Analysis, features, news plus more – on European football and sports galore!
105 days after the original date, the light-heavyweight division duel between domestic rivals Dan Azeez and Joshua Buatsi will finally take place on Saturday night. One man’s unbeaten record has to go and with it, so does their world championship ambitions. Azeez has gone the scenic route to this point but been increasingly bullish about what’s at stake for him too aged 34, underdog or not. Continue reading “Dan Azeez isn’t just the defending champ – he’s a dangerous, determined underdog”
British 24-year-old heavyweight Johnny Fisher is back fit again and prepares to make his Stateside debut this weekend on Conor Benn’s undercard at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. The Romford Bull has spoken of a desire to build further domestically after scoring a seventh-round stoppage win over Harry Armstrong to win the Southern Area heavyweight title on August 19.
Continue reading “English and British, why not? Rising heavyweight Johnny Fisher wants active 2024, building on Southern Area title win”
Greatness and goals aplenty were expected for Chelsea academy product Armando Broja after a successful loan spell at Southampton in 2021-22, though injuries and an unexpected increase in creative competition has seen the 22-year-old Albanian’s stock fall at a time where the Blues’ asking price for a series of other interested Premier League clubs has remained firm. Continue reading “Fulham, Wolves and more interested – Armando Broja now finds himself in familiar territory for Chelsea strikers”
Continue reading “Tszyu gets inactive Thurman; Romero-Cruz compelling on Prime Video debut”
Two-time Olympic judo champion and PFL star Kayla Harrison has signed with the UFC, per Dana White’s surprise announcement earlier this week, and is already set to face a former champion at 135lbs in April on a stacked UFC 300 card in Las Vegas. Given where she trains, the outside noise and criticism of her opposition in recent years, this move felt inevitable. Is the timing right now? Continue reading “Kayla Harrison’s UFC deal felt inevitable but recent events means arrival falls flat”
John Ryder was expected to be flattened inside six rounds against undisputed world champion Canelo Alvarez last May, but emerged stronger and with some newfound supporters after boxing through the pain barrier vs. a future Hall of Famer in his quest to finally become a full titlist. Next comes an unbeaten-but-untested proposition in Jaime Munguia, so how will the Gorilla fare?
Continue reading “Fight rewind: John Ryder’s resilient display over distance vs. Canelo, before Jaime Munguia matchup on Saturday”
Qinwen Zheng said she had a lot of room to improve after suffering a quarter-final defeat by Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open quarterfinals and, four months later, she gets a golden opportunity to showcase those subtle developments on the biggest stage yet. The first-time finalist will play the world no. 2 on Saturday after the pair won hard-fought battles in straight-sets on Thursday. Continue reading “Zheng zooms past Yastremska to Saturday’s final – serene Sabalenka next”
He was aggressive, served beautifully for large periods and kept the defending champion honest during their longer rallies, but it wasn’t enough as Taylor Fritz suffered yet another defeat to Novak Djokovic as his Australian Open campaign ended in the last-eight. The American no. 1 should take heart from his display nonetheless, as Jannik Sinner prepares to face the Serb in Friday’s semifinals. Continue reading “AUS OPEN 24: Fritz faltered sure, but American can take heart from four-set loss”
WBO light-middleweight world champion Tim Tszyu still wants to box and defend his title again in March, but it won’t be against Erickson Lubin after reports claimed negotiations reportedly broke down between them – though the latter was unaware when addressing the news on social media. Continue reading “Tszyu-Lubin plans for March light-middleweight world title fight fall through”
Having only made two starts across all competitions for Sean Dyche’s Everton side so far this term, the 26-year-old defender is reportedly being targeted by Serie A giants Milan as their defensive ranks continue being riddled by injury. Continue reading “Milan linked with Everton defender Ben Godfrey as their own injury woes persist”
Dricus du Plessis got the job done as promised, mixing wrestling and subtle striking adjustments to outpoint Sean Strickland and become the new middleweight king before an inevitable Israel Adesanya callout. Prior, Raquel Pennington outsmarted Mayra Bueno Silva to seize the vacant women’s bantamweight title after Movsar Evloev’s career-best win over Arnold Allen. Continue reading “UFC 297: Dricus du Plessis seizes Sean Strickland’s middleweight title via split decision, Pennington claims vacant gold”
It certainly divided opinion across the boxing world, but IBF welterweight world champion Natasha Jonas secured a career-best win via split decision against former unified super-featherweight titlist Mikaela Mayer in their Liverpool headliner. Billed as a 50-50 duel, they battled for 20 minutes and it flew by – relive my round-by-round coverage, and more from BOXXER’s latest show.
Continue reading “Relive the action as Jonas outpoints Mayer to retain IBF welterweight title in slugfest”
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