Implausible fights, continental stakes and a Russian shadow over the ice

Editorial Note: Inside Track will take a break for the holidays. We’ll return on Friday, January 9.
Coming up this week: Boxing’s latest implausible pairing, Africa’s biggest football stage, and an Olympic subplot sliding into focus in Lake Placid.
Here’s your Inside Track to the action:
BOXING
Preposterous on paper, real in the ring: Anthony Joshua faces Jake Paul
It sounds almost farcical: Anthony Joshua, an established world heavyweight champion, against a Disney alumnus turned YouTube phenomenon. Then again, boxing has long thrived on the improbable.
Jake Paul’s journey to this moment has been noisy, polarising and, at times, faintly absurd. But it has also been deliberate. What began as influencer boxing evolved into a full-time commitment, and Paul deserves credit for taking the sport seriously rather than merely borrowing its aesthetics. He moved quickly through novelty opponents before nudging into legitimacy: Tyron Woodley twice, Anderson Silva, and the sobering reality check of a loss to Tommy Fury. Since then, he has rebuilt with wins that, while uneven in sporting value, have kept him relevant, solvent and moving forward. In boxing terms, that matters.
Anthony Joshua’s path could hardly be more different. Olympic gold in 2012. World titles. Wembley nights. Wladimir Klitschko on the canvas. For a decade he has lived at the serious end of the heavyweight division, beating men who punch for a living and know exactly how to hurt you. His record — 28 wins, 25 by stoppage — reflects a career fought at a level Paul has never approached.
Which brings us to the uncomfortable truth: on paper, this is a mismatch. Joshua is bigger, stronger, faster, and vastly more experienced. If he lands clean, it should end quickly. Paul’s confidence rests largely on Joshua’s recent stoppage loss to Daniel Dubois, and questions about a fading chin. But Dubois is an elite heavyweight puncher; Paul is not.
For Paul, the route to victory is narrow and speculative. He needs time to have caught up with Joshua, doubt to have lingered from defeat, and a perfect punch to land on a perfect night. For Joshua, the task is simpler: stay composed, apply pressure, and let physics do the rest.
Still, boxing is not fought on spreadsheets. Paul has been accused for years of avoiding danger; this is not avoidance. He is stepping into the ring with one of the defining heavyweights of his era – if it ends badly for him, the internet will feast.
Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua, Miami, Florida — December 19
SOCCER
Morocco hosts Africa Cup of Nations as history, politics and football collide
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations gets underway when hosts Morocco face Comoros in Rabat on Sunday, launching a four-week race to the final on January 18.
A tournament steeped in history, improbable stories and no shortage of chaos, the Cup of Nations has become a more polished international event in the last decade or so — though that sheen has come at the cost of some of its old sense of adventure.
Morocco, co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup, will stage matches in several stadiums earmarked for that tournament, and with strong ticket sales expected from the African diaspora across Europe, the event will also serve as a live test of their infrastructure and organisation.
First played in 1957, the Cup of Nations predates the European Championship but has long had to justify its place on a crowded calendar, arriving as it does mid-season for Europe’s top leagues. This edition was originally slated for June and July, before FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup forced a rethink.
Coaches will grumble — understandably — at losing players for up to five weeks, yet it was notable to hear Everton’s David Moyes publicly back the tournament last week despite losing key men Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye.
Africans can bristle at the sense that the competition is sometimes diminished outside the continent, but for supporters at home there is no greater spectacle short of a World Cup — and it rarely fails to deliver drama both on and off the pitch.
Morocco start as favourites, but the field is deep. Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and Algeria all carry genuine weight, while South Africa, Cameroon, DR Congo and defending champions Ivory Coast sit ready to disrupt the script.
African Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco — December 21-January 18, 2026
LUGE
Russian return under neutral flag thrusts Lake Placid into spotlight
A Luge World Cup leg in Lake Placid, New York, would not normally be the centre of attention in the United States, but the presence of six Russian athletes hoping to earn ranking points that could get them into February’s Winter Olympics in Italy has suddenly thrust it into the international spotlight.
The six, racing as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs), will be the first Russians to take part in a World Cup race since January 2022, when the International Luge Federation (FIL) banned Russian athletes following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Though the ban was extended in June, a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling in October paved the way for their return.
They had been expected to race last week in Park City, Utah, having made a low-key return at last month’s test event on the Olympic track in Milano-Cortina. With only three of the five qualifying events remaining, the chances of any of them earning a berth at the Games remain extremely unlikely.
However, their very presence is making waves, not least with the several Ukrainian lugers who are also in Lake Placid, though they trained in a separate area to the Russians earlier in the week.
Last week, Ukraine’s top luger Anton Dukach objected to their return as AIN athletes by saying “they are not neutral, they support the war.”
The FIL published a detailed, seven-page preview of the weekend’s races with copious quotes from the sport’s leading lights, but there was no mention of the return of the Russians.
In the other sliding events – bobsleigh and skeleton – nine Russians have been deemed eligible to compete as neutrals, but none are taking part in this weekend’s races in Latvia, while a separate ruling by CAS has allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in International Ski and Snowboard Federation qualification events if they meet the IOC’s criteria for individual neutral athletes.
Luge World Cup, Lake Placid, New York — December 19-21
EXTRA TIME
What else we’re watching
Darts: The PDC World Championship rolls on at London’s Alexandra Palace, where pre-Christmas festivities are in full swing as the tournament stretches into the new year. Defending champion Luke Littler remains the favourite, but as 71-year-old Paul Lim memorably showed by winning his first-round match this week, anything can happen in this riotous festival of arrows.
Skiing: The winter sports season gathers pace on the road to Milano-Cortina, with women’s Alpine skiing in Val d’Isère this weekend featuring the downhill — where 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn leads the standings — and the giant slalom. The men are in action in Alta Badia for the giant slalom and slalom. Elsewhere, Sigulda in Latvia hosts the bobsleigh and skeleton World Cup, while the Biathlon World Cup moves to France.
Cricket: Having arrived in Australia brimming with confidence in their aggressive “Bazball” approach, England could see their Ashes hopes extinguished with a third straight defeat in the third Test at the Adelaide Oval. Coach Brendon McCullum, who oversaw England’s fightback from 2-0 down to draw the 2023 series, insists the tourists will stick to their guns and hopes conditions in the City of Churches better suit their style. Two days in, that hope is slipping.
American Football: Buckle up, NFL fans. With three weeks left in the regular season, playoff places and division titles are coming into focus. Chicago host Green Bay on Saturday with top spot in the NFC North on the line, while reigning champions Philadelphia can clinch the NFC East and a first-round home playoff spot against Washington. Sunday brings an NFC South showdown as Tampa Bay face Carolina, with playoff implications also riding on Denver’s meeting with Jacksonville and Pittsburgh’s trip to Detroit.
Golf: Major champions across generations team up with family members this week at the PNC Championship, golf’s end-of-year celebration. Tiger Woods is absent as he recovers from surgery, but the 20-team field still includes eight former world number ones. Defending champions Bernhard Langer and son Jason headline the event in Orlando. Lee Trevino, at 86, remains the only player to have competed in every edition.
Tennis: While Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner dominate the present, the future takes focus this week at the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah. The tournament, open to players aged 20 and under and won previously by both Alcaraz and Sinner, features an eight-man field including rising American Learner Tien and 18-year-old German prospect Justin Engel.
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Editing by Yasmeen Serhan and Andrew Cawthorne