Kyrie Irving gets cheers and a win at MSG as Celtics beat Knicks

NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving heard the “We want Kyrie! We want Kyrie!” chants that echoed through Madison Square Garden.

He seemed more annoyed than flattered.


“It’s nothing but a distraction at this point,” he said.

Irving and the Boston Celtics handled it as easily as they handled the overmatched Knicks, winning 113-99 on Friday night in the first game since New York traded Kristaps Porzingis.

Irving had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists before a crowd eager to start the free agent wooing five months early.

The trade to Dallas gave the Knicks money to chase two top free agents this summer and fans showed Irving that they want him to be one of them, cheering him before and during his return from a two-game absence with a hip injury.

Irving is one of the headline names in the 2019 free agent class, and though he said at a Celtics fan event last fall that he intended to re-sign in Boston, that may be no guarantee. He told reporters at the morning shootaround to “Ask me July 1” if his plans had changed.

Discouraged earlier this season by the play of some of his younger teammates, his frustration now is with the talk about matters beyond basketball, with the trade deadline less than a week away and his name being tied to Anthony Davis’ future as he seeks a trade from New Orleans.

So the former New Jersey high school star figured it would be a scene when he was back in the area.

“Like I said, I’m appreciative of the fan support I get in any arena, but of course coming back home,” he said. “Obviously what’s going on in terms of that noise and commentary is just a bunch of nonsense right now. Can’t do anything about it so I’m just accepting, I’m appreciative, but at the same time I’ve got a game to focus on.”

Marcus Morris added 18 points for the Celtics, who won for the eighth time in nine games and remain supportive of Irving.

“He’s a guy that’s very polarizing in the NBA and the world so everything he says, even if it’s not really that serious, it’s going to be taken out of proportion,” Morris said. “But like I said, he still comes in, he’s a professional. We all love him, we all want him here.”

Damyean Dotson scored 22 points and Kevin Knox had 21 for the Knicks, who dropped their 12th straight.

The Knicks dealt Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to Dallas along with the injured Porzingis, getting Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan and Wesley Matthews in return, plus two future first-round picks.

The new players weren’t available, so the Knicks started with a backcourt of Dotson and Kadeem Allen.

The short-handed lineup hung around into the fourth quarter before opening February with a loss after going a combined 3-24 in December and January.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Al Horford and Gordon Hayward each had 14 points. … Irving gave his jersey to his father after the game.

Knicks: Coach David Fizdale said the new players had been in the arena Friday before the game. … Luke Kornet started at center and scored nine points after missing the last five games with a sprained left ankle.

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

Fizdale said he and Porzingis had a nice chat Thursday, wishing each other and joking about never getting onto the court. He said he didn’t question whether there was more he could have done to keep Porzingis happy in New York. 



“I can’t think that way. He’s obviously been here and has dealt with whatever he’s had to deal with throughout the course of his career. I can’t personalize that and put that on me,” Fizdale said. “Obviously I really worked hard to build a great relationship with him, going over to Latvia and everything, and really trying to involve him in a lot of the stuff that we’re doing.”

KYRIE’S CHEERS

Fizdale, on the chants for Irving: “You know, I am on a whole other planet when it comes to that stuff. I am just constantly into how do I help these guys win the next play, how do I get them past the last play?”

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Knicks: Host Memphis on Sunday.

source: sports.inquirer.net

GSP wins middleweight title in UFC comeback

NEW YORK — Georges St. Pierre returned from a four-year layoff and peered through the river of blood that flowed down his face to choke out Michael Bisping and win the middleweight championship at UFC 217 on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).


“I took this fight to challenge myself and I am honored to be champion once again,” he said.

St. Pierre’s win in the main event made it 3 for 3 for the championship challengers at Madison Square Garden in what was easily UFC’s card of the year. T.J. Dillashaw won the bantamweight championship and Rose Namajunas won the strawweight title on the pay-per-view card.

UFC 217 goes on the short list of one of the promotion’s great cards — and a promotion at a crossroads got a vintage performance from an MMA legend in St. Pierre and a breakthrough outing from Namajunas that stamped her as the face of the women’s division.

The 36-year-old St. Pierre had been the UFC’s 170-pound champion for nearly six years, winning 12 straight fights with nine consecutive title defenses when he walked away. St. Pierre cited the need for a mental breather before he wanted to train and fight again.

Against the trash-talking Bisping, St. Pierre fought like he had only four months off, not four years. The Canadian fighter had takedowns in each of the first two rounds as the packed MSG crowd roared for the fan favorite.

St. Pierre’s forehead got busted open and his face turned into a crimson mask. He smothered Bisping in blood as they wrestled on the ground and stood up looking as if they had just left the set of a horror film.

St. Pierre (26-2) shook it off and slapped a rear naked choke at 4:32 of the third to snuff out Bisping and win his 13th straight UFC fight.

“I don’t have words in my mouth right now,” GSP said, wiping blood from his face.

St. Pierre was one of the UFC’s biggest stars and pay-per-view draws during his long reign atop the 170-pound division, but the Canadian star walked away in November 2013. He’s back — and ready for yet another title defense.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Bader wins light heavyweight title in Bellator’s NYC debut

NEW YORK — Ryan Bader defeated Phil Davis by split decision in his Bellator debut to win the promotion’s light heavyweight championship on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Bader (23-5) defeated Davis in an MMA bout for the second time in his career and his win capped the undercard in Bellator’s New York debut. Bader won a lackluster bout filled with more boos than blows. Referee Dan Miragliotta stepped between the fighters in the fourth round and warned them about inactivity — one of the few times the crowd cheered in a TV bout designed in part to get fans hooked on ordering Bellator’s second pay-per-view card.

Bader had edged out a split decision victory over Davis when the former Division I All-American wrestlers fought for the first time on a UFC card in January 2015. The loss was Davis’ last in UFC and he had won four straight Bellator fights headed into the rematch.

The first fight was widely panned as boring and this one may have topped it for dormancy.

Bellator made its Madison Square Garden debut seven months after UFC christened the arena in the MMA genre with a record $17.7 million gate. Bellator was going to fall well shy of that massive box office bank, but for the No. 2 MMA promotion in the United States, just snagging a spot at MSG was a needed credibility boost.

Bellator will wait to find out if the pay-per-view buys (at $49.95 a clip) hit 200,000, the total the company aimed for to count as a major success. Bellator broadcast on pay-per-view for only the second time in promotional history, signaling another step in its growth as a rival for the industry-leading UFC. Bellator staged its only previous pay-per-view event in May 2014, shortly before CEO Scott Coker took over the promotion.

Bellator loaded the card with some of the biggest names in MMA to make a splash in New York.

Wanderlei Silva takes on Chael Sonnen in the main event grudge match; a fight first scheduled for a UFC pay-per-view in 2014. The 40-year-old Silva, who made his name fighting for Pride in Japan, was set for his Bellator debut following a six-year run in UFC. Sonnen, also 40, was choked out by Tito Ortiz in his Bellator debut in January. Ortiz was on hand at the Garden.

Fedor Emelianenko fights Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight bout. Emelianenko (also 40, continuing the trend) may be the greatest fighter to never sign with UFC. The Russian won his last five fights, but the days when he ruled in Japan as one of MMA’s most dynamic fighters and top heavyweights are well behind him.

In a sign Bellator craves star power over super bouts, neither of the two main events were for a championship.

Coker wore a headset as he sat cage side and watched a bank of monitors, former NFL great Herschel Walker in the first row behind him. Coker might have listened to the revamped broadcast lineup. Bellator signed Mike Goldberg, unceremoniously dumped last year by UFC after 20 years as the voice of the company, and veteran combat sports announcer Mauro Ranallo to bolster the broadcast booth.

Bellator, founded only in 2008, has failed to build that mainstream star that UFC has in the mold of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. Bellator has eschewed the PPV model and built its fan base on the strength of live TV cards on Spike (broadcast home of Saturday’s undercard) and by signing past-their-primetime MMA players to main event their biggest cards. Kimbo Slice, Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie and Rampage Jackson all took their turn in main event bouts more spectacle than sport that delivered record ratings for Bellator.

Bellator did sign more than just a few 40-something fighters for its New York debut. Aaron Pico, 20, was set to make his pro debut against Zach Freeman. Pico advanced to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in wrestling last year and was a junior golden gloves champion in 2009. Bellator jumped to sign him in 2014 and has perhaps the top prospect in the MMA game.

Heather Hardy, a boxer signed under promoter Lou Dibella, won her professional MMA debut with a bloody TKO over Alice Yauger. Hardy, of Brooklyn, New York, had the crowd going wild when she dropped Yauger with a vicious right. Hardy suffered a deep cut over her left eye following an accidental head-butt. Even the New York crowd gasped when blood gushed down Hardy’s face. Hardy wiped it off, then wiped out Yauger while the crowd roared.

“I think I just fell in love. I’m hooked,” she said. “I can’t feel it, but I have stitches in my face.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

‘Pacquiao greatest fighter of his era’

NEW YORK City—When Manny Pacquaio retires, what will be his boxing legacy?

The world’s only eight-division world champion, Fighter of the Decade for 2000 to 2009, or perhaps pound for pound king.

Trainer Freddie Roach feels his prized ward deserves a more encompassing accolade.

“Pacquiao is the greatest fighter of his era thus far,” Roach said in an interview after the second press conference of Pacquiao versus Timothy Bradley III at Madison Square Garden Thursday afternoon.

Roach may be biased, but certainly Pacquiao’s reign starting in the flyweight division up to the junior middleweight class will be beyond reach of any of his contemporaries or other rising stars.

In an illustrious career spanning 21 years, Pacquiao also won the super-feather, lightweight, super welterweight, super-welterweight (WBC), super-bantam (International Boxing Federation), feather, super-lightweight and welterweight titles.

Pacquiao’s record went 24-1-2 during the decade, winning six of his eight world titles, while emerging as the pound-for-pound king.

In addition, Pacquiao became a box-office sensation, (raking in millions of dollars) in gate receipts and pay-per-view buys.

That was Pacquiao at the top for a long time.

He was so dominant that whenever he fights, Roach will always predict a knockout victory.

And Pacquiao, almost always, will deliver.

He knocked out David Diaz, Oscar dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14, 2009.

Since then, however, Pacquiao has failed to stop 10 of his last opponents and even incurred three losses, including a disputed split-decision loss to Bradley on June 9, 2012.

That’s why, Roach, a seven-time trainer of the year, isn’t announcing a knockout prediction yet on Pacquiao-Bradley III on Aprl 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Roach told Manila-based sportswriters, however, that for the first time it was Manny who first talked about knocking out Bradley this time.

For his part, Roach would settle for any form of farewell victory.

“A win is a win, but I expect Manny to be at his best this time,” Roach added.

Roach, however, wouldn’t stand in the way of Pacquiao’s retirement plants, which he reiterated in the second stop for their two-city promotional tour that kicked off at Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.

“It’s really hard to be a boxer and senator at the same time,” added Roach. “There are more responsibilities than being a congressman.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Rock elders AC/DC back on road in 2016

NEW YORK—AC/DC will open their latest tour on February 2 in Tacoma, Washington playing 20 dates across the United States, ending with an April 4 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The rockers will then head to Europe, starting on May 7 in Lisbon and culminating on June 12 at a 46,000-capacity park in Aarhus, Denmark.

The tour follows a busy 2015 that featured 53 shows around the world including a headlining appearance at Coachella in California, one of the world’s pre-eminent music festivals.

The band capped the year on Tuesday with a show before more than 30,000 fans in Auckland, New Zealand.


AC/DC, who also released an album last year following a six-year gap, returned without founding member Malcolm Young, who has retired due to dementia.

The band has also parted ways with drummer Phil Rudd, who was convicted in New Zealand of threatening to kill an employee.

Young’s brother Angus remains the lead guitarist — known, even at age 60, for sporting his signature schoolboy outfit.

Lead singer Brian Johnson, 68, said in an interview in September that AC/DC members were “constantly surprised and amazed at how we keep the success going.”

“A good footballer, a good ice hockey player, they don’t want to retire, but unfortunately sometimes there’s a time when you have to call it quits,” he told the Morning Sun newspaper in Michigan.

“So it’s an ongoing thing with us; we never say no, and we never say never.”

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Golovkin stops Lemieux for middleweight title

NEW YORK — No big drama this time for Gennady Golovkin. Just a lot of big punches as he dominated his middleweight title fight with David Lemieux.

Golovkin battered Lemieux around the ring Saturday night on the big stage at Madison Square Garden, landing punch after punch before the referee mercifully stepped in and stopped the fight in the eighth round. He remained unbeaten in 34 fights, and stopped his opponent for the 21st straight time.

Fighting before a sold-out crowd of 20,548 cheering his every move, Golovkin was methodical as he knocked down Lemieux in the fifth round, bloodied his nose and dominated almost every second of the way.

“My goal is all the belts in the middleweight division,” said Golovkin, who said before the fight he would bring a “Big Drama Show” to the Garden.

Lemieux was on the ropes taking punch after punch when Steve Willis finally stepped in at 1:32 of the eighth round to call an end to the fight.

It was a coming out party of sorts for Golovkin, who was headlining his first pay-per-view fight, and he was at his best as he wore down Lemieux with his relentless punching.

“I told you this was a very important fight,” Golovkin said. “I give my fans and friends a big show. Thank you my fans. Thank you my people.”

With the crowd chanting “Triple G! Triple G!” Golovkin showed why he is the most feared man in the heavyweight division with yet another impressive win against an opponent who was supposed to be his best yet. He won every round on all three ringside scorecards, pitching a shutout in his biggest fight to date.

Lemieux brought a 160 pound title of his own into the ring, but was no match for Golovkin, the former amateur star from Kazakhstan who now lives in Los Angeles. Lemieux fought gamely, but his punches were mostly wild and he was forced to take punishment in return.

“I’ll keep my mouth shut tonight,” said Lemieux, whose face was marked and red. “But I’ll see him in the future.”

With Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump watching from ringside, Golovkin took control of the fight early, with his precise punches finding the mark with regularity. Lemieux seemed tentative, though by the third round he was throwing wild right hands that Golovkin had little trouble avoiding.

Golovkin (34-0, 31 knockouts) hurt Lemieux with a left hook to the head in the fourth round, then unleashed a series of head shots that backed the Canadian against the ropes. From then it was just a matter of time as Golovkin hunted down Lemieux (34-3), eager to knock him out just like he had his 20 previous opponents.

The end came in the eighth round after a series of punches to the body and the head.

“I feel like the referee called the fight too early,” Lemieux said. “I am fine. When he stopped it I wasn’t event on the mat, I can keep going.”

About the only negative on the night for Golovkin was that he hit Lemieux with a right hand while he had a knee on the canvas after going down from a left hook to the body in the fifth round.

Punch stats showed Golovkin landing 280 of 549 punches, a connect rate of 51 percent. Lemieux was credited with landing just 89 of 335 punches.

The win put Golovkin in line for a possible megafight next spring against the winner of the Nov. 21 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.

“He’ll be at the fight and he’ll be looking to fight the winner,” promoter Tom Loeffler said. “Whoever wins that fight will clearly be at the top of the sport as Gennady is himself.”

Golovkin said his goals are simple and that he’s not as concerned with making the kind of money Floyd Mayweather Jr. made on pay-per-view as he is proving he is the best fighter in the world.

In the co-main event, Roman Gonzalez remained unbeaten by stopping a game but overmatched Brian Viloria in the ninth round of their flyweight title fight.

Gonzalez upped his record to 44-0 with 38 knockouts with yet another impressive performance by a fighter many believe is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the game. The Nicaraguan who goes by the nickname Chocolatito dropped Viloria in the third round and pounded him around the ring before referee Benji Esteves moved in to stop it at 2:53 of the third round.

Viloria, a former U.S. Olympian and 112-pound champion, was still fighting hard in the final round but had absorbed tremendous punishment. The left side of his face was swollen and marked from the sheer volume of punches landed by Gonzalez.

Ringside punch stats showed his dominance, crediting Gonzalez with landing 315 punches to 161 for Viloria, who dropped to 36-5.

source: sports.inquirer.net