1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:10,119 The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big Fight Weekend. No. 2 00:00:10,519 --> 00:00:14,919 Here is your host, TJ. Leaves Ah. We get ready for 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,960 another weekend. I should say up front of weekend that was supposed to have 4 00:00:18,039 --> 00:00:21,440 Tyson Furiy and Alexander Usik fighting. We were supposed to be previewing that, 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,839 but the funny thing happened along the way to the undisputed heavyweight title bout. 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,640 It is now delayed because the cud over Furi's eye. Nonetheless, we do 7 00:00:28,719 --> 00:00:32,359 have a couple of championship fights, we have news, we have nostalgia. 8 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,280 Dare I say he was Buster Douglas before Buster Douglas? Is that a tease 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,240 for the nostalgia? We will be talking about it right here on the Big 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,320 Fight Weekend preview. I'm the somewhat capable host TJ Reeves. He is our 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,880 insider. Fight Freaks Unite is his substack Big Fight Weekend dot Com. It's 12 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:53,719 always busy in and around Dan Rayfield. I'm gonna cryptically say the inside joke 13 00:00:53,759 --> 00:00:56,439 that you and I know sometimes the pre show is better than the first segment 14 00:00:56,439 --> 00:00:58,439 of the show. You get a lot to live up to you right now 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,840 because we were making each other laugh before I hit the record button, and 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,799 most of what we talked about, well, you know, a little of 17 00:01:03,879 --> 00:01:07,400 it could have maybe made the air, but you got a lot to live 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:08,319 up to. Good to be back with you. You ready to go? 19 00:01:10,239 --> 00:01:12,480 I am. I think it's for our sakes better off that what we said 20 00:01:12,519 --> 00:01:17,239 prior to the recording is not going to go public. Yes, now, 21 00:01:17,239 --> 00:01:23,159 we were not being obscene. We were not being demeaning towards any ethnicity, 22 00:01:23,599 --> 00:01:29,560 religious group, race, creed, color, postman, aliens, any of 23 00:01:29,599 --> 00:01:34,120 that. We were, however, commiserating over parent teacher conferences when you have 24 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,719 kids in elementary school, so just different things. But anyway, we're here 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,159 to talk the fights. We're glad you found us. Make sure you rate 26 00:01:40,239 --> 00:01:44,159 us and review us five star reviews. Do help send it out. Takes 27 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,599 thirty seconds to do that. If you enjoy what we do, previewing going 28 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,319 into the weekend, recapping coming off the weekend. Thank you for finding us. 29 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:55,200 Follow, subscribe, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify, wherever you get podcasts. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,640 That's where we are and a lot of you have been finding us once 31 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,719 again in February. By the ends of thousands, you have been gathered in 32 00:02:02,359 --> 00:02:07,959 here for the big Fight Weekend preview in the Fight Preaching Night recap and Dan 33 00:02:07,039 --> 00:02:10,800 ray Feel because we didn't promote this and we didn't know what happened, know 34 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:15,560 that it would happen for sure. But after we put the recap podcast to 35 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:20,240 bed the other night one Oscar de la Hoya got back to you and you 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,280 did a good twenty plus minutes with him about how the Devin Haney, Ryan 37 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:29,560 Garcia on off, back on, got back on. And my point is, 38 00:02:29,759 --> 00:02:31,599 again when we always mentioned this at the beginning, if you did not 39 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,159 follow or subscribe, you didn't get the notification, the light that ding the 40 00:02:36,199 --> 00:02:38,520 bell. You might have had some other prompt through social media. If you 41 00:02:38,599 --> 00:02:43,639 were subscribing, you automatically knew new Ray feel with Oscar de la Hoy. 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,400 This is what I got to subscribe. Yeah, Oscar was good too. 43 00:02:46,439 --> 00:02:50,680 I had touch base with him about the Hany and the Garcia fight and texted 44 00:02:50,719 --> 00:02:52,680 him and he hadn't gotten back to me, which was fine. I figured 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,680 he's doing his thing. And on Sunday afternoon he texted me back. He's 46 00:02:55,719 --> 00:02:58,960 like, you know, I can I can talk if you got some time, 47 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:00,719 you know, are you for? I think you said like three o'clock 48 00:03:01,159 --> 00:03:05,840 his time, which is Pacific. So we spoke for about twenty twenty five 49 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,639 minutes, like literally right before the beginning of the Super Bowl. I had 50 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,639 my my my wife, and my son and my in laws were in the 51 00:03:12,439 --> 00:03:15,080 in our in our family room getting ready to watch the premium of the pregame 52 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,759 and the food was out, and I was like, I'll be right there, 53 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,400 and I'll be right there. My father in law Oscar Oscar de la 54 00:03:23,479 --> 00:03:24,680 Hoy, Yeah, I like how that goes good. My father in law 55 00:03:24,719 --> 00:03:25,919 was like, what do you who are you? Who are you talking to? 56 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,879 I said, Oscar delay is like, oh, that's pretty cool. 57 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:30,520 He was. I got some brownie points with my father in law that so, 58 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:32,360 but Oscar is good. Not only do we talk about that, if 59 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,560 they listened to it. It happened that the day that we were speaking was, 60 00:03:36,919 --> 00:03:38,680 you know, just just around the time of the twenty fifth anniversary of 61 00:03:38,719 --> 00:03:43,400 his big time win against Ike Barte, which is also a fight that I've 62 00:03:43,439 --> 00:03:46,879 always been interested in enjoyed. I thought it was just a tremendous uh you 63 00:03:46,919 --> 00:03:52,360 know, uh he Oscar really made a point in that fight. You know, 64 00:03:52,439 --> 00:03:54,400 everybody said he is not gonna fight that guy. He's gonna be scared 65 00:03:54,439 --> 00:03:58,280 of him. He's gonna he's gonna lose the fight. And you know he's 66 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,759 been cherry picking, so to speak. I mean, he had beaten Pearl 67 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,039 Whitaker. But nonetheless, that was like a really big moment in our well. 68 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,680 We talked about it on the recap podcast on the dramatic finish, and 69 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:09,879 then I liked what he was saying to you. Now. The only thing 70 00:04:09,879 --> 00:04:12,520 I'm gonna take issue with he says it was like my Rocky moment. I 71 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,759 felt like Rocky and rallying at the end. Oscar was star studded from beginning 72 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,160 of his career as a gold That's not what he meant. What he meant 73 00:04:21,199 --> 00:04:26,360 was he they have been losing the fight going into that moment. He understand, 74 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,519 But I mean, Rocky's such an out of nowhere story. The Golden 75 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,920 Boy was the Golden Boy all the way through the nineties and into the two 76 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,720 thousands. We know that about him with all of his great wins. So 77 00:04:34,759 --> 00:04:39,360 that's that's tremendous stuff. So go back on the podcast feed and listen to 78 00:04:39,399 --> 00:04:42,160 that if you didn't know that was there. My point is, if you're 79 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,360 following and subscribing. You did know that was there, all right? So, 80 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,199 as I mentioned, we're on a hold for fury Usik, so that 81 00:04:48,319 --> 00:04:53,040 is later in the spring, coming in May, as a matter of fact. 82 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,839 So we were supposed to have that for Saturday, and everybody kind of 83 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,920 stayed out of the way because of that date for Saturday. So instead we've 84 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,079 got two world title five that were always scheduled for Friday. They're still on 85 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:08,600 for Friday, the first one of which I'm intrigued to see what happens here 86 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:14,519 between. I think you are too. O'shaki Foster Abraham Supernova your guy for 87 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,000 the WBC Junior Lightweight title again Friday night, ESPN Top Rank Show. The 88 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:23,120 Madison Square Garden Theater is where this one will be, all right, So 89 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,600 let's talk about this and the matchup. When last we saw Foster wild title 90 00:05:28,639 --> 00:05:32,879 defense with rock Speed and Rocky Rocky Hernandez where he had to rally late stop 91 00:05:32,879 --> 00:05:38,120 Hernandez retain his belt and now has this title defense. All right, so 92 00:05:38,399 --> 00:05:41,680 let's get in the preview mode. Tell me more about this defense with Abraham 93 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,600 Nova. Well, you're right, that Rocky Hernandez fight that took place in 94 00:05:44,639 --> 00:05:48,240 October was just a tremendous battle finished with a flourish, just a great ending. 95 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:55,759 Rocky Hernandez was winning the fight and O'shaki had to come back and rally, 96 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,759 as you said, score the knockout in round twelve. But the bigger 97 00:05:58,759 --> 00:06:01,240 thing was round eleven, which was just a crazy round around of the year, 98 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:06,879 I think to most people, just just an incredibly action packed and dramatic 99 00:06:06,959 --> 00:06:10,720 kind of battle and as it so happened, and I'm not a fan of 100 00:06:10,759 --> 00:06:13,560 this, but in this particular case, maybe it meant something. They were 101 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,879 using open scoring in Mexico, So when O'shaki Fosser, at least after the 102 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,160 eighth round, when they announced the scores after round scour round eight, and 103 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,199 then obviously if it goes distance after round twelve. So after round eight he 104 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,120 knows he's down on the cards, and so he was pressing the action and 105 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,279 had to make a big comeback to get to win or no, poor Hernandez, 106 00:06:30,319 --> 00:06:31,959 who had fought a hell of a fight got knocked out. So now 107 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:36,279 after that fight was over with O'shaki Fosser, he was doing that fight under 108 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,680 the terms of a purse spid. I remember it was a purse bid or 109 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,040 they just made a one fight deal with Mattrium. I think it was a 110 00:06:42,079 --> 00:06:45,839 pursepit. Actually, the point is that O'shaki Foss was a free agent and 111 00:06:45,879 --> 00:06:47,720 when he was done with that defense, he wuend up signing with Top Rank, 112 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:51,199 which has a wealth of talent, you know, in that weight class 113 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,079 at one hundred and twenty six pounds, guys who may move up obviously, 114 00:06:55,079 --> 00:06:58,879 guys that lightweight that so Oshaki Foster moves up. He really fit in extremely 115 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,360 well with the Top Frank stable, you know, because of all the fighters 116 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,360 that are really good between one twenty six and one thirty five and actually even 117 00:07:05,399 --> 00:07:09,199 up to one forty. So Abraham Noah is one of their guys, and 118 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,600 you know he's just got the one loss. Uh, And it's a it's 119 00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:15,600 a good matchup, I mean, this is is it a superstar matchup, 120 00:07:15,639 --> 00:07:17,720 But it's a good matchup. But Nova has won two fights in a row 121 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,120 since he was stopped. You know, also at the Madison Square Guard Theater 122 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:26,759 frankly in pretty devastating fashion against Robes Ramirez back in the summer of twenty twenty 123 00:07:26,759 --> 00:07:29,920 two. I was at that fight and it was a rough, a rough 124 00:07:29,959 --> 00:07:31,240 knockout, but he's well. Like I said, he he moved up and 125 00:07:31,279 --> 00:07:33,839 weigh after that. He's won the two fights in a row in the one 126 00:07:33,879 --> 00:07:38,519 hundred and thirty pound division against good opponents and Adam Lopez and Jonathan Romero. 127 00:07:38,839 --> 00:07:43,319 He gets this shot against Foster, who's making his second title defense, and 128 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,800 it's a it's a quality matchup. You know, I can see reasons why 129 00:07:46,839 --> 00:07:50,000 both guys can win. I think you probably got to like Foster as the 130 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,199 favorite, understandable. I hadn't looked at the odds. We'll get into that 131 00:07:53,279 --> 00:07:57,720 on the US show on Friday. But the winner of this fight is gonna 132 00:07:57,759 --> 00:08:01,560 have plenty of action because there's all kinds of quality opposition that they can face. 133 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,639 But it's a great opportunity for them to take the headline role. Do 134 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,000 it in a great venue like the MSGA Theater top rank of course, like 135 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,120 they always do. Was loaded up the undercard with lots of you know, 136 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,079 ticket sellers and local fighters and you know New Yorkers and some other you know 137 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,120 fan favorites of that area. So they'll be there, should be a good 138 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:22,639 crowd on hand, and I've become an Oshaki Foster fan. I'll tell you 139 00:08:22,639 --> 00:08:26,639 what TJ years ago. When I first saw him, I think the way 140 00:08:26,639 --> 00:08:30,040 most people, if they're familiar with him, the way that they were first 141 00:08:30,079 --> 00:08:33,159 introduced to who this fighter was was by seeing him fight on a few different 142 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:37,000 occasions on Showbox. And he never really impressed me. He was like, 143 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,080 Okay, he's okay, I don't really see what all the hype is about. 144 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,600 You know, he's got pretty good size for the weight class, good 145 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,759 skills, but you know, just didn't didn't do anything that really stood out 146 00:08:46,759 --> 00:08:48,480 to me. Let's you know, being honest. And then when he was 147 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,679 with Probellum Promotions, I watched the fight of his that took place in Dubai 148 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,279 in twenty twenty two. It was an elimination fight that got him the title 149 00:08:56,279 --> 00:09:00,799 shot at one thirty against Yakobov, and he looked real good in that fight, 150 00:09:00,879 --> 00:09:03,440 and I was very impressed. I watched that they had like a stream 151 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,039 on the It wasn't on television or even like in the US broadcaster, but 152 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,639 they put it on their YouTube channel I guess pro Bellum did, and I 153 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:15,000 was like, this guy actually is shown, in my opinion, improvements and 154 00:09:15,159 --> 00:09:18,679 made it much more interesting. In his post show Box days, he won 155 00:09:18,759 --> 00:09:22,879 that fight went on to box on Showtime in the early part of last year, 156 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,159 and he got a big win against Ray Vargas for the vacant title. 157 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:31,279 Remember, Ray was the featherweight WBC champions was moving up in weight. The 158 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:35,080 challenge for that title against Foster was to had become the mandatory in that other 159 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,039 fight I just referenced, and he put on a clinic and he looked really 160 00:09:39,039 --> 00:09:41,960 good against Vargas and won the title. And then came the Rocky heron Ands 161 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,000 fight, which was as dramatic as it gets. And and then you read 162 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,480 about about the story of Oshaki Foster, about how he had been a really 163 00:09:50,519 --> 00:09:52,840 good amateur, but like a lot of the young young fighters, he found 164 00:09:52,919 --> 00:09:56,120 himself in trouble legally. You know, he was kind of committing some petty 165 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,600 crimes, nothing like super you know, horrific, but an to put him 166 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,000 in jail for a while. And he's told the story about being locked up 167 00:10:03,039 --> 00:10:07,279 and they're in the the common area, you know, with the other inmates, 168 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,879 and they're watching I guess they were allowed to watch boxing, and they 169 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:16,639 and he watched a Terrence Crawford fight on television and now to himself after watching 170 00:10:16,639 --> 00:10:18,440 what Crawford had done that. When I get out of this place, I'm 171 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,759 going to really focus on my boxing career and I'm going to make something of 172 00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:24,480 myself. And like I don't know what it was, six years later or 173 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,120 something like that, or five years later or whatever it was, he's a 174 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,840 world champion and he's now a main event at Madison Square Garden Theater, you 175 00:10:31,879 --> 00:10:33,960 know, defending his world title on a you know, for the number one 176 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,279 of the top couple of promoters in the history of boxing. So it's it's 177 00:10:37,279 --> 00:10:41,120 a great story and uh and Nova has got a real chance to take that 178 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:45,799 away from him. And I know Nova is somebody near and dear to you. 179 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,639 I laughed with you and we've talked about it a couple of times. 180 00:10:48,919 --> 00:10:52,720 That we were leaving the Terrence Clawford demolition of Errol Spence for the World welterweight 181 00:10:52,799 --> 00:10:58,240 title late night on that Saturday night in July, and suddenly there was Abraham 182 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,759 Nora unmistakable with that it was orange colored at that time. I think it's 183 00:11:01,799 --> 00:11:05,519 blonde, is what I saw in the beard right the way and the beard 184 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,559 and he was there talking with you because he's in Albany, New York. 185 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,120 Guy. Yeah, originally born in Puerto Rico, but time in Albany, 186 00:11:13,159 --> 00:11:16,639 New York. So you're going, that's my guy, super Nova, that's 187 00:11:16,639 --> 00:11:18,279 my guy. And to talk to us, he you know, kind of 188 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,600 gave me a hug. But I've known Abraham for a long time, and 189 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,279 you know, because I'm born in Albany, New York, and grew up 190 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,960 in the suburbs of Albany, New York, and that's still where my where 191 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,240 I have family in that area. Anytime there's a notable professional that comes out 192 00:11:31,279 --> 00:11:35,159 of the Albany region, you know, I check him out. I follow 193 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:39,120 him because it's it's my home. It's always home, and that's where Nova's 194 00:11:39,159 --> 00:11:41,679 from. So he knew that. And so I've always sort of followed Abraham 195 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:43,799 nowhere ever since he's been a professional, and uh, we've joked about that. 196 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,360 You know, we've sort of like, you know, we we've gone 197 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:50,600 to the same malls and like the same restaurants and the same stores, and 198 00:11:50,759 --> 00:11:52,039 you know, kind of know the area. So he's a cool guy, 199 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,399 and uh, you know, I look, I have no particular rooting interest 200 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:56,639 in the fight. I mean, if o Shagi Foster wins, you know, 201 00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:58,519 great for him. It's a big another big win for him, and 202 00:11:58,519 --> 00:12:01,720 if Nova went, I'll be super happy for him. Also hopefully it's just 203 00:12:01,759 --> 00:12:05,679 a good fight. But uh, you know I would say that, you 204 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:07,519 know I do, Uh you know I would. I wouldn't. I wouldn't 205 00:12:07,519 --> 00:12:11,240 be unhappy if Abraham Nova became a world champion. I mean being honest. 206 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:16,000 And again he's got to show something because Robas Ramirez put it on him in 207 00:12:16,039 --> 00:12:18,080 that title off, Jason I has got another opportunity here that again, this 208 00:12:18,159 --> 00:12:22,480 is Friday Night, peeps. Again, as we released this overnight Thursday into 209 00:12:22,519 --> 00:12:26,799 Friday, this is Friday night because ESPN has the onslaught of college basketball, 210 00:12:28,159 --> 00:12:31,080 so they're keeping this off the raid on Saturdays. They're keeping this off the 211 00:12:31,159 --> 00:12:33,759 radar for Saturday. And by the way, they had it scheduled this way 212 00:12:33,799 --> 00:12:39,080 anyway, again because of the Fury fight taking precedent with USIK on Saturday. 213 00:12:39,639 --> 00:12:43,519 So there you go on that you mentioned undercard, give a couple of the 214 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:46,320 names on the under card, and then we'll move along here in the preview 215 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,159 mode with the other world title fight for Friday. Yeah. So the co 216 00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:52,039 feature on this on this card not not a big name co feature, but 217 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,799 also you know, a junior lightweight fight, so same weight class. As 218 00:12:56,799 --> 00:13:00,360 the main event, You've got the undefeated Andre's Cortes, who's you know, 219 00:13:00,399 --> 00:13:01,720 who's with top rank. He's a Las Vegas he's out of Las Vegas, 220 00:13:01,759 --> 00:13:05,200 but he's obviously fighting his fight in New York. He's taken on the one 221 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,399 loss Brian Chevalier in a fight that should go to prove a lot about where 222 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,679 Cortes is. I think some of the folks that I know for some of 223 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,639 the folks at top rank, have very high hopes for him, and this 224 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:16,159 is a chance for him to uh, you know, to get some his 225 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,480 first time being on the main card, I believe getting some of that type 226 00:13:20,519 --> 00:13:22,879 of exposure. It's actually a triple header. They also have the Bruce Shoeshoe 227 00:13:22,879 --> 00:13:28,919 Carrington fight. He's a very hyped up and but excellent New York prospect who's 228 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,519 undefeated, a featherweight who's been making a big name for himself as a as 229 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,759 a good fun style, has a tremendous personality. You know, it's from 230 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,960 Brownsville, which obviously, if any know anything about New York boxing in Brooklyn 231 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:41,559 has produced mostly you know, some of the main ones that you know a 232 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,159 at the heavyweight's Ridding bow And and Mike Tyson and you know, and others 233 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,759 are Shannon Briggs. But Carrington is from that same area and he's in with 234 00:13:50,039 --> 00:13:54,679 a one loss uh Bernard Torres, and they're moving him along quickly, I 235 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:58,559 mean, because he's even though he's only got the ten fights, he is 236 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,919 already twenty six years old. As a prospect in the featherweight division, twenty 237 00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:05,399 six is usually you know, you're already fighting for titles. So they think 238 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,399 that if he can continue doing what he's doing, that maybe by the end 239 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,039 of this year, certainly by the early part of next year, you know, 240 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,240 he's in a world title fight, and certainly Top Rank has a lot 241 00:14:13,279 --> 00:14:18,000 to say about who fights for featherweight world titles because they promote I believe three 242 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,279 of the featherweight world champions, I mean are the two at least, and 243 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,240 one that's going to be a vacant title that's about to be filled, you 244 00:14:24,279 --> 00:14:26,720 know, on a show that they have coming up. So they figure at 245 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,240 Bruce Carrington in this particular spot, can make that name for himself. Because, 246 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,120 like I said, they promote Luis Alberta Lopez. They are involved with 247 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,919 Raphael Espinoza who obviously had that huge victory, and the WBA title will be 248 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,519 filled on a card they have coming up where they have Kolmotov against ray Ford, 249 00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:45,240 and Kolomotov is a guy that they have ray Ford of courses with matrim 250 00:14:45,279 --> 00:14:48,799 But the point is they they got guys for him to fight. Should Carrington 251 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:54,039 continue to make strides and improve and show that he's worthy of being at that 252 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:58,240 level. So this is also going to be Carrington's first time being on the 253 00:14:58,279 --> 00:15:03,519 main cards. Great opportunity for all of them involved. So it's a you 254 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,360 know, it's a good little show. I'll put it like that again. 255 00:15:05,559 --> 00:15:13,200 Friday night ESPN Top Rank show. Also Friday night Matchroom card in Mexico on 256 00:15:13,399 --> 00:15:16,399 Dez Own, and this is a rematch of what was a shocker one punch 257 00:15:16,519 --> 00:15:22,679 ko by Adrian Curiel beating seven Thigh not Shinga the South African. These are 258 00:15:22,799 --> 00:15:30,759 little guys IBF Junior Flyway title one punch Boom in the previous matchup. Now 259 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:35,240 Curiol gets the fight in Mexico here, so tell me more about this. 260 00:15:35,279 --> 00:15:39,200 And also former world champ Mauricio Laura is on this card as well. Coming 261 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,399 on Friday Night let's get in the preview mode a little bit with this. 262 00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:46,960 Well, their first fight that they had that you mentioned when Kurriyoll knocked out 263 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,159 a non Shinga to win the title. This is the IBP one and eight 264 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,440 pound title. This was a huge shocker. Number one. Kuriol was completely 265 00:15:54,519 --> 00:15:58,399 unknown, never you know, never fought anybody. The real consequence, never 266 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:02,759 in a big time fight. Had four losses. And the thing about it 267 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:07,200 also was he had twenty four He was twenty twenty going into the fight. 268 00:16:07,519 --> 00:16:11,320 He was twenty three wins, four losses, a draw in only four knockouts. 269 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,600 So a distinct lack of competition. That's a one way to put it. 270 00:16:15,919 --> 00:16:19,480 Not the resume of a big time, booming knockout artist, to say, 271 00:16:19,519 --> 00:16:22,320 the least four KOs and all those fives. So that that's when you 272 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,799 look at it and you said, okay, even if you thought maybe Kiriell's 273 00:16:25,799 --> 00:16:27,879 got a chance to win, you know, this seems kind of unlikely it's 274 00:16:27,919 --> 00:16:32,960 going to be by a knockout. And in terms of Don Shinga, who 275 00:16:33,039 --> 00:16:37,200 was from South Africa, in twenty twenty two, he won the vacant title 276 00:16:37,759 --> 00:16:41,240 against Hector Flores. He traveled to Mexico and fought him in Mexico, which 277 00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:45,600 is Flora's home country. I picked it as a twenty twenty two Fight of 278 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,320 the Year, an absolutely fucking spectacular fight, and I felt like it got 279 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,440 did dirty by a lot of the people that picked. I feel like a 280 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,720 lot of people that picked the twenty twenty two fight of the Year just literally 281 00:16:55,759 --> 00:17:00,000 never saw the fight, didn't watch it. But that's my view of it. 282 00:17:00,039 --> 00:17:03,879 I mean, because it was absolutely sensational. I mean Frank Smith, 283 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,319 who was the number two in charge of mattrom Boxing, who was on site 284 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,880 for this fight taking place in Mexico this weekend, and Frank has been around 285 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,799 matchroll for a number of years and has obviously been ringside for a lot of 286 00:17:15,799 --> 00:17:18,799 great fights. You know, He's talked about how that particular fight might be 287 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:25,000 the best fight he's ever seen in person at ringside and that, and I 288 00:17:25,039 --> 00:17:27,200 don't think that's just promotional hype for the rematch. Well, because both guys 289 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,720 were hurt, yeah, and there were points and times where you thought it 290 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:34,400 might be stopped, and they just kept bombing and kept going back and forth. 291 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:41,319 And the Mexican fighter, Lopez right helped me. Had the crowd roaring 292 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,599 for him, and then not Shingo would come right back and silence the crowd. 293 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,319 It was great trauma. That's what made this so shocking last November when 294 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,720 he got caught with the big punch and it's over. After he won the 295 00:17:52,759 --> 00:17:56,720 title, he then went home and had a defense in South Africa and he 296 00:17:56,759 --> 00:18:00,200 didn't get the knockoutn Chingo, but he looked good. He won pretty much 297 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,119 every round and you're like, okay, you just got to win for the 298 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:06,200 title in a great fight. He'd put on a good boxing clinic in the 299 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,920 in the in the first defense. Now he's going to fight on this card. 300 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,400 The matchroom did. They tried to do this about once a year. 301 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,759 It had been a little bit what a time since COVID, but they were 302 00:18:14,799 --> 00:18:18,400 back doing an event in the famous casino, one of the famous casinos in 303 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,880 Monte Carlo. And this fight between Non Shinga and and Uh and Kyrio was 304 00:18:23,079 --> 00:18:27,480 on that card and and it was a hand pick guy. They just they 305 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,799 were like they weren't trying to get the guy beat. They were like, 306 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,119 let's find some dude in the ratings that we can get away with, and 307 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,480 we're gonna make our boy Nanschinga look great, and uh and we'll put the 308 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,799 fight on. And the first round happens and not much going on there, 309 00:18:40,839 --> 00:18:45,119 and you know it's you know, competitive, but nothing huge happening. And 310 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,319 in the second round Curio again and as I mentioned, with only the four 311 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,400 knockouts going into the fight, not known as a puncher with zero resume to 312 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,359 speak of, hand pick coming all the way from Mexico lands like an absolutely 313 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:02,160 devastating overhand right that Nanschingen ever saw and absolutely fucking flatten him. And it 314 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,440 was over and out and he wins the title, and uh, this is 315 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,720 the rematch, so see, you know, is it a repeat or revenge? 316 00:19:07,799 --> 00:19:10,640 Is that was he was that legit? Or was this a bad night? 317 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,759 Did he just get caught? You know, because I felt like Sanchinga 318 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,799 was. I'm not telling you he's gonna become Michael Carbahall and go to the 319 00:19:15,799 --> 00:19:18,960 Hall of Fame, but I'm like this guy definitely, you know, he 320 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,599 can fight a bit and uh, you know, maybe he can put together 321 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:26,200 a nice a nice title reign and potentially move up and and see what he 322 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,559 can do in the flyweight division. So now now is the moment of truth. 323 00:19:30,599 --> 00:19:33,599 For him, you know, is it gonna be uh him fulfilling that 324 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,039 and getting the title back. Is seeing gowfully confident when he spoke at the 325 00:19:36,079 --> 00:19:37,880 news conference. Curio though, Uh, you know, it's got to be 326 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,240 bullied by the fact that you know, I got the title. I already 327 00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:42,920 drilled this, dude. I'm fighting at home now. I'm not traveling to 328 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,720 Monte Carlo. You know. It's uh, I got a big chance to 329 00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:49,440 to do it again, you know. And I again, I haven't looked 330 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,920 at the odds. I'm sure we'll get into it for our show on Friday, 331 00:19:52,319 --> 00:19:56,279 but uh, I don't think the odd should be awfully wide on this 332 00:19:56,319 --> 00:19:57,799 fight either way, whoever that turns out to be the favorite, because I 333 00:19:57,799 --> 00:20:03,000 can certainly see Kurio maybe doing that again. But I can see non Chinga 334 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:04,640 doing what he did, you know, and showing the toughness and just you 335 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,519 know, it's got such an engine on him. You know, he can 336 00:20:07,559 --> 00:20:11,160 go like it seems like the stamina is unstoppable for a non Chinga. So 337 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,279 it could be drama. I mean, it should be a good fight. 338 00:20:15,319 --> 00:20:17,400 I mean I know that these are not the biggest names, but those a 339 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:22,079 little wait lesses sometimes produced the highest amount of drama and electricity, and and 340 00:20:22,319 --> 00:20:26,559 I'm I'm interested to watch this. I mean, uh, neither of the 341 00:20:26,599 --> 00:20:29,519 main event fights that we're talking about this weekend, whether it's this fight with 342 00:20:29,839 --> 00:20:36,160 Kurio defending against don Chinga or Oshaki Foster defending in his fight coming up against 343 00:20:36,319 --> 00:20:40,960 Abraham Nova, are not exactly uh going to be the kinds of fights that 344 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,359 are on the on on everybody's minds going you gotta kind of be a diehard 345 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,359 or like even really kind of know about these kind of shows. But these 346 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:52,680 are interesting fights for somebody like myself who is just an absolute diehard, these 347 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,759 are both very interesting. Especially let me just follow it up with what we've 348 00:20:56,799 --> 00:21:00,240 been talking about that no Chinga's already been in this setting in Mexico and fought 349 00:21:00,279 --> 00:21:04,640 a wild fight and now is coming off a knockout loss just ninety days ago, 350 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,400 one punch ko loss. You wonder what's the psyche? Are we gonna 351 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:14,640 see him go all out again toe to toe? Is he a little apprehensive? 352 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,200 There is some intrigue and if you're a fight fan, you're gonna want 353 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:22,240 to pay attention here to this result along with the Foster result against uh Nova 354 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:26,200 but I'll be interested in seeing that. Obviously, can he rebound and it's 355 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:27,599 a real risk for him. I mean, I know he's only got he's 356 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,799 only twenty five, but if he if Curiel beats him, beats him decisively 357 00:21:30,799 --> 00:21:33,319 and knocks him out again, then we're at a point of where does he 358 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,079 go from there? So he's you mentionally, get it back. Yeah. 359 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:41,200 You also mentioned how Mauricio Laura is on the undercard. He yes, so 360 00:21:41,799 --> 00:21:45,200 he was the WBA's featherweight champion. He's now moved up in wait. This 361 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,319 will take place in a ten rounder at junior lightweight. I think the contract 362 00:21:48,319 --> 00:21:52,079 waits one hundred and twenty eight, so sort of right between one twenty six 363 00:21:52,079 --> 00:21:56,640 and one thirty. He's taken on another Mexican fighter named Daniel Lugo, who's 364 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,599 got a nice record of twenty seven and two with eighteen knockout. But the 365 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,279 thing about Laura is he came out of nowhere, surprise everybody one of these 366 00:22:04,319 --> 00:22:08,160 again match Room with their hand picked Mexicans to bring in the challenge for a 367 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,000 title, and that kind of bites them in the rear end because he knocked 368 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:17,759 out Lee would in a very big surprise in the second round or knocked him 369 00:22:17,799 --> 00:22:22,240 down and then won the decision, and it was, you know, a 370 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,759 big shocker. They had the rematch and Lee would regain the title, so 371 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,759 this is this is a And then he didn't make the weight, I should 372 00:22:30,759 --> 00:22:33,480 say for the ring, he flew past the weight like it was well, 373 00:22:33,599 --> 00:22:37,480 well yes, when it was some debate as to whether the fight was even 374 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,359 going to go on, and then Laura's head was just obviously not even in 375 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,200 the fight and would dominated him as I remember, yeah, I mean that's 376 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:45,359 the thing, so I mean I misspoke though in the first fight he knocked 377 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,519 him out in the seventh round. That was the one where he got dropped 378 00:22:48,559 --> 00:22:52,559 and the trainer threw in the towel, right, but he had the rematch 379 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,440 clause in his back pocket. They picked it up and they did the rematch, 380 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:57,359 and that was a fight. We didn't make the weight. But Lee 381 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,799 Wood came out in looked again, look good in that fight, didn't get 382 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:06,200 caught with anything dommy drop uh Lara, and he ended up leave would winning 383 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,720 the decision to regain what was I guess at that time became the vacant belt 384 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,559 because Laura had not made the weight, so now Lara's moved up and see 385 00:23:12,559 --> 00:23:15,319 if he can get back on track. And if he can, you know, 386 00:23:15,319 --> 00:23:17,839 maybe that will just look like a little bit of a hiccup because there 387 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,160 is good talent in the one hundred and thirty pounds weight class. We talked 388 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,440 about it with Foster and some of the other fighters in the weight class. 389 00:23:22,839 --> 00:23:25,799 So and he also brings the action. I mean, that's hereo thing we 390 00:23:25,839 --> 00:23:27,440 always talk about, like the first and foremost thing is we're gonna get a 391 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:32,440 good fight. And you know, Daniel Lugo is another one of his countrymen 392 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,039 who's got a good record. Also, you know, when's the last time 393 00:23:34,039 --> 00:23:37,240 he saw two Mexicans go in the ring and make a bad, bad fight. 394 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,119 So I do have high hopes for this to be, you know, 395 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,480 somewhat fun to watch, and especially with the with the main event, so 396 00:23:44,599 --> 00:23:47,440 you know, I know the cards are going to overlap to some degree hopefully. 397 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:48,960 Well I don't think the main events will necessarily be at the same time, 398 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,880 but you never know. Well shall see. But anyway, like I 399 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,359 said, good good Friday night of fun fights, even if they're not like 400 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:03,240 the big name fights, very true. So you laid those out for us 401 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:06,480 now, we get to some news and then we've got some nostalgia before we're 402 00:24:06,519 --> 00:24:11,559 gone. All right, So Josh Taylor and Jack Caterall the sequel now is 403 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:17,200 official for April twenty seventh in Leeds, England. That has now been signed, 404 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,720 officially announced, with date and with location. All Right, I'm going 405 00:24:21,759 --> 00:24:25,079 to get off the first opinion on this. Sure, Can I tell you 406 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,759 that I'm like luke warm at best on this. It's passed its sell by 407 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,799 date as far as I'm concerned, because I was very interested in the controversial 408 00:24:34,839 --> 00:24:40,279 decision and the rematch. When the first fight happened back in twenty twenty two. 409 00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:44,079 You were hoping for like the fall of that year that you were going 410 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,039 to get the rematch. You never did. You didn't get it in twenty 411 00:24:45,079 --> 00:24:51,200 twenty three, and then Josh Taylor loses to tay A Femo Lopez. So 412 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:53,680 I realize in the UK, we have a lot of people that listen to 413 00:24:53,759 --> 00:24:56,920 us, the engage with you, they engage with me, engage with the 414 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,720 website that are in the UK. This is a bigger deal in the UK. 415 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,880 But to me, I'm kind of like this is past the cell by 416 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,039 date. Raphael, your thoughts I don't think it's past the cell by date. 417 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,319 Is it a little bit less intensity, Maybe it's not for the title 418 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:17,039 as you mentioned, but it's still a good old fashioned grudge match, there's 419 00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:18,119 no doubt about that. And they did try to. I mean, it's 420 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:22,720 not like they were avoiding each other and they couldn't come to terms and they 421 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,200 were a ducking each other and they were looking to do other things. The 422 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,519 reality is they made this fight on multiple occasions and for different reasons. I 423 00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:33,200 think one time was COVID related. There was another time where the fight was 424 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:34,839 set and it was supposed to be on Sky in the UK, and there 425 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,480 was some sort of scheduling issue that forced it to be moved. And then 426 00:25:38,519 --> 00:25:47,000 there was an injury where Taylor had the injured ankle foot injury, and so 427 00:25:47,039 --> 00:25:49,680 when that got postponed again, the WBO, which I sort of stood down, 428 00:25:49,839 --> 00:25:52,759 was like forget about it, and they ordered the mandatory which tia Fimo 429 00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:56,200 Lopez had won an eliminator, so that became the next fight. You know, 430 00:25:56,319 --> 00:26:00,200 Cadall had moved to switch promoters. Uh and so yeah, I mean, 431 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,720 so it wasn't like they were looking to avoid each other. It wasn't 432 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,440 a time. It wasn't a situation where you know, they're just doing the 433 00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:08,119 rematch because they're out of options. Let's say, and this this was all 434 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,759 that was left they tried to do this fight. Matter of fact, to 435 00:26:11,839 --> 00:26:15,759 Josh Taylor's credit, he has he had won all four belts against Hose. 436 00:26:15,839 --> 00:26:18,039 You know, he retained his two belts, won the other two belts in 437 00:26:18,079 --> 00:26:22,160 his big win against Jose Ramirez. That's in mid twenty twenty one, and 438 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:27,480 now he's the undisputed champion. He makes the title defense against Jack Catterall controversial 439 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:33,079 split decision win in Glasgow, Scotland, which is obviously his turf. He's 440 00:26:33,079 --> 00:26:37,440 from Scotland, jackets from England. Very controversial, but there was you know, 441 00:26:37,519 --> 00:26:40,000 it was a close fight. I mean, I'm not I don't think 442 00:26:40,039 --> 00:26:42,480 it was that horrible. I actually thought that Taylor won the won the fight 443 00:26:42,559 --> 00:26:47,319 close, but you know, I'm obviously in the minority. It also was 444 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:48,119 kind of a shitty fight, let's be honest. I mean, there was 445 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,880 a lot of holding, a lot of grabbing, a lot not a lot 446 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:55,000 of thought won, as I recall, and they also each had a point 447 00:26:55,039 --> 00:26:59,240 taken away by the way degree which made it even crazier for the decision. 448 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,799 Well, the one thing about the Taylor point deduction, the referee was absolutely 449 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,240 the referee was Marcus McDonald. In the fight. The point deduction from Jack 450 00:27:07,759 --> 00:27:11,160 that was from Jack Catterall was for holding in the tenth round. I have 451 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,680 no problem for a guy getting at point deducted when the holding is excessive, 452 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,240 and it appeared that it was excessive. And if you're gonna warn a guy 453 00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:19,359 not take a point, why warn him. So I didn't really have a 454 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,960 problem with that point deduction. You don't like to see a guy lose a 455 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,000 point of holding, but at some point you gotta put your foot down and 456 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,640 a guy can't hold. In terms of the point that was deducted from Josh 457 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:33,799 Taylor, if you remember after the eleventh round, it was sort of like 458 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,519 he tapped him in the stomach, like hey man, good round, like 459 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,359 respect, and the referee took it as like a punch and took a point 460 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,200 away, which to me was like ludicrous because clearly he wasn't trying to punch 461 00:27:45,279 --> 00:27:48,319 him in the gut. After the bell, I thought it was a total 462 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,640 sportsman type of thing, where you have pound gloves or you have fists bump 463 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,279 or whatever, slap him on the back. It was sort of like, 464 00:27:55,319 --> 00:27:56,599 hey, tap him in the abs, like, you know, nice round 465 00:27:56,599 --> 00:28:00,599 and you know, let's get it. But the referee thought different, so 466 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,880 he took the point away. Now, because both fighters had points of duct 467 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,559 that I guess it all even out in the wash, but it was still 468 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,000 kind of a weird. Often times for our worldwide audience, we call it 469 00:28:10,039 --> 00:28:14,400 in the United States makeup calls by the officials, the umpires, whomever. 470 00:28:14,559 --> 00:28:18,440 That one smelled a lot like a makeup call because it was a very close 471 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,519 fight and he was controversially late in the fight taking a point from Catall that 472 00:28:22,559 --> 00:28:26,319 could have cost him the fight. But I disagree it up on a makeup 473 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,039 call. I thought the holding one was okay because I I pointed out, 474 00:28:29,079 --> 00:28:33,160 you explained that. I'm just explaining that makeup calls do happen where suddenly the 475 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:37,079 seventy five thousand people that are booing because the call was an awful call on 476 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:41,319 whatever it is, and then mysteriously now you get a pass interference in favor 477 00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:45,720 of the giants, and Rayfield's going, that's the right call. But in 478 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,759 sase, I know exactly what you're saying, and that does happen in this 479 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:53,920 particular fight. The tenth round point deduction seemed perfectly legitimate. It wasn't. 480 00:28:55,039 --> 00:28:57,400 He wasn't making up for anything. He called it legit. And then the 481 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,039 tap on the gut was the one that was or a weird. But nonetheless, 482 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,640 I didn't think it was a very good fight, and I don't think 483 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:04,960 the rematch is gonna be all that good because these guys are gonna box how 484 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,119 they box. I don't know how you're coming over to my side of the 485 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,240 aisle here. I know, I know in the UK they care about this. 486 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,119 I'm just not as big because it's if it had been a twenty twenty 487 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,440 two rematch for all the belts. Okay, but we're we're way past that 488 00:29:19,559 --> 00:29:22,039 year. I was never going to be for all the belts because of the 489 00:29:22,079 --> 00:29:25,480 man first. So back to the point I was making, by the way, 490 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,400 the reason why I give Taylor the credit. Even though they you know, 491 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,200 the fight under up getting canceled a bunch of times before finally now it's 492 00:29:32,279 --> 00:29:37,000 rescheduled and they're doing the deal. He allowed himself to be stripped or vacated 493 00:29:37,519 --> 00:29:42,319 three of his four belts to pursue this rematch for two reasons. First and 494 00:29:42,359 --> 00:29:47,119 foremost, I think is because he was so pissed off about all the negativity 495 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,359 about the scoring, in about how people were ragging on him for getting a 496 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:55,160 quote unquote gift against Catall even though he's not the guys. And I've said 497 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,079 this about the Tim Bradley pack that rematch, or rather the first fight. 498 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:02,000 Remember Tim taking so much green about the scoring. It's not the boxer, 499 00:30:02,039 --> 00:30:04,960 that's the judge, So why are you dumping on the fighter because it's a 500 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,480 bad decision. The boxer was in the ring doing his job, trying to 501 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,640 fight to fight. He's not the one that's putting the scores on the piece 502 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,000 of paper and turning them in. So but Caterall was obviously impacted by the 503 00:30:15,119 --> 00:30:19,920 negativity about the scoring, and I mean obviously taking the rematch at that time 504 00:30:21,039 --> 00:30:22,640 was going to be a much more lucrative fight for him than taking on one 505 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:27,519 of his mandatory fights that was in the offing. So now the fight is 506 00:30:27,559 --> 00:30:30,759 back on, and so people understand because it's a little bit of a weird 507 00:30:30,799 --> 00:30:37,160 situation. It's a matchroom card, so it'll be the zone around the world. 508 00:30:37,279 --> 00:30:40,440 Except because Josh is a top rank fighter. They made the deal. 509 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,960 It will be an ESPN Plus event in the United States and in Canada it 510 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,480 will most likely be TSN, which is their sort of version of the ESPN, 511 00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:49,960 their sports channel. So you know, you'll see a lot of stuff 512 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,160 on social media if you look at top Rank, it's ESPN plus, ESPN 513 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,640 Plus, ESPN Plus and on the matchroom stuff. They just tout about how 514 00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:00,000 it's on his own, but the reality is if you live in the United 515 00:31:00,079 --> 00:31:03,920 States, it's a regular ESPN Plus fight, the same way We've seen plenty 516 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,839 of other fights. And I know there was some speculation TJ from some that 517 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,720 maybe this would be a pay per view uh in terms of the UK for 518 00:31:10,799 --> 00:31:12,079 diz own, but de Zone did not want this as a pay per view 519 00:31:12,119 --> 00:31:17,079 in a regular subscription fight, and look, the winner of the fight is 520 00:31:17,119 --> 00:31:21,519 going to put himself back in a great position, uh to do something against 521 00:31:21,519 --> 00:31:22,279 one of the top fighters. I remember also, there was a lot of 522 00:31:22,279 --> 00:31:27,079 conversation after Tiafim Lopez defeated Caterrell, I mean, I mean Josh Taylor to 523 00:31:27,079 --> 00:31:30,559 win the title back last Yune, that that Taylor was talking about maybe he's 524 00:31:30,559 --> 00:31:33,559 moving up to one er and forty seven. I was gonna say. I 525 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:34,720 was just going there, what happened to that? And is this maybe a 526 00:31:34,799 --> 00:31:41,119 catch weight or this is so my initial thought was, Okay, they're doing 527 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,000 this fight again, and there's no title at stake, you know what it 528 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,200 what's the weight? I mean, because it'd be one forty one, forty 529 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:49,160 three, forty four there was you know, there's no reason, there's no 530 00:31:49,519 --> 00:31:52,960 nothing at stake in terms of adults. So when I reported about this fight, 531 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,039 the fight was announced on Thursday. I had reported about it a couple 532 00:31:56,079 --> 00:31:59,960 of days ago that it was about to be done, and uh they were 533 00:32:00,119 --> 00:32:02,720 to announce it. I was told and it turned out to be accurate, 534 00:32:02,799 --> 00:32:07,680 that it will be a fight at one hundred and forty pound contract weight. 535 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,279 So they're doing it at the at the one forty limits. So Catterall and 536 00:32:10,279 --> 00:32:14,680 and Taylor will make that weight again. And you know, Caterall just has 537 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,319 the one loss, and that was the loss to Taylor, you know, 538 00:32:17,319 --> 00:32:22,119 in the controversy. And Caterall, you know, did a good job boxing, 539 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:23,839 even though I don't find him to be very exciting. And Josh Taylor, 540 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,359 you know, has been a top notch guy for a while other than 541 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,720 the one loss that he took against Ti Tim Lopez. So from that standpoint, 542 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,720 there are two of the best guys in the in the business in terms 543 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:37,920 of the the the ratings of the one hundred and forty pound division and the 544 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,119 winners going places. And it's also it's a good old fashioned and grudge match. 545 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,079 Don't need no title to worry about in this fight because the fans are 546 00:32:44,079 --> 00:32:46,480 going to go crazy. And also another interesting aspect of the matchup I've heard 547 00:32:46,519 --> 00:32:49,640 from a lot of people whinding the heck is this fight in Leeds, England. 548 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,160 Caterall is from scott from from the Manchester area, and Josh Taylor is 549 00:32:54,160 --> 00:33:00,440 from Scotland. Part of the negotiation was we're not going to Scotland because Catterall 550 00:33:00,519 --> 00:33:01,839 wasn't going to do that, and from the tailor point of they're like, 551 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,559 okay, well you don't have to come to Sculum, but I'm not fighting 552 00:33:04,599 --> 00:33:07,960 them in Manchester, which is the closest big city in England to where Caterall 553 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,400 is from. He's from a smaller town that's about maybe like twenty minutes outside 554 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,359 of Manchester. So the decision was made, let's find another you know, 555 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:19,279 arena's that we can do it in that's not going to be a problem for 556 00:33:19,359 --> 00:33:21,200 either side. And so they're doing it in Leeds, England. When I 557 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,240 heard Leeds, I'm like, why are they doing it in Leeds? This 558 00:33:22,319 --> 00:33:27,319 is not a Josh Warrington fight. But that's the reason because both sides had 559 00:33:27,359 --> 00:33:30,279 to accept it as a so called neutral site. Yes it's in Jack Catterall's 560 00:33:30,279 --> 00:33:35,440 home country of England, but it's I guess far enough away from Manchester to 561 00:33:35,519 --> 00:33:37,920 appease you know, the Josh Taylor camp. So there you go. That's 562 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,359 the deal. There all part of the negotiations and some good insight on that, 563 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,359 aren't We move along on the news. We do have nostalgia involving Leon 564 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:50,799 Spinks upsetting Muhammad Ali in a few moments, oh maybe more than a few 565 00:33:50,799 --> 00:33:55,920 moments. But stand by up next Jamal Charlow. Hmm. That name keeps 566 00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:00,119 coming up for stuff that doesn't have anything to do with him defending his WBC 567 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,440 Middleway title, which, by the way, I should make mention of you 568 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,640 because you like swatted at me and lectured me. You know every week you're 569 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,559 bringing up Jamal Charlow hasn't been stripped. That was like last fall, Rayphael, 570 00:34:10,599 --> 00:34:15,239 It's February fifteenth. Why is the WBC not stripped Jamal Charlow of his 571 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:19,039 title for failure to By the way, I've never disagreed with you about that 572 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,599 ever once, But why have they not done it? I will tell you 573 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,079 for right or for wrong, and I'm not going to argue with it. 574 00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:29,159 I'm just going to tell you the factual information. Take it up in Mauricio 575 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:34,360 Suliman, and leave me the fuck out of it. Jamal Charlow's sabbatical from 576 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,519 boxing for those twitter f years was largely because of what he said was mental 577 00:34:37,519 --> 00:34:42,159 health issues, and Mauritio has taken a lot of arrows for it, but 578 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,280 he has said I've talked to him about it personally. I sat there in 579 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,480 Las Vegas with him at whatever fight we're at and talked to about it. 580 00:34:49,039 --> 00:34:52,280 He just basically was like, look, he's going through a lot of shit. 581 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:55,000 We're not gonna fuck around with him and take away his title with all 582 00:34:55,039 --> 00:35:00,320 the issues he's having, So take it up with the WBC. I'm not 583 00:35:00,519 --> 00:35:01,800 I'm not. I don't agree with it. I think they could have easily 584 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:05,800 made him the champion in recess and said We're on your side, Dramilt. 585 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,840 Anything we can do to help you, We're here for you. You're part 586 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,880 of the WBC family. We're going to make you the intro or the the 587 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:15,960 in recess champion. When you're comfortable and you're ready to come back, let 588 00:35:15,079 --> 00:35:19,920 us know, and you get the first crack at the title to win it 589 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,320 back. Period. And that's been done time and again for a little plenty 590 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:28,440 of lesser regarded fighters. You know that are then Jamal shall Or are more 591 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,320 highly regarded fighters than Jamal Charlotte. They didn't do that. He did come 592 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:36,679 back and had to fight his in his you know, last fall wasn't a 593 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:38,199 title defense was one hundred and actually he didn't even make the wait. I 594 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,840 believe the fight was contracted at what one's sixty two or three or whatever it 595 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:45,800 was, but he weighed in like one sixty six, I want to say, 596 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:51,119 So we didn't defend. He rolled past Jose Benavidez Junior. Wasn't a 597 00:35:51,159 --> 00:35:55,000 particularly enthralling performance, and ever since then, the rumors were that he's going 598 00:35:55,039 --> 00:35:57,960 to get the Canelo fight. So if you want to pick it up from 599 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,800 there, about what happened this week. So yes, that's what you've been 600 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:02,880 writing about for this week. I'm just going to finish up on one more 601 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:07,800 point here. Again. They have stripped fighters repeatedly and quickly for all kinds 602 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,280 of reasons, and they've done nothing about this, and it's unfair to everybody 603 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:15,320 else in their rantings that they've done nothing. The guy stated in the ring 604 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,039 after the non title fight that he had on the undercard. What was that? 605 00:36:20,079 --> 00:36:22,360 Benavidez andre right when he came back in late November that he wants to 606 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:27,119 fight at super middleweight? How much more do we need? Move on? 607 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,119 Move on on that all right now? Now my man Ray feels like tooling 608 00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:36,320 around on Instagram and suddenly there's Jamal Charlow on Valentine's Day, on vacation, 609 00:36:37,039 --> 00:36:42,440 you know, holding up a tasty beverage and basically saying, basically what was 610 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,719 it? Did it have an umbrella in it? Basically saying, who me 611 00:36:45,079 --> 00:36:49,000 to fight Canello? I don't know what anybody's talking about here, nobody's talked 612 00:36:49,039 --> 00:36:52,239 to me, So what do we make of this? Was he playing games? 613 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:57,760 Or do you legitimately do you legitimately believe they're not far along? And 614 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,440 maybe it's not Jamal Charlow what the heck knows. All I can say is 615 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:06,039 that he's on vacation in Turks and Caicos, nice spot with his family. 616 00:37:06,119 --> 00:37:07,920 I believe he was on a boat. They were showing him jumping off into 617 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,920 the water. It was like he was like, you know, kissing his 618 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,760 son. He was toasting the rum punch with his wife. One of the 619 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:17,559 point he showed on the video. I think he said it was his mother. 620 00:37:17,679 --> 00:37:20,840 So he's on like a family vacation. There was a bunch of people 621 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:24,239 there, and you know, he basically said, and this was the quote 622 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:29,360 in the video. He looks into the camera. I haven't even talked to 623 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,880 al Hayman since I last fought, which is in November. So everyone that 624 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,360 keeps talking like, oh you about to fight Canelo and this and that ain't 625 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,719 no confirmation. I'm in an island somewhere, stupid ass, chill out. 626 00:37:40,559 --> 00:37:46,039 So he's answering people. He's answering people on Instagram lot that are sending him, 627 00:37:46,199 --> 00:37:52,519 you know, messages. So he says that there's been no deal or 628 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:57,599 official thing about him fighting Canelo Alvarez, which has never been confirmed. The 629 00:37:57,639 --> 00:38:05,320 reason why there's been so much conjecture and speculation is because before Canelo Alvarez made 630 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,400 the fight and announced the fight and fought the fight against his twin brother Jermel 631 00:38:08,559 --> 00:38:13,639 Charlo, it was all along supposed to be Jamal Charlow. He's the heavier 632 00:38:13,679 --> 00:38:15,960 guy at one sixty would move up the one way class as opposed to his 633 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:20,400 brother Jamel, who was moving up two way classes. He was the guy 634 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,559 that was supposed to be fighting Canelo Alvarez last ball, but because Jamal was 635 00:38:24,599 --> 00:38:28,920 still going through whatever issues he was going through and wasn't going to be able 636 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,559 to prepare himself properly in time for that fight that took place last September, 637 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,280 instead of him being in the ring, the fight went to the brother, 638 00:38:37,679 --> 00:38:39,480 and so he was sort of like the like the I won't tell him a 639 00:38:39,559 --> 00:38:43,760 late fill in, but they switched up. Canello was I don't give a 640 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,400 shit to me. They're the same guy. So he fought Jermel and won, 641 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,760 And so once it happened, there was a lot of speculation that the 642 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,199 next fight would be another Charlot and I kept thinking to myself, how in 643 00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:55,800 the world, I know there are different people, but how could you possibly 644 00:38:55,840 --> 00:39:00,119 sell that fight to the public, Because the brother Jermel put on such a 645 00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:05,280 terrible performance. He just basically showed up for his paycheck, didn't really engage, 646 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:07,679 didn't really fight hard, kind of mailed it in. In my opinion, 647 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,400 was there to just sort of make the twelve rounds and say I went 648 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:14,880 into the ring with the great Canelo Alvarez and got a big payday and all 649 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:19,239 that. So now you're dealing with I got to try to sell an opponent 650 00:39:19,519 --> 00:39:22,280 who's got basically the same name, looks the same as the other guy, 651 00:39:22,639 --> 00:39:27,039 has been in an excessive layoff. When he finally did come back after two 652 00:39:27,039 --> 00:39:30,599 and a half years and fought in a ten rounder in November, looked pretty 653 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:36,079 pedestrian, even though he won against a welterweight in Jose Benavidez Junior. How 654 00:39:36,079 --> 00:39:37,920 are we going to sell this to the public. And oh, by the 655 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:43,840 way, not only is it a matchup that you would question based on those 656 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:47,239 factors I just mentioned, you also have the fact that there's not a single 657 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:52,400 boxing fan I have yet to encounter period who has in any way, shape 658 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:57,480 or form shown a demand for this matchup. Of course, and conversely, 659 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,360 there's at least three other fights that can Hel could have that are very makeable, 660 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:07,159 very doable, that people are interested in, and that is David Benavidez, 661 00:40:07,159 --> 00:40:09,760 who is the mandatory, who I've said is the people's number one contender, 662 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,119 undefeated, that should go to point blank, say it again, that 663 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:19,199 should be the fight. Four, that should be the fight. Okay. 664 00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:23,199 So now you have him as one possibility, which is clearly the best fight 665 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:27,440 they can make in terms of action, and a guy who deserves the fight. 666 00:40:28,039 --> 00:40:32,360 There's Haimi Mungia who is in that mix. Undefeated, former title holder 667 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:37,039 at one fifty four, had a good, solid fight just a few weeks 668 00:40:37,079 --> 00:40:39,800 ago where he beat John Ryder. What made that stand out was because he 669 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:45,320 stopped John Ryder knocked him down like four times, and in the previous fight, 670 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,719 Ryder went the distance in a loss but only got knocked down once, 671 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,360 and it didn't get stopped by Canelo. So people can now compare how Canelo 672 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:57,000 performed against John Ryder to how Mongiat performed against him, And obviously, if 673 00:40:57,039 --> 00:41:00,480 you know anything about either fighter, I think the prospect of a Mongkey against 674 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:04,280 Canelo is a very action back kind of fight. And then on top of 675 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,360 that, you have sort of like the fantasy fight that could happen. Is 676 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:12,840 him against Terrence Crawford, who was number one pound for pound, who absolutely 677 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,239 pummeled and knocked out Errol Spence in a in an awesome performance, you know, 678 00:41:16,559 --> 00:41:20,039 number one, Like I said, pound for pound, and and that's 679 00:41:20,039 --> 00:41:22,559 a fight that he has said he's interested in. And even though it's a 680 00:41:22,599 --> 00:41:25,119 little bit unusual because of the weight disparity, there would definitely be an audience 681 00:41:25,119 --> 00:41:29,679 for that. Certainly a little bit unusual. It's twenty one pounds difference in 682 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,400 the weight limits from one sixty. I can do math pretty well. I 683 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:37,320 understand I have no interest in watching a blown question Terrence Crawford. Yeah, 684 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,960 do you are you more interested in seeing the possibility of Canelo versus Crawford or 685 00:41:42,079 --> 00:41:45,320 if you had to take a binary choice all Rannello Crawford or Canelo Jamal Charlotte, 686 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,239 which one do you pick that would be Crawford. Yes, thank you. 687 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,519 That's almost asking me like, do I want to root Canal or do 688 00:41:52,599 --> 00:41:57,840 I want somebody to hit me in the face one of them? I'm in 689 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,239 pain. I'm in pain for both of these. Okay, So let's get 690 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:05,199 let's get let's get to the brass tacks. If Jamal Charlow is to be 691 00:42:05,199 --> 00:42:08,119 believed that he hasn't been in contact with al Hayman and it's not him. 692 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:12,679 Canello Alvarez earlier this week, Well, I didn't say it's not him. 693 00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,840 He didn't say it's not him. He said, I haven't talked to Al 694 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:19,960 Hayman, and so all of you were asking me about this, Bob. 695 00:42:20,039 --> 00:42:22,199 But the fight's not till May. It's only the early fight. But but 696 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:28,559 Canello earlier this week gave an interview announced that he's gonna still be on Azteca 697 00:42:28,639 --> 00:42:30,559 TV. I read my dan Rayphael Substack, and he said, I'm gonna 698 00:42:30,599 --> 00:42:35,239 fight an American, all right. So now now there are bread crumbs. 699 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:39,599 Does that mean Crawford doesn't Ben a Venas qualify as an American? Sure? 700 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:44,239 Who is it? Who is it? Then? I may have there may 701 00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,840 have been something lost in translation, because as it was more specifically translated, 702 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:51,840 he I guess he didn't say I'm not fighting a Mexican. I think it 703 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,119 was more along the lines paraphrasing. As it was explained to me that if 704 00:42:54,119 --> 00:42:57,880 it made sense and it was the right business, he would fight in Mexican. 705 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,960 But his preference is not to fight a mex to fight an Americans. 706 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:05,320 So listen, I feel like I know the way Canelo operates. I've covered 707 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,239 his entire career basically, for the right deal, for the right money, 708 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:13,800 he'll fight anybody. So if if the right deal was there to have a 709 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:16,440 fight against Mongia, I don't see a reason why he wouldn't do it. 710 00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:21,320 Maybe the preference would be to stick with Ann What do you mean by right 711 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,519 deal? The more money he can make off the pay per view part of 712 00:43:23,559 --> 00:43:27,599 it, because he's got a guarantee, he's got whatever it is, whatever, 713 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,480 whatever whatever aspect of the of the contract there is. There's plenty of 714 00:43:30,519 --> 00:43:36,440 things in an agreement that are beyond just what's the actual dollar figure in the 715 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,519 money. And so right now he's supposed to be returning to fight on May 716 00:43:40,519 --> 00:43:45,280 fourth in Las Vegas. It will be a PBC pay per view with Amazon 717 00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:49,320 Prime Video, and we don't have an opponent, and the speculation that it 718 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:52,039 was going to be Charlotte obviously is a lessened because of what Charlot said in 719 00:43:52,079 --> 00:43:55,920 his video. But again, boxing is always filled with the red herrings and 720 00:43:57,039 --> 00:44:01,639 misdirection and lies and whatever, so it keeps us all on our toes. 721 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:07,519 We spend ten minutes talking about on the pod. All right, speaking of 722 00:44:07,519 --> 00:44:10,440 that, a couple more quick news items than we are getting to the nostalgia, 723 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:15,639 I promise. All right. So you've been writing about Jared real big 724 00:44:15,679 --> 00:44:20,440 baby Anderson, the heavyweight, the top rank heavyweight. You have learned of 725 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:22,000 the date when he's going to return, but we got to find an opponent 726 00:44:22,079 --> 00:44:25,440 for him. It seems like everybody's looking for an opponent right now. Tell 727 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:30,199 me more about this real quick. So what I'm told by top rank officials, 728 00:44:30,199 --> 00:44:34,159 even though it has not been announced, is that he is returning to 729 00:44:34,199 --> 00:44:37,880 fight April thirteenth. It'll be the main event of an ESPN card, and 730 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:40,960 it will take place at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, 731 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:45,280 which has been a venue that's hosted a number of boxing events over the years. 732 00:44:45,599 --> 00:44:46,800 And they're looking for an opponent. And so two of the names that 733 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:53,159 were part of the conversation that I was told is there was a conversation about 734 00:44:53,199 --> 00:44:59,199 the possibility of a fight with King Kong Ortiz. Cong Ortiz, who was, 735 00:44:59,679 --> 00:45:02,599 you know, an older fighter at this point in his career, supposed 736 00:45:02,599 --> 00:45:06,760 to be forty four, could be as much as like sixty four who knows, 737 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,039 but more notably, you know, tremendous puncher, a good amateur, 738 00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:14,039 had you know, two fights with Deontay Wilder for world titles. Had the 739 00:45:14,079 --> 00:45:16,599 first fight spectacular, was a whisker away from winning that fight against Wilder. 740 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:21,119 In the second fight, won every single second at every single round until he 741 00:45:21,119 --> 00:45:23,559 got knocked out with one punch by Deontay. So that was a fight that 742 00:45:23,559 --> 00:45:28,800 they were interested to make for Jared Anderson. And my information, my reporting 743 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,079 says that the Ortiz can't ask for a purse of two million dollars, which 744 00:45:32,159 --> 00:45:35,480 was a non starter, and that was you know, that kind of money 745 00:45:35,519 --> 00:45:37,119 for that kind of fight, forget about it. So that was not happening. 746 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,519 The other opponent that came up who will not be the opponent was the 747 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,519 German fighter Tom Schwartz, who is known to American fans as being an opponent 748 00:45:45,559 --> 00:45:49,199 that fought Tyson Fury a few years ago and got knocked out in the second 749 00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:52,880 round. However, he's not going to be the opponent either because as top 750 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:57,079 rank came to fight out over this past weekend because he's had his own legal 751 00:45:57,119 --> 00:46:00,440 issues for domestic violent situation in Germany. He can't get into the United States, 752 00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:05,119 so they're back to square one. You've got a King cong Worte Will 753 00:46:05,159 --> 00:46:07,719 Sam out for Corpus Christie, Texas April thirteenth. Very nice. So you 754 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:12,599 got you got King cong Orti's looking for a pot of gold that doesn't exist 755 00:46:12,639 --> 00:46:14,760 for that kind of fight. And you got another fighter that would probably take 756 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,920 the country but can't get in the country. So what's the educated Rayfield? 757 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,840 Guess what's the educate any idea? No, could be anybody. I mean 758 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:28,480 he's had a couple of he's had a couple of name fighters. H he 759 00:46:28,519 --> 00:46:30,880 thought Charles Martin. That's a guy that was a pretty good name. It 760 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:35,000 was still a very solid, serviceable champ, you know, former title holder. 761 00:46:35,519 --> 00:46:37,599 Uh. I mean I think at this point, I don't know if 762 00:46:37,639 --> 00:46:40,960 there's like a target, they're like, who can we get? You know, 763 00:46:42,079 --> 00:46:46,039 you we gotta find somebody. Uh, you know, we know it 764 00:46:46,079 --> 00:46:49,719 won't be you know, it's not We know that all the guys that are 765 00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:52,119 involved in the Saudi Rabia cards that are coming up, it's not any of 766 00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:54,639 those guys. So you gotta you know, go on your on your trustee. 767 00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:58,440 Box Wreck rankings and take a look down the heavyways and see what you 768 00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:02,599 come up with. And remember he fought Rudinko Andre Rudinko in his last fight 769 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:07,719 back in August UH for a fifth round KO. But I was also looking 770 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:09,480 and he fought. He fought Carlos to com at one point, did he 771 00:47:09,559 --> 00:47:14,559 not real? Big Baby So and Jerry Forest. He's fought some of those 772 00:47:14,559 --> 00:47:16,119 guys. Let's see who they end up with. And he needs to be 773 00:47:16,199 --> 00:47:23,320 more active. Obviously, he had some legal issues with UH arrest, so 774 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:28,559 you know he was He's been fairly active for relatively speaking. So you know, 775 00:47:28,639 --> 00:47:30,519 he got a little bit of time off, and I mean they had 776 00:47:30,559 --> 00:47:31,760 him going. They had him in April, they had him in July, 777 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:35,199 and had him right back in August. And now, yes, he's had 778 00:47:35,199 --> 00:47:37,079 the legal issues, but let's get him going with a couple of fights, 779 00:47:37,079 --> 00:47:40,800 because this is a guy that there's there's no doubt you're looking at a heavyweight 780 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:45,679 title prospect here. Now I'm not saying twenty twenty four, but maybe for 781 00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:49,519 twenty twenty five. So get him back going. I think he has fought 782 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,119 by the way, but he did it my bad yet he has not fought 783 00:47:52,159 --> 00:47:55,159 him. But tacam is not really at this point, is I don't think 784 00:47:55,159 --> 00:47:58,840 he can really consider him a at that one. Well, am I thinking 785 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,000 of that he dispatched in the in the bubble, I'm trying to remember of 786 00:48:02,039 --> 00:48:06,840 who he dispatched of a couple of different guys. He was very active at 787 00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:08,119 that point. I mean nobody that was a big name. Yeah, I 788 00:48:08,119 --> 00:48:14,840 mean Teslanko, Rove Canning, probably Jerry Forrest was a big win for him 789 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,679 at that time. And again he's had he's had a lot of activity. 790 00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:21,280 In twenty twenty two, he had a hand injury. Remember two fights of 791 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,639 twenty twenty two had three and twenty twenty three. We need more of the 792 00:48:23,679 --> 00:48:28,960 other thing that Jared Anderson and that he's very well positioned in the IBF that 793 00:48:29,159 --> 00:48:34,239 at some point when that title becomes vacant in the post of the Fury and 794 00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:38,239 Usik fight, it's not I mean, things have to break the right way, 795 00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,760 but depending on how it goes, it's not out of the realm of 796 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:44,119 possibility that he could be a guy that would be tapped to fight for the 797 00:48:44,199 --> 00:48:47,960 vacant title because you have the number one contender is Philip Perkovic, who's going 798 00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,880 to get that shot, and Anthony Joshua is going to move up into the 799 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:55,880 spot that was previously occupied by Otto Valan who had after he beat Otto. 800 00:48:57,119 --> 00:49:00,880 So the top two ranked guys are going to be Kergovic and Anthony Joshua. 801 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,599 But there's no guarantee that Joshua is going to go that route after he does 802 00:49:05,639 --> 00:49:07,280 the fight with the guy who if that didn't happen. I believe the next 803 00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:10,639 guy in the IBF rankings is in fact Jared Anderson, so he could be 804 00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:15,199 well positioned, all right, but he's going to be back in April. 805 00:49:15,199 --> 00:49:19,800 More importantly, April thirteenth, opponent TBD. We've covered that and the fight 806 00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:22,920 hasn't been official announced yet, so look for that coming soon. By the 807 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,000 way, we have been talking about match Room Boxing. It's been out there 808 00:49:27,119 --> 00:49:31,880 about them signing Subrio Mattias the one and forty pound champion. Keep me straight, 809 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:36,559 that's IBF which one to CEF IBF one hundred and forty pound champ, 810 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:38,840 and it is going to be They didn't announce this, but it's I mean, 811 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:42,119 it's believe it's going to be Liam Paro, right, And do we 812 00:49:42,199 --> 00:49:45,280 have the timeframe of when that's going to be, they did announce the official 813 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:49,000 signing. So when they announced the signing, in the comments that were being 814 00:49:49,079 --> 00:49:52,320 made by the various people involved, they were talking about coming into his next 815 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:55,920 fight this summer and the plan is, and they said this very specifically, 816 00:49:55,920 --> 00:49:59,280 he will fight his next fight in Puerto Rico, which is where he's from. 817 00:49:59,639 --> 00:50:02,960 Most could have been in the summer, probably June. And the name 818 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:07,199 that's been bandied about, that's the likely opponent given his record, given that 819 00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:10,920 he's also with matchrom Boxing, is in fact the Australian fighter Liam Paro, 820 00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:16,760 who is twenty and one with twenty knockouts. So it's two big punchers. 821 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:21,159 I mean, I think the back Parro is actually twenty four and oh with 822 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:24,360 fifteen knockouts. It's Mattias who's twenty and one with twenty knockouts. But both 823 00:50:24,599 --> 00:50:29,320 guys with punching power, and you know Paro is gonna go and take him 824 00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:31,679 on in his hometown. And you know, Mattias is a guy that is 825 00:50:32,519 --> 00:50:37,239 very exciting, very hard hitting, very good based on the guys he's defeated, 826 00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,360 but he's never a guy that anybody really mentions his name. And he's 827 00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:44,440 right up there with a lot of the other in terms of his ability with 828 00:50:44,559 --> 00:50:46,159 the other top guys in a very talent rich weight class. Whether it's to 829 00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:50,079 talk about you know, we just talked about Caterarell and Taylor in that weight 830 00:50:50,119 --> 00:50:52,039 class. Ti Fimo was a champion, Devin Hainey is a champion. He 831 00:50:52,119 --> 00:50:54,639 got Ryan Garcia. Who's gonna be fighting Devin Haney. There's a lot of 832 00:50:54,639 --> 00:50:59,960 great names in the division, but Mattias is not a guy that anybody's like 833 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:02,519 jumping up and down to fight. But he definitely is one of the more 834 00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:07,920 exciting fighters in the weight division. All Right, Now we get to the 835 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:13,039 good stuff. He was Buster Douglas, Was he not before Buster Douglas? 836 00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:20,239 Leon Spinks twelve years earlier? The anniversary coming on the night that we're releasing 837 00:51:20,239 --> 00:51:27,360 this February fifteenth, nineteen seventy eight upset Muhammad Ali fewest fights ever to win 838 00:51:28,039 --> 00:51:34,360 the heavyweight championship, winning the undisputed title with a massive upset win. The 839 00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,599 former Golden medalist. He had won the gold medalist in the gold medal in 840 00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:40,039 the Montreal Olympics along with his brother Michael, along with Sugar Ray Leonard and 841 00:51:40,079 --> 00:51:45,039 now here he was in the ring less than two years later winning the heavyweight 842 00:51:45,079 --> 00:51:51,480 title off Muhammad Ali. It definitely ranks as one of the all time boxing 843 00:51:51,599 --> 00:51:54,639 upsets, along with Cashius Clay of Sonny Liston and then more recent obviously Andy 844 00:51:54,719 --> 00:52:02,400 Ruiz defeating undefeated Anthony Joshua. What about Spain Allie won some forty six years 845 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,960 ago. I know we've talked about it before, but what else do you 846 00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:07,679 want to think about and reflect on here with this upset? Well, just 847 00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:09,360 I mean, like you said, it's one of the biggest upsets, and 848 00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:14,519 if you think about boxing history, most of the biggest upsets that immediately come 849 00:52:14,599 --> 00:52:17,840 to the minds of boxing fans are heavyweight fights Tyson Douglas as you mentioned, 850 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,400 You mentioned obviously Holly and Spinx, Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua talked about has 851 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,440 sim Rockman against Lennix Lewis. I mean, those are you know, if 852 00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,719 you want to go back to the to the old Don days in a black 853 00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:31,800 and white black and white days in terms of the footage you're talking about, 854 00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:37,159 you know, the Cinderella Man, when James Braddock won the heavyweight title over 855 00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:39,960 Max Bayar. Yes, very nighly, so there's a lot of Max schmelling 856 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:43,480 over Joe Lewis by the way, although that was a non title fight, 857 00:52:43,599 --> 00:52:46,639 right, and then Lewis got him back with a one round knockout. But 858 00:52:46,639 --> 00:52:49,280 but I don't know, I don't know. I don't really agree with you 859 00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:51,960 that Spinx was bustered before Buster. And I say that not because it wasn't 860 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:58,719 a huge upset. But Leon Spinks had a high known national profile. Buster 861 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:02,800 was a pretty decent content. You trust me. I want to tell you 862 00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:07,000 this. That was the great nineteen seventy six Olympic. Ye. I understand, 863 00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:10,239 Chulgar Ray Leonard had the high profile in nineteen seventy I don't know that 864 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:15,280 Leon Spinks really had high profile. It was the heavyweight gold medalist. Of 865 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,239 course he had a high profile. I'll understand, but it wasn't the same. 866 00:53:17,519 --> 00:53:22,880 I'm not saying you're saying it's the same, and nobody thought this was 867 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:24,639 going to be an Ali loss. I'm not saying to you it's not an 868 00:53:24,760 --> 00:53:30,960 upset. I'm saying to you that Leon Spinks had a national profile because of 869 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:34,360 a gold medal in the Olympics on a team that also included his brothers. 870 00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:37,960 I will give you that for that. I will give you okay, and 871 00:53:37,079 --> 00:53:43,559 Buster Douglas was basically obscure. Baan Stinks was not obscure. His fights had 872 00:53:43,559 --> 00:53:47,719 been televised, he had been Ernie Shavers. Now, granted, you know 873 00:53:49,119 --> 00:53:52,719 if Twitter or social media existed when this fight took place. I can only 874 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:58,760 imagine what the lunatics would say that Leon Spinks, who went into the fight 875 00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:01,679 with a record of six wins, zero losses and one draw, by the 876 00:54:01,679 --> 00:54:07,159 way, is now taking on the legendary Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship. 877 00:54:07,159 --> 00:54:10,400 People would have fucking strokes left and right about that, masheh. And he 878 00:54:10,519 --> 00:54:15,760 was a big underdog obviously, and in the end he got a well deserved 879 00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:20,639 fifteen round split decision at the Las Vegas Hilton, I believe, televised live 880 00:54:20,679 --> 00:54:23,880 on what CBS CBS. Yes, so they won. They won the blind 881 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:30,679 bidding process for a few million dollars and they had over forty five million people 882 00:54:30,559 --> 00:54:35,199 watching. This is how what Yes, you're you're thinking of the wrong fight. 883 00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,840 No for the first fight, for the first for the second fight was 884 00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:39,760 the one that drew the forty five million viewers. No, no, no, 885 00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:45,159 now I get to swatch you. The second fight had ninety million people 886 00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:47,199 watch the rematch because it was the rematch. So now I get to swatch 887 00:54:47,199 --> 00:54:51,800 you look up your TV figures because I wrote the story on both of these. 888 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,480 Okay, Big Fight Weekend dot Com. So the first one CBS had 889 00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:59,000 blind bid, had got it. They showed it on like a Tuesday night, 890 00:54:59,039 --> 00:55:01,559 because again, fight nights were different. They weren't always Friday or Saturday 891 00:55:01,639 --> 00:55:07,079 night. Brent Musburger, by the way, you are looking live on the 892 00:55:07,119 --> 00:55:14,760 call, and a shocker, a shocker with Spinks beating him. As that 893 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:17,079 fight went on, it was obvious that Ali was not the same Ali. 894 00:55:17,119 --> 00:55:21,119 And we have to remember this is post thriller in Manila, which had been 895 00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:23,519 a year and a half earlier. In seventy five, he had also fought 896 00:55:23,599 --> 00:55:30,800 Ken Norton again at Yankee Stadium, and Ali was clearly not the same Ali 897 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:34,840 anymore, but still not just so for the record, as I looked it 898 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,719 up while you were saying that on CBS, that drew an audience of about 899 00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,679 seventy million viewers and it was pretty match. So I sold it, and 900 00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:45,920 there was the rematch that was in the New Orleans Superdome, where Ali regained 901 00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:49,679 the title. In the next fight, that drew about ninety million people. 902 00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:52,960 In other words, think about this, The super Bowl that we just had 903 00:55:52,039 --> 00:55:57,159 between the Tech Rights and the forty nine ers set the all time broadcast record 904 00:55:57,599 --> 00:56:00,360 for viewership. At least based on their early reports. I don't know what 905 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:02,519 the final numbers were. They said it drew an audience on average of about 906 00:56:02,519 --> 00:56:07,079 one hundred and twenty three million in change for the for the Super Bowl, 907 00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:14,039 Muhammad Ali against Leon Spinks in the rematch did ninety million in the first fight, 908 00:56:14,159 --> 00:56:20,000 seventy million. That I mean, people cannot felly how big boxing was. 909 00:56:20,039 --> 00:56:22,639 It was obviously aality was a huge part of that. And here's the 910 00:56:22,639 --> 00:56:24,880 thing about it, though, TJ. The first fight between Spinx and Ally 911 00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:29,559 was actually a pretty darn good fight. The second fight was kind of a 912 00:56:29,559 --> 00:56:32,719 stinker when Ali regained the title, but Spinx really came to fight that night, 913 00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:37,719 and uh, you know, he's the ultimate, even more so maybe 914 00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:39,199 than Buster Douglas. With some disrespects. Well, I can tell you this, 915 00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:42,840 but what hit wonder. I can tell you this. There was a 916 00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:46,119 lot of talk Ali wanted not taking it seriously, into a lot of concern 917 00:56:46,199 --> 00:56:50,920 that is, he washed up. That was the big thing when because again, 918 00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:52,440 when you go back and watch, and I've gone back and rewatched this 919 00:56:53,199 --> 00:56:58,119 previously, Leon Spinks took it to him and took it to him as the 920 00:56:58,119 --> 00:57:00,800 fight went on, and Ali looked tired even in the middle of the fight, 921 00:57:00,199 --> 00:57:04,760 and so there was a lot of discussion about is he done? Is 922 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:07,320 he finished? And that's what the drama and the build up was. And 923 00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:13,320 ABC out bit everybody on the second goal around to have how would co Sell 924 00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:16,239 call the rematch that would come later that year. But you talk about cover 925 00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:20,960 of Sports Illustrated, and when it meant something, it was huge. It 926 00:57:21,039 --> 00:57:27,000 was enormous. The toothless front, toothless Leon Spinks with just the one word 927 00:57:27,079 --> 00:57:30,760 his name, Leon and an exclamation point on the cover of Sports Illustrated is 928 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:37,239 iconic for all time. What an upset. It truly belongs in the conversation 929 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:40,079 of great boxing upsets, great heavyweight upsets. There was no doubt about that. 930 00:57:40,119 --> 00:57:44,480 Absolutely. Now, one thing I did I misspoke. I said that 931 00:57:44,599 --> 00:57:47,400 Spinks had defeated Ernie Shavers. That is not the case. The big name 932 00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:51,760 that he had fought, well, he hadn't fought really big names before he 933 00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:53,360 fought the Ali fight, which is why It was kind of a surprise that 934 00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:55,519 he got to fight in the first place, because even though we had such 935 00:57:55,880 --> 00:58:00,840 a small record, he didn't have like a big win. He had defeated 936 00:58:00,119 --> 00:58:06,320 the undefeated fighter a Ferio Riggetti. Before that, he had a draw with 937 00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:09,679 the longtime contender Scotland. Due scot he did not have a big reputation in 938 00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:13,360 terms of the guys he had fought, you know, because the fight before 939 00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:16,920 that, he fought a guy that was like ten and thirty five or something 940 00:58:17,039 --> 00:58:21,079 like that, you know, just a sort of like staying busy kind of 941 00:58:21,079 --> 00:58:23,199 fight. So he got the fight without a lot of accomplishment. It was 942 00:58:23,239 --> 00:58:27,360 Ali, though, who was in the midst of that title reign, who 943 00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:30,079 had defeated Ernie Shavers prior to the fight, who was a big hitter. 944 00:58:30,079 --> 00:58:35,280 Evangelista had the fight that a lot of people thought he lost in terms of 945 00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:39,079 the rubber match against Kenny Norton, and he took on Span Stadium by the 946 00:58:39,119 --> 00:58:44,920 way. So and as a matter of fact, when the fight happened and 947 00:58:45,039 --> 00:58:50,239 Leon Spinks won the title and then they did the rematch, the WBA title 948 00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:52,239 was vacated. You know, he got stripped to the because the winner was 949 00:58:52,239 --> 00:58:55,880 supposed to give Kenny Norton h then you know, in the next fight, 950 00:58:55,920 --> 00:59:00,119 And obviously they weren't going to do Leon Spinks against Ken Norton when he can 951 00:59:00,199 --> 00:59:04,760 have a humongous money remax against Alis. And even if Ali had won, 952 00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:06,960 I don't know if he was gonna fight Kenny Norton for a fourth time. 953 00:59:07,039 --> 00:59:08,960 Right, We've talked about that before too, but great nostalgia, go back 954 00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:12,480 and relive it. It's on YouTube there as well. And you mentioned the 955 00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:15,599 television audience again, You've got to understand in this era there's no cable TV. 956 00:59:16,280 --> 00:59:21,280 There's not very many channel You had a knob ray feel on the television 957 00:59:21,559 --> 00:59:27,000 that had four channels, ABC, NBC, CBS and public broadcasting. Those 958 00:59:27,039 --> 00:59:31,800 were choices. This was such a massive thing that Spinx had beaten Ali worldwide 959 00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:36,880 story because again Ali had fought all over the globe even in the seventies, 960 00:59:36,920 --> 00:59:42,480 had fought in Africa against George Foreman, had fought in Manila, Philippines and 961 00:59:42,519 --> 00:59:46,159 the Far East against Joe Frazier. They cared about this everywhere in Malaysia, 962 00:59:46,239 --> 00:59:51,880 yes, but in the UK yes, when the word got out that Spinx 963 00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:53,880 had done this everywhere because keep in mind, for a lot of those places, 964 00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:57,719 they were asleep in the middle of the night while this was going on 965 00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:01,360 in primetime in the United States on a week night in Las Vegas. What 966 01:00:01,440 --> 01:00:07,280 an upset for Leon Spinks back now forty six years ago. One more piece 967 01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:12,400 of nostalgia and then we're done. And that is on this same day, 968 01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:16,079 February fifteenth of twenty three, which is twenty one years ago, Hall of 969 01:00:16,159 --> 01:00:22,760 Famer Rafael Marquez defeats Tim Austin and becomes the IBF bantamweight world champ. So 970 01:00:22,840 --> 01:00:27,880 a Hall of Famer gets a victory, but the night was also special for 971 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:32,000 Dan Rayfield as well. On the nostalgia elaborate well, talk about the fight 972 01:00:32,039 --> 01:00:36,360 for a minute. So, first of all, people may not know Tim 973 01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:39,320 Austin. He was undefeated going into this fight. He was the classic example 974 01:00:39,679 --> 01:00:43,639 of a guy that was an outstanding amateur. He'd been the United States Olympian. 975 01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:45,480 He had come up with Don King. He was undefeated, he had 976 01:00:45,519 --> 01:00:50,000 won the IBF title, he'd made several defenses of that title. But he 977 01:00:50,159 --> 01:00:52,840 was typical of some of the guys in the King stable at that time. 978 01:00:52,840 --> 01:00:55,440 We're talking about the late nineties, early two thousands, where he was just 979 01:00:55,480 --> 01:00:59,920 sort of left to kind of twist in a win. To some degree, 980 01:01:00,159 --> 01:01:02,320 you know, don didn't keep him active. He got on showtime a few 981 01:01:02,320 --> 01:01:05,639 times, but was never making the big money. He couldn't get the big 982 01:01:05,679 --> 01:01:09,920 fights. Finally, he's fighting Rafael Marquez, the younger brother of the great 983 01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:14,880 Juan Manuel Marquez. Now there are two of the brothers who are enshrining both 984 01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:20,559 in the international Boxing Hall of Fame. Rafael Marquez was known at the time, 985 01:01:20,599 --> 01:01:24,159 and I guess it's an adequate description. I guess he was the bigger 986 01:01:24,199 --> 01:01:29,519 punching brother with the worst chin put it like that, Like everybody thought Rafael 987 01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:32,079 was a little chinny, but he had really dynamic punching power, and they 988 01:01:32,079 --> 01:01:36,880 brought him up. He had scored two very big wins against another Hall of 989 01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:42,519 Famer who was winding down in Mark Johnson, and then he got the title 990 01:01:42,559 --> 01:01:45,440 shot against Tim Austin and they fought this fight in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, 991 01:01:45,679 --> 01:01:49,400 you know, indoors, not like a big outdoor stadium fight or anything 992 01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:52,519 like this. HBO I was really pumped up for this fight when happened. 993 01:01:52,559 --> 01:01:54,480 That's why I mentioned it for one of the reasons. You'll know when then 994 01:01:54,480 --> 01:01:58,639 in a minute, why the other reason, So it was kind of an 995 01:01:58,719 --> 01:02:00,599 upset because Tim Austin was moving along. You know, he was a good 996 01:02:00,639 --> 01:02:05,320 boxer at good power, and you know, in the end, they put 997 01:02:05,320 --> 01:02:07,719 on a good fight. It was very competitive fight and and Marquez clipped him 998 01:02:07,719 --> 01:02:10,280 and stopped him in the eighth round, and it was a very big win. 999 01:02:10,360 --> 01:02:15,280 And you know, Marquez is known in his career for the at least 1000 01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:19,800 the first three fights of the four fight series, the fantastic battles with Israel 1001 01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:22,360 Vasquez, and that's one of the big reasons why he's in the Hall of 1002 01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:25,360 Fame. You know, he ended up, you know, winning that title 1003 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,679 and they produced just electrifying action. Those you know, one of the great 1004 01:02:29,679 --> 01:02:31,280 series in the history of boxing, just phenomenal fights. But he had a 1005 01:02:31,320 --> 01:02:36,239 really good run at dantam White also didn't get the big mega fights, but 1006 01:02:36,280 --> 01:02:38,880 beat a lot of good, solid guys, starting with winning against Tim Austin 1007 01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:43,039 to get the title. So the other reason for the big fight is so 1008 01:02:43,079 --> 01:02:45,000 I was all geared up for the fight. I watched the fight late night 1009 01:02:45,079 --> 01:02:49,840 on HBO, and it had been on my mind all day long about this 1010 01:02:49,880 --> 01:02:52,280 is what's gonna go down. What's gonna happen after we're done watching the fight. 1011 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:55,840 Is after the fight was over and I'm all geared up about having just 1012 01:02:55,880 --> 01:02:59,800 watched his fight, That's when I knelt down on one kne and proposed to 1013 01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:02,559 my And the reason I did that, by the way, is because it 1014 01:03:02,639 --> 01:03:07,960 happened to also be the And that's that's today as we take this the anniversary 1015 01:03:07,239 --> 01:03:12,880 of our first date. Was I was gonna say so in the chronology here 1016 01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:16,800 that was a Saturday night. The Friday night would have been Valentine's Day. 1017 01:03:16,880 --> 01:03:21,960 Why did you not get romantic on Valentine's Day? But you chose the next 1018 01:03:22,039 --> 01:03:24,920 night because that's the night that you first dated or the time you first met. 1019 01:03:24,960 --> 01:03:29,559 Okay, and just coincidental that our first time, of our first date 1020 01:03:29,679 --> 01:03:31,920 was on the day after Valentine's Day. Now you got to do me a 1021 01:03:31,960 --> 01:03:35,840 little more than just hey, a matter of factually, got on one knee 1022 01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:38,840 and proposed. Were you nervous? Were you sweaty? Palms? Were yours? 1023 01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:44,000 In the in the in our old townhouse where we used to live together 1024 01:03:44,079 --> 01:03:46,960 before we bought our house. Uh. I lived at the fact that we 1025 01:03:47,039 --> 01:03:52,159 had to get Marquez and Tim Austin out of the way before. At this 1026 01:03:52,280 --> 01:03:57,159 point, Missus Rayphield basically understood the sickness she was dealing with when you're composing, 1027 01:03:57,239 --> 01:03:59,800 God Almighty. So I had this all planned out, though, I 1028 01:03:59,840 --> 01:04:01,360 mean, I feel like I'm George Foreman talking about he had it all planned 1029 01:04:01,360 --> 01:04:03,760 out, and the Michael Morriff. I I had it all planned out a 1030 01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:09,320 few months earlier when my when my mother had come to visit. I knew 1031 01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:13,960 that that I was going to use the ring that my my late grandmother had, 1032 01:04:14,199 --> 01:04:15,920 who had been married to my grandfather for you know, sixty years or 1033 01:04:15,920 --> 01:04:19,239 whatever it was to and that my grandmother had left the ring and said, 1034 01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:23,239 when you know, to give to me when I'm ready to get married. 1035 01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:26,239 Wow. So when I knew my mom was coming to visit, I called 1036 01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:29,639 my mom up. I said, when you come to visit, bring the 1037 01:04:29,719 --> 01:04:32,920 ring. You know she knew, Oh she knew my my my girlfriend at 1038 01:04:32,920 --> 01:04:35,880 that time. So now my mom is thinking, Okay, I'm going to 1039 01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:40,960 give him the ring and like in a few days he's going to propose. 1040 01:04:41,039 --> 01:04:44,679 But it wasn't that I was going to I specifically was waiting to do it 1041 01:04:45,400 --> 01:04:47,400 on the anniversary. So my mom had visited us maybe like in the summer, 1042 01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:49,679 but I wasn't going to see my mom after that for a few months. 1043 01:04:49,880 --> 01:04:54,880 So I waited all the way till February and then proposed gave her the 1044 01:04:54,960 --> 01:04:57,519 ring, but I had to watch I had to watch the Marquez Austin fight 1045 01:04:57,519 --> 01:05:01,480 first, planning do I do this for the HBO card and what happens if 1046 01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:04,400 it's a great fight and I don't, okay, So then you chose to 1047 01:05:04,599 --> 01:05:09,400 previously waited until after the fight was over to take care of the business. 1048 01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:14,119 By the way, the short version on me with Missus reeves it was Christmas 1049 01:05:14,159 --> 01:05:17,599 Eve. I did it on Christmas Eve at about eleven PM and blindsided the 1050 01:05:17,719 --> 01:05:21,400 daylights at her. She couldn't speak that I pulled out the ring. I 1051 01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:25,000 don't think my wife was surprised. I don't think she was surprised. But 1052 01:05:25,199 --> 01:05:27,800 all I can say though, tobably wanted to go to bed while you were 1053 01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:30,000 watching the fight, and it's a good thing she stayed up. I'm just 1054 01:05:30,039 --> 01:05:35,000 saying because you were still watching HBO World Championship Boxing before the proposal. And 1055 01:05:35,039 --> 01:05:39,920 here's the other end. If you fast forward the you know slightly about a 1056 01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:43,760 year later when we actually got married. It took place on the night of 1057 01:05:43,800 --> 01:05:46,119 an HBO fight. That was like the first time I hadn't watched an HBO 1058 01:05:46,159 --> 01:05:49,320 fight live, either on television or in person, you know, in the 1059 01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:53,760 arena from going to cover the fight in ye years and years and years. 1060 01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:58,320 I didn't see the fight till a few days later. The situation it was 1061 01:05:58,360 --> 01:06:00,760 fairly important. Why you were missing your first HBO world title fight. And 1062 01:06:01,079 --> 01:06:03,440 I will tell you this. There was a handful of boxing people that were 1063 01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:08,039 at my wedding, and a good friend of mine says to me, He 1064 01:06:08,079 --> 01:06:10,559 goes, do you mind if I go up to the hotel room and check 1065 01:06:10,559 --> 01:06:13,719 out what's going on in the fights. I said, go ahead and make 1066 01:06:13,719 --> 01:06:15,119 sure you come back to my table here and let me know what happened. 1067 01:06:15,400 --> 01:06:19,760 It was at Jermaine Taylor fight that night. O missus, Ray Pheel, 1068 01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:24,800 you knew what you were getting into, the night of the proposal, you 1069 01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:27,920 knew what you were getting into. All right, great nostalgia on all of 1070 01:06:27,920 --> 01:06:30,960 this. We are going to reconvene you and I on the bet Us Boxing 1071 01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:34,719 Show one Eastern time on the bet Us platforms, YouTube, Twitter, all 1072 01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:41,880 their platforms. We look forward to talking more about Oshaki Foster and Abraham Nov, 1073 01:06:41,880 --> 01:06:43,880 but again we remind the audience at the end of the podcast, these 1074 01:06:43,880 --> 01:06:48,440 are Friday night title fights as well as the championship fight for Cooree and not 1075 01:06:48,599 --> 01:06:54,880 Shinga in Mexico. There Friday night title fights. Will be handicapping those Friday 1076 01:06:54,960 --> 01:06:58,280 one Eastern time, and then whatever happens here in those title fights, etc. 1077 01:06:58,519 --> 01:07:00,880 Will come off the weekend with a fight for you to United recap. 1078 01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:03,880 Other than that, I think we're good, my friend, We're ready for 1079 01:07:03,920 --> 01:07:06,840 the weekend. I will talk to you again on the US boxing show coming 1080 01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:11,880 up, Dan Ravel. That sounds good. All things covered from fight previews 1081 01:07:11,920 --> 01:07:15,119 to news, to nostalgia and wedding proposals. It is the big fight weekend 1082 01:07:15,239 --> 01:07:20,519 preview podcast. We thank you for being with us.