Around the professional sports world, there are many leagues beginning their seasons including the MLB and the WNBA. Other leagues, however, are coming to a close, like the UEFA Champions League, or are in the playoffs, like the NHL and the NBA.
Photo courtesy of huffingtonpost.com
In the racing realm, Formula 1 had a race this weekend that took place in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Miami Grand Prix had many of the familiar winners near the top of the podium. The winner of the race, Max Verstappen, is the reigning Formula 1 winner, followed by current leader Charles Leclerc. Rounding off the podium was Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.
Men’s professional soccer is nearing a close to the club season and, with that, the end of the Champions League is approaching with the final set as Spanish club Real Madrid will face the English club, Liverpool. Real Madrid got to the finals in a thrilling come-from-behind victory against the leading club in the Premier League, Manchester City. Liverpool easily cruised through to the final, beating the surprise semifinals team Villarreal.
The most anticipated soccer match in the world will take place on May 28 at Paris Saint-Germain’s field in Paris for the Champions League Final.
In the Football Association Women’s Super League (FAWSL), another crowned champion, Chelsea, continued their dominance in the league, capturing their third consecutive FAWSL title and their fourth title in the last five seasons. Arsenal was close to regaining the top position with a victory over West Ham, but it was eventually lost when Chelsea secured their 4-2 victory.
In the NHL, the first round of the playoffs has gotten underway with a majority of the series being closely contested, besides the 3-0 series lead the Colorado Avalanche have over the Nashville Predators. One of the wildest series has been the Los Angeles Kings versus the Edmonton Oilers with a 2-2 series split. Featuring one of the best players in the league, Connor McDavid, the Oilers followed a 3-4 opening game loss by winning the next two games by 6 goals each. However, the Kings responded with a dominant 4-0 win in the fourth game to level the series.
The boxing and fighting world had quite the weekend, featuring title fights for UFC and in boxing. In the UFC, there was a co-main event with the first fight featuring a new champion, as Carla Esparza was able to defeat Rose Namajunas to regain the women’s strawweight title after seven years. Then, on the men’s side, Charles Oliveira claimed a submission victory against the current title holder of the lightweight belt, Justin Gaethje. However, since Oliveira was not able to make weight at the weigh-in, the belt will remain vacant in the division.
Last was the highly anticipated boxing match between the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter Canelo Álvarez and the undefeated Dmitry Bivol. In an attempt to gain the 175-pound title after securing all four world titles at 168 pounds, Álvarez was put to a halt, losing easily via unanimous decision to Bivol. Álvarez, being the smaller fighter at 5-foot-8-inches, wasn’t able to connect like Bivol, who used his 6-foot reach to his advantage.
A version of this article appeared on p.7 of the May 12, 2022 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
