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The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big Fight Weekend. No.

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Here is your host t J Lees
Well, believe it or not,

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it is the final show of the
month of May already, and we have

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got a business. We've got huge
fight news Spence Kawford, anyone we're ready

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to talk about that. We've got
world title fights. Dan talking to a

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former champ who's trying to get one
of those titles back this weekend in lee

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Wood. You'll hear that conversation one
on one. Thank you for finding us

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wherever you've done so. As part
of the Big Fight Weekend podcast feed.

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It is the preview show that is
out overnight Thursdays into Friday, and we

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always come off the weekend as well
recapping on the Fight Freaks Unite recap.

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I am merely the somewhat competent host. As mentioned, he is our insider

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from his Fight Freaks Unite substack and
Big Fight Weekend dot com Dan Rayphael.

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Sometimes we got to sell the show, as we like to talk about the

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show sells itself and then some I
do not want to be here until Tuesday

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on the podcast, but we could
probably be here until Tuesday if we wanted

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to how are you, my friend? I'm good. We got a lot

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to talk about, So forget the
nonsense. Let's get into it. My

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friend yet yes follows, Subscribe to
this podcast feed and let's go. Let's

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get into it again. Lee Wood
coming up, Wood Laura about to fight

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in a rematch, and a fairly
quick rematch, only about three three,

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three and a half months since they
fought last in a featherweight world title fight.

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That's one of the fights we're gonna
be previewing. You're gonna hear from

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Leewood in a few minutes. But
as we tape this and as we launch

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it overnight Thursday into Friday, it
has happened. It's not Jim Lampley screaming

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it happened. It happened about George
Foreman over Michael Moore. But it has

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happened, with both fighters confirming it. Terrence Crawford and Errol Spance. Is

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that the Hallelujah chorus I'm not gonna
sing that I hear playing in the background.

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Finally, finally they have agreed.
Eight is July twenty nine. You're

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gonna have more on all of his
I guess the first thing is how and

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why did it get across the finish
line. Now for late July undisputed World

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Welterweight Title fight mighty one. How
did it happen? It happened because Errol

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Spence wasn't taken no for an answer. It is really very similar to what

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went on in the fight that we
had a few a month or so ago

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between Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis,
where Ryan Garcia was just not taking no

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for an answer. Errol Spence,
to his own detriment, has missed out

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on at least one fight in the
rotation because he just was not going to

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walk away. Remember he ended up
letting Crawford go forward to have that fight

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with David evanission and he didn't take
a fight because he told Al Hayman,

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his adviser head of PBC, he
told his people, I want this fight.

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And you know what, it echoed
to me something that Errol told me.

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I think it was before he fought
Dane Garcia. I had done an

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interview with him. I wrote a
piece about that in advance, was a

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story for what was then the print
issue of The Ring magazine, and I

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distinctly recall, and I could dig
up the quotes. I'm pretty sure That

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was the fight where Errol told me
very specifically, I can't leave welterweight division

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with unfinished business. If I leave
without fighting Crawford, I won't be complete.

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This is my legacy fight, he
acknowledged. I think if I recall

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this as Crawford's legacy fight, and
even though it took a lot longer than

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it showed up, we should be
working on the third fight of a trilogy

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by this quint it seems to me. But the reality is Errol Spence just

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really was the driving force. He
wasn't taking no for an answer, and

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he wouldn't let it go. And
you know, I think he drove his

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own people a little bit crazy to
continue to work with Crawford to figure it

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out. Crawford as somebody that was
involved in the making of this fight very

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directly and all through the whole process, I think, half jokingly and half

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seriously said to me earlier today as
we taped this on Thursday, when I

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asked a specific question like, what
was it that changed between getting the deal

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done now then what it would have
What was going on back, you know

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a few months ago, you know, before Crawford took the AVONESC and fighting

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it was so close, and the
response to me was Crawford ran out of

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things to ask for it. So
that gives you an idea of what was

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going on. So look, Terrence
Crawford, I'm glad he took the fight.

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It does take two to tango.
He gets credit for finally making it.

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But the guy that was driving the
bus was Errol Spence junior on this

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fight, and he gave up.
I'm sure you know. I don't know

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how much he gave up personally,
but he just wouldn't allow this fight to

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get away from him. So in
the in the end result is this DJ

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And I'm not even being overly emotional
or exaggerating or or hyperbolic. This is

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I can't tell you what it's going
to do in terms of like the bigness,

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as far as the commercial success or
not take its pay per view,

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all that business, but I can
tell you from historical perspective. I'm going

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to put my bird Sugar hat on
for a quick second, please, in

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honor of my dear departed some time
mentor the great bird Sugar, and I'll

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put on the hat of my dear
friend of today, Larry Merchant, and

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I will tell you that This fight
between Errol Spence Junior and Terrence Crawford,

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from a historical perspective, is one
of the most significant fights in the history

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of boxing, and certainly in the
twenty plus years I have covered boxing.

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It is an astronomically historically important fight. And the reason is because you can

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go through history for a year,
certainly of the multi belt era for sure,

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and it is extremely difficult to find
fights that involved two undefeated fighters who

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are both champions fighting for undisputed who
are universally considered at worse like the top

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five pound for pound, who are
finally going to meet. And yes they're

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a little older in terms of their
chronological age, but neither guy has shown

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any slippage. They both looked phenomenal
in their fights. Errol, who wins

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his fights handily, he doesn't fight
as regular as we liked too, partly

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because of trying to get this fight
done. Obviously, he's had some injuries

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and same kind of thing with Crawford
as far as the lack of activity.

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But this is as high class as
it gets, There's no question about it.

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So to me, there is no
better fight. It's the bottom mind.

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This is the summit meeting of Summit
meetings. When Tommy Hearns fought Ray

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Leonard, which is a comparable welterweight
championship fight in my mind, they were

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not both undefeated. Ray, as
great as he was, had been defeated

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by Roberto Durant. The only fight
I can think of, and again this

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was not for undisputed, but a
fight that comes to mind when Tito Trinidad

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fought Oscar deal La Joya. They
were they had two of the welterweight title,

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one had one title, one had
the other title. They were both

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undefeated, they obviously were younger,
and they met for what was considered supremacy.

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They were both among the top pound
for pound fighters in boxing. But

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it's really really hard to find these
types of fights it, you know,

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if you take a look as a
recent example, take for example, the

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Junior welt undisputed fight that took place
two years ago this week, Jose Ramirez

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against Josh Taylor for all four belts. They were both undefeated and that was

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a huge matchup and no knock on
either Josh Taylor or Jose Ramires. But

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at the moment that that fight was
consummated and put together and finally took place,

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in the ring, they were neither
one of them were considered top ten

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or top five pound for pound guys. That's the difference here is they're undefeated

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champions and they're considered at the absolute
elite level of the sport, both men.

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And it's an awesome, awesome fight, and I'm so happy it's happening,

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and I will look forward to being
in Las Vegas in July and I

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just can't get can't can't wait for
the fight. I mean now, I

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mean, I know, I was
kind of down and bitter about this fight

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not happening, and I was not
emotional about it because I said, if

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it happens, it happens. I
wasn't going to get caught up in it.

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But now that it's done, I'm
all pumped up for it. I

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think everybody else should be. I
love the reference to what Leonard and Hearns

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was back now some forty two years
ago, that that took place in nineteen

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eighty one. My god, were
getting old that they were in their early

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twenties. Now. One of the
interesting things is, obviously Leonard had been

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an Olympic champion, and boxing was
so much more mainstream and being and being

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covered differently in terms of national significance
Front Page News, etc. Etc.

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And the fighters fighting on network TV
with fifteen million, twenty million, at

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times thirty million. If they fought
in primetime, which Leonard did, watching

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them on TV, it was a
much more magnitude significant fight. But it

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does bring up a very interesting comparison
with both of these guys undefeated and at

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the top of their game. I'm
gonna tell you sure, go ahead.

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It won't shock me at all because
the people that are involved with Showtime and

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PBC who are going to do this
fight on pay per view TGB Promotions,

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they know the deal. I would
be very surprised if you don't see Tommy

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Hearns and Ray Leonard hired and brought
in to help with the promotion of this

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fight because a lot of the comparisons
of this are going to be made to

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their great fight from nineteen eighty one. There's no doubt my mind about that

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that is going to be a talking
point for this fight, and it,

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you know, other than the age
difference, yes, but it they are

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comparable in the sense of what those
guys were. Now. I don't know

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if anybody is like the puncher that
Tommy Hearns was. But they both are

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good punchers, and they both obviously
are great boxers. And even though Ray

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was a gold medalist, you do
have and and Tommy was also a top

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notch amateur. In this case you
have both guys. Crawford and Spence were

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both excellent amateurs, not Olympic medalists. But Errol Spence was an Olympian.

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He did advance to my recollection,
to the quarterfinals that year. And you

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talk about network television, I mean, obviously it's not the same today as

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it was then. But Crawford has
performed in front of big audiences on ESPN.

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Errol Spence has performed in front of
big audience. Remember he had a

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fight that took place on NBC in
the slot. This is back when PBC

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was still doing fights with NBC.
He had a fight that had the glory

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that the perfect spot purposely done.
He thought a fight was actually his eliminator

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fight to get his first chance to
fight for a World TI. He fought

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in the slot right after the United
States won the men's basketball gold medal live

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on NBC on a Saturday late afternoon. So you know, he has gotten

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that kind of notoriety he's fought a
big fights. He's you know, at

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and T Stadium. He's had several
pay per view fights that have performed pretty

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well. Maybe not at the million
level obviously, but I'm gonna tell you

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right now, Terence Crawford and Errol
Spence, I'm not sure it necessarily guess

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at the level of a Tank Davis
and Vane are Vante Davis and Ryan Garcia

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in terms of the pay per view
of the one point two million because they

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brought in so many fans that were
not traditional boxing fans. But I don't

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have any doubt that if you're a
boxing fan, how are you not buying

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Errol Spence Terence Crawford. If you
don't buy that fight, what are you

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doing? And I think it will
get more mainstream coverage as June becomes July,

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it will start to get more mainstream
coverage on ESPN and through Fox Sports

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and through all the other outlets Yahoo, etcetera, etcetera. And what we

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do, it'll get more mainstream coverage
though of those different outlets and including newspapers

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will care all over the country big
time and give it some push. One

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of the reasons for that, and
we discussed this in the build up to

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them trying to make this deal,
it was very important to everybody if it

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was going to happen. They wanted
this fight done and in the ring before

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the end of August. And the
reason was because once you get training camp

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going with NFL and you hit you
know, the playoff drive in baseball and

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college football starts to have their practices
and kick off the season and all that,

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you start to be squeezed out of
the of the oxygen of the sports

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landscape starts to be taken away.
If you're fighting a fight like this and

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it's going to take place, you
know, at that time of year,

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what July twenty ninth, I mean, football is still a few weeks away

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from anything. There is no basketball
or hockey or college sports at all.

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Baseballs and the you know the dog
days. You know, there's a pay

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race, but that's the daily thing. It's not like it's gonna take up

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that much oxygen. You know,
I have to look and see, you

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know, I don't know the dates
of like the the big you know,

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a golf or tennis race, tennis
tournament or something lad or auto races,

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but basically the fight has will have
a chance to breathe. They've got it

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done in plenty of time. Here
we are, we're not even at the

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end of May. Yet they got
a full two month runway to do what

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they gotta do, and I know
they're gear enough for what I think will

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be a great promotion. I know
that both boxers, from what I am

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told, understand they have responsibilities that
are willing to embrace that in terms of

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doing their uh you know, fan
interactions and media obligations and social media presences

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and all that stuff not really a
big thing with Spence. He's good at

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that, even if he's not got
the most boisterous or outgoing personality, but

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he's great with his media. Crawford
has not always been so great. But

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I think he's going to be geared
up for this kind of megafight and he'll

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enjoy that attention and the discussion about
this being such a huge fight. And

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listen, here's the thing. The
winner of this fight walks away as the

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undisputed welterweight champion of the world,
and I think de penning out the fight

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goes very very likely will be considered
not just by some people because right now

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there's a debate. Some people might
say it's Beevil. Some people might say

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it's in a way. Some people
might have h Crawford or Spence or but

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I mean the point is there.
It's an open discussion right now who's number

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one pound for pounds since the defeat
of Canelo Alvarez and the first in the

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fight with Beevil. I think the
winner of this fight, it's gonna really,

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you know, assuming it's a clean
decision or knockout, pretty sure that

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this is going to be one of
those deals where okay, that guy's pound

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for pound. That's a universal sort
of situation, and uh, you know,

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it's a huge, huge, huge
fight. We can't overstand enough.

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I had two more points on this, and then we're going to move along

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due there is a rematch clause,
so we're probably I was coming to that.

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You gotta you gotta let me get
in because I was coming to that

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right The first thing. The first
thing is I wonder, and you may

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and I've I've talked to a couple
of people. I wonder how much it

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helped that the Garcia, the Davis
Garcia pay per view did as well as

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it did, and it helped infuse
maybe some money, some revenue to help

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lay out some guaranteed money, because
again, if we go back in the

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chronology of this last fall, Roll
Spence talked about neither one of us are

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gonna get guaranteed money right now for
this fight, and Crawford would not go

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along with that. He ended up
taking guaranteed money from BLK Prime, who

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put the pay per view on for
his title defense. So I wonder on

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that point, before we get to
the rematch part, do you believe that

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the Davis Garcia's success and the financial
windfall for PBC and Showtime help get this

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across the finish line, because maybe
they have a little more guaranteed money or

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some guaranteed money that they didn't have
last fall. By their own admission,

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the answer to that is the answer
to that is no. And despite some

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reports that are out there, I
am told by people directly involved in this

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fight that that has not changed.
There are still no guarantees. Wow.

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But I think both boxers and everybody
involved knows that the fight's gonna do well

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based on what we just talked about
with the take and right fight. What

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do you need to guarantee for?
How would it matter if you, let's

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just mean making this up. You
guarantee Crawford and spense like seven million dollars

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a piece or something like that.
The fight's gonna do enough business where they're

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going to make that much easily.
It's like not even really that much of

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a risk, it seems to me. So at what point, you know,

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would you be satisfied with the guarantee. So I think by not taking

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guarantee, they both are going to
be cut in for a substantial, obviously

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amount of the revenue. They've worked
out a way that it's going to be

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accounted for in a way that Crawford
is comfortable with, because that was one

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of the issues that caused the thing
to go downhill the last time around.

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And so they're going to go out
there and do their job, which is

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twofold threefold. Train your ass off, do your appearances, your media and

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your promotion, and then go in
the ring and give it all you got

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and put on a great fight.
And so then the follow up is what

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you alluded to, is the rematch, because I had heard, and again

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you're much tighter and around the circles
that the big hang up was that Terence

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Crawford only wanted a one off here
and did not want this to be a

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two fight situation with a rematch,
if not an automatic rematch. What do

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we know as we sit here with
this being announced on is there already an

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automatic rematch clause for either one or
both of them in the event of whoever

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wins, and did they get that
worked out where there's gonna be a second

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fight? I wonder about that.
My understanding again from people involved in the

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event, is that is it that
that that the loser of the fight has

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the right to an automatic rematch,
and that that automatic rematch, if they

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elect to go forward with that automatic
rematch, should they, you know,

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whatever happens, that that rematch must
take place by the end of the calendar

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year of twenty and twenty three,
so basically a fight in July and whatever

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happens, you know, obviously I
don't know the details as far as like

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if there's an injury or that type
of thing, but in general terms,

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the rematch, if there is one
and the loser opts to have it,

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which you gotta figure probably would um
that it will have to be in the

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ring before the end of this year, which means that you're gonna have those

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guys are going to have you know, they haven't fought that many. That's

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that's a quick turnaround for guys that
are usually off for a year, you

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know. But still, if you
have to find in late July and you

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go five months to the end of
you know, Novamber or in December or

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pick a date, you can do
that no reason. I mean, really,

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what it will come down to is
it means that both Crawford and Spence

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will have fought two times in twenty
twenty three, which, in this day

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and age, for a fighter of
that level, two times a year is

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normal. It's what's not normal is
that it's two times within that short space

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where there's been a long lay up
before that. But the main thing is

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hopefully it's a great fight, because
we're gonna end up having to see a

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rematch, and sometimes that's good and
sometimes that's bad. As an example,

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uh, you know, we're gonna
probably end up seeing a rematch between Joe

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Joyce and zang Zilei for example.
I mean, it was a pretty one

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sided kind of fight. I mean, I don't know if anybody's totally amped

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up for the rematch. We've seen
examples of that in the past of fights

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that there was a rematch and you
end up having to see the sequel.

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We did it with with Devin Hainey
and George Cambosas where it Steven Heeney ran

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him out of the ring in the
first fight, but we were subjected to

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the second fight because of the contract. So you know, you can't have

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it both ways. So if the
rematch happens and everybody in the first fight's

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not what they hoped it for,
I don't want hear anybody bitch and moan,

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because if you don't have the rematch, quause you don't get the first

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fight, and the first fight's most
important. Amen. Amen. And on

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that point, like Fury and Wilder
agreed to a two fight deal, had

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the fight in February of twenty twenty, and then the COVID nineteen pandemic craziness

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happened, which delayed things, but
ultimately because they had agreed to a rematch,

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it got enforced and we got a
great third fight, a great follow

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up fight. So who probably the
best, Well, yeah, it's it's

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definitely the best of the three,
and it is one of the best heavyweight

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fights. Uh, it's certainly the
last twenty five years of what of what

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went on? So who knows with
the rematch. So we're excited obviously about

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this. Now there's much more to
get to world title fights, etc.

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But before you and I do the
breakdown, you talked to the former champ

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who's looking to get his belt back. We're talking now about Lee Wood about

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to fight Mauricio Laura of Mexico in
speaking of rematches, in an immediate rematch

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from a fight early in twenty twenty
three. Now they're right back in the

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ring here in late May, Laura
stopping Wood with a big left hook,

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knocked down and then and then Wood's
corner throw in the towel. Dan Rayfield

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spoke with Lee Wood about getting the
rematch opportunity, trying to get the w

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BA featherweight title back, and more. Let's go to that conversation right now

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in the preview book. I'm very
pleased to welcome to the podcast this week.

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It is the former WBA Featherweight Champion
of the world. It's Lee Wood.

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Lee, you got an important fight, a rematch with Mauricio Laura coming

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up. Thank you for doing this. How's everything going getting ready for this

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00:19:45,799 --> 00:19:52,720
very important fight? Yeah, but
really really good preparation this fight. I'm

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00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:57,880
extremely confident and said that it's called
up for me and people bla whoa saving

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since the last fight. I'm ready
and I can't wait to get in now.

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00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:04,880
Well it is a quick turner on. I'll just remind people you're going

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to fight Mauricio Laura in the rematch, the immediate rematch. It's going to

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be on the zone this Saturday,
Manchester, England, and you're hoping to

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regain that title. And if we
go back and take a look at the

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first fight, you said it's been
a quick turn on. The first fight

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was on February the eighteenth, so
not a lot of waste of time.

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00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,480
First of all, how quickly did
you go back into camp after that fight?

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How much time did you take off? Well, the week after that

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holiday book with my kids, so
I went to the buy for just a

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week. But if he runs out
there to just to kind of tick over,

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didn't want to get fat and put
weight on, so I just did

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a few runs, came on finish
to the average level. I came back

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and training and not him for five
days and then the following Monday I went

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back into training twice a day in
Essex pretty much straight away, and the

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massive break which is good. I
feel I do feel good. I feel

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fresh. I didn't feel labored and
like I said, ready to go.

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So he stopped you in the seven
round of that first fight. You were

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00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,240
ahead on all three scorecards at the
time of the stop, but you were

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00:21:03,319 --> 00:21:07,119
up fifty eight fifty six on two
of the scorecards and fifty nine to fifty

324
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,000
five on the other scorecard, And
obviously you were doing very well on the

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00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:15,160
fight. I wonder when that when
the stoppage occurred and you then had to

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00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,920
sit down with your people and talk
to Eddie Hearn, your promoter, and

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00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,839
make a decision about whether you were
to invoke your right to an immediate rematch.

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Did you ever have any second thoughts
and maybe about doing something elsewhere?

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Was it always there was zero doubt
you're going to do this to fight again?

330
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,200
Ye had never another no doubt.
I wanted that rematch straight away.

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00:21:33,279 --> 00:21:36,920
There's never any other option in my
head. I didn't even take me time

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00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:41,759
to get out the ring because if
his interviews you can watch with the zone,

333
00:21:41,839 --> 00:21:44,039
I was sit in the ring.
He asked me about that as I

334
00:21:44,039 --> 00:21:47,440
won the real much and I want
it straight away. You know, I

335
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,079
felt like I was not only winning
their runs. But you know I was

336
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,680
breaking down. I was established myself
really well, and in fact, the

337
00:21:53,759 --> 00:21:56,960
round six was too well. I
started learning big shots, and I went

338
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,119
away from what was setting up them
big shots and just looking for the big

339
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:04,400
shots on their own. And he
was breathing heavy. I went away from

340
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:10,079
the set up and started holding my
feet and paid the price. Now when

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00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,039
you you know, you got stopped, but it's not like you were out

342
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:17,400
cold or anything like that. You
got up, the referee was wiping your

343
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,240
gloves off. It felt it felt
like, and watching the fight live,

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that the ref was absolutely going to
allow you to continue. You seem poised

345
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,160
to go forward. There were six
seconds left in the round. I know

346
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,920
that you and your team don't know
exactly the number of seconds left, but

347
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,200
I know experienced boxing people have a
rough idea. So two things about that

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00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:36,759
number One, did you think you
could continue? You felt it looked like

349
00:22:36,799 --> 00:22:41,960
you were ready to go. Yeah, But I'll rather a card out to

350
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,920
be honest. You know, I'm
always I haven't got a quit in there.

351
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,079
I don't never want anyone to the
fight on my bit off, you

352
00:22:48,079 --> 00:22:52,880
know. But that's why that's why
about cornments want too. Sometimes you need

353
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:57,160
to be saved by yourself. And
that's why Benz is there to look after

354
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:02,400
me. He knew that very much
wars and regardless of we're never I'm going

355
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,480
to know if Marcella would have come
over and you know, promote me and

356
00:23:06,519 --> 00:23:10,039
knocked me out, or he could
have punched himself out, try and knock

357
00:23:10,079 --> 00:23:11,160
me out and then out of back
into the fight, or the bell would

358
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,359
have gone and out have been our
eye. And but I'll say legs for

359
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:15,640
a bit of it turned the round
again. You know, we're never gonna

360
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,119
know, But in my head,
I rob we get comed out one on,

361
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,759
one eye, one leg, whatever, just keep on going. That's

362
00:23:22,839 --> 00:23:25,920
that's my mentality. And that's why
ben is to look after me. And

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00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,559
I understand that completely. And that's
the you know, the trainer has to

364
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,759
be those eyes and ears for the
fighter. Obviously, um I was a

365
00:23:32,759 --> 00:23:34,799
little surprised, to be honest with
you, just and not because it was

366
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,119
one knockdown. You were up ready
to go. It seemed like that the

367
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,160
referee was about to let you go. There were six seconds left and like

368
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,440
I said, Ben doesn't know exactly
the time, but he's an experienced trainer.

369
00:23:45,519 --> 00:23:48,039
He knows there's not much time at
all. Um, So okay,

370
00:23:48,039 --> 00:23:51,839
he stopped the fight. You obviously
acknowledged that, you accepted that. I

371
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,400
just wonder when it was all said
and done, you guys reconvened, did

372
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,279
you guys ever have a discussion about
his reasons or what made him do that

373
00:23:59,519 --> 00:24:03,480
or your thoughts about that and how
did that go? Yeah, because of

374
00:24:03,599 --> 00:24:07,160
course we spoke straight away, and
we spoking the changing, spoking the gym

375
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,640
as well, I thought, And
it's so much stake you need to put

376
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:12,200
to take the risk when you got
remuch, when you don't need to take

377
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,920
that risk. We didn't want to
find out what was going to happen.

378
00:24:17,079 --> 00:24:18,359
I just wanted to be safe,
pacey. If you had the real much

379
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,960
clause, why risk it? And
that's been the point of view, is

380
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,279
there to look after? Why take
the risk when you don't need to.

381
00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:29,359
So, as we just mentioned,
you were winning the fight doing so seemed

382
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:30,640
kind of handily to be honest with
you, I mean you said you were

383
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,039
breaking them down. That's kind of
what it felt like in terms of watching

384
00:24:33,079 --> 00:24:37,599
it from my point of view.
And then it was the left hook that

385
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,920
that really did the damage. And
was able to be responsible for putting you

386
00:24:41,039 --> 00:24:44,400
on the canvas and ultimately the stoppage. So I wonder as you go in

387
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,559
you have to be confident because you
were handling him in a very good way

388
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,559
prior to that shot. Is this
just a matter of, you know,

389
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,599
what we were doing really well?
We got to fix one thing and that

390
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,400
should just make sure that every single
moment of this fight we're aware of his

391
00:24:56,519 --> 00:25:00,079
left hand. Is that really what
it comes down to. Yeah, it's

392
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,640
not quite that simple, but we
made some adjustments to do an even better

393
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,559
job this time. You know,
I was felt like I was in control

394
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,200
after the first two three Ryans.
You know, he's always dangerous and he

395
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,359
will sling shots and is a bit
predictable. But as soon as that first

396
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,519
initial put him out in stage of
his fight, which is quite full of

397
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:23,240
energy, it goes it's all my
fight, and there is things that I

398
00:25:23,319 --> 00:25:26,880
need to be careful of. And
I made a mistake last time. I

399
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,519
know why I did it and where
did it, what happened, and how

400
00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:33,599
I should not go about that and
make sure I didn't do it again.

401
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,160
So it's not really a case of
just not do one thing again. It's

402
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:41,640
more of do more of this,
take away his moments of that, do

403
00:25:41,839 --> 00:25:44,559
more of this that will take away
moments of this, and I'm going to

404
00:25:44,599 --> 00:25:48,319
be pretty much after a little bit
of time. I'm after that being complete

405
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,519
control of this fight. Now,
I want to just go back, prior

406
00:25:52,599 --> 00:25:56,279
to this fight being made, you
were supposed to fight Leo Santa Cruz that

407
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,519
dragged out forever. He was the
super champion in the w BA. You

408
00:25:59,559 --> 00:26:00,880
know, we don't rehash all the
back and forth, but you were the

409
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,119
regular champion. The fight was ordered, he'd been off for a long time.

410
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,279
You were the de facto champion because
you were the guy that was fighting

411
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:12,319
an active You had the big win
over Michael Common and he was not even

412
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:17,240
fighting in the weight division for the
last few years. How annoyed were you

413
00:26:17,319 --> 00:26:18,680
that he dragged it out or their
side dragged it out for a song.

414
00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:21,920
I mean, it felt like you
guys were ready to do the fight if

415
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,160
you could work it out, and
he just took it to the last minute

416
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,839
and ultimately vacated. And you know, you ended up making this match up

417
00:26:29,079 --> 00:26:32,720
the first fight with Mauricio Lara.
Uh did the whole Santa Cruz things just

418
00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:36,839
sort of like irritate you the way
that it was handled. Yeah, it

419
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,279
did. It was hi me a
little bit, you know. Um,

420
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,359
fun As did it four years I
think since he last popped that way,

421
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:48,240
which is crazy. It was like
three years plus. Yeah, I can

422
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,960
went up on the world title.
Um, I considered myself to be the

423
00:26:52,079 --> 00:26:56,640
world champion. That's how if I
want to be Zukhan and then on the

424
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,880
match and fight com, that's what
I decided. That's what I well,

425
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,000
you know what, he is an
active I'm in the one. I'm board

426
00:27:07,079 --> 00:27:10,680
champion, and we tried to make
that five many times. It just never

427
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:12,799
materialized. And I was willing to
do anything to meet that fight as well.

428
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,680
So I think after that, I'll
just considered myself to be board champion

429
00:27:17,759 --> 00:27:21,759
the godless of what everyone else said, especially getting the good good wins and

430
00:27:21,839 --> 00:27:23,960
if the zoo com was a good
win and mile column is a good win

431
00:27:25,039 --> 00:27:29,000
as well, so like that limit
legitimized it. Yeah. Absolutely. I

432
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,279
want to ask you about that Colon
fight, because people still talk about that

433
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,440
fight. They still rave about it
and talk about the knockout and talk about

434
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,759
your comeback and just how great the
fight was. On people picked it as

435
00:27:37,799 --> 00:27:40,440
the fight of the year. I
picked it as the knockout of the year.

436
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,920
A lot of people did you stopped
him in the twelfth round. You

437
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,160
were behind them, you know,
in the card the fight against Laura,

438
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,559
you were winning on the cards.
To fight against Michael, you were down

439
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,400
on the cards, but you had
this incredible comeback, one of the best

440
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:52,960
ones I can think of. And
I've been doing this for a very long

441
00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:56,279
time. What was it like for
you just emotionally to not only make the

442
00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,759
comeback, but to score that kind
of knockout, keep the title, do

443
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,000
it at home in front of the
home crowd going absolutely crazy. Uh.

444
00:28:03,279 --> 00:28:07,200
That sounded like a kind of moment
that any I would think, any professional

445
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,359
would really dream about that situation.
To be honest, I think it's going

446
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,000
to be a fight in a moment
that lives with me the rest of my

447
00:28:15,079 --> 00:28:19,200
life. You know, everywhere I
go people mentioned that fight my friends and

448
00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:22,839
my family no matter where it is
or someone always stops that fight. But

449
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:29,079
it was a magical moment. I
put so much into that camp. There

450
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,519
isn't the way I was going to
walk away from or give up or when

451
00:28:32,599 --> 00:28:34,759
things got hard. You know,
that's not me anyway. But that fight,

452
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,039
especially after the needle, after him
what was said to build up what

453
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,839
was on the line. There's so
much into it, being in my own

454
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:48,119
city and just a special night and
what ended up being a special when in

455
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,240
the way that woman as well,
no question, So I just want to

456
00:28:52,279 --> 00:28:55,519
wrap it up with this. Then
you're fighting a really hot division featherway.

457
00:28:55,559 --> 00:28:59,920
It's it's uh, there's as many
interesting and exciting guys and guys that claimed

458
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:00,720
titles, you know, it's been
in quite a while like that. So

459
00:29:00,839 --> 00:29:04,400
you fight the rematch with Mauricio Laura, try to get that title back on

460
00:29:04,519 --> 00:29:08,160
Saturday. Coincidentally, I guess just
up the road, so to speak,

461
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:14,559
in Belfast, Michael He's gonna challenge
the IBF champion Louis Alberto Lopez for his

462
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,359
belt on the same day. There's
also Robesi Ramirez who's a recent you know,

463
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,559
had recently won the WBO title.
Ray Vargas has been around for a

464
00:29:21,559 --> 00:29:23,319
while with a WBC title, just
a one loss out of the weight class.

465
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,039
There's Brandon Figuero with the interim champion. Point is, there's a lot

466
00:29:26,079 --> 00:29:29,359
of exciting guys, a lot of
guys you can mix and match and make

467
00:29:29,359 --> 00:29:32,119
a whole bunch of good fights.
So I think to myself, what's the

468
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,000
big fight out there that Lee Wood
dreams about? You know, if you

469
00:29:34,079 --> 00:29:37,720
get your title back, and I
have to wonder if Michael wins on Saturday.

470
00:29:37,759 --> 00:29:41,200
Man, isn't the rematch between you
and Michael like the biggest fight in

471
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,599
the division. Yeah, I think
that is the biggest fight and noticing the

472
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,839
division, but it's one of boxing's
biggest rematches. If we both have a

473
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,839
world title as well, and you
know, I'm not sure if Michael chows

474
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,039
not being manager for that belt or
not, I'm not sure what that anans

475
00:29:57,039 --> 00:30:02,960
an answerment, but if that can
be made and provide them both confer on

476
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:04,599
Saturday night, which I'm confident I
can. I'm looking at at that fire

477
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,839
I do and pick me to win
that fight. It's a massive fine.

478
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,599
It's one that would I would be
up into going forward me and forward taking

479
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:18,000
and it would have to be the
city ground there you guys that have a

480
00:30:18,079 --> 00:30:19,480
big, big crowd there, no
doubt about it. But first you got

481
00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:22,880
to take care of your business on
Saturday. I mean there'll be a big

482
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,279
crowd there in Manchester, I'm sure. Anyway, Lee, thank you very

483
00:30:26,359 --> 00:30:27,799
much for joining me today. I
appreciate it. I wish you nothing but

484
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:33,319
the best on Saturday. Brilliant and
like I said me, I want to

485
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:36,799
stand confident and I get his job
done and in great fashion as well.

486
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:38,920
To make sure you tune in and
then when ilse watching and make sure you

487
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,359
tun and Saturday night. There you
got everybody there is Leewood looking to regain

488
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:47,000
the WBA featherweight title on Saturday.
Lead good luck, thanks a lot,

489
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,200
cheers, nice job, and thanks
again to the folks at match Room Boxing

490
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,839
and with Woods promotional team, et
cetera for making that happen. You've been

491
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,480
killing it as of late with the
guests and getting them on here on the

492
00:31:00,559 --> 00:31:03,200
show. All right, you were
able to talk to him and get the

493
00:31:03,279 --> 00:31:07,519
breakdown there from him. It is
kind of it's unfinished business for him and

494
00:31:07,559 --> 00:31:11,920
it's a real risk for him that
if Laura beats him again immediately here just

495
00:31:12,119 --> 00:31:15,359
I mean, he didn't take a
fight in between, He took an immediate

496
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,960
rematch. Here we go again with
rematches, Dan Raphael, So here we

497
00:31:18,079 --> 00:31:22,519
go with this one on Saturday afternoon
US times, Saturday Night coming up in

498
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,240
England. Yeah, the main event
on his own like the first fight was.

499
00:31:26,319 --> 00:31:30,400
And listen, this is not like
the type of situation where we just

500
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,839
talked about, like if the rematch
comes after a fight where there's really no

501
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,039
reason for rematch. This was a
kind of fight where he certainly can understand

502
00:31:37,039 --> 00:31:40,559
a rematch. Lee Wood and Laura
had a very good fight the first time

503
00:31:40,559 --> 00:31:42,319
around. That was on February the
eighteenth, and Lee Wood was winning.

504
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,839
He was up on all three score
cards, and he was kind of start

505
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,400
to break Maurice Laura down. He
felt like that when he talked to the

506
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,559
interview, as you heard, I
sort of thought that when I'm watching it.

507
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,279
But he came through with that big
left hook and he put him on

508
00:31:55,319 --> 00:31:59,079
the floor, and Ben Davison,
the trainer for Lee Wood, elected to

509
00:31:59,079 --> 00:32:01,119
stop the fight. The one thing
I didn't love about the interview, and

510
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,400
I can't I don't blame lee Would
for this, but I didn't love the

511
00:32:04,519 --> 00:32:07,200
fact that it was in the mind
of him and the trainer where if I

512
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:09,960
stopped the fight were good because we
got the rematch in our back pocket.

513
00:32:10,279 --> 00:32:14,000
If he wasn't armed with the rematch, you know, he'd be forced to

514
00:32:14,039 --> 00:32:15,440
sort of go through a little bit
more adversity and see what could happen,

515
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:20,640
because as him and I discussed,
I know there was this was somewhat controversial.

516
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,119
He got knocked down, he got
up, he seemed okay. They

517
00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,160
were wiping his gloves off, the
referee was about to let them go and

518
00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,759
he then Davison threw in the towel
and Leewood immediately looked at the trainer like

519
00:32:30,799 --> 00:32:34,119
what are you doing? And that
was the end of it. So it

520
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,440
felt like in that moment, and
also, there's only six sections left in

521
00:32:37,519 --> 00:32:39,720
the round. Now, I know
that the boxer and that the trainer don't

522
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,440
know exactly how much time is left. But trust me, Ben Davison didn't

523
00:32:43,519 --> 00:32:46,839
experienced trainer and boxers know in their
mind a three minute interval. They know

524
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:52,960
that they cured the clapper or whatever
to signal ten seconds. You know there's

525
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,799
a few seconds left that it's pretty
much the round is coming to a close.

526
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,799
So I didn't love that part of
it. But at the end of

527
00:32:57,839 --> 00:33:00,960
the day, he got stopped.
He didn't, you know, get two

528
00:33:01,039 --> 00:33:05,160
upset with his trainer. He said, he took a couple of days with

529
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,880
a family vacation and was right back
in the gym and he's ready to go,

530
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,640
and so it should be another good
fight. Lara has gone to England

531
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:15,119
before and pulled the upsets. He's
done it against uh you know, obviously

532
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,920
he did it in this fight against
uh Leewood the first time around. Um,

533
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:22,160
you know, he's gonna be not
like his first rodeo so to speak.

534
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,119
He did it against Josh Warrington when
they met the first pass in twenty

535
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:28,759
twenty one. Look, it's a
it's a very good it's a very good

536
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,319
featherweight title fight. That one of
two very good featherweight title fights. We'll

537
00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:36,720
talk about the other one, which
is the Luis Alberto Lopez Michael Conlin fight.

538
00:33:36,799 --> 00:33:38,200
That's, as I like to joke, up the road if you will,

539
00:33:38,279 --> 00:33:40,799
in Delfast, Northern Ireland, across
the river, across the water,

540
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,079
I guess also on Saturday. But
Leewood and Laura is a good fight.

541
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:52,039
I don't know if there was a
bigger fight that that Lee could have done.

542
00:33:52,119 --> 00:33:55,079
He said he never hesitated about about
taking the rematch, and as I

543
00:33:55,119 --> 00:33:57,960
said to Lee when we were talking
about it, to here at the very

544
00:33:58,039 --> 00:34:00,039
end of the interview, if he
wins the fight and regains the title,

545
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:05,240
and Michael Conlin comes through against Lopez. One of the biggest fights you could

546
00:34:05,279 --> 00:34:08,840
make is a rematch being Leewood and
Michael Conlin after their classic that happened last

547
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,960
year. Again, we will make
predictions on this fight. The first plug

548
00:34:13,039 --> 00:34:15,360
that we have for the bet Us
Boxing Show that we do Friday's live one

549
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:19,239
Eastern time. Depending on when you're
hearing us on this podcast, you may

550
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,280
see that later on in replay for
him later Friday or Saturday, but one

551
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:28,199
Eastern time we're live talking Laura Wood
and the rematch. Listen. We were

552
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,159
on the recap podcast. We were
on the front end saying both of us

553
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:36,400
disagreed, thought thought that fight should
have continued, and it is fascinating.

554
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,320
I don't know in that moment how
much they were thinking we got a rematch

555
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:44,239
here as much as Davison was concerned, my fighter is hurt, maybe overreacted

556
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:46,280
throwing the towel in trust me,
Ben, Davison knew that. You knew

557
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,840
that it is I know that he
knew that, but in that very moment,

558
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,360
I don't know. But in any
event, here it is here,

559
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,079
it is with the rematch, and
all of it's on the line there for

560
00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:58,880
that. And by the way,
just real quick, while we're on this

561
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,400
car Jack Catterall is also on this
card, real quick before we move off

562
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,920
of it. Anything else besides Catterall
here. Well, it's just it's gonna

563
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:07,039
be good to get Jack back in
the ring. I mean, he hasn't

564
00:35:07,079 --> 00:35:09,480
fought in a while. He was
supposed to obviously that there was so much

565
00:35:09,519 --> 00:35:15,679
talking discussh met him having the rematch
after his very very controversial defeat against Josh

566
00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:19,119
Taylor. That was in February of
twenty twenty two. He has not fought

567
00:35:19,199 --> 00:35:22,440
since then. They tried to make
that rematch several times. There was different

568
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,719
issues, whether it was scheduling on
behalf of the network or it was an

569
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,880
injury. Obviously Josh Taylor had the
foot problem, and once that happened,

570
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,159
it was postponed yet again. The
WBO ordered Taylor's mandatory against tithe Me Lopez.

571
00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:36,880
Taylor ended up taking that fight.
Catterall actually switched promoters now he's with

572
00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:39,519
Eddie Herr and Natural Boxing El.
Anyway, it didn't happen, and so

573
00:35:40,559 --> 00:35:43,199
you know, he had to get
back in the ring at some point.

574
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,320
So fortunately he's back in the ring
on this card with Laura and Lee Wood.

575
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,559
You know, he's not fighting like
a big name. It's sort of

576
00:35:50,559 --> 00:35:52,840
like bet back in the ring and
see what you can do shake off the

577
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:57,440
RUSS against darg Foley. And if
he comes through the fight, you know,

578
00:35:57,599 --> 00:36:00,800
I think Jack Catterall will do him
is a very possible opponent for Regis

579
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,119
program, one of two. Frankly, look, Regis, as we all

580
00:36:04,159 --> 00:36:07,280
know, signed with Matchrium. He's
got the fight coming up against the late

581
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:14,280
replacement dan Alito Zaria because the original
opponent in and Liam Parol dropped out with

582
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,199
an injury. So if he wins
that fight, he's then going to fight

583
00:36:17,519 --> 00:36:21,199
later this year. It's got a
second fight coming up this year. The

584
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,800
obvious candidates that Eddie Herness spoken about
and also that that Regis told me in

585
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:30,199
our interview that played on the podcast
not that long ago. The two guys

586
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,119
that are obvious, it's one is
Catterall who's also with Natural, and the

587
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:36,400
other one is the winner of the
fight that was just announced between Richards and

588
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,480
Hitchins and Montana Love. So those
two guys would seem to be the logical

589
00:36:39,559 --> 00:36:43,880
choices. And if if Catterall can
come through on Saturday and look pretty good.

590
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,480
He can put himself in a pretty
good position to get that shot,

591
00:36:45,519 --> 00:36:49,800
and he would you know, he
would probably deserve it, all right.

592
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:55,159
Moving on also Saturday afternoon US time. This is BT Sport in the UK,

593
00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:01,719
ESPN Plus in the US, Saturday
afternoon Louise Alberto Lopez Michael Conlin mc

594
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:07,119
Conlin for Lopez his IBF featherweight title. And this obviously does tie back as

595
00:37:07,159 --> 00:37:10,880
you mentioned to Lee Wood having scored
a spectacular knockout in a back and forth

596
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:15,559
fight with Conlin where he'd literally knocked
Conlin out of the ring, knocked him

597
00:37:15,559 --> 00:37:19,119
out and knocked him out of the
ring in the final round of the fight.

598
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:23,039
So Conlin back in a world title
fight in Belfast, which second week

599
00:37:23,119 --> 00:37:29,519
in a row where Bellfast in Northern
Ireland, Dublin in Ireland on the very

600
00:37:29,599 --> 00:37:31,760
much worldwide landscape here in terms of
boxing. All right, So give me

601
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:38,239
some more on this Lopez and Conlin
here in the preview mode. Well,

602
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:43,280
the thing about Louis Alberto Lopez is
he kind of has come out of nowhere

603
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,039
in many ways the same way that
Mauricio Lard did. You know, he

604
00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:47,679
was just sort of an unknown kind
of guy from Mexico, who had a

605
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,039
good record that you know, could
fight a little bit and made a good

606
00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:52,519
fight and had a good punch and
all that, but really hadn't had a

607
00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:57,320
chance to fight the top names.
Wasn't all that well known. But what

608
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:00,840
happened with Lopez is a couple of
things. One, he was put on

609
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:04,920
an ESPN show as the opponent for
Gabriel Flores Junior, who was the undefeated

610
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,079
up and coming prospect at the time. This is in September of twenty twenty

611
00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:09,639
one, and he won a decision
against Flores, but he really beat him

612
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:14,039
up and took him apart, and
uh, he looked really good in that

613
00:38:14,119 --> 00:38:15,280
fight. So that was the first
where you're like, Okay, who's this

614
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:20,559
guy Louis Alberto Lopez. His next
fight, he traveled to London. He

615
00:38:21,119 --> 00:38:23,639
took on Isaac Low, who was
the good pal and and part of the

616
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:27,440
camp of Tyson Fury. Fought him
in his home, you know, in

617
00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,199
his backyard. Basically, this was
the IBF elimination fight. This is a

618
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,559
couple of months later after he beat
Gabriel Flores, and he didn't just beat

619
00:38:34,639 --> 00:38:37,079
Isaac Low, he easily beat him. He stopped him in the seventh round,

620
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:38,559
he dropped him, you know,
like two or three times, knocked

621
00:38:38,639 --> 00:38:42,440
him out with the body shot,
and okay, so now he's beating Gabe

622
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,199
Flores, undefeated guy that he's traveled
to the UK. Knocked out the hometown

623
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:52,440
guy, Isaac low pretty impressively,
stayed busy, ended up going was with

624
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:54,719
you know, Top rank was keeping
him actively because he was the mandatory at

625
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,280
that time, but the fight wasn't
ready to happen, so we won a

626
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:02,880
couple of more fights. Then he
got the shot the mandatory against Josh Warrington

627
00:39:04,119 --> 00:39:07,559
and once again, have bag,
have glove, will travel. He traveled

628
00:39:08,119 --> 00:39:12,719
to First Director Arena in Leeds,
England, which is the home arena,

629
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,880
the fortress if you will, of
Josh Warrington, and he won what was

630
00:39:16,079 --> 00:39:20,800
called a majority decision, but everybody
knows he won very handily. It wasn't

631
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,920
really that close, and that gave
him the world title. And in the

632
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:29,519
meantime, Michael Conlin had become you
know, had had rebounded from his loss

633
00:39:29,559 --> 00:39:31,920
to Lee Wood and they're both with
Top Rank and this fight was made and

634
00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:37,719
so once again here you go.
He traveled for the fight against Isaac Lowe

635
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,639
and the eliminator he traveled in the
world title fight against Josh Warrington and won,

636
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,039
and now he's traveling again in his
next fight to have the title defense

637
00:39:45,079 --> 00:39:50,079
against Michael Conlin in Belfast, which
is Michael's hometown, and it's a really

638
00:39:50,159 --> 00:39:53,239
interesting matchup. Michael Conlin is a
very popular figure there particular, you know

639
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:58,719
for sure, and this is another
opportunity for him. I mean Michael Conlin,

640
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:00,880
who was an Olympian. He burst
on the world stage. He became

641
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,800
famous because he gave the judges the
finger in that terrible, terrible decision he

642
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,639
got robbed of in the Olympics.
Signed with top rank, had Connor McGregor

643
00:40:07,679 --> 00:40:10,719
walk him into the ring in his
pro debut. I was there at Madison

644
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:15,159
Square Garden theater. Was one of
the most amazing pro debut guys I've ever

645
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:19,000
seen. It was it was a
pro debut and like I think got four

646
00:40:19,119 --> 00:40:25,440
or six rounder or whatever with a
guy against a young prospect, against just

647
00:40:25,559 --> 00:40:30,000
a regular guy nobody ever heard of. And the atmosphere was like being at

648
00:40:30,039 --> 00:40:31,360
a big fight at Vegas or New
York City, like in the big room.

649
00:40:31,599 --> 00:40:36,079
Just a remarkable atmosphere that tells you
the kind of popularity that Michael had

650
00:40:36,119 --> 00:40:39,159
with the Irish fans. In any
event, he took that loss against Leewood.

651
00:40:39,159 --> 00:40:42,159
It was a tough loss. He
was winning the fight in the twelfth

652
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,880
round. He had dropped Wood earlier
in the fight and he, like you

653
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:47,599
said, got knocked out of the
ring and the spectacular knock that. I

654
00:40:47,679 --> 00:40:50,599
picked it as the knock out of
the year. A lot of people picked

655
00:40:50,639 --> 00:40:52,000
it as the fight of year.
It was certainly not my number one,

656
00:40:52,039 --> 00:40:55,360
but it was on that top few
fights of twenty and twenty two. He

657
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,000
has won two fights since and looked
pretty good doing. He took a part

658
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,599
Mariaga, who a very experienced guy. He knocked out Graphee in one round,

659
00:41:01,679 --> 00:41:05,679
devastating shot, and now here he
gets the world championship fight. And

660
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,719
it's a look. Ever since Michael
term pro, people have expected he's going

661
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:13,000
to win a world title. I
mean, he's got his second opportunity now

662
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,719
unless he's geting cash in, but
he's doing it. Deliver Oue presents decision

663
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:22,079
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664
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:27,400
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666
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667
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,599
ou food. We get it available
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668
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In a more to fifteen euar old
and eighteen of June twenty three Feast

669
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:45,519
season season geographical restriction supplies, he
Deliverodai fourth slash terms for details against a

670
00:41:45,559 --> 00:41:47,519
guy that is absolutely fearless, who's
got good punching power of his own.

671
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,239
This is to me, and I
mean to me, it's like a fifty

672
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:52,880
fifty kind of fight. I mean, it's a it's a hard one to

673
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:54,920
handicap. I mean, I know
we'll get into the more detail of it

674
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,559
tomorrow on Friday when we do the
bet Us Show. But this is a

675
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,840
very good fight. It's like I'm
seeing that like I'm seeing like double vision,

676
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:08,639
because there's so many similarities between Lopez
against Conlin as there is in the

677
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:14,239
other fight with Laura and Lee Wood
that they're almost like the two sort of

678
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,480
very similar kind of fights and both
really good fights. You know, you

679
00:42:16,599 --> 00:42:20,280
gotta I hope they're not on exactly
at the same time. One is on

680
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,960
his zone. One is on ESPN
Plus. But you can be sure I'm

681
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,400
gonna watch both fights for sure on
Saturday. Yeah, we're gonna have to

682
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,360
have extra eyeballs. As I'd say, it's almost like the NCAA Tournament when

683
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:31,519
you got all these games going on
in March Madness and college basketball in the

684
00:42:31,639 --> 00:42:34,480
US. It's like, Okay,
wait, minut I can't watch that while

685
00:42:34,519 --> 00:42:37,119
I watch this and I watch that. You gotta have the DVR going.

686
00:42:37,199 --> 00:42:40,519
You gotta have a little playback feature
because there's a third world title fight,

687
00:42:40,559 --> 00:42:44,719
a cruiserweight title fight that's also going
on in the afternoon that we're gonna get

688
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:49,599
to in a couple of moments as
we speed along here previewing everything of Saturday.

689
00:42:49,679 --> 00:42:53,599
Okay, so later in the night
US time, California time, Alexis

690
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:59,360
Rocha, welterweight for Golden Boy Promotions, who was in the conversation to maybe

691
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:04,360
fight Ter Crawford earlier this year if
Crawford couldn't make the fight with Spence.

692
00:43:04,639 --> 00:43:09,719
There was talk about Crawford against Rocha
in a Golden Boy promoted title defense.

693
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,079
Okay, that didn't come about.
So now Rocha is taking another fight.

694
00:43:14,199 --> 00:43:19,440
While he sits and waits for a
possible title opportunity for whoever wins Spence and

695
00:43:19,599 --> 00:43:22,400
Crawford, especially if that were to
be Crawford. But again, as you

696
00:43:22,519 --> 00:43:24,440
mentioned, there's a rematch clause,
so we're not talking about a twenty twenty

697
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:28,800
three thing for Alexis Rocha. But
give me a little more because he's back

698
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:31,800
in action. He has scored a
couple of impressive wins for whatever it's worth

699
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:36,599
at the contender level, give me
a little more on the Zone Saturday Night

700
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:40,159
Golden Boy Show. That's yet another
fight card and main event fight that we're

701
00:43:40,159 --> 00:43:45,000
previewing for the weekend. So Rocha, you know, he's an improving fighter.

702
00:43:45,039 --> 00:43:46,440
He's still pretty young. He's only
twenty five. He's twenty two wins

703
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,760
and one loss. You know,
he's got a nice little winning streat going

704
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,199
as one loss was a really close
decision against Rashidi Ellis, who was showing

705
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,400
him something to be a pretty good
fighter, although he did lose his last

706
00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,920
fight on the Tank Davis undercard get
to place in jam anyway. In any

707
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:05,239
event, he had become the mandatory
challenger for Terence Crawford. One of the

708
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,639
things that had to be done before
the fight between Crawford and Spence could be

709
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:15,719
made. Was that the WBO and
Golden Boy and the ROACHA team had they

710
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:20,159
had a conversation with them about stepping
aside to allow that to happen. And

711
00:44:20,239 --> 00:44:22,039
I know, look, Rocha is
the kind of kid that has a chance

712
00:44:22,119 --> 00:44:24,599
maybe to be a world champion,
but he probably is not ready for a

713
00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:28,039
Crawford at this point. And you
know, not many guys are ready for

714
00:44:28,079 --> 00:44:30,960
Crawford, even if you're at your
best. So they were willing to do

715
00:44:30,039 --> 00:44:32,480
that. They didn't want the look. The way it was also turned to

716
00:44:32,519 --> 00:44:36,079
me is a Golden Boy like,
Look, we're boxing fans also, we

717
00:44:36,119 --> 00:44:38,000
want what's good for the business,
and our guy we don't necessarily think is

718
00:44:38,039 --> 00:44:40,800
one hundred percent ready. He could
use another couple of fights, so we'll

719
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,840
step aside. He's gonna fight Anthony
Young in the main event on Saturday.

720
00:44:46,079 --> 00:44:50,559
He is the WBO mandatory Challengers.
Hopef he wins, he'll retain that status.

721
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,559
And you mentioned there's a rematch clause
that if that rematch between Rollin and

722
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,519
Terrence S. Crawford happens at the
end of the year. The way I

723
00:44:57,599 --> 00:45:00,880
look at it is whatever happens in
that rematch and Frank it could happen after

724
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:02,559
the first fight, depending on how
it goes. But those guys are not

725
00:45:02,679 --> 00:45:06,039
staying in one hundred and forty seven
pounds. They're both going to go up

726
00:45:06,079 --> 00:45:10,119
to the junior middleweight division. And
if that happens, Alexis Roach will be

727
00:45:10,159 --> 00:45:13,079
there to fight for one of the
VACAN titles. And if you're the team

728
00:45:13,159 --> 00:45:15,719
ROACHA or a Golden Boy, while
you might make less money to fight for

729
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:20,440
a vacant title against whoever, you
have a better chance to win and maybe

730
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,760
and build something and put something together. And if you just take for one

731
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:30,760
pay day against So that's their deal. So he's gonna stay busy. Hopefully

732
00:45:31,079 --> 00:45:34,840
for his sake, he performs against
Young and if Young pulls the upset,

733
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,679
good for him. And that's the
main event. And by the way,

734
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,800
I was looking at the name Georgia, she was the opponent and my god,

735
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:45,800
did Rocha annihilate him with one big
booming overhand right in a ko in

736
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:50,760
his last bout. So we'll see
if he follows up spectacularly here in this

737
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:55,639
fight and waits for his opportunity as
a contender being pushed here by Golden Boy

738
00:45:55,679 --> 00:45:59,000
Promotions, in the welterweight division.
All right, as I mentioned, there's

739
00:45:59,039 --> 00:46:01,400
one more title fight. What is
it? I wonder you and I have

740
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:07,639
been doing this for over a year. Have we had three separate world title

741
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,880
fight cards that we've been previewing,
with none of them in the United States

742
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,840
in the same weekend, and all
of them in the same region, not

743
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,159
in the United States, which is
in this case again in England, on

744
00:46:17,199 --> 00:46:22,239
the coast of England in Bonnemouth,
England. Lawrence o'coley, who only fought

745
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,599
a couple of months ago, like
eight weeks ago, he was back as

746
00:46:25,679 --> 00:46:32,320
the w BO Cruiserweight champion defending against
Chris billham Smith, a popular WBO contender

747
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:38,920
out of England. Twelve rounder w
BO cruiserweight title fight. That's also Saturday

748
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:45,440
afternoon. Talk about extra eyeballs US
times Saturday night in England and in the

749
00:46:45,599 --> 00:46:49,000
UK. All right, so give
me some more on this. O'coley has

750
00:46:49,039 --> 00:46:51,480
got a couple of recent wins,
but has not been impressive. Let's just

751
00:46:51,599 --> 00:46:53,920
lay it on that thought. He
hasn't been impressive. I'm going to ruin

752
00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:58,639
your thesis about there not being any
of those title fights in America because it's

753
00:46:58,679 --> 00:47:00,480
not maybe the biggest title fight we
did really discussed or preview, But on

754
00:47:00,639 --> 00:47:05,800
that undercard of the Alexis Rocha Anthony
Young fight, there actually is a world

755
00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:12,079
title fight is the w BO straw
waight title defense of Melvin Jerusalem against Oscar

756
00:47:12,199 --> 00:47:15,039
Collazzo. So there you go.
Why you are who you are to know

757
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:20,440
that. But still, I mean, this is cruiserweights, this is o'coley.

758
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:22,360
I think you have to agree with
me. O'coley has shown little to

759
00:47:22,519 --> 00:47:27,440
nothing in the decision wins that he's
had his last couple times out Bill him.

760
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:30,920
Smith is a popular fighter, a
scrappy guy, So give me more

761
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:35,840
on this. So o'coley, he
has that WBO title, he defended it

762
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,159
in the early part of twenty twenty
two, and then he had the beef

763
00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:44,400
with match Room Boxing. They had
their issues whatever. He had a mandatory

764
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:46,400
against David Light. So he actually
he's only had the one fight since going

765
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:50,280
to Boxer that took place just a
couple of months ago. That was in

766
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:52,840
March, and now he's back literally
two months almost to the day to fight

767
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:57,960
Chris Bill and Smith. So the
fight you're thinking of was the abomination against

768
00:47:58,039 --> 00:48:00,519
David Light, where you know he
won, you know, a lopsided decision,

769
00:48:00,559 --> 00:48:04,039
but it was a shit fight.
It was as boring as anything.

770
00:48:04,079 --> 00:48:07,400
I mean, I'd rather gouge my
fucking eyes out than watch that shit again.

771
00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:09,199
But now it takes on Chris Bill
and Smith, and for those who

772
00:48:09,199 --> 00:48:12,519
are interested, it actually is available
in the United States as part of the

773
00:48:12,559 --> 00:48:15,239
Fight Plus package. And the Fight
Plus package is not a pay per view

774
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:19,360
of two where you spend ten or
twenty dollars on the pay per view.

775
00:48:19,679 --> 00:48:22,719
It's like a monthly thing for like
seven or six or seven dollars and you

776
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:24,800
get all this stuff on Fight Plus, which I actually recently have subscribed to,

777
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:29,440
so I will actually have access to
watch that fight anyway. But o'colee

778
00:48:29,519 --> 00:48:31,599
and Bill and Smith are good friends. They've known each other for years.

779
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:36,360
They sparred a bazillion rounds together.
They know each other like you know as

780
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:38,320
well as you know you know the
guys in your gym, and they've been

781
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:42,599
in the ring a million times together, So that's part of this. This

782
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,440
is at an outdoor stadium in that
part of England, not a big stadium

783
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:50,360
my understanding. It's only about fifteen
and sixteen thousand, but they'll have a

784
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:53,880
great crowd there and it'll be it'll
be. The way the boxer has spoken

785
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:58,360
about is it will be the largest
event crowd wise to take place in that

786
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:01,320
stadium other than a soccer event.
So that's a pretty good thing. So

787
00:49:02,159 --> 00:49:06,519
there is a popularity level for this
particular matchup when you look at it,

788
00:49:06,599 --> 00:49:08,239
though, billam Smith is a guy
with a couple with a loss. He's

789
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,639
more of a guy that will come
to you and brawl it out and try

790
00:49:12,679 --> 00:49:15,639
to knock you out, where Ol
Cooley is really a pure boxer. He's

791
00:49:15,639 --> 00:49:19,440
got some knockouts, but he likes
the box and you know, depending on

792
00:49:19,519 --> 00:49:21,360
the type of opponent, he yes, he can put you to sleep in

793
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:23,679
a hurry, and I don't mean
with a big punch. All right.

794
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:29,159
Interesting that billam Smith is one what
nine fights eight or nine fights since the

795
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,400
loss. He fought armand Joe Hodje
I remember that name, and got a

796
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:38,840
fifth round knockout in his last bout
last December. So again, WBO Cruiserweight

797
00:49:39,039 --> 00:49:45,559
World title fights Saturday afternoon. As
Dan mentioned in the US Saturday Night for

798
00:49:45,679 --> 00:49:47,159
billam Smith, it's a shot at
a world title. Oh. Cooley,

799
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:51,559
by the way, has been calling
out some others to unify a cruiserweight.

800
00:49:51,639 --> 00:49:53,440
Somebody's got to show something in this
world title fight, so we're anxious to

801
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:58,719
see that one as well. On
Saturday afternoon. Okay, time for some

802
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,519
fight news. May if we had
enough on this show a lot of stuff.

803
00:50:01,679 --> 00:50:07,760
Absolutely not, because the purse bid
has taken place for Alexander Usk and

804
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:12,599
Daniel Dubois, like you've been talking
about. That purse bid took place on

805
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:17,719
Thursday, and as it turns out
K two Promotions, the U six promoter,

806
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:22,599
did win the purse bid. Dan
fill us In and what that means

807
00:50:22,719 --> 00:50:27,039
for where this fight will be,
well, I was a little surprised by

808
00:50:27,159 --> 00:50:30,760
the spread of dollars in the purse
bit usually even I mean, it's hard

809
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,079
to know exactly, but a lot
of times, you know, the promoters,

810
00:50:34,119 --> 00:50:36,840
they know the revenues, they know
what they can sell. They have

811
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:39,480
an idea of their broadcasters, what
their sponsors, maybe what their gate will

812
00:50:39,519 --> 00:50:42,880
be, they know the sort of
ballpark, and a lot of times they

813
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:45,239
come in at similar numbers. Even
if you're the promoter that's only going to

814
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:49,800
get twenty five percent of the side
of the money. But in this case,

815
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:52,239
the split is seventy five twenty five
in favor of Usk his team at

816
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:57,840
K two. They bid a whopping
eight million, fifty seven thousand dollars for

817
00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:00,519
this fight. Now that said,
everybody always has to remember that when you're

818
00:51:00,519 --> 00:51:04,760
talking about a purspit, it is
entirely possible, if not probable, that

819
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,400
before they went and handed in that
particular envelope and made the bid, they

820
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:10,960
had a deal in place with Alexander
Usk already for what his money would be,

821
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:15,360
because they wanted to make sure to
bid a high enough amount to make

822
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:16,800
sure they could get the other side
to come to the fight and that they

823
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:20,519
would be able to control it.
That happens all the time in purse bit.

824
00:51:20,639 --> 00:51:24,519
So, even though the winning bid
would technically entitle us to five point

825
00:51:24,599 --> 00:51:30,280
six million dollars in change, i'll
take that back six point something million dollars

826
00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:31,920
on the winning bid, there's a
chance he may have made a deal with

827
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:35,719
his people to take less just to
make sure they got the fight. So

828
00:51:36,079 --> 00:51:37,840
that's one thing to always keep in
mind. But the other purse bid that

829
00:51:38,039 --> 00:51:42,840
was put in for this fight was
made by Frank Warren and Queen's Brand Promotions.

830
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,639
They bid they're the promoter for Daniel
Dua. They bid five million,

831
00:51:45,679 --> 00:51:50,840
six hundred twenty thou fifty dollars.
It's a seventy five twenty five split.

832
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:53,079
So if that will entitle on the
winning bid, Usk his team will have

833
00:51:53,159 --> 00:51:57,840
to pay out over two million dollars
to Daniel Duwa. But as you asked

834
00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:00,559
it out in terms of the timing, I had an email ex change with

835
00:52:00,559 --> 00:52:05,920
Alex Krascia, who was the director
of K two Promotions, essentially Alexander Usk's

836
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:08,440
promoter, and there even though they
were working with Frank Barren to try to

837
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:13,079
make a deal before the purse bid
took place, to do this fight in

838
00:52:13,199 --> 00:52:17,400
Poland, which borders Ukraine, which
is Alexander Usik's home country. He hasn't

839
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:21,000
fought in Ukraine in a number of
years. In any event, they're going

840
00:52:21,039 --> 00:52:22,320
forward with that plan in this fight. According to Alex he told me we'll

841
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:25,440
be taking place on August to twelfth
in war Class, Poland and the war

842
00:52:25,519 --> 00:52:29,840
Claws Stadium, which is the same
stadium which was being built, and I

843
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:31,119
believe it was like the first event
they ever had there. Are certainly the

844
00:52:31,159 --> 00:52:36,000
first boxing they ever had there.
You got to go back to twenty eleven

845
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:40,199
when Vitali Klitchko had a very big
heavyweight WBC title defense against the Polish superstar

846
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,840
Thomas Adamec, and this will take
place in that same stadium in that same

847
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:47,559
city of war Claw, Poland.
And you know, we'll see what happens.

848
00:52:47,599 --> 00:52:51,119
But I mean, Usik is gonna
be a big favorite against while we'll

849
00:52:51,159 --> 00:52:52,760
look terrible in his last fight and
got knocked down three times in the first

850
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:58,880
round and suffered that knee injury.
But the good thing is Usk gets back

851
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,719
in business, whether it was against
Tyson Fear or otherwise. I'm disappointed the

852
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:06,000
Fury fight that happened, but at
least he's fighting. And also, you

853
00:53:06,119 --> 00:53:08,119
know me, TJ, I can't
stand all the multiple belts by the w

854
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:10,880
BA, and I has it been
discussing with GILBERTA Mondoza. This is yet

855
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:15,400
another fight that will erase a regular
titlist from their ledger and I believe if

856
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:20,199
this fight goes through as it's supposed
to, it will leave the WBA only

857
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,800
now, I believe, with four
divisions with multiple titleholders. And again we

858
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:29,800
should make mention as we've talked about
previously. Here Poland borders Ukraine to the

859
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:35,199
north geographically and there were hundreds of
thousands, if not several million dollion now

860
00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:40,440
that have fled Ukraine because of the
Russian invasion into Poland. And there were

861
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:45,480
already a lot of Ukrainians that lived
in Poland that had immigrated to Poland anyway,

862
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:51,840
and so it is almost like a
home away from home situation for USA

863
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:55,559
to be able to fight somewhere.
It's ridiculous to even suggest that he could

864
00:53:55,599 --> 00:53:59,320
ever fight in Ukraine right now with
any of this going on. This is

865
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:04,639
the next best thing to fight,
this fight somewhere regionally close, especially when

866
00:54:04,719 --> 00:54:10,039
his last two fights were England and
Saudi Arabia beating Anthony Joshua. So that's

867
00:54:10,079 --> 00:54:14,039
a that's a fascinating point on this. And then one more thing again,

868
00:54:14,199 --> 00:54:17,199
Dubois with the knee injury, the
ACL knee injury. We're not doctors,

869
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:21,800
but that's usually a six to nine
month recovery. This is somewhere in that

870
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,239
timeline December now to August. Let's
hope he's healthy. They turned in medical

871
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:30,519
stuff to the WBA saying he will
be healthy, Dublin be ready to fight

872
00:54:30,639 --> 00:54:34,360
this fight. And I think it's
fascinating too. You mentioned Frank Warren bid.

873
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:37,079
What did you say again, five
million? Right at that when he

874
00:54:37,159 --> 00:54:40,920
got his hands on the Tyson Fury
Dillian White fight, it was for eight

875
00:54:42,039 --> 00:54:45,360
times as much. It was for
forty million at Wimbley Stadium. So it

876
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:50,440
tells you this one was not as
big a priority for Warren Coup because I

877
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:52,400
didn't think they could make as much. It's not a matter of being a

878
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:54,320
priority. It's a matter of being
able to do math. And if you

879
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:58,639
do the math, they knew that
they had a big number for this fight

880
00:54:58,719 --> 00:55:00,840
in terms of what they could sell
at wimb They knew they were going to

881
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:05,159
get a pretty good amount of money
from their broadcaster in the UK. Uh,

882
00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:07,159
you know with pay per view.
They knew they were going to get

883
00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:09,639
a big I shouldn't say that they
were going to get a number of people

884
00:55:09,679 --> 00:55:13,920
to buy the pay per view on
bt Sport box Office. They also knew

885
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:17,440
they had seven figures coming from ESPN
to put it on the ESPN platform.

886
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,239
Uh, you know in the United
States. You know that was a pay

887
00:55:21,280 --> 00:55:23,400
per view also here, so they
day a lot of revenue streams for that

888
00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:28,960
fight here. He Dillian White was
a much bigger fight USIG against Duwa,

889
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:31,559
not nearly as much. So obviously, Frank's not stupid. He's been in

890
00:55:31,639 --> 00:55:35,079
this business for a long long time. He knows how to with. The

891
00:55:35,119 --> 00:55:38,320
finances for these types of events are
so even even at five million, that

892
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:42,079
seemed like a much more reasonable bid
to me than the eight million. But

893
00:55:42,639 --> 00:55:45,199
that's why I suggested that there's probably
a very likely chance that that that the

894
00:55:45,519 --> 00:55:49,519
USA team at that promotion company worked
out a deal ahead of time with him

895
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:52,440
to make sure he just shows up
and they get the Dubai in the ring

896
00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:55,480
and will pay him on his end
of the first bit, but don't necessarily

897
00:55:55,519 --> 00:55:59,519
have to pay us the full seventy
five all right. A couple of other

898
00:55:59,599 --> 00:56:04,440
things. Rank did make an official
announcement that Archer Better Beef is back to

899
00:56:04,599 --> 00:56:08,280
fight Callum Smith, who's the WBC's
number one contender. This will be in

900
00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:13,039
Quebec City, interesting, not in
Montreal. They've been debating it back and

901
00:56:13,119 --> 00:56:17,000
forth, maybe one maybe the other, so they did announce August nineteenth,

902
00:56:17,119 --> 00:56:22,840
Quebec City. Again. Better BfV
is a Russian but has now lived trained

903
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:27,119
and even you said to us now
has Canadian citizenship as well, so it's

904
00:56:27,199 --> 00:56:30,920
kind of a homecoming situation. For
him to fight there in Quebec. Give

905
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:35,239
us a little more on that three
belt lightweight, light heavyweight excuse me,

906
00:56:35,559 --> 00:56:37,840
title defense by better BF later in
the summer. Well, he hasn't had

907
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:40,760
a he's only had let's pu like
that. Since he's had a world title,

908
00:56:42,199 --> 00:56:45,400
he has only had one defense in
Canada and that was in two and

909
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:49,400
twenty one when he had the Montreal
home coming in he he bloodied and stopped

910
00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:52,119
Marcus Brown. That was at the
end of twenty twenty one in December,

911
00:56:52,119 --> 00:56:54,599
if I remember in any event,
now he was going to Quebec for this

912
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:58,519
fight because all of his fights,
he's had one pro fight in Russia,

913
00:56:58,599 --> 00:57:00,880
but every other one of his fights
were either in the United States or Canada.

914
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,400
But in terms of the title fights, he had one title fight in

915
00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:07,079
Russia, all the restaur in the
United States, and he had the one

916
00:57:07,119 --> 00:57:09,039
that obviously I just mentioned that was
in Canada. So he's very pumped up

917
00:57:09,039 --> 00:57:14,000
based on his comments about this fight
being finally made. Not a surprise,

918
00:57:14,039 --> 00:57:16,400
I mean, this has been We've
sort of known that this was going to

919
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:19,800
be August in Canada ever since they
did the purse bid. You know.

920
00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:22,880
However, many weeks ago. We
just weren't sure of the exact date.

921
00:57:22,880 --> 00:57:25,199
I suspected all along that it was
going to wind up as the nineteenth once

922
00:57:25,239 --> 00:57:29,719
I reported about what was going on
in August to twelfth, which is that

923
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:32,079
Daldez Navarette fight, which we'll get
to in a minute. In any event,

924
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:35,199
this is a good fight. I
mean, look, we would like

925
00:57:35,239 --> 00:57:37,800
to see better Bi against Bevall,
I think like anybody. But if he's

926
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:40,639
going to go through the order,
and he polished off Joe Smith to unify

927
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:45,599
with the WBO belt to add to
his collection, then he had that great

928
00:57:45,639 --> 00:57:49,400
fight against the WBO mandatory Anthony Yard, who was a good, solid contender,

929
00:57:49,679 --> 00:57:52,199
was an excellent fight. Now he's
taken on count Smith, who's a

930
00:57:52,199 --> 00:57:55,239
worthy contender or former super middleweight champion. His only loss was a decision against

931
00:57:55,280 --> 00:58:00,719
Canelo in their unification fight what was
for the w BA plus one of the

932
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:05,079
vacant titles. So that's his only
defeat and now he's going to fight better

933
00:58:05,079 --> 00:58:07,199
BF. I mean, he's looked
good in a couple of the light heavyweight

934
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:09,559
fights, granted not against the top
names. He's been uh you know,

935
00:58:09,599 --> 00:58:13,400
he did score a knockout in the
eliminator and he's got his chance. He's

936
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:15,639
not scared to travel, as he
talked about. I've been in England,

937
00:58:15,679 --> 00:58:17,400
but I fought in the United States
before. He's fought in the Middle East.

938
00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:21,280
He's fought, uh, you know, outside of his comfort zone.

939
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:23,239
Now he's going to Canada. Not
a problem for him. Should be a

940
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:28,519
good fight. It's a it's an
ESPN main event, a nice summer,

941
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,960
a nice summer tilt as they say, indeed, all right, a little

942
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:34,280
more fight news here. We're just
let me just say one our thing by

943
00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:36,440
the way, Yeah, to me, the fascinating part is, even if

944
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:38,559
you're a supporter of better b if
you think he wins the fight, this

945
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:42,800
is the first time in a while
where I can really see a guy maybe

946
00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:45,599
last in the distance with the guy
because he's knocked out of all of his

947
00:58:45,679 --> 00:58:47,920
opponents, he's only boxer that's active
currently with the world title. That's a

948
00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:53,360
perfect knockout percentage. But Callen Smith
has a good beard and has never been

949
00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:57,199
stopped. He's probably been down,
but you know, Canello didn't come close

950
00:58:57,199 --> 00:59:00,519
to stopping him. He's been in
the ring with plenty of good guys to

951
00:59:00,639 --> 00:59:02,480
my recollection, never really been in
any real danger, all right, So

952
00:59:02,599 --> 00:59:07,119
that's a fascinating subplot to that one
coming in August again, tons and tons

953
00:59:07,199 --> 00:59:13,039
here on the preview podcast in the
news department. You did report also Wednesday

954
00:59:13,159 --> 00:59:15,920
night and we put it up on
the side as well on Big Fight Weekend

955
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:21,559
dot Com. The Hainey Lomachenko pay
per view numbers coming in at around one

956
00:59:21,679 --> 00:59:24,760
hundred and fifty thousand pay per views. Again, put it in perspective that

957
00:59:25,039 --> 00:59:30,119
is usually typical right now of where
a lot of these have done, some

958
00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:35,760
have done better, but obviously the
Jervante Davis and Ryan Garcia pay per view

959
00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:39,559
did roughly almost ten times this with
over a million pay per view buys.

960
00:59:39,679 --> 00:59:44,119
So give me a little more on
your reporting and where this came in,

961
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:46,599
because we were interested to find out
those numbers. Yeah, I mean,

962
00:59:46,639 --> 00:59:50,880
obviously, comparing it to the Tank
Davis and Ryan Garcia fight's unfair. Totally

963
00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:52,360
different kind of fight. I mean, the other fight was a much more

964
00:59:52,639 --> 00:59:57,320
mainstream fight. They have much larger
fan bases. Tank has been on pay

965
00:59:57,320 --> 01:00:00,639
per view several times in the past. It's it's not a fair comparison,

966
01:00:00,719 --> 01:00:05,159
even though there you know, all
the guys and three of the four guys

967
01:00:05,199 --> 01:00:07,639
are you know, top young fighters. Obviously Lomachenko the older fighter, but

968
01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:10,760
certainly with a great reputation. But
in any event, I mean, I

969
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:14,320
think most people and that I talked
to in the lead up to the fight

970
01:00:15,039 --> 01:00:19,960
that know the business, that understand
what the economics were, they figured and

971
01:00:20,119 --> 01:00:22,679
I was one of them that figured, you know what, this fight would

972
01:00:22,679 --> 01:00:25,159
probably be considered a success around one
hundred and fifty thousand, and they should

973
01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:29,639
think they would probably be close to
a home run if somehow then the first

974
01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:31,159
number of the fight was a two, and so were there to come in

975
01:00:31,239 --> 01:00:35,360
from my reporting to be around one
fifty maybe a little bit. One person

976
01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:37,519
that was involved in the business,
that's involved in the business that knows the

977
01:00:37,599 --> 01:00:40,119
deal said it was actually, maybe
it's gonna be a little it's gonna be

978
01:00:40,119 --> 01:00:43,119
more than one fifty. How much
more, I'm not sure, but the

979
01:00:43,159 --> 01:00:46,880
point was one fifty as your floor, that's a pretty good number. When

980
01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:50,599
you take into account what the purses
were for the main event, you could

981
01:00:50,679 --> 01:00:52,559
estimate what the promotion cost, you
know, sort of a ballpark, what

982
01:00:52,639 --> 01:00:58,079
the gate was. Did the fight
make a huge amount of money for the

983
01:00:58,159 --> 01:01:00,519
promoters? Not? Probably not,
but it doesn't seem like they were going

984
01:01:00,559 --> 01:01:04,519
to lose money, and they got
on a good event, obviously the main

985
01:01:04,599 --> 01:01:07,960
event fighters. They split up seven
million dollars four million for Haney, three

986
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,559
million for Lomachenko. Of course,
Devin Haney going on Twitter, not too

987
01:01:10,639 --> 01:01:15,239
pleased about the fact that because of
his ill advised hard shove to the chest

988
01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:19,000
and the way and got five four
got fined four hundred k by the Nevada

989
01:01:19,039 --> 01:01:21,920
Commissioner f That is, as you
put it to me in a text message,

990
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:25,000
that's an expensive shove. That's one
of the largest finds that I can

991
01:01:25,119 --> 01:01:29,480
recollect in boxing. For that something
that's not related to like a drug of

992
01:01:29,559 --> 01:01:31,239
fans, a PD, a peed
or something. I mean, a four

993
01:01:31,360 --> 01:01:36,599
hundred thousand dollars shove, is what
Haney says. They find him not to

994
01:01:36,639 --> 01:01:37,639
take. They're not going to take
any shit like that. There was no

995
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:40,239
reason for it. You saved that
shit for the ring. And look,

996
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:44,159
I love Devin Haney, I think
he's a tremendous young fighter. I like

997
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:45,239
him personally, but that was just
not a great move, I mean,

998
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:50,039
and hopefully this teaches him a lesson
with the with the reporting hands to yourself

999
01:01:50,079 --> 01:01:52,719
till the bell rings. Correct,
keep your hands to yourself and protect yourself

1000
01:01:52,719 --> 01:01:55,760
at all times to you, just
real quick, and then we'll move on

1001
01:01:57,079 --> 01:02:01,440
with this concern ESPN and top rank
in the least that Devin Haney on pay

1002
01:02:01,519 --> 01:02:07,920
per view unless it's a humongous name, He's maybe going back to ESPN plus

1003
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:12,360
for the next title defense, depending
on who the huge name is, or

1004
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:15,679
do you believe he's a pay per
view entity from here on now that he's

1005
01:02:15,719 --> 01:02:19,480
done one? What is your read? My read is that's a misnomer.

1006
01:02:19,559 --> 01:02:21,800
Just because you fight on pay per
view once doesn't mean you're there forever.

1007
01:02:21,880 --> 01:02:24,239
Some fighters have attitude, it's not
the case. It's what's the matchup now.

1008
01:02:24,320 --> 01:02:28,000
Certain guys get to a level like
a Canella where you can pretty much

1009
01:02:28,039 --> 01:02:30,320
put any fight on pay per view. It's gonna make money, but not

1010
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:32,880
everybody. And the great example who
is the master of this? And you

1011
01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:37,119
gotta go back in several years obviously, but I remember these days was when

1012
01:02:37,159 --> 01:02:38,880
Oscar de Lajoie was the star of
boxing, in the face of boxing.

1013
01:02:39,239 --> 01:02:43,400
He would have a big megafight against
Felix Trinidad, or a huge fight against

1014
01:02:43,400 --> 01:02:45,920
Parnell Whittaker, or a big fight
against Hector Camacho or any of those types

1015
01:02:45,920 --> 01:02:50,440
of guys. I quarte, but
he also understood that not all fights are

1016
01:02:50,440 --> 01:02:53,079
created equals. So when he's fighting
Patrick Sharpentier, where he's fighting Obakar,

1017
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:58,440
where he's fighting those types of opponents, he's back on HBO. So inside

1018
01:02:58,519 --> 01:03:00,840
the eight or nine or ten or
two twelve million dollar guarantee, he's taking

1019
01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:04,480
his three, his four, his
three, his four, and he's making

1020
01:03:04,519 --> 01:03:06,840
his money and he's keeping his name
out there, and he was active and

1021
01:03:06,920 --> 01:03:09,000
he understood that not all fights were
created equal. Now with Oscar got to

1022
01:03:09,039 --> 01:03:12,079
a point in his career where all
of his fights were on pay per view,

1023
01:03:12,360 --> 01:03:15,280
but it took a little while to
get to that point. So unless

1024
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:17,920
Devin Haney is fighting like another big
time name, if he's fighting shakor Stevenson,

1025
01:03:19,159 --> 01:03:21,800
if he was fighting a Tank Davis
for example, or somebody like that,

1026
01:03:22,480 --> 01:03:24,559
then I think he'll be back on
non pay per view. But it's

1027
01:03:24,599 --> 01:03:29,760
not necessarily with Top Rank because his
contract with Top Rank and lu Develop,

1028
01:03:29,760 --> 01:03:31,760
they were co promoters for three fights
that is now expired, and he will

1029
01:03:31,760 --> 01:03:35,360
be a free agent and he can
shop around and see what he wants and

1030
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:37,920
the great thing if you're Devin Haney
is he's in. I consider it like

1031
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:43,960
he had the Aaron Judge Walker in
baseball. He is still an undefeated fighter

1032
01:03:44,000 --> 01:03:46,719
at twenty four, he's the undisputed
champion. He is a guy that just

1033
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:51,320
did a pretty decent number on pay
per view. He sold out along with

1034
01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:53,840
his partner in crime in this fight, a Lomachenko. He they sold out

1035
01:03:53,880 --> 01:03:58,920
the MGM Grand Gardner in according to
top rank over fourteen four at the event.

1036
01:03:59,519 --> 01:04:00,800
And then you put into account of
that and you look at the different

1037
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:03,800
promoters and what they have in their
stables. He fits in with anybody that

1038
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:05,920
you'd think all of them would be
interested. You know, if he goes

1039
01:04:05,960 --> 01:04:09,400
and he makes a deal with PBC, for example, there's a possibility of

1040
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:13,639
a Gervada Davis, Golden boy Is
Ryan Garcia Naturroom Boxing. They just signed

1041
01:04:13,679 --> 01:04:15,800
Regis Program at one forty. They've
got other guys at top rank. Obviously

1042
01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:19,239
they're loaded. They've got Loma Chanko
for a rematch possibly. They obviously have

1043
01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:23,480
the winner of the Tiathemo Josh Taylor
Junior welterweight title fight. They aster,

1044
01:04:23,519 --> 01:04:26,719
of course, Stevenson was one of
the mandatories. This guy's because he can

1045
01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:29,280
fight in either weight class. Either
he may stay at thirty five or you

1046
01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,639
know, he's had the wanting to
go up for a while because of making

1047
01:04:31,679 --> 01:04:35,920
weights becoming more restrained. But he's
got great opponents because one hundred and thirty

1048
01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:39,360
five and forty are two of the
best weight classes, if not the best

1049
01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:42,599
weight classes in the sport. So
he's gonna have a lot of options.

1050
01:04:42,679 --> 01:04:45,679
He's gonna, you know, sit
back and I think, see what's up.

1051
01:04:45,719 --> 01:04:47,199
I think everybody's gonna want to talk
to him. I know Top rank

1052
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:51,199
is interested, Eddie harn is certainly
interested. You gotta think PBC would have

1053
01:04:51,239 --> 01:04:55,079
an interest to for the right fight. I think the kids got a real

1054
01:04:55,199 --> 01:04:58,079
chance to be a breakout guy at
some point. Now. Is he the

1055
01:04:58,159 --> 01:05:00,400
most exciting fighter of all time?
He isn't, but he's he's not a

1056
01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:04,000
stinker. He's not boring. I
like watching Devin any fight and guess what,

1057
01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:08,320
and he doesn't run, and he's
got all the belts. He's an

1058
01:05:08,440 --> 01:05:13,760
undisputed champion, so well if he
moves up, obviously, but right now

1059
01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:15,360
it has cash at one thirty five. If he wants to make a defense,

1060
01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:18,440
he can easily get a couple of
million dollars for a defense right now,

1061
01:05:18,440 --> 01:05:20,920
because he's got all the I'm being
his agent, he's got all the

1062
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:25,039
belts. Make a deal, be
a shitty agent, you'd be a shitty

1063
01:05:25,039 --> 01:05:27,360
agent because he's not coming for a
couple million. It's gonna cost more than

1064
01:05:27,400 --> 01:05:31,599
a couple million. What depends on
who it is. We'll see, all

1065
01:05:31,679 --> 01:05:35,599
right, News, you did make
mention just a second ago, Emanuel Navarante

1066
01:05:35,840 --> 01:05:40,519
and Oscar Valdez. You are reporting
they have a date, they have a

1067
01:05:40,639 --> 01:05:45,440
site. Tell us more on that. Just a great matchup that is exciting

1068
01:05:45,599 --> 01:05:47,199
as you can get. They're gonna
have that fight in Glendale, Arizona.

1069
01:05:47,679 --> 01:05:51,679
Uh in the in the Desert Diamond
Arena down there into in that place where

1070
01:05:51,719 --> 01:05:57,039
we've seen the third fight between Chocolateito
and the Roman Gonzalez. They'd been some

1071
01:05:57,079 --> 01:06:00,960
other boxing events down there, Paul
Jake, Paul fought there recently against Anderson

1072
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:03,519
Silva a year ago. I mean
they've they've had a number of fights,

1073
01:06:03,599 --> 01:06:06,719
right covered a couple of fights there
back in the day, Costa Zoo fight

1074
01:06:06,800 --> 01:06:12,599
years ago. Anyway, you know, Oscars grew up in the Tucson area,

1075
01:06:12,679 --> 01:06:15,639
not that far away. Navarette obviously
is a Mexican, big, big

1076
01:06:15,800 --> 01:06:19,360
Hispanic population. Should be a great
action fight, like a classic Mexican kind

1077
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:24,159
of battle. And look, this
was not a surprise that they scheduled this

1078
01:06:24,239 --> 01:06:27,440
fight because all along remember they were
supposed to fight back in February. Oscar

1079
01:06:27,559 --> 01:06:31,440
Valdez had not recovered he had the
back injury and he ended up having a

1080
01:06:31,599 --> 01:06:35,239
pass on this fight for the vacant
WBO title at one thirty, So they

1081
01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:40,199
put a Navarette in against the guy
they could get on short notice who was

1082
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:43,199
highly ranked. That was Liam Wilson, and as we remember, they put

1083
01:06:43,239 --> 01:06:45,480
on a tremendous fight, a fight
of the year kind of fight, and

1084
01:06:45,679 --> 01:06:47,880
Oscar Baldez sat there at ringside knowing
he's going to get the winner, but

1085
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:50,960
he had to win the inner and
fight. He did so and looked pretty

1086
01:06:50,960 --> 01:06:54,400
good. It looked sharp, looked
like the time off did him some good,

1087
01:06:54,440 --> 01:06:57,880
and he was sharp as a as
a as a knife against Adam Lopez

1088
01:06:57,960 --> 01:07:00,639
and their rematch, he didn't stop
him like he did in the first fight,

1089
01:07:00,719 --> 01:07:02,760
but he won a very a lopsided
decision. That was the co feature

1090
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:06,719
on the undercard of Hainey against Lomachenko, and so here we go. The

1091
01:07:06,840 --> 01:07:12,159
rematch between not the rematch rather,
but the fight the mandatory for him against

1092
01:07:12,440 --> 01:07:15,639
Navarette is going to be good to
go. They haven't announced yet, but

1093
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:17,079
it's always been said to me.
It's gonna be August. That's a date.

1094
01:07:17,079 --> 01:07:20,559
And so if you're boxing aficionado and
you're watching fights in the dead of

1095
01:07:20,599 --> 01:07:27,119
summer, you got August twelfth with
this fight. Then you got the following

1096
01:07:27,199 --> 01:07:30,760
week another fight with a better BF
against Calum Smith. Also, the Osick

1097
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:32,840
fight is going to be in August. It's going to be a you know,

1098
01:07:32,880 --> 01:07:35,880
August has been for a long time
was kind of a month where a

1099
01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:39,440
lot of people just sort of like
laid off because it's a dead of summer.

1100
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:42,440
But I think the powers that be, the promoters and the networks realized

1101
01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:45,639
that they can get good audiences and
good interest at a time on the calendar

1102
01:07:45,679 --> 01:07:47,800
where there's not a lot of other
sports going on, so they might as

1103
01:07:47,800 --> 01:07:53,320
well take advantage before you get into
the very very heavy duty sports seasons in

1104
01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:57,159
the fall with football, college sports, at the beginning of NBA, NHL,

1105
01:07:57,360 --> 01:08:00,719
the baseball playoffs, etc. So
August has come a much more popular

1106
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:06,280
time to do these kind of fights, So listen for actions, action purposes

1107
01:08:06,320 --> 01:08:12,039
for just a thrilling kind of potential
battle. Navarette Oscar Maldez is maybe at

1108
01:08:12,039 --> 01:08:14,480
the top of the list on the
boxing calendars. It would be an action

1109
01:08:14,519 --> 01:08:17,039
fighting again, as we were discussing
remember on the podcast on the purse bid

1110
01:08:17,119 --> 01:08:20,720
and on the dates that you're talking
about. The USIG Dubois fight would be

1111
01:08:20,800 --> 01:08:27,000
in the afternoon US time, Polish
time in prime time, and then this

1112
01:08:27,279 --> 01:08:32,199
fight Valdez Navaratte would be the nighttime
fight through top rank, ESPN, etc.

1113
01:08:32,800 --> 01:08:36,279
On August the twelve. Are we
pretty well good? I know you

1114
01:08:36,399 --> 01:08:42,880
had one other note to claressa shields
kind of homecoming battle in Detroit at the

1115
01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:46,720
Little Caesar's Arena for June third,
not this weekend, but next weekend.

1116
01:08:46,800 --> 01:08:54,000
She needs a new opponent because her
opponent failed a Vada Free fight drug test.

1117
01:08:54,399 --> 01:08:56,520
You got something on that real quick. That well, she doesn't need

1118
01:08:57,119 --> 01:08:59,399
we have we have all kinds of
news. She's got a new opponent.

1119
01:09:00,079 --> 01:09:01,079
Yeah, she would say she doesn't
need a new opponent. They have one.

1120
01:09:01,560 --> 01:09:04,479
So her original opponent, which was
Hannah Gabriels, which is a rematch

1121
01:09:05,079 --> 01:09:09,760
of a fight from a few years
ago where Shields was in a title fight,

1122
01:09:09,840 --> 01:09:14,359
but she won very easily. But
that the talking point, the hook,

1123
01:09:14,399 --> 01:09:16,520
if you will, which was kind
of bogus, but what it is,

1124
01:09:16,560 --> 01:09:20,439
what it is. They made the
rematch because Kenna Gabriel's scored the only

1125
01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:25,279
knockdown that Claressa has ever taken as
a professional or amateur, even though she

1126
01:09:25,359 --> 01:09:27,720
wasn't really hurt and it didn't really
do anything in terms of the outcome of

1127
01:09:27,760 --> 01:09:30,760
the fight, but they made the
rematch. And so Hannah Gabriels came up

1128
01:09:30,800 --> 01:09:34,399
with a VADA positive test that was
done under the umbrella of the World Box

1129
01:09:34,520 --> 01:09:41,119
of the the WBC's Clean Boxing program. She tested positive for a antabolic steroid

1130
01:09:41,159 --> 01:09:45,000
that is known to be performance enhancing. Now the interesting thing, and I

1131
01:09:45,039 --> 01:09:50,359
mean I've we've all heard a lot
of stories about reasons why people say they

1132
01:09:50,399 --> 01:09:55,119
may have failed the test. She
failed the test for a substance called close

1133
01:09:55,159 --> 01:09:58,960
to the ball, which is a
form of testosterone that, as I read

1134
01:09:59,119 --> 01:10:01,880
on the definitions of it, is
a performance to answer. It is also

1135
01:10:02,039 --> 01:10:06,359
used to fatten cattle. Take that
for what you want in any event.

1136
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:11,680
In talking to her promoter, loud
de Bella who showed me pictures of this.

1137
01:10:12,199 --> 01:10:17,119
She claims that, and I guess
she's told the authorities or the WBC

1138
01:10:17,279 --> 01:10:20,000
that this is the case, produced
pictures of her doing it. I guess

1139
01:10:20,800 --> 01:10:26,560
her. Don't shoot the messenger.
Okay, Her dog had some kind of

1140
01:10:26,720 --> 01:10:30,760
like serious surgery, and as part
of the dogs like care after the surgery,

1141
01:10:31,199 --> 01:10:34,760
she had to on a daily basis, maybe multiple times, they rub

1142
01:10:34,840 --> 01:10:40,159
a certain kind of cream on the
wound that was being pitched off, and

1143
01:10:40,319 --> 01:10:44,159
in that cream this substance and it
was absorbed into her system. And that's

1144
01:10:44,199 --> 01:10:46,319
why she says, or her team
says, she came back with the positive

1145
01:10:46,319 --> 01:10:50,279
result. Again, don't shoot the
messenger. I mean, you know,

1146
01:10:50,840 --> 01:10:55,279
I got to deliver the line.
We have the dog ate my homework and

1147
01:10:55,399 --> 01:10:59,279
then the dog failed my VADA test. Is that what you're telling me that

1148
01:10:59,439 --> 01:11:03,680
she had frame for a wound on
the dog. But the bottom line is

1149
01:11:04,199 --> 01:11:09,119
whether whether that is legit or not
legit is not irrelevant to get we talk

1150
01:11:09,119 --> 01:11:13,720
about. It's in the system now. The WVC their clean boxing program rules,

1151
01:11:13,760 --> 01:11:16,800
and I've read the rule specifically state
that they do not adhere to strict

1152
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:21,039
liability. But it's too soon for
them to adjudicate it. So even if

1153
01:11:21,079 --> 01:11:24,600
they get her, even if she's
off the hook and they say it was

1154
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:28,920
accidental based on her explanation, and
they'll do whatever investigating that they do,

1155
01:11:29,520 --> 01:11:32,279
the reality is it's too it's not
happening. She's not fighting for the title

1156
01:11:32,319 --> 01:11:34,920
next week because of the situation.
So what they've done is they got a

1157
01:11:35,039 --> 01:11:40,359
fighter name Marcella Cornejo, who has
had three previous world title fights, two

1158
01:11:40,399 --> 01:11:44,119
at middleweight, one and super middleweight. She's lost two very close calls and

1159
01:11:44,319 --> 01:11:45,479
one that was a more one sided, but she's fought top women. She

1160
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:49,760
fought Franchion Cruise Desern lost her twice, once by a really super close I

1161
01:11:49,760 --> 01:11:53,760
believe it was a split decision.
She also lost to Kaylee Reese for a

1162
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:56,600
vacant title, which is a majority
decision that was back in twenty sixteen.

1163
01:11:56,840 --> 01:12:00,560
Anyway, she is number one ranked
by three of the four zation, so

1164
01:12:00,680 --> 01:12:02,680
she was willing to take this fight
on short notice. So she will stand

1165
01:12:02,720 --> 01:12:08,800
across the ring from Claressa in the
Detroit Quasi homecoming fight on the Zone June

1166
01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:12,000
third, Little Caesar's Arena, first
ever boxing match. They've had in that

1167
01:12:12,159 --> 01:12:15,880
building, you know, boxing card. And look, this fight was never

1168
01:12:15,920 --> 01:12:18,079
about Gabriels, it was never about
Corneo. This is about Claressa fighting in

1169
01:12:18,159 --> 01:12:23,319
front of her her Michigan and Detroit
and Flint people, defending her title.

1170
01:12:23,720 --> 01:12:26,600
And I think she can still put
on a good show whether she's fighting Handing

1171
01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:31,000
Gabriels or Marcella Cornejo. All right, and you will appreciate this because you

1172
01:12:31,159 --> 01:12:34,079
love giving the insight on when you've
been in arenas and venues. I've been

1173
01:12:34,119 --> 01:12:41,359
in that little Caesar's Arena doing college
basketball postseason in March back a couple of

1174
01:12:41,479 --> 01:12:44,279
years ago, a couple of times
for the Horizon League. That's where the

1175
01:12:44,319 --> 01:12:47,600
Detroit Pistons plays, where the Detroit
Red Wings play. It replaced Joe Lewis

1176
01:12:47,680 --> 01:12:51,960
Arena where the Red Wings would always
play hockey and the Pistons used to play

1177
01:12:53,039 --> 01:12:57,640
basketball years ago. State of the
art, nineteen thousand seat facility. I

1178
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,439
don't know how many tickets Claressa Shields
is going to say, what kind of

1179
01:13:00,479 --> 01:13:02,239
atmosphere. Maybe it's six thousand,
maybe it's ten thousand, maybe it's more.

1180
01:13:03,039 --> 01:13:05,920
I don't know. I was talking. I was talking with U with

1181
01:13:06,319 --> 01:13:13,000
Claressa's manager, Mark Cafett on Thursday
when this news came out that Canna Garybel's

1182
01:13:13,039 --> 01:13:15,800
had been booted from the fight because
of the drug test and they'd replace her

1183
01:13:15,840 --> 01:13:16,880
with Corneo. And I asked him
about that, and he said, you

1184
01:13:16,920 --> 01:13:20,039
know, they were. They're really
very pleased. He said, with more

1185
01:13:20,119 --> 01:13:24,760
than a week to go, they've
already got over six thousand sold and look

1186
01:13:25,159 --> 01:13:28,399
in June with not a lot going
on, if the weather is decent and

1187
01:13:28,520 --> 01:13:31,279
it's a it's it's getting some good
promotion. A lot of you know,

1188
01:13:31,720 --> 01:13:34,640
a lot of places are walk up
cities. Detroit is like that. There's

1189
01:13:34,680 --> 01:13:38,159
a really good chance they might put
in nine or ten thousand. Obviously they're

1190
01:13:38,159 --> 01:13:40,680
not just setting this up for nineteen
thousand. They don't expect that. But

1191
01:13:40,800 --> 01:13:45,680
I think everybody that's involved in this
promotion, uh Solita Promotions, the Zone,

1192
01:13:45,239 --> 01:13:48,560
Mark and his team, and Claressa. I think everybody's pretty excited and

1193
01:13:48,640 --> 01:13:51,640
happy how the promotion has gone,
even with the change of opponent. And

1194
01:13:51,840 --> 01:13:56,960
understand, she's a hero in that
part of the world from the Olympics and

1195
01:13:57,119 --> 01:14:00,319
has the undisputed title, so there
is a draw there from that standpoint,

1196
01:14:00,800 --> 01:14:05,079
My lord, have we had a
show with news Info. You talked to

1197
01:14:05,199 --> 01:14:09,960
Lee Wood earlier on the show in
the one on one interview for his title

1198
01:14:10,039 --> 01:14:13,720
fight. We do have one little
piece of nostalgia that we've got to get

1199
01:14:13,760 --> 01:14:19,359
out there today as we release this. Fifty eight years ago the controversial heavyweight

1200
01:14:19,439 --> 01:14:26,079
title rematch of Muhammed Ali and Sonny
Listen. He became Muhammed Ali was Cashious

1201
01:14:26,159 --> 01:14:30,560
Clay in the first fight. Did
you know pop quiz trivia? He originally

1202
01:14:30,680 --> 01:14:34,359
was not Muhammad Ali in and around
this time when he converted to Islam,

1203
01:14:34,600 --> 01:14:41,800
the Nation of Islam, and I
want to say, it's Herbert Muhammed that

1204
01:14:41,960 --> 01:14:44,159
was the head of the Nation of
Islam. I believe I have that right.

1205
01:14:44,520 --> 01:14:47,520
He bestowed the name Mohammed X.
He was Muhammad X for a little

1206
01:14:47,560 --> 01:14:53,159
while, from a month or two, and then Herbert Muhammed again then said

1207
01:14:53,199 --> 01:14:56,760
no, and you're Muhammad Ali.
So Muhammad Ali fought for the first time

1208
01:14:56,840 --> 01:15:01,279
as Muhammed Ali against Sonny Liston in
a f that they were originally trying to

1209
01:15:01,399 --> 01:15:04,439
have somewhere in the Northeast. They
were trying to have it in Boston at

1210
01:15:04,479 --> 01:15:09,199
the Boston Garden couldn't have it there. They ended up in a hockey arena

1211
01:15:09,319 --> 01:15:13,279
ray Feel in Lewiston, Maine,
because did you believe them, they wouldn't

1212
01:15:13,279 --> 01:15:15,760
give them a license. They had
to go to Maine to have a heavyweight

1213
01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:17,720
title fight Dan ray Feel on the
Red. The amazing thing about it is

1214
01:15:17,760 --> 01:15:20,239
that fight now. First, for
people know, we're talking about a fight

1215
01:15:20,319 --> 01:15:24,479
fifty years ago. I know we're
old fuckers. We weren't born then,

1216
01:15:24,760 --> 01:15:29,479
We were not. You did not, I was not on the planet anyway.

1217
01:15:29,520 --> 01:15:32,319
So that parents hold on. My
parents had met, my parents were

1218
01:15:32,399 --> 01:15:35,199
dating, they were not yet married. So the fight ended up for that

1219
01:15:35,359 --> 01:15:39,800
that type of historical fight that people
still talk about many years later because of

1220
01:15:39,800 --> 01:15:43,159
the controversy of the first round knockout, that how he had um and like

1221
01:15:43,279 --> 01:15:45,359
you said, he was Ali in
his mind and a lot of people's mind.

1222
01:15:45,399 --> 01:15:47,640
But there was a lot of assholes
out there that refused to call him

1223
01:15:47,680 --> 01:15:51,159
by mom at Ali and insisted on
being disrespectful and calling him cash his play.

1224
01:15:51,239 --> 01:15:54,840
But besides that, but they only
fought in front of like a little

1225
01:15:54,840 --> 01:15:59,000
over two thousand people on lewis Than
Maine. And that that's when you think

1226
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:02,479
about I mean the magnitude of that
kind of rematch after he shook up the

1227
01:16:02,520 --> 01:16:06,079
world and won the heavyweight championship to
only have twenty two hundred or whatever it

1228
01:16:06,199 --> 01:16:10,439
was, you know, it's kind
of a shocker. But yeah, it's

1229
01:16:10,479 --> 01:16:13,600
a very famous heavyweight fight. There's
still people can still debate and argue about

1230
01:16:13,920 --> 01:16:15,720
was it or what he did?
He square real knockout? Did Sonny Listen

1231
01:16:15,800 --> 01:16:18,399
take a dive because of the Mafia
ties? And by and by the way,

1232
01:16:18,439 --> 01:16:21,359
those are two great things, and
they're separate things. First of all,

1233
01:16:21,680 --> 01:16:26,520
was it a punch? And second
of all did he just lay down

1234
01:16:26,720 --> 01:16:30,760
after the punch? Those are two
separate things. I believe it was a

1235
01:16:30,880 --> 01:16:34,720
punch, but I believe Sonny flopping
around like a beached whale while Jersey Joe

1236
01:16:34,800 --> 01:16:40,079
Walcott is trying to figure out what
the count is highly suspicious at best,

1237
01:16:40,560 --> 01:16:44,439
highly suspicious. But what it did
to do in that fight besides give Valley

1238
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:47,279
a heavyweight championship defense and send him
on his way to you know, obviously

1239
01:16:47,359 --> 01:16:53,359
continue his legendary career, it produced
one of the most iconic boxing photos in

1240
01:16:53,359 --> 01:16:55,800
the history of the sport, of
any sport, and of course that is

1241
01:16:55,840 --> 01:16:59,359
the very famous photo that you know
if you follow boxing, oh, I

1242
01:16:59,399 --> 01:17:01,880
can't imagine, never seen it.
It is the shot of Muhammad Ali standing

1243
01:17:01,960 --> 01:17:06,359
over a fallen sunny listen with this
glow and listen sort of with his head.

1244
01:17:06,359 --> 01:17:11,039
And you see in the in the
stands like that they it's shot into

1245
01:17:11,079 --> 01:17:15,880
where some media and broadcasters were seated
and between Ali's legs, and like the

1246
01:17:15,960 --> 01:17:19,680
second row you see a gentleman with
his mouth like, oh my god,

1247
01:17:19,720 --> 01:17:24,720
what has happened. That's Larry Merchant. It is some Larry Merchant. And

1248
01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:27,399
that's a great trivite question. But
I will say this also, everybody that

1249
01:17:27,479 --> 01:17:30,920
listens to us, or that reads
me, or knows anything from following me,

1250
01:17:30,479 --> 01:17:35,800
knows about my memorabilia and my boxing
collecting lunacy. So with all the

1251
01:17:35,880 --> 01:17:39,920
posters and stuff I have in pictures
and this and that, I don't have

1252
01:17:40,039 --> 01:17:42,560
a lot of it displayed. There's
a couple of things hanging up in my

1253
01:17:42,640 --> 01:17:46,760
office, but in my rest of
my home there's literally one boxing item that's

1254
01:17:46,840 --> 01:17:49,680
hanging on a wall. So if
you've walked into my house and you weren't

1255
01:17:49,720 --> 01:17:53,920
in the space where most of my
posts aren't were in my office, you

1256
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:57,840
wouldn't know you're in a location where
there's like a boxing looney tune, Except

1257
01:17:58,159 --> 01:18:01,079
there's one photo that hangs in the
foyer of my home near our kitchen.

1258
01:18:01,439 --> 01:18:05,199
That is a beautiful large format black
and white photo, that famed photo of

1259
01:18:05,279 --> 01:18:10,399
Ali standing over the fallen sunny listen
in a beautiful framed in mat that has

1260
01:18:10,399 --> 01:18:15,039
autographed by Muhammad Ali. And that's
the one big boxing things I've hanging up

1261
01:18:15,119 --> 01:18:19,720
in my in my home. And
again, Neil Lifer, that's the name

1262
01:18:19,960 --> 01:18:25,920
of the foot of the photographer that
took that famous photo for the Associated Press.

1263
01:18:26,039 --> 01:18:30,359
It ended up in Life magazine,
newspapers all around everywhere with Ali gesturing

1264
01:18:30,520 --> 01:18:33,520
at listen to get up while he's
flaid. And Neil Lifer, by the

1265
01:18:33,560 --> 01:18:38,159
way, is one of the most
famous sports photographers of all time. He

1266
01:18:38,319 --> 01:18:42,279
is especially well known for his boxing
photography. He tracked Ali's career. He

1267
01:18:42,279 --> 01:18:45,159
has got huge amounts of Ali photos
in his library. He became friendly with

1268
01:18:45,239 --> 01:18:48,920
alium. I actually was I trying
to remember where I was. It wasn't

1269
01:18:48,960 --> 01:18:51,840
that long ago. I was at
a I was at dinner, I was

1270
01:18:53,279 --> 01:18:55,840
I forget what fight I was at, but I was at a fight and

1271
01:18:55,920 --> 01:18:58,600
there was probably about a dozen of
us. We were invited to a dinner

1272
01:18:58,920 --> 01:19:00,079
and I was sitting with life Frame. We had a you know, I've

1273
01:19:00,119 --> 01:19:02,720
met them several times over the years, and uh and Neil and I had

1274
01:19:02,760 --> 01:19:08,239
a good conversation about some of this
great iconic photography. Is he's a you

1275
01:19:08,319 --> 01:19:10,479
know, one of the great photographers
of all time. You know what I'm

1276
01:19:10,479 --> 01:19:13,079
gonna do for you too. There's
something because I go down the rabbit hole

1277
01:19:13,119 --> 01:19:15,640
of YouTube in the nostalgia, because
you gotta appreciate one thing, and then

1278
01:19:15,640 --> 01:19:17,600
we're gonna get out of here.
We've been here a while on the podcast.

1279
01:19:18,039 --> 01:19:21,800
In this time frame, there was
a closed circuit broadcast of the fight.

1280
01:19:23,000 --> 01:19:28,000
But it's not like the local news
or the national news ESPN doesn't exist.

1281
01:19:28,319 --> 01:19:30,800
This is the nineteen sixties, kids. There's no Internet. There's no

1282
01:19:30,960 --> 01:19:35,479
way to see this fight until days
later when they replayed it on ABC's Wide

1283
01:19:35,520 --> 01:19:41,159
World of Sports. They got the
replayer rights right maybe weeks later, and

1284
01:19:41,279 --> 01:19:44,399
got the film. It's interesting.
I'm gonna send this to you because if

1285
01:19:44,439 --> 01:19:48,439
you go on YouTube, there is
a black and white version of You've seen

1286
01:19:48,479 --> 01:19:55,319
it up Wild World of Sports with
how would co sell Rocky Marciano and Jack

1287
01:19:55,439 --> 01:19:59,039
Dempsey where they're debating, I have
interject, do you think I'm not gone

1288
01:19:59,039 --> 01:20:00,640
down the YouTube? Right? I
have no idea what you've seen or not

1289
01:20:00,720 --> 01:20:04,359
of that black and white with the
grainy video, And it's like the film

1290
01:20:04,840 --> 01:20:09,600
of the Kid of the assassination from
a couple of years earlier, where they're

1291
01:20:09,680 --> 01:20:13,640
trying to figure out is it a
punch or not. They didn't really go

1292
01:20:13,800 --> 01:20:16,560
down the road. I guess they
were deciding to stay away. The Mafia

1293
01:20:16,640 --> 01:20:19,479
was a big was a big deal, and for a lot of decades,

1294
01:20:19,560 --> 01:20:23,399
including in the sixties, they didn't
really go down the road of was the

1295
01:20:23,479 --> 01:20:28,239
fight fixed? And did Listen flop
around on purpose because he was he was

1296
01:20:28,479 --> 01:20:30,319
throwing the fight in the first legitimate
punch. He was gonna get knocked out

1297
01:20:30,359 --> 01:20:33,000
in the first round, because that's
what all the Mafia gamblers wanted to have

1298
01:20:33,119 --> 01:20:36,560
happen. But in any event,
it's just to go down the rabbit hole

1299
01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:40,720
and watch that where I've always by
the way, yeah, I've always been

1300
01:20:40,760 --> 01:20:45,079
of the My opinion is that he
took a dive in that fight, and

1301
01:20:45,600 --> 01:20:53,000
it's pretty and it's and it's pretty
obvious when suddenly he's flopping around. I

1302
01:20:53,079 --> 01:20:56,720
mean it's almost like he was confused. He's flopping around. The count happens,

1303
01:20:56,800 --> 01:20:59,680
Oh I'm knocked down because it's his
arms were above his head and he's

1304
01:20:59,760 --> 01:21:02,560
laying down. But then suddenly,
because Jersey Joe Walcott, the referee is

1305
01:21:02,640 --> 01:21:09,359
confused, and you've got the person
counting for the knockdowns yelling across the ring,

1306
01:21:09,479 --> 01:21:12,560
up on the apron, come here, come here. Walcott leaves the

1307
01:21:12,680 --> 01:21:16,119
shot on the film and they start
fighting again, and Sonny Listen's not knocked

1308
01:21:16,159 --> 01:21:20,279
out anymore because he's defended himself.
He's throwing a punch and Walcott comes back

1309
01:21:20,319 --> 01:21:23,279
in and goes, okay, now
the fight is over. It was just

1310
01:21:23,439 --> 01:21:28,920
lunacy. How this fifty eight years
if there was twitter back then, Oh

1311
01:21:29,039 --> 01:21:31,600
yeah, fifty eight you think do
you think there was controversy in chaos and

1312
01:21:31,640 --> 01:21:38,279
stupidity about Loma Chenko and Hainey's outcome? Imagine that? Yeah, go down

1313
01:21:38,279 --> 01:21:42,840
the rabbit hole and watch all right, great stuff here that that Ali Listen

1314
01:21:42,920 --> 01:21:45,119
and I love that about the photo
hanging in the house. Iconic photo for

1315
01:21:45,239 --> 01:21:49,439
sure. Tremendous stuff with Leewood.
Will see how he does with Mauricio Laura

1316
01:21:49,520 --> 01:21:56,199
and again dueling featherweight world title fights
with Conlin. Luis Alberto Lopez will predict

1317
01:21:56,239 --> 01:22:00,640
all these fights on the bet Us
Boxing Show Friday one Eastern Time Live bet

1318
01:22:00,760 --> 01:22:04,159
Us platforms, YouTube, Twitter,
Twitch, etc. Where they're live making

1319
01:22:04,239 --> 01:22:09,279
predictions, gambling help you if you
see. If you don't see the fight

1320
01:22:09,800 --> 01:22:13,359
preview and prediction show live, you
can see it later on Friday, etc.

1321
01:22:13,720 --> 01:22:16,880
Bet Us And whatever happens Dan Raphael
off of all these world title fights

1322
01:22:17,279 --> 01:22:20,640
this weekend, we'll recap it coming
off the weekend on the Fight Freaks Unite

1323
01:22:20,680 --> 01:22:24,960
Recap on this very podcast feed.
When we're done for now, have a

1324
01:22:25,079 --> 01:22:28,520
great Memorial Day weekend. You and
I are going to talk over Memorial Day

1325
01:22:28,840 --> 01:22:31,199
and release the podcast coming off the
weekend. For now though, I think

1326
01:22:31,239 --> 01:22:34,039
we're good, my friend, ready
to enjoy all the action. I'm most

1327
01:22:34,079 --> 01:22:38,359
sure Liam and I will see you. Let's tomorrow on our Friday bet Us

1328
01:22:38,399 --> 01:22:42,199
show. We love that again.
Check that out again. Followers subscribe here

1329
01:22:42,239 --> 01:22:45,800
on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast,
Spotify at the Big Fight Weekend podcast feed.

1330
01:22:45,319 --> 01:22:49,039
Enjoy all the action Fight Freaks Unite
recap. He's off the weekend.

1331
01:22:49,159 --> 01:22:54,760
Everybody have a safe Memorial Day,
and we'll talk to you again soon here

1332
01:22:54,800 --> 01:23:00,239
as part of the Big Fight Weekend
podcast feed h