“He went from Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, Anthony Joshua – three dangerous hard fights and he has come through them all with flying colours, so I think anybody that doubted him or had any questions over stuff that happened to him in the past, it has all been answered now.”

Campbell has boxed with a number of the world’s leading heavyweights and believes the ruthlessness of Dubois is something that stands out.

“I have sparred Tyson Fury, I have been with Joseph Parker for a few camps, I have been in with Agit Kabayel and Martin Bakole, so I have sparred a lot of the boys in the top 10,” he said.

“I get asked this question a few times – who is the biggest puncher you have ever been in with? And, in sparring, it is probably Daniel Dubois. I’ve shared probably over 50 rounds with the guy in the last two camps so I know how hard he can punch.

“But I will caveat that by saying Daniel’s mentality is that when you are in there, his job is to seek and destroy – it is a one-track mindset with him.”

Campbell pointed out that Dubois is not just “a hell of a puncher”.

“He is a good boxer, he has got great feet, which doesn’t really get spoken about, he has got a good boxing brain, he has got a fantastic jab,” he said.

Campbell took up boxing as an amateur in 2017 following a top-level rugby career with Glasgow Warriors and Jersey Reds.

Since turning professional in 2021, he has won six of his seven fights and will return to the ring in Birmingham next month brimming with renewed “confidence” from being asked again to spar with one of the world’s best.

“Don Charles, Daniel’s coach, said to me, ‘you need to use this as a springboard for yourself – you need to have this known that you have been in there and shared the ring with somebody of Daniel’s class and calibre’,” Campbell revealed.

Chael Sonnen makes a case for Sean O’Malley to get an immediate title rematch.

O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) by unanimous decision in the UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Dvalishvili has two contenders in Umar Nurmagomedov and Deiveson Figueiredo vying for a title shot, but Sonnen argues that O’Malley is worthy of a rematch.

He explains the logic behind his argument, pointing to other stars that have gotten that treatment.

“The very first option is the champion that drops the belt gets a rematch for his belt,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “It was a respect that was shown to every single great champion. And by great champion, I’m talking about champions that could also move the needle. All of them were offered rematches, from Conor (McGregor) on down – more recently, Israel Adesanya. Right into it, I’m sharing with you: All the greats except Sean.”

Although it was widely considered a dominant win for Dvalishvili, O’Malley is convinced he won the fight. Upon rewatching the bout, Sonnen sees where O’Malley is coming from.

“Motivation could largely be based upon opportunities – of which I didn’t see any add, I only saw him taken away,” Sonnen said. “I’m just sharing – that is what I saw. But now you’ve got Merab, you’ve got Nurmagomedov, and you’ve got Figueiredo, and they can’t seem to quite figure it out.

“Well, there’s also a final option that should’ve come in front of all of them which is if there’s controversy, we look at a rematch. There’s controversy, go see Rounds 1, 3 and 5. Watch that without commentating. Come back and tell me you don’t see controversy.”

England women captain Heather Knight has admitted a charge over a social media post in 2012 when she was pictured in blackface.

Knight, who was 21 at the time, was attending an end-of-season fancy dress party at a cricket club in Kent.

A picture of Knight in blackface was posted to the Facebook account of another individual.

She has been reprimanded by the Cricket Discipline Commission and fined £1,000, which is suspended for two years.

“I’m truly sorry for the mistake I made in 2012,” said the 33-year-old in a statement issued via the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“It was wrong, and I have long regretted it. Back then, I simply was not as educated as to the implications and consequences of my actions as I have become since. There was no ill-intent meant.

“Whilst I can’t change the past, I am passionate and committed to using my platform to promote inclusivity across the game, ensuring under-represented groups are afforded the same opportunities and fulfilment within the game as I have.”

Knight has been England captain since 2016 and will continue to lead the team at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates next month.

The batter has been with the England team on their training camp in Abu Dhabi since 13 September.

Alex Pereira will have ex-opponent Sean Strickland in his camp for his UFC 307 title defense versus Khalil Rountree, he revealed Sunday on his YouTube channel.

“Poatan,” who knocked out Strickland back in 2022 to earn a shot at the middleweight belt before later becoming friends with the Las Vegas-based fighter, moved his camp to the altitude of Salt Lake City to prepare for UFC 307, which takes place in the capital of Utah on Oct. 5.

“The thing about the altitude is that it’s hard [to train],” Pereira said. “We did this once when I fought [Jan] Blachowicz. We did it for two weeks then, and three weeks now. I think it’s going to be much better.”

Pereira defeated Blachowicz via decision in his first light heavyweight bout inside the octagon, also at SLC’s Vivint Arena, and now returns as 205-pound champion to face Rountree. The challenger earned a shot at gold following five straight wins, including four knockouts.

“We have a great team here,” said Pereira, who usually trains at Glover Teixeira’s team in Danbury, Conn. “We have Glover, Plinio [Cruz], Yousri [Belgaroui], ‘Cesinha’ [Cesar Almeida]. Sean Strickland is also coming next week to train with us here. I’m very happy with this preparation.”

Pereira vs. Rountree serves as the main event for UFC 307, with bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington defending her throne versus Julianna Peña in the co-main event slot.

Meanwhile, Strickland is campaigning for a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis next, but the company has yet to make an announcement on who will get the shot at 185 pounds.

Under Premier League rules, there is no exact time afforded to teams to resume play from goal-kicks and free-kicks.

Instead, referees must decide if ‘excessive’ time is taken by players when resuming play.

During Sunday’s match, Declan Rice was cautioned in the 83rd minute when he took more than one minute to take a free-kick in City’s half following a foul on Kai Havertz.

Raya was regularly booed by the home crowd during the second half, with City fans feeling the Spaniard took too long over goal-kicks.

The 29-year-old was warned by referee Oliver about the time he was taking to restart play in the 32nd minute – but was not cautioned during the match.

Statistics from Opta show Arsenal have spent an average of 33.5 seconds in resuming play this season – the joint-longest in the Premier League.

This relates to restarts from all ‘dead-ball’ situations – goal-kicks, corners, free-kicks, direct free-kicks, throw-ins, penalties, drop-balls and kick-offs.

Only Ligue 1 side Lille and Serie A team Genoa across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues have a higher average restart time than Arsenal.

Specifically on restarting play via a goal-kick, Arteta’s side have taken an average of 40 seconds, longer than any other Premier League club this season.

It is more than double that of rivals Tottenham, who have resumed play from a goal-kick on average after 17.4 seconds so far this term.