Billy Joe Saunders has hailed the speed and versatility of a rising star who he views as the “best I’ve seen” since Muhammad Ali.

Many would regard Ali as the greatest heavyweight of all time, or at least place him in the same conversation as Joe Louis and Lennox Lewis, for instance.

From a technical standpoint, there are very few that have successfully replicated his footwork and rhythm, let alone showcased such attributes at the highest level.

Ali, however, was able to impose his skills and athleticism against the likes of George Foreman and Joe Frazier, among several other top-level heavyweights.

It should therefore come as a bold statement that Saunders, a former two-weight world champion, has named Moses Itauma as the best heavyweight since Ali.

While ‘The Greatest’ went on to put his Hall of Fame status beyond any reasonable doubt, unbeaten prodigy Itauma is still yet to even compete at world level.

That said, the 21-year-old will bid to become the youngest heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson when he faces Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF title on August 29.

Speaking with talkSPORT, Saunders said he already believes Itauma is head and shoulders above any active heavyweight, including WBO champion Daniel Dubois.

“People might think I’m crazy … I think he’s the best I’ve seen since Muhammad Ali. It’s a big statement.

“He has got that back foot, front foot [ability] … he’s got that slip-counter that he throws. He’s the only heavyweight I know that can lean off, throw a lead uppercut and finish with two or three shots in a split second.”

Coming off a fifth-round finish over fringe contender Jermaine Franklin in March, Itauma is now approaching his toughest assignment thus far against Hrgovic.

Boxing fans have branded Anthony Joshua as one of the most fierce knockout artists since the turn of the millennium, with ‘AJ’ having won by stoppage in all but three of his 30 career victories to date, and now his former trainer Robert Garcia has summed up his power.

Joshua knocked out his first 20 opponents before winning on the cards in a heavyweight world title unification against Joseph Parker, with points victories in a rematch with Andy Ruiz and against Jermaine Franklin being the only other occasions where the 36-year-old has won with the aid of the judges.

Last time out, after a catastrophic start, the heavyweight veteran proved that he still possesses one-punch knockout power ahead of a rumoured showdown with Tyson Fury, knocking out Kristian Prenga with a devastating shot after being floored twice himself in the opening round.

Speaking to Ring Magazine, Robert Garcia, who trained Joshua for his 2022 rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, described the Briton’s power as ‘insane’.

“Both are in a position where, if it had been earlier, it would have been such a better fight, but Anthony still has that power. Anthony has that right-hand – I have felt it, I have worked with him  — it is insane.

“He has got that power that you don’t compare to nothing else.”

Looking ahead to his clash with ‘The Gypsy King’, Garcia then went on to insinuate that Fury’s ability, or inability, to absorb Joshua’s power will be the deciding factor in their fight.

“If Fury takes that punch, then Anthony could be in trouble, but Anthony hits so hard that he would knock anybody out.”

Fury-Joshua is believed to be being targeted for November in New York, but reports that the event is ready to be announced are understood to be wide of the mark.

PV Sindhu’s BWF World Championships campaign ended in heartbreak on Thursday after the Indian let a promising position slip in the deciding game against third seed Wang Zhi Yi of China, going down 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 in a 90-minute women’s singles pre-quarterfinal thriller.

The ninth-seeded Indian recovered from a one-sided opening game with some of her best attacking badminton in the second and carried that momentum into the decider, where she led 13-10 and later drew level at 16-16. But the closing exchanges belonged to Wang, who won five of the final six points as Sindhu’s errors returned at the most damaging moment.

A medical break for Wang at 16-16 interrupted a phase in which Sindhu had regained the initiative, but the Indian refused to use the stoppage as an explanation for the defeat. Instead, she repeatedly returned to one word in her post-match assessment — patience.

“I think, overall, especially towards the end, I should have been a little more patient,” Sindhu said. “I can’t see any loopholes in between the points. I think, especially at the end, I should have been a little more patient. That’s what I can see from today’s game, particularly in the last three or four points.”

Those final few rallies eventually separated the two players after a match in which Sindhu went from being comprehensively outplayed in the opening game to forcing Wang into a prolonged battle.

Wang punishes Sindhu’s errors in opening game

The warning signs for Sindhu appeared early.

While she stayed close to Wang through the opening exchanges, reaching 3-3, 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7, too many points were being conceded without forcing the Chinese player to produce a winner.

There were misjudgements at the backline and sidelines, while an attempted backhand went wide at 6-7. Wang, meanwhile, showed greater control around the net and began making Sindhu work through longer rallies.

At 7-9, a prolonged exchange ended with Wang taking the point through sharp net play. Sindhu responded with an excellent drop to make it 8-9, but the Indian could not sustain the pressure.

The decisive run came after Wang led 10-9.

Sindhu’s judgement from the back of the court continued to let her down and Wang gradually opened a 14-9 advantage. A forced error at the net briefly gave Sindhu some respite, but a wide shot, a powerful Wang smash and another precise net exchange stretched the Chinese player’s lead to 17-10.

By then, Sindhu was chasing the game rather than shaping it.

There was a glimpse of the aggression she would later produce when a powerful smash made it 11-18, but the revival came too late. A long shot and an error into the net handed Wang game points before the third seed closed out the opener 21-11.

Sindhu changes tempo to force decider

The response from Sindhu in the second game was immediate.

She began with greater purpose, forcing an error to take the opening point and moving 3-0 ahead after Wang misjudged a shot.

Unlike in the first game, Sindhu was now attempting to dictate rallies rather than waiting for Wang to make the first move. A well-disguised drop helped her to 5-2, and though the Chinese shuttler stayed within touching distance, Sindhu maintained a three-point advantage at 11-8 going into the interval.

Wang threatened to close the gap after the break.

Long rallies increasingly became a feature of the contest, with Wang retrieving Sindhu’s attacks and forcing the Indian into extra shots. The third seed reduced the deficit to 13-12 and then drew level at 15-15 after two long shots from Sindhu and another misjudgement near the sideline.

That was the point at which Sindhu found another gear.

A superb backhand cross-court shot forced Wang wide for 16-15. Sindhu followed it with a powerful smash and then showed excellent judgement to let another shot sail out.

At 18-15, momentum had decisively swung towards the Indian.

Sindhu continued to attack rather than retreat into defence. Wang hit wide to hand her five game points at 20-15, before another sustained attacking rally forced the Chinese player into the net.

Sindhu had taken six consecutive points from 15-15 to win the game 21-15 and force a decider.

Her assessment afterwards reflected how strongly she felt she had worked her way back into the contest.

“Overall, it was good badminton,” Sindhu said. “I think it was just her day today.”

Sindhu builds lead before Wang fights back

Sindhu carried the same aggression into the deciding game.

She made a strong start to lead 3-1 before Wang opened her account through an attacking rally. Sindhu continued to look for the front foot, moving 6-2 ahead with a smash directed into Wang’s body and then producing another powerful winner for 7-3.

But the errors had not completely disappeared.

A smash went wide at 7-4, another found the net at 8-6 and a long shot reduced Sindhu’s advantage to 8-7.

Wang had begun to recover, but Sindhu still found ways to stay ahead. At 9-9, she finally opened up the Chinese player’s defence with a smash before a wrong judgement from Wang at the backline allowed the Indian to take an 11-10 lead into the interval.

Another backline misjudgement from Wang and a net fault extended Sindhu’s advantage to 13-10.

For perhaps the first time in the match, the Indian appeared to have control of both the score and the tempo.

It did not last.

Two net errors from Sindhu allowed Wang back into the game, and the Chinese player forced a wide smash to complete a three-point run and draw level at 13-13.

Sindhu then entered another difficult phase in the long rallies. Wang moved 15-13 ahead as the Indian struggled to finish points she had helped construct.

But Sindhu responded once more with the aggression that had transformed the second game.

At 15-15, she repeatedly attacked — smash after smash — until she finally broke Wang’s resistance. Another forced error from the Chinese player gave Sindhu a 16-15 lead.

Wang responded in the next rally, with Sindhu eventually sending her smash wide to make it 16-16.

Then came the stoppage.

**Medical break precedes decisive Wang surge**

Wang received medical attention with the deciding game level at 16-16.

When play resumed, the Chinese player initially appeared uncomfortable and misjudged a shot to hand Sindhu a 17-16 advantage.

Sindhu, however, would not win another point.

She conceded the next rally before Wang produced a strong attacking exchange to move 18-17 ahead. A Sindhu shot then went wide and another smash found the net, leaving Wang with three match points at 20-17.

The Chinese player converted immediately to complete the 21-17 deciding-game victory.

Asked whether the medical stoppage had changed the momentum of the contest, Sindhu did not blame the interruption.

“I think I had to be a little more patient. It was going really well. Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 were going equally well. I just had to be a little more patient, is what I feel,” she said.

Sindhu was also unwilling to speculate about the extent of Wang’s physical problem.

“I don’t know if she was injured or not. Maybe that is her strategy or her way of doing it. You never know. Maybe that’s her gameplay,” she said.

“But I had to be very focused and very patient and focus on every point. So, yeah, I think the last three points just changed the game, is what I felt. I should have been a little more patient.”

That assessment perhaps best summed up a contest in which Sindhu had done the difficult part — recovering from an 11-21 opening game, changing the rhythm of the match and putting herself in position to win — only to allow the decisive exchanges to slip away.

Sindhu looks towards Asian Games

The disappointment was evident afterwards, particularly because Sindhu felt the opportunity had been there to convert.

“Yeah, disappointed, of course. Sad about it. I should have converted that,” she said.

“But that’s how it is; that’s how sport is. You learn, you lose a lot, you win a lot. When you lose, you need to deal with it and bounce back stronger from your mistakes.”

Sindhu said the defeat would now be assessed with her coach as attention turns towards the Asian Games.

“Definitely, there are a lot of lessons to be taken. From today’s game, I’m going to go and discuss with my coach what needs to be done,” she said.

“Accordingly, we’ll work out whatever is required, whether it is physically, mentally, stroke-wise or whatever it is. We’ll discuss it and work accordingly. So, yeah, that’s the next focus.”

For Sindhu, the disappointment of another World Championships exit was accompanied by evidence that her attacking game could still trouble one of the tournament’s leading players.

The task, by her own assessment, is to make that level count when the margins are at their smallest.

“Because you want to win; you always have that urge to win,” Sindhu said. “But it is disappointing when you lose. I think that also gives you a chance to come back and bounce back stronger.”

Several months after moving to Germany, Bernadette Amani is clearly where she wants to be, having won both the Bundesliga and the German Cup in her first half-season since joining Bayern Munich.

“It’s a dream come true for me to be here, and I’m living my dream to the full,” the 28-year-old midfielder told DW in a recent exclusive interview.

“Munich is a very, very big club. Beyond just making me happy, it’s a real achievement, a dream come true to be here, to play for such a prestigious club.”

Amani, who recently captained Ivory Coast at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), added that playing for Bayern’s women has been a major step up from what she had come to know playing for CD Tenerife Femenino of Liga F, Spain’s topflight.

“I was already professional when I was in Spain, but let’s just say it wasn’t quite the same level of professionalism,” she explained.

“In Spain or the Ivory Coast, the coaching staff might have consisted of no more than five or six people. But here there are eight or 10 people. And that enables them (the players) to perform at that high level for a long time.”

This structure, and the experience of the players around her, she said, make it virtually impossible for a new player not to improve on their own game.

“I’ve learned a great deal about aspects I wasn’t already aware of; how to position myself, how to position my body, how to interact with the ball and how to think. Really understanding the game is something I’m gradually learning alongside (the players) and the coaching staff.”

Moving to the capital to further education

Getting to the Bundesliga champions was anything but a straight, plotted path for Amani, who, when she began kicking a ball with the boys in her local village as a youngster, had no idea that football could be a career option.

Her parents were anything but encouraging of her passion. They just wanted their daughter to get a good education. To this end, she wound up moving from the village of Dougbafla, where she grew up, to the capital, Abidjan — a move that turned out to be pivotal to her career as a footballer.

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“I discovered the women’s football league. I went to a match and, as luck would have it, it was the top team against the second-placed team,” she recalled.

“I saw the intensity, I saw the technique, and then I heard that so-and-so isn’t here today because she’s playing in Serbia, another isn’t here today because she’s playing in Turkey. And that was a real eye-opener for me; it made me realize that I could make a living from what I love.”

One of the clubs she watched on that day in 2019, Onze Soeurs de Gagnoa, offered her a trial – and she made the team. Within a year, she was in Spain’s third tier, and five years later, she found herself in Liga F with Eibar. Always looking to take that next step, she quickly moved on to Tenerife, her launching pad for Bayern, which she describes as “the top.” Still, there’s no question of complacency.

“Someone on the outside will say to you: ‘You’ve put in the effort, you’ve made it to Bayern, a club that wins titles, that’s professional and renowned all over the world,” she said.

“But someone who’s involved in football will tell you that’s where the hard part begins. Staying there is even better. And it’s hard not to let your guard down.”

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Disappointment at WAFCON

With Bayern about to start their Women’s Bundesliga title defense against Union Berlin, Amani is back in the Bavarian capital following what will have been a disappointing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for the Ivory Coast. Prior to the tournament, Amani had told DW that her team’s goal would be “to do no worse than we did at the last Africa Cup of Nations we took part in — that is, to finish third.”

However, not only did Ivory Coast fall to Algeria 2-1 in the quarterfinals, but to make matters worse, they’ve failed to qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Ivory Coast fell 2-1 to Ghana in one of two play-in matches for the inter-confederation playoffs, the last possible path to the World Cup. 

While male players tend to get time off after a major summer tournament, Amani was already back on the Bayern bench for Saturday’s DFB Supercup win over Wolfsburg (3-0) – just two days after Ivory Coast’s defeat to Ghana in Casablanca. Now the focus is squarely back on retaining Bayern’s Women’s Bundesliga title.

Ali Farhat contributed to this article.
 

This article was originally published on July 28, 2026. It was updated on August 20, 2026 to reflect developments at the recent WAFCON tournament.

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Edited by: Matt Pearson

England’s seam-bowling all-rounder Sam Curran’s hopes of making a Test comeback have been dealt a significant blow after he was ruled out for the remainder of the home season due to groin surgery. Curran, 28, had been expected to join the national squad for the ongoing Test series against Pakistan and could have earned his first Test appearance since 2021. However, Curran was booked to undergo an operation on his groin following the conclusion of The Hundred, and that has brought his season to a premature end.

“Sam Curran has been assessed for a groin injury and will undergo surgery on Friday. He will not be available for the remainder of the home season,” county side Surrey said in a statement.

England’s newly-appointed chief selector Marcus North had previously hinted that Curran could be considered as an all-round option after the retirement of Ben Stokes following their 2-1 defeat to New Zealand in June.

“With the retirement of Ben Stokes, it’s quite clear that he provided us with a certain balance in the team. Sam Curran is certainly a player of interest for us. He’s someone our backroom staff and medical team will be working with in the coming weeks to make sure that he potentially becomes an option in the third Test. He’s someone that we really value highly, and we see playing a role in the future for us as an all-rounder.”

The injury setback also coincides with fellow Surrey and England cricketer Will Jacks being ruled out of the Pakistan Test series after undergoing emergency surgery. Jacks, though, could yet feature for England in a white-ball series against Sri Lanka that concludes the men’s international home season.

“Will Jacks is currently recovering after a successful operation to remove his appendix. We will monitor his recovery and assess his availability ahead of the Sri Lanka series,” the statement from Surrey further said.

In Surrey’s ongoing County Championship game against Nottinghamshire at The Oval, uncapped Indian batting all-rounder Mahipal Lomror has been handed a debut and is filling in for Jacks, while his fellow countryman, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, has missed out on the match due to a neck issue.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Troyes will entertain Paris FC at the Stade de l’Aube in their Ligue 1 campaign opener on Saturday. The hosts are back in the top flight after three seasons, while the capital club secured a mid-table finish in Ligue 1 last season.

ESTAC enjoyed an unbeaten run in the preseason, although their last two games ended in draws. They faced Panetolikos at home last week and were held to a 1-1 draw, with Renaud Ripart scoring in that match.

Les Bleus registered just one win in the preseason. They lost their last two friendly games, conceding seven goals. In their match against Angers last week, Pablo Pagis and Luca Koleosho were on the scoresheet as they lost 3-2.

Troyes vs Paris FC head-to-head stats and key numbers

• There is limited history between the two teams, who have met 14 times in all competitions. They have contested these meetings closely, with the visitors leading 6-4 in wins and four games ending in draws.
• They last met in the 2024-25 season of Ligue 2, and the capital club won both the home and away games with an aggregate score of 4-0.
• They will meet in the top flight for the first time since the 1973-74 season.
• Troyes have won their last five competitive home games, scoring at least four goals in three matches during that period.
• Paris FC have suffered just two defeats in Ligue 1 away games in 2026.
• Four of the last six meetings between them have produced over 2.5 goals.
• ESTAC have won just one of their last 10 meetings against the visitors, with that triumph coming at home.
• The capital club have seen over 2.5 goals in five of their last six league outings.

Troyes vs Paris FC prediction

ESTAC went unbeaten in the preseason, winning four of the six games, and will look to build on that form here. They have seen decisive outcomes in their last five competitive games, suffering two defeats, with both losses coming away from home.

Ismael Boura was injured in the friendly against Auxerre earlier this month and is expected to be sidelined for a few weeks.

Les Bleus concluded the preseason on a four-game winless run, conceding 11 goals in that period. Interestingly, they also scored at least two goals in three games.

Emmanuel Mbemba picked up a knock earlier this month and is facing a race against time to prove match fitness.

The capital club have won their last three meetings against the hosts, and considering their Ligue 1 away record in 2026, we back them to secure a narrow win.

Prediction: Troyes 1-2 Paris FC

Troyes vs Paris FC betting tips

Tip 1: Paris to win

Tip 2: Over 2.5 goals

Tip 3: Both teams to score – Yes