Mediaboss Marketing

Former world champion Evander Holyfield's last professional fight was in 2011, and his professional record stands at 44 wins, 10 losses and two draws

In this week's Fight Talk we look at how the boxing world reacted to an eventful - and somewhat strange - night in Florida which saw the return of Evander Holyfield, Donald Trump take on commentary duties and David Haye beat his mate before calling out a heavyweight world champion.

Plus, find out which promoter showed us he's a dab hand at cricket as he turns out for his local club side.

On Saturday in Florida we witnessed one of the most surreal nights in boxing history.

Former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, was commentating on a fight night headlined by 58-year-old ex-heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield, with Britain's David Haye on the undercard.

We're not making this up.

With so much to unpick, we'll start with Holyfield's clash with Brazil's former UFC fighter Vitor Belfort.

Holyfield, who once held all the belts in the cruiserweight division, has not fought professionally for 10 years, but stepped in at late notice after Oscar De La Hoya was hospitalised with Covid-19.

The American failed to throw a meaningful punch as he suffered a first-round technical knockout to Belfort.

We've seen a sharp rise in celebrities and social media stars taking up boxing in recent years, while Holyfield's former foe Mike Tyson also returned at the age of 54 in an exhibition bout against fellow legend Roy Jones Jr last year.

But for some of those involved in the sport, seeing an aged Holyfield return at the Triller Fight Night event - and the manner of his defeat - was a step too far

Let's turn our focus to businessman-turned-politician Trump.

It's fair say his involvement with the event raised more than a few eyebrows.

When asked at the pre-fight news conference who he'd like to share the ring with, Trump told fans he'd knock out serving USA president Joe Biden "within the first few seconds"

On fight night, the politician was calling the action alongside his son Donald Trump Jr.

During Haye's fight with Joe Fournier (more on that shortly), Trump criticised the bout by saying "right now, the audience prefers politics".

Trump also said Haye "looks like he's got a lot of talent", perhaps unaware Haye is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion who also won a world title at heavyweight.

Like many of us, boxing manager Sam Jones couldn't quite believe what he was seeing

As if things couldn't get any more bizarre, boxing reporter Mike Coppinger tweeted that another former president is also being linked with a boxing commentary stint

What next? Theresa May commentating on a Frank Bruno comeback? In the world we're living in, don't write it off.

As Trump alluded to, Londoner Haye's comeback fight - his first bout since retiring three years ago - was a somewhat disappointing affair.

Haye, 40, was taking on 38-year-old Joe Fournier, a businessman who had notched up nine wins as a professional.

The two are close friends, with recent pictures on social media showing them holidaying in Greece.

In the build-up to the fight the two regularly exchanged words on social media, with Haye boasting that he'd put friendship aside and look for the stoppage.

But in a completely one-sided clash, Haye picked apart his opponent in a dominant points decision win, but was seemingly reluctant to go for the knockout.

Fans questioned the authenticity of the 'friendly rivalry' between the two boxers

After the fight there was a real plot twist; Haye - who had previously suggested his fight was a one-off and he was happily retired - called out WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

"There's one man I'll come back to professional boxing to fight - Tyson Fury. I know his kryptonite," he said.

Haye suffered several injuries towards the end of his career and retired from the sport after back-to-back losses to Liverpool's Tony Bellew.

This is how social media reacted to Haye's latest comments

As for Fury, a few weeks ago he decided to take a break from social media to focus on his upcoming trilogy bout against American Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas on 9 October

Well, the self-imposed social media blackout was lifted as this week he was embroiled in a back and forth with fellow British heavyweight Dillian Whyte.

The Twitter row erupted after Fury shared who he'd like to face in his next five fights, going against the old adage in boxing to never look past your next opponent

The exchange between Fury and Whyte consisted of some colourful language, but the general gist was Fury saying "I'd smash you to bits" and Whyte responding with "hit me up baby I'm covered".

The boxing world is crying out for a undisputed clash between Anthony Joshua and Fury, but there's no denying a Whyte-Fury fight would be a blockbuster event, just for the build-up alone.

And finally, it wouldn't be Fight Talk without a section on Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn.

Last week we showed him unleashing a right hand on the punch machine, and this week promoter Hearn swapped boxing mitts for cricket gloves as he turned out for his local club.

Here is playing glorious cover drive through the off side...

Hearn and England skipper Joe Root to dominate Australia in the Ashes this winter? As we've seen this weekend, anything can happen.

Excerpt from:
Fight Talk: Evander Holyfield, 58, is knocked out with Donald Trump on commentary in a surreal night of boxing - BBC Sport

Former US president Donald Trump celebrated his 75th birthday on Monday and the event was a low-key affair. Trump marked his 75th birthday with a dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Donald Trump Jr, the son of former US president, took to his Instagram account to share some photos of the birthday party. The guests included Donald Jr.s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, former NFL star Herschel Walker, Indiana congressman Jim Banks and Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert.

The most notable absentee was Donald Trump's wife and former First Lady, Melania Trump.

Ex-wife Ivana Trump once said in an interview that "Donald hates his birthdays", and a source also told People magazine that Melania "keeps her own schedule and leads her own life" away from her husband.

The absence of Melania has once again sparked the divorce rumors between the couple but writer Kristyn Burtt said that it is wrong to say that Melania has decided to part ways with Donald Trump.

She said: "She did that at the start of his administration when she and son Barron remained in New York City so he could finish out the school year before they moved to Washington, D.C. The couple has very different hobbies and seems to prefer their independent activities, but no one should read too much into her absence. This shouldnt be seen as a sign that there is trouble in their marriage."

Notably, the only family members who were present during Donald Trump's 75th birthday celebration were Donald Jr. and his girlfriend. Daughter Ivanka Trump was also not present at the event.

Read the original post:
Melania Trump to divorce former US president Donald Trump ...

The explosion at the Kabul airport - which killed at least 72 Afghans and 13 US service members - would never have occurred if he were president, Former US President Donald Trump said in a statement that was sent to Fox News and later posted Friday on social media.

In his speech, he started by giving his condolences to the families and friends of the terror attack victims.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

"These noble American warriors laid down their lives in the line of duty. They sacrificed themselves for the country they loved. Racing against time to rescue their fellow citizens from harm's way."

Shortly after these remarks, the former president made the political statement claiming that the terror attack would not have happened had he won the 2020 presidential election against Joe Biden.

"This tragedy should never have taken place, it should never have happened, and it would not have happened if I was your president," Trump remarked.

The ISIS jihadist terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Simcha Pasko, Anna Ahronheim and Reuters contributed to this report.

Continue reading here:
Trump claims Kabul explosion wouldn't have happened if he were president - The Jerusalem Post

Trump sues Facebook, Twitter over 'blacklisting and canceling'

Claims that tech companies are biased against conservatives have emerged as a top issue to rally the GOP base ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Associated Press, USA TODAY

Twitter blocked and labeled some of Donald Trump's claims ofelection fraud in the run-up and aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

The tweetsspread on and off Twitter anyway.

Thats according to a new study from New York University researchers published Tuesday in Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review and shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

The study is raisingquestions about the ability of social media companies to halt the flood of falsehoods on mainstream social media platforms during election cycles.

NYU researchers say Trump tweets withfact-check labels spread further on Twitter than those without. And when Twitter blocked engagement with the former presidents tweets, they leapedto Facebook, Instagram and Redditwhere they were more popular than tweets that Twitter labeled or did not flag at all.

Do Facebook and Google censor conservatives?Trump, Republicans bet claims they do will rally GOP base in 2022

Banning Trump from Facebook: Why Justice Clarence Thomas and other conservatives say it is First Amendment issue

It's not clear if Twitter intervened on social media posts that were more likely to spread or if it was the intervention itself that gave the tweets a boost, the researchers said.

But they say their studyunderscores how harmful misinformation can hopfrom platform to platform with too little coordination among social media companies to curb its spread.

Misinformation halted on one platform does not halt it on another, said Megan Brown, research engineer with NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics.

Blocked on Twitter, Trumps tweets turned up on Facebook in the form of links, quotes andscreenshots, where they garnered an average engagement of more than 300,000, said Zeve Sanderson, executive director of the NYU center.

That phenomenon shows that political actors seeking to advance a narrative online are not limited to working within a single platform, said Joshua Tucker, co-director of the center.

We are in a world where people who are trying to control information environments and who are trying to push political information environments are in a multiplatform world, Tucker said. Right now, the only way we have to deal with content is on a platform-by-platform basis.

In a statement, Twitter saidit took a number of steps to limit engagement on tweets that violated its rules.

"As election conversation reached record highs, it was critical that we took swift enforcement action on misleading content that could contribute to offline harm," the company said.

From Oct. 27 to Nov. 11, Twitter labeled some 300,000 tweets as disputed or potentially misleading and saw an estimated 29% decrease in quote tweets.

"We continue to research, questionand alter features that could incentivize or encourage behaviors on Twitter that negatively affect the health of the conversation online or could lead to offline harm," the company said.

Twitter'smost significant intervention waspermanently banningTrump in the final days of his presidency after the Jan. 6Capitol attack, a move that raisedthorny questions of free speech and censorship on social media.

At the time, Trumphad 88.7 million followers who retweeted him at an astonishing rate, giving him near unprecedented power to shape the national conversation.

After his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol Building to block Congress from certifying Joe Bidens presidential win, all three of the nations top social media platforms Facebook, Googles YouTube and Twitter banned Trump over concerns he would incite more violence.

YouTube said it would lift the suspension after the "risk of violence" decreases. In June, Facebook said the earliest Trump would regain access to his accounts would be 2023. Even if Trump runs for president and wins in 2024, Twitter said it would not reinstate him.

Trump attacked social media companies forlabeling, restrictingorremoving his poststhat spread falsehoods about the outcome of the presidential election.

In July, Trump filed suit against Facebook, Google,Twitter and their CEOs, claiming the companies violated his First Amendment rights.

In a backlash from conservatives, dozens of states are considering legislation that targets how social media platforms regulate speech. One bill passed in Florida but was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Another in Texas had the votes it needed in a special session of the Republican-controlled legislature,but it has beenin limbo after Democrats left the state for Washington to protest a GOP effort to overhaul the state election system.

NYU researchers say they focused on Trump's tweets because of evidence that he acted as a central vector for spreading election-relation misinformation.

They examined tweets from Nov. 1, 2020, through Jan. 8, 2021, that were flagged by Twitter.

Blocking engagement with Trumps tweets limited their spread on Twitter but not elsewhere, researchersfound. The tweets were posted more often and were more popular on other social media platforms.

When Twitter slapped a warning label on Trumps tweets, they were more popular than his tweets that had no label, researchers said.

The finding does not necessarily mean that warning labels were ineffective or had the Streisand effect, when an attempt to hide or remove information draws even more attention to it,Sanderson said.It may be that the types of tweets that Twitter labeled were also the type that would be more likely to spread.

In the future, especially with respect to the ongoing pandemic and the 2022 midterms coming up, it will be really important for the platforms to coordinate in some way, if they can, to halt the spread of misinformation, Brown said.

Continue reading here:
Twitter blocked and labeled Donald Trump's tweets on election fraud. They spread anyway. - USA TODAY

Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

When are celebrities going to understand the actual impact of celebrity? Its getting embarrassing. TikTok-star-slash-actress-slash-musician-slash-bad-bleep Addison Rae has begrudgingly responded to online backlash for introducing herself to former president Donald Trump at a UFC match back in July. I mean, I dont support Trump, Addison Rae, last name Easterling, told the Los Angeles Times. And if someone does, thats their opinion and I respect everyones opinion, for each their own. But its very rare on occasion that you ever get to meet a former president, and I think most people could agree with me on that. Its very uncommon. And I consider myself a friendly person, and so introducing myself does not mean I stand behind anything that any respective person condones. Basically, retweets arent endorsements and, apparently, neither is walking up to someone while theyre watching a UFC match, tapping them on the shoulder, and saying, Hi, Im Addison. Nice to meet you. I have to say hi. Hello. Its so nice to meet you. The 20-year-old Hes All That star has been accused of being a Trump supporter more than once since breaking out on TikTok last year. Just last September, a TikTok user claimed to find her registered to vote in Tarzana, California, as a Republican. First Im from Louisiana, second Im not even registered to vote and never have been Im actually doing it for the first time with someone important and Im excited to do so, she commented at the time. Heres some useful information you can actually take away from this: Dont meet your heroes or your villains. And register to vote!

Continued here:
Addison Rae Says Trump Is Not All That, But She Still Wanted to Meet Him - Vulture