Ivan

The Latin Recording Academy unveiled the first slate of performers for the 26th annual Latin Grammy Awards, which will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 13.

Among the artists announced were música Mexicana acts Carín León, Pepe Aguilar and Los Tigres del Norte; sad sierreño singer-songwriters Ivan Cornejo and DannyLux; Latin pop icon Gloria Estefan, and Colombian rock band Morat.

“Happy to be at the biggest Latin music festival! Even more so because it features music from my Mexico. Long live Mariachi!” Aguilar told The Times. His latest project, “Mi Suerte Es Ser Mexicano,” is nominated for ranchero/mariachi album.

“Very honored to be part of this musical celebration,” León wrote on Instagram. The 36-year-old singer nabbed three nominations, including for album of the year, contemporary Mexican music album for his LP “Palabra de To’s (Seca),” as well as regional song for “Si Tú Me Vieras,” which features Maluma. León will make history next year by being the first Latin music act to perform at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The one-of-a-kind venue features a 16K resolution wraparound LED screen.

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“It’s crazy to even say that I’m performing at the Latin Grammys. I think of my parents, all their struggles, and how far we’ve come,” DannyLux shared in a statement. “This isn’t just my moment. It’s for every kid who grew up watching their parents fight for a better life.”

The 21-year-old Coachella Valley native celebrated his second Latin Grammy nomination (“Leyenda” is up for contemporary Mexican music album) by unveiling a billboard on Sunset Boulevard that paid tribute to his parents.

Spanish singer Raphael, who will receive the 2025 Person of the Year award, is also expected to grace the stage. The honoree’s career spans six decades, first wowing crowds during Eurovision Song contests in 1966 and 1967, where he gained recognition for his love-struck ballads “Yo Soy Aquél” and “Hablemos del Amor,” respectively.

If it wasn’t already clear then it certainly is now. Usyk is the standout heavyweight of his generation.

Usyk has not just cleaned out his biggest rivals – Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dubois – but he has gone all the way round the block and defeated each of them twice.

He dethroned Joshua in just his third fight as a heavyweight to become a unified champion and it has been an upward trajectory ever since.

The easy path is not one Usyk likes to explore.

After becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era by beating Fury in 2024, Usyk had the option to defend that status by accepting a mandatory defence of his IBF strap against Dubois.

However, he elected to vacate that title in order to pursue a rematch with Fury and record a second successive victory, before circling back to reclaim the IBF title from Dubois at Wembley.

“What he achieved today, it was designated by him a little bit more than a year ago,” Egis Klimas, Usyk’s manager, said.

“His decision was to vacate the title and let Dubois beat someone, and then to fight for a third time for undisputed. That was his plan a year ago. He is not just a good boxer but he is good mentally.”

Usyk is head and shoulders above any active heavyweight, with Fury offering his greatest test, while Joshua and Dubois are several rungs down the ladder.

THOMAS TUCHEL hinted Ivan Toney may have to get used to limited game time due to his “specialist role”.

The striker was an unused substitute against Andorra and had to wait until the 88th minute to feature against Senegal.

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Toney watched on glumly from the bench with England trailing 2-1 as Morgan Rodgers, Morgan Gibbs-White, Noni Madueke and Jude Bellingham all got the nod ahead of him.

He was eventually brought on for three remaining minutes plus stoppage time but was unable to impact the match, with Senegal instead scoring a third to win 3-1.

After the match Tuchel spoke to ITV and was asked to explain the reason behind Toney’s late introduction.

He said: “First of all it was more than three minutes.

“Second of all I think that Ivan is a specialist for exactly these situations.

“We created a lot of chances with Gibbs-White, with Ebs [Eberechi Eze], with Morgan Rodgers, and with Jude in fluid positions.

“I think Ivan is strongest when we have a phase where we have a lot of balls in the box and that was the case, so after 80 minutes we got him ready.

“Then we scored and they took the goal away and it took a little while longer than we wanted but that’s what he can give – presence in the box and a goal later in the match.”

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Captain Harry Kane started ahead of Toney for both matches and scored in both.

Toney was recalled to the England squad for the first time since his move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli last summer.

He last featured for the Three Lions in the final of Euro 2024 against Spain, but played just one minute.

Tuchel spoke of Toney deserving his recall ahead of the fixtures against Andorra and Senegal.

He said: “Ivan deserves to be with us. I’m convinced.

“He’s scored over 20 goals for Al Ahli this season, he won a major title – the Asian Champions League – and had a big involvement in the team in goals and assists.”

Super-middleweight Callum Simpson picked himself up off the canvas twice before securing a stunning stoppage victory over Ivan Zucco in his home town of Barnsley.

Simpson, 28, made history as he maintained his unbeaten record (18-0) to become the town’s first European champion when he stopped Italy’s Zucco in the 10th round at Barnsley FC’s Oakwell Stadium.

The Englishman dedicated the win to his sister, Lily-Rae Simpson, who died aged 19 in a car accident in Greece last year.

“Not once did I give up, in those last few rounds I’ll be honest I started thinking about my little sister Lily,” Simpson said.

“I’ll be honest, I just thought I had to push for her and for everybody. This time last year, Lily was sat up here cheering me on and she was there with me tonight when it got tough, when it got hard.

“From round eight, I thought, ‘I’ve got to dig deep, I’ve got to keep pushing, I’ve got to do it for her’. She was with me tonight.”

With the win, Simpson puts himself in prime contention for a step up to world level by the end of the year.

But the raucous Oakwell crowd feared the worse with only eight seconds on the clock in in the opening round when Zucco downed Simpson with a hard left hand.

Simpson shook off the early knockdown and buzzed Zucco with some fine punching of his own, but the home favourite was caught too square in the third round, dropped for the second time by a left hand.

CALLUM SIMPSON called on inspiration from his late sister Lily Rae to come from behind and stop Ivan Zucco to win the European title.

Simpson suffered the devastating news that his 19-year-old sister had tragically died last year in a quad bike accident on holiday in Greece.

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But the Barnsley boxing hero – who headlined at the Oakwell Football Ground – continues to fight in Lily Rae’s honour.

And she would have watched on with pride as her big brother came back to stop Zucco in round ten after three knockdowns.

Simpson, crowned the European super-middleweight champion, said: “Not once did I give up, those last few rounds I’ll be honest I started thinking about my little sister Lily.

“I’ll be honest, I just thought I had to push for her and for everybody.

“This time last year, Lily was sat up here cheering me on and she was there with me tonight when it got tough, when it got hard.

“From round eight, I thought, ‘I’ve got to dig deep, I’ve got to keep pushing, I’ve gotta do it for her. She was with me tonight.”

Simpson filled Barnsley’s 23,000-seater – but he got off to a horror start after being floored by only the second punch Zucco threw.

Simpson made it to his feet with little trouble but opted to try and make Zucco pay – and buzzed the travelling Italian himself before the bell sounded.

The opener was a frenzy of wild shots with both men hurt and the following two rounds was much of the same.

And again Simpson was down in round three after a huge left hand as the chaos continued.

The former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight had to pick himself up and dust himself off to turn the fight around.

And that is exactly what he did with constant pressure in the second half of the fight turning the tide.

By round ten, Simpson was on the front foot and trapped Zucco in the corner – letting off a devastating triple uppercut.

It dropped Zucco – who got to his feet – but again he was pinned in the corner and floored with two of the same shots.

The underdog European once again made it to his feet but Simpson, smelling blood, jumped on Zucco and forced him to the floor with a barrage of shots.

This time there was no coming back for Zucco – as Simpson turned the fight on its head with a comeback victory for the ages.

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There have, of course, been many high-profile footballers who have made the move to Saudi Arabia in recent years.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is perhaps the most famous of them, but there’s also been Neymar, N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez, who continued to be selected by their respective national teams after making the moves.

Indeed, Toney could come up against his Al-Ahli team-mate Edouard Mendy when England play Senegal next week.

Looking through the list of squads there are plenty of recognisable names playing in the Saudi Pro League but, despite that, the overall standard of the league is perceived as quite low.

In Opta’s most recent Power Rankings the Saudi Pro League was ranked as just the 29th-strongest in the world, just behind the Ecuador Liga Pro.

“Toney has referenced it himself publicly that he has been very surprised by the standard for football in Saudi Arabia,” Gulf-based sports journalist John McAuley, who covers the Saudi Pro League, told BBC Sport.

“It is a lot higher than he expected and obviously that is because of the influx of proper international players coming into the league now.

“Saudi always had a very high standing in Asian football – Al-Hilal are the record four-time winners of the Asian Champions League.

“The level of local players is still very good but when you think of the defenders Toney is up against, he is still playing against Aymeric Laporte at Al-Nassr, Kalidou Koulibaly at Al-Hilal, Danilo Pereira, who came from PSG to Al-Ittihad – so he is still playing against European standard players.”

Regardless of the perception of the league he is playing in, there’s no doubt Toney arrived at this England camp as a player in form, having enjoyed a brilliant scoring run in the second half of the season to help Al-Ahli become champions of Asia.

“He ended up with a run of something like 19 goals in his last 19 league games, finishing two goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Golden Boot,” McAuley added.

“The huge thing, and something that really integrated him with the fans, is he played a key role in Al-Ahli winning the Asian Champions League Elite for the first time.”

“Making the transition, the first moving to Saudi, it was a big one,” Toney told 5 live.

“Obviously, people are going to think ‘how is he going to cope and how is he going to be?’. As you can see from the stats, they speak for themselves.

“It’s been a good season with winning a trophy also. It was a big thing for me, I haven’t won many trophies, but being part of that one was a big moment.”