Tuesday Sports in Brief

BOXING

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is officially hanging up his gloves.

The eight-division world champion and Philippines senator on Wednesday announced his retirement from the ring,

Pacquiao finished his 26-year, 72-fight career with 62 wins, eight losses and two draws. Of those 62 wins, 39 were by knockout and 23 by decision. He won 12 world titles and is the only fighter in history to win titles in eight different weight classes .

His retirement from boxing followed a disheartening defeat to Yordenis Ugas in Paradise, Nevada on Aug. 21.

MLB

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dylan Carlson, Nolan Arenado and Jose Rondon homered to back Adam Wainwright, and the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to 17 games and clinched an NL wild card berth with a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

St. Louis will play in the NL wild-card game on Oct. 6 at the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco, whichever does not win the NL West. The postseason trip will be the third in a row for the Cardinals.

NBA

The NBA released tentative health and safety protocols to its teams Tuesday, detailing how unvaccinated players will be tested far more often than their vaccinated colleagues and face a slew of other restrictions.

Among the rules for unvaccinated players: They will not be able to eat in the same room with vaccinated teammates or staff, must have lockers as far away from vaccinated players as possible, and must stay masked and at least six feet away from all other attendees in any team meeting.

Further, unvaccinated players will be “required to remain at their residence when in their home market,” teams were told in the draft of the rules, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. They will also need to stay on team hotel properties when on the road. In both cases, there are limited permissible exceptions — such as going to buy groceries, taking children to school and the like.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — The college sports leaders who run the College Football Playoff have about four months to come to an agreement on a new format if expansion is to be implemented for the 2024 season.

If they can’t get it done by then, any change to the way major college football decides its national champion will have to wait until the current television contract with ESPN runs out after 2025.

“We have time,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said Tuesday after a four-hour meeting with the management committee. “Because if the event is going to change before the end of the term into the 12 years, we have three of four months. If it’s going to change in year 13, they we have a couple of years. So we have the luxury of time.”

GOLF

The Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines had an ideal spot on the West Coast Swing as the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl. That changed when the NFL added a game to its regular season.

That led the tour to adapt by starting the tournament a day earlier, on Wednesday, and giving CBS a prime-time finish for most of the country on Saturday, a day ahead of the NFC and AFC title games.

The Farmers Insurance Open now will be Jan. 26-29.

SOCCER

Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke has been fired following an investigation into alleged violations of the National Women’s Soccer League’s anti-harassment policy. The team was also banned from league governance matters.

The NWSL had commissioned an independent investigation into the Spirit organization after The Washington Post reported allegations that players were verbally and emotionally abused.

Team officials have 14 days to reply to the findings.

LONDON (AP) — Roger Hunt, a striker in the only England team to win the World Cup and Liverpool’s all-time record league scorer, has died. He was 83.

Liverpool, where Hunt spent most of his playing career, said he died on Monday after a long illness.

Hunt’s three goals at the 1966 World Cup helped England to advance from the group stage. He went on to feature in all six games at the tournament, culminating in the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium when he partnered hat-trick scorer Geoff Hurst up front. It remains England’s only major football title.

WNBA

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Jonquel Jones led a sweep of three major WNBA awards for Connecticut, earning MVP honors.

Connecticut’s Curt Miller was chosen as the league’s Coach of the Year. It’s the second time he’s won the award, also receiving it in 2017.

Brionna Jones received the league’s Most Improved Player.

The trio helped the Sun to the league’s best record and the top seed in the playoffs.

COLLEGE ATHLETICS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Belmont is joining the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1 as the league’s 11th member after nine years in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Greg Jones, Belmont president, announced the decision Tuesday. He called it time for Belmont to take another step and help the university raise its game in all sports.

Also on Tuesday, the Texas-based Southland Conference, which had five football teams depart its FCS league earlier this year, announced the addition of Texas A&M-Commerce. The 2017 NCAA Division II national champion Lions will officially join next July 1 to begin a four-year transition to Division I.

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