FURY STOPS WHYTE IN SIX, RETAINS WBC HEAVY TITLE

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury retained his WBC title with a brutal sixth-round stoppage of fellow Briton Dillian Whyte in front of more than 94,000 spectators at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

A right uppercut from Fury sent Whyte to the canvas and the champion raised his right hand in celebration. Whyte, who appeared to lose a tooth from the mighty punch, got to his feet and tried to show he was ready to continue but then staggered, leading the referee to end the fight.

Fury toyed with Whyte for much of a cagey fight, with Whyte — the longtime mandatory challenger — mostly reckless with some big, wayward shots.

It was a 32nd win for the undefeated Fury, who defended his WBC belt for the second time and has talked of retiring at the age of 33.

Before giving the biggest ever capacity for a boxing bout in Britain a now-familiar post-fight rendition of Don Mclean’s “American Pie,” Fury — one of boxing’s most colorful and controversial characters — suggested he would stick to a pre-fight vow to hang up his gloves.

“This might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King,” Fury said in the ring, with his WBC and Ring Magazine belts around his shoulders. “What a way to go out.”

It certainly was. The punch that ended the fight with a few seconds to go in the sixth came pretty much out of nowhere, with Fury in control of the fight without truly exerting himself.

College basketball

For a second straight year, the UCSD men’s basketball team has lost its leading scorer to the transfer portal. Last year, it was guard Tyrell Roberts (19.2 points) to Washington State. This year, Swiss forward Toni Rocak (15.1 points, 6.5 rebounds) announced he is heading to USF. The Tritons did not expect Rocak to stay for an extra COVID season after playing two at Division III Regis College and two at UCSD, but the thought was he might return to Europe and turn pro. Instead, he hopped in the portal and becomes the second Div. I player from a San Diego school to end up at USF (USD’S Yauhen Massalski transferred there last season).

Locally

Chase Meidroth hit a late-game home run as University of San Diego baseball (25-13, 11-7 WCC) earned a hard-fought 4-3 win in the series finale at BYU (21-16, 7-8).

The No. 6 Cal State San Marcos softball team (36-8, 25-7 CCAA) concluded its regular-season home schedule with a series split against Cal State Monterey Bay (31-17, 16-16), dropping the first game 11-4 before rebounding with an 8-0 shutout in the series finale.

The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (13-28, 9-22 CCAA) dropped a pair of games at Cal Poly Pomona (25-15, 20-10) by scores of 10-7 and 7-4.

After mustering up enough offense to secure the series victory, the Point Loma Nazarene baseball team (36-6, 18-6 Pacwest) ended with a doubleheader split against visiting Hawai’i-hilo (26-16, 14-14). The Sea Lions won the first game 3-2, but lost the second, 2-0.

Tennis

Novak Djokovic booked a place in the Serbia Open final after overcoming another slow start and Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Djokovic will face Andrey Rublev in today’s final. The second-seeded Russian player defeated Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will play Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Stuttgart Open after both came through their respective semifinals. Swiatek stretched her winning run to 22 matches by overcoming Liudmila Samsonova 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 to move into her fourth final of the season. Sabalenka defeated the second-seeded Paula Badosa 7-6 (5), 6-4.

The semifinals of the Barcelona Open were suspended because of rain and will be finished on the same day as the final. The matches on Saturday between Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur and between Pablo Carreno and Diego Schwartzman were both paused with the score 2-2 in the first set.

Soccer

Paris Saint-germain clinched a record-tying 10th French league title. Lionel Messi scored in their 1-1 home draw with Lens.

The Argentina superstar controlled a pass from Neymar before curling home from the edge of the box in the 68th minute.

Bayern Munich completed a decade of domestic dominance by beating main rival Borussia Dortmund 3-1 to seal a record-extending 10th consecutive Bundesliga title.

Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus scored more goals in 53 minutes than he had in the previous eight months in the English Premier League. Jesus became the first player in the league to score four goals in one game this season in leading City to a 5-1 thrashing of Watford.