1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:10,359 The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big Fight Weekend. Now 2 00:00:10,519 --> 00:00:16,320 here is your host, DJ leaves Well. We get ready for an intriguing 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,719 weekend, not only in London with a light heavyweight eliminator, but also a 4 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:28,120 British fighter fighting in Las Vegas who is still under some scrutiny in Connor Ben. 5 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:32,439 We're gonna preview both of those fights and fight cards. We've got fight 6 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,000 news, We've got nostalgia and more. It is the Big Fight Weekend preview 7 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,640 pod. Good to be back with you. I am merely the somewhat competent 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:46,560 host TJ Reeves. He's our insider fight Freaks Unitis his substack. He also 9 00:00:46,679 --> 00:00:50,640 contributes as well at Big Fight Weekend dot com. Hello Dan Rayfield. We're 10 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,719 in a new month, my friend. We're in the month of February already 11 00:00:53,759 --> 00:00:58,600 and ready to get underway with a lot of different action and news items and 12 00:00:58,679 --> 00:01:00,880 much more. How are as we head into the first weekend? Here? 13 00:01:02,039 --> 00:01:04,400 It is as we release the podcast. You know, I do interview you 14 00:01:04,439 --> 00:01:07,439 a lot, and it could seem like groundhog Day. It is literally groundhog 15 00:01:07,519 --> 00:01:11,120 Day Friday, as we release the podcast Thursday night into Friday, and I 16 00:01:11,439 --> 00:01:18,280 don't know if punks a tawney Phil saw his shadow for like eight more years 17 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,040 of ray Field. For me, I don't know what that means with the 18 00:01:21,079 --> 00:01:23,799 groundhog in Pennsylvania. H I know if the groundhog, whether he sees the 19 00:01:23,799 --> 00:01:26,480 shadow or he doesn't see the shadow. When you hit February first, it 20 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:32,000 just means you're you got December and January behind you, and we're one day 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,159 closer to the spring, where one day closer to the greatest day of the 22 00:01:34,239 --> 00:01:38,840 year was when we turn the clocks and everything is late for another extra hour 23 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,840 because I'm one of those people that hates when we have to switch the box 24 00:01:42,079 --> 00:01:45,400 and it gets dark at four o'clock here in the Northeast, or as the 25 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,480 internet meme has it, if the groundhog saw his shadow, it does mean 26 00:01:49,519 --> 00:01:53,439 two more weeks of Taylor Swift all over TV, including for the Super Bowl 27 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:55,799 with the Chiefs and the forty nine ers. Somebody will get the punch line 28 00:01:55,799 --> 00:01:59,159 in there. I don't know if everybody will get it in any event. 29 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:00,840 All Right, so thank you for finding us. Make sure to rate us 30 00:02:00,879 --> 00:02:04,239 and review us. That does help us. As we preview going into the 31 00:02:04,239 --> 00:02:07,120 weekend, we recap with the Fight Freaktion Night recap coming off the weekend RTUs 32 00:02:07,199 --> 00:02:12,800 review us particularly like you've gotten some feedback that people liked the interview with Ben 33 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,439 Shalom, the promoter of Boxer. We're about to talk about their card coming 34 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,560 up. If you liked it enough, give us a five star review. 35 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,520 Put that on Apple or Spotify or Sprinker wherever you can review us and held 36 00:02:23,599 --> 00:02:27,560 us out. Yes, you got a bonus episode on the pod, so 37 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,319 follow subscribe, but rate us and review us. That also helps. And 38 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,439 again we come your way. We have been diligent with this. I know 39 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,400 I keep petting you and me on the back, but it isn't like we 40 00:02:37,439 --> 00:02:40,719 take weeks off. We have rarely taken a week off in going on almost 41 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,800 two years of doing this. And if you appreciate that, peeps, fans, 42 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:47,800 savages, just give us a five star review. How am I doing 43 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,400 on selling that? Yeah, pump us up, pump us up a little 44 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,520 bit because it does help us with the algorithms, etc. All Right, 45 00:02:55,599 --> 00:03:00,080 with all of that being said, let's get into it. Speaking of Ben 46 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:05,800 Shloman, I enjoyed that conversation. It is fascinating that he is the youngest 47 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,199 big time worldwide promoter, and it's an interesting deal that they have now with 48 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,159 a goliath over there in terms of sports and TV Sky Sports in the UK 49 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:20,360 and also now in the United States and the deal with Comcast, NBC Peacock 50 00:03:20,759 --> 00:03:24,000 and the streaming. It is interesting that it's his fight card that we are 51 00:03:24,039 --> 00:03:29,599 going to lead with that has a delayed because of an injury to dana Z's 52 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:37,319 a delayed Buoze Joshua Boozzy dana Ze's WBA light heavyweight eliminator. So good segue, 53 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,000 good entree now into the preview of this fight card that's coming up Saturday 54 00:03:40,039 --> 00:03:46,000 afternoon US time, Saturday night in London. And I know you're excited about 55 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,120 this. We've been looking into it in the preview mode and here we are 56 00:03:47,199 --> 00:03:50,759 to talk about it on the podcast. Yeah. I am looking forward to 57 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,120 this card. I mean not just to see the main event which has got 58 00:03:53,159 --> 00:03:55,319 a lot of stakes there, but also the undercard, which we'll talk about 59 00:03:55,319 --> 00:03:59,759 in a minute. But Bouwatzi is an Olympian, he's undefeated. He's moved 60 00:03:59,759 --> 00:04:01,479 a little slower I think than a lot of people had anticipated or hoped for, 61 00:04:01,599 --> 00:04:05,479 I think himself included. He obviously had he got into a beef with 62 00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:09,560 Matchroom Boxing. He ended up leaving them. He's not with boxer. There's 63 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,520 a lawsuit going on, but it's got. It's got. It's not going 64 00:04:12,599 --> 00:04:15,439 to stop the fight or anything like that. But so there was definitely some 65 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,000 issues there. But you know, for our purposes as fans, uh, 66 00:04:19,199 --> 00:04:21,560 you know, does it make a difference to you whether he's on a Mattchroom 67 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,959 card or a boxer card. No, I couldn't care less. It's a 68 00:04:25,079 --> 00:04:27,560 do I put on his owne and watcher or I put on Peacock and watch 69 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:29,879 it. So to me, it's all in the same. I am very 70 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,639 pleased though that that a boxer does have that deal with Peacock is now we 71 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:39,639 can watch it, uh live in you know, perfect streaming color and technology 72 00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:42,800 without having a look for you know, boot legs or highlights or this and 73 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,759 that or YouTube after the fact two o'clock Eastern time, by the way, 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,639 on Peacock for the show, uh in any event. But the thing also 75 00:04:48,639 --> 00:04:54,600 about that is they don't even mess around with like international feeds. They literally 76 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:59,600 on Peacock showed the exact same broadcast as what if you lived in your you 77 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,639 know, your home or you're flat in London and you were popping on Sky 78 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,639 Sports. It's the same thing. It's just the exact same transmission and just 79 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,839 we see it here in the United States. So I like that. But 80 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,959 in terms of the fight, Look, these guys are good buddies, DJ, 81 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,240 They've sparred together, they've been friends for years, they're roughly the same 82 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,839 age, they're roughly the same experience level in terms of where they are in 83 00:05:18,879 --> 00:05:25,279 their careers, and they've both gotten to a point where you know, it's 84 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,319 become not just a fight they would do, but a fight that makes sense 85 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,160 for both guys because of what's at taken. As you mentioned, it is 86 00:05:30,199 --> 00:05:33,120 an eliminator fight. Asis is a little bit older, he's thirty four and 87 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,079 Biasi is thirty. But the point is, in terms of their professional experience, 88 00:05:36,399 --> 00:05:40,879 it's about the same, and the winner will be the WBA's mandatory for 89 00:05:40,879 --> 00:05:43,839 the belt that is currently held by Dimitri Bibel. Now, whether the winner 90 00:05:43,879 --> 00:05:46,879 actually gets a chance to fight people or for a vacant title remains to be 91 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,040 seen, because if you're following along here, the strong likelihood as that come 92 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:57,759 June it'll be Dimitri Bebel against Arthur better be in a unification fight, you 93 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,600 know, for undisputed, and what happens after that, you know who the 94 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,279 heck knows and you know, then they'll be down. If they're going to 95 00:06:03,319 --> 00:06:06,879 hold onto all the belts, they're gonna be down by the rotation system. 96 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,720 So there'll be four organizations with mandatories. I'm not sure where the WBA would 97 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,879 fall, but suffice it to say is a big time fight for both of 98 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:16,240 these men and their careers. By far, their biggest fight so far, 99 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,360 because of the stakes, because they're both undefeated, and because they're friends and 100 00:06:20,399 --> 00:06:24,240 you know, sometimes I've talked to different boxers over the years when they're friends 101 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,720 with a guy, sometimes they don't want to fight, but when they do 102 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:30,040 fight, they want to win even more because there's more at stake in terms 103 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,160 of the bragging rights. Because if it's somebody don't know, don't care about, 104 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,360 never met, you know whatever, you just move on. If it's 105 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,240 somebody that you're going to be seeing and hanging around with for the rest of 106 00:06:38,319 --> 00:06:40,920 your life, you know, there's gonna be a little chirping going on there. 107 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,439 So they definitely got the machismo going in terms of, you know, 108 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,959 the personal relationship and look they match up well against each other and they it 109 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,680 is a worthy kind of fight. They're both very quality fighters in this weight 110 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,319 class, and you know, I look forward to it. The one thing 111 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,959 Bawatzie does definitely has an advantage of, besides being a few years young, 112 00:07:00,199 --> 00:07:05,959 is that he's a lot taller than than a disease. But as he's though, 113 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,480 listen, he he you know, Blosi came with some credentials, skitt 114 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,519 of the Olympics, and he was kind of handled in that manner like he 115 00:07:13,639 --> 00:07:15,680 was. I won't say he had an easy path, but it wasn't the 116 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,160 hardest path, you know, let's say, in terms of what Azi's had 117 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,600 to deal with, like when he won the European title in twenty twenty three, 118 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,240 about a year ago, Marshall last year, he didn't have it the 119 00:07:26,279 --> 00:07:28,720 easy way. He had to go to France and fight on the other guy's 120 00:07:28,759 --> 00:07:31,720 card. You know, he he had to fight some of the top British 121 00:07:31,759 --> 00:07:34,839 fighters that were, you know, good solid guys at the time. He 122 00:07:34,879 --> 00:07:39,360 fought, for example, a Rocky Fielding who may not have been you know, 123 00:07:39,839 --> 00:07:42,079 a top level world class guy. You know, a guy who got 124 00:07:42,079 --> 00:07:44,639 pummeled by Canelo, but he still could handle himself, you know, and 125 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:46,959 he's he had to go through you know, some some of those types of 126 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,680 fighters. Blazzi I don't think has had as rigorous a schedule, at least 127 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,199 in terms of his recent fights. You know, he did have a win 128 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,600 over Craig Richards, which is a is a pretty good victory in terms of 129 00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:01,720 the opponent's sacred fight from Truthfully, though, if I recall, he did 130 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,639 not look great in that fight. Oh he was, and so but he 131 00:08:05,639 --> 00:08:07,199 won. He got the win, and it was over a year and a 132 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,279 half ago that that fight happened, right, Yeah, So I mean it's 133 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,439 I think that Aziz has a little bit of a better resume. Obviously in 134 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,319 terms of the amateur background, it is Bwazi, given that he was in 135 00:08:18,319 --> 00:08:22,279 the Olympics. Look, it's it's what you want to see, right, 136 00:08:22,319 --> 00:08:24,399 I mean, it's not for the world title. Fine, it's to get 137 00:08:24,439 --> 00:08:28,199 the world title shot. It's two worthy guys, two guys with great records 138 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,799 and uh and they've they've paid their dues over the last few years, so 139 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:35,399 let's let's get it on. So that's a good, solid main event for 140 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,559 this card. And again in the case, this is interesting in the case 141 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,759 of Azaz, he had been fighting twelve round fights for the European light heavyweight 142 00:08:41,759 --> 00:08:45,879 title. His last fight, though last July, was only an eight round 143 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,320 fight. It was a distance fight that he won. So do you have 144 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,559 an explanation as to why he backed off and not? No, that was 145 00:08:52,519 --> 00:08:56,519 that was simply let's get in the ring, let's move around, let's be 146 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,279 active. Because remember this fight with Bowatzi was originally scheduled for last ball. 147 00:09:00,879 --> 00:09:03,159 I believe it was either I want to say it was October or maybe early 148 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,679 November, and so that was to sort of be the tune up fight to 149 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:09,120 get him ready for that fight. And then that fight was postponed, which 150 00:09:09,159 --> 00:09:13,679 is why it's happening on Saturday, because as he's at a minor setback with 151 00:09:13,759 --> 00:09:16,600 a back injury that he needed a little bit of extra time. So that's 152 00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:20,559 why that fight got postponed. A matter of fact, on the podcast, 153 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,039 when I was speaking with Ben shaloone one of the things that he lamented and 154 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,960 I felt his pain was the first event that was supposed to be part of 155 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,720 the boxer deal with Peacock was supposed to be this fight in the main event. 156 00:09:31,039 --> 00:09:35,639 The fight was postponed the rest of the cards still went on as planned. 157 00:09:35,759 --> 00:09:37,720 They moved it to a smaller venue, but it was not in any 158 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:43,519 way, shape or form the bigger kind of fight that they were hoping for. 159 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,720 Then, post that fight, the next show that they did, which 160 00:09:46,759 --> 00:09:50,679 was also on Peacock, was the recent Chris BILLM Smith title defense against Masterneck, 161 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,320 which was a heck of a fight. And now here we are in 162 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,759 February for this world title fight, all right, so again that one will 163 00:09:58,759 --> 00:10:03,320 be the main event. Also on this card as well is Adam a Zeem, 164 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,000 not to be confused with Dan a Z's. A Zeem is a junior 165 00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:11,080 welterweight. He's got a lot of promise. Tell me more, I don't 166 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:13,799 know anything about the opponent. This is why we defer to you. But 167 00:10:13,879 --> 00:10:18,480 this is on the undercard Saturday evening in London, Saturday afternoon in the US. 168 00:10:18,639 --> 00:10:22,720 What else about this one? Well, Adam Azeem is one of my 169 00:10:22,759 --> 00:10:24,720 favorite prospects in boxing, and I've said that several times on the show. 170 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,960 I had him on my top fifteen prospects list at the end of twenty twenty 171 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:35,360 three. He's just a really, really exciting fighter with a lot of potential. 172 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:37,279 He's only twenty one years old. He's already been in a main event, 173 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,200 He's already starting to draw crowds. He's got swagger, he's got a 174 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,240 good personality, he's got great punching power. He's got a I think anyway, 175 00:10:46,279 --> 00:10:48,559 but you know, and who knows, because when you get to this 176 00:10:48,639 --> 00:10:52,960 level where you're starting to get the money and the acclaim, sometimes it goes 177 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,679 to your head. But thus far, it seems like in talking to Ben, 178 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:01,399 having seen the way a Zeem has handled himself interviews and that sort of 179 00:11:01,399 --> 00:11:05,720 stuff, he feels like he's got that maturity that's not normal for a twenty 180 00:11:05,759 --> 00:11:07,960 one year old who was about to hit the big time. So if he 181 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,080 can keep hisself together with all the things that are going to come at him 182 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,679 with the success, that will bode well for him. So it feels like 183 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:18,519 he's got maturity for being such a young age with so much right promise coming. 184 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,960 Like I said, big punching power, ken box a bit. Also, 185 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,240 he's not like he can't box. He was, you know, he 186 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,320 did have an amateur cur even though obviously at a very young age he didn't 187 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,240 go into like the Olympics for the big international competitions and that sort of stuff. 188 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:37,279 But he did win the European one hundred and forty pound title in November. 189 00:11:37,759 --> 00:11:41,879 That was a really good performance against Frank Pettigen, who was not a 190 00:11:41,919 --> 00:11:45,759 great fighter or anything like that, but a very solid, very experienced European 191 00:11:45,799 --> 00:11:48,120 fighter, and he took the title off him. And Pettitjen had gotten the 192 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,240 vacant belt because Enoch Poulsen, who was the opponent that Asim is going to 193 00:11:52,279 --> 00:11:56,240 fight, I guess he got injured and that it was vacated, but he 194 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:01,200 was the number one contender. So once that fighten Azem and Pettitgen took place, 195 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,240 you know, Paulson was there in the crowd knowing that he's getting the 196 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,960 winter next, so he got in the ring with Azem. After the fight, 197 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,600 they started to jaw a little bit, you know, in a good 198 00:12:11,639 --> 00:12:15,000 manner to help build it up. And so, look, Paulson is undefeated. 199 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,320 He's fourteen and zero. You know, he's a bit older, he's 200 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,720 in his thirties, already's thirty one years old. He's a guy from Denmark. 201 00:12:22,759 --> 00:12:28,279 But you know, it's it's still it does bode as the most significant, 202 00:12:28,519 --> 00:12:31,120 toughest fight that he has had so far. Now, if you want 203 00:12:31,159 --> 00:12:35,679 to do any comparisons, when when he won the European title, this is 204 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:41,759 what I'm talking about. When Enoch Paulsen won the vacant in European title that 205 00:12:41,799 --> 00:12:45,559 was in twenty twenty two against Petiging. He went the distance with him in 206 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,600 a way in a decision, and ultimately when he was injured and couldn't go 207 00:12:48,639 --> 00:12:52,600 to the post to defend the title, Petogen won the vacant title. He 208 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,799 ended up getting stopped by Azim. So my point is Azeem's got the knockout 209 00:12:56,919 --> 00:13:00,240 against him, the other guy's got to win in the distance. That doesn't 210 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,200 always translate, of course, how they're going to fight against each other. 211 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:07,759 So you gotta like Azeem given the youth and his recent performances. But for 212 00:13:07,919 --> 00:13:11,000 where the kid is in his career and the potential that he has is a 213 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,679 step up fight. It's an interesting fight, a little less pressure, maybe 214 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,559 because it is the undercard as opposed to the main event. But I'm actually 215 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,399 from an action standpoint. You know, Batzi and Azis, I'm not sure 216 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,879 that to me could go either way. It could either be a little bit 217 00:13:26,919 --> 00:13:28,759 of a slow dance and not so much exciting, even though it could be 218 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,919 at a high skill level or if they decide to trade it out, who 219 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,960 knows. But I do believe that a Zem and Pulson has the potential to 220 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,399 be a good action scrap besides also a great building block for a Zem if 221 00:13:41,399 --> 00:13:45,279 he's able to win the fight. And one of the things I love about 222 00:13:45,279 --> 00:13:48,399 this show and about your wealth of knowledge and what we do here on the 223 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,639 podcast is we are global. And again, this guy's a much bigger deal. 224 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,320 Obviously in the UK, A lot of American fans don't know a lot 225 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,919 about Adam Azeem. So I just ask you, is he still, like 226 00:14:00,159 --> 00:14:03,440 all of this year from being really relevant at the highest level at one point 227 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,320 forty if he continues to win, is it going to probably be twenty twenty 228 00:14:07,399 --> 00:14:11,799 five before I think? What do you think I think? Given his age, 229 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:15,559 given that he just won the European title. Now, the European title 230 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:20,799 is an important stepping stone, significant regional title has a huge amount of history, 231 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:24,279 you know, the traditional way that British fighters have done things through the 232 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,039 course of decades. If they can try to win the British title, the 233 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:33,200 Commonwealth title, the European title, and that point they can then move on, 234 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:35,159 hopefully for their sake, to the world level and fight for a world 235 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,399 title. But because Adamazim is only twenty one years old, he just won 236 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,240 the European title. It's not the kind of title you're gonna make, you 237 00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:45,320 know, a whole million defenses of you're gonna you know, ideally, and 238 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:46,440 if you know, you can look through history of the greats that have won 239 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:50,000 the European title, make a couple of defenses, three four defenses maybe at 240 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,639 the most, and then they're off to the races. So I do think 241 00:14:52,759 --> 00:14:56,279 and I didn't talk about this, particularly with Ben in the interview, but 242 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:01,639 it strikes me that if history, you know, is a guide that if 243 00:15:01,639 --> 00:15:05,159 he's successful against Paulson on Saturday, you figure he probably defend the title a 244 00:15:05,159 --> 00:15:07,960 couple of more times this year, you know, get in three fights at 245 00:15:09,039 --> 00:15:11,279 least in twenty twenty four, and then, like you said, come twenty 246 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:15,759 twenty five, by that time, be in a position because just because he's 247 00:15:15,759 --> 00:15:18,759 European champion doesn't mean he doesn't continue to or be ranked and rise among the 248 00:15:18,759 --> 00:15:24,159 sanctioning bodies to position him for you know, either an eliminator in a world 249 00:15:24,159 --> 00:15:28,399 title fighter, perhaps a world title fight, but I do think this year 250 00:15:28,519 --> 00:15:33,320 is the European title defense here and then probably has come twenty twenty five. 251 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,559 We'll see him if he continues to win and you know, get into the 252 00:15:35,559 --> 00:15:39,679 picture of those bigger fights because he's so young. He's got the backing of 253 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:45,120 Sky which is huge, and you know, continue to create, you know, 254 00:15:45,679 --> 00:15:50,559 noise and excitement and credentials and you know, make people want to see 255 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,200 you more and let's build your career because he's got all the time in the 256 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,080 world. It seems good stuff on Adam a Zeem. Again, we got 257 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,200 to keep it straight. Dan a Z's in the main event with Josh will 258 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,879 Boo outsee and again those will be on Peacock streaming in the United States, 259 00:16:03,919 --> 00:16:08,080 sky Sports in the UK Saturday afternoon. So we are still in the preview 260 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:12,000 mode and it involves again a British fighter, but it's a long way away 261 00:16:12,039 --> 00:16:15,799 from England, all the way out to Las Vegas where Connor Benn who is 262 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,200 still and I know we're going to get into this briefly. We don't have 263 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:22,399 to go down the rabbit hole. He is still not licensed in the UK, 264 00:16:22,559 --> 00:16:25,200 but he is allowed to fight in the United States and he is fighting, 265 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:29,639 and he's headlining the Matchroom boxing card in Vegas against Peter Dobson. This 266 00:16:29,679 --> 00:16:33,159 is junior middleweights. Ben had been fighting at welterweight, now at junior middleweight 267 00:16:33,679 --> 00:16:37,519 main event. And if I understand all of this correctly, because of his 268 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:44,679 prominence in the UK, they are fighting earlier Eastern time and Pacific time in 269 00:16:44,759 --> 00:16:48,240 the afternoon US time, so that it's in prime time, so it actually 270 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,679 will maybe overlap or be competing with the boxer card. Tell me about Connor 271 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,720 Ben or what's the update there on that? All right, so a few 272 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:00,480 things. So the boxer card starts at two o'clock Eastern time East, you 273 00:17:00,519 --> 00:17:03,759 know, the United States. The Connor Ben card starts at three o'clock Eastern 274 00:17:03,799 --> 00:17:06,480 time, and obviously have undercard fights, so you know, but the whole 275 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,839 reason you just mentioned he can't fight in England right now, but the audience 276 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:12,480 for him is still in the UK. It's not here in America. So 277 00:17:12,519 --> 00:17:15,799 the fact that he's fighting, you know, in the afternoon time in the 278 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,519 United States is irrelevant because all of the Matchroom cards that we watch from the 279 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:22,680 UK start at you know, two three o'clock. Also on the East coast. 280 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,759 They're just doing it. They're pretending they're in England basically, right, 281 00:17:26,799 --> 00:17:29,400 you know, even though he can't be there. So given always lunchtime in 282 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,039 the Pacific time zone in Las Vegas, win the card begins. I'm just 283 00:17:32,039 --> 00:17:33,920 pointing that out. Yeah, So they are designing the timing of it for 284 00:17:34,039 --> 00:17:40,039 the British audience so much to the point that Matchroom Boxing, which has you 285 00:17:40,039 --> 00:17:44,880 know, obviously several American boxers under contract, but they're bringing over, you 286 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,519 know, several of the British fighters to fight in this card to give the 287 00:17:48,519 --> 00:17:52,640 British fans what they want to see. So while we will see two prominent 288 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,079 American prospects that match from has and that is Austin Williams. Austin am L. 289 00:17:56,079 --> 00:18:00,200 William is the undefeated, up and coming middleweight. He's on in the 290 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,720 co feature. I'm excited to watch him fight. You also have the light 291 00:18:03,799 --> 00:18:07,319 heavyweight Khalil Coe, who has now been fighting on the Before the Bell part. 292 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,000 This is his first time being on the main card. He's also an 293 00:18:11,039 --> 00:18:14,839 American. But the others that are on the show are the they brought Brits 294 00:18:14,839 --> 00:18:18,519 over the popular heavyweight Johnny Fisher and then two other younger prospects, George Littard 295 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:23,319 who's a middleweight, and also Jimmy Sayin's a middleweight. So it's geared towards 296 00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:26,640 the British crowd. You mentioned him out. The main event with Connor Ben 297 00:18:27,519 --> 00:18:32,680 technically is a junior middleweight fight. They've announced it, they've promoted it, 298 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:34,759 they've discussed it as a welterweight fight, and that's all well and good if 299 00:18:34,759 --> 00:18:37,640 he decides to continue, you know, to go back if he fights a 300 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:42,039 big fight in the in the welterweight division. The contract weight from my understanding 301 00:18:42,079 --> 00:18:45,279 for this about is one hundred and fifty pounds, so it's technically a junior 302 00:18:45,279 --> 00:18:48,559 middleweight fight. It's not like, you know, it's not like it's one 303 00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:49,960 forty eight and you can still okay, fine, it's welterweight because it's not 304 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:55,920 a title fight. One fifty is you know, limits, so you're basically 305 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,880 halfway between the two weight classes, So call it whatever you want, but 306 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:03,039 it's one hundred and fifty pound. Mack. Look, he's he can't get 307 00:19:03,079 --> 00:19:04,279 the license over there, so I think a lot of people are sort of 308 00:19:04,319 --> 00:19:07,880 like kind of you know, why in the world can he fight here? 309 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:08,720 But not there. At the bottom line, we went through this pot. 310 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,440 You want me to ask it, why in the world can he fight here 311 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,480 and not there? Oh? I thought you said what. I thought you 312 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:15,240 were gonna say, what are we doing here? Well? No, you 313 00:19:15,279 --> 00:19:18,799 want me to ask that too, what are we doing here? Well? 314 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,079 Is he banned? Is he not banned? Continue place? All right? 315 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,000 So everybody who's followed this saga knows he got busted for peds. He failed 316 00:19:26,039 --> 00:19:30,480 two tests that were that were issued by Vada as they were getting ready for 317 00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:33,759 the fight. The second one against when he was getting ready to fight off 318 00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:37,039 a fight against Chris Ubank Junior in a huge UK pay per view fight, 319 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:42,640 and the test had occurred, but the result had not become public until the 320 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,359 week of the fight. That was a story that was broken by I believe 321 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,279 it was the Daily Mail in England, and without them the fight would have 322 00:19:48,319 --> 00:19:51,960 happened, no question about it in my mind. In any event, the 323 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,799 fight was canceled and it's been a scandal and a problem ever since. The 324 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,160 Connor and his team have in my opinion, I've said it on this show 325 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:02,039 before, I've said it elsewhere. Don't if you were making a handbook of 326 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:06,119 ways not to handle a crisis. This is how this is how they went. 327 00:20:06,759 --> 00:20:10,400 They did everything you would teach a class off of this. Yes, 328 00:20:10,519 --> 00:20:14,599 they did every single thing you could want to do wrong. They broke the 329 00:20:14,599 --> 00:20:18,640 cardinal rule during a crisis when you're in a hole, stop digging that they 330 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,519 dug deep, deep, deep. So he was out of the ring for 331 00:20:22,559 --> 00:20:27,319 seventeen months. And there there has been a board in the UK that lifted 332 00:20:27,319 --> 00:20:33,640 his provisional suspension. But the British Board of uh UH and the and the 333 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,720 and the folks that you cod they have, they don't. They're they're in 334 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,279 a disagreement. So they have appealed that ruling. And so it's supposed to 335 00:20:41,279 --> 00:20:45,240 come to a head sometime I believe later this month in February, in which 336 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,240 they're supposed to have another hearing to determine what his fate will be in terms 337 00:20:48,279 --> 00:20:52,640 of a UK license. However, UH, the American Association of Boxing Commissions, 338 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:57,119 which placed him on an indefinite suspension, could not get this is what 339 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,279 they told me. They couldn't get the answers that they were seeking from the 340 00:21:00,279 --> 00:21:04,599 British regulators about the timing of when his hearing was going to be when it 341 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,680 was going to be adjudicated and all that, and their opinion was, well, 342 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,960 we can't like notes not let him fight forever until you guys got to 343 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,359 figure it out. So he was taken off the ABC suspension list. Once 344 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:21,160 that happened, he was then permitted to seek licenses in the United States Commissions. 345 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,200 They were going to Florida. He wanted to box, you know, 346 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,640 on the matchroom card that took place this past September in Orlando, and so 347 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,319 that's exactly what happened. They now so fight on a few days notice. 348 00:21:30,759 --> 00:21:33,440 He came back in the ring, had one hundred and fifty three and change. 349 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,359 He had a ten round decision win against a Mexican you know, unknown 350 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,039 kind of guy, but a rugged's toff, solid dude, nam Ridolf al 351 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,480 Rosco. He won the fight, you know, almost by a shutout on 352 00:21:42,519 --> 00:21:47,319 two of the cards, closer on the third. Didn't get the knockout. 353 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:48,559 You know. Some might say, well, they didn't get the knockout because 354 00:21:49,079 --> 00:21:52,039 he was being VOD attested and he was clean. Others might say, you 355 00:21:52,039 --> 00:21:55,920 know, that's just the way things go. I'm not making an assessin I'm 356 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:57,759 just telling you what you could infer because I don't want to get sued. 357 00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:03,240 However, he won the fight and so now they're carrying on as business as 358 00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:07,559 usual. He is licensable in America. He got a license from the Nevada 359 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,599 Commission, which really had no They didn't really have a mechanism or reason not 360 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:17,079 to license him. He just fought in America. He's not medically ineligible and 361 00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:19,920 he's followed through on the rules that you have to do here. So they've 362 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:25,079 matched him with Peter Dobson and look, this is about hope from their perspective, 363 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,440 hoping that things go well at their hearing and he's able to get licensing 364 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,240 in the UK post this hearing coming up, at which point he's going to 365 00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:37,880 be live for any major fight, whether they try to redo u Bank. 366 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,759 They've mentioned about Liam Smith. Well, I mean, obviously that's the fight 367 00:22:41,839 --> 00:22:44,799 they want if they can make it happen. They've wanted it for two years 368 00:22:45,079 --> 00:22:47,880 the Ben camp, and they want it on pay per view and it's a 369 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,759 lucrative deal. So yeah, talked. In the meantime, he's got to 370 00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:52,759 get back in the ring here for the second time. Right, There's been 371 00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:56,799 talk about maybe cal Brook would come out of retirement for a bigger fight. 372 00:22:56,039 --> 00:23:00,440 There's been banding about about some American names. They've thrown around the name Devin 373 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,119 Hainey. There is a back and forth between him and Devin's father Bill. 374 00:23:04,519 --> 00:23:08,440 They've thrown around the names you know of others of Jaron Boots Ennis as a 375 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,680 possibility. Who knows what will actually happen, But the bottom line is none 376 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,440 of it that matters, license or otherwise if he doesn't take care of his 377 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,680 business on Saturday against Dobson, who, like I said, he's undefeated. 378 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,480 But this is this is not supposed to be a competitive fight. Peter Dobson, 379 00:23:23,759 --> 00:23:26,920 He's thirty three years old, he doesn't have a lot. He's been 380 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:32,160 boxing professionally since twenty fourteen. It's only got the sixteen fights. This is 381 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:36,400 going to be the first time. But one other fight he had two fights 382 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:37,720 ago that he was scheduled for ten rounds. This is going to be his 383 00:23:37,759 --> 00:23:41,200 first ever scheduled twelve round fight. And like I said, he's only had 384 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,960 one ten round fight and most of his fights prior to that were six and 385 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,519 eight. Yes, one he's fighting six round fights. Then he fought a 386 00:23:49,519 --> 00:23:52,640 ten round fight, then he fought an eight round fights. So yeah, 387 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,559 and he's also fought up. You know, he's not fought you know, 388 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,960 guys who are known were accomplished just you know, regular kind of club fight. 389 00:24:00,599 --> 00:24:02,839 I mean, it wasn't that long as he's spending guy twenty seven and 390 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,319 thirty seven. I mean, just you know, if Connor Ben loses this 391 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,039 fight, that's like it's a disaster. It's catastrophic, right, absolutely, 392 00:24:11,079 --> 00:24:12,480 So this is should be a win. Now. The question I have is 393 00:24:12,559 --> 00:24:15,400 Ken Dobson hang on, you know, and stand up to him for the 394 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,200 twelve rounds and not get knocked out. I mean, he has never been 395 00:24:18,279 --> 00:24:22,039 knocked out because he had no losses. He's only got nine knockouts and sixteen 396 00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:26,440 wins. So you know, the idea here is I'm not going into this 397 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,160 particular show thinking I'm gonna see a classic fight. I mean, I'd be 398 00:24:29,519 --> 00:24:32,759 pleasantly surprised if we got something like that. You're really looking at this fight, 399 00:24:32,799 --> 00:24:36,119 if you're gonna watch it to see what has been looked like. He's 400 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:37,720 only had the one fight. Granted it was a good solid ten rounds. 401 00:24:37,759 --> 00:24:41,039 It took place, you know, not that long ago. But other than 402 00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:45,039 that's you know, seventeen months out of the ring because of his own problems 403 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:48,119 with the ped situation. So that's the main event of the card. But 404 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,079 I mean, like I said to you, I'm interested to see the heavyweight 405 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,440 Johnny Fisher from England on the under card, who's you know, you know, 406 00:24:53,519 --> 00:24:56,720 real green and only got ten pro fights, but always exciting, scoring 407 00:24:56,759 --> 00:25:00,079 lots of knockouts. And like I said, Co and Williams two good American 408 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,000 prospects. Interested to see those guys. So again, is this the biggest 409 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,359 weekend in boxing history? Absolutely not, But is it worth checking out the 410 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:14,240 boxer card and the matchum card for different reasons? Absolutely yes. All right, 411 00:25:14,279 --> 00:25:17,319 good stuff in the preview mode. Let's get to some news and there 412 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:22,440 is a lot of it. Emanuel Navarat, who again I put this out 413 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,200 there over and over and over again, has been an entertaining, largely active 414 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,240 fighter over the last few years, and so he will now move up again 415 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:37,319 in weight and go for the vacant WBO lightweight title. Tell me more about 416 00:25:37,319 --> 00:25:41,599 this situation and the opponent and do we have a ballpark on when it might 417 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:47,359 be go ahead? Well? Never atte First of all, he is entitled 418 00:25:47,599 --> 00:25:51,680 because of his status with the WBO to seek a title in the next weight 419 00:25:51,759 --> 00:25:55,359 class up and get the automatic first shot at that title. So and if 420 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,559 he wins, then he has I believe it's ten days. I forget what 421 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,519 I wrote it to my substack up well and check out that article. But 422 00:26:00,519 --> 00:26:04,319 I'll have ten days to decide in which way class he will retain the title. 423 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,640 And never Atte has wanted to move up. He's already won WBO titles 424 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,400 in three way classes. His most recent fight in November, which was on 425 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,119 the under part of Schaquarurse Stevenson's UH when he won the lightweight Bacon WBC title. 426 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:21,680 Uh Naverette fought to a draw with Robson Kosasaw in a you know, 427 00:26:21,839 --> 00:26:23,680 a pretty good fight, you know, and it was kind of a surprising 428 00:26:25,039 --> 00:26:27,440 result, obviously, particularly because never they did score two knockdowns in the fight. 429 00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:33,759 But nonetheless it kind of the plan was. I don't think it was 430 00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:37,519 necessarily going to be next, but there was a strong possibility that if he 431 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,200 was successful the next fight or you know, sometime this year, we would 432 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:47,960 see an eventual match between Stevenson and Neverette. But that stays alive because he's 433 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:49,240 got a chance to win the belt. And maybe make unification. Now we 434 00:26:49,279 --> 00:26:53,559 can get to chaquarse Stevenson's fake retirement in just a minute. Uh do we 435 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:59,559 have to because thirty seconds on it nobody believing it. But anyway, but 436 00:26:59,559 --> 00:27:04,920 in terms of Arete, so he's taken his his WBO a loud shot at 437 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:11,160 this vacant title. Remember it's vacant because when Devin Haney was undisputed and vacated 438 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:15,200 all the belts, the WBO title has still not been filled. So the 439 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,559 mandatory challenger is not a joke either. He's a very solid, you know, 440 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:19,720 guy with a with a real chance to win. It seems to me 441 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,839 his name is Dennis Barnchek. You probably if you've watched some of the ESPN 442 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,359 plush cards. His most recent fight over the summer, he fought on the 443 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:34,000 undercard when Alexander Usik had the knockout victor against Dangiel Duba. He was in 444 00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:37,839 one of the featured doubts against Anthony Eget on that card. In any event, 445 00:27:37,839 --> 00:27:41,680 he's an accomplished fighter. He is undefeated. He's a little older at 446 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,240 thirty five, but he was a silver medallist for Ukraine in the twenty and 447 00:27:45,279 --> 00:27:48,519 twelve Olympic Games. So he has that big amateur background and look, you 448 00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:52,160 know, Navaret's taken a shot. You know, he throws a million punches. 449 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,279 He's got power, it seems to Haspoll. It's followed him up to 450 00:27:55,279 --> 00:27:57,880 scale from junior featherweight. We'll see if it gets with him all the way 451 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:03,039 up to lightweight. But there's no time frame in terms of exactly when, 452 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:07,680 because they just got the order from the WBO that they should start to negotiate, 453 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,279 and if the fight goes to a purse bid at that point, you 454 00:28:11,319 --> 00:28:14,599 know they'll know you know, exactly when it will be. But the purspid 455 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,839 they just announce they just ordered the purs bit earlier this week and so they 456 00:28:18,839 --> 00:28:22,319 had I guess, fifteen days to make a deal. If neither side wants 457 00:28:22,319 --> 00:28:23,880 to negotiate, they can ask for the immediate purspit. I would expect, 458 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,519 you know, again, within a couple of weeks they'll be a date for 459 00:28:27,559 --> 00:28:30,000 that per spit and you know, probably by the end of the month we'll 460 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,519 see it either you know, take place and then they'll be able to figure 461 00:28:33,519 --> 00:28:34,519 it out. But you figure if they go to a purspit sometime the end 462 00:28:34,519 --> 00:28:37,960 of February. Usually they have sixty days to put on the fight. Maybe 463 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,240 it's ninety days. Depending point is, we'll see the fight probably like in 464 00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:45,319 the if it happens, probably like the late spring. I would imagine, 465 00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:47,279 you know, probably, you know, depending on who wins the purspid. 466 00:28:48,079 --> 00:28:49,319 But if it's top rank, you know, you figure it'll be a main 467 00:28:49,359 --> 00:28:53,079 event on one of their ESPN cards, you know, whether it's on the 468 00:28:53,119 --> 00:28:57,079 network or on Plus. But you know, that's that's cool, it's interesting. 469 00:28:57,119 --> 00:29:00,119 And obviously, if he wins, he's got a belt, and I 470 00:29:00,119 --> 00:29:03,839 can't imagine he would give that up and go back to one hundred and thirty. 471 00:29:03,839 --> 00:29:07,079 You know, I'm sure he'll love putting on the extra five pounds, 472 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,559 So it seems like he's not long for the one hundred and thirty pound way 473 00:29:10,559 --> 00:29:14,200 class. And again, it sets up if he's the winner, and I 474 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,880 don't discount Baroncheck's chances to win, but an eventual fight with Shakurse Stevenson. 475 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,359 So let's talk about that for just a quick minute, even though I know 476 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,200 it's nonsense. He put on Twitter a couple of nights ago that he was 477 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,920 retired. Now it just so happened that he put the tweet up after he 478 00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:33,079 made mention about this order from the WBO. He seemed the inference was that 479 00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:36,640 he was upset that the WBO allowed that instead of somehow me be letting him 480 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,279 fight for the vacant title, which would go against the WBO rules. But 481 00:29:38,359 --> 00:29:42,039 that's a different matter. The point is, I feel like Shaquor is just 482 00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:45,359 frustrated because he's taken a lot of incoming because of how shitty he looked in 483 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,880 his last fight that put everybody to sleep. Then he'll set records for a 484 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,359 fewest punches by his opponent. That was just one of the worst fights you 485 00:29:52,359 --> 00:29:55,680 could ever watch, even though he won the fight. I don't think that 486 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,400 was even controversial or anything like that, but he's taken a huge amount of 487 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,680 criticism for being in an extraordinarily not just a boor but boring fights one day. 488 00:30:03,759 --> 00:30:07,880 Well, but if I remember slightly sense he hurt his shoulder and tried 489 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,519 to hide that through the fight and couldn't throw what was at the left or 490 00:30:11,519 --> 00:30:15,880 whichever it was. I couldn't try to put that out of but whatever I 491 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:19,200 mean, we we it was forgettable. Nobody believes this guy's retired. Nobody, 492 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,640 he said He's going to go in the gym and train guys and try 493 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,119 to everybody perfect their sport, and he's gonna work. All I know is 494 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,720 this. Of course, Stevenson is twenty six years old. Yes, his 495 00:30:29,799 --> 00:30:33,400 last fight sucked rocks, but he's still one of the most talented fighters in 496 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,920 the sport. He's still pound for pound level ability, and he still probably 497 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,960 beat any lightweight in the world, you know what I mean. Still it 498 00:30:41,119 --> 00:30:44,319 definitely beat an one hundred and thirty pounds in the world, and he damn 499 00:30:44,359 --> 00:30:47,359 will have a hell of a shot to beat the top guys at one hundred 500 00:30:47,359 --> 00:30:51,200 and forty pounds also just because of his speed and his defense and is just 501 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,359 innate you know, ring IQ if you will. So nobody believes that he's 502 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:00,200 actually retired. The only question is will it lasts longer than Tiafimo's five minute 503 00:31:00,839 --> 00:31:06,400 retirement. We'll say about that and boxing retirements, please grain of salt, 504 00:31:06,759 --> 00:31:08,759 especially as you laid out, twenty six year olds still in his prime can 505 00:31:08,799 --> 00:31:14,079 make millions and millions and millions over the next couple of years with his fights. 506 00:31:14,559 --> 00:31:18,160 Okay, so we did have press conferences this week, the PBC, 507 00:31:18,319 --> 00:31:23,240 Amazon Prime pay per view with Tim zu and Keith Thurman and the undercard fighters. 508 00:31:23,839 --> 00:31:29,920 Was earlier this week on Wednesday. Let's start with that when anything of 509 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,880 note as they kicked off the promotion for this, the ticket sales for this 510 00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:36,960 coming on March the thirtieth. Yeah, I mean it was an It was 511 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,880 a I guess, an entertaining press conference, although you know, I must 512 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:44,079 say say whatever you want about the inactivity level of a Keith Thurmont, but 513 00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:47,519 he certainly was on his game in the press conference. He's always been entertaining 514 00:31:47,519 --> 00:31:49,640 when he talks to the media and talks to his opponents. So Keith was 515 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:56,200 in very, very enjoyable WWE mode in the way he was talking to Tim 516 00:31:56,319 --> 00:31:59,480 Zoo. Tim is you know, Tim Zoo is not a boisterous, a 517 00:31:59,559 --> 00:32:02,400 not a hugely outspoken kind of guy. He takes after his father in that 518 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:07,240 respect, Costazoo that you know, he's more about letting my hands and my 519 00:32:07,319 --> 00:32:09,440 actions in the rings speak for myself than anything. I can stay sitting here 520 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,759 at a news conference on a on a chair at a dais so that you 521 00:32:13,799 --> 00:32:15,960 know, they definitely have divergent personalities from that standpoint. But Tim got in 522 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,240 a few licks and uh, you know, The one thing I did notice 523 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,119 that, you know, when Keith was fighting as a welter road, he 524 00:32:22,119 --> 00:32:25,359 was always one of the bigger guys in the division. When I saw him 525 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:29,880 face to face with Tim Zoo, it was clearly a smaller man, There's 526 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,039 no doubt about it. And here you have Tim Zoo is much younger, 527 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:37,079 who's been much more active, who has been fighting at an extremely good level 528 00:32:37,079 --> 00:32:39,160 and fighting good opponents over the last bit. And like you know, the 529 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,079 thing we talked about a lot of times, activity matters, whereas you got 530 00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:45,960 a guy like Keith Thurman, who you know, the inactivity has just been 531 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,519 it's been here. I tell you something, Can I tell you something? 532 00:32:49,519 --> 00:32:52,079 We don't rehearse this. So I live here in the Tampa Bay area. 533 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,640 We've talked about this, Keith. Keith is well known in this market, 534 00:32:54,640 --> 00:33:00,079 the Tampa Bay medium market, which is a large medium market. And there 535 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:06,920 was absolutely zero coverage at all about this press conference midweek. What does that 536 00:33:07,119 --> 00:33:13,279 tell you about whether he registers anymore even in his home area that it really 537 00:33:13,279 --> 00:33:15,079 didn't get picked up on that. Hey, he's in Vegas and he's fighting 538 00:33:15,079 --> 00:33:20,519 here in a couple of months. So again I realize he had a name, 539 00:33:20,599 --> 00:33:22,559 and I want him to do well, but let's be real. We 540 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,759 try to keep it real here on the podcast. He hasn't been active enough. 541 00:33:27,119 --> 00:33:30,960 He hasn't fought at junior middleweight. So I just don't know what true 542 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,720 interest there is if there's not even interest in the Tampa series you know about 543 00:33:36,279 --> 00:33:38,039 on that. So when he was, when he was for a period of 544 00:33:38,079 --> 00:33:42,240 time, he was the best welterweight out there. I mean back to back 545 00:33:42,319 --> 00:33:46,480 wins against Sean Porter on by the way, that was a Showtime produced card, 546 00:33:46,759 --> 00:33:51,480 but it televised live on CBS. Yes, it did well in access 547 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,880 of three million viewers in prime time. That was a big number for them. 548 00:33:54,119 --> 00:33:59,279 Keith Thurman then faugh Danny Garcia in another big spot I believe, also 549 00:33:59,319 --> 00:34:02,400 on CBS in a unification. So he's had the credentials. He went through 550 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:07,400 those two guys in good, really exciting fights if you and not only that, 551 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,760 but he was the So this is the first Amazon you know, PPV 552 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:16,360 with PBC. Keith has been on ESPN, Keith has been on Showtime, 553 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:21,639 Keith has been on CBS. As I mentioned, he was on NBC. 554 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,280 Matter of fact, right when NBC made its first ever I think it was 555 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:29,559 the very first show. Also in March two thousand and seven, which I 556 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,519 was at, he fought Robert Guerrero in the very first main event of their 557 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,320 PBC's first ever card under the PBC name. That was the main event. 558 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:43,000 Broner was on the undercard at Mars card. Anyway, since that fight in 559 00:34:43,079 --> 00:34:47,760 March of twenty fifteen, where he won, kicked off PBC and then within 560 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,480 you know, three fights later, had unified the titles against Danny Garcia. 561 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:57,760 But since March of twenty fifteen, he has fought seven times. That is 562 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,639 in activity at a higher he thought one time most importantly in the last four 563 00:35:01,679 --> 00:35:06,519 and a half years. So going back to the Pacquia fight, and again 564 00:35:06,559 --> 00:35:08,000 I just was thinking this when you were saying this when he won. I 565 00:35:08,079 --> 00:35:13,159 still remember this. When he won the fight, I think over porter he 566 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,760 was a media darling all over the TV, all over the local coverage in 567 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:22,679 this area. And again I'm not saying it's everything, but this is an 568 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:27,239 indication of how far off the radar that he is at the moment. And 569 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,840 again I don't wish him ill. I want him to do well, but 570 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:35,119 let's let's be realistic. If he's not being covered in his own local market. 571 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,719 I don't know how much interest there is nationally. Sermons a little bit 572 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:45,960 of a like, I'm kind of torn. Like the matchup itself, I'm 573 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:50,039 not bothered by I mean, it's not a title fight. They're doing it 574 00:35:50,039 --> 00:35:52,239 at one hundred and fifty five pounds because and I felt like and I talked 575 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:57,599 to Paco Vark Carsel from the WBO about it. I talked to one of 576 00:35:57,639 --> 00:36:00,679 the other folks of the WBO about it. They did the right thing. 577 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,039 They're like, look, we're not going to break our rules. He hasn't 578 00:36:04,079 --> 00:36:07,239 fought at one hundred and fifty four pounds, he hasn't been active, he's 579 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,280 not ranked. He like checks all the boxes of why you wouldn't be able 580 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:15,119 to fight for the title. So does it detract from the you'd think you'd 581 00:36:15,119 --> 00:36:16,760 want your first pay per view main event to be a world championship fight, 582 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,400 but okay, it's not. It doesn't change the matchup. I actually do 583 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,000 think it's going to be a pretty decent fight, just because Keith is usually 584 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,599 in good fights, even if he has been inactive, and it's not the 585 00:36:25,599 --> 00:36:30,920 first time he's come off a level of inactivity, and though some of those 586 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,679 other times made for pretty good fights, like when he fought hoses Seed to 587 00:36:32,679 --> 00:36:36,199 Lopez, that was a fun fight. When he fought Paka, it was 588 00:36:36,199 --> 00:36:37,480 a good fight, even though he lost. When he fought Barrios, it 589 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,679 was a pretty good fight. So he makes good fights and I mean so. 590 00:36:42,159 --> 00:36:45,480 And other than the inactivity, there's really not a lot to like Ragon 591 00:36:45,559 --> 00:36:49,159 Keith about. He's been a good fighter when he's been in the ring. 592 00:36:49,519 --> 00:36:52,920 I happen to think that if he had stayed active not had the injuries that 593 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,840 he had, you know, he was looking at the possibility of being in 594 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,360 the Hall of Fame. You know. Now we'll see what happens the rest 595 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:00,599 of his career, but I'm think that's happening, even though he's got some 596 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:05,360 you know, nice wins against Porter and Garcia, but that window I think 597 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,360 is probably closed. But you never know. But he had the chance to 598 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:14,079 be a really special fighter and his prime was not long enough, and he 599 00:37:14,119 --> 00:37:16,480 again was so inactive. But that doesn't mean he can't come in here and 600 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:21,320 maybe surprising people. But that said, TJ. Timseh has been fighting so 601 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,840 well and handling good equality opposition, you know, the way he defeated guys 602 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:29,159 like Tony Harrison. Uh you know the way he went through Brian Mendoza, 603 00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:30,960 a tough, tough dude. I mean these are not you know, joke 604 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:37,639 shrinking and by the way we went through. This is not Joscito Lopez, 605 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:40,400 this is not Mario Barrios, and this is not an h Manny pakiaw. 606 00:37:40,519 --> 00:37:44,519 This is legit one hundred and fifty four pounder that can punt, that could 607 00:37:44,559 --> 00:37:46,039 punch, that could pop him. And that's the intrigue, that's the interest. 608 00:37:46,199 --> 00:37:50,199 Way that he take that punch. We'll see the aging many Paco beat 609 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:54,880 him to become to set the record as the oldest ever welterweight world champion. 610 00:37:54,960 --> 00:38:00,159 So and he knocked Thurman down in the opening round. I believe the being 611 00:38:00,159 --> 00:38:01,559 two rounds of the fight. In the first round it so long ago, 612 00:38:01,599 --> 00:38:05,800 it's fuzzy again, I say, for like the eighth time. I have 613 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:07,719 much love for Keith Thurman out of this area. But this okay, So 614 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,239 they had the press guy. Anything else noteworthy on that one because we'll move 615 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:15,199 on to the other press conference that also happened in cambosas I thought it was 616 00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:19,719 a good press coverce the one thing that surprised me. They're making such a 617 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,800 big deal about Amazon Prime that's available in two hundred million homes, and even 618 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,480 though that's not true, it's actually like one hundred and seventy million, but 619 00:38:25,519 --> 00:38:30,159 who's counting. The point is, though, if that's your partner and they're 620 00:38:30,199 --> 00:38:35,000 going to be helping you promote and sell the pay per view, I was 621 00:38:35,119 --> 00:38:38,360 rather shocked at the that the that the presentation of the press comerce so only 622 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:45,400 available to watch on the on the PBC's social media, Like I watch it 623 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,400 on their YouTube channel, right, I think it was maybe also on their 624 00:38:47,559 --> 00:38:52,199 ex Twitter. They didn't have it, for example, on Amazon Prime Video, 625 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:54,679 which was bizarre to me. I don't get that. I mean, 626 00:38:55,360 --> 00:39:01,199 so that was weird. You know. I'm still when they announced the deal 627 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:06,039 with Amazon, okay, great, I'm happy they got a deal, they 628 00:39:06,079 --> 00:39:09,760 were extremely light on the details, and I think there's a reason for that. 629 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:14,480 We'll see what Amazon does and how they get behind this, if they 630 00:39:14,519 --> 00:39:17,000 care about it. You know, it's one thing to have a property under 631 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,360 the umbrella of the company. It's a whole different matter of how they treat 632 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:29,119 that property. I spent fifteen years working at ESPN which had contracts and rights 633 00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:31,719 deals with a thousand different outfits, whether it was the NFL all the way 634 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:38,280 to you know, the smallest collegiate thing or some wacky offbeat sport and exactly 635 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:44,719 whatever the point is. You know, I can remember being in Bristol one 636 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:45,800 time, because I used to I went, you know, I would go 637 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,360 to Bristol like every you know, a few months or when I was going 638 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,719 to co host Friday night fights. It was up there, you know, 639 00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,400 two three times a month. Anyway, I'm not going to say what the 640 00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,000 property was, but there was a very important property that ESPN had a contract 641 00:40:00,079 --> 00:40:04,000 with that they had just made a big deal with. And you would walk 642 00:40:04,079 --> 00:40:07,599 through like the area where the offices were, where just the people had their 643 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:14,119 their cubicles or their offices, and on the walls it was signage in the 644 00:40:14,199 --> 00:40:17,440 workspace, you know, basically reminding everybody, make sure you pump this up. 645 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,159 I forget what the words were, but you know, remember this is 646 00:40:21,199 --> 00:40:23,960 important to us. This is our priority. And so every show you watch 647 00:40:24,039 --> 00:40:29,800 they would talk about that particular thing. They're not doing that on Amazon about 648 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,000 PBC right now. So the level of what their promotion is going to be 649 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,360 I'm still very intrigued by how much they're going to get behind it. And 650 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,000 your dubious I can tell on whether or not you know it's not dubious. 651 00:40:39,079 --> 00:40:43,920 I'll use the word dubious. I'm dubious on how long term it is, 652 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:45,440 how successful it's going to be. It's a wait and see. It's like 653 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:49,360 Missouri, show me, stay, show me, show me that they care. 654 00:40:49,519 --> 00:40:51,480 So for me, it's not a matter of being dubious. To me, 655 00:40:51,519 --> 00:40:54,280 it's a matter of being of reigning in the enthusiasm. Not because I 656 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,280 don't want to be enthusiastic. It's because I want to see what am I 657 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:02,840 enthusiastic about? What are you going to do to help promote PBC, which 658 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,599 in turn helps lift the whole sport. You know, the rising tide lifts 659 00:41:07,599 --> 00:41:12,199 all ships. I want them to be massively successful because that will help the 660 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:16,199 sport overall. Whatever outfit, whatever promoter, whatever broadcaster. But if your 661 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:22,039 first ever event is not even on your platform for a press conference, which 662 00:41:22,079 --> 00:41:24,960 is supposed to be a big deal for what you're going to ask people to 663 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:30,119 spend sixty to seventy dollars on, I am a little bit skeptical for party 664 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:38,119 So speaking of ESPN Top Rank press conference for them earlier in the week with 665 00:41:39,079 --> 00:41:45,559 the silly Lomachenko and George Cambosis. Cambosis was in Australia, Loma in what 666 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:47,400 in Vegas I think via the satellite hook up. I saw it was in 667 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:52,519 la with the hookup. So they made the announcement of this fight, of 668 00:41:52,559 --> 00:41:55,639 this fight being made. They didn't really get specific on win. And you've 669 00:41:55,639 --> 00:42:00,000 also learned about undercover. Tell me, well, give me the details. 670 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:04,000 The dates's been long established. It's going to be on May twelfth, which 671 00:42:04,039 --> 00:42:07,519 is a Sunday in UH in Perth in per Perth. Yeah, yes, 672 00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:10,760 and so I liked my Perth from before. But yeah, okay, May 673 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,840 twelfth, twelfth, that's May eleventh in the United States in prime time on 674 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:20,440 a regular you know ESPN UH Top Rank on ESPN broadcast. As you mentioned, 675 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:22,280 you had Cambosis, who was from Australia. He was there in Perth 676 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:24,639 for the press conference where they had a you know, a normal set up 677 00:42:24,639 --> 00:42:29,000 with the DAIS and then they had via satellite from Los Angeles, they had 678 00:42:29,079 --> 00:42:31,519 Loma Chenko, his manager, Egus Klimas, Loud de Bella, who is 679 00:42:31,559 --> 00:42:36,760 the promoter, UH for Cambosis co promoter for cambosas as well as Bob Aarram 680 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,280 who is the promoter of Loma as well as the co promoter now for Cambosis 681 00:42:39,679 --> 00:42:43,639 and uh you know this is another one of the vacant titles. It's for 682 00:42:43,639 --> 00:42:45,559 the vacant IBF title. Again. When the when when Devin Haney was the 683 00:42:45,599 --> 00:42:49,840 undisputed champion and you vacate all the belts, they become available. So the 684 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,760 WBC belt has been filled by Shakhor Stephenson in the fight that we shall never 685 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,119 mention again. You have the IBF title, which is going to be filled 686 00:42:58,119 --> 00:43:02,280 by the winner of this fight between Cambosis and Lomachenko. You have Gervanta Davis, 687 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,519 who was the regular champion of the WBA, but now that just goes 688 00:43:06,519 --> 00:43:09,800 away. He's now just the only champion. And the WBO lightweight title we 689 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:14,079 just spoke about will be filled by the winner of the fight that's being planned 690 00:43:14,119 --> 00:43:17,760 between Navarette and Baron Check. So for Cambosis and for Loma, I mean 691 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:22,440 they're both former unified champions. They were supposed to fight each other back when 692 00:43:23,519 --> 00:43:28,599 Cambosis was had the three belts, and they were supposed to do that fight, 693 00:43:28,679 --> 00:43:31,400 and that was soon after the war and Ukraine started when Russia aided, 694 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:37,159 and so Ukraine was a big thing on his mind Lomachenko and he decided to 695 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,360 withdraw from the fight. He stayed at home and Devin Haney took his spot 696 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:44,079 and he ended up winning the title. But so now it may not be 697 00:43:44,159 --> 00:43:46,679 for the same stakes as before, but once again Loma's agreed to go to 698 00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:52,400 Australia to fight Cambosis. The government in Western Australia is behind the fight. 699 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:57,639 They're doing a big promotion for it. Helped for tourism purposes and for publicity 700 00:43:58,519 --> 00:44:01,400 to bring people to their life part of the world. And so that's an 701 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:05,679 important factor and why the fight is taking place. They're actually the main factor. 702 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:08,119 And look, the winner is gonna be in a great spot because they're 703 00:44:08,119 --> 00:44:10,599 gonna have a light white belt. If Cambosis wins, he brings a lot 704 00:44:10,599 --> 00:44:15,360 of fans and money in Australia. If Loma wins, it's just another uh, 705 00:44:15,559 --> 00:44:16,840 you know, great notch on what is already in my opinion, a 706 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:21,400 hall of fame resume and uh they'll they'll get it on for that title belt. 707 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,599 And by the way, when they did the press conference, you know 708 00:44:25,639 --> 00:44:29,920 when when Cambosis when he was getting ready to fight Hani. You know, 709 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:31,239 there was a lot of chirping back and forth between those two guys. Mm 710 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:35,519 hm uh. You know, they both are like that. When it came 711 00:44:35,559 --> 00:44:38,920 to the fight between Loma and Cambosis, both showed massive respect for each other. 712 00:44:39,159 --> 00:44:43,280 You know, Loma's not a trash talker, and Cambosas has always struck 713 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,920 me as the kind of guy who will have no problem trash talking you, 714 00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:47,159 but you're gonna have to be the one to start within and Loma is not 715 00:44:47,199 --> 00:44:52,079 that type of guy. So they showed they they both talked about how much 716 00:44:52,079 --> 00:44:53,840 they want to win and why they're gonna win and all that. Uh, 717 00:44:54,159 --> 00:44:58,519 but they were respectful. And of course one of the big talking points is 718 00:44:58,559 --> 00:45:02,840 the fact that they both against Devin Haney Lomachenko with the you know, somewhat 719 00:45:04,039 --> 00:45:07,280 disputed close loss to him, and Cambosa's you know, got wiped out by 720 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:12,480 him twice. So again most people would look at this fight as being a 721 00:45:12,519 --> 00:45:15,440 Loma layup, but again, it doesn't work like that. When you do 722 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:17,760 the three you know, how they compared with a with a similar opponent and 723 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:22,239 he's traveling. But you know, I suspect if Lomachenko still got any Lomachenko 724 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:24,480 left in him, you know he should win the fight. But I don't 725 00:45:24,519 --> 00:45:28,199 count at a guy like Cambos's. Lot of people didn't think he'd lanced one 726 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,239 round against Tafimo Lopez and he won the fight in the title and that was 727 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:35,760 a tremendous fight, by the way. But you look at Cambos as his 728 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:38,920 most recent fight, uh, you know, he kind of got I won't 729 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:43,880 say he got lucky, but he barely straight by Naxy Hughes to win by 730 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,159 a majority decision. And what was an eliminator to get this shot at the 731 00:45:46,199 --> 00:45:51,599 ib of built. But that's the main event. And also you've learned a 732 00:45:51,599 --> 00:45:54,280 couple of things about the undercard, just real quick on Loma Camboso's as well. 733 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,559 Yeah, so part of their deal with the government was that we had 734 00:45:58,599 --> 00:46:01,159 to be multiple world title fights, including a women's world title fight. So 735 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:06,760 while the undercard fights have not been announced yet, I am told by multiple 736 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:08,559 sources who know what's happening one of the fights, and this is not a 737 00:46:08,599 --> 00:46:14,320 surprise, frankly, is that it will be the other another Australian world champion 738 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:19,639 in Jason Maloney who's going to defend the WBO bantamway title in a you know, 739 00:46:19,679 --> 00:46:22,360 on this undercard in the co feature. His opponent has not been set. 740 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:24,800 And then the third title fight that's going to be on this card will 741 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:30,239 be a women's world championship fight will be the WBA Women's bantamweight champion Nina Hughes, 742 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:35,000 who just recently earlier this week signed with Loud Debella and now we know 743 00:46:35,079 --> 00:46:37,000 the reason why again not being announced yet, because she's going to defend your 744 00:46:37,039 --> 00:46:42,679 title on this cart against another Loud Debella promoted woman named Chernika Johnson, who 745 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:45,960 is Australian, so she'll be going to Australia to defend against the Australian in 746 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:51,199 the third title fight on the cart. So it makes for a solid show 747 00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:53,159 if you're into women's boxing. And they got Maloney who's a very likable fighter 748 00:46:53,159 --> 00:46:59,400 and exciting and of course Loma and Cambos is in the main event. Good 749 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:05,920 stuff on that all right, another interesting fight. Well, we're all about 750 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:07,880 the preview, we're all about the news. We even have some results. 751 00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:14,400 Former WBO Junior featherweight champ Angelo Leo was in action right here in my part 752 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:16,440 of the world at plant City, Florida, the Probox TV card, and 753 00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:22,599 he scored a knockout in a featherweight bouts I give me more on that result 754 00:47:22,679 --> 00:47:27,840 real quick. Yeah, So, I mean he lost in his first defense. 755 00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:31,159 He lost the one hundred and twenty two pound title to Steven Fulton on 756 00:47:31,199 --> 00:47:36,079 a one sided decision. This is back in early twenty twenty one. He's 757 00:47:36,119 --> 00:47:38,039 had the two fights since. One was at junior featherweight that he won, 758 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:42,519 and he went up and fought at featherweight which he won. And now this 759 00:47:42,599 --> 00:47:45,960 is his third fight since that defeat. And again he was on this pro 760 00:47:45,039 --> 00:47:49,280 Box TV card. They put on midweek cards, you know when they do 761 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:51,559 their shows, and they do a nice job with those shows. They're on 762 00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,079 their app as well as on YouTube. I was watching that last night and 763 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:58,360 he fought Mike Plania, who's not a bum, but he's not a pound 764 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:00,679 for powd guy. But you know, I was sort of intrigued by how 765 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:04,800 is he going to do, meaning Janngelo Leo, how is he going to 766 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:09,920 perform as a featherweight against what I considered like a legitimate featherweight opponent, and 767 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:14,840 he looked good and he knocked him down and ultimately out with a body shot 768 00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:17,400 in the third round. It was a little bit messy, if you will, 769 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:21,880 because originally the referee ruled at a low blow, which I don't know 770 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,599 how that happened because it was clear as day that it was a clean shot 771 00:48:24,639 --> 00:48:29,639 to the body. But thankfully the folks that have worked for the Florida commission 772 00:48:30,119 --> 00:48:32,079 all saw it the same and basically told the ref dude, that was not 773 00:48:32,119 --> 00:48:35,760 a low blow, and the ref you know, then ultimately ruled at a 774 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,559 knockout. But you know, it was a good performance from Angelo Leo, 775 00:48:38,599 --> 00:48:43,840 and we'll see if he can move into a featherweight title fighter, you know, 776 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:47,079 in the higher contention and an eliminator fight. But definitely a guy to 777 00:48:47,199 --> 00:48:51,079 look out for in this weight class. He's still, you know, just 778 00:48:51,079 --> 00:48:53,239 got the one lost twenty three and one now with eleven knockouts, still only 779 00:48:53,239 --> 00:48:55,639 twenty nine years old, and he might be able to make some noise in 780 00:48:55,679 --> 00:49:00,719 this weight class. We aim to cover all differ a angles, news nostalgia 781 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:05,679 coming up here as well. Jake Paul, they have announced Most Valuable Promotions 782 00:49:05,679 --> 00:49:10,719 have announced his opponent again he'll be the co feature fight for Amanda Serrano's title 783 00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:15,800 defense in Puerto Rico on March second. So the question that we always want 784 00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:19,400 to know, what's the caliber of opponent. I don't know about Ryan Borland. 785 00:49:19,599 --> 00:49:22,320 I don't know how much you know and have delved into that that's the 786 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:25,159 opponent named. Tell me more about what you know for coming up in March 787 00:49:25,199 --> 00:49:30,159 and Puerto Rico for Jake Paul. So what Jake is doing here, He's, 788 00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:34,199 like you mentioned, he's the co feature. He's trying to build himself 789 00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,960 up like a normal prospect, and that means fighting guys who you're not going 790 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:40,039 to have heard of that he's going to be the favorite against. But the 791 00:49:40,119 --> 00:49:44,239 hope from his team is that that opponent's going to maybe give him a little 792 00:49:44,239 --> 00:49:46,519 bit of a challenge, show him a few things he'd get the rounds in 793 00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:51,159 against guys that have been boxing for most of their lives. So and you 794 00:49:51,239 --> 00:49:53,239 go back and look what happened in his last fight. That was in December, 795 00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:57,400 and he fought a fighter named Andre August who was ten to one and 796 00:49:57,559 --> 00:50:02,000 one who had more profights than Jake did, had been a quality amateur and 797 00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:07,000 got blown away with a massive shot in the first round. Yep, I 798 00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:08,679 guess him. With Jake winning the fight wasn't a surprise, I think though. 799 00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:13,440 I think even the most Arn't Jake Paul supporter would have been surprised by 800 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:17,079 the devastation of that knockout. So now he's basically fighting another opponent that's sort 801 00:50:17,079 --> 00:50:22,920 of similar in terms of this Borland fighter you mentioned. So Ryan Borland is 802 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:27,880 seventeen and two astic six knockouts. He's a California fighters thirty five years old, 803 00:50:28,239 --> 00:50:30,440 and he's been a boxer. He had a good amateur won like a 804 00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:32,679 Golden Gloves in his home area, you know, was in the it was 805 00:50:32,719 --> 00:50:37,800 in an Olympic Trials situation or one of the Olympic qualifiers or something along those 806 00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:40,920 lines, but been inactive. That's sort of the same deal with what happened 807 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:46,239 with Andre August. So he's coming off of a win in September twenty twenty 808 00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:50,039 two, didn't fight it all in twenty twenty three. He's won three in 809 00:50:50,039 --> 00:50:52,559 a row, but the other two bouts he kint of all the way back 810 00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:55,559 to twenty eighteen. So on paper, it looks reasonable with the record, 811 00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:00,280 with the background, with the experience, but there's a reason, you know, 812 00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:04,280 the inactivity and whatever. So again it's Jake is trying to make a 813 00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:06,440 go of It's not a pay per view. He's trying to get the rounds 814 00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:08,840 in, you know, do the real work it takes to from his point 815 00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:12,159 of view, to do it enough to get to a point where he thinks 816 00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:15,000 he can win a world title. So, uh, you know, it 817 00:51:15,079 --> 00:51:16,400 is what it is. I mean, it's it's it's just it's a fighting 818 00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:21,679 but and j attention. The other one was a one rounder in December, 819 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:24,079 and we said he can be active and be back quickly because it was one 820 00:51:24,159 --> 00:51:28,480 round, one punch. He's back relatively quickly. He's back within about ninety 821 00:51:28,559 --> 00:51:30,599 days here, and depending on what happens here, you're gonna see him again 822 00:51:30,639 --> 00:51:35,920 probably. I'm saying this in the summer, depending on what he wants to 823 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:38,079 do. So just stay active, stay active, stay relevant. And I 824 00:51:38,159 --> 00:51:43,639 keep saying consistently, as long as he's fighting legit fighters and trying to work 825 00:51:43,679 --> 00:51:45,320 his way up, I'm in. I'm in on this. That's the whole 826 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:51,360 point here. He's not fighting the name MMA guy coming over to boxing. 827 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:54,679 He's if he was just an if he his name was Bob Smith, and 828 00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:58,679 he was like an early preliminary on a top rank card and they were trying 829 00:51:58,679 --> 00:52:00,519 to build him up. We wouldn't him and talking about him, but he'd 830 00:52:00,519 --> 00:52:04,239 be putting in the reps, putting in the rounds to try to make something 831 00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:06,320 of himself. And that's what Jake's trying to do. And you know, 832 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:10,559 bay his actions. I believe him when he says it's not about the money. 833 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,679 He's made crazy money doing whatever he does in business and boxing and social 834 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:20,440 media on YouTube, whatever, you know different you know business, he's investment. 835 00:52:20,519 --> 00:52:23,000 He had He had a huge twenty twenty three with the Fury fight in 836 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:27,320 Saudi Arabia and Nate Diaz on pay per view, So you're right. I 837 00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:30,400 mean, he gets it. It's like when when I talked to him for 838 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:35,119 the podcast prior to the August fight, we got into a conversation about how 839 00:52:35,159 --> 00:52:38,800 he's basically handling his boxing career backwards from what's normal. Normally you would do 840 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:42,920 these types of fights to get to the point where you can have those types 841 00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:45,519 of fights where you can make the big money on pay per view and fill 842 00:52:45,559 --> 00:52:47,320 up a big arena. Well, he did that in the early part of 843 00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:51,239 his career, and now as he's getting you know into the you know, 844 00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:55,159 into double digits in his fights. Now he's doing the developmental part. He's 845 00:52:55,159 --> 00:52:59,039 made crazy money. He's done the paper views, he sold out big arenas. 846 00:52:59,119 --> 00:53:02,280 He's fought on paper. He's fought big names, albeit not boxers other 847 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:06,280 than maybe Tommy Fierry, who you know, it's questionable whether he's a big 848 00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:08,840 name. His brother is of course Pyson Fury, and now he's doing it 849 00:53:09,639 --> 00:53:14,639 the other way around. But whatever order he's doing it in, he's always 850 00:53:14,679 --> 00:53:17,960 doing it, so good for him, all right, nostalgia And then we 851 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,440 are done a couple of different items. One of them twenty one years ago 852 00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,320 as we released the podcast Thursday, February first, two thousand and three, 853 00:53:25,639 --> 00:53:30,320 Juan Manuel Marquez became a world champion for the first time. Finally, Rayfield 854 00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:37,400 has finally on the rundown. Marquez got into a world title fight and was 855 00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:44,079 victorious over Manuel Medina. Tell me more about this for Marquez. So this 856 00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:47,599 was back in the day, this is two thousand and three. Top rank 857 00:53:47,719 --> 00:53:52,119 would do over the course of ear some smaller pay per views, not HBO 858 00:53:52,199 --> 00:53:54,920 pay per views or you know, big event pay per views, but they 859 00:53:55,159 --> 00:53:58,960 have a lot of guys they had to keep busy, a lot of titles, 860 00:53:59,639 --> 00:54:02,079 guys that might have had a certain fan base that would buy the fights. 861 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:07,400 A lot of them were Mexican highlighted fights. So this was a fight 862 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:10,800 they called Night of Fury, you know, day of reckoning, Night of 863 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,239 fury, you know what I mean. That's the kind of things that they 864 00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,239 would do. So the main event was Juan Manuel Marquez who was taken on 865 00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:22,199 Manual Medina, a well traveled but veteran and you know, extraordinarily experienced fighter, 866 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:25,280 you know, who had been a you know, a world title contender 867 00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:29,800 and had won a belt and all that. But Marquees coming up, it's 868 00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:30,840 we're not talking about. I mean, yes, the anniversary is because he 869 00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:34,679 won his first world title. It wasn't so much that the fight was that 870 00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,320 memorable, although he did stop Medina in round seven to win what was the 871 00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:43,239 vacant IBF featherweight title. It was because he finally got the shot at a 872 00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:47,079 world title. Marquees, you know, was the epitome at this time in 873 00:54:47,159 --> 00:54:52,400 boxing of a ducked guy. He had been the WBO mandatory. And I 874 00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:55,559 still don't I still don't think I can forgive the WBO for not ordering the 875 00:54:55,559 --> 00:54:59,280 fight. To this day, I still joke around about it with Paco. 876 00:55:00,159 --> 00:55:02,519 Marquees was the mandatory for Prince Nasima Met, who I was a huge fan 877 00:55:02,599 --> 00:55:07,119 of. But Nasima Met just wouldn't fight him. He just wouldn't do it. 878 00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:12,199 And the WBO did not lift a finger to force the issue, to 879 00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:15,920 threaten to strip him, to order a purse bid or a negotiation or anything, 880 00:55:15,199 --> 00:55:17,280 and they just let him get away with it because he was one of 881 00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:22,199 the biggest stars in the sport and generating crazy amounts of money, and Marquees 882 00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:25,159 was very aggrieved. He finally got this opportunity and he won the fight, 883 00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:29,400 and it was the beginning of what became. You know, at that time, 884 00:55:29,559 --> 00:55:30,440 nobody knew he's gonna be a Hall of Famer, one of the great 885 00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:34,800 Mexican fighters of all time. But this was the beginning of that. Because 886 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:37,719 it was only a few fights later he won this fight against Medina to collect 887 00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:42,960 that IBF title. Two fights later he wins in a very forgettable fight not 888 00:55:43,039 --> 00:55:46,840 his fault, against Derek Gainer to unify the WABA and the IBF title, 889 00:55:47,079 --> 00:55:52,480 and the next fight is what led to the beginning of him becoming a superstar 890 00:55:52,599 --> 00:55:55,760 level fighter, because it was the legendary draw in the first fight between him 891 00:55:55,800 --> 00:56:00,480 and Manny Pacyah, when Marquez got knocked down three times in one survive and 892 00:56:00,559 --> 00:56:04,800 went on to finish the fight get a draw in a fight I was ringside 893 00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:07,719 for and I was definitely not alone thought Marquez, even getting dropped three times, 894 00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:12,480 had done enough to win that fight. But he doesn't get to that 895 00:56:12,559 --> 00:56:16,440 level without getting this opportunity on this top ranked card to go up against against 896 00:56:16,519 --> 00:56:21,320 Nanuel Madina to win the title and the card itself again. Back in the 897 00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:23,679 days for like Idle, like a thirty dollars pay per view was a fun 898 00:56:23,719 --> 00:56:28,679 card. He had Carlos Hernandez, who was the IBFS one hundred and thirty 899 00:56:28,679 --> 00:56:31,599 pound champion, defending against the one and only Diamond David Santos from your neck 900 00:56:31,639 --> 00:56:36,639 of the w yes Saint Petersburg, Florida's Diamond David Santana exactly. So you 901 00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,840 also had Miguel Coto, a young fighter at that time thirteen to zero, 902 00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:45,800 taking on what was considered a step up opponent in the former lightweight title holder 903 00:56:45,079 --> 00:56:50,800 Saesar Bizan. If you care a young Dimitri Salida, now the promoter, 904 00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,320 was on the card as an active fighter going into like his tenth eleventh final. 905 00:56:54,719 --> 00:57:00,480 So and that was nostalgia within the nostalgia. I like that. So 906 00:57:00,599 --> 00:57:02,400 that these were the kinds of cards. I love buying those cards. I 907 00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:06,639 mean again, they weren't huge superstar names and anything like that, but they 908 00:57:06,639 --> 00:57:10,039 were great fun and you know, the price was not not outrageous or anything 909 00:57:10,079 --> 00:57:14,880 like that. And one Manuel Marquez, you know, one his first world 910 00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:16,199 ton and went on to collect the whole bunch and become a first ballot Hall 911 00:57:16,199 --> 00:57:19,840 of Famer in one of the greatest Mexican fighters. We have ever seen. 912 00:57:21,159 --> 00:57:23,840 One more piece of nostalgia, and this is interesting twenty two years ago as 913 00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:30,840 we released the podcast on February second of two thousand and two, two different 914 00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:37,159 locations. Roy Jones was retaining his light heavyweight undisputed title in Miami, while 915 00:57:37,159 --> 00:57:43,639 Bernard Hopkins was fighting in a separate fight in Reading, Pennsylvania where you were 916 00:57:44,119 --> 00:57:49,239 covering it. But it's it's that these two were chirping at each other via 917 00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:53,719 satellite hookup, etc. Give me more on the nostalgia of Roy Jones and 918 00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:59,280 Bernard Hopkins. Hall of famers being in two different places but antagonizing each other, 919 00:57:59,639 --> 00:58:01,079 and we wondered when they were gonna fight, if they were gonna fight, 920 00:58:01,119 --> 00:58:02,840 and it would be a while before they would fight. But what do 921 00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:07,360 you remember about this, Well, you go back years before that they had 922 00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:10,079 fought for the vacant IBF midleweight title. Roy Jones won the fight right and 923 00:58:10,119 --> 00:58:15,320 Bernard Hopkins went on to become a top pound for pound fighter. Also, 924 00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:17,920 even in the wake of that loss, Roy Jones had done the same. 925 00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:21,599 He had beaten James Tony. Many people had a number one pound for pound, 926 00:58:21,639 --> 00:58:24,039 most people at that time. But here we are at a period that 927 00:58:24,119 --> 00:58:29,199 contacts is important. Bernard had become a pound for pound level guy. He's 928 00:58:29,239 --> 00:58:32,840 coming off of his knockout victory of Tito Trinidad to become the undisputed middleway champion, 929 00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:37,960 and so that was obviously a huge, huge victory for him, and 930 00:58:37,039 --> 00:58:38,920 the question is what's he going to do next. He was going to make 931 00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:44,519 a mandatory defense against Carl Daniels, but the idea was do the mandatory. 932 00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:47,960 Roy Jones was the undisputed champion at light heavyweight who was in the middle of 933 00:58:47,960 --> 00:58:52,440 a stretch where he was fighting but not fighting the big top names. He 934 00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:55,880 on that night in Miami was fighting a fighter named Glenn Kelly. So the 935 00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:59,519 idea here, this is what HBO was trying to do. We're going to 936 00:58:59,559 --> 00:59:04,000 feature them in two world undisputed title fights on the same card in different locations, 937 00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:06,639 and then we're going to have them fight each other on pay per view 938 00:59:06,679 --> 00:59:09,199 week and work the deal lot. They were separated by the weight by a 939 00:59:09,239 --> 00:59:12,239 bit, but more they would have been able to work out the weight. 940 00:59:12,599 --> 00:59:16,280 It was really about the money. Bernard wanted parody Roy Jones like go fuck 941 00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:20,440 yourself sixth and so, anyway, to make a long story short, I 942 00:59:20,480 --> 00:59:24,119 was in reading Pennsylvania where Bernard Hopkins, you know, dominated and stopped Carl 943 00:59:24,199 --> 00:59:27,880 Daniels, you know, who was a good contender, stopped him in round 944 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:30,880 ten, retained the title. He had a decent crowd thereies from Philadelphia, 945 00:59:31,079 --> 00:59:35,760 which wasn't too far away. I was a don king show and down in 946 00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:39,239 Miami was the second fight of the card. Roy Jones ultimately scored a monster 947 00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:44,559 knockout against the Australian fighter named Glenn Kelly. And if you don't remember that 948 00:59:44,599 --> 00:59:47,320 particular knockout, I picked it as the two thousand and two knockout of the 949 00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:51,679 ear. It's when Roy leaned his head in, put his hands behind his 950 00:59:51,719 --> 00:59:54,079 back and did the whole chicken dance back and forth, Bob like the rooster, 951 00:59:54,119 --> 00:59:58,440 Bob like the chicken, and then came from his hands behind the back 952 00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:02,840 and knocked him out with one shot, just an incredible knockdout. So but 953 01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:06,599 he was in a stretcher. He wasn't really fighting the big names he'd fought 954 01:00:06,639 --> 01:00:10,559 like Julio Gonzalez, Derek Harmon, Eric Harding, like good fighters, but 955 01:00:10,639 --> 01:00:15,039 not like the best the best, And there was a big ground swallow. 956 01:00:15,039 --> 01:00:17,880 Everybody wanted to see number one Roy Jones against number two be Hop On the 957 01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:22,440 pound for pound finally fight each other. HBO was desperate to make that paper. 958 01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:25,920 You would have been huge numbers. And they did an interview between the 959 01:00:25,960 --> 01:00:30,519 fights, and you got Larry Merchant with you know, with Bernard, and 960 01:00:30,559 --> 01:00:34,039 you got Roy on the monitor before he's about to get in the ring, 961 01:00:34,079 --> 01:00:36,320 by the way, so he's still thinking I got a fight, Glenn Kelly. 962 01:00:36,639 --> 01:00:38,119 Bernard's at least already won his fight, and they're going back and forth, 963 01:00:38,159 --> 01:00:40,639 and you know, at that point, Larry's like trying to referee. 964 01:00:40,719 --> 01:00:45,840 But the memorable sound bite when they couldn't decide when Larry asked him out to 965 01:00:45,840 --> 01:00:49,039 split. Are we able to make the fight? Roy Jones like sixty forty 966 01:00:49,039 --> 01:00:52,440 and I'll kick your ass meaning I'll take six, I'll kick your ass, 967 01:00:52,440 --> 01:00:54,159 And that became like a big talking point. So well, and take me 968 01:00:54,239 --> 01:00:58,239 back to what you remember, because your ringside work in the media, how 969 01:00:58,239 --> 01:01:00,440 were you able to see it and hear it? Did they have monitor they 970 01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:05,320 have volume up so that you could catch the two way conversations you just to 971 01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:08,159 watch it later or what happened my recollection was we were able where we were 972 01:01:08,199 --> 01:01:12,800 sitting, you know typically you know in the first or second row behind where 973 01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,920 the HBO people were, and there's monitors there because you also have the replay 974 01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:19,440 guys and and some other monitors for the international and on the on the tables, 975 01:01:19,679 --> 01:01:22,400 so we could see that they were interviewing them, but we could not 976 01:01:22,519 --> 01:01:25,840 hear what they were saying. But because HBO had their PR team, you 977 01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:31,239 had one of the PR people transcribing that interview and emailing us or telling us 978 01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:34,480 what they forget, how they how they did it. But we got to 979 01:01:34,599 --> 01:01:36,559 quotes for what was said in the interview, and then of course when I 980 01:01:36,559 --> 01:01:39,039 got home, I went back and you know, the next day I rewatched 981 01:01:39,039 --> 01:01:44,800 it on on the VCR. This is pre DVD days, because I had 982 01:01:44,800 --> 01:01:49,960 made a VHS uh and watch that and that was like a big thing about 983 01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:52,800 are they going to fight each other? Because they had both won, they 984 01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:55,000 had both won by knockout, again, the weight would have been figured out. 985 01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:58,599 I don't think it was that big of a problem. It was really 986 01:01:58,679 --> 01:02:01,039 what's the split of the money. And because if you have ever been around 987 01:02:01,119 --> 01:02:06,000 boxers, two of the single most stubborn people I've ever met in my life 988 01:02:06,440 --> 01:02:09,400 are Roy Jones Junior and Bernard Hopkins. And when it came to them trying 989 01:02:09,400 --> 01:02:13,000 to make a deal with each other, it was, you know, it 990 01:02:13,159 --> 01:02:15,639 just was impossible. And the only time they were finally able to make a 991 01:02:15,679 --> 01:02:19,719 deal you had to fast forward, and that was we're talking about a fight 992 01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:22,159 from two thousand and three. How about now go to twenty ten when Roy 993 01:02:22,239 --> 01:02:25,119 Jones is way beyond his prime, He's been knocked out a bunch of times 994 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,920 and is hanging on by a string. And even though Bernard was still I 995 01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:31,480 won't say at the top of his game. Bernard was still a very quality 996 01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:35,039 fighter at that time, but you know, he was starting to slow down 997 01:02:35,039 --> 01:02:37,599 a little bit. And they finally made the fight on pay per view. 998 01:02:37,599 --> 01:02:38,880 It did no business. You know, I went to that fight. I 999 01:02:38,920 --> 01:02:42,920 remember writing a column about how, you know what if they threw a supposed 1000 01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:45,639 big fight nobody showed up. You know, I've told the story about the 1001 01:02:45,639 --> 01:02:49,239 press conference for the rematch that finally happened, years and years passed it cell 1002 01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:52,360 by date that I went to the news conference, and typically they'll have like 1003 01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:55,039 the you know, the TV guys go to one fighter and the writers or 1004 01:02:55,039 --> 01:02:59,159 internet guys go to the other guy, and then you switch to get them 1005 01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:00,880 to talk the other side. Well, I went up to Bernard Hopkins, 1006 01:03:01,159 --> 01:03:05,400 and I was the only guy in front of him, literally literally the only 1007 01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:07,960 one. I could have talked him for forty five minutes if I wanted to. 1008 01:03:08,159 --> 01:03:12,480 And I made the point also about going to the Mandalay Bay Media Center 1009 01:03:12,760 --> 01:03:15,800 on one of the days of the fight week that I was there, and 1010 01:03:15,840 --> 01:03:17,559 you know, usually the Fight Media Center, you know, is kind of 1011 01:03:17,559 --> 01:03:21,840 a bustling hide of activity. You got the PR staff, you got other 1012 01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:25,000 journalists, you got some TV people you got, whoever you know, especially 1013 01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:28,519 if they're putting out a spread of food, like for breakfast or something like 1014 01:03:28,519 --> 01:03:30,880 that. I walk in to the pressroom this again, this is for the 1015 01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:35,760 rematch, and there was a couple of folks from the pr staff and Rayfield, 1016 01:03:36,280 --> 01:03:38,199 and I made the joke that I could have like literally laid down in 1017 01:03:38,239 --> 01:03:43,000 a snow angel position and laid there and no one would have touched me. 1018 01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:45,000 And I also make the point that they had put out some stuff for breakfast 1019 01:03:45,119 --> 01:03:50,360 and I had all the strawberries I could possibly have. So the fight happened 1020 01:03:50,519 --> 01:03:53,159 was way too It was well passed when it should have occurred. But it 1021 01:03:53,199 --> 01:03:59,239 should have occurred back after this back and forth interview on a very highly viewed 1022 01:03:59,280 --> 01:04:02,719 doubleheader, they both defended the undisputed titles in their weight classes. But those 1023 01:04:02,719 --> 01:04:05,679 two all time great Hall of famers are too fucking stubborn to make the deal. 1024 01:04:08,159 --> 01:04:11,960 There's another SoundBite from Rayfield to end the podcast. On the Nostalgia Listen, 1025 01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:15,880 We've had a lot here on the program. Again, we previewed all 1026 01:04:15,880 --> 01:04:19,400 the way back at the beginning. Joshua Buwoutze, Dan Aziz, the boxer, 1027 01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:26,559 Sky Sports Peacock card main event. Will handicap that fight as part of 1028 01:04:26,599 --> 01:04:30,199 the bet Us TV Boxing Show one Eastern time on Friday, so as you 1029 01:04:30,239 --> 01:04:32,760 hear us and we're releasing the podcast, be live with us on bet US's 1030 01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:38,880 platforms, their YouTube, etc. We'll also handicap the counter bend fight, 1031 01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:44,079 which again he's got massive odds in his favor against Peter Dobson in Las Vegas. 1032 01:04:44,079 --> 01:04:46,400 We'll also handicap the Taya Femo Lopez fight. We'll just touch on that 1033 01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:50,960 real quick because that fight will be happening next Thursday before we're back on bet 1034 01:04:51,039 --> 01:04:54,719 Us. Now, you and I will have a chance to talk more about 1035 01:04:54,760 --> 01:04:58,719 Taya Femo Lopez on our recap podcast. In fact, they'll get a chance 1036 01:04:58,760 --> 01:05:01,320 to hear from him up on our recap podcast. But I'm just saying on 1037 01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:04,920 the bet Us show, we'll handicap these fights on Friday. Whatever happens on 1038 01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:09,000 the weekend, we're going to be back coming off the weekend, including hearing 1039 01:05:09,039 --> 01:05:12,840 from Taya Femo before his Vegas title defense. Yeah, super Bowl Week, 1040 01:05:13,239 --> 01:05:15,400 super Bowl Week. I spoke to t youa Femo a few days ago. 1041 01:05:15,440 --> 01:05:17,599 We have that interview in the can ready to go for our next show. 1042 01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:21,199 Yep, we look forward to that. Listen great stuff, tonight, news, 1043 01:05:21,239 --> 01:05:26,000 nostalgia, all of it. As we release the pod. Excellent preview. 1044 01:05:26,079 --> 01:05:29,519 Let's talk again on the bet US Show one Eastern time Friday. Thank 1045 01:05:29,559 --> 01:05:30,880 you, Dan Rayfield. All right, my man, I will see you 1046 01:05:30,960 --> 01:05:34,920 on the show and talk to Winter there he is. I am merely TJ. 1047 01:05:35,119 --> 01:05:40,880 Reeves. You have been listening to the Big Fight Weekend preview podcast again. 1048 01:05:40,960 --> 01:05:43,760 Follow, subscribe, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify, wherever you get your 1049 01:05:43,760 --> 01:05:46,440 podcast. We are back off the weekend with a fight freaks you night recap 1050 01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:48,719 you want it all right here on this podcast feed. For now, we're 1051 01:05:48,719 --> 01:05:49,639 good to enjoy the fights.