Sporting Digest: Boxing

BILLY HARDY recovered from a second- round knockdown to retain his Commonwealth featherweight title against Barrington Francis, of Canada, at Sunderland last night. The European welterweight champion, Gary Jacobs, had a fourth-round win over the Huddersfield-based German, Horace Fleary, on the same promotion.

PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION (Sunderland): 12- rd featherweight for Commonwealth championship: Billy Hardy (Sunderland) bt Barrington Francis (Canada) pts; 12-rd welterweight: Gary Jacobs (Glasgow) bt Horace Fleary (Huddersfield) ret 4th; 8-rd middleweight: Cornelius Carr (Middlesbrough) bt Stan King (London) pts.

PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION (Leicester): 6-rd light-middleweight: Stuart Dunn (Leicester) bt Matthew Turner (Wales) rsf 3rd; 8-rd featherweight: Paul Harvey (Ilford) bt Kelton McKenzie (Leicester) rsf 7th; 8-rd light-welterweight: Michael Driscoll (Portsmouth) bt Ray Newby (Nottingham) ret 2nd; 6-rd super-featherweight: Dean Amory (Birmingham) bt Neil Smith (Leicester) pts; 6-rd welterweight: Richie Mabbett (Leicester) bt Ojay Abrahams (Watford) rsf 4th.