1986 - Irishman Barry McGuigan retained his World Boxing Association featherweight title against Danilo Cabrera of the Dominican Republic when the referee stopped the fight in the 14th round of a storming contest scheduled to go 15 rounds. McGuigan, making his second defence of the title he won in June 1985, needed all his considerable talent to overcome the skill, courage and stamina of the relatively unknown challenger. Cabrera, who at 22 was two years younger than the champion, had taken the fight at the last minute as a replacement for Fernando Sosa of Argentina, who broke a finger in training. Predictions that Cabrera would not survive beyond the first half of the fight proved well wide of the mark as the challenger more than held his own.
Other important events
1879 - US President Rutherford Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1898 - US battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbour, Cuba, killing 260 seamen.
1942 - British surrender colony of Singapore to Japanese forces during Second World War.
1964 - Muhammad Ali becomes the world’s heavyweight boxing champion.
1965 - Canada adopts its national flag, the red-and-white maple leaf design.
1983 - UAE’s biggest dam is opened in Fujairah.
1989 - The last Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan after a 10-year occupation.
1990 - Britain and Argentina restore diplomatic relations.
1994 - A passenger train stampede in a crowded railway station kills 43 people in Hengyang, China.
1995 - At least 64 people are killed and 18 others injured when a fire gutted a two-story restaurant in the central Taiwan city of Taichung.
1999 - Abdullah Ocalan, a Kurdish rebel leader, is captured by Turkish commandos in Kenya.
2003 - The final mission of Europe’s Ariane-4 rocket series places a telecommunications satellite into orbit.
2007 - First freehold apartment in Dubai is registered in owner’s name.
2009 - Suzzane Al Houby, a Palestinian mother of two and resident of Sharjah, becomes the first Arab woman to climb the Aconcagua summit.
2011 - An Italian judge orders Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on abuse of power charges.
2013 - A meteor travelling at least 54,000 km/h strikes the Chelyabinsk region in Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people.
