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It was a bad night for Josh Taylor in the Garden ring in New York City on Saturday. Taylor was beaten by Teofimo Lopez over 12 rounds in a shock. It was certainly not the fight that Taylor expected. Taylor suffered defeat for the first time in 20 fights, he lost his one remaining world championship belt and at the end he offered no excuses. “The better man won,” he managed, his voice crackling with emotions. Taylor was putting on a brave face to mask the despair. It had been a fiery and ugly build-up and Lopez had talked of killing Taylor in the ring. Lopez, who has his own personal battles away from the ring, apologised for the comment and received a peck on the cheek for his honesty. “It’s all song and dance,” Taylor told him. It was an oddly respectful end to a week of promises, insults and stupid claims. It was also glorious redemption for Lopez, once the No 1 at lightweight. Lopez had lost his way on both sides of the ropes, and finished his last fight asking his team live on air if he still “had it”? It was a difficult interview to watch; on Saturday in the ring in the Garden’s basement theatre, Lopez rediscovered the form most people thought had vanished. He is still only 25, by the way. It was a close fight that Lopez won clearly and that often happens when two very good boxers meet. One judge, Benoit Roussel, scored it wide in Lopez’s favour. His 9-3 verdict was too wide, to be honest. The other two judges, Steve Gray and Joseph Pasquale, returned identical scores of 115-113, which means 7-5 in rounds in Lopez’s favour. Taylor never complained, but had he won the last round, he would have retained his title with a majority drawn verdict. Instead, Taylor had to surrender his beloved world championship belt; last year, Taylor held all four belts at super-lightweight before slowly losing the struggle to keep the quartet of baubles in a protracted series of skirmishes with the sanctioning bodies. Taylor has not fought since February of last year and had been placed under relentless pressure to carry out his mandatory requirements. He surrendered, under threat of being stripped, three belts and was left with just the WBO; he was still considered the best at his weight. Taylor, incidentally, had won all four belts in a series of fights against six men with a combined record of 133 wins and not one loss. Taylor was, make no mistake, the best in the world at his weight. That changed in the Garden ring. Lopez was too mobile, too slick and Taylor was just off the pace. It is not a tricky fight to understand; Lopez just worked that bit harder. Taylor had talked before about moving away from the 140-pound limit of super-lightweight and going to welterweight. In New York late on Saturday, there was also talk of a rematch. Taylor will let the loss settle and then make a decision, but hopefully he will not take another sixteen-month break. On the same night, it was the Sunny Edwards show at Wembley Arena and he retained his IBF flyweight title for the fourth time. On his undercard, Nina Hughes retained her WBA bantamweight title over 10 rounds against Katie Healy and in the bloody fight of the night, Ellie Scotney won the IBF super-bantamweight title. Scotney, having just her seventh fight, was too smart, tough and determined for New Zealand’s Cherneka Sugar Johnson. There was a dark and deep cut by Johnson’s right eye for most of the blood-splattered fight. Scotney was quite brilliant, Johnson’s five Māori-haka men stole the show with their routine before she walked to the ring. It was her highlight, they were exceptional. Edwards was a clear winner of nine of the 12 rounds, but the Chilean, Andres Campos, kept it competitive. “I need tests,” Edwards admitted. And he does and the tests might start later this year. And I hope so - Edwards has the style, craft and personality to be a big attraction. Edwards has a deal with his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, for the big fights; there are three other world champions at flyweight, but Edwards wants Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez – the WBO flyweight champion and a genuine threat. Rodriguez is unbeaten in 18, just 23, the former world champion at super-flyweight and, according to heavy rumour, he wants our Sunny. As a twist - and it is a good one - Sunny has signed and agreed to the fight, which includes the money terms, with Rodriguez as part of his deal with Hearn. Rodriguez can be enticed over for a December showdown. That, by the way, is a super fight. Edwards won clearly, Hughes did the same, Scotney’s win was hard but clear and in New York, in the basement theatre at the Garden once evocatively known as the Felt Forum, Taylor was left wondering what went wrong. There were no excuses, but there will be some questions. Read More Teofimo Lopez hands Josh Taylor his first defeat with decision win in New York Josh Taylor says move up to welterweight is ‘imminent’ after first career defeat Miami Heat mascot hospitalised after Conor McGregor punch Josh Taylor says move up to welterweight is ‘imminent’ after first career defeat Teofimo Lopez hands Josh Taylor his first defeat with decision win in New York Who is fighting on Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez undercard tonight?

John Gotti III attacked Floyd Mayweather after their fight was called setting off a brawl.

Red Sox DH Justin Turner put his autograph and a hilarious message on the foul ball that hit Yankees announcer John Sterling.John Sterling already has a place in Yankees history as New York's long-time radio play-by-play announcer. But now he has one of the coolest pieces of memorabilia tie...

The New York Yankees - Boston Red Sox rivalry has been known to get physical, but this weekend's series marked the first time an announcer was bloodied. During the top of the 9th on Saturday night a foul ball found its way into the press box and hit Yankees play-by-play voice John Sterling in the head. On Sunday the Yankees released video.

The Commanders are reportedly open to listening to trade calls for Chase Young. What if the Seahawks were bold and pursued the former No. 2 pick?Chase Young looked like everything the Commanders could have wanted from the No. 2 overall pick in the draft in 2020. Fast forward a few years and he m...

The Nuggets are one win away from the organization's first NBA Championship, and oddsmakers are prepared for Monday night to be the night.Denver enters as massive favorites in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at home, where the team has lost one game all postseason. After winning both games in Miam...

It seems like just yesterday we were gearing up for The Masters, and now here we are, already at the third major of 2023, the U.S. Open.All the best golfers in the world will descend upon Los Angeles Country Club for this week's major. LACC hasn't hosted a pro event since the 1940 Los ...

The French Open is officially in the books and Novak Djokovic has won yet another major. His hopes of winning the grand slam in a single calendar year are still alive. it would be the first time someone would achieve that in men's singles since Rod Laver did it for the second time in 1969.N...

Lost in the noise of the Chris Paul news, it is becoming clear that the Lakers are looking to sign and trade D'Angelo Russell this offseason. What does this mean for the rest of the league? Will the Lakers be able to sign and trade D'Angelo Russell this offseason? What happens if the L...

How would MLB teams stack up if standings were ordered by who scores the most early in games? Here are MLB standings based on first inning runs.Everyone knows a good start means nothing if you can't close the game. But getting hits off early and often doesn't hurt, either, and some MLB...

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will close out a classic AL East series in this week's edition of Sunday Night Baseball.If you want to take a look at the odds for the event as well as my best bet, you can find those in my betting preview here.In this article, I'm going to b...

The Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in front of their home town fans on Tuesday night when they take a 3-1 series lead back to Vegas.The Golden Knights took down the Panthers in Game 4 in what was a tough fought 3-2 win.According to the ...