Former boxing champ Dokes dies at 54

Michael Dokes, left, pounds on Mike Weaver en route to winning the heavyweight title in December, 1982. Enlarge

AKRON -- Michael Dokes, a former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, has died. He was 54.

The Akron Beacon Journal reported that the boxer died in an Akron hospice from liver cancer.

Dokes won the heavyweight title at 24 in December, 1982, when referee Joey Curtis made a controversial decision to stop his fight against champion Mike Weaver. Dokes dominated the first round over Weaver, prompting the decision.

An admitted problem with cocaine helped him lose the WBA title only nine months later to Gerrie Coetzee, however, and Dokes never held the heavyweight crown again.

Known as "Dynamite" Dokes because he packed a powerful punch, he had a career record of 53-6-2.

Dokes came back for one last shot at the big time, getting a February, 1993, opportunity at the heavyweight title against Riddick Bowe in New York. He earned $750,000 but didn't last long, getting knocked out in the first round at Madison Square Garden.

He last fought in November, 1997, when he weighed 280 pounds.

Once regarded by many as one of the most promising young fighters in the game, Dokes succumbed to a cocaine habit that cut his career short. He ran into a string of legal problems.

In 1986, Dokes was arrested in Las Vegas for cocaine trafficking and served two years' probation.

In 2000, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail after pleading guilty to attempted murder, second-degree kidnapping, and intent to commit sexual assault against his girlfriend. She was held against her will for six hours in the home they shared.

Women's basketball

University of Toledo women's basketball player Inma Zanoguera will play on Spain's U-20 national team in the European Championship in Hungary. Competition will begin Thursday and run through Aug. 26.

Zanoguera, of Llucmajor, Spain, averaged 18.9 minutes as a freshman last year and averaged 3.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists.

NHL

TORONTO -- The NHL Players' Association will present its vision for a new collective bargaining agreement to the NHL when labor talks resume today.

Just don't call it a counterproposal. NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said the union's proposal will offer a "different kind of an approach" and an "alternate view."

The presentation will come a month after the NHL made its first proposal, which included a 20 percent reduction of players' share of revenues and limitations to free agency.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he's interested to see what the union has to offer, but declined to speculate what might be included.

The current deal expires Sept. 15. Bettman has already said the NHL is prepared to lock out its players if no deal is reached by then. Negotiations have been ongoing for seven weeks.