Pavlik stops Rubio in ninth round to retain title

Kelly Pavlik dominated overmatched Marco Antonio Rubio from the start and stopped the Mexican challenger in the ninth round before a hometown Youngstown, Ohio, crowd on Saturday night to hold on to his WBO middleweight crown.

Pavlik outclassed and outpunched Rubio almost the entire fight, hurting him in the eighth round and battering him throughout the ninth, after which his corner decided he couldn’t continue.

•Cotto claims title: Miguel Cotto won the WBO welterweight championship, stopping Michael Jennings at 2:36 of the fifth round in New York. Cotto dominated at Madison Square Garden, dropping Jennings twice in the fourth round with merciless body shots and once in the fifth before the fight was stopped.

Golf

Mickelson out front

Phil Mickelson ran off four straight birdies late in his round for a 9-under 62 to build a four-shot lead going into the final round of the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

Mickelson, the defending champion, was at 16-under 197. Mickelson, Fred Couples and Argentina’s Andres Romero will make up the last group today.

•Jones takes lead: Gene Jones shot a 70 to take a one-stroke lead at 4-under 140 after the second round of the Champion Tour’s ACE Group Classic in Naples, Fla.

Tennis

Roddick in final

Andy Roddick struggled through nearly two sets against Lleyton Hewitt before pulling out a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory in the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tenn.

Roddick will play Czech Radek Stepanek, who breezed past qualifier Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-1.

•Milestone for Williams: Venus Williams won her 40th singles title, defeating Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

NHL

Brunette’s run ends

Minnesota left wing Andrew Brunette sat out a 5-2 victory against visiting Detroit because of a lower-body injury, ending the NHL’s longest active consecutive games streak at 509. He last missed a game Dec. 31, 2001.

•Sundin scores winner: Mats Sundin scored the shootout winner in his return to the city where he spent 13 memorable years, giving the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory over the host Toronto Maple Leafs.

College men’s basketball

Texas upsets Oklahoma

A.J. Abrams scored 18 of Texas’ final 20 points, leading the Longhorns (18-8, 7-5 Big 12) to a 73-68 upset of No. 2 Oklahoma (25-2, 11-1), which had to play most of the game without leading scorer and rebounder Blake Griffin after he suffered a concussion in the first half in Austin, Texas.

NBA

Jazz win one for Miller

Deron Williams had 20 points and 13 assists as the Utah Jazz honored the memory of Larry H. Miller with a 102-88 win over the visiting New Orleans Hornets at Salt Lake City.

The Jazz held a pregame moment of silence before the game and the players wore patches with the initials LHM.

After the buzzer, Williams gave the game ball to Miller’s widow, Gail. Miller, 64, died Friday of complications from diabetes.

•Spurs rout Wizards: Roger Mason had 25 points and five assists against his old team as the San Antonio Spurs wrapped up their 19-day road trip with a 98-67 win over the Washington Wizards.

Winter sports

Vonn close second

Gina Stechert of Germany edged Lindsey Vonn of the United States by 0.01 seconds in Tarvisio, Italy, for her first World Cup victory in a downhill.

•Cuche victorious: Didier Cuche of Switzerland won the giant slalom in Sestriere, Italy, for his first World Cup win of the season. Ted Ligety of the U.S. did not finish.

•Miller has daughter: Bode Miller announced on a Web site he has a 1-year-old daughter, and took her to Disneyland during his break from the World Cup ski circuit.

The 31-year-old American confirmed reports that emerged in Austria this week.

•English pair wins bobsled race: England’s Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke won the women’s competition at the bobsled world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., beating Shauna Rohbock and Elana Meyers in USA-1 by 0.38 seconds.

Auto racing

Busch breezes

Kyle Busch added a dominating NASCAR Nationwide Series victory to an overpowering truck win earlier in the day at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Busch, who led 95 of 100 laps in winning the Camping World Truck Series race, was out front for 143 of 150 laps on the 2-mile oval to earn his 22nd Nationwide victory. He became the first driver to win races in two NASCAR national touring series in the same day.

Miscellany

Irish hire ex-Husky

Randy Hart, the defensive line coach at Washington for the past 21 years, was hired as defensive line coach at Notre Dame.

•Smith won’t return: Former Dallas Cowboys star Emmitt Smith will not have his analyst contract renewed by ESPN.

•Sanchez defeats Stevenson: Diego Sanchez defeated Joe Stevenson in a unanimous decision, winning his first match as a lightweight in the main event of UFC 95 in London.

•Nocentini wins stage: Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy lunged ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston at the finish line in Pasadena to win Stage 7 of the Tour of California.

American Levi Leipheimer of Astana retained his overall lead. Lance Armstrong rode in support of Leipheimer.

•Arrest made: Chicago police said they had arrested an unnamed suspect in the slayings of the former girlfriend of New York Knicks player Eddy Curry and her infant daughter.

•Pirates back Russell: The Pittsburgh Pirates picked up manager John Russell’s contract option for 2010.

•Fralick leads Bassmaster: Jami Fralick, of Martin, S.D., caught five fish totaling 19 pounds, 6 ounces for a two-day weight of 38-9 and a half-pound lead over Skeet Reese, of Auburn, Calif., at the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, La.