Latest news with #NewsweekSports
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
Lando Norris Reacts to Losing from Pole at Belgian Grand Prix:
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Lando Norris started the Belgian Grand Prix on pole position but lost the lead to Oscar Piastri on the opening lap. Piastri then maintained his lead throughout the race despite pitting just once, and crossed the finish line on medium tires. The race at Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by nearly an hour due to heavy rain that compromised visibility. Newsweek Sports reported that the Grand Prix faced a potential cancellation due to the rain. However, with the sun having come out after the brief spell of rain, the race began under the safety car. Piastri managed his race start well and stayed right behind Norris before finding an opportunity to overtake on the Kemmel Straight. When all cars pitted for slicks once the racing line had dried considerably, Piastri switched to the medium tires while Norris opted for the hard compound. Towards the end of the race, Piastri's mediums held up well despite Norris closing the gap to him. However, a few mistakes by Norris led him to lose crucial time. There was also Norris' pit stop, which set him back by a few seconds. Third placed Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren and Second placed Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren in parc ferme during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de... Third placed Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren and Second placed Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren in parc ferme during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 26, 2025 in Spa, Belgium. MoreNorris could have caught up with Piastri in the last four laps of the 44-lap race, but the lock-ups and Piastri's top performance meant Norris lost out on time by the time the chequered flag was waved. Addressing the lost lead to Piastri, Norris said after the race: "Yeah, I mean, Oscar just did a good job, nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run, so yeah, nothing to complain of. Did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point, so yes, I mean, we'd love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it today." When asked if a victory was in sight if he kept his run clean, Norris said: "Should have, would have, could have, so I'm not gonna — you know, Oscar deserved it. I'm sure I made a couple of mistakes, so if he drove a perfect race, I couldn't have won today. "So I'll review my things, but so happy for the team, another one-two. I think our first one-two here for many, many years, so nice to bring that back to the team. And a well-deserved result for them and for Oscar, too." Asked if he looked forward to next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest, the Briton said: "Yes, Budapest is one of the best ones for me in terms of just what I've done there in the past years, and it's where I started my Formula One career. So yeah, always good memories and, yeah, normally one that suits me a bit better than Spa, so happy with today, slightly disappointed, but of course looking forward to next week."
Newsweek
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Nakisa Bidarian on Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 3
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Most Valuable Promotions was co-created by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, and the pair has made massive strides in the combat sports world. MVP promoted the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight, which took place in November 2024 and broke all kinds of records. More news: Jake Paul Receives Official Boxing World Ranking Following Dominant Win The Paul vs Tyson fight broke the record for the most live-streamed event in sports history, and now MVP is returning to Netflix for another historic fight card. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will run it back for a third time, and they headline a fight that contains an entire main card made up of title fights. With the landmark event taking place as the first all-female card at Madison Square Garden, Bidarian spoke to Newsweek Sports about the upcoming event. With Katie Taylor taking on Amanda Serrano, streamed live on Netflix, what kind of records can this event break? NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 08: (L-R) Katie Taylor, Jake Paul and Amanda Serrano attend the Empire State Building Lighting Ceremony in Celebration of Netflix's Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 fight on July... NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 08: (L-R) Katie Taylor, Jake Paul and Amanda Serrano attend the Empire State Building Lighting Ceremony in Celebration of Netflix's Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 fight on July 11, 2025 at Madison Square Garden at The Empire State Building on July 08, 2025 in New York City. Morefor Netflix "Well, look today, the countdown episode dropped of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano on Netflix, live globally. It's a 60-minute piece that's unbelievable. You have to watch it and look next week, there'll be a few records that are going to be broken, assuming everything moves forward, three undisputed championship fights in one night never has happened before. Right? 17 world titles on the line, a record by far for the sport of boxing. Never happened before. "21 if you include the ring belts in terms of women's sports, highest payday for any individual female athlete for an event, tournament, season, etc, on the field, inside the ring. So when you look at Ronda, Rousey, Serena Williams, any WNBA player who played an entire season, or one Wimbledon, etc, they will have a record. July 11. Taylor and Serrano, the two athletes, will make more money than the Champion and the runner-up of the Wimbledon women's on July 12. Men's on July 13. It's an epic moment for women. It's an epic moment for boxing." This is the first all-female card in Madison Square Garden history. Correct? How does it feel to put on such a landmark event like this? "In 2022, Taylor and Serrano became the first women boxing or MMA to headline Madison Square Garden. Now they're back three years later, and they're bringing an entire army of other world-class athletes with them, all women. So it's super exciting. We're super grateful to Madison Square Garden, which has believed in women's boxing from day one, and we're looking for a record-setting night. We're excited." The main card features all title fights. I mean, how difficult was it to pull that off? "The main of the prelims is an undisputed championship, right? First fight, unified championship on the main card. Second fight, unified championship. Co-main, undisputed, main, undisputed. How difficult was it? Obviously, it takes time, patience, partnership, right and open-mindedness. Shout out to the WBO, WBC, WBA, and IBF for working with us to make this happen. "But above all, shout out to the fighters. Right? Because the fighters have to want to create these opportunities. I constantly make the example that the UFC had Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall both under the same umbrella. No barriers to making the fight happen other than one thing: the fighters wanting to do it. And so we're in a situation where we have a great relationship with the women within this sport, and so we present them opportunities." MVP is constantly attempting to evolve the fight game. I mean, how much further can you absolutely take this? "I think, look, we're just getting started, right? We're less than four years in, and the fact that we're in the same conversation as the top promoters in the sport, the fact that fans online are. For you know, putting us down versus the UFC is pretty amazing for a company that's four years old when that other company is 40 years old, right? So we see a lot more to come. We're excited about the opportunity within women's boxing. We're excited about where Jake's career is going, and we're excited that we're doing our second fight on Netflix before any promoter does a fight on Netflix, and we're looking to do more with them and other partners as well." Let's say Taylor wins decisively. Will there still be a fourth fight? "No. I mean, if I think Katie Taylor wins decisively, then the demand won't be there, right? If Katie Taylor had won the first two fights decisively, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Right now, you're asking yourself, why would I want to talk to a guy who's putting on a fight for the third time that we already know the outcome to? So, no, I don't think there'll be a fourth fight." Holly Holm signed with MVP, returned to boxing, and got a big win. What was it like to sign her and see her get that victory? Read more: Former UFC Champion Holly Holm Returns to Boxing Under Jake Paul Promotion "I can't tell you how incredibly proud I am, Jake Paul and MVP are to be a part of Holly's career. At this stage. I was fortunate enough to be at the UFC when she joined. I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to be there when she knocked out Ronda Rousey the way that she did, and became the most successful athlete, male or female, in history, at the top of sports right now. Bo Jackson, not Deion Sanders, not anyone professionally has done what she's done to win championships at the top level of two different sports... "And I'm just hoping, hoping that if everything works out right, she's fighting for a championship by the end of the year, which will be such a monumental moment for sports for her at age 43 to come back to this sport, a Hall of Famer already, and to have the opportunity to win a title again." To watch the entire interview, watch the video above. Watch Taylor vs Serrano exclusively on Netflix on July 11. For more boxing news, head to Newsweek Sports.
Newsweek
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Tom Aspinall Wants to Move Past Jon Jones
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The MMA world was shocked to find out that Jon Jones decided to retire from the UFC, after months of speculation that he would eventually fight interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Instead, Jones stepped away, leading to Aspinall being named undisputed heavyweight champion. Read more: UFC Legend Jon Jones Has Officially Retired Now, it appears that Jones has reentered the testing pool and wishes to compete again. Though there is no telling if the UFC will allow this, and him to take on Aspinall after months of stringing the division along — Aspinall only chooses to move past that and get the heavyweight division going again. Aspinall sat down with Newsweek Sports to discuss his new partnership with Champion Sportswear and his desire to welcome any challenger in the heavyweight division. What can you tell me about your partnership with Champion Sportswear? "It's something that I'm very happy with, to be honest, coming away from my last sponsor, who I was with for a long time, I really wanted to work with a partnership that I was comfortable with, happy with, something that I'm invested in as well, something that's going to go to the end of my career, and something that I can like, make my own a little bit as well, personalize, and something that I'm interested in, because I like the I like the stuff anyway, it's, obviously, it's a brand that's been around for, like, plus 100 years. So I'm, I'm very happy with it. Tom Aspinall of England looks on at Co-op Live on July 28, 2024 in Manchester, England. Tom Aspinall of England looks on at Co-op Live on July 28, 2024 in Manchester, England. BenMore news: Exclusive: Mike Perry on Dirty Boxing Success and Partnering With Jon Jones Since becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion, how has the brand partnership changed for you? "It just fits really well. I think it just, it just fits. I think that's the main thing. It just works really, really well for everybody. So everybody's happy, everyone's satisfied, and we move forward together, which is great." There is a two-minute and 20-second brand on the capsule. What is the deeper meaning behind that? "Yeah, of course. I mean, obviously, that's only going to stay for a little while until my next fight, because that is actually representing my fight time average, the shortest fight time average in UFC history. So it's two minutes and two seconds. So, on my signature shirts, you'll find 202 or something like that. Anyway, 0202 which signifies my record in the UFC hopefully we can get it lower than that. I'm not too sure. To be honest, I've done well so far with the short fights, but I know it's probably not going to be like this forever, so it might have to be changed a little bit after the next." How did you find out about Jon Jones retiring? Well, we kind of knew that it was going to happen anyway. We just didn't expect it to be last weekend ... We knew that he was going to retire, we knew that we were going to move on. We knew we were going to fight somebody else a couple of weeks ago. So we're expecting this to be announced at some point. But I found out by my phone blowing up at midnight, UK time, just as I was about to sleep, and next minute, my phone's like, going crazy that I made me the heavyweight champion, which is weird..." How close were we to seeing you fight Jon Jones? "They were telling me the same things that they told everybody else. So I don't know what happened on their side. That's like their business. I have no idea. But from my end, I just did everything that was asked of me. You know what? I mean, they just asked for me to wait, stay ready. Jones is in. They're going out soon, contracts coming your way, etc, etc. And for some reason, I don't know what the reason is, that didn't happen. So I did my part. I did my part, and that's all I can do." Was a fight with Jon Jones ever actually agreed on? "Yeah, but that's something that you will have to, you know, people need to ask the UFC because, as I said, that's really, essentially, that's not really my business. My business is that they offered me a fight. I said, yeah, they told me to be ready. I was ready. And that's it. That's all." Is this a bittersweet feeling, knowing that you're never going to get to fight Jon Jones? Or have you moved past that because of knowing that he was going to retire, that you're just ready for your next challenger? "I said this a lot over the last eight, 9-10 months. I never just wanted to fight Jon. Jon would have been a fantastic scalp to have on my record, but I was, I was trying to get the belt, and I was trying to fight people and be active. And am I upset that Jon retired? Well, I would have liked the fight, yeah, but I'm not like bothered about it. Do you know what I mean? I fight somebody else. No problem. I said that from the beginning." You've already beaten everyone in the top 10 of the heavyweight division. Is there anyone you are willing to face in a rematch? "I'm easy, honestly. I'm like the easiest employee ever. I just do what I'm told. That's it. Like, especially now, I'm the undisputed champion. Even before I was an undisputed champion, like they offered me a fight, I said yes, that's it. And it's never been any different. I'm like the easiest person to work with in the UFC. You can ask any of the matchmakers, any of the promoters, anything they ask me, and I say yes, and that's the way I'm going to work till the end of my career." Alex Pereira was rumored to be moving up to the heavyweight division. If he does, would that be a matchup you would take? Yeah, I guess. If I was him, I think you would want to get I want to get the light heavyweight belt back and go win that. I think he's got work to do. I think it's, think it's a tough fight for him in a rematch as well. I think Ankalaev is really good. I think people should start giving him his flowers a little bit, because the guy's really, really good. If I were Alex Pereira, I'd want to go and do that first before I start thinking about heavyweight. But yeah, like I said, if it's on the table. I'll take it. If another fights on the table, I'll take that, whatever." Say there's a situation where Jones comes out of retirement, is that fight still something that you would consider after everything that you've gone through with him? "If the UFC wants it, we'll do it. Yep, no problem. I'm open to fight anybody. Yeah, have no problem." Is there any timeline for your next fight? "Yeah, we're in talks at the moment ... I mean, it's gotta happen this year. I want to do two this year at least." To watch the entire interview, watch the video above. Fans can check out Aspinall's heavyweight Champion capsule here. For more MMA and UFC news, head to Newsweek Sports.
Newsweek
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Author Gets Honest About LeBron James, Michael Jordan's Legacy in New Book
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. What do Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark, Jeremy Lin, Giannis Antetokounmpo, A'ja Wilson, Kobe Bryant, Muggsy Bogues, Lisa Leslie, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan have in common? All of them played professional basketball in the best leagues available to them at the time — that much is common knowledge among even casual fans. More news: Three Bold Predictions for NBA Draft: Giannis Trade, 76ers Shakeup and More More than that, though, each star of the court has something in their personal history to offer children who are picking up the game today. Michael Jordan and LeBron James hug after the presentation of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. Michael Jordan and LeBron James hug after the presentation of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio."These players," author Chris Navalta told Newsweek Sports, "weren't given opportunities just because of who they were." Navalta's first book, Basketball Stars: Stories and Skills From the NBA's and WNBA's Best Players, released Tuesday by Penguin Random House, dives into the back stories of all 10 players. It's aimed at basketball fans ages 8-12. More news: Cooper Flagg Reveals His NBA Comparison Without Hesitation Before Draft The author said he relied on his 13-year-old nephew for inspiration. One tip the youngster wanted to know is conveyed in the book: Every chapter ends with a four-step process for how to do each player's signature move, from Lin's floater to LeBron's spin move. "The purpose of this book," Navalta writes, "is so you can gain valuable basketball skills while appreciating the journey all these players have gone through to make it to this level." More news: Fred VanVleet Inks Multi-Year Deal to Stay With Rockets Each journey is a little different, wisely offering something to teach kids from a variety of backgrounds. Leslie grew up the child of a single parent in inner-city Compton, California. Lin grew up in a wealthy Bay Area suburb, but was not offered any college scholarships, drafted by an NBA team, or even allowed into his first practice with the New Your Knicks (a security guard asked for his employment badge). When he was 6 years old, Bryant moved to Italy, a foreign country whose language he did not understand. Antetokounmpo's parents, who were Nigerian, were constantly under threats of deportation in Greece. More news: Jeanie Buss Finally Speaks Out on Lakers' Record-Breaking Purchase Although Navalta did not interview his subjects, many of these stories are well-told for adult audiences. James effectively grew up poor, and moved 10 times by his eighth birthday; Jordan did not, but he was cut from his high school's varsity basketball team as a sophomore, and used that as motivation to improve his game. Added up, the book offers age-appropriate lessons for children too young to watch every Netflix documentary but old enough to appreciate hard work — and the game of basketball. For more NBA news, visit Newsweek Sports.
Newsweek
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
NASCAR Driver Welcomes Circuit Shuffle Amid Talks of Racing Outside USA
NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman has applauded the sport for dropping old tracks from the race calendar to make way for new ones in recent years in a bid to keep the excitement alive. Through a rotational system, NASCAR has broken the monotony that drivers experienced racing on the same tracks twice a year. The sport held its first-ever Cup Series street race in Chicago in 2023, a venue that continues to be a part of the calendar this year. Discussions are also underway for a potential street race in San Diego in 2026. Bowman welcomed the idea of further track additions and encouraged the sport to expand its reach to international destinations. Speaking on Chasing Checkers, he said: "I think that's a really good thing. I think our schedule was the same for so long that I guess you could say it got a little bit stale. So, I think just continuing to change it up, go to new places, kind of rearrange it a little bit, I think it's a really good thing. Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 22, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 22, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania."Hopefully, we continue to add more new places going forward. I think that's important for our sport to go to new places and not go to the same 15 tracks twice a year forever, right? Like we want to go to different places and kind of change it up. There's so many great racetracks in the country and around the world. So, there's definitely a lot of cool places that we can go race." Speaking of racetracks outside of the USA, former NASCAR driver, commentator, and analyst Kyle Petty proposed races in Canada and Europe after NASCAR successfully held its first international points race in Mexico recently. Newsweek Sports reported his comments: "Obviously, if we're opening up Mexico, then I think we should take a look at Canada. I would like to see that. There are so many race fans. If you go to Michigan, Watkins Glen, you're right along the Canadian border. There's so many Canadian fans that come over. ... So I look at that and I say, Yeah, those are no-brainers to me. "I would love to see us land somewhere in Europe, at least once. I've been going to Goodwood [in England], places like that. There are so many NASCAR fans, so many stock car fans, and it's just a totally different form of racing than Formula One or sports cars or Le Mans and that type of racing. "It's just a totally different form. It's not better, it's not worse, it's just different, that's just the way it is. I think it would be interesting to see the type of crowd that we could draw over there on an oval, or on a road course, because we have opened ourselves up with this car to be in a road course-type series. I know it's never gonna go to full road courses, but there will be a lot more of them that add on."
