Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese’s Rookie of the Year campaign got a boost at this past Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game as she set a rookie record in her team’s 117-109 win over Team USA.
Reese, known for putting up big numbers in the rebounds category along with her consistent scoring, set a record that may not be all that surprising to anyone who has followed her closely this season.
Stars: they’re just like us!
Angel Reese wrote a curiously timed post on X, in which she noted that her luggage got lost by an unnamed airline en route to Paris.
“They lost our bags & said we only get ‘$100 in euros’ to shop until they find them but we made it to Paris,” Reese tweeted, adding two tears emojis.
Aside from 100 euros not being nearly sufficient relative to cover Reese’s typical attire, it was interesting timing because the Olympics kick off in Paris this weekend.
If Reese were getting stealthily added to the Team USA women’s basketball roster, when there has been much controversy that longtime rival Caitlin Clark got left off, it would be a bombshell story.
Nevertheless, Team USA plays Germany in a tune-up game in London on Tuesday, so one would reckon that’s where Reese would’ve headed if she were joining the team.
It’s also likely that Team USA would’ve sought to quiet Reese about being in Paris before they could make an announcement.
Therefore, at this juncture it seems more likely that Reese is just enjoying a jaunt to Paris, perhaps coupled with some international marketing opportunities.
The WNBA season is on pause for the Olympics until mid-August.
Reese has impressed as a rookie on the Chicago Sky this season, having had a WNBA-record 15-game streak in which she compiled a double-double.
In the All-Star Game this past weekend, Reese had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench as the WNBA All-Stars defeated Team USA, 117-109.
Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale stole the show in the game, scoring 34 points, all in the second half, and winning the All-Star Game MVP.
This was a case of history repeating itself, as Ogunbowale also won the All-Star MVP when she was snubbed from Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Eleven fights into his professional boxing career, a reasonable consensus seems to have formed around what Jake Paul is.
He is a dedicated, serious athlete who has come impressively far in less than five years. He has real punching power — he isn’t Earnie Shavers, but he tends to hurt guys when he lands cleanly. He is not a serious contender, and should not be given a realistic chance of winning if he were to share the ring with one of the cruiserweight beltholders. But he is a decidedly competent professional boxer now, one who can hold his own a notch or two below the serious contender level.
On Saturday night against Mike Perry — importantly, not a professional boxer, like all but three of Paul’s 10 sanctioned opponents — “The Problem Child” looked as competent and heavy-handed as ever. He has bulked up, gained strength, and continued to grow confident and comfortable in the ring. The opposition level was what it was, but it would still be fair to say Paul looked like a dangerous fighter in Tampa.
When it was first announced, I was curious and intrigued by the idea of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson. As I thought about it more, I remained intrigued but found myself increasingly feeling that Paul should be a clear favorite. When Tyson pushed the date back from July 20 to November 15 to recover from an ulcer, I began wondering if this fight was really worth proceeding with — even as it continues to make all sorts of financial sense.
And now, with Paul stopping Perry in six rounds in probably the most complete performance of his pugilistic career so far, I find myself worrying for Tyson.
I’m worried for his health. I’m worried that he may suffer embarrassment. And I’m worried that the old guy can’t win in November.
As a supporter of the Democratic party, this is not the first time this summer I’d had that feeling.
In fairness, it’s not that the old guy can’t or couldn’t win, in either instance. More accurately, it’s that both old guys only have/had a puncher’s chance.
And that’s not a place you’d want to be in if you’re either a fan of Mike Tyson or a supporter of American democracy.
This column will not decline into a partisan political op-ed. I’ve made my party preference known, and I’m not about to change the minds of any readers who support the opposite side or believe what their news sources of choice tell them. I can leave it at that.
But I may anger some who reside on the same side of the aisle as I do when I say that the current president, Joe Biden, did not appear to present the Democrats’ best chance of prevailing in November, and may in fact have presented its worst chance prior to withdrawing from the race on Sunday.
Age matters, whether you’re a 58-year-old trying to win an athletic contest or an 81-year-old trying to win what is effectively a popularity contest.
For Tyson, there’s nothing that’s going to change appreciably in the next three-plus months in his favor. He will be 58 years, four months, and 15 days old on the scheduled fight night, whereas Paul will be 27 years, 9 months, and 29 days old.
“Iron Mike,” one of the greatest pure punchers in boxing history, has the very literal puncher’s chance.
The Texas Commission has approved the fight with two-minute rounds, and the question is how many good minutes does a 58-year-old formerly elite athlete have in him?
Twenty-two years ago, he had about three good minutes in him against Lennox Lewis, and when he failed to land a damaging punch in the opening round, it became just a matter of time until Lewis knocked him out.
Tyson has never fought an opponent 31 years his junior before. The youngest foe he’s fought, relative to him, was Danny Williams, who was born seven years after Tyson — and who, ohbytheway, knocked Tyson out when they fought in 2004.
None of us know how many good minutes Tyson will have him in on November 15, but logic dictates his best chance of beating Paul will come early in the fight. Maybe for an abbreviated round or two, Tyson will be dangerous. Once he starts to gas, once the iron starts to visibly oxidize, Paul figures to play the role Lennox played from the second round on in 2002.
The sad truth is that when you’re 58 and exchanging punches for pay, Jake Paul can become an approximation of Lennox Lewis.
There is a huge X-factor in this bizarre matchup, however. Yes, it’s officially sanctioned as a fight, but that doesn’t mean that the boxers can’t possibly have a gentlemen’s agreement of some sort or that Paul won’t decide at some point to carry the living legend rather than load up with knockout punches.
Against Perry, Paul — despite claiming he was hampered by a badly injured knuckle and an illness leading up to the fight — was utterly dominant. He did damage with a variety of punches: the cuffing right hand that produced the first knockdown, the textbook 1-2 that delivered the second, the left hook that set up the third. His jab landed throughout with accuracy and authority.
Some of his punches came in wide and served as a reminder that he began boxing at the relatively advanced age of 22 (an age by which Tyson had, incredibly, already peaked). But all of those reminders were drowned out by the sight of Paul, bulked up and just barely able to make the cruiserweight limit on the scales Friday, aggressively sitting down on his punches.
The 2024 version of Jake Paul wouldn’t last 30 seconds with the 1987 version of Mike Tyson. But he doesn’t have to worry about what that version of Tyson would do to him. He’ll be facing the 2024 Tyson. And if he’s able to land with the same authority as he did against Perry, there isn’t a 58-year-old on the planet who could take that for long.
Again, Perry is not a real boxer, and would have been hard-pressed to last 15 seconds with the Mike Tyson of 1987. One hesitates to overreact to the way Paul has looked against Perry, or Ryan Bourland, or Andre August, etc.
For whatever parallels there are between the situation Tyson faces and the one Biden was facing, the real-life connection that exists among these four names is between Tyson and Trump. They have a shared history — Trump brought several Tyson fights to Atlantic City, and though the then-businessman claimed not to have a direct financial interest in Tyson, he was ringside in Tokyo for Tyson’s historic loss to Buster Douglas, hoping to play host to a Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight soon after.
Holyfield lost the opponent he wanted that night at the Tokyo Dome. And conventional wisdom says Trump lost the opponent he wanted this past weekend.
(And if you’re looking for one more connection tying these various boxers and politicians together, Holyfield and Trump were on the receiving end of the two most famous ear injuries in history — or at least since Vincent Van Gogh.)
Here’s the main lesson I take from what’s happened in recent weeks in politics that may apply to what awaits the boxing world:
It’s widely believed the Biden camp pushed for such an early debate specifically to allow time for something like this if the debate proved disastrous.
Tyson will have a training camp coming up. Maybe it will go smoothly. Maybe he’ll feel as good as he did four years ago when he was preparing to box Jones and there will be no reason to view the idea of fighting against Paul any differently than he did when he first signed for the fight.
But the training camp also allows everyone around Iron Mike a chance to assess and reassess. If his body is betraying him, if he can’t see the punches coming as well as he thought he could, if he isn’t responding to getting hit the way he hoped to, well, there’s still time to change course.
If Tyson gets through camp in fine shape and the fight comes off in November, it will be a massive spectacle and I have no doubt that I will be watching. Maybe through the spaces between my fingers, but still, I will be watching.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory and currently co-hosts The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
Few boxers manage to walk away from the sport without being lured back at least once on the promise of big money.
No matter how successful a boxer’s career has been, calling it a day can be the hardest decision of all. Many boxers believe they still have what it takes to win or forget the losses which led them to hang up their gloves in the first place.
Only a select few men from the modern era have ever gone unbeaten in their whole careers, and they include Floyd Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe. Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis only suffered two defeats as a professional – against Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, but avenged both of those losses in rematches, making him one of the few boxers to retire having beat every man he ever faced.
Until Oleksandr Usyk repeated the feat in May, Lewis was the last undisputed heavyweight champion some 25 years ago.
He retired after a stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko in 2003 and has never before been tempted back.
However, in light of his former victim Mike Tyson taking on YouTuber turned professional boxer Jake Paul in November in a fully sanctioned fight that will appear on both men’s records, Lewis has hinted that could change despite him being 58 years old.
Speaking to FOX 29 Philadelphia, he was confident his former foe would take the victory and was then asked if he would like to take on the winner.
“That’s a good question. I hope that Tyson saves a little bit of Jake Paul for me.”
This fight was first scheduled for July but an ulcer flare-up for Tyson delayed things. Since then, Paul has got back in the ring and secured another knockout win, this time over former bare-knuckle boxer and former UFC fighter Mike Perry.
Amir Tyson, the eldest son of legendary boxer Mike Tyson and Monica Turner, recently shared an emotional confession on Instagram that has struck a chord with many of his followers. Amir revealed that he recently lost his aunt Shawnda Wilkinson to cancer. A disease that causes millions of deaths worldwide annually, cancer is a terrifying disease that despite treatment, in many cases, consumes the patient.
Even Mike Tyson’s mother, Lorna Smith, passed away from cancer when the former boxer was only sixteen years old. This was also touched upon by Amir Tyson in his message.
Born on August 5, 1997, the 26-year-old shared a story on Instagram to express his feelings during his period of grievance. Not only did he pour his heart out, but he also voiced his frustration about the helplessness in situations like this. Amir wrote, “I’m crushed right now. My auntie died of cancer. If I ever find out there’s a cure for cancer that they don’t release I’m seeing red and losing my mind. I love you so much auntie @shawndawilkinson.”
He further mentioned how he never got to meet his paternal grandmother, Lorna Smith, either because the disease took her at an early age. He added, “Cancer is so fu**ing evil man. Love everyone I lost to cancer in my life. I never got to meet my paternal grandma because of lung cancer. Very upset right now.”
Although Amir Tyson lamented about not getting to meet his grandmother, Mike Tyson has a different take on this. He believes that his mother’s absence was “one of the best things” that ever happened to him.
Iron Mike was one of Lorna Smith’s four children. After their father abandoned them, Lorna was left to look after the kids. The family didn’t reside in the best neighborhood for raising children – Brownsville, Brooklyn. Therefore, Tyson was involved in robberies and other crimes from a very young age. That is until Cus D’Amato, his first coach, took him under his care.
In 1982, when Tyson was with D’Amato, Lorna passed away from cancer. While talking to ClubShayShay in an interview, Tyson revealed, “You know, one of the best things that ever happened to me is that my mother died. Because my mother would have babied me. There’s no way I would ever got into a street fight. No way I would ever learn to stand up for myself.”
Despite the fact that growing up without his mother shaped who he is now, he still has resentments. The former heavyweight champion went on to say that he had never seen his mother being pleased or proud of him. Never did he get a chance to speak with her fully. Tyson concluded by saying, “Professionally, it has no effect, but it’s crushing emotionally and personally.”
Meanwhile, what do you think about Amir Tyson’s Instagram story about cancer and how it takes a toll on people? Write down your thoughts in the comments section below.
Mike Tyson was shot as a boxer 20 years ago and shouldn’t fight Jake Paul later this year.
That’s according to heavyweight Joey Dawejko, who has become the latest man to condemn the upcoming bout between the two men.
Tyson had been due to fight Paul on July 18. However, after suffering an ulcer flare up, the showdown was pushed back to later in the year instead.
The bout was at risk of falling through before the weekend, with Paul needing to beat Mike Perry to ensure the big event in November goes ahead.
But the 27-year-old cruised to victory over his opponent, winning via knockout to boost his standing in the sport.
Many have been critical of the decision to stage a fight between Tyson and Paul. With the boxing icon now 58, there’s a huge 31-year age gap between the two men.
And Dawejko, speaking to World Boxing News, has become the latest man to vent his fury over the clash taking place.
“I think it’s just a money grab for both of them. So I don’t really think too much of it,” he said.
“No, I don’t. Even though it’s a fight at two-minute rounds, Tyson was shot 20 years ago when he fought Kevin McBride.
“There’s no reason for him to be still competing in a ring. The only reason for him to be in a gym these days is to stay healthy.”
Both Paul and Tyson insist the fight will go ahead, despite the backlash.
Paul, speaking after his win over Perry, said his opponent was ‘back’ and already working hard to ensure he’s in the best shape possible.
“Mike Tyson is training, he’s back, looking crazier than ever,” he said.
“I’m going to get another KO and prove everyone wrong once again.
“Everyone said I was an idiot for taking this fight, that I was risking it but this is why I’m here, I take big risks.
“Mike, I love you but this is my sport now.
“You’re a legend, you’re one of the two most famous boxers ever to live, you and Muhammad Ali.
“It’s an honour to get in the ring with you.
“I’m so, so honoured; you’re a legend, but I’m going to take your throne.”
With Paul beating Perry, he has now won 10 of his 11 fights – with a defeat to Tommy Fury last year the only time he’s failed to come out on top.
As for Tyson, the 58-year-old has won 50 of his 58 career bouts.
He last fought back in 2020, with his showdown with Roy Jones Jr ending in a draw.
Rafael Nadal has shown Emma Raducanu exactly how you pull out of a doubles event. The Spaniard was competing alongside Casper Ruud as they reached the semi-finals of the Swedish Open.
But Nadal withdrew from their final four showdown just hours before the match was due to take place.
Earlier in the day, the 38-year-old came from a set down to beat Duje Ajdukovic to reach the singles final in Bastad.
So he openly and honestly admitted that he was withdrawing from the doubles to preserve his fitness after a torrid time with injuries recently.
That’s fair enough, nobody can begrudge Nadal the chance to compete for an ATP singles title in his first tournament back, especially when he was so up front with his excuse.
Raducanu could learn a thing from the legendary 22-time Grand Slam winner.
She also withdrew from the Wimbledon mixed doubles event with Andy Murray just hours before their match.
But Raducanu claimed she woke up with a “stiff wrist” the morning after beating No.9 seed Maria Sakkari in the third round of the singles.
In reality, she probably did not expect to beat the Greek star and progress to the second week.
Her excuse of an ‘injury’ rightly riled Andy Murray’s mum Judy, who wrote on social media that she was “astonished.”
Even more surprisingly, Raducanu’s wrist was back to normal the following day when she lost to Lulu Sun in three sets.
The backlash wouldn’t have been as harsh if Raducanu had just been upfront in the first place.
Rafael Nadal will head into the Paris Olympics chasing a third gold medal but admitted his “level was so far from what it should be” after losing in the Bastad final on Sunday.
Paris Olympics Complete Coverage: Click here for news, schedule, explainers and more
The 38-year-old legend went down in straight sets to Portuguese journeyman Nuno Borges in his first final since capturing a 14th French Open title in 2022.
“The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too,” said Nadal.
“It has been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, I don’t have damage, that’s important — but mentally and physically, I am not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches.”
Nadal was playing his first tournament since suffering an opening round exit at the French Open in May.
He skipped Wimbledon, played on grass, to maintain focus on his clay-court bag of tricks ahead of the Olympics which are being played at Roland Garros, the site of 14 of his 22 Grand Slam triumphs.
At the Games, Nadal will be keen on adding to his singles gold from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and doubles victory at Rio in 2016.
As well as singles, he will team up with French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in Paris.
“I played the final, that’s positive. I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that’s good,” added Nadal of his week in Sweden.
The former World No. 1 has played just six tournaments this year due to injury while his ranking has dropped to 261.
“In some way I felt that I arrived here practising much better than what I played on the tournament during the whole week. That’s something that I am not satisfied with,” he explained.
“I arrived here with the feeling that I was playing a good level and I was not able to show that during the whole week. That is something that I am not happy with.
“Anyway it’s a final, so I can’t say it’s a bad result because it’s the first final since a long time ago. But I was not able to feel myself comfortable enough during the whole week to be satisfied with the week of tennis that I played.”
Rafael Nadal has always analysed his performances with great perspective. After a disappointing 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Nuno Borges on Sunday in the Nordea Open final, the Spanish legend saw both sides of the coin when looking back on his week in Bastad.
While the 38-year-old was not happy with his tennis overall, despite grinding his way to his first final since Roland Garros in 2022, Nadal was boosted by the way his body handled the heavy load of match play on the ATP 250’s clay courts.
“The level was so far from what it should be,” he said of his display on Sunday. “Probably the energy too. It has been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, I don’t have damage, that’s important — but mentally and physically, I am not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches.”
After beating fifth seed Cameron Norrie in straight sets on Thursday, Nadal won three-set marathons against fourth seed Mariano Navone and Duje Ajdukovic over the next two days. Those battles appeared to take their toll on Sunday, when Nadal was flat against Borges.
“I need to analyse well and find the reason why I played that way, even if the energy was not right,” he said. “A lot of things that can’t happen on court if you want to play at the level that I want to play. Things like this can happen today, and that’s the situation. I don’t have to lie or hide anything.”
Despite his disappointment, Nadal gave full credit to Borges, who will move to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 42 his first ATP Tour title: “I have to give the credit to him,” Nadal said after their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. “He did a lot of things well, missed not much, returned well. He converted opportunities, so well done for him, happy for him. He deserved it more than the rest of the players who played in this tournament. I wish him to enjoy this great moment.”
As he looks ahead to the Paris Olympics at Roland Garros, where Nadal will play singles and compete in doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, the Spaniard is hopeful that he can translate his high level in practice to the match court. Even when he was winning in Bastad, he was not fully happy with his tennis.
“I played the final, that’s positive,” he said, looking at the big picture this week. “I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that’s good.
“In some way I felt that I arrived here practising much better than what I played on the tournament during the whole week. That’s something that I am not satisfied with. I arrived here with the feeling that I was playing a good level and I was not able to show that during the whole week. That is something that I am not happy with.
“Anyway it’s a final, so I can’t say it’s a bad result because it’s the first final since a long time ago. But I was not able to feel myself comfortable enough during the whole week to be satisfied with the week of tennis that I played.”
Simone Biles is gearing up for the Paris Olympics, intensifying her training regimen as she aims for more gymnastics glory. With a renewed focus and determination, Biles is set to showcase her extraordinary talent and solidify her status as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
The 27-year-old took to TikTok, posting a video of the team’s last practice at their local gym, before leaving for the Olympic Games on Friday night. It opens with the gymnast gearing up and excitedly saying, “This is our final practice at our training facilities before we go.”
Throughout the montage, viewers are treated to glimpses of Biles performing on the uneven bars. The video also features segments of Biles, Jordan Chiles, Joscelyn Roberson, and Tiana Sumanasekera as they practice their floor routines.
In one clip, Chiles comments, “We’re all surviving, I think,” highlighting the team’s camaraderie and determination. The video concludes with Biles executing several impressive flips on the balance beam.
Biles will lead the American team at the Games alongside Chiles, Jade Carey, Sunny Lee, and Hezly Rivera. Leanne Wong will join them as a travelling replacement, while Sumanasekera and Kaliya Lincoln will be non-travelling replacements.
In her illustrious Olympic career, Biles has amassed an impressive array of medals. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, she won four golds and one bronze. Although the 2020 Tokyo Games did not see her replicate the same level of success, she still secured a bronze and a silver medal.
Additionally, Biles boasts a remarkable record in World Championships with 23 golds, four silvers, and three bronzes, as well as two golds in the Pacific Rim Championships. Biles took two years off from competition following a mental health issue she experienced in Tokyo, something she hopes will not recur in Paris 2024.
After working extensively on herself over the past three years and with the support of her husband, Jonathan Owens, she aims to achieve all the goals she has set, “There are many different things on the table right now, and it’s not just about me and gymnastics. For instance, I share the sports space with my husband,” Biles says.
She has grown significantly, both professionally and personally, thanks to the professional help she has received and is now able to manage her fears: “Firstly, I remember my goals to avoid burning out, and we keep track of ourselves throughout the year. Secondly, there are so many things happening in my life outside the gym that sometimes it feels like my job is secondary,” says the gymnast.
