Sir Mo Farah (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Athletics
Sir Mo Farah has won the Djibouti International Half Marathon with a time of 63:07. The victory is a strong start to his racing schedule in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Following a training block in Ethiopia, Farah, 37, raced for the first time since winning the Antrim Coast Half Marathon six months ago.
Boxing
Turkey’s Avni Yildirim was defeated by Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in the super middleweight title fight on February 27. Alvarez forced his opponent to quit on the stool after three rounds in front of 18,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Cricket
Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal’s 18 month-ban for failing to report corrupt approaches has been reduced to a year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on February 26. The 30-year-old was also fined 4.25 million Pakistani rupees (£18,925).
Mixed Martial Arts
The rising Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight contender Islam Makhachev put on, outclassing American Drew Dober at UFC 259 event in Las Vegas on March 6. Makhachev out-grappled for two rounds to then submit him in round 3 with an arm-triangle choke.
UFC President has reacted to Khamzat Chimaev’s shock retirement with the UFC star calling time on his career in an emotional post on social media. Chimaev, 26, appeared to announce his retirement just three weeks after being forced to withdraw from his main-event bout against Leon Edwards.
Chimaev fighter has been suffering from the long-term effects of Covid-19. ‘Thank you all so much for supporting me in my journey in this sport. I think I’m done,’ he wrote on Instagram. Chimaev took to social media again to post a picture that showed a spray of what appeared to be blood in a sink.
White says Chimaev had an emotional training session but isn’t ready to quit. When he got here, the doctors took care of him, and they put him on prednisolone, which is a nasty f**king steroid” he said.
“So, he’s on prednisolone, and he’s supposed to be taking this thing and chilling, relaxing, and letting himself recover. He went in and f**king trained today, felt like sh*t, and got super emotional and posted that. He’s not supposed to be training, but you know, this guy’s a savage… he just got emotional and posted that, but he ain’t quitting”.
