Boxing: Fast forces Williams to delay fight

Danny Williams, the British heavyweight champion, has been forced to pull out of his first big test, against the South African Corrie Sanders in Oklahoma City on 9 November. Williams is a Muslim and will have begun fasting for Ramadan three days earlier and is unwilling to risk facing a man of Sanders' calibre under such circumstances.

"I boxed during Ramadan last year in my first fight for Don King and I didn't feel right," Williams said. "It is too much upheaval for the fight to take place. You can't go into a fight when you've been starving yourself. I asked for the fight to be brought back a few days, but it couldn't happen."

Williams has been given a prospective new date of 25 January at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.

Elsewhere, England's Steve Conway is Alex Arthur's new opponent for the British super-featherweight title fight on Saturday. Arthur's fight with Willie Limond was called off after the Glasgow fighter sustained an injury during sparring.