Page B2'
November 10, 1999
(Fije J^ortlanî» ffibavruer
llortlanò
Rumble at the Rose Garden
Jefferson sputters early.. but closes hard for PIL championship
Jorge Luis Gonzalez vs Jameel McCline
John John Molina vs Manuel Gamica
Margaret McGregor
CONTRIBUTE D STORY _______ ___
for T he P ortland O bserver
N ovem ber 14 will be anything but a garden party, w hen professional boxing
m akes it debut at Portland’s Rose G arden Arena. Four top contenders will
collide in two big bouts. Heavyweight wrecking m achines Jorge Luis Gonzalez
and Jam eel M cCline w ill go to to-toe in the M ain Event w hile tw o-tim e world
cham pion John John M olina takes on M exican cham pion M anuel G am ica in
a 10-round lightw eight slugfest. A s a special attraction, M argaret M cGregor,
the first w om an to ever fight a man in a state-sanctioned bout, will risk her
undefeated record in a six-roundjum or lightweight w o m en 's bout. The seven-
bout card w ill be televised live nationally on Fox sports N et (7 to 9p .m . EST).
Gonzatez, 29-5 (27 K Os), originally from H avana, C uba, now residing in Las
Vegas, began his professional career by w inning his first 23 bouts, 22 of them
by knockout, setting up a grudge rem atch w ith Riddick Bowe tor B ow e’s world
title in 1995. In the world am ateur championships, G onzalez had del eated Bowe
and W BC heavyw eight cham pion Lennox Lewis on successive nights to win
that com petition. Bow e stopped G onzalez in six hard-fought rounds to retain
the title and drop G onzales from the ranks o f the undefeated Now rededicated,
and in the best shape o f his career, G onzalez returns fresh from tour big
consecutive knockout victories over highly-touted contenders.
McCline, 20-2-1 (14Kos), from Port Jefferson, NY, riding a three-year, 18-bout
w inning streak. He stopped Jim H aynes via a third-round knockout in his last
fight, Septem ber 14.
.
M olina 48-6 (32 Koss), from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, is a three-time world junior
lightw eightcham pion. He captured the W BO title w inning a 12-round decision
over Juan LaPorte in 1989. H e relinquished that title to challenge Tony Lopez
for the IBF title later that year, dethroning the cham pion by a 10-round 1 KO.
A fter a successful title defense, he lost the title in close decision in the 1990
rem atch with Lopez. Tw o years later, M olina regained the IBF title by stopping
Jackie G unguluza in the fourth round in 1992 and held the title for two years
and six successful defenses before m oving up to challenge O scar De La Hoya
for O scar’s W BO lightw eight title. T hough O scar w as victorious, w inning a
close decision, it was considered his toughest title defense until his recent fight
w ithFelixTrinidad.
M olina has fought for w orld title tw o m ore tim es during the past 16 months,
losing to Shane M osley in 1998 and Roberto G arcia last January in another
close decision. M olina captured the W BC C ontinental A m ericas lightweight
title last M arch, stopping R uben N evarez in seven rounds. His other 1999
victories include a decision win o ver Jam es C rayton in July and a first-round
KO over Javier C arm ona last m onth.
G am ica, 19-3(11 K os), from G uadalajara, Mexico, is a tw o-tim e M exican State
lightw eight cham pion. H e enters this fight fresh from one o f the year ’ s biggest
upsets, defeating form er w orld cham pion Gabriel Ruelas last month in his U.S.
: ^ ^ I ^ S n ^ h e D e m o c r a ^ m ^
and the driving rain to defeat the Techmen 14-7. Lee, who came o ff a
knee iniurv that cost him 2 games, engineered 2 second half touch downs to stage the win.
r . ,
. , ,
Jefferson's star running hack, Palmer Butler, had his share o f set-backs, hut in the end showed why he is considered one o f the top running backs
in the state.
—
Woods adds Vardon trophy to player of year honors
A ssociated P ress
xvhn had
T he 23-year-old A m erican, w ho had
earlier w rapped up the PGA Player o f
the Y
Y ear
ear aw
ard, com
com pleted
pleted 7 75 5 rounds
rounds
the
award,
w ith an adjusted scoring average o f
68.43. D avid D uval w as runner-up
w ith a 69.17 average in 74 rounds.
The previous best adjusted scoring
mark o f6 8 .8 1 was set byG reg Norman
T iger W oods claim ed yet another
honor on the U.S. PGA T our on
M onday w hen he w as nam ed the
w in n ero tth eV ard o n tro p h y forbest
scoring average, the PGA o f A m erica
in 1994.
In 1988, the criteria was altered to
th e tr
a w a rd m
iro o p u h y to th e I o u r
professional w ith the low est adjusted
announced.
W oods, w ho capped a sensational
s e a s o n b y w in n in g th e W o rld
C h a m p io n s h ip to u r n a m e n t at
V alderram a on S unday, w on the
trophy and registered the low est
adjusted average since the award
form at w as changed in 1988.
“T iger is playing like the angels d o ,”
M a s te rs c h a m p io n Jo s e M a ria
O lazabal said after W oods’s Sunday
p lay o ff victory in Spain o ver local
favourite M iguel A ngel Jim enez.
score o f the field at each event
event.
W o o d s’s latest victory gave him
record U.S. Tour winnings o f m ore
than $6.5 m illion— nearly $3 million
m ore than runner-up Duval.
W oods becam e the first player since
B en H ogan in 1953 to w in four
consecutive starts.
It w as his eig h th trium ph in 11
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•
tournam ents and his ninth ot the year
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debut.
Trail Blazers look to continue fast start vs. Jazz
the A ssociated Press
The Portland Trail B lazers look
to continue their dom inance
o f the W estern Conference
w hen they face the U tah Jazz
in a rem atch o f last seaso n ’s
conference sem ifinals at the
D elta C enter T uesday night.
A ll four o f P o rtland’s w ins
this season, including its 97-
82 victory o ver the Lakers on
Saturday, have been against
W estern C onference foes.
Portland, w hich is o ff to its
first 4-0 start since opening
th e 1 9 9 2 -9 3 w ith e ig h t
c o n se c u tiv e v ic to ries, has
rallied around the all-around
play o f forw ard Scottie Pippen.
P ortland’s defense, w hich is third in
the N BA , allow ing ju st 87.2 ppg, has
been led by Pippen, a seven-tim e All-
D efensive First Team m em ber. The
11 -year veteran leads the team with
six steals and is second w ith four
blocks and 5.8 rebounds p er game.
“ I’m feeling very good health-w ise
an d m y d e fe n s e is g e ttin g m y
offensive gam e go in g ,” Pippen said.
“ I ’ve been trying to only take good
looks and not force anything.”
W hile the Trail Blazers have had an
easy tim e against team s in their
conference, the Jazz will try to improve
its r e c o rd a g a in s t W e s te rn
C onference pow erhouses.
Utah is 1 -2 against the Lakers, Rockets
and SuperSonics this season, its lone
victory com ing against H ouston.
Scott Padgett, the second o f U tah’s
two first-round draft picks, m ade his
first NBA start in place o f a healthy
but ineffective A dam K eefe in the
team ’ s 94-79 win over the Cl ippers on
M onday. K eefe sat the entire game,
w hile Padgett scored six points in 18
m inutes in his debut.
Portland defeated the Jazz in six games
in last season’s W estern C onference
semifinals.
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