BELFAST – For the second consecutive week, trainers Andy Lee and Billy Nelson will pit their wits against one another. Last Saturday, in Saudi Arabia, Lee’s heavyweight Joseph Parker emphatically stopped Nelson’s Martin Bakole, so this week the Scot will be hoping to draw a measure of revenge when his welterweight contender, Lewis Crocker, meets Lee’s Paddy Donovan. It is an enthralling match, with Nelson confident his man wins based on Crocker’s experience in with better competition. Lee, however, is adamant his fighter is the goods and has again referred to Donovan as “a generational talent.” “I’m probably biased as well, but everything I say and whatever I might predict or if I say someone’s going to win a fight unrelated to me, eventually it’ll be confirmed and proven right,”
Category Archives: SPORTS
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Feb
Portland Trail Blazers’ guard/forward Shaedon Sharpe has turned down the dunk contest multiple times at this point, but he might need to do it in order to save the competition. The high flyer has a bevy of highlight reel dunks to his name in his young career, but this one might take the cake as the 2024-2025 NBA Dunk of the Year. This angle is even better: First of all, OH MY GOD! Any time that a player throws the ball into no mans’ land and the opposition intercepts it, you just know that something insane is going to happen. This is how the Vince Carter dunk against France happened, same with Carmelo Anthony’s against the Jazz. You never throw the ball back across the court into the mass of
Feb
Report UP Warriorz couldn’t capitalise on the blazing start from Grace Harris and couldn’t defend their below-par total Nat Sciver-Brunt scored a smashing half-century • BCCI Mumbai Indians143 for 2 (Sciver-Brunt 75*, Matthews 59) beat UP Warriorz 142 for 9 (Harris 45, Vrinda 33, Sciver-Brunt 3-18, Sanskriti 2-11, Ismail 2-33) by eight wickets Nat Sciver-Brunt put on an exceptional all-round show to propel Mumbai Indians to the top of the table with an eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz in Bengaluru. She took three wickets and followed it up with an impressive unbeaten 75 off 44 balls to chase down the target of 143 with 18 balls remaining. Warriorz initially rode on Grace Harris’ quickfire 45 and Vrinda Dinesh’s solid 33 but lost eight wickets for 54 runs to eventually end with a
Feb
Namibia have eased into the second round of qualifiers for the 2026 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) finals after a 1-0 victory over fellow Cosafa side Eswatini at the Dobsonville Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The win sees Namibia advance 4-0 on aggregate after they had claimed the first leg in Eswatini 3-0 last week. The fixture was played in honour of the late former Namibia President Dr Sam Nujoma, who passed away at the age of 95 earlier this month and will be laid to rest on Saturday. Namibia now advance to face Zambia in the next round, which will be for a place in the 2026 Wafcon finals. Zambia, who appeared at the last Fifa Women’s World Cup, will present a mighty challenge for coach
Feb
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers stop Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) at the goal line during the first half of a 2024 NFC wild card game at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images INDIANAPOLIS — Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst supports the bid to end the rugby-style QB sneak made popular by the Philadelphia Eagles, commonly referred to as the Tush Push. The Packers were outed as the team who made the proposed rules change for consideration by the NFL’s Competition Committee. “We’re not very successful against it, I know that,” Gutekunst said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “To be honest with you, I haven’t put much thought into it. It’s been around for a while, we’ve used it in different fashions with our tight end
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73928299/2192561642.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "Aaron Rodgers is rumored to be making a pathetic pitch to one NFL team")
Feb
There’s no doubt the Los Angeles Rams are at a crossroads. The team is four years removed from their Super Bowl win, but even Sean McVay’s brilliance can only carry the current roster so far. It’s for this reason the team is planning to trade Cooper Kupp, and entertaining offers for Matthew Stafford. It’s time for a reset in LA, not a rebuild — and that means any discussion about how to maximize their assets is smart, instead of forcing things while watching aging players fade into obscurity. On the topic of aging players fading into obscurity [Aaron Rodgers bursts through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, except he’s an anthropomorphic jug of ayahuasca]. Aaron Rodgers is already reportedly pulling strings to try and land a gig with the Rams
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73926504/usa_today_25486273.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "John Reed-Imagn Images")
Feb
The Auburn Tigers have been arguably the best team in college basketball this season, holding the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 for the last seven weeks as they’ve gone 25-2 in the loaded SEC. Auburn’s year started off with a marquee 74-69 victory over the Houston Cougars back in game No. 2 of the season and they haven’t looked back since, going an impressive 13-1 in conference play with the lone loss being a single-digit game against the No. 3 Florida Gators. Looking at the Tigers roster, they have an All-American-caliber player in forward Johni Broome, who has averaged 18.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game, making a strong case for the Wooden Award this season. But, Auburn’s entire rotation is loaded, as
Broncos Despite having three years remaining on his contract with the Bills, Von Miller said during a recent podcast appearance that he plans on returning to the Broncos at the end of his career. “I bleed orange and blue,” Miller said Friday on the DNVR Broncos podcast. “I’m Broncos Country for life. I’ll end up back in Denver whenever that is, whether that’s two years, three years, four years. But down the road, for sure I’ll be back in Denver… Denver will be home when it’s all said and done.” “I’ll make my way back to Denver,” Miller added. “All the greats do. From Peyton Manning to Champ Bailey , to everybody. If it’s good enough for The Sheriff, it’s good enough for me.” Mike Klis reports Chris Morgan is expected
Feb
Olympic and St. John Junior Secondary Schools have performed exceptionally in the girls’ and boys’ category in the recently concluded first Junior NBA and Safaricom tournament at the Sabis International school in Nairobi. The M-PESA Jr. NBA program launched last week by the National Basket Association (NBA) Africa and Safaricom saw Nairobi play host to one of the four regional basketball tournaments for youth ages 13-16 in the country. The Olympic boys’ and girls’ teams were the stars of the court in the maiden tournament that had an impressive turnout of 24 schools with more than 500 junior players. In the girls’ semi-finals, Olympic Junior Secondary team beat Daima Junior Secondary team 26-4 in a one-sided match on the outdoor courts as St. John Junior Secondary team was made to sweat before
Feb
Javed Akhtar became a target of trolls for praising Virat Kohli© AFP | X (Twitter) Virat Kohli’s sensational performance against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy sent the entire Indian cricketing spectrum into euphoria. Celebrations rang all across the country as India thumped Pakistan to seal their fate in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals. Even celebrities took to social media to laud Kohli and the Indian team’s performance on the big occasion. Lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar, however, became a target of trolls on social media as he shared a post celebrating Kohli’s performance in Dubai. Coming into the match on the back of a topsy-turvy run that saw his place in the team being questioned, Kohli slammed his 51st ODI hundred as he decimated Pakistan in the Group A
Feb
Feb 8, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams (44) defends Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler (10) during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images Eleven years ago, Andre Iguodala did the seemingly impossible: He made Mark Jackson look like a good basketball coach. Turns out, it didn’t help Jackson, who had already burned enough bridges with the Warriors that they fired him despite back-to-back playoff appearances. Jackson has never been hired as a head coach again—maybe because he could never convince Iguodala to come with him. The veteran swingman remained with Golden State, where his mere presence helped Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green post better numbers in 2014—his first year with the Warriors—than they had the season before.
Feb
By the time Australia’s fourth wicket fell, Josh Inglis had switched into declutter mode. There remained more than 200 runs still to get, the asking rate nearing eight, and there wasn’t too much batting to come. There was little time to regroup and consolidate, and at the same time little room for error. None of this, Inglis understood, would be helpful to worry about. “We were in and around the run rate to start off with, so that was a big help,” Inglis said after the game. “The partnership between Shorty [Matt Short] and Marnus [Labuschagne] was really important. They sort of set the platform there, got us off to a good start. And then me and [Alex] Carey, we didn’t really say too much out there. Carey is pretty
Feb
In the latest unmissable mailbag, top coach and boxing brain Stephen Edwards makes his picks for the huge card in Saudi Arabia, examines the intricacies of height and reach, pinpoints the finest performance of Thomas Hearns and speaks out about PEDs in boxing. This weekend’s boxing card in Riyadh is being praised as one of the best cards in recent memory. Which fight are you looking forward to the most and why? Bread’s response: Obviously Beterbiev vs Bivol is a historically significant rematch. Ortiz vs Madrimov gives a glimpse into the future of 154lbs. Adames vs Sheeraz establishes a major player at 160. Stevenson vs Scholfield would have been intriguing because of where both are in their careers but unfortunately it’s not happening. Zhang vs the Body Snatcher for pure
Feb
49ers 49ers WR Deebo Samuel is on the trade block this offseason after requesting permission to seek a trade. When asked about their receiving core, TE George Kittle thinks RB Christian McCaffrey ‘s return will provide a boost to their offense. “One thing that we missed all of last year that would help the wide receivers is, hey, Christian McCaffrey will probably be back,” Kittle said, via NFL.com. “While he wasn’t there for a lot of the year and wasn’t on all the highlight reels and all that stuff, he’ll be back and I’m assuming he’s gonna come back, like, angry because he missed last year, most of it. I think we’re going to get the best version of Christian McCaffrey.” Kittle reiterated how McCaffrey opens up their passing game.
Feb
The Cubs and outfielder Travis Jankowski have agreed to a deal, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The details of the deal for the Excel Sports Management client haven’t been publicly reported yet. If it’s a major league deal, the Cubs would have to open a 40-man roster spot. If it’s a minor league pact, the veteran will presumably receive an invite to spring training. Jankowski, 34 in June, has a decade of big league experience at this point. He provides value via his speed and strong defensive skills but his bat has been inconsistent. The oscillating offense has led to swings in his contributions over the years. He has spent the past two seasons with the Rangers and his numbers in those two campaigns provide a microcosm of his