BOXING
Smokin’ Joe has cancer
Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier is seriously ill with liver cancer. His personal and business manager said on Saturday the 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed four or five weeks ago and is under hospice care. Leslie Wolff said those close to Frazier are hoping for the best, but calls it a “serious situation.” Frazier was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali, knocking him down and taking a decision in the so-called “Fight of the Century” in 1971. He then lost two more fights to Ali, including the epic “Thrilla in Manila” bout in 1975.
BOXING
Bute remains undefeated
Lucian Bute kept his undefeated record intact with a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Glen Johnson in an IBF super-middleweight title fight in Quebec City, Canada, on Saturday. The 31-year-old Canadian-based Romanian Bute improved to 30-0 and made the 10th defense of the title he won in 2007. “It was a great fight and a great performance for me,” said southpaw Bute, who saw his string of six consecutive KOs snapped. “Glen Johnson is a great fighter. To beat him, you have to avoid the jab. I did that and I tried to out-jab him.” Two of the three judges gave Bute all 12 rounds and he lost just one round on the other judge’s scorecard in front of a crowd of 15,306 at the Colisee arena. The 42-year-old Johnson, of Jamaica, fell to 51-16-2. Johnson injured his right arm in the bout, but continued to fight. He didn’t take the loss well. “I think I won the fight,” Johnson said. “It’s tough to win in your opponent’s hometown because as soon as he does one little thing, the crowd goes crazy instead of paying attention to what the punches are telling you.” On the undercard, Canadian super-bantamweight Steve Molitor outpointed Sebastien Gauthier in a 10-round split decision to improve to 34-2. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Florida, Panama’s Guillermo Jones scored a sixth round technical knockout of Mike Marrone to retain his WBA cruiserweight title. Jones knocked Marrone down in the fifth and sixth rounds at the Hard Rock Live Arena. Jones improved to 38-3-2 with his 30th knockout, while Marrone fell to 20-4.
BOXING
Burns grabs second title
Ricky Burns earned his second world title when he easily outpointed Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight belt at Wembley Arena in London on Saturday. Burns relinquished the WBO super-featherweight title to make his division debut against the favored Katsidis and produced a classy display, which the judges rewarded with unanimous scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 117-112. Katsidis, from Australia, was the more aggressive throughout, but kept getting punished by his Scottish opponent’s snappy jab and sharp counterattacks. Burns improved to 33-2 (nine KOs), while Katsidis dropped to 28-5 (23 KOs).
HORSE RACING
Upset at Breeders Cup
Drosselmeyer scored a spectacular upset by winning the US$5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, while delivering a much-needed dose of redemption for jockey Mike Smith. Smith, who suffered a gut-wrenching defeat at the wire in last year’s Classic aboard Zenyatta, piloted Drosselmeyer past the celebrated field in a dramatic stretch run to win the US’ richest race. Drosselmeyer finished one and one-half lengths ahead of the Bob Baffert-trained gelding Game on Dude, ridden by Smith’s ex-girlfriend, Chantal Sutherland.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was