Root and Stokes grind down weary India to stretch lead beyond 100

THE contracts have now been signed and Billy Joe Saunders will be the latest Brit to face the fearsome pound-for-pound star and guaranteed all-time great, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
The fight is scheduled to take place on May 8, the weekend of Mexico’s most important national holiday, Cinco de Mayo, at either the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — home of the Dallas Cowboys — or at the Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, which is home to the Raiders. On the line will be Saunders’s WBO super middleweight belt and Canelo’s WBA and WBV versions of the same title.
Let no-one be in doubt that Saunders is up against it. The fact it’s been reported that he was two stone over the 12-stone super middleweight limit when the fight was announced does not bode well. Neither does the report that he’s been unable to train properly due to illness. This being said, it would not be a surprise if this information has been either fabricated or exaggerated for the purposes of mind games.

Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT

The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT

When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT

In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work