Fights

Roy Jones Jr. is returning to the ring ... the boxing legend has inked a deal with Celebrity Boxing, and now the promotion is seeking a big-name social media star or celebrity for the Hall of Fame pugilist to fight!

We're told 53-year-old Jones Jr. recently signed a contract with CB founder Damon Feldman, who's pumped over the signing.

"We are so excited. It's our biggest event ever, and we're looking for a big opponent for Roy," Feldman told TMZ Sports.

Roy last fought in November 2020 against Mike Tyson ... an 8-round exhibition match that was declared a draw. Most fans agreed it was a fun fight ... and a good event.

Prior to the fight with Iron Mike, Roy was last in a ring professionally in February 2018 ... when he defeated Scott Sigmon by unanimous decision.

Now, RJJ will again return to the squared circle.

Celeb Boxing has put on fights with famous people in the past ... for example, Lamar Odom vs. Aaron Carter fought last year.

But, this is next level for CB  ... Roy Jones Jr. is one of the most talented fighters to ever step foot in a ring. He held multiple world titles in four different weight classes.

Roy beat the best fighters up and down numerous weight classes in incredible fashion ... including wins over Felix Trinidad (2008), Antonio Tarver (2003), John Ruiz (2003), James Toney (1994) and Bernard Hopkins (1993), just to name a few.

When mountain climbing isn't dangerous enough, add another life-threatening element -- an attacking bear ... a terrifying encounter the climber captured on video.

The wild interaction went down earlier this month at Mt. Futago in Japan, where the climber was descending a rocky ridge when he was suddenly face-to-face with a charging black bear that was seemingly protecting a cub.

You can see and hear survival mode kick in for the climber ... who punched, kicked and screamed at the bear as it came within inches of his face, and then tumbled down to a ridge below him.

Although he was able to ward off the bear's initial attack ... the guy had to keep fighting it off with punches and kicks at the animal's head -- and all while managing not to fall off the face of the cliff.

After about 30 seconds, the bear ran off with its cub in tow, disappearing into the brush.

For his part, the climber says he was the one invading the bear's territory ... but he had no choice but to defend himself after the bear attacked.

Izzy Drake, the social media troll who Drake has distanced himself from should probably just throw in the towel on the whole clone thing ... as well as any chances at a boxing career.

Izzy took a pounding in Atlantic City over the weekend via a Celebrity Boxing match against YouTuber/rapper M2thaK.

Izzy was originally supposed to fight Lamar Odom ... but claims real Drake paid him off NOT to fight, which Lamar has denied. M2thaK came out the gate swinging, connecting plenty of jabs to Izzy's noggin.

The fight was far from a professional bout, both fighters contributed to their own knockdowns, slipping all over the canvas.

But, M2thaK managed to stay consistent for all three rounds ... and the refs unanimously handed the dubya to M2thaK -- and his fists of fury.

Following the fight, M2thak taunted Izzy with the newest addition to his jewelry collection ... the golden Celebrity Boxing championship belt, gloating about how Izzy's pride got left on the mat.

No matter what happens between Anderson Silva and Jake Paul, 47-year-old Spider will NOT be retiring after their boxing match, the UFC legend tells TMZ Sports.

We talked to the MMA G.O.A.T. about his upcoming scrap with 25-year-old Paul -- going down on October 29 in Phoenix, AZ -- and asked Silva if this could be the last fight of his historic career.

"No, no, definitely not," Silva told us without hesitation, continuing ... "I don't know when I'm gonna stop. I know one day I will stop. But not now."

"I try to challenge myself every day, and especially right now my kid started fighting, and I help my kid."

Anderson, who will turn 48 in April, has been fighting professionally for 25 years and is arguably the greatest mixed martial arts fighter to ever grace a cage.

Silva last fought for the UFC in October 2020 ... when he lost to Uriah Hall by TKO.

Despite losing his last 3 fights in the Octagon, Anderson has looked incredibly sharp in the ring.

Silva starched Tito Ortiz in September 2021, but the really impressive feat came against former boxing champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ... who lost to AS by a split decision in June 2021.

Of course, Chavez's dad is arguably the most respected Mexican athlete ever.

As for Paul, he's 5-0 in the ring, with 4 knockouts. The first Tyron Woodley fight was the only bout to go the distance.

Despite the age difference, Silva is actually a slight betting favorite for the fight ... airing on Showtime PPV.

Bottom line, Silva clearly loves fighting, and walking away isn't even on his mind at this time.

Le'Veon Bell says he doesn't watch the NFL these days ... telling TMZ Sports his focus on his fighting career has his full, undivided attention.

We spoke with Bell outside DASH radio store in Hollywood Monday -- and the former Steelers RB told us he hasn't been keeping up with his old team amid their 1-4 start.

"I ain't gone lie, I have not watched one down of football," said Bell, who last played in the NFL in 2021 with Tampa. "I don't know nobody's record or nothing."

Bell -- who knocked out ex-NFL running back Adrian Peterson in an amateur fight last month -- is slated to make his pro boxing debut against MMA star Uriah Hall on October 29 in Arizona.

Despite Bell's impressive fifth-round KO of AP ... people aren't giving the 30-year-old a legitimate chance of beating Hall, one of the most feared men in combat sports, when they collide.

"Everybody sleeping on me," Bell said. "I'm glad I'm the underdog. This probably be the last fight I [will] be the underdog. My first pro fight probably be the last fight I'm an underdog."

LB may be all in on boxing at the moment, but the future Hall of Fame running back hasn't abandoned making music. In fact, he's already eyeing the perfect person for a collab.

How would Muhammad Ali, the undisputed OG of trash talk, feel about the slick-talking/fighting Conor McGregor?? He would've loved him ... so says The Greatest's grandson, MMA fighter Biaggio Ali Walsh.

24-year-old Ali Walsh, who recently signed with one of the top MMA promotions, PFL, tells TMZ Sports his grandpa wouldn't just have enjoyed mixed martial arts, he would've been a big fan of The Notorious!

"I think [my grandfather] would've loved it, especially when McGregor was in featherweight in UFC, when he fought [Jose] Aldo, that whole reign, he would've loved it, especially Conor's trash talk," Ali Walsh says.

"Poppy started the trash talk. He would've been super entertained. I think he really would've liked the sport."

Of course, Muhammad wasn't just known for his supernatural ability in the squared circle ... but also for his incredibly sharp tongue.

Ali made talkin' trash cool ... and though Conor may be a bit more vulgar, they're very much alike from the standpoint of getting inside their opponent's head.

Like his grandfather, Ali Walsh is a fighter ... but instead of choosing boxing like his brother Nico, he chose MMA.

Biaggio is new in the sport ... and has a 1-1 record as an amateur. He lost his first fight, but rebounded in his second fight, winning by first-round TKO.

Ali-Walsh will make his Professional Fighters League debut on November 25 ... and fittingly, it's going down at Madison Square Garden.

Of course, MSG was the site of many of Ali's legendary fights ... including the "Fight of the Century," Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier I on March 8, 1971.

We asked Biaggio about fighting under the same roof as grandpa ... and while he thinks it's pretty neat, he was honest in saying it's not a huge deal.

"I think it's cool but at the end of the day, a fight's a fight. It's me, the ref, and another guy who's trying to hurt me, whether it's Madison Square Garden or in the back of someone's barnyard. It's cool that it's at Madison Square Garden but I don't care, honestly."

Considering Biaggio clearly has fighting in his blood, we had to ask how his grandpa would've fared as an MMA fighter.

"I think he would've done great just because of how strong he was mentally. A lot of it is mental, a lot of fighting is mental and he had the mental part. He had the heart and he had the will, so if you have the will, you can definitely get the skill."

Iman Shumpert says Draymond Green's punch on Jordan Poole was "bogus" ... telling TMZ Sports after watching the viral video, he sees why there was such public outrage.

We spoke with Shump at LAX this week ... and the former hooper kept it real, saying it's ultimately up to the Warriors to decide punishment, and they opted not to suspend the 4x champ.

"It's a grown man business," Shumpert said. "I'm sure they got to spoke about it amongst themselves. Whatever they choose to do, we got to honor that," he continued.

We asked Shump if he thinks the punch will fracture the Dubs' team chemistry as they prepare to defend their title.

"I don't think so," said Iman, who played 10 seasons in the NBA with the Knicks, Cavs, Kings, Nets, and Rockets. "They'll be alright," he added.

FYI, IS won a championship with Cleveland in 2016.

Green -- who stepped away from the team for just under a week after punching Poole at practice -- said Thursday he's not worried about co-existing with Jordan because they're professionals.

"We both know how to play basketball," Draymond said. "We're paid to do a job, and we're gonna come and do that job to the best of our ability."

Lil Baby has no love for DJ Akademiks, and he let it be known a couple of times on his new album “There’s Only Me.”

The controversial journalist first gets mentioned in the song “From Now On,” featuring Future … where Baby goes into Ak’s pockets, quipping “Akademiks know he ain’t as rich as me!!!"

Baby then applies further pressure on Ak via the song “Top Priority” which sounds more threatening … “‘Akademiks N****s’ think they can't get touched/Ion be on computers much, CED turnt me on to YouTube.”

Ak reacted with surprise to the tracks and has been fishing for the reason behind Baby’s aggression for some time.

On a recent broadcast, Ak explained how Lil Baby blocked him on Instagram -- only to DM him on Twitter, leaving him confused about the status of their relationship.

Ak was caught in a downpour last night ... as Baby’s disses dropped, he was busy denying rumors he was fighting with a woman in Miami after a viral altercation involving him and several women made its rounds on social media.

Ak later clarified he was actually breaking up a fight between his girlfriend and a pair of autograph seekers -- but apologized for raising his voice and blamed alcohol all across the board.

Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury IV would be an absolutely HUGE fight, but not the biggest ... 'cause The Bronze Bomber tells us there isn't a fight in the sport bigger than him vs. Anthony Joshua!

"The biggest fight in the world is not [Fury], it's me versus Anthony Joshua. That's still the biggest fight in the world. Everywhere I go, people talk about that fight. That's the one that they want to see," the 36-year-old former heavyweight champ told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

It's not that Deontay isn't down for another with Tyson ... because he is.

"Whether [Fury and I] fight four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten times, the heavyweight division is small. We can do those things because it's not packed like other divisions."

Wilder last fought in October 2021 ... losing to Fury via an 11th-round TKO. It was his third fight with the Gypsy King ... a trilogy that almost all boxing fans and experts agree was one of the greatest in the history of the sport.

Fury, generally regarded as the current best heavyweight in the world, recently said he'd be open to another scrap with Wilder.

As for Joshua, AJ's coming off a split decision loss against Oleksandr Usyk in August. The fight was a rematch of their September 2021 bout ... which Usyk also won.

Joshua, 24-3 (22 knockouts), is a longtime rival of the Bronze Bomber ... the men have talked about fighting for years.

If it is going to happen, it better be sometime soon -- Wilder tells us he plans to retire around his 40th birthday.

Until then, Deontay says this phase of his career is all about making his fans happy, and giving them the fights they want to see.

But, before those possible fights with Fury, Joshua, or anyone else, Deontay has to beat Robert Helenius this Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

We spoke with Helenius ... who tells us he believes he has a slight advantage over Wilder since he was his sparring partner.

"You get a sense of feeling or how and what kind of punches are being thrown in the ring," the 38-year-old heavyweight said. "Of course, it’s good for me."

Wilder is a massive favorite (around -800) against the similarly sized 6'7" pugilist ... who has a professional record of 31-3 with 20 knockouts.

And when it comes to the doubters, Helenius vows to "show them that they’re wrong."

We also talked to boxing star Caleb Plant ... who is returning to the ring for the first time since losing to Canelo Alvarez -- his first loss -- in November 2021. Plant is fighting former multiple-time world champ Anthony Dirrell before Deontay goes to work.

Draymond Green says he will be able to coexist with Jordan Poole and compete for a championship together ... but when it comes to being buddies again, he's "not sure" that's going to happen.

Green addressed the media for the first time since rejoining the Warriors on Thursday ... and made it clear he's ready to put last week's practice altercation behind him and focus on the season.

Draymond says he hung out with his kids during his time away from the team ... and had some "long days" dealing with the aftermath of the practice punch.

When it comes to repairing his personal relationship with Poole, which used to be tight, Green says the ball is in his court ... and it certainly doesn't sound like he's holding his breath.

"I'm not sure," Green added. "As I said before, that's not up to me. Nor do I think there's much relevance."

"Quite frankly, we both know how to play basketball and that is the most important for us. We're paid to do a job and we're gonna come and do that job to the best of our ability. We wanna continue to win so we gonna do what we have to do to win."

As TMZ Sports previously reported ... the beef between Draymond and Poole started in the parking lot and escalated at team practice last Wednesday, where our sources on site say Poole called several fouls during a scrimmage, and Draymond called him a "bitch" multiple times as a result.

Sources say Poole has been getting "cocky" lately over an upcoming contract, but multiple players have flat-out denied that's the case.

L.A. Rams players weren't the only ones taking a beating from Dallas on Sunday ... their fans were, too -- with one dude getting KO'd by a Cowboys fan during a parking lot brawl.

The SoFi Stadium parking lot brawl was caught on video as the Rams were losing to "America's team."

The video shows several people in Rams and Cowboys jerseys going at it as a few people attempted to keep the peace.

But, nobody listened ... and then, out of nowhere, a guy in a #88 jersey (CeeDee Lamb, Dez Bryant, Michael Irvin, Drew Pearson??) -- throws a superman punch at a fan wearing a Cooper Kupp jersey, knocking him to the ground.

The Cowboys fan didn't stop there ... the guy continued to punch the Rams fan in the face until witnesses broke things up.

The Kupp fan eventually gets up but falls back to the asphalt ... obviously shaken up from the blows to the head.

But, he wasn't the only one injured ... nearby there's another guy laid out on the ground.

It's not the only fight that went down during the Cowboys-Rams game on Sunday. Inside SoFi, a fan wearing a Matthew Stafford jersey was knocked on his ass by a guy in an Ezekiel Elliott jersey.

Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon was arrested AGAIN on Wednesday ... this time, in connection to an open assault case for a 2020 incident in Manhattan.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the 39-year-old was being processed in Queens after allegedly hitting his 10-year-old son multiple times at the airport on Monday, when NYPD ran a background check and discovered an open investigation for misdemeanor assault in Harlem.

We're told the case stems from an alleged incident on March 13, 2020 ... when Ben is accused of getting in a heated argument with an adult female friend and grabbing the cell phone in her hand.

Sources tell us a scuffle ensued ... in which Ben allegedly injured the woman's finger and eye, causing pain and swelling.

The woman went to police and filed a report ... and the case remained open.

Shortly after Ben made bail at his arraignment in the airport case, he was then taken into custody on Wednesday and taken to the Harlem precinct for processing.

While it's another legal issue for Gordon, his attorney, Joshua Kirschner tells TMZ Sports he believes the former Bulls star's name will be cleared in the case.

"It’s very early in the case and we believe he will be completely exonerated once the investigation is complete," Kirschner says.

YK Osiris made a potentially poor choice to engage in a fight with a man looking to knock his head off, but his security guards realized that probably wasn't a great idea.

The "Worth It" singer left Cardi B's star-studded party Tuesday night in WeHo and got in his ride, but a clearly irate man walked over to the Lamborghini Urus, and started screaming all sorts of obscenities at YK. Something about cats ... you get it.

That's when YK opted to hop out and confront the guy! We'll say this ... the security team and had one job, and did it well. They immediately pushed the pissed-off man to the sidewalk, and put YK back in his vehicle.

It's unclear what the argument was about ... the man quickly turned his fury towards YK's security, flying off the handle about going to war, but cooler heads eventually prevailed and everyone went their separate ways.

Someone off-camera commended YK for stepping up to fight -- him being a trained boxer and all, but we're pretty sure his security did the right thing.

L.A.'s been a dangerous place for artists this year -- back in February, Kodak Black was shot a couple of blocks from where Cardi's party went down, and the sad fact is ... YK's shiny necklace could've made him a target.

We recently spoke to DJ Envy about artists traveling and maneuvering smartly in the grim aftermath of PnB Rock's murder in Los Angeles.

Envy says artists should go the distance in protecting their bling with security ... and not run into a lion's den.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr just revealed the extent of Draymond Green's punishment for punching teammate Jordan Poole in practice last week ... saying the NBA superstar will be fined and NOT suspended -- and he will rejoin the team on Thursday.

Kerr cut to the chase after the Dubs' preseason win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday ... starting off his postgame news conference by sharing an update on the 4-time champ.

Coach says the team has had "deep discussions" with players -- including Poole and Green, as well as Stephen Curry -- and other execs in the league about the incident ... and came to the conclusion that it was the best route to take after assessing everything.

Kerr -- who took the Warriors job in 2014 -- says it was "an exhaustive process" ... and it was a challenging decision.

"This is the biggest crisis that we've ever had since I've been coach here," Kerr said. "It's really serious stuff."

Kerr says he will not disclose the amount of Green's fine.

Poole and Green have had a sit-down conversation since the incident, Kerr said ... adding Jordan played a key part in determining the penalty.

By the sound of it, the two players have buried the hatchet and are willing to team up to defend their title this upcoming season.

Police have finished their investigation into the youth football game fight where LeGarrette Blount threw punches at a man ... and they've now kicked over the case to prosecutors, who will decide if the ex-NFL player will face criminal charges.

A spokesperson for the Gilbert Police Dept. tells TMZ Sports ... cops turned the case over to the Town of Gilbert Prosecutor's Office for review in the last few days.

It's unclear if the GPD recommended any charges in that handoff.

Prosecutors now have a choice -- file criminal charges against Blount ... or let him off. We've reached out for comment, but so far, we haven't heard back yet.

As we reported, cops initially began their investigation into Blount on Oct. 1, after he was involved in a huge fracas following the conclusion of a 12-year-old-and-under football game in Gilbert, Arizona.

Video, obtained by TMZ Sports, appears to show the three-time Super Bowl winner -- a coach for one of the teams involved in the game -- getting ticked off by something someone said in the postgame handshake line.

In the footage, Blount appears to sprint after somebody -- before throwing two punches at a man.

Cops say they were called to the scene, but the fight had concluded once they arrived. They said no injuries were reported.

Blount eventually apologized for his role in the incident, saying in a statement, "As a leader, coach, father and a role model I understand my actions are unacceptable. I hope and pray for your understanding and forgiveness and plan to continue to be a positive impact in the lives of our youth."

T.I. will be stepping into an octagon for an MMA showdown with popular vlogger and anti-gang activist Charleston White ... that is, if Charleston gets his wish, after he and Tip started beefing over his son King Harris.

Charleston issued the fight challenge Tuesday ... which he claimed would be the last straw in a string of disses that have been festering for a couple of days.

According to Charleston, he and T.I. hopped on the phone last night to potentially resolve their differences, but that convo crashed and burned and here we are.

He wants T.I. to wear an eyepatch during the fight, presumably to stack the odds in his favor ... and he's also calling for "judge" Steve Harvey to referee the entire spectacle.

The Texas-based YouTuber went on to mock Tip's urban legend status ... teasing him for his "Motivation" lyrics ("I'm 5'9" with the soul of a 6'4" n***a")

He also wants to add some family ties to the fight card ... offering to have his son fight King as well as any other relatives sitting on the sidelines, willing to duke it out.

The malarkey began earlier this week when Charleston claimed he alerted Atlanta D.A. Fani Willis of King's video, where he threatened to beatdown the vlogger next time he stepped foot in the A-Town.