And In This Corner …

The fighting days may be over for South African President Nelson Mandela, above left, but he donned boxing gloves Wednesday to square off against former middleweight world champion “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler. Mandela, 79, who boxed as a young man, received a pair of boxing gloves from Hagler and adopted a sparring position opposite the man who was champ from 1980 to 1987. “I fear his counterpunch,” Mandela quipped. Hagler and another former world champion, Roberto Duran, are in South Africa for a major boxing night this weekend at the Carousel gambling resort north of Pretoria.