Manfredy Defeats Bloody Gatti

This time, Arturo Gatti’s giant heart and powerful fists couldn’t save him.

Fighting with a broken right hand, Angel Manfredy beat the International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion to a bloody pulp before referee Wayne Hedgepeth stopped it at after eight rounds in the scheduled 12-round non-title fight Saturday at Atlantic City, N.J.

Manfredy opened up the cut with a hard right to the head in the first round, then knocked Gatti down in the third.

But the plucky Gatti, who has made a career out of winning fights he looked like he was losing, fought back gamely and won the next two rounds on all three judges’ cards. But the cut was too severe to close.

Gatti dropped to 30-2. Manfredy, who boosted his record to 23-2-1, said he thought he broke the hand in the fifth round.

Winter Sports

Andy Gabel broke his own record in the 500 meters at the U.S. Olympic short-track speedskating trials in Lake Placid, N.Y., and will get the chance to race in every event at the Winter Olympics.

Gabel, 33, of Northbrook, Ill., who led the 16-man field with 13 points entering the day, won the 500-meter time trial in 38.387 seconds. That broke his U.S. record of 39 seconds, which he set last year. Gabel also won the final and ended the day with 23 points, 12 ahead of Rusty Smith in second place.

Amy Peterson of Maplewood, Minn., set a U.S. women’s 500-meter record of 41.347 seconds and leads the women’s competition with 21 points.

Austrian Andreas Schifferer sped to his third World Cup downhill victory of the season and ended teammate Hermann Maier’s winning streak at five races at Wengen, Switzerland.

World champion Ids Postma set a course record and led a Dutch sweep in the men’s 1,500-meter race at a speedskating World Cup meet at Innsbruck, Austria.

Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt of Germany won the doubles event at a luge World Cup at Altenberg, Germany.

The Germans led after the first run and clinched the victory although Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin had a faster time in the second run.

Margherita Parini of Italy overwhelmed her opponents by a 4.34 seconds to win her first World Cup snowboard giant slalom at San Candido, Italy.

Parini edged American Rosey Fletcher by 0.16 seconds in the first run, but then put in a spectacular second run.

Maria Butyrskaya of Russia rallied from fifth after the short program to win the women’s European figure skating title at Milan, Italy.

Russian Irina Slutskaya, the two-time defending champion, was second, Germany’s Tanja Szewczenko third.

Alexei Yagudin, 17, led a Russian trio of medal winners in the men’s competition, ahead of Yevgeny Plushenko and Alexander Abt.

Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs. Olympic champions Pasha Grishuk and Yevgeny Platov won the ice dancing.

John Verrey, 76, who won an Olympic silver medal in skiing as part of a 1948 Swiss team and who was a pioneer in teaching the blind to ski, has died of melanoma skin cancer.

An ethics panel charged with overseeing the Salt Lake Organizing Committee board has found no improprieties in three board actions questioned by a coalition of community activists.

The actions examined were SLOC President Frank Joklik’s vote on the organization’s policy-making board; businessman Earl Holding’s position on the board in light of the $13.8 million contract SLOC is negotiating with him for use of his downtown Salt Lake City property, and a consulting contract trustees negotiated with former SLOC president Tom Welch as part of his $1.1 million severance package.

Baseball

The Cincinnati Reds and arbitration-eligible Willie Greene, who led the team with 26 home runs and 91 runs batted in last season, agreed to a $1.75 million, one-year contract. . . . The New York Mets signed starter Rick Reed and reliever John Hudek to two-year contracts, avoiding arbitration hearings with both pitchers. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews, 66, has filed a lawsuit against cruise company Carnival Corp., claiming he was permanently disabled after falling from one of their ships’ tenders on a December 1996, cruise to the Cayman Islands, the Miami Herald reported.

College Football

Auburn’s Dameyune Craig closed his college career with two touchdown passes to lead the South to a 31-8 victory in the Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala.

Florida’s Fred Weary returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown for the South.

Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti has hired former UC Davis coach Bob Foster as defensive coordinator.

Foster, 57, replaces Rich Stubler, who resigned after two seasons.

Names in the News

Chuck Bown won the pole position for the Chevy Trucks Challenge at Walt Disney World Speedway in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Brian Tyler won the USAC Silver Crown race for his first victory. . . . Stanford’s Kim Powers won the Bruin Diving Invitational at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. UCLA’s Rose Helskamp was second, UC Irvine’s Arika Earley third.

Former Dodger manager Tom Lasorda will be the featured speaker at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Professional Baseball Scouts of Southern California on Jan. 29 at Dodger Stadium. Ticket information: (714) 546-7430.

Miscellany

Patrik Augusta had two goals and two assists, and Andrei Vasilyev took over the International Hockey League goal-scoring lead with his 25th and 26th of the season as the Ice Dogs defeated Grand Rapids, 6-1, before 6,235 at the Long Beach Arena.