FILIPINO boxer Michael “Hot and Spicy” Dasmariñas had it rough in his first fight in the United States, torn down with body shots by undefeated Japanese champion Naoya “Monster” Inoue in three rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder title fight on Sunday.

PHOENIX Suns general manager (GM) James Jones was named National Basketball Association (NBA) executive of the year on Sunday.

KEVIN Huerter scored a playoff career-high 27 points, Trae Young added 21 points and 10 assists and the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks stunned the host Philadelphia 76ers 103-96 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday.

THE Philippine national men’s basketball team finished its International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup Qualifiers (ACQ) campaign unblemished after beating Korea, 82-77, on the final day of competition on Sunday at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.

UNDEFEATED champion Naoya “Monster” Inoue of Japan retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight and International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight world titles after making short work of Filipino challenger Michael “Hot and Spicy” Dasmariñas in their title fight on Sunday (Manila time) in Las Vegas.

GIANNIS Antetokounmpo scored 40 points, including the tying basket in overtime and Khris Middleton hit the go-ahead shot with 40.7 seconds left as the Milwaukee Bucks pulled out a 115-111 victory over the host Brooklyn Nets Saturday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

RUSSELL Henley has company atop the leaderboard through three rounds of the US Open and there are plenty of contenders with star power in pursuit.

MUNICH — Three-times European champions Germany shrugged off their opening game loss and announced their arrival as serious contenders at Euro 2020 with an emphatic 4-2 win over highly-rated Portugal in their Group F match on Saturday.

SHOOTER Jayson Valdez became the 12th Filipino athlete to officially qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

GAC Motor Racing Team was one of the outstanding performers at the recently concluded 2021 Petron Kalayaan Cup 12-hour Endurance Challenge.

Kevin Durant gave it all he had. A trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was in the offing, and — with fellow All-Stars Kyrie Irving sidelined and James Harden hobbled due to injury — he figured to “keep the ball in my hands a little bit more.” Not that the Nets had any choice going into yesterday’s do-or-die affair. With all the chips on the table, they were compelled to rely on the finest scorer in National Basketball Association history as often as they could. Which, under head coach Steve Nash, meant giving him little rest and handing him the reins often early, and just about every single time in the crunch.

TOKYO — Japan’s top medical experts warned on Friday that holding the Olympics during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could increase infections, and said banning all...