Boxing’s Prince Has New Crown

Flamboyant World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Prince Naseem Hamed said he would win by knockout. Instead, he used a series of body slams and takedowns and won a unanimous decision over World Boxing Council champion Cesar Soto in their 12-round unification bout Friday night at Detroit.

“He’s a paper champion,” Soto said through an interpreter. “I know in my heart that I’m the real champion because I came to fight. He came to wrestle.

“I don’t know if I was fighting a fighter or Hulk Hogan.”

Bob Arum, who runs Top Rank Boxing and promotes Soto, called it the worst fight he had ever seen.

“It made me puke,” Arum said. “That wasn’t boxing. That was wrestling.”

Hamed said it was Soto, the Mexican who has never been knocked out, who started the rough stuff.

“Bob Arum was watching a totally different fight,” Hamed said. “He just didn’t want his guy to get beat.”

It was the 12th successful defense for Hamed (33-0), and the first defense for Soto (53-8-2).

On the undercard, unbeaten Erik Morales of Mexico held off Wayne McCullough of Northern Ireland in a 12-round unanimous decision to retain his WBC super-bantamweight title.

Soccer

Mark Dougherty recorded his second consecutive shutout and Brian West scored his first playoff goal as the Columbus Crew advanced to Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference finals with a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny before a crowd of 14,392 at Tampa, Fla.

The Crew captured the best-of-three series, two games to none. Columbus will face either D.C. United or Miami in the conference finals.

Tennis

American Vincent Spadea upset Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarterfinals of the $750,000 Lyon Grand Prix at Lyon, France, all but ending the Russian’s bid to finish the year as the world’s top-ranked player.

Spadea, seeded eighth, defeated the tournament’s top-seeded player, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Next up for Spadea will be Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory over Sweden’s Mikael Tillstrom.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Barbara Schwartz, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the $112,500 Eurotel Slovak Indoor tournament at Bratislava, Slovakia. Mauresmo will play Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.

Lisa Raymond of the United States, a doubles specialist, reached her first singles semifinal since last year, beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-3, 7-5, in the $1.05-million Kremlin Cup at Moscow. Second-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Silvia Farina of Italy, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Pete Sampras has withdrawn from next week’s $2.45-million Eurocard Open at Stuttgart, Germany, because of flu. Sampras, ranked third in the world, has not played since late August. He missed the U.S. Open because of a herniated disk in his lower back. . . . John Bromwich, a two-time Australian Open champion whose ambidextrous play allowed him to hit forehands with both hands, died of a heart attack at age 80 this week, his family said at Melbourne.

Miscellany

Italy’s Prada continued its dominating run in the challenger series for the America’s Cup off Auckland, New Zealand. New York’s Young America became the latest victim of the big-spending Italian team, which is now the only undefeated syndicate in the first round-robin of the regatta to decide who will take on defender New Zealand for sailing’s most prized trophy.

Ford drivers Mark Martin and Jeremy Mayfield took the front-row positions in qualifying for Sunday’s Pop Secret Popcorn 400 at Rockingham, N.C., and series leader Dale Jarrett was a solid third. Martin turned a fast lap of 157.383 mph, Mayfield one of 157.083.

Jarrett heads into the 400-mile race with a 246-point lead over runner-up Bobby Labonte. Martin is third, 319 behind.

Scott Kalitta covered the Texas Motorplex quarter-mile in 4.546 seconds at 318.92 mph to lead the 16-car field for top-fuel qualifying at the O’Reilly Fall Nationals at Ennis, Texas.

France’s Felicia Ballanger became the first woman to win five consecutive titles in the sprint at the World Track Cycling Championship at Berlin.

A clinic at Ladysmith, Wis., is under investigation for failing to tell police about a gunshot wound after Indiana University basketball Coach Bob Knight accidentally shot a friend while hunting.

Rusk County Sheriff Dean Meyer said he is awaiting reports from a state conservation warden, who is looking into the actions of the Ladysmith clinic.

Under Wisconsin law, doctors must report all gunshot wounds to law enforcement agencies.

Seeking to quell criticism of its drug-testing program, the U.S. Olympic Committee is expected to approve an independent agency to control everything from test samples to sanctions. The new agency would take domestic drug testing entirely out of the USOC’s hands and remove the USOC from the hearing process.

WNBA expansion teams in Indianapolis, Miami, Portland and Seattle have met the requirements for season-ticket sales and will join the league in 2000.