Mayweather ‘lined up to take on former world champion

BOXING great Floyd Mayweather is being lined up for another return to the ring against former super-featherweight world champion Takashi Uchiyama, according to reports.

The 43-year-old is said to be keen to return to Japan after pocketing £7million following his win over kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa at RIZIN’s annual New Year’s Eve event in 2018.

And eFight believe that the same promotion are working on grand plans to pit Mayweather against Uchiyama in another exhibition bout under the RIZIN Fighting Federation banner.

The 40-year-old retired in 2016 after losing consecutive fights to Jezreel Corrales - but had been the WBA’s junior lightweight champion for six years between 2010 and 2016.

Across that period, Uchiyama had made 11 defences of his world title at 130 pounds.

But, unlike Mayweather’s previous RIZIN showpiece, the proposed fight with Uchiyama would ensure the boxing great will take on a legitimate champion this time around, albeit from a lower weight division.

Mayweather has held discussions over re-entering the ring, but his plans have so far been scuppered by the coronavirus pandemic.

He has been unable to travel, even on his private jet, to broker deals.

Promoter Nobuyuki Sakakibara has outlined the obstacles preventing another exhibition in the near future, but does expect Mayweather to fight once again.

He told Japanese press: ‘ Mayweather vs Takashi Uchiyama is the most exciting.

‘There are various problems such immigration, opponents, money, etc.

‘But communication with the person progressing positively. I expect the possibility.’

Mayweather officially stepped away from professional boxing in 2017 after downing UFC star Conor McGregor.

The five-division champion was able to stop McGregor in the 10th round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas - and took his record to 50-0.

The 43-year-old officially retired from professional boxing in 2017 after beating UFC star Conor McGregor. — dailyonline. as is

BERN — The global footballers’ union Fifpro wants concrete safeguards to protect players from fixture overload and the consequent risk of injury as the sport catches up with a backlog of matches following the novel coronavirus stoppage.

Fifpro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said with the sport facing an overcrowded calendar for the next three years, the union was talking to European clubs and leagues to find ways of protecting players.

“There is the big question of how we manage the load in a very condensed period,” he said. “We can’t just leave it to the mercy of individual decisions because we know how big the pressure is on the players and nobody is going to benefit from additional injuries.”

The new coronavirus halted football for three to four months around Europe and longer in some other parts of the world.

But, rather than shorten competition formats and eliminate fixtures, most federations and leagues are simply cramming them into a shorter period of time, producing a concertina effect.

The only major exception is the Champions League and Europa League where UEFA has replaced two-leg ties with single-leg ties for the end of this season and the start of next.

“From now to three years ahead, the calendar is completely overloaded,” said Baer-Hoffman.

“The only solution is to put a framework in place to manage the load and guarantee recovery periods,” he added, citing two mandatory rest periods per year as an example of a rule that could be implemented.

“We need sensible rules based on medicallyapproved safety standards.”

Fifpro had expressed concern about player overload even before the coronavirus stoppage and a report last year said players needed five days’ rest between matches — compared to two to thee days at present in England and Italy. — Reuters.