BRIEFLY : KING: HOLYFIELD-LENNOX FIGHT SOON.

Promoter Don King is hopeful a heavyweight unification fight between WBA-IBF champion Evander Holyfield and WBC champion Lennox Lewis can be made soon.

``I'm confident that we can do a deal before Christmas,'' he said Friday. ``Don King will not stand in the way.''

King promotes Holyfield. Lewis, of Britain, is promoted by Main Events of the United States and Panos Eliades of Britain.

GOLF: Nick O'Hern, who solved his caddie problem by getting his wife to carry his bag, shot a 66 for a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

After carrying his own bag in the first round Thursday, O'Hern talked his wife Alana into taking a late-night flight from Perth to caddie for him.

O'Hern, who is at 11-under 133, has a one-stroke lead over Lee Westwood of England and a two-stroke margin over Greg Norman, seeking his sixth Australian Open title.

``I was talking to my wife coming up the 18th and she said something about how it felt being up there with the big names,'' O'Hern said. ``All I could say was, `Oh yeah, I suppose.' It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but this is what I'm trained to do.''

SOCCER: Manuel Lapuente, one of the most successful coaches in the Mexican soccer league, was hired to replace Bora Milutinovic as coach of Mexico's World Cup team.

Lapuente coached the national team before but quit in 1991 after a shocking loss to the United States in Gold Cup competition.

Milutinovic was fired earlier this week. Although he coached Mexico into next year's Cup finals in France, he lost favor when the team played to four consecutive ties.

NBA: Center Oliver Miller signed for the remainder of the season with the Toronto Raptors. This will be his third stint with the Raptors.

It is estimated he signed for the NBA minimum of $272,500 plus incentives.

Miller averaged 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in Toronto's expansion year in 1995-96 but opted to sign with Dallas at the end of that season. He rejoined the Raptors last February after the Mavericks released him.

The Portland Trail Blazers placed forward Dontonio Wingfield on the injured list and activated guard-forward Vincent Askew to replace him.

Wingfield has tendinitis in his left hand, the team said. NBA rules require that he be out of action for five games. He'll be eligible to rejoin the active roster Dec. 12 when the Seattle SuperSonics host the Blazers.

HOCKEY: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jaromir Jagr and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek head the list of 12 NHL players named to the Czech Olympic team.

MOTOR SPORTS: A NASCAR crew chief charged with sex assault was released on $15,000 bail.

Kevin Caldwell, 34, of Mooresville, N.C., faces sexual-assault charges following a Nov. 22 incident. He is the crew chief for Ricky Craven Busch Series car.

Caldwell is jointly charged with Josh Gibson, 22, of Huntersville, N.C., who also works on Craven's car.

The two were picked up Nov. 23 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm after coming to Canada to attend a wedding.