Canelo Alvarez was beaten for just the third time in 68 fights last year, surrendering his undisputed super-middleweight title to Terence Crawford. It is a defeat that he will not get the chance to avenge.

A few months on from that career-defining victory, Crawford announced his retirement from the sport of boxing, exiting with his undefeated record in tact and as a five-weight world champion.

Speaking on the Mr Verzace podcast, Canelo said that he has now accepted ‘Bud’s decision to retire, but will always feel that a rematch was deserved.

“Of course. I always give him his credit, but we need to run it back. After the fight I said we need to run back this fight because I don’t feel the way I really want. I need to make this fight happen again, and it’s gonna be different. I think for him to deserve all the credit, he needs to give me the rematch. But he decided to retire and we need to accept that and move forward … I think the rematch would be perfect for boxing, but it is what it is.”

With ‘Bud’ showing no signs of making a u-turn on his decision to hang up the gloves, Canelo was asked about another potential avenue of avenging a defeat – Dmitry Bivol.

“Why not? We’ll see in the future. If it makes sense, why not? Like I say, I always like a challenge.”

Bivol has recently said that he is open to a return fight with the Mexican icon after outpointing him back in 2022. However, he also has eyes on a trilogy fight with Artur Beterbiev, an intriguing clash of styles against Davis Benavidez and a move up to cruiserweight.

Alvarez is set to return this September in Saudi Arabia, with an opponent to be announced in due course.

Nick Ball puts his WBA Featherweight World title on the line against Brandon Figueroa tonight in Liverpool, looking to make the fourth successful defence of the belt in front of a hometown crowd.

Ball is one of six British male world champions, but he stood alone at one stage with the UK on his back. Though he is now joined by Dalton Smith, Lewis Crocker, Josh Kelly, Jazza Dickens and Fabio Wardley, the relentless puncher from Liverpool still welcomes the pressure at the top.

He has, as the event is billed, a tall task in Figueroa, who towers over the champion by seven inches and looks to spoil tonight’s party in The Pool. Boxing News brings you the undercard results, summaries and a live scorecard for the headline bout.

Undercard results

Brad Strand vs Ruben Lezama Gonzalez — Super bantamweight

Result: Strand RTD R3. Methodical from Brad Strand from the first bell. He stops his man in the third, taking the wind out of him with a body shot and follow up with a barrage of punches that forced Gonzalez’ corner to throw in the towel.

Hassan Ishaq vs Leonardo Baez — Featherweight

Result: – Ishaq TKO R3. Straightforward for Ishaq, who scores his third stoppage win in three fights. He looked sharp and powerful in there, though Baez really wasn’t up to much.

Andrew Cain vs Alejandro Gonzalez — Bantamweight

Result: Cain TKO R9. A well-matched affair. Gonzalez scored two body shot knockdowns in the eighth. Cain did well to come back out in the ninth, never mind score a knockdown of his own in the first minute. He refused to relent and put the Mexican down for a second time. Gonzalez, with a burst eye, walked towards the corner during the count and saw it waved off by by referee Mark Gates. An impressive win for Cain, who deserves the world title shot that should come off the back of it.

Jack Turner vs Juan Carlos Martinez Urbina — Super flyweight

Result: Turner RTD R3. Jack Turner scores his 13th stoppage in 14 fights. It was all ‘El Terrier’, who scored a knockdown in the first and beat the fight out of Urbina – who had a point off in the third for consistent holding – leading his corner to stop the fight after the third. On to bigger things for KO artist Turner, who is a ruthless addition to the lower weight classes.

Nick Ball vs Brandon Figueroa scorecard and result

This is a Boxing News live scorecard and not the official score from the judges.

Result: Figueroa TKO R12. A thrilling fight from start to finish, and a tough one to score. Ball’s trademark style was as eye-catching as always, but Figueroa peppered away at the body and worked at a steadier pace. The scorecards may have been all over the place had it come to it, but the challenger landed a thunderous left hook during an exchange in the final round and put the champion down. Ball rose to his feet and fought on, but another few well-placed shots and he was knocked over again and through the ropes. A good stoppage from referee Steve Gray. Heartbreak for Ball, elation for three-time world champion Figueroa and a real win for boxing fans.

Pep Guardiola has revealed he felt an immediate connection with his Manchester City assistant Pep Lijnders – but did plenty of research with former Liverpool players before hiring Jurgen Klopp’s long-time assistant manager.

Lijnders returns to Anfield on Sunday but by Guardiola’s side as part of City’s coaching team after taking a job at the Etihad Stadium last summer.

And Guardiola said he was an admirer of the work Lijnders and Klopp did together at Liverpool as he said he did his due diligence before hiring the Dutchman.

He said: “I had a lot of info from other people about him who had been trained or managed by him at Liverpool. I needed to refresh myself first with new people who have incredible knowledge about the game and the Premier League and I love a lot many things that he did with Jurgen at Liverpool. We talked one day, I think we felt connected immediately. I am incredibly lucky that since the first day I started as a manager [with] all my backroom staff and close people and Pep is one of them.”

Guardiola gave an insight into what Lijnders, a former RB Salzburg manager, has added, saying: “Methodology of training sessions and vision of part of the game and the freedom to say what we should do, continually talking about what could be better in that way with the player and other ones and one system or the other.

“That is the funny part of our game, imagining what we can do, what is going to happen, and confronting with opinions for people that you truly believe are incredibly well prepared for their business.”

Lijnders worked with many of the current Liverpool players, though Guardiola feels he can offer less insight into the head coach after Klopp stood down in 2024.

“It would have been easier if Jurgen was the manager there, because he has not been with Arne [Slot],” Guardiola said. “They play a little bit different but at the end the quality remains.”

The 2026 WM Phoenix Open concludes on Sunday with the final round at TPC Scottsdale. You can find full WM Phoenix Open tee times for Sunday’s final round at the bottom of this post.

Featured final-round tee time

The Super Bowl may be the main course on Sunday, but the action at TPC Scottsdale should serve as a great appetizer. Ahead of the big game, some of the PGA Tour’s best will be duking it out in the desert in front of the rowdiest fans in golf as they seek to earn the title at the WM Phoenix Open.

Sitting atop the leaderboard is former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who sits at 13 under. He fired a third-round 68 to take a one-shot lead into the final round. Playing alongside Matsuyama in the final grouping will be Nicolai Hojgaard who is seeking his first PGA Tour victory, and Maverick McNealy. The trio will go off in the final grouping at 12:57 p.m. ET.

Also tied with Hojgaard and McNealy at 12 under are Si Woo Kim and Ryo Hisatsune, who will play in the penultimate group. Lagging another shot behind are Michael Thorbjornsen, Jake Knapp, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jake Knapp, while the Englishman John Parry rounds out the top 10 sitting 10 under through three rounds.

You can watch Sunday’s final round of the 2026 WM Phoenix Open from 12-3 p.m. ET on Golf Channel, followed by the CBS broadcast from 3-6 p.m. ET. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will provide exclusive early streaming coverage in addition to featured group and featured hole coverage on Sunday.

Hoping to wager on the WM Phoenix Open? Sign up for Fanatics Sportsbook with code “SUBPAR” to receive a special welcome offer.

Advertisement

Get ESPN+

With an ESPN+ subscription, you gain access to PGA Tour Live, where you can stream the best PGA Tour events live from wherever you want.

Advertisement

2026 WM Phoenix Open tee times for Sunday: Final round (ET)

Tee No. 1

10:45 a.m. – Daniel Berger, Harris English, A.J. Ewart
10:56 a.m. – Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Michael Kim, Sam Stevens
11:07 a.m. – Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Jacob Bridgeman, Jordan Smith
11:18 a.m. – Ryan Fox, Rickie Fowler, Max McGreevy
11:29 a.m. Mac Meissner, Keith Mitchell, Cameron Young
11:40 a.m. Ben Griffin, Brian Campbell, Sepp Straka
11:51 a.m. – Sahith Theegala, Michael Brennan, Mackenzie Hughes
12:02 p.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Kevin Roy, Stephan Jaegar
12:13 p.m. – Min Woo Lee, Chris Gotterup, Pierceson Coody
12:24 p.m. – John Parry, Viktor Hovland, Rasmus Hojgaard
12:35 p.m. – Jake Knapp, Matt Fitzpatrick, Akshay Bhatia
12:46 p.m. – Si Woo Kim, Ryo Hisatsune, Michael Thorbjornsen
12:57 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Nicolai Hojgaard, Maverick McNealy

Tee No. 10

10:45 a.m. – Christo Lamprecht, Patrick Rogers, S.H. Kim
10:56 a.m. – Zach Bachou, Wyndham Clark, Alex Smalley
11:07 a.m. – Tom Kim, Zecheng Dou, Nick Taylor
11:18 a.m. – Chad Ramey, Rico Hoey, Davis Thompson
11:29 a.m. – Kurt Kitayama, Joe Highsmith, Chandler Phillips
11:40 a.m. – John VanDerLaan, Johnny Keefer, Bud Cauley
11:51 a.m. – Sami Valimaki, Cam Davis, Keita Nakajima
12:02 p.m. – J.T. Poston, Kensei Hirata, Takumi Kanaya
12:13 p.m. – Max Homa, Kristoffer Reitan, Collin Morikawa
12:24 p.m. – Hank Lebioda, S.T. Lee, Adrien Saddier
12:35 p.m. – Gary Woodland, Xander Schauffele
12:46 p.m. – Patton Kizzire, Neal Shipley