Off a weekend that has seen Archer better Biev defend his unified light heavyweight titles
with another impressive knockout showing a wild WBO World Bantamweight title fight for Jason Maloney
and Saul Sanchez. We are here to recap those fights, that entire card
in Canada, give you some news, some nostalgia and more. Hello and
welcome into the Fight Freaks Unite recap podcast. I'm the somewhat competent host,
TJ. Reeves. He's our insider. Fight Freaks Unite is the name of
his substack. Why are you not subscribing to that? Get on his newsletter
as well by the same name, fight Freaks Unite. Also Big Fight Weekend
dot com. You have Dan Rayfield perusing around there and on this podcast feed.
Hello, my friend, as we have completed another weekend Howard. Thanks
entertaining fight card for sure, a lot to talk about on the show.
How are you feeling? I'm good. I thought it was a terrific card.
I thought that as I put on my social media last night, that
was a great way for Top Rank to kick off. Well, hopefully it
woul be an outstanding twenty twenty four. That was three good fights and some
good younger fighters that are that are you know in from Canada. That was
a good show. I enjoyed it totally. I think if you're a fight
fan, you had a lot there, including international names as well. All
Right, so we're gonna get into that. We're gonna get into the news,
et cetera. Reminder, review us, rate us, review us here
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love that you find us here going into the weekend with the preview show obviously
coming off the weekend with the recap, and then from time to time you
get different interviews et cetera. Midweek when we're building up. I know you
just most recently talked to Mikayla Mayer in advance of her welterweight title fight coming
up in Liverpool, England with Natasha Jonas. You can hear that in you
on the previous podcast right here on this speed so follow Subscribe Apple Spreaker,
Spotify, Google, wherever you get podcasts. We love that. Let's get
into it. Better BV not surprising both you and I on the bet Us
show that we host on Friday's Live, thought this would be a knockout.
Rayfield got it right that it came quicker than what I thought. Man,
it looked like it might be over very quick in the first round again when
he swarmed all over Callum Smith. To Smith's credit, he hung in,
but I think as the fight were on, it was just obvious how much
punishment can he take? How much longer is this going to go? This
is me saying that your thoughts on Better BV coming off a fairly decent layoff
and yet looking very impressive with a ko, Better BV is one of the
best fighters in boxing pound for pound. I mean, if you're not convinced
of that at this point, I'm not sure if you know what you're looking
at. I know he's been had, I know he's had various layoffs and
all. Although it's not like Callum Smith was mister busy. I mean he
was a guy who went and fought for seventeen months and it only had six
in the ring since he had fought and lost lopsidedly to Canelo in a super
middleweight title fight where he lost his belt. This was at the end of
twenty twenty. He just had the one fight in twenty one to one fight
in twenty two against you know, very very low level or unknown or you
know, irrelevant opponents. He did score knockouts in his first two fights at
one seventy five, and I never quite understood we talked about on the preview
podcast. I didn't understand why everybody was saying what a big shot he has.
I respect Callum as a as a fighter, He's had a good career,
he's got some nice wins, but coming off that kind of layoff,
having never fought even like a halfway decent guy in your in your new weight
division, and suddenly you're going to be the guy that's going to end the
freight train of Arthur Better BV, who is now twenty and zero with twenty
knockouts, having stopped everyone he's ever faced, the only champion currently in boxing
with a perfect knockout record, and by the way, this is not like
his first notable opponent in terms of whose better BV has been so for Calum
Smith, that and destroyed and demolished and pummelled the way he was. He
joins a you know, an admirable group of guys who have also tasted the
fistic theory of one Arthur better Bee. I mean he has also knocked out
Anthony Yard, Joe Smith, Marcus Brown, Alexander Vodzik, Callum Johnson.
I mean those are solid names, not to mention, even guys not at
that level but still reputable fighters like hot Rod and Adam Danes. And I
mean he's been doing a job at anybody, even in Rico Coling, you
know, in his first world title fight. If you go back and look
at the early days of better bf's career, this always rings in my mind.
By the way, he used to be promoted by Ivon Michelle, who
was one of the where it has been for you know, decades, the
top Canadian promoter out of Montreal, and he put on a ton of big
shows in Montreal over there still promotes and I remember back and this is like
probably twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, after a better BF came out of the
twenty and twelve Olympics and made his pro debut sometime I want to say mid
twenty thirteen and I was talking to Von I think I was at a show
that he was doing, and or he was at a show I was out
in Atlantic City or something like that, and he told me at that time
that this fighter, Arthur Betterbiev, who at that moment was probably like two
to zero something like that, he's the best fighter I've ever signed in my
thirty year boxing promotion career before that, he saw it that quickly and said,
best I've ever signed. That's amazing. So if you take a look
at the early fights that Arthur had, he's fighting like the highly reputable not
totally finished at that time, Tavores Cloud, who had held a title,
was a good puncher. He destroyed him in like his sixth fight, and
then he was fighting Gabriel Campillo, who was a former champion in like his
you know what, seventh fight, knocking him out, you know, early
on, fighting like real guys in the infancy of his career, and then
was the winner of a championship in twenty seventeen at you know, had only
maybe what ten eleven fights, and he's been destroying guys ever since. He
was a two time olympian, comes with a big background you know he lost
in the amateurs. I think these are probably forgivable to Alexander Usik, you
know who's now a heavyweight, you know, a heavyweight champion and you know,
cruiserweight undisputed. Anyway I'm saying here is that he may be thirty eight
years old, he may have some inactivity, but he is a devastating puncher,
probably the best in the sport car in league. He has a high
IQ, tremendous pedigree in terms of his amateur career, a willingness to fight
the top guys, and he can fire with both hands. The right hand
is obviously his calling card, but he can hurt you with his left.
His jab is like a power punch. He doesn't just use it to keep
you off him or to you know, get some range to set something else
up. He uses that to hurt you also. And I just saw Callum
Smith the entire promotion and going into the fight and obviously watching the first round,
that he was just a dead duck. That it was just you know,
he was going to get him, you know, and it could have
been quick, but it also could have been late. That's why when we
did the bet USA, I didn't pick a bet us show. I didn't
pick the over under on that fight. I just said, give me better
b of by the ko. It wasn't like a lot of extra money to
win, you know, picking either way, So it didn't surprise me.
You know. Callum hung in there but again outclast and uh just another just
another emphatic performance. Because you know, even though he had you know,
a couple of rough spots against Yard and that was a great fight at January
of last year, he still put him out impressively. As we talked about
in the preview, he walked right through Joe Smith, the known guy to
have a good chin, blasted him out in two rounds. He doesn't fool
around. I mean he can get you one through twelve at any moment.
And let me tell you something now, now, I know we want to
talk about this too. This sets up the big fight. Let's go right
there, because that's all the talk now coming off of this fight Saturday night,
and better BEF said afterwards. Obviously that's what he wants next. The
Saudis obviously have tons of money. Call me crazy. You know I love
couching it this way. Call me crazy. Isn't that next? Why?
Why is that not why would that not be next? Come on, I
mean not you can't say one hundred percent. But first of all, bevoll
As I reported like a couple of weeks ago, and people told me I
was lying in this and thatp but I was one hundred percent correct that Beevill
signed a contract for the Better BF fight. That's done. His side is
set, as Bob Aram spoke about in the interview after the fight, after
Better BF said yes he wanted to do that fight. I remember back in
October at the Tyson Fury Nigan who Fight Better Be and Better b of n
Bevo were guests among the dozens of former and current champions and Hall of famers
and all time grades, et cetera that were invited to be a part of
that you know, big event. They came face to face that was caught
on video, you know, when they were at the dinner the night before,
not not like in a they weren't like, you know, beating each
other up or you know, into an argument, but basically like saying they
want to fight each other, and they had pictures taken with each other.
You know, they clearly have said over and over for the past several fights
they want to fight each other. It was always a matter of we all
know it's a great but from a financial point of view, to satisfy both
sides, it was hard to make because neither one of them had a natural
base to draw a big crowd. So your git is going to be limited.
I mean, if they did it in anywhere, UK, US,
wherever, it just didn't have a place where you could stick it in terms
of an arena and sell millions of dollars worth of tickets. It wasn't going
to bring a gigantic license fee. I mean it would bring millions from at
the time of showtime or certainly an ESPN or the zone or whatever, but
not to the level where that where both sides were going to feel satisfied for
taking that kind of big fight. And so here you have the Saudis,
who can pay whatever they want for any fight that they desire. They are
the market in that sense. I mean it is an artificial market, but
they're putting on the biggest fights. So with that pot of gold that they
have to offer and a willingness to do so. And you know his Excellency
Turkey Alaschk who has been the one that is responsible for doling out the money.
It's a beautiful thing for those of us who are boxing fans because he's
a boxing fan all and he wants to see the big fights. It's like
he's doing what I always would joke about, like if I was super wealthy,
I would pick off fights at purse bids or go put together fights and
I'd put them on in my cul de sac and invite my friends and we
would do the fight. Like I remember, I joke around like it'd sees
some like fight, you know, minimum bid eighty grand for like some WBO
straweight fight. If I was like, you know, super wealthy, Like,
yeah, I'd pay the money and put them on in my backyard.
Basically, that's what his excellency is doing. He's looking at the landscape of
boxing and he's making the biggest fights possible because he can finance them and gain,
you know, the tremendous amount of attention that they desire to bring positive
to their country. So that fight will happened. Now, as I was
saying, Bob Aram said in the interview, they have to go through the
details and get the deal done, but they both want it. I guarantee
you better be able to make more money than he's ever made by multiples in
that fight, and there's absolutely zero reason for it not to happen. All
four belts, both guys want to fight each other, both guys are undefeated
without even a remote discussion or argument, I think for anything, and you
know, boxing fans can't agree on anything, but I think pretty much universally
we'd all agree that, however you want us to put them in order,
that the number one and number two light heavyweights in boxing are better be it
than b bole. I mean they have different kind of styles. You know,
Bibbles a classic boxer, puncture and the other guys you know, a
great puncher boxer. I mean, it has everything you want to see.
They may not have the biggest personalities, and they're not gonna be guys that
are gonna be uh you know, creating TMZ headlines or anything like that,
but if you like, you know, the fine art of combat sports,
uh, they can definitely do some damage and they can thrill you because that's
gonna be a high, high level fight and I think that's going to be
a superb, superb matchup. And on the tight other thing, the winner
that fight, they're they're fighting for history in that fight. That's a pound
for pound fight, that's a Hall of Fame fight, that's a that's the
best of the era kind of fight. I mean, that's what you want
to see. That's that's this. Now, this is not going back that
long ago. This This is sort of like cove Leve andre Ward that type
of fight, kind of like Roy Jones James Tony, that type of fight
in terms of the two best finally doing it to settle number one for that
that era. One other quick thing, just real quick, how realistic?
For when? Because again better Be have just fought on a day of reckoning,
Better Be of on the same timeline fights two a couple weeks later with
this rescheduled fight, could we see this? I know the March eighth card
is Joshua and in Ghanu. It's probably not going to be part of that
card. This is to be just speculating, but could it be right after
that in March? Would it be April? No? What are you hearing?
What do you think? According to the way that Bob spoke about it,
And he's one hundred percent right, because this is exactly what I had
heard prior to that was that because Better b was a devout Muslim. He
will observe Ramadan. Ramadan this year starts uh in a mid in a mid
mid March and it runs through mid April, and so as Aaron put it,
as soon as Ramadan is over, he needs three months post Ramadan to
get ready for the fight, which means, you know, because you're fasting
and you know, it takes a toll on somebody that he needs probably the
you know, a good quality you know, a couple of weeks to recover
from that and just to do his thing and then you know, the intense
camp. Then better be it, by the way, as an animal when
it comes to his training, to put in the full eight maybe ten week
training camp to get ready for the fight, which means if you go on
the calendar, that the earliest you're talking about is probably mid July. Now,
it's been suggested by some people that maybe they end up because the amount
of money. I don't think either guy is going to be concerned about.
Another layoff is that they wait and it becomes the type of fight that opens
next year's or this year's read season, you know, in October potentially,
or maybe this audience will just wait and they'll put it on you know,
prior to that. I don't know if anybody wants to do that fight in
the example or this is me just this is me just saying this. When
they had the Usik Joshua rematch, that was an August fight. For whatever
it's worth, it wasn't, I mean, just throwing that out there.
The only thing I'm saying with this is the longer we wait. I understand
his religious beliefs, but the longer we wait, the more stuff can get
screwed up. Well whatever reason. So no matter what TJ. Reeves or
Dan Raefeler, anybody says he's going to observe Ramadan, that's a first period,
I understand. So the fight will not be before March. That's like
a few you know, a months. Second of all, I said the
earliest would be July. So you're talking about whenever they decide they can work
it out. When whenever Turkey decides that he wants to to fight, you
know, post Ramadan, that's what it will be. I mean, this
is not complicated the fight. Listen, well, it is complicated because it's
taken over two years to make I again, put this is true. Hasn't
happened in the last two years, taken over two years. Not arguing with
me about a fight that hasn't happened for two years. They haven't been trying
to make it. They were trying. They were trying to make it in
twenty twenty two. They were not really make it in twenty twenty two,
but dem Korolov told you on our podcast, that's the fight we want,
but the money is not there. They they were not stop arguing, trying
to make it. Stop arguing with me. I'm not something that you're wrong
you on your own podcast interview with Kralov, We're talking to him and he
said to you, we are trying to make the fight, but the fight
money is not there. He said it in twenty twenty two. So when
I am sitting here saying this is two years they haven't been able to get
it made, it's not incorrect because his manager told you that in twenty twenty
two, and I thought that point on the podcast. I'm not but there
was not. They didn't have the money, so there was no real movement
on either side. It wasn't It wasn't like they were fighting with each other,
and then there was movement on Bevol's side. That's what Corny just knew
that there was not the amount of money necessary to do it. So it
was not like we're arguing over this percentage point or this location or this term.
It's like we throw our hands up, we can't do this. The
other thing I'm saying, because we've got to move on to many other things,
is the longer we wait into this summer and this fall, there's something
that can get screwed up and injury, just like what happened with Better Bev
and the tooth problem that moved this Callum Smith back four or five months.
I want this sooner rather than later. Here's the point in twenty twenty four,
I believe, and you know me, I'm always mister negative on things
messing up fights, and you know I'm always skeptical about this. This is
the kind of significant fight I personally view as I can't say one hundred percent
because nothing's one hundred percent except death and taxes basically. But this fight's going
to happen. It's going to happen this year, and it's only a matter
of in the timeframe window of the three months post Ramadan to the earliest portion
of the fall when the read season begins again. If you tell me the
fight's going to be sometime between July and October, sign me up. I'm
with it. There's no intervening fights. The sanctioning bodies are not going to
be doing stupid shit with mandatories. The fight. They want the match,
The money is there, the location is there, no problem. I'm saying
that. And by the way, keep this in mind. Bevo is already
signed because one thing, and I try cannot stress this enough. When it
comes to these types of fights in Saudi Arabia, it's not a matter of
the team from Bevol and the team from Better BF negotiating with each other,
or the team from Wilder and the team from Joshua and negotiating with each other
and then the falling apart for a reasons not related to the contract, or
the team from Naganu and Joshua, or the team from Fury in Naganu,
or any of the fights that we've seen or are about to take place.
They don't negotiate with each other. They do separate deals. Team Fury goes
and talks with his Excellency, and then Team Naganu did the same. Team
Usik did the same. They work out their own deals and don't worry about
it. There's plenty of money for everybody, So this is the same situation.
They're not gonna butt heads over stuff with each other on the money.
It's the Saudis said here, what do you need? Here? What do
you need? And they're good to go. All right, let's get him
in the ring, hopefully sooner rather than later. I understand for all the
reasons. Okay. Immediately immediately preceding that fight was Christian Mobilly, and I've
got to confess this is the first time that I watched him live. I
had seen some of the highlights of a couple of his other fights. He
beat the Australian Rohan Murdoch mercilessly over the last couple of rounds especially, I
was really I was surprised that his corner put Murdoch back out there for another
round, with the way that Mobility was teeing off in their super middleweight contender
fight, with the crowd roaring all right, he gets the the TKO the
stoppage after six What did you see out of all of that? Tell me
more, well, I saw a very good stoppage by the corner. You
know, if you watched the fight prior to that, he was taking a
real hammering and the trainer was telling him, you know, you got to
do something, and was basically sitting on the step with the with the towel
in his hand, ready to throw it in. But actually as much punishment
as Murdoch was taking, he actually had a pretty good sixth round and was
doing very well until like the last probably twenty or thirty seconds, when it
basically reverted to the previous situation and he was getting you know again his you
know, his rear end handed to him. So at that point when that
when the fight finally you know ended, or rather when I should say when
the round ended. Uh, it really didn't take a long time for them
to go back into the quarterer and have them stop that fight, because there
was there was really no way he was going to suddenly come back and when
he you know, he it was all he could do to just stay in
there through the end of the sixth round. And so I thought the corner
let it go appropriately, but ultimately made the right decision in the manner in
which they stopped it, because you know, that's the kind of way you
get hurt when when that happens. That was a brutal situation. So the
trainer's name, who, as they were saying on the broadcast, basically views
Murdoch almost like a son to him, is a man named Chris Carden.
He has the you know, he has his guy's best interest at heart.
He did a tremendous job in terms of the way that he stopped that fight.
Rowan Murdoch, you know, can live to fight another day. He
got nothing to be ashamed of. But Christian Mobilly is a bad man.
Let me tell you that. He is a guy who you know, and
I've heard this before, but Mark Ramsey, who is his trainer, who
was one of the very best trainers in Canada or in the world frankly,
and has been around training fighters for you know, three plus decades, you
know, loves to tell people that of the fighters that he has worked with,
and there's been lots of them, that in terms of a guy in
shape, in terms of his cardio, in terms of just his sheer,
just just in the way he takes his training so seriously, in terms of
the conditioning that mobility is the guy and if you look at the way he's
built, he looks like he's a brick wall and he showed that. Now
he's as fun a fighter as there is a boxing right now to watch,
and he's exciting, he's you know, and he's got pedigree too. This
is a guy that was a twenty sixteen Olympian for France, and you know
he's got that background also, and he's a good puncher and he seems like
he takes a good shot. He's not afraid to mix hit. He got
history fight, so that might be a concern too when you step up in
competition as much. Yet you know he wants to fight a big name.
I mean they were asking about Canelo, who is the king of the division.
I think the reason that they were asking about Canelo specifically, even though
he hasn't had any fights at that level yet, is because in the WBC,
in the WBA he's ranked number one. It doesn't mean he's the mandatory
yet, but you know he's high up there. So you know he's a
guy that's that's making his case in this weight class. And that's one of
the you know, it's a it's a double edged sword in the ones in
the one sense, uh super MIDI weights on Lockdown, Canelo has all the
belts and he gets to pick and choose who he wants for his two fights.
Basically, you know, if there's a mandatory, it will get negotiated
that he has to do it or not. But at this point, he's
going to fight who he wants to fight. And on the on the on
the negative side, if the title's worstplit up, then that means there's other
guys who get opportunities, so you kind of can't have it both ways.
So he's not getting a title shot right away, but there's certainly opponents in
that weight class that he could match up with that would make for interesting.
Give me a name, give me a realistic name for later this year.
What do you think and how intrigued would we be? Do you have a
realistic name? What do you think? Well, the one thing is uh,
I'm not saying this is realistic, but I heard the uh the the
mention of him and Edgar Berlanga, which to me, honestly, that is
a that would be I mean, I'd be happy to watch that, but
in my opinion, that's just not realistic. Okay, it's not realistic for
a lot of reasons. Some are saying David Morrell, who's right there as
the w BA. What clarify for me because I get confused with the WBA.
Is he the interim? What is he considered? He's the WBA regular
che yes, whatever, so, but what would Morell want to take that
risk with Mobilly? While he's likely, it's unlikely, particularly when he fights
in the same uh you know, a universe of David Benavide's and kyleb Plant
and obviously Canelo. And I can't give you like a name, but I
can tell you that if you match him up with like you know, David
Morrell or Berlin, or like cayleb Plan or Sergey defren Schenko or you know
Morrell, these are exciting fights. Like he's in the same kind of all
right, that those would make for very good fights. I'll tell you one
thing you just now that I'm thinking about it. I mean again, it's
not uh he would be favorite, probably, but like a devren Schenko who
was in the you know, one of the best fights of the year,
uh in you know, in twenty twenty three, in his tremendous battle against
Mangia. I mean it would be a step up in competition for the Billy
and hustle would probably be hell of a fight. I mean kind of a
you know, a slug fest in my mind. But uh, he's he's
coming along. I mean there's guys that he could fight. Jesse Hart is
a guy that's fought for a title, just signed with with PBC. You
know, I'm not sure what the you know, if that could be made
again. I'm thinking of guys who would be good fights but also be step
a step up and what's the realistic what's realistic to happen. So that's good,
that's good. On Mobilia again, cut I had the crowd roaring.
His super got some intangibles there, Okay. Now, immediately before the televised
ESPN portion of the championship card, the ESPN Plus card concluded with the WBO
bantamweight title fight that turned out to be a tremendous battle with Jason Maloney and
Saul Sanchez. We talked up Sanchez some that he had basically been a club
fighter at that level in southern California and in Florida, but he acquitted himself
well. Maloney badly cut over the right eye, which was an issue throughout
the fight. Close battle going into the final few rounds, Maloney gets the
decision. Dann what do you think of all of that in the recap mode?
Well, I thought it was a tremendous fight. I mean, you
know, people want to say fight of the year. Okay, fine,
it is trick in January, so let's all calm down about that. I
mean, is it is it a chance that because of nine more weeks ago
people forty nine? I mean, it could still be like it could wind
up at the end of the year, being that, you know, in
the upper echelon of the fights that people mentioned, and nothing against the two
guys that just laid it all on the line. But I'm very confident that
when it's all then done, it won't be the fight of the year.
But it was a hell of a fight. No, no, I'm not
knocking it all. I'd love to see a rematch. They were, you
know, were made for each other. It seems like to me, you
know, the Malone, he and his brother Andrew are pretty much always in
a good fight, and Sanchez, with that kind of style, you're probably
not going to ever see him in a bad fight either. Look, the
bottom line is Maloney edged it out. It was a close fight. There
was a lot of close rounds. It was a majority decision. Officially.
One judge had it one fourteen, one to fourteen, which I couldn't strongly
argue against. The two other judges had it the way I had it,
which was one sixteen to one twelve, which is eight to four, and
I saw some people complaining that that was too wide. I'm like, what
the fuck do you want? There were a bunch of swing rounds. I
thought Maloney edged them out in close, competitive rounds, and he was the
rightful winner of the fight. And if I'm not mistaken, the two judges
that scored it eight to four gave him the tenth, the eleventh, and
the twelve. They gave him all three of the rounds Maloney to basically ice
the fight because the fight was up for grabs on their card, at least
until the eleventh and the twelfth round, when he I don't remember the exactly
believe that's the case, yes, but I'd have to go back and look.
If you look in my substack, I actually put a picture of the
final scorecards. But it was a super close fight. Uh. Sanchez didn't
seem to be super complaining about the situation. Afterwards. I think that he
got out hustled a little bit just enough. He started off very well.
Maloney got his groove. He just seemed a little bit quicker with his hands.
I mean, I think some people have you thought that Sanchez should have
one may have been swayed by the blood. The cut that Maloney suffered was
not from a punch. It was from it was from a head butt that
took place that was accidental, but it certainly made his face look, you
know, bad, because the blood was everywhere, and it really because of
the spot that it was in. It was not the kind of cut that
you can closely kind of right on the bone next to the eye, so
it's it's going to continually bleed, and it was. It was a tremendous
fight. And Sanchez as I as I always like to see in these types
of fights that if your guy loses, can he still raise his stock.
Well, let me tell you sal Will Sanchez, who came into this fight
basically unknown unless you're the most diehard, you know, follower of Southern California
club boxing, acquitted himself in a mind which is going to help him get
some notoriety. He's gonna get more phone calls, for fights. He's gonna
make good fights, so he has that going for him. If you saw
him on Saturday night, you're not gonna ever say to yourself, boy,
I don't want to watch that guy fight again. So he raised his stock
even in a loss against you know, a good world champion. So I
thought it was a terrific fight. I mean again, it won't be the
fight of the year because there's still a long way to go in twenty twenty
four. The other thing about that matchup, as great as the two guys
displayed their abilities and and and their hearts, I thought the corners did a
great job. Angelo Hyder, who was the trainer for Jason Maloney, was
telling his man all the right things in that in that fight, what he
needed to do, how we should do it. You know when he gave
a way around to get it on and you got to get these last couple
of rounds. And likewise, in the other corner for Sanchez is Manny Roblis,
who by the way, has been the trainer in two huge upsets,
So if Sanchez had pulled it off, it would have given a third mass
upset. Remember he was the trainer when when Andy Ruiz bumped off Anthony Joshua
in a heavyweight championship fight. He was also there in the corner for Raffia
Ospinoza in December when he had the big upsit against Robesci Ramirez to win one
of the Featherway titles. So Roblist did a hell of a job in that
fight, you know, guided his guy. I just love when when you
when you see two guys lay it out like that and the corners do everything
right. Yeah, the judges get it right. It's like boom, boom
boom. It's it's everything that's good about the sport. I agree with you,
and I'd love to see it again. And let's just clarify. On
the card that was a draw. That judge gave Maloney officially the eleventh and
the twelfth round and that pulled it even or he had Sanchez winning the fight.
On the one card, a judge gave the final two rounds to Maloney
to make it one sixteen one twelve, he had Maloney up by two.
On the other card of one sixteen one twelve, he had it much wider.
He gave Sanchez actually three of the last four rounds to narrow it to
eight to four. He had only given Sanchez one round before the ninth round
of the fight, so it narrowed by by his card, but still he
had Maloney comfortably upfront, and I don't think you can argue with the decision.
I think Maloney won enough rounds to be considered the winner of that fight.
I'd love to see it again, just one more time. Yeah,
I mean, I totally agree that I thought it was. It was such
an enjoyable card because you have Maloney going to going to war with Sanchez.
They put on a hell of a fight. Then the stream of the of
the preliminaries is done with and they go to the main card. Again.
It was it was pretty one sided, but it was a heck of a
fight in terms of abillity. Uh. With with Murdoxy and the way they
were banging each other around the heart that Murdoch showed, the way that it
was appropriately stopped. Everything was good about that. And then the main event
you saw you know, one of the best fighters in boxing, Uh look
look outstanding against you know, a worthy challenger. Uh. It was if
all shows were like that, where you have the right judging, the right
stoppages, the right the words from the trainers, everything about it. The
action was good. And here's our thing I love about it. The Canadian
fans are great. I've covered some fights in Montreal, never in Lueback City,
but it's a similar, you know, group of people. Uh,
Andrew Maloney is from Australia, Salo Sanchez is from Southern California. They've never
fought fought in Canada, They've got no relation to that area. And they're
banging it out and the crowd, which doesn't have a particular rooting interest in
the fight, they're all standing up losing their shit like I'm crazy, like
really really showing. These guys love that. When you're in that kind of
you know, tough, tough sort of crucible, love the fight. You
know, it's good to get the plaudits from the crowd that's come to watch
you fights. So that had to make those guys feel good. They're not
they're not fighting in front of their people, and and and the Canadian fans.
They're intelligent and they really know what they're looking at and they see they
see some great shows up there. Hey, I've always said when Australia is
battling Southern California, to do it at Quebec City, Babe, you got
to do it there one more, just real quick. Kaya TeV, how
do you say it? Iman Kayatev, the Katiev, the Russian Olympian.
You also wanted to say something about him on this car, just to wrap
it up real quick in the recap mode. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned
him so in the in one of the preliminary fights. This was the the
This was the fight prior right before the Maloney and Santez fight. Like,
I've watched him fight a couple of times because you know, he's with I
of the Tiger, which is the promoter that was locally they're putting on the
event. They have an agreement with Top Rank where they take their shows and
they put them on ESPN Plus, and they've got a good relationship where they
work with each other spighters and that sort of stuff. So they have this
fighter. He's twenty nine years old, so he's not a young move quickly
he advanced to six and oh he got a very impressive second round knockout against
a journeyman opponent in lud Wizzak. Not it wasn't about the opponent that was
anything spectacular, and just the way he goes about his business. In Thelympics
in twenty twenty which took place in twenty twenty one, he won the bronze
medal. He lost in the in the Metal match to Ben Whittaker from the
UK, who is touted as one of their great rising prospects and future champions.
Very skillful fighter, but Katiev is a crowd pleaser. He's a puncher
and I thought he looked really, really good. Now he's I said he's
from Russia. He actually lives in Australia, but he's been fighting in Canada,
so he is a man of the world. His last three fights have
been in Canada, and just has had the one fight so far in his
career that's taken place in Australia. But he's definitely a light heavyweight to keep
an eye on. And just he didn't have quite enough fights and I hadn't
really seen enough of him when I was doing my prospect list that I do
every year in December. He was like one of my last guys that didn't
make the list. But I can absolutely see him being in there, you
know, come the end of this year, assuming he's not already fighting,
you know, in major type of eliminators in main events and title fights,
but definitely a young man and a good up and coming guy to keep an
eye on. Imam Katie, remember the name Tatiyev. Good enough, Now
some news and including back to what's being made in Saudi Arabia and the Fury
Usik undercard. You've got some names, Jai Opataiah, you mentioned Sergey Koboalev
earlier on the show, and also Joe Cordina may be part of this as
well. What have you learned on the on the likely undercard coming in February.
Well, they're they're in the process of doing, uh, these matchups.
Obviously February is coming very quickly. These are the types of fights that
are probably they're looking to get announced, you know, in the in the
very near future. And again while everything is not you know signed, you
know t's cross and eyes dotted, uh the lineup. Obviously, the big
fight is Usik and Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title, but among the other
fights of their work, and you mentioned Opataya, he had a first round
knockout on the day of reckoning in December, so he's fresh and has a
multi fight agreement with the Saudi so you can expect him to be on that
show. Now it's a matter of who he's gonna fight. They're they're working
on that, but it'll be great to see him back in action. He
you know, he's staying active after having the long lay up because of the
jaw injury, so it's a good thing to see him back. He's a
super exciting fighter and obviously the number one cruiserweight in the world. Sergei Covileb,
which I had reported like probably a month ago or six weeks ago,
was going to be on the show, which made sense because he shares the
manager with Usik and Egis Quimus, so they are again. I don't think
the paperwork is signed, but if the likelihood is that he will fight an
undefeated fighter, not a well known guy named Robin Safar, who is undefeated,
like I said, but hasn't really ever fought any But this is an
opportunity for him to step up against the covid Leb that's been off for a
long time, that's obviously in the twilight of his career, although I still
a big name. They'll fight that fight in the cruiserweight division, and you
mentioned Cordina, who's the IBF Junior Lightweight Champion who just fought not that long
ago in a card that Mattroom Boxing had in Monte Carlo where he was in
the main event and he won and looking to makeup I guess for some loss
time. But they're they're trying to match him up with a fighter named Anthony
Kasachi. Uh. If they can get that squared away and get that done,
that's probably the fight. So you know, these are interesting matchups.
I mean, you know, I don't you know, We'll see who Opataia
gets matched up with. Uh. But they're they're making another what apparently seems
to be like a deep card, which you don't even really have to do
that when the main event is the undisputed heavyweight championship. So you know,
again this is the work of his excellency doing uh these big deep shows.
Okay, So I'm looking at my trusty Dan Rayfield rundown and you just uttered
the phrase let's see who Opataia gets matched up with. And now the next
thing on the rundown is that the breatest Zerdo Ramirez fight that's being ordered by
the IBF after Opataia had to give up the IBF belt. May not be
happening. It's not happening, all right. So if it's not happening,
then why isn't Opataia fighting Braidest anyway for the IBF belt. What are we
doing here? Well, hold on clayify for me. What's going on.
It's not that he is not fighting him, that's not the case. It's
the fact that they have to listen. Everybody wants things to happen like right
this minute. I've been doing this long enough to know things take certain amount
of time to do. You got to work through the particulars. So they
have ordered a purse bid for Zerto against Greatest for the vacant IBF title that
that Opataia was essentially forced to vacate before he fought the de Summer twenty third
card because he was getting paid so much money that he wasn't gonna sit that
out and for a fight that wasn't happening until the early part of next year
anyway. So then they ordered the zero fight. Now, when I wrote
about the order of the zero fight, if you go back and read exactly
what I wrote, I did write that there was a good chance that they
would not happen because Golden Boy and zero were looking potentially towards him going towards
the WBO the WBA champion, which is Arson Gula Marian from France. That
is now a fight that the WBA has put out paperwork on saying they've allowed
that, and I think the special permit for Gulamarian to do the match instead
of the mandatory point is there's a very good likelihood that come March on the
own you will see a main event fight between the WBA champion, Gula Marian
against Zerdo Ramirez. So that again would mean that Bradis would be ordered to
fight somebody else for the vacant title. That could be Opataiah. Again,
as we sit here as we tape this on Sunday, that ain't done.
There's things that need to take place. You have to communicate between the fighters
and the organizations and their teams and all that. So when you say what
are we doing here, talk to me in like two weeks and we'll see
what's up. But the reason I'm saying that is you and I covered this
before Day of Reckoning that why was the IBF doing this in the first place
when Bradis was injured and could not have fought Opataiah anyway and will be healthy
people. Yeah. Always always stipulated that he would be back in that February
March timeframe and be willing to fight. So we'll see. Listen, you
asked about the IBF. I want to get everybody in boxing T shirts that
says the IBF does IBF things. It's just what they do doesn't make them
bad people. They just they they sometimes do things that are detrimental to themselves
and literally make no sense. It would make no sense for me to walk
out of my front door and pick up a globo of the dirt and grass
and eat it. Right, It doesn't make any sense. But you know,
if you are a three year old, you might do that. Are
you saying that young Rayphael maybe did that at some point? I'm just saying
it's just you know, you ask why. But okay, so maybe that
fight will still happen despite all the silliness and stupidity of what the IBF.
I'll say that what the IBF did before on behalf of a fighter that said,
hey, hand up, I'm injured. I can't fight anyway until the
March timeframet, and neither side was giving them right, was making any demands.
They were like, we'll do the fight, just let us have this
optional. Here's the bottom line where this all started. The Saudi's and the
people involved with theory against Usik are doing a good job of fashioning together an
undercard and maybe with Opataiah definitely going to be on that show. Nothing is
done in terms of an opponent, but it would not be out of the
realm of possibility. We could potentially end up seeing that Breateest fight anyway,
based on all the things we just talked about. Because of the other news
item, which is that that Zerdo is probably going to fight Gula Marian for
the WBA belt, clearing the way to get rid of that IBF scenario against
Braidest for him makes sense. Bear enough. One more news item and then
some nostalgia, and that is Oscar Valdez Liam Wilson. Now why do we
know those names? They both fought and lost convincingly, although Wilson had Emanuel
Navarat in trouble more so than Valdez did. But Valdez and Wilson may be
fighting each other. Details please real quickly. They are going to fight each
other. It's not one hundred percent, you know. Signed sealed and delivered.
But this is an excellent matchup. This is the two guys that had
fight of the year type fights against Navaretta in WBO one hundred and thirty pound
title fights. Both came up short in those fights, and when you put
on that type of effort and you give that kind of entertainment, you know
Top rank is looking to bring them both back against each other and create another
opportunity for the winner of that fight. So yeah, this is a fight
that's on the drawing board. Contracts are out March twenty ninth, a Friday
night, will take place at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendell, Arizona,
which, by the way, is the same venue where Navarete fought Liam Wilson
and where he fought Oscar Valdez. Remember when he fought Liam Wilson. That
was back in last year, in the early part of the year. That
was a fight that took place because Oscar Valdez was supposed to be in there
for the vacant title, but he was injured and so therefore Wilson was the
substitute. Obviously, Navarete won the fight, became the WBO champion, and
then they rescheduled. When Valdez was good to go, he got a comeback
fight navarat down in the fight at hadn't heard great great battle with Navarata,
Yes, yeah, so so Wilson lost him in February, and when Valdez
came back, he got a tune up fight to come back. He won
against Adam Lopez in their rematch, and then they made the match between him
and Valdez for this past August. I got a humenous amount of hype.
Remember they brought in Marco Antonio Brera and Eric Morales to help promote the fight.
Everybody thought it would be a fight like worthy of those two guys,
you know, in the promotion they were fighting in one hundred and thirty pound
way class for the belt that they had once held or had fought for.
Anyway, it may not have lived up to that, but it was a
hell of a fight and in the end, and I'm not the only one,
but if you took a look at the list of when I did my
fight of the Year story, I picked, you know, Luis Neri against
a Zatjovinisian as the number one fight of the year, but in my top
ten list, both Liam Wilson against Navarette and Oscars against never at Theay.
We're on that list. Now you have the losers of those two fights,
you know, going against each other as they get the deal squared away.
So that will be a really interesting fight between guys that make good fights,
and we'll put the winner in a great position to move forward because you got
to figure, you know, never at Ay at some point is going to
go up to one hundred and thirty five pounds and they'll probably be an open
at least one open title for him to go for it to winner. Good
stuff, good stuff, all right? Nostalgia is this truly twenty five years
ago that Mike Tyson, off of the ear biting suspension with Evander Holyfield,
fought twenty five years ago Tuesday, January sixteenth, nineteen ninety nine, came
back and fought Francois Botha and scored an impressive ko. We love anytime that
we can bring up Mike Tyson, even briefly here. There's not there's not
a lot of meat on the bone with both of being an all time opponent.
But the significance is this was the first fight after the entire mess and
his suspension for the holy Field ear Bite in June of ninety seven. That
was twenty five years ago. It's amazing. I also look at this match.
If you look at Mike's career, you can break it down into various
sections. It's the rise to the title that was the first part. Then
there's Berbick through Buster. You know, when he was the dominating, devastating
champion of the world and you know, made his biggest name and fame and
you know, could walk anywhere in the world and people know him. Then
there was what occurred after that, and he ended up going you know,
having moving to showtime, ultimately going to prison. Holy Field fight canceled all
that. That's another chapter of his career. Then he came back and he
had that series of fights you know, when he when he came back from
being in prison. So I consider another era, if you will, of
Mike's career, Peter McNeely, the comeback fight through the ear Byte fight against
Evander to me, the last part of Mike's career, you know, the
down the show s wretch, if you will, which would go from the
Botha fight in nineteen ninety nine through the end of his career in two thousand
and five, which included you know, some wins against nobody's or lesser guys,
that type of thing, but also obviously the big mega fight against lenningx
Lewis, you know, and then the downward trajectory for a few fights after
that. But so the Botha fight started what I consider the final chapter of
Tyson's career. He did score the knockout in the fifth round at the MGM
Grand Remember before he got the knocket, it was a really like he was
losing the fight. I mean, he looked terrible and you know, he
was down on the scorecards. I mean, he was just he was losing,
and it gave people a lot of pause, like, Okay, what's
Mike got left after that long layoff? Remember, he was vilified. A
lot of people didn't even think he should be fighting against both because of what
he had done to Avander with the earbiting. So there was some controversy even
before the fight had occurred. So it was sort of like like it was
a big deal fight pet you know, uh, you know, showtime involvement,
obviously, big crowd, and in the end, it made you realize
why people loved Mike Tyson so much, because he came up with a massive
one punch knockout to end the night, and that was all she wrote,
and he went on and continued to have, you know, other fights.
But that was a very memorable knockout punch, without question, I mean,
just a thunderous, thunderous shot. And so many times in his career he
would lay people out with a single shot. It obviously happened that night.
And you're right about so many different segments and so much intrigue to to iron
Mike. Also, by the way, he also showed that he was still
a bad boy because even though he didn't bite off Francois Botha's ear like he
had done against Evander Rememory, he kept putting his arm in a clinch and
he like at one point tried to break his left arm off to shake free.
So you know, he may have escored a great knockout, but he
also showed his pension for fouling all yes, and there was there was so
much surrounding that I still remember that now that you jogged me on it on
He's dangerous, Uh, He's fouling the opponents, you know, the unexpected.
With Mike Tyson, nobody can contain him or control him, not even
his own people. What's gonna happen next? It just kind of added to
these and by the way, in the fight because he kept he even said
after the fact that he was trying to break both his arm and back at
that time. Richard Steele was the referee who was still, you know,
one of the top refs in Vegas. He did doc points from Mike for
the infraction, which is one of the reasons why Mike was losing on the
score cards before he scored the big knockout. Matter of fact, as I
just looked up the record, I forgot that it was this why Tyson was
had lost every single round on two score cards, not to mention he had
been doc points and then he was still down on the other card also,
so saw Botha was giving him a boxing lesson then, but one shot not
boxing is different. Boxing is just different. With that. Uh. We
got nostalgic on the last podcast about George Foreman and Tito Trinidad birthdays even more
all time greats and Hall of Famer birthdays. So this past Friday, January
tenth, Joe Fraser would have been eighty coming later this week, as we
released the podcast on Wednesday, the seventeenth, Muhammad Ali would have been eighty
two. Those two were forever intertwined, obviously with their epic fight of the
century last century we're talking about, and the trilogy that ends with the thriller
in Manila. But heavyweight champions of the whole bit smoking Joe and Muhammad Ali
also birthdays five days apart for the late Fraser the late Ali. What else
nostalgic do you want to say about those two five days apart? But you
know Joe was two years younger. What is it about January when you have
George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Fraser, who were the three leading
heavyweights of the greatest era in the history of boxing in terms of that weight
class, to all be born in the month of January, not the same
year obviously, but something in the water. And then of course, and
about ten days apart on the calendar, ten days apart of the January calendars,
it turns out, Yeah, I just I find it interesting. I
mean, you know, you have the two the two heavyweight champions that had
three great fights with each other, plus Foreman, who we talked about last
week, celeb they're always intertwined with each other. And it's whether it's the
boxing matches that they had with each other, or it's the fact that their
birthdays are you know, a few days apart on the calendar. Uh,
you know Joe Fraser at you know, it would have been eighty Like you
mentioned, you want to talk about it. We were talking about, you
know, exciting fighters. We're talking about how exciting Mobilly was, and how
exciting the Maloney fight was against Stanchez and and uh and how you know exciting
Arthur Better BV is Well, you know, if you were making the Mount
Rushmore and boxing of exciting fighters, I dare say there'd be a place on
that Mount Rushmore for Joe Fraser because this was a heavyweight that didn't know anything
about clinching, taking a step back. That's true, you know, defense
defense optional, Yes, just bomb one of the great sins of all time.
And uh and listen arguably, I mean, I know he lost the
second fight to Ali, which is the least memorable of the three. He
obviously was stopped in the thriller in Manila late in that fight on the humanity
of his trainer Eddie Fodge. But what sometimes people forget is that when Ali
and Fraser met the first time that it was Joe Fraser that was the winner
of the fight. Scored a knockdown against Ali, which was rare. Mohammad
was only down a couple of times in his entire career, but he won
what some people would think of as the biggest fight in the history of boxing,
the fight of this century, two undefeated fighters, both with a claim
to the title, Madison Square Garden, March eighth, nineteen seventy one,
and it was Joe Fraser that retained the belts. Muhammada had been the lineal
champion who had been stripped and put on ice because of his refusal to go
into the army due to his religious beliefs, so he had not fought for
a few years before a comeback fight and then eventually got to fight with Fraser.
But that was as big an event as ever, and Joe was the
winner. So he's the winner of arguably the biggest fight in the history boxing.
And uh, you know, I never got a chance to like like
I meant, I got a chance in my life to at least meet Ali,
to meet Fraser. Obviously, I got to know George a little bit
more than that because I spent some time with it. But I do remember
one of my great memories. I think I've told this before. Again I
didn't. I didn't know Fraser well or anything like that. But I was
covering a fight in Atlantic City in the Boardwalk Hall, and uh, they
had a media room that was really not that big that was always kind of
too too crowded for the people that were covering the fights. But one time
we were in there before a fight, you know, getting ready to go
out to the ring side area, you know, having you know, getting
your stories together, having a little bite to eat whatever, And Joe was
in there, you know, regalling us with some stories. And Joe Frasier,
who had, you know, a pension for his love of music and
playing the guitar and that sort of stuff, he broke out into song and
started singing Blueberry Hill to myself and a couple other guys sitting there. I'll
never forget that as long as I live. So happy to stand there,
Okay, I love that to clinch it. But did you stand there for
a second going is this real life? I would have stood there and say,
it's this real life? What's going on here? But that's that's cool.
That's a cool one. I'm thinking of myself, what the fuck is
going on here? I got Joe Frazier, one of the all time greats,
who I'd never met before, is like standing like like basically touching me
as we're next to each other, and he's looking at I mean, he's
singing Blueberry Hill. I'm like, what the hell is going on here?
So this thrill moment. And uh, you know, Muhammad Ali, I
mean you could you could fill a thousand podcasts about his career in his life.
What can you say? I mean, happy birthday to both those guys,
and and uh and and as we talked about George last week. Also
and one more Bernard Hopkins on Mondays. We released the podcast January the fifteenth,
is fifty eight years old. And I know you could go on and
on about him, but say a couple of things real quick, because Bernard's
still involved obviously with Oscar de la Hoya and Golden Boy and the great career
and the Boxing Hall of Famer as well. Well. Bernard was a great
fighter. I mean he uh, he has a ton of good wins,
a ton of big wins. He has multiple upsets, which is the sign
of a great in my mind where nobody gives you a chance and you you
win the fights. And those were fights against Trinidad, who he didn't only
beat but dominate and stop. People thought he would be an underdog and lose
to Kelly Pavlick. He beat him handily, like by virtual shutout. He
was an underdog when he challenged the then lineal light heavyweight champion uh uh uh
Antonio Tarver uh and he won that, And now that was a fight.
Now I picked against Bernard in the Trinidad fight and in the Pavlock fight.
Maybe I had learned my lesson, but I picked him. That was one
of the very few that picked him out right to beat Tarvor. But Bernard
was a great fighter. We had, We've had some over the years.
I covered a lot of Bernard Hopkins fights. Definitely some down moments. But
Bernard and I are cool. He's become a friend of mine. Podcast that
Kelly Swanson got the two of you together and kind of played peacemaker and you
guys worked it all out. So you're on good terms now with Bernard.
And he's still very prevalent and around at a lot of these big events,
especially with Golden Boy with Oscar de la Hoya's promotion, et cetera. Yeah,
I mean Bernard is like like, you know, when you're a journalist
and you're a writer and you cover the fights and the fighters, you obviously
get to know them in some manner. You may not be like a deeply
personal manner, but you interact with them. You might get a chance to
meet members of their family. You know, I've met wives and daughters and
sons and fathers and mothers of fighters plenty of times. And there are certain
fighters that, through a long period of time, you develop a different kind
of relationship with. I can't tell you Bernard's like my best friend or anything
like that. And we certainly had some of our down moments here and there.
But of all the boxers I have covered, if I was making a
list of like the top few guys who I have what I believe is a
relationship that goes deeper than just being a writer and a fighter, Bernard would
be one of those guys on the top of the list, one of the
few guys like he's you know, he met my my, my parents.
You know, I have a picture of him with my baby when my son
was a baby. I have a picture of them like he gave my mom
a kiss on the cheek. I've met his family, you know, I
sit there and remember being with him at a dinner after one of his fights,
you know, with his daughter who was a baby like sleeping in his
arms, and now you know she's a grown up young woman, you know,
college graduate. I mean the time, you know, you just remember
those moments as it moves along, and you know, and I will take
the opportunity and the next you know, when it happens. We're taping this
in a couple of days, and I will text Bernard Hopkins happy birthday when
it comes along. And you know, we don't agree on a lot of
stuff, but I have a humongous amount of respect for Berna Hopkins, just
as a man. Love it well said. On all of that, we've
given you a bunch here with the fight recaps, with the news, and
now some nostalgia here to end it up again. If you enjoy this podcast,
feed, help us out, follow, subscribe, spread the word through
social sharing, and also through rating and reviewing. We love bringing it to
you off the weekend. It's the fight for each to night recap. My
friend, I appreciate it as always let's get ready for another week, looking
forward to everything that's gonna happen through the the rest of January. We're also
counting down to Fury and Usik that will now be in the month of February
as well, and a lot of good stuff in between. Now and then
with that, Dan Rayfield, have a great week, my friend TJU two.
I look forward to another good week, and now we'll be back on
the show in a few days. That is absolutely right there, he is,
there, he goes, Dan Rayfield. Follow the Fight Preach Unit substack
as well. Sign up, subscribe, be part of that newsletter, and
again follow this podcast feed and subscribe as well in all the podcast outlets for
Dan Rayfield. I'm TJ. Reeves. You've been listening to the Fight Preach Unit recap