Boxing: A grand jury will be assembled to make a criminal investigation into the possible fixing of last Saturday's drawn heavyweight unification bout between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general, yesterday backed off his plan to investigate the contest at the request of Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney. But Morgenthau's inquiry is likely to follow much of the same path the state probe would have, including subpoenas for testimony from the three judges involved in the draw, the president's of boxing's three main sanctioning bodies and promoter Don King.
Amateur Boxing: The controversial national senior light welterweight championship semi-final between Seanie Barrett, of Rylane, Cork, and Mark Wickham, of St Patrick's and Anthony's, Wexford, will be re-staged tomorrow week in conjunction with the Ireland-US international at the National Stadium, writes Pat Roche.
Barrett was credited with a 9-8 verdict when the semi-final was staged at the National Stadium on last Saturday week, but on that occasion the scoring computer had broken down during the first round and jury voting was used.
This led to an objection by the Wexford club on behalf of the reigning champion. Barrett's club has sought legal advice, but should either party not agree to a rescheduling of the fight, a walk-over will be awarded. The winner is scheduled to meet Francie Barrett, of Olympic, Galway, in the final.
Cycling: Over 90 of the 135 starters were together at the finish of the Irish Road Club's St Patrick's Day handicap on the Ashbourne Road yesterday, and Shane Connaughton of the Cycleways team produced the best sprint to cross the line first, writes Jim McArdle.
There were gaps of up to 13 minutes between the first group off and the scratch-men for the 43 miles from outside Finglas to Drogheda and back, with Connaughton among those at three minutes. While Connaughton and those with him overhauled all in front with eight miles to go, the back-markers failed to overcome their handicap target.
In the big bunch sprint Connaughton led the charge from sprightly veteran Oliver McQuaid and Paul Reid. Colm Bracken was credited with fastest time.
