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Well off of a weekend that has
seen Edgar Borlanga return to being a knockout

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guy in the main event for Matchroom, a triple header of championship fights in

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Japan that did not disappoint. We've
got fight news, We've got nostalgia involving

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Muhammad Ali and others. It is
the Fight Freaks Unit Recap podcast. I

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am the somewhat competent host TJ Reeves. He is our insider. Fight Freaks

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Unit is his substack. That's why
we cleverly play off the name Fight Freaks

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Unit Recap Podcast, Big Fight Weekend
dot Com also insider. Hello Dan Rayfield,

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Good to have you and a lot
to talk about on the program.

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How are things? Things are good? We do a lot to talk about.

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Uh. By the way, thank
you for finding us again. We

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do our best to be here as
much as we possibly can. It's gonna

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get crazy in March with the college
basketball, but we do our best to

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preview going into the weekend recap coming
off the weekend, so you're catching the

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recap Sunday night into Monday right now. Make sure you're following subscribing on the

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that's on the feed. But you
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programming that is right here on the
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If you're subscribing, you'll get an
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Like, for example, the featherweight
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subject with Dan on the most recent
podcast. Ford is in Action coming this

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weekend, and so you've got a
chance to hear that. And again,

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great interviews, whether it's Oscar Day
lot hooyea. I mean, on and

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on down the list, promoters,
fighters, all kinds of people that we

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love to talk to and love to
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the way, rate us in review
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and review takes thirty seconds. They
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find us and see us. And
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February, thank you for hanging out
here with us. I think a lot

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of fight fans do enjoy it.
All. Right, enough of all of

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that, let's get into the action. Let's get into what happened not far

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from where I am, although I
was not there or Orlando, Florida in

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the middle of the state, about
seventy miles from me. I was watching

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and Edgar Berlanga gets the ko over
Padrag McCrory in the WBA Super Middleweight elimination

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fight. And speaking of eliminating,
he eliminated all the talk about why can't

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you get a knockout? He got
the knockout with a booming right hand.

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Dan began the conversation with your thoughts
on his win to finish up as the

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main event on the matchroom card.
Well, the knockout for Berlanga was a

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long time coming. I mean,
the reason why he became sort of a

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sensation was called prospected the year by
a lot of people, had some viral

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clips because of all those first round
knockouts. Got a ton of hype on

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ESPN when he was scoring those KOs
in the first round where they put the

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countdown clock on and decide it's not
a matter of can he get the first

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round KOs? In what minute of
the first round is he going to get

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the ko? I mean, that's
what it came to. As his team

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there was trying to match him,
you know, hoping he would get extended,

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scored sixteen first round knockouts in a
row, and then suddenly, boom,

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there was a power outage. And
even though he was scoring knockdowns,

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he wasn't getting stoppages. There was
five fights in a row, and that

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became like a burden. It became
a big thing. It's like, where

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in the heck did the Berlanga punching
power go? And he was fighting,

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you know, not great fighters,
but he was fighting pretty solid opponents over

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the last number of fights. Finally
against Padrake McCrory on this dez own card.

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He's now with Matchroom Boxing, Berlanga
is and it's his first fight in

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a while. And the conversation TJ
going into the fight was a can he

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get a knockout? And b Canelo
Alvarez still doesn't have an opponent for May

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fourth, and Berlanga is clearly one
of the possibilities among a few different names

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that are being bandied about. But
before we'll get to that, we'll get

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to it to that, But before
you could even go there, he had

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to take care of the business.
And you know, I've said to you

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many times like, okay, if
you don't get a knockout. So what

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as long as you win, and
even if you you know, if you

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look good and it's exciting and there's
no knockout, I don't really hold that

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against anything. I believe your phrase
is they are not preordained, am I

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right? Yeah? In this particular
instance, as just as a rarity,

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let's say it really was incumbent on
Berlanga to get a knockout, given everything

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that was at stake for him,
possibly with that potential fight, the fact

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that he hadn't had a knockout in
quite some time, and that the opponent

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was not going to be you know, not to say that Patrick McCrory is

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not a good fighter, he just
was not the kind of guy that you

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were going to have a hard time
finding. He was going to be in

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front of Edgar Berlanga, and at
some point, you know, if you

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want to continue to you know,
get coverage, get fights, get attention,

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all the things, are going to
becoming a name in the sport.

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You know, you gotta score a
knockout once a while, and you know

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what, early on first three rounds, it didn't look like that was happening

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because it was a dreadful fight for
three rounds and neither guy was throwing or

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land at anything. Finally, Edgar, you know, he was able to

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get get get in geared, get
things going a little bit and started to

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put the punches together. And you
know, he's still a good puncher.

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He's got a heavy right hand,
got a pretty stiff jab when it lands,

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and McCrory had never been stopping before. He was undfeated going into this

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fight eighteen and oh, but had
a much lesser caliber opposition under you know,

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on his resume than Edgar Berlanga had. And you know, when he

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finally started to touch him, he
started to breaking down. And Edgar explained

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after the fight about how he's he's
been concentrating more on defense when he trains

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and knows that not everybody's just going
to go in the first round. So

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at his point was I need to
get the timing of the guy down,

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you know, make sure I'm under
control with all that business. And when

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I see him start to break down
a little bit, then I start to

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really let my hands go and put
the punches together. And you know what,

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those those those comments were backed up
by his punch statistics, because after

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a zero output practically and very few
punches landed in the first three rounds.

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He did crank it up and started
to hurt him, started to do some

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damage, just started you know,
his nose was bloody, started to mark

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up his face a little bit.
And in round six he finally landed a

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big gray right hand dropped him and
you know, hurting him. And that

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was all she wrote. I mean, it was a it was a good

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esthetically pleasing knockout. I mean the
second the first three rounds, you know,

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were pretty dreadful. As I said, the second three rounds, you

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know, around four, five and
six, they were fun to wash,

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they were entertaining, and you know
McCrory didn't really throw a whole lot.

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You know, he had taken some
punishment in that round six and you know,

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say what you want, but Edgar
Berlanga, who's got a lot of

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people that you know, either they
either love him or they hate him.

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He's not a guy that that uh
that that brings in half and half like

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you're either in or you're out,
you know what I mean. He's got

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those detractors and he's got the people
that enjoyed the style. You know,

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he he did fight a little dirty. I mean, remember this is the

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guy that got suspended for trying to
bite a guy. Uh. You know,

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he did throw some low glow blow
as he got worn. One was

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clearly blatant. There looked like there
might have been a purposeful head butt in

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there. But in the end Berlanga
got the knockout and it was a pretty

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knocket. It was a nice knockout
and he got to win exactly what he

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did round six, over and out
and uh and now they start to bang

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the drums and try to make their
case for Canelo, and let's the record

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reflect that Reeves Cash is another knockout
problem on the bet On the bet Us

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show, I'm like kid knockout in
twenty fourteen. I had Haimi Mongia,

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I had Hams of Shiraz, I
had your guy seven thine On Shinga and

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I got the name right I had, I had Berlanga. So the knockouts

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are paying out that you need to
be watching the bet Us Boxing Show on

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the bet Us platforms Friday at one. So he got his ko that wasn't

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me, by the way, Yeah, go ahead. One thing I forgot

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to mention, by the way,
And this was like a last minute thing.

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I mean this is it just shows
you how how how fucked up boxing

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is sometimes and how sketchy it is. Uh, at the last minute.

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On Friday, I was texting with
Chris Mannix from the zone after the fight,

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and I asked it because they had
talked about this on the broadcast,

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and he obviously was doing the broadcast
and Chris had been my buddy for many

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years. They announced it as a
WBA Super mid away title on the liminator

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and I'm I'm on top of that
kind of stuff. I get the bout

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jeets. I read the press releases, I talked to the promoters, I

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did the interviews whatever. I'm always
on top of this. I'm in touched

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on a regular basis with the same
action bodies. I had no idea this

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was a title eliminator. I said
to Quesad do my ray Field impersonation watching

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his own The twenty twenties phraseology is
wait what wait what a what? And

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so you contacted Jerman Mannix and what
and what's up? So I said,

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So we had texted back and forth
and I was like, oh, by

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the way, when the heck did
this become a title eliminator? He said

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Friday they put the sanction on Friday, So all along when the fight was

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made, when they went through the
promotion, all the stuff that led up

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to this fight, it wasn't actually
officially sanctioned as the WBA title eliminator until

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the day before the fight. So
the upshot of that is, whatever your

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perspective was on whether it should be, how that came about, whatever I'm

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saying, just in terms of factual
at this moment, then it became an

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eliminator, so he'll be the WBA
mandatory for the Super Middleway title, which

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of course is held by Canelo Alvarez, who was the underspeed. It just

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occurred to me, what how does
David Morrell then factor in with the WBA.

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Well, that's the thing that's okay
straighting out and everybody else. I

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think actually, technically the w first
of all, David Morrel is a WBA

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regular champion, so I guess technically
speaking, uh, And I will actually

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when we're we're doing this podcast Sunday
night tomorrow on Monday morning, when I'm

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in business, I will, I
will, I will send my my good

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pal Gilberto Mendoza from the w b
A a text message and I'll say and

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I'll ask him the following question.
Is he the mandatory for Canelo or is

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he the mandatory for Merrell. I
believe he'll be the mandatory for Morel and

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Morell is the mandatory although it hasn't
been ordered and in the WBA mandatory is

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not due yet anyway, that that's
sort of the way it will work.

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But he's he's a step closer to
being mandated, uh for a Canelo fight.

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But Canelo it appears, well,
there's no question he's not fighting David

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Morrel next. But again, like
I said, the fact that that he

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would be mandatory or not is not
relevant because the WBA mandatory is not yet

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due right right, But he could
still opt to have it. And obviously

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Berlanga puts himself in a position,
whether it's Canelo or Morell or somebody else

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that has a title that were to
beat either of those guys, he is

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a step closer to getting his opportunity
to fight for one of these major titles.

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So there is that, But I
just found it to be bizarre that

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the fight was announced like two months
ago, and it was the day before

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they made it a title to the
WBA. It's the WBA you've been over

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there, but it happens. I've
seen that shit happen in other organizations too.

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It's just, you know, I
love boxing. I've made my life

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in boxing. It's been good to
me. I've been good to it.

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But it's fucking sketchy. Okay,
So on the realism meter, because Berlanga's

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calling for Canelo. You know,
Eddie Hern and Mattroom have done business with

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Canelo. I love the I love
the Rayfield Realism meter and the antenna's up,

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the BS Antanna's up. Is this
ten being it absolutely happens? Is

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this two? Is this one?
Where is it on the Rayfield meter?

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Berlanga, I think given the way
that he looked on Saturday and got the

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knockout, And I'm not saying I
indorse the match, but I do believe

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there is a very good chance that
this fight will happen. What's my number?

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What's my number? By six and
a half? Really you really think?

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You know? You said, I
don't really think like one of the

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like one of the two. One
of the two dates May or September,

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but probably not May. Could he
realistically fight him in May? He really

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realistic? He absolutely could fight him
in May? Okay, that you can,

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you can dislike that. I'm again, I'm not sitting here endorsing the

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match. I'm telling you that when
you look at the landscape of available opponents,

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what they think it could do commercially, and you cannot underestimate Mexico Puerto

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Rico. And I'm not saying going
it deserves the opportunity. Don't please,

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don't misunderstand me. I'm talking about
there is a segment of fans out there

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because of their heritage, will buy
this fight because he's a Puerto Rican and

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we already know that there's lots of
fans out there Mexican and otherwise. Who

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are fans of Canelos that will buy
him against anybody? So put that all.

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I mean, he did freaking hundreds
of thousands of buys against the Haven

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Yieldrum, I mean, who was
completely unknown. So again I'm not saying

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this is a blockbuster compared to some
other fights he could have. But remember

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this other thing also, Berlanga will
command a large purse for the fight,

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but he's gonna fit the budget a
lot more than a Terrence Crawford or even

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a David Benavitez or even you know
other opponents. You could think of he's

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gonna you know, take home probably
less money and the offering a Charlotte.

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And that's part of the whole strategy
of doing these events, is what's the

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budget relative to what we think it
can generate. So you know, you

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can laugh, you can you can
mf it, you can dislike it.

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I'm all with you on that.
I'm just making you were gonna say like

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two and a half or three and
you know this is real, dude,

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Okay, this is real. And
even if it doesn't happen in May,

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I still think it has a reasonable
chance to happen in September. All right.

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Again, I will say for a
fourth time, I'm not endorsing it.

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I'm just telling you what the deal
is. Yep, there is absolutely

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a chance that it could happen.
I'm not saying. And at the end

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of the day, it's gonna be
Canello's decision and they're gonna have to work

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out the particulars with Al Hayman about
it. But when you look at the

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landscape of who's the possibilities for May, it's been clearly established that it's not

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gonna be David Denavide's unless there's a
lightning striker some miracle. You know,

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David is on his way to fighting
for the interim title at light heavyweight against

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Alexander Vodzik. Obviously, you know, if he changes his mind, they'll

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go and do the Canelo fight.
But that it definitely does not appear to

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be the case. I don't think
there's an appetite on PBCs. We have

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to spend crazy money to try to
make the Crawford fight for May. I'm

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not saying they're not they're not interested
to do it at some point. But

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again, Canelo is not really showing
huge interest in that fight. He said

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it many times that it's not his
interest. At some point, you got

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to believe what the man's saying.
So I don't think that's happening. He

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may. I mean, I guess
it's possible, but in my mind,

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I eliminate David Benavite's and Terrence Crawford
from the May fourth day. So after

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that, you say, who's left, Well, there is Charlotte, which

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we've discussed previously, and I don't
know a single soul other than maybe Charlot

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and his immediate family that Kerr are
interested in that fight. So that that's

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that's that's fucking sewage if you ask
me. Uh. And so once you

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get beyond that, who else is
out there? Now? Howmy Mongy is

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of the is the most attractive opponent
of the ones that I believe are realistic

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for May. He'll fit the budget
to some degree. It's a great fight

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in the ring. He certainly deserves
it, more than than Berlanga does.

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Certainly deserves it more than even a
charlot does. Uh. And you know

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it's going to be entertaining. I
mean period, I mean that's just that's

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that's almost because he blows and he
gets hit. So you're exactly right,

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Mangia, Yes, you can put
Mongi in and he was going to be

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entertaining against anybody. And even when
he was in some of those squash matches,

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they were at least entertaining while they
lasted. So and that's a possibility.

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And Golden Boy wants to do the
fight. Mangia wants to do the

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fight. And you know, Canelo
would have to come around about you know,

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because he's made a thing about it. Doesn't really want to fight Mexican

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opponents, Okay, whatever. At
the end of the day, he is

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a businessman. And then once you
get past that, who's left. He's

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not fighting David Morrell, He's not
fighting Christian macbilly, who hasn't He's a

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hell, you know, a hell
of an exciting fighter, but doesn't have

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a profile Berlanga. He fits a
lot of the if you go in and

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making a checklist again, I'm going
to read it. I'm not advocating this,

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just telling you the deal. He
is undefeated, he's a big puncher.

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You know, first three rounds,
notwithstanding after a period of time off,

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you know, it wasn't entertaining fight. For the last three rounds he

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did score a knockout. It is
Mexico versus Puerto Rico. It is a

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fight that Canelo. I guarantee you
what he and his team will look at.

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It is affordable. It's affordable.
Yeah, he'll fit the HiFIT the

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budget. And by the way,
Canelo will be a hefty favorite to win

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the fight. You go, so, I absolutely think that it's a possibility,

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all right, and he it wouldn't
be a possibility had Edgar Burlanka not

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gone into the ring on Saturday and
scored a pretty knockout against Padrake McCrory.

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All Right, so we got a
lot on that. Let's get to the

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rest of his car. Then we
got to move to the Japanese triple header

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and championship fight. So Andy Kruz, who we talk talked a lot about

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in the preview mode, the Cuban
gold medalist at lightweight, goes the distance,

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uh and does get the win.
What did you think of his performance?

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And then go ahead with the rest
of the undercard. Uh, here

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to put a rap on the matching
show sawday night. So Andy fought a

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Mexican boxer named brand Zama Rippa who
had fought to a split decision loss against

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Angel Fierro, who was a pretty
good uh you know, let's call him

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a secondary contender, but you know, not not not a you know,

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he's a he's a good he's a
good fighter and and and Zama Rippa gave

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him, gave him good competition.
I mean, I know he didn't Uh

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he may not have come out on
top, but that was the reason why

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he gets this fight, because it
was a he was a credible opponent from

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the standpoint of who he had faced
in the past and how he had performed

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against him. So I felt like
when they made this match, it was

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not an unreasonable kind of fight.
I mean it was a it was a

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close fight. This is in September
of last year when he lost that fight

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against Angel Fierro a by split decision
over ten rounds. So this was a

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00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,799
good step up for Andy Cruz after
the first two opponents he had faced.

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Remember this is a fighter that is
now only three to o when he's fighting

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already guys that you would consider sort
of like Fringey type contenders. Because he

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is twenty eight, it's not young
in terms of as an up and comer.

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And he also has you know,
one hundred and fifty or so amateur

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00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,400
fights and is an Olympic gold medal
winner, and also won all kinds of

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other competitions in the tart in the
amateur ranks, whether it's Pan American Games

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or you know, pick pick your
world amateur World Championships. I mean,

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truly a fighter that does not need
a humongous amount of seasoning as a professional.

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So three fights in zamaripa very tough, solid opponent. He did go

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the ten round distance, but he
won every single round. It was ten

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rounds zero on the score cards,
not you know, one hundred to ninety

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all the way through you know,
all three scorecards. Zamaripa, you know,

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who had now has now three losses, has never been stopped before.

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Looked like Cruz might get the stoppage. At one point he was beaten up

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on Zamaipa, you know, very
very roughly in some of those rounds.

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But sometimes you got to give credit
TJ to the opponent. And Zamarripa was

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in a state of mind where,
look, you may beat me, and

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you're gonna definitely be faster than me, and you're gonna definitely outbox me,

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but I ain't going anywhere. You
know, as Marvin Hagler once said on

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the HBO Legendary Night series, You're
gonna have to tick me with that ring

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post or I ain't going anywhere.
True. So that was sort of the

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mentality I think that Zamaripa had in
this fight. And so Andy krus did

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00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,640
what Andy Kruse did. He can't
you know, he didn't make it boring.

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He came forward, he was aggressive. He didn't fight the stinky style

303
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,559
where you're backing up and you're you're
playing with your food, so to speak,

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and you're you're just looking to touch
the guy and move. You know.

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00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,960
He sat down on his punches and
he was in there to try to

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00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:30,720
to get him out of there.
He just couldn't do it. And that

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doesn't mean he can't do it against
other fighters. We've talked about how my

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00:18:34,839 --> 00:18:38,680
admiration for him to go and train
with Bozie Ennis, you know, as

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00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:45,400
opposed to picking a trainer that was
more identified with that defensive Cuban style.

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00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,119
Uh, you know you're fighting those
If you're fighting under a trainer like Bozie

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00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,920
Ennis and you're training out of Philadelphia, you're not gonna be able to get

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away with that in the gym,
as they talked about on the broadcast,

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and this is one hundred percent right. You know, they trained for knockouts

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00:18:57,319 --> 00:19:00,400
in those gyms in Philadelphia. They
don't train for getting you know, close

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00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,000
decisions or or you know, get
decisions where the crowd is booing you.

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So for a ten round fight where
he won every single round, I thought

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00:19:07,519 --> 00:19:11,039
it was entertaining. He was crowd
pleasing. Look, the card itself was

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00:19:11,079 --> 00:19:15,519
a pretty fun card to watch if
you take away the next fight that I'm

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00:19:15,519 --> 00:19:18,960
gonna mention because the second fight or
the fight before the Cruise fight. So

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00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,839
anyway, Cruise gets to win and
he'll move on. He's gonna you know,

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00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,160
he's gonna be close to fighting like
top contenders you know this year.

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I mean, I don't have any
doubt about that. You know, he's

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00:19:26,039 --> 00:19:30,240
already gonna be ranked in so many
organizations because this this fight as well as

324
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:33,319
this previous fight were for some of
their regional belts. And there's no doubt

325
00:19:33,319 --> 00:19:37,799
he's a talent. And I said
this, I think on our preview,

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00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:41,200
I think you can match Andy Cruz
with any number of top ten type lightweights

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00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,720
and he would beat them right now. Interesting, Yeah, he's got to

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00:19:45,799 --> 00:19:48,559
He's got a big future in front
of him. On the rest of the

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00:19:48,599 --> 00:19:51,119
car, go ahead, all right. So the fight before that was the

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00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,279
welterweight w b A title eliminator,
which was announced as eliminator when the fight

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00:19:55,359 --> 00:20:00,519
was made, not on Friday,
and that was the uh the Uzbekistan twenty

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00:20:00,559 --> 00:20:06,559
sixteen Olympic silver medal winner Chakram Giosov, who was fighting Pablo caesar Cano,

333
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,799
who people know has been around for
a long time, mainly known as a

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00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:12,680
fighter that was, you know,
in competitive and somewhat of a contenders type

335
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:17,759
in the junior welterweight division. I
have no idea why this was approved as

336
00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:22,000
a welterweight eliminator because Pablo ses Arcano
does not belong anywhere close to weight title

337
00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:26,079
eliminator. And you know, Giasov
went in there and he won an eleven

338
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,759
round technical decision and won every single
round and that the scorecards were one oh

339
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,400
nine to ninety nine, and all
three scorecards. He had dropped Pablo caes

340
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:41,599
Arcano at one point in the fight, but in that eleventh round there was

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00:20:41,839 --> 00:20:45,039
their feet got tangled up and Cano
went down on the canvas and he broke

342
00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:48,319
his ankle apparently, and so it
was an accidental foul, wasn't a knockout,

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and they stopped the fight scent to
the scorecards. That's why it was

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00:20:51,759 --> 00:20:56,640
a technical decision. So Giosov wins
the fight, but loses every fan he

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00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,440
may have ever had, because that
was a fucking piece of garbage, horrible,

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00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:06,720
horrible, absolutely terrible fight to watch. And I blame geosoftware because Pablo

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00:21:06,759 --> 00:21:08,279
says, Arcno is a guy that
will come forward, We'll try to fight

348
00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,839
you and uh and you know,
slug it out if necessary. But this

349
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,279
guy just didn't want any part of
a real fight. He just it was

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00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,240
exactly the opposite of what I just
said to you about Andy Cruz. It

351
00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:21,880
was touch and move and stink you
out. And you know what, if

352
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:23,720
I had what do they remember in
the old days, and like the carnival

353
00:21:23,759 --> 00:21:26,799
they have like the big stick with
the hook on it, they yank you

354
00:21:26,839 --> 00:21:30,440
off the stage right, yes,
whatever they call it, or in the

355
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,680
cartoons like the Bugs Buddy cartoon,
they would all exactly right. Yes,

356
00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:36,400
So if I had that and I
was there, I'd have fucking yanked that

357
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,880
motherfucker right out of the right.
That was a horrible fight, So I

358
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,319
don't need to be giving it far
too much time as it is. It's

359
00:21:42,319 --> 00:21:45,799
over. It's a technical decision and
whatever happens to those in the future.

360
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,599
Well, he's in now. He's
in position to be the mandatory for Amanda

361
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:56,079
Stanioniss WBA Regular belt. So there's
that, uh, hopefully hopefully paved,

362
00:21:56,279 --> 00:21:57,880
Pablo says ar Cano. Is okay, I didn't know. I didn't really

363
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,160
see the official diagnosed, but it
was pretty clear that his ankle was messed

364
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,119
up when he fell down when they
got tangled up there in the eleventh round.

365
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,559
All right, So the fight before
that was again a WBA bantamway title

366
00:22:08,599 --> 00:22:11,160
eliminator which was announced at the time
of the fight, not on Friday,

367
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:18,640
and that was the American Antonio Vargas, who was a twenty sixteen US Olympian

368
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,839
who is now eighteen and one,
who was actually was one of the local

369
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,039
draws on the car, probably sold
some ticket. He's from Kissimi, which

370
00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:29,240
is right there in the Orlando areas. So he was in this eliminator against

371
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,400
a Puerto Rican fighter named Jonathan Rodriguez. And if you remember, Jonathan Rodriguez

372
00:22:33,839 --> 00:22:37,400
did the job on Calia five,
former champion sentiment to retirement of the knockout

373
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,039
in the first round. That was
the you know, the biggest moment of

374
00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:44,119
his career. That was in his
I guess his previous fight was a very

375
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,000
good win for him. So this
was the matchup for this eliminator. And

376
00:22:47,079 --> 00:22:51,440
let me tell you something. For
as bad as that Giasov against Cano fight

377
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,599
was, this fight between Vargas and
Rodriguez was as the as the kids say,

378
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:56,839
TJ. It was a banger.
Yes, I mean it was.

379
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:02,920
It was a really good, exciting
fight, just both guys showing tremendous heart,

380
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,160
letting it all hang out. And
I tell you Antonio Vargus really showed

381
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,039
me something in that fight, because
he looked like he might be in some

382
00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:11,079
trouble. He got dropped in the
first round as they were battling out the

383
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:15,160
kids. Showed a lot of heart
to keep going and to overtake Rodriguez,

384
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,880
who also showed a lot of heart. Uh. There was there was some

385
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,599
some rough stuff, some some fouling
because when he got knocked when he dropped

386
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,319
Rodriguez in round two, he hit
him while he was down, which is

387
00:23:26,319 --> 00:23:29,640
one of the worst fouls you can
commit in boxing. So the referee docked

388
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,720
him two points on that foul.
Uh. But they kept going at it,

389
00:23:33,799 --> 00:23:37,640
and finally Vargas broke through dropped him
again in round seven, and he

390
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,440
was really messed up. And when
the round ended up, big left hand

391
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,240
right, Yeah, big left hand
on the chin. They should not let

392
00:23:42,279 --> 00:23:45,720
this fight go on. And I
was very pleased that, Uh, Rodriguez's

393
00:23:45,759 --> 00:23:49,799
father in the corner elected to stop
the fight after that round because his boy

394
00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:52,079
was gonna get hurt in the next
round. Uh. And you know,

395
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:56,799
we'll live to fight another day because
he's got that great win over over calia

396
00:23:56,839 --> 00:24:00,160
Fi. He's got this very entertaining, exciting, competitive fightinggainst Antonio Vargas,

397
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,079
and there's no reason why take a
good little rest and then make your you

398
00:24:04,079 --> 00:24:07,440
know, get yourself back in in
regroup in the gym, and they get

399
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,519
back in another fight. So that
was that was a really good fun fight.

400
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,759
Uh, those were the main Those
are the three fights prior to the

401
00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:17,319
main event. And you know,
and there was another fight before that,

402
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:19,839
but those are the main fights that
we're talking about. And like I said,

403
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,880
other than the GSOV piece of garbage, Uh, the rest of the

404
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,319
show was a fun fight, the
fun show to watch. And again Vargas

405
00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:30,319
winning a w BA bandamweight eliminator in
the chronology coming later in the night factors

406
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:36,960
into what happened earlier in the day, and that is the Japanese tripleheader of

407
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:42,000
championship fights, where Takuma in a
way retained the w BA bantamweight title with

408
00:24:42,079 --> 00:24:48,759
a big body shot knockout of Filipino
Jermin and Cajas. Also, Junto Nakatani

409
00:24:48,799 --> 00:24:52,559
delivered as you and I both thought
he would on the bet Us show with

410
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:57,079
a six round t KO. He
knocked Alex Santiago down a couple of times

411
00:24:57,279 --> 00:25:03,680
and retained the WBC vers. We
also even had a WBO Bacon Junior bandamweight

412
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:10,480
title fight won by Kosai Tanaka by
decision. You had all the Japanese A

413
00:25:10,599 --> 00:25:14,960
championship interest you could have for a
Saturday morning with the cornflakes and the Japanese

414
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,759
title fights. Well, I can't
say I had corn flakes. I was

415
00:25:17,799 --> 00:25:21,200
in bed watching on my phone.
I actually I did not see some of

416
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,319
those fights live. I watched them
after the fact. I did watch the

417
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,680
main event live. So I'll start
with the main event. I gotta confess.

418
00:25:26,759 --> 00:25:30,480
So I'm becoming an old man.
I don't sleep a ton, but

419
00:25:30,559 --> 00:25:34,079
I got about six and a half
hour sleep Friday night. I literally wake

420
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,839
up at about seven am. I
get to the dog, I get the

421
00:25:37,839 --> 00:25:41,119
dog outside and I'm like, okay, let me see where they are in

422
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,200
the car. And I open up
social media and they're talking about the Knakatani

423
00:25:45,279 --> 00:25:48,160
knockout. And I thought, with
the way we were talking, that was

424
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,359
the final fight, and I'm like, I've missed the entire card. At

425
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,920
seven am Eastern time, it's over. Well, it turns out that was

426
00:25:53,960 --> 00:26:00,759
the co feature fight before the he
knocked out that was scored by in a

427
00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:03,640
way, but I'm with you.
I mean it was early in these and

428
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,640
I know for those of the Central
time Zone and beyond, it was way

429
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,200
early. So it's okay if you
time displaced it and watched it a little

430
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,119
later, it's understandable. It was
okay in the US, and it's still

431
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,400
on demand now. If he didn't
see it all, ESPN Plus has it

432
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,119
in the on demand spot, no
problem. So Takuma in away who is

433
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,960
the younger brother of no Yo in
a way, when when his brother vacated

434
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,519
all the bandam wait titles and after
having become undisputed and went to one hundred

435
00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:27,200
and twenty two pounds where he now
is the undisputed champion in that weight class.

436
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:33,200
Also his brother Takuma fought and won
the vacant WBA bantam Waite title.

437
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,400
This was his first defense against gerwy
and Casas a Caajas, who was a

438
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,960
long time title holder in the Junior
VANDAM White division, had made nine defenses.

439
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,799
It was a star wart guy.
Fought a lot of fights on ESPN.

440
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:48,000
When he's with top Rank, he's
promoted by Manny Paco was with PBC,

441
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:52,920
fought you know, fights on Showtime
lost his title on showtime to Fernando

442
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,160
Martinez, lost in the rematch,
then moved up in wait, had one

443
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:00,640
fight, and then got this opportunity, you know, to a challenge for

444
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,440
this title. He listen and as
I expected, he gave a heck of

445
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:04,839
account, a good account of himself. I mean I did pick him to

446
00:27:04,839 --> 00:27:07,480
win on the beat Us Show,
mainly because the number was so tasty,

447
00:27:07,519 --> 00:27:11,559
and he did comp very well.
This was not a blowout fight. But

448
00:27:11,599 --> 00:27:15,119
in the end, you know,
the slickness of in a way, the

449
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,279
youth, the freshness compared to him, you know, it was a little

450
00:27:18,279 --> 00:27:19,000
bit too much for him. And
in the end, uh, you know,

451
00:27:19,079 --> 00:27:22,039
in a way, you know,
he did the job and it was

452
00:27:22,039 --> 00:27:23,319
really kind of one of those deals
where you know, yeah, he got

453
00:27:23,319 --> 00:27:27,039
the knockout, and it was it
was a pretty nice knockout. The liver

454
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,400
shiver right in the right in the
liver, I heard Chris Aljery said on

455
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,920
the broadcast. And you know,
people, uh, they say this stuff,

456
00:27:34,079 --> 00:27:36,960
uh, and they've never been in
the ring. And I've got to

457
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:38,319
I've got to confess, I've never
been in the ring and taken a liver

458
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,359
shot. But you hear fighters talk
about it, and al Jury said it

459
00:27:41,839 --> 00:27:47,039
on a Saturday morning, US time, early morning. He said, when

460
00:27:47,039 --> 00:27:51,599
you get hit with that punch,
everything goes out, everything goes numb.

461
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,920
And that's exactly what happened to Ankajas
who had been standing toe to toe with

462
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:00,680
him and taking shots to the head
without a problem, and then suddenly banged

463
00:28:00,759 --> 00:28:04,039
the body. And the fights don't
but it was so quick out of nowhere,

464
00:28:04,039 --> 00:28:07,640
you didn't even like I had to
see the replay, didn't even realized

465
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,039
the shot had landed. And I
have talked to over my career many many

466
00:28:11,039 --> 00:28:15,680
fighters who will tell you chapter and
verse, they'd much rather take a head

467
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,880
shot than a body shot. That's
a you know, a good headshot com

468
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,519
bear to a good body shot.
They'll take a good headshot any day and

469
00:28:21,599 --> 00:28:23,759
be able to overcome it. But
sometimes you just cannot overcome the body shot.

470
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:29,000
And so what was a seemingly a
fight that was probably headed the distance

471
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:30,680
where in a way he was winning
the fight, but it was competitive,

472
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,240
Suddenly the fight was over because he
got clipped and he went down and he

473
00:28:34,279 --> 00:28:37,400
did not beat the count. And
so that's a good that's not only a

474
00:28:38,079 --> 00:28:42,279
good win for in a way it's
a it's a impressive title defense for him.

475
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,640
You know, he wants to be
undisputed at at VANDAM weight the way

476
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,319
his brother is. He got a
belt, and now he's got the title,

477
00:28:48,519 --> 00:28:51,920
uh defense under under that belt,
and now is I guess they'll try

478
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,240
to work their way towards seeing if
there's a possibility to fight for other belts

479
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:56,279
in the future. But you had
to get that one out of the way.

480
00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:00,640
And he did that against a very
reputable, very opponent and uh,

481
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:03,720
you know, and now he's off
to the races. I mean, and

482
00:29:03,839 --> 00:29:07,480
let and let's say this because we've
seen this dynamic all the time in sports,

483
00:29:07,599 --> 00:29:11,160
all sports, et cetera. This
is not an easy thing for Takuma

484
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,640
in a way to be the younger
brother of Naoya in a way, a

485
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:22,799
monstrously popular prominent fighter in that country. And you're literally in his shadow when

486
00:29:22,799 --> 00:29:26,519
he's in the corner with you,
which he was with the dad. So

487
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:30,079
he delivered. But it's just it's
an interesting dynamic when you see like sons

488
00:29:30,119 --> 00:29:36,519
of fathers that are famous in American
sports, or younger brothers that are trying

489
00:29:36,519 --> 00:29:41,240
to live up to the older.
Oh yeah, but I mean that pressure

490
00:29:41,319 --> 00:29:44,480
is definitely there, and he got
the knockout and you could almost see relief

491
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,200
after the fight that he was relieved. Had a swollen right lower eye there,

492
00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:52,839
cheekbone, lower eye, but he
got the win. Ye make no

493
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,799
mistake. A lot of times when
guys make their first defense, it's an

494
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,279
easy patsy kind of hand pick,
kind of easy you know, let's just

495
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,839
get the fans excited, let's pocket
a big purse for not a lot of

496
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,640
risk. This was not the case. This was a real fight against a

497
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,519
real fighter, against a quality fighter. I mean, yes, he was

498
00:30:10,599 --> 00:30:14,599
not a long time fighter in the
bandamweight division. But you know, my

499
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,960
opinion has always been that among the
easiest jumps to make in professional boxing if

500
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:25,240
you're changing weight classes is that three
pounds differentiation between the junior bandamweight division and

501
00:30:25,279 --> 00:30:27,359
the bandamweight division. And look,
it was a good victory for him,

502
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:32,880
and so now how does he go
towards the possibility of unifying the titles.

503
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,960
Well, that takes us to what's
the second fight on the card. That

504
00:30:36,119 --> 00:30:40,200
was the co feature. You had
Alexandro Santiago, who you remember we were

505
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,720
there in Vegas and the summer on
the undercart of Errol Spence against Terrence Crawford.

506
00:30:45,079 --> 00:30:48,839
When Santiago defeated Nondo Donair and what
was a pretty big upset to win

507
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,599
what at that time was the vacant
WBC bantamway title, another one of the

508
00:30:52,599 --> 00:30:57,400
belts that in a way that Nola
in Away had vacated. So he gets

509
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:02,079
this opportunity for you know, nice
payday to go and defend the title in

510
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,240
Japan against Junto Nakatani, who has
been a very exciting fighter. He'd won

511
00:31:06,279 --> 00:31:11,079
a title at flyweight, won a
title at junior bantamweight. We remember that

512
00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:15,599
phenomenal knockout of Jason Maloney knock out
of the Year in twenty twenty three in

513
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,920
a junior bantamwaight title defense, which
he actually had in Las Vegas on a

514
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:25,200
top rank undercard. I believe it
was the Lomachenko and Devin Hainey undercard.

515
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,920
Anyway, he didn't stick around in
that weight class very long, and Nakatani

516
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,359
went up to bantamwaight and it was
challenging Santiago for this title. I said

517
00:31:34,359 --> 00:31:37,480
to you at the time that San
Diego won the title, he's you know,

518
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,720
it's a great story. Congratulations to
him. It changed his life.

519
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,200
He'll always have the belt to remember. I'll be a part of the WBC

520
00:31:45,319 --> 00:31:48,640
family. He can show his kids
blah blah blah. But he was never

521
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,720
going to be a long term champion, and especially when you're fighting Sony the

522
00:31:52,759 --> 00:31:56,440
caliber of a junto Nakatani, who
is a tremendous, tremendous fighter, and

523
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:57,839
you know, he does a lot
of his training in Los Angeles. He

524
00:31:57,839 --> 00:32:01,160
works with Rudy Hernandez, who was
an outstanding trainer, somebody I have known

525
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,920
for many, many years, who
was the brother of the late great former

526
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:10,559
junior lightweight champion, Gennaro Hernandez.
And they they really they've worked on so

527
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,079
many things there. He's such a
technically good fighter, and he can punch

528
00:32:15,119 --> 00:32:19,119
with both hands. He has a
tremendous uppercut, he's got good size.

529
00:32:20,079 --> 00:32:22,240
I don't have any doubt in my
mind that at some point he'll go up

530
00:32:22,279 --> 00:32:25,039
to junior featherweight. But in the
meantime, here he goes in with Santiago

531
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,599
and he bossed him the whole fight. He beat him up. I mean

532
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,200
it was not really it was an
easy pick in terms of picking a knockout.

533
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,920
I felt like he ends up winning
the fight obviously by a six round

534
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,000
knockout. He wins the title now
in his third different weight class. I

535
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,400
thought he looked spectacular. He was
taller, he was quicker. He had

536
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,759
like a five inch height advantage or
so over Santiago. He was definitely a

537
00:32:45,799 --> 00:32:47,519
bigger puncher. He just took them
apart. He controlled them with the jab

538
00:32:47,759 --> 00:32:51,079
when they got on the inside,
he banged them around to the head,

539
00:32:51,119 --> 00:32:53,119
in the body. He had that
uppercut working. You know, it was

540
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:58,480
just it was like a it was
a really really impressed almost It's almost like

541
00:32:58,839 --> 00:33:01,680
a no win situation. Santek I
just felt there was no possible way unless

542
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:06,720
there was some kind of miracle or
an injury to Nakatani, that that he

543
00:33:06,799 --> 00:33:10,200
was going to leave that ring with
his title intact. And sure enough come

544
00:33:10,279 --> 00:33:13,880
round six, you know, over
and out. You know, he gave

545
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:15,759
a good effort. But Nakatani is
a star on the rise, you know,

546
00:33:15,759 --> 00:33:19,359
we know in a way is the
number one star in Japan and the

547
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,039
and the guy in the pound for
pound list and all. But I don't

548
00:33:22,039 --> 00:33:24,759
think Nakatani is that far away fromhim. And I think you can even make

549
00:33:24,799 --> 00:33:28,599
the case right now that you could
find a spot form in the lower part

550
00:33:28,599 --> 00:33:30,880
of your top ten pound for poundies
that good. It was a very very

551
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:35,799
impressive victory. And so it begs
the question. Right. You had the

552
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,440
WBA title defended by in a way
in the main event, he got his

553
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:43,920
countryman Nakatani winning the WBC title in
the co feature. Are they going to

554
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,200
fight each other? I don't make
it too much sense now on the you're

555
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,359
making too much sense. You're making
too much sense again that those two would

556
00:33:50,359 --> 00:33:52,920
fight. I would hope that it
would happen eventually. I don't I'd be

557
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,599
really shocked if it was next And
there's there's you know, they both can

558
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,319
carve out and make money doing other
things, and it you know, and

559
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,519
again I don't like to the word
marinate. There are some times where to

560
00:34:05,559 --> 00:34:08,119
make it the biggest possible, you
do have to gamble about a loss here

561
00:34:08,119 --> 00:34:10,599
and there, and you do need
to kind of juice up a little bit

562
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,119
a little. How about instead of
marine build it up a little, each

563
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:17,840
guy makes another defense and there you
go. I don't know if you need

564
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,840
to build it up for years,
but you know, if they didn't,

565
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:22,480
they built it up for another couple
of fights. It's not the worst thing

566
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,960
that I ever heard, So that
would be my expectation if they do have

567
00:34:27,039 --> 00:34:30,840
interest to fight one another, that
it would get built up, you know,

568
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:32,760
at least for a couple of fights. My my fear, I don't

569
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,840
really mean I'm scared of it.
I'm just saying I would hate to see

570
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,760
them both have the titles together,
fighting on the same card, They're with

571
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:45,320
the same team, and have you
know, one guy or the other decide,

572
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:46,199
you know what, I don't want
that fight, and maybe they vacate

573
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,119
and go up and wait and say
I can't make the weight anymore, you

574
00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:52,840
know, I mean, because clearly
both guys are going to fight in the

575
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,239
one hundred and twenty two pounds weight
class at some point. You know,

576
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:58,360
maybe they'll wait until Loya in a
way leaves the division and goes up to

577
00:34:58,679 --> 00:35:02,079
fetherweight, which would probably be the
next year. But look, Nakatani is

578
00:35:02,119 --> 00:35:06,480
a super fun, exciting fighter to
watch, So even if he's not fighting

579
00:35:06,519 --> 00:35:08,440
in a way in the unification,
you know, if he spends the next

580
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:13,079
couple of fights knocking out other guys
who are quality in the meantime, you

581
00:35:13,079 --> 00:35:17,119
know, Soviet but uh, he's
it for me personally, Nakatani is appointment

582
00:35:17,199 --> 00:35:21,360
viewing, even if I watch it
a little bit after the live fact when

583
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,199
I woke up all right quickly to
tan not gonna win because we got news

584
00:35:25,199 --> 00:35:29,440
and we got some excellent nostalga.
So go all right, So Tanaka,

585
00:35:29,559 --> 00:35:31,360
oh I just mentioned that Nakatani.
So he wins the world title in his

586
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:37,159
third way class. What Tanaka did
by beating a fighter named Christian Bacha Sekwa,

587
00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:42,639
which a very interesting fight to win
the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title.

588
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,960
And I was a pretty dominating decision, one nineteen one awaight, maybe it

589
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,119
was a little bit wide, but
understandable. The other two scores were one

590
00:35:49,199 --> 00:35:52,760
seventeen to one ten and one sixteen
to one eleven. So the belt that

591
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:57,679
he won was the belt that Nakatani
had vacated when he left the junior band

592
00:35:57,679 --> 00:36:00,800
and weight division to go up to
bandam weight to challenge for the title that

593
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:06,400
he just won. And so what's
the thing about Tanaka. He becomes the

594
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,079
first ever or are the third ever
Japanese fighter to win world titles in four

595
00:36:10,119 --> 00:36:14,639
weight classes. You know, I
mean, it's not the most meaningful staff.

596
00:36:14,639 --> 00:36:17,239
But it's somewhat impressive when you think
that the company has joined there's now

597
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:21,119
three of them. He's done it
in four weight classes. No Yah in

598
00:36:21,159 --> 00:36:23,440
a way has done it in four
weight classes, and your boy, Kazuto

599
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:28,599
Ioka has done it in four weight
classes. So Tanaka has now won w

600
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,679
all WBO titles. The WBO made
a thing on their social media that he's

601
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:37,320
the first I think it was the
first ever fighter to win title WBO titles

602
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,519
in four weight classes. You know, he can look at that. There's

603
00:36:40,519 --> 00:36:43,280
a lot of ways to look at
that, but I'm stating the fact.

604
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:49,760
So he's been been a WBO champion
at strawweight, junior flyweight, flyweight and

605
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,199
now junior band and weight. And
you know, Bassa Segua came to fight

606
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:57,039
man. He gave him a tough
go. You know, he was a

607
00:36:57,039 --> 00:37:00,000
brawler from Mexico. He really took
it to him. But Tanaka, you

608
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,400
know, it was a little too
slick, a little too skillful. He

609
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,599
did bang it out when necessary and
he won the decision. And it was,

610
00:37:07,199 --> 00:37:09,320
you know, somewhat historic from the
point of view of the statistical things

611
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,800
I just mentioned to you, but
it's it is telling that when you're going

612
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:15,719
for a title on a fourth weight
class, you're not the co feature,

613
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:20,679
and you're not even the main event
or the co feature. So the other

614
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,360
names were a little bit higher on
the depth chart, if you will,

615
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,519
when it comes to boxing talent in
Japan when you're talking about in a way

616
00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:30,199
in Nakatani. But look, as
as I've said to you a thousand times

617
00:37:30,199 --> 00:37:36,159
on this show, I'm a dork
for these Japanese early morning US cards that

618
00:37:36,199 --> 00:37:38,519
feature a variety of different title fights, I absolutely love them. This was

619
00:37:38,559 --> 00:37:42,639
a very good card to watch.
Had good names, had good action,

620
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,760
had competition. Everything you want to
see. Has some nice knockouts. You

621
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,199
know, if you're if you're a
fan of the smaller weight classes, you

622
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,639
got your your bandam weights days or
months full of action. Plus you're throw

623
00:37:53,639 --> 00:37:58,400
in the junior bandamweight title fight with
Tanaka, and you know, when you

624
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,679
think about the guys who were the
best fight in Japan between Tanaka and Nakatani

625
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:06,239
and Dakuma, anyway, you got
three. Like if you were making your

626
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,679
list of like here are the top
ten active Japanese fighters. Those are three

627
00:38:08,679 --> 00:38:13,519
of the top ten active Japanese fighters
all together on the same show, so

628
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,000
you know, I thoroughly enjoyed.
I actually had the occasion over the weekend

629
00:38:17,039 --> 00:38:20,559
to talk to Todd the buff from
Top Rank, who is the you know,

630
00:38:20,599 --> 00:38:22,079
the president of that company. And
even though they're not the promoter of

631
00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:25,760
the show, but they have an
involvement with with Teak and Boxing that puts

632
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,719
those shows on and they have a
very close relationship, and they've got the

633
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:35,320
deal which brings these shows to America
on their part of their ESPN Plus contract.

634
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,239
You know that they're deal with ESPN. You know, I tell them

635
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:39,800
all the time that, you know, there's a lot of things I love

636
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:43,679
about boxing, but one of my
favorite things in the whole sport is the

637
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:47,119
ability to watch these shows live or
you know, plause me live on at

638
00:38:47,119 --> 00:38:52,199
my own leisure from Japan when they
happened, and I was thinking to myself

639
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:54,960
the agony that I used to go
through to get the videos of these right,

640
00:38:55,400 --> 00:39:00,199
creating VHS cassettes, going to a
show and seeing my friend that would

641
00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:05,199
go to Japan and bring me a
DVD or bring me a tape or mailing

642
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,679
a VHS cassette. And there was
no U two back in the day.

643
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,599
Or even if you could get the
cassette, you'd still it'd be three weeks

644
00:39:12,639 --> 00:39:15,440
after the fact before you can see
these fights. Now, the fans of

645
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,000
today don't understand how easy they had
it. You wake up, you're still

646
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,119
in bed like I was. You
put your phone on, you watch the

647
00:39:22,199 --> 00:39:23,880
fight. If you miss a couple
of rounds, or you missed the first

648
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,760
fight, you just rewind it with
your strokey, your finger back to the

649
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,599
beginning of the show. Yeah,
I mean, we had a work to

650
00:39:30,639 --> 00:39:35,400
watch our fights back in Absolutely,
fans today got it so fucking easy.

651
00:39:36,599 --> 00:39:39,599
I still remember being a fight fan
in the eighties where you really had no

652
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,199
way to see some of these fights
that were in Europe and Japan, and

653
00:39:43,199 --> 00:39:45,599
the only thing you were doing was
reading about them in boxing magazines like KO

654
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:50,360
Magazine. In the ring like a
month or six weeks after the fact.

655
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,079
But I mean, I'm a kid
growing up as a teenager, and I

656
00:39:53,119 --> 00:39:55,840
had no way to know what happened
in that fight. I didn't get to

657
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,440
see the fight in the UK,
didn't get to see the fight in the

658
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,119
Far East that they're that you're reading
about in Ring magazine, Free Plug,

659
00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:07,639
Ko Magazine. Uh. Steve Farhood's
late publication that was big in the eighties.

660
00:40:07,679 --> 00:40:12,079
So yes, you're exactly right that
now you have it instantaneously and we

661
00:40:12,119 --> 00:40:15,519
are spoiled. How much is now
they're available, by the way, not

662
00:40:15,599 --> 00:40:20,920
just spoiled perfect quality on the stream, but an English announcing team. That's

663
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:22,880
right. I mean even when I
would get by minor, hold on,

664
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:28,400
you just jogged me. My minor
gripe is still the same because let me

665
00:40:28,559 --> 00:40:30,119
help me with the name. It's
current Bathia. Is that how you say

666
00:40:30,119 --> 00:40:32,880
his name? He was on the
play by play call with Chris al Jury

667
00:40:34,159 --> 00:40:38,000
and he made mention during the In
a Way fight that they really wish they

668
00:40:38,039 --> 00:40:42,599
could understand what in Away's dad was
saying to him and what do I say

669
00:40:42,639 --> 00:40:45,800
to you, Ray Phiel. For
these top rank ESPN Plus shows, if

670
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,400
they're doing them in Japan, spend
a little bit and get me a Japanese

671
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:54,599
They're not going to sleep. They're
a multi multi multimillion dollar company and their

672
00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:58,760
own announcer is saying. What we're
saying is fans, we'd love to know

673
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,360
what they're saying in the corner.
If they're speaking Japanese. You don't have

674
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:06,039
to speak every language. It's not
Filipino, Russian, whatever else. But

675
00:41:06,079 --> 00:41:10,280
if it's a Japanese show, go
go get the intern from ESPN that also

676
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:14,920
is bilingual and have him sit there
and say in a ways Dad is telling

677
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:20,639
him stop moving to the left st
Yes, So okay, that's what I

678
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,760
just think about. I think about
that quibble about how it took me like

679
00:41:24,119 --> 00:41:27,239
six weeks to get a tape to
see the fight, and by the way,

680
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,840
which would be in Japanese right,
it would be Japanese right, And

681
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,119
I finally watch it it was in
Japanese. You know. I remember,

682
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:38,920
like I've talked about this, the
incredible fight between Sam Sak and Mantreport for

683
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:43,760
the WBA one hundred and twenty two
pounds title that took place in France,

684
00:41:44,079 --> 00:41:46,719
that won the Fight of the Year
award for the BWAA partly because of my

685
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:52,760
impassioned plea that hour meeting that even
if you've never seen it, please trust

686
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:54,440
me, vote for it to be
on the ballot and then go watch it,

687
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:58,159
and I promise you your life will
be different. If you need to

688
00:41:58,199 --> 00:42:00,920
see it, I'll send you the
DVD out my own, which I did

689
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,159
to many of my boxing writing colleagues. But here's the point. I watched

690
00:42:04,159 --> 00:42:07,400
that fight. It was in French. You don't need to have a degree

691
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:12,719
in French to understand when the boxing
announcer on the Canal Polose broadcast and these

692
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:15,920
two are beating a living fucking shit
at each other, and the broadcaster goes,

693
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:19,920
ooh, la, la la.
You don't need a translator, bro,

694
00:42:20,039 --> 00:42:24,079
big right hand kind of comes across
in any language exactly. So I'm

695
00:42:24,079 --> 00:42:28,920
not going to quibble with that,
But I'm just I will impress again the

696
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,960
incredible awesomeness. There's so many things
that we can bitch and moan about in

697
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:36,039
boxing, and lord knows you and
I do it, as do others on

698
00:42:36,079 --> 00:42:42,119
a regular basis. But I must
say how much I love and appreciate that

699
00:42:42,199 --> 00:42:46,400
the combination of the technology we have
and the and the way that a top

700
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:50,599
rank in this instance and others have
done to be able to bring it to

701
00:42:50,639 --> 00:42:52,800
an American audience, whether it's at
four in the morning or ten o'clock at

702
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,760
night or whenever it is, to
be able to watch it anytime in crystal

703
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,920
clear with quality announcing and not have
to worry about am I going to be

704
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,840
able to see my boy at a
fight, you know in Las Vegas in

705
00:43:05,079 --> 00:43:07,400
a month to be able to get
a DVD from him and then and watch

706
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,519
it in Japanese. There you go. We gave you a ton on the

707
00:43:10,519 --> 00:43:14,800
recaps. Let's get to some news
and some nostalgia, all right. So

708
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:20,679
at the Edgar Berlanga way in for
Matchroom on Friday, Suprio, Mattias was

709
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:24,480
there talking about doing his recent deal
with match Room. All right, so

710
00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:29,280
give me give me the latest on
what if anything came of that. It

711
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,199
was obviously already known that he has
signed a deal with match Room. He's

712
00:43:31,199 --> 00:43:35,079
got an upcoming title of fans,
but give me more. But yeah,

713
00:43:35,079 --> 00:43:37,559
they had announced the signing, you
know, a week or so ago.

714
00:43:37,159 --> 00:43:43,679
Wasn't exactly a total shaker. He
left PBC and his promoter from Puerto Rico

715
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:47,599
Fresh Productions won Orango. They did
a deal with Mattroom Boxing to be his

716
00:43:47,639 --> 00:43:52,280
co promoter, and so this was
an opportunity right before the way in for

717
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:55,440
Mattias to talk to some of the
press there and for Eddie Hearn to be

718
00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:59,239
there and it was part of their
livestream of the way in, so fans

719
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:01,920
could also see from him and his
team about what their plans are and what

720
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,320
he wants to do. And look, Mattias, you know, is somewhat

721
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:07,519
of a boogeyman. There's not a
lot of guys that call him out.

722
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:10,320
He does have the IBF title at
one hundred and forty pounds. He is

723
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:15,840
a phenomenal puncher. He's twenty zero
with twenty knockouts, or guys should say

724
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,639
twenty and one with twenty knockouts.
All of his victories are by a knockout.

725
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:22,000
He does have the one loss by
a decision, which he avenged in

726
00:44:22,039 --> 00:44:24,840
a subsequent fight. And he's just
a badass. He's super exciting, he's

727
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:28,760
got good punching power. He's got, you know, the great fans of

728
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,840
Puerto Rico who are anxious to see
him fight at home, which he's going

729
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:34,519
to do this summer date to be
announced. So a couple of things from

730
00:44:34,559 --> 00:44:37,440
the press conference. So I just
I just love the fact that he was

731
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:42,039
shit talking because nobody wants to mention
this guy's name. So he spoke a

732
00:44:42,039 --> 00:44:45,960
little bit of English, but mainly
he was speaking in Spanish. But when

733
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,800
you say certain guy, when you
say guys names, it doesn't you know,

734
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:51,679
you don't need a translator to hear
him say, Devin Andy, keithy

735
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,000
Ma Lopez, you know, Roly
Romero, et cetera. So he was

736
00:44:54,039 --> 00:44:58,719
talking about, you know, they
don't have the next fight lined up,

737
00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:00,599
but he's like, you know,
I want to fight all these guys.

738
00:45:00,679 --> 00:45:02,679
Tive imo HAINI, you know,
I want to fight those He goes and

739
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,880
this was really funny. I don't
even want to mention Roly Romero because he's

740
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,119
a comedian, but you know,
and Devin Haney will run, but I'm

741
00:45:10,119 --> 00:45:13,360
going to knock ta femo out and
I'm going to retire him. In other

742
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:15,679
words, in like the span of
like three sentences, he got a lot

743
00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:19,719
of shit talk out That was very
good to hear. Hopefully some of those

744
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,320
fights can happen in terms of when
the fight will take place in or who

745
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,519
will fight when the fight takes place
in Puerto Rico. This summer, I

746
00:45:25,559 --> 00:45:29,840
had reported and others had reported that
they were close to a deal for him

747
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:32,800
to fight Liam Paro, who was
the Australian undefeated fighter that is also with

748
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:37,440
matchrom Boxing. My understanding from people
who are involved with that situation is that

749
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,880
that will not happen because they are
not close on the money and Paro is

750
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:44,760
I guess, walking away from that
fight and they'll find somebody else in the

751
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,079
end. That's really nice, Porrow
not wont to fight for a world title

752
00:45:47,119 --> 00:45:51,719
with all that's in the one division. I can't ask. I can't answer

753
00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:54,639
that, But what I can say
is what Paro if it is in fact

754
00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:58,519
true that he's balking at whatever the
money is. And I will say this,

755
00:45:58,559 --> 00:46:00,760
I don't know what the money he
was offered. I can't tell you

756
00:46:00,079 --> 00:46:02,639
if, in my opinion, it
was a fair offer or not. But

757
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:08,360
regardless, this is not about the
challenger. This is about Sibril Mattias finally

758
00:46:08,599 --> 00:46:13,320
going home to defend his world title
in per Rico and being the A side

759
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,519
and the star of the show.
But there's a lot of possible fights out

760
00:46:15,519 --> 00:46:19,119
there for him, but he's gonna
have this kind of I won't call it

761
00:46:19,119 --> 00:46:21,800
a showcase fight because we don't know
who the opponent's going to be. Hopefully

762
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:25,280
they'll find him a quality opponent.
But Sabril Mattias is as exciting as entertaining

763
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,840
and it's fun to watch and as
big of a puncher as anybody in the

764
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:30,360
spurt right now, and so it
was very good to see him with the

765
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:35,280
team sitting up there and calling these
guys out and you know, and basically

766
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:37,679
daring them fight me, Like I
have no doubt in my mind that for

767
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:39,800
the right deal, Subril Matias will
fight anybody. He's not been looking at

768
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:44,000
duck guy. So that was that
was interesting in the you know, if

769
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:45,880
Paro comes back around or he doesn't, so be it, they'll find somebody

770
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:52,639
else. I'm more news the Professional
Fighters League PFL. They are saying that

771
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:55,599
Francis and Ganu, who is fighting
in a couple of weeks against Anthony Joshua,

772
00:46:57,159 --> 00:47:00,800
we'll come back to MMA and fight
for them next, all right,

773
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:06,360
So tell me more about this and
ghan who's name is obviously a hot name

774
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:08,599
right now for boxing. And the
first thing I thought when you put this

775
00:47:08,679 --> 00:47:14,760
on the rundown is wouldn't this be
contingent on him not beating Anthony Joshua,

776
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,719
Because if he beats Anthony Joshua,
I don't know why I'm taking a risk

777
00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:21,039
going and fighting in the Professional Fighters
League. That's just me, but go

778
00:47:21,039 --> 00:47:22,199
ahead, well, I don't know
if it's a risk. I mean,

779
00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:24,440
he's an MMA fighter at heart,
not a boxer. And by the way,

780
00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:29,320
after he left UFC when they finally
were able to get released from the

781
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:31,840
contract because I had so many problems
between him and the company. They I

782
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:35,039
think he was they were trying to
make a John Jones fight. Whatever.

783
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:38,400
I don't really follow MMA that closely. He signed with PFL as part of

784
00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:43,039
this pay per viewed division and he
was going to be, like, you

785
00:47:43,039 --> 00:47:45,480
know, to have some other aspects
of the things going on with the company,

786
00:47:45,519 --> 00:47:49,760
some equity and something or other,
and then the boxing stuff came up,

787
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:51,559
so that was put off. So
it's not a matter of why would

788
00:47:51,599 --> 00:47:52,960
you go back to MMA. That's
what is bread and butter, is whatever

789
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:57,960
happens in the Tyson Fury fight,
whatever comes up happening in the Anthony Joshua

790
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:05,360
fight. But because PFL had this
big show for them in Saudi Arabia over

791
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:07,800
the weekend where Claressa Shields was on
the cart, she returned to MMA.

792
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,719
By the way, she did win
her fight, a close fight, but

793
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,920
she did win. So she's now
two to one in Nick's Martial Arts and

794
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,800
I believe she'll come back and have
her next assignment will be as a boxer

795
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:22,239
or not as an MMA person.
In any event, Francis Nagan who was

796
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:23,880
at this show, and I guess
again, I don't follow it closely,

797
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:30,159
but apparently because PFL bought what was
left of Bellator when because that was part

798
00:48:30,199 --> 00:48:34,599
of showtime shutting down and that was
up for sale and the boxing went away.

799
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:39,840
So PFL bought Bellotor, but they
didn't absorb everybody together. They basically

800
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:43,480
kept the PFL that they have and
they kept the Bellitor the day up,

801
00:48:43,519 --> 00:48:46,679
but each of those organizations had champions. So their main event on this pay

802
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:52,559
per view that was on Saturday was
the PFL champion Renan Ferrera against the Bellator

803
00:48:52,679 --> 00:48:57,920
champion, Ryan Bader, and the
idea was that they would unify or have

804
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,199
a super champion or whatever you want
to call it. That the that the

805
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:04,480
champion of Delatour and PFL would fight
each other and then Nigana would fight the

806
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:07,400
winner of that fight. As it
turned out, it was ren and Ferrera

807
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:13,079
who scored a first round knockout.
So now when Francis Nagano finishes the fight

808
00:49:13,119 --> 00:49:15,880
with Joshua, he will leave boxing
for whatever period of time. He will

809
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:21,119
go back to MMA and have his
first fight in a pay per view against

810
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:23,239
now the guy that's I don't know
what they call him a super champion or

811
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:27,960
the PFL slash Bottley, a unified
champion. I'm not sure what the terminology

812
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:32,320
is. But the guy the the
main guy of PFL slash Bellotor and he'll

813
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:37,360
fight him, and you know it
sort of like Claressa, she's done what

814
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,360
she's done as a professional boxer and
been one of the best in the business.

815
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:44,920
I consider the pound for pound number
one women's boxer in the world.

816
00:49:45,159 --> 00:49:50,280
And Niganu came from UFC and came
into boxing and obviously did a tremendous job

817
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:52,079
against Tyson Fury, even though he
didn't get to win. He's got a

818
00:49:52,079 --> 00:49:57,239
big time fight coming up March eighth
against Joshua and then he'll go back and

819
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:00,239
fight in MMA. And I thought
that was interesting that it's you know,

820
00:50:00,519 --> 00:50:05,000
I find that fascinating that these these
athletes, you know, can be able

821
00:50:05,039 --> 00:50:07,719
to do two things essentially at the
same time and do it at the They're

822
00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:12,360
not just dicking around. At least
he's doing at the highest level. Caressa,

823
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:16,239
she's still fighting sort of novice ish
fights in the MNA world and the

824
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:20,920
top fights in the boxing world.
But Naghanu was fighting the top fights in

825
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,679
both sports, yep, and there's
no doubt it's a mega payday for him

826
00:50:23,679 --> 00:50:28,199
to fight Anthony Joshua obviously coming up
one more connected dots and then I want

827
00:50:28,199 --> 00:50:31,800
to move along, but Jake Paul
obviously fighting this week. Jake Paul is

828
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:37,000
one of the founders and co owners
of Professional Fighters League, and he's made

829
00:50:37,039 --> 00:50:40,360
no a secret that he wants to
fight in a in a PFL main event.

830
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:44,920
He wanted to fight Nate Diaz in
a PFL main event and it didn't

831
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:50,280
happen. But it's just it's interesting. That's his organization too, that's behind

832
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:55,039
he's got equity in the and then
go back right the thing he's interested in

833
00:50:55,039 --> 00:50:59,400
too, Jake, but he doesn't
he doesn't own PFL as an owner.

834
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:04,800
He owns part of I guess their
PPV sort of offshoot that there's a separate

835
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,480
division of the fighters that fight in
these pay per view type events. He's

836
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:10,039
not fighting the non pay per view
events. So with you, I mean,

837
00:51:10,079 --> 00:51:14,119
he's even knocking around that he would
do a deal with Tommy Fury where

838
00:51:14,159 --> 00:51:17,679
they would box in a rematch and
then maybe fight a PFL mixed martial arts

839
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:21,719
fight. So I can see that
happening. Clearly, Jake Paul wants to

840
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:24,119
go back and forth as well for
financial reasons. So it's just interesting in

841
00:51:24,239 --> 00:51:29,679
Ghana is older and let's see what
happens with Anthony Joshua. We'll find out

842
00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:32,440
before all this gets such. The
thing about that is, even if he

843
00:51:32,519 --> 00:51:36,760
loses the Joshua, which he's the
underdog and is expected to do so,

844
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:38,480
right, even though you don't know
what actually is going to happen till they

845
00:51:38,519 --> 00:51:43,199
get in the ring, he's still
whatever happens unless there's some kind of like

846
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:45,400
terrible injury and you know, knock
on wood. There isn't that he will

847
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:51,960
go back to have his MMA fight
against against Ferreira in the next fight we

848
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:53,039
know, and they didn't didnt announce
a date yet, but that would be

849
00:51:53,079 --> 00:51:59,239
the next planned event, all right. Another news item, Ryan Garcia is

850
00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:05,239
on social media this weekend. Ryan
Garcia on social media yet no shocking.

851
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:10,280
I know when we left the podcast, we had been talking about Barclay Center

852
00:52:10,679 --> 00:52:15,519
in New York and that would be
the location for Haini Garcia coming on April

853
00:52:15,559 --> 00:52:19,960
twentieth and now second reference, much
like my man Rayhaiel with the WBA eliminator

854
00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:22,760
stuff. Apparently. Ryan Garcia's reaction
to that is wait, what, We're

855
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:28,079
not fighting in Vegas, We're not
fighting in California. Is there anything to

856
00:52:28,239 --> 00:52:32,000
this really being a problem with him
and not wanting to fight in New York?

857
00:52:32,639 --> 00:52:36,039
What's up? Listen? All I
can say I haven't spoken to Ryan

858
00:52:36,079 --> 00:52:38,719
about it, but I can read
his social media when I do get a

859
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:43,760
chance to talk to our interview and
I will ask him. On Friday,

860
00:52:44,119 --> 00:52:47,679
he put up two different posts back
to back on his ex twitter feed.

861
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:52,239
He said, this is an MGM
fight, doing everything we can to bring

862
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:55,880
this to Vegas and giving this fight
what it deserves. And then his second

863
00:52:55,920 --> 00:53:00,440
one was, this decision has nothing
to do with New York City, but

864
00:53:00,519 --> 00:53:02,079
everything to do with the business and
what I believe is the best move for

865
00:53:02,199 --> 00:53:06,440
my career. So it was almost
like he didn't get the memo that Yeah,

866
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:07,400
I signed for the fight, but
they didn't tell me the fight was

867
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:13,559
in putting the fight on, have
done the deal with the Barclay Center.

868
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:17,920
Oh and by the way, they've
got a press conference in Manhattan to promote

869
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:22,239
the fight on Tuesday, and then
a follow up press conference in Los Angeles.

870
00:53:22,239 --> 00:53:24,679
On Wednesday, so they better get
their shit together. So where I

871
00:53:24,679 --> 00:53:28,000
think this is stems from. First
of all, let's just cut that a

872
00:53:28,079 --> 00:53:30,800
chase. Unless Ryan Garcia pulls out, which I don't think he's gonna do.

873
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:34,599
This fight has taking place on April
twenty at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn,

874
00:53:34,599 --> 00:53:37,000
New York period. End of the
story. Uh. And by the

875
00:53:37,039 --> 00:53:39,320
way, Barclay Center, I don't
know if Ryan Garcia has ever been there,

876
00:53:39,639 --> 00:53:44,039
but I can tell you having covered
probably forty five events there, it

877
00:53:44,159 --> 00:53:51,480
is a premier venue for boxing,
certainly for concerts and professional basketball and professional

878
00:53:51,679 --> 00:53:54,719
hockey and you know, the top
level entertainment things you can ask for.

879
00:53:55,119 --> 00:53:59,440
I mean, and I've done you
know, numerous, numerous, numerous boxing

880
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:02,760
events there since it opened back in
like what twenty twelve, twenty thirteen.

881
00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:06,039
You've talked about that, right,
right, yes, sure, So you

882
00:54:06,039 --> 00:54:08,119
know it's a first class facility.
This is not It's not like you know,

883
00:54:08,159 --> 00:54:10,159
you think you're staying at the Ritz
and they put you in a you

884
00:54:10,159 --> 00:54:14,119
know, in a holiday and on
the side of the road or a motel

885
00:54:14,199 --> 00:54:17,280
six. That's not the case.
This is a legit place in the media

886
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:22,119
capital of the world. One of
the great cities in the history of humankind.

887
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:25,400
And I understand that Vegas is a
boxing mecca, a hot out of

888
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:29,079
boxing, and where many of the
biggest fights have taken place. Fine,

889
00:54:29,440 --> 00:54:31,760
But New York City for a big
time fight is, by the way,

890
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:38,320
has had historical major fights for decades
and decades and decades and decades. New

891
00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:42,920
York City was hosting big time fights
between before Las Vegas ever hosted a fight

892
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:45,920
ever. So you know, I
think that that this really comes down to

893
00:54:46,159 --> 00:54:50,199
and I don't know this, but
I'm conjecturing knowing sort of the way that

894
00:54:50,239 --> 00:54:52,559
the economics work. When you fight
in Las Vegas. There's no state tax

895
00:54:52,559 --> 00:54:55,559
in Nevada. When you fight in
New York City, you're paying like another

896
00:54:55,639 --> 00:55:00,440
nine percent money on taxes, and
it's going to be another to your pocketbook,

897
00:55:01,199 --> 00:55:04,639
your your wallet, your banking hout. However you want to talk about

898
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:07,440
it. What the money that gets
taken out for doing it? Now,

899
00:55:07,639 --> 00:55:10,599
Sometimes prooters have found and fighters amount
a reason that it's worth it because of

900
00:55:10,599 --> 00:55:17,480
the exposure, because of the added
uh exposure and the sort of the eyeballs

901
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:21,320
that you get not only from the
fans are there, but from Madison avenue

902
00:55:21,679 --> 00:55:24,400
and potential sponsorships and things like that, that being in New York City is

903
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:29,159
an important factor, uh, you
know, to help boost you in the

904
00:55:29,159 --> 00:55:30,960
future, and that you know,
just because you might have to spend a

905
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:34,920
little bit more, it costs a
little bit more on the on the on

906
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:37,480
the event. In the long run, it's worth it to have fought in

907
00:55:37,519 --> 00:55:40,719
New York City. But maybe Ryan
doesn't want to be paying that extra nine

908
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:45,320
percent. I can't speak to that. But if it's good enough for all

909
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:46,960
the other great fighters that have come
through New York City over the last you

910
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:51,239
know, one hundred and something years
in boxing, you know, it shouldn't

911
00:55:51,239 --> 00:55:53,880
be that big of a deal.
And you know, but you know,

912
00:55:53,960 --> 00:55:58,639
I understand those concerns. I mean
it always bothered me, uh that every

913
00:55:58,639 --> 00:56:01,480
great fighter you could think of or
a million years, you know that Manny

914
00:56:01,519 --> 00:56:05,239
Pacil and Floyd Mayweather never boxed a
single time in New York City. I

915
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:07,760
feel like as great a crueris as
they had. You know, there's something

916
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:08,840
we said first saying, you know
what, check in the box I fought.

917
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:15,360
I fought in New York City though, so that fight is happening,

918
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:20,159
but it just it just shows me, there's still a disconnect between Ryan and

919
00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:25,000
Golden Boy at times that is unnecessary. That you just finally made this big

920
00:56:25,039 --> 00:56:30,280
fight, why would you do anything
to dampen the enthusiasm for it to fight

921
00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:32,679
by basically saying, well, we're
having this fight, but it's in a

922
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:37,599
second class kind of place where it's
not a great place to have the fight,

923
00:56:37,599 --> 00:56:39,039
and I'm bringing this fight to Vegas
when you know, Dan, well,

924
00:56:39,079 --> 00:56:43,320
you're not bringing this fight to Vegas. You're not bringing this fight to

925
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:45,079
Vegas, well, at least not
on April twentieth. You're not bringing the

926
00:56:45,079 --> 00:56:51,480
fight to Vegas. And I find
it bizarre that Golden Boy and teen Haney

927
00:56:51,679 --> 00:56:53,719
will go to the efforts that they've
gone through to announce this fight for April

928
00:56:53,760 --> 00:57:00,280
twentieth and then come back and announce
Barclay Center and schedule two press conferences and

929
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:01,679
now suddenly after spending all and by
the way, these press covers are not

930
00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:06,599
cheap. They rent that locations.
They they've got all kinds of five.

931
00:57:06,639 --> 00:57:08,559
If you know, the one Tuesday
is at the Barclay Center. No,

932
00:57:08,559 --> 00:57:13,199
no, the one on Tuesday is
not at Barclay Center. The one on

933
00:57:13,239 --> 00:57:17,360
Tuesday is at a place the Palladium
in Times Square, gotcha. I mean

934
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:21,679
it they probably even even if this, they booked the press cards before they

935
00:57:21,679 --> 00:57:23,840
announced the venue. But I believe
that even if they had the venue first,

936
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:28,559
they wouldn't have had the press conference
at Barclays party. They have had

937
00:57:28,719 --> 00:57:30,639
press conference there. I mean I've
gone there. For example. The fight

938
00:57:30,679 --> 00:57:35,800
itself wasn't there. But if you
remember when Floyd Mayweather fought Connor McGregor,

939
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:39,480
they did like that four city tour
where they were in different places and uh,

940
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:43,760
you know, to hype the thing
up, they did a big event

941
00:57:43,760 --> 00:57:46,639
where they opened Barclay Center for free
and they filled the damn place with with

942
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:50,840
fans. And I was there for
the press conference or the wasn't really a

943
00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:53,920
press concher, it was a show. But anyway, so you know,

944
00:57:54,039 --> 00:57:58,039
if you're that unhappy, why are
you putting that on social media? Go

945
00:57:58,119 --> 00:58:00,599
talk to your lawyer, Go talk
to your advisor to we know the answer,

946
00:58:00,639 --> 00:58:06,559
because they've been having problems for years
publicly, privately. All of this,

947
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:09,920
the dysfunction has been there. Stay
tuned, Stay tuned. Let's say

948
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:15,440
simply this, whatever he's saying about
this fight, it's unless they change the

949
00:58:15,519 --> 00:58:20,599
date, which seems unlikely given what's
at stake in the Zone's involvement. They

950
00:58:20,639 --> 00:58:22,519
have to change their schedule, right. They can't in New York City.

951
00:58:22,559 --> 00:58:25,440
They can't go down that road because
Canelo's a couple of weeks later, and

952
00:58:25,480 --> 00:58:30,880
now the rescheduled Usik listen to me, sounding all coherent, The rescheduled Fury

953
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:34,880
Usick is right after that. So
that's the reason why they settled on that

954
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:38,000
date. So come on, and
they've got April basically to themselves. Want

955
00:58:38,079 --> 00:58:40,679
me to say, don't you you
want me to say it? Whatever we

956
00:58:40,760 --> 00:58:45,480
do here, let's go thank you. Uh And one more thing you you

957
00:58:45,519 --> 00:58:50,480
did make mention of this on the
bet Us Show on Friday when somebody brought

958
00:58:50,559 --> 00:58:55,800
something up about rematches. You've been
hearing that Rafael Espinoza and Robas Ramirez a

959
00:58:55,840 --> 00:59:01,159
big upset by Espinoza. It's in
the works, not suprising, because Ramirez

960
00:59:01,199 --> 00:59:06,719
wants another crack and there's obviously some
money to be made for Espinosa now as

961
00:59:06,760 --> 00:59:14,000
the champ for that WBO featherweight rematched
featherweight title rematch. Enlighten me a little

962
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:16,360
more. How soon might we see
this? Well, I'm sure you remember

963
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:21,039
how great their first fight was I
mean absolutely spectacular, maybe the upset of

964
00:59:21,039 --> 00:59:23,480
the year, certainly one of the
fights of the year, just absolutely tremendous.

965
00:59:24,440 --> 00:59:29,599
You know, Rafael Spinoza coming out
of absolutely nowhere to win that title

966
00:59:29,599 --> 00:59:32,159
on a and do so, by
the way, on a majority decision where

967
00:59:32,199 --> 00:59:37,280
he gets a knockdown in the twelfth
round to pull out what would have otherwise

968
00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:39,559
been a split draw had he not
gotten a knockdown. Just a really outstanding

969
00:59:39,599 --> 00:59:43,119
fight with a lot of drama and
a great story in Espinosa, like I

970
00:59:43,119 --> 00:59:49,480
said, coming out of nowhere,
completely unknown and just you know, pulls

971
00:59:49,519 --> 00:59:52,039
just a shocker of chokers. So
and it was such a great fight,

972
00:59:52,079 --> 00:59:55,480
I mean top rank which put the
fight on in conjunction with Espinosa's promoter,

973
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:00,559
Zandford Promotions, which they have a
very close relationship with and have had for

974
01:00:00,599 --> 01:00:05,360
many many years. They're not usually
a company that does immediate rematches. I

975
01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:08,000
mean you can look down the long
line of fights in their company where there

976
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:13,119
have been rematches, and very very
rarely are they right back to back.

977
01:00:13,639 --> 01:00:15,800
In this particular case, they felt
like, you know what, it was

978
01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:19,119
such a good fight. It's still
a bigger fight than anything we can make

979
01:00:19,159 --> 01:00:21,719
for any of these guys. Besides
that, and the fans seem to want

980
01:00:21,719 --> 01:00:24,159
it. Strike while the iron is
hot, We're going to do our rematch.

981
01:00:24,199 --> 01:00:28,199
So it's not done yet, but
they are going to try to do

982
01:00:28,239 --> 01:00:30,679
this rematch now. The first fight
took place in December and was a rough

983
01:00:30,679 --> 01:00:35,159
fight for everybody involved. They're looking
at doing the rematch this summer. I

984
01:00:35,199 --> 01:00:37,800
don't have an exact dator location,
but the plans are from what I am

985
01:00:37,800 --> 01:00:42,800
told that Top Rank is definitely going
to put this rematch together, and they're

986
01:00:42,840 --> 01:00:45,480
so heavily involved in the featherweight division
that it will be remember coming up.

987
01:00:45,519 --> 01:00:50,760
As we talked about the card that
comes up this coming weekend, where you

988
01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:55,239
have the doubleheader with the IBF champion
Luis Alberta Lopez against Abe and his mandatory

989
01:00:55,239 --> 01:01:00,920
in the co feature, and then
the main event is Holmatov against ray Ford

990
01:01:00,159 --> 01:01:05,159
for the vacant WBA title. This
is for the WBO title. But the

991
01:01:05,199 --> 01:01:07,480
point is they're going to have the
winners. I mean, unless ray Ford

992
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:10,119
wins, who's with matrim But the
other guys they'll be able to mix and

993
01:01:10,199 --> 01:01:14,360
match, and you got to figure
there'll be some unification at some point.

994
01:01:15,320 --> 01:01:19,480
But this is a great rematch between
Espinoza and Robasi Ramirez, a fight that

995
01:01:19,519 --> 01:01:22,239
I think everybody would want to see
after what we saw the first time,

996
01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:28,519
with the combined thing of the action
and then the big upset, shocking result

997
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:31,800
out of nowhere. While we love
the sport. Speaking of out of nowhere,

998
01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:36,280
how about me making a segue.
Let's get to nostalgia. It was

999
01:01:36,440 --> 01:01:42,840
sixty years ago Sunday night as we're
releasing this podcast into Monday, February twenty

1000
01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:49,679
fifth, nineteen sixty four, in
which Olympic champion Cassius Clay captured the heavyweight

1001
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:55,679
title with a surprising, shocking,
stunning upset of the seemingly invincible Sonny Liston

1002
01:01:57,320 --> 01:02:01,880
in Miami Beach, Florida, and
boxing was changed forever. I think it's

1003
01:02:01,920 --> 01:02:06,679
fair to say in the heavyweight division, once cash is play, slash Muhammad

1004
01:02:06,679 --> 01:02:10,039
Ali became the champ. And that
was sixty years ago. So we've talked

1005
01:02:10,079 --> 01:02:14,360
about this before a couple of times
in the Nostalgia. You know, we

1006
01:02:14,480 --> 01:02:20,199
recently talked to Douglas Upset obviously on
its anniversary with Mike Tyson. This was

1007
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:25,800
that upset, you know, back
twenty five years earlier, in nineteen twenty

1008
01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:30,880
six years earlier in nineteen sixty four. And you've also talked about the magnitude.

1009
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:35,039
Where does it rate on the scale, et cetera. You can't you

1010
01:02:35,079 --> 01:02:39,719
can't emphasize enough that everybody thought in
that timeframe, the writers, the public

1011
01:02:40,079 --> 01:02:45,440
Liston's gonna wipe him out, He's
gonna shut this loudmouth guy up. It

1012
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:47,400
didn't. Yeah, I mean,
looks cash this clay. At the time,

1013
01:02:47,559 --> 01:02:51,119
he was an up and coming fighter, you know, he was nineteen

1014
01:02:51,119 --> 01:02:53,480
and zero at that time going into
this fight with Sonny and listen, listen,

1015
01:02:53,519 --> 01:02:57,920
as you mentioned, he's the big
bad man of boxing, knocking everybody

1016
01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:00,239
out, you know, growling and
snarl and like, you know, the

1017
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:05,480
bad guy as they would like,
you know, pigeonhole him as and just

1018
01:03:05,480 --> 01:03:08,440
a destructive force. And Ali was
brash, you know at the time,

1019
01:03:08,440 --> 01:03:13,280
and would always was talk and talk
and talk and making predictions and this and

1020
01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:15,239
that, and but he was still
the big underdog. And of course when

1021
01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:19,719
he won the fight, remember go
you know, I actually win the anniversary.

1022
01:03:20,280 --> 01:03:22,719
You know, I watched back on
YouTube some of the fight which I

1023
01:03:22,719 --> 01:03:24,239
hadn't watched him, you know,
in a while and then I went and

1024
01:03:24,239 --> 01:03:27,840
looked up with the scores were at
the time of the knockout, or you

1025
01:03:27,880 --> 01:03:31,639
know when when Listener retired on the
stool claiming a shoulder injury. It was

1026
01:03:31,880 --> 01:03:36,480
it was at that moment it was
a split draw. You add one score

1027
01:03:36,519 --> 01:03:39,880
card that had the fight fifty seven
to fifty seven. You had one scorecard

1028
01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:45,280
that had cashus Clay ahead fifty nine
to fifty six. You had another scorecard

1029
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:47,079
that had Sonny Listen I had fifty
eight to fifty six. So there this

1030
01:03:47,159 --> 01:03:50,400
is, this is a battle.
This is a close fight at that time,

1031
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:53,800
at least on the cards, scheduled
for fifteen rounds. But he retired

1032
01:03:53,800 --> 01:03:58,360
on the stool, and who can
forget the image of the valley realizing the

1033
01:03:58,360 --> 01:04:00,840
fights over and getting up and doing
the shuffle in the corner and talking in

1034
01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:06,199
the interview afterwards, and he races
across the ring, first of all,

1035
01:04:06,280 --> 01:04:10,400
sticking his right glove out over the
ropes, looking at the writers and everybody

1036
01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:13,920
else going I told you, I
told you. And then he's screaming,

1037
01:04:13,960 --> 01:04:16,960
I shook up the world. I
shook up the world. Well he did

1038
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:21,039
it, and he truly did.
One other interesting part of this is Ali

1039
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:28,719
apparently got ointment in his eyes that
had been on Listen's shoulder, like during

1040
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:32,400
a clinch, as the legends go, and Angelo Dundee verified this for years

1041
01:04:32,400 --> 01:04:36,519
after the fight that Ali was saying, I'm blind, I cannot see.

1042
01:04:36,559 --> 01:04:41,960
My eyes are burning, and as
Angie Dundee relayed the story, he said,

1043
01:04:42,000 --> 01:04:46,119
I touched Ali's eyeball and when I
touched the fluid and then put it

1044
01:04:46,199 --> 01:04:50,440
towards my eyeball, my eyes were
burning. They later discovered that was ointment

1045
01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:55,679
that they had put on Liston's shoulder. More than likely that that's what it

1046
01:04:55,840 --> 01:04:59,159
was. There wasn't anything else nefarious
going on trying to help his shoulder,

1047
01:04:59,159 --> 01:05:01,719
and his shoulder is a reason why
he claimed he couldn't fight anymore. Now

1048
01:05:01,719 --> 01:05:04,679
that was all kinds of allegations.
Was it fixed? Did he quit on

1049
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:11,440
purpose, take the dive without being
knocked down? What happened? Nonetheless,

1050
01:05:11,840 --> 01:05:15,199
I mean, I say again,
the legend of Ali was born that night

1051
01:05:15,239 --> 01:05:16,519
sixty years ago. My friend well, and the other thing about it,

1052
01:05:16,519 --> 01:05:18,679
I mean, it wasn't in the
fight itself, but it's part of the

1053
01:05:18,679 --> 01:05:23,079
story of the fight. He becomes
the heavyweight champion of the world, which

1054
01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:27,239
was a you know, it's still
an important role in sports, but at

1055
01:05:27,239 --> 01:05:30,840
that time, the heavyweight champ is
like one of the most revered, most

1056
01:05:30,840 --> 01:05:34,239
famous people in the world. I
mean, and it hurts me to say

1057
01:05:34,239 --> 01:05:36,960
this, but I just don't think
that's the case. Tyson Fury is very

1058
01:05:36,960 --> 01:05:41,079
famous, fair enough, but I
don't think he's one of the most famous

1059
01:05:41,079 --> 01:05:45,239
people on the entire planet. On
the night that Sonny Liston lost to Casiu's

1060
01:05:45,239 --> 01:05:48,000
Play, Cashu's Play became one of
the most famous people on Earth. But

1061
01:05:48,119 --> 01:05:53,039
what's important to recognize is that this
is sort of the This is where a

1062
01:05:53,119 --> 01:05:58,599
part of his life went from fighter, olympian now champion. That changed in

1063
01:05:58,639 --> 01:06:02,159
a dramatic way because it was two
days later where he changed his name to

1064
01:06:02,239 --> 01:06:08,480
Muhammad Ali and embraced the nation of
Islam and converted and you know, disavowed

1065
01:06:08,519 --> 01:06:12,000
his name that he was given when
he was born as Cash's Play and took

1066
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:16,400
the name actually took the name at
first, you know, Muhammad Ali became

1067
01:06:16,719 --> 01:06:19,360
what he was, what he was
called, but originally he took the name

1068
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:24,599
briefly Casshu's X like as a saying
that I didn't this is not my choice,

1069
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:27,840
these were my you know, this
was my slave name, so to

1070
01:06:27,840 --> 01:06:30,960
speak, everyone describe it. But
then he became Muhammad Ali, and you

1071
01:06:30,960 --> 01:06:33,400
know that did change up the word. And by the way, that was

1072
01:06:33,480 --> 01:06:38,280
not an insignificant thing. I mean, you're talking about a different time period

1073
01:06:38,840 --> 01:06:43,920
of racial segregation, of a lot
of racial hatred. He's now the heavyweight

1074
01:06:44,039 --> 01:06:47,440
champ. He's now embracing Islam and
being a Muslim. And it leads to

1075
01:06:47,519 --> 01:06:53,239
the whole thing with the Vietnam War
and the draft status and that it was

1076
01:06:53,280 --> 01:07:00,119
a wild time outside the ring after
this too, his victory against Sonny Listen.

1077
01:07:00,119 --> 01:07:02,719
You take everything that was involved,
the changing of the guard in the

1078
01:07:02,719 --> 01:07:06,960
heavyweight division, the Olympic gold medal
winner, you know, knocking off Sonny

1079
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:10,880
Listen in a massive upset to win
the title, all the stuff we just

1080
01:07:10,920 --> 01:07:14,760
talked about as related to like was
it fixed the situation with the ointment in

1081
01:07:14,760 --> 01:07:17,360
the eye and him not being able
to see the fact that it was two

1082
01:07:17,400 --> 01:07:20,280
days after this fact. And I
don't believe if he had lost a fight

1083
01:07:20,639 --> 01:07:24,360
he would have necessarily done this publicly. But because now he had a certain

1084
01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:29,800
amount of stature to you know,
have the soapbox if you will, to

1085
01:07:29,920 --> 01:07:32,480
announce to the world that he was
embracing Islam and was changing his name.

1086
01:07:33,360 --> 01:07:38,199
All these things mixed together, and
then to know what happened afterwards in terms

1087
01:07:38,239 --> 01:07:42,639
of the life he lived beyond that
and what a famous person he became,

1088
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:45,199
well beyond just whatever was going on
in the boxing, ring Vietnam and all

1089
01:07:45,239 --> 01:07:48,960
that. I would say to you
that what occurred on that night in nineteen

1090
01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:55,400
sixty four is in the top two
or three, or four or five most

1091
01:07:55,440 --> 01:07:58,840
important fights that ever took place in
a boxing rank period. You know,

1092
01:07:58,880 --> 01:08:00,639
you can quit, you can argue. I'm not just talking about action.

1093
01:08:00,760 --> 01:08:03,559
I'm not talking about a fight of
the year or you know that type of

1094
01:08:03,559 --> 01:08:06,559
thing. I just mean in terms
of significance, and I'm talking about fights

1095
01:08:06,719 --> 01:08:12,719
like when Jack Johnson becomes the first
black heavyweight champion, when you have the

1096
01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:18,039
fight between Joe Lewis and Nax Smelling, which is essentially the straw man for

1097
01:08:18,399 --> 01:08:21,720
you know, the Allies against the
Axis in the United States and the Allies

1098
01:08:21,720 --> 01:08:27,640
against Hitler and Germany. I mean
important things that went beyond that's the athletic

1099
01:08:27,680 --> 01:08:30,319
competition and what went that fight because
of all the stuff I just mentioned about

1100
01:08:30,319 --> 01:08:33,960
what became of Vallee after that,
and everything is on that same kind of

1101
01:08:34,039 --> 01:08:40,319
level, highly highly significant, important
in society, not just in sports.

1102
01:08:40,399 --> 01:08:44,840
And I would submit, and you
know this, he elevated the heavyweight title

1103
01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:46,960
like three or four levels with his
ability to talk on the mic and then

1104
01:08:46,960 --> 01:08:51,079
deliver in the ring. But he
fought worldwide. He was fighting in Europe.

1105
01:08:51,359 --> 01:08:56,479
He eventually fought George Foreman, in
Africa, he fought George Joe Frasier

1106
01:08:56,560 --> 01:09:01,119
in the Philippines. He was truly
the world champion. And in and around

1107
01:09:01,119 --> 01:09:05,560
that, he even did a wrestling
exhibition against your boy, Antonio Aoki where

1108
01:09:05,560 --> 01:09:11,439
Aoki laid on the mat and tried
to kick him for the exhibition. He

1109
01:09:11,600 --> 01:09:14,720
fought in he fought in the UK, in the United States. He fought

1110
01:09:14,760 --> 01:09:16,800
in Canada. A matter of fact, in nineteen sixty six when he fought

1111
01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:20,720
George Schavallo in a heavyweight title defense
at the Maple Leaf Guard in Toronto.

1112
01:09:21,079 --> 01:09:26,000
That's the first ever fight that Bob
Aaron promoted. That's the birth of Bob

1113
01:09:26,039 --> 01:09:29,840
Aram's promotional career. That's now you
know, what's sixty years old or so.

1114
01:09:30,600 --> 01:09:32,119
You know, he fought all over, as I mentioned, multiple fights

1115
01:09:32,119 --> 01:09:41,640
in Henry Cooper twice, fought in
Germany. Sure he moved to heavyweight champion.

1116
01:09:41,880 --> 01:09:45,119
He fought, he fought, fought, He fought Jurgen Blynn in uh

1117
01:09:45,600 --> 01:09:47,359
in Zurich. You know when he
was not fighting, you know when he

1118
01:09:47,399 --> 01:09:50,199
when he didn't fight in the United
States and fought some fights in Europe.

1119
01:09:50,319 --> 01:09:55,600
He fought in Japan against mac Foster. He fought multiple times, as I

1120
01:09:55,640 --> 01:09:59,119
mentioned, in Canada, in the
UK, he fought in, he fought

1121
01:09:59,159 --> 01:10:01,399
in in a Ireland. I mean, he fought all over the place.

1122
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:04,880
He fought in Malaysia, I mean
the definite. I mean, and again

1123
01:10:04,920 --> 01:10:08,800
I'm not knocking guys that don't fight
out of the country. But look at

1124
01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:12,520
some other great fighters, not even
necessarily heavyweights, like Oscar de Loye,

1125
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:15,039
all time great, never fought outside
the United States, Floyd Mayweather, all

1126
01:10:15,079 --> 01:10:17,239
time great, never fought outside of
the United States. I mean, had

1127
01:10:17,279 --> 01:10:20,319
most of their fights, you know, in Las Vegas for that matter.

1128
01:10:20,600 --> 01:10:24,439
You know a Canelo Alvarez, he's
in Mexican. He fought I think every

1129
01:10:24,479 --> 01:10:27,319
single one of his fights either been
in Mexico or in the United States.

1130
01:10:27,359 --> 01:10:30,760
I mean, it's not a knock
on them whatsoever, but Ali in particular,

1131
01:10:30,319 --> 01:10:35,039
fought everywhere. I mean he fought
Indonesia, I mean all over the

1132
01:10:35,039 --> 01:10:40,079
place. And Zaire, like you
mentioned, what an upset that's a true

1133
01:10:40,079 --> 01:10:45,079
world champion. What an upset that
that was sixty years ago? All right,

1134
01:10:45,199 --> 01:10:47,319
quickly, this is a bit of
a sad one. It's twenty nine

1135
01:10:47,399 --> 01:10:50,359
years ago. Also tonight, as
we released the podcast February twenty fifth,

1136
01:10:50,439 --> 01:10:55,800
nineteen ninety five, that Nigel Ban
scored a savage knockout of Gerald McClellan.

1137
01:10:55,880 --> 01:11:00,520
We've talked about this before, a
wild fight, both fighters landing big punches.

1138
01:11:00,920 --> 01:11:06,159
Ben wins the WBC super Middleweight title
and unfortunately McClellan suffers brain injury.

1139
01:11:06,319 --> 01:11:09,479
Well he retained, he retained the
title. He didn't win the title.

1140
01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:12,359
Oh, he retained the title.
Excuse me, McClellan retains the title.

1141
01:11:12,840 --> 01:11:17,680
A brutal fight, brain surgery from
McClellan after amazingly survived the surgery. Because

1142
01:11:17,720 --> 01:11:20,399
I remember all of the talk around
that it was touch and go as to

1143
01:11:20,399 --> 01:11:25,600
whether he's gonna live. And you
have educated our podcast audience just follow up

1144
01:11:25,640 --> 01:11:30,680
here that you've been in touch with
McClellan's sister, who remains the caretaker to

1145
01:11:30,960 --> 01:11:33,640
this day I have years later,
you've you've talked to her in the past.

1146
01:11:33,880 --> 01:11:36,079
No, I haven't. I don't
know where you get that from.

1147
01:11:36,079 --> 01:11:39,319
I have never spoken to her.
I thought you did, Okay, No,

1148
01:11:39,319 --> 01:11:41,319
no, I have not. So
I don't want to portray the fact

1149
01:11:41,319 --> 01:11:45,239
that my bad at all. I
know. I know you have spoken about

1150
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:48,640
her crusade to continue to raise funds
take care of him, et cetera,

1151
01:11:48,680 --> 01:11:51,359
because we have talked about that part
of the podcast, and you know that

1152
01:11:51,479 --> 01:11:57,119
about thirty years later that his care
is still going on and costs a bunch

1153
01:11:57,119 --> 01:12:00,680
of money for Gerald McClellan. Sure, yeah, there's no doubt about that.

1154
01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:02,119
I mean, you know, and
I think it's important that you don't

1155
01:12:02,119 --> 01:12:06,239
forget what happened in that because he's
one of the people that Gerald is that

1156
01:12:06,279 --> 01:12:12,159
suffered such a severe injury. But
he's still alive and still has, you

1157
01:12:12,199 --> 01:12:15,319
know, whatever the level of his
life is, still lives. But his

1158
01:12:15,680 --> 01:12:19,399
sister Lisa is his caretaker. And
there's actually if you go on you look

1159
01:12:19,399 --> 01:12:24,279
on the Boxing News, which is
a fine publication, the oldest boxing publication

1160
01:12:24,319 --> 01:12:27,680
in the world out of the UK. They still produce a printed magazine every

1161
01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:30,840
week, but they have a great
website and if you subscribe, And I

1162
01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:32,680
wish I could remember the writer's name
because I'd like to give him credit because

1163
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:35,560
he did a heck of a job
with it, And I just don't remember

1164
01:12:36,119 --> 01:12:40,760
the author's name. But he had
an interview with Lisa mcclun. He went

1165
01:12:40,800 --> 01:12:44,079
to visit Gerald and her in their
home in Illinois, and he wrote a

1166
01:12:44,079 --> 01:12:48,119
really outstanding piece. I wish I
coul remember the name about just what a

1167
01:12:48,199 --> 01:12:51,000
day in the life is like taking
care of Jael mcloon, what he does

1168
01:12:51,039 --> 01:12:55,319
and what she does, and you
know, so he does have some modicum

1169
01:12:55,359 --> 01:12:58,239
of a life, but it's you
know, it's not great, and they

1170
01:12:58,520 --> 01:13:00,880
didn't they do need fun to help
continue with this care. So they still

1171
01:13:00,880 --> 01:13:03,920
have a GoFundMe page set up that
you could certainly find on the internet.

1172
01:13:04,039 --> 01:13:10,279
But the fight itself was a spectacular
fight. I mean, it's just unfortunate

1173
01:13:10,319 --> 01:13:13,199
obviously that had the kind of ending
that it did. But up until that

1174
01:13:13,279 --> 01:13:20,319
moment, this is an absolutely like
just searing, violent, just NonStop action

1175
01:13:20,439 --> 01:13:26,880
fight that in retrospect, being honest, it doesn't surprise me that somebody suffered

1176
01:13:27,039 --> 01:13:29,840
this type of injury because that's just
the type of fight that it was,

1177
01:13:30,239 --> 01:13:33,840
and Nigel Ben you know, was
able to cause you know, it wasn't

1178
01:13:33,880 --> 01:13:39,039
like a massive knockout. It was
kind of a shocking knockout because it wasn't

1179
01:13:39,039 --> 01:13:42,960
really a quote unquote knockout. It
was a matter of Gerald taking a knee

1180
01:13:43,439 --> 01:13:45,039
because he was obviously having some problems
with what was going on in his head

1181
01:13:45,279 --> 01:13:48,399
and was counted out. And it
was very unfortunate that when that occurred,

1182
01:13:48,399 --> 01:13:54,560
this fight was shown in the United
States on Showtime that you had Ferdy Pichekka,

1183
01:13:54,600 --> 01:13:59,159
who was the Showtime commentator, you
know, ripping Gerald McClellan for quitting

1184
01:13:59,239 --> 01:14:03,239
and not realizing obviously that the man
had a severe brain injury that required immediate

1185
01:14:03,239 --> 01:14:06,600
surgery and put him in a coma
and and basically ended his life as he

1186
01:14:06,640 --> 01:14:10,720
knows it, on that night.
So that was a really bad situation,

1187
01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:15,800
but it was it was a tremendous, tremendous back and forth battle. You

1188
01:14:15,840 --> 01:14:18,920
know, Nigel Ben had been in
some great fights and you know, throughout

1189
01:14:18,920 --> 01:14:21,279
his career, whether you're talking about
this fight or the U Bank fights,

1190
01:14:21,880 --> 01:14:27,279
McClellan was known as a just a
devastating puncher and a very action packed fighter

1191
01:14:28,119 --> 01:14:30,800
and they came together. This was
a co promotion between Frank Lauren who had

1192
01:14:31,399 --> 01:14:35,079
Nigel Ben and Gerald McLellan who was
with Don King and Nigel, I mean,

1193
01:14:35,279 --> 01:14:38,880
Don King and Frank had done a
bunch of fights together during that period

1194
01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:42,760
of time here in the in the
mid nineties and this was in London,

1195
01:14:43,279 --> 01:14:46,560
and you know, it was just
as memorable as it gets. And again,

1196
01:14:46,600 --> 01:14:49,319
I wish you could just push the
stop button, you know in round

1197
01:14:49,399 --> 01:14:53,199
ten when he's counted out, and
that would happened afterwards, never happened,

1198
01:14:53,399 --> 01:14:56,760
But you can't ignore it. But
it doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about the

1199
01:14:56,760 --> 01:14:59,199
fighter, say what a great fight
it was. Yes, the tragic and

1200
01:14:59,560 --> 01:15:02,560
you know, unfortunate way that it
unfolded afterwards, but it doesn't take away

1201
01:15:03,279 --> 01:15:09,239
what these two guys did that night. And it's a very very famous and

1202
01:15:09,279 --> 01:15:12,119
a very very great and a very
very sad fight all the same, very

1203
01:15:12,279 --> 01:15:15,800
very stark reminder. This is a
brutal business and this is what happens from

1204
01:15:15,800 --> 01:15:17,479
time to time. And I said
this before and I'll say it again.

1205
01:15:17,560 --> 01:15:24,479
This has gone on in so many
different places, so many different situations.

1206
01:15:24,560 --> 01:15:29,239
There are thousands, if not millions
who take care of their loved ones that

1207
01:15:29,319 --> 01:15:33,159
can't care for themselves. And she
is a hero because here it is nearly

1208
01:15:33,199 --> 01:15:38,640
thirty years later and her brother has
required all that time basically twenty four hour

1209
01:15:38,760 --> 01:15:43,319
care. It's sad. It's sad
in that regard, and it goes on

1210
01:15:43,399 --> 01:15:45,880
everywhere. And she's a hero.
She is a hero. And go check

1211
01:15:45,880 --> 01:15:48,960
out the GoFundMe if you'd like to
help, et cetera. And there should

1212
01:15:48,960 --> 01:15:54,000
be some that are that are able, that are still willing and to give

1213
01:15:54,039 --> 01:15:59,720
back and be able to help them
sustain because Gerald's still alive twenty nine,

1214
01:16:00,000 --> 01:16:02,600
twenty nine years later. All right, on a happier note, happy anniversary

1215
01:16:02,640 --> 01:16:05,800
to you before we get out of
here. No it's not your wedding anniversary

1216
01:16:05,840 --> 01:16:08,840
with missus. By the way,
let me just I wanted to say one

1217
01:16:08,880 --> 01:16:11,760
more thing before we get to this, in terms of Lisa McClellan. So

1218
01:16:11,840 --> 01:16:15,199
every year, one of the awards
that gets voted on by the Boxing Writers

1219
01:16:15,239 --> 01:16:18,600
Association of America is we have an
award that for many many years was called

1220
01:16:18,640 --> 01:16:24,760
the Bill Bill Bill Crawford Courage Award. It is now called the John McCain

1221
01:16:24,840 --> 01:16:29,720
Bill Crawford Courage Award. John McCain, the delayed senator from Arizona and former

1222
01:16:29,760 --> 01:16:33,640
presidential candidate, but a great American
hero and more notably because of the Boxing

1223
01:16:33,640 --> 01:16:40,159
Writers Association. Why we did this. A noted and big time boxing fan,

1224
01:16:40,279 --> 01:16:44,319
an advocate who was the person to
help write the Muhammad Ali boxing reformat.

1225
01:16:44,760 --> 01:16:47,279
You know, John McCain and I
may not have agreed on our politics,

1226
01:16:47,479 --> 01:16:50,359
but we definitely agreed on our boxing. And I had the great opportunity

1227
01:16:50,560 --> 01:16:55,199
to interview him and meet him a
couple of times in my career. Anyway,

1228
01:16:55,279 --> 01:16:57,840
So this award that we give out
at the Boxing Writers every year,

1229
01:16:58,319 --> 01:17:01,600
this year, Lisa McClellan is getting
that award. She won. She's actually

1230
01:17:01,680 --> 01:17:06,960
a tie with our good friend,
the great photographer Ed mulholland, who takes

1231
01:17:08,720 --> 01:17:11,319
some of the best young side pictures
you'll ever see. But they're going to

1232
01:17:11,359 --> 01:17:13,560
share this award. But she gets
it, and she probably should have got

1233
01:17:13,560 --> 01:17:15,159
a years ago, and I'm glad
that she was nominated. But she gets

1234
01:17:15,199 --> 01:17:20,680
this award for being the full time
caregiver of her brother Gerald. Great stuff,

1235
01:17:21,159 --> 01:17:26,479
all right, And before we're gone, happy anniversary, because on Saturday

1236
01:17:26,880 --> 01:17:30,039
this past weekend, twenty four years
ago, in February of two thousand.

1237
01:17:30,079 --> 01:17:35,199
February twenty fourth of two thousand,
you began formally with USA Today as their

1238
01:17:35,279 --> 01:17:43,600
boxing national worldwide beat writer. And
here you are, twenty four years later,

1239
01:17:43,760 --> 01:17:46,239
still doing a podcast with you.
Yes, I know. Let me

1240
01:17:46,319 --> 01:17:50,600
ask it this way. Yes.
If I go back to two thousand and

1241
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:56,760
I tell Dan Rayfield, you are
still going to be doing this twenty four

1242
01:17:56,840 --> 01:18:02,239
years later, seeing hundreds of Wars
Old title fights in person all over the

1243
01:18:02,359 --> 01:18:08,680
United States, North America and the
globe. Would Dan Rayfield of two thousand

1244
01:18:08,720 --> 01:18:14,000
have believed TJ if I said that
to him, Never in a million years.

1245
01:18:14,399 --> 01:18:16,319
I mean, that's just the truth. I mean, as I've said

1246
01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:23,479
a thousand times to many people,
two things. One, I've never one

1247
01:18:23,560 --> 01:18:27,399
day taken it for granted. And
number two, it's been the fucking ride

1248
01:18:27,439 --> 01:18:30,399
of my life. And to be
able to now start your twenty four doing

1249
01:18:30,399 --> 01:18:31,680
what I like doing. You know, I may not be writing for a

1250
01:18:31,680 --> 01:18:34,720
newspaper or now the website. I
do my own thing, we do this

1251
01:18:34,840 --> 01:18:39,439
or whatever, but I'm still making
a living. I can't complain about that.

1252
01:18:39,479 --> 01:18:43,359
I can still do my thing.
And the fact that it's been that

1253
01:18:43,399 --> 01:18:45,640
long is mind, Bob. I
mean what jumped to my mind is I

1254
01:18:45,159 --> 01:18:50,479
had the February twenty fourth date that
you referenced, and I put this on

1255
01:18:50,520 --> 01:18:55,600
my Instagram and my Twitter Facebook because
I still have it, because as you

1256
01:18:55,640 --> 01:18:58,039
know, I'm a collector. I
never get rid of this type of thing.

1257
01:18:58,600 --> 01:19:00,920
It was on not February twenty fourth, but it was a few days

1258
01:19:00,960 --> 01:19:04,920
after that that I received in the
mail, the old not email, like

1259
01:19:04,960 --> 01:19:12,239
an actual letter in the normal US
Postal service mail, a type letter signed

1260
01:19:12,239 --> 01:19:15,359
by the editor, the sports editter
at the time of USA Today, who

1261
01:19:15,399 --> 01:19:17,600
was my official. You're hired.
Welcome to the pro you know, welcome

1262
01:19:17,640 --> 01:19:21,119
to the company. We hope you
find your job enjoyable and fulfilling. Here's

1263
01:19:21,119 --> 01:19:25,600
what your salary is going to be. I was hired. I actually had

1264
01:19:25,640 --> 01:19:28,159
known I was being hired. It
wasn't this letter to them of the secret.

1265
01:19:28,199 --> 01:19:30,359
It so happened that the letter was
dated February twenty fourth. I had

1266
01:19:30,399 --> 01:19:35,359
actually been hired on the telephone about
three weeks earlier. I had a conversation

1267
01:19:35,439 --> 01:19:39,600
with the sports editor, whose name
was Monty Laurel. Now remember they knew

1268
01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:43,800
me because I had spent four months
working at USA Today as part of a

1269
01:19:43,840 --> 01:19:46,199
program within the Gannet Company where I
went from my newspaper in Bingham to New

1270
01:19:46,239 --> 01:19:50,239
York to work in the sports department
to the USA Today with a group of

1271
01:19:50,279 --> 01:19:54,840
about another ten or twelve others that
worked in various sections of the paper.

1272
01:19:55,399 --> 01:19:58,840
It was a year after that that
I was called kind of out of the

1273
01:19:58,840 --> 01:20:00,399
blue and they started talk to me
about boxing. I really didn't know what

1274
01:20:00,439 --> 01:20:02,399
they were doing, but it turned
out that they wanted to hire me,

1275
01:20:03,680 --> 01:20:08,079
and so they had a new It
was almost like a trade, like basically

1276
01:20:08,279 --> 01:20:13,600
they had to work out a deal
with my bosses at the Binghamon newspaper to

1277
01:20:13,800 --> 01:20:17,000
let me leave to go to USA
Today because it was technically going to be

1278
01:20:17,039 --> 01:20:20,000
a transfer, but my boss wanted
me to stay for a certain period of

1279
01:20:20,039 --> 01:20:23,800
time to get through like I don't
know, if it was like some important

1280
01:20:23,840 --> 01:20:27,640
tournament or basketball thing or whatever,
which I was happy to do because it

1281
01:20:27,640 --> 01:20:30,399
gave me extra time to pack my
stuff and find you know. It just

1282
01:20:30,399 --> 01:20:33,000
so happened. It was coming around
the same time that my lease was expiring,

1283
01:20:33,039 --> 01:20:35,880
so I wasn't going to have to
double up on the expenses anyway.

1284
01:20:36,199 --> 01:20:40,399
But it was the February twenty fourth
where I got the official letter that you

1285
01:20:40,439 --> 01:20:43,199
will be making fifty two thousand dollars
a year. I thought it was the

1286
01:20:43,279 --> 01:20:45,479
richest man in the world. I
was basically doubling my salary what I was

1287
01:20:45,520 --> 01:20:48,800
making when I was working in Binghamton
little. I mean, I was moving

1288
01:20:48,800 --> 01:20:51,640
to Virginia, which was the Washington
DC area, which is a lot more

1289
01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:57,039
expensive to live, and then bingham
to New York. But that was I've

1290
01:20:57,039 --> 01:21:00,960
said this before, that's the single
most significant important moment in my professional life.

1291
01:21:01,079 --> 01:21:03,520
I was getting that letter, like
formally in front of my face.

1292
01:21:03,760 --> 01:21:09,199
You're the boxing writer at USA today
and one of the most important moments in

1293
01:21:09,199 --> 01:21:12,319
my life period professional Otherwise, I
mean, and maybe doesn't you know,

1294
01:21:12,359 --> 01:21:15,000
go ahead of the birth of my
son, let's say, or don't getting

1295
01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:16,479
married to my wife or anything like
that. But it's certainly, you know,

1296
01:21:16,560 --> 01:21:19,560
a huge deal. And like you
said, if you said to me

1297
01:21:19,640 --> 01:21:24,359
twenty four years later, I'm still
going to be doing boxing on a daily

1298
01:21:24,399 --> 01:21:30,840
basis, I would never in a
billion years would have even contemplated that,

1299
01:21:30,880 --> 01:21:33,119
where conceived that in any way,
shape or form. Now that this is

1300
01:21:33,159 --> 01:21:38,199
interesting, This is interesting because you
were such a fight fan for so long.

1301
01:21:38,640 --> 01:21:44,279
It's almost and I say this reverently
because I was a fan of your

1302
01:21:44,319 --> 01:21:46,239
work long before you and I met
you and I only met a couple of

1303
01:21:46,319 --> 01:21:51,119
years ago. Yeah, right,
But I believed from the time that I

1304
01:21:51,159 --> 01:21:54,880
was very little, I was going
to be a sports broadcaster. To me,

1305
01:21:55,920 --> 01:21:58,920
it just seemed as though Dan Rayfield, as the fight fan growing up,

1306
01:21:58,960 --> 01:22:01,000
had to believe you were all he's
going to be a boxing writer,

1307
01:22:01,039 --> 01:22:05,039
and that was going to bed.
But you've you've shared with us that it

1308
01:22:05,159 --> 01:22:10,159
kind of evolved and came into this, So it's just it's interesting. It

1309
01:22:10,239 --> 01:22:14,479
struck me in high school when I
when and my mother encouraged me to do

1310
01:22:14,520 --> 01:22:17,279
this, to sign up as for
an elective for the school newspaper, and

1311
01:22:17,359 --> 01:22:21,640
part of your grade was we produced
like the school student ut. But at

1312
01:22:21,640 --> 01:22:25,720
that time I was not interested in
writing about sports. I was doing like

1313
01:22:25,800 --> 01:22:29,920
the news stories for the school and
you know, I helped collaborate with others

1314
01:22:29,920 --> 01:22:31,640
in the group on the editorials.
We would write in things along those lines.

1315
01:22:31,840 --> 01:22:35,000
And there wasn't really until I got
to college and a friend of mine

1316
01:22:35,479 --> 01:22:40,279
who was a year or so or
maybe two years ahead of me, said,

1317
01:22:40,319 --> 01:22:43,880
you know, you should come to
our general meeting for the school newspaper

1318
01:22:44,119 --> 01:22:47,439
as like a erect extracurricular activity.
I wasn't going to join a fraternity that

1319
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:51,000
became like my fraternity. And so
I remember on this is vivid to me,

1320
01:22:51,079 --> 01:22:55,760
going, you know, taking up
his h his thought via come to

1321
01:22:55,840 --> 01:22:57,880
the meeting. He told me when
it was, and we went to the

1322
01:22:58,039 --> 01:23:00,680
to the meeting, and you basically
when you were done, you'd said,

1323
01:23:00,680 --> 01:23:02,199
Okay, if you want to do
something, you know, go sign up.

1324
01:23:02,239 --> 01:23:03,880
If you want to write, if
you want to edit, if you

1325
01:23:03,920 --> 01:23:05,960
want to do this, if you
want to do that. And there was

1326
01:23:05,960 --> 01:23:10,000
like a long line of people at
the at the at the desk to sign

1327
01:23:10,039 --> 01:23:12,760
up to write news stories or be
involved in the news side. And there

1328
01:23:12,760 --> 01:23:14,680
was like only like two or three
people at the sports. Now we were

1329
01:23:14,680 --> 01:23:16,640
a Division three school at the time. Now we're Division one. But you

1330
01:23:16,640 --> 01:23:18,439
know, we didn't have very good
teams in this and that. But I

1331
01:23:18,479 --> 01:23:21,920
love sports and like games and whatever. Loved basketball and baseball, and you

1332
01:23:21,960 --> 01:23:25,199
know, we didn't have a football
team. So I went over to the

1333
01:23:25,239 --> 01:23:29,359
sports desk and I liked I signed
up to write. I said, I'll

1334
01:23:29,359 --> 01:23:30,520
do I'll do sports I'll be happy
to do it. We published twice a

1335
01:23:30,520 --> 01:23:35,159
week at the time. My first
ever sports stuff I wrote for the school

1336
01:23:35,199 --> 01:23:40,560
paper. I was covering like club
sports, no bullshit. I wrote stories

1337
01:23:40,880 --> 01:23:45,079
about our club team, men's and
women's Ultimate Frisbee, which is basically like

1338
01:23:45,560 --> 01:23:47,000
play the game and they get drunk. Okay, so a lot of fun.

1339
01:23:47,199 --> 01:23:50,680
Yes, So I did that,
and that evolved, and you know,

1340
01:23:50,720 --> 01:23:54,800
I started playing the basketball team,
and I became the managing edit of

1341
01:23:54,800 --> 01:23:57,479
the paper. And one thing leads
to another. I get the internship at

1342
01:23:57,479 --> 01:24:00,640
the newspaper and Bangington, which was
owned by the folks that own you today.

1343
01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:02,439
When I graduated, I got another
job at another paper in that same

1344
01:24:02,439 --> 01:24:06,159
company and Saratoga. They send me
back or I get a job at Binghamton

1345
01:24:06,239 --> 01:24:09,800
later and transfer there to work for
real, not just an intern. And

1346
01:24:09,840 --> 01:24:13,560
they had the USA Today loan program
that I applied for got went and worked

1347
01:24:13,560 --> 01:24:15,239
there four months, and then a
year later get called back. Would you

1348
01:24:15,239 --> 01:24:19,920
be our boxing writer? So just
connecting all the dots the notion of becoming

1349
01:24:19,920 --> 01:24:24,039
a boxing writer. I want to
be a baseball writer. I covered the

1350
01:24:24,039 --> 01:24:26,560
minor league baseball team, the Mets, when I was in Dingham and I

1351
01:24:26,600 --> 01:24:29,800
had covered the New York Yankees minor
league team when I worked in Saratoga because

1352
01:24:29,840 --> 01:24:32,560
we had a team in Albany and
some other minor league stuff around, and

1353
01:24:32,680 --> 01:24:35,640
boxing was just something I loved.
And when I got to USA today,

1354
01:24:38,640 --> 01:24:41,039
before that, I had done a
couple of I'd done a couple of fights,

1355
01:24:41,079 --> 01:24:44,079
one in Saratoga, one you know, in Binghamton, and then I

1356
01:24:44,119 --> 01:24:47,720
got to USA tid I'll never forget
this. We had our introduction in the

1357
01:24:47,760 --> 01:24:51,239
loan program, and they basically told
us, we will have you do all

1358
01:24:51,319 --> 01:24:55,039
kinds of stuff, but we want
this to be good for you and for

1359
01:24:55,119 --> 01:24:58,680
us. If there are things that
you want to do outside of the the

1360
01:24:59,119 --> 01:25:01,359
things your duties are, let us
know. And if you're completing your tasks

1361
01:25:01,359 --> 01:25:04,560
and your assignments, will make every
effort to let you do other things that

1362
01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:09,520
you want to do. So I
was assigned to the Major League Baseball desk.

1363
01:25:09,840 --> 01:25:13,720
I spent my days and nights in
that four months in nineteen ninety eight

1364
01:25:14,239 --> 01:25:18,640
non stop writing and stuff about the
great home run chase between Mark maguire and

1365
01:25:18,680 --> 01:25:25,960
Sammy Sosa and Cal Ripkin ending his
games playstreak. I remember my first ever

1366
01:25:26,079 --> 01:25:30,039
story on the front page of USA
Today was the lead story when cal Ripkins

1367
01:25:30,079 --> 01:25:33,399
sat down and ended a streak.
I wrote that for the paper, but

1368
01:25:33,600 --> 01:25:36,720
I said, I said, I'd
like to do boxing. Also, what

1369
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:41,880
do you think I pitched a couple
of story ideas that they liked. I

1370
01:25:41,960 --> 01:25:44,920
was able to write them, and
I remember thinking they must really like me

1371
01:25:45,239 --> 01:25:48,720
because I was on a day off
on my loan and I got a phone

1372
01:25:48,720 --> 01:25:51,840
call from one of our editors and
he asked me, said, you know,

1373
01:25:51,880 --> 01:25:55,039
I know what's your day off,
but would you mind coming into the

1374
01:25:55,079 --> 01:25:59,239
office. Archie Moore has died.
We would need we need somebody if they

1375
01:25:59,279 --> 01:26:02,039
could spend a little time just writing
a short obituary on Archie Moore. And

1376
01:26:02,079 --> 01:26:04,239
I'm like, I'll be there in
fifteen minutes. I mean, I was

1377
01:26:04,279 --> 01:26:09,159
living with the rest of my group
in a long term hotel that was a

1378
01:26:09,159 --> 01:26:11,439
couple of block It was like a
five minute walk to the office. I'll

1379
01:26:11,439 --> 01:26:14,920
set I'll be there right away.
So I changed my clothes and I went

1380
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:17,319
to the office and made some phone
calls. I actually remember. I remember

1381
01:26:17,399 --> 01:26:20,720
I think my old colleague John Saracino, who was the boxing writer at the

1382
01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:25,640
time, gave me his number.
I called Teddy Alice, who was doing

1383
01:26:26,359 --> 01:26:29,079
you know, he was the big
name on Friday Night fights at the time,

1384
01:26:29,119 --> 01:26:31,359
and obviously a historian in his own
right. And I remember talking to

1385
01:26:31,399 --> 01:26:39,359
Teddy Alice about Archie Moore's career and
the unbelievable fights he had with Avon Durrell

1386
01:26:39,479 --> 01:26:41,680
up in Canada. If you don't
know what, go YouTube, but there's

1387
01:26:41,720 --> 01:26:45,720
like forty seven knockdowns. And so
when they called me in to do that,

1388
01:26:45,720 --> 01:26:47,880
I'm like, okay, they must
like me. And then I pitched

1389
01:26:47,880 --> 01:26:53,079
the idea, can I go cover
Prince Nasim Hahmed was going to be fighting

1390
01:26:53,119 --> 01:26:57,960
a featherweight defense in the Atlantic City
Boardwalk Hall Halloween Night of nineteen ninety eight.

1391
01:26:58,000 --> 01:27:00,800
This is a couple of months after
I had gotten They were like,

1392
01:27:00,880 --> 01:27:01,840
yeah, go for it, and
I was like, okay. So I

1393
01:27:01,920 --> 01:27:05,159
went to Atlantic City and covered that
event and met a lot of the people

1394
01:27:05,199 --> 01:27:08,800
that I still talk to today,
met a lot of the HBO people,

1395
01:27:08,880 --> 01:27:11,560
met a lot of other writers,
a lot of pr people and different fighters

1396
01:27:11,560 --> 01:27:15,640
and promoters, and you know,
started to really get into it at that

1397
01:27:15,680 --> 01:27:18,319
point. And then when I left
and came back after that program ended,

1398
01:27:18,359 --> 01:27:21,279
at the end of nineteen ninety.
I was so fucking depressed. I still

1399
01:27:21,319 --> 01:27:25,159
I actually when the when the anniversary
came up, I said this to my

1400
01:27:25,159 --> 01:27:28,800
wife. We recollected because we were
working together at the same newspaper in Dington,

1401
01:27:29,079 --> 01:27:30,439
her and I and our friends at
the at the paper that we used

1402
01:27:30,479 --> 01:27:33,359
to hang out with late night after
our ships were over. We would go

1403
01:27:33,399 --> 01:27:38,279
to this little diner in Bingaton or
Investment actually, which where we lived.

1404
01:27:38,800 --> 01:27:42,279
And it was a bitter fucking cold
January night I gotten home from my loan

1405
01:27:42,680 --> 01:27:45,720
like January second or something like that. It's like a week or two later,

1406
01:27:45,800 --> 01:27:47,359
I'm as depressed as can be.
I'm like, back in fucking Bingaton.

1407
01:27:47,760 --> 01:27:50,319
I want to be back at US
today writing boxing, not in Dington

1408
01:27:50,359 --> 01:27:57,560
writing you know, auto racing in
college's basketball Division three. And we're at

1409
01:27:57,560 --> 01:28:00,439
this little diner and it's snowing out
and I'm just like lamenting the fact,

1410
01:28:00,479 --> 01:28:03,199
like how bitter I am. I
want to be back, you know,

1411
01:28:03,279 --> 01:28:08,439
at USA today. And I remember
that conversation and then I got the call

1412
01:28:08,960 --> 01:28:13,000
and it changed my fucking life.
And then ESPN came calling. I spent

1413
01:28:13,079 --> 01:28:16,640
fifteen years at ESPN and and have
been able to make a beautiful living and

1414
01:28:16,720 --> 01:28:20,119
have a whole fucking lot of fun. And I've been given the middle finger

1415
01:28:20,119 --> 01:28:23,399
by Bob Airm, I've been hugged
by Mike Tyson. I mean, it's

1416
01:28:23,439 --> 01:28:26,880
been a beautiful thing. And by
the way, I've gotten to spend the

1417
01:28:26,960 --> 01:28:30,000
last couple of years with you,
and I keep joking with you in a

1418
01:28:30,039 --> 01:28:31,520
playful way. You and I have
talked to each other more than I think

1419
01:28:31,560 --> 01:28:38,600
we talk to our spouses at times, between podcasts, text communications, conversation

1420
01:28:39,159 --> 01:28:44,279
off the off the air, and
I'll even say it, here's to another

1421
01:28:44,439 --> 01:28:47,720
twenty four years. Dan, God
bless you. Keep going, keep going?

1422
01:28:48,000 --> 01:28:53,159
Why not on this? All right? Great stuff, nostalgia recaps,

1423
01:28:53,239 --> 01:28:56,000
fight news, all of it.
If you enjoyed this, make sure you're

1424
01:28:56,000 --> 01:28:59,479
following, make sure you're subscribing here
to this podcast feed. It's a big

1425
01:28:59,520 --> 01:29:01,159
fight we can podcast feed. You've
been listening here to the fight Preach Unit

1426
01:29:01,199 --> 01:29:05,840
recap. It's Jake Paul and Amanda
Serrano. Week top ranks got the featherweight

1427
01:29:06,640 --> 01:29:13,239
world title fight as well at the
press tours for Roy and Garcia, allegedly

1428
01:29:13,319 --> 01:29:17,560
fighting Devin Haney in New York at
the Barkley center assigned. Supposedly somebody get

1429
01:29:17,560 --> 01:29:21,600
the memo to Ryan. Other than
that, have a good week, my

1430
01:29:21,720 --> 01:29:27,000
friend. We've covered a bunch here
and I appreciate it as always, and

1431
01:29:27,279 --> 01:29:29,640
we'll get after to gain in the
preview mode later this week. By the

1432
01:29:29,640 --> 01:29:32,159
way, we'll get back at it
in a new month. The month of

1433
01:29:32,239 --> 01:29:36,399
March is when the preview show will
be happy. Coming upcoming this weekend,

1434
01:29:36,840 --> 01:29:40,439
Dan Raypiel, have a great week. Thank you, all right, you

1435
01:29:40,439 --> 01:29:43,279
bet, thank you. TJ there
is the one and only. Go to

1436
01:29:43,319 --> 01:29:45,560
his Fight Preach to Night substack and
make sure you're subscribed there as well.

1437
01:29:45,880 --> 01:29:49,560
For now, we are good.
We've been recapping it all here on the

1438
01:29:49,560 --> 01:29:51,119
Fight Preach Unit Recap podcast