Boxing’s Johnny Tocco, 87, and Alex Sherer, 42, Die

Johnny Tocco, a boxing trainer who worked with former heavyweight champions Sonny Liston, Larry Holmes and Michael Dokes, died Friday in his Las Vegas home after a lengthy illness. He was 87.

Tocco operated the Ringside Gym in Las Vegas for 41 years, and got involved in boxing in his native St. Louis at the age of 12.

Holmes said Tocco belongs in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

“A Hall of Fame is to honor the people who have seen it all and done it all, and Johnny has been around everybody who was anybody in boxing and he saw just about anything that happened in boxing,” Holmes said.

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Boxing trainer Alex Sherer, who worked with International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Michael Moorer and former champions Thomas Hearns and Jorge Paez, died Friday night from an undetermined illness in Tarzana. He was 42.

Sherer also worked as an assistant matchmaker for Forum Boxing. He had been training undefeated heavyweight Ed Mahone for a fight Aug. 11 at the Pond of Anaheim.

Sherer is survived by his wife, Diana, and a 7-month-old son.

Tennis

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil upset top-seeded Michael Chang, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the finals of the du Maurier Open at Montreal.

Kuerten, the French Open champion, will play Chris Woodruff, who defeated Russia’s fourth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Woodruff, ranked 57th in the world, will be trying to win his first career ATP Tour title.

Top-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain defeated Sweden’s Magnus Norman, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the finals of the Grolsch Open ATP clay court tournament at Amsterdam.

Moya will play Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic. Dosedel defeated Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, in the other semifinal.

Barbara Schett of Austria and Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia recorded straight-set victories to reach the finals of the Styrian Open in Maria Lankowitz, Austria.

Schett defeated Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain, 6-4, 6-1. Nagyova defeated Meike Babel of Germany, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

Basketball

Tennessee Chattanooga Coach Mack McCarthy resigned unexpectedly, four months after taking the Moccasins to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

McCarthy, 45, declined to say why he quit after 12 years with Chattanooga, where he was the winningest coach in school history with a 243-122 record.

Isiah Thomas’s bid to become majority owner of the Toronto Raptors ended when he and current owner Allan Slaight failed to reach an agreement over the sale price of the club.

Slaight and Thomas signed a letter of intent April 21 for the Raptors’ general manager to acquire control of the team by Thursday. But the sides decided to continue negotiating.

Slaight owns 81% of the team, Thomas 9% and the Bank of Nova Scotia 10%.

Forward Shawn Kemp says he is moving back to Indiana and no longer wants to talk with Seattle SuperSonic owner Barry Ackerley. In published reports, Kemp said he is selling his house and will move into his mother’s home in Elkhart, Ind.

Utah’s Rick Majerus, who is coaching the U.S. team at the men’s 22-and-under World Championships at Melbourne, Australia, requested better security at the tournament a day after fans threw coins onto the court during Australia’s 75-58 victory over Turkey.

“There should be more security here; that shouldn’t happen,” Majerus said. “Someone is going to get hurt if that continues.”

Officials at the arena said they have bolstered security.

Meanwhile, the U.S. team improved its record to 2-0 after an 85-43 victory over New Zealand (0-2). Guard Mike Jones of Texas Christian scored 14 points.

Arizona State shooting guard Gee Gervin, the son of former NBA star George Gervin, said he will transfer to a junior college in Texas.

Miscellany

Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs won three of four matches to advance to the semifinals of the FIVB Volleyball World Tour event at Espinho, Portugal. They will meet Monica Rodriguez and Adriana Samuel of Brazil. The Evian National Championships will be played Friday through next Sunday at Hermosa Beach. . . . Eric Bergoust of the United States made a stunning jump to win the second round of the freestyle skiing World Cup at Mount Buller, Australia. Bergoust earned 129.94 points for his second jump, a quadruple twist triple back somersault, to total 242.53 and defeat teammate Britt Swartley.