Page 8 - The Michigan Daily-- Tuesday, February 20, 1990
Boxing elite swarm Douglas
Soap opera develops over champ's next fight

NEW YORK (AP) - James
"Buster" Douglas finds himself a
VIP at a luxurious new hotel-casino
in Las Vegas and says, "I can't
believe all this is happening. It's
really unbelievable."
The conqueror of Mike Tyson
was talking about his sudden fame
and the attention it has brought.
As for the wheeling and dealing
swirling about the new heavyweight
champion's head, well, that's not
unbelievable, but it is unusual, even
by boxing's standards, in the intense
media scrutiny it has received.
Douglas' shocking 10th-round
knockout of the seemingly invinc-
ible Tyson in Tokyo February 11
probably has caused the biggest
repercussions in the fight game in
terms of media reaction than at any

time since Cassius Clay stopped
Sonny Liston and announced to the
world that he was Muhammed Ali, a
disciple of Elijah Muhammed of the
Nation of Islam.
The cast of characters in boxing's
latest melodrama:
Douglas and his manager, John
Johnson: No.1 contender Evander
Holyfield and his manager Ken
Sanders and promoter Dan Duva:
Tyson and his promoter Don King,
who also says he's Douglas' pro-
moter, casino-hotel biggies Steve
Wynn of Las Vegas and Billionaire
Donald Trump of Atlantic City N.J.
Tyson wants a rematch but
Douglas wants Evander Holyfield,
and it appears that's who the champ-
ion's first defense will be against.
Douglas wants to fight in Sep-

tember but Holyfield wants it in
June, when he was scheduled to
challenge Tyson at the Atlantic City
Convention Center under the banner
of Trumps Taj Mahal. Trump wants
Douglas-Holyfield. Of course so
does Wynn, who is currently hosting
Douglas at his hotel-casino.
"With all respect to John
Johnson and Buster Douglas, they're
the champion and have the right to
decide when and where they'll fight,"
Duva said yesterday. "I just hope
they'll listen to my side. My side is,
from a promotional and marketing
point, June is much better than
September."
King, unavailable for comment
Monday, intends to be part of Doug-
las' career. Who Holyfield fights is
up to the promoter he said earlier,
"But I will be involved because I am
his promoter, and I'll be more in-

volved because I have a contractual
commitment with him."
Douglas and Johnson say they
want nothing to do with King
because of the promoters active role
in getting the World Boxing Council
and World Boxing Association to
suspend Douglas' victory over Ty-
son. Both organizations quickly
backed down.
King said that by insisting
Douglas won unfairly by getting a
long count in the eighth round he
was just trying to get the WBC and
WBA to order an immediate rematch.
It appeared, however, at a news
conference in Tokyo several hours
after the fight that King was seeking
the bout be declared a no-contest or
even that the outcome be reversed.
"I hope Don and John get
together and reach a settlement,"
Duva said.

Back injury sidelines
Lemieux for season

deQ ".riaVeS+ h DfiQvvS the spcar \.
Hayes to bat .500 and
other prognostications
by Jonathan Samnick
Daily Sports Writer
The return of the baseball season normally indicates the approaching
warm weather. So it is appropriate, perhaps, in the wake of this weekend's
deep freeze that baseball has been put on hold due to the owner's lockout of
spring training.
The ongoing negotiations between the owners and players will carry on
for the next few weeks while the owners convince themselves that they are
being fiscally prudent. Meanwhile, the players make the owners out to be
greedy while at the same time shortening the time they have to spend in
spring training.
But don't worry, this will all be settled by mid-March at the latest-
enough time for the players to prove once and for all that spring training is
more of a vacation than anything, and for the owners to incite fan interest
for opening day.
With that taken care of, this baseball season promises to start the decade
in the consistently wacky fashion the way the 80's closed:
- In April, the Philadelphia Phillies' Von Hayes will hit .500 causing
fans and sportswriters alike to wonder whether he can keep up the pace for
the whole season-he can't.
- In May, the Montreal Expos' pitching staff, decimated by the loss of
free agents and battered by Hayes, among others, offers open tryouts in an
attempt to strengthen their pitching and to lower their league high 7.04
ERA. As a result, the entire staffs of the Bradenton Really Old Guys and the
Sarasota Very Fat Men (of the Senior Baseball League) come to tryouts and
add a new wrinkle, literally, to the National League East.
- For the first time since Ronald Reagan was a Democrat, the American
League West has better teams than the East. This shifting of power in
baseball's best division gives the Kansas City Royals, California Angels,
and the Oakland A's all winning percentages of around .600 by the All-Star
break, causing George Steinbrenner to stir.
- August 8: As part of the Basic Agreement signed in March, the
commissioner's office announces that a new game show to be shown on the
Notre Dame Football Network will feature a short host and a tall blonde
named Wanna Bee. This bidding game for ballplayers called Diamond Of
Fortune will sound something like this:
With my remaining money I'd like to buy a left-handed pitcher.
Oh, I'm sorry you're going to need $4 million for that. You only have $2
million, enough the buy the Minnesota North Stars hockey team, Atlanta
Hawks oft-injured center Jon Koncak for half of a season, or some of these
lovely porcelain Dalmatians.
* September 4: After a shelling at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, the
New York Yankees' Pascual Perez urinates on the sacred monuments in
center field at Yankee Stadium. In- response, Steinbrenner awakes from a
season-long slumber and fires Yankee manager Bucky Dent. Two days later
Steinbrenner hires newly-reinstated Pete Rose as the Yankee skipper. This
move causes Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott to declare, "I'm happy for
Pete and happy that our fans will get to see him when his team plays here."
Schott, who has the geographic awareness of a fourth-grader, leaves
baseball in the final month of the season to ponder her cryptic comment.
And sooner than you can say Buddy Biancalana, the chilly winds will
usher out the World Series and we will be forced to sit around for a few
more months talking about the boys of summer and their wonderful game.
Men's soccer splits

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mario
Lemieux, the NHL's leading scorer,
probably will miss the rest of the
regular season while he undergoes
six weeks of therapy for a herniated
disc in his lower back, his doctors
said yesterday.
"Realistically, we're hoping to
get him back for'the playoffs...if the
(Pittsburgh Penguins) make the
playoffs," Dr. Charles Burke said.
Lemieux flew to Los Angeles
last Saturday and will remain there
for a cortisone injection tomorrow
and four weeks of isometric exer-
cises, rest and therapy.
At best, Burke said the two-time
NHL scoring champion might be
able to play again in six weeks, fol-
lowing 10 days to two weeks of
additional rehabilitation after he re-
turned to Pittsburgh from Los
Angeles.
Burke and other doctors,
including two spine specialists, have

agreed surgery to remove the disc is
a last resort because of a secondary,
arthritis-like condition that is caus-
ing complications.
"It's a complex problem he
has...and this treatment is the only
chance he has of playing again this
season," Burke said. "If he doesn't
make progress, there's a good chance
he'll have surgery...but there is
some risk involved.
"It's not a simple herniated disc.
If he has surgery and the abnormality
in his back causing his bones to
destabilize, he still might have back
pain and have trouble returning to
play."
Last week, Burke said surgery
wouldn't be career-threatening be-
cause of Lemieux's age (24) and
physical condition. But he qualified
that yesterday by saying the arthritis-
like condition is an additional worry
because doctors don't know how it
would respond to the operation.

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Weekend

Darling gives Griddes
picks to deprived fans
In a show of sympathy towards a young baseball fan who has no spring
training to watch, New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling writes down his
picks for this weeks Griddes contest. Darling told the Daily yesterday that he
thought a free meal would cheer up forlorn little leaguers.
Drop your own picks off upstairs at 420 Maynard by Friday, 5 p.m. If
you really know St. Bonaventure basketball, you could win breakfast or
lunch for two at O'Sullivans Eatery and Pub.

From Staff Reports
The Michigan men's soccer club
competed in the Northwestern
Invitational last Saturday, and com-
piled a 1-2 record in the tournament.
The Wolverines lost their first
game of the invitational to Wiscon-
sin Parkside by a score of 4-1.
However, the team came back in
the second game to defeat Notre
Dame, 3-1. The first goal for the
Wolverines was scored by Todd Neff,
the second by Dick Hillory, and the
game was finally put away when

Frank Karabetsos scored the final
goal.
"Beating Notre Dame was a
thrill, we went all out, if we do that
against anybody we can beat them,"
said sophomore defender Tim
Puckett.
The third game of the invitational
resulted in another loss for the
Michigan team as they were out-
scored by Wisconsin Green Bay, 6-3.
The competition included 16
teams, all of which were of varsity
standing except Michigan.

Northwestern vs. Michigan
Ohio State vs. Purdue
Minnesota vs. Iowa
Indiana vs. Michigan State
St. Bonaventure vs. Duquensne
St. Bonaventure vs. Rutgers
Creighton vs. Montana St.
Valparaiso vs. Eastern Illinois
Columbia vs. Penn
Loyola-Marymount vs. Portland
UCLA vs. Washington
SMU vs. Texas Tech
Rutgers vs. Temple
Dayton vs. Butler

Marquette vs. Xavier
Duke vs. Washington
Boston College vs. Villanova
LaSalle vs. Florida State
Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech
DePaul vs. Bradley
Tiebreaker
Michigan:
Northwestern:

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