List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

Anthony Joshua remains on course for a future bout with Deontay Wilder after he produced a spectacular stoppage of Robert Helenius at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night. Joshua claimed the 26th victory of his professional career with a first knockout in three years, but even before this bout all the pre-fight talk was about what next for the British heavyweight. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the state of play for the former two-time world heavyweight champion. Was the booing justified? The Matchroom show had been in doubt a week earlier when Dillian Whyte had to be withdrawn after “adverse analytical findings” were discovered in his doping test with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). It saw Helenius drafted in at the 11th hour but while there is no doubt a sold-out O2 Arena would have been happy to see Joshua in action, they clearly wanted more from the former Olympian during the first half of the 12-rounder. Joshua faced whistles and boos during round three and jeers followed after another pedestrian round saw the contest reach its halfway point. A thunderous right hand ensured the next outburst by spectators inside the London venue was applause. DJ getting a tune out of AJ? While Joshua was tentative early on against Helenius and did not want to initially trade off with the 39-year-old, some context must be provided. The Finchley boxer had only a week to prepare for his Finnish opponent and there is a number of inches difference between Whyte and Helenius, which would have brought out a significant adjustment for the home favourite. Joshua struggled to land with his right hand early on but was urged to keep persevering by highly-respected trainer Derrick James in only their second bout together. James told Joshua to “keep shooting the right” and it landed emphatically during the seventh round with Helenius sent toppling to the canvas. Wilder next? Even before Whyte’s withdrawal, a large chunk of the discourse around Joshua was whether he would actually fight Wilder next. The former world heavyweight champions have been speculated to lock horns for several years and it would have been a unification contest as recently as four years ago. Joshua had to block out the noise to do the business against Helenius but after he did, all eyes are now on Wilder. Saudi Arabia promotional entity Skills Challenge is eager to host the mouth-watering clash and dates in January and February are being drawn up. So that’s that then? We have been here many times before, not only with Joshua and Wilder but Joshua and fellow Briton Tyson Fury. It seems getting the best of the heavyweight division in the ring together is one of the hardest jobs in the sport. However, there is a lot of reason for optimism on this occasion. A traditional stumbling block can be the fact world heavyweight champions have mandatory challengers to face, but with Joshua and Wilder holding no belts, they are free to fight whoever they wish. The money on offer should satisfy the demands of both boxers, but Wilder’s trainer Malik Scott did hint this week that his fighter would like to be active before fighting Joshua. An October bout was proposed but even if that happens, these two generational heavyweights should still trade blows in 2024. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Neymar closing in on move to Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder in January? Key questions answered Ange Postecoglou says Eric Dier is still part of his plans at Tottenham

Everton have confirmed the signing of Jack Harrison from Leeds on a season-long loan. The 26-year-old has a minor injury so will not be involved immediately at Goodison Park.

Everton have agreed to take Leeds United winger Jack Harrison on a season-long loan after Aston Villa pulled out of the race.

Neymar’s move to Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal is set to be completed in the next 48 hours, the PA news agency understands. Sources close to Paris St Germain say the club are set to receive up to 100 million euros (£86.3m) from Al Hilal for the 31-year-old Brazilian as they rebuild their squad around younger, up-and-coming players. The deal has been sanctioned by PSG because Spanish coach Luis Enrique was open to letting Neymar leave. Selling Neymar would also shift his 25m euro annual wage off the club’s books, with his existing contract due to run until the summer of 2025. News of Neymar’s imminent exit comes less than 24 hours after the club confirmed striker Kylian Mbappe had been reinstated to first-team training. Mbappe is understood to have indicated his commitment to the club, who have offered him a contract with a “guaranteed sale” clause in it allowing him to seal a move to Real Madrid next summer for a fee. The club had been convinced Mbappe was preparing to let his current deal run out, which would have allowed him to leave Paris and join Real on a free transfer next year. The club acted by omitting the player from the pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea and forcing him to train away from the main first-team group, until the thaw in relations confirmed on Sunday. They had also granted Mbappe permission to talk to Al Hilal after receiving a world record £259m bid for the player in July, but it was reported the 24-year-old refused to even meet with a delegation from the Saudi club. The imminent exit for big money of Neymar and the news on Mbappe marks a major and positive turnaround for PSG. The French champions are consciously moving away from what their president Nasser Al Khelaifi has called their “bling bling” era, with Argentina playmaker Lionel Messi also exiting the club earlier this summer. Neymar’s signing for a world record £200m fee in 2017 arguably marked the start of that era, but the club’s incomings this summer indicate a difference in approach, with the likes of 22-year-old Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos changing the profile of the team. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

West Ham complete the signing of James Ward-Prowse from Southampton on a four-year contract.

Neymar has agreed personal terms with Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal as he closes in on a move away from PSG.

West Ham signed England midfielder James Ward-Prowse from Southampton on Monday in a deal worth a reported...

West Ham have announced the signing of midfielder James Ward-Prowse from Southampton. The 28-year-old made 410 appearances for Saints and was captain as they were relegated from the Premier League last season. He has made a swift return to the top flight after joining the Hammers for an undisclosed fee – reported to be in the region of £30million – signing a four-year contract at the London Stadium. Ward-Prowse told the club’s official website: “I’m buzzing to be here at West Ham United. It’s great to be here and I’m looking forward to getting going. “From the outside looking in, this is a club that has been on the rise for a number of years now and coming off the success in the UEFA Europa Conference League last year, you can feel there is real momentum around this club. It’s great to be a part of it and I can’t wait to play my role in the games to come. “When I think about my game, it is based on hard work, graft, and giving 100 per cent. West Ham United has always been a club that epitomises that. You can feel that from the fans and you can see it in the players who are here and the lads that have come through the academy too. “I feel as though I will fit straight in and I can promise I will give my all for this football club in my time here.” Ward-Prowse spent two decades on the south coast having joined Southampton’s academy at the age of eight. During his time at St Mary’s, he earned 11 senior England caps and scored two goals for his country. Ward-Prowse scored 17 Premier League free-kicks for Southampton and needs just one more to draw level with the record, held by David Beckham. He becomes West Ham’s second major signing of the summer following the recent acquisition of fellow midfielder Edson Alvarez from Ajax. Manchester United defender Harry Maguire could be the next player in at West Ham as manager David Moyes looks to improve a team that finished 14th last season but went on to lift the Europa Conference League. They opened their season with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday and lost former captain Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105million in July.

Spain has never before advanced this far into the Women's World Cup and makes its first appearance in the semifinals against powerhouse Sweden

Spain's first Women's World Cup semi-final in their history on Tuesday is reward for years of sacrifice, veteran forward Jennifer Hermoso says, admitting to "goosebumps" at...

It was the finish and not the fight that mattered to Anthony Joshua at the O2 on Saturday night. He got the finish he wanted, after seven rounds that he needed, and then he left the ring, his face covered in blood from his nose, to greet his fans at ringside. Joshua knocked out Robert Helenius with a perfectly-timed right hand, delivered as the third punch in a combination, to end an odd fight a minute and 27 seconds into round seven. At one point in round three, Joshua’s devoted flock had booed as the pair looked for angles, openings and safety. Helenius accepted the fight the previous Saturday and was proving to be tricky; Joshua was not in a hurry to do what everybody expected him to do. There has always been too much expectation in the Joshua game. “He was harder to hit than I thought he would be,” said Joshua. The finish was perfect, two jabs to the chest area to distract Helenius, a slight movement of the feet and then the final right cross. Helenius was out cold before he hit the canvas. It was what the crowd came for and what Joshua prepared for. “I got sloppy, I’m disappointed,” said Helenius, just before 2am, as he left the O2. “I came here to win, not to lose.” He was serious, by the way. It was a win that Joshua needed, the type of knockout his fans have come to expect since his professional debut in 2013. His domination of British boxing started shortly after that with big fights, sold-out venues and wild nights. He has had his critics from inside and outside the boxing business, but jealousy in boxing has always been in conflict with reality. Joshua has retained his dignity against great assaults – on Saturday, he asked once again for a bit of space, some space to breathe. It is hard being Anthony Joshua, just like it is hard being Tyson Fury. However, a few years ago Fury held his hands up and admitted he was struggling with his mental health. Joshua has his own struggles and battles and demons. There is no such thing as vintage Joshua; the great nights at the O2 and other vast indoor arenas, and the many wins out under the stars, have all had different elements. He has been raw, hurt, dropped, vulnerable, vicious and frustrated in fights before. There are a lot of contradictions in the fighting life and times of Anthony Joshua. Joshua now has a fight planned for January next year in Saudi Arabia against Deontay Wilder; the fight is ready to go. It is a massive fight and Saturday night’s win against Helenius should not be used as a measure of Joshua’s chances. Against Wilder, you see, it is all about concentration; fighting and beating Wilder has very little to do with punch resistance. The simple truth is that Wilder has dropped every single one of the 43 men he has beaten, he has knocked out 42 of them, including 21 in the first round. If Wilder connects, you go down – if he connects cleanly you don’t get up. It is fully possible right now, on the very brink of a massive fight worth more than any British boxer has ever received, that Joshua, a veteran of the ring, has to sort out his boxing life. And that includes admitting where he wants to be in life. On Saturday, his footwork was the best I have seen, the final shot the best he has thrown, but he hesitated, and seemed once or twice to be counting time between punches. Obviously, that version of Joshua would be an easy target for Wilder, but a more mobile Joshua can make it a real fight. And, that final right hand, delivered at the end of the jabs, will drop Wilder. It was a win, a heavy knockout and it adds to the journey. Joshua should be celebrated for his role in British boxing’s boom and not mocked because of his behaviour. He is a heavyweight and his job is to knock out opponents and thank his fans. That is exactly what he did on Saturday night. Read More Anthony Joshua shares ringside footage of brutal Robert Helenius knockout Anthony Joshua is back and reveals defiant edge needed to take down Deontay Wilder Anthony Joshua won’t get distracted by ‘hype’ of potential Deontay Wilder clash The sporting weekend in pictures Anthony Joshua won’t get distracted by ‘hype’ of potential Deontay Wilder clash Anthony Joshua eyes Deontay Wilder fight after Helenius knock out

The disconsolate trudge is becoming a disconcertingly familiar sight. Kevin De Bruyne has limped out of grander games than the curtain raiser to a Premier League. He has made an early exit from bigger occasions this summer. His Champions League final, like his evening in Burnley, came to a premature conclusion. A focus on De Bruyne’s body can concentrate on the remarkable right foot he uses to unlock defences, to pass and cross with an ability most can only envy. It may switch to his increasingly fragile hamstrings. For De Bruyne, Inter Milan may be bracketed alongside Burnley in the memory. His last two starts, two months apart, ended with him hamstrung. “He was injured again, unfortunately. A problem in the same position, he said to me as in the final of the Champions League,” rued Pep Guardiola. “It depends on the magnitude of the injury but it will be a few weeks out.” There will be no De Bruyne against Sevilla in the European Super Cup or against Newcastle in the first major test of Manchester City’s defence of their Premier League title. He could sit out the start of their Champions League campaign. A summer sandwiched by injuries suggests De Bruyne was rushed back. He had said after the Community Shield he was way ahead of schedule; he had targeted the Super Cup for his comeback. “It’s a pity because he had recovered well,” Guardiola said. “Maybe it was my mistake [to pick him] but if he is injured after 15-20 minutes it is not something wrong, when it is 65 or 70 it is the fatigue of the muscle. We have to talk with the doctors and him.” His plan, he had said, was to give the Belgian 50 or 55 minutes, rather than the cameo he had at Wembley. Which, as that culminated in the penalty he slammed against the underside of the bar in the shootout, has completed an ill-fated start to the season. “He is disappointed but he is strong and will be back,” added Guardiola. Yet for how long? De Bruyne may be increasingly injury prone. For a player who has never looked like a natural athlete, a red-faced figure who can seem a throwback to earlier eras, he has shown great durability. He has won 99 caps for Belgium – he would have brought up a century in the summer but for injury – and this was the 587th game of his club career. His 32nd birthday only came in June but to play almost 700 matches by that stage means he has plenty of miles on the clock. Or miles on the hamstring. He revealed after the Champions League final he had played for two months with the risk it could snap. By the time he is fit again, he will have spent the vast majority of six months with a hamstring problem of some description. It has prompted fears it will be a constant for the rest of his career. A reunion with City’s other talismanic Belgian could illustrate it. Vincent Kompany, a colleague for club and country, still made huge contributions in the latter years of his time at the Etihad Stadium but did not make 30 appearances in any of the last four campaigns. He played his final game at 33. De Bruyne should show greater longevity but his appearances will have to be rationed. All of which could create a problem, even in a squad as gifted as City’s. De Bruyne is a unique talent – “what a player he is,” gushed Kompany – and, as his total of 29 assists last season shows, reaches extraordinary levels of creativity. He is Erling Haaland’s supplier-in-chief and the shifting dynamics in the City squad has rendered his qualities perhaps still more significant. The departures of Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan have stripped them of two of the likeliest providers of goals and assists amid the band of attacking midfielders and wingers. Mateo Kovacic won’t deliver as many as the German; should Lucas Paqueta arrive, another able technician won’t replicate Mahrez’s contribution in the final third. De Bruyne is irreplaceable in various respects: no one is a like-for-like alternative and, as he ventures further into his thirties, City will have to ponder the question of who his long-term successor is. In the short term, they can console themselves with memories of Phil Foden’s impact when he came on for De Bruyne in the Champions League final and that, when he was sidelined for much of the 2018-19 campaign, they did a domestic treble. But now each injury comes with the sense that it will not be the last, but that De Bruyne is nearer the end. A man who has illuminated many a game may miss more and more. Read More Kevin De Bruyne faces ‘a few weeks out’ after suffering another hamstring injury Pep Guardiola reveals extent of Kevin De Bruyne’s hamstring injury Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City kick off new campaign in style