• October 2 down the years

The Battle of Britain

Lennox Lewis defended his world heavyweight title © Getty Images

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1993
At Cardiff Arms Park between Britain's top two heavyweight fighters, Lennox Lewis beat the aging Frank Bruno to retain his WBC title. It began the day before, ended in the early hours of the morning, and nearly gave us a shock result. Both boxers were heavily flawed. Lennox Lewis tended to be sloppy and had a dodgy defence, Frank Bruno no defence at all. Big Frank was nearly 32 by now and his other two world title attempts had ended in knockout defeats (1986 and February 25 1989). This one was expected to go the same way: Lewis, unbeaten as a professional, making an easy second defence of the WBC heavyweight title he'd been awarded the year before. It didn't turn out that way, partly because Lewis was even more slipshod than usual, lunging and sliding - and because Bruno's left jab worked well for the first five rounds. Lewis suffered a cut eye, and his stamina looked suspect as early as the third. But Frank's defence was never going to hold out all night. Like all his defeats, the end came suddenly. He had Lewis in a corner in the seventh round, but a sudden left hook changed everything. Bruno took some terrible punishment in the next minute or so, and Lewis spoke for many people afterwards: "I think Frank should retire gracefully. I don't think the public want to see him taking any more punishment." Well, Lewis was the next to take punishment, losing the title the following year (September 24). And Bruno was back for one last go (September 2 1995), against the boxer who beat Lewis in less than two rounds.

Lewis' win over Bruno marked a happy anniversary. In 1988, Lewis was still representing Canada when he won the Olympic gold medal at super-heavyweight. In the final, he stopped Riddick Bowe of the USA early in the second round. Bowe also went on to win a version of the world title as a professional, but he and Lewis never fought again.

1980
Muhammad Ali's last title fight was a sad spectacle for everyone, including his opponent. Two years after regaining his WBA heavyweight title from Leon Spinks (September 15), Ali not only came out of retirement but walked straight into a WBC title fight at the age of 38. The money must have been worth it, because there was nothing else left in the fight game for someone who'd once been The Greatest. Larry Holmes was an underrated champion, a really good boxer-puncher, and Ali simply had no chance at all. He'd lost every single round by the time his trainer Angelo Dundee refused to let him come out for the 11th. It wasn't a fight in any accepted sense. Neither of them threw many punches, Ali because he couldn't, Holmes to spare his idol heavy punishment - though he almost put a stop to the farce with an uppercut in the 9th round. The fans at Caesars Palace even started booing Ali in the sixth - but a year later, more of them came to watch his very last fight, which was just as pathetic (December 11).

The same night's boxing in Seoul provided the greatest scandal in Olympic boxing history. Park Si-Hun, a South Korean boxing in South Korea, enjoyed five hometown decisions in a row, including the worst of all time in the light-middleweight final. In his first fight, his Sudanese opponent was disabled by two low blows which should have led to Park's disqualification. Torsten Schmitz of East Germany, one of the favourites, was on the receiving end of a unanimous decision - and poor Vincenzo Nardiello of Italy led on all five judges' cards after two rounds. Two of them gave him the third as well, but the three others decided he'd lost it by such a wide margin that Park won the fight. After the verdict, Nardiello fell on his knees and punched the canvas. The semi-final ended in yet another unanimous win - but surely that was as far as it went. Even Park and his helpful judges couldn't take the gold medal away from Roy Jones Jnr. Could they? Already a star as an amateur, Jones had arrogance to burn but backed it up with the fastest hands in the game. In today's final, he hammered Park all round the ring, connecting with three times as many punches and outclassing him with every move. You know what's coming next. So did Jones. When the scores were read out, Park looked stunned but Jones didn't. On the medal rostrum, Park raised Jones's hand. Three of the judges claimed they gave Park the verdict just to save the host country form embarrassment, expecting the other four to give it to Jones. Believe that and you'll believe anything. The result led to a change in the way amateur boxing was scored, while Jones turned his back on it to become one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, winning world titles at four different weights, culminating in a heavyweight belt in 2003 (March 1).

1993
At the World Judo Championships in Hamilton, Canada, Britain's Nicola Fairbrother went one better than her Olympic silver. At those Barcelona Games, she'd lost a controversial lightweight final to the defending world champion, a Spaniard in front of a Spanish crowd (July 31). Today Fairbrother completed a tremendous sequence against three opponents who'd beaten her the last time they'd met. In fact Hyun Sook-Hee of South Korea had thrown Fairbother in each of their last four bouts. But this time the British girl won their quarter-final with a classic inner-thigh throw. Holland's Jessica Gal had beaten Fairbrother in the final of the recent German Open; here in Canada, she lost a split decision after a scoreless fight. In the final, Fairbrother met Japan's Chiyori Tateno, who'd destroyed her in training earlier that year: 'I knew that if she got me into ground work, I was history.' So Fairbrother couldn't use her favourite counter throw, which led straight onto the mat. Instead she showed nerve as well as flair by throwing Tateno to her right instead of her usual left. The move almost ended the fight there and then, but the seven points were enough for a big lead, and Tateno could never inveigle Fairbrother onto the floor.

There were better results for Japan at these Championships. Ryoko Tamura won the first of her record seven world titles (September 16 2007), and brothers Yoshio and Yukimasa Nakamura also won gold medals. Their brother Kenzo won one in 1997.

1909
The first rugby match ever played at Twickenham. With five internationals among their backs, host club Harlequins scored three tries to lead 9-0 at half-time. But the long grass wore them down, and the Richmond forwards dominated the second half, Walter Odgers scoring two converted tries. In between, one by 'Tim' Stoop won Quins the match 14-10. The first ever try was scored by John Birkett, whose understanding with Stoop's brother Adrian was crucial. The following year, there was a dramatic start to Twickenham's first international (January 15).

On the same ground on the same day 90 years later, England won their opening match in that year's rugby World Cup finals. Their eight tries were shared by eight different players, including Jonny Wilkinson, who was only 20 at the time but already good enough to score 32 points in an international match. He kicked six conversions and five penalty goals, while Italy's only points in a 67-7 defeat came from Wilko's opposite number at fly-half: a converted try by Diego Domínguez. A good enough start for England, but the All Blacks were up next (9 October).

While Wilkinson was piling up points, Keith Wood was scoring tries. Four in all, to equal the record for Ireland and for a forward in international rugby union (6 October 1991). This was another World Cup match, played in Dublin, and Ireland had no trouble beating the USA 53-8. David Humphreys kicked a couple of penalties and converted four of Ireland's seven tries, while his replacement Eric Elwood converted two others. And a young Brian O'Driscoll scored the first of his record number of tries for Ireland, which reached 40 in June 2010.

1932 and 1936
Two baseball players equalled a World Series record by scoring four runs in a game. Earle Combs and Frank Crosetti, both for the New York Yankees, who beat the Chicago Cubs in 1932 and the New York Giants in 1936. The latter was the first World Series won by the Yankees without Babe Ruth and with Joe DiMaggio.

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