Ali unveils a sculpture of ‘The Greatest’
Twenty-five years ago today Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali unveiled a sculpture of himself in Las Vegas.
Four years later Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United advanced to the Champions League final and eight years ago Jurgen Klopp steered Borussia Dortmund to their second consecutive Bundesliga title.
April 21 1995: Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, attended the unveiling of a sculpture of himself in Las Vegas.
The sculpture, with two others, commemorate the induction ceremony that was to be held for the American by the International Boxing Hall of Fame later that year.
An Olympic gold medallist in 1960 and multiple-times world champion, Ali had memorable bouts against Joe Frazier and George Foreman, among others, and retired having won 56 of his 61 fights. He died in 2016, aged 74.
April 21 1996: About 20,000 people took part in the 20th Paris Marathon won by Portugal’s Henrique Crisostomo with a personal best time of 2hr 12min 16sec.
April 21 1999: Manchester United celebrated their 3-2 win over Juventus in their Champions
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League semifinal secondleg match in Turin.
The first leg at Old Trafford ended in a 1-1 draw and Juventus took control of the return leg, with Filippo Inzaghi’s brace giving the Italian side a 2-0 lead within 11 minutes. However, goals from Keane, Yorke and Andy Cole helped United complete the comeback and earned them a spot in their first European Cup final in 31 years.
Alex Ferguson’s side, which had already won the FA Cup and Premier League, defeated Bayern Munich in dramatic fashion in the final to complete a historic treble.
April 21 2010:
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BMC Racing team rider Karsten Kroon suffered three facial fractures during the Fleche Wallonne in Huy, Belgium. Team Milram’s Dominik Roels took a tumble about 75km from the finish line, sliding across the road and bringing down several riders, including Kroon, who ended up with a broken nose, cheekbone and sinus bone.
Kroon’s teammate Cadel Evans won the 198km race ahead of second-placed Joaquim Rodriguez, while Spain’s Alberto Contador finished third.
April 21 2012: Spain’s Javier Gomez Noya wins the elite men’s triathlon ETU European Championships for the third time. Gomez clocked 1hr 55min 48sec, 20sec quicker than second-placed Alexander Bryukhankov. The Spaniard has five ITU world championship titles and three World Cup gold medals. He won silver in the 2012 London Olympics.
April 21 2012: Borussia Dortmund secured their second straight German Bundesliga title with a 2-0 victory against Borussia Moenchengladbach in Dortmund.
Dortmund lost three of their opening six league games but strung together a 28-match unbeaten run to pip Bayern Munich to the title. They went on to defeat Bayern in the DFB Pokal to complete a league and cup double.
Dortmund manager Jurgen
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Klopp left Dortmund in 2015 to join Liverpool and has since won the Champions League, the Uefa Super Cup and Club World Cup with the Premier League side.
April 21 2018: Amir Khan celebrated with his trainer Joe Goossen after his 39-second technical knockout win against Canada’s Phil Lo Greco in a welterweight bout at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.
Khan dropped Le Greco with a huge right hand after 19 seconds and, once the Canadian got back to his feet, followed it up with a flurry of punches, forcing the referee to end the contest in under a minute. Briton Khan went on to win the vacant WBC International welterweight title by defeating Australian Billy Dib via TKO in July 2019.
April 21, 2019: Romania’s Simona Halep celebrated after defeating France’s Caroline Garcia in the third rubber of their Fed Cup semifinal tie in Kindarena, France.
Halep dropped the first set in a tiebreak but fought back to complete a 6-7(6) 6-3 6-4 victory which gave Romania a 2-1 lead in the tie.
However, Pauline Parmentier levelled the tie with a victory against Irina-Camelia Begu before the French duo of Kristina Mladenovic and Garcia defeated Halep and Monica Niculescu 5-7 6-3 6-4 to deny Romania their first Fed Cup finals berth.
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