Before the game against Morocco, former England striker Ian Wright called Deschamps’ side “one of the most clear favourites for a World Cup tournament I have ever seen”.

After a dominant victory in Boston, in which France had 22 attempts compared to only five from Morocco, who had their only shot on target in the 83rd minute, Wright remained impressed.

“It is difficult to see the weakness,” said Wright. “If Spain get through they have the quality to maybe pass through them and maybe the pace of Lamine Yamal to try and punish them, but France look imperious. Then you have got individual brilliance.”

As well as Mbappe and Dembele, France also have plenty of further attacking options in their squad, including Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise, Paris St-Germain pair Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue, Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki and Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.

At the opposite end, France have now only conceded two goals in six games – late on in a 3-1 win over Senegal and once in the 4-1 victory over Norway, albeit a side that had rested most of their first 11 having already qualified for the knockout phases.

“France have got more gears to go,” said former Manchester United captain Roy Keane. “France were so much better in every aspect of the game, but it doesn’t mean they cannot be beaten.

“France are in a great place. You have your attacking players scoring goals and your individual players going past people. Any chance of beating France you have got to score the first goal. Even if they get the first goal, teams have to come at them, and they will pick you off for fun.”

Sugar Ray Leonard has the honour of being the only member of the ‘Four Kings’ to successfully defeat the other three.

Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran were key figures in the sport throughout the 1980s, as the quartet of fighters competed in iconic battles against one another.

While Leonard defeated his three rivals, he did also suffer a loss to Duran, with the Panamanian claiming a unanimous decision win at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal in June 1980.

The pair had an immediate rematch later that year, with Leonard inflicting his revenge as he secured an eighth round stoppage victory.

It is that triumph that Leonard views as his best, after he explained in a resurfaced clip why it meant so much to him.

“Duran the second fight [was my favourite win]. What happened in the first fight was he took me out of my game plan, he got into my head so I tried to beat him at his own game and fight him toe to toe.

“I knew right from the start but it didn’t register hard enough to say ‘Ray, you can’t beat him this way, you’ve got to box him.’ By the time I realised it was the 10th round, 12th round. He hit me so many times so hard, I’m hurting right now just thinking about it.

“I seriously contemplated retirement. I went to Hawaii with my wife to get away from it and I was running on the sand every morning and people would say ‘if you would box him you would beat him.’ I called my trainer and said I want to fight Duran ASAP. We had the fight scheduled five months later, the magnitude of big fights that doesn’t happen for a year or years.”

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Leonard ended his career with a record of 36 wins from 40 fights, with his only other blemishes coming when he drew with Hearns in June 1989, before a defeat to Terry Norris in 1991, and a further loss to Hector Camacho after coming out of retirement in 1997.

Jaron Ennis threw down the gauntlet to the other super-welterweight world champions when he captured the unified 154lb crown with a knockout win over Xander Zayas last month, and now female boxing icon Claressa Shields has predicted how a unification clash between Ennis and Sebastian Fundora would play out.

Ennis became a two-division unified world champion when he halted Zayas after six rounds on June 27, opening the door to potential showdowns with Fundora, Josh Kelly and a long-awaited scrap with Vergil Ortiz Jr, despite the Texan not holding a title.

It is expected that Kelly will defend his IBF super-welterweight crown against Caiomhin Agyarko on Anthony Joshua’s undercard later this month, whilst recent rumours suggest that talks for a fight between Ennis and WBC ruler, Fundora, are ongoing.

Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Shields praised Ennis for his performance against Zayas, but warned that there were a couple of mistakes made that could be punished in a unification affair against ‘The Towering Inferno’.

“Had Boots quit against Xander, they would be calling Boots a quitter, but because Xander got stopped or quit against Boots they all like ‘oh, he got so much heart’. Be fair. Give Boots his dues. Right now, at 154lbs, he is the man. 

“A big challenge for him will be Fundora. Fundora is a big challenge for anybody because of how long he is and his height, but Boots has enough in his arsenal, I feel, to beat Fundora, but he has got to be very, very smart. 

“He can’t make the same mistakes that he made, getting hit with that straight jab and that right against Zayas, he can’t do that with Fundora. Cannot. Will not. He cannot do that. Also, he cannot do that fighting on wobbly legs either.  

“The only thing that he did wrong, for me, was fighting after that. Him fighting on wobbly legs, he should have moved around, jabbed, whatever. Be smart.”

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Ennis-Fundora is being mooted for either November or December, and boxing great Terence Crawford has revealed how he thinks that could play out.

Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic celebrates her victory against Coco Gauff of the United States in their semifinal women’s singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON–Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova saved a match point to reach her first Wimbledon final with a pulsating three-set win against Coco Gauff on Thursday.

Muchova held her nerve in a gripping final set tie-break, winning 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (12/10) in two hours and 35 minutes in searing temperatures on Centre Court.

READ: Karolina Muchova wins Bad Homburg after Naomi Osaka injury

In the final, Muchova will face Czech ninth seed Linda Noskova or Ukrainian 12th seed Marta Kostyuk, who meet in the other semi-final later on Thursday.

Muchova is into her second Grand Slam final and her first since finishing as the 2023 French Open runner-up.

In her first Wimbledon semi-final, Muchova exorcised the ghosts of her previous dismal experiences in south-west London.

The 29-year-old had lost in the first round on her previous four appearances at Wimbledon.

Gauff had won six of her seven previous meetings with Muchova, but the Czech won their most recent encounter in Stuttgart this year and once again she got the better of the two-time Grand Slam champion.

“It sounds really nice to be in the final. It was such a big fight. You are up and down, no time to think but it was very nerve-wracking,” Muchova said.

After battling injuries earlier in her career, Muchova is finally fulfilling her potential, but even she has been taken aback by her success at Wimbledon over the last fortnight.

Muchova takes “pills, sprays, eyedrops” to manage a grass allergy, but she is no longer adverse to playing on the lawns of the All England Club.

Gripping finale

Karolina Muchova of Czech Republic, right, hugs Coco Gauff of the United States after winning their women’s singles semifinal match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Muchova is at last unimpeded after suffering a multitude of injuries in recent years, including problems with her right wrist, left wrist, abdomen, back, thigh, ankle and foot.

In 2022, doctors told Muchova that it would be a good idea for her to quit tennis altogether, while in 2023 and 2024 right wrist surgery sidelined her for 10 months.

Now she is just one win away from a maiden Grand Slam title.

Gauff, seeded seventh, had struggled badly with her serve for much of the tournament and has the most double faults on the women’s tour this year.

Muchova took advantage of that glaring flaw to break in the third game of the first set and again in the fifth.

The Czech sealed the set with an ace, sending Gauff scurrying to the sanctuary of the locker room to compose herself.

Gauff had 12 unforced errors in the first set, but in keeping with her tenacious character, she hit back with a dominant second set that could not have been more different to her spluttering start.

Steadying her serve and playing with far more purpose and intensity, she broke for a 3-1 lead and emphatically closed out the set to force a decider.

The final set was a nerve-jangling battle, with break points saved by both players as the tension mounted and Muchova appearing to suffer an abdominal injury.

Muchova had a flawless record in tie-breaks this year, a run she maintained in style, diving full length to volley a stunning winner that even Gauff was forced to applaud.

Muchova was given a time violation for delaying her serve at 8-8 and the warning rattled the Czech, who blazed a forehand long to give Gauff a match point.

But Gauff let Muchova off the hook with a weak drop shot into the net.

Muchova floated a sublime lob over Gauff to bring up a match point but she slipped at the net as the American hammered a winner past her.

Undeterred, Muchova kept the pressure on Gauff and finally closed out the most memorable win of her career.

LJ Go—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

With six birdies in a hot final 10 holes, LJ Go on Thursday zoomed to the top of the ICTSI Pradera Verde Challenge to be in great position to sweep the only two tournaments he will play this year on the Philippine Golf Tour.

A five-under-par 67 for a 54-hole 208 had the 31-year-old taking a one-shot lead over the dangerous Clyde Mondilla, who had a matching 67, with a three-man group made up of Antonio Lascuña, Randy Garalde and Rupert Zaragosa trailing another shot back.

“Lately I’ve been putting better,” Go, who won at Pinewoods in the chilly summer capital by 12 shots last week, said. “I hit my wedges better and made a lot of long putts on the back nine.

“I have been very patient, and I tried to be steady since the front nine is hard.”

Go has been campaigning overseas and returned to the country last week to play in only two events in an attempt to keep his card for next year and play in the lucrative The Country Club Invitational in February.

Another strong round will most likely have him accomplishing both, though he would need to hold off a lot of chasers, beginning with the long-hitting Mondilla.

Mondilla also had seven birdies in a 34-33 effort, even as Keanu Jahns, the second round leader by three strokes, ballooned to a 75 to now be three shots behind like Angelo Que, the Caliraya stop champion last month who carved out a 70 and is still very much in it.

Indian wrestling icon and undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Sangram Singh exuded confidence ahead of his much-anticipated Asia Champion Title Fight against Pakistan’s Abid Ali, at Kaulampur Malaysia on 19th of July, stating that he is entering the bout with a single objective – to raise the Indian tricolour on the international stage. The official pre-fight press conference was held at The Lalit, New Delhi, in the presence of Sangram Singh, President of PMMA Malaysia Ismail Marzuki Bin, PMMA CEO Mohammed Hakim Bin Lukman Abdullah, members of the organising committee, Representative of Sangram’s coaching team and members of the media.

The India versus Pakistan contest has already generated significant excitement across the combat sports fraternity, with the winner set to be crowned the Asia Champion.

A two-time Commonwealth Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and one of India’s most decorated professional wrestlers, Sangram has scripted history since switching to professional MMA. He made a sensational debut by defeating Pakistan’s Ali Raza Nasir in Georgia in just 90 seconds before registering victories over Tunisia’s Hakim Trabelsi in the Netherlands and France’s Florian Coudier in Argentina, remaining unbeaten with a 3-0 professional MMA record. His victory in Argentina also made him the first Indian to win a professional MMA bout on Argentine soil.

Beyond the cage, Sangram serves as a Fit India Icon under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and was appointed Brand Ambassador for the Swachh Bharat & Viksit Bharat Campaigns by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. His international MMA campaign has also received support from the Fit India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as part of its efforts to promote fitness, healthy lifestyle and Indian athletes globally.

Addressing the media, Sangram Singh said, “Every time I step into the cage, I don’t just fight for myself; I fight for 145 crore Indians. India versus Pakistan is always special, irrespective of the sport, and I fully understand the emotions attached to this contest. I have trained with complete discipline and respect for my opponent, but once the cage closes, my only mission will be to ensure that the Indian flag flies high. I believe fitness, dedication and mental strength are the biggest weapons any athlete can possess.”

Deputy Director General, Sports Authority of India, Mayank Srivastava (IPS), said, “Sangram Singh embodies the values that Indian sport seeks to promote-discipline, resilience, determination and an unwavering commitment to excellence. His transition from an accomplished wrestler to an unbeaten professional MMA athlete is an inspiring example of what dedication and hard work can achieve. We are delighted to see Indian athletes making their mark on the global stage across emerging sports, and we wish Sangram the very best as he carries the hopes of the nation into this important championship. His journey will inspire countless young Indians to pursue fitness and sporting excellence.”

Reflecting on his journey from wrestling to MMA, Sangram added, “People questioned my decision to start MMA after the age of 40, but I wanted to prove that passion has no age limit. My aim is not just to win titles but also to inspire young Indians to embrace fitness, discipline and sports as a way of life. I thank the Government of India, Fit India, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and everyone who has supported my journey.”

His coach Bhupesh Kumar expressed complete faith in the Indian fighter, “Sangram has left no stone unturned in his preparation. His wrestling background, improved striking, conditioning and mental toughness have all evolved tremendously over the last two years. We respect Abid Ali, but Sangram is fully prepared to deliver another memorable performance for India.”

President of PMMA Malaysia, Ismail Marzuki Bin, praised the growing stature of Asian combat sports.”The Asia Champion Title represents the future of mixed martial arts in Asia. India and Pakistan have passionate sporting cultures, and this contest will showcase the tremendous talent emerging from the region. We are proud host & delighted to bring together athletes of this calibre under one platform.”

PMMA CEO Mohammed Hakim Bin Lukman Abdullah said the event symbolised unity through sport. “Combat sports have the unique ability to unite nations through respect, discipline and competition. We are confident this championship will become one of Asia’s premier MMA properties, and we appreciate the participation of elite athletes like Sangram Singh and Abid Ali.”

The organisers stated that the Asia Champion Title Fight is expected to be one of the biggest India-Pakistan combat sports contests in recent years and will provide Asian fighters with an international platform to showcase their talent.

With an unbeaten professional MMA record and victories across Europe and South America already under his belt, Sangram Singh will now look to add another historic chapter to his career when he faces Pakistan’s Abid Ali for the Asia Champion Title.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)

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Delhi vs Mumbai IPL 2026: Fans Flood Arun Jaitley Stadium for High-Voltage Clash

Expectations were considerable when Angels Fury made her debut at Caulfield earlier this year.

The Ciaron Maher-trained filly was heavily supported at $1.70 in the Blue Diamond Preview in January, but could only manage to trail the field home after showing promise in jump-outs.

A month ago, Angels Fury made a successful return in a country two-year-old maiden, winning as the easing $1.95 favourite.

Now, Angels Fury is set to line up again at Caulfield for the Sportsbet Race Reviews Handicap (1100m) this Saturday, aiming to re-establish her credentials.

Jack Turnbull, National Assistant Trainer for Ciaron Maher Racing, conveyed the stable’s consistent high opinion of Angels Fury, believing she has the potential to reach a good level.

“She’s always been impressive since day one,” Turnbull said.

“To run on debut and run the way she did was very deflating, but at the end of the day we knew we had a young horse that pulled up with a few issues and we were able to reset and come back.”

“All through her training this prep, she has been A-one. It’s been there to see in her jump-outs and that translated into her Bendigo run.”

The Maher team’s confidence in Angels Fury’s ability was such that they purchased her half-brother, by Spirit Of Boom, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale before the filly’s debut.

“You want to back your judgement of what you see at home and to see it race day, even in a maiden, it’s very satisfying,” Turnbull commented.

“Hopefully we can continue because she has a lot of upside.”

Turnbull stated that Saturday’s performance would be a significant factor in planning Angels Fury’s future program.

The stable’s interim plan involves a cautious approach, advancing “month, month, month,” provided all goes well.

“If she was to win on Saturday, being a city class race, you would have to consider going up in class, a Stakes race, but we’re one race at a time,” Turnbull advised.

“She’ll get there eventually, whether it’s this spring or the autumn.”

Apprentice jockey Jabez Johnstone, currently in good form, will claim 3kg, reducing Angels Fury’s weight to 54.5kg.

Explore the latest racing odds available at Australian betting sites.

The Cool Smashers celebrate the win on the floor. —PVL IMAGES

Sherwin Meneses saw bright signs all over as Creamline’s newcomers proved that they are deserving of being called Cool Smashers by embracing the championship-winning system with a lot of the team’s stars unavailable in their PVL On Tour debut.

Meneses gave his young recruits an early opportunity, and they didn’t disappoint, as the Cool Smashers pulled off a 25-18, 25-23, 16-25 and 25-19 victory over an Nxled side that played without Brooke Van Sickle on Wednesday night at the Capital Arena in Ilagan, Isabela.

Ishie Lalongisip, an outside hitter recruited from defunct Cignal, impressed with nine points in her first game in a Creamline uniform, while rookie setter Donna Paralejas earned the starting nod before veteran Kyle Negrito took over in the latter sets.

Rookie Barbie Jamili and Erin Pangilinan, also an ex-Super Spiker, also got their chances to play and contribute to the Cool Smashers.

“I want them to be competitive because they’re with Creamline now, and the culture here is different,” Meneses said in Filipino. “They’re all hardworking players, and we’re happy that they ended up with Creamline.

“We already talked to them. They’re in the professional league now, so they have to work hard while enjoying the experience of being part of Creamline,” he went on. “That’s the strength of these young players—they’re confident, they’re willing to learn, and they follow instructions. Hopefully, they can continue performing well.”

For Lalongisip, joining Creamline was exciting, coming in after Cignal filed a leave of absence despite its gallant stand against the 11-time champions in the All-Filipino Conference finals.

“I’m really happy … because now, I’m teammates with Jema (Galanza) and the rest of the squad,” Lalongisip said in Filipino. “I’m super excited and really looking forward to everything I’ll learn here with Creamline.”

Creamline opened its preseason campaign without national team standouts Jia De Guzman and Jen Nierva, who are training with Alas Pilipinas for the Asian Games, while Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos, Pangs Panaga and Bea De Leon sat the game out.

After two runs for new trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, former European galloper Boniface is ready to add to his winning record.

This is provided the gelding can overcome what Kent Jnr described as a ‘sticky draw’ in the Precise Air Handicap (1800m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Boniface achieved three wins from his five starts in France before making his way out to Australia to find a new home at Cranbourne with Price and Kent Jnr.

Following an initial campaign late last year where Boniface reached the trialling stage, the four-year-old was gelded and turned out for another break.

He returned to racing with a pleasing fifth over 1600m at Sandown in May before finishing a last start second over 1800m at Randwick on June 20.

Kent Jnr stated that Boniface had made nice progression from that outing and worked encouragingly on Tuesday, providing the stable with confidence ahead of Saturday’s race.

But drawing gate 14 in the 15-horse field was not ideal, although he will start from barrier 10 if the four emergencies do not gain a start.

“He was good first-up and he was excellent second-up, so he’s doing a great job in his first Australian preparation,” Kent Jnr commented.

“He’s drawn sticky on Saturday, but off his work on Tuesday, he’s showing that he’s going very well.”

“It’s a sticky draw because he’s a bit exuberant. We would prefer to be covered up, but you could roll forward but you could undo all the good work by giving him the wrong message and light him up, or you could snag back to last and have too much to do.”

“We’re also not sure about him on a real heavy track. He’s trialled well in the heavy, but I like the horse and he’s going great.”

“If he takes natural improvement from his last start, he will be right in the finish.”

Tyler Schiller, who partnered Boniface in his most recent appearance, takes the ride again on Saturday.

Check out the latest racing odds for the event.