Floyd

Manny Pacquiao says he has “almost” agreed a rematch with fellow boxing legend Floyd Mayweather.

The former multi-weight world champions first met in 2015, in what was billed as the ‘Fight of the Century’.

Mayweather won after 12 rounds by unanimous decision but Pacquiao said he had a shoulder injury and told the BBC in 2018 that he “cannot retire with peace of mind with that defeat”.

The 46-year-old retired in 2021 but returned to face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in his comeback fight in July, with Barrios retaining his title after a majority draw.

Mayweather has had a string of exhibition bouts since retiring with an undefeated record in 2017 and the 48-year-old American is scheduled to face Mike Tyson next year.

But Pacquiao says Mayweather’s camp are “in negotiations” over a rematch that would “probably” take place in Las Vegas.

“It depends on whether we can understand each other,” the Filipino told Seconds Out., external “My people and his people [are] directly co-ordinating.”

Referring to his injury in 2015, Pacquiao added: “It’s very interesting because, right now, I don’t have a shoulder problem.

“I’m sure the world of boxing will be excited if the rematch will push through. He has his own decision so I cannot prevent him from fighting Mike Tyson.”

Mayweather’s exhibition fight with former heavyweight champion Tyson, 59, is scheduled for next spring but an exact date is yet to be confirmed.

Britain’s James DeGale earned victory by unanimous decision against Matt Floyd on his bare-knuckle boxing debut in Manchester.

DeGale, an Olympic gold medallist and former two-time IBF super-middleweight champion, came out on top of a scrappy affair with the judges scoring it 48-43, 48-43 and 47-44 in his favour.

Australian Floyd was deducted three points during the fight for headbutting DeGale and putting him in a headlock, with the 39-year-old Briton doing some of his best work via his jab.

“The holding and punching, it’s crazy stuff. But I’m 1-0 and that’s all that matters,” said DeGale.

“He was tough but in a boxing fight he wouldn’t last two rounds.”

The bout was DeGale’s first since a punishing loss to Chris Eubank Jr six years ago that ended his career.

DeGale made history as Britain’s first boxer to win both Olympic gold and a professional world title in 2015.

JAMES DeGale is set to make his bare-knuckle fighting debut on TONIGHT!

DeGale returns to combat sports against Matt Floyd in Manchester for the first time since he left boxing.

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The former world champion has been out of the ring since 2019, with his last fight being a defeat to Chris Eubank Jr.

He will main event a mega Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship card in Manchester with the hotly anticipated clash between Aaron Chalmers and Love Island star Jack Fincham.

SunSport can reveal the EXACT time the fight will get going!

What time is James DeGale vs Matt Floyd?

• DeGale vs Floyd will take place on Saturday, September 27.
• Ringwalks for the HUGE clash are expected at approximately 10:30pm BST.
• The card is set to get going at 6pm BST.
• Manchester’s AO Arena will host.

What TV channel is James DeGale vs Matt Floyd on and can it be live streamed?

• DeGale vs Floyd will be broadcast live on DAZN, which is available in over 200 countries with a subscription.
• If you are not currently a DAZN member, monthly and annual subscriptions are available.
• An Annual Super Saver subscription is a one-off payment of £119.99 for 12 months access (£14.99 per month if paying in monthly instalments). 
• And a Monthly Flexible pass, which can be cancelled at any time, is £24.99 per month.
• Alternatively, you can follow the action as it happens via SunSport‘s LIVE blog.

JAMES DeGALE will make his bare-knuckle fighting debut on Saturday night.

The former boxing world champion and Olympic gold medalist returns to combat sports against Australian Matt Floyd in Manchester.

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DeGale has been out of action since he retired from boxing in 2019 following defeat to Chris Eubank Jr.

The Londoner, who became the first British boxer to win both an Olympic gold medal and a professional world title, will be looking to get back to fighting for silverware.

DeGale tops a huge Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship card with the highly anticipated bout between reality TV stars Aaron Chalmers and Jack Fincham also on the bill.

SunSport brings you all the details you need ahead of Saturday’s huge BKFC 81 event.

When is James DeGale vs Matt Floyd?

• DeGale vs Floyd will take place on Saturday, September 27.
• The show will begin at 6pm BST.
• The main event will likely begin at approximately 10.30pm BST.
• Manchester’s AO Arena will host.

What TV channel is James DeGale vs Matt Floyd on and can it be live streamed?

• DeGale vs Floyd will be broadcast live on DAZN, which is available in over 200 countries with a subscription.
• If you are not currently a DAZN member, monthly and annual subscriptions are available.
• An Annual Super Saver subscription is a one-off payment of £119.99 for 12 months access (£14.99 per month if paying in monthly instalments). 
• And a Monthly Flexible pass, which can be cancelled at any time, is £24.99 per month.
• Alternatively, you can follow the action as it happens via SunSport‘s LIVE blog.

Who else is on the BKFC 81 card?

• James DeGale vs Matt Floyd; Light heavyweight
• Aaron Chalmers vs Jack Fincham; Light heavyweight
• Jonny Graham vs Navid Mansouri; Lightweight
• Jack Cullen vs Stanislav Grosu; Middleweight
• Jonno Chipchase vs Lewis Garside; Featherweight
• Dec Spelman vs Dawid Chylinski; Light heavyweight
• David Oskar vs Travis Dickinson; Cruiserweight
• Bartlomiej Krol vs Jon Telfer; Lightweight
• Joe Lister vs Sean Weir; Light heavyweight
• Keiron Sewell vs Patryk Pietrasik; Bantamweight
• Andy Thornton vs Matty Hil; Heavyweight
• Gaz Corran vs Danny Moir; Middleweight
• Benjamin Lowe vs Mikey Henderson; Middleweight

MIKE TYSON has been seen for the first time since announcing his exhibition with Floyd Mayweather – as he PUNCHED MrBeast in the stomach.

Tyson and Mayweather – with a combined age of 107 – have signed to supposedly fight in 2026.

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Iron Mike looked a shadow of himself last November when he took on Jake Paul in his first professional bout in 20 YEARS.

Most hoped and expected it to be a brief cameo in the ring – until his joint announcement with Mayweather.

Tyson stepped out for the first time since sharing the news of his comeback as he watched Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford from Las Vegas.

The heavyweight great linked up with YouTube sensation MrBeast and delivered one of his trademark body shots.

MrBeast – real name James Stephen Donaldson – sunk to his knees after getting a very small and tamed taste of Tyson’s power.

No date or venue has been confirmed for Tyson’s exhibition with Mayweather – but it is set for the spring of next year.

Mayweather officially retired in 2017 after beating ex-UFC champion in Conor McGregor in ten rounds – earning around £250m for doing so.

But Mayweather has continued to box in exhibitions since against stars from the boxing, MMA and social media world.

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CANELO VS CRAWFORD LIVE: ALL THE LATEST FROM THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY

Canelo vs Crawford – All the info

IT’S finally time – one of the biggest boxing matches EVER takes place THIS WEEKEND.

Two of boxing’s GOATs will meet in the ring as they fight for pound-for-pound supremacy and the super-middleweight crown.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford have been fixtures in the top of the rankings for years and are considered among the best to ever do it.

Unbeaten Crawford, who beat Israil Madrimov to win the light-middleweight title last time out, hasn’t fought for a year.

He is jumping up two weight divisions to meet Canelo, having spent most of his career weighing in even lighter.

Mexican favourite Canelo has scored title defences over Edgar Berlanga and William Scull since Crawford was last inside a ring.

Here’s all the info for this must-watch fight…

INFO

LATEST NEWS

His last came in August 2024 against the grandson of notorious New York crime boss John Gotti – going the distance without a winner.

Tyson, now 59, meanwhile hung up his gloves in 2005 following two dismal defeats against Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.

But he did make a return in 2020 for an exhibition with fellow icon Roy Jones Jr – ending in a draw over eight rounds.

It was last year that Tyson made the shock announcement that he was making a comeback to fight Paul in a professionally-sanctioned bout.

YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul won over eight shorter rounds of two minutes with over 100 MILLION watching on Netflix.

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Maybe Mike Tyson should pick on someone his own size.

Maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. should pick on someone his own age.

Maybe both men should stay retired.

Or maybe we should just kick back and enjoy an unexpected but extremely intriguing contest between two all-time great boxers from different eras (and weight classes).

Might as well take the last option because Tyson vs. Mayweather is happening in spring 2026.

CSI Sports / Fight Sports on Thursday announced the upcoming exhibition bout without providing too many other details, such as the date or location of the event or at what weight the fight will take place.

Another detail that hasn’t been revealed is how much money each fighter will earn. No doubt it will be quite a hefty amount, a notion Mayweather may have been referencing when he posted multiple videos Thursday on his Instagram Stories featuring himself sitting in what appears to be a private jet and handling large stacks of cash.

The hype machine has already started, though.

CSI Sports / Fight Sports co-founders Richard and Craig Miele predicted in a news release that the fight would be bigger than Tyson’s record-setting bout with Jake Paul last November. That fight was the most-streamed sporting event of all time and brought in the largest gate for a U.S. boxing or MMA event held outside of Las Vegas.

“Tyson vs. Mayweather will break every broadcast, streaming and economic record set by Mike Tyson in 2024,” the Miele brothers said. “We are planning a robust promotional campaign complete with weekly premium storytelling and worldwide marketing reach. The event itself will be in a world-class venue and be presented to a global audience with new in-ring technology elements that will reshape how boxing is presented, and scoring is achieved for years to come.”

Tyson (59-7, 44 KO) was the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987-1990. The then-57-year-old Tyson ended nearly two decades of retirement from professional fighting last year when he fought the then-27-year-old Paul in a sanctioned bout. Paul won that match by unanimous decision.

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KO) won 15 championship belts spanning five weight classes, from super featherweight to light middleweight. He is now 48 and hasn’t fought a professional bout since his 10th-round technical knockout of Conor McGregor in 2017.

The boxers are already in hype mode as well, as evidenced by their comments in the press release announcing the event.

“I still can’t believe Floyd wants to really do this,” Tyson said. “It’s going to be detrimental to his health, but he wants to do it, so it’s signed and it’s happening!”

Mayweather said: “There hasn’t been a single fighter that can tarnish my legacy. … I’m the best in the business of boxing.”

MIKE TYSON is set to fight Floyd Mayweather in a blockbuster boxing fight in 2026.

The two sporting icons have already signed contracts for the exhibition bout.

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The retired duo will face off in a Spring showdown, TMZ reports.

Tyson, who confirmed the news on Instagram on Thursday night, will enter the ring again aged 59.

The heavyweight king sparked health concerns during a fight against Jake Paul last year.

He struggled in the clash against his younger foe.

And unbeaten 48-year-old is eleven years his new rival’s age.

The 50-0 legend has also been able to keep himself in top shape in retirement.

Tyson’s bout against Mayweather is being organized by CSI Sports/Fight Sports.

An exact date and location is not yet known.

“This fight is something neither the world nor I ever thought would or could happen,” Iron Mike said.

“However, boxing has entered a new era of the unpredictable, and this fight is as unpredictable as it gets.

“I still can’t believe Floyd wants to really do this.

“It’s going to be detrimental to his health, but he wants to do it, so it’s signed and it’s happening!”

The exhibition fight will not go towards their professional records.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and there hasn’t been a single fighter that can tarnish my legacy,” Mayweather said.

“You already know that if I am going to do something, it’s going to be big and it’s going to be legendary.

“I’m the best in the business of boxing.

“This exhibition will give the fans what they want.”

Mayweather has been named the greatest fighter this century.

He last fought professionally in August 2017 when he took on UFC king Conor McGregor.

‘Money’ also fought Logan Paul in an exhibition bout years later.

Tyson’s last fight against his brother Jake drew 108 million viewers.

Actor Floyd Levine, whose career spanned numerous decades and a variety of projects ranging from films “The Hangover” and “Norbit” to TV shows “Melrose Place” and “Murder, She Wrote,” has died. He was 93.

Levine died Sunday, surrounded by family and “probably wishing someone would bring him a martini,” his daughter-in-law Tracy Robbins announced Tuesday on Instagram. Robbins, who is married to Levine’s son, former Paramount executive Brian Robbins, said Levine was “the best father-in-law, grandpa, and all around jokester.”

Levine began his screen career in the early 1970s and appeared in almost 100 productions. His notable credits also include films “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Bloodbrothers,” “Super Fly” and TV series “Kojak,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Baywatch” and “Days of Our Lives.” He often played minor characters, including police officers, detectives, tailors, doctors and a crime boss.

A former taxi cab driver from New York City, Levine also collaborated with his son on Eddie Murphy starrers “Norbit,” “Meet Dave” and “A Thousand Words.” Robbins was inspired by his father to pursue an entertainment career and was also an actor, director and longtime producer before he became an industry executive. The father-son duo also both appeared in “Archie Bunker’s Place” and “Head of the Class.” They also worked together on “Good Burger,” “Kenan & Kel” and “Coach Carter.”

“Brian is basically his twin, and we will see Floyd’s grin every time we look at him,” Tracy Robbins added in her Instagram post.

“You all have made my life sugar, and I love you all so much,” he tells loved ones in a video shared by Robbins. “If I could do it, I’d hug you and kiss you all. God bless you all and keep punching.”

Levine was laid to rest on Wednesday. In addition to Brian and Tracy Robbins, survivors also include daughter Sheryl, son Marc and several grandchildren, according to the Hollywood Reporter. His wife, Rochelle, died in May 2022 at age 85.

“I would like to think there’s a casting call in heaven, and you showed up early, script in hand,” Tracy Robbins added in her post. “I will miss him dearly, but i know he’s making the angels laugh already and back together with his beautiful wife Rochelle.”

Football fans could see a familiar face on the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor this year – as former Leeds player Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has reportedly been signed to compete on the BBC show

With the 2025 season of Strictly Come Dancing just weeks away from launching, more stars are being linked to the show – with a premiere league icon the latest to be tipped to star. Former Leeds United star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is said to be swapping soccer for sequins as a contestant on the long-running BBC show.

The 53-year-old Dutch sportsman stands to be the latest in a long line of football legends to take to the Strictly dancefloor. He would follow the likes of Robbie Savage, Alex Scott and Tony Adams to bid for Glitterball Trophy victory.

The former striker was hired as a coach for the England national team in 2023, but stepped away from responsibilities in August last year following manager Gareth Southgate’s exit last August. With time on his hands, it is suggested Jimmy could be among the celebrities taking part in Strictly this year.

A source told The Sun: “Jimmy has a huge fanbase from his years playing in the Premier League and is a very likeable character. Show producers are always keen to book a retired footballer as it gets footie fans tuning into the series and becoming unlikely fans of the show.

“Jimmy has a competitive edge and is going to get his head in the game.” The Mirror has contacted representatives of Jimmy and the BBC for comment.

Olympian Sir Mo Farah, Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey – better known as Nitro – and former Big Brother contestant Yinrun Huang are among stars tipped to appear in the upcoming new season.

Judges Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke are all set to return for the 2025 season – which will be the 23rd in the long history of the show. But after the past two years, bosses are said to be worried about fresh scandal hitting the show.

Stirctly has been dragged into disrepute in recent years amid accusations that professional dancers have been physically abusive to their celebrity dance partners. While the celebs have also been accused of offensive behaviour.

Earlier this year, it was reported BBC bosses are practically paralyzed by a “terrible, terrible fear” that more scandal will hit the show – and there have been attempts to clean up the image of the series – and this could also impact star signings.

It has been suggested the BBC are taking steps to go risk free and leaving no stone unturned to make sure the line-up is as safe as possible for the 2025 season. Blue Peter presenters Joel Mawhinney and Shini Muthukrishnan are said to be under consideration – as is Tom Parker Bowles, the son of Queen Camilla.

Georgia Toffolo – the I’m a Celebrity Jungle Queen – is reportedly being lined up, as is Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts. Newly married former Love Island star Dani Dyer is being considered, it has been reported, with former Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan another name high up on bosses’ list.

“There is a terrible, terrible fear among those high up that these awful things are going to keep happening and the show will be brought into disrepute again and again,” one well-place BBC insider has told MailOnline. “With that in mind, they are taking no chances.

“There will be stringent checks, and asking around, and digging into potential stars’ backgrounds to make sure that they’re not choosing anyone who might damage the show. For years, there was the whole Strictly “curse” where the contestants and professionals kept having affairs. But that stopped.

“Changes were made to the partnerships and it worked. There have been other issues in the past couple of years, though. What’s been even more embarrassing for the BBC is that Wynne and Jamie have been from their own stable of stars. Going forward, those at the top want a wholesome image to shine through. No more scandal – just joy.”

The report came after 2024 contestant Jamie Borthwick, who is known for playing Jay Brown in the BBC soap EastEnders, was forced to issue a groveling apology after footage was reportedly uncovered showing him making derogatory comments about the people of Blackpool.

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This Memorial Day weekend marks the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Floyd’s murder under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer sparked a protest movement that reached the streets of cities across the nation.

In Minneapolis, residents, activists and artists painted murals and messages on plywood boards used to protect storefront windows during the unrest. More than 1,000 of those pieces of art have been collected and preserved by the organization Memorialize the Movement. The Minnesota Star Tribune recently ran a fascinating profile by Dee DePass and Alicia Eler of MTM’s founder and executive director, Leesa Kelly, along with two other community activists, Kenda Zellner-Smith, who created the group Save the Boards, and Jeanelle Austin, who started George Floyd Global Memorial, now called Rise and Remember.

Together, the three women have dedicated themselves to ensuring the Floyd protest art remains visible and accessible to the public. A large portion of their time is spent on fundraising to pay for the costly storage of the boards.

According to the Star Tribune, the rent on Memorialize the Movement’s warehouse is $3,500 a month, and the group spends another $1,500 on utilities and staff. Fundraising for this kind of work may become more challenging with the Trump administration’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion — not to mention the possible elimination of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.

These headwinds have not dimmed the spirits of the women, who regularly stage exhibitions of the protest murals in places such as Minnesota’s Carleton College, Normandale Community College, Franconia Sculpture Park and Roseville Lutheran Church, as well as Watermill Center in upstate New York,

For more information on Memorialize the Movement, click here.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt taking a moment to reflect and remember. Read on for this week’s arts news.

Best bets: Holiday edition

Haven’t yet made plans for Memorial Day? Go to a museum! Here’s a quick sampling of places that are open on the holiday:

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the new NHM Commons and the dinosaur Gnatalie. The NHM’s sister operation at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum also is open, same hours. nhm.org

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in L.A. will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can take in the new exhibition “Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho,” centered on the filmmaker behind “Parasite,” “Mickey 17” and “Snowpiercer.” Make a day of it and walk over to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena will be open its usual Monday hours, noon to 5 p.m. Times critic Christiopher Knight offers this exceptionally helpful guide to the collection.

Unless it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Day, the California Science Center in Exposition Park is always opens, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission to the galleries. Bring kids to the just-opened interactive exhibition “Game On! Science, Sports & Play” or the return of “Dogs! A Science Tale.”

The Huntington in San Marino will be open. “Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits” (read Knight’s praise for the show) and the Betye Saar site-specific installation “Drifting Toward Twilight” are on view, and temperatures in those fabulous gardens should be lovely.

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Sadie Sink in “John Proctor Is the Villain.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

Times theater critic Charles McNulty spent time in New York talking with Kimberly Belflower about her Tony-nominated play, “John Proctor Is the Villain,” starring Sadie Sink from the Netflix hit “Stranger Things.” The play, about students in Georgia reading Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” “casts a mysterious spell that I’m still processing a month later,” McNulty writes.

Meanwhile, back in L.A., McNulty praises a lovely revival of playwright Terrance McNally’s musical adaptation of the 1994 film “A Man of No Importance.” The film starred Albert Finney as a Dublin bus conductor obsessed with Oscar Wilde and amateur theater. The musical team behind “Ragtime” — Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) — adds whimsical dimensions to the story. Of particular note, McNulty writes, is the “graceful direction of the company’s producing artistic director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott,” who “finds freedom in Wilde’s iconoclastic example.”

Arnold Schoenberg arrived in L.A. after fleeing Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s, and the composer eventually found himself in a meeting with MGM producer Irving Thalberg about scoring “The Good Earth.” This encounter provided the genesis for Tod Machover’s opera, “Schoenberg in Hollywood,” which staged its West Coast premiere at UCLA’s Nimoy Theater. Times classical music critic Mark Swed was present and wrote this review, noting at the end that despite all of his contributions to the city’s cultural ecosystem, Schoenberg does not have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference in Sacramento on Feb. 27.

(Associated Press)

The Theatre Producers of Southern California, a trade group representing nonprofit theaters, is raising alarms about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $11.5-million cut to the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which was only recently instituted after years of efforts by struggling arts organizations. “We understand that the state faces a challenging budget deficit and are prepared to support you in making difficult decisions,” board vice president Beatrice Casagran said in a statement. “However, the proposed clawback of 100% of the state’s entire investment in the Payroll Fund will eradicate six years of bipartisan legislative efforts to address cascading negative impacts that have led to dire economic instability for workers in the live arts.”

The Actors Equity Assn., under its president, Brooke Shields, also opposes the proposed cuts. “At a time when the arts are under attack in Washington, D.C., it’s deeply disappointing to also be fighting funding cuts again in Sacramento. California, which now ranks 35th in the nation in arts funding, cannot be a leader in the arts if it continues to cut arts funding year after year,” Shields said in a statement.

Concerned voters can ask their senators to sign on to the letter opposing the cuts by state Sen. Ben Allen to the Senate Budget Committee. They also can ask their assemblymembers to sign onto the letter by Assemblyman Matt Haney to the Assembly Budget Committee.

Los Angeles Opera is staging a costume shop sale for the first time in more than a decade, and the public is invited. Expect handmade outfits from shows such as “Carmen,” “The Magic Flute” and “Macbeth.” A news release about the event describes the offerings: “From 16th-century finery to fantastical creations, this sale includes complete costumes in all sizes, along with wigs, accessories, shoes, jewelry, masks, headpieces and more, each piece a work of art designed by visionaries such as Julie Taymor, Constance Hoffman, Gerald Scarfe and Martin Pakledinaz.” The fun gets going in the lobby of Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at 9:30 a.m. on June 21 and lasts until 3 p.m.

More culture news

The Washington Post reports that former Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter is defending the finances of the organization prior to President Trump’s takeover. Rutter’s leadership has been under attack by the center’s new interim director, Ric Grenell, who accused her and other former executives of “fraud” during a speech at the White House last week. “I am deeply troubled by the false allegations regarding the management of the Kennedy Center being made by people without the context or expertise to understand the complexities involved in nonprofit and arts management, which has been my professional experience for 47 years,” Rutter said in a statement to the Post.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The headlines out of Cannes this year feel a bit subued, if not bleak. But leave it to Times film critic Amy Nicholson to open her latest Cannes diary with a Samoyed walking the red carpet in a ruffled gown. And because I love him and I miss him, I also point you to The Times’ former Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, Justin Chang, who has this stellar coverage.

Hundreds gathered in Minneapolis on Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Activists said the failed push for police reform in the city cast a shadow over the vigil and argued nothing has changed since he was killed.

MINNEAPOLIS — Police reform and civil rights activists joined thousands of other people Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at religious services, concerts and vigils nationwide and decry the Trump administration for setting their efforts back decades.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said at a Houston graveside service that Floyd represented all of those “who are defenseless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck.”

He compared Floyd’s killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.

“What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history,” Sharpton said.

In a park about 2 miles away from Floyd’s grave site, a memorial service was set to take place, followed by five hours of music, preaching, poetry readings and a balloon release.

Events started Friday in Minneapolis with concerts, a street festival and a “self-care fair,” and were to culminate with a worship service, gospel music concert and candlelight vigil on Sunday.

The remembrances come at a fraught moment for activists, who had hoped the worldwide protests that followed Floyd’s murder by police on May 25, 2020, would lead to lasting police reform across the U.S. and a continued focus on racial justice issues.

Events in Minneapolis center around George Floyd Square, the intersection where Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for about 9½ minutes, even as the 46-year-old Black man’s cried, “I can’t breathe.” Even with Minneapolis officials’ promises to remake the Police Department, some activists contend that the progress has come at a glacial pace.

“We understand that change takes time,” Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said in a statement last week. “However, the progress being claimed by the city is not being felt in the streets.”

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following Floyd’s murder and the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Under former President Biden, the U.S. Justice Department had pushed for oversight of local police it had accused of widespread abuses.

President Trump has also declared an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government, and his administration is using federal funds as leverage to force local governments, universities and public school districts to do the same. Republican-led states also have accelerated their efforts to stamp out DEI initiatives.

Vancleave and Lafleur write for the Associated Press and reported from Minneapolis and Houston, respectively.

As mass protests over the police murder of George Floyd raged across Los Angeles in late May 2020, the LAPD had an unexpected problem.

After a week of demonstrations, officers had fired so many “less-lethal” crowd control projectiles made of rubber that the department’s stockpile was running low.

Scrambling to buy more, officials arranged for two reserve officers to fly a private plane to Casper, Wyo., to pick up 2,000 additional rounds from an arms wholesaler called Safariland, according to LAPD emails reviewed by The Times.

The days and weeks that followed brought more unrest in the streets, with police criticized for indiscriminately firing rubber rounds into crowds, injuring scores of people with shots to the face or torso.

Multiple reports and activists assailed the department’s response to the protests as a botched operation that resulted from poor planning, inadequate training and failure to learn from past mistakes.

According to The Times’ analysis of LAPD data released by the L.A. city attorney’s office, police actions related to the George Floyd protests have cost $11.9 million in settlements and jury awards. Scores of other pending lawsuits represent potentially tens of millions more in liability exposure.

Yet five years removed from Floyd’s killing, police backers say public opinion has largely swung back in favor of aggressive law enforcement, pointing as proof to last year’s passage of tough-on-crime legislation and ousting of progressive prosecutors.

Last month, President Trump issued an executive order promising to “unleash high-impact local police forces” in his administration’s campaign against “criminal aliens.”

The U.S. Department of Justice moved last week to cancel settlements to overhaul police departments in Louisville, Ky., and Minneapolis. The federal oversight was part of the national reckoning with racism and police brutality that followed the law enforcement killings of Breonna Taylor and Floyd, who was pinned to the pavement by a police officer for nearly 10 minutes before dying.

The push to overhaul the LAPD that began in 2020 did not result in sweeping changes, but the Police Department has in some ways come to resemble the slimmed-down version sought by some activists.

While its multibillion-dollar budget has only grown, the number of low-level arrests and traffic stops have plummeted, and staffing shortages have forced the department to focus more on responding to and solving violent crimes.

Today, the department is nearly 1,300 officers smaller than it was when Floyd died, with fewer cops on the force than at any point since 1995, mirroring nationwide declines in police staffing.

On Thursday, the L.A. City Council signed off on a $14-billion spending plan for 2025-26 that cuts funding for police recruitment in order to avoid laying off hundreds of city workers. The council provided enough money for the LAPD to hire 240 new officers over the coming year, down from the 480 proposed by Mayor Karen Bass last month.

Asked in a news radio appearance last week whether Floyd’s death had changed policing, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said it had, largely with the slump in hiring.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, center, and Capt. James Hwang perform the uniform inspection during graduation for recruit class 11-24 on May 2.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The department lost scores of cops who didn’t “feel support,” he said, and recruitment continues to prove challenging.

“So that has had a negative impact on the profession overall,” he told public radio station KCRW. “We have to restore morale within the organization; we have to restore pride within the profession.”

Following years of calls for embracing alternatives to traditional policing, LAPD officials and city leaders are continuing to explore ways to hand off calls involving substance abuse, homelessness and mental illness. Officers are also no longer responding to minor traffic accidents.

Efforts to limit police traffic involvement have gained some traction, and a controversial policy enacted by former Chief Michel Moore still restricts so-called pretextual stops of motorists or pedestrians that critics say led to the disproportionate harassment of Black and brown Angelenos. The department has also taken steps to try to limit dangerous pursuits by asking supervisors to monitor them in real-time, and if the chase proves too dangerous, to call them off.

Police data show violent crime continues to drop from pandemic highs, with the exception of aggravated assaults and robberies in certain parts of the city. Property crimes, including most burglaries, have also started to trend downward.

Some efforts at reform have stalled, including a proposal to overhaul the department’s disciplinary system for officers. Another plan that would have replaced LAPD officers with unarmed transportation workers on traffic stops sputtered amid debates around jurisdiction and funding.

Art Acevedo, who began his career with the California Highway Patrol before serving as police chief in several major cities including Houston and Miami, blamed movements to “defund” and “abolish” police for polarizing the debate on how to move forward.

Acevedo, who applied for the LAPD chief’s job that eventually went to McDonnell, said police unions and allies weaponized such rhetoric because it “effectively equated advocating for police reform as one and the same as advocating for defunding the police.”

“That movement created a backlash that has translated into a diminished appetite” for reform, he said.

Acevedo also worried about officers feeling emboldened to bend or break the rules in the current climate: “You don’t want to re-create the perception, real or not, that it’s open season for bad policing, because you’re going to have that small percentage that’re going to act on that belief that they’re not going to be held accountable.”

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, shared similar concerns.

“I think they absolutely feel unleashed,” she said of police. “Not that they were ever on a leash.”

Part of the problem, Abdullah said, is public fatigue over the seemingly constant barrage of troubling incidents.

“People don’t have the bandwidth to respond with the kind of outrage that they would when you saw the beatings at Pan Pacific Park,” said Abdullah, referring to the LAPD’s response to protests in 2020.

John Burton, an attorney who filed lawsuits on behalf of several people who were wounded by less-lethal rounds during L.A. protests in 2020, said that most changes to the LAPD have been around the edges, but the department hasn’t addressed its culture of aggression.

The lack of progress, he said, is obvious in the LAPD internal affairs investigations he’s reviewed that rarely found anything wrong with officers’ use of force — even in the face of overwhelming video evidence. More than a few officers mentioned in his lawsuits have since been promoted, he said, even after he accused them of lying in police reports.

LAPD supervisors looked the other way, he said, because they are “very protective” of their officers.

Burton also noted that rubber projectiles are still being used, despite little evidence the weapons helped rein in chaos on the streets. Police also once faced criticism last year for the handling of pro-Palestinian protests on the USC and UCLA campuses.

“The thought that you’re going to stop somebody from throwing a rock at the cops by shooting one of these first is a fantasy,” he said. “They can cause very serious injuries.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TEEN Mom star Cheyenne Floyd has revealed she’s pregnant with her third child on the show’s season premiere.

Teen Mom: The Next Chapter fans figured out the 32-year-old mom of two’s news ahead of time after catching a tell-tale detail in the background of the season finale teaser.

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Cheyenne is already mom to Ryder, 8, with ex Cory Wharton, and Ace, 3, with husband Zach Davis, whom she married in 2022.

On the finale’s last moments, Cheyenne tells the camera that she’s going to start fertility treatments in the coming days – but feels she needs to take a pregnancy test ahead of time.

“Oh my God, it says that I’m pregnant,” she says after taking two Clear Blue tests. “Oh my God, I’m shaking!”

In the next scene, she tells Ryder, who becomes so excited and emotional, she bursts into tears.

After the scene aired, Cheyenne announced her pregnancy to her fans on Instagram.

“And when we had nothing left to give, we surrendered it all to God,” she wrote.

“We told Him we couldn’t carry it anymore — and He answered.

“Not in our timing, but in His.

“This little life is proof that even in the waiting, even in the heartbreak, miracles are still being written.”

EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE

Her struggle to get pregnant with her third child was a focus of the show’s latest season.

“Zach and I have been trying to get pregnant for a year and a half now and just being told you’re not fertile, it just doesn’t work. It’s hard. It’s really hard,” she told Us Weekly.

“I just want to know, Why didn’t anybody tell me? I’m crying in the bathroom by myself and then calling my best friend.

“What do I do? It’s hard. It’s so hard. But that’s why I wanted to talk about it on the show, and the influx of messages that I’ve got from people that are like, ‘Thank you.’”

In a finale promo, the narrator promised one cast member would reveal their secret pregnancy on the episode.

Fans initially thought the star was Jade Cline, 27, who was two weeks late on her period and bought a pregnancy test on the previous episode.

But a eagle-eyed viewer caught that the pregnancy tests in the promo were placed on a counter that looked to be the same as those in Cheyenne and Zach’s Los Angeles home.

“Shout out to Zach for literally zooming in on the countertop in their house tour video,” a Reddit user said.

In another clue, Cheyenne recently covered up her stomach in a swimsuit on a recent trip to Turks & Caicos for friend Yris Palmer’s birthday.

Kylie Jenner was also on the trip, and spoiled the birthday girl with a massive $39k-a-night beach mansion.

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The administration of President Donald Trump has begun the process of ending the federal government’s involvement in reforming local police departments, a civil rights effort that gained steam after the deaths of unarmed Black people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

On Wednesday, the United States Department of Justice announced it would cancel two proposed settlements that would have seen the cities of Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, agree to federal oversight of their police departments.

Generally, those settlements — called consent decrees — involve a series of steps and goals that the two parties negotiate and that a federal court helps enforce.

In addition, the Justice Department said it would withdraw reports on six other local police departments which found patterns of discrimination and excessive violence.

The Trump administration framed the announcement as part of its efforts to transfer greater responsibility towards individual cities and states — and away from the federal government.

“It’s our view at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration that federal micromanagement of local police should be a rare exception, and not the norm,” said Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, said.

She argued that such federal oversight was a waste of taxpayer funds.

“There is a lack of accountability. There is a lack of local control. And there is an industry here that is, I think, ripping off the taxpayers and making citizens less safe,” Dhillon said.

But civil rights leaders and police reform advocates reacted with outrage over the news, which arrived just days before the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s murder.

Reverend Al Sharpton was among the leaders who called for police departments to take meaningful action after a viral video captured Floyd’s final moments. On May 25, 2020, a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, leaned his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, causing him to asphyxiate and die.

“This move isn’t just a policy reversal,” Sharpton said. “It’s a moral retreat that sends a chilling message that accountability is optional when it comes to Black and Brown victims.”

He warned that the Trump administration’s move sent a signal to police departments that they were “above scrutiny”.

The year of Floyd’s murder was also marked by a number of other high-profile deaths, including Taylor’s.

The 26-year-old medical worker was in bed late at night on March 13, 2020, when police used a battering ram to break into her apartment. Her boyfriend feared they were being attacked and fired his gun once. The police responded with a volley of bullets, killing Taylor, who was struck six times.

Her death and others stirred a period of nationwide unrest in the US, with millions of people protesting in the streets as part of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter. It is thought that the 2020 “racial reckoning” was one of the biggest mass demonstrations in US history.

Those protests unfolded in the waning months of Trump’s first term, and when Democrat Joe Biden succeeded him as president in 2021, the Justice Department embarked on a series of 12 investigations looking into allegations of police overreach and excessive violence on the local level.

Those investigations were called “pattern-or-practice” probes, designed to look into whether incidents of police brutality were one-offs or part of a larger trend in a given police department.

Floyd’s murder took place in Minneapolis and Taylor’s in Louisville — the two cities where the Trump Justice Department decided to drop its settlements on Wednesday. In both cities, under Biden, the Justice Department had found patterns of discriminatory policing.

“Police officers must often make split-second decisions and risk their lives to keep their communities safe,” the report on Minneapolis reads.

But, it adds, the local police department “used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who committed at most a petty offence and sometimes no offense at all”.

Other police departments scrutinised during this period included ones in Phoenix, Arizona; Memphis, Tennessee; Trenton, New Jersey; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police.

Dhillon, who now runs the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, positioned the retractions of those Biden-era findings as a policy pivot. She also condemned the consent decrees as an overused tool and indicated she would look into rescinding some agreements that were already in place.

That process would likely involve a judge’s approval, however.

And while some community advocates have expressed concerns that consent decrees could place a burden on already over-stretched law enforcement departments, others disagree with the Justice Department’s latest move, arguing that a retreat could strip resources and momentum from police reform.

At the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD), Chief Paul Humphrey said the commitment to better policing went beyond any settlement. He indicated he would look for an independent monitor to oversee reforms.

“It’s not about these words on this paper,” he said. “It’s about the work that the men and women of LMPD, the men and women of metro government and the community will do together in order to make us a safer, better place.”

And in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey doubled down, saying he could keep pushing forward with the police reform plan his city had agreed to.

“We will comply with every sentence of every paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year,” he said at a news conference.

“We will make sure that we are moving forward with every sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, as well as the consent decree.”