Manny Pacquiao has spoken out over the issues surrounding his planned rematch against Floyd Mayweather.

It was announced in February that long-term rivals Pacquiao and Mayweather were set for a second meeting, scheduled to take place at The Sphere in Las Vegas on September 19.

Their first battle was back in May 2015, which Mayweather won by unanimous decision in an underwhelming affair, though it was a massive commercial success and remains the highest grossing fight in the history of the sport.

While Pacquiao continued to compete professionally and has done as recently as last July, Mayweather retired in 2017. He has had a number of exhibitions since then, but the rematch against ‘PacMan’ would have served as his first official bout in nearly a decade.

Problems have begun to arose though, after Mayweather recently claimed the upcoming rematch would be an exhibition rather than a professional fight, and Pacquiao has now responded with his own take on the matter.

Speaking about the situation, Pacquiao told his rival to stop making excuses, and that he already turned down an opportunity for a rematch as an exhibition and wants a ‘real’ fight.

“He proposed an exhibition a long time ago, a year after our first fight. I didn’t agree to it.

I want a real fight. He signed a real fight, I signed a real fight, he’s got his advance, so there’s no reason to make excuses.”

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Mayweather has been accused of being in breach of contract due to his comments, so it is expected that it will need to be cleared up sooner rather than later just whether or not the bout will indeed go ahead.

Although delighted to be part of the field, McKibbin is eager to make his mark and acknowledges the famous course is challenging.

Long fairways and “pristine” greens are what he will encounter but he wants to leave on Sunday happy with his week’s work.

Whether that means playing through the weekend or making a charge at the leaderboard remains to be seen, but making the most of this opportunity is his primary motivation.

“Some of the holes are very long, especially around 10 and 11, you’re hitting a lot of long irons into the greens which look pretty small from there, but the golf course is just incredible,” he noted.

“I’ve played it a few times now and it’s everything you could imagine, so to play more over the week is pretty cool.

“The greens are absolutely perfect, so pristine, quick and once you get out onto the course, there are some pretty crazy slopes on them you can really play around with.

“The golf course changes so much over the week, I don’t know what to expect, but I would just like to have a nice week, play well and see where that is. Your first one there aren’t a lot of expectations, but I want to have a good week.”

WBC welterweight world champion Ryan Garcia has named the man whom he believes to be the most overrated fighter in the sport, saying that the hype is ‘premature’.

Despite knocking out Luke Campbell for the WBC Interim lightweight title back in January 2021, it took over five years for Garcia to finally claim world honours, with some fans thinking along the way that the ‘overrated’ label suited his own campaign.

That long-awaited victory came in February, as ‘King Ry’ dominated proceedings against Mario Barrios to properly announce his return to the big time and receive the plaudits that his skills merit.

Now, Garcia sits as one of the biggest names in the sport and the Californian is being linked to a mammoth rematch with rival and reigning WBO welterweight champion, Devin Haney.

Despite criticising Haney in the past, on the Creators Think Podcast when quizzed to name the most ‘horribly overrated’ active boxer, Garcia opted not to select his fierce foe. Instead, he looked upwards toward the super-welterweight division, playing down the abilities of Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

“Horribly overrated? Today, I would say ‘Boots’ Ennis. I know that I have said that before on a stream and got some hate but, at this point where they are hyping up like he is the next everything, I think it’s a little premature and [that he is] overrated.”

Ennis held the unified IBF and WBA welterweight world titles but moved up to 154lbs late last year, knocking out Uisma Lima upon his debut in the division.

At the end of June, the ‘Boots’ will challenge for the unified WBA and WBO super-welterweight titles against the youngest unified champion in boxing, Puerto Rico’s Xander Zayas.

There is a possibility that Garcia, still just 27, will move up to 154lbs in the future. If he does so, Ennis may want to answer the above comments inside the ropes.

Maduka Okoye delivered an outstanding performance, but Cesc Fabregas admitted he was not fully satisfied with his team after Como’s goalless draw with Udinese on Monday night.

Fabregas said the game was tight and very tactical, with both sides struggling to find space and control the tempo.

“Both teams had difficulties finding spaces, it was a very tactical game and nobody really took the initiative,” he said.

Despite his side creating two good chances, Fabregas was not impressed with how Como handled the ball, noting that several players did not perform at their best.

“In general, I didn’t like the way the team played in possession, there were many players who were below par today,” he added.

The Como boss also pointed out that Udinese offered little attacking threat, but stressed the importance of staying solid at the back.

“At the same time, Udinese created very little danger and we kept our 15th clean sheet.”

Fabregas admitted he expected more from his team but accepted the result, especially given recent challenges.

“When you are in these situations, it is important not to lose and not to concede, even if I am the first to admit that I expected more.”

Okoye was the key figure in the match, making several important saves to deny Como and secure a clean sheet for Udinese.

The upcoming battle between Callum Smith and David Morrell will no longer be happening.

Smith last fought in February 2025 when he was involved in a fight of the year contender against Joshua Buatsi, claiming the unanimous decision win in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to secure the WBO interim light heavyweight title.

Over 12 months on from that bout, he was set to make his long-awaited return against Morrell in his hometown of Liverpool on April 18, but with less than two weeks to go until the showdown, disaster has unfortunately struck.

According to journalist Mike Coppinger, the Liverpudlian has been forced to pull out of the bout after sustaining an injury whilst training.

“Callum Smith suffered an injury in training camp and is withdrawing from his light heavyweight fight vs. David Morrell on April 18 in Liverpool, sources tell Ring Magazine.”

Smith was hoping to move one step closer to becoming a two-weight world champion, having previously reigned as WBC super-middleweight champion thanks to a win over George Groves in 2018 before he lost that belt to Canelo Alvarez in 2020.

That prompted the move to 175lbs, and despite a defeat to Artur Beterbiev in January 2024, Smith remained one of the key fighters in the light heavyweight division.

The bout against former WBA Regular champion Morrell was set to serve as a tough test for Smith, with Morrell only having lost to David Benavidez in his career so far, but now it is unknown whether or not the clash between the two men will be rescheduled.

Coco Gauff recently penned an emotional message after facing brutal social media abuse over her new photoshoot. The American stated that the constant criticism reminded her why she shouldn’t be active on certain platforms.

Gauff is one of the WTA’s biggest women’s singles stars and the 22-year- old draws an immense amount of attention for her actions on and off the tennis court. Earlier this month, the two-time Grand Slam champion posed for fashion brand Miu Miu, but her look for the photoshoot gained immense scrutiny, with many expressing their disappointment about her natural hair.

Reacting to the hate, Coco Gauff wrote on X,

“Deleted twitter for a month, came back today, and got instantly reminded why I should not be on here lol :/.”

At the Miami Open earlier this year, Gauff had admitted that she was taking a break from X to avoid the online toxicity.

Coco Gauff weighs in on social media negativity, demands accountability from platforms

At the 2025 German Open, Coco Gauff discussed at length the negativity on social media surrounding players. In a conversation with the media, she shared that tennis stars often receive death threats and that online users frequently message family members as well, saying,

“It’s the worst you can get. Death threats, to your family, to yourself. I’ve had people DM [direct message] my boyfriend and friends about it. Racist comments, like all you can imagine. Nudity, things like that. It’s a gross kind of thing that we have going on in tennis.”

She went on to demand accountability from platforms, asking them to ‘step in’ in order to foster a more healthy environment for everyone,

“It’s something that we have to keep bringing awareness to. I would love for some of the social media platforms to get involved, not only when it comes to tennis players. Influencers, other athletes, they all get these comments, so it’s something that can be addressed. I know the WTA is doing what they can to make us feel protected, but I definitely think that a lot of these platforms can step in as well.”

On the tennis end of things, Coco Gauff was last seen in action at the Miami Open. The Florida-native reached the finals on home ground, before going down against World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.