Khan hit Judah with a hard right hand in the midsection, sending the American veteran to the canvas 2min 47sec into the fifth round of the 64kg IBF unification bout.

“I am beating everyone. Bring on the next challenge,” Khan said.

The 24-year-old Khan already owned the WBA light-welterweight belt, and now adds Judah’s IBF title to his résumé.
Judah, who was a 5-1 underdog, stayed down on his knees as referee Vic Drakulich counted him out.
The 33-year-old Judah appeared surprised when Drakulich stopped the fight as his record dropped to 41-7 with 28 KOs.

Khan dominated the American, who was bleeding from his nose and cuts to his face at the start of the final round.
Olympic silver medallist Khan raised his record to 26-1 with 18 KOs as he landed 61 punches to Judah’s 20. Khan, who is trained by world-renowned boxing guru Freddie Roach, said the camp had a perfect game plan. “We trained hard. Freddie gave me a game plan that worked. Every punch I threw was hitting him on the chin.

“We knew Zab would be tricky. We wanted to be one step ahead of him. We slowly took the backhand away from him and, as soon I did that, all my shots were hitting him.”

Judah was out-punched consistently in the middle of the ring and was behind on the judges’ scorecards when he got knocked out with a body shot. But he claimed the fight should not have been stopped because the knockout punch was a low blow. Khan did not agree.

“He was open for a right hook,” said Khan, who threw 284 punches compared with Judah’s 115. “It was above the belt; nowhere near below the belt.”

-Jago News-

Arsene Wenger expects to see Cesc Fabregas in an Arsenal shirt on Saturday.

Wenger will check on Fabregas’s fitness today and wants to resolve his future as soon as possible.

Fabregas missed Arsenal’s pre-season trip to the Far East with a hamstring injury and his on-off transfer to Barcelona has become an ugly saga.

But Wenger insists that he now wants Fabregas to be a part of his pre-season preparations with the Arsenal captain’s dream move to Barcelona hanging firmly in the balance.

Wenger and his squad landed back in London yesterday and their next friendly is in Cologne on Saturday which could see Fabregas back in an Arsenal shirt after it seemed certain he would join Barcelona.

“We will have to see how far he is with his injury. But normally, yes,” said Wenger when asked whether he would be involved on Saturday.

“He is not back in full training, he is back running on the pitch and the next step is to be back in full training. I will have to assess him on Monday.

“But of course he is in my plans. The problem is we face speculation from everywhere. But my target is the same, to keep the players and my desire to fight for that is the same.”

Fabregas seemed certain to leave this summer but – for the second summer running – Barcelona have failed to reach agreement with Arsenal.

Wenger does not want to sell but realistically would allow Fabregas to leave if he wants to go and – even more importantly – that the deal is right with Arsenal holding out for £40m.

But, despite Barcelona’s players queuing up to talk about how much they want Fabregas at the Nou Camp, the Spanish giants have been all talk and no action so far.

The saga is in danger of disrupting Wenger’s pre-season preparations and the Arsenal boss admitted last week he wants the matter “closed very quickly.”

Fabregas has also been left in limbo with Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola desperate to sign him while the president Sandro Rosell seemingly less enthusiastic to come up with the cash.

The power struggle at the Nou Camp has meant the transfer is in danger of playing out like last summer when Barcelona seemed likely to get their man but Arsenal drew a line in the sand and resolutely refused to sell.

Wenger, who last week accused Barcelona star Xavi of being “disrespectful” after talking about Fabregas, has also been left deeply annoyed by Roberto Mancini openly talking about his desire to sign Samir Nasri.

The frustration for Wenger is that at the start of Arsenal’s Far East tour he made it clear that Nasri – who only has one year left on his current deal – would be held to his contract and they wanted to keep Fabregas as well.

But despite going public on his stance over Nasri, Wenger was fuming that Manchester City are still publicly courting the French midfielder and the Arsenal boss wants the Premier League to intervene.

Arsenal suspect that Nasri – who has been offered a £90,000-a-week new contract to stay at the Emirates – has been “tapped-up” as City, Manchester United and Inter Milan have all gone for him this summer.

That has turned Nasri’s head and, with Arsenal determined to stay firm, he could leave on a free transfer next summer on a lucrative contract.

Wenger revealed he has spoken to Nasri and insisted he must stay but says it is time other Premier League clubs started respecting the rules when it comes to signing players from rival clubs.

“I have spoken to Samir, of course, because he is in a situation where he has only one year to go,” said Wenger. “But we’ve not spoken about Mancini’s statement.

“Things have changed in England and I believe it is important that we go back to normal behaviour on that front.

“The rules are the rules. They have certainly to be cleaned up, the rules, as well. We will have to see (if the rules have been broken).

“For us, at this period of the season, it is important that give importance to what matters to us. Frankly, it doesn’t take sleep away from me.

“I just think it is surprising that we have to face these kind of comments. You have never heard me say any word about a player.”

Nasri started and impressed in Arsenal’s second and final game in the Far East as they drew 1-1 with Chinese Super League team Greentown. Carlos Vela was on target for the Gunners.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s unhappy midfielder Denilson – who flew home early from Arsenal’s Far East tour – is returning to Brazil on loan. Fluminese have been chasing Denilson but he is likely to join Sao Paolo.

Posh and Becks named their new arrival Harper Seven after her delivery by Caesarean section in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The unusual name provoked lots of discussion, and David has given his version of how it was chosen in a video posted on his Facebook page.He said: “A lot of thought goes into our children’s names. And Harper was a name that we’ve loved for a long time for a couple of reasons.

“One of them is that Harper is an old English name which we love. And the other reason is that Victoria’s favourite book is To Kill a Mockingbird. The author was Harper Lee.

And Becks revealed there were more reasons for Harper’s surprising middle name than just his England and Manchester United shirt number.

He explained: “A lot of people have just assumed it’s my shirt number, which I wore for many years – and part of it is.

“I had so much luck around wearing that number wearing it for England and Manchester United. It was such an influential number throughout my career and a lucky number. But that wasn’t the main reason.

“The other reason was because it symbolises spiritual perfection. Seven wonders of the world. Seven colours of the rainbow.

“And in many cultures of the world it’s regarded as a lucky number. So we love the name. We love Harper Seven and are very proud of having her in our lives and in our family. It’s an amazing time.”

Harper joins David and Victoria’s three boys Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, eight, and Cruz, six.

And the clearly delighted new dad, 36, is enjoying his family’s expansion.

He said: “We love the name, we love Harper Seven, we’re very proud of having her in our lives, in our family, and it’s an amazing time for our family right now.”

The LA Galaxy ace, 36, said that having a girl in the family was “really incredible”.

He said: “We have three beautiful healthy boys already and are so lucky to have that. And now to have a beautiful girl, having a daughter is a whole new thing.

“Having pink and lilac in the house. You have to be lot more delicate with girls than with boys. I am not used to that so it’s a whole new experience but an amazing one.

“To have that little bundle of joy in your hands and her making her little noises and opening her eyes. It really is an incredible moment for us.”

Posh, 37, welcomed Harper into the world at 7.55am on Sunday.

Speaking on Twitter yesterday, Victoria said: “Baby Harper is the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen, I have fallen in love all over again.

“We all feel so blessed and the boys love their baby sister so much.”

Ashes

A sports memorabilia article

THE BLOODY ASHES

Bodyline series

The season of 1932-33 saw one of the most significant events in cricketing history, an event which would strain the Anglo Australian relationship to the very limit.

It all began with a conversation in the Piccadilly hotel London between England Captain Douglas Jardine (Notts), a player who was obsessive in his will to win, Captain Arthur Carr, (Notts), and two skilful fast bowlers Harold Larwood, (Notts)  and  Bill Voce, (Notts).

Top of the agenda that day was the subject of fast leg theory, a highly controversial bowling technique which involved bowling a short fast pitched ball on the leg stump with a circle of usually at least five fielders set close in on the leg side. The reasoning behind this was that the batsman could usually only play the ball to the leg side often causing leg side deflections off the upper edge of the bat, ready to be caught by the quadrant of fielders behind square leg.

The reason behind the meeting was the style in which Australia had toured England in 1930, Don Bradman’s batting had run riot with the English attack, and an average of 140 runs saw Australia win the test series 2-1. Sports memorabilia from this test series is very collectable

Studies from cine film and player opinion had been made of Bradman’s batting and it was noted that he seemed to be uncomfortable addressing deliveries which pitched short,  bounced high and rose towards him in line with leg stump, a style of bowling seen by many to be both intimidating and physically threatening.

In an attempt to curb Bradman’s skilful batting prowess Jardine decided to utilise this form of bowling attack in the forthcoming encounter, later to become known as  Bodyline series.

The fast leg-theory attack had been tried at Trent Bridge – and also at Kennington Oval the previous August. Not everybody who saw it admired it however Jardine decided it was the very thing to solve the Bradman dilemma

The following two seasons of county cricket saw Larwood and Voce practicing their talents both in the nets and on the pitch much to the discomfort and occasionally fitness of the opposing batsman.

England’s pace bowlers were ready now for the hard fast Australian bowling surfaces.

With the1932/33 Australian test series underway it was not until the third test of the series at Adelaide that the wicket was considered ideal for this form of delivery and the tactics were successfully used by the England team.

Widespread condemnation quickly followed as a number of Australian batsman  left the crease  either injured or having made disappointing scores, it was after a particularly unsavoury incident in which Bert Oldfield was rendered unconscious by a  head strike resulting in a fractured skull, that the crowd became angry and a near riot broke out.

I currently have an autograph of  Bert Oldfielf which is part of my sports memorabilia collection.

Bradman for his part dealt with the bowling attack in the unorthodox manner of moving around the crease towards the leg side, away from the  line of the ball, cutting the delivery into the relatively unoccupied  offside mid field.

Bradman averaged 56.57 in the series, an average which although below par for him was still an enviable performance.

The final outcome was a 4-1 England win; the scorecard shows Larwood’s bowling averages 19.51 per wicket having taken 33 wickets.

At the series end relationships between the teams were at an all-time low. The Australian Board of Control were soon to contact the MCC proclaiming their indignation and suggesting relationships between the two countries were in jeopardy as a result of this form of gamesmanship.

The MCC passed a resolution in 1935 that ‘any form of bowling which is obviously a direct attack by the bowler upon the batsman would be an offence against the spirit of the game’.

It was a quarter of a century later that measures were taken restricting the number of players allowed to be placed behind square leg to two, this effectively put an end to a potential revival of bodyline tactics.

As time went by relations between the two countries were restored and now the Ashes series is much looked forward to and enjoyed all over the world.

On his retirement from cricket Harold Larwood emigrated to Australia where he lived in Sydney until his death at the age of 90.

Cricket Memorabilia from the controversial bodyline series is highly sought after and signed scorecards, handwritten letters, advertising material, photographs etc. are always in demand.

Tony Selby

cricketcollectables.net

Sports memorabilia

India the Next World Champion of Cricket

Mumbai: Final of World Cup 2011 starts dramatically with twice a time toss , on both tossing Sri-Lanka won. Jayawardane who never scored solid in whole world cup as in the finals and ends up Sri-Lankan innings with more than  100 not out . Sri Lanka gives target of 275 in 50 overs to India.

India loosing first wicket on the 2nd ball of their innings and soon after they lost wicket of Sachin Tendulker . Virat and Gautham gives a solid recovery to India and Dhoni ends with the six . Glory comes to India .

Without any doubt India was not capable to win the World Cup of 2011 , but they won due to amazing captaincy of MS Dhoni.

MS Dhoni declared to be the man of the match. Yuvraj Singh declared man of the series and ICC President passed Trophy to Indian captain.

Cricket World Cup Final 2011

World Cup 2007 begins and in the very first round India drops from the World Cup . ICC bears the loss of advertisement and assures this that India will be given more favors in future World Cups . Today 2nd April 2011 India is in finals of World Cup 2011 and ICC so called International Cricket Council is more like Indian Cricket Council.

Money Talks!

Yes, this is the bitter truth which we have to realize more money is coming from India to ICC and ICC don’t want to disappoint Indians for this . Regardless of caring the sentiments of other nations fighting hard for playing entertaining cricket.

In a TV show on ARY News , when Basit Ali (Former Test Player Pakistan) was asked who will win this Final encounter he said “IPL”. He also hinted this is a signal for wise that IPL will take this cup. Sri Lankans might be given huge amounts so they could also come to IPL after this world cup. , otherwise stage is banned for Sri Lankans.

This is the history of sports since 50 years , many of the closed notches had been settled in wealth and need. As , Brazil comes to settle in 1998 Football World Cup for France  might this could be another France.

Hope for the fair game.

However , Aussies are always to be a great team to comeback. And , this come back will might effect India in quarter finals.

“The adrenaline will certainly be flowing and playing in front of their home crowd in Ahmedabad will be exciting and a challenge for us,” Nielsen Australian Coach said. “We’ve got no fear now; we know we’re in the knockout stage.

“It’s exciting … a mini-grand final in itself. If you came here and thought, ‘What would be the best result? It would be great to make the final against India’. Well, we’ve got our final against India in the next few days. I’m sure if we’re on our game, they won’t necessarily be looking forward to playing against us. That’s something in our favour.”

Shoaib Akhtar will retire from the international game at the end of Pakistan’s World Cup, bringing to an end one of cricket’s most compelling and mercurial careers. He told his Pakistan team-mates of the decision at the Premadasa Stadium on Thursday morning, during an emotional gathering in which he delivered a farewell speech and was embraced by fellow players and support staff.

Shoaib made his first international appearance in December 1997, against West Indies. He shot to fame in 1999, when he bowled Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in 1999 in the Asian Test Championship game against India, and continued that form into the World Cup where he was one of Pakistan’s most effective bowlers.

But since then, issues pertaining to his action, discipline and injuries severely curtailed his career. In a little more than 13 years in international cricket, Shoaib managed just 46 Tests, but performed impressively, picking up 178 wickets at 25.69. He was a more regular feature in ODIs as Pakistan’s spearhead, and picked up 247 wickets at 24.97.

-Jago News-

Salman Butt in London