Well, I love any opportunities I get to say hello to this guy,
even virtually, but I got to say hello to him in person in Tampa
on the The Zone MVP Promotions call of the pay per view Jake Paul ultimately
victorious over Mike Perry. Was a night of knockouts. At the end of
the pay per view, Hello Todd Grisham, good to have you back here
on the pod, my friend, Hello TJ. Good to see you in
person this week and here on Zoom. Thanks for having me. Yeah,
I know we're right there by each other. We can't make the interview in
person happen, So Todd travels back to his home a couple thousand miles away
from me, and we make it happen virtually. Whatever. It's like,
we're both we're both cohered, okay. So Dan and I have been talking
it up. I just I staged it as a night of knockouts there at
the end. What is your impression the Baden knockout is a devastating one.
Serrano gets her first knockout in three years. We expected it was probably going
to be a Jake Paul ko It eventually was What are your impressions now about
twenty four hours after this is all over with with the Fear No Man,
Fear No Woman MVP Promotions card in Tampa. I thought it got off to
a slow start. I was a little worried after the first two fights that
went the distance. You know, the crowd seventeen thousand fans and they sold
it out in four weeks, the promotion in four weeks. That's almost unheard
of. You know, usually boxing it's two months, but four weeks to
find an opponent, get the thing going, and having seventeen thousand fans there
and the crowd was just ready to explode. They were all in such a
good mood. It's a different boxing crowd that you normally see a lot of
young people there. Everyone dressed to the nines, dressed to impress famous people
everywhere, so it's a different crowd. Everyone just kind of wanted to have
a party. That's the atmosphere I was feeling. And after the first two
fights they were getting a little restless. They were like, wait a minute,
we didn't come here to watch these fights go ten rounds and no one
get knocked down. And then all of a sudden, the Lucas knockout happened.
And that changed the whole demeanor of the place. And I know you
were on the call with gab Rizzato, Tyron Woodley and also Ariel Hillwane,
and that was a one sided fight, wasn't. It wasn't as if silv
H two O Silv was dominating, but he was winning. And then suddenly,
this is why boxing is different, Todd. We talk about it all
the time. There is a ten point shot, unlike a three point shot
in basketball. There's a ten point shot or a twenty one point touchdown or
an eight run home run. It's called a punch or two and good night
wow. Yeah. Indeed, in fact, I mean I disagree with you.
I think H two was dominating that fight. I mean from start to
finish. That's why his hands were down because he was starting to play with
his food a little bit. He was tenderizing it. Ipe said on the
broadcast, I think the referees starting to take a close look at body and
maybe gonna intervene here in a little bit. He was getting beat. Pillar
to post the CompuBox statistics, I think it was three to one punches landed
in favor of H two. Oh, but you never count out a puncher
and this guy, I think he'd knocked out uh, maybe eleven proponents in
a row or six in a row, but before that, whatever it was,
but uh, he had plenty of power and man, he finally landed
it. And that was one of those stunning knockouts I've ever seen, not
just because of the violence of it, but because no one ever saw it
coming. It'd be different if maybe, you know, he buzzed him a
little earlier in the fighter. He'd landed a couple of shots here and there,
and he thought, whoa, but he hadn't really touched him. And
then all of a sudden lightning, big night for Canada and Lucas Badi with
that ko. And we should mention you you were on the call for the
Joshua Ko of Enganu the heavyweights, and the heavyweights are a different thing.
Jang knocking out the bronze bomber Deontay Wilder. You've seen some KOs so far,
this shit that's probably the KO of the year right now as we sit
in July. Who knows what happens the last five months, but that one
that you called, that might be the KO of the year right there.
Lucas Badi yeah, and you know, Joe Martinez was the ring announcer.
You were their TJ. I don't know if I've ever heard a ring announcer
basically say, let's all pray for this guy. May God be with him
and his family. That's how scary that knockout was and how surprising it was.
Yeah, I get excited, but I've never had a knockout where literally
my headset flew off. I was so jarred by it. I grabbed it,
I caught it in mid air and like almost held it like a handheld
microphone instead of a headset. That's how stunned stunning it was. And then
you know, to see H two O silm. I don't know if you
saw this from where you were sitting, but when he kind of came to,
he was throwing punches on his back on the ground. He was trying
to fight the people waking him up and including his dad. I mean,
that's how scary it was. Yeah, and he was down a good two
minutes or more, not moving. There was a lot of concern. I
was saying to the media people around me. And again I make mention I
was on a platform where the media area was back by the ring walk area
in the lower level, so we were a little distant, but we were
able to see. And I kept saying to the people around me, I
don't know if they're not going to bring a stretcher, paramedics and a stretcher
to carry him out on a board or something else, just to make sure.
So we're glad that it appears he's okay. They took him to Tampa
General Hospital downtown Tampa to check him out, but it appears that Silva was
okay after that knockout, all right. So that led to Amanda Serrano and
this this had mismatch written all over it, but I don't think a lot
of people really believed it was going to be that quick. She's just that
good. She's a world class fighter, and she sized up Stevie Morgan.
And you barely probably got into your material. Ten two minute rounds, about
all of the about all of the praises for Serrano, and the fight is
basically done with a big barrage of punches. Your reaction to that real quick.
I just I love it when a superior opponent just goes in there blows
them out. I've seen too many of these guys, even Sir Kur Stevenson.
Now, his opponents have been way better than Stevie Morgan, don't get
me wrong. But you sit there and watch your curR and you're like,
get this guy out of there, man, what are you doing? You
know he's just jabbing it. This guy can't hurt you. To see her
going there, not with reckless abandon but you could tell O thin thirty seconds
she was like, wait, I'm way better than this girl. Let's get
her out of town. And that's what I loved about it. Yeah,
and some are saying, well, maybe it was too quick, but I
mean, how much more did you have to see of her hitting her eight
or ten more times? Where Morgan doesn't know, not skilled enough, how
to cover up, how to defend, how to grab fights, to do
something. So and we're stoked, obviously for Serrano Kaylee Taylor Katie Taylor the
sequel, which will be coming in November. I know you guys were talking
that up. She was talking it up. That's next and I can't wait
for that one. And I know you're to meet him way. Someone asked
me, I don't know. This week, I was playing golf and they
said, what's the best fight best best boxing fight you've ever covered. And
I said, Katie Taylor man is Serrana anyone who was in Madison Square Garden
that night. There weren't even any knockdowns. There were no knockdowns in that
fight, but the atmosphere was fifty to fifty and I mean it was like
almost like a World Cup soccer game in an arena, and it was just
back and forth and just they threw so many punches and just you know,
towards the end, it was just like a almost like the Mac Collaway justin
Gatchee, you know, the stand in the middle and just beat each other's
brains out. And that's what they did the entire fight. And uh,
I mean, I don't know what the second fight's gonna look like, because
let's be honest, you know, Katie's lost since then. She got it
back, but Amanda's a couple of years older now. But if it's anything
close to that first one and it happens at Texas Cowboys Stadium in front of
seventy thousand, I mean we're talking about you know, Tagler Hearn's type of
stuff. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be tremendous build up and anticipation
for that. So that leads us to the main events. I've already given
some thoughts. Dan's given some thoughts. What were your It was not over
although it looked like it could have been in the first round when Mike Perry
went down, I think everybody was wondering, is this over in a round
or less? Third straight time for Jake Paul. So we credit Perry to
that degree. That's me saying that, what are your thoughts now that you've
had time to digest it? On Jake Paul getting the eventual knockout, Well,
I'm just glad that Perry didn't just go out with a whimper. You
know, when he got dropped in that first round, I like you,
I was like, oh man, really this this crowd wanted to see.
They want to be entertained. But he got back and got back into it,
and you know, he ended up getting dropped two more times and he
didn't really have any electrifying moments Mike Perry, but he did get the crowd
on his side and we got some chance. And I mean, my nephew
drove down with his fraternity brothers from the University of Alabama, like a eight
hour drive yeah, but he called me the day of we want to come,
Can you get me tickets? So I'm scrambling to get him tickets.
But afterwards they said, man, that was one of the most fun events
we've ever been to, and these guys have been to Alabama football games.
I mean, it was just it was just a really cool, entertaining night.
And that say what you about Jake Paul, but all of his fights
are entertaining one way or another. It's it's it's entertainment and that's what it's
all about. And that's why seventeen thousand people showed up and he uh and
he obviously got the win, but he had to battle for it. Perry
was tough, I thought, I thought to me, you were right there
closer ringside. I thought he looked tired at times, having the weight cut
for trying to fight much heavier if he's fighting Mike Tyson, And he admitted
this after the fight, that he cut about twenty five pounds because he had
to get to proximity of what Mike carry was going to weigh. He looked
tired at times. They talked about him being sick earlier in the week.
What were your impressions ringside just of him. I mean, he gets the
knockout win, that's the only thing that matters. But what were your thoughts?
Well, I I yes, I agree with all. He did look
tired, he did look winded, you know, I said he was sick.
But at the same time, that was a very high energy fight.
They weren't just you know, playing slap and tickle in there. And the
thing was, Jake Paul seemed to have him in trouble so many times that
he was going for the knockout. So he was constantly throwing power punches to
try and put this guy away. And that takes a lot of energy,
especially for someone like you said, who had to cut twenty pounds in two
weeks. Love Todd Grisham with me for just another moment or two, and
we can't emphasize enough. Here was my thing when that's when that Serrano knockout
happened. The anticipation building up to Paul. And You've done this so many
times in big ti fights, and I've been around enough big time fights.
The anticipation is there anyway. But I kept remarking to everybody, and I
texted some people too, and said, everybody in this building is standing right
now way I mean said before the fight, before the ring walks, so
you really had the building stoke. Just emphasize that one more time. From
ringside looking around, it's not all the time that the building is completely full
with everybody standing and ready to go in anticipation. And Jake Poll and the
Kisa Baderien and MVP Promotions, they deserve a lot of credit for picking the
opponent Perry him helping it hype it up, and you add everybody into it,
and that's what it's all about if you're promoting a fight, right.
Yeah. Well, I've seen big fights for the whole arena standing up and
excited for the big fight. But what I rarely ever see is the place
packed out at nine o'clock. Yeah, the first thing, Yes, packed
out, and you don't see that. That's because it's a different crowd.
So for all the haters of Jake Paul out there who think he's doing a
disservice to boxing and he's making a mockery to the sport, he's bringing in
new fans to watch this. And these new fans aren't nearly as snobby as
boxing fans. You know, I'm not gonna get there to the Comain event.
You know, we'll have dreams and will show I ain't coming there for
the early stuff. These guys are like cool boxing looks fun. Let's get
there early and have a party. And that's what they did. They had
a party last night and it ended with Jake Paul jumping out of the cake.
And there you go. And we're gonna see one of the premier fighters
in the world coming August third, and you will be on the call of
Terrence Crawford going for a junior middleweight role title with Israel madram Off. I
know you're looking forward to that next Broadcay. You've been on a lot of
big ones, the Yusik win over Fury already this year, the Ryan Garcia
upset and the whole debacle out of the ring with the upset of debating,
and now we've got August third coming. I know you're gonna recharge the batteries
and be ready for that in a couple of weeks. Man, Hey,
God left, Todd Grisham right, I am living the dream TJ. I
mean, you know who wouldn't switch seats with me in a minute any in
a heartbeat. I'm very, very privileged to have my job, and man,
I sometimes have to pinch myself the fact that I get to see Crawford
and an isram a dream up and that entire car. I mean, Andrew
Ruiz is back, Jared Anderson versus Bakoli. That to me is the most
fascinating fight. Is Cruise is on the card. I mean, just top
to bottom, just murderers row. It's going to be a night to remember
out in Los Angeles. All right, look forward to you on that one.
We got to go hit a golf ball at some point. If you're
back in Tampa on where you are or whatever it is, keep up the
great work. And it was a it was a thrill to be in and
around that whole event. You were obviously on the call. And we'll see
what happens now on August the third. We'll see what happens with Paul and
Tyson later on in the year. That's down a road, but we got
some other great action before that. Todd Grisham, thank you. Keep up
the great work on Dezonne and all the stuff you do with their coverage.
We thank you for hanging with us here on the pod. You got it,
man, Hey, I think Tampa's become a boxing hot spot. You
know what I mean. You've dealt seventeen thousand piece to a fight four week
He'll be coming back again, so we'll see you, Tim,