SPORTS SHORTS Galahad won’t Kid around against Kiko

KID GALAHAD won’t make the same mistake against Kiko Martinez on Saturday that his old foe Josh Warrington made in his first fight against Mauricio Lara.

Warrington, by his own admission, was distracted by the prospect of world title fights beyond Lara in their initial clash in February.

And the shock defeat he suffered at the hands of the Mexican blew apart his hopes of taking on Leo Santa Cruz, Gary Russell Junior and Can Xu later this year. IBF featherweight champion Galahad (left) — real name Barry Awad — hopes to go toe-to-toe with the division’s other world champions next year but he knows he cannot slip up against Martinez in his home city of Sheffield.

Galahad, 31, said: “You can’t take your eye off the ball. Your career could be over or you could end up getting killed, you don’t know.”

The fighter lost to Warrington in 2019 but now holds the title the Leeds boxer vacated ahead of his first meeting with Lara.

SNOOKER

BY NEIL GOULDING

JOHN HIGGINS admitted lady luck was on his side as he clinched an English Open semi-final victory over Ronnie O’sullivan.

The Wizard of Wishaw (left) conjured up a magical spell to fight back and stun the Rocket 6-5 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

“I fell over the line there,” said Higgins.

MOTOGP BY ZOE BURN

PECCO BAGNAIA blasted to a new Algarve International Circuit lap record to clinch his fifth Motogp pole in a row in Portugal.

The Italian clocked 1min 38.725secs on his final run, beating Ducati Lenovo team-mate Jack Miller to the top spot. Newly-crowned champion Fabio Quartararo was forced to settle for seventh ahead of the penultimate race of the year today.

GOLF

THOMAS PIETERS put himself in pole position to claim a fifth European Tour victory at the Portugal Masters.

The 2016 Ryder Cup star has endured a frustrating year and is without a Tour win since 2019.

But a 65 in the Algarve moved the Belgian to 16 under and handed him a share of the lead alongside Frenchman Matthieu Pavon ahead of today’s final round.

TENNIS

NOVAK DJOKOVIC made another piece of history by beating Hubert Hurkacz in the Rolex Paris Masters semi-final yesterday to ensure he will finish a season ranked world No.1 for the seventh time.

Djokovic, who won 3-6 6-0 7-6 to set up the final with Daniil Medvedev, said: “To do it for the record seventh time and surpass my childhood idol Pete Sampras is incredible.”