Sports

Wilder’s coach backs Joshua to shock Fury

Published

1 year ago

September 20, 2022

Deontay Wilder’s head trainer Malik Scott believes Anthony Joshua’s chances in the potential title clash with Tyson Fury should not be overlooked.

Fury, who is the current WBC heavyweight champion, fought the former champion, Wilder three times.

In their third encounter, which took place last October, Fury overcame two knockdowns to eventually stop Wilder in the 11th round.

Fury and Joshua are now in advanced talks to meet in the ring on December 3 for the WBC title.

Public opinion views Joshua as a huge underdog in the fight – coming off back-to-back losses to unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk, who is much smaller than Fury, who many regard as the best heavyweight in the sport currently.

However, Scott disagrees with the popular opinion.

“It’s a great time for AJ to take the Fury fight. I believe AJ is in a mindset that he has something to prove. He wants to get back up on the horse. He wants to go again. Tyson and him have always wanted to fight each other, the big question, is it really going to happen? I mean, nowadays we’re just in the place where there is so much business and people are so selfish and everyone wants to be greedy,” Scott said to Fair Betting Sites.

“But what I like the most and what you have to give AJ credit for is he said whatever deal that they’re offering. You have to respect that, absolutely. He said whatever deal they offer me, I’ll take. He believes he can beat Tyson Fury. I believe AJ believes he can beat Tyson Fury.”

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While most are giving Joshua no chance at all, Scott strongly feels the British-Nigerian star pugilist has the skills to upset the odds.

“It’s a tough job for AJ but in my opinion, he has a pedigree, he has a gold medal, he has ability. AJ can punch, he’s a strong kid. He’s big. It can almost come across, when you think about all those attributes, like, hold up, this is Anthony Joshua. Let’s back up. How could he not win? I think personally the people who are giving him no shot at all are crazy. I think people who are giving AJ no shot at all – that’s blasphemous. I do not agree with that at all,” Scott added.

“Fury’s been on fire. He’s been smoking everybody. Yeah, but he’s also more vulnerable than he’s ever been. Fury also gives you an opportunity to hit him more than he ever did too, and in the heavyweight division, I just can’t have full confidence in someone that gives you an opportunity to hit them, I just can’t do that. He said it himself, he’s very vulnerable. He’s very vulnerable as a fighter. But that’s what makes him exciting as well.”

The latest update on the fight front as at last weekend was that Joshua’s team had been sent a contract by Fury’s team.

Promoter Frank Warren revealed in his column for the Star, “The contracts have been sent to Anthony Joshua’s team.

“Now we wait for them to go through them and sign so we can get one of British boxing’s biggest events on.

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“All our side is on board for this fight. Tyson Fury is eager for it as he showed last week by calling out his fellow Brit.

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2024 WAFCON qualifier: Super Falcons arrive Praia for Cape Verde clash

Published

17 hours ago

December 4, 2023

Seun Okerayi

Ahead of Tuesday’s second leg of the 2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations qualifier, Nigeria’s Super Falcons have landed in Praia for the game.

The Nigerian side dominated and won the first leg 5-0 at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Thursday and the result gave them hope to scaling the hurdle to the competition.

Super Falcons departed the shore of the country on Saturday and safely arrived at the Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde in the early hours of Sunday.

Falcons are willing to qualify and do better in the competition next year after they finished in the 4th position in the last edition that was held in Morocco.

The game against the Blue Shark of Cape Verde is scheduled to take place on Tuesday with the winner over the two legs reaching the competition slated for Morocco.

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Sports

Osimhen won’t renew Napoli contract

Published

4 days ago

December 1, 2023

Seun Okerayi

Nigeria international Victor Osimhen’s departure from Napoli is almost looking certain after Italian football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said the striker was unlikely to renew his contract with the Italian champions,

Osimhen has been linked with several European clubs with English Premier League duo, Chelsea and Arsenal, leading the race for the Nigerians.

Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, had on several occasions said that the club’s most prized asset would not be sold this summer even if their valuation of €200m was met.

“Osimhen will stay here. He won’t leave,” he told Sky in August.

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Sports

Super Eagles drop two places in latest FIFA rankings

Published

5 days ago

November 30, 2023

Seun Okerayi

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped by two spots in the latest FIFA ranking to place 42nd in the world.

In the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body, on Thursday, the Eagles dropped 16.04 points to rank 1474.44 points as against 1490.48 in October.

However, the drop did not affect the team’s placement on the continent, as it still remained the 6th team on the continent, behind Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt, respectively.

The drop in ranking comes after the Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw in their two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho on Nov. 16 and Zimbabwe on Nov. 19.

Although Argentina (1st) still leads the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) is now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place.

Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5.

The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th).

Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10.

The Comoros Islands (119th, up 9), meanwhile, enjoyed an even better month with wins against the Central African Republic and Ghana, and have two reasons to celebrate as they are now in 119th place, their highest-ever position.

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Kosovo (101st, up 4) may not have climbed as many positions as the Comorans, but the Kosovans are also now higher in the ranking than ever before.

Guinea-Bissau (103rd, up 7), Azerbaijan (114th, up 6), Libya (120th, up 6), Malaysia (130th, up 7) and Rwanda (133rd, up 7) are the other big movers in the November ranking.

The ranking also had the re-entry of Samoa (187th), American Samoa (188th) and Tonga (196th), who were all playing international football again following months of inactivity.

The ranking took into consideration FIFA World Cup qualifiers that took place in African countries as well as in Asia and South America.

The other confederations’ schedules considered included UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, Concacaf Nations League 2023-24 encounters and the Pacific Games 2023.

These matches all had a significant effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, including on the make-up of the podium.