article_text
stringlengths 294
32.8k
⌀ | topic
stringlengths 3
42
|
|---|---|
Adrian Peterson Crushes Boxing Workout ... After Le'Veon Match Postponed 7/25/2022 8:27 AM PT FANFIELD NFT Adrian Peterson's big boxing match against Le'Veon Bell is postponed, but the NFL star is clearly keeping focused on the fight by training like crazy in the gym -- and TMZ Sports has the footage. We broke the story -- AP and Bell's battle of the running backs scheduled for July 30 has been pushed to early September ... after issues with the main event between Austin McBroom and AnEsonGib. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. But, AP didn't see the announcement as an opportunity to take a day off -- instead, he hit up his gym in Texas and worked on his game on Friday. In the video (shot by Fanfield NFT), AP hits the mitts with a trainer and takes a few shots at the bag without gloves during an intense workout ... and the dude looks solid. The AP vs. Bell fight is one of the more interesting matchups on the Social Gloves card ... as the 30-year-old former Steelers and Jets star has expressed his desire to switch to boxing full-time, and 37-year-old Peterson is still in the NFL. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. It's unclear who the favorite in the fight will be, but one thing's for sure -- both sides are taking this very seriously. | Boxing |
Chris Eubank Sr claimed he has told his son to pull out of his fight with Benn which is due to take place in London on October 8Video LoadingVideo UnavailableEubank Jr 'inspired' by dad Chris' rivalry with Nigel BennChris Eubank Jr's historic fight with Conor Benn will take place next month, despite Chris Snr's concerns over his son's health. Eubank Jr and Benn are scheduled to meet at The O2 on October 8 as they rekindle their dads' rivalry, 30 years on from their rematch at Old Trafford. But Eubank Sr claimed yesterday that he would do whatever it took to prevent the fight taking place. The boxing legend has concerns over his son agreeing to a catchweight of 157lb having not fought below 160lb as a professional. But Eubank Jr's promotion Kalle Sauerland insists the fight will take place, telling talkSPORT: "the fight is absolutely on. That’s all I can say about it, it came from one comment to a journalist that spread like wildfire. We don't have a contract with Chris Eubank Sr we only have one with Chris Eubank Jr. Eubank Jr is set to fight Benn at the O2 Arena on October 8 (
Image:
Leigh Dawney/Getty Images) "He was sparring yesterday and my only issue at the minute is finding sparring partners for him because he’s going through them like a hot knife through butter. That’s where we are at the moment, he’s doing media activities this afternoon and the fight is very much on." There will be more to follow on this breaking sports news story - we'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video. Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story HERE. Get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you by following The Mirror every time you see our name. Follow The Mirror on Google News - CLICK HERE and click the star Follow The Mirror on Apple News - CLICK HERE available on Apple devices Follow The Mirror on Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow Follow us on Twitter @MirrorFootball - the official Mirror football Twitter account - for all the latest football news as it happens in real time. For other sports news, follow us on @MirrorSport. You can sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news here @MirrorBreaking_ and follow us @DailyMirror, for all the latest updates. Keep up-to-date with the latest football news by following us on Facebook at facebook.com/mirrorfootball and with sport news at facebook.com/mirrorsport See all our social accounts you can follow here: mirror.co.uk/social Read more
Latest boxing stories | Boxing |
Austin McBroom vs. Gib Fight Set For September 10 ... At Banc of California Stadium 8/15/2022 10:35 AM PT New date, new place, same fights -- the Austin McBroom vs. AnEsonGib boxing match has officially been rescheduled for September 10 at Banc of California Stadium, TMZ Sports has learned. As we previously reported, the Social Gloves event -- which was originally set to happen at Crypto.com Arena on July 30 -- was pushed back due to issues with Gib getting medical clearance ... and the whole thing was close to getting scrapped altogether. Luckily for fans, we are told the original card -- including the Adrian Peterson vs. Le'Veon Bell bout and Nick Young vs. Blueface fight -- is still intact ... so there's a lot to look forward to. Speaking of Young, Swaggy P has been working out like crazy leading up to the fight ... and by looking at his training footage, it's clear he's taking this thing seriously. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Le'Veon is certainly giving it all he's got, too -- previously telling us he's fully focused on his boxing career. The first Social Gloves event came with its own issues ... but it sounds like things have been ironed out for a stress-free experience this time around. | Boxing |
Tyson Fury breaks his silence on social media to reveal that he has 'not been interested in anything' but mourning the Queen's death... as he remains tight-lipped about the prospect of facing Anthony Joshua in a huge heavyweight showdownTyson Fury called out Anthony Joshua earlier this month on social mediaJoshua as accepted Fury's proposal and wants to make the fight for DecemberFury has been quiet since, but has claimed he is mourning the Queen's death He is remaining tight-lipped over whether the fight with Joshua will take place Published: 05:33 EDT, 19 September 2022 | Updated: 05:59 EDT, 19 September 2022 Tyson Fury has broken his silence on social media to pay tribute to the Queen ahead of her funeral on Monday, as fans wait to hear whether he will take on Anthony Joshua in a huge domestic clash later this year.The Gypsy King called out Joshua earlier this month in a series of videos on social media, and Joshua's management team, 258, have since revealed that they have 'accepted all terms' for the fight to go ahead.Following this announcement, Fury has been unusually quiet, but he has now taken to Instagram to explain why. 'Hey guys, Queen’s funeral today,' he said on his Instagram story on Monday morning.'I’ve been off social media for the past ten days mourning, in respect for our Queen who has died. Not posted nothing, not been interested in anything else, to be fair. 'I hope all the funeral goes well, condolences to the full family and may she rest in Heaven in eternity. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.'Fury may be remaining tight-lipped about the prospect of facing his fellow countryman for now, but his promoter Frank Warren has confirmed that Joshua has been sent a contract for the fight. Tyson Fury has revealed that he has been mourning the Queen's death over the last 10 days The Queen passed away at the age of 96, and her funeral is taking place on Monday Fury is remaining tight-lipped over the prospect of fighting Anthony Joshua in DecemberIt is understood that Joshua has agreed to a 60-40 purse split in Fury's favour for the clash, which will move to 50-50 for the rematch if Joshua is victorious. If the fight goes ahead, it is set to take place on December 3, with Cardiff's Principality Stadium being the frontrunner to host the event.Fury has not fought since April, when he beat Dillian Whyte via a sixth-round knockout at Wembley Stadium.He announced his intention to retire from boxing after that win, but has since changed his mind and set his sights on fighting Joshua instead.Meanwhile, Joshua is coming off back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, but will get another opportunity to become a three-time heavyweight champion if he and Fury sign on the dotted line to fight in December. Fury was last seen in the ring when he beat Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April | Boxing |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Boxing legend Mike Tyson was spotted at Miami International Airport Tuesday being pushed in a wheelchair and holding a cane as he battles back issues.The 56-year-old Tyson was in dressed in all white, from his Nike polo shirt and shorts to his New Balance sneakers. Airport workers were spotted wheeling the former heavyweight champion around. The 56-year-old former boxer was pictured as worries about his health grow. (TheImageDirect.com) Mike Tyson in a wheelchair at Miami International Airport Aug. 16, 2022. (TheImageDirect.com)Tyson is apparently dealing with an ongoing back issue. He was spotted walking with a cane in July in New York City."He's dealing with a sciatica flare-up. Nothing serious. Just an occupational hazard for an athlete like Mike," a source told TMZ Sports at the time.OMAR FIGUEROA JR BLASTS ADRIEN BRONER FOR PULLING OUT OF FIGHT: 'YOU DON’T GET TO CRY #MENTALHEALTH NOW'Tyson also made headlines in July when he spoke about coming to grips with death.On an episode of his podcast, "Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson," the former heavyweight champion discussed his mortality with guest Sean McFarland. Mike Tyson June 16, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM"We’re all going to die one day, of course," Tyson said. "Then, when I look in the mirror and I see those little spots on my face, and I say, ‘Wow. My expiration date is coming close. Really soon.’"Tyson’s comments were part of a larger conversation on the podcast, with Tyson saying money was worthless to him.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPTyson became boxing’s youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20, going 50-6 in his career.Fox News’ Joe Morgan contributed to this report. Ryan Gaydos is the sports editor for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to [email protected]. | Boxing |
History was made on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s fight with Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday evening when the first women’s fight took place in Saudi Arabia. But sadly for those in attendance it did not last long as the British-based Somali boxer Ramla Ali required only one minute and five seconds of her super-bantamweight clash with the Dominican Republic’s Crystal García Nova to secure a knockout victory.It was a stunning triumph in more ways than one as Ali, having forced García Nova back with a fast and aggressive start, unleashed a twisting right-hand shot to the side of the face so powerful that it knocked the gum shield out of her opponent’s mouth. Shocked and shook-up, García Nova fell to her knees and was soon counted out.“I feel really good but I feel I need to go back and do some more pads … I didn’t really get out of first gear,” said Ali, having extended her professional record to seven successive wins.Ali’s story is an inspirational one. As a child she fled war-torn Somalia with her family and settled in England where, as a teenager, she took up boxing in an effort to lose weight. It developed into a passion and ultimately led to her becoming a successful amateur, winning a host of titles including the 2016 Great British Championship. Five years later she became the first ever Somalian – man or woman – to compete in boxing at the Olympics.Now comes this milestone, although not without controversy given Ali’s defence of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record in the buildup to the fight.The 32-year-old claimed “the way the media portrays Saudi Arabia is not entirely accurate” and that “women are free to do whatever they want [in the kingdom].” Those comments provoked a response from Amnesty International, who accused Ali of falling for Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing tactics and dismissed the idea that the staging of this fight was in anyway progressive. Amnesty’s head of priority campaigns, Felix Jakens, said: “Away from the glitz and spectacle of the boxing ring, the reality for women in Saudi Arabia is that they face serious discrimination in marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody.”Those comments clearly did not affect Ali’s focus ahead of this fight, and having won she made clear her desire to compete for a world title sooner rather than later, with her promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirming that is very much the plan for a fighter who in her spare time also works as a model and activist. “There’ll be a world championship fight in 2023 for sure,” said Hearn, who added: “I’m convinced she will be a world champion.”Ali now intends to rest and heal, having revealed that she has been fighting for some time with a fractured wrist and toe. | Boxing |
Floyd Mayweather Gets $18K Mink Car Seat For Grandson ... In $350K Rolls Royce 7/19/2022 2:11 PM PT TMZSports.com A $345K+ factory Rolls-Royce wasn't enough for Floyd Mayweather ... "Money" upgraded his whip with an authentic mink fur-lined car seat for his little baby grandson that cost $18,000! TMZ Sports has learned the undefeated boxer hit up his longtime car guy Obi Okeke -- aka Doctor Bugatti -- who arranged to have the seat lined in the real fur ... and then they installed it in the 2022 Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Luckily, we have video of the finished product ... and you can see the seat perfectly matches the interior of the luxury car. And, that's because the car's also mink ... though the interior was done previously. Floyd wanted the car seat to match the interior ... and that's exactly what he got!. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. The car seat also features "Kentrell Jr." stitched in highlighter yellow thread ... the name of Floyd's grandson. His daughter Yaya and NBA Youngboy are Kentrell's parents. Ever since Kentrell Jr. was born, Mayweather's clearly been loving the role of grandpa -- from spoiling the baby boy with gifts to bringing him to the boxing gym. Instagram / @floydmayweather | Boxing |
Tyson Fury Cousin Stabbed To Death In UK ... Boxing Star Mourns 8/22/2022 7:38 AM PT Tyson Fury says his cousin was killed after being stabbed in the neck in the UK over the weekend ... and now, he's pleading with government officials to crack down on knife crime in wake of the tragedy. According to authorities, Fury's relative, 31-year-old Rico Burton, was killed following an incident at a popular bar at around 3 a.m. on Sunday in Manchester. A 17-year-old was also injured in the altercation, cops said, and remains hospitalized. Fury took to his Instagram page after learning of Burton's death to mourn the loss -- and called for greater punishment for knife crimes to hopefully deter similar incidents from happening going forward. "This is becoming ridiculous," the boxing superstar said. "Idiots carry knives. This needs to stop 🛑 Asap, uk 🇬🇧 government needs to bring higher sentencing for knife crime, its a pandemic & you dont know how bad it is until its 1 of your own!" He added, "Life is very precious & it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment🙏RIP RICO BURTON 🙏 may the lord god grant you a good place in heven. see you soon" Police say they have arrested two men who they believe were involved in the stabbing. They added that they are increasing police patrols in the area with the hopes of preventing future crimes. "This was a senseless attack," Greater Manchester Police spokesperson Ben Ewart said, "and both victims should've returned home this morning after enjoying a night out with friends." Police are asking anyone with information or photos/videos of the incident reach out ASAP. | Boxing |
Tyson Fury's cousin, Rico Burton, was stabbed in Altrincham, Greater Manchester on Sunday morning and died after the emergency services desperately attempted CPRRico Burton was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning The first picture of Tyson Fury 's late cousin has surfaced after he was tragically stabbed to death outside a Manchester bar in the early hours of Sunday morning. Rico Burton passed away aged 31 and a second victim, a 17-year-old, was taken to hospital with serious injuries after the incident at 3am. Two men, aged 20 and 21, were later arrested on suspicion of murder. British boxing icon Fury is away in Majorca for the latest stretch of his speaking tour and broke the heartbreaking news via social media. The 34-year-old referred to knife crime as a "pandemic" and called for harsher punishments for perpetrators. The emergency services are believed to have attempted CPR after they were called to the scene on Railway Street, in the Goose Green area of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, at 3:30am. Police attend the scene in Altrincham, Greater Manchester (
Image:
Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News) The Manchester Evening News reports that Burton passed away after he was rushed to hospital. A police cordon was set up around the scene and forensic officers subsequently set up a tent. A witness recounted: "Paramedics were seen giving CPR to at least one victim. There were at least 20 police vehicles there, including armed police." Burton is said to have been an amateur boxer and Fury's former coach, Steve Egan, led the tributes by describing him as "very skilled" and a "lovely lad" who was "always smiling". The WBC world heavyweight champion's own tribute and plea for "higher sentencing for knife crime" read: "My cousin was murdered last night, stabbed in the neck. "This is becoming ridiculous idiots carry knives. This needs to stop ASAP. UK government needs to bring higher sentencing for knife crime, it's a pandemic and you don't know how bad it is until it's one of your own! Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment. RIP RICO BURTON. May the lord God grant you a good place in heaven. see you soon." Tyson Fury announced the tragic news of his cousin's death on Instagram (
Image:
Getty Images) Local police have issued a statement confirming they have launched a murder inquiry and appealing for information which reads: "Police are appealing to the public for further information after two males were stabbed outside a bar in Altrincham. Shortly after 3am this morning (Sunday 21 August 2022), Police were called to reports of two males having been stabbed outside a bar on Goose Green, Altrincham. "Emergency services attended the scene. Two men were rushed to hospital with serious and life changing injuries. A 31-year-old male has sadly passed away a short time later in hospital. A 17-year-old male also remains in hospital with serious injuries. Police have released a statement confirming they have launched a murder inquiry (
Image:
Vincent Cole - Manchester Evening News) "A 21-year-old male was arrested at the scene on suspicion of section 18 assault and remains in custody. A murder investigation has been launched and would like to appeal to members of the public who have any further information regarding this incident. "Anyone with information, CCTV, photos, or videos regarding this incident should contact us on 101 quoting incident 475 of 21/08/2022 or on 0161 856 7386. Alternatively, you report information via www.gmp.police.uk or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111." | Boxing |
Tommy Fury was due to come face to face with Jake Paul this week ahead of their Madison Square Garden fight but has been unable to travel to America for the press conferenceVideo LoadingVideo UnavailableTommy Fury v Jake Paul: Tale of the tapeTommy Fury has been stopped from flying to the United States where he was due to meet Jake Paul at a press conference in New York tomorrow. Fury's rescheduled grudge match with YouTube sensation Paul was officially confirmed for August 6 at Madison Square Garden just last week. The fight was announced shortly after Fury's dad, John, admitted Tommy would have to travel stateside without several members of his team. Tommy has now confirmed he was stopped from leaving Heathrow Airport when he was told his ESTA was not granted. Speaking on Instagram, he said: "Me and my team arrived at Heathrow Airport ready to fly out and as soon as I entered the airport I was pulled to one side and told by Homeland Security officer that my ESTA had been denied and that I wasn't able to travel to the USA for a reason I apparently know. "I can stand here and say I have done nothing wrong and I have no clue why I'm not allowed to travel to the USA." Tommy Fury, pictured previously in an airport, has been stopped from entering the US His dad, John Fury, is already banned from America due to previous convictions whilst older brother Tyson Fury has allegedly been stopped from entering in recent weeks. Dad John confirmed last week that Tyson was unable to travel to America for Tommy's upcoming fight. "Listen, mate, we want this fight with you," Fury Sr told Paul in a deleted Instagram clip, which later appeared again online. "There's one problem, we can't travel - Tommy hasn't got a team. "His team members are not allowed in America at the present point of time, so Madison Square Garden ain't accessible for us, is it? And you know that. We want this fight with you, Jake, because we know that we can beat you. "So what we'll do is we'll take less money and we'll fight you anywhere else in the world because we can't travel. Tommy is not going to start getting new teams in four weeks and different things and other strange people involved because that doesn't work. We're his people, we're his guidance, especially me and you're talking to me now." Fury was due to come face to face with Jake Paul at a press conference on Tuesday (
Image:
Getty Images) When their re-arranged fight, which was due to take place last year before Fury pulled out due to injury, was announced, Fury vowed to "permanently shut up" his opponent. “The Paul brothers’ boxing charade is about to come to an end once and for all,” Fury said in a press release ahead of the fight, also mocking Jake's older brother Logan. “I am a boxer. My opponent plays boxing. "Jake Paul has been dressed up to look like a boxer against retirees from other sports. On August 6, I will show the world that he does not belong in the ring. "Thank you to my promoter Frank Warren, Most Valuable Promotions and Showtime for letting me permanently shut up Jake Paul. I look forward to headlining Madison Square Garden and knocking out this clown.” Read More Read More | Boxing |
In July, on one of Madison Square Garden’s more unassuming stages, Jake Paul gently sang “Empire State of Mind” beneath an enormous poster of his own visage. The promotional materials showed a steely-eyed boxer ready to fight, but the man in front of me was hamming it up for the crowd.Cameras were trained on him, just as they had been for the past nine years: first by his older brother Logan, who filmed him wreaking havoc on the world as an absurdly exaggerated 16-year-old, and now, by TV reporters eager to broadcast interviews from a news conference about his first match against a professional boxer. Paul was set to fight Hasim Rahman Jr., the son of a two-time world heavyweight champion, on Aug. 6.During the news conference, one of Paul’s best-known skills — trash-talking, or what the announcer dubbed “tremendous theater” — was on display. Paul challenged Rahman to make his Instagram display name “I let my dad down” if he lost the fight. Rahman retorted resentfully, calling Paul a “content creator.” A longtime boxing reporter later told me the scuffle was “pretty standard,” but there’s nothing quite like watching two muscular men whose enormous egos are an occupational hazard lob verbal jabs back and forth.And though Jake Paul the prank vlogger has supposedly been succeeded by Jake Paul the serious fighter since his January 2020 shift to professional boxing, it’s clear he’s intent on editing his public image like he might have done with a YouTube video: curating fights, creating drama, and angling unerringly for attention.Paul seems eager for a new era. “Boxing changed my life and saved me in a lot of ways,” he told me later. “When you grow up in the spotlight and you’re dealt so much power and responsibility at a young age, it’s easy to fumble. And that’s what I did.” Now 25, Paul doesn’t have to get fake married to his chaotic YouTuber ex-girlfriend Tana Mongeau, urge his friend to jump off a roof into a pool, or cover a car in peanut butter to maintain his fame. He’s already done that. A master of the internet’s outrage cycle, he still has 67.4 million followers across social media platforms, though his posting schedule has decreased dramatically over the past few years in favor of a rigorous gym routine. Few influencers from his era of fame have been able to successfully pivot away from YouTube to a different career, but he has kept the public’s interest as he’s shifted from creating content online to the boxing ring.Using his influencer earnings, Paul formed his own promotions company, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), in 2021 and personally picked his opponents: mixed martial artists, a fellow YouTuber, and a former NBA player. But two and a half years after the change, Paul has yet to fight a professional boxer. That was supposed to change at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 6. Rahman Jr. was filling in for Paul’s original opponent, Tommy Fury, former Love Island UK contestant and professional boxer, who dropped out citing travel issues.No one will take Paul seriously as a boxer until he fights a professional, but the matches keep getting scrapped. In a June YouTube video titled “The Biggest Risk of My Career,” Paul performs a skit about all the pressure he’s getting. “You’re not a real boxer yet,” a girl tells him. “When are you going to fight a real boxer?” someone else yells. An experienced clown, Paul knows the best jokes have a grain of truth in them.At the news conference, Stephen Espinoza, the head of Showtime Sports (which was co-producing the fight with MVP), called Paul “unprecedented,” adding that no boxer has ever headlined at the Garden after just five professional fights.“Strip away the celebrity status and success as a content creator, what he’s doing is no different than any other professional boxer,” Espinoza said. But Paul’s fame and money has made him unlike most professional boxers. From the start, he was able to immediately attract an audience from his years of notoriety as an influencer and tremendous wealth available to pay the best available trainers and buy the time to chase his dreams.His supporters and detractors keep tuning in to see what he does with the rare combination of cash, infamy, and talent, and it’s paying the bills — Forbes reported he made $40 million in 2021. No longer having to subject himself to the daily grind of content creation, he’s still making money off his personality, making us watch his every move, just like an influencer would.The pageantry of the news conference came to nothing in the end; a week before the fight, MVP and Showtime called it off, claiming “deceiving and calculated” behavior on Rahman's part after he failed to meet contractually stipulated weight loss that would put the two fighters in the same weight class. At a staged weigh-in one day before the fight was set to take place, Rahman still didn’t make weight. Rahman, who said his body would not let him lose any more weight, accused Paul of wanting to “drain” him down to a “shell” of himself so he could win.The fight was off, and so was Paul’s chance to prove he was the real deal. “These boxers are the most difficult people to work with and continually lack professionalism and confidence to fight me,” Paul tweeted on July 30. The internet is still full of questions and theories about why the fight was canceled. Paul’s promotion company has the power to handpick his opponents — had Rahman deliberately thrown it? Was a choice made to protect Paul’s winning streak? Was the fight canceled because ticket sales were low?“I think they sold under a million dollars in tickets, and it costs $500,000 to turn the fucking lights on at MSG,” Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, said at an unrelated UFC news conference. Paul’s business partner, Nakisa Bidarian (who used to work for White), said in a private Instagram story that it had “zero to do with ticket sales” and that Paul’s fight had been on track to be one of the 10 biggest boxing events at MSG since 2005.MVP did not respond to a request for proof of sales. But the ticket sales theory doesn’t quite add up: Madison Square Garden seats just over 20,000, and Paul’s last fight in Florida in December against MMA fighter Tyron Woodley sold 18,865 tickets.It’s worth noting that Amanda Serrano, the only fighter signed to Paul’s promotions company, did what Paul himself hasn’t been able to do yet: She sold out Madison Square Garden in what some consider to be the most momentous women’s boxing match of all time, a traditionally underpaid and underappreciated sport.“Love him or hate him, he still made it possible for Serrano to get paid for this fight,” Christy Martin, a welterweight champion in 2009, told the New York Times. “Probably without Jake Paul, the fight wouldn’t have happened.”After the news conference, I had spoken with Paul in a makeshift green room. He stood out against the beige decor like a tropical fish in a tank at the dentist’s office.“I’ve always been a loudmouth and a shit talker,” he told me. “In ninth-grade wrestling, I tweeted the kid from the local school, ‘I’m gonna fuck you up.’” When I pressed him about the outcome of that match, he started laughing.“Oh, he literally beat my ass,” he said. “My first taste of the real thing was that I immediately got screwed over and learned the consequences of it.”But Paul declared himself to now be one of the few fighters in “centuries” to come out of the woodwork.“You have Floyd Mayweather. Then there was Conor McGregor. And guess who’s next? Me,” he said. “Everyone has to pay attention to the fact that no one has done what I’ve done in just five fights. I’m the new kid on the block and I’m the money fight.”With all the training he has to do — boxing, yoga, stretching, recovery, ice baths, red light therapy, and a hyperbaric chamber, to name a few things on his weekly schedule — he said he’s doing something to his body “all the way around the clock.” In large part, that’s why his YouTube upload schedule is now “nonexistent,” aside from the sketches in the promotional videos for his fights.Rebranding to boxing, a sport stacked with polarizing characters, seems a work of strategic genius. Not that Paul’s moves have always appeared so smart. His first taste of offline fame started in 2017, when Paul and other members of Team 10 turned LA’s quiet Beverly Grove neighborhood into a “living hell” and a “war zone,” according to his neighbors.Controversies mounted from there. Paul has been accused of scamming his fans and exposing his young audience to sexual content. He was seen using racial slurs in a video that emerged in 2018. His former collaborator Alissa Violet claimed Paul physically assaulted her “a few times” and that she suffered “mental abuse.” He was charged with trespassing in connection with an Arizona mall looting in 2020, but the charges were dropped. He threw a massive party at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and called the virus a “hoax.”In 2021, content creator Justine Paradise said Paul had sexually assaulted her, an allegation that he called “100% false” in a statement. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment.Over a video call from Puerto Rico, where he moved with his brother Logan for the tax breaks, Paul told me that all of the “allegations” he has faced have been “just allegations,” and that living in isolation has helped him stay focused and out of trouble.“Nothing ever came of any of those situations. I never did any of those things,” he said. “The accusations have helped me mature, and I don’t want to be associated with any of that stuff anymore.”Paul raised the side of his hand to the camera and showed me a tattoo that said “no regrets.”“I look at it every single day. That’s truly how I live my life — with no regrets,” he said. “It’s all part of my story.” Departing from the platform that earned him fame and notoriety puts distance between him and past allegations in a way his predecessors and peers haven’t been able to pull off. David Dobrik’s attempts at hosting have earned him small gigs, Shane Dawson’s documentary aspirations were overshadowed by controversy, Gabbie Hanna’s music career never really took off, and even beauty mogul–turned–yak farmer Jeffree Star still posts consistently to YouTube. Many have attempted revenue diversification through podcasts, clothing lines, acting jobs, and music careers but remain tied to platforms.Paul’s professional boxing opponents bring up his influencer past as if it’s his weakness, but he’s not ashamed of it. Boxing might be a new revenue stream for him, but his brain still seems wired to seek clout. At the news conference, Paul said his mom had more Instagram followers than Rahman, which is true; Rahman said followers had nothing to do with being good at boxing, but Paul countered that having followers is how you make money.When we spoke, Paul was in the middle of a rollicking Twitter feud with KSI, the British YouTuber credited with kicking off the influencer boxing trend. Paul had just dealt him a digital blow: “I made $45 million last year and you are making weekly youtube videos,” he wrote. Days later, Paul agreed to fight KSI in a “winner takes all” match, on the condition KSI admits that Paul is the better influencer-boxer — which he quickly did. Days later, Paul called out professional kickboxer–turned–misogynist dating influencer Andrew Tate on brother Logan's podcast for exposing young fans to sexist ideas (both Jake and Logan said they wanted to fight him, and Tate — who posted this week about meeting with Paul’s business partner, Bidarian — has invited Paul to box him in the past, because all of them know the views it would get).Matthew Andrews, a historian who studies the intersection of American history and sports, told me that Paul picked the “perfect sport” for a controversial influencer: It’s centered on personality, popularity, and money.“Whether you win or lose doesn’t matter as long as people will pay money to see someone put your foot in their butt,” Andrews said.Some of boxing’s biggest names — like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather — were villains who audiences wanted to see fail. Andrews said it’s difficult to compare someone like Paul (who listed a FaceTime call with Donald Trump as one of his greatest achievements) to revered activist Ali, but they were similarly hated at first — fellow fighters wanted to knock Ali out and the crowd wanted to see it happen.People want to feel like the fighters who are getting the most attention are the ones that have earned it, said Adam Gallenberg, a sports psychologist who specializes in boxing. Previously, boxers had to be good at fighting to get a shot at being famous. In the case of Paul, fame begat the resources necessary to become a professional.Analysts are still reluctant to declare whether Paul is actually good. Three different boxing experts told me that boxing could use a superstar right now, but Paul will have to fight another boxer for anyone to know if he really has the potential.“From what I’ve seen, he takes his craft seriously. The most flattering adjective I can throw out there is that he's competent,” boxing commentator and podcast host Richard Solomon said. “Logan and him are like the Kardashians. They made themselves business moguls.”Other content creators like Austin McBroom and Bryce Hall — and notably the infamous 2021 YouTubers vs. TikTokers event — have tried to step into the ring, but only a few of them are still fighting today. Even Logan Paul, who fought Mayweather in an exhibition match, has turned his attention to the WWE (where his exuberant body slams and backflips left critics reluctantly impressed).Joe Bloom, a combat sport expert who writes for MMAHive.com, told me the decentralization of professional boxing makes exhibition matches accessible for influencers. MMA and UFC fighters are usually locked into contracts, but in boxing, a bigger audience means bigger deals — especially for Paul, who owns the promotion company that sets up his fights.“Boxing matchups are often made on media buzz and callouts between fighters because it immediately generates excitement,” Bloom said. “At the end of the day, you just have to convince someone to buy a product.”Getting people to buy stuff is what influencers do best. Paul went from selling himself as a YouTuber whose chaos you don’t want to miss out on to a headstrong boxer whose downfall you want to witness.Paul is trying to make boxing his redemption after years of being a pest, in both trivial and serious ways, but putting yourself in constantly dangerous situations does have its downsides.In a December 2021 TV appearance, he said he has been experiencing memory loss, mood swings, and slurred speech since launching his boxing career. He estimated he has experienced between 20 and 30 concussions, many of which he sustained as a child playing football. He said doctors have advised him to stop boxing.“I’m fine, honestly. As you get better at the sport, you get hit less,” he said to me. “I mean, my nose is crooked, I have a scar from my last fight, and my teeth are messed up, but I love this sport so much. It’s part of me and I don’t care if it takes a toll on my body.”Gabriel Zada, a board-certified neurosurgeon, told me that Paul choosing to continue to fight after receiving warnings from his doctors is definitely not advisable and increases the “potential for future or cumulative brain damage.” But Paul will do what he wants, as he always has.That might be because Paul can see a lot of value in the sporting arena. He announced Aug. 8 that he’s launching a sports microbetting platform that will allow users to gamble on “every single play, score, drive, and player.” Being able to bet on boxing is a huge part of the reason Mayweather is one of the highest-paid athletes of all time. Americans wagered $57.22 billion on sports-related bets in 2021, though it’s only legal in 30 states. According to Vox, there’s a land grab going on within the online sports betting realm right now, and Paul will be up against stiff competition to break through with his new company. But maybe it doesn’t matter whether he succeeds — as long as people are talking about him, he wins.Muhammad Ali credited a professional wrestler from the 1940s named Gorgeous George for saying that it didn’t matter why people were coming to see him fight just as long as long as they came to see him. In the influencer age, we might say that all views are good views if they’re generating revenue. Paul isn’t yet experiencing the boxing success he seems to want so desperately. Maybe he never will — and it doesn’t matter, because his real currency is attention, and he’s figured out a new avenue for it.The self-mythologizing builds with every news conference and tweet, producing nonstop content that he controls. Paul told me he is reluctant to play the villain he has been “made to be,” as if his reputation isn’t the sum of his own decisions and exactly how he’s made his millions.But of course, that’s exactly what a villain would say. ● | Boxing |
Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer today sent their condolences to Tyson Fury after the boxer's cousin was stabbed to death over the weekend - but the Prime Minister insisted the government is tackling knife crime, despite the fighter's plea to do more.Rico Burton, 31, was killed in the early hours of Sunday morning after being 'stabbed in the neck' outside a bar in Goose Green, Altrincham, Manchester.Downing Street today offered Boris Johnson's sympathy to Tyson Fury following the tragedy, but defended measures taken by the Government to cut knife crime. A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'Firstly, the Prime Minister's thoughts are with the family. No family should ever have to go through the unimaginable grief that Tyson Fury's family are suffering.'That is why we are determined to make our streets safer. It is why this Government is boosting police ranks to get more officers out on our streets. And we're giving them the powers they need to get more knives off our streets.'That includes greater powers of stop and search and new court orders to target known knife carriers and allow the courts to intervene earlier and place conditions like curfews on them. Since 2019 we've removed over 72,000 knives through stop and search and our surrender programmes.'But there was 'more to do' to 'spare families from the misery it (knife crime) causes'.Asked about Tyson Fury's call for tougher sentences for knife offenders, Downing Street said those carrying blades already faced longer terms behind bars than 10 years ago.A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'Under this Government those caught with a knife are more likely to be sent to jail, and for longer, than they were a decade ago.'Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also sent his condolences to Fury, his family and friends for their 'tragic loss'.Asked by broadcasters if his party would support tougher sentencing for knife crime, Sir Keir added: 'I do think we have got to address knife crime. I think that is to do with sentences. It is also to do with the support that we need in our communities.'The Government has ripped all of the money out of youth services and they are all interlinked. So yes, we do need action on this and I think it is time for us all to come together to make sure that we put our shoulder to the wheel on this.'Mr Burton had been watching Anthony Joshua's bout with Oleksandr Usyk at a pub before going to another in Altrincham, where violence suddenly broke out, after the junior boxer reportedly stepped outside for a 'straightener'.However, friends insist that the junior boxer had been acting as a peacemaker when the argument kicked off.Shaun Egan, who previously coached Rico alongside his brother Steve at Jimmy Egan's Boxing Academy in Manchester, said: 'From what I've heard it was just a bit of a scuffle. Some other guys were trying to get into a club and they wouldn't let them in. The argument wasn't with Rico, he was trying to calm it down. It was settled, then suddenly the guy stabbed them. It is unbelievable, so senseless.' A witness added: 'A few men were arguing outside and then suddenly two men were on the ground. It all happened so fast but no one knows what caused the fight.'A 17-year-old boy was also found with stab wounds, with both victims receiving first aid from members of the public prior to the arrival of emergency services. They were both were taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where Mr Burton died of his injuries, while the teenage boy remains in a serious but non-life threatening condition.Two men, 21 and 20, have been arrested in connection with the attack. They both remain in police custody. Tyson Fury's cousin Rico Burton (pictured) died in the early hours of Sunday after being 'stabbed in the neck' An aerial shot shows Greater Manchester Police at the scene of the murder of World Champion boxer Tyson Fury's cousin, Rico Burton A blue tent has been erected inside a police cordon at the scene at Goose Green, Altrincham, where Mr Burton was killedThe two-time heavyweight champion (pictured) called for tougher punishments for people convicted of knife crimesFury yesterday made an emotional plea for tougher sentences for knife crime, calling on the Government to deal with the 'pandemic', while also paying tribute to his cousin.Fury wrote on Instagram: 'My cousin was murdered last night, stabbed in the neck, this is becoming ridiculous idiots carry knives. 'This needs to stop. ASAP, UK government needs to bring higher sentencing for knife crime, it's a pandemic and you don't know how bad it is until it's one of your own! 'Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment. RIP RICO BURTON. May the lord god grant you a good place in heaven. See you soon.'In a police press conference on Sunday, Superintendent Ben Ewart said the attack was 'senseless', adding that the stabbing took place 'spontaneously' and was 'unplanned'.It comes as the former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police has said a backlog of court cases caused by the pandemic is behind a spate of violent crime following the fatal stabbing of Mr Burton.Ex-GMP chief Sir Peter Fahy said the court backlog has led to offenders spending more time on bail and reoffending.Sir Peter told Sky News: 'The main issue is the huge backlog... There is a backlog of 58,000 cases and if you're dealing with young criminals, crucially you get them into court quickly.'If they are out on bail, the chances are that they're going to commit more crime which puts more work back into the system and creates more victims.'According to figures published by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, the Crown Court backlog increased for the third consecutive month in June, reaching 58,973 cases.He added: 'The fact is that we saw a big reduction in knife crime and violence in general during the pandemic and I think the police is still trying to work out what has happened since then. Have we seen a real increase in violent crime or are we just coming to a new normal?'Sir Peter added that tougher sentences may not solve the problem because offenders do not consider the length of their punishment while committing a stabbing.He said: 'Absolutely harsher sentences have their part to play, but often when you're talking about a random offence like knife crime where somebody chooses suddenly to pull out a knife, and they stab someone in the artery causing them to die, really it's not in their mind how long of a prison sentence (they are) going to get.'The crucial thing is that the police are out there to arrest people, they get into the court system quickly and adequate measures are put in place not only to control that person but to try and rehabilitate them.'I think it's that lack of capacity in the court system which will be worrying police most.'Meanwhile, tributes have flooded in for the once-promising boxer, who trained in Manchester throughout his teenage years. The 34-year-old revealed the tragic news in a post on Instagram earlier this morning Police were called after a fight outside a bar in Goose Green, Altrincham, in the early hours of this morning What are the sentences for knife crimes? The maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife or weapon illegally is either four years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.Any adult who is convicted of carrying a knife or weapon illegally more than once is sent to prison for a minimum of six months.Youth offenders aged 16 or 17 face a minimum four-month Detention and Training Order for their second conviction of carrying a knife or illegal weapon.Anyone aged 18 or older who takes a knife or any other weapon to commit murder faces a starting point of a minimum 25 years in prison. Adults who use bladed weapons when threatening people face a maximum of four years in prison.Prosecutors should seek the forfeiture of any knife or weapon seized by police after the commission of a criminal offence. Mr Egan added: 'He was an absolute talent. He was such a nice lad, he was hard working and had a great sense of humour. What's happened is just awful. He was just a great guy. To hear he has died like this is devastating.' Mr Egan spoke of how Mr Burton previously trained and boxed at the gym until his late teens, during which time he won two national titles fighting as a junior.He added: 'Out of the people we had coming through our doors, he was probably one of the best we have ever seen.'As a young adult he used to come to our gym and was so talented with so much potential. 'I have watched him win a national title after going through a windscreen in the same week. He was always smiling and a real positive force.'What people don't realise when they stab someone is what that does to families and how it can ruin them.'Also paying tribute, Shaun's brother Steve wrote on Facebook: 'Rico Burton. Fantastic Boxer, very skilled, lovely lad and always smiling. RIP.'Heavyweight champion Tyson, who is originally from Wythenshawe, took to Instagram on Sunday morning to confirm the death of his cousin. He added that he had been stabbed alongside a picture that read 'Stop Knife Crime'. At a press conference at the scene on Sunday, Supt Ewen praised people who had given first aid at the scene and confirmed a 17-year-old boy remains in a 'serious but not life-threatening condition'.He continued: 'Both victims should have returned home this morning after enjoying a night out with friends.'Everything suggests at this stage that [Mr Burton] was enjoying an evening out with friends, and this has taken place spontaneously and unplanned - it's a very tragic ending to what should have been a good night out with friends.'Superintendent Ben Ewart said: 'At around 3am this morning on Sunday August 21, emergency services received multiple calls about a disturbance in Goose Green in Altrincham.'On arrival, we found a 17-year-old male and a 31-year-old man with stab wounds receiving first aid from members of the public before officers and paramedics took over.'Both males were taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where sadly the 31-year-old man succumbed to his injuries and died. I can confirm that male is Rico Burton. The 17-year-old remains in hospital with serious injuries.'Can I take this opportunity first to pass on my sincere condolences to Rico's family and friends, and also praise the members of the public who stepped in and provided first aid.'Supt Ewart added: 'Greater Manchester Police has launched a murder investigation and specialist officers are supporting both families.'A 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene, and a short while later, a 20-year-old male was further arrested in connection with this incident, and both remain in custody.'This is without doubt a senseless attack and both victims should have returned home this morning after enjoying a night out with friends.'Goose Green is a popular nightspot and would have been busy at the time and I appeal for anyone who was there overnight on Saturday August 20 or anyone with information about this incident including phone photograph footage or videos to come forward, in particular any friends of any of the victims or suspects who may have been out with them that night who has not yet come forward.'We have increased police controls in the area and knife crime remains a priority for Greater Manchester Police, the devastating effects of which have been demonstrated this morning.'And asked what police had been told about there being an argument, he said police are continuing a 'very live' investigation and it is a factor they are looking into.On what police could say about the man who was killed, he said: 'At this stage I don't know any further information. We are in contact with his family.He added: 'Everything suggests, at this stage, he was out enjoying an evening with friends and this has taken place spontaneously and unplanned.'So it's a very, very tragic ending to what should have been a good night out with friends.'It is believed Mr Burton in a fight outside a bar in Altrincham that saw two people stabbed, the Manchester Evening News reports.Police say the incident took place just after 3am this morning in Goose Green, Altrincham. Greater Manchester Police says one man has died and another has been seriously injured after being stabbed Police say they have arrested one person in relation to the incident, which took place just before 3amGreater Manchester Police says two men were rushed to hospital with serious and life-changing injuries.The force said: 'A 31-year-old male has sadly passed away a short time later in hospital. A 17-year-old male also remains in hospital with serious injuries.'A 21-year-old male was arrested at the scene on suspicion of section 18 assault and remains in custody.'A murder investigation has been launched and would like to appeal to members of the public who have any further information regarding this incident.'It added that anyone with information, CCTV, photos or videos can should get in touch. Fury's post has triggered an outpouring of grief, with well wishers sending their condolences.Steve Egan used to coach Rico and Fury and said he was 'devastated' to hear of the tragedy.The 60-year-old told The Sun: 'I taught Rico, he's a lovely lad. I'm devastated.'I feel like crying. I've known him and his brother since he was 13. What a talent, he was fantastic.'He was always a grafter, he worked hard and he worked so hard in the ring too.'He said there 'wasn't a bad bone' in Rico and that he could never see him 'getting in trouble with anyone'.He added: 'His mam is going to be devastated, it's going to finish her off.'Family friend Eddie Nevins said: 'Funny guy and a decent boxer, one we looked up to as kids.' Michael Edwards, who lives close to the pub where the tragedy happened, told The Sun: 'It's really shocking when something like this happens.'It's terrible so many people carry knives these days.' One person wrote: 'Tyson so sorry to hear of this tragic loss of life. All my thoughts and prayers go out his complete family circle at this horrendous time. May the lad be at peace and rest easy. R.I.P Rico.'Another wrote: 'So sorry for your loss Tyson. Thinking of you and your family.'Someone else added: 'Sorry to hear that Tyson. 100% agree with you that only cowards carry.' News of Mr Burton's death prompted an outpouring of well wishes and support on social media for the boxing legendThe tragic development came hours after Fury shared his thoughts on last night's world heavyweight boxing match between Joshua and Usyk.Speaking after the fight, which saw Usyk defend his unified WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles in a second bout against the Brit, Fury bragged he could beat both men.Posting on Instagram, the 34-year-old said: 'To be honest with you lads, both of them were s***e. The tragic development came hours after Fury posted an Instagram story giving his thoughts on last night's world heavyweight title bout between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk'It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I've ever seen. It was bulls**t. 'I would annihilate both of them on the same night. F*****g s***e. 'Get your f*****g cheque book out, because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever.'Fury, who is known as the Gypsy King, is currently on holiday in Menorca with his family. Last night he posted videos on Instagram showing him and his family partying into the night before the tragic news came through. | Boxing |
International Boxing Association (AIBA) President Umar Kremlev attends a news conference ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland June 28, 2021. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSept 25 (Reuters) - Russian Umar Kremlev will remain president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) after its extraordinary congress on Sunday voted by a significant majority against holding a new election, leaving the sport's Olympic future uncertain.Dutch candidate Boris van der Vorst's hopes of challenging Kremlev for the presidency ended after 106 delegates voted against a re-run of the election, with 36 in favour and four abstaining.Kremlev was elected unopposed in May after Van der Vorst was declared ineligible. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in June that Van der Vorst was wrongly prevented from standing.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSunday's decision cast new doubt over boxing's efforts to preserve its Olympic spot beyond 2024, following a series of warnings from the International Olympic Committee over IBA's governance."We have to get to the point where boxing will be part of the Olympic Games in 2024 as well as 2028. We will do our best," Kremlev said, via an interpreter. "No one can exclude us from anywhere."IBA, amateur boxing's world governing body, was stripped of involvement in last year's Tokyo Olympics due to governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.Boxing is not on the initial programme for the Los Angeles Games in 2028. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is managing the Paris 2024 competition.IOC sports director Kit McConnell said this month that slow-moving reforms and the IBA's financial dependence on Russian energy firm Gazprom, its biggest sponsor, were of grave concern.The IBA suspended the Ukrainian federation on Friday, leaving it unable to cast a vote. The federation had written to IBA members on Thursday calling for Kremlev to resign or be voted out of office.The IBA does not recognise Kyrylo Shevchenko as president of the Ukrainian federation but instead considers Volodymyr Prodyvus, an ally of Kremlev who left Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February and is now an IBA vice-president, as head.The extraordinary congress in Yerevan, Armenia was delayed for an hour due to a power failure. The number of national federations present increased from 127 to 151 after proceedings resumed, with 99 attending in person and 52 online.IBA secretary general George Yerolimpos brushed aside queries about the increase in voters, saying there were a number of late arrivals.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Boxing |
Deontay Wilder is fighting on.The Alabama knockout artist will square off with Robert Helenius in a 12-round WBC heavyweight title eliminator at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on 15 October, marking his first fight since the conclusion of his explosive trilogy with Tyson Fury last year.Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) contemplated retirement after suffering an 11th-round knockout loss in a back-and-forth classic against Fury in October 2021. Their third encounter in 34 months, each of them rife with heightened drama with no fewer than nine knockdowns in all, capped only the fifth trilogy between heavyweight champions in boxing history after Patterson-Johansson, Ali-Frazier, Ali-Norton and Bowe-Holyfield.Now the 36-year-old American and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, who was honored with a statue in his Tuscaloosa hometown earlier this year, will return to the Brooklyn arena where he’s been victorious in each of four previous appearances.“It’s been a long journey for me and as of today it continues,” Wilder said in a release on Wednesday announcing the fight, which will be carried on FOX pay-per-view in the US. “I thought so many times about whether I should stay out of the business or come back. Once I got my statue in my hometown and saw so many people arrive and celebrate with me and my family, to see all the emotions, grown men crying in front of their children and saying he is a real true king, made me feel like my job is not done.“So, here I am once again, looking forward to returning to the ring. I am looking forward to coming to Barclays Center, a place where I have had my most devastating knockouts and a place I consider my second home.”Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), a 38-year-old born in Sweden and fighting out of Mariehamn, Finland, last fought on the undercard of Fury-Wilder III, when he scored a second straight stoppage win over Adam Kownacki.“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and I’m going to be ready,” Helenius said. “I’m going to produce an even bigger upset than I did with Kownacki.”A pair of former super middleweight champions will face off in the co-feature bout when former IBF titleholder Caleb Plant meets in a scheduled 12-rounder with Anthony Dirrell, who twice held the WBC strap at 168lbs. | Boxing |
Ukrainian fighter experts have created a programme in Zaporizhzhia in the south east of the war ravaged country to teach civilian women how to use powerful automatic gunsA Ukrainian woman learns how to use a Kalashnikov assault rifleFearless Ukrainian women are determined to fight Russian invaders with machine guns Ukrainian fighter experts have created a programme in Zaporizhzhia in the south east of the war-ravaged country to teach civilian women and girls who are old enough how to use the killer automatic guns. The Ukrainian soldiers, armed with Kalashnikovs, are trained in a variety of urban war skills and fighting tactics which show Ukraine is preparing for a long war of resistance. The country's army has 240,000 fighters up to a million volunteer and foreign fighters also add to their fire power. In March, The Mirror told how bereaved Ukraine women have joined the frontline of the conflict with arms and warn Putin "you will pay" for killing their children and loved ones. Women learn how to use Kalashnikov assault rifles in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images) Furious grieving mothers have joined the battle in Ukraine for blood, as they seek to avenge the deaths of their children. Officials this week issued photos of female soldiers in frontline units to mark International Women’s Day. Some ran beauty therapy businesses, but now they are undergoing military training as they warned Vladimir Putin : "you've killed our children, now you will pay". Kate Matchyshyn, 33, had never dreamed of joining the Army, but now she is learning how to fire, reload and clean an AK-47. At a shooting range in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, women are learning in an urban combat training programme (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images) She said: "Of course I am scared to have to train so I am capable of killing someone. “It is a very hard thing for a woman to kill and I never thought that I would ever have to do it. But we have been forced to train for such a terrible thing by Russia. “Russians are killing Ukrainian children so Ukrainian women will do what they have to do to protect them. “We are the same as women anywhere in the world. All women have a protective instinct towards children and we will show that every day. A team of experts have just set up a programme aimed at teaching women to use guns and instructing them in urban combat tactics (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images) “Ukrainian women are strong — my main hobby for example is boxing — and Putin will find out just how strong. He has killed our children and so we will make him pay.” The former massage therapist has left behind her business to join the conflict and is now just one of dozens of women receiving training at a female-run centre for veterans called Warriors House. Before the war businesswoman Bohdana Ostapyk, 23, ran her own successful PR firm in Kyiv - now she helps co-ordinate sessions at the training centre. She said: “The war might end in a few weeks or it might go on for years and if that is the case every single person needs to know how to use a weapon — including women.” The women want to make Putin pay (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images) Although the frontline is currently some distance from Lviv, Russian troops are thought to be moving west and the women are determined to be prepared. University lecturer, Bohdana Symiakevych, 25, is running a 500 volunteer strong operation to build camouflage nets to protect shelters and machinery used by Ukrainian troops. They use tons of material donated by factories, tear them into 2in-wide strips and then tie them on to plastic garden netting to make 40ft by 6ft nets. An instructor teaches a volunteer woman (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images) But despite their new reality, the industrial operation of women have not lost their sense of humour. Bohdana said: “We make around 30 nets in a day. This is a really difficult time for the country but all Ukrainians will be strong. We can be strong because we have the support of the rest of the world. Read More Read More | Boxing |
It's easy to see why Archie loved MMA. Fighting ran in his blood. His mother, Hollie Dance had vowed to "fight until the bitter end," and even the morning after losing her final legal bid to continue his life support treatment, she held her coffee cup tight and told me about the plans she has to keep going."I'm not the type to sit and cry," she said. "I've always been on the move. Do you know I drive 40,000 miles a year for my kids?"I don't doubt her. Except for one day when I saw her in slippers, Hollie has always been in running shoes. Ready.The single mother and former dancer worked seven days a week to make sure her children were fed and raised well."I had to pay their own father to babysit them," she said. "I did everything I could to support them with their passions; Archie's MMA, Lauren's (Archie's sister) passion for horses, Tom (brother) with his boxing." Image: Pic: Hollie Dance 'It's too soon - people get longer for broken bones'Our first encounter was in Court 44 at the start of High Court hearings in May.The crowd of journalists outside were there for the 'Wagatha Christie' trial. Inside the family court's press area that day, just two of us journalists listened to proceedings instigated by the Trust treating Archie after Hollie had challenged their decision to do a brain stem test on him.Barts Health NHS Trust claimed Archie's brain stem was dead and asked the court to grant them permission to carry out the test to prove it."It's too soon," Hollie told Sky News after the hearing. "Why can't they give him a chance? People get longer for broken bones."She also didn't shy away from approaching the very sensitive but serious matter of how Archie ended up in hospital. Image: Hollie Dance (right), speaks to the media outside the Royal London Hospital Hollie found Archie at their home in Southend-on-Sea with a ligature around his neck. She believes he was taking part in a dangerous online challenge.She ran for help. And in a moment that will surely haunt her forever, she cut him down and gave him mouth-to-mouth."I don't think about that moment," she later said. "But the other day I left the hospital briefly and it was the first time I wasn't there or at the court and I started getting flashbacks. I felt sick."In court proceedings and media reporting, careful consideration is given to discussing details of that day. One thing that is clear is, since then, the mother's attempts to save Archie's life never stopped. Image: Archie Battersbee. Pic: Hollie Dance Medics argued Archie's brain was decayingHollie has gone through many separate court proceedings. The hardest she says was the second High Court battle where, in the absence of a brain stem test (the legal criteria to determine death), doctors were arguing Archie is "most likely dead"."My other kids attended that day and the Trust's barristers kept saying 'he's dead, he's dead, Archie's dead,' over and over again. Seeing my kids' faces and hearing that, when we know that he is alive, that was the hardest."The Trust had argued that parts of Archie's brain were in necrosis - when cells are either dead or decaying. They said the damage was irreversible. Archie's mother disagreed."He's very much alive," Hollie said. "My boy is in there. I'm just waiting for him to wake up. How can they sit there and use scans to say someone is dead? What next, they'll be issuing death certificates based on your dental record?"I had no answer. I had failed to find another case where a patient was declared dead on a balance of probabilities. Image: Hollie Dance, mother of Archie Battersbee Her only victoryHollie's lawyers successfully argued that the criminal standard of proof (beyond reasonable doubt) should be applied when determining whether someone has died.The Court of Appeal listened and sent the case back to the Family Division of the High Court for a best interest proceeding."It puzzled me because we were back in court with the same Trust and the same doctors who were putting their arguments for what they think is in Archie's best interest having spent the previous week telling us, under oath, that he's probably dead," Hollie said.The Court of Appeal decision was to be her last and only victory. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 'It's not right - Archie's my child' The next two weeks saw the Supreme Court uphold the decision by the High Court that withdrawing treatment would be in Archie's best interests. That was followed by a United Nations intervention by way of imposing interim measures on the UK under its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).The British government having first opted to stay out of the matter then intervened to inform the judiciary that the UN CRPD is not binding on UK courts. It later told Sky News the court's decision was the right one.A final attempt to get the European Court of Human Rights to help recognise Archie's rights under the UN failed when Strasbourg also refused to intervene in matters of national courts.Grit and vulnerability throughout every stageAt every stage, Hollie sat up through proceedings taking notes. On her way out of court, she would stop and talk to reporters - the media pack had grown to a hoard of cameras and journalists by the time this became an international affair. Image: Archie Battersbee Sometimes she seeks out the Sky News camera, other times it's a voice note on WhatsApp: "If you're not on air, do you want to meet for coffee?"On Thursday she took a case to the High Court to have Archie moved to a hospice where he could receive palliative care. It came after the ECHR effectively shut down her fight to have his treatment continued.Over the two and half months that I have covered Archie's story, Hollie Dance has shown grit and vulnerability. She has laughed off vile comments from online trolls and instead directed her energy to learning medical lingo otherwise commonly heard in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Image: Press outside the Royal London Hospital She is off camera what we see on camera.Over a hundred days by Archie's bedside and determined to fight on. | Boxing |
Tyson Fury 'is refused access to the US' as associates of mob boss Daniel Kinahan are barred from AmericaHeavyweight boxer Tyson Fury has reportedly been refused access to the US A Sunday World news journalist broke news of the alleged ban on TwitterOther associates of mob boss Daniel Kinahan are also said to have been barredFury was photographed in Dubai in February with now US-sanctioned Kinahan Published: 18:13 EDT, 17 June 2022 | Updated: 21:20 EDT, 17 June 2022 Tyson Fury has been refused access to the US over his alleged links to crime boss Daniel Kinahan, it emerged tonight.The British boxer, 33, was in Liverpool tonight watching the Vacant IBF International Heavyweight Championship fight between Nathan Gorman and Thomas Salek at M&S Bank Arena.It is not known on what day this is thought to have happened. MailOnline has contacted Fury's representatives for comment.Addressing claims that Irish boxing promoter Kinahan runs a global organised crime group, Fury previously said: 'That's none of my business and I don't interfere with anybody else's business.' Tyson Fury has distanced himself from links with Daniel Kinahan - who is wanted by America Boxing promoter Kalle Sauerland watches on with Tyson Fury during the Vacant IBF International Heavyweight Championship in Liverpool this evening Tyson Fury arrives in Liverpool to watch Nathan Gorman during the Vacant IBF International Heavyweight Championship fight with Thomas Salek this evening Fury (right) was photographed with mob boss Daniel Kinahan in Dubai in FebruaryFury, who was photographed in Dubai in February this year with the now US sanctioned Kinahan, said: 'Because I had my picture taken with a man it doesn't make me a criminal.'I'm just a boxer. There could be a criminal in this building.'Kinahan has been named as a senior figure in organised crime in Dublin’s High Court, and in April this year the US Treasury imposed sanctions on him, his father Christy Kinahan and brother Christy Kinahan Jr as well as several associates of the Kinahan family.The US Department of State also announced the offering of rewards of up to $5million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the Kinahan family members.Kinahan has advised Fury in the past, but Fury has not been accused of criminal activity. On April 12, the United States offered a $5million (£3.8million) reward for help arresting the leaders of Ireland's Kinahan drug trafficking gang which it likened to some of the world's most notorious crime networks. From left to right: Daniel Kinahan, Christopher Kinahan Jr and Christopher Kinahan Sr have all been sanctioned by the USWashington also imposed sanctions against gang leaders whom Irish police said had gone from dealing heroin and cocaine in Dublin in the 1990s to operating across Europe.The US offered the reward for information that would lead to the 'financial destruction' of the Kinahan gang or the arrest and conviction of its leaders, Christy Kinahan Senior and his sons Daniel and Christopher Junior. A wide range of criminality by the gang, including more than a dozen murders, is estimated to have generated over £833 million (1 billion euros). Daniel Kinahan, one of the three leaders named by U.S. authorities, has been involved in organising high profile boxing fights in recent years. He was credited by world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury with helping broker a potential unification bout two years ago.'The Kinahan transnational criminal organisation joins the ranks of Italy's Camorra, Mexico's Los Zetas, Japan's Yakuza and Russia's '"Thieves In Law",' Gregory Gatjanis, an associate director at the U.S Treasury Department, told a news conference in Dublin.The £3.8 million ($5 million) reward was also offered for information leading to the financial disruption of Daniel Kinahan, whom the Treasury said is believed to run day-to-day operations, his brother Christopher Junior and father Christopher Senior, the gang's founder and leader. All three are in the United Arab Emirates, with whom Ireland does not have an extradition treaty. The U.S. Treasury said the group frequently uses Dubai as a hub for illicit activities. Advertisement | Boxing |
Anthony Joshua has insisted he does not condone human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia after being urged to speak out by a pro-democracy activist whose brother was among 81 people executed by the state in March.The Guardian can reveal that Joshua was recently sent a letter by Yasser al-Khayat, whose brother Mustafa was killed in the largest mass execution in Saudi Arabia’s history, asking him to follow the lead of Muhammad Ali and Lewis Hamilton by standing up for freedom and human rights in the buildup to his world title fight which takes place in Jeddah on Saturday.“My brother was executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities for daring to ask for basic human rights that you enjoy in the UK,” the letter tells Joshua. “He was one of the 81 men killed in the largest mass execution in the country’s history. Over half of them, including Mustafa, were executed for taking part in pro-democracy protests.“Saudi Arabia executed him in secret and we weren’t given any notice. We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye and his body hasn’t even been returned to our family for a proper burial. Our community is in mourning and our people are living in fear.”The issue of human rights in the kingdom was highlighted again last week when Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student, was given a 34-year prison sentence for posting her support of women’s rights activists on Twitter. The sentence was condemned as “outrageous” by Amnesty International.In his letter Khayat reminds Joshua that speaking out can make a real difference. “Lewis Hamilton shows that sports figures can go to Saudi Arabia to compete and also express solidarity with its people,” the letter says. “The Saudi Arabian authorities use events like your boxing match to distract from its oppression. If the fight takes place without human rights being raised, it sends the message to Saudi Arabia’s rulers that they can kill without consequences.“When Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 – the ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ – he showed his solidarity with the country’s people, and became their champion. You can be the champion of Saudi Arabia’s people, by acknowledging their suffering and calling for their rights to be respected by the regime.”A spokesman for Joshua pledged to investigate Al-Khayat’s case. “Anthony takes his responsibility as a global sports figure very seriously and does not condone any form of human rights abuse,” he told the Guardian. “He and his management are grateful for being made aware of this particular situation and will take steps to look into this further post his fight on Saturday night”.The non-governmental organisation Reprieve, which helps people in Saudi Arabia facing the death penalty for childhood crimes, non-violent offences or on charges related to their participation in pro-democracy protests, also offered to meet Joshua when he returns to the UK. “International pressure on Saudi Arabia can make a difference,” it said, pointing to a royal decree in 2020 purportedly abolishing the death penalty for juveniles.Jeed Basyouni, head of Reprieve’s work in the Middle East and North Africa, added: “Mohammed bin Salman is trying to use major sporting events like this to sportswash his blood-soaked regime. Anthony Joshua can change that by using his visit to speak out about human rights to help save lives”.The Guardian has approached Saudi authorities for comment. | Boxing |
Plans to move a boxing fitness club into a vacant three-story downtown building next to the proposed Courtyard at 40 complex have won the endorsement of the Elgin Planning and Zoning Commission.If a conditional use permit is approved by the Elgin City Council, Pro Boxing Fitness owner Erick Arevalo will move the business from its 5 S. Spring St. location to a much larger building at 30 DuPage Court, Elgin senior planner Damir Latinovic told the commission this week.Known as the Healy Building, the three-story, Art Modern-style structure is the former Block & Kuhl department store and dates back to 1941. It’s adjacent to the five-story building being converted into The Courtyard at 40, a 40-unit apartment complex with commercial space on the ground floor. The new location will allow Arevalo to quadruple his square footage and expand membership, offer a larger free weight area and provide more space in a post-COVID-19 era, Latinovic said.Pro Boxing offers Olympic-style boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, strength and conditioning workouts, personal training and self-defense classes for adults and children, he said. Group exercise classes are limited to 20 participants. A boxing ring will be set up on the first floor but competitions will not be held, Latinovic said.“We’ve currently outgrown our space, which is only 2,200 square feet, so we’re looking to expand to a bigger location,” Arevalo told the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday. With classes for both children and adults and a waiting area for parents, the facility needs more square footage, he said.“You’re going from 2,000 to 8,000 square feet. It’s very exciting you’ve grown like that,” said Commissioner Karin Jones, adding she’d like to see the alley behind the building better maintained.DuPage Court between Douglas and Spring streets is in the heart of Elgin’s downtown district, and officials have cited the Courtyard at 40 development as a potential catalyst for growth in the area. Permit applications for the $11.3 million residential/commercial project have been submitted. The city is providing $3.15 million in TIF funding for the development.Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. | Boxing |
Tyson Fury Calls For Castration Of Knife Criminals ... After Cousin's Death 8/24/2022 12:56 PM PT talkSport Tyson Fury is still calling for harsher penalties for knife crime in the UK in the wake of his cousin's tragic death ... insisting officials should straight up castrate perpetrators. The boxing superstar didn't mince words when expressing his outrage on talkSport on Wednesday ... demanding government officials do more to deter knife crime in his home country after his cousin was stabbed to death following an altercation outside of a bar earlier this month. "What the government needs to do about this knife crime, anyone caught with a knife or stabbing someone needs castrating," the 34-year-old fighter said. "It cost as a government too much money to house them in a prison. It costs them 50-to-60-grand a year to put these scumbags in jail. Castrate the little bastards. Castrate them." Fury initially sounded off on the matter on his Instagram page on Sunday -- just hours after his relative, 31-year-old Rico Burton, was killed in Manchester. Fury called for a big crackdown then -- but he expounded on it all on Wednesday ... saying people who are caught even carrying knives should be locked away behind bars for "5-to-7 years." Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. "We're supposed to be one of the safest countries in the world," he said. "But yet we can't go down the street with a watch on or anything because we're going to get stabbed." "The government needs to make this tougher on these little cowards who carry knives and weapons." He added, "What little scumbag coward needs to carry a knife around with them in our country?" According to authorities, a 21-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with Burton's death. It's unclear how much time in prison he's facing if convicted of the charge. | Boxing |
Austin McBroom, Gib Nearly Fight At TMZ Office ... Ahead Of Boxing Match 8/30/2022 10:00 AM PT TMZSports.com Tensions were at an all-time high when Austin McBroom and AnEsonGib visited the TMZ office on Monday ... with the two YouTube superstars getting in a heated confrontation ahead of their boxing match. Austin and Gib came to our HQ for a sit-down interview leading up to the Social Gloves event at Banc of California Stadium on Sep. 10 ... and while things started off cordial, the mood quickly changed as both sides unloaded smack talk. McBroom started it off by saying Gib looks too small to last in the ring with him ... which triggered the hilarious clapback, "you got t***ies!!!" TMZSports.com McBroom -- who beat TikTok star Bryce Hall last year -- says he thinks their fight will end before 3 rounds ... and Gib promised to "shower Austin in suffering." "He's going to be in pain from the moment the bell rings, because he's never faced an opponent like me," he added. The guys traded verbal jabs like that for nearly half an hour ... and when it was time to leave the studio, they came close to getting physical. Here's the breakdown ... the chirping continued as they left the studio, with Gib throwing some playful jabs near Austin's face, which he was NOT happy about. When Gib extended his arms out, Austin pushed them away ... and it was clear they were no longer being playful. The fighters got right up in each other's faces ... before Austin's team luckily came in and whisked him away. McBroom and Gib will finally get to fight -- and get paid for it -- in 11 days. | Boxing |
Moment shirtless Tommy Fury 'swings punches at his brother Roman as a man stands between them in raucous 4am fight' on Manchester night outTommy Fury has been filmed swinging punches during a raucous 4am brawl while on a night out in ManchesterVideo footage showed the former Love Island star, 23, throwing punches at a man who is claimed to be his older brother Roman Fury, 25Onlookers alleged that Tommy was 'shouting' at his brother, however sources have claimed that the siblings were simply play-fighting Latest news and updates on all of your favourite Love Island contestants Published: 12:01 EDT, 1 September 2022 | Updated: 12:30 EDT, 1 September 2022 Tommy Fury has been filmed swinging punches during a raucous 4am brawl while on a night out in Manchester.Video footage showed the former Love Island star, 23, throwing punches at a man who is claimed to be his older brother Roman Fury, 25.Onlookers alleged that Tommy was 'shouting' at his brother, however sources have claimed that the siblings were simply play-fighting.Altercation: Tommy Fury has been filmed swinging punches during a raucous 4am brawl while on a night out in ManchesterIn the clip, obtained by The Sun, boxer Tommy could be seen being held back by a third man after throwing several punches at Roman during the altercation.An onlooker told the publication: 'We were going on holiday and our friend was picking us up at around 4am.'After we put our bags in the boot we were about to drive off and then we saw Tommy topless. He was shouting at his brother and that's what made us notice him.'However, an insider insisted to the publication: 'They weren't in a row and were just messing around - he's close to his brother and Tommy can fight - if he meant it, you'd see it in the video.' Fight: Video footage showed the former Love Island star, 23, throwing punches at a man who is claimed to be his older brother Roman Fury, 25 Play-fight: Onlookers alleged that Tommy was 'shouting' at his brother, however sources have claimed that the siblings were simply play-fightingMailOnline has contacted Tommy Fury's representatives for comment. Roman became a professional boxer in September 2020, making him the ninth person to turn pro in the Gypsy King's family. At the time, his famous older brother Tyson Fury told iFL TV: 'Just signing him [Roman] up now, he's 23-years-old, he's an aspiring cruiserweight champion of the future,' Tyson told iFL TV. 'Southpaw, tall, 6ft 2ins, in good shape. We're gonna try and get him – when the boxing starts again – maybe four or five fights within the boxing season and keep him busy for the next couple of years.'Shirtless: In the clip, boxer Tommy could be seen being held back by a third man after throwing several punches at Roman during the altercation Fury! Roman became a professional boxer in September 2020, making him the ninth person to turn pro in the Gypsy King's familyMeanwhile, earlier this month, Tommy admitted he wants to resurrect talks to face Jake Paul after he was banned from the US, and insisted his lawyers were 'trying to sort it.' The Love Island star has tried to fight Jake Paul twice - last December before picking up a rib injury and this summer, when the showdown was scrapped after he was banned from entering the United States amid his family's connections to wanted criminal Daniel Kinahan.Tommy was goaded by his rival for being 'scared' to fight him and in an exclusive interview with Sportsmail, the YouTuber accused him of ignoring his help to gain him entry into the US through his 'connections in politics'. Boxing family: Tommy is pictured with Roman and two-time world heavyweight champion Tyson FuryKeen! Earlier this month, Tommy admitted he hopes he can resurrect his fight with YouTuber Jake Paul in the future Disappointing: The reality star's last fight with Jake Paul was scrapped after he was barred entry from the United States Tommy told YouTube channel VIP Boxing Promotions: 'We're trying to sort it as we speak. But everybody thinks it's just a simple process of turning up and going to the embassy but it's not.'It takes time and my lawyers are on to that now, and trying to do everything they can to get this fight on.'Hopefully we can get it resolved and I can go to America and fight him, but if I can't, I'll fight him anywhere else in the world.'I can't say it fairer than that. What more can I say? I'll fight him anywhere else on the planet, you pick, not bothered and I'll be there.' Rivals: Jake Paul has goaded Tommy over his failure to enter the US and believes his rival is scared of him (Pictured in December) Advertisement | Boxing |
Conor Benn v Chris Eubank Jr is OFF after Benn's positive drug test, with the pair told they will NOT be allowed to fight despite both wanting to go ahead with the O2 showdownConor Benn returned an adverse finding for clomifene at a recent drugs testBenn is fighting Chris Eubank Jr in biggest night of their careers on SaturdayBoth fighters are due to receive seven-figure fees for the fight at the O2 ArenaREAD MORE: Eddie Hearn insists Benn vs Eubank is still ON despite failed test LIVE: All the latest after Benn's failed drugs test ahead of Saturday's big fight Published: 06:47 EDT, 5 October 2022 | Updated: 09:19 EDT, 5 October 2022 Conor Benn has failed a drugs test, throwing Saturday's blockbuster fight with Chris Eubank Jr into disarray.Sportsmail can exclusively reveal the 26-year-old was notified he had returned an adverse finding for the banned substance clomifene.The substance, which is usually used to treat infertility in women but can increase testosterone in men, is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. It is understood Benn's test was carried out by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. However, it appears that Benn's situation will NOT trigger a cancellation of this weekend's blockbuster with Eubank Jr, which falls almost 30 years after the second of two iconic fights between their fathers, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank.Eubank Jr still wants the bout to go ahead. A statement from promoters Wasserman Boxing and Eddie Hearn's matchroom, in response to Sportsmail's exclusive this morning, read: 'Both fighters have taken medical and legal advice, are aware of all relevant information, and wish to proceed with the bout this Saturday.'The positive test does not trigger an automatic ban. The British Board of Boxing Control appointed the UK Anti-Doping Agency as the anti-doping authority of this fight and Benn has not tested positive with them.The long-awaited bout at the O2 Arena in London is believed to be worth a six-figure fee to each fighter.Conor Benn, who is due to fight Chris Eubank Jr this Saturday, has failed a drugs test Benn and his boxer father Nigel are pictured ahead of the 26-year-old fight this weekend WHAT IS CLOMIFENE? Clomifene is a powerful female fertility medicine which doubles as a performance enhancer.It stimulates egg production in women, giving those struggling to conceive the best chance of getting pregnant.Yet, studies suggest that when given to men as a daily pill, clomiphene triggers the production of testosterone.Testosterone has a key role in tissue healing, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the injury site, aiding repair. However, it also makes it easier to put on muscle and offers a physical boost, hence why it is a banned substance in the world of athletics. In January, Benn, a welterweight on a rocketing trajectory owing to his perfect 21-0 record, was briefly removed from the WBC world rankings for failing to enrol in their clean-athlete programme.At the time he said in a statement: 'The World Boxing Council (WBC) have temporarily removed me from their January rankings and have requested in order for me to continue being ranked under the WBC governing body I must officially enrol in the WBC Clean Boxing Program supported by VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association).'I can confirm I have instructed my team who are now in the process of enrolling me. I wanted to address this personally for the boxing community and my fans.'It's important to me as a professional athlete to enrol in a clean testing programme and play my part in keeping our sport safe along with having my name stated in top five positions across all governing bodies.'Benn is currently ranked fifth with the WBC and in the top five with the other three major sanctioning bodies.Clomifene is listed on both WADA and VADA's prohibited lists under 'hormone and metabolic modulators'.Wasserman and matchroom's joint statement today read: 'We have been made aware that a random anti-doping test for Conor Benn conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association returned an adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug. 'The B sample has yet to be tested, meaning that no rule violation has been confirmed. Indeed, Mr Benn has not been charged with any rule violation, he is not suspended and he remains free to fight.'Mr Benn has since passed a doping control test conducted by the UK Anti-Doping Agency, the anti-doping authority to which the British Board of Boxing Control has delegated its doping control testing for the bout. Mr Benn has passed all doping control tests conducted by UKAD.'The British Boxing Board of Control, who are overseeing the fight, have been contacted for comment. Benn is moving up almost two weight classes for Saturday's fight against his bigger rival Eubank Jr. Benn is due to fight Eubank Jr (left) in Saturday night's big fight at the O2 Arena in London Saturday's fight was due to fall almost 30 years after the second of two iconic fights between their fathers, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank (pictured)Eubank is a career middleweight at 160lb, while Benn usually fights at 147lb. Saturday's fight is set at 157lb.Last month Benn said: 'I'm eating a lot. There's plenty of things you can eat. I don't eat a lot of meat, I'm not a massive fan but I'll have steak on Saturdays.'I'm able to eat what I want, as long as it is healthy and clean.'Saturday's fight is due to be live on streaming service DAZN, with non-subscribers paying out £27.98 to watch. £7.99-per-month subscribers are charged an additional £19.99 to watch.In an interview with The Telegraph this week, Eubank Jr said: 'As fighters we take chances, we gamble, and I don't believe Conor is going to be able to take me into deep waters. Benn is pictured in the fight's build-up, which is due to see him move up two weight classes Wasserman Boxing and matchroom issued a joint statement after Sportsmail's exclusive'Maybe I'm wrong but I don't feel that that's what he's going to be able to do, so I agreed to this weight.'Undefeated Albanian boxer Florian Marku has vowed to fight Eubank Jr in London after Benn's positive test, if their showdown was to be called off.Marku posted on Twitter: 'Conor fail drug test? I am not impressed. If Chris Eubank Jr wants it, I'm ready.' Advertisement | Boxing |
Hasim Rahman Jr. I'm Gonna Bully Jake Paul ... Won't Make Same Mistake As Woodley 7/13/2022 12:10 AM PT TMZSports.com Hasim Rahman Jr. says he knows where Tyron Woodley went wrong against Jake Paul -- leading to a brutal knockout -- telling TMZ Sports he will absolutely NOT make the same mistakes as the future UFC Hall of Famer. "Bro, [Jake's] a little boy, and I'm gonna treat him like one. That's what Woodley didn't do. Woodley gave him too much respect, and he sat back with his hands down and he got caught," 31-year-old Rahman Jr. bluntly said when we asked where Tyron went wrong when fighting 25-year-old Paul. Showtime Boxing And, 6'3" Rahman Jr. -- who has previously fought north of 260 pounds -- believes he has another advantage ... size! "All of Jake's opponents have been smaller than him. All of them have been much smaller. This is the first time he's going to be in there with someone that's walking him down and much bigger than him." Paul -- who's 6'1" and was 191 pounds when he fought Woodley (T-Wood weight 189 for 2021 rematch) -- has faced fighters who all stand under 6 feet (Gib, 5'9". Robinson, 5'8". Askren, 5'11". Woodley, 5'9"). Rahman Jr., 12-1, just fought April 29 ... where he suffered his first loss, via TKO. But, that didn't stop the son of the former 2x heavyweight champ from accepting the Paul fight when Tommy Fury dropped out ... even though Hasim claims Jake made him accept strict rules meant to diminish the heavyweight boxer in the ring. Hasim says although the fight will be contested at 200 pounds ... he'll only be permitted to rehydrate to 210 pounds just hours before the bell rings. A guy Rahman Jr.'s size could typically gain 15, 20 or more pounds in between making weight and the fight. "If you really wanted to make a statement you would've came up to heavyweight and fought me. But you didn't. You wanted to bring me down, and stack the deck against me, so you could actually have a fighting chance. He knows he has no chance against me had it been at my weight class," Hasim says. We also talked to Rahman Jr. about Logan Paul advising his brother to not take the fight, and much more. One thing's clear ... any lingering feelings of friendliness between the brief former sparring partners are long gone -- and August 6 can't come soon enough! | Boxing |
Dana White Slams Jake Paul Vs. Anderson Silva ... 'Don't Care About That' 9/9/2022 10:22 AM PT TMZSports.com Dana White is making one thing clear -- he's absolutely FED UP with Jake Paul ... telling TMZ Sports he has no interest in talking about the YouTuber's fight against UFC legend Anderson Silva. It's no secret -- the UFC honcho and Jake have become hated rivals in recent years ... with Paul constantly calling him out for how he runs his business, and White criticizing the Problem Child's relevance and talent in combat sports. After his fight was announced this week, Jake posted an old clip of Dana, who previously said he doubted Paul would ever call out Anderson, hyping up Silva's skills in the boxing ring. Now that the fight's been made, we had to ask White about the matchup. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Well -- we tried, at least ... before White cut us off. "I don't care about that. I literally was saying the other day, everybody keeps asking me about Jake. This guy's not even in my sport!!" "I don't care." What Dana DOES care about is UFC 279 on Saturday ... where Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev are set to duke it out in Las Vegas in one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Despite the fact White is done wasting his breath on Jakey P ... we're sure this rivalry isn't going anywhere any time soon. | Boxing |
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez won by unanimous decision the last fight of his trilogy against Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas. He remains the undisputed super-middleweight champion. The two boxers fought in 2017 and 2018 for a draw and a Canelo victory, both very controversial results. This time, the Mexican's domination over the first half of the fight was enough to ensure a clean victory, despite a painful hand that is going to require surgery. At 40 years old, GGG also isn't planning on retiring just yet, saying 'I still have this fire burning inside of me. I have this passion for boxing' Canelo Álvarez dominates faded Gennady Golovkin to cap trilogy | Boxing |
Eddie Hearn Suing Jake Paul For $100+ Million For Claiming Promoter Rigged Serrano vs. Taylor 9/23/2022 4:04 PM PT UPDATE 11:15 AM PT -- Eddie Hearn is suing Jake Paul for over $100 million ... according to the promoter's attorney, Frank Salzano. UPDATE "Both legally and ethically there is a clear line separating opinion from defamatory lies. Jake Paul knows that, and he purposely crossed that line when he wrongly accused Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn of fixing fights." UPDATE "Nonetheless he was still given an opportunity to retract his defamatory statements and refused to. Now he will face the legal consequences of his actions as Matchroom and Mr. Hearn will be seeking damages in well excess of $100 million given the value and goodwill attached to the Matchroom business and the harmful nature of Mr. Paul’s comments." Jake Paul is being sued by Eddie Hearn -- one of the most powerful people in boxing -- after The Problem Child claimed the promoter paid off a judge in two recent, high-profile bouts. In a newly filed lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, Hearn and his company, Matchroom Boxing, claim their reputation was damaged after 25-year-old Paul "made outrageously false and baseless allegations" during an interview on Sept. 20. In the talk, Paul claimed Hearn's Matchroom Boxing paid off judge Glenn Feldman in the August Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua fight. Paul claimed that same judge was also paid off by Matchroom in the April Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano fight. Taylor won by split decision over Serrano, while Joshua lost by split decision to Usyk. Jake Paul and Eddie Hearn Make $1 Million Bet on Serrano-Taylor Fight "Glenn Feldman shows up in Saudi and scores Anthony Joshua to win the fight when everyone who watched the fight said it was not a split decision," Paul said ... before adding, "Clearly, this guy is getting paid money by Matchroom Boxing." Hearn included Paul's video interview as an exhibit in the lawsuit ... filed by attorney Frank Salzano. Paul, in the interview, also acknowledged that it was "a bold statement and an accusation that I don't take likely, but it's just blatantly obvious. And they're not even trying to hide it." Hearn -- who's suing Paul for defamation -- called the comments "outlandishly false." He's asking for damages in excess of $75,000. | Boxing |
Muhammad Ali Would've Loved MMA, McGregor ... Says Grandson Biaggo Ali Walsh 10/15/2022 12:40 AM PT TMZSports.com How would Muhammad Ali, the undisputed OG of trash talk, feel about the slick-talking/fighting Conor McGregor?? He would've loved him ... so says The Greatest's grandson, MMA fighter Biaggio Ali Walsh. 24-year-old Ali Walsh, who recently signed with one of the top MMA promotions, PFL, tells TMZ Sports his grandpa wouldn't just have enjoyed mixed martial arts, he would've been a big fan of The Notorious! "I think [my grandfather] would've loved it, especially when McGregor was in featherweight in UFC, when he fought [Jose] Aldo, that whole reign, he would've loved it, especially Conor's trash talk," Ali Walsh says. "Poppy started the trash talk. He would've been super entertained. I think he really would've liked the sport." Of course, Muhammad wasn't just known for his supernatural ability in the squared circle ... but also for his incredibly sharp tongue. Ali made talkin' trash cool ... and though Conor may be a bit more vulgar, they're very much alike from the standpoint of getting inside their opponent's head. Like his grandfather, Ali Walsh is a fighter ... but instead of choosing boxing like his brother Nico, he chose MMA. Biaggio is new in the sport ... and has a 1-1 record as an amateur. He lost his first fight, but rebounded in his second fight, winning by first-round TKO. Ali-Walsh will make his Professional Fighters League debut on November 25 ... and fittingly, it's going down at Madison Square Garden. Of course, MSG was the site of many of Ali's legendary fights ... including the "Fight of the Century," Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier I on March 8, 1971. We asked Biaggio about fighting under the same roof as grandpa ... and while he thinks it's pretty neat, he was honest in saying it's not a huge deal. "I think it's cool but at the end of the day, a fight's a fight. It's me, the ref, and another guy who's trying to hurt me, whether it's Madison Square Garden or in the back of someone's barnyard. It's cool that it's at Madison Square Garden but I don't care, honestly." Considering Biaggio clearly has fighting in his blood, we had to ask how his grandpa would've fared as an MMA fighter. "I think he would've done great just because of how strong he was mentally. A lot of it is mental, a lot of fighting is mental and he had the mental part. He had the heart and he had the will, so if you have the will, you can definitely get the skill." Excuse us while we daydream over a Muhammad Ali-Francis Ngannou dream fight. | Boxing |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! After several cancelations, Jake Paul finally has his next opponent.The YouTuber turned boxer is set to face off against UFC legend Anderson Silva at Gila River Arena in Phoenix on Oct. 29.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Jake Paul answers questions from the media during a press conference at Madison Square Garden on July 12, 2022 in New York City. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)"Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva is the most versatile fighter the world has ever seen," Paul said in a statement. "Just a year ago he outclassed boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and showed the world why he is often referred to as the greatest fighter of all time."Paul has been hungry to get back in the ring, but he claimed that some would only come back against select opponents."Every expert, from MMA to boxing, has said Jake Paul won’t fight Anderson Silva. They said Jake Paul is afraid of Anderson Silva, and Jake Paul would lose to Anderson Silva. Well, to all the non-believers — Jake Paul is fighting Anderson Silva," he said. "It’s an honor to have the opportunity to share the ring with the greatest UFC striker of all time." Anderson Silva of Brazil reacts after his loss to Uriah Hall in a middleweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on Oct. 31, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)HOW MANY FIGHTS HAS JAKE PAUL WON? A LOOK AT THE SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION-TURNED-ACTOR BECAME A BOXERWhile Silva may be 47 years old and out of his prime, he still is widely regarded as one of the best MMA fighters of all time and is 3-1 as a pro boxer. While in the UFC, he defended his Middleweight Championship 10 times, and he holds the record for longest title reign in UFC history (2,457 days). His last MMA bout was on Halloween of 2020.With each of their celebrity status, Silva thinks this fight could be remembered forever."I believe this will be the biggest combat event of the year and will truly make history in the sport forever," he said in a statement.Paul has not fought since December, was set to face off against Tommy Fury at Madison Square Garden last month, but Fury said he had travel issues coming to the United States. Fury's replacement was Hasim Rahman Jr., but he had weight complications. Jake Paul celebrates with his brother, Logan, after defeating AnEsonGib in a first round knockout during their fight at Meridian at Island Gardens on Jan. 30, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPSilva last boxed on Sept. 11 of last year, when he knocked out Tito Ortiz just 82 seconds into the fight.The fight will be contested at 187 pounds and will be available via Showtime pay-per-view. | Boxing |
50 Cent I'm Cool With Floyd Mayweather Again ... Beef Squashed 8/15/2022 10:12 AM PT Many men wish death upon 50 Cent, but Floyd Mayweather isn't one of them ... 'cause the rapper says they have officially squashed their longtime beef. Remember, the two used to be really tight up until 2012 ... when Fiddy claimed TBE stiffed him out of $2 million used to kickstart his Money Team boxing promotion. The feud went viral -- with Fif incessantly calling Mayweather out on social media, including a video challenging the boxing legend to read one page of a Harry Potter book on camera to prove he could read. Despite the bad falling out, 50 says that's all water under the bridge now ... telling "The Breakfast Club" he made amends with Floyd at a comedy show in Vegas earlier this year. 50 says the two realized life is short and they have a ton of respect for each other's success ... and after he apologized, Floyd replied, "What took you so long?" The make up was made official on social media on Sunday ... with 50 announcing Floyd would be attending his Tycoon Weekend comedy event. "Yeah Champ said he gonna pull up on me for Tycoon so you know we gonna go crazy," 50 said on Instagram. "💰 Big bags coming out TMT." | Boxing |
After a shockingly good performance at Wrestlemania 38, Logan Paul, at age 27, has now officially signed with the WWE. Paul announced the news via Twitter. WWE regularly uses celebrities in one-off matches, particularly at major event like Wrestlemania. We've seen folks as wide ranging as Donald Trump and Floyd Mayweather. The very first Wrestlemania was headlined by Mr. T. But even the most hard-nosed wrestling fans were quick to admit that Logan Paul was a little bit different.Unlike other celebrities, Logan Paul was excellent in the squared circle. He arrived wearing his wrestling get up and a $900,000 Pokemon card and stole the show. He's also probably the most natural heel I've ever seen in my life."I think it's safe to say Logan Paul shocked the world with his abilities as a guest at WrestleMania," said Paul Levesque, former wrestler and now EVP at WWE, "just imagine what he'll do as a WWE Superstar." Logan Paul, one of the most popular social media stars on the planet, was notoriously involved in boxing, alongside his brother Jake Paul. He fought Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition back in June 2021. Details on the deal are scant, but it runs through to 2023. It's unlikely that Paul will go on the road regularly like normal WWE stars but we can at least expect to see him compete at selective events, most likely culminating in another major match at an upcoming WrestleMania. | Boxing |
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) has “prohibited” Saturday night’s fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr from taking place as “it is not in the interests of boxing”, the governing body has announced.The move counters an earlier statement by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn that the fight between the sons of British boxing’s great middleweights would take place after Conor Benn had returned an “adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug”.Hearn then said in a video interview on social media after the BBBofC’s statement that he remained confident that the fight would go ahead, saying that the matter was “with the lawyers, going backwards and forwards right now”.The BBBofC’s statement read: “On the evening of 4 October 2022, the board of the British Boxing Board of Control Limited resolved that the contest between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn scheduled to take place on 8 October 2022 is prohibited as it is not in the interests of boxing. That was communicated to the boxers and promoters involved on the morning of 5 October 2022.”It has been reported that the 26-year-old fighter and son of former world champion Nigel Benn was notified he had returned an adverse finding for the banned substance clomifene, prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.Benn and Eubank Jr were set to meet in a catchweight contest in what would be the third bout between the families, after their fathers fought twice in the early-1990s in one of British boxing’s classic rivalries, but now the British governing body has intervened to scrap the bout.Earlier, Hearn had stated: “We have been made aware that a random anti-doping test for Conor Benn conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association returned an adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug,” said Hearn in a statement.“The B sample has yet to be tested, meaning that no rule violation has been confirmed. Indeed, Mr Benn has not been charged with any rule violation, he is not suspended, and he remains free to fight. Mr Benn has since passed a doping control test conducted by the UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad), the anti-doping authority to which the British Board of Boxing Control has delegated its doping control testing for the bout. Mr Benn has passed all doping control tests conducted by Ukad.“Both fighters have taken medical and legal advice, are aware of all relevant information, and wish to proceed with the bout this Saturday.”Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?ShowDownload the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications.Fight week media commitments had been due to start on Wednesday with the two fighters due to take part in a live workout at a venue in central London. The media workout was set to begin at 2pm, with Benn predicted to enter the ring at 3.25pm and Eubank Jr to follow him 10 minutes later. | Boxing |
50 Cent I'm Cool With Floyd Mayweather Again ... Beef Squashed 8/15/2022 10:12 AM PT Many men wish death upon 50 Cent, but Floyd Mayweather isn't one of them ... 'cause the rapper says they have officially squashed their longtime beef. Remember, the two used to be really tight up until 2012 ... when Fiddy claimed TBE stiffed him out of $2 million used to kickstart his Money Team boxing promotion. The feud went viral -- with Fif incessantly calling Mayweather out on social media, including a video challenging the boxing legend to read one page of a Harry Potter book on camera to prove he could read. Despite the bad falling out, 50 says that's all water under the bridge now ... telling "The Breakfast Club" he made amends with Floyd at a comedy show in Vegas earlier this year. 50 says the two realized life is short and they have a ton of respect for each other's success ... and after he apologized, Floyd replied, "What took you so long?" The makeup was made official on social media on Sunday ... with 50 announcing Floyd would be attending his Tycoon Weekend comedy event. "Yeah Champ said he gonna pull up on me for Tycoon so you know we gonna go crazy," 50 said on Instagram. "💰 Big bags coming out TMT." | Boxing |
Tommy Fury I Was Denied Entry Into U.S. ... Jake Paul Fight In Jeopardy 6/28/2022 7:51 AM PT Tommy Fury's fight with Jake Paul could go up in smoke ... after TNT claims he was denied entry into the United States ahead of their scheduled press conference in New York. Just when it seemed like the bout was FINALLY going to happen, Tommy shared the crappy news to his Instagram on Tuesday ... saying his team showed up at Heathrow Airport to hop over the pond ... but they were shut down. "As soon as I entered the airport, I was pulled to one side and told by a Homeland Security officer that my ESTA had been denied and that I wasn't able to travel to the USA for a reason I apparently know," Tommy said in a video. Tommy, boxing superstar Tyson Fury's younger brother, went on to say he's done nothing wrong ... and claims he's totally dumbfounded as to why he's not allowed to travel to the U.S. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. "I've been training for a fight this whole time and that's all I've been doing," Tommy said. "I have no clue why I'm not allowed to travel and neither does my team or my lawyers." "Now I've got to go to the embassy trying to resolve it and I'm in the middle of training. I don't know why this has happened a huge shock to me and my team." As we reported, Tommy and Jake agreed to fight each other at the world's most famous arena -- Madison Square Garden -- in NYC on Aug. 6 ... but Tommy says the issues he's currently facing are bigger than the fight. 6/22/22 What's interesting -- Tommy was able to travel to California last month without issue ... something his nemesis pointed out. Of course, this isn't going to sit well with fans who've been clamoring for the two boxers to fight after years of trash talk and failed negotiations. The presser between Tommy and Jake was originally scheduled for Wednesday ... but it's been postponed, according to Most Valuable Promotions. Despite many assurances by Tommy Fury and his team that he was able to come to the U.S., and knowing that Tommy was in California just last month, we were surprised to learn that he had an issue at Heathrow airport on Monday.— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) June 28, 2022 @MostVpromotions Despite the travel mishap, Jake isn't letting Tommy off the hook easily... tweeting, "Tommy, no matter how hard u try to get out of this fight, I’m going 2 do everything in my power 2 not let u weasel ur way out." Tommy, no matter how hard u try to get out of this fight, I’m going 2 do everything in my power 2 not let u weasel ur way out. My team & my partners have made it clear the steps u need to take 2 solve ur latest excuse. Take them or admit ur a scared little bitch. #TommyFumbles— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 28, 2022 @jakepaul "My team & my partners have made it clear the steps u need to take 2 solve ur latest excuse. Take them or admit ur a scared little bitch." | Boxing |
Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury Finally Happening ... Fighting Aug. 6! 6/23/2022 7:10 AM PT Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will settle their beef ... after seemingly years of back-and-forth trash talk, failed negotiations, canceled flights, and an ultimatum from Jake -- fight me now or never -- the two boxers will finally square off in a ring. Jake announced the news early Thursday morning ... proclaiming Tommy, Tyson Fury's younger brother, stepped up to the plate and accepted his challenge. "Okay people he grew a set overnight. It’s official, I'm taking this little Fury’s head off," Paul said on Twitter. JP also announced he and Tommy will co-main event alongside Amanda Serrano, who fights under Jake's MVP promotion, is fighting Brenda Carabajal at the mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden. Yesterday, Jake ripped 23-year-old Fury ... accusing him of ducking him and finding every possible excuse to prevent the fight from happening. "Tommy Fury, you pulled out last year. Then you agree to fight me now but your dad is trying to pull you out again? We've given you everything you asked for," Paul told Fury. He continued ... "We're 45 days away from the fight. We agreed to his 2 million dollar purse, we agreed to VADA testing, extra flights, extra rooms, extra tickets to the fight." 6/22/22 And, let's not forget back in December, Jake seemed to be over the Tommy saga ... after Fury pulled out of their Dec.18 bout due to a chest infection and broken rib. The two have been going at it for quite some time now ... and it will all come to a head in NYC on August 6. | Boxing |
Bellator Star AJ McKee Challenges Andrew Tate To A Fight ... 'He Needs A Good Ass Whoopin' 8/6/2022 12:05 AM PT TMZSports.com Add AJ McKee to the list of people who want to beat up former kickboxing champ and internet star Andrew Tate, with the Bellator star telling TMZ Sports, "I wanna put my fist in his mouth!" 35-year-old Tate -- one of the most polarizing people on the internet -- has become a staple on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok ... with his often very controversial takes. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Enter McKee, the 18-1 MMA star says he's tired of Tate popping up on his stream, 'cause the guy rubs him the wrong way. "There's nothing really up with us. I'm just tired of hearing and seeing and -- like bro, every time I get on Instagram, I see him in my feed. It's annoying! He's always talking. He tries to project himself as this macho, just this OG guy." And, AJ isn't sweating the significant size difference. "I'm a 155-pounder now, you're a kickboxer, cool. We can step in the boxing ring and box. I'd love that. I mean, I can't find a boxing match at the moment so I mean, if I gotta jump three weight classes up there, I'm fine with that," McKee says. AJ clearly takes umbrage with Tate's views on men and women, telling us "[Tate's] rude as s**t. It's like you're a misogynist towards women. It's like bro, how do you feel about your mother, ya idiot! She's the reason why you're on the planet. You talk that way about your mother?" Now, 6'1", 200-ish lb. Tate isn't any ordinary internet star ... he was a legit, professional fighter. A kickboxing champion. He also beat Luke Barnatt in an MMA fight in 2010. Luke went on to fight in the UFC. AJ says he's not doing this for notoriety -- he just wants to show off his talents -- and he's down to do it in an MMA cage or boxing ring. "I ain't chasing clout. I'm looking for opportunities to showcase my skills in any and every area like boxing. I mean, I ain't trying to kickbox with him, he's a big boy, but we can definitely throw some hands. We can definitely do some MMA if he wants to kick." As for McKee's skills ... he's simply one of the best fighters in the world. He was the 145 lb. Bellator champ ... and only lost his belt after a controversial decision loss vs. fellow star Patricio "Pitbull" Freire. It's the only time AJ's ever been defeated. Tate's already been rumored to be a future boxing opponent for Jake Paul ... but if that doesn't happen, AJ's ready to go. A.J. McKee Wants To Train Jake Paul For MMA Fight McKee left us with this message to Tate. "What's up bro? Let's get it on. You say you looking to fight, you know, you calling out Jake, I'm cordial with him. Whatever. Well s**t, I've been bugging Jake to get me on the boxing card. You got the star power, I got the skill set. Test yours and I'm gonna test mine." | Boxing |
Tyson Fury Calls Out 'The Mountain' ... 'GOT' Star Accepts Fight!!! 6/29/2022 10:04 AM PT The Gypsy King vs. The Mountain in 2022?!? It appears we could very well see that ... 'cause after Tyson Fury threw a verbal jab at "Game Of Thrones" star Hafthor Bjornsson on Wednesday -- the actor-turned-boxer accepted a fight!!! Fury's barb was pretty clever ... on his Instagram page, he wrote, "I wonder if Thor Bjornsson could take a crashing right hand to that big jaw," adding, "Who would have Thor's hammer? Would this mountain be too big to climb?" It didn't take long for Thor -- a former World's Strongest Man -- to see the quips ... and in a shirtless video, he fired back at Fury -- accepting a fight if the 33-year-old heavyweight champ was offering one. "I'm 100% up for war," Bjornsson said. "Let's do this." Instagram / @thorbjornsson Now, don't get it twisted ... even though Bjornsson is an actor and a former strongman, he's no stranger to the boxing ring. Since 2021, Bjornsson has boxed in 4 professional fights -- winning two bouts while the others ended up in a draw. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. And the two are roughly the same size -- both standing at 6 feet 9. So, could it actually go down? We're all awaiting Fury's clapback ... | Boxing |
REVEALED: Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr 'will be fined £80k' for EVERY pound they weigh over their agreed 157lbs limit... with the pair to hit the scales on the morning of their October clash in LondonConor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr are set to fight in a huge match-up in October They have agreed to a 157lb limit having fought at different weights previouslyThe British rivals will be fined £80k for every pound they weigh above the limit They will also have to undergo an additional weigh-in on the day of the fight Their legendary fathers fought in 1990 and 1993 in what was an iconic rivalry Published: 08:31 EDT, 11 August 2022 | Updated: 08:54 EDT, 11 August 2022 Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr will face huge repercussions if they weigh-in above the agreed 157lb limit ahead of their huge October 8 showdown. Benn typically fights in the 147lb welterweight division, while the significantly bigger Eubank Jr has spent the majority of his career in the middleweight division at 160lb, having also fought at 168lb. To even the playing field, the pair have agreed to fight at a catchweight - meaning they will fight above Benn's preferred weight and below Eubank Jr's - with the British rivals set to be fined a staggering £82,000 for every pound they come in above the limit. Conor Benn (left) and Chris Eubank Jr (right) will be fined £82k for every pound they weigh-in above the agreed 157lb limit for their October showdownThe in-form British rivals will square off almost exactly 30 years after their fathers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr went toe-to-toe in their iconic rematch, which ended as a draw. Eubank Sr claimed a stoppage victory in their first encounter three years prior in 1990, in what then developed into one of the most bitter rivalries in British boxing history. Benn and Eubank Jr will now revive the rivalry in a bout few foresaw, with both fighters striving for world title shots in their respective weight classes. The fight will be high risk, high reward for both, particularly with the prospect of a hefty fine on the cards, with boxing reporter Dan Rafael stating the pair will be fined $100,000 (£82,000) of their purse for every pound weighed in above the 157lb limit. Benn, speaking to BBC 5 live on Thursday morning, confirmed that, as well as their standard Friday weigh-in, they will also take to the scales on the day of the fight, ensuring neither fighter - more likely Eubank Jr - will gain a significant weight advantage overnight. Benn is much improved in recent years but has campaigned in the 147lb welterweight division Eubank Jr is a career middleweight (160lbs) but has fought up at super-middleweight (168lbs) A similar clause was placed in the contract of the huge grudge match between Amir Khan (left) and Kell Brook (right) earlier this yearRehydration clauses, placed into fight contracts to prevent such an occurrence, are a formality in the sport. A similar clause was placed in the fight contract for the domestic grudge match between Amir Khan and Kell Brook earlier this year, which the latter won via stoppage. It's not yet confirmed what the limit will be for the October 8 clash. For Benn, it's not only a jump in weight he's facing, but quality, too. The 25-year-old, unbeaten in 21 fights, has developed significantly over the last two years but is yet to face anyone of Eubank Jr's calibre. 'The Destroyer' assures he will resume his welterweight conquest after the fight, but insists an opportunity for a 'legacy' bout was one he couldn't turn down. 'This fight is for the legacy and was an opportunity I felt I couldn't pass up,' he said upon the bout's announcement.'My team and I had other options on the table as I'm currently ranked top five with all governing bodies at welterweight and no doubt I'm looking for a world championship fight very soon, but this fight is embedded with so much history and I know it's one the public really want to see. 'To me this fight is personal - it's more than titles and rankings, this is unfinished business between our families!' The pair will follow in the footsteps of their famous fathers Chris Eubank Sr (L) and Nigel Benn (R) who fought twice in 1990 and 1993 Eubank Sr came out on top in the first fight, winning by TKO, before a split draw in the secondEubank Jr, who has two defeats on his 34-fight record, has also drastically improved of late, having partnered with trainer Roy Jones Jr, and the 32-year-old believes the match-up will be the biggest fight of his career. 'I grew up watching their legendary battles and always wanting to emulate that, and find my own arch nemesis… could this now be Conor Benn? We will find out,' said Eubank Jr.'He has walked the same path as I have. I know his struggle. Living in the shadow of a legend and trying to break out of that shadow and make his own name. If he can beat me, his name will be made, and he will never walk in his father's shadow again.'It's a fight that's going to spark the imagination of the British public, that's what I'm happy about. In terms of anticipation, legacy and hype it's the biggest fight of my career.' Advertisement | Boxing |
Former heavyweight champion George Foreman gestures before the heavyweight title unification boxing match between Ukrainian IBF and WBO titleholder Vladimir Klitschko against British WBA champion David Haye in Hamburg July 2, 2011. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 25 (Reuters) - Two women who accused the American former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman of sexually abusing them in the 1970s have filed lawsuits in a Los Angeles court.Foreman, 73, has denied the allegations since they first became public last month and spokespeople referred questions about the lawsuits to his earlier statement. read more The women filed separate lawsuits under the pseudonyms Gwen H. and Denise F. in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBoth women, now in their early 60s, say they first met Foreman as children because their fathers were boxing associates of Foreman.Denise, a Los Angeles resident, accused Foreman of grooming her when she was 8 years old and having sex with her when she was 15, in one instance in a San Francisco hotel room, her lawsuit says.Gwen, a Nevada resident, said she first met Foreman when she was 9, and accused him of sexually abusing and raping her when she 15 and 16 years old, including at an apartment in Beverly Hills. She said Foreman told her her father would lose his job as a boxing adviser if she did not comply.Foreman called the allegations false and baseless."Over the past six months, two women have been trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family," his statement said. "I don't pick fights, but I don't run away from them either."Foreman is referred to as DOE 1 in the lawsuits, but described in them as the professional boxer who defeated Joe Frazier in 1973 to become the heavyweight champion of the world before losing the title to Muhammad Ali in 1974.Foreman has since become well known as an entrepreneur selling an electric grilling machine that bears his name.The lawsuits were filed as the result of a California law that went into effect in 2020 that temporarily waives the statute of limitations that had prevented victims of childhood sexual abuse from filing civil lawsuits.Both women are seeking a jury trial and to be awarded an unspecified amount in damages.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Boxing |
After defeating Anthony Joshua for the second time, Oleksandr Usyk has thrown down the challenge to Britain’s Tyson Fury to come out of retirement and fight him for the undisputed world heavyweight boxing title.The Ukrainian made clear he was only interested in fighting Fury after outpointing Joshua for the second time to retain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Fury, the WBC champion, announced in April he had promised his wife he would retire but had also declared a long-standing interest in fighting Joshua. His promoter, Frank Warren, said this month that Fury was showing signs of “itchy feet” and was keen to get back into the ring.“I’m sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet,” the Ukrainian told the crowd through a ringside interpreter when asked about a potential clash. “I am convinced he wants to fight me. I want to fight him. And if I’m not fighting Tyson Fury, I’m not fighting at all.”After Usyk’s victory, Fury posted an expletive-laden reaction video on Twitter. “It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I have ever seen,” he said. “I would annihilate both of them on the same night … get your fucking chequebook out, because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever.”'Extremely important for my country': Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk beats Anthony Joshua – videoIn the later press conference, Usyk dedicated his victory to the people of Ukraine. “It was extremely important for my country, my team and personally for me, I did box for the whole country.” The champion travelled home at the start of Russia’s invasion and spent a month fighting with Ukraine’s territorial defence battalion.“I saw in the eighth round, I saw in AJ’s eyes that he was feeling victorious already. I kept telling myself, ‘you cannot stop’ … big things were at stake,” Usyk added. “Thank God, the belts are coming back to Ukraine. The victory is with us.”Joshua was emotional during his post-fight media duties, and expressed regret that a long-awaited all-British title bout with Fury is no longer on the cards. “I wanted to win for Great Britain because I know they want me to fight Tyson Fury,” Joshua said.“I’m a fighter, I’m not a normal person, even though I try to hold it together. To be a fighter is a real different mindset,” the 32-year-old added. “But I appreciate everyone’s support, especially those who watched at home, I wanted to do it for them – bring the belts home and set up a fight for the undisputed crown.”Joshua also signalled his intention to fight again in December of this year, declaring: “I’m a fighter for life, the hunger never dies”. When asked about potential opponents, he replied: “It’s come one, come all. Whoever wants it can get it, I don’t mind.”Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has promised a busier schedule for his fighter, whose future bouts will be screened by Dazn as part of an £86m deal that was paused to enable Sky Sports to screen the Usyk rematch on UK pay-per-view.'I'm upset': Anthony Joshua in tears after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk – video“We want to see AJ active. There have been too many gaps between fights,” Hearn said. Turning to Joshua, he added: “You’ve had to step up to carry the sport in our country. You never had the easy fights because you wanted to complete a résumé. You wanted to fight the elite.“I would like to see him get back to enjoying himself, get back to the pressures of working his way back up to the championship belt.” Fellow British fighters Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce, plus the former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder, are potentially lucrative options further down the line.Hearn also paid tribute to Usyk, saying he would have scored the fight 115-113 to the 35-year-old Ukrainian. “He’s too good and there‘s no shame in it,” he said.“They are both tremendous fighters,” added Hearn when asked how the champion would stack up against Fury. “I’m not sure anyone can beat Oleksandr Usyk. Tyson Fury’s a clever man. He had the chance to fight him and chose not to. Will he come out of retirement? Good luck to both of them.” | Boxing |
Three people are due to appear in court after former boxing world champion Amir Khan was allegedly robbed at gunpoint.The Metropolitan police said Ahmed Bana, 25, Nurul Amin, 24, and Dante Campbell, 20, have been charged over the incident in Leyton, east London, in April.All three are due to appear at Thames magistrates court on Thursday.Scotland Yard said all three suspects, from north London, have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. Bana and Campbell have also been charged with possession of an imitation firearm.Campbell has also been charged with possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate. Khan, 35, was with his wife, Faryal, on High Road in Leyton at about 9.15pm on 18 April when he was allegedly approached by some men who threatened him with a gun before stealing his £70,000 watch. | Boxing |
Austin McBroom I Want KSI, Jake Paul ... After AnEsonGib Fight 7/17/2022 12:10 AM PT TMZSports.com Up first, AnEsonGib ... next up, KSI and Jake Paul?! Austin McBroom tells TMZ Sports that's his exact plan ... saying after he makes quick work of Gib in their celeb boxing match later this month, he wants fights with KSI and Paul. McBroom said ideally, KSI -- who's fighting YouTuber Alex Wassabi in a celeb boxing match of his own next month -- would be first up at the end of this year. After that, McBroom, a former college basketball player turned YouTuber turned boxer, says he wouldn't mind a scrap with Paul. "I'm more excited about KSI," McBroom told us out in L.A. this week while promoting his Gib fight. "Obviously, the winner of KSI [and I], maybe Jake will take that into consideration." McBroom, though, knows he has to get through Gib first to make any of that happen -- and he made it clear, he expects that victory to go down with ease. "I think I'm going to knock him out, or it's going to be a complete stop," McBroom said. "He's going to get hurt." McBroom is 1-0 in his celeb boxing matches so far -- you'll recall, he pummeled Bryce Hall in a June 2021 event. Gib, meanwhile, is 3-1 in his celeb boxing matches, with his lone loss coming to Paul. The two will fight on July 30 -- on the same card as Adrian Peterson, Le'Veon Bell, Nick Young and Blueface. Can't wait! | Boxing |
Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs news conference - Mexico City, Mexico - March 1, 2019 Middleweight boxer Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez of Mexico attends a news conference to promote his upcoming fight against Daniel Jacobs of the U.S. REUTERS/Daniel BecerrilRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSept 18 (Reuters) - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez said he will need surgery on his left hand before seeking a possible rematch with Dmitry Bivol after handing bitter rival Gennadiy Golovkin a second defeat to complete their trilogy of fights in Las Vegas on Saturday.Bivol inflicted the second of only two losses on Alvarez's 62-fight resume when the pair clashed in May. The Russian will take on Gilberto Ramirez in a light heavyweight title fight in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 5.While Alvarez is keen to step up a weight class to take on Bivol again, the undisputed super middleweight champion wants to ensure he has recovered fully from his encounter with Golovkin before finalising a second fight with the 31-year-old.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"I've gone through some difficult things in my life and the only thing you can do is try to continue and move forward," said Alvarez."I've gone through difficult times recently with my defeat and I've actually shown defeats are great because it enables you to come back and show humility."I need surgery on my hand after this because I'm not good from my left hand. But I'm good, I'm a warrior, that's why I'm here.He said the injury had affected him "a lot. I can't hold a glass. But I'm a warrior."Bivol became the only fighter other than the great Floyd Mayweather Junior to defeat Alvarez when he won a unanimous decision over the Mexican when they clashed for the WBA light heavyweight title.Alvarez bounced back from that loss on Saturday to comfortably defeat his great rival Golovkin for the second time in their three fights and he now has his sights set on revenge against Bivol."I need to come back and get strength in my hand, recover my hand and my body so I can come back stronger than ever," he said."It's very important for my legacy, for me, for my pride, for my country, for my family. For everything. It's very important and I will beat him."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Boxing |
CNN — Muhammad Ali’s historic ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ WBC belt has sold for $6.18million at auction to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. The NFL team owner confirmed on Twitter that he had added the belt to his collection. “Proud to be the steward!” he said. Ali won the WBC heavyweight championship belt in 1974 with victory over George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where he employed his rope-a-dope tactic for the first time. The fight marked Ali’s return to competitive boxing after he was stripped of his boxing license and his World Boxing Association title for refusing induction into the US Armed Forces to fight in Vietnam seven years earlier. The belt first entered the public domain in 1988 when the contents of Ali’s late boxing coach Drew “Bundini” Brown’s storage lockers were sold at auction. It is one of two WBC belts belonging to Ali after the fight that are known to exist; the other remains in a private collection. And it is the highest price fetched by a sports collectible sold at Heritage Auctions. “After several hours of watching two bidders go back and forth over this belt, this proved to be a battle worthy of the Rumble itself,” Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions, said in a press release. “We’re just thrilled this extraordinary piece of boxing history — of sports history, of cultural history — found such an exceptional caretaker who will now share it with the rest of the world.” Irsay already owns several other pieces from Ali’s career, including the 1965 walkout robe that first bore the name Muhammad Ali and his shoes from the 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ fight against Joe Frazier. The Colts owner has spent millions assembling his collection, which features memorabilia from the worlds of sport, music, literature and politics. He is displaying this collection, complete with its new addition, to the public on August 2 in Chicago and on September 9 in Indianapolis. | Boxing |
Luis Quinones Boxer Dead At 25 ... 5 Days After KO Loss 9/30/2022 11:00 AM PT Junior welterweight Luis Quinones tragically died on Thursday ... just five days after suffering a head injury during a knockout loss in Colombia. He was only 25. Quinones was an undefeated boxer (10-0) until his matchup with Jose Munoz on September 24 at Coliseo Elias Chegwin ... when was knocked out with less than a minute left in the fight. Video of the fight shows Quinones fall down after getting punched ... and he's unable to get back on his feet. He was then taken out of the ring on a stretcher by medical personnel. It was reported that Quinones suffered a blood clot in his brain as a result of head trauma from the fight ... and was in a coma after surgery. He was declared braindead on Thursday, but remained on a respirator until his passing. Waiting for your permission to load TikTok Post. "Cuadrilatero Boxing deeply regrets the death of Luis Quinones, an exceptional human being, disciplined and who always showed the greatest commitment to this sport," Quinones' promoters said in a statement on Friday. "We would like to thank the staff at the General Clinic of the North, who during this time did what was within their power and took care of Luis in the best possible way." Munoz -- who is also his sparring partner -- is devastated by his death ... saying he never thought "a dream could turn into a real nightmare". Quinones was inspired by Julio Cesar Chavez and left his hometown of Barrancabermeja to become a professional boxer. He made his debut in 2018. 11/11/20 "Boxing is the ultimate challenge there is. Nothing to compare to him," Quinones said in an IG post last year. "It's to prove to yourself the way you do it every time you step in the ring." R.I.P. | Boxing |
Mike Tyson remembers throwing his first punch at a bully. “The guy ripped the head off my pigeon,” the retired boxer once recalled in a radio interview. “This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon. That was the first time I threw a punch.”Half a century later, the last great undisputed world heavyweight champ is angry again. This time the perceived bully is the Disney-owned streaming service Hulu. Last week it launched Mike, a scripted series about Tyson’s life starring Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes as the self-declared baddest man on the planet.Tyson wrote on Instagram: “Don’t let Hulu fool you. I don’t support their story about my life. They stole my life story and didn’t pay me … To Hulu executives I’m just a n****r they can sell on the auction block.”It is hardly the first instance of a film or TV producer turning a famous person’s life into unauthorised “content”. Nor it is difficult to see why Tyson’s story proved irresistible. His has been a life of stratospheric highs and harrowing lows that included the death of his four-year-old daughter, Exodus, in an accident in 2009.He made and blew a fortune and, 16 years after his last official bout, is more famous than any current boxer in today’s somewhat jaded fight game. “The endless fascination with Mike Tyson,” was how the New York Times put it last week. He is quotable too: “Everybody has a plan,” he once said, “until they get punched in the mouth.”Interviews with people who know Tyson throw up words such as emotional, impulsive, intelligent, perceptive and smart, portraying a boxer-philosopher who ultimately fell short of his potential in the ring and is still trying to figure out his place in the universe. But one describes him as homophobic, misogynistic, manipulative, a thug and – yes – a bully.Tyson has spent decades trying to outrun and outbox a tough childhood in a condemned building in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, where he was frequently beaten by his alcoholic mother, Lorna. He has recalled how, because he speaks with a lisp, other children called him “little fairy boy”.He had been arrested numerous times by the age of 12. His mother died when he was 16. But under Cus d’Amato, a trainer and sage who became his legal guardian, he found his calling as a boxer and proved dedicated, hard-working and sublimely gifted.D’Amato died in 1985. The following year, at the age of 20, Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history. Under the management of Don King, with whom he later fell out bitterly, he unified the title and became a sporting superstar.Lori Grinker, a photographer who followed Tyson through the 1980s, recalls that his fights would attract celebrities such as Eddie Murphy, Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Madonna, Sean Penn and Donald Trump, whose properties, such as the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, often played host.“It was extremely electric,” she says. “I had never experienced anything like that before and then I would be the one that could go from the ring back to the hotel room where they’d have a little get together after the fight. There would be his manager there and they’d have soft drinks and balloons – that was like the first fight, it was all very clean, and then he’d go off after with people.”A collection of Grinker’s photos will be published next month in a book entitled Mike Tyson. The 64-year-old reflects: “It was amazing to see his rise and see him go from 14 at Cus’s house, being shy, to becoming this megastar and then to see the people who came in who didn’t seem to have his best interests in mind.“Then to see him fall was really sad. And now he’s back. It’s interesting that he’s got such longevity for just being the personality.”Donald Trump and Tyson in November 1989 in New York. Photograph: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty ImagesGrinker was not allowed to attend the infamous parties but could see how fame, glory and money transformed and upended Tyson’s life. “He was shy, and didn’t think he’d ever go on a date before he was champion, and then suddenly there were women passing their daughter’s phone number to him on a piece of paper in the middle of the road, literally when we were in the car.”In 1990, Tyson lost his title when he was knocked out by James “Buster” Douglas in one of sport’s greatest upsets. In 1991 he raped Desiree Washington, an 18-year-old Miss Black America contestant, in a hotel room. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was released after serving three.In 1999 Tyson served three and a half months in jail for assaulting two motorists during a road rage incident. It was around this time that he began working with therapist Marilyn Murray.She recalls via email: “One aspect I discuss with all my clients is what I term their ‘baseline for normal’ … With Mike, some of the primary items contained in his baseline for normal were: violence, chaos, alcoholism, abuse, women being treated badly, no safe place, etc.“He recognized how he continued this baseline into his adult life. Part of our work together was to introduce him to a new baseline which contained much healthier behavior. I don’t think any of us ever totally escape our old traumas and I know that Mike will be the first to admit he still fights his old demons, but he certainly is a different man today than in the past.”Long before Hulu got to work, Tyson delivered his version of events in a one-man show in Las Vegas in 2012, an autobiography in 2013 and on his own podcast. He has expressed remorse for past mistakes and still finds peace in caring for pigeons. He now runs a cannabis company and owns a 420-acre “weed resort” near Desert Hot Springs in southern California.Gordon Marino, a boxing coach and philosophy professor at St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, first met Tyson 20 years ago and has done training drills with him. He recalls by phone: “It was weird to do it with him because I had never experienced a body so electric.“This is when he’s maybe late 40s, but there’s some kind of electricity in his body that was like, wow! He was a very explosive fighter, great speed, so that was a great experience. We went over some combinations. We used to take some walks together: great conversations. He talked about death a lot.”Trevante Rhodes in Mike, the new Hulu series. Photograph: Patti Perret/HuluJust last month Tyson told his therapist Sean McFarland on Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson: “We’re all gonna die one day, of course. Then, when I look in the mirror, I see those little spots on my face, I say, ‘Wow. That’s my expiration date is coming close, really soon.’”Marino, 72, who attended Tyson’s wedding in 2009 and has fielded queries from him about the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard, comments: “That’s been a recurrent motif in his life. He’s surprised to be alive. He’s a very complex character in the sense of dry, emotional, very perceptive, incredible memory and moody.“He’s also got what [Black scholar and activist] WEB Du Bois talked about: double consciousness. Sometimes he would battle between seeing himself as what he called ‘legit’, namely a middle-class good guy, and ‘keeping it real’, which meant being a thug. Those two things were always embattled in his very rich and unusual mind.”Recalling Tyson the fighter, he adds: “He was terrified of losing and then, when he got in the ring, he sort of felt like a god. There were switches in levels of self-esteem and that’s why he felt like he had to terrify everybody else. That was a big part of his game.”Tyson’s mind games, attempting to intimidate fighters so they had lost before they even stepped into the ring, did not work against Evander Holyfield. In 1997 he was disqualified and banned for a year after twice biting Holyfield’s ear.Frank Warren, who promoted Tyson’s fights in Britain, says by phone from London: “He is a terrible manipulative bully. Every fighter that’s beaten him, he couldn’t intimidate. Every one who he’s beaten, he could intimidate. If he can’t intimidate you, that’s a killer for him.”Warren, 70, who has claimed that Tyson once punched him in a hotel room, remains sharply critical. “He is a compelling character, and he’s one of those fellas who gets you to feel that he’s misunderstood but, when you get into it, he is what he is, which is a thug and a bully and a misogynist. He’s very homophobic when he’s cursing somebody or he’s shouting at them.”He adds: “He was an unbelievably exciting fighter – menacing, devastating – but that lasted a very short time, and then he just pissed his career away. He didn’t live the life he should have led. You could sit with him right now and you’d think this guy’s totally been misunderstood, he’s a good bloke. I’m telling you, he’s very manipulative.”Tyson last year. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesFor all his achievements and celebrity, there remains frustration that Tyson did not entirely fulfil his promise inside the ring, a lingering wistfulness for what might have been. He “could have been a contender” for greatest heavyweight of all time with the likes of Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.Barry McGuigan, a retired professional boxer and founder and president of the Professional Boxing Association, would put him in the top five or 10. He says from near Canterbury in Kent in the UK: “He was incredibly dynamic, unbelievable combination puncher, ruthless. He was with some big hitters and he could really take a shot. He wasn’t a modern-day juggernaut but he could still knock them out.“His best weight was probably just over 16 stone; he was lethal at that. He was so fast and so dangerous and, because he fought out of a low centre of gravity, you punch down on him at your peril because, if you miss him, he would take your head off.“But then, with all of the issues he had outside the ring, he lacked fitness, he lacked conditioning. He had a very tough upbringing and, more than anything else, he didn’t have enough love. If he’d had a solid upbringing, his life wouldn’t have been so chaotic and so crazy. Had he had more stability in his training and his preparation, he could have been arguably the greatest heavyweight that there’s ever been.”Earlier this year a viral video showed Tyson repeatedly punching a man on a plane but authorities did not press criminal charges. Evidently Hulu’s producers felt the boxer’s life story offers an abundance of raw material to work with.McGuigan, 61, a former world featherweight champion, adds: “He’ll always be a fascinating, riveting individual. He’s got that beast in him – all the good fighters have it. You look into his eyes and he’s terrifying sometimes. He’s not a guy that you mess with. You don’t fuck around with Mike Tyson.” Mike is available on Hulu in the US and in the UK at a later date | Boxing |
Jake Paul I'm Fighting Hasim Rahman Jr. ... Boxing Champ's Son 7/7/2022 7:56 AM PT It's official -- Jake Paul has found Tommy Fury's replacement for his August 6 fight ... he's going up against former boxing champion Hasim Rahman's son. 25-year-old Paul shared the big news just minutes ago ... saying he will be stepping in the ring against 31-year-old Hasim Rahman, Jr. at Madison Square Garden. Paul praised his new opponent in the announcement ... saying HRJ is bigger, stronger, more experienced and has more knockout power. "But it doesn’t matter," Jake said Thursday. "They don’t have my heart, don’t have my drive & definitely don’t have my team." "August 6 I’m showing the world that Jake Paul is a bad mother f***er." Paul is moving on from a boxing champ's brother to a boxing champ's son -- HRJ's dad is the former two-time world heavyweight champ, who posted a 50-9-2 record throughout his career. As for HRJ, he is 12-1 ... most recently losing to James McKenzie Morrison via TKO. Rahman Jr. and Paul have experience in the ring together, with Hasim praising the YouTube superstar after sparring in the past. Folks wanting to see Jake fight Tommy may not want to hold their breath ... 'cause the two had a back-and-forth on Thursday, where Jake offered Fury $500k to fight after Aug. 6. Naturally, Tommy declined. Paul vs. Rahman Jr. will be part of the main event at MSG ... co-headlining with the Amanda Serrano and Brenda Carabajal fight. The presser will be next Tuesday ... and luckily, Rahman is from the States, so there shouldn't be any hiccups this time around. | Boxing |
Pictured: Tyson Fury's cousin, 31, who was stabbed to death 'in fight outside bar' as boxer pays tribute and calls for tougher prison sentences for knife crime offences saying 'this needs to stop'Tyson Fury revealed his cousin Rico Burton has been killed after being stabbedThe 34-year-old paid tribute to him on Instagram and rallied against knife crimeThe two-time heavyweight champion called for action on the knife 'pandemic'It is believed Mr Burton was killed in a fight outside a bar in Altrincham last nightGreater Manchester Police says that two people were stabbed and one arrested Published: 06:48 EDT, 21 August 2022 | Updated: 11:13 EDT, 21 August 2022 A heartbroken Tyson Fury has called for tougher sentences to fight knife crime as he reveals his cousin was killed after being stabbed in a fight outside a bar.The boxing legend said family member Rico Burton died last night after being 'stabbed in the neck'.In a post on Instagram this morning, the two-time heavyweight champion called on the Government to deal with the knife 'pandemic' and paid tribute to his cousin.He wrote: 'My cousin was murdered last night, stabbed in the neck, this is becoming ridiculous idiots carry knives. 'This needs to stop. ASAP, UK government needs to bring higher sentencing for knife crime, it's a pandemic and you don't know how bad it is until it's one of your own! Tyson Fury's cousin Rico Burton (pictured) died last night after being 'stabbed in the neck' Tyson Fury (pictured) paid tribute to his cousin and called on the Government to deal with the knife 'pandemic'The two-time heavyweight champion (pictured) called for tougher punishments for people convicted of knife crimes The 34-year-old revealed the tragic news in a post on Instagram earlier this morning Police were called after a fight outside a bar in Goose Green, Altrincham, in the early hours of this morning What are the sentences for knife crimes? The maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife or weapon illegally is either four years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.Any adult who is convicted of carrying a knife or weapon illegally more than once is sent to prison for a minimum of six months.Youth offenders aged 16 or 17 face a minimum four-month Detention and Training Order for their second conviction of carrying a knife or illegal weapon.Anyone aged 18 or older who takes a knife or any other weapon to commit murder faces a starting point of a minimum 25 years in prison. Adults who use bladed weapons when threatening people face a maximum of four years in prison.Prosecutors should seek the forfeiture of any knife or weapon seized by police after the commission of a criminal offence. 'Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment.'RIP RICO BURTON. 'May the lord god grant you a good place in heaven. See you soon.'It is believed Mr Burton in a fight outside a bar in Altrincham that saw two people stabbed, the Manchester Evening News reports.Police say the incident took place just after 3am this morning in Goose Green, Altrincham. Greater Manchester Police says two men were rushed to hospital with serious and life-changing injuries.The force said: 'A 31-year-old male has sadly passed away a short time later in hospital. A 17-year-old male also remains in hospital with serious injuries.'A 21-year-old male was arrested at the scene on suspicion of section 18 assault and remains in custody.'A murder investigation has been launched and would like to appeal to members of the public who have any further information regarding this incident.'It added that anyone with information, CCTV, photos or videos can should get in touch. Fury's post has triggered an outpouring of grief, with well wishers sending their condolences.Steve Egan used to coach Rico and Fury and said he was 'devastated' to hear of the tragedy.The 60-year-old told The Sun: 'I taught Rico, he's a lovely lad. I'm devastated.'I feel like crying. I've known him and his brother since he was 13. What a talent, he was fantastic.'He was always a grafter, he worked hard and he worked so hard in the ring too.'He said there 'wasn't a bad bone' in Rico and that he could never see him 'getting in trouble with anyone'.He added: 'His mam is going to be devastated, it's going to finish her off.' Greater Manchester Police says one man has died and another has been seriously injured after being stabbed Police say they have arrested one person in relation to the incident, which took place just before 3amFamily friend Eddie Nevins said: 'Funny guy and a decent boxer, one we looked up to as kids.' Michael Edwards, who lives close to the pub where the tragedy happened, told The Sun: 'It's really shocking when something like this happens.'It’s terrible so many people carry knives these days.' One person wrote: 'Tyson so sorry to hear of this tragic loss of life. All my thoughts and prayers go out his complete family circle at this horrendous time. May the lad be at peace and rest easy. R.I.P Rico.'Another wrote: 'So sorry for your loss Tyson. Thinking of you and your family.'Someone else added: 'Sorry to hear that Tyson. 100% agree with you that only cowards carry.' News of Mr Burton's death prompted an outpouring of well wishes and support on social media for the boxing legendThe tragic development came hours after Fury shared his thoughts on last night's world heavyweight boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.Speaking after the fight, which saw Usyk defend his unified WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles in a second bout against the Brit, Fury bragged he could beat both men.Posting on Instagram, the 34-year-old said: 'To be honest with you lads, both of them were s***e. The tragic development came hours after Fury posted an Instagram story giving his thoughts on last night's world heavyweight title bout between Anthony Joshue and Oleksandr Usyk'It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I've ever seen. It was bulls**t. 'I would annihilate both of them on the same night. F*****g s***e. 'Get your f*****g cheque book out, because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever.'Fury, who is known as the Gypsy King, is currently on holiday in Menorca with his family. Last night he posted videos on Instagram showing him and his family partying into the night before the tragic news came through. Advertisement Read more: BREAKING: Victim in Altrincham murder investigation named as Tyson Fury's cousin Rico Burton - Manchester Evening News | Boxing |
Trevante Rhodes has spent a long time studying the spirit of Mike Tyson. Growing up without a father, the actor looked to the likes of Tyson and Michael Jordan to learn how to navigate the world as a young Black man. So when the time came to play Tyson in Mike, the controversial Hulu miniseries about the tumultuous life of the former heavyweight champion, the 32-year-old—who rose to fame as the adult version of Chiron in Barry Jenkins’s Oscar-winning Moonlight—felt like he was stepping into familiar territory.“I try to really be intentional in my choices as an artist, and I try to reflect myself and my spirit in my work as best as I can,” Rhodes, who says he views Tyson as an “exceptional example of the Black male experience,” tells W over Zoom. “I want people to understand who I am, but I’m not big on talking about myself or doing a lot of extra stuff. I want to put it into my work.”Courtesy of HuluAnd his latest project packs quite a punch. From writer Steven Rogers, director Craig Gillespie, and executive producer Margot Robbie (the same team behind the Oscar-winning biopic I, Tonya), the eight-part limited series—which premiered its first two episodes on August 25, with a new part airing every Thursday—attempts to re-examine the events of Tyson’s storied boxing career and his dark personal life, which included accusations of domestic violence from his first wife, Robin Givens, in 1988, and a rape conviction in 1992.Rhodes’s “audition tape was one of the best I’ve ever seen,” showrunner Karin Gist told reporters during a Television Critics Association panel in August. “It was just a close-up on his face, reading that initial monologue from the opening episode—and that was so transformative. There was nothing else around, so it really was the spirit speaking through him.”Courtesy of HuluPlaying Tyson from his late teens into his early 50s, Rhodes completely transforms into the “Baddest Man on the Planet,” adopting his distinctive lisp and mannerisms, training with former world boxing champion Ann Wolfe to emulate his boxing style, wearing fake teeth to get his gap-toothed smile, and prosthetics to age him up and mimic the fighter’s signature face tattoo. By lifting more weights, eating more food, and cutting down on his cardio, Rhodes was immediately able to tap into Tyson’s signature bravado. But as he began to consume the countless hours of available material about Tyson, Rhodes says he was struck by the boxer’s “intelligence” and unabashed “connection to his inner little boy,” which remained long after he became known for being cold-hearted in the ring.A former student athlete, Rhodes did not have to transform his body completely to play Tyson, but he credits Wolfe for helping him to deepen his understanding and appreciation of boxing. “Ann’s spirit, the energy that she represents—it’s of the same cloth as a Mike Tyson, as myself. It was like connecting with a family member,” Rhodes says.The first two episodes attempt to show how Mike, from an early age, straddled two worlds—one with his single mother, Lorna Mae (Oluniké Adeliyi), and another with his trainer, Cus D’Amato (Harvey Keitel), who became Tyson’s first real father figure. Families, both the one you’re born into and the one you choose, are inherently unique and complex, explains Rhodes. “In Mike’s case, from [the time he was] a child, it seemed like he always didn’t feel like he was enough, he felt like he needed to please the people who he was looking up to, who he loved.“So to have someone like Cus whose sole intention was to make him this ‘thing’ [to be feared] and then to have his mother, who didn’t give him the love he needed, he fully leaned into that and became a monster,” he continues. “But the fact that Cus passed away before he could finish teaching Mike, I think that made Mike Tyson [into the] Mike Tyson [we know].”Courtesy of HuluRhodes, according to Rogers, was the only actor who was ever in serious contention for the role. In fact, Rhodes recalls a day during pre-production when some people mistook him for Tyson due to his muscular physique: “Craig and I, and a couple of other people, we were outside taking pictures in front of an old Ferrari. I had the boxing shorts on and I didn’t have my shirt on, and we were in New York. So from a distance, a lot of New Yorkers were like, ‘Yo, champ! Yo, Mike!’ It was before we started the shoot, so it was like, ‘Alright, that’s confidence-boosting.’”More than three decades after his professional heyday, Tyson remains a popular figure in pop culture, in spite of his legal issues. Having examined the role that the media has played on the boxer’s life, Rhodes thinks Tyson’s public persona is the thing that continues to fascinate spectators all these years later. “Imagine being somebody who is publicly hated as part of your job, and having to understand and develop a liking and an appreciation for it, because that’s how you get paid,” Rhodes says. “We have to understand how much [negativity] that is. And he’s a fighter, so the only way he knows how to respond to that is by fighting. We just went down this rabbit hole of thinking about how difficult that life is. And to be someone who possibly came from the bottom of existence and had to fight every inch of their life to get anywhere, what do you expect?”“You learn so much from somebody like that because they’ve been through so much, they’ve experienced so much,” Rhodes later adds. “There are people who have a fighter’s spirit: ‘No matter how many times I get knocked down, I’ma get up.’ [Tyson] is the epitome of that spirit. There’s no way to dissociate that [from him].”Courtesy of HuluAfter he was cast in the title role in the spring of 2021, Rhodes also boarded the project as a first-time executive producer, but was shocked to discover that he was the first Black man on the producing team. (He remembers asking himself, “How is that even possible for this story?”) The experience of working behind the camera was particularly satisfying for Rhodes, who understood the responsibility of setting a tone on set as the first name on the call sheet and shepherding the story through to the finish.“There were certain moments, certain scenes, that I didn’t feel we needed to express the story we were trying to tell. I felt some things were grandiose in certain situations, and we were able to nip that,” he says. “Some things that we had initially just weren’t culturally correct.”Courtesy of HuluThe writers and executive producers have reiterated that they never wanted to say Tyson was a hero, nor a villain. Instead, they hoped to contextualize the events of his life to explore the intersections of race, class, and superstardom in America and allow audiences to form their own opinions about Tyson, who has repeatedly thrown jabs at Hulu for telling an unauthorized version of his story.If Rhodes was given the opportunity, what would he like to say to Tyson? “I really just want to give him a hug and ask him how he’s doing, more than anything,” says Rhodes, who reached out to Tyson when his casting was first announced, but never heard back. “I know he’ll see my spirit if he takes the time to check it [out]—that’s all I want anyone to see. But [by] taking a look into who I am and what I am, I think he’ll develop a greater appreciation and understanding.” | Boxing |
Floyd Mayweather Canelo Would F*** Up Jake Paul ... 'He'll Get Demolished' 9/23/2022 12:15 AM PT TMZSports.com Floyd Mayweather admits he's impressed with Jake Paul's ability to win fights and promote big events ... but the 50-0 legend says don't go overboard, 'cause a legit boxer would wreck The Problem Child. Floyd joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) earlier this week ... and analyzed Jake's impact on the sport and his skill in the ring. "Jake Paul, as of right now, for what he's doing, it's good for what he's doing," Floyd told us. "But once he fights a real actual fighter, it's gon' be bad." "But one thing I like about him, he's selling it. He's making good money. He's entertaining. I like it." Of course, Jake's just 25 years old and has only been training for a few years. Still, he's 5-0 with 4 KOs ... and he's beaten future UFC Hall of Famer Tyron Woodley twice. In fact, Paul previously told us his ultimate goal is to box Canelo Alvarez ... and Jake believes he can win. TMZ.com Jake Paul Wants To Fight Canelo Álvarez In 2024 Floyd, however, does not. "He'll get f***ed up by Canelo," Floyd said. Mayweather continued ... "There is no way. He'll get demolished. For what he's doing, as long as they keep getting YouTubers and keep putting him in there with MMA guys that's kind of over the hill, he's going continue to shine. So, I'm proud of him. I'm not really upset." Of course, Floyd isn't exactly best buds with Canelo or Jake. Mayweather comfortably beat Alvarez in 2013 ... the first loss of the star boxer's career (it was Saul's 44th fight). As for Floyd and Jake ... remember JP snatched Floyd's hat at a Miami media event promoting Money's June 2021 bout with Logan Paul. In fact, Floyd-Jake is a fight fans have clamored for since the incident in South Florida. The issue is there's a large size difference between the men. 5'8" Mayweather spent most of his career fighting around 150 lbs. Paul is 6'1" and fights around 185 lbs. But, Floyd says he doesn't care about the weight difference ... and would fight Jake, despite the sizeable difference in physical stature. "I think [Jake] was doing a sitdown on a podcast one time, and he talked about [a fight with me]," Floyd said. "He said, 'I don't want to do an exhibition against Floyd Mayweather.' He said, 'I'm only doing real fights.' And of course, I can't get high up in weight, but I'll fight him in a real fight at the weight that I'm at." Speaking of Floyd's fight with Logan ... Mayweather touched on allegations made by LP, where he claimed he was never paid by FM for the exhibition boxing match. We also asked Mayweather about the final fight of the Canelo and Gennady "GGG" Golovkin trilogy ... which Money may have missed because he was flying across the world in his private jet. Check out the clip! | Boxing |
Mikey Garcia I'm Retiring From Boxing ... At Age 34 6/28/2022 1:56 PM PT Mikey Garcia -- the man who went undefeated in his first 20 fights with 17 knockouts -- is retiring from boxing, his team announced on Tuesday. Garcia's brother and trainer, Robert Garcia, shared the news with ESPN ... saying, "My brother Mikey had a great boxing career. Becoming a five-time champion of the world in four divisions is something very few have done." "I am very proud of my brother for everything he accomplished in boxing. Now it's time for him to enjoy his life together with his family and loved ones." The 34-year-old SoCal native -- whose amateur career started at 14 years old -- is hanging up the gloves after 42 professional bouts ... posting a 40-2-0 record with 30 of his 40 wins coming via knockout. Boxing runs in the Garcia family ... Mikey's father, Eduardo, was an amateur boxer in his heyday, and he even trained Fernando Vargas, a world champion boxer. During his decorated career, Mikey -- who stands about 5'6" inches tall -- won titles in four different weight classes ... including featherweight, super featherweight, light welterweight and lightweight. Garcia's last professional bout came in October 2021 against Sandor Martin -- who was a massive underdog heading into the fight -- where he lost by majority decision. Enjoy retirement, champ!! | Boxing |
Muhammad Ali was awarded the belt after the 'Rumble in the Jungle' Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay added boxing gold to his impressive collection Sunday. Irsay bought Muhammad Ali’s WBC heavyweight championship belt from when the boxing legend defeated George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle" bout in Zaire in 1974."BREAKING—-Muhammad Ali’s championship belt from 1974 ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ just added to @IrsayCollection," Irsay tweeted. "Just in time for the Aug. 2 show at Chicago’s Navy Pier (and Sept. 9 at Indy). Proud to be the steward." Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay talks to fans during the Dwight Freeney induction to the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor at Lucas Oil Stadium Nov. 10, 2019, in Indianapolis. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images / Getty Images)CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXBUSINESS.COM Irsay bought the belt for more than $6.1 million, according to Heritage Auctions."Two Muhammad Ali WBC belts are known to exist, one in a private museum collection unlikely to ever see the hobby's auction block. The only other known surviving Muhammad Ali heavyweight championship belt on Earth is presented here," Heritage Auction said in its description. George Foreman, left, and Muhammad Ali boxing at Zaire Stade du 20 Mai, "The Rumble in the Jungle," Oct. 30, 1974. (Ken Regan /Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images / Getty Images)LEBRON JAMES 'TRIPLE LOGOMAN' CARD SELLS FOR $2.4M"But the historical significance of the piece, arguably the most important boxing award ever made available at public auction, is quite simply immeasurable. Far more than just a trophy of elite athletic achievement, this belt serves as a mute witness to Muhammad Ali's undaunted pursuit of justice itself and as a symbol of the myriad complexities of race, religion and patriotism that challenge all of us to this day. It is a truly priceless artifact of the American experience and of an American life as consequential as any thus far lived."Irsay has amassed a massive collection of memorabilia. He bought Ali’s shoes from the "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975 and Ali’s robe from when he fought Sonny Liston in 1965, the first fight after he changed his name from Cassius Clay. Muhammad Ali, right, throws a punch at George Foreman in the heavyweight championship fight Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali won and reclaimed his title. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images / Getty Images)GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREAside from the Ali relics, Irsay also has Ringo Starr’s drumhead from one of the Beatles’ performances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1974, George Harrison’s Gibson SG played on some of The Beatles’ most famous records and historic pieces like the recommendation for the first Thanksgiving to be observed in the U.S. from 1777. | Boxing |
A man has been charged with murder in relation to the death of the cousin of the heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.Liam O’Prey, 21, was arrested after 31-year-old Rico Burton was stabbed to death outside a bar in the Goose Green area of Altrincham, Greater Manchester in the early hours of Sunday morning.O’Prey was remanded in custody before appearing at Manchester and Salford magistrates court on Wednesday, Greater Manchester police said.He has also been accused of assault in relation to a critically injured 17-year-old boy, who received life-saving treatment from members of the public at the scene of the alleged incident, according to police. The teenager is in a stable condition and is recovering in hospital. His family asked the police to thank those who intervened.Posting on social media, Fury pleaded for an end to knife crime. Describing it as a “pandemic” he told his followers: “This needs to stop,” adding “You don’t know how bad it is until it’s one of your own!“Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment. RIP RICO BURTON. May the lord God grant you a good place in heaven. See you soon.”Burton’s boxing coach, Steve Egan, said he was “devastated” by the news, calling Burton a “lovely lad” who trained at the club for five years, winning two national titles. “He was a fantastic boxer, a very relaxed and skilful boxer. One of the nicest lads you could meet.”Speaking to PA news agency, Egan said: “He could [have] gone a long way in the professional boxing ranks – lovely lad, always smiling. We are all devastated by this very sad news and really feel for all the family. RIP Rico Burton.” | Boxing |
Jake Paul Proposes IG Name Change Bet Ahead Of Rahman Jr. Fight 7/12/2022 11:46 AM PT Showtime Boxing Jake Paul wants Hasim Rahman Jr. to put more than his boxing career on the line when they face off in the ring ... calling on the champ's son to agree to take on a hilariously embarrassing Instagram handle if he loses. The two fighters went at it in their official press conference for the August 6th bout at Madison Square Garden ... and in true Problem Child fashion, Jake wanted to make a bet with Rahman Jr. When HRJ refused to make a monetary agreement, Paul got creative. "When I beat you, you have to change your Instagram name to 'ILetMyDadDown,'" Paul said Tuesday ... adding he already scooped up the handle just in case. BTW -- we looked it up, and it appears Jake is a man of his word. Rahman Jr. shot down the offer, saying he wasn't going to entertain Jake's charade ... but it's clear he wants the guy to cave in and take the bet. Of course, Jake is known for making friendly/humiliating deals with his opponents -- Tyron Woodley got "I Love Jake Paul" tatted on his middle finger after losing to the YouTube superstar in 2021, although it has pretty much faded away by now. Paul was also planning to make a $1 million bet with Tyson Fury for his fight against Tommy ... before the fight got scrapped. Showtime Boxing The whole presser was a ton of smack talk from both sides ... and August 6th can't come soon enough. | Boxing |
Mike Tyson 2.0? Super-middleweight fighter Edgar Berlanga is suspended for six months for BITING opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo earlier this month - with American also slapped with an £8,000 finePro boxer Edgar Berlanga has been suspended from the sport for six months The US star bit Roamer Alexis Angulo during their clash in New York this month The super-middle fighter was hit with a £8k fine in addition to his lengthy ban Published: 08:22 EDT, 18 June 2022 | Updated: 08:33 EDT, 18 June 2022 Super-middleweight boxer Edgar Berlanga has been banned from the sport for six months after he sensationally bit his opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo during their fight at Madison Square Garden earlier this month.American Berlanga has also been hit with a £8,000 ($10k) fine for his shocking behaviour, which was not picked up by the referee at the time of the incident.The 25-year-old eventually won his match via unanimous decision, with scores of 98-92, 99-91, 99-91. Known as 'The Chosen One', Berlanga is unbeaten in his career - with 20 straight victories, 16 coming by way of knockout - but this setback will cost him a place at a high-profile boxing event run by Top Rank and ESPN later this year.When the incident was first put to Berlanga in the immediate aftermath of the fight, he brushed off the accusation and claimed Angulo had been 'throwing elbows', but said he was 'about to do a Mike Tyson on him' - referencing shock night when the heavyweight icon bit Evander Holyfield in 1997. 'He was throwing elbows. I was about to do a Mike Tyson on him,' he said. 'He kept throwing his elbows, and I didn't want to get cut.' Edgar Berlanga, the unbeaten super middleweight contender, has been banned for six months and fined £8,000 ($10k) after biting opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo on the neck The referee did not immediately pick up on the incident despite fans noticing it at the timeBut just a day later he backtracked and offered an apology, saying he 'got ahead of himself in the moment' and admitted he had caused embarrassment. 'I want to apologize for my actions and what I said yesterday about the Mike Tyson bite,' he added on Twitter. 'I was in the moment and I got a little ahead of myself. It doesn't take away from the embarrassment that I have caused upon myself, my team, [Top Rank], and many others.'I reacted poorly and take full responsibility. Moving forward, I am going to be more mindful and encouraging in my behavior. Once again, I do apologize.' Berlanga still won the fight to maintain his unbeaten streak but his bite will be hugely costly The incident brings back memories of Mike Tyson's infamous bite on Evander Holyfield in 1997 Berlanga apologised for his actions on social media, saying he had brought 'embarrassment'When Tyson bit Holyfield in 1997 - their second heavyweight world title contest at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, 'Iron Mike' was suspended for 15 months - as well as picking up a £2.5m ($3m) fine in what was one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of sport. Berlanga's bite came at a time when he was struggling against Angulo.In the seventh round, Berlanga could be seen trying to bite Angulo's neck and then his left ear.Angulo immediately moved his head back and threw his arms in the air and put his gloves to his ear and in attempt to show the referee what happened. A number of viewers commented on the move which saw Belanga bite Angulo's ear and neckThe incident triggered shock reaction from fans, celebrities and fighters past and present on social media. Former welterweight world champion Shawn Porter said: 'A replay that should not have been shown! Smh Berlanga, that's not what I meant about biting down!'Current welter champ Terence Crawford, meanwhile, wrote: 'Lol he tried to bite him.' Advertisement | Boxing |
Tommy Fury reveals his fight with Jake Paul is at risk after US Homeland Security officers STOPPED him at Heathrow and told him he was banned flying to the States 'for a reason he knows'Tommy Fury has revealed that he was denied entry into the United States The younger half-brother of Tyson was set for a press conference with Jake PaulFury is scheduled to fight the American in their rearranged match on August 6 The fight taking place at Madison Square Garden is at risk of taking place at all Published: 09:55 EDT, 28 June 2022 | Updated: 12:23 EDT, 28 June 2022 Tommy Fury has revealed that he was denied entry into the United States by Homeland Security officers who stopped him flying from Heathrow Airport.The younger half-brother of Tyson Fury was set to fly to the United States for a press conference to promote his fight with American YouTuber Paul.However, the fight which is scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden on August 6, is now at risk. Fury filmed a video late on Monday night, and posted it on Tuesday, explaining why he had not been able to get on his flight to the United States.He said: '[I wanted to] come on here and set the record straight before anybody else tries to.'Me and my team this morning arrived at Heathrow Airport ready for the press conference, ready to fly out.'And as soon as I entered the airport I got pulled to one side and I was told by the Homeland Security officer that was there that my ESTA had been denied and I wasn't able to travel to the USA for a reason that I apparently know. 'I can stand here and I say I've done absolutely nothing wrong and I have no clue why I'm not allowed to travel to the USA.Tommy Fury has revealed that he has been denied entry into the United States on Monday Fury's fight with YouTuber Jake Paul on August 6 in New York is now at risk of not happeningIt was reported earlier this month that his half-brother Tyson had also been denied access to the US over alleged links to crime boss Daniel Kinahan.Addressing claims that Irish boxing promoter Kinahan runs a global organised crime group, Fury has previously stated said: 'That's none of my business and I don't interfere with anybody else's business.' Tyson, who was photographed in Dubai in February this year with the now US sanctioned Kinahan, said: 'Because I had my picture taken with a man it doesn't make me a criminal.'I'm just a boxer. There could be a criminal in this building.'Kinahan has advised Tommy Fury in the past, but Fury has not been accused of criminal activity. Tommy Fury stated that he is contact with his lawyers in order to try and resolve the issueTommy Fury meanwhile has been training for his fight with undefeated YouTuber Paul, in a match that had been postponed last year. The pair were supposed to settle their rivalry back in December at the Amalie Arena in Florida, but Fury had to pull out with a broken rib and a chest infection.In response to the latest curveball in their efforts to face each other, Paul tweeted: 'Tommy, no matter how hard you try to get out of this fight, I’m going to do everything in my power to not let you weasel your way out. 'My team and my partners have made it clear the steps you need to take to solve your latest excuse. Take them or admit you're a scared little b****.' In response to the latest curveball in their efforts to face each other, Paul tweeted thisPaul's Most Valuable Promotions also confirmed in a statement that the press conference, due to take place on Wednesday, has been postponed.The statement read: 'Despite many assurances by Tommy Fury’s team that he was able to come to the US, and knowing that Tommy was in California just last month, we were surprised to learn that he had an issue at Heathrow Airport on Monday. 'As a result of circumstances out of our control, the scheduled press conference for Wednesday at MSG has been postponed. We are working with our partners at SHOWTIME and Madison Square Garden and will share more information as soon as we are able.'In his video published on social media, Tommy said he is in contact with the lawyers who 'have no clue' as to why he was not allowed to travel, and it's something they're trying to resolve.He said: 'I've been training for a fight this whole time and that's all I've been doing.Fury was due to fight Paul in December but pulled out with a broken rib and chest infection The long-awaited fight is scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden on a card which also contains Amanda Serrano's bout with Brenda Carabajal on Saturday, August 6 'I have no clue why they would not allow me to travel today and neither does any of my team or my laywers.'So now I'm having to go to them trying to resolve it, and I'm in the middle of training.'I don't know why this is happening today, it's a massive shock to me and my whole team.'Obviously it is a matter that needs to be resolved. It's government issues, it's a lot bigger than the fight right now and I'm just trying to get it sorted.' It was previously reported that Tyson Fury was denied access to the United States this month Advertisement | Boxing |
Floyd Mayweather Ripped By PETA Over Mink Car Seat ... It's A 'Monstrosity!!!' 7/22/2022 12:20 AM PT A familiar foe is coming for Floyd Mayweather, but it's not Logan Paul or Conor McGregor -- PETA is going scorched-earth on the boxing legend over the $18,000 mink car seat he got for his grandson ... calling it a "monstrosity." TMZ Sports broke the story -- TBE recently had a one-of-a-kind car seat installed into his 2022 Rolls-Royce Cullinan ... which was made with real fur and customized for baby Kentrell Jr., the son of Yaya Mayweather and NBA Youngboy. The folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were pissed to find out about the purchase ... ripping into Floyd's decision-making and bringing up the time he was arrested for domestic violence in 2010 in the process. TMZSports.com "Did Floyd Mayweather, who has a history of assault and battery of defenseless victims, really seek to update it by supporting an industry that throttles animals to death in addition to poisoning and electrocuting them?" PETA said in a statement. "This man is hardly a role model for compassion and understanding, but to try to make cruelty look attractive to a child could earn him a medal for corrupting the natural kindness of a minor." The two sides have been enemies for years -- in 2012, the org. went after Floyd for making comments comparing his training to dogfighting ... to which he replied, "s***, I don't give a f***, 'cause I wear mink coats. I'm gonna wear chinchilla, and I'm gonna rock mink coats." Despite their history, PETA is offering to fix its issue with Floyd. "PETA is calling on Mayweather to take a jab at teaching kindness, not cruelty, by replacing this monstrosity with faux fur, as most designers, department stores, and consumers have -- and PETA would be happy to provide it." No word on if Floyd will accept the offer ... but knowing his love for fur, it's not likely. | Boxing |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Adrien Broner was set to fight Omar Figueroa Jr. this weekend, but the four-time boxing champion pulled out last minute due to mental health reasons.Broner explained in an Instagram post he did not want to die in the boxing ring and did not want to fight Figueroa if he was not 100% ready to go mentally. Figueroa, who is 28-2-1 with 19 knockouts said in response Monday that he was not exactly buying Broner’s reason for withdrawing.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Omar Figueroa Jr. (R) in action against Daniel Estrada in 2014. (Action Images / Peter Cziborra )"As we all know, my fight against that mf Broner is off. Now, I ‘don’t mind’ because this is something we expected so we had plans in motion to mitigate most (of) the aftermath, What REALLY passes (sic) me off is that NOW this mf wants to use #MentalHealth as a FKN excuse," he wrote in an Instagram statement."THAT, I have ‘a problem’ (with) because that’s BS! You don’t get to cry #MentalHealth now, mf! Not saying you DON’T suffer from mental health issues as WE CAN ALL tell you do, just don’t use it as an excuse NOW, after you’ve been undisciplined and not taking this fight/training camp seriously! If it really IS mental health, PLEASE SHOW US THE PROOF THAT YOU WENT AND SOUGHT PROFESSIONAL HELP.MIKE TYSON RIPS HULU OVER LIMITED SERIES: 'THEY STOLE MY LIFE STORY' Boxer Adrien Broner takes questions from the media at the Ten Goossen boxing gym in Van Nuys, California., January. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)"You love to post all your s--- on social media, why not let us in on your ‘mental health recovery’? You don’t get to undermine mine and countless other’s journey and strugges (with) #MentalHealth because of your undisciplined/childish dumb a--!"#F---YOU, Broner! Just when I thought you couldn’t stoop any lower!"Figueroa last fought Abel Ramos in May 2021. He lost the fight via corner retirement. He last beat John Molina Jr. via unanimous decision in February 2019. Omar Figueroa Jr (black trunks) and Yordenis Ugas (white trunks) box during their WBC welterweight title elimination bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas July 20, 2019. Ugas won via unanimous decision. (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPHe will now fight Sergey Lipinets in Florida on Saturday. Ryan Gaydos is the sports editor for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to [email protected]. | Boxing |
Anthony Joshua was fuming following his heavyweight championship defeat to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.The British fighter lost on split decision as Usyk defended his heavyweight titles, beating Joshua for a second time.Joshua threw two of Usyk's belts out of the ring and onto the floor at the end and headed for his changing room before storming back to shake Usyk's hand. He then picked up the microphone and went on an expletive-filled rant, discussing the fight, his career, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and also led cheers to Usyk. Anthony Joshua produced an expletive-filled rant following his loss to Oleksandr Usyk Joshua (black shorts) congratulates Usyk (white yellow shorts) by kneeling in the ring Joshua cried during his post-fight press conference as the Brit was overcome by emotionHe later cried during his post-fight press conference, while Joshua also blew his cool backstage during the aftermath of the bout after a bystander told the British boxer to 'keep it professional'. Joshua's emotions were clearly running high following the loss after 12 rounds of stunning boxing, and he addressed the crowd inside the King Abdullah Sports City arena with one of boxing history's most bizarre post-fight speeches.The heavyweight fighter began by referencing his youth and troubles with police as a teenager while he reflected on his career following the devastating defeat that saw him fail to regain his championship belts from Usyk. Joshua (black shorts) tries to land a punch on Usyk (white shorts) during their bout Joshua held up the Ukrainian flag and referenced the ongoing war in the country afterwards'If you knew my story you would understand the passion. I ain't no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth,' said Joshua.'I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a*** off, I wanted to be able to fight.'I'm stealing this Usyk I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this. This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.'Joshua (left) and Usyk (right) were both emotional following the end of the heavyweight boutJoshua pushed Usyk all the way and produced a largely more impressive performance to his first fight at Tottenham Hotspur stadium last year, but couldn't find a way past his Ukrainian counterpart.The former champion insisted he was a 'new breed of heavyweight' in the aftermath of defeat as he labelled Usyk as a 'phenomenal talent'.'I'm not a 12 round fighter, look at me, I'm a new breed of heavyweights, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, "you don't throw combinations like Rocky Marciano", I'm 18 stone, I'm heavy, it's hard work. Joshua (right) labelled himself as a 'new breed of heavyweight' in his post-fight speech AJ (left) threw some of Usyk's championship belts out of the ring in the aftermath of defeat'This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we're going to cheer for him three times.' Joshua also went on to lead the sell-out crowd through 'three cheers for Usyk' and also highlighted his astonishment at Ukrainian fighters being able to produce title-winning performances as war continues in their home country.The Briton was later captured in a seemingly jovial mood as he headed backstage with members of his team.But the mood suddenly turned sour when a bystander called out to Joshua to 'keep it professional', which prompted the former world champion to lose his temper and react explosively. As security held him back and escorted him towards his dressing room, Joshua shouted: 'Who are you talking to? Who the f*** are you talking to? Are you mad?'It is now expected that Joshua will take a hiatus from boxing as he works out what to do next after suffering the most crushing defeat of his career. For Oleksandr Usyk however, a unification bout with Englishman Tyson Fury now looms. It is now expected that Joshua will take a hiatus from boxing as he works out what to do next'A full on Kanye West moment!': Anthony Joshua's bizarre hijack of the microphone in the ring is mocked by boxing fans after he was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk... before talking about 'not nice things' in UkraineAnthony Joshua gave a good showing of himself in the ring against Oleksandr Usyk but many feel he let himself down following the announcement of the decision.Joshua fell to an agonising split decision defeat against Oleksandr Usyk to leave him facing an uncertain future in the heavyweight division he previously ruled. Usyk edged a thrilling contest 113-115, 115-113, 116-112 at the King Abdullah Sports Centre Arena in Jeddah to complete a second successive victory over Joshua and retain the WBA, IBF and WBO titles. Joshua delivered a bizarre speech after suffering defeat to Oleksandr Usyk Joshua's mic-snatching moment was compared to Kanye West with Taylor Swift in 2009After the fight AJ took the microphone and delivered a strange monologue, drifting from his background as a heavyweight fighter to how he did not understand the war in Ukraine but saying what is happening is 'not nice'. He didn't say anything too offensive but he has been accused of stealing Usyk's moment and mocked on social media. 'Most embarrassing speech I've seen in years,' wrote one while another compared him to Kanye West.West infamously grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift at the VMA Music Awards in 2009, insisting her prize for 'Best Female Video' was undeserved.'Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!' he said. 'One of the best videos of all time!'He was booed, raised a finger to the crowd and walked off stage - a moment many likened to Joshua's moment.The all-out assault many were calling for in Saturday night's fight never materialised, but Joshua's performance was far superior to that passive night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium almost a year ago when he surrendered the belts in such disappointing fashion. | Boxing |
Fury has offered to fight Joshua in the UK in November after insisting he wants to return to the ring this year rather than wait for Oleksandr UsykVideo LoadingVideo UnavailableEmotional Anthony Joshua explains erratic behaviour after defeatTyson Fury has offered Anthony Joshua 40 per cent of a multi-million-pound purse as talks continue over a heavyweight showdown. Fury called out his British rival yesterday after insisting he won't wait until the new year to make his return to the ring against Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua responded by accepting the offer in principle, if the fight takes place in December. Fury's promoter Frank Warren has since said he will make an offer for the fight to take place in the UK in November while Fury has outlined the deal in a video posted to social media. "I'm being bombarded with messages about how much I'm going to pay AJ," he said. "Everyone is saying 80/20, 70/30, 75/25... the actual answer is I've offered him 60/40. Forty per cent of this amazing fight because I want this fight to happen. He doesn't have have any excuses now not to take it. He can't say I've lowballed him by offering him 20 per cent or 30 per cent. I've offered him 40 per cent, take it or leave it. Let us know." A mocked-up image of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury There will be more to follow on this breaking sports news story - we'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video. Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story HERE. Get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you by following The Mirror every time you see our name. Follow The Mirror on Google News - CLICK HERE and click the star Follow The Mirror on Apple News - CLICK HERE available on Apple devices Follow The Mirror on Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow Follow us on Twitter @MirrorFootball - the official Mirror football Twitter account - for all the latest football news as it happens in real time. For other sports news, follow us on @MirrorSport. You can sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news here @MirrorBreaking_ and follow us @DailyMirror, for all the latest updates. Keep up-to-date with the latest football news by following us on Facebook at facebook.com/mirrorfootball and with sport news at facebook.com/mirrorsport See all our social accounts you can follow here: mirror.co.uk/social Read more
Latest boxing stories | Boxing |
The first undisputed heavyweight title clash in two decades is tantalisingly close after Oleksandr Usyk defended his belts against Anthony Joshua.There is now only one fight to make - Usyk against Tyson Fury. Two unbeaten champions at the peak of their powers; it promises to be a historic matchup.Yet there is one potential issue that could still prevent the fight from happening. Fury has made it clear that he wants to be paid an 'obscene amount of money' to come out of retirement to face the Ukrainian. The 34-year-old has set a figure of £500million as the purse that he wants to receive. This would be some jump from the £30m he earned in his latest title defence against Dillian Whyte back in April.This begs the question: are his demands realistic? Sportsmail has taken a look back at the top 10 most-lucrative fights ever, according to World Sports Weekly, to see if Fury has any chance of moving past pay-per-view kings Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson to earn the single highest figure for a boxer in one night. Tyson Fury has said he wants £500m to fight fellow heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk Usyk is the only man standing in the way of Fury becoming undisputed heavyweight champion10. Evander Holyfield-George Foreman, 1991 (PPV Buys 1.45m, PPV Revenue $80m)This fight saw two legends of the sport face each other in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles. It was clear to see the appeal with this contest.Foreman was looking to become a champion for the second time at the age of 42, whereas Holyfield was only 28 and still undefeated.Seventeen years after 'The Rumble in the Jungle', Foreman entered as the underdog, but his fighting spirit ensured that he saw the final bell, although Holyfield was handed the victory on points. It was not to be for Foreman that night, but he would get his moment of glory when he became champion again in 1994 by knocking out Michael Moorer in Las Vegas. Evander Holyfield's (left) clash with George Foreman was a historic fight between two icons9. Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr, 2020 (PPV Buys 1.65m, PPV Revenue $80.5m)Two former heavyweight champions squared off in an exhibition bout in 2020 as Tyson and Jones Jr finally met in the ring.This was a fight that could have taken place almost 20 years earlier, but it was never put together. When it finally did happen, Tyson had been out of boxing for over 15 years, while Jones Jr had also previously walked away from the sport. Was it ever going to be an all-action bout with both men so far past their prime? It seemed unlikely. But were fans going to tune in to see what the two legendary fighters had left in the tank? Absolutely.The contest took place behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was watched by millions on TV.Over eight rounds, there was very little to split the duo, and the fight was scored a draw by the three ringside judges. Mike Tyson's exhibition fight with Roy Jones Jr saw the two legends finally face each other8. Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto, 2012 (PPV Buys 1.5m, PPV Revenue $94m)Mayweather makes his first appearance on this list for his fight against Cotto a decade ago.Cotto was an immensely popular fighter with boxing fans, especially in his homeland of Puerto Rico, and supporters tuned in from across the globe to see if he could upset the odds and finally end Mayweather's unbeaten run.Meanwhile, Mayweather had built his own loyal following by this point, with his trash-talking outside the ring and sharp skills in it proving a hit with fans. Las Vegas was the setting for this clash, and Cotto bloodied Mayweather's nose as he pushed the American in an entertaining contest.However, Mayweather's class shone through in the end and he claimed a decisive points win to move to 43-0. The popular Miguel Cotto put in a brave effort but could not beat Floyd Mayweather in 20127. Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley, 1995 (PPV Buys 1.55m, PPV Revenue $96m)This was Tyson's first fight in over four years after he left prison following his rape conviction in 1992. Fans wanted to see whether one of the most exciting heavyweights in history had still got it.The fight was billed as 'He's Back', and Tyson took little time in showing that his aggressive instincts were still intact as he knocked McNeeley down after 10 seconds. McNeeley had only suffered defeat once before and tried to trade with Tyson, but this proved to be an unwise move as he was sent to the canvas again shortly afterwards. With less than 90 seconds on the clock, McNeeley's manager Vinnie Vecchione went into the ring to stop the fight, leading to the referee declaring Tyson the winner by stoppage. Tyson (pictured right) ended a comeback fight with Peter McNeeley inside the opening round6. Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield II, 1997 (PPV Buys 1.99m, PPV Revenue $100.2m)Speaking of disqualifications, you might remember this one.This fight didn't need any hype. The pair had met the previous year, with Holyfield coming through some tough moments to pull off an upset by knocking Tyson out in the 11th round, causing pandemonium in the crowd.Tyson had been unhappy with some head clashes during that fight, and wanted to settle the score this time. Could he do it? Millions of fans wanted to find out.Again, Tyson became aggravated by what he felt were intentional headbutts, and he shockingly bit one of Holyfield's ears. Referee Mills Lane seemed stunned by the incident, and deducted two points rather than disqualifying Tyson immediately.Tyson wasn't finished there, and he went back to bite Holyfield's other ear. This time the fight was waved off at the end of the third round.Bedlam ensued in the ring in the aftermath of the disqualification, and Tyson subsequently had his license rescinded and was hit with a hefty fine. Tyson was disqualified for biting Evander Holyfield's ear twice in their rematch in 19975. Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis, 2002 (PPV Buys 1.95m, PPV Revenue £112m)Fans had waited a decade for this fight. In an ideal world, it would have taken place in the early 90s when both men were nearer their peaks, but it finally got made in 2002.At this stage, Lewis and Tyson were both in their mid-30s, but they remained the two biggest names in boxing's blue-riband division, and the lengthy wait had only added intrigue to the contest. It was one that fans simply couldn't miss.The heavyweight showdown went ahead in Memphis, Tennessee, and Tyson looked to make his typical fast start. However, Lewis weathered the storm, and gradually began to dominate. By the eighth round, Tyson had very little left, and Lewis ended their rivalry in stunning fashion by sending his opponent to the canvas with a devastating right hand. Lewis would go on to have one final fight against Vitali Klitschko the following year before bowing out of the sport as a three-time heavyweight champion. Lennox Lewis knocked out Tyson in the eighth round of their mega-fight in 20024. Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya, 2007 (PPV Buys 2.48m, PPV Revenue $136m)This was the fight that turned Mayweather into a PPV star. All the pieces fell into place for this to be a mega-fight.In order to get the big numbers, a good dance partner is always needed, and Mayweather certainly had that in De La Hoya. The Golden Boy had struck gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and had become one of the most popular boxers in the world ever since then. By 2007, he was moving towards the end of his career, but had still shown enough to suggest that a clash with Mayweather would be competitive.The date was also crucial in driving up PPV figures. The highly-anticipated bout was scheduled for Cinco de Mayo weekend, which is an annual celebration for the people of Mexico.Given his Mexican heritage, De La Hoya unsurprisingly had the crowd on his side inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.De La Hoya started well, and looked to have opened up an early lead, but Mayweather began to take over down the stretch, and he was awarded the split decision nod after 12 rounds. Mayweather (left) overcame a difficult start to outpoint Oscar De La Hoya (right) in Las Vegas3. Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez, 2013 (PPV Buys 2.2m, PPV Revenue $150m)Mayweather had long established himself as the face of the sport at this stage, but he had a young, hungry challenger that he needed to get past in Canelo.At the time, Canelo had only just turned 23, but he had already emerged as the next big name in Mexican boxing. His passionate supporters wanted to see if he could follow in the footsteps of the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, with the fight scheduled for the weekend of Mexican Independence Day.Mayweather was also stepping up in weight, with Canelo comfortably the bigger man on the night, and the American superstar was 36. Would this be the fight where Father Time caught up with him?Not a bit of it. Mayweather delivered one of the best performances of his career to outclass his opponent from start to finish, much to the frustration of the partisan crowd in attendance.Canelo has since gone on to win titles in four different weight classes, and is well on his way to the Hall of Fame, but on this night he was no match for Mayweather. Mayweather rolled back the years to hand out a boxing lesson to Canelo Alvarez in 20132. Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor, 2017 (PPV Buys 4.3m, PPV Revenue $396m)The two biggest names in combat sports met each other in Las Vegas in August 2017. On paper, it seemed like a no-brainer. McGregor had never boxed professionally, how could he possibly topple a great of the sport in Mayweather?Yet McGregor was at the height of his popularity at this point, having become a two-weight UFC champion the previous year. There was a worldwide press tour to promote the event, and neither man held back with their trash-talking. By the end of it, McGregor had convinced some fans that an upset was on the cards.Those who had backed McGregor may have been getting excited after the first three rounds as the Irishman started brightly, while Mayweather hardly threw a punch.Mayweather began to go through the gears, though, and round by round he started to put McGregor on the back foot.The end came in the 10th round, with Mayweather delivering punishing shots and McGregor offering little in return, causing the referee to jump in. The victory took Mayweather's record to a staggering 50-0. Mayweather and Conor McGregor fought each other in a money-spinning matchup in 20171. Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, 2015 (PPV Buys 4.6m, PPV Revenue $410m)For many years, it looked like this fight between the two best fighters in the sport would never take place. Negotiations had broken down time and time again, with the two men going their separate ways and taking on alternative opponents.However, a chance meeting between Mayweather and Pacquiao at a basketball game appeared to finally speed up the process, and the fight was set for May 2015.Just like the De La Hoya fight, it took place on Cinco de Mayo weekend - always a major date on the boxing calendar - and this was the contest that fans had waited over half a decade for. The numbers were inevitably off the charts.As for the fight itself, it was something of a damp squib. Mayweather controlled the fight with his superior boxing skills, while Pacquiao struggled to have much success at all.It was Mayweather who was given the unanimous decision victory in the biggest fight in boxing history, while Pacquiao would later complain that a shoulder injury had prevented him from performing at his best. Mayweather got the better of long-time rival Manny Pacquiao as he won a unanimous decisionCan Fury really earn £500m by fighting Usyk?Boxing's biggest fights have traditionally taken place in Las Vegas, but the landscape appears to be changing.Two of Anthony Joshua's last four fights have been held in Saudi Arabia, a country that seems to have sets its sights on hosting major sporting events for a long time to come.They are not afraid to splash the cash either, which will be music to Fury's ears. It is understood that Joshua and Usyk both took home in excess of £30m from their rematch on Saturday, while Amir Khan earned £7m through fighting Billy Dib in Jeddah in 2019, despite the Australian being a couple of weight classes below him.Speaking of Khan, the former world champion has claimed that he wants to help Fury get the financial package he is demanding, and has said that he will speak to Saudi ministers to see if it is possible. Despite being a popular champion, Fury does not have the same appeal as Mayweather didWhen you add in the fact that heavyweight fights tend to drum up more interest as they can change with just one punch, Fury may believe that he can actually secure himself a massive payday.However, £500m still looks to be a significant stretch. Usyk has a case for being the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, but he is some distance from being the biggest name in the sport.In terms of marketability, Fury would have surely preferred to have fought Joshua for all the belts given that they are domestic rivals and the Watford man has built a huge following during his rise to the top.Meanwhile, Fury himself does not quite have the same lure as Mayweather or Tyson. Mayweather's mix of trash-talking and technical mastery made him the ultimate attraction, while Tyson remains one of the most ferocious punchers the sport has ever seen.Fury can trash-talk with the best of them, and his popularity is growing, but he has been known to be in the odd forgettable fight, and this has held him back from developing into a superstar on the same level as Mayweather and Tyson. Fury also can't quite match the excitement that Tyson brought to the ring in his heydayThen it's about crunching the numbers. He got £30m for fighting Whyte, a similar figure to what Usyk and Joshua received in Jeddah. Is he really going to get more than 16 times this figure by taking on Usyk? Almost certainly not.With regards to prestige, a showdown with Usyk looks set to be the biggest fight this century. Indeed, promoter Bob Arum has called it the biggest fight since Muhammad Ali took on Joe Frazier in the 'Thrilla in Manila' in 1975. With this in mind, Fury can expect a career-high payday to come his way. But if he really wants the fight to take place to give himself the chance to cement his legacy as the best heavyweight of his era, it seems very likely that Fury will have to compromise with his financial demands. | Boxing |
| August 05, 2022 04:14 PM In nearly all cases, it is considered a crime for a man to punch a woman in the face. Now, one of the premier organizations in boxing wants to turn it into entertainment. The World Boxing Council is going to consider the possibility of sanctioning fights between men who identify as women and biological women. The WBC is one of the four major sanctioning bodies in boxing and is arguably the most influential of the four. This would be a dramatic about-face, as WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said in 2020 that “the WBC does not accept transgender boxing,” adding, “There's only male and female — there's no in between,” Sulaiman said. “People say it has to be the same — so you mean we have to do pregnancy tests for men as well?" Apparently, Sulaiman has come around on that question. We have already seen this play out in low-level professional MMA, in which Alana McLaughlin brutally battered Celine Provost. McLaughlin, a man, had just one year of MMA training, whereas Provost was a seasoned veteran and the only woman in the fight. Even coming out of retirement, it was clear Provost was more skilled than McLaughlin, but his brute strength alone allowed him to win by submission. The same was true of Fallon Fox, the man who fought several women in low-level pro fights. Fox broke the orbital bone of one woman who was not even informed that her opponent was actually a man identifying as a woman. Fox clearly relied on brute strength instead of any real skill in achieving an overwhelming victory. In boxing, the results of such clashes could be lethal. Boxing is more dangerous than MMA, as boxers receive more sustained punches to the head over a longer period of time. Those punches are also more powerful because the padding in boxing gloves allows fighters to throw harder punches without hurting their hands. The strength differences between men and women are well documented, but apparently, Sulaiman simply hasn’t been paying attention. Men should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports at all. It is unfair to female athletes who have spent years training to be the best. Men especially shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s combat sports because that can be deadly. If Sulaiman and the WBC go forward with this, they will snuff out women’s boxing at a time when it is finally gaining some momentum. They would be putting hundreds of women in danger in the ring in the process, all in the name of “tolerance.” | Boxing |
Deontay Wilder Fight W/ Anthony Joshua's 'Biggest Fight In The World' ... Over 4th Fight W/ Fury! 10/14/2022 12:15 AM PT TMZSports.com Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury IV would be an absolutely HUGE fight, but not the biggest ... 'cause The Bronze Bomber tells us there isn't a fight in the sport bigger than him vs. Anthony Joshua! "The biggest fight in the world is not [Fury], it's me versus Anthony Joshua. That's still the biggest fight in the world. Everywhere I go, people talk about that fight. That's the one that they want to see," the 36-year-old former heavyweight champ told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1). It's not that Deontay isn't down for another with Tyson ... because he is. "Whether [Fury and I] fight four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten times, the heavyweight division is small. We can do those things because it's not packed like other divisions." Tyson Fury Knocks Out Deontay Wilder In 11th, Crazy After-Party Wilder last fought in October 2021 ... losing to Fury via an 11th-round TKO. It was his third fight with the Gypsy King ... a trilogy that almost all boxing fans and experts agree was one of the greatest in the history of the sport. Fury, generally regarded as the current best heavyweight in the world, recently said he'd be open to another scrap with Wilder. As for Joshua, AJ's coming off a split decision loss against Oleksandr Usyk in August. The fight was a rematch of their September 2021 bout ... which Usyk also won. Joshua, 24-3 (22 knockouts), is a longtime rival of the Bronze Bomber ... the men have talked about fighting for years. If it is going to happen, it better be sometime soon -- Wilder tells us he plans to retire around his 40th birthday. Until then, Deontay says this phase of his career is all about making his fans happy, and giving them the fights they want to see. But, before those possible fights with Fury, Joshua, or anyone else, Deontay has to beat Robert Helenius this Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Wilder is a massive favorite (around -800) against the similarly sized 6'7" pugilist ... who has a professional record of 31-3 with 20 knockouts. TMZSports.com We also talked to boxing star Caleb Plant ... who is returning to the ring for the first time since losing to Canelo Alvarez -- his first loss -- in November 2021. Plant is fighting former multiple-time world champ Anthony Dirrell before Deontay goes to work. Wilder vs. Helenius goes down this Saturday night on FOX Sports PPV! | Boxing |
Benn failed a drug test in August but both promoters insisted the fight with Eubank Jr will go ahead as planned on SaturdayVideo LoadingVideo UnavailableChris Eubank JR and Conor Benn preview their fightThe British Boxing Board of Control will not sanction Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn this weekend. The rivals are due to meet on Saturday night but the fight was plunged into doubt when Benn failed a drug test. Both promoters insist the bout will take place but the Board claims it told the promoters yesterday that they would not sanction the fight. A statement read: "On the evening of 4th October 2022, the Board of the British Boxing Board of Control Limited resolved that the contest between Chris Eubank Jnr. and Conor Benn scheduled to take place on October 8, 2022 is prohibited as it is not in the interests of Boxing." Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn are due to go head-to-head on Saturday evening (
Image:
Getty Images) There will be more to follow on this breaking sports news story - we'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video. Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story HERE. Get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you by following The Mirror every time you see our name. Follow The Mirror on Google News - CLICK HERE and click the star Follow The Mirror on Apple News - CLICK HERE available on Apple devices Follow The Mirror on Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow Follow us on Twitter @MirrorFootball - the official Mirror football Twitter account - for all the latest football news as it happens in real time. For other sports news, follow us on @MirrorSport. You can sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news here @MirrorBreaking_ and follow us @DailyMirror, for all the latest updates. Keep up-to-date with the latest football news by following us on Facebook at facebook.com/mirrorfootball and with sport news at facebook.com/mirrorsport See all our social accounts you can follow here: mirror.co.uk/social | Boxing |
Boxing - Sweden's Lucy Wildheart swaps ballet shoes for boxing gloves, sets sights on title - Churchill’s Gym, London, Britain - September 1, 2022. Picture taken September 1, 2022 Lucy Wildheart poses after her workout Action Images via Reuters/Andrew CouldridgeRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSTOCKHOLM, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Since swapping ballet shoes for boxing gloves a decade ago, Lucy Wildheart has never looked back, and the 29-year-old is now aiming to take down Amanda Serrano on her way to a world title.Whatever about her considerable punching prowess, the Swedish boxer with a professional record of eight wins and one loss possesses fantastic footwork due to her dancing prowess."Everything is about the legs and feet - if you can move your feet, you can't be hit," Wildheart told Reuters ahead of her bout with Eva Cantos on Sept. 17 at the Civic Hall in Grays, some 20 miles (32km) east of central London.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Everything is about footwork and leg strength, and that's something I have a lot of from dancing," she added.In her late teenage years, Wildheart was an enthusiastic member of a huge Swedish dance scene where young and old alike gather to dance in pairs, with the "bugg" (an early Swedish variation of the Lindy Hop) and the foxtrot particularly popular.Wildheart discovered boxing while working as a personal trainer, and when she began studying dance full time she quickly realised her two passions had a big overlap."I knew it would help my boxing, improve my footwork and balance. I applied to a dance course and got accepted, the first year it was around 30 hours of active dancing every week - ballet, contemporary and jazz," she said.Wildheart was accepted into Sweden's Ballet Academy, but believed her future lay in the ring."I decided to move to England because I got the chance to focus more on boxing and to choose a little more what I wanted to do. Since then, I've only really danced at home," she said.STRONG & EXPLOSIVE"To be really good at boxing, there's a lot of things you have to be good at. Coordination, strategy, fitness, you have to be strong, explosive and they're the things I'm interested in, the science behind it," Wildheart said.Although she loves being a professional boxer, she still pines for her evenings on the dance floor."There's something with dancing, I have a hard time talking about it, a hard time watching it - I almost get sad, because I whish I could do more of it," she said.Asked to describe her boxing style, Wildheart comes back to her feet."I can box off the front foot or the back foot, depending on who I meet, but also angles - angles are probably my strong suit. It comes from the dancing - I can hit from every possible angle," she said.With women's boxing enjoying increasing popularity, Wildheart wants to climb the featherweight rankings and take on Puerto Rican Serrano, who holds the WBC, WBO and IBO world titles."I want to get to the first or second place in all the rankings and then hope that I get the offer (of a title fight)," Wildheart said."It's fun to be in the mix, to be one of those that young girls look up to ... but also to meet the best - you know you're the best when you've won against good people," she added.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Boxing |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Floyd Mayweather Jr. took care of business in an exhibition bout on Saturday night in Japan.Mayweather knocked out Mikuru Asakura in the second round of the fight. Mayweather landed a nasty right hook to Asakura toward the end of the second round and the Japanese MMA star went down.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Floyd Mayweather watches Mikuru Asakura at the end of the second round in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)"I don’t remember what hit," Asakura said after the fight. "I have a huge headache."The match took place at Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo. The fight was a collaboration between Mayweather Promotions and Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federations. The bout was set to end after three rounds.Mayweather hasn’t fought in a professional boxing match since the spectacle against Conor McGregor in 2017. While there’s been rumors of a potential fight with McGregor or Manny Pacquiao again, Mayweather maintained after the Askakura fight he would continue to only do exhibitions. Floyd Mayweather throws a punch against Mikuru Asakura, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)"I retired from the sport, I didn't let the sport retire me… I'm not going to take punishment to the point where I can barely walk and barely talk," Mayweather said Sunday.Mayweather said he wanted to do more collaborations with Rizin and bring some exhibition bouts to the U.S. He has another exhibition set for Dubai later this year.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Floyd Mayweather throws a punch at Mikuru Asakura during their exhibition bout, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)Mayweather’s last exhibition in Japan came in 2019. He knocked out Tenshin Nasukawa in the first round.The Associated Press contributed to this report. Ryan Gaydos is the sports editor for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to [email protected]. | Boxing |
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv Mayor and former heavyweight champion gestures while speaking during his interview with the Associated Press in his office in the City Hall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. A Ukrainian official says street fighting has broken out in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv. Russian troops also put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the country’s south following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine, and a former world heavyweight boxing champion, is set to be honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2022 ESPY Awards. In a statement on Tuesday, ESPN said that Klitschko will receive the award due to the courage he has shown throughout Russia’s ongoing invasion of his native country, during which he has served as a public face for Ukraine’s resistance and vowed, alongside his brother and fellow heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, to fight against Russia. The Klitschko brothers inspired other boxing champions such as Oleksandr Usyk to return to their native country to join defense battalions as well. Vitali Klitschko, who has served as Kyiv’s mayor since 2014, thanked ESPN for honoring him with the award. “It is a great honor for me to receive this award,” he said in a statement. “I am convinced that this is a recognition of the courage and inviolability of the Ukrainian people, who have been bravely resisting the Russian aggressor for more than 3 months. This is an award for everyone who defends the independence and freedom of Ukraine.” The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, named after tennis great and activist Arthur Ashe, is given to athletes and prominent world figures whose contributions go beyond sports. Previous recipients include boxing legend and activist Muhammad Ali, former WNBA star Maya Moore and Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner. “Vitali’s poise and strength as his city and country faces unfathomable tests have far surpassed the incredible resolve he demonstrated as one of boxing’s top heavyweight champions,” Rob King, ESPN’s executive editor at large, said in a statement. “His commitment to the people of Ukraine has been a global inspiration, and his bravery is a prime example of the resilience of the human spirit. It is our privilege to bestow him with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.” This comes after Vitali Klitschko, who finished his boxing career with a 45-2 win-loss record, recently spoke at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, ESPN noted. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has killed thousands on both sides and displaced more than 7.5 million Ukrainians. The 2022 ESPY Awards are set to take place on July 20. | Boxing |
The Ukrainian boxer set to take on the UK's Anthony Joshua this evening has been described as having "zero fear" and being like the "joker".Yet, with a war raging in his home country Oleksandr Usyk, the reigning unified world champion, has made it clear he is deadly serious and will be fighting for his country when he competes to keep his titles tonight.
So, who is the man described by Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn as "a strange one"?The rematchThis is Usyk's second fight against Anthony Joshua after he beat the Briton on 25 September 2021 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, having won the right to challenge him for the WBO heavyweight belt by securing his previous victory.
Even though he entered the bout as the reigning champion and pre-fight favourite, Joshua was outboxed with Usyk winning the judges decision unanimously.This time, the pair square off in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the bout being shown on Sky Sports Box Office this evening, with the build up from 6pm. Image: Anthony Joshua takes on Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September 2021 Defending UkraineLess than six months ago, Usyk was manning the barricades in his home country's war with Russia, having joined the territorial defence battalion. He had been in London when Russia invaded and rushed back, flying to Poland and driving the rest of the way, to join his friends and compatriots to protect his homeland.He told CNN at the time he was willing to kill to defend Ukraine and had no fear of dying.He told the network: "My soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honour belong to my country, to my family. So there is no fear, absolutely no fear." Image: Oleksandr Usyk (2ndR) in the ranks of Kyiv's territorial defence forces at the end of February. Pic: Facebook/Ukraine Boxing Federation Return to boxingBy the end of March, however, he had left his native country in order to prepare for his rematch with Joshua.A second fight had already been agreed soon after he won the first last year, but Usyk had been reluctant after the war broke out.Yet, in a video message in which he spoke mostly Russian on 29 March, he said he believed he would serve Ukraine better by taking part in the upcoming boxing match."In this way, I can help my country more and better than I would by being in the Territorial Defence and running around Kyiv with a machine gun," he said. Klitschko's supportHe later revealed he had been encouraged in his decision to train for the fight by the Klitschko brothers, former heavyweight world champions themselves.Usyk revealed in an interview with his sponsor Blockasset that some of his friends were missing and he viewed boxing as "child's play", compared to war.But he said that after speaking to Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, he had decided to return to the ring. At the time, mayor of Kyiv Vitali had been leading the defence of his city. Image: Usyk says he decided to go back in the ring after talking to Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, pictured here in Kyiv in March. Pic: AP 'Scary reflexes'He has been described as having "scary reflexes". One of his tricks is to flick four coins up from his elbow at the same time - and catch them all one by one.It is one of the reasons the 35-year-old is the bookies' favourite for the match tonight, despite weighing in more than 10kg lighter than Joshua.Proud dresserThere was widespread amusement after he turned up to a number of pre-fight events in a range of outfits which some have likened to looking like a clown. Image: Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk during their news conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September 2021 At his weigh in for the September fight, he wore a red suit, dark green shirt, black and gold check tie and a mustard waistcoat, which many said left him looking like the Batman character The Joker.But he later revealed that they were a modern interpretation of the national costume of the Cossacks, an ethnic group who have lived in what is now Ukraine for centuries.Cossacks were formidable fighters and often made up the ranks of the armies of Russian and Polish empires.At a news conference for the upcoming fight, he wore a different outfit harking back to his Cossack ancestry, featuring a dark brown sleeveless tabard, broad belt and a white shirt with an embroidered trim.He is now often nicknamed The Cossack.The help of Eeyore Image: Usyk with an Eeyore stuffed toy, during a news conference in August Usyk revealed at one of his news conferences that one of his most important team members was the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore.He said he bought a stuffed Eeyore toy for his daughter Elizabeth during a family trip to Euro Disney in Paris and she renamed it Liolia, a girl's name.She then presented Liolia to the boxer for good luck before he headed off to training camp and the toy has been by his side ever since.He told reporters Liolia was his "talisman", adding: "It sleeps with me, is always close to me. I'm not sure about it being in my corner on Saturday night... she might be scared! But she will definitely be in my dressing room."He can sing (sort of)At the end of the pre-fight news conference, he launched into song, with a rendition of the folk song "Oy U Luzi Chervona Kalyna", which Rubryka.com says has become one of the symbols of Ukraine's resistance against Russia's military aggression. Image: Usyk sings during the pre-fight news conference on Wednesday The oseledetsWhen he last fought Joshua, he sported the shaved head ubiquitous across the boxing and martial arts world.But in his most recent pre-fight events, he was happy to be seen wearing a long single lock, which some have likened to a pony tail, but is in fact another nod to his Ukrainian heritage.The oseledets, or chub, hairstyle is commonly associated with Ukrainian Cossacks, going back to the early Middle Ages when it was frequently copied by warriors from other nations who wanted to capture some of the notoriety with which Ukrainian mercenaries were held.The long central strip which was often braided or tied in a topknot has undergone a number of revivals over the centuries in association with Ukrainian nationalism. Image: Usyk sports his chub haircut during a media event on 15 August Multi weightUntil 2019, he boxed at cruiserweight, one or two weight levels down from heavyweight (depending on the supervising organisation), even though he had previously won the Olympic heavyweight gold medal, before the start of his professional career, in the London Olympics.He is only the fourth male boxer in history to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles and is the first Ukrainian to be an undisputed champion (at cruiserweight), something neither of the Klitschko brothers achieved, mainly because they did not want to fight each other.Raised in CrimeaWhile his parents are originally from northern Ukraine, Usyk was born in Crimea - now under Russian occupation - while it was still part of the Soviet Union.His father was from Sumy and fought with the Soviet army in Afghanistan before becoming a security guard and his mother had moved to Simferopol to study, where they met, and Usyk grew up.He was also a talented footballer and trained at the academy local team SC Tavriya Simferopol until he was 15. | Boxing |
Antonio Inoki, a famed professional wrestler who took on world boxing champion Muhammad Ali in 1976 and made numerous trips to North Korea as a lawmaker, has died, a source close to him said Saturday. He was 79.
Inoki, whose real name was Kanji Inoki, was a pioneer in the area of mixed martial arts, staging audacious battles between top wrestlers and champions from other combat sports such as judo and karate, before he entered the international spotlight with his fight against Ali. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE NOW | Boxing |
Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin Not Retiring After Canelo Fight ... Down For 4th Match!!! 6/30/2022 12:20 AM PT TMZSports.com Gennady "GGG" Golovkin has no plans to hang up his boxing gloves after his trilogy fight with Canelo Alvarez ... telling TMZ Sports he's "not ready" to retire yet. In fact, the star pugilist said he'd straight up be down to fight Alvarez for a fourth time! The news is somewhat surprising -- most thought the 40-year-old would call it a career after he takes on Canelo in September for the third time since 2017. And, watch the clip, you can tell Golovkin has certainly considered it. But, he says he's still got more gas left in the tank despite having fought in 44 pro fights in his career. "Not yet," GGG tells us about retirement. "I'm not ready yet." As for why he'd come back to the ring to take on Canelo for a fourth time as opposed to callin' it a career ... he said that choice is very simple. "The business side," he said, "it's very interesting." For now, the 42-1-1 boxer says he's happy his fans want to see him in the ring with the Mexican boxer again -- and he tells us he's going for a KO in the match. The fight goes down Sept. 17 on DAZN ... getcha popcorn ready. | Boxing |
A prodigious talent with the drive and ambition to make it all the way to the top, when Kelvin Bilal Fawaz got the chance to represent Team GB as a boxer at the 2012 Olympics in London it was a dream come true.Trafficked as a child from Nigeria to the UK and forced into domestic servitude, Fawaz had the opportunity for Olympic glory in the place he now called home.Yet he was never given the chance to take his place on the global stage.Instead, the Home Office refused to give him the work visa he needed for the prospect of a professional boxing career and he had to turn down the invitation from Team GB to take part in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.Last week, Fawaz, along with millions of other fans across the country, watched as Sir Mo Farah, who achieved global stardom by winning two golds at the 2012 Olympics, before adding another pair in Rio in 2016, revealed that he too was trafficked into domestic servitude from Somalia as a child.Farah also revealed his real name was Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he has been living under a false identity ever since. But while the British government has made it clear that Farah’s citizenship is not under threat, Fawaz said his own case showed the reality for most trafficking victims.Mo Farah revealed in a TV interview last week that he had been trafficked into domestic servitude from Somalia as a child. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA“Watching Mo Farah disclose his trafficking ordeal over the last week has brought up a lot of pain,” said Fawaz. “It is impossible not to compare our lives and wonder what could have been if I’d only been given the chances that were offered to him.”Throughout his adult life, Fawaz has existed in a state of immigration limbo, denied the opportunity to work, twice detained in immigration detention centres and at risk of forced deportation to Nigeria, a country that has refused to accept his citizenship or issue him with a passport.“The trauma of being trafficked and exploited does not go away, it lives with you every day,” he said. “Mo Farah is a sporting legend but I have seen my own talent wasted and my opportunity to become an Olympian lost. Even though the Home Office has accepted I was a child trafficking victim, they have relentlessly denied me the chance to build a life and compete in the sport that I love.”After escaping his exploiters and reporting his traffickers to the authorities, Fawaz spent time in care and saysthat discovering boxing was his salvation. Against the odds, he rose through the non-professional ranks to captain the England amateur boxing team.Farwaz training at Stonebridge boxing gym in north London in 2018. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The GuardianOver the years, some of the biggest names in the sport have appealed to the Home Office on his behalf, asking that he be allowed to box professionally, including promoter Frank Warren. Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan offered him a £230,000 contract in 2014 that he could not sign because the Home Office refused to settle his immigration status.In 2020, after a 16-year battle with the Home Office,, Fawaz was finally granted a 30-month visa after the government accepted he was a child trafficking victim. He was quickly signed by MTK Global, one of the world’s largest boxing management agencies.He fought two matches as a professional, which he won, before MTK closed after US government sanctions against its co-founder Daniel Kinahan, a suspected crime boss.“I am now struggling to get promoters to sign me because they say at 34 I’m too old and my boxing career is over before it started,” Fawaz said.“I am still fighting the Home Office for my right to remain here beyond my 30-month visa and they will not give me documents to travel abroad, where I’ve been offered the chance to fight professionally.“They can’t deport me to Nigeria because the government there won’t recognise my citizenship so I don’t understand why they’re doing this. I’m still in poverty, my future is still uncertain and all because of something that happened to me as a child that I had no power over.”Fawaz says that his experience is similar to many other child trafficking victims in the UK who spend years fighting immigration battles with the Home Office after they have escaped exploitation.He added: “My experience shows that if Mo Farah had not been a national treasure and achieved what he has achieved, they might have locked him up or deported him. It hurts deep in my soul that I am seeing my life pass me by and this talent I was given just going to waste. My dream was to represent Team GB and this has been taken away from me and I don’t understand why.”When he was a teenager and still in the care system, Fawaz received convictions for minor offences including cannabis possession, driving without insurance and spraying graffiti. He has never been to prison and has never received a harsher sentence than community service.However, the Home Office said his “lengthy criminal record... added to the complexities in considering his case”. According to government figures, just 2% of child trafficking victims are given discretionary leave to remain, which they are entitled to under international law. Instead many, like Fawaz, are given temporary visas until their 18th birthday, when they then enter the asylum system and face years of limbo or deportation.Government figures also show that 35% of adults who were trafficked to the UK as children were refused their first asylum application in 2020. | Boxing |
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has retained his heavyweight titles after a thrilling rematch with Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.Usyk won on a split points decision after the pair went the full 12 rounds - 113 to 115, 115 to 113 and 116 to 112.
Until around March, Usyk was fighting on the frontline in Kyiv, but left the war-torn country to focus on his rematch with Joshua.Read more: Who is Oleksandr Usyk?After the judges' decision was declared, Joshua threw two of the title belts over the side of the ropes before storming out of the ring.
However, he returned and grabbed the mic, telling the King Abdullah Sports City: "If you knew my story, you would understand the passion."I ain't no amateur boxer, from five years old that was an elite prospect from youth. I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a*** off, I wanted to be able to fight. More on Anthony Joshua Anthony Joshua: 'I let myself down' after Oleksandr Usyk defeat Usyk v Joshua: Boxing world reacts to AJ's 'out of character' outburst after losing rematch Usyk vs AJ: Oleksandr Usyk weighs in marginal career heaviest ahead of Anthony Joshua world title defence "This guy beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in, so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world."The pair also briefly posed with the Ukrainian flag in a stand of solidarity in defiance of Russia's ongoing assault in the country. Twitter Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. Open Privacy Options Image: Pic: AP 'If I'm not fighting Tyson Fury, I'm not fighting at all'Following his win, Usyk paid tribute to the Ukrainian military, and said that he is only interested in fighting WBC champion Tyson Fury next.Usyk said: "I did this victory for my country, for all people, militaries who are defending the country. Thank you very, very much." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Joshua on storming out of ring: 'I was mad' He added: "I'm sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet. I'm sure, I'm convinced he wants to fight me. I want to fight him, and if I'm not fighting Tyson Fury, I'm not fighting at all."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered his congratulations to his fellow countryman soon after the bout, tweeting: "Difficult, but so important and necessary VICTORY!"Defending the title of world champion is a symbol that all those who are of Cossack sort will not give up their own, they will fight for it and will definitely win!" Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Oleksandr Usyk tells a news conference that Ukraine will win over Russia - but it needs more time. The rematch in Saudi Arabia, follows their bout last year in London, where Usyk won the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight belts from the British boxer.Their fight in Jeddah though was a different story, with Joshua giving a far better performance against the Ukrainian compared to that of last year, landing blows and occasionally unloading on Usyk.But it was Usyk who came out on top, landing more punches on his opponent, with a higher work rate than AJ.It is not the first time this year the UK has come second to Ukraine in a global event - with the country's Kalush Orchestra winning the Eurovision Song Contest over Briton Sam Ryder, who was nudged into second place by the public vote - despite coming on top with the national juries. | Boxing |
Anthony Joshua’s attempt to become a heavyweight champion again, and subsequently fire himself into boxing’s history books, has been crushed. On a hot night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s city by the Red Sea, the 32-year-old was again defeated by the outstanding Oleksandr Usyk, and while he should take pride from putting up more of a fight than when the pair met in Tottenham 11 months ago it was, as most predicted, not enough for him to reclaim the WBA, WBO and IBF titles that the Ukrainian took from him.Having won via a unanimous points decision in north London, Usyk’s win here came via a split decision, with two judges calling it in his favour with calls of 115-113 and 116-112. The other gave it to Joshua with a call of 115-113, which was somewhat curious but, equally, spoke to a display full of guts and aggression, just as Joshua had vowed would be the case having, by his own admission, made the mistake of trying to out-box Usyk in north London.The challenger looked to take the centre of the ring and, having achieved that as early as the second round, regularly stung his opponent with a series of thudding shots, no more so than in the ninth round when Joshua had Usyk scrambling around the ring having unleashed hell.But that was the moment when Usyk well and truly showed his class, roaring back in the 10th round and smashing Joshua back with a big left hook and continuing to unload from there. He continued to dominate the championship rounds and, ultimately, took a deserved victory.For Joshua it was a third defeat in 27 fights and a failure to join Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko and Evander Holyfield in becoming a three-time heavyweight champion. Yet any talk of him having no choice to retire should be parked after this display. He did himself proud, albeit the 2012 Olympic champion somewhat let himself down after the fight when he appeared to throw two of Usyk’s belts as he stormed out of the ring. To Joshua’s credit, he soon returned and led the crowd in a congratulation of the victor, as well as delivering a rather curious speech in which he declared himself to be a “new breed of heavyweights”.He remains in Usyk’s shadow however, who extends his record to 20 straight wins across two divisions and firmly establishes himself as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.Oleksandr Usyk poses with his world heavyweight titles after an impressive victory against Anthony Joshua. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/ReutersEarlier, history was made on the undercard when the first women’s fight took place in Saudi Arabia. But sadly for those in attendance it did not last long as the British-based Somali boxer Ramla Ali required only one minute and five seconds of her super-bantamweight clash with the Dominican Republic’s Crystal García Nova to secure a knockout victory.It was a stunning triumph in more ways than one as Ali, having forced García Nova back with a fast and aggressive start, unleashed a twisting right-hand shot to the side of the face so powerful that it knocked the gum shield out of her opponent’s mouth. Shocked and shook-up, García Nova fell to her knees and was soon counted out.“I feel really good but I feel I need to go back and do some more pads … I didn’t really get out of first gear,” said Ali, having extended her professional record to seven successive wins.Ali’s story is an inspirational one. As a child she fled war-torn Somalia with her family and settled in England where, as a teenager, she took up boxing in an effort to lose weight. It developed into a passion and ultimately led to her becoming a successful amateur, winning a host of titles including the 2016 Great British Championship. Five years later she became the first ever Somalian – man or woman – to compete in boxing at the Olympics.Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?ShowDownload the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications.Now comes this milestone, although not without controversy given Ali’s defence of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record in the buildup to the fight.The 32-year-old claimed “the way the media portrays Saudi Arabia is not entirely accurate” and that “women are free to do whatever they want [in the kingdom].” Those comments provoked a response from Amnesty International, who accused Ali of falling for Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing tactics and dismissed the idea that the staging of this fight was in anyway progressive. Amnesty’s head of priority campaigns, Felix Jakens, said: “Away from the glitz and spectacle of the boxing ring, the reality for women in Saudi Arabia is that they face serious discrimination in marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody.”Those comments clearly did not affect Ali’s focus ahead of this fight, and having won she made clear her desire to compete for a world title sooner rather than later, with her promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirming that is very much the plan for a fighter who in her spare time also works as a model and activist. “There’ll be a world championship fight in 2023 for sure,” said Hearn, who added: “I’m convinced she will be a world champion.”Ali now intends to rest and heal, having revealed that she has been fighting for some time with a fractured wrist and toe. | Boxing |
Oleksandr Usyk, the IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight champion, is one of the greatest fighters on the planet but he is not embarrassed to express the fear he felt this year as a soldier in the Ukrainian army. Soon after Vladimir Putin unleashed Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine on 24 February, Usyk and his friend Vasiliy Lomachenko, another of the best boxers in the world, joined the military. But as he patrolled the streets, carrying a machine gun rather than boxing gloves, dread gripped Usyk.“Every day I was there,” he says, “I was praying and asking: ‘Please, God, don’t let anybody try to kill me. Please don’t let anybody shoot me. And please don’t make me shoot any other person.”Usyk has been in London this week to promote his belated rematch on 20 August against Anthony Joshua, whom he beat so convincingly to become world champion last September, and he looks up after making that candid admission. “But if I had felt in danger, if I feel my life or my family is in jeopardy, I would have [killed a Russian soldier].”Despite that very human reaction in a war zone, Usyk stresses: “I really didn’t want to leave our country. I didn’t want to leave our city. At one point I went to the hospital where soldiers were wounded and getting rehabilitation and they asked me to go, to fight [Joshua], to fight for the country. They said if you go there, you’re going to help our country even more instead of fighting inside Ukraine.”Usyk left the war in late March to begin his training camp in Poland but footage on social media soon emerged which suggested that one of his former houses had been ransacked by invading Russian soldiers . “It was not my former house,” Usyk says calmly. “It’s my regular house in Vorzel. That house belongs to me and yes, it’s true. Russian soldiers broke in. They broke things and they made some kind of living space and stayed there for a while.“My family is not in Ukraine but a lot of my close friends are still in the country. I’m in touch with them every day. I ask them, because it’s very important for me, how are they feeling? Are they in a safe place? I want to live there and right after the fight I’m going back to Ukraine.”Will he return as a soldier? Usyk shakes his head because he knows that his place as one of the most famous men in Ukraine means that “nobody will let me go to the front line. But a lot of my close friends are on the front line. I’m supporting them and with this fight I want to bring them some kind of joy in between what they do.”Oleksandr Usyk connects with a jab in his first fight with Anthony Joshua in September 2021. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/ReutersUsyk’s anger towards Russia is obvious. His eyes fix on me in a steely gaze when I mention reading about a young Russian soldier captured in Ukraine. He was a boxing fan who admired Usyk and Lomachenko and he said his perceptions of the invasion changed when he realised that two such significant fighters had enlisted in the Ukrainian army. Usyk shrugs and concentrates instead on the propaganda that is being beamed into ordinary Russian homes.“I don’t believe what they are saying because they are not showing what is true in their country. They are bombing soldiers. They are bombing army battalions. But they are not showing the bombs landing on civilian houses or hospitals. Two days ago in Kyiv a bomb landed on the house where civilians lived. Two days ago a rocket landed on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk where all the normal people were. Their soldiers are saying on their TV that [Ukrainians] are shooting each other. So I don’t trust what they say.”It feels prosaic to break away from the war and to ask Usyk about Joshua. But retaining his titles will mean so much to people in Ukraine and that weight of responsibility lends a quiet edge to his assessment of the man he beat so comprehensively last year. It was only his third fight as a heavyweight, having moved up from the cruiserweight division where he was an imperious undisputed champion, but Usyk was unfazed when facing a much bigger and more powerful man.He insists that Joshua never hurt him and he welcomes the idea that the British fighter will box much more aggressively in August. “Let him think about that,” Usyk says of speculation that Joshua is intent on trying to knock him out. “Let him desire that.”Usyk knows he has much more natural talent than Joshua, with superior skills, and he believes he will be even better in the rematch. “I have watched the first fight many times with my whole team. We look at the mistakes I made and we will work on them to make sure we don’t make them again. I don’t think about [Joshua] and I really don’t care whether he has a new tactic or a new trainer. I’m just thinking about me. We are working very hard, we are setting new goals and with the Lord’s help we will be better.”When I ask if he found Joshua predictable in the ring, Usyk nods. “Yes.”The champion’s haircut is less predictable – with the right side of his head shaved and the left side resembling a gleaming comb over. “It’s a traditional Ukrainian Cossack warrior haircut,” Usyk says soberly.He was once an exuberant joker, full of laughter and capers, but war has changed him. Usyk now seems deadly serious and he nods sadly. “Sometimes I force myself to smile. Sometimes I force myself to sing. I don’t even know how to explain it.”The world heavyweight champion looks briefly helpless. “My children are asking: ‘Father, why do they want to kill us?’” he says of the Russian invasion. Usyk looks desolate as, after a pause, he finally says: “And I don’t know what to tell them.” | Boxing |
Tyson Fury has set a seven-day deadline to arrange a unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk.Usyk retained his WBA (super), IBF, WBO and IBO belts after winning his rematch with Anthony Joshua on Saturday while Fury, who most recently retired after beating Dillian Whyte in April, holds the WBC belt.Promoter Frank Warren has said that a bout with Fury is “the only fight” Usyk wants and Fury has given until 1 September for it to be arranged.He posted on social media: “For all these suitors out there that want to make the fight, I’m going to give you all seven days until September 1st to come up with the money, if not thank you very much, it’s been a blast, I’m retired.“All offers submitted must be to my lawyer in writing with proof of funds, so let the games begin.”Fury, who said he was walking away from boxing less than a fortnight ago, said in a TalkSport interview that he would want £500m to make the fight with Usyk happen.After the Ukrainian beat Joshua in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, Warren said: “The challenge is going to be meeting the financial expectations of both guys. It has to be much bigger than that [Usyk v Joshua II] because you’ve got two undisputed fighters and the first time the four belts have been on the line.Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?ShowDownload the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications.“It’s a unique situation and what adds to it is that they are both undefeated, which is quite unusual.”If the fight did happen, the winner would become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999-2000, only the sixth of all time and the first of the four-belt era following the rise of the WBO. | Boxing |
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Red Sea WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight world title boxing fight, between Oleksandr Usyk Vs Anthony Joshua, in King Abdullah Sports City Arena, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, August 20, 2022. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRIYADH, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday released 10 foreign prisoners of war captured in Ukraine, following a mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi foreign ministry said.The list includes American, British, Swedish, Croatian and Moroccan nationals, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a plane carrying the prisoners landed in the kingdom."The relevant Saudi authorities received and transferred them from Russia to the kingdom and are facilitating procedures for their respective countries," the statement said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Boxing |
Image caption, Sioux Watkins delivered hundreds of meals to vulnerable people during CovidCarers, volunteers and fundraisers have been recognised for their contributions during the pandemic.Across Coventry and Warwickshire, community champions were among those celebrated at HMV Empire in Coventry on Sunday night.BBC CWR whittled down dozens of nominations to eight winners in their Make a Difference awards.Sioux Watkins claimed the award for best volunteer for delivering 6,000 food parcels during the pandemic.She also delivered 1,000 hot meals from her own kitchen to elderly people who were isolating and on top of that she developed a self-defence course for women after being attacked at knife point while out walking in February 2021.Image caption, Wellness Junction continues its mental health support work offline since starting in the pandemicWellness Junction scooped the award for best community group, which was set up to support older Asian women during the pandemic. Initially connecting over Whatsapp and Zoom to support participants' mental health, the group now meets at Broad Street hall in Coventry each week for singing, dance and chair yoga.Image caption, Will Green was diagnosed with Hodgkinson's Lymphoma in 2000Being clinically vulnerable, cancer survivor Will Green was extremely isolated during the pandemic but quickly turned his situation into a positive experience. He bought a treadmill and walked two miles a day while recovering from side-effects of his chemotherapy treatment, raising £28,000 for Cancer Research along the way. He was recognised in the fundraising category.Image caption, Sharon Stringer has worked as a carer for many years and won in the categoryBest carer went to Sharron Stringer who went above and beyond during the pandemic by shopping, cooking and hairdressing for those she cared for. Image caption, Terry Osbourne was said to be the first person to offer to help people in his communityTerry Osbourne was named Coventry and Warwickshire's greatest neighbour. An active member of the local church, he volunteers with his local foodbank, cafe and children's clubs. Image caption, Melanie Griffith set up support groups for people affected by suicideThe Key Worker Award went to Melanie Griffith who has set up and run support groups for people affected by suicide for a number of years.She was driven to act after finding little support when her sister died 10 years ago and has since been involved in hundreds of suicide interventions. Image caption, Money Michelle MacManus raises through her recycling scheme is donated to charityMichelle MacManus' dedication to recycling earned her the Environment Award. She turned her driveway into a recycling centre, collecting everything from crisp packets and pens to bras and bread bags.Image caption, Howard Richards is also a popular local musicianHoward Richards was described as "a perfect role model" due to his work teaching boxing and fitness to support young people across Coventry, Warwickshire and Birmingham. He was recognised with the Together Award.BBC CWR said it had been "such a joy for us to have gone out and met all of the finalists, to see first hand the great work they do and the impact that they have in their communities". "We were so excited to welcome them all to the HMV Empire for a special award's event."Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected] | Boxing |
Boxing’s latest crisis lurched haphazardly and belatedly towards a modicum of good sense on Thursday afternoon when the promoter Eddie Hearn finally conceded that Conor Benn’s fight against Chris Eubank Jr would be postponed.Having tried to overturn the British Boxing Board of Control’s ruling that the bout in London is “prohibited”, in the wake of Benn testing positive for clomifene, Hearn’s company Matchroom confirmed that the bout was off.“After discussions with various parties, we have taken the decision to formally postpone the bout between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn,” said Matchroom and Wasserman Boxing, the company of Eubank’s promoter Kalle Sauerland, in a joint statement. “It is undeniable that the British Boxing Board of Control’s decision to withdraw their sanctioning was procedurally flawed and without due process. That remains a legal issue between the promoters and the Board which we intend to pursue.“However, whilst there are legal routes to facilitate the fight taking place as planned, we do not believe that it is in the fighters’ interests for those to be pursued at such a late stage, or in the wider interests of the sport. As promoters, we take our obligations and duties very seriously, and a full investigation will now need to take place. We will be making no further comment at this time and news for ticket-holder refunds will follow.”Benn failed a drug test carried out two weeks ago by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency but Hearn initially refused to accept defeat. He mounted a vigorous legal challenge to the board’s decision despite the fact that Benn, whom he promotes, was found to have traces of the fertility drug, which can significantly boost levels of testosterone, in his system. Clomifene is banned by Vada and the World Anti-Doping Agency. The British governing body did release a short statement on Wednesday afternoon in which they stressed that the bout could not proceed “as it is not in the interests of boxing”.Benn argued he was “a clean athlete” and he and Eubank Jr indicated they were ready to fight on Saturday .Hearn’s and Benn’s defence centred on the claim that his B sample had yet to be tested, that he had been clear in all UK Anti-Doping tests and that the Board of Control had not suspended him. “I am truly gutted that we were unable to make this fight happen on Saturday and I’m sorry to everyone who has been affected by the postponement,” said Benn.“I am still completely shocked and surprised by this and it has been a tough couple of days. My team and I will consider the next options including rescheduling the fight, but my immediate focus is on clearing my name because I am a clean athlete.”Eubank also turned his thoughts towards rescheduling the bout. “Conor got caught using an illegal substance so the fight is off. Can’t believe it,” he wrote on Twitter.“I really apologise to the fans & everyone that bought tickets, traveled & booked hotels, this should not of happened. He has escaped his schooling... for now.”Hearn and Sauerland belatedly held a press conference on Thursday afternoon but refused to take questions.“This matter was taken out of our hands,” said Sauerland. “The handling of it, we feel, was totally inappropriate given the rules.”At least there is some relief in the postponement but the real damage done to boxing’s already tattered reputation will become clearer in the days and weeks ahead.Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?ShowDownload the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications. | Boxing |
Benn and Eubank Jr are due to fight on Saturday but the fight was plunged into doubt when Benn returned an adverse findingVideo LoadingVideo UnavailableChris Eubank JR and Conor Benn preview their fightConor Benn has failed a drug test ahead of his fight with Chris Eubank Jr - but the bout will go ahead. Benn and Eubank are due to settle their family feud in London on Saturday night, 30 years after their legendary fathers met for the second time. But Benn, who is the underdog going into the bout, tested positive for clomifene, a substance found in medication to treat infertility in women but which can also boost testosterone production in men. The test took place in September and Benn has since tested negative. A statement from promoters Matchroom read: "We have been made aware that a random anti-doping test for Conor Benn conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association returned an adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug. The B sample has yet to be tested, meaning that no rule violation has been confirmed. "Indeed, Mr Benn has not been charged with any rule violation, he is not suspended, and he remains free to fight. Mr Benn has since passed a doping control test conducted by the UK Anti-Doping Agency, the anti-doping authority to which the British Board of Boxing Control has delegated its doping control testing for the bout. Mr Benn has passed all doping control tests conducted by UKAD. "Both fighters have taken medical and legal advice, are aware of all relevant information, and wish to proceed with the bout this Saturday." Benn and Eubank Jr are due to meet at a catchweight of 157lb, three pounds lighter than the latter has weighed during his professional career. Benn, a welterweight, will fight almost two weight divisions higher, but said earlier this week he was confident he would prevail. "I feel powerful. I’ve been sparring super-middleweights, light heavies and cruisers. I feel strong. I love a challenge and I fear no man," he said. "I’ve had to jump up two weights from welter, but this is the biggest and the best fight out there for me. Should the fight still go ahead? Let us know in the comments section below "I’m just so in my element and in my zone. There’s no animosity with Eubank Jr, but he’s still a man who stands in my way. I haven’t been beaten and that means the world to me. I don’t know defeat. All of my knockouts have come in four rounds, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens, but I always prepare for a hard fight." Benn was also embracing the aim of restoring family pride after his father Nigel was held to a controversial draw by Eubank Sr in their second meeting at Old Trafford in 1993. "This fight has been mentioned for my whole career. It’s such a fantasy fight for the public and the stars have aligned," he said. "Most definitely family pride is at stake, it’s a family feud. The fight is as big as it is because of our dads’ original rivalry. I best get the win, I cannot lose." Read more
Latest boxing stories | Boxing |
A funeral has been held for the cousin of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, who was fatally stabbed in Greater Manchester last Sunday.Rico Burton, 31, was one of two people attacked outside a bar in the Goose Green area of Altrincham in what police described as a "senseless attack".
A funeral cortege was pictured as mourners arrived on trailers and in a horse-drawn carriage ahead of the service held in memory of Mr Burton at St Michael's Church in Flixton.A floral arrangement spelling out Mr Burton's name and 'BOYO' was pictured, as mourners wore T-shirts with photos of him.Following Mr Burton's death, Fury revealed on Instagram that his cousin had died and led tributes for him. Image: Photo credit: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP Image: Photo credit: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP The boxing champion has since used his social media platform to plea for an end to knife crime, declaring that "this needs to stop".In a post he said: "Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick enjoy every moment… RIP Rico Burton may the lord God grant you a good place in heaven. see you soon."Boxing trainer and family friend Steve Egan, who has coached both Fury and Mr Burton, told Sky News that he was "fantastic lad." Image: Rico Burton. Pic: Facebook Image: Photo credit: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP Liam O'Prey, 21, is accused of Mr Burton's murder and is also charged with the malicious wounding of a teenager, possession of a knife and possession of cocaine.He appeared via video link from custody for a brief hearing at Manchester Crown Court last Friday and has been remanded into custody.A provisional start date for his trial has been set for next year.The other person injured in the attack, a 17-year-old boy, received life-saving treatment from members of the public at the scene, Greater Manchester Police said. | Boxing |
When the OSIRIS-REx mission touched down in Utah with a sample from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid, Bennu, scientists who opened the hatch gave an audible gasp when they saw what was inside. Now, early studies from the materials parachuted down to Earth have revealed why: The sample contains evidence of carbon and water, which “together could indicate the building blocks of life on Earth,” according to a NASA press release.
The samples from Bennu could reveal answers to questions about how the solar system formed that scientists have been pursuing for decades. In the two weeks since Bennu’s sample was delivered, scientists have analyzed the crumbled rock and dust surrounding the main canister from the mission to get initial readings about the asteroid’s composition. The main analysis will be performed in the next few weeks when they open the canister. According to Nature, Bennu has already been found to have the highest percentage of carbon ever measured in an extraterrestrial object at 4.7 percent.
“The bounty of carbon-rich material and the abundant presence of water-bearing clay minerals are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg,” said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta in the press release. “These discoveries, made possible through years of dedicated collaboration and cutting-edge science, propel us on a journey to understand not only our celestial neighborhood but also the potential for life’s beginnings.” | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
On 23 August, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission landed a spacecraft near the south pole of the Moon. The lander, Vikram, and an accompanying rover collected valuable data from the lunar surface for nearly 2 weeks until they were powered down to wait out the lunar night. (Engineers have been trying to reestablish contact since 22 September.)
But the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was far from ensured. Just a few days earlier, Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed trying to land in the same region. In fact, a spate of recent lunar missions have ended in failure.
To better understand what can go wrong with a lunar mission, scientists and the public alike have pored over data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to pinpoint the precise locations of recent crashes. They’ve spotted clear evidence of several spacecraft landing not so gently on our nearest celestial neighbor.
All of the Moon, Every Month
Since 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been returning a treasure trove of data about the Moon’s topography, mineralogy, and water resources. The truck-sized orbiter is currently cruising roughly 100 kilometers above the surface of the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera—actually a suite of cameras consisting of two Narrow Angle Cameras and one Wide Angle Camera—images most of the lunar surface every month.
Data from the Narrow Angle Cameras are particularly valuable for spotting minute changes in the Moon’s landscape over time, said Robert Wagner, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University in Tempe and a member of the LRO team. “It’s great for finding small features,” he said. The Narrow Angle Cameras return some of the highest-resolution imagery of the Moon’s surface collected to date from orbit—each pixel corresponds to roughly 50 centimeters.
And Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera data aren’t used by just professional scientists: About every 90 days, a trove of new data are released to the public. (The 55th data release occurred on 15 September.) Thousands of unique users access the observations in a typical month, said Nick Estes, the Science Operations Center manager of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera at Arizona State University in Phoenix. “[They’re] definitely in use out there,” he said.
Shanmuga Subramanian, a mechanical engineer in Chennai, India, and a space afficionado, is one such person. In 2019, Subramanian learned that India’s space agency had lost contact with an earlier Vikram. The lander, which was roughly the size of a desk, had been slated to touch down on the Moon as part of the country’s Chandrayaan-2 mission. Subramanian had experience working with computer code, and he knew about the high-resolution images of the Moon’s surface captured by the LRO. Perhaps those data could be used to pinpoint Vikram’s crash site, Subramanian hypothesized.
A Meticulous Search
Subramanian downloaded an image obtained by the LRO on 17 September 2019, 10 days after Vikram’s purported crash. He compared it with images of the same region taken months earlier. Subramanian was looking for minute changes in the 2- × 2-kilometer images—anything that might correspond to debris from the 600-kilogram lander or a crater excavated by its crash. It was labor-intensive work, Subramanian said. “I started searching pixel by pixel.”
But his meticulous sleuthing paid off: After about 2 days of searching, Subramanian noticed one anomalously bright pixel in the 17 September image that was conspicuously absent in the earlier images. “It was a very tiny little white speck,” Subramanian said. He alerted the LRO team, who started searching in the same vicinity. Wagner, who often helps with processing LRO data, assembled pairs of images obtained before and after Vikram’s crash and enlisted the help of his colleagues. “We had at least half a dozen people here in the office going through a large pile of little before-after blink images I had made,” Wagner said.
The team confirmed Subramanian’s discovery and identified more than 10 additional pieces of debris strewn over an area of roughly 5 square kilometers. Subramanian’s tip was instrumental in finding Vikram, Wagner said, and the mechanical engineer was duly credited in NASA’s announcement that the lander had been spotted.
Missing Lander? Call LRO
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera data have also revealed the final resting places of other crippled spacecraft.
Israel’s Beresheet lander was attempting to land in the Sea of Serenity on 11 April 2019 when personnel at the mission’s command center in Yehud lost contact with the spacecraft. Images captured by the LRO 11 days after the purported crash revealed the impact site. The imagery showed that the roughly washing machine–sized lander had struck the rim of a small crater in a hard landing and excavated a roughly 100-meter-long swath of lunar regolith.
Earlier this year, Japan’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander also crashed on the Moon. The lander, designed and built by the company ispace, would have been the first private spacecraft to land on the Moon. On 26 April, 1 day after mission control in Tokyo lost communications with the lander, the LRO team acquired several images around the spacecraft’s intended landing site near Atlas crater. By comparing those images with data taken previously, the team homed in on what appeared to be at least four pieces of debris scattered around a roughly 50- × 100-meter site.
And when Russia’s Luna-25 hit the Moon on 19 August—just a few days before the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3—LRO once again played a starring role in pinpointing the crash site. Estes, the Science Operations Center manager, noticed something that resembled a fresh impact in data collected 5 days after the crash. The feature was enough of a visual oddity that he first spotted it without having to compare with before-crash imagery. “I saw something that looked plausible,” he said.
The LRO team later confirmed Estes’s discovery and determined that Luna-25 had crashed roughly 400 kilometers away from its intended landing site. The impact excavated a crater roughly 10 meters in diameter that showed up in LRO data as a brighter-than-normal spot. “It was this very, very spectacular brightness change,” Wagner said. “Once we did a ratio between the before and after images, it just popped out as this spray pattern of ejecta.”
After 14 years, the LRO’s data archive now includes more than a petabyte’s worth of observations and accompanying metadata, Estes said. And just this year NASA launched an interactive app featuring LRO data. Scientists and the public can compare observations of the Moon made in the 1960s by five NASA spacecraft that orbited the Moon and more recent LRO imagery to spot changes in the lunar surface.
—Katherine Kornei (@KatherineKornei), Contributing Writer
This news article is included in our ENGAGE resource for educators seeking science news for their classroom lessons. Browse all ENGAGE articles, and share with your fellow educators how you integrated the article into an activity in the comments section below. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
NASA has finally shared details about the first analysis of samples taken from the asteroid Bennu using the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020. While NASA scientists are still working on documenting the sample completely, the first analysis has showcased an abundance of water and carbon, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson revealed during a press event at the Johnson Space Center.
“The OSIRIS-REx sample is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever delivered to Earth and will help scientists investigate the origins of life on our own planet for generations to come,” Nelson said during the event. He continued, discussing NASA’s goals to learn more about where we come from, how our solar system was born, and the evolution of the universe as a whole.
While there is still much work to be done to fully understand the nature of the carbon and water compounds found within the Bennu sample, this first analysis showcases how much NASA scientists have to work with. Not only does the space agency have the sample contained within the canister, but dust and small materials were also found around the science canister.
This is the first time that NASA has shared information about what the Bennu sample has provided us with after it landed in September, and NASA plans to spend the next two years characterizing samples and conducting further analysis to help meet the mission’s science goals. NASA says that it will work to preserve at least 70 percent of the Bennu sample, allowing scientists around the world to apply for chances to study it themselves.
NASA scientists also talked about clay minerals found in the Bennu sample. These types of clay samples, the scientists say, could have played an essential role in how water came to Earth, eventually helping to produce the first living creatures on our planet.
You can find images shared by NASA during the presentation event, which showcases the compounds found, above. It will be intriguing to see what we find once we continue to analyze these Bennu samples. For now, though, the first analysis has left a wave of excitement in the scientific community. Excitement will undoubtedly continue to build as NASA prepares yet another asteroid-based mission to the metal-rich Psyche asteroid later this month. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
With just a glance at Jupiter’s small, icy moon Europa, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has bolstered the case that Earth is not our solar system’s sole habitable “ocean world.”
Europa is one of the most tantalizing places in the solar system: a wealth of observational evidence shows it hides an ocean beneath its icy crust that may possess conditions suitable for life. Now a circumstantial study by JWST—which was designed to test an instrument’s capacity more than anything else—suggests that Europa’s ocean contains carbon dioxide, a key factor in understanding the world’s potential for fostering biology.
“What we got was much, much more than we ever expected,” says Gerónimo Villanueva, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and co-author of one of two new papers reporting the JWST findings.
The brief observations used JWST’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument, which is designed to capture spectra—barcodelike measurements that quantify the amount of light at different wavelengths, which scientists can translate into information about chemical composition, temperature and other characteristics of the light’s source. The scientists were particularly interested in CO2 ice, which NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter had detected on Europa’s surface during flybys of the moon before the spacecraft’s demise in 2003.
Because carbon is one of six elements vital to life—along with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur—knowing where CO2 exists on Europa and how it got there is key to understanding whether the moon might support life. “It was a big question whether this was originating from within Europa or potentially from outside of Europa,” says Samantha Trumbo, a planetary scientist at Cornell University and co-author of one of the two new papers on JWST’s observations.
Trumbo, Villanueva and their colleagues especially wanted to understand whether Europa’s surface CO2 deposits come from reservoirs of the compound dissolved in the dark waters of the subsurface ocean, which is sandwiched between overlying ice and the moon’s rocky center. Such a scenario would mark another similarity between Europa’s ocean and Earth’s deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems, where some scientists believe our planet’s life arose.
“Look at our own ocean—it’s got lots of CO2 dissolved in it,” says Bonnie Buratti, a planetary astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Buratti is deputy project scientist on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to explore the icy moon during the 2030s, and she was not involved in either piece of new research.
Both papers, in which separate teams independently analyze the same JWST data, found particularly strong spectral signals of CO2 at Tara Regio, a region of Europa strewn with a jumbled jigsaw mix of landscape features that scientists have dubbed “chaos terrain.”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s chaotic,” says Emily Martin, a planetary geologist at the National Air and Space Museum, who was not involved in either of the new papers.
“What we think is happening, when it comes to chaos terrain, is that at some point, the surface got warm enough to break up into these little ice rafts—in some cases, large ice rafts—so that the entirety of Tara Regio is these broken-up puzzle pieces floating around in this now-solidified icy, slushy matrix,” she says. Chaos terrain, she notes, is “a really good indicator of a location that you want to spend some more time looking at.”
Chaos terrain is especially intriguing for astrobiologists because its inferred breaking-up-and-refreezing formation process could pull water from within Europa up to the surface, allowing for easier access and study. And Tara Regio’s chaos terrain is doubly compelling: Hubble Space Telescope observations from 2017 revealed that the region also harbors sodium chloride—the compound in common table salt—which presumably comes from upwellings of subsurface water as well.
“[The information from JWST is] exciting because it tells us that the carbon we’re seeing on the surface of Europa that we can actually study is coming from the interior,” Trumbo says. “It’s very strong evidence, at least, that there’s carbon in the ocean.”
That logic makes sense to Martin, too. “It’s really a compelling argument to say the unique geologic thing that we observe here is probably related to the unique compositional thing that we see here,” she says.
The new findings do include one item that might come as a disappointment. Some observations in recent years have suggested that, much like Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, Europa may shoot plumes of salty water out into space, which would allow nearby spacecraft to directly sample it. But the evidence for such outbursts at Europa has been much scarcer than at Enceladus, where NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew right through a plume in 2008.
But in JWST’s glance at Europa, there’s no clear evidence for the presence of any plumes. That null result doesn’t necessarily mean that no plumes exist—they may well be sporadic or smaller than expected—but it’s far from the clinching detection scientists might have hoped for. “We cannot say the plumes exist or not on this object, that’s for sure, because we only have one specific measurement done now—and at that particular moment, we didn’t see the plume,” Villanueva says.
The new findings are only the beginning of a resurgent focus on Europa, however. Trumbo and her colleagues have already won observing time on JWST to revisit the icy moon, and this time they’ll let the telescope’s gaze linger long enough to gain a view of Europa’s entire surface.
And no matter how spectacular JWST’s observations prove to be, they will soon be superseded by others far closer and more intimate. The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission launched this spring and will arrive in the Jupiter system in 2031; it will make two close passes by Europa during its mission. And NASA’s Europa Clipper, which Buratti works on, is due to launch in October 2024; beginning in 2031, it will make nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s mysterious icy moon. Buratti says that although Clipper’s basic trajectory is set, there’s still time to fine-tune its observing plan to squeeze as much science as possible from any close passes of Tara Regio.
“The scientists are busily working away on trying to optimize our observations, so this message from JWST is a gift,” Buratti says. “It really is a gift.” | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, is blowing scores of ethereal "vortex rings" every day from a single vent located in one of its most active craters.
On July 23, Boris Behncke, a volcanologist with Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology who is based in Sicily alongside Mount Etna, wrote on Twitter that the volcano had been "releasing dozens of gas rings" from a single vent in Bocca Nuova crater for around a week and shows no signs of stopping.
Vortex rings are made from a mix of smoke, steam and other gases released from volcanic vents at high speeds. They can remain airborne for several minutes before eventually disappearing.
"Such gas rings are produced by the explosion of gas bubbles within a narrow conduit [above a magma chamber], which shoots the gas at high speed toward the surface," Behncke wrote on Twitter. "Attrition along the conduit walls slows the movement of the gas jet, relative to the center of the conduit," which is what forms the ring shape, he added.
Mount Etna produces more vortex rings than any other volcano in the world, Behncke wrote. The Sicilian volcano spits out the gaseous loops most years, but the number of the rings varies every year. In 2000, the volcano released around 5,000 — the most on record — and the current rate is similar to that period, he added.
Vortex rings have also been observed at other volcanoes, such as Mount Stromboli, which sits on an island just north of Sicily. But they are rare elsewhere.
The secret to Etna's vortex rings is likely the shape of the conduit below the vent inside the Bocca Nuova crater. In a study published Feb. 9 in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers simulated vortex rings using a computer model and found that perfect rings required "a combination of fast gas release from gas bubbles at the top of the magma conduit and regularity in the shape of the emitting vent."
Vortex rings are not the only unusual signs of activity recently spotted at Mount Etna. On July 20, a new vent opened up in the Bocca Nuova crater, Behncke wrote on Twitter. This hole is known as a "breathing vent," because gas appears to rhythmically pulse out of the opening as if it were breathing. Two minor eruptions, which briefly spit out small clouds of ash, were also spotted at the volcano's Southeast Crater on July 10 and July 14, according to Volcano Discovery, a site that tracks volcanic eruptions.
However, none of the recent activity means that a major eruption is imminent, Behncke wrote.
Live Science newsletter
Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.
Harry is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. He studied Marine Biology at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus) and after graduating started his own blog site "Marine Madness," which he continues to run with other ocean enthusiasts. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. When not at work he can be found watching sci-fi films, playing old Pokemon games or running (probably slower than he'd like). | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
"Planetary scientists want to search for biosignatures in what they believe was once a Martian mud lake," reports Space.com: After scientists carefully studied what they believe are desiccated remnants of an equatorial mud lake on Mars, their study of Hydraotes Chaos suggests a buried trove of water surged onto the surface. If researchers are right, then this flat could become prime ground for future missions seeking traces of life on Mars... More generally, scientists suggest surface water on Mars froze over about 3.7 billion years ago as the atmosphere thinned and the surface cooled. But underground, groundwater might still have remained liquid in vast chambers. Moreover, life forms might have abided in those catacombs — leaving behind traces of their existence. Only around 3.4 billion years ago did that system of aquifers break down in Hydraotes Chaos, triggering floods of epic proportions that dumped mountains' worth of sediment onto the surface, the study suggests. Future close-up missions could someday examine that sediment for biosignatures...
Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, and his colleagues pored over images of Hydraotes Chaos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in search of more clues. In the midst of the chaos terrain's maelstrom lies a calm circle of relatively flat ground. This plain is pockmarked with cones and domes, with hints of mud bubbling from below — suggesting that sediment did not arrive via a rushing flash flood, but instead rose from underneath. Based on simulations, the authors suggest Hydraotes Chaos overlaid a reservoir of buried biosignature-rich water — potentially in the form of thick ice sheets.
Ultimately — potentially from the Red Planet's internal heat melting the ice — that water bubbled up to the surface and created a muddy lake. As the water dissipated, it would have left behind all those tantalizing biosignatures. Curiously, that water might have remained underground even after those megafloods. In fact, the authors' results suggest the sediment on the surface of this mud lake dates from only around 1.1 billion years ago: long after most of Mars's groundwater ought to have flooded out, and certainly long after Mars was habitable. With that timeline in mind, Rodriguez and colleagues plan to analyze what lies under the surface of the lake. That, Rodriguez tells Space.com, would allow scientists to establish when in Martian history the planet might have hosted life.
Rodriguez tells Space.com that this region is now "under consideration" for testing with an under-development NASA instrument called Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (EXCALIBR) — that could test extraterrestrial rocks for biomarkers like lipids.
Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, and his colleagues pored over images of Hydraotes Chaos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in search of more clues. In the midst of the chaos terrain's maelstrom lies a calm circle of relatively flat ground. This plain is pockmarked with cones and domes, with hints of mud bubbling from below — suggesting that sediment did not arrive via a rushing flash flood, but instead rose from underneath. Based on simulations, the authors suggest Hydraotes Chaos overlaid a reservoir of buried biosignature-rich water — potentially in the form of thick ice sheets.
Ultimately — potentially from the Red Planet's internal heat melting the ice — that water bubbled up to the surface and created a muddy lake. As the water dissipated, it would have left behind all those tantalizing biosignatures. Curiously, that water might have remained underground even after those megafloods. In fact, the authors' results suggest the sediment on the surface of this mud lake dates from only around 1.1 billion years ago: long after most of Mars's groundwater ought to have flooded out, and certainly long after Mars was habitable. With that timeline in mind, Rodriguez and colleagues plan to analyze what lies under the surface of the lake. That, Rodriguez tells Space.com, would allow scientists to establish when in Martian history the planet might have hosted life.
Rodriguez tells Space.com that this region is now "under consideration" for testing with an under-development NASA instrument called Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (EXCALIBR) — that could test extraterrestrial rocks for biomarkers like lipids. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Thousand-mile-per-hour winds are blowing a hail of tiny quartz crystals through the silicate-enhanced, scorching hot atmosphere of a distant gas giant planet called WASP-17b, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found.
"We knew from Hubble [Space Telescope] observations that there must be aerosols — tiny particles making up clouds or haze — in WASP-17b’s atmosphere, but we didn’t expect them to be made of quartz," Daniel Grant of the University of Bristol in the UK and leader of a new study on the discovery, said in a statement.
WASP-17b is an incredible world. Orbiting every 3.7 days at a distance of just 7.8 million kilometers (4.9 million miles) from its star, which sits 1,300 light years away from Earth, WASP-17b is so close to its stellar host that its dayside temperature rises to a staggering 1,500 degrees Celsius (approximately 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit). Because the atmosphere is so hot on this exoplanet, the world has actually expanded to about 285,000 kilometers (176,892 miles) across, which is just shy of twice the diameter of Jupiter. And that's despite WASP-17b having only about half of Jupiter’s overall mass. WASP-17b is one of the "puffiest" planets known — and its bloated atmosphere makes it a great target for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Grant and fellow astronomers watched WASP-17b transit its star using the JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). As the exoplanet moved in front of its star from the JWST's point of view, MIRI detected starlight that was blocked by the puffy planet itself but partially absorbed by the world's atmosphere. Such measurements result in a so-called transmission spectrum, whereby certain wavelengths are blocked out by particular atmospheric molecules.
Like Jupiter, WASP-17b appeared to be mostly made from hydrogen and helium. In addition, MIRI detected carbon dioxide, water vapor and, at a wavelength of 8.6 microns, the absorption signature of pure quartz crystals. Combined with previous observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, these crystals are judged to be shaped like the same pointy, hexagonal prisms as quartz is on Earth, but just a meager 10 nanometers in size.
Quartz is a form of silicate, which are minerals rich in silica and oxygen. Silicates are exceptionally common — all the rocky bodies in the solar system are made from them, and silicates have previously been detected in the atmospheres of hot Jupiter exoplanets before. However, in those cases they had been more complex, magnesium-rich crystals of olivine and pyroxene.
"We fully expected to see magnesium silicates," said Bristol’s Hannah Wakeford. "But what we’re seeing instead are likely the building blocks of those, the tiny seed particles need to form the larger silicate grains we detect in cooler exoplanets and brown dwarfs."
WASP-27b is also tidally locked, meaning it always shows the same face to its star. As winds whip around the planet, carrying along the quartz nanoparticles, they form high-altitude hazes — essentially diffuse clouds of rock crystals — at the day–night termination zone. Those hazes then venture into the dayside, and are vaporized in the heat.
Grant explained how crystals of silicate come to be embedded in a planetary atmosphere in the first place.
"WASP-17b is extremely hot … and the pressure where the quartz crystals form high in the atmosphere is only about one-thousandth of what we experience on Earth’s surface," he said. "In these conditions, solid crystals can form directly from gas, without going through a liquid phase first."
The findings were published in October in Astrophysical Journal Letters. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Scientists have analyzed one of the oldest space rocks ever discovered. The data could reveal secrets about the solar system in its infancy during the birth of the planets and also help scientists better determine the ages of the oldest meteorites that fall to Earth.
The 4.6-billion-year-old Erg Chech 002 meteorite, which is encrusted with green crystals, was discovered in the Erg Chech region of the Sahara Desert in Algeria in 2020.
Meteorites like this are believed to have formed from material in a disk of gas and dust around the infant sun. Cold, dense patches of this "solar nebula" collapsed to birth the planets, but leftover material formed comets and asteroids from which meteors break away, often finding their way to the surface of Earth in the form of meteorites. This means that meteorites can paint a picture of the elements that served as the building blocks of the planets.
Erg Chech 002 contained the radioactive isotope Aluminum-26 when it formed, which is significant because this unstable form of Aluminum is believed to have been important in a later stage of Earth's evolution, so-called "planetary melting," the team, led by Australian National University scientist Evgenii Krestianinov, wrote in a paper published in Nature Communications.
Planetary melting is believed to be the process by which rocky planets like ours "differentiated" or formed different compositions at different layers. This is because the melting allows denser material to sink to the core of planets. So, for Earth, an example of this differentiation would be the formation of a dense metal core and, above it, a less dense rocky mantle.
Understanding how Aluminum-26 was distributed as the planets were forming around 4.6 billion years ago is thus important to building a picture of how the rocky inner planets of the solar system evolved. Additionally, because Aluminum-26 decays to Magnesium-26, a stable form of Magnesium, it can be used as a dating system for space rocks.
To determine the age of Erg Chech 002 as 4.566 billion years old, the team measured the amounts of lead isotopes within it, but this, ironically, could have provided scientists with a way of improving another dating strategy for similar meteorites.
"Aluminum-26 is very useful stuff for scientists who want to understand how the solar system formed and developed," Krestianinov told Live Science. "Because it decays over time, we can use it to date events — particularly within the first four or five million years of the solar system's life."
Meteorite dating made easy
The half-life of Aluminum-26 is around 717,000 years, meaning it is too short-lived to be directly found in large quantities in the 4.6-million-year-old space rock. But, when it decays, this radioactive isotope of Aluminum leaves behind Magnesium-26, a stable non-radioactive isotope of Magnesium.
That means Magnesium-26 can be used to determine the starting amount of Aluminum-26 in a space rock like Erg Chech 002, and this could be used as a dating system (also known as a chronometer) for space rocks. But there is something that scientists need to know first.
"The Aluminum-26 – Magnesium-26 decay system also serves as a high-resolution relative chronometer," the authors write, adding that to do this, it is important to determine if Aluminum-26 was unevenly or evenly distributed throughout the solar nebula that birthed the planets, asteroids, and comets of the solar system.
The researchers' study of Erg Chech 002, an achondrite rock formed by melting planetesimals, was combined with existing data regarding angrite meteorites — a rare group of achondrites. Achondrites are meteorites that show signs of having experienced melting and have features similar to volcanic rock here on Earth.
"We found that the parent body of Erg Chech 002 must have formed from material containing three or four times as much Aluminum-26 as the source of the angrites' parent body," said Krestianinov. "This shows Aluminum-26 was indeed distributed quite unevenly throughout the cloud of dust and gas which formed the solar system."
This revises our picture of Aluminum-26 in the early solar system and could suggest that the age of meteorites that have been dated using this method alone in the past may have to be revised.
Yet, the team's findings also point to the Aluminum-26 – Magnesium-26 decay as a more effective chronometer for meteorites.
"Developing a generalized approach for isotopic dating with Aluminum-26 – Magnesium-26 and other extinct isotope chronometers that accounts for heterogeneous distribution of the parent radionuclide would allow [us] to produce more accurate and reliable age data for meteorites and asteroidal and planetary materials to advance a better understanding for the formation of our solar system," the authors concluded.
The team's research was published on Aug. 29 in Nature Communications. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Powerful volcanic eruptions that blast diamonds high into the sky and scatter the precious stones across the Earth’s surface have long mystified researchers. But now, scientists have worked out what unfolds more than 100 miles underground to propel the crystals upwards with such spectacular force.
The work sheds light on the enigmatic processes that cause the rare eruptions and where diamond-rich deposits are most likely to be found.
“There’s a sweetspot in the interior of continents where diamonds form,” said Prof Tom Gernon, a geologist at the University of Southampton who led the latest study. “The question is why on earth do they shoot up from the deep after spending potentially billions of years sat there?”
To solve the mystery, the international team analysed historical data on continental plates, the vast, slow-moving slabs of Earth’s crust, and kimberlites, the diamond-bearing rocks ejected by the eruptions. They found that over the past billion years, most kimberlite eruptions happened about 25m years after continental plates tore apart.
On closer inspection, the researchers noticed that the first kimberlite eruptions to happen after the breakup of continental plates were near to the plate edges, with later eruptions taking place increasingly towards the middle of the plate.
Continental plates tear apart and come together over immense timescales. About 300m years ago, North and South America were connected to Africa and Europe as part of a single supercontinent called Pangea, but the vast landmass began to break apart about 175m years ago.
Drawing on computer models of rock and magma, the scientists pieced together the chain of events that appear to drive diamond-rich eruptions. The process starts when continental plates are stretched as they begin to tear apart. This rifting causes the rock to become thinner and disrupts the normal flow of material in Earth’s mantle, the layer directly beneath.
The disruption in the mantle is powerful enough to break chunks of rock off the base of the continental plate. These rocks are under such immense pressure that over hundreds of millions of years, carbon deposits can change structure to form diamond.
As the chunks of rock sink down in to the mantle, they drive even more disruptive flows that spread outwards, stripping layers of rock tens of miles thick from the bottom of the plate above. The domino effect brings together all the necessary ingredients to produce diamond-bearing kimberlite magma, the scientists report in Nature. When enough melt has formed, it rises fast and blasts through the crust as a powerful eruption.
The most recent kimberlite eruption is thought to have happened 11,000 years ago at Igwisi Hills in Tanzania, but most took place in the Cretaceous period 146m to 66m years ago. Unlike normal volcanic eruptions, kimberlite eruptions leave vertical pipe-like holes in the ground that form the basis of many diamond mines.
“We know where, when and why kimberlites are forming and that’s really useful for exploration,” said Gernon. “We know the events needed to trigger this domino effect, and by joining the dots, we can target those areas that hold the most promise for diamonds to be there in the first place.”
“These eruptions are quite rare in Earth’s history because they require this perfect storm of conditions and events to generate them,” he added. “The dinosaurs would have been walking around in some of these areas, watching these events, and they would have been quite perplexed. They are extremely rapid events and they probably wouldn’t be expecting them.” | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
TUCSON — Hot and dry air, perfused with a scent reminiscent of a warmed hair straightener, stuffed a hangar-sized room beneath the football stadium at the University of Arizona. The space, part of the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab, was dominated by a gyrating, carousel-sized furnace, fire truck red and shaped like a flying saucer. The swirling cocoon of a colossal light collector.
“It’s making 4.9 revolutions per minute,” says astronomer Buell Januzzi of the University of Arizona, raising his voice over the lab’s droning ventilation system. About half past noon on October 7, after about a week of gradual warming, the temperature inside the rotating machine had finally peaked at 1165° Celsius.
In the heart of that inferno, nearly 17,500 kilograms of borosilicate glass — roughly four semitruck loads — had melted into a crystal clear fluid. If all goes to plan, the molten material will anneal to form the body of an enormous mirror — one as tall as a two-story house, if stood on edge. The mirror is the last of seven needed to capture light for what will be the world’s most powerful optical instrument, the Giant Magellan Telescope.
Slated to start operating in the late 2020s, the telescope, developed by an international consortium of research institutions, will repose on a mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert, beneath some of the clearest night skies on Earth. There, within a yet-to-be-built, 22-story enclosure, the seven primary mirrors will be united in a flowerlike formation, Januzzi explains. “We’ve got six petals, and one in the middle.”
Together, the mirrors will function as a single unit, about as wide as an adult blue whale is long, that reflects light into the telescope’s secondary mirrors and, ultimately, its scientific instruments. This shiny expanse will provide the new telescope with an image resolution at least four times that of today’s most advanced space telescopes.
And unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, best suited for measuring infrared light emitted by hot celestial bodies, the Giant Magellan Telescope will excel at capturing optical and near-infrared wavelengths of light emitted by cooler, Earthlike worlds (SN: 8/20/23; SN: 3/27/23). That’s light that could potentially carry signatures of alien life.
“It’s going to give us the opportunity to find potentially habitable planets,” says astrobiologist Antígona Segura of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.
Current instruments may be able to measure a particular exoplanet’s mass, says Segura, who isn’t involved with the telescope’s construction. And sometimes, researchers may even be able to detect certain molecules in a large exoplanet’s atmosphere when it passes in front of its star. This new telescope, however, will be able to directly measure a smaller planet’s atmosphere, without relying on a starlight backdrop, and detect much more of what floats within.
The telescope’s name originates with Ferdinand Magellan, leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe. Some astronomers have called for renaming the galaxies known as the Magellanic Clouds, due partly to the explorer’s brutal actions toward Indigenous people (SN: 9/26/23). But according to a spokesperson from the consortium constructing the telescope, no decisions have yet been made to change the telescope’s name.
In the meantime, the marathon that is the casting of the mirrors continues. It took about eight years to fabricate JWST’s segmented, 6.5-meter-wide mirror. Casting the Giant Magellan Telescope’s primary mirrors — each nearly 8.5 meters wide — has been ongoing for roughly 18 years.
Starting with a glass-loaded furnace, it takes about a week to bring the enclosed material to peak temperature, causing it to melt and flow into a mold comprised of hexagonal columns. After three more months of cooling and annealing, the glass mirror resembles two pancakes sandwiching a honeycomb. The 80-percent-hollow structure is light enough to float on oil, but stiff enough to resist bending in the wind.
The mirror then undergoes two years of polishing, yielding a surface so smooth that if it were expanded to the size of North America, the tallest imperfection would be half as tall as a golf tee.
Finally, a 100-nanometer-thick coat of aluminum — excellent for reflecting visible light — is applied to the clear glass surface. It’s this last step that will enable the telescope to possibly capture glimpses of alien worlds, in wavelengths of light that our puny, human eyes can recognize. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
The center of the Earth is almost 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beneath our feet. To put that into context, the deepest humans have ever drilled is 7.6 miles (12.2 km) down, and it took geologists nearly 20 years to get that far, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Fortunately, scientists don't have to burrow inside our planet to study it. By measuring seismic waves traveling through Earth, researchers have developed a solid understanding of its basic internal structure. So, what's inside Earth?
Planet Earth is broadly composed of a crust, mantle and core. The crust hosts all known life, but it's merely Earth's outer casing, accounting for only 1% of the planet's total volume. The mantle, or middle layer, makes up 84% of Earth's volume, and the innermost layer, the core, makes up the final 15%, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The crust
The crust is split into oceanic crust and continental crust. The oceanic crust is 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) thick and located beneath the oceans, while the continental crust is up to 50 miles (80 km) thick, according to the Seismin project at University College London.
Related: How does coal form?
The oceanic crust is mostly basalt rock, and it's denser than the continental crust, which is largely granite. So when an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser oceanic crust travels beneath the continental crust, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com. This process takes a long time but eventually sends oceanic crust down into the mantle at a rate of 1 to 3 inches (2 to 8 centimeters) per year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The mantle
The mantle isn't liquid, but it's less rigid than sinking oceanic crust, Sunyoung Park, an assistant professor who studies Earth's internal structure at the University of Chicago, told Live Science. "In geological timescale[s], it's almost acting like a fluid, although it's solid rock," she said.
The mantle is made up of different minerals, but bridgmanite is probably the most abundant, Park noted.
This part of Earth runs to a depth of around 1,800 miles (2,900 km), according to the Seismin project, and there's an upper mantle and a lower mantle. Earth's internal temperature increases between the boundary of the upper mantle and the bottom of the lower mantle, ranging from around 1,800 to 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 to 3,700 degrees Celsius), according to Space.com.
The core
A 1,400-mile-thick (2,300 km) sea of molten iron and nickel marks the beginning of Earth's core. This liquid sea, known as the outer core, surrounds a mostly solid iron ball — around 1,520 miles (2,440 km) wide — called the inner core. The liquid iron outer core swirls around the inner core, giving Earth its magnetic field.
Our planet formed around 4.6 billion years ago, and as it cooled, heavier elements such as iron and nickel migrated inward to create the core. The inside of Earth is still cooling, and as it does so, the inner core continues to form, Park said.
"Just like water becoming ice, iron is getting solidified and becoming [the] inner core, so [the] inner core is actually growing," Park said. But it's growing more slowly than a human fingernail, she added.
The inner core is about 9,400 F (5,200 C) — about as hot as the surface of the sun — but tremendous pressure keeps it mostly solid. Inside the inner core is the innermost core, a 450-mile-wide (725 km) solid metal ball.
Live Science newsletter
Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.
Patrick Pester is a freelance writer and previously a staff writer at Live Science. His background is in wildlife conservation and he has worked with endangered species around the world. Patrick holds a master's degree in international journalism from Cardiff University in the U.K. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
NASA has a good problem.
The space agency revealed the first scientific insights from the black asteroid pieces it collected from ancient asteroid Bennu, revealing evidence of two essential ingredients for life as we know it: carbon and water. The investigation of the asteroid contents, which plummeted down to Earth on Sept. 24, is happening in a specialized clean room at the Johnson Space Center, where the agency also stores its prized moon rocks.
Scientists haven't even yet opened the actual canister that contains the bulk of what the sample collection spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, plucked from the 4.5 billion-year-old space rock. That's because NASA discovered they have much more asteroid to scrutinize than expected: These initial asteroid fragments were trapped outside the main collection compartment when the spacecraft slammed its cover shut after quickly diving down to fetch samples. Researchers are now carefully scouring the first intriguing grains before looking deeper inside at their greater space bounty.
Ultimately, planetary scientists hope all these pieces from asteroid Bennu — a time capsule preserving our primordial solar system — can reveal how these primitive ingredients gave rise to Earth, and the thriving life therein.
"We're trying to find out who we are, what we are, and where we came from," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said during the Oct. 11 reveal.
In the image released by NASA below, you can see the asteroid pieces gathered on top of the sample collector:
Tweet may have been deleted
So far, scientists found that OSIRIS-REx — short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer – picked up small rocky grains composed of nearly five percent carbon, which is a significant find. "Carbon is essential for all life on Earth. We are all carbon based," emphasized Daniel Glavin, a NASA astrobiologist, at the reveal event.
"Carbon is essential for all life on Earth. We are all carbon based."
What's more, extreme close-ups of these first samples using electron microscopes also revealed clay minerals containing water. Together with carbon, water-bearing asteroids like Bennu could have helped supply Earth with the essential ingredients needed for life to begin developing in our planet's ancient seas.
NASA suspects that once they open the sample container, they'll find some 250 grams, or 8.8 ounces, of asteroid material, plenty more than the original goal of 60 grams.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, after successfully dropping off the capsule above Earth, is now flying to its next destination, an asteroid called Apophis. NASA plans to arrive in 2029, the same year the over 1,000-foot-wide Apophis will pass unsettlingly close to Earth (under one-tenth the distance between Earth and the moon.) Fortunately, this sizable rock will miss our planet, but the mission, now called OSIRIS-APEX, will observe how the encounter will affect Apophis' orbit and behavior. (There are no known potential collision threats from asteroids for over the next 100 years.)
For now, NASA has its hands full with bounties of asteroid material, which it will both preserve for future scientists (who might have technological capabilities and questions we haven't even thought of) and with over 200 current researchers around the globe.
"Already, this is scientific treasure," said Dante Lauretta, the mission's lead scientist.
Topics NASA | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Predicting earthquakes is impossible.
When it comes to knowing when an earthquake is coming, a crucial piece missing from the puzzle is what seismologists call a precursor: A telltale fingerprint of an earthquake that arrives before the big event. To date, no one has found a reliable precursor; many scientists don't believe they'll ever find one.
But two researchers may have made a breakthrough in the search for a precursor. If they are right, earthquakes may make their presence known through GPS measurements, several hours before their respective main events.
"Conceptually, that tells you that it is possible to do it. That's a huge step," believes Quentin Bletery, a seismologist at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and the Université Côte d'Azur in France.
Bletery and colleague Jean-Mathieu Nocquet turned to a dataset kept by the University of Nevada at Reno. Every five minutes, thousands of stations around the world record their GPS positions. These observations allow scientists to detect even very slight motions. If the ground moved, Bletery and Nocquet could see it in GPS data.
Singling out GPS stations situated around the known locations of earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.0 or higher, Bletery and Nocquet studied those stations' recorded positions — and how they changed — within the 48 hours leading up to the respective quake. They calculated how well the actual motion matched the motion that they expected each quake to cause.
The researchers found that, in the final two hours before a quake, the ground's motion often began to align with the expected motion. That alignment seemed to intensify as the time of the quake approached. Although slight, this pattern did not generally appear when Bletery and Nocquet examined randomly selected two-hour windows that mostly didn't have earthquakes.
The motion in those final two hours, then, may contain the precursors that seismologists have long sought. But even with that knowledge, seismologists are a long way away from transforming it into a means of predicting earthquakes. That's because today's instruments are nowhere near good enough to detect this motion before the fact. Bletery says that existing equipment would need to be some 50 times more sensitive in order to detect a precursor to one earthquake.
"That's a huge technological gap," says Bletery. "We just don't have the technology yet to do it." Adding more GPS stations may help, and Bletery expects scientists to do just that, but it won't be enough in itself.
Still, Bletery believes it is a sign of progress that may interest scientists. For one, he says, their discovery provides evidence that earthquakes aren't chaotic, instantaneous events due to faults abruptly moving. Rather, the two-hour preview suggests that earthquakes may have precursor elements that could give them away before they happen.
Moreover, their results opened other questions. The largest earthquake that Bletery and Nocquet studied was the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, which spawned a devastating tsunami off Japan's east coast in 2011. When they examined GPS data along Japan's coast they found that the motions seemed to match far more than two hours before the quake: in a cycle that seemed to repeat every 3.6 hours or so. What, if anything, caused this cycle remains a mystery.
The research is published in the journal Science. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Minerals in ancient meteorites offer insights into the origin of most of the Earth's surface
Dr. Alice Stephant, an astrophysicist, is helping to solve a longstanding mystery about water on Earth: where it came from.
Scientists long thought that water, which covers 70% of the Earth, is probably rare or non-existent on other planets. The assumption was that water on Earth resulted from a unique series of galactic events billions of years ago.
Stephant, who works at the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy's capital Rome, is challenging these longstanding assumptions.
She has produced research that suggests the chemical components of water—hydrogen and oxygen—could have come from the giant cloud of dust and gas that gave rise to Earth's solar system.
If water from that cloud could go directly into forming planets, it could exist all over the universe. "Maybe this way of bringing water to a planetary body can occur in any other solar system," said Stephant, a French native who has also worked in the U.K. and U.S.
She led a research project called POSEIDON that received EU funding to try to determine the origins of water on Earth. The team looked at the chemical components of hydrogen and oxygen in a particular type of meteorite: primitive achondrites.
The project wrapped up in January 2023 after 29 months.
Solar births
Earth's solar system was born around 4.5 billion years ago out of a swirling cloud of dust and gas known as the solar nebula. Over time, gravity pulled this material together and towards the middle of the nebula.
Once almost all of it—more than 99%—had gathered in the center, the pressure and heat created by the compression triggered nuclear fusion and the sun was born.
The remaining material orbited the sun and eventually started to combine to form larger objects. Some grew into the planets and moons seen today. Others didn't and instead became meteoroids, comets and asteroids.
These pieces of rocky debris are important to scientists because they are relics from the early history of the solar system. Primitive achondrites are of particular interest because they come from asteroids that were among the very first planetary building blocks in the solar system.
New meteorite group
Stephant identified a new group of primitive achondrites that provide important clues to the source of water on Earth—and on other planets in the solar system.
Previously, there were only two known groups of primitive achondrites. Stephant has identified a third, which is distinguished by what's called an isotypic composition of oxygen. This means these meteorites come from different material in the early solar system.
They also contain a different hydrogen isotope. That means the hydrogen has a different number of neurons in its nucleus. "There were probably several sources of water, not just one," said Stephant.
One of the possible sources is primordial hydrogen, which likely came from nebular gases in the early formation of the solar system.
The components of water might have been present in the earliest building blocks of planets. If so, it's more likely that the components of water were incorporated into the chemical makeup of many planets. And that significantly increases the likelihood of water existing on the surfaces of other planets in the universe.
"People used to say that the water on Earth is from a combination of many events that make it unique," said Stephant. "But maybe in fact it is not."
Time test
As Stephant seeks further evidence of the origin of water, Dr. Sandrine Péron is exploring elements that came with it to Earth to learn more about the early solar system. Péron is a geochemist at ETH Zürich, a university in Switzerland, and a native of France.
Krypton and xenon isotopes help scientists understand the origins of Earth's volatile elements like carbon, nitrogen and water. That's because these isotopes were brought to Earth along with volatile elements including water. Because the isotopes are much less reactive, they retain the ancient chemical fingerprints that point to their origins in the early solar system.
The chemical signatures of krypton and xenon in a class of primitive meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites match those in the Earth's mantle. That shows that these meteorites were incorporated into the mantle.
Krypton anomaly
Several years ago, Péron and her colleagues sampled krypton in the Earth's mantle from geological hot spots in Iceland and the Galapagos Islands that throw up magma from deep in the Earth.
The researchers discovered a relative scarcity of krypton with the isotope number 86. "We found that, in the Earth's deep mantle, we have a deficit of krypton 86 compared to the average composition of carbonaceous chondrites," Péron said.
If the krypton 86 deficit is the result of an anomaly in the creation of atomic nuclei in the primitive solar system, it would indicate that water—and other volatile elements—were brought to Earth before nebula material was well mixed.
Museum pieces
The krypton anomaly indicates that, as well as carbonaceous chondrites, other meteorites contributed to the Earth's mantle.
In VolatileOrigin, Péron is examining meteorites that have landed on Earth and now sit in museums to determine whether any have the same krypton anomaly as the Earth's deep mantle.
The project is also looking for krypton deficits in the Earth's upper mantle. Such anomalies were created before the solar system was formed and show that various isotopes weren't well mixed, according to Péron.
"These different isotopes are produced by different types of stars or supernovas," she said. "When this material is incorporated in the solar system, we could have some parts that are getting more of one particular isotope or another."
The chemical signatures left over from these ancient cosmic events provide clues to the journey that materials took between different parts of the solar system during its early development.
"When we see these anomalies, either in meteorites or in the Earth, it gives us information about the processes occurring during the early phases of the formation of the solar system," said Péron.
Provided by Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Luke Keller is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ithaca College and has received funding from NASA.
Analysis of this sample will help scientists understand how the solar system formed and from what sorts of materials. Scientists will begin their analysis in the same facility that analyzed rocks and dust from the Apollo lunar landings.
As an astronomer studying how planets form around distant stars, I felt excited watching the broadcast of that Bennu sample descending to the Utah desert – and a little envious. Those of us who study distant young solar systems can’t send robotic spacecraft to get a closer look at them, let alone grab a sample for laboratory analysis. Instead, we rely on remote observations.
But what astronomers can measure using telescopes is not what we really want to know – instead, we calculate the properties we're interested in studying by observing and interpreting apparent properties from afar.
Astronomers' tools
Asteroids are like fossils – they're composed of rocky material from the formation and early evolution of a solar system and they are preserved nearly unchanged. That’s how the pristine Bennu samples will help astronomers learn about our solar system’s formation.
Over the past several decades, astronomers have learned that disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks orbit young stars. Observing these disks – located many light years outside our solar system – can help astronomers understand the early planet formation process, but they’re too distant to send a sample-return mission like OSIRIS-REx to directly measure what the dust and asteroids in these systems are made of.
All that astronomers like me can do is observe those distant regions of the universe remotely, using telescopes here on Earth or in orbit near Earth. But even with limited tools and techniques, we’ve still managed to learn quite a bit about them.
Distance and luminosity
The closest protoplanetary systems are a few hundred light years from the sun, but we can’t directly measure distances that large. Instead, we have to determine distance indirectly using precise measurements of parallax – small changes in the apparent position of the star caused by our changing perspective as Earth orbits the sun.
Once we know their distances from Earth, we can determine another essential physical property of protoplanetary disks: Their luminosities and the luminosities of their stars.
Luminosity is an object’s power output measured in watts. The luminosity of a star like our sun is in the hundreds of trillions of trillions of watts. Just as sunlight influences weather and the chemistry of planetary atmospheres in our solar system, the luminosity of a young star directly affects the material in its protoplanetary disk. Luminosity can alter the size and composition of dust particles that will later form asteroids and planetary cores.
But brightness does not directly indicate luminosity. The measured brightness of a star or any luminous object decreases with the square of its distance from us. We measure the apparent brightness of a star, or how bright it looks in a digital image, and then calculate its luminosity from this observed brightness and the star's distance.
Color and temperature
Luminosity also depends on temperature – warmer objects are usually more luminous – but we can't directly measure the temperatures of distant systems. Astronomers determine temperature using precise measurements of the apparent color of a star and of the gas and dust orbiting in its planet-forming disk.
The color images of celestial objects that you see from observatories like the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes are composites of multiple images taken through a series of colored filters.
For astronomers, colors are numbers describing the brightness of an object at a particular wavelength compared with its brightness at another wavelength. Warmer objects emit more blue light relative to red light, so their color looks more blue and the corresponding number is smaller. Astronomers measure color in even more detail by passing starlight through a small prism installed in the telescope’s camera. This prism disperses the light into a spectrum.
The spectrum of light from a star and its surrounding material isn’t a smooth rainbow of color. Sharp bright and dark features in the spectra indicate the presence and relative abundances of atoms, molecules and even minerals. These chemical elements emit or absorb light in unique and recognizable combinations of colors.
Measurement and interpretation
Can you see a theme emerging? Astronomers can measure only a handful of apparent properties: brightness, color, position in the sky, shape, angular size and how each of these changes with time. These are the same properties each of us measures with our senses to navigate our surroundings in everyday life. They’re nothing exotic or special.
And yet everything astronomers know about distant solar systems and their formation we have derived from measurements of these familiar and unremarkable apparent properties. The rich and detailed descriptions that we've come to expect in astronomy and astrophysics come from applying our understanding of chemistry and physics to these measurements.
The arrival of the Bennu sample is exciting because it is "real." In the coming months and years, scientists will examine this dust to inform our studies not only of asteroids and interplanetary dust, but also of interstellar dust in solar systems farther afield. I am eager to see what these new details will teach us about cosmic dust, some of the primary building blocks of planets everywhere.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed homemade carbon dioxide on Jupiter's icy moon Europa, raising the possibility that the frigid waterworld could host life.
Europa, which is a little bit smaller than Earth's moon, is covered with a crust of water ice enveloping a saltwater ocean. The presence of liquid water makes Europa an intriguing object of exploration for scientists interested in extraterrestrial life. But until now, no one had shown that the ocean contained the proper molecules, particularly carbon, which is a fundamental building block of life on Earth.
The new detection by JWST is intriguing because the carbon dioxide does not seem to have been carried by a meteorite or asteroid, and it appears in a geologically young region of the moon called Tara Regio, suggesting the gas may have formed within the moon itself.
"Previous observations from the Hubble Space Telescope show evidence for ocean-derived salt in Tara Regio," Cornell University planetary scientist Samantha Trumbo said in a statement. "Now we’re seeing that carbon dioxide is heavily concentrated there as well. We think this implies that the carbon probably has its ultimate origin in the internal ocean."
Trumbo is the lead author of one of two papers on the new Europa observations published in the journal Science on Sept. 21. Thanks to JWST’s power, researchers needed only minutes of the observatory's time to discern new details about Europa, Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy said in the statement.
The researchers found signs of both crystalline and amorphous carbon dioxide on Europa. ("Amorphous" refers to a disorganized molecular form, as compared with the rigid patterns of crystals.) They saw high concentrations in what astronomers call "chaos regions," where the surface crust has been disrupted and there is likely movement of materials between the crust and interior ocean. Because carbon dioxide doesn't stay stable for long on Europa's surface, the researchers believe that the carbon came up from the ocean relatively recently. Europa's surface is, on average, around 60 million years old, as estimated by the few craters pockmarking the ice, according to 2022 research. The chaos terrain is generally younger than average.
Scientists are planning two missions to Europa in the upcoming years. NASA's Clipper mission, expected to launch in 2024, will provide observations of the moon from orbit, with a focus on searching for molecules and conditions conducive to life. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency launched the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft in April; it will arrive at the gas giant in 2031. That craft will conduct 35 flybys of the three moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Live Science newsletter
Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.
Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Discovery of molten layer covering Mars may explain why Martians don't exist
Researchers say their latest analysis shows the difference between Earth and Mars' internal structures - and could explain why there is life on one and not the other.
Wednesday 25 October 2023 16:04, UK
A liquid silicate "blanket" wrapped around the core of Mars gives us new clues about the planet's history and why it is devoid of life, researchers have said.
Findings from a paper published today in the journal Nature provide insights into how Mars formed, evolved and became the barren planet it is now, according to an international team of researchers.
NASA's InSight mission to Mars launched in 2018 and has helped scientists map out the planet's internal structure, including the size and composition of its core, and provided general hints about its tumultuous formation.
The mission officially ended in December 2022 after more than four years of collecting Mars data, but analysis of its observations continues.
The findings published today, which cast doubts on the first estimates of the Red Planet, are from the analysis of a powerful meteorite impact observed by the InSight mission that occurred in September 2021.
The journal details the use of seismic data to locate and identify a thin layer of molten silicates - rock-forming minerals that make up the crust and mantle of Mars and Earth - lying between the Martian mantle and core.
With the discovery of this molten layer, the researchers determined that Mars' core is both denser and smaller than previous estimates, a conclusion that better aligns with other geophysical data and analysis of Martian meteorites.
Molten layer is like a 'heating blanket'
Vedran Lekic, a professor of geology at the University of Maryland and co-author of the paper, compared the molten layer to a "heating blanket" covering the Martian core.
"The blanket not only insulates the heat coming from the core and prevents the core from cooling, but also concentrates radioactive elements whose decay generates heat," he said.
"And when that happens, the core is likely to be unable to produce the convective motions that would create a magnetic field - which can explain why Mars currently doesn't have an active magnetic field around it."
Why is there no life on Mars?
Without that functional protective magnetic field around itself, a terrestrial planet such as Mars would be extremely vulnerable to harsh solar winds and lose all the water on its surface, making it incapable of sustaining life, Prof Lekic said.
He added that the difference between Earth and Mars' internal structures could explain why there is life on one and not the other.
The paper's lead author, Henri Samuel, a scientist with the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said: "The thermal blanketing of Mars' metallic core by the liquid layer at the base of the mantle implies that external sources are necessary to generate the magnetic field recorded in the Martian crust during the first 500 to 800 million years of its evolution.
"These sources could be energetic impacts or core motion generated by gravitational interactions with ancient satellites which have since then disappeared."
'Paving the way for future missions'
The team said their conclusions support theories that Mars was at one time a molten ocean of magma that later crystallised to produce a layer of silicate melt enriched in iron and radioactive elements at the base of the Martian mantle.
The heat emanating from the radioactive elements would then have dramatically altered the thermal evolution and cooling history of the red planet, according to the paper.
"These layers, if widespread, can have pretty big consequences for the rest of the planet," Prof Lekic said.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
"Their existence can help tell us whether magnetic fields can be generated and maintained, how planets cool over time, and also how the dynamics of their interiors change over time."
"This new discovery of a molten layer is just one example of how we continue to learn new things from the completed InSight mission.
"We hope that the information we've gathered on planetary evolution using seismic data is paving the way for future missions to celestial bodies like the moon and other planets like Venus." | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Sept. 24 was a big day for NASA, when an orange-and-white capsule containing pieces of an asteroid landed on Earth, charred from its ultrahigh-speed fall through our atmosphere. The asteroid in question, named Bennu, is thought to have been roaming space since the early days of our solar system — meaning these samples could reveal to us what our cosmic neighborhood looked like way before we got here.
Shot into space as part of the agency's OSIRIS-REx mission in 2016, the capsule was enclosed for years within a spacecraft that made a 4-billion-mile-long journey to reach Bennu. Once on the asteroid's surface, it then extended an arm that briefly touched down on the rock in order to retrieve a little bit of its material.
The hope, scientists had said, was to collect at least 60 grams of Bennu's material — and, on Monday (Oct. 23), the OSIRIS-REx team announced the mighty spacecraft managed to retrieve far more. Far. More.
According to a NASA blog post, the curation team that's been processing the samples says it has removed and collected 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of Bennu material from the capsule so far — and it hasn't even actually been opened yet. Those 70.3 grams come from just the area on the outside (and part of the inside) of the sample collector's head.
"The sample processed so far includes the rocks and dust found on the outside of the sampler head, as well as a portion of the bulk sample from inside the head, which was accessed through the head’s mylar flap," the post states. "Additional material remaining inside the sampler head, called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM, is set for removal later, adding to the mass total."
Even though OSIRIS-REx isn't the first asteroid-sample-return mission humanity has completed — JAXA's Hayabusa takes that title — it is the heftiest. Or, in other words, the capsule that landed in September delivered the largest-ever asteroid sample to our planet.
And NASA, in fact, intends on sharing the wealth.
The agency has said it will give 25% of the Bennu bits to over 200 scientists at 25 different facilities, 4% to the Canadian Space Agency and 0.5% to JAXA. (NASA received about 10% of the Hayabusa 1 asteroid payload from a space rock named Itokawa.) The remaining approximately 70%, the team says, will be stored at Johnson Space Center to be studied for years to come, much like Apollo moon rock samples continue to be investigated decades after being brought to Earth by astronauts.
Part of the reason there is so much of the Bennu sample within this capsule actually has to do with the touch-and-go process itself. When the OSIRIS-REx sample collection mechanism dipped toward the rock to gather a few asteroid pieces, scientists watching were surprised to see Bennu wasn't a nice, solid object like you might expect. No, it was kind of malleable; when the sample collection arm made contact with the rock, shrouds of dust particles were released into the air, causing quite a scene and almost swallowing the spacecraft.
This is also why scientists still aren't sure exactly how much sample is in the OSIRIS-REx capsule in general. We'll only know when the container is finally opened up. Next, the team will start tackling how to perform that task— but, according to the blog post, that might prove slightly difficult.
"After multiple attempts at removal, the team discovered two of the 35 fasteners on the TAGSAM head could not be removed with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox," it says. "The team has been working to develop and implement new approaches to extract the material inside the head, while continuing to keep the sample safe and pristine."
Basically, the OSIRIS-REx scientists have many regulations in place for how to deal with the sample because it's very important they don't interfere with its preservation. For instance, the blog post says, all curation work is performed inside a special glove box that has a constant flow of nitrogen. Without that flow, the sample might be exposed to Earth's atmosphere.
"While the procedure to access the final portion of the material is being developed," the post continues, "the team has removed the TAGSAM head from the active flow of nitrogen in the glovebox and stored it in its transfer container, sealed with an O-ring and surrounded by a sealed Teflon bag to make sure the sample is kept safe in a stable, nitrogen-rich, environment."
Originally posted on Space.com.
Live Science newsletter
Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.
Monisha Ravisetti is Space.com's Astronomy Editor. She covers black holes, star explosions, gravitational waves, exoplanet discoveries and other enigmas hidden across the fabric of space and time. Previously, she was a science writer at CNET, and before that, reported for The Academic Times. Prior to becoming a writer, she was an immunology researcher at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She graduated from New York University in 2018 with a B.A. in philosophy, physics and chemistry. She spends too much time playing online chess. Her favorite planet is Earth. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
On September 12, ufologist and journalist Jaime Maussan presented what he claimed to be evidence of alien life to the Congress of Mexico. On September 19, Mexico’s scientific community gathered for a conference to ask a simple question in return: “Extraterrestrials or Llama Skeletons?”The answer was right there in the subtitle of the conference itself: “Science responds to the charlatans and the gullible.” If Maussan had shocked Mexico and the world with his outlandish claims, this was Mexico’s scientific community fighting back. Toward the end of the conference, Alejandro Frank, a professor of mathematical physics at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the host of the event, summed things up: “Faced with the serious problems we are experiencing in Mexico and the entire planet, starting with climate change, war, and pandemics, it is sad to gather to talk about the misdeeds of a professional charlatan.”Frank said the scientists had not gathered to discuss Maussan’s “decades of ridiculous conspiracy claims,” but rather because of where Maussan had delivered his latest outlandish claims. Maussan’s appearance in Mexico’s Congress had, Frank argued, “turned the world upside down” and made scientific rationality in Mexico the subject of ridicule. “What is at stake here is whether our country will follow science or superstitions and quackery.”While Maussan’s extraterrestrial claims are laughable, the damage they risk doing to science in Mexico, and worldwide, is a serious matter. Frank pointed to the polarization of Mexican politics, especially around urgent issues like the climate crisis, as an especially alarming example of how the country’s scientific reputation was already suffering. Following the alien debacle, Frank had called on Mexico’s Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, or National Council on Science and Technology, to speak up and take action. “The agency has been silent about the facts surrounding the Nazca mummies, which are increasingly becoming famous as the ‘Mexican mummies.’”José Franco, a researcher at UNAM’s Astronomy Institute, started the conference with a presentation entitled “Life in the Universe,” where he spoke about DNA and RNA, interstellar chemistry, the radio spectra of Orion’s KL nebula, and cloverleaf quasars.He spoke of exobiology, the area that studies the possibility of life outside Earth; the direct search for microbial life in celestial bodies; meteorites, the moon, Mars, Europa, Enceladus, and Venus. He also spoke about humanity’s indirect search for alien life—about the messages sent from the Arecibo telescope; the Pioneer plaques; the Voyager 1 and 2 Golden records; the message sent from Ukraine to Gliese 581c, a planet with some conditions similar to Earth’s, in 2008; and another transmission, also in 2008, of the Beatles song “Across the Universe,” directed toward the star Polaris.“Hayabusa2 was sent to the Ryugu Asteroid, returned to Earth, and is already in the hands of scientists in Japan, and NASA,” Franco said. He mentioned the Osiris-Rex sample collection mission, which collected around 250 grams of rubble from an asteroid. He also touched on the nine probes sent to Mars, among them the celebrated Perseverance. “No life has been found anywhere, and neither has intelligence been found in Congress,” Franco joked.Gabriela Frías, a philosophy of science researcher, described recent events in Mexico’s Congress as “a pseudoscientific event, which appeals to our fantasies, desires, and fears.” During his presentation, Maussan pointed to a “carbon-14 analysis” conducted on the Nazca mummies by scientists at UNAM. Maussan had claimed this, in part, as proof that he was presenting “nonhuman beings.” UNAM has since distanced itself from “any subsequent use, interpretation, or misrepresentation of the results.”In a statement, UNAM said it was essential that the search for alien life be approached “with the support of scientific research institutions, and following the rigorous ethical standards inherent to research.” Maussan’s appearance in Congress was the opposite of that. | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Encounter 2, 2019-03-30 - 2019-04-10
Solar Features
2019/03/30 12:00 - Streamer blob
2019/04/01 09:00 - CME
2019/04/02 13:00 - CME
2019/04/05 03:00 - Streamer blob
2019/04/06 15:00 - Streamer blob
2019/04/07 03:00 - Streamer blob
2019/04/08 09:00 - Streamer blob
Comets and planets
No comets were known to be observed during this encounter. The following planets can be seen in this sequence, moving from left to right:
- Earth, WISPR-Outer camera, from the beginning of the encounter
- Mercury, WISPR-Inner camera, from the beginning of the encounter
- Jupiter, WISPR-Inner camera, beginning approx. 2019-04-01 08:00UT
- Saturn, WISPR-Inner camera, beginning approx. 2019-04-03 09:00UT
- Venus, WISPR-Inner camera, beginning approx. 2019-04-03 18:00UT
Operations summary
- A gap in synoptic observations can be seen from 2019-04-04 11:50 - 2019-04-05 01:50 because [REASON]
Miscellaneous notes
None.
Encounter 2 Data Products
- Encounter 2 Level-2 FITS (full field) (14 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 2 Level-2 FITS (High Cadence) (1.7 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 2 Level-2 FITS, Background Models (15 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 2 Level-3 FITS (13 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 2 L2 Summary Files (<1 MB zip file)
- Encounter 2 Level-3 PNGs, Inner camera (169 MB zip file)
- Encounter 2 Level-3 PNGs, Outer camera (96 MB zip file)
- Encounter 2, Inner+Outer mp4 (30 MB)
- Encounter 2, Inner mpg, 480x512px (81 MB)
- Encounter 2, Outer mpg, 480x512px (65 MB)
- Encounter 2, Inner, 480x512px IDL .mvi file (219 MB)
- Encounter 2, Inner, 960x1024px IDL .mvi file (874 MB)
- Encounter 2, Outer, 480x512px IDL .mvi file (107 MB)
- Encounter 2, Outer, 960x1024px IDL .mvi file (428 MB) | Chemistry and Material Sciences |
Subsets and Splits