BRIEFLY.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services Ex-boxing champ Tyson pleads guilty to

drug, DUI charges Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded

guilty Monday in Mesa, Ariz., to charges of drug possession and

driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year as

he was leaving a nightclub., Tyson quietly acknowledged to a judge that he had cocaine and was

impaired when he was stopped for driving erratically in Scottsdale on

Dec. 29.

He pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count and faces up to four years and three months in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 19.

A felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and a second misdemeanor DUI charge were dropped, according to the terms of a plea agreement.

Samuel Peter became the World Boxing Council's interim heavyweight champion after Oleg Maskaev dropped out of their Oct. 6 title fight with a back injury.

Maskaev (34-5, 26 KOs) won the WBC heavyweight title by knocking out Hasim Rahman in August 2006, but the Russian-American champion hasn't been back in the ring since December because of injuries and slow negotiations for new fights.

Last Friday, he scrapped his scheduled bout with Peter at Madison Square Garden in New York because of several herniated discs in his back. Maskaev is expected to be out of action for at least three more months.

MOTOR SPORTS: Drag-racing star John Force's prognosis was "very good" after six hours of surgery in Dallas following a wreck at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex.

Force has a compound fracture of his left ankle, a lacerated right knee, a dislocated left wrist and abrasions on two fingers on his right hand. He had screws inserted into his ankle and temporary pins placed in his wrist, said David Densmore, publicist for John Force Racing.

Densmore said Force will miss the rest of the NHRA season, which has three scheduled dates remaining in Richmond, Va., Las Vegas and Pomona. Force is fourth in the Funny Car standings.

Force, a 14-time champion, wrecked Sunday while racing Funny Car rival Kenny Bernstein. A video of the accident shows Bernstein's car drifting toward Force's lane and striking a foam timing block, which shot into the back of Force's car. Force swerved across Bernstein's lane into the retaining wall. Bernstein then rammed into Force's car, breaking the chassis in two. The NHRA is investigating the accident, NHRA spokesman Anthony Vestal said.

HOCKEY: The Ducks traded defensemen Nathan Saunders and Brett Skinner to the Boston Bruins for center Mark Mowers.

Mowers had five goals and 12assists in 78 games for Boston last season. In 261 games with Nashville, Detroit and Boston, he has 17 goals and 44 assists. Saunders and Skinner, who haven't played in the NHL, were assigned to Boston's AHL team in Providence.

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby left practice with a sore groin, but plans to participate in team-building activities this week at West Point, N.Y.