■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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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