Stevenson easily wins decision over Valdez
World Boxing Organization champion Shakur Stevenson handed Oscar Valdez the first loss of his career late Saturday night in a junior lightweight championship bout.
What some thought could be a fight of the year candidate turned into a one-sided boxing clinic.
Stevenson (18- 0, nine KOS) won by unanimous decision and took Valdez’s World Boxing Council belt.
Stevenson displayed faster hands, exquisite footwork and overall better boxing skills than Valdez. Stevenson outpunched his opponent 189-110 and landed 53 percent of his power punches.
Judge Tim Cheatham had the fight scored 117-110, while Dave Moretti and David Sutherland had it 118-109.
AUTO RACING
Rain stopped the action only 78 laps into the 400-mile NASCAR Cup Series race at
Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
With a green flag start just after 3 p.m., and no lights at the concrete mile track, NASCAR faced a tight window to reach the halfway mark needed for an official race. So it will fire the engines again at noon Monday with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott starting 1-2.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Jay Heath, Arizona State’s No. 2 scorer last season and a D.C. native, is transferring to Georgetown, the schools announced Saturday.
A 6-foot-3 guard who scored 10.6 points per game, Heath played one season for the Sun Devils after spending his first two years at Boston College.
Heath played the last two years of his high school career at Woodrow Wilson (which has been renamed Jackson-reed High).
— Cindy Boren Brinae Alexander is joining the Maryland women’s basketball team as a graduate transfer, the program announced.
The 6-footer was Vanderbilt’s top scorer last season, averaging 15.2 points per game and shooting 36 percent from threepoint range.
HOCKEY
The Pittsburgh Penguins will begin their first-round playoff matchup with the New York Rangers without Tristan Jarry,
though they haven’t ruled out the all-star’s return before the end of the series.
Coach Mike Sullivan
characterized Jarry as “day-today” but indicated Jarry would not be available when the bestof-seven series opens in New York on Tuesday. . . .
Kyle Connor scored his 47th goal of the season at 9:05 of the third period to rally the Winnipeg Jets to a seasonending 4-3 win over the visiting Seattle Kraken.
TENNIS
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic criticized Wimbledon’s decision to exclude Russian and Belarus players from this year’s tournament following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The two tennis greats said Wimbledon acted unfairly.
“I think it’s very unfair [on] my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues. . . . It’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment with the war,” Nadal, a 21-time Grand Slam winner, said in Spain, where both he and Djokovic are preparing to play in the Madrid Open.
“I’m sorry for them,” Nadal said. “Wimbledon just took their decision. . . . The government didn’t force them to do it.” . . .
Naomi Osaka and Garbiñe Muguruza were among leading players to be knocked out of the Madrid Open on a day of upsets.
Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo
beat Osaka, 6-3, 6-1, in the second round on the Spanish capital’s outdoor clay courts. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, enjoyed six aces but had her serve broken five times by Sorribes Tormo.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina
brushed aside Muguruza, 6-3, 6- 0. . . .
Sebastián Báez enjoyed a straight-set victory over American Frances Tiafoe to win the Estoril Open in Portugal.
Báez won, 6-3, 6-2, on the outdoor clay court for the 21-year-old Argentine’s first
MISC.
Cassidy Weeks scored six goals as second-seeded Boston College eliminated Virginia from the ACC women’s lacrosse tournament in South Bend, Ind. The Cavaliers dropped to 9-9. . . .
Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel highlight a 41-member U.S. swimming team that will compete at this summer’s world
championships in Budapest.
The squad was selected at a meet in Greensboro, N.C., that ended Saturday night.
Ledecky claimed victories in four freestyle events ranging from 200 to 1,500 meters. She will look to add to the 15 gold medals and three silvers she won at the last four world championships.