A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Mayweather charged with four felonies
BOXING: Floyd Mayweather Jr was charged with four felonies, including domestic violence, over accusations by his ex-girlfriend he beat her and threatened their three children.
Mayweather (33), undefeated in 41 bouts and widely regarded as the best defensive fighter of his generation, was arrested last Friday over an altercation at the home of his former girlfriend, Josie Harris.
The boxer, who is free on €2,500 bail, was charged with battery constituting domestic violence, robbery, grand larceny, coercion and harassment. He could face more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all of the charges.
Mayweather’s lawyer, Richard Wright, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “if (the charges) are based on the same incidents in the (police) report its kind of a bombastic characterisation”.
Harris alleged in the police report that Mayweather had assaulted her after she found him in her house. She was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor facial injuries.
A recent Sports Illustrated list of of the highest-paid US athletes ranked Mayweather third with earnings of $60.3 million, behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Pakistan keep series alive
CRICKET: Umar Gul produced a match-winning spell with the old ball as Pakistan beat England by 23 runs to keep the one day series alive last night.
Gul’s career-best six for 42 featured four wickets for six runs in 18 balls from the pavilion end at the Brit Oval, to bowl England out for 218 under lights and haul the one-day international series score back to 2-1 with two to play.
Eoin Morgan (61) appeared set to justify his billing as England’s expert finisher – only to chip an outfield catch off his legs to give Gul the first of two wickets in an over at the start of his third spell.
Mafi in fine form on Munster return
RUGBY:Lifeimi Mafi marked his return with a try yesterday as Munster A outgunned their Ulster counterparts 30-3 in Nenagh.
The Tonga-born centre got through the full 80 minutes and was much like his old self, putting in several trademark big tackles and stepping well off both feet.
Elsewhere, Munster scored tries through Stephen Archer, Simon Zebo and Dave Kilcoyne.
The game was overshadowed, however, by a serious leg injury to Ulster frontrow Adam Macklin.
Leinster unstoppable at Under-20
RUGBY: Connacht were severely punished for having a man in the bin as Ulster ran in two tries in five second-half minutes to emerge victorious 24-19 in their Under-20 interprovincial clash at the Sportsground last evening.
When David Butler was harshly binned for a collision with Chris Leathem in the air 12 minutes after the restart Jackson crossed immediately for Ulster and five minutes later captain Andy Warwick finished a flowing move to leave it 24-12 for the Ulster men.
RUGBY: Unstoppable Leinster completed a 35-20 destruction of Munster, with centre Alex Kelly supplying a hat-trick of tries to claim their sixth successive Under-20 Interprovincial Championship at Donnybrook last night.
Munster recovered confidence from their opening-day defeat to Ulster (20-15) in clipping Connacht by double scores (24-12) last Friday.
Still, they were heavy underdogs to upset a serious Leinster outfit which will surely form the backbone of the Ireland U-20 Six Nations squad this season. Ulster were piped 18-15 at Ravenhill; Connacht beaten 24-14 in Galway.
In fact, it was the combination of Kelly’s second five-pointer and a superb individual effort from Sam Coghlan-Murray – he sped away from his 22-metre line – that pushed Leinster out to a 23-13 lead midway through the second period.
Still, Munster were driven forward at every opportunity by standout centre JJ Hanrahan, who contributed 13 points, including a 73rd-minute try, before Kelly and his centre partner Collie O’Shea closed out the game with Leinster’s fourth and fifth tries.
