Neuville wins Rally of Sweden
Breen 2nd, Mikkelsen 3rd
SUNNE, Suède, Feb 18, (AFP): Belgian Thierry Neuville of Hyundai showed relentless focus to win the atypical “ice and snow” Rally of Sweden on Sunday having led the field since Friday.
Ireland’s Craig Breen in a Citroen was second at 19.8sec and Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen, also of Citroen, was third at 28.3sec while world champion Sebastien Ogier finished way down the rankings complaining of having to go first and clear the route in the snow.
Ogier, who won the season-opener in Monte Carlo in January, finished 11th a massive 8min 50sec behind Neuville as his M-Sport Ford Focus failed to overcome having to “sweep” the deep drifts.
Neuville took the lead on Friday morning and was run close for three days Ronald Gavril (18-3, 14 KOs). The judges scored it 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109. The fight was a rematch of last September’s bout in which Benavidez won the world title.
Benavidez, from Phoenix, landed 315 punches to Gavril’s 176 and connected on 41 percent of his power shots.
In an undercard IBF 147-pound title eliminator between two welterweight contenders, Yordenis Ugas (21-3, 10 KOs) stopped Ray Robinson (24-3, 12 KOs) in the seventh.
Meanwhile, David Benavidez outclassed Ronald Gavril to easily retain his WBC super-middleweight crown with a unanimous points victory on Saturday.
The 21-year-old champion from Phoenix dominated Romania’s Gavril to claim a deserved win at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Benavidez had beaten Gavril, 31, last September by a split decision to claim the vacant crown in one of the best fights of 2017.
An ill-tempered build-up to the rematch had seen Gavril vowing to right a wrong, claiming he had robbed of victory in the first fight.
But on Saturday there was only one winner, with Benavidez using his stinging jab and superior movement to toy with Gavril on his way to a resounding victory.
One judge scored it 119-109 while the two other cards had it 120-108 in favour of Benavidez, who improved to 20-0 with 17 knockouts after the win.
Benavidez, the youngest active champion in world boxing, said he had sought to exploit Gavril’s aggressive tactics.
Also: MANCHESTER, England:
George Groves retained the WBA super middleweight belt when he outsmarted Chris Eubank Jr by unanimous decision in Manchester Arena on Saturday.
Groves, who has fought in more big fights, used distance wisely to pick and choose his moments. However, he appeared to have a shoulder injury at the end, which could hamper his preparation for the final of the World Boxing Super Series in June, against Callum Smith or Jurgen Brahmer. 19 shots. Washington’s Braden Holtby allowed six goals on 33 shots through two periods. Philipp Grubauer took over in goal to start the third and gave up a goal on 11 shots.
Ducks 3, Wild 2, SO In St Paul, Minn, Nick Ritchie scored in the 11th round of a shootout and John Gibson stopped the final seven shooters in Anaheim’s victory over Minnesota. After the teams combined for 13 straight misses, Ritchie beat Devan Dubnyk.
Ryan Getzlaff and Ondrej Kase also scored in the shootout after Kase and Corey Perry scored in regulation. Gibson made 36 saves through overtime to help the Ducks, 4-1-1 in their past six, move into a tie with the Wild for the second wild-card slot in the Western Conference. Golden Knights 6, Canadiens 3 In Las Vegas, Reilly Smith had two goals and an assist in Vegas’ victory over Montreal.
Brad Hunt, Tomas Nosek, Ryan Carpenter, Nate Schmidt also scored for Vegas, and Jonathan Marchessault had three assists. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots, including a highlight-reel glove save on Charles Hudon on a breakaway in the third period, to improve to 19-6-2.
Penguins 5, Maple Leafs 3 In Pittsburgh, Olli Maatta scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period to lift Pittsburgh past Toronto.
Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists to top 900 points for his career, becoming the sixth Russian-born and the fourth player in team history to reach the milestone.