TMZ Sports - Page 50

Boxing legend James Toney is calling out Shannon Briggs -- claiming he should stop chasing Wladimir Klitschko around the world ... and fight him instead!!

The 3-time world champ was out in L.A. Friday and told us ... Briggs is wasting his time trying to lock up a fight with Wlad -- because Klitschko would beat his ass anyway.

So, his advice to Shannon ... bring your ass back to the U.S. and "come see me!"

We'll see if Shannon takes Toney up on his offer ... just as soon as he gets back from Germany.

Bellator is ripping a page right from the Vince McMahon playbook ... using giant screens, loud music and cool graphics to make the walk-to-the-ring at their MMA event feel just like WWE.

TMZ Sports has footage of the new stage in action -- which is set to debut at Bellator 131 on Saturday -- and it's awesome.

It's clear the MMA company is using pro-wrestling style entertainment to change it's image under the helm of new CEO Scott Coker ... with Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar having a Hulk vs. Ultimate Warrior-style face off to promote the fight back in September.

Ex-NY Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte has found his second calling -- he's a football coach ... even though he says he doesn't know a helluva lot about the sport.

42-year-old Pettitte retired back in 2013 after 18 seasons in the league ... but Andy tells us he's been keeping busy spending time with his wife and their 4 kids.

One of his post-MLB hobbies ... coaching youth football.

He's trolled him on land. He's trolled him at sea. And now boxer Shannon Briggs has flown all the way to GERMANY to taunt Wladimir Klitschko ... and it's all on video.

Briggs has been calling out Klitschko for MONTHS -- trying to get the boxer to fight him in the ring. He's already confronted the boxer in a restaurant, in various boxing gyms and even while Wlad was paddleboarding in Florida.

Now, Shannon has landed in Hamburg -- where Wladimir is set to fight Kubrat Pulev in the morning -- so he could continue his campaign of verbal terror.

It's pretty funny ... Briggs not only showed up to a training center where he knew Wlad would be ... he also showed up to a German mall for Klitschko's weigh in and taunted him there too.

So far, Wlad has not agreed to a fight -- but ya gotta think it's just a matter of time.

Brandon Marshall's mother says it's "very sweet" that her son is willing to fight a smack-talking Lions fan who dissed her on Twitter -- telling TMZ Sports, "I'm honored."

As you know ... the Chicago Bears star offered $25k to FIGHT a man named Anthony Kalla after Anthony went on a social media tirade this week and called Brandon's mother a w**re.

"I am honored that my son wanted to have a duel on his mother’s behalf," Brandon's mother Diane tells us. "I think this is Brandon’s way of getting the guy’s attention."

Still ... when push comes to shove, Diane says she does NOT believe Brandon was being serious when he made the offer.

"He’s not going into a boxing ring and putting gloves on to fight anytime soon."

As for Brandon's initial challenge to Anthony -- that Kalla would have to work in an orphanage if he lost the fight -- Diane says she still expects the less fortunate to benefit from the situation.

Jalen Rose has a message for Rick Ross -- I'll be your huckleberry.

The former NBA star was listening when Ross went on the radio this week and said he'll bet anyone $100,000 that the Miami Heat will have a better record this year than the Cleveland Cavs.

Well, Jalen was listening ... and last night, he went on ESPN and said he would TAKE Rick's bet.

"You know I'm good for the money homie. So just reach out to me and let's make this bet right now."

So far, no word back from Ross.

Stay tuned ...

The New England Patriots have issued an apology for one of the biggest Twitter backfires EVER -- when the team celebrated it's 1 millionth follower ... by retweeting a user with a SUPER RACIST handle.

The NFL team decided to celebrate reaching the 1 million follower milestone by allowing creating custom webart for anyone who retweeted the team's original celebratory post.

The Patriots team account would then automatically tweet the custom art for ever single person who took part in the publicity stunt.

Problem is ... one of the users was using the Twitter handle "IHATEN**GERSS."

Long story short ... the Pats Twitter page retweeted the super racist jersey that had been auto-created to their 1 million followers ... and all hell broke loose.

The team eventually deleted the racist piece of art ... and issued an apology:

"We apologize for the regrettable tweet that went out from our account. Our filtering system failed & we will be more vigilant in the future."

[Insert Bill Belichick disapproving scowl here]

Kim K ain't got nuthin' on Sir Chuck.

Yasiel Puig has landed in Japan ... and the guy's LOVING IT.

The L.A. Dodgers slugger is part of an MLB All-Star team that's taking on the Japanese national team in a 5-game series ... but when he's not on the field, Puig's been taking in as much culture as he can.

"We visited some temples, that was a very spiritual experience," Puig tells TMZ Sports ... "We took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo, very cool."

"I have not been shopping yet, but I will go here in Tokyo."

Puig says he's a HUGE fan of sushi -- and has been scarfing up as much raw fish as he can get his hands on ... saying, "I LOVE IT!"

Puig and his MLB All-Star teammates are reportedly getting $100k each for participating in the series.

Well ... this is awkward.

Shelly Sterling just praised the new owner of the L.A. Clippers ... while standing right next to the disgraced old one -- and TMZ Sports has the footage.

It all went down in Beverly Hills ... where Shelly and Donald Sterling were hanging out together ... despite the fact they ripped each other apart in court earlier this year.

Oh, and remember when Donald claimed Shelly basically stole the team from him?? Yeah.

Anyway, she didn't let the presence of her racist old husband keep her from giving props to Steve Ballmer -- who she says is doing a great job running her old team.

Ronda Rousey is always in the convo when listing hottest athletes, but her pick for most doable male sports star is NOT in the fight game -- instead she's going for balls ... footballs.

You gotta watch to see if she's talking about the American variety or the worldwide brand (aka soccer). While she was at it ... Ronda also named her top smoke show female athlete.

Hint: She's got good feet too. Powerful feet that could give Ronda a run for her money in the Octagon.

Blake Griffin is finally talking about the pimp slap he allegedly delivered at a Vegas nightclub -- saying he's very confident he will be exonerated.

The L.A. Clippers star spoke with reporters before practice Thursday -- saying, "I'm really not allowed to speak on [the case] ... but I'm very confident in the situation, so once I can [speak on it], I will."

Kris Humphries is still being harassed over his 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian ... with an entire section of Toronto Raptors fans starting a "Kanye" chant to troll him during a recent NBA game.

TMZ Sports has the footage showing Humphries at the free throw line during Friday's Wizards vs. Raptors game in Toronto.

The chant worked. Humphries missed the shot ... and the crowd went insane.

It's not the first time Kris has been trolled about the marriage -- in fact, Kanye himself took a shot at Kris right when he started dating Kim ... rapping that Kris was lucky Yeezy's pal Jay Z didn't drop him from the team he was on at the time.

For the record, it's been THREE YEARS since Kris and Kim broke up.

Tony Hawk pulled a Marty McFly Wednesday in Los Gatos ... when the pro skater rode a REAL hoverboard -- and the results were pretty awesome.

As you may recall ... Hawk pranked "Back to the Future" fans earlier this year when he starred in a fake hoverboard commercial ... but now, he's floating on the real deal.

A rep for Hendo Hover says they invited Tony to their warehouse last month to try out their crowdfunded product -- which hovers an inch off the ground at 15 miles per hour -- and Wednesday Hawk took them up on the offer for a 3 hour ride.

We're told there are no plans to court Tony into becoming a sponsor ... but they'd love to have his input for their next protoype.

Matt Lauer says his sitdown with Ray Rice's wife was "great" -- but it's clear he doesn't want to give too much away ... because he just bobbed and weaved like Muhammad Ali!

Matt was heading over to 30 Rock in NYC this morning when he acknowledged the interview was in the can.

Several NFL stars have received letters from Nike -- warning the players to stop customizing their cleats ... or else Nike will KILL their endorsement deals ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Cleat customization is all the rage in the NFL right now -- with big stars like Marshawn Lynch, DeSean Jackson, Terrell Suggs, Reggie Bush and more taking their shoes to famous artists to swag out before games.

But after Nike got word of the customizing fad, they sent out letters to players reminding them that the point of the deal is make sure the Nike Swoosh is visible on TV during games ... and customization could get in the way.

The letter reads, "Your Nike Football Contract requires that you wear 'Nike' products that have been designated by Nike Sports Marketing for such use."

"Nike views third-party customization (or post-embellishment) of Nike footwear to be a violation of the contract, triggering Nike's right to immediately terminate the contract."

The company continues ... "Nike Football values its endorsement relationship with you and presumes you were unfamiliar with these previsions in your Nike Football Contract."

"However, please know that Nike expects that you will observe the requirements of our contracts."