Fighting

Majoring in biology at UC Irvine may not have been the most obvious preparation for a career as a fight coordinator for films, including "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Still, Jonathan Eusebio sees value in his studies of mitochondria and cytoskeletons. "Biology doesn't relate to film but school teaches you how to interact with different types of people, be disciplined and turn things in on a deadline," he said. "School gives you those necessary skills to get things done." The Canadian-born son of two nurses, Eusebio moved to California as a third-grader and took up taekwondo, boxing, judo and several other martial arts a few years later.

It's wrong to say that Bob Iritano is fighting for his life; he knows he's lost that battle. What he's fighting for is time. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Iritano, 50, has terminal cancer. It's not a question of whether he's going to die. The only question is when, and how much longer he'll be with his family. Iritano, understandably, wants all the time he can get -- many years, if possible. His health insurer, he believes, has a different time frame in mind. "My best guess is that they want me dead as soon as possible," he said matter-of-factly as we spoke at the dining room table of his Westlake Village home.

A championship belt changes everything. Lyoto Machida was once viewed as a skilled but boring mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil. In becoming the new king of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light-heavyweight division -- its most talented division -- with several impressive knockouts on his record, Machida's mystique is being saluted by UFC executives as something resembling a revival of Bruce Lee. "He's interesting, calm, powerful," UFC...

Why are we not helping the people of Bosnia? The answer in two words, "No oil." DAVID S. ROBINSON Laguna Hills

Several people were beaten and hacked to death with machetes in a Nairobi slum in renewed ethnic fighting over Kenya's disputed election, residents said. Bloodshed in the Mathare slum, like much of the fighting since the disputed Dec. 27 vote, was between President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and challenger Raila Odinga's Luo tribe. Police elsewhere quelled more than two days of fierce fighting around a Catholic monastery in the Rift Valley in which 22 people were killed and 200 homes burned.

A Cleveland-Minnesota exhibition game was marred by a fourth-quarter fight between the Timberwolves' Clifford Rozier and the Cavaliers' Vitaly Potapenko in St. Louis. Both players threw punches under the Minnesota basket with 3:36 left, with Rozier connecting on Potapenko's face, knocking the 6-foot-10, 280-pound center to the floor. Teammates grabbed both players, who wanted to continue fighting. Both Rozier and Potapenko were assessed flagrant fouls and ejected.

As an addendum to Jerry Hulse's excellent examination of those overpriced froufrou bed and breakfast, we wonder if the motels are fighting back. We stayed recently at the Carpinteria Inn, an otherwise routine Best Western, and found to our suprise, that not only were we invited for wine and cheese in the evening, but a full complimentary breakfast the next morning: coffee and juice, croissants, various fruits, cereals--all for the usual motel price, about half the going B&B rates.

Hunger gripped parts of this blockaded city Thursday, and some residents were reported eating grass. But the fighting subsided, and an agreement appeared to be near on reopening the airport to U.N. relief shipments. "We are making excellent progress on both sides," said the chief negotiator, U.N. Brig. Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, as his officers met with the rival factions. In Belgrade, U.N.

The game wouldn't start for nearly six hours, but Doug Mientkiewicz, T-shirt soaked in sweat, was already well into his 12-hour workday. On the left-field grass in an empty stadium, with nothing but his conscience and his work ethic to push him, the Gold Glove first baseman sprinted around plastic obstacles of assorted shapes and sizes. Back and forth he went, dashing and cutting through a course designed to test his speed and agility.

In Tracy Dodds' NHL notes (Feb. 23), Islander Coach Al Arbour apparently thinks hockey needs fights to prove something about standing up to another team. Arbour's words make me angry. If hockey's rules and suspension would be strictly enforced, it might become a much more widely accepted and respected sport. Hockey takes years of training, dedication and great athletic skill. I think fighting should be kept in the ring, not the rink. TORI BARNAO Los Angeles