Duel at the pool: Oscar douses Shaq

At times, the action in the ring resembled a dancing bear trying to corner a chimp.

At 325 pounds and 7-foot-1, Shaquille O'Neal was 166 pounds heavier and 13 inches taller as he stalked boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya throughout their five-round boxing exhibition Tuesday in the pool area at Planet Hollywood Resort.

When the duel at the pool was over, De La Hoya walked away with a lifetime of bragging rights. The judges ruled he had outscored the NBA superstar in their ABC's reality show battle.

The David-versus-Goliath matchup will air in an upcoming episode of the "Shaq Vs" series.

There was, as expected, clowning around. De La Hoya got Shaq's attention early when he reached up and popped O'Neal at the end of prefight instructions.

A couple times, Shaq lifted his arms and invited De La Hoya to batter his midsection.

About halfway through the fight, Shaq had De La Hoya cornered and was pounding way when he employed a Shaq sneak attack. He reached over the ropes and smacked boxing champ Bernard Hopkins, who was serving as De La Hoya's cornerman.

Hopkins waited for his chance. When the action moved across ring a couple minutes later, Hopkins leaped into the ring and jumped on O'Neal's back, dragging the big guy to the mat.

O'Neal didn't appear to be putting everything he had behind his punches, but a couple uppercuts looked like the real deal. On another occasion, Shaq just missed on a prodigious roundhouse right that could have uprooted a sequoia.

In upcoming episodes, Shaq will take on baseball slugger Albert Pujols, swimmer Michael Phelps and possibly seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

TWITTER HOAX

In what appears to be the latest dirty trick to surface in the local nightclub wars, MGM Grand nightlife director Anthony Olheiser says he was the victim of a hoax posting on Twitter, the social-networking site.

Olheiser said someone created a false account under his name.

A posting, or tweet, on his site Monday read: "Haven't tweeted in a while -- MGM is going under -- looking for a new job."

Olheiser, in an e-mail to the San Francisco-based company, said he has never registered for Twitter.

He called the entry "malicious and damaging."

The posting was mentioned in this space on Wednesday, with a comment from Alan Feldman, vice president of communications for MGM Mirage. Feldman said, "MGM is fine. He's fine."

Earlier this year, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa filed a lawsuit against Twitter, claiming that comments on the false account damaged his reputation and caused emotional distress.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Ryan Alexander Jenkins, the man being sought in the death of Las Vegas model Jasmine Fiore, was sentenced in January 2007 to 15 months of probation in his hometown of Calgary, Canada, on an unspecified assault charge, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Fiore, who married Jenkins in March, was found last Saturday strangled to death and stuffed in a suitcase in California's Orange County. ... Sign of the (recessionary) times: The Excalibur is offering an all-day, all-you-can-eat buffet special for $25.

SIGHTINGS

UNLV head basketball coach Lon Kruger, celebrating his 57th birthday with his wife, Barbara, and friends at Carrot Top's show (Luxor) on Wednesday. ... Ordering big wines at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House on Tuesday night: Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, Tayshaun Prince of the Detroit Pistons, Chauncey Billups of the Denver Nuggets and Tyronn Lue of the Orlando Magic. Garnett, while ordering the wine, said ever since a trip to Napa, "I can't drink bad wine." ... Shaq and top ABC executives, among about 80 guests at Perry Rogers' home on Monday for a screening of the premiere of "Shaq Vs." Rogers has been O'Neal's agent for years. ... Frankie Scinta, joining George Wallace on stage at the Flamingo on Saturday night. After Scinta belted out "It's Not Unusual," doing his best Tom Jones impersonation, Wallace introduced the audience to "the real Tom Jones," who came on stage and brought down the house with his version of "It's Not Unusual."