London brawling: Why the city has become a combat sports capital again May 15, 2023 Wrestling and MMA have followed boxing in staging huge shows in London this summer, cementing the city’s reputation as a leading destination for combat sports’ biggest events. An earthquake hit the world of professional wrestling earlier this month and its epicentre was London. All Elite Wrestling, formed to compete with the all-conquering World Wrestling Entertainment, [...]
Boxer Amir Khan banned from ALL SPORT for two years after accepting doping charge April 4, 2023 British boxer Amir Khan has received a two-year ban for doping around the time of his farewell fight against Kell Brook last year. Khan, 36, tested positive for the banned steroid ostarine following his defeat against domestic rival Brook in Manchester 14 months ago. The former light-welterweight world champion accepted that he had committed a [...]
Dan Azeez interview: Britain’s next boxing superstar on swapping financial services for the fight game March 7, 2023 Dan Azeez was planning for a career in the City when an encounter with Anthony Joshua in 2011 changed his life. The south Londoner’s parents, first generation Nigerian immigrants, impressed upon him the importance of education and a profession, so Azeez took a degree in accounting and finance at Essex University and set his sights [...]
Why Michael B Jordan’s Creed is the coolest franchise in Hollywood March 2, 2023 The Creed movies are an outlier in modern Hollywood. Their modest success at the box office might undersell the fact that they’ve done what few franchises have achieved convincingly: passed the torch. Yes, they aren’t the cultural landmarks that the Rocky films were, but the character has established himself enough to make this third chapter [...]
Britain to boycott boxing championships over decision to allow Russia athletes to compete under flag February 14, 2023 Great Britain will snub the women’s boxing world championships in India over the decision to allow Russian athletes to compete under their flag. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had advised all governing bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their own flags but the International Boxing Association (IBA) has gone against such [...]
Best of 2022: Claressa Shields v Savannah Marshall and the rise of women’s boxing December 30, 2022 Women’s boxing enjoyed unprecedented prominence in 2022, not least when Britain’s Savannah Marshall and American Claressa Shields met in a blockbuster fight at the O2. This preview, originally published in October, set the scene for the biggest night of women’s boxing ever seen in the UK. The last time Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields met [...]
Middle East investment in Manchester United or Liverpool: Sports law predictions for 2023 December 29, 2022 As has become traditional at this time of year, City A.M. has called on the wisdom of Mishcon de Reya’s Simon Leaf and Tom Murray to dust off the crystal ball, don their best Mystic Meg outfits and offer their sports law predictions for next year. So here is our take on 2023 – and [...]
A year in sport: The big moments from 2022’s sporting calendar December 25, 2022 It’s been a monumental year for sport both on British shores and further afield. Take a look at some of the year’s biggest moments ahead of another year of exhilarating action. January Cricket: Ashes series concludes with 4-0 defeat for England. The result would extend England’s winless run in Australia to 15 matches and mark [...]
Claressa Shields v Savannah Marshall and the rise and rise of women’s boxing October 13, 2022 The last time Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields met in a boxing ring, they were both amateurs with no realistic prospect of making a good living from the sport. A decade on, the bitter rivals are due to renew hostilities at the top of the professional ranks on a historic occasion that promises to earn [...]
Ed Warner: Boxing’s parallel existence, Benn-Eubank, and a Trussian shambles October 13, 2022 The Sweet Science. The Noble Art. Boxing has a lore of its own and is a law unto itself. It occupies a parallel existence in which its rules, first published under the sponsorship of the ninth Marquess of Queensbury in 1867, and a love of litigation – real and threatened – are deemed sufficient to [...]