Jaron Ennis was in hot pursuit of a showdown with Terence Crawford before the latter hung up the gloves, and now Crawford’s trainer Brian McIntyre has responded after ‘Boots’ labelled his charge ‘easy work’.

Crawford boxed 42 different opponents over the course of his career, but none of them were able to figure out the puzzle and hand him a first career defeat. He walked away from the sport as a three-weight undisputed champion with his undefeated record intact.

During the latter years of his career, Ennis was one of few men that some fans believed could have gotten the better of the Omaha southpaw, having become a unified welterweight champion when Crawford moved on from the division.

‘Bud’ went on to defeat Israil Madrimov and Canelo Alvarez before announcing his decision to retire from boxing without facing ‘Boots’, who has since become the unified WBA & WBO super-welterweight world champion by halting Xander Zayas.

On the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, Ennis claimed that Crawford would be ‘easy work’ if he were to come back and face him.

However, speaking on The Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer, trainer ‘BoMac’ declared that the Philadelphian ‘wouldn’t be able to touch Crawford’ and that he would be better served leaving him retired and trying to outperform him, rather than beat him.

“You know what? I’mma stick with my guy. I’mma go with my guy for the simple fact that, one thing about our team, we love challenges. If we put our minds to it and we set to it and that is what we want to do then we are going to go out and get the win, take on the challenge.

“With Bud, just look at his record, just look at what he has accomplished in the sport.”

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“Boots is supposed to say that [he is easy work] because he is one of the guys at the top, but he can’t touch Bud. I’m sorry, I like him as a fighter, I like him as a person, him and his whole team over there but I’m just being really with it. 

“His [Ennis’] best thing would be to let the man stay in retirement and ride off into the sunset, then you try to accomplish more than what he accomplished. That is the best thing that I can tell anybody, and him, and his team.”

Ennis is set to chase the undisputed crown at 154lbs, with a clash against IBF world champion Josh Kelly looking set to take place either in December or in early 2027.

India captain Harmanpreet Singh on Saturday expressed satisfaction on his side’s 3-1 victory over Wales in the men’s Hockey World Cup opener here, saying that it was important to win the first match by a good margin and get full three points.

“We played very well. Our aim was to create chances and score goals match after match. It doesn’t matter who is the man of the match or who is scoring the goals. We just need to score goals. We played with that mindset,” Harmanpreet, who scored a brace in the team’s win, said after the match.

“It was important to begin with a good win. We won 3-1 and took three points, which is a good result,” he added.

Wales scored in the final minutes to deny India a clean sheet, but Harmanpreet said his team would learn from their mistakes in future matches. 

“We tried our best, but they also played well. This was only the first match, and we will try not to make mistakes in future matches.” said the ace drag-flicker.

India scored all three goals from penalty corners, while coach Craig Fulton has consistently emphasized field goals.

Asked about this, the Indian captain said, “Our forward line performed well and earned several penalty corners. Whether they score field goals or create PCs, goals are important for the team.” 
On the Indian team’s performance before the World Cup, he said that ups and downs were part of the game.

“Currently, the team’s focus is on the World Cup and we are in good form, well prepared, and confident of a podium a finish.

Alas Pilipinas Girls during a classification match against Venezuela in the FIVB U17 World Championship in Chile.–VOLLEYBALL WORLD PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Alas Pilipinas Girls fell to Venezuela anew, 22-25, 15-25, 25-20, 22-25, in the classification round of the FIVB Girls’ U17 World Championship on Sunday in Santiago, Chile.

The young Nationals tried to pull off another spirited rally after bagging the third set, but the Venezuelans refused to be dragged to a decider this time, as they advanced to the battle for 13th place against Peru.

Amanda Pacheco Gonzales powered Venezuela with 17 points on 15 kills, one block, and an ace. Yalesca Colina Lezama backstopped her with 15 points, while Fabianny Carima added 11.

READ: Alas Pilipinas sees bright future with young core after historic U17 stint

In their first meeting back in the preliminary round, Alas booked a round-of-16 spot after going the distance against Venezuela despite the 19-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-19, 11-15 loss.

Alas was led by Xyz Rayco, who tallied 15 points off 11 spikes, three aces, and a block. Caera Celis added 14 points.

Jello Mauricio stepped up with nine points, while Megan Hernandez, Madele Gale, and Jhaynna Bulandres chipped in five each.

The Philippines ends its world stint against Czechia in the battle for 15th place on Monday, hoping to stop a five-game losing streak.

Ireland’s Kate O’Connor speaks after winning gold in the women’s heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships, just weeks after winning the same event at the Commonwealth Games.

READ MORE: O’Connor secures European gold in heptathlon

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Amy Hunt hailed her British quartet of “superwomen” after they successfully defended their European 4x100m relay title to keep Hunt on course for an historic quadruple in Birmingham on a night of back-to-back triumphs for the hosts.

Dina Asher-Smith moved joint-top of the all-time European Athletics Championships medal table with 10, the same as Polish sprinter Irena Szewinska – though the Briton has two more golds with seven and a chance, alongside Hunt, to add another from Sunday’s inaugural European mixed 4x100m relay.

Asher-Smith, Hunt, Success Eduan and Imani-Lara Lansiquot blitzed to the finish in 42.05 seconds ahead of Switzerland, who took silver in 43.12s, and bronze went to Poland in 43.15 seconds.

Hunt, who sealed a European sprint double earlier in the week, when asked about the possibility of becoming the first British athlete to win four golds in a single European Championships, said: “Hopefully! We’ll have to chat to the coaches about tomorrow, but I’m so, so happy for tonight.

“It was incredible to come together with these so inspiring ladies. Everyone had so much going on. We got a midwifery degree, psychology degree, history degree, and this girl (Lansiquot) wrote a play.

“It’s such a privilege to be able to step on the track with these ladies and the individual superpowers that we bring. It’s no joke. We’ve had all superwomen together out there, and yeah, it was so much fun.”

Asher-Smith said she would have to wait to see if she was selected for the new relay event, but appreciated she could become the outright top medal-winner in the 92-year history of the European Championships.

The 2019 200m world champion, who was runner-up to Hunt in Birmingham, said: “That was my aim, honestly, coming into this season. I knew that with the last European Championships, I was getting a bit close, so it was just in my vision board, but not in the forefront.

“I’m proud to have done it. It’s been over a decade of hard work with some incredible ladies and incredible championships. So yeah, I’m very happy.”

Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Zharnel Hughes and Romell Glave also triumphed in their own 4x100m relay, beating Germany and Belgium to gold in 38.45s.

Azu, who claimed individual 100m silver on Tuesday in a British one-two with Glave, ran a 10.51s opener, while Hinchliffe, Hughes and Glave all dipped below 10 seconds in 9.22s, 9.57s and 9.15s respectively.

Hinchliffe said: “The times don’t matter, getting the gold is the main thing so to get the gold, that’s job done. It was good to get out there and get a medal.

“For us to finish on both men and women getting gold medals in the relay, that’s special. It just shows we need to think bigger and replicate these results at bigger championships.”

Jake Heyward missed out on a medal by 0.16 seconds as the British trio of men’s 1500m finalists were shut out of the podium, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson was 21st of as many finishers in a heptathlon won by Ireland’s Kate O’Connor.