Alvarez fought Saturday night and captured the WBO junior middleweight title when he scored a ninth-round knockout over Liam Smith in front of 51,240 people at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. MORE: 37 ashtonishing UFC photos Alvarez visited hand specialist Dr. Pedro Jaime Lomeli in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico, where he underwent X-rays and a CT scan. The tests revealed a fractured right thumb. The Mexican star said after the fight Saturday that he felt like he hurt his right hand during the bout, and that was why he was more reliant on his left hand....

Canelo will drop back down to the 168-pound limit to take on WBA champion Smith, who boasts a 27-0 record and is ranked by The Ring magazine as the best in the division. The four-division world champion from Mexico and Briton Smith needed no extra incentive to win on Dec. 19, but they have now been informed the vacant WBC strap will also be there for the taking. MORE: WBA orders immediate rematch between Moloney, Franco...

LIVE: Follow SN’s fight updates from Canelo vs. GGG 3 While the main event is expected to be a solid clash between two boxing giants, there are plenty of other fighters looking to make an impact on the card. Multiple titles are on the line, and young fighters like Jesse Rodriguez and Marc Castro are ready to showcase their skills in front of a massive audience. The Sporting News looks into the entire undercard of Canelo vs....

The 28-year-old moved one step closer to that goal Saturday night as he defeated a game Daniel Jacobs by unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 115-113) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to capture the IBF middleweight title and retain his WBA and WBC championships. Sporting News scored the competitive affair 115-113 for Alvarez. “I’m just looking for the biggest challenge,” Alvarez told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in his postfight interview about closing in on an undisputed crown....

Guillermo Cantu said Friday that the announcement that the United bid had received a 4.0 out of 5.0 from FIFA after doing risk assessments. The North African nation’s bid earned just a 2.7. “It confirms what we knew that having a responsible candidacy with all the stadiums already constructed, all the training bases practically constructed and operating, all the communication centers mostly ready now and definitely ready within eight years” Cantu said at a news conference....

“A” emphasizes their focus on Arts. Apparently, their cousins at Lucasfilm aren’t as insecure about their expertise. Frankly, we’d always hoped “intercapping” was our idea. And in the tough back alleys of the Net, they still call us CyberScope.

Washington learned it had officially clinched a playoff berth when the Senators lost in a shootout to the Maple Leafs, 3-2. Toronto center Peter Holland scored the deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout. MORE: Flyers complete season sweep of Penguins | Lightning get home ice | Reaves pulls out tooth “You can’t leave points on the board at this time of year,” Ottawa forward Mark Stone said, per NHL....

Condit has taken on the look of a hunted dog. His suits hang on him, and his trademark megawatt smile has dimmed to a flicker. Without any clues that might lead to Chandra Levy, the police are no nearer to solving the case today than they were when she disappeared 11 weeks ago. Condit is the vehicle to keeping the story alive. (A widely reprinted cartoon shows camera crews lined up outside Condit’s home to thank him for the ratings bonanza....

Newly anointed front runner John Kerry wasn’t a target the way Dean was when he had the lead. With negative attacks backfiring in Iowa, everybody was on his best behavior. “Nice try,” Joe Lieberman replied amiably as ABC’s Peter Jennings pressed him to critique his rivals on their ability to push back against the GOP on values issues. Along with an air of exhaustion, there was a sense the candidates didn’t quite know what to do now that they didn’t have Dean to kick around any more....

“My father had nothing to do with anything, and he’s lost a lot of money,” says John Feehery, press secretary to the House speaker. Feehery’s father doesn’t work for Enron, and doesn’t even own Enron stock. He lives in Chicago, far from the company’s epicenter in Houston. Yet he is taking a financial bath because the money market where he is invested has significant Enron holdings. The senior Feehery’s balance sheet won’t suffer as much as the retirement accounts of thousands of Enron’s employees, whose nest eggs were wiped out when the company’s stock plummeted....

Pittman made the remarks Wednesday during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, which oversees funding for the Capitol Police budget. During a hearing of the same subcommittee on March 3, Pittman told senators that there had been a 93.5 percent threat increase in the first two months of 2021. “In the first four months of this year, we’ve had a 65 percent increase in threats against members compared to 2020,” Pittman said Wednesday....

More than 400 people have been charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot and patterns are starting to emerge in their defenses. Several have argued in court documents that they felt they were following former President Donald Trump’s orders when they stormed the Capitol or that they were acting on the belief pushed by Trump that the election was stolen. Attorneys have told Newsweek that the “blame Trump” defense isn’t a strong one because in a trial, defendants will be held accountable for their own actions....

The anonymous creator behind the parody account that has chronicled now-retired Colts quarterback Andrew Luck in Civil War-era themed tweets for almost four years penned a “heartfelt thank you” and “fond farewell” Wednesday to his “mighty unit” of more than 542,000 followers. “We lost battles. We won battles. But we did it all together: one mighty unit,” the essay read, in part. “While true I shall not be on the field with you physically, henceforth my spirit will always take the form of a Colt....

Captain Jay Baker, the director of communications and community relations for the sheriff’s office, sparked a backlash over remarks he made at a press conference on Wednesday morning. “He was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did,” Baker said of 21-year-old suspect Robert Aaron Long. Authorities at the news conference said Long had admitted to Tuesday’s shootings, but insisted it was too early to determine if race was a motive....

Between Arizona general manager Steve Keim and the Oklahoma quarterback taking the podium in Indianapolis, there was nothing clandestine about the burgeoning love affair between team and prospect. Keim had us at “Hello,” or when he suggested that Josh Rosen, last year’s No. 10 overall pick, was only the team’s QB “right now.” Then Murray tipped his hand Friday that the Cards would be among the teams interviewing him, despite them already having a first-round quarterback....

Larry Fitzgerald is the latest player to join the "take a pay cut to help the team win" club, as he signed a restructured contract Tuesday that will free up cap room for Arizona to play with. Details about the contract are unknown, as is the amount of cap space created. But numbers are floating around. Under his old deal, Fitzgerald would have earned $12.75 million next season and counted a whopping $18 million on the cap....

Bowles was so good as defensive coordinator for a Cardinals team that made the playoffs with critical players out of action every week, remaining a coordinator another year became completely unjustifiable. Ten days after the Cardinals’ season ended in Carolina, Bowles was hired as head coach of the Jets. MORE: SN All-Pro team | Arians coach of the year | Players of the Year: Rodgers | Watt His credentials were too good to ignore, although his credentials had been solid for 15 years, since getting into the coaching business with, yes, the Jets in 2000....

Originally scheduled for April 6, the game was moved up to become ESPN’s opening national telecast of the season. Chicago said Friday the remainder of the three-game series will be played on April 7 and 8, with April 9 as an off-day. The Cubs originally had April 7 off, with games against the Cardinals the following two days.

Pierzynski gives the Cardinals an experienced bat off the bench, and a third catcher that allows for use of backup Tony Cruz against the San Francisco Giants. The best-of-7 series starts Saturday night. Ken Rosenthal picks Cardinals in seven; find out why Pierzynski played for the Giants in 2004. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. He now has a chance to atone for that season. Asked if he hoped to get a key hit against the Giants, Pierzynski said: “I hope to damn sure it will happen....

In a conference call with media, Freese said he got a welcoming text from Pujols and responded with a reference to the 2011 World Series: "Remember what we did the last time we played together? Let's go try to do that again." Freese didn't think his drop-off in production last season had anything to do with the pressure of being the "hometown kid." "Obviously, I'm a little sad closing this chapter, but I'm extremely pumped about joining the Angels," Freese said....