boxing

The Englishman, born to a Albanian father and a British-Yemeni mother, became hooked on the sport when his mum brought him to a boxing gym aged five.

“I was doing loads of sports at the time. But when I started sparring at about nine I just fell in love with it,” he says.

“The first time I got punched I thought ‘I have to get him back’. I used to get angry when I’d get hit. You have to learn to take one and land two in a minute.”

Maca caught the eye of Matchroom because of his remarkable amateur record. He has seven titles in the junior ranks, including five national titles.

He also won a silver medal at the IBA World Junior Championships representing Albania in 2023.

While he was earmarked to be a potential Olympian, he has long had his sights on linking up with Hearn – even cornering him at an event with fellow future Matchroom fighter and heavyweight Leo Atang.

“We didn’t get ringside [tickets] back then,” Maca jokes. “We spoke to Eddie and said we wanted to sign with him one day. He said, ‘come to me when you’re a bit older, boys’. And now here we are.”

Like Maca, Atang will make his professional bow as an 18-year-old. He fights on Jack Catterall’s undercard in Manchester in July.

EXCLUSIVE: Tommy Bradley is one of the singletons who is looking for love on the new series of Love Island, which kicks off tonight – and he’s got some huge connections

Tommy Bradley is ready to make his mark as he enters the villa tonight alongside 11 other hopefuls for the launch of the show’s 12th series – and he’s already packing some heavyweight connections.

The 24-year-old fitness buff from London just so happens to have brushed shoulders with boxing royalty. Yep, none other than Anthony Joshua. While he hasn’t met him just yet, Tommy’s brother works closely with the boxer.

But it’s not just AJ-level abs Tommy’s proud of – it’s that signature slicked-back hair. “It sounds weird,” he confessed, “but I blow-dry it for 20–25 minutes, style it, hairspray it, and sleep in a woolly hat to keep it in place.” Yes, really.

He even ruled out shaving it off for a date challenge. “No chance. It’s my best feature. I’ve had the same haircut since I was a kid!” So why sign up? “All my mates are in relationships – I’m the last single one,” he said. “Why not go away, meet new people, have a fantastic summer, and maybe come back with a girlfriend? No-brainer.”

READ MORE: Oodie sale sees price of its poncho towels reduced by £26 just in time for the next heatwave

He packed eight pairs of swim shorts and hit the gym hard in prep, bumping up the weights and making sure he was villa-ready. But if you’re wondering whether Tommy’s more lover or fighter, the truth is… he’s not quite either yet. “I’ve never been in a proper serious relationship,” he admits. “Just situationships that fizzled out after a few months. I’ve never even said ‘I love you’ – unless you count my mum and my nan.”

And speaking of mum, she didn’t hold back before his villa debut. “She actually brought up the sex thing and said, ‘If you do, I’ll be watching,’” Tommy reveals. Awkward. As for whether he’ll go there on-screen? “I’m not saying I will… but if the moment is right, maybe. Who knows?”

ITV’s Love Island has a string of secret sex rules, which the saucy singletons must follow. The new series of the smash-hit dating show, which kicks off tonight, is sure to be one of the steamiest yet after bosses revealed that sex scenes would be aired i n the Hideaway for the first time this summer.

The jaw-dropping move has divided viewers, with some saying they don’t know want to see what pops up beneath the sheets under the Spanish sun. However, others, think the rule change is just what the new series needs as executive producer Mike Spencer said: “If sex happens, we’ll show it. The Hideaway will be open 24 hours. We need to keep the show fresh and exciting.”

“After 10 years, the stats speak for themselves. The show will continue to thrive. We the producers need to stay ahead of the curve. The whole ‘twists and turns’ thing is about making the show fresh. We’re going to give it all we’ve got.” Well, mission accomplished.

Host Maya Jama, back with her signature sass and slay, said: “I feel like they forgot last year that you could come in the Hideaway at any time. We did tell them, but they kept forgetting!” Not anymore, Maya.

Megan Moore, who goes by Meg, is a 25-year-old payroll specialist from Southampton, told us: “It’s not ideal to be having it on telly, but you don’t know because you’re in that bubble. If it comes naturally, then it happens. You can’t ever never say never.”

Meanwhile, Sophie Lee, a 29-year-old former fire breather, influencer and motivational speaker from Manchester, is taking a different route: “I am celibate. I’ve practiced celibacy throughout my dating life. It’ll take a really hot guy to change that! For me, intimacy is giving a piece of my soul. If I’m not in a confident place, it’s my problem – not his.”

“I’ve gone over 8 months celibate now, I was two years celebate before, and I’m proud of that. I only want to have sex when I truly want to – not out of pressure.”

Love Island 2025 begins tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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World Boxing says Algerian gold medallist must get genetic screening to compete in future events, including Olympics.

Algeria’s Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening in order to participate in upcoming events, the sport’s governing body said, as it introduced mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competitions.

World Boxing announced the new policy on Friday and specifically mentioned Algeria’s Khelif, who won the women’s welterweight gold at the Paris Olympics last year and prompted a gender-eligibility row.

“Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at … any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes genetic sex screening in accordance with World Boxing’s rules and testing procedures,” the organisation said in a statement.

“World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,” it added.

World Boxing is responsible for organising bouts at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, after being granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

Under the new policy, all athletes above the age of 18 who want to participate in a World Boxing-owned or sanctioned competition will need to undergo a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction genetic test, to determine what sex they were at birth and their eligibility to compete.

The PCR test is a laboratory technique used to detect specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene, that reveals the presence of the Y chromosome, which is an indicator of biological sex.

The test can be conducted by a nasal or mouth swab, or by taking a sample of saliva or blood.

National federations will be responsible for testing and will be required to confirm the sex of their athletes when entering them into World Boxing competitions by producing certification of their chromosomal sex, as determined by a PCR test.

Reuters news agency reported that Khelif could not be reached for comment, while the Algerian Boxing Federation did not immediately respond to questions about the development.

Khelif said in March: “For me, I see myself as a girl, just like any other girl. I was born a girl, raised as a girl, and have lived my entire life as one.”

“I have competed in many tournaments, including the Tokyo Olympics and other major competitions, as well as four World Championships,” she said at the time.

“All of these took place before I started winning and earning titles. But once I began achieving success, the campaigns against me started.”

The 26-year-old is targeting a second gold medal at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles after her triumph in Paris.

Her Olympic success, along with that of Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, led to a raging gender eligibility debate in Paris, with high-profile figures such as United States President Donald Trump and Elon Musk weighing in.

In February, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Khelif said she would not be intimidated by Trump as she is not transgender.

DEONTAY WILDER has been urged to hang up his gloves just a month before his ring return.

The former long-reigning WBC heavyweight champion will bid to get back to winning ways on June 27 in a rebuild fight against Tyrrell Herndon.

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Wilder, 39, will enter the bout on the back of four defeats in his last five outings, with three of those losses being brutal knockouts to Tyson Fury and Zhilei Zhang.

The American has looked like a shell of the fighter who struck fear into the hearts of heavyweights during his pomp, so much so that a litany of boxing icons, Fury, included, have urged him to call it a day.

During an appearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with former UFC champs Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, he said: “I’d like to see poor old Deontay retire from boxing.

“When I beat Wilder, he was 44 and 0, with 43 KOs, and he KO’d the guy who went the distance with him in the rematch, so that means he knocked out every single person he ever faced. 44 people.

“Obviously, he lost the three fights to me and since that third trilogy, we took a lot of lot of years off each other’s lives.

“That war, which ended in the 11th round by knockout, that took a lot out of our tanks.

“Between me and Wilder in that trilogy there was 10 knockdowns. It takes a lot out of a fighter.

“Even when he’s come back and had a couple of fights since, he’s only a shadow of his former glory.

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“The only thing left that remains the same about Deontay is his name.”

Legendary boxing coach Teddy Atlas, who used to train Mike Tyson, shares the same view as Fury.

Atlas told Slingo: “The last thing to go, George Foreman showed, is that the last thing to go with a fighter is power.

“As long as you have power, you’ve got a shot.

“But the way he’s looked, the punishment he took against Zhilei Zhang.

“Wilder took a lot of punishment in his last few fights.

“And the way he took it, how clean he got hit, and how he reacted to it, just as a human being.

“Forget trainer, promoter, anything, just as a human being, I’d be concerned about him fighting again.”

Wilder and his team are hoping a win over Herndon will kick-start an unlikely run to a world title, with head coach Malik Scott saying: “He’s still got that urge to become champion, because he’s a champion at heart.

“He’s on the second half of his career, he’s filthy rich.

“He wants to make another run at the heavyweight championship of the world.”

Boxing world champion Claressa Shields says she is “done” with mixed martial arts after competing in three fights with the PFL.

Shields, 30, is unbeaten in boxing and a multiple-weight undisputed champion, but has fought sporadically in MMA since 2021, achieving a 2-1 record.

Her last MMA bout was a points win over Kelsey de Santis and the American says she will now be focusing on boxing.

“It was fun, but I don’t have enough time to train for it. It takes six to eight months just to get ready to defend takedowns. Even though I got a lot better and put in the time, I broke my arm twice. It was fun, and I enjoyed every fight I did,” Shields told Ariel Helwani, external.

“I’m already great in boxing, and to be great like that in MMA, I would have to train consistently for at least three to four years.

“I did really well in MMA. It was fun, but it was too hard.”

Shields took a two-and-a-half-year break between her second and third MMA fights.

The Michigan native recently added the undisputed heavyweight title to her world title collection.

Shields has become world champion in five different weight classes and is undefeated in 16 fights.

The Olympic gold medalist said she did have ambitions of becoming an MMA world champion, but admitted her family were keen for her to focus on boxing.

“My family never wanted me to do it,” she added.

“I did it because I wanted to prove a point, and I proved that point to myself three times, though you could say twice because I won twice.”