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Posted Feb 24th 2007, 10:36am
Lewis Alledgedly Ponders Return
41-year-old former World Heavyweight Champion, Lennox Lewis has apparently been offered a $25m (£12.7m)comeback fight against Ukraininan Vitali Klitschko.
The Briton retired after his sixth round stoppage of Klitschko in Los Angeles in June 2003. Klitschko's left eye was a total mess and the referee was forced to stop the fight due to the deep cut.
Klitschko retired himself soon after winning the vacant title against Corrie Sanders and then following his only defence against Danny Williams in 2005. But he announced his comeback last month at the age of 35.
"Lennox has been discussing with his pals at HBO the prospect of a one-off world title rematch with Klitschko," said Bob Arum, the American promoter. "No matter how often a boxer says he will never come back, the money always talks louder in the end. I am told Lennox is back in the gym. This is an enormous fight in the making." Klitschko, has been given special dispensation by the WBA to sidestep its rankings system.
Klitschko commented: "I always said I would only come out of retirement if there could be a rematch with Lennox and I am hopeful that he will come back also."
So will this be the fight that reignites the touchpaper of boxing?
Feel free to comment.
Posted Feb 23rd 2007, 6:39pm
Lee Misses World Cup Through Injury
Bad news for the Australians as they learned that Fast bowler, Brett Lee will miss next month's World Cup in the West Indies through an ankle injury, sustained in training for the tournament last week.
The 30-year-old missing, will heap a lot of pressure on the shoulders of colleague, Glenn McGrath, although Lee's replacement Stuart Clark, proved a big hit in the recent Ashes demolition of England.
Clark plays in the same New South Wales side back home, and he claimed 26 wickets in the 5-0 series win over the winter and there were a lot of big names disappointed not to see him in the original squad.
Geoff Lawson, a former international for Australia, was clamouring for his inclusion in the days leading up to the 15-man line-up, named last week.
Chief selector Andrew Hilditch is confident that Clark will fill the void left by Lee's absence, with the minimum of fuss.
"It is a great disappointment for Brett Lee and it is a significant blow for our planning and preparation. However, it does give a tremendous opportunity for Stuart Clark, who was extremely unlucky to miss out on initial selection."
Lee was philosophical in his comments regarding his exclusion and revealed the extent of the injury.
"I think it's every young kid's dream to play for their country and to play in a World Cup is probably what it's all about as far as one-day cricket goes," he said.
"It's pretty hard to swallow, but you've just got to accept things sometimes. Now it's just a matter of letting the ankle settle down and giving it a chance to heal up. There's a possibility within two to three weeks that there might be some surgery to clear out a bit of old bone floating around in the ankle."
Lee is not the only injury worry for the defending World Champions. All rounder Andrew Symonds and top-order batsman, Matthew Hayden are struggling to be fit.
Symonds is likely to miss the Group Stage due to his torn bicep tendon he suffered during a One-day match against England at the beginning of this month.
He has undergone surgery since then and hopes to recover in time for the Super Eight fixtures, which should begin for Australia, - allowing against a massive upset - on either March 27th or 28th.
Hayden meanwhile, has been sidelined with a broken toe and will have further scans before he is declared fit to participate.
Australia's price as favourites for the Carribean competition, has come out slightly from 9/4 to 5/2.
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Posted Feb 19th 2007, 9:43pm
Hitman Will Face El Temible
Ricky Hatton has confirmed will face former world lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas on 23 June.
The pair will meet for the IBO light welterweight belt but more significant is that the winner will become recognised as the best 147lbs boxer.
"You become a great fighter by fighting great fighters and Jose is one of them," said the 28-year-old Hatton.
"I am so excited about this fight and I am living my dreams by topping the bill in Las Vegas again. This fight does not need anyone to sell it."
"When I beat Kostya Tszyu I beat one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and Jose undoubtedly falls into that category as well," said Hatton.
"I am not going to take a backward step and neither will Jose."
The hotly-awaited contest will be staged at the 17,000-capacity Thomas and Mack Center, in the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’.
And both will also want to make an impression after below par displays on the same bill in Las Vegas exactly one month ago.
A veteran of 63 contests – with 55 wins (47 KO’s) 7 losses and 1 draw – the 33-year-old Mexican, was lethargic in a split decision win over Cameroon's Hernan Ngoudjo, before Hatton’s arduous display in a points win over Colombian Juan Urango.
"A lot has been said about our last performances but when you are involved in so many big fights you raise your game for a challenge - and this is a challenge to say the least," added Hatton.
The well-liked Mancunian claimed the IBF version of the light welterweight title with that win but he was required to give up the belt in order to fight Castillo.
Can the Hitman out-gun Castillo, or will El Temible reign supreme?
We want your comments….
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Posted Feb 19th 2007, 9:22pm
Murray Retains Title Against Tough-Nut Karlovic
British number one Andy Murray overcame the big-serving, and unseeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic to retain his SAP Open title in San Jose.
Murray came back from a set and a break down to secure victory 6-7 (7-3) 6-4 7-6 (7-2) and clinch his second ATP Tour title after defeating Australian Lleyton Hewitt in last year’s final.
The Scot was happy and relieved that he was able to battle back and win against a tough opponent.
"I was able to take more advantage of my second serve, I had more opportunities than I had on my first serve," said Murray.
"I was returning much better off Ivo’s first serve. For three sets he was so confident you just got to hang in there and try to keep it tight, and when you get your chances, I just had to take them."
Karlovic thumped an astonishing 26 aces, in contrast to just eight from the 19-year-old world number 13, and broke through the 140 miles per hour mark, during the two hour and 34 minute match.
"It’s the little things you can pick up on as the match goes on. I was able to pickup the ball from my backhand. I’ve never played anyone like that before," he added.
Murray rated a disappointing 55% on his first serve and scored on 76% of his first serves, while also hitting 62% on his second.
"He (Coach Brad Gilbert) told me to put a high percentage of first serves in and try to be patient on the second," said Murray.
"My ground strokes are pretty solid. I know now not to try to overplay the shots, and sometimes I have a habit of doing that."
Murray had the first and only break point in the fifth game of the first set but wasted the chance as the world number 103 held to gain the upper hand at 3-2.
The set went with serve to 6-6 and in the tie-break it was the 6ft 10in Karlovic who held his nerve to wrap it up at the first time of asking with a second mini-break.
The two exchange breaks at the beginning of the second set but Murray equalled the match when he acquire a first set-point opportunity at 40-30 on the Karlovic serve in the 10th game.
Karlovic was not able to seize his chance to break in the first game of the decisive set, which were halved to 5-5.
Murray also found himself up against it in the 11th game but rescue a break point before finally holding.
The 19-year-old had Championship point on the Karlovic serve in game 12, but the giant Croat held to force a decisive tie-break.
Murray claimed a crucial mini-break on the second Karlovic serve, and when he secured a second to stride ahead 5-2 he served out to secure the title.
Karlovic, who knocked out second seed James Blake earlier in the tournament, came into the match with 87 aces behind him and was successful on 84% of the points on his first serve against Murray.
"This was a big one, it gave me confidence. In the beginning (of the second set) maybe I was rushing my serve. I did not get my service game through," said Karlovic.
"I was a little tight. In the third set tiebreaker Andy serves really well and he also runs well on his approach shots."
Karlovic, who suffered a leg injury last season, proclaimed that he is thrilled by the steps forward he has made in the last six months and is eying a top 30 spot by the end of the calendar year.
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Posted Feb 18th 2007, 6:56pm
A-Force? More Like A Farce!
As the bell to signal the end of round 3 at Wembley Arena last night was about to sound, Reading's underdog Michael Sprott, smashed home a wild left hook through the wide open defence and onto the unprepared jaw of Audley ‘A-Force’ Harrison to send the 18+ stone former Olympian crashing to the canvas, out cold. Referee Ian John Lewis didn’t even bother with the count as Harrison lay prone on his back.
A jubilant Sprott who, before the scheduled 12 rounds fight for his EBU – European Union Heavyweight title and the vacant British Heavyweight title, was virtually the only one of millions who thought he would beat Harrison, leaped around the Wembley ring with a joyous skip and jump, as Harrison, was given delicate attention by his cornermen and medics, while still laying flat on the canvas. It was a shocking and sudden end to Audley Harrison’s brief comeback which started only last December against an inept Danny Williams.
Sprott was the 7/2 outsider coming into the fight, his record of 29 wins (14 KOs) against 10 losses was hardly solid gold, his best wins so far being against the German, Rene Dettweiler, in defence of his EU title in his last fight, and a revenge points victory three years ago over Danny Williams – following two KO losses to the same Brixton fighter. The 6 ft tall Sprott, weighing in at 16 stone 8 lbs, wasn’t expected to give Harrison any trouble - let alone leave him twitching on the canvas after three rounds! Once the fight started he was even briefly down for a short count in round one following a beautiful overhand left from Harrison and after showing absolutely zero aggression up to that point. It was, we thought, another dodgy opponent for Harrison to pummel.
But if Michael Sprott is no Lennox Lewis, neither is Audley Harrison, regardless of his self-belief and hype.
Depite losing in three of his last four bouts, Harrison has vowed to return. "I'll be back and hopefully I will have a chance to rectify it with Michael Sprott straight away," said Harrison after his devastating knockout loss to Sprott on Saturday. Promoter Frank Warren, however, is not optimistic about the 2000 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist's future as a fighter. "If he decides to fight on, it'll be a long, hard road," said Warren. "He won't be getting big money now, because what's the draw?" Warren also confirmed that Sprott will face Matt Skelton next.
Harrison showed briefly in the first round, and to an extent in the other two, an aggressive stance from which he fired a fair selection of hard jabs and hooks and particularly a frequent left uppercut. He was effective and hurtful a puncher in the first round and he earned the knock-down with a hard body shot followed by a peach over-hand southpaw left to Sprott’s head. But the knockdown was brief. Although Sprott appeared to not threaten Harrison with anything meaningful in the first round, simply walking forward or standing still in front of Harrison with a high guard which Harrison pierced repeatedly with his punch selection including hurtful body punches, in the second round he quietly upped his work-rate as Harrison went off the boil.
He began to catch Harrison with jabs and crosses as Harrison became more reluctant to throw meaningful punches and was simply posing as he has done so many times in his career. It appeared that Audley, having had his man on the hook and on the canvas, had resorted to show-boating until he could land hard shots at will. But he had yet to really even start to soften Sprott up and as Harrison’s aggression waned, Sprott picked up the pace. Towards the end of the second, Sprott was out-working Harrison and Audley was starting to gently unravel.
Round three was Sprott’s from the bell. Finally he was out-jabbing the giant Harrison, 6 ft 5 inches with an 86 inch reach, and he landed a good right hand to the chin forcing Harrison to clinch. At this point it seemed clearer that Sprott’s fight strategy was to absorb any early aggression from Harrison and then come on strong, which was exactly what he was doing in the third. As well as landing heavy shots to Harrison’s alarmingly undefended chin, he was also basically just roughing him up and forcing Harrison to fight on his terms, down in the trenches. And Harrison simply isn’t that sort of fighter. Although he appeared to be still in control, just, Sprott was still there and working hard. In close, with Harrison seemingly happy to just lean on, Michael Sprott fired a low shot into Harrison’s body causing him to wince. The ref didn’t spot it and Sprott fired in another on the blind-side for good measure.
Harrison’s decision to come in close was ill-advised but it was understandable as Sprott was able to reach him from the outside, in defiance of Harrison’s reach and height advantages. Regardless, Harrison then elected to throw punches in an attempt to stem the Sprott tide. But now, at a distance, Sprott had punching room. As Harrison landed several punches in a row and wound up another left, Sprott let two of his own off, both wild, but the second, a big left-hook, caught Harrison flush on the jaw. He crashed face forward and sideways landing on his back - and out.
Referee Lewis declared the fight over without a count, officially stopping it on the three minute mark of the third.
So, is Harrison's brief foray into the boxing world over already? What do you think?
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Posted Feb 18th 2007, 5:53pm
Taylor Records First Win, As Barney And One Dart Draw
Phil Taylor, bounced back in front of a record 3,500 crowd in Nottingham, to keep his unbeaten run going and put his first victory on the board against The Bull, Terry Jenkins.
It wasn't a straight-forward win though, as he was pushed all the way by the man from Hertfordshire and ended up 8-6 in front.
It was a welcome result for The Power, as he had drew his first two rubbers against Roland Scholten and Dennis Priestly and in the week leading up to Round Three of the Premier League, he had lost two matches in the Masters of Darts in the Netherlands, both 0-3, to Raymond van Barneveld and young Dutchman Michael van Geerwen.
Jenkins had one victory and one defeat in Rounds One and Two of the weekly league format, and was looking to build on his 8-6 win over Scholten.
The first four legs went with throw and it wasn't until Taylor broke Jenkins in Leg 5, with Double 16 and he began to pull away with the last one before the break. Jenkins won the 7th, but Taylor gained the next two to go 6-3 infront.
The man from Stoke, then recorded the first maximum and made sure he would come away with at least a point by winning Leg 10, as Jenkins struggled to find a rhythm.
But he hit his own first 180 and then double top to bring the score back to 7-4, three behind, three to play.
Taylor looked shaky as Jenkins broke in the 12th, and then held his own throw in to go within one leg of Taylor and in the final Leg, he hit a 177 to pressurize, the 13-times World Champion, but it came too little, too late and The Power checked out with double four at the third attempt to secure an 8-6 win.
In the second match of the night, the current PDC World Champion faced the pantomime villain, Peter 'One Dart' Manley in a titanic tussle on the oche.
Manley was the man in form, after winning all five of his group matches in the aforemention Masters of Darts tournament in Holland, and he was about to capitulate against Barney.
Both players started well and took a Leg apiece, with the Dutchman taking out 96 and Manley, 84. The latter then upped the tempo with an impressive 138 - which included two treble twenties -but Barney replied with two maximums in a 12-dart Leg in the next.
With both players averaging over 100 for three darts, they went into the interval 3-3, and Manley drew ahead winning two consecutive Legs for the first time, as van Barneveld missed double 8 and Manley took advantage with a 56 finish.
The World Champion won a scrappy 9th and then levelled at 5-5 with 91. But Manley stretched in front again in Leg 11, and ensured he would not be beaten by reaching 7 winning Legs with double 10.
It was finally time for van Barneveld to show his class and effortlessly checked out 136, and then in the decider, he left himself with six darts at 56 after a maximum with Manley way back and scrambled a draw.
In the penultimate match-up, Adrian Lewis continued his imperious form as he blitzed ahead with the first three legs, in 13, 14 and 16 darts and without missing a double, with an average of 105.
His opponent Colin 'Jaws' Lloyd won the 4th Leg, but was soon three behind after the 5th, as Lewis showed no mercy.
Lloyd took advantage of some miscalculating by Lewis - who checked 60 when instead needing 80 - by hitting double top in Leg 6. Lewis regained his three-Leg advantage after the break, with a 12-darter, but Lloyd's excellent double eight gave him a slight hope of coming back.
Lewis capitalised on Lloyd's failure to hit double twelve, to go within two Legs of victory, but the former World number one, then clocked a maximum and checked out two succesive 64's to close the gap to 6-5.
Lewis though made sure in the next two, with three 180's and kept up his recent good form.
In the final game, Dennis Priestly rolled back the years to thrash Scholten 8-3 -being 6-0 up at one point - and went to the top of the Premier League table.
Preistly took a slow opening Leg with a 77, and then broke The Tripod in the 2nd.
He then started his incredible destruction of his opponent, by taking the 3rd in 12 darts, finishing on 136. The next was just as impressive he hit bullseye for 127 and a more modest double ten in the 5th, before cleaning up before the break, with double top, as Scholten missed the same target with his three efforts.
A whitewash looks very much on the cards but, the Dutchman saved face after the interval, with double seven and then a maximum and 78 in Leg 8.
Scholten was sensing a Lazerus-type comeback when he clinched his third succesive Leg, with an 81 checkout, before Priestly punished him for missing tops, with a 66.
He rounded off a fantastic perfomance with 24 and his name sat proudly at the summit of the Premier League table, ahead of van Barneveld on Leg difference.
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Posted Feb 15th 2007, 7:42pm
Premier League Darts Week 3
Leeeettt's Plaaaaayyy Daaaarttts!
Well Round Three sees the PDC's top eight eight players visit Nottingham, and first up is a contest between Phil Taylor and Terry Jenkins.
The Power has been very lucky to pick up two draws in his opening two matches against Roland Scholten and Dennis Priestly and will do well to beat The Bull.
Jenkins was in imperious form last week in Wolverhampton to win four legs in succession and defeat Dutchman Scholten, to record his maiden win.
He reached the World Championship Semi-Finals in December and he couldn't have caught Taylor at a better moment.
The 13-times World Champion lost two matches 0-3 in the Masters of Darts in Holland this week.
Can the former antique dealer pick up his most valuable scalp yet?
Report to follow....
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