Boxing: Controversial heavyweight Dereck Chisora laboured to a ninth-round stoppage of Hector Alfredo Avila at Wembley Arena Saturday night in his first outing since losing to David Haye last July. Argentinian journeyman Avila, who had lost 12 of his 33 fights and been knocked out eight times, has spent most of his career at cruiserweight but still managed to frustrate Chisora throughout a poor spectacle. “The guy came to spoil and that made it difficult. It’s done and now we move on to bigger and better things,” Chisora said.

Snooker: Ricky Walden claimed an overdue first victory at the Crucible as he polished off a 10-1 win over Michael Holt yesterday. The two-time ranking event winner led 8-1 overnight in his World Championship opener and, with the minimum of fuss, put Nottingham man Holt out of his misery. Walden won the Shanghai Masters in 2008 and landed the Wuxi Classic at the start of this season.

Cycling: Ireland’s Dan Martin, of the Garmin-Sharp team, won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Classic yesterday. Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez was second in the 261.5 kilometre hilly one-day race, with Spain’s Alejandro Valverde in third. After a late attack by Rodriguez on the final ascent, Martin caught the Spaniard then broke away with 400 metres to go for a lone win. Martin is the second Irishman, after Sean Kelly in the 1980s, to win the race.

Motorcycling: Spanish rookie Marc Marquez out-duelled Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to win the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas late yesterday and become the youngest ever winner in the MotoGP premier class. The 20-year-old Marquez, starting on pole, crossed 1.534 seconds ahead of Pedrosa to claim his maiden victory while Spain’s double world champion Jorge Lorenzo, winner of the season opener in Qatar two weeks ago, was a distant third 3.381 back.