BOXING

Portland’s Lamour to fight for middleweight title

Russell Lamour (7-0) will fight a more seasoned opponent in Laatekwei Hammond (21-6) when the two step into the ring at the Portland Expo for the vacant New England middleweight championship on June 14.

Hammond, 33, is a native of Ghana now living in Worcester, Massachusetts. A former African middleweight champ, he has won 14 fights by KO.

Lamour, 31, is a Deering High graduate who fights out of the Portland Boxing Club.

The undercard includes Chris Gilbert of Windsor, Vermont, Jorge Abiague of the Portland Boxing Club and Brandon Berry of West Forks on the upper Kennebec River. All are unbeaten.

Tickets are available at Port-TIX.

WBA/IBF: Carl Froch knocked out British rival George Groves in the eighth round to retain his WBA and IBF super middleweight titles at Wembley Stadium in London.

n In the undercard, Britain’s Jamie McDonnell won the vacant WBA bantamweight title with a 10th-round knockout of Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat.

n Sam Soliman of Australia won the IBF middleweight title in Krefeld, Germany, with a unanimous decision over Felix Sturm of Germany.

COLLEGES

A $40 million settlement has been completed that will pay college football and basketball players dating back to 2003 for the use of their likenesses in NCAA branded videogames.

Payments could range from $48 for each year an athlete was on a roster to $951 for each year the image of an athlete was used in a game.

BASKETBALL: Former Montana guard Travis DeCuire returned to the Grizzlies as coach.

RUNNING

PREFONTAINE CLASSIC: Kirani James of Grenada edged American Lashawn Merritt to win the men’s 400 meters in Eugene, Oregon.

James, the gold medalist in the 2012 London Olympics, bested his rival by leaning at the end to finish in 43.97, best in the world this season.

Justin Gatlin won the 100 meters in 9.76 seconds.

Tori Bowie won the star-studded 200 with 22.18.

FOOTBALL

NFL: Alex Santos has been promoted to director of pro personnel by the Washington Redskins.

OLYMPICS

GOLF: Like other delayed venues for the Rio 2016 Olympics, work on the golf course has fallen behind schedule, and a state prosecutor could halt construction unless the developer shows it is following environmental regulations.

CYCLING

GIRO D’ITALIA: Nairo Quintana virtually clinched the title with a strong ride up Italy’s Monte Zoncolan, while Michael Rogers benefited from a fan interruption to post his second stage victory of the race.

SOCCER

WORLD CUP: Italy was held to a 0-0 draw by Ireland in a World Cup warm-up match in London that saw the Azzurri lose key midfielder Riccardo Montolivo to a broken leg that will rule him out of the tournament in Brazil.

n Luis Montes scored two minutes before a leg injury sent him to the hospital, helping Mexico beat Ecuador 3-1 in Arlington, Texas, in the first of three tuneups in the U.S. leading to the World Cup.

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: Andres Romero and Jack McInerney scored in the Montreal Impact’s 2-0 victory at home over New England, stopping the Revolution’s winning streak at five.

– From staff and news services

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