Boxing

Former champion Wilfred Benitez regained consciousness in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after nearly losing his seven-year battle with an inflammation of the brain.

“The first words he said to me were ‘God is good,’ ” said his mother, Clara Benitez.

Benitez, 38, is afflicted with post-traumatic encephalitis, a common condition among boxers.

Benitez won the welterweight championship in 1979 and then the super-welterweight title in 1981.

Sugar Ray Leonard will reportedly end a five-year retirement and return to the ring in February to face Hector Camacho in a pay-per-view telecast, according to a broadcast report on ESPN.

Leonard, 40, last fought in 1991 when he was soundly beaten by current junior-middleweight champion Terry Norris. This fight will reportedly take place in either Atlantic City, Las Vegas or San Antonio.

Unbeaten heavyweight Hasim Rahman (18-0) registered a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision over Trevor Berbick (45-9-1) at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino.

Soccer

Colombian champion Deportivo Cali will be the Los Angeles Galaxy’s third and final international opponent of the season, General Manager Danny Villanueva announced. The Galaxy will play Deportivo Cali at the Rose Bowl at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Miscellany

Purdue basketball Coach Gene Keady denies claims that one of his former players received $5,000 to return to the team and other players were given cars.

“I don’t know what their motives are. I don’t know why they’d want to hurt me,” Keady told the Lafayette Journal and Courier.

Keady’s comments followed a claim by former women’s player Summer Erb that former men’s player Luther Clay was given $5,000 in cash to come back to the team last season.

The NCAA Infractions Committee avoided a possible defamation lawsuit by retracting findings that Alabama’s former faculty athletics representative acted unethically in the 1994 probe of the football team.

Committee chairman David Swank issued the retraction and apology to professor Tom Jones during a teleconference from NCAA headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. He said he believed it was an unprecedented move by the committee.

The secretary general of Hungary’s swimming federation said he accepted a two-year suspension from FINS, the sport’s international governing body, and will not appeal. Jozsef Ruza was punished for falsifying Olympic qualifying times.

The Angels extended their working agreement with triple-A Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League for two more seasons. Vancouver has been the Angels’ top minor league affiliate since 1993.