Boxing

Hayden Panettiere says she's "pretty confident" her baby daddy, Wladimir Klitschko, will destroy Anthony Joshua when they face off later this month ... telling TMZ Sports "we're ready."

Hayden breaks down her role in Klitschko's preparation ... and says she's gonna be right in the front row when it all goes down at Wembley Stadium on April 29.

Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather will SUCK ... so says Lennox Lewis who says the hypothetical match is more of a spectacle than a real fight.

The former heavyweight champion of the world says he respects both guys in their respective sports -- but putting them both in the same ring is a disaster waiting to happen.

Roy Jones Jr. says he's NO LONGER in the cockfighting game -- telling TMZ Sports his roosters are now used to train human fighters ... instead of feathered ones.

Photos have surfaced of rooster cages at Roy's Florida compound -- leading some to suspect the boxing legend was involved with underground bird fighting.

But Roy says the rumors are 100% false -- insisting he quit the sport when it was outlawed in 2008 in Louisiana, the last U.S. state to ban the sport. Although he enjoys cockfighting, Roy says he would never break the law.

Roy says he would love to move to a country where the sport is legal -- like Mexico or Puerto Rico -- but he's too busy training boxers ... and uses the birds as part of his workout regimen.

Picture that scene from "Rocky II." Roy says he's been using that training method for decades and it helps with hand eye coordination.

As for claims cockfighting is animal abuse, Roy is adamant he's not forcing the birds to do anything they're not biologically programmed to do ... and says most cockfighters love their birds like their own children.

Floyd Mayweather will still be welcome at his daughter's cheerleading events -- despite the showdown with officials over the weekend ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Floyd Mayweather exploded on the judges at a youth cheerleading competition this weekend ... claiming they cheated his daughter's team out of the title and he was PISSED.

Look out, Sex Panther ... Floyd Mayweather is now looking to conquer the smell game.

Here's proof the Russians do more for fun than just (allegedly) sabotaging democracy ... Sergey Kovalev firing a SICK gold-plated Tommy gun during a trip to a famous Russian weapons museum.

Krusher is from Kopeysk (where you can get a 5 star hotel for $75 a night, book now), but jaunted over to the Arsenal Museum of the Zlatoust Weapons plant and got some action in.

The weapon looks pretty sick, and although Sergey struggles at first, he manages to get a shot in after some help from the staff.

BTW ... all this happened indoors, so hopefully they were blanks. But, it's Russia, so you never know.

UPDATE -- We're told the gun isn't a traditional "Tommy Gun" but rather a Russian PPSh-41 ... essentially the Russian version of the Tommy Gun.

Pandemonium occurred at a Golden Gloves boxing event in L.A. on Wednesday -- when fans stormed the ring at a youth tournament and fought it out ... with one guy catching a haymaker right in the face.

Oh, and a woman hit a man with a steel chair!!!!

It all went down at a Golden Gloves qualifier tournament at a rec center 2 miles from Dodger Stadium -- when fans got pissed after an alleged late punch during a bout between teenagers.

One witness tells us people began to scream at each other -- then they stormed the ring -- then the punches flew.

The witness adds, "Chairs were thrown and people were hit with chairs. Tables were broken. A woman even hit someone with a chair."

Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. Cops were called to the scene but the fight was over by the time police arrived. No one was arrested. Some of the fans are pissed about the lack of security at the event.

But get this ... we're told the brawl eventually ended on its own and the boxing tournament continued.

Floyd Mayweather has a VERY different media strategy than his pal, Donald Trump!!

The boxing superstar was out spending some of his millions in Bev Hills on Wednesday -- when he took a moment, called over ALL the paparazzi and gave 'em a pep talk right in the middle of the street.

"I support all of you 100%," Mayweather said ... "Without the media, I wouldn't be where I'm at."

Of course, the guys ate it up ... and then hammered Floyd with Conor McGregor questions -- continuing the hype machine that could lead to his biggest payday of all time.

Another Roy Jones will be dominating professional sports very soon ... except it won't be in boxing, and he won't be Jr., 'cause this RJ will be tearing up the NBA, according to his dad.

His dad is Roy Jones Jr., one of the greatest boxers of all time and he tells TMZ Sports his kid Roy Jones III -- who's killing it in Florida HS hoops -- is destined for NBA greatness.

"I know he has that potential, he's talented enough to make the NBA, yes."

Don't get it twisted, Roy says he's not at all pulling a LaVar Ball -- making outrageous claims about his kids -- but just says he believes in his son, who Roy says is getting recruited by colleges now.

Speaking of LaVar, Jones weighs in on the whole Ball vs LeBron situation, and what he has to say is very, very interesting.

Floyd Mayweather is selling one of the most rare and expensive cars in his collection -- his Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita -- one of only 2 in the world.

Floyd's car guy, Obi Okeke, tells TMZ Sports Mayweather is selling the car to replenish his multi-million dollar car collection. We're told FM also plans to purchase a $20 million yacht, 'cause ... why not?

Mayweather bought the insane car -- which has 1018 horsepower, top speed of over 254 MPH, and 0 to 60 time of 2.8 seconds -- for $4.8 million in 2015.

The whip is currently being stored in L.A. while a stupidly rich buyer is found.

The Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor superfight WILL happen ... as soon as Conor makes it happen, this according to one of Floyd's closest "friends" (who he used to bang).

TMZ Sports talked to Bad Medina, the woman who Floyd began dating right after his relationship with Ms. Jackson (remember her?) ended a couple years ago.

Medina says she and Floyd are more like close friends now, but claims she's heard him talk about the fight with Conor, and insists Floyd's all in, once McGregor actually gets serious.

Nick Diaz just got verbally SMACKED by an ex-boxing champ who says Diaz is nothing more than a coward from a redneck city (sorry, Stockton) who's afraid to fight a real pugilist.

The boxing great is Jean Pascal, former WBC, IBO, and The Ring magazine light heavyweight champ, who says he's sick of UFC guys claiming they can hang with REAL boxers.

Pascal ALSO says he's got a real problem with the way Nick trashed his buddy, GSP, before they fought back in 2013 and thinks Nick needs to be taught a lesson in humility.

You gotta check out the video ... the guy GOES OFF. Question now is, will Diaz respond?

One of the smoking hot models on "Amazing Race" knew she needed to toughen up for the show -- so she got in the ring with boxing champ Victor Ortiz!

Jenn Lee (see bikini pics below) says she hooked up with Ortiz back in June to work on her strength and conditioning for the race around the world ... and it paid off in a big way.

In fact, she's STILL training with the guy even though the show's in the can ... because, as it turns out, boxing training is great training for bikini season.

Not that she really needed the help ...

After months of speculation, Gennady Golovkin's promoter says the Canelo Alvarez fight NEEDS to happen ... saying both sides want it done, and there's just way too much money to be made.

We spoke with GGG's promoter Tom Loeffler, who says he's been in serious talks with Golden Boy Promotions about getting a date set for this September ... as long as Alvarez doesn't lose to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. in May.

Gabriel Iglesias -- aka Fluffy -- put his tour on hold to save his life, and now it's clear what's he's been doing to get healthy ... boxing.

Iglesias canceled some stops on his hugely successful comedy tour earlier this month citing health and emotional issues. Well, now we've learned, Fluffy's been hitting the gym with celeb boxing trainer Ricky Funez and he's already dropped over 20 pounds.

At the time he stopped his tour, he weighed more than 360 lbs.

We're told Fluffy puts on the gloves 5x a week for 2 hours at a time ... putting in work in the ring and on the speed bag ... his goal is to shed 50 more pounds before hitting the road again.

Funez is no stranger to training celebs ... Justin Bieber, Floyd Mayweather and Mike Epps have all rolled through his Ten Goose Boxing in the valley.

Cue the 'Rocky' theme song!