Hopkins Adds WBC Crown to Collection

Bernard Hopkins, the longtime International Boxing Federation middleweight champion, added the World Boxing Council title Saturday night, outpointing Keith Holmes with a workmanlike 12-round decision at New York in the opener of the division’s title unification tournament.

The victory earned Hopkins a Sept. 15 date against the winner of next month’s fight between World Boxing Assn. champ William Joppy and undefeated Felix Trinidad, who is moving up from the 154-pound division. The September fight will produce an undisputed middleweight champion.

Hopkins who has not lost since being beaten by Roy Jones Jr. in 1993, improved to 39-2-1. Holmes fell to 35-3.

On the undercard, Nelson Dieppa of Puerto Rico stopped Andy Tabanas of the Philippines in the 11th round to win the vacant World Boxing Organization junior-flyweight championship.

Auto Racing

Rookie Greg Biffle led the final 38 laps of the Pepsi 300 and recorded his first NASCAR Busch series win at the new Nashville Superspeedway at Gladeville, Tenn.

Biffle, the reigning Craftsman Truck series champion, took the lead from Jason Keller on lap 187 and held him off the rest of the way. He led for 133 laps and won by 0.602 seconds, averaging 105.773 mph in his Ford Taurus.

David Coulthard ended Michael Schumacher’s record hopes twice in consecutive weeks, clocking a record-setting lap in 1 minute 23.054 seconds in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy.

The British driver of McLaren-Mercedes clinched the pole position, preventing Schumacher, who finished fourth, from equaling Ayrton Senna’s record of eight consecutive poles over two seasons. In the Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday, Coulthard beat Schumacher by 16 seconds, stopping the Ferrari driver’s winning streak at six races.

Tennis

Amelie Mauresmo of France won her 13th consecutive match, stopping Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla. Mauresmo was well rested after advancing through her quarterfinal match in a walkover against injured Elena Dementieva. Mauresmo will play Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 winner over Nadia Petrova. . . . Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated fellow Spaniard Albert Portas, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to today’s Estoril Open final at Oeiras, Portugal. Ferrero will play compatriot Felix Mantilla, who defeated Andrei Pavel of Romania, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Miscellany

Olympic hero Rulon Gardner won the Greco-Roman heavyweight title in the U.S. National Wrestling Championships at Las Vegas, beating Dremiel Byers, 1-0, in overtime.

Gee Gervin, the son of former NBA player George Gervin, had 19 points and nine assists to lead the Detroit Dogs to a 107-91 victory over the Chicago Skyliners at the American Basketball Assn. championship at Kansas City, Mo. The elder Gervin, who is the San Antonio Spurs’ all-time leading scorer, coaches the Dogs.

Australia defeated Fiji, 2-0, in World Cup soccer qualifying at Coffs Harbour, Australia. The United Arab Emirates won at Brunei, 12-0, behind five goals from Yasser Salem Saleh Ali.

Ralph Barahona’s overtime goal gave the Ice Dogs a 1-0 victory over the Fresno Falcons and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five, first-round West Coast Hockey League playoff series. Game 4 is tonight at 6 at Long Beach Arena.

UCLA’s track and field teams defeated Nebraska and Cal State Northridge in dual and triangular scoring at Drake Stadium. UCLA’s Scott Moster won the shotput and discus.

Will Kern, a longtime member of the special events staff at The Times who helped stage a number of the major athletic events that the paper hosted to raise funds for various Southland charities, died Friday in Orange after a lengthy illness. See story, B6.