Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaineslettres.ump.ma/uploads/files/1/5d962c6fdbcbb.pdf · el khallouki el kihal el kihel el mahjouby el makkaouy el mamouni el maslouhi el messaoudi
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HANOVER: Germany’s Arthur Abraham defended his WBO super-mid- dleweight title with a split decision, then paid tribute to Martin Murray as the British fighter failed for the fourth time to win a world crown. Abraham, 35, took the victory 115-112, 112-115, 116-111, to register his sixth success- ful defence of his title in Hanover on Saturday in Hanover. With a tight defence and accurate flurries, home favourite Abraham had too much class for the St Helens fighter. Murray, 33, wasn’t helped by having a point deducted late in the fight for holding although the penalty had little impact in the final analysis. “I trained hard, have shed blood and sweat. I was technically and tac- tially the better boxer,” said Abraham. “But I didn’t box against a punchbag. He is a world-class fight- er, who put in a good fight and you have to acknowledge that.”It was the Berlin-based Abraham’s 44th victory in 48 professional fights, while this was the third defeat of Murray’s career after a draw with Germany’s Felix Sturm in 2011 and a unanimous loss to Argentina’s Sergio Martinez in 2013. —AFP SPORTS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015 ALBUQUERQUE: Bob Foster, the former light heavyweight champion who fought Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali and went on to become a sheriff’s deputy, died Saturday. He was 76. New Mexico state Rep. Antonio Maestas said in a statement that Foster died at Presbyterian hospital in Albuquerque with wife Rose and his family at his side. “His wife Rose Foster, his children, and Family thank you for your prayers and support in this time of healing,” the statement said. In Las Vegas before the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez fight, a 10-count was tolled on the bell at Mandalay Bay in honor of Foster. Standing 6-foot-3, the big-punching Foster was 56-8-1 with 46 knockouts. He won the light heavyweight title in 1968 when he stopped Dick Tiger in the fourth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden. It was the only time Tiger was knocked out in his career. Two years later, Foster moved up to heavyweight to chal- lenge Frazier for the title. The fight was a mismatch, with Frazier stop- ping Foster at 49 seconds of the second round. Foster regained his 175- pound title in his next fight, but in 1972 fought again as a heavyweight, meeting Ali at a Lake Tahoe casino. Again, Foster was overmatched, with Ali knocking him down seven times before the fight was finally stopped in the eighth round. Foster, who was named the third-greatest light heavyweight ever by Ring Magazine in 1994, made 14 successful title defenses before retiring as champion in 1974. —AP Bob Foster dead AUCKLAND: Several hundred people have attended the first public memori- al service for former New Zealand winger Jonah Lomu at the south-Auckland church his family often attended when he was a child. Mourners on Sunday at the Lotofale’ia Tongan Methodist Church in the suburb of Mangere, where Lomu was raised, included his wife Nadene, their sons Brayley, 6, and Dhyreille, 5, and Lomu’s mother Hepi. Many of the congre- gation wore Ta’ovala, a traditional Tongan woven skirt worn to show respect, espe- icially in times of mourning. Lomu died on Wednesday aged 40 of cardiac arrest after a 20-year battle with kid- ney illness. Details of his funeral serv- ice and other memorial events have yet to be finalized. — AP Hundreds attend memorial for Lomu Abraham retains title, pays tribute to Murray DUBAI: Representing the UAE, Ahmad Daham produced a master class performance to claim the coveted “King of Drift” title for the second consecutive year, in front of an adrenaline-fuelled 4,000 strong crowd at the Red Bull Car Park Drift Final 2015, held under the umbrella of the Dubai Motor Festival at the Meydan car park. Daham secured the first place with a score of 358 points in his tuned Nissan Sylvia. He finished ahead of Oman’s Ali Al Balushi yet again, having beaten him by one point last year. Al Balushi ended the season with 335 points from the final. Jordan’s Rafat Haroon took the third spot on the podium with 306 points. Lebanese drifter Fadi El Boustani’s night ended in heartbreak when his car stalled at the start line on his last run and in the final four. El Boustani had five minutes to address the mechanical problem, but luck was not on his side and he was disqualified. Having entered the Final as a dark horse, the Lebanese drifter certainly won the crowd’s hearts, with a blistering run that earned him 370 points - the highest score for a single run in this year’s final. “To be crowned King of Drift is incredible, and to do it on such an extremely hard technical track is unbelievable,” commented Ahmad Daham after the event. “The other guys pushed me all the way to the fin- ish and I really had to be on top of my game. I couldn’t relax for even a second.” Tough competitors The final brought together fifteen drifters hailing from Tunisia, Kuwait, Mauritius, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The tough job of separating the competitors went to judges Issa Ben Dalmouk, Robbie Nishida, Nikita Shikov and Dai Yoshihara, who watched closely for the 7 key judging criteria. A maximum of 80 points was allocated to drifting skills during the first and second sections, while the car’s looks and design accounted for up to 60 points, with another 60 points allocated to the driver’s proximity to the pendulum ‘clipping point’. Tire smoke, car sound and performance in the ‘Box’ - a tight enclo- sure the drifters need to do a ‘donut’ in - each con- tributed 40 points to the total score. The Red Bull Car Park Drift Final was held in partner- ship with Ford Middle East, Aramex Shop and Ship, Pirelli, MBC Action, Al Arabiya 99 and Meydan. Fadi Boustani - scorer of highest points (Inset) Winner Ahmed Daham - 2015. Daham claims ‘King of Drift’ title at Red Bull Car Park Drift Final Winners - RBCPD 2015 Heartbreak for disqualified Boustani Points Country Driver Position 358 UAE Ahmad Daham First 335 Oman Ali Al Balushi Second 306 Jordan Rafat Haroon Third Retired Lebanon Fadi El Boustani Fourth Final Ranking: LAS VEGAS: Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez beat Miguel Cotto on a unanimous points decision to win the WBC world middleweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday. Alvarez, the pre-fight favourite, lived up to his billing with a powerful display at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as the 25-year-old improved his career record to 46-1-1 (32 KOs). His only loss was to Floyd Mayweather in 2013. All three judges agreed Alvarez had won the contest comfortably, awarding him between nine and 11 of the 12 rounds. “We knew going into this fight that it would be a difficult journey, but I feel that I was the faster and stronger fighter tonight,” Alvarez said. “I wasn’t hurt by his punches. I was fully prepared for what Cotto was going to do in the ring, whether that was take a defence stance or be the aggressor.” No sooner was the fight over than talk turned to a possible clash with Kazak world champion Gennady Golovkin, the unbeaten WBA, IBF and interim WBC champion, nicknamed GGG. “I have respect for him, but if we do fight it’s going to be at my weight class,” Alvarez said. “I’m the champion, I don’t have to do what he wants.” After a relatively even contest early, Alvarez estab- lished his dominance over Cotto with a devastating series of blows in the eighth round. Cotto, who lost for just the fifth time in 45 career fights, was stripped of the WBC world title earlier in the week after refusing to pay the reported $300,000 sanctioning fee the organisation demanded. Had the Puerto Rican won on Saturday, the title would have remained vacant. “I am not disappointed by the WBC’s decision,” Cotto said before Saturday’s fight. “It was all about money. The fee for this fight was absurd to me. And I prefer to keep the money in my account. “The organisation wants four champions in every division just to earn a percentage from everybody. And then we have to pay for their mistakes. “I don’t need their belt. I have enough belts in my house. And with the money I saved, I can buy any belt I want.” —Reuters LAS VEGAS: Mexico’s undefeated Francisco Vargas rose from his first career knockdown to capture the World Boxing Council super featherweight title Saturday by dethroning Japanese champion Takashi Miura with a ninth- round stoppage. In his first world title bout, the 30-year-old endured a fourth-round knockdown and a right eye nearly swollen shut to seize the crown when referee Tony Weeks halted the bout after 1:31 of the ninth round. Vargas improved to 23-0 with one draw with his 20th vic- tory in a row and 17th triumph inside the distance. Miura fell to 29-3 with two drawn, a nine-fight win streak snapped by his first defeat since 2011. The 31-year-old Japanese southpaw was making his fifth defence of the crown he took from Gamaliel Diaz in 2013. When the bout was halted, Miura was ahead on the scorecards of two of the judges and the third had scored the fight evenly to that point. Vargas pounded Miura in the opening round, the Asian fighter taking hard overhand rights to the head but still attacking. Miura battled back in the second and third rounds and smashed Vargas with a powerful left to the face in the fourth round, sending the Mexican to the canvas for the first time in his career and opening a deep cut under Vargas’ right eye. Both fighters traded punishing body shots over the next few rounds, testing the limits of each other’s endurance. But it was Vargas who took the decisive edge early in the ninth round, landing an uppercut left that stunned Miura and set the stage for a flurry of punches that sent the champion down to the canvas. Miura gamely rose and battled on, but his determination in the wake of punch after punch to the head only prompt- ed Weeks to stop the onslaught. — AFP Unbeaten Vargas stops Miura to take title Alvarez beats Cotto to win WBC middleweight title LAS VEGAS: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico (L) swings wide against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of Mexico (R) during their middleweight championship boxing match on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alvarez captured the vacant World Boxing Council middleweight title with a unanimous decision vic- tory over Cotto. — AFP
