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Pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford is on a stunning knockout streak.

The former three-weight world champion has stopped his last 11 opponents stretching back to 2016.

To make the feat even more impressive, every single one of those wins came in a world title fight.

Crawford kicked off his impressive run by finishing John Molina Jr inside eight rounds in December 2016 to retain his WBC and WBO light-welterweight belts.

Terence Crawford Responds To Mayweather Fight Talk: "We've Gone To A New  Level"

 

The likes of Amir Khan, Kell Brook, and Shawn Porter fell to him in the following years as he picked up all the major sanctioning body belts at 140lbs.

Crawford then went on to cement his legacy as an all-time great by knocking out Errol Spence 10 months ago to become undisputed champion at welterweight.

This marked the first time a male fighter had been crowned a two-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era – although Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk have since followed suit.

‘Bud’ is now 40-0 as a pro and is quickly closing in on Floyd Mayweather’s unblemished 50-0 record.

‘TBE’ won world titles in five different weight classes but never achieved undisputed status during his 21-year stint in the paid ranks.

 Floyd Mayweather

The closest Mayweather came to unifying all the belts was in 2015 when he defeated Manny Pacquiao for the WBC, WBA, and WBO welterweight titles.

However, Mayweather refused to pay a sanctioning fee to the WBO after the fight and was subsequently stripped of their version of the world title.

Crawford is looking to further close the gap on Mayweather’s legacy by going for his fourth world title this weekend.

Del Boy upsets The Juggernaut on points after a hugely entertaining showdown at London’s O2 Arena

Derek Chisora shocked Joe Joyce to win a thrilling all-British heavyweight showdown on Saturday night. ‘Del Boy’ rolled back the years with an excellent performance in an absolute slugfest fought in front of a strong pro-Chisora crowd at London’s O2 Arena, flooring his rival in the ninth round before taking a deserved unanimous decision win with scores of 96-94, 96-94 and 97-92.

It was a victory that will once again end any talk of an imminent retirement for the 40-year-old Chisora, who said afterwards that he intends to have two more fights to reach the 50 mark as a professional – starting in Manchester in December. Joyce also insisted that he would carry on despite suffering a devastating third defeat from his last four fights that leaves any lingering hopes of getting back into the world title picture in tatters.

Derek Chisora has Oleksandr Usyk and The O2 on their feet in delight as he  beats Joe Joyce in fight of year contender | The Sun

 

 

On Saturday’s undercard, Moses Itauma knocked out Mariusz Wach early in a serious statement from the rising boxing superstar and a punch-perfect Dennis McCann became the new European super-bantamweight champion as he dominated Ionut Baluta in a one-sided rematch. Ryan Garner also stayed unbeaten following early wins for Royston Barney-Smith, Sean Noakes, Aadam Hamed, Raven Chapman, Brandun Lee, Umar Khan and Chisora’s nephew Jermaine Dhliwayo. Follow Joyce vs Chisora reaction live below!

Serena Williams spoke for millions of disappointed Olympic fans as she pulled an anguished face during the opening ceremony.

The tennis star looked worse for wear as she rode down the River Seine on a high-speed boat as a torch bearer for the Paris games.

She was joined by Rafael Nadal, nine-time Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis, and former Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci as they made their way through driving rain and choppy waters.

The boat was part of a four-hour ceremony centred around the French capital’s river and it was going so fast that Nadal fretted that the flame might go out.

Serena Williams is a tennis great, and so much greater than that | Maine  Public

 

Williams seemed to have been enjoying the ride as she waved to fans, but she suddenly gasped and needed to quickly grab onto Comancei to keep steady.

People watching footage of the four-time Olympic gold medallist commented that they thought she looked like she might be sick and that she looked like how people felt watching the controversial opening.

One person said online: ‘This is how the rest of us felt watching it.’

Someone else said online: ‘She hated it as much as everyone else!’

Another quipped: ‘She saw the rest of the opening ceremony.’

A social media user said: ‘Much of the audience felt sick, too.’

Another said: ‘What an embarrassment to France that opening ceremony was. The French people must be fuming.’

Another person added: ‘I thought Serena was going to be sick.’

And another person said: ‘Yeah the whole thing was sickening.’

Serena Williams News, Pictures, and Videos - E! Online

 

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony has been slammed by critics who dubbed it the ‘worst ever’ with poor audio caused by the near-torrential rain and some joking online that organisers needed to ‘stop the boats’.

At one point, as the long line of boats filled with athletes made its way down the Seine, an embarrassing moment saw South Korea labelled North Korea by the announcers.

As the South Korean delegation sailed down the Seine River, they were introduced with the official name for North Korea: ‘Republique populaire democratique de Coree’ in French, then ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ in English.

The IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account: ‘We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony.’

Aims to deliver a high-quality product

Floyd Mayweather has now ventured into the world of spirits with his new brand, Good Money Whiskey. Launched in 2024, this brand is part of Mayweather‘s expanding collection of luxury ventures and mirrors his philosophy of excellence and hard work.

Mayweather‘s foray into the whiskey market aims to deliver a high-quality product that appeals to both whiskey enthusiasts and fans of his career. His entry into this industry is marked by a commitment to offering a top-tier experience, consistent with the standards he upholds in all his endeavors.

Floyd Mayweather

To get a firsthand experience, Mail Sport traveled to Las Vegas and joined Mayweather at the 8 Cigar Lounge in Resorts World to taste Good Money Whiskey.

Mayweather personally introduced the brand’s flagship product-a ten-year-old Canadian Whiskey known for its smooth, rich taste and complex aroma, featuring notes of butterscotch, spice, and vanilla.

Commitment to the investment

The boxing legend spoke about the meticulous aging process that gives the whiskey its distinct flavor profile. He also introduced a five-year-old version of the whiskey, which, while less aged, still offers a refined taste that caters to a wider audience.

Mayweather emphasized that his commitment to Good Money Whiskey goes beyond typical celebrity endorsement, reflecting his personal dedication to making the brand a leader in the market.

“Every adult wants to have something great to drink,” Mayweather said.

“And guess what? Together with my team, we developed and sourced th best exclusive products we could find to be offered to the public.

 Floyd Mayweather

It’s just like boxing. I had the best team, so I got the best results. I’ve got the best team on my brands, too. Just try it and you’ll see.

“I don’t want to speak badly about any celebrities who have launched a product but there is a distinct difference between them and me. A lot of the time, celebrities market someone else’s products. They don’t have any ownership or equity.”

Floyd Mayweather, a name synonymous with boxing excellence, remains undefeated in his professional career with an impeccable 50-0 record. However, the boxing legend, often hailed as one of the greatest professional pugilists of all time, experienced the sting of defeat during his amateur days.

Floyd Mayweather

From 1996 to 2017, Mayweather dominated the professional boxing scene, securing 12 major world championships across five weight classes, ranging from super featherweight to super welterweight, and defeating 24 former or current world champions. His amateur career was also marked by notable achievements, including three national Golden Gloves championships in 1993, 1994, and 1996, and a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Although you may beautify a crow with a peacock’s feathers, you can never completely transform the former into the latter irrespective of what you do. No matter how well-versed in boxing Devin Haney may seem to you, can you place ‘The Dream’ on the same page as Floyd Mayweather? For ShowBizz the Adult, such a comparison is outrageous and belittles Mayweather’s God-gifted skills.

And since the boxing commentator will not hesitate to call a spade a spade, he questioned Mayweather’s exhibition against Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan too. Besides ridiculing how Nasukawa responded to getting hit, ShowBizz pointed out that Mayweather was “pissed” by the Japanese boxer as the latter failed to deliver a show accepted under Mayweather’s standards.

Floyd Mayweather

ShowBizz is sick of others getting compared to Floyd Mayweather

In April this year, Tha Boxing Voice claimed Devin Haney resembled Floyd Mayweather. In their opinion, given the way Haney boxed, ‘The Dream’ was a threat to Mayweather’s golden legacy! However, ShowBizz has strongly opposed the comparison between Mayweather and Haney. In his opinion, considering Devin another version of Floyd is “disrespecting ‘Money’ Mayweather.” According to him, besides Mayweather’s fight IQ, Haney is deficient in speed and reflexes.

Mayweather’s speed was blinding. His reflexes were insane. You don’t get hit by [a] Ryan-Ostarine left!” ShowBizz added, casually referring to Ryan Garcia’s failed drug test and a subsequent ban by the NYSAC. Although Garcia dominated Haney, ShowBizz is confident that Mayweather would have “whipped” ‘KingRy’ in the ring unlike ‘The Dream’ who was knocked down thrice.

Just like punching hard does not make a short fighter Mike Tyson, employing the Philly Shell is not sufficient for one to become the next Floyd. Speaking of which, ShowBizz added, “Floyd’s naturally God gifts were incredible.” Having sung praises of Mayweather’s skills which make him unique, ShowBizz ridiculed Mayweather’s exhibition against Tenshin Nasukawa.

Floyd Mayweather

Tenshin Nasukawa frustrated Mayweather with “worst acting”

Observing the exhibition against kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, several fans accused Floyd Mayweather of producing a rigged fight. At the time of the exhibition, Nasukawa was the reigning Rise kickboxing champion. However, considering his amateur record that surpasses 100 fights, Nasukawa looked way too stressed from the beginning for a fighter not unfamiliar with risks. As soon as the fight began, Mayweather, bigger in size, intimidated Nasukawa as if the Japanese boxer was left with a wild creature, all forgotten by his family. Soon, following three dramatic knockdowns, Mayweather stopped Tenshin in the very first round.

Claressa Shields chases more gold, plus Joyce vs Chisora and more.

Thursday, July 25

DAZN, 4:00 am ET, Justis Huni vs Troy Pilcher. Heavyweight prospect Huni headlines in Fortitude Valley, which is in Queensland, which is in Australia, which is where he’s from. Matchroom’s Australia dream isn’t dead yet!

Saturday, July 27

ESPN+, 2:00 pm ET, Joe Joyce vs Derek Chisora. Also airing on TNT Sports in the UK. Could be a slugfest, could be a slog. Seems an admission from within that Joyce is not going to be a serious contender again. Chisora’s lost four of six but those losses were to Usyk, Parker (twice), and Fury, so, like, three of the current top four heavyweights in the world. He’s not good at this point, but he tends to grind out wins when the opponent isn’t elite. BLH will have live updates.

Claressa Shields breaks ground as the winner of the first female MMA match  in Saudi Arabia - Face2Face Africa

 

DAZN, 9:00 pm ET, Claressa Shields vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. Shields is out of things to do in boxing because she’s beaten everyone there is to beat. In this one, she fights for a “heavyweight title” and a “light heavyweight title,” two divisions that functionally do not exist in women’s boxing. Shields hasn’t stopped anyone in seven years but I’m sure the promise of the elusive TKO will be part of the pre-fight talk. The undercard is pretty dull on paper, but Shields sells tickets in Detroit, they aren’t going to spend money on the rest of the show. BLH will have live updates.

Cecile and Laurent Landi being the right hand of the American gymnast

Cecile Canqueteau-Landi fit “in the box,” as she put it. She was skinny. She was blonde. She was pretty good at gymnastics.

And so at 9 years old, she was whisked away to become part of the French national team program, a path that ultimately led her to the 1996 Olympics.

There was reward in that journey. Yet looking back nearly three decades later, Landi wonders how many promising young athletes had their careers and their lives altered – and not for the better – because they didn’t fit someone’s preconceived notion of what a gymnast needed to look like by the time they reached their 10th birthday.

Simone Biles

When Landi transitioned into coaching in the early 2000s, she vowed not to make the same mistake.

So maybe it’s not a coincidence that when Landi and her husband Laurent – himself a former French national team member – walk onto the floor at Bercy Arena for women’s Olympics qualifying next Sunday, they will do it while leading the oldest U.S. women’s gymnastics team – headlined by 27-year-old Simone Biles – the Americans have ever sent to a modern Games.

A healthy partnership

In another country in another era, maybe Biles becomes something other than an icon. Maybe she becomes a casualty.

“An athlete like Simone would never have reached her full potential in France,” said Cecile. “Because she would have been put aside because she didn’t fit that box.”

For the Landis – who began coaching Biles in 2017 – there is no “box.” There can’t be.

“It’s not the athlete that needs to adjust to the coaches,” Laurent Landi said. “The coaches need to adjust the athletes and the athlete’s abilities.”

Biles was already 20 and the reigning Olympic champion when the Landis agreed to helm the elite program at World Champions Centre, the massive gym run by the Biles family in the Houston suburbs.

Simone Biles

They knew Biles fairly well at the time having already coached gymnasts who competed alongside Biles at several world championships and the 2016 Olympics. During the interview process, all three agreed there was no point – and no fun – in having Biles merely try to hold on to her otherworldly talent. To keep her engaged, they needed to make sure she kept moving forward.

The result has been perhaps the best gymnastics of Biles’ remarkable career, a stretch that includes three world all-around titles and another handful of entries in the sport’s Code of Points with her next name next to them, from the triple-double on floor exercise to the Yurchenko double pike vault that drew a standing ovation at the Olympic trials last month.

Biles views her relationship with the Landis as more of a partnership.

“They’ve been big mentors in like my adulthood (because) they got to see and harness the more mature Simone,” Biles said. “They’ve helped me a lot not just in the gym but out of the gym too.”

When Biles moved into her first house, Cecile who came over and showed her how to operate the dishwasher. When a gymnast who had just gotten their driver’s license had a problem with one of her tires, Cecile went to a nearby gas station and gave a tutorial on how to use the air pump.

“If we can help and they want the help, then why not?” she said with a laugh.

Changing with the times

Simone Biles

The trick is finding a way to provide that help safely and productively, particularly amid a culture shift in the sport aimed at empowering athletes to take ownership of their gymnastics. It is a delicate needle to thread. What serves as motivation for one athlete could be construed negatively by another.

It’s a reality the Landis are well aware of as they try to find the proper balance between being too rigid and too lax. They grew up in a time when the coach/athlete relationship was one-sided. There was no back and forth. There was no discussion. The coach set the standards and expectations. The athlete met them or they didn’t last long.

The shift toward a more cooperative approach was overdue, but that doesn’t mean it is always easy. Laurent Landi admits he’s not the most patient coach, though those around him say he has mellowed a bit over the years. He also understands if he wants to keep doing this for a living, he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Yeah, there will be frustration,” he said. “But you can always go around some stuff and just take your pride (as a coach) away and make sure that the athletes still get the skill done.”

It’s an approach that helped World Champion Centre’s elite program send five athletes to the Olympic trials, with Biles and Jordan Chiles making the five-woman U.S. team while Joscelyn Roberson and Tiana Sumanasekera were selected as alternates.

It’s the kind of success Roberson envisioned when she moved to the Houston suburbs a few years ago to train under the Landis. She was intimidated at first before realizing her new coaches “have a million different ways to coach one skill,” a marked departure from what she was used to.

Simone Biles

“We’re not always right,” Laurent said. “If you do your own way all the time, you will hurt the majority of the athletes. Maybe one will survive and will be an amazing person, amazing athlete but the (other) 90 percent, they will be broken. … We had to adjust to Simone, otherwise we would have broke her.”

It’s not just Biles’ age they had to accommodate, but her schedule. She is no longer a precocious teenager who buries herself in the gym. She’s a newlywed whose schedule is packed with everything from corporate commitments to building a house and a family with her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens.

“When (we) tell him he just hears ‘you’re missing practice’ and kind of freaks out,” Biles said. “Because he sees all the end goals and then he gets the calendar and then he’s like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s fine. We’ll do this today, we’ll do that.’ So it just takes time for him to process.”

Biles certainly appears well-prepared. She arrives in Paris at the height of her powers more than a decade after ascending to the top of her sport. She’ll be accompanied by a pair of coaches who view the trip as more of a business trip than a homecoming.

A new challenge awaits

While the Landis have been approached to take over the women’s national team program in France in recent years, returning never made much sense to them even with the women’s program is in the midst of a resurgence.

“I think our family will be very proud, probably more than we are,” Cecile Landi said. “Because in a weird way, it’s just work for us.”

And perhaps, goodbye too.

Simone Biles

Cecile, long a supporter of NCAA gymnastics, earlier this year agreed to become the co-head coach at the University of Georgia. Laurent will remain at World Champions Centre in the short term until the Landis’ daughter Juliette – who will dive for France during the Games – graduates from high school next spring.

After that, who knows? The young gymnast who was put in a box has become a coach who no longer puts limitations on anyone, herself maybe most of all.

“I think I’ve done everything I could do in elite, and beyond what I could ever have imagined as a little French girl in a little town,” Cecile said. “I’ve coached the greatest of all time. I’ve coached many kids. I’ve had many great athletes in NCAA and elite that I feel like I want to try what’s next, a new challenge.”

Jake Paul will be doing more than fighting Mike Perry Saturday.

He’ll be putting his much-anticipated fight against Mike Tyson at risk.

Paul (9-1, 6 KOs) has claimed that a loss to Perry, a bare-knuckle brawler, would cost him a chance to fight Tyson in a bout set for Nov. 15. How Paul fares against Perry, a former mixed martial arts fighter who in 2015 lost his only pro boxing match, could be determined early.

Perry will spend no time sizing up Paul in their cruiserweight fight scheduled for eight rounds, according to Perry’s trainer, James “JT” Taylor. He said Perry will pressure Paul from the outset.

Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson: Date and everything we know

 

“Everybody that sized Jake up in the very beginning got picked apart,’’ Taylor told USA TODAY Sports. “We’re not doing that. It’s going to feel claustrophobic in there.

“This is not going to be a boxing match. This is not where you’re going to see the best two technique guys go against each other. No, you’re not going to see that. You’re going to see a fight.’’

The IBF has confirmed to  that it has not received a request to sanction Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois as an IBF world heavyweight title fight; Former WBO champion Joseph Parker believes he deserves an AJ rematch after his wins over Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder

Anthony Joshua has revealed that he is close to confirming the opponent for his upcoming bout.

Joshua, who has boxed once so far in 2024 when he knocked out former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, said: “Nearly finished my negotiations for my next fight. Feeling motivated.”

Joshua vs Dubois: the full story

 

It has been widely speculated that fellow Briton Daniel Dubois could be in the frame to fight Joshua.

Dubois stopped Filip Hrgovic at the start of this month to win an interim title from the IBF.

But the IBF confirmed to Sky Sports that it has not received a request to sanction Joshua vs Dubois as an IBF world heavyweight title fight.

After beating Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk holds all four of the major heavyweight world championships, including the IBF.

There are other contenders also vying to take on Anthony Joshua. Zhilei Zhang, who defeated Deontay Wilder on the same bill as Dubois’ victory over Hrgovic, would relish boxing AJ. He lost to the Watford man at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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