The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 17

Sports The Indianapolis Star MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1987 PAGE 17 iro ueerir i eoeara 2f.hl.to VSo When trouble comes, Hagler takes care of it C7 C7 If vv4 Wiri 5 If 4 i Em 5 jJ tkH'4 vKs im' 'A Jl Jx i i I- ilk 4 4 "a Will world see Sugar of old, or old Sugar? By BRIAN SCHMITZ ORLANDO SENTINEL Las Vegas, Nev. Sugar Ray Leonard wants to be treated differently than the rest of the guys down at the gym, and yet he wants to be treated the same. For his 10 p.m. fight tonight against Marvin Hagler, Leonard wants to exercise the rights accorded any fighter making a comeback, and yet he wants to be placed above common scrutiny. He wants to have It both ways, which has been a right accorded to extraordinary fighters.

But given the unusual and potentially dangerous circumstances surrounding this fight, Leonard has found that Hagler is not his only opposition. Defending himself outside the ring has been a strange, uncomfortable challenge for Leonard. It has been difficult for Leonard to understand and accept the critical reaction to his return, just as it has been difficult for many to understand and accept his motives for returning. He used to have everyone on his side. But fan mail questions his sanity.

Interviews have turned into interrogations. Some boxing people wonder If he is hurting the game by fighting after surgery on his eye in 1982. After filling a void left in the sport when Muhammad All retired, Leonard expected a kinder, more sentimental reception. Wasn't Leonard the one taking the risks so we could see the richest, if not the greatest fight of the century? The other day at a press conference Leonard seemed to be throwing up his hands. "I'm a nonconformist.

Always have been. I know people think I'm not doing the right thing. I don't care. I know some people can't comprehend it, but I've taken it as far as I can. "1 don't care what's happened before in history to other fighters.

This is Sugar Ray Leonard and I'm going to do it." Defiance has given him strength, but it is a characteristic that has led many a fighter to ruin. Leonard had convinced us throughout the See LEONARD Page 18 By STEVE ASCHBURNER MINNEAPOLIS STAR AND TRIBUNE Las Vegas, Nev. They say he cuts easily now, that the narrow scars slicing through his eyebrows are paper thin, pounded that way by a thousand blows. Open those scars, they say, and Marvelous Marvin Hagler will bleed. Open those scars, Hagler says, and you will lose.

"Don't make me bleed," the undisputed world middleweight boxing champion warned recently, contemplating tonight's 10 p.m fight with Ray Leonard. "I fight harder when I bleed. I start thinking about losing my security. My title means everything to me. Then I know I got to hurt you real bad, the quickest way I know how." Ask Thomas Hearns.

Hearns made Hagler bleed two years ago when they met at Caesars Palace and the fight lasted eight minutes. Enraged, Hagler stunned Hearns in the second round and dropped him in the third. See, what the strategists and the skeptics apparently don't understand Is that, yes, Hagler bleeds, but once the blood stops flowing, out comes the sweat and the tears and the venom that have built up in him over, well, it's close to 14 years now. It stings his eyes, beads up on his nose and trickles down to his Hps, and it is his fuel. High octane hate.

"Everything I've ever had in life has come to me hard," Hagler said Friday. "Easy things make me nervous." Call it a fear of the unknown because easy things have not played much of a role in Hagler's life. In his mind, he has worked and slugged and scraped for every crumb that he's earned, and if he ever needed a reminder, all he had to do was look down the long table Friday morning. There he was: Sugar Ray Leonard, the smiling man, the dancing man, the slick and pretty show-biz man. -A man who, Hagler believes, has no business being in the ring with him tonight, and yet a man he would have nowhere else at that moment.

"This is the big top," Hagler said. "But this is See HAGLER Page 18 ill Tale of the Tape HAGLER LEONARD 32 Age 30 160 Weight 160 5-9V4 Height 5-1 OVj 75 Reach 74 40 Chest (normal) 39 42 Chest 41 15 Biceps 15 12 Forearm 114 30 Waist 30 22 Thigh 21 15 13 16 Neck 15V2 7 Wrist 7 12 Fist 11 MMMMMMMRMMIBnMHMIIMMIIi UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Marvelous Marvin Hagler (left) and Sugar Ray Leonard face off before meeting tonight. mztrnm: Browning, Reds ready for fast start have to. When you've got four guys like I've got down in the bullpen, four quality guys coming off four quality years, you use them." Browning who was 1-1 against Montreal last year won't be the only newcomer to Rose's opening day lineup. Unless Rose makes some last-minute changes, the lineup will feature Barry Larkin at short, Kal Daniels in left, Dave Parker in right, Eric Davis in center, Buddy Bell at third, Bo Diaz behind the plate, Terry Francona at first, Ron Oester at second and Browning on the mound.

Larkin. Daniels and Francona will all be making their first opening day start for the Reds. "This is the best team I've had." said Rose, who starts his third full season as the Reds' boss. "It's extremely good offensively, extremely good defensively and probably has the most team speed that a Cincinnati team has had in a long time. It's got power, too." The Expos the parent club of the Indianapolis Indians also have some new faces.

See REDS Page 19 hit," said the left-hander, who-specializes in keeping the ball low and getting a lot of grounders. "Finally, against the Cubs, I just tried to relax and Just throw. That game got me going." The Reds need Browning to pitch well all season in '87, especially with Mario Soto starting the year on the disabled list. Today marks the first time in six years Soto has missed an opening day assignment. The right-hander was on the disabled list three times last year before" finally having arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in August.

Soto has pitched In a few spring games, but was not throwing at 100 percent. Bill Gullickson is Cincinnati's only other proven starting pitcher, though. Ted Power came out of the bullpen to do a good Job in the second half last year. John Franco and Ron Robinson both had fine seasons in '86, and have been Joined by former Giant Frank Williams, a righthander, and lefty Rob Murphy. "I probably won't go with my starting pitchers as long this year." said Rose.

"You don't By DAVE GARLICK STAR STAFF WRITER Cincinnati Tom Browning's 1986 season mirrored that of the Cincinnati Reds. As did his team. Browning got off to a lousy start, finished well, but overall. 1986 was a disappointment. And in 1987, his performance will go a long way in determining the fate of the Reds in the National League West race.

Browning will be on the mound today when the Reds open the season against the Montreal Expos (WTTV Channel 4, 1 p.m.) at Riverfront Stadium under what are supposed to be cloudy skies with temperatures in the low 50s. He finished 14-13 with a 3.81 earned run average for Manager Pete Rose last year, good numbers, but not great, especially after his 20-9 season in '85 which earned Browning respect around the National League. His early-season performance had a lot to do with Cincinnati's 6-19 start last year, which nearly eliminated the Reds before the season ever really got started. Browning started the season 0-4 Umps may strike, Page 19 before finally getting his first win at Pittsburgh May 18. Still, he struggled until June 4, when he one-hit the Cubs in a 2-0 victory.

From then on, both the Reds and Browning did well. That Cincinnati came back to finish second after the horrible start, and Browning finished with more wins than losses, has a lot of experts picking the Reds to win the West this year. "I learned a lot last year," said Browning. "I don't want to say that I didn't work as hard last spring as I did in '85, but I don't think I was as intense. "My rookie year, I was fighting to make the club.

I think subconsciously. I might have relaxed because I had that success." When the season started badly. Browning lost confidence in his breaking ball, began falling behind hitters, then grooving fast balls to avoid walks. "I was throwing fast balls on the first pitch so I wouldn't get behind people, and I was getting ill fc. UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL New York first baseman Don Mattingly tries to warm his ears during the Yankees' workout in Detroit Sunday.

Mario victorious at Long Beach Muskegon trips listless Checkers By BILL PICKETT STAR STAFF WRITER The Indianapolis Checkers closed out the home portion of their 1986-87 IHL regular season in ignominious fashion Sunday. They appeared to go through the motions in a 7-1 loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks which' 4,936 spectators didn't seem to appreciate on Fan Appreciation Day in Market Square Arena. Although the Checkers lost the game, they clinched a berth in the Turner Cup playoffs beginning next week. Milwaukee defeated Peoria, 5-2, Sunday night to eliminate the Rlvermen from the playoffs. The Checkers and Peoria could still finish in a tie; but the Checkers would make the playoffs because they will have a greater number of wins.

For the Chex to win their next two games would be quite a feat. They haven't won in two previous visits to Kalamazoo and are 1 -4 at Milwaukee. The Lumberjacks, who climbed from fourth place to first in the West Division since the first of the year while the Chex plummeted from first to fourth in the East, gave no hint of the adversity which befell them Saturday night. But really good teams thrive on adversity, and Muskegon Is a really good team. Both the Chex and the "Jacks played Saturday night.

Indiana-polls lost a 4-3 decision at Fort Wayne and the team was back home a few hours later. Muskegon rallied, from four goals down in the third period to beat Flint in overtime, 5-4. The team left Muskegon for Indy at 11:15 p.m. Saturday but their bus broke down an hour and a half from home. They sat near Covert, until a replacement bus arrived at 4 a.m..

then rolled into Indianapolis at 7:30 a.m. Sunday for the 2 p.m. contest. Both teams started slowly, then midway through the first period Tom Karalis provided a look at what kind of day it was to be for the Checkers and goalie Mike Zanler. Karalis lifted a soft wrist shot toward the goal from 50 feet and nobody, Zanler included, See CHECKERS Page 19 84 Indy-car starts that a Cos-worth motor didn't power the winning car.

Not since 1981. when the late Mike Mosley triumphed at Milwaukee in a stock-block Chevy, had the Cosworth fallen. Ironically, the IlmorChevy, designed by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan, was debuted, developed and run exclusively by Roger Penske's team last year. But Andretti, who utilizes the talents of Franz Weis' VDS Engines, beat Penske to victory lane. "The Chevrolet was the heartbeat of America for me today," quipped Andretti, who earned $97,410 for the NewmanHaas team.

"That Chevy amazed me today. I was so happy with its performance, it ran impeccably. "The chassis and gearbox were picture perfect, too. I had no problems whatsoever." Unless you count Fittipaldi. Starting third with another IlmorChevy.

Emmo kept his Marlboro March right in the shadow of Mario's rear wing for the first 52 laps. The two were never separated by more than a See CART Page 18 By ROBIN MILLER STAR ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Long Beach, Calif. One tradition continued here Sunday afternoon and another may have been laid to rest. Mario Andretti, becoming as much a landmark in this seaside city as the Queen Mary, wrapped up another awesome weekend by blistering the competition in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was the third time in the four CART races here that Andretti has hit victory lane.

Starting on the pole (also for the third time) in the Hanna Car Wash LolaChevy, the 47-year-old veteran led all 95 laps as he did in 1984. After Emerson Fittipaldi's departure halfway through the 1987 CART opener, Mario was never challenged. He lapped everyone at least once and his official margin of victory over run-nerup Al Unser Jr. was one lap and 29 seconds. Andretti's dominating drive, witnessed by a record turnout of 83,000, was also the first win for the IlmorChevrolct engine.

And it marked the first time in STAR STAFF PHOTOROB G0EBEL Muskegon's Gerry Minor (left) takes the puck up the ice as the Checkers' Bob Lakso applies the defense. I A- 1 1 1.