ONTHIS DAY

■ 1855: The longest bareknuckle boxing contest on record took place between James Kelly and Jonathan Smith at Dalesford, New South Wales. It lasted six hours and 15 minutes.

■ 1981: Former twoweight world champion Edwin Valero was born. The Venezuelan, who won titles at super-featherweight and lightweight, won all 27 of his professional bouts by knockout. He committed suicide in April 2010, aged 28, in prison after being arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife.

■ 1995: The United States won the Davis Cup for the 31st time when world No 1 Pete Sampras gave them a 3-1 lead over Russia in the final in Moscow by defeating Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

■ 2007: Muttiah Muralitharan claimed a then world record 709th Test wicket by bowling Paul Collingwood in the first Test against England at Kandy.

■ 2018: Luka Modric won the Ballon d’Or – the first time since 2007 the award did not go to either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.