CK Updates
Joe Cordina: Former super-featherweight world champion to fight Abdullah Mason for WBO lightweight title
Cordina won British and Commonwealth titles at lightweight earlier in his career, having been a decorated amateur boxer who fought at an Olympics and in the same Team GB programme as his friend Anthony Joshua.
After turning professional in 2017 he became Wales’ 13th world champion boxer when he beat Kenichi Ogawa to claim the IBF super-featherweight title in June 2022.
Cordina was stripped of the title when he was unable to defend it within a 90-day window after suffering a broken hand, but won it back with a hard-fought split-decision win over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in April 2023.
He was a strong favourite to retain his belt in Riyadh in May 2024, but the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round of a bout dominated by Belfast’s Cacace.
Cordina was scheduled to make a comeback against Shakur Stevenson in October 2024, but the WBC lightweight champion pulled out with a hand injury.
Returning from a 14-month lay-off in July 2025 he beat Gonzalez Quiroz with a hard-fought points decision at Manchester’s AO Arena, needing to dig deep against the quick-handed and spirited Mexican.
Cordina was given a scare by Flores Jr in a fight billed as a final eliminator for the WBO lightweight world title.
The Welshman was docked a point in the sixth round in Stockton for rabbit punching and saw his knees buckled by an uppercut in round seven.
However Cordina went on to win his first fight in America 117-110 115-112 114-113, establishing himself as Mason’s number one contender.
CK Updates
Erling Haaland goal: Was Haaland’s derby winner a VAR error?
With Haaland’s goal settling the match, United were unsurprisingly disappointed by the decision.
“I think it was offside,” said Martinez. “And what I can’t understand is the rules. I want to be calm now, I want to control myself.
“It’s so hard because you lose a derby, you lose three points at home, and every season they’re [referees] coming to our club, they explain for one hour the rules, and they look so confident with that, and then after [there are] five or six people doing these kind of mistakes in the Premier League – it’s unacceptable.
“It’s the best league in the world, you have the best teams in the world, the best players in the world, and now we have to go home with this injustice.”
United boss Carrick also expressed his confusion.
“We put things in place in the game now, we have people in offices with all the screens for this decision,” he said.
“It’s more worrying about if that’s the interpretation of football now. If that’s the interpretation of not interfering in the game now, that’s really worrying for me. It’s a staggering explanation.
“The decision isn’t going to change the season, but it’s had a major impact on the game.”
Wayne Rooney, part of the BBC’s MOTD2 team, said: “Surely it’s offside. Martinez is impacted by Fernandez’s movement, and he is offside.”
Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “I think we’ll see some sort of apology from the referee’s association, there’s no doubt Fernandez is playing that ball and is trying to put off Martinez. I think it’s one they’ll recognising they got wrong.”
Micah Richards added: “I think it’s been a bad day for referees. They got the Foden decision wrong and the Fernandez decision wrong. I think they got it so wrong but I don’t think it takes anything away from City’s performance.”
Meanwhile, City boss Maresca said: “I think it was onside clearly so it’s good.”
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World Athletics’ stance on Russian athletes ‘won’t change’ – Sebastian Coe
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says the governing body’s stance on sanctions imposed on Russia will not change.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from international track and field competition by World Athletics since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian Athletics Federation has filed a new claim with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to challenge the sanctions imposed by World Athletics.
But Coe said: “Our position hasn’t changed. This isn’t about politics or passports, it’s about the integrity of competition.”
Russian Athletics says the ongoing sanctions “infringe on the organisation’s rights”, adding they “prevent it from fully representing the interests of Russian athletes on an international level”.
Should the Cas ruling come down in favour of Russian Athletics, the way could be opened for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the next Olympic Games, which will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
Coe, who won two Olympic gold medals during a celebrated athletics career, has pledged to attend the Cas hearing to help present the case of World Athletics.
Speaking on Sunday at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, the 69-year-old Briton said: “From the age of 18, I believe that every position I’ve taken, whether it was during the creation of the first IOC athletes’ commission or positions I’ve personally taken, it’s about integrity and it’s about competition.
“That matters to me, so our position won’t change.”
Coe added that the issue needed to be “resolved” and that the overall objective was to have a “full complement of people on a global level competing in our sport”.
Russian Athletics executive director Boris Yaryshevsky, in an interview with the Russian TASS news agency last week, criticised Coe’s intention to attend the Cas hearing.
“It is very clear that he has something personal,” said Yaryshevsky.
“He is no longer speaking on behalf of World Athletics as a federation. He is speaking for himself, saying that he personally will go to court to defend this.
“I believe this is simply his personal position, not the position of World Athletics.”
The stance taken by World Athletics differs to that taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as the governing bodies of numerous other sports.
The IOC provisionally lifted Russia’s suspension in July, potentially allowing the country to compete at the 2028 Olympics Games in Los Angeles.
Other sporting federations, including World Gymnastics, World Aquatics and World Boxing, have this year removed restrictions on Russian athletes competing.
Some Russian and Belarusian athletes competed as neutrals at both the 2024 Paris Games and this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan.
CK Updates
Tom Aspinall: UFC to consider removing heavyweight title after almost year out injured
The UFC will assess Tom Aspinall’s status as heavyweight champion as he approaches a full year out of action, says its president Dana White.
Briton Aspinall, 33, has not fought since October 2025, when the first defence of his title against Ciryl Gane ended in a no-contest as he suffered an eye injury.
After repeated eye pokes from Gane, Aspinall was unable to continue and was subsequently diagnosed with a rare eye condition and had persistent double vision before having surgery.
Earlier this month, UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko vacated her title because of persistent injuries.
White was asked whether he thought that Aspinall should consider doing the same, or whether any discussions had taken place about stripping him of the title.
“We’ll definitely be talking about that,” White said.
“Valentina doesn’t want to tie up the division and I’m assuming Tom feels the same way.
“I don’t know personally where he is health-wise. We should clear that up soon.”
In June, Aspinall said he had returned to full training for a rematch with France’s Gane and suggested they could fight in September.
He then rejected reports saying that he was going to leave the UFC when speculation started at the end of August.
Gane beat Alex Pereira to win the interim heavyweight title at the UFC’s White House show in June, before also calling for a rematch with Aspinall.
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CK Updates16 hours agoTom Aspinall: UFC to consider removing heavyweight title after almost year out injured
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CK Updates10 hours agoWorld Athletics’ stance on Russian athletes ‘won’t change’ – Sebastian Coe
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CK Updates22 hours agoUS Open 2026 results: Elena Rybakina beats Aryna Sabalenka to win New York title

