The Enquirer and wire reports

Oscar De La Hoya was sore, discouraged and uncharacteristically subdued. Felix Sturm, an unknown German, had nearly beaten him in his middleweight debut, and De La Hoya was trying to explain himself.

De La Hoya had a tougher task trying to assure that his Sept. 18 fight with middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins would go on.

Hopkins did his part by beating Robert Allen on the same card to successfully defend his middleweight titles.

"The fight is happening, believe me the fight is happening," De La Hoya said. "I'm looking forward to it."

If Sturm, whose 20 wins all came in Europe, proved so difficult, De La Hoya figures to be mismatched against Hopkins, who has made 18 title defenses and hasn't lost since dropping a decision to Roy Jones Jr. in 1993. Hopkins will make some $10 million to fight De La Hoya.

College football

MEYER'S CONTRACT: Utah restructured the contract of coach Urban Meyer, giving the former University of Cincinnati player a one-year extension and a $40,000 raise.

The contract, which runs through 2009, will be extended by one year each time the Utes finish with a winning record and equal or exceed their ticket sales from 2002. The Utes finished 10-2 last season - Meyer's first - and won the Mountain West and the Liberty Bowl.

Meyer will have to pay the university $250,000 if he leaves. There is no penalty if he becomes head coach at Michigan, Ohio State or Notre Dame, three schools chosen by Meyer. He can change that list after Dec. 12,

Pro football

VIKINGS: Linebackers E.J. Henderson and Mike Nattiel, and tight end Steve Farmer were arrested after a fight outside a downtown Minneapolis bar. Troy Jones, 32, was injured in the fight and taken to a hospital. He was later discharged.

NFL EUROPE: Aaron Boone caught two touchdown passes and the Berlin Thunder (9-1) routed the Frankfurt Galaxy 41-0, six days before the teams meet in the World Bowl. The Thunder's Eric McCoo won the league's rushing title, finishing with 669 yards, just ahead of Bengals third-stringer Skip Hicks, who had 661 for Frankfurt (7-3).

Soccer

USA WOMEN: Abby Wambach scored her 12th goal in as many games, and the U.S. recovered from a humbling first half to tie Japan 1-1 in Louisville in a tuneup for the Athens Olympics.

Rowing

YOUTH REGATTA: Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club won two gold medals and one bronze medal at the USRowing National Youth Invitational Regatta on Harsha Lake in East Fork State Park.

CJRC won a gold in the junior men's eight for the fourth time in six years. It also won junior men's four lightweight. The CJRC women won a bronze in the junior women's lightweight eight.

Cycling

ARMSTRONG: Lance Armstrong finished third in the opening prologue of the Dauphine Libere race, a tuneup for his bid for a sixth straight Tour de France title.

Hockey

AHL CHAMPIONSHIP: The Milwaukee Admirals, affiliate of the Nashville Predators, won the Calder Cup, 7-2 over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to complete a four-game sweep behind MVP goalie Wade Flaherty. They are the third straight Western Conference team to win the Calder Cup. They defeated the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in the conference semifinals.

Auto racing

FLORENCE SPEEDWAY: Mike Jewell of Scottsburg, Ind., won the 18th annual Ralph Latham Memorial dirt race at the oval in Union, Ky.