RUGBY UNION – TODAY
The European Champions Cup final is at Murrayfield today and features reigning cup holders Saracens against Clermont. Saracens might get home support because of the four Scots in their squad. It’s live on Sky 3 at 5pm.
FORMULA ONE – TODAY AND TOMORROW
The Spanish Grand Prix should tell us if Lewis Hamilton can get his world championship hopes back on track. The Barcelona circuit rewards the fastest qualifiers so Hamilton will be going all out in qualifying today. Both qualifying and the race are exclusively live on Sky F1 with the Grand Prix itself at 1pm tomorrow.
FOOTBALL – TODAY AND TOMORROW
When they picked the matches to broadcast after the Ladbrokes Premiership split into the top and bottom six, no doubt Sky thought Rangers v Hearts (today at 12.15) would be ultra-crucial. It’s not but will be worth watching anyway.
GOLF – TODAY AND TOMORROW
The Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass is often known as the Fifth Major not least because it offers $10.5 million in prize money, the biggest pot in the sport. The winner gets $1.8m and the man who finishes 10th will still earn $283,000. Live on Sky.
BOXING – TODAY
Kal Yafai defends his WBA super-flyweight title tonight against Japan’s Suguru Muranaka. Take Yafai to win by a knockout. Live on Sky.
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WEEKLY LIST – FINEST BOXERS TO EXECUTE ONE OF THE SPORT'S TOUGHEST SKILLS
Kal Yafai from Birmingham has quietly reached the top in the boxing super-flyweight division and tonight in his home town of Birmingham he defends his WBA title against Sugura Muranaka of Japan.
Yafai is already recognised as a fierce body puncher, the best in Britain since Ricky Hatton and our own Alex Arthur, and has stopped several opponents by hooks to the body. This week’s list is five of the best exponents of one of boxing’s most difficult skills.
SMOKIN’ JOE FRAZIER
Possibly the greatest heavyweight body puncher of them all, Frazier’s blows to the body were so powerful that numerous opponents hit the canvas from them, especially blows to the lower ribs. Muhammad Ali did not go down, but after he got the Frazier treatment in their Thriller in Manila, he passed blood in his urine.
ROBERT DURAN
The Panamian with the Hands of Stone (Manos de Piedra) is generally considered to have been the most destructive body puncher of all time at any weight. Scottish legend Ken Buchanan still maintains that the body punch which finished him in their world-title fight in New York in June 1972 was a low blow, but the footage shows that it was legitimate.
MIKE McCALLUM
The three-weight world champion originally from Jamaica had an iron chin – he was never knocked out in his pro career – which absorbed the punishment as he came forward throwing low hooks to the body. His punching was so powerful he earned the nickname the Bodysnatcher.
ALEXIS ARGUELLO
The Nicaraguan ended Jim Watt’s reign as world lightweight champion in 1981 with a classic display of all the skills, but it was his body punching that made Arguello such a threat as he weakened opponents down below before finishing up top.
BOB FITZSIMMONS
The first Briton to win the world heavyweight title, the man from Cornwall had emigrated with his family to Australia at the edge of 10. His time as a blacksmith gave him powerful arms and a prodigious punch. In March, 1897, he knocked out “Gentleman” Jim Corbett to gain the world title with a blow to the body that became known as the “solar plexus punch”.
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