■BOXING
‘Human punchbag’ wins
Boxing’s biggest loser avoided a 257th defeat when Peter Buckley won his last bout on points against Matin Mohammed in Birmingham, England, on Friday. Fighting before his home fans, the 39-year-old super-featherweight took his tally of victories to 32 in his 300th pro fight with a 40-38 decision at the end of the four-round contest. Billed as the worst loser in boxing, Buckley has been fighting virtually once a week, and once lost 88 contests in a row. He also has 12 draws on his record, the last being against Mohammed on Oct. 5 in Nottingham. This was his first victory since a decision over Joel Viney in October 2003.
■BASEBALL
Boston keep Wakefield
Boston exercised an option on pitcher Tim Wakefield on Friday, keeping the veteran knuckleballer on for next season as fellow Red Sox pitchers Curt Schilling and Bartolo Colon filed for free agency. The 42-year-old is on a deal that gives Boston the option to renew his contract on an annual basis at US$4 million per year. In his 14th year with the Red Sox, he had a moderate record of 10 wins and 11 losses with an earned run average of 4.13. He is second in club history with 1,797 strikeouts and has 164 wins for Boston, 28 behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young, who share the team lead with 192. Wakefield struggled in the fourth game of the American League championship series, giving up three homers and five runs, lasting only 2-2/3 innings as Tampa Bay won 13-4.
■ICE HOCKEY
Valentenko suspended
The Montreal Canadiens suspended Pavel Valentenko without pay on Friday after he left the minor league Hamilton Bulldogs to sign a three-year contract with Dynamo Moscow. Valentenko was in the second year of a three-year, entry-level deal with the Canadiens but opted to sign with Dynamo at the urging of his family, the player’s Ottawa-based agent Rolland Hedges said. The Canadiens made no further comment, but an NHL spokesman said the league has raised the issue with the International Ice Hockey Federation. Valentenko will also need clearance from the Russian Hockey Federation before he can play for Dynamo in their Continental Hockey League, Hedges said. He said Valentenko did not want to return to Russia, but he supports his entire family on his ice hockey earnings and was unable to do that on an American Hockey League salary. The NHL was without an agreement with the Russian federation on player transfers and the two sides remain at odds over last summer’s signing of Nashville Predators forward Alexander Radulov to a three-year contract with Russian club Salavat Ufa.
■BASKETBALL
Celtics hold on to Rondo
Reigning NBA champion Boston exercised a contract option on Friday to keep point guard Rajon Rondo for a fourth season. The 22-year-old, who helped the Celtics defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in last season’s NBA Finals, will make about US$2.9 million in the 2009-2010 season. The campaign will be the option year of his contract. Rondo averaged 10.6 points, 5.1 assists and 1.7 steals last season, his second season with the Celtics. Against the Lakers in the best-of-seven championship series, Rondo scored 9.7 points and added 6.7 assists a game as the Celtics won in six games. Rondo scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and passed out five assists on Tuesday as the Celtics defeated Cleveland in their 2008-2009 season opener.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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