Boxing

Add Sly Stallone to the list of people who thought Mayweather vs. McGregor was a farce ... with Rocky himself telling us he's over the hype and moving on to the "REAL" fight -- GGG vs Canelo.

We got Cobra (watch it, it's a forgotten classic) leaving the Palm Beverly Hills and asked if he thought the GGG/Canelo fight would be more interesting than Floyd and Conor.

Stallone didn't hold back (just like he didn't in "Over The Top," another freakin' gem from his resume) and told our guy it was obvious which bout would be better, cause only one is legit.

Listen to this guy ... he was able to clear his name after being framed in "Tango & Cash" ... (buddy cop staple on a "Lethal Weapon" level, just trust us).

It's time for TMZ Sports boxing smack talk ... grade school edition ... 'cause one of the best 8-year-old boxers in the world is calling out TWO of the best 9-year-old boxers in the world, and he ain't playin'.

The little tyke making the challenge is Nijee "The Future," the pint-sized boxing star who took the internet by storm a while back when a video of his INSANE boxing skills went viral.

Now there's 2 new youth boxing phenoms on the scene ... the Grandy brothers from Philadelphia ... 9-year-old twins who've been all over the place for their pugilistic prowess, and Nijee wants a piece.

In a video provided exclusively to us, Nijee calls out BOTH brothers, saying he's down to fight, proving once and for all which phenom is the phenomiest.

Here's the thing, this could happen ... Nijee has been live sparring now for around two years (dominating), and both him and the Grandy bros are over 8, the required age to compete as amateurs.

Here's the TMZ Sports good deed of the week ... we've identified the mystery woman out with Floyd Mayweather in Beverly Hills ... and she's glorious!

Money dropped around $250k on Birkin bags in BH Wednesday, and while that was impressive enough, the question everyone wanted to know was, WHO WAS THE HOT CHICK WITH HIM?

Our in-house eagle-eyed perv (Van) jumped on the case and positively identified the smoke show as Red Rose La Cubana, a model and featured dancer at Floyd's strip club, Girl Collection.

Red Rose is famous in her own right, with over 1 million followers on IG, even being described to us by one source as "The Biggest Stripper In America."

BTW ... we're told Red Rose and Floyd are "just friends" ... for now at least.

Enjoy the gallery.

One of Floyd Mayweather's giant TMT members roughed up a fan as the boxer left a famous chicken joint in Hollywood -- and now police are involved ... TMZ Sports has learned.

It all went down outside the legendary Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles on Wednesday evening -- where Floyd and his massive TMT entourage had dinner around 8 PM.

On his way out, Floyd was approached by a 20-year-old man in a white shirt and glasses who asked Floyd and his crew if he could take a quick photo.

That's when one of Floyd's guys -- a big dude in a red shirt -- rushed to the fan, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against a wall.

(FYI, that same TMT entourage member was with Floyd during a shopping trip in Bev Hills earlier in the day and was sure acting like a member of the security team).

After the video ends, we're told Floyd's crew put the boxer in the car and bolted.

The man -- who claims he was also punched in the face -- filed a police report and told cops he suffered injuries to his head, neck and mouth.

We spoke to the victim who says he is (was) a HUGE Floyd fan and just wanted a pic -- he wasn't trying to start any trouble.

Sources connected to Floyd's camp tell us the man in the red shirt is "not on the payroll" -- he's just with the entourage.

Adrien Broner has some career advice for Conor McGregor -- don't EVER try boxing again!

We got AB at 1 OAK in L.A. ... and the superstar boxer didn't mince words when it came to the idea of Conor hoppin' back into the ring.

"If he want this work, I’ma f**k him up," Broner told TMZ Sports. "But other than that, I want him to stay away from this sh*t."

Adrien says McGregor should go back to where he belongs -- the UFC -- cause a young hitter like him would do way more damage than Floyd Mayweather.

The former 4-weight champ wasn't done there ... telling us boxers could conquer MMA better than Conor did boxing, "cause we fight better than them."

AB did have one other idea for the Irishman -- just call it quits!!

After banking $100 MIL ... why not party forever?

Dwight Howard's all about gender equality -- which is why he and a female boxing trainer took turns PUNCHING EACH OTHER IN THE STOMACH!!

The NBA star laced up the gloves with Ann "Annimal" Najjar at the UFC Gym in San Diego -- where she challenged Dwight to hit first ... and he did. Hard.

In fact, Howard knocked her back twice in a row ... before ending it with a 3rd body shot that folded her in half.

The next day, Ann flipped the script and punished Howard's abs with more than 10 ferocious body blows in a row.

GGG's got stamina ... gotta give him that.

The boxing superstar broke out his favorite pen and ripped out HUNDREDS of signatures on Everlast boxing gloves during a marathon autograph session this week ... and it's all for his richest fans.

We spoke with Life In Motion CEO, Thorsten Meier, who says the gloves are a perk for fans who pony up for the special ringside "platinum package" seats for the September 16 fight with Canelo Alvarez.

It's $7,600 for 1 ticket or $14,000 for 2 -- and each order comes with a glove signed by GGG and Canelo, PLUS a hotel room at the Mandalay Bay, PLUS limo transportation from the airport.

As for GGG, don't worry ... his hands were still solid after all the John Hancock'ing.

It's almost like no one cares that Conor McGregor LOST to Floyd Mayweather -- at least judging by new video of the UFC star partying in Spain.

Conor got the VIP treatment at the Ocean Club in Ibiza -- where he was turning up with his girlfriend/baby mama Dee Devlin after a friend's wedding.

Props to Conor for shaking hands with everyone who approached him -- couldn't have been a nicer guy to all his fans ... even the dude wearing an old-school Pau Gasol throwback Lakers jersey.

Yeah, they still have those!

Meanwhile Floyd's still in Vegas where he hit a $100,000 jackpot on a video poker machine Monday night ... 'cause he really needs more money.

Chuck Liddell's got a message for all the big-name boxers trying to transition to MMA ...

DON'T DO IT -- unless you wanna embarrass yourself.

"Guys coming from boxing -- stay there," Chuck told TMZ Sports ... when we spoke to the UFC legend about Andre Berto trying to take his talents inside the Octagon.

The Iceman ain't throwin' shade at Berto ... he's just keepin' it real on guys pulling a reverse Conor McGregor ... cause it's A LOT harder to go from boxing to MMA.

If Conor fought Floyd Mayweather in a non-boxing match, for example ...

"Floyd wouldn't have made it out of 1 round -- not kickboxing, not MMA, not a street fight -- not 1 round," Liddell said.

Chuck did have an important piece of advice for boxers trying to make the switch ... but he still thinks it's a bad idea.

Sorry, Andre.

Dana White says Conor McGregor's headin' back to the UFC ... but Carl Frampton thinks he should REALLY reconsider ... 'cause the boxing superstar says Conor would whoop Paulie Malignaggi in a fight.

We spoke with the Jackal -- who was so impressed with Conor's ability to go 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather, he wants to see the Notorious take on his ex-sparring partner.

There was a mad scramble to protect Conor McGregor's genitals in the minutes before the Mayweather fight ... when he realized he left his protective cup at home!

Conor had just had his hands wrapped -- while still wearing his pimped out suit -- when he realized he was missing his custom jockstrap/cup combo and his mouthpiece.

He immediately remembered he left 'em both at his Vegas home and sent one of his team members racing out of the T-Mobile Arena to retrieve his junk protection, ASAP.

The good news ... the guy made it back with plenty of time to spare.

But why did Conor have a custom cup? We'll just refer you back to the weigh-in ...

Here's rap star Lil Uzi Vert proving his luv really is rage ... by beating the trash out of some dude in a private boxing sesh.

Conor McGregor is toasting whiskey to Floyd Mayweather -- saying he's a solid fighter who won their match "hands down."

Conor also says he thinks Floyd could hold his own in an MMA cage.

It's all part of a long statement Conor issued on the fight on Wednesday night, which also explained why he ran out of gas in the 10th round.

"Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp," Conor admitted.

"We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way."

"If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight."

As for Floyd's fighting skills, Conor says he has a new respect for The Best Ever.

"Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match. Very experienced and methodical in his work."

"His experience, his patience and his endurance won him this fight hands down. I always told him he was not a fighter but a boxer. But sharing the ring with him he is certainly a solid fighter."

"Strong in the clinch. Great understanding of frames and head position. He has some very strong tools he could bring into an MMA game for sure."

"Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it!"

Anthony Joshua just threatened Deontay Wilder ... and it all went down during a FaceTime call with 50 Cent.

Joshua -- the reigning WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champ -- was chatting with the rapper on his phone when his friend asked 50 for a role on "Power."

That's when AJ chimes in, "I told him we're gonna f*ck up Deontay Wilder! We're comin' soon!"

Deontay -- the reigning WBC heavyweight champion -- has been calling out Joshua for a while ... hoping the two can clash in what would be a pretty epic heavyweight showdown.

Joshua is 19-0 -- and knocked out Wladimir Klitschko earlier this year. Wilder is 38-0 with 37 knockouts.

Paulie Malignaggi says he was NOT a plant sent by Floyd Mayweather to spy on Conor McGregor ... despite Floyd's claims.

Conor's former sparring partner appeared on "The Herd" on FS1 on Wednesday -- where Colin Cowherd asked him straight up about the pre-fight video in which Floyd bragged about using Paulie as a mole.

Long story short ... Paulie says the whole thing was a joke and Floyd never asked a single boxing-related question about Conor or his training camp.

Paulie says Floyd only said 1 thing about Conor during the meeting ... "I'm gonna knock his ass out."

Mike Tyson is finally giving Conor McGregor some credit as a boxer -- saying he truly gained some respect for the Irish superstar after watching the Mayweather fight.

Remember, Tyson gave a pretty brutal prediction back in July ... telling Pardon My Take, "McGregor is gonna get killed in boxing."

There's more ... "McConor put his dumbass in a position where he's gonna get knocked out because this guy's been doing this all his life since he was a baby."