For the third consecutive year, the proposed
All American Football League, originally intended to launch in 2008, delays its planned debut, this time until 2011.
The new incarnation of the
Arena Football League, consisting mostly of teams from the now-dissolved
AF2, makes its debut. Although the new AFL is a separate corporate entity from the original AFL, it purchased the assets of the original league in a bankruptcy auction, enabling it to brand itself as a continuation of the original.
August
August–September:
New Meadowlands Stadium, the new home of the
New York Giants and
Jets, opened on August 16 with a pre-season game between the two teams, with the Jets as the designated home team. The Giants won this matchup 31–16. After winning a coin flip between the two teams, the Giants played the first regular-season game in the stadium on September 12, defeating the
Carolina Panthers 31–18. The Jets played the
Baltimore Ravens in their home opener the following night on Monday Night Football, losing 10–9.
Reggie Bush, currently with the Saints, announced that he would forfeit his
2005Heisman Trophy after his involvement with marketing agents while playing at
USC led to severe
NCAA penalties against the school. USC had already returned its copy of Bush's Heisman and the football program cut ties with Bush.[1]
4–15
2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The total aquatics medal table was won by Russia with 13 gold medals, 7 silver, 8 bronze. Germany was second in the total medal table with 8 gold, 9 silver, 3 bronze. France was third with 8 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze. The swimming medal table had slightly different order. Russia was second, France first and Great Britain third. France got 8 gold medals, 7 silver, 6 bronze. Russia got 7 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze. Great Britain got 6 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze. Diving medal table was totally different: Germany was first, Ukraine second and Italy third. Germany got 5 gold, 3 silver, but no bronze. Ukraine got 2 gold, 2 silver and 0 bronze. Italy got 1 gold, two silver, but no bronze for Italy either. Synchronized Swimming medal table had only three countries. Russia was first, Ukraine second and Spain third. Italy won the open water medal table, Greece was second and Germany third. Water Polo Championships were held separately.
25–28
2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Germany won the medal table with 10 gold, 8 silver, 4 bronze. Host country Netherlands was second with 9 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze. Hungary was third with 6 gold, 1 silver and two bronze.
December
15-19
2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. United States was the winner of the medal table with 12 golf medals, 6 silver and 7 bronze. Second in the medal table was Russia with 4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. Spain was third with 4 gold medals, two silver and two bronze.
25th –
2010 AFL Grand Final –
Collingwood drew with
St Kilda in the first Grand Final, 9.14 (68) – 10.8 (68). Collingwood won the replay by 56 points on October 2, 16.12 (108) – 7.10 (52). It was the first drawn AFL Grand Final since
1977.
2nd –
Ron Santo former 3rd baseman of the
Chicago Cubs dies due to complications from bladder cancer and diabetes in a
Scottsdale, Arizona hospital.
Legendary
Milwaukee Brewers baseball announcer and former
Milwaukee Braves catcher
Bob Uecker, who played on the Braves during the
1957 World Series in which the Braves won, undergoes two successful heart surgeries, one during the baseball season, and one following it, and gets inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame.
March 13 –
Manny Pacquiao defeats Joshua Clottey by controlling the fight from start to finish, leading to Pacquiao winning by a unanimous decision. The fight was the first boxing match held at
Cowboys Stadium in
Arlington, Texas in front of over 41,000 people. This was Pacquiao's first defense of his newly awarded
WBO welterweight title.
March 20 –
Wladimir Klitschko knocks out
Eddie Chambers with a fierce left that hits Chambers in the temple with only five seconds left in the fight. The punch knocked Chambers out nearly instantly, with him collapsing to the canvas and hanging off the last rope. This was Klitschko's first defense of his
Ring magazine heavyweight title, his fourth defense of his
WBO heavyweight title, and his eighth defense of his
IBF and
IBO heavyweight titles.
March 27 –
Pongsaklek Wonjongkam defeats
Kōki Kameda by a majority decision to win the
WBC flyweight title and vacant
Ring magazine flyweight title. This is the second time Wonjongkam has become the
WBC flyweight champion, after first winning the title in March 2001. Wonjongkam defended the title seventeen times, until he lost to
Daisuke Naito in July 2007. This fight is later named the best flyweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
April 17 –
Kelly Pavlik loses to
Sergio Martínez in a close fight for Pavlik's
WBC,
WBO, and
Ring magazine middleweight titles. Martínez controlled the early rounds with quick in and out movements, refusing to heavily engage with Pavlik. Martínez managed to cut Pavlik's left eyebrow in the first round. Pavlik then started to mount a comeback in the middle rounds by blocking Martínez's punches more effectively. Pavlik spent most of his time headhunting trying to land a hard right, which did help Pavlik get a knockdown in the seventh round. In the late rounds Martínez came back and started to open up Pavlik's cuts more, making his face extremely blood. In the post fight interview Pavlik said he couldn't see due to the blood. Martínez ended up winning the fight with a unanimous decision.
April 24 –
Mikkel Kessler upsets
Carl Froch by a unanimous decision to win Froch's
WBC super middleweight title. The fight was part of the second-group stage of the
Super Six World Boxing Classic. Following the fight, Froch complained about a judging bias, seeing how the fight was held in Kessler's country of origin, Denmark. This fight was later named the best super middleweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
April 30 – In a stunning upset,
Fernando Montiel knocksout
Hozumi Hasegawa ending his five-year, 10 title defense streak and taking his
WBC bantamweight title. The knockout came as a surprise due to Hasegawa seeming to be clearly leading until the end of the fourth, when Montiel landed a left punch that stunned Hasegawa and pushed him back to the ropes, where he unloaded on him until the referee stopped the fight.
May 1 –
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Shane Mosley to continue his undefeated career streak. Mosley came out strong for the first two rounds—at one point making Mayweather's knees buckle—but Mayweather went on to control the fight.
May 8 – Making his comeback after roughly 15½ months of being suspended,
Antonio Margarito defeated Roberto Garcia to win the vacant
WBC international super welterweight title.
May 15 –
Amir Khan dominates
Paul Malignaggi to win by TKO in the eleventh round to retain his
WBA light welterweight title for the second time. This was Khan's debut in the United States.
May 22 – In their
fourth fight against each other
Rafael Márquez evens the series to two wins for each man by stopping
Israel Vázquez by TKO in the third round.
June 5 –
Miguel Cotto defeats Yuri Foreman by a ninth round stoppage due to a leg injury Foreman suffered during the fight. In an amazing display of will, Foreman refused to quit despite being in what he later called a "very sharp pain". A towel was thrown in the ring, but it was ruled to have come from an outside source, and the fight continued for another minute until being stopped officially. This was Cotto's debut at
light middleweight. The fight was the first boxing match in the new
Yankee stadium built in 2009, and the first match in either Yankee stadium since Ali/Norton 3 in 1976.
August 14 –
Jean Pascal upsets
Chad Dawson by a
technical decision due to an accidental headbutt that caused a major cut over Dawson's right eye and the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor. However Pascal easily won the fight according to the judge's scorecards. Pascal defended his
WBC light heavyweight title for the third time, won Dawson's
IBO light heavyweight title, and filled the vacant
Ring magazine light heavyweight title.
August 28 –
Giovanni Segura upsets
Iván Calderón by a knockout in the eighth round to win the
WBO and
WBA super world light flyweight titles. Segura ends Calderón's undefeated 34-fight winning record. This fight would later be named both the best light flyweight and overall
fight of the year of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
September 11 –
Yuriorkis Gamboa defeats
Orlando Salido to unified the
WBA world and vacant
IBF featherweight titles. Gamboa was knocked down in the eighth round and was docked two points in the twelfth round. While Salido was knocked down twice in the twelfth round.
November 6 –
Juan Manuel López defeats Rafael Márquez by TKO, in an exciting fight that was stopped early due to Márquez suffering a shoulder injury following the eighth round. López defends his
WBO featherweight title and improves his record to 30–0. This fight is later named the best featherweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
November 13 –
Manny Pacquiao destroys Antonio Margarito to the
WBC super welterweight title, making Pacquiao the first and so far only boxer to win world titles in
eight different weight classes. Following the fight, Margarito is sent to a hospital with a fractured
orbital bone, which requires surgery. This was Margarito's first major fight in over 21 months, following a knockout loss to
Shane Mosley in January 2009.
November 27 –
Juan Manuel Márquez defeats Michael Katsidis by ninth-round TKO. Katsidis was competitive throughout the fight and even scored a knockdown on Márquez in the third round. While Márquez fought a more solid fight, landing many combinations. Márquez defends his
WBO,
WBA, and
Ring magazine lightweight titles. This fight is later named the best lightweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
December 11 –
Amir Khan defeats Marcos Maidana in a relatively close decision. Khan came out strong in the early part of the fight, by applying heavy pressure on Maidana and getting a knockdown late in the first round. However, in the later parts of the fight Khan spent much of his time avoiding Maidana trying to endure through rounds. At one point Maidana appeared to have almost finished Khan in the tenth round, when he landed a huge punch. However Khan absorbed the punishment and did enough in the early rounds to win by a unanimous decision. Khan defended his
WBA world light welterweight title for the third time. This fight is later named the best light welterweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
December 11 –
Abner Mares defeats
Vic Darchinyan by a spit decision, to start
Showtime's second boxing tournament based on the
Super Six World Boxing Classic. However instead featured only four fighters, a single elimination format, and was focused on the
bantamweight division at 118 lbs (54 kg) under the title, The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All. This fight was later named the best bantamweight fight of 2010 by
Ring magazine.
March 20
Milan–San RemoÓscar Freire wins first monument of the year over Tom Boonen in predicted sprint finish.
April 4
Tour of FlandersFabian Cancellara defeats home favourite Tom Boonen as 1 million people line the streets of Northern Belgium for the Unesco heritage race, famous for its culture, beautiful forests and brutal cobbled hills. Cancellara attacked first on the Molenberg with 44 km to go and Boonen was the only one who could follow. With 15 km to go Cancellara launched a powerful attack on the Muur-Kapelmuur using the last metres of the hill and descent to create a big gap. Once the gap was created, the world tt champion was always favourite and had time to celebrate.
April 11
Paris–RoubaixFabian Cancellara launched a surprising attack with over 45 km to go while Boonen was taking a drink behind. The Swiss, nicknamed Spartacus, showed incredible strength to stretch out the gap to over 4 minutes over the rest, before relaxing in the final kilometres to celebrate becoming one of the few people to achieve the Flanders Roubaix double in the same week.
April 24
Liège–Bastogne–LiègeAlexander Vinokourov came out victorious over
Alexander Kolobnev with whom he worked to set up a 2-man finish. Vino attacked with 15 km to go, with many teams hesitant to bring him back, as drag Vinos teammate
Alberto Contador, would then attack. With 9 km to go an elite group behind formed and home favourite
Philippe Gilbert launched an all or nothing attack. Gilbert halved the 40 second deficit, but Vino and Kolobnev used their 2-man advantage to tire him out and ultimately contested the finish among themselves with Vino riding away to celebrate a successful comeback at the age of 36.
May 8–30
Giro d'ItaliaIvan Basso won what was considered to be one of the greatest
Grand Tours of all time. With surprisingly exciting stages in the first week, including crashes in the Netherlands a ttt and a tough stage through the mud of Strade Bianchi, the race was blown apart on stage 12 when a group of 30 riders, including climbers David Arroyo and Carlos Sastre got a 12-minute lead. This forced the other contenders to push hard in the very difficult mountains of the 3rd week.
Cadel Evans Michelle Scarponi
Vincenzo Nibali and Basso took minutes over the leaders on 3 mountain stages, one of which was a mountain finish on the
Monte Zoncolan, the hardest mountain in Grand Tour history, lined by hundreds of thousands of fans. The race came down to a difficult stage over the extremely difficult Passo di Mortirolo with a finish in Aprica. Basso needed 3 minutes to take the jersey from Arroyo, and looked likely to get it after taking 2 minutes on the ascent of the climb. But Arroyo surprised the world of cycling with an amazing descent of the mountain in very dangerous conditions, taking back 1 minute 30. The final twist came with the final climb into Aprica, were Basso, helped by teammate Nibali, and stage winner Scarponi, was able to take 3 minutes on Arroyo, gaining the jersey and a 2nd Giro win.
July 3–25
Tour de FranceAlberto Contador won his 3rd Tour de France and 5th Grand Tour after a close duel with young Luxembourger
Andy Schleck. The two were always comfortable, and close to each other, but the onus was on Schleck who was considered to be a far weaker time trial cyclist. Going into the stage on the
Col du Tourmalet Schleck needed to get a gap over Contador, but, although he won the stage, Contador finished just behind Schleck and won the Tour on the time trial two days later.
August 28–19
Vuelta a EspañaVincenzo Nibali won his first Grand Tour after putting in a surprisingly strong performance on the decisive stage. The strong favourite at the halfway point had been
Igor Antón but the
Euskaltel–Euskadi rider had an unfortunate crash and was forced to abandon. This left the Italian to fight it out with Galician climber
Ezequiel Mosquera. Mosquera got time in several mountain stages, and needed 40 seconds on the final stage over the very steep Bola del Mundo. Huge crowds cheered on Mosquera as he attacked with 3 km and he was able to initially get 20 seconds. But Nibali came back and caught Mosquera in the last few metres, and though he was unable to overtake the Spaniard for the stage win, he was the overall winner.
September 29–October 3
UCI Road World ChampionshipsWomen's Time trial –
Emma Pooley.
Men's Time Trial –
Fabian Cancellara. Women's Road Race –
Giorgia Bronzini.
Men's Road Race –
Thor Hushovd won an epic race which looked to finish in anything but a sprint finish, until the last few kilometres. Several groups kept forming in attacks that looked likely to succeed, but ultimately always got brought back. Favourite Philippe Gilbert expected attack finally came on the 1st climb of the last lap. But as he was caught by a 2nd group, the peloton surprisingly appeared just behind them with 3 k to go and a sprint finish it turned out to be.
October 17
Giro di Lombardia – Philippe Gilbert made up for his failure at the worlds with a 2nd victory in the final monument of the season. The Belgian was simply too strong throughout and never looked like losing. After a crash took out Nibali, Gilbert was left on his own, and waited for
Michele Scarponi for support. But the Italian, who is superior in Grand Tours, was out of his depth contesting a one-day race against the classic specialist, who waltzed away with ease in the last few kilometres.
February 16–28: Canada wins gold, United States wins silver, and Finland wins bronze at the
men's tournament of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
January 29 – October 2 –
Super League XV was held in England, Wales and France.
Wigan Warriors defeated
St. Helens 22–10 in the
Grand Final for their second title. This was also St Helens' fourth consecutive Grand Final defeat.
April 22 – The
Melbourne Storm Storm are stripped of their 2007 and 2009 premierships and 2006–2008 minor premierships, fined $1.689 million, deducted all eight premiership points for the 2010 season and barred from receiving premiership points for the rest of the season by the National Rugby League after being
found guilty of long-term gross salary cap breaches.
October–November –
2010 European Cup will be held in Europe where Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France will compete for a spot in the 2011 four nations.
The first round of the Gentlemen's Singles features the
longest match in tennis history. In a match that lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days, American
John IsnerdefeatsFrance'sNicolas Mahut 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68. The final set alone was longer in both games and time than the previous longest match.