10 h. ago Jake Paul’s artless spectacle robbed boxing of its democratic dream

Netflix’s 300 million global subscribers got just what they wanted: to see a former YouTuber knocked out brutallyGeorge Foreman once said boxing is the sport to which all other sports aspire. Putting aside the breathtaking exhibitions of physical and psychological intensity it can produce, boxing has long been a refuge of the underclass, credited with changing the lives of the disenfranchised and impoverished. There are no barriers to entry. In that sense, it has always sold a democratic dream.But boxing is, and has always been, the red-light district of professional sports, its flimsy guardrails making it a longtime haven for brazen criminals and the kind of grift and corruption that strains credulity. There are no barriers to entry. The idea that a sport which gave the world Don King, Frank “Blinky” Palermo and Park Si-hun v Roy Jones Jr could somehow be further debased is almost laughable. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul LIVE: YouTuber left with a broken jaw after AJ FINALLY caught him before calling out Tyson Fury

Follow all the action as Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua go head-to-head at Miami's Kaseya Center in a blockbuster showdown being watched by more than 50 million fans on Netflix.

Sport

24 h. ago Anthony Joshua calls out Tyson Fury after sending Jake Paul to hospital with broken jaw

Joshua stops Paul in sixth and calls out FuryPaul drives himself to hospital with broken jawNetflix spectacle ends with hierarchy restoredAnthony Joshua wasted little time early Saturday morning in Miami turning the page from spectacle to ambition, calling out Tyson Fury moments after stopping Jake Paul in a bout that ended with the YouTuber-turned-boxer driving himself to hospital with a suspected broken jaw.Joshua halted Paul in the sixth round of Friday night’s heavyweight contest at the Kaseya Center, dropping him four times in a one-sided fight that had been built as a Netflix-backed global event. Afterwards, the former two-time unified champion was blunt in his assessment of both his performance and what should come next. Continue reading...

Politics

24 h. ago Anthony Joshua knocks out Jake Paul in sixth round of heavyweight fight – as it happened

Joshua drops Paul four times in sixth-round knockoutBaumgardner, Dubois win as women’s champions shinePaul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital ageThe Kaseya Center is filling up nicely as Alycia Baumgardner and Leila Beaudoin move into the back end of their scheduled 12-rounder. There are a few pockets of empty seats in the upper and lower bowls, but it should be pretty close to a sellout in the end.Down in the high-rent district, a small army of celebrities and influencers have started occupying the ringside seats as the main event draws closer. Among the more notable the five-time major champion Rory McIlroy, fresh off last night’s Spoty gong across the pond. Continue reading...

Sport

25 h. ago Anthony Joshua overwhelms Jake Paul in six to restore boxing sanity in Miami

Joshua stops Paul in sixth after four knockdownsTrump weighs in on fight from Air Force OneVictor eyes Fury after hospitalizing Paul with broken jawWomen’s boxing shines on Miami undercardJake Paul v Anthony Joshua – as it happenedAnthony Joshua did what he was meant to do on Friday night in Miami: he lay waste to Jake Paul’s bravest and most controversial experiment in boxing with a destructive victory that felt less like a sporting result than the restoration of sanity.In their scheduled eight-round heavyweight bout at the Kaseya Center, streamed globally to Netflix’s roughly 300 million subscribers, the former twice unified heavyweight champion scored four knockdowns before stopping the YouTuber-turned-boxer in the sixth round of a mismatch that had prompted weeks of safety fears and moral hand-wringing. Joshua’s triumph, on a night purpose-built as much for memes as for punches, served as a reminder that boxing still adheres to its elemental laws and that power and pedigree even...

Sport

25 h. ago Anthony Joshua knocks out Jake Paul in sixth round of heavyweight fight – live reaction

Joshua drops Paul four times in sixth-round knockoutBritain’s Dubois defends 135lb title with masterclassBaumgardner, Dubois win as women’s champions shinePaul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital ageGet in touch! Email Bryan with your thoughtsThe Kaseya Center is filling up nicely as Alycia Baumgardner and Leila Beaudoin move into the back end of their scheduled 12-rounder. There are a few pockets of empty seats in the upper and lower bowls, but it should be pretty close to a sellout in the end.Down in the high-rent district, a small army of celebrities and influencers have started occupying the ringside seats as the main event draws closer. Among the more notable the five-time major champion Rory McIlroy, fresh off last night’s Spoty gong across the pond. Continue reading...

Sport

28 h. ago Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua: heavyweight boxing – live updates

Round-by-round updates from Kaseya Center in MiamiMain event not before 10.30pm ET/3.30am GMTBritain’s Dubois defends 135lb title with masterclassPaul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital ageGet in touch! Email Bryan with your thoughtsDespite the gulf in size, experience and pedigree, sportsbooks have reported heavy action backing Paul as a longshot at the Kaseya Center. At DraftKings, Joshua remains a dominant favorite, but roughly 86% of the money wagered on the fight winner has landed on Paul at odds around +700. The interest is not casual. Bettors are leaning hard into the possibility of an upset.That sentiment is even clearer in the prop markets. The most popular method-of-victory wager at DraftKings is Paul winning by decision or technical decision, accounting for nearly a third of the action. Paul by knockout or technical knockout has also drawn significant interest, attracting close to a quarter of all prop bets despite long odds. Joshua, by contrast, remains the widely...

Sport

31 h. ago Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua: heavyweight boxing – live buildup

Round-by-round updates from Kaseya Center in MiamiMain event not before 10.30pm ET/3.30am GMTPaul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital ageGet in touch! Email Bryan with your thoughtsBryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a quick primer covering the basics of tonight’s event.Alycia Baumgardner v Leila Beaudoin, 12 rounds, for Baumgardner’s WBO, IBF and WBA women’s junior lightweight titlesAnderson Silva v Tyron Woodley, six rounds, cruiserweightsCaroline Dubois v Camila Panatta, 10 rounds, for Dubois’ WBC women’s lightweight titleCherneka Johnson v Amanda Galle, 10 rounds, for Johnson’s undisputed women’s bantamweight championshipYokasta Valle v Yadira Bustillos, 10 rounds, for Valle’s WBC women’s strawweight titleAvious Griffin v Justin Cardona, eight rounds, welterweightsJahmal Harvey v Kevin Cervantes, six rounds, junior lightweightsKeno Marley v Diarra Davis Jr, four rounds, cruiserweights Continue reading...

Sport

45 h. ago Hogmanay TV preview 2025: Paul Whitelaw's guide to the best New Year viewing

A host of TV regulars will help see the old year out, before some much loved shows appear to welcome in the new one, writes Paul Whitelaw

Events

47 h. ago Paul vs Joshua predictions: Boxing legends and experts tip their winner for Netflix fight

Who does everyone have their money on?

Sport

50 h. ago Paddington and Wonka director Paul King to direct Labubu movie

Film based on popular plush toys is in early development after Sony Pictures acquired screen rightsPaul King, director of the global hit Paddington films and the Timothée Chalamet-led musical Wonka, is set to direct the Labubu film.In November it was announced that Sony Pictures, fresh off the global success of KPop Demon Hunters, had acquired the screen rights to the Chinese plush toy sensation with a feature film already in early development. Continue reading...

Politics

61 h. ago Boxing was the original attention economy – Paul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital age

Millions will tune in to watch the brash YouTuber get his comeuppance – the fight will likely go on as long as Joshua decides to let itAn undersized loudmouth disruptor arrives in Miami for a no-hope fight with one of history’s most destructive heavyweights, exploiting every available lever of new media to amplify his delusions of grandeur to mass audiences. There are mounting concerns for his mental and physical wellbeing, with doctors, commentators and former fighters openly questioning his soundness of mind and wondering whether he might end up in hospital – or worse. The oddsmakers have made him an 8-1 longshot, a price that feels almost charitable given the epic scale of the mismatch. The buildup revolves less around the favorite than around the smaller man’s mouth: his noise, his presence, and the creeping suspicion that spectacle may finally have outrun sense.Cassius Clay wound up shocking the world back in 1964 when he made Sonny Liston quit on his stool after six rounds at ...

Sport

3 d. ago Everything about Paul Mescal is irresistible – with one exception | Adrian Chiles

The actor has said Shakespeare’s language can be understood ‘in the body’. I couldn’t disagree moreI want to believe in reincarnation because I want to come back as Paul Mescal. What it must be like to be irresistible. I’m sure it gets wearing, but I’d still like to give it a try, just for research purposes. Not so much for the carnal stuff, but for the way every word he utters is taken to be as beautiful as he is. Intoxicated by their admiration, his admirers leap headfirst into the still waters of his pronouncements apparently certain of hidden depths thereunder.So it has been with the reaction to how he comforted his director when she confessed, in so many words, that she couldn’t always grasp what Shakespeare was on about. We’ve all been there. At least I have. There there, quoth Mescal: “Listen, if Shakespeare is performed right, you don’t have to understand what they’re saying. You feel it in the body, the language is written like that.” Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua predictions: Boxing legends and experts tip their winner for Netflix fight

Who does everyone have their money on?

Sport

4 d. ago The Housemaid review – Sydney Sweeney takes the job from hell in outrageous suspense thriller

Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar co-star as Sweeney’s secretive bosses in an upstate New York mansion, and director Paul Feig ramps up the sexual tension with evident gustoDirector Paul Feig is known for broad comedy; now he cranks up the schlock-serious dial for an outrageously enjoyable – or at any rate enjoyably outrageous – psycho-suspense thriller in the spirit of 90s erotic noir, adapted by screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine from the 2022 bestseller by Freida McFadden. We are back in the sleazy, glossy world of Curtis Hanson’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle or Joe Eszterhas’s Basic Instinct, but skating quite close, though not too close, to satire.The scene is a bizarrely opulent mansion somewhere in upstate New York, splendidly isolated among a sea of bland suburban housing; it is approached by a drive, once you have got past the electronic gates. And it is down this avenue that Millie (Sydney Sweeney) nervously drives, wearing fake glasses to make herself look more mature, ...

Society

4 d. ago Liverpool parade crash driver Paul Doyle's decades of convictions and violent offences

Paul Doyle admitted 31 charges over the 2025 parade crash. We detail his violent criminal past, including GBH, as he was sentenced to over 21 years in prison today (December 16)

Events

4 d. ago Joshua v Paul makes Joe Louis’ ‘Bum of the Month’ look like the Rumble in the Jungle | Sean Ingle

The best we can hope for is that Paul does not get seriously hurt. Joshua, Netflix and the sport itself should know betterPrecisely 85 years ago, one of the most fearsome heavyweight boxers in history stunk out the joint. Joe Louis was in the midst of his “Bum of the Month club”: a staggering run of 13 world title defences in 29 months against an assortment of stiffs, wild men and colourful characters. And when he arrived in Boston on 16 December 1940, most believed that Al McCoy would rapidly become his next victim. Only it didn’t quite turn out that way.“McCoy was expected to crumple under the first punch Louis tossed in his direction,” the New York Times’ correspondent wrote. “Instead, the wily New England veteran made Louis appear ludicrous at times. Adopting a crouching, bobbing, weaving style, McCoy was an elusive target for the paralysing fists of the titleholder.” After the messy contest was stopped at the end of the fifth, a storm of jeers rang...

Politics

5 d. ago Man who drove into Liverpool FC parade was ‘in a rage’, court told

Paul Doyle, 54, is due to be sentenced on Tuesday after admitting 31 offences against 21 adults and eight childrenA man was “in a rage” as he mowed down dozens of Liverpool football club fans at a victory parade in what many feared was a terrorist attack, a court has heard.Victims of Paul Doyle wept as dashcam footage showed bodies spinning through the air as he accelerated into crowds while screaming: “Fucking hell, move!” Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Christmas TV preview 2025: Paul Whitelaw's guide to the best festive viewing

As we collectively shut the door to the world for a few days, Paul Whitelaw has trawled the yuletide TV listings to bring these highlights

Events

6 d. ago ‘It’s fun to go to war with God’: Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany on their sweaty, sacrilegious take on Amadeus

Last time the fierce enmity between Mozart and Salieri was adapted for the screen, it won a best picture Oscar. Now a new TV version turns up the temperature several notches – but will its stars develop a rivalry of their own?“A prodigal son story with God as the father,” is how actor Paul Bettany describes Amadeus, the Peter Shaffer play that became a celebrated film in 1984. Both depict the rivalry between Austrian court composer Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a former child phenomenon whose towering talent exposes Salieri as mediocre and stuck in his ways. Salieri, who believes a composer’s gift to be divine, is so affronted by this upstart that he renounces God and sets about destroying Mozart.Now Amadeus has been remade for TV, with Will Sharpe in the title role and Bettany as Salieri. The series, which begins with Mozart arriving in Vienna in a rickety carriage and promptly throwing up in the street, is written by Joe Barton, the Black Doves and Giri/Haji writer ...

Events