When Caroline Dubois defends her world title on Sunday at Olympia, she will be edging closer to the finish line in a packed race to become the No 1 female boxer in the world.

Dubois meets her domestic rival, Terri Harper, in defence of the WBC’s lightweight belt; it is a rare fight in the women’s boxing business, a clash with genuine rivalry between two boxers with proper experience and both holding world titles.

Harper has been in 10 world title fights at four weights in the last six years, and she enters Sunday’s fight as the WBO lightweight champion. She has held world titles at super-featherweight and super-welterweight – two weights separated by 24lb – since giving up her job as a potato peeler in a local chippie.

Dubois is unbeaten in 13 fights, and she has set her sights on becoming undisputed at lightweight and then moving up through the weights – or waiting for a fight with the leading American, Alycia Baumgardner. Dubois is in an elite group chasing the elusive title of women’s No 1, which is currently held by Katie Taylor, who is planning a farewell fight later this year in Dublin.

“She is certainly a good talker,” said Harper when the pair came face to face recently.

Last December, Dubois switched promoters and signed a deal with Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the American company run by Jake Paul and his business partner, Nakisa Bidarian. The Sunday show at Olympia is MVP’s first in Britain and marks Sky Sports’s return to boxing in a valuable and necessary partnership. The Olympia card features eight female fights, four for world titles.

Harper and Dubois could be the start of a series of all-British fights, the type that the women’s sport needs; genuine rivalries are essential. It should, in theory, be easier in women’s boxing to make big fights happen, because so many of the boxers have been prepared to move across the weights with an ease that is lacking in the men’s business.

Also on Sunday at Olympia, Chantelle Cameron, who beat Taylor in 2023, moves up two weights to fight for the vacant WBO super-welterweight title.

She would, if the fight was available, move down for a sensible and lucrative domestic fight at a lower weight. Bidarian has made it clear in the past that being part of MVP doesn’t exclude or protect a fighter from meeting other MVP boxers in risky fights.

Harper and Dubois are both part of the MVP business, and that has helped make the fight happen. It had been talked about for a couple of years, and too often in the modern boxing business there have been rivalries that never led to fights, due to separate rivalries between promoters and broadcasters. This has shifted slightly during the last two years with the increased involvement and influence of the Saudi Arabian boxing enterprise and their cash.

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It is an extraordinary weekend for women’s boxing, on which Dubois will be one of six British women in five world-title fights; the five bouts will involve a total of 11 world championship belts.

On Saturday night in Cardiff, Lauren Price defends her three welterweight belts live on the BBC. On the same Olympia bill as Dubois, and from the same gym in east London, Ellie Scotney will try and add the WBA belt to the three she owns and become the undisputed champion at super-bantamweight. It is the comeback women’s boxing needed.

French heptathlete Auriana Lazraq-Khlass has been provisionally suspended for anti-doping whereabouts failures, says the Athletics Integrity Unit.

The World Anti-Doping Code states an athlete cannot miss three anti-doping tests and/or filing failures within a 12-month period.

Lazraq-Khlass, who won silver at the European Championships in Rome in 2024, faces a two-year ban if the charge is upheld.

“The AIU has provisionally suspended Auriana Lazraq Khlass (France) for Whereabouts Failures,” the AIU said in a social media post., external

Lazraq-Khlass, 26, competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and finished 16th in the heptathlon.

The AIU website states that a provisional suspension means that an athlete cannot take part “in any competition or activity in athletics prior to a final decision at a hearing conducted under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct”.

In a recent case, former world 100m champion Fred Kerley, of America, was banned for two years for anti-doping whereabouts failures.

Europe’s youngest nation, Kosovo, stands on the brink of an historic achievement: a potential spot in the World Cup finals for the first time.

This marks a stark contrast to the 1990s, when football was banned under Serbian rule, forcing private games and players to wash in rivers or melted snow after matches.

Independent from Serbia since 2008 and only sanctioned to join world football in 2016, Kosovo will host Turkey in a decisive play-off on Tuesday.

Following a thrilling 4-3 victory over Slovakia last week, the winner will secure a place in the North American tournament this June.

Eroll Salihu, former secretary general of Kosovo’s federation, described the potential qualification as “historic, truly epochal.”

He added: “This would be the realisation of a dream, for the generations who played in muddy fields and meadows to defend the honour and spirit of the sport.”

For a nation of 1.6 million, Kosovo’s football journey has been one of resilience. They lost nine of 10 games in their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Fortunes shifted when the federation began recruiting from its diaspora. This campaign has seen positive results, including victories over Sweden and Slovenia, securing their play-off spot.

Every match holds profound significance for a conflict-scarred country. Kosovo’s fight for independence, secured by a NATO air campaign in 1999, claimed over 13,000 lives.

Samir Ujkani, Kosovo’s first captain and goalkeeper, who moved to Belgium as a child, emphasised this duty: “People have suffered here, each of us has lost many family members. It is our duty to come back here and represent our country.”

Excitement is reaching fever pitch across Kosovo. The national stadium, holding just 12,500 people – a fifth of many World Cup venues – saw tickets for Tuesday’s game sell out within minutes.

Now resold on the black market for up to 20 times their price, towns plan big screens in main squares for those unable to attend.

Adding to the high stakes, Kosovo’s government has pledged a bonus of one million euros (£850,000) should the team emerge victorious.

Fabio Wardley and Moses Itauma have faced repeated questions about a potential fight despite being stablemates at the Ben Davison Performance Centre.

Itauma is fresh off another knockout win, stopping Jermaine Franklin this past weekend in Manchester in highlight-reel fashion.

Wardley currently holds the WBO belt and has shown he is willing to take on anyone by accepting the hard-hitting Daniel Dubois as his first challenger.

Speaking on the DAZN broadcast post-fight, Wardley was again asked about a potential clash with Itauma.

“Right now, we’re in different places. That is an emphatic victory, he deserves all the credit in the world because Franklin is a tough opponent and no one’s done that to him. I know first hand Moses has all the talent in the world.

“But we are in different places. He’s looking towards where I am currently as world champion. I’m looking at Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua. I’m looking higher than that still. There is a gap of separation where we’re at, and that’s only due to time and experience.”

The Ipswich man then outlined the only scenario in which the fight would become a ‘serious conversation.’

“Look, there’s four belts, there’s two of us. The only time this ever becomes a serious conversation is if I have two and he has two, and we have to look around and go, ‘what are we gonna do here?’ Are we gonna do a Klitschko where we just hold on to them, do our defences and hold down the gym with all four belts in there?”

Pushed on what his thinking would be should things play out that way, Wardley admitted that the carrot of undisputed dangling would be hard to turn down.

“I would always want to be undisputed … The title of undisputed is something that I’m sure Moses himself will want to claim at some point and something I want to claim. Like I said, that’s the only time there would be a serious question, but it’s in the distant, distant future right now.”

As it stands, the division offers plenty of match-ups without splitting Ben Davison’s gym and forcing either Wardley or Itauma to seek another trainer. The intrigue from fans, however, only seems to be intensifying, and an expected order from the WBO to install Itauma as mandatory challenger – should Wardley keep his belt against Dubois in May – makes the situation a little more complicated.

France’s football team comes back from the US with two victories under its belt. Warm-up matches against Brazil and Colombia allowed the players to get used to the terrain ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Trainer Didier Deschamps was able to see his team in action, and work out any adjustments needed, before they compete. The final line-up is set to be revealed by Deschamps on May 14th.

Devin Haney is back in the market for his next opponent.

The three-division world champion moved up to the welterweight ranks in November of last year, dropping and outpointing Brian Norman Jr to win the WBO belt.

There are several options for ‘The Dream’ at 147lbs, including three potential unification fights. Lewis Crocker holds the IBF belt, Rolando Romero the WBA and Ryan Garcia the WBC.

A rematch between Haney and Garcia following their controversial 2023 fight – overturned from a Garcia win to a no contest after a failed doping test – would be the preferred option for fans, but Haney had instead been in talks to face ‘Rolly’ Romero.

Romero beat Garcia last year to win the WBA Regular strap and was subsequently elevated to full champion when Jaron Ennis vacated to move up in weight. He has a mandatory challenger in Shakhram Giyasov, though appeared close to securing a two-belt bout with Haney for May in Las Vegas.

However, talks now seem to have fallen apart, with Haney taking to social media to express his frustration.

“Rolly [is] delusional acting like he some kind of draw but can’t sell out a ballroom. Thats why the fight hasn’t been made yet. The money isn’t right. I’m looking at other options he can go fight his mandatory since he’s such a draw.”

Whether or not negotiations with Romero can be salvaged remains to be seen, but this development opens the door to the Garcia rematch, and the latter’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, has said he is very keen to make that happen next.

After another dominant display, Moses Itauma is once again being linked to a shot at unified heavyweight ruler, Oleksandr Usyk. In response, Carl Froch has offered his thoughts on that proposed contest, admitting that he ‘does not like the fight’ for one man.

On Saturday night, atop a British bill for the first time in his career, Itauma dispatched of Jermaine Franklin with a special knockout, taking the American out with a crisp and clean left uppercut followed by a devastating right hand that will no doubt appear in his future highlight reels.

With Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua unable to halt Franklin in their fights with the game Michigan operator, Itauma’s fifth-round stoppage has sent a major statement to the rest of his division – his power now proven to be real.

As a result, talk of a clash between him and 39-year-old WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion, Usyk, is rife yet again, with hopes that young Itauma, now 14-0 (12 KOs), can intervene on the Ukrainian’s three-fight plan before retirement.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, super-middleweight legend Froch, declared that he ‘does not like that fight for Usyk’.

“I just think that a peak Usyk against a peak Itauma, you would have to say Usyk, but Usyk is a natural cruiserweight and Itauma is a big lump. Have you seen the size of him? Tall, big, strong, heavy, and lightening-fast hands like a middleweight.

“I don’t like the Usyk-Itauma fight. I don’t like it for Usyk. I think that Usyk has done what he needs to do and I’d like to see him hang his gloves up and retire as the number one king. He is the kingpin of the division, of cruiserweight and heavyweight, but he loves fighting and he wants to fight again.

“Would Moses Itauma fancy the fight with Usyk? I am not even sure if his team would fancy it. You wouldn’t usually put someone like him in, at his level, with somebody like Usyk. But, he might have no option and no choice because if he keeps his obliterating opponents the way he has been doing it then that might be a fight that happens.”

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However, when predicting how the bout would play out if it were to happen, ‘The Cobra’ found himself unable to go against the dominant world champion, ultimately siding with Usyk due to his superior experience.

“I think that Usyk has got too much experience and that he would be too good for him but you just never know because Moses Itauma looks that good.”

Moses Itauma is set to return to the ring in July, ahead of a planned world title shot before the end of the year.

Oleksandr Usyk’s three-fight plan has got the heavyweight contenders riled up, and one of the names that is on that hit list has admitted that he will be ‘fuming’ if the Ukrainian pursues other options.

Earlier this month, Usyk revealed plans to take on the victor of Fabio Wardley’s upcoming WBO world title defence against Daniel Dubois, after his fight with Rico Verhoeven in May, before finishing his career with a Tyson Fury trilogy clash.

However, fans have demanded that the Ukrainian fights WBC mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel, due to the German’s triumphs over Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang, which are adjudged to merit a title challenge.

Usyk has since admitted that a showdown with Kabayel could take place and potentially replace one of the three fights that he announced, but Fabio Wardley has told iFL TV that he does not believe the 39-year-old truly knows who he wants to face before hanging up the gloves.

“No one knows [who he is going to fight]. One minute he is over in Egypt fighting a pharaoh or something, the next he wants to fight me, then he wants to fight Kabayel. He doesn’t know what he wants to do.

“I will just crack on, I will keep winning and knocking people out and if he wants to have a go, he can have a go.”

Then, when quizzed whether it would be a relief to avoid Usyk, Wardley declared that he would be ‘fuming’ if he and his fellow undefeated heavyweight did not go toe-to-toe before he retires from the sport.

“Absolutely not, I would be fuming. I got through the Joseph Parker fight and I wanted Usyk. I’m going to get through the Daniel fight and I want Usyk. How many tests does he want [me to have]?

“I feel like I am going through Usyk tests. He is setting me things to do before I am allowed to fight him. So, if I do them, and then he just f**ks off, I will be fuming. I’ll be having words.”

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Wardley-Dubois takes place on Saturday, May 9, at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, as the Ipswich fan-favourite makes his first defence of the WBO crown since being elevated to world champion.