It’s a shame that the revival of the heavyweight division in boxing has been somewhat put on hold by the deals that the key players have signed (Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder) with various TV networks and streaming services. In splashing the cash to the tune of tends of millions, it’s not really in their interests to go straight for the epic encounters the fans all want to see. Nevertheless, we’ll of course still be tuning into the exploits of these three in the hope that eventually two of them will cross paths in a no doubt memorable match-up.
With all of this attention placed on the trio, the three fighters are looking to impress, and Deontay got the first chance to do that in his WBC world heavyweight title defense against Dominic Breazeale on May 18th in New York. After controversial comments earlier this week about wanting a ‘body on his result’ Wilder made fast work of the encounter, and added yet another knock out to his record, now standing at 40 knock outs from 41 wins (and one draw – against Tyson Fury – aka the Undertaker!).
Despite the brevity of the bout, Breazeale did land a couple of good punches while defending himself from the barrage, and they did appear to slow Wilder in his tracks for a moment. Wilder’s knock out moments later though was a stark demonstration of his devastating power. It’s an exciting time in the heavyweight division, with Anthony Joshua taking on Andy Ruiz Jr on 1st June and Tyson Fury vs Tom Schwarz on 15th June. Both fights are stateside, so fans in the UK are in for a late night!
The men’s 400 meter hurdles final at the 2019 SEC Outdoor Championships sure got interesting this past weekend. The suspiciously superhero sounding Infinite Tucker decided to take drastic action to ensure the win, by propelling himself over the finish line, Superman style. His herculean effort paid off with him finishing the race in 49:38, ahead of his Texas A&M team mate Robert Grant. Tucker, who placed second last year, clearly wasn’t going to let the same thing happen this year and so decided to activate his special move. To Infinity and Beyond!!
In sport, it of course pays to have a competitive spirit. The ‘it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part’ crowd are kept at arms length in a pursuit of achievement and excellence. Of course though, sometimes the will to win can push other laudable qualities out of the frame too, and that looks to have happened here.
“During an open water swimming race (as part of the International Arena Aquamasters Swimming Races held in Marmaris, Turkey), 40-year-old former national swimmer Tolga Öcal charged into 13-year-old Seyfi Diker moments before he was about to cross the finish line in first place. Both swimmers ultimately suffered from the incident, allowing another swimmer to take first place, with Öcal taking second, and a devastated Diker taking third. Of course this incident may have been accidental, but it certainly looks bad based on the footage.
Hopefully young Seyfi Diker won’t be dissuaded from taking part in further events, due to the distasteful incident in this 1.5-kilometer race. A silver lining is that Öcal was disqualified for his unsportsmanlike behavior, with the youngster being awarded the win.
Completing a marathon would surely be a tall order for most of us, but so confident was Maidstone, Kent based Lukas Bates of his athletic abilities that he decided to complete last weekends London Marathon in a Big Ben costume. In what may have ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ he was attempting to break the rather niche sounding Guinness World Record Marathon time for an individual wearing a landmark based costume (world records are getting pretty niche nowadays!!).
Suffice to say he had some troubles along the way, in part due to the wind picking up. This was much to the delight or alarm of anyone in the vicinity with a camera phone, or indeed eyes. Not one to let the elements get in his way though, Bates pushed on, and although not quite on course to break the record he was set to be a good showing.
Unfortunately, in one final cruel twist of fate, his costume turned out to be slightly too tall to get over the finish line. This resulted in help being required to angle the outfit in such a way that the plucky athlete could actually finish the race. ‘This’ aspect become pretty much the story of his participation, making onto news websityes around the world, but at least it made the nation smile. Maybe next year I’ll enter wearing an especially tall hat and see if I too can experience 15 minutes of Internet fame!
