Boxer Dies of Head Injury Received in Title Defense

Boxer Randie Carver died Tuesday, two days after losing consciousness in a North American Boxing Federation super-middleweight title defense at North Kansas City, Mo. He was 24.

Carver, who had been in critical condition since undergoing emergency brain surgery after the fight late Sunday, went down in the 10th round of a 12-round bout with Kabary Salem. Family and friends had kept vigil while Carver was on life support.

“We are pretty shaken, of course,” said Sharon White, his aunt. “This is something we’ve been dealing with since Sunday,”

Carver, who was repeatedly head-butted in the early rounds, fell to the canvas after being hit with an overhand right and a straight left. He tried four times to get up, but could not get to his knees.

After referee Ross Strada had ruled a knockout, Carver lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital after paramedics had worked on him for about 20 minutes in the ring.

A.D. “Spider” Bynum, a legal advisor to the NABF, said the federation would review tapes and aid in any investigation.

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Cleveland “Big Cat” Williams, who was shot by police but recovered to fight Muhammad Ali for the title in 1966, died last Friday in Houston after having been struck by a car. He was 66.

Williams had been at a hospital for dialysis treatment when he was hit as he crossed the street. No charges were filed against the driver.

Williams was shot in the stomach by a Texas state trooper after arguing during a traffic stop in 1965. The shooting left Williams with lifelong kidney trouble but he fought Ali a year and a half later. Ali knocked him out in the third round.

Tennis

Martina Navratilova heads the nominees for election to the International Tennis Hall of Fame next year. Malcolm Anderson, Nancye Wynn Bolton and Mervyn Rose will join her on the ballot in the player category. Also nominated is U.S. Tennis Assn. President Robert Kelleher.

Juan Balcells defeated top-seeded Spanish countryman Carlos Moya, 4-6, 6-3, 3-3, in the first round of the ATP Mallorca Open at Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands. . . . Laurence Tieleman of Italy ousted second-seeded Greg Rusedski of Britain, 6-3, 6-4, in the President’s Cup tournament at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. . . . Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark upset second-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain, 6-2, 6-3, in the opening round of the Samsung Open clay-court tournament at Bournemouth, England.

Miscellany

The Rochester Raging Rhinos became the first A-League team to win the U.S. Open Cup since Major League soccer teams entered, defeating the Colorado Rapids, 2-0, at Columbus, Ohio. . . . Jockey Dave Gall, who led the nation in victories in 1979 and is fourth on the all-time victory list with 7,389, said he will retire at the end of the week. Gall, 57, has been racing in the Midwest since 1959. . . . Terry Miller, a two-time All-American running back at Oklahoma State, was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding an Oklahoma bank out of $179,000.

The IOC will request details of any improprieties in lobbying tactics during Atlanta’s bid for the 1996 Olympics, IOC spokesman Franklin Servan-Schreiber said. Records turned over to U.S. congressional investigators have revealed that Atlanta bidders offered or considered lavish favors for IOC members and their families during their successful campaign for the games. . . . Former U.S. Olympic Committee president William Simon, 71, received the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Award for his work while heading the USOC from 1980-84.