No. 15 Kansas State hosts Troy on Saturday

Wednesday's roundup of Arsenal transfer news includes updates on their pursuits of midfield upgrades, interest in a Champions League-winning forward and reports on younger targets.

Southern Cal has its best ranking in 29 years in The Associated Press women's basketball poll, moving up to No. 6

Ruixin Liu is the leader after one round of the Kroger Queen City Championship on the LPGA Tour

The 2023/24 Premier League season is under way and you can follow every game and every goal right here with The Independent. This year sees Manchester City try to defend their crown and claim a historic fourth title in succession. Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City, who also won the Champions League and FA Cup last season, will have to see off Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and the rest to claim an unprecedented sixth league title in seven years. Meanwhile Luton Town are making their first appearance in the Premier League, having risen from non-league in an incredible decade of progress. They followed Championship winners Burnley and second-placed Sheffield United in earning promotion to the top flight. Follow the latest action from the Premier League below.

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali has accepted a ten-month ban for gambling breaches.

The Red Sox rallied to retake the lead in the fourth inning against the Nats, but the Ump Show stopped any further damage with a horrendous strike call.After Nick Pivetta got a little wild in the bottom of the third inning against the Nationals on Tuesday night, the Boston Red Sox showed that th...

The New York Knicks have a lot of talent on their roster but in Tom Thibodeau’s system, there are only nine players who will receive playing time. Here are two winners and two losers from the Knicks preseason and how it will affect the rotation.

Thursday's football transfer rumours include Mohamed Salah, Romelu Lukaku, Sofyan Amrabat, Bernardo Silva, Reece James, Matheus Nunes, Gabriel & more.

England are taking on Ukraine in Poland tonight as qualifying for Euro 2024 continues with a meeting at the Tarczynski Arena between the top two sides in Group C. Gareth Southgate’s side already have four wins from four games on the board and sit atop Group C, and victory here over second-placed Ukraine would almost guarantee qualification for the tournament in Germany next summer. This is England’s only competitive match of the September international break, with a friendly against Scotland to come next week. Ukraine are having to stage the fixture in the Polish city of Wroclaw due to the ongoing war at home following Russia’s invasion of the country. They are in a tussle with European champions Italy to take the group’s second automatic qualification spot. Ukraine come into the game with six points from three games, while Italy – who take on North Macedonia later tonight – have three points from two fixtures so far. Follow all the latest from Ukraine vs England below. Read More Harry Kane admits it ‘hurt’ watching England peers win titles while Tottenham toiled Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham is one of a kind, says England manager Gareth Southgate

With a new “player participation policy,” the NBA has made it clear that healthy players should be on the court

Boxing matches tend to be organised as one of three types: professional, amateur or exhibition. But what is the difference between them? Generally speaking, most ‘major’ fights – including title fights – are professional bouts, while exhibition contests are those staged with more of a focus on the audience and entertainment. Most professional fighters have an amateur career before turning pro, and Olympic fights count as amateur bouts. For example, Anthony Joshua’s Olympic gold-medal win in 2012 was part of his amateur career. Meanwhile, his heavyweight title fights with Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022 were professional bouts. Elsewhere, Floyd Mayweather’s recent matches against YouTubers Logan Paul and Deji were exhibitions. All fights – professional, amateur and exhibition – must be licensed by a commission (e.g. fights in Las Vegas are regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission), but exhibition bouts do not need to be sanctioned by a governing body. In contrast, the World Boxing Council (WBC) sanctioned Tyson Fury’s three fights with Deontay Wilder, as the WBC heavyweight title was on the line. Professional fights do not need to be title bouts, but they tend to have an effect on the rankings in the weight class in which they take place, as seeded by the governing body sanctioning the fight. I.e. Andy Ruiz Jr is the World Boxing Organization (WBO)’s No 1-ranked fighter below its champions, while Wilder is ranked sixth. If Wilder were to fight and beat Ruiz Jr, Wilder would likely overtake the Mexican-American in the rankings. Furthermore, rules are more flexible in exhibition fights. For example, a world title fight in men’s boxing – a professional bout – will always be scheduled for 12 three-minute rounds; and a women’s world title fight will always be scheduled for 12 two-minute rounds. In contrast, an exhibition fight could be set as six three-minute rounds, or eight two-minute rounds (these are random examples). Fights can of course end earlier if there is a knockout/TKO (technical knockout, where the referee or a ringside doctor halts the action, or a towel is thrown in), but such results are less frequent in exhibition bouts, where wins and losses do not count towards a fighter’s record – and there is often no winner declared at all. For example, former multi-weight world champion Mayweather retired unbeaten in 2017 with a professional record of 50-0, and he has since fought in five exhibitions. While the 46-year-old has been somewhat aggressive in beating three of his exhibition opponents via TKO, two of his exhibition fights lasted the full number of rounds and no winner was declared. Sometimes, however, fights that one would expect to be exhibition bouts are in fact professional contests. For example, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has boxed six times professionally, taking on former mixed martial arts champions Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley (twice) and Ben Askren, as well as ex-NBA star Nate Robinson and YouTuber AnEsonGib. Readers might expect such fights to be exhibitions, but they have in fact been organised as professional bouts, meaning Paul has a 6-0 record (4 KOs). Read More Who is KSI fighting after beating Joe Fournier? KSI knocks out Joe Fournier with controversial elbow KSI, from ‘endearing’ class clown to YouTuber who has changed the face of boxing