Purse offer deadline

Boxing

The purse offer deadline for Lennox Lewis's mandatory World Council title defence against London's Florida-based Henry Akinwande has been brought forward from 9 April to 17 March. The change was made at the request of Lewis's British promoter, Panos Eliades, to speed up the staging of the fight.

November Ntshingila, the world-ranked South African featherweight, fought for the final six rounds with only one hand yesterday but still scored a unanimous 10-round points decision over the Mexican Antonio Hernandez. Ntshingila dislocated his right shoulder after four rounds of the international bout and was forced to rely on his left jab for the remainder of the bout.