Category Sports News

Veteran promoter Frank Warren has confirmed he is considering legal action against Saudi Arabian-owned Sela and American company TKO.

Warren has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Turki Alalshikh and Sela in recent years, but the arrival of the Dana White-fronted Zuffa Boxing, jointly owned by Sela and TKO, has caused tension behind the scenes.

Sela is a Saudi state-owned entertainment company and TKO Group Holdings is a media giant that owns the UFC and WWE.

Warren alleges Sela and TKO went behind his back to form Zuffa Boxing, which he claims breaches the contracts he had already signed with the two entities.

Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, according to the Telegraph, allege as much as $1bn (£739m) could have been lost in potential earnings.

In a statement, Sela said they were “disappointed” by the claims and “reject them in their entirety”.

This week it was revealed that Warren and Queensberry had sent “letters before action” to Sela and TKO raising the issues.

“It’s just a difference of opinion over the contracts that we signed, so that will just take its course,” Warren told BBC Sport.

“I can’t make any comment on it. It is what it is and it will take its course.”

The potential legal action comes after it emerged that Warren has had limited involvement in Tyson Fury’s comeback fight in April on Netflix.

The fight was primarily organised by Sela and Netflix, and TKO chief Mark Shapiro claims Zuffa Boxing will be tasked with the promotional duties around the fight instead of Queensberry .

White and Zuffa Boxing have made some serious waves since launching their first show in January.

Conor Benn joined Zuffa from Matchroom and Eddie Hearn in a one-fight deal worth $15m, but Shapiro says Sela and Alalshikh are covering Benn’s purse, not TKO.

White has ridiculed Hearn for saying he was heartbroken by Benn’s exit, claiming he feels he has come into boxing and is “beating up babies”.

Asked how any legal action could affect his working relationship with Sela and Alalshikh moving forward, Warren said nothing would change.

“We will do what we continue to do and that is put on great shows. [Wardley v Dubois] will be a sell-out show just like what we’re doing in Dublin, in Germany and in Manchester with Moses [Itauma],” he said.

Zuffa have shown their intent by signing Benn and have also signed IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

Opetaia fights Brandon Glanton on 8 March and Zuffa Boxing say their first Zuffa belt will be on the line, as well as Opetaia’s IBF and Ring Magazine titles.

Warren said Benn’s move is something that “happens in the sport” and no promoter can expect absolute loyalty.

“I’ve been on the other side of it,” Warren said. “I’m old fashioned and I believe in loyalty.

“I think loyalty is something that is respected and a two-way thing. Karma, whatever you want to call it, always comes back around.

Wing James Lowe has been ruled out of Ireland’s two remaining Six Nations matches with a groin injury.

Lowe, was replaced by Tommy O’Brien just 20 minutes into Ireland’s stunning 42-21 victory against England at Allianz Stadium.

Before the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed the news on Thursday, Ireland defence coach Simon Easterby admitted the 33-year-old Leinster player was “struggling”.

“I think he’s due to see someone today, a specialist,” Easterby said after Ireland’s open training session in front of nearly 5,000 fans at Aviva Stadium.

“I would have thought they’d make a call on it over the next few days, but you could see when he tried to take off that he did something nasty.

“Lowey’s pretty tough. He was getting up and down on the sideline when things were going well for us and he was part of the cheerleading group on the sideline.

“I think the next couple of days will probably be reflected on his involvement before the end of the Six Nations.”

New Zealand-born Lowe has won 45 caps since making his Ireland debut in 2020 and earned two British and Irish Lions Test caps during last summer’s tour to Australia.

He played every minute of Ireland’s triumphant Six Nations campaigns in 2023 and 2024.

Having been left out of Andy Farrell’s matchday squad for the defeat by France earlier this month, Lowe’s impressive display in the win over Italy saw him keep his place in the line-up for the England game.

Wing James Lowe has been ruled out of Ireland’s two remaining Six Nations matches with a groin injury.

Lowe, was replaced by Tommy O’Brien just 20 minutes into Ireland’s stunning 42-21 victory against England at Allianz Stadium.

Before the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed the news on Thursday, Ireland defence coach Simon Easterby admitted the 33-year-old Leinster player was “struggling”.

“I think he’s due to see someone today, a specialist,” Easterby said after Ireland’s open training session in front of nearly 5,000 fans at Aviva Stadium.

“I would have thought they’d make a call on it over the next few days, but you could see when he tried to take off that he did something nasty.

“Lowey’s pretty tough. He was getting up and down on the sideline when things were going well for us and he was part of the cheerleading group on the sideline.

“I think the next couple of days will probably be reflected on his involvement before the end of the Six Nations.”

New Zealand-born Lowe has won 45 caps since making his Ireland debut in 2020 and earned two British and Irish Lions Test caps during last summer’s tour to Australia.

He played every minute of Ireland’s triumphant Six Nations campaigns in 2023 and 2024.

Having been left out of Andy Farrell’s matchday squad for the defeat by France earlier this month, Lowe’s impressive display in the win over Italy saw him keep his place in the line-up for the England game.

When the Women’s Super League resumes on 15 March after a month-long break, there will be several absences among the usual A-list cast.

That is because some of the WSL’s biggest stars will be in Australia representing their national teams at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Starting on Sunday, the biggest powers in Asian football will go head-to-head for the right to be crowned queens of the continent on 21 March.

With every WSL side represented at the tournament by at least one player, fans and clubs will be keeping a close eye on how it progresses.

This will be the 21st edition of the quadrennial tournament, which is the biggest international women’s football competition for nations in the Asian Football Confederation.

The tournament will begin on Sunday, 1 March with a group stage consisting of three groups of four teams. Members of the same group will face each other in a round-robin format until they have played three matches each.

The winners and runners-up of each group will progress to the quarter-finals, and will be joined by the two best third-place finishers.

The quarter-finals will take place on 13-15 March and the semi-finals on 17-18 March.

Sydney’s Stadium Australia – the scene of England’s defeat by Spain in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup final – will host the final on Saturday, 21 March.

The four semi-finalists will secure automatic qualification for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil next summer.

The four losers at the quarter-final stage will enter the World Cup inter-continental play-offs.

The groups are:

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Iran, Philippines

Group B: North Korea, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan

Twenty eight players spanning every club in the WSL will be at the Asian Cup, though they all play for either Australia (12) or Japan (16).

Any player whose nation reaches the final will miss matchdays 17 and 18 of the WSL season.

The final is also scheduled two days before the first leg of the last eight in the Women’s Champions League for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Given the strength of both Australia and Japan, it is highly likely the players listed below will not be available for their clubs at a crucial stage in the season.

Some have proactively taken steps to counter this, with Manchester City moving in January for US star Sam Coffey to bolster their midfield in the absence of Yui Hasegawa.

“It’s definitely a tough one,” former Scotland and Arsenal defender Jen Beattie said on the Women’s Football Weekly podcast. “The travel is pretty insane and even when the players come back they will take a few days to re-calibrate.

“But it is part of football. Clubs that sign these players know they will be missed when called up so have plans in place.”

Australia: Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Caitlin Foord (Arsenal), Charlize Rule (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ellie Carpenter, Sam Kerr (Chelsea), Clare Wheeler (Everton), Emily van Egmond (Leicester), Alanna Kennedy (London City Lionesses), Mary Fowler (Manchester City), Clare Hunt (Tottenham Hotspur), Katrina Gorry (West Ham).

As the highest-placed Asian side in the Fifa world rankings (eighth) and winners of two of the past three Asian Cups, Japan are joint-favourites to win the tournament.

Hosts Australia are also heavily fancied, though they have not won the competition since 2010. The Matildas suffered 1-0 defeats by Japan in consecutive finals in 2014 and 2018.

Though China’s victory in India in 2022 was unexpected, they are the most successful side in the competition’s history (nine titles) and should never be underestimated.

North Korea are another traditional powerhouse having won the competition three times (2001, 2003, 2008), but will be competing in their first major tournament since the 2011 World Cup.

They were banned from the 2014 Asian Cup and 2015 World Cup following a doping scandal, before failing to qualify for the 2018 Asian Cup and 2019 World Cup.

The country’s strict Covid-19 restrictions saw the team withdraw from the 2022 Asian Cup and 2023 World Cup.

North Korea returned to action in 2023 by winning silver at the Asian Games, and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

A radical new structure for English rugby is expected to be rubber-stamped at a Rugby Football Union council meeting on Friday.

The Prem would separate from the rest of the pyramid, with traditional promotion and relegation immediately scrapped.

Instead the Prem will look to expand from 10 teams to 12 teams by 2030, with further expansion possible if ambitious clubs meet criteria on and off the field.

This could mean clubs like Wasps, Worcester and London Irish – who all went bust in the 2022-23 season – return to the top flight in the future.

As it stands, there is a mechanism for promotion and relegation to and from the Prem via a play-off with the top-placed side in the Champ.

However, Ealing Trailfinders, consistently the best team in the second tier, have failed to meet the existing standards – especially around stadium size.

There has been no relegation from the Prem since Saracens went down in 2020 after a heavy points deduction for salary cap breaches. Sarries were also the last team to gain promotion after winning the Championship in 2021.

Under the new plans, ambitious clubs would still be able to apply for a place in the Prem, but would need to meet a variety of revamped criteria – financial and commercial, as well as on-pitch performance and potential.

English rugby insiders expect the new structure to collectively raise standards across the clubs and make the game more attractive to investors.

“We are lifting the bar on what we want clubs to do across various areas,” said one leading executive.

According to sources, any club would be able to apply for a place in an expanded Prem.

They could be ambitious Champ sides such as Coventry, dormant former powerhouses like Wasps – who plan to relaunch in Kent in the coming seasons – or brand-new entities.

The Champ clubs had previously rejected plans for a franchise-type model, but leading figures in the club game insist their board has been consulted throughout the process and have endorsed the recommendation.

“It could be transformational for aspirational Champ clubs,” a senior source told the BBC.

“We are looking at a range of different options to make the Premiership thriving, exciting and a really interesting place to invest in,” RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney told BBC Sport last year.

Britain’s Conor Benn will fight Regis Prograis on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s comeback fight on 11 April.

Benn recently signed with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing in a one-fight deal reportedly worth about £11m.

Benn, 29, will be the co-main event at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“But this circle will close with me teaching him a lesson.

“He’s not fighting some weight-drained super middleweight. I am in shape and will bring home this victory.”

Fury is signed to Frank Warren’s Queensberry, but TKO president Mark Shapiro said on Wednesday that Zuffa Boxing will promote the fight, which will be shown on Netflix.

Prograis, 37, is a former world champion at light-welterweight, but has two losses in his past three outings, including to Jack Catterall and Devin Haney.

Benn’s most recent outing was in November when he defeated Chris Eubank Jr in a rematch.

Both bouts against Eubank were at middleweight, but Benn intends to campaign at welterweight as he seeks to earn a world title shot.

“My last fight there showed the world exactly who I am and what I’m about,” he said.

“Fighting on the biggest stages, in the biggest shows, I fear no-one.”