Richie1, Author at US Celeb

This Saturday, June 15 is the date that Frank Martin has marked in red on the calendar to defeat Gervonta Davis.

At stake is the WBA lightweight title with ‘Tank’ as the clear favourite, something the American challenger is comfortable with.

No one expects him to win, but he says he is ready to end the reign of one of the best.

“These kind of fights are the ones that define you. I feel like I’ve been the underdog in this sport since I started, so it’s nothing I’m not used to. I’m ready for this opportunity in front of me. You can’t blame people for being blind if you don’t wake them up. So having this fight is the perfect opportunity to show the world who I am,” Martin has said.

He has 18 career wins (12 by KO) and no losses. Good numbers, but perhaps not enough against an opponent of the calibre of Davis, a monster both in and out of the ring.

“When people doubt me, it feeds me. Gervonta thinks it’s too soon. He thinks I’m not ready. I see it as an opportunity to surprise the world. It’s my time. It’s my time. We could see the best fighter in the world get knocked out. I feel like they screwed up. By accepting this fight, they gave me the opportunity. I’ll show everybody,” he said.

What Martin says matters little to Davis, who is confident of his potential after 29 wins (27 by KO) and no losses

In his last fight, he finished Ryan Garcia with a stomach shot that proved decisive in the seventh round. Now, he gives Martin some chance of staying on his feet. Tank‘s’ prediction is that he will finish his opponent in the ninth round.

“Frank Martin is tough. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s in his prime, he’s hungry and he’s coming to win. He’s a great opponent. He’s going to be champion one day… but not on June 15.”

BOXING

Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin: Predictions, odds, how to watch lightweight title bout

A pair of undefeated titans will go head-to-head for the WBA Lightweight World Title. Gervonta “Tank” Davis will defend his title and outstanding record against Frank Martin.

Davis enters this fight with 29 wins, 0 defeats, and 27 knockouts. It’s tough to find a better resume than that. He’s coming off an impressive seventh-round victory over Ryan Garcia in April 2023. Saturday will be Martin’s first title shot. Despite an impressive 18-0 record with 12 knockouts, he’s definitely lacking in the power department compared to Davis.

Given Davis’ longevity, unprecedented power, and proven track record in title matches, most people aren’t giving Martin much of a chance. But that’s why the fights happen. Here’s everything to know about Saturday’s fight.

Sharma writes, “Given Davis’ superior record, championship pedigree, and most recent impressive win over a highly-touted opponent, we predict Davis will likely emerge victorious in this undefeated fight clash. Davis’ wealth of experience and his drive to maintain his undefeated record.”

Timothy Bradley: Martin is too lacking in experience to win

Bradley says, “I worry about Frank, too, where you have a guy [Gervonta Davis] that is comfortable, and he doesn’t mind playing catch-up,” Bradley continued. “See, that’s the thing. You don’t realize that. [Davis] is an apex predator for a reason because he sets traps.”

BOXING

Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin: Who is fighting on the undercard?

Gervonta Davis is back in action for the first time in 14 months when he faces Frank Martin in Las Vegas.

The fight, which will be available on Prime Video PPV in the U.S. and , will headline what is a stacked undercard.

David Benavidez is set to feature in the co-main event when he makes his light heavyweight debut against former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

In addition to Davis defending his WBA lightweight title, there is a second world title fight on the card with Carlos Adames making the first defence of his WBC middleweight title against Terrell Gausha.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Davis vs. Martin and who is featuring on the undercard.

Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin fight date, start time

Date: Saturday, June 15
Time: 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. UK time (Sunday)
Main event ringwalks (approx): 11 p.m. ET / 4 a.m. UK time (Sunday)

The broadcast is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. UK time. The Davis vs. Martin ringwalks are scheduled for 11 p.m. ET / 4 a.m. UK, but that may depend on the length of the fights on the undercard.

CELEB NEWS

How Suni Lee and Simone Biles Support Each Other Ahead of the 2024 Olympics

Give this friendship a gold medal. Suni Lee exclusively told E! News how she and Simone Biles “always want the best for each other” as they both compete for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team.

While Suni Lee and Simone Biles are both competing for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team, it hasn’t thrown the team dynamic off-balance.

The 2020 teammates cheered each other on at the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships earlier this month.

“We always want the best for each other,” Suni told E! News in an exclusive interview. “We all want the same spot, but we’re also all rooting for each other because we know the potential that somebody else can bring. We also understand the difficulties and the hardships that you have to go through every single day to be here. So to have the support and to just know that you can lean on each other has been the most helpful thing and something that you don’t see often.”

Simone sprang into action after Suni performed one and a half twists instead of her intended two and didn’t stick the landing during her vault at the championships. And the four-time gold medalist—who experienced the “twisties” at the 2020 Games—could relate.

After Suni vaulted, I knew exactly what was going through her head,” Simone recalled during a press conference. “I dealt with that in Tokyo. So I just knew that she needed some encouragement and somebody to trust her gymnastics for her and to believe in her. So that’s exactly what I did.”

After offering some reassurance, Simone went over to support Suni as she competed on bars—giving her a high-five after she completed her routine.

“I think she knew that I needed help in the moment,” Suni told reporters, per a video shared by USA Today. “She out of anyone understands, basically, what I did on vault. So, she just came over to see if I was OK and basically just helped boost me up and get my confidence back up because at that point I was kinda thinking that this was over. So it was really nice having her in my corner, and she’s just been so supportive.”

Simone won the women’s all-around and Suni placed fourth—with them now both preparing for the 2024 Olympic Team Trials later this month.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Suni told E!. “I feel like I’ve been feeling it a lot more recently, but also kind of not really. Because I have been trying to take the pressure off of myself and really just knowing that I am doing this for myself. Because I’ve had to overcome so much the past two years to where I didn’t even think that I would be here.”

That includes dealing with a kidney issue that ended her final season on Auburn University’s gymnastics team early in 2023. And though Suni told E! she’s “doing really good” health-wise, she noted she’s still trying to not think too far into the future.

“Making the Olympic team obviously would be a dream,” the gymnast said. “But right now, I want to focus on what’s going to happen today at practice. Like that’s been my biggest thing—just focusing on what’s in front of me and not what’s ahead of me because otherwise I’m going to get so nervous and probably have a mental breakdown.”

And so Suni continues to take care of both her physical and mental health.

“I journal, I go to therapy,” she added, “and that’s been the biggest game changer because there was a lot of self-doubt in there and a lot of pressure and a lot of not knowing where it all stemmed from. So to be able to talk about it, speak about it and know that it’s OK to not be OK and to feel these ways, it’s a great feeling.”

Sharing her experience has also helped Suni when it comes to her battle with eczema. And recently, the 21-year-old partnered with Eli Lilly and Company—the health equity sponsor of Team USA—to help others with the same diagnosis feel less alone.

“I feel like it started off really difficult because I always felt so insecure, and, I guess, just embarrassed to say that I had eczema or to even show the symptoms,” Suni said. “I know when I was having a flare-up and it was very noticeable, I was always trying to cover it up with my makeup, which ultimately made it worse. So, it didn’t help in the end. But I think being able to talk about it and also partnering with Lilly has been something so amazing for me mentally because I feel so much more confident in my own skin and now I can just embrace it.”

“I think that’s the message that I want to send out to younger generations,” she continued, “because, when I was younger, I don’t think a lot of people were talking about it. So to be someone that other people can kind of look up to is just a great feeling all around.”

And whether the three-time Olympic medalist adds some more hardware to her trophy shelf or not, she’s proud of how far she’s come.

“I think I would give myself a medal for not giving up,” Suni said. “I mean, there has been so much that I could have given up on and so many things that have happened to where I could have just kind of put this aside and moved on with my life. But I wanted better for myself and I also wanted to be able to walk away from this Olympics or this quad knowing that I gave everything that I had and not regret anything.”

BOXING

Hearn confident Joshua, Dubois will fight for IBF title

Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has expressed confidence that his client and Daniel Dubois will most likely fight for the IBF title currently held by Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Anthony Joshua

Dubois won the interim IBF heavyweight title on June 1 with a stunning eighth-round TKO victory over the previously undefeated Filip Hrgovic in Saudi Arabia.

SunSport reports that Joshua and Dubois are now in talks over a huge domestic dust-up at Wembley on either October 20 or 21 and Hearn is confident that the IBF title will be on the line.

“Will the Joshua-Dubois fight be for a title? For that, we need Usyk to be honest and admit that he doesn’t want to fight Dubois, who is the mandatory challenger. Usyk should fight him, but he has a rematch with Fury.

“Joshua and Dubois will fight for the IBF title, while all other belts will be on the line in the Usyk-Fury rematch. Then, the winners of these fights could face each other for the undisputed championship,” said Hearn.

The rematch between Usyk and Tyson Fury is scheduled for December 21, a month after Joshua and Dubois’ proposed bout

Joshua has rediscovered himself with four wins on the bounce, the most recent being his brutal second-round KO of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou

However, he’s refusing to overlook Dubois, who bounced back from his TKO loss to Usyk with successive stoppages of Jarrell Miller and Hrgovic.

The former two-time unified heavyweight champion said, “I’ve got to pick them off one by one.

“It’s not going to be easy, but that’s my mentality. So come one, come all… He (Dubois) has been in tougher fights, so he becomes hardened.

“He has worked his way up the ladder, we’ll see what happens in the near future. Wembley, O2, York Hall – wherever they put me, I’m happy to fight. Any venue, I’ll turn up and do my job.”

BOXING

Heavyweight Contender Vows To ‘Kick Anthony Joshua’s A’: “I’m Obsessed With Him”

Anthony Joshua is in high demand amongst heavyweight contenders, with a win providing a mega payday and a seat at the division’s top table. Some just want to ‘kick his ass.’

The two-time world champion is currently on the up. Following two losses to now-undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk, ‘AJ’ has been on a run of four wins, each more impressive than the last.

With potentially a few years left before retirement, the Brit’s current goal is to win the world title once more. He would also like the fight against countryman Tyson Fury and potentially a third crack at Usyk.

If there’s a desire to settle any bad blood, he may just look to Jarrell Miller. The American was set to welcome AJ to New York back in 2019 before testing positive for numerous banned substances. He was pulled from the fight and replaced by Andy Ruiz, who handed Joshua his first loss.

Speaking on the Mics podcast, Miller explained when and why he first became ‘obsessed’ with the career of Joshua.“I’m good at reading people … I Googled him and I got obsessed with watching all of his interviews, because he was an Olympian and I watch all Olympic fights. They gave him two [wins] even when he lost in London, they gave him the Gold Medial.

I’m like you give this guy too much, he’s a good fighter but he’s not super great. I’m like aight, this the guy I’m gonna aim at. He kept winning so I’m coming for his head.”

He then confidently predicted that the fight would happen one day, believing he is only one of a few opponents Joshua can really sell a fight with.

“Don’t get it messed up, I’m obsessed with kicking his ass though. That’s gonna happen one of these days … There’s not a lot of fights for him to be in that are gonna be blockbusters.”

Following that interview, ‘Big Baby’ was defeated by Daniel Dubois. He has since confirmed ‘AJ’ is still on his hit-list, and has a fight against the Brit’s previous opponent Ruiz on August 3 to prove he deserves it.

Joshua will return in September, potentially against Dubois for a vacant world title.

BOXING

Lennox Lewis Knows The Reason For Anthony Joshua’s Resurgence: “It’s Transformed Him”

It’s no secret that Lennox Lewis and Anthony Joshua haven’t always seen eye to eye.

Former undisputed champion and widely revered all-time great Lewis has had plenty to say about Joshua in the past. Even as recently as ahead of his last fight in March, Lewis poured scorn on ‘AJ’ for choosing an opponent he thought had ‘no credibility’ in Francis Ngannou.

Regardless of that, ‘AJ’ scored an impressive knockout win over the former MMA star to complete four solid victories in a year with two of the other three also being stoppages against Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin.

The most recent wins came with new coach Ben Davison in ‘AJ’s corner – the man many are crediting with turning his form around after the back-to-back losses he took to Oleksandr Usyk.

Speaking to Boxing King Media, Lewis was asked if he saw improvements in Joshua under Davison and pinpointed his ‘winning mentality’ as the key factor for the change around.

“I think his transformation in his last couple of fights was his winning mentality.

I see it in him, he’s more focused, he’s more serious, so I’m happy he has a good guy in his corner that can give him good information that he can work off.”

It is widely tipped that Joshua will be out next against Daniel Dubois in September when the pair could potentially battle it out for the vacant IBF title as he attempts to become a three-time world champion.

BOXING

Former Heavyweight Champion Has No Doubt Anthony Joshua Would Knockout Tyson Fury

The teams of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are adamant that the two will star in an all-British heavyweight clash before retirement.

Fans are a little more skeptical given the fight has failed to cross the line on a number of occasions, but with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season now dictating the heavyweight division, and doing so through top matchmaking, it becomes a little more likely.

The two former champions have both now been relieved of their belts by Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian took Joshua’s unified titles back in 2021 and became undisputed this year by winning Fury’s WBC.

Although Fury has a contracted rematch clause – as did ‘AJ’ back in 2022, a second loss – the Joshua fight will be there next year and it’s last chance saloon to make it.

Should it happen, the man credited with causing the biggest upset the heavyweight division has ever seen, James Buster Douglas, backed ‘AJ’ to score the stoppage in an interview with Gambling Zone.

“Right now I think AJ beats Fury. It’s not that Fury is on the decline, he just no longer has that strength to withstand that force. Once you start putting your punches together, he tends to get weak as the fight goes on and his power levels start faltering.

It’s a strong possibility that AJ would knock Fury out, I think he would. He would definitely take Fury out. It would not go the distance, AJ would knock him out.”

Douglas, who shocked the world when he knocked Mike Tyson out in 1990 to become undisputed, believes that this generation of heavyweights pales in comparison to his own.

“I speak to my trainer about today’s heavyweights and he has a low opinion of them and says they [Fury and AJ] wouldn’t have been in the top 30 in my era, I have to agree. They have skills, but as far as endurance, I don’t know. They don’t seem to be able to withstand power and aggressiveness.”

Fury rematches Usyk on December 21 this year. Joshua will return in September at Wembley Stadium with an opponent set to be announced at a London press conference on June 26.

CELEB NEWS

The hilarious moment Lewis Hamilton is asked for ID at the Canadian Grand Prix before seven-time world champion scoots off leaving security guard bemused

No driver has won the Canadian Grand Prix more times than Lewis Hamilton

The Brit has however not won a race since Saudi Arabia back in December 2021 Lewis Hamilton was left perplexed ahead of the Canada Grand Prix after a security guard asked him for his credentials as the seven-time champions rode his scooter around the grounds.

The seven-time world champion is among the most globally recognised faces in sport, after a storied career in motor racing that has seen him win world titles with McLaren and Mercedes.

With the latter he has won six world titles, but that 11-year long partnership between Hamilton and Mercedes will come to an end at the end of the year after the Brit signed a sensational deal to join Ferrari for 2025

Throughout his career, Hamilton has greatly enjoyed his time in Montreal – in fact no driver has won there more times, with Michael Schumacher tied on seven – however that didn’t stop security asking him for some identification.

A video clip shows the 39-year-old riding a scooter towards the security guard, who gestures at his chest and holds his lanyard suggesting Hamilton show his own in order to pass

Hamilton, however, in a Mercedes-branded t-shirt double takes as he passes the guard, perhaps surprised that he was asked for his credentials

The guard doesn’t put up too much resistance, though, and just watches as the superstar driver just scoots on looking bemused over his shoulder.

A member of what appears to be the Mercedes star’s entourage gestures towards the security guard to assuage any fears and Hamilton is allowed to pass on.

While it is one of his favourite hunting grounds, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has not seen one of its favourite racers come out on top for five years now – a run Hamilton will want to break.

He has in fact not won a race since Saudi Arabia in December 2021, with Red Bull assuming Mercedes’ position as the top of the pile in recent years.

It comes after the FIA unveiled the incoming technical regulations from 2026 on Thursday ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix to much fanfare.

They promise machinery 30kg lighter than the current lumbering behemoths, saying the slimmer design will make them ‘nimbler’ and produce closer racing.

But Hamilton, who has called for lighter cars for years, said: ‘It’s only 30kg. It’s going in the right direction, but it is still heavy.

‘I have only just seen what you have this morning so I don’t have any big thoughts just yet.

‘The drivers who have driven in a simulator said it’s pretty slow. We’ll have to see.

‘In terms of sustainability it is going in the right direction, though.’

CELEB NEWS

Mercedes W15 performs ‘vanishing’ act on Lewis Hamilton at Canadian Grand Prix

Three tenths up in FP3 in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton could do nothing to challenge George Russell for pole position in qualifying when his great feeling with his W15 “vanished”.

Hamilton’s Canadian Grand Prix weekend began on a positive note when the Briton, armed with Mercedes’ upgraded front wing, declared he was “really hopeful” after a strong start on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton unable to join pole battle in Canada

“I do feel like we’re closer to the front this weekend,” he added.

He topped that Friday feeling with a P1 time in Saturday’s final practice where he was 0.374s faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

But alas that’s where the good feelings ended.

Although the Mercedes driver made it through to the pole position shoot-out on Saturday afternoon with the second quickest time in Q2, where he was right behind his team-mate Russell on the timesheet, a lack of grip in the final segment meant he finished down in seventh place.

Hamilton was 0.280s down on the pole position time, a time that was set by Russell.

He says his good feeling with his W15 just vanished.

“The car had been feeling great all weekend,” he told Sky Sports.

“I mean first of all, congratulations to George who did a great job. It’s really great for the team. Everyone at the factory worked so hard to bring upgrades so this is a huge boost for everyone at the factory.

“The car was feeling great all weekend and as soon as I got to qualifying that kind of vanished for me.”

“The grip just disappeared for me,” he added. “FP3, I had plenty of pace and then we get to qualifying and the tyres don’t work.”

Asked if any changes had been made to the car, he shook his head and replied, “Nothing changed on the car.”

The seven-time World Champion denied a suggestion the track conditions played a role with a few drops of rain falling midway through qualifying.

“The conditions were great,” he told the media. “The conditions were perfect, just for some reason the tyres weren’t working the whole session. I just didn’t have grip.

“I had easily half a second advantage in FP3 and that was gone.”