Tyson Gets Go-Ahead for Jan. 29 Fight in England

Mike Tyson’s fight in England is on.

After two days of threatening to bar the former heavyweight champion from the country for his 1992 rape conviction, government officials relented Thursday and ruled Tyson’s Jan. 29 fight in Manchester against Julius Francis can go ahead.

With organizers saying they’d lose millions and the fight a sellout at 21,000, Home Secretary Jack Straw stepped in and opened the gates to Tyson.

Straw, who heads the department that oversees law enforcement, said there were special circumstances in admitting Tyson even though the strict letter of the law would have kept him out.

Straw said he was moved by small businesses in Manchester who stood to lose money and fight fans who hoped to see Tyson in his first fight in Europe.

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Ken Buchanan of Scotland was among four fighters selected for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Also honored were bantamweight champion Jeff Chandler from Philadelphia and middleweight champion Carl “Bobo” Olson from Hawaii. Selected posthumously was lightweight champion Jimmy Carter.

Tennis

Australian Davis Cup hero Mark Philippoussis seized his chances during two tiebreakers and beat Pete Sampras, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), to advance to the final of the exhibition Colonial Classic at Melbourne. He will play Andre Agassi, who defeated Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. . . . Michael Chang reached the semifinals of the Auckland Open in New Zealand after Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden retired from their match because of a knee injury. . . . Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Amelie Mauresmo of France moved into the semifinals of the Adidas International at Sydney, Australia, setting up a rematch of last year’s Australia Open final. Hingis advanced when Dominque Van Roost of Belgium retired because of a thigh injury, and Mauresmo defeated countrywoman Mary Pierce, 6-2, 6-3. In the last quarterfinal, eighth-seeded Anna Kournikova of Russia downed Alexandra Stevenson, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to set up a semifinal against defending champion Lindsay Davenport. . . . Defending champion Chanda Rubin and Belgian teenager Kim Clijsters will meet in the final of the Tasmanian International at Hobart, Australia. Rubin beat top-seeded Amy Frazier, 6-2, 6-1, and Clijsters, 16, defeated Venezuelan qualifier Maria Vento 6-3, 6-2. . . . After months of negotiations, the International Tennis Federation and the ATP Tour--with the consent of the International Olympic Committee--agreed on a formula to award tour ranking points for the Sydney Olympic tournament. ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said the ITF is also in negotiations with the WTA Tour in a bid to arrange a similar plan for the women’s Olympic event.

Miscellany

Steve Trachsel, who lost a major league-high 18 games with the Chicago Cubs in 1999, agreed to a $1-million, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a deal contingent on the right-hander passing a physical. . . . Center fielder Lance Johnson agreed to a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians.

Sherill Kester, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner scored to help the U.S. women’s soccer team defeat Australia, 3-1, and win the Australian Cup at Adelaide. The top American players boycotted the tournament, complaining that the U.S. Soccer Federation refused to give them a decent raise. . . . Midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan, the Asian soccer player of the year, joined AS Roma from Serie A rival Perugia in a reported $17-million deal.

Sam Rutigliano, the former NFL coach of the year with the Cleveland Browns who found spirituality and fulfillment as coach at Liberty, announced his retirement after 11 seasons at the small school in Lynchburg, Va. . . . Four Maryland football players and one ex-player face charges in connection with the entry of a dormitory room and assault of a campus resident. The players--freshmen Andrew Smith, Michael Whaley, Jamar Perrin and Scott Smith--were immediately suspended from the team. . . . Jacoby Shepherd, a junior cornerback at Oklahoma State, has declared himself eligible for the NFL draft. . . . A plea of not guilty was entered in Phoenix on behalf of pitcher Bobby Chouinard of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who was arrested after his wife said he hit her and pointed a gun at her head. . . . Former Miami Dolphin running back Irving Spikes was sentenced to five years in a federal prison for his role in a drug deal. . . . Treutlen High in Soperton, Ga., was forced to cancel its boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons after black players quit in protest when a black elementary school principal’s contract was not renewed.

A memorial service for former sportswriter Mannie Pineda, who worked for the Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Mirror-News and other papers, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sierra Madre Congregational Church, 170 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Pineda died Dec. 14 of cancer. She was 91.