Chari and Craig Ervclasekara, returning to Sri Lankas line-

LAS VEGAS -- Sergey Kovalev kept coming, and Andre Ward never stopped battling. With the crowd roaring in approval, they put on a fight that lived up to its advance billing.In the end, Ward won a narrow decision Saturday night to take Kovalevs light heavyweight titles in a battle between two unbeaten boxers.Ward survived a second-round knockdown and relentless pressure from Kovalev, doing just enough to win by a point on all three ringside scorecards. He remained unbeaten in his last 20 years in the ring, but it wasnt without some moments of worry.This was a beautiful thing. We did it baby, Ward said. Im a five-time world champion in two different weight classes. Man, its amazing.All three ringside judges had Ward winning 114-113. The Associated Press had Kovalev ahead 116-111.It was a fight of my life, Kovalev said. I am disappointed in the judges decision. He got maybe a few rounds, I agree with that. I kept control. I lost maybe three rounds the whole fight.Ward won all of the last six rounds on two scorecards, and five of six on a third. He won the final round on two of the scorecards.Kovalev knocked down Ward in the second round and chased him around the ring much of the early part of the fight. But Ward dug deep and managed to land some good punches of his own in a fight that built to a climax in the later rounds.The crowd of 13,310 at the T-Mobile Arena was on its feet in the late rounds as the two fighters went after each other, neither giving an inch. In the end, the judges favored Wards counter punching against the aggressive style of Kovalev.We were a little careless with that knockdown in the second round, said Wards trainer, Virgil Hunter. But we landed the cleaner punchesBoth fighters were unbeaten with almost identical records. Ward was 30-0 with 15 knockouts and Kovalev was 30-0-1 with 26 knockouts.It was a classic boxer versus puncher battle, and it looked like the puncher would prevail as Kovalev won the early rounds. But Ward kept punching and landed some good shots of his own in the middle rounds, and there were plenty of close rounds that could have gone either way.I knew it was going to be a tough fight -- it was the 1st time in my career I was dropped, Ward said. He did everything I expected him to do. He started to fight like I expected.Kovalevs promoter, Kathy Duva, said she would use the rematch clause in the contract for a second fight.He won the first six rounds so I dont know how he could lose a decision, Duva said. Im happy we had a great fight. Boxing needed a great fight.The fight was billed as a matchup of U.S. and Russian fighters, with the 2004 Olympic gold medalist Ward against a Russian who lives mostly in the Los Angeles area. It was a classic matchup of puncher versus boxer, and for the early part of the fight the puncher was winning.Kovalev flashed his power early, hitting Ward with a left hand midway through the first round that briefly wobbled Wards legs. Ward grabbed and held on and finished the round jabbing at the Russian, but the tone of the fight was set early.Midway through the second round, both fighters threw right hands but it was Kovalevs that landed flush to the side of Wards head, putting him on the canvas. He got up quickly and smiles as if not hurt but needed all of his supreme defensive skills to make it out of the round.Ward seemed unwilling to go inside after that, moving backward and trying to land jabs to control the action. But he abandoned the style that had served him so well over the years and fought moving backward, throwing only one punch at a time, as Kovalev constantly pressed the attack.Ward did have some moments, including the seventh round when he landed a good left that snapped Kovalevs head back.Ward earned $5 million, while Kovalev was paid $2 million plus a percentage of pay-per-view.On the undercard, two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields made her pro debut a successful one, winning a decision over Franchon Crews in a four-round super middleweight fight.Shields came back from a slow first round to land the bigger punches in an entertaining fight. Both women, fighting without headgear for the first time, traded punches freely but Shields won all over four rounds on the scorecards of the three ringside judges.Shields, who became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics and added another in Rio in August, had vowed to be impressive in her first pro fight. 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The lower tier of the School End of Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road was packed solid with a very festive-sounding Chelsea choral section in this particular part of South Africa Road London, W12. Sri Lanka 155 for 2 (De Silva 78*, Dickwella 41) beat Zimbabwe 154 (Moor 47, Cremer 31*, Gunaratne 3-21) by eight wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Sent in to bat on a green and slightly damp Harare surface, Zimbabwe lasted only 41.3 overs, leaving Sri Lanka a target of 155 that they chased down breezily courtesy Dhananjaya de Silvas unbeaten 78. Easy on the eye and ruthless on anything short or on his pads, de Silva scored his second ODI half-century, and put on 56 for the first wicket with Kusal Perera and 84 for the second with Niroshan Dickwella to steer Sri Lanka home with 153 balls remaining.Given the total they were defending, and the fact that the pitch was easing up as the match wore on, Zimbabwe couldnt afford to give Sri Lankas batsmen any lives. De Silva was the recepient of one off the first ball of the chase, when he nicked Tinashe Panyangara to wicketkeeper Peter Moor only to be reprieved by a no-ball call. The pressure was off Sri Lanka thereafter, with Zimbabwes bowlers sending down a steady stream of loose balls, usually erring on the short side. Perera and Dickwella were both out to pulls, but the shot was also highly productive, bringing Sri Lanka 38 runs off 14 balls, including seven of their fours and the one six of their innings, hit by Kusal Mendis off Graeme Cremers legspin.With the surface offering sideways movement as well as bounce, Upul Tharanga had no second thoughts about choosing to bowl first - it was the 17th time the captain winning the toss had done so in the last 19 matches at the Harare Sports Club - and his seamers took no time making use of the conditions, running through the top order to leave Zimbabwe 50 for 6. They were in danger of falling short of 100 for the fifth time in ODIs against Sri Lanka, but Peter Moor and Graeme Cremer prevented that eventuality with a seventh-wicket partnership of 55.Moor fell for 47, while Cremer, who moved the total past 150 with some help from Donald Tiripano and Tinashe Panyangara, was left stranded on 31. Making his ODI debut, allrounder Asela Gunaratne finished as Sri Lankas most successful bowler, picking up three lower-order wickets with his medium-paced offcutters.The early daamage, though, was done by Sri Lankas three frontline seamers.dddddddddddd Suranga Lakmal started the top-order procession in the fourth over of the innings, hitting a good length in the corridor and letting the pitch do the rest as Brian Chari and Craig Ervclasekara, returning to Sri Lankas line-up for the first time since January, then got one to stop on Sikandar Raza, who flicked in the air to short midwicket, before Sean Williams threw his wicket away to spin, jumping out to left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana, slogging, and missing the line of one that went with the angle from around the wicket.Nuwan Pradeep, the third seamer, struck the next two blows, straightening one just enough to get Chamu Chibhabha lbw playing across the line, and then, in his next over, moving it a little further to get a leaden-footed Elton Chigumbura caught behind. Zimbabwe had lost six wickets in just 17.1 overs.Moor looked in excellent touch in an aggressive 52-ball innings, striking cleanly and fearlessly whenever anything was in his zone; he hit four effortless sixes, the pick of them a shovel over long-on off Pathirana and a pull off Kulasekara that lifted Zimbabwe past 100. He fell the very next ball, though, caught on the crease by an inducker that hurried past his defensive jab and rapped his front pad in front of middle and leg.Tiripano showed impressive technique for a No. 9 in moving to 19 before going for an ill-advised hoick off Gunaratne that picked out long-on. Gunaratne then spun an offcutter like a fast offbreak to pin his fellow debutant Carl Mumba lbw, before Panyangara, slog-sweeping merrily, hit a four and a six before he was the last man out, miscuing another attempted slog. Watching from the other end, Cremer wouldnt have been too pleased with that shot, or indeed the one Tiripano played to get out. He had batted sensibly and looked in barely any trouble, and would have hoped someone stuck around long enough with him to take Zimbabwe as close to the 50-over mark as possible. ' ' '