Boxing

Francis Ngannou is speaking into a mic for the first time since his 15-month-old son died suddenly back in March ... and his words are nothing short of heartbreaking.

Ngannou made an appearance on Joe Rogan's "JRE MMA Show" Tuesday and he talked about a wide range of subjects, including the moments he experienced in the leadup to the death of his son, Kobe.

Ngannou revealed his son had mild inflammation of the brain ... which led to him fainting twice. The first incident happened while they were in Cameroon, but he said the doctors found nothing.

Jake Paul outlasted "Platinum" Mike Perry on Saturday ... defeating the Bare Knuckle FC and former UFC fighter via sixth-round TKO.

Jake handled Mike for the majority of the bout ... knocking Perry down in the first two rounds. He appeared gassed as the match went on, before ultimately catching a second wind and taking care of business.

Jake ended up getting the victory in the 6th ... and shortly after his hand was raised, he called out yet another UFC fighter -- Alex Pereira.

Tennis great Nick Kyrgios is bent out of shape that certain people -- AKA the "Hawk Tuah" chick -- are not getting famous the old-fashioned way.

Kyrgios was exercised over Haliey Welch's appearance at Jake Paul's fight against Mike Perry.

Haliey got quite the reaction, and to that Nick said, "No correlation between fame and actually being decent at something anymore," punctuating his criticism with a laughing emoji.

Everyone from Muhammad Ali, to Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather, have fought in the United States ... so when Eddie Hearn says the upcoming "Riyadh Season" event in L.A., featuring a bunch of top-notch fights, as well as a performance by Eminem, will be the biggest in the history of boxing in 'Merica, that's saying a lot!

"I mean, it's the biggest night of boxing I think America's ever seen," Hearn told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

The August 3 event goes down at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles ... and features a main event bout between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, in addition to scraps between Andy Ruiz and Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, Jared Anderson and Martin Bakole, "Pitbull" Cruz and Jose Valenzuela, amongst other compelling matchups.

Mike Perry pulled out all the stops to troll Jake Paul ahead of their big fight on Saturday ... commissioning a custom pendant showing El Gallo getting his bell rung -- and it's quite the pricey piece.

Perry's been proudly sporting the new jewelry leading up to the bout ... rocking it at his open workout and press conference for the showdown in Tampa, FL.

The pendant shows Jake's face covered with bloody cuts and a boxing glove on his left cheek ... something Perry's hoping to do in the ring at Amalie Arena in a few hours.

Mike Perry will be across from Jake Paul in just over 24 hours (more on that in a minute), but before fight night Platinum made a huge announcement, telling us he's launching his very own combat sports promotion, Dirty Boxing Championship!

"We are friends for fighters and fans," 32-year-old Perry told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

"Me and my team have been working on this for quite some time," Mike added. "We've tried to hint at this, we've been making way and we're ready to make the announcement that this is coming very soon. We're very close to being sanctioned by commissions and we're ready to get some athletes and get a card together and put a fight on sometime this year."

3:02 PM PT -- Ryan Garcia's attorney, Michael A. Goldstein, tells TMZ Sports ... he and his client are hoping to reach a quick resolution in the case -- as the star boxer has already reimbursed the Waldorf Astoria for the damage he caused.

In addition, Goldstein says Garcia has expressed sincere remorse for his actions ... and has also apologized to employees at the luxury hotel as well.

"The past several months have been difficult for Ryan and he understands he has reached a crossroads in both his personal life and career," Goldstein said. "Going forward, he knows the focus must be on his well-being and mental health issues which have been strained."

11:30 AM PT -- Jake Paul was asked about Conor McGregor's comment during his own press conference just minutes ago ... and he went OFF on the UFC superstar.

Paul said he's going to embarrass the entire BKFC with what goes down with Mike Perry on Saturday ... calling the promotion's athletes "brawler, idiot, street fighter dudes."

Paul also accused McGregor of ducking him ... saying the dude needs to stay off the drugs and get back to training -- and then maybe they can talk about booking a fight after getting a few wins under his belt.

Conor McGregor took aim at Jake Paul ahead of his boxing match against "Platinum" Mike Perry ... calling the YouTuber-turned-fighter a "little dweeb of a thing."

Notorious unloaded the diss during the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship press conference at the Hard Rock Hotel in Marbella, Spain on Thursday ... when he was praising Perry's success with the promotion and what he's been able to do for his career.

"Look at what has happened to Michael Perry, one of our big stars here," McGregor -- who recently joined BKFC ownership -- said. "'The King of Violence,' he titles himself."

Ryan Garcia's boxing career is currently on hold, but his ability to party is still clearly going strong ... the star pugilist was spotted out at a nightclub in Hawaii this week, getting down on the dance floor without a shirt on.

The 25-year-old -- who was just recently expelled by the World Boxing Council for using a racial slur on social media -- hit up The District on Thursday night in Honolulu to blow off some steam ... and check out some footage TMZ Sports obtained, you can see he clearly had a good time at the hotspot.

King Ry was seen without a top on in the middle of a dance circle ... before he started shadowboxing to the beats that were blaring over the speaker system.

Floyd Mayweather, Mookie Betts, and a gang of other star athletes and actors rubbed shoulders at a swanky party in Los Angeles Wednesday night ... where the 50-0 fighter delivered an emotional speech to the famous partygoers!

In addition to TBE and the 8x All-Star, Draymond Green, Terance Mann, Michael Porter Jr., Trevor Ariza, Meagan Good, and Jonathan Majors were also in the building.

As for why all the stars came out ... it was to celebrate the launch of Hidden Empire Sports, a collaboration between The Union and EAG Sports Management, and created by Deon Taylor.

Shawn Porter had the best seat in the house for Nate Diaz's scrap with Jorge Masvidal on Saturday, with the former boxing champ saying the Stockton star trained hard for the fight, as opposed to when he lost to Jake Paul a few months back!

"[Diaz was] the same fighter, but more prepared. The same fighter, but really ready to fight," Porter, who called the fight for Fanmio, told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

Shawn continued ... "They said Nate didn't really train for the fight with Jake Paul. He didn't take it as serious as he should have. And it showed."

Jake Paul is celebrating the launch of his new W body care line in the flashiest way possible ... by getting a $650k diamond pendant and chain to rep the brand!!

TMZ Sports has learned Paul -- a 9-1 cruiserweight boxer, Internet sensation and businessman -- hit up his go-to jeweler Vobara in Miami to make him a piece in honor of his newest endeavor.

Vobara -- who has made pieces for celebs like Rick Ross, Udonis Haslem and DJ Khaled -- made sure the pendant looked just like the W logo ... and we're told it's filled with VS/VVS diamonds including 20, 50 and 80 pointers in a mosaic setting.

Javon "Wanna" Walton is a professional boxer and an established actor ... and the "Euphoria" star could one day combine both his passions -- telling TMZ Sports he's down to take on a role as a fighter!!

17-year-old Wanna made his professional debut as a Most Valuable Promotions pugilist in a draw against Joshua Torres in March ... and prior to the fight, he said his career in the ring would be his priority moving forward.

But he's not giving up his career on the screen entirely ... 'cause when we asked if he'd ever put both of his strengths together -- he got pumped over the idea.

"I'm gonna f****** knock his teeth in!"

Uhhhh ... that's "Platinum" Mike Perry promising to go all dental on Jake Paul, telling us he's gonna beat The Problem Child's ass!

32-year-old Perry joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1) ... and two things are clear ahead of his July 20 boxing match with 27-year-old Paul -- he's fired up, and there's a beef between 'em. A lot of it.

Russell Wilson may be Mr. Unliiiiimited or DangeRuss, but he really should go by Muscle Wilson from now on ... 'cause the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback showed off his swole bod in a recent boxing session!!

The 35-year-old veteran -- who signed a one-year deal with the Stillers in March -- shared a snippet of himself in the ring on Tuesday ... and you can't help but notice Russ' physique (especially his biceps) as he hit the mitts.

Fans were impressed with the 9-time Pro Bowler's performance ... with one saying in the comments, "Oh boy he’s working on stamina and awareness he finna be dangeruss😳"

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are taking the next step, Dave Grohl's taking shots and Ryan Garcia's no longer taking punches ... all this on today's hot takes.

First up on "TMZ Live" Charles and Babcock explain what led to Travis getting on stage at Taylor's concert across the pond.