A monument is to be constructed in a north Cork town to honour a Tipperary man who set a world record after being buried alive for 61 days.

After all the months hearing about them, reading about them and buying them, finally, over the last few days, we’re guessing you got round to actually reading some sports books.

Think Ring, think Pele, think Kyle, think Nicklau — it is in this pantheon of greats that Mick Barry rightfully belongs. The greatest road bowler in the history of the sport died at the weekend after a debilitating illness. The Waterfall man was 95.

JOHN RIORDAN The second instalment of Ali-Liston may have produced one of the most iconic images of sport in the 20th Century but there’s a refreshing spontaneity in the boyish wonder of Cassius Clay when he won the world heavyweight title for the first time.

No other sport throws up tragic figures quite like boxing.

When Harlem is hot, there aren’t many other places in the world where history seems to drip down so readily from the fire escapes and battered neon signs.

SEVENTY years ago Billy Conn, weighing 174 pounds and fighting out of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, took on the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, for the heavyweight title.

THIS afternoon, in Louisville, Kentucky, the bell will ring for a week-long birthday party in Muhammad Ali’s honour.

ONCE upon a long time ago there was only one world heavyweight boxing champion instead of three or four and he was a real hero in rural Ireland.

THE nights are drawing in on us, you’ll notice, ahead of another winter, like the cinema lights dimming before a movie.

WHILE David Haye was still spewing excuses in Hamburg a joke started swirling social networking sites that Wladimir Klitschko was going to have a tee-shirt mocked up showing him holding up his vanquished opponent’s severed toe.

THIS IS the time of year that publishers reveal their book prize candidates for feckless people like me seeking inspiration for Christmas presents.

THIRTY FOUR years after boxing’s last headline act at Yankee Stadium saw Muhammad Ali handed a controversial points victory over Ken Norton, the sport is preparing to return to the venue tomorrow night.

MIKE “The Rebel” Perez has not fought for more than a year but he will be doing some catching up at the UL Arena in Limerick on Saturday when fights twice on the undercard to the Andy Lee-Mamadou Thiam Yanjing Fight Night headliner.

THERE’S a moment in Ken Burns’ outstanding documentary series, ‘Baseball’, when Buck O’Neil, an old coach and manager, muses on the impossible glamour that was Manhattan in the 40s and 50s with a faraway look in the eye.

Jerry Barton has already trained a Dubai World Cup runner-up and has tipped 2009 contender Joe Louis to spring a surprise at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday.

THERE ARE at least 125 million reasons why the former undisputed world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield should not be preparing to lace on the gloves again at the age of 46.

YANKEE STADIUM, which closed last Saturday night, opened for business on April 18, 1923 with a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Joe Calzaghe’s postponed showdown with Roy Jones Jr has been rescheduled for November 8 and will take place at New York’s prestigious Madison Square Garden.

Joe Calzaghe has been left "distraught" after a sprained wrist forced him to postpone September's eagerly-anticipated bout with Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden.

JOE CALZAGHE looks set to face American legend Roy Jones Jr in November after a hand injury suffered by the Welshman scuppered plans to stage the bout in two months’ time.

HALL of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward has promised Andy Lee will come back a better, stronger fighter after his shock first defeat as a professional last weekend.

BERNARD HOPKINS has insisted he “would love” to step into the ring with Joe Calzaghe.

THE director of a major US organisation which helps keep young people out of trouble will visit Limerick this week to see how a local golf club is working to keep boys and girls off the streets.

The boxing world united in tribute today to the former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling, who has died at the age of 99.

DANNY WILLIAMS yesterday vowed to turn his lifelong dream into reality by seizing the world heavyweight title from Vitali Klitschko.

Lennox Lewis will accept a rematch with Vitali Klitschko “if the money is right”.

Vitali Klitschko will not be running scared of Lennox Lewis when the pair clash in Los Angeles next Saturday night.

VITALI KLITSCHKO will draw inspiration from his heavyweight hero when he steps into the ring with Lennox Lewis in Los Angeles on Saturday night.