BOXING
Smokin’ Joe has cancer
Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier is seriously ill with liver cancer. His personal and business manager said on Saturday the 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed four or five weeks ago and is under hospice care. Leslie Wolff said those close to Frazier are hoping for the best, but calls it a “serious situation.” Frazier was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali, knocking him down and taking a decision in the so-called “Fight of the Century” in 1971. He then lost two more fights to Ali, including the epic “Thrilla in Manila” bout in 1975.
BOXING
Bute remains undefeated
Lucian Bute kept his undefeated record intact with a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Glen Johnson in an IBF super-middleweight title fight in Quebec City, Canada, on Saturday. The 31-year-old Canadian-based Romanian Bute improved to 30-0 and made the 10th defense of the title he won in 2007. “It was a great fight and a great performance for me,” said southpaw Bute, who saw his string of six consecutive KOs snapped. “Glen Johnson is a great fighter. To beat him, you have to avoid the jab. I did that and I tried to out-jab him.” Two of the three judges gave Bute all 12 rounds and he lost just one round on the other judge’s scorecard in front of a crowd of 15,306 at the Colisee arena. The 42-year-old Johnson, of Jamaica, fell to 51-16-2. Johnson injured his right arm in the bout, but continued to fight. He didn’t take the loss well. “I think I won the fight,” Johnson said. “It’s tough to win in your opponent’s hometown because as soon as he does one little thing, the crowd goes crazy instead of paying attention to what the punches are telling you.” On the undercard, Canadian super-bantamweight Steve Molitor outpointed Sebastien Gauthier in a 10-round split decision to improve to 34-2. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Florida, Panama’s Guillermo Jones scored a sixth round technical knockout of Mike Marrone to retain his WBA cruiserweight title. Jones knocked Marrone down in the fifth and sixth rounds at the Hard Rock Live Arena. Jones improved to 38-3-2 with his 30th knockout, while Marrone fell to 20-4.
BOXING
Burns grabs second title
Ricky Burns earned his second world title when he easily outpointed Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight belt at Wembley Arena in London on Saturday. Burns relinquished the WBO super-featherweight title to make his division debut against the favored Katsidis and produced a classy display, which the judges rewarded with unanimous scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 117-112. Katsidis, from Australia, was the more aggressive throughout, but kept getting punished by his Scottish opponent’s snappy jab and sharp counterattacks. Burns improved to 33-2 (nine KOs), while Katsidis dropped to 28-5 (23 KOs).
HORSE RACING
Upset at Breeders Cup
Drosselmeyer scored a spectacular upset by winning the US$5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, while delivering a much-needed dose of redemption for jockey Mike Smith. Smith, who suffered a gut-wrenching defeat at the wire in last year’s Classic aboard Zenyatta, piloted Drosselmeyer past the celebrated field in a dramatic stretch run to win the US’ richest race. Drosselmeyer finished one and one-half lengths ahead of the Bob Baffert-trained gelding Game on Dude, ridden by Smith’s ex-girlfriend, Chantal Sutherland.
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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