Boxing: UFC president Dana White weighed in on talk about a possible bout between Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor, saying he would offer $25 million to each plus pay-per-view money. “I’ll tell you what Floyd, here’s a real offer,” White said on “The Herd” radio talk show on FS1, yesterday. “We pay you $25 million, we’ll pay Conor $25 million and then we’ll talk about pay-per-view at a certain number. There’s a real offer for the fight,” White said. Despite the sum, the offer is not likely to stir enough interest from Mayweather.
Betting: Australian tennis player Calum Puttergill has been suspended for six months and fined $10,000 for placing bets on matches, the Tennis Integrity Unit has said. Puttergill, ranked 891 in doubles and 1,207 in singles, used two accounts to place 291 bets on matches between May 2012 and November 2014. None involved matches he was playing, the TIU said. The final three months of the ban and $5,000 of the fine have been suspended on the condition the 23-year-old does not commit any further offences prior to July 11, 2017.
Golf: Justin Thomas, hunting his third victory of the young season, eagled the par-five last to set a PGA Tour record for 36 holes and stretch his overnight lead to five shots after the second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. Three strokes clear after opening with a magical 11-under-par 59, the American world number 12 followed up with a six-under 64 on another benign day of ideal scoring conditions at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Thomas’s 36-hole aggregate eclipsed the previous low of 124 jointly held by Pat Perez (2009), David Toms (2011) and Jason Day (2015).
Tennis: Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens completed her fairytale run at the Hobart International by beating third seed Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-1 to clinch her maiden WTA Tour title yesterday. The 21-year-old, ranked 127th in the world, was broken in her first service game by her more experienced Romanian opponent but rallied to become the third qualifier to win the Hobart title after Mona Barthel (2012) and Garbine Muguruza (2014). Niculescu will have little time to recover from missing out on a fourth career title before she opens her Australian Open campaign against a qualifier on Tuesday.