Ruiz Will Fight Holyfield in U.S.

John Ruiz will defend the World Boxing Assn. heavyweight title against Evander Holyfield in the United States instead of China.

Promoter Don King said Wednesday he received a letter from HBO stating it was concerned about sending 100 people to China in the wake of a travel warning by the State Department after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

King said the fight, to be televised by HBO, will be Nov. 24 or Dec. 15, at a site to be determined.

Soccer

Former Major League Soccer player Mickey Trotman, 26, was killed in a car accident in Trinidad, along with his brother Stephan, 25, and a 21-year-old female companion, Tessa Moses.

Trotman, a midfielder who played for the Miami Fusion and the Dallas Burn in MLS and who was playing for the Rochester Rhinos of the A-League, had been expected to play for Trinidad and Tobago in Sunday’s World Cup 2002 qualifying game at Honduras.

The Galaxy will play Game 2 of its MLS semifinal playoff series against the Chicago Fire at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Stadium on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. because of conflicts with the Rose Bowl.

Tennis

Top-seeded and defending champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland defeated Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2, in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Fourth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France lost to Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, in the second round.

In men’s first-round matches, second-seeded Marat Safin of Russia defeated Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 and fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany beat American Bob Brayan, 6-1, 6-4.

U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the third round of the Japan Open with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Marc Goellner at Tokyo.

In the women’s draw, Monica Seles defeated South Korea’s Cho Yoon-jeong, 6-2, 6-3.

An unidentified tennis fan paid 25,000 pounds ($37,000) at a charity auction to play England’s Tim Henman next year on Wimbledon’s Center Court, which has never hosted a match involving a member of the public.

Jurisprudence

Bob Knight wants his personnel files at Indiana made public and said in an affidavit filed in Indianapolis that he would like to know more about the discussions that led to his firing last year as men’s basketball coach at the university

The document was filed as part of a class-action lawsuit claiming the university violated open meetings law when it fired Knight, now the coach at Texas Tech.

Miscellany

Ryan Humphrey, Notre Dame’s top returning scorer and rebounder, was suspended by the NCAA for the first two games of the basketball season for playing in a Los Angeles summer league.

India’s Seema Antil, 18, was stripped of her discus gold medal from the junior world track and field championships after the International Assn. of Athletics Federations rejected her appeal of a test for a banned substance.