List of All Articles with Tag ''

The Dallas Cowboys take a 10-game home winning streak into a matchup against the Los Angeles Rams

The woman who accused actor Jonathan Majors of assaulting her during a dispute in March was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and criminal mischief related to the same incident, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto has been suspended 41 games for violating the NHL's gambling policy

Washington State meets Arizona State in a game between teams looking to end losing streaks

Now Eve Wembanyama's in a cowboy hat.

Max Verstappen has beefed up his personal security as he prepares for a hostile reception at Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez’s home race in Mexico. Verstappen was jeered by Perez’s supporters at last weekend’s podium presentation in Austin as the triple world champion celebrated his 15th win of the season. Chants of “Checo, Checo” – in support of Perez – were also audible during the Dutch national anthem. A crowd of nearly 400,000 are expected at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez over the course of the weekend, with practice starting on Friday and it is understood Verstappen will be flanked by multiple security guards in the paddock. Perez’s fans are unhappy Verstappen did not help the Mexican secure second place in last season’s championship after he ignored a team order at the penultimate round in Brazil. Perez has won only twice this season – his last victory in Azerbaijan on April 30 – with Verstappen racing to his third title in as many years. The paddock in Mexico City has become one of the most manic on the calendar, with drivers mobbed as they make their way from the motorhome to the garage. And Perez is also expected to have a bigger entourage than normal to cover-off his enthusiastic fanbase. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and the team’s motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko will also be accompanied by security guards. Speaking after last weekend’s race in Austin, Horner said: “I don’t think Max is going to get the warmest reception in Mexico, but that is water off a duck’s back to him. “One year you are the villain and the next year you are the hero.” Perez heads into this weekend’s round 206 points behind Verstappen. However, he is 39 points clear of third-placed Lewis Hamilton, who was disqualified from second at the Circuit of the Americas for running an illegal floor on his Mercedes.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have won two straight heading into a visit to slumping Auburn

The Cleveland Cavaliers have high hopes for the 2023 NBA season. Here are three keys to success for the team.

On Saturday night, two fighters who embody the word heavyweight – every sense of it – will clash in Saudi Arabia. In one corner will be the reigning WBC champion, one of the biggest names in boxing, Tyson Fury. In the other will be the former UFC champion, a man deemed the hardest hitter in combat-sports history, Francis Ngannou. This crossover bout has its detractors yet still holds an air of intrigue, all based on the ‘what if’: What if Ngannou can land on Fury? What if one of those monstrous hands touches the Briton’s chin with the velocity and malicious intent that have come to define Ngannou’s fighting career, and which carried the Cameroonian to the UFC heavyweight title? For all his evasive guile, Fury, 35, has been put down numerous times, but he has never been beaten – not even by fighters with much greater boxing pedigree than the 37-year-old Ngannou. The experiential gap understandably has most viewers doubting Ngannou’s chances in Riyadh, where he faces Fury in a proper, professional boxing match; but what if? And if Ngannou is to win, how will he? Attacking Fury to the body? Battering him in the clinch? Backing him into a corner? Alex Pattle asked former two-weight world-champion boxer Carl Frampton, and Dan Hardy, an ex-UFC title challenger who now works with the Professional Fighters League – the MMA promotion where Ngannou will fight in 2024. Here’s what they had to say... AP: What was your initial reaction to the fight being announced? DH: “I was shocked. I expected Ngannou to have another fight before Tyson Fury, but I think it’s the wise thing to do to step straight in and keep the element of surprise on your side. If he’d have gone in there and fought someone else, Tyson would’ve been able to get reads before the fight even started. Jumping in at the deep end, even though it’s a bit crazy, increases his chances of winning. That was my first thought: It’s a surprise that it’s happening, but relief that Ngannou is getting it on his first shot.” CF: “Initially I was disappointed, and that’s kind of taming it down a bit. Obviously we were hoping for Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk and that fell through, but now I’ve come round to the idea that this is a huge event. And we’ve got Fury vs Usyk off the back of it. I was always hopeful that fight would come about at some point, and I don’t wanna be talking as if Ngannou is gonna be a complete walkover for Fury, but I’m okay about it [because] the Fury vs Usyk fight has been made for some point in the future. Also, the money the guys are making with this event...” AP: Do fans need to be more understanding of fighters taking ‘money fights’? CF: “Maybe a little bit. Boxing fans in particular are very opinionated, and I understand that they’re frustrated. But if you’re Tyson Fury and someone’s offering you a fight of this magnitude against a boxing debutant, and there are talks of $30m – and $10m for Ngannou – how do you turn that down? It’s almost too good to be true.” DH: “I think it's a bit different for MMA fans, because we’re still in new ground; the changes that Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor made in fighters’ purses and expectations for purses... as a matchmaker, I’m still dealing with the repercussions of that! Fighters want ridiculous amounts of money, but the money is out there to be made by certain superstars. I honestly think it’s easier for a layman fan to understand why fighters would take these fights, because they focus so much more on the money. I think it’s more the purists who go, ‘I’m not interested in these fights!’ [To the layman], the money and pay-per-view buys almost represent the value of the fighter; to the purists, the value of the fighter is based on their technical ability and achievements.” CF: “I hate to use the term ‘casual fan’, but there’s a big difference between the purists and just the casual fan. I think you’ll win back [the purists] with Fury vs Usyk, but it’s all a bit trivial almost, because [most] fans are fickle. I’m expecting Fury to beat Ngannou and then fight Usyk, and it’ll almost be like the talk and criticism of the Ngannou fight will go away.” AP: Do crossover events like Tommy Fury vs KSI and Logan Paul vs Dillon Danis risk putting fans off fights like Fury vs Ngannou? DH: “I personally think it’s all on the same spectrum – just at different points on the spectrum. That Misfits Boxing card... I’ll be honest, I was able to make peace with that whole genre of combat sports much easier after that event, because it’s more like pro wrestling. The audience there, they’re not gonna buy a ticket to see ‘Canelo’ Alvarez; they’re not there for that, they’re there for the drama – for the security getting involved, for the plexiglass cages they put them in at the face-offs. It’s theatre with a combat-sports flavour.” AP: What is Ngannou’s chance of winning – as a percentage – in your opinion? CF: “There’s a lot of boxers who are almost anti-MMA, and I’m not. I understand what this is: I understand that Fury is a lifelong boxer, fighting a guy who’s had to perfect many different styles in MMA, so in that sense Ngnannou doesn’t have much of a chance. But to say that he has zero chance, I think, would be very, very wrong – because he’s a big, athletic man who can punch hard. He has a chance, but it’s very small. I hope I’m not being disrespectful to Francis; if you flip it on its head and do it in a cage, then it’s the same odds but reversed [in his favour]. It’s just, when you try to rationalise it, it’s his boxing debut – and it’s against maybe the best heavyweight boxer on the planet.” DH: “We’re definitely in single digits when it comes to percentages, but it’s the ‘what if’ that we’re tuning in for, right? Even if it’s a 0.1 per cent chance that Ngannou is gonna land that shot, we’re all gonna sit and watch in case that happens. If it does, then he’s got the power to knock Fury out. The reason I feel this is an intriguing fight is because... if you look at Ngannou against the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who’s got over 80 kickboxing matches and moves with very traditional patterns, Rozenstruik was taken out very, very quickly – and ferociously – because Ngannou flew at him, coming from all kinds of different angles. You just can’t predict those things. “Against Deontay Wilder, Fury was dealing with someone who’s got ferocious punching power but who’s got some basic fundamentals that make him a little bit predictable. If Ngannou starts patient and then starts winging those big shots from weird angles, which Tyson’s probably not anticipating, that elevates his chances – but they’re still incredibly slim." CF: “That’s the thing. High-end boxers often talk about when they spar novice guys, it’s all really unorthodox; they’re not taught to defend against shots that are coming from [certain angles], and it can be a bit awkward at times.” AP: We know that Ngannou needs to knock out Fury to win. But how does he knock out Fury? DH: “If I was trying to solve this problem for Ngannou, I’d say: We’re working with 90-degree corners in a boxing ring, so that’s something I’d like to work towards. It’s gonna be difficult to back Tyson up, of course, and he’s very good at standing on his back foot and making his head feel like it’s a long way away. So, Ngannou has to work to the body and vary his target to potentially bring Fury’s hands down. Ngannou has thunderous punching, so if he lands to the ribs, he might open up an opportunity. If he’s just head-hunting, it’s not gonna happen. Play a little bit of boxing, but when it comes to uncorking those big shots, really commit to them. And ideally put Tyson in a corner, up against the ropes.” CF: “With Ngannou’s MMA background and knowledge of wrestling and grappling, he will have success when they’re in really close quarters and Tyson’s trying to hold on. This might be something that Tyson’s never experienced before, where someone can get out of a clinch rather easily and land a shot. Ngannou can’t stand off and outbox Tyson, that’s not gonna happen.” AP: Ngannou last fought in MMA in January 2022 and has largely been in boxing training since. What kind of MMA fighter will he be when he makes his PFL debut in 2024? DH: “I think we’re gonna see improvements in his footwork and his fundamental boxing. I think that’ll be a byproduct of him doing all these rounds on the pads with Mike Tyson, Dewey Cooper and others. But I don’t think he’s necessarily going to neglect his grappling game, because it was never really the prominent skillset for him anyway. I think he’ll return to working on those things when necessary, because everyone who fights Francis knows that they need to take him down – you don’t wanna be dealing with that power. He knows that whoever he’s fighting is most likely gonna be the one to force the grappling exchanges. Then it’s about who the opponent is gonna be. $2m is a lot of money in MMA, even if you have to fight Francis for it!” Fury v Ngannou will be exclusively live from Riyadh Season, Saudi Arabia on TNT Sports Box Office, Saturday 28 October. For more info: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice Read More Tyson Fury ‘unhappy’ with Oleksandr Usyk fight announcement Tyson Fury reveals December date for Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight title fight Deontay Wilder calls out Anthony Joshua with update over super-fight Francis Ngannou drops hint over Tyson Fury rematch and Anthony Joshua fight How much money are Fury and Ngannou earning for fight this weekend? How many rounds is Fury vs Ngannou and do knockouts count?

Maud Kells is praised for her "tremendous courage" after spending decades as an aid worker.

Apple plans to overhaul almost all of its AirPods next year, according to a major new report. The standard version of the AirPods earphones will be replaced with two new options, and the long-neglected AirPods Max headphones will finally get an update, according to a new report from Bloomberg. At the moment, Apple offers two versions of its basic AirPods, alongside the higher-end AirPods Pro and larger AirPods Max. The cheaper AirPods are known as the second generation and include most AirPods features, but the ones known as third-generation are more expensive and add water resistance, personalised spatial audio and other features. Those newer, third-generation AirPods are selling less well than Apple had expected, according to the new report. Apple believes that is because more customers are opting to buy the cheaper, older second-generation version, Bloomberg said. Instead of offering those various options, Apple will take all the existing AirPods off sale and replace them with two new AirPods that will go on sale at the same time, the report said. The higher-end option would get some AirPods Pro features such as noise cancellation and speakers inside the case to make it easier to find. The two new generations would also continue Apple’s move towards USB-C charging. Last month, Apple updated the AirPods to drop support for the Lightning cable and include the standard, which came alongside the same change in the iPhone line-up. Both of the new sets of AirPods are expected to be released next year. The last AirPods update came in October 2021, when the third-generation was released. Apple will also update the expensive, over-ear AirPods Max headphones next year, the report claimed. Those headphones have gone without any changes since they were first introduced in 2020, which means they do not have access to Apple’s newer wireless technologies and still use the old Lightning cable to charge. The AirPods Pro will get their own redesign in 2025, the report said. It gave no indication of what would change about the earphones, which were updated to get USB-C last month. Read More Apple TV+ and other subscriptions are about to get a lot more expensive The Apple Watch feature everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived What to expect Apple’s surprise, spooky upcoming launch

New Zealand coach Ian Foster has made one change to his starting XV to play South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final on Saturday, Brodie Retallick replacing...