10B
Friday, January 31, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Boxing champ gets little recognition
Johnson ready to defend title
By Ed Schuyler Jr.
The Associated Press
Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson is an accomplished fighter, but he's not an attraction — at least not in the United States.
Johnson's story is one often told in this era of "boxing as show biz." It's good to have a gimmick.
Christy Martin was on the cover of a national magazine because of a bloody nose she suffered in a televised bout. It put her on the talk
show trail and made her a celebrity of sorts.
Eric Esch is a rotund four-round fighter, who as Butterbean has become a boxing cult figure, with steady fights and TV exposure.
And then there's Johnson.
"Although I'm the featherweight champion of the world, a lot of people still don't know who I am," said Johnson, a 33-year-old from Detroit
He will defend the 126-pound International Boxing Federation title tomorrow for the sixth time outside the country. He will fight in London against Prince Naseem Hamed, one of the most popular British boxers in years.
"I don't feel I've gotten my fair share of media attention," said John
Of the 25 knockouts in Johnson's 44-2-2 record, 17 came because the fight was stopped.
son, a pro since 1986 and a champion since 1993, with 11 defenses. "I don't know why."
Johnson's trip to London could earn him his big prestige. The previous high was $175,000 against Jose Badillo Dec. 9, 1995, in Stuttgart, Germany.
"It's around seven digits," Johnson said of the purse for the London Arena bout, part of a championship triple-header co-promoted by Don King and Britain's Frank Warren. Johnson is managed by Debbie King, Don's daughter.
Hamed, the WBO featherweight champion with 22 knockouts in his
24-0 record, is favored to make Johnson an ex-champion and get some U.S. exposure. Showtime will provide same-day coverage in the United States.
"If it just so happens I don't get the nod, don't write me off," Johnson said.
On Dec. 14, 1985, following a top amateur career and about 10 months before he turned pro, a van ran into the back of a car in which Johnson was riding. He suffered a bruised muscle behind his left knee and lost vision in his right eye for about two months.
In 1988, he experienced chest pains, and his condition was diagnosed as an enlarged heart. He would show medication to boxing
"I don't feel I've gotten my fair share of media attention."
Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson world featherweight champion
commission doctors and then would stop taking it two days before a fight.
Johnson won the International Boxing Federation title by outpointing Manuel Medina Feb. 26, 1993, in France.
Jordan expects to return to NBA
All-Star says support of fans fueled decision
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Michael Jordan said he planned to return for another NBA season. It was the most definitive statement so far from the Chicago Bulls superstar, who is playing this season on a one-year contract that paws him $30 million.
Jordan said he believed he was playing at the top of his game and that he had been energized by support from fans, who this week voted in record numbers to make
him an NBA All-Star for the 11th time.
"At the moment, I look forward to playing next year," he said. "I don't see anything that says I won't or that I will change my mind.
"The appreciation and respect the fans have paid me, espe-
Michael Jordan
Jordan said he knows more and better understands how to use his skills in certain situations. He said that earlier in his career, he played with more unfettered abandon and was more athletic.
cically this year, is very gratifying," he told the Chicago Tribune after Tuesday night's victory over Vancouver. "That only fuels the energy I have when I go out there on the basketball court."
"Now, I think I show a lot of savvy out there in utilizing whatever little energy I might have to my benefit. There's not that much reckless abandon, and I think that has made me better," he said.
Twice this season, Jordan, 33, has reached the 50-point mark, most recently with his NBA-season best 51-point outburst against the New York Knicks on Jan. 21. He has scored at least 30 points in 22 of the Bulls' 43 games. He has scored at least 40 points six times.
Bills quarterback to retire
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.
Jim Kelly will end an 11-year NFL career that includes four straight Super Bowl appearances when he announces his retirement today.
The Associated Press
Team officials have not disclosed details, but sources have told The Associated Press that Kelly's career is finished.
Bills coach Marv Levy has refused to talk about personnel since speculation about Kelly's future intensified last week.
Kelly, the best quarterback in Buffalo Bills' history, will make the announcement at a news conference at the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Fieldhouse.
Kelly's agent, his brother Dan Kelly, also refused to discuss the quarterback's future.
"I can't comment at this time," Dan Kelly said. "It's an understanding we have with Mr. Wilson. We're not talking about it."
The Bills are holding the news conference in the field house, in anticipation of a media crunch, rather than in its smaller media room, where most announcements are made. Several of Kelly's teammates are expected to attend.
Kelly was a college star at Miami and spent two years in the USFL before joining the Bills in 1986.
He ran the no-huddle offense that led Buffalo to four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s. The Bills lost all four and haven't come close since losing to Dallas in Super Bowl XXVIII.
Kelly's days appeared numbered after he put together his worst professional season: He had a career-low 14 touchdown passes and a career-high 19 interceptions, and he was knocked out of a playoff loss to Jacksonville.
Buffalo will start a new era with former Michigan star Todd Collins beginning next season.
Kings player suspended, fined by NHL
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Los Angeles Kings defenseman Sean O'Donnell was suspended by the National Hockey League for one game without pay and fined $1,000 yesterday for an incident in a Jan. 29 game against the Colorado Avalanche.
In that game, O'Donnell, who was scheduled to sit out last night's game against Hartford, made contact with Avalanche forward Valeri Kamensky while O'Donnell was on the Kings' bench.
Rose Bowl may be home for Chargers
PASADENA, Calif. — The stadium renovation problem in San Diego could benefit Pasadena, which is offering the Rose Bowl stadium for Chargers home games next season as well as the 1998 Super Bowl.
A Pasadena contingent informed NFL executives last week that its 100,000-seat stadium is available — if San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium expansion is halted by a voter referendum, court order, or any other unforeseen problem.
"We made it clear to the NFL that if they have to move the game from San Diego, we are certainly very interested in hosting the 1998 Super Bowl Game," said Pasadena City Council member Bill Thomson, also a member of the Rose Bowl Operating Company.
In addition, Chargers' owner Spanos was told yesterday that the Rose Bowel is available for the team's home games in 1997, said David Jacobs, the Rose Bowel's general manager.
Pasadena is a suburb of Los Angeles, which has been without pro football since the Raiders and Rams moved in 1995.
NFL commissioner Paul Taglabeau is to meet with officials Monday in San Diego to discuss the stadium question and view the project already under way to add more than 10,000 seats.
NFL spokesman Joe Browne, with Tagliabe in Honolulu for the Pro Bowel game, said that other cities also had contacted the NFL with offers to stage the 1998 SuperBowl.
Round-the-clock work on the San Diego stadium renovation began Dec. 31, and thousands of seats have been torn out to make way for new, upgraded seating. But on Tuesday, the San Diego City Council killed an $18 million amendment to the original $60 million deal with the Chargers. Officials plan to repackage that $18 million and put it a public vote this spring.
Fittipaldi may retire from racing for good
The Associated Press
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Will two- time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi announce his retirement today?
That question was making the rounds at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex yesterday, the same day the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported that Fittipaldi is expected to make official his plans to retire from competitive racing.
Confirmation of the report wasn't forthcoming from the Brazilian-born driver or his handlers. Fittipaldi had scheduled a news conference for this afternoon at the racetrack.
Several drivers, training in Home-
steel until tomorrow for the Miami
Grand Prix, spoke as though Fittipaldi's retirement was a done deal.
Nephew Christian Fittipaldi said, "There's a lot of respect between us. He's my uncle, but he's also the competition. When he was out there, he was trying to beat me, and I was trying to beat him. I'm obviously going to try and carry on the Fittipaldi name."
Michael Andretti, the 1992 PPG Indy Car World Series champion, also will miss the smiling and affable Fittipaldi.
"I don't always get along with all the guys, but Emerson was one of my better friends." Andretti said. "He's a great ambassador for the sport."
Kika Garcia-Concheso, a spokeswoman for Fittipaldi, said her boss was going to be involved in the Miami Grand Prix scheduled for March 2.
"He's going to be here to make an official announcement tomorrow about his plans for 1997," she said yesterday.
Fittipaldi, who maintains homes in Brazil and Key Biscayne outside Miami, fractured the seventh cervical vertebra in his neck after crashing into a wall at 230 mph during the Mariboro 500 in July in Michigan. They were the first serious injuries in his racing career.
Fittipaldi said while recuperating that he might not race competitively again.
Surgeons at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital straightened his spine, replaced shattered pieces and, repaired torn ligaments in his back.
He won Formula One titles in 1972 and 1974, then retired from racing in 1981 after becoming fed up with the politics of the European-based series. He resumed his career in IMSA sports cars in 1982 and then moved to the Indy-car series in 1984.
Fittipaldi won both the Indianapolis 500 and the PPG Cup championship in 1989 and won the Indy again in 1993.
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