CHRIS EUBANK JR trained in a traditional Saudi robe as he continued his preparations for his blockbuster Riyadh bout.

The Brit, 35, is set to fight Pole Kamil Szeremata this Saturday.

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Stepping out for a sparring session, Eubank Jr wore a traditional Saudi robe with accompanying headwear.

He looked in the zone as he made his way ringside, where he had his gloves put on.

In footage taken by SunSport, Eubank Jr could be seen shadow boxing in the ring while still wearing the thobe.

Although by this point he had removed the headwear.

In the build-up to Saturday’s bout, Eubank Jr opened up to SunSport about his greater perspective heading into the fight.

Three years ago, his younger brother Sebastian died of a heart attack aged just 29 in Dubai.

Chris has since cared for Sebastian’s son Raheem, who was just a month old when his dad passed away.

Now, Eubank Jr is determined to give Raheem the best life possible.

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He said: “I remember going to my brother’s grave for the first time and that’s where I first met Raheem and I held him in front of the grave and it calmed me down.

“His energy and him being very quiet while on my chest gave me peace.

“I felt then that everything would be OK.

“I felt that we might have a second chance here.

“I love that little boy. I use Raheem as a tool to strengthen my will and my soul and my spirit.

“Raheem is going to live a long and fulfilled life and I only have a few years of boxing left.

“So I need to do everything I can over the next three or four years to make sure he has the best life he can possibly have growing up.”

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IT says much about the Cole Palmer phenomenon that he has been named as England’s Player of the Year without having ever started in a competitive international.

In Thursday’s Nations League clash with Greece, Lee Carsley will finally give the Chelsea talisman his chance to shine in a meaningful match for his country after a sensational start to the new season.

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Palmer’s first-half quadruple against Brighton earlier this month has raised his figures to an extraordinary 28 goals and 16 assists in 41 Premier League games for Chelsea.

Underused by both Pep Guardiola and Gareth Southgate, Palmer now has two true believers to manage him at club and international level.

Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca and Carsley — under whom Palmer won the European Under-21 Championship last year — both seem ready to build their teams around the sublime gifts of the 22-year-old Mancunian.

On and off the field, Palmer appears supremely unruffled.

As Carsley says: “Whatever you throw at Cole, he deals with it.”

That includes the England Player of the Year award after just nine caps, seven as a substitute.

Though he did deliver a goal in the Euros final defeat by Spain and assist for Ollie Watkins’ dramatic late winner in the semi-final win over Holland.

If that gong, voted for by fans, feels like a cuff around the ear for Southgate, then it is also a rare slight on Guardiola, who allowed Palmer to join Chelsea last year because he could not guarantee him regular starts at Manchester City.

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Interim boss Carsley is careful not to openly criticise Southgate but, asked about the player’s lack of starting chances, he replied: “I can’t really talk, from a seniors point of view, about what’s gone on with Cole.

“But I’ve seen the impact he has had when he’s been given the opportunity.

“He had a similar role for us in the Under-21 Euros where he built into the tournament and then started in the final.

“Cole is in a brilliant position. He has really found his feet at Chelsea, he is highly-rated, he’s getting minutes, he’s showing that he can handle the intensity of playing game after game.

“So that’s been a real plus for him and we’re getting the benefit of that.

“Because when you talk about players who are in form, the fact that he’s getting so much exposure and his numbers in terms of goals and assists is brilliant for us.

“Ultimately, he’s still a young player, he’s still got a lot of improving to do.

“Even though he’s at an incredible limit at the moment, I still think he can get better.”

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Carsley spoke last week about the difficulties of trying to fit Palmer, Real Madrid Galactico Jude Bellingham and Footballer of the Year Phil Foden into the same eleven, as all of them covet the No 10 role.

That trio all missed last month’s Nations League 2-0 wins over Ireland and Finland.

And Carsley now faces a fascinating selection dilemma against the Greeks, who top the group ahead of England on goal difference.

While Foden has often started wide for club and country, Carsley — who worked with the player as a City youth coach — is adamant that his best position is in a more central role.

Carsley said: “It’s been a few years but I spent a lot of time with him at Manchester City with the Under-18s and also England Under-21s.

“Phil’s an unbelievable player, we’re very lucky to have someone with his talent and mentality.

“And we now need to make sure we put him in positions where he can really affect the opposition.

“Playing him in the wider positions, he can do it, but we’d have to change the way we play to get the best out of him.

“In central areas, Phil’s at his most effective.”

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Whether Foden, Palmer and Bellingham can start together, we are unlikely to find out either at Wembley or against Finland in Helsinki on Sunday, given that all three are having their workloads managed after injuries.

But asked about this selection conundrum, Carsley said: “I’ve definitely got a plan in place.

“The beauty of this job is you get a lot of time to think.

“In between driving from game to game, you are constantly thinking about combinations and relationships.

“Those three are brilliant players but we have a squad of really exciting, talented players.

“So you have to have that feeling you’ve earned your place — rather than try and shoe-horn players into positions.

“You get diluted as a head coach if you’re picking players who are out of form, based on what they’ve done in the past.”

That sounded like a veiled criticism of Southgate at the Euros — and it’s an opinion shared by the voting public.

Just imagine how good England’s Player of the Year might be once he’s actually starting matches.

England ratings vs Finland: Kane bags double on his big day… but he’s not the Three Lions’ star man

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD showed his brilliance as Harry Kane’s brace saw England beat Finland.

Interim boss Lee Carsley maintained his 100 per cent win record in charge of England.

SunSports Tom Barclay has given their ratings of the England players…

Jordan Pickford – 6

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Had nothing to do.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – STAR MAN 9

England’s best player as he supplied some beautiful balls from deep that on another day would have led to a glut of assists.

He did get one in the end, although that was more thanks to Harry Kane’s lethal finishing.

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Ezri Konsa – 6

Showed his ability on the ball with a super ball through for Bukayo Saka on the half hour.

Twisted his ankle early in the second half, surprisingly played on before being replaced on the hour.

John Stones – 6

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Played at left-sided centre-back before shifting when Levi Colwill came on.

Solid though not much to deal with. Now 19 short of 100 caps.

Rico Lewis – 7

In the right place to snuff out early danger from ex-Norwich man Teemu Pukki.

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Came close to a goal on his second England cap when prodding wide after the break.

Declan Rice – 5

Lost possession to give Finland their one and only big chance which Topi Kesinen should have squared to Pukki, but instead fired wildly over.

Angel Gomes – 7

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Wanted the ball from the off, just like Lee Carsley thought he would. Deliciously drilled cross-field ball to Alexander-Arnold early doors showed his range.

Bukayo Saka – 7

Almost scored and almost assisted in a lively display.

Unlucky that Kane was millimetres offside after the centurion had headed home the Arsenal man’s wicked delivery.

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Jack Grealish – 7

Enjoyed being in the heart of the action at No10 again, as he did on Saturday against the Republic of Ireland.

Carsley clearly likes him – it will be fascinating to see what happens when Mssrs Bellingham, Foden and Palmer all return.

Anthony Gordon – 7

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Caused problems down the left with his rapid pace – how we needed some of that in the Euros.

But did not have on his shooting boots as he fluffed a decent chance early in the second half.

Harry Kane – 8

Two blistering finishes took the centurion to an astonishing 68 goals in 100 caps.

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Was denied the chance of a hat-trick in front of his family when subbed off to a standing ovation for the final ten.

Kane said he fancies his chances of reaching a ton of international goals – and it does not seem fanciful.

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Levi Colwill (on for Konsa, 61) – 6

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Next to no threat from Finland by the time he came on.

Eberechi Eze (on for Gordon, 66) – 6

Raced on to yet another special Trent pass but could not loop it over the keeper.

Noni Madueke (on for Saka, 66) – 7

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Looked to make an impact every time he got the ball on debut. Excellent one-two with Trent saw the Chelsea man tee up Kane’s second.

Marc Guehi (on for Stones, 80) – 6

As with Colwill, little to do.

Jarrod Bowen (on for Kane, 81) – 6

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Played up top after Kane went off for the final minutes, as he has done for West Ham.

Aberdeen striker Kevin Nisbet has been called up to Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Portugal.

The 27-year-old has not played for his country since a substitute appearance in a 2-0 win over Georgia in June 2023, but replaces Lawrence Shankland in the squad after helping Aberdeen to 13 consecutive wins at the start of this season.

Nisbet joined the Pittodrie club on loan from Millwall over the summer and has scored three goals in seven outings for Jimmy Thelin’s side.

He joins Aberdeen teammates Nicky Devlin and Jack MacKenzie in the squad, while Shankland’s withdrawal – after he missed training on Tuesday – adds to an ever-growing injury list.

Captain Andy Robertson was also not at Tuesday’s training session in Glasgow, along with Scott McTominay, Kenny McLean and John Souttar.

First-choice goalkeeper Angus Gunn (ribs) and left-back Greg Taylor (calf) had already been ruled out of the double header, with 10 others unavailable for selection, including influential vice-captain John McGinn.

Scotland visit Zagreb on Saturday before hosting Portugal three days later.

Portugal lead Group A1 on six points, with Croatia and Poland both on three and Scotland yet to get off the mark.

The draw for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England will be live on the BBC’s The One Show on Thursday, 17 October.

In August it was announced BBC Sport had secured exclusive rights to broadcast every game of the tournament.

BBC presenter Gabby Logan and England’s 2014 World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi are part of the team hosting the draw.

The match schedule will not be announced during the draw, which is expected to begin at 19:20 BST.

New Zealand hosted the last World Cup in 2022, defeating England in a dramatic final in front of a then record-breaking crowd for a women’s fixture of 42,579 at Eden Park.

Select matches for next year’s tournament will be shown on the BBC’s linear channels, while every game will be available to watch live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra will also broadcast commentary on the tournament, which begins on 22 August.

Sunderland’s Stadium of Light will host the opening game, while Twickenham will stage the final on 27 September.

More than 60,000 tickets were bought in the pre-sale across the opening match, the bronze-medal game and the final.

Seedings are yet to be confirmed following the completion of the final round of WXV fixtures, shown across the BBC this weekend.

Canada, France, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, United States, Fiji, back-to-back champions New Zealand, and hosts England have all qualified, with the remaining top-six ranked non-qualified teams at the end of WXV booking spots at the World Cup.

OKTAGON MMA is days away from putting on one of the highest-attended MMA events in history.

With more than 58,000 tickets sold for Saturday’s OKTAGON 62 at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany, the budding European-based organization will draw what could be the biggest crowed ever for an all-time MMA fight.

The UFC’s announced attendance record sits at 57,127 for UFC 243, which took place at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia in October 2019 with a Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya middleweight title headliner.

The only higher attendance figured have come out of the now-defunct PRIDE organization in Japan. A hybrid PRIDE/K-1 kickboxing event in August 2002 claims to have more than 91,000 seats filled, while the all-MMA PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 show announced 67,451. There is no formal confirmation of these numbers, however.

OKATAGON MMA promoters Ondrej Novotny and Pavol Neruda claim their figure is entirely authentic, and fans from all over the world have purchased tickets to be on the scene.

“It’s definitely various spots, but most of them are definitely from Frankfurt and the whole of Germany,” Novotny told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “A few thousand coming form Czech Republic and then people who like big events. Not just MMA, but big events, they are coming from all over the world. Around 46 with different kinds of people from business, show business or also fighters and fans.”

Novotny said there are approximately 600 tickets still remaining, and encouraged fans to snatch them up to be part of a historic show. The organization is going all-out to make it a spectacle for both those at the venue and watching from home.

“We have almost 500 different kinds of lights,” Novotny said. “Some crazy fires and fireworks inside the arena. Definitely there’s some special entrances but we don’t want to spoil them before. There will be some superstars from the German rap scene. We’ve got a halftime show with John Newman, who is a crazy DJ who was just in Tomorrowland. He has many hits. It’s going to be really crazy.”

The attempt for OKTAGON MMA to differentiate itself from a production perspective is fully intentional. They want to put on events that can’t be compared to others in the industry, and for a show of this magnitude, the ante was upped event further.

“We will have a special drone which is allowed to fly above the people and it will go into the live stream,” Neruda said. “We have a special 360 degree camera with a VR set. It will be a crazy experience. We also have cameras on the referees that are live. As far as I know we are the only one who is doing it live. You can see it from an action perspective. Plus open scoring. A lot of these elements that make to entertained for the whole night.

“We love it. All the members of OKTAGON team, if you have this passion about something it’s never enough. You are never satisfied. You achieve something, you want more and to make it better and entertain people more. We are always going to events that are musical or another type of entertainment around the world or sports event, we watch what’s going on and try to inspire and bring it to the world of MMA.”

OKTAGON 62, which can be ordered via online pay-per-view from the company website, will feature 11 bouts and three championship fights. There is a local flair to the headliner, with German athletes Christian Eckerlin and Christian Jungwirth fighting for a special “King of Germany” belt.

“The main event is the biggest thing to ever happen on German soil,” Neruda said. “It’s Christian Jungwirth vs. Christian Eckerlin. Two huge stars. Very similar styles of fighter. One is from Frankfurt, and another from Stuttgart. Both used to be pro football players who dreamed on one day playing in a big stadium, and now it turned out the event they will be in a stadium will not be as a football players, but as fighters. We call this title ‘The King of Germany.’ It’s a welterweight fight. It’s going to be crazy. We prepared a special belt.”