BOXING
Rigondeaux wins title
Guillermo Rigondeaux remained undefeated by beating Nonito Donaire by a unanimous decision in their world title junior featherweight fight in New York City on Saturday, handing the Filipino his first loss in 12 years. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Rigondeaux recovered nicely from an earlier knockdown to win the 12-round bout on all three judges’ scorecards: 114-113, 115-112 and 116-111. Rigondeaux retained his WBA junior featherweight crown and improved to 12-0 with eight knockouts. He also took Donaire’s WBO version of the belt. The 32-year-old Rigondeaux, who defected from Cuba two years ago, went down from left in the 10th round, but became the aggressor in the 12th, opening up a cut near Donaire’s eye at the Radio City Music Hall venue. Donaire came into the bout riding a brilliant 30-fight win streak. The 30-year-old Donaire dropped to 31-2 with 20 knockouts. Donaire’s only previous loss was March 10, 2001, in his second pro fight.
TENNIS
Almagro crushes Williams
Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro needed less than 1 hour to cruise into the final of the US men’s clay-court championship in Houston, Texas, as he defeated US wild card Rhyne Williams 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday. The Spaniard, ranked 12th in the world, will face the US’ John Isner for the title. The fifth-seeded Isner defeated champion Juan Monaco 1-6 6-4 6-4, avenging his loss in last year’s final to the Argentine. Almagro won eight of the first 11 points in his match with first-time semi-finalist Williams. He broke Williams five times. “I think I played better than yesterday,” Almagro told reporters. Isner dropped the opening set to Monaco in 33 minutes before the momentum shifted. Isner fired nine aces in the match, bringing his total to 57 over four matches and three short of the tournament record of 60 set by Pete Sampras in 2002.
TENNIS
Robredo eyes 11th title
Tommy Robredo of Spain was to aim for his 11th career title against second-seeded Kevin Anderson in the Grand Prix Hassan II final in Morocco after they both came from a set down to win their semi-finals on Saturday. Robredo beat top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first final since winning on outdoor clay in Santiago, Chile, two years ago. Anderson followed up with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against third-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia and was to aim for his third career title — and first on clay — in yesterday’s decider.
SOCCER
Klopp cool in ‘hairy’ situation
Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp on Saturday laughed off his decision to undergo a hair transplant. “It could have been a hairy situation, but it wasn’t because of my team’s high level of concentration,” quipped Klopp after his team, who face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, won 6-1 against Bundesliga bottom side SpVgg Greuther Furth in Furth. On Friday, the 45-year-old admitted to German daily Bild that he had a hair transplant in a Duesseldorf clinic before the start of the current season, which has sparked a debate in the German media about male grooming. “Yes, it’s true. I underwent a hair transplant. I think the results are really cool, don’t you?” said Klopp, whose coiffure attracted attention in January when his flowing locks were trimmed into a shorter hairstyle. German gossip magazine Closer was the first to report Klopp’s transplant, saying he opted for the procedure to combat a receding hairline.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB