Vazquez Retains Title With a Fifth-Round KO

Israel Vazquez handed top-ranked contender Artyom Simonyan his first defeat and retained his International Boxing Federation junior featherweight championship with a fifth-round knockout Tuesday night at El Cajon, Calif.

Making his first defense of the 122-pound title he won nine months ago, Vazquez ended it with a looping right that snapped back Simonyan’s head and prompted referee James Jen-Kin to halt the bout with 59 seconds gone in the fifth of 12 scheduled rounds.

Vazquez knocked down Simonyan twice in the third round with a barrage of blows to the head, and in the opening seconds of the fifth with a right to the head.

Vazquez, who weighed 121 3/4 pounds, won it in the fifth despite Simonyan’s receiving an extra 2:20 rest during the fourth when the champion’s gloves had to be replaced because of a rip on the left one.

Vazquez now has a record of 37-3 with 28 knockouts. Simonyan slipped to 14-1-1 with seven KOs.

Jurisprudence

The federal judge presiding over a steroid distribution case in San Francisco that has implicated several elite athletes refused to dismiss charges against three men, but ruled the defendants can try to convince her that statements made to investigators were illegally coerced and shouldn’t be used against them.

Those statements cited several sports stars -- including baseball sluggers Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, and sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery -- as drug users. No athlete has been charged.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said there’s a substantial dispute between prosecutors and the three accused men -- Victor Conte, James Valente and Greg Anderson -- over whether they were in custody when they were initially interrogated by investigators.

The questioning took place during Sept. 3, 2003, raids at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative -- the lab headed by Conte -- and the home of Anderson, Bonds’ trainer. Valente is a BALCO vice president. A fourth defendant, track coach Remi Korchemny, was not involved in Tuesday’s ruling.

If Illston finds the men were under arrest during the raids, as the defendants allege, then defense attorneys will argue the statements are inadmissible because their clients were denied the right to consult lawyers.

Prosecutors argue the defendants were free to leave during the questioning.

Soccer

Brazilian soccer star Romario is retiring after a career in which he helped lead his country to the 1994 World Cup title.

The 38-year-old striker said he planned a farewell game at the famed Maracana Stadium during the second half of 2005.

Silvio Berlusconi resigned as president of AC Milan to conform with Italian laws that prohibit the country’s premier from running private enterprises while in office.

Miscellany

Marlies Schild won a World Cup giant slalom before her home fans at Semmering, Austria, and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland regained the lead in the overall standings by finishing second. Sarah Schleper of the United States was fourth.

Another Austrian, Elisabeth Goergl, was third.

Goals by Clarke MacArthur, Sidney Crosby and Cameron Barker led Canada in a dominating first period performance that became a 9-0 victory over Germany in the World Junior Hockey Championship at Grand Forks, N.D.

Also, Russia defeated Belarus, 7-2.

Organizers for the 2006 Turin Olympics approved a provisional budget that includes aid from a public agency to cover a shortfall estimated at more than $245 million.

A final vote on the complete budget of $1.76 billion, which would cover operations through the Feb. 10-26 Games, was scheduled for Feb. 4, 2005.

The death of former Toronto Blue Jay first baseman Doug Ault was ruled a suicide, the medical examiner in Clearwater, Fla., said.

Golfer Annika Sorenstam was voted the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the second year running.

Sorenstam received 40 first-place votes and 263 points. Diana Taurasi, who led Connecticut to the NCAA women’s basketball title and then won the WNBA’s rookie of the year award, finished second. She had 15 first-place votes and 154 points, two more than Russian teen tennis sensation Maria Sharapova.

T.J. Simers has the day off.