BOXING: As Kevin McBride's hiatus between his defeat of Mike Tyson earlier this year and his hoped-for-fight against WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz continues to lengthen, his team have made approaches to promoter Don King for a pre-Christmas meeting between the Irish man and former four-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. King has both Ruiz and Holyfield on his books, writes Johnny Watterson.
McBride's first choice would be a Ruiz fight but King's relationship with the champion has become typically fraught with squabbles over money and contracts. However, as time moves on McBride's team are becoming increasingly more anxious that their fighter cash in on his new found status as the fighter who, apparently, put Tyson into retirement.
The 42-year-old Holyfield has recently got his license back having been put on indefinite medical suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission following his unanimous points loss to Larry Donald at Madison Square Gardens at the end of last year. But his wish is to continue fighting.
"King has been okay with us," said McBride's trainer Pascal Collins yesterday. "He seems to have been fair to us and keeps referring to Kevin as the "Cinderella man" after the movie (about Irish champion JJ Braddock). If the Ruiz issue drags out we've been looking at lining up Holyfield. King has him too.
"It's a strong possibility. When I spoke to King about it he said it was a possibility."
CYCLING: Despite the after effects of competing in the elite road race at the world championships on Sunday and then flying out to Iran, Giant Asia rider David McCann won the prologue of the Tour de Milad du Noor yesterday, writes Shane Stokes.
The Belfast man beat another world championship competitor, Mahdi Sohrabi (Payjan Continental), by four seconds with his own team-mate, Ghader Mizbani, a further three seconds back in third.
"I was only just over my recent food poisoning in Madrid," said McCann. "The lack of training in the week before (the championships) just left the tank empty in the last 2 laps of the race there. I went straight to bed on Sunday night, so I have recovered well from the Worlds. I hope I can keep winning here, although the 1800metre altitude was very hard on the chest today."
SWIMMING: Britain's high-profile coach Terry Denison was adamant yesterday that there is Olympic (London) medal-winning potential among Swim Ireland's high performance squads, writes Pat Roche.
Denison, head coach to British squads for the past six Olympics, is on loan to Swim Ireland as performance consultant on an interim basis for six months until such time as Swim Ireland and the Irish Sports Council agree on the appointment of a director of swimming here.
Denison has already worked with Leinster swimmers and from what he has observed so far there is no doubt in his mind regarding the potential held by young competitors such as Fiona Doyle, Shane Ahearn, Laura McDonnell, Gráinne Murphy and Melanie Nocher of Ulster.
"I am really talking post-Beijing here and the run-in to the London Olympics in 2012," said the man who coached Adrian Moorehouse to Olympic glory. He had just chaired another meeting of the British coaches and teachers' association when taking time out to give his early assessment of Irish swimming standards.
Denison will be submitting his plans to Swim Ireland's high performance committee on October 16th.
