Left field

Should Hatton call it a day after Pacquiao defeat?

Ricky Hatton is considering his future after favourite Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines claimed the IBO light-welterweight title with a stunning second round knockout of the Briton on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Pacquiao twice knocked the Englishman to the canvas in the opening round before ending the fight with a stinging left hook at the MGM Grand Hotel’s Garden Arena.

Hatton is a proud man but the sight of Floyd Mayweather Jr coming out of retirement may prompt him to stay on.

Then again, at least he would have Manchester City if he quit boxing.

Rumours fly around Hatton-Pacman

There is nothing like big fight week in Las Vegas to knock promoters heads together and sort out the next mouth-watering match-ups.

As we close in on Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton’s eagerly awaited showdown on Saturday night the press hounds have been joined in the media circus by many current fighters as the jockeying for opponents’ takes place.

Rumours have swirled in Vegas that Floyd Mayweather Jr. 32, has signed on the bottom line and agreed to fight hard-as-nails Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in a July 18 showdown with the victor of that likely to face Saturday’s winner.

Offering his thoughts on the winner of “PacMan” versus the “Hitman” has been “Sugar” Shane Mosley, keen to keep his face in the frame with fans and promoters. If Mayweather decides to change his mind once more and stay in his retirement home Mosley would be the favourite to face either Hatton or Pacquiao.

Elsewhere two men who share a fading ambition to tempt undefeated super-middle and light-heavyweight supremo Joe Calzaghe out of retirement are rumoured to be close to sealing a deal to square off.

Bernard “the Executioner” Hopkins has been helping to promote this week’s fight for Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy promotions but the 44-year-old is said to be keen to step back into the ring and Britain’s Carl Froch, another Vegas resident this week, is a likely opponent.

American middleweight Paul “the Punisher” Williams is another who has been seen lurking in the gambling capital for a fight.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

The sort of result that wins titles: Middlesbrough 0 United 2

In Spain, you often hear players and coaches talking about "the sort of match that decides title races". More often that not they're talking about the tricky away game against awkward opposition rather than a high profile match against direct rivals.

Manchester United's 2-0 win away to Middlesbrough on Saturday was just that sort of game, and just the sort of performance that will leave their rivals utterly deflated.

It was a match that could easily have re-opened the championship. United were playing less than 72 hours after their Champions League semi-final first leg at home to Arsenal and three days before the return in London.

Middlesbrough are desperate for points, as they scrap it out at the bottom of the table, yet Alex Ferguson was able to rest a bunch of players and yet still see his team win with plenty to spare, thanks to goals from Ryan Giggs and and Park Ji-sung.

United still have a couple of potential banana skins with matches to come against Manchester City and Arsenal but this was a real show of authority, especially after Liverpool's recent defeat here.

So as far as the title race goes, that's that, isn't it?

PHOTO: Manchester United's Ryan Giggs (R) celebrates scoring against Middlesbrough with Federico Macheda, May 2, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

from MediaFile:

Baltimore Sun fires reporters during baseball game

The headline says it all, and adds a nasty twist to this week's purge at The Sun in Baltimore. Here's part of The Guardian's report on how the Tribune-owned Sun did the deed:

The group, consisting of three writers and a photographer, were told the news as they reported back from a game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels in a move that was documented by a fellow reporter online.

"Tough times in the newspaper biz," wrote the OC Register's Bill Plunkett as an aside during his inning-by-inning update from the game. "Two writers for the Baltimore Sun in the press box here got the news - by phone, during the game - that they had been laid off in the latest round of cost-cutting. Stay classy, Baltimore Sun management."

Plunkett subsequently updated his comments, adding that another reporter and a photographer had also been axed in the same way.

Here's the original blog post that Plunkett wrote.

Meanwhile, I'll ask one indelicate question:

I've never been a sportwriter (with two or three notably poor exceptions in my 15 years in journalism), but... how many reporters does a newspaper need at a minimum to cover a baseball game? (The Wall Street Journal discovered last month: not as many as we have) It's the same question I had when I discovered that The Boston Globe -- which could learn whether it will live or die by tonight -- has five science reporters. I like it when the job market I work in has lots of places for me to do what I do, but... five science reporters?

RFU gets tough over French exodus

English rugby officials are not happy about leading players heading for the riches of France and, week by week, are ratcheting up the pressure on those heading across the Channel.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) seems not to be much interested in any benefits that might be accrued by players developing their game in a new environment – they want total control.

The RFU said on Thursday that anyone unable to guarantee his availability for England’s 2010 tour to Australia will be left out of Martin Johnson’s elite player squad, while anyone not available for all training sessions will not be picked.

The alarm bells started to sound when Wasps trip James Haskell, Riki Flutey and Tom Palmer announced that they would be moving to French clubs next season. Iain Balshaw joined them this week while Jonny Wilkinson’s big-money move to Toulon is the worst-kept secret in the game.

Some of the players involved will say they are moving to improve their game and facing the challenge of a new way of life but it’s also true they can earn far bigger salaries in the rich French league than in England, where there is a 4.2 million pounds-per-year salary cap.

Haskell said recently that his contract with Stade Francais included clauses to ensure he could attend all England’s training sessions, but the French clubs might not be so keen to get into line with all the RFU’s demands that were agreed with England’s clubs in the much-trumpeted “eight year agreement.”

And with their Top 14 final set to be played in the first week of June next year, a clash with England’s preparation for Australia is already looming.

We know our Onions, but what about other foody names?

I defy anyone to read the name Graham Onions without letting off a short, poorly subdued snigger. It’s a brilliant name that brings out the schoolboy humour in all of us.

The Durham seamer’s call-up into the England cricket squad propelled him to the pantheon of headline writers’ dreams alongside Usain Bolt, Ian Rush and Mardy Fish.

Onions relishes show of faith (The Times) They’re crying out for Onions (The Mirror) Onions makes Harmy weep (The Sun)

The Onions household will never have groaned so much over their cornflakes as when assessing Thursday’s newspaper headlines.

Mr Onions (I’m still smiling), however, got myself and Reuters sportsdesk colleagues thinking of other great sportspeople’s names, namely those related to food.

A strict set of criteria was quickly established: the name must be spelt correctly (Patrik Berger, sorry mate but you just don’t cut the mustard), Frankie Bunn also fell foul of the rules.