Mayweather wins to take welterweight title
Floyd Mayweather dominated nearly every minute of every round Saturday night in Las Vegas, winning the welterweight title with a lopsided decision against Carlos Baldomir to remain unbeaten and set up a possible megafight next year against Oscar De La Hoya.
Baldomir never went down and never appeared in trouble, but his face was bloodied from the first round on and he took punch after punch to the face from the much quicker and much more skilled Mayweather.
Two judges gave Mayweather every round, while a third gave him all but two rounds.
“Shannon Briggs won the WBO heavyweight title in Phoenix, stopping Sergei Liakhovich with a second left in the 12th round.
“Undefeated Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz successfully defended his WBA lightweight title for the fifth time, unanimously outpointing Fernando Angulo in a 12-round bout in Phoenix.
Golf
Scott maintains lead
Adam Scott’s tap-in eagle carried him to a 3-under-par 67 and a surprisingly comfortable margin in the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Scott was at 7-under 203 and will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the final PGA Tour event of the year.
Joe Durant wound up with a 70 and also was three shots behind.
Jim Furyk birdied three straight holes in his round of 67, while Retief Goosen made a couple of clutch pars to salvage a 68, and both were at 3-under 207.
Also still in the hunt were Ernie Els (66) and Luke Donald (69) at 209.
“Karrie Webb ended Annika Sorenstam’s Mizuno Classic winning streak at five, closing with a 6-under 66 for a four-stroke victory over Kaori Higo in Japan’s lone LPGA Tour event in Mie.
Sorenstam shot a 70 to finish five strokes back at 9-under 207.
Brittany Lang (70), Aree Song (70) and Jeong Eun Lee (70) tied for third with Sorenstam at 9 under.
Baseball
Howard blasts pasts Japan
Ryan Howard and Tadahito Iguchi gave the MLB All-Stars an offensive boost.
Howard hit a pair of homers and Iguchi drove in two runs with a clutch double as the MLB All-Stars defeated the stars of Japanese baseball 8-6 for a 2-0 lead in a five-game tour in Tokyo.
The five-game series continues today at the Tokyo Dome before games in Osaka and Fukuoka on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tennis
Davydenko reaches finals
Nikolay Davydenko reached his seventh final of the season at the Paris Masters in Paris, beating Tommy Robredo 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
Davydenko will meet 17th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty today. Hrbaty advanced because 10th-seeded Tommy Haas retired because of gastroenteritis while trailing 6-4, 1-0.
Volleyball
Brazil defeats U.S.
Tournament favorite Brazil beat the United States in straight sets to continue its unbeaten run at the world volleyball championships in Tokyo.
The Brazilians, who clinched their fourth successive World Grand Prix in September, won 25-23, 25-21, 25-13 to hand the sixth-ranked United States its first loss this tournament.
Russia beat Olympic champion China in a rematch of the Athens final. Russia, the World Grand Prix runner-up, improved to 4-0, while China dropped to 3-1.
Figure Skating
Rochette rallies to win
Canadian champion Joannie Rochette rallied to win the Skate Canada women’s title, beating Japan’s Fumie Suguri in the free skate to the delight of the Memorial Centre crowd in Victoria, British Columbia.
In the men’s event, Japanese champion Daisuke Takahashi, the leader after the short program, finished second after falling twice. American Johnny Weir was third.