Nonito Donaire unanimously outpointed Rafael Concepcion on Saturday to take the WBA interim title in his super flyweight debut.
Donaire, the 26-year-old Filipino who vacated his IBF flyweight title to move up in weight, improved to 22-1 with his 21st consecutive victory. Judge Max De Luca scored the fight 117-111, Duane Ford had it 115-113 and Jerry Roth called it 116-112.
Donaire used a potent jab to open a gash under the left eye of his Panamanian opponent midway through the second round.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Donaire ended the third round with a flurry of punches that nearly knocked down Concepcion, who fought with blood dripping down his face most of the night.
Donaire did show some weaknesses in the middle round, but Donaire was never in danger.
He closed the fight by relying on his jab to control the final two rounds to secure the win.
■JONES V LACY
AP, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI
Roy Jones Jr pummeled Jeff Lacy, stopping the overmatched opponent after the 10th round on Saturday to retain the NABO light heavyweight championship title.
Jones used a left hook to cut Lacy’s right eye in the third round, and both of Lacy’s eyes were swelling by the seventh. Lacy didn’t answer the bell for the 11th round and the referee stopped the bout.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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