Rematch Ordered for Toney-Peter

The World Boxing Council, responding to a protest by Dan Goossen, James Toney’s promoter, Wednesday ordered an immediate rematch of the Toney-Samuel Peter heavyweight fight held earlier this month at Staples Center.

After Toney lost a split decision, he and his handlers complained about the lopsided scores of the two judges who gave the decision to Peter. Both Alejandro Rochin and Richard Flaherty had Peter winning 116-111 despite the fact Peter had a point deducted by referee Raul Caiz Sr. for throwing illegal punches. The third judge, Gale Van Hoy, gave Toney the decision 115-112. An informal poll of ringside boxing writers showed nearly all of them had given the decision to Toney.

It had been billed as an elimination bout with the winner to meet WBC champion Oleg Maskaev.

While a statement by the WBC said, “This approval of a rematch in no way questions the decision of September 2,” the statement also said, “ ... having been an extremely close fight which divided the opinions of the media and fans, this rematch will clear the air and we will have an official, undisputable challenger to our new champion, Oleg Maskaev.”

Dino Duva, Peter’s promoter, said he was “very disappointed.”

Said Goossen, “I feel a wrong has been righted. It was an injustice. I feel vindicated.”

-- Steve Springer

TENNIS

Williams Prevails in Return From Injury

Venus Williams successfully returned to tennis after almost three months on the sidelines, upsetting sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 6-3 6-4, in the first round of the Fortis Championships at Luxembourg.

Williams had not not played since Wimbledon because of a wrist injury.

Top-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Samantha Stosur, 7-5, 6-1, in a second-round match and third-seeded Patty Schnyder defeated Chanda Rubin, 6-0, 6-3.

Third-seeded James Blake earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory over wild-card Marin Cilic to reach the second round of the Thailand Open at Bangkok.

Top-seeded Martina Hingis reached the second round of the Korea Open with 6-3, 6-2 win over Wimbledon junior champion Caroline Wozniacki at Seoul.

COLLEGE SPORTS

Graduation Rates Increase Slightly

NCAA President Myles Brand pronounced himself “happy” that graduation rates for Division I student-athletes had increased a percentage point, to 77, in the newest statistics released.

According to the Graduates Success Rate (GSR), with numbers compiled from 1996 to 1999, overall graduation rates rose but the numbers for men’s basketball, baseball and football were all still below the national average.

The time frame means that USC football Coach Pete Carroll, USC basketball Coach Tim Floyd, UCLA football Coach Karl Dorrell and UCLA basketball Coach Ben Howland were not responsible for any of the players surveyed.

Based on incoming freshman classes from 1996 to 1999 who graduated within six years, USC graduated 55% of its football players and 44% of its basketball players. UCLA graduated 44% of its basketball players and 59% of its football players.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame graduated 91% of its basketball players and 95% of its football players.

Overall, men’s basketball had the lowest graduation rate (59%) of any sport but it was still up over the last survey.

Men’s baseball and football both had a 65% rate -- second lowest overall. Women’s basketball graduated 82% of its athletes.

Petrina Long, UCLA senior associate athletic director, noted “The lag in time doesn’t make it easy to understand. For us, in real time, we’re looking at totally different coaches in the revenue sports and we feel we’ve addressed several issues. What we’re shooting for, obviously, is to have extremely high graduation rates.”

Next spring the NCAA will release its second Academic Progress Rate (APR), which will offer more up-to-date data on how well schools are keeping and graduating athletes. The APR will be used by the NCAA to punish schools falling behind by taking away scholarships.

Football’s top-ranked school, Ohio State, had a GSR of 55, same as USC. Notre Dame’s 95 was No. 1 with Nebraska (88), Florida (80), Texas Christian (78) and Clemson (77) among top-25 football teams that excelled. Three of the top-25 teams -- Texas (40), Georgia (41) and California (44) -- were below the national average. Georgia’s men’s basketball team had a 9% rate.

-- Diane Pucin

MOTOR SPORTS

Champ Car Race Added in Phoenix

After months of controversy, an auto race through the streets of downtown Phoenix is on the calendar for 2007.

The Champ Car World Series said that the Dec. 2 Phoenix race would be the last event on its 15-race schedule in 2007. The series opens April 8 with another new race, in Las Vegas, followed by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 15.

Champ Car scheduled the Phoenix race after the City Council approved it Tuesday. The council’s blessing came after Phoenix International Raceway, which hosts NASCAR races in the area, dropped its opposition to the Champ Car event.

-- Jim Peltz

Juan Pablo Montoya will make his stock-car debut in the Oct. 6 ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway. He was released from his Formula One contract last week.

MISCELLANY

UCLA, Washington Meet in Volleyball

Third-ranked UCLA (15-0, 2-0 Pac-10) will play defending NCAA champion Washington (12-1, 2-0) at 7 tonight in women’s volleyball at Pauley Pavilion. Washington, ranked fourth, finished 32-1 last year with its only loss coming in five games at Pauley Pavilion.

South Korea scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the United States, 4-3, in the gold-medal game of the International Baseball Federation’s junior world championships at Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.