US President Donald Trump said he’s “not thrilled” about Israel’s deadly attack on Hamas in Qatar that targeted a residential compound in Doha, where a delegation was meeting to discuss the US’s ceasefire proposal for Gaza.
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford have got a lot to lose for different reasons.
For both men, to lose this fight is not a good look and it’s not going to be good for their legacies.
Do I think their legacies and what they’ve done prior to this should be wiped out with a loss? No, but you know how this goes.
This is the last thing that people are going to remember and it’s the thing that they’re never going to let you forget about.
This is a bona fide once-in-a-generation super-fight.
It’s a match-up that commands attention.
Alvarez is the face of boxing and has never been beaten down or dominated. He may have draws and losses on his record, but there are explanations – moving up in weight or nights where he felt he could have got the nod.
He didn’t have an amateur career but learned his craft as a pro, debuting at just 15.
Now 35, he talks as if he wants to continue fighting for another five to ten years, but the signs suggest he is winding down. What’s certain is he won’t want another blemish.
Although Alvarez may be the name most casual fans know, make no mistake – this is no crossroads fight.
Alvarez has more miles on the clock, but Crawford, who turns 38 shortly after the fight, is the older man. He’s been around a long time and had a long amateur career too.
The weight disparity, and what Crawford is attempting – moving up two divisions to chase a third undisputed crown – only adds to the allure.
I’m not a betting man, but it’s hard to bet against Crawford. It’s later than it should have been, but he is finally getting recognition as an all-time great.
When Crawford and Alvarez stand side-by-side, the difference isn’t huge.
Alvarez has been fighting at 168lb for years and knows how to carry it. I don’t know how big he gets when he’s not training. With his stature and frame, there’s a danger of getting too big between camps if he’s not locked in.
Depending on which tale of the tape you look at, Crawford might even have a slight edge in height.
The more significant disparity is reach – Crawford has it by four inches, and it could be crucial. Alvarez will need to work to get inside without being caught by a shot that changes everything.
Even if the size difference isn’t obvious, Crawford will feel the weight on fight night.
Alvarez has been in with natural super-middleweights and that experience matters.
When I moved up to face Sergey Kovalev at light-heavyweight, I didn’t jump straight from 168lb (12st) to 175lb (12st 7lb) – I settled in first, carried that weight in real fights, with ten-ounce gloves, against bigger men.
Crawford doesn’t have that luxury. You’ve got to commend him for stepping straight up.
We’ve seen signs of decline in Alvarez, but that’s expected. He’s still one of the best in the world.
At this stage of his career it’s about efficiency – being smarter, using experience.
Some recent opponents haven’t forced him to throw 80-100 punches a round. He doesn’t need to any more – he knows how to win rounds and manage fights.
Against Crawford, it’s different. He won’t be able to just lazily walk him down.
We’ll need to see the full skillset of Alvarez: his underrated defence, the slips, rolls, and counters. Cutting off the ring, making his presence felt, landing power shots.
But he will also have to be a smart boxer, because across from him is a high-IQ fighter.
The main question with Crawford is inactivity. He’s had just one fight in more than two years – a points win over Israil Madrimov 13 months ago.
That’s what makes this intriguing. The variables pile up and questions keep coming.
What we do know is Crawford has never been turned over in 41 pro fights. He’s stubborn, disciplined, and smart enough to use that reach, keep Alvarez off balance, and make him pay for every step forward.
Portugal earned a 3-2 victory at Hungary in their UEFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, with Joao Cancelo scoring a late winner, two minutes after the hosts had equalised, to put them in control at the top of Group F with two away wins from two.
The visitors came from behind to lead thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty, but almost let the three points slip when conceding late on before Cancelo’s goal rescued the win to add to their 5-0 success in Armenia on Saturday.
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Hungary took the lead in the 21st minute when Barnabas Varga met Zsolt Nagy’s inch-perfect cross into the box with a header which went in off the upright, before Portugal drew level 15 minutes later through Bernardo Silva’s close-range effort.
Portugal went in front after Varga handballed a Ronaldo flick-on in the area, and the 40-year-old buried his spot kick into the bottom corner.
The goal took Ronaldo level with Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz as the joint-top scorer in World Cup qualifiers on 39. He also extended his international record to 141 in 223 games.
Hungary, who drew 2-2 away to Ireland on Saturday, looked to have done the same in Budapest when Varga headed his second of the night six minutes from time, but the hosts were unable to hold on.
Two minutes later, Cancelo struck a first-time shot from outside the area after a Bernardo Silva pass to leave Portugal top of the group standings on six points.
“It’s never easy once you fall behind, and we showed a lot of character, just like against Germany and Spain [in the Nations League] in June when we were losing but managed to come back,” said Silva.
“Today, once again against a tough team, we managed to come back. Even when they scored after 80-something minutes, we still managed to score the winner.”
Armenia, who beat Ireland 2-1 earlier on Tuesday, are second with three points, with Hungary and Ireland on one point.
Norway’s Erling Haaland scored five goals and substitute Thelo Aasgaard added four more as they hammered hapless Moldova 11-1 to take another huge step towards qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
With five games played, the Norwegians top Group I on 15 points, six ahead of second-placed Italy, who have a game in hand. Moldova’s worst defeat leaves them bottom of the group with no points.
The group winners qualify automatically for next year’s World Cup, while the runners-up go into a playoff.
Haaland’s beautifully cushioned pass teed up Felix Horn Myhre to break the scoring deadlock with a sixth-minute tap-in, and Martin Odegaard should have made it two a minute later, but he blazed the ball over from close range.
The Norwegians did not have to wait long for another goal as Haaland rattled home in the 11th minute, snapping up a loose ball in the box and sweeping it into the far corner.
Haaland slotted home his second to round off a Norwegian counterattack in the 36th minute and completed his hat-trick before halftime.
Moldova keeper Cristian Avram forced him to go wide, but Haaland recovered the ball and chipped it brilliantly in at the far post to make it 4-0.
Odegaard netted a fifth in first-half stoppage time, and seven minutes into the second half, Haaland struck again, scoring his fourth with a header as Norway ran riot in front of their home fans.
Substitute Aasgaard struck twice, either side of an own goal by Leo Ostigard, and he got his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 79th minute before Haaland added the 10th, his ninth goal in five World Cup qualifiers.
Aasgaard completed the rout with a flicked finish in second-half stoppage time to complete a rare double-digit margin of victory.
England took a huge step towards automatic qualification for the World Cup, with captain Harry Kane paving the way for an impressive 5-0 victory away to main Group K rivals, Serbia.
Criticised for a laboured home win over Andorra at the weekend, England produced their best display under Thomas Tuchel to take full advantage of a timid Serbia display and maintain their 100 percent record in the group without conceding a goal.
Kane headed England’s opener from Declan Rice’s corner in the 33rd minute, and minutes later Noni Madueke scored his first senior international goal to double the lead.
Seven minutes after the break, it was Ezri Konsa’s turn to open his England account and put the visitors in cruise control with a close-range finish.
Serbia’s night went from bad to worse when Nikola Milenkovic was sent off in the 73rd minute for a foul on Kane, and from Rice’s resulting free kick, Marc Guehi arrived to make it 4-0.
Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded it off with a late penalty after a foul on Ollie Watkins as England moved to 15 points from five games and a seven-point lead over Albania.
Serbia’s first defeat in the group leaves them third on seven points, with a game in hand.
The group winners qualify for next year’s finals, with the runners-up going into the playoffs.
IBF welterweight world title: Lewis Crocker v Paddy Donovan
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Saturday, 13 September
It’s time for Lewis Crocker’s rematch with Paddy Donovan – and this time the stakes are raised.
March’s fight was filled with controversy and drama as Donovan was disqualified after the eighth round for a punch after the bell.
The rematch on Saturday will take place at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland’s national football stadium, which is expected to be sold out.
The IBF welterweight title, which was vacated by Jaron Ennis, is on the line as both men look to achieve their dream of becoming world champion.
There was a lot of hype around Crocker’s bout with Donovan at the SSE Arena in March, but few could have expected it to turn out as it did.
Both fighters were undefeated heading into the IBF title eliminator and, after a lively start, Donovan started to impose himself on the bout.
Crocker, from Northern Ireland, was struggling with a cut above his right eye from the third round as ‘Real Deal’ Donovan moved ahead on the scorecards.
However, things took a turn when Donovan was docked a point for using his elbow in the sixth round, and the Irish fighter lost another point in the the eighth for using his head.
Things then came to a sudden conclusion as Donovan sent Crocker to the canvas and had started to celebrate, but that was cut short when referee Marcus McDonnell disqualified the Limerick fighter for landing the blow after the bell.
It was a controversial end to a dramatic night of boxing, and now they will get to do it all over again.
The disqualification was the first defeat of Donovan’s career, while Lewis Crocker extended his unbeaten record to 21 wins, with 11 knockouts.
Paddy Donovan: “It couldn’t have panned out any better for me after the controversy after the first fight.
“The IBF ruled in our favour to get this world title over the line and I’m happy to be back in Belfast. I can’t wait to get in there and put on a show.
“You can ask Lewis if he took a dive or I knocked him out after the bell. I think he took a dive to get me disqualified. I’d been winning every round and was in a comfortable position, so the only way for Lewis to get the win was by taking a dive.
“After the last fight, my confidence is only growing and I can get the knockout this time.”
Lewis Crocker: “I agreed with the decision, but also agreed there should be a rematch. He didn’t knock me out. My eye was shut and I was in trouble at that stage. Paddy made the mistake and paid for it.
“Nobody wanted the fight to end like that, including myself, and I know I’m a lot better fighter than what I showed. The next day, I rang Jamie (Conlan, manager) and told him to get the rematch sorted.
“Everything has worked out. We were fighting in an eliminator originally, but now it’s for the title. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid and all I’ve ever wanted.
Belfast loves a big night of boxing and it is fitting Windsor Park will be the venue for Saturday’s highly-contested title bout.
Northern Ireland’s national football stadium last hosted a boxing bout in August 2018 when local favourite Carl Frampton took on Luke Jackson.
In front of a crowd of 20,000, Frampton produced the goods when he stopped the Australian in the ninth round in what would be his final appearance on home soil.
Lewis Crocker v Paddy Donovan – IBF world welterweight title
Running order to be confirmed; first bell at 16:30 BST
Former UFC and Cage Warriors star Molly ‘Meatball’ McCann will make her professional boxing debut against a yet to be announced opponent.
The 35-year-old announced her retirement from MMA in March after losing to Alexia Thainara in London and will now move into the boxing world.
There is plenty of local interest, too, as the undefeated Caoimhin Agyarko will take on Ishmael Davis.
Agyarko, 28, is unbeaten in 17 bouts and last fought Ryan Kelly in April ti win the WBA continental super-welterweight title, while England’s Davis holds a 13-2 record and has yet to fight in 2025.
Tyrone McKenna is no stranger to a battle in the ring and he will take on Irish fighter Dylan Moran, who he defeated with a first-round stoppage in December.
Linfield are the regulars at Windsor Park, but it’s Coleraine against Cliftonville on the undercard as Bannsiders fan Matty Boreland and Reds’ supporter Ruadhan Farrell face off.
You can listen to Crocker’s rematch with Donovan live on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra 2.
Commentator Ronald McIntosh will be joined by former undisputed light-welterweight world champion Josh Taylor and boxing expert Steve Bunce.
Coverage starts at 19:00 BST on Sports Extra 2, and on 5 Live for the main event at 22:00 BST.
Macedonia in 1997, Cyprus in 2006, Luxembourg in 2021, Armenia in 2022 and now Armenia again in 2025.
When ranking the Republic of Ireland’s most embarrassing defeats, it is hard to look past the debacle that unfolded in their 2-1 defeat by Armenia in Yerevan on Tuesday night.
The result against a side 105th in the Fifa world rankings was all the more calamitous given it effectively ends the Republic’s hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup just two games into qualifying.
The abject performance also inevitably leads to serious questions about the direction of the Irish team under Heimir Hallgrimsson and speculation about his future.
Hopes were high heading into this campaign as the Republic of Ireland aimed to reach a first World Cup since 2002 on the back of enjoying an unbeaten start to 2025.
That optimism has quickly evaporated as Hallgrimsson’s side have only a solitary point to show from their first two outings in Group F.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hungary in Dublin showed both positive and negative elements.
They trailed 2-0 at half-time, having paid the price for two defensive mistakes, and were indebted to goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher for the fact their deficit was not greater.
Yet they found a way to come back, with Adam Idah’s late equaliser just reward for taking the game to the Hungarians after the break.
That equaliser breathed some early life into their qualification ambitions but any momentum generated from that fine second-half display quickly evaporated in the searing Yerevan heat.
Hallgrimsson looked to rectify the mistakes made in the first half, when the Irish midfield was overrun.
Jack Taylor came in to join Josh Cullen and Jason Knight for the encounter with Armenia but that midfield combination lasted just 45 minutes.
Taylor was hooked at the break, with the Republic boss opting to bring on Idah as a second striker and to change shape in an attempt to gain the upper hand.
Instead of having a beneficial impact, that change ultimately contributed to his side’s woes at the other end of the pitch as, with just Cullen and Knight, their midfield looked porous and successive long balls from Armenian defenders repeatedly cut out both players.
That half-time change left former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given unimpressed.
“What struck me was that before the game, Heimir said how we have to stack midfield a bit more and how we have to get more bodies in there and how it will be won and lost there.
“Then he made a change and brought Idah on and left us really sparse in midfield and you could see how easily Armenia were playing through the lines,” he said on RTE Two.
Killian Phillips, who came on in the second half was the fourth and final central midfield option, which highlights the real dearth of talent available in what has become a problem area for the squad.
One area in which the Republic of Ireland team looked well stocked was their defence, which they hoped to use as a platform on which to build victories.
In front of a world-class goalkeeper in Kelleher they have Premier League quality defenders in O’Brien and Nathan Collins, as well as Dara O’Shea and Ryan Manning, who were both in the top flight last season.
Yet, time and time again they were exposed, as they proved unable to deal with the physical threat of Tigran Barseghyan and the pace of the likes of Lucas Zelarayan, Niyan Tiknizyan and Eduard Spertsyan.
Collins, who is Brentford and Republic of Ireland captain, had another difficult night after struggling in the first half against Hungary.
He was run ragged by Barseghyan and Zelarayan, gave away the penalty for a silly trip on the latter which Spertsyan converted, and lost Grant-Leon Ranos in the box for the home side’s second goal.
O’Brien and O’Shea were at fault for the second goal too, failing to cut out Tiknizyan’s cross.
They were indebted to Kelleher for thwarting Spertsyan, Tiknizyan and Zelarayan after all three had latched on to balls over the top on the left-hand side that the two towering defenders had missed.
Former Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Kelly summed up their plight perfectly on commentary for RTE: “Defensively, Republic of Ireland have been all over the place.
Although it is still mathematically possible for the Republic to qualify for the World Cup, the chances are slim as there is no room for error in their next four games.
Two of those games are against Portugal, top seeds in the group, who brushed Armenia aside 5-0 on Saturday and beat Hungary 3-2 in Budapest to secure maximum points from their first two games.
Another is at home to Armenia which, as evidenced on Tuesday, should prove another testing assignment, and the other is against Hungary in the cauldron of the Puskas Arena.
This campaign, as was the case with the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Euro qualifying series, seems to be over before it even really got going.
After their Armenian humbling, Hallgrimsson’s charges will be playing for pride and hoping for a miracle in their remaining fixtures.
They have conceded first in nine of Hallgrimsson’s 12 games at the helm and have kept just two clean sheets. Not a good springboard on which to build a winning team.
British 400m hurdler Seamus Derbyshire speaks to BBC Sport’s Jo Currie about how bringing his personality to the track has helped restore his confidence, and go viral on TikTok, much to his surprise.
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