Guardian sport and agencies – Worldwide Sports News

January 3, 2026

Jake Paul drops out of WBA cruiserweight rankings after loss to Anthony Joshua

Paul removed from WBA top 15 after Joshua KO
Fight drew 33m global viewers on Netflix
Loss followed brief cruiserweight ranking run

Jake Paul has fallen out of the World Boxing Association’s cruiserweight rankings after his sixth-round knockout loss to Anthony Joshua last month.

The YouTuber was stopped by the former two-time heavyweight champion in a scheduled eight-round bout in Miami, where Joshua scored four knockdowns before the referee halted the contest in the sixth round. Paul suffered a broken jaw in two places and required surgery after the fight.

December 15, 2025

Cricket commentator Michael Vaughan says hearing gunshots at Bondi was ‘terrifying’

Former England cricket captain is in Australia for Ashes series
Pat Cummins and Usman Khawaja lead tributes to victims

Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has described hearing gunshots during the terrorist attack at a gathering to celebrate the first night of Hanukah at Sydney’s Bondi beach as “terrifying”.

Vaughan, who is in Australia working as a media pundit for the Ashes series, said he was locked in a restaurant “a few hundred yards from the attack” with his wife, two daughters, sister-in-law and a friend.

November 27, 2025

Fuzzy Zoeller, two-time major winner haunted by racist Tiger Woods joke, dies aged 74

Masters champion in 1979 and US Open winner in 1984
Post-career reputation marred by remarks about Woods
Trump pays tribute to ‘remarkable person and player’

Fuzzy Zoeller, the two-time major champion whose genial public persona was overshadowed by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods that came to define the latter part of his career, has died aged 74.

No cause of death was immediately available. Brian Naugle, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston and a longtime colleague, said Zoeller’s daughter notified him of the death on Thursday.

November 5, 2025

Venus Williams, 45, to open 33rd straight professional season at Auckland Classic

Williams to play 33rd WTA season at age 45
US star given wildcard for January’s ASB Classic
Former champ joins Osaka in Auckland field

Tennis great Venus Williams plans to play for a 33rd straight season on the WTA Tour, starting in Auckland in January.

Organizers of the ASB Classic in New Zealand said Wednesday that the 45-year-old Williams would feature at their 5-11 January event.

October 6, 2025

Uefa gives ‘reluctant’ approval for domestic games to be played abroad this season

Governing body says go-ahead shouldn’t set precedent
Barcelona poised to play in US and Milan in Australia

Uefa has given its “reluctant” approval to Serie A and La Liga each playing a domestic game abroad this season. The decision clears a path for Barcelona and Villarreal to meet in Miami in December and for Milan and Como to play in Perth, Australia, in February.

Uefa said in a statement that it had “reiterated its clear opposition to domestic league matches being played outside their home country” but that because “the relevant Fifa regulatory framework – currently under review – is not clear and detailed enough, the Uefa Executive Committee has reluctantly taken the decision to approve, on an exceptional basis, the two requests referred to it”.

The move comes after the Italian and Spanish football federations applied for those matches to be played abroad. Uefa said its national associations had agreed to engage with it before submitting any future requests.

October 2, 2025

PGA of America president belatedly admits US Ryder Cup fans ‘crossed line’ with abuse

Don Rea Jr writes letter to organization’s members
European players and wives were verbally abused

The president of the PGA of America, who had initially dismissed abuse directed at Europe’s players during this year’s Ryder Cup as no worse than at “a youth soccer game”, has issued an apology.

“Let me begin with what we must own. While the competition was spirited – especially with the US team’s rally on Sunday afternoon – some fan behavior clearly crossed the line,” Don Rea Jr wrote in an email to PGA of America members. “It was disrespectful, inappropriate, and not representative of who we are as the PGA of America or as PGA of America golf professionals. We condemn that behavior unequivocally.”

September 18, 2025

Eddie Hearn threatens to sue Chris Eubank Jr over ‘sabotage’ claim before Conor Benn rematch

Eubank Jr makes allegations against Matchroom at press conference
Hearn rejects claims and threatens legal action unless boxer apologises

Eddie Hearn has threatened to sue Chris Eubank Jr, after the boxer fired the first shots during a press conference ahead of his rematch with Conor Benn by accusing his opponent’s team of dirty tricks and “sabotage”.

Eubank Jr, who won their first bout by unanimous decision in April, claimed an ambulance taking him to hospital afterwards was stopped – and appeared to point the finger at Benn’s promoters, Matchroom Boxing.

September 2, 2025

Drake defies curse with $300,000 wager on Jannik Sinner to win US Open

Rapper risks six figures on world No 1 at Flushing
Drake Curse looms after past tennis losses mount
Sinner in quarters, faces Italian rival Musetti

Drake is betting big on Jannik Sinner, wagering $300,000 on the world No 1 to win the US Open.

The rapper known for placing big bets on sporting events – and often losing them – posted on social media the screenshot of a betting slip from Tuesday afternoon. The six-figure gamble pays $507,000 if Sinner captures his fifth major championship and second at the US Open.

August 31, 2025

Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, hits second hole-in-one in 12 months at Junior Players

16-year-old also hit ace at 2024 PNC Championship
Woods has had impressive junior season so far

Charlie Woods carded his second recorded hole-in-one after firing an ace on Sunday during the third and final round of the Junior Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Starting the round on the back nine, Woods was even-par through 11 holes on Sunday before he covered the par-three third with one shot from 177 yards out at TPC Sawgrass.

August 25, 2025

US Open: Home hopes hit as Madison Keys makes 89 unforced errors in first-round loss

Australian Open champion beaten by Renata Zarazúa
World No 6 suffers string of errors in loss

One of the main home hopes at the US Open has suffered an early exit from the tournament after Madison Keys lost in the first round on Monday.

There were early signs the world No 6, who won the Australian Open in January, faced a tough match against Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa. The American won the first set, but only after taking a marathon tiebreak 12-10. Zarazúa won the second set on another tiebreak (7-3) before closing out the match by taking the final set 7-5.

August 16, 2025

Bob Simpson, former Australia cricket captain and coach, dies aged 89

Simpson played 62 Tests over more than two decades
Australia’s first full-time coach helped guide team’s re-emergence

The former Australia cricket captain and coach Bob Simpson has died in Sydney aged 89. He was an influential figure in Australian cricket for more than four decades as a player, captain and coach. He also made his mark on the game as a law-maker, referee and commentator.

Simpson first pulled on the baggy green cap of the Australian Test cricket team in 1957, and made a comeback to captain Australia aged 41 after the game was thrown into crisis by World Series Cricket in 1977.

August 2, 2025

Emma Raducanu knocked out of Canadian Open in straight sets loss to Amanda Anisimova

British No 1 beaten 6-2, 6-1 in Montreal third round
Anisimova lines up meeting with Elina Svitolina

Emma Raducanu has crashed out of the Canadian Open in straight sets, going down 6-2, 6-1 to the American fifth seed Amanda Anisimova in the third round.

Raducanu had won both of their previous meetings but rarely looked like extending that run as she held her serve just once in either set in Montreal.

July 27, 2025

US swimmers battling outbreak of ‘acute gastroenteritis’ at world championships

Gastroenteritis affecting American swimmers
Outbreak traced to pre-meet camp in Thailand
Ledecky unaffected, leads 400m freestyle field

The United States swim team is battling an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis that has affected several athletes at the start of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Team officials confirmed the illness originated during a pre-meet training camp in Phuket, Thailand, and has compromised multiple performances as competition got under way on Sunday.

June 12, 2025

Summer McIntosh, 18, matches Phelps with third world record in five days

McIntosh breaks 400m IM world record in 4:23.65 time
Third record broken in five days for Canadian teenager
18-year-old matches Phelps’ 2008 mark for single meet

Summer McIntosh broke her third swimming world record in five days on Wednesday night, clocking 4:23.65 in the women’s 400m individual medley at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia.

The 18-year-old from Toronto lowered her own world record of 4:24.38, set earlier this year, and became the first swimmer to break world records in three different individual events at one long course meet since Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

June 3, 2025

Swimming world body will banish participants in pro-doping Enhanced Games

Governing body bars athletes tied to Enhanced Games
Vegas event allows PED use, offers $1m record bonuses
Critics call it a ‘dangerous clown show’, not real sport

Swimmers, coaches and officials who compete in or support a controversial new sports event allowing performance-enhancing drugs will be barred from elite competition, World Aquatics announced on Tuesday.

The move targets the Enhanced Games, a privately funded, Olympics-style event set to debut in Las Vegas next May, which explicitly permits – and encourages – the use of substances banned under global anti-doping rules. Athletes will not be drug-tested and may follow personalized pharmaceutical regimens, provided they disclose their use to organizers.