After 256 defeats, you would have thought that boxer Peter Buckley would have got the message sooner. But after 300 fights, with only 32 wins and 12 draws, the man with the worst record of anybody still involved in the sport is finally hanging up his gloves. The super-featherweight, 39, enjoyed an unusual winning feeling as he outpointed Matin Mohammed in Birmingham on Friday - his first win since 2003. "Win lose or draw, this is definitely my last fight," he said beforehand. Despite the catalogue of losses, Buckley's career has taken in fights against several world champions, including Prince Naseem Hamed, Duke McKenzie, Scott Harrison and Colin McMillan, on his CV. "I've had my eye on the 300 mark for a while, and it's a little milestone I want to achieve, but I don't want to fight on.
"It will be fantastic to bow out in a city where I've not fought for years. Plenty of my mates are coming along to the show to cheer me on." And Buckley says boxing has turned his life around, regardless of the unflattering statistics of his career in the ring. "Boxing has been good to me over the years. When I was a youngster I was in trouble with the police, a really wild kid," he said.
Report: Buckley prepares for his final fight "But the sport has given me a focus in life and kept me on the straight and narrow. "I don't know what I'll do when it's all over on Friday, but I'd love to stay in boxing in one capacity or another. "I've had a few high points in the sport, but my proudest was when I went to Austria and took on Harald Geler for an intercontinental WBA title. "He'd been knocking a few people out but he was nothing special and I had him over in the ninth round, but ended up losing on points over 12. "There's been some lows as well, and I definitely won't miss getting punched in the face for a living!" | |||
Sunday, November 2, 2008
300 and out
Crabtree, Tech Upset No. 1 Texas With Second Left
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Texas Tech can call itself No. 1 in the Lone Star state -- and maybe best in all the land. Graham Harrell fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with one second left and No. 6 Texas Tech stunned No. 1 Texas 39-33 Saturday night in a wild game that will shake up the national title race.
Texas (8-1, 4-1 Big 12) had stormed back from a 19-0 deficit to take a 33-32 lead when Vondrell McGee scored on a 4-yard run with 1:29 left in the fourth.
Harrell drove the Red Raiders (9-0, 5-0) to the touchdown in six plays, slinging the long pass to Crabtree, who broke the tackle of Curtis Brown near the sideline, kept his balance and scooted the last five yards for a score.
''Play 60 minutes is obviously important, you may have a second to spare,'' said Tech coach Mike Leach, the quirky offensive mastermind whose teams have made a name for themselves by piling up huge passing numbers and the occasional big win.
But never a win THIS big.
Thousands of Texas Tech fans poured onto the field and had to be sent off while the play was under review. Once the fans were chased off the field and Tech kicked the extra point, the Red Raiders were penalized and forced to kick off from their own 7.
When Texas couldn't pull of a miracle kickoff return, the fans ran back on the field to celebrate the biggest win in Texas Tech history.
The victory not only gave the Red Raiders command of the Big 12 South, it puts them smack in the chase for the national title, quite a leap for a program usually left behind by conference powers Texas and Oklahoma.
In fact, maybe Texas Tech shoots to the top of the rankings and the BCS standings? More likely, Alabama moves to No. 1. The question is whether the Red Raiders, on the strength of the program's first victory against a No. 1 team, can jump over the likes of Florida, Southern California and unbeaten Penn State on Sunday.
Harrell, who may have jumped ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy in the Heisman Trophy race, finished with 474 yards passing and two touchdowns on 36-of-53 passing.
McCoy has nothing to be ashamed of, throwing for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He did have a interception returned for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Crabtree had 10 catches for 127 yards.
Texas had appeared to pull off a stunning rally behind McCoy, who threw second-half touchdown passes of 37 and 91 yards to Malcolm Williams and led Texas on a grinding drive to its final touchdown after Texas Tech's Donnie Carona kicked a field goal for a six-point lead.
McGee's burst stunned the home crowd until a big kickoff return by Jamar Wall gave the Red Raiders the ball at their own 38 and time to move. Harrell hit on four straight passes, to get the ball in Texas territory when the Red Raiders were just trying to set up for a winning field goal.
He also got a break when Texas freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped what would have been a game-ending interception on a tipped ball.
Facing third down, Harrell fired the risky pass to the All-American Crabtree. The ball reached Crabtree right before the defense could close in on it and the big receiver snagged it just inside the 5 and shrugged off Brown.
Given the chance to make a national statement, Texas Tech looked early like it would dismiss the Longhorns in a rout. The Red Raiders belted Texas on the Longhorns' on first play and kept hammering away for the entire first half.
Backed up on the Texas 2 in front of the raucous student section, McCoy handed off to Chris Ogbonnaya, who never got out of the end zone when he was dropped for a safety by defensive tackle Colby Whitlock.
The play seemed to rattle the Longhorns, who had been unflappable all season.
Harrell was just warming up, deftly dodging the Texas pass rush to find open receivers or lofting perfectly thrown balls for big yards. Texas Tech was on its own 6 and facing third down when Harrell hit Edward Britton on the sideline, tucking the ball just over Gideon for a 46-yard gain. The Red Raiders capped the drive with Baron Batch's 3-yard TD run.
Texas Tech made it 19-0 when Harrell found Eric Morris with another soft throw just beyond a defender's reach for an 18-yard TD and the Red Raiders led 22-6 at halftime.
Matt Williams, the kicker Leach plucked from the stands after watching him win a promotional kicking contest six weeks ago, made field goals of 29 and 31 yards.
Texas was out of sync the entire first half. McCoy came in completing 81 percent of his passes but had receivers drop four of his first seven throws. Even sure-handed Jordan Shipley, McCoy's roommate and best friend, dropped a likely touchdown on Texas' second possession.
Texas appeared all but done when Daniel Charbonnet returned McCoy's only interception for a touchdown and a 29-13 Texas Tech lead.
But McCoy, who has led nine come-from-behind wins in his career, had the Longhorns storming back and in position to win.Original here
Crabtree TD with 1 second left lifts Tech
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP)—It was as risky a pass as Graham Harrell has ever thrown. Also the most important.
With the final seconds ticking off and Texas Tech trailing by a point, the Texas Tech quarterback saw Michael Crabtree in double coverage and let it fly. The All-American wide receiver snagged it on the sideline, shook off a defender and ducked into the end zone with one second left.
With that stunning 28-yard touchdown, the No. 6 Red Raiders turned near-heartbreak into a wild victory, 39-33 over No. 1 Texas on Saturday night.
Texas Tech showed it’s tops in the Lone Star State—and maybe even the best team in the land.
“Play 60 minutes,” Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. “You may have a second to spare.”
That’s what it came down in a West Texas-style shootout that had the Longhorns (8-1, 4-1 Big 12) rally from a 19-0 deficit in the first half and from 29-13 in the third quarter to take a 33-32 lead with Vondrell McGee’s 4-yard TD run with 1:29 to play.
The problem was, Texas left Harrell too much time.
Harrell drove the Red Raiders (9-0, 5-0) 62 yards to the touchdown in six plays, slinging the long pass to Crabtree, who broke the tackle of Curtis Brown, kept his balance, stayed in bounds and scooted the last few yards for a score.
“On the sideline, I kind of dreamed that I would catch a pass and go in the end zone for a game-winning score. I do that, like every game, but it happened. It kind of shocked me,” Crabtree said.
Tech really just needed about 10 yards to set up a field goal for Donnie Carona, who had been benched earlier this season but kicked a 42-yarder in the fourth quarter. But Harrell took a big chance with the big throw.
If Crabtree had been tackled instead of getting in, Texas Tech might have had a hard time calling its last timeout to set up a short field goal before time expired.
“All we needed was a field goal, but a touchdown’s even sweeter,” Harrell said. “If you’re a quarterback and don’t want to be in that situation, you should probably change positions.”
Thousands of Texas Tech fans poured onto the field and had to be sent off while the play was under review to make sure Crabtree didn’t step out of bounds. Once the fans were chased off the field and Tech kicked the extra point, the Red Raiders were penalized and forced to kick off from their own 7.
When Texas couldn’t pull off a miracle kickoff return, the fans ran back on the field to celebrate the biggest win in Texas Tech history. The victory not only gave the Red Raiders command of the Big 12 South, it puts them smack in the chase for the national title, quite a leap for a program usually left behind by conference powers Texas and Oklahoma.
In fact, maybe Texas Tech shoots to the top of the rankings and the BCS standings? More likely, Alabama moves to No. 1. The question is whether the Red Raiders, on the strength of their first victory against a No. 1 team, can jump over the likes of Florida, Southern California and unbeaten Penn State on Sunday.
Just like Texas over the last month, the Red Raiders also face a daunting schedule the next three weeks. Texas Tech hosts No. 9 Oklahoma State next weekend, then has a bye week before traveling to No. 4 Oklahoma. They finish the regular season at home against Baylor.
“Now the biggest game in history is Oklahoma State,” Leach said, “or the history of this year, anyway.”
Harrell, who may have jumped ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy in the Heisman Trophy race, finished with 474 yards and two touchdowns on 36-of-53 passing.
“Some of you guys maybe ought to add him to your Heisman list,” Leach told reporters after the game. “I know how political it is.”
McCoy has nothing to be ashamed of, throwing for 294 yards and two touchdowns and nearly leading his 10th career comeback in game where he was sacked four times and had his face bloodied on a hard hit in the third quarter. He did have an interception returned for a touchdown in the third.
“They played harder than us,” McCoy said. “The crowd was behind them the whole game. They never quit. They kept fighting.”
Texas had just appeared to pull off a stunning rally behind McCoy, who threw second-half touchdown passes of 37 and 91 yards to Malcolm Williams and led Texas on a grinding drive to its final touchdown after Texas Tech’s Carona kicked a field goal for a six-point lead.
McGee’s burst stunned the home crowd until a big kickoff return by Jamar Wall gave the Red Raiders the ball at their own 38 and time to move. Harrell hit on four straight passes, to get the ball in Texas territory. He also got a break when Texas freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped what would have been a game-ending interception on a tipped ball.
“I was sick, I was thinking, ‘Surely, we’re not going to lose like this,” Harrell said.
Given another chance, he and Crabtree came through.
“It’s the biggest catch I ever made,” said Crabtree, who had 10 catches for 127 yards.
Given the chance to make a national statement, Texas Tech looked early like it would dismiss the Longhorns in a rout. The Red Raiders belted Texas on the Longhorns’ on first play and kept hammering away for the entire first half.
Backed up on the Texas 2 in front of the raucous student section, McCoy handed off to Chris Ogbonnaya, who never got out of the end zone when he was dropped for a safety by defensive tackle Colby Whitlock.
The Red Raiders were just getting started.
Texas Tech made it 19-0 when Harrell found Eric Morris with a soft throw just beyond a defender’s reach for an 18-yard TD and the Red Raiders led 22-6 at halftime.
Matt Williams, the kicker Leach plucked from the stands after watching him win a promotional kicking contest six weeks ago, made field goals of 29 and 31 yards. He was pulled for Carona in the second half after he had a field goal blocked.
Jordan Shipley gave Texas life with a 45-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Still, Texas appeared done when Daniel Charbonnet returned McCoy’s only interception for a touchdown and a 29-13 Texas Tech lead.
But McCoy, who has led nine come-from-behind wins in his career, had the Longhorns storming back and in position to win.
“Football is a tough game,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “Tonight was their night, we need to be classy in defeat and give them credit for what they did.”
