Sports
Anthony Joshua opens up on painful career journey
Anthony Joshua has spoken about the “pain” he has endured in his professional boxing career ahead of his IBF world heavyweight title fight with Daniel Dubois at Wembley on Saturday.
Joshua, 34, is looking to reclaim a world title for the first time since his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021, and told the BBC about the internal difficulties of attempting to return to the pinnacle of the sport, particularly given he fell short again against Usyk in August 2022.
“I’ve worked hard and been through a lot of pain, and I’ve worked hard to get better,” he said.
“Hopefully, those experiences won’t happen again because, as you saw that night [after the second Usyk loss], I don’t like losing.”
Since that 2022 defeat in Saudi Arabia, Joshua has rehabilitated his career with comfortable wins over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and most recently Francis Ngannou. In that last fight, Joshua brutally knocked out the former UFC superstar in Round 2.
“I think I’m gifted with an ability to fight and compete. In boxing you’re able to read certain tendencies, you’re able to read your opponent, so I can always have an eye for that,” Joshua said.
“But there’s a supreme level that you can take it to. And it’s happened over the past eight or 10 months. I’ve really honed in on those skills.”
Joshua’s clash with Dubois is set to take place in front of 96,000 fans at English football’s national stadium, with the winner likely to assume prime position to fight either Tyson Fury or Usyk next, depending on the outcome of their rematch in December.
Sports
You can’t have it all – Pundit slams Iwobi’s Fulham teammate for Man City failure
Alex Iwobi’s colleague has been blamed for the Cottagers’ loss at the Etihad Stadium.
Alex Iwobi played commendably in Fulham’s 3-2 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday, but his colleague has been on the receiving end of fierce criticism from ESPN’s Alejandro Moreno.
Despite scoring twice — and having gone ahead — through Andreas Pereira and Rodrigo Muniz, a Mameo Kovacic brace and Jeremy Doku strike sealed a nervy victory for Pep Guardiola’s men, who returned to winning ways after consecutive Premier League draws against Arsenal and Newcastle United.
Success for City means they stay level with Arsenal on 17 points with Liverpool one clear atop the standings.
However, Saturday’s match could have gone differently had Adama Traore converted his multiple chances, failing to put away three opportunities categorised as clear-cut.
According to FBref, Marco Silva’s men edged the Expected Goals (xG) 2-4-1.5 and Traore failed to take opportunities adding up to xG of 1.0.
This prompted Moreno’s remarks about the Spain international’s showing in Manchester, with the former striker focusing on the 28-year-old’s lack of composure in front of goal.
“Adama Traore is proof to the rest of the world that you just can’t have it all,” said Moreno on ESPN. “You can have the pace and you can have the strength, but when it comes to finishing…that’s the story of his career and it’s not just today (Saturday).
“This is something we have seen from Adama Traore that the final product is just not there. His ceiling is so much lower than it should be.
“If you just take the physical aspects of the game, Adama Traore is at the top of the world but when it comes to that final product, he goes all the way down to the very bottom.”
Sports
US court orders Mayweather to pay Nigerian firm $2.4m over contract breach
A US court has upheld the ruling that Floyd Mayweather Jr., the former world boxing champion, must pay Zinni Media Concept Limited, a Nigerian company, $2.4 million in damages for breach of contract.
According to a statement from Alex Nwankwo, the company’s media executive, Zinni Media reached an agreement with Mayweather to make various appearances in Africa, including one in Nigeria, in June 2017.
However, the former boxer unilaterally terminated the deal without cause and refused to reimburse the company for the advance payment paid for the service.
Nwankwo claimed that Mayweather’s legal representatives implied that because the company was not based in the US, the boxer could not make any refund.
“After several unsuccessful attempts to recover the appearance fees from the American boxer, the company instituted a legal action against Mayweather in 2018 where it alleged breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud against the former champion. We are grateful that two courts have granted a prayer by Zinni Media Ltd to impose terminating sanctions against Mayweather,” the statement reads.
In October 2023, a lower court in California ruled that Mayweather should pay Zinni $1,638,542 in damages, $721,881.32 in prejudgment interest, $16,270 in sanctioned attorney fees, and $285 in costs. The total compensation amount ordered was $2,376,978.
The boxer, however, appealed the judgment before the California court of appeals.
In the latest ruling, dated August 27, 2024, Eva McClintock, clerk of the appellant court, affirmed the lower court’s verdict.
Nwankwo added that despite the court of appeal’s ruling and the case’s finality, Mayweather had still refused to pay the judgment money, which continues to grow at 10 percent per annum.
He said the court had instructed USA attorneys to enforce the judgment by targeting Mayweather’s 2015 Bugatti GSV or his 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, both valued over the damages.
Sports
Manchester City midfielder, Matheus Nunes, arrested for alleged phone theft
Manchester City midfielder Matheus Nunes has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of stealing a mobile phone at a nightclub in Madrid.
The 26-year-old Portuguese international was allegedly detained in the early hours of September 8 at La Riviera, a popular disco, and taken to a local police station for questioning, Dailymails reports.
His arrest occurred around 5:30 a.m. after Nunes was accused of taking a phone from a 58-year-old man who had attempted to photograph him in the nightclub’s restroom without his consent, according to Spanish daily El Mundo.
Born in Brazil, Nunes is said to have taken the phone in a moment of anger and refused to return it.
El Mundo stated that the police reportedly arrested him after being called to the scene and found the phone in his possession.
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