Jones Loses First Fight; Griffin Wins Title on DQ

Montell Griffin went down to save himself and because he did became the first fighter to beat Roy Jones Jr.

“He didn’t beat me. I was disqualified,” Jones said after he was indeed disqualified in the ninth round Friday night at Atlantic City, N.J., for hitting Griffin while he was down.

In the ninth round, Jones hurt Griffin with a right hand and then followed with three more rights and a left that dropped Griffin onto his left knee.

“I took a shot to the back of the head and I took a knee on purpose to clear my head,” the new World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion said. “When I went down, I was just dizzy.”

Jones then hit Griffin with a right hand. Griffin looked up--he would later say he was looking at the referee--and Jones hit him with a left hook.

Griffin’s eyes rolled up in his head and he pitched forward onto his face. He was counted out by referee Tony Perez, who then disqualified Jones at 1:27 of the ninth round as a crowd of 2,400 fans in the Grand Ballroom at the Trump Taj Mahal booed and cheered.

“I wasn’t sure he was down,” Jones said. “I thought he might pop up again.”

The loss for Jones was his first after 34 victories. Griffin is 27-0.

“I didn’t want it this way,” Griffin said. “I wanted to win it fair and square. If he is the greatest man on the planet, why did he have to hit a man who was down?”

Pro Football

Green Bay Packer defensive end Reggie White says he never claimed that police were “out to get” black youth, as was reported by a newspaper in Knoxville, Tenn., last week.

White also said some of his remarks were taken out of context by the Knoxville News-Sentinel and parts of its story contained inaccuracies.

White told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane that the theme of his talk last week was meant to inspire young people to take personal responsibility for their lives.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will meet Monday with representatives of black assistant coaches who feel that the hiring of minorities has slowed down. . . . Former Dallas Cowboy running back Calvin Hill is rejoining the team as a front-office consultant to help advise players, the Washington Post reported. . . . Determined to get out of Oakland after losing his job to Jeff George, Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler talked to the Washington Redskins about the backup job behind Gus Frerotte.

Skiing

Hilary Lindh came out for one last successful encore before ending a distinguished 13-year career with the U.S. ski team.

After winning the women’s downhill Thursday at the U.S. Alpine Championships at Carrabassett Valley, Maine, she finished Friday with a victory in the super-giant slalom at Sugarloaf-USA.

Tommy Moe made it two double winners on the first two days of the championships, winning the men’s super-G after winning the downhill Thursday.

Tennis

In her first match this year, Monica Seles beat Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, in the Lipton Championships at Key Biscayne, Fla.

The match was Seles’ first since she broke her right index finger while catching a serve during an exhibition in December. Her return was delayed because her father, Karolj, has been undergoing chemotherapy for stomach cancer.

Martina Hingis of Switzerland, on the verge of becoming the world’s top-ranked player, rallied from the brink of defeat in her opening match to beat Patricia Hy-Boulais, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Auto Racing

NASCAR truck series driver John Nemechek, who had been in a coma since suffering brain damage in a crash on Sunday, died Friday morning in Miami. He had been on life support since his truck hit a wall on the 1.57-mile track at the Homestead Motorsports Complex during the Florida Dodge Dealers 400.

John Force made a strong debut in a Ford Mustang, leading Funny Car qualifying in the NHRA Slick 50 Nationals at Baytown, Texas.

Basketball

Magic Johnson, 37, will play for the Harlem Globetrotters against a team of college all-stars in the Nike Desert Classic on April 19.

Jurisprudence

Columbus Crew defender Paul Caligiuri won his breach-of-contract claim against Major League Soccer, an award that could pay him more than $100,000 and may require the league to transfer him to the Galaxy. Caligiuri signed a guaranteed three-year contract in December 1995 to play for the Galaxy, but the league later voided that deal.

The Charlotte Hornets’ Tony Smith has been charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with fondling a woman at a bar. . . . Drug charges against South Carolina tailback Troy Hambrick were dismissed when prosecutors and a magistrate in Columbia, S.C., agreed the football player did not know marijuana was in a car he was driving when stopped by police. . . . A judge in Greensburg, Pa., ordered Pittsburgh Steeler safety Darren Perry to spend one year in a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders on charges that he drove while drunk and left the scene of an accident. . . . Former Nebraska linebacker Larry Arnold faces a federal charge that he conspired to distribute cocaine with former fellow Cornhusker linebacker Ramone Worthy. . . . A federal court jury in Greeneville, Tenn., ruled that manufacturers of a plane that crashed, killing NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki and three others, were not negligent.

Miscellany

Kristine Quance won the 400 individual medley and USC pulled into second place behind Stanford in the NCAA women’s swimming championships at Indianapolis. . . . Iowa won its third consecutive NCAA wrestling title at Cedar Falls, Iowa. . . . Track and field’s governing body said it will accept two-year drug bans in countries that refuse to apply four-year penalties. . . . The World Beach Volleyball Championships will be held Sept. 10-13 at the L.A. Tennis Center at UCLA.