Sports briefs 9/23/05

Baseball

• Ken Griffey Jr. will have surgery on his left knee and right hamstring Monday, presumably ending a stellar comeback season for the oft-injured Cincinnati Reds star. The 35-year-old center fielder is expected to be ready for spring training.

He will have arthroscopic surgery to clean out his left knee and treat scar tissue around his hamstring. The hamstring injury threatened his career last season.

Griffey missed his 15th straight game Wednesday night because of a sprained right foot. He is batting .301 with 35 home runs and 92 RBIs in 128 games.

Basketball

Gary Payton signed a $1.1 million, one-year deal with Miami on Thursday, the latest move in an offseason filled with significant roster changes by the Heat.

Payton, a nine-time All-Star, again joins Shaquille O'Neal -- who lured the veteran point guard to Los Angeles two seasons ago in what ultimately was a failed title quest with the Lakers, who lost to Detroit in the 2004 Finals.

Payton and Jason Williams -- another new Heat addition -- will be the team's primary point guards entering training camp, which opens in less than two weeks.

Boxing

* Boxer Leavander Johnson died Thursday from injuries sustained five days earlier in a lightweight title fight with Jesus Chavez.

The 35-year-old died at University Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized since being injured in the fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

A hospital spokeswoman said Johnson was pronounced dead at 4:23 p.m.

Johnson was put in a medically induced coma after undergoing brain surgery less than an hour after his fight with Chavez. Doctors were initially unsure he would make it through the night, but the next day expressed cautious optimism after tests showed improvement in brain function.

Johnson was defending the IBF title he won in June against Chavez

College

Organizers seeking to make St. Louis the permanent site of the NCAA wrestling tournament got half of their wish on Thursday.

The city was awarded the event in 2008 and 2009, making it five tournaments in this decade. St. Louis previously hosted the championships in 2000, '04 and '05 and is the only site to get the event in consecutive years. Omaha was selected for the 2010 championships, whilePhiladelphia will host the event in 2011

Motorsports

* If NASCAR has its way, the road rage that has erupted in recent Nextel Cup races is over.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Thursday that Mike Helton, the sanctioning organization's president, will tell the drivers prior to Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway that such behavior will no longer be tolerated and that they will risk being suspended if there is more on-track retaliation.

"With what Mike is planning to do at the drivers' meetings on Saturday, prior to the Busch race, and on Sunday is going to sort of give our guys, I don't want to say a final warning, but I think they'll clearly understand that we're going to do what we need to," Hunter said Thursday in a telephone interview.

"If we need to suspend people, then, starting at Dover, that's a possibility."

Tennis

* Venus Williams won easily and top-ranked Maria Sharapova needed three sets for her victory Thursday as both advanced to the quarterfinals of the China Open.

Williams cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives, while Sharapova beat Israel's Shahar Peer 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 in an earlier match.

In other action Thursday, Russia's Maria Kirilenko defeated Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 7-6 (3). Shinobu Asagoe, also of Japan, beat Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-4.