Oleksandr Usyk retained the unified heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois on Saturday, in a hugely controversial fight in Poland. Usyk dropped Dubois at the end of the eighth round and did the same midway through the ninth, with referee Luis Pabon waving off the bout after the second knockdown. However, many viewers felt that Dubois was denied a genuine knockout win in the fifth round. AS IT HAPPENED: Usyk drops Dubois twice to win after controversial ‘low blow’ Ukrainian Usyk crumpled to the mat after a right hook to the body by Dubois, with the punch appearing to land right on the belt line. However, Pabon ruled it an illegal shot, suggesting it was a low blow. Rules dictate that a fighter is allowed five minutes to recover from such a punch, and Usyk, 36, used four of them before resuming the main event in Wroclaw’s Tarczynski Arena. Usyk even told Pabon that he was ready to continue after approximately three minutes, but the referee urged the southpaw to take more time. In the following rounds, Usyk turned the screw, fighting well behind his jab and increasingly crafting combinations that troubled Dubois. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old was warned on two more occasions for landing body shots that appeared to be legal. The Briton then hit the mat after a flurry of straight shots from Usyk at the end of the eighth round, before going down again due to a short punch in the ninth. Although Dubois made it back to his feet, he could not beat Pabon’s count, and the fight was waved off. Usyk then spoke to Dubois in the ring, paying respect to the beaten challenger, who said in an interview moments later: “I didn’t think that was a low blow. I thought that landed, and I’ve been cheated out of victory tonight. But, you know, what else can I say?” Usyk’s victory kept him unbeaten and saw him retain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles. Meanwhile, Dubois was beaten for the second time as a professional, with his only previous loss coming at the hands of Joe Joyce via TKO in 2020. Read More Robert Helenius failed drug test before fighting Anthony Joshua, Vada says Max Holloway knocks out Korean Zombie before legend retires at UFC Singapore Daniel Dubois misses Ryanair flight ahead of Oleksandr Usyk fight Daniel Dubois misses Ryanair flight ahead of Usyk fight Daniel Dubois aiming to ‘bully and shake up’ Oleksandr Usyk in title showdown Usyk vs Dubois LIVE: Results tonight after controversial low blow

NEW YORK (AP) — Liam Hendriks earned his first save since returning from cancer, Lucas Giolito pitched six hitless innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Tuesday night for their season-high fourth straight victory.

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Manchester City are continuing to push for Erling Haaland to agree a new contract which would remove some of the clauses inserted into the deal when he joined from Borussia Dortmund.

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Chloe Mustaki has not fully accustomed to the reality that in just three days she will walk out on the pitch at sold-out Stadium Australia as a member of the first Republic of Ireland squad to feature in a Women’s World Cup. The 27-year-old’s extraordinary journey to this point has been down a road rife with obstacles, from her cancer diagnosis at the age of 19 to a devastating anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2020 and the lonely Covid-19 lockdown recovery that followed. But when the Republic’s plane touched down in Australia it all began to crystallise for Bristol City defender Mustaki, who hopes she can tune out the noise of over 80,000 majority-home supporters expected to attend her side’s July 20 opener against World Cup co-hosts the Matildas. “I don’t think I have an idea of how insane it is going to be,” she admitted during a training session at Brisbane’s Meakin Park. “I am trying not to think about it too much, trying just to concentrate on the football. At the end of the day, when you walk onto the pitch, everything around you just fades away. “So, if we can just concentrate and focus and stay connected on the game, whoever is playing on that pitch, hopefully we can come out with the result. “It will be surreal, and we won’t really believe it until we see it, because it is something that only (captain) Katie (McCabe) and a few others have experienced and we might never experience it again, that amount of people, so we have to savour it.” Skipper McCabe, who plays her club football with Arsenal, has played big games at major venues like the FA Cup final at Wembley and a Champions League semi-final at the 60,704-seat Emirates, which the Gunners sold out for the first time in May. It will be surreal, and we won’t really believe it until we see it, because it is something that only (captain) Katie (McCabe) and a few others have experienced and we might never experience it again, that amount of people, so we have to savour it Chloe Mustaki Mustaki, on the other hand, reckons the 12,123 who attended the Republic’s World Cup qualifier against Sweden in Gothenburg was the largest crowd to ever watch her play. She was born in Ohio, USA, but spent most of her youth in Cabinteely, and previously captained the Republic’s Under-19 team that reached the semi-finals of the 2014 European Championship in Norway – where she experienced signs of what would turn out to be Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Mustaki completed treatment in 2015, and has previously spoken about how that experience shifted her perspective and helped her get through the devastating ACL injury she sustained in training five years later. Though she was first called up to Republic’s senior squad that same year, rehabilitating the injury meant it took two more before she finally made her senior international debut against Russia in the 2022 Pinatar Cup. Mustaki took a huge risk last summer, quitting a comfortable job to become a full-time professional footballer when she signed with Bristol City. It paid off when the Robins earned promotion to the Women’s Super League and she signed a new two-year deal in June. That dream fulfilled, another is now on the horizon as Mustaki’s side, ranked number 22 in the world, prepare to face two of FIFA’s top-10 nations in Group B, Australia and Canada alongside Nigeria, with the two best finishers advancing to the knockout stage. She said: “Of course, it is in their home nation, they will have a massive support there and they will have prepared very well for us. It will be a battle but we will be ready for it and we love being the underdogs.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Wimbledon 2023: Women’s history made as men’s game has a changing of the guard From Chris Eubanks to Mirra Andreeva – Wimbledon’s headline makers in 2023 Novak Djokovic defeat the biggest surprise in a Wimbledon full of talking points

Trea Turner has not been what the Phillies hoped he'd be this year. His frustration boiled over on Monday with boos and an ejection.Trea Turner signed an 11-year contract worth $300 million with the Phillies. Year 1 has not gone well.The shortstop is batting a disappointing .249/.302/.3...

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