Holyfield-Lewis Fight Apparently Hits a Snag

Attempts to unify the heavyweight boxing title for the first time since 1992 were thwarted again when talks between Evander Holyfield and HBO broke down early Tuesday.

Hopes for unification rose Monday when the promoter for World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis said a $50-million deal had been struck and the fight had been scheduled for April 25 in Las Vegas.

But talks hit a snag when HBO, the network that has exclusive rights to Lewis’ fights, and Holyfield’s camp could not agree on how much money Holyfield, the World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation champion, would be guaranteed.

HBO guaranteed Holyfield 650,000 pay-per-view buys and all of the profits above that mark, but Holyfield wanted a guarantee of one million buys, said Lou DiBella, the senior vice president for programming at Time Warner Sports, the pay-per-view arm of HBO.

“We obviously had a great difference of opinion on what the appropriate guarantee for the fight was,” DiBella said.

Holyfield’s attorney, Jim Thomas, wanted Holyfield to be guaranteed at least as much money as he made for his fight against Michael Moorer. According to Nevada boxing records, Holyfield made $20 million for the November fight.

“It came down to HBO’s unwillingness to assure the fighters of an appropriate purse,” Thomas said. “We tried very hard every day for a month to get this fight together.”

Neither side seemed optimistic that talks would resume soon, meaning the two fighters will not meet until at least next fall.

Lewis’ next fight probably will be a mandatory defense against Croatia’s Zeljko Mavrovic in London in June. Holyfield is to make mandatory defenses against Henry Akinwande and Vaughn Bean.

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New Jersey Boxing Commissioner Larry Hazzard was cleared in Atlantic City of accusations that he fixed last month’s bout in which George Foreman lost to Shannon Briggs.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement dismissed a complaint from Foreman promoters Irving Azoff and Jeffrey Wald.

Division director Frank Catania said there was no merit to the claims that Hazzard conspired with two judges to give Briggs the 12-round decision in the Nov. 22 heavyweight bout.

Foreman dominated the fight, and Briggs appeared surprised when declared the winner.

Soccer

Goalkeeper Brad Friedel may make another breakthrough for U.S. soccer Friday when he starts for Liverpool, one of England’s most storied teams.

Friedel, one of the two regular goalkeepers on the U.S. national team, is to start against Leeds in a Premier League game in Liverpool.

Liverpool paid $320,000 to the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer to acquire Friedel.

While Americans are playing more often with European clubs, none has started regularly for such a high-profile team. Liverpool is a record 18-time English champion and five-time winner of the Football Assn. Cup.

Golf

Casey Martin, the disabled golfer suing the PGA Tour for the right to use a riding cart on the Nike Tour, will be allowed to ride during the first two events next month, USA Today reported.

“We entered into a stipulation to allow Casey to use a cart in those two events,” said Edward Moorhouse, the PGA Tour’s chief legal officer, in Arlington, Va. “It’s going to be limited to just Casey.”

Martin, 25, has Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome, a circulatory disorder in his lower right leg. He is suing the PGA Tour, which operates the Nike Tour, under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Miscellany

A month after reaching a major sponsorship deal that renamed the Championship Auto Race Teams Indy-car series, CART announced plans to go public.

CART said it has registered with federal securities regulators to sell nearly 4.6 million shares of common stock.

It was not clear how much the offering could raise for CART, which plans to use the proceeds to buy the American Racing Series.

Money from the stock sale also will help finance the league’s “future acquisitions” and race-related ventures, CART said.

European champion Irina Slutskaya has claimed the final berth on the Russian Olympic figure skating team.

Slutskaya, 19, was given a second chance after a poor showing at the Russian national championships where she placed fourth.

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Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Les Harrison died of complications from a stroke at a Rochester, N.Y., hospital. He was 93.

A charter member of the NBA, he served as coach and owner of the 1951 Rochester Royals team that won the NBA title.