Firuza Sharipova takes on one of the most feared faces in women’s boxing this weekend as she steps into the ring with undefeated Irish star Katie Taylor – but the Kazakh fighter is not daunted by the challenge.

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry has vowed “solidarity” with China and accused the US of leading a “smear campaign” after the White House confirmed a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Real Madrid have hailed a massive loan that will allow the club to automatically remove the pitch via an underground greenhouse as part of a revamp of their stadium costing almost $600 million.

China has never had a better human rights record and Canada and other countries must stop politicizing sports through an Olympic boycott that could lead to “self-inflicted humiliation”, Chinese ambassadors have warned.

A woman and her toddler son died on Saturday after falling six storeys from a concourse before a baseball game in San Diego, with horrified fans watching on and police treating their deaths as suspicious.