‘It’s not normal to walk into the tornado’: To fans, there was only one Ricky Hatton. Those who loved him knew many

“Of course I remember,” Billy Graham says quietly as he pushes back his straw trilby to show me his wounded expression. “I can remember everything.”Graham, who trained Ricky Hatton for all but the last three of his 48 fights, used to sit with his fighter on the grimy steps outside their first boxing gym in Salford in the late 1990s. It was a more innocent time and, rather than being called The Preacher and The Hitman, they were just Billy and Ricky then.They were still years away from the mass adulation and the desperately lonely end

Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League, WSL and NFL action

Yara El-Shaboury is on duty for our essential portal to the weekend’s bumper football programme. She’ll be looking forward to the day’s four Premier League games, Championship, EFL and Scottish Premiership fixtures, sharing breaking news and reader feedback. Why not join the conversation? Send your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com

‘I messaged Sia on Instagram. She didn’t get back to me’: cult darts hero Stephen Bunting on his viral walk-on

The world No 4’s entrance to the song Titanium has become a quasi-religious moment in darts, but while he loves the attention what he really wants is the world title“There’s a lot of people playing darts who haven’t got no character,” Stephen Bunting says in a matter-of-fact tone, his voice still a little croaky from the cold that has been laying waste to him for the last week. “They’re boring to watch. And that’s probably why they’ll never be in the Premier League. You need to have a personality as well as being at the top of your game. You need to balance both

Global anti-doping chief admits drugs cheats in sport are escaping detection

One of the most senior figures in global anti-doping has warned that too many drug cheats in sport are evading detection – and criticised the current system as “ineffective”.David Howman, the former director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit, urged anti-doping bodies to be more ambitious in catching elite athletes again rather than focusing on compliance issues.In what was a clear criticism of Wada’s leadership, Howman also told them that the lack of success in catching cheats was harming the clean sport message.“Let’s be honest and pragmatic … intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection,” Howman told the Wada’s World Conference on Doping in Sport in South Korea. “We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats

Gloucester prop Afo Fasogbon: ‘I’m quite chilled off the pitch – until it’s time to go to work’

The 21-year-old came to rugby via an unusual route, but it is one that may soon see him in the England squadTo announce Afo Fasogbon as English rugby’s next big thing is not entirely accurate. He may be big – 6ft 4in tall and about 130kg (20st 6lb) – but as far as the internet is concerned he arrived some time ago. Video footage of the young Gloucester prop waving off the more experienced Ellis Genge after edging a scrummaging duel at Kingsholm last year went viral almost before Genge had reached the touchline.Should the 21-year-old make a strong impact off the bench against Munster in Cork on Saturday evening, however, he could soon be vying for even greater recognition. England are suddenly lighter in the tighthead department after Will Stuart’s unfortunate achilles injury, with Asher Opoku-Fordjour also out of action

Records, revenge and rollercoasters: three tales from Adelaide Oval’s rich history

As England’s team approach the third Ashes Test, it’s tempting to link their tour so far with the Adelaide rollercoaster launched in 1888. Then you realise it’s not accurate because a rollercoaster has to offer some ups as well as downs. Still, perhaps the players can find inspiration in some of the stories of the past that took place at this very ground.These days walking through the pleasant gardens or across the curving footbridge on the way to Adelaide Oval, it’s difficult to picture a 140-metre carnival ride spanning the whole width of the ground on one side. Known as a switchback railway at the time, the first in the world had opened at Coney Island, New York, only five years earlier