Sports FanFare 8/5/02

Briefly

Boxing

Lennox Lewis hinted he might retire -- or at least demand more money to fight -- in an interview published Sunday. The 36-year-old Lewis, who knocked out Mike Tyson in June to retain the WBC and IBF heavyweight titles, told The Observer that he has little left to prove. The British boxer added that leading challengers Vladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd and WBA champion John Ruiz don't pose a big enough challenge.

Horse racing

War Emblem gave trainer Bob Baffert a perfect wedding present -- a wire-to-wire victory in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Just hours after Baffert left his Saturday night wedding reception in California, racing's most recognized trainer watched his Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner polish off four challengers in the Haskell. The jet black colt easily held off Magic Weisner by 3 1/2 lengths.

Miscellaneous

Longtime Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn, 85, was in critical condition, one day after undergoing two operations for a head injury. Hearn's neurosurgeon said the broadcaster's prognosis was "not good."

Swimming

Otylia Jedrejczak of Poland broke the world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly, finishing in 2 minutes, 5.78 seconds at the European Swimming Championships. She bettered the mark of 2:05.81 set by Australia's Susan O'Neill at the Sydney Olympics. It was the fifth world record of the meet.

Tennis

Venus Williams relied on her power game and outstanding court coverage to win her third-consecutive Acura Classic by defeating sixth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia 6-2, 6-2. Williams is the only player to win three La Costa tournaments in a row in its 19-year history. She had no trouble in defeating Dokic in a tidy 55 minutes.

Corina Morariu, in her first competitive singles match since being diagnosed with leukemia, lost to Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the first round of the JPMorgan Chase Open.

Guillermo Canas beat Andy Roddick 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the $2.95 million Tennis Masters Series Canada.

Verbatim

Casey Stengel, the late Hall of Fame Yankees manager: "It isn't sex that wrecks these guys, it's staying up all night looking for it."

-- From wire reports