Teofimo Lopez is looking to bounce back after suffering a second career defeat and an immediate world title shot on the cards.

Having become a unified lightweight champion, Lopez moved up super-lightweight in 2022 and dethroned Josh Taylor to become the WBO titleholder the following year. Up at 140lbs, he made three defences of his title before losing it to Shakur Stevenson in January of this year.

Since then, Lopez has made his intentions of a welterweight move clear, seeking fights against the likes of Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney.

However, should he choose to remain at super-lightweight, he could land an immediate title shot, after being invited by the IBF to negotiate a vacant title bout against Lindolfo Delgado, following Richardson Hitchins vacating the belt in order to move up.

Delgado is rated as the number one contender in the division and had been Hitchins’ mandatory challenger, with that fight being ordered back in February.

Told that this is not true. The IBF has requested the availability of Lindolfo Delgado and Teofimo Lopez to fight for the vacant title, rather than ordering the matchup. https://t.co/y0jsviH9Kx

— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) April 21, 2026

Currently, there is no #2 in the IBF’s super-lightweight rankings and Oscar Duarte and Keyshawn Davis, who are respectively rated at #3 and #4, both have fights scheduled, meaning that they are unavailable. Duarte has also stated his plans of pursuing the WBC world title, likely due to the fact that he and Delgado have the same trainer.

Lopez sits at #5 but, should he deliver on his welterweight promies, Canada’s Arthur Biyarslanov (#6) will be next in line to be invited for negotiations.

The top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder will look to take a 2-0 series lead against the eighth-seeded Phoenix Suns when they meet in Game 2 of their Western Conference first-round matchup on Wednesday in the 2026 NBA playoffs. OKC blew out Phoenix 119-84 in the series opener on Sunday. The Suns (46-39), who have lost three of their last five games, are 20-21 on the road this season. The Thunder (65-18), who have won three of their last five games, are 34-7 on their home court this season. Grayson Allen (hamstring), Jordan Goodwin (calf) and Mark Williams (foot) are all questionable for Phoenix. 

Tipoff from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City is set for 9:30 p.m. ET. OKC is the 17.5-point favorite in the latest Suns vs. Thunder odds from FanDuel Sportsbook, while the over/under for total points scored is 216.5. Before making any Thunder vs. Suns picks, check out the Suns vs. Thunder predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past eight-plus seasons. The model entered the first full week of the 2026 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 24-9 roll (73%) on top-rated NBA spread picks this season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.    

Now, the model has simulated Suns vs. Thunder 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Suns vs. Thunder:

Top Suns vs. Thunder predictions

After 10,000 simulations of Suns vs. Thunder, SportsLine’s model is going Under on the total (216.5). The Under hit in the last matchup between these two teams, and 58% of the Suns’ games went Under the total this season. When the total is between 213-216, the Under has hit 66% of the time for the Thunder. 

The SportsLine model is projecting the Suns to have just three players score 15 points or more, led by Devin Booker‘s 23.1 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is projected to lead the Thunder with 32.6 points scored; four players will score 10 or more points for the Thunder. The teams are projected to combine for 211 total points as the Under hits 59% of the time, making it a great selection for anybody targeting NBA parlay betting. See the Suns vs. Thunder spread pick at SportsLine, and you can bet the Under in Suns vs. Thunder at FanDuel here:

How to make Suns vs. Thunder picks

After simulating each possession of Suns vs. Thunder 10,000 times, the model also says one side of the spread hits 60% of the time. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s NBA picks. 

So who wins Suns vs. Thunder, and which side of the spread hits in 60% of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the spread to back, all from the model that has returned well over $10,000 on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.

Two down, one to go.

Burnley‘s loss to Manchester City meant they joined Wolves in having their relegation from the Premier League confirmed.

For the past couple of weeks, it has looked like being four teams – Leeds, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Tottenham – scrapping it out to avoid the remaining spot in the drop zone.

Advertisement

But, following Sean Longstaff’s dramatic late equaliser at Bournemouth, Leeds have taken seven points from three games to reach the magical 40-point mark, and many will be starting to exclude them from any relegation conversations.

“I am experienced long enough in this world, we will celebrate when it’s mathematically done. It’s too early,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke told BBC Match of the Day.

“We are on 40 points, seven games unbeaten in all competitions, so I am confident. Why should we lose the last four games?”

Victory over Championship-bound Burnley at Elland Road might be enough to make Leeds mathematically safe.

Advertisement

Until then, there is still work to do before Farke will let himself celebrate and – certainly for the other three sides in the mix – it could go down to the wire…

Spurs more likely to go down than not – Opta

Big celebrations after a 97th-minute equaliser are usually to be expected but, for the Leeds players at the Vitality Stadium, it was about more than just the point.

That draw takes them nine points clear of Tottenham in 18th and, with so few games remaining, that gap will almost certainly be enough to keep them in the top flight.

According the Opta Supercomputer, the chances of Farke’s side being relegated from this position are a mere 0.21%.

Advertisement

Still mathematically possible, as the Leeds manager said, but barring the most remarkable turn of events the Whites have done enough.

It is good news, too, for Forest. Following their win over Burnley at the weekend, Opta gives them just a 4.27% chance of being relegated.

As far as the supercomputer is concerned then, it is between West Ham and Tottenham for that unwanted 18th place.

The Hammers are given a 38.58% of ending the season in the bottom three, while it is seen as more likely than not that Spurs will go down for the first time since 1977.

Roberto de Zerbi’s side are the 56.93% favourites to be relegated from here.

Advertisement

What does the form suggest?

Tottenham boss De Zerbi was bullish about his side’s chances of staying up after Saturday’s draw with Brighton, claiming they are “able to win five games in a row” to end the season.

But for all De Zerbi’s faith in his players’ capabilities, the evidence of this season does not suggest a team capable of such a feat.

Spurs have not won any of their past 15 league games, meaning they are without a top-flight victory in 2026 and have managed only two since 26 October.

They must beat bottom side Wolves on Saturday to avoid equalling the club’s worst winless league run – set some 91 years ago, between 1934 and 1935.

Advertisement

By contrast, the form of Spurs’ relegation rivals has been picking up.

Nottingham Forest have two wins in their past three games and are unbeaten in five, and West Ham have won two of their past five.

Zoom out a little further and the Hammers have taken 19 points from their past 12 games, Forest have 18 from their past 13 and for Leeds it is 19 from 15.

Since beating Crystal Palace on 28 December, Spurs have taken six points from 15 matches.

The run-in

Every year when the fixtures are announced you hear the familiar refrain that “it doesn’t matter, you play everyone twice”.

But there is no doubt that when you face a certain team can make a big difference across a 10-month campaign.

Advertisement

With five games remaining Spurs will definitely think their run-in, at least on paper, gives them every chance of staying up.

Next up is a trip to Wolves, whose relegation to the Championship was confirmed on Monday.

A home match against Leeds on 11 May is another Tottenham will view as an opportunity, especially if Farke’s side have ensured their safety by then.

Even a tricky-looking match at Champions League-chasing Aston Villa on 3 May comes at a good time for Spurs, as it falls between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final for Unai Emery’s men.

A visit to rivals Chelsea before hosting Everton on the final day is not a straightforward way to finish, given both teams seem likely to be fighting for European places.

Advertisement

But, given how tight things are, that is something all the relegation candidates will have to deal with.

West Ham host Everton on Saturday before an away game at Brentford – and it only gets tougher with title-chasing Arsenal the visitors to London Stadium on 10 May.

Even with Newcastle enduring a disappointing season, an away game at St James’ Park on the penultimate weekend is far from simple and there could be plenty riding on the home match against Leeds on the last day.

Forest arguably face the toughest last five with away games at Chelsea and Manchester United in May – the former coming just three days before the second leg of the Reds’ Europa League semi-final against Villa.

Advertisement

Home games against Newcastle and Bournemouth, on the last day, could be crucial but getting a result at Sunderland on Friday would help alleviate a lot of stress for Vitor Pereira’s side before the remainder of the run-in.

What do the stats say?

It is 49 years since Spurs found themselves in the relegation zone after 33 league games and, in that 1976-77 season, they were unable to save themselves.

Given only Sheffield Wednesday, already relegated from the Championship, have a worse home record than Spurs’ two wins in England’s top four tiers this term, significant improvements will be required.

Advertisement

The numbers don’t get any more encouraging for De Zerbi’s side with only Derby (18) in 2007-08 and Sunderland (17) in 2002-03 having longer winless runs to start a calendar year than Spurs’ current streak of 15 – and both were relegated in those years.

Forest can take some comfort from the fact 36 points has been enough to survive in every Premier League season since 2015-16.

Even more encouragingly for the Whites, only six teams have been relegated with 39 points or more in a 38-game season and not in the past 14 seasons – since Birmingham and Blackpool both went down on 39 points.

This year might be one in which the traditional claim of 40 points being required for safety proves true, but West Ham know that sometimes even that is not enough.

Advertisement

The Hammers hold the unwanted record of the most points achieved by a relegated side – the 42 they mustered in 2002-03 was not enough to spare them from the drop.

No wonder Farke and Leeds are taken nothing for granted just yet.

Venkatesh Iyer is itching to walk into the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s playing XI regularly, but the all-rounder understands the team dynamics that has left him on the benches, and is delighted with the role clarity the management has given to him. Part of Kolkata Knight Riders’ triumphant IPL 2024 campaign, Venkatesh joined RCB ahead of IPL 2026 but has played only one match so far, struggling to get a look into the packed top and middle-order of the Bengaluru outfit.

“…not used to sitting out, See, this is a team environment and as someone who places the team above everything else, it’s my duty to adhere to the environment,” Venkatesh told a select media gathering.

The all-rounder knows very well that RCB will be reluctant to tinker with a combination that had landed them their maiden IPL title a year ago.

“We’re defending champions. So, to tinker with a combination that has won you a championship is not always the smartest move. So as someone who’s walked into a team, it’s my duty to know what role I can play. The credit for that has to go to Mo (Bobat), Andy (Flower) and DK (Dinesh Karthik).

“They’ve been amazing when it comes to conversations about what my role in the team is. They’ve given me absolute clarity. Yes, It is hard, to be honest (to sit out). It’s something that you can’t prepare for. But that does not mean I’m not a part of their plans. It’s definitely a matter of when rather than if,” he added.

RCB bought the 31-year-old for Rs 7 crore during the auction ahead of IPL 2025, a far cry from his magical Rs 23.75 crore that he commanded from KKR earlier.

Similar to that dip in his monetary value, his chances to feature in matches too has shrunk in RCB, but Venkatesh does not see his motivation taking a dip.

“It’s not easy. But it’s extremely important to stay motivated because you can easily get desperate. You can easily lose out on your work ethic. So, I train my mind in such a way that I’m going to play every game. With the impact player (rule), anything can happen.

“But at the same time, I’ve always lived my life in a way that I compare myself with where I was yesterday. To look back at where I am in life, not just a game, is something that keeps me going. I had a great time for the past few years. I’m married now. I have a family. So, all these things kind of add to it that I’m doing well in life. So, these things keep me motivated,” he explained.

But is there regret lingering in him about KKR off-loading to free-up a purse close to Rs 24 crore? “I spent quite a lot of time at KKR, learnt a lot of things. I’d be lying if I said that I don’t have any emotional connection to them.

“There was amazing communication between me and Abhishek Nair (KKR coach) who wanted to release me at that point in time. So, he told me what the team requires. And you can get anything done out of me if it’s good for the team,” he said.

Praise for DK, Patidar

Venkatesh said he has been learning the finer points of modern T20 batting from Karthik.

“One thing I’ve understood is how to be flexible when it comes to batting. Obviously, he’s working with me only on my batting. How I can assess situations. How can I be smart in terms of staying ahead of others and combine that with total hard work.” RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, an accomplice of Venkatesh from age-group cricket in MP, has blown away the all-rounder with his simple methods.

“I see the biggest strength of Rajat Patidar is how simple he is in terms of his thinking, in terms of how he carries himself, also in terms of his batting. People are in awe of how he clears the boundary with ease. But at the end of the day, when you jot it down to how he does it, it’s actually simplicity. But he is tough also.

“So I think that fellow, I’ve not seen him change over the years. He’s still the same old Rajat that I used to admire back in under-19 days,” he said.

Upgrading red-ball skills

The IPL net sessions are not the place a player would want to improve his red-ball game skill-sets. But Venkatesh is exactly doing that.

“One aspect is that I get bored in the room. So I don’t want to spend a lot of time there. But one thing that I really feel that I haven’t tapped into is my red ball bowling. So, I make it a point to identify someone who has played a lot of red ball cricket.

“Last year (at KKR), I had Mitchell Starc. This year, I have Josh Hazlewood. So, obviously my conversations with them are about how I can improve my red ball bowling,” he added.

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

Featured Video Of The Day

IPL 2026 News | RCB Outplay CSK For 2nd Win On Trot, Ruturaj Gaikwad & Co Suffer 3rd Loss

Should City and Arsenal win all their remaining five games they will both end on 85 points, meaning goal difference or goals scored could be the determining factor come May.

This is how tight it is – both teams have played the same number of games (33), have the same number of points (70) and their results are identical too – having won 21, drawn seven and lost five of their matches.

The only factor separating the two sides is the number of goals scored, with City netting 66 to Arsenal‘s 63.

Such is the topsy-turvy nature of this season’s race, City could find themselves trailing by six points by the time they next play in the league at Everton on Monday, 4 May – if Arsenal beat Newcastle and Fulham during that period.

City have previously scored five or more goals against Burnley in five different Premier League games – the most one side has done against another in the competition – and would have been eyeing up similar before this match.

Although City had 65% possession, a total of 28 shots with an expected goals (xG) of 3.54, they could only muster one goal through Haaland’s winner in the opening five minutes.

“Not many Arsenal players would have expected Burnley to get a result today, but if you are an Arsenal player or fan, you would take a 1-0 loss for Burnley,” former City defender Nedum Onuoha told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Arsenal play Burnley in a few weeks and they will probably not be as wasteful with their chances as City, with so much on the line. Before you know it City are chasing Arsenal. I don’t think psychologically it matters that much.

“Now they have played each other, there is no longer this talk about the title decider in April. You have your five games, they have their five games. If you do well enough and win your games, the league title could very much be Arsenal‘s.

“They have to back themselves. The fact this only finished 1-0 to City when they had 28 shots, maybe this is the boost they need to turn their form around.”

Former Premier League goalkeeper Tim Krul added: “Arsenal have been so close the last few years, I think we all half want them to get it. But you can’t rule out Manchester City.

“My money would be on City, just with the experience. They are serial winners with the best manager in the world looking after them. You can’t not back them.”

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2021 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Eddie Hearn has named one fight that he feels is “inevitable” for Naoya Inoue, who must first defend his undisputed super-bantamweight crown against Junto Nakatani.

Their all-Japanese dustup will take place at the Tokyo Dome on May 2, with a full-capacity crowd of 55,000 expected to be in attendance.

Such is the level of intrigue attached to their encounter, which many believe represents the toughest test of Inoue’s career thus far.

Up to this point, ‘The Monster’ has won the majority of his fights in one-sided fashion, while nonetheless becoming a two-division undisputed champion.

He did, of course, suffer knockdowns against Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas, but ultimately climbed off the canvas to win both fights by stoppage.

Even in his first encounter with Nonito Donaire, in 2019, Inoue showed tremendous guts and guile to eventually grind out a unanimous decision victory.

Against Nakatani, the 33-year-old may be compelled to overcome similar spells of adversity, but is heavily favoured to retain his four major titles at 122lbs.

Hoping to eventually face the Japanese star, meanwhile, is Jesse Rodriguez, who bids to become a three-division world champion against WBA bantamweight titlist Antonio Vargas on June 13.

Should ‘Bam’ emerge triumphant, then Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn will likely extend his talks with Turki Alalshikh for a potential Inoue fight.

“There [have] been some early preliminary conversations with [Alalshikh] about Inoue against ‘Bam’, and I do think that fight is inevitable.

“I don’t think it’s going to be necessarily straight after the Vargas fight, but it could be in the next two or three fights.

“It’s probably one of the biggest fights in boxing. It’s one that ‘Bam’ likes the idea of.”

Advertisement

While moving up to 118lbs for his next outing, Rodruguez remains the unified world super-flyweight champion and could therefore chase an undisputed clash with the winner of Willibaldo Garcia vs Andrew Moloney, which takes place on June 6.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about his team’s performance at Turf Moor as they beat Burnley 1-0

Pep Guardiola insisted that winning was the priority for Manchester City after they missed a host of chances to add to their goals tally against Burnley. A 1-0 victory was enough for the Blues to go top of the table for the first time since August, yet they missed the chance to better Arsenal’s goal difference playing against a side who have now been relegated and still have to play at the Emirates.

Guardiola had cut a frustrated figure on the touchline over the course of the 90 minutes at Turf Moor, but painted a positive picture of the performance when he discussed it with reporters afterwards. Given the effort that had gone into beating Arsenal on Sunday, the City boss was delighted to pick up another victory.

“We had chances. We have to win the games, but it was clear, clear, clear. We were not ‘umph’ in the last part of the shots. Sometimes it’s the fatigue. I had the feeling if we score at 2-0 it will be more relaxed and we could be more composed in the final third,” he said.

Click here to find out the latest Manchester City news in our daily newsletter

“Winning is the main target. Considering the last three days and the emotion and physicality in the game we played, we make an extraordinary game. The chances we created we could score more goals but the important thing is every game winning. Five games in the Premier League for both games and we see what happens.

“I think we played really, really good. I’m pretty sure. I didn’t see all the images and the chances that we had, but I had a feeling that we had a lot. And just for many of these types of games, we score the second or the third, for the chances that we create, we deserve it, everything is more fluid, more natural.

“And at the end, the last minute, the corner, I said, Oh, God! But the way we play, we can draw, right? The corner is good. We cleared it, but they are good with that.

“And in terms of free-kicks, corners they are extraordinary. You never know, but the game was very well played. Well, we played, of course, they said, Ah, but the chances we create, you can have scored more. But the main target is win game, and against Everton, win the game, and all the games that we have to play.”