Dusk was settling over the desert and a vast car park behind Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where a stadium had been built to house the world-title fight between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, exactly 40 years ago next month, when veteran ring announcer Chuck Hull called for quiet before the bout began. "Pray silence" he requested, "while Gladys Knight, of Gladys Knight and the Pips, sings our glorious national anthem."

The Russian Boxing Federation has paid tribute to two-time European champion Evgeny Gorstkov after his death aged 71.

Olga Korbut’s accreditation tag and a ponytail band from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich has sold for $1,680 (£1,250/€1,400) at auction.

A Torch donated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said to be used by Muhammad Ali to light the Olympic Cauldron at Atlanta 1996, may not be the original version.

Former Formula One group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has donated the original Torch used by Muhammad Ali to light the Olympic Cauldron at Atlanta 1996 to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Despite the absence of live sport almost anywhere on earth it does not seem to have dampened the desire of young people who have aspirations to write about or broadcast about it, judging from the number of emails I still receive from wannabe sports journalists asking how they should go about it. Some even enquire: "How did you begin?"

Why should Tyson Fury’s phenomenal conquest of Deontay Wilder create a dilemma for British Olympic Association (BOA) chief Sir Hugh Robertson?

He stands 6ft 9in and has five children, so Tyson Fury could rightfully claim to be boxing's Big Daddy, had that nom de guerre not already been nabbed by the esteemed late British wrestler Shirley Crabtree.

He may sound like a French pop singer, but there is only one hit parade that Daniel Dubois aims to top - the heavyweight championship of the world.

The late Sir Henry Cooper, Britain's most loved boxing figure, is finally to be honoured with a statue, a rarity among sporting personalities.

This week marks my 65th year in journalism, something which one might say is to be commiserated rather than celebrated. However, it has been a fascinating journey, to say the least, a helter-skelter of a ride through this sporting life alongside characters distinguished from the fatuous to the famous.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made headlines around the world when he was kicked in the back on a visit to South Africa a couple of weeks ago.

I am a bit of an insomniac – well, rather more than a bit – and counting sheep does not count me out.

It is now two years and four months since Muhammad Ali passed away aged 74 , but the memories of his magic linger on, evoked every time the final bell tolls for one of his opponents.

It is far from fanciful to suggest that the return of Tyson Fury is the most anticipated comeback by a former undefeated world heavyweight champion since the great Muhammad Ali almost half a century ago.