12:41 PM ET Undefeated light heavyweight Gilberto Ramirez has signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy for multiple fights. The 29-year-old Ramirez (41-0, 27 KOs) had won the WBO super middleweight belt, but after five title defenses he decided to jump to light heavyweight, where he has won two fights. “They understood the goals and
8:08 AM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are close to agreeing a deal for their world heavyweight title unification fight, Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has told
2:40 PM GMT England have suffered another Six Nations injury blow with Courtney Lawes ruled out for the rest of the championship. The forward wasn’t due to feature for Eddie Jones’ side against Wales this weekend and sustained a pectoral injury in England training on Wednesday which has ruled him out for the rest of
7:37 AM ET The vast majority of the boxing world sees the outcome of Saturday’s super middleweight title defense by Canelo Alvarez in Miami a foregone conclusion. WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim has lost both of his big step-up fights in his career and has been out of the ring for two years. Alvarez has
2:14 PM ET The UFC has lost a fight from its card this weekend on weigh-in day. Ramazan Kuramagomedov fell ill and was deemed medically unfit to compete at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas, UFC officials confirmed with ESPN on Friday. MMAFighting.com was first to report the news. The illness is not
1:30 PM ET Associated Press The number of minority hires for open positions in the NFL nearly doubled to 34.6% in 2021. According to the league’s demographics study obtained Friday by The Associated Press, the minority hirings included: three general managers, two head coaches, three offensive coordinators, six defensive coordinators, four special-teams coordinators, three quarterbacks
2:07 PM ET The Houston Texans have released running back Duke Johnson, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday. The Texans acquired Johnson from the Cleveland Browns during training camp in 2019 for a third-round pick. In 11 games for the Texans last season, Johnson rushed for 235 yards and a touchdown on 77
1:38 PM GMT Having navigated through the opening two rounds of the 2021 Six Nations unscathed, we’re a match down this weekend after Sunday’s championship match between France and Scotland was postponed. France have been battling a growing number of COVID-19 cases in their squad and there was optimism the match would take place through
12:55 PM GMT The 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick off with a mouth-watering Pool A clash between hosts France and three-time champions New Zealand, organisers said on Friday. England will start their Pool D campaign against Argentina on Sept. 9 in Marseille, where world champions South Africa will take on Scotland the day after
8:35 AM GMT Matt Toomua missed a shot at goal with the last kick of the game that would have pinched Melbourne Rebels an upset win over the Queensland Reds in a penalty-laden Super Rugby AU clash. The Rebels rarely looked to score tries, preferring to accumulate points steadily through Toomua and Reece Hodge and