Manny Pacquiao has revealed which current world champion, from a stylistic perspective, comes closest to replicating the ferocity and speed with which he once fought.

In his prime, the Filipino icon was known largely for his razor-sharp footwork and blistering combinations, fighting almost like a ninja with his in-and-out movement.

Perhaps his most formidable display came against Ricky Hatton in 2009, when Pacquiao landed a crushing left hook to halt proceedings in the second round.

He would then, of course, go on to become an eight-division world champion, claiming an astonishing feat that may never be replicated.

But while Pacquiao, in that sense, is unlike any other fighter in the history of this sport, the 47-year-old has nonetheless identified similarities between his style and that of Naoya Inoue.

Like a prime ‘Pac Man’, the undisputed super-bantamweight king typically controls fights with his educated feet, rarely allowing his opponent to gain even a shred of momentum.

And this particular advantage, it seems, was inspired by Pacquiao, who has told Inside the Ring that Inoue is the closest current fighter to replicating his style.

“I like Inoue; I like the way he fights. Oh yeah [Inoue is the closest to me right now]. I can say closest to me, because when he started I went to Japan and he asked me about the proper punches, techniques, [and] things like that.

“I told him that the most important [attribute] in boxing is footwork. When you have [good] footwork, you can do a lot of things.”

Another similarity shared by Pacquiao and Inoue is their devastating power, which the latter has utilised to craft a 32-0 (27 KOs) record and become a four-division world champion.

In his next outing, on May 2, ‘The Monster’ will attempt to retain his four major belts against Junto Nakatani, who represents arguably his toughest opponent as a professional.

The Eagles will play their first international match at Banorte Stadium, and what better stage to chase a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal, where they are level with Nashville at 0-0 on the scoreboard.

América XI

Spain will be sick of the sight of England. The Lionesses famously won Euro 2025 after only leading during the knockout stages of the tournament for four minutes and 52 minutes, including against Spain in the final where Hannah Hampton saved two penalties and Chloe Kelly stuck in the shoot-out to retain England’s crown. After surviving, it felt like the Lionesses kept standing for long enough to just pinch the trophy at the last.

So when Lauren Hemp swivelled in the box to fire the Lionesses ahead inside three minutes of their World Cup qualifier at Wembley, Sarina Wiegman’s side were faced with the complete opposite of what they managed to overcome in Switzerland last summer. Rather than chasing the game and requiring a comeback to get over the line, they would have to be more controlled and embrace facing elite opposition from ahead, while defending their lead for almost the entire match.

Turns out, the European champions got the same result in their rematch with the world champions, a crucial victory that leaves them in control of their qualifying group with three wins from three. Once again, when they needed her, Hampton stood up with another big moment against Spain as she denied Edna Imade’s late header. “A crucial save,” Wiegman said. The new centre-back pairing of Lotte Wubben-Moy and Esme Morgan, with captain Leah Williamson injured and Jess Carter on the bench, were outstanding too. “They were ready,” Wiegman noted. “They haven’t played that much together but they showed up today. They should be proud of themselves and I am too.”

Spain were missing the ingenuity of the brilliant Aitana Bonmati, who has been absent since December with a broken leg. They tended to move sideways, but the world champions still possessed the technical quality and attacking talent to hurt an opposition like England from all angles. “Against Spain you need to defend as a team really well,” Wiegman said. “When it’s hard you have to fight and communicate and stick together – we did that. As a team we’ve really fought today.” The resilience of Euro 2025 from “proper England” was on display again.

But there was more to England’s performance than that. Wiegman had a plan to match Spain player-for-player when Cata Coll had the ball from goal-kicks. They signalled an intention to press Spain in their half but then drop deep once their opponents crossed the halfway line. It was a counter-attacking approach that meant England invited pressure and placed a lot of responsibility on Wubben-Moy and Morgan but it also allowed the Lionesses to enjoy one of their lesser-seen strengths and set up to hit Spain quickly on the break.

It made Spain “uncomfortable” in the moments Wiegman’s side got out, the manager said. In the in-form Alessia Russo, England have not just a threat leading the line but a forward whose all-round game has significantly improved and can play with her back to goal. They have pure speed and directness in Hemp and a flowing, confident dribbler in Lauren James who is able to carry for great distances on her own. Add in Lucy Bronze’s drive from right back and Hampton’s ability to chip diagonal passes out to the touchline and England had many options themselves in which they could suddenly play out from.

England had enough chances to avoid the nerves that would come and put Spain away they were unable to create a more convincing scoreline. Hemp hit the post in the first-half after a clever flick from Bronze, before Russo and James had chances to add a second on the counter-attack. The best opportunity of all fell to Lucia Kendall, the 21-year-old who was playing in her biggest game yet for England, but she fired over to leave Wiegman almost tearing her hair out on the touchline.

Wiegman knew how important a second goal could be. There was always the danger that England would drop too deep, too soon after taking the lead so early in the game and they had to survive a difficult period at the start of the second half where Olga Carmona’s shot deflected off Bronze onto the bar and Vicky Lopez curled against the post.

Carmona had struck against England before, in the World Cup final in Sydney, but this time the fine margins were on England’s side. The full-back’s shot bounced down but stayed out but only by a few inches and goal-line technology was required, not for the first time, just to be sure it hadn’t crossed. Hampton was then needed to make stops but, with Mary Earps watching on from Wembley after being warmly greeted onto the pitch for her retirement celebration, the goalkeeper was able to deny Spain just as she did in Basel during the Euro 2025 final. The best came in the 90th minute from a corner as she sprung to her right to keep out Imade’s header from six yards.

Wiegman had more tools at her disposal. In James, Egland could call up on her mercurial forward who was cruelly forced off, unfit, during the Euros final. James had been key to England’s previous win over Spain across 90 minutes in the Nations League last February, and she was deployed in the same position on the left wing that allowed her to control and decide England’s tempo. With such fluid and carefree movement on the ball, James toyed with Spain at times and led them on a merry dance. Behind her, Keira Walsh, captain on the night she won her 100th cap, and Georgia Stanway worked well with Kendall in hurrying Spain and bringing bite on the edge of their box.

By the end, Hemp’s goal felt like a distant memory. It came from a corner, a set-piece ultimately making the difference. Hemp was sharp in the box with an acrobatic finish after Russo’s flick from the ground kept the ball alive. The presence of goal-line technology ensured referee Tess Olofsson did not have a difficult decision to make while Spain’s protests fell on deaf ears when Alexia Putellas was unable to clear from the line. There was a scare, much later, when Alex Greenwood left Lopez open at the back post before Hampton was booked for time-wasting in stoppage time. As they did at Euros, England got it done.

The No. 7 seed in the Western Conference of the 2026 NBA playoffs will be decided when the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. It is the 7/8 matchup in the 2026 NBA Play-In Tournament, with the winner notching the 7-seed and facing San Antonio in the first round, while the loser will play the Warriors vs. Clippers winner for the 8-seed. Phoenix (45-37) has alternated wins and losses over its last six, prevailing on Sunday over Oklahoma City, 135-103. Portland (42-40) is coming off back-to-back wins and defeated Sacramento, 122-110, on Sunday. Jerami Grant (calf) is questionable for Portland. 

Tipoff is at 10 p.m. ET at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix. The latest Blazers vs. Suns odds have Phoenix as a 3.5-point favorite, while the over/under for total points scored is 216.5. Before making any Suns vs. Blazers picks, check out the Suns vs. Blazers predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

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The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past eight-plus seasons. The model entered the 2026 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 23-9 roll (72%) on top-rated NBA spread picks this season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.    

Now, the model has simulated Suns vs. Trail Blazers 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Blazers vs. Suns:

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Top Trail Blazers vs. Suns predictions

After 10,000 simulations of Suns vs. Blazers, SportsLine’s model is going Under on the total (216.5) in over-under betting. No team in the Western Conference played to the Under more often than Phoenix this season. The Under went 45-37 for Phoenix, with that 55% clip being the fourth-highest in the NBA. The last matchup between these two went under and in a major way, with just 169 combined points in their Feb. 22 contest, which had an O/U of 222.5.

As for Portland, it has heavily leaned under as of late as six of its last eight games have failed to eclipse the total. Additionally, matchups between these two in Arizona have a tendency to be low-scoring affairs as each of their last four meetings in Phoenix have gone under. Both teams are forecasted to allow at least 5 fewer points than what they gave up in the regular season, as postseason games tend to slow down in terms of pace of play. The model has the Under hitting in 65% of simulations. See the Trail Blazers vs. Suns spread pick at SportsLine.

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After simulating each possession 10,000 times, the model also says one side of the spread hits nearly 70% of the time. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s NBA picks. 

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Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL season went from bad to worse as Chennai Super Kings demolished them by 32 runs on a tricky surface, exposing head coach Abhishek Nayar‘s poor planning and skipper Ajinkya Rahane‘s archaic approach in Chennai on Tuesday. On a two-paced track, CSK, after a blazing powerplay that fetched them 72 runs, managed a decent 192 for five, which was around 20 runs short of par but proved good enough to outclass KKR, who were restricted to 160 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.

Rahane’s team lost wickets in a cluster as left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad (3/21 in four overs) wreaked havoc, blowing away the middle order to ensure a comfortable win.

On a pitch where the ball gripped, Noor was more than a handful as he removed Rahane, Rinku Singh (6) and Cameron Green (0), with KKR slumping from 79 for two to 90 for six.

Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (1/26 in four overs) was also more than decent, keeping the batters in check.

Rahane (28 off 22 balls) and Raghuvanshi (27 off 19 balls) adding 50 runs in just over five overs was an eyesore, as their approach was reminiscent of how batters chased such targets a decade ago.

Mumbai men Rahane and Raghuvanshi batting in the KKR top four has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side, which has now lost four of its first five games.

But the bulk of the responsibility for KKR’s disastrous show lies at Abhishek Nayar’s doorstep.

Meanwhile, CSK are back on track with two wins.

Rahane was unhappy when asked about his powerplay batting, but his age-old weakness against slow bowlers was exploited expertly by CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Credit should also go to pacers Anshul Kamboj and Khaleel Ahmed, who removed the two players who could have made the chase look easy – Finn Allen (1) and Sunil Narine (24 off 17 balls).

Another pair of impactful players, Rovman Powell (31 off 22) and Ramandeep Singh (35* off 23), entered the fray too late, with the damage already done.

Earlier, after Sanju Samson (48 off 32 balls) and Ayush Mhatre (38 off 17 balls) took CSK to 72 for two at the end of the powerplay, off-spinner Narine (1/21 in four overs), slow left-armer Anukul Roy (1/21 in three overs) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/26 in three overs) conceded just 68 runs in the 10 overs they bowled collectively, while picking up two wickets.

In the 14 overs after the powerplay, CSK managed only 120 runs at under nine runs per over, largely due to the control exerted by the KKR spinners.

At the death, Kartik Tyagi (2/35 in four overs) bowled with pace in the high 140s and cleverly mixed in slower deliveries outside the batter’s arc to make scoring difficult.

Dewald Brevis (41 off 29 balls) showed glimpses of his class, while Sarfaraz Khan (23 off 18 balls) once again displayed his cheeky cricketing smarts in a half-century-plus stand.

At the start, Samson teed off with three boundaries, including a streaky one off Vaibhav Arora in his opening over.

However, it was U-19 World Cup-winning captain Mhatre who upped the ante straightaway with back-to-back sixes off Cameron Green, apart from hitting a couple of boundaries.

The standout was a Kapil Dev-style Nataraja shot behind square. He also struck another open-chested six over mid-wicket. Mhatre’s knock gave the CSK innings the required momentum, even as Samson played second fiddle during that phase.

While Samson’s innings could be termed far from smooth, he did show his touch with a straight six off Kartik Tyagi, who later returned with a sharp 148.1 kph off-cutter to breach his defence.

The Chepauk track was two-paced in nature, with the odd ball gripping and coming onto the bat late. The KKR trio of Anukul, Narine and Chakravarthy found enough purchase to put the brakes on run-scoring after the powerplay, with Tyagi complementing them brilliantly

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Reaching his father’s time will be hugely challenging – some might say impossible.

“Most people who know swimming will be like, ‘he has no chance’,” Adam says. “But I want to try.”

But Adam says the 12 months ahead are about more than strokes, leg kicks, minutes and seconds.

Having not swam seriously since he was 18, he only got back into the sport after his father’s death to “feel connected to him” as he grieved.

Adam hopes to travel to some of the pools his father swam in, including in Sri Lanka – where David was born to Scottish parents, in Scotland itself, Miami and even Montreal.

He will also raise money for Sports Aid, who help support youngsters with the expense that come with chasing sporting dreams, and take advice from his dad’s former team-mates.

“Doing this challenge has allowed me to go back through his life,” Adam says.

“My dad retired at 22, long before I came along, so it’s a part of his life that I didn’t necessarily know that much about.

“I’m hoping I’ve got a lot of his swimming genes, so we’ll see as the year unfolds.

“I want this story to demonstrate how amazing swimmers are, how hard this sport is and how much effort, time and work these guys and girls put in to get to where they are.

“And I want to demonstrate how good my dad was.”