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GUARDIAN Thu, 10 May 2012 08:54:00 GMT
• Khan reacts with anger to Peterson's failed drugs test
• 'He acted so innocent … He could have destroyed my life'
From the wreckage of a rematch that never was, Amir Khan moves on, hoping to fight again soon for the world titles that should never have been taken away from him, possibly against the rising young Philadelphian Danny García in late June or July.
Lamont Peterson, meanwhile, can only contemplate a desperate future, stripped not only of the titles he took from Khan last December when doped up on a testosterone pellet embedded in his hip (a mistake his camp ludicrously described as "inadvertent"), but destined to be regarded forever as a drugs cheat and denied the chance to defend his belts against Khan in Las Vegas on 19 May.
That dream is shattered for the street kid rescued from poverty by a sport he would ultimately betray. He keeps the $500,000 (£309,200) he earned against Khan in Washington, but work opportunities are now seriously compromised.
He and his.......
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GUARDIAN Tue, 08 May 2012 21:11:00 GMT
• Delay over test results shocking, says Khan camp
• About 4,000 British fans bought tickets and booked flights
The world title rematch between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson in Las Vegas on 19 July edged closer to cancellation on Tuesday night when it was confirmed the American has tested positive for testosterone use.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is responsible for the conduct of the promotion, will take submissions from Peterson's legal advisers before delivering a judgment within the next day or so.
"Unless there's some real obvious and legitimate reason for the positive test, he's not fighting," NSAC's executive Keith Kizer told the Associated Press.
The development will cause concern for the estimated 4,000 British fans who have booked flights, hotels and fight tickets to support Khan as he seeks to reclaim the WBA and IBF light-welterweight belts lost in a controversial fight in Washington last December.
So, while anarchy was ruling the day in London at....
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GUARDIAN Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:25:24 GMT
Justice department prosecutors will again try to convict the former pitcher after an embarrassing mistrial last summer
The justice department, embarrassed by blundering into a mistrial of Roger Clemens last year, has added more prosecutors as it tries again to convict the famed pitcher of lying to Congress when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs.
Jury selection in the new trial begins Monday.
The legendary former pitcher, who famously reveled in staring down hitters, will face a prosecution lineup of five lawyers – more than double the two from the first trial.
Last July, US district judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial on only the second day of testimony, after prosecutors showed jurors evidence that had been ruled inadmissible. Walton also will preside over the new trial, which is expected to last four to six weeks.
The Clemens team won't be outgunned. It has six lawyers working on the case, led by Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin, whose Rusty Hardin &........
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GUARDIAN Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:59:01 GMT
Children exposed to the dangers of street life are often ignored; a global campaign based around football hopes to change that
Some call him the new Pelé, others the next Lionel Messi. One thing is certain: every football team could do with a player like Neymar in its ranks, and the São Paulo street children who represented Brazil at the inaugural Street Child World Cup in Durban two years ago are no different.
Fortunately, in Marcelo da Silva, the kids have a Neymar of their own. Same hometown. Same uber-cool mohawk. Similarly impish personality, as is plain to see when he adopts a tough-guy expression for a photograph before breaking into a conspiratorial grin the moment the snapper's lens is turned. And if he falls short of Neymar's stratospheric standards, a Brazilian birth certificate naturally ensures Da Silva is none too shoddy with a ball at his feet, either.
There, though, the similarities end abruptly. Raised in the same state as the star whose face seems to peer.....
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GUARDIAN Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:59:00 GMT
When John Carlos raised his fist in a black power salute at the 1968 Olympics, it changed 20th-century history – and his own life – for ever. How does he feel about it now?
You're probably not familiar with the name John Carlos. But you almost certainly know his image. It's 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics and the medals are being hung round the necks of Tommie Smith (USA, gold), Peter Norman (Australia, silver) and Carlos (USA, bronze). As the Star-Spangled Banner begins to play, Smith and Carlos, two black Americans wearing black gloves, raise their fists in the black power salute. It is a symbol of resistance and defiance, seared into 20th-century history, that Carlos feels he was put on Earth to perform.
"In life, there's the beginning and the end," he says. "The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between – whether you're prepared to do what it takes to make change. There has to be physical and material sacrifice. When all the.....
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GUARDIAN Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:00:07 GMT
How the scared boy with a phobia overcame his fears and became a world beater
The three-and-a-half reverse somersault with tuck – officially known as dive 307C – is one of the most difficult in the sport. It was added to the table of dives in September 1982, and Greg Louganis started working on it immediately. Initially he stayed on the ground, using a spotting belt – a device used to help gymnasts practise particularly complicated dismounts – until he had perfected the action. When it was time for him to first attempt the dive for real, Louganis climbed up to the platform, 10m – a little higher than two double decker buses – above his practice pool, and froze.
"He wouldn't go," his coach, Ron O'Brien, said. "He'd stand on the end of the platform and stand and stand, and step back. I told him he just had to learn that dive, that he could bring his lunch and dinner the next day, because he was going to stay up there till he did do it."
Louganis conquered his fear, as he had.......
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GUARDIAN Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:08:18 GMT
When Bolton Wanderers star Fabrice Muamba, 23, dramatically collapsed last Saturday he came perilously close to death. This is the remarkable story of the team that saved him
At 18.13 GMT last Saturday, 43 minutes after kick-off in the FA Cup tie between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, played at White Hart Lane, north London, home of Spurs, 23-year-old Fabrice Muamba collapsed. As the stadium fell silent and medical staff huddled around him, the match was abandoned. Muamba's heart stopped beating for 78 minutes.
18.13-18.19
THE COLLAPSE
The first minutes after Muamba collapsed were crucial. Every minute lost before applying CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation: the urgent and sometimes necessarily savage – it can break ribs – application of downthrusts to the chest to keep oxygen artificially flowing from the heart) is estimated to decrease chances of survival by 10%.
Cardiac arrest, which is what Muamba suffered, is significantly different from a heart attack. The.....
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GUARDIAN Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:59:42 GMT
The legendary champion talks of sexual abuse, cocaine and alcohol, and how he beat some of boxing's hardest men
"Oh man, that's scary," Sugar Ray Leonard says as his eyes open wide and he clutches my arm. "That hits me like a thunderbolt. It's amazing how the truth gets you like that."
Even when he is spooked, Leonard still looks like a million dollars. The handsome face and the gleaming smile remain, even if they are worn by the years of pain. Beyond his epic fights in the 1980s against Thomas Hearns, Roberto Durán and Marvin Hagler, Leonard has waged lonelier battles. The 55-year-old struggled for decades with the secret fact that he had been sexually molested twice as a boy by middle-aged men; while his more recent trials with drugs and alcoholism crossed bleak terrain.
Yet this is how an involving interview with one of the greatest fighters in history unfolds, as Leonard reacts with raw immediacy. "Tell me again what he said," he urges.
And so I recount in more detail how,..
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| Full List of Performance Drugs articles |
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