The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 60

60" THK BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE JUNK Boxing THE MEN WHO RATE professional boxers were rating restaurants, a four-star designation would guarantee you a case of botulism. Evincing interest in New Britain Ex-commissioner may be a player in sale J) jr you a little sinkerslider action but isn't considered anything special. That provides further intrigue into why this deal was made Matt Stairs, who was hitting .331 at New Britain, was placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his knees Aaron Scle says his former Washington State batterymate, Triple A catcher Scott Hatteberg, will be a fine major league player. "No question," said Sele. "He's gotten a lot bigger over the past couple of years and he's got a stroke that's perfect for Fenway.

He's a lefthanded hitter who hits to left-center. I'd love to see the day when he's here. He carried me for a few years in college and when we were in the lower minors. Now I'd like to help him." Hatteberg has struggled but has started to come on. He has three homers and three RBIs.

TROT NIXON Call-up not guaranteed Pawtucket Ithfongti tlHM 21 Bitting vg. AS HR RBI BlosserOF 350 103 22 36 6 23 SRodfigliM 28 .344 32 2 11 0 TRodriguez .325 40 5 13 2 Twardoski IB 303 145 22 44 6 Wedge DH 298 47 11 14 3 JhoutsisOF 273 128 14 35 3 Sharperson 3B .267 15 2 4 0 lUurravOF 233 193 37 45 10 MUW2 2B 232 194 21 45 2 HattebergC 226 62 8 14 3 McNeelyOF 212 184 20 39 0 PedreC 191 68 5 13 1 Valentin SS 167 6 1 1 0 PHcMnl 4 7 27 8 20 4 31 10 3 9 8 1 W-L ERA Sv TRodriguez 0-0 0.00 0 IP 1.0 26.0 22.1 21.2 3.1 73.0 69.1 58.2 26.2 38.1 57.1 1 12 18 15 2 61 67 51 26 46 65 Bailey 1-1 2.08 11 Valdez 2-1 2.42 0 Florence 0-1 2.49 5 1-0 2.70 0 Minchey 6-2 2.84 0 FRodriguez 3-4 3.50 0 Vanegmond 6-1 3 68 0 Carter 21 4.73 0 Melendez 0-2 4.93 3 Conroy 5-3 5.81 0 New Britain Batting Ave. AB UnnonDH .346 162 27 Stairs OF 331 145 24 WalaveOF 311 193 39 Juday2B 281 32 6 flappdiOF 281 89 14 Brown SS 264 174 28 HousieOF 258 128 18 Colon IB 244 168 26 Gonzalez 233 43 4 -Norris3B 217 46 6 Malzone3B 212 118 16 McKeel 208 24 2 Holland 3B 179 28 4 "Crowley 3B 133 15 1 .111 9 0 Pitching 56 48 60 9 25 46 33 41 10 10 25 5 5 2 1 HR RBI 8 32 16 18 27 3 4 8 3 2 2 1 W-l ERA Housie 0-0 0.00 -Pierce 1-2 2.45 IP 1.0 33.0 31.1 35.1 58.1 51.1 28.0 580 40.2 14.0 25.1 23.1 0 26 32 34 68 46 24 60 46 15 39 37 Caruso 5-1 3.45 -Young 1-1 4.08 Gakeler 4-4 4.32 4.38 4.50 Bennett 6-3 Raczka 1- Smith Rilev 5-3 4.50 0-3 686 -Sullivan 0-1 Ciccaretla 0-1 7.07 7.11 Mitchell Lynchburg v. Batting Avg. AB 4evangieC 303 89 11 rStrattonC 293 41 4 Ninon OF 281 171 21 -Selby3B 254 173 30 Murphy 2B 243 144 17 McGuire IB 242 190 24 Martin 239 92 13 Pattern 238 21 2 firahamOF 222 27 2 Johnson OF 213 197 27 Collier OF 211 128 18 Carey SS 205 122 13 ZambranoOF 200 5 2 fiermanOF 195 123 14 Pitching W-l ERA Sv 27 NR RSI 0 9 12 0 1 48 11 29 44 35 46 22 5 6 42 27 25 1 24 12 32 12 23 11 2 1 17 16 16 1 17 IP 12.1 66.2 34.2 34.1 62.0 53.0 46.0 66 1 4.1 37.1 21.0 8.1 10 55 29 36 62 68 53 66 5 52 34 13 Amos 1-1 1.46 Senior 4 4 2.97 Glaze 2-1 3.38 LFaino 0-1 3.93 Renfroe 5-3 4.50 Hayward 2-6 4.58 Blais 1-3 4 89 Brooks 5-6 5.83 Mejia 0-0 6.23 -Kennedy 1-5 Mckinley 0-1 Becker 0-0 6.51 7.29 7.56 Sarasota p- Avg.

AB Vinyard OF 328 64 -Triedman IB 309 165 "Mahay OF 289 159 JFullerOF 284 183 Merloni 2B 267 176 AbadOF. 259 139 xUeckerlB 246 183 Ortiz SS 224 49 JacksonSS 212 132 200 25 Gibraltar 3B 199 156 -Berry 194 36 Bright OF 182 11 Davenport 143 7 MR RBI 10 21 0 7 16 51 2 19 15 46 2 22 36 52 1 8 17 47 0 28 14 36 0 7 17 45 4 21 6 11 0 6 20 28 0 11 2 5 0 2 16 31 4 16 2 7 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 10 0 right now. But I don't call the shots. They do." It will be the first fight at the famous horse racing venue. If Arum's fears are realized, Bowe would fight again Aug.

13 before beginning the hard push for another title shot. Around and around Ex-welterweight champion Buddy McGirt fights June 28 at the Meadowlands Convention Center against veteran ring warrior Kevin Pompey Heavyweight Alex Stewart climbs back into the ring June 20 in New York against Dan Murphy. He's not promoted by the Duva clan. If he wins, he's tentatively penciled in for a USA Network show Aug. 23 vs.

Lou Sa-varese The attempted revival of the Olympic Auditorium in LA has not gone well. After a big opening night with De La Hoya winning the WBO title from Jimmi Bredahl, it's been downhill. The last two bouts drew only 250 paid admissions, and ticket prices for the balcony have been reduced from $15 to $5. Of course, when you come to LA and headline a show with two flyweights from Albuquerque, what do you expect? Arum got better results last week when Gabriel Ruelas stopped Paris Alexander and heavyweight Jeremy Williams (15-1) got back into the ring for the first time since losing to Donald vs. Andrew Stokes (16-10-1) and needed less than 50 seconds to stop him.

Attendance was reported at 2,212. Although that's hardly what Arum is looking for, it's better than 250 Williams is scheduled to fight again June 24 vs. Bert Cooper IBF bantamweight champion Orlando Canizales defends his title for the 15th time Tuesday vs. Rolando Bohol. If he is successful, Canizales will tie the record for consecutive bantamweight title defenses held by Manuel Ortiz.

Canizales has held the title for years Fortune smiled on former world champion Alexis Ar-guello last week, although he probably doesn't realize it. The three-time titleholder's planned comeback at 41 was derailed until August by a broken rib. Arguello last fought six years ago Mitch Green's comeback attempt did not go well Thursday night. He lost a unanimous decision to undefeated Melvin Foster (15-0-1). Green has fought only twice in the eight years since he lost a decision to Mike Tyson.

Local bleatings Vinny Curto reports from LA that he will not fight as originally announced June 17 at the Lowell Sheraton. He is still planning a brief comeback, though. Curto said he wants to fight three times, in part to drum up publicity for a sitcom he's written called "Fifth Street." It's based on his experiences training at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami under Angelo Dundee Because of a reporter's brain damage (my own), this corner had Maiden middleweight Dana Rosenblatt fighting Tyrone Moore June 21 at Rockingham. Well, we were half-right. He's fighting Moore June 21 but it will be at the Roxy on Tremont Street in Boston Speaking of Rosenblatt, he has signed an endorsement agreement with Franklin Sporting Goods.

He joins a field that includes Ray Leonard, Roy Jones, Don Mattingly and Dan Marino Here's an interesting twist. Boston promoter Johnny Gagliardi's son, Genaro, is now fighting professionally and being trained by Bobby Cavino. When Cavino fought, he was trained by Genaro Gagliardi's father, Johnny Peter McNeeley (27-1) squares off with former cruiserweight champion J.D. Williamson June 24 at Foxboro Raceway Maine's Joey Gamache, a two-time world champion, outpointed Wayne Boudreaux in Lewiston Thursday night. Adviser Johnny Bos believes the win sets up Gamache for a WBA title fight with lightweight champion Orzubek Nazarov later this year.

Gamache is now 35-1 Former middleweight champion Paul Pender will be inducted into the -Ring Hall of Fame On May 24, former welterweight champion Marlon Starling was inducted into the Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame Not even Vinny Pa-zienza cares about this, but just for the record, his June 25 fight with Roberto Duran will be a 15-round affair for the Intercontinental Boxing Council middleweight title. Oh boy On the undercard of Paz-Duran is a potentially thunderous confrontation between former world champion Tony Lopez and Greg Haugen. 1 It's truly rank Something's fishy with rating system p. RIDDICK BOWE Held In check by King? fight is a tough Pole named Andrew Colota, who's 18-0 with 16 KOs. His last win was a one-round stoppage of Californian Terry Davis CBS' reentry into boxing begins Sunday at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City with former bantamweight champion Junior Jones fighting at 122 pounds for the first time since losing the 118-pound title to John Michael Johnson against Orlando Fernandez.

Two weeks later, on June 26, CBS goes again from Atlantic City Race Track with WBC featherweight champion Kevin Kelley in a non-. title fight Previously undefeated South African heavyweight Corrie Sanders was knocked out last week overseas Oscar De La Hoya leaves behind his World Boxing Organization 130-pound title after last weekend's second defense to move up to fight Jorge Paez for the vacant WBO lightweight title July 29 at the MGM Grand on the undercard of the James Toney-Prince Charles Williams super middleweight title fight. Paez (50-6-4) tunes up Saturday against an unusual opponent, Mexican dentist Juan Gomez (13-3-2). At least if Gomez gets hammered, he can fix his own teeth Some De La Hoya skeptics believe an in-shape Paez might lick him, and apparently De La Hoya has some concerns himself because West Coast insiders say he has begun to waver about Paez, saying he could make more money fighting him later. Like 10 years later.

His fears are not unfounded after having again been knocked flat last week by a light puncher. De La Hoya got up and won, but that chin is not made of iron Still, this will be the first of a lucrative five-fight deal with HBO for De La Hoya, so there seems to be little room for escape If De La Hoya gets by Paez, he is hoping to earn a shot at Los Angeles rival and IBF lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas next year, and Ruelas says he's ready. He's also handled by Dan Goossen, who now works for Bob Arum, who promotes De La Hoya. Sounds like a done deal to me Speaking of De La Hoya, he recently turned on his former idol, Julio Cesar Chavez, after Chavez' controversial "win" over Frankie Randall gave him back the WBC super lightweight title. "I believe he should quit now that Don King has given him back his title," De La Hoya said.

"Fighters know when they're worn out. He's finished. He should quit while he's ahead. If the fight had gone on it was stopped by an accidental head-butt that badly cut Chavez, Randall would've knocked him out." Unbelievable as it sounds, young prospect Larry Donald's management team of Steve Nelson and Robert Mittleman remain adamant about a July 15 fight at Hollywood Park with Bowe (34-1) that has been dubbed The Mane Event Why? Not even Donald's promoter knows. "It doesn't make sense to me," moaned Arum.

"I can't see how Larry can beat him yfj If these guys were grading eggs, Grade A would be a failing mark. If Doug Beavers of the International Boxing Federation, Bolivar Icaza of the World Boxing Association and Jose Sulaiman of the World Boxing Council were rating beef, "USDA approved" would lead you to say, "Where's the after just one bite. These guys would rate Tiny Tim over Tony Bennett on their hit parade or Babe Herman over Babe Ruth on their hit list. When it comes to ratings, the men who rate boxers don't even rate your time because their ratings are second-rate. On a good day.

Assuming they ever have It would take about two phone calls and one money order to have my 53-year-old brother, Dick (Canvasback) Borges, rated in the top 10. If he was 10 years older, it might be more difficult. It would take cash. This is not to besmirch the good name of the men on the ratings committees of the IBF, WBA and WBC. They don't need me to do that.

They do it every month when their new list of frauds comes out. This month, two of the three ruling bodies that control professional boxing somehow managed to rate the top 10 heavyweights in the world without stumbling across the name of Riddick Bowe, who a year ago was the champion of the entire world. The IBF did manage to rate Bowe fourth but it put him behind not one, not two, but three Don King fighters, including the long-ago-derailed Atlantic City Express, Bruce Seldon. What Seldon has done to achieve his high station in the division is difficult to fathom since he has fought only three times since losing to No. 1-rated Oliver McCall in 1991, and of those opponents came from a ratings list.

They came from the morgue. Same is true for second-rated Tony Tucker, who has won one lackluster fight since being hammered all night long by WBC champion Lennox Lewis last year. In the meantime, Bowe won and lost the world title in two stirring fights with Evander Holy-field. But that doesn't rate with the WBC and WBA. Neither could find a place for Bowe in their top 10.

Actually, top 12, in the WBA's case. Ahead of Bowe, Senor Icaza has McCall, Tucker, Bruce "Seldom" (which is more accurate than Icaza knows), Razor Ruddock (who has been a dull blade since Lewis KO'd him in two rounds two years ago, having managed only one putrid victory since) and Frans Botha, not to mention seven other guys you've barely heard of. What do those five have in common? They're all handled by Don King. Same is true of the WBC's top two and the IBF's top three. Does the smell of rotten eggs seem to fill the room? Now how would that rate? About like the WBA, the WBC and the IBF.

Short jabs Negotiations continued this week for the Michael Moorer-George Foreman bout. Foreman continues to ask for more money than Moorer's people think he deserves, but a Nov. 4 working date has been agreed to, with Caesars Palace apparently having pulled out of the bidding. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas and a new New Orleans casino remain the likely sites Speaking of new casinos, the opening of one in Windsor, Ontario, has made that city across the bridge from Detroit a possible host for Lewis' mandatory WBC title defense against McCall on Sept 23 or 24. Lewis would still like the bout in London, however, and the champion says he's willing to take up to $1.5 million less than his norm to fight in his hometown.

US television wants no part of London because it means a wee-hour start in England to get the bout on in prime time in America Apparently the promotional maneuvering between King and Lewis' manager, Frank Maloney, came to an end last week with a negotiated settlement rather than the projected purse bid. King and Maloney agreed to a figure for McCall's services, and that ended that Among the possible opponents on Bowe's list for his August By Nick Cafardo GLOBE STAFF Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent has expressed interest in exploring the purchase of the New Britain Red Sox from Joe Buzas. Vincent said yesterday from his home in Greenwich, "I called Joe to tell him that if he were interested in selling the team to get back to me with some of the numbers involved and I would analyze it and then get back to him. But to this point I haven't heard from him." Vincent said he did not expect to pursue the negotiations himself but added, "Joe knows of my interest, and if he puts this team up for sale, then hopefully he'll get back to me and we'll see what the figures would be. But right now it's premature." The city of New Britain has received $5 million from the state of Connecticut to build a new stadium for the Double A Red Sox.

The long-awaited grant is $2 million short of the total cost, and the larger question looms: Do the Red Sox want to stay there? Buzas, who is recovering from prostate cancer, has expressed a desire to seek out buyers and consider other New England cities such as Springfield, Worcester and Hartford. Vincent said he would like to keep the team in New Britain. The situation is further complicated by the recent approval the Albany, N.Y., franchise received to relocate to Norwich, which will put three teams (New Britain, New Haven and Norwich) within a relatively short radius. In addition, the Red Sox' affiliation with New Britain expires at the end of the season. Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette didn't seem impressed with the $5 million grant, saying, "It's' only half of what they need.

Our concern is to provide our players with the state-of-the-art facility where a pitcher doesn't have to worry about getting hurt on the mound and which has suitable conditions." Duquette didn't rule out the Red Sox purchasing the team. "That has its advantages," said Duquette. "You have complete control that way." See you in September? There's been a lot of speculation about whether last year's No: 1 pick, Trot Nixon, will come up to the Red Sox in September. Red Sox executive vice president Lou Gorman said in spring training there was no clause to that effect in Nixon's contract, but according to Nixon's side, there is a gentleman's agreement that the 19-year-old outfielder who currently has 11 homers and 29 RBIs at Lynchburg will come up then Oh, Well Mike Sullivan, the 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound righthanded reliever obtained in the Wes Chamberlain deal, had a rough debut in New Britain. He allowed four runs in zero innings last Wednesday.

Sullivan is a forced them to be played on one day. The last time it happened at any Grand Slam was at Wimbledon in 1989. Fans waited with varying degrees of patience during the long delay as high winds whipped rain clouds over Stade Roland Garros. Some tried to maintain good spirits by performing the wave, even though many were clutching umbrellas. Pierce even made a brief appearance in the stands, chatting with her coach and some friends, then waving to the crowd as she left.

Though Pierce, 19, has both French and US citizenship, she plays officially for France. The French media starved for sports heroes -has swiftly turned her into a superstar following her shocking 6-2, 6-2 defeat of world No. 1 Steffi Graf in the semifinals Thursday. Seeded only No. 12, Pierce is assured of moving up to at least No.

7 in thp wnmm'a railings on the 0 A promising turn Dana Lcvangie, 24, from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, has begun to show promise. He is hitting .303 at Lynchburg after struggling under the Mendoza Line his first three years in professional baseball. "I think my confidence is at an all-time high," he said. "I always thought I could hit, but now that I've gone out to a good start, I think I'm going to be OK. Rico Petrocelli helped me out a lot in spring training and Steve Braun has worked on some things with me as well." Minor league field coordinator Bobby Schaefer suggested to Lynchburg manager Mark Meleski that Levan-gie become the No.

1 catcher the rest of the year there. "He's gotten to the point where he knows he can hit," said Schaefer. "Let the kid have success." Likewise, the Red Sox acquired Chamberlain rather than rush Greg Blosser back to the majors. The 22-year-old lefthanded hitter is pounding away with a .352 average, 7 homers and 24 RBIs in 31 games at Pawtucket. The homers came over a 17-game span.

"He's learning to hit," said PawSox manager Buddy Bailey. "If the Red Sox need him, fine. But what's happening to him now is a great confidence-booster. He's using more of the field and going with the pitch more." On Friday morning, Bailey had a meeting with Glenn Murray, and the message was for the big righthanded hitter to stop swinging for the fences and just make contact. In Friday's 6-5 win, Murray slammed two home runs, his 11th and 12th OK, there have been some regrettable trades around here recently.

But new Pawtucket infielder Mike Sharperson was involved in one of the worst when he went from the Blue Jays to the Dodgers for righthander Juan Guzman Last -year's No. 2 pick, Jeff Suppan, struck out 1 1 and tossed a two-hitter for Sarasota at Lakeland Wednesday Sarasota outfielder Aaron Fuller has 18 stolen bases, tying him with Otis Nixon for the organization lead There's a new rule in the Gulf Coast League (which starts July 1 that players can't be older than 19, which means Utica of the New York-Penn League will be stocked with several current draft picks when it starts play June 16. basis of her performance here. She has lost only 10 games in six matches a tournament record. It is the first Grand Slam final for Pierce, the fifth for Sanchez Vicario.

The 22-year-old Spaniard won the title here in 1989, and has since lost finals here, at the Australian Open and at the US Open. The men's final is neither a grudge match nor a contrast in styles. But it gets a four-star rating from a man who should know, Jim Courier. A champion in 1991 and 1992, Courier lost in a semifinal Friday to Bruguera, who dethroned him last year. Berasategui beat Courier in straight sets at Nice last April Now the two clay-court maestros face each other in the first all-Spanish final in Grand Slam history.

"I'd like to see that one myself," Courier said after his four-set loss Friday to Bruguera. "It should be an interesting match." Sv IP 0 1.0 2 0 9 1 8 1 27.0 26 3 27.2 24 0 6.0 5 0 16.2 11 3 30.1 25 0 32.1 31 0 69.1 67 0 61.0 74 2 54.2 56 1 5.1 4 0 21.2 28 1 21.2 22 0' 25.1 31 0 3.2 10 W-l ERA -Friedman 0-0 0.00 "Martinez 1-0 0.96 tfainter 1-0 1.33 Hudson 2-1 2.93 "Hansen 0-1 3.00 1-0 3.24 2-4 3.26 -Orellano 3-2 4.18 Suppan 2-5 4.54 -Bakkum 3-5 4.57 Telgheder 2-5 4.77 0-0 5.06 Peterson 0-1 5.82 streamer 0-2 6.23 l' Perez 1-2 6 39 Tyrrell 0-1 22.09 Women's final suspended Rain forces Pierce, Sanchez Vicario to vie for French title today ASSOCIATED PRESS PARIS Fans hoping for the first French women's champion at the French Open since 1967 were kept waiting yesterday as rain forced suspension of the title match between Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. The match began 4'fc hours late because of bad weather, then was interrupted by more rain after just 17 minutes of play. Pierce led, 2-1, and held a break point in the fourth game, The court was damp and windswept, and play was sloppy. Sanchez Vicario made 11 unforced errors and Pierce seven before the halt The match is to be completed today before the men's final, an all-Spanish matchup between defending campion Sergi Bruguera and Alberto Berasategui.

Not since the men's and women's finals were scheduled for different davs, starting in 19 "59, has rain V..