Latest news with #Benns
The Independent
27-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Why Conor Benn didn't lose his epic fight with Chris Eubank Jr
In the end, the sons walked heavily in the footsteps of their heroic fathers during a night of raw emotion at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn had promised many things during the years and weeks before the first bell; they then went out and delivered on every single promise. Eubank won, nobody lost. It was a fight for family pride and not for any other trinkets that we bless our boxers with. It was also a fight at a severe price and when the final bell sounded in front of 67,000 people, they could barely stand or talk as they each fell exhausted into the arms of their fathers. The Eubanks had once again done enough, the Benns were left defeated but dignified at the finish. It seems almost tacky to talk about scores, but we got this fight, and the two epics fights between the dads, because of the scores: Now, it is Eubanks 2, Benns 0 and one draw. It is not over, don't panic. In the fight's tearful aftermath, the two dads and the two sons swapped embraces and words - it was an emotional end to a brutal fight. They each talked about respect, they talked about rest and Benn talked about a rematch. Benn had set a frantic pace early in the fight, Eubank seemed slow, easy to hit, but then Benn slowed a bit and Eubank found his feet. It was both smarter and more savage than many expected. It also looked good with big punches, men trapped on the ropes and some wayward big swings from Benn. It moved from slugfest to smart boxing with slick footwork in a flash; they clashed a few times on the bell to end a round and the crowd loved it. At the end of the truly incredible eighth round, there was a standing ovation from every single soul at the stadium; nobody was sitting at the bell and people just started applauding. It was spontaneous and very moving and they deserved it. At that point, they had each been pushed to the sport's harshest places, to places well outside the normal limits of sacrifice and pain. They had swollen faces, sore fists, heavy legs but still they desperately tried to finish each other in the fight's stunning finale. It is odd but the last few rounds looked a lot like the first fight between the fathers back in 1990 in Birmingham; the sons wore the same colour of shorts as their dads had worn and perhaps that helped trigger the memory. It could have also been just how obvious the sacrifice and pain was - they pushed each other to new physical extremes. Both fathers were guilty of going to the very limits in fights by simply refusing to lose - the sons clearly have the same obsession with victory. Eubank was marginally in front, just a bit cleaner and a bit heavier down the gruelling last stretch. They were each ruined at the bell, walking on stiff legs, looking for their fathers and relief. The end and the ring invasion had a real Rocky feel to it. All three scores were identical in Eubank's favour: 116-112. It could have been a bit closer, but it was not a robbery. Eubank, the dad, had only decided to attend on the day; the father-and-son ring entry to Tina Turner's iconic Simply the Best was one of the greatest ever. 'I'm happy he's here,' said Eubank Jr. 'It gave me a big lift.' Even Benn praised his rival's father for showing up. 'I couldn't imagine not having my dad there,' he said. It was all a bit raw. It was the only possible end to a long week of drama, a long delay and 35-years of feuding between two fighting families. There will never be a total end of hostilities between the two clans, no chance of a peace deal just yet - the desire is too deep to end right now. As it approached 2am, the streets were still gridlocked and the talk about a rematch had started. Saturday night was Eubank v Benn III and somewhere on the horizon a fourth fight is being planned.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Black Altadena family spanning generations lost 20 homes in LA wildfires
A Black family whose history in Altadena spans generations lost 20 homes in the Los Angeles wildfires, destroying decades of legacies built in the community. "I lost everything," said Oscar Benn. "There is nothing to dig from the rubble. I'm grateful that we have our lives." In the 1950s, the Benn family fled the Jim Crow South, settling in California to lay down their roots and build generational wealth. Situated just north of Pasadena in the San Gabriel foothills, Altadena was long considered a haven for Black families who began settling there in the mid-20th century and continued trickling in as the years ensued. Some had escaped segregation in the South and took refuge in a place that did not subscribe to the racist criteria of the era for land ownership, an anomaly even in California. Altadena's Black community boomed during this period — as it did in the entire Los Angeles area, according to Paul Ong, director of UCLA's Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. "Altadena represents the gains that were made during the civil rights movement, particularly in housing. It was the one area where homeownership was really possible," Ong said. In recent years, Altadena's home prices have skyrocketed, leading to fears that generational wealth could be lost to gentrification. Those fears have intensified after the Eaton Fire ravaged vast swaths of the community. "Altadena is a litmus test about how committed we are to racial justice. And I have high hopes that we will respond. But I also have late-night nightmares that things won't happen the way we want it to happen," Ong said. Oscar's daughter, Loren, says they've already gotten calls from those looking to buy their land, and is angry about what she calls an attempt by some to profit off her family's tragedy. She says they don't have any plans to the Benns mourn the soul of a lost community, there's an uneasy feeling of what's next. "Even if our homes rebuild, our neighborhood has to, too... If we rebuild and the city changes, now we have to decide if we want to stay," Loren said. Still, she says there are no plans to walk away from the land that's been in the family for generations. Latest news on Pope Francis' health after lung infection, kidney failure Vatican releases update on Pope Francis' health Musk doubles down on email from federal employees, Trump backs him up
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Severe Weather Is Increasing the Cost of Living for Black Americans
As Los Angeles battled its largest wildfires in history, parts of the southern U.S. faced a very different kind of disaster — record-breaking snowstorms not seen in over 125 years. In LA, the Benn family didn't lose their home to the flames, but they did lose access to their livelihood. Their screen-printing business, which they've run in Altadena since 2007, is now in limbo. Before the fires, their community boasted the second-highest concentration of Black-owned businesses in LA County. Now, with no clear timeline for reopening the area, the Benns are struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Quelly, a hairstylist and mother of young children, lost three days of income when the snowstorm shut down her city for half a week. For someone self-employed, it's a blow that's hard to afford. Since January 2024, extreme weather events have hit harder and cost more than ever before. Disasters like these are piling up at an unprecedented rate. A new analysis puts the damage and economic losses at $799 billion — around 3% of the U.S. economy — thanks to wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, and winter storms. And while these crises affect everyone, Black Americans are feeling the impact the most. Underfunded communities are struggling to recover, jobs are disappearing, and insurance premiums are skyrocketing as the risk of displacement grows. These extreme weather events are disrupting industries you wouldn't normally associate with disasters, making it harder for Black families to access basic necessities like food and water. A recent report warns that without swift action to limit the impact of severe weather, it will cost children born in 2024 at least $500,000 up to $1 million over their lifetime. That's from higher living costs — like soaring housing costs and strained food supplies — and lower earnings from missed work. 'Quite clearly, if you're awake, everybody should understand, we're living in very dangerous times, and Black folks and people who are economically vulnerable, they're already facing heightened exposures to these events,' explained Lemir Teron, an associate professor in Howard University's Department of Earth, Environment, and Equity. 'Our resilience gets curtailed when we don't have the policies or the money to better protect ourselves.' Read More: Generational Black Homes in LA Reduced to Ash Amid Growing Wildfires In Florida, this month, Black farmers are grappling with the aftermath of an unprecedented winter storm that dumped record snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the region. Farmers say they've never faced such devastation — not even from Category 5 Hurricane Michael in 2018 — as 10 inches of snow leveled greenhouses and shattered irrigation systems. The fallout will be felt nationwide when the fruits and vegetables we depend on don't make it out of the Sunshine State. 'The cold snap and the snow showed us we have to be ready, and I don't think our states — the Southern states — are ready,' said Trenise Bryant, who is a food-service manager for Florida elementary-age children and a housing advocate across the state. 'I don't know if our infrastructure and ecosystems can withstand what's to come.' She said last year's hurricanes and this record storm showed the importance of government and community groups working together because 'if we can't get that funding for people that don't have access, people that are living on the street, that means no access to housing, food, and water for them.' 'It's the worst series of disasters since the Dust Bowl,' said Joel Myers, the founder of AccuWeather, the group that conducted the $799 billion damage and economic loss analysis. The fallout, he said, could drive a new wave of migration. For Black communities already facing systemic barriers, the road to recovery is anything but even, and as we've reported, migration doesn't always guarantee protection from these climate threats. Read More: Moving South, Black Americans Are Weathering Climate Change In Detroit, Sandra Turner-Handy has had to clean out bacteria-filled floodwaters from her home twice in recent years. Flooding has become more common in recent years due to much greater rainfalls than normal, leaving many residents dealing with the financial burdens of home improvements, loss of work, and mold-induced illnesses. 'We have experienced so much in the last year with the extreme heat, the cold, and the flooding,' Turner-Handy said. 'We can't escape it.' The Trump administration is taking aim at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is largely responsible for how America responds to weather events. During his first week back in office, he signed an executive order calling for a sweeping review of the agency and floating the idea of shutting it down altogether. In the executive order, Trump accused FEMA of political bias and mishandling disaster aid, claiming it's leaving Americans vulnerable. Last year, when Hurricane Helene dismantled the Southeast, Trump spread rumors that the agency was deliberately not giving aid to white conservatives. In reality, studies show that Black neighborhoods receive an estimated 10% less recovery aid than white ones. The aid discrepancy has substantially contributed to the racial wealth gap in the South. The Trump administration is also pushing to shift more disaster response costs to states, a move that critics warn could leave under-resourced communities, particularly Black and low-income areas, even more exposed to climate disasters. Read More: Hurricane Helene's Black Survivors Face Floods and Disinformation Trump has also paused spending benefitting Black and 'disadvantaged' communities from the Biden administration's two key spending pots: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. These funds had been used to do things like replace lead pipes, improve access to electricity in Black rural communities, and fortify buildings and roads against flooding across the South. Analyses have shown that Trump-stronghold states like Georgia and the Carolinas benefited the most from this spending. 'We had started to understand that climate change has an impact [on] our city and that these issues relate not just to the heat and the cold, but can bring more illnesses and affect the amount of money in our pockets,' said Turner-Handy, who was awarded a grant through the IRA last fall, but was told last week that she will not be receiving the money under the Trump administration. The funding was meant to be used to install air quality monitors in her community. 'We're left ripe for more harm,' she said. With a leadership shake-up and the potential for states to shoulder a bigger burden, the debate over FEMA's future and climate spending comes as the country faces increasingly devastating hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. With more weather events on the horizon, Black Americans and other marginalized groups are still struggling to bounce back from previous disasters. 'Eventually, climate denialism is going to harm us all in the same way. Folks who have means will be exposed to things that they don't presently deal with,' said Teron, the professor who also pointed out how America's inability to address climate change will result in global issues like sea level rise in West Africa. 'These rollbacks on the federal level, the severity of extreme weather, it's going to harm us all,' he said. The post Severe Weather Is Increasing the Cost of Living for Black Americans appeared first on Capital B News.
