All Bases Covered – As sports fans, waiting for your favourite sporting occasion can be quite taxing. Sometimes the wait for an event, or occasionally the wait to get the prolonged proverbial hot shower at the end of a strenuous season becomes difficult to cope with for the sportsmen themselves. Amir Khan’s clash with Lamont Peterson, the EL-Classico and the NBA season have been three such events that have long kept the sporting aficionados in the wait, while Rory McIlroy and Rafael Nadal are two athletes who have had long seasons and are eyeing a well deserved rest.
Amir Khan odds-on favourite
The boy from Bolton has reached the US capital with his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles on the line against Peterson. Khan would be vying to round off a momentous 2011 in style, that has already seen him overpower Paul McCloskey and Zab Juddah, and a win today could see him be on target for the ‘Fighter of the Year’ award this year. Amir Khan is always engulfed by hype and publicity, and that has been conspicuously palpable in the lead up to the fight. The press has unanimously backed Khan for a landslide victory, and while there is nothing concrete to suggest that this would not be the case, the boxing sensation would do well to steer clear of complacency. Khan has had a lucrative time across the Atlantic with triumphs over Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana and that momentous win over Zab Judah – from whom he claimed the IBF strap – all being etched in memory. A showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr might be at the summit of the priority list for Khan, but first up he needs a big show in Washington.
Peterson 29-1-1 (15 KOs), on the other hand, might be the underdog; but his dexterity should not be underestimated. He took WBO champion Timothy Bradley to the distance and drew with former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz – the American has only lost once in his career and has home support on his back. Khan 26-1 (18 KOs), however, is on a perpetual mission to enhance his repertoire and should have too many tricks for Peterson. His ability to throw in punches from a myriad of angles, capability of being relentless in attack and to do this with an eye of a needle accuracy is what make Amir Khan a daunting prospect. Couple this with the fact that Khan arguably has the fastest hands in the sport and that his footwork and speed are veritable menaces – something Zab Judah learned the hard way – you get a truly well-rounded package. Peterson himself is nimble-footed, quick and has the ingenuity to outthink his opponents – but one feels that Khan should have too much for his American counterpart. Two world titles might be motivation enough for Peterson, but Khan should have enough fireworks to blow his opponent off the ring. And of course, a Khan-Mayweather showdown would edge closer towards reality if Amir Khan overpowers Peterson today.
McIlroy needs time to recover
Rory McIlroy might be vying to usurp the Number One ranking, but when the season is finally over he’d be glad to rest his body after a year of overexertion. Last Sunday’s triumph in Hong Kong has kept McIlroy’s aim of supplanting Luke Donald from the summit of the rankings alive, but he still needs a victory at the Dubai World Championship at the Earth Course to have any chance to getting to the top of the standings. Nonetheless, after a promising start, the young golfing prodigy dropped five shots behind leader Alvaro Quiros at the halfway point. Rory owes most of this drop to his bogeying exploits at the tail-end on Friday; with bogeys at the final two holes to finish at one-under 71. However, he still finds himself at the third spot, and a strong showing in the remaining half could see him through, especially if Quiros and Peter Hason were to be cooperative. McIlroy has had an earth-shattering year that has seen him soar up to prominence in the world of golf and has also witnessed him bag his major maiden title at the US Open and become the World Number Two. Despite all the success, McIlroy’s fatigue is there for all to see and a prolonged rest could see him make his mark on the next season, like we all expect him to do.
Nadal takes time off Int’l duty
After orchestrating Spain’s fifth Davis Cup triumph in 11 years, Rafa has decided to take a break from the prestigious tournament next year. Considering the success the Spanish side have had since Nadal reached his apogee in 2008, not only is the break well-deserved from the World Number Two’s point of view it would also give the Spanish federation an ideal opportunity to blood new youngsters with an eye on the future. 2012 is going to be a colossal year for Nadal, with the additional question of defending his Olympics title and the intriguing prospect of synthesising answers to all the intimidating queries that Djokovic has thrown at the Spaniard throughout 2011. Nadal has had a long year, and has a minuscule corridor of rest before the big time kicks off again Down Under. 2011 has not been the most fruitful year by Rafa’s exalted standards, but you wouldn’t bet against him further ameliorating his repertoire and retracing the apex of world tennis.
NBA deal signed
‘Long wait’ is a misnomer for the sheer frustration that basketball fans have endured over the past few months due to the tussle between the NBA owners and players that has seen the start of the season being procrastinated tirelessly. The original date for the commencement of the NBA season was 1st November, but after dragging their collective feet in unison, the players and the owners have finally decided upon a Christmas Day start to the coming season which has been compressed for obvious reasons. The new schedule sees a 66-game season, 16 less than the normal season, with the regular season concluding on 26th April and the playoffs would start a couple of days later.
The owners voted for the new deal 25-5 and 86 per cent of the players approved the deal through electronic voting. Under the new 10-year deal, the owners would be able to save up to quarter billion dollars per season, and the players have also hung on to the soft salary cap that they vociferously clamoured for. However, the most important thing is that basketball is back! And there is the scrumptious prospect of Dallas taking on Miami in a rematch of the finals this year on the very first day. Follow this space for regular commentary on one of the most superlative sporting leagues in the world.
El-Classico’s changing dynamics
The timing of the live coverage of the El-Classico has left this writer in a mini quandary. By the time these pages are produced online, the second half of the game would be underway, and when most of our readers get hold of the pages in the morning the game would already have had been played. Hence, neither a bona fide preview, nor indeed a review could have been written in this space. This indeed connotes an atypical opportunity to flex retrospective muscles without having the luxury of hindsight. Covering all the bases, like the column name suggests, if you will.
In the lead up to the game, football pundits unanimously agreed upon the fact that Real are the favourites this time round. They have looked the hungrier of the two Spanish giants throughout the season – understandable, since the Catalonian craving has long been satisfied on a multitude of fronts. Madrid held a three-point lead before the game, with another game in hand, and were the only side with a 100% home record in La Liga – with 14 wins on the bounce. To cap off the intimidating record, they have also scored 28 goals in six games. Madrid had the best offensive record and Barca the best defensive record – two things that one wouldn’t normally expect considering Mourinho’s emblematic tactical approach to the game, and Barca’s lack of world-beating defending. With the form book, yard sticks, different gauges, media noises, stats, desires all thrown into the boiling El-Classico cauldron, there was no doubt about the fact that Madrid were the favourites and the onus was on them to extinguish their Catalonian voodoo.
A Madrid win in the early hours today would have resounding thrown the cat among the pigeons and announced the change of power in Spain. A Barca triumph would have been a major set-back for Mourinho and his men and has the potential to throw Real Madrid off the confidence wave that they are riding. A draw, au contraire, would keep us all guessing intriguingly. Watch this space next week for a detailed post-mortem of the biggest league game in the football world.
