BOXING
Donaire beats Sidorenko
Filipino bantamweight star Nonito Donaire stopped Ukranian Wladimiro Sidorenko in the fourth round on Saturday to set up a Feb. 19 world title showdown with Mexico’s Fernando Montiel. Sidorenko was knocked to the canvas twice in the first three rounds and took a hard right to the nose in the fourth that prompted him to take a knee on the canvas. Referee Marcos Rosales halted the bout after 1:48 of the fourth round. “I wanted to make a statement in this fight and I did,” Donaire said. Former world flyweight champion Donaire, 28, stretched his win streak to 24 fights over nine-and-a-half years, improving to 25-1 with his 17th early stoppage. “We worked really hard for this fight,” Donaire said. “I was motivated and now the fight with Montiel is set. I knew I was able to dominate anybody if I’m motivated 100 percent.”
BOXING
Soto keeps crown
Humberto Soto outlasted Mexican compatriot Urbano Antillon to win a 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday and keep his World Boxing Council lightweight crown with a 10th victory in a row. Judges awarded Soto the triumph by two scores of 114-113 and a third of 115-112. Soto improved to 54-7 with two drawn and 7-1 in world title bouts while Antillon fell to 28-2 by losing his first world title fight. “It was a great fight. Both of us gave our hearts out,” Soto said. “I knew he was coming at me all night. I knew he was going to take everything I had. That’s why I had to keep working.” Antillon, 28, had a point taken in the fifth round for a low blow or he might have earned a draw.
BOXING
Burns defends WBO title
Scotland’s Ricky Burns defeated Colombian-born Norwegian fighter Andrews Evensen on points to retain his WBO super-featherweight title on Saturday. Burns had won the belt in September by beating Roman Martinez when he recovered from a first round knock down.
RUGBY UNION
Barbarians overcome ‘Boks
Australian wing Drew Mitchell capped an impressive individual autumn with two early tries as a strong Barbarians side beat a much-changed South Africa 26-20 at Twickenham in London on Saturday. The invitational team, who also beat South Africa at Twickenham three years ago, were worthy of their win over a Springboks side that looked a touch weary at the end of a tour that brought wins over Ireland, Wales and England, but a defeat by Scotland.
RUGBY SEVENS
England wins in Dubai
England produced two late tries to trump Samoa 29-21 and win the Dubai sevens on Saturday, the first tournament of the eight-leg IRB Sevens World Series. The English team’s performance in the final mirrored a day of action in which they had twice come up with last-gasp scores to defeat New Zealand and Australia in thrilling style, in the semi and quarter-finals respectively. “It’s been the story of the weekend,” England captain Ben Gollings said of his team’s rearguard action. Samoa had set up the final against England after seeing off Fiji (24-21) in the semi-finals and the US (38-5) in the quarter-finals. In the tournament’s lower-level play-offs, South Africa beat Australia 19-12 in the plate final, Argentina blanked Zimbabwe 21-0 in the bowl, and Kenya also whitewashed France, 26-0, in the shield.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
RSS