Sports in brief

Times wires
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

boxing

husband of ex-champ denied bail in attack

ORLANDO — The husband of former women's champion Christy Martin was denied bail Wednesday after a judge concluded he started a fight prosecutors say left his wife with stab wounds in her chest, a knife gash in her leg and bullet shrapnel in her back.

Circuit Judge Thomas Mihok ordered James Martin, 67, to remain in jail until his May trial on attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery charges. He has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense.

After the hearing, Christy Martin's new lawyer, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, said her client, 42, "will sleep better tonight knowing that he will continue to be in custody." Christy Martin said in a statement she read after the hearing that she was determined to continue with her career.

Prosecutor Ryan Vescio told the judge that during the hourlong fight last month at their home near Apopka, James Martin stabbed his wife in the chest, sliced her in the leg, shot her in the back, pistol-whipped her and smashed her head into a dresser.

Christy Martin had made it clear to James Martin she wanted to end their marriage to be with a woman and days before the attack he had told her, "If I can't have you, no else is going to," Vescio said.

James Martin's attorneys said he acted in self-defense and no physical evidence is conclusive about exactly what had happened in their bedroom.

horses

Agreement keeps Preakness in Md.

The Maryland Racing Commission approved an agreement that will keep the Preakness Stakes, the second race in the Triple Crown, in Baltimore.

The commission voted to support an agreement reached by horse racing representatives and Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration. It calls for 146 days of live racing at Pimlico, the Preakness' home, and other tracks, and would redirect $3.5 million to $4 million in state slot machine revenue from capital improvements at tracks to defraying operating costs. Horsemen also would contribute $1.7 million.

soccer

FIFA boss to Cup losers: Get over it

The president of the sport's governing body reiterated his view that countries upset at losing their bids to host the 2018 and '22 World Cups should be better sports. "It was a competition. Some people won, some people lost. That's normal," Sepp Blatter said on FIFA's website.

England is among the nations unhappy that FIFA did not declare before bidding began that the event would go to countries that had not hosted it. Russia and Qatar were the winners.

MLS: Philadelphia signed 15-year-old midfielder Zach Pfeffer. He is the fourth-youngest to sign an MLS contract, following 14-year-old Freddy Adu with D.C. in 2004, 15-year-old Fued Ibrahim with Dallas in 2007 and 15-year-old Diego Fagundez with New England last month.

et cetera

autos: Lotus Renault said Vitaly Petrov will team with Robert Kubica next year in the Formula One.

tennis: American Wayne Odesnik can return to competition next week after the sport's governing body suspended the remaining 12 months of his two-year ban for importing human growth hormone into Australia. The International Tennis Federation said the ban was cut because he cooperated with its antidoping program. Odesnik was suspended though he denied using HGH and never tested positive for it.

Times wires

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