DAVIS UPPER CUT STOPS SANTA CRUZ

Gervonta “Tank” Davis knocked out Leo Santa Cruz with a stunning uppercut in the sixth round to retain his WBA lightweight championship and take Santa Cruz’s WBA junior lightweight title Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Davis (24-0, 23 KOS) stunned Santa Cruz with a pair of left-handed hooks to the side of the head to set up the final blow. With Santa Cruz retreating to his own corner, Davis delivered a lefthanded uppercut to the jaw that dropped Santa Cruz immediately. Referee Rafael Ramos immediately stopped the bout 2:40 into the sixth with Santa Cruz unconscious and his right leg bent behind him.

Santa Cruz (37-2-1) remained unconscious for a few minutes before rising with assistance and smiling while sitting on a stool to acknowledge that he was fine.

In the co-main event,

Mario Barrios retained his WBA super lightweight championship with a sixthround knockout against

Ryan Karl before a hometown crowd.

MLS

Major League Soccer postponed the LAFC’S scheduled game tonight at San Jose, and canceled Minnesota’s match at Sporting Kansas City because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fabrice-jean Picault scored twice in FC Dallas’ 3-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo (4-9-9) at Frisco, Texas. FC Dallas improved to 8-5-7.

Boris Sekulic scored his second career MLS goal and the visiting Chicago Fire (59-7) played Nashville (7-6-8) to a 1-1 tie.

International soccer

On a day uncertainty reigned in England as the nation prepared to go back into lockdown, the Premier League returned to something resembling normality. Three of the teams expected to contend for the title — Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool — all picked up wins in back-toback fixtures. There was also the familiar sight of Liverpool, the defending champion, back atop the standings thanks to a late goal.

Diogo Jota came off the bench and scored in the 85th minute to earn Liverpool a hard-fought 2-1 victory over West Ham, extending the team’s unbeaten record in league play at Anfield to 63 games — tied for the longest streak in the club’s history.

A well-controlled 1-0 win at Sheffield United saw City return to the top half of the standings and stay five points behind Liverpool, with a game in hand. Kyle Walker was the scorer against his boyhood team.

Chelsea followed that with a 3-0 win at Burnley — secured through goals by

Hakim Ziyech, Kurt Zouma and Timo Werner — and moved into the top four.

Kylian Mbappe set up the opening goal and scored from a penalty as French league leader Paris Saintgermain shook off a sluggish start to beat Nantes 3-0 for a seventh straight win.

Luis Muriel scored twice to help Atalanta get back on track in Serie A with a 2-1 win at newly promoted Crotone.

Joao Felix scored his second brace in a week to star in another win for Atletico Madrid, while Real Madrid’s

Eden Hazard emerged from his yearlong scoring rut. Felix struck Atletico’s first two goals in a 3-1 victory at Osasuna. Hazard, likewise, gave Madrid fans some hope that his club-record signing from Chelsea last year was not a mistake. The often-injured Belgian blasted in his first goal since October of last year to spark Madrid’s 4-1 win over Huesca.

Tennis

Wimbledon champion Simona Halep tested positive for COVID-19 and said that she is “recovering well from mild symptoms.” The 29year-old Halep, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, had skipped the U.S. Open due to fears of catching the coronavirus. She said in August that she preferred to stay and train in Europe.

Andrey Rublev advanced to his fifth final of the season, setting up a title match against Lorenzo Sonego at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The fifthseeded Rublev led 6-4, 4-1 when Kevin Anderson pulled out of their semifinal with a right thigh issue. Sonego beat Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4, a day after he upset top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Cycling

David Gaudu of France won the grueling 11th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, while title rivals Primoz Roglic and Richard Carapaz remained locked atop the overall classification.