus Challenge, Friday and Saturday at the Citrus Course in La Quinta. The event benefits Childhelp USA.

Eddie Merrins of Bel-Air Country Club has been named one of the “100 Best Teachers in America,” by Golf magazine.

Former New York Giant Stacey Robinson was named director of player development for the NFL Players Association.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Claremont McKenna College’s Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum for Grayle Howlett, the school’s assistant athletic director, who died Tuesday at 49.

Brita Schwern of Long Beach State was named an American Volleyball Coaches Assn.’s first-team All-American. Kelly Kuebler of USC made the second team.