Sergio Martinez of Argentina recovered from a knockdown to defeat champion Kelly Pavlik and win the WBO and WBC middleweight titles in Atlantic City on Saturday.
Martinez was knocked down in the seventh round but recovered to inflict a cut above Pavlik’s right eye that turned the bout back in his favor in the ninth. The Argentine built on that momentum and earned a unanimous points victory.
“It was a 12 round plan,” Martinez said. “I knew in the long run he would show his true championship colors. But I knew at the end I had to finish off strongly.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Martinez (45-2-2) dominated the early stages with superior speed and footwork, darting in and out and landing right jabs and straight lefts.
His movement left Pavlik (36-2) off balance, causing him to lunge with his punches and allowing Martinez to land counters over the top of the American’s jab.
Pavlik, however, began to close the distance in the fifth round and cut off the ring more effectively.
Martinez walked into a short right hand that dropped him to the canvas in the seventh round and while he appeared unhurt, the knockdown added to the sense the contest was slipping away from him.
But the Argentine turned the tide two rounds later, opening up a cut above Pavlik’s eye.
“At the beginning of the ninth, he landed a good shot and he cut me,” Pavlik said. “I couldn’t see. It was like a whiteout in my right eye. I could still see punches, but he fought a smart fight, doubling on the left hand. He’d throw a left, I’d block it and he’d throw another one.
“He wasn’t hurting me or nothing, but he was catching me with punches, and it looked bad,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do about that.”
■BUTE RETAINS TITLE
AFP, MONTREAL
Unbeaten Lucian Bute kept his IBF super middleweight title on Saturday by stopping Puerto Rican Edison Miranda in the third round with a powerful left uppercut.
Seconds after Romanian-born Bute had landed a flurry and Miranda had stood defiantly with his hands on his hips, Bute smashed a left uppercut into the challenger’s chin.
Miranda fell forward, struggled to his feet but wobbled back on his unsteady legs, prompting referee Ernie Sharif to halt the fight after 80 seconds of the third round, delighting a crowd in Bute’s home-base city.
“I hit him hard twice in that round,” Bute said. “He tried to make it that he wasn’t hurt. I knew he was hurt and I wanted to knock him out.”
Bute improved to 26-0 with his 21st victory inside the distance, making the fifth successful defense of his crown. Miranda fell to 33-5.
“I worked hard for two months to do this,” Bute said. “We agreed we would start off tough in the ring and take control. We worked on the uppercut. We executed the plan perfectly. Now all I want to do is stay unbeaten and keep working.”
Bute, who has been inspired by watching Thomas Hearns videos, is ready to face all comers, including Bernard Hopkins.
“I’ve got great respect for Bernard Hopkins. He’s a great champion,” Bute said. “We will sit down and talk about it. I’m ready to take on all the best. I am the best in the world.”
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS