Mike Tyson has revealed who he thinks will come out on top when Ryan Garcia meets Conor Benn this weekend.

Garcia makes the first defence of his WBC welterweight title when he faces Benn at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, having won the belt earlier this year with a unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios.

That triumph saw ‘King Ry’ return to winning ways after a points loss to Rolly Romero in May 2025, with that bout coming just over 12 months after he had initially defeated Devin Haney, only for the result to be overturned to a no contest after Garcia failed a drugs test.

He now turns his attention to Benn, who himself had to have a lengthy period outside of the ring after a failed drugs test caused a 2022 clash with Chris Eubank Jr to be postponed, though the two long-term rivals did finally meet twice at middleweight last year.

Benn came up short in the first meeting but inflicted revenge with a one-sided victory in their rematch, before another fairly dominant win over Regis Prograis in a 150lb catchweight back in April.

It is perhaps those performances that have impressed heavyweight legend Tyson, as whilst speaking to FightHype, he conceded that he was still siding with Garcia, but feels that Benn has improved a lot.

“Ryan [wins]. We’ll see [if it ends by knockout]. Conor’s getting better.”

One major factor in the fight is Benn competing at welterweight for the first time since April 2022, and he has already admitted that win or lose this will be his last fight at 147lbs before moving up in weight.

With a keen interest in facing the winner, Jarrell Miller has offered his prediction for the potential showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

The two British heavyweights have been on a collision course for what feels like a decade, with their long-awaited clash initially expected to take place on November 20.

Even with a date having been named, though, it seems there is a genuine chance that the fight falls by the wayside and is forever regarded as one of those ‘what if?’ matchups.

This is because the location has become a divisive issue, with ‘AJ’ and Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn standing firm on their original agreement to fight in the UK.

Everyone else involved in this event, meanwhile, appears far more eager to book New York’s Madison Square Garden and capitalise on a theoretically wider audience in America.

As for the fight itself, many have made Fury a sizable favourite following his seventh-round stoppage of Mariusz Wach in July.

Joshua, on the other hand, encountered far greater jeopardy during his warm-up fight with Kristian Prenga, who scored two first-round knockdowns before getting stopped in the following three minutes.

Perhaps this is partly why ‘Big Baby’ Miller, who was supposed to face Joshua in 2019, has told FightHype that he sees ‘The Gypsy King’ emerging victorious.

“I like Tyson more; I like Tyson to win. But I want that AJ money still. I’d knock both of them out.”

Miller did have the opportunity to earn that “AJ money”, only to test positive for multiple banned substances and be replaced by Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden, where Joshua ultimately suffered a seventh-round stoppage defeat.

The American now finds himself first in line to face WBA Raguler champion Murat Gassiev, with the fight reportedly in negotiations.

Meanwhile, the location drama continues to unfold for Fury vs Joshua, with Hearn recently suggesting that the UK is back in play; however, not long after that update, he also said that a legal letter would be going to Dana White’s TKO for going ‘around the back’ and approaching Joshua in a final bid to make the fight in the US.

Do the Vikings win the Super Bowl in February of 2027? If so, then every penny will have been worth it.

Recently, the news emerged that veteran safety Harrison Smith was coming back to play for just one more season. Some sticker shock accompanied the deal due to the defender gobbling up upwards of $16 million. Do note, though, that Smith only climbs to such a high if Minnesota claims the Lombardi. As unlikely as that seems in early September, the Smith contract shoehorns the possibility into the mix.

Unpacking Harrison Smith’s Contract

Mike Florio offers the clarity on Pro Football Talk.

Consider some basic background: “Vikings legend Harrison Smith is back for a fifteenth season in Minnesota. The initial reports regarding the contract ($12.25 million base, up to $16.25 million max) were surprising to some.”

More insight: “The $4 million in incentives are based on $1 million for earning a playoff berth (wild-card or bye), $1.5 million for winning in the divisional round, $2 million for winning the NFC Championship, or $4 million for winning the Super Bowl. Basically, if the Vikings end up paying Smith $16.25 million, it will be the best money the franchise has ever spent.”

Something that has stuck with me about Rob Brzezinski’s brief time as the Vikings’ GM rested in his insistence that he was charged not with picking good players but, rather, with building a good team. That subtle distinction is important.

Football is a sport that’s played with humans. Usually, piling up plenty of talented humans means gaining an edge on the field. What’s nevertheless true, though, is that intangibles matter. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Boasting somebody like Harrison Smith is therefore helpful since he’s a universally respected voice who keeps the team together.

Florio’s take on that reality a touch later in his PFT piece: “Smith arguably has greater value to the Vikings than he would have to a new team. As one source put it, Smith is a ‘glue guy,’ whose mere presence makes the Minnesota defense and the rest of the team better.”

Exactly right.

On an individual basis, Smith isn’t a $16 million player. If, however, his return contributes toward the Vikings going to the very top of NFL football, then the deal will be regarded as a tremendous bargain. Obviously, the Vikings want Smith to do individual things well, but he’s in a legendary spot in his career for Minnesota. His great task rests in elevating the team in its entirety.

On Sunday, September 13th, the Minnesota Vikings will host the Green Bay Packers inside of U.S. Bank Stadium. The Week 1 NFC North battle will be made easier by having Gandalf out there to offer his wizardry to Minnesota’s defense.

In 2025, Smith had a solid season that was well short of his previous elite play. His final stat tally showed 54 tackles, 2 interceptions, 10 passes defended, 1 forced fumble, 1 sack, 2 quarterback hits, and 3 tackles for loss.

Harrison Smith is 37. Look for him to get sent to the Hall of Fame once it’s all said and done. Doing so with a championship ring on his finger (and the full $16M in his bank account) would be quite the story.

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

Manchester City kick off their Champions League campaign in Portugal tonight with a testing opener against FC Porto.

The home side have started their season in fine style with five wins from five, while City have picked up three successive Premier League wins since losing the Community Shield to Arsenal.

Enzo Maresca may look to tinker his XI with the Manchester derby on the horizon, but he is unlikely to make wholesale alterations given the importance of trying to start the European campaign with a positive result.

Gianluigi Donnarumma will start in goal as undisputed number one and perhaps the only alteration in the back four could be Matheus Nunes coming in at right back, with the Portugal international now fully fit after an ankle injury. That would leave Josko Gvardiol at left back with Ruben Dias and Marc Guehi as the central defence pairing.

Record signing Enzo Fernandez went straight into the side against Coventry City but Maresca hadn’t planned to start the £125million man and he may drop to the bench tonight to allow rotation in midfield. Ayyoub Bouaddi might have eyes on his first City start since his £81m move from Lille but Mateo Kovacic’s experience might be preferred. Elliot Anderson was outstanding against Coventry and will keep his place.

It feels difficult to leave Rayan Cherki out at the moment so he could start as the number 10 and Phil Foden might be afforded a start on the left in place of Iliman Ndiaye. Antoine Semenyo and Erling Haaland would complete the XI.

Predicted City XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Anderson, Cherki; Semenyo, Foden, Haaland.

Champion trainer Chris Waller has put forward five of the 15 nominations for the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington. The final field will be determined by barrier draws and race dynamics, with Aeliana, Autumn Boy, Birdman, Buckaroo, and Ohope Wins all entered.

Waller’s sole victory in the Makybe Diva Stakes was in 2014 with Foreteller. He consistently uses the weight-for-age event as a crucial part of his horses’ spring campaigns.

Via Sistina, who has won the last two editions of the Cox Plate, contested the Makybe Diva on both previous starts, finishing fifth in 2024 and third last year. On both occasions, she was beaten by Mr Brightside, who is aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive win.

On Tuesday morning, Waller was at Flemington observing Autumn Boy, Birdman, Buckaroo, and Ohope Wins in their trackwork. Aeliana completed her work in Sydney and is scheduled to arrive in Melbourne later in the week.

The step up in distance is expected to benefit Aeliana after her initial run in the Winx Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on August 22. “She raced a little bit flat but sectional times suggest they went a little bit quicker than what she was comfortable with and got a bit tired late, although Nash Rawiller said her last 200 metres was fine,” Waller stated. “Based on what he said and her recovery, I’m happy with her and I think she will appreciate the mile and the nice big open spaces at Flemington. She was going well into her first-up run, so there has been no change.”

Possessing a strong record at the distance, including a Caulfield Guineas win, Waller considers Autumn Boy the ‘top seed’ for Saturday’s race after his eighth-place finish in the Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield first-up. “He’s fitter for the run and physically he looks a little bit tighter which is how I want him to look,” Waller commented. “He’s a good miler. He’s a Guineas winner and James (McDonald) was happy with his first-up run when he didn’t get a lot of luck over the last 200 metres at Caulfield, and it’s an important race for a colt.”

Waller indicated that either Buckaroo or Birdman might be saved for the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield the following Saturday. Buckaroo won the Underwood in 2024 and finished second to Sir Delius last year. Both horses competed in the Memsie Stakes first-up, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. “They got home well, they came through it well and the mile will suit better,” Waller remarked. “We may split one of them up with the Underwood the following week. Buckaroo has won that before, and Birdman runs well at Caulfield, so we’ll see how they’ve drawn, what the race is like and then see which one might be held back.”

Australian Oaks winner Ohope Wins has had one run back, finishing last in the PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 15. Waller believes the increased trip and larger track will suit her. “We won’t see her best until she gets to 2000 metres, but it is an important stepping stone for a race like the Turnbull.”

The trainer anticipates the Group 1 contest will be an enthralling race. “Sheza Alibi had a tough run first-up in Sydney and I’m sure she has come on and Sir Delius, I’ve been keeping an eye on him up in Sydney,” Waller said. “Mr Brightside was awesome first-up and along with a few of ours, it will be a great race.”

With a field boasting such quality, the Makybe Diva Stakes is set to be a highlight of the spring carnival. Explore the latest online bookmakers offering competitive odds.

Balancing motherhood and work is a challenge in any profession. But for footballers, whose peak sporting years coincide with their peak fertility, the choice can feel stark.

“For a woman whose sports career might last, say, 10 years at a high level, she starts thinking that getting pregnant really isn’t an option,” former Real Sociedad player, Larraitz Lucas, told DW. “When you are competing at a high level, all you are focusing on is the present.”

Until the last few years, only about 2% of footballers got pregnant during their careers, with many leaving the sport to pursue motherhood. But with increasing professionalization, organizations are starting to wrestle with the question of how to deal with players who want to have children.

Binding maternity regulations were introduced to the sport only in 2021 and strengthened in 2024. But for those who wish to postpone their pregnancy while playing, the issue of freezing eggs as a fertility treatment has come to the fore.

US club, Racing Louisville, were the first club side to offer to pay for such treatments in 2021, while English club Chelsea have announced this month that egg freezing will be funded for any player that wants it.

But, perhaps more significantly, the Spanish football federation, RFEF, are expected to become the first national federation to announce a similar policy soon after reported lobbying from star player Alexia Putellas and others.

Playing during egg extraction a tough ask

Such options weren’t available to Spaniard Lucas in her playing career, which ended more than a decade ago. While she went through egg retrieval, in her case it was so her partner could have an embryo implanted to carry the baby. 

“You keep competing as best you can but no matter how much you try to align it with a weekend break from matches it’s tough. Really, before, during, and after the egg extraction, well… it wasn’t ideal,” said Lucas.

Though it depends somewhat on circumstances, egg freezing can take around three weeks. Women inject themselves every day before their eggs are harvested and frozen under sedation. To use the eggs at a later date, they must be thawed and injected with sperm to create embryos.

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IVF explained: Process, costs & risks

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But, as athlete gynaecologist, Lamia Zafrani, told DW, egg freezing is far from straightforward. “Egg freezing is not an insurance policy that is guaranteed to pay out. It’s always better if you freeze your eggs whilst you’re young because you’ve got younger eggs to then use for future IVF.

“But actually there’s no guarantee that when you defrost or thaw those eggs, turn them into embryos, that they’ll actually be successful and result in a successful live birth. And I think it’s these conversations that the athletes need to be made aware of because, at the end of the day, it’s all about informed consent.”

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Egg freezing ‘shouldn’t be tool to pressure players’

Zafrani added that the number of athletes in her London clinic asking about the procedure has risen sharply in recent times. “It is definitely something that athletes are very much asking for,” she said.

“But there’s always nuance to all of these conversations. While it’s great because the federations are listening to the players, ethically, it always does bring up the question of whether by offering egg freezing and fertility preservation, the underlying message is that you’re telling your players ‘don’t get pregnant whilst you’re working for us.’ And that can be problematic.”

It’s a concern that is shared by Alexandra Gómez Bruinewoud. The legal director of global players’ union, FIFPRO, was a co-author of the maternity policies adopted by football’s global governing body, FIFA. She said FIFPRO have been working on policies for assisted reproduction, including the freezing of eggs, but that ensuring players were educated about their choices was paramount.

“We don’t want it [egg freezing] to be used as a tool to pressure players not to become pregnant while they are playing because they are and they should always be fully entitled to decide when and how to become pregnant,” Bruinewoud told DW.

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There are, she said, several other considerations with regards to fertility and football, including doping concerns.

“When players go through assistive reproduction in general and if they are going to freeze eggs, in some situations they have to take hormones. And these substances can be prohibited in the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) code.

“So we want to be sure to prevent a player being sanctioned when they are actually only trying to become pregnant or prepare things to be able to become pregnant in the future,” said Bruinewoud.

Universal solution difficult to find

She added that with costs, recovery and procedures varying, mandating one blanket global rule would be near impossible, and should be guided by medical practitioners. It is also tough to apply any universal standard to a sport where professionalization and finance varies significantly between countries.

“In my view, the best solution for that is collective negotiation at national level,” Bruinewoud said. “These are very expensive procedures and most of the players worldwide will probably not have access to this because of the cost.”

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For all three women, the most important factors are choice, education and empowerment to get pregnant at a time that suits them. The hope is that, if managed well, egg freezing provides another option, rather than the default path.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding