Chris Eubank Jr dramatically beat bitter rival Liam Smith with a sensational 10th-round stoppage in their grudge rematch, avenging his loss to the Liverpudlian here seven months ago.

Eubank, 33, sent Smith crashing to the canvas after one minute and 45 seconds of round 10 of a fight he largely dominated from start to finish with a stunning display of cool, calm and controlled boxing.

Eubank’s tactics were outstanding and this consummately professional, ruthlessly efficient and clinical display showed him at his very best.

Eubank had lost to Smith in a fourth-round stoppage here in January, so this was revenge at its sweetest and certainly no more than the Brighton man deserved.

Sadly, crowd trouble broke out on at least two separate occasions during the fight, with fans seen scrapping in the stands while in the ring Eubank was enjoying one of the finest hours of his career.

Smith appeared to struggle with an injury to his left ankle but take nothing away from Eubank.

He was a worthy victor and surely not even Smith’s most ardent supporter would deny that.

A star-studded crowd included Derek Chisora and Joseph Parker, who fought out a titanic encounter here in December 2021 when the latter won to retain his WBO intercontinental heavyweight title.

Old adversaries Amir Khan and Kell Brook even conducted a joint interview at ringside prior to the main event in a show of mutual respect.

It was the first time they had crossed paths since they fought at this arena in February 2022, when former world champion Khan suffered a stoppage loss to Brook and subsequently retired.

Ex-world heavyweight champion David Haye and England footballers Jordan Pickford, John Stones and Conor Coady were also in the VIP seats.

When Eubank and Smith finally finally emerged for their ringwalks, it felt like they were entering a lion’s den.

As it was when Smith beat his bitter rival here in January, the Liverpudlian was backed by a large and vocal support from his home city.

Eubank had met a number of Manchester United players while they were on tour in Las Vegas this summer and he prepared for this fight there with new trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre.

Marcus Rashford was among those to warn him not to lose to a Scouser again on Mancunian turf.

That made for a lighter build-up than when Smith and Eubank fought earlier this year, when Eubank questioned Smith’s fidelity and the Liverpudlian made innuendos about his rival’s sexuality.

Despite the calmer preparations for this rematch, Eubank made a bold claim at Thursday’s press conference.

‘The performance will be exquisite, supernatural, a beautiful artistic display of savage boxing,’ he declared.

Eubank also mischievously told Smith ‘I’m definitely more intelligent than you, my friend’, prompting a fierce retort from his opponent..

Eubank was subjected to jeers as he made his way to the ring and even cocked both ears to the crowd to wind up his detractors.

Smith enjoyed a more favourable reception and a tight, tense and cautious opening round saw the Liverpool man land the first shot of the fight with a well-time uppercut.

Eubank began working his jab as both fighters began looking to hold, prompting the referee to briefly halt the action to speak to both fighters.

In the second round the fight began to move through the gears with less holding from both fighters and Eubank beginning to gain the upper hand, with Smith hitting the deck at the end of the round.

But it was a shove and not a knockdown, yet self-belief coursed through the veins of Eubank as the third round unfolded.

He used his jab superbly to put Smith on the back foot before connecting with a sweet uppercut and a punch to his rival’s body late in the round.

That Eubank was on top was undeniable – a stark contrast to their previous bout in January – and he continued to gain momentum.

In the fourth round, Eubank’s energy and conviction in his punching saw him knock Smith to the ground, the Liverpudlian losing his gumshield in the process.

It became a battering for Smith as the fifth round began as he took some serious, sustained punishment, Eubank unleashing a flurry of endless blows with his rival well and truly on the ropes.

Eubank at this point appeared set to sensationally finish Smith off but the older man somehow steadied himself when he could easily have buckled.

There was also a spot of crowd trouble in the stands shortly before the sixth round began, which saw Smith at least begin to stem the tide and stand his ground.

Credit to the Liverpool man, of course.

The pace of the fight began to tell on both fighters but Eubank cleverly kept working his jab in the seventh round.

Smith appeared to have injured his left ankle, hampering his movement, and Eubank ended the round strongly, landing more quick punches before the pair exchanged words as the round closed.

Eubank always appeared more and violence flared in the stands again at the end of the eighth round, a round when Smith again managed to keep his opponent at bay as the Brighton man kept his jab ticking over nicely.

In the ninth round, Eubank continued to look in little trouble with Smith, surely by now so far behind on points, needing a knockout to secure the win.

The 10th round saw Eubank again largely dominant, a fast and furious flurry of punches forcing the Liverpool man to the ground and leaving him with a bloodied face above his right eye.

Moments later, the fight was stopped as Eubank sent Smith crashing to the canvas, completing a staggering turnaround in fortunes for both men from their previous meeting.

Rugby legend calls for Matildas to complete revenge mission on England after the pain of the 2003 World Cup: ‘It still haunts me’

By Darren Walton For Australian Associated Press

Published: 02:38 EDT, 15 August 2023 | Updated: 02:38 EDT, 15 August 2023

The White House on Thursday slammed Republicans for pushing ‘long-debunked conspiracy theories’ about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter as the administration prepares a count offensive to the GOP’s return to power.

Hours after being declared the winners of the House of Representatives, Republicans laid out their plans to investigate the president and his family, including the Bidens’ son Hunter, who became a target on the campaign trail for his business dealings with China and the Ukraine. 

But the White House accused the Republicans, who will control the House’s investigative committees next year, of seeking ‘political revenge.’ 

‘Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically-motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,’ Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House Counsel’s office, told DailyMail.com.

‘President Biden is not going to let these political attacks distract him from focusing on Americans’ priorities, and we hope congressional Republicans will join us in tackling them instead of wasting time and resources on political revenge,’ he added. 

Additionally Democrats, led by activist David Brock, have formed Facts First USA: a $5 million-a-year ‘SWAT team to counter Republican congressional investigations,’ including on issues that ‘may be too personal or delicate for the White House to be responding or to even be seen as directing a response’ – an apparent reference to Hunter Biden, the New York Times reported. 

Republicans, in a wide ranging press conference attended by GOP lawmakers who will sit on next year’s House oversight committee, claimed that President Biden was involved in his son Hunter’s controversial foreign business deals, which allegedly spans 50 different countries.

The president has long denied involvement in and knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings – some of which are being investigated by federal authorities.

Republicans vowed repeatedly during the 2022 election that they would use their return to power to investigate the Bidens. The investigations will likely drag into 2024, which is when campaigning for the next presidential election will begin. Joe Biden has said he intends to run for a second term. 

Rep. James Comer on Thursday accused President Biden of being ‘chairman of the board’ of his family’s business dealings and even claimed the White House spent more than $250,000 to deflect negative stories about Hunter.

‘This is an investigation of Joe Biden,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve laid out the evidence as to why we feel it’s important, and we’re going to move forward with that.’

He said later, ‘We’re trying to stay focused on – was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals, and is he compromised?’

In 2017, after Joe Biden was vice president but before he ran for the White House, Hunter Biden tried to set up an investment company with a Chinese oil company. 

It ultimately didn’t come to fruition but Hunter’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski revealed in October 2020 that he discussed their deal with Chinese oil giant CEFC directly with Joe.

But corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden in that venture. 

However, earlier this month DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that a whistleblower claimed Joe Biden was involved in a 2012 venture from Hunter Biden into online gambling in Latin America.

Comer said he’d even like members of the Biden family to testify before the House when asked, but said the main focus of their probe right now was to access bank records.

‘As part of our investigation, we have evidence that the finances, credit cards, and bank accounts of Hunter and Joe Biden were commingled, if not shared,’ the Republican lawmaker said.

‘One of Hunter’s closest associates, Eric Schwerin, was accessing Joe Biden’s money and writing checks to reimburse Hunter.’ 

He said some accounts linked to the Biden family raised ‘red flags’ about ‘suspicious or illegal activity.’ 

At least one of those red flags, known as ‘SARs,’ allegedly ‘connects Hunter Biden and his business associates to international human trafficking, among other illegal activities,’ Comer said.

‘We have repeatedly called on the Biden Treasury Department to release additional financial documents to committee Republicans, but thus far Treasury has refused,’ the lawmaker said. ‘We want to know what the Biden administration has tried to hide from the American people and why they are not being transparent.’

Hunter ally Schwerin was reportedly head of the president’s son’s company and handed the majority of his finances – and appointed to a position within the Obama administration, when Joe Biden was vice president.

‘After an apparent falling out with Schwerin, Hunter began coordinating business himself – and increasingly the deals brought in Joe Biden as a direct equity holder,’ Comer said.

He claimed Hunter went a step further and tried to get these bank alerts quashed – allegedly with the help of a Clinton administration official.

A suspicious activity report (SAR) is supposed to be triggered by a minimum amount of a transfer and a suspicion the transfer involved funds derived from an illegal activity. It does not mean a crime has occurred. 

Comer also took a swipe at more holistic coverage of the president’s son that puts Hunter’s questionable ethics into context with his battle against drug addiction.

‘Hunter Biden isn’t this guy who just got a bad rap because he’s got a drug problem,’ Comer said.

The lawmakers said a report detailing their investigation and evidence thus far – which appears to largely be made up of whistleblower testimony – would be forthcoming. 

The troubling scope of Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and China came to light when the New York Post, and subsequently DailyMail.com, authenticated the contents of a laptop hard drive purportedly belonging to the president’s only surviving son.

He received a lucrative salary while on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, despite having no experience in the industry, while his father was vice president and leading a coalition to crack down on corruption there.

Emails recovered from the laptop also show Hunter discussing with associates the beginnings of a business deal in China – where one message discussing equity stakes carves out 10 percent ‘for the big guy.’

Republicans on Thursday alleged that ‘the big guy’ is the US president. 

‘At a time when Americans are suffering from high energy prices, because of this administration’s terrible energy policy, we find evidence that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden were involved in a scheme to try to get China to buy liquefied natural gas, and from a whistleblower, to try to get their foot in the door with China starting to purchase an interest in natural gas drillers,’ Comer said.

He presented as evidence a print-out of what he claimed was a slide show regarding the business deal that was found on Hunter’s laptop.

When pressed, however, Comer said the slide was likely from around 2017.

The Kentucky Republican would not say concretely how that is linked to today’s energy crisis when asked, but said: ‘I mean, Joe Biden says he’s gonna stand up to China.’

‘Joe Biden says he’s going to rewrite our whole energy policy…And he was a 10 percent equity owner in a company whose sole mission was to to purchase liquefied natural gas from the United States and try to take over the energy the natural gas industry in America through natural gas wholesalers and natural gas drillers,’ Comer said.

‘I mean, I don’t think Joe Biden has been honest American people about that.’

It’s worth noting that it’s not clear that the deal was ever finalized. 

The FBI has unsealed a trove of classified documents relating to visits to the US made by Queen Elizbeth II, revealing a potential assassination plot by Irish nationalist sympathisers.

The documents, which show how authorities repeatedly braced for threats from supporters of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), were revealed as a result of FOI requests submitted after the death of the Queen in September last year.

The potential assassination threat was revealed the night before the late Queen was due to arrive in San Francisco in 1983 when a police officer warned federal agents about a potential attack.

It involved attempting to drop ‘an object’ from the Golden Gate Bridge as the royal yacht Britannia sailed beneath it. 

It comes as part of a huge release of more than 100 pages of documents related to the late monarch following Freedom of Information Acts sent to the FBI following her death in September last year. 

What has been revealed by the FBI documents? 

• An assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth II was foiled the night before her arrival in the US in 1983;
• The FBI warned it would be ‘very hard’ to avoid events which would ’embarrass’ the Queen during the trip;
• There were also warnings of an attack by IRA sympathisers during a visit in 1981;
• The FBI assessed the threat of the IRA to the British royal family as ‘ever present’. 

The police officer who tipped off authorities drank regularly at an Irish pub and told agents about an IRA sympathiser who was set on getting his revenge over the death of his daughter.

It followed a phone call he received in February from a man who he knew through the pub, ‘who claimed that his daughter had been killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet’.

This phone call came around a month before then-President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan hosted the 57-year-old Queen and Prince Philip in California.

Official documents state the man told the officer he planned to ‘attempt to harm’ the late Queen by either dropping ‘an object’ off the Golden Gate Bridge or otherwise try and kill her during a visit to Yosemite National Park.

The memo into the assassination attempt states: ‘This man additionally claimed that he was going to attempt to harm Queen Elizabeth and would do this either by dropping some object off the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht Britannia when it sails underneath, or would attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visited Yosemite National Park.’

The documents add the man in question had previously been involved in police investigations. He was described as having been ‘generally coopertive, although he makes no secret of his sympathies for the IRA.’ 

The documents also reveal that FBI agents warned ahead of the visit: ‘It will be very hard to anticipate and prevent incidents which may embarrass either the queen or the president.’

Although possibly the most substantial threat, it was not the first time that the FBI had warned of possible attacks on Her Majesty. 

Two years prior, the FBI warned of a ‘potential attack’ against Elizabeth II when she visited US cities with strong Irish links including Boston and New York.

Another document from 1989 stated: ‘The possibility of threats against the British Monarchy is ever present from the Irish Republican Army.’

It continued: ‘Boston and New York are requested to remain alert for any threats against Queen Elizabeth II on the part of IRA members and immediately furnish same to Louisville.’

And in 1976, a pilot in New York was summoned by police to prevent him from flying a ‘England, Get out of Ireland’ banner while Elizabeth II was in the city.

The frequent concerns of the US authorities and the royal family themselves were far from without basis – in 1979 Elizabeth II’s second cousin Lord Mountbatten was famously murdered in an IRA bombing.

He and three others died after his fishing vessel was filled with explosives which were later detonated.

The other victims were Mountbatten’s grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, crew member Paul Maxwell and Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne.

There were also previous assassination attempts against the Queen which made the threat of the IRA even more potent.

In 1981 a teenager from New Zealand aimed and fired a gun at Her Majesty as she stepped out of a car. 

Christopher John Lewis fired a rifle, which missed, during the Queen’s tour of the country. But he soon became obsessed with the idea of wiping out the royal family.

Two years later he attempted to overpower guards at a psychiatric hospital where he was being detained in order to try and kill Prince Charles, who was in New Zealand with Princess Diana and Prince William.

In the same year an anti-royal extremist shot blanks at the Queen six times during the Trooping of the Colour.

She again emerged uninjured from the attempt, carried out by 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant. 

He was later sentenced to five years in prison on terrorism offences, but only served three – during which time he wrote to Elizabeth II and apologised for his actions. 

And in 1970 a plot was uncovered in Australia after the train she and Prince Philip were travelling in struck a log on the track.

Fortunately the driver noticed the log and slowed enough that the train did not derail, but former detective superintendent Cliff McHardy in 2009 said that his investigation had concluded the log had been put in place deliberately.

If the driver had not seen the log, the train could have derailed, sending the royal couple into a deep embankment below.