Daily News from New York, New York • 26

CO CM 1 MOT" ff Own illlilll But cops eye link to scuffle By MOLLY CORDY Daly News Staff Writer His girlfriend is looking for the gentle lover who cried over a lost kitten. His manager is looking for the tough slugger who was training for a $100,000 match. Police are looking for anyone who might have seen Russian boxer Sergei Kobozev in a scuffle at Brooklyn's Paradise Club the weekend of Nov. 3, days before he disappeared in suspicious circumstances, the Daily News has learned. Friends say Kobozev, 31, worked as a bouncer at the club, which law enforcement officials said is partly owned by Russian organized crime godfather Vyacheslav Ivan-kov.

But police and the FBI say there's no evidence that Kobozev ever worked for mobsters. Instead, police are pursuing several hearsay accounts that Kobozev broke up or participated in a fight that might have provoked a grudge against him. "Unfortunately, we haven't found anyone willing to talk to us who was actually present that weekend," Detective Arthur Semioli said in confirming the reports. "So it's difficult to separate fact from fiction." In a city where more than 19,000 missing-person cases are reported tin-- MISSING: Russian prizefighter Sergei Kobozev, his girlfriend Yelena Cheskikh and her son enjoy night out at Brooklyn nightclub. Kobozev, 31, vanished early this month while training for a $100,000 match.

SEOUL More than 1,000 South Koreans rallied in central Seoul yesterday, demanding President Kim Young Sam implement a decision to set up a special law to punish his two predecessors for brutally cracking down on a civil uprising 15 years ago. They also called for the president to designate a neutral prosecution team to handle the investiga- tion into the 1980 bloody pro-democracy revolt On Friday, Kim ordered his ruling Democratic Liberal Party to draft a special law to pun- ish former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo for crushing the revolt WARSAW Poland's president-elect resigned from the reformed Communist Party yesterday, a move designed to reach out to supporters of defeated President Lech Walesa and to give himself more freedom to govern. "I hope you will understand I am not breaking ties with you, but the decision is necessary if I am to treat all my political and social partners on equal terms," Aleksander Kwasniewski said in a surprise announcement i to regional leaders of the Social Democracy of Poland Party. PARIS French Premier Alain Juppe faced mounting pressure over his bold austerity drive yesterday as railway workers took strike action for a second successive day and trade unions promised another general strike Tuesday. A protest Friday crippled air and rail travel and a host of public services and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in towns and cities across the country.

BANGLADESH A cyclone packing 70 mph winds lashed Bangladesh's coast for three hours yesterday. At least five people were killed. ATHENS Doctors treating Greek Premier Andreas Papandreou for pneumonia said yesterday his condition was stable one day after being taken off a respirator. SAN DIEGO At least 100 cars piled up in the fog in I a series of chain-reaction crashes on a major freeway yesterday, leaving one person dead and an undetermined number of people injured. The accidents began on Interstate 5 when cars stopped to help the occupants of a car that had gone off the road.

death at the Cafe Arbat in Brighton Beach, near 120 witnesses who immediately developed amnesia. He was a convicted criminal who police said worked as an enforcer. The following year Buffalo Sabres hockey star Alexandre Mogilny was the target of a $150,000 extortion attempt by his former "Everyone is shocked, shocked. There is no reason anyone would want to harm him." Boris Talis each year and few go beyond a routine check of morgues and hospitals, Ko-bozev's has set off alarm bells. The world-ranked 31-year-old cruis-er weight disappeared Nov.

8 without his passport or credit card and with only $300. manager, a fellow Soviet emigre living in Brighton Beach. The Russian Interior Ministry has reported several kidnaping attempts against relatives of ath-letes who found lucrative pro sports ca reers in the United States. But those who know Kobozev best or live in his community are skeptical that he'd be targeted by organized crime. His manager.

Tommy Gallagher, said Kobozev made only $20,000 in his last fight but stood to make $100,000 in his next bout, scheduled for March, "so why go after the guy before he came into money?" Boris Talis, president of the Soviet Sports Veterans Foundation, said Kobozev was a quiet, unassuming man who never courted trouble. "When Oleg Korataev was shot, nobody was surprised because everyone knew to stay away from him," he said. "But with Sergei, everyone is shocked, shocked. There is no reason anyone would want to harm him." His 1988 Chevy Blazer was found five days later in the parking lot of a Bensonhurst diner. Friends say Kobozev had never frequented the restaurant or the neighborhood.

While early police statements discounted foul play and hinted at the possibility of suicide, they're no longer so sanguine. The case has been referred to the Brooklyn South homicide squad. The major case squad's kidnaping experts are also on alert, although no ransom note has been received. Part of the concern stems from this country's long history of organized crime links to boxing and of a newer immigrant tradition of extorting money from Russian emigre athletes. In 1993 former Soviet boxer Oleg Korataev was shot to gether, Kobozev was never seen partying alone.

Police agree with Kobozev's handlers that it's unlikely he committed suicide, although he suffered his first loss in 23 fights Oct. 24 in Paris. Other rumors that he'd had a falling out with former promoters Teddy Atlas and Steve Turnov, also led nowhere. Semioli, who's watched the bout on video tape, said there's no evidence that Kobozev tossed the fight "Believe me, he lived to be world champion and would not have sacrificed that dream for anything," Cheskikh said. She burst into tears.

"I just hope he's alive. Even if he's sick, or injured, just please God bring him back to me." He had every reason to stay home, police say. The small Sheepshead Bay apartment Kobozev shared with his girlfriend, Yelena Cheskikh, 25, is lined with framed portraits of the couple kissing. Photo albums show Kobozev cavorting with Cheskikh's 7-year-old son, who called him dad. Cheskikh pointed to the Siamese cat roaming the blue-and-white living room.

It was a gift from Kobozev, who'd searched the block in tears one day when he thought it was lost "My friends told me it was really something to see this hulk of a 190-pound, 6-2 man weeping over a kitten," she said. "Outside the ring, he was a very tender man." Although the glamorous couple frequently made the Russian nightclub scene to to a CO 3 utitaisastitiii ft utii.