Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 9-30-22

Sports
Floyd Mayweather, 45
NBA Fines Minnesota Timberwolves Star Anthony Edwards $40K For Comments
Years Young, Knocks Out
MMA Star Mikuru Asakura
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $40,000 for using offensive and deroga- tory language on social media, the NBA announced.
Edwards made anti-gay comments while observing a group of people standing on a sidewalk during a video posted to his Instagram story last week. The video has been
Stephen Curry Says He Spoke With Adam Silver About Robert Sarver Discipline
STEPHEN CURRY
ROBERT SARVER
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, speaking publicly on the Robert Sarver matter for the first time Sunday, said he had pri- vate conversations with com- missioner Adam Silver regarding the punishment handed down by the league to the embattled Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner.
"[I] got [Silver's] point of view of what decisions and, I guess, mechanisms he had to intervene and bring down a punishment that was worthy of the actions that we were all responding to and represent- ing the league as a whole and protecting the integrity of the league and the standard that we set terms of from execs, ownership, all the way down to players," Curry said while addressing the situation dur- ing the Warriors' media day. "There should be a standard around what's tolerable and what's not."
deleted, and
Edwards
acknowl- edged that his actions were inap- propriate, the league said in a news release.
He also issued an
apology on his Twitter ac- count last Sunday following the incident.
"What I said was imma- ture, hurtful and disrespect- ful and I'm incredibly sorry," Edwards, 21, wrote in a tweet. "It's unacceptable for me or anyone to use that lan- guage in such a hurtful way, there's no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that."
Floyd Mayweather is 45. He could probably do this when he’s 75.
The unbeaten Hall of Famer knocked out Mikuru Asakura in the second round of a scheduled three- round exhibition on the Rizin 38 card in Saitama, Japan.
The 30-year-old Japanese mixed martial artist was game and had his moments, landing a few eye-catching punches.
However, no MMA fighter has the boxing skills to compete on an even level with one of the greatest prac- titioners of the sweet science, even one who’s in his mid- 40s.
And that’s by design. Mayweather has said he doesn’t want to trade punches with anyone who has a good chance of hurting him. Asakura couldn’t.
The first round was un- eventful, as both fighters reg- ularly poked out their lead hands to find their range and threw power shots only here and there, mostly to the body.
They picked up their pace in Round 2, though. May- weather, still quick, still
ANTHONY EDWARDS
FLOYD MAYWEATHER AND MIKURU ASAKURA
clever, began to land right hands to the Asakura’s head and added more body shots.
Asakura had difficulty hitting the great defensive fighter but he did land a few blows that snapped May- weather’s head back, which was an unusual sight. His problem was that he was get- ting the worst of the ex- changes.
Finally, after a number of accurate shots to the head laid the ground work, May- weather landed one more right that put Asakura onto his back and hurt him.
He got up to his knees, where referee Kenny Bay- less had a good look at him and decided he was in no condition to continue.
Celtics Staffer Involved
With Ime Udoka
Reportedly Organized
Nia Long’s Travel Plans
More details have emerged about Ime Udoka’s alleged affair.
The Boston Celtics sus- pended the head coach after learning he had an “intimate relationship” with a female staffer. Though the relation- ship was described as consen- sual, the woman reportedly accused Udoka of making “unwanted comments” to- ward her, which prompted the Celtics to get involved. After conducting a series of internal interviews, the team decided to suspend Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season over “violations of team poli- cies.”
The staffer’s identity has not been revealed, but sources tell TMZ that one of her duties was travel plan- ning—not only for Udoka, but also his longtime part- ner/fiancée, Nia Long. In- siders say the woman organized Long’s travel for away games, and even as- sisted her move to Boston. According to TMZ, the ac- tress and her 10-year-old son permanently moved to Bean Town a couple of weeks ago, approximately two months after Udoka became aware of the Celtics’ investigation.
“The outpouring of love and support from family, friends and the community during this difficult time means so much to me,” Long said in a statement to People magazine. “I ask that my pri- vacy be respected as I process the recent events. Above all, I
IME UDOKA AND NIA LONG
am a mother and will con- tinue to focus on my chil- dren.”
Following his suspension, Udoka issued a public apol- ogy.
Matt Barnes Clarifies Ime Udoka Statement, Says Situation Is ‘100 Times Uglier Than Any of Us Thought’
MATT BARNES
“I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down,” he wrote. “I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation and I accept the team’s decision. Out of re- spect for everyone involved, I will have no further com- ment.”
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