Author: sportsnewsuk

The last Major of the world of tennis saw two winners who celebrated their wins without any of the theatrics that seem to be such an integral part of modern sport. When Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka, she just closed her fist, gave a dimpled smile and turned to her coach and support staff to acknowledge and thank them. When Alexander Zverev won the final point, he wasn’t even aware that he had won the title. He also just smiled and rushed towards the net to greet his opponent, Ben Shelton. It was so, so refreshing to see truly memorable…

Teofimo Lopez has been ordered to defend his WBA world title against Briton Jack Catterall.Lopez became the WBA ‘super’ welterweight champion with a points win over Rolando Romero last month.Catterall, 33, is Lopez’s mandatory challenger but the American has been campaigning to fight WBC champion Ryan Garcia in a unification bout instead.The WBA has now announced they expect Lopez to fight Catterall next, and the two parties have until 22 October to reach an agreement or there will be a purse bid.Catterall became the number one challenger and WBA ‘regular’ title-holder after beating Shakhram Giyasov in May.He acknowledged the WBA’s…

Diego Pacheco is ranked above Jacob Bank, but Bank is negotiating the vacant WBO super middleweight title fight with Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. Pacheco has a November 14 date with Darius Fulghum instead. We do not know if Pacheco was offered the Alimkhanuly fight or would have taken it. We do know his next fight has left Bank holding the opportunity. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri called Bank the “first AVAILABLE contender” in his announcement on X. The sides have 15 days to make a deal before a purse bid is ordered. Olivieri gave no reason for passing over No. 2 Pacheco. One…

Jai Opetaia set up a long-awaited fight with David Benavidez after his most recent win, and two-time welterweight world champion Shawn Porter has offered his thoughts on the showdown. Opetaia knocked out then-reigning WBC crusierweight titleholder Noel Mikaelian in the co-main event of last weekend’s Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn bill, but Opetaia did not get his hands on the coveted WBC belt – with it being a non-sanctioned contest. Instead, Mikaelian was stripped of his status as champion during the aftermath, with interim champion Michal Cieslak being elevated to full world champion and positioned for a three-belt unification clash…

Jacob Bank objected when the WBO put Zhanibek Alimkhanuly at the front of its super middleweight rankings after a doping suspension. Now the sanctioning body has ordered Bank to fight him for its vacant title. The Danish contender has the opportunity he sought, and a formidable opponent stands in the way. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced on X that the sides have 15 days to reach an agreement before purse bid proceedings are ordered. The formal negotiation order is still to be published. Bank argued that Alimkhanuly’s quick return to the title picture was unfair to contenders who had worked…

Sport is a kind of conquest. Rulers often get one significant, special coronation that cements their legacy before their followers. Sport, though, offers that sensational feeling of ‘taking over the horizon’ on a platter, again and again, patiently allowing those who persevere to have their fill.The Indian women’s cricket team  knows the feeling, with two such anointments in the span of a week, when it was undisputedly crowned the best in Asia — a record-extending eighth Women’s Asia Cup title in Dubai and a savoured gold medal at the Asian Games in Japan, both against the same opponent: Sri Lanka.…

(Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions) The WBA Championship Committee has issued an order for their super middleweight world champion, Jaime Munguia, to next make a mandatory title defense against No. 1 contender Bektemir Melikuziev. The resolution, sent yesterday, gives the parties 30 days to reach their own terms for the bout, or a purse bid will be called after end of day on Wednesday, October 21 in accordance with Rule C.10 of the WBA Championship Rules. The official public communication from the WBA reads as follows: “Munguía captured the WBA Super Middleweight World Championship on May…

Great Britain are guaranteed at least three medals at the European Boxing Championships in Bulgaria after Chantelle Reid, Damar Thomas and Abdul Burton reached the semi-finals.Reid cruised to a 5-0 win over Ireland’s Evelyn Igharo in a women’s light-middleweight contest at the Asics Arena Sports Hall in Sofia.The 28-year-old Commonwealth Games silver medallist will face Serbia’s Milena Matovic in the last four on Wednesday.Thomas won by the same margin in a men’s super-heavyweight fight against Georgia’s Nikoloz Begadze and the 21-year-old will take on Mahammad Abdullayev of Azerbaijan in the semi-finals.Burton, 20, beat home favourite and Olympic bronze medallist Javier…

Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery may saddle Zuffa Boxing with an urgent assignment: extracting cold cash directly from combat sports fans to chip away at a massive mountain of red ink. Boxing represents the cleanest vehicle to revive traditional pay-per-view without torpedoing the consumer pledge Paramount used to lock down its flagship UFC audience. Chris Mannix pointed directly to this financial squeeze once regulatory authorities cleared Paramount to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery. The merged entity inherits roughly $79 billion in net debt, strapping executives into a vise where routine subscription fees and regular commercial inventory simply cannot generate enough…

Teofimo Lopez had hoped to move straight into a unification bout against Ryan Garcia, but a mandatory order looks set to prevent that. Lopez beat Rolando Romero for the WBA welterweight world title last month, and had made it clear that he was doing all he could to ignore mandatory challenger Jack Catterall to instead face the winner of Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn. Garcia won that fight with ease, stopping the British challenger inside two rounds. Post-fight, he said that the Lopez fight was his target, too. Catterall has been vocal since, having been guaranteed a shot for some…