Maskaev defends WBC heavyweight title
Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBC heavyweight crown Sunday in Moscow with a unanimous decision over Peter Okhello in the first world title fight in Russia.
The 37-year-old Maskaev (34-5, 26 knockouts) captured the WBC title in August with a 12th-round knockout of Hasim Rahman. Okhello, a 34-year-old Ugandan who lives in Japan, dropped to 18-8.
Maskaev kept Okhello backpedaling in the early rounds and knocked him down with seconds left in the fourth round at Olympisky Stadium.
Early in the 10th, Maskaev put Okhello into the ropes and later in the round battered him to a standstill with short jabs to the head.
The sellout crowd of 10,000, which included WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, called for a knockout, but Maskaev couldn’t land the blow.
“Not all worked smoothly today,” Maskaev said.
College football
D-II title game set
Xavier Omon ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Northwest Missouri State routed Bloomsburg 33-3 in Maryville, Mo., to advance to the NCAA Division II title game for the second straight year.
In the second semifinal, Cullen Finnerty passed for 365 yards and six touchdowns to lead defending national champion Grand Valley State to a 49-30 victory over Delta State in Allendale, Mich.
In a rematch of the 2005 championship, Grand Valley will face Northwest Missouri State in the title game Saturday in Florence, Ala., Last year, Grand Valley beat Northwest Missouri 21-17.
•California cornerback Daymeion Hughes received the Lott Trophy in Newport Beach, Calif., edging Quinn Pitcock of Ohio State and Paul Posluszny of Penn State for the award honoring on-field performance and character among defensive players.
Hughes, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior from Los Angeles, had eight interceptions for Cal, the second most in the country, and was the Pac-10 defensive player of the year.
Running
Ethiopian tops Kenyans
Ethiopia’s Ambesse Tolossa broke away from five-time defending champion Jimmy Muindi near the 23-mile mark and went on to win the Honolulu Marathon, ending a 10-year domination of the race by Kenyan runners.
Tolossa finished in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds.
Muindi, who won previous five Honolulu marathons and set a course record in 2004, was almost a minute behind at 2:14:39.
Eric Wainana of Kenya was third in 2:16:08, followed by Ethiopia’s Araya Haregot (2:16:59) and Kenya’s Eric Nzoiki (2:17:10).
Lyubov Denisova of Russia set a course record in the women’s race. She finished in 2:27:19, beating fellow Russian Lyubov Morgunova’s 2004 record time by 14 seconds. Morgunova did not compete his year because of an injury.
Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia was second in 2:29:42, followed by 2003 winner Eri Hayakawa of Japan in 2:32:31. Russia’s Olesya Nurgalieva, the 2005 winner, was third in 2:36:02.