TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Giants still have little room for error after Christmas gift from Redskins The question for the Giants (8-6) is whether they'll be heading to the playoffs as a wild-card entry. They have been eliminated from the race ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Shanahan 'excited and honored' to coach Redskins WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mike Shanahan says he's "excited and honored" to take the reins of the Washington Redskins.... hosted.ap.org |
Kevin Mitchell: Are Khan and Hatton ready to fight? The two 'friends' have dabbled in classic boxing revisionism by saying they are now ready to punch it outIn the deep heart of winter, with little to write about in the way of actual ring activity, boxing ticks over with rumours – and this has been a vintage January for scuttlebutt and speculation.The latest conjecture comes from Amir Khan, who tells heraldscotland.com: "I would hate to get to the end of my career and look back at it and not have had the chance to fight Ricky Hatton. I still think Ricky has a bit left in him and I think he also has something he wants to prove to himself after the defeat by Manny Pacquiao."Against my few better instincts, I can see that happening, mainly because Ricky has encouraged the speculation himself. Watching the big-time shenanigans in America the past month will have done little to ease "the itch" he keeps going on about.But he's a businessman now, with his own promotional company, and looks every inch the fight-game fat cat, stretching the buttons on his three-piece suit all the way as he sits ringside at his own shows. I wish him all the best.Khan has to get past the Argentinian knockout artist Marcos Maidana first in a mandatory defence of his light-welter title before he contemplates Hatton.But, you know what, eight months ago, Khan and Hatton were adamant they would never fight each other. Before he left for Vegas to fight Pacquiao in May, Hatton told me: "Amir Khan is a good friend of mine, but, no, I can't see me fighting him."Khan went to Vegas to watch Hatton fight and said: "It will never happen. Ricky's my friend. I would rather be in his corner supporting him than across the ring from him."After Hatton was knocked out, Khan was even more convinced it was a bad idea. But after he knocked out Dmitriy Salita in a round last month, he said he'd now like to fight Ricky. "Business is business," as he put it.There is more revisionism in boxing than Joe Stalin ever managed in Russia 70 years ago. Believe nothing until you see one guy smiling and the other guy flat on his back.ARUM-SPEAKOf course the great revisionist of our time is Bob TWY ("that was yesterday") Arum. While he and Golden Boy Promotions were indulging themselves in the tortuous ego-war over the putative fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, Arum must have issued at least four "the fight is off" ultimatums.I wonder if the 78-year-old promoter knows there is a poisonous species of flower called Arum maculatum, which variously goes by the name of Wild Arum and Bobbins. "Bobbins", by the way, is Manchester slang for rubbish. Tenuous, granted – but it is January.For a grown-up, Wild Arum throws a lot of tantrums. Uncle Bob is smiling now, though. The deal for Pacquiao to fight Joshua Clottey in Texas was said to be "98 per cent" done at the weekend and Arum reckons he can drag 50,000 punters into the Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on 13 March.For Clottey's sake, I hope so. The tough, clever Ghanaian is an honest warrior who should have beaten Miguel Cotto and deserves any good pay day that comes his way. He's certainly more willing to share a ring with Pacquiao than Mayweather is.While we're on the rumour treadmill, a Las Vegas source tells me: "The word in town is Floyd doesn't want the fight because he's not ready. He's got bad hands and he just doesn't feel right at the moment." That's as sound as any theory I've heard this month.Teddy Atlas, meanwhile, thinks Clottey is a tougher fight for Pacquiao than Yuri Foreman, the other alternative Arum mentioned, and I agree. Foreman, although heavier at light-middle, can't punch. Pacquiao would walk through him.By the way, Clottey and Foreman fight for Arum. How cosy is that in these cold, hard times?As well as better instincts, I also have gambling ones – and I wouldn't yet rule out Pacquiao fighting Mayweather in the autumn, or even in May. It has got to happen, simply because there is $200m on the table. Also, I'm sure Mayweather regrets pushing the little guy so hard in talks over the past weeks: now he's got a lawsuit by Manny to deal with.Mayweather, who needs money like most people need air, has fewer big-cash options than Pacman. Paulie Malignaggi? Wake me up when it's over. Shane Mosley? Sugar has more reject letters from Floyd than your average bad poet gets from his publisher.Speaking of correspondence, Atlas, usually well-informed, reckons Pacquiao's people sent Mayweather's people an email in recent weeks enquiring what would happen if Manny took a drugs test and failed it.It is a story that also turned up in the New York Post recently. But think about it: under what circumstances would Pacquiao even hint he was on drugs – especially to the Mayweathers?I think someone set you up there, Teddy.A PROMOTER'S TAKEFrank Warren, who ought to know, claims in his latest Sun column: "There is a strong rumour one British fighter – and his trainer – have been taking it.""It" is human growth hormone, the drug de jour, according to the Mayweathers and all the other conspiracy theorists gathered on boxing's grassy knoll.Frank also claims: "I hear 31 May has been pencilled in for Ricky Hatton's comeback."Interesting. That's a Monday.RING THE BELLMichael Owen had four bouts as a junior – at the prompting of his father, who wanted to "toughen him up". And Wayne Rooney would have made a good boxer, according to his uncle, Richie, who runs Croxteth Amateur Boxing Club, as would his brother, Graham [who, on thin evidence, once claimed to have beaten Khan as a schoolboy].Like a lot of footballers, Owen and Rooney appreciate the benefits of a tough time in the ring. It sharpens up any athlete mentally and it does their footwork and balance no harm either.The latest to join the fight club are two cricketers, Ian Bell and Brad Haddin. Bell, who looks like he has been lifted from a kid's cartoon but obviously has discovered his inner steel, says sparring gave him renewed focus – and it has paid a dividend for England in the last two Tests against South Africa.Haddin, who kept brilliantly for Australia against Pakistan at the SCG last week, trains in the one-time working- class Sydney suburb of Five Dock at a place called the Thump Gym, which is fairly unambiguous.He came home early from the Ashes series last summer with an injured finger and figured something wasn't quite right. So he traded keepers' gloves for boxing mitts."As much as it was disappointing to be on the outer through injury," he tells the Sydney Morning Herald, "missing that three months gave me the rare opportunity to get my body back into shape."If Haddin takes a catch to win the Ashes back for Australia later this year, blame it on boxing. It gets the rap for everything else.BoxingRicky HattonAmir KhanKevin Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
David Conn: Owner gets return on City investment Roberto Mancini plays it cagily but Carlos Tevez makes the night's main statement against Manchester UnitedIn this competition, which Sir Alex Ferguson has treated as a habitual opportunity to exercise his reserves, Manchester City unashamedly treated last night as a huge occasion not only in the Abu Dhabi-backed rebuilding of the club, but in their very history.Outside, City were handing out free the souvenirs reserved for the choicest occasions: commemorative flags. On the big screens action was replayed from City's last major triumphs, almost 40 years ago, and club legends including Tony Book, Francis Lee and Joe Corrigan all in their 60s now, were paraded to whip up the crowd into dreaming of a blue Wembley.There were, in the 46,067 crowd, no members of the family who own United. The Glazer brothers, who have been spending quality time with their bankers recently, had other things to do rather than attend a mere Carling Cup semi-final against the noisy neighbours. By contrast City's chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, had flown in from Abu Dhabi with his crowd of football-watching friends and relations. It is a feature of the twin takeÂovers which are now determining the destinies of the rivals that City's buyers do actually like football.Roberto Mancini, stepping out in his City scarf and greatcoat for a first Manchester derby, opted for a bafflingly cautious approach. Robinho, who has ambled as uninterestedly for his new manager as he did for the one sacked partly for failing to get the best out him, was left on the bench, along with the creative talents of Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov.Pablo Zabaleta, a full-back by design, attitude and abilities, played on the left of midfield, in front of Javier Garrido. It was as if Mancini, having had five games to watch his men in action, was signalling the limitations he has now decided he has inherited from Mark Hughes.After all the revelations of the scale of debts the Glazers have wrought to cramp Ferguson's options, and the ÂŁ400m Mansour has spent already to launch City with the target of becoming a top club again, these early exchanges were authoritative reminders of how far United have to fall, and City to improve, if football equality in Manchester is to be even approximated.City were halting and disparate while United, with Wayne Rooney an immediate menace, moved into motion like a team accustomed to higher planes. The eager but uncontrolled chasing by Micah Richards of an upright, elegant Ryan Giggs summed up the gulf between the clubs.Mancini's immediate reaction to Giggs' goal was to retreat even further, moving Zabaleta into the middle and pulling Bellamy back into left midfield, which seemed a gesture close to surrender. Yet City did, somehow, claw their way back to a first-leg victory which could yet take them through to Wembley.Tevez, whom Ferguson allowed to leave Old Trafford accompanied by rancorous musings on the striker's limitations, had determined to use this semi-final as his opportunity to make a statement, and City had not attained composure when Tevez took that chance, thumping his penalty in with glee. His 'all-mouth gestures' were raw with defiance.City huffed and puffed their way back after half-time. All the fluency was with United but they did not translate it and Tevez was determined to make his own story the tie's overriding theme. He managed to head a second through sweat and persistence – celebrating by cupping his ears close to the halfway line – and the lead did inspire City to be more upright and believing, although the onslaught from United could have left this tie less finely balanced than it is.The City fans chanted "USA! USA!" as City completed their win, establishing by the scoreline at least that the gap between the two clubs is being narrowed. But as much as a night of victory, this was an occasion which demonstrated to City's owners, racing back to the airport for the next Etihad flight, how much work is still needed on their project. How little ÂŁ400m can buy you in football these days.Carling CupManchester UnitedManchester CityRoberto ManciniDavid Connguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
England’s extra cover Andrew Strauss’s absence from next month’s tour of Bangladesh gives Michael Carberry the chance to complete a remarkable, and welcome, rise to the top of English cricket. At 29, the Hampshire player would be the oldest specialist batsmen to make his debut for England this century and the country’s first new cap of West Indian heritage since 1998 when Alex Tudor, whom Carberry describes as a “big brother”, played against Australia at Perth. Carberry’s emergence could play a vital part in arresting a decline in Afro-Caribbean cricket in England that reflects the sport’s fragile footing in inner-city areas. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |