Amir Khan defeated Dmitriy Salita in just 76 seconds to retain his World Boxing Association (WBA) light-welterweight title here at the Metro Radio Arena on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Briton ended the unbeaten record of New Yorker Salita after flooring the challenger twice before finishing the fight with a left hook to the chin to complete a speedy first title defense.
WBA champion Khan has declared he wants to fight in the US next year and the victory once again showed how the 2004 Athens Olympic silver medalist is improving since losing his unbeaten record last year.
Salita, who was born in Ukraine but moved to New York as a child, claimed he would expose Khan’s punch resistance, but there was no repeat of the bout in September last year when the Briton was blown away in just 54 seconds by Colombian Breidis Prescott.
Instead, it was Salita who was overwhelmed in the first round. Salita looked mesmerized as Khan launched his ferocious assault and the New Yorker was first dumped on the canvas by a left-right combination.
After taking a standing count of eight, Salita continued but moments later was in more trouble as Khan unloaded a blizzard of punches with the challenger trapped in the corner.
Salita was given another standing count before Khan finished the bout with a sweet left hook that prompted Puerto Rican referee Luis Pavon to step in.
■WILLIAMS V MARTINEZ
AP, ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY
Paul Williams showed why he’s one of the most respected fighters in the world with a contentious majority decision over Argentina’s Sergio Martinez in a non-title middleweight bout on Saturday.
Pierre Benoist, scored the fight a whopping 119-110 in favor of the American, while Lynne Carter had it 115-113 for Williams. Julie Lederman scored the bout 114-114.
“Either he’s incompetent — or worse, because there is no explanation for that score,” Martinez’s promoter, Lou DiBella, said of Benoist.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5. Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors. The Taiwanese
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
West Ham United’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday left Tottenham Hotspur realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for English Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea today, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal-difference over West Ham. “Overall bad performance. Too many things [went wrong], I think we gifted them the goals,” West Ham head caoch Nuno Espirito Santo
RSS