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      Super League is a kick in the face for us football fans… only winners are money men

      by

      THE story of football is a fairytale, minus the happy ending.Once upon a time, our ancestors invented and grew to love a beautifully simple game. If you wanted to engage with a club, it would have had to be one you lived close to.
      Manchester United’s Marcus RashfordCredit: Getty
      Harry Kane of SpursCredit: Getty
      Gradually, more matches were shown on television, so we could develop strong feelings about teams from further afield.
      It came to matter less where you lived, you could support who you liked.
      With telly becoming more important, the money the television companies had to pay for the rights to show matches got higher and higher.
      This brought an awful lot of money into the game. And where there’s money to be made there will be people getting involved to make lots more of it.
      That’s how we got to where we are now, with six of the clubs who regard themselves as England’s biggest, wanting to go their own way.
      These rich clubs were getting richer as it was, but they want to be richer still. The poor, as ever, will get poorer. And football will be poorer for it.
      BITTERSWEET IRONY
      If it’s all about what’s on TV, then it doesn’t matter where you’re watching that TV.
      You end up with a situation where a kid from Neath, Wales, I was chatting to last summer, told me with a straight face that he was a Barcelona fan.
      And without wishing to speak for the little chap, I would say he’s not much interested in watching his beloved Barcelona play Huesca.
      No, all he’ll want is Barcelona v Real Madrid, or Manchester United, any of the other members of this Super League. This will be great for him at first, but it will get boring.
      The whole joy of these big encounters between famous sides arises out of their rarity.
      The bitterest irony of the Super League plan is that the very thing that is super about it will become less super. And all the damage it wreaks will have been for nothing.
      Boris Johnson has vowed to ‘make sure’ the new league doesn’t go aheadCredit: Reuters
      Owner of West Bromwich Albion, Guochuan Lai, during a Premier League matchCredit: Getty – Contributor

      AC Milan v Arsenal will lose any lustre if it’s something that’s served up most seasons.
      Maybe I’m wrong and it will be a storming success. But that kind of success would be meaningless to me and millions of others. It would be a success measured in telly audiences, pay-per-views, shirt sales and so on.
      The thrill of being in an elite league is that you’ve earned the right to be there — and that’s “earned” in the sporting sense, not financially.
      There’s also the dark fear that you might not do well enough to be there the following season, but that risk has been removed.
      The problem is, that without fear there is no hope, without despair there is no joy. Do the masterminds behind this brainwave not understand this?
      This whole tragedy sits on the critical faultline between business and sport: Business demands certainty, whereas sport demands uncertainty.
      CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITH FOR
      If there’s no jeopardy involved, no risk of failure, there is no meaningful sport.
      In business, company bosses will do everything they can to eliminate risk and they can’t help doing the same when they get involved in sport.
      To hope for them to do otherwise is fruitless. On one level I blame myself — as I’m sure other fans will too.
      We should have been more careful what we wished for.
      When someone comes along to take over the club we support, we mostly ask: How much money have they got?
      I asked precisely that when a Chinese businessman took over my team, West Brom.
      A Tottenham Hotspur fan protests outside the Spurs training ground against the proposed Super LeagueCredit: Reuters
      An anti Super League banner is seen outside Liverpool’s AnfieldCredit: Reuters

      All I wanted to know was much money he had. I should have asked, does he really care about this club, and will he really do the best by it?
      I feel so naïve. I thought these people cared about the game, rather than only the riches it might bring.
      The money men are now on the brink of poisoning the essence of the game we love. And I haven’t got a clue what we can do about it.
      GSWs? I’m SBC* by LOD
      I’m all for abbreviations, even if I don’t understand what they stand for.
      A little bit of confusion keeps the enquiring mind ticking over. But an abbreviation needs to be shorter than that which it abbreviates.
      The BBC’s drama Line of Duty has been shocking fans with twists and turnsCredit: BBC
      So it makes sense for the emergency services to refer to a road traffic accident (six syllables) as an RTA (three syllables).
      On Line Of Duty, however, when a couple of baddies got shot up one of the goodies radioed in that there had been GSWs.
      Huh? Gunshot wounds, apparently.
      But gee, ess, and double u comes in at a lengthy five syllables whereas gun, shot and wounds is a tidy little three. Just saying.
      *So Blinkin’ confused.
      ‘Now we’re sucking diesel’I RAN out of heating oil this week so I was rather cold and very smelly.
      A mate very kindly said I could siphon some out of his tank. I borrowed a hosepipe and started sucking furiously.
      At first nothing happened…so I sucked again a bit harder.
      Success! I would have been delighted to see the oil spurting out, if it hadn’t spurted straight into my mouth.
      I only mention this because, on Line Of Duty, when Ted Hastings’ team tell him about an important new lead, he expresses his approval by exclaiming: “Now we’re sucking diesel!”
      I always wondered where he got this from, and now I’m sure I have no idea, because, having tried it, I can confirm there’s nothing good at all about sucking diesel.
      Four days later it’s still on my breath.

      Rover ‘n’ out genius
      If one thing made me proud to be British watching the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral on Saturday, it was the adapted Land Rover which carried his coffin.
      Like many things intended to convey a casual approach to formal matters, it doubtless required lots of extra money and time to pull off, but it was a stroke of genius.
      An adapted Land Rover carried the coffin of Prince PhilipCredit: AFP
      The Duke of Edinburgh was a huge fan of the car manufacturerCredit: AFP
      Moving, relevant, eccentric and just slightly tongue-in-cheek.
      Rule Britannia.
      App for yapping
      I read that lots of Zoom meetings are interrupted by dogs barking.
      Apparently older people are less inclined to leave the call to attend to their dogs’ needs than younger dog owners.
      Zoom meetings are being interrupted by dogs barkingCredit: Getty
      This might be because younger people indulge their dogs more, it might also be because they are keener to find any excuse to get off a call, especially if it is to do with work.
      There must be an app somewhere that can produce assorted noises to give you the excuse to leave calls.
      I’d suggest a dog barking, cat miaowing, a door being firmly hammered on and a fire alarm going off.
      Eve and Nicola are keeping it real
      For work I often record interviews with people and then transcribe what they’ve said.
      If you do this faithfully to what they have actually said, including all the “umms”, “aahs” and “errs”, what you are left with is almost unintelligible.
      Eve Myles plays Faith Howells in Welsh thriller Keeping FaithCredit: PA
      The popular television series is filmed and set in WalesCredit: BBC Pictures’ Digital Picture
      It has always interested me that in dramas this is rarely the case.
      You hardly ever hear the stuff real people speak in the real world.
      There are very few “umms” and “aahs”, and a cough is a rare thing indeed.
      Occasionally you come across actors who manage to sound like they’re speaking normally, with random little inflexions and idiosyncrasies in the way they talk.
      There are two brilliant examples.
      Nicola Walker in Unforgotten and Eve Myles in Keeping Faith.
      Nicola Walker as DCI Cassie Stuart and Sanjeev Bhaskar as DI Sunny Khan in UnforgottenCredit: ITV

      They sound real, look real, and I find them both irresistible in any every way.
      I wish I had the skills and the contacts to write a drama, Nicola as the copper and Eve as a lawyer.
      What a double act. It would be real.
      Boris Johnson hits out at plans for breakaway Super League European football competition More

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      in Soccer

      I will do everything I can to give the ludicrous European Super League a straight red

      by

      ANYONE who has watched me play football or played with me in the same match will know that I am far from an expert on the beautiful game.But you don’t need to be an expert to horrified at the prospect of the so-called “Super League” being cooked up by a small number of clubs.
      Leeds United players wore ‘Football Is For The Fans’ shirts ahead of their match against LiverpoolCredit: PA
      A Tottenham Hotspurs fan protests against the proposed European Super LeagueCredit: The Sun
      You only need a pulse to know that football is not a brand or a product. In fact it’s so much more than even a sport.
      Football clubs in every town and city and at every tier of the pyramid have a unique place at the heart of their communities, and are an unrivalled source of passionate local pride.
      And the joy of the game’s current structure, one that has kept people coming back year after year, generation after generation, is that even the most seemingly endless period of frustration is made bearable by the possibility, however remote, that one day you could see them rise up.
      After all if Leicester City can win the Premier League, if Nottingham Forest can be champions of Europe not once but twice then maybe, just maybe, your team can do the same.
      But that can only happen if the playing field is even vaguely level and the ability to progress is universal.

      The European Super League guarantees neither, which is why it has been roundly rejected by the people who matter most: the fans.
      A year of empty stadiums has reminded us all that football without fans is an altogether more anaemic spectacle.
      It is your game – and you can rest assured that I’m going to do everything I can to give this ludicrous plan a straight red.
      An Arsenal fan protests against the new plans outside the Emirates stadiumCredit: Rex
      If Leicester City can win the Premier League then maybe, just maybe, your team can do the sameCredit: AFP or licensors
      Nottingham Forest were champions of Europe not once but twiceCredit: PA:Empics Sport
      Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp fumes at Leeds warm-up T-shirts mocking them for joining European Super League More

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      in Soccer

      Uefa ready to hand PSG Champions League this season by BANNING ‘snakes’ Chelsea and Co over European Super League

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      UEFA is ready to boot Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid out of this season’s Champions League – and hand the title to PSG.Euro chiefs are also prepared to kick Arsenal and Manchester United out of the Europa League semi-finals for signing up to the proposed Super League.
      Uefa are ready to hand PSG the Champions League by banning the other three semi-finalistsCredit: Getty
      And Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin, who branded the plotters ‘snakes’ who are ‘spitting in the face’ of football fans, has threatened to ban England and overseas stars including Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann from Euro 2020.
      Ceferin, who admitted to being ‘angry’ at the ‘greed, selfishness and narcissism’ of the 12 rebel clubs, made the threat during a press conference.
      He said: “The players who will play in the teams that might play in the closed league will be banned from playing in the World Cup or Euros and not be able to represent their national teams at any matches.
      “We’re still assessing the situation with our legal team. 
      “We will take all the sanctions we can and will inform you as soon as we have  a clear answer.
      “As soon as possible they have to be banned from all our competition and the players from all our competitions.”
      Asked to clarify if that meant an imminent move for the rest of this season and then the summer, Ceferin added: “I said they wouldn’t be able to play in our competitions, but I don’t know when. 
      “This thing is new for us. We might be naive because we didn’t know we had some snakes close to us but now we know and are working on it and will have legal actions soon.  
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      “It’s not clear yet. That is part of the legal assessment. We have a meeting tomorrow and it’s too fresh to know what will happen. We will inform you accordingly.
      “We understand that some players might be caught in a difficult situation.
      “But if materialises and we ban the players they will think twice before signing for a club like that.”
      Ceferin turned his fire on the plot leaders, especially Juventus chief Andrea Agnelli, branded ‘the biggest disappointment of all’.
      The Uefa boss, who added he expected Fifa President Gianni Infantino to back his hardline stance when he addresses Uefa’s annual Congress tomorrow, did not hold back as he blasted the rebels.
      He said: “These are disgraceful, self-serving proposals from a select few clubs that are fuelled purely by greed above all else.

      “Super League IS only about money. The money of the dozen.
      “This idea is spitting in the face of all football lovers and our society as well and we will not allow them to take it away from us..
      “I have seen many things. I was a criminal lawyer for 24 years but i have never seen people like this.
      “Greediness is so strong that all human values evaporate. In football I met many strange people, liars and bad people. 
      “Football is not all corrupt, just a small part of it led by greed only and they don’t care about anybody else, they don’t care about the game. 
      “You see chief execs changing clubs like we change shirts, owners who look at accounts, not goals.”
      ⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds

      Furious Liverpool and Tottenham fans protest European Super League plot outside stadiums with more supporters to follow More

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      in Soccer

      Peter Crouch once left wife Abbey Clancy locked out of their home for 90 minutes while playing Call of Duty

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      PETER Crouch once left wife Abbey Clancy locked out of their home and ringing the doorbell for 90 minutes — as he was playing Call of Duty.The former England striker was wearing headphones while absorbed in the video shoot-’em-up and could not hear the model.
      Former England ace Peter Crouch revealed he once left his wife Abbey Clancy locked out of their home for 90 minutesCredit: Getty – Contributor
      The footie ace was wearing headphones while playing Call of Duty and could not hear AbbeyCredit: Getty
      The dad of four said the 2013 Strictly winner was “not happy” at being left outside for so long when she forgot her keys.
      Ex-Spurs and Liverpool ace Crouchy, 40, told his podcast: “I had a pair of headphones on and had no idea she was ringing the bell.
      “She was locked out for about an hour and a half while I was shooting people.
      “I was in this big game, so I had no idea she was ringing the bell.
      Abbey had forgotten her keys and was ‘not happy’ as she was stuck outsideCredit: Getty
      He says: ‘She was locked out for about an hour and a half while I was shooting people’Credit: Getty

      He said it happened just after the couple got married in 2011.
      The ace added: “There should be a ‘dad mode’ on Call of Duty.
      “Trying to get your gun out for ages, and then you do that thing when you zoom in for no reason, and then throw a grenade for no reason.”
      Peter Crouch has BT Sport pundits in stitches as he forgets his own Champions League heroics More

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      in Soccer

      Stuart Dallas compared to Javier Zanetti by Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa as he hails star’s versatility

      by

      MARCELO BIELSA has compared ‘Mr Versatile’ Stuart Dallas to Argentine legend Javier Zanetti.The Northern Irishman’s stunning season has seen him dubbed the ‘Cookstown Cafu’.
      Stuart Dallas has enjoyed a stellar campaign in the Premier LeagueCredit: AP
      The full-back’s efforts have earned comparisons to Inter Milan hero Javier ZanettiCredit: Getty Images – Getty
      But while Brazilian icon Cafu was exclusively marauding down the right, Dallas, 29, has been everywhere.
      Right-back, left-back, right wing, defensive midfield and attacking midfield — he has shone in them all.
      His last-gasp winner on the break at champions-elect Manchester City last weekend sees Leeds chasing a fourth-straight win against Liverpool on Monday.
      Despite 18 of his 31 starts coming at full-back he has seven goals – level with Sadio Mane, and at a just a slightly better rate than Zanetti’s 12 in 19 years at Inter Milan.
      Leeds boss Bielsa, who also sees similarities with former Newell’s Old Boys midfielder Julio Saldana, coached Zanetti, predominantly a right-back, with Argentina between 1998 and 2004.
      And he said: “I had a player like him, Javier Zanetti, and also Julio Saldana who I had when I first managed at Newell’s.
      “Those two players are very alike Dallas in terms of their versatility.
      “Dallas is a very potent, powerful player. He can play with either foot, his right or his left, he’s good at defending.
      He has a change of rhythm and surprise when he attacks. It’s very difficult to find all that in just one player.Marcelo Bielsa
      “He has the capacity to combine as well as make runs, which allows him to flourish playing in the middle.
      “He has a change of rhythm and surprise when he attacks. It’s very difficult to find all that in just one player.”
      Dallas is a boyhood Liverpool fan and combined part-time playing with working as a joiner in Belfast when Brentford spotted him in 2012.
      After three years on the wing in West London, his former Bees boss Uwe Rosler spent £1.6m to bring him to Elland Road in 2015.
      A strong contender for Leeds’ Player of the Year, Dallas will reprise the role in midfield against the Reds tonight having usurped Mateusz Klich in the pecking order.
      And Bielsa added: “The role Dallas has in the team at the moment is the role that Klich had.
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      Marcelo Bielsa has heaped praise on DallasCredit: EPA
      “In the majority of the games the team played, Klich was one of the best players.
      “Dallas started to play in this position and showed different ways of playing in this position.
      “Scoring goals was a clear expectation when he started to play in this position and as the minutes go by, he manages to have a marked influence in finishing our chances.
      “In that sense, this is something of a novelty. Even though it’s a novelty, it’s within his capabilities as he has shown.”
      Bielsa also hailed Diego Llorente’s form having finally put together a run of games after an injury-hit first season.
      The Spanish centre-back has started the last seven to take his total to just eight since his £20m from Real Sociedad.

      Fellow new defender, Robin Koch, has also struggled for fitness and has made only 14 appearances.
      But Bielsa said: “Diego has played well, he has not had any bad games.
      “He’s at a performance level that has improved every single time he has played. He started playing well and from then onwards has got better.
      “Him with Koch, in the first part of the season, have been high points of our season.”
      ⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
      Leeds vs Liverpool – Watch LIVE, channel info and kick-off time More

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      in Soccer

      Fans must act now and make a stand against greedy owners who want to tear up 130 years of English football history

      by

      UNDER the cover of the pandemic, they made their move.The owners of England’s ‘Big Six’ clubs — three American sports moguls, two oil barons and the Bahamas-based billionaire who holds the keys to Tottenham — have made the cowardly move of signing up for a breakaway European Super League.
      Man Utd executive vice-chairman and director Edward Woodward is among bigwigs seemingly backing a betrayal of football as we know itCredit: Getty
      Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Liverpool owner John Henry will have big questions to answer from their shocked fans over the new leagueCredit: Getty
      Man Utd’s American owners, the Glazers, want to ditch domestic English football
      And they did so while the match-going supporters of those six clubs — most with proud traditions of unity and protest — are locked out of their stadiums.
      True supporters of those clubs will appreciate the importance of the English footballing pyramid as well as those who follow less wealthy clubs — and they will be appalled by these proposals.
      The green-and-gold anti-Glazer protestors at United, the Spirit of Shankly at Anfield, the Chelsea Pitch Owners who united to save Stamford Bridge from property developers years before Roman Abramovich had ever heard of their club.
      Now these, along with supporters of Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham, must make their voices heard. Loud and clear.
      It might not make a whole lot of difference because the owners of these clubs care only for their global fanbases rather than those who have turned up to support their teams for generations — but they must resist.
      This was always the endgame for the Glazers at Manchester United, John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group and Stan Kroenke of Arsenal — all owners of American sports clubs and their franchise model.
      Guaranteed top dollar without the need for sporting excellence is the American sporting dream.
      This was the endgame of every pre-season tour to the States or the Far East, the endgame for all those boasts about ‘global social-media reach’ and ‘official noodles partners’.
      Arsenal backer Stan Kroenke and his like always had the endgame of developing a global base rather than building on the traditions of the gameCredit: EPA
      Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is another of the money-men who could take the game away from its competitive instinctsCredit: PA
      Those ‘Unity Is Strength’ banners at Anfield can be tossed away.
      They were a joke ever since the Liverpool and United-led attempt to carve up Premier League power in the hands of the few materialised in those Project Big Picture proposals earlier this season.
      Abramovich, the Abu Dhabi paymasters of City and Joe Lewis of Spurs were never going to stand by and watch the other three break away without them.
      Suspicion of foreign ownership of English football clubs was rarely based on xenophobia but on fears of eventualities such as this, which would tear up more than 130 years of English league football history and traditions.
      There should be embarrassment at City, Arsenal and Tottenham — three clubs without a single European Cup between them — that they are even part of such a scheme.
      City were playing Macclesfield in the league less than a quarter of a century ago. Spurs this week marked 60 years since they were last champions of England.
      Arsenal are mid-table and facing the prospect of no European football whatsoever next term.
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      HOW THE SUPER LEAGUE WOULD WORK
      THE European Super League will be made up of fifteen ‘founder members’ – starting with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, City and Spurs from England, with Atletico and Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
      Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and PSG are likely to complete the list founders, who cannot be relegated.
      Five extra teams will be invited to compete each year with a provisional kick-off from the start of the 2022-23 season.
      Teams will be split into two groups of ten and play nine opponents home and away in a midweek league, with the top four from each group qualifying for end of season play-offs.
      United and Liverpool will bag up to £310m up front. The other four Prem teams would each get £200m.
      Total £4.6billion pot, initially backed by JP Morgan will mean a minimum £130m each year even if one of the ‘founders’ loses EVERY game.
      Overall winners could earn up to £212m extra if they win every game.

      These clubs are scared witless by the likes of Leicester and West Ham threatening to break up the Big Six cartel.
      The Premier League, with its relatively equitable distribution of TV cash, is far too fair and open for their liking.
      hether they are genuinely ready to go through with a breakaway — or whether it ultimately proves to be just another power squabble between Uefa and many of Europe’s richest clubs — the resistance of English football supporters must start here.
      ⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
      Fans finally return to football as select 4,000 spectators watch FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in test event More

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      in Soccer

      From Roy Keane to Paul Scholes — these footballers are the spitting image of paintings

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      WHAT a match! Comedian Olaf Falafel has paired football figures with lookalike paintings — and we thought it was too good an idea to pass up on.
      Roy Keane is the spitting image of Gentleman in a Fur by Paolo Veronese
      The winning doubles — including player-turned-pundit Roy Keane — would be at home in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
      But can you tell a Manet from a Mane or a Caravaggio from a Baggio?
      Thomas Tuchel’s lookalike is Elena Povolozky by Amedeo Modigliani
      Roy Hodgson looks just like J.M. Vogelsang by Ferdinand Oldewelt
      Marouane Fellaini appears to be channeling Pablo Picasso’s Face of Woman
      Pep Guardiola has the exact same pose as Head of Man by Hermann Struck
      Paul Scholes is paired up with Paul Gauguin’s Beautiful Angel
      Kenny Dalglish looks just like Gardener John Wells, by an unknown artist
      Mick McCarthy is a clear double for Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait

      Micah Richards winds up BOTH Roy Keane and Jamie Redknapp over their previous row in hilarious behind-the-scenes clip More

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      in Boxing

      Demetrius Andrade crushes Liam Williams’ WBO middleweight title dreams in unanimous decision

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      WELSH WARRIOR Liam Williams had his middleweight world title dream dashed by brilliant American southpaw champion Demetrius Andrade.The Clydach 28-year-old flew to Florida for a longshot at dethroning the 33-year-old undefeated leftie.
      Demetrius Andrade was too strong for the brave Liam WilliamsCredit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

      But he came face-to-face with a masterful fighter who almost stopped him in the opener, floored him in the second and then slipped and grabbed his way to a points win.
      Team USA’s 2008 Beijing Olympian walked to the ring in a baseball cap emblazoned with ‘WAR’ in honour of recently deceased middleweight legend and fellow southpaw Marvin Hagler and put on a showing the icon would be proud of.
      The judges called it: 116-111, 118-109 and 118-109.
      Williams said:  “Demetrius is a very good fighter, better than I thought, more slippery than he appears on TV.
      “I could not get my punches or combinations off, I felt I hurt him a couple of times but he was always gone before I could capitalise on it.
      “I know I am tough and can take a good shot, I knew I had taken his best shot in the second and I got up so I had nothing to fear.
      “I don’t feel I need to take a step back, I believe now I am world level.
      “I know I gave him a bit of stick in the build-up but he is quality and probably only Canelo in the division is a better champion than him.”
      Liam Williams showed plenty of fight but could not match the champCredit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

      It was a violent start and Williams was hurt instantly when Andrade unloaded a huge left hook off the ropes.
      The Brit was buzzed but went on the front foot instead of covering up and trying to survive.
      Andrade‘s lead southpaw uppercut was vicious and Williams was nursing a heavily swollen cheek from the second minute.
      A straight one-two smashed into his nose as well, as the usually cautious American went hell for leather.
      In his camouflage shorts, Andrade was hard to find in the second and he brutalised Williams again with a meaty left backhand and an uppercut that scythed through his guard.
      Williams was warned for roughhouse tactics with thirty seconds of the round remaining, he switched off for a nanosecond and was punished with a massive one-two that decked him for a count.
      The third looked like being a breather for Andrade but he landed again with a minute left in the session and Williams was held up by the ropes.
      But the Brit bravely bashed and bullied his way back into the bout with a strong finish to the stanza.
      Liam Williams climbed off the canvas in the second round of a physical boutCredit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.
      The Welshman’s American opponent showed off his slick ringcraftCredit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.
      Brave effort by @Liamwilliamsko tonight. Hurt early but came back and showed he belongs at world level hurting Andrade In the 9th. Bad Ref frustrating and allowed way too much holding!— Joe Calzaghe (@RealJoeCalzaghe) April 17, 2021

      The fourth was a huge improvement for Williams, with a couple of shots landing flush and Boo Boo’s legs looking heavy under the constant pressure.
      Sheffield trainer Dominic Ingle kept telling his charge that Andrade was going to wilt in the back half of the fight but Williams was worried his footwork was not up to the task.
      If Andrade took a rest in the fourth, he clocked back in the fifth with a series of those trademark uppercuts that Williams at least knew to expect but could not avoid.
      Thin-skinned Williams was cut by the end of the round and had blood dripping down into his right eye.
      Andrade complained of an eye poke in the sixth and he continued to hold and smother and Williams’ freakish pace.
      But a thunderous lead uppercut sliced through his guard again and rocked his shaven head back toward the Florida heavens.
      Right at the end of the seventh Williams was whacked again and had to cling on for the bell to save him after Andrade slipped up a gear.
      Williams dared to drop his hands in the eighth and dare his opponent to hit him but he waited until Williams had his guard up to land another uppercut.
      Andrade appeared to be hurt in the ninth by a right hand but Williams did not seem to have the energy to finish him and shipped a bodyshot for his trouble.

      Andrade definitely tired in the final few rounds, against Williams’ relentlessness it would be almost impossible not to.
      But he grabbed the penultimate round with a pinpoint combination that the judges would have loved.
      And the pair, who had swapped spiteful insults over the months of build-up, hugged at the final bell after both giving it their all. More