Oleksandr Usyk has made a major decision regarding his unified heavyweight world titles.

Usyk is a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, but he was left with the WBC, WBA and IBF belts after vacating his WBO title late last year.

The Ukrainian was last in action in May when he was involved in a surprisingly competitive affair with kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven, but with a queue of mandatory challengers now building, Usyk had to act quick to decide his next move.

He has now finally revealed what he plans to do, posting on social media to make the huge announcement that he will be vacating all of his titles.

“Today is Friday, the weather is beautiful and It’s a good day to say that I want to vacate all the belts I currently hold. I want to make them available to the guys next in line who can fight for them.”

Despite vacating his titles, Usyk confirmed he isn’t retiring and will still fight again.

“I’m leaving the belts but I’m not leaving the sport because I still have a last dance. I have great respect for the organisations and I want to thank them. There’s more to come.”

It should now lead to Agit Kabayel being elevated from WBC interim champion to full champion, while WBA Regular champion Murat Gassiev may receive the same treatment.

In the IBF rankings, Frank Sanchez is placed at number one, while Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic are ranked at 3 and 4 respectively ahead of their clash in August, so could also benefit from Usyk’s decision.

As for the Ukrainian, with no governing bodies to answer to, it could pave the way for a rematch with Verhoeven after their meeting last month.

Cape Verde did not win a match in Group H. They did not score freely, overwhelm opponents or turn the World Cup into a tactical exhibition. Yet, when the final whistle went against Saudi Arabia, the island nation had done something far bigger than victory.

They had survived.

A 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday completed one of the most improbable group-stage runs of the 2026 Fifa World Cup. Cape Verde finished second in Group H with three draws from three matches, behind Spain, and became the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stage of a men’s World Cup.

For a country of around 525,000 people, spread across 10 islands off the west coast of Africa, it was a moment that stretched far beyond football. Cape Verde, a Portuguese colony until 1975, were already one of the smallest nations to qualify for the tournament. Now, on debut, they are in the Round of 32.

Their reward is as daunting as it is glamorous: Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Miami on July 3.

A $63 million side in a billion-dollar world

The scale of Cape Verde’s achievement becomes sharper when viewed against the financial map of world football.

According to Transfermarkt squad values used in the comparison, Cape Verde’s squad is valued at $63.2 million. Argentina’s squad, their next opponent, is valued at $936.7 million. France, the most valuable squad in the tournament, stands at $1.76 billion.

That means Argentina’s squad is nearly 15 times more valuable than Cape Verde’s. France’s squad is almost 28 times bigger in value.

But the World Cup has always allowed room for stories that cannot be priced on a spreadsheet. Cape Verde’s campaign is one of them.

  The contrast is brutal. But so is the beauty of Football World Cup. Cape Verde did not arrive as a commercial force. They arrived as a team, and then refused to leave.

Cape Verde’s route was not built on fortune alone.

They reached the World Cup by winning their African qualification group, finishing ahead of Cameroon, a regular name in World Cup history. They did not come through the back door of intercontinental playoffs. They earned their place.

Once at the tournament, they did not play like tourists either. They held Spain, the European champions, to a 0-0 draw. They came from behind to draw 2-2 against Uruguay. Then, with qualification on the line, they held Saudi Arabia 0-0.

It was not always pretty. Against Saudi Arabia, Laros Duarte and Garry Rodrigues had chances to win it for Cape Verde, but neither side produced the quality to turn the game decisively. Saudi Arabia offered little in attack, while Cape Verde’s promising moves often lost sharpness near the penalty area.

Still, the point was enough. In a group that included Spain and Uruguay, Cape Verde finished second.

Spain top Group H, Uruguay crash out

While Cape Verde were making history, Spain were doing what elite sides are expected to do. Their 1-0 win over Uruguay secured top spot in Group H with seven points and sent the two-time world champions home without a win.

Alex Baena scored in the 42nd minute after Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera failed to properly deal with his shot from inside the area. It was another costly error in a difficult tournament for the 40-year-old, who was taken off at half-time by Marcelo Bielsa.

Uruguay, ranked 19th by Fifa, became the highest-ranked team to be eliminated from the tournament so far. For a side with their history and pedigree, three winless group games represented a painful exit.

Spain, meanwhile, will face the runner-up from Group J in Inglewood, California, on July 2. Cape Verde will head to Miami for Argentina.

The Messi test awaits

Cape Verde’s story has already made World Cup history. Argentina, however, represent a different level of examination.

Messi’s side are expected to finish top of Group J and will enter the Round of 32 as heavy favourites. Argentina’s squad value, experience and recent World Cup pedigree all dwarf Cape Verde’s. The defending champions are chasing another deep run, and the draw appears to have given them a manageable opening knockout fixture.

If Argentina beat Cape Verde, they could face either Australia or Belgium in the Round of 16, depending on the final bracket. A potential quarterfinal meeting with Portugal remains possible if both Argentina and Portugal top their groups and then win their first two knockout matches.

That would bring Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo together at a World Cup for the first time. Given Messi is 39 and Ronaldo is 41, it could also be the last chance for football’s most defining rivalry to appear on this stage.

Vozinha becomes unlikely face of a miracle

No Cape Verde story at this World Cup is complete without Vozinha.

The goalkeeper has become one of the tournament’s most unlikely cult figures. His rise has been part performance, part personality and part the kind of emotional thread that World Cups produce better than any other sporting event.

Fans have carried placards of his face. One young supporter held a sign reading, “In Vozinha we trust”. Others painted his name across their torsos. His mother was in the stands again after visa issues had reportedly forced her to miss Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw against Spain.

The scale of attention is extraordinary for a player who turned professional only at 26, played last season in the Portuguese second tier, and nearly retired from international football after being dropped from the squad during an unsuccessful Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

Whatever happens against Argentina, Vozinha and Cape Verde will remember the summer of 2026.

More than an expanded-format story

It would be easy to reduce Cape Verde’s run to a product of the expanded 48-team format. That would be unfair.

Yes, the 2026 World Cup gives more nations access and keeps more teams alive through the third-place route. But Cape Verde did not need the third-place safety net. They finished second in their group.

They qualified directly from African competition. They avoided defeat against three World Cup opponents. They held Spain, fought back against Uruguay, and did enough against Saudi Arabia when the pressure was at its heaviest.

Argentina next, but Cape Verde already belong

The match against Argentina may prove too steep. Messi, even at 39, remains the tournament’s biggest gravitational force. Argentina are deeper, richer and more battle-hardened. Cape Verde’s $63.2 million squad now faces a side valued at nearly $1 billion.

But Cape Verde have already changed the terms of their tournament.

They arrived as debutants. They leave the group stage as history-makers. They did not need a win, a superstar forward or a billion-dollar squad to reach the knockouts. They needed discipline, belief, resilience and just enough nerve to keep drawing when the World Cup demanded they fall.

Now they go to Miami, where the smallest nation ever to reach the men’s World Cup knockouts will stand opposite Messi’s Argentina.

On paper, it should be no contest. But Cape Verde’s World Cup has already proved that paper can be a poor witness to football’s most improbable stories.

The best golfers have short memories. The worst golf fans don’t. Matt Fitzpatrick found that out last week at Shinnecock Hills.

Paired with Wyndham Clark in the third round of the U.S. Open, Fitzpatrick was struck by the volume and intensity of spectator abuse hurled at the eventual tournament winner.

Fitzpatrick’s not naive. He knows that Clark has done himself no favors with assorted displays of bad behavior, none more notorious than his locker-wrecking outburst after missing the cut at last year’s U.S. Open.

“I’m not condoning what he did at Oakmont,” Fitzpatrick told GOLF’s Subpar podcast this week. “It was not really the smartest thing to do.”

Still, he figured the outrage would fade.

“Part of me thought, give it two to three months and everyone would forget about it and you’d never hear about it again,” Fitzpatrick said.

He was wrong. Turns out fans’ memories are long.

“Since you’ve been out there, do you remember a time where fans were as hard on a guy throughout the entire event as they were with Wyndham Clark this week?” podcast co-host Drew Stoltz asked.

Fitzpatrick said he didn’t. And called it “unfair.”

As a veteran of four Ryder Cups, Fitzpatrick has, of course, heard heckling before. He has also encountered it in stroke-play competitions. Battling Scottie Scheffler down the stretch at the RBC Heritage in April, Fitzpatrick triumphed in the face of fans who barked at his ball to get in the bunker. But the scene at Shinnecock, he said, was different.

“Having an American fan base root against an American player is odd,” Fitzpatrick said.

No matter the format, Fitzpatrick noted, the best way to deal with haters is to put on blinders — not to mention earplugs — and play your best. On that front, he said, Clark impressed him with his shot-making and his comportment.

“The guy’s leading the tournament, making putts, doing what he needed to do,” Fitzpatrick said. “Every time on Saturday, he was faultless.”

The following afternoon, after hoisting the trophy, Clark said he hoped he’d won a few fans over. Maybe he has. For now, he’s got Fitzpatrick in his camp.

“I’ve spent a little time with Wyndham,” Fitzpatrick said. “I really like him. I think he’s a good guy.”

You can listen to the entire episode here or watch it on YouTube below.

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England have qualified for the World Cup 2026 knockout stages after results in other groups went their way on Friday night.

Thomas Tuchel’s side are top of Group L on four points, following an impressive opening win against Croatia and then a 0-0 stalemate against Ghana on Tuesday night.

The format of the 48-team World Cup, however, meant England’s place in the round of 32 was secured ahead of playing Panama in their final fixture on Saturday.

England are guaranteed to finish in the top three places of Group L, with Panama already eliminated due to the head-to-head tiebreaker following defeats to Ghana and Croatia.

And, with four points, England only needed the third-place team in four of the 12 groups to finish on three points or fewer.

There were already two before Friday night: South Korea in Group A and Scotland in Group C, whose hopes of progression were meanwhile solely reliant on other third-placed teams not breaking the three-point barrier.

And after Senegal battered Iraq 5-0 to come third in Group I with three points on the board, Uruguay were dumped out of Group H following a 1-0 loss to Spain. Those results mean that England have had their progression into the knockouts assured before kicking a ball in their Group L finale.

Who will England face in the round of 32 if they top Group L?

England still have work to do to top Group L, and will do so if they beat Panama and better Ghana’s result against Croatia.

Since England and Ghana drew 0-0, it would come down to goal difference to determine who finishes top if they are level on points. Ghana could overhaul England if they beat Croatia by a big scoreline.

An England win, combined with a draw between Ghana and Croatia, or a Croatia win, would confirm top spot.

In that scenario, they will face the third-place team from one of Group I/J/K in the round of 32. As things stand, these are the teams that could be in the mix to face the Three Lions: It is likely to be Senegal.

Who will England face in the knockouts if they finish as runners-up?

If England were to finish as group runners-up, they will face the second-placed team from Group K – that will be decided in a shootout between Colombia and Portugal. If Colombia avoid defeat, it would be Portugal – assuming DR Congo don’t win by a massive scoreline against Uzbekistan.

What is England’s route to the final?

In the last-16, England could face Group A winners Mexico in the high-altitude cauldron of the Estadio Azteca.

If they overcame that serious test of resolve, Group C winners Brazil could be their quarter-final opponent.

Argentina, following a fine start with Lionel Messi’s five goals, may then be their potential semi-final opposition.

If Terence Crawford was to ever come out of retirement, there is one active fighter who believes their potential showdown would be “easy work”.

‘Bud’ called time on his glittering career last December, just a few months removed from his unanimous decision victory over Canelo Alvarez.

Prior to their super-middleweight encounter, Crawford was considered the consensus underdog but nonetheless produced a legacy-defining display, becoming a three-division undisputed champion.

The American’s most accomplished performances arguably came at 147lbs, however, as all eight of his welterweight victories ended inside the distance.

Most notably, Crawford dethroned Errol Spence Jr with a ninth-round stoppage in July 2023, before moving up to 154lbs and outpointing Israil Madrimov for the WBA title.

But despite ‘Bud’s’ resounding success between those two weight classes, in particular, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis ultimately believes he would defeat Nebraskan in convincing fashion.

‘Boots’ unified the welterweight division with a sixth-round finish over Eimantas Stanionis in April 2025, and now looks to dethrone unified super-welterweight champion Xander Zayas.

The pair will square off at the Barclays Center, New York, this Saturday, and despite this being only his second outing at 154lbs, Ennis has been made a sizable favourite.

Clearly brimming with confidence, the 28-year-old even told MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME earlier this week that a possible Crawford clash would be “easy work”.

While he was the IBF mandatory challenger at 147lbs, ‘Boots’ was particularly bullish in his effort to fight Crawford, who instead moved up in weight and dethroned Madrimov.

And now, with ‘Bud’ having retired from the sport, it appears the Ennis fight is even less likely.

In the first two parts of this series, we’ve covered block practice and transfer training to improve your putting. Today, we will cover variable practice, where golfers learn whether those skills can hold up under pressure.

On the golf course, every putt matters. A three-foot putt to win a match feels different than a three-foot putt during practice. Your heart rate increases, your attention narrows, and golfers become more aware of the outcome. While technical skill remains important, performance often depends on a player’s ability to execute under pressure.

Performance training is designed to recreate those demands. Rather than focusing on mechanics, golfers are challenged to complete tasks with consequences attached to success and failure. The objective shifts from learning a skill to proving that the skill can be trusted when it matters most.

Effective performance games often include scoring systems, consequences for missed putts, competitive challenges, and opportunities to perform with only one attempt. These constraints create emotional investment and encourage golfers to develop routines, commitment, and focus similar to what they experience during competition.

Below are two performance-based putting games that challenge golfers to execute under pressure, measure their performance, and develop the confidence needed to transfer practice success to the golf course.

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21 Around the World

One of the best performance putting games is the “21 Around the World Challenge” because it combines pressure, consequence, and changing locations around the hole.

Setup

Place seven tees or markers in a circle around a hole, with each putt measuring between three and five feet depending on the golfer’s skill level. Each station is worth three points, making the maximum possible score 21.

How to play

Begin at any station and attempt one putt. A made putt earns three points, while a miss earns zero. Continue around the circle until all seven putts have been attempted, then total your score.

Scoring

Scores of 18–21 indicate excellent performance, 15–17 are considered good, 12–14 represent average performance, and anything under 12 suggests additional practice is needed.

Performance version

The real value of this game comes from adding meaningful consequences. Require yourself to score at least 18 points before leaving the practice green, restart the challenge after missing two consecutive putts, finish the challenge by holing the final putt, or compete against a partner with the loser buying drinks or completing a set of push-ups. These consequences create emotional investment and closely simulate the pressure golfers experience during competition.

The Seashell Putting Challenge

Want to become a great putter inside 12 feet? The Seashell Putting Challenge is designed to test your ability to make putts from a variety of distances and angles while building confidence under pressure.

Setup

Find a hole on the practice green with minimal break, approximately one percent slope or less. Place tees around the hole in a spiral or seashell pattern at distances of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 feet. The gradual curve of the pattern ensures each putt comes from a slightly different angle.

How to play

Begin at the three-foot station and attempt to hole one putt. If successful, move to the next station and continue working through all ten distances until you have made one putt from every location. If you miss a putt, simply move to the next station and continue the challenge. The objective is to eventually hole one putt from every station.

You are allowed to miss putts throughout the challenge, but you may not miss three consecutive putts. If three misses occur in a row, the challenge begins again from the start. This consequence adds pressure while encouraging golfers to remain focused throughout the exercise.

Advanced version

To increase the difficulty, set up the challenge on a section of the green with greater slope, approximately 1.5 to 2 percent. The additional break forces golfers to continually adjust their start lines while maintaining precise distance control and commitment on every stroke.

Why it works

The Seashell Putting Challenge combines changing distances, varying angles, and performance pressure into a single game. As golfers move farther from the hole, the difficulty naturally increases, while the “three misses in a row” rule creates accountability and consequence. The result is a realistic test of a golfer’s ability to perform from scoring range.

Putting improvement is not the result of a single drill or practice session. It’s a process that begins with building the skill, progresses through learning to adapt that skill in changing environments, and ultimately culminates in the ability to perform under pressure. By incorporating block practice, transfer training, and performance training into a structured practice plan, golfers can move beyond simply hitting putts and begin developing the skills necessary to lower scores.

The group stage is ending, who will teams face in the knockouts once they qualify?

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Jun 27, 2026

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For the last few years it’s taken a pair of binoculars to see anything wrong with Scottie Scheffler’s golf game. Still, he left last week’s U.S. Open bemoaning one troubling trend: all season long he’s been, by his standards, a slow starter, spotting the leader strokes before playing catch-up on the weekends.

“This year I haven’t had many 36-hole leads. I haven’t had any 54-hole leads,” he said.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Just five days later, Scheffler owns the 36-hole lead at the Travelers Championship. After a Thursday round of six-under 64 he set the place on fire Friday morning, making 11 birdies against just a single bogey en route to 10-under 60 and a two-round record at 16 under par.

He leads by two over Viktor Hovland, who could only manage 9-under 61.

Scheffler’s right about his season-long trends: he’s top-three in scoring average for his second, third and final rounds on Tour this year but just 57th in his first rounds. This week he’s improved on both his Thursday and Friday marks.

Scheffler had a few interesting takeaways following the birdie barrage.

Mostly he was dismissive of his own dominance, writing off the difference between a good vs. great round as the matter of a few holed putts.

“Some days they’re kind of hanging on the edge and not quite going in, and then other days they’re finding the bottom of the cup. Today was a day definitely which most of them were finding the bottom of the cup,” he said.

Scheffler would have become the second player in Tour history to break 60 twice, though he admitted doesn’t remember all that much about his 59 at TPC Boston in 2020.

“I wish my golf memory was a little better, to be honest with you. I remember the end of that round, the birdie putt I made on 18, but outside of that, I don’t really remember a whole lot.”

He joked that shooting 59 here wouldn’t have been all that impressive anyway, knowing Jim Furyk has shot 58.

“It was kind of funny. It was like, ‘Yeah, it would be cool to shoot 59, but somebody has already shot 58 here, so it’s not even the course record,’” he said. “You know, Jim kind of takes away a little bit of the special 59 when you are losing still.”

And he shared a favorite saying from the golf world.

“The old adage in golf is you have to be really smart or really dumb. I don’t want to call myself dumb, but like, my long-term memory is not as sharp. Maybe it’s a little bit easier to kind of put some things behind me,” he said. He added that he will occasionally go back and watch old footage of his golf swings when he needs clues — “searching for feels and kind of things that you like — but mostly he enjoys staying in the present.

Finally he gently dismissed another golf cliche: that it’s hard to back up one great round with another good one.