BOXING
Pacquiao loses in comeback
Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night pushed back against his doubters, the odds and even Father Time — and nearly made some history. In the end, Pacquiao fell just short on the judges’ scorecards as Mario Barrios escaped with a majority draw to retain the WBC welterweight championship. Two judges scored the bout a draw, and judge Max DeLuca awarded Barrios a 115-113 victory. “I thought I won the fight,” Pacquiao said. Forty-six-year-old Pacquiao, enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month, was trying to break his own record for oldest welterweight champion. He was 40 when he in 2019 won via split decision over Keith Thurman. “It was an honor to share the ring with him,” Barrios, 30, said. “This is by far the biggest event I’ve had to date, and we came in here and left everything in the ring.”
ATHLETICS
Britons get gold 28 years later
Britain’s men’s 4x400m relay team on Saturday were presented with their gold medals from the 1997 World Championships at London’s Diamond League meeting, after they were elevated from silver following the belated disqualification of the US team. The US were stripped of the title won in Athens when Antonio Pettigrew confessed in 2008 to doping between 1997 and 2003. The former athletes were giving a rousing welcome by the 60,000 sellout crowd, who then stood for a very belated national anthem. “We’re proud to be able to give these athletes their moment in front of a home crowd,” UK Athletics strategic lead for major events Cherry Alexander said. Pettigrew was found dead at the age of 42 in 2010 in his locked car in the US, with an autopsy report saying he died by suicide after an overdose.
BASKETBALL
Clark calls for better pay
Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark on Saturday called for better pay in the WNBA as labor negotiations between the league and players intensify, while commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she was optimistic about their latest talks. Thousands of fans wearing “Clark” jerseys packed the Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the sold-out All-Star Game on Saturday, while the wildly popular Rookie of the Year was forced to sit out after sustaining a groin injury earlier in the week. She told reporters that athletes like here were fortunate to have brand deals: “We should be paid more. Hopefully that’s the case moving forward as the league continues to grow. I think it’s something that’s probably the most important thing that we are in the room advocating about.”
CYCLING
Team car hits spectator
A Tour de France spectator who was cheering riders was hit by a car from the Ineos Grenadiers team in the Pyrenees on Saturday. TV footage of the race showed the team car knocking down the fan who was holding what looked liked a mobile phone about 200m from the top of the Col de Peyresourde. The vehicle was following riders on the steep ascent and driving at moderate speed. There was no immediate information available on the spectator’s condition. The race jury later said Ineos Grenadiers sports director Oliver Cookson was fined 5,000 Swiss francs (US$6,235) for “improper behavior endangering spectators” and handed a yellow card. Accumulating yellow cards over a defined period of time results in a suspension.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
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