Mayweather Keeps Lightweight Title

Floyd Mayweather Jr. retained his World Boxing Council lightweight championship in convincing fashion Saturday night with a seventh-round knockout of Phillip Ndou at Grand Rapids, Mich.

Mayweather dominated the South African with a flurry of combinations, including three consecutive straight rights that floored Ndou midway through the seventh round.

Mayweather (31-0, 21 knockouts), a native of Grand Rapids who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, improved to 13-0 in world championship fights. Ndou is 31-2 with 30 knockouts.

Also on the card, Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico won the World Boxing Assn. featherweight title after an accidental head butt cut short his fight with Derrick Gainer of Pensacola, Fla.

Marquez was winning handily in the seventh round when he unintentionally butted Gainer, opening a gash over Geiner’s left eye.

The fight was stopped, and the judge’s cards of 70-63, 69-64 and 70-63 gave Marquez the victory.

Tennis

U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick, who already was assured of moving up to No. 1 in the ATP Tour rankings this week, lost to unseeded Tim Henman, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7), in the Paris Masters semifinals.

Henman converted his sixth match point to improve to 2-1 this year against Roddick. He will face unseeded Andrei Pavel for the title. Pavel defeated 14th-seeded Jiri Novak, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Golf

Retief Goosen shot a four-under-par 67 to take a two-stroke lead at 11-under 202 after the third round of the Chrysler Championship at Palm Harbor, Fla. Briny Baird had a 66 and is at 204. Vijay Singh had six birdies over his final 11 holes and matched the low round of the tournament, a 65 that left him at 205.

Shi-hyun Ahn, a 19-year-old South Korean, led by three strokes halfway through the CJ Nine Bridges Classic at Jeju Island, South Korea, after shooting a one-under 71. She is at eight-under 136. Defending champion Se Ri Pak (70), Grace Park (73), Catriona Matthew (72) and Laura Davies (71) shared second place at 139.

Motor Racing

Bobby Hamilton Jr. won the rain-shortened NASCAR Busch Series Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Hamilton, driving a Ford, was leading Kevin Harvick by almost a straightaway on the one-mile oval when light rain brought out a caution flag on the 175th lap.

The race earlier had been interrupted for 2 hours 24 minutes by rain. With darkness falling quickly, NASCAR ended the race after 181 laps.

Forest Barber, driving a Chevrolet Doran, won the season-ending Rolex Grand American sports car series race at Daytona International Speedway. He averaged 98.807 mph.

Three-time AMA Outdoor champion Doug Henry won the fifth round of the AMA Red Bull Supermoto Championship Series before an announced 4,962 at Irwindale Speedway.

Miscellany

Sasha Cohen won her second consecutive women’s singles title at Skate Canada in Mississauga. She received 126.48 points for her free skate for a total score of 197.60.

Stanford won the men’s title for the fourth consecutive year and the women’s title for the eighth year in a row at the Pacific 10 Conference cross-country championships at Pullman, Wash.

The Cardinal men scored 22 points. Oregon was second with 91.

Stanford’s Ian Dobson won the individual title with a time of 24:33.9 over the 8,000-meter course.

The Stanford women won with 22 points. Arizona State was second with 78. Sara Bei of the Cardinal won the 6,000-meter race in 21:12.1.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won the Big West Conference men’s cross-country championship in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs scored 23 points. UC Santa Barbara was second with 79.

Sean Ricketts of the Mustangs won the individual title with a time of 25:38.2 over 8,000 meters.

Santa Barbara won the women’s title with 27 points. Utah State was second with 66. Santa Barbara’s Stephanie Rothstein won the 6,000-meter race with a time of 22:14.8.

The U.S. volleyball team defeated South Korea, 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 15-13, in the opening match of the Women’s World Cup, a 12-nation tournament in Tokyo that serves as a qualifier for next year’s Athens Olympics.