Ricky Hatton's boxing licence stripped

Ricky Hatton has suffered a major blow after British Boxing Board of Control stripped him of stripped him three licences after he was found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute following allegation from the News of the World newspaper about Ricky Hatton's private life.

A British Boxing Board of Control statement said, "The Board is especially concerned to keep the sport of boxing free from drugs, whether taken for recreational or performance enhancing reasons and to be vigilant in identifying and dealing with cases of alcohol abuse.

"At the hearing, the Board found Ricky Hatton guilty of misconduct in that his actions and behaviour were detrimental to the interests of boxing and to the public interest and that he had brought the sport into disrepute.

"Ricky Hatton is not an active boxer and his current physical condition is such that the Board decided to withdraw his boxer's licence.

"Ricky Hatton's Manager's and Second's licences allow him to have close, day to day contact with participants in the sport and the Board has taken the view that his conduct and present circumstances make such contact wholly inappropriate.

"Consequently, the Board has decided to withdraw such licences.

"The Board gave long and hard consideration as to whether or not to withdraw or suspend his Promoter's licence.

"Having considered all the circumstances, in particular the role of Promoter, as opposed to that of Manager or Second, the fact that Hatton Promotions is a large organisation employing a number of experienced individuals in varying roles, including professional persons, and the effect upon innocent persons, including professional boxers, the Board concluded that justice would not be served by withdrawing his Promoter's licence.

"Therefore, his Promoter's licence remains. In addition, Mr. Hatton was fined £20,000 plus costs."

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Haye vs. Harrison is All But On

Audley Harrison has reportedly agreed to a one million pound fight against David Haye for the WBA Heavyweight Championship on Saturday 13th November, this fight will take place at Manchester Evening News arena and will be carried on Sky's pay-per-view service. This fight is all but done and should there be no hiccups, this bout could be a signed deal very soon.

According to British promoter Frank Warren, a press conference has been arranged for early September, to announce that the fight will be confirmed for 13th November in Manchester and Frank Warren added, "Haye has sworn blind recently that he would not fight Audley Harrison. But it looks like he has changed his mind.

"The truth is on his past performances, Harrison does not really deserve a shot. Harrison got into this position courtesy of a lucky KO punch against Michael Sprott when he won the European title. Way down on the judges' scorecards, Harrison pulled out a winning hook in the dying seconds of the fight.

"That should serve as a warning to Dave. On paper, he's rightly a massive favourite, but he's also vulnerable. If he gets clipped, it could be all over. And for all his faults, Harrison can punch.

Pakistani trio removed from squad

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif both implicated in the corruption allegations have all been removed from the rest of the Pakistani tour and replacements have been called up to fill their positions. The trio who are both in London for questioning following the spot-fixing allegations will not play no further part.

"The T20 squad will remain what it is here this morning,"

"When we play the one-day internationals we will be asking for replacements to make the squad up to 16.

"The (three) players have not been suspended." Saeed said.

Pakistan team manager also added, "I can't give you the reasons for that, all I can say is that we are asking for replacements," he said.

"I cannot answer anything on their behalf because investigations are being made by the ICC, Scotland Yard among others.

Sol Campbell keen on England return

Sol Campbell has refused to accept his England playing days are over and is keen to fight his way back in to the Three Lions. Newcastle new-boy is currently getting back to full fitness and has expressed his desire to get back playing for England. Campbell was overlooked for the World Cup finals in South Africa and has been over looked for the upcoming Euro Qualifiers.

"I think it all comes down to who is at the helm and the people behind the associations," Campbell said.

"They are going to make all the decisions and it is also the mentality of the nation. You go to Italy and defenders and goalkeepers can go on and on and on really.

"You can roll the names off of the guys who have played well into their late 30s at international level so I think it sometimes goes down to mentality.

"It doesn't matter where you are at with your age, if you are fit and you are strong and you are physically there and you want it, then you have got the experience so I think there should be no problem really."

Andy Murray eases past Lukas Lacko

Andy Murray sailed through his opening match in the US Open with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Slovakian player Lukas Lacko, Murray is aiming to win his Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows and he got off to a great start seeing off the Slovakian. With temperatures soaring to 110 degrees Murray was made to work for his victory to secure his passage to the second round.

The Scotsman reached the final two years ago but only to fall at the last hurdle and Andy will need to be at his best if he is to go that one step further this time around.

Murray said, "I managed to get through in straight sets so I'm pleased, but it was a lot tougher than the score suggests," he said.

"Everyone in my box always tells me it's a lot tougher watching in the heat than playing but I'm not so sure. It was brutal conditions."

Pietersen sorry for Twitter rant

Kevin Pietersen has apologised for his twitter rant, the 30-year-old batsman announced he had been dropped via Twitter, England's batsman has now said sorry and hopes to put that matter behind him. But key figures is cricket have hit out at the way Pietersen has handle the news of being dropped.

Pietersen added, "It came out in the way that I didn't want it to come out,"

"It wasn't meant for the public domain, I apologise for it entering the public domain and I also want to apologise for the language I used." he said.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan
criticised Pietersen while speaking on BBC 5 Live radio,


"What he did on his Twitter account was totally wrong,"

"I think that's something Kevin will regret for a long time. I actually think that England have managed it in a good way.

"They feel that he needs more cricket and a couple of four-day games rather than playing the one-day series against Pakistan just to get that form and feel for batting again.

"I don't see it as a dropping. I just see it as the management of a player who needs to be playing more of the longer format of the game than the one day to try to get him into some kind of form leading into the winter."