James DeGale on Saturday became the first British fighter to win an Olympic gold medal and a professional world title, unanimously outpointing Andre Dirrell at Boston University’s Agganis Arena to take the vacant International Boxing Federation super middleweight title.
The London boxer improved to 21-1, receiving winning scores of 114-112 from judges Dan Fitzgerald and Howard Foster, and 117-105 from Alan Davis.
Dirrell from Flint, Michigan, dropped to 24-2.
Photo: AP
“I am speechless,” the 2008 Olympic champion DeGale said. “My whole career has been leading up to this, winning a world title. It’s an unbelievable feeling. I made history.”
Cut next to his right eye early in the second round, DeGale floored Dirrell twice in the round. The first time, he landed a right hook, putting Dirrell on his seat. After Dirrell got up, DeGale crowded him and forced him to a knee with a left hand to the body.
In the third, DeGale landed another right hook that forced Dirrell to hold. Dirrell avoided any big shots in the fifth, landing a straight left hand to DeGale’s chin with no effect.
In the final seconds of the sixth, DeGale landed a right hook to the head and a left to the body, causing Dirrell to double over. Earlier in the round, Dirrell was cut on his left cheekbone.
Dirrell landed combinations in the seventh and forced DeGale to take a step back on three occasions after landing straight left hands.
Toward the end of the ninth, both fighters taunted each other after each fought the round defensively They briefly exchanged words after the bell.
Near the end of the 10th Dirrell landed a right to the body while pushing DeGale into the ropes.
Fighting for the first time in the US, 31-year-old DeGale landed 115 of 400 punches. Dirrell connected on 111 of 488.
Dirrell’s only other loss was a split decision against Carl Froch in 2009 in a bid for Froch’s World Boxing Council super middleweight title in Nottingham, England.
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
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS