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Xabi Alonso’s return to Liverpool felt inevitable – behind the scenes, the reality was always different

From the outside, the club legend appeared the ‘king over the water’ who could have succeeded either Jurgen Klopp or Arne Slot. But in Andoni Iraola, Liverpool identified a head coach who they felt was a better fit for the style of play Anfield wants to see. By Richard Jolly

© Getty

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Canelo Alvarez arrives in Riyadh ahead of ‘Mexico vs. The World’ showdown with Christian Mbilli

RIYADH: Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez arrived in Riyadh on Monday ahead of his highly anticipated World Boxing Council Super Middleweight title fight against Christian Mbilli, the headline bout at the “Mexico vs. The World” event at The Venue on Oct. 31. Canelo was welcomed upon arrival in the Kingdom by Faisal Bafarat, the CEO of the General Entertainment Authority, as preparations continue for one of the season’s major sporting events. The boxer was accompanied by several other Mexican fighters

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Cuba Announces Squad for the Guizhou International Boxing Tournament

Paris 2024 Olympic champion Erislandy Álvarez (65 kg) will headline Cuba’s squad for the Guizhou International Boxing Tournament, to be held in China from November 3 to 12.

RELATED:

U.S. Blockade’s Impact on Cuban Sports Reaches US$36.2 million in 2025

The Cuban delegation will consist of seven men and six women, according to national commissioner Robinson Poll, as reported by the digital publication Jit.

Álvarez returns to competition following his recovery from a surgical procedure that kept him out of the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo and the recent Continental Championship in Puebla. The 2023 Tashkent World Championship silver medalist leads a team aiming to continue Cuba’s strong performance in this international event.

In the men’s division, alongside Álvarez, the roster includes Ángel Sober (50 kg), Deibys Abreu (55 kg), Rolando Martínez (60 kg), Keilor García (80 kg), Fredisney Morales (90 kg), and Joel Duvergel (+90 kg).

The women’s squad features Dayira Mesa (70 kg)—a champion at the 2026 Santo Domingo Games—as well as bronze medalists from that same regional event: Dinaibys de las Nieves (51 kg), Carysney García (54 kg), Magda Massó (57 kg), and Keilor García (80 kg). Rounding out the team are Melani Girado (60 kg) and Naybel Morado (75 kg).

Reaparecerá Erislandy Álvarez en torneo de Guizhou
Encabeza la escuadra de siete hombres y seis féminas inscrita por #Cuba. #InderCuba65 #BoxeoCubano #boxeo #SiempreXCubahttps://t.co/lTM5ndjEUS

— JIT Deporte Cubano (@jit_digital) October 27, 2026

The text reads, “Erislandy Álvarez to reappear at Guizhou tournament
He leads the squad of seven men and six women entered by #Cuba.”

The squad will train under the guidance of coaches Julián González Cedeño, Fermín Espinoza, and Yuri Echevarría. In the previous edition of the tournament, Cuba secured three gold titles—won by Saidel Horta (57 kg), Jorge Cuéllar (71 kg), and Nelson Williams (92 kg)—along with two bronze medals, earned by Arianne Imbert (66 kg) and Yoana Rodríguez (75 kg).

The 2026 Guizhou International Boxing Tournament marks the competitive return of Erislandy Álvarez and offers a new opportunity for Cuban boxing to achieve international success in China.

#Cuba | Cuba is moving forward with reforms to give state-owned enterprises greater autonomy, attract investment, and boost production amid energy shortages and US sanctions.
The measures aim to modernize the economy while preserving public control of strategic sectors.… pic.twitter.com/DUCF3XxafR

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 21, 2026
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No Volunteers Left: Ukraine Turns Factories Into Recruiting Offices

Ukraine’s leadership is wrestling with a problem that no speech or summit can solve: finding enough soldiers. The issue surfaces in the news at irregular intervals, but it never goes away, and the latest government proposal suggests that the search for a solution is becoming more desperate.

The pool of volunteers dried up several years ago. Since then, forced mobilization has been the main tool for keeping the army at a tolerable strength. Even so, losses often outpace the incoming replacements. Two factors explain much of the gap: the dense saturation of the battlefield with drones, and a command structure that critics describe as wasteful with its own manpower.

Getting to the front is itself an ordeal. Conditions in territorial recruitment centers are reportedly sometimes worse than in prisons. The same is said of training centers, where recruits are delivered in prison transport vans to prevent escape.

Many men have responded by taking jobs at defense plants and other critical facilities, hoping that employment will shield them from the draft. That shield is now being reshaped.

Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky on October 26 outlined the government’s new approach at the Kyiv International Economic Forum. Under the proposed model, companies would be allowed to reserve their employees from mobilization. In return, they would have to guarantee a predictable flow of manpower into the army. By December 1, the Cabinet intends to present a new contract on mobilization and reservation. At the same time, the government plans to toughen penalties for draft evasion.

The consequences deserve a closer look. Company managers would effectively decide which employees go to the front, and for those selected, that choice may amount to a death sentence. Such a system could hand President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a new lever of control over large industrialists, whose commercial interest lies in surrendering as few workers as possible.

Big business, meanwhile, would gain nearly unlimited authority over its staff. Workers will tolerate almost any conditions to keep their exemption. Wage cuts and higher productivity demands are the obvious costs, and they will fall on ordinary citizens, who have the least power to refuse.

The result is a mobilization model built on fear at every level. The state fears the front will run out of men. Employers fear losing either their workforce or the government’s favor. Workers, in turn, fear the draft office more than their bosses. A system that runs on fear can fill the  ranks for a while, but it cannot restore the trust that a long war quietly consumes.

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