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Ringmaster Tyson Fury was back to his old tricks, declaring he is “coming back to make boxing great again” and promising to bring his own brand of “circus” to the sport.

The 37-year-old British heavyweight will face Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 11 April.

Fury revelled in the spotlight at Monday’s news conference, delivering his trademark long and winding answers as he came face-to-face with Makhmudov at the north London venue.

“I came back for one reason only and that’s to make boxing great again,” Fury said.

“Since I retired for the fifth time over a year ago, boxing has gone on a downward slope.

“It’s become quite boring and boxing is at its maximum potential when Tyson Fury is actively fighting – and I didn’t say that, the cleverest AI on earth said that, ChatGPT.”

The Morecambe fighter retired in January 2025, shortly after his second defeat by Oleksandr Usyk, but announced his comeback last month.

Fury said the “biggest turning point” was the car crash involving British rival Anthony Joshua, which killed two of Joshua’s friends.

“I thought life is very, very short and precious and fragile and anything can happen at any given moment,” Fury said.

An air-raid siren accompanied 36-year-old Makhmudov’s arrival before a suited-up Fury strolled to the stage, smiling broadly.

“He’s back,” announced Fury, who flew in overnight from a training camp in Thailand.

“I feel fresh. I feel good,” he said. “If I was on the decline I would say it. I’d be the first to say.”

Fury has not fought in Britain since December 2022, when he stopped Derek Chisora at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to retain the WBC title.

He boasts 34 wins from 37 fights, including 24 knockouts, alongside two defeats by Usyk and a draw with Deontay Wilder.

“I bring a circus. I bring an entourage. I bring entertainment. I bring action. I bring cameras,” Fury added, insisting he was still in his “prime”.

Asked for a prediction, the Gypsy King forecast a sixth-round knockout with his “right hand”.

Makhmudov, meanwhile, kept it respectful and would not be drawn into insults or predictions.

He has won 21 of his 23 professional contests, with 19 victories by knockout. His most recent outing was a win over Briton Dave Allen in October 2025.

Nicknamed The Lion, Makhmudov recalled meeting Fury in Canada about a decade ago and described him as a “legend”, but said he is now focused on building his own “legacy”.

It was vintage Fury – long answers and drifting metaphors. At one point he compared himself to a honeybee.

There is a genuine question over whether he can fill Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without a marquee dance partner; Makhmudov is not a crossover name.

But it will be Fury’s first fight broadcast on Netflix, which has a global subscriber base of more than 325 million. With the second series of At Home With The Furys landing this spring, the platform offers a ready-made audience.

One subplot is the corner. Fury has recently worked with SugarHill Steward but -speaking on the TV broadcast – claimed he will not be trained by anyone for this bout. Whether that materialises or is simply more theatre remains to be seen.

Beyond April, the focus quickly shifts to what comes next. Fury wants to become a three-time world champion. WBO champion Fabio Wardley faces Daniel Dubois on 9 May, and the winner could offer a direct route back to the top.

A trilogy with Oleksandr Usyk remains Fury’s preferred option, while a long-discussed fight with Joshua lingers in the background.

Steve Tandy needs help. As head coach of a crisis-ridden Wales side plunging to new depths every time they take to the field, that much is obvious.

Specifically, according to two Welsh rugby greats, Tandy needs the support of a full-time defence coach.

His work as defence coach for Scotland impressed enough to earn the same role with the British and Irish Lions, so Tandy was expected to tighten things up for Wales when he took the reins last September.

Yet their has been little case for the defence with Wales.

In his first six games in charge – albeit including the world’s top four teams in their last four Tests – Tandy’s Wales have conceded a staggering 302 points and 42 tries.

The latest battering, Sunday’s 54-12 mauling by France in Cardiff, leaves Wales bottom of the Six Nations having already shipped 102 points. No team has conceded more in the opening two rounds of the competition in 25 years.

Wales have full-time attack and forwards coaches in the form of Matt Sherratt and Danny Wilson, but Tandy only has the temporary support of Dan Lydiate – still very early in his coaching career – in defence.

Juggling that work with his head coach duties, Tandy might be spreading himself too thinly, according to former Wales captains Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones.

“Mid-season it’s hard to transition and get someone in,” Tandy told BBC Sport.

“It’s something we’re working hard to have a look at and, probably by the summer, we’ll have an option then.

Warburton won two Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam, with a Wales team built on the rock-solid defensive foundation provided by Shaun Edwards, who now holds that role for France.

The former Wales captain said Tandy needs help with defence.

“Steve’s admitted he’s probably spread himself a bit too thinly,” Warburton told BBC Sport.

“He’s been doing the defence with Dan Lydiate but then you’re trying to do the defence with all the other things that come with being a head coach.

“Dan is more the micro defensive skills [such as] tackle technique, competition on the floor.

“Wales don’t have a full-time defence coach [and] it’s not just about being a coach during campaign time. When the players are playing for their clubs, you’re there full-time, watching the regions play, or the Welsh-qualified players playing in England, and you can still keep dialogue and send clips.

“He needs to bring in a defence coach [but] it sounds like they can’t get people out of their contracts because it’s difficult to bring people in mid-season.

When taking his role as Welsh Rugby Union’s director of rugby last July, Dave Reddin said Tandy would “not solely select” his coaching team but would be involved in the process.

He added: “It’s about getting the right people in those spots as opposed to just getting the next people. It might well be that people are in position already and we need to be a bit more patient.”

Whoever that new appointment might be, Alun Wyn Jones believes his former Ospreys team-mate Tandy should have the biggest say in the matter.

“Steve needs to be able to oversee everything and get others to focus on those areas,” he said.

“The bigger question I’d ask: Is he going to appoint his own defence coach?

“There have been questions around that, as opposed to other people in the organisation. That’s the most important thing – he’s got to be able to pick his own staff.

Men’s T20 World Cup, Group B, Pallekele

Australia 181 all out (20 overs): Head 56 (29); Hemantha 3-37

Sri Lanka 184-2 (18 overs): Nissanka 100* (52), Kusal Mendis 51 (38)

Sri Lanka won by eight wickets

Australia’s hopes of reaching the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup are all but over after Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka hit a brilliant unbeaten 100 to condemn them to an eight-wicket defeat in Pallekele.

Stunned by Zimbabwe in their second outing on Friday, Australia needed a win to keep their qualification fate in their own hands but it is Sri Lanka who march into the next round.

For Australia to sneak through as the second-placed team from their group, they now need Zimbabwe to lose both of their remaining matches against Ireland and Sri Lanka and then to defeat Oman themselves which would bring net run-rate into play.

Australia’s predicament came from their inability to convert a good start from their openers Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh as they set the home side a target of 182 after a collapse in the second half of their innings.

Despite the feeling Sri Lanka could have a complicated chase on their hands because of a pitch which was slowing down, they eased to victory with the Australian bowling attack lacking any bite in the absence of injured Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

And the Sri Lanka duo of Nissanka and Kusal Mendis took full advantage.

With wicketkeeper Mendis providing perfect support with a composed 51 from 38 balls, Nissanka brought up his century in 52 balls to take his side past the finish line with an innings that blended brute power and finesse.

Australia had Marsh return after recovering from a groin injury that forced him out of the first two matches and the returning skipper gave his side a solid platform batting alongside Head, who hit a long-overdue half-century off 27 balls.

They powered Australia to 104-0 in 8.2 overs before Head departed for 59 and it marked the beginning of dramatic downturn.

Marsh followed him shortly after with a brisk 54 as they unravelled alarmingly to be bundled out for 181, losing their final five wickets in the space of just seven runs and 14 balls.

It looked as though Sri Lanka’s chase of 182 might slip away early when Kusal Perera fell to Marcus Stoinis only eight balls in.

But it became clear almost immediately Nissanka was operating on an entirely different level in Pallekele, playing “an innings for the ages,” as Test Match Special commentator Daniel Norcross labelled it.

Nissanka raced to 38 off 20 balls to lift Sri Lanka to 61‑1 at the end of the powerplay.

Kusal Mendis then picked up the pace against Australia’s spinners, bringing up his third consecutive half-century of this T20 World Cup in 35 balls before Nissanka joined him, reaching his fifty in just 32 deliveries.

The 27‑year‑old Sri Lanka opener was outstanding in manipulating the leg‑side field all game, scoring 26 runs through mid‑wicket and another 20 through square leg.

But he mixed brutal hitting with plenty of finesse too, guiding 15 runs down to third with some deft late cuts.

Adding extra sweetness to Nissanka’s day was an extraordinary catch he took to dismiss Glenn Maxwell and keep Australia at bay in the closing stages of their innings.

Having dropped Maxwell in the previous over, Nissanka more than made up for it with a brilliant flying catch at backward point to send back the Australia all-rounder, who had looked dangerous.

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh: “I thought it was a competitive total at the halfway mark but with the start we had, maybe a few short. Well played to Sri Lanka.

“We know that at our best we can make big scores but we lost our way a little bit at the end and Sri Lanka bowled well. Not much more to say other than Sri Lanka outplayed us.

“It’s a devastated group. We are in the lap of gods now. We haven’t been at our best. We will watch the Zimbabwe vs Ireland game and hope.”

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka: “One of the best performances in the recent times. Really happy with how the proceedings went.

“We were still very positive after losing [Pathirana] in the powerplay. We had the confidence and knew about the wicket. Each and every one showed a good body language today. And everyone wanted to contribute somehow.

Referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistant Nick Greenhalgh have not been selected for a Premier League game this weekend.

The pair were heavily criticised for their decisions in the fourth round FA Cup tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle United on Saturday, in which there was no video assistant referee.

VAR will not be brought in until the fifth round.

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) bases its selections on factors including post-match performance assessments conducted by an independent Key Match Incidents panel, ensuring accountability for officials.

Among the errors, Kavanagh and Greenhalgh missed a clear offside against Tammy Abraham for Villa’s opening goal.

A potential red card for Lucas Digne for a challenge on Jacob Murphy was missed, along with a possible offside against Dan Burn on Newcastle’s equaliser.

But it was the Digne non-penalty decision that really left most speechless.

The Villa full-back was two yards inside the penalty area when he was penalised for a handball, but Kavanagh and Greenhalgh decided the offence was a yard outside the area and awarded a free-kick – from which Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali scored the 63rd-minute equaliser.

Speaking on Match of the Day, Wayne Rooney said it was “one of the worst decisions I have ever seen”.

However, despite the criticism Kavanagh is highly regarded and in December was promoted to Uefa’s elite list of referees to join Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor.