Notes on a Scorecard - March 6, 1996

Mike Tyson once was quoted as saying he had never done anything for the sport of boxing. . . .

During a telephone news conference Tuesday for his rematch against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Frank Bruno on March 16 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Tyson said, “I would like to do something spectacular for boxing.” . . .

OK, Mike, I’ve got some ideas. . . .

Regain your old form and then surpass it. Put some pizazz into a division that badly needs it. Become undisputed heavyweight champion. Be your own man. Take on all legitimate challengers. Conduct yourself like a champion inside and outside the ring. That would be doing something spectacular for boxing. . . .

Oscar De La Hoya was treated better by fight fans in Mexico City when he visited there recently than he was Monday in his hometown of L.A. . . .

The occasion was the news conference at the Grand Olympic that kicked off the U.S. tour by De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez, who will box June 7 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. . . .

A few hundred fans showed up and most of them booed De La Hoya and cheered Chavez. . . .

But De La Hoya showed his poise, gave his formal remarks first in Spanish and then in English, and said all the right things. . . .

Promoter Bob Arum downplayed the fight, merely calling it “the greatest event in the history of boxing.”

*

UCLA’s 14-2 record in the Pacific 10 Conference is the same as the NCAA basketball champion team had last season at the same stage. That team finished 16-2. So should this one after games against Washington on Thursday and Washington State on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. . . .

Natalie Williams, the former Bruin basketball and volleyball star, will be presented her Pac-10 female athlete-of-the-decade award by Commissioner Tom Hansen at halftime Thursday. . . .

If I’m the coach of Canisius, I show my players “Hoosiers,” before the NCAA tournament. . . .

Somebody please explain to me why Lorenzen Wright of Memphis State was the male basketball player nominated for the Sullivan Award. . . .

The choice of wrestler Bruce Baumgartner was a good one. . . .

Baumgartner is the epitome of a championship-caliber, purely amateur athlete. . . .

Does anybody miss the Pac-10 tournament, which was discontinued in 1991 after a four-year run? . . .

If you don’t think college women’s basketball is increasing in popularity, consider that the 1997 Final Four at the 16,000-seat Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati was sold out in one day. . . .

Among the eight-person UCLA contingent to the NCAA indoor track and field championships in Indianapolis this weekend are three who have the best marks in the nation in their events--shotputters Mark Parlin and Valeyta Althouse and defending champion high jumper Amy Acuff. . . .

Alex Solis, who had ridden Mr Purple and Dare And Go in their previous races, opted for Dare And Go in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap. . . .

But Dare And Go then suffered a minor ankle injury that kept him out of the race that was won by Mr Purple with Eddie Delahoussaye aboard. . . .

Not all is lost for Solis, though. If Dare And Go performs well in the $70,000 Wicked North Stakes today at Santa Anita, he probably will run in the $4.2-million Dubai World Cup on March 27. . . .

To call Chris Mullin injury prone would be an understatement. . . .

If Lenny Wilkens can’t get Christian Laettner to fit into the program, nobody can. . . .

Former football and track star Christian Okoye and 1992 Olympic Games decathlon bronze medalist Dave Johnson will be among those inducted into the Azusa Pacific Athlete Hall of Fame on Friday. . . .

*

An advertisement in the classified section of The Times is offering King tickets at face value. . . .

Roman Vopat, who is supposed to be the best of the three young players the Kings got from St. Louis for Wayne Gretzky, needs work on his skating. The same thing was said about Luc Robitaille when the Kings drafted him. . . .

Every time the Dallas Cowboys lose a defensive starter to free agency, you wonder if they made the right decision by signing Deion Sanders to that huge contract. . . .

Dodger Stadium might be the only venue in baseball where a shortstop, Greg Gagne, is given a standing ovation for making a routine play on opening day. . . .

Oscar De La Hoya on stepping up in class to fight Julio Cesar Chavez: “I’ve been playing golf on par-three courses. Now I’ve got to play Riviera.”