Boxing: Lee gains Vera revenge

Andy Lee avenged the only defeat of his professional career when he outclassed Brian Vera at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

The Limerick southpaw dropped the Texan middleweight early in the fight en route to a unanimous (99-90 99-90 98-91) decision.

Lee, controlling the tempo of the 10-rounder and working well behind his raking jab, also detonated a superb right in the sixth which saw Vera double over and touch the canvas with his glove. That should have been ruled a knockdown, but it mattered little at the final bell of a one-sided contest that improves Lee to 27 wins (19 KOs) from 28 paid outings.

Killester start with bang

BASKETBALL: Killester got their title defence off to an impressive start as new coach Darren O'Neill enjoyed a huge 90-63 win over Belfast Star, who were without American Tyson Johnson.

Fellow US native Ron Thompson scored 28 points on his debut as new Neptune coach Mark Scannell also got off to the perfect start. His side comfortably disposed of UL Eagles in a 78-62 win at the Neptune Stadium.

DCU Saints edged out UCD Marian 68-61 in an entertaining clash at the DCU Sports Centre.

In the Women's Superleague, UL enjoyed an easy start as Aoife McDermott netted 20 points in a 74-44 defeat of Meteors.

NFL: Chicago 34 Carolina 29, Cincinnati 23 Buffalo 20, Cleveland 13 Tennessee 31, Dallas 30 Detroit 34, St Louis 10 Washington 17, Philadelphia 23 San Francisco 24, Kansas City 22 Minnesota 17, Jacksonville 10 New Orleans 23, Houston 17 Pittsburgh 10, Seattle 28 Atlanta 30, Arizona 27 NY Giants 31, San Diego 26 Miami 16, Oakland 19 New England 31, Green Bay 49 Denver 23, Baltimore 34 NY Jets 17.

MLB: NY Yankees 3 Detroit 5 (The best-of-five series is level at 1-1)