Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano aim to knock each other out on Saturday in a clash that could produce the first four-belt unification champion in the history of the 154-pound division.

“It’s dangerous to walk into my shots,” said “Iron Man” Charlo. “Most opponents I’ve faced who’ve done that, I’ve put them out.”

As for “El Boxi” Castano, the Argentinian said: “I’m ready for war. If Charlo wants to brawl, then by all means I will welcome that.”

Charlo, of Houston, Texas, fights for family and legacy. Castano, of Buenos Aires, is in it for glory and country.

The 31-year-olds will battle for Charlo’s IBF, WBA and WBC crowns and the Castano’s WBO title in a Premier Boxing Champions headliner from San Antonio, Texas. It will air on Showtime at 9 p.m. EDT.

The winner will join former middleweight champions Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, ex-junior welterweight champ Terence Crawford, junior welterweight title-holder Josh Taylor and former cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk as a four-belt division king.

“What’s on my mind is the legacy,” said Charlo. “This could be the fight … that puts me in the Hall of Fame.”

Charlo’s story

Charlo (34–1, 18 KOs) retained his WBC crown in September over IBF/WBA title-holder Jeison Rosario in a three-knockdown, eighth-round stoppage. The finishing blow was a final-round gut jab that left the hard-punching Dominican flat on his back.

On the same night, Charlo’s twin, Jermall, dominated Sergiy Derevyanchenko of the Ukraine by unanimous decision. Those wins come on the heels of the siblings establishing a milestone by sharing a card in May 2016 in Las Vegas two days after they turned 26.

That night, Jermell — the younger sibling by a minute — came from behind for a title-winning eighth-round stoppage of John Jackson. The history-making feat preceded Jermall’s unanimous decision over left-handed former champion Austin Trout in “The Hit Man’s” second of three IBF 154-pound title defenses. In winning the vacated world title, Jermell joined Jermall as a junior middleweight champion.

“I won a world title at the same weight division with my brother,” said Jermell, whose twin is a WBC 160-pound champ. “This fight is going to solidify the Charloses in people’s minds. I’ve wanted to be undisputed since I was a child.”

“You’re going to see a top pound-for-pound fighter,” said Charlo, who is after his third straight stoppage. “I’ve knocked people out in just about every round.”

In 2017 as Charlo halted Charles Hatley and southpaw Erickson Lubin in consecutive bouts.

Following a two-knockdown majority decision over Trout in June 2018, Charlo was dethroned as WBC champion in a disputed unanimous decision loss to Tony Harrison that December.

Charlo bounced back with a third-round stoppage of Jorge Cota in June 2019, highlighted by separate right hands that twice left the loser flat on his back. Cota was a late replacement for Harrison, whose ankle injury scuttled their rematch before Charlo brutally dropped him twice in the 11th and final round of their return title bout in December 2019.

Charlo will have a healthy trainer this time in Derrick James, who developed a hernia the first week of the Rosario camp. James endured through December as Errol Spence defended his IBF and WBC welterweight titles by unanimous decision over Danny Garcia after being hospitalized in critical condition as a result of a car accident in October 2019.

James is also prepping Spence (27–0, 21 KOs) for eight-division title winner Manny Pacquiao (62–7–2, 39 KOs) on Aug. 21 in Las Vegas.

Castano’s story

Castano (17–0–1, 12 KOs) began assisting his father, Carlos, a street sweeper and former pro boxer, in removing debris and litter from the roads of La Matanza or “The Slaughter,” a violent area in Buenos Aires.

“I was ashamed at first to be seen sweeping streets,” said Castano. “I used to cover my head with a jacket. In time, I became proud that I was helping my family.”

Castano grew up surrounded by boxers, which helped him resist the lure of the streets and follow in the footsteps of Argentine legends such as ex-champions Carlos Monzon, Sergio Martinez, Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse.

“The glory of a win would be equal to a potential Argentina World Cup title,” he said, but noted: “Soccer is different because you have 10 other people to rely on. I’m on my own in the ring.”

Castano went 181–5–5 as an amateur, earning a South American Games gold medal along the way, defeating Spence, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Esquiva Falcao and, in the World Series of Boxing, Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Castano survived being dropped in the second round of an interim title-winning two-knockdown, sixth-round KO of Emmanuel de Jesus in November 2016, won a split-decision for the WBA’s crown over Michel Soro in July 2017, and, after being elevated to the status of WBA regular champion, stopped left-handed Cedric Vitu by 12th-round TKO in March 2018.

“El Boxi” held the WBA crown until being stripped in June 2019 for declining to face mandatory challenger Michel Soro in France. But in 2019 Castano had a draw with left-handed former champion Erislandy Lara (March) and a one-sided fifth-round stoppage over veteran Wale Omotoso (November), who retired on his stool with a damaged left shoulder

February’s unanimous decision dethroned Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira (31–2, 22 KOs) as WBO title holder, ending a 15-month ring absence for Castano and earning his shot at Charlo.

“I have more variety in my arsenal than anybody Charlo’s fought,” said Castano, who nearly stopped Teixeira in the 12th with a right to the body and a left uppercut.

“If I have to go for more power instead of finesse, rest assured that I can knock Charlo down. I want to be the first in history to be undisputed champion at 154 pounds in the four-belt era and one of the best Argentinian and Latin American boxers who ever lived.”

(Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff)

Grammy-winning rapper Drake is the latest among a group of celebrities — including actors Robert Downey Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio and Orlando Bloom — teaming up with California-based Aspiration to find ways to reduce the large carbon footprint that comes with being an international superstar.

The environmentally friendly financial services company will audit Drake’s schedule, events and travel to calculate his carbon footprint. Part of Aspiration’s approach includes a reforestation program that plants millions of trees around the country to offset carbon overload.

For Drake, who had 31 concert dates in 2019 spanning Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro and London to Paris, his private jet — dubbed “Air Drake”— the impact of his carbon footprint takes some calculating.

“Drake’s carbon footprint is bigger than yours or mine,” said Andrei Cherny, CEO of Aspiration. “If Aspiration is able to help [him] cut out his negative impact on the planet, we can help everyone.”

He commends Drake for leading what he describes as “a cultural movement to inspire people to take easy, automated, personalized actions to fight the climate crisis.”

Data on the actual calculation of Drake’s carbon footprint was unavailable, but a proprietary algorithm makes it easy to establish carbon neutrality, according to Aspiration. The firm will also engage a third-party auditor to validate Drake’s activities as carbon-neutral.

“We have software that takes the input of an individual or corporation in all parts of their activities: transportation, production of products, and the carbon footprint of the consumers that are consuming those products,” said Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg. “Based on the data we get from our clients, including Drake, we’re able to calculate the carbon emissions of all those activities, and then we’re able to calculate how many trees through our reforestation program we need to plant and for what period of time.”

A reforestation program is one way the financial services firm helps offset clients’ carbon footprint. (Brian Garrity/Unsplash)

It takes a little over 1,000 trees planted to offset the average person’s emissions, with each absorbing about 31 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the nonprofit conservation group Saving Nature.

“It’s exciting to partner with a company that’s found an easy way to offer everyone the ability to reduce their carbon footprint,” Drake said in a statement. “Aspiration’s innovative approach to combating climate change is really inspiring, and I hope together we can help to motivate and create awareness.”

Sustainability built in

Cherny, an economic policy expert and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, and Sanberg, a progressive entrepreneur and investor, co-founded Aspiration in 2013 and opened for business in 2015. Since the launch, the company has gained 4 million customers and $250 million in backing from investors, including Downey Jr., DiCaprio and Bloom.

Though the company provides everyday banking products, Sanberg describes Aspiration as a “sustainability services provider,” rather than a conventional bank.

“We provide financial products like banking accounts, investment products and a credit card,” he said. “All of these products are made special by the automated sustainability features they have attached to them. So you can turn those everyday financial products into more than where you deposit your paycheck or what to use to buy your groceries.”

In the past year, the company’s individual and business customers have funded the planting of more than 15 million trees in the United States, Sanberg said, adding that there are plans to plant more than 5 billion over the next 20 years.

Aspiration’s efforts include the “Plant Your Change” program, which allows customers to round up any transaction to the nearest dollar to plant a tree through the company’s reforestation program. The Aspiration Redwood Fund is a sustainable mutual fund that invests only in eco-friendly companies. The Planet Protection Program tallies up drivers’ carbon output and then buys carbon offsets to counter the climate impact.

The company also offers a mobile application — Aspiration Impact Measurement, or AIM — that uses more than 75,000 data points to gauge a company’s sustainability.

“It’s like a FitBit for your sustainability that shows how the places you use your Aspiration card treats their workers and the environment,” said Sanberg.

AIM’s “people” scores reflects company metrics like employee pay, access to health care and workforce diversity. “Planet” scores measure greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

“The cold hard truth is that most people are depositing their money in the big financial institutions, which use that money to fund loans to oil, gas, coal, firearms and private prison companies,” Sanberg said. “When they find out that their money is being used to violate their values, they want to switch, and they know that at Aspiration, their money is never lent for those kinds of activities.

“When you deposit your money at Aspiration, we place it at one of the commercial banks in our commercial bank network that makes loans to individuals who are buying homes or starting small businesses.”

Future product offerings, Sanberg said, will include carbon-neutral insurance and “green” mortgages.

Sustainability trending upward in banking

Aspiration’s leaders believe that the market for sustainability services will grow dramatically over time.

“There’s not a year in the foreseeable future in which fewer people are going to want to take personal action to fight the climate crisis,” Cherny said. “Aspiration is unique because what we’re delivering is sustainability itself — helping people and companies easily and automatically integrate sustainable actions into daily life.”

“Corporations are going from not paying for sustainability services to paying for them in a short period of time,” said Sanberg. “I think about it like the adoption of websites 25 years ago. In a short period of time, every company went from not having a website to having a website.”

Zilvinas Bareisis, head of retail banking at Celent, a Boston-based advisory firm, states in a research paper that the banking industry is taking significant steps to reverse the effects of climate change.

“As the Paris Agreement aiming to limit global warming came into force in 2016, banks were becoming increasingly aware of the risks climate change was posing to their business,” Bareisis said. “While risk management still matters, the banks’ focus now is shifting to proactive efforts and what they can do to positively influence change.”

Bareisis’ paper also highlights a set of industry-developed guidelines for the future.

The Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), announced during the UN General Assembly in September 2019, “provide framework for a sustainable banking system and help the industry to demonstrate how it makes a positive contribution to society.”

The PRB’s 235 signatory banks — with total assets of more than $60 trillion and coming from 69 countries — typically engage in lending to green initiatives, financing energy-efficient properties and issuing so-called green bonds tied to sustainability goals, much like Aspiration.

As a financial firm, not a chartered bank, Aspiration is not a PRB signatory institution. But its leaders view the company as singularly positioned to take on the climate change challenge through its traditional bank products.

“One of our opportunities is that we’re creating a brand-new category; there really isn’t a set of competitors out there,” said Sanberg. “We’re a unique one of one provider of sustainability services that are branded and technology-driven. There’s only one Aspiration brand, and that puts us in an interesting and privileged position, but also one where we have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders.”

(Edited by Judith Isacoff and Matthew B. Hall)

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game has traditionally been where the top players of America’s national pastime became superstars.

When baseball was at its peak, the midsummer classic was must-see TV as fans congregated around televisions on the second Tuesday in July to watch the legends of the game create a fan base that would embrace the game for generations.

From “Hammerin” Hank Aaron to Ken Griffey Jr. the exploits of American-born baseball players were glorified in movies such as “The Natural” and “Field of Dreams.” However, in this new era of sports fandom, baseball in America is facing a crisis.

Seasonal attendance has been declining in recent years (the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 and slow crawl back to full stadium capacity not withstanding), and TV ratings are down. Popularity is waning and this year’s showcase — which takes place tonight (July 13) in Denver — falls in the middle of the NBA Finals.

In addition, observers say the traditional passing down of the game from generation to generation is not happening. The millennial fan base follows the game via electronic communication and social media, which takes away from the romance of the live experience.

Baseball has been aggressive at cultivating its presence around the world, with more international players becoming the faces of the game.

This year’s star-of-stars is Shohei Ohtani, whose play has been electrifying over the first half of the season. The Japanese-born superstar is the first legitimate “two-way” player since Babe Ruth. The Los Angeles Angels pitcher also doubles as their designated hitter; he was the top seed in what now has become the signature event during the all star festivities — the Home Run Derby. (That competition took place last night (July 12); Ohtani was ousted in the first round by the Nationals’ Juan Soto, and New York Mets’ Pete Alsonso wound up winning his second straight title.)

Ohtani has played better than advertised when he came to the United States and has already had unprecedented success. Heading into the break the Japanese phenom has hit 33 home runs, which is the most by any Asian-born player in the history of Major League Baseball and earned him the top seed in the derby.

As a pitcher, Ohtani ended the first half of the season with a record of 4-1 which now places him at the top of the list for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

“This guy is a freak of nature,” said Julian McWilliams, the Boston Red Sox beat reporter for the Boston Globe.  “His hands are [very large] and he’s probably the fastest guy on the team next to [fellow All-Star teammate] Mike Trout. To be able to do what he does is something that I think is out of this world.”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose father was an icon for the Montreal Expos during the 1990s, received the most votes, as much of Canada went to the virtual polls on his behalf. His teammate, Marcus Semien, also made the American League, but without as much fanfare.

San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Taitis Jr., whose father played for the St. Louis Cardinals was the preeminent superstar coming into the season. From power drinks to video games, Taitis is the face of baseball’s new generation. He is on the cover of the video game “MLB The Show,” which is the signature franchise in the esports world. The “other” video game, “RBI,” features Chicago White Sox All-Star Tim Anderson on the cover.

This year’s All-Star game was initially scheduled to be hosted in Atlanta as Major League Baseball was trying to show off the new model for stadiums in cities in need of modern ballparks. However, the game was moved earlier this year, after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a controversial law containing a series of measures that critics say amount to voter suppression that would mainly impact blacks and other minorities.

As baseball continues to globalize, it risks losing touch with its fan base in urban America.

Young African American fans have little interest in a sport where there were only 70 such players on the rosters to open the season, In addition, the game is perceived to be too slow for some viewers.

According to the Society of Baseball Research, the number of African American players in the MLB has fallen nearly every year since 1981, and by 2016 it had dropped to 6.7 percent, which was the lowest percentage since 1957.

“[African Americans] haven’t turned our back on baseball, but we’re giving it the side eye,” said former major league pitcher Marvin Freeman. “It’s an expensive commitment to train and play on the better teams which showcase your talent.”

There are fewer role models for young black players to emulate and baseball traditionally has done a poor job of marketing its star players the way the NFL and NBA do.

For example, despite being a two-time world champion and perennial All-Star, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts is an endorsement afterthought.   Los Angeles Lakers all-star LeBron James is a global icon who is set to become a billionaire by the end of 2021, following the release of his movie “Space Jam” later this week, according to Black Enterprise Magazine

MLB’s outsourcing of its on-field talent may have led to a proliferation of generational talent, but it hasn’t passed through the turnstiles yet. There may be a more exciting brand of baseball being played throughout the Major Leagues, but it hasn’t connected with American fans just yet.

(Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Fern Siegel)

SYDNEY — As Sydney’s iconic Sirius building is transformed from social housing into multi-million dollar apartments, the New South Wales government has revealed where money from the sale of the harborside icon is going.

The building, at the edge of Sydney Harbor, was sold to private developers in 2019 for AU$150 million ($111.3 million) in the face of a public campaign against removing existing residents.

State Housing Minister Melinda Pavey said on July 3 that 19 regional and suburban areas around New South Wales would benefit from new social housing development approvals.

“The proceeds of the sale of the Sirius Building have funded the construction of over 330 new social housing dwellings throughout NSW,” she said.

“A total of (AU)$150 million is being injected directly into modern social housing for around 630 people, who are some of the most vulnerable in our community.”

Sirius was built in the 1970s to provide 79 apartments for low-income public housing tenants displaced from Sydney’s historic Rocks area.

While the brutalist style of raw concrete and little extraneous detail isn’t always popular outside architecture circles, the building is a familiar landmark to anyone crossing the Sydney Harbor bridge.

For residents inside its distinctive form of stepped boxes, there are spectacular views of Sydney Harbor and the opera house as well as proximity to the city.

But as Sydney’s property values skyrocketed, the government argued the now extremely valuable harborside site could be sold to fund more social housing elsewhere.

Pavey said more than 38 new social homes have already been built with the Sirius funds with another 300 on the way, addressing the social housing gap in regional New South Wales towns such as Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Gosford.

The largest projects are in Warwick Farm and St Marys (52 and 44) western suburbs of Sydney, Gosford (41) north of Sydney and Tweed Heads (40) south of Gold Coast.

Meanwhile, the Sirius developers are now advertising for buyers for the top end apartments, with prices of up to AU$12 million dollars ($8.9 million). One of the ads in a Sydney-based financial publication was widely criticized by sympathizers of the former social housing residents kicked out of the building, and defenders of the building.

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the approval of the refurbishment and restoration of the Sirius Building would create hundreds of jobs and better public spaces in The Rocks.

“It will also establish a new public forecourt to provide enhanced community access between Cumberland Street and Gloucester Walk, add new street lighting to improve safety and plant more than 75 new trees which will add to the beauty of The Rocks (at Sydney Harbor),” Stokes said.

(Edited by Vaibhav Pawar and Krishna Kakani. Map by Urvashi Makwana)

CHENNAI, India — India’s Uniphore, an AI startup that deals with enterprises’ customer service calls, won the Frost & Sullivan Global Technology Innovation Leadership Award in Conversational Automation for 2021.

Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm, said the award was for Uniphore’s innovative approach towards customer needs in the development and support it provides in its conversational service automation platform using Artificial Intelligence.

The award is the result of an independent, non-sponsored evaluation by Frost & Sullivan’s analyst team.

Uniphore is a conversational service automation platform, which allows customer service agents of enterprises to automate tasks, and provides features like virtual assistants and voice biometrics.

“Because of the pandemic, enterprise automation has really accelerated the transformation of enterprise conversations, with a specific focus on customer experience,” said Umesh Sachdev, chief executive officer and co-founder of Uniphore.

“To solve some major challenges and eliminate customer frustration across the board, we know that AI-driven conversational automation is the key.”

“Frost & Sullivan is a leading analyst firm that has expertise and experience in this space to truly understand what businesses need to succeed,” Sachdev said.

“It is an honor to be recognized by them for our innovative solutions and hypergrowth, and we look forward to continuing to change customer service for the better.”

“By leveraging facial emotion recognition and sentiment analysis, Uniphore will be able to enhance video engagements that have become so prevalent in the COVID and WFH-era,” according to the statement released by the company.

Uniphore acquired Emotion Research Labs in Jan this year to include emotion AI for its products. Emotion Research Lab is a software developer that uses AI and machine learning to identify emotion and engagement levels in real-time.

The company had said the acquisition would expand Uniphore’s global footprint and European-based presence. Uniphore plans to expand into additional European countries in Fiscal Year 2022.

In March, Uniphore raised $40 million as part of its Series D funding round, which U.S.-based investment firm Sorenson Capital Partners led.

“Uniphore has been at the forefront of conversational automation for years and continues to impress,” Nancy Jamison, Industry Director, Information & Communications Technologies at Frost & Sullivan, said.

“Following a challenging year across the board for businesses, customer service, and employee experience, Uniphore has set a stake in the ground with its vision for conversational process automation by honing in on the ways that humans communicate and building solutions to improve that communication.”

(With inputs from ANI)

(Edited by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Praveen Pramod Tewari)