HOT OR NOT: Let’s hope James Haskell can emerge from switch to MMA unscathed while referee Anderson Daronco made a brave step in football’s battle to eradicate abuse
- Eric Cantona gave a bizarre speech in front of a large audience in Monaco
- Anderson Daronco temporarily halted Vasco Da Gama’s match against Sao Paulo
- EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans admits they need to learn from Bury loss
It’s Hot or Not time again as Sportsmail’s Dan Matthews reveals what’s been making him feel warm and what’s been leaving him cold this week.
HOT
Eric Cantona
There was Shakespeare, science but no sardines when Eric Cantona lit up the Champions League draw in Monaco. ‘What’s going through your mind?’, he was asked after winning the UEFA president’s award. King Lear, it turned out.
Eric Cantona performed a bizarre on-stage speech as he received the UEFA President’s Award
T20 cricket
Nearly 50,000 people turned up for Surrey’s two sold-out T20 clashes at The Oval. On Tuesday, 4,000 bought tickets for the final day of the final Ashes Test at The Oval, with 59 per cent of buyers new to Test cricket. Imagine if more games were on free-to-air TV.
Anderson Daronco
The referee temporarily halted Vasco Da Gama’s match against Sao Paulo after homophobic chants by supporters. It comes less than two weeks after officials in France paused Nancy’s game with Le Mans over offensive chanting. A small step in football’s battle to eradicate abuse, but a brave one.
Anderson Daronco temporarily halted Vasco Da Gama’s match against Sao Paulo
NOT
Anthony Joshua
If the wheels didn’t come off Joshua’s career when he was knocked out by Andy Ruiz, the paint is certainly losing some of its shine. AJ and promoter Eddie Hearn have run a near flawless PR machine but after the heavyweight admitted he had lost ‘a bit of passion’ for boxing, Hearn publicly told him to ‘snap out of it’. Pressure does funny things.
Andy Ruiz Jr knocks down Anthony Joshua during their fight in New York in June
James Haskell
The former England rugby star says he is taking his switch to MMA seriously and would be embarrassed if he was like Freddie Flintoff during the ex-cricketer’s short boxing career. But Flintoff did one thing right — he got out unscathed. Let’s hope Haskell can do the same.
James Haskell recently announced he was going to fight in MMA and will take it seriously
The EFL
EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans admits they need to learn from the expulsion of Bury. What took them so long? The situation Bury and Bolton are in hardly crept up on the EFL. These clubs have been broken slowly, right in front of their eyes.
EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans admits they need to learn from the expulsion of Bury