Don Muse

Ben Lopez, former World Boxing Assn. Intercontinental junior-lightweight boxing champion, tested positive for barbiturates after a bout at the Forum March 26 and was suspended Tuesday by the State Athletic Commission. Lopez, from Oxnard, lost his title in the eighth round to Manuel Medina. "Lopez apparently took a prescription sleeping medication the night before the fight, not knowing it was on our banned (drug) list," said Don Muse, the commission's assistant executive officer.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed sex discrimination suits against four grocery chains, accusing them of bias against women in promotions and assignments. "It's a landmark case, all right," said Don Muse, EEOC district director. He said the commission would seek millions of dollars in damages in the lawsuits filed in federal district court against Safeway, Albertson's, Fred Meyer and Thrifty Food Stores.

Edward (Pee Wee) Parker and Gaby Canizales, who appeared in two recent boxing main events at the Forum, flunked their postfight drug tests, the California Athletic Commission said Tuesday. Parker, of Houston, who won a 12-round decision over Refugio Rojas Feb. 26, tested positive for cocaine. Canizales, of San Antonio, lost a decision to Raul Perez of Tijuana for Perez's World Boxing Council bantamweight championship Jan. 22.

On the excitement scale, Alex Garcia's 10-round unanimous decision over Eddie Gonzalez at the Country Club in Reseda on Tuesday night ranked somewhere in that gray area between watching old men get haircuts and spending a weekend re-upholstering a sofa. Even Gonzalez, of Houston, appeared bored with the bout. After the sixth round ended he followed Garcia back to his corner and swore at him. Garcia, 213, the former national super heavyweight amateur champion, never hurt Gonzalez, 203.

Bantamweight boxer Fernie Morales underwent emergency surgery for removal of a blood clot on his brain Saturday night after he collapsed in an Indio parking lot following his loss in a championship fight. Morales, from El Paso, Tex., was listed in critical condition at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital Sunday afternoon, according to Ali Tahmouresie, who performed the operation.

The near-tragic story of boxer Fernie Morales has taken another curious twist. Morales, the El Paso bantamweight who underwent brain surgery after losing a bout in Indio on Sept. 21, later tested positive for alcohol in his system. But after finishing a three-day investigation Monday, State Athletic Commission official Dale Ashley said he now believes Morales did not drink alcohol before his fight with champion Orlando Canizales.

LeRoy Irvin, 10-year veteran cornerback of the Rams, said that the NFL's security office is investigating his relationship with boxing figure Harold Smith. "Yeah, they're out to get me," Irvin said this week. "It's because Harold's my friend, I guess. It's all being coordinated by the L.A. office of the (California) Athletic Commission. "They (the Athletic Commission) want Smith out of boxing and they're trying to do it by coming after me."

A former chairman of the California Athletic Commission and a onetime assistant executive officer of the commission's Los Angeles staff testified Wednesday for fired state boxing official Marty Denkin. Raoul Silva, still a member of the state commission, said Denkin "did an outstanding job and we miss him." Don Muse, who took over the assistant executive officer's post after Denkin was fired in 1989, said he feared that he, too, would become the subject of the same charges levied against Denkin.

Heavyweight boxer Tony Tubbs tested positive for cocaine after beating Orlin Norris in Santa Monica last week, the State Athletic Commission said Wednesday. According to the commission, Tubbs failed two post-fight drug tests the night of the fight. Both were positive for cocaine. Tubbs won a split decision over Norris Nov. 21 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, in a 12-round bout. The two were fighting for Norris' North American Boxing Federation heavyweight championship.