Errol Spence Jr has been given further motivation to defeat Tim Tszyu, knowing a potentially more lucrative opportunity could be presented to the winner of their upcoming showdown.

The two former world champions will square off in Australia on July 25, with Tszyu claiming a home advantage as he looks to re-join the world scene.

In order to do so, the 31-year-old must defeat a credible opponent and prove that, despite losing three of his last six fights, he remains one of the world’s top super-welterweights.

Ideally, he would be facing Spence at 154lbs but, given his opponent’s three-year layoff, Tszyu ultimately agreed to meet at a catchweight of 158lbs.

Prior to his lengthy hiatus, Spence lost his WBC, IBF and WBA welterweight titles to Terence Crawford, who defeated his rival with a surprisingly one-sided ninth-round stoppage.

Even before losing to ‘Bud’, though, many felt ‘The Truth’ would be better suited to 154lbs, where he plans to make his mark after triumphing over Tszyu.

If such a plan materialises, then Spence could find himself in a domestic dustup with Jermell Charlo, who has not fought since his unanimous decision defeat to Canelo Alvarez in September 2023.

According to Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger, Charlo could equally face Tszyu if the Australian emerges victorious against Spence.

“I’m told he’s going to be lined up for the winner of [Spence-Tszyu]. Obviously, nothing’s done yet. What I’m told is that, behind the scenes, Charlo is being lined up for that fight, which will be at 154[lbs].”

Prior to facing Canelo at 168lbs, Charlo became the undisputed super-welterweight champion by dethroning Brian Castano with a 10th-round stoppage in 2022, just under a year after they boxed to a controversial draw.

The 36-year-old achieved this ambition while training under the tutelage of Derrick James, who is also the former head coach of Spence.

Trainer J D Hayes has indicated that the emerging stayer Simurgh is straightforward to train and is expected to continue his progression through various racing classes.

Having achieved three wins from his six starts to date, including his last two consecutive outings, Simurgh is set to aim for an extension of his winning streak in the Sportsbet Same Race Multi Handicap (2400m) at Sandown on Saturday.

Simurgh, an Irish-bred four-year-old, joined the Lindsay Park stable of Ben, Will, and J D Hayes following a debut Australian campaign that saw him record one win and a minor placing from three starts in Ireland for Eddie and Patrick Harty.

After finishing second over 1600m at Pakenham on his initial Australian start, Simurgh has since gone on to secure victories over 2000m at Caulfield on May 9 and May 30.

In his most recent race, Simurgh raced prominently near the leaders to defeat Skippers Canyon, an opponent he will face again on Saturday, and will carry an additional 3kg for that win.

Ben Allen has been booked to ride Simurgh on Saturday, taking over from Craig Williams, who partnered the gelding in his last two successful performances.

J D Hayes stated that Simurgh is progressing well through the grades and shows considerable promise as a stayer.

“We’re just taking him through his grades to boost his rating, but he’s got a great future ahead of him,” Hayes said. “Hopefully we can ever so slightly raise the bar again with him and hopefully he can go along with it.”

Hayes mentioned that the stable is uncertain about the full potential of the gelding this campaign but has seen no indication of his form declining during training.

“He’ll tell us. He’s a very easy horse to pick in the mornings,” Hayes commented.

A potential trip north to the Sunshine Coast for the Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m) on July 4 is under consideration, provided Simurgh wins on Saturday.

“It will be a thought, but we need to get through Saturday first,” Hayes added. “He needs to win to see whether he can take a trip to the warmer weather.”

Simurgh is currently the $3.60 favourite in the betting for Saturday’s race, with Straand Deal, another lightly raced emerging stayer, listed at $3.90.

Explore Australian betting sites for the best odds on Saturday’s feature race.

Many boxing fans view Muhammad Ali as the greatest of all time, but the man himself once revealed his own pick.

Ali’s own illustrious accolades include becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion, whilst talking part in some of the biggest fights in history, including the ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ against George Foreman and the ‘Thrilla In Manila’ against Joe Frazier.

His final record stood at 56 wins from 61 fights, having also defeated the likes of Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Earnie Shavers and Ken Norton, along with becoming a cultural icon outside of the ring.

Those achievements are the reason why a lot of fans deem Ali to be the best ever, but in a resurfaced interview, the heavyweight legend once revealed his choice for that honour to be Sugar Ray Robinson.

“That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful.

“I’d say I’m the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound-for-pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time.”

Robinson reigned as world welterweight title for five years from 1946 to 1951, going on an incredible 91-fight unbeaten streak in the process.

His record at one stage read 129 wins from 132 fights, with 85 of those victories coming by knockout. After his welterweight reign, he moved up to middleweight where he became a five-time world champion in that division.

When he eventually hung up the gloves in 1965, he ended his career with a record of 174 wins from his 201 fights, and it is clear to see just why Ali ranks him as the greatest.

Official lineups of Brazil – Morocco

Brazil : Alisson – Ibañez, Marquinhos (c), Gabriel, Douglas Santos – Guimarães, Casemiro, Paqueta – Raphinha, Igor Thiago, Vinicius.

Morocco : Bounou – Hakimi (c), Diop, Riad, Mazraoui – Bouaddi, El Aynaoui – Brahim Diaz, Ounahi, El Khannouss – Saibari.

The World Cup 2026‘s first heavyweight clash will take place at MetLife stadium, the future venue of the final. It will pit Morocco, Africa’s finalists, against Brazil, five-time world champions.

Read moreWorld Cup 2026 – Schedule

This is the first major test for each coach in their World Cup debut. Brazil’s Carlo Ancelotti can rely on stars like FC Barcelona‘s Raphinha, runner-up in the 2024 Ballon d’Or, and Vinicius Junior, but not yet on Neymar who will miss the entire group stage.

On the Moroccan side, Mohamed Ouahbi must manage without OM’s central defender Nayef Aguerd and Betis Seville’s winger Abde Ezzalzouli.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

Back in March, the Vikings’ trenches lost a pair of well-paid veterans. Minnesota said goodbye to both of Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen since neither lived up to their deals. At the time, the d-line boasted no sure replacement other than Jalen Redmond, who had already been established as a starter.

Since that time, the Vikings have made several moves to reinforce the trenches. Opting for Caleb Banks in the 1st Round means pushing the chips into the middle of the table in the hope of hitting the jackpot. Opting for Domonique Orange in the 3rd Round means going for a more modest payoff since he looks like an early-down run stuffer. Other pickups — Eric Johnson, Smith Vilbert, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Monkell Goodwine, and so on — have involved lesser-known talents. Where does that leave Levi Drake Rodriguez?

The Vikings’ Trenches
Watch for Levi Drake Rodriguez as a Starter in 2026

Very few offer the effort that Rodriguez offers. He’s reminiscent of a 3rd-line energy forward, a gritty player who isn’t the flashiest but who helps his team regardless.

Consider what Lance Zierlein had to say in his scouting report leading into the 2024 NFL Draft: “Rodriguez plays with a big heart and a steady motor, but he lacks NFL size and skill inside. He gives good effort on each snap but spends too much time staying attached to blockers instead of finding quick routes around them. He has decent length for his size, but he doesn’t do enough damage with his hands and lacks the short-area foot quickness teams will look for from a smaller player. Rodriguez has been a productive player, but the step up in competition feels like it could be too big for him.”

Watching Rodriguez at the Vikings’ minicamp brought out a lot of the positives that Zierlein identified.

In the third-year defender, the Vikings boast somebody with a promising motor. He moves with violent urgency, the sort of effort that can’t be taught. Rather, there’s an intensity inside of Rodriguez that manifests itself in the physicality of his swim/rip moves, the way he fires out of his three-point stance, and in his desire to swat the ball out of the passer’s hands (if only the June practice version, such as a coach or bag with a ball).

In sixteen games last year (two starts), Levi Drake Rodriguez had 43 tackles. The stat sheet also shows 2 sacks, 5 quarterback hits, and 8 tackles for loss. Remember that his workload was reasonably beefy, coming in at 461 defensive snaps and 85 snaps on special teams.

As a rookie, Rodriguez picked up a 75.0 PFF grade. The problem with that assessment is that it factored in a very small workload: 6 snaps on defense. In 2025, Rodriguez got hit with a 57.8 grade, suggesting he offered below average football.

Already, Rodriguez is a success story.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah gets a ton of criticism for his draft failures but the DT isn’t among them. Getting chosen at No. 232 (the 7th) means facing long odds just to make the team, much less play a meaningful role. The simple fact that he’s playing early in his career and doing reasonably well is evidence that the pick was more than worth it.

Best guess is that Rodriguez will work alongside Redmond and Orange in Week 1. Doing so will mean having a true anchor in the middle of the DL — Big Citrus — to stifle the run while Rodriguez and Redmond get tasked with creating penetration.

Banks, in theory, could be out there, but it’s hard to feel too confident given that he’s still not getting into practice. Banks has the potential to transform the Vikings’ trenches. He can’t do so, though, unless he’s healthy enough to play. The other issue: he’s missing a lot of development time. Oh, and Minnesota tends to take things very slow with injuries. Quite possibly, an opening is there for somebody else.

Levi Drake Rodriguez is 25. He stands at 6’2″ and weighs roughly 310 pounds. Look for him to be out there for the opening snap of the Week 1 Packers game.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Alex Fitzpatrick’s rise to the PGA Tour was well documented and fast.

The younger brother of 2022 U.S. Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick went from winless DP World Tour pro to PGA Tour winner and full-fledged member in the span of four weeks, thanks to his win at the Zurich Classic with Matt.

That put him straight into the field for back-to-back Signature Events in Miami and Charlotte. He didn’t have to keep playing on the DP Tour to try and earn his PGA Tour membership for 2027 and he definitely doesn’t have to go to Q-School.

In fact, Fitzpatrick is exempt on the PGA Tour through the end of 2028 now.

After such a whirlwind promotion, was the pressure on to perform after his brother helped get him PGA Tour membership?

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar, co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stotlz asked Fitzpatrick that very question.

“You know, I felt like there was a little bit of pressure to go out and show my game is good enough. Like every golfer, I wanna be on the PGA Tour and I felt like my game belonged there. So I, that’s why when you asked about sinking in it, I guess it took, it didn’t take as long as I thought.”

Fitzpatrick left little doubt that he belonged with the game’s best players. He finished T9 in Miami and held the 54-hole lead at the Truist Championship before finishing solo fourth.

After a made cut at the PGA Championship, he kept his run of fine play going last week at the Memorial with a T6 showing.

“I don’t know if that’s because maybe I feel so comfortable out here now,” Fitzpatrick continued. “But yeah, I was super happy with how I played the two weeks. And, you know, even going into Sunday in Charlotte, like I felt really comfortable. I didn’t really feel any pressure to go out and win. You know, I don’t think many people expected me to be in the last group on Sunday. So, but I also felt like my game is in a really good spot and I felt like I had a good chance to win.”

To hear more from Fitzpatrick, check out the entire episode on YouTube.

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The Vegas Golden Knights are headed back home for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, but they’ll be hoping to force a Game 7 back in Raleigh.

However, things just got a lot tougher with news that forward William Karlsson will not be in the team’s lineup on Sunday.

Karlsson exited Game 5 after taking a heavy hit from Carolina defenseman Sean Walker. The 33-year-old Swede initially returned to the bench, but after being evaluated by the team’s medical staff, he headed to the locker room and did not return.

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On Saturday, Vegas head coach John Tortorella revealed that Karlsson will not be ready for Game 6, which is a big loss for the team.

After Vegas’ Game 5 loss, Tortorella even pointed to that moment as a turning point in the game.

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Vegas Golden Knights forward William Karlsson has been ruled out of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)

“When we lose Bill, it kind of screws things up,” he said, per Sportsnet. “We lost momentum when we went back-to-back in penalties. It was about the same time that we lost Bill. We’ve got to find a way.”

“Wild Bill,” as he’s known, is one of just four players who were on Vegas’ inaugural roster in 2017. Obviously, he’s a big part of the locker room, and while injuries kept him out of all but 14 games during the regular season, he’s got 9 points (3G, 6A) with a +/- rating of 10.

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William Karlsson is one of just four players left from the team’s inaugural season. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)

It remains to be seen who will replace Karlsson, but whoever it is will need to come up big.

The other piece of news from Tortorella is that Vegas will stick with goaltender Carter Hart in Game 6. He has allowed four or more goals in every game this series, leading to speculation that the Golden Knights might want to try backup Adin Hill — who backstopped them to a Stanley Cup in 2023 — to try to force a Game 7.

Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from £4.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.