Britain’s Anthony Joshua moved a step closer to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion of the world on Saturday after beating New Zealander Joseph Parker on a unanimous points decision in their title unification bout.

The 2012 Olympic champion, taken to 12 rounds for the first time in his professional career after 20 previous knockouts, added Parker’s WBO belt to his own WBA Super, IBFand IBO titles.

The three judges scored it 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109 to Joshua, leaving only Deontay Wilder’s WBC title still to conquer.

With the current feat, Joshua moves a step closer to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

“It’s difficult when someone comes in and is backing off a lot of the time and so on and so forth, but so be it, history was made, Joseph (Parker) played a massive part in this, his whole camp did, and I’m honored to have shared the ring with him.

“… and what’s interesting is Joseph won’t give up now, do you know what I mean, he’s still young, competitive, and I’ve a feeling we’ll definitely see Joseph Parker again but, as you said, I think just on this evening I was more focused, more disciplined, and I carried out the tactics and I was the better man it seemed,” Joshua said after the contest.

Both fighters had stepped into the ring undefeated, with Joshua weighing in six pounds heavier than his shorter opponent and with a longer reach.

If some had expected an early knockout it did not pan out that way, even if Joshua could be said to have controlled most of the 12 rounds by using his jab and left hooks to telling effect.

REUTERS

Hundreds of Cameroon football fans in the USA will pay tribute to former football star, Ntoko Roland during a testimonial game to be hosted in Dallas. The Cameroonian football hero, a one-time Best Foreign Player of the Year in Slovenia, retired from the beautiful game long ago but will now be honoured on his 50^th birthday at the Anderson Bonner Soccer Park (Field 1) in Dallas.

Cameroon Concord News sources in the US say football fans are expected to defy the cold weather to attend the star-studded game which will include the veterans of Atlanta. Ntoko Roland will play for both sides to mark the end of a glorious career that took him to Germany, Slovenia and Indonesia.

Bundes as he is popularly known was quoted as saying that “There’s a time to start and a time to finish, it was a fulfilling ride from day one.” Ntoko Roland is undoubtedly the most recognised, successful and talented footballer the South West region of Cameroon has ever seen on the field.

Eyong Eyong Ebot (Moh-Kukouri) who also moonlights as President Emeritus of the Veterans of Atlanta told Cameroon Concord Sports that it will not be difficult to honour Ntoko Roland by travelling down to Dallas “because he is an icon of the Cameroonian game and we must honour him.” The Ntoko Roland jubilee will hold from the 30th of March to the 1^st of April in Dallas, USA.

He started his soccer career with ElectSport of Limbe and won the famous BEAUFORT CUP and player of the tournament when he was 18. He later led ELECTSPORT Limbe into the prestigious First Division league.  He played for PWD KUMBA and later UNION DOUALA

In Slovenia, he played for Novo Mesto, PUBLIKUM Celje and OLYMPIJA LUBIANA from where he had a taste of the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. He joined the German side, Darmstadt in 1996 and partnered the controversial Ghanaian football legend, NII LAMPTEY. He was recruited by a second division side Greuther Furth in 1997.  Ntoko Roland Njume also had a spell in INDONESIA.

He held the captaincy of PWD Kumba and won the football gold medal during the All African games in Egypt 1991 with the junior Lions of Cameroon.  Ntoko gained a place with the senior Indomitable Lions and played alongside Cameroon football greats like the Late Massing Benjamin, Nfede Louis Paul, kunde Emmanuel, Tataw Eta Stephen, Ebwelle Beltin, Onana Jules, Ndip Akem Victor, Bell Joseph Antoine and Omam Biyik.

He was voted best foreign player in Slovenia in 1995 and was a member of the Indomitable Lions squad during the Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa 1996. His school mates remember him as the guy who rushed the afternoon session of the GCE exams to meet his pals in a football pitch.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

On a holiday last year, whilst I lay back on a sun lounger with a cold pint of Greek lager on the beautiful island of Kefalonia, from behind my sunglasses I spied an elderly (ish) man taking up residence on the opposite side of the swimming pool.

Nothing odd about that as the hotel I was staying in was clearly a popular place in the resort of Skala, particularly with British tourists.

However, it was what the chap, who I estimated to be around mid-60s, was wearing that made him stand out from the crowd.

He was sitting in none other than the infamous Cameroon sleeveless shirt that FIFA banned!

I had completely forgotten about it and while it may well still be popular attire on the streets of Yaoundé or Douala, it isn’t quite what I expected from yer da on his jollies in Greece.

I resisted the temptation to quiz the man on his allegiance to the Les Lions Indomptables (The Indomitable Lions) as he could well have been a knowledgeable man with a keen interest in African football, but something told me he was not.

It then got me thinking as to how old that shirt was (it was fading from the dark green I remembered and looked somewhat faded from the very probable explanation that it had accompanied the man in sunny climbs for years on end) and just why Cameroon were not able to wear it.

A quick scan of press cuttings revealed it is now 16 years old and at the time of the banning almost every single English media outlet rolled out the time old cliché – you can always expect something different from Cameroon – a stereotype thrust upon them since their incredible arrival on the world stage of football at the 1990 World Cup.

Some 12 years later it appears that was still following them around. In fact, more than a decade after Nery Pumpido’s feckless performance in the Argentina goal allowed François Omam-Biyik to score a memorable goal against the defending world champions, not to mention the wonderful sight of Claudio Caniggia’s boot flying up into the air following a magnificent lunge by Benjamin Massing (RIP), Cameroon were still subjected to this type of quote from FIFA’s Keith Cooper:

“You can always expect something different from Cameroon, not only in terms of their shirts.”

Well quite Keith.

Puma’s sleeveless shirts were in fact not a new design when FIFA took the decision to outlaw them a few months before the 2002 World Cup, and had in fact been worn successfully by Cameroon throughout that year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The new basketball style shirt proved to be a lucky omen as Cameroon beat Senegal on penalties to claim their fourth crown in front of 50,000 fans in the Malian capital Bamako.

Puma were forced to hastily redesign a kit with sleeves for the World Cup as Cameroon failed to progress from Group E, where despite getting four points, were beaten to the knockout stage by Germany and Mick McCarthy’s Ireland side.

The shirt then became the sleeveless one with two random black thin bits of fabric attached to replicate sleeves.

But FIFA know best and Keith Cooper – the man charged with banning the Cameroon shirt was promptly fired by that great man of football Sepp Blatter, some three months later.

Here is to an unforgettable shirt and may many a pensioner adorn it for years to come!

Source: The Sportsman

Tennis star Serena Williams has spoken about plans to set up a WTA Tour event in Africa, in what is believed would be a first for the continent.

She told BBC Sport that it is something that that she has “thought about”:

It is something I have thought about and I would like to keep thinking about it. I’m glad you brought it up because I think it would be amazing. It would be so fun – the help that we could do, and the awareness and the athletes and the amazing players that would come out of Africa would just be unbelievable.”

The WTA Tour is an elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

She said Kenya is where she would want the event to take place, adding “it’s one of my favourite places to go, so why not?”  Ms Williams said she is preparing to return to the WTA Tour six months after giving birth. She is a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.

Source: BBC

Source: BBC Sports

After protracted negotiations, Cedric Bakambu has joined China’s Beijing Guoan in a deal that is understood to make him Africa’s most expensive player ever.

I’ve been told by a source close to Bakambu that the deal totals $90m (£65m), beating the previous African record of $77m paid by Arsenal for Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

The same source – who works with Bakambu on image-related contracts – says the 26-year-old player from the Democratic Republic of Congo has signed a four-year deal.

Both the club and the player have posted images about the move – but without giving any details.

Source: BBC Sports

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is in Lagos, Nigeria for a summit of the world football governing body. Infantino arrived in Lagos on Monday and told reporters that the summit is a democratic system where issues concerning football are discussed among stakeholders.

The FIFA FIFA Summit is an initiative of Infantino to give a voice to the member associations, who are in fact FIFA’s bosses, giving them the opportunity to exchange, discuss and listen. These exchanges, according to the FIFA boss, will allow his administration and himself to be able to hear the point of view of the administrations.

Shortly after arriving in Nigeria on Monday, Infantino went to the Lagos government headquarters, along with Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick. CAF President Ahmad Ahmad and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura who also made the trip to Nigeria.

Among the topics on the agenda for this summit are the future of youth competitions, women’s competition, how to develop them and the player transfer system.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o has signed a contract with Turkish top-flight club Konyaspor after parting ways with Antalyaspor.

“Eto’o is a very important player in the world and in Turkey. We are happy to see him in Konyaspor,” club president Fatih Yilmaz said.

The 36-year-old former Cameroon international, who joined Antalyaspor in 2015 after a short spell in Italy with Sampdoria, has signed an 18-month contract with Konyaspor.

The two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner enjoyed five hugely successful seasons with Barcelona from 2004 to 2009, winning two Champions League titles and three La Liga crowns before departing for Inter Milan, where he had more success under Jose Mourinho.

Eto’o helped Inter team win the treble of Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in his first season in Italy before moving to Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala in 2011. He also had brief stints at Chelsea and Everton in the Premier League.

Source: AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly told team-mates he wants out of Real Madrid and that his priority is to secure a move back to Manchester United.

According to Manu Sainz of AS, Ronaldo feels “betrayed” that he has not been offered the improved contract he was promised by club president Florentino Perez after Real won their second successive UEFA Champions League back in June.

Sources close to the Portuguese said: “Cristiano is in the doldrums, as he feels that he has been tricked.”

Sainz added Ronaldo intends to leave Real in the summer, with Los Blancos said to be eyeing up Paris Saint-Germain duo Kylian Mbappe and Neymar as potential replacements for the 32-year-old.

Source: Bleachereport.com