1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,440 The future is bright. At Brightmotor Group, our brand new Bright Volkswagen Commercial 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:10,080 Vehicle Showroom is now open in the Bright Motor Campus at air Site Swords. 3 00:00:10,279 --> 00:00:14,279 Visit the launch of our new showroom from Monday the third to Saturday the eighth 4 00:00:14,279 --> 00:00:19,960 of April to discover the full Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle range, the California Camper Van 5 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:24,719 range and the all new ID Buzz. We have fantastic offers and you can 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:29,600 even pick up some free Bright gifts. Make the Bright choice. Visit Brightmotor 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:36,960 Group dot ie. Well off the weekend that has seen some exciting, interesting 8 00:00:37,039 --> 00:00:41,840 and even dramatic upset outcomes. We are back in on the Fight Preach Unite 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:47,359 Recap podcast. Hello there or welcome back. I'm nearly these somewhat Kickbule host 10 00:00:47,399 --> 00:00:50,520 TJ Reeves. You are here to hear the inside, the analysis, the 11 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:55,119 frivolity, the humor and all else from Dan Raphael our insider Big Fight Weekend 12 00:00:55,159 --> 00:01:00,280 dot Com and also his Fight Preach Unite substack score. Stevenson victorious in the 13 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:06,000 Top Ranky ESPN main event. Bam Rodriguez victorious for the WBO flyweight title in 14 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,599 the Matchroom main event in San Antonio, but he suffered a significant injury in 15 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,040 the fight, and then what happened to Sebastian Fondora. Here's a hint, 16 00:01:15,359 --> 00:01:19,799 Tim Burr at six foot six. We're gonna get into all of it here 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,400 on the program. Thank you for finding us however you've done so, Dan 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,040 rayphel How you feeling off the weekend? We had a lot of different stuff 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,599 go on, including a shocker that we'll get to in a few minutes in 20 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,719 California on the showtime PBC. How you feeling. I'm good. Busy weekend. 21 00:01:34,719 --> 00:01:40,439 I think I watched about including the card from Japan. We know that 22 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,200 was on early early Saturday morning, late night, late late Friday night with 23 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,200 a lot of boxing, and you know it's I like a happy medium, 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,760 you know what I mean. I'm good with like two or two cards is 25 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,200 good, like even if they conflict. This was four cards on Saturday, 26 00:01:55,519 --> 00:02:00,000 the one that was really early from Japan. Then had the three main US 27 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:02,719 cards all on exactly the same time. As a matter of fact, Shakoor 28 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:07,039 Stevenson in the ESPN top ranked main event and Bam Rodriguez in the main event 29 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,080 on the Zone and match Room's card. They were like getting in the ring. 30 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:14,639 I think it was that those two fights basically at the exact same time, 31 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:16,360 and then the Fandora fight, you know, a little bit later, 32 00:02:17,199 --> 00:02:20,599 or maybe I have my order wrong. I just know two of those two 33 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:23,759 of those three fights were literally walking through the ring at the same time because 34 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,759 I was popping back and forth between my screens. And it's very aggravating when 35 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:29,759 that happens. And I watched a lot of fights, and you know, 36 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,000 for for a weekend where there wasn't like a big fight, but a lot 37 00:02:34,039 --> 00:02:38,879 of like pretty good, reasonable interesting other fights. He had four titles change 38 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:44,159 hands or you know happen, and no, you got Fondora losing the interim 39 00:02:44,159 --> 00:02:47,919 belt that we'll talk about. Got to Paulus with the opposite over at Mndali 40 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,159 about that undercard to win the unified titles at junior featherweight. And then Brian 41 00:02:53,199 --> 00:02:55,479 Mendoza, well, I said, he gets to win over the with the 42 00:02:55,479 --> 00:02:59,919 big upset. And then you also had Bam Rodriguez who wins the vacant flyweight 43 00:03:00,039 --> 00:03:02,639 delta, his very guts victory which we're gonna get into. And then on 44 00:03:02,719 --> 00:03:07,560 the Japan card even you have on that Undercardiat Takuma in a way, the 45 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:12,039 younger brother of Naioia in a way winning the vacant band away title of the 46 00:03:12,159 --> 00:03:15,800 w BA. So I had to make a lot of changes in in my 47 00:03:15,039 --> 00:03:17,080 champions chart. Let's put it like that, A lot of a lot of 48 00:03:17,159 --> 00:03:21,039 roll call of fights that will get to by the way I neglected dimension. 49 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,639 Thank you for finding us, whether you did so through a social media link, 50 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,599 through Dan substack as email newsletter, Big Fight Weekend dot com website. 51 00:03:27,879 --> 00:03:30,520 Thank you following subscribe. We come your way with the recap off the weekend, 52 00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:34,759 and I keep getting positive feedback and we keep saying to you folks, 53 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:36,879 Dan and I are putting a lot of effort into this. You get a 54 00:03:36,919 --> 00:03:40,199 preview going into the weekend, usually overnight Thursday into Friday, depending on your 55 00:03:40,199 --> 00:03:44,159 time zone, your region of the world, whatever Friday, it's there, 56 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,639 and the recap the same way has consistently been there off the weekend overnight Sunday 57 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,039 into Monday. So thank you for finding us. Make sure you follow subscribe 58 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,759 on Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, give us a rating, give 59 00:03:54,800 --> 00:04:00,439 us a five star rating as well on the Big Fight Weekend podcast speed that's 60 00:04:00,439 --> 00:04:02,639 where you find Fight Preach unite to recap. Let's begin with the top ranked 61 00:04:02,639 --> 00:04:08,039 show in Newark. Shakour Stevenson did not disappoint in the main event. Let's 62 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,439 begin with the main event. He was really good against Yoshino, is Japanese 63 00:04:12,479 --> 00:04:15,840 opponent, and he even got the stoppage. By the way, we should 64 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,519 make mention this has been rare you and I on the picks on the bet 65 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,199 Us show. It was a it was a blood bath, and we just 66 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:26,519 couldn't. We couldn't get the outcomes right, including Let's begin with Shakour. 67 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:30,319 It was not a decision, it was a ko. He was really good. 68 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:31,560 Give me your thoughts on that, and let's get into that top rank 69 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,079 ESPN card. My thoughts are I'm gonna I'm gonna be picking shakor Stevens that 70 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,839 might not got a lot more in the future. He was strong. But 71 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,279 yeah, as far as the picks go, what this was. We've been 72 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,120 doing the show on bet Us now, it's coming up on about a year. 73 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,360 This was by far. I've had one great week after another, so 74 00:04:47,439 --> 00:04:51,079 I can't complain. This was the blow your brains that weekend where I because 75 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,279 we had two we had two huge upsets and oftentimes it's the how that gets 76 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,519 this and Stevenson on the how got us because we both thought decision. But 77 00:04:59,519 --> 00:05:00,879 tell me what you saw. I think I was like one and seven. 78 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,920 I did a lot worse than Shakurse Stevenson did. But in all seriousness, 79 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,319 listen, Shakurse Stevenson is the future pound for pound king in waiting. It's 80 00:05:09,319 --> 00:05:11,920 gonna happen. It's just a matter of time and you know, getting the 81 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,319 right fights and uh, you know, some attrition and this and that. 82 00:05:14,439 --> 00:05:17,439 The guys at the top won't be there forever. He's making a quick march 83 00:05:17,439 --> 00:05:21,040 to that position. He's a special fighter. Uh you know, you could 84 00:05:21,079 --> 00:05:25,079 see glimpses of it as an amateur in the in the in the gold medal 85 00:05:25,079 --> 00:05:28,959 match in the Olympics where you know, it's arguable that he beat Robesie Ramiers 86 00:05:28,959 --> 00:05:31,560 in that final match to to to finish the Olympics. He got the silver. 87 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,240 He cried in his interview afterwards and was like, I'm never losing again 88 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,160 basically, and it doesn't feel like he's gonna lose for a long long time 89 00:05:39,199 --> 00:05:44,120 to come. We're watching the evolution of the pound for pound future king. 90 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,959 He is that kind of fighter now I'm not trying to over rate or make 91 00:05:47,199 --> 00:05:51,360 Yoshino out to be some uh, you know, incredible talent or you know, 92 00:05:51,519 --> 00:05:55,360 huge, huge test for him. But he's a good fighter, and 93 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,199 he beat some solid fights fighters, and he was undefeated and he had a 94 00:05:58,199 --> 00:06:00,560 good chin, so we thought, and he's done a good job. And 95 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,639 he traveled all that way and he wasn't coming to lay down in that fight, 96 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:09,160 and he just got taken apart. And it's not so much because of 97 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:14,439 the opponent. It's just the things that Chakor does that are the kinds of 98 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:19,680 things that the greats do. The vision, the footwork, the understanding of 99 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,839 exactly the right amount of distance, how to throw the short punch when he 100 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,000 leans one way, how to throw maybe the longer punch when he leans the 101 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,759 other way. It's like the nuances are ridiculous. We can sit here for 102 00:06:32,199 --> 00:06:35,920 half an hour and just talk about his attributes, but he can do everything. 103 00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:40,399 And now that he's put on a little bit more weight and he is 104 00:06:40,439 --> 00:06:45,680 maturing as a person in terms of his physical being, I think he's getting 105 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,240 a little stronger, Like he just looks and you can just sort of feel 106 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,879 it when you're just watching him. That he's a stronger puncher, had one 107 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,360 hundred and thirty five pounds than he was at one hundred and thirty that he 108 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,720 wasn't one hundred and twenty six, you know, as he's gotten his man 109 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,240 strength. As they say, uh, there's nothing that he doesn't do well. 110 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,480 If he adds that little wrinkle of being able to keep a guy honest 111 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:10,160 with the punching power, he's an unstoppable force at the moment. I mean, 112 00:07:10,279 --> 00:07:13,519 you know, everybody's gonna have their waterloo someday, but I don't see 113 00:07:13,519 --> 00:07:16,319 it coming for him for a long time. I would favor him against anybody 114 00:07:16,639 --> 00:07:20,920 in boxing from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty pounds probably, 115 00:07:20,959 --> 00:07:25,319 And I think I think he could hang with the best guys at one forty 116 00:07:25,399 --> 00:07:28,319 right now. And when when shock me if he beat any of them. 117 00:07:28,399 --> 00:07:30,600 And I'm and again, it's no disrespect to the you know, to Kank 118 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:35,720 Davis or Ryan Garcia or Timolopez or Josh Taylor or Regis Progray or any of 119 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:42,279 these guys. He's that gifted. It's it's it's uh so to watch him 120 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:44,839 do what he did against Oshino. You know what, And I said this 121 00:07:44,879 --> 00:07:46,959 in the pre fight, I wasn't tuning in to that fight because I thought 122 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,680 I'm seeing like an all time great matchup or a super competitive or dramatic kind 123 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:55,600 of fight. I'm watching that fight within my mind thinking I'm gonna see, 124 00:07:55,839 --> 00:07:59,240 you know, a special performance from a great young fighter, and that's exactly 125 00:07:59,279 --> 00:08:01,319 what we got. He brought in about ten thousand people to the Prudential Center 126 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,319 and his hometown of Newark, so now he's become not only a great fighter, 127 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,000 but a ticket seller and an attraction there also. And he just completely 128 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,279 took a part a quality guy who had, you know, come to fight, 129 00:08:13,839 --> 00:08:18,279 dropped them two times, and the referee made the right call because even 130 00:08:18,279 --> 00:08:20,879 though there wasn't some massive telling shot that caused the stoppage or a big knockdown 131 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,720 that concluded it, he's just rocking them left and right and he can't answer 132 00:08:26,759 --> 00:08:28,920 back with anything, and it's like, you know, what are we doing? 133 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,879 Taking complete ass whooping, and the referee made the right call stop the 134 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:39,879 fight. But it was There are not enough superlatives in my vocabulary to explain 135 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:43,159 how great he was on Saturday, and that's and that's obvious, and that's 136 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,759 not praise and I can say this from having been around you now for the 137 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,399 last year doing these shows, preview shows, recap shows. You don't lightly 138 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,399 throw these things around with what you're saying. And anybody that's read you and 139 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,519 followed you and and seeing you on ESPN knows you don't. You don't flaunt 140 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:01,360 this that often on somebody that is still trying to establish on the ascent and 141 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:07,000 prove themselves. All right, So it begs that we know Devin Haney's gonna 142 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,399 fight Lomachenko next month, undisputed shot. There is a school of thought that 143 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:13,919 says, Okay, that's a tremendous fight for the winner, particularly if it's 144 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:18,440 Haney. There's another school of thought that says, maybe Haney, who's probably 145 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:24,919 moving up right to junior welterweight anyway, that Haney may not want any part 146 00:09:24,919 --> 00:09:28,200 of Shaker Stevenson right now at one thirty five. I'm not saying that I 147 00:09:28,279 --> 00:09:30,960 know that. I'm just saying that's conjecture that's out there. Give me your 148 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,159 thoughts. Well, my thoughts are if you listen to Mark Kriegel, my 149 00:09:35,279 --> 00:09:39,080 good pal who does the ESPN broadcast, He spoke on the show about the 150 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,120 fact that he had texted earlier in the day with Bill Haney, who was 151 00:09:43,159 --> 00:09:46,320 the father, the manager, and the trainer of Devin Haney, who was 152 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,399 pushing back on the notion that his son was going to move up and that 153 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,960 if they beat Lomachenko, he said, absolutely, he's stay in a lightweight 154 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,039 and he'd be happy to fight Shakor Stevenson. So if that's true and there 155 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,639 isn't a change of thought, and he does win the fight against Lomachenko, 156 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:05,919 and I think he's fired me up. When Mark told Shaquor that in the 157 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:09,519 post fight interview, Shakuor was like, Okay, that's great because he's like, 158 00:10:09,639 --> 00:10:13,399 I'm gonna beat that guy, and I that's exactly what I wanted. 159 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,240 He wants the big names. And he made the point, and this is, 160 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,159 you know, I've heard the stories. You never know what's sure. 161 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,679 We're not. But of course, Stevenson and Devin Hanny had a lot of 162 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,879 sparring rounds together. They've been in the gym together plenty times. They know 163 00:10:22,919 --> 00:10:24,840 each other for many years. Uh, you know, they're about the same 164 00:10:24,879 --> 00:10:28,519 age, they come from that same group of amateurs and they've worked together. 165 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,039 So and you know, she course and I got the best of them every 166 00:10:31,039 --> 00:10:33,279 time. Now, I'm sure if I asked Devin Hany the same questions, 167 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,039 you know I got that's a shekor every time. So you know, we'll 168 00:10:37,039 --> 00:10:39,519 never know for sure unless we see some video. I think that might even 169 00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:41,519 had an amateur fight against each other. Point is I thought I saw and 170 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,480 maybe we're wrong, but I thought I saw somebody say that Squor beat him 171 00:10:45,519 --> 00:10:48,759 as an amateur, and maybe that's wrong. No, it's not necessarily wrong. 172 00:10:48,799 --> 00:10:50,200 But the point is, amateur fight is amateur fight. It's you know, 173 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,840 rarely doesn't make a difference. Maybe you know, once in a while 174 00:10:52,879 --> 00:10:58,240 you might find a place where it might have some some significance. I think 175 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,159 of like the rivalry between Shane Moseley and Vernon Forrest. He had beaten him, 176 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,519 that Vernon had beaten Shane and the amateurs, and it was a big 177 00:11:03,519 --> 00:11:07,200 deal when they met his pros and the question was as he have his number 178 00:11:07,279 --> 00:11:09,440 or is it gonna be revenge? And then he beat him in the pros 179 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,559 too, and then he beat him in the pros again, so he's three 180 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,480 and oh against him twice in the pros once and the amateurs. To me, 181 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:18,360 that's not an accident, but that's that's not necessarily the way that it 182 00:11:18,399 --> 00:11:22,559 always goes. But the fact of the matter is Devin Haney if he emerges 183 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,399 from the Lomo fight, and you know, anybody that's discounting loma Chenko's chances 184 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,399 as an idiot, that's first of all. But if if Haney does win, 185 00:11:28,919 --> 00:11:31,759 him and Shakoor is obviously you know, the epitome of a of a 186 00:11:31,879 --> 00:11:33,799 boxing match, but an interesting boxing match, and if loma Chenko wins, 187 00:11:35,039 --> 00:11:37,639 you know, I have no doubt that for the right deal, he'll fight 188 00:11:37,759 --> 00:11:41,960 Haney. Also are rather a Shakoor Stevenson too, so he's going to have 189 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,639 a lot of good opponent possibilities because it's not just those two guys. There's 190 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,440 other guys patrolling the lightweight division and eventually at the junior walter weight limit also 191 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,200 Shakurse Stevenson. Though right now it's sort of like, just make a list 192 00:11:54,279 --> 00:11:56,440 and you know, you can only fight one guy at time, go through 193 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,799 it, and you know, just pick off one guy after the other. 194 00:11:58,799 --> 00:12:01,960 He already took care of, you know, the guys like a Jamal Herring 195 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,159 could get a title. He took care of a guy like Oscar Valdez to 196 00:12:05,279 --> 00:12:09,080 unify titles, which were two you know, credible, you know, well 197 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,840 thought of opponents. You know, Valdez was undefeated and had been a champion 198 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,399 at featherweight also, and he's just you know, as Santa Claus says, 199 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:22,399 making a list, checking it twice, he's he's on the way, all 200 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,519 right. So Shakour looked good. We've got that. We'll see what happens 201 00:12:24,519 --> 00:12:30,360 for him in the future. Also not unexpected, Jared Real big baby Anderson 202 00:12:30,519 --> 00:12:35,480 a win in a in a t KO stoppage that was kind of interesting because 203 00:12:35,519 --> 00:12:39,480 they were going by committee in the corner between the reff the corner, the 204 00:12:39,519 --> 00:12:43,360 doctor and and finally they elected to stop it. Sean Davis also victorious. 205 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:48,080 So give me more on the undercard, on the two expected undercard stars. 206 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,759 They did what they were supposed to do. Your thoughts right. As it 207 00:12:50,879 --> 00:12:52,639 relates to the stoppage of George Arius in the corner, it was really his 208 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,679 trainer, Leon Washington, who was the one that was making the point that 209 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,840 we need to stop this, and he was having a conversation. He wanted 210 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,360 to see how was his man was doing. But he could tell he sort 211 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,039 of had his mind made up. And you know, the doctors and the 212 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,039 and the and the reff we're just sort of observing. And at the end, 213 00:13:07,039 --> 00:13:09,039 you know, Lea. Washington did the right thing because at the end 214 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,360 of round three, when George Aius walked back to the corner, he was 215 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,799 first of all, he'd gotten just obliterated the last you know, twenty seconds 216 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,080 or so of that round, and when he was walking back to the corner, 217 00:13:18,159 --> 00:13:22,159 you know, he was very unsteady, he was cut, and it 218 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,440 was the right stopage. You know. Jared Anderson has now had two fights 219 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,480 in a row against guys who I felt are credible opponents but obviously not at 220 00:13:30,519 --> 00:13:33,200 his level. In December, he blew out Jerry Forrest in the second round. 221 00:13:33,519 --> 00:13:35,960 Overcame a little bit of a rough moment in round one where he got 222 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:39,320 he got buzzed a little bit, but he came back, you know, 223 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:41,759 strong as a bull, and just destroyed him. And now you have George 224 00:13:41,759 --> 00:13:46,200 Arius, who lasted into the third round or last of three rounds, but 225 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:48,960 was never competitive for a minute and had never fought anybody before. At least 226 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:54,200 Forrest had some resume to speak of and some good quality results on his record, 227 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,480 but Jared Jared Anderson is a guy that wants to fight bigger names and 228 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,279 bigger fights. Top Rank is looking to get him in the ring with a 229 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,919 much better name, a guy with a little more credibility and experience, and 230 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:09,840 they're gonna need to because you mentioned about you have the great young fighter and 231 00:14:09,879 --> 00:14:13,759 s course Stevenson in the main event. You've got, at least from my 232 00:14:13,799 --> 00:14:16,720 point of view, the two best prospect in boxing in the undercard fights, 233 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:22,879 meaning Anderson as my twenty twenty one Prospect of the Year Keyshan Davis as my 234 00:14:22,919 --> 00:14:26,120 two twenty two Prospect of the year. The days of these three guys, 235 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,919 these special talents being all together on the same card are now probably over because 236 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,519 at least in terms of Jared Anderson, he's going to now move into a 237 00:14:35,559 --> 00:14:37,159 main event status. That's not to say he would never fight in an undercard 238 00:14:37,159 --> 00:14:41,519 again depending on the scenario. But the plan now was Top Rank is going 239 00:14:41,559 --> 00:14:46,000 to bring him for his first professional fight in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio 240 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,799 on July first, which I had reported a couple of weeks ago, but 241 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,840 you know, reconfirming it last night with the Top Ring people. That is 242 00:14:52,879 --> 00:14:56,480 their plan, and now they're looking for a good name a top guy, 243 00:14:56,559 --> 00:15:01,440 like a legitimate opponent. I mean they're not you know, he doesn't, 244 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:07,039 he shouldn't, and he won't get the Furies and Joshua and Wilder and Joe 245 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:11,799 Joyce and those types of names, obviously, But there's another group that's a 246 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:16,399 half step below those guys who are the other contenders or former champions and that 247 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:18,360 sort of thing that top rank I think would be happy to match him up 248 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:22,159 with. It's just going to come down to who's willing to take the money, 249 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,600 and if they are, how much do we have to pay them, 250 00:15:24,919 --> 00:15:28,240 how far do we have to back the truck up to get them to go 251 00:15:28,279 --> 00:15:31,320 to the guy to come here and fight him, whether it's in Toledo or 252 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,679 somewhere else, you know, in the fight after the next fight. So 253 00:15:33,039 --> 00:15:37,039 that's gonna be their hardest part. Jared's gonna do his part and stay hungry, 254 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,240 train, be in shape, come prepared. But now it's up. 255 00:15:41,279 --> 00:15:46,000 This is where the promoter's job becomes complicated because they're not necessarily afraid to put 256 00:15:46,039 --> 00:15:48,840 him in with a good opponent. But you got to find the right guy 257 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:50,759 who's willing to take the money. And it's hard, and you know, 258 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,320 if a guy prices himself out, what are you gonna do? All right, 259 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,200 we'll find out what happens there. Keyshawn Davis also victorious. It took 260 00:15:58,279 --> 00:16:03,720 him a little while to get his stoppage of Anthony Jiggett. There was a 261 00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:10,519 controversial moment too where he need Jiggett in the head where Jiggett was going down, 262 00:16:10,559 --> 00:16:14,000 and I thought it was intentional. The ref missed it. They didn't 263 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,039 really belabor it, but Jiggett was clearly complaining he need he need me in 264 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:22,320 the head and play showdown how your thoughts as Keishan Davis gets the stoppage and 265 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,600 gets the win. I don't remember that being that big of a deal. 266 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,840 I certainly don't think it was on purpose. In my experience with Keishan Davis, 267 00:16:29,879 --> 00:16:32,840 that hasn't really been his style. I'm not saying it's not, but 268 00:16:32,919 --> 00:16:37,639 it's There's been no evidence of that thus far. So you know, he 269 00:16:37,679 --> 00:16:38,919 gave a lot of right hands and left hands to the head is what caused 270 00:16:38,919 --> 00:16:42,679 the problems, not the need of it. Keshan Davis is another guy that 271 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:47,559 he's he's he's on that same sort of path of a Shakor Stevenson he's got 272 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,840 that kind of ability, uh, in terms of the amateur career of the 273 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,639 silver medal, like Shakur also was a silver medal winner in the Olympics, 274 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,399 He's just a guy that knows the ring, that's got good defenses. That's 275 00:16:56,399 --> 00:17:02,399 the thing about these two guys, they're they're so defensively mature for where they 276 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:06,440 are. That defense often is what comes after the offense. Guys, you 277 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,079 know, they have the offense, that's their thing. They like to fight. 278 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,319 But but perfecting or refining your defense, which is part of this, 279 00:17:12,519 --> 00:17:15,680 you know, beingcoming a great fighter. Also for a lot of these guys, 280 00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:19,440 they are ahead of the curve, let's say, and Keishan, with 281 00:17:19,559 --> 00:17:23,599 just what eight fights now, has tremendous defense. But he's also got good 282 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,640 footwork, and at this stage of his career he's also a bigger puncher than 283 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,799 than Shakur was when he was you know, six or eight fights or ten 284 00:17:30,839 --> 00:17:33,039 fights into his career. So you know, it took him a little longer, 285 00:17:33,079 --> 00:17:34,799 like you said, but I thought it was it was he got in 286 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:40,160 nine good rounds. He took on a very competent and solid guy who'd only 287 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:44,160 lost you know, yget now is twenty six three and one. His two 288 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,960 previous defeats had come in world title fights, once against Roly Romero in an 289 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,279 interim lightweight title fight, and then once he fought for a title, you 290 00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:53,000 know, up in the junior welterweight division. So this is not a guy 291 00:17:53,039 --> 00:17:56,839 that had been losing to you know, regular guys. I mean when he 292 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,759 lost, he fought for a vacant junior bandumweight title rather or a junior welterweight 293 00:18:00,799 --> 00:18:03,279 title. I mean when Ivan Barranchek was still you know, considered a pretty 294 00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:07,119 good fighter, and he got beat by him in a knockout back a couple 295 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,039 of years, you know, a few years ago. But other than that, 296 00:18:11,079 --> 00:18:14,440 if your only other losses to Keshan, who did a great job stopping 297 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:15,920 and he could have been stopped maybe earlier. He had him busted up. 298 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,880 He was just laying a lot of leather on him. And what can you 299 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,720 say? You had the three A sides, the three star power guys, 300 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:29,960 Shakur, Anderson, and Davis all looks spectacular in their fights and all did 301 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,599 the job. And if you're a boxing fan, all I know is that 302 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,759 those three performances made you pay attention and can't wait to see them back in 303 00:18:37,759 --> 00:18:42,160 the ring. So it's gonna be July for for Anderson Keishan, you know, 304 00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:45,440 probably around that same time frame. Maybe I'll even beyond the Jared undercard 305 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,599 for all I know. And Shakoor, you know, he'll wait to see 306 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,920 what happens on May twentieth, but you can count on him being back in 307 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,400 the ring sometime. I would think, uh, you know, end of 308 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:57,680 the summers or you know, somewhere about around there, and uh, you 309 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:02,599 know, these are the current generation of the best young fighters in boxing, 310 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:07,200 and we're getting to see them emerge and do their thing, and it's it's 311 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,880 a pleasure to watch all right, good stuff. Off the ESPN Top rank 312 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,839 card. We're coming to the stunning knockout of Sebastian Fundora in a few moments 313 00:19:14,839 --> 00:19:17,680 here on the recap, but the world title fights take precedence, So let's 314 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:22,039 go to the middle of the country and the southwest actually of San Antonio, 315 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:26,920 Texas, where Jesse Bam Rodriguez did get the win for the WBO Flyweight championship 316 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:33,720 over Christian Gonzalez, and it was impressive display for a lot of reasons, 317 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,960 not the least of which is we have now learned. He admitted this after 318 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,960 the fight. He broke his jaw about halfway through that fight and gutted it 319 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,880 out. So Dan, your thoughts on that win, and then we'll get 320 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,000 to the Acmadalia upset on the co feature in a moment or two. But 321 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,960 first, a significant injury for Bam Rodriguez that he fought through and got the 322 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,119 decision win. So before you knew that he had a broken jaws, you're 323 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,200 watching the fight, You're sort of like, Okay, he's winning the fight, 324 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,119 there's no question about that. But once again, it's like, Okay, 325 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,640 it's not really like the most impressive performance. Part of that was gonna 326 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,119 I'm not gonna knock Bam Rodriguez for this. Part of that was Gonzalez who 327 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,119 was interested in, you know, and boxing him from long range and running 328 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:11,680 around and trying to get away from him. Uh, you know, which 329 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,200 I can't blame before that's the way you got to survive. You gotta survive. 330 00:20:15,839 --> 00:20:18,119 But it wasn't like a tremendous performance from Bam and he said so afterwards. 331 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,279 But then when you come to find out that he has a broken jaw 332 00:20:21,519 --> 00:20:23,599 in the sixth round and fights half to fight with a bad jaw. I 333 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,480 think if you can't give the kids some slack, then you're a heartless, 334 00:20:26,599 --> 00:20:30,559 uh you know person in that sense. So I don't I don't in any 335 00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:36,160 way knock Jesse Bam Rodriguez for that performance because you know, most people couldn't 336 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,559 fight for ten seconds with a broken jaw muscle. You got that right, 337 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,119 And there are a lot of fighters that maybe would have looked at that, 338 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,599 and it granted it's a world title shot, but it's a vacant world title 339 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,519 shot, and you got your whole career in front of you, and and 340 00:20:47,599 --> 00:20:51,200 they're contemplating. I'm just saying, I gotta fight six more rounds with this 341 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,559 unless I get the knockout. I gotta fight six more scheduled rounds here with 342 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,319 this. That says something, that says something about him not wanting to disappoint 343 00:20:59,519 --> 00:21:03,680 hometown fans, how much that win meant to him, all of those things 344 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:04,519 obviously. Yeah. So, I mean, you got a lot of tough 345 00:21:04,519 --> 00:21:07,319 guys on Twitter that like to say, big deal he thought through a broken 346 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,799 jaw, which you know, give me a break. But I just know 347 00:21:10,839 --> 00:21:14,319 this. He's twenty three years old, He's now a two division world champion. 348 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,319 He was the former title holder in the junior vandomight division, which he 349 00:21:17,319 --> 00:21:19,680 won last year in his great twenty twenty two campaign, gave up the title, 350 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,519 went down and waited the flyweight division. Even with a broken jaw, 351 00:21:23,599 --> 00:21:27,119 had no real issues winning the fight against Christian Gonzalez. Now he's a two 352 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:33,160 time two division title holder. He is the and this is an amazing stat 353 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,400 I was actually talking to my good buddy who I covered many fights with, 354 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,200 the long time boxing writer for the San Antonio Express, my pal John Whistler, 355 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,000 who was now retired, does some freelance for them occasionally and was at 356 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,759 the fight. So I called him up today because they I had heard Eddie 357 00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:48,640 Hearn say this in the interview, but I wasn't sure if it was one 358 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:55,480 hundred percent. Sometimes promoters aren't exactly knowing exact comes to trivia. So Eddie 359 00:21:55,519 --> 00:21:59,440 had mentioned or maybe I don't remember it was the commentators, but it was 360 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,440 mentioned that Bam Rodriguez, after winning that fight, was the first ever two 361 00:22:03,559 --> 00:22:08,160 division champion to come from San Antonio. And San Antonio has produced a number 362 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,240 of you know, top fighters for many many years. And I was like, 363 00:22:11,279 --> 00:22:15,160 you know, that's a great trivite question. So I called him my 364 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,000 man, John Whistler, who I've known for many, many years, and 365 00:22:18,039 --> 00:22:19,319 I was like, John, who else would I call with a if I 366 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,839 had a question about San Antonio boxing history? And I asked him and He's 367 00:22:22,839 --> 00:22:26,960 like, yeah, he's the first one. So not only is Bama Rodriguez 368 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,920 at twenty three, I think now once again the youngest act of champion in 369 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,960 boxing currently, he's also now a two division title holder in at age twenty 370 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,279 three, and also the first ever fighter from the from the great history of 371 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,960 San Antonio to be a guy with titles in two different weight classes. So, 372 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,200 you know, the broken jaw, hopefully it's just a minor setback that's 373 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:49,240 going to cost him, you know, maybe six months or whatever it's gonna 374 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,400 take, and you know he'll be better and he'll come back. I mean, 375 00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:55,279 you know, More recently I've written about Oscar Beldez had a broken jaw 376 00:22:55,319 --> 00:22:56,319 that kept him out of action for a little while. He overcame that. 377 00:22:57,079 --> 00:23:00,519 I remember talking about how difficult it was with having the jaw wired shot and 378 00:23:00,519 --> 00:23:04,559 having a basically eat and drink everything through a straw, you know, and 379 00:23:04,599 --> 00:23:07,559 that was not an easy situation. It was just, he said, a 380 00:23:07,559 --> 00:23:11,640 miserable experience. But hopefully Bam, you know, will overcome that. He's 381 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,039 young. He you know, other than the jaw, it's not like he 382 00:23:14,039 --> 00:23:18,160 took punishment in the fight, even though he went twelve rounds, and there's 383 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:22,319 huge fights for him in his weight class. Eddie Hearns signed Sonny Edwards, 384 00:23:22,319 --> 00:23:26,279 who's the champion in that weight class. They already the promoter. They worked 385 00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:29,599 with Julio Sizar Martinez, who's the WBC title holder in that weight class, 386 00:23:29,599 --> 00:23:33,440 and those are all interesting unification fights. The BAM called that Sonny Edwards. 387 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:34,680 Sony Edwards been calling him out. They've been going back and forth a little 388 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,920 bit on social media. Eddie hearn says he's absolutely open and interested to make 389 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:44,799 those kinds of fights. The only curveball, I guess is the fact that 390 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,599 because of the injury, it's going to throw off the timing and BAM is 391 00:23:47,599 --> 00:23:49,319 going to be sidelined for a little while. So they just signed Sonny, 392 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,319 who you know, wants to get in the ring, and so they'll probably 393 00:23:52,319 --> 00:23:56,119 get him some other fight, be it a maybe they'll make him and Martinez 394 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,640 or Eddie brought up the WBA title holder Dolackian, they'll make type of fight. 395 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,200 But but the point is, once Bam is healthy and good to go, 396 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,839 some some permutation of a unification fight or multiple unification fights should be available 397 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,119 to him. And because Bam has a hometown and brings some attention and brings 398 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:15,559 a little more money than your average flyweight, I would think those fights are 399 00:24:15,559 --> 00:24:21,440 makeable because those unification fights compared to in the heavyweight division with Fury and Usk 400 00:24:21,599 --> 00:24:26,160 or Errol Spence and Crawford like these are great matchups and it will pay these 401 00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:30,559 flyweights their biggest purses they've ever seen. But they're still affordable for the promoter 402 00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,640 and the network. They don't cost twenty five million, fifty million dollars. 403 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,200 You know, there are low seven figures that type of money. So in 404 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,640 the scheme of the budget they can make, they can be made without too 405 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,920 much of an issue. So the main thing is Bam good performance. Wins 406 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,440 outright one eighteen one, one seventeen, one eleven on the other score I 407 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:55,799 think was one sixteen to one twelve, and you know he's he's gonna take 408 00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:59,160 some time off, get himself together, he'll up and hopefully we'll see him 409 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:00,799 back in the ring. But it was great to see him go home. 410 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:03,759 You know, it was not a large venue. It was only about twenty 411 00:25:03,799 --> 00:25:07,000 five hundred people, but they sold it out, and you know, good 412 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,240 for him, and I hope he gets better, get better quick. And 413 00:25:10,279 --> 00:25:12,400 by the way, just for their record on Sunday, we taped this on 414 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,599 Sunday night. Earlier Sunday, I was texting with Robert Garcia, who was 415 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,559 BAM's trainer, and just to check in because we knew that he had said 416 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,440 he thinks he broke his jaw and Bam said it in one of his social 417 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,599 media posts, but I didn't know one hundred percent is it actually broken and 418 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,119 what's the deal. So, as Robert explained to me in our back and 419 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:33,720 forth, he stayed over Bam in the hospital on Saturday night, he is 420 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,359 staying over the hospital on Sunday night, and he's scheduled to have surgery to 421 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,319 repair the job, which Robert said was diagnosis being fractured in two places. 422 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,240 I'll have the surgery sometime on Monday. All right, So there's the very 423 00:25:45,319 --> 00:25:48,079 latest info as we released the podcast, and look, we're not doctors. 424 00:25:48,079 --> 00:25:51,559 Would just play them on the podcast. On the fight freaks, night recap, 425 00:25:51,839 --> 00:25:53,880 etc. A broken jaw. I have not had one of these. 426 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,400 I don't know that you have not had one of these, but I know 427 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,119 people that have had them. I know athletes that have had them. They 428 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:03,119 are generally about six week injuries to fully heal. You mentioned it is very 429 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:07,519 aggravating at least for the first few weeks because you're not able to eat solid, 430 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,039 solid food for the first few weeks because they have your jaw wired shot. 431 00:26:11,039 --> 00:26:15,480 Now, the interesting thing is he could continue to train, not spar 432 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,839 but train with the broken jaw. You have a busted hand like we've been 433 00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:22,640 talking about with Jamil Charlo, that can affect you. You have a busted 434 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,440 knee, Daniel Dubois, you know, busted foot whatever, that's different. 435 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,400 So he could get back in a gym in a few weeks, in a 436 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,599 couple of weeks weeks if you wanted. So you really don't know that. 437 00:26:33,599 --> 00:26:34,759 And the reason I say is because I asked Robert about, like, hey, 438 00:26:34,759 --> 00:26:37,680 what's the prognosis and in terms of how long he's going to be out 439 00:26:37,759 --> 00:26:41,319 or what the situation is. Robert is like, we just don't know, 440 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,119 right, he won't know until the doctor tells us after the surgery, right, 441 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,599 but you we're just not sure how bad it is or what the what 442 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,440 the status of that is a great a great reference point. It's the WBO 443 00:26:52,519 --> 00:26:56,599 Cruiserweight champion, right, help me, Jai Opataia is the is the guy 444 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,839 from Australia. If I haven't right, that beat breed us and he suffered 445 00:27:00,079 --> 00:27:04,240 to help me the bilateral fracture, which means he fractured the jaw all the 446 00:27:04,319 --> 00:27:08,640 way across. And that has been like six eight months ago and he's not 447 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,519 been back in the ring. So you're exactly right on. You don't know, 448 00:27:11,599 --> 00:27:17,799 depending on the severity, how bad it is um and so I'm not 449 00:27:17,839 --> 00:27:21,559 making any diagnosis on there you go. As I said, that was a 450 00:27:21,599 --> 00:27:22,880 disclaim at the very beginning. We're not doctors. Would just play them on 451 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,759 the podcast. We don't know. It's not our jaw and he'll be back. 452 00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:33,799 I'm east all right anyway, hope the bottom line knows tj uh. 453 00:27:33,839 --> 00:27:36,880 If if Bam Rodriguez or his team is listening, you know, good luck, 454 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:38,359 he'll up champ and yeah, see you back in the ring, and 455 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,559 he'd be back in the ring, hopefully in a big time fight by the 456 00:27:41,559 --> 00:27:45,240 fall. Let's hope that's the hope. All right, upset special in the 457 00:27:45,319 --> 00:27:52,880 co feature of again m j Akmadaliev, the unified champ beaten by Tapaulas from 458 00:27:53,279 --> 00:27:56,480 the Philippines. All Right, so you and I we are first ones to 459 00:27:56,559 --> 00:28:00,079 admit we do well most of the time. But you and I got this 460 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,160 one wrong. How and why did we get this wrong? How did Tapolas 461 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:08,880 win this fight? In particular down the stretch of this fight? He took 462 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,599 it in the end. Well, he didn't from the stretch though, TJ. 463 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,759 He took it in the first six rounds of the fight. That's where 464 00:28:15,759 --> 00:28:18,119 he won the fight. Did he not? Did he not win enough though, 465 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:19,880 of the of the final couple of rounds to put himself on What I'm 466 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,039 saying is I mean, if you take a look at the way the scorecards 467 00:28:22,039 --> 00:28:26,039 were, let's back off before we argue. Sure, good, very good 468 00:28:26,039 --> 00:28:30,440 win for to Polas. He is a former BANDOM title holder. He goes 469 00:28:30,559 --> 00:28:33,519 now into this mandatory fight which he's been waiting for. It's like a year 470 00:28:33,559 --> 00:28:37,599 overdue. He's been desperate to get the fight. Uh. I know from 471 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,279 because I talked to his his co promoter, Seawan Gibbons, sometimes and you 472 00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:42,480 know, he's told me, you know how frustrating it was for them to 473 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,759 get this lined up and took a while. They finally got the guy trained. 474 00:28:45,759 --> 00:28:48,519 His rare end off of the fight. And also, let's be clear, 475 00:28:48,599 --> 00:28:52,319 it was a shitty fight. I mean, you know, as I 476 00:28:52,359 --> 00:28:56,839 wrote in my story, it was not a good fight to watch. It 477 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,640 was a rather sloppy fight. But in in in the in the memory banks 478 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,680 of Marlin to Polis will be an all time classic because hes a two division 479 00:29:03,759 --> 00:29:07,839 champion. He knocks off an undefeated fighter who had a lot of credentials and 480 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,200 a lot of skills and talent. And not only that, he doesn't just 481 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,039 get one title, he gets two titles. So you know that's a that's 482 00:29:15,039 --> 00:29:18,559 a big win. Now, as far as win and how he won the 483 00:29:18,599 --> 00:29:22,160 fight, he if you if you take a look at the official scorecards, 484 00:29:22,799 --> 00:29:26,559 uh what went down? I mean, mj Ackmandali if he basically pulled like 485 00:29:26,599 --> 00:29:30,440 what Lomachenko did when he fought against Tifi Molpez, he just didn't fight for 486 00:29:30,519 --> 00:29:33,720 the first half of the fight. Basically. You know, one thing you 487 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:38,440 don't don't understand is this in boxing, if you win round one, close 488 00:29:38,519 --> 00:29:44,519 ten to nine. It counts exactly the same in the end is if you 489 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,079 win round twelve, because you go in there and you win it big, 490 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,680 it's the same thing. It's ten points to nine points. It doesn't matter. 491 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,039 So if you add everything up and you're you know, it's irrelevant how 492 00:29:56,119 --> 00:29:59,480 you do it. You just got to win the round. So he edged 493 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:03,039 out a bunch of those early rounds and he opened a big enough gap where 494 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:07,319 Akmandalia, who had a big second half of the fight, simply could not 495 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,240 overcome that. So if you take a look at the way the scoring went, 496 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:12,799 you have two. First of all, one judge gave the fight to 497 00:30:12,759 --> 00:30:15,839 Acmandala of one eighteen to one ten, which is ridiculous. I mean, 498 00:30:17,519 --> 00:30:19,079 do you want to have a close fight? I can. I can live 499 00:30:19,119 --> 00:30:22,400 with a close fight. And I know I say this all the time about 500 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,319 how you know you might see a fight where round by round is competitive and 501 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,200 one judge just giving it to the same guy. But some of these rounds 502 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,680 weren't really that competitive. That's the thing where it was very clear as day 503 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,400 when Akmadaliah throws like nothing in lands nothing and the other guy, you know, 504 00:30:37,519 --> 00:30:40,960 lands several and throws several that he should win the round, So one 505 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:42,559 eighteen to one ten to me, is a ridiculous outlier. Now, the 506 00:30:42,599 --> 00:30:47,279 other two judges had to fight one fifteen to one thirteen in favor of the 507 00:30:47,319 --> 00:30:51,559 Polace, which is very reasonable. You know, I could certainly understand that 508 00:30:51,559 --> 00:30:55,599 that seemed like a pretty good, pretty good way to score it. Now, 509 00:30:55,759 --> 00:30:59,720 the thing about it was the eighteen ten scorecard was all over the way 510 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,440 out of act that the two judges, who each had at one fifteen to 511 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,960 one thirteen, had the identical scorecards. They called or they scored all twelve 512 00:31:07,079 --> 00:31:11,519 rounds the same, So that to me shows that there were some pattern that 513 00:31:11,599 --> 00:31:15,079 made sense that the other judge didn't see. So you asked, how did 514 00:31:15,079 --> 00:31:17,759 he win the fight? He didn't close strunk. What he did was on 515 00:31:17,839 --> 00:31:22,079 the two judges cards, he won to Polish the first six rounds, so 516 00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:25,960 he's up six rounds to nothing on two cards. He loses round seven, 517 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,839 and then those two judges also gave him round eight, so after eight rounds 518 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,960 he's up seven rounds to one. So he loses now every other round of 519 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:37,039 the fight. Because Akmadalia finally got his ship together and came on really strong, 520 00:31:37,119 --> 00:31:41,480 late and was finally landing punches and being a little more aggressive. But 521 00:31:41,519 --> 00:31:44,079 because he couldn't get a knocked down, and he certainly couldn't get a knock 522 00:31:44,079 --> 00:31:47,200 out he was he just there wasn't If it's a fifteen round fight like the 523 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,480 old days, maybe he wins, but there just wasn't enough rounds for him 524 00:31:49,519 --> 00:31:52,839 to close that gap. So he loses because he didn't do shit for the 525 00:31:52,839 --> 00:31:56,440 first six rounds behind. I got you fell too far behind. He was 526 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,000 in a too deep of a hole. All right, fair enough, And 527 00:32:00,079 --> 00:32:05,599 again I know you were distracted by having multiple fights on multiple screens, all 528 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,480 going off at the same time. I understand that, so I know you 529 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:13,960 weren't able to scrutinize it as closely. But justifiable that to Poulos won this 530 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,599 fight, fair decision. Justifiable, not not that he not that he should 531 00:32:17,599 --> 00:32:22,240 have been an overwhelming winner, but justifiable that he beat out Medala. You 532 00:32:22,279 --> 00:32:25,400 have an upsetting I mean, and because I just because I wasn't watching it 533 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:30,440 closely live. You know, I have gone back and of the stuff that 534 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,759 I was not able to see, not every single fight, but this fight 535 00:32:32,799 --> 00:32:37,200 in particular, and one of the fights on the showtime card that we'll get 536 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:39,559 to. I went back to make sure I saw what I needed to see, 537 00:32:39,599 --> 00:32:45,440 because I was mostly like, my intention was when the night started that 538 00:32:45,559 --> 00:32:49,039 I'm going to focus on the Bam fight. But because of the timing and 539 00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:52,160 I got involved with this one, and I had part of the undercard story 540 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,279 already written, I wanted to just get one done. So I stayed with 541 00:32:54,359 --> 00:32:58,720 the with the ESPN card and followed that through to the end and was able 542 00:32:58,759 --> 00:33:01,519 to publish and write this core business and the undercard first, and I was 543 00:33:01,559 --> 00:33:06,119 watching Damn Live, picked that up a little bit into it, and then 544 00:33:06,119 --> 00:33:08,160 went back and watched the beginning that I had missed, and then I got 545 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,720 absorbed with Fondora. So I was like all over, going back and forth. 546 00:33:10,759 --> 00:33:15,920 But I have watched everything but all three main events, the entire ESPN 547 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:20,680 card, the Aquadalia full fight, most of the Campa and Brandon Lee fight. 548 00:33:21,559 --> 00:33:25,119 Didn't pick too close attention frankly to the Prospect fight in the showtime opener, 549 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,599 and but also because it wasn't conflicting and we'll talk about it for a 550 00:33:29,599 --> 00:33:32,079 minute. I watched the entirety of the ray Ford fight against Jesse Magdaleno, 551 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,559 which was on the Zone card before the Aquadalia fight, So it was a 552 00:33:36,559 --> 00:33:39,599 lot of boxing going on. But in terms of did to Paula's deserve that 553 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:44,279 win one hundred percent yes, And I have to say Akmadalia for all of 554 00:33:44,279 --> 00:33:47,559 this. The talent he has the big amateur background, the Olympic bronze medal 555 00:33:47,559 --> 00:33:54,119 for Uzbekistan in twenty sixteen, ever since he made his HBO debut back when 556 00:33:54,119 --> 00:33:58,839 he was like four, and oh this is like twenty eighteen. I want 557 00:33:58,839 --> 00:34:01,240 to say. I mean, yes, he won a unified title, but 558 00:34:01,279 --> 00:34:06,119 here is in my recollection, and somebody please correct me if I him wrong. 559 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,400 I can't think of a more like unknown, kind of boring, kind 560 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:16,039 of pedestrian unified champion in Boxing's a He's a talented guy. Obviously, he's 561 00:34:16,039 --> 00:34:22,000 got the amateur credentials, but he doesn't have any particular drawing power, certainly 562 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:23,719 not here in the United States and Dakistan. Obviously, I'm sure it's much 563 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:28,000 different. Doesn't have like some big story to tell, at least not that 564 00:34:28,039 --> 00:34:31,760 we've heard. Doesn't have a particularly exciting style. Hasn't been very active. 565 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,880 Fights once a year, maybe he fought twice year, barely, you know, 566 00:34:36,039 --> 00:34:37,400 has been like a couple of okay guys, but doesn't have like a 567 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:43,320 big resume. It's just like just he's just sort of there, and you 568 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,800 know, now he's not there. And to Paulas for whatever you want to 569 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:50,199 say about him, is a more entertaining fighter. It seems to me he's 570 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,840 now a two division champion. He's gonna have a bigger fan base because the 571 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:54,800 Filipino fans, they're gonna love him and oh crazy for him now that he's 572 00:34:54,840 --> 00:35:00,800 won another championship, and very humble and you know how happy to be there, 573 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:01,960 that sort of thing. And you know, hard not to root for 574 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,920 a guy like that, thirty one years old, you know, been uh, 575 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:07,599 you know in the business a long time, is you know, not 576 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,519 never made a lot of money even though he had a title. And now 577 00:35:10,599 --> 00:35:14,119 he's got a big win under his belt, and you know, we'll see 578 00:35:14,119 --> 00:35:15,599 if he can maybe make some hat But he did say in his team, 579 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,840 you know Sean Gibbons as I mentioned his co promoter, talking about how you 580 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,519 know, obviously the big fight that everybody's gonna want because you're gonna get paid, 581 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,480 is to fight the winner of the July fight between Steve and Fulton, 582 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,480 who's got the other two titles in the weight class. And in a way, 583 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,559 and if you if you have the winner of that fight, fight him, 584 00:35:30,639 --> 00:35:34,599 you got now a don't dispute a champion in the junior featherweight division. 585 00:35:34,599 --> 00:35:37,760 Whicher has never been in the four belt era. Uh and I'm not even 586 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:38,760 sure there's ever been one of the three belt here at off the top of 587 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,760 my head. So he's got a chance to maybe being in bobb in that 588 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,360 kind of fight in MJ. I guarantee you we're gonna see him take a 589 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,119 long lay off because he always takes a long lay offs. I mean, 590 00:35:47,119 --> 00:35:51,000 who knows, but uh, you know, well you would think he would 591 00:35:51,039 --> 00:35:52,800 be motivated for a rematch whether they can make that happen, and if you're 592 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,159 to Polish, you want to wait. You want to wait for the possible 593 00:35:55,239 --> 00:36:00,880 undisputed shot like you're talking about obviously that fight. A good thing about this 594 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,800 is that because it was a mandatory defense, unless they signed something in their 595 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:07,159 contract that said to the contract, my understanding is there is no rematch plause. 596 00:36:07,159 --> 00:36:08,159 And thank god, because it was a shitty fight, and who wants 597 00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:12,119 to see that again? It wouldn't generate five sent I mean, that type 598 00:36:12,159 --> 00:36:15,800 of fight is nothing more than an expense for the promoter. It didn't tell 599 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,440 one ticket, it didn't do any kind of like big international television. The 600 00:36:20,519 --> 00:36:22,639 Zone controls the rights pretty much worldwide. Maybe they carved out one country, 601 00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:24,960 the Philippines or something like that, but even if they did, not a 602 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,880 lot of money there. So you know, it's just the notion of a 603 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:30,159 rematch, even if they want to do it for an optional reason, is 604 00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:35,079 not gonna happen. They're gonna the Polis team unless they're ordered to make some 605 00:36:35,199 --> 00:36:37,800 other mandatory which I'm not sure what his schedule is. They're gonna know, 606 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:42,440 and as they should. He just fought a twelve run fight. They can 607 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,559 wait till July to see what happens in that big fight coming up between Stephen 608 00:36:45,559 --> 00:36:49,239 Fulton and Away. All right, Ray Forward, before we move off of 609 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,480 this, I don't you want to say something about how well he fought Saturday 610 00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:55,280 Night in San Antonio before we're done with the match room show from Saturday night 611 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,239 in the recap mode. Yeah, listen, Ray Forward's a featherweight, an 612 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:00,880 up and coming kitty, twenty four years old, a south ball from Camden, 613 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,079 New Jersey, he's now fourteen oh and one with seven knockouts, and 614 00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:07,599 I saw him in his I think I've pretty much seen every one of his 615 00:37:07,599 --> 00:37:10,239 fights because he's been with match Room from day one, and he's been on 616 00:37:10,599 --> 00:37:15,000 their stream every time he's fought, whether it was on the early card and 617 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,079 now then he moved up to the main card. But he's a very talented 618 00:37:17,119 --> 00:37:21,400 fighter, but he sort of like was one of these guys where you watch 619 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:22,599 him and you're like, maybe he can go either way. He's either gonna 620 00:37:22,599 --> 00:37:25,199 shit the bed and not amount to anything, or maybe he's got a chance 621 00:37:25,199 --> 00:37:29,920 to become like a real serious contender and maybe even a champion. And then 622 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:31,679 he had a draw, you know, maybe his like seventh fight, and 623 00:37:31,679 --> 00:37:34,320 you're sort of like, well, okay, I mean you're not gonna write 624 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,320 him off as of a draw, but you're like, you're like, you 625 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,880 need to see something because he wasn't quite impressive. So on the on the 626 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:44,559 card Saturday, on the undercard of the bamrad Rigs fight, he fought Jesse 627 00:37:44,639 --> 00:37:46,880 Magdaleno. Now Jesse Magdaleno maybe not at his best anymore, and he was 628 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:50,800 a champion for a minute at the you know, in the featherweight division, 629 00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:54,039 or in the junior featherweight division I should say, and or maybe it was 630 00:37:54,079 --> 00:37:59,880 even the featherweight division, but regardless, the fact is he was a quality 631 00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:04,599 professional. That was the level of opponent that Rayford had never fought before. 632 00:38:05,079 --> 00:38:07,119 So I was sort of intrigued. I'm like, okay, can can you 633 00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:08,800 do something here? Now? Magalano had won, like I don't know, 634 00:38:09,119 --> 00:38:12,480 you know, three or four fights in a row coming into the fight, 635 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,800 and Ford didn't just win because the win was expected. So I wanted to 636 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:21,480 see, is there a spark? There is there something that I can see 637 00:38:21,519 --> 00:38:23,199 that's gonna be like, hey, this guy is ready to take the next 638 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:28,320 step. And he did everything you could possibly do to win a fight but 639 00:38:28,599 --> 00:38:31,880 not get the knockout. But he had Magdaleno in trouble. He knocked him 640 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:36,119 down in round four, he knocked him down in round eleven. He used 641 00:38:36,159 --> 00:38:39,679 body punches, he used headshots. He fought a brilliant fight. He showed 642 00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:45,519 some aggression when necessary, he showed some ability to show poise. His defense 643 00:38:45,599 --> 00:38:47,400 was solid, like he's a well rounded fighter and he's getting better. And 644 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,280 in the end he won very wide. He won like you know, what 645 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:53,679 was it one nineteen to one oh seven two of the cards. Obviously the 646 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:58,360 two knockdowns get some extra points there, and then like one sixteen one ten 647 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,840 on the third, So that's a big win for him. It was a 648 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:04,960 WB semi final title loin here, so at least it pushes him closer towards 649 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,159 the possibility of a title shot. And I also enjoyed, you know, 650 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:12,199 the chirping the swaggery showed after the fight where he's calling out guys. He's 651 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:15,079 you know he's promoted by Matcham when he's saying, Eddie, don't you know 652 00:39:15,119 --> 00:39:19,800 I want to fight the winner of Lee Wood and Mauriceo Laura too. Don't 653 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,320 give it to that bum Josh Warrington, who is a loser. All he 654 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,239 does is lose. He doesn't deserve it. So he was he was slagging 655 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,840 Josh Warrington big time, and he was also calling out the winner of that 656 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,519 upcoming fight, and I love that. So Ray's got a lot of talent, 657 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,280 He's got a lot of skills in the I think he may have, 658 00:39:35,679 --> 00:39:37,840 at least from my point of view. I can't speak for everybody else, 659 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,599 but what I thought about him was that win against Magaleno. I felt like 660 00:39:40,599 --> 00:39:44,599 he kind of turned the corner where I now view him more as like a 661 00:39:44,599 --> 00:39:46,400 guy that, you know what, he really does have a chance to become 662 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:51,440 a top featherweight to win a title. And we talked about on the podcast 663 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,639 a couple of weeks ago TJ about the depth of the featherweights at the top, 664 00:39:53,679 --> 00:39:58,159 with the champions and their four guys, and everybody's got something interesting going 665 00:39:58,199 --> 00:40:00,800 on. We'll throw Ray forward in there in term as a contender, you 666 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:05,079 know, right below those guys, to make things maybe a little interesting. 667 00:40:05,119 --> 00:40:07,039 So that was a very good win. I was quite impressed with his performance. 668 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:10,880 Good stuff off the match Room show. I have one more card to 669 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,360 get to, some fight news, some nostalgia, and then we're gonna be 670 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:19,679 done. We have waited long enough. The upset of the weekend was twelve 671 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:23,920 to one favorite, Sebastian, the towering Inferno Fundora being knocked out in a 672 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,639 fight that he was dominating. Once again, we say this all the time. 673 00:40:28,679 --> 00:40:30,480 You've been saying it forever. I've been saying it forever on this podcast 674 00:40:30,519 --> 00:40:35,039 and elsewhere and doing sports radio for so many years. Boxing is just different. 675 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,000 There is a twenty one point touchdown for the fourth quarter of a football 676 00:40:38,079 --> 00:40:42,159 game, there is a nine run home run. If you're a baseball fan. 677 00:40:42,519 --> 00:40:45,639 There is a fifteen point shot if you're a basketball fan. It's called 678 00:40:45,639 --> 00:40:50,320 one punch. And my lord, did Brian Mendoza land the one punch that 679 00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:54,000 stood Sebastian Fundora straight up, stunned, and then bam bam with a one 680 00:40:54,079 --> 00:41:00,400 two he knocked him down. Fundora's head slammed on the ground and he didn't 681 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:01,920 make it up by the count of tan. He was sitting there in the 682 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:05,800 seated position. He's not what is it? Should I do? Should do? 683 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,119 The quote sho did Apperson. He's not getting up, Jim. He's 684 00:41:07,159 --> 00:41:12,440 not getting up Jim from Roy Jones Junior on many parts. But he wasn't 685 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,880 getting up. But he also wasn't face first like many but he was still 686 00:41:15,039 --> 00:41:17,880 une. He could have counted fifteen. He wasn't getting up. No, 687 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,800 he was sitting. And I mean here's the thing. I saw him sitting 688 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,599 there and some people were again the trolls and the dummies on social media making 689 00:41:25,639 --> 00:41:29,239 reference to oh he quit, dude, he didn't quit. He was gone. 690 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,280 He wasn't right. I don't know where he was, couldn't get up. 691 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:35,480 Yes, yeah, no, no, I mean it was I call 692 00:41:35,519 --> 00:41:37,719 it the feel good story when you see a guy like Brian Mendoza and I 693 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,400 and I kind of feel bad for Fendora, but that's the life they chose. 694 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,559 I mean, they're professional boxers and those types of losses can happen. 695 00:41:44,599 --> 00:41:47,079 But if you go and take a look, you know what, three fights 696 00:41:47,079 --> 00:41:52,079 ago, Mendoza is just a guy. PBC feeds him to Hazer's Ramos. 697 00:41:52,119 --> 00:41:54,920 He loses a decision, you know, doesn't look particularly good. He's like 698 00:41:55,119 --> 00:41:58,639 enoughhing, you know, he's just a guy basically, you know, okay, 699 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:00,719 but you know he's still hard working guy. You give m another chance. 700 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,880 They throw him in there with Jason Rosario. Rosario is supposed to win 701 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,119 that fight, former champion in one hundred fifty four pound division unified. They're 702 00:42:07,119 --> 00:42:12,000 not fighting at middleweight, big puncher, and out of nowhere, he knocks 703 00:42:12,039 --> 00:42:15,320 him out, you know, very impressive. Sends Rosario into retirement, so, 704 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:19,480 you know what, he gets the opportunity. As we discussed at length, 705 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,559 the previous to the fight, Fondora was sort of in a holding pattern. 706 00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:27,159 He's kind of running in place. He's there sitting as the WBC's interim 707 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,519 WBC interim title holder at one fifty four, Charlo is undisputed. He's going 708 00:42:31,559 --> 00:42:35,000 to get a shot at him at some point, but he's backed up. 709 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,760 Charlo is off with an hand injury. He's out for a bit, maybe 710 00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:40,400 till the summer. He's got two other mandatories that will pume before the WBC, 711 00:42:40,519 --> 00:42:44,119 and I'm not even sure of the status of the w BA, but 712 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,400 I know for sure that tim Zoo was supposed to be next, and then 713 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:51,559 Backram of the IBF is next after that, and so he's looking at like 714 00:42:51,639 --> 00:42:54,320 at least three fights. Charlo is lucky if he's gonna fight once this year. 715 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:59,199 And my point is that fights at least a year away, so we're 716 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:00,920 not gonna just not fight. You gotta make money, you gotta your name 717 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:05,559 and all that. So they've took like, you know, I don't even 718 00:43:05,639 --> 00:43:07,880 consider it like a gamble. They matched him with Mendoza, considered a regular 719 00:43:08,199 --> 00:43:13,079 fighter, and they looked like they were doing the right thing because, as 720 00:43:13,119 --> 00:43:15,360 you mentioned, Fendora was tattooing him with the uppercuts, and you know, 721 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,800 we won every single round. It was six to nothing on two square cards. 722 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,320 One of the judges gave a Mendoza a courtesy round in round one because 723 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:27,440 really nothing happened. So it was five one on that card, and it 724 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,519 looks like it's just gonna be a matter of time. Maybe I'll knock him 725 00:43:29,519 --> 00:43:31,920 out, maybe I'll win a blowout decision, and then all of a sudden, 726 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:36,559 you know how it happens. Man, He landed a left hook, 727 00:43:36,679 --> 00:43:38,159 you know, a big overhand, like is like a half hook, half 728 00:43:38,159 --> 00:43:43,320 overhand, just right on the button. And you said he stood straight up, 729 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,159 He actually buckled and his knees did the dipsie and he was all that 730 00:43:46,199 --> 00:43:50,480 he could stand, like I feel like if he doesn't, he had him 731 00:43:50,519 --> 00:43:52,920 standing. It was almost like with slow motion. So his legs buckled badly. 732 00:43:54,039 --> 00:43:57,920 And if you don't throw another punch, he looks like he's gonna fall 733 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,280 down without even anything else happening. But Mendoza, you know, protect yourself 734 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,599 at all times, and you don't stop throwing punches till your man's on the 735 00:44:04,599 --> 00:44:08,039 ground. He threw two more hilicious shots. He caught him with another right 736 00:44:08,039 --> 00:44:12,000 hand and another left, and he was flat on his back. I mean, 737 00:44:12,199 --> 00:44:15,239 I don't even think those two punches obviously punctuated it. But I don't 738 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:19,119 even think he needed those shots to end the fight. And he sat up, 739 00:44:19,119 --> 00:44:21,239 but he was gone, man, and they counted him out and head 740 00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:23,000 again, the double impact, the head hit the canvas, and when he 741 00:44:23,079 --> 00:44:25,440 sat up, he was gone. He was not there. To use your 742 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:30,719 word, what a knockout. What a moment. This is about. Now, 743 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:34,519 this is interesting. This is not Monday morning quarterbacking, even though it's 744 00:44:34,519 --> 00:44:39,800 a Monday morning released the podcast. When Fondora fought Ericson Lubin in their tremendous 745 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:44,519 fight, Lubin hit him a bunch and knocked him down in that fight. 746 00:44:45,119 --> 00:44:50,840 I am not saying that that this was bound to happen, destined to happen, 747 00:44:51,039 --> 00:44:53,440 etc. Except that even early on in this fight, a couple of 748 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:58,960 times Mendoza caught him with a punch where he's he's wailing at him, but 749 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,639 he's open and he's egg and he's he's wide open to take a counter. 750 00:45:02,039 --> 00:45:06,519 And that's kind of what happened here. He was open. Boom, the 751 00:45:06,559 --> 00:45:09,440 shot, the shot lands, and man, this is why we love boxing. 752 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:14,199 It can turn. Two things about that. Number one, when when 753 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:17,639 he got knocked down by Lubin, he knew he had been hit and was 754 00:45:17,679 --> 00:45:22,280 in trouble. His mind was right, and he purposely took a knee because 755 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,159 he knew we needed a respite to sort of collect himself. So I thought 756 00:45:25,159 --> 00:45:28,199 that was you know, despite giving up the knock, and I thought that 757 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,280 was very intelligent. So this was different. This was not like he took 758 00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:34,559 any of This was he got, you know, annihilated. Different, big 759 00:45:34,599 --> 00:45:37,239 difference now in terms of getting hit the way he got hit, and it 760 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,840 happened in the Lubin fight and obviously happened in this fight. The thing that 761 00:45:40,039 --> 00:45:45,199 makes Fandora a fan friendly kind of fighter, as I like the joke he 762 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:49,239 puts the fun in boxing Fandora because he's a six foot six guy, but 763 00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:52,840 he doesn't use his height. That's and I've had I've had that conversation with 764 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:58,199 his promoter, Samson Lukewitz before about he has these incredible physical attributes, the 765 00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,800 wingspan of the heavyweight, the height of a heavyweight. You know of a 766 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:06,840 big heavyweight, six foot six, a big man, very very tall, 767 00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:08,760 and he'd never used the height. He never put that to his use. 768 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:14,559 He bends over, He makes himself small. In boxing, you improve yourself 769 00:46:14,559 --> 00:46:17,760 by making yourself bigger and taller and longer, and that's that's going to help 770 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,360 you, you know, control where your opponent is in the distance of the 771 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,960 fight. But that's one of his things that he's not been able to perfect. 772 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:29,360 And it's to our benefit because it makes it a lot of fun. 773 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:34,559 It's to his non benefit because he got knocked the fuck out and he did 774 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:38,800 okay, and to his credit class and even Jim Gray put the question to 775 00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:42,599 him, hey, you took a fight here that you didn't really have to 776 00:46:42,599 --> 00:46:45,920 take and you got knocked out, and he immediately said he had his wits 777 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:50,039 about him that hey, you know, I'm paraphrasing here, You've got to 778 00:46:50,039 --> 00:46:52,119 have fights, and so I took the risk and I will be back. 779 00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:57,239 I thought that was any credited Mendoza for the knockout, and I thought that 780 00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,960 was a really good attitude in defeat here. And I have a feeling we're 781 00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,000 gonna see this again now on the heels of the knockout, because Pundura is 782 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,280 a guy they were trying to promote, push, move him up, move 783 00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,639 him up in status, and now he's been beaten. So the rematch has 784 00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:15,280 intrigue for that reason, kind of not unlike in this same Division when Tony 785 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:21,320 Harrison upset Jamil Charlo in the first place. Now the rematch has intrigue for 786 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:23,880 the WBC version of the title when they rematch it, which it took eventually 787 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:28,079 a year later. So those are my thoughts on that, any any closing 788 00:47:28,079 --> 00:47:32,480 thoughts on the knockout win and at a potential future rematch. I think a 789 00:47:32,559 --> 00:47:36,199 rematch is possible. I mean, you know, Mendoza's gonna want to get 790 00:47:36,199 --> 00:47:37,679 paid. Obviously, Fendora I'm sure would take it. I mean, I 791 00:47:37,679 --> 00:47:40,239 don't know if that's next. I don't know if it's in their contract. 792 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:44,840 That wasn't a mandatory fight. You'd figure if they're doing their job that they 793 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:47,159 probably did get a rematchplause. I don't like rematch clauses, but frankly, 794 00:47:47,159 --> 00:47:52,079 this was the kind of fight where if there was no remissplause it would probably 795 00:47:52,119 --> 00:47:54,480 make sense because again, miss Mendoza, he was talking about Charlo also, 796 00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:57,559 but he's in the same boat. He's not getting that shot either. It's 797 00:47:57,559 --> 00:47:59,760 not like suddenly he cuts to the front of the line. He's in that 798 00:48:00,159 --> 00:48:01,760 position of having to wait a couple of fights at least to get that shot. 799 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,840 Anyway, So a rematch might make the most sense. I could certainly 800 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,880 see that happening. That's something we'll have to see how it plays out. 801 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:14,920 But I had like, I felt bad for Fendor because he's such a likable 802 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,760 guy number one. So you know when you get that that's a hard knock 803 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,679 that's a rough knockout, that that's a but that's not just like, you 804 00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:23,400 know, I got caught and they stopped the fighter. I got knocked down, 805 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:25,440 and you know I got a little the guy. You know, I 806 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:30,000 kind of overwhelming in the follow up attack or whatever. This was a hilacious, 807 00:48:30,079 --> 00:48:34,800 brutal, monster k with the year kind of knockout. So in that 808 00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,800 sense, you feel bad, But on the slip side, Hockey again not 809 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:39,880 feel good about a guy like Mendoza. He made the point in some of 810 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:45,119 his post fight comments that you know, not that many fights ago, three 811 00:48:45,199 --> 00:48:49,280 four fights ago, he's fighting the walkout about like a swing fight, where 812 00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,559 you don't know, you're gloved up, but you don't know if you're going 813 00:48:51,599 --> 00:48:53,119 to go in the ring early, if the fight goes short, or if 814 00:48:53,119 --> 00:48:55,960 you're gonna maybe wait till later in the fight. Later in the car, 815 00:48:57,239 --> 00:48:59,840 talking about how I'm a swing fight I don't even go on till after the 816 00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:01,679 event and nobody's there, and it's like nobody knows why, and nobody gives 817 00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:07,159 a shit. And now making any money money exactly now here, he is 818 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:12,400 not that much. In the future, he's on the main event on showtime. 819 00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:17,480 He scores a huge win. He made eighty five thousand dollars for the 820 00:49:17,519 --> 00:49:20,920 fight, which is not a lot of money in boxing at the highest level, 821 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:23,000 But for Brian Mendoza, I can assure you that's his biggest payday. 822 00:49:24,559 --> 00:49:28,280 He wins the fight, they give him a beautiful belt. I mean, 823 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:30,280 it's not the real title, but for him it's a big deal. He 824 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,920 talked about I want to go put this around my mom. You know who 825 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,199 was there in the crowd, you know, watching the fight. I guess 826 00:49:36,199 --> 00:49:38,159 he was in the carter, not at home. Give it to mom um. 827 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:44,519 And you know, this is like will be whatever happens in his future. 828 00:49:44,519 --> 00:49:46,280 He if he goes on it becomes the undisputed champion. This is like 829 00:49:46,599 --> 00:49:52,079 you saw like one of, if not the biggest moment of this man's life, 830 00:49:52,119 --> 00:49:54,679 at least in terms of his profession. You know, unfold before you 831 00:49:54,719 --> 00:49:58,639 and how do you not feel good? And happy for a kid like that 832 00:49:58,639 --> 00:50:01,920 that was nothing nowhere busted his ass. You know, no one gave him 833 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:06,840 anything. He got the win over Rozario, so he incense earned the opportunity 834 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:08,840 against Fandor even though he was a huge underdog. So from that point of 835 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:13,119 view, you gotta be throwed forman. That's one of the things I like 836 00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:15,159 about boxing that, you know, what's the old saying, You know, 837 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:22,840 yesterday's nobody is tomorrow somebody, and that's Brian Mendoza this weekend, no doubt 838 00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,079 about that. And bring it back, Bring it back like in August, 839 00:50:25,079 --> 00:50:30,280 September something like that. Give give Fondora some time to recover. But now 840 00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:34,280 you've got some sizzle on a rematch here between these two. I want to 841 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:37,960 see the towering Inferno try to try to get the stink off of him, 842 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,800 get the L get the l stink off of him. And we often say 843 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,480 this in sports, and it's true in boxing. Now we're going to find 844 00:50:44,519 --> 00:50:47,639 out about Sebastian Fundora one way or the other. Adversity reveals character. We 845 00:50:47,719 --> 00:50:52,000 found it out about Mendoza, like you were just talking about, he didn't 846 00:50:52,079 --> 00:50:54,559 let losses and having to fight him walk out fights, to find him at 847 00:50:54,559 --> 00:50:59,000 this point, and he has now scored a huge win. Now we'll find 848 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,400 out about Fondora. What does he have here? And I know it's podcast. 849 00:51:01,599 --> 00:51:05,000 I'm pointing to my heart. I'm pointing in my chest. You can 850 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,760 hear my vibration in my voice. What does he have right here? We're 851 00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:09,559 about to find that out. If he can go in a rematch and get 852 00:51:09,599 --> 00:51:13,760 it back, or what happens next with him, we will find that out 853 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:19,280 or anything else. I know Brandon Lee won the co feature there from Carson 854 00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:22,679 and the Dignity Health Sports Complex. Anything else on the showtime PPC card or 855 00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:24,880 we good on that and ready to move on to some news. Well, 856 00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:28,440 just it relates to Brandon Lee. I mean he was in with Pedro Kampa. 857 00:51:28,559 --> 00:51:31,440 Tough dude, this you know it was. I didn't really think it 858 00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:35,760 was that great of a fight. I mean it was as I expressed to 859 00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:39,159 you earlier that the Campau constant of these types of opponents has been kind of 860 00:51:39,159 --> 00:51:42,559 annoying to me. Campa was, I guess, is a little bit of 861 00:51:42,599 --> 00:51:45,079 a step up and Brandon, like frankly, didn't really look very good. 862 00:51:45,079 --> 00:51:49,920 So he got some too, which is a concern. So I think, 863 00:51:50,119 --> 00:51:52,719 uh, like, I've always had Brandon as a high regard in terms of 864 00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:57,039 his prospect level, But I don't know, maybe the luster is off a 865 00:51:57,079 --> 00:51:59,320 little bit. I don't know. I mean, I thought the scores were 866 00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:01,280 a little wide. I mean, honestly, they one judge had at ninety 867 00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:06,159 one. I thought Campa did much better than that. Ninety two seemed a 868 00:52:06,159 --> 00:52:07,039 little wide. You know, I could live with ninety seven ninety three. 869 00:52:07,039 --> 00:52:12,440 That didn't seem out of the realm um. But I can understand why Campa 870 00:52:12,519 --> 00:52:15,320 was upset by the way the scores were. Um. You know, Brandon 871 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:17,360 Lee's got a lot to look out on that video to see what he can 872 00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,920 what he can gather, and you know, if he can get another uh 873 00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:23,119 test type of fight with a with a little bit of a better level of 874 00:52:23,119 --> 00:52:27,360 opponent Wasso, where he goes. But I have to be honest with you, 875 00:52:28,039 --> 00:52:32,360 whatever prospectness that people thought of with Brandon Lee over the last couple of 876 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:37,760 years, he's edging two more of suspect as far as I can tell right 877 00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:39,079 now. It doesn't mean he's not a good fighter and he can't go on 878 00:52:39,119 --> 00:52:44,039 and and and and make a good career and do some things, but I 879 00:52:44,079 --> 00:52:46,400 think there's more questions now than there have been based on the way he's performed 880 00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:51,159 in recent fights. That's just me. I don't have anything bad to say 881 00:52:51,159 --> 00:52:53,039 about him as a perple. I've actually met Brandon Lee a bunch of times 882 00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:57,320 known as team and you know, interviewed him a couple of times. A 883 00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:00,920 nice guy, uh, good amateur and all that. But you know, 884 00:53:01,119 --> 00:53:04,719 boxing is uh, you know, show me. It's what have you done 885 00:53:04,760 --> 00:53:07,360 for me lately? And he hasn't done much. Well, we got to 886 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:08,920 see him do it in a future, bigger fight against a bigger name, 887 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:14,079 So we'll see a So that wraps up the showtime PBC card. On the 888 00:53:14,119 --> 00:53:16,360 recap, let's get to some fight news and a little nostalgia before we're done. 889 00:53:16,599 --> 00:53:21,079 So Top Rank did make it official. What you had been reporting and 890 00:53:21,119 --> 00:53:23,599 what had been rumored in it now has a date as well. June tenth 891 00:53:23,639 --> 00:53:30,840 will be Josh Taylor Taya Femo Lopez WBO Junior Walter Waite world title fight. 892 00:53:31,559 --> 00:53:35,440 This will be at the Madison Square Garden Hulu Theater, not at the main 893 00:53:35,519 --> 00:53:40,760 Garden. And it was interesting Taylor was in new work on site with Mark 894 00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:45,360 Kriegel but Taya Femo Lopez was not there. He was at the UFC pay 895 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:49,239 per view instead, so that was a bit odd, but he was there 896 00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:53,599 on video hook up. They did. They did the traditional usual trade insults. 897 00:53:53,639 --> 00:53:57,440 It's kind of it's kind of not the same when one guy's via satellite, 898 00:53:57,480 --> 00:53:59,599 as we like to say, sitting somewhere else. All Right, so 899 00:53:59,639 --> 00:54:02,119 the fight is official. Your thoughts on this, as we're gonna get this 900 00:54:02,159 --> 00:54:05,360 now in a couple of months. Well, I got a few thoughts. 901 00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:07,079 Number one, the fact that Tifemo was not there didn't make a difference to 902 00:54:07,119 --> 00:54:09,559 me. The fact that they were being able to do it on a video 903 00:54:09,599 --> 00:54:13,199 thing. I mean, go back to the heyday of HBO pay per view. 904 00:54:13,199 --> 00:54:15,599 They'd come on a live show when the two guys would be both on 905 00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:17,599 locations and they would do them on the split screen. So I actually thought 906 00:54:17,639 --> 00:54:21,960 that the back and forth between them was extremely amusing. They were talking shit 907 00:54:22,039 --> 00:54:24,039 with each other, but it wasn't like the nasty, terrible kind of stuff 908 00:54:24,079 --> 00:54:28,639 that was being said between like, for example, most recently Benavides and Plants, 909 00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,239 when they were just very profane in their in their back and forth. 910 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:35,639 I thought that the way that Josh and and Tifemo handled it. It was 911 00:54:35,719 --> 00:54:38,639 just enough, like you know, f you kind of they didn't say the 912 00:54:38,679 --> 00:54:42,599 bad words, but it was they were chippy, but they were funny. 913 00:54:42,679 --> 00:54:45,519 I actually I got the feeling they kind of liked each other. Actually, 914 00:54:45,559 --> 00:54:49,159 even though Taylor did Taylor call him? Who called Who's sweetheart? Did Taylor 915 00:54:49,199 --> 00:54:52,440 call him sweethearts? I forget who said with that, but it was I 916 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:54,000 mean, if you haven't seen it, it's like, you know, it's 917 00:54:54,039 --> 00:54:58,760 about five six minutes in the middle of the Top Rank show, before the 918 00:54:59,199 --> 00:55:02,039 before the I think before the main event, correct, But it's definitely worth 919 00:55:02,119 --> 00:55:06,639 watching because it was very amusing and you know, you'd like to see how 920 00:55:06,639 --> 00:55:08,800 they're going to size each other up. So I got the distinct feeling that 921 00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:12,039 they kind of even though I don't think they know each other, but they 922 00:55:12,119 --> 00:55:15,639 kind of like respect each other for taking the fight and all the stuff that 923 00:55:15,679 --> 00:55:19,440 goes into it. But of course they both want to win very badly. 924 00:55:19,679 --> 00:55:22,639 But the thing that was to me the intriguing part is the June tenth date 925 00:55:22,639 --> 00:55:25,239 at the Garden was not a surprise, as I was told all along. 926 00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:30,440 Before they could make any official announcement, they needed to figure out can we 927 00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:35,000 get Josh Taylor in the United States. The problem wasn't making the fight. 928 00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:38,639 The problem was because like many or all of the fighters that were associated with 929 00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:44,480 MTK before they went out of business, was that association because of the involvement 930 00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:46,639 of Daniel Kinahan. If you don't know what that's about, it's your google. 931 00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:51,400 The bottom line is a lot of the fighters from NTK and people that 932 00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:52,960 were involved with them are not allowed to travel to the United States because of 933 00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:58,239 the government's bounty. Essentially they have on Kinahan for five million dollars in his 934 00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:01,519 associates that they want for all kinds of terrible crimes. Not the fighters, 935 00:56:01,519 --> 00:56:06,199 but I mean, but people who are associated with that group for whatever reason. 936 00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:07,840 So they had like two hundred fighters, and so Josh Taylor was one 937 00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:12,239 of them, and so light Tyson Fury, like Tommy Fury, like any 938 00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:14,760 number of other guys. He was not allowed to get to the States. 939 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,920 They had to get the paperwork situated. So top rank kept it really quiet. 940 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,840 I knew that they were trying to work that out, and that before 941 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:22,440 they were gonna ounce a fight, as it was said to me, We're 942 00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,320 going to do a test run. We're gonna try to get him here, 943 00:56:25,639 --> 00:56:29,639 get him all of his medicals, make sure all a set, and then 944 00:56:29,719 --> 00:56:30,800 we know we can get him back in. The visa is no problem. 945 00:56:31,079 --> 00:56:34,360 And they were able to get it done this week and he was able to 946 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:37,119 come to Newark, and so now they're not going to have a problem presumably 947 00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:42,079 having him return to the States come early June to have this big fight. 948 00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:45,760 So the other thing you mentioned about it was it's going to be at the 949 00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:47,679 Madison Square Garden Theater, and my first thought was, boy, that's at 950 00:56:47,679 --> 00:56:52,000 the Madison Square Garden Theater. That's a much bigger fight than that when Tiafimo 951 00:56:52,079 --> 00:56:54,440 Lopez fought in December and a fight that I went to against Sandra Martin, 952 00:56:54,519 --> 00:56:59,880 which was not a big fight but just the Fimo back in action. But 953 00:57:00,039 --> 00:57:01,159 that was in the main arena and it actually drew pretty well. There was 954 00:57:01,199 --> 00:57:05,280 probably like, you know, nine or ten thousand for that for that event 955 00:57:05,599 --> 00:57:07,480 on which you know, big baby. You know, Jared Anderson fought in 956 00:57:07,559 --> 00:57:12,400 there, as did Keishan Davis. Anyway, as I have come to find 957 00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:15,239 out the reason that it's at the Madison Square Garden theaters not because they don't 958 00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:17,519 think he can sell or it's not a great event. It's because Madison Square 959 00:57:17,519 --> 00:57:21,840 Garden can't give them the main arena because it has a booking hold, because 960 00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,719 it is on a Rangers potential playoff date. New York Hockey Rangers. So 961 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:30,320 the NHL and the NBA schedules for playoffs always take precedent over a boxing match 962 00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:32,639 or a concert or any other activity that may take place in the Madison Square 963 00:57:32,679 --> 00:57:37,079 Garden. I'll even go a step further with you. The hold there by 964 00:57:37,119 --> 00:57:39,519 guy the whole right because of the lightning and because the NHL, the hold 965 00:57:39,519 --> 00:57:44,719 would be that's the Stanley Cup Finals. So the Rangers may have aspirations to 966 00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:47,079 do well in the playoffs, but the hold is there. Of okay, 967 00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:51,559 that Saturday night would be a Stanley Cup Final. And if I'm not mistaken, 968 00:57:52,159 --> 00:57:55,440 this may be wrong, that may be Game seven already mapped out by 969 00:57:55,440 --> 00:58:00,960 the television networks, by ESPN, SLASH, ABC and by Turner that that 970 00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:04,480 would be Game seven. And so what you're saying, just for the boxing 971 00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:08,639 fans is the Garden is told top rank and the fighters and the camps, 972 00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:14,199 Hey, we cannot, we cannot commit to that date. That date is 973 00:58:14,239 --> 00:58:16,760 on hold. So if you want to fight on that date here, now 974 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:21,280 have it in the Hulu theater, and they're gonna probably up the ticket price 975 00:58:21,400 --> 00:58:23,679 in the Hulu Theater because it's a more premium ticket because it's fewer seats. 976 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:27,480 That's just the business side of me thinking out loud. Agreed, No, 977 00:58:27,559 --> 00:58:30,840 yeah, I mean the reality is any building in the United States or at 978 00:58:30,880 --> 00:58:36,760 Canada wherever there is a professional meaning NBA or NHL franchise, part of that 979 00:58:37,119 --> 00:58:40,519 business arrangement with those arenas is they have to have the playoff dates on hold 980 00:58:42,079 --> 00:58:44,639 unless you're not in the playoffs obviously, but the Rangers are going to be 981 00:58:44,639 --> 00:58:46,320 in the playoffs, and if you're in the playoffs, so you would theoretically 982 00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:50,159 have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. So that's the way it is. 983 00:58:50,199 --> 00:58:52,519 So the thing that would suggested to me, and I don't think that 984 00:58:52,639 --> 00:58:55,920 this is for sure, is that if the Rangers were to be eliminated in 985 00:58:55,960 --> 00:59:00,480 short order, or it was very clear that you know, within a reasonable 986 00:59:00,519 --> 00:59:05,159 time frame before the fight that they weren't going to participate or be involved that 987 00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:08,119 level, that there's maybe a chance they could switch it to the big room. 988 00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:12,079 That would cause a little bit of havoc with people that maybe have already 989 00:59:12,119 --> 00:59:15,920 purchased tickets, etc. But it could theoretically be done, is what I 990 00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:17,760 was told. Obviously, we'll have to wait and see what happens with that, 991 00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:21,760 But the bottom line is that's a really good matchup. It's a really 992 00:59:21,760 --> 00:59:24,199 good fight. It is for Taylor's WBO title. It is also for the 993 00:59:24,199 --> 00:59:29,800 lineal title he was undisputed for different reasons. Obviously he vacated or stripped to 994 00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:31,960 the other three belts that have now been passed around from you know, and 995 00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:35,920 other guys have picked them up. But I know Taylor looked bad in his 996 00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:39,639 last fight against Catterall Tiffimo Lopez. Obviously a lot of struggles when he came 997 00:59:39,679 --> 00:59:44,239 back in terms of the way he performed. He beat Cajo Kampa, the 998 00:59:44,239 --> 00:59:46,760 same fighter that gave a lot of problems to Brandon Lee. He scored a 999 00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:50,880 knockout in that fight in his debut at the Way Class that was last August. 1000 00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:53,280 Now he comes into the fight in December against Sandra Martin and he struggled 1001 00:59:53,280 --> 00:59:55,199 in that fight big time. He won, but he got knocked down, 1002 00:59:55,239 --> 00:59:58,920 and you know, he was such a basketcase emotionally after the fight he didn't 1003 00:59:58,920 --> 01:00:01,280 come to the press commerce that's off of a victory, so clearly they knew 1004 01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:06,280 there were some issues there, and so there's question marks about both these guys, 1005 01:00:06,320 --> 01:00:08,000 you know, and so, but it's still for the title, and 1006 01:00:08,039 --> 01:00:12,039 it's still two good personalities, and it's you know, should be a pretty 1007 01:00:12,079 --> 01:00:15,400 interesting fight. So I'm super excited for that. I'll definitely make the trip 1008 01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:17,119 to New York for that one. There we go June tenth on that I 1009 01:00:17,119 --> 01:00:20,679 had two more news items than some nostalgia and then we got to get out 1010 01:00:20,679 --> 01:00:22,360 of here. You were notifying me. I was not aware of this because 1011 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:25,639 I don't keep up as much with Instagram. My twins keep up with Instagram 1012 01:00:25,639 --> 01:00:30,960 and tell me what's going on that. Anthony Joshua has put something Sunday Evening 1013 01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:36,280 on Instagram about his future details. Please, what's the latest with the former 1014 01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:42,559 unified heavyweight champion. Well, it was kind of a cryptic kind of post. 1015 01:00:42,599 --> 01:00:45,760 I guess it wasn't a video. It was just like a written message 1016 01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:50,079 in a picture for him where he said that. Well back up to like 1017 01:00:50,159 --> 01:00:53,800 last week, he had won the fight against Jermaine Franklin in a very uneven 1018 01:00:53,840 --> 01:00:57,960 performance but a victory nonetheless, and after the fight was over, there was 1019 01:00:58,599 --> 01:01:02,719 massive conversation from him from Eddie hearn that We're gonna get Joshua back in the 1020 01:01:02,800 --> 01:01:06,599 ring, hopefully three times this year, and I'm definitely fighting in the summer. 1021 01:01:06,800 --> 01:01:10,039 He said it multiple times on the broadcast and subsequent interviews. He's coming 1022 01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:14,559 back and fighting in like July. No opponent yet. Okay. Now, 1023 01:01:14,559 --> 01:01:16,000 the hope wasn't maybe could they make a Tyson Fury fight. He's he gonna 1024 01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:19,920 take a smaller fight or is he gonna take like maybe a Dylan White rematch? 1025 01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:22,239 I mean, but the point was he's you know, he's in a 1026 01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:24,000 new situation. He's not fighting in title fights season with a new trainer. 1027 01:01:24,039 --> 01:01:27,519 We need to get reps. I'm coming back into the ring. I'm going 1028 01:01:27,599 --> 01:01:30,840 to fight this summer. Sounds good to me. And so then, like 1029 01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:34,000 you mentioned, it comes along on Sunday and he posts that I Am not 1030 01:01:34,119 --> 01:01:38,960 fighting. I'll be back in December. Okay, you just spinish on any 1031 01:01:39,000 --> 01:01:43,400 calendar. Is not the summer. Yeah, it's not the summer. And 1032 01:01:43,440 --> 01:01:45,639 so you know, he spent all the time over the last you know, 1033 01:01:45,719 --> 01:01:49,159 weeks since the fight, like in the immediate aftermath of the fight, talking 1034 01:01:49,159 --> 01:01:51,639 about how he's gonna fight in the summer. But the problem why, I 1035 01:01:51,639 --> 01:01:53,360 think people were sort of irritated by it. Not that he doesn't have the 1036 01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:55,679 right to make his schedule, however he wants to make it. I mean, 1037 01:01:55,719 --> 01:02:00,519 I don't have a barrow with that, obviously, but you didn't give 1038 01:02:00,519 --> 01:02:02,440 a reason. He and I'm looking at it. I just called Instagram, 1039 01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:08,000 he wrote simply, my next fight is descheduled for December. Not ideal, 1040 01:02:08,199 --> 01:02:13,280 but everything is part of a bigger picture. Could you be more fucking cryptic? 1041 01:02:13,639 --> 01:02:16,039 Yeah, So, we don't think this is an injury. We don't 1042 01:02:16,079 --> 01:02:19,760 think this is an injury. We haven't led to believe it'd be an injury. 1043 01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:22,800 We don't know if there is a qualifier, if there is an injury. 1044 01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:25,360 I'm saying this. If there is an injury, that makes a difference. 1045 01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:30,079 But if this is more of the games of let's play the waiting game, 1046 01:02:30,559 --> 01:02:32,480 let's wait and see if a Tyson Fury fight shakes out. I mean, 1047 01:02:32,480 --> 01:02:36,800 he's not fighting Alexander Usk again, no matter what, not right now, 1048 01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:39,079 not anytime soon. So this has to be does it not? Mighty 1049 01:02:39,079 --> 01:02:44,280 one? This has to be that he thinks the Tyson Fury fight could shake 1050 01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:47,440 out, and why take a risk between now and a Fury fight shaking out? 1051 01:02:47,760 --> 01:02:52,760 Just connecting dots. Yes, so number one, if it was an 1052 01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:54,559 injury, just say so. You don't have to give the details of the 1053 01:02:54,599 --> 01:02:58,039 injury. If you want to keep the secret, just say, you know, 1054 01:02:58,199 --> 01:03:01,559 I got some I got a physical situation from the fight against Franklin and 1055 01:03:01,599 --> 01:03:05,760 it's going to keep me out until December. I mean, I think most 1056 01:03:05,800 --> 01:03:07,239 people would accept that, But when you make it so cryptic like that, 1057 01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:09,440 all you do is pretty much you pick, you know, you kind of 1058 01:03:09,440 --> 01:03:15,679 pick. You piss people off with that. Yes, Depmber November December is 1059 01:03:15,679 --> 01:03:20,119 the time frame when supposedly Saudi Arabia is amenable to a big fight. That's 1060 01:03:20,159 --> 01:03:23,239 the reason why Usick and Fury did not happen in Saudi Arabia and April, 1061 01:03:23,239 --> 01:03:25,639 because they weren't going to do an event there for their different reasons, part 1062 01:03:25,639 --> 01:03:30,840 of it maybe being rod On and for other reasons, but that they wanted 1063 01:03:30,840 --> 01:03:32,760 to do that fight, but maybe you could wait till September, and that 1064 01:03:32,920 --> 01:03:36,599 wasn't going to work for Fury or Usic. It wasn't going to work for 1065 01:03:36,599 --> 01:03:38,800 the organizations with the mandatories, and you know, they tried to do the 1066 01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:43,000 deal for April. It obviously did not happen. But if they're in the 1067 01:03:43,039 --> 01:03:45,320 market for a big time fight come December, maybe it won't be for the 1068 01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:51,559 end disputed title, but from a worldwide exposure, interest, money all that. 1069 01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:58,320 The bigger fight is obviously Joshua versus Tyson Fury for Tyson Furies lineal title, 1070 01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:01,159 the WBC title. That's as big a fight as you can make in 1071 01:04:01,239 --> 01:04:05,079 boxing. So if that's the reason, I can accept that. But once 1072 01:04:05,119 --> 01:04:09,400 again, I'm kind of pissed off that he would put up a cryptic message 1073 01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:12,199 like that, not really spell it out. I mean, but if that's 1074 01:04:12,239 --> 01:04:13,840 the way it's going to be, that's the way it's going to be. 1075 01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:15,320 I mean, I hope he's okay. I wish him nothing but the best, 1076 01:04:15,360 --> 01:04:17,960 but you know, could you be more cryptic? It's kind of annoying, 1077 01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:24,639 all right? Edgar Berlanga also is going to be bad quickly on that 1078 01:04:24,639 --> 01:04:27,239 that was announced on the match Room show, correct, because he's done a 1079 01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:29,280 deal with them. What is it? Where is it? When is it? 1080 01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:30,360 Well? I mean, as you remember a couple of months ago, 1081 01:04:30,400 --> 01:04:34,280 Berlanga was in the news because he was made a free agent after he had 1082 01:04:34,320 --> 01:04:36,960 a separation agreement with Top Rank. They were not seeing i'd eye on the 1083 01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:41,320 direction of his career and he became a free agent. Golden Boy was after 1084 01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:44,239 him, Al Hayman and PBC was interested in him. Obviously, match Room 1085 01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:46,280 Boxing was interested in him. He met with different people, you know, 1086 01:04:46,280 --> 01:04:50,639 they talked to PBC whatever, and he decided on accepting the agreement from Matt 1087 01:04:50,719 --> 01:04:55,559 Room, who wants to follow what he wants to do, and what his 1088 01:04:55,559 --> 01:04:57,840 management wanted to do was to you know, get him a couple of fights. 1089 01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:00,119 He's gonna have been out of the ring for about a year since he 1090 01:05:00,159 --> 01:05:02,760 had that incident where he bit the opponent on the shoulder or tried to anyway, 1091 01:05:02,760 --> 01:05:06,559 and got suspended by the commissioner and fine and then made the separation agreement. 1092 01:05:08,719 --> 01:05:11,199 But their plan is to get a couple of wins under his belt and 1093 01:05:11,239 --> 01:05:15,599 then try to make a fight with Cannello alvarezm We know Canello is gonna have 1094 01:05:15,639 --> 01:05:16,760 a lot to say about that, obviously, but he can put the pressure 1095 01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:19,000 on and you know, we'll see. He obviously has a good relationship with 1096 01:05:19,119 --> 01:05:23,320 Eddie Hearn. But anyway, so Berlanga is gonna come off of the layoff, 1097 01:05:23,400 --> 01:05:25,840 going to have the first fight of the new contract. He's gonna go 1098 01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:28,760 back to where he's been fighting regularly, which is the Madison Square Garden Theater 1099 01:05:28,840 --> 01:05:31,320 once again. So there'll be two fights of note in that building in the 1100 01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:35,159 month of June. One will be on June tenth with the welterweight Junior welterweight 1101 01:05:35,199 --> 01:05:39,480 title fight we just talked about with Taylor and Lopez, and then two weeks 1102 01:05:39,559 --> 01:05:44,440 later on July, on on June twenty fourth, he'll take on Jason Quigley. 1103 01:05:44,639 --> 01:05:47,880 Now Jason Quigley is an interesting situation because, first of all, Berlanga 1104 01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:53,559 being a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn and Quigly being Irish, what are the two 1105 01:05:53,639 --> 01:05:57,920 biggest constituencies for boxing in New York City, the Puerto Rican fans and the 1106 01:05:57,920 --> 01:06:00,320 Irish fans. Now you put them both together, and as Eddie Hearn made 1107 01:06:00,360 --> 01:06:02,599 the point, now, it's not going to be like that big, but 1108 01:06:02,719 --> 01:06:06,400 it's gonna be you know, he was drawing the comparison to you take the 1109 01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:12,199 Irish Katie Taylor and you put her in the garden against the Brooklyn, Puerto 1110 01:06:12,280 --> 01:06:16,239 Rican Amanda Serrano and they make a massive event. Now this is not that, 1111 01:06:16,559 --> 01:06:18,760 but trust me when I tell you this may not be a big time 1112 01:06:18,760 --> 01:06:21,440 world title fight or anything like that, but that place is gonna be sold 1113 01:06:21,440 --> 01:06:24,280 out. It's gonna be rock and there's gonna be a lot of people there. 1114 01:06:24,280 --> 01:06:26,719 It's gonna be a lot of buzz because the Irish are gonna come out 1115 01:06:26,920 --> 01:06:29,000 and the Puerto Ricans are gonna come out. Brian has already been a good 1116 01:06:29,039 --> 01:06:30,920 draw there and quickly you know he's got a pretty good reputation. He's been 1117 01:06:31,119 --> 01:06:34,760 a pretty good fighter. He just got a win last week. I think 1118 01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:38,000 that was probably in part because they wanted to get him back in the win 1119 01:06:38,079 --> 01:06:41,559 column as they were looking forward to potentially making this agreement. But he had 1120 01:06:41,639 --> 01:06:44,639 not fought since the end of twenty twenty one. That was when he got 1121 01:06:44,679 --> 01:06:47,840 knocked out in the second round challenging. This was down at middleweight when he 1122 01:06:47,920 --> 01:06:53,440 challenged to meetris Andre for who then held the title. He got blitzed night 1123 01:06:53,800 --> 01:06:56,760 and then he fought the fight that I just mentioned that was last week. 1124 01:06:56,960 --> 01:07:00,920 He fought that fight had super middleweight. So he's now moved up and listen. 1125 01:07:00,039 --> 01:07:04,000 The bottom line is it's the perfect match for Berlanga coming off of the 1126 01:07:04,079 --> 01:07:08,039 year layoff. And then, don't make any mistake the Irish and the Puerto 1127 01:07:08,079 --> 01:07:11,599 Ricans both turning out and making this into a bigger event. And notwithstanding, 1128 01:07:11,800 --> 01:07:15,760 this is about Edgar Berlanga. Nothing against Jason Quigley. So they've taken a 1129 01:07:15,800 --> 01:07:19,440 smaller guy who got knocked out pretty badly by a non puncher and Andreid. 1130 01:07:19,920 --> 01:07:24,599 They put him in the ring against a sub five hundred opponent. He went 1131 01:07:24,639 --> 01:07:27,440 ten rounds with the guy want to shut out, and now he's stepping in 1132 01:07:27,440 --> 01:07:30,559 with Berlanga. And the idea from Natrum's point of view and from team Berlanga 1133 01:07:30,639 --> 01:07:34,440 is let's get a credible opponent, which quickly is credible, but let's get 1134 01:07:34,440 --> 01:07:38,119 a guy where we can get back to knocking guys out. Because remember Berlanga 1135 01:07:38,159 --> 01:07:42,559 started his career with sixteen consecutive first round knockouts, so we need to look 1136 01:07:42,559 --> 01:07:45,880 spectacular. So we're gonna go in there. We're gonna blitz this dude and 1137 01:07:45,320 --> 01:07:47,519 start the drum beat. People say, yeah, we want to see him 1138 01:07:47,519 --> 01:07:50,519 against Canell'll get all the Puerto Ricans all hyped up. You know, get 1139 01:07:50,519 --> 01:07:54,920 the fans hyped up, you know, bark a little bit, put on 1140 01:07:54,960 --> 01:07:57,480 some big punches. That's what this is about. That doesn't mean it can't 1141 01:07:57,519 --> 01:08:00,280 be exciting, can't be fun, but that's the deal here. He'll take 1142 01:08:00,320 --> 01:08:02,920 on quickly. If everything goes well, he'll have probably one other fight and 1143 01:08:02,920 --> 01:08:06,800 then they'll try to make that Canella fight. We'll see good enough, all 1144 01:08:06,880 --> 01:08:12,480 right, one more nostalgia piece and then we're done on the recap. And 1145 01:08:12,679 --> 01:08:17,840 that includes a battle that took place twenty two years ago for Marco Antonio Barrera 1146 01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:25,720 and Prince Nacim Ahmed and one Dan Raphael was ringside for this one when Barrera 1147 01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:33,079 he not only got the win, but he destroyed the aura around Prince Naz 1148 01:08:33,239 --> 01:08:39,039 that night and and really ended it ended it for Prince Naz kind of surprisingly. 1149 01:08:39,039 --> 01:08:44,399 Prince Naz quit soon after that, right, so the aura around him 1150 01:08:44,439 --> 01:08:46,039 was over with that night, and you were there. I was, and 1151 01:08:46,239 --> 01:08:48,760 I will never forget it. He did fight one more time. People forget 1152 01:08:48,800 --> 01:08:51,760 it was like Dakota. He came back on a like fourteen months later and 1153 01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:56,439 had one kind of smallish fight in the UK and one and then so he 1154 01:08:56,479 --> 01:08:59,640 goes out on the wind. But the Barra fight was the culmination of his 1155 01:08:59,720 --> 01:09:01,960 HB contract. It was a fight that was heavily hyped. A lot of 1156 01:09:02,000 --> 01:09:04,439 people were looking forward to. You know, they wanted to see him fight 1157 01:09:04,560 --> 01:09:06,479 one of the bigger names. So I thought, wasn't I going to fight 1158 01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:09,560 Berrera? Can I get Morales? I mean, those are the two big 1159 01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:14,319 guys at the time in that weight class, and un Nasimamed was knocking everybody 1160 01:09:14,319 --> 01:09:17,039 out he had. He really should have been the very first fighter to be 1161 01:09:17,079 --> 01:09:21,119 the undisputed champion and have all four belts. Now that was technically at that 1162 01:09:21,199 --> 01:09:26,239 time there was four belts, but nobody really considered still the WBO as the 1163 01:09:26,640 --> 01:09:30,119 as a as a fight, as a title that was needed to be held 1164 01:09:30,359 --> 01:09:34,439 to be undisputed. People were respecting the WBO because Ahmed was considered a champion 1165 01:09:34,479 --> 01:09:39,359 of the WBO and therefore, you know, his name got that organization credibility. 1166 01:09:39,520 --> 01:09:42,720 Same thing with a guy like Joe Calzaggie. The clich goes came along, 1167 01:09:43,039 --> 01:09:46,840 they held WBO titles. In any event, he should have had all 1168 01:09:46,880 --> 01:09:51,279 four belts because he won the WBO, he won the WBC, he won 1169 01:09:51,319 --> 01:09:55,840 the IBF, he got stripped of this. He then fought Wilfredo Vasquez, 1170 01:09:55,840 --> 01:09:58,640 who had been the WBA, but got stripped because he fought him at and 1171 01:09:58,640 --> 01:10:00,199 he won all those fights, but because politics, he didn't get all four 1172 01:10:00,199 --> 01:10:03,439 belts. So the people that say Hahmed was overrated, fuck them, because 1173 01:10:03,439 --> 01:10:08,359 he was the best featherweight of his time. Barrera and Morales, he had 1174 01:10:08,600 --> 01:10:12,399 beaten all the top guys besides them. He had some very good wins, 1175 01:10:13,399 --> 01:10:15,840 big excitement. The only guy I've ever known that could sell out of building 1176 01:10:16,119 --> 01:10:21,000 in England without knowing who the opponent was that happened. He made some great 1177 01:10:21,000 --> 01:10:25,520 fights to Kevin Kelly fight we've talked about, just an unforgettable battle. In 1178 01:10:25,600 --> 01:10:30,279 any event, he finally gets the big one against Mark Antoniobrera, who people 1179 01:10:30,680 --> 01:10:32,319 know as a Hall of Famer, been in the great fights with Morales, 1180 01:10:32,359 --> 01:10:36,399 had a lot of accomplishment, you know, fought everybody. Had the awesome 1181 01:10:36,439 --> 01:10:41,439 fight against Kennedy Dan McKinney that we've talked about. But I don't I saw, 1182 01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:45,079 like when I was posting pictures of like the program and posters and all 1183 01:10:45,079 --> 01:10:47,359 that stuff on my social media on the anniversary which was you know, a 1184 01:10:47,359 --> 01:10:51,560 couple of days ago, ah Hahmed, You know it, It wasn't a 1185 01:10:51,560 --> 01:10:54,880 big surprise to me that Barre beat him. Are you kidding me? He 1186 01:10:54,920 --> 01:10:59,319 was a big underdog. Everybody thought that Ahmed wasna as Berrera. You know, 1187 01:10:59,359 --> 01:11:00,760 he was obviously a top notch fighter, but he was not what he 1188 01:11:00,880 --> 01:11:04,640 what he was before. He had had suffered some losses in this that pot. 1189 01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:09,119 People thought Hmed was gonna just take him out, but marc Antonio Brera 1190 01:11:09,279 --> 01:11:12,159 showed his true greatness that night. He was already going to be a Hall 1191 01:11:12,159 --> 01:11:15,079 of Famer even before the Hummed fight. But what he did was he went 1192 01:11:15,119 --> 01:11:17,439 from being this straight ahead brawl or banger, you know, the baby faced 1193 01:11:17,479 --> 01:11:21,520 assassin as he was called, he completely changed the style he's Instead of just 1194 01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:25,600 going straight ahead and just trying to whack him out, he became a very 1195 01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:30,159 poised boxer, puncher, controlled the ring, box him, you know, 1196 01:11:30,319 --> 01:11:35,279 fought when necessary obviously, and just dismantled, undressed, embarrassed, whatever word 1197 01:11:35,319 --> 01:11:39,079 you want to use. Did it all to Prince na seem and at the 1198 01:11:39,159 --> 01:11:42,279 end of the fight, late in that fight, got him in a headlock 1199 01:11:42,359 --> 01:11:45,119 when he was you know, chirping with him, and he rammed his face 1200 01:11:45,159 --> 01:11:46,960 into the turnbuckle. I mean, people loved that. I don't of that 1201 01:11:47,119 --> 01:11:50,119 not. It wasn't the most sportsmanlike thing I've ever seen, but it always 1202 01:11:50,159 --> 01:11:55,159 makes me remember the great line from my dear friend Larry Merchant, you know, 1203 01:11:55,439 --> 01:11:58,520 talking about the Prince. You know, they're taking his moment of truth 1204 01:11:58,520 --> 01:12:00,720 and it's become an hour of torture. That's what Barrera did to him. 1205 01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:03,439 He won a decision. It was close on the I was gonna say, 1206 01:12:03,479 --> 01:12:06,560 how shocked were you ringside, because again, this guy had been flamboyant, 1207 01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:09,800 and he had been backing it up. He had been backing it up with 1208 01:12:09,840 --> 01:12:13,640 big knockouts, and now that didn't happen. How shocked were you at ringside 1209 01:12:13,640 --> 01:12:16,359 as this was unfolding, very much so, because everybody that I can remember 1210 01:12:16,520 --> 01:12:19,680 was picking Hahmed to win pretty handily. And you know, while the cards 1211 01:12:19,720 --> 01:12:23,680 looked a little close, one fifteen, one twelve on two cards, that 1212 01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:27,560 was would have been one sixteen, but but Barrera got a point deducted first 1213 01:12:27,560 --> 01:12:30,239 slamming his head into the turn book, or the other judge had at one 1214 01:12:30,359 --> 01:12:32,079 sixteen to one eleven, so it would have been nine rounds to three. 1215 01:12:32,079 --> 01:12:36,279 But it was obviously Barrera won the fight. I kind of had a little 1216 01:12:36,279 --> 01:12:42,479 and I've had conversations with my with one of my colleagues from ringside or you 1217 01:12:42,520 --> 01:12:45,159 know, years ago about this Zach thing. I'm about to mention where even 1218 01:12:45,159 --> 01:12:50,199 though we all thought Ahmed was going to win, there was two things that 1219 01:12:50,279 --> 01:12:54,960 happened that night that sort of put in your mind like, Okay, this 1220 01:12:55,039 --> 01:12:58,039 maybe not the same night that we're all expecting. Something is going to happen 1221 01:12:58,159 --> 01:13:02,479 that's not expected. Two things. Number one, it took forever to get 1222 01:13:03,000 --> 01:13:06,439 the fight started, and the reason we found out was because they had to 1223 01:13:06,520 --> 01:13:11,720 keep changing the hand wraps in Hahmed's one of his gloves in the in the 1224 01:13:11,800 --> 01:13:13,760 d I don't know if it was both, I'd forget, but they had 1225 01:13:13,760 --> 01:13:15,520 to change his glove out and change the raps. Not because there was an 1226 01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:20,079 accusation of you know, foul play or the Margarito situation with illegal pants. 1227 01:13:20,239 --> 01:13:24,399 He couldn't get comfortable in the wraps. I couldn't get comfortable in the gloves. 1228 01:13:25,159 --> 01:13:27,479 My thought about that was these guys are pros, they've been around for 1229 01:13:27,520 --> 01:13:30,079 a long time. To me, that's nerves. That was what I felt 1230 01:13:30,079 --> 01:13:32,600 like in my mind, like he's he's really uptight about this fight. He 1231 01:13:32,720 --> 01:13:35,239 knows it's a dangerous fight compared to some of these other things. So when 1232 01:13:35,239 --> 01:13:39,319 we got word at ringside that that was what was causing the delay, that 1233 01:13:39,359 --> 01:13:42,439 was something in my mind. So now the finally the fight's gonna get rolling 1234 01:13:42,479 --> 01:13:44,359 and he makes his ring entrance. Now, how mad? Of course, 1235 01:13:44,359 --> 01:13:46,119 if you watch back then, and I was a huge Hmmed fan, his 1236 01:13:46,279 --> 01:13:49,119 ring walks were like the biggest part of the show is other than the knockout, 1237 01:13:49,319 --> 01:13:51,640 you know, he had these flamboyant dances and it was crazy. I 1238 01:13:51,680 --> 01:13:56,960 remember first Hamed fight I covered when he thought Wayne McCullough in Atlantic City on 1239 01:13:56,960 --> 01:14:00,279 Halloween night walking through the fake graveyard to Michael Jack and Thriller and knocking the 1240 01:14:00,319 --> 01:14:02,319 skulls off where you're there? Were you? I was gonna say, were 1241 01:14:02,319 --> 01:14:04,600 you there? The ninth he came in on the magic carpet like a lad. 1242 01:14:05,560 --> 01:14:08,319 He wasn't there for that one, but he came in on a magic 1243 01:14:08,359 --> 01:14:11,840 carpet one night. He was flamboyant about all of that stuff. It was 1244 01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:15,319 part of Yeah. The second thing besides that, I felt like he was 1245 01:14:15,439 --> 01:14:18,960 uptight because of the glove situation. Was the big thing about Naz was when 1246 01:14:18,960 --> 01:14:23,600 he would make the entrance, he would then do he would clear everybody out 1247 01:14:23,600 --> 01:14:26,199 and he would pull forward and he would do the flip over the rope into 1248 01:14:26,239 --> 01:14:29,279 the ring. He wouldn't just step between the ropes, or if you're a 1249 01:14:29,279 --> 01:14:31,760 real big heavyweight, step over the ropes. He would do a front flip 1250 01:14:32,079 --> 01:14:35,359 into the ring over the top rope. That was like his trademark. That'd 1251 01:14:35,399 --> 01:14:39,079 be like, you know, going to see the Undertaker and wrestling and having 1252 01:14:39,199 --> 01:14:42,359 not finished off with like the you know, where he pile drives the guy, 1253 01:14:42,399 --> 01:14:44,840 you know, does the you know, the the tombstone or the whole 1254 01:14:44,880 --> 01:14:46,520 Coogan leg drop if exactly. I mean, you know, the guys have 1255 01:14:46,600 --> 01:14:49,359 their finishing move. But Ahmed the rings. The flip over the ring was 1256 01:14:49,399 --> 01:14:53,720 like his starting move. So when he got to the ring apron and he 1257 01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:57,760 went to do it, he didn't do the flip. He pretended to do 1258 01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:00,000 it, and then he just stepped between the ropes. So in my mind, 1259 01:15:00,119 --> 01:15:03,520 and I don't think I'm like some kind of genius. I'm like he's 1260 01:15:03,560 --> 01:15:06,840 freaked out because of the gloves, and to me, him not doing the 1261 01:15:06,840 --> 01:15:13,039 front flip was like he was acquiescing to the moment. It was like the 1262 01:15:13,079 --> 01:15:15,479 moment was bigger than than we thought it would be for him. And so 1263 01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:19,319 at that time, even though I was picking him the win, in retrospect, 1264 01:15:19,359 --> 01:15:23,600 I'm like, there was something there, and that's you know, he 1265 01:15:23,680 --> 01:15:27,039 was unsure of himself. And sure enough, Barrera, who was the pro's 1266 01:15:27,079 --> 01:15:30,880 pro and you know, one of the greats of all time, you know, 1267 01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:33,640 just beat his ass. Now. The thing that I actually and I 1268 01:15:33,680 --> 01:15:36,520 always liked him, had a lot of people hated him because he was brash 1269 01:15:36,560 --> 01:15:41,439 and he would just he could be a real prick about things. For whatever 1270 01:15:41,479 --> 01:15:43,720 reason, I had a good report with the guy. I had interviewed him 1271 01:15:43,720 --> 01:15:46,560 several times. I had covered you know, fights prior to the fight between 1272 01:15:46,640 --> 01:15:50,319 him and Barrera. I had been there for Augie Sanchez and had a lengthy 1273 01:15:50,319 --> 01:15:55,960 interview with him. I had covered the fight against McCullough uh in Atlantic City 1274 01:15:55,960 --> 01:15:58,640 anyway. So again I'm not saying we're like best buddies, but for whatever 1275 01:15:58,680 --> 01:16:00,960 reason, we had like a pretty good and I never took all the nonsense 1276 01:16:00,960 --> 01:16:03,880 he said seriously, Like I can't remember sitting in a press contro the med 1277 01:16:04,199 --> 01:16:09,760 for the Hamed Augie Sanchez fight, and he said something wildly outlandish, and 1278 01:16:09,800 --> 01:16:12,720 the and the British reporters that were there got all indignant and pissed off, 1279 01:16:12,720 --> 01:16:15,239 an upset. And I was sitting there like in the front row looking at 1280 01:16:15,319 --> 01:16:16,159 him, and I had like a smile on my face, and he caught 1281 01:16:16,159 --> 01:16:18,880 my eye and he nodded him and he like kind of smiled like I knew 1282 01:16:18,880 --> 01:16:23,680 he was just doing it to put So I was never like offended by by 1283 01:16:23,720 --> 01:16:29,119 Hamed's nonsense. So the thing that really impressed me though about him was when 1284 01:16:29,119 --> 01:16:32,319 the fight was over and we went to the postfight press conference. You know, 1285 01:16:32,399 --> 01:16:36,079 to me in boxing and in sports and in life, frankly, you 1286 01:16:36,119 --> 01:16:39,840 mentioned this about Fendora when he lost. How are you going to react? 1287 01:16:39,880 --> 01:16:45,439 How you're gonna are you going to show? So the brashest guy in boxing, 1288 01:16:45,640 --> 01:16:48,760 the biggest fucking loudmouth, who would chirp off about everything, who would 1289 01:16:48,800 --> 01:16:51,720 insult his opponents, and you know and talk about I'm going to give you 1290 01:16:51,760 --> 01:16:55,079 a dirt nap, and you know you women to wipe off your You know, 1291 01:16:55,199 --> 01:16:57,840 why don't you get advertisements on the soles of your feet so people can 1292 01:16:57,840 --> 01:17:00,720 see when you're laying stretched out, when I knock your ass out, like 1293 01:17:00,760 --> 01:17:03,359 all that kind of stuff that Imed would say, you never saw a more 1294 01:17:04,039 --> 01:17:11,319 respectful and humble and like lovable guy at the press conference. He gave it 1295 01:17:11,399 --> 01:17:14,079 up to Brera. It wasn't my night. He's a great fighter. He 1296 01:17:14,199 --> 01:17:17,159 got me. I was like flabber gases. But to me, that earned 1297 01:17:17,159 --> 01:17:20,640 the all time respect because he didn't go off with the brashness and the stupidity 1298 01:17:20,680 --> 01:17:25,159 and you know I got robbed or I want to rematch or this. He 1299 01:17:25,279 --> 01:17:27,720 just gave it up to the guy, as he should because Brera kicked his 1300 01:17:27,760 --> 01:17:29,680 ass that night. You know, one guy wins, one guy loses. 1301 01:17:29,680 --> 01:17:32,479 He do you believe and will rap shortly? Do you believe now looking back 1302 01:17:32,520 --> 01:17:38,680 on a twenty plus years later that he was at the end kind of had 1303 01:17:38,760 --> 01:17:43,880 my fame, had my stardom, had my titles, had my money and 1304 01:17:44,840 --> 01:17:46,520 get it wasn't important to him anymore? Do you believe it you're looking back 1305 01:17:46,560 --> 01:17:49,760 to it that that was just the natural. Okay, somebody finally beat me 1306 01:17:49,800 --> 01:17:53,079 and now I'm good. I don't have to keep doing this for another five 1307 01:17:53,159 --> 01:17:57,199 years, knocking heads with whomever I think that's absolutely a possibility. I think 1308 01:17:57,199 --> 01:17:58,920 there's no doubt that that's part of it. I mean, he was still 1309 01:17:58,960 --> 01:18:01,239 in his twenties, so that he was not like an old shot guy. 1310 01:18:01,680 --> 01:18:05,600 He had had you know a little bit of like some issues. You know, 1311 01:18:05,640 --> 01:18:08,880 he had broken up with the promoter, and he had this problem in 1312 01:18:08,920 --> 01:18:11,560 that problem. But but he was that's that's part for the course in boxing 1313 01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:15,319 for top fighters. I mean, but I think he got you know, 1314 01:18:15,520 --> 01:18:17,279 the Marvin Hagler disease. You know, it's hard to get up and run 1315 01:18:17,359 --> 01:18:20,359 when you're sleeping in silk pajamas, that type of thing. Like he he 1316 01:18:20,399 --> 01:18:25,520 had made millions and millions and millions of dollars huge money. By the way, 1317 01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:29,439 every single guy out there in the featherweight divisions, like in those smaller 1318 01:18:29,439 --> 01:18:32,359 weight classes, Manny pack Yow in his day, Floyd Mayweather who came after 1319 01:18:32,439 --> 01:18:34,600 him, he wasn't a featherweight, but you know, junior lightweight, those 1320 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:40,039 smaller weight classes. It never generated the massive money. And now guys like 1321 01:18:40,079 --> 01:18:44,399 the Loma Chenkos and Hainey and Shakoor Stevenson and others who have you know, 1322 01:18:44,439 --> 01:18:47,319 are in the on the pipeline who's making lots of money now, Dad never 1323 01:18:47,319 --> 01:18:53,319 and even Brearon Rallis later in their careers. Marquez is another example. Those 1324 01:18:53,359 --> 01:18:56,800 guys never made big money in years past. If they got a half a 1325 01:18:56,840 --> 01:19:00,840 million dollar paycheck, it was a big fucking deal. Prince not seem ahmed. 1326 01:19:00,399 --> 01:19:04,159 Every single guy that's been a big deal in the say the thirty five 1327 01:19:04,239 --> 01:19:09,479 and below, should should put up a fucking picture or poster of Prince Nasim 1328 01:19:09,560 --> 01:19:13,399 in there in their house and and thank it every day because he's the one 1329 01:19:13,720 --> 01:19:15,600 that paved the way for these guys to make the kind of money that they're 1330 01:19:15,640 --> 01:19:18,479 making, and he doesn't get the respect for that. I even have people 1331 01:19:18,479 --> 01:19:20,359 that say he shouldn't be in all of fame, and to me, that's 1332 01:19:20,399 --> 01:19:25,199 absolutely in a lunacy. He's one of the great featherweights of all time. 1333 01:19:25,239 --> 01:19:29,119 He's one of the great punchers of all time period. And my point is 1334 01:19:29,119 --> 01:19:32,039 he lost one fight against another all time great. You know, I would 1335 01:19:32,079 --> 01:19:34,840 like to see him continue, but he elected not to. That's his decision. 1336 01:19:35,600 --> 01:19:40,399 And so that was a great event, a moment in time. And 1337 01:19:40,439 --> 01:19:43,279 I have to say also for the greatness of Barrera, because we spent most 1338 01:19:43,279 --> 01:19:45,079 of this time talking about Ahmed. You know, Barrera has a lot of 1339 01:19:45,079 --> 01:19:47,760 accomplishment in his career, one titles in a bunch of weight classes, when 1340 01:19:47,760 --> 01:19:50,600 involved in some of the greatest fights in the history of boxing, the Morales 1341 01:19:50,600 --> 01:19:54,880 Trilogy never to be forgotten, the McKinney fight, other fights he was involved 1342 01:19:54,880 --> 01:19:59,119 in and fought a lot of other top quality guys. But the fight that 1343 01:19:59,159 --> 01:20:02,920 definds Marko antonio'brera to me is the Hummed fight because of the way he changed 1344 01:20:02,960 --> 01:20:06,960 his style. He never was indignant about being the underdog. He took shorter 1345 01:20:08,039 --> 01:20:10,960 money and he went in there and he took care of business, and then 1346 01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:15,319 he went on. After having suffered loss us a Junior Jones, he recleaned 1347 01:20:15,359 --> 01:20:17,159 himself up. He changed the style in that fight and went on and had 1348 01:20:17,199 --> 01:20:21,000 some of his biggest nights ever until he was pretty much put away at the 1349 01:20:21,039 --> 01:20:24,880 top level by Manny Paco, who was a rising star at that time. 1350 01:20:24,920 --> 01:20:30,159 So Barrera at his height and at Hamed's height, I'm mad was thirty five 1351 01:20:30,159 --> 01:20:33,399 and O go into that fight and most of his wins by knockout, and 1352 01:20:33,479 --> 01:20:35,720 Barra did the job, and I was privileged to be there. I will 1353 01:20:35,760 --> 01:20:40,479 never forget it. It was a It was a great, great experience to 1354 01:20:40,520 --> 01:20:42,960 cover that fight. It was one of my favorite events I've ever covered. 1355 01:20:43,800 --> 01:20:47,760 By the way you just chogged me that the let me double check on the 1356 01:20:47,760 --> 01:20:53,239 timeline. Probably about four or five years before that, I had been ringside 1357 01:20:53,239 --> 01:20:57,960 at the Poison Jones Junior Poison Jones Berrera title fight because it was in Tampa, 1358 01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:00,760 Florida on a Roy Jones undercard on h B O. And then and 1359 01:21:00,800 --> 01:21:03,840 by the way, while we're doing nostalgia, that makes me remember you remember 1360 01:21:03,960 --> 01:21:08,840 Artist Gilmore the basketball player. Not everybody's an old school basketball player. Artist 1361 01:21:08,840 --> 01:21:15,560 Gilmour was a Floridian, longtime NBA veteran basketball player, ABA player, NBA 1362 01:21:15,640 --> 01:21:19,800 player, humongous human being at seven foot two, always had the huge afro 1363 01:21:19,960 --> 01:21:25,159 when he played, and had the huge facial hair beard menacing. Could have 1364 01:21:25,239 --> 01:21:28,800 probably been a pro wrestler boxer and would have had a great intimidation factor. 1365 01:21:29,479 --> 01:21:32,880 The night of that Poison Jones Berrera fight that you just jogged my memory on, 1366 01:21:33,079 --> 01:21:38,880 Artist Gilmore sat in front of me in the lower level press area and 1367 01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:44,920 had on the largest pair of leather purple pants you've ever seen. Visualize this 1368 01:21:45,079 --> 01:21:47,439 in your life, because he kept standing up, and it's like, I 1369 01:21:47,479 --> 01:21:50,119 gotta see the A train is in fun I mean, artist, I gotta 1370 01:21:50,119 --> 01:21:55,479 see poisoned Jones around these purple pants of artist. Gilmore. You just jogged 1371 01:21:55,479 --> 01:21:58,880 me on the nostalgia with Marco Antonio Barrera. I gotta tell you what about 1372 01:22:00,039 --> 01:22:04,560 one other thing about the Brera the Brera amendment. It's so memorable to me. 1373 01:22:04,560 --> 01:22:08,399 Also, it wasn't so much the fight itself, but that fight week 1374 01:22:08,520 --> 01:22:13,439 prior to the fight, The week of that fight was in The fight was 1375 01:22:13,439 --> 01:22:15,520 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which so it was set up for a 1376 01:22:15,520 --> 01:22:18,279 boxing event, you know, with the way that the stets were in the 1377 01:22:18,319 --> 01:22:24,880 in the ring and all that business. They coincided that fight week early in 1378 01:22:24,880 --> 01:22:27,800 the week, like on the Monday or the Tuesday of the fight week. 1379 01:22:28,239 --> 01:22:31,760 They used the setup of the ring and they filmed the fight scenes for the 1380 01:22:31,800 --> 01:22:38,560 mock fight in The Ocean's eleventh film, the fake fight between Les Slamir Klitschko 1381 01:22:38,680 --> 01:22:42,000 that served as the backdrop to the bank robbery. Yes, when they turned 1382 01:22:42,039 --> 01:22:44,560 the power out, they turn the lights out. Yes, okay, So 1383 01:22:45,359 --> 01:22:47,159 I was there for you. I was still working at USA today at the 1384 01:22:47,199 --> 01:22:51,079 time. So I was going to Vegas to cover Barrerahmed, but we were 1385 01:22:51,079 --> 01:22:54,840 able to, you know, get killed two birds with one stone. Like, 1386 01:22:54,880 --> 01:22:56,880 let's if we're going to spend the money on the triple, let's get 1387 01:22:56,880 --> 01:22:59,399 as much out of ray Phil as we can. Right. So what I 1388 01:22:59,560 --> 01:23:03,239 what I was doing was besides going to cover that fight in Ocean's eleven, 1389 01:23:04,520 --> 01:23:09,479 Vladimir Klitchko was the boxer against Lennox in the fight. I actually in my 1390 01:23:09,640 --> 01:23:13,520 office here across the room, I have my my mock credential from uh, 1391 01:23:13,840 --> 01:23:17,479 Desert Storm Lewis versus Klichko. Uh, you know the credential. Uh. 1392 01:23:17,520 --> 01:23:20,960 And Vitali Klitchko was there because Vitali to travel with his brother because he was 1393 01:23:21,039 --> 01:23:27,640 one of the guys that was in the corner for that fight. And and 1394 01:23:26,840 --> 01:23:30,680 uh, and Lennox Lewis was there with Emmanuel Stewart. That's the fight where 1395 01:23:30,239 --> 01:23:35,640 when when Lennox Lewis wasn't properly training to prepare for the Jassim Rockman first fight, 1396 01:23:35,680 --> 01:23:39,119 which was like two weeks later, he was having a good time making 1397 01:23:39,119 --> 01:23:44,000 a Hollywood movie, not in training camp. But the reason why that week, 1398 01:23:44,399 --> 01:23:46,920 So I had two great experiences in my career that I were always memorable 1399 01:23:46,920 --> 01:23:51,319 to me. Besides just Ahmed versus Berrera. It was a being on the 1400 01:23:51,399 --> 01:23:57,760 site the set for Ocean's eleven and seeing Julia Roberts and seeing all the movie 1401 01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:01,319 stars in George Clooney, all these different people that were around, and but 1402 01:24:01,359 --> 01:24:05,840 it was also the first time I ever met Vladimir and Vitali Klitchko in person. 1403 01:24:06,319 --> 01:24:10,800 I was doing what was assigned to me as a pretty major story for 1404 01:24:10,960 --> 01:24:14,560 USA Today, like a profile on these fighting brothers who were not that well 1405 01:24:14,600 --> 01:24:16,199 known at the time. We knew them as boxing fans, but they hadn't 1406 01:24:16,239 --> 01:24:19,479 really been known to the American public. But it was obviously very interesting to 1407 01:24:19,520 --> 01:24:25,199 have two big heavyweight contenders, you know from Ukraine, who are you know, 1408 01:24:25,279 --> 01:24:28,520 guys with PhDs and they're in this movie and there's just a lot of 1409 01:24:28,520 --> 01:24:30,760 stuff to write about. So I met with them, I had launch with 1410 01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:33,319 them, met with their management, and spent some time with them in the 1411 01:24:33,359 --> 01:24:38,079 trailer, did interviews with them, and you know, reported on my piece, 1412 01:24:38,119 --> 01:24:41,680 and spend time with Emmanuel Stewart also there because I was friendly with him. 1413 01:24:41,680 --> 01:24:43,960 He was obviously not with Klitschko at that time. He was still the 1414 01:24:44,000 --> 01:24:46,000 trainer of Lennox Lewis. But uh, yeah, so I had, you 1415 01:24:46,000 --> 01:24:51,199 know, and I've maintained a you know, a friendship frankly with Vladimir Klitchko 1416 01:24:51,199 --> 01:24:54,479 anymore. I mean, I don't know vatally nearly as well as Ladimir, 1417 01:24:54,479 --> 01:24:56,199 even though I know him, and you know, we know each other, 1418 01:24:56,239 --> 01:25:00,640 respect each other. But that's really even though I had covered previous Hitchco fight, 1419 01:25:00,479 --> 01:25:04,479 that's sort of like where I developed a relationship with Ladimir and we're still 1420 01:25:04,479 --> 01:25:06,680 in touch this day, not all the time, but even you know, 1421 01:25:06,720 --> 01:25:10,279 as he goes through the situation with the war in Ukraine. You know, 1422 01:25:10,359 --> 01:25:13,720 there's a WhatsApp text every now and again, and you know, every now 1423 01:25:13,800 --> 01:25:16,520 and again we'll chat or whatever. But uh, that was that week was 1424 01:25:16,560 --> 01:25:20,359 a lot of stuff going on, right and you know, going to the 1425 01:25:20,359 --> 01:25:24,760 press commons for Lewis Rockman, where at that moment, I'm like, I'm 1426 01:25:24,800 --> 01:25:29,000 picking Rockman to win because Lewis I see, you know, in the backstage 1427 01:25:29,039 --> 01:25:33,720 area of the movie instead of practicing is where he's throwing his punches, he's 1428 01:25:33,720 --> 01:25:38,640 eating doritos um. It's a huge week, man. And that was and 1429 01:25:38,760 --> 01:25:42,119 the and the culmination was that incredible fight from Barrera beating him in. So 1430 01:25:42,199 --> 01:25:44,640 that was twenty two years ago. Okay, so by the way, we're 1431 01:25:44,680 --> 01:25:47,319 gonna get out of here, you trumped my artist Gilmore purple leather pants story. 1432 01:25:47,359 --> 01:25:49,880 That's a great story. But I mean, I'm just saying and that 1433 01:25:49,880 --> 01:25:55,199 that was five years earlier. Missus nostalgia because to me it runs My love 1434 01:25:55,239 --> 01:25:58,039 the nostalgia, the fans love the nostalgia. And we're gonna stay here for 1435 01:25:58,039 --> 01:26:00,920 another minute or two because you're gonna give me this as well. Missus reeves 1436 01:26:00,960 --> 01:26:03,880 top five movie of all time is Oceans eleven because of George Clooney and Brad 1437 01:26:03,920 --> 01:26:08,720 Pitt and the whole thing. So this begs the follow up question because I've 1438 01:26:08,760 --> 01:26:12,760 never heard this answer anywhere. When they do the lights out scene during the 1439 01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:16,520 bank robbery and the mayhem happens in the ring, did they do multiple takes? 1440 01:26:16,880 --> 01:26:20,239 My guess would be they did multiple takes on the running of the ring 1441 01:26:20,640 --> 01:26:24,960 with the lights going off because they're shooting it from different angles. They're filming 1442 01:26:25,000 --> 01:26:27,720 up with angle. Did they do two takes? Did they do five takes? 1443 01:26:27,720 --> 01:26:30,199 What's your recollection being they must have done fifty takes? Wow? God, 1444 01:26:30,239 --> 01:26:34,000 Okay, I was there for like the entire hours, like a long 1445 01:26:34,039 --> 01:26:38,479 time. This was like normally for a fight like Ahmed Burr, I would 1446 01:26:38,520 --> 01:26:41,840 have gone to Vegas on Wednesday, but because of what was going on and 1447 01:26:41,880 --> 01:26:43,960 with my meeting with the klitchkoes An the whole thing, I think I got 1448 01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:46,680 to Vegas on Monday, and I'm pretty sure that we spent I want to 1449 01:26:46,680 --> 01:26:53,079 say, the entirety of the day on Tuesday on the set doing something. 1450 01:26:53,119 --> 01:26:54,760 I mean, I could have left any time. It wasn't like I was 1451 01:26:54,800 --> 01:26:57,760 part of the cast right what it was having a good time and enjoying myself. 1452 01:26:57,800 --> 01:27:00,520 And I was doing my interviews with cho because there's down time when they're 1453 01:27:00,560 --> 01:27:02,279 changing things out. But they filled up the arena, or at least a 1454 01:27:02,279 --> 01:27:05,159 big section in the arena with extras, and they'd set up the arena the 1455 01:27:05,199 --> 01:27:08,279 right way. But they did take every take, every take, and so 1456 01:27:08,359 --> 01:27:10,439 let me tell you funny things. So now I'm like, oh, this 1457 01:27:10,479 --> 01:27:12,680 is pretty cool. I can't you know. I knew it's not a boxing 1458 01:27:12,720 --> 01:27:15,119 movie. But if you're seeing the Heavyweight chances again, if people have not 1459 01:27:15,239 --> 01:27:18,760 seen it the premises, they walk to the ring, they start the fight, 1460 01:27:18,840 --> 01:27:23,720 the bank robbery happens, and then the lights go out and a complete 1461 01:27:23,760 --> 01:27:28,199 World Wrestling Federation circus of a bunch of people run in the ring and they're 1462 01:27:28,199 --> 01:27:31,159 trying to separate everybody and ring the bell, and that is part of the 1463 01:27:31,199 --> 01:27:35,439 mayhem of them robbing the place. And so what we're talking about is they 1464 01:27:35,520 --> 01:27:40,960 did that rehearsal of everybody running. They would yell action and everybody runs. 1465 01:27:40,960 --> 01:27:43,359 The lights go out, and everybody runs in the ring, and they did 1466 01:27:43,359 --> 01:27:45,479 it over and over again. That's what Dan's talking about. It go ahead. 1467 01:27:45,720 --> 01:27:48,359 I was sitting, like, you know, five feet from the ring 1468 01:27:48,479 --> 01:27:51,279 watching this all unfold, like in my little table there with you know, 1469 01:27:51,319 --> 01:27:56,439 a couple other invited guests, and like I said, had Mike credential from 1470 01:27:56,479 --> 01:27:59,119 the fight that you know. And the thing if we also remember this, 1471 01:27:59,520 --> 01:28:03,079 Vladimir Klitchko and Lennox Lewis are squaring off a thousand times in the ring during 1472 01:28:03,119 --> 01:28:09,399 these takes. But everybody knows that the now Lennox hadn't fought the tally Klitchko 1473 01:28:09,520 --> 01:28:12,920 yet, But everybody kind of knows that the big big fight down the road 1474 01:28:13,560 --> 01:28:16,760 probably gonna be Lennox Lewis against Vladimir Klitchko. Now it never came to pass, 1475 01:28:17,079 --> 01:28:19,199 but so, but they were getting nose to nose with each other, 1476 01:28:19,319 --> 01:28:23,800 and because the Tally was there working with Vladimir, he was sizing up Lennox 1477 01:28:23,800 --> 01:28:27,000 when they would go to Center Ring and all that and see each other around. 1478 01:28:27,039 --> 01:28:29,640 So it was you could kind of feel the tension even though it's, 1479 01:28:30,039 --> 01:28:32,600 you know, it's supposed to be fun Hollywood movie. So to see sort 1480 01:28:32,600 --> 01:28:38,640 of the electricity between the Lennox side and the Klitchko brothers was something that was 1481 01:28:38,760 --> 01:28:42,960 very It was palpable there during the thing. But when you talk about the 1482 01:28:43,000 --> 01:28:45,359 takes they did, so let me tell you one real quick funny thing. 1483 01:28:45,720 --> 01:28:48,439 So I watched now this entire day of them filming like a thousand times, 1484 01:28:48,439 --> 01:28:53,239 these boxing you know, elements of the of the film and the crowd and 1485 01:28:53,239 --> 01:28:56,520 the run in and the whole thing. And so now when Oceans eleven comes 1486 01:28:56,520 --> 01:28:58,479 out, and plus it's loaded with movie starts, I'm like, I gotta 1487 01:28:58,479 --> 01:29:01,239 see this movie. I watched the movie. I'm like, they must have 1488 01:29:01,359 --> 01:29:08,479 spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars doing all the business that I just 1489 01:29:08,520 --> 01:29:11,479 talked about. TJ. Tell me if I'm wrong, I mean, I 1490 01:29:11,520 --> 01:29:13,479 haven't seen the movie in a long time. Your wife, as the big 1491 01:29:13,520 --> 01:29:15,279 fan of the film, it probably knows. I want to say that those 1492 01:29:15,319 --> 01:29:18,399 boxing scenes that they spent all that time and money on like days at the 1493 01:29:18,520 --> 01:29:23,960 MGM doing this ship was in the movie for like what a minute, Noah, 1494 01:29:24,079 --> 01:29:28,199 probably about three total, not ten, not five probably, but it 1495 01:29:28,319 --> 01:29:30,960 was like, but it's an intricral comity. It's an integral part of the 1496 01:29:31,039 --> 01:29:34,960 end of the movie because they're blacking out the lights and the whole hotel resort, 1497 01:29:35,000 --> 01:29:39,600 including in the arena, to commit the robbery. But they show the 1498 01:29:39,600 --> 01:29:43,239 whole ring walk of the fighters that got Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant talking it 1499 01:29:43,359 --> 01:29:45,920 up. They have the bell ring and the fight start and then the robbery 1500 01:29:45,960 --> 01:29:49,399 happens, and then the whole mayhem of the blackout happens, and my man 1501 01:29:49,520 --> 01:29:54,920 Rayphael was right there. And that's the week of the Barrera Ahmed fight and 1502 01:29:55,039 --> 01:29:58,039 two weeks two years ago, I'm knocked out, Oh my gosh. And 1503 01:29:58,039 --> 01:30:02,079 we've told that story as well in South Africa on nostalgia as well. Great 1504 01:30:02,159 --> 01:30:06,039 stuff as always again, go back and relive that fighter, go back and 1505 01:30:06,079 --> 01:30:10,039 relive the movie. So you're you're hanging just one more time. You're hanging 1506 01:30:10,039 --> 01:30:15,680 in like Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts or their ringsiders are doing takes with them, 1507 01:30:15,680 --> 01:30:19,159 and Elliott Wild and all the other celebrities. They're doing takes with them, 1508 01:30:19,279 --> 01:30:24,760 kind of ringside right there when all of this happens on the quote unquote 1509 01:30:24,760 --> 01:30:27,800 fight night where the blackout in the bank properties happening in the movie. I 1510 01:30:27,880 --> 01:30:31,439 can't say I was hanging with them, but I was seated like in very 1511 01:30:31,479 --> 01:30:35,000 close proximity to them, like in that same you know, I kind of 1512 01:30:35,000 --> 01:30:38,600 like when I've been in Vegas or other places where big fights and you see 1513 01:30:38,600 --> 01:30:41,600 movie stars and you know, I met Nel Gibson or I met you know, 1514 01:30:41,680 --> 01:30:44,199 Meg Ryan, and you know a few people like that over the years. 1515 01:30:44,439 --> 01:30:45,840 But yeah, we were like they were there taking their direction. Andy 1516 01:30:45,840 --> 01:30:49,520 Garcia and Julie Roberts are sitting like maybe ten feet for me. I mean, 1517 01:30:49,520 --> 01:30:51,840 it was pretty cool. I mean, listen, I don't I'm not 1518 01:30:51,880 --> 01:30:56,079 a starstruck kind of guy. I don't get that hyped up about that stuff. 1519 01:30:56,359 --> 01:30:59,199 But I have to say that was really cool. I'd never been on 1520 01:30:59,239 --> 01:31:02,239 a movie set before. For you know, I was a lot of new 1521 01:31:02,279 --> 01:31:06,840 experiences in that whole week, both with the boxing in with the Hollywood stuff. 1522 01:31:06,840 --> 01:31:09,319 So it was it was a lot of fun. I mean, I 1523 01:31:09,800 --> 01:31:13,279 enjoyed myself absolutely thoroughly. I got a great story out of it about the 1524 01:31:13,279 --> 01:31:15,439 clich goes. I got a great fight to cover a hum edbury And here 1525 01:31:15,479 --> 01:31:17,920 we are twenty whatever, twenty two years later. Yeah, but we get 1526 01:31:18,000 --> 01:31:21,319 all the stories on the who knew podcast didn't exist back then? Who the 1527 01:31:21,319 --> 01:31:25,000 hell knew I'd been doing a podcast twenty years? And who you are with 1528 01:31:25,079 --> 01:31:27,520 me? And we're rattling off in nostalgia. And by the way, that 1529 01:31:27,560 --> 01:31:31,079 movie is a mega movie that launched the whole franchise of the Oceans eleven, 1530 01:31:31,239 --> 01:31:34,720 twelve, thirteen, and and all the rest. And that's still a trip. 1531 01:31:34,880 --> 01:31:38,199 I'm gonna send you it after we're done. I'm gonna I'm gonna send 1532 01:31:38,239 --> 01:31:43,479 you a text of the picture of Mike Credential. That's fantastic. All right? 1533 01:31:43,520 --> 01:31:45,279 With that, I think we are good. We've done all the damage 1534 01:31:45,279 --> 01:31:48,680 we can do. We haven't done as much damage as Brian Mendoza did to 1535 01:31:48,720 --> 01:31:54,199 Sebastian fundor Oh. I said that I went there but it was a knockout 1536 01:31:54,239 --> 01:31:57,399 and it was worth the recap. All of this worth the recap again. 1537 01:31:57,840 --> 01:32:01,199 Followers subscribe on the Big Fight we can cast feed you get Fight Freaks Unite 1538 01:32:01,199 --> 01:32:04,279 off the weekend. With that, I think we're good. Everybody have a 1539 01:32:04,279 --> 01:32:08,600 good weekend. Rayfield, You're good. We're good, baby. All right, 1540 01:32:08,640 --> 01:32:11,800 we are good here again follow us. Subscribe on this podcast speed we 1541 01:32:11,880 --> 01:32:14,920 come your way off the weekend, usually out by Monday morning. On the 1542 01:32:15,039 --> 01:32:17,720 Fight Freaks Unite recap for Dan Rayfield, I'm TJ Reeves. Let's have a good week